Chapter 247: More meetings
(Gin's pov)
Today, I met Masaru and the rest's father. And from the moment my eyes landed on him, I could feel how dangerous he was, but he was hiding it exceptionally well. I knew that he could kill me at any moment, and he didn't even hide it, but at the same time, he seemed to care about both Rangiku and me and even proposed a better life.
I can't get a read on him.
I don't know when he lies to me and when he tells the truth. The last time was a lucky guess, but that's all.
I need to be careful with my choices. Living inside Seretei would be much safer, and even if he would abuse me to no end if it made me stronger and Rangiku would be treated well, it all would be worth it.
Is it worth the risk, though? Observing Ryoto's children, I could assume that he was at least a decent father. I could believe that Masaru or even Akio acted the whole time, but not Yukima. She was like an open book. It doesn't automatically mean that he would treat Rangiku the same way.
"Gin!!! Can you believe it!? We can live inside Sereitei!"
Rangiku, on the other hand, was ecstatic about the idea of being adopted. She was innocent and didn't even consider the possibility of it being some kind of trap.
"So, what were you talking about with Yukima's dad?"
Seeing how happy my friend was, my decision was swayed slightly.
"Nothing much; he just wanted to know my character better as he didn't know much about me. He probably knew about you more, thanks to Yukima."
But remember, Gin, whatever you decide, I'm sticking with you. You know how I hate it when you vanish without a word, and I wouldn't want to leave you alone, either. We are in it together.
We are in this together, huh?
I decided that if something terrible happened to Rangiku, we could always run away and, in the future... kill Ryoto for lying to me and harming Rangiku, but maybe giving him a chance is what we need right now.
(Ryoto's pov)
Today is not one of my favorite days. Today, I, together with Yoruichi, am taking my daughter Yukima to meet her grandparents. Normally, I would take the whole trio, but they have other things to do.
While I'm grateful to Yoshiho and Horito (Yoruichi's parents). They act as grandparents to all of my children. Without them, my children wouldn't have grandparents, not counting Yama-jii, who also act like one. My and Rin's parents aren't in this world, and Isane is an orphan. Unohana could count as a parental figure to her, but... we can't tell her that she is a grandmother to my children.
The problem in this situation is that I simply don't like either of my in-laws.
Horito just wants to fight me because he hasn't accepted me, and Yoshiho just gives me the creeps. I am stronger than her, that I'm sure of, but I just don't like her for some reason. It's like my instincts are telling me to stay away from her. Maybe because she calls me Ryo-chan... but I doubt it. It was about 80 years since I even saw her.
The only one in this family that I tolerated besides Yoruichi is Yushiro, Yoruichi's younger brother, who I feel is the most sane in this whole family, which isn't saying much.
Yukima was currently riding on my shoulders. She really liked the view from up there, so she tried to do it at every opportunity, and she wasn't the only one. I also enjoyed giving her a ride. Shame that she would grow out of it soon.
Yoruichi was walking beside us as well, and she wasn't thrilled about visiting her parents either.
If not for Yukima here, she would start complaining.
"Do we really need to go? Come on!"
... I stand corrected. Yoruichi doesn't care who she is with. She'll complain either way.
"You know that having good relationships with your family is a good thing, and it's good for children to have grandparent figures, and you are the only one with parents in this family." I calmly explained, but this made Yukima question something that she didn't think about before.
"What happened to your, Rin-kaasan and Isane-kaasan's parents?"
Yukima asked as she was holding into me.
"My and Rin's parents are very far away, and we can't meet them for a long time even if we wanted. Isane, on the other hand, is an orphan and only has her sister and Unohana, but don't call her grandma."
Yoruichi noticed the way I spoke about my and Rin's parents but didn't comment for the moment. I plan to tell her and Isane about my and Rin's situation in the near future. I'm just trying to find the right moment.
As I was deep in my thoughts, someone attempted a sneak attack on me.
"You are wide open!" Horito tried to kick me with a flying kick, but I effortlessly dodged and kicked him without dropping Yukima. Horito then proceeded to land on the ground using his face. Bold move.
"You know, after over 50 tries, I would assume you would give up. I'm clearly stronger than you." And it's annoying at this point.
Horatio stood up energetically.
"I'm never going to give up. I still haven't acknowledged you!" Or so he says, but it's not like he has any say in it.
After he noticed Yukima on my shoulders, he did an immediate 180 with a goofy smile on his face.
"Yukimaaa, my favorite granddaughter!!! I missed you!!!"
I allowed him to take and hug her. He was a doting grandpa, and he loved his grandchildren even if he hated my guts.
As Horito was having the time of his life hugging Yukima, someone else tried to sneak up on me, but she did not try to attack me. More like testing me.
"You know that sneaking on me doesn't work, so why are you hiding your presence?" I asked my mother-in-law who showed herself.
"Oh, you know, we can't let you get rusty, but I'm happy to see that you aren't slacking off. Opposite, in fact, you seem to only be getting stronger." She commented on my strength as she cupped her cheek with her hand while smiling gently. "I'm happy that I wasn't mistaken about you."
She probably meant that she allowed Yukima to be outside of the family in exchange for completing "a few" missions. I, of course, completed them flawlessly and without many difficulties, although all of them weren't the nicest...
But it's not time to feel sorry for myself. I did what I thought was needed, and I'm going to need to live with my decision.
Suddenly, a young boy that was more similar to Yoruichi than he had any right to be appeared. "Ryoto-san! It's nice to see you in good health!" He immediately bowed to me to show respect.
"Stop it, Yushiro. We are practically family. You don't need to do that every time you see me."
Yushiro is also liked by my children and is known as cool but not the coolest uncle. Above him are Zangetau and Komamura.
While we are here, I'll at least try to have an enjoyable time. Not that my in-laws help me with that, but the things I do for my cute daughter.
---
After spending some 'quality' time with the family, I excused myself for a moment and went to a secluded place not far away from the Shihoin mansion.
"Don't you want to join, Soi Fon? You were observing me the whole time either way, so why hide when I'm aware of your presence."
The short figure in all black with her face hidden behind cloth appeared in front of me.
"Tsk, so you've noticed."
I think she doesn't like me, but the reason is still unknown, at least to me. I know for a fact that it's not because she knows that I killed her mom. Otherwise, she would try to kill me at every moment, so it must be something else.
"I'm proud of my detection skills, so if I didn't notice you, you would be on the level of a legendary Assassin who could control every part of his body, presence, and spirit perfectly, or you've caught me off-guard. I can say, however, that you are definitely getting better." I complimented her, but she wasn't happy with that, although I could see that she was proud of herself.
"Of course I am. Yoruichi-sama trains me personally at times, and anything less would be a disgrace to her name."
... Right.
"And coming back to your question, I must refuse. It would be disrespectful for a lowly member of the Stealth Corps to be in the presence of the Shihoin family without reason. Just like a certain someone..." She gave me a hateful look.
"You know that I literally have a daughter with Yoruichi."
"As much as I hate to admit it, it's true. If only you would drop dead, everything would come back to perfection."
Well, it's not nice to talk about someone's death like that in front of said person.
Suddenly I got the perfect idea.
"So you are saying that it would basically be heresy to be in the presence of Yoruichi and the rest of the family, right?" I asked.
"Of course! So now that you understand, please remove yourself from their life." She answered pretty smugly.
"Then what would you do if you somehow broke that rule?" I continued my questioning.
She started thinking.
"This would never happen."
"Humour me."
She sighed and closed her eyes to try to imagine the situation in her head.
"I would probably beg for forgiveness and try to correct my mistake."
"Correct what mistakes?" Soi Fon basically froze up hearing her beloved Yoruichi's voice in front of her.
It shouldn't be possible. Maybe she was imagining things, so she opened her eyes to confirm the source of the voice.
How is it possible for Yoruichi to be in front of Soi Fon?
I picked her up, and using Shunpo, I got her here before she realized. It wasn't easy to do that, but it was definitely worth it, and I'll be abusing this ability for the unforeseeable future.
Realizing that all the eyes were on her, Soi Fon's cheeks started to redden, knowing that I asked her these questions to break these 'rules.'
"Ryoto Yuuki!!!" Soi Fon tried to slash me with her sword, which I sometimes blocked and sometimes dodged, but in the end, she wasn't able to wound me even once. She ended up with a lollipop in her mouth and a very frustrated expression.
I think Koro-sensei had a bigger influence on me than I thought.
(Masaru's pov)
About 2 weeks have passed since Dad's meeting with Gin and Rangiku, and not much has happened during that time.
Since Yukima is going to visit their grandparents and Grandma and Akio wanted to train alone today, I decided to visit Gin and Rangiku.
Dad surprised everyone with the idea of adopting the duo in the wooden shack. I'm not against his idea. In fact, I think it would be cool for them to be part of our family, but I'll try not to let my biased opinion blind me and try to force them into making their decisions.
The last thing I would want is for them to become unhappy because of me.
Also, I should start training with my Shikai soon. Because of its destructive power, I can't do it carelessly, and Dad forbids me from using it without him or his moms around unless my life is in danger. Maybe I should ask Grandpa Yamamoto for some tips about fire-type Zanpakuto. After all, he is an expert on them, being the owner of the most powerful of them all.
---
After a walk through the woods, a familiar shack entered my vision, and I could already sense two presences inside of it.
I walked up to the door, ready to knock on it, but the door suddenly opened, revealing a happy Rangiku.
I lightly chuckled.
"Do you have some kind of sixth sense? As of late, you are always opening this door before anyone can announce their presence."
Hearing me, Rangiku got shy.
"You know that besides Gin, you, Akio, and Yukima are the only friends I have."
That's true. Unlike my siblings, who not only have each other but also Byakuya and me, Rangiku only has Gin.
I smiled gently.
"That's good that we are here, although today I came alone."
I spent the day with Rangiku as Gin was away as he tends to do according to her.
When I was ready to leave for today, I said the silver-haired boy returned with a very serious expression, and I could feel from his emotions that whatever he wanted to talk about with me was not something to be taken lightly.
"Masaru, I have my answer."
(Akio's pov)
I'm weak.
In fact, I can be sure that I'm the weakest in my family. My parents are obviously stronger, but even among my siblings, I'm the weakest.
Yukima has her mask, Masaru-nii recently unlocked his Shikai, and while I have this strange calculation ability, I'm not good enough to use it in battle.
That's why I plan on training in secret as much as I can to catch up to my sibling. Especially Masaru-nii. He was perfectly calm even when we were being attacked, and I'm not going to lie.
I was envious of his abilities, about his calmness.
I was also angry at myself. I was angry at my weakness, at my indecisiveness.
As I was training, hoping to achieve Shikai like my brother when someone approached me.
"Good evening, young man. What are you doing in a place like this alone at this hour?"
A lieutenant approached me, but why?
---
(A/N Long chapter. Gimmie power stones.)
END
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