Chapter 7
Tatsuki stared at the ferocious and yet majestic red lion with fiery mane. His intense eyes peered back at Tatsuki, staring straight into the essence of her being. Tatsuki found herself unable to move. She stood in awe of such power, and she would be lying if she wasn't a little afraid of this beast in this strange land.
"A human girl…" The lion's voice roared and was heard all across his land, "This human girl has found her way into my domain to challenge my power? Why would any human dare play with the incredible powers of a Zanpakuto."
Tatsuki face shifted from fear to determination as she remembered why she was doing this. She pictured Orihime and was able to take a few steps forward with renewed purpose. She realized that Zanpakutos were sacred to the soul reapers, and as such they should be treated with more respect then she had been giving the spirit. "My name is Tatsuki Arisawa. I am wanting to become a soul reaper to avenge my friend that has fallen at the hands of a cruel assassin. I want justice for my friend, and I want to be able to protect other good people like her that cannot protect themselves. I am sorry for my disrespect earlier, but please, I need you to lend me your power."
"Silence!" The lion bellowed back at Tatsuki, cutting her off as she tried to explain herself to him. "I care not for your name, for your purpose, or for your apologies. In my world, all that matters is power. Do you have the power to wield me? Do you have the power to coexist alongside my essence? Not many do, what power could any mere human child like yourself have?"
"I have what it takes!" Tatsuki yelled back, fire in her eyes as she spoke. "Tell me what I must do to prove that I can effectively wield you as a Zanpakuto!"
"Your boldness has not been without noticed." The Zanpakuto spirited nodded in acknowledgement to Tatsuki. "Very well then, child. You must leave your mark on me, brand me as if I were your own beast to command. Leave your mark on me and I will grant you the power you need to obtain your goals."
Tatsuki stood strong as she prepared herself for the task at hand. She wondered, what could he have meant by "leave her mark on him"? Tatsuki noticed a small patch of smoke appear at her feet. She looked down and took a quick step back and watched as the smoke faded and on the ground laid a silver boomerang, each end serving as a sharp blade.
"You can't be serious?" Tatsuki asked, "I have to cut you with this boomerang….is that it?"
"Does it seem like a simple task to you, young one?" The lion questioned as he crouched and prepared itself ready to pounce. "Let me assure you, that many have tried to make their mark on me, and only very few have succeed. All the others, have burnt away in the quest."
Before Tatsuki could process this information the massive lion lunged forward at great speeds. Tatsuki jumped to the side and rolled onto the purple grass to just barely dodge the beast. As Tatsuki sat on the ground, and breathed heavily from the shock of the lion attacking her so swiftly, she turned just in time to see the lion glow with a bright red aura. Three fireballs formed on top of him and shot towards Tatsuki. With reflexes that could only be formed with years of marital arts training, Tatsuki dove onto the ground once more, dodged one, rolled to the right dodging another, and the third gave her no immediate threat.
The fireballs hit the ground and like bombs ripped open the terrain. What was once a flat field of peaceful purple grass, now contained several elevated chunks of land that burned brightly. Tatsuki quickly moved behind one to catch her breath and devise some sort of strategy to overcome this obstacle. She peered around the chunk of land protecting her to notice the boomerang still lying on the ground. Her eyes then moved to the red spirit lion looking at the little hill she hid behind.
"What nonsense!" The lion growled at Tatsuki. "How can you hope to be more powerful and lay your mark on me if all you will do is run like a scared little girl? Can your human essence take much more, I wonder?"
"While he's talking…" Tatsuki quickly concluded, "This is my chance to strike!"
"Humans are indeed fragile creatures…"
"Let me show you how tough us humans can be!" Tatsuki barked as she hopped out of hiding and ran towards the boomerang and quickly picked it up from the ground.
The lion's eyes fell upon Tatsuki who was rushing towards him, and the beast opened up it's large mouth and released another fireball towards her. Tatsuki continued her charge and attempted to smack the blazing sphere away with her weapon. The boomerang deflected the fireball, and began to glow red itself.
"I see…" Tatsuki thought to herself as she watched the metal's color change, "This weapon seems to absorb his heat energy. It makes sense since the Zanpakuto himself created it for me."
Planning a frontal assault, Tatsuki leapt into the air and tossed the boomerang towards the lion who simply moved his head slightly to the right. The boomerang kept flying for a mile or two, and landed on the ground behind where the fight was taking place.
"What the hell kind of boomerang doesn't return to its thrower?" Tatsuki demanded as she leaned down and used her hand to brace herself as she touched down on ground once more.
"You will have to do way better than that young one." The beast roared as he rushed towards her, flames flowing from his body. "And now I will go on the offense!"
The lion ran with great speed, all four legs leaving the ground they touched in ember and ash. Tatsuki ran forward, as she instinctively felt an internal strength in her grow in a way that she had never experienced before. She could not explain it but her body was telling her to just go with the feeling. As the lion opened his mouth to devour his opponent, Tatsuki leapt onto his head and then did a front flip over the beast. Unknown to her, she had just did a jump higher than any mere human could accomplish.
Tatsuki kept running with as much speed as she could muster towards her weapon that was a great distance away. The Zanpakuto spirit paused and looked back at the girl with a grunt of acknowledgement to her ability. "Her spirit power is awakening as this battle progresses. Perhaps her body work alongside my power, but she is still very far off…and she doesn't have much time it would seem."
Tatsuki ran towards the weapon not looking back, knowing that she didn't have time to. She winced in pain as she looked down and looked at her right hand that suddenly became very painful and very heavy. Her eyes widened with terror as she realized that her right hand had turned to stone. The martial artist picked up her weapon, turned around and yelled back at the beast.
"Hey lion!" Tatsuki demanded, "What did you do to my hand?"
"You may be in a state of alternate reality in my world." He replied, his voice radiating with great magnitude, "But your reality is still occurring. Your soul, detached from it's physical form, is rapidly becoming a hollow. You do not have long now. My power could save your life, but that's only if you can lay your mark on me."
Tatsuki winced in pain once more but was even more determined to finish the objective. Once more she ran swiftly to the lion and threw here boomerang at the crimson animal. This time, the throw was stronger and the boomerang swirled faster at the beast, but he was able to leap high into the air and avoid it once more. The girl watched as her weapon spun around for a brief moment, but then quickly fell on the ground.
"Her energy is growing rapidly. She is almost able to manipulate the boomerang." The spirit acknowledged.
The battle raged on. Tatsuki fought harder than she ever had in a martial arts tournament. Each of her throws would improve. The boomerang would be more powerful, it would fly faster, glow with a brighter hue of red, and would come closer to returning to her fully. After about six perilous attempts, Tatsuki was able to throw the boomerang and experience being able to catch the weapon as it returned to her. She smile as she had figured out how maneuver this strange weapon. Tatsuki believed that her technique had improved with the boomerang, but the lion knew it was her spirit pressure increasing that was giving her the ability to control where the boomerang was flying.
"I have been on the defense for most of this encounter." The lion spirit roared at Tatsuki, "Now it is time for me to strike at you with great power. Prepare yourself, little human girl."
The lion let out a massive earth shattering roar that seemed to create vast quanities of fire bolts that zipped towards Tatsuki all at once. The girl moved swiftly to dodge several, deflect others with her bladed boomerang, and attempted to jump back and throw her weapon to destroy the remaining lightning bolts in one swoop. Tatsuki succeeded, or so she thought.
As the boomerang swirled through fire bolts, disintegrating them, Tatsuki smiled as she felt she had overcome the attack. As the L shaped item was far from its wielder, the lion let out another roar and a second wave of fire bolts shot towards Tatsuki.
Tatsuki ducked down and covered her head screaming, feeling as if the end was near as the fire bolts shot towards her. She had no defense, she was going to be electrocuted, burned, or maybe more depending on how such mystic attacks worked. Her scream changed from fear to anguish as she realized if she died here she wouldn't be able to avenge her friend, or tame this spiritual beast. She wished she could. She wanted nothing more than to master this power and use it to bring justice to her friends, both fallen and living. She had watched Ichigo and the others for years defend Karakura town and she was left to sit in the sidelines with nothing but questions as to what was happening.
Tatsuki opened her eyes, no longer afraid but enraged with purpose and dedication. This was her chance to change positions from spectator to athlete and she was not going to die here. As Tatsuki opened her eyes and turned around she saw her boomerang, now bright red and glowing flying above her face. It had zoomed back with great speed, and protected her from the bolts. Tatsuki now understood how this boomerang worked…she could control it with her heart. She realized that she could quite literally will it to move, and it would. The young warrior smile as she once again grabbed the boomerang, she did not want to reveal to her adversary that she knew this truth about her weapon. As she clenched her boomerang with her left hand, she looked over to her left arm which was now completely covered in stone. It hurt terribly, and Tatsuki knew she did not have much time left. This next attack could be her last, so she needed to make it count.
Tatsuki once again ran towards the lion and threw her boomerang towards him. The beast growled as it was going to once again dodge the same attack it had for the last several minutes. This was exactly what Tatsuki had intended to happen. As the lion jumped in the air, she willed her boomerang to shift trajectory and move towards him. Tatsuki's face shifted to a large and hopeful smile as the blade of the boomerang made contact with the beast's skin and cut it softly.
The lion's wound opened up and the blood that flowed from the cut began to glow and swirl around it's lower left side and Tatsuki watched as the blood began spelling out a word on the lion's chest. She quickly recognized this word as the Zanpakuto's name. All around her the world began to be engulfed in flames.
"Tatsuki…Arisawa…" The lion's roar was now not being heard in this dissipating world, but in Tatsuki's own heart. "You have shown me your great power and resolve. I will walk beside you and lend my power to you when you need me. We will grow stronger together, and all who come in our way will be engulfed with the fires of my power and your heart. Simply call, and I will return to you whenever you ask."
"Thank you…" Tatsuki thought as the world faded to white as her mind began shifting back into reality, she now knew her Zanpakuto's name…"Thank You, Simba."
The next thing Tatsuki knew she was standing back in Urahara's basement, which was made to look like a vast desert. She was no longer in the hole, but standing in front of Ichigo. Tatsuki first noticed several large fragments of bone fell from her arm to the ground and shattered. The girl breathed easy knowing that she had beaten the hollow transformation. Then, the new soul reaper noticed her mentor Ichigo staring at her with a look of great confusion.
"What is it Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked, her voice full of fatigue.
"Your soul reaper uniform…" Ichigo spoke softly, "It looks differently than every one I have seen? Ours are all black…why is yours red?"
Well now…" A voice was heard from behind Ichigo. Both he and Tatsuki quickly looked in the direction of the voice to see Kisuke Urahara examining Tatsuki's new soul reaper transformation. "This is certainly a sight that I did not expect to see…How very interesting. Tatsuki, your transformation definitely adds a new dynamic to things."