"He has become what he always has been, but never knew he was."
X
Streets filled with mud…Some children crying…A white dragon extending his wings…A laboratory filled with sulphur, mercury and early morning raindrops from May…Zabimaru's voice on the back…A gut filled with rats and rests of food…a soft blanket on the floor of my room…A warm meal by the end of the day…A white man opening his arms to embrace me…Zabimaru's screams…
"Welcome back to consciousness, Abarai Renji." Aizen's voice reaches my brain like the sound of the ocean on a seashell:
Muffled and unreal
"He does look a bit pale, I think you were too harsh on him" Gin declares playfully.
"Yes Gin, but let's not forget that our boy is all grown up now. I couldn't risk him deflecting my sorcery"
"I'm not your boy…" I mutter gridding my teeth.
"See? He still can speak."
Aizen steps closer and I feel a shock of needles's pain as he grabs my hair to steady my head. I realise suddenly that my wrists and ankles are tied and I'm sitting with my back against a cold stone wall, somewhere inside a cavern. I can see snow falling outside and a warm fire in a distant wall. Then my eyes travel to meet Aizen ones. And everything I always despised about the man is in plain site. He is not pretending anymore. I will be dead in no time, as soon as he finds what he wants.
"So Renji, you see, Gin and I realized you no longer carry Zabimaru with you. And you're not dead…" He gives me a meaningful look "…that can only mean you completed the hogyuku and reached unity with your soul…"
He waits for me to continue. As I stare blankly at him he just sighs shaking his head.
"Ah, I had a feeling this was going to be hard. But let's think for a few moments…I have one hogyuku, so you were in possession of another one…but it is not at your home… apparently it disappeared in the process or fused with your body…so…all I need to know is how you completed yours, where did you get the final piece…"
"Final piece?" I mutter looking strait into his eyes. I'm so far away that I barely feel the palm of his hand breaking my jaw.
"Don't play dumb with me. Where did you get the white scale?"
Oh god, so he knows even that! I need to focus and think of an answer.
"My my Abarai-san!" Gin voice echoes thru the cave. "White scales are really hard to get. Do you want me to tell you why? That's because there's only one white dragon alive according to legend! Don't ask me why, apparently they were the more powerful ones but always put themselves in the front line of battle. Pretty stupid if you ask me. But could the hogyuku work with another type of scale? Oh no, we tried that lots of times…so…why would Kisuke build a magical stone with a very rare ingredient if he didn't knew exactly where to find it?"
"That's right Renji. That's why we both came to this town and when you arrived here we knew immediately we were on the right track. So quit pretending you don't know what we are talking about and tell us who he is." Aizen demands without much of an inflection in his voice. Although scared I do not flinch.
"He is the White Emperor. If you know so much how come you don't even know who he is? All I know is that he is the last of the white dragons. And he gave me a scale out of his free will!" I replay defiantly, with the last bits of energy that still runs in my veins.
"He is coming…"
"Who?"
"He is still mocking us Gin." I feel an excruciating pain inside my head. Aizen is trying mental touch with me. Usually sorcerers only can do that with people that they personally know, because it's easier if you have permission to establish communication that way. And we usually don't use it to spy other people thoughts and feelings. But I heard Aizen was really good at it, that he could really scan and screw your mind with delusions. Those stories used to scare shit out of me when I was a teen. But now I will not allow that.
"Force him out!"I scream to Zabimaru.
"I will lose contact with him"
"That's the idea, baka!" I almost feel despair.
"Not Aizen!"
"Who?"
But Zabimaru is already busy fighting Aizen attempts. I'm not sure why she didn't assume command when I was off. As the pain swept over my consciousness I still hear Gin speaking on the background.
"It's not important if you don't want to tell us who he is. Aizen will soon find out. And even if you truly don't know, we will just have to wait. He will come to rescue you. And then we can just kill you and imprison him. Oh no, don't worry. We don't want him dead. After all he is the last one. I guess we can just retrieve scale after scale and allow for others to grow. Maybe he will need constant transfusions, but…no big deal you see. We can even be merciful and keep him sedated so he doesn't feel pain" He smiles in that foxy smile of him.
"You bastard…" I barely manage to whisper. And then I realize all the dots are now connected on my mind. The strange idea that was forming is now crystal clear to me. The pain is fading and I know Aizen must have seen it too. It's not an illusion because he can't temper my heart. And my heart is aching.
"Please don't come…
…Byakuya…"
xxx
It's strange and yet always familiar to be inside Senbonzakura body. I can see, smell, taste, hear, feel the same as he, but my voice doesn't get out.
As we fly towards The Mountains, Senbonzakura is aware that another being is following us since we left the palace. That being is flying at our side disguised in the misty fog coming up from the hill tops. One quick deviation to the right and my soul takes in the vision of a medium sized blue dragon.
When I say "medium sized", and it's important that I state this here, you all will soon understand why, I mean a normal sized blue dragon. It's not that this dragon is smaller than Senbonzakura, it's just that blue dragons are thin and sinuous in form. This one particularly is slim and regal, with scales the colour of ice and a dry scent of ozone.
"If you allow my boldness, you shouldn't be flying if you are injured, Senbonzakura-dono." he states, alighting his flight with ours.
"What are you doing here?" Senbonzakura asks him.
"I heard the conversation and I thought you might use a little help." As plain as that. He is not even ashamed he heard the conversation and followed us undercover.
"I don't need you to risk your life. You have done enough for us. Now leave."
"You are just as stubborn as Byakuya-sama is. Fortunely I'm just unwilling to follow orders as my master."
"How dare he call me stubborn?" I ask my soul, a bit taken aback by the boldness of Toushiro's soul.
"Do as you wish, Hyourinmaru. I don't have time to argue with you. Oh, and don't call Byakuya stubborn, please."
I sigh; this is going completely out of my control. Another person I know involved and taking risks. I appreciate all the help we can get, but I would prefer not to involve anyone else.
Maybe this is a good time to talk you about Toushiro. Like I said before he is one of my most faithful servants. He was always aware of my condition and I of his. In fact, we flied together when we were young, as training imposed by myself. I was an adolescent when my father brought Toushiro in after a deer hunt. He claimed he found him alone in one of the mountain's caves, almost dying with hunger. He was just a three year old brat when he came to the palace, but soon he started to hear strange voices in his head. Even risking exposure I had to help him, or people would have though he was getting mad. I had a very hard time trying to make him comprehend he could not be constantly shift changing and trying to freeze everything with his dragon breathe. That, and that this was a secret to keep with our own life. Don't get me wrong, people don't kill dragons because they are mean. Just because they are afraid of what they don't understand. So Toushiro stayed next to me all this years, choosing to keep his human life but helping Senbonzakura gathering the few blue and silver dragons that still inhabit the North. Those were great times, when the White Emperor myth was not a myth but moonlight for other dragons to follow and escape the slaughter done by dragon' slayers and a hope for the humans being taken by The Green.
Wait, you never heard about The Green? Well, let's just say he gave dragons a bad fame, specially the green ones from the Western Forests and that he liked to eat humans. I don't want to remember what Senbonzakura saw in that cave nor remember the fight, so…this is all I will say on the matter.
Then she appeared on my life and the White Emperor was silenced. I couldn't risk her to know. Or worse, I couldn't risk other dragons and humans to know and harm her. Our adventure life was over, but Toushiro still wanted to serve me. If he was aware of what happened to Hisana and the way she died I was not sure. I thanked him in silence all this years for never ask or touch the subject.
"So what's the plan Sen?" I hear Hyourinmaru ask coldly.
"Be there as soon as possible." Senbonzakura replies.
"I see. And the others? They will help if you ask them."
"No, Byakuya thinks we might need to show our true identity to the enemy and he doesn't want others to know."
Hyourinmaru looks concerned at our bleeding wound. He knows the same as we do. That if Senbonzakura and I keep shift changing we will die from blood lose. Suddenly I feel my body soul tense and I hear Zabimaru's voice echoing along with ours inside.
"I found them! They are in that cave over there. We don't have much time…"