Back at the Squad 4 Relief center
Uohana looks around the conference table and sighs. "So then to review, this Muramasa is the one controlling these manifested Zanpakuto?" She looks to Ichigo who was shaking his head.
"from what I've seen and experienced, its not all that simple. I don't think he's controlling the Zanpakuto with his mind. What he's done, is stir up all the resentment these Zanpakuto feel towards their masters. He's using their anger to lead them against us. There's only one way to get our Zanpakuto back. That's to fight and defeat them, so they'll surrender their power to us again." Ichigo responds
Ukitake brings his hand to his chin in thought. "hmmm... I see. Well, what do you know? It looks like we've discovered a way to solve this problem." he says with a smile.
"Yeah, but hold on..." Kyoraku interrupted "This might sound like a good solution, but truthfully, it's gonna take time to find all of our Zanpakuto to make them surrender to us." he says with his chin in hid hand "You think their leader will sit by while we do that? I'm thinking no."
Ichigo frowns "In any case, we're gonna have to."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Reporting sir!" came a voice from the other side.
The door opens to reveal Renji. Ukitake turns to view the doorway. "Ah! Good you're here."
Renji rubs at the back of his neck, walking into the room. Behind followed the manifestation if Zabimaru, a tall busty woman in what looked like green fur and pale boy with a snake tail next to her in a white shirt and shorts. "So, they said you wanted to see me?" Renji commented.
Ukitake nodded, "Yes, we heard you forced your Zanpakuto to submit. I called you here to find out if you learned anything from your battle that could help us out?"
Renji sighs and shakes his head "I wish they could, but these two don't remember anything about what happened." he rubs the back of his neck again.
The woman behind him puts her hands on her hips and shakes her head. "Nope, not a thing."
Suddenly the pale boy starts complaining, "Renji, I'm really hungry, lets go eat." He starts weaving around on his tail waving his arms. Renji gives a long suffering sigh before turning around to yell at the boy.
"I'll get you food later, but first are you sure that you don't recall a thing?!" he yells.
The busty woman shakes her head, "nope, not a thing."
The pale boy moves behind him and starts swaying behind Renji whining.
Renji growls in frustration, a tic appearing on his forehead. "The both of you are just plain stupid!"
(I am going to call the female part Zabi and the male part Maru from now on since it never specifies if they actually have other names)
Zabi turns away from her master and huffs. "Well, we're your Zanpakuto,after all, we take after you."
Renji bring his fist up threateningly. "I've got this feeling you're trying to say that I'm an Idiot!"
Maru took this opportunity to jump onto Renji's shoulders and lean onto his head and laughs.
Zabi smirks, "Well, don't you catch on fast."
Renji fumes, "That's it! Knock this off and turn back into my sword right now!"
Maru blinks in confusion "Huh?" he huffs "I dun wanna. We won't be able to tease you like this if we're in our blade form!" he says smirking at the end.
"You little brat!" Renji yells grabbing at the child leaning on his head.
Maru jumps away and starts bouncing around the room. "If you wanna turn me back, then you hafta catch me!" he yells laughing.
Renji takes the bait and starts chasing the child around trying to catch him. "Get back here!" He yelled not noticing the annoyance growing on Uohana's face.
"Why should I, huh?" was Maru's laughing reply.
Uohana's eyebrow started twitching.
Renji tripped and slid down the table stopping in front of Uohana.
"You're just a bundle of energy." her tone causes Renji to look up at her "But here, you mustn't goof around like you're a child at a playground. Please keep in mind that you're in Squad Four's barracks." her eyes opened and a shadow seems to fall over her face. "Is that clear Lieutenant Abarai?" her tone had him sweating bullets.
Back with Kagome
Kagome feels the familiar reitsu of the captain that 'interrupted' her squabble with Kazeshini. She came upon a building with guards in front of it. If she remembers right it was some sort of records building. One of the two guards yawned, causing his partner to chastise him. While he was berating his partner the Captain, Byakuya if she recalled correctly, sunpo'd behind them and hit a pressure point to knock them out. Once the guards are out he notices Kagome sitting on a near by roof watching him. So she smiled a waved to him before hopping down and walking slowly over, just in case he decided to attack.
Byakuya merely raised and eyebrow at the curious soul. He was no fool he knew who she belonged to. She was the only unknown Zanpakuto in the 13 squads. "You are Kenpachi's sword." it was a statement not a question, but she nodded anyways. "You are different from the others. You did not attack me. Why?"
Knowing that he most likely couldn't hear her she shrugs and gestures toward him as if saying 'and you?'
He sighs "I have my own reasons to aid your kind."
Kagome nods and turns around, arms crossed as if standing guard, then looks over her shoulder at him with one eyebrow raised.
Byakuya cocks an eyebrow. "You are going to stand guard? For me?"
Kagome just sighs and turns around using both hands to 'shoo' the captain giggling. Before turning around and backing into a shadow to take cover, eyes becoming sharp.
Byakuya shakes his head and continues on into the records compound.
The sound of bodies hitting the ground made Kagome give a breathy laugh before she heard a small group of Shiningami heading towards her.
"I mean jeez, this is just ridiculous. Making me go check out the archive records-" he took a bite of a cookie before continuing to speak with food in his mouth. "to see if a Zanpakuto called Muramasa ever existed. Honestly, what a pain!"
Kagome's keen hearing picked up his subordinates behind him complain about their superior's whining, and how lazy he was to pick this easy job. She smiled at this and decided to stick her leg out in front of the idiot, causing the fat man to fall on his face and drop his bag of cookies. His squad coming up behind him asking if he was OK. Deciding it was time to show herself, she stepped out of the shadows and giggled.
The fat man stood up complaining about his lost cookies before looking around and seeing all the unconscious bodies and the petite woman. "What?! How did?! What in the world happened here? What's going on? Did you do this?!" he points at Kagome who shrugs and then smiles. The fat man reaches for his sword. He then hears screams coming from behind him, only to turn around and see his comrades flying past him. "Uh, who are you?!" He questions forgetting about the small woman beside him after seeing the two large men slowly approaching.
"Hey Captain." the large brown-skinned man says nodding in the pair's direction.
The small woman jogs over to the much larger man and smiles at him "Hello Hozukimaru!" she has to jump up in order to wrap around the towering man's neck. She smiles and hangs there "I don't like that fatty. He was talking with his mouth full. And according to his subordinates he is lazy. I doubt he will be a sufficient opponent."
Hozukimaru nods and picks up the smaller Zanpakuto and sets her on his shoulder, like he has seen her wielder do to their lieutenant. This causes Kagome to smile down at him.
They were suddenly reminded of the other Zanpakuto when he starts talking "those were squad members? How pathetic!" he reaches into a bag to grab a cookie similar to his counterpart.
Hozukimaru grunts at the others comment "they weren't even good for a warm-up!"
Suddenly the large Lieutenant and the large caped Zanpakuto hum and walk up to each other. Kagome notice that fatty has his bag of cookies 'those were all over the ground' she thought with a shudder. When they both ate the cookies on their hand they both exclaimed "tasty!" with a blush.
This actually caused Kagome to gag and cover her eyes "oh my god my poor eyes!"
"Could you be who I think you are?" the Lieutenant asked.
"Oh yeah! I am the mighty Gegetsuburi!" they leaned in a bit more before leaning back and laughing heartily.
Fatty pats the Zanpakuto's shoulder "I see, I see! So you're Gegetsuburi. My Zanpakuto! So, you're him, huh?" He eyes the spirit up and down "You're a pretty stylish lookin' guy! Like me!"
The last comment seems to make the spirit angry as his eyes narrow. "Huh? When was the last time you took a look in the mirror?! I've seen more hair on a baby's but!"
This makes the Shiningami sneer. "What?! I'm not goin' bald! This is just the way I style my hair!" he says pointing to his head.
Gegetsuburi scoffs "That's lame! You're the reason my manifestation has a spare tire instead of a waist, you lazy ass!" he says slapping the roll of fat where a waist should be.
This makes the Shiningami angrier. "Lazy ass?! For someone who's supposed to be my Zanpakuto, you lack the basic understanding of what beauty really is!" he yells.
"What?" Gegetsuburi rages, his bag of cookies turns into a spiked ball and chain.
This makes Kagome frown.'so was the bag of cookies a manifestation of his spirit, or is it some sort of equipment? OMG! Is he made of cookies? If not, WHERE DID THE COOKIES GO!' She thinks, eyes going swirly and she starts swaying on Hozukimaru's shoulder.
Hozukimaru looks at his captain when she starts muttering, "He is a cookie..." while swirly eyed staring at the other spirit. He pats her her thigh and says "Cap. don't think about it. You will only get more confused."
Their attention was drawn back to the two about to fight by the sound of a sword being drawn. "Hey!, when we're done, I'm gonna force you to surrender to me!"
Gegetsuburi laughs. "Yeah, well good luck makin' that happen... And Hozukimaru, you and the lady stay out of this!"
Hozukimaru sighs and rubs the back of his neck "It's not my style to interfere with other peoples battles."
Kagome huffs "I wouldn't fight that weakling anyway. He wouldn't last a second against my pressure." she turns away, nose in the air.
This causes Hozukimaru to laugh "Tha's my Cap'n for you!" He walks over to lean against the wall.
The two spirits face off eyeing each other, looking for an opening. Suddenly they both charged. Just before they would have connected, the wall right next to them exploded. A large chunk of concrete knocking the Shiningami and his Zanpakuto crushing the two against the other side of the alley. The force of the impact knocked the wall they hit down. Both were unconscious. Once the smoke cleared Kagome could see Ichigo and Ikkaku standing there, Ichigo's foot was still raised.
"Oh great! I knocked down the wrong guy." Ichigo says putting his foot down.
"No big deal. Its just Marechiyo. Besides I never expected to find Zanpakuto here" Ikkaku says, walking through the clearing smoke. He turns to face the two spirits. "Perfect. Now you'll see the results from my training.
Kagome laughs and claps her hands then jumps off Hozukimaru's shoulder. Skipping over toward the two and walks up to Ichigo, side-stepping Ikkaku "That was hilarious, and you got both of the fatties. Oh my I wish I had a camera."
Hozukimaru frowns "What the hell is a camera Captain?"
Kagome just waves him off, he frowns then looks at Ikkaku. "Oh well at least I should have a good fight." he mutters before charging Ikkaku with a yell. He swings down his naginata only to be blocked by the sheathed sword of his partner. "I sure have missed you, Partner." he says with a chuckle.
Ikkaku was straining under the pressure of the spirits attack. "What are you saying?" he looks up and blinks "Wait a minuet, your weapon!" he says in surprised.
Hozukimaru grins "Ha-ha! That's right." he brings his blade up and swings it around "I'm Hozukimaru!" He brings the blade down barely missing Ikkaku, as he jumps back.
Ikkaku looks at the spirit "You're really Hozukimaru?"
"Wanna confirm it?" Hozukimaru asks.
Ikkaku frowns. "How would I do that?"
"You can do it however you want." was his reply.
Ikkaku grins and clenches his fists. "Al right, then why don't we do that, you seem game!"
"what is that?"
"If you're actually Hozukimaru, then you'll be able to keep up with me when we go for it." Ikkaku says.
Kagome starts getting a bad feeling "please, don't be thinking what I think you're thinking, please" she prayed to herself.
"Now I see. Lets go." Hozukimaru says with a serious face.
"Lets do it!" Ikkaku says.
Hozukimaru smirks "Right."
Kagome Pales "Dear god, NO!" She covers her ears and closes her eyes.
Ichigo gives her a funny look. But suddenly understands when he sees both fighters on their tippy toes, walking with just their toes on the one foot. "Luck, Luck, Luck! Luh-luck-Luck!" Standing on the one foot they stretch their other foot behind them, and both arms stretched out in front holding their weapons horizontally in front of them creating a type of 'T'. "Luck, luck, luck! Lu-uck!" they then turned and did the same thing going the other way "Luck, Luck, Luck! Luh-luck-Luck! Luck, luck, luck! Lu-uck!" they then crossed their legs with the toes of their feet pointed in. (think ballet 5th position on your toes)up and down, up and down. " Luck, Luck, Luck! Luh-luck-Luck!" Jumping up to do a one handed-handstand balancing on their weapons. Coming down off their weapons and landing in an open sumo stance with their weapons held out in both hands at shoulder level. "Luck, Luck! Luh-Luck!" at the end Ikkaku's head gives a mighty shine.
Ichigo now understood the other spirit's reaction if she knew this was coming. He kinda wished he could erase it from his brain all together. "Huh?..." was the only thing Ichigo could think.
Kagome finally cracked her eyes open when she no longer felt the vibrations of the large soul's singing.
She sighed in relief when she saw that it was over. "Thank god."
"What were you doing... just now?" Ichigo asked.
"C'mon! Did you Forget about it Ichigo?" Ikkaku yelled. "That was my big 'Lucky Dance'! I showed it to you the first time we battled. You remember!"
Ichigo scratched the back of his neck "I've seen that before?" he questioned.
Ikkaku sighed and smiled "Oh just forget it." he looked up at his partner "Anyway, your dancing was perfect." he commented "proving without a doubt that you are Hozukimaru!"
The spirit nodded with a grunt.
"This is perfect." Ikkaku commented. "After I defeat you, all of my Zanpakuto power will once again be mine to use."
Hozukimaru Looked at him. "you think you can defeat me?"
Ikkaku smiled. "I'll give it a shot."
Ichigo takes a step forward reaching out to Ikkaku. Kagome moves in front of him and shakes her head.
"What the hell is your problem!" Ichigo glares at her. Kagome just shakes her head and points to the other pair.
Ikkaku speaks up again "since you are my Zanpakuto, I expect you to know my rules for fighting, right?"
Hozukimaru smirks "Why of course. Battles are always fought one-on-one."
"Right, and whoever dies..." Ikkaku continues.
"Has no regrets!" Hozukimaru finishes.
Now Ichigo understood why the spirit wouldn't let him intervene. It would have been against their fighting code. He looks over at the woman. "So I guess it's you and me then?" he asked. As he eyed his friend battle his Zanpakuto's spirit.
Kagome turned toward him and shrugged before pulling out her blade. "might as well", she muttered to herself. Without releasing any of her energy she charged the boy who had brought about such a great change in her master. She was never very good with a sword when she was human, but centuries of watching her master fight had taught her much. And now she could reinforce her muscles and skin to make them stronger. She brought her sword in an upward slash that the boy dodged. Turning her sword in her grip so that the blade flipped and pulled her blade back down only to be blocked by the boy's Zanpakuto She smiled before re-enforcing her arms to put more pressure on her blade. The boy's eyes widened slightly as he saw the shape of her blade. It was enough of a distraction that she was able to press his blade further down into his shoulder but only enough to barely tear at the skin of his shoulder.
Ichigo grunted and pushed her back.
Ichigo eyes the petite woman with narrowed eyes. "That is Kenpachi's blade." he stated with mild curiosity.
Kagome smiled, she knew either he or his Zanpakuto would remember her. With a nod Kagome stepped back and lowered her sword.
Just then a large cloud of dust swept over them. Sensing no current threat from the tiny woman Ichigo immediately worried over his friend "Ikkaku! You doin' alright? Talk to me!" he suddenly felt the woman's slight spiritual pressure move and quickly turned back to face where he had left her. When she didn't attack Ichigo shunpo'd to the roof just above where he had been and looked around frantically. She was still an enemy and he couldn't sense where she was. "Stop sneaking around! Come out and fight!" he yelled.
Suddenly she was in front of him, smiling, with her hand extended and finger ready to flick him. Her hand was still a good six inches from his sword when she released her finger and flicked his sword. The blast alone sent Ichigo flying into a tree that was a good twenty feet away.
Ichigo groaned as he stood up and dusted himself off. Just in time to see Ikkaku come flying out of the dust cloud and hit the stairs behind him. "Ikkaku!" Ichigo yelled and ran over to check on his friend "Ikkaku! You all right?" Ichigo questioned.
Suddenly the gravelly voice of Hozukimaru came from behind him. "What's Wrong?" Ikkaku groaned, and Ichigo turned "Hey Shiningami, is that all you've got?" he asks looking quite bored.
"Bastard" Ichigo growls and takes a step toward the massive soul, but he was stopped my Ikkaku.
"Wait. Ichigo!" Ikkaku groans out and pulls himself out of the rubble and walks past Ichigo. "Do not interfere. It's my battle. I will Handle this!"
Ichigo nods "Go get him."
Ikkaku pants and then launches himself at Hozukimaru.
"You stop right there!" Soi-fon suddenly yelled from behind everyone. There were stealth force members were surrounding the Zanpakuto spirit.
"We've got you Surrounded." Ukitake said.
"Yeah, sorry, but we're gonna need to butt in." Kyoraku interjected.
Ichigo turned around "Captain Ukitake!"
Ikkaku looked around "What are you guys doing?! My Zanpakuto, my fight!" he yelled turning around.
Suddenly there was a crash behind him as Hozukimaru put down his weapons. "It's not much of a fight." he says and crosses his arms.
Ikkaku's eyes narrow "What was that?"
Hozukimaru looks away "I said, I'm done fighting for today."
"Wait! You can't just go and quit now!" Ikkaku yells.
Hozukimaru reached for his blade, the red eye on the dragon glimmered. Suddenly the petite Zanpakuto put her hand on his forearm. "I have this Hozu." And he released his bankai and smirked placing his naginata over his shoulder. Kagome held one finger up and whispered "Kai" there was a brief flash of armor on her form before everybody was forced to the ground by an Immense spiritual pressure. When the pressure disappeared the two Zanpakuto spirits were gone.
The members of the stealth force looked around trying to find the two. "Where did they go?" someone questioned. Ikkaku looked down and scoffed.
"Go on, move! After them!" Soi-fon yelled.
Ukitake shook his head. "It's no use. Their spiritual pressure is gone."
Soi-fon growled in annoyance.
"Captain! Up here!" one of the squad members yelled.
Over by one of the buildings two members had Gegetsuburi tied up "We did get one of them, Ma'am." they reported "Should we hand him over to Lieutenant Omaeda?"
"Omaeda?! Where is he?" Soi-fon questioned.
The members moved the Zanpakuto aside and pointed behind them. "Over here as well, Captain! He seems to be unconscious." "Lieutenant! Please sir, you must wake up!" his subordinates yelled.
"Don't bother." Soi-fon ordered. "Just leave him."
Ukitake and Kyoraku turned around. "My, my. Aren't you a strict one?" Kyoraku laughed.
"For now, I suggest we hand that Zanpakuto over to the Department of Research and Development for a full investigation." Ukitake commented.
Soi-fon turned away from the two "That's fine." she then shunpo'd away.
Ukitake looked around "Wait a second! Where is Ichigo?"
Kyoraku pulled the brim of his hat down. "Come on. Isn't it pretty obvious where he is?"
Elsewhere in Seireitei
Kagome and Hozukimaru were running when they heard footsteps behind them. Hozukimaru glanced back and scoffs "It's that orange haired kid" Kagome nods and they keep running. Ahead of them a cloud of pink petals form moving around them to cut off Ichigo's sight of them, and they split up.
Kagome moves to stand next to Byakuya and Senbonzakura. She turns to Senbonzakura and asks "Would you like me to take care of the boy?"
Byakuya watches her lips, he had figured out he couldn't hear what she says but he could read her lips. Instead of relying on Senbonzakura to tell him what she is saying. "There is no need for you to take care of the boy." Byakuya says startling Kagome slightly. She looks to him in surprise and with a questioning gaze. Byakuya simply states " I read your lips." A look of understanding crosses her face before her eyes flick behind him and she takes off. Byakuya glances behind him to see Ichigo clearing Senbonzakura's blades from around him using his bankai. Then Byakuya takes off as well.
Surprisingly this all took place in one episode. A lot of stop/starting. Also the longest chapter I have had. I hope you all enjoy.
