Wow, nobody got the reference in the title of the last chapter? Well, here's your hint: google "Kyōkotsu."
Anyway, back to the scheduled story.
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The Striking Snake
Ch21
The Animal I Am
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There was dry rock under his hand, cold as ice.
Gin blinked, then sat up abruptly. He was on the cold mountain above the cloudscape. The whistling wind was as mournful as ever.
He didn't seem to be wounded. His shihakusō bore no damage, and he could feel none of the stinging bites of the battle.
Gin stood, looking tentatively around. The mountain peak was barren. The rough rock of the slopes bore no life, not even algae, and the eternal sunset cast its orange glow over the undisturbed expanse of clouds.
The large rock where Shinsō had been sitting the first time was now empty.
"Up here."
Gin looked up at the echoing sound. A hundred meters above him, on the frost-covered peak of the mountain, stood the spirit form of the God Spear.
"This is the center of your soul, Gin. You have become very strong... even as your external body is hacked to pieces, your soul's world is as stable and uncompromised as ever."
Her arm flicked. Gin barely had time to lunge and grab the thrown object - a sheathed katana with a featureless oval tsuba and black hiltwraps.
"Huh?" He said. "What's this for?"
"An Asauchi..." Shinsō's voice was cold. "A nameless zanpakutō, a sleeping one that has yet no form or deep bond with its wielder. The weapon of a student shinigami or an unskilled, enlisted warrior."
Gin looked up, frowning quizzically as he drew the weapon. "But this isn't mine," he said. "My zanpakutō is Shinsō..."
"You mean, this Shinsō?"
Gin's eyes widened as the snake woman drew the aforementioned wakizashi from her obi - and with a whispering hiss of moving air, the blade shot open, its sixty-meter length forming a glowing arc across the sky.
"The Shinsō that was just destroyed by Katen Kyōkotsu?"
"Huh?"
Shinsō's hold on herself tightened, and the blade snapped back. "I will not give this to you."
Gin's teeth clenched.
Shinsō lifted herself, as if preparing to strike - and then threw it, over Gin's head and down into the clouds.
Gin actually frowned. "What'd ya do that for?" He whined. "How am I gonna get that back from down there?"
"Clouds are the least of yer problems, king!"
A phantom shot upwards out of the vapor. Before Gin could even blink, there was a flash of light from the figure.
Gin ducked and rolled left on instinct. A split second later, the rock behind him split with a vicious crack.
The shadow landed in a feral crouch, snapping the blade back. Then he looked up, and Gin's smile faded.
The figure wore a shihakusō that was white as chalk, tied with a blood-red obi and with matching black tabi socks - but that was hardly the strangest thing about him. His skin was as white as the clothing he wore; a flat, immaculate white with no visible traces of veins below the surface that one would see on an albino. He looked for all the world like the classic image of a ghost, minus the transparency.
His hair was a bright, lustrous gold, and the same length as Gin's, but swept back into an ostentatious crest instead of hanging loose. The irises of his wide and maniac eyes glittered a brilliant green from within two pools of utter darkness.
And - strangest of all - although oddly colored, his face, stance and build were exactly identical to Gin himself.
Shinsō looked down on the pair. "Your soul named me the sacred spear," she hissed. "A zanpakutō's name and nature are symbols of its purpose, a prophecy. If you think you are worthy, no, if you think you are capable of wielding a weapon fit for gods - then prove it. Take me back with your own hands. Your enemy shall be yourself."
The phantom-Gin smirked, his crazy expression another sharp inversion of Gin's calm snake eyes. "Yeah! Come and get it!" His arm flicked.
Gin jumped, flipping in mid-air as the blade sliced the air where he had just been standing. He landed just behind the gold-haired duplicate, and raised the asauchi -
"Thought it'd be that easy?"
'White Gin' twisted, and the immense blade swung with blinding speed. Gin barely managed to bring up the asauchi to block, and the pressure of the blow pushed him a solid fifteen feet uphill before his sandals could find a grip on the rock.
He's strong enough to slam me back, and he shot her without calling her name. What can I do against that? Gin cursed under his breath. Come on! You're a genius, right? Think!
"What's the matter, King? You're always throwing one-liners. Suddenly ya got nothing to say?"
Gin's teeth clenched.
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"Yachiru! Get the officers to mobilize their squadrons and form up on the parade ground in ten minutes. Ikkaku, Yumichika - you roll alone this time. I want you to stall other lieutenants, and if necessary, beat them up to do it. Your squadrons can sleep off their hangovers today." The pink-haired lieutenant reappeared, having already completed her mission. "Ah, Yachiru. I need you to annoy Mayuri all day. I'm trying to keep the other divisions off the ryokas' backs until I get a decent battle. You have my permission, as a captain, to use your lock picks."
Yachiru's smile could have outshone the sun. "You got it, Ken-chan!" She promptly vanished again in a flash-step.
Kenpachi grinned wolfishly as he pulled his notched sword out, briefly inspecting it.
"So, you just gonna watch me all day? Am I that interesting?"
The small commander of the Onmitsukidō appeared in a blur of flash-step. "Hmm. I guess your reiatsu sense is better than my intelligence would suggest."
"Actually, reiatsu got nothing to do with it. I'm just good at knowing when I'm being watched. Jus' trust me on that one - it's a Zaraki district thing." He sheathed his sword. "So, back to my first question. What'cha watching me for? I'm pretty damn far from being 'your type,' so you definitely ain't checking me out."
Soifon's eyes narrowed. "Kyōraku Shunsui is fighting a ryoka right now," she said flatly. "Despite being ordered to mobilize his division, no less. Apparently he had a 'hunch' as to where they were headed. Know anything about that, Zaraki?"
Kenpachi raised an eyebrow. "Don't talk smooth with me. Yeah, I told him. Just like I'm about to go and tell my division to muck up every patrol from here to the wall."
Soifon glared. "Interfering with orders from the sōtaichō is a serious crime, Zaraki!"
"Really?" Kenpachi suddenly looked excited, and his hand went back to his sword. "You gonna try and arrest me?"
Soifon's eyes narrowed further, but then she sighed. "No, that'd just be more fun for you, wouldn't it?" She looked back up. "Why Kyōraku, though? You don't get to fight the Hyapponzashi, no matter which of us takes him."
Kenpachi scratched the back of his head. "Well, truth be told," he muttered, "something's rotten in the Seireitei. I'm sick of people whisperin' behind closed doors and witch-hunting their comrades. The Kuchiki girl, gettin' executed for a few nothings on the battlefield? And now Sōsuke's been murdered! My nose says it was Ichigo, but I ain't never known Ichigo to stab a man in the back - and an honest fight with Sōsuke would have ripped shit up everywhere."
"Your point is...?"
"Well, Shunsui ain't likely to kill the boy, and I want at least one good fight out of him before he dies. But mainly, it's that Shunsui was looking for an excuse to be in the citadel. Don't tell anyone, but him and Jūshiro have a plan to get the girl off the hook. I'm just going along for the chaos - somebody's sure to try and take me by force eventually. That's what I'm looking for." He tapped his chin. "Oh, yeah... Ikkaku said the Hyapponzashi mentioned a cat. Like, as if the cat was an important part of their group."
Soifon's eyes shot open.
"Anyway, Shunsui said you might want to know that. Can't think why, but there it is." He sighed. "Can I go now? I've got a whole city to throw into anarchy and only, like, a few hours to do it in - "
He looked up. Soifon had vanished without a word.
"Heh. Guess that's a yes."
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The air around 'Kogane,' as Gin was coming to think of him, glowed green as the sword snapped back. Gin could feel the reiatsu like a raging fire, practically knocking him over.
"Just gonna stand there?" The phantom chuckled. "Well, yer call, but if ya stand still - "
Gin lunged right as Shinsō sliced apart the mountainside where he had just stood.
" - Then I'll kill yer ass dead."
Think, goddammit, think...
"You're really kind of ridiculous, ya know?"
Gin looked up. "I didn't think my jokes were that bad."
Kogane cackled. "Hah! Not that, dummy!" He hefted the wakizashi in his hand. "Look at her! She's a blade of pure death, the kind of weapon to make the oldest and strongest of shinigami quake in fear! This is the kind of warrior ya are, king!"
"Huh?"
Kogane's tone suddenly became sharp and cruel. "The zanpakutō reflects on the wielder," he hissed. The blade of Shinsō ripped through the air an inch from Gin's head as he desperately parried. "Don't you get it, king? Look at her! If she represents what you can be, then how the hell did you lose?"
For a second, Gin's eyes actually widened.
All this time, I treated her like a mere tool...
Kogane struck. Gin dodged, rolling closer this time.
I never trusted anything but my own utter ruthlessness to win my fights. The very concept of honor, honesty, or integrity, is foreign to me. I am the snake lying beneath the rock. I can wait a hundred years for my prey, and not grow restless from hunger. I can drink a river of blood, and still thirst for more. I can lie inert for an eon, and still strike faster than the eye can blink.
Kogane leapt forward, priming the blade -
The evil in me is no primal instinct or slip of control. My zanpakutō belongs to my heart. The darkness is who I am. If I trust the darkness to win my battles, how can I not trust her?
You are what I am, Shinsō. Now let me be who you are.
Kogane's arm whipped forward.
"Ikorosé."
And finally, from her vantage point, Shinsō grinned.
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Renji's eyes finally opened. There was a weight on the side of his medical cot. Was someone else sitting there?
Wincing, he turned his head - only to be met with the glowing white eyes and brutish face of a rather familiar white baboon.
"Zabimaru..."
He groaned, then paused. He wasn't in his inner world. Zabimaru had manifested? And Renji had done it in his sleep, too! He'd had no idea he was that close!
Say what you will about thirty years of six training sessions a week with Ikkaku, or whichever lieutenant is available... looks like it really pays off. Why, I might make it to my goal in another three or four months!
"Renji!" The baboon barked. "Look at you! How could one as strong as you get beat down?"
The snake head at the end of the baboon's tail hissed. "Heal faster. I want a rematch. I'll show that Shinsō who's the real warrior around here..."
Renji sighed. "No," he said tiredly. "No... Ichimaru isn't who I want to to get to."
"What?" The zanpakutō growled, with both voices. "He beat you! What do you mean, you don't want to - "
"If anything, Zabimaru, I should be thanking him. He gave me a real wake-up call with that battle." Renji pushed himself up; despite the residual pain in his torso, the medics had done a good job. "He may not have beat me fair, but I ain't got no grudge against the kid. There's only one shinigami I should be hunting, and it ain't Ichimaru. Have you forgotten what I promised you on the day we met?"
Zabimaru cocked his head.
"I said I'd make you stronger than Senbonzakura, Zabimaru. I said that together, we'd beat Byakuya Kuchiki." Renji swung his legs over the side of the bed. "And I don't break my promises. It's about time I got back on track with that particular one."
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Kogane's crazy grin soured, turning into a resentful glare as Gin pulled Shinsō's blade back from his bloodless torso.
"Aw man," the ghostly figure whined. "Ya just gotta ruin everyone's fun."
Gin shrugged. "What, did ya expect me ta just give in and die? Sorry, that's not how I roll." He returned Shinsō to sheath at his side. "In fact, I'm making a regular little career out of playing dead and then stabbing back. Ya don't get me today, Goldie."
Kogane sneered as Gin faded away from the world of his soul.
He turned to look back up at Shinsō, still standing on the peak far above him. "Take care of him, 'kay?" He said. "Even if we ain't as close as we used to be, we're all in this together."
Shinsō nodded.
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A bright green glow outshone the morning sunlight. Shunsui's head rose, and the hell butterfly fluttered off, bereft of purpose.
Gin was standing, a halo of emerald fire wreathing his figure. Despite the wounds marking his body, very little bleeding seemed apparent.
Shunsui raised Katen Kyōkotsu warily. "You got a hell of a lot of fight in you, kid," he said, his tone serious. "I haven't seen someone as determined as you are in centuries... maybe even a millennium."
Shunsui's eyes were narrow. This was no longer a matter of a powerful but misguided prodigy on a fool's errand. It wouldn't have mattered if his group numbered seven or seven hundred - he was a major threat in and of himself, outstandingly powerful even among the younger captains.
Calm, Shunsui. He's lethal, but you've fought down fiercer opponents in your day. And dangerous though it is, his shikai is all he's got. You won't be forced to go beyond.
"Why thank you," Gin replied, his voice muffled by the whistling of the reishi wind.
A tilt of his posture was all that gave it away - there was no release command. Shunsui lunged left as the white lance almost decapitated him.
Gin's grin didn't waver as he pulled the weapon back. A little extra concentration, but well worth it for the silence. He raised Shinsō into a block. Anything for an advantage. No matter how dark, no matter how underhanded. That is my way, and yours, Shinsō. Now let it be ours.
Shunsui's body glowed red, rising to match the luminescence of Gin's reiatsu. "Well, kid, if you think you're better than one of the oldest and strongest captains, bring it on."
He's a master strategist. To defeat him, I'll have to hit him with something that he thinks I can't or won't do. Unfortunately, since he's damn good at reading opponents, that means doing something really stupid...
Gin raised his zanpakutō. "Shoot to kill, Shinsō - "
Shunsui swung Katen Kyōkotsu behind him as he ducked. Gin jumped even as he appeared out of flash-step, narrowly escaping the loss of his feet; he swung the suddenly immense blade down as he landed, but Shunsui rolled sideways.
"You'll have to do better than that, boy," Shunsui grunted as he stood up. "If you can stab silently, you wouldn't say it if you didn't want me to guard one way or another."
Gin didn't respond as he pulled the blade back. Shunsui frowned. Gin loved to talk over his fights - what was different?
He wasn't given time to think, however. Gin clamped one hand over the wound on his chest, then vanished. Shunsui barely blocked a classic back-step attack.
Gin was mumbling something under his breath, like a mantra.
"Eight bodies, nine items..."
Shunsui's eyes narrowed as he stepped back. What is he saying...?
He dashed forward, slashing to the side. "Irooni! Kuroi!"
Gin blocked, twisting his arm. Shunsui flash-stepped behind him, raising his sword -
Gin looked back over his right shoulder, abruptly opening his malevolent crimson eyes - and his left hand, palm outwards under the same shoulder. "... Aim into the distance; scatter brightly and cleanly when fired!"
Kidō! Shit! Shunsui dropped his left scimitar, flinging his hand up. "Bakudō 81: Danku!"
Shunsui skidded to a stop, exhaling. The kid was powerful, but no way could he -
Gin's smile widened. His teeth glittered as ten bright flares of pink energy appeared around him.
"Hadō 91: Senjū Kōten Taihō."
The orbs shot forward, and the world was obliterated in a sea of magenta-tinged fire.
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