After Rio and Fumio had left the Seireitei, they made their way to their Clan. Once there, they were welcomed by smiles since they were known throughout the Clan members as saviours.
"Hey, what are you two doing here?" Souta spotted Rio and Fumio while making his way over to them, seemingly coming from nowhere. As soon as Souta was close enough, Fumio hugged him suddenly before letting him go. Souta was of course caught off-guard by this, however he just chuckled and hugged back.
"Well someone seems to be in a good mood today" Souta commented as he smirked at Fumio, the latter chuckling a little.
"Is there an issue with me hugging my best friend? Or, more appropriate, brother?~" Souta shook his head lightly with a smile.
"I guess not heh" Rio stayed silent at first, looking up at the two.
"Anyway" The woman spoke, attracting the attention of both males.
"Souta, I need you to come with me, the three of us have an appointment to attend." She stated, gaining a raised eyebrow from Souta.
"Really? Who are we meeting?" He asked, confused. Rio just smirked before turning around, her lengthy hair gently following her movements.
"Follow me and you'll see." She then began walking, Fumio taking a step in her direction before being stopped by Souta's hand on his shoulder.
"Hm?" Fumio looked back at the guy.
"Do you have any idea who we're going to see? I can't think of anyone.." Fumio smirked himself and shrugged.
"Like Rio said, follow her and we'll find out so come on~" Fumio then turned back towards Rio and continued to walk, Souta shrugging before following, wondering who they had an 'appointment' with.
After quite some time had passed, the three walked into an unrecognisable part of the Soul Society. Rio continued to walk while the other two followed, eyeing the surroundings. They were pretty damn far from the Seireitei and their Clan's grounds, also far from any towns, almost as if they had walked into a forgotten part of the society. The floor began inclining which both Souta and Fumio noticed, however Rio didn't look back, she just kept walking as if she had walked this path many many times before.
"How far are we now Rio?" Souta spoke up, feeling a little uneasy seeing as he had no idea what-so-ever to where they were... It was almost like how he felt during the first time he had entered the Seireitei, only worse since there were no sign of life around so he'd easily get lost for days or even weeks on end if he was alone....
"Just keep walking." Rio stated, still continuing to walk whilst in front of the two. Souta pouted at this response but he kept quiet and just kept walking meanwhile Fumio continued looking around. Around them were tall forest trees, however it seemed that a clear dirt path had been made that was lined with various types of small flowers that didn't seemed to grow naturally within any other part of the forest. Clearly someone had tended to this inclining path but the question was who?
After what felt like another hour had passed, Rio unexpectedly stopped, causing Fumio to almost bump into her.
"What is it?" Fumio looked at the back of Rio's head, confused. The girl turned her head around, a smile lighting up her face as she looked at the guys behind her.
"We're here" She spoke, her voice sounding slightly softer than usual.
"We are? But all I see is a wall of bushes... I can't even see passed them..." Souta voiced what both him and Fumio were thinking. Rio merely smirked before looking back at the bushes and holding her hand out. As she inched her hand closer to the wall of foliage, it began parting itself, pushing apart the closer she stepped towards it, creating an opening moulded for her only.
"Come you two" Walking forward, she dropped her hand to her side as the bushes parted further for her. Once she walked through, the opening sealed tightly behind her.
Fumio's and Souta's eyes widened a little before the red-head looked back at Souta, the latter looking to him and shrugging with confusion. Fumio then looked forward at the bush and then back at Souta with a smirk.
"You go in next, I'll be right behind you" Souta took a breath before stepping in front of Fumio.
"You'd better be or else I'll come back and kick your ass." Walking forward, the foliage rustled a little before parting once more as Souta continued to walk into and through it, who met him on the other side was someone he could of never expected to see...
"H-huh?" Fumio watched the bushes close behind Souta before stepping forward himself, looking around him as the bush rustled once again and parted for his entry.
"Souta, Kazuhiko, I'm so happy to see you both again" 'Th-that voice...' Fumio's eyes instantly widened but were directed to the floor, however Souta's eyes began welling up a little, unable to move from the figure in front of him. Rio stood beside the figure, a smile on her face while her arms were crossed.
"Y-You're alive?... H-How?" Souta asked before his eyes darted to Fumio.
"Ka-Kazuhiko, l-look!" He noticed Fumio was still staring at the floor, stiff until Souta nudged him.
"Look!" Souta grinned with happiness, knowing how Fumio would feel if he saw who Rio was talking about.
Fumio simply looked at Souta, closing his eyes before taking a quick breath and opening them once again. He slid his vision upwards, looking at the figure's shoes, showing that they must of been a guy, which was also noticeable through the very familiar sound of their voice. He then slowly continued to slide them upwards, revealing to himself more and more of this guy while tears came to his eyes and slipped down his cheeks. Once he had made it to the man's face, Fumio was unable to stop himself from holding any of his tears back. The man smiled widely back at him, a smile he remembered seeing many times during his childhood before what happened with Ursula. Fumio wanted to say something, but he just couldn't open his mouth. Walking forward, the man passed Rio, then Souta and stopped right in front of Fumio.
"D-D..." The red-head tried to talk but still couldn't. The man just continued to smile while placing his left hand on Fumio's right shoulder.
Fumio's (Kazuhiko's) Father
"It's Okay son" Fumio's father looked down at Fumio before pulling him into a comforting hug, closing his eyes.
"I'm so so sorry for ever leaving you.... But I had no choice" Fumio silently cried while hugging his father back tightly and burying his head in his Father's shoulder, sniffing every now and then before steadying his breathing to try to speak.
"B-But I-I.... I... wa-watched you g-get be... beheaded..." The red-head managed to let out a few words that were slightly muffled. His father stroked his back to calm the boy.
"It wasn't me you saw.... It was Huerona's father, Ryato.... He switched places with me and took my place to ensure that you had a guardian since we did look rather similar.... He used Ronda's escape with Huerona as a distraction. I'm sorry to of lead you to believe that Ursula killed me... but you were too close to her for me to get you... I tried so many time to get you out of there, away from her, but I failed on numerous accounts... If it wasn't for Ronda, I might of gotten caught but she told me what Ryato had told her... He had a back up plan, and that was to ensure that no matter what happened, you and Huerona still had someone to watch over you both..." Fumio's father then pulled back to look at his son.
"I'm just glad that you're Okay... I won't ever let you down as a father again... I hope you can forgive me Kazuhiko..." Fumio looked up at his dad, wiping his eyes before looking down at the floor between them.
"Whether you let me down or not doesn't matter to me... It's obvious that I can look after myself now... but..." He bit his bottom lip nervously.
"I'm glad... you're alive... dad... I forgive you..." Souta smiled at the scene of the reunion, knowing that Fumio would feel a little complex but would overall be happy, that was when Fumio's father turned to the fruity-top and walked over to him, hugging Souta also.
"Thank you so much for taking care of my son when I couldn't Souta" He pulled back shortly and ruffled the guy's hair, smiling.
"Truly, thank you..." Souta grinned.
"No problem Kurou, me and Kazuhiko have always been close anyway, I don't know what I'd do without my brother" He chuckled, a smile pulling across Fumio's lips at what Souta had said. Of course Fumio was happy to have his father back, but that didn't mean he needed him now. All Fumio felt that he needed in his life was Souta to support him and kick him when need be, and Souta felt the same way about Fumio.
Kurou then turned to Rio and walked towards her, stopping in front of her while looking down. He noticed the eye-patch but already knew the story since Ronda had been keeping an eye on Rio ever since she noticed that Fumio and Souta were close to the area she was. He chose not to mention it since he did feel bad that Fumio was the cause but he couldn't exactly do anything about it now.
"I saw the fight between you three and Ursula... You saved us all and... I'm sorry about your mother..." Kurou looked down, frowning while Rio just smiled assuringly.
"There is no need to apologise, I understand that what happened needed to be done so don't worry about it" Kurou looked back at Rio, his frown shrinking.
"... I see that you've grown into a strong woman, both of your parents are proud just like I am. Which reminds me, here" Kurou smiled before reaching into an inside pocket and pulling out a small pill bottle.
"Your mother told me to give these to you, they will help with your headaches" Rio looked up at the bottle, blinking a few times before taking it.
"Thank you" She observed the pills for a moment before sticking them into her own inside pocket. Kurou just smiled before turning to look at all three of them.
"Why don't you all come in and relax for a while? We can catch up and such. Remember this place as this is also a home for the three of you. There are three extra rooms incase any of you three wish to stay the night some time. Also, the entrance will only open for you three and myself for security reasons, therefore you cannot bring any guests here heh" Kurou chuckled a little before walking towards a semi-hidden house that looked rather cosy before stepping inside. The three soon followed, marvelling at the plush inner-house décor that was kept spotless. No one expected it to look so
royal and large on the inside from seeing how cosy it looked from the outside. Kurou also had already made some food and drinks for the three, seeming to of clearly been expecting them.
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