Speak to Me So I Can Understand Your Tongue

The question of what Koyo did in the manner was one that his friends bombarded him with. He did the same thing he did at the Academy. He trained himself from sundown to sunrise. Koyo's entire focus was on rounding out his skills, and one of them could be easier done at home. He sat in the center of his room motionless with his eyes closed. He'd not moved from this spot for a long time, training with his Zanpakuto. Right now, they were synchronizing their movements together. Moving hands together and getting used to the flow of the other. This training while he didn't understand the purpose. Asashio claimed it would help them build a connection inside. He felt closer to his sword as he did these exercises. To a certain extent, it felt like a peaceful and tranquil thing.

Koyo had begun branching out and using sealed form techniques around his Zanpakuto. Though his Shikai was still immature yet, it was growing, and his relationship with it at the same time. Asashio had been a treasured confidant, someone who sensed his fear of his mother. His anxieties and other emotional traumas bubbled to the surface when he first met Asashio. Now the spirit could calm Koyo down and relax him. Koyo couldn't do without his Zanpakuto and the spirit's love for him. It was a feeling he'd never gotten from his mother, so it felt nice.

Asashio would even praise Koyo from time to time. These were much-needed quiet moments with the two of them together. Koyo liked his friends and wanted to protect them. But they were energetic to a fault and all happy about each day they woke up. It was a contrast that he noticed rather quickly between them. Koyo was stubborn about his emotions, Asashio said. He didn't show them on his face but felt them inside. That was how it should be for a Kuchiki, he told the spirit when they were first meeting. His mother had conditioned him to not show emotions on the surface. Because if you did so, they could cause trouble for the Kuchiki Clan. So in that way, he kept his feelings bottlenecked and didn't reveal them. His friends were perceptive and saw through some of his walls.

But indeed, only Asashio had seen through them all; the two had a connection that transcended his other bonds. He slept with his Zanpakuto on his person and never left it behind. He felt a deep personal link with his partner he'd learned the name of. So Koyo showed an ample amount of desire to connect and respect his partner. He didn't know what he was striving towards, but Asashio told him he'd only begun. This was only the shallows; he could wade much deeper within. Koyo's obsession was his Zanpakuto at this moment. Everything he did could connect in some way or form to it.