264 Spar with son

(Ryoto's pov)

I arrived at the Study Chamber together with Masaru, although I was unfortunately forced to dress up.

No matter. It's not like I'm an exhibitionist. I can stand clothes, and if I was to run around naked, Yama-jii would tan me to death.

"So, Masaru, how do you want to do that?" I asked, curious about what kind of spar my son had in mind.

"Can we start with hand-to-hand? No Kido, and no Zanpakuto."

I nodded and brought both of my hands behind my back.

Was it necessary? No, but both of us knew that I didn't need to put my guard up from the beginning. Masaru, on the other hand, brought his hands up, ready to attack.

Seeing that he didn't know how to start, I made the first move.

I rushed with the intention of kicking Masaru's head, but at the last moment, I lowered my leg to do a swift sweep, surprising my son. As he lost his footing, I made a powerful kick to his torso, sending him flying.

I was aware that Masaru possessed Observation Haki, but the moment my foot touched his body, it didn't feel right... It was too hard...

I grinned as I walked up to my opponent, who was lying on the ground.

"You are over-relying on your power, Masaru. If your opponent knows how it works, it's very easy to fool it. Just like I just did."

"... Understood." Masaru took some effort to stand back up, and as soon as he was again on his feet, he was already in a fighting stance.

Good.

I nodded inwardly and rushed once again.

My attacks were fast, precise, and at times unpredictable, but despite that, Masaru was blocking my attacks and even counterattacking at times.

He has got stronger. His fists are heavy and hard, and his body is sturdy, but I know the reason for that, which made me smile.

"Armament Haki, what a surprise to 'see' it here of all places, and how long has it been."

Masaru seemed shocked but, at the same time, seemed like he was expecting it.

"Armament Haki? So that's what it's called. To be honest, I was hoping to surprise you with it, but it looks like you already were aware of this power."

"Of course, I was. I used to be able to do the same, but because of certain circumstances, it is sealed for now, but you shouldn't become overconfident in it. It's not invincible, and even a bare-handed opponent can harm you with the correct technique."

To make my point, I changed my stance to more relaxed with my palms fully open.

We exchanged some blows until I was able to land one strike to his chest with the inside of my hand.

The blow wasn't made with the intention of being destructive, but it was powerful in another way. The damage on the outside was minimal, but the impact went through Haki right through his body with great strength.

All the air escaped from Masaru's lungs, and he dropped to his knees.

"You may have a hard protective layer, but as I've said before, there are ways around it, as I just showed you."

Masaru tried to take his breath, and he quickly recovered. I somehow expected him to be frustrated with how easily I handled his Haki, but I could see him smiling.

"I knew that I didn't stand a chance in hand-to-hand combat, but I wasn't aware that the gap was that big. Let's continue!"

And so, we did, but something unexpected happened as our spar was slowly escalating. I was increasingly forced to be more and more serious.

Masaru was getting better... or at least his Haki was. I doubt that he got a chance to train it in a fight before, but the speed he is improving is tremendous.

I wasn't using my ability to predict moves or even using my own Haki, but it was still very impressive.

*SWOOSH*

Another punch from Masaru was barely avoided by me.

I always dodge as little as possible because it's a way to preverse the energy of the fight on longer than expected. That's the way Yama-jii thought of me. If you can't block it, dodge it. If you can't dodge it, block it. If you can't either, minimize damage as much as you can, but this doesn't exactly translate to this spar. I'm not trying to defeat Masaru, but to train him.

(E/D: Parry and Dodge motherf**ker.)

---

We took a break from our training, and I felt proud of my son. He was strong and was even able to hit me a few times in the end, but that was only hand-to-hand combat, and that wasn't his specialty. I, on the other hand, pun intended, don't have any preference. I can go back and forth between different styles, although I'm not the best with Kido even after many decades, which Yama-jii gives me an earful about every time the topic comes up.

Sorry, Captain Commander, but not everyone has Hollow Reiatsu, which is difficult to control, which makes it hard to use Kido. At least with my incredibly wild Reiatsu.

At least, that's what kind of excuse I'm giving myself when I feel bad. Maybe I'm just bad. Can't be good at everything you try, after all.

"Dad?" Masaru called me, and I focused my attention on my son. "There is one more thing that I need your help with." My curiosity grew as Masaru took out his Zanpakuto. "I was able to achieve Bankai."

And just like that, my eyes went wide open. It was great news.

"Colour me surprised, Masaru. I don't know what to say except congratulations, and I'm proud of your progress."

My words were very genuine, and Masaru could tell, and he smiled back at me.

"I just achieved it and didn't have a chance to test it out, but I would want you to be the first to see it, and if something goes wrong..."

Some of the Bankais can be very destructive just by being activated. The best example is Yama-jii, who could literally destroy the whole Soul Society if he let his Bankai out for too long. I also heard that there were some captains before that were forbidden from using their Bankai because of their nature, like Shinji's, so his worry is justified. As a Captain myself, I could knock him out if needed, even if I'm not best suited against fire-type Zanpakuto. Rin would be better with her Bankai, but lately, she was busy with some affairs in the 7th Division where her full attention was needed, so I understand that Masaru didn't want to bother her. Still, knowing her, she would find time for him, even if she wouldn't sleep for a week afterward.

Responsibility was important, but so was family. My own parents should learn a thing or two from her, even if I don't doubt that they care about me, Rito, and Mikan. Though they should show it more often.

"Consider it done." I answered my son, and as I unsheathed my own Zanpakuto and released Gyaku's Shikai. She would be better than Zangetsu in this situation. Not her abilities, but two swords are better than one.

With that, I was ready for anything that would happen, and so was Masaru. With a big but slow breath, he muttered.

"Bankai."

---

The world went all black. It wasn't because I lost consciousness. No. Masaru's Bankai released a large amount of black flames.

I didn't need my spider sense to know how dangerous these flames were. It felt like they wanted to devour everything in their way, be it ground, rocks, people, Reiatsu, or... even their owner.

"Masaru!?" I called to my son, worried about him. I had a bad feeling, and my gut feeling didn't let me down just yet.

I didn't get an answer, so I immediately activated my Observation Haki to feel Masaru. I didn't want to trust my Reiatsu reading right now, as using Bankai for the first time can be taxing on the body and spirit alike. It can also raise your Reiatsu a lot but drain it at high speed as well, so Haki was my best bet, and I was right to worry. Something was wrong.

Masaru was trashing around, and I could feel his distress as he was being swollen by his own power.

"God dammit! Shunpo!"

I hoped that my own flames from Shunpo would reduce damage from Masaru's black flames, but as soon as they made contact with them, the black fire devoured mine without giving it a chance.

Seeing this, I knew that it wouldn't work, so I braced myself for unavoidable injuries that I would get.

I made a swift motion with my hand to create a Hollow mask and, at the same time, used Hierro on my skin to harden it and raised my Reiatsu, hoping that it would stop the fire at least for a bit until I helped Masaru.

I miss my Armament Haki at moments like this.

I rushed into the flames, and I could immediately feel its power. The heat was unbearable, and even with all the protection that I had, I could feel my skin burning, but I couldn't stop. Not until Masaru was safe.

Through black flames and pain, I was getting closer to the center of this chaos.

The few moments that I used to get to my son felt like an eternity as I felt my body giving out because of injuries but also because I could feel these flames eating or burning away my Reiatsu and stamina, which was scary to think about. It probably went haywire and is burning away everything, and under normal conditions, it wouldn't be as dangerous without Masaru risking his life.

With the last of my strength, I reached my son, who was screaming and trying to control his Bankai without any success, so I did what was needed and threw a punch at Masaru, knocking him out and, in the process deactivating his Bankai.

I was breathing heavily, but I needed to be sure of Masaru's condition. He was drained of Reiatsu. It seemed that the flames were devouring his energy just as they were everything else, but thankfully, there weren't any injuries on his body.

Thank God or whatever higher being there is. I don't care enough right now to correct myself.

What a dangerous Bankai my son has. I couldn't even use Shunpo correctly because it was eating away my Reiatsu at a perilous rate, but what would happen if he used it until he was all out of juice. Would his Bankai deactivate, or would it use alternative fuel...

We are going to have a talk with him later but first...

I momentarily lost strength in my left leg and took a step back, trying to keep my balance, but it didn't help, and I kept going backward until I fell down. Fortunately, there was a boulder that I could lean on as I was sitting.

Finding myself in the new position, I decided to check on my wounds since Masaru was physically fine from what I observed. I'll still get him to the 4th Division to check on him.

I looked down to see my legs, and I understood why my legs couldn't support me. While both of my legs were pretty badly burned, my left leg was in worse condition. With that said, I checked around my body, and it didn't look any better. 3rd degree burns everywhere. I lost feeling in some parts of my body.

I touched my face only to realize that I didn't have my mask on. I didn't even notice when it disappeared, but it looked like it protected my face from any major injuries.

I should call Isane and Captain Unohana to treat my wounds, and Rin should know about our son's state.

And so, I sent Hell Butterfly to these three.

---

Waiting for them to come was difficult. I couldn't move too much because of my injuries, although I could probably force my body if I needed to.

Luckily, Kisuke hid some emergency lollipops around the Study Chamber, and the boulder I was leaning against was one of these hiding places. Usually, I would have one on me, but Masaru's Bankai destroyed them all. If I wasn't so worried about him, I would ground him.

Sitting and leaning on the boulder made me sleepy, but I couldn't close my eyes and rest. I needed to be awake to explain Masaru's state, so I waited and kept my eyes on my unconscious son. The whole time, I was using Observation Haki to feel any changes that could occur in him.

As I was trying to stay conscious, I felt three presences coming towards me and Masaru.

""Ryoto!!!""

Both Isane and Rin yelled out as they rushed to me. Unohana was there as well, and her eyes slightly widened seeing my condition, but she was more composed as she observed Masaru and me as she was getting closer.

"Isane, take care of Masaru... I didn't see any visible wounds, but it's never wrong to be too careful..." It was somehow difficult to talk, but it was probably because the fire dried my throat more than I noticed.

She nodded, and without any hesitation, she moved to Masaru's side as Unohana came to check up on me.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you just escaped from Captain Commander looking at your wounds, but obviously, it isn't the case."

She kneeled down and checked my injuries, and seeing them, she frowned.

"You don't need to sugarcoat it, Unohana. I know that I'm in pretty bad shape. Just say it if I'll survive or not." I spoke.

"You'll survive, but I won't be able to heal everything. Some of the injuries will become scars. Although I must say that not many others would be able to walk off with damage like that." She commented. I just hope that they aren't the ones on my arms or around my neck. I will already be forced to sleeves up to my elbow because of my tattoo when I return.

"I'm sturdy and stubborn. The hardest combination to kill. Besides, I can't let myself be killed before I reunite with someone very important."

Hearing me, Rin's expression softened as she was well aware of who I was talking about, but she still needed to ask some questions.

"And we are thankful for that, but can you tell us what happened. You aren't weak enough to be injured like that by just anyone. I probably know only a handful of people who could do it, but the only one to cause burns like that." Rin joined the conversation. She looked calm, but I knew she was livid and ready to kill whoever did this to me and Masaru.

And so, I explained everything that I was aware of as Unohana was taking care of my wounds.

---

END

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