Here's the next chapter ^_^ the problem is, I tried to make this chapter more interesting... but I think I may have overdone it. after finishing it and reading it over, I almost felt like scraping it and redo-ing it. I just hope it isn't as bad as I think it is. And in reply to the guest reviewer, well, maybe Chizuki is a bit strong... She's my OC and I may have accidentally mary-sued her while creating and developing her... I hope I didn't. Well, after her bankai, other than mastering the techniques she already know, I don't think she can get any more powerful. I'm definitely not going to fullbring-ify her or quincify her or anything... Oh, and before I forget, thanks a lot for those who have reviewed and following my story even though I take ages to update. Arigato gozaimasu.

Disclaimer: Read the previous chapters if you really want one.

Chapter 21: Final Release

"If at first you don't succeed, so much for skydiving."

It was the third day of my bankai training. Urahara had been wrong about me achieving bankai in two days. The day before, I had succeeded in defeating all the sword clones. Now, all I had to do was to defeat Kuroisei and Shiroifu. As they were standing in adjacent squares, still in their 'royal positions' in the middle of the last line, it did not really matter which square I moved into next, though I was apparently limited to the steps of a 'pawn'.

I moved one square forward. Now I was standing in the empty front line of my swords' 'army', directly in front of Kuroisei. It was my sword's turn. Shiroifu could either choose to move diagonally to greet me as the 'Queen', or Kuroisei could just move forward into my square as the 'King'. Or, they could also just attack me from where they stood, which wouldn't be hard, since the swords they used could serve as long-ranged weapons as well as short-ranged weapons.

We stood there facing one another for a moment while I wondered who would make the first move. I had a feeling the 'stronger' one would go last, but who was stronger? The Queen or the King? The Queen was more mobile, as she could move both horizontally and diagonally, for as many squares as she liked. The King, however, could only take one step at a time in any direction, but he was more important: King dies, game over.

As expected, Shiroifu made the first move. She stepped into my square, swing her sword as she did so. The problem about fighting my own swords, was that it was unfair. I was using my Arrancar blade, something I only had experience with for a little more than two days (the past two days plus the time I spent in my inner world) against my own swords which were armed with manifestations of themselves.

Know thyself, is what the wise say. Well, my sword definitely know their weapons since they are their weapons. And I should know mine too, since the Arrancar blade is, technically, a sealed manifestation of my hollow self. Some say that it is a part of our broken masks, and a hollow's mask is supposedly a part of its missing heart. However, I knew nothing of the sword even though it should be a part of me. As I have mentioned before, I don't even know how to release the damned blade and get into my resurreccion form! And I was an Espada!

"Precisely," Shiroifu said as our blades met with a resounding ring that hummed through our swords. My other disadvantage? My swords often knew exactly what I was thinking. I tried to block them out sometimes, but it was only really successful on the 'pawns'. And I couldn't get into the minds of my swords either.

"Precisely what?" I asked irritably, hoping she wouldn't give me some sort of cryptic answer. She smirked as we leapt away from each other.

"You don't know your heart, and you expect to know your soul?" Kuroisei said. She was still standing there, seeming not to bother joining in the fight. Probably saving the fight for later... If I managed to defeat Shiroifu first.

"My soul?"

"Yes. We are also a part of you now, you know. Your soul, in fact," said Shiroifu, to which Kuroisei added, "As an Arrancar and Espada, it is only natural for you to be able to release your sword and enter your resurreccion state. If you can't even do that, don't think about learning bankai."

... The hell?! Well, that certainly clears things up... I think. So they want me to find my resurreccion before teaching me bankai? I'm screwed.

True enough, one hour later, I had a numb shoulder, a not-quite-working leg, an a headache. All aftereffects of my swords' attacks. It was only one hour! One hour, and I was using my left hand to hold my sword, while awkwardly escaping attacks with a limp. Seriously, why do I have to be the unlucky one who had a hollow form to complete before achieving the final release of a shinigami technique? The whole bloody irony of it.

Slash across the chest. Get blocked. Dodge a strike at the legs. Trip. Nearly get beheaded. Roll away. Stab at the stomach. Get countered. Random black blade comes into view. Runs away from black shadow. Dodge a cold white beam of light. Slash at her arm. Miss. Trip. Nearly get beheaded again...

And so it continued... It wasn't those kind of fight, where the two combatants are panting heavily, having cuts all over and torn clothes. That's sometimes the kind of fight I had with Kenpachi when we spar. Not the kind of fights I have with my swords. I was actually quite surprised I've held out this long, or maybe my swords are just holding back? I was panting, with tears in my clothes, a few cuts (attacks from my swords are, fortunately/unfortunately, usually not fully physical) while my swords were swinging their swords with ease, not a single drop of sweat on their faces. It was the kind of fight I sometimes had with Grimmjow or my fraccions... With roles reversed.

Two hours later, yes, I managed to survive two hours, I found out what would happen when I don't survive the next minute. It was a question I had been wondering for some time: what would happen if I don't manage to block a critical attack? What if Shiroifu freezes my heart with Samui Iki? What if I really do get beheaded or something? Or will my swords stop their attacks in time, like a blade to my throat? What happens then?

What happens, as I found out then, was that my swords have no mercy. Shiroifu stabbed me through my chest with the white shimmering blade of Samui Iki, and a sudden silence reverberated through me, louder than any sound. I don't know, I must have been semi-unconscious by then, I think I fell. I didn't hear nor feel it though. I couldn't hear nor feel anything... Not even my heartbeat.

...

White. Everything was white. The air was cold and I could almost smell and taste it's iciness. What was going on? I couldn't be dead. Otherwise, there'd be nothing at all, right? I'd have no more awareness, right? So I wasn't dead. Nor yet. But if I wasn't dead, then what was I? Dreaming? No, couldn't be.

There it is. Something in the white. A shadow. Patterns. Texture. I wasn't staring at nothing as I had thought. I was staring at snow. I got up, and found it surprisingly easy, as if I hadn't just been in a fight. I looked around. I was in... A desert? I looked down again. Not snow. Cold sand in moonlight.

It was night. The sky was as black as the sand and full moon was white. Around me was miles and miles of empty desert wasteland with trees, some black and withered, some bone white and skeletal, scattered sparsely here and there. Why did this seem vaguely familiar?

A voice. I recognized it. I stood and walked towards it. Now I seem them. Why didn't I see them just now? Three white figures in the dark, one strolling towards the other two in a distance. The one further away looked familiar: he had bright blue hair, feline eyes, a skeletal quarter-mask on his face. He was wearing a uniform that I also found familiar. Grimmjow?

I was standing behind a tree, watching them. I didn't recognize the one's nearer to me. They weren't human nor humanoid. The both of them were all white and skeletal, like many of the things around here were. One of them resembled a lobster with one claw missing and a broken tail, while the other resembled... A small dragon. But not really a dragon. More like a serpent with wings.

The creature was long, longer than a western dragon, but shorter than an oriental one. It had a longish neck, like a horse, a slim and lithe body that's slightly longer than its neck, and an even longer tail, more than twice the length of it's head, neck and body put together. It had three pairs of wings that were flat, like a sheet of bone, long and oblong in shape with tapered ends, like the wings of an insect, though broken. In fact, it was the wings that made me realize that it was as much a dragon as it was a bug. Despite the fact that it clearly had only two pairs of clawed feet, an extra pair of wings, and a reptilian body, the shape of the wings were unmistakeable. Everyone who knew my hollow form were wrong. There was only one creature I knew with such odd-shaped wings and its names came to my mind, even though I was sure I don't remember learning it before. Libelula. The dragonfly. Caballito del diablo. The Devil Horse.

One moment later, the lobster vasto lorde's remaining claw came crashing down onto me... Well, the other me. The other me wasn't able to dodge it, though she/I/it attempted to counter it with a cero. When the blast cleared, the other me was lying on the ground with one horn gone, a cracked face, missing two wings, and half-conscious. The other injured hollow was retreating fast. By the time Grimmjow strolled towards the other me, the vasto lorde was gone.

Grimmjow said something I couldn't hear, for a fierce wind howled past then, but it didn't matter. I heard what he said the first time anyways, and still remember it. The unnatural wind blew up a white sandstorm that obscured my view of my other self and the memory Grimmjow, and I think I must have slipped out of consciousness then, because the next thing I knew, I was back in Urahara's underground place, apparently still standing, with Shiroifu's sword at my chest, and Kuroisei's sword at my throat. Not more than a second seemed to have passed since I lost consciousness.

I don't know what that was supposed to be. It seemed like a memory, but not quite, since a memory should involve me experiencing that again myself right? Instead of watching on as a third person or something. And where had it come from anyways? Shiroifu? Kuroisei? A combination of both? Or was it just me? Or an indirect result of... I don't know, near-death experience? Which reminded me, I could feel my heart beat again.

"Uh... What's going on?" I asked as I stared at my swords. Shiroifu tilted her head to one side as she regarded me.

"Well, I've unfrozen you. You're still alive despite the fact that your heart probably missed one or two beats. Kuroisei reckons you should be given another chance because it's one of you against the sixteen of us and you have managed to defeat our fourteen copies already."

"You know, I still can't believe how kind and merciful I am!" remarked Kuroisei with a face of mock surprise.

"Humility, my dear Kuro-tan," Shiroifu said in response. Right.

"So... What happens now?" I asked.

"We have a rematch, of course," Shiroifu replied. "Are you ready?"

"Doesn't matter if I am, does it? You'll just start regardless, wouldn't you?" I said wryly.

"Hmph, that I would," Shiroifu agreed. She then swung her sword in a lazy arc and rested it's blunt edge on her shoulder. She paused in that position for half-a-second longer, then leapt forward.

Surprisingly, I still had enough strength to evade her attack. I also found that my right shoulder was no longer numb, which meant that I had regained the use of my right arm again. My headache was gone, and my leg felt less out-of-sorts. The cuts I sustained from the earlier fight were still there, but easily ignored.

I knew I would soon run low on energy, which meant that now would be a good time to gain more reiatsu. As I had already released my reiatsu to the max in the earlier fight, the only way to increase it further would be to release my hollow self. It occurred to me then, that not only did I not know how to do a resurreccion, I didn't know how to get back into my Arrancar form either. However, as soon as that thought took form, I realized had a feeling that I actually knew how to do so.

Instinctively, I closed my eyes as I dodged another of Shiroifu's attacks. Everything seemed to move in slow motion then, and then, there was a feeling of a stretched rubber band snapping, and a coil of energy seemed to be suddenly released within me as time and motion righted itself.

I felt a weight on my head. I did not have to reach out a hand to feel it to know that my hollow-horn-hair-clip/accessory was there. I could also feel other differences on me, like the changes in the feel and weight of my clothes, and the strangely comfortable yet hollow feeling of the hole just below my collarbone.

"Have I ever told you that you look better with your hair short?" Kuroisei commented then. I blinked at her in surprise, then I realized that I could no longer feel the rubber band tying my hair nor the weight of my long hair.

"I think she looks better with long hair, actually," Shiroifu said, momentarily distracted from the fight, which was fine by me. I noticed that she had long hair while Kuroisei had short hair. Ironically, it is Shiroifu's clothes that resemble the clothes of an Arrancar while Kuroisei's clothes resemble that of a shinigami.

Taking the short opportunity of their argument over my hair length, I thought hard about my resurreccion. I hadn't ever used it before, because I never had to, and whenever I thought about, I realized I didn't know how to do it. I wonder if it was because I never truly knew what I was as a hollow. Even now, I still wasn't sure what kind of animal I was... some sort of dragon-dragonfly hybrid. But at least I now knew what I really looked like when I was an adjucha. At least I knew that I was a strange hybrid of animals. At least I knew what creatures contributed to my hollow features and appearance. I hope that's good enough.

I stared at my sword and examined it. It was a gigantic white kunai, even bigger than my shinigami zanpakuto in it's sealed form, with a bandaged hilt and a hole in its pommel. The blade was smooth, but I noticed that the ring of the pommel surrounding the hole was decorated. A carving of a horned skull was done in the bone white pommel, with the upper jaw of the skull above the hole, the lower jaw below the hole-nearer the hilt, and the hole in the pommel was like its opened mouth. A hollow sword it was indeed. And it was my hollow sword, the sealed form of my original hollow form.

"Caballito del Diablo," I muttered. Spanish for dragonfly or devil horse. That was the name of the sword. "Resurreccion."

The effect was instantaneous, and the transformation was as effortless and instinctive as it should be. After my second change, I analyzed myself again. A pair of skeletal wings that resemble a dragonfly's sprouted from my shoulder blades, a pair of dragon horns attached to my head in the form of hair accessories as before, claws extend from the top/back of my skeletal gauntlets, spikes extend from the back of my boots-the calves-which have grown harder and fitting... Oh, and it appears that my white jacket has been torn apart by that pair of wings, and I think there must be two long tears in the back of my black top. Where the wings have burst out from. Anything else? No. Thank goodness. I still remembered Nnoitra's resurreccion which included an extra pair of arms. Creepy.

"Well, I think you look nicer in black," said Kuroisei when she saw my resurreccion form. Shiroifu promptly whacked her on the head with the flat of her blade.

"Ow, what was that for?!" exclaimed the black-haired tomboy.

"Being an idiot, as always," retorted Shiroifu and advanced on me. "So, you've finally managed to achieve resurreccion. Congratulations. Let's begin again, shall we?"

And so our fight resumed. Like all hollow attacks, my resurreccion ones were instinctual. Cero, check. Hierro, check. Sonido, check. Utsusemi: Sonido-style, check. Last but not least, I had gained a lovely weapon called Cuchillo de la Libelula (A/N: Spanish for Dragonfly Knife).

My sword had transformed when I did, and it now took the form of a giant shuriken attached to a looong chain, each blade the length of my arm. The shuriken resembled a giant quadruple-bladed knife, like four kunais fused together at the pommel. The shuriken, when thrown, can leave behind energy afterimages of it, like clones made of energy. These afterimages follow the path of the real shuriken in a trail of energy so even if the real shuriken misses, one of them is bound to hit my target. When the energy copies hit something, be it the target or when dispelled by a sword, it explodes in a starburst of light. It was quite a sight, several giant blazing shurikens in the air, resembling white dragonflies in flight (the wings formed by the silhouette of the four points of the shuriken, the tail formed by the silhouette of the chain attached).

"Artistic!" I yelled delightedly, when another of my attacks exploded. Meanwhile, Shiroifu and Kuroisei displayed amazing gymnastic and acrobatic feats and fast speed while dodging my attacks and delivering their own blows. Their ability at dodging and dispelling my attacks were irritating, but cool.

For another hour or two, we kept dodging and dispelling each other's attacks. My energy ones could be dispelled by a slash of sufficient energy or energy-infused blade through it's center while Shiroifu's Winter Breath attacks could be dispelled-as I had learned one rook, one knight and one bishop ago-by delivering a blow of sufficient energy to the start of the blade, where the blade and hilt connected.

The fight was a flurry of movement and flashes of light. Not much time is spared for thinking, everything based on instinct and intuition. Kuroisei, who apparently, hadn't been intending to join the fight, got involved because of the wildness of my attacks. Then, it happened so fast, I could scarcely follow it. Just as Shiroifu dodged my shuriken, and Kuroisei was busy dispelling an energy one, one of my other energy shurikens flew past and struck Shiroifu's sword. I couldn't quite tell if it was the cross-guard, the start of the blade, or the end of the hilt that got hit, but Shiroifu staggered backwards and dropped her weapon with a gasp.

The white sword fell from her hand and disappeared in mid-air, winking out of sight as if it had been an illusion, though I knew it wasn't. I was in front of her before I even registered what had happened and thought about what I was going to do. I caught the shuriken that had come soaring back to me, and pointed one of it's blades at Shiroifu's throat.

"This counts as a win, right?" I asked. Her shocked expression cleared and she laughed.

"Yes, of course," she replied. Kuroisei snorted for some reason or another.

"What? Don't like the possibility of losing?" I said to her. Kuroisei simply grinned.

"Who does? But it's not that," she said and for some reason, I found that smile of hers very suspicious at that moment.

"Then what is it?"

"You see, for the finale, to prove yourself worthy of our bankai... Well, you'll have to defeat us together."

Wait. Wait. Wait a minute. Oh no. Two of them? At onego? Not just Shiroifu, but Kuroisei joining it whole-heartedly? This... sucks.

...

It started out like the fight with Shiroifu, except that Kuroisei was the one leading the attacks. Her attacks were similar yet different from Shiroifu's which forced me to execute gymnastic feats and stunts that I have seen Shiroifu do but never thought I could do until then. At least the method of returning her shadow blade into it's original form was the same as with Shiroifu.

After resorting to all the tricks I could think of-tripping them with the chain of my weapon, traditional shuriken-throwing, battle-hammer/flail/meteor style, holding the hilt of one blade and using the other three as a triple-bladed sword etc-I started to feel my reiatsu really drop. It had replenished itself when I transformed into my Arrancar form, and increased when I entered resurreccion, but my swords never seem to tire. I swear, if they were shinigami, they'd be made captains in a few months, or at least lieutenants.

"Is that all you've got?" demanded Kuroisei when she noticed my attacks getting slower. She suddenly reminded me of Kenpachi.

I thought about her question, and racked my mind for any more ideas of attacks besides cero and using my shuriken. None came to mind, and just as I was about to concede that perhaps, I was done for, something made me rethink. It wasn't much, just a nagging feeling that saying yes to her question would be a lie. But for the life of me, I couldn't think of what it was that I had missed.

For another two hours, we battled on and I got increasingly... Twitchy. I think I must have fallen for the third feint by the time I felt this random uncontrollable urge to fly. Now the thing is, the pair of wings on my back had a total wingspan of approx one-and-a-half meters, and were strong enough to lift me higher off the ground when I jump, but weren't strong enough to actually help me stay off the ground for a length of time.

For one ridiculous moment, amidst all the fighting, the tune of 'I Believe I Can Fly' started playing in my head. I got distracted, and a solid black blade sliced past me. I dodged, thinking, 'I very nearly lost an arm!' and before I knew it, in my momentary shock, I had leapt into the air, dodged a few more sword slashes and... Well, let's just say it was a fight or flight situation... Literally.

I don't really know what happened, just that the irritatingly suppressed energy I felt released itself. And then I was flying. Not in the Peter Pan way. And not the spirit-particles-manipulation-stepping-on-air way either. I felt a strong tremor run down my back, but it was a natural rhythm, like the beat of my heart. A soft humming could be heard, a little similar to the sound of a sonido. I didn't have to look over my shoulder to know that I had grown another two pairs of wings. I could feel them, the way one can naturally feel one's own arms.

All three pairs of wings were in the shape of a dragonfly's wings, but with a sharp edge, like blades. The second and third pair of wings were longer than the first, with the second pair having a total wingspan of approx two meters, and the third pair having a wingspan between that of the first and second pair. The second pair was also broader than the first, and the third was the broadest.

"So, the nymph has molted into an adult, eh?" commented Kuroisei. "Wanna pause the fight? I think you should have a good look at yourself. Hey! Kisuke! Do you have a mirror?"

"Don't be ridiculous!" Shiroifu snapped before Urahara could answer. Uh... What? I quickly noted other changes: the horns have gotten shorter and narrower, more female-goat-ish. I've got... A tail?! My tail was skeletal-ish, almost as long as I am tall, and had a pointed-clubbed end (teardrop shaped with point facing outwards?) Anymore changes? No. Other than the color of my wings, horns, gauntlet, and tail. All of the above should be bone white. But no, my horns were black (according to Kuroisei, who was delighted), my wings were light-turquoise-stain-glass-ish (in other words, translucent for some strange reason or other, and as Shiroifu commented, looking very breakable), my gauntlets were black like my boots and horns, and my tail was err... Sky blue.

"You're colorful! Did you know you have this skeletal armor plate thingie on your back, where your wings connect?" exclaimed Kuroisei, and yes, I was aware that I had gotten a new green choker that connected to something on my back. "It's apple green and shiny."

"Everything is shiny... Her wings, her horns, her gauntlets, boots, tail are all shiny!" said Shiroifu exasperatedly. "Now can we get on with it? You can admire her all you like later."

"I think... I'm getting quite weirded out..." I muttered to no one in particular. Too many changes in one day. And then there was Kuroisei who seemed obsessed over my appearance.

"Hey! If she's gonna be our mistress, she might as well look good, you know. Appearances are important, Shiroi-chan," Kuroisei protested, then gave me an evil eye. "And I am not weird."

Riiight. So are they gonna continue arguing over this? On one hand, I'm getting a nice rest here. On the other hand, I want to finish this as fast as possible... And why not?

Shuriken released. She dodged. Gets hit by the shuriken's energy copy. She curses loudly. Accidentally cuts Shiroifu's mist blade with my wings and trips her over with my tail while trying to shake off the numbness spreading through one of my wings (I swear it was an accident... I don't seem to have much control over all these extra body parts yet). And the fight resumed after I used up my 'element of surprise'.

Flying wasn't an easy thing. Yes, the beating of my wings felt as natural and effortless as breathing, but I couldn't quite get the hang of... Directions. And I couldn't quite focus on flying and defending and attacking at the same time. There was also the danger of getting hit by my own shuriken now that I was in the air-something I wasn't used to. Then there was that one wing that was half-numb from accidentally flying too close to Shiroifu's blade. Oh yeah, the other thing about having wings? They're so big (they have to be, in order to lift me) that I needed a hell lot of time to adjust my sense of space.

So there was I, whizzing here and there, trying out different angles of holding out the wings, tilting or tipping them this way and that to see how that changes my flight, adjusting the way my body moved or how I use (or not use) my legs in the air... While dodging dangerous black and white rays of light and shadow. In some ways, the unpredictable nature of my flight helped scramble up my sword's attacks, although it led me into some usually avoidable accidents too. At least I haven't flown into a wall yet.

Approximately three hours later, I finally got used to flying and found that being able to take off into the air quite useful. My swords good jump really high into the air, and stay quite long in the air too, but they can't fly. So it is easier to dodge their attacks when I'm near the ceiling. Unfortunately, their attacks are usually long-ranged ones. And Kuroisei's attacks used shadows. Apparently, her attacks don't work as well when my shadow is very light, which happens when I'm high up, but that also means that my shadow is bigger. I suppose I can't always have my way.

The day was ending. I didn't need a clock to know that I only had a couple more hours to finish this. Now would be a good time to figure out what they want from me, I told my brain. After all, they always seemed have conditions they want me to fulfill before teaching me a new technique. So what did they want this time? I bet I was supposed to figure that out while defeating them.

They. What did they want this time. Finale. Defeat. Them. Together. Together. Their. Bankai. Singular bankai. Was this what this is all about? It's just a guess. I really didn't know what they wanted me to do other than to defeat them. They didn't actually say what counts as a defeat either. And I now realize that they didn't actually say that they'd teach me their bankai if I managed to 'win' this 'game'. But maybe the only way to defeat them together and gain their bankai is to... Well, imagine them as one entity and defeat them as such? Not one person/spirit/zanpakuto, but two combined into one?

I quickly banished the random two-in-one sales idea before it distracted me, and focused on the two of them. They were smirking. As if they somehow, once again, knew what I was thinking. I could only hope that their smirks meant that I had gotten it right. Here goes nothing.

I angled my wings slightly towards the back, tipped my body forward and spiraled down to my swords, shuriken in hand, dodging shooting extendable blades as I went. They were quite a team. Their actions and moves complement each other perfectly, one flowing into the other. Black and white melding into gray. Gray, a seemingly simple, soft, average but dangerous color. That's what they were. And I was proud to say that they were mine.

I released my shuriken as I neared them, and let it deflect anymore oncoming attacks, clearing my way to them. They were swift, but by the time they dispelled my energy shurikens, I was behind them. My shuriken came back to me as it always does, and as the center ring of the shuriken touched the fingers of my outstretched hand, the chain fastened to the ring followed. As tricks went, this was quite 'lame' but surprisingly effective.

I transferred the shuriken from my left hand to my right hand, where I still held on to the end of the chain. Shiroifu and Kuroisei, who were fighting so close to each other earlier, naturally got caught by the chain looped that was formed by the shuriken's movement and direction. Of course, my swords automatically jumped out of the tightening loop before they got fully trapped. Because of their perfect timing and teamwork, nobody tripped over nobody, and they still managed to whip their swords at me one after another.

I dodged Shiroifu's blade, while running as far as I could go. Then I realized that I no longer felt a compulsion to stop when I reached the edge of the nine squares we were allowed to fight in. Did the nine-square rule dissolve in the final fight? Why didn't anyone tell me?! I could have saved a lot of effort and trouble trying to fly! Ah, never mind, not that it matters now.

I ran along the edge of the 'chess board' and stopped when Shiroifu retracted her blade (which she had to, because it would easier to shoot the blade at me again instead of making the blade stretch while chasing me. A/N: imagine a semicircle. It'd be faster and easier travelling along the diameter than the circumference, right?), Kuroisei released her shadow blade. As she had explained to me before, one of the only problem about her/her sword is that the blade's shadow could only move forward in one direction once released, so it was easy to dodge. So I kept dodging Shiroifu's blade, then Kuroisei's, and as this repeated, the timing between their attacks shortened until their attacks were almost simultaneous.

Focus. Focus. My imagination took over and what I saw was a ridiculous blurry silver creature with a sword in each hand, shooting out black and white rays at the same time. Right. Focus. What was wrong with my head today? My mind's like scrambled eggs.

My swords advanced upon me as they continued their attacks, slowly trapping me as they make use of their attacks to influence the direction I run. The good thing about them attacking at the same time? The breaks between their attacks were at the sane time too. Taking the opportunity, I used utsusemi with sonido when they were close enough to me, charged at them, used utsusemi again, changed direction, and continued in an irregular zigzag manner until I was between them.

I used my shuriken to dispel their latest attack, and during their momentary pause, I had one chance to beat them. Miss it and I was dead meat, since I was already so close to them. Any attack from them at this point blank range would be fatal, unless they were feeling merciful. My shuriken came back to me in a flash, and instead of catching it in my hand, I jumped, using my forewings to lift me higher, letting the shuriken pass underneath me and hit their already oncoming blades at their hilts. There was an unexpected (okay, maybe I should have expected it, but I didn't, due to my brain focusing on 'now' 'now' 'now' as there was not much time to think about 'later') explosion that lifted me even higher into the air and made Shiroifu and Kuroisei stagger and trip backwards while letting go of the hilts of their swords. They were too good to get really blown away.

Second use of element of surprise. Except that I had been surprised too, and thankfully, my brain was in 'now'-mode and I instinctively angled my wings so that there was no more air resistance and I fell into the finishing explosion. All of this happened in about a second, so fast that I didn't have time to consider consequences or results. I stretched out both my hands and caught two flying objects. Longish and hard. Hilts of two swords. Well, not really.

Less than a second later, I was cursing out loud as the smoke cleared and my swords came into view. I stopped cursing long enough to ask them if disarming them was consider a win.

"Yes, I suppose," Kuroisei said. Both Shiroifu and she had poker-faces on. I glared at them, although my reckless stupidity wasn't their fault. Finally, Shiroifu sighed, but not before I saw her eyes laugh even though her mouth didn't.

"You're a mess, Chizuki," she said. Right, as if I didn't know. My clothes were half-singed and slightly tattered, partially because of the fight, and partially because of the explosion I jumped into. My hair was sticking up everywhere, some ends singed too. I had cuts almost everywhere. And then there was my hands. Thank goodness I had skeletal gauntlets protecting them, or I'd be bleeding even more profusely. Who knew Shiroifu's blade was this sharp. Who knew my catching skills would be so bad that I caught the damn sword by the blade instead of the hilt.

"Well? Do I finally get to know your bankai?" I asked irritably.

"Hey, you won. Shouldn't you be happier?" Kuroisei said as a grin broke across her originally forced-blank face. "Like, you know, do some handstands and cartwheels or maybe pirouettes?"

"I'll tell you the name of our bankai. As for how to use it properly, you'll have to figure that out yourself. It's a combination of both our attacks." Shiroifu cut in before I could form a retort.

"It's a very nice name, you know," added Kuroisei. "I was all for calling it Blackie And Whitie but Shiroi-chan-"

"-Had more sense than the regular idiot. It's Suigin no Hiko. Flight of Quicksilver," Shiroifu finished for her. "We're done here, Urahara."

Urahara looked somewhat amused. I wasn't surprised: he had many things he could be amused about, from my appearance, to my swords' conversations... And shinigamis tend to be amused for unknown reasons anyways. Exceptions to the rule: Yamamoto, Kuchiki, Toshiro... Tousen? Etc.

"Wait," I said, just as Urahara was about to let my swords return to their uh... sword form. "Just wondering, does anyone know why I didn't immediately grow three pairs of wings and stuff when I entered resurreccion?"

"How would we know? That's an Arrancar thing. Not a shinigami thing. But as Kuro-tan said earlier, it seemed like you molted from nymph to adult," Shiroifu replied.

"I think your body just got it's shinigami and Arrancar stuff mixed up," Kuroisei said. "So it's now got an initial and final resurreccion? Like shikai and bankai?"

They offered no other helpful suggestions and returned to their sword form and I returned to my shinigami student form. Urahara kept away the strange white doll thingie, before throwing his arms in the air.

"Hooray, you've finally achieved bankai!" he yelled. His excitement was... Well, Urahara-ish. I have no other description for it.

"So, how much do I have to pay for this?" I asked, interrupting his little celebration-of-sorts. He stopped 'dancing' at once.

"What?"

"I said, how much do I have to pay for this bankai trai-"

"Pay?" He looked bewildered.

"Yes, pay. You know what 'pay' means, don't you?" I said, irritableness coming back to me again. Then I frowned when I say his face. It was obviously an evil I-didn't-expect-you-to-pay-but-now-that-you're-offering-I-might-as-well-take-advantage-of-it face. Damn. I should have just kept my mouth shut... Though I guess I owe him one for helping me.

"How about working for me?" Urahara suggested cheerfully. Huh? Work? For him?

"What kind of work?" I asked warily.

"Oh it depends. You can help Jinta and Ururu with the housework, and you can help with the sales of the store, and you can keep me updated on the happenings in the other worlds," Urahara said with much enthusiasm. I thought about it. It didn't sound too bad.

"Okay, but I'll only drop by the shop when I have the time. I still have school and kido training, although the school hols are coming," I said. He looked amused and surprised. What now?

"Oh. You're actually agreeing?"

I sighed. Honestly. Don't tell me he was kidding around again.

"Well, if you weren't serious about it, then forget it. Forget that I wanted to repay the favor. I shall just be on my way and-" I said casually as I made my way out.

"Wait!" I was already at the entrance/exit of the underground place when he shouted. I turned around to see him running towards me, waving his cane in the air with the expression of a carefree bunny on his face. You know, with those imaginary pink fluffy flowers appearing in the background?

"You're no fun to tease," he protested when he caught up. I almost laughed.

"I need to go. I've got three day's worth of homework to catch up on. I'll be back this Saturday," I said instead.

"You're coming again on Saturday? To work?" he asked. He sounded surprised. Again.

"No, I'm coming to bully Jinta, play with Ururu, steal a faux body and shoplift some other shinigami stuff. And kill you of course," I deadpanned. There was a short silence which I broke, "You're actually quite fun to tease, Urahara-san."

"Ehh?" he protested again in a whining voice. He really reminded me of Akirai then. Now I laughed, and we returned to the ground above together.

When I walked out of the shop, it was evening and near dinner time. The first thing I did was to call Hana-chan to ask her about homework. Then I made a trip to my apartment to check for mail and homework. Then I made a trip to Aki-chan's house to pick up the rest of my homework. Then I found Kuchiki waiting for me back at my apartment, and he raised an eyebrow at my appearance (I bet I looked like a student whose chemistry experiment had gone wrong) but made no comment. He brought me back to soul society. After thanking him, I immediately ran off to find my division to tell them the good news.

Suigin no Hiko, eh? Not bad. Not bad at all.

That's all for now. May update in another two weeks, after I update my other fanfic. Please review~ Comments, compliments, criticism are all welcome!