Chapter Seventeen: Pain Comes to Light
Here is the next chapter for you all.
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Flamesofanangelswings and Guest (Dec. 20, 2019): Don't you worry she will show up again. : )
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I hope you all enjoy and have a Jesus filled day.
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Previously:
Looking up he found Kensei staring off into space, "Dad?" Reaching up he pulled on the man's shirt snapping him out of it and his brown eyes landing on the mythical hollow, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Are you okay? You are looking more pale than normal."
"I'm fine. I just want us to finish what we are doing so we can go home." Toshiro replied looking at his father in the eye.
This caused the vizard to become concerned as he placed a hand on the myth's shoulder, "We'll talk about this more when we get home." Toshiro nodded as he stayed quiet, happy he had been able to convey his message correctly.
Now:
In the north shall start with the oldest and wise,
For this one has three that shall takes lives.
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Akira's head shot up as he stood up to his feet and made his way over to the living room window looking out of it with his acid green eyes. The tips of his red hair turning brown as he looked around for the issue causing him to feel protective. Letting out a huff he glared as he ignored the people behind him watching carefully. The longer he continued to stare out the window the more his red hair turned brown. The irritation that he was feeling overwhelmed the fear that he himself was supposed to feel. Behind himself he could feel his father walking up close to him. When he was next to him he asked, "What is it that you are feeling exactly?"
"Fear but it is overwhelmed by protectiveness. Whatever is causing it makes me want to murder them right now." Akira answered heaving slightly as he kept himself from letting the rest of his hollow form show, his hair now half dark brown. "Whoever they are, they are near Toshiro."
Ryuu examined his child watching out the window like the predator myth of that he was. "Consider this your next break. However, make sure that you look like your normal self before you leave."
Green eyes looked at his father as they started to bleed blue once more, his hair doing the same with going back to red. "I'll be back as soon as I can."
"I understand, you just make sure that your friend makes it back home safely. Text me at every important point."
Akira took his phone from his dad and ran out of the building and in the direction he felt the danger was close to. Getting to town he texted his dad quickly letting him know where he made it too before he took off running again. He didn't stop till he made it to the grocery store breathing heavily. Once he got his breath under control he found the door opening showing Kensei and Toshiro walking out. "Dad said that I could help."
"Then allow Shuhei and I take the groceries back." The three looked over at Helen and Shuhei walking up to them. "I need to go check on my niece."
Kensei handed the groceries over to the werewolf mythical hollow, "We will be back once we have done the last thing we need to do."
"Don't be out for too long them. We all need to talk and you know what it is about." Helen replied as she and the instinct hollow walked off with the groceries.
"Come one kids, we need to head to our next destination." Toshiro and Akira followed after Kensei, the teenager hovering close to the younger myth.
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Isshin looked up and smiled, "Hey there, to what do I owe the pleasure of your business?" He didn't have a lot to do today so he had mostly been making sure he had everything that he needed before he sent out the order for more of what he was lacking.
Brown eyes looked at Toshiro then back to Isshin, "I'm sure you know what I want to talk to you about."
"Ah." Isshin put his clipboard down and led him to his office. The moment the four of them were in the office he put a sound barrier so that he could hear out of his office but those outside couldn't hear in. Sitting at his desk he looked at Akira and Toshiro hovering around the corner near the left of the door. "I have a couple of solutions to the blood issue. One is Urahara making a machine that helps duplicate the blood but it would have to be placed in his underground basement. The other is I get some blood from animals in the area."
Kensei shook his head as Toshiro spoke instead, "I don't like the taste of animal blood. It makes me queasy. Even live."
"I…did not know that. Okay, then we will have to go with the machine that Urahara has to build but you should know that it will need to have a break here and there. Otherwise there will be an issue of a town wide power outage. That and Soul Society will know that it is there if things can't be worked out between the two of you."
"How much do you think that it can make at a time?" Kensei asked his fingers tapping against each other.
Isshin let out a sigh as he calculated in his head, "Three maybe four bags. And Urahara will need to have your blood on hand to be able to duplicate it."
Kensei nodded his head in understanding, "When do you think that he can have that up and running?"
"Easily in about a few weeks times. From what it sounds like he already had it in mind since he had a few injured soul reapers end up at his shop. They have never needed it but he had the idea just in case." Isshin glanced over the young myths. It concerned him that Toshiro was leaning on the teenager for comfort. What had happened to cause the young vampire that amount of discomfort? It didn't help that Akira looked as he himself was bothered but he had clearly put his own discomfort aside to help Toshiro.
Meeting the vizard's gaze he gave him a questioning expression that was met with a shake of the head the father instead saying, "What if he had it placed in our hide out. This way it interferes less with the main city power and if it is there they can't think he is easier to put blame on?" Kensei suggested leaning back in his chair his brown eyes glancing over at his son, his iris turning gold for a millisecond.
Understanding where the myth's father was coming from he answered the question, "That could actually work. It isn't like you only rely on Urahara when you all found your home. I'll pitch the idea to him and we will see where we go from there." Kensei glanced back at him as he was asked, "How is Shuhei doing? Any of his new scars bothering him?"
Shaking his head the vizard replied, "Not at all. The only one he shows any kind of irritation with is the scar over his right eye. It has been itching a lot as of late."
"Can you convince him to come and see me? I want to make sure that it isn't something that irritating his nerves."
"I can convince the kid to do so." Kensei said with a nod of his head as his hand went to his phone that buzzed to let him know that he had gotten a text message. Getting to the message he read the words that were there. "Interesting, it seems your son has made his way to the hideout again."
This amused Isshin as he gained a wide smile. Leaning back in his chair he replied, "I'm not surprised to hear that. He has been getting a lot of help on his English language class he is taking. Shuhei has been helping him out a lot while Helen has being speaking English to motivate him to learn it faster."
"As amusing as it is to hear that, that is not why he is there." Kensei put his cellular device back in his pocket, "Karin is with him."
"Why is my daughter at the hideout? She doesn't have a reason to be there."
"Apparently she got attacked by a hollow and is getting healed up by Hachigen."
"What!" Isshin cried in outrage, "That hollow better be dead or I am going to hunt it down."
Kensei gave raised eyebrow, "You really think that Ichigo would leave a hollow alive that injured any of his sisters?"
"Well no…" Isshin crossed his arms over his chest a frown on his face, "It's bad enough that my oldest child has to deal with hollows I don't want my precious girls to deal with the same thing."
Blinking brown eyes looked at his fellow father in the eye, "I am glad that I have a son. I have no idea what I would do if I had a daughter."
Toshiro eyed his father with a confused expression, "Yes you do, you help look out for Parks all the time when her mother or aunt isn't around."
"That is different." Kensei replied flicking his eyes to look at his son, his arms crossing over his chest. "Looking after and having a daughter is two different situations."
A white eyebrow went up as he watched his father with a blank expression on his face. "Your son is right Kensei." The vizard turned his attention to Isshin who was unaffected by the glare that was directed at him. "I've seen the way that you are around little Lizzy. You act more like a father to her than a man who watches her from time to time." Isshin stood up when he heard someone walk into the clinic, "Do you mind checking on Karin and shooting me a text?"
Kensei stood up his son and Akira making their way over to his side. "I don't mind doing that for you." Making their way out of the office the vizard ignored the patient that Isshin instantly made his way over to. Leaving the clinic he looked at the sky a weird tingling in the back of his mind catching his attention. However the sensation in the back of his mind was put on the back burner when Toshiro tugged on the bottom of his shirt. "Let's get back home kids." His brown eyes me the teal of the vampire's own. "I'm sure that Ryuu will want to talk to you when we get there."
"I'll listen to what he has to say. I assume it will be about what I will be learning under his tutelage."
Akira perked up hearing the words that were spoken but was unable to speak fast enough as the vizard nodded as he replied, "Yes, he needs to find out if you need the lessons over all. If you need nothing on standard subjects he will be working with you on your MH lessons."
"What is this I hear about him taking classes from my dad?" The teenager asked, excitement could be heard in his voice. Said excitement went well with his wide smile that graced his face.
Raising an eyebrow Kensei looked at the teenager slightly amused by the young mans actions. "It is exactly how it sounds."
"When was this decided? Why have I not heard of this till now? How does Toshiro know?"
"We decided it before I left with Toshiro to go shopping and you were doing your homework at the time." Kensei replied not even bothering with the third question as he knew for a fact that his son would answer it. There was no need to ask him the same question a second time.
"I read dad's lips during part of the conversation when I was teaching soccer to Parks. I don't know much past that since she deicide to kick the ball into my chest when I wasn't paying attention." The vampire mythical hollow replied moving himself to walk between Akira and Kensei. A small feeling of dread entering his chest. It disappeared not long later but he didn't want to take any chances.
Kensei's eyes narrow as he looked around for the culprit that made his son act the way he did. He truly wanted nothing more than to beat the cause of such scares senseless. Though he too picked up on the feeling of dread Akira bounced happily on his feet, "I can't wait to have a school partner. The day will go by so much faster."
"There is no guarantee that Toshio will end up going through school lessons. He knows a lot of information."
Akira pouted turning his attention to the vampire that spoke after his father. There was a slight ting of nervousness in his voice as he spoke, "Even then I might need to do some of the lessons. There is only so much I could learn on school subjects when I was in the position I was in SS. In addition I was reading books that taught me about this place as well."
The vizard nodded in understanding, having his hand hover close to his son's arm. If anyone attempted to try and take his child away from him they were going to fail. "We should head back home, I'm sure you have homework that you need to be working on and my son needs to talk to Ryuu."
The griffin nodded his head the corner of his eye looking at the myth next to him. He worried about the fact that Toshiro was so affected by this feeling that they were feeling and the fact he himself was starting to become more angry by it instead of scared. Perhaps it was time that he should ask his dad why his reaction to the dangers around them was different. He was sure that the feeling of fear would last despite the fact that he was starting to feel protective over the younger myth. The fact that the danger was no longer affecting him was him numbing, that couldn't be good right?
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Ryuu's eyes glanced over at his son who seemed far more distracted than he had ever seen him in the past. Akira wasn't even looking at the words in front of him. Turning to Toshiro he smiled, "I will be ordering the books the moment we have you take the test. Why don't you go and find your father? Perhaps even get some exercise in, it will make you feel better."
Teal eyes glanced up at him baffled. Looking over at Akira he seemed to understand and left the room to give the two older myths the private time they needed. Thankful for the other's instant understanding Ryuu turned his sons chair to face him. Confused blue eyes met his brown, when he realized what he had been doing he blushed as he apologized for getting distracted. Shaking his head the dragon myth spoke, "There is no need to apologize. Tell me what is going on in your head right now."
Akira let out a small sigh, "It's the feeling that Toshiro and I felt on the way home. We were feeling the same thing but…" The teenager looked into his father's eyes earnestly, "…I wasn't as scared as he was. I was more angry than scared."
"I understand." Standing up Ryuu guided his son to sit on his bed while he sat on Kanna's. Resting his arms on his legs the dragon met his son's confuse gaze, "What you are experiencing is completely normal. Especially when you are the older mythical hollow in a given area."
"I…I don't understand."
Goodness his poor son looked so confused. Ryuu smiled though his heart beat heavily in his chest at the though of his young griffin growing up so fast. "When you were in town with Hitsugaya and his father today you were the older myth. Your instinct knew this and put the fear of what was happening to the side so that you could better protect young Hitsugaya. The more that you are on your own and near our vampire friend the more the fear of the situation will morph into anger and protectiveness."
Akira expressed even more confusion as he asked, "Then what about Kanna? She still reacts to the fear."
"As I've told you both before, I have failed you two in this way due to me being overprotective as I have been. This is the fault that I am a dragon myth. Dragons hate to share their treasure; I have viewed you and Kanna as my personal treasures." The griffin wanted to disagree with his father but the dragon myth continued to talk, "Now that I'm starting to let go a bit I can see more and more in where I failed you two. Kanna still relies on me when at this point she should be not as fearful and trying to protect you when this fear hits. Because you are younger the change was easier for you and your instincts have allowed you to flourish and grow."
"So, will Kanna…ever be able to…"
"It all depends on how much she tries to resist the change that is happening. Thus my other reasoning for her going to school. I can't always be there and she gets to learn how to handle situation that come up on her own." Ryuu met his son's gaze with his serious expression, "Why I can keep you here without worrying is you are already showing that you are not resisting the change. Being around young Hitsugaya is helping you grow in more ways than you know. Due to him also being Kensei's son you have boundaries you are learning to listen to. By deferring to Kensei you are merely aiding him in protecting Hitsugaya."
"So…me not feeling the fear is…good?"
"Yes, it is showing your growth into the young man you are becoming. You not feeling this fear gives me a great sense of pride."
Akira examined his father. Even as his dad spoke he could see the struggle that he was going through. His dad didn't want him to grow up yet he was still proud all the same. The struggle that his father was feeling was hard to hide and the younger myth wondered what had caused his own father to struggle in letting go. In all his life he had never seen his father struggle the way he had recently. Be it watching Kanna leave to go to school or seeing Akira making leaps and bounds in his own growth.
Akira wanted to know why his dad was having such a hard time yet he felt the answer was in front of him just waiting to be figured out. The more the young griffin stared at his father the more he was seeing. There seemed to be a pain that went through his father at the very thought of the two of them being guided to grow up. Like his father wanted to cling to them and never let them go. To keep his treasures with him for the rest of his life.
When the answer hit him, his eyes widened. Jaw dropping Akira's breath caught as he processed what his gut knew the answer was. It was the side effect of his dad leaving his own mother before he was ready. His father had not matured enough power wise and was held back to struggles he should have learned from his mother. Thus his father being insistent that they be ready before they left to be on there own. He didn't want them to suffer the way he was now.
Getting up from his bed he hugged his father tightly, his face buried against his father's throat. Even as his father hugged him back he could feel the dragon shaking. His senses were bombarded with his father's struggles bring tears to the griffin's eyes. Everything in him wanted nothing more than to help his dad but he was at a loss of what he was supposed to do. Never in his life did he think his dad was this affected by what had happened with his choices.