Chapter 9: Befuddled

Kenpachi opened his eyes to find himself face-to-face with what looked like a spinning top, about the size of a top hat. Suddenly, the top turned around, and Kenpachi realized it had a face. Two green eyes, a long pointy nose, and thin, wide lips. As he was still trying to figure out what the thing was, he heard it squeak in a frightened manner, then dart a few feet away and scream,

"Xiiiiin! Who is this?"

"This is my friend. He's hear to ask you guys a few questions." Kenpachi turned around to see where Xin's voice was coming from. As he did, Xin smiled then leaned his head back, staring up towards the sky.

"It sure is a nice moon tonight." he stated flatly.

Kenpachi glanced up towards the moon, then back at the strange creature he had first seen. He noticed that the odd thing was also staring at him strangely, but he ignored it. He then figured something else out; it was a little bit see-through, and the light it seemed to be made out of was coming from the moon's rays, like a spotlight.

"What is this thing?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm not a thing!" it replied in a somewhat childish, but obviously male voice. "My name is Boushî Suê and I'm a spirit!"

Kenpachi Zaraki's heart raced.

"A spirit?" he asked tentatively. "What kind of a spirit?"

Boushî tried to answer, but another voice spoke before him,

"A zanpakuto spirit, what else?"

Kenpachi quickly spun around, only to see nearly 40 or 50 of the same kind of spirit. They were all very different. Most had humanoid shapes, but others were like Boushî, strange animals and objects that had human-like qualities. It seemed that the one who had spoken had been a tall but thin man with pleasant features and neon yellow hair that went in an umbrella shape around his head. He had baggy black pants on with stripes down the sides that matched his hair. His shirt was white lace with straps that fell off his shoulders. Kenpachi thought he looked like a fag, and he also didn't like the smirk he had on his face.

But, at the same time, he was unbelievably excited. These "spirits" as they'd called themselves, would know what he needed to find out. What better source of information than a zanpakuto itself for finding out about zanpakuto's? He made sure to phrase his next sentence carefully in order to not offend the spirit man.

"Are you all the spirits of zanpakuto's?"

"Yeah, got a problem with it?" The same spirit replied.

Kenpachi looked around some more, finally asking, "Where are your soul reapers then?"

Silence followed his question, then he watched as the same flamboyant spirit let his eyes wander down towards the ground and rest over the grave he was hovering closest to. He then knelt down and placed a ghost-like hand on the tombstone. Kenpachi noticed that a few of the other spirits did the same thing, a few even had tears come to their eyes. When he finally got an answer, it came from yet another spirit.

"We are all that is left of our Masters..."

"They're dead?" Kenpachi asked in his straightforward manner.

"Been dead for years now, most of them." the gangly, bright colored spirit who had addressed Kenpachi first replied solemnly.

"Then... how come you all are still here?"

"Usually, yes." This time Xin was the one to answer. "But you see, this land is sacred, and allllll of these soul reapers were buried here. On the nights when the moon is bright enough, the spirits of their inner souls come alive."

"Why would you bury them here?"

"Tradition." Xin shrugged. "I didn't decide to put them here. Soul Reapers have been buried here for centuries. They don't die very often, you know, so when they do, the soul reapers that are still alive wanted them to have somewhere nice to go."

"How come I've never heard of it? I'm a soul reaper too. A captain!" Kenpachi asked angrily. He was starting to really question what he saw in front of him. He already didn't trust any of the guard brothers, so why should he trust his information?

"You moron!" the same brightly colored spirit yelled. "No one wants to talk about where people are buried! Its-"

"Pachikasa!" a scolding voice spat out the name of the umbrella spirit. Kenpachi turned to see a rather fierce looking female spirit with jet black hair pulled into a tight bun. She had red eyes and matching red lips, a black and blue gown with a high collar that went down to her feet, and her voice was shrill like a school bell. As soon as her glare forced Pachikasa to silence himself, she turned on Kenpachi, hovering over to him and squinting as she looked him up and down, obviously evaluating him very strictly. After a minute she turned her nose up and said,

"I have no patience for liars, you are no captain. What are you then? And where did you get that unfortunately abused captain's cloak?"

Kenpachi glanced down at the tattered sleeves of his white captains robe and smiled, revealing sharp teeth. He then scowled.

"I am Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of the 11th squad. I'm no lier."

"You!?" She cried, shocked. "You cannot be soul reaper, much less a captain!"

"Why the hell not?" Kenpachi asked, growing more and more annoyed with these spirits the more they talked.

"This land is sacred, like Xin said. It's magical. If you were truly a soul reaper, you're own zanpakuto's spirit would be reflected by the moon and shown beside you!" The teacherly zanpakuto's spirit seemed to have her feathers rather ruffled by Kenpachi's attitude. She was breathing very heavily as he glanced next to him, somehow expecting to see a spirit there. When there was nothing, he sighed.

"I dunno the name of my zanpakuto." he replied in a bored voice, as he was tired of having to repeat it.

The obnoxious woman in red huffed and said,

"Impossible! Even if you didn't know the name of your zanpakuto, a faceless figure would still be shone beside you. Sometimes a soul reaper will come here if they are having difficulty reaching their sword. The physical manifestation makes it easier to communicate. With nothing beside you, all I can assume is that you are a simple human, or some sort of horrible deformation of a soul reaper."

Kenpachi felt a bit taken aback by these words. He was not some sort of a freak, was he? He was just having a little bit of difficulty with his zanpakuto. Sure, he worried there may be some sort of internal problem, but he hardly believed it would be his fault.

Then again, he was a rather ruthless, disturbed individual, and from what he had seen and heard, some zanpakuto's were rather picky when it came to who their master was and what they did. Maybe it was his fault? But then why would his zanpakuto spirit not even be shown beside him, almost as if it were not there at all...

"I killed and fought my way into the ranks of soul reapers, and I never had a minute of real training before murdering the former captain of the 11th squad. I never needed the help of my zanpakuto before, my own strength and spiritual pressure was enough. But lately, I've needed to become stronger, so I can face and defeat stronger opponents, who already have help from their sword's special powers. I came here for that help."

It seemed as if nearly all the soul reapers on the graveyard were staring daggers at him for a full minute while he waited for someone to reply. Finally it seemed Xin had grown impatient with all the silence, and he finally said what it seemed he had been waiting all night to say,

"I think you should take him to Her."

"Impossible!" cried the same female zanpakuto. There was an uproar behind her of similar cries of agreement. It seemed that no one wanted to give Kenpachi any answers or help him in the least. All the various swords wanted to do was bicker. He heard the woman zanpakuto start to argue with the umbrella looking one, who seemed to be at least slightly on Zaraki's side.

"...he obviously looks and acts like a captain. He's got a captains aura."

"It doesn't matter what he looks or acts like! We are zanpakuto! We should be loyal to zanpakuto, not trying to help every wet-behind-the-ears soul reaper who needs some problem solved!"

Pachikasa glared under his blond bands that seemed to extend all the way around his head.

"Look, we don't know why he don't have a zanpakuto spirit. Don't ya think She would like to hear about something rare or possibly unheard of like this? What would it really hurt to bring him to her for a minute!? I know you are obsessed with her and all, but this is like, why she's here!"

The woman zanpakuto seemed to give off heat as her face turned almost as bright as her dress and eyes. She was growing even angrier than Kenpachi was feeling at the situation he found himself in, and the repeated haltering of his finding out what the hell the name of his god damn sword was! After a minute, she seemed to calm down, and the rest of the zanpakuto that surrounded the area quieted as well. She twisted her neck and shoulders as if feeling uncomfortable while at the same moment beckoning,

"Mizudora! MizuGon!" Two small children in blue shrine keeper's outfits came floating from the crowd and and stopped bowed in front of her. She glanced once more at Kenpachi and at the other zanpakuto then sighed.

"Take this... Captain here to her Moon Garden. Make sure he doesn't try anything."

"Yes Ma'am!" They replied in syncronized childish voices. They then flew forward and each one grabbed a hold of one of Kenpachi's arms. Before he knew what had even happened he was being dragged away from the brightness of the graveyard down a darker path, where the only light seemed to be coming from the two zanpakuto spirits who were guiding him. He caught the eye of he one on his right and he smiled back. Kenpachi kept staring ahead for at least 5 minutes until he turned back to look at his shoulders and saw that the two children had changed into dragon-like water serpents, their bodies flowing through the air as if they were in water.

"We're almost there..." the voice seemed projected into his head, and it had a bubbly, underwater tone underneath it, making it sound surreal. He continued being led by the matching zanpakuto down the path until finally he saw light just around another corner. When he turned the corner, the pull on his sleeves vanished and the two spirits seemed to fade off into the bushes.

He walked forward a few more steps, finding himself in the middle of a beautiful garden, filled with many varieties of flowers he had never seen before. They almost glowed in the moonlight that show down strongly on the figure n the very center of the garden.

Kenpachi somehow knew she would notice him, so he made no movements to announce himself. He just waited for her to turn around. Her light was brighter than any of the spirits he has seen before, and she had the energy of a very wise being. He held his breath when she finally turned around and asked,

"Who are you?"

So yeah sorry for slow updates. I kno it sucks. I'm just really, really mother fucking busy lately. I'm moving and schools ending and my moms moving and its happening ALL AT THE SAME TIME! GAH!

Anyway, I would just like to make sure there are still people who are enjoying this story? Because I usually like a little confirmation of that. It makes me want to write way more!

KeikoPanda102