Her questions spoke volumes, though the logical side of him still refused to answer. She was offering him a chance. Giving him the opportunity to explain his supposed betrayal.

"Why didn't you..." The unfinished question lingered in his mind, refusing to be ignored.

It was difficult to change how a person thought. How they perceived things. Most people saw Soul Society for everything that it was on the surface. It was Utopia, wasn't it? A glorious afterlife? Hardly. Many of the shinigami and various high-ranking officials were only there because of their bloodlines and not their abilities. Still living in their palace and giving out unquestionable orders while the rest of Soul Society lived in poverty, separated from anyone they might have called family. It was supposed to be better when you died, but he knew it wasn't. It was the same. And that was only part of it all. Was trying to change that so wrong?

Ran had to know that nearly as well as he did. They'd grown up together, shared many of the same hardships... didn't she realize it wasn't just himself that he'd done this for?

His mind was wandering, uncommon for him, and he forced it back to the present. "Does it matter? What's done is done. Knowin' why won't do much good now."