One week later, the cavern underneath Urahara's shop.

Kenpachi grunted and propped himself up with his Zanpakuto in order to keep himself from falling to his knees in exhaustion. Opposite him was a masked Urahara in all his glory.

In a warbly hollow type voice the exile spoke. "Good. I see no fear reflected in the blade of your soul, Zaraki Kenpachi. Now, we just need to break through that stubborn skull of yours." Urahara phased out of sight leaving Kenpachi wide-eyed and searching for the dangerous shinigami. The whistling sound of a high speed object ripping through the air quickly grabbed his attention. As he spun to address the oncoming assault Kenpachi hurriedly brought his Zanpakuto up in a vertical guard position with one hand. The sound of screeching metal on metal filled the air as Kenpachi successfully managed to block the dangerous attack.

"Careful, Kenpachi-san. Don't underestimate me or any other hybrid. We have transcended the power ceiling that traditional shinigami and hollow find hanging above their heads. For example, you should be holding that sword with both hands or else…" KABOOM! Kenpachi was sent crashing through three large rock outcroppings before finally coming to a stop. Almost instantly Urahara was standing above the large 11th division taicho one foot on his chest as he set the sharp edge of his Zanpakuto along Kenpachi's jawline. "You may end up dead."

Kenpachi nearly shuddered from the way Urahara sounded so cheerful and goofy as he ended his sentence.

"Get your lousy foot off me ya' stupid fuck." Groaned the humiliated and thoroughly worn out Zaraki Kenpachi.

"Ah, ah, ah Zaraki-san!" Admonished the odd exile as he wagged the pointer finger of his free hand back and forth. "You are staying exactly as you are. We will now meditate."

Kenpachi suddenly got a look on his face like someone had shoved a handful of raw human feces down his throat. "Ehhh?! Meditate? What's that got to do with anything? … and even if I wanted to HOW AM I GOING TO MEDITATE WITH YOUR SWORD AT MY THROAT!" Screamed the slightly unstable man as spittle flew from his mouth.

Urahara's yellow hollow type eyes narrowed behind his mask. "You will meditate because I tell you to, Zaraki-san. Remember that you are the one who needs MY help in order to not be so PATHETIC." This time it was Kenpachi's turn to narrow his eyes in anger. Urahara had just made his 'must maim' list. The uncomfortable silence stretched on for a couple heartbeats before Kenpachi broke his glare off while mumbling. "Someday, you're not gonna be too happy that you said a few of those things."

Urahara pretended he didn't hear the statement and proceeded to explain a few things to the prostrate Taicho. "I have purposely beaten you to the point of exhaustion in the hopes that your reiatsu level would drop considerably. This will hopefully be enough to allow you and your Zanpakuto to communicate since your usual levels of reiatsu usually serves as a shield that breaks any mental communication that might otherwise occur. You must learn to center yourself even when being 

attacked, so it shouldn't matter if I remove this sword or not. Now, I want you to close your eyes and imagine yourself in an empty room."

Kenpachi gave one evil glare back at the masked man before complying with his instructions. Soon enough, the gigantic taicho had himself pictured in an empty room. "Now what?" he grumbled impatiently.

"Take a few more moments to calm yourself." Was the only response he got in return. Immediately Kenpachi's irritation nearly shot through the roof, but he remembered himself at the last second. Slowly counting to twenty Kenpachi found himself slowly calming down. After a few minutes of silence and calmness Urahara spoke in barely a whisper as if in fear of disturbing the tranquility.

"Now… imagine yourself in that room calling out for your Zanpakuto. It doesn't have to be in words. It can simply be a feeling."

The 11th division captain frowned at the absurdity of the request while keeping his eyes shut. With a mental shrug he decided to try out the suggestion. In his mind's eye the mini Kenpachi was now shouting for his cowardly Zanpakuto to show himself while launching a few rather abusive comments around. To his immense surprise a faint voice answered back.

"You're waking me up from my nap," spoke a drawling, tired voice.

"Eh, what the hell?" thought the confused chibi form of Kenpachi.

"What the hell do you mean 'what the hell?' You are the one who came to visit me… not the other way around. If anyone has the right to say that around here it's me." The voice came from the opposite side of the blank room that the mini-Kenpachi was standing in. When Kenpachi squinted his eyes real hard he imagined that he could see a large hulking, but blurred, outline. The object in question was odd in shape with a large wide base that tapered off to a single waving point at the top. Beyond a vague shape, nothing could be discerned.

"Just who are you, anyway? I don't remember imagining a giant blurry outline when I visualized this room."

"I am, &, your Zanpakuto." At the mention of the name Kenpachi nearly buckled over in vertigo and wasn't able to even see straight. "Couldn't you tell who I am the moment you saw me, and why did you call me a giant blurry outline?" The Zanpakuto sounded almost hurt that he was not recognized.

Getting to his feet Zaraki shook his head to clear the mental distortion from his mind. "First off; whatever you just tried to say there… don't say it again. Secondly, all I can see of you is a big blurry shadow. Nothin' else."



Momentary pause. "What do you mean? All I said was my name, &#&#. Certainly that shouldn't be uncomfortable for you." For all that it was worth the Zanpakuto truly seemed to be oblivious to the nausea and discomfort that the mention of the word puts Kenpachi in.

"Agh! Your name, you idiot, your name! Everytime you say it I feel like my head is gonna split and my eyes are gonna pop outta my sockets." Growled Kenpachi as he gripped his forehead with his left hand.

"Well, maybe you should just try a little harder to hear me. You must be holding yourself back somehow on a subconscious level."

"Oh, you tell me to just 'try harder?' What kind of joke is that? If I try any harder my brain is going to explode!" Replied a stubborn Kenpachi.

"Tch. Not like I'm going to be the one who is going to put forth effort now. I tried so hard in the beginning to get you to talk to me. Now, you should be the one who uses a little bit of elbow grease in this charade of a partnership." Sniffed the indignant Zanpakuto.

Needless to say, Kenpachi did not take this well. He began cracking his knuckles and flexing his hands aggressively before taking off in pursuit of the names Zanpakuto. "Why you little… when I get my hands on you I'm gonna ring my hands around your neck!"

The shadowy Zanpakuto quickly took off with Zaraki in hot pursuit. It yelled back as it ran, "Who said I even have a neck for you to ring, eh Ken-chan? You'll have to run faster than that to catch up with me!"

After many minutes of hectic chasing in a room that, at first seemed to be quite small but, turned out to not even have any boundaries Kenpachi finally stopped chasing. Next, he started screaming out incoherent and random insults at the chortling Zanpakuto, but as he rapidly gained more control of himself the insults started becoming more focused and biting. Until finally, "I have no idea why I even had the insane notion of getting to know you, let alone pairing up with you for power, you stupid worthless sword! You're just a useless talking hunk of scrap metal!"

The amused chuckling quickly stopped followed by an eerie silence. Even Kenpachi was aware that he might have crossed a very dangerous line. The normally lazy and drawling voice was now focused and cruel sounding.

"For hundreds of years I have been trying to communicate with you. To reach our potential! But, no, ever since THAT time I have been ignored or worse, and now that we are finally communicating YOU CAN'T EVEN HEAR MY NAME! YOU DON'T EVEN CARE! If you don't want to show me any respect, then I'm afraid that I will have to teach it to you… all over again."

Quick as a shot the shadow came at Kenpachi. Due to the nature of his opponent the giant was having problems anticipating any blows that came his way. All he knew is that every single blow felt like he was being hit with a club or ripped by claws. Whatever he was fighting, it was most definitely not made of flesh, but of something much harder and unforgiving.



In a moment of insight Kenpachi hopped back and brought his arm up to block a move that he could read. The resulting impact snapped his forearm and a quick pair of unseen stabs ripped into his chest. The 11th division Taicho was reeling in surprise when the appendage he blocked just a split second ago shot forward in a jabbing motion. Unable to react in time Kenpachi watched, and felt, as the appendage stabbed deep into stomach. The last thing he felt before falling unconscious was a deep and powerful burning sensation spreading from the tip of whatever had penetrated his skin.

A/N

Short Chapter I know… Oh well :)