Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach
A/N: I apologize to all my readers for the long and horrible wait. Unfortunately, my computer has decided to go into early retirement and so until I get a new computer updates will be slow (even more than usual) for all of my stories. No, I haven't stopped writing or anything of the sort. In fact, I'm fill with a bunch of new ideas. Sadly, though, my computer doesn't give a shit.
School has started guys! So updates… yeah. You get the picture.
A one shot involving the zanpakutous of Hitsugaya and Nora (in this case it is about Karin). Just a little something I wrote while I'm waiting for you guys to give me more votes before I could continue writing Black Blood. I based it loosely off the Zanpakutou Tales Arc.
Did not write the poem. It is from http(colon, double slash)www(dot)poetry America(dot)com(slash)sad(dash)love(dash)poems(dot)asp
NOTE: CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR NEXT CHAPTER OF BLACK BLOOD!!!!!!
SiLeNt WhIsPeR
All
you need to know is that you are beautiful
In my eyes at least
I
fell in love with you a long time ago
But
you never fell back
So
never say
Nobody
loves me and no one ever will
Some people say I need to give up on you
Cause
I do and I have
Your eyes will never fall upon me
In
that special way
They
fall upon her
But
I can never say never to you
I
can't give up just yet
You love her; and she loves him
Not
today and not tomorrow
Love
can play a sick game with your heart
Trust
in me because I know it well
You
can't give it up without regrets
But
all you can do is give up and wait for your time
I
have waited long enough
So
get in line now so I can have you
You
don't see me in the same light as her
I
am nothing like her and I know that
I
hope you realize that she is playing a game
Where
you are going to get hurt
Just
step back and look at this picture
See
what is really happening
Leaving her behind is painful I
know
Who
is hurting from your ignorance
This
is your first, but just know not your last
Please
don't weep, I couldn't take it
Come
to me as a friend, something I never want to be to you
But
please come and rest on me
Because
I am always there for you
Because
I'm hiding my love for you
"Then promise me you'll bring them back. Otherwise, I will break this seal. I will come and find you, Hollow King. You have already ruined me, Ichigo Kurosaki. I have enough for a vendetta against you. Do not betray me."
"I promise that I'll try not to."
Promises were simply words to be broken. It was not a contract, it was just a reminder that you owe someone something and you had to pay them back. That was all there was.
But she had wanted to believe in this man, had done so that when she appeared before her, returned to the Serieitei, she hadn't realized how much she had been hoping for it, so much that it absolutely hurt like a physical wound.
Kojomaru turned her foot to the side, elegantly tilting herself just as one of her subordinates formed themselves besides her.
Zorro de Verano, or the summer fox, bowed low in its animal form. Unlike she, it did not float above the water, but was immerged to its knees. "My lady," he spoke. There are intruders amidst."
She walked past him, her feet making ripples in the water. "Of course. Everyone these days want to see the psycho zanpakutou of the traitor's sister, now that's it restored an d all.," she muttered to her subordinate. "Well, I should go parade around them and send them on their way. Verano, tell the others not to interfere."
"Is that wise, my lady?" the fox asked with a bit of worry.
"I am the zanpakutou of seasons," she replied firmly. Glancing back, she smiled reassuringly at it. "Don't worry. Even without you guys, I'm stronger than I look. It's a quirk that comes from having a twin-infused arrancar as your master."
Still apprehensive, Zorro de Verano bowed again and burst into flames.
Kojomaru waited until he appeared, the intruder of her world. He was another zanpakutou, tall and mysterious looking, with long icy blue hair and something like a sideways cross scar on his face. He walked softly and straight ahead with purpose though she could see there was something lost about his face, the way his gray eyes searched for something unnamed.
Using her wings, she flew off to greet him. "Are you lost?"
He looked up at her with a startled expression. As Kojomaru landed at his feet, she stood to see he towered over her, she barely reaching his shoulders.
"Are you lost?" she repeated. "Because you have intruded onto my domain. Or are you here to laugh at me as well?"
"Laugh?" he asked, looking genuinely confused. Then he looked around as though realizing what he had done. "I've intruded on your resting place."
"Yeah, that's what I just said," she said, a little irked. "Look, if you are lost, I'll help you out. I don't attack people indiscriminatingly, so I'll give you a break. Tell me, how did you get here in the first place?"
"I don't remember."
"Well, what's your name?"
"I don't know."
Her eyebrow ticked. "Then who is your master?"
"I don't know."
She sighed. "Then what are you doing wandering around? Don't you know the first rule of being lost is staying in one place so your master can find you? What did you think I did when I lost my master. You… do know about me, right?"
She received a blank stare in return, as he stared as her intently. His eyes were such a light gray, they shone nearly white in the soft lighting of her world. He was handsome, with a strong, lean figure and a tall frame, showing that he was adept zanpakutou, which meant his master was probably handsome, too. Zanpakutous, after all, took after their master in looks and personality.
"Well?" she said angrily, feeling her face warm at his prolonged inspection of her. "Do you or do you not? It's a simple yes or no."
Finally, he shook his head. "No. I don't recognize you, nor have I heard any rumors about you," he said quietly, almost like a whisper. His voice was deep and cold, though she heard a little hesitancy that told her he wasn't a true asshole.
It was just his nature and Kojomaru understood that. Whenever she saw Zangestu, she felt overwhelming urge to submit to him and follow his every word.
She was the zanpakutou of seasons, Kojomaru, one of the strongest zanpakutous in history. And yet to him, she became nothing more than a servant.
It irked her now and then, but she has learned to accept it. Time helped with that and it wasn't in her nature to question orders either.
Kojomaru sighed. "Are you sure there isn't anything that you can remember? Something that could give us some inkling of who you are?" she asked, wanting him and the confusing feelings he brought gone.
He thought about it, and looked at her face again. "I know that I am a koori no ryu, an ice type zanpakutou."
"Okay, but with that information, I could easily classify you as Sode no Shirayuki, except you aren't female and she isn't a dragon," she said bluntly.
He pointed, revealing a clawed hand encased in ice. "You."
She blinked. "Me?"
"Your reiatsu is familiar to me. It is way I came this way."
"My… reiatsu is familiar?"
"Yes."
She frowned. "And you claim not to know me. That's very suspicious if you ask me."
He gave an apologetic expression. "Gomen. I can not explain further." He turned to leave.
"Where are you going? I didn't kick you out," Kojomaru said, grabbing onto his sleeve. "I only said that was suspicious. I can never turn out a fellow zanpakutou in need. I might even be able to help you."
That got his attention. "How?" he asked.
"A temporary spirit fusion. I can tap into your powers by momentarily fusing my Lobo de Invierno's reiatsu with your own. I should be able to see what happened you, but be warned. I don't know how effective it is. I've never tried it before now."
Kojomaru walked backwards off the shore and stood right in the middle of the lagoon. "Come inside the water. It shall act as a medium." He didn't move. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Scared?"
SPLASH!
Kojomaru sputtered and coughed, wiping her eyes of the excess water that had landed over her eyes and temporarily blinded them. She blinked and glared at the fully, totally composed zanpakutou. He had dunked himself in the water, splashing her with the resulting wave. His flowing hair hung from his scalp in wet strands, his drenched kimono sticking to his skin to show the define muscles of his body. Though he looked lean, there was no doubt that he was most definitely ripped.
And why the hell was she even looking?!
"Before we do anything, let's be clear," she said, her voice coming out harsher than she intended. "I did NOT force you to do this. What ever happens, it was never because of me. Because this is a temporary fusion of my powers and yours, there is no telling what effects there might be. Are you prepared for that?" she warned, glaring intensely at him.
He returned her stare. "There is no further pain than not knowing who you are," he said, in that soft whisper of his. "I trust you."
"You what?" she gaped in shock.
Wading closer until he was directly where she stood in front of him, the zanpakutou looked up to her face, close enough for their breaths to mingle. "I trust you," he repeated. "I trust you have the power to help me." He blinked at her open-mouthed expression. "I have surprised you."
"Duh!" Kojomaru snapped, quickly closing her mouth.
"Why?"
"Are you serious?" she demanded, cursing the fact her face was growing warm. "How can you trust me. You don't know me. For all you know, I could be using this as a ruse to absorb your powers for my own. There are more other reasons why you shouldn't trust me, so be at least a little vary. How can you claim to trust someone, me, so easily?"
"Because it is simply something that I know. Your reiatsu tells me so," he replied.
Kojomaru frowned a little with frustration at his vague answers. "You're weird," she muttered, before lifting her arms to place each of her hands on the side of his head.
"What are you doing?" he asked her, as the action brought them even closer.
"What does it look like? We need to be touching in order for the resonation to work," she explained. "I am the zanpakutou of seasons so my power consists of four elements, including that of winter. Therefore, I might be able to retrieve any lurking memory that might remain. If all goes well, I might even be able to restore your memory."
His eyes softened though he did not smile. "I knew you could help me," he said.
She made a face at him. "Flattery gets you no where," she told him and closed her eyes.
Freeze all to oblivion, Lobo de Invierno!
The icy reiatsu of the winter wolf filled her spirit and her hands glowed the energy. Taking a deep breathe, Kojomaru dealt deep within the memory of the amnesia zanpakutou.
It was like a blank slate at first, before blurred images assaulted her vision. She could see people with no faces, distorted voices speaking in far away tones. Then she could see him, as a single figure wandering on a bare plane, wandering, searching with a desperation the surroundings around him. Who was he? What was his name? Where was his world and who was his master? The questions assaulted him as he searched like a blind man searches for light, helpless and painfully alone.
It was painfully similar to what she went through during those hundred years she had been sealed and alone. Only he dealt with it only a few days, it seems, a few months, and he had no audience to his plight. No other zanpakutou spirits who turned away when you neared them, sneering and laughing behind their hands at the deformities that plagued you, have an unfinished appearance that made you seem more like a freak. But what was worse that she knew why this happened to her and yearned for the day for her master to return, to restore you and there fore end this pain.
But only he could comprehend the terror and sadness one felt. Not knowing if your master was alive, if this was your last second living, or, for her at least, wonder if that man had ever mentioned you to your master.
There was a speck of ice that caught her attention, a clear shard that was covered by what seemed like fibers. Curious, she reached for it.
Suddenly, Kojomaru was thrown backwards. She landed in the water, sprawled within its depths, with a throbbing shoulder incased in ice. She blinked in shock at what happened, but quickly gathered her composure long enough to yell, "Minna, yamerou!"
She reached forward and grabbed the ribbons that was the source of the reiatsu for all the beings bound to her, pulling them back to stall the attack. Salte Ella-dragón, Zorro de Verano, Dragón de Otoño, and Lobo de Invierno came to a stop, hissing, roaring, and growling their displeasure.
Holding onto the ribbons, Kojomaru stood and broke the ice by flexing her shoulder back. She winced as the frozen flesh continued to throb with pain. It began to shake with effort and exertion of the movement.
"Dammit!" she swore, blinking as the ribbons tugged with the effort of moving. "All of you, go! There is no reason for you to be here."
"But my lady," growled Dragón de Otoño. "He has harmed you."
"It was not a conscious act and I have given you an order. I told you all not to interfere," Kojomaru said coldly. "Retreat!"
Letting go of the ribbons, the beast were allowed to leave. They stayed for a bit, hesitating as though it was really the right thing to just go after such an attack from the intruder zanpakutou. Finally, they returned to their respective places above and below the sky and continuing their battles.
"Gomenasai. I… had no intention of attacking you," he apologized, staying rooted to the spot, looking tense and horribly sad.
"Iie, there is no need to apologize. I treaded on something I shouldn't have," Kojomaru said, lifting her feet out of the water, using the surface as some kind of leverage to lift herself out of the water. She rolled her shoulder forward and backwards, trying to release some of the pressure it felt like it had. "Tch! this is going to take a while to heal. What horrible timing!"
She turned to him. "I did found something interesting though," she told him. "Someone has put a mental block on your mind. Whatever is suppressing your memories, I'm afraid I cannot break it. I'm sorry."
He did not reply. The zanpakutou turned on his heal and left the lagoon, quietly exiting her world from where he had first came.
Kojomaru watched him leave without a word. "You're welcome!" she yelled at his back, before turning away, diving head first into the pool of water. The liquid shone with a white light for a moment as a winged, feathered creature appeared as a blurred reflection before disappearing into the depths.
The zanpakutou blinked once at the display, before continuing on his way.
SiLeNt WhIsPeR
Kojomaru lifted herself out of the water and turned to the shore with a surprise. "You…! You're back," she murmured in surprise.
The zanpakutou came to a stop where the water barely licked his dragon claws. He slowly lifted his hand, closed in a fist and outstretched in her direction. She balked, expecting another attack but quickly realized her stupidity. Calmly, she surveyed his offering with a critical eye.
"What is it?" she demanded.
He looked at her with an unreadable expression but his eyes were sad and filled with understanding. He quietly opened his iced, clawed hand.
She floated closer, wings bent in preparedness to fly away, and she peeked inside his palm. "Herbs?" she said in surprise, her mouth falling open. She poked at the dried herbs. "You went to get herbs? The kind you put on frozen flesh. Huh, and here I believed you just left here like an ungrateful brat."
"I may not know my name," he said, frowning at her a little," but I have the chivalry to accept my actions, intended or otherwise. You offered to help and has tried to. And yet, I have hurt you instead. Please, show me your shoulder."
Kojomaru felt herself blush at his blunt request. "It'll heal on its own. I don't need those herbs," she said stubbornly, crossing her arms defensively over her chest. The action made her wince as the friction jabbed her shoulder.
The zanpakutou walked forward, entering the water to reach her side and covered her injury with his cold hand. Looking at it closely, it looked almost like a ice sculpted glove that completely closed over her shoulder, sending a new sensation of frost.
The flesh was still raw and this time she openly flinched as the renewed cold seeped into her skin through the soft material of her kimono. She gritted her teeth as she snarled at him, glaring with her fierce golden eyes.
"Hijo de puta!" she swore.
"My power has the ability to freeze everything," he explained quietly, letting go. "Leaving the wound alone without medicine will eventually lead to frostbite. You will loose complete use of your arm."
"If you know so much about your powers already, why do you need me for?" Kojomaru demanded, touching her shoulder to rub at it, trying to get some heat back to the skin. "And you forget, I have the summer fox as my power. I can unfreeze my injury."
He shook his head. "I am the ultimate being of ice. It will not work," he said. "And my knowledge of my abilities are only up to a point, a subconscious one that has been tampered when I lost my name. I still need for you to help me."
She sighed and straightened as much as she could, bearing the pain. "Kojomaru," she said.
"Nani?'
"If you want me to get half naked in front of you, at least know my name. I'll excuse you since you have memory loss, but I still want to call you by something. I cant just go 'Hey you!' whenever I want to talk to you. Koori will be a good name for you, seeing how it's what you are. Don't like it? Pick something else or otherwise I'm sticking with it."
He shook his head. "Koori is fine, Kojomaru." The way he repeated her name sent shivers down her spine, which she was blaming on the ice injury on her shoulder.
"Tch!" She gritted her teeth angrily as she loosened the obi around her waist, pulling the kimono robe loose enough to reveal her bare shoulder and part of her midriff. She wore a tight fitting shirt underneath, but she might as well been naked by the intensity she was observed by the newly christened Koori.
The creamy color of her skin had been stained an ugly purple color. It look worse than what it had been earlier, she'll admit but she was going to say that to him.
After years of torment and weakness, Kojomaru was loathed to admit any of it now that she has been restored her full power. She would cut off her tongue first.
In the meantime, she watched as Koori, wisely keeping any comment to himself, apply the herbs to her bruised skin. His fingers were cold, yet gentle and she was soon shivering again.
"You are cold," he said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah," she admitted that at least. "At least we know several new things about your master."
Koori looked at her, his eyes wide with shock. "What? What have you learned?" he asked.
"Whoever he is, he's a good shot. And," she smiled wryly at him, "he's also kind."
SiLeNt WhIsPeR
The water of her lagoon froze, something that Koori, despite claiming to be the ultimate being of ice, never did. Kojomaru watched as the water beneath her feet froze and narrowed her gaze in annoyance.
"Don't you ever take a hint, Sode no Shirayuki?" she demanded, a vein twitching above her brow.
The ice zanpakutou was a beautiful creature, shaped as a tall woman who walked towards her. She had a willowy figure that was dressed in a beautiful white kimono that had an equally white obi surrounded her waist with a yellow sash. Her skin was a pure white, as was everything about it, except her crystal blue eyes and the barrettes in her hair. Only her lips had a pink flush to it, that showed she wasn't completely a frozen corpse.
She walked elegantly towards Kojomaru, using the frozen water as a bridge to her. If only her pleas and offers of friendship reached her that easily.
Kojomaru glared at her. "What do you want now?" she demanded.
Sode no Shirayuki smiled at her. It was a gentle expression as she carefully spoke to the irate zanpakutou. No matter how rudely Kojomaru treated the ice zanpakutou, Sode no Shirayuki never got angry with her. It seemed as though she excused her behavior off as simple trauma from her situation and that irked her the most.
The zanpakutou of seasons was not traumatized. If she was, it would hinder her performance whenever her master used her in battle.
"I've come for the same reason I've always have," Sode no Shirayuki replied, "and to extend another offer."
"Another offer?" Kojomaru repeated suspiciously.
"Yes. The offer to free yourself from this burden. I've always invited you to join us outside this world. There is no need to force yourself to reside here. Come with me. There is someone who will help you free yourself from your burdens, from the holds your Shinigami has on you. You don't need to be alone anymore."
"Wonderful offer but you're a bit wrong there, Sode no Shirayuki," she sneered. "My master is not a Shinigami and I'm never alone. I have my subordinates with me and that's all I need. I don't need anything else, especially your righteous pity."
Sode no Shirayuki shook her head. "No. Your master is still much as Shinigami as she is arrancar. And you are alone. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so defensive." She raised her hand in invitation. "Come join us, Kojomaru. There is no need to hide inside your world any longer. No need to make excuses for your desires."
"I'm not hiding! And I don't make excuses!" she snapped defensively. "I just have no wish to mingle with other zanpakutou. Only Zangetsu and Koori and my brethren. I have no need for anyone else."
The ice zanpakutou frowned. "Koori?" she asked, repeating the name that was unfamiliar to her. "Is that a new zanpakutou? Or have you gained a new subordinate?"
Blushing from her slip, Kojomaru turned her face away. "Nothing. It is of no concern of yours. All you really need to know is that I'm staying here and that's final. I have no desire to go out and mingle. Tell your 'savior' that I refuse."
She sighed. "You give up too easily," she said, sadly. "Many of us wish to be reacquainted again, as you now have been restored as that girl's zanpakutou. After all, you were friends with us before when you were two separate beings."
"Oh sure. Now you guys do since you finally have learned whom I am now. Now that I'm restored, I want nothing to do with you or the rest of the Shinigami zanpakutou. Haven't you notice I don't even mingle with the arrancars either? I don't need no company at all.
"And I have no wish to go against my master. She is mine and my master. The only being in this world I will ever allow to wield me. I even allowed her master to tear me apart, damned me to a hundred years of torment in return for the promise to bring them back to me. To ask me to throw that away, to go against all that makes me myself… pisses me off!" She turned abruptly. "Leave. You bore me. I don't care who I was to you before, or what makes you feel you need to make yourself be my friend, you don't need to. Am content with my lot. Go away."
But she would not. If anything, she only came closer to where Kojomaru was turned from her. "I wont deny many of us were harsh with you," she said, "but they wish to make amends for their rudeness." She tilted her head as she glanced at her fellow zanpakutou. "Would you disregard their good intentions?
Kojomaru glared. "Only on the day when my master and her master returns to the Shinigami will I spare any of you a second glance. In the meantime, you're all the same, good intention or not."
Sode no Shirayuki gave a small gasp. She reached out to touch her shoulder, to establish any from of comfort.
"I'm sorry," she whispered, as the white ice katanna formed in her other hand. "I…"
Suddenly, she turned as footsteps came, nearly stomping against the icy floor. Her face took on an expression of surprise as she watched Koori walk by, ignoring the ice zanpakutou entirely as he stood by Kojomaru, close but not as close to make her feel suppress by his presence.
"You…" she whispered, glancing at them both.
The zanpakutou of seasons gave a gaping stare at him, before giving a soft grunt of annoyance and turned away again.
"She is under my protection," Koori told the ice zanpakutou.
"Under your… protection?" she repeated.
He nodded. "Tell Muramasa-sama… she is not a threat to him. Tell him that I am by her side," he ordered.
Sode no Shirayuki opened her mouth to say something, anything, but then she began to glow softly with light. Usually, such an occurrence would mean that her Shinigami was fighting, but something seemed off about it. She gave a sigh and looked mournfully at the back of the person who, so long ago, had been a good friend, both of them very good friends, and was now such a bitter person she wouldn't listen to reason.
"I will return, Kojomaru," Sode no Shirayuki promised. "Hopefully, I'll be able to change your mind." Quietly, she turned and left, using shun-po to leave quickly. However, she did give one last glace to the zanpakutou of seasons, a look of yearning for something that would never again be.
Kojomaru lifted her hand. "Burn your enemies to ash, Zorro de Verano," she said softly and flames burst from the ice, melting it back into pure clean water. All but the small section that surrounded her and Koori. Steam rouse into the air, giving a misty look to it.
"You came back…again," she muttered, not looking at her companion.
"Yes," he replied, the only answer he gave.
She tilted her face towards him so to indicate that she was staring at him, though it was hard to see through the bangs that covered her eyes. "Why did you come? Was it because of her?" she demanded. "You have already made amends for what you did. My shoulder is healing nicely thanks to you. You're free now, free from me and any debts you think you owe. So why don't you leave? Why do you keep returning? I don't want yours or any one's company. I'm fine alone! Why cant anyone understand that?"
Koori let her rant away, giving her time to let off some of her rage until her words abruptly vanished with a whimper. Then he dared to come closer and bent his head to focus intently on her being, while his icy hand lifted her upwards slowly.
"I came… because I sensed you were sad, Kojomaru," he explained quietly, watching as she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes shut, as if attempting to stop the tears from leaking down her cheeks. "I came because I knew you were about to cry."
She opened her eyes but for once she did not glare at him. Instead, she gave such a heart broken expression that it shocked him. One, because she seemed so strong willed, so brittle. But also it stirred a memory inside him, something that he had seen through the eyes of his master so long ago, a scene he couldn't believe he had dared to forget.
The face of a heart broken girl.
Kojomaru ducked her head and rubbed furiously at her eyes. "You are an enigma, Koori," she growled at him. "I don't know what you're going to make me do. I don't usually feel this sad whenever Sode no Shirayuki visits me. It was never this hard to make her leave."
She suddenly was pulled gently into an embrace. Koori took hold of the hand that was furiously rubbing her eyes, keeping it away from her face as he held her close.
"Wha… what are you doing?!" Kojomaru demanded, her face blushing madly as she was pressed against the firm muscles of his chest, her cheek rubbing against the soft robes of his yukata.
"Comforting you," Koori said, gathering her closer. "Because that is also why I came for."
Kojomaru shivered in that response only he could coax from her, despite learning that, for an ice being, he was very warm. Grabbing on to the open flap of the yukata, she allowed herself, in a long time, to be held like this by someone that were not her subordinates.
"Baka!" she called him with a frown, but it only made him smile.
SiLeNt WhIsPeR
Within every source of power, there is one who is trusted the most. One technique that is a favorite, a weapon that is counted on the most. For both Nora and Kojomaru, that was El Dragón de Otoño.
In weapon form, Otoño was a large scythe, curved and wickedly sharp. It was connected to the oak staff by old, strong tattered bone from an unknown beast. Despite its size, it was evenly weighed from blade, bone, and staff, and with every swipe brought autumn leaves that attached themselves to the opponent and releasing small amounts of reiatsu like a miniature bomb by the millions.
In dragon form, he was an aging wood, an assortment of dried branches and leaves and old, fallen logs that, together, made up a serpentine body. His eyes were hollowed bark and his gapping jaws were filled with jagged points of bark as fangs.
But often Otoño would stop fighting with Lobo de Invierno, giving both a brief of interlude where they both mimicked their master and obtained human forms. Autumn assumed the form of a tall, dark skinned and pale skinned man, with a secretive smile and suave nature. His eyes were a burgundy brown that flashed red with emotions. He was clothed in a tailored Western style suit that made him look poised and aristocratic. Withered brown and gold leaves grew out of his scalp, opposite of the lively green that grew in his sister dragon, Salte Ella-Dragón's, hair.
Lobo de Invierno, who was a frost wolf with ice for fur, looked like death so to speak, frosty white hair with bangs that grew over his eyes. Wolf ears sprouted from his head, large and majestic. He was heavily clothed: slacks, coat, undercoat, gloves, and boots, all of them colored black.
They sat on either side of her on the shore, their quarrel stopped temporarily on the side of perfect serenity. And now, they spent their efforts comforting their liege and tried to make her forget that she was lonely.
"It is alright to wish for company, my lady," Otoño explained, running a comb made out of hard and hollow bone through her long locks of green hair. "You are a powerful being and such power should be put on display for others to admire. It will give those that dared to mock you before need a well deserved slap on the face at your restored beauty."
"She doesn't want to parade herself around and flaunt herself like that bird weirdo or the cat slut," Invierno interrupted , lying down on his back as he played with her fingers and obi. "It's been a while since that koori no ryu's last visit and she's worried."
"Do you dare and imply that our lady is yearning for the company of a lowly ice dragon zanpakutou, one who doesn't remember his own name?" the dragon growled angrily, glaring at his nemesis.
"I don't imply. It's the simple truth," Invierno shot back, returning the glare with an equally, if not more, fierce look of his own. "Our master has grown an attachment and it is now affecting her. That, or it is due to the fact that the Master is heart sick again. One or both, our master is lonely. Face it, Otoño, and don't give her any more of your pretty words that wont do jack shit to help."
"Oh my 'pretty words' are meaningless? They wont do 'jack shit' ?" Otoño repeated, having a tight grip on Kojomaru's hair while he gave him a dangerous smile. "At least I offer comfort. Your cruel words is probably what brought our lady into this depression in the first place!"
"Uh… guys?" Kojomaru tried to gain their attention as they grew closer to one other to snap at their face in a fight, crushing her between them.
"Care to repeat that, Dragón de Otoño?" Invierno growled, sitting up and closer to snap in the dragon's face. "At least I offer truth, not sweet lies that do more harm than good! It's probably your false expectations that the stupid dragon will return what's cause her to be sick!"
"Oh really? Do you have proof?" The dragon crept closer.
"Yeah, right-"
"GUYS!" A force push them both back as Kojomaru's wings extend, finally opening the cramp space and allowed her to breathe, which she did in great pants.
"Look," she said, once she regained her breath and frowned at each of them. "I am not depressed. I'm just worried. Something is going on with the Shinigami zanpakutou that I don't like."
"They're rebelling against their masters," Otoño offered.
"No shit, sherloc-"
"Lobo de Invierno! Guys!" Kojomaru stopped them again, keeping them at bay with her large wings. "I know that and thank you, Otoño for reminding me of the situation. But this is more than just a rebellion. Sode no Shirayuki came to see me so many times and that unnerves me. It makes me mad to admit, but she knows my nature and has always given me time and space to get over each visit. But now… she's agitated about something and wont stop talking about this offer of that guy, Mura-whatever."
"Muramasa," supplied Invierno.
"Gracias, Invierno," she smiled at him. "The offer of Muramasa. Since then, stuff's been happening to Nora and her master. It worries her and it worries me."
"I see. Forgive me, my lady, for daring to pretend to understand your state of mind," Dragón de Otoño apologized, taking her hand and bowed over it like a well mannered gentleman.
"It's okay, Otoño. You were just worried about me and I understand that," Kojomaru replied kindly.
"So you're not heart broken about the koori no ryu?" Lobo de Invierno asked, standing and dusted off the dirt from his pant legs.
"Not heartbroken," she blushed, but didn't get mad like she usually would. "I'm worried about him. If Sode no Shirayuki is trying so hard to get me to join their little coup, they're going to use him. Remember what he did? He vouched for me, back then, protected me from the wrath of this Muramasa. And now, he hasn't returned."
"So you're worried that they might have destroyed him," Invierno nodded his head as he understood.
"Not that far but yeah. I'm afraid that he might have been punished because of me," Kojomaru admitted. "I have no right to call him so, but I consider him my friend and I don't want him hurt because of my pride."
Invierno grinned at Otoño. "See? I told you she was attached."
"It is a mere friendship. He's lucky to have only that from our master," Otoño retorted.
Smirking at her blushing face, the wolf replied, "By the look of her face, though, our master might be giving more than that."
The dragon attacked but Invierno dodged and used Kojomaru as a shield, long enough to thwart the irate beast for him to enter the water, returning to his wolf form.
Dragón de Otoño growled his annoyance but did not follow. Invierno's childish antics would not thwart him from his duties. For Otoño was not only Kojomaru's most reliable weapon, but he also was her most trusted confidant. He was an empathetic creature, neither lively nor hot-headed, but neither was he cold. His emotions were controlled and what outburst he showed was staged for the other party's benefit. (Otherwise, Lobo de Invierno would sulk and be a faulty weapon during battle.)
Autumn turned to Perfect Serenity whom, at the moment, was anything but. "What troubles you, my lady?" he asked gently, coming to her side.
"I want to see him," she admitted. "Lobo's right. I have become attached to Koori and now I'm filled with the desire to go to him. I would go; heck, I could use Sode no Shirayuki as an excuse whenever she comes, say that won me over and go with her."
"What is stopping you?" Otoño asked, resuming his earlier task of combing her hair. It was soothing, the way he ran the teeth of the comb through the soft tresses and the way his hands handled the strands of her hair. She loved it because it relaxed her and made her problems seem actually solvable.
"What is? Simple. He is not mine," Kojomaru answered. "Why I am claiming him when I have no right? He has lost his name and his master. I am just a person who tried to help him and got hurt in return, even though he did heal me. We are not lovers and we cant even be accountable to be called friends. He might have even forgotten about me."
"And he might have not," he said, pulling her hair up and taking a long blue ribbon to tie it with.
"I've scared him off," she insisted.
"You can not scare someone away by crying," the dragon said firmly, now combing the tail of hair that fell down her back. "To be honest, I am glad that you did. You need a good cry once in a while. It'll ensure stability in your reiatsu and you'll be able to obtain Perfect Serenity."
She sighed and fell back into his arms, lying on his midriff and settled between his legs. "You make it sound so easy," she grumbled, narrowing her eyes that they were half closed. "You forget how I'm influenced by my past selves. Even if I claim to be my own person, I'll find myself doing something that will remind someone of them. She, the strong willed one, refused to cry. Ever. Her zanpakutou was very strong willed as well and even as they both laid dying, filled with so much pain that it didn't even registered to their wounds, but of a broken heart, not a single drop fell from their eyes. I find myself very much the same way."
Looking up to look at her hands, she whispered, "They were both strong to the end, even when they looked death in the eye, they did not waver in their beliefs. And then, that man changed everything. Using such a power that it seemed almost possible to do what had been done."
"You are strong too, my lady," the dragon said, "as is the Master, Lady Nora."
"I'm getting a bad feeling of deja-vu, Otoño," Kojomaru confided. She lifted herself to stare at him. "I need to know. Even if we don't talk, even if it's just wishful thinking on my part. Even if it means I'm stupid, I just want to see if he's okay. Just for one last time."
Dragón de Otoño smiled and reached out to touch her face. "Then, my lady," he said, his voice trailing away as he returned to dragon form, the water freezing, keeping him in this plane as the ground grew cold and all around became frost, "accept Sode no Shirayuki's invitation. Return to the world of the Shinigami."
"I was afraid you were going to say that," she muttered, leaning against his brittle head and closed her eyes, listening to the soft footsteps of the ice zanpakutou, unhurried and yet filled with the urgency she had been showing all this time.
"Kojomaru," Sode no Shirayuki called out, stopping at the sight of one of the dragons outside of its domain. "I…"
"Hai. I know already," she interrupted. "You want me to go outside with you, want me to rejoin the others in this little rebellion of yours."
"It is not-"
"A rebellion is a rebellion. You're going against your masters for reasons not even I understand. But…" Here was where she will swallow her pride. Biting her bottom lip, Kojomaru swallowed down the bile she felt rising, hoping that she wouldn't get sick like a fool.
"I want to go with you, Sode no Shirayuki." The words were quickly said and quite forced.
"What… did you say?" she gasped.
Kojomaru glared at her. "Do I have to say it twice? I said I want to go with you," she growled. "Just… for a while. I'm not going there to stay. I just… want to go outside for a bit. I'm just letting you pick the place."
She turned back to the ice zanpakutou. "Is that alright with you? Cause that's all I'm willing to give. If you want more, forget it. That's my only response to your offer."
"No… that's…" Sode no Shirayuki smiled, so lost at what to say that she simply ran to the zanpakutou, showing a display of emotions that Kojomaru has never seen. "That is fine. Anything is fine, now that you have the desire to leave and join us-I mean, to mingle with us. I'm so happy that you has finally agreed to come outside."
"Uh… hai…" Kojomaru muttered, blinking uncomfortably at the show of feeling the other was displaying.
"Come," Sode no Shirayuki extended her hand. "I shall bring you were the others are. Hopefully, your mind will change and maybe you'll- Iie. Forgive me. I'm making too much of this and you haven't come to join us. Forgive me."
Sighing, the zanpakutou of seasons grabbed onto the ice zanpakutou 's arm sleeve and pulled her forward. "Enough. Let's go or I'll change my mind now!"
Laughing, the zanpakutou nodded. "Hai!"
SiLeNt WhIsPeR
"Welcome back," a zanpakutou greeted them as they descended the stairs.
"I've return, Tobiume," Sode no Shirayuki said, and turned back to her companion, lifting her hand. "Come, Kojomaru. There's no reason to be afraid."
"I-I'm not afraid!" the zanpakutou growled and stomped down the stairs, until she reached the bell-wearing zanpankutou.
Tobiume blinked in surprised, as suddenly the newcomer just gaped at her. She looked awfully familiar and it was the similar reiatsu that gave her away, that described her as the reclusive zanpakutou that had retreated to her sanctuary a long time ago due to a malady. She was repaired now and stared at the other in shock.
"You are…" Kojomaru gaped, her words breaking as she remembered something from her past.
No, it was not her past. It was never past because she didn't have one. Like always, it was one of them, who she used to be.
Their past.
"There is no reason to be sad, my master. It cant be helped. You can not control the emotion of the one you want, you can only hope that you will be loved in return by that person. I'm sorry that it is not case, but you have to understand, Karin, that he… loves… someone else."
"Oi! What's going on?" Another zanpakutou sauntered up at the bottom of the stairs. She was a big breasted cat spirit, with a pale cream outfit and reddish short hair with large ears sticking out.
As Kojomaru turned to look at the new one, another memory.
Another person.
"Don't worry so much about what that one says, Yuzu. You'll grow at your own pace. Besides, there is no need to be a bimbo like that one."
The short haired girl scolded her zanpakutou, even as it laughed.
"You… both of you… are…"
"Is there something wrong, Kojomaru?" Sode no Shirayuki asked, climbing down the stairs to stand on the step above, looking with concern at the open-mouthed zanpakutou.
By then, the other zanpakutou were gathering, drawn by the sudden outburst of the zanpakutou of seasons, by the attention of the three other zanpakutou. The room began to spin and Kojomaru couldn't keep her balance, so filled with forgotten emotions that she wanted to forget about Koori and leave, run away while she still could.
She felt sick and completely lost whatever 'serenity' she had left.
I… remember, she thought. No wonder he thinks my reiatsu is familiar. He's… the one. The zanpakutou whose master killed that girl a long time ago. That ice captain. She bowed her head. I haven't changed. I'm still very much a fool. An idiot!
"So this is the mysterious zanpakutou we all heard about?" another katanna asked, with trailing feathers falling down his half naked form, the top of his head wrapped in cloth. He came closer to where she stood on the stairs, peeking at her bowed head. When Kojomaru turned her face to look at him, he balked in surprise. Obviously, he had been expecting someone else.
"The brat zanpakutou?" another scoffed, bending his tall and muscled body down enough to get her own look. "You don't look special. Wonder why Muramasa keeps bothering with you. You're not of Shinigami ilk, but of arrancar. You sure as hell don't belong here."
"Hōzukimaru!" Sode no Shirayuki scowled at him, quickly going to Kojomaru's side and drawing her away from the large male. "You are one of the many who especially needs to apologize to Kojomaru! How could you insult her instead?"
The zanpakutou merely grunted, as though what he had said hadn't really registered to him as insulting but as the simple truth. She could understand that. The truth hurts but at least it was the truth. Why desire a lie?
The crowd began to part, as finally a reiatsu washed over that was simply unrecognizable to her. Someone that can not claim to once know her as her past selves, can not compare her appearance to the horror she once was.
The zanpakutou was tall and lithe, covered in white with a sort of fur trimming around his neck. He had short, spiky red hair and his face was pale white, with dark coloring around his startling blue eyes. As he walked towards her, he kept his hands in his pockets, but she could see some dark trim of fur around his wrists.
Two others trailed after him. One was just as tall as the first, if not a little taller. He had long he had long, dark brown hair up in a similar fashion as hers was in, with the white ribbon used to tie it up trailing behind. A threatening looking gaping mouthed mask covered his face and he was clothed professionally in a warrior samurai's garb, having a purple yukata and hakama, with heavy leather boots and arm garlets.
His reiatsu was again a familiar one, subdued and deadly. But he struck a chord inside of her, like a forgotten memory she was refusing to remember.
The other was Koori, who looked just as surprised as she was to see the other there.
Kojomaru lifted her head to fully look at the leader of the rebellion, this unfamiliar zanpakutou who looked at her just as intently.
"Darling!" The cat zanpakutou jumped excitedly to Koori, latching herself onto his arm as she pressed herself against him.
Stab.
"He loves someone else, my master. All we can do is be happy for him and continue to be his friend. If you love him, then his happiness should matter to you. However, never forget you need to be happy too."
That was right. She wasn't even a friend to him. She had no claim but to loneliness. It was what she wanted the most, what should be her due after all.
"I take it you are the one known as Muramasa," Kojomaru asked quietly.
He nodded. "And you are Kojomaru. I have been waiting so long to meet you." He reached out to touch her face, revealing long white claws.
"Listen to my voice. Free yourself of all exhibitions and join me." The words were whispered in her mind like a lover's caress, slow and seductive.
Her reiatsu hardened and provided a shield. A coolness entered her heart and strengthened her mind. She didn't became Perfect Serenity, but she was damn well close.
"Perdoname," she said and watched his hand fall. "I came here in person to tell you I'm refusing your offer. Revenge, imprisonment… Those are words that are meaningless to me. I was the one who chose to live in hell, if it meant reuniting with my master again. I cant simply join you out of the blue like this. I realize that you have my best interest at heart, but I really want you to leave me be.
"I am an arrancar zanpakutou. Betrayal, mistreatment, hatred… those are all part of our nature. I have no desire to change. In fact, I embrace it. So please, just leave me the fuck alone and we'll both be happy."
Kojomaru looked to Koori and smiled. "I'm glad… that you're not alone anymore," she told him. "Thank you. I hope you finally find what you lost."
She turned away and climbed back the stairs, going quickly on the verge of sonido. "Minna," she whispered to her subordinates, "close the world. Lock my door and throw away the key. I don't need any of them. I AM perfect serenity! I need no one else!"
Understood, my lady.
Salte Ella-dragón, Zorro de Verano, Dragón de Otoño, and Lobo de Invierno gathered and closed the path, sealing all but the link she shared with Zangetsu.
She went there now, using her wings to propel herself through. It was a short trip and Kojomaru found herself in a world of buildings, all on the wrong side that it could disorient someone.
"YO!" Hichigo Shirosaki, the hollow form of Zangetsu, greeted her with some surprise. "What are you doing here, brat?"
Kojomaru made her way to where he sat and dropped herself into his lap, making him flail his arms in order to catch his balance.
"Oi! What the hell?" Hichigo grabbed her arms, trying to get her off of him. "Are you crying? You're soaking my shihakshou!"
He pulled at her limbs but she wouldn't let go of his waist, roping herself tightly around his midriff as she sobbed.
Finally, Hichigo gave up, refusing (straining himself to hold back actually) not to smack or kill her. This was the zanpakutou of the King's sister and what he had done.
If he killed her, no doubt he would later regret it.
"Tch! I hate you, King! Next time you fight, I'll make sure you get yourself killed!" he promised, even as he brought a hand to place itself on her lower back. "You hear? I didn't kick her out like you did! You better remember to fucking repay me!"
We are always alone in our world. That's why we speak to one another in a silent whisper, so quiet that we may only be the ones to hear.
A/N: Karin loved someone but he rejected her. Can y'all guess who? If not, that will explained in Chapter 10 of Black Blood. This one-shot was a little filler and I wanted to give you guys some insight of what happened in the past and of Kojomaru's personality. The same thing happened to Yuzu, but it's still undecided with who. All I can say it's going to be a crack pairing and use someone that no one would have ever guessed. It's not going to be Jinta, just to tell you guys now.
If you guys were confused, Koori was Kojomaru's nickname for Hyourinmaru.
Review guys! And don't forget I'm still taking votes for the pairing!