When they said "emotionless"... I did wonder sometimes, if they filtered it from "soulless" to be nice. [ He sounds amused. ] --Not that anything really offends me, anyway. [ There's a hitched sigh that follows. ]

[ When Rukia mentions strength in him, he's surprised, and turns to her with a stunned blink, as she continued on to tell more about herself.

This was truly ironic, he lived through his tragedy but would oftentimes rather he didn't, and here Rukia had her fascinations with the living world despite having practically only touched it briefly at an age that would remember nothing. Maybe it really was some kind of irony that they came to know each other, Kharon was right. Minato would argue about her putting herself down like this to maybe make him feel better, but he was never good at arguments.

In the end he's looking down once more. There's a distant sound of other people: some children playing it seemed, which carries into the silence, but it's a comfortable silence. What comes out of Minato's mouth are two words; two words as if he finally felt a tight shackle come off, despite his continued confusion for his place in existence. Right now, he was truly grateful for the person beside him. ]

... Thank you.