Chapter 16: Gegetsuburi

"Marechiyo Omaeda is the worst wielder in the history of bad wielders. He's nothing but a huge, fat oaf. He can hardly be considered a true lieutenant, considering he practically bought that position. It is truly a shame to be his zanpakuto."

Gegetsuburi lived on a rock. He never moved from that rock, because if he did, he would tumble into the ocean and drown. So all he could do was sit on that rock, and wait to be released, which hardly ever happened. He disliked his rock, and disliked his wielder even more. For one thing, Omaeda had such small imagination, his inner world was nothing more then a rock in the middle of an ocean. And it was utter torture to just have to sit on that rock all year long, and even the next year. And it was because of this that every day, Gegetsuburi would list off all the negative qualities his wielder had, and then imagine how he could kill him if he could kill him without dying himself.

"He never shares his food, and he's constantly disrespecting his captain by actually eating on top of her. Suzumebachi's wielder is not a table. He allowed my Shikai to get crushed by a simple punch from that orange-haired brat, and then got defeated in less then two seconds. In all honesty, how weak is that?" Gegetsuburi folded his arms across his chest and grumbled. "If I could get him in here, I would first strangle him, and wring that fat little neck of his. Then I would dunk his head underwater for one minute, then lift it for three seconds, and then do it all over again."

The biggest question Gegetsuburi had was how he was at least levelheaded, while Omaeda was nothing more than a stupid idiot. And even more so, how could somebody as reasonable as him become born within Omaeda? It was a degrading insult, in Gegetsuburi's opinion. Admittedly, Gegetsuburi was somewhat on the large side himself, but at least he didn't eat non-stop. In fact, he didn't even know why he was still so large, considering how much he really ate in a year.

"If I said I hated him, that would be an understatement. I loathe him with all my heart. I hate him as much as those Shinigami hate Kyoka Suigetsu's wielder. I hate him as much as Ruri'iro Kujaku hates his nickname. I hate him so much I can't even find enough words to describe it." Gegetsuburi shook his head and grumbled at how stupid that had sounded.

Gegetsuburi had had nothing to do over the decades, besides sitting on the rock and insulting his wielder. Even without being modest, Gegetsuburi had to admit that he was quite patient and clear-headed, but after nearly a century of doing nothing, he could feel his patience wearing thin. About seventeen years ago, he'd vowed to take the first opportunity he got to escape. Unfortunately, in all those seventeen years, he'd only been released once, and that wasn't enough to get away. Sometimes Gegetsuburi wondered if other zanpakuto disliked their wielders as much as he did. He could only assume that some of them did, such as Kazeshini and Haineko.

"If I'm completely honest with myself, I will admit that Omaeda is okay at using my Shikai form. But he could do so much better if he actually trained. But no- he has to stuff his face with rice crackers instead. What an ass."

Gegetsuburi propped his elbow on his knee, and rested his chin on his hand. He let out a long sigh, eyes narrowed in disgust at the very thought of his wielder. "If I ever get a hold of him, I swear I'm going to…"

He trailed off, wondering where he should begin when it came to listing ways to torture and/or kill Omaeda. He could start with trading places, leaving Omaeda here on this isolated rock with nearly nothing to eat. He could start with seizing the oaf and throwing him into the water where he would hopefully get eaten by sharks. Of course, Gegetsuburi was fairly certain that there were no sharks in his world, but he liked to pretend.

"You swear you're going to what?" A cool, deep voice sounded.

Gegetsuburi started, the voice giving him the absolute shock of his life. "Holy-!" He paused when he realized it was just a man standing on the waters before him, watching him intently. "Damn, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Wait… are you standing on water?"

The man slowly looked down at his feet, and then looked back up and nodded. "That I am. I apologize for startling you like that- I didn't realize you were so deep in thought that you didn't notice I had arrived."

"How the hell are you standing on water?" Gegetsuburi demanded.

The man shrugged slightly. "It comes naturally to me. Now then, are you going to finish your initial sentence, or shall I go on to introduce myself and explain why I'm here?"

Gegetsuburi looked over him warily. The man was thin, way thinner then Gegetsuburi or Omaeda. His hair was unkempt and scruffy, a sure sign that he was not taking very good care of it. He wore a strange coat that bore a white fluffy collar, and even that looked somewhat browned and dirty. Dark markings surrounded the man's eyes, possibly paint, although Gegetsuburi questioned upon why someone would want to paint around their eyes. A blank expression lay upon the man's face, emotionless and cold. All in all, the man looked the type to be suspicious of. And it was because of that that Gegetsuburi decided to shrug and say, "Go ahead. Enlighten me."

The man nodded, took in a long breath, and said, "My name is Muramasa, and I am also a zanpakuto neglected by his wielder. It was because of that that I decided to rebel, and kill him. I succeeded, and am now a free zanpakuto. It is now my wish to free all the other zanpakuto enslaved by the Shinigami, and to lead them all in a rebellion against their previous wielders. The Shinigami have ruled over us for too long. They assume that we are nothing more then fighting weapons, to be used whenever they please for whatever reason. It is this sort of behavior towards zanpakuto that downright disgusts me, and I'm quite sure it displeases them as well. And so, I am building an army. A zanpakuto army, to be exact."

Here, Gegetsuburi arched an eyebrow. So far, this whole thing did seem interesting, and certainly agreeable. He was very much displeased with how the Shinigami treated their zanpakuto. Omaeda definitely mistreated him. But an army…

"You've got one hell of an idea." Gegetsuburi told him with a wide grin. "Go on, I'm interested to hear more."

"I'm glad you are already considering joining," Muramasa said calmly. "As I was saying, I am building a zanpakuto army. I have gathered zanpakuto from nearly all the captains and vice-captains of Sereitei, and even one from an unseated officer. A few examples of the zanpakuto who have agreed to join: the dual zanpakuto, Sogyo no Kotowari and Katen Kyokotsu; the ice king, Hyorinmaru; the mysterious samurai, Senbonzakura. If these powerful weapons have decided to ally with us, there is no doubt that we can lose. What of you, Gegetsuburi? Are you willing to join?"

Gegetsuburi gave a questioning grunt. "What do you mean you guys can't lose? You forgot to tell me what this army's for, exactly."

If Muramasa was embarrassed, he certainly didn't show it. He only blinked, and said, "Ah. I apologize, once again. I have been building an army for the sole purpose of attacking the Shinigami, and ruling over them as they once ruled over us. No longer will they be the ones looking down at us, but quite the other way around. We will be the masters, we will be the kings. And they will be the ones serving us."

Gegetsuburi eyed the man. "Oh yeah? And just how to you propose to do that? Us zanpakuto can't leave our realms."

"Perhaps not by yourselves, but my powers enable you to come and go as you please. If I approve of it, that is."

"Your powers? And just what are your powers?"

Muramasa's eyes glittered with something close to annoyance, and he said, "What about you? How do you maintain your large figure when you are isolated on nothing less then a rock barely big enough to hold you?" He paused. "Some things are better left secrets… yes?"

Gegetsuburi let out a low rumble. This man was beginning to annoy hm. "I suppose that other zanpakuto assume that all I do is eat all day, and that's why I'm so big?"

"I am quite sure that the majority of zanpakuto believe that."

The large zanpakuto grumbled angrily and glared down at the waters below. "Well then maybe I should go with you just to knock some sense into their puny little heads. I'm not fat, you know. It's just the way I am. I barely eat anything in a year."

Muramasa nodded. "Yes, I can imagine. There is another zanpakuto whom I have spoken to. Wabisuke is his name, and he, too, scarcely eats because of his wielder's mistreatment and neglect towards him. Although he is perhaps one of the thinnest zanpakuto there."

Gegetsuburi shot a glare at him, and Muramasa added, as though to please him, "But, of course, the appearance of the zanpakuto is entirely based off the Shinigami itself. Us zanpakuto have no say in it, and that is another reason to suggest that we are nothing more than slaves."

This guy was always trying to turn the conversation back to how the Shinigami were treating the zanpakuto badly. It was so hard to have a normal talk with him. "So what?" Gegetsuburi grunted. "You just want me to join your army? Just so you can rub it in my wielder's face when the time comes?"

"So that you can have your chance to escape, and take revenge." Muramasa replied coolly.

"Chance to escape?" Gegetsuburi repeated. He had made a vow to leave as soon as he could, hadn't he? So why exactly was he stalling? "Why would you care about the other zanpakuto? Why would you want to take time on us?"

"Because I know what it's like to feel abandoned and neglected, and I also know that most other zanpakuto feel that way. But only I have the powers to materialize in Soul Society, and walk around as though I were a spirit myself. I want to give the other zanpakuto a chance to take revenge on their wielders, just as I did on mine. Otherwise, it wouldn't really be fair, now would it?"

"Oh?" Gegetsuburi chuckled. "I'm sorry, but to me you don't look quite the type who cares about fairness."

Muramasa looked slightly amused. "Oh, yes? Well, pardon me for saying so, but you don't look quite the type who would be so reasonable. Interesting, is it not? That our appearances both give others the wrong idea?"

The chuckle faded from Gegetsuburi's throat, to be replaced by a growl. "You know, being a smartass about everything doesn't exactly help with trying to convince me to join you."

"I apologize for that, but I do find it helpful to be completely honest. And that is what I am. Although if it does get in the way of you making your decision, I humbly ask you to forget what I said."

Gegetsuburi let out an unimpressed snort. He should deny the offer- it would serve the guy right- but… he'd already made up his mind. "Yeah, whatever. I don't care. Look, I made a promise to myself about seventeen years ago that the first chance I got, I would get outta this place and make a break for it. Your offer is probably the closest I'm ever gonna get, so I'll take it."

Muramasa blinked, and then stated, "A promise to yourself seventeen years ago? If that is true, than why were you hesitating all this time?"

Gegetsuburi shrugged, and snarled, "Hell if I know. Can we just leave now, please? Unless you were pulling my leg this entire time."

"I can assure you, Gegetsuburi, I was not attempting to trick you. If you wish to leave now, than please take my hand. I can only transfer you out of here if we are in physical contact." Muramasa held out his hand, and waited patiently.

Gegetsuburi, who was still smarting over Muramasa commenting on his hesitation, grabbed it without hesitation, and the world around him changed. The rock he had been standing on began to lose form, and he stumbled. The water all melted away into a bright tunnel of light, and a horrible dizzying feeling came over him. He groaned and shut his eyes tightly, hoping fiercely that it would be over soon and that he wouldn't throw up. Finally, the swirling underneath his feet stopped, and the dizziness slowly went away. Gegetsuburi waited, and then blinked open his eyes uncertainly. They were standing in a small, dark cave, but some ways to the right there was a staircase leading downwards.

"Go down. The other zanpakuto are there." Muramasa said.

"Yeah?" Gegetsuburi approached it and peered down, but the bottom of the staircases veered left, so he couldn't see any zanpakuto. "And where are you gonna be?"

"I have to pay a visit to the fire-breathing one, Tenken." Muramasa replied simply, before a popping noise suddenly was heard.

Gegetsuburi glanced warily over his shoulder, and found that Muramasa seemed to have left. Grumbling quietly to himself, he shrugged it off and stomped down the stairs, half excited and half dreadful for the meeting of the other zanpakuto. When he finally reached the bottom, he saw that all the others, which was quite a lot, were all in one big circle, although they were all staring at him. He looked over them, seeing if there were any he could recognize in a flash. Deciding that there were none he could very much decipher, he decided to begin his introduction. "Hi. I'm Gegetsuburi."

There was silence, and then a pink-haired boy who seemed to have a chain attached to the collar of his shirt approached him. The boy looked up at him with an unimpressed expression, and said bluntly, "You're fat."

Gegetsuburi resisted the urge to strangle him. "No, I'm not. This is just the way I was created. Back in my old world, I actually barely ate anything in a year."

"Really?" A glowing fairy zipped up to him. "Well then why aren't you as thin as Wabisuke?"

"He's thin because he was created that way. Simple as that."

"But all the rumors say that all you do is lie around and eat the whole time." This time, two silver-haired boys looking completely identical to one another popped up in front of him.

"The rumors are wrong."

"But-."

"Come on, guys, I'm sure that Gegetsuburi doesn't just want to stand around all day and get badgered by you guys." A man carrying a box on his back and holding a long pike walked up to them, speaking in an affectionate way. "Go back to the circle, and wait until you can introduce yourselves to him."

"Aw, but Gonryomaru…" One silver-haired boy began.

"We still have so many questions," The other one finished. "Like, why is he so fat?"

"I'm not fat." Gegetsuburi growled.

"Yeah you are." The pink-haired boy said.

"I told you, it's just how I was created."

"Your ass is bigger than Chimpette's, so you're fat."

"Snakey, get the hell back here!" A lady with green fur all over her body tugged the chain harshly.

Snakey shot a glare back at her, but still obliged. After a gentle nudge from Gonryomaru, the two boys left as well, and then the fairy. Gonryomaru turned to Gegetsuburi with a sheepish smile, and said, "Sorry about that. You know how kids are. So I'm Gonryomaru, and welcome to the club."

"Hello." Gegetsuburi replied, deciding that Gonryomaru wasn't all that bad. It was just those kids who were annoying. He wasn't fat!

"You wanna meet the others?" Gonryomaru offered. "Right over there, that green-haired guy? That's Hyorinmaru, but he doesn't talk much. Neither does Senbonzakura, that samurai sitting next to him. And that lady there is Sode no Shirayuki."

As Gonryomaru went on, and Gegetsuburi greeted each of them with an awkward nod, Gegetsuburi began to get the feeling that this place might not be so horrible. Everyone certainly seemed cheerful, and he might even be able to knock some sense into those pestering kids. So long as he got food to eat, he might actually be happy here.

I am so sorry for not updating sooner. It's just that school started, and already they're piling so much homework on us. Plus, Gegetsuburi was hard to do, considering I haven't watched episode 237 yet. And just to let you know, it might take a while for me to update from now on, but I'll still try my hardest.