Chapter Six: The Dome

"What are we doing here?"

Tsuneyoshi rested a hand against the sandstone wall of the great Dome fortress, sending his companion an accusatory glance. "I thought you said you knew the way back to Seireitei - but all you've done is lead me across the sand to this old fortress. I know this is here - it's the only thing that can be seen for miles in the desert. If that's your way of leading me back, I could've found it on my own."

"Hrm, you do complain a lot,"

Kunimori cast his companion a look of weary resignation. "I had never had that impression from you in the past - actually, you seemed like someone who didn't venture many opinions to anyone, to be truthful. It's very tiresome, listening to you pointing out negatives all the while. You're not the only one stuck in this place, you know. I'd like to leave here too, so of course I'm not going to just waste your time with false promises."

He fumbled his hands against the wall of the Dome, feeling carefully across the stone panels as he did so. "You said you knew the place was here, but what else do you know of it? Seeing it from a distance isn't the same as seeing it from the inside...which we're about to do, if I can just..ah!"

A note of triumph touched his voice as his fingers brushed against the right section of stone. For Tsuneyoshi, who could see no imperfections in the building's outer defence, let alone anything resembling a door, it was something of a shock when the stone juddered and began to lift, revealing a yawning black passageway beyond. Kunimori dusted the stray sand from his fingers, nodding at it approvingly.

"I'm getting quicker at triggering that," he said, more to himself than to his companion.

"How did you..." Despite himself, Tsuneyoshi reached out a tentative hand into the darkness, half sure that he would not be able to withdraw it again, but at his gesture, Kunimori snorted with derision.

"It's just an entrance. It's not the Dangai. We need to go inside. Are you coming, or are you scared of the dark?"

"I'm not afraid," Tsuneyoshi bristled, pulling his hand back and gazing at his fingers resentfully. "You said you were taking me to the Dangai so we could go back and settle our scores. How am I meant to know when we find it? I don't know what it looks like. Only you do."

"You don't know what..." Kunimori paused, casting his companion a startled glance, and then he smiled, a glitter of cold humour entering his stony eyes.

"Ah, of course," he murmured. "Harumizu messed with your memories, didn't he? I thought you'd completely come to yourself, but apparently there's still some key knowledge missing."

"I don't remember going into the Dangai at all," Tsuneyoshi muttered. "I only know I did because I'm here, with you, a felon who was thrown there for betraying his family and seeking his own advancement. Lots of people died unnecessarily because of ambition like yours, so you deserve to be here. I, on the other hand..."

"You were the poor, innocent, tricked Unohana lord who just wanted to protect his son from internal treason," Kunimori sighed, pretending to wipe away a tear from his wizened cheeks. "Spare me. Time passes slowly enough in this black hole of existence without having to listen to your claims of innocence."

"I didn't do anything except protect my son."

"And how did you do that, again? Remind me. I seem to have forgotten all the gory details," Kunimori's eyes glittered beadily, and Tsuneyoshi frowned, reaching down a hand to touch the hilt of his sword.

"They left me with no choice,"" he said regretfully. "I had to do what was necessary, or Tsunenao would have been corrupted and driven mad by their demands. I only wanted to put my family back together, and make sure it was secure for the future. That's all that was in my mind. I'm not like you - I didn't seek power or influence or promotion. I ripped the betrayal and corruption out of my family. That's all."

"In the eyes of Seireitei law, there are no justified massacres," Kunimori sighed heavily, gesturing to the black tunnel up ahead. "There are only sanctioned killings by those in favour, and murder by those who are not. We are not the blessed ones, Tsuneyoshi-dono. You condemn me, but what did I do but try and protect my Clan's interests in the face of Heaven's uprising? We are not so very different, you know."

"We are entirely different," Tsuneyoshi muttered, pushing past his companion and stepping into the darkness beyond. "Aren't you coming? You said we needed to go inside here, so why are we still standing outside talking?"

"As you say," Kunimori bowed his head mockingly in his companion's direction, then followed the other man into the black. "Perhaps we are a little different, on reflection. I might have led troops in a battle that ended in defeat, as a warrior is wont to do from time to time, but I admit, I can't match the grand claim of purging my own family with my blade. If I didn't know you were the Soldier, I would have been baffled. It's always the quiet ones, so they say. Everyone always talked about you as this peaceful, sage individual who argued against violence and promoted reason. I wish I had been in the Seirei to see their reaction when you proved how much of a true, bloodthirsty Unohana you really were deep down inside."

"I don't take pleasure in killing people, Kunimori-dono. I did what was necessary. I didn't say I revelled in it,"

Tsuneyoshi turned to glare at his fellow exile in the gloom, and Kunimori chuckled.

"Of course. My mistake," he said mock-contritely, waving his hands in a feigned apology. "You killed all of those Hollows in the lower level of this place out of forced duty and compulsion as a shinigami! I quite understand."

Tsuneyoshi shot Kunimori a black glare, but the old man was already sauntering past him, leading the way nonchalantly forward into the dark, narrow hallways that lay ahead. Although from the white of the desert, the tunnel had seemed entirely without light, once inside there was a dim glow, just enough to see where one foot went ahead of the next and that, on both sides, they were surrounded by high stone walls similar to those that flanked the outside. Whether they were walking up or down, Tsuneyoshi had no idea, for without the unchanging crescent moon to guide him, there was no way to tell how close to the surface they might or might not be, but, as he began to feel these pathways were going on for an eternity, there was a sudden flare of light, and he realised that, once again, Kunimori had opened a door that, until moments before, appeared just to be a part of the stonework.

He stepped out into a properly constructed room, completely round and with the domed ceiling up above that gave the structure its familiar appearance. The roof was not opaque, and through the frosted crystal, Tsuneyoshi could make out the glow of the moon. Notches in the wall around them indicated places for other lights and, as Kunimori made his way between them, touching a finger to each, Tsuneyoshi realised that they were Kidou lamps, but in an archaic design that even he had not seen before. Such proof of shinigami presence in an area so alien to shinigami as a whole was surreal, and he frowned, making his way towards one of the lamps to examine it more closely.

"It's what you think it is," Kunimori lit the final lamp, stepping back to admire his handiwork. "This place is what you think it is. Those are Kidou lamps, and they were put here by shinigami. One shinigami, at the very least...which is helpful, because I'm old fashioned, and I like to work with light."

"How is it that shinigami equipment is here, if you and I are the only ones that safely crossed the Dangai?" Tsuneyoshi turned to send Kunimori a questioning look. "What is this place, anyway? Kidou doesn't work within the Dangai, and I already assumed we weren't still inside it, from what you said, but this place...it's not like Seireitei. It's not designed for shinigami, so why..."

"It's a legend," Kunimori leant back against the wall, folding his arms across his chest with a sigh. "One I didn't pay a lot of attention to, until I saw the Dome and wondered if something that distinctive could really be a coincidence. It took me a long time to work out how to break the seal to enter this place. Even now, there are large swathes of it that I can't access. I'm sure it will take longer than the years I have left to discover all of its secrets, which is a shame. I like to know what I'm dealing with - but sometimes secrets are stubborn."

"What kind of a legend?" Tsuneyoshi was curious, and Kunimori grinned.

"The legend of the swords, of course," he said flippantly, tapping his scabbard and gesturing to Tsuneyoshi's own. "Yours and mine, and the other eight. Harumizu's too, most probably. When the Soul King first separated his Royal Blade and gifted the fragments to the ten individuals he trusted to protect his world...blah blah, you know the tale. You must do, being that you're the Soldier."

"I know it," Tsuneyoshi's lips thinned. "What of it? What has it to do with this fortress?"

"Well, the story goes that the individual entrusted with the last blade chose not to stay in Seireitei," Kunimori said simply. "That sword was Void, and it sent the wielder on a quest to find ultimate peace and purity somewhere in space and time. Seireitei wasn't the kind of place that either of those things existed, so the story goes that the wielder entered the Dangai and disappeared. The Void sword has never been found, and nor has anyone ever been reborn with that weapon in their possession. This is the reason why,"

He gestured around himself triumphantly.

"This is where Void came, and this is where Void stayed. This whole world, this whole empty perfection was created by one of the Soul King's swords, as some kind of tranquil haven away from the constant war of our world in Seireitei."

"Then why are there Hollows here, if it's a tranquil haven?"

"Best guess, Seireitei dumped its rubbish in the Dangai and it washed up here on the pure, untainted beaches," Kunimori said casually. "Down the hall from this chamber there's a room full of scrolls and notes. They're written in old old script, and it took me a long time to decipher any of them, but from what I saw, the wielder of the Void sword got fed up with all the pollution, and sealed himself away somewhere in this place, somewhere away from the taint of Seireitei's warfare. Felons like you and I, and the unfortunates who litter the Dangai as corpses, we were refuse that Void didn't want, and couldn't do anything about. So Void withdrew and rubbish grew and we ended up like we are right now. Happily ever after - or not, depending on your perspective."

Tsuneyoshi groaned.

"You don't take any of this at all seriously, do you?" he murmured, and Kunimori sent his companion a dark look.

"You should count yourself lucky you haven't had to amuse yourself for the past however many centuries, alone in this godawful place," he snapped. "If not for digging through the records here, I'd have lost my mind. You weren't much company, lost in Harumizu's dreamworld bubble. You're still not much company, but you have no idea how much of a relief it is to speak words out loud again and have someone else actually respond to them."

"You shouldn't mind my complaining, then," Tsuneyoshi pointed out. "Well? The story and the Dome is all very nice, but we didn't come here to sightsee. What about the Dangai? Where is it?"

"Here," Kunimori paused, then, "I don't know how to open it, though. I'm still working on that."

"I thought you said that you would take me to it and we'd be able to go back!" Tsuneyoshi reacted at once to this, and Kunimori sighed.

"I needed you to come with me," he admitted. "The thing is, I can't connect to the Dangai. I was thrown into it, and, probably, the opening was sealed up after me. You too, maybe, but it's different with you. Even if it's sealed up, I'm pretty sure that your sword will be able to find it."

"You can't use yours to open it? It's not a normal gate to Seireitei?" Tsuneyoshi was hesitant. Kunimori shook his head.

"No shinigami has ever been to the Void World and come back alive," he said sadly. "It's not designed to be a two-way trip. Void came here, apparently with no intent to ever return, and you and I...we didn't come here by choice. We probably only survived the trip because we both have considerable levels of reiryoku and it meant we somehow endured whatever caused everyone else to succumb. Maybe it's the swords we hold, or just the fact we're able to hold them that made it possible to live through the Dangai experience. Everyone else was either corrupted by the Dangai's poison and mutated into Hollows like those you have so much fun killing, or they never made it out at all, and their corpses still lie somewhere in the abyss."

He cast Tsuneyoshi a sidelong glance.

"In your case, it must be your sword," he said grudgingly. "Especially bearing in mind the fact you haven't aged. I can't believe that was Harumizu's doing, so it must be all your own...or more likely, Meidoushi's protection towards its master. It's a convenient side feature, that, apparent immortality."

"I'm not immortal," Tsuneyoshi dismissed this with a flick of his hand. "I'm not easy to kill, but that's all. And you're going off the point. You were explaining about the Dangai and why we can't just open it up and walk through."

"Well, I don't really know what the opening is made of, if there even is a proper opening on this side," Kunimori let out a heavy rush of air, and Tsuneyoshi could tell that this admission was galling to his companion's pride. "We call it a Dangai, but I suppose we don't even really know if that's the right term, as it isn't like the kind of Dangai shinigami usually traverse. You can't use your zanpakutou to open it. It's not like going to the Real World from Seireitei, dangerous as that can be. I'm pretty sure that the gate I was thrown into was created by the Urahara specifically for the purpose of stranding us or killing us, and thus has nothing in common with the transfer gates to the Real World. Why would it have? There's no need for a way back if you're using it to exile and execute miscreants. And I'm smart, but I'm not an Urahara. I never had any access to their research, and it's something I regret, now. They were new nobility and I admit, I rather considered them beneath me."

He sighed again.

"But maybe not. The gate rules are different and I haven't yet worked out completely what they are. It's my hypothesis that Hollows are able to go back and forth, so we must be able to - but pinpointing how is taking time."

"And you think I can do something about it?"

"I think, if your sword is really as horrific as I think it is, that you probably can." Kunimori reflected, moving across the room and perching on one of the round, smooth boulders that were pitched at intervals across the floor. "Unless I've been misled about the nature of the Soldier's control over the divide between life and death."

"What are you asking me to do?" Tsuneyoshi's eyes became slits, and Kunimori shrugged.

"There are a lot of dead people in the Dangai. Ones that didn't Hollowfy and make it here in some deformed version of their former selves," he said evenly. "I can't do anything with dead people, but you can. Can't you? You could find where they are, right? "

"Find...them?"

"Is it a myth, then, that the Soldier can hear the souls of the dead and dying as clearly as he hears the voices of the living?"

A sudden recollection of bloodstained grasses and the drifting wails that hung heavy in the atmosphere flooded Tsuneyoshi's mind, and he frowned.

"What of it?"

"Ah-hah. Then it is true?" Kunimori's beady eyes glittered with triumph. "I thought so."

"You needn't look so excited about it. It's not as though I asked to hear them," Tsuneyoshi became defensive. "And I don't see what that has to do with anything. People who died in the Dangai died in the Dangai. They didn't die here. Moreover, I can't pick up fragmented reishi. The voices fade and stop when the soul desiccates into the ether."

"Yes, but the Dangai is intermediate space." Kunimori pointed out smugly. "What decomposes in Seireitei may well still linger in an intact enough state in the Dangai to be of use to us. Your sword is the key to that puzzle. Finding a trace of them would be the same as finding the Dangai, and once we find it, maybe we can find a way to open it."

Tsuneyoshi was silent for a moment, digesting this. Slowly he drew his sword from its sheath, gazing at Meidoushi's shining blade with a pensive, troubled expression on his features.

"I don't really want to..." he murmured, and Kunimori frowned.

"If you don't, we're not going to find a way out," he said frankly. "I read about it in the original legends, but it's true that I didn't see what kind of power you manifested when you took your family to task. I admit that maybe my assumptions of your range and reach are optimistic and wrong. You're the first person to ever be reincarnated with the Soldier blade, so there wasn't a lot of other information to work with. But, based on the stories of the original Soldier, I'm sure that you must be able to do something."

"It's not about finding dead people," Tsuneyoshi chewed down on his lip. "I never tried to find them. I just heard them. Then, as they faded into reishi, the voices faded too. I never went looking for them. They were just there. I don't sense them here right now, so how can I know where they are? It's not like that."

"Even with your sword?" Kunimori looked disappointed, and Tsuneyoshi faltered. Slowly he shook his head.

"I didn't use Meidoushi, except when I settled things with my family," he owned reluctantly ."Hearing those voices was just something I could do. I didn't need the blade for that, worse luck. I didn't release my sword very often and I don't want to release it now. Bad enough I was plagued by those sensations in Seireitei, and besides, Meidoushi isn't a bloodhound."

"If you released your sword and tried, though, could you amplify your range enough to pick up something in intermediate space?" Kunimori asked hopefully. Tsuneyoshi's eyes clouded, and he shrugged.

"I've never tried it," he murmured. "It might not be...that I find them. Meidoushi's ability isn't really...about finding things. If I do...latch onto the remains of the Dangai dead...I..."

"You what?" Kunimori arched an eyebrow, and Tsuneyoshi let out a heavy sigh.

"I might bring them back to life," he admitted unwillingly, "as agents of vengeance, unleashed to fight again for what they believe."


"You know, I was really hoping that the mountain wasn't going to be as cold as it looked, but I guess that was a shade too much optimism, give the frigid atmosphere in the lower valley,"

Ketsui tucked his fingers into the folds of his sleeves with a shiver, gazing resentfully around him at the whiteness of the landscape over which he and his companion had spent the best part of their day trudging. Naoko had decided that it was best not to tackle the mountain without warmer attire, and so they had spent a little extra time searching the villages for any discarded winter clothing that they could appropriate for the course of their mission. Naoko had been right, Ketsui reflected, that their Captain would not countenance them stealing materials from the local people in the course of their duty, but discarded furs and cloaks were a different matter and, although their chosen material was torn and threadbare in places, it was decidedly better than nothing. Unfortunately, they had had no such luck with covering their feet and so, in spite of the fact their upper bodies and legs were much better protected from the chill, the dampness of the snow seeped into the tabi, making their feet feel like uncomfortable blocks of ice.

The trek into the snowy peaks was not helped any by the occasional patches of freezing fog that they had had to negotiate. The crisp wintry air hung heavily over the whole of the atmosphere, yet in spite of this obvious evidence of hostile weather conditions, the sense of purity that the two shinigami had sensed in the valley was, if anything, more intense here than down by the river. The mountain was empty of any sign of inhabitants, but a few smoothed pathways between falls of rock indicated that the local people did come here - although on what errand Ketsui could not possibly imagine. It was bad enough living down below, where there was at least the faintest shades of green and brown beneath the frost, but here, the world was insistent and repetitive in white, stretching out in all directions like a choppy sea of snow.

"There's really nothing here," he added with a sigh. "Are we going to camp up here, Naoko-san? Because if we are, we need to find shelter. It'll be dark if we're not careful, and I don't fancy wandering around by moonlight in a place with so few key landmarks."

"Going back down the mountain would be a waste of energy," Naoko turned, gazing back the way they had come with a small sigh of reluctance. "I agree with you, but I hadn't thought it would be so exposed up here. If we are starting back, we'll have to do it soon - and then it will take us as long to get here tomorrow, and we'll make no progress. There may be no landmarks, but you must have noticed - the same strange sensation in the air is here, too. It's like it was down by the river, only, if anything, it's more intense up here."

"Well, I suppose we can explain the lack of Hollows," Ketsui said critically, kicking idly at a small pebble in the white and watching as it disappeared into a drift a short distance away. "Either they didn't like the cold, or - more likely - they can't survive in this atmosphere. It really is getting more and more pure the higher we go."

"I've heard that air at altitude often is more pure," Naoko looked troubled, "but I don't like that there's nothing obvious to explain why this place should feel this way. Coming up the mountain was the right call, but...if you don't mind, Ketsui, I'd like to continue a little more before we talk about turning back. I realise it's a risk, but we were sent here to get to the bottom of the spiritual anomalies Nagesu-sama's sensors picked up. This is definitely anomalous, and so I don't think we can just turn our backs and walk away."

"I know you're right," Ketsui sighed heavily, but nodded his head. "I'll just appreciate fire and warmth a lot more when we eventually go home. That is, if I still have feet," he added pensively. "Can you feel your toes, Naoko-san? I really, genuinely don't think I have any any more."

"Whining about it isn't going to help the situation," Naoko scolded. "Come on. We're better off than we could have been. The mountain might be barren and cold, but there are paths and that makes it easier. Imagine if we had to climb up some of these sections. It would be a lot more difficult to make progress."

"I suppose so," Ketsui acknowledged, falling into step with his companion and pulling the folds of fur more tightly around his body. "And this does help. I'm sorry. I am paying attention, I promise. It's just that there isn't a lot to pay attention to."

"The existence of paths means people have come here. Humans, I mean. People who live here," Naoko pulled Dokushou Houshi's sheathed form from her side, tapping the tip against the path experimentally to check for hidden layers of ice. "They seem to keep them quite clear of snow, too, which means they probably still use them. The local people here don't see us, so there's no reason to be worried about them happening on our mission - but the fact they use this place is interesting to me."

"I think they must be mad," Ketsui sighed. "It's horrible up here. I can't imagine why they'd come."

"Horrible? It is cold, but I think it's quite beautiful," Naoko reflected, returning the sword to her side with a shrug. "Empty, yes, but perfect and pearl-white. Purity for miles and miles...like the snow itself is the source of that sensation. Maybe even the humans can sense that...that there's something beautiful and untouched about this place, and so they come here to be a part of it."

"Well, I can't understand why, but I think you're right," Ketsui strode up ahead, pausing to examine a chunk of the mountain stone that had been cut and carved into a rounded shape. "This isn't natural. Someone put it here. It has something written on it, but it's hard to make out what."

"I'm not sure if we can read the human language anyway," Naoko reminded him, nonetheless coming to see for herself. "It looks a lot like a stupa, though, or well, it's different, but maybe something like that."

"Something religious?" Ketsui looked startled. Naoko pushed her lips together pensively.

"If the humans understand this place is pure, then maybe they consider it a holy place," she suggested, reaching across to brush snow and ice from the stone and squinting at the engraving below. "It's hard to make out, Ketsui, but doesn't that look like the character for 'dragon' to you? It's not very clear, but when I really look at it..."

"Dragon?" Ketsu tilted his head on one side. "Do people here use the same words we do? It might be something else completely...although it does look a little bit like the character for dragon."

"Or an actual dragon," Naoko suggested. "Drawn crudely in the stone. Our characters all came originally from images of the things they represent. Why would it be different here?"

"I suppose so, but we're making assumptions," Ketsui stood back, gazing around him. "There's no dragon here. There isn't even a shrine to one. Just a sea of white with a few bumps and peaks here and there."

"Maybe that's the point," Naoko's eyes narrowed, and she moved to stand behind the stone carving, turning to gaze across the landscape "Ketsui, come over here. Come stand over here. The sun is still fairly high, and maybe that's the reason, but look...look over there. Look at that mountain slope. The ice is so thick around it, it sparkles in the light. And..."

"The sparkles make it look like there's a dragon inside it," Ketsui breathed, his eyes widening in surprise and pleasure at the unexpected sight. "So I was wrong. There is something up here. Some ancient Real World person carved a dragon in the ice, and that's a sacred place for the local people. They come here and this stone," he patted it, "marks the place where the dragon is."

"Seems so," Naoko agreed, "but that doesn't answer any of our questions, and it doesn't explain the purity of the air."

"We're sure there isn't a real dragon? It is just a carving?" Ketsui cast his companion a glance, and Naoko shrugged.

"It doesn't look like anything to me but sunlight off the rock face," she admitted. "I don't think there's a real dragon, Ketsui. I'm not sure the Real World has dragons, and it's not like we really have them, either. Only inside zanpakutou, or so the stories go. I doubt there's really a dragon up here, in all this snow and ice."

"But if people believed there was one, and that dragon was protecting them somehow..." Ketsui frowned. "Maybe something else pure is here, and the dragon is just how the local people interpret it. Maybe they think a dragon is protecting them, and so they come here. Maybe they even make offerings to it, at that stone. But something in that mountain must be creating the ambience. Something spiritual. And it might not be a dragon, but maybe the local people have the right idea. Perhaps they've given us help in our quest after all."

He took steps towards the mountain face, but Naoko reached out to pull him back.

"You're jumping to conclusions and racing ahead without any evidence," she warned. "That's not very Urahara of you. Calm down and think about it, Ketsui. You might be right about the spiritual beliefs of the locals, but that is a long way from saying that whatever they believe is necessarily what we're looking for."

"No, but it's a clue. We don't have any other clues or starting points, so what's wrong with following this one?" Ketsui looked quizzical. "The dragon mountain is here and the air is pure and we've found it. Worst case scenario, it's something we can put on Taichou's map. Right? It might be nothing - but if it's something, and we walked away, we'll just have to come all the way back again and start over."

"Real World people aren't very spiritual," Naoko looked doubtful. "They can't even see us, so why would they perceive something we're searching for?"

"Because when it comes to sacred things, rules change," Ketsui said firmly. "In the village where Ten-nii and I grew up, in Eighth, there were lots of local superstitions. Beliefs in gods and deities and kami and those things...even if they're not really possible in our world. I'm sure the people here are the same. They made paths to come here and they marked the place. They're telling us it's important and this is their world. Let's find out why it's important."

He cast her a rueful smile.

"Besides, if that mountain is blessed, the chances are there's a cave inside it somewhere," he added, "Most spiritual things lead to a shrine where people can come and worship, and we're still looking for somewhere to shelter, right?"

"I suppose we are," Naoko sighed, but she nodded her head. "All right. You win. Let's go see what's inside the dragon's mountain."


"Bring them back to life?!"

At Tsuneyoshi's words, Kunimori's expression went through the full gamut of emotions, and he darted to his feet like a man ten times less his age, grasping his companion by the wrists with undisguised excitement. "Are you serious?"

"What are you getting so worked up about?" Tsuneyoshi shook the other man's grip free, sheathing his sword with a grimace. "It's not a good thing. Do you want to see a sea of seething malcontents break their way through into this spiritual plane and create complete disruption? If you don't mind, I'll pass."

"No, but..." Kunimori took a step back, his mind working quickly. "But wait. If you think like that...Tsuneyoshi-dono, you've been holding out on me. You've not been telling me the full truth of what you did to your kinsfolk, have you? I'm disappointed in you - I thought we'd reached an agreement as allies."

"You told me that we'd be able to go back into the Dangai and settle our old scores if I came with you," Tsuneyoshi reminded him. "I don't think I have any obligation to tell you anything. Now or before. I'm an Unohana and you're a Yamamoto. We're not even really on the same side about anything."

"No, but here..." Kunimori's eyes glittered with sudden anticipation. "You don't fool me. To know that your sword has that possibility means you must have tested it out at least once before. Haven't you? On your kinsfolk...the good, brutal Unohana who slashed each other to pieces over gaining land and power. Tell me, what did you do?"

"My sword is the Soldier," Tsuneyoshi turned away so that his companion could not see his expression. "Once awakened, it compels me to kill, as you said earlier. I fought not to use it for a long time, but I chose to use it to purify my family of its corruption. The Soldier is a killing blade. It takes life."

"But you're worried about the dead in the Dangai - rotting wretches who lost their lives a long time ago," Kunimori pointed out. "Maybe it's true that your sword takes life, and does so effectively because you can't easily be killed. But no, there's more to it than just that. Your sword doesn't just sever life, does it? It also recreates life. You can revive the dead - you more or less just said so. That intriguing titbit of information was not in my knowledge banks before, but it is now."

Tsuneyoshi closed his eyes, as, unbidden, images of a young woman flooded his senses, long black hair flowing wild and free over her shoulders and the splatter of blood staining her pearl white skin. Death and madness glittered in her dark blue eyes, and the swing of her ghostly sword blade slashed through muscle and flesh to the bone beneath without a moment of hesitation. For a moment the apparition shrieked and laughed, delighting in the savagery of her kill before Tsuneyoshi's horrified gaze.

Yachiru-hime.

With some trouble he forced the memory away.

"I wouldn't call it that," he said softly. "It's not a good thing to do, Kunimori-dono. It causes untold suffering...untold pain, and once done, I cannot reverse it."

"But you can do it?"

"What did I just say?" Tsuneyoshi swung around, glaring at his companion in dismay, but Kunimori smiled, revealing rows of even white teeth.

"You can do it," he murmured. "You're trying not to tell me, but your eyes tell me the truth. You are foolish if you think you can mislead me. Don't you see? We are but two, but if we had help...allies...fodder..."

"I said that it's not right! It's not...!"

"And nor is our being here, but we are here," Kunimori swept aside his comrade's protests with a dismissive gesture. "You aren't the reasoned, sage man you claimed to be. You don't avoid the path of death or war, and you know it. Stop trying to pretend otherwise. You hate Seireitei, just as I do. I knew it when we first spoke the other day - and I know it now. What do you care if some people there die? Don't pretend to be squeamish. You don't care if it causes suffering or untold pain on those ingrates - what about the suffering and pain they caused you? Don't you want to put that right? Didn't you say you had scores to settle with the people in Seireitei?"

"What are you asking me to do?" Tsuneyoshi looked distressed, and Kunimori reached down to pat the hilt of his companion's weapon.

"Raise the dead," he said simply. "Release your sword, and lets see what it can do. Meidoushi sounds like a fine blade with potential we can use in ways I hadn't realised, and now I know that, I want to understand its full capabilities."

"But..."

"You want vengeance, don't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then what better way to announce the return of the Soldier than with the Soldier's agents of destruction?" Kunimori was clearly enjoying the idea now, and the relish with which the other man savoured the concept sickened Tsuneyoshi to his stomach. "Think about it! These are rebels, born and bred, those who have a grudge to settle. Would it not be justice to let them settle it for themselves? We need to find the Dangai, and its surely unfair to think of those souls trapped in limbo, unable to be reborn so long as they fester in the darkness of the Dangai. With your help, they could overcome that. Don't you see the possibilities? There must be thousands of dead in the Dangai. Thousands of dead who you can raise and command in your name - correct?"

"Kunimori-dono, it's not as simple as..."

"You're the Soldier. The General. The leader of the war dead," Kunimori was not listening now, and Tsuneyoshi felt a sense of cold dread wash over his heart, a sensation that was met and suffocated almost the next instant by the pangs of anticipation from the blade that hung at his side. "You needn't worry about the particulars - leave strategy to me, and see how between us we'll bring Seireitei to its knees."

He clapped his hands down on Tsuneyoshi's shoulders warmly.

"You're out of practice, so let's begin slowly. How about this? We'll start with a test. One subject, of your choosing," he added, his tones almost cordial, and edged with a cold glee. "I don't mind what kind of subject, so long as you do it. Find a corpse, any corpse, and make them dance, Tsuneyoshi-dono. It's time we sent a messenger to warn Seireitei of our coming, and what better way to do that than with broken bones and blood vengeance?"

"I never said..."

"You don't have to," Kunimori smiled, a cool, calculating smile. "Just do as I tell you. You'll see that I'm right, when push comes to shove. We came from different places, but in this hell-hole we must be allies, and we can help each other, so you should trust me. Your sword and my knowledge will make a good partnership, I think. It's time you put all the pieces of your memory together and realise who is really your enemy. You and I, we can be powerful together, so release your zanpakutou and give Seireitei a hint that this is only the beginning of our return."


Author's Notes: Recent Reviews (March 2018)

This is just a quick note from author to reviewer - to the Anon reviewer who has recently been reviewing Tenka Ransei, I just wanted to thank you and tell you that I do appreciate it :) I can't PM you directly as your account is not signed in, so I thought I'd take the time here to say thank you :D