Chapter 38: Converging Paths

The Tengoku Family paced down the street, the Spiritual Arts Academy campus in their periphery. Training fields and small sheds were the primary highlights of their 'peaceful' walk. Just two minutes after they left the campus grounds, they arrived in front of a small fight between two women. It didn't turn bloody but it was loud and entertaining. They took a moment and stopped to analyze the flaws in the grappling catfight.

After the sideshow, they resumed their walk. The training fields decreased in number, and the three soon entered a wealthy residential ward. Expansive manors sparsely lined the street. The properties spanned nearly a hundred meters each, allowing for privacy and a spacious lifestyle. Furoufushi and Batsu were tempted to wander around the properties. But Kenji marched on, making a small remark.

"All of it's for academy faculty."

After fifteen minutes, they reached the border of the academy's residential ward and the adjacent ward. A pair of vague figures could be seen further down the road at a four-way intersection. Kenji's face fell as he hurriedly turned around and lowered his head.

To his dismay, Kenji couldn't hide his hair fast enough…

"KENJI! WE WERE WAITING FOR YOU!"

'Shit…'

The sisters were puzzled by Kenji's dull spirit and troubled expression. Furoufushi and Batsu studied the pair of vague figures marching toward them, squinting to clearly make out the person who shouted.

A voluptuous middle-aged woman was 'happily' pulling a fed-up, hulking young man down the street by the ear.

Their eyes concentrated on the happy woman. Her seductive figure was noticeable from afar. Standing at 164 cm, with bountiful assets and curving contours, even the sisters had to swallow their saliva. The woman's sinful body was dressed in an orange kimono with blue trimming and a blue obi. Her brown skin was enhanced by her tasteful attire. Another eye-catching trait was her purple hair tied in a bun complimented with greying-purple bangs that framed her face. Elegant and sharp facial features elevated her appearance, while her golden feline eyes stole the sisters' attention.

"Nee-san…"

"*Gulp* …Yeah…"

"A goddess…"

"No kidding idiot."

It took a minute for the vague figures to get up to the Tengoku family. The smiling lady set her eyes solely on the distraught Kenji. The red beacon was still facing the opposite direction, hoping to avoid any interaction. A playful smirk spread on the woman's lips, her teasing voice poked at his defenses.

"Fufu~. Kenji hasn't paid us a visit in so long, I was getting kind of lonely."

"*sigh* Please stop. You're hurting your son."

"What you meant to say is 'our' son. Teehee~."

"*sigh* It never ends…"

The pair of golden feline eyes peered at the two young women by Kenji's side. Her smiling lips faltered slightly. In a show of 'dominance', the alluring mistress pushed her chest out, presenting herself in an assertive manner.

She probed the girls' identities.

"And you two are?"

Furoufushi placed her hand on her chest and gave a deep bow. A shit-eating grin on her unseen face. Batsu pushed her glasses up, her lips twitching at the corners.

"Tengoku Furōfushi. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

Before the lady could say anything, Batsu followed in a similar fashion.

"Tengoku Batsu'unsai. Please take care of us."

The sisters raised their heads to see trembling feline eyes and thinned lips. The lady's cracking voice returned the greeting.

"O-ohh… Matriarch of the Shihōin Clan, Shihōin Chiaki…."

Spinning around from his sulking episode, Kenji's broke into the ridiculous conversation with an exasperated voice.

"*sigh* Aren't you gonna introduce your son?"

"Oh right! Come here boy!"

Chiaki snapped out of her stupor and pulled the tall young man to the front by his ear. She sharply prodded her half-dead son.

"Oi! Introduce yourself! You're an heir, act like it!"

"Chika. Sup."

*SMACK*

"Oww?! Relax Ma! It was just a joke!"

The Tengoku family smirked seeing the laidback behavior of an heir of a prestigious clan. Chika straightened up, displaying his substantial height of 189 cm. With broad shoulders and a solid frame, he surpassed Kenji's physique. His shaggy white hair swayed as he properly bowed; bangs hung closely to his sharp golden eyes. Long golden earrings dangled from his ears, adding a touch of class. Chika's brown skin was clad in the standard shihakushō. In contrast, an orange scarf wrapped around Chika's neck, and at his waist, hung an equally orange sash.

With the proper etiquette, he addressed the family…

"Shihōin Chika, a pleasure to meet you. Well, maybe 'cept the old fossil there."

He tried…

*SMACK*

"What the hell Ma?! I was only telling the truth?!"

*SMACK*

"Yaoww!"

"Take care of the two girls Chika. I better not hear anything from them. Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah. I got it, I got it. You two. We gotta let the adults talk or whatever. The hill's this way."

Addressing the young ladies of Tengoku, Chika spun back toward the intersection and walked, not looking back. Furoufushi and Batsu looked at Kenji for confirmation. He wordlessly handed Furoufushi the cloth bundle with the spare sword, then handed Muhō over to Batsu. He waved his hand toward Chika's receding figure, gesturing for them to follow.

Seeing Chika's meandering steps, the two girls tailed him at walking speed. Maintaining their wariness, the sisters heard Kenji's expectant voice.

"Make friends, he's a good kid."

The sisters just waved him off dismissively. Chiaki stood beside Kenji, watching the three youngsters travel down the footpath. A smirk spread on her face as she internally compared the two sisters to him.

She broke the silence, expressing her well-hidden turmoil in a muted voice.

'Kids?'

"Adopted."

Her golden eyes regained some liveliness. But Kenji shot down her incoming proposal.

"We're not going on a date. We're not getting married."

A pout formed on her lips as she hugged Kenji's arm into her generous bosom. She whispered in his ear with a light, longing touch.

"Are you still so caught up in proper military conduct? Are you that afraid to be with your subordinate? No one can court-martial you now, you know?"

He peeled her off his body and started toward the intersection. With a shrug, he gave a half-baked reason.

"Meh. Just don't want to. Missed our chance a long, long time ago. Now we got brats to take care of. Can't spare the time."

Chiaki huffed and chased after him. She attacked his defenses again.

"That's a lie. You're running a freaking teashop. And you only have to worry about the-"

Kenji interrupted, halting on the path still faced the same way. Hoarse and weary, a worn soul uttered its plea.

'Chiaki. Please. Don't.'

Unable to touch, unable to reach, she trailed behind him as a yearning whisper slipped from her lips.

'We could try...'

Determined not to face her, he cast his eyes to the ground. Etching his words into the earth, he halted any future with callous finality.

"No. We can't. You know why."

The shallow sounds of rustling fabric rippled in the low breeze. Turning his head, he saw the woman prostrate on the ground. Her forehead planted onto the road. He turned his head to see if the three youngsters could see them. Luckily, Chika led them around a corner. Kenji's eyes flickered back to the feeble woman. Trembling and quietly weeping, her body tried to fuse with the ground.

He sighed and ordered her with a soft tone.

"Raise your head, Shihōin-gensui. No more apologies. Not to mention, it's a terrible practice to comfort others with your body. I recommend you stop; it's unbefitting for someone of your stature. Hehe~. In truth, I wouldn't be a good fit. I don't have any experience anyway; can you believe it? At my age? Haha~."

His self-deprecating chuckle sought to put a stopper in the brewing tension. But…

'*sniff* It's not comfort… I f-feel… always…'

"…"

'*whimper*… d-don't leave…'

"Stand up."

Under his command, she refused to budge, firmly rooted to the earth. He could only sigh again and walk back to her. He knelt down and slung his arms under her armpits and stood her up. Her hanging bangs concealed her wet face, her shoulders still shaky. He patted her head and ruffled her hair with a warm smile.

His soothing words brought her some relief.

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be around as those girls grow up."

Taking her by the hand, he pulled her along as they restarted down the road. A distant pang of concern and anger shot into Kenji. He smirked and sent a trace of reassurance back to his blade. Kenji was surely going to get an earful later.

He looked down at the red-eyed Chiaki, using her sleeves to wipe away the tears. She felt his gaze and peered up. His teasing smirk made her punch him in the gut.

*Thuk*

"Ooof~! Geez!"

"Hmph!"

Chiaki left the hunched old man behind, a small smile on her face.

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*Shk~*

"Nee-san?"

"Hmm?"

"Tenchou's Zanpakutou is vibrating a lot."

"Cause it's special. I'm surprised you can even hold it for so long."

Chika's sudden remark stole their attention. He shrugged and pointed at Muhou, which was hoisted on Batsu's shoulder.

"My Ma has the same thing. Just a Reiketsutou, not the whole fusion thing though."

""Huh?""

Chika's explanation flew over their head. Seeing the perplexed faces, his forehead formed a doubtful crease. His golden eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He stopped and confirmed they were on the same page.

"You guys know what a Reiketsutou is, right?"

The two girls shook their heads, silently waiting for him to continue. Chika held his forehead; he felt a troublesome issue cropping up. He just shrugged his shoulders, it wasn't his mess to clean up and he could certainly add to it, 'unknowingly'.

"Reiketsutō [霊結刀] are shards of one's soul, forged into weapons. You know how Zanpakutou prints the soul on a weapon, all that reflection crap? The weapons before them were ripped from your soul, Ma said she'd never make me do it. Anyway, the Old Fossil's Zanpakutou fused with his Zanpakutou, so it's all super weird now. Apparently, my Ma woulda been the same, but she never got a Zanpakutou. And now I have to deal with a moody set of cat claws every day. *sigh*"

Batsu lifted the nagamaki off her shoulder and held it in front of the three. She studied the blade, deeply absorbed. Furoufushi showed her avid interest by grasping the handle of Muhou. A foreign wave of calm and care washed over her. Feeling the blade's emotions, she unconsciously drew Muhou out of its sheath.

*Shing*

*Thuun Thuun*

A low hum spread from the shimmering steel blade. The sight was strange as Furoufushi's height of 158 cm was challenged by Muhou's length of 130 cm. Furoufushi's small smile fell into a pout as a foreign wave of teasing and playfulness tickled her.

"You can wield it?"

Chika's dumbfounded question was heightened by a stupefied look. The sisters' confused expressions made him facepalm again. He pointed out the obvious.

"You're touching a piece of someone's soul! Even if you're his kids, that's…"

The sisters' eyes widened. A single thought went through their minds; they weren't blood-related either. Their vision darted to the humming greatsword. Both the sheath and the blade pulsated in the sisters' grasp. Another foreign wave streamed from the blade, pride and smugness flooded into the sisters. Furoufushi's lips twitched as she gave a few practice swings.

*Whoosh* *Shoosh*

"So, this thing is better than our Zanpakutōs?"

"Nah, nothing's different. Just the soul being accepted into the blade apparently, makes them able to 'talk' better, somethin' about soul stuff. Ma's claws like to make a fuss when I grab 'em. Zanpakutou isn't different from that thing. I forgot, who's the guy that made them, uhh~…"

"Niimaiya."

Furoufushi answered as she grazed her finger along Muhou's edge. She discovered it was oddly blunt wherever she ran her finger over, then it would regain its sharpness when she removed her finger.

*snap*

"That's right. Anyway, the Reiketsutou was a crap weapon, so he made something new, better."

"Crap weapon?"

Batsu's eyebrows furrowed, pushing her glasses in expectation. Chika rubbed his chin in thought, his description was uncertain.

"Uhh~. Zanpakutou are real or like really there, in your hands, forgot the word…"

"Tangible?"

"Tangible! It's always gonna be there with you. Way better than the old stuff. You can die trying to pull a shard of your soul out for a Reiketsutou. It's a piece of your soul crafted into a weapon, so it's made of Reishi. Using it drains the soul shard inside, then you have to add more Reishi to it, then more, and more. Until finally…"

Chika stared at Muhou, an unreadable expression on his face.

"It's empty…"

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[A/N: For those confused, Quincy Spirit Weapons are based on atmospheric Reishi, gathering it from the air. The Reiketsutou is internal, gathering from the individual themselves, hence the draining effect. Quite literally a double-edged sword. I thought it was an interesting choice to introduce such a weapon since genuine inspiration and original ideas are hard to come by throughout all history and cultures. I wanted the Spirit Weapons of the Quincy and the Zanpakutou to have a tie-in with old armaments and technology. Don't worry, Reiketsutou won't take over and destroy the story and culture. The Zanpakutou holds a special place in everyone's heart, and it will always be the better version.]