Bleach: Azashiro

***Akihiko Azashiro***

Sitting in front of the lake and watching the fish, I caught myself thinking that it had become something of a ritual:

Watching them splash in the water gave them a feeling of some kind of peace. One of the few places on the estate where you can simply retire. Rarely did anyone come here, with the exception of servants, who were responsible for feeding fish and caring for plants. This is probably why the lake has become a place where I can be alone. Stably, once a week, I come and just sit. I'm taking a break from all the fuss that's happening on the estate.

Six years have passed since I returned home after the attack on me. For all the time, I never made it outside of Seireitei. Not that I was eager to get to Rukongai. I had something to do.

My father recently began to initiate me into the affairs of the clan. As you might guess, it took a lot of time. I didn't complain, no, in the future I will take the place of the head of the clan and I needed to gain experience.

Also, my father told me the name Shinigami that he attacked me during my battle with Adjukas - Hideo Tsunayashiro. It was not difficult to guess this, looking at all his actions over these few years. It was as if he had gone wild: he attacked all high-ranking noble families, wanting to bite them more, but did not want to enter into a direct conflict. Even to me, his actions seemed strange, against the backdrop of the situation of his family. Now, the Tsunayashiro clan exists solely because of the two old people who served under the previous head of the clan and had enough power to shut the mouths of the dissatisfied.

Hideo has already made several attempts on the lives of heirs of noble families, several of them successful. It would have been possible to go to Council 46, but there was no evidence. Enrakyeten is an amazing zanpakto and thanks to his ability to copy the powers of other people's zanpakto, it is not possible to catch Hideo.

All intelligent people know this, but because of his status as a noble clan and the strength behind him, they are hesitant to act. Our family also suffered from the actions of this madman, fortunately we managed to minimize the damage. Thanks to my father's timely actions, income from our establishments and hot springs fell by only half. The rest of the highest noble families lost much more.

The actions of just one person led to an unstable situation within Seireitei. Younger families, incited by Tsunayashiro, lick their lips at the highest noble families. They sleep and see their clans rise. In the last year alone, my family had to rein in a couple of such clans. We thought we had weakened enough to put our hands on our establishments. It's a pity they didn't dare attack the clan, but limited themselves only to establishments. Because of this, we couldn't just kill them all. As a result, Council 46 ordered them to pay us a decent amount over ten years.

In Rukongai the situation is even worse. While noble families are busy with their squabbles, they have no time to control and secure the areas of Rukongai. And given the recent increase in attacks by empty, middle districts of Rukongai, ordinary souls have a hard time. The highest and noble clans try to send Shinigami to clean up empty ones, but these forces are not enough. In such a situation, no one would weaken the protection of their family and send large detachments to confront empty ones.

Last year, problems with empty ones became critical, but the director of the Academy of Theological Arts volunteered to help. Now the academy's students are making forays into the middle areas of Rukongai, under the supervision of teachers. Thanks to their actions, the problem with the empty ones was almost solved. There were still a lot of them, but they were dealt with quite quickly.

Over the course of six years, the father was able to enlist the support of most families who were attacked by Tsunayashiro. And also, thanks to the friendship with the Shihoin clan and the father's deal with the head of the Kuchiki clan, when the time comes, we should have enough votes to deprive the Tsunayashiro family of noble status.

As a result of negotiations with Kinryu Kuchiki, the father promised the voluntary resignation of Keigo Azashiro from the post of captain of the kido detachment with the recommendation of the shinigami chosen by Kuchiki to the post of captain and the training of the next heir in the kido. In return, Kinryu Kuchiki undertakes to support the Azashiro family twice in Council 46.

Also, you should come to an agreement with the Shiba clan for complete confidence. If three of the five noble clans come out on our side, success will be guaranteed.

Four years ago, my grandfather returned and carried out vigorous activity. I updated the barriers, installed new ones and took up my training with frenzy. Then, my training regimen, from which I could barely drag my feet, seemed like a warm-up to me. I barely had time to recover between training sessions. But, I must say, the abuse of my carcass bore fruit.

Now I am subject to kidos up to level 90, without reading a spell. Unfortunately, kidos are above level 89, too difficult. For a year now, I have been trying to master Hado №90: Kurohitsugi, which is a very long time, by my standards. To master the rest of the kidos, I needed a maximum of a month and then, I spent a month only studying Hado №88: Hiryu Gekizoku Shinten Raiho.

Grandfather was not surprised by my failures in the kido, as he then put it:

"I'd be surprised if you mastered Kurohitsugi in a month". "

I had to agree with him, the kido of the 90th and above the level were simply prohibitively difficult. Only a master in kido, which I have not become in these six years, can use them.

After a year of such training, he took on Yasuko. But her talent in kido was mediocre; her grandfather grumbled about it for a long time. And how such a diligent student is, but there is no talent in kido. Even though he said so, he taught conscientiously even now, Yasuko is subject to kido up to level 75. Quite a good result in six years, given its workload.

The girl seriously intended to become strong and not be a burden to me. Having plunged headlong into training, she continued to drive herself to the point of sweat. I even had to intervene to stop her, otherwise with such a training regimen, with thirty minutes of rest between training, within six months, she would have burned out.

***Memories***

A month has passed since my last conversation with Yasuko, after which she frantically leaned on training. Because of this, we rarely saw each other and even then, we only exchanged a couple of phrases. I was worried about her appearance. I began to notice that she was walking tired all the time, sometimes bags under her eyes, an extinct look and barely dragging legs were noticeable. Deciding to figure out what was going on, I headed to the training ground where she was training.

And so I'm standing, watching Yasuko train in hoho, all his clothes are soaked in sweat, heavy breathing, incorrect technique, his hands are shaking a little. Did she really get so tired that she could barely stand on her feet during the second training session? And where is the teacher hired by his father looking? Somehow I don't see him.

Having seen enough of this «workout», I decided to interrupt it. I needed to talk to her.

— Yasuko, — with a calm face, I called.

Out of surprise, the girl tripped over her own leg and crashed her forehead into a tree.

God, are you so tired that you managed to stumble. Shaking my head at the girl's recklessness, I came closer. By this time, Yasuko was already sitting on the grass, leaning her back on the tree trunk, which withstood the collision with her cast-iron head, hah.

— Well, tell me, — squatting in front of her, I demanded an explanation.

— I, I — and like a guilty child, lowered my head.

— You, you, what's going on? Why have you been walking for the last few days so tired that you can barely move your legs, hmm? — is already softer and with notes of care in your voice, I asked.

— Trained, — without raising her head, she whispered in a quiet voice.

— Yasuko, look at me — in a serious voice, I said.

When she raised her head, I looked into her tired eyes, today the bags under her eyes look even larger. My gaze has warmed up a little, I can't I'm angry with her.

— Yasuko, please tell me how many times a day and how long do you train? — I asked.

— Six, sometimes seven times. An hour and a half each.

After her words, I screwed up a little.

-Haa, Yasuko, I get it, you want to get stronger, you do your best for it, you give your all. But, you understand, I worry about you. With so much training, not only will you not achieve much, but you can also harm yourself. - hugging this fool, I said.

Feeling the moisture on my shirt, I began to stroke her back, trying to calm her down. After sitting in this position for two minutes, she calmed down.

— Let's do this, now we will go to Yoshi-san, and then you will go on vacation. Okay? — pulled back slightly, holding her hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

— Uh-huh, — agreed, this fool.

— Tomorrow we will talk about your training with your teacher and more, you will not study beyond measure, okay? — putting a menacing expression on your face, I said.

— Yes, Akihiko-sama, — with a smile, she replied.

***End of Memories***

Yasuko's face as she listened to Yoshi-san's lecture on the effectiveness of training and the importance of rest was inimitable. She listened to Yoshi-san so fascinated, as if he was telling her what secrets.

— Hah — involuntarily I burst out laughing from this picture.

Since then, Yasuko began training normally. Well, how normal - most shinigami would howl from such training.

From time to time, she and I had training matches and I noticed her growth in strength all these six years. According to my estimates, she is now able to fight Sato-sensei. She is unlikely to be able to win, but she will definitely be able to hold out with dignity.

The next important event was the development of complete luxury. Yes, as I expected, black smoke was a weakened, incomplete version of my chic. Now my ability to shikaya looks like a dark, viscous liquid flowing from a zanpakto blade. The destructive effect of the ability has doubled, but control is exorbitant.

Unfortunately, great weaknesses have not gone away. I am still influenced by my own power.

For the last year, I have been training to withstand the destructive effects of shikai. It wasn't easy, it hurt, but I was able to roughly estimate how much reatsu needed to be released to destroy the liquid. And the result pleased me: three times more reatsu than liquid needs to be spent to stop the destruction of the reishi.

Just stop. Damage will be done in any case; my ability cannot be completely protected.

Also, another effect of my gorgeous one was revealed. Strengthening hado.

After getting chic, my spells of destruction path became stronger. I didn't attach any importance to this, it seemed to me that I had become stronger. My misconceptions were dispelled by my grandfather.

***Memories***

At an underground training ground designed to train destructive kidos, my grandfather stood next to me and waited for me to start.

— Hado number seventy-three: Soren Sokatsui.

Two clumps of black and blue energy rushed from my palms towards the targets.

*BOOM*

Watching the confrontation between my hado and my grandfather's barrier, I did not notice the surprise on his face.

— Akihiko. — my grandfather called me.

— Yes? — calmly looking at him and waiting for him to continue.

— You said that your ability to engage is destruction, right? — grandfather asked an unexpected question for me.

— Yes, — with a second delay, I answered.

— Hmm, strong zanpacto, — at this point, I stopped understanding what he was talking about.

— Your zanpakto is of a conceptual type, but has one of the properties of a kidotype. Haven't you noticed that your kido has changed color and increased its power? Do you think it's just like that? No, nothing just happens in this world.-

***End of Memories***

After that incident, for two days with my grandfather, I tested the effect of my zanpakto on the kido. It turned out that the power of the hado increased by one and a half times, but now it is more difficult for me to use the rest of the tracks in the kido. On the road to recovery, I am unlikely to be able to succeed due to the influence of the destructive basis of my zanpakto. My maximum in kaido is the simplest techniques, capable only of stopping blood, in small wounds.

I picked up a small pebble lying not far from me and threw it into the water.

*bulk*

Watching circles on the water, I returned to the present. In about thirty minutes, you should go to your father. It's earlier than seven o'clock in the evening, you shouldn't go into his office. Otherwise, there is a high probability of staying there and helping him sort out the pieces of paper. Even if I'm not the head of the clan, I managed to hate paperwork with all my soul.

Remembering all these piles of papers awaiting review, a herd of goosebumps runs down my back, brrr. The only event that was not burdensome for me, after my father brought me up to date, was banquets. They were boring, but I didn't miss the opportunity to relax and fill my belly.

For some reason, I remembered meeting a girl from the Shihoin clan at one of the receptions on our estate.

***Memories***

Going out into the yard to take a break from the obsessive guests, I sat down on the wooden floor and leaned on the stone wall. It was a difficult day today: from the very morning I helped my father with papers, and in the afternoon I prepared to receive guests.

— Hello, what are you doing? — unexpectedly, someone's female voice was heard to my right.

Shuddering slightly in surprise, I turned my head towards the troublemaker. In front of me, leaning her left shoulder on the wall, stood a young girl I didn't know, with short white hair, blue eyes and dark skin. Dressed in tight-fitting black pants and a baggy black shirt tied with a white belt, a white haori was draped over the top with the coat of arms of the Shihoin clan located on the chest.

— You? — should know who she is before you talk.

— Oh, exactly, my name is Shika Shihoin. — clearly, Chiki-san's niece. - What's your name?

Approaching me and bending over, hanging over me, she looked at me expectantly.

— Akihiko Azashiro — I answered calmly.

— So what are you doing here? — plopping next to me and touching me with her shoulder, repeated her question.

— Resting — I still decided to answer honestly.

— Ahh, me too. I hate all these techniques and banquets. My uncle should have dragged me here. - puffing out my cheeks with resentment, she said.

— Heh, I understand, — for some reason, I wasn't averse to her company now.

***End of Memories***

That evening, we talked until the end of the reception, sitting against the wall, until the guests began to leave and Chika-san found us. Only after she left did I wonder: how did she manage to get to me unnoticed?

After that incident, we began to meet more often at all sorts of receptions and banquets where we were taken with us. We spent all our time together chatting about nothing. Most often she spoke, telling interesting stories from childhood. I didn't have much to tell; most of my new life consisted of training.

I'm not complaining, under any circumstances, I also had joyful and fun moments with my family. It's just that I found it inappropriate to tell my shameful stories to a girl I didn't know well.

Lying with my back on the grass, I looked at the white clouds floating among the dark sky. Deciding to take a short nap, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, enjoying the cool evening breeze.

***

— Akihiko-sama, Akihiko-sama.

From a pleasant dream, a voice pulled me out, calling me. Opening my eyes, waking up completely, I saw the face of Yasuko bending over me. After looking around, I came to the conclusion that I slept for at least a couple of hours. Pitch darkness fell into the clearing, illuminated by rare torches in the distance.

— What time is it? — you need to find out whether it is worth going to your father or whether it is better to postpone it until tomorrow.

— Nine o'clock — Yasuko answered me.

Okay, so I'll go to my father tomorrow, it's even better. I can immediately go to the Shihoin clan.

— Thank you — I wouldn't want to sleep on the ground all night.

— Come, I'll cook you dinner, — she said.

Without saying anything, I got up and looked around my lying place. The grass was heavily crushed and will most likely take several days to restore its former appearance. I'm afraid to imagine the expression on my mother's face when she sees this. Perhaps it's worth visiting your father early tomorrow and leaving before that moment.