102 A Glimpse Into Antiquity
Emerging from the bathroom attached to Ohta's room, Kukaku, naked as the day she was born, dried her hair as she asked, "Is that one of those communication devices the 12th Division is using to replace Jigokuchō?"
Though he briefly cast his gaze at Kukaku, Ohta returned his attention to his phone, relaxedly sending a text as he answered, "I assume so. Here in the Human World, they're called cell phones."
Furrowing her brows slightly, Kukaku pointedly remarked, "You know, there are limits to playing it cool. You have a buck-naked beauty standing before you, yet you're choosing to focus elsewhere...?"
"I am surrounded by beautiful women..." replied Ohta, finishing his text before shifting his gaze to Kukaku, staring at the stump of her right arm. Her prosthetic was more than waterproof, but she had taken it off since foreign and mechanical devices could get in the way of Soul Resonance.
While Kukaku's missing limb didn't bother him, Ohta felt compelled to remark, "You know, Orihime could probably restore your arm if you asked her to..."
"Hmmm..."
Staring at her stump, Kukaku appeared to enter a state of deep thought before saying, "Since we're going to be married in the future, I might as well reveal a bit about myself..."
Before continuing, Kukaku made her way over to the bed, crawling onto it and taking advantage of Ohta's position to straddle him, nesting her freshly shaven pussy against his bulge as she asked, "The question is, do you even care? More often than not, the truth is a shackle, a burden that compels people to behave a certain way. For someone that prefers to go with the flow, you'd be happier not knowing the truth..."
"Does someone in my position have the option to remain ignorant?" asked Ohta, placing his hands on Kukaku's waist.
Adopting a smile that didn't quite reach her green eyes, Kukaku replied, "You'll eventually 'need' to know the truth, but it would be better for you to gain experience and insight without having your views tainted by the circumstances of others. That's something that Yoruichi and I agree with Rukia on..."
"How considerate of you..." remarked Ohta, his expression morphing into a slight deadpan as he resisted the urge to point out that if she and Yoruichi genuinely cared about him, they wouldn't be purposely entangling him in the affairs of their families. Rukia got a pass as she wasn't born a Noble and had good intentions, but Yoruichi and Kukaku were hundreds of years old and the leaders of their respective Clans. Even a blind man could see they were taking advantage of him...
Furrowing her brows, Kukaku pointedly remarked, "No one is forcing you to do this, you know. We're just thinking about the future, and you happen to fit conveniently into a lot of places. If you're against it, then speak up. Pettiness isn't a trait associated with 'real' men..."
"If I were truly against this, we wouldn't be here right now," said Ohta, giving Kukaku a light smack on her left ass cheek. In truth, he had more than a few misgivings about his current situation, but he didn't want to remain vulnerable while there were monsters even more powerful than Aizen lurking about. If fucking and knocking up beautiful women were all it took to regain his power, he could think of worse things...
"Then shut up and fuck me," said Kukaku, gaining a challenging smile as Ohta abruptly sat up and forced her onto her back. She, like Yoruichi, was usually on the offensive. However, as 'compensation' for what she did to him in the past, Kukaku decided to let Ohta take the initiative. She figured he had a lot of frustrations to vent, but more than that, she was curious to see if he could leave as deep an impression on her as he had Yoruichi...
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*tok* *tok* *tok*
Temporarily interrupting the persistent sound of flesh smacking against flesh, Orihime knocked on the door to Ohta's room and called out, "Ohta-kun, it's me, Orihime. Tatsuki-chan and I are about to head off for school."
Though it took a moment, Ohta eventually opened the door, releasing a prominent stench of sweat, sex, sake, and debauchery into Orihime's face as he forced a smile and said, "I'll see you off..."
Shaking her head, Orihime returned an almost painfully radiant smile as she replied, "You don't need to trouble yourself. I just wanted to let you know there's breakfast on the counter if you and Kukaku-san get hungry."
Stepping out of his room and closing the door behind him, Ohta said, "I insist..." before accompanying her to the living room. There, Tatsuki was waiting for them in her school uniform, book bag slung over her shoulder with a slightly annoyed look.
"Well, look who decided to show himself..." remarked Tatsuki. "Did you enjoy fooling around all weekend while the rest of us were busting our asses off?"
"Tatsuki-chan...!" exclaimed Orihime, furrowing her brows and puffing out her cheeks.
"It's fine," said Ohta, caressing Orihime's head as he met Tatsuki's gaze and said, "If anything, this is the 'normal' reaction. Feel free to lay it into me if you want. I won't even pretend I don't deserve it..."
Clicking her tongue, Tatsuki averted her eyes and muttered, "Whatever..." before making her way over to the front entrance and stepping outside to wait in the hallway. She knew what she was getting herself into when she took the initiative to confront and basically seduce Ohta. Thus, while she wasn't happy that he had spent the entire weekend having sex with some big-breasted Noblewoman that was apparently going to become his first wife, she didn't have a lot of ground to stand on if she wanted to chastise him...
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After seeing Orihime and Tatsuki off, Ohta returned to his room to find Kukaku still sprawled out atop his bed, staring at the ceiling with glazed eyes as she absentmindedly traced her stomach with the very tips of her fingers.
"You good...?" asked Ohta, setting the food he had retrieved from the kitchen on the bed using a breakfast tray.
"Oh, I'm great..." replied Kukaku, smiling as she looked to Ohta and added, "I'm starting to see why Yoruichi is so fond of you. That was one hell of a ride..."
Shrugging his shoulders, Ohta remarked, "I seem to have a high affinity with members of the Five Great Noble Clans. I've tried resonating with Rukia and Orihime dozens of times, but their Reiryoku density and purity aren't developed enough. It might be easier now that most of my power is sealed, but they're not prepared to be mothers just yet..."
"I'm sure you could convince them if you wanted," said Kukaku, rolling onto her side and supporting her head with her left hand as she added, "I'm not in a rush to 'restore' my family, so I'm fine with raising our kid on my own if you want to make things official with Rukia. Your status as the interim Head of the Shiba Clan only needs to be made public if you plan to use it."
"That's up to them," answered Ohta. "I never wanted to be a father, and even now, I don't think I'm qualified to care for others. I'll do what I can to keep them safe, but I've always been of the mind that children belong to the mothers that carried and birthed them..."
"Eh, I honestly think you'd make a great father," argued Kukaku, adopting a somewhat nostalgic smile as she added, "Raising kids can be a massive pain in the ass, but all the hassles and headaches feel worth it when you see them smile, laugh, or accomplish something new. Then, after a while, you realize that your children are what give life meaning..."
Though he had the distinct impression he was stepping onto a minefield by doing so, Ohta pointed out, "That sounds like it comes from personal experience, and I'm not talking about your younger brother..."
Narrowing her eyes slightly, the corners of Kukaku's smile curled up as she said, "Say what you mean to say..."
"You're a lot older than you let on..." said Ohta. "I wasn't sure initially, but I 'felt' it when our souls resonated. At the very least, you're considerably older than Yoruichi..."
"Does it matter?" asked Kukaku, her smile becoming somewhat cheeky as she said, "I'm still fine as hell..."
"You're not wrong..." replied Ohta, gazing at the one-armed woman's naked body before shrugging his shoulders. If Kukaku didn't want to discuss the matter further, he wouldn't press her. Fortunately, or perhaps not, Kukaku rolled her eyes before asking, "Would you believe me if I told you I was even older than Old Man Yama...?"
"If you are, then I'd feel bad for him," replied Ohta. "That man has more wrinkles than a nutsack exposed to cold water..."
Though she exhaled an amused chuckle, Kukaku's eyes were serious as she said, "Well, it's true. Old Man Yama is around 4200. As for me...do you 'really' want to know? Because if I tell you, you can never tell anyone else. If you do..."
"Do I strike you as the type to share secrets?" asked Ohta. "I didn't snitch even when the woman I professed my love to was used as bait to lure out that cunt, Aizen..."
"Fair enough..." said Kukaku, rising to a seated position before crossing her arms and closing her eyes, appearing to be in deep thought. Then, nearly a full minute later, she opened her eyes, smiling as she revealed, "I won't tell you my actual age, but my true identity is the 19th Generation Head of the Shiba Clan and a former member of the Zero Division. When I abdicated my position to prevent the destruction of my Clan, my right arm was the price I paid..."
"..."
After a brief silence, Ohta replied, "That doesn't tell me much. You being a member of the Zero Division kind of makes sense, but Yoruichi is the 22nd Head of the Shihouin Clan, and she's like 380. Though, now that I say that, it's difficult to imagine she's only the 22nd generation if her Clan is more than a million years old. That would mean that each preceding Head ruled an average of 50,000 years..."
"Some ruled much longer," revealed Kukaku. "The Founding Ancestors of the Five Great Noble Clans were born in the era preceding the separation of life and death. After that, they established and inhabited the five cities surrounding the Soul King's Palace, never aging."
Grabbing a piece of toast from the breakfast tray, Kukaku took a bite before adding, "It wasn't until the three realms began to stabilize that the subsequent generations were 'ousted' from the Soul King's Palace and forced to lay roots in what we now refer to as the Soul Society, becoming the first generation of native souls susceptible to death..."
Adopting a vicious smile, Kukaku mused, "As you can imagine, this caused a considerable amount of turmoil, but I won't bore you with the details as most of what I know was passed to me by word of mouth. If you want to learn the detailed pre and post-establishment history of the Soul Society, you'd need to access the secret archives of the Kuchiki Clan. They've been charged with transcribing history since the separation of the three realms, so their records are the most accurate."
"I'll keep that in mind..." replied Ohta, resisting the urge to point out that Kukaku hadn't answered his question. She clearly didn't want to say how old she was, so he changed topics, asking, "So, how many kids have you had? If you were the 19th Generation Head, you must have had children or passed the title to one of your siblings..."
"You're starting to annoy me..." remarked Kukaku, staring at Ohta with half-lidded eyes. She knew Ohta wasn't trying to be callous, but since most of the Shiba Clan had been systematically slaughtered, it wasn't a subject she wanted to get into. Even more so since, before departing the Zero Division, she was forced to swear that she would 'forgive' those who had conspired to destroy her Clan, leaving her unable to seek the justice that burned like a fuse in her heart...
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(A/N: This chapter took hours of rabbit hole research and more than seven hours to write. I had always known that Kubo's timeline was convoluted, but I feel as though I lost a percentage of my brain cells trying to make sense of it...)
