Kisuke tugged absently at the too-short sleeves of his borrowed top as he waited for Erich to come outside, trying to suppress the desperate, restless edge that was creeping into his thoughts; he needed… he needed to do something — fight or create or… or something, anything that would give his mind an outlet — but he couldn’t. Not now. Not here.

(And all the hints, all the teasing clues, only made the urge worse.)

(He just… he just wanted to know—)

Footsteps jerked his attention back to the present, and he turned slightly to look—

And blinked, taking in the crisp, modern lines of Erich’s attire, from his unadorned jacket to the simple pants tucked into knee-high boots. Erich looked… different — harder, more foreign, more dangerous — in the outfit; it was in his stride, the angle of his chin, the very way he held himself as he approached Kisuke, like a warrior, a predator—

And then he smiled, a tiny, warm quirk of his lips that lit up his eyes and softened his features. “Ready to go?” he asked as he reached Kisuke’s side and stopped.

“Ah— yes, sorry, I just… wasn’t expecting…” Kisuke trailed off, wondering if bringing up Erich’s change in attire was out of bounds or not.

Erich’s smile grew a touch larger as he brushed a hand down his side, and the glance he sent Kisuke’s way was calm-composed-mischievous as he answered, “Well, Lexi couldn’t confirm that there were no more Hollows in the area, which means there’s a chance we could run into one. Since you’re still healing, the brunt of combat thus falls to me, and I’d prefer to be in an outfit I’m comfortable fighting in.”

Kisuke arched an eyebrow at Erich’s words. “And you think we’ll run across a Hollow on this walk?”

“I’ve found it’s wise to be prepared for any eventuality,” Erich said airily as he stepped off the porch and glanced over his shoulder at Kisuke. “Of course, if you’d rather not—”

“No, no! It’s fine,” Kisuke interrupted before Erich could suggest something else; a simple walk was unlikely to help the restlessness in his head, but it was still better than nothing. “I trust your skills, tenshi-san!”

The flat, disappointed look Erich gave him was worse than the sharp-edged, amusing protests of earlier, and Kisuke looked away with a mumbled apology, uncertain why he was so affected by it.

Erich hummed a few quiet notes, his reiatsu brushing soft-accepting-forgiving against Kisuke’s. “Well, if you aren’t opposed, shall we?”

“Right, right,” Kisuke agreed hastily as he stepped down and gestured for Erich to lead the way. “Anywhere in particular we’re going?”

“Here and there,” Erich answered with a shrug and a wry smile. “There’s not a whole lot out here, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. I was just planning on walking around the lake while we talked, which should give us a decent idea of how healed you are.”

Kisuke made a noise of agreement as he fell into step with Erich. “That seems reasonable.”

“I do try to be,” Erich said dryly, as he turned onto a thin path that meandered closer to the water’s edge. “I’m sure you have more questions than you asked, earlier. Anything in particular you’d like to speak about?”

“That’s… a very broad offer, Erich-san.” Kisuke glanced at the man in consideration, debating whether or not it would be acceptable to ask after the man’s powers, before deciding to just go for it. “Ren-san mentioned that all you need for your abilities is strength and will and a song that feels right, but… I’m not quite certain what that means,” he admitted. “Strength and will makes sense — it’s almost the same with kido — but… what makes a song ‘feel right’?”

Erich pursed his lips, his steps slowing as he considered Kisuke’s question. “Most people would just shrug and tell you that it’s instinctive,” he answered thoughtfully, then smiled at the face Kisuke made in response. “There is a method to it,” he clarified with amusement, “but it’s one that’s hard to explain properly unless you have examples to work from. Would you be alright with me singing a bit to show you?”

“So long as you don’t make me fall asleep while we’re walking,” Kisuke teased lightly.

“That would hardly help anything,” Erich said dryly, then tipped his chin up a bit. “Pay attention with all your senses. I’m going to sing two teaching songs, see if you can pick out the differences.”

Kisuke narrowed his eyes at the hint of challenge in Erich’s voice; if that was how the man wanted to be, well…

(‘Curiosity and creativity’, huh?)

(He could do that.)

Erich began to sing, the soft, simple melody drifting around them as they walked down the path. It was… different from the other songs Kisuke had heard him sing, different even from the snatch of music Erich had used to brush away the scent of smoke, and it made him… wonder.

(A ‘teaching song’, Erich had called it.)

(But what did that mean?)

Kisuke frowned, honing his senses on Erich — on the song — and tried to understand what made it different from all the others he’d heard; he had no particular understanding of music itself, but… he didn’t think it was the song, precisely. Or, it was, but it also wasn’t. The song was fine, but…

The difference was in Erich’s reiatsu, Kisuke realized with a jolt of understanding. He stretched his senses to hone in on Erich’s power, half-closing his eyes in concentration; there was intent held within the man’s power, a simple, wordless nudge to ‘pay attention’, but… something about it was strange. Every other time Kisuke had heard Erich sing, the man’s reiatsu had moved… cleanly, fluidly, like water in a clear stream. But this…

This was more like an ice-filled stream, moving in fits and starts, bits griding past and getting stuck. It was as if Erich’s reiatsu was struggling to keep up, struggling to stay steady, and if this had been a kido, Kisuke would have been raising a shield around them both to guard against the inevitable backlash.

(Was that what Erich meant?)

(Was it truly so simple?)

(Though… why was the man’s reiatsu reacting like that?)

(What made a song ‘right’ or not?)

(Surely there was something more to it…)

Erich cast him a sly, sideways glance and—

Changed the song he was singing, voice transitioning seamlessly into something new, something different, and with it…

With it, his reiatsu immediately smoothed out. Reached out. Pressed ‘pay attention’ against Kisuke’s senses, insistent-driven-focused the way the previous song hadn’t been. The difference was astonishing, and all from a simple change of song…?

(No.)

(There had to be something more to it.)

(There was a method to it, but one that was hard to explain.)

(He was overlooking something.)

Kisuke huffed a breath and reached up to rub at one ear, turning the puzzle over and over in his mind; he’d heard several examples of Erich’s singing already, many of them substantially more complex than a simple teaching song that urged him to pay attention—

(Wait.)

(He’d begun to feel sleepy even before he could sense Erich’s power in the lullaby.)

(And maybe that was coincidence, maybe he just hadn’t sensed Erich’s power until the very last moment, but…)

(Maybe, just maybe…)

Kisuke narrowed his eyes and examined Erich more closely, trying to piece together the clues and ignoring the way the man arched an eyebrow in silent question.

(He didn’t need help.)

(Not yet.)

So. Both teaching songs attempted to carry the same message, and… Kisuke could see the first working for someone else — Mami maybe, or perhaps Alexis — since it was a good, catchy tune, but the second…

Calmer, more ordered, with a steady rhythm that repeated at predictable intervals.

A good song to walk — march? — to.

A song that felt like Erich.

(Was that it, then?)

(In order to be ‘right’, a song had to… fit a person?)

(But what did it mean for a song to ‘fit’ a person?)

And then Erich smirked at him, as if sensing his thoughts, and changed back to the first song. Except this time… this time, Erich’s reiatsu continued to flow, continued to press ‘pay attention’ against his senses, though… not as firmly. It stuttered a bit, snagging on the melody like cloth catching on calloused skin, unlike the previous smooth flow.

And the feel of Erich’s reiatsu had changed as well. Lighter, more free…

Or maybe playful was a better descriptor, Kisuke decided after a moment. Erich’s reiatsu felt playful, like he’d changed the way he thought—

(Changed the role he was playing?)

(Almost like—)

“Affinity, mental state, and emotion,” Kisuke declared before he could start second-guessing himself.

Erich’s song cut off abruptly at Kisuke’s words, his eyes widening slightly and his reiatsu rippling with surprise-awe-glee. “You are a sharp one, aren’t you?” Erich murmured, voice edged with a confusing amount of delight. “We don’t quite put it like that, but yes. A song needs to speak to you before you can speak through it, but how you feel in the moment affects what you can do. The best of us are also actors, able to put ourselves in other states almost at will, so that we can reach beyond how we feel in the moment.” Erich shrugged and shot Kisuke a faint, wry smile as he said, “I’m only middling at doing that. My teacher could have sung both of those flawlessly.”

“There really wasn’t much difference—”

“There was and we both know it,” Erich interrupted, giving Kisuke an unimpressed look as he did. “Don’t try to flatter me with false praise.”

Kisuke swallowed back his immediate, teasing response — he didn’t need to tempt fate, after all — and looked away while rubbing at the back of his head. “Maa, maa, if Erich-san insists,” he said instead, then hesitated, debating his next words. Erich and Ren had so far shown an incredibly high tolerance for him poking his nose where it probably didn’t belong — especially since Erich already knew about him being a Shinigami, somehow! — but… did it extend to actually teaching him?

Before he could decide, Erich cast a considering look his way, then smiled and asked, “Would you like to try and learn?”

Kisuke blinked, the knot of anxiety in his chest easing at the offer, and quickly responded, “Of course I would!”

Erich chuckled. “Alright then. I can’t promise that you’ll be able to use it, since not everyone can, but I’ll do my best to teach you at least the basics, hm?”

“Thank you, Erich-san,” Kisuke said, trying to push as much gratitude into his tone as he could even as he ignored the dark, suspicious whispers in his soul; it wasn’t often he was offered what he wanted so easily, so readily, but…

Sometimes kindness was just kindness.

He needed to remember that.

(Maybe his luck was turning around.)

(Maybe…)