Chapter 7
Rukia and Renji wandered for what seemed like hours. They saw nobody – no guards, no Arrancar, no life. Just endless corridors and branching pathways.
"Renji."
"Hmm."
"This is beyond weird. The last time we were here, we met all kinds of resistance. They tried to stop us. Now – nothing. Do you think they want us to try to rescue Sharon?"
Renji scowled. "I can't even begin to guess. There should have been enemies by now. Unless – we actually are here unnoticed?"
"Fat chance." Rukia shook her head. "I tell you, this was too easy. We – "
They abruptly found themselves in a huge empty room. To one side was a large chair, almost like a throne. It was elevated so as to give a commanding view. Several pillars held aloft the vaulting ceiling. Everything was white but dim, giving the desired monochrome effect additional starkness.
"What the hell?" Rukia's voice was suddenly very quiet.
Just then a figure stomped through a far door. It was wrapped in a cloak and wore a mask – and bore a sword whose hilt looked like –
"Hyourinmaru?!" Renji exclaimed in a whisper. "But how – "
"Damn Hitsugaya. Damn Soul Society. Damn woman. Damn them all. Damn it all. Hyourinmaru is mine. This is my sword and no one can take him away from me." The figure stopped short several feet from Rukia and Renji. "And who the hell are you – Shinagami!" He whipped out his sword. "You can't have it! I'm not giving it up. You can't have Hyourinmaru!"
He rushed Renji. Hyourinmaru and Zabimaru clashed with a shower of sparks. "And who the hell are you?" Renji yelled. "Where is Hitsugaya-taichou?"
"Hitsugaya." The crazed man spat the word. "Hitsugaya who was my friend. Hitsugaya, the prodigy. Hitsugaya, the genius. Hitsugaya, the taichou. Hitsugaya, who has everything I ever wanted. Hitsugaya!" He was screaming as he struck, harder each time he said the name. Renji could hardly keep up with the flurry of blows.
Aizen entered, watching, and took his seat in the throne-like chair. He seemed vastly amused by the play before him. Ichimaru led Sharon, still scowling and refusing to take his hand, to stand at Aizen's feet. Rukia saw them first. "Sharon!"
"Rukia! What are you doing here?" She would have rushed to Rukia's side if Ichimaru's hand had not clamped her arm. "Leggo, idiot. I get the picture." She tore her arm away and stepped back in place.
Ichimaru glanced at Sharon's hair, then at Renji. He raised an eyebrow at Aizen, who then looked at Sharon, then at Renji.
"For the last flipping time, we are NOT related. I don't care what my hair looks like when it's messed up like this. What the hell is going on?" Sharon finally saw the battle. "Why is Toshiro fighting Renji like that?"
"Toshiro? But that's – " Rukia stopped short, her eyes wide. On the other side of the hall from them, Hitsugaya rushed in. He took in the scene at a glance. "Sharon!" She saw him – and the other "Toshiro" – and looked dumbfoundedly back and forth between them.
The silvery voice twinkled one last time in Hitsugaya's ear. "Told you Mama's vessel was confused." It then winked out with a giggle.
Then Kusaka saw Hitsugaya. He let out a screech and charged. Hitsugaya brought his blade up in defense. The air filled with swirling, glittering dust, like a fine powdered snow, as the blades clashed.
"This brings back memories!" The blows rained faster and faster.
"Show your face!" In a sweeping motion, Hitsugaya thrust the mask from his face. It shattered on the floor behind them. He leapt back, not wanting to believe what he saw. Kusaka.
"Hyourinmaru is mine!" There was no reasoning with him in this state. The fight intensified.
Sharon just stared. Now there were two Toshiros fighting each other. What the hell?
:Don't you think it's about time you put an end to this?: a voice intoned in her ear.
Her eyes grew wide. And just where in hell have you been? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you've caused?
:Enough time for that later. For now, you need to stop them before they kill each other.: The voice fell suddenly silent.
"Toshiro!" Sharon yelled at the top of her lungs.
The figures fell back, both panting heavily. Both turned to look at her.
"Yes, let's put an end to this." Aizen looked down with that benign smile of his. "We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt just yet." He rested his head on one hand, looking for all the world as if he were enjoying a sporting match instead of a fight to the death. "Besides, you have to decide."
"Decide what?"
"Not what, who. At issue are the dragons and their offspring. You see, I found it quite interesting that your Oshidamaru was able to leave Hueco Mundo all by herself. And I find it even more interesting that she should have chosen to mate – not just anyone, but the most powerful ice type zanpakutou in all of Soul Society. The products of such a match would be unprecedented, and undoubtedly of such a power as to further my goals." Aizen's smile widened, just a notch. "But you have to decide who it's going to be."
"Get to the point, creep. I want to be with Toshiro." Sharon snarled at him.
"Easy, now. But you see two Toshiros, do you not?" He casually waved at the combatants. "You have to pick which one will be staying with you – which 'Toshiro' and which Hyourinmaru. But how to choose, hmmm? I dare say either would be eager to stay with you. So which one is the real Toshiro? Can you tell?"
Sharon's eyes glazed over a bit. She looked back and forth between the two men. To the eye, they were identical – silver hair, blue-green eyes, even identical swords with the four-pointed guard. All of a sudden she felt very confused.
"I… what the hell? Does this mean one of them is… oh…" Two large tears rolled down her cheeks. "Oh no. This must be what Hyourinmaru saw…" The room fell silent at that, but for the breathing of the combatants. They eyed each other, then her.
Everyone heard and saw what happened next. A silvery giggle filled the air. A young girl, maybe half Hitsugaya's height, perched on the dais on which Aizen's chair sat. She had wavy silver hair, glowing emerald eyes, and – as Hitsugaya recognized – wore an outfit all in white, with pert white bows in front and back and short skirt but white slippers, that closely resembled the one he had seen on "Scout" when he first met Oshidamaru. She sat with her knees drawn to her face and a lopsided, enchanting grin.
She waved at the Hitsugayas. "Hi, To-saaaaan ~ ~ ~ !" she called out musically.
Rukia's jaw dropped. Renji scratched his head. Sharon's face got very, very red. She understood instantly what this… girl… was implying. And she suddenly understood exactly why Oshidamaru had gone to ground – and why she decided to show up again now.
Anger filled Sharon's voice as she called out. "Dragons, front and center, now!" Even the Hyourinmarus dared not defy that voice. It held the command of motherhood in it. Both Hyourinmarus filled the room, looking for all the world like giant twin bookends behind each apparent Hitsugaya. The girl leaped down to sit between them. And the other –
"You too, Scout. It's about time we settled this." Oshidamaru made her appearance, not as a dragon – the other two filled the room already – but in the form she had worn for years before. Red hair pulled up in a ponytail was bound in front with a head band with a glowing jade in its center. A pale violet pearl was bound at her throat with an indigo ribbon. The uniform she wore, copied unashamedly from the Sailor Moon anime series, had an indigo collar and skirt, and giant midnight blue bows in front and back. At the center of the front bow was an opal, easily the size of a human fist. Indigo boots to the knee completed the outfit. She stood with her arms crossed and head tilted, looking Sharon straight in the eye.
"Oh Mama, she's nothing like that poem you told me about. You know, 'when she's slapped she never slaps back, little Miss Sharon Lee'? She looks awfully ready to slap back now." The girl was giggling again.
A cold rage to rival Hitsugaya's worst weighed down on everyone present.
Sharon's eyes locked on Scout's as she asked the girl, "And when exactly did your mama tell you about that?" Her eyes were filled with flame. "Years of abuse my grandmother commemorated in that poem. No matter what anybody did to me, whether physical, psychological, emotional, sexual abuse, I never 'slapped back'. I never defended myself. I let them do it all. Even when I was forbidden to discuss 'family matters', especially with a doctor. Even when I was the outcast. Even when I was threatened, punished, blackmailed, first by my family and then by my husband. I always had to take the 'high road' – it was the only way I could live with myself. I couldn't bring myself to strike back because that would take me down to their level. But it meant enduring the horrors of not-quite-enough – not quite enough abuse to be able to report it, not quite enough torment to be able to cry for help, and not quite enough physical evidence to be able to prove anything should I dare accuse anyone. An untenable situation at best, eternal torment at worst. And I never once 'slapped back'. Well, that's about to change."
Sharon leaned back, and with as much weight and leverage as she could gather, slapped Scout resoundingly across the face with her right hand. The force knocked her physically backwards and left a glaring red mark on her cheek. The sound echoed for a few moments in the chamber, then fell silent.
Aizen raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not going to say I'm not grateful. If it weren't for you – if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have found Toshiro. I… can't thank you enough for that." Sharon's voice was breaking. "But you had no right telling anyone about that. You had no right going off and having a child without telling me what was going on. And you had no damned right disappearing without a word and causing so much trouble with so many people." Fresh tears were coursing down Sharon's face. "Look, we need you. I need you. And obviously if Hyourinmaru is ever to be whole again, he needs you. If you have any idea whatsoever what's been going on, you will see what needs to happen next."
Scout's jaw hung open. She closed it, deliberately. She nodded then, once.
"What was sundered and undone
Shall be whole, the two made one."
With that, she resolved into the form of a sword. A simple oval guard separated a hilt bound in indigo from a finely crafted blade.
"Idiot," Sharon mumbled. "Can't even get the movie quote right. Hey Toshiro," she yelled out. "Remind me when we get back to talk to Mayuri-san's people about setting up a DVD player in our quarters. There are some movies I want us to see, and the first one is The Dark Crystal."
Hitsugaya stared. Our quarters? Our quarters?
"I see your movie quote and raise you a Bible verse. Ephesians 2:14: For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility."
Sharon reached up, and with both hands on the hilt, drove the sword into the floor at her feet.
Rumbling filled the entire hall.
Satscout: eeeeeeek. You mean I've let this story gather dust since February?!
Hitsugaya: Your own fault... I mean really... being sick isn't much of an excuse.
Satscout: But you have to admit, I'm really grateful - probably for the first time - for a filler arc.
Hitsugaya: *raised eyebrow* And why, pray tell?
Satscout: Inspiration, my dear. They're giving me what I need for chapter 8. Yummy.... how can one guy be so icy and so hot at the same time...
Hitsugaya: *blushing deep red* Cut that out.
Satscout: *laughing* For once, I'm actually not talking about you. You'll see.
