Interlude
Muramasa sat on his favourite rock, watching the sunrise over the frozen sea.
Ryohime's was a peaceful inner world, a thing that had struck him as odd in the earlier years. After his first master's death, he had been adopted in a way by Kurosaki Ichigo, and his Zanpakuto and Inner Hollow had made for a complicated life. Muramasa had assumed, before he knew her well, that Ichigo's daughter would inherit the wild qualities of her father and never see a peaceful moment in her inner world.
It could not have been farther from the truth. Even the water, spreading out forever before his eyes, remained still and unmoving, frozen into great sheets of ice against which the sunlight fractured and sparkled in every imaginable way.
And it was silent. Peaceful.
Silent.
Some instinct made Muramasa tense, waiting for his name to be called. Ryohime was fighting someone, and she often called him even when he wasn't, strictly, needed. They fought side-by-side almost for the fun of it, just to have a companion in battle.
But there was no call this time.
And, though there had been battles in the past he had neither been a part of nor expected to be a part of, this time he did expect it. Every moment that went past and his name was still unspoken, he found himself growing more and more concerned.
Call me, Ryohime. Call my name.
Muramasa started, eyes widening. He hadn't said anything.
Why won't you call me? Are we not one? You fight alone when you don't have to, and you know I long to help. Call me!
That wasn't his voice. There was no one else it could belong to, though, for this was Ryohime's inner world. The strange voice was distant and slightly broken... though Muramasa had no idea what direction it was coming from, or he would have gone at once. This wasn't right.
Why can't I hear you?! Is there something wrong with me, that you would rather die then turn to me to save you? Have you been silenced? Ryohime, you know my name, and I need you to call for me!
The desperation, however... that Muramasa suddenly understood. The situation was bizarre and made no sense to him, but the tone of sudden fear and horror in that strange voice struck a cord in Muramasa's heart.
It was the same kind of horror that Muramasa had felt when he learned his master had once called for him, in a time of desperation, and Muramasa hadn't heard him. The fear that one had betrayed his master, combined with the dawning horror that one was being cast aside.
"Muramasa!"
Relief made Muramasa's heart skip a beat, and he jumped immediately to his master's summons. Yet even as he ran to Ryohime's side, behind him he could just barely hear the faint screaming of someone who had not heard her call. Who waited, perhaps, for a call that would never come.