"A meeting at Sokyoku Hill?!" Tsuki asked with surprise after the hell butterfly relayed the message to her, Byakuya, and Renji. 'What is the Head Captain thinking?' she continued in thought while Renji and Byakuya stood.
This invitation seemed insane, but no one could ignore it. After all, it was from the Head Captain. She rose too and the three of them headed off to the Hill despite the fact that it was at a late hour. They were one of the first groups to arrive, and soon enough everyone was present. All of the captains and vice-captains were there, except for the captain and vice-captain of eleventh division. Instead, Yumichika and Ikkaku came in their place, or at least that's what Ukitake had assumed. Even Rukia was there, feeling a little out of place and Tsuki felt that too.
"You're here as well Tsuki-chan?" Ukitake asked curiously as he approached her.
"Yes, I was surprised to hear that I was to come tonight." She replied with concern while her gaze was on Rukia. "Even Rukia-chan's here…"
'How odd.' She thought as a thick fog came up, surrounding all the soul reapers and making everything seem eerier. 'Where is the Head Captain? Shouldn't he be here by now?'
Suddenly Renji made some comment about the "stupid fog" and something else was heard.
"Someone's coming!" Tsuki mumbled half to herself as the sound of someone crossing the bridge echoed throughout the place.
After a few minutes the sound stopped and everyone looked to the bridge to see…
"Vice-captain Sasakibe!" Hisagi shouted out with surprise.
"Where is Head Captain Yamamoto, Sasakibe?" vice-captain Iba asked, concern in his voice.
Everyone expected him to answer, but he just stood there, saying nothing. He then fainted and fell to the ground. Unohana and Isane rushed over to treat the vice-captain as all of them looked on in shock, until someone else approached.
They all turned around, seeing a peculiar looking man. He was tall and thin with pale skin and dark brown hair that was slightly messy. The few bangs of his dark brown locks crossed over the bridge of his nose between his light turquoise colored eyes. Around his eyes was a kind of purple colored make up which was pointed a little at the bottom. He wore a white robe like coat which looked like an arrancar's clothes. Tied around his waist was a white sash with a horizontal purple stripe in the middle and on his shoulders was a thick lilac tinted fur. Around his neck he wore a purple ascot fastened by a ruby broach and on his feet were boots with pointed toes.
"I'm sorry but the Head Captain will not be joining us tonight." He informed all who were present.
Komamura stepped forward and loomed over the newcomer, but he wasn't affected. "What have you done to Head Captain Yamamoto?" the wolf captain asked, anger underlying every word he spoke.
The newcomer said nothing and made the captain angrier. He asked once again, but the stranger still wouldn't say anything. Komamura drew his zanpaku-tô and the stranger told him that his attacks would be useless. The angered captain used his bankai anyway and the huge armored being known as Kokujô Tengen Myô-oh brought up its sword to attack. But it didn't hit the stranger; it tried to hit the captain. As the captain dodged, he canceled the bankai and his subordinate rushed forward to help him, but Yumichika stopped him. Suddenly a strong wind came from the direction the stranger was. The winds became stronger and nearly blew everyone away.
Soon it died down and someone was standing in front of Komamura. He was at least two stories tall and had muscular red skin. His hair was blue and it spiked at the top. His eyes were like fire and he wore a pale cloth robe with black bands on his wrists. In his hands was a black rope which flamed on the ends and fire came out of his mouth.
The captain stood up and asked who this being was. All the red skinned creature did was blow a few flames from out of his mouth and Komamura knew it was Tenken, his zanpaku-tô. Suddenly the being called Tenken lashed out and attacked his owner with the rope. Komamura evaded the attack and slashed at Tenken, but the zanpaku-tô counterattacked. The rope wound its way around on of the captain's wrists and for a minute or two, the two struggled, Komamura growling. Tenken succeeded in pulling the captain closer and slashed at him, making him fall to the ground in defeat.
Everyone was frozen in shock. How could a zanpaku-tô attack the soul reaper it belonged to? Suddenly Captain Hitsugaya and Soi-Fon tried to use shikai to attack but nothing happened.
"That's impossible!" Tsuki shouted out with disbelief, her hand now on her zanpaku-tô's hilt. "Help me protect my loved ones, Tsuyoi-ai!"
Nothing happened, it just stayed the same. Others tried as well, but theirs didn't do anything either. Everyone who had tried to use shikai now looked at their zanpaku-tô, asking what was wrong with them.
"It's simple. You and your zanpaku-tô are no longer one." The stranger spoke, bringing his hand to his face. "I have freed them from your control."
His right eye then began to bleed tears as he then brought his hand out and explosions occurred in some of the streets of the Seireitei. Momo yelled out for the man to stop, and he told her that it wasn't his doing; it was their zanpaku-tô destroying the soul society.
Tsuki and everyone else watched with worry in her eyes as the alarms went off and more parts of the Seireitei were destroyed. "This is only a preview, a small demonstration, so that you may be able to understand how powerful my comrades are." The man told them before a few more materialized zanpaku-tô appeared next to him. "Cast your eyes on their true forms."
Suddenly a man clothed in blue robes with icy claws came out from behind Hitsugaya and walked over to the stranger. The same happened to Byakuya; the man who came out from beside him was clothed in purple with armor on. A few more appeared and walked towards the man who stood before them, including…
"Tsuyoi-ai?!" Tsuki exclaimed with shock as a young man wearing a dark blue yukata and silver armor walked out from beside her. "Wait!" She was then about to follow him to stop him when he pointed a claymore at her face.
"I'm not on your side anymore." He told her before withdrawing his sword and continuing on his way to stand beside the stranger.
'Tsuyoi-ai…' she thought as she fell to her knees in defeat before realizing something. 'Wait, where's the other half?'
She looked around, but couldn't find the other half to her zanpaku-tô. Byakuya then walked forward and asked who the stranger was. "I am called Muramasa." The man replied with a smirk. "And today marks the end of the soul reaper's control of the zanpaku-tô. From now on the zanpaku-tô will reign over the soul reapers."
He then brought out a small sword and stuck it into the ground, making several pillars rise from the ground. And there all the zanpaku-tô stood, superior to all the shinigami present on Sokyoku Hill. It was now Shunsui's turn to step forward and ask his question about the Head Captain not being there.
The man called Muramasa told him that they have locked him away and that his zanpaku-tô didn't want to join him. He then went on to say that Shunsui's, Ukitake's, and Unohana's zanpaku-tô sealed him away with their reiatsu.
"That's not possible." Soi-Fon stated aloud. "You can't seal him away."
"You can't expect all of us to believe what you've just said." Shunsui told Muramasa.
"It doesn't matter if you believe me or not; it's reality." The man replied with a smirk.
Suddenly Ikkaku jumped up and attempted an attack on Muramasa, but it was blocked by the man who came up from beside Hitsugaya. "Conversing is a waste of time at this moment!" he shouted out for everyone to hear.
Others joined in to attack the zanpaku-tô and Tsuki watched as they failed to get any hits in. Soon it was an all-out battle, and Tsuki didn't feel like joining in. She was still a little shocked by what Tsuyoi-ai had said to her. So she stayed put, watching her comrades try and fight off their enemy. After a few minutes, Shunsui and Ukitake suggested that they escape, but Muramasa wasn't having any of it.
Ashisogi Jizô appeared in bankai form to prevent all who were trying to escape and so did Zabimaru. The huge snake bankai was about to shoot a beam of red light and everyone used flash step to get out of the way. Tsuki appeared again a good distance away on a roof to watch a huge pillar of light blue energy shoot up into the sky.
'I hope everyone got out alright…' she thought before looking for a hiding place. Someone was standing there before her though, ready to attack. "Tsuyoi-ai!" she exclaimed, seeing her zanpaku-tô standing there.
He stood a head taller than her with orangey brown hair that was tied in a ponytail at the nape of his neck and blue colored eyes. He wore a dark blue yukata that went down to his knees and had the right sleeve cut off at the shoulder. It was loosely tied at his waist, showing his whole chest, which was bandaged halfway up. On his shoulders, elbows, and around his wrists was silver armor and he wore the same kind of armor on his legs. He looked at her as if he didn't know her any longer.
"Tsuyoi-ai!" she said again to try to get through to him. "Where's your other half?"
"How should I know?" he said in response seriously. "All I know is that it feels great to be free." He then attacked her and she had to quickly untied the ribbon on the hilt to draw the sword to protect herself.
"This isn't like you!" Tsuki said to him as they struggled with their swords clashing. "Please come back to your senses!"
He then used his strength to throw her back and she bounced back onto another roof. Tsuyoi-ai walked over to her and smirked. "You're useless without your captain to protect you." He told her before turning his gaze to something else. "And now your captain is powerless, too. Look."
Tsuki looked over to where her zanpaku-tô was gazing and saw Byakuya disappearing in a cloud of pink colored blades before they smashed into a building. "NO! CAPTAIN KUCHIKI!" she shouted out before getting knocked out by her own zanpaku-tô.
Yet another interesting fact: The Zanpaku-tô arc is actually my most favorite filler arc in the Bleach series. In fact, I almost wish that Tite Kubo had done the arc in manga, but the anime is just as good. Anyway, I enjoyed seeing all of the true forms of the characters' zanpaku-tôs and their unique personalities.