The girl stepped backwards, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Be careful where you walk," he ordered quietly, holding the string out to her. The child nodded then leapt for her toy, skipping around the bend, the bright point of red waving with her head.
Byakuya turned back around, only to be accosted by more bright circles. For a moment, all the vibrant shades caused him to worry that the captain of 13th division had decided to make him one of his victims. He blinked.
The blurs broke apart and clarified into more of the bobbing toys on strings, balloons, he recalled from a time in his childhood. More children surrounded a stand with two people working it, one who handed them out and pocketed the money and another blowing to the side.
Byakuya's eyes narrowed as one popped in the creator's face.
'Breathe and give me life. Give too much and I die,' he mused to himself, closely watching as a blue globe formed.
A presence he knew very well called out to him, as if from a distance.
He strode over before the man had knotted the tie at the base.
The man blinked hurriedly and tugged on his partner's sleeve, who also blinked like a wide-eyed idiot.
"Can we help you, my lord?"
He pointed at the crate from which the first had been pulling colorful strips out of. "Open the crate."
Repressed a sigh as the two of them fumbled with the keys on the ring, he retrieved Senbonzakura quietly, leaving without an explanation.
His eyes stayed slightly narrowed as he began his walk back. The fact remained that he should have been able to sense Senbonzakura long before he actually did.
