Chapter 9

Zanpaktou Arc 2

For being insolent to Muramasa, Muramasa felt that the princess ought to accept some form of punishment. She is not afraid of him at all, and he needs her to be afraid of him.

That night, Muramasa ordered one of his Zanpaktou underlings to slip something into her drinks. It is then sent to her, and checked for poison by using a silver pair of chopsticks. The bugs are harmless in water. However, once inside a human's body, it begun to activate and attaches itself onto the person's internal organs and begun to suck their riatsu.

He saw to his delight that Kaguya drinks everything from the cup. Moments later, she begun to succumb to the bugs sucking her riatsu from her body. She cringes in pain, and held her abdomen.

"What is it, Kaguya?" Byakuya calls for her, and she cringes in pain and in fatigue.

"The drink…" Kaguya stuttered out, and fought to stay awake. The riatsu sucking bugs are too many in numbers, and soon, she is fighting to stay awake. "There's something… in the drink…"

"What!?" Byakuya exclaims, and checked the drinks. There is nothing inside, but he knew, there is something in the cup. When he topples the cup over to the floor, hundreds of bugs came out of the cup and crawled towards one zanpaktou, killing it by sucking all its riatsu. He carries her out of the cave, but the Zanpaktous blocked him.

"I am the captain of the 6th Division and the Head of the Noble Clan of Kuchiki! Get out of my way or suffer my wrath!" Byakuya said to them, and they still stood to their grounds.

"Senbonzakura!" Byakuya calls and the weapon materialize in front of him and charges up at all the other Zanpaktou. He releases a flurry of sharp cherry blossoms that cuts through every one of the Zanpaktou, injuring them deeply that each and every one of it becomes a Zanpaktou again and loses their true form.

"Byakuya..." Kaguya called out weakly, her body unable to move due to the force and the shock of having most of her riatsu sucked forcefully out of her, leaving only a small amount for her, which isn't entirely enough seeing as the amount of riatsu taken from her is practically drowning her in her own blood.

Which proves to not be a good thing.

"Go… quickly…" Kaguya said to him. She knew the importance of the General's meeting. It would have meant that Soul Society is under attack or out of balance by one thing or another. It is vital for Byakuya to appear in the meeting, seeing as his family is the one who reigns over the safety of Soul Society.

He shunpoed to the battle ground and places Kaguya on the nearby grounds, hidden and safely tucked away from view. He fought with the Zanpaktou alongside Senbonzakura, and together, they defeated Muramasa.

"Nooo!" Muramasa screams, having being slashed and gravely injured by Senbonzakura.

Just when they are going to take Muramasa into custody, Kuchiki Kouga, one of his ancestors, came out from his dwellings and his cage and breaks free from the magical sealing that had him sealed for hundreds of years. Kouga disregarded Muramasa as his weapon, and uses Muramasa and fought until Muramasa is broken.

"Stop, master…" Muramasa pleaded, and his pleads fell on deaf ears.

Kouga, upon seeing Muramasa broken and torn apart by brutal usage, threw away the weapon. Muramasa regains his true form, and pitifully crawled to the nearby bushes.

Muramasa had somehow found Kaguya hidden behind the bushes, and brought her to merge with his hollowfied body.

"You will become one with me!" Muramasa exclaims. Together, Muramasa merges the both of them together, and they were powerful. He continues to use Kaguya's body and her powers as the Head of the Miyagusuku clan and sucks her energy and her ridiculous amount of riatsu.

"You shall suffer my wrath!" Muramasa screams, and charges on all the captains and the shinigamis around.

Kaguya could feel Muramasa's pain as clearly as if it's her own pain as well. The feeling of raw emotions burning her body almost brings tears to her eyes, but she held her ground. She didn't want Byakuya to just rush in and rescue her and get hurt in the process. Plus, she wanted him to redeem his family's pride and honor first by eliminating the existence of Kouga. The importance of her life comes later.

The intensity of the pain is building up, but judging by the sheer amount of riatsu being sucked off her still, she merely frowned further in pain as she no longer have the energy left to scream in pain.

It is excruciating.

Right then, Senbonzakura's blast of pink cherry blossoms blasted through the raging Muramasa, freeing Kaguya from the hollowfied Zankpaktou and she fell through the sky. Both Byakuya and Senbonzakura had their hands full of tackling Kouga and Muramasa that they cannot save the falling princess. Fortunately, there was Ishida there to count him on.

Ishida ran and ran, and when the princess fell from the sky, he caught the noble princess almost effortlessly during mid-fall and landed without a sweat, the princess carefully and protectively cradled in his arms.

"Ichi no Hime-sama?" Ishida calls her, patting her face softly to wake her, but to no avail. She is succumbing to the riatsu sucking bugs, and without another reservoir of riatsu to sustain the bugs, she would disappear.

Inoue's effort to try and console the heartbroken Muramasa in his hollowfied form failed, and in turn, Muramasa attacked them, all the while muttering Kouga's name, and that he, as his master's Zanpaktou, cannot fail.

"Kouga-sama! Kouga-sama! Kouga-samaaaa!" Muramasa screams, and unleashes another dark hollowfied energy at the shinigami. As a mutated Zanpaktou that has taken in countless hollows just so to feed and maintain his existence, he is far the average hollow that Ichigo and his co could take on. The dark red and black riatsu that Muramasa had used to coat him with had prevented Shinigami blades and all forms of powers from touching him, rendering him practically immortal.

There is practically no way to defeat the hollowfied Muramasa.

Still cradled protectively against the Quincy's chest, Kaguya forced her eyes to open and see the damages that Muramasa had done when he lost control of himself and thus released tons of hundreds of hollows that, depending only on a few handful of Shinigami, cannot defeat. She could still hear Muramasa howling in pain and disappointment. The fallen Zanpaktou's soul was torn into pieces, unable to find comfort in absolutely nothing to begin with. Pitying the Zanpaktou previously belonged to Kouga of the Kuchiki family, Kaguya decided to do something that only she could do within Soul Society.

Taking a deep, long breath, Kaguya sang Lala's Lullaby.

Lacrimosa dies illa

Upon first note, everyone turned their attention from staring at Muramasa to one of surprise, seeing as the princess has most of her riatsu sucked out and that the possibility of her singing to relieve the hollow part of the soul is close to zero. And yet, she still sings.

Qua resurget ex favilla

Judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus,

Pie Jesu Domine

The absolute note of loveliness, adding the beauty that the princess possesses had almost all of Ichigo's co mesmerized deeply. Muramasa's calming down went by unknowns to them, too entranced by the beauty in Ishida's arms to be worrying about a fallen zanpaktou.

Lacrimosa dies illa

Qua resurget ex favilla

Judicandus homo reus.

Huic ergo parce, Deus,

Pie Jesu Domine

Upon the end of Kaguya's chant, Muramasa's coat of hollows dissipated into thin air, leaving nothing behind but a perfectly worn out Muramasa. Falling in the air, Ichigo caught the Zanpaktou and lowered him near where Kaguya is, her tired eyes staring at him.

"I now release you from your previous master as Ichi no Hime of the Miyagusuku clan, Muramasa," said the princess tiredly, her eyes zoning in and out of concentration. "I gave you freedom, and thus, you are mine to command. Return with me to my dwelling, and I will give you something a Zanpaktou with a master could never have."

Muramasa kept quiet and chose not to answer anything; after all, he did lose a master and wreak havoc in the Real Realm and Soul Society. A strange feeling of guilt settles over him as he recalled how he placed hundreds of riatsu sucking bugs in the princess's drink, torturing her from the inside out. He only wanted her to keep quiet, but he never expected her situation to worsen in the short amount of time after she consumed the water containing riatsu sucking bugs.

He regretted it terribly when he sees how pale the princess is for the constant loss of her riatsu. He can't help but to think that she looked as if she's dying. Now that he thought about it, she looked rather transparent.

"Ichi no Hime-sama…" Muramasa mumbles, staring in shock at the dying princess as she slowly becomes transparent and fading away.

Walking over towards one of the last two Quincy, Byakuya extended his arms to allow Ishida to transfer Kaguya gently into his arms, whom immediately cuddled up to him and nuzzled his neck, softly whispering how grateful she is for his safe return and wrapped both of her arms around his neck tightly.

"It is alright now, Kaguya-hime," Byakuya said to her softly, and gently lowers her to the ground with her in his arms safely. The war has ended, and for now, everyone is safe again.

Flaring what is left of his riatsu, Byakuya ignored everyone's surprise and lowered his mouth onto Kaguya's, transferring some of his riatsu to the princess mouth-to-mouth. Gradually, her energy returns to her little by little. Her body regains its opacity and she no longer looks transparent. With her hands, she touched his cheek fleetingly as a sign that it's enough. Kaguya opens her eyes and stared at the Captain's eyes.

"Let's go home," Byakuya whispered to her in an almost soft and gentle tone, the princess nodded slightly against the crook of his neck, loving the warm Ginpaku Kazehana scarf's feelings against her cheek. Picking her up darling styled, Byakuya shunpo-ed to the emergency rescue centre set up not far from here and gave her to them, laying her down on the stretcher gently.

The rest of Ichigo and his friends follow Rukia and Byakuya to his home in the inner compound. Then, Byakuya gave his way a slight turn, going through the misted forest and came through a huge clearing with majestic stone that serves as a gate to the compound of the Miyagusuku clan.

"Wow!" Ichigo exclaims in excitement. "This place is huge!"

"This is the compound of the Miyagusuku clan," Rukia said to him, and his eyes bulged wide and open.

"The Miyagusuku clan!?" Ichigo exclaims loudly. Rukia gave him a sideway glare, and he becomes quiet.

"Actually, I was wondering…" Ichigo started quietly, and Rukia clicked her tongue at him.

"Wondering what!?" Rukia snapped.

"Well… who is that lady?" Ichigo asks. Byakuya heard him and replies it in Rukia's stead.

"She is my bride," Byakuya said simply.

Ichigo coughed loudly. It appears that he has accidentally swallowed his saliva and it went down the wrong pipe. "Your bride?!"

"Byakuya's got a bride?!" Ishida piped up from behind. "Hey Rukia, how come I've never heard of her from you?"

"There are not the necessities for you to know," Rukia started haughtily. "Plus, I am very sure that she'll come to hate you the moment she sets her eyes on you."

"He seems to love her a lot," Orihime started, her eyes looking at Byakuya and the lady in his arms.

"How do you know?" Rukia ask her, wondering how on earth does she knew her brother loves the princess.

"His eyes are hard and calculative when he sees others, but when he sees her, his eyes turns from hard into gentle and soft, almost loving…" Orihime said to her, going dreamy and dozy with their romantic love story.

"He had always loved the princess, since the day they were to promise each other for eternity," Rukia said quietly, and stares at her brother and the princess currently sleeping in his arms.

Yokaze is already waiting at the entrance of the Miyagusuku clan. Upon seeing the weakened Kaguya in Byakuya's arms, it leaped forward, and Byakuya lowers Kaguya onto the ground in his arms.

"What happened?!" Yokaze's voice boomed with power.

"Something happened, and she has her riatsu sucked by thousands of riatsu sucking bugs…" Byakuya said to Yokaze, and Yokaze's eyes bulged wide open.

"What!?" Yokaze exclaims.

"I am sorry," Muramasa said to the Royal Beast Guard. "I did it to her. I just want her to be silent. I didn't expect the bugs to be this violent. And I certainly did not expect that the bugs would multiply inside her…"

As they watched, Kaguya's body started to go transparent again. It signifies that her riatsu is coming to an end, and she is dying once again.

"I do not have enough riatsu to support her," Byakuya said to Yokaze, and held her tightly in his arms.

"You do not…" Yokaze said to Byakuya. "But I do."

With that, Yokaze suddenly erupted in a flurry of wind that surrounds him. There is another tinkle of bell like sound in the air and suddenly, a man stood in Yokaze's place.

"You are…!" Byakuya exclaims in surprise.

"Who is that?" Ichigo calls rudely.

"Yasha Oh-sama!" Rukia said disbelievingly, dropping down to a low bow at the sight of the young King.

"You may rise. We are friends, are we not?" Yasha said to them, and Rukia rise and stood up grudgingly. She hit Ichigo on his arms, and he yelped.

"What!?"

"You should bow to him, you idiot!" Rukia said to him. "He is the King of the Miyagusuku clan! He is more powerful than Ichi no Hime-sama! How could you be so rude!?"

"It is alright, Rukia-hime," the young King said to her. "He is human. He does not know our status and our powers here. It is alright. Let him be."

With that, Yasha came towards his sister and places one hand on her forehead. A light glow surrounds them, and another tinkle of bell sound sounded in the air.

"This is…?" Orihime asks, wondering about the sound of the bell.

"It signifies that they are using their riatsu and their powers. It is their traits," Rukia explains.

They watches as slowly, the riatsu sucking bugs came out of Kaguya's mouth. It disappears in a flurry of golden light, and she is no longer transparent looking again.

"I cannot maintain my Yokaze form when I have given her this much riatsu. I am, now, unable to return to my wolf state. The council will hear about my return, and they would probably wreak another havoc over who is to be the heir to the Miyagusuku clan…" Yasha said to them, and stood up and leads them into the house.

Upon seeing Yasha, Kyouya rushes forward and hugged his twin brother.

"Nii-sama!" Kyouya called. "Nii-sama! You're back!"

"I am back, my brother. I am back. I am always here with you as Yokaze. Now that our little Ichi no Hime is dying, I couldn't just sit back and let her die now…" Yasha said to him, and Kyouya cried tears of happiness.

"You have no idea how much we misses you, Nii-sama!" Kyouya exclaims, and cried tears of happiness. "Now that we are one family again, please do not leave us again, Nii-sama!"

"I won't. I am here to stay now…" Yasha said to him, and they went into the Miyagusuku manor.