Bleach: Waves and Rapids

Part V: Misplaced Timeline Arc

Chapter 35: Path of Absoluteness

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach and its characters, except for the OC's being introduced into the story. These characters (and Zanpakutō, if applicable) belong to me, and me only.

"Zettaikai..." I said.

"The Absolute Release," Anson said, "is completely different from Shikai and Bankai. However, the power it carries is tremendous. One with Zettaikai will easily overpower a Vasto Lorde Menos Grande." Anson's fist clenched beside his waist. "I was naive in not killing Hollow Ichigo with Zettaikai... and so dragged you into this whole fiasco."

I noticed the people around us started to slow and discolor into grayscale. The surrounding landscape seemed to gradually morph into a life-sized diorama of sorts. Anson was stopping time to explain.

"It has taken me a year of research to finally know how to initiate Zettaikai. Then, it has taken me another year to find out its requisites... then finally a week to perfect my own." Anson closed his eyes, as if pondering on what to discuss next.

I finally spoke. "Why are you telling me this? Why are you telling me of such an advanced technique, where I have only been a Shinigami for only a few years? Wouldn't you be much more comfortable speaking to Rosche, Brandon, or even Jorden about this? This timeline, they've had more than a hundred years of experience!

"Your timeline," Claire replied. "He's doing this to return you to the timeline."

Anson nodded. "When we are done with the final act of destroying Hollow Ichigo, the Royal Guard are sure to whisk you away. They have already allowed you off this one time, in order to accompany me. We must act quickly if we want to beat them to Hollow Ichigo. If they track him down and subdue him before we do, our posts as the head of the Gotei; more importantly, even your existence; is at stake. That is why I am taking this ceasefire to train you."

"What about Jikan-Tekina Munashii's ability to slow time? Couldn't we have done what we had with Bankai training, what you're doing now?"

"I wish I could keep this up. However, only your Reiryoku will grow, and that isn't enough. Better real training than mock training; it was a miracle that your body could handle the Bankai training. Although it was just as effective as Urahara's Tenshintai invention, it is just as hazardous. With real time training, you will better know your skills, as you grow alongside your powers.

"Then... you have to be ready. If, for some reason, the Soul King has secured Hollow Ichigo for grand execution, It will no doubt execute you along with that bastard."

There was a deathly pause. I had nothing to speak of. I involuntarily chewed on the inside of my lip.

Anson straightened himself. "You do not have a lot of time to think. I am barely able to halt time for this long. I can sense the Soul King try to tear down this ability, which is showered upon by intense amounts of my barrier Kidō."

I opened my mouth to speak.

"Not you, Kai."

My mouth stayed agape. My eyes trailed down to the blue-haired girl whom was clutching me so tightly. Her face spelled fear and uncertainty, and her eyes were tearing up. I saw one tear drop as she spoke one word.

"Yes."

Anson and Claire led Shionari and I into the First Captain's office. Anson walked over to a shelf and pulled a book out, a bright red encyclopedia, turned it onto its foreedge, and stuck it back in again. He did the same to a few other books; atlases, dictionaries, codices, and others, and the bookcase slid down into the ground and revealed a flight of stairs.

"That was thirty books..." I said.

"And the bookcase rearranges the books," Claire said.

"Actually, the bookcase opens by itself after I stand in front of it for seven seconds," Anson said, already walking down the stairs. "The book handling is just for show."

We continued down the winding staircase into a small room. There was a corridor that led to a brightly lit area.

"It's a project I allowed Urahara to work on for the past week. It was one of his gifts to me becoming the Head Captain... and to sate his hobby for making them..." We entered the lit room and I found myself staring at natural-looking rock formations with even a waterfall and lake. A few trees sparingly took up the place. All in all, the area was mostly rock ground, like a mountain path of sorts. "Urahara's Underground Area, Delta. The place was given extra care in design, and the ceiling even looks like a moving sky!" Anson then pointed at the waterfall and lake. "That over there is all healing water, mixed up by Urahara. He says there's a hydroelectric-powered pump that takes the drained water to the top of the waterfall... that self-powering wonder."

"You're going to let us train here?" I asked.

"This place..." Anson began, "is layered with the barrier Kidō that can last for a year under the constant assault of the Royal Guard, as due Urahara's calculations. The innermost layer is mixed with a time-distortion effect, which slows time by a factor of twenty times. Five days will equal a hundred days here... likewise a second in here will be a twentieth-of-a-second in realtime. You shall unlock your Zettaikai here... and I shall check back on you in five realtime days..." Anson then walked away. Claire bowed and wished us luck before trailing after her captain.

Shionari was staring at her draconic feet within the healing waters of the lake. I had removed my waraji sandals and sat beside her. I stared at my reflection in the water as I waited for her reply.

"There..." she started, but her voice died down. "There's a reason why Zanpakutō, in general, do not wish to teach their masters the Zettaikai. There was a Zanpakutō by the name, Zangetsu; the one whom Ichigo had received, whom taught his master the Zettaikai. His final form, Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō, allowed Ichigo to wield power unimaginable... at the cost of losing his Shinigami powers and his Zanpakutō...

"Unlike the Bankai and the Shikai, where both Shinigami and Zanpakutō seemingly 'make a pact' and ascend in power, the Zettaikai is the sole responsibility of the Shinigami master, except that the Zanpakutō must have willed that his or her master to learn it. Afterward, the Shinigami may release it without the consent of the Zanpakutō.

"The reason this happens is because the Zanpakutō spirit commits a 'soul suicide' in transferring his or her power into the master. That is the assimilation of a Zanpakutō spirit and his or her master... resulting in the Shinigami to experience intense pain and loss of consciousness. During the soul suicide, the Zanpakutō's Reiatsu stabilizes the Shinigami's Reiatsu... into that of a normal human being." I saw her lips curve into a soft smile, but tears started to roll down around them. "It's... ironic. For someone that had ascended to the level of a god to be brought back down as a normal Plus. Even with extensive training, one's Reiatsu will never become that of a Shinigami's without Soul Infusion."

I looked back down at my reflection. "That is why... you didn't want to answer."

I could picture Shionari nodding her head. "To go lengths as to sacrifice myself to protect you... then having to voluntarily throw you away... it breaks me to have to realize the magnitude of this decision. I want... I want to bring you back to your original timeline... Yet the only way... is to follow what Anson says..."

"He... didn't have a technique sealed away..." I said. "He..."

"...is going to release Zettaikai himself," Shionari finished for me. "He will use his demigod powers to destroy Hollow Ichigo, and in turn send you back in time. Do away with the existence of Hollow Ichigo by manipulation of the timeline... and return you home by manipulation of the timeline... but he has to decide how to use it... when to use it...

"If I wielded such a divine power... I would use it here too."

She stayed silent for a while. I couldn't say anything myself; what could I say after all of that? 'We will always be together' would defeat the purpose of Zettaikai, and would result in the inability to return to the original timeline.

"Do you know what your Zettaikai is?" I asked.

Shionari shook her head. "I never thought of a time when it would have needed... so I kept quiet about it. Besides... I wouldn't... want to lose my master..." The tears returned, but Shionari stopped them with a deep breath. She then stood up and drew her sword. I was going to ask her what she was going to do until she swung the blade at my head. Startled and surprised, my combat instinct involuntarily caused my body to bend backward to dodge the blade, while rolling backward and setting a hand on Shionari's sealed Zanpakutō form.

"Huh...?" I suddenly asked.

"To teach you my Zettaikai..." Shionari's said solemnly, lowering herself on one knee, "No... I have no intentions on showing you the final technique that will separate us."

Shionari stabbed her sword into the ground, where ice walls exploded from the ground around us and toward the ceiling. From the place where she stabbed her sword, water started to gush out and rapidly fill the enclosure with water. Again I took a large gulp of air before the water submerged me, and I desperately tried to swim out.

"Kai... my waters will never drown you."

I could barely trust Shionari this time. I tentatively released my breath, finding that the waters didn't asphyxiate me. I was like whenever I was submerged in Shionari's waters and able to breathe. But... her intent on resisting me. She wouldn't allow me to breathe if she didn't want me to learn the technique.

"Is it that this is the only way to bring back to my timeline?" I asked. "Is it that instead of killing all of my hopes in learning Zettaikai, you follow Anson's plan in sending me back?"

Shionari looked away, her face pained. "After thinking all of this..." she said, closing her eyes. She was silent again, but suddenly lunged at me with her sword. A thin trail of blood diffused into the water surrounding us; my neck had been grazed. If I hadn't blocked, the sword would have gone through my heart. "After thinking all of this in my own time... staying with you... and dying with you... would probably be a good thing after all."

She leapt at me again, and my face was suddenly dampened by water droplets.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Kai's deadline.

Anson looked out across Seireitei, still rich with the activity of Shinigami and Zanpakutō Spirits. Anson turned his head down at the paper on his desk. He set an elbow on the desk and rested his head on his palm. Suddenly overcome with frustration, he screamed aloud and shoved the paper to the ground.

"Anson?!" Claire suddenly called. She almost immediately entered the office. "Everything is okay, right?"

"Of course everything isn't okay!" Anson said. "Waiting for Kai to finish... I can't concentrate on even the damn crossword!" He sighed as he grabbed a set of darts from his desk and threw the projectiles at a dartboard across the room. Of the three he threw, two hit the dot of the bullseye. "Shit! Can't even toss three..."

"Instead of worrying about Kai, how about you plan the tactic against Hollow Ichigo? I'm sure we'd get more done if we knew how to approach him."

"He has his hands on the Bankai-stealing Medallion. He will obviously use it to steal Shionari no Mugen Nagare, while using the power he absorbed from me to cancel our Zanpakutō abilities." Anson returned to the seat behind his desk. "Remember... I'm more of the guy who decides things when the situation arises."

Claire sighed as she stepped back to the couch-bench and seated herself upon it. "It is always much better to have a plan. Besides, it worked out great while you were in Kai's timeline."

"I absolutely hated it," Anson said. "And that time, there was no plan in how to win fights. This is just like those other fights; we are only fighting and not taking any more objectives. The only objective we have is to find Hollow Ichigo and kill him... and complete this objective before the Soul King does."

"Perhaps they have already gotten leads on where to locate him."

"Highly doubted," Anson said, "unless they have some sort of Reiatsu detector or surveillance throughout the Spirit World. However, we have a wiretap that oversees the Vandenreich Castle is a secure channel that only feeds to the SDRI's private surveillance wing. Kurotsuchi and Urahara prepared it under my jurisdiction... I felt like we needed our own privacy, if you know what I mean. It is only known by the three of us and the select few of Onmitsukidō and Kidō Corps members that work there." Anson sighed. "I guess this makes you the first Lieutenant to know."

"You sure do keep a lot of things hidden from me," Claire pouted.

"Sorry Claire..." Anson replied. "I try to tell you everything, but I believe some things are too stressful for you... You'd wonder why I would have this private camera thingy." Anson sighed. "Besides, he was last seen leaving the Vandenreich Castle... and making a move toward Las Noches. As for all I know, he'd probably be trying to look for anyone that could help him." Anson paused. "The Hollow King... as in Sy."

"But..." Claire started.

"Exactly. If he is brought in as one of Hollow Ichigo's allies, we're in for some deep shit. But, if Sy upholds the foundation of the Worlds, he would gracefully decline." Anson pushed himself from the seat and started to pace. "Unless something else happens to contradict the current World foundation without Hollow Ichigo revealing he is an anomaly himself..."

Hichigo had successfully infiltrated the inner quarters of Las Noches, by passing the most heavily guarded perimeter. He wandered around, as to lower suspicion, and located the lab of Syazel Aporro Granz. He knew from the memories of the Ichigo he took over that Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the Captain of the Twelfth Division, had scavenged all he could analyze from all of the labs. There was a very small hope that anything could be found... and that small hope was all Ichigo needed.

The room was quite refurbished, cleaned of all of the cracks and torn walls from the Shinigami Invasion about a hundred-and-twenty-five years ago. Hollow Ichigo looked around the area, where lights illuminated empty display cases. He looked over these cases and stared at some diagrams being projected on computer screens. Nearing disinterest, he made his way to leave.

"Who allowed you in?" Hichigo turned at this newcomer, whom was a Hollow with its mask shaped like a stag beetle. Hichigo smiled as he drew his scimitar of a Zanpakutō. "Hhnn? An Arrancar?!"

"Don't mix me up with those bitches," Hichigo said, lifting the scimitar to the Hollow's neck. "I want something that can pop Seireitei in an instant... or vaporize Shinigami."

"The Lord won't allow that...!"

Hichigo sighed. "You realize that there are no more Arrancar in the World right now, hm?" The Hollow nodded. "And what about the Visoreds? They have not been executed or returned to their former states."

"Anson Raynes of the Gotei Thirteen states that they can be reverted to their Shinigami forms within the next two months! He claims to be working his hardest... even now, he is compiling information over their Zanpakutō Appreciation!"

Hichigo stopped. I forgot about Zanpakutō Appreciation... "Have you considered that Raynes won't revert the Visoreds? Maybe he is compiling more information on how to mix Hollows into Shinigami... and make them more powerful?" Hichigo smiled. That will sure get his attention.

The Hollow stopped.

"Is this information valid?"

"Quite so..." Hichigo lowered Zangetsu. "Tell your Lord... the King... that 'he' sends his regards." Hichigo smiled as he passed the Hollow and laughed at this improvised, and successful, turn of events. You can't win now Raynes. You don't know... and I have the King of Hollows on my side.

Shionari's blade swirled through the waters that caged us. My blade, unlike her's, crawled through the water in unintended paths. The water pushed against me, thus causing me to be able to block blows at the very last second. There was something about her blade too...

I could remember from my duel with Forte, that I also felt something from him. I sluggishly blocked another blow from Shionari and jumped back.

Shionari's blade seemed to always hit its mark. During a few times when I was on the offensive, it was a complete blur to my eyes. However, when I defending against her blows, it slowed to a speed that I could comprehend. The blows that I could not block were only grazes or scratches that weren't serious at all. With her expert swordsmanship... she could easily discourage me by cutting my muscles. Also, she could also influence the water to knock my blade off course and score an easy hit.

So why?

Why do I feel nothing but loneliness flowing from her sword?

I fought against the water to knock her blade off its intended path, and it grazed my shoulder. I followed up with my maneuver and took this opportunity to spin around and strike at her shoulder. Shionari then spun around and bashed the side of my head with her tail, causing my vision to flicker for a second.

"I already told you Kai... I no longer intend on teaching you the Zettaikai." Shionari bent her knees and raised her sword in her right hand to her head, its tip pointing at me. It was my custom starting stance... except her left hand was was set in front of her rather than on the hilt.

"And I need it to ensure Hollow Ichigo's disappearance." I said.

Shionari grimaced, her face contorting with melancholy. "So you'd throw me away to destroy someone who never interfered with your life; who only sent you across timelines? Is this just something to repay Anson in unlocking Bankai? Is this how you repay me for protecting you all of these years?!" Shionari charged at me again, her blade sword preparing for a thrust. "This..."

I blinked, tears threatening to form in my eyes. I raised my sword to try an block.

But I decided against it, and allowed the sword to slip out of my grasp.