Now that he was feeling a little more comfortable in his father's realm, he decided to explore the different levels, starting with the one he was on, of course. He knew the hall that led to his father's room, and the one where his room was must be where the living quarters were, so he didn't want to go opening doors, but the hallway where he'd found Shutara sewing had multiple areas and he was curious to see what else was there.
"Curiosity killed the cat you know." Sofia grinned as she came out from the bushes in the garden as he passed by.
"Says you." Toshiro replied quickly, continuing on. She snorted at him.
"Well, I'll stick with you in case you get lost." The small white cat trotted alongside him and together they entered the hallway.
"That would probably be a good idea." He tried to see if he could spot the end, but with the way it forked off further ahead he had no way of knowing how many rooms there were or how long the halls stretched. "How big is this floor?"
The cat only grinned and began walking. From that the young prince surmised it was indeed very big.
"I'll show you to the kitchen. I think Kirio might still be in there." She said, glancing back every now and then to make sure he was following. "You haven't met her yet and she'd be delighted to see you. Be warned, though, she'll probably try to force some food into you."
"Why would she do that?" Toshiro raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, Kirio's the motherly type. It's one of the reasons my master likes her. You're pretty thin for a growing prince so she'll want to fix that."
Frowning, Toshiro debated on lagging behind to look at the other rooms, but decided against it when the cat looked back again. Honestly, he was just going to look around, he wasn't going to run off or anything. Though he supposed getting lost was a bad idea.
Sofia sat in front of the doors that he guessed led to the kitchen and he stepped forward to open them. The room was much larger than he thought it was, and there were actually two sets of doors leading in. Multiple spirits were at work making food, the smell teasing the young prince and making his stomach growl. He hadn't eaten all day.
As if she'd heard the small noise, a plump, purple haired woman was in front of him in an instant. He jumped back in surprise and her grin widened.
"No need to be nervous, Prince!" She slung an arm over his shoulders and he became nervous. "It's a little late but I can cook something up right quick! A growing boy needs good food!"
"I'm not that small." Toshiro frowned as the woman, who he guessed was Kirio Hikifune, pulled him over to a table and sat him down. Some of the others bowed to him in greeting before returning to their work.
"Well I'm not going to lie to you, child, you are a little on the tiny side." Kirio lifted one of his arms, easily able to grasp her hand around it.
"Am not!" He pulled his arm away. He hated being called small.
"Don't worry, once you start growing into your true powers as the Soul King you'll grow."
"I will?" Toshiro perked up at that and Kirio suppressed the urge to laugh.
"Of course. Since you've been stuck in the Soul Society your whole life your true power was suppressed, thus stunting your growth a bit. With a little help from my cooking and some training, that power will start to grow and so will you! After all, your father is rather tall, no reason you shouldn't be as well."
Toshiro thought about that for a moment. He knew one's Spirit Energy tended to grow along with a Soul Reaper, which is why people said they could tell he would be strong considering how much he had despite being so young, but he thought it was about age, not size. He expected to grow eventually and had come to terms with the fact it might take several decades to do so but he didn't think his short stature would be because his power was locked away.
"Wait…what does food have to do with it?" Teal eyes looked at her curiously.
"It's one of my specialties." Kirio grinned and moved away for a moment to start on something. "I can merge Spirit Energy into the food I make, which will give you a boost in waking up that sleeping power of yours. Usually I make a nice big feast which takes up all my Spirit Energy, slimming me back down, and I have to bulk up again before the next one," she chuckled and patted her large belly, "but I'll only use some of it since it's just you."
"I didn't think it was possible to do that."
"I learned how to do it ages ago. I was the Squad Twelve Captain before that Kurotsuchi bloke, and even before Urahara. Both masterminds if I ever saw one but with the cost of their sanity."
"Can't argue there." Toshiro laid his head on his arms, those resting atop the table, as he waited. He WAS hungry, and there was plenty of time to look through the other rooms tomorrow. "Oh…where's Sofia."
Kirio looked back at the doors before returning to her pan.
"She's being a good pet and staying out of the kitchen. I don't care what animal form she takes I don't want her near the food unless I'm giving it to her."
"I see."
As he waited, Toshiro chatted idly with his zanpaktou. The ice dragon seemed to find his current situation amusing, reminding his master of how excited he'd looked when Hikifune had told him he'd grow. The young prince then ignored his dragon before snapping up as a large plate of food was put in front of him, along with several smaller plates. The purple haired woman did look a little slimmed down, though not by much.
"Um…there's no way I can eat all that." Toshiro's wide eyes turned to the chef.
"Another thing about my food is you can't stop eating it." Kirio patted his head and he frowned; he was starting to dislike her motherly nature. "Whatever you don't finish Sofia can have."
As if called by a whistle, that cat was sitting next to the young prince expectantly. Instead of shooing her away as Toshiro thought she would, Kirio laughed at the animal before sitting down across from the boy.
"I only kick her out when I'm cooking." Kirio explained at Toshiro perplexed glance. "Now eat or she'll take it all from under your nose."
There was a low rumble and Toshiro blushed slightly, a hand to his stomach. If he was going to eat he might as well do it now, he supposed. He took a bite and was quick to realize what she meant by 'can't stop eating'. It was absolutely delicious and he doubted anything could compare. Was it the Spirit Energy she'd infused into it or was she truly just that good of a cook. He thought perhaps it was a mix of the two. He didn't forget about Sofia, though, and put a plate down on the seat next to him for her to chow down on. She purred loudly as she ate.
He finished quicker than he expected to and heard Kirio chuckle.
"Anytime you're hungry just come on by." She smiled gently at him. "Now go on, it's getting late and you need to start training tomorrow."
"Why so soon?" Toshiro frowned.
"I'm sure you've felt it, the drain on your energy." She had a serious expression on now as the young prince nodded. "You need to raise your Spirit Energy so it won't do that. Too long at this level, despite how much power you do have, and you'll be too drained to do anything, which is definitely bad news."
Well, so much for exploring.
"What do you have in mind?"
"Oh I won't be training you tomorrow, Ruala is. She's going to be using a special kind of training she developed to raise your Spirit Energy. It's how she can use so much Kido and magic without breaking a sweat."
"Yup." Sofia nodded and swallowed her mouthful of food. "My master has a unique way of raising and recovering Spirit Energy. She might even teach you some of her magic once your Spirit Energy is high enough."
Kirio pointedly looked at the cat and Sofia tensed. Toshiro did not miss this exchange.
"She'll probably wait until you're better prepared though. After all, you have a lot to learn before you can take the throne."
"Sofia will be taking you to Ruala's kingdom early tomorrow, so make sure to get some rest." Kirio put a smile back on before vanishing among the kitchen and its inhabitants.
Said cat finished the last bite of food and sauntered back over to the door. Toshiro got up and was quick to follow. He knew the way back to his room but wanted to ask the small cat more about her master.
"So what is Nakryin's kingdom like?" He asked.
"Lots of trees, very wild." Sofia shrugged. "And lots of animals. Just so you know, not all of her animals are normal looking, nor are they all cute and harmless. She can tame any beast she wants, but that doesn't mean they're nice to others."
"I'll keep that in mind…" Dangerous animals? Would they take part in his training tomorrow?
"You might like her pet dragons though, considering your zanpaktou spirit is one." Sofia remarked and Toshiro was far more interested in seeing Ruala's kingdom.
"She has dragons?"
"Yes, around five or so. Most of them are pretty small for dragons but one of them is enormous and actually doesn't live on the kingdom, only visits every now and then for something important. One of the dragons living with my master is the big dragon's daughter so she'll come around to check up on her."
"Are they like Hyorinmaru?"
"Hm…I think one of them has ice powers but they all look more like the western dragons, not the long and skinny eastern kind. Most of them are still too young to breathe fire or some other element but they can still be vicious."
"I would expect nothing less from dragons."
Sofia turned back to grin at him before looking ahead again. They were back in the main room and Toshiro moved away from the cat towards the balcony, looking for Ruala's kingdom. Hers was easy to spot from this height as it was covered in forest, probably the largest of the six kingdoms, with a waterfall going off the edge in certain spots down into the lake below. How the water got back up he wasn't sure but he suspected magic on her part.
"Hers is the biggest because she keeps all the dangerous animals away from the surface. People are grateful to her for that." Sofia explained, leaping onto the thick railing beside him.
"Kirinji mentioned only one Royal Family living with her." Toshiro turned to the white cat.
"Yup, the Greenleaf Family. I've heard that there aren't any male heirs because if there had been, your father would have picked him to succeed instead of Dethmaiyn. The Greenleaf Family has always been powerful but mostly consisted of women. Your mother was actually a part of the Greenleaf Family."
"She was?"
"Yes. So in a way, you'll get to meet your extended family tomorrow." The cat grinned mischievously. "I think your mother was the Head of House's sister, and the Head of House has two daughters. One of them sort of adopted my master as a sister while the other can be a little rough around the edges. I heard they had a cousin but she was never mentioned again so I guess it was just a silly rumor. Also, I heard that Ælfwyn, the one who adopted my master, did have a son but he died some time ago thanks to the demons."
"Dethmaiyn has destroyed so many…" Toshiro leaned on the railing, his head over his arms.
"He wanted to make sure the more popular Greenleaf Family didn't have a chance of succeeding him."
The young prince let out a heavy sigh; perhaps he should just get some sleep. It was terribly dark outside with only a thin crescent moon overhead and his full stomach was making him drowsy. He had more questions, like why the names of those associated with Ruala seemed so foreign compared to the others, but could wait until tomorrow when he met them.
Sofia followed him this time as he headed back to his room and dropped onto his bed, too tired to remove his new haori or pull the blankets over him. Shrugging, the white cat curled up with him and went to sleep. They would both need their energy for tomorrow.
So I've gotten behind on my work for school and really need to get back to it. So, I may start posting later, with a day or two between each chapter. Sorry, but my mom's decided to start breathing down my neck about it and with school a month away I do need to get working. I have a painting to finish and a book to read. Sorry!
Moving on. So we find out where Toshiro's mom comes from and a little hint at what's to come in future chapters. The Greenleaf family are all going to be OC's of mine. The daughters are my elf character, though they won't be elves here. I won't say anything about the mother yet ^^ Their living style will be very similar to how the elves in Lord of the Rings and Eragon lived. They'll dress similarly too. Let's just consider Ruala's kingdom a very elven type place, way different than Toshiro is used to ^^ Enjoy!