Chapter 7: Revealed identities.

I slowly opened my eyes only to see Yachiru peering down at me.

"Ow." As I raised my right arm to feel my head, I spotted Miss Unohana looking at me in her normal composed manner.

"Don't, you'll make it worse." She pointed to the gash on my arm. Although it had stopped bleeding, it hadn't quite closed up and the skin was pink and rough as though the scar was already there.

Memories of the fight floated back as I sat up, and the world with my zanpaku-tō. Speaking of which, I tried remembering the name of it, but it just wouldn't come to me. Zaraki was sitting next to me with a look of concern on his face. I flinched as he touched my arm where the gash was.

"Miss Unohana I appreciate you doing this, but can you not kill her. This is her first time fighting in 36 years." He rumbled, filling the cave with his guttural tone.

"I am doing what I was told to do, Captain 11. You should do well to know that. Anyway, you were the one who wanted her free considering the situation at the moment." She stated formally. My head was hurting and my hair sticky from the blood. Miss Unohana turned to face me, and I quickly grabbed my zanpaku-tō that was lying next to me.

"No need to worry, I won't attack you now. I am merely pushing her to the edge to gain the powers of her zanpaku-tō back. Otherwise she won't be able fight properly. What's blocking your ears is hatred at the blade and what's inside you…"

"That's enough!" Zaraki bellowed angrily. "Zooi does not need to know of that yet! When the time is right, she'll discover it by herself, not us." This was the first time I'd seen Zaraki get this annoyed, and it was truly frightening. The air around was burning slightly with his spiritual pressure, but I managed to hold myself. His expression was solemn but in his eye I saw pain and sorrow.

Moments later, Miss Unohana unsheathed her sword and walked over to the far side of the cave.

"Get up Zooi. We'll try something different. Training exercises." Zaraki helped me up, concerned as though I'll fall over. True, I was still dizzy from my head wound, but I was okay. I walked over to her, thinking about what Miss Unohana had said; 'What's blocking your ears is hatred at the blade and what's inside you…' – what did that mean? 'What's inside me' – is there anything inside me? I'm just a normal(ish) soul reaper with no weird powers…aren't I? I suddenly felt a coolness flowing through my blood as though in response to that and I shivered.

"Yachiru, do you know who Zooi is?" Zaraki asked the small, pink-haired girl who was perched on his shoulder.

"Nope! Although she's got a wicked spirit pressure, it could rival even Ikkaku's (not that pinball-head would be happy) and perhaps mine!" she trilled. She was playing with Zaraki's long dark hair. Zaraki sighed and glanced over to where I and Miss Unohana were practising. I was being taught how to block certain attacks and what type of counter-attack I should use.

"Kenny?" Yachiru asked innocently.

"What?"

"Can I ask you a couple of things?"

"You've already asked me one thing, what are the others? Get on with it, I want to watch them." Yachiru yanked Zaraki's hair hard, but he ignored it.

"Well, first, who is she and why have you been looking after her?" Zaraki sighed and looked at me as I successfully blocked Miss Unohana's attack.

"Yachiru, you must promise me never to speak to anyone about this. This is regarded as top-secret information. You promise?"

"I promise, I'm not a blabber-mouth." Yachiru whined. Zaraki raised his eyebrows in disbelief that she had just said that.

"Okay then. Zooi Tamyaomo isn't her real name, it's Zooi Rubi Yamamoto."

"Then, that means that she's the…"

"Yep, Zooi's the Captain-General's only daughter. And there's something else."

"What, what is it?" Yachiru asked, wide-eyed.

"Zooi's mother, Rubi, her full name is Rubi Unohana. She never married the Captain-General or anything like that, so she kept her maiden name.

"Unohana…that sounds familiar…where've I heard it before?" While Yachiru was in deep thought, Miss Unohana was attacking me, to try and force me to counter-attack.

"Stupid! Miss Unohana, known as Captain 4 has the same name!" he snapped, irritated and sighed, exasperated.

"Oh yeah!" she laughed. "But you're stupid yourself!" she whined and yanked his hair again.

"Stop that, it's irritating. Anyway, Zooi's mother Rubi is Miss Unohana's sister, so Miss Unohana is related by blood to Zooi. Zooi doesn't know this even though she was brought up by her after Rubi was killed."

"Huh? Rubi died?"

"What did I just say?" Zaraki grumbled. "Anyway, once Zooi was born, somebody managed to leak information out that the father was Genryūsai Yamamoto, the Captain-General. From that day on, the Captain-General has never shown affection for Zooi in public. He often visited and played with her when she was younger, but as Zooi got older, he tried to visit more often, but he was the Captain-General; he can't really get time off.

"Of course, when Zooi was put in prison, he was heart-broken. That's kind of why his hair went so white. He's angry and ashamed that he can't call her his daughter, but he does still feel for her. He always will, because she's his daughter." Zaraki ended, and Yachiru was silent for a minute.

"Oh. I never knew that Zooi was Oldie's daughter." She said quietly.

"I told you not to call him that! Anyway, don't tell anyone, this has to remain quiet." Yachiru jumped down from Zaraki's shoulders and sat on his knee.

"Kenny? I feel slightly sorry for her, you know." Yachiru sighed and watched me and Miss Unohana fight again. Miss Unohana abandoned the 'training regime' and just fought 'normally'.

I was getting better at fighting after being out of action for a long time, but still very rusty: more often than not I could block and counter her attacks. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Zaraki and Yachiru together – why where they always together, and who were they exactly? No time to think, Miss Unohana was attacking from the left. I jumped back and raised my sword to defend myself just in time as Miss Unohana flew at me, her curved sword held out to the right. Her curved sword, Minazuki, was more dangerous than an ordinary shaped sword as the blade didn't slice cleanly, it just carried on cutting which explains how I got the two cuts on my arm and face.

Several minutes passed, but nothing happened, when suddenly, a familiar coolness flowed through me and into my sword. Miss Unohana was attacking harder and faster now – she flew at me again in the air, I dodged in time but not before her sword smashed the ground and the blast carried me to the top of one of the bigger rock towers. Again, she leapt into the air towards me and hit the ground in front of me causing the rock to break up…however, I could not jump down for there was a huge gap leading from the cliff-like rocks to the other end of the cave. I leapt to the other rocks but not before Miss Unohana was already there. I swung my sword, but she blocked it with her own hand! I couldn't linger in shock – she swung my sword (with me still holding on to it) 180° which sent me flying off the edge of the rock and crashing into the dusty ground. Although, I managed to regain control of myself so I could easily slide along without damaging myself too much. Once again, that familiar watery sensation flowed through me. A voice in my head piped up.

"Look around. She's gone, be wary." It was echoey and tingly. I looked around, trying to sense some movement through the thick dust. There! I quickly dodged right and avoided the blade; allowing me to attack, but I narrowly missed. Because I could not see very well, I leapt backwards only to fall into the path of Miss Unohana again. She swung but missed as I ducked down. I bounded backwards again, but the voice was there again. I stopped as the mist cleared up as did Miss Unohana. She peered at me, her eyes burning as the watery sensation started up again.

"Why are you running away?" it said. The voice reminded me of Yachiru – all innocent and pleasant to listen to…most of the time. "You have me in your hands, you shouldn't be afraid. Stop relying on the blade and letting that do the work for you. Unblock your ears and fight with me, instead of using me for fear of injuring yourself or others. All you need to do is listen. Abandon your fear and panic, and grip me tight. Make me connect with you; in heart and soul and body. Make your blood flow into me…" I shut my eyes, dropped my arms and clenched the sword tightly in my right hand.

"That's it, open your ears and abandon all that you are frightened of. Open your eyes and remember…remember my name…" the voice drifted off. I made my blood flow through my hand to my sword, so we are one, I opened my ears, and kept an open mind. Slowly but surely, a flicker of light appeared in my mind, and suddenly letters were floating round in the darkness. "T…T…T…" I stuttered. Damn! It wasn't coming out! Okay, stay calm, breathe; look forward…

"Look forward, open your eyes and shout! Shout my name!" the voice yelled again. My chest thumped and bounded as my eyes flashed open, burning brilliant blue as I shouted! Shouted the name I forgot and abandoned!

"TAURA!"