ahahaha and here I was thinking I was just being crazy making the terrible HDM comparisons right from when Renji stabbed the air to open up the doors to Soul Society.

(no really though I wonder if shinigami don't have the same sort of social codes with their swords as people and their daemons have in the books. I was wondering that especially since the anime actually: when they cart Momo off after her fight with Izuru, they have her by the neck and wrists....but no one bothers to take her sword out of her hands)