CHAPTER 258-259: By the glimmering shore

As Kazuya sat down by the poolside, Cirucci placed her hand on his. "Leader, I wish to talk about the thing you gave me."

For a moment he thought she'd go off on him for troubling her with the kittens. However, the hint of vulnerability in her gaze changed his mind. She was anxious that he'd reject her. The Cirucci before her whole kitten adoption wouldn't have given two flying fucks about Kazuya rejecting a conversation.

"Well, what is it?"

Cirucci's eyes, usually sharp with cynicism, now brimmed with an unfamiliar earnestness. "Leader, you… This whole shit is the best thing that ever happened to me. I mean it from the bottom of my heart."

{I sense an incoming smash?}

"Hmmm?"

Once again ignoring the voices in his head, Kazuya redirected his gaze towards the swimming pool reflecting the lights. "Me beating you to near death is the best experience of your life? Never knew Cirucci is kinky like that."

She gazed at him blankly, clearly unamused by his attempt to lighten the mood. "I did not mention that moment. Gosh, why do you like teasing your women?"

Every time she was around him, he'd either tease her or someone else, as if he couldn't resist these urges.

"I don't know. Maybe because it's fun for me. Also, did I hear you call yourself my woman?"

A fleeting blush colored her cheeks as she realized her verbal misstep. Regaining her clear composure, she relaxed her shoulders with a sigh. "I want you quiet for my pep talk. My thoughts scatter whenever I hear that voice."

She was clearly embarrassed but tried to act serious.

Kazuya decided to stop teasing her. "For fifteen minutes I'm all yours."

Cirucci nodded gratefully. "Look, what I'm about to say will come as a big shock to you. Believe me it was a shock to me too…"

She gazed into the rippling water, idly swinging her legs to create playful splashes. To an uninformed observer, the scene might have been mistaken for a love confession. But Kazuya knew her better. Whatever she wanted to talk about was absolutely unrelated to her slowly growing fondness for him.

She drew a long breath, steeling herself for her next words. "Blast it. I'll just say everything to your face... Leader, thank you for fixing my… strange mindset. It's thanks to you that a whiner like me has a purpose in life…"

"I didn't do anything though—"

She reached out and pressed a finger against his lips, stopping him from speaking further. "Stop lying. You paid more attention to me than this stupid friend."

He grasped her wrist and moved her hand away. "You and I both know it's not Rose's fault. She did notice your depression but she isn't, well, bright enough to do anything about it. Besides, as the head of this family, the responsibility of ensuring everyone's well-being falls on me, not her."

He tried fixing any potential misunderstanding that could ruin Mila Rose and Cirucci's companionship.

"I wasn't blaming her," Cirucci murmured. "Huh… How do I say it? I was trying to highlight your consideration. If you weren't there, I really could have done something stupid… Like—"

His hand found its way to her hair, caressing her to ease her tense somber expression. "It's no use dwelling on the past."

"Yeah, you're right," Cirucci said, placing a hand on her heart. "Let's focus on what lies ahead. Don't hesitate to call on me for anything. I'll lay down my damned life for you… if it makes you happy."

A passionate declaration of loyalty from Cirucci wasn't what he had in mind, but he quite welcomed the pleasant surprise.

"Honestly, I'm flattered by how much everyone cares about me."

"Heh. Just don't let it get to your head. Arrogance was Barragan's downfall. I don't want that happening to ya."

Kazuya revealed a faint smile. "The son of a bitch who can kill me won't be born for half a decade."

{Are you talking about Yu-ha-baak or Ee-chee-go?}

'Both.'

Cirucci shook her head, clearly not taking him seriously. "Franceska, you can come now."

The tiny whisper was all Mila Rose needed to charge back in. "That was fast. I thought Cirucci would skirt around the topic for ten minutes and then take another five minutes to speak her mind."

Cirucci rolled her eyes. "Blast off. I have more courage than you."

"All bark no action." Mila Rose crossed her arms, shaking her head. "If you had courage, you wouldn't be calling him Leader. You'd call him Sweetheart, my dear husband etcetera etcetera."

Cirucci stared at Mila Rose, speechless. "What… is wrong with you?"

"Everything," Mila Rose declared and swiftly maneuvered onto his lap. Turning over, she gazed at him with a smile. Taking his hand, she placed it on her head. "Pat me."

Having come to expect such brazenness from the lioness, he barely had a change in his expression. "Where did that come from?"

"You do it to Yoruichi all the time… I want some of it too."

He couldn't suppress a chuckle at her bizarre envy over such a simple gesture. His fingers brushed past her white headpiece and weaved through her dark wavy hair. As per her wish, he patted her head the same way one would pat a cat. Being with Yoruichi's company had at least taught him to discern between the right and wrong way of patting.

"Enjoying this?"

"Mhmm, it's making me relaxed," she whispered, her eyes drooping. "Kazuya… I'm… sleepy."

Within moments, she had drifted to deep slumber.

Kazuya continued stroking her hair, albeit with negligible force. "Was she up last night?"

"I don't know…" Cirucci whispered absentmindedly, shaking her head. "My room is only for Yuki and Hana. The male kitten is Yuki because of his neat white fur. And the girl with vibrant orange fur is Hana."

Her expression brightened as she educated the origin of her kittens' names.

He couldn't help but smile. "How much research did you do for these names?"

"I just asked Sung-Sun. She chose these names because of their rhyming with Yuki-Onna. Her bizarre obsession with books can be helpful."

"Yuki-Onna? You mean the spirit from Japanese folklore?"

Cirucci nodded deliberately, recalling the details of her talk with Sung-Sun. "Yes, the youthful but dangerously beautiful woman with snow white skin and a sharp, piercing gaze. She leads people astray in blizzards and does other horrible things… I feel a huge Yuki-Onna energy from Unohana. There's something… chilling about her. Am I making any sense?"

She may have lost her Espada status, but she very much retained her sharp instincts.

Kazuya nodded. "You're making more sense than you realize. Unohana is the definition of 'don't judge a book by its cover'."

"Hmph. I might not look like it now but I used to be a competent leader. I was much more composed… Now, a few words from this dumb woman can tick me off. I have grown… softer."

"I interpret it differently. You always had a short fuse. In your emo phase you stopped caring about anything. Mila Rose ticking you off is a sign that you care how others perceive you… You give a fuck about how I view you, which makes all my effort worth it."

"Do I?"

"Yes, you do."

She clicked her tongue, looking spiteful as hell. "Blast… everything's because of you."

Suddenly, Cirucci lunged forward, her fingers cradling Kazuya's face. Without hesitation, she pressed her soft lips against his in a tame kiss that ended as swiftly as it began.

A delicate blush colored her pale cheeks, yet she maintained their intimate position. "You will take responsibility for seizing my first kiss."

"Hold on. That was your first?"

He couldn't believe an unhinged sadist like was actually inexperienced.

"Who else could I have kissed in Las Noches?"

"Well, you had—"

"Don't even suggest Barragan," she spoke in a heavy voice, her nose scrunching in disgust. "I never had any intention to join his harem. Yeah, you guessed it right. I'm a virgin who never got to know the pleasure of intimacy. Don't have high expectations or any expectations."

Her sarcastic tone was just a facade. She simply wanted to reveal her experience with relationships, and he might be her first and last.

He shook her head. "You have nothing to worry about. Everyone starts somewhere."

"You're damn right about that."

"I'll still teach you the proper way to kiss your lover."

She leaned in, her breath warm against his skin as she brushed his lips with hers. As she drew back, a mischievous grin played across her lips. "Pardon? I didn't quite catch that."

Reminiscing about her old life seemed to have boosted her courage and confidence.

"I said you're a rookie at kissing."

"Tch." She loudly clicked her tongue. "Trying to provoke me into kissing you… Still, I'll prove to you that I'm at least better than a rookie."

True to her promise, she once again claimed his lips. She didn't take a swift retreat like the last time and sucked his lips. With her eyes closed and her expression melting from the kiss, she looked nothing like the menacing sadist he had first encountered in Hueco Mundo.

She withdrew, her chest heaving and her half-lidded eyes filled with unfiltered desire. "What… about now?"

Her whispered question nearly escaped his notice as he was so entranced by these glimpses of her true self, but she reminded him of her reason to kiss him in the first place.

She gently patted his face. "Hey, would you still call me a rookie?"

"A little."

She shut her eyes and let out a sigh. "Be honest with me. Am I worse than… Rose?"

Her question drew his mind into the sweet memories of Mila Rose and her passionate kisses. Recently, she had been like a kitten, mewing and licking him during their lovemaking. Cirucci's approach was too tame to rival her friend.

'So that's why she wants to improve.'

Cirucci didn't feel worse for being bad at something — she wished to be better than Mila Rose.

She cupped his face with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "You will help me improve from 'a little' to 'great'. Right?"

"I will. But any reason to speedrun improvement in specifically kissing?"

"There is a reason. Mila Rose has all the qualities I think a good mother needs. She is my standard so to speak. If I become half as good as her, I'll be a good mother to my kittens and o-our children—that is if Hollows are even capable of having children!"

Using Mila Rose as a standard for a good mother sounded weird. But then again, the lioness was overprotective, eager to support others, and most of all, she wanted to make her family happy. She also improved herself every day through Sung-Sun's lectures and her sparring battles against the Visored and Apacci.

Kazuya patted Cirucci's head the same way he patted Mila Rose's. "We will. Don't worry about that part."

She leaned into his touch, showing no reproach against having her head patted. After a few moments, she grasped his wrist and leaned against his shoulder, moving his arm to wrap around her shoulder. "When everything is over, will you take us around Japan and other countries?"

"A family trip? I guess we can afford that."

"Umm, I want to push Mila Rose down some mountain and hear her screams."

"..."

"Oh, I also want to open a pet shop. You know the non-profit type where people can come in and adopt pets for themselves, or leave pets they don't want or can't afford to raise anymore."

"I can get behind that."

"You have to. Fulfilling your wife's wishes is your duty, Mister Husband." She giggled. "This is the price you pay for being kind to a fucked-up, evil beauty."

"A fucked-up, evil beauty will never open a pet shop."

"...A half fucked-up, evil beauty then."

He chuckled at her defensive argument. "Yeah, yeah. What else does my evil wife want?"

"A basement dungeon with an infinite supply of bastards and some fun torture machines."

"..."

He spent the rest of his time talking with Cirucci and reassuring Mila Rose had a good sleep.

When Izumi showed up, Cirucci picked up Mila Rose. The two women exchanged respectful nods before Cirucci departed with Mila Rose in her arms.

Izumi immediately dove into his arms. "Otouto, I missed you!"

Hugging her tightly, he stroked her hair. "It's only been a day."

"I can't tell the difference between a day or a month. My time freezes without your warmth," she said, giggling to herself at his surprised reaction. "Otouto-kun's love turned me into Shakespear."

His fingers brushed past her waist and found a grip on her butt. "I haven't even loved you that way. What will happen after that I wonder?"

She looked up, a faint red coloring her cheeks. "My heart can't love you more without it turning poisonous."

"Then don't." He lifted her chin and kissed her on the lips. "Let's go to my room and cuddle."

"Otouto, carry me."

***

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