Chapter 14: Zabimaru

"OW! What the hell was that for, you crazy bitch? OW! Stop that!"

"I will once you start listening to me when I'm talking to you."

"I was listening! Since when does eating a mouse count as not listening?"

"If someone's saying something to you, you're supposed to show that you're listening by looking at them straight in the eye."

"That's stupid. Where did you get that idea from?"

"It is not stupid! It's a sign of respect."

The small pink-haired boy turned his head away and scoffed. "Show respect to you? That's likely."

His taller companion, a woman covered in green fur with light brown hair, glowered at him. "Yeah? What's that supposed to mean, Snakey?"

"What do you think it means, Chimpette?" The boy retorted.

This was a normal day in Renji Abarai's inner world. At first glance of the leafy jungle, you would think it lovely and peaceful. Exotic plants, wild animals, fruits hanging nearly everywhere. Warm and tropical, it seemed a great place to live. Until you ventured further into the trees, and came across Zabimaru. The first thing your mind would register was a lady with green fur arguing to a pink-haired boy with a snake tail. Then you would see that a chain wrapped around the lady's waist connected them. Then you would notice their peculiar nicknames for each other- "Snakey" and "Chimpette". And because you would have no other way of addressing them, because you could not call both of them "Zabimaru", you would have to adopt them by their nicknames, as well. You would think that because they were connected and have been together for so long, they would be the best of friends, quite like Sogyo no Kotowari. But the longer you stayed in that jungle, the more you'd notice how the two seemed to fight 24/7. And you would get tired of it, and leave. But that wouldn't change a thing, because the two would have been so busy arguing that they wouldn't have noticed that you had arrived in the first place.

"Why do you always have to get all over my back?" Snakey demanded. "I was hungry, I wanted a mouse. I ate one, and you get all mad at me!"

"I was only getting mad because you weren't listening." Chimpette retorted.

"I was listening!"

"Oh, were you now? Prove it! What was I talking about?"

"You were telling me about how our wielder is all lazy and stupid and way too dependant on us." Snakey shrugged. "Eh. Hell if I know why you were talking about him. Renji's not as bad as you think he is- OW! Why'd you do that again?"

Chimpette retreated her fist, and said in return, "You idiot, I wasn't talking about Renji. I was just saying that I didn't like him."

"That's talking about him. What are you, stupid? OW! Quit it!"

"Don't call me stupid- you're the one who's not even paying attention to me."

"Why are you making such a big deal out of it?" Snakey ducked another blow from the woman's fist, and smirked. "Ha! You missed! OW! Why do you keep hitting me? It hurts, you know."

"I know. That's why I have to keep hitting you- to knock some sense into that stupid little brain of yours!"

"Well I heard that every time you hit someone on the head, he loses ten brain cells. So that backfired on you, didn't it? Hey, why are you-? Whoa! Missed again! And again! … Stop trying to hit me; it's getting annoying. I said quit it. I said QUIT IT! Now who's the one who's not listening?"

"Hey, if you're not gonna listen to me, I'm not gonna listen to you."

"I told you, I was listening. I knew you said something about Renji."

"But you didn't know what I was saying about him."

"Who cares? I still knew he was the topic of what you were talking about." The boy rose up in the air, supported by his snake tail, and glared at his companion. "I don't get why you're so worked up over me eating a stupid piece of fruit, and not catching everything you were saying. You were probably just talking to yourself again."

"What was that?" Chimpette growled. "Are you saying that I'm some old lady who just rambles nonsense to herself all the time?"

"What the-? I never said that, you senile old cow!"

"Do you hear yourself? You just called me old! And don't…"

"OW!"

"… Call me a cow! You're one to talk about size, you little shrimp."

At her words, Snakey bared his thorn-sharp fangs and hissed furiously.

"Scary, scary," Chimpette sneered. "Monkeys aren't afraid of snakes, you know."

"Well it's not my fault if snakes are naturally smaller than baboons. At least I don't have a huge ass." Snakey retorted. The corner of his mouth twitched upwards. He knew that his comment would piss her off.

"What did you just say?!" Chimpette roared.

Snakey smirked, and then opened his mouth to continue his insults, when a confused look suddenly came across his face. He frowned, and sunk back onto the ground, landing on his own two feet. Chimpette watched him in puzzlement, and then the same look of confusion settled on her face. She lifted her head, trying to make out the rustling sound she'd heard just a moment ago. The two glanced at each other, and then their frowns turned to looks of confidence. Someone had entered their jungle, but he certainly wouldn't be getting out of it in once piece.

"Bickering comrades. Certainly not ideal for when you're in the middle of a battle." A deep voice sounded from behind the two of them.

The pair tensed and whirled around, readying themselves for a fight. The intruder was a tall man with short but messy dark hair. Shadowed circles surrounded his eyes, bringing out his glowing red eyes. Despite the humidity of the jungle, he wore a long coat with a fluffy fur collar. His arms hung loosely at his side, although his long fingernails reached to his knees. His eyes flickered from Chimpette to Snakey, and then he spoke again. "You two must be extremely bored to be arguing all the time."

Chimpette eyed him warily. "So what?"

"This jungle seems very large, in my opinion. Surely there must be much to do for a monkey and a snake."

"Please," This time it was Snakey who spoke. "Chimpette just wants to swing around in the trees all day long. It's such a waste of time when you could just lie around in the sun and relax."

"Oh come on. Who wants to sleep all day? You're just too lazy, aren't you? All snakes are lazy."

"Who are you calling lazy?"

"Who do you think? You!"

"If you both want to do something different," The man intervened before another argument could break out. "Then why not just untie that chain? Once you do that, you'll both be free to do whatever you want."

The two glanced at him, and sneered. "Hey, stupid, who do you think we are? We're Zabimaru, and that's one zanpakuto. If we take off the chain, we die. Get it?"

The man paused, and then nodded. "I see. I apologize for suggesting something that could end your life."

"Yeah, you should be sorry." Snakey replied. "Now get outta here before we make you."

"We don't take kindly to trespassers. So if you could, please leave without any sort of resistance." Chimpette added.

"Again, I apologize. I cannot leave until I have made you my offer." When he saw Chimpette open her mouth, he quickly went on. "My name is Muramasa, and I am building an army of zanpakuto. I'm sure you have many questions, but if you would please listen to me, I'm sure at least half of them will be answered while I speak. I have noticed recently that many of the Shinigami have been mistreating their zanpakuto. On second thought, perhaps neglecting is the better word. Whenever us zanpakuto have something to say to our wielders, they ignore us and do whatever they want. They use us as nothing more than swords, and expect us to deal with it. They believe that they are the ones doing us a favor, they believe that we cannot live without them. I want to prove them wrong. I want to show them that we are not dependant on them, and once my army is complete, we will all attack, and we will reign over them. They will be the ones depending on us. Their reign will end, and ours will begin."

Muramasa stopped, looking at the two to see their reactions. It seemed the lady with green fur was looking triumphant- that must mean she was agreeing. But the boy with the snake tail looked slightly troubled. He sighed mentally; hopefully he wouldn't have to convince the two like he had with Sogyo no Kotowari. Then again, it didn't look like the two shared quite the same bond as the twins had. Muramasa waited, wondering what they would say. As it turned out, it was the boy who spoke first.

"Nice speech. Bit long, though." Snakey's voice suddenly turned hard. "And a complete waste of time. Come on, Muramasa. Do you seriously think we're going to turn against Renji just like that?"

"Oh, I don't know. I thought the whole thing seemed kind of tempting." Chimpette shrugged. "I'm more than willing, but it looks like Snakey's going to be the good zanpakuto here."

"It's not my fault if you don't like Renji. He's not a bad guy." Snakey protested.

"You're not listening to me when I say that he's too dependant. For every stupid battle he calls upon our Shikai, even when it's not needed."

"It's not like he can do anything else. He can't do Kido, so he has to rely on us."

"Exactly! What sort of pathetic Shinigami can't even perform one simple Kido spell?" Chimpette pointed out.

"Why are you so against him? We're his zanpakuto, so we have to help him." Snakey insisted.

"Why do we have to? Listen to me, Snakey." Her tone turned serious. "To him, we're nothing more than an old fighting tool."

"We are not!"

Muramasa blinked, wondering if the two even remembered he was there. The boy with the snake tail did seem to be the loyal zanpakuto. Although, in all honesty, he was hoping the woman with the green fur would win the argument.

"Snakey, listen to me for once. Sooner or later, Renji's gonna get sick of us. And when he does, he'll start disrespecting us. We have to get out of here before he does that. No, don't interrupt me, just hear me out. He's already getting sick of us because we couldn't beat that guy Ichigo and his zanpakuto, Zangetsu. Besides, he's insulted us more than once, you know it. We can have our revenge. We can show him that we're not the pathetic zanpakuto he thinks we are."

Snakey opened his mouth to protest, but Chimpette didn't give him a chance. "Snakey, we're friends, right?" When he hesitated, she prompted, "Right?"

He glared at her, but muttered, "Yeah. We're friends."

"So come on. Let's do this."

Snakey looked at her for a long time, and then at Muramasa, and then back at her. "I can't believe you want to betray Renji for a reason as stupid as that one." He grinned. "But I'm in. If I'm gonna have to follow your huge ass, I'll at least follow it to somewhere exciting."

Muramasa felt a glimmer of amusement, and then quickly said before the lady with the green fur could protest, "I'm glad you both agree, even if your reasons are… less than satisfactory." He approached the two, and put a hand on their heads.

Both of them growled in protest, but before they could say anything they both felt a sickening feeling. While Snakey felt a pulling in his gut, Chimpette felt a strange tingling sensation in her fur. The mouse Snakey had devoured only fifteen minutes earlier came out again, and his companion inched away slowly. They were traveling through a bright white tunnel, and both of them wondered briefly if they had died, but then they arrived at a dark cave. It was damp and small, and Chimpette shifted uncomfortably while Snakey let out a soft hiss of delight. Apparently, he liked the black.

Muramasa pointed at a flight of stairs and said, "The other zanpakuto are down there. Why don't we all go meet them?"

"Sure, why not?" Chimpette grunted.

The tall man nodded and then made his way down the stairs, soon followed by the two. As he went down, he called out to the other zanpakuto, and by the time all three of them had reached the bottom, nearly all the others were there to greet them.

"Hello everyone," Muramasa greeted. "It's been quite a few hours. I have brought with me Zabimaru. However, they seem to be two different spirits. A fine lady in green fur, and a small boy with a snake tail. Interesting, is it not?"

"Hey, don't call me small." Snakey snapped

"But you are small." Quite suddenly, a boy with silver hair popped up in front of Snakey, and he fell back with a cry.

"Yeah, you're about as small as us." Another boy, most likely the first one's twin, joined his brother.

"Don't compare me with you two." Snakey growled as he rose up on his tail.

"Oh, don't freak out over your size." Chimpette tugged his chain to reprimand him.

"You're one to talk."

"What was that?"

"Never mind."

"You two are kinda weird." A cat-human hybrid spoke up.

"More like insane." A demon sneered.

"Actually, Kazeshini, I think they're weird. Insane is a bit too… much, you know?"

"No I don't know. Care to explain, Haineko?"

Snakey watched them for a few brief moments, and sighed in obvious distaste. He glanced around, ignoring all the unfamiliar faces around him, and then suddenly grinned. "Hey! A lake! How cool is that?"

And with that said, he completely ignored everyone else who had yet to introduce themselves and ran straight into the water, despite Chimpette's cries of protest. As he passed by them, however, he did manage to register a few zanpakuto whom he had a good guess of who they were. Such as Haineko, Kazeshini, Sode no Shirayuki, Suzumebachi, Wabisuke, and Hyorinmaru. But he shrugged them off and decided to meet them later. With a shout, he leapt into the lake. While he cheerfully slithered around, his friend stomped after him, yelling at him to stop.

"They certainly are an interesting pair." Sode no Shirayuki said quietly to Muramasa.

"I agree. They are admittedly a bit strange, but their powers are certainly needed here." Muramasa replied.

"Yes, I suppose so." Sode no Shirayuki sighed.

"Now then, I must go. There are a few other zanpakuto I must speak with before the week is over."

And with that said, Muramasa climbed back up the stairs, and left with a pop. A few moments later, Snakey reared up from the water and said, "Wow! This place is great! I'm glad you convinced me to come here, Chimpette."

"Oh, sure." His friend grumbled as she stood up, dripping wet. "You're welcome."

Snakey laughed with delight, and then continued his swimming. Chimpette watched him, sighing as he splashed her. She just had to deal with it until Muramasa had gathered everyone else. Something in her eyes glinted. She could finally get Renji Abarai back.

Her revenge was just beginning.

Okay... and after Zabimaru, I have no idea who to do. The only remaining zanpakuto are Gonryumaru, Gegetsuburi, Minazuki, and Tenken. So who should I do next?