Sara jumped and tried not to scream as the other woman approached her. They hadn’t been formally introduced, and she hadn’t interacted with the other Substitute. She had worked with Tatsuha while Sara had been with Hayasegawa. Still Sara wasn’t sure she liked the other woman. They had just met, and she was [i]mocking[/i] her? Sara didn’t even know this girl. Sara had to admit that the evaluation of her sneakiness was fair, but did she have to be mean about it? This was why Sara ignored most people. It prevented people from being mean to her and her from being mean to other people.

Sara found herself speaking without thinking through it clearly, [color=e4a683]“I wasn’t talking to myself. I don’t know you and you don’t know me. Keep your assumptions to yourself until you do.”[/color] She jerked her head down the slight alley between the houses, [color=e4a683]“If you really want to be backup, let’s go.”[/color]

With that Sara hurried off, she was slightly shocked, dismayed, and unsure of what had just happened. Her voice had been cooler than she had meant and what was she even thinking, saying that in the first place? She gripped her Zanpakutō tighter, making her already white knuckles even paler. Sara couldn’t worry about that now. She had felt something earlier. She [i]knew[/i] she had felt something earlier. Where had it gone? Could it have lost interest or moved on? That couldn’t be right. She would have felt it leaving, wouldn’t, have she? Something wasn’t right, but she didn’t know what and that made her doubly uneasy. How much tighter could one person hold the hilt of a sword.

Then she heard a cry, and her paranoia had her flipping around and using her free hand to fire off, [color=e4a683]“ Hado Byakurai!”[/color]

She kept her aim bad and wide on purpose. She didn’t want to hit the other woman even if she was rude. She managed to draw her Zanpakutō at some point and even managed to hold it in a fairly respectable defensive position across her body. Her free hand was still extended, ready to fire off another spell. Her nerves were wire tight and she knew she was twitchy. Then she heard another sound, this one coming from the house! Sara’s neck whipped around, and she took two steps in that direction, her only thought to protect the twins. Then she stopped and turned back to her ally and the new revealed Hollow. She didn’t like it, not one little bit, but she couldn’t just leave the other substitute alone. Who knew what the Hollow could do? Who knew? That sound could just be someone getting up to get water and her running to them would just make them a target. Right now, the best thing to do would be to finish this Hollow quickly and then rush to investigate. At least Sara hoped it was the right thing to do to do.

A soft barely heard voice, [color=311815][i]“Steady Sara.”[/i][/color] She gripped her Zanpakutō tighter and tried to even out her breathing [color=311815][i]“We are stronger today then we were yesterday. Steady.”[/i][/color]