For all of you wanting to see Kusaka~
…
Academy
The Spiritual Arts Academy was… well it was a big place, and Toshiro was a little guy (as much as he hated to admit that).
He was yet to meet someone who wasn't twice as tall as him and four times as wide. He was yet to meet someone who didn't bump into him when they walked passed, or sneer down when they did see him. He was yet to meet someone who would want to be his friend.
The Academy was lonely, but Toshiro knew it was the best place for him. He had to get his powers under control – powers which certainly were turning people away from him. Besides, the place clothed him, fed him, housed him and kept him safe so he didn't have to rely on the Shibas, and that was not something he took for granted.
And well that lack of friends could be a good thing too, since it meant Toshiro had no distractions. He could study in peace, and train without interruption. People gave him a wide birth, but Toshiro was topping his classes.
Still, he wished he didn't feel so miserable every day.
The only thing he looked forward to was his one phone call a month. There was one phone in the whole school, and with so many students, the Academy made it a rule that each student only got one phone call a month (if they even had anyone to call), lasting only five minutes in length. There was a phone monitor – a grumpy man who was constantly tapping his foot and frequently huffing to show his impatience – to supervise the calls.
Each night there was a queue, and Toshiro joined it one night when he was feeling particularly sad. He just wanted to talk to someone.
It took him hours to make it to the phone, despite queuing quite early. He kept getting pushed to the back as bigger, meaner students pushed in front. Toshiro was the last one there, and the phone monitor on duty sneered at him like they all did, stamping his phone card with the date.
Toshiro swallowed and took the receiver off the hook. He had memorised the number weeks ago, and dialled it in.
It rung four times, and each ring had Toshiro tightening his grasp on the phone nervously, but finally, a familiar voice answered.
"Shiba residence."
Toshiro released a relieved breath.
"Granny?"
"Toshiro?" Granny said back, voice softer now and sounding surprised. "Is everything okay? It's late, you should be in bed."
Glancing back up at the phone monitor, who snarled in response, Toshiro ducked his head, turning away from the man.
"Yes, sorry," he murmured into the phone. "I get to make a call once a month. Is it okay I called you?"
"Well of course it is, Sweetheart," Granny cooed into the phone, voice crackling a little through the dodgy connection. "How is school?"
"Good," Toshiro smiled a little. School wasn't really good, but he was glad he was able to call Granny, and it was nice to hear her voice. She had this way of making him feel like he had no problems at all. "I got moved up to Sixth Year."
Apparently this was impressive, but it didn't make any of the students like him any. In fact, he was sure they hated him more now.
"What?" Granny gasped. "That's fantastic, Toshiro! I'll have to tell Isshin. How are you liking it?"
"Classes are good."
"Are they hard?"
"No," Toshiro answered, and on the other end of the line, Granny laughed.
"Well, you are a very intelligent young man," she chuckled, "I'm sure you're breezing through."
Well, he had a lot of spare study time. Toshiro didn't say that though, changing the topic quickly.
"How are you?" he turned the conversation around. "And Kukaku and Ganju?"
"We're all good," Granny's voice was happy, and Toshiro could imagine her smiling. "Kukaku and Ganju have another fireworks show coming up on the weekend so they're keeping busy and out of trouble, which I am thankful for."
"And tomorrow is family dinner night, right?" Toshiro felt himself starting to grin. He thought of Isshin and Rangiku, Kaien and Miyako, all arriving at the manor for what was sure to be a lively feast.
"Yes, it is," Granny told him. "Isshin and Rangiku will be so glad to hear you're doing well in class."
Toshiro felt his shoulders straighten. He wanted to make them proud.
"Could you tell them I said hello?" he asked.
He had been meaning to write to them, since letters were a more efficient way of communicating when the only other option was a five minute call once a month. The reason he hadn't was the same reason he hadn't written to Granny since his first week – he didn't know what to tell them. He had no news other than 'classes are good'. He didn't want to tell them how lonely he felt, or that he was starting to wish he had never enrolled, because he didn't want them to think him ungrateful. Besides, what would a captain and a lieutenant care that one little boy was sad at school?
"I'll tell them," Granny promised.
At that moment, Toshiro felt a tapping on his shoulder. The boy glanced up, it was the phone monitor – his time was up. He wasn't ready for his time to be up.
"Thank you," Toshiro murmured. "I um, I have to go now."
"Okay, Sweetheart," Granny's voice was gentle, loving. "Get a good sleep."
"You too," Toshiro gripped the receiver tightly. What he wouldn't give for one of her hugs. "Good night, Granny."
"Good night, Toshiro," Granny replied. "Don't forget to write-"
The line went dead.
Toshiro glanced up at the phone monitor, whose finger was pressing down in the disconnect button.
"Time's up," he glared before snatching the receiver from Toshiro's hands and hanging it back up on its' cradle on the wall. "Get lost, Boy."
Toshiro hung his head, but internalised the sigh. He turned away and dragged his feet back to the student dorms.
He missed Granny. He missed all the Shibas, because they were the closest thing he had to friends in the Soul Society. They probably only saw him as a charity case though.
Toshiro's heart ached. He felt so alone at this huge academy.
…
On his third month of school, a miracle happened. That miracle's name was Sojiro Kusaka.
Toshiro had been in the canteen during lunchtime. As per usual, his table was empty. As per usual, he played with his food instead of eating it. As per usual, he stared out the window, over the academy training grounds to where they reached the bordering fence. On the other side of that fence stood Squad Six's guard towers, looming over and protecting their barracks from the hooligan students next door.
Not as per usual, a voice called his name that wasn't a teacher marking the attendance roll.
"You must be Toshiro Hitsugaya."
Toshiro was so shocked he had almost fallen off his chair as he whipped around to face the voice, his eyes snapping to the tall man beaming down at him.
"I'm Sojiro Kusaka," the man said, grinning widely. "I just got bumped up from the year below."
Toshiro stared like a stunned fish. In fact his lips might have moved like a fish too, but no words had come out. Students didn't just talk to him.
"I heard you got bumped up from first year," Kusaka continued, unfazed and still happy. "That's very impressive."
"I um," Toshiro was lost for words. "Y-yes."
Yes? He just sounded like an ass.
"C-congratulations?" he offered to Kusaka then, since he had been moved up a grade too, and the man beamed down at him.
"We've got to stick together," Kusaka told him with a grin. "Want to be my friend?"
He extended a hand out to Toshiro and the boy blinked at it for a moment before his mind caught up. Someone was offering to be his friend?
Toshiro shook the hand quickly realising that, and Kusaka clapped his hands excitedly when he let go.
"I'm going to grab lunch!" he exclaimed before scurrying off. Toshiro watched, bewildered, as Kusaka joined the canteen line and gave him a double thumbs up.
A few minutes later, Kusaka and his tray of food were sitting back down at Toshiro's otherwise empty table and he was gushing about the quality of the food. He used words like 'delicious' and 'sensational', and while Toshiro wouldn't have gone that far, especially after having Granny's cooking, he did smile and hum his agreement. It was just nice to have a friend.
Kusaka was good company, as it turned out. He was intelligent and playful, and he never looked down at Toshiro. They were neck and neck for the top spots in the class and though Toshiro beat him out come their mid-term exams, Kusaka never got angry. He promised to beat Toshiro next time in a playful challenge, and Toshiro just wacked him with his bamboo kendo sword.
"In your dreams, Kusaka," he scoffed.
"You're so on, Hitsugaya!"
After a few weeks, Toshiro forgot what it was to feel lonely.
He didn't mind getting pushed to the end of the phone line when his monthly call came back around. Well, second to the end, since Kusaka let him go before him.
This time he finally had some good news to tell, so he figured it was time he called the woman who fought for his enrolment. Besides, Granny had his last four calls and she was probably sick of his voice.
"Squad Ten Barracks," an unfamiliar male voice answered, tone bored. "Sixth Seat Kubo."
"Hello," Toshiro said politely. "I'd like to speak to Rangiku please."
"That's Lieutenant Matsumoto to you, Child," the voice sneered. Toshiro knew it was sneering. He'd seen it enough the last few months to know how a voice sounded when the mouth was doing that.
"I'd like to speak to Lieutenant Matsumoto please," Toshiro corrected then, if only to humour the officer. Rangiku had introduced herself to him as Rangiku, not as Lieutenant Matsumoto.
"She's busy," Kubo replied flatly. "Who are you?"
"Toshiro."
"Toshiro who?"
"Hitsugaya," Toshiro gritted his teeth. This guy was wasting his precious minutes.
"Oh the kid," Kubo seemed to recognise his name, but he didn't seem happy about it. "Yeah, she's mentioned you."
"So can I talk to her?"
"No," Kubo replied instantly, tone flat. "Lieutenant Matsumoto doesn't want to talk to you."
Toshiro felt himself deflate, and behind him Kusaka squeezed his shoulder, not that he could hear the other side of the exchange through the phone.
Toshiro had been about to argue, or just give up and hang the receiver back on its' cradle when he heard a familiar voice in the background.
"Excuse me? I think I'll decide who I want to speak to."
Rangiku!
Toshiro paused, listening as a lot of shuffling and muffled voices were heard, before a loud crash and pained grunt.
A moment later, the shuffling stopped and there was an exhausted huff.
"Hello?" Rangiku's voice was upbeat and positive, despite whatever the crash and grunt had been.
"Lieutenant Matsumoto?" Toshiro asked, feeling like this might have been a bad time to call.
"Toshiro, is that you?" the lieutenant seemed surprised, like Granny, and thrilled. "You don't normally call me that."
"I should start," Toshiro replied with a small grimace. He supposed he was a Soul Reaper now, at least one in training, so rank respect should be upheld.
"You don't have to," Rangiku told him. "I don't mind. We're friends."
Toshiro sighed, ignoring that. The phone monitor was checking his watch and tapping his foot. It couldn't be long now until he would forcibly hang up the phone on them.
"How are you?" Toshiro asked instead, and Rangiku went on a bit of a tangent about how hard her day had been since she was having to take over the retiring third seat's paperwork. She was 'exhausted' and 'way too sober'. It was nice to hear her voice again, and her crazy stories.
"But tell me about school?" she asked.
"Classes are good," Toshiro said automatically before he remembered to correct himself, since he had good news now. "I made a friend."
"That's so great, Toshiro!"
Toshiro grinned, and found himself bouncing on his toes. He could hear Kusaka's chuckle behind him, and the phone monitor's huff of annoyance. Toshiro didn't care – he had a friend and twenty seconds left to talk about him.
"His name is Kusaka and he got bumped up grades too!" he gushed. "We're topping the class across all subjects."
"I'm so glad to hear that," Rangiku was swooning on the other end of the line. "We've been hoping you would call here soon. I imagine you haven't got much time left now?"
"Twelve seconds," Toshiro informed her, grinning. She knew about the phone times too! He supposed it was probably the same ancient phone that had been here in her day.
"Okay well please call again soon, I miss you! I'll try and come for a visit after your exams," Rangiku told him.
"Yes please!" Toshiro gasped. She could come visit after exams? Working Soul Reapers weren't allowed into the Academy normally, unless they were there to teach a course.
"Tell Yuuto I say hello!" Rangiku's voice was cheeky. "I bet he misses me."
"Who's Yuuto?" Toshiro asked and immediately the line went dead.
The boy's eyes snapped to the phone monitor who had once again disconnected the line on him.
"Hey!" Toshiro glared at the man. "I had three seconds left!"
The phone monitor's expression was unimpressed, as usual, but his cheeks were unusually red.
Behind Toshiro, Kusaka snorted, and when the boy turned to him, his friend mere pointed back to the phone monitor, smirking widely. Toshiro turned back to the man and then he spotted it – the little silver name tag pinned to his chest.
Yuuto.
Oh. Toshiro frowned.
"Lieutenant Matsumoto says hello," he told him, and Yuuto the phone monitor's cheeks went an even deeper shade of red.
"Get lost, Boy."
…
Just as good as things started to get, they plummeted twice as hard.
Kusaka started acting strange. Toshiro wasn't sure he understood why.
Kusaka followed him everywhere. He fought harder to beat him in all their subjects. He even got mad when Toshiro had beaten him in kido class, even though it had been only one mark that separated them.
"Lieutenant Hinamori favoured you!" he accused. "She didn't like me at all, that's why she didn't spend any time with me."
Lieutenant Hinamori had led the Kido classes over the last week to help them for their upcoming practical exam before the written finals. She seemed nice! She helped Toshiro when he was struggling.
Toshiro had asked her politely, but Kusaka had yelled at her. Toshiro honestly didn't blame her for not spending as much time on him.
"I should have beaten you," Kusaka snapped, and Toshiro flinched.
It was a gradual change but Kusaka no longer tolerated being second in the class. He no longer tolerated Toshiro's high grades.
Still, he followed Toshiro everywhere. It was rather annoying.
Toshiro would tell him he had to go to the bathroom just to get away from him for a few minutes, but that only made Kusaka angry, and then he started following Toshiro into the bathrooms. It was weird, and Toshiro felt uncomfortable.
He asked a lot of questions too – ones Toshiro couldn't answer.
Why are you so smart?
Why are you so powerful?
Why are you so cold?
Who's your Zanpakuto?
Can you hear him?
Even worse, Kusaka would stare at Toshiro while he slept. The man had made the guy in the bunk next to Toshiro swap with him, saying they should sleep next to each other because they were friends, but Toshiro wasn't sure Kusaka ever slept actually, or if they were still friends. Every time the boy tried to go to sleep, Kusaka was staring. If he woke up in the middle of the night, Kusaka was staring. When he woke up in the morning, Kusaka was staring.
As the weeks wore on his, his skin grew paler, his eyes darker. He looked sick. He became very possessive and controlling; he wouldn't let Toshiro answer questions in class, or use his monthly phone call to talk to Granny. Once he grabbed Toshiro's wrist so hard it bruised.
He wasn't Kusaka anymore.
Toshiro was worried about him.
But then, with just a month until final exams, Toshiro's focus moved off Kusaka abruptly.
He had been standing on the training fields, having escaped Kusaka in the crowd of students in the hallways, moving between classes. He had been focusing all his Spiritual Pressure into the bamboo kendo sword in his hands, and finally he heard it.
He heard the voice his mind. The one he could hear loud and clear for the first time, the one that finally left his dreams and caught him while he was awake.
"My name is Hyorinmaru," a dragon manifested in his mind, its' voice deep and ancient. "Do you have the strength to wield me, Boy?"
Toshiro found himself standing on a plain of ice, the training grounds vanished. In the background, tall snowy mountains stood proudly, and a blizzard blew through them, making Toshiro's uniform flap madly. Despite the heavy snow, Toshiro found that he wasn't cold. He stood his ground and stared up at the huge serpentine dragon; its' body was made of icy water, its' eyes red. It reared up at him, fangs visible, wings opening.
"My name is Toshiro Hitsugaya!" Toshiro yelled up to the dragon. "I have the strength to wield you!"
The dragon roared loudly in triumph, and a second later the vision vanished and Toshiro was standing back on the Academy training grounds.
Around him, a ring of ice. In his hands, a real katana.
It wasn't a bamboo kendo stick anymore. It was metal, sharp and cold to touch. It was long, taller than Toshiro easily, with a bronze star as the guard, and a light blue hilt (the same blue as the dragon's body). As Toshiro stared down at it in surprise, as a dark blue sheath appeared over the blade.
Toshiro's eyes went wide.
Hyorinmaru – his Zanpakuto.
"You got your Zanpakuto!"
Toshiro whipped around at the familiar voice. Kusaka was there, standing just outside the ice ring that had formed around Toshiro. He looked angry, and his eyes held accusation.
Toshiro felt the need to apologise, but he wasn't sure what for.
"What is his name?" Kusaka asked then, but it was more of a spit.
Toshiro glanced back down at the sheathed katana, his fingers wrapping around it gently.
"Hyorinmaru," Toshiro breathed. "Ice Ring."
Kusaka stormed off then, like he had been insulted.
Toshiro ignored it though, and thought about who he was going to call on his next phone privilege night. Who would want to hear about this the most? Maybe Isshin? He hadn't gotten to speak to Isshin yet. Kusaka probably wouldn't let him though…
Well he did end up calling Isshin, but unfortunately it was not in the same happy circumstances. His next monthly call slot was two weeks after he had been able connect to Hyorinmaru and receive his katana, and in that two weeks, everything had come to a crashing halt.
Kusaka was dead.
Toshiro had killed him.
Well… he hadn't dealt the final blow, but he might as well have.
See, Kusaka had also connected to his Zanpakuto – his Zanpakuto, Hyorinmaru.
It wasn't supposed to be possible.
There was no such thing as twin Zanpakutos and Hyorinmaru, though he had been lying dormant for so many centuries, was never known to have materialised twice in the same time period. Toshiro's Hyorinmaru called Kusaka's an imposter.
Central Forty-Six had got involved, and their word had been final.
There was to be only one wielder of the ice dragon.
Toshiro and Kusaka were to fight to the death.
Toshiro stood in the line for the phone, but this time he pushed himself to the back of the queue. He didn't know what he was going to say on the phone to Isshin. He wasn't allowed to say anything about Kusaka's execution.
He still remembered how Kusaka had charged at him when the order was given. Those eyes were full of fury and hate, and no longer familiar. He had struck out at Toshiro and the boy had only narrowly missed the blow. He didn't want to fight. He begged Kusaka to stop, he begged Central Forty-Six to cancel the fight and let him abandon Hyorinmaru. He didn't want to fight his friend. He wanted to go back to Granny's home.
Alas, the fight continued, and alas, Toshiro had won. He hadn't even injured Kusaka, he had just trapped him in the ice to stop him from attacking, but Central Forty-Six decided that was enough information. The Stealth Force arrived, and Kusaka was killed in front of Toshiro's very eyes.
He could still hear Kusaka's dying scream.
Toshiro had still been sobbing about it days later when a Central Forty-Six representative forced him to sign the non-disclosure agreement that said they could execute him too if he spoke about it to anyone. Toshiro had only wondered later how many times they might have done that – covered up their cruelty with threats of death.
After that Toshiro kept his head down. He sat alone again – in class and in the dorms. He didn't eat much so he saw no reason to go to the canteen, he didn't study much so he saw no reason to go to the library.
When his monthly call came around, Toshiro almost dreaded it.
He knew that between Isshin, Rangiku and Granny, someone was expecting a call. They would be worried if he didn't contact them – they had sent letters, but he hadn't replied to them.
Eventually Toshiro was the last person waiting to use the phone, and he couldn't put it off any longer. For once, Yuuto didn't look at him with a sneer and contempt as he handed Toshiro the receiver. The boy dialled the number.
"Toshiro?"
First ring, and it was Isshin.
"Captain Shiba," Toshiro greeted in surprise, though his tone might have been a bit flat.
"Are you alright?" Isshin asked him quickly. "You haven't called any of us in a while, or written back?"
"Sorry," Toshiro murmured. He swallowed, hating the fact he had to lie. "I've been studying for the exams."
Isshin hummed, like he expected as much.
"Well, I was hoping you would call here tonight," the man's voice was happy. "I heard about you gaining your Zanpakuto, the legendary Hyorinmaru!"
Toshiro heard the dragon rumble proudly in his mind.
"Yeah," Toshiro sighed. "It was a surprise."
"Well we knew it would be an ice type," Isshin seemed to chuckle. "A powerful one at that, so we probably shouldn't be too surprised."
Toshiro didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say.
He was sad again. He missed Kusaka. He missed Isshin. He missed Granny and Rangiku.
He wanted to go home, except that he didn't have one.
He swallowed, feeling the tears well up in his eyes.
"Are you okay, Kid?" Isshin asked, sounding concerned after the moment of silence between them.
No, but Toshiro had signed a non-disclosure agreement on the threat of death.
"Yes," Toshiro lied again, though the hiccup probably didn't fool anyone, so he thought up an excuse quickly. "I'm just stressed about finals coming up."
Two weeks away in fact, and Toshiro had no motivation to open any of his books. Even 'The Tales of Toshiro', which Isshin had let him take to the Academy, lay abandoned on his bunk shelf.
Isshin sighed through the phone.
"You're going to do amazingly, Toshiro," the captain murmured. "You're the smartest kid I've ever met."
Normally Toshiro would have revelled in the compliment, but tonight he didn't. Being smart had turned Kusaka against him, being smart had lost him a friend that he would never get back.
Still, he agreed, because he only a minute of his call left.
"Yeah," he chuckled weakly.
"You know we're all coming to your graduation, right?" Isshin told him then, out of the blue. Toshiro blinked in surprise.
"You all?" he repeated back to the captain. "Granny?"
"Yes, Granny," Isshin chuckled, voice bright with happiness. "And me, and Rangiku. Kaien and Miyako too, even Kukaku and Ganju are planning to come."
All of the Shibas were coming to his graduation?
"Hang in there, Kiddo," Isshin assured him. "Two weeks to go. Keep your head down and books open – it will all be worth it."
Toshiro swallowed and nodded. Now he believed that, if it meant he got to see the Shibas smiling down at him on his graduation day.
"Okay," he agreed, and for the first time in days he felt motivation.
He wanted to do well for Isshin and his family who cared for him, and for Rangiku who had seen so much potential in him from the start.
"Good boy," Isshin's voice was smiling. "We're really proud of you."
Toshiro almost dropped the phone.
"I'll do my best," he promised, knowing he was almost at five minutes now.
"I know you will," Isshin told him. "You're a good kid."
Five minutes clicked over, but this time Yuuto didn't disconnect the phone.
Still, Toshiro didn't want to push his luck.
"I have to go," he murmured down the line. "Thank you for talking to me, Captain. I-I need that."
Isshin hummed.
"I'm glad you called," the captain told him softly. "Rangiku and I will be there to visit as soon as your exams are over."
"I can't wait," Toshiro felt himself smile. "Bye."
"Bye, Kid."
Toshiro handed Yuuto the receiver and the phone monitor hung it back on the wall. The boy bowed in thanks and turned to leave.
"Boy!" Yuuto called him back.
Toshiro glanced over his shoulder to see him gesturing Toshiro closer, so the boy turned and walked back to him. Yuuto looked around, like he was worried someone might see or overhear them.
"I know you're not allowed to talk about it," the phone monitor whispered, and Toshiro's eyes went wide. He knew? Immediately Yuuto held a finger to his lips to silence Toshiro before he could talk. "I know you're not allowed to talk about it so don't. Just listen."
Toshiro stared up at him, bewildered but curious. He nodded silently, and Yuuto continued.
"They made a mistake," he informed Toshiro. "They thought he had Hyorinmaru like you but he didn't. He had Sakkaku, it's an illusion-based Zanpakuto. It mimics."
Toshiro's breath hitched, his heart stopping. An illusion… mimicking…
"They don't know if he was pretending to have Hyorinmaru or if he was just wanted it so badly that his Zanpakuto took that form, fooling everyone including him," Yuuto continued in a hushed tone. "But it wasn't perfect, that's why the ice was purple."
Toshiro could only stare. He couldn't form thoughts, let alone words, even though he wasn't to say anything.
"They're keeping you quiet because if their mistake gets back to the captains or the Soul King, they'll be de-seated and punished," Yuuto explained further. "You need to stay quiet like they want, otherwise they'll kill you too, and anyone else who gets in their way."
Toshiro stared. He thought of Isshin. He thought of all the Shibas and Rangiku. They could never know. He wouldn't let them get hurt.
"How do you know?" he breathed. Was he allowed to ask that?
Yuuto shrugged, "The phone monitor knows everything."
Vague enough, but Toshiro supposed Yuuto must have overheard a lot in his time.
"Why are you telling me this?" Toshiro asked then. As far as he was aware, the phone monitor didn't like him.
Yuuto sighed and looked away.
"Tell Lieutenant Matsumoto I said hello," he answered simply, as if that was actually an answer. "Now get lost, Boy."
Toshiro stared for a moment, until Yuuto made a shooing gesture. He turned slowly, frown deepening as he walked away from the phone and back towards the dorms.
He would have to ask Rangiku about her relationship with Yuuto when she came to visit, but for now he had bigger thoughts to deal with.
Kusaka hadn't had Hyorinmaru. He had died because Central Forty-Six had killed before they had asked any questions. They had made a mistake.
Toshiro wasn't the stronger wielder, he was the only wielder, and Kusaka had been wielding an entirely different power, one he hadn't known how to use properly.
Toshiro remembered Kusaka's stares in the dark, and those growing bags under his eyes. He remembered the man following him everywhere, asking all those questions. He had become sick, he'd become obsessed. There was no way he had pretended any of that.
He had wanted Hyorinmaru, and had tricked himself into believing he had it. It had cost him his life. It had cost Toshiro a friend.
The boy was in tears again by the time he reached his bunk, but he was silent. No one could know. He climbed up onto the bunk and stared at the empty bed beside his.
Swallowing, he reached for a book on his shelf – any book right now.
He flicked on his reading light and opened it.
He promised Isshin he'd do his best. He had didn't want to let any of them down.
And he owed it to Kusaka, to be the best wielder of Hyorinmaru that he could be, that Kusaka wanted to be.
…
So yeah I didn't actually plan to write Kusaka into this fic originally, so that might squash some theories out there. I hope you enjoyed what I did with him anyway – let me know what you thought of my counter to the twin Zanpakuto issue from the movie. I hated that they basically were like twin Zanpakutos aren't possible (Kurotsuchi literally said 'by definition, it wouldn't be a zanpakuto') and then just never explained it? Anyway, I'm salty and I come up with alternative plot when I'm salty.
