Familiar Figure

"Heuk! Mm…"

Seimei drunkenly walked around as he moved to the residential area of the Shinigami of the 6th Division.

He walked slowly towards his room which was previously shown to him by the Shinigami who was talked to by Ginrei.

Clack.

The door opened to his reishi signature as he entered it and collapsed on his bed.

But instead of simply drifting into sleep, he sat down in a meditative position and started to medidate.

But it was to no avail.

No matter how hard he tried he still couldn't fall into a state of thoughtlessness.

Sigh…

He thought in exasperation as he moved down into the training grounds of the 6th Division, unsheathing his sword in front of the training as he started swinging his sword.

Swing.

Swing.

Swing.

Swing.

10

20

30

40

60

80

200

600

800

995

996

997

998

999

1000

As he performed the final swing, his eyes blurred up as his sword touched the ground, making him sit in an almost suspended animation state, where his body was stuck.

Just as he fell into his suspended animation state, a figure appeared in front of his now consciousness-less body.

'I was wondering why he came out of his room and started swinging his sword at the middle of the night, to think this was the way how he entered his inner world…'

Ginrei made a keen assessment of Seimei's state as he had an interested gleam in his eyes.

He decided to protect Seimei's body, interested in the aftermath of his meditative state.

His eyes fell on Seimei's blade as he spotted the character of "koshirae" on it. [AN : I'd love to type the actual character in the actual character but it'd lead to my ff getting restricted. Sorry.]

'Koshirae'

Ginrei thought.

'Perhaps the way his Shikai will be unlocked will be when the full name of his Zanpakuto is etched onto the blade?'

It wasn't a random assumption that Ginrei had made, as he had looked at Seimei's Zanpakuto, he'd already spotted the edge of another character being lightly etched onto his sword.

Ginrei tried as much as he wanted to interpret the character on the blade, he couldn't.

Ginrei was an expert in literature, having studied more than all scholars that had ever lived.

He had all the knowledge in his head but couldn't interpret the character even though he tried as much as he wanted.

It was as though a veil of mist blocked him from understanding it.

'Hmm. Interesting.'

Ginrei had a small smirk on his face as he stood in front of the sword.

He had decided to interpret the character, and wouldn't leave until Seimei woke up or he understood the character.

[AN : I felt like Hiro waiting for Zero Two at the final arc of DiTF while writing this…]

***

The sound of water falling into a bamboo spoon, transferring it into another vessel.

It'd then rise again, only to be filled by water and fall it down again.

Again, and Again and Again.

Mushashi had sat down on the floor, preparing another cup of tea. As though like always, he'd done it for hundreds of thousands of times.

"Did that feel like home?"

Musashi asked as he sipped his tea.

"I don't know." Seimei answered as he sat down in front of Mushashi. He paused and continued to speak.

"It didn't feel foreign? They were people who accepted me, perhaps? It was only for a night but it felt different."

Mushashi let out a chuckle as he spoke.

"Did the loneliness decrease perhaps? After all, you'd been alone for the majority of your stay within the academy."

Seimei nodded as he took a sip of the tea.

He had indeed been alone for the majority of his stay within the academy. Perhaps being in such a crowd of happy emotions had changed something within him.

After being alone for such a long time, he'd finally had some human interaction.

He'd finally touched grass.

***

Both Mushashi and Seimei placed their teacups down as Seimei looked at Musashi.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"You know, why did my sword not get blocked by Wataru?"

Mushashi smiled as he looked at Seimei.

"Do you know the story of Muramasa and Masamune?"

Seimei nodded as he remembered the two legendary swordsmiths.

"Good. You should know about the legend then?"

"What legend?"

"The one where Muramasa's sword cut a fish, a leaf and the air itself, but Masamune's sword cut the leaf, cut the air but didn't cut the fish."

Seimei raised his eyebrows and asked Mushashi about the legend.

"So is my sword Masamune's sword?"

Mushashi smile and replied.

"Not exactly. The legend continues. When a passing monk saw their duel, he made Masamune the winner. Why? It was because Masamune's sword didn't cut the innocent fish but Muramasa's blade did."

At this point, Seimei was frowning and thinking deeply but he still couldn't understand.

"It's simple." Mushashi spoke.

"Your sword cuts what you want to cut. You wanted to cut Wataru, so your sword didn't cut Wataru's Zanpakuto. Why? Because it wasn't Wataru, it was his Zanpakuto. Your sword ignored his Zanpakuto."

At this point, Seimei had already understood.

"You understood the meaning of 'cut' with the 100,00th cut, so you unlocked your inner world."

"I see…"

Seimei thought. Mushashi smiled as he started brewing another cup of tea.

***

Outside in the Soul Society, the mark on Seimei sword grew from faint to a little dark, as though someone had tapped the character into the blade but hadn't completely etched it out.

Ginrei, whose eyes had already become a little red at this point was still stubbornly sitting in front of his blade.

Far away, Sojun looked at his father with a weird expression, with the statement about Seimei being his father's secret child playing within his mind.

'Don't tell me…'

***

It had been 2 hours since Seimei had swung his sword. He'd finally reached 1000 swings again and was laying down while panting.

"Not having reishi is really a pain, haah…hah"

Mushashi too was laying down, evidently not as fatigued as Seimei.

He brought out a towel and handed it to Seimei.

Seimei wiped his sweat and sat down, immersing himself in the atmosphere of the world.

'I feel like I have forgotten something…'

Seimei thought to himself, oblivious to the fact that Ginrei was still outside.

"So, can you give me a tip about how to unlock my Shikai?"

Seimei asked Mushashi, his hand playing with a lock of his hair.

"Unfortunately, no I can't. Do not worry, you'll learn it when the time comes."

Seimei nodded as he walked out the dojo, promptly exiting his inner world.

On the outside, as soon as Ginrei felt the movement of Seimei's body, he instantly Hohō'd away.

His eyes had already turned visibly red at that point and his mind was completely focused on the characters at that point.

'This better have been worth it, kid.' Ginrei though to himself as he disappeared, having moved back to his office to deal with the paperwork that was piling up.

The day quickly passed as Seimei woke up.

He was in the training ground, swinging his sword like he had always been.

"The newbie is very hard working huh?"

A Shinigami who was patrolling the barracks commented on Seimei as he walked past him.

Seimei didn't focus on the Shinigami as he kept swinging his sword. It'd already been a year since he'd been doing this but he didn't think he'd been making any progress at all. He knew that swinging his sword would make any difference.

It was the same problem as the one within the academy.

He didn't have enough combat experience.

Musashi's combat experience was a lot yes, but he needed his personal combat experience, not the one of Mushashi.

Just then, a voice sounded from behind him.

"You've been called by Lieutenant Kuchiki."

Seimei stopped swinging his sword and put it at the side, nodding. He turned back to see who had called him, finding the voice slightly familiar.

As he turned back, a glimpse of a female figure appeared in front of him.

It was a young girl, with dark brown skin and black hair. She had shoulder-length hair which she had kept in a ponytail.

She was smiling while looking at him, but just as he completely turned his head, she'd already disappeared.

"Isn't that…?"

Seimei spoke in astonishment as he stood there for a while before laughing out loud.

He'd finally found one.

He'd finally found a person who was "familiar" to him.

He'd finally seen Shihoin Yoruichi.

Seimei sheathed his Zanpakuto as he walked to Sojun's office.

***

"What an interesting kid…"

The girl laughed as she held a paper in her hand.

It had some writing written in exquisite handwriting. Far away, a handsome Shinigami could be seen tied up, his hands and feet tied up with his mouth covered by a gag.

'Shihoin Yoruichi… I'll fucking kill you one day!'