Sora slowly stood, doing his best not to wake Gin. He moved away from the bed, taking slow steady steps. Sora opened the door as quietly as possible, and exited the room. He then closed the door as soundlessly as was physically possible.
Sora was glad that the training room was next to where he and Gin were spending the night. He was also glad the training room had some kind of luminous vine that lit the room. Sora moved to a corner of the room that was farthest away from where Gin was sleeping.
Sora sat on the cold ground and summoned his Zanpakutō. He'd spent hours upon hours training with it. He was now comfortable fighting with the sword. He was even comfortable fighting by himself.
Unfortunately, he had made little headway when it came to communicating with the spirit of his Zanpakutō. In fact, Sora wasn't sure if he had made any progress. There were times he thought he heard voices, but he dismissed it as his overactive imagination.
"Hay there," Sora said to his weapon, "When we started training, I was a little worried I would not be able to handle Gin's attacks. I haven't used a normal sword for a long time. When I was little, I would practice with wooden swords, but that was nothing compared to training with Gin. I wish you would talk to me. I'd really like to meet you. Gin says I have to learn your name so I can gain some of your power. He says that learning to release you is the only way I'll be able to survive the Hollowfication Process."
Sora let out a sigh of defeat. He was starting to feel depressed. All he wanted at the moment was to talk with the spirit of his sword. Gin had described the feeling of constant contact with one's Zanpakutō was an amazing thing, and Sora desperately wanted it.
Tears started to gather at the corners of Sora's eyes. He felt an overwhelming sense of despair, similar to the feelings he had felt when he had thought he'd lost his island home. Of course, he knew that there should be no comparison between the two events. It was completely insane that not receiving a response from a sword would make Sora feel as bad as that horrible night.
Sora started trembling as more tears started to fall freely from his eyes. An overwhelming feeling of inadequacy washed over him. His breathing was becoming erratic, and his vision was becoming blurry.
"Why are you crying?" The question caught Sora off guard, and snapped him out of his panic attack. He lifted his head towards the voice, and was surprised to find that it wasn't Gin who had spoken.
Sitting on the ground, in front of Sora, was a boy dressed in light silver robes. He had blue hair and red eyes, and a yellow pendent hanging from his neck. He was staring at Sora with his head slightly tilted to the left.
"Who are you?" Sora managed to force out after a moment of silence.
"I'm Yuujoo-kun, and it is very nice to meet you." The boy spoke in a politely detached tone.
"Why are you down here?"
"Well, silly, I'm here to see you."
"But why would you want to see me? How did you even know I was down here?"
"I think that Sora-chan should know the answer to that. I'm here because Sora-chan said he wanted to meet me. Has Sora-chan changed his mind?"
"Wait a minute! Yuujoo means "friendship". Why would you have a name like that? And I never said I wanted to meet anyone by that name. How did you get down here anyways? Gin said that no one else knows about it. None of this makes any scenes. Unless… unless you're my Zanpakutō!"
"Very good, Sora-chan. That's exactly right."
"So…what do you want?" Sora asked slowly, not sure how he should treat Yuujoo.
"Well, you're the one who said you wanted to meet, so we could talk. So, what would Sora-chan like to talk about?"
"Well, Gin said that the spirit of a Zanpakutō is connected to the welder's mind. That means your apart of me, right?"
"Yes, that is correct."
"Well, the keyblade is a part of me too. So, I was wondering if you could tell me what happened to my keyblade."
"Well, Sora-chan, that is a long story, so it shall take some time to explain. First, let me tell you a secret. Did you know that the Keyblades are alive? Well, they are. Not in the same way Zanpakutō are alive, but they do live. Their life is tied to reality itself.
"Now, when a keyblade master is chosen, the Keyblades bound with that person. That's why the Keyblade can only be welded by its master. It rejects everyone who tries to use it, except the welder.
"When the Keyblades choose someone to be their master, they gain a glimpse into that person's future. They see every major thing the person will accomplish. How the person will accomplish it, and what will happen next is still unknown to the Keyblades.
"This is where I come into the story. Your entering into this world was never supposed to be possible. Yet you did manage to enter into this realm, which forced reality to shift. I became your Zanpakutō, but more importantly, I joined with the Keyblades. You cannot use the keyblade is this world, but you can use me. And I am able to tap into the power of the keyblade."
"So, you're saying that the Keyblades are alive, and that they can see into the future. And you're saying that you are part of the keyblade. So, can you see into my future?"
"No. Because I was forced to join with the keyblade, it started to losses its connection with reality. In other words, it's losing its power."
"I… don't understand." Sora spoke softly, feeling foolish for not understanding Yuujoo's explanation.
"Let me put it this way: there is no way for Sora-chan to enter into this world. But Sora-chan is in this world. When Sora-chan appeared here, I became your Zanpakutō. Because both the keyblade and myself are part of Sora-chan, our powers are joined together. That allows me to tap into the Keyblade's power. However, this world that Sora-chan is in right now is not meant for the living. The keyblade is keeping Sora-chan alive. It could keep him alive forever, if it needed to. But it's using almost all of its power to keep Sora-chan alive. Keeping Sora-chan is leaving the keyblade too weak to do anything. Thus, Sora-chan's future cannot be seen by us."
"How is it keeping me alive?"
"It's forcing your body into a constant state of flux. As such, you are both a living human and a soul."
Sora gave a quick nod, even though he still didn't fully understand what Yuujoo had said. He started to feel tired, and his eyelids started to close. His shoulders slumped, and within seconds he was asleep.
"I'm sorry, Sora-chan. I didn't realize that manifesting myself would drain so much energy. Rest now. We shall talk again later."