To Cross A Cat's Path [Closed]

The scenery was a pleasant calm, just an ordinarily tranquil park within Seireitei. Today was yet another slow day. Micah clocked into the Fifth Division grounds and handled some paperwork, but there wasn't anything to be done beyond that, and himself alongside several other Shinigami were dismissed early. The same couldn't be said for the Gotei as a whole, so the park itself was fairly devoid of the usual black robes and sandals. The quiet only added to the serenity.

Micah swiftly identified the only odd entity out with his eyes and took his time to journey over. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the fresh natural scents, the very small sounds more distinctly heard from what was mostly silence. He took notice of the same people as Yugiri, but with everyone minding their own business and enjoying their day casually, it felt like all their actions blended into the setting as if they were a part of this park.

Once close enough to be in view, Micah's eyes opened to find Yugiri no longer perched on the tree, but in front of him instead. Given that he came straight from work, Micah was still in uniform, so under his personalised and colourful haori was the usual shihakusho.

"It's been a short while since we last met, Lady Yugiri." Micah offered a polite and pleased smile, and he crouched down to pat the feline's head in greeting. "Of course, m'lady; a man's worth is decided by the power of his words. I will be sure not to tell a single soul."

As the 3rd Seat of a division revolving around secrecy, Micah was provably good with keeping secrets. Given that the division also operated on deception, staying true to their word sometimes wasn't possible, but at least in sentiment, Micah did to a degree believe that a person's worth was influenced by how much their word meant.

But, at least for this young miss, Micah spoke from the heart, and the warmth from his fingers patting her head meant to convey that.

It wasn't very gentlemanly for Micah to comment on that first bit, so he refrained. Instead, the shinigami's smile shifted from one of politeness to one stifling a light chuckle. He nodded in acknowledgement instead--hopefully the motion would mask his grin. Micah's eyes followed the cat moving over to the water and diving into it. Oh? That's pretty.. interesting.

This place surely lived up to being "secret", and for that the 3rd seat was very amused. He followed after, coating in a fine shroud of contained reiryoku to prevent himself from getting wet. He didn't mind getting wet, but it was preferable to avoid carrying all that weight in his clothes.

Once he surfaced into the underwater cave, Micah took a moment to marvel the surroundings. Similar to how he was when first coming to the park, he closed his eyes and focused on all the stimuli to his senses. Once he got a wholesome grasp of the surroundings, Micah reoriented his focus back onto Yugiri, taking down his reiryoku shroud once she finished shaking the water off. There was a consideration to place a shroud around the young lady as well, but the mischievousness in Micah preferred to see Yugiri wet.

"A beautiful place you've found yourself. It would be nice if the training we had didn't disrupt its beauty; speaking of, what sort of training did you have in mind? And, if you don't mind my curiosity, were you intent on training as a cat, or...?"

Micah tilted his head to the side a bit. He wanted to, but refrained from inquiring what a study place had to do with a sturdy place.

"Alright, seems simple enough. I have an idea of what will help you to develop your reiryoku some. I'm not sure if you'll actually widen your reserves through this method, but if you're able and serious, you will certainly develop the means and will to strengthen yourself on your own."

Micah waited in place while Yugiri fired off a kido to dry herself and subsequently return to her au naturale humanoid form. He brought his arm up to cover his face with the length of his sleeve, but only up to his nose; Micah's eyes and forehead were still visible, squinting a bit like he was smiling. By no means was the man 'excited', his usual apathy didn't make that easy, but he did enjoy teasing people. Especially Yugiri--she always returned with cute responses, thus far.

Surely, for someone aiming to take point with the Onmitsukido, she'd be aware of his eyes--and Micah had particularly special eyes. Nothing ever had a single detail left out; therefore, everything was precisely seen. In fact, if Yugiri was paying attention, she'd feel the sharpness of his eyes not just coming frrom his face, but all around her. And, if she took notice to that, she should also gradually notice the surroundings dimming. Not just the artificial light source within the cave, but all light as a whole. Everything was consumed in darkness, except for Micah's very clear figure, the clarity of his body and features at a stark contrast to the total darkness around them.

By then, the sharp, teasingly grinning eyes on Micah's face transitioned into complete and total lifelessness. There was not a single shred of will coming from him, and making eye-contact would inspire that same lifelessness within her. It was a similar sensation to the time Micah's spiritual pressure was exerted in the cafe, but this was much, much thicker of an aura. If the cat cafe could be compared to drowning in a sea of sloth and apathy, this was a viscous ichor pulling you down into a tar pit. That sort of presence was only felt when making eye-contact with Micah, but in this world of total darkness where nothing else existed, there was essentially nothing else to look at. This world was the Solitary Death God, Micah's shikai. When the man lifted his sleeve, his words silently mouthed the release phrase.

Dust to dust, Yama no Shinigami.

"If you want to train, don't look away, and tell me what you feel."

In the two times they met, Micah showed Yugiri a wide array of smiles, usually mild and slight, but very distinct. For the first time since they've met, Micah smiled so far and wide that his teeth gleaned and his cheeks pressed against his cheekbones. To be totally honest, the 3rd Seat vastly underestimated the young Shihoin. He had a good idea of her energy levels, and in the times they interacted, the man presumptuously formed a solid opinion of her. Truly presumptuous, and in defiance of his expectations, truly interesting.

Of course, Yama no Shinigami was a pervasive effect, on both his opponent and himself. Only the smile itself broke Micah's expression--his eyes were dead as always. The contrast between his especially wide smile and eyes devoid of life was terrifyingly surreal. The combination was like a mask, the smile painted on a blank canvas. Not by any machinations of his own--this was just how his zanpakuto worked. And the longer his zanpakuto was working, the more intense the drain from his eyes became.

"Well, that's probably because it is easy to attack me. There's no obstructions to attack me at all, so it's ridiculously easy."

Micah crouched down and leaned back onto his palms, deescalating until his butt was on the floor, a totally relaxed posture. It was almost taunting, but given that his face still held a creaking smile and soulless eyes, it was hard to understand what the intent in his actions were.

"But, saying 'this is all', that kind of hurts, Lady Yugiri. Whether or not this really is all it does, I try to appreciate all aspects of my partner, big or small."

So long as Yugiri maintained her eye-contact, no matter what motions his body was making, even if it were to go down into a relaxed posture, Micah continued to stare right back into Yugiri.

"You can do whatever you want, but as I said at the start, if you want to train, keep looking at me."

If Yugiri was to do nothing at all, neither would Micah--for however long she desired. Like a buddha statue, until the Shihoin did something, Micah was frozen in time.

Micah's smile maintained itself just based off Yugiri's reactions. Finally, she seemed a little bothered. Her being bothered didn't actually have much to do with the training, he just thought it was funny. Things weren't as funny when she promptly accelerated into him using shunko--truly a Shihoin, this one. The shinigami was acquainted with Shunko and understood its principles, even experienced its effects in a spar, but it was a skill he wasn't likely to ever attain himself. Maybe out of inability, but most definitely because of his poor investment into learning kido.

Her dash straight into him riled up no immediate response. In fact, Yugiri's attack connected, and Micah's head turned back in response to the force. Of course, in his mind Micah lamented the pain, but there was no physical indication of any feeling at all. His eyes were still dead, his aura was still empty, and his mouth was still smiling, a bit distorted from the recent punch, but mostly undisturbed. Once the punch connected and his head recoiled, Micah restored himself to the same posture and held his eyes directly to hers, the draining effects persisting.

"I don't think I'm being that cryptic? But, wondering how this is supposed to help is fair. I'll ask then, what do you think is the single most common feature of the mass majority of shinigami that attained shikai and bankai over history, and consequentially raised their spiritual energy?"