Disclaimer: The following is a fan-based parody. Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo. RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth and the late Monty Oum (rest in peace you saint of a man). Please support the official release.
Chapter 59: Master Ren
(Que Story OP – Hello Sleepwalkers "Hyakkiyakou")
It was the day after the rescue of Uryu Ishida from the Bounts at the manor. With the vampires in the metaphorical corner, Ren felt it they could be at ease with only Ruby, Senna, (R)WBY, and Ichigo to go on the hunt for them. This left Ren, Nora, and Jaune out of the fight for now, and he was glad to be honest since his teammates' clash with the Bounts have shaken them up a bit. Jaune was almost back to his lack of self-confidence when he entered Beacon as he felt out of his league, and Nora was down in the dumps from being the first one to go down in that fight so quickly. While now JN(P)R were given the chance to relax, they were still damp spirits with the less powerful of the three.
Fortunately, Ren came to the rescue to cheer up his friends. His solution was to have them continue their training or more specifically to grow their connection to the Asauchi blades given to them. Jaune was slightly enthused to get in some improvement and hopefully catchup to the likes of Ruby with new shinigami powers while Nora looked giddy for a spar if Ren was offering. The two teammates of JNPR expected their friend to put them into a ringer fight-or-flight similar yet hopefully died down to what Ruby did with her teammates.
Jaune, in his all so innocent mind, could not comprehend the need for ropes, chains, and very painful whips. And it made him shiver whenever he heard the insane cackles she released practically hunting her own teammates. Ren was prudent on not having his friends subject to that ever again to avoid anymore mental scarring. Both because he did not have the heart to do something like that out of some... distorted fetish, but Ren developed a slower, methodical method.
To Nora's disappointment, Ren put his two friends into Jinzen, the art of meditation that connects the wielder to the zanpakuto. Nora had pouted when Ren gave this suggestion, only obeying since he was the only person that could reign in the hyperactive girl. Jaune took with the best enthusiasm he could put up, but he was also similarly off put by an exercise that wasn't physical improvement as he had been doing since Beacon. Now the pair of Ren's temporary trainees sat down with their legs crossed before their teacher mimicking their pose.
"Okay. I don't really want to be that guy, but what is the point of this Ren?" Jaune asked in a manner that wasn't so offensive.
"Not gonna lie, but I was kind of expecting you to punt us over the ground." Nora added. "N-Not that I would actually mind that. I mean, it is still training and I am pretty sure it would be a lot better than what Ruby is going for."
"I can understand your confusion." Ren said with a nod, settling his green bayonets on his lap before explaining. "Where can I start with this? Jaune, Nora, awakening and utilizing your zanpakuto, specifically learning its name for Shikai, is very abstract. You have to put your trust in it more as a partner than a weapon of your choosing. It is not as simple as forcing more raw power of your reiatsu, or in our case Aura. You need to have a legitimate connection that reaches to the core of your being, and eventually you can fight in both mind and body.
"The power of the zanpakuto is very much a power of our soul, much like Aura and Semblances. Each and every zanpakuto is totally unique to the user. In order for your zanpakuto as how they are now, they must become used to our spiritual energy and the soul itself as an Asauchi till it essentially becomes a part of your identity. It is only until then that your zanpakuto spirit will attempt to contact, preferably through very vivid dreams. What we are doing is to get you to that point that your Asauchi develops the zanpakuto spirit that will reflect your soul. If you look at your blades, you will notice differences between them already."
Glancing at the Asauchi that Ren instructed to place on their laps, Nora and Jaune were noticing keen differences between them. When they first received them in their spiritual/Remnant bodies, they looked like any katana blade. Now however looking at them they were now unique changes in their appearances brought on by being exposed to them whilst held in their spiritual bodies. Nora's Asauchi was sporting a new tsuba guard featuring three diamond shapes pointing outward in a deep blue with white engravings over the metal, and the handle had a dark grey pommel with the same engravings and the wrapping was a deep blue with white diamonds. Jaune's Asauchi had a pure white handle with gold squares, a crimson pommel, and what looked like a kite shield replacing the shape of the tsuba.
"The changes of the Asauchi's physical appearance show that they have started to assimilate with your soul." Ren said with a smile. "It won't be long till they become zanpakuto with their own sentience."
"Ah," Jaune spoke with a complicated expression, "am I going to have a voice constantly speaking in my head?"
"I think it would neat to have another one in the upstairs room here." Nora chirped, softly knocking herself on the side of her head.
'Only Nora would ever appeal to having a voice in her head.' Ren thought with a sweat drop.
"As I said before, we will be advancing on having your Asauchi develop into fully fledged zanpakuto through Jinzen." Ren said. "All that you need is to have a clear mind and let your Aura flow out of you as if releasing a dam. Try to find some tug and pull on it as I will demonstrate."
Ren went silent for a moment closing his eyes in concentration and taking deep, slow breaths. A second later, a bright green aura lit up around Ren's body like a flame, similar yet different to the appearance of Aura. Jaune and Nora clammed up from the feel of waves of power washing over them and that any increase would cause them to feel weighted down by the pressure.
"For me at this point, Aura and reiatsu are not distinguishable since I have practiced in using my power through meditation." Ren said. "They are both manifestations of our soul at its full might, and everyone has this potential. All that is required is to bring it out. Jinzen meditation allows for both practice of our reiatsu as well as deepening our connection to our zanpakuto. If one were to master it beyond the maturity point..."
Ren's spiritual energy gave off a series of bright pulses. The 'aura' burning off his body tapered off somewhat and collected itself at his right shoulder. Nora and Jaune watched in fascination as the reishi continued to collect more of itself, condensing to a distinct quadrapedal shape, and finally gaining its own color. In five seconds, the reishi tapering from Ren manifested into the very zanpakuto spirit partnered to him now brought to the real world as whilte fox with six tails and an array of blue balls of flame revolving around it.
"Meet my zanpakuto, Kakkushi." Ren introduced. "Thank you for coming here per my request."
"Think nothing of it, Ren-kun." The zanpakuto replied in kind, leveling blank blue eyes upon his wielder's teammates. "You would do well to listen to the lessons my partner is giving you. Take it as my pride as his zanpakuto, but you will find no better teacher."
Nora and Jaune did not make a response. Rather they simply couldn't staring shocked amazement at the fox pup that Ren literally conjured out of nowhere. Said fox took his place in Ren's lap to lie down with his six tails wrapping around its body to serve as both pillow and bedding. Eventually, some regular motion returned to Jaune with the blonde giving a soft chuckle, remembering when Ren did tell them his zanpakuto spirit was a fox pup in Remnant.
However, Ren's worry was towards Nora, and he was right to do so. Her blank face with unblinking eyes first crumbled by the twitching of her eyes and cheeks. Said cheeks were growing a scarlet coloring of a blush and widened out by the one of most disturbing smiles the orange-haired hammer maniac has made. Nora's breathing sounded labored as if she was losing her own self-control and a hungry glint appeared in her eyes.
"So... CUUUUUTTEEE!" Nora squealed and ending off with a screech. "MUST GIVE THE SNUGGLES!"
In an instant, Nora leaped from her sitting position into a great pounce toward Ren with her hands aiming to grab Kakkushi. Her entire being demanded to cuddle the little talking fox. The speed at which she came forward even alarmed Ren by the widening of his eyes as he tried to move out of the way. Kakkushi however was unperturbed, and in the small timeframe in Nora's leap stood up and jumped to Nora instead.
"Eh?"
Nora blinked in surprise when she felt the six-tailed fox land upon her forehead for a moment before using her as a stepping stone to jump again. This left Nora trapped in her pounce without no way to stop her velocity in midair, resulting in the hammer wielder crashing right into Ren to the ground. Kakkushi in the meantime with the soft grace landed upon Jaune's head where he made his perch.
"My, she's a complete contrast to Ren-kun." Kakkushi noted. "Makes even myself wonder how those two can get along."
Jaune shrugged. "Trust me, those two are inseparable as I have learned since making a team with them. I guess it's because they sort of compliment each other."
Kakkushi hummed in thought. "Hmm, I suppose the saying 'opposites attract' has saying here."
Meanwhile, some weak groans and moans came from duo of Nora and Ren now sprawled on the ground with the former on top of each other. Nora's collision with her childhood friend was enough to cause a small cloud of dust picked up from the impact. Ren's eyes blinked out the daze in them and suddenly meeting the gaze of Nora's lightning blue. A second was all it took in the mesmerizing staring contest for the pair to blush in embarrassment. Especially for Ren since he could feel a certain part of Nora's anatomy comfortably squishing on his chest.
"Gah, sorry!" Nora exclaimed, scrambling up till she was sitting on her knees at Ren's feet. "I just go a little excited. I mean, who gets to have a little talking foxy pup live inside of you?!"
Ren coughed into his hand to regain his composure as he sat up. "Technically, he is me - to a certain extent. Zanpakuto spirits are the reflection of our soul, though it is really up to chance if they resemble anything to you."
"...Then doesn't that make you a foxy puppy?" Nora said, blinking.
'Of all the things she had to understand.' Ren thought with another sweat drop. 'Only you can surprise me with that logic, Nora.'
"Y-Yes." Ren admitted hesitantly.
It started with a quiver of Nora's lips before the coming giggles as the thought of Ren secretly being a fox pup stayed at the forefront of her mind. Ren simply rolled his eyes, not even annoyed at Nora's laughter. Suddenly, her laughter stopped as her eyes widened as if coming to some sort of realization and bolted to her feet.
"Wait a minute!" Nora exclaimed, jabbing her finger at Ren's chest. "Does that mean... that you are in fact... a cyborg bot being with a fox pup controlling you on the inside?"
Ren barely stopped himself from basically knocking himself out with a facepalm. An exasperated groan left his lips as Nora's antics were finally growing an ache in his head. The worst part was that Nora was completely serious in what she said. If he knew any better, Nora lacked the very capability to lie.
"Nora, we've been over this." Ren said. "I am the real Ren. I am not a robot. I not a cyborg. And I am not a robot or cyborg being controlled by a fox kit from the inside."
"Okay... but maybe..." Nora replied, her eyes squinted at Ren.
"Leave it to Nora to make crazy conspiracy theories and stick with them." Jaune commented.
Ren sighed. "Why don't we get back on what we were doing before?"
"Yes, I want to get my own little spirit to cuddle!" Exclaimed Nora excitedly, with surprising speed rivaling Ruby situated herself beside Jaune as she had originally.
"Okay then." Ren said, getting back into his mediation stance with his legs crossed and reishi focused around and within his body. "Any questions before we continue?"
"I do." Jaune said, instinctively raising his hand. "How is this better than what Ruby is doing with her team? N-Not that I want to do that. It's just that why does Ruby do her thing instead of this."
Ren's facial expression did not change from its stoic demeanor, but there was noticeable increase of sweat drops. Internally, he was in a bit of a panic as his mind was assaulted with Ruby's haunting laughter while he felt her gaze boring down on him. He could even faintly hear the sounds of chains of rattling. While Ren was never subjected to Ruby's 'antics', just hearing and seeing what she does made him worry for his life. Much less how much he pitied Ichigo being Ruby's boyfriend.
'Why Yoruichi-sensei?!' Ren lamented in his mind. 'Why did you awaken something that terrible from within Ruby!? Why couldn't you let her be her innocent self and save us all the nightmares!?'
"Besides... personal reasons," Ren explained hesitantly, "Ruby's method revolves around a core aspect of how those using spiritual energy and the power of the soul grow stronger. As according to Urahara-sensei, the soul forces itself to become stronger whenever any of us are in mortal danger. Of course, that method is very risky as well as it is quick as this same method almost turned me, Ruby, and Ichigo into Hollows when we first came here. What I am proposing is a slower, but safer way to strengthen your spiritual energy."
"I guess that makes sense." Jaune responded, half heartedly understanding Ren's explanation.
Nora, on the other hand, couldn't make a response or some remark on Ren's explanation. Her face was set in a complicated expression still trying to piece an interpretation of Ren's explanation of this exercise. She was not dumb, far from that, but like Yang on Team RWBY she was very headstrong.
Ren sighed for the second time, and many more when Nora is involved. "In short, the more times you put yourself in mortal danger, the stronger you will come out of it every time."
"Oh." Nora responded with nods of understanding.
"With the questions out of the way, let us begin." Ren announced going into 'professor mode'. "First, bring out your Aura. Concentrate it so it is visible. Find a sensation of a tug in the back your head, then grasp it and pull it forward."
Two nods answered Ren and they tried their take on exercising their soul. After a few seconds of normal silence with Ren waiting patiently, it came as a slight surprise that Nora pulled out her Aura, burning an electric blue around her form, first than Jaune did. It took half a minute for Jaune to summon his Aura appearing as an almost solid mass surrounding his body. Noting the difference in control Nora and Jaune had, Ren theorized that Jaune had a similar issue with Ichigo with his considerably larger than average Aura reserves. His trailed down to their blades, and a small smile bloomed on his features seeing their Aura flowing into the Asauchi as they glowed the respective colors of their wielders.
"That's good." Ren supported. "However, the trick to this exercise is to see how long you can keep that concentration going at a constant rate. This is to exercise your efficiency with your spiritual energy as well as connecting to your zanpakuto."
Nora and Jaune offered smiles, but that small lapse was enough to lose their concentration as their Aura flickered. They quickly composed themselves and regain control on their Aura manipulation around their area, albeit shakily with the brief flickers. Minutes passed in silence with JN(P)R using the 'soul exercise' as Ren had called it. At the fifteen minute mark, there were now signs of mental fatigue while Ren was perfectly fine with his powers already refined to match shinigami captains. Nora's electric blue Aura was flickering uncontrollably and labored breaths escaped her lips trying to hold on to a steady flow of her Aura, but it was hard since she had never had to focus to the forefront for an extended period of time at maximum output. Jaune had it easier as his Aura was as steady as it was in the beginning, but there was sweat going down Jaune's face trying to hold his Aura at a steady flow.
"Keep it at a constant rate as long as you can." Ren said.
"I-I'm trying, Renny." Nora forced out.
"Yeah, just gotta keep it together." Jaune mumbled.
'While it's a good start, they both have their flaws.' Ren thought. 'Nora has the better control over her Aura with her experience, but her reserves are average at Yang's level. On the other hand, Jaune has record breaking Aura reserves that I have never seen in anyone else, but that also entails he suffers a similar problem of control that Ichigo has with his immense spiritual pressure. At least now, I have an idea to improve upon these flaws until their zanpakuto awaken to take the role of their trainers to then partners.'
Ren was about to call the exercise off until his senses prickled at a sudden spike of reiatsu. His head snapped back to look behind him, but there was no alarm in his posture feeling the familiarity of the reiatsu. A whistile in the air and before his eyes appeared Urahara in a shunpo. His sudden and seemingly magical appearance made Jaune and Nora jump in surprise, having not even heard of the man's approach and thus breaking their concentration totally.
"Evenining, sensei." Ren greeted with a wave followed by a raised paw from Kakushi. "What brings you here?"
"Well, while I would love to go into detail, I am afraid we do not have the luxury of time." Urahara spoke in a quick manner, and with a tap of his cane summoned the gate to the Soul Society. "In short, Bounts are on the loose in Soul Society and we need you in there to help the others before everything goes kaboom."
"So basically Soul Society is in trouble again?" Ren surmised.
"Yep, now get to it." Kisuke gestured to the activated portal.
"Uhm..." Jaune said, looking nervous at the bright light of the portal, "can we maybe... not go into the scary portal?"
"Nope." Urahara said.
Before Jaune could protest any further, Nora suddenly picked up the blonde like he weighed nothing over her head. A crazy grin was plastered on her face, and that meant nothing good of it.
"You heard the bucket hat man!" Exclaimed Nora. "Get your butt in the scary portal."
Ren shook his head and Urahara hid an amused smile as they heard a screaming Jaune being hurled into the portal, followed shortly by a cackling Nora.
Omake: How Ruby awakened as a sadist.
A month after their invasion of Soul Society to rescue Rukia, Ichigo and Ruby can be found in great 'basement' training grounds. Standing upon one of the grounds rock structures was Yoruichi watching her students with a studious gaze. The two pseudo shinigami were just done with a spar, but their respective zanpakuto were not in their hand and instead lay at Yoruichi's feet.
This spar Yoruichi made Ruby and Ichigo go through was to test their hakuda, or hand-to-hand combat. Ichigo had the greater advantage with his experience as a brawler and greater stature, but Ruby made him work for it. She was unfortunately not up to par with hand-to-hand as Yoruichi would have liked, and the Flash Goddess could already tell that Ruby had just started to incorporate unarmed combat.
'Ruby-chan may be a rookie, but she certainly has a nasty bite.' Yoruichi thought as she used a shunpo to get to the two.
At first glance, neither of the pseudo shinigami sported any injuries. If one looked at Ichigo's face however, they would notice small bruises on his lower jaw where Ruby did manage to land a punch. Ruby in comparison was worse off with dirt marring her clothes as Ichigo, being the gentlemen that he is, could not bring himself to actually hit Ruby and instead use throws to get her to submit in a win for him. However, it peaked Yoruichi's curiosity when she noticed an oddity around Ruby.
Looking at Ruby, she was obviously not... normal per say. Her head was dipped slightly and her shoulders shook from 'labored' breaths as if she ran a marathon. Her pale face was now bright red from a blush of all things.
"Hey, are you okay Ruby?" Ichigo asked in concern. "That didn't tire that much, did it?"
"N-No." Stuttered Ruby meekly, not all there with her thoughts preoccupied. "It's just..."
Her silver eyes went to her hands clenched in fists, the same fists that punched Ichigo in rare times in the spar. And when she did, Ruby felt this unimaginable spark through her body. It felt as if an electric shock coursed through her body at the fact she used it for harm. She never felt this when using her weapons, and the worst thing was... it felt really, really good.
Her mind still aflutter, Ruby decided to test this here and now. She needed to do this.
"Uhm, Ichigo?" Ruby said as she approached. "Could you do something for me?"
"Yeah, what is - Guh!?"
His words were never finished as the need for that sensation took over Ruby's impulses as she punched Ichigo squarely into his ribs. The electric shock this time was greater than before as Ruby heard Ichigo's pained groan from her attack, which caused another feeling of sweetness flowing into her every nerve. Her heart started to race faster, and her breathing quickened to match it. As soon as it came it disappeared, but Ruby would have none of that.
'Again!' Ruby thought deliriously. 'Again, again, again!'
"Ruby, what the - OW!"
Ichigo this gave a cry of pain when Ruby delivered a sharp to his side. The sound of it reaching Ruby's ears and the feel of her fist making impact made her body flood with of the feeling of thisissogoodsogoodIneedmoreIneedtodomoreneedtohurthimmore. A small part of her mind finally realized that what Ruby was feeling was pure pleasure, but a level she had never felt in her life. It did not even compare when she fantasized about weapons and the making of them. That same part of her mind knew this was wrong, but the euphoria flowing into every pore of her body to her very core.
"This sensation..." Ruby muttered.
To the outside world that Ruby had become blind to, Ichigo and Yoruichi watched in morbid shock of Ruby turning around and hugging herself. A strange atmosphere surrounded the silver-eyed Huntress, and the feel it caused a cold dread going up and down their spines. Ichigo was about to lash out why Ruby kept hitting him, but the air around Ruby stopped him as only one thought went through his head.
'Something's awakening in her and it's terrifying.' Thought Ichigo.
"Ichigo, leave this to me." Yoruichi announced with a serious expression on her face.
"Are you sure?" Ichigo said nervously.
"I'm sure." Yoruichi said, approaching Ruby in her delirious state. "You go home now. I'll take care of her."
Oh yeah, she knew exactly what to do. It did not bode well too when as Ichigo left her cheshire grin returned in full force. Finally, after so long searching she finally has a student that was a naturally born sadist!
Ichigo didn't see Ruby at all for the rest of the day. The next day however, Ichigo was walking through Kuoh at midday, checking for any spirits that could use some help. Along the way, he scowled at the sight of one of those fetish stores for... late night eccentrics. It was always a sore sight to Ichigo, and just thinking whatever perverted degenerate actually goes there was enough to make his blood boil-
His thoughts of rage were soundly executed when he saw the last person he expected to walk out the store. His mind fully shutdown in disbelief when Ichigo witnesed Ruby Rose exit the fetish store. An almost blinding smile was plastered on her face, one born of full satisfaction and a skip in her step as if she had the best day of her life. It was quite possible she was even humming a tune. His eyes trailed to the bag held in her right hand... and all his body tried its best to firmly deny seeing spiked belts, leather straps, a red ball gag, and what was definitely a whip!
Ichigo did not know how long he was rooted to that spot, his jaw dropped to the floor. His eyes never even moved from the spot he saw Ruby skip out the door and down the sidewalk. The gaze in them was aimless, almost lifeless even. In his head was a slightly different story.
'Holy shit, she's a wild one!' 'Hichigo' cackled in excitement. 'We've hit the mother****ing jackpot here. I bet ten million yen Queen's bought a garter-'
'URUSAI!' Ichigo roared in his mindscape.
Finally, I got this chapter out. This was a way to shorten most the events of the Bount Arc up to the point Kariya enters Soul Society. I wanted to show Master Ren because I really do think he could become a great teacher since he is one of my favorite characters, and also my first Omake.
Up next is Chapter 60.
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