Chapter 127: Hikikomori?
<span style="font-weight:400">{That fool Kaien doesn’t know about your fetish. Partner likes to stick his dick in the crazy.}
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘That will exin my attraction to you.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">{Fufu. I’m born to take care of my Partner. Born to be irresistible to you.}
<span style="font-weight:400">“Ukitake hasn’t changed a bit,” Yoruichi whispered after they parted ways with Kaien, bringing up her former Gotei 13rade. “If I had to bet my life on one person to believe Aizen’s true nature, it would be Captain Ukitake.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya gently tugged at her whiskers. “How much do you know about his disease?”
<span style="font-weight:400">“How did you know that? Never mind, I keep forgetting about your past.” Her eyes shed as she pped his intrusive hand away, her w tips slightly grazing his skin. “Captain Ukitake has been suffering from a lung disease from a very young age. That’s all I know.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Heh.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Your smirk implies you know more than me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">His contemptuous nature sometimes got under her skin so much that she almost couldn’t resist unleashing her special w attack on his face.
<span style="font-weight:400">“I do know more than you. However, I can’t share it. It’s considered forbidden knowledge.”
<span style="font-weight:400">As the words left his mouth, he could almost hear Kisuke’s chiding voice in the back of his mind. The forbidden knowledge wasn’t much of a secret among the top brass of the Great Noble ns. Had Yoruichi indulged her curiosity in her family archives, this conversation would be redundant.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Nami, should we infiltrate Shihoin’s library? It might have some useful info.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">{Agreed. You can also p your meatstick against her trap little brother. In the wise words of Izanami-no-Makoto: when you get rejected by her sister, you either seduce her mother or her femboy brother.}
<span style="font-weight:400">His body recoiled subtly, a visible cringe transforming his expression. <i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Stop right there, you perv.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">{Hmph. Heed my wisdom for a heavenly pleasure, or oppose me and suffer in measure.}
<span style="font-weight:400">Yoruichi poked his face with her w. “Forbidden knowledge? Is that secret much more than our <i><span style="font-weight:400">rtionship</i><span style="font-weight:400">?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Cats were curious creatures, and Yoruichi was a cat through and through, albeitced with a mature, observant side to her as well.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Maybe try seducing me in your other form. This voice isn’t working, Yoruichi.”
<span style="font-weight:400">With an audacious click of her tongue, she cleared her throat loudly. “How about now? Is this voice better?”
<span style="font-weight:400">His eyes widened a smidgen. She spoke to him in a voice identical to her human form — a symphonypared to her grating old man voice.
<span style="font-weight:400">She smugly narrowed her eyes at his surprise. “I can switch into a cat. What made you believe I can’t change my voice?”
<span style="font-weight:400">He shrugged. “All hail our sh Goddess and her mysterious spells.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“That’s right, mortal. Worship me. Muahahahaha.”
<span style="font-weight:400">One meaningful praise was enough to distract her curiosity away from the forbidden knowledge.
<span style="font-weight:400">{That’s a cat for you.}
<span style="font-weight:400">…
<span style="font-weight:400">Inside a dimly lit living room where shadows danced in the corners, the flickering ck and white hues from a vintage CRT television illuminated the space intermittently. M Rose was sprawled luxuriously across a plush couch, her long legs nonchntly resting on Api’sp. Api would have erupted in anger if she actually paid attention to M Rose’s presumptuous posture. Fortunately, both of them existed in harmony and peace, owing to their interest in the thrilling drama ying on the monochromatic screen.
<span style="font-weight:400">Just then — Ding-dong! Ding-dong! — the insistent ringing of the doorbell punctured the serene ambiance.
<span style="font-weight:400">Api’s eyes narrowed into slits. Harribel won’t be back tillte afternoon. Sung-Sun had gone off to spend time with Lisa, and would return after sunset.
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘Could it be him?’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Her heart fluttered like a butterfly. The mere possibility of a reunion sent her excitement through the roof. Months of messages through the Hell Butterfly only cured her loneliness so much. She ached for the physical touch of her lover.
<span style="font-weight:400">A nudge against her chin, however, snapped her back to reality.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Get the door already,” M Rosezilymanded as she prodded Api with her toe. “Api, are you there?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Api''s grip tightened around M Rose''s ankle, her eyes smoldering with fury. “Sung-Sun was right about you. You''re utterly hopeless, even for the standards of lioness. A lioness hunts for her pride; you fucking sit in front of television all day. There’s a term for people like you in Japan — hikikomori.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Api swept M Rose’s legs off herp and darted towards the door. Her heartbeat rose in a frantic rhythm as she could already smell his unforgettable scent on the other side. With an almost reckless urgency, she flung the door open, nearly yanking the wooden piece with her brute strength.
<span style="font-weight:400">“Kazuya!” Joy radiated from her, a smile so bright it could rival the sun. But that light dimmed dramatically as her eyesnded on the stunning woman clinging to him, her demonic horns and the subtle Reiatsu around her revealing her race. A stabbing pang of envy cut through her as she registered the woman’s Reiatsu. “You’re a Vasto Lorde…?”
<span style="font-weight:400">A tsunami of emotions engulfed her, the realization crashing down that yet another woman in his life had achieved what she so desperately yearned for.
<span style="font-weight:400">“It’s nice to finally meet you, Emilou Api,” the Vasto Lorde said with a charming smile. “You’re cuter than my husband’s descriptions.”
<span style="font-weight:400">The word “husband” plummeted through Api like a bullet, darkening her expression. “How did you marry a Hollow in the Soul Society?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Yoruichi, unperturbed by the familial drama unfolding, nimbly navigated between Api’s legs and slipped into the mansion.
<span style="font-weight:400">Kazuya cleared his throat, the weight of the unfolding drama dawning on him. He had underestimated the extent of Api’s jealousy. Teasing her any further with Nami’s presence would be nothing short of cruel.
<span style="font-weight:400">He freed himself from Nami’s grasp and drew Api into his arms. “Silly Api, don’t you find any simrity in our Reiatsu? She is my Zanpakutō Spirit.”
<span style="font-weight:400">A veil of confusion clouded Api''s eyes for a moment, her pupils dting and contracting as she processed the information. “I thought your Zanpakutō Spirit was a bird or something.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Evolution, baby!” Namiughed and held Api’s hand. “Something you’re most terrible at.”
<span style="font-weight:400">Api’s eyes widened just in time to see Nami dissolve into a ray of dark red mes, curling and unfurling as they shot into the hilt of Kazuya’s katana.
<span style="font-weight:400">He rubbed Api’s back. “It’s fine. I’ll not leave this time before you’re a Vasto Lorde.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He had exactly one week. And with Api teetering on the brink of transformation, he was confident in his ability to tip the scales. Hearing his promise, her grip tightened on his hand, the words ''thank you'' spoken so softly they were almost lost in the wind.
<span style="font-weight:400">Leading her into the living room, he found M Rose slouched on the couch. Her unkempt hair covered most of her face, her bra-and-panties attireying bare the chaos that had been her life during his absence. Absorbed in her own world, she seemed impervious to his arrival.
<span style="font-weight:400">{The cheerful lioness became a shut-in. What the actual fuck, Partner?}
<i><span style="font-weight:400">‘I’m more surprised than you.’</i>
<span style="font-weight:400">Stretching his arm out, he gave M Rose’s cheeks a yful pinch. “Rose?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Her hand pped his away almost instantaneously. It took her a moment to register his presence; when she did, her eyes red open and a smile illuminated her face. “You’re back after three months. Busy pounding Shinigami women, right?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Yoruichi’sughter erupted with unrestrained delight. Kazuya had indeed bedded more than a dozen women. She could’ve stopped his debauchery but he was seducing them with the intent to awaken his Zanpakutō Spirit. It was a necessary evil to their mission’s sess as he wouldn’t progress far in the Gotei 13 without a Zanpakutō. Well, unless he joined the 11th Division, where raw prowess mattered more than their Zanpakutō evolution.
<span style="font-weight:400">“A lot of shit happened,” he said with a shrug. “By the way, I don’t sense Harribel and Sung-Sun around.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Sung-Sun went to Lisa’s home. Harribel,” Api paused, hesitating. “She is at her job.”
<span style="font-weight:400">He raised an eyebrow, puzzled. “Job? Since when—”
<span style="font-weight:400">The atmosphere suddenly shifted, everyone sensing an eruption of Reiatsu in the middle of the town. “--What the hell? More than a dozen Hollows?”
<span style="font-weight:400">He frowned at the numerous presences that suddenly showed up. With the uing test in the Karakura Town, he had every reason to believe it was orchestrated by Aizen. “Api, I know you want to eat them, but not this time. Can you stay here?”
<span style="font-weight:400">Api groaned. “If M Rose stays here with me.”
<span style="font-weight:400">M Rose shrugged, flicking the TV remote to turn off the screen. “I’ve no interest in stomping low-level freaks. Skull and Yoruichi can go.”
<span style="font-weight:400">“Thanks for understanding, you two. Yoruichi, with me.”