<h4>Volume 2 Chapter 44 - The World</h4>


    Kisuke woke up and saw a wooden ceiling, "Where am I?"


    "You''ve always wanted to say that, right?" A voice of a woman resounded beside him.


    Kisuke turned to his lower right and saw Yoruichi using his arms as pillows while naked with only a white nket covering the both of them, "Yep.~" He then proceeded to give her a light peck on her lips.


    Yoruichi tightened her hug before she sat up and stretched her arms while the nket slid through her smooth skin. She then went down the bed and grabbed her clothes to get dressed.


    "How long have I been out?" Kisuke also sat up and went down the bed. He went straight to the closet and opened it. Inside the closet is his usual outfit in bulk numbers. He got one set and started getting dressed.


    "It''s 6:00 PM right now, so around 5 hours." Yoruichi put on her ck panties and started working on the bra with the same design, "Help me hold my hair."


    Kisuke, who is already wearing his Shihakushou stopped what he was doing and went behind her and did what he was told. Kisuke thought for a while and asked, "You didn''t do anything to me while I was out cold, right?"


    "Fufufu.~ I wonder." Yoruichi finished wearing her bra and proceed to put on her orange outfit while giving Kisuke a teasing smile.


    "So you did nothing," Kisuke replied back. Based on Yoruichi''s response, he was sure that she did nothing of sort.


    "Hmmph, you''re no fun." Yoruichi snorted and finished putting on her clothes.


    "You put on some underwear now huh." Kisuke lightlymented while he resumed dressing up.


    "I had to get used to it now." Yoruichi chuckled lightly.


    "But you still had the same clothes from back then, don''t you want to wear something different as a change of pace?" Kisuke put on his hat as a final touch to his attire.


    "Maybe I should some other time. I don''t have any other clothes with me." Yoruichi went out of the room and Kisuke followed her. They were on the second floor of the wooden lodge on the southern part of the secret training ground in an exclusive room reserved just for the only two of them.


    They reached the living room of the lodge and Yoruichi walked straight to the kitchen area just beside it to prepare some snacks and tea.


    "Let''s go on a date some other time to buy you some clothes." Kisuke suddenly said behind her, which surprised her to stop what she is intending to do.


    "Alright, you n for it." Yoruichi turned around and gave him a warm bright smile. She then goes and get the tea and snacks and set it on the table in the living room.


    "Got it, but I don''t think it''ll be anytime soon as there are some things I need to prepare." Kisuke nodded and sat down to take a sip on the warm tea.


    "Because of what happened earlier." Yoruichi did the same and asked curiously. She isn''t mad that he would dy their date as they have all the time in the world they needed. On the contrary, she thinks that this kind of pace is just right for her as it isn''t too busy just like her and his past life and not too slow to justze around.


    "You''re correct. I guess trouble wille looking for us no matter what we do." Kisuke smiled wryly, but thinking about it again, if he didn''t reincarnate together with Yoruichi in this strange and troublesome world, they might not be able to get together.


    "Just what is that Kidou you just used on that guy?" Yoruichi set down her cup of tea and grabbed some cookies to nibble as she remembers the screaming Grim Reaper before he exploded.


    "It is called ''Soul Search''." Kisuke started exining, "It''s a technique I''ve developed thesest few months. It uses the versatility of mana to expand the use of Reiatsu outside of the usual offensive, defensive, healing, binding, and tracking."


    Kisuke sips his tea before continuing, "Soul Search, in particr, is a technique that uses the ipatibility of Mana and Reiatsu by pumping both of it to the target''s soul. I use Mana to guide the Reiatsu and have it wreak havoc inside the soul body. The soul body will then disintegrate fast and use the chance for the Mana to read the information that is spilling out while the soul body copses."


    "What a nasty and merciless technique you''ve got there." Yoruichi interrupted Kisuke exnation.


    "Hahaha, I did mention to you before that it isn''t a nice technique. Well, of course, there would be huge drawbacks. Aside from it only in the early phase of development, it poses danger to the user if he or she isn''t strong enough, both mind and body, as it''ll also wreak havoc on your body if not controlled properly and information may drown you making you forget about yourself entirely." Kisuke chuckled at Yoruichi''s words and continued.


    "It''s at times like this that you''re very reckless, even more so than Ichigo. You won''t ever change, huh." Yoruichi looked at Kisuke''s happy face and sighed.


    "That''s just how I work." Kisuke shrugged his shoulders and resumed exining, "Even if everything spills out from the soul, I can''t read and retain everything. Most of it was lost in the process so the information in my head ended up bing gibberish most of the time."


    "And then? What did you get from that guy?" Yoruichi stopped thinking about the absurd technique he developed that may lead to his execution if they were in Seiretei.


    "Hmmm, let''s see." Kisuke went into deep thought for a few minutes before he spoke again, "Just a few seemingly important things."


    Yoruichi didn''t interrupt him this time and just waited for him to speak while nibbling on her cookies.


    "First, I was able to confirm that he is indeed working for an Olympian God called Hades."


    "Gods, huh. I was really skeptical about their actual existence, it turns out that there are true Gods in this world."


    "Well, an actual definition exist so the probability that they really exist in this world is big, no need to be surprised."


    "This makes it moreplicated. In our world, we only have the Human World, Soul Society, and Hueco Mundo."


    "Have I already exined to you how this world works?"


    "Just the basic information on Human World, Underworld, and Dimensional Gap."


    "Then before we continue, let''s have a short lesson." Kisuke took out a fan and a 4'' by 6'' whiteboard and hurriedly draw a simple illustration.


    Kisuke draws arge oblong epassing most of the whiteboard, and inside it is small bubbles of different sizes. Three bubbles arerger than the rest and he wrote something inside them and connected the two bubbles at the side to the center bubble by three lines.


    The bubble on the left side isbeled as ''Underworld'', the center bubble is ''Human World'' and thest of the three big bubbles on the left is ''Heaven''. The small bubbles are alsobeled with some names. ''Realm of the Dead'', ''Takamagahara'', ''Asgard'', and ''Olympus'' to only name a few. Kisuke also drew a line between these small bubbles and the ''Human World''.


    "Now then, to exin all of this," Kisuke pointed at the bubble containing the ''Human World''. "This is the space we are currently residing in." He then proceeded to point the ''Underworld'' and ''Heaven'', "This is where the so-called Three Factions resides. The Devils and Fallen Angels in Underworld, and Angels in Heaven. They are the strongest because they are the most populous of the bunch because of therge space they''re living in, well, at least in the past. Note that the size of the bubbles here represents the size of that space.


    "These three lines represent the strong connection of both Underworld and Heaven to the Human World. Which is also why they cane and go more easily to Human World than any other factions making their forces more prevalent. The smaller spaces are also connected to the Human World and to some other spaces. Although I don''t know how these connections were made, and why are all of them connected to the Human World."


    "So these smaller bubbles are the spaces where the other Gods resides?" Yoruichi asked.


    "Yes, and thisrge oblong here is the Dimensional Gap."


    "So you mean to say that if we have a way to navigate in this Dimensional Gap, we could go anywhere?"


    "Correct, but that would be almost impossible as there are no concepts of distance and direction in Dimensional Gap."


    "Almost? So you already have a n for that?" Yoruichi found the hidden meaning in Kisuke''s words.


    "Well, it''s just a theory for now so I would need more time to experiment and research this topic. To exin it, didn''t I told you that all the Mana in this world came from the Dimensional Gap that spills to various spaces, as for how and why? I don''t know. But I think that we can navigate it if we can just pinpoint and study the flow of Mana in Dimensional Gap, and I would need a bunch of equipment and time to do that." Kisuke excitedly exined.


    "Hoho~~. As expected of you. Anyway, you said Mana, but where are all the other energy typesing from?"


    "Ahem, as I said before, Ki (Life Force) came from every living thing, and Reiryoku (Spiritual Power) came from everything with a soul. Demonic Power, Holy Power, and other types all came from Mana itself. So you could say that there are only three main energy types."


    "Wait, Mana? How?"


    "It has something to do with their physique and how their individual space epts Mana. Demonic Power, for example, it came to be when a Devil absorbs Mana and his body automatically converts it Demonic Power that he can use, and the Underworld itself converts some of the Mana that came from the Dimensional Gap into Demonic Power. It''s the same case for Fallen Angels, Angels, Heaven and all other that uses Mana."


    "Then how are those humans able to use Holy Power themselves?"


    "They convert it manually by themselves or making a contract with an Angel to bestow them Holy Power, same case with Humans using Demonic Power."


    "Hmmm, is that also why Holy Power is the bane of Devils as it counters the Demonic Power in their bodies making it a neutral uncontrolled Mana that destroys their bodies from the inside?"


    "Yes, it''s also true in reverse if Demonic Power is stronger."


    "That makes sense now. Last question. What is beyond the Dimensional Gap?"


    "I don''t know. It''s also one of the things I want to find out in this lifetime." Kisuke shrugged his shoulders again and smiled wryly.


    "Looks like you''ll be busy again." Yoruichi sighed at her impossible lover.


    Kisuke approached and hugged her while whispering to her ears, "Of course I won''t cut the time that I could spend with you ever."


    "If that''s the case, then fine." Yoruichi smiled in relief.


    Kisuke sat down beside her and took another sip of his already cold tea, "Now back on what I got on that Grim Reaper, the second is, they seem to need blood sacrifices for a certain ritual. As for what kind of blood sacrifice and what ritual it is, it''s all gibberish or he might not have known it in the first ce."


    "They are watching the kids, so maybe something rted to that?" Yoruichi contemted on Kisuke''s words.


    "Maybe. That''s why we have to prepare. But I honestly only have few ideas to prepare, we don''t know their means other than their great stealth ability that we can''t pinpoint unless they make a move." Kisuke furrowed his brows. All this time, he has been thinking of countermeasures, but the information he has on his hands is very negligible that they might as well be blind.


    "I''ll patrol the whole town when I''m free. That should decrease our chances of getting stabbed in the dark." Yoruichi suggested.


    "Thanks for the hard work.~ Moving to the third andst point, they also have a second priority order, and that is to look for the human from the prophecy of some God. I also don''t know the details, and I don''t want to be sound conceited, but that could be us they are looking for. This is the reason why I said the trouble woulde looking for us no matter what we do." Kisuke patted Yoruichi''s head and returned to his serious expression.


    "Prophecy? That''s a thing? Sounds dubious and stupid." Yoruichi furrowed her brows. She couldn''t believe at something that predicts the future in the long run. Yhwach is the only one who can match this with his ''The Almighty'' ability that could the future in all of its branches, although he has the power to alter the future itself, which made him a more terrifying enemy.


    "I know right? They would take precautions and even attack us for something so obscure, but we really don''t know how the Gods'' ''Divinity'' works. It should also be based on Mana, but I have no clue how it turns into a concept that Gods use." Kisuke rubbed his chin and continue to think of ways to somehow evade this, but he seriously needs more time to research this topic.


    "Then we can''t do anything about that for now?" Yoruichi asked.


    "Nope, and probably suspects me now since I should just be an average human in their eyes and somehow, a low-ss devil keeps powering up in my ce. They''ll probably ce some sort of surveince on me, directly or indirectly. I can deal with the direct surveince, but indirect ones would be hard to even realize."


    "What do you n to do now?"


    "Hmmm… I guess I should shift some of my research time to Sacred Gears, it may help us in the future."


    "That''s pretty vague. Although I also couldn''t think of anything else…"


    "Hence, we throw that problem to the of our minds for now. And for a bonus point, this guy is crushing hard on Hades'' ill-gotten wife, Persephone."


    "Ill-gotten wife? What is that suppose to mean?"


    "I also don''t know, but it could be a piece of useful information so I''m putting it out. Let''s go up. Those girls are probably waiting for some time now." Kisuke cleaned up the table and the dishes before going out of the lodging with Yoruichi.


    "I''ll go out a do some patrolling, I want to know if they are going to send another team to after the missing one." Yoruichi went ahead of Kisuke.


    "Okay, be careful." Kisuke reminded her and went up.


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    ''I finished my work earlier than expected, I should be able to cook dinner today.'' Sakura opened the door of their house and said, "I''m home." Koneko''s voice answered from the living room, "Wee back."


    Sakura then takes off her shoes and went to the living room, "I''ll be cooking today, Kone-…!" She stopped when she saw the other people in the room, ''What is the Sitri Princess doing here!?''