Urahara Kisuke took another flash step towards the outer rim of Soul Society. Kisuke was a man of average height and shaggy blond hair, which at that moment was being blown back from his current speed of movement. He wore standard shinigami black gi and the twelfth division white captain's jacket. Just beyond the southern eightieth district was a forest. Captain Urahara had been sent for to meet captain Unohana Retsu of the fourth division in a small plain just before that forest minutes before.
What do you think she wants with you?
"Who knows? But meeting a beautiful captain in a romantic setting like that can only mean one thing. A picnic!" Kisuke sang as he spoke the last two words.
Stop fooling around Kisuke.
"Trouble, probably. Most likely involving something of interest to me."
Way to state the obvious.
Kisuke passed over the seventy-ninth district as the plain came into view. It was about two hundred meters from the district to the woods. The grass was a light, brown-green color, almost a perfect transition between the brown shacks of mud and wood of the eightieth district and the lush, green forest ahead. Not much else was visible, and he could sense only two sources of spiritual pressure. Kisuke landed his final flash step in front of a third source of spiritual pressure which he hadn't felt a moment before. It was the dead body of an almost unrecognizable shinigami. Claw marks scarred much of the body and most of his uniform was destroyed exposing ripped flesh and a few bite marks.
"That was a rather strong Hollow to go undetected, don't you think?" Kisuke said over his shoulder to a wounded shinigami standing a few meters behind him. "How are you feeling, Yanagi Getsuri?"
Yanagi Getsuri was a tall, slim boy, looking the age of about eighteen in human terms (when in fact he was closer to two hundred eighteen than eighteen years of age). His red hair was short and very messy, perhaps from the battle, and his left arm was wrapped in bandages, red with blood. Getsuri was the fifth ranked seat in the twelfth division.
"I feel fine, Captain Urahara," Getsuri replied as he dropped his head, "But, Miko… Miko is dead."
"I know, Yanagi, tell me what happened?"
"Miko, from the tenth division, has been a good friend of mine and a training partner for several years. We were to meet here, our usual training spot, about an hour ago. As I arrived I saw a Hollow ripping Miko apart!" Getsuri paused as his voice trembled at the last sentence… "I couldn't feel its spirit force either captain! And I was right there! Please, Miko… can't we do something? Anything?"
"Did you defeat the Hollow?"
"No, sir…" Getsuri again looked to the ground, "I wasn't even able to avenge my friend's death; it ran after a short fight. I called for Captain Unohana, but Miko…"
Captain Unohana, who had been off a distance during the conversation, returned to the body without looking at Kisuke. Unohana Retsu wore clothing matching Kisuke's almost perfectly only with the symbol of four on the back of her jacket as opposed to Kisuke's twelve. Her clothes were also a bit more lose on her to hide her womanly features. Her hair was jet black and long, pulled around to the front on either side and braided down to her waist.
"This is Muryoku Miko, seventh seat of the tenth division," Unohana spoke, still watching the body, "under Captain Kurosaki Isshin. I am going to take the body and report to Captain Kurosaki."
Kisuke replied to Retsu, also without moving his eyes from the body. "Why have you called me, Unohana?"
"Look." Retsu produced a Zanpakuto and handed it to Kisuke. "Why does the Zanpakuto still exist?"
"Oh? We don't have much time. Yanagi, come here." Getsuri obeyed. "Take this, it is now your Zanpakuto."
Getsuri took hold of the Zanpakuto in its sheath and then grabbed his own Zanpakuto sheath in his other hand.
"But how, captain, I already have my Zanpakuto, Meimeiun. How can I have another Zanpakuto?"
"It doesn't matter, Yanagi, it must be you that takes it."
"How come it still exists? Shouldn't it have disappeared?"
"Ah! That is correct, however…" Kisuke's voice lightened considerably and he stuck up one finger into the air, "When a Shinigami is first admitted into the Gotei 13, his is given a nameless Zanpakuto; basically a sword made of spirit particles capable of cutting Hollows. However, when the shinigami reaches the point where their own Zanpakuto is created, one matching their soul, they give up their nameless Zanpakuto for their own named Zanpakuto. This you should already know. Now, what we have seen in very few, rare cases, is that when a shinigami is killed; a named, soul-bound Zanpakuto may be passed on to someone who has some emotional attachment to the passed shinigami, perhaps even shares a soul similar to theirs. Therefore, most likely by will of the shinigami's soul, they pass on their Zanpakuto rather than have it reborn at a later time with them. The only recorded event of this happening is when Tousen Kaname received Chini Kawane's Suzumushi. But at that time Tousen had no Zanpakuto of his own. So the effects of giving you Muryoku's Zanpakuto is yet unknown. I am very interested in seeing how this effects you."
You need to stop playing with people's souls like they are test subjects.
Because the new Zanpakuto was too large to fit where one would normally place a wakizashi(small katana, often used in pair with a regular katana, as an off hand weapon, sheath is placed behind katana sheath, like Kyoraku Shunsui's unreleased Zanpakuto), Getsuri slung the Zanpakuto over his back so that it could be drawn with his left hand. He then drew both swords, and looked at them in his hands. Then, slowly he put them back into their respective sheaths, looking very pleased. His face grew sad again as he looked at his friends body for the last time as Unohana picked it up and carried it off towards Seireitei (Court of Pure Souls).
There was an awkward silence that followed between Urahara Kisuke and his subordinate, Yanagi Getsuri. Kisuke never turned after the body had been removed from his sight. Instead he starred at the forest ahead which was preparing for winter. The leaves were all starting to turn and beginning to fall.
It was Kisuke who finally spoke, "Please inform my lieutenant of what has happened here. I'm calling it a day." With that, Kisuke disappeared with a flash step.