TZC: Toushirou and Hyourinmaru set, part 1

[zangetsugirl]

I do not need a nap.

Hyourinmaru took in his shinigami’s rigid stance, his flushed face and the icy tone of his voice and concluded that this argument was probably not going to have a happy ending.  They never did when the dragon tried to save Toushirou from his own occasionally self-destructive work ethic.

I am not

Comments

[zangetsugirl]

Oooooooooh...I didn't even realize I was doing that. It's not surprising that the phrase crops up so much, since there's a kind of possessive element to the shinigami/zanpakutou relationship. Also, I despise referring to any character in a fic as "the other," so I had to have something to refer to them by when I didn't want to use names. It sort of grew from that, I guess.

This is Hyourinmaru! He defies your elemental categorization! *laughs* Kidding. He is pretty unpredictable when he wants to be, though. I'm glad he resonated so well with you. (Not sure if that's the word I'm looking for, but my brain is fried, so it's the one we're going with.)

I'll admit that part of my view of Toushirou as driven and a workaholic comes from fandom, but I wouldn't stick with it if it didn't make sense with what we see in canon. He's a captain who's younger than some of the lieutenants, which means he would never have automatically been considered for what is probably a very desirable position with a LOT of responsibility attached. I don't think they had a hole and they stuck him in it; I think he had to work for it, and be focused in pursuit of his goal. That's the sort of mindset you don't just turn off. And once he became captain, he would have had to be the best captain that any of the other potential applicants were capable of being, or someone higher up the food chain might start to entertain second thoughts. Toushirou strikes me as the type of person who would be very aware of all of that and act accordingly. On the other hand, he IS young, so his concept of restraint may be well developed in some areas and not so much in others. And I'm going to shut up now, because I've rambled long enough. Thanks for reading and commenting!

[infiniteviking]

It always resonates so strongly when you do, or when it's implied by the zanpakutou's actions, as in 'Breaking Point'. And your Kira story, which I have to get back to. As you said above, it so perfectly captures that complicated relationship.

LOL, he does! And he did. *smiles*

It does make sense -- he can be self-conscious, as I recall, and that might well manifest in the ways you describe. I admittedly skimmed through most of his chapters to see if Zangetsu was going to show up again, but will have to reread them now with that in mind. ^__^

[zangetsugirl]

Ah, good. If I had one thing that tied these fics together--albeit unintentionally--it would be that. Nice to know it works.

*grin* Have fun.