Chapter 28

The next morning…

Rook shuttered.

"You okay, sport?" his father asked.

Rook paused for a moment but sighed. "I have a feeling Oji is going to have some new tricks today…" he said aloud.

His mother paused oddly to this decree. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, just from what I saw yesterday and learned. Kiyoshi is giving him lessons on his elemental ability right? After he sparred with Kiyoshi, I noticed he wondered out to the woods… I followed since my lesson that day was to keep away from Fushiguro sensei…" he said offhandedly. "Anyways, I am in the forest and I heard him talking. Just randomly to himself… at least I thought so. But the smell of earth was really strong and these green orbs were floating around him… then they hightailed it as something massive must have come into the forest!"

The table was silent.

Shin paused mid chew and stared at his little brother. "Are YOU seeing elementals now?" he asked.

Rook shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe? I don't even know, but that sensation made me leave too… whatever it was confronted Oji…"

No one said anything at the table, except Mochi who said. "Can Nanami marry mom too?"

That caused his father to spit out his green tea.

"What is your so called SISTER doing to this family!" he demanded.

Mom was just as shocked. "I never said anything about Nanami! YOU said that before when she was trying to hook Suguru up with me. You said his name to hook him up with her… you do realize how well that would have gone?"

"Nanami can't catch a break…" muttered Shin. "Little sis, why did you want Nanami to marry mom?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It's good to have a dad for other things. We got fun dad. Suguru can be cuddly dad, Nanami can be serious dad…"

"There are not going to be any more fathers in this house!" Dad decreed.

Rook had to bite his tongue. He wanted to say aloud. 'That's all well and good, how about we get one in here to begin with?' but held back. The table was already tense as it was.

But he saw Mochi's point too. Dad isn't around all the time, in fact he is out of the domain more often than not. He is also teaching students still and yet… when mom needed him. He was barely around.

Suguru would be a better fit here, and as Mochi said, he appears to be rather nurturing. He helped mom more often than not, and he was even told when Rook and Mochi were born, it was him and Sukuna who came to help their mother. Dad had a hard time coping!

He was quick to finish his breakfast and excuse himself from the table.

Running outside, Rook went to the spar pit, and found Oji already waiting for him. Yet… that smile was a little unnerving.

"Someone got power…" Rook said aloud.

He turned and snickered. "You're the first to pick up on it, besides Chusi."

Rook eased himself into the pit but felt something was drastically off. "We're not sparring today, are we?"

Oji smiled once more. "I would like to work on your reflexes. And I got just the way to do it, so you can't rush at me…"

"Spoiler alert…"

He was in a good mood today, which means he is going to have some fun with him. Rook knows that when Oji is like this, he can go overboard by accident. However, he was given a warning, don't charge straight ahead.

"Warm up first, stretch yourself out and be sure you are ready for today, I am certain I will surprise you…"

He nodded and did just that, but, never took his eyes off of Oji. As Rook stretched his legs, be took notice as to how different Oji was this morning.

One, he wasn't wearing shoes. He stood barefoot in the spar pit. He usually has battle sandals or something on, but he is never barefoot…

Come to think of it, he's not wearing a lot of clothing to begin with.

Covering his front from his hips to his thighs was thick leather normally seen on samurais. He didn't wear a shirt and yet he kept all four arms behind his back oddly playfully. 'Didn't Kiyoshi say something about his element… it's… what was it again?' he thought to himself, but the more he stared the more he began to dread today.

His instincts were telling him this is going to be hard, as well, expect the unexpected is something he has come to live by. Fushiguro and Maki sensei always drill that into the minds of the students. "Your senses are sharp, your head has to be that much sharper…"

"Like you're the one to talk about that…" Maki Sensei would bluntly shout out.

It got the others to laugh but, Fushiguro sensei sneered. "ANYWAYS" he protested. "You need to be certain that you think things clearly. Your senses are sharp as I said, your mind needs to be sharper, or how else are you going to deal with everything bombarding you at once?"

He was right about it. Although he hasn't seen HIM do anything about sharpening his mind, Rook took the hint and went to Nanami to learn. He was a gracious teacher, although at first he didn't appear to be… probably because of what his dad did in the past.

He knows about that, his mother and Suguru told him!

With his warm up done, Rook stood at the ready. He gave a nod to Oji who began to smile wickedly. "You won't be the only one training today, since I have yet to really perfect this to my liking. Stay on your toes, child!"

Then, his lower right hand made a sweeping motion.

Rook felt the ground tremble under his feet before he jumped as the ground thrust up and nearly struck him! He was taken aback…

"Earth elemental power…" he whispered.

But there was no time to speak it out loud. The ground was trembling under his feet, and Oji made a movement with his lower arms again… why were his fingers arched up?...