Title: Turnabout
Author: darkling59
Fandom: Bleach
Rating: T
Date: 9/4/2019
Disclaimer: Bleach and all associated characters, settings, concepts, etc. within this story do not belong to me. All of the original stuff does. Please DO NOT steal or plagiarize.
Please read and review!
Rebellion - Day 3 (Early Afternoon)
Starrk wasn't entirely sure why Muramasa had left him in the back cave with the Captain Commander. Minazuki, Sogyo no Kotowari and Katen Kyokotsu were already evenly balanced in their tasks as guards. If he tried to intrude, it would just distract them. Though his presence seemed to be doing that anyway – Ukitake's two child-spirits were shooting him identical curious stares as he paced the ground below them. The other two, far deadlier, paired spirits kept their attention squarely on Yamamoto within his kido but whenever Starrk had his back turned, he could feel their eyes on the back of his neck. The third spirit was as inscrutable as his shinigami and never so much as glanced at Starrk.
That said, he preferred being around them to being around Muramasa. Now, he was dead certain the leader of the rebellion had no interest in the actual outcome of said rebellion, and the fact that his actual goal included controlling Ryujin Jakka could not be good.
Proactivity was not Starrk's strong suit, though, and his instinctive reaction to his new knowledge was to fade into the background and remove himself (and Lilynette) from harm's way, not to take action against the potential threat. But Muramasa controlled the cave; he'd know if Starrk tried to leave. And if he succeeded at releasing Ryujin Jakka then the entire city of Seireitei could be in danger, including Starrk's wielder. His brief conversation with the three shinigami captains might have been the perfect opportunity to tell them what was going on (for lack of any other title, he was considering Yoruichi a captain), but he trusted them just as little as he trusted Muramasa.
He might have trusted their zanpakuto, had they been in their right minds, but they were still under Muramasa's influence.
That meant, as always, that the only people he could depend on were Lilynette and himself. And he was going to keep Lilynette far, far away from all of this.
So instead of doing anything substantial, he paced slow circles around the head captain's prison, occasionally looking at him but more often staring blankly at the rock surfaces all around. He followed the same circuit for hours, mind running in circles.
It was the other spirits who diverted his attention; as one, they abruptly looked up and then slowly descended from the ceiling.
Starrk stopped at the front of the Head Captain's pyramid, right in front of the cavern's doorway, and perked his ears as they settled on the ground, blinking as if coming out of some sort of trance. "What are you doing?"
Katen stepped right up to him. Well, sashayed might be a better description. There was something undeniably flirtatious about her mannerisms. She was a tall woman, though the fact that she could meet Starrk's eyes directly was less important than the elaborate skull and bone hair ornament framing her head and threatening to impale Starrk's face with its projecting sharp points. Her one visible turquoise eye was half closed and her mouth turned up when Starrk leaned away from her as she approached – and then turned up further when he shifted out of her way so as not to be run into, a confused grumble bubbling up from his chest. She actually chuckled, reaching up to ruffle his ears as she pushed him all the way out of her way and up against the stone wall.
"Stay here, Wolf." Katen ordered, a thread of iron will dancing through the purred words.
Starrk stayed to the side, now out of the doorway, as she brushed past him and Kyokotsu glanced up at him silently as she passed close behind her older counterpart.
A small hand patted his arm and he glanced down to find one of Ukitake's zanpakuto spirits smiling up at him. "Hi, I'm Koto!"
Next to him, his twin beamed up at Starrk as well. "And I'm Sogyo!"
"Don't worry! We're just going to fight our masters. We'll be back soon!"
The two little boys scurried off down the hallway after Kyoraku's spirits, chattering happily to each other. Starrk watched them leave, then turned to the last spirit: the mysterious Minazuki.
"Are you leaving too?"
The spirit's hooded head inclined silently and in a single flash-step, he was at a crevasse in the far wall that Starrk had not noticed before. Or, rather, he'd seen it, he just hadn't considered it relevant. The silent spirit vanished into its shadowy depths, leaving Starrk alone in the echoing cavern.
A surge of heat at his back made him flinch and pull away from the kido pyramid.
Not quite alone.
He kept a wary eye on the confined head captain as he reached out with his reiatsu, trying to figure out what was going on in the rest of the cave system. Based on the words of Ukitake's zanpakuto, it sounded like the shinigami had discovered the location of the zanpakuto hideout and were bringing the fight to Muramasa. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it was definitely something Starrk needed to be kept informed about.
With that in mind, he scattered energy from his coat, calling forth wolves to gather information on his behalf. He only sent one into the crevasse after Minazuki; three more sped away through the main entrance, separating from each other as tunnels branched off and shinigami reiatsu signatures came closer and their identities became clear.
Starrk was just about to project his consciousness into one of them when another swelling of heat at his back suggested this would not be a good place to be less than attentive. Instead, he retreated down the main passage a few steps, taking shelter in a shallow crack in the wall hidden in the shadows. It was barely bigger than a closet and he had to duck his head to get inside, but it was enough for him to close his eyes and concentrate on what was going on elsewhere in the cave system.
This time, he recognized all of the reiatsu signatures moving into position. They were walking and running in the lower levels trying to make their way upwards, coming from three different directions. Ichigo and Yoruichi were approaching from one side of Sogyoku Hill with Tobiume and Haineko running to intercept and Minazuki waiting in their path. On the other side, Kyoraku and Ukitake were walking quickly towards their waiting zanpakuto – presumably a trap. Much farther away, Kenpachi and Yachiru seemed to be wandering aimlessly, followed at a distance by Tenken and Genryomaru.
Muramasa, Byakuya, and Senbonzakura were missing completely.
After a moment of consideration, Starrk distributed his wolves to the zanpakuto spirits; one to the paired spirits, one to Minazuki, and one to Tobiume and Haineko. The last one headed towards Tenken and Genryomaru but Starrk stopped it before it could get there and instead sent it towards the entrance to the main cavern; they were going to fight Kenpachi and he wanted to stay as far away from that man as possible. Plus, he was pretty sure he knew how that fight would go.
Directions given, Starrk settled back in his shadowed niche and projected his consciousness towards the fight he thought would be most interesting; the one between Kyoraku, Ukitake, and their zanpakuto.
X
He found Katen Kyokotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari in the shadows at either end of a natural flight of stairs, carved into the rock by millennia of flowing and dripping water. There were pools on the lowest parts of the stairs, lit by the same eerie green light that seeped through the rest of the cavern; some sort of bioluminescent plants or ambient reiatsu. The flickering light mostly concealed the faint form of Starrk's wolf; brighter than it would have been without him looking through its eyes but not as bright or solid as it would have been with him in full control.
With the amount of power he had invested in it, his presence must have been detectable, but none of the sword spirits reacted to his presence; their eyes remained fixed on the mouth of the tunnel at the foot of the stairs. Starrk didn't know what sort of trap they were setting but Ukitake and Kyoraku were steadily inching towards it. When their bright reiatsu signatures were just outside, Sogyo and Koto leapt to the ceiling and braced themselves there, giggling quietly to each other. Katen stiffened to her full height and her single visible eye sharpened. Without consulting her counterpart, Kyokotsu vanished into the shadows, swiftly invisible to anyone who did not already know she was there.
They were in their final positions well before the two captains rounded the final turn in the tunnel, speaking quietly to each other as they walked out of it and towards the steps. The two men were watching their surroundings but didn't have a chance to realize they were stumbling into a trap before Sogyo and Koto made their move.
"What shall we play?" The giggling shout echoed down from the ceiling, bouncing around the walls of the cavern until it was impossible to tell where it came from.
"Wanna play?" A second voice, nearly identical to the first followed up.
Both men came to a halt, looking up at the ceiling. They were wary but not overly alarmed by the unexpected voices.
"Hello?" Ukitake called upwards, brown eyes scanning the shadows that kept most of the ceiling in darkness. "Who are you?"
"He wants to know who we are!" The first voice giggled.
"He does!" The second voice tagged on.
"Do you really not know who we are?"
"Really really don't know?"
There's a look of dawning realization on Jushiro's face that his zanpakuto must notice at the same time as Starrk because they pounce down from the ceiling, landing heavily on top of their wielder with identical shouts of glee.
"Whoa!" Jushiro yelped as he was forced heavily to the floor, although he's smiling as the two of them muss up his hair and poke at his face.
"Come on, let's play! Come on!" They caroled in unison.
"I see…" Kyoraku sighed from a few feet away, one hand hidden in the sleeve of his haori and the other thoughtfully stroking his chin. He obviously did not share in his friend's amusement. "I suppose we won't be able to move on unless we play with these kids."
"Well, you might be able to." Jushiro replied, tone dry. He wasn't trying to escape, though. And he didn't look upset when Shunsui smirked, shrugged, and turned to go on without him.
Jushiro pushed himself up on his elbows once his friend had moved on, easily shouldering the burden of the two children on his back. It isn't a huge leap of logic to figure out who they are, considering the target of their attention. "You two wouldn't happen to be Sogyo no Kotowari, would you?"
"Aw, no fair!" One of the boys chirped.
"You figured it out too fast!" The other continued.
"We wanted to play a game!"
"Yeah, a game!"
"Now, now…" Jushiro tried to interject, pushing himself back up to his feet and gently dislodging Sogyo and Koto. The two spirits held on to his haori, dragging him down, but they were so light that he was able to stand to his full height regardless. "How about we play a game later, okay? For now-."
"No! Now!"
"Yeah! We wanna play now."
"Boys, boys-!" Jushiro waved his hands uselessly, trying to calm down the two little zanpakuto now chasing each other in circles around him.
About a third of the way up the steps, Kyoraku paused and snickered at his friend's plight but his amusement faded as he looked up the steps and found a tall female figure standing at the top, glaring down at him with a grim expression. Her one eye caught the light in a gimlet glare and her elaborate headdress looked like the spines of a weapon in the flickering shadows.
"Ah." He sighed out. "And that would make you my zanpakuto, wouldn't it? Would you like to play a game?"
Her head tipped forward to look down at him, unamused. "Hmph. As arrogant as ever, I see. Unfortunately for you, playtime is over."
He chuckled, turning away from his friend and slowly making his way up the stairs, wary of a trap. "And why would you say that, hm?"
"You know perfectly well why." She advanced to the center of the steps, matching his slow pace. Her black and silver scimitar, the shikai state of the largest of Kyoraku's paired zanpakuto, rose as he brought his empty, sealed sword up to match it. The captain kept a sharp eye on the shadows, knowing the second half of his zanpakuto would be somewhere nearby. Instead, when he was about halfway up the stairs, his gaze landed on an opaque blue wolf sitting absolutely still in the corner, ears forward and head cocked. It was faint and he never would have noticed it if he hadn't been looking.
Shunsui immediately stopped and blinked in surprise. "Well, hello there. This is unexpected."
The wolf didn't get a chance to respond before Katen turned towards him, mouth turning down. "Stay out of the way, Wolf. This is between my master and I."
"I wasn't going to interfere." The wolf replied, eyes flicking between the two combatants. "I was just going to watch."
"You like watching, don't you, Zanpakuto-san?" Kyoraku smirked, raising an eyebrow.
The wolf had no idea how to handle that, but Katen rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Your fight is with me, master." She addressed Shunsui. "That sort of behavior is exactly why I cannot stand you."
Clearly not listening to his survival instincts, the wolf looked at her and spoke up with confusion. "But a little while ago you-."
"That's enough." She interrupted him before he could detail her behavior leaving the head captain's prison, but Kyoraku got the general message and his widening grin was enough to sour her mood, especially towards Starrk.
"You can come with us, Starrk-san!" Sogyo's voice rang clearly from the bottom of the stairs and the wolf turned to look at the little boy who was bouncing up and down and waving. "We're gonna go play with our master!"
"Starrk? Is that your name?" Shunsui's sharp voice cut in, immediately removing any reluctance Starrk might have had about staying put. Without answering, he turned his back on the captain and zanpakuto at the top of the stairs and trotted down to join those at the bottom.
"Yay!" Koto popped up and petted the wolf's head, to Starrk's surprise, but it was over almost as soon as it started and the boys were quickly back to harassing their shinigami. Ukitake didn't get a chance to say anything to Starrk before the two of them were dragging him away on the pretense of playing a game.
"What shall we play?" the first asked. Even with his enhanced senses, Starrk couldn't tell them apart.
"How about Tosenkyo?"
"That sounds great!"
"Great!"
Starrk watched them with his head cocked, interested but silent, while Jushiro raised his hands as if to interfere but couldn't get a word in edgewise.
At the same time, they pulled out a large, accordioned piece of paper and stretched it between them. The look they turned on their wielder was pure mischief.
"Now, wait just a second…" Jushiro tried, eyes widening with alarm.
"One…!" They chirped together in quick succession and two glowing fans appeared…two glowing metal-edged fans, Starrk realized after a second. "Two…!" As the twins' smirks grew wider and more sinister, the fans spun faster and faster, until they looked like nothing more than sharp-edged discs. "Three!"
"You might want to run away, Taicho-san." Starrk muttered in an undertone just as Jushiro came to the same conclusion, raising his hands with a kido ready on his lips.
"Alright!" The twins pointed together towards Ukitake. "Go!"
The spinning fan blades rushed forwards at breakneck speed, cutting through anything in their way as they jettisoned right for Ukitake's face.
X
After a quick evasion, several kido spells, several more 'games' of tosenkyo played, and a game of tag the thirteenth division captain was not willingly engaged in, Starrk found his attention wandering. His wolves were sending him feedback on the other fights, nothing spectacular or unexpected, but still important. Kurosaki had made his way past Tobiume and Haineko and was currently chasing Minazuki. Yoruichi was presumably keeping the lieutenant spirits from following him. Zaraki had defeated Genryomaru and was currently in battle with Tenken.
It was while Starrk was sending out his senses to look for Muramasa again that his wolf in the main cavern sat up and pricked its ears, taking notice of a new presence. At the increased focus, Starrk extended a tendril of consciousness into the projection and saw a familiar figure staggering down the first flight of stairs, panting and flushed from overuse of shunpo and reiatsu exhaustion but wearing a victorious smirk on her young face. Her red and white academy uniform was dirty and mussed but no less recognizable than her light green hair and pink eyes.
Lilynette?!
Starrk immediately forgot the other zanpakuto and captains around him and shoved his full consciousness into the wolf by Lilynette just as his wielder stumbled to a halt at the bottom of the second flight of stone stairs, nearly falling into Starrk as his wolf sprang into bright blue existence from the sudden influx of energy.
"Whoa!" She pinwheeled her arms as she overbalanced on the bottom stair, startled by his mental hail. He was there to catch her before she could land on the rough stone floor, pushing her back into a balanced position with his head and one paw. She looked at her surroundings with curiosity and awe.
"Lilynette?" This time his call was in the real world. "What are you doing here?!"
The look on her face was proud and confident as she planted her hands on her hips, set her jaw mulishly, and met his eyes. "Looking for you!"
Starrk's ears flipped back and he cocked his head with a low whine of concerned confusion.
"Don't give me that! You're my zanpakuto, of course I was going to come after you! Why did you think I wanted to know about shunpo?" Her right hand came forward to point at him accusingly. There was no reason for him to look and sound so horrified. He was her zanpakuto so of course she was going to be with him! It might have taken her a while to figure out how to reach him, but now that she had she was going to make sure they stayed together!
Suddenly, Starrk was sorely regretting his distraction during their earlier conversation and the knowledge he'd unwittingly provided.
"You…came after me." Starrk's ears were as forward as they could be with disbelief and he felt like burying his face in his hands. Because that was such a Lilynette thing to do. He never should have told her how to use shunpo. "Lily, it's dangerous here. You need to go back."
"Not without you!" She snapped, offended. "And don't tell me it's too dangerous! I can handle myself!"
"Lily…"
"I woke up in Rukongai, Starrk, you know that. Even without a sword, I know how to fight!"
"I know that. I'm not doubting your abilities, Lilynette." Starrk reassured her, biting back a wince as he realized just how irritated she must be with him. He really hadn't meant to imply she was somehow inferior or incapable. She just…wasn't ready for this sort of thing yet. "But these caves are full of captain and lieutenant-class zanpakuto spirits. I don't think this is a good place for us to talk."
"…Okay, Fine. But you're going to tell me what's going on." She paused to eye him, in his guise as a reiatsu projection. "And why you look like that."
Starrk sighed and turned towards the site of his physical body. Now more than ever, he was extremely grateful that he'd had the foresight to move out of the head captain's cavern before taking to his wolves.
"Come on. I'll take you somewhere safer." He heard and felt her start walking. "This is just a reiatsu projection; my physical body is down here."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense." She muttered. Then: "Wait, no it doesn't. What's a reiatsu projection?"
"It's-."
"If you say complicated, I'm going to kick you."
Starrk shot her a look. "That's not what I was going to say. I was going to say that it's exactly what it sounds like; I project my reiatsu and then shape it into wolves. It's one of my zanpakuto abilities."
"Oh."
X
"Starrk? Hello, hello! Starrk?" Sogyo chirped, poking at the blue wolf that had been accompanying him and Koto as they distracted their master. It took some time for them to realize he wasn't there anymore but when they did, they returned for him. He'd stopped moving in the middle of walking, dead center in the tunnel, and now stood with one paw still raised, eyes blank and faintly glowing. The presence that had been inside was gone.
"Starrk? Starrk, Starrk, Staaaarrk?" Koto chimed, batting at the wolf with his collapsed fan. The projection wasn't solid enough to respond anymore; the fan went right through it.
"Please don't do that." Both boys jumped out of the way as Jushiro made a futile grab for their fans. The captain tried smiling at them, though by now the expression was strained. "You wouldn't want him to explode, would you?"
"Explode?"
"Cool!"
"Starrk, come back!"
"We want to see fireworks!"
Ukitake barely bit back a groan as the two of them redoubled their efforts, poking and prodding at the wolf as they called for the other zanpakuto's attention.
"Boys, please stop that. If you'll just give me the fans, we can play later, okay?"
Koto eeled through his grip yet again, with a giggle. "But we want to play now!"
Jushiro barely managed to leap to the side as the fan in the boy's hand glowed and discharged a surge of energy; enough to hurt but not to kill if it hit. Both of them seemed very interested in running him in circles, but not in having a straight up battle. Given the time, he might have pondered why they were acting so different from all of the other zanpakuto, but they were keeping him so busy that he hadn't had a chance yet.
As he attempted to chase Koto while awkwardly trying not to step on him as he wound around his legs and behind his back, Sogyo kept up a high-pitched litany as he poked the energy wolf with his fan.
"Starrk? Starrk! StarrkStarrkStarrkStarrkStarrkStarrk-! Sta-!"
"What?" The wolf suddenly jerked back into awareness and spoke, clear annoyance in his tone. Jushiro felt a rare surge of petty amusement. At least he wasn't alone in suffering the ministrations of his zanpakuto. It lasted until a new, unfamiliar voice cut in.
"Yeah, what?" The high-pitched voice of a young girl whined. "We were talking!"
Dead silence fell as Sogyo, Koto, and Jushiro all froze in place then turned to look at Starrk. Starrk was equally stunned; his wolf turned to look at a second wolf suddenly standing next to him; it was about half his size and had a slightly greener cast to its energy. In contrast to his steel blue eyes, the other wolf – the wolf cub – had pink eyes.
"Lilynette?" He asked, tentatively.
"Who else would I be?!" She snapped at him, then looked down at her paws and bounced lightly on all four feet. She continued with clear excitement. "This is so cool! Why didn't you tell me I could do this? I could have gone with you!"
"Because you can't do this!" Starrk replied, a note of worry creeping into his usually laconic voice. Panic was rising hard and fast as he realized what she'd done. "Lily, this is a zanpakuto ability. You're supposed to be a shinigami."
"I'm not a shinigami yet." She glared at him. Her wolf-features couldn't scowl, but the expression came through in her voice. "And obviously I can."
"That-That's not-."
She rolled her eyes as he stammered and turned to look around. Instantly, her eyes fell on Ukitake. "Hey! You're a captain!"
"…Yes. Yes, I am." Jushiro blinked rapidly, trying not to trip over his words in confusion. "And you are…?"
"I'm Lilynette Gin-."
"That's not-." Starrk tried to cut her off, inserting his much larger body in front of her protectively but she just scoffed and took full advantage of her smaller size to squirm forward through his forelegs to stand in front again.
"Lilynette Gingerbuck! I'm gonna be a shinigami in a few years!" She finished proudly.
"Lily…" Starrk groaned.
"…Ah." Ukitake still wasn't sure what exactly was going on but he realized this new wolf somehow represented the other one's wielder. A slow smile spread over his face. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lilynette-chan. I'm Captain Ukitake of the thirteenth division."
"I'm Sogyo!"
"And I'm Koto!"
Both young spirits popped up in front of their wielder, mere inches from Lilynette, startling her into jumping back and bumping into Starrk's chest.
"Uh, hi?" She looked back up at her zanpakuto in question and he answered quietly.
"They're Ukitake's zanpakuto spirits."
"Oh." She looked between them. "But there's two of you?"
"Yep!"
"We're Sogyo no Kotowari!"
Starrk nudged his wielder gently to get her attention. "Lilynette, are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." She brushed him off. "I mean, my stomach kinda hurts but it's not that bad. It's probably just cuz I'm tired."
"Your stomach hurts?" Suspicion instantly roused, Starrk turned to look at her. "Where, exactly?
"In my stomach…?"
Dread dragged Starrk's heart down in his chest. There was no reason for her to be feeling pain. Not unless something was wrong.
"Lily, you need to go back to your body now." He told her, dead serious. Despite her previous protests, something in his tone got through to her and she sighed noisily.
"Fine, fine…So, how do I do that?"
"…You don't know how to put yourself back?" He nearly groaned.
"No?" A thread of unease seeped into her voice. "I followed you out. I didn't really think about it."
"How did you follow me? You shouldn't be able to-."
"You already said that and you're obviously wrong."
Jushiro and his zanpakuto watched the entire thing, their heads moving back and forth like they were observing a tennis match as the two wolves seemed to forget they were there. It gave the doubts churning in the back of the captain's mind a few minutes to push their way forward and abruptly, he realized there was something off about the whole situation. Well, something other than the strange wolf zanpakuto and whatever was going on with his wielder.
The actions of his own zanpakuto didn't make any sense. They claimed to want to play, but ran instead. They attacked him with their fans, but only to motivate him more strongly to chase. They hadn't expressed any grudges against him, but they had no interest in talking to him.
Chiefly among his doubts was the knowledge that they were still controlled by Muramasa. What could Muramasa gain from these actions?
…From separating Jushiro and Shunsui from the others? From each other? From keeping them fighting their zanpakuto while…while…what?
It was a short leapt to the obvious conclusion. Distraction.
Without another word, Ukitake turned on his heel and ran back towards where he'd left Shunsui.
"Hey?"
"Hey!"
"Master!"
"Where are you going?"
Sogyo and Koto called after him, chasing as soon as they realized he was leaving.
"I commend you on your ability to distract me." He called over his shoulder. "But now I must return. We can play later."
"But we want to play now!"
He did not reply, merely sped up. He couldn't shunpo in such close and unfamiliar quarters; he'd wind up flash-stepping right into a wall and injuring himself. Jushiro could only hope he was fast enough to reach whatever Muramasa was trying to keep him away from before the leader of the rebellion could complete his plot.
X
It was seconds after Ukitake and his zanpakuto left that the tunnel began shaking around Starrk and Lilynette. A massive amount of energy smashed through the cave system, unimpeded by the stone walls in its path. Both wolves looked up in the direction of the source, but only Starrk was able to identify the signatures of the shinigami and zanpakuto involved.
The sickly, cloying power of Muramasa. The raging, aggressive tempest of Ichigo Kurosaki…and the feral bite of his hollow. And the rapidly increasing maelstrom of Head Captain Yamamoto.
Without another word, Starrk lunged forward and scooped up Lilynette by her scruff, grabbing her like a puppy and racing towards their physical bodies as he mentally cursed the choice to leave them anywhere near Yamamoto's self-imposed prison. He'd thought going outside the cave would be far enough…but now…
"Starrk?! Hey, what's going on?" Lilynette's confidence seeped away as her fear increased.
Hold on. He replied mentally. Gripping her tightly, in between one long running step and the next, he threw his consciousness back towards his body, dragging his power along with him. All of his wolves in the cave system fell to his call, vanishing into blue sparks, and, with a startled yelp, Lilynette found herself pulled along for the ride.
It was instinct to push her back into her body where it was leaning against his chest and the two of them came back to themselves with identical gasps.
"Wh-Ow!" Lilynette bent over double clutching her stomach and Starrk caught her, concerned, even as he caught his breathe from a sharp stab of pain in his chest. He had no idea why, but it was throbbing like he'd been stabbed, even though he knew he had not. Together, they stumbled out of Starrk's small niche (big enough for one person, but way too small for two) and nearly collided with Shunsui as he darted past.
"Zanpakuto-san, this is a surprise!"
"Yeah, well…"
Muramasa's nearby victorious laughter interrupted his response and the steadily increasing level of reiatsu abruptly skyrocketed. Starrk unceremoniously shoved any thought of pain out of his mind.
"Muramasa actually let him out? Is he insane?" The wolf zanpakuto growled.
"Let who out?" Shunsui demanded.
"Ryujin Jakka."
The captain of the eighth division actually cursed. "He must be insane."
"Who's that?" Lilynette chirped from Starrk's other side.
Shunsui was so startled, he tripped and nearly fell, bumping into Starrk's shoulder and stumbling the final few steps into the head captain's cavern.
Starrk ignored him in favor of replying to his wielder. "This guy is the captain of the eighth division. Ryujin Jakka is the head captain's zanpakuto."
"Oh." She looked into the cavern and her voice became tiny. Her hand involuntarily tightened on Starrk's arm as she got a good look at what was in the cavern beyond. "Oh."
It's not a cavern anymore. The blue afternoon sky is clearly visible through what used to be the ceiling.
A massive column of fire rose overhead, towering into the sky over the crater that was once a cave. At its base, Muramasa is laughing, long-taloned hands flung wide as he revels in his victory. There is nothing sane about the long grin on his face, his wide, twitching eyes, and the infrequent involuntary spasms shaking his body. He's bleeding again, from the eyes and mouth, but does not seem to notice.
"Um, who's that?" Lilynette had somehow slipped entirely behind her zanpakuto as he stared up at the fires of Ryujin Jakka in horror. Her voice was shaky and quiet, out of character but fitting for the situation.
"Muramasa." Jushiro replied, emerging from the tunnel behind Starrk and Shunsui. Sogyo and Koto were hard on his heels and they screeched to a stop, barely managing to avoid tripping Katen and Kyokotsu who were hard on their heels.
"That's the guy that released the zanpakuto, right?"
"Yeah." Starrk grumbled. "I guess we're about to learn why."
"What the hell is going on?!" Ichigo's strident, confused cry echoed through the once-cavern, drawing everyone's attention from Muramasa. "Why is there fire?!"
"Ichigo…" Yoruichi, unseen until now on the other side of the area started to speak, voice grim and expression knowing. "I think we've made a grave mistake."
"What?" He squawked, spinning to see the newcomers and blinking in shock at just how many people were behind him. "What are you talking about? We came to free the head captain so I broke his prison! How can that be a mistake?!"
It was Shunsui who continued, tone grave from under the shadow of his hat. "Seems like the old man didn't need saving."
"…What?!" Ichigo was spinning in all directions, consumed with confusion. "But…but…he was trapped in that kido. I saw him!"
"The kido was his." Starrk interjected quietly. "Muramasa's been trying to get through it for a while."
Multiple sets of eyes glanced at him in surprise, not expecting any of the zanpakuto to add to their discussion, but he ignored them. His attention was reserved solely for Muramasa as he slowly floated down to the ground, face twisted in a wide smirk of victory as he listened to their low, hurried explanations.
"What…what does that mean?" Ichigo stammered.
"It means his goal was never to stop us." Jushiro explained. "He distracted myself, Shunsui, and Yoruichi in order to get you here all by yourself, and then tricked you into using your Getsugo Tensho while hollowfied. He must have fused your attack with his own power and redirected it to break the Head Captain's barrier."
"Wh-Why would…?"
"Very good!" Muramasa called out, mocking praise that instantly silenced Jushiro and Ichigo. "It seems some of you shinigami are not useless after all." He cut a patronizing smile at Jushiro. "You truly are worthy of the title 'captain'. You're quick to understand my goals…but not quick enough."
"Your goals?" Ichigo yelled back, while the captains frowned and glared, settling their hands on their empty zanpakuto and readying to fight. "What are those?"
Muramasa laughed and, instead of answering, turned to look into the broken rocks that used to be the center of the cavern's floor. "Well, Head Captain? Would you like to tell them, or should I?"
"Hmph." The familiar form of the Head Captain Yamamoto rose smoothly from his cross-legged position on the floor. "Once you know the facts, his goal becomes obvious." In a single step, he flashed from his spot in the center to one between Jushiro and Shunsui. As he passed, Starrk instantly tensed up and instinctively herded Lilynette to his other side, hiding her away from the insanely powerful shinigami. Yamamoto didn't spare either of them so much as a glance. "He wished to gain access to my Inner World."
Ichigo's eyes widened in horrified realization. "Your…Inner World? But…that means…" He looked back to Muramasa. "He got to you? He's got your zanpakuto too?"
"Indeed." Yamamoto inclined his head in regal agreement. His eyes were cold as he looked at the maroon-haired zanpakuto whose grin only widened at the attention. The flames around him flared, taunting their wielder. Ryujin Jakka was fully under Muramasa's control.
"You've been planning this since the beginning, haven't you?" Jushiro's voice was cold and unforgiving. "You never intended to fight for zanpakuto equality – it was all about gaining control of Ryujin Jakka. Why?"
Off to the side, Katen Kyokotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari looked up sharply, uneasy confusion bleeding to anger at the implication. But before they could protest the shinigami's words, Muramasa replied and raging betrayal rose instead.
"You are a quick one, Captain. That's right. My goal was always to reach the knowledge hidden within Head Captain Yamamoto's Inner World. In fact, I approached him before drawing out any zanpakuto…but he blocked me." His face twisted into a sneer for a short second before continuing. "And when I pulled forth the zanpakuto of the oldest and most powerful zanpakuto, he created a kido barrier to keep us all out. At the cost of his own consciousness, he kept me from entering his Inner World."
Said 'oldest and most powerful zanpakuto' were looking on in shock, an expression echoed by Ichigo and, in the background, Lilynette. None of the shinigami seemed surprised and Starrk's expression never changed, despite the disappointment aching in his chest. He'd expected it, had known for a while that the rebellion was a farce, but it still hurt to hear the truth behind his suspicions and the sheer disregard Muramasa held for his followers. Muramasa ignored them all as he returned to his monologue with enthusiasm.
"While it was disappointing, it was also expected. So I hid him away and called forth the zanpakuto to cause chaos in Seireitei to buy myself time to plan and destroy Head Captain Yamamoto's barrier. I made everyone, shinigami and zanpakuto alike, believe my goal was the success of the rebellion and equality between Soul Reapers and Sword Spirits, and that I had confined Yamamoto as a hostage. Then I let my followers fight and lose to their wielders, fostering a false sense of security among the shinigami and allowing you to believe that you were winning. I knew that once I let the fighting die down and you thought you had the upper hand; you would send the most powerful among you to save Yamamoto."
His light teal eyes turned to focus on Ichigo.
"And here you are."
Ichigo's face was dead white as he realized just how thoroughly he'd been manipulated. "N-no way…"
Muramasa grinned. "Thank you. All of you, for your cooperation. Now, I can truly achieve my goals."
As Starrk listened silently, his memory cast back over the past few days, calling forth the pain, suffering, and death he'd encountered since being torn from Lilynette's Inner World. That first night, when unranked shinigami fell like rabbits before a pack of wolves, crying and yelling betrayal even as they died. The next day, when confused low-ranked zanpakuto fell to vengeful shinigami, never realizing the horrors they had committed were not of their own free will. Hyorinmaru, blank and bereft, standing alone and miserable in the forest as his wielder begged him to remember their connection. Haineko and Tobiume becoming more unhappy and angry the longer they were separate from the wielders they claimed to hate, that they'd been forced to believe they hated. Katen Kyokotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari sparring with their wielders, with no idea of their new master's goals. The pain of betrayal between souls that should have been partners. Smoking ruins, bloody flagstones, broken blades…
…And those first few minutes, when Starrk had been called forth, when he did not recognize Lilynette and could easily have killed her without even knowing what he was doing.
Distantly, he hears Katen shouting furiously at Muramasa, backed by her other half, Sogyo, and Koto. Their wielders are shouting at them to calm down, real worry in their voices, but they are too far gone from the betrayal. He hears the ring of their blades and registers Muramasa's contempt for the words of two of the most powerful blades in Soul Society.
No.
There is only one most powerful blade in Soul Society.
Ryujin Jakka.
Katen makes it the furthest, Kyokotsu a step behind. They shriek as fire roars into existence around them, the oldest zanpakuto in Soul Society reaching forward to destroy them on Muramasa's command. Expecting Muramasa – a middling captain-class kido zanpakuto – they are taken completely by surprise. Behind them, Sogyo and Koto are caught as well. Around Starrk, the shinigami swear and pull back from the inferno while Lilynette squeaks and buries her face in the back of his jacket. All he can see of the other zanpakuto spirits are their silhouettes among glaring white and orange flames but through the shouting and screaming, he can see the outlines of Sogyo and Koto holding hands – can see it when their hands are torn apart with a cry like a soul ripping in half…
The cero – Not a cero Can't be a cero He's not a hollow It's kido Only kido - rips from Starrk's hands before he consciously realizes he's called it into existence, an explosion of furious, unformed bluish-white energy that explodes right through Ryujin Jakka's flames, the sheer power behind the attack blowing them to either side. Muramasa's eyes have half a second to widen in shock before he's forced to flash-step out of the way and Starrk's not-cero burns a crater in the wall behind him, doubling the size of the chamber in its wake.
Four sets of feet touch down behind Starrk, and ragged, painful gasping tells him who it is. The other zanpakuto are grievously injured, but unbroken, and aware enough to follow the trail of his not-cero out of the flames. However, they don't seem inclined to speak. It's a temporary reprieve at best; Starrk is powerful, but he doubts his power holds a candle to Ryujin Jakka.
Some part of Starrk is aware that everyone is staring at him, but he only has eyes for Muramasa at the moment. Cold betrayal is a heavy stone in his heart.
"You seem so confident in your actions, Muramasa-san." His words are slow and quiet, but there's a weight to them that touches a chord in Muramasa. The renegade zanapakuto's eyes – wide and stunned by the strength of Starrk's attack – blink twice, then narrow. To his credit, it doesn't take him long to regain his composure.
"Hm?" He ventured after a long, tense moment.
Starrk rocked forward and settled on the pads of his feet, subtly bracing himself on the rocky ground. The not-cero hasn't tired him out at all; it was a cup of water pulled from an ocean. An ocean that's beginning to churn with…something. Starrk's not used to emotion, to investment, but something about this situation is making him deeply unhappy.
"You seem to think there is nothing wrong with this, for zanpakuto and shinigami to kill each other. And your entire rebellion, false or not, is based on shinigami treating zanpakuto as inferiors, objects. Based on the belief that that's normal."
Starrk pauses, but Muramasa says nothing to contradict him, so he continues. Each word rings in the silence, even the crackling of Ryujin Jakka's remaining flames is muted in the background.
"Your wielder must truly be a monster."
Starrk doesn't know what he's expecting, but it isn't what he gets.
Muramasa reels back as if struck, expression widening in shock. Then his entire face twists in fury and he lunges forward, sword materializing in his fist.
"You know nothing!" He shrieks.
Starrk's eyes widen a fraction, but he's prepared. A flick of his hand, and a pack of wolves is running to intercept, bright blue and glaring; snarling, snapping, and howling at the approaching zanpakuto.
It's Muramasa who's forced to back off, yelling in pain as one wolf phases right through his sword to latch onto his hand and another grabs an ankle. He flounders for a moment, before realizing the wolves are actually multiplying. Two becomes four, splits into six, is becoming eight…
"Ryujin Jakka!" The renegade zanapkuto yowls before he can be overwhelmed, and a massive sheet of flame consumes Starrk's wolves in a new attack, destroying them in a heartbeat and driving Starrk backwards. Lilynette is pressed so close to his back that he nearly falls over her, and that is all of the distraction Muramasa needs to escape beyond the flames of the only zanpakuto left under his command. Ryujin Jakka's flames roar upwards, a dozen feet thick and a hundred feet high, and everyone within the circle they create shrinks away from their heat, coming together in the center of their deadly cage.
"Farewell, Shinigami. Farewell, Zanpakuto." Muramasa's voice comes through the attack; it's snarling and sharp, betraying his lack of composure. "There's nothing you can do to stop me, now. We will not see each other again."
Heavy silence falls as he retreats, broken eventually by Yamamoto, snapping at his subordinates. Even the zanpakuto reluctantly turn to listen as he speaks.
"Do not falter! We must escape this confinement. Muramasa is a zanpakuto with the ability to enter an enemy's zanpakuto and control it; he is unique and a true threat to Soul Society! We must escape and stop him from accomplishing his goal!"
"What's his goal?" Ichigo is the first to ask.
"He is going to Living World, to release Koga Kuchiki, a criminal and dire enemy of Seireitei. In doing so, he could easily destroy Karakura Town, kill everyone living there, and destabilize the balance between Soul Society and the Living World!"
"…What?!"
Starrk flattens his ears and pulls Lilynette to his side and out of the way as the substitute shinigami and the captains devolve into panicked shouting and demands for explanations.
Not for the first time, and he's sure it won't be the last, he realizes that there is no way this is going to end well.
Author's Notes:
1. It's been a bit longer than I expected the last time I posted, but not too long. One of the reasons for my absence from Turnabout is because of my focus on Souls Without, another one of my stories. Which is finally finished!
2. Fair warning, I've kept pretty close to zanpakuto arc canon so far (if on the other side of Seireitei half of the time), but that's not going to last much longer. I hated Koga, I hated his battle with Byakuya, and I really hated how the arc was resolved, so Turnabout is going to diverge from it more and more past this point. Also, don't expect a slog through Koga's backstory - we're going to be sticking with Starrk & co. I had to paraphrase a few scenes from the anime to keep this chapter going (re: Muramasa's explanation, Sogyo no Kotowari's introduction, Yamamoto's explanation, etc.) but hopefully this is the last time that will happen.
3. Let me know if anything weird happens with the formatting. I've been trying to edit this chapter for almost a week and stuff just keeps happening to it. I wouldn't be surprised if ffnet gets in on the action.
4. Four (planned) chapters to go!
5. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed last chapter!
Please Review & let me know what you think!
Reviews are a great source of encouragement and inspiration – I'm always happy to hear your input!