CH 111: FAMILY
“Otou-san! Otou-san! Wake up.”
“Just...give me five more hours.”
“Hah~! Shouldn’t it be five minutes?”
“Five minutes aren’t enough for my awesome self. Now, shoo, let me sleep.”
In a large bedroom nearly devoid of any decoration, a rather comedic scene was happening.
One young purple-haired girl, seemingly a young pre-teen of 13 or 14 years, was busy shaking a silver-haired man lying down on the bed.
In the end, the girl stopped trying to wake him up directly and opened the curtains.
“Argh!! Accursed sun. My enemy of all mornings.”
Even though he kept fighting back and refused to move, in the end, he could only keel and accept his defeat under the blinding light of the mighty sun.
“Alright, Alright, I got it. Geez. I am getting up.”
Ruffling his hair, his eyes still blurry with sleep, Gojo stretched and yawned.
“What time is it?”
“It’s 10 am.”
“Only 10? Why would you wake me up so soon?”
He mumbled and complained as he stood up and did some light stretching. During the last few days, he had been deep into research, trying to understand more about his powers over energy and creation.
‘Who would have thought that I would become a scientist?’
Gojo could only shake his head in wonder. Some might ask themselves why he was acting like this.
In the past, he would have simply answered because he wanted to stand at the top.
Now though, more than power itself, he hated the notion of not being able to bring out the full power of Kogo. It felt like he would be letting down his partner and other half if he did not give his all for her.
“Otou-san? You forgot you have an appointment with Captain Byakuya and Captain Jushiro about the manga adaptation of his novel.”
“Haha, sorry Senna, thanks for waking me up.”
Gojo's face palmed himself. If he had to be honest, that entertainment project had been more like a joke and honestly a long shot. But he was surprised at how much thought Byakuya put into it.
‘Hahaha, now that I think about it, the tome 10 of <<Silver and black-haired hot swordsmen>> is coming out today.’
He could only laugh speechlessly at the fact that out of all the new novels and manga that slowly appeared over those five years since he came back from Dangai, the BL manga and novel about him and Byakuya was still the best seller and uncontested number one.
He remembered when Byakuya tried to take down that manga, the female soldiers and nobles of the Seireitei nearly rioted. It had really been a sight to behold.
That day, looking at Byakuya’s helpless and disgruntled face, Gojo laughed so much he nearly died of asphyxia.
“Otou-san! Hurry! Hurry! Nemu Nee-san already prepared the bath.”
Senna did not allow Gojo to reminisce any longer as she took him by the arm and left the room while running.
Of course, if he really wished not to, there was no way Senna could have moved him. But watching his cute daughter act like this always brought a warm smile to his smile.
---
It had been five years since his outing to Dangai. Those five years, like most years in the Seireitei, had been completely boring and uneventful. The only true change that happened was the creation and development of the Entertainment department, under the control of the 6th division.
Thanks to that, the ever-so-boring life became a little bearable. Of course, not everyone was happy — mainly the 9th division that was in charge of the “Seireitei News Magazine”, under the control of Captain Kaname Tosen, or as Gojo called him, the blind bastard.
Aside from this, another thing to note was that Senna had officially become a Shinigami.
Last year, Yoruichi expressed concern about Senna’s mental development. Even though she only looked like a child, she was pretty mature mentally, though a little withdrawn – only talking to Gojo and those close to him.
As such, they decided that sending her to school was a good way to develop a relationship.
It was a good idea on paper but…it didn’t help much.
As expected of his daughter, she crushed the six years training program and graduated just after five months before joining the 4th division.
If he counted himself, Toshiro, Momo, and now Senna — in just ten years, the normal graduation time had been broken four times. He wondered what kind of face the instructors made.
He wasn’t surprised at Senna being a genius. Her body was basically born to manipulate Reiryoku. In fact, in terms of energy control, if Gojo didn’t have the six eyes, he was sure that he would have been worse than her. This was how talented she was.
Thanks to that, she was currently specializing herself in theory before becoming an accomplished doctor. After all, he didn’t want her to be in the face of blood and death so soon.
What really surprised Gojo was that Senna had managed to bond with an Asauchi. He really wondered what kind of power her zanpakuto would have once it awakened.
Senna aside, his love life had settled down somewhat. For one, he was in a sorta relationship with Nanao. The girl had bawled her eyes out when he came back alive from the mission.
Furthermore, he didn’t wish to give bad examples to Senna while raising her. So he had been careful to control himself and mainly spent time with Nanao or Rangiku.
Over those five years, his relationship with Rangiku had warmed up considerably and the two of them flirted so much that people already considered them a couple.
Gojo wasn’t blind to the interest Rangiku had for him. But at the same time, he had a hard time breaking the last wall separating them. After all, Gin Ichimaru was her best friend and basically a brother to her.
----
After completely washing the drowsiness away with a hot bath, Gojo, now wearing his shinigami uniform, walked in the living room and couldn’t help but drool at the magnificent scent waffling in.
“Seems as appetizing as always. Thanks, Nemu.”
He took his place as Nemu answered back to his compliment with a happy smile.
It had been slow, but as time passed, Nemu gradually opened her heart to the world.
The process somewhat accelerated after Senna came into the picture. While she still wouldn’t show much when in front of outsiders but she became way more expressive when they were in the house.
She had even developed some hobbies, mainly related to housekeeping. It was tothe point that Gojo was sure that he would die of starvation if Nemu left him, because his stomach couldn’t accept anything else below the level of her cooking.
“Finally, I am starving.”
“Cats shouldn’t eat at the table.”
“Continue and I will scratch you… Nyaa...There, there, under my chin. Ohhh.”
Ever since Yoruichi came back with him, aside from training with him every night in his basement, she would spend most of her time in her cat form and play around with the females visiting him, like Nanao or the others.
Aside from Unohana and of course Soi Fon, none of them knew that the cat they were playing with was in fact a former captain.
Scratching the head of the black cat sitting not far from him, Gojo smiled as he watched the table full of laughter.
For him, who used to eat alone when he was alive, it was really a weird and heartwarming sight.
None of them were related by blood but he liked to think that what they had was even better than a normal family.
Smiling joyfully, Gojo put his hand together and gave the signal to start eating.
“Itadakimasu.”
Today was a good day.
(AN: A simple heartwarming chapter to start VOL 6: CAPTAIN. The name may or may not change, but for now, it will be that. Vol 6 will be very pivotal for this story and there might be some more time skip because I need to reach a very specific date in Bleach timeline. Let’s hope I don’t fuck it up.)