Disclaimer: Bleach is the sole property of Tite Kubo, licensed to VIZ Media. I do not claim any of the characters or elements of Bleach as my own, and am only writing this story as a leisurely past time and because I am a humble fan of this genre simply telling a story.
For those of you who don't know, in my humble opinion, the Zanpakuto Rebellion and the Beast Swords arcs of the Bleach anime were the best filler arcs I've ever had the pleasure of watching. Not only were they intriguing and very-well put together, but the fact that they were originally an unused story-arc for the manga penned by Kubo himself and that he actually helped to design the look for the arc made it all the more enjoyable. So, I decided that I would try and pen a story revolving around my favorite of the Zanpakuto Spirits, the Zabimaru Duo. I also decided that now would be a good time to try out a sort of 'personal challenge' of sorts that I'd placed on myself, seeing as it would be interesting to see how either Chimpette or Renji would react to the situation I'd be placing them in as a result of said challenge.
You see, after reading though a requested commission I'd issued on Deviantart awhile ago, I decided that I'd try my hand at writing a TG/TF story some day. So, a while ago, I finally worked up the nerve to pen this story and now am posting it here to see how you guys take to it. Needless to say, the content of a TG/TF means that this is an "M" rated story for safety later on, due to the elements of transformation, brief descriptive nudity, swearing, and so on. I'd originally planned for this to be a two-shot, but it has the potential to go on longer, due to the element by which the change takes place. But, I'll leave that up to you, the fans.
Well, that's enough jawing for now. Read on to find out what happens to both Renji and Chimpette as they are about to have a little change in perspective on each other's life, the hard way. By the way, this takes place after the Beast Swords arc has been completed, only, all the Zanpakuto Spirits have elected to remain in their current forms, and through Mayrui Kurotsuchi's efforts, have been stabilized as a result. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Of Greener Grasses.
Klack!
The sound of the wooden sliding door striking its frame echoing in his ears, followed by the soft plath-plath-plath of bare feet on the smooth hardwood floor, Byakuya Kuchiki, head of the Soul Society's prestigious Kuchiki Clan and Captain of Gotei 13's sixth Division, breathed an exasperated sigh and gently set down the fude calligraphy brush he'd been using to practice for the next session of the Seireitei's Calligraphy Society, which would be convening in only an hour and a half for their weekly meeting. He had been reviewing the character of choice for this meeting, that of "tamashii" or "soul," and with each careful, fluid stroke of the brush, the ebony pathways of ink had taken its form beautifully. The more he practiced it, the more elegant it became, the more vibrant it seemed, and the more it stood out against the white face of the handmade rice-paper. Truly, it was one of his finest works to date, a masterpiece in and of itself.
And the atmosphere of the early morning had made the creation of the character all the more successful. The gentle breeze rustling through the leave on the trees and the blades of grass and the petals of the flowers outside his open door; the babbling sound of water running over the shapes of rocks both smooth and rugged in the garden outside as the small brook fed into his koi pond, the barely audible footfalls of servants rushing to and fro about the house as they continued about their duties, and the happy song of the birds as they sang gaily in the trees as they greeted the day.
Sadly, every artist finds that reality often sends those little distractions and diversions their way. Today was no exception to that little rule.
"Are they still at it?" solemn Captain asked the newcomer in annoyance, his placid, regal visage a perfect veil to the irritation that he felt at such interruptions to his artwork.
"Yeah, and they have been for about fifteen minutes now," replied a youthful voice in equal exasperation, the sound of ruffling cloth and of a small, yet significant weight hitting the floor telling Byakuya that his guest had decided to take a seat to the right of him at the small table. "I'm here 'cause I got bored listening to them bicker and figured I'd detach and see if you're doing somethin' more fun." After a couple of seconds, during which Byakuya could feel the boy's gaze on him, he finished his thought. "Which was a big frickin' waste of time, 'cause all you're doin' is painting."
Byakuya didn't need to look up to know who he would see: a young boy with clear, blue eyes and jaw-length, crimson hair, dressed in a white robe similar to that of an Hindu priest that was cut short just above his abdomen to reveal much of his stomach with long sleeves that extended well past his hands, and a pair of puffy, white pants that were cut-off at the middle of his thighs. Around his neck was a gilded, circular collar with a small latch on the side where one might attach a leash. And his most unique and bizarre feature by far was the large serpent tail that sprouted from the base of his tailbone, its vanilla-colored scales reflecting ornately in the morning light. The boy was known as "Snakey," to those who knew him, one half of the Zanpakuto Spirit, Zabimaru("Snake Tail"). Normally, the boy would reside within the spiritual world of the zanpakuto of his red-haired lieutenant, Renji Abarai, attached by his collar to his female counterpart, whom he affectionately referred to as "Chimpette," by the heavy black chain she wore around her waist. However, in the aftermath of the failed "Zanpakuto Rebellion," which he had pretended to participate in to fulfill a promise to his grandfather and destroy a traitor named Koga Kuchiki, the spirits of their zanpakuto had somehow remained, able to shift from physical to sword forms at a whim. It had taken some getting used to at first, but most of the shinigami were starting to warm up to the fact that their swords were now their partners in both battle and everyday life.
"This is not 'painting,' as you so eloquently put it, Snakey," rebutted the Kuchiki head calmly, turning the page by the corner (so as not to muss the ink) so the character could face the young zanpakuto spirit and he could see it better. "This is calligraphy, something far more complicated than putting brush to canvas. You need to stay focused on the movements of the brush in your hands and the figure of the character in your mind to make the proper strokes. If one is offset even by an inch, the effort is all of naught. Still, no matter how difficult it is, this is-" Sadly for Byakuya, his train of thought became quickly derailed by the muffled sounds of an argument two rooms over reaching through the thin walls to his left. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the shapes of two people, both on their feet and engaged in a heated spat. Up until now, he had been able to block out the noise of both Renji and Chimpette bickering by focusing on the other sounds of the morning. However, now that he had a distraction, his concentration slipped. "What is it about this time?"
"Eh," shrugged Snakey nonchalantly, obviously bored. "It started off kinda nice when we first got here for the meeting. But after a bit of talking, Renji started complainin' about how tough his day was and said he was jealous of how easy we have it, and then things all went downhill from there. Chimpette's been arguing that she's got it harder because she's gotta be the one to manage our output of reiryoku during a fight while taking care of me, and Renji's says he's got it harder because he's the one who's actually fighting and he's gotta deal with other stuff like squad duties and training."
Nodding slightly, Byakuya wasn't all that surprised by this. Renji was always an outspoken person, prone to being cocky and smug at times, even though he had his moments. Arguing with Chimpette over something as meaningless as whose life was harder was something he could see the young lieutenant doing. Besides, seeing as she was the dominant part of Zabimaru, it made sense that Chimpette would share in Renji's trademark stubbornness, as well as similar feelings of stress and exhaustion over her own functions as his zanpakuto. The sentient swords were a part of their souls after all, and it made sense that they would possess parts of their personalities. Sometimes, it's hard to look in a mirror and see yourself as you truly are, and that was something that a lot of the shinigami in the Soul Society were dealing with right now, having to examine themselves through getting to know their zanpakuto's spirits. However, a heated argument over something as trivial as this was not the reason Byakuya had allowed them to attend this week's meeting.
Deciding that he needn't get involved at the moment, and that Renji and Chimpette would sort this out amongst themselves' or eventually get bored, Byakuya decided to take this time to try and impart some culture on the red-haired boy seated beside him, and withdrew two fresh sheets of paper from the stationary to his left. Laying one before the boy and the other in place of the first for himself, the Kuchiki heir plucked a new fude from a small vase on the table and placed it in Snakey's hands, somewhat confusing the zanpakuto spirit. Smiling lightly at his perplexed expression, Byakuya dipped his own brush in the ink from his stationary and turned to begin the first few strokes. "Why don't we forget about those two for now, and I'll teach you how to draw something like I did a minute ago, hm?"
Taken somewhat aback by the Captain's sudden fatherly nature, Snakey simply stared at him for a moment, then at the paper in front of him, and then at the original work Byakuya had finished only minutes before he had come in. "Is it hard?" wondered the young zanpakuto curiously, slowly warming up to the idea.
"Well, if you go into it with an attitude like that, yes," answered Byakuya in a scholarly tone, earning an annoyed scowl from Snakey as he finished the first two strokes and moved on the third. "The trick is to keep your mind clear of all distracting thoughts, to focus your will and being into each motion, almost like one would focus their reiryoku to achieve certain feats. It does take some getting used to, but-"
Just then, someone, whether it was Renji or Chimpette couldn't be determined through the screens, decided to put their foot down to emphasize their point in the argument… hard. Needless to say, the vibrations from that one motion were strong enough to travel across two rooms and send a shudder through the table as Byakuya attempted the next stroke, eschewing his intended movements and causing him to make a significantly large and ugly slash of black ink across his nearly perfect tamashii character. The moment that happened, the Kuchiki heir's face went from calm and fatherly, to surprised, grieved, and somewhat noticeably irritated all in one fell swoop. Now, Byakuya Kuchiki was not the easiest person in the world to make angry and have it show outwardly by his expression, but from the look in his eyes and the way he gripped his fude brush so tight that it looked as though it could snap at any moment, Snakey could tell that he was majorly pissed, and made a mental note to never screw with this man's calligraphy.
"Uh-oh," the zanpakuto breathed softly, cowering in reverent fear of Byakuya as he could almost feel what was coming next. 'Boy, are Renji and Chimpette gonna get it now!' However, instead of rising to his feet and exiting the room to berate both lieutenant and zanpakuto for their behavior and utter disregard for his hospitality, Byakuya never left his spot on the floor. Instead, he took a few moments to breath and calm himself, centering his mind and emotions as he resisted the urge to let his own zanpakuto spirit, Senbonzakura (One Thousand Cherry Blossoms) loose to let him take care of them. After two minutes of this quiet reflection, the Kuchiki heir opened his eyes and cast his gaze in the direction of the continuing spat.
"If they truly wish to know which of them as the more difficult life, then so be it," he said with a controlled, aristocratic tone, shutting his eyes once more as he channeled a steady flow of reiryoku into his left arm, having set down his brush. Not once leaving his seiza (the proper way of sitting in Japan), he stretched forth his hand in the direction of the two arguing figures, closing it into a fist and then pointing his thumb and pinky finger at Chimpette and Renji respectively. As he did so, a rose-colored, mist-like tendril of spiritual energy formed itself around his forearm from the elbow forward, a series of pink sparkles flowing about it life fairy-dust. In front of his hand appeared a square-like shape of rosy energy, its surface shimmering magnificently, like that of freshly cut glass. Watching all the while, Snakey didn't really know what was about to happen, but he had a pretty good idea based on what Byakuya had just said.
"Grazing sword of gathering clouds. Jade benevolence, eighty-eight roots and branches. Raindrops, echoing cheers, lingering doubts, hidden in shadow and rock, enlightening pane, white visage. Spread wide your hands and return light to the heavens." The incantation complete, Byakuya opened his eyes and cast a sideways glance at the veiled shapes of Renji and Chimpette, ensuring that his targets were still the only things in his line of fire. Convinced of this, he finished his recitation. "Bakudo # 100, Yuta no Kagami. (Way of Binding # 100, Eight Hand Mirror)"
With a scent not unlike that of cherry blossoms in bloom accompanying its release, the mystical energy of the one-hundredth bakudo shot forth from Byakuya Kuchiki's hand with surprising speed and with a silence that was quite uncharacteristic of a kido. Even more intriguing was that it did not burn a hole through the paper and wood of the walls it was aimed at, but rather it phased through them as though traveling through the formlessness of water itself, giving the spell an appearance not unlike that of a will o' wisp. Gliding soundlessly through the air and wood and paper, the strange kido sought out its quarry, with nothing deterring it from the path it had been placed upon.
To their defense, both Renji Abarai and Chimpette had no way to know what was coming for them.
The Yuta no Kagami spell was a soundless thing, a ghost to the senses of all save the one whom had initially cast it and those whom he or she allowed to see its creation. There was no way for either shinigami nor zanpakuto to tell that they were going to be hit with a kido that was about to have more of an impact on them than they could ever imagine, and even if they were, the pair were far too wrapped up in their own, petty squabble to pay it much attention. They had been at this for twenty minutes now, and neither side was showing any sign of giving an inch or wavering on their opinion.
Chimpette for one couldn't believe that Renji was so insensitive to her position as his zanpakuto as to not take her feelings and opinions into consideration, or that he would even go so far as to say that he had it much harder than she did. The nerve of that guy! She was the one who had to manage both his reiryoku and that of herself and Snakey, not to mention that she was the one who had to put up with the brat day in and day out, being attached to him at the hip like she was. She felt like she was a babysitter twenty-four hours a day and three-hundred sixty-five days a year, and both Renji and Snakey were the babies! On the other side of the spectrum, Renji just thought that she was being bull-headed as usual, thinking herself right and everyone else wrong. She just had no idea of the responsibility that he had to shoulder as the lieutenant of the 6th Division on a daily basis. Monitoring the training of new members, taking care of the official duties and reports to both the Captain and Commander-Captain, filing his own reports, overseeing the changing of the guard, patrolling their section of the Seireitei and the Rukongai District as well as the Human World, checking the squad barracks to make sure everything was in order, running errands, and keeping pace with his own training and social life. There were days were he felt like there was no time for himself!
"Just once, I wish you could see how hard it is to be me!" they both shouted at one another defiantly, slamming their foreheads together comically as a sort of "no-hands" pushing match ensued to see who would give first, both parties glaring at one another all the while.
At that moment, it was as if the universe had decided to take notice and said, in a smart-alecky tone, "Wish, granted."
Emerging wraith-like from the sliding door in the front of the room, the pinkish energy slithered silently through the air towards its targets, snaking its way over the small table in the middle of the room that both Chimpette and Renji had one foot on as they pushed against each other's head in a comedic fashion, threatening to knock over the elegant porcelain tea-cups they had been presented with by the servants upon their arrival. Pausing in midair for a moment, the rosy mist gathered itself up in the way a cobra would rear up to strike, as if observing its intended victims with some form of curiosity. Then, without a moment's more of hesitation, it immediately split into two streams of energy and struck both shinigami and zanpakuto square in the solar plexus, coating their bodies in its misty embrace like a second skin before absorbing into their forms. For Renji and Chimpette, it was like being hit with a mild electrical shock, kind of like one you would receive from touching another person or a metal object after rubbing your socked feet on the carpet. It wasn't too intense, but it was startling enough to cause them both to cease their pushing match and stumble back off the small table with a simultaneous yelp of surprise before examining themselves as if to look for any damage to their person.
"What the Hell was that?" wondered Chimpette aloud, her delicate fingers tracing the skin between her ample cleavage where she'd felt the shock. Normally, Renji would've probably told her to stop doing perverted things like that around other people and she would retort that he was over-analyzing things, but he too was preoccupied at the moment with a similar sensation, his hand patting down his muscled pectorals beneath his black kosode as if expecting to find a trace of the static that had caused his own shock. However, he could find no such thing, but decided to pat down his robes just to be sure no remaining electricity lingered in its fibers, hoping to disperse it into the air or the floor.
"I'm not sure, but it felt like a little static jolt or something," answered Renji cautiously, his attention somewhat divided at the moment. Strange, they had been touching each other for the past few minutes and yet they had only felt the shock a few seconds ago. Did they happen to brush up against something when they'd butted heads, or did Chimpette's fur outfit carry some hint of static that just decided to rub her in the right way to transfer the charge? "We probably just brushed against something is all."
"Yeah… Yeah, that's gotta be it," conceded the rose-haired woman absentmindedly, feeling oddly disoriented after what just happened, as if her mind were in a thick fog. Remembering they had just been in a heated argument for quite some time, Chimpette concluded that maybe this little static shock had come at just the right time. Neither of them would budge on their opinions, so what was the point on continuing any further. Still, all of that pent up wrath had to go somewhere. "Well," she began as she rose to her feet and turned for the door, "I'm outta here."
"Where are you going?" asked Renji curiously, still feeling some lingering portion of their argument on his lips.
"Where do ya think, brainless?" Chimpette shot over her shoulder in annoyance as she pushed open the sliding door to leave, casting her partner a withering glare as she did so. "To blow off some steam." Thank God the Kuchiki Clan valued staying at the top of their game! That little wooden dummy out back was about to end up looking just like she imagined Renji's face right about now. Just thinking about her fists hitting and splitting the oaken frame with all their might made her begin to clench and unclench her free hand reflexively in anticipation as she shut the door behind her.
"Um… Okay then. Have fun, I guess." Renji sheepishly offered a subtle, yet well-meant wave to his zanpakuto, even though he knew she couldn't see him and was already well on her way to the backyard, her tall, curvy silhouette flickering in and out of view between the panels of the walls as she slowly disappeared from sight. He'd seen her pissed off before, and he was particular thankful to have dodged that bullet. Convinced she was finally gone, he allowed himself to relax a bit and slumped back against the far wall, the collective mass of exhaustion he'd been fighting from the past few days, and even the last few hours, seeming to suddenly bear down on him like some great weight. Man, was he tired! However, he knew of one way that would relieve some of this stress and take his mind of his spat with Chimpette, one that had just been installed into the Kuchiki Manor after Senbonzakura's run in with Haineko and Tobiume a couple of days ago.
"I'm gonna take a bath."
Having witnessed Renji and Chimpette's little shock, Snakey looked on silently as his partner's silhouette turned and walked from the room towards the west side of the house, where the recently installed hot-spring bath was located. Being the lieutenant's shadow as he and Chimpette were, Snakey recalled that the sauna-like addition to the manor had been painstakingly built following the fruitless attempts of his fellow zanpakuto, Haineko and Tobiume, to attempt to get a look at what Senbonzakura's face looked like under his mask. It had been laughable at the time, but the incident had prompted Byakuya to reconsider the construction of such an amenity to his home. However, that was not the chief thought present in the young zanpakuto's mind as he switched his gaze from the empty room back to the calm and regal visage of Byakuya Kuchiki, whom had returned to the task of repainting the character that had been ruined moments earlier on another piece of paper. From the look on his face, you could barely see a trace of the man who had cast the kido on his partners, almost as if none of it ever happened!
"So… What now?" queried Snakey in anxious curiosity, feeling as though something was missing, that his expectations for what had just transpired had been thrown out the window.
Byakuya, in response, simply continued with his calligraphy, not even once taking his eyes off the page as he addressed the serpent-half of Zabimaru, his focus mainly on the brush strokes of the character before him. "Patience, Snakey, patience. You'll see soon enough." Saying this, Byakuya paused for a moment, briefly taking his eye from his work as he cast a sideways glance upward, as though remembering something or trying to contemplate what he'd just said. In doing so, a slight smirk crossed his lips that both heightened Snakey's curiosity and sent an uneasy chill up his spine all the way to the tip of his tail. "Or rather, you'll hear soon enough." With that, Byakuya, returned to his work, but not before gesturing to the other sheet of paper that he'd set out for the young zanpakuto. "In the meantime, why don't we continue with that lesson I was talking about earlier, hm?"
Realizing he had no other choice but to wait for the outcome of the Yuta no Kagami to appear, Snakey gave a slight shrug and resigned himself to his fate, taking his seat at the Captain's side as he picked up the brush once more. In the back of his mind though, he couldn't help but chuckle as the possibilities of what the kido doing to the bodies of Renji and Chimpette and this very moment. Yes sir, he was gonna get a laugh out of this, one way or another.
Author's Note: Oh boy, True Believers! Looks like Renji and Chimpette are in for quite the paradigm shift to say the least. What will happen now that Byakuya's kido is in effect? How will this help to settle the argument between Shinigami and Zanpakuto? Will Snakey really get a good laugh out of this at their misfortune? The answer to these questions and more will be answered in the next chapter, so read on to find out and remember to R&R, keeping in mind that flames will be immediately doused, trolls will have their bridges dropped on top of them, and constructive criticism will be greatly appreciated.