Once they arrived at the Senkaimon, Tsuki and her zanpaku-tô saw Byakuya standing there with Senbonzakura, preparing to travel to the world of the living. As the three of them hid from sight, Tsuyoi commented that Muramasa might have already left.
As she watched her captain waiting with his zanpaku-tô, Tsuki wanted more than anything for him to be back on their side. 'Why did he choose to side with Muramasa?' she asked herself while sighing.
Ai turned to her and asked what was wrong. Tsuki quickly said it was nothing and without warning, Byakuya gazed over to where they were hiding.
"Oh snap!" Tsuyoi exclaimed in a whisper as they hid behind the pillar as best as they could. "Has he seen us?"
"I hope not!" his owner replied.
For a while it was silent, until they heard Senbonzakura ask, "Is there something wrong?" They could hear nothing from Byakuya, and Tsuki could feel his gaze on them.
"It's nothing." He finally answered. "Let's go." The two of them then entered through the gate.
"That was a close one…" Tsuki stated as they all relaxed and emerged from their hiding place.
Ai, however, growled and shouted, "I wouldn't care even if he caught us. I would just beat him to a pulp!"
Tsuki sighed while Tsuyoi suggested they wait a while before pursuing them through the gate. Soon they entered as well, and once they got to the world of the living, they hid in the bushes, watching the scenes that unfolded.
Muramasa did indeed have a hidden objective, because he had released the seal on his owner, Koga. When he tried to attack his own zanpaku-tô, Byakuya came out and faced Koga. The others tried to enter the battle too, but at that time, Senbonzakura stopped them. He told them that it was Byakuya that had to stop Koga.
The others asked why and Senbonzakura explained that on the day of the rebellion, Byakuya made him submit. Byakuya had heard of Koga and Muramasa from his grandfather and decided to research them further. When Byakuya had found nothing, he joined Muramasa to learn more.
"How bogus is that?" Ai said to the others she was hiding with. "I still won't forgive either of them, especially your captain!"
As the other two continued to watch, they saw Muramasa plead for Koga to use him in his fight against Byakuya. Koga then went to say that he couldn't use his zanpaku-tô and said that Muramasa was only a tool. He then broke the sword he held in his hand and faced off with Byakuya.
As the two of them started their battle, Tsuki's attention was brought to the distraught Muramasa as he then was enclosed in a dark red and black reishi. 'What's happening?' Tsuki thought to herself with horror as she continued to watch.
Suddenly, as Muramasa became more and more out of control, millions of Hollows and quite a few Menos Grande appeared around the area. Tsuki saw as Ichigo began to fight them off to get to Muramasa. It was then that she decided to help out.
"Come on Tsuyoi-Ai!" she said as she stood up and walked out to encounter the hollows. "Let's help out!"
Her zanpaku-tô agreed and the three of them started to fight off some of the hollows and Menos. Soon some back up came because millions of blue arrows rained down on quite a few of the hollows, defeating them. Ichigo and Tsuki looked down to see Uryû with his bow in hand, firing more arrows to help out.
"Hey, it's Uryû! I thought he lost his powers…" Tsuki commented with a smile as two others approached. "There's Orihime and Chad, too!" Tsuki waved to them and Ai told her to focus.
When she brought her gaze back to the hollows and Muramasa, the reishi that had enveloped him had become a black ball of energy. The ball of energy then began to absorb all of the hollows around it and it grew bigger as the sky became darker.
"Tsuki!" Tsuyoi stated as he faced her and Ai. "We should get back down to the ground! I have a bad feeling about this!"
His owner nodded and the three of them started to descend to the ground. As soon as they landed, there was a huge explosion that came from the ball of energy. There was a strong wind and dust was thrown around while Tsuyoi-ai held on to Tsuki for dear life, protecting her. When the wind died down, Ai looked up and saw that the dust had cleared, revealing…
"No way!" Ai shouted as they saw the thing before them. "Is that…thing really Muramasa?!"
"More like what used to be Muramasa…" Tsuyoi answered as all looked at the beast before them.
He wore white colored armor from his head to his waist, and looked a lot like a hollow. His hollow mask was shaped like a stag beetle's with long horns and he had red eyes showing through the slits in the mask. His arms were now slender and had long curved blades protruding from his elbows. Around his neck was some fur and his "skirt" remained unchanged except for a couple of furry purple bits hanging on each side of his waist. In the middle of his torso was his hollow hole, surrounded with what looked like pointed teeth.
Suddenly hollow Muramasa roared, and as he did, his spiritual pressure increased, making everyone kneel down from the heaviness of it. He then relaxed and without any warning, rushed to the group and attacks Ichigo with such force that he throws Ichigo far off into the distance. The hollow then continued to go for Ichigo, now intending to kill the teen.
Uryû stepped forward at that moment and started to shoot arrows at the enemy, but Muramasa dodged them and started going for the quincy instead. Uryû was surprised, but nonetheless continued to shoot barrages of arrows at him. The hollow still dodged and his target changed; he was now going to attack Rukia and Orihime.
Before he was within meters of the two females he targeted, Chad rushed forward and shielded the attack with his right arm's powers. The sword got stuck in the shield and Chad brought the enemy over his shoulder, throwing him a safe distance away from the girls. Muramasa wasn't going to give up so easily, and he used his hand to slow himself down and stopped there. Suddenly Ichigo dropped from the sky and landed an attack on the hollow, which turned up some more dust.
When the dust cleared, Tsuki saw that the two had clashed swords and were now struggling against each other. Once more Muramasa threw Ichigo back, and this time he stopped himself and stood, ready to attack or block again. The hollow didn't attack Ichigo, however. A blue aura appeared around Muramasa and he brought his fist up to shoot a cero. A blue shot went straight for the two females and everyone was frozen in horror.
Suddenly a pink cloud came out of nowhere and blocked the attack but it didn't stop there. The cloud then attacked Muramasa as well, causing another explosion. When everything cleared up, Tsuki looked to see her captain standing where the "pink cloud" had come from.
"I knew it was him…" Ai commented with her arms crossed as some of the others approached him. "He's such a show off…"
More than anything Tsuki wanted to run over to her captain too, but decided against it. He had, after all, hurt her when he joined the zanpaku-tô and she was unsure of how he would treat her now.
Suddenly Byakuya gazed over at her and she looked away, flustered. Ai scoffed and started making faces at the captain she so despised while Tsuyoi tried to stop her. Tsuki felt that he wanted to speak with her, but there was no time for that.
The captain then faced hollow Muramasa, who gave another roar and for a moment he looked as if he had lost control of himself. Everyone prepared for the worst, but the hollow stopped and said in his own voice that he won't give in. Tsuki and the others watched in worry as Orihime ran forward and threw her arms out, pleading for him to stop fighting. For a long while the enemy did nothing and she approached further, slowly this time.
So far Muramasa did nothing, until he lost control again and attacked the one who stood closest to him. Orihime quickly used her power to protect herself, but was thrown back. Rukia ran to her side and when the hollow attacked again, Ichigo was there to block it with his zanpaku-tô.
They struggled for a moment, but Ichigo overpowered him and threw the enemy back with a slash of his zanpaku-tô. Once Muramasa landed a few feet away, the orange haired soul reaper ran up to his foe and attacked again. Muramasa dodged the first attack, and then the two of them clashed again and again until he rose into the air.
Everyone then took cover as he then shot a whole volley of blue cero bullets at Ichigo and the area around him. For a moment he was concealed by dust and dirt until he cleared it away. He then brought his hand up to his face and took his hollow mask out and put it on.
Ichigo then darted up to Muramasa and as the battle continued in midair, Tsuki thought with surprise and curiosity, 'The last time I saw him like that he went out of control. I guess he's managed to use it for good purposes.'
She continued to watch as hollow Muramasa shot another cero. Ichigo countered with his black Getsuga Tenshô, which not only stopped the cero but wounded him as well. The deep wound went from Muramasa's shoulder to his waist, but he didn't even bat an eye as he then healed himself.
Once the healing process had finished, he roared and a pillar of red shot from his body and into the sky. "Oh no!" Tsuki shouted out with worry as she gazed into the sky which was becoming dark. "This is bad! A garganta is opening up in the sky!"
Ichigo tried to stop him, but it was kind of late, because more hollows emerged. He defeated some as he came closer and closer, but the amount of hollows increased and even some Menos came to join as well.
"Come on Tsuki!" Ai said with determination as the three of them faced the hollows. "Let's finish these scum!"
Her owner nodded and they all started to defeat one hollow after another while Ichigo got close enough to Muramasa. The orange haired soul reaper used Getsuga Tenshô once more and cut the foe in the same place as before. But once again, the cut healed itself and he suddenly began to change shape. As he got bigger and bigger, blobs shot out of his body and rained down, finally becoming a dome shape. It then swallowed Ichigo up and made even more hollows appear.
"Look, it's getting bigger!" Tsuyoi commented while his gaze turned to the crack in the sky. "And the garganta is growing as well!"
"What are we going to do?" Tsuki asked, continuing to defeat the hollows around her.
A glimmer of pink caught her eye and she saw Byakuya and Senbonzakura finish off the Menos around the place. For a while she stared at him until Ai turned her owner's head to the enemies they were supposed to be fighting.
"Don't get sidetracked!" she ordered firmly. "Keep your focus on the task at hand."
"R-Right." Tsuki agreed hesitantly but with determination. The three of them continued the battle, and when nearly all of the Menos were defeated, more emerged from the dome.
"If they keep coming like this, we're going to lose! We need support!" Tsuki stated as something caught her eye. "Oh no! A Menos is going after Orihime and Rukia. I'm too tied up at the moment and so is Byakuya! It's too late!" As the Menos was about to shoot a cero, its whole body froze and it was defeated.
Tsuki watched some more and standing there protecting the two females was the woman in white Tsuki saw before. Then suddenly a whole bunch of soul reapers and their zanpaku-tô arrived as well.
"So this is where you've been, Tsuki-chan." They heard a familiar voice behind them and turned to see a smirking Renji with Zabimaru standing beside him. "And I see you got your zanpaku-tô back. They look pretty ordinary."
"They might look ordinary," Tsuki started with a smirk.
"But we pack a pretty big punch!" Ai finished. "But enough chat! Let's get moving before more hollows come back!"
"She's a little demanding, isn't she?" he asked as Ai left to go defeat some hollows and Tsuki giggled a little.
All of her focus was now on the battle at hand as she continued to fight and the others joined in. However, none of their actions were making the situation any better, as the garganta continued to widen and call forth more Menos.
"This isn't doing anything! We need to try and close the tear in the sky." Tsuyoi suggested to Tsuki. "Look, your captain has already started to do so."
The three of them looked over along with everyone else and sure enough, there was Byakuya and Senbonzakura, trying to close the enormous tear in the sky. "They'll lose all of their reishi before even coming close to closing the garganta!" Tsuki said with concern as she looked around, seeing that everyone else was just standing by. She then looked back at the tear in the sky with determination and Ai knew exactly what her owner was thinking.
"You're going to help him." She voiced her thoughts while crossing her arms with a sigh.
"If no one helps, his spiritual pressure will run out and the tear will remain open." Tsuki stated in response as she increased her reishi. "I don't care if you'll help or not, but I've decided to help my captain…Even though he did betray us…"
For a moment, Ai was silent, and she gazed over to Tsuyoi to see that he was looking at her expectantly. She sighed and rolled her eyes as he told her that he wanted to help too, but couldn't do it without her. She gave her hand hesitantly and he took it, the two of them increasing their spiritual pressure as well.
'This will be the only time that I will help you, Byakuya Kuchiki.' She thought, gazing at the captain with anger in her eyes.
After a few minutes, the others started to increase their own spiritual pressures until the tear was finally closed. Everything then went silent as the dome suddenly started to grow more and more.
"What's happening in there?" Tsuki asked half to herself as it stopped and cracked, a blue glow coming out of them. "Will Ichigo be okay?"
"He's gotten this far," Ai commented. "Surely this won't do him in." Everyone then shielded her eyes as the glow became brighter and the dome exploded, pushing everyone back.
"Tsuki…Tsuki!" she heard Tsuyoi call out and regained consciousness.
"What did I miss?" she asked as she sat up and looked around. There was a mist and everyone was scattered.
"You've only been out a minute or two." Ai said, gazing at the island in the middle of the pond. "Muramasa's disappeared. See?"
She pointed to the sky and there was a blue dust rising to the clouds. When the light had disappeared, it started raining. As it got harder, Tsuki said slowly, "I guess it's all over now…"
"And now it's time to return." Tsuyoi told her with a smile. "Wait, you're leaving?!" his owner asked with shock.
"We're just returning to our sword form. We'll still be with you!" Ai said seriously. The two of them started to glow a deep blue and disappeared, going back to the sword tied at her hip.
"Welcome back…" she said with a smile and the Zanpaku-tô Rebellion drew to a close…
So that's the end of the canon stuff, and from here on to the end is my own. Interestingly, towards the end, starting from this chapter, writing the last chapters were hard for me, as I was a little at a loss at what to write, and I didn't want it to end. But the story lives on in my mind, and hopefully I'll put it to paper and write about Tsuki's life as it continues...