chapter 37

Outside the Shuzen family estate- about 10 miles away from the castle

With Orihime's help last night, his own healing factor that he inherited from being a vampire, and a decent night's sleep, Tsukune healed completely and he never felt better. And true to his zanpakuto spirit's word, Yamazakura trained with her master till he gets the finer points of the basic skills of his Bankai. Standing alone on a hill, Tsukune's trench coat caught the wind and is flapping about from the light breeze. Yamazakura beamed with pride and her master looks so much like a hero waiting for the coming battle to come. He had his eyes closed in concentration and his right hand held his zanpakuto in a relaxed manner.

"My how dearest has changed so much..."

With that said. the zanpakuto spirit with surgical, lightning precision; fashioned a large cinder block of stone out of one of the hills. A final cut freed it from its confines and with the greatest of ease lifted the massive stone over her head and launched it at Tsukune. At the last moment, he stopped the block in mid-air with his left hand, launched it in the air with a kick and in one smooth motion bisected it with a Kurenai Higyou (crimson strike) about 50 feet into the air. The two slabs continued to rise to about 150 feet into the air until gravity finally took hold and they both began to fall to the ground. Tsukune then jumped into the air and with a series of crimson strikes, he cleanly and precisely cut the entire 90 foot slab to bricks and they all rained down on the ground. As his momentum kept him going in the air, massive crimson waves of spiritual pressure, began to gather along the length of his zanpakuto and without hesitation, Tsukune used his Juuman technique as the massive column of spiritual energy burst forth and completely annihilated the block and causing a large crater in the process. With a little bit more concentration, he used his spiritual pressure to make a flat form for him to stand on and admired the surrounding scenery. Tsukune closed his eyes, breathed in the fresh air and smiled.

"Very good dearest, I see that you almost got the hang of things."

"Ya I think I got it...thanks."

"Remember that in Bankai form, your zanpakuto automatically gathers spiritual energy. After that, everything is pretty much up to you. You could for example, use that energy to fuel your techniques, to tighten and strengthen your defense, and to give you an added speed boost. In fact, you can control how much power each of these attributes get whether to use it for an all out attack, impenetrable defense and the like, it's completely under your discretion. Also, remember that if you combine your own spiritual energy that you yourself generate then your power output will more than triple. However, I would not recommend doing that very often as that power ties into your very own life force. Combining the two energies and using it willy nilly will drain you and ultimately will kill you. Until I can instruct you in the proper ways of managing your energy output, we will stick to the basics for now."

"Yes, ma'am whatever you say." Tsukune joked. "Uh question, so if the zanpakuto gathers the energy automatically and I can use the technique without using it's name, then what would happen if I did?"

"The same principle applies dearest, if you use the techniques' name, the more powerful it will be. Why don't you give it a try. In fact, why don't you try to hit that mountain over there."

Yamazakura pointed to her right. Tsukune eyes widened because the mountain seemed to be about 1.5 miles from their position and the fact that it is perhaps one of the largest ones in this area. He does admit that he has gained a lot of power learning Bankai but to try to hit something that far and that big, even he had his doubts.

"Are you serious, you know how far and how big that is?" Tsukune asked her.

"What are you doubting me now?"

"No, I didn't say that and you know better."

"Then just do it."

"Ok whatever you say."

Just like before, crimson spiritual energy began to gather and surrounded his zanpakuto and without hesitation he made a swiping motion with all of his strength...

"KURENAI HIGYOU!"

Tsukune was astonished to say the least as a massive crimson wave made it's way towards the mountain. With the swiftness of the wind, the technique cleanly sliced about a quarter of the cap on top and it began to tumble down below. He looked at his zanpakuto spirit with wonder in his eyes while Yamazakura had a smirk on her beautiful face.

"See...I...told...you!" she said in sing song. "Although I wouldn't have used that particular one myself. So inefficient, instead I would have used this..."

Yamazakura then pointed her sword towards the mountain and it too began to gather massive amounts of spiritual energy. Tsukune could only watch as her sword parted from the middle and became a three pronged blade. The concentrated pool of energy gathered in between the parted blades and when she was finished she said these words...

"Kurenai Shuuha Taiho!" (Crimson Wave Cannon)

A massive beam of energy exploded from the sword, it's height and size easily dwarfing her by a few feet and shot forth towards the mountain and completely annihilated the entire thing with an enormous explosion. Tsukune hardly moved an inch from his position but he did cover his eyes as the bright flash from the explosion completely blanketed the entire valley for a moment. And when all things are said and done, the entire mountain which was there moments before was completely gone and in it's wake was nothing more than a giant hole in the ground. Yamazakura then lowered her sword and wiped the sweat forming on her brow. She caught Tsukune openly staring at her in wonder.

"If you stare at me any more like you're doing now; Moka-san might get jealous, dearest!"

"W-what was that?"

"Oh that, that was a technique you can only use in Bankai, the crimson wave cannon. It uses all the spiritual energy it gathers and concentrates that power into a point and is released as a destructive beam of energy. Ya sounds like a cero but I think my method is more efficient and it sounds way more cooler...Where in Shikai you could only attack at close and medium range at best, this technique adds a long range option in your arsenal making you even more versatile in battle. Beware though, the first time you use it usually drains you like how a very hungry Moka-san will suck you dry if you let her. In other words dearest, you can only use this technique once maybe twice at the most that is until you get the hang of it and get the proper training."

"Really, so if it's suppose to drain you that much shouldn't I be like supporting you right now or something?"

"Aww you're sweet dearest but that is not necessary because I only use about oh one quarter of it's true strength. As I said, it's not a technique I would use so lightly nor very often."

"S-so what would happen if I use it at full power then?" Tsukune asked her.

"Hmm let me see..." Yamazakura said thinking. "Umm...I don't know?"

Tsukune face faulted and almost lost his concentration forming the energy flat form. When he picked himself up he asked her.

"What do you mean you don't know?" Tsukune asked exasperatedly.

"As I said dearest, it really, really, really drains you of your spiritual energy. I myself will only use it during emergencies and as high as 50 percent of it's power at best. I never really felt the need to use it at full power when a quarter of it does the job nicely as you can see." She explained while sweeping her hand towards where the mountain used to be.

"Well I guess you have the point but still..."

Then suddenly Yamazakura appeared right behind Tsukune and hugged him from behind. She teased him a little bit as her well endowed assets squeezed and rubbed herself on him. Tsukune comically waved his arms and legs and tried to staunch a nose bleed that threatens to gush out of his nose. Then she just held him tight for a moment and he sensed that something was wrong...

"Lovely, are you ok?"

"Oh dearest don't worry about it so much...I am very confident that you can pull through any adversity and all you have to do is have faith in yourself...and to trust in me."

"Of course I trust in you, I always have and I'll always will."

"Well anyway, shall we wrap it up with a little sparring?" she said blushing.

"Sure why not..."

Meanwhile back at the castle...

Victor looked outside the windows of his study contemplating what steps he should make to protect his realm and his family. Although Aizen has yet to move against him deliberately, the scoundrel did threaten to abduct his daughter and that should be pretext to ally himself to with Soul Society and to mobilize his people towards war. Still he is in the fence at the moment and perhaps he needed a little push towards the right , he knows that he cannot hesitate in the slightest or he will lose everything that and Akasha will perhaps have his head if something happened to Moka. His thoughts were interrupted however when he heard a knock on the door.

"You may enter..."

Victor turned around and he is pleased and rather surprised that it is his daughter Moka. He noticed as she hesitated outside but he smiled and gestured to her to come in. The pink headed girl, brightened somewhat and she ended up running to him. He opened his arms and gave her a hug. Father and daughter held each other for a few more minutes before Moka started to talk to him...

"Daddy I'm sorry about yesterday..."

"Oh that don't worry about it pumpkin and I should apologize to you as well." Victor told her. "That was not how a vampire greets their hosts and I hope that your friends does not think we are uncivilized folk."

"No, actually they understand only too well..."

"Ah I see...so your other half, has she cooled down yet?"

"Ya, she was really mad at you yesterday but I think she calmed down a little when Orihime-chan got around to healing everybody."

"I see that's good to hear." Victor said. "So what brings you home so early from school this year. I hope that your studies are going well?"

"Yes, I'm doing good, I'm ranked number 13 in school if you didn't know." she said rather proudly.

"Why, that's really good news, I'm sure your mother will be very proud of you pumpkin."

"Tee hee hee...ya I haven't told her yet though."

"Well I'm sure that she will be pleased with your progress." Victor told her. "So what else is on your mind. I'm sure that you wanted something else to talk about with the way you are fidgeting."

"Well..."

Moka then related her first hand experience fighting the Espada who at each turn tried their best to abduct her for whatever nefarious reasons. However, with each fight, the enemy becomes stronger and Ura-chan, her other self realized early on to her annoyance that in order for her to defeat the enemy, she needed him to unseal the Old Power sleeping in her, so that she has a fighting chance.

"I see...I will have to discuss this with your mother. She will know what to do better than I would. Rest assured pumpkin, this matter will be rectified immediately...Now run along Moka-chan, I believe your mother is trying to rouse everyone so you ladies can go shopping."

Those said words made Moka starry eyed and she gave her father a hug, kissed him goodbye and ran out the door to find her mother. He shook his head and chuckled and he wonders what is it about shopping that makes women all giddy with excitement. He then turned around, sat on his chair, and pondered what to do next.

Meanwhile...

Moka almost literally half skipped and half ran in the massive corridors leading to her room on the other of the castle. She couldn't wait to find her mom so they can get started because after all a girl can't have too many clothes and accessories to add to her collection. The pink headed girl is in such a good mood and wasn't paying attention much and she bumped into the very person whom she was looking for...

"Ah there you are Moka-chan, why are you in such a hurry anyway?"

"There you are mommy, daddy told me that we were suppose to go shopping right?"

"Yes dear, we are. I have informed your sisters and your friends where we were going. And I believe that Ichigo-kun is going with us as well. Isn't that so cool?"

"Ya...at least Orihime-chan will be pleased spending time with him." Moka giggled as she agreed.

"Yes, indeed however, I think we need one more strong young man to go with us, don't you agree? I'm sure that Tsukune-kun will come if you asked him. That's why I was looking for you dear."

"Really, Tsukune could come with us?" Moka said excitedly. "Ya y!...Umm now that I think about it though, I don't know where he went this morning."

"Oh don't worry about it dear, I believe I know where Tsukune-kun is right now. Why don't you come with me and we'll ask him together, okay?"

Akasha then took hold of his daughter's hand and melded in the shadows and disappeared. Unbeknownst to both of them, 4 yokai girls fell on top of one another in a tangled heap on the floor. After getting up and dusting themselves, they all gathered around in a circle and discussed some things.

"I can't believe that witch is trying to set Moka up with my Tsukune, grrrr!" Kurumu said exasperatedly.

"Well it's only natural, we are on "enemy" turf after all." Mizore said and then turn around and said to Kurumu. "For someone whose only redeeming quality are her breasts, you're actually right for once and as much as it disgust me I will have to agree with you!"

"See I...What did you say?" the succubus said a knot forming on the side of her forehead. "Wanna fight!"

"Bring it on sister!"

"Oh trust me honey, it's being broughten!"

"Ladies, ladies nothing will get done if we get into each other's throats right now!" Ruby said sagely.

"Yeah, Ruby-chan is right. As much as we love Moka-chan and all, Mizore-chan is right we are in "enemy" territory and if we don't work together, she will have the advantage or maybe Akasha -san will have her way with Tsukune and I'd rather have that threesome with him and Moka-chan. I'm not sharing uh-huh." Yukari said seriously.

The rest of her friends sweat dropped but recovered quickly. However, Yukari did have a point sans the mention of a threesome of course. Moka might be their friend but in the end she is a rival for Tsukune's love and affection. The status quo is actually favorable right now as no one in their inner circle have some kind of advantage over the other. The ladies were actually satisfied spending time with Tsukune in school, working in the Newspaper Club and once in a while, tease the poor boy which is somewhat of an entertainment of itself. Having gone from the neutral grounds of the the school to the sudden home field advantage of her home, Moka is threatening to take advantage of this opportunity to score points with Tsukune and that will in turn upset the status quo and that must not happen! Especially with the help of that beautiful, bewitching, and manipulative mother of hers. Akasaha-san seems to be a very nice person enough but with her super model figure, well endowed assets and extremely good looks, whether she knows it or not Akasha-san has become a treat herself!

Somewhere on the way to Tsukune, Akasha sneezed.

"Mommy, are you alright?" Moka said with concern. "You're not getting sick are you?"

"No dear, of course not. Someone must be saying a lot of good things about me!" Akasha told her. "We should hurry Moka-chan, we are running on a tight schedule you know!"

"Yes mommy!"

They couldn't help but feel inadequate compared to Akasha's beauty and felt mad with jealousy as Tsukune gawked at her when they first met her. But they were determined not to let the witch and Moka-chan have their way with him.

"Alright ladies, as of this moment I think it is better for us to suspend our rivalry for Tsukune and have a "seize fire" of sorts and work together. As long as we are in this castle we are at a disadvantage and we have to cooperate so that Moka-chan and Akasha-san will not take Tsukune from us. Agreed?" Kurumu said.

"Ya it make sense." Mizore added.

"Sure why not." Yukari said. Ruby simply nodded.

"Until this crisis is past we will work together but once we go back to Yokai Academy it's every Yokai girl for herself, understand?"

They all nodded in agreement and to seal the deal they extended their right hands and put them on top of the other. They looked at one another seeing some determination with their eyes.

"Now let's go and follow those two to where Tsukune is." Kurumu said pointing at the direction where he is training.

"I'm shocked Kurumu, you actually made sense twice in a row. Wow, will wonders never seize!" Mizore said in a dead pan way.

"Why thank you...What you wanna fight!"

Two pans appeared above the two girls but having been a victim of the spell one two many times they actually were successful in dodging it for once. But unfortunately for them, Kurumu ran smack into a conjure brick wall and Mizore got a face full of a floating boxing glove that knocked her out silly. Needless to say the two of them were knocked out, counting little chibi Tsukune jumping on a fence. Yukari and Ruby looked down at their two friends, shook their heads, and giggled.

"What a bunch of idiots!" Yukari said.

"Yes, Yukari-chan I have to agree!"

When they finally left, Ichigo and Orihime emerged from the shadows. His girlfriend was in stitches while he chuckled at their friend's antics. Since they still had time until they all left for the shopping arcade, the couple decided to explore the castle a little bit before they saw everyone and hid in the shadows. They made sure that everyone left the area before emerging from their hiding place and resumed their exploration.

"I feel sorry for Tsukune-san with all the ladies he had to juggle around, right babe?" Orihime asked smiling.

"Ya, I gotta shake his hand though for being such a pimp daddy." Ichigo said chuckling.

"Oh really, are you suggesting you want a harem of your own?" she said dangerously.

After spending some time with his princess and getting to know her a little better, Ichigo has pin pointed some subtle danger signs where he needs to thread carefully or face her wrath and the dog house...

"Inoue, why do I need a lot of girls when the one that I'm with is the only one I have eyes for and the one that I could ever want." Ichigo said smoothly.

"Good answer..." she said blushing.

"Ya I know...heh!"

"Babe!" Orihime said as she hits him playfully on the shoulder. The two shared a laugh, held hands and continued to explore the corridor.

Meanwhile back at Tsukune's training ground.

At first they were playing and joking around than they were sparring but somewhere in between Yamazakura got embarrassed when Tsukune slapped her on the bottom too many times and it struck a nerve and irked her enough to want to ring her master's neck for being such a pervert. All too soon the surrounding area became a war zone as countless craters, humongous gashes, entire acres worth of flattened trees, and several hills had either a new hole somewhere or they have been turned to rubble. Tsukune should apologize soon but she was just so cute when she got mad and continued to tease her a little bit. At one point he ducked as her massive crimson strike mowed down several hundred foot trees as thick around as giant sequoias and her awesome power sheared through all of them with ease. Then with a burst of speed that surprised even the unflappable Yamazakura, Tsukune shunpo'd in front of her and gave her a kiss on the cheek that made the zanpakuto spirit blush to her ears, unfortunately she didn't take that very well and the knot that formed on her beautiful forehead tightened even more as Tsukune laughed at her expense.

"That is it dearest, I'm not holding back anymore!"

"Come on Moka-san don't be like that, if it means anything to you I'm really sorry and I didn't mean for things to go so far."

"It's too late dearest, this will be the last time you'll slap this butt when I'm through with you!"

Then like it was when she was training him to learn Bankai in Urahara's shop, everything seemed to slow down for an instant about a fraction of a second and then suddenly Yamazakura who was 200 yards away from him is suddenly in his face and she viciously kicked him, skipping like a rock before crashing on the side of a hill. Tsukune's instinct however, told him to shunpo out of the crater and sure enough Yamazakura has already anticipated where he landed and instantaneously appeared where he was and used a Juuman that destroyed the rest of the hill and incinerated everything in it's area of effect and flattened several more while she's at it. The super massive column of energy easily cleared 1500 feet and it's circumference is perhaps almost 300 feet around. When the technique finally exhausted itself of its energy, the crater it created is also 300 feet around and perhaps about half a mile deep. Tsukune who retreated from the sky, couldn't believe how much power the zanpakuto spirit is packing. But he didn't have time to think about things as he felt that distortion again and suddenly even though he was almost about 2 miles up in the air, Yamazakura managed to cut the distance between them.

"It's almost as if she's teleporting but not quite!"

He had no choice but to counter-attack and suddenly she is at his side and slashed him several times which he defended and then she disappeared again.

"Your, so slow dearest!"

Tsukune felt a Crimson Strike used against him from behind but his armor held quite nicely however, he didn't escape unscathed as he felt the shallow wound begin to bleed. How is this possible, how can she appear and reappear at will and move so fast without using shunpo?

"Cant' figure it out can you dearest?"

"How are you doing this?" He asked her.

"It's easy really, once you get the hang of it." She said from right behind him.

Tsukune turned around and she was gone already and he blinked and she reappeared 20 feet away from him Then suddenly he realized she was gone again and he felt her presence beside him. When he turned around she was 30 feet away this time. He tried to pursue her but when he arrive at her position she disappeared yet again. This time Tsukune actually saw her disappear. The best way that he could describe it, is one minute she was there and the seconds it took for his eyes to blink she is already long gone. He's trying to figure out how she did that so much that it was giving him a headache for all his trouble in doing so.

Actually he did figure some things out, namely if she is at a long distance and then "teleport," or whatever it is that she is doing, he can distinctively feel a kind of distortion in the very air before she reappears again. Whether it had something to do with distance or the method in which her body moves is causing the effect; he at least had a clue that she had used the technique but it didn't tell him when and where she will appear. Even worse, if she used this technique at close range, it is impossible to detect as the distortion effect is minimal and sometimes nonexistent. Whatever, technique this is, it is a formidable art indeed.

Then Yamazakura appeared several hundred feet above him. She pointed her sword towards him and he felt her gathering her power as his eyes widened when her sword split apart to form the three pronged blade. He could distinctively see a crimson ball of spiritual energy gathering at the sword's center blade and without warning she fired the cannon. The massive crimson beam went strait for him and because he did not have enough time to dodge, he quickly gathered a much power in his own zanpakuto and used a fully charged Juuman. The equally massive column of spiritual energy neutralized the cannon and an enormous and powerful explosion painted the entire horizon. After the smoke cleared, Tsukune is still in one peace but his trench coat had several gashes but is still intact. Then he felt her from behind and is charging another cannon and then she released it at point blank range. Tsukune is swallowed by the crimson beam but out of nowhere a column of spiritual energy ignited and another enormous explosion occur. He emerged from the smoke with his trench coat in tatters at the ends and had several more gashes deep enough to expose his shirt underneath but so far he is still ok. Then the zanpakuto spirit began to be unpredictable and she would disappear and reappear out of nowhere firing what seemed to be weaker beams of energy but still had enough power to decimate several hundred acres of the ground when it hit and detonated.

Just when Tsukune thought he couldn't get surprise with the efficiency of this unknown technique, two of her suddenly appeared and the two of them fired a cannon simultaneously. Having been caught off guard yet again, he used a Juuman to neutralize the right beam and gathered more power to reinforce his defense. However, he was fooled as the right beam was a feint and although he blocked the other beam in time, it's power pushed him to the raging Juuman and when the two respective beams collided, another enormous explosion occurred.

Yamazakura observed the blazing inferno in the sky with a little trepidation. She felt a little guilty that she was using his perverted ways as an excuse for her to go all out and train Tsukune. In fact, the minute she started attacking him full on, she has already forgotten his transgressions and is quite enjoying the way his master's amazement at her abilities. She held back as much as possible but Tsukune was playing around too much and although she enjoyed spending time with him and goofing around as much as anyone, he was messing around too much and took it a little too far, so she overreacted and used way too much power than he was ready for.

"Serves the jerk right!"

Still as much Yamazakura "loves" her master, she knew that at one point in time she had to stop taking it easy on him and straighten him out and to teach him to take things seriously. Once things calm down, maybe she will apologize for excessive use of force. Of course the operative word here is "maybe." She anxiously waited for him to emerge from all that smoke but instead of Tsukune emerging, her pink haired twin appeared instead. Yamazakura is surprised that she is able to materialize in this reality at all. Actually now that she thinks about it it's possible that her hated twin is using dearest's body to project herself from within his soul. She really didn't escape, for all Yamazakura knows, dearest is wearing his Hollow mask right now.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!"

"Well what do you think I'm doing, I'm training dearest." Yamazakura said in a huff. "I believe that you weren't invited so beat it."

"You bitch, do you know what will happen if beloved gets killed?" her twin said exasperatedly. "Let me spell it out for you...BOTH OF US WILL DIE!"

"Oh please, dearest has done wonderfully attacking, defending, and evading my assault."

"That's because you weren't even serious, idiot!"

"Don't call me idiot, bitch! We were doing fine when you HAD to interfere with his training!"

"Ugh, it seems that talking to you is like talking to a retarded rock. I promised him that I wouldn't interfere but this idiocy has gone too far and if I have to save beloved from your incompetence then so be it!"

"Over my dead body, dearest belongs to me so nyaahh!"

"We shall see nee-chan who beloved will choose when I grind your sorry ass under my heels."

"Big talk for somebody who got their ass kicked by dearest!"

"Well, beloved isn't here it's just you and me. Let this battle decide who will be the center of his power from now on."

"I wouldn't wager something big like that if I were you!"

"Heh we shall see then!"

The time for talk has past and the two warriors disappeared and when their respective blades clashed an enormous explosion occurred followed by a powerful shock wave.

to be continued...

A/N Gotta love them frickin cliff hangers huh...heh...I actually wanted to finish what I thought to be a two part chapter but it ended up having a life of it's own and I ended up breaking it up again, well go figure...Well I read chappie 31 of Rosario and I didn't expect Akasha to be so...well special...Which brings me to the subject of Moka's quest for the "Old Power" in this story... I'm still trying to figure out how I'll incorporate what we have learned in 31 in regards to this story and I'm kinda glad that I wasn't off the mark either...Well I'll figure it out eventually...So how do you like the comedy so far...and I couldn't help put in that little action scene in there...I'm such an action junky...lol...I'm not sure Inner Hollows can do what Inverse Moka did but I guess think of it like a possession and besides it would rather be awkward writing Tsukune doing feminine things you know...lol...Well as usual read and review as usual...Thanks for the support and I'll see you kiddies in the next chapter.