Chapter 10: Explode
Pain.
That was my first thought, because I felt like I was being ripped apart. I couldn't even gasp, and my vision seemed to flicker as the blinding pain tore into me. I glanced downwards and saw the sharp tips of three differently-shaped swords sticking out of my uniform, along with a dark stain of red spreading across my front. I'd been stabbed in the back.
Will you look at that, I thought weakly, It's like an inkblot test. I think I see a bird, and -
I blacked out.
Zaraki Kenpachi was idly sprawled on the roof tiles of his Squad's barracks, fondly watching Yachiru chatter away about the latest candy she'd extorted from Ikkaku and Yumichika, when suddenly in the distance the night sky was illuminated by a brilliant column of white light, exploding upwards. It was some distance away, but Kenpachi recognized the spiritual pressure. He'd been tracking it unsuccessfully for days.
"Yachiru," he said with a ferocious grin, getting up.
"Yup, let's go, Ken-chan!" she sang happily, grabbing onto his shoulder.
"Fuck yeah, it's about time!" he roared, and launched himself into the air in the direction of the training fields.
In the Twelfth Division HQ, a red light on a monitor began flashing.
"Sir," called the nervous-looking shinigami in front of the screen, standing up.
"Yes?" Third seat Akon approached with his hands clasped loosely behind his back. "What is it?"
"There seems to be a disturbance in the forty-fourth quadrant," reported the man, pointing at the data scrolling across his screen.
"At the Academy?" Akon frowned, the small horns on his forehead twitching.
"Yes, sir. The barrier on the Specialized Training Field has broken."
"Bring up surveillance."
"Sir." the man tapped at his keyboard briefly and then the large screen on the wall flickered into life. By this time the rest of the shinigami's in lab coats working in the room had stopped their tasks and were watching with open mouths.
Akon narrowed his eyes. The video feed showed a rapidly dispersing column of blinding white reiatsu which had been released inside the training grounds. Its source, however, was concealed by the trees around the area.
"We have nothing closer?" he snapped.
"N-no, sir," stuttered the shinigami.
"Fine. Analyse it - our sensors should be going haywire."
"Analysing..." the room waited with baited breath as the results scrolled onto his screen.
"WARNING... WARNING... HIGH-RISK SUBJECT DETECTED..." Bleeped the machine unexpectedly. The recently added file on a Level XXXXX new soul came up on screen.
Akon blinked at the monitor in surprise for a few seconds, before straightening. "Page the Captain, we need-"
"That won't be necessary," drawled a snide voice from the doorway.
"C-Captain Mayuri!" greeted Akon hurriedly, bowing and moving out of the way as the abrasive scientist swept into the room, Nemu following close behind as usual.
"How interesting," leered the Captain, ignoring his subordinates in favour of scanning the data on the monitors. "It's that girl. I wonder what's happening?" He rubbed his hands together gleefully. "We need to bring her in for testing..."
"Should I give the order to retrieve her, Captain?" Akon asked briskly.
"No, no," Mayuri scoffed, "The Captain-Commander wouldn't allow it - due process and all that-" he looked mildly annoyed just thinking about it. "Alert whichever squad is closest to deal with this," he said, waving a distracted hand. "We just need patience. I'll make other plans for... acquiring her..."
Vice-Captain Abarai Renji was doing paperwork, even though it was almost midnight.
It wasn't exactly his favourite job, but he knew that if he didn't get through it, Captain Kuchiki would want to know why. The noble was a stickler for procedures and doing things by the book, and that meant Renji had about a month's worth of reports to file about the Squad's recent activities. Ever since the whole 'Aizen incident', as people were calling it, paperwork had tripled for all the squads. Not only were they busier with the increased pressure of invading Hollows, but the Captain-Commander had also ordered a major overhaul of the way the squads operated. Everything was reported on, extensively. The newly reinstated Central 46 was committed to not letting even minor disturbances escape their notice.
So he already had a headache when distantly he heard a sound like an explosion, and felt the oppressive... yet somehow familiar...? reiatsu.
"... Raen?" he muttered, frowning. "What's that girl up to now?"
He was only wondering for three minutes, after which the screen door abruptly slid open.
"Vice-Captain Abarai!" reported the out-of-breath shinigami, bowing hastily. "We have orders from Twelfth Division!"
Renji kneaded his forehead and thrust himself away from the hellish paperwork. "I'll see to it myself. Gather whoever's on duty, and let's go."
Meanwhile...
I dreamt of a frozen lake.
A wide field of white, disappearing into mist which swirled away in every direction. There was utter silence, except for the crunch of ice under my hands as I pushed myself slowly to my feet.
My robe was white too, like the cloth I'd been wearing when I'd first arrived in Soul Society. However, a large stain of red drenched the back and front.
Ah, that's right, I remembered. I was stabbed by those three.
There was no sign of them here, and I had a pretty good guess where I was. I'd read up on the "internal world" that one could theoretically visit, in order to commune with your zanpakutou. But it was so silent here, and I was alone. I didn't even know his name... so how was I supposed to call him out?
Perhaps it wasn't my internal world. What if- my breath was suddenly snatched away by the sudden thought- what if I was actually dead? Mitsomiya Faraendys Redendra, only a couple of weeks old, killed by her murderous classmates while trying to reason with them.
"That's unfair..." my voice sounded small in the yawning silence.
I sat down abruptly on the ice and sniffed, biting my lip.
"... That's unfair," mocked a sing-song voice suddenly, deep and male and scathing. "Get a fucking grip."
"Z-zapakutou?!" I jumped to my feet, dashing the tears away from my eyes as my heart leapt in joy. "You are here!" I spun in a circle, but there was no way I could tell where the voice came from. All I could see was mist, and more mist. And below, white ice. The chill was giving me goosebumps.
"Unfortunately." he sneered. "I thought I made it clear that you weren't allowed to bother me for trivial matters."
"It's not trivial!" I assured him, "Dude, I'm dying!" I indicated my chest, "Can you see what's happening out there? In fact," I craned my head to inspect the wounds critically. At least they didn't hurt here. "Those idiots might have actually hit some major organs-"
"Deal with it." he snapped, unsympathetic.
I felt a little offended. Weren't zanpakutous supposed to be your partners, protecting and helping you? Why was mine so foul-mouthed and aggressive? "Fine. I'll just die, then." I folded my arms and scowled moodily.
There was a somewhat awkward pause.
"Why didn't you beat those guys?" he asked at last. I could tell he was reining in his temper with an effort.
"I didn't expect them to actually try to kill me!" I retorted. "We were just having a discussion about training. No matter how you look at it, they were really out of order!"
"I DON'T GIVE A SHIT WHO STARTED IT!" roared the voice, and I winced, chastised. "Why didn't you use me?!"
I hadn't even touched my zanpakutou the whole time; it still stuck through my belt. "Well," I mumbled, "You see, I'm not allowed to use a zanpakutou without superv-..."
"Did that stop them?" his sarcastic tone was cruel.
"No, but-"
"If you want to be a shinigami, act like one!" he barked. "If you have an enemy, cut him down. If you don't want to be cut down yourself, then leave your SHITTY sense of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS at the door!"
"You can't just kill everyone who gets in your way!" I burst out, aghast at his bloodthirstiness. Was this really a part of me? If so, I was violent as hell, deep down.
"Why not?" he demanded stubbornly. "It's their fault. They deserve to get their fucking hearts ripped out for starting a fight with us. And anyway, what do you know of fighting!?"
"And what do you know, exactly?" I threw it back in his face (where ever his face was). "You're my zanpakutou. You've never been in a fight, either!"
This quietened him for a while - I may have struck a nerve, there.
"Well, then... I can't help you," he said at last, tone quite different from the belligerence of earlier. He was... almost regretful. Perhaps he did care, after all. "I can only be used for killing."
"I know." I sighed. The realization was sobering. If I ever used my zanpakutou, I had to be prepared to kill... It wasn't something to take lightly.
The rapier and the dagger were both useless as defensive weapons, and I didn't want to test out just how dangerous they were on some idiot student. So, that left me with one last option...
"Lend me more reiatsu," I suggested. "That is, if you can...? I know I've been training hard these past few days-"
He snorted, gaining a bit of his sass back. "If I can? Idiot. See all this mist?"
I glanced about. "Yes...?"
"Mist is evaporated water. That is the power you've been able to access up to this point."
"It's a fair amount of mist, I guess..." I said blankly, not getting it.
"UGH! Just what do you suppose you're standing on?" he roared, impatient.
"Um... Ice...? Lots of ice...?"
"It's a fucking FROZEN LAKE!"
"Oh. OH!"
"It's frozen over so that you don't go reiatsu-super-nova, idiot!"
I scuffed my foot on the surface experimentally - it didn't budge. "Well, can I... I dunno, chip a piece off or something?"
"I don't care anymore. Go for it."
Suddenly a replica of my rapier was visible through the swirling mist, lying on the ice.
I went over and picked it up, hefting it carefully. As usual, it's lightness belied the savagely sharp edge and point. A weapon for killing. How would it fair as a makeshift ice-pick?
Scraping the ice didn't have much effect, so I pointed it tip-down and shoved it in.
To my gratification it sank in about three inches, quite easily. "That wasn't so hard." I remarked.
An ominous cracking sound came from deep below my feet.
"Uhhh... Raen..."
Even my zanpakutou doesn't use my full name, I mused mournfully. I ignored him and leant on the hilt, shoving the rapier down further. I felt something give way.
"Be careful when you-"
"That should do it!" I changed my grip and tensed to pull the sword out, feeling a little like an Arthurian legend.
"Raen-!"
I yanked on the hilt, hard.
My zanpakutou's slightly panicked tone was the last thing I heard, before my whole world dissolved in a brilliant explosion of white.