Chapter 12: Hozukimaru

Darkness was all he'd ever known. Darkness, and the feeling of the damp dirt beneath him as he paced in his underground world. He'd never seen the light of day, no matter how many times he'd heard about it. He used to rage in his underground cave, demanding that he be let out. But, of course, he was always ignored. Over the decades, his eyes had become adjusted to the dark. He could see as well at night as you could during the day. But he still yearned to see the sun, and the world above him. So, in return for Ikkaku Madarame ignoring him, he ignored his wielder whenever his Bankai was called upon. He chose that as a good moment to sleep, except for when Ikkaku would begin spinning him all around and screaming at him to wake up. That was when he was forced to oblige, and that was why he hated the third seat. Ikkaku could very well become a captain, maybe even a candidate for the third, fifth, or ninth divisions. But noo, he never wanted to admit that he'd achieved Bankai. All because he wanted to stay under the command of that bloodthirsty psycho who didn't even know his own zanpakuto's name.

Hozukimaru snorted at the very thought of it, and then rolled over onto his back, arms behind his head. There was nothing to look at except for the black ceiling, but he still kept his eyes open. Because he wasn't released too often, he had taken to sleeping all the time. And besides, sleeping was good for you. Stores up energy and all that stuff. He just hated having to get up and actually use his powers. Yes, over the past century he had become some terribly lazy oaf who did nothing but lounge around all day in complete darkness. Judging from the rumors he'd heard, there was another zanpakuto like that, but he had no idea who. Stories didn't get passed into his world so easily. He lived in complete darkness, and he'd pretty much never heard another voice other than his own. He used to talk to himself, but he'd stopped about seventy years ago because he thought that it made him look insane. Now he wondered if he could still talk at all.

Loneliness was usually a depressing thing, but for Hozukimaru, it was perfect. When he had first been made, he had wanted nothing more than light and friends, but now that he'd grown older, he realized that his dreams were foolishness. Light would be nice to have, he still admitted that, but darkness was better for sleeping in. Let's face it; everyone sleeps better in the dark. And friends… again, friends would be nice to have, but if there were more than one zanpakuto in his world, he'd never be able to sleep. And sleep was the most important thing for him. Plus, he snored. And he was pretty sure that other people didn't appreciate snoring.

Hozukimaru blinked once, and then let out an enormous yawn. Enough thinking for one night, it was time to sleep now. He rolled back onto his stomach, crossing his arms and burying his face into them. His long orange mane covered half of his body, and actually provided a little warmth, although not much. He closed his eyes, and waited for sleep to kick in, which it did in a matter of one minute. He was a deep sleeper, and he knew it. Almost nothing could wake him up once he was out of it. Except for maybe an ultra-powerful attack, or a really loud and annoying voice. But how many times did those things occur in his world, anyways? That was why he usually got plenty of uninterrupted naps. And that was exactly the way he liked it. Uninterrupted. But, if he'd been awake for perhaps three minutes longer, he wouldn't have gotten a rude awakening, because he wouldn't have been asleep. But he did sleep, so this day would mark a very important happening. Hozukimaru's nap was actually interrupted.

When you're dreaming, the dream seems to have taken a long time, when in reality it was probably only fifteen-twenty minutes long at most. During that nap, Hozukimaru dreamt. He dreamt that his underground world was shaking like it never had before, and some anonymous being had actually gotten himself into it. He dreamt of the earth beneath his feet moving, and seeing light for the first time before plunging into darkness once again. It was one of his more troubling dreams, and he didn't particularly enjoy it. But it kept on going, and he had no idea when he would wake up. Until a foot kicked him in the ribs.

Under normal circumstances, something as weak as a kick would never have awoken Hozukimaru. But as soon as the foot had collided with his body, it seemed as though some sort of force had jolted through him, and his eyes instantly snapped open. Out of complete instinct, he lashed out his left arm, but it didn't hit anything, so he sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes with one arm and grumbling. Once he'd retreated his arm and blinked a couple of times, he realized that there was a dim outline of a man standing in front of him. Hozukimaru glared at the man as the great ogre stood up, hoping that his large bulk would frighten him.

When the man didn't scramble away in terror, Hozukimaru shook his head, and demanded, "Who the hell are you?"

The man looked up at him with piercing red eyes, which were the only things about him that Hozukimaru could see clearly. "I am Muramasa. And you, I can only assume, are Hozukimaru."

"Thanks, but I know my own name," Hozukimaru snapped. "So then, Muramasa, what're you doing here? Or did you just stop by to have an afternoon chat? And personally, I don't think it's the latter."

"On the contrary, it is." The pair of red eyes blinked. "But, of course, it has to be taken into consideration on what you believe is an 'afternoon chat'."

Hozukimaru frowned. He didn't need to have this stranger wake him up in such a rude manner, and then start acting all smart on him. He spoke irritably, his voice rising with every sarcastic word he said. "Oh, gee, what I consider an afternoon chat is us two sitting down and having a cup of tea, and start talking about how nice the weather is."

Muramasa cocked his head slowly to one side, before lifting it back to its original position. "Okay then. In Soul Society, it is currently raining, and not at all what I consider nice. All the Shinigami have locked themselves up in their quarters, except for a minor few who have decided to go to the bar, as usual. I believe those Shinigami who have gone to the bar are Rangiku Matsumoto, Shuuhei Hisagi, Izuru Kira-."

"I wasn't being serious!" Hozukimaru cut him off. This guy was really starting to irritate him, and he'd only been here for two minutes! "Geez, don't you know the meaning of sarcasm?"

"Sarcasm? I'm afraid that word is not in my vocabulary."

Hozukimaru uttered a low growl, hoping fiercely that the man would get the hint and go away. When Muramasa had proved that he was utterly oblivious to the fact that he was not wanted here, Hozukimaru said, "Okay, fine, so your vocabulary is clearly limited. Would you please go away now?"

"I'm afraid I cannot leave until I have proved my point," Muramasa said. "I am here for a reason, you know. And before you rudely interrupt me again, the reason is because I am building an army. A zanpakuto army, to be exact. It has come to my belief that most zanpakuto are feeling mistreated or disrespected by their wielders, so I have decided to act upon it. Once my army is complete, all of us will attack the Shinigami, and take over Soul Society. The era of the Shinigami will end, and the zanpakuto's will have just begun."

His tone was dull, as though he'd repeated this many times over and was tired of it, but his words had certainly hooked Hozukimaru. Revenge on Ikkaku? The man who dared called himself Hozukimaru's wielder? The ogre couldn't have been happier, even if you told him that he had won a brand new king-sized bed. He opened his mouth to agree, but then paused. For one thing, this whole thing could be a prank or something. For another… doing all that sounded very tiring. And a century of being lazy had certain made Hozukimaru wary of any sort of work. So he shrugged it off and said,

"Sounds nice, I'll admit, but I think I'll pass."

Years of adjusting his eyesight to see better in the dark certainly paid off when he saw Muramasa's expression. Hozukimaru backed away a bit; he had no intention of getting in a fight. Too much of a bother.

"Are you certain?" Muramasa asked. "I know that you must despise your wielder, Ikkaku Madarame. If it weren't for his cowardice, you would be the honored zanpakuto of a captain. But he instead chooses to hide your Bankai, just for the sake of serving under that crazed man of the Eleventh Division. And then, when he does call upon your Bankai, he wakes you up from your nap and actually scolds you for being lazy. Is that life really so satisfactory that you would want to go on with it? Or would you rather come with me, and make some actual friends, and never be interrupted from your nap until you wake up?"

Hozukimaru could have pointed out that Muramasa had been the one to rudely awaken him from his sleep earlier, but then decided against it. He got the feeling that the man wouldn't tolerate being insulted like that. Muramasa was powerful, no doubt, although just how powerful, Hozukimaru wasn't sure. He just didn't like this man.

"Yeah, so I hate that sorry excuse for a Shinigami. But that doesn't mean I'll turn against him just like that." Hozukimaru was lying between his teeth. Of course he wanted to leave, he was just too lazy to. Then again, all he would have to do was go to wherever this Muramasa guy took all the other zanpakuto and then go to sleep there. "But… just out of curiosity… how would we get to that place where all the others are?"

The amused expression Muramasa wore made Hozukimaru want to strangle the smaller zanpakuto. "It's actually quite simple, really. You just experience a slightly dizzying feeling as we are transported at high speeds to the hideaway, and then next thing you know, we're there. And I can assure you, the hideaway is nearly as dark as this place, save for a few candles here and there."

To be honest, it did sound rather tempting. Traveling at an insanely high speed, leaving Ikkaku forever and then being able to rule over him, arriving at some random dark place and being allowed to sleep for as long as he wanted. It sounded like the best deal he could make. But Muramasa still seemed pretty suspicious. Oh well, what was the worst that could happen?

"Sure, why not?" Hozukimaru grunted before his mind had even decided yes. Had he just gotten himself into possibly one of the worst mistakes of his life? Well, too late to turn back now, anyways. It might be interesting.

Muramasa's amused look melted into one of satisfaction. "Excellent. Shall we shake on it, then?" He offered his hand.

Hozukimaru stared at the unusually long fingernails, and mentally grimaced. He then shook it off and reluctantly shook hands with the man. Almost instantly, the darkness faded away and was replaced by a stunningly bright light. He had to shield his eyes with one large arm- the light was extremely unexpected. The ground beneath him was spinning, just like in his dream. Wow, had he really dreamt the future? Maybe this meant he was psychic. Wouldn't it be cool to be psychic? Awful lot of work though. His thoughts of being psychic were interrupted when he realized that he was in another cave, although this one was considerably brighter than his world. The lighting was perfect; exactly what he'd wanted.

The great ogre released Muramasa's hand, and walked around the cave. It was smaller than his world, but he did notice the staircase leading down. He glanced at it, and then looked at Muramasa. Was he supposed to go down there?

"Go ahead," Muramasa invited. "I have to visit another zanpakuto, anyway. This time I believe I will speak to Ashisogi Jizo. Well… that should be fun."

And with that, he disappeared, accompanied by a loud popping noise.

Hozukimaru smiled grimly. "And he said he didn't know the meaning of sarcasm. Surprise, surprise."

He then turned back to the staircase, straightened his back, and strode briskly down the stairs without a second thought. As he went down, he was aware of how large the underground room was, complete with a lake and everything. He'd finally reached the bottom of the stairs, and then turned to face the group of zanpakuto waiting for him. He blinked, slightly startled. He hadn't been expecting so many to already have joined. In fact, as far as he could see, about eleven zanpakuto were staring right at him.

"Hi…" He said awkwardly, out of lack of nothing else to say. "I'm Hozukimaru."

This weird-looking cat-human hybrid was the first to speak, as she slid right up to him and meowed, "Nice to meet you, Hozukimaru. My name's Haineko."

"Pleasure." Hozukimaru said, not really knowing how else to reply.

"I am Sode no Shirayuki," A lovely lady dressed in flowing white robes greeted him. "Welcome to the group."

A black demon suddenly leapt in front of her, causing her to stop in her tracks. He glanced back with a triumphant grin, and then faced Hozukimaru once again and said in a screechy voice, "I'm Kazeshini, and I gotta say, Hozukimaru… damn, you look tough!"

"… Thanks?" Hozukimaru had no other reply to this. What was he supposed to say? That he got to looking like this by sleeping for a hundred years?

Just then, a golden fly zipped around him, and he swung at it in annoyance. The fly flew even quicker, occasionally letting out a cry of protest. He was just about to get it when a man's voice said, "Please stop. That is not an insect you are swatting at, but the zanpakuto, Suzumebachi."

Hozukimaru froze, and peered closely at it. Oh. Looks like it really was a zanpakuto. And she looked pretty mad. "Sorry."

Suzumebachi glared at him, and then went over to the man who had spoken up. The man was extremely skinny, and had long dark hair. He carried a metal ball on his shoulder, and a stone tablet on his back, something that confused Hozukimaru greatly, but he chose not to ask. "I am Wabisuke. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same to you. And, uh, sorry again, Suzumebachi."

"Whatever." The little glowing zanpakuto muttered sullenly.

"If someone had just tried to crush you with his huge arm, wouldn't you want more of an apology?" A quiet voice spoke up.

Hozukimaru glanced over to see a young girl with dark brown hair staring up at him. She had a look of innocence on, though behind her were two twin boys who were staring at him as though challenging him to hurt her.

"I believe you must give Suzumebachi a more sincere apology." The girl continued before following his gaze to the boys behind her. She then blinked and looked back up at him. "By the way, my name is Tobiume. And those two are Sogy-chan and Koto-chan, otherwise known as Sogyo no Kotowari."

Hozukimaru nodded awkwardly at them, and then turned to face a purple-haired lady with some creepy bone symbols on her clothes. He looked questioningly at her, and also realized that she was wearing an eye patch. What was she, an amateur pirate?

"I'm Katen Kyokotsu. Glad you decided to join us." She said, not sounding particularly glad at all.

"Mm-hm." He mumbled back. He wasn't even sure if he could remember all these names. He then glanced at a far-off pair, a samurai and a tall green-haired man. The samurai wore a freaky mask that was constantly frowning, and his companion was actually staring at Tobiume for some reason.

When the samurai noticed that Hozukimaru was looking at him, he nodded and said, "I'm Senbonzakura."

Hozukimaru switched his gaze to the man, and the man simply said, "Hyorinmaru."

That seemed to be about as much as he was going to get out of the two. Hozukimaru shrugged it off, and turned his attention to the last zanpakuto of the group. He looked to be a rather thin man with bandages wrapped around his head, but he also seemed to have feathers. His expression was something far from delight, and when he noticed Hozukimaru staring at him, he sighed and said, "I'm Ruri'iro Kujaku. Welcome to this amazing place of zanpakuto wonders. I hope you enjoy your stay."

Hozukimaru watched him in puzzlement, and once all the other zanpakuto had left, he approached Ruri'iro Kujaku. "Yo. You seem kinda down. What's up?"

Ruri'iro Kujaku looked at him as though he couldn't figure out why the larger zanpakuto was talking to him, but he replied saying, "You know how pretty Sode no Shirayuki is? Yeah, well, don't fall for her. She'll only crush you."

Hozukimaru realized that she had probably rejected Ruri'iro Kujaku, so he didn't say anything. He just sat down next to the birdman, and didn't say a word. He was already kind of beginning to like this place, and its many zanpakuto. He was sure he could make plenty of new friends here. And maybe Ruri'iro Kujaku could be his first one.