Chapter 6: Tobiume
The sun was beginning to rise. The first few rays glimmered over the green hills, making them glow radiantly. Finally, sunlight shone over the colorful meadow, causing flowers to bloom instantly. Wonderful splashes of white, and red, and purple, and yellow, and pink, and blue, and orange all opened up on the field; a magnificent sight to anyone who was watching. However, in such a large meadow, only thirteen flowers grew: the chrysanthemum, the tulip, the marigold, the bellflower, the lily of the valley, the camellia, the iris, the bird of paradise, the buttercup, the daffodil, the yarrow, the thistle, and the summer snowflake. Each represented a different squad respectively, and each symbolized a different meaning entirely. It was only fitting for Momo Hinamori's world, after all.
Right in the center of the field, a small girl slept. Two bells lay on each side of her, both tied to a long pink sash that looped around her entire body. Her long black hair stretched to where the sash was first tied, and her only accessory in it was a small hairpin, almost in the shape of a tree branch. Her long robes served as an excellent way to keep warm, and seemed fitting for a young child such as her. She napped peacefully, her breathing coming in slow, steady breaths. She moaned softly, and nestled into a more comfortable position in her grassy bed. But then, she began to twitch, and her breathing became quick and shallow. She murmured quietly, and the two large bells beside her seemed to spark. And then, without warning, her eyes snapped open to reveal large brown orbs, and she sat up with a cry.
She panted heavily, gasping for breath, eyes still wide with fear. She glanced around, momentarily confused. Where was she? And then she remembered. Sighing, she flopped back down on to her back. It had just been that stupid nightmare again.
That silly Momo. If she had just listened to her zanpakuto when she followed Captain Ichimaru into the room, then she wouldn't have fallen into that damn Aizen's trap, and she would never have been impaled so horribly. But Momo hadn't listened. She had ignored her zanpakuto's warning, and went inside. And look what had happened.
Tobiume closed her eyes, trying not to think about her dream. She had warned Momo, she really had. Countless times she had tried to remind her what Hyorinmaru's master had told her of; to beware of Gin Ichimaru. But Momo hadn't listened. She never listened. Tobiume remembered hearing a scream when Aizen's sword had slipped through her wielder's chest, and she remembered realizing that it was she screaming. Poor, poor Momo. Being betrayed by the man whom she had placed all her trust in. Tobiume remembered screaming, and then she remembered anger. She remembered threatening Kyoka Suigetsu, but the hypnosis zanpakuto had merely laughed and waved her off. She remembered the flooding relief when Hyorinmaru and his brave master arrived, and the reassuring words the ice dragon had spoke to her. Hyorinmaru was the strongest ice zanpakuto; he could not lose. But Kyoka Suigetsu had fooled him, and Toshiro Hitsugaya had fallen.
Tobiume remembered feeling that all hope was lost. Her wielder was on the verge of death, and that meant she was as well. Captain Hitsugaya had fell in a spray of blood, and Hyorinmaru with him. There had been no one to help, until finally the captain and lieutenant of the Fourth Division had arrived. That was when Tobiume had felt safe enough to allow herself to slip into unconsciousness, vaguely wondering if she would wake up again.
And she had. Momo had healed, and had accepted that Aizen was a traitor. But she still bore a scar where his zanpakuto had stabbed her, and Tobiume could never forgive herself for that. She should have tried to warn Momo more fiercely, or maybe even tried to attack as soon as she'd seen Aizen 'back from the dead'. It was her fault that Momo had been so severely injured like that, and she could never forget it.
So as soon as she'd seen Momo walk around, smiling and laughing as though nothing wrong had happened to her, she'd made a vow. She vowed that she would never let anything harm Momo ever again, not if she could help it. She was a zanpakuto, after all. Zanpakuto were supposed to protect their wielders to the utmost, and that was where Tobiume had failed.
Tobiume glanced sideways at the flower swaying next to her head. It was a lily of the valley, the flower of the Fifth Division. It was the flower of Momo Hinamori. She reached out to touch its soft petals. The lily of the valley was an oddly shaped flower; rather than its petals opening and flattening out, they curved inward, making a bowl-like shape. Tobiume liked the way it was shaped. It was peculiar. Love was peculiar. Humility was peculiar. Those were what the Fifth Division stood for, and those were what the flower stood for. Tobiume first and foremost loyalty would always be to her wielder, the acting captain of Squad 5.
The zanpakuto blew gently at the flower, and it bent over by the sudden force. She smiled, and then stood up, glancing around at her beautiful home. She took great pride in her flowers, and took extremely good care of them. If one looked closely enough, they would notice small patches of plain grass, where not a single flower bloomed. That was where Tobiume allowed herself to step on; never on the flowers, only on the grass. If one stepped on a flower, one killed it. And if someone killed one of her flowers, she would personally kill him.
So Tobiume went around, carefully examining each and every flower and making sure that they were all in their top condition. Anyone else would have gone crazy by having to check every single flower in the large meadow, but Tobiume didn't. She enjoyed taking care of her flowers, and she had a lot of time, anyway. It wasn't likely that she would be called upon anytime soon, since Momo rarely fought, so she liked to spend her time with her garden.
When at last she was finished, she returned to her sleeping place, and sat down, admiring the beauty of the meadow. A soft breeze traveled to her field, gently rustling the delicate flowers. They swayed as the wind passed by the time, and then returned to their still positions. Tobiume closed her eyes and laughed as the wind blew into her, causing her hair to fly up. She loved peaceful days like this; in fact, every day here was like this. Sure, it might get a little boring, but it was so nice and lovely all the time that she barely cared.
"Your garden is very lovely."
Tobiume snapped her eyes open in alarm, and immediately jumped up, readying her twin bells. Not too far away from her stood a tall man. Her gaze went to his feet, ready to attack if he was standing on her precious flowers. But to her surprise, he was standing on one patch of plain grass. His sunken eyes added to the depressing pale face he had, and his large coat looked extremely out of place in such a warm meadow. But the most intimidating part of the man was his long fingernails, which reached all the way down to his knees.
Tobiume frowned, but forced herself to stay calm. If this man knew not to harm her flowers, he might not mean harm to Momo. "Greetings. I cannot say I was expecting any guests today, so I am quite unprepared. Pardon, but who exactly are you?"
"My name is Muramasa, and before you ask, I am not here to attack you." The man replied. "I have been to five previous worlds, and have spoken to five zanpakuto. Although I must admit, none of their homes are quite as beautiful as yours. You take care of these flowers yourself?"
"Yes, and they require much patience and care." Tobiume said, still wary of the strange man.
"I can imagine. And you have done an excellent job." Muramasa complimented.
"Thanks you, I'm touched." She replied dryly. "Now, if you please, why are you here? I will speak truthfully, if you hurt Momo in any way I will kill you."
Muramasa looked slightly amused. "My, my. That sounds so violent coming from one so young. But then again, you and your wielder have been through much grief. I apologize for the loss of your previous captain."
"Aizen is still alive."
"The leader of the Espada is alive, yes. But the captain of the Fifth Division, I regret to say, is dead."
Tobiume shook her head in confusion. What was this man saying? "Enough nonsense. Muramasa, could you please answer my question? Why are you here?"
"To make you an offer," Muramasa replied. "I have made the same offer to the previous five zanpakuto, and all five agreed. I shall now proceed to ask you the same thing. You see, Tobiume, it has come to my occurrence that the Shinigami have been mistreating their zanpakuto. So I am building an army, a zanpakuto army, to attack the Shinigami and rule over them as they once did to us. So, what do you s-?"
"No thank you. I will never do anything that could endanger Momo's life." Tobiume said, surprised at how calm her voice was, as compared to the fierce shock that had jolted through her body as soon as the words had left his mouth. This man wanted to take over the Shinigami! It was absurd! This man could be no less than insane.
"I have no intention of killing Shinigami that hold the rank of lieutenant or captain. They are admirable, more or less, and it would be a waste of good servants. But don't worry, I'm sure us zanpakuto will be better masters then they ever were." His tone was casual, as though he was simply talking about how nice the weather was.
"I will not repeat myself." Tobiume's voice was cold. "I have no interest in your foolish dreams. Please leave now."
"If my dreams are so foolish, please explain to me why five others have agreed to join me."
"They are foolish as well."
"No. I simply reminded them of the wrongdoings their wielders had done to them, and they came. And what are the wrongs Momo has done to you?"
"She has done nothing wrong." Tobiume said angrily. How dare this man accuse Momo of mistreating her? Her reiatsu flared, and her bells began to spark with the beginnings of a flame. "She has always treated me kindly and well."
"She is ignorant of you," Muramasa said softly, undeterred by the sight of bells on fire. "Who's fault was it when she got impaled?"
Tobiume stopped, taken aback. Her bells cooled down, as her painful memories returned. What was he talking about? Was he trying to get her to join out of guilt? She bowed her head and said quietly, "It was my fault."
"What?" There was genuine surprise in his voice, and the sound caused Tobiume to look up at him. "How in the world is it your fault? You tried to warn her, over and over and over again. But she wouldn't listen to you. She was ignorant, and decided to wander over to her supposedly dead captain. And he impaled her. How can you blame yourself?"
"Because I'm her zanpakuto," Tobiume retorted. This was the most ridiculous question she'd heard yet. How could she blame herself? It was her fault entirely! "A zanpakuto is supposed to defend and protect its wielder no matter what, and I failed to do so. That is how it is my fault."
"But how can it be your fault if she refused to listen?" Muramasa insisted.
"I could have… I could have warned her more strongly! All I said to her was to be cautious- that's hardly an effective warning. Or, as soon I saw Aizen, I could have attempted to attack him, or something! Momo was traumatized when she saw his dead body, or his fake dead body, and she didn't know any better. I myself wasn't too sure."
"If she was confused after Aizen faked his death, who should have been the one person she'd turn to? Her own zanpakuto. You, Tobiume. But she didn't. She ignored your words, and first went onto attack Gin after recalling what her white-haired friend told her. And then afterwards attacked him. The only one she could've trusted was you, but she barely spoke to you. She didn't even hear you when you talked to her. Tobiume, I cannot see how you can possibly blame yourself for her mistakes."
Tobiume opened her mouth to reply, but realized she had nothing she could say. She closed it, hesitating. This man had an extremely good point. Momo should have trusted her but… she hadn't. She had trusted Hitsugaya and attacked Gin, then she had trusted Aizen and attacked Hitsugaya. Then she had even placed her trust in Gin, of all people! But she had never, not once, spoken to Tobiume about her problems. Why was that? Could it really be that she hadn't trusted her own zanpakuto?
"Tobiume," Muramasa's voice was gentle. "Come with me. I promise that you will not regret it."
Tobiume stared at him. This man was smarter than he seemed. Perhaps… if she joined him… she could have friends. Real friends who trusted her. Maybe… but what about her promise to Momo? She'd vowed never to let anything happened to her wielder. Then she frowned. Screw Momo! She was just some ungrateful Shinigami who obviously had trust issues.
Muramasa must have seen her expression change, because he actually smiled a little. "Will you join us, Tobiume?"
She stared at him, still slightly unsure. Then, she smiled back, and nodded. "Yes. If it won't be a bother, I would like to go with you."
"Not a problem at all." Muramasa replied as he offered her his hand.
Tobiume looked at it, then let out a deep breath and took it. Instantly, the scenery around her began to swirl and change. The very ground was spinning beneath her feet. She glanced around wildly, and then caught sight of her garden. Her garden! Who would take care of it while she was gone? No, she shouldn't worry. That was Momo's garden, and she was no longer Momo's. The flowers were not her responsibility now. Her thoughts quickly went from her previous home, to the fact that she was no experiencing a severe headache. Groaning, she covered her head with her hands, trying to ignore the pain.
A firm hand gripped her shoulder, and squeezed it gently. "It's almost over."
It was true. Only about thirty seconds later, they arrived in a dark cave. Tobiume didn't move, however. She stood still, gripping her head, waiting for the headache to leave. When it finally did, she lifted her head and looked around. Where was Muramasa? A brief feeling of panic began to rise within her, when she heard him.
"Over here. Down these stairs." Muramasa called over to her.
Breathing a silent sigh of relief, she went over to join him. "Down there… is that where the other zanpakuto are?"
"Yes. Come on, why don't we go meet them?"
"Okay."
She followed him down the stairs, carefully making sure she didn't trip over the shallow steps. When they finally made it to the bottom, Muramasa called out, and almost instantly the other zanpakuto arrived.
"A new friend!" A cat-human hybrid said eagerly, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. She leaned forward. "Aw, she's so cute! What's your name, little one?"
Tobiume found herself slightly unnerved out by the strange zanpakuto. "I am Tobiume. What's your name?"
The lady returned to her straight posture and said, "My name is Haineko. This right here…" She pointed to a dark demon, who definitely had not been there three seconds ago. "Is Kazeshini."
He grinned, although not altogether in a friendly way. "Hello."
"Ah, a new arrival." A pretty lady walked up beside Haineko. She smiled kindly at Tobiume, and then glanced at Muramasa. "She was not any trouble, I hope?"
Muramasa looked fondly down at the little girl. "None at all. She was actually fairly easy to convince. Much easier then you, at least, Sode no Shirayuki."
Sode no Shirayuki arched a brow when she caught sight of the look Muramasa was giving the younger zanpakuto, but decided not to question it. If he wanted to see Tobiume as a daughter, that was perfectly fine with her. At least that meant he was capable of emotion.
Just then, a bright glowing thing zipped in front of Tobiume and peered closely at her. "You're pretty young." The fairy grinned at her, almost looking relieved. "I'm Suzumebachi, I hope we can be friends."
Muramasa made a surprised sound. "I see Suzumebachi is feeling better."
"She just needed someone to talk to." Another voice said. A thin man with long dark hair walked over. He was carrying a large metal ball on his left shoulder, and an oddly shaped sword in his right hand. On his back was a stone tablet that seemed chained to him.
Suzumebachi looked at him in a friendly way, before glancing back at Tobiume. "That's Wabisuke, and he's really nice. When I first got here, the other three bullied me, but when he arrived he actually talked to me. I bet you'll like him, too."
Tobiume nodded slowly. As much as she was beginning to enjoy the fairy's optimistic energy, when she heard that the other three zanpakuto had bullied her, she glanced at them warily.
Haineko, obviously misinterpreting the look, waved cheerfully.
"Now then," Muramasa announced. "I have to go again. This time I will be meeting up with the dual weapon, Katen Kyokotsu. I hear she can be rather stubborn, and because we are running out of time, I really must hurry." He looked at all of them sternly. "You will all take good care of Tobiume, I trust?"
The other four nodded, and he looked satisfied. "Good. Then I will be taking my leave." He turned and climbed back up the stairs. "I hope you find this place enjoyable, Tobiume." And with that said, he disappeared from sight and left with a popping noise.
"He must really like you," Suzumebachi said. "He never acted that nice to any of us."
Tobiume just shrugged. "I honestly don't know what I did."
"Well, I'm glad he's at least showing some emotion other than that blank look his always has on his face." Kazeshini gave a poor imitation of the look Muramasa normally had on. "Always makes him look so dumb!"
"Please, Kazeshini, be more polite." Sode no Shirayuki chided. "He rescued you from those horrible black mountains you used to live in."
Kazeshini just shrugged and laughed.
Suzumebachi sighed. "Honestly, men can be so stupid sometimes. Why can't all of you guys be more like Wabisuke?" She grinned and shook her head, before flying off cheerfully. "Come on, Tobiume, let me show you around!"
Tobiume gave a startled glance at Wabisuke, who offered her a small smile and said, "Suzumebachi is certainly a kind zanpakuto, if not a bit hyper. She would be an excellent choice for a first friend."
She hesitated, then smiled and nodded and ran after the fairy. Suzumebachi laughed as she flew around Tobiume's head, and Tobiume laughed as well. For a moment, her mind flickered to the meadow she had once called her home, and she felt a feeling of homesickness. She wondered briefly if she should have stayed there, and if she had been wrong to join Muramasa. Then she heard Suzumebachi calling her, and the other zanpakuto laughing as the fairy just barely dodged a rock that had been jutting out of the wall.
Tobiume laughed, too, and ran to catch up with her, all thoughts of her previous home gone. There was no doubt about it; coming here was definitely the right choice.