*Laughs nervously* Hi. I'm…real late. If it's any consolation, I'm gonna try to get chapter 13 out this weekend? Please forgive me? IF NOTHING ELSE, PAY ATTENTION TO THE SENTENCE AFTER THIS ONE! This chapter involves some dark subject matter, including depression and self-harm. Just a warning for what's to come, those uninterested in A/N's can skip the rest of this if you want. For everyone still reading this, I'm surprised by most of the people who left reviews about the last chapter. Many of those who left reviews seemed to be under the impression that this version of Ichigo isn't all that good at sword fighting? For those who are confused, Ichigo stated that he basically uses a bum-rush tactic against people more skilled then him while he's in Bankai. To clear things up, he was saying Yamamoto is more skilled than himself, even while rusty, because he has literal thousands of years of experience on him. All of the 'Big Four' captains (Yama, Unohana, Kyoraku, Ukitake) are more skilled than Ichigo. He knows he can't straight-up out-fight them, so he creates his own advantage by rejecting their attempts to control the fight. Hopefully those who read this have a clearer understanding of the spar between Ichigo and Yama last chapter. Now, onto the show!
Shiro ignored the fearful looks directed at him from every fodder Shinigami he passed by. Once upon a time, he would've slaughtered them all for looking at him like that. Since the Blood War, he found them too disgusting to pay attention to. Most Shinigami he ignored, knowing them to be self-absorbed assholes that just wanted to be famous or powerful. There were exceptions, though. Like Witch. Most of the lieutenants, actually, but Shiro mostly only gave a shit about Witch. The bleached zanpakuto was calmly sauntering towards the cells in the 4th Division, having asked some fodder where she was minutes ago. He didn't like that she was in the cells. He disliked that he understood why more.
He wasn't anywhere close to her yet, but he already knew she was devastated by the loss of Aizen, even more so because the maniac didn't get a chance to do any fucked up shit this time. She couldn't start to realize that maybe he wasn't this perfect being if she hadn't seen him do anything bad. His faking his death, killing the Central 46, and replacing them was broadcast across the whole of the Seireitei, but Shiro already knew she was in massive denial. If she even believed that he did all those things, the hollow was sure she convinced herself Aizen did it for a good reason. Right now, she'd probably slit her wrists sooner than she would accept that maniac was evil.
A frown formed on the zanpakuto's face, and he started walking faster.
He hardly even had to glance at the zoned-out guard in front of the entrance to get the man to jump and throw the door open. The pale spirit continued on his way, grunting in thanks to the guard. Just because he didn't always use them didn't mean he didn't have manners. Most of the cells the hollow passed were empty, the only exceptions being 4th Division fodder that were cleaning the spaces. The only cell with an actual occupant was at the end of the row. A guard was sitting on a stool next to the door, reading an issue of the Seireitei Bulletin. The man had an asauchi strapped to his hip, and it filled Shiro with disgust. The fodder probably didn't even care that he couldn't contact a portion of his fucking soul. He was probably content just having a sword and a uniform, so he could go to some shitty bar in the Rukongai and use his status to get women. The zanpakuto shook the thoughts away. Not every piece of fodder was an asshole. King told him regularly to not assume they were.
"Hey." The guard looked up before yelping as he rushed to his feet. His asauchi was drawn. The hollow couldn't call it a sword, not when it was so lifeless and empty. The zanpakuto felt Witch's reiatsu signature twitch inside her cell. "Calm yer shit. I'm jus' here ta see Momo." He didn't like having to use her actual name, both of them really liked it when he called her by the nickname. The zanpakuto decided the guard in front of him was a cunt when the man rushed to open the door to Witch's cell without even asking why. He was the most suspicious looking person in the fucking Seireitei, and leaked hollow reiatsu! He could've been coming to kill her for all the piece of shit knew! And he just opened the fucking door without even asking why! The hollow growled at the man as he entered the cell. The pathetic wimp screamed and ran out of the building. Even more annoyed at the shitty excuse for a guard, the pale spirit rolled his eyes and shut the cell door behind him. The lock slid in place. Eh, he could get King to come and open the door if he didn't end up just cutting the lock in two.
The pale spirit turned to face the empty space that was Witch's cell. There was a mat maybe an inch thick lying in a corner that looked uncomfortably stiff. A toilet sat in a different corner, with no privacy whatsoever. The lieutenant herself was sitting in the middle of the room with her legs folded under her, staring out the window above her. Her hands were folded in her sleeves, and her zanpakuto was nowhere to be found. Probably confiscated. The hollow looked over the room again, searching and hoping he didn't find what he was looking for.
One of the wooden pillars lining the walls had a chunk missing. Shiro desperately wanted that to have been from before Witch was confined to the room, but he couldn't rely on faith. He sniffed the air.
Dammit.
He sighed heavily and walked up in front of her. She didn't outwardly acknowledge him, but he was about to fix that. He sat down with his legs crossed, manifesting his blade in a reverse grip in his right hand. The hollow adjusted his grip on the blade so his fingers were in the gap in the center of the blade. He thoroughly didn't know why that gap was there, but in situations like this, it was useful. The spirit felt Witch's gaze slowly fall down in curiosity of what he was doing, and kept himself from reacting. Grabbing the cloth that made up the hilt, he pulled. He may not understand why he didn't have a normal hilt, but he was grateful the cloth was indefinite. He essentially had an endless amount of gauze for treating the few he cared about.
Biting the bullet-as he was known to do- Shiro reached out and grabbed Witch's right wrist before pulling it towards himself. The action caused her hands to slip out, revealing themselves bloody and holding an equally bloody piece of wood. Before she could react, he stole the spike of wood and tossed it across the room. The zanpakuto then mentally cussed at not having anything to clean her up.
'I shall gather the needed items.' Ossan announced in his head. The hollow nodded in appreciation and the Quincy manifested outside the cell before disappearing in Hirenkyaku. The shock that Witch had found herself in faded, and she tried to jerk her hand out of the zanpakuto's grip.
"Let go of me!"
"Not until I fix yer wounds." Anger formed in the lieutenant's eyes as she tried to climb to her feet. With the grip the hollow had on her hand, she couldn't rise higher than her knees.
"What do you care about my wounds?! You're a hollow! You killed the man I love!"
"I killed the man that brainwashed ya."
"He would never brainwash anyone!"
"He faked his fukkin deat', and gave ya a lett'r sayin yer bes' fukkin friend was the one that killed 'im. An' I can tell he brainwashed ya cause ya believed 'im." She froze.
"How do you know about Aizen-sama's letter?"
"Ya didn' 'ear the rumors?" Rage flooded her eyes again.
"That you're from the future?! That Aizen-sama started a war that killed thousands of people?! Why would I believe that?! Aizen-sama was the greatest person in all the worlds!" She started slapping him with her free hand.
"If 'e was so great, why would he send ya after yer bes' friend? If he was fakin' his death, why not tell ya about it? Why not tell ya why? Why would he tell ya an innocent man did 'im in?" Shiro shouted, easily ignoring her attacks with his Hierro.
"I'm sure he had a good reason!"
"Wha' about takin' over Central 46? He slaugh'ered 'em all, covered it up, an' ordered Midget's death! All ta get a fukkin rock! He 'ad an army o' hollows waitin' in Hueco Mundo, an' most of 'em jus' wanted ta kill shit! What part o' that screams 'good man'?!"
"The Central 46 was corrupt and self-centered! Almost everything they did was in service of themselves! Aizen-sama was doing a good thing by replacing them!"
"I ain't sayin' the Central 46 were good, but was 'e any different by orderin' an execution ta get a fukkin rock?!" The hollow rose to his feet, and Witch rose in response, though she nearly had to look straight up due to their closeness and the difference in height. "In case ya didn' know, everythin' he did was so he could replace the Soul King! The fucker jus' wanted ta remake the world wit' 'im as king!"
"He would be a great Soul King!" she screamed defiantly. Shiro's yellow eyes burned with emotion.
"Would a 'great Soul King' rip off a Quincies arm jus' ta find out if they could use their powers wit' one hand?" He growled quietly. "Would a 'great Soul King' 'ave his hollows eat a shinigami's leg jus' ta find out if they could Shunpo wit' one leg? Would 'e kill one half of a split soul jus' ta see what would happen? Would 'e manufacture the birth of a kid jus' so he could have his own pet project ta fuck wit'? Would 'e stand 'n watch as 'is subordinates died in front o' 'im?! Would 'e laugh over pe'ples graves?! Let 'is followers sacrifice 'emselves when he could prevent it?! Destroy a city jus' ta test 'is power?! Make pe'ple watch as 'e killed their friends?!" Witch stared at the spirit in shock.
"Why do you care so much?!" She shouted, before quietly adding: "You're a hollow." His eyes softened, and Ossan appeared behind the lieutenant holding a bottle of water and some disinfectant. Still holding Witch's hand, Shiro slowly sat down, bringing her down with him until both were on the ground. The Quincy placed the items on the ground between them before returning to the sideways city he shared with the hollow.
"Just cause I'm a hollow don' mean I'm heartless." The pale spirit spoke as he let go of his blade and picked up the water bottle. He popped the cap off with his thumb and adjusted his grip on her wrist to a much gentler hold. The Lieutenant blinked in shock, so caught off guard she barely felt the water fall on her arm. "Not all Shinigami are noble 'n good. Who says all hollows hafta be cruel 'n monstrous?"
"…but…every hollow I've ever heard of has just wanted to destroy and eat?"
"Hollows, by definition, are souls that have lost their hearts. They get holes, an' become endlessly hungry 'cause nothin' can make up fer losin' yer heart. But, jus' 'cause a hollow don' know where their heart is don' mean they can't find it again." The hollow managed to clear one of the shinigami's wrists of blood, and was now picking up the bottle of disinfectant. "This's gonna sting." He warned before he poured a small amount over her arm. She winced, and the zanpakuto smiled softly for a moment.
"Of course, jus' cause a hollow finds their heart don't mean they become a good person. Even if they were a good person origin'lly, bein' a hollow, feelin' like that an' survivin' in Hueco Mundo can change someone. I was lucky I became part o' King. He ain't the type ta change if he became a hollow. He'd only eat other hollows, he'd watch over his friends 'n family, he wouldn' attack someone jus' cause they look tasty."
"…Were you always like this?" The spirit snorted.
"Hell nah. I used ta be jus' as hostile as any hollow ya'd find huntin' a plus, with the power of a captain. Then King accepted me, an' I found my heart. I realized I was jus' alone, 'n scared o' bein' rejected. I made friends, an' not just with King." A smile formed on Shiro's face. "I became happy."
"…And who were you friends with?" She almost seemed scared of the answer.
"You." The zanpakuto grunted. "Tits. Knuckles. Pineapple."
"I-I don't know who you're talking about." An amused breath escaped the hollow.
"Che, forgot you don't know my nicknames fer people. Rangiku, Kensei, and Renji." The girl stared at the spirt for a moment before covering her mouth with her bloody hand and giggling.
"I can see how you got those nicknames." She realized how dirty her hand was, and lowered it with a saddened look in her eyes. "…What do you call me?" The hollow rose his eyes from inspecting her wrist for a moment before flicking back down.
"Witch. Yer amazin' at kido, an' yer zanpakuto is kido based."
"…Yeah, I can see where you would get 'Witch' from that. I like it. It makes me seem more menacing than I am."
"Yer plenty menacin'. I've seen ya put more than enough recruits through the ringer ta know that." Her eyes widened as he grabbed the cloth from his hilt. "Aizen spent so much time havin' ya make up fer him while he was gone without ya realizin', ya got pretty damn good at whippin' newbies inta shape. It was fukkin' hilarious every time one o' the rookies fresh outta the Academy would try ta walk over ya 'cause they thought they were hot shit. I used ta sit back and laugh as ya tore inta 'em about how Shinigami life ain't as easy as it looks in the books." The happy smile that had formed on the zanpakuto's face fell. "I miss those days. Layin' around in the sun while ya trained wit' yer squad, playin' pranks on Shortstack-sorry, Toshiro-, hell, ev'n bein' a walkin' clothing rack fer you an' Tits while ya went shoppin'." He went silent, and the lieutenant couldn't help but stare with wide eyes and her mouth slightly agape as the hollow carefully bound her hand in cloth.
She watched his hands as they bandaged her hand, before moving onto his face, studying it intensely. He chose not to react. Looking over her arm one more time and confirming it was the best he could do, he let go before switching to her left hand and repeating the process. Sometimes, he hated that he couldn't perform kido. He was only part of King's zanpakuto, so he could only use the parts that he made up. Just like how Ossan could only use Quincy techniques, Shiro could only use hollow. Only King, the Shinigami part of their trifecta, could use Shinigami techniques. Only King could use kaido to heal someone else. Luckily, Zangetsu learned how to fix people up through King's knowledge from Goatchin's clinic and war experience. The process was slightly faster than last time, because she wasn't struggling anymore.
He emptied the rest of the water cleaning her arm, and he mentally made a note to grab a change of clothes for her. She didn't react to the disinfectant this time, which was either a good thing or her being so stunned that she didn't feel the pain. He took just as much time bandaging her arm, because even though he knew the action was muscle memory at this point, he was worried about messing up on her. Once he was done, he let her hand drop and continued staring at the ground between them.
"…I know what it feels like when the guy that makes up yer world leaves ya." Whatever response Witch was going to make froze in her throat. "When King 'n I first met, I was angry, 'n lonely, 'n stupid. I thought the best way ta make King stronger was ta make him think I was the bad guy. I threatened him, took over his body, haunted his nightmares. He hated me. Every second was hell, but I was doin' it fer him. 'It's gonna make him stronger' I told myself. 'Who cares if he hates me', 'I'm just a hollow', 'this is the best way'. Lies I kept tellin' myself. I couldn't stand it. Every time he shouted that he hated me, that he trained for the sole purpose of drivin' me away, that he kept himself up 'cause he knew he'd see me, it fukkin hurt, like nuthin' else. It's a bit of a different situation, but I get wantin' nothin' more than havin' 'em back." Tears formed at the corners of Witch's eyes. "Yer probably gonna hate me, cause I got 'im back an' you can't, but I won't complain. I'll hate it, but I won't complain. Use me like a punching bag, training dummy, door mat, whatever. I'll take-" She slammed into him and flung her arms around his sides. The hollow blinked in shock, before his eyes widened when his shihakusho started getting wet.
"I can't hate you!" She sobbed. "You understand, if only a little bit!" A relieved smile grew on Shiro's face before he hugged her back, the small woman nearly being swallowed by his inverted clothing. His right hand rubbed her back soothingly and he rested his chin atop her head. She fisted her hands in his clothes, shook in his hold, and screamed into his chest, but he simply continued rubbing her back. She wept for over an hour, and Shiro just held her as she let everything out without complaint. The only time his soothing expression changed was when a guard came in to replace the one that had left. The hollow had glared violently at the newcomer, who immediately retreated out of the building. The zanpakuto only shifted in his position when the woman in his arms paused in her bawling.
He lightly held her shoulders and helped her back into a sitting position, then slid his hands down to hold her wrists. The spirit held up her bandaged wrists up for the lieutenant to see.
"Hey. I'mma be visitin' ya every day from here on out, so ya better stop doin' this, ya hear? I don't mind fixin' ya up, but I hate seein' ya hurt yerself." Witch sniffled and wiped her eyes as she nodded wordlessly. "Oi, ya better take that seriously, alright? If I see yer hurtin' yerself again, I'mma tie ya in bubble wrap and throw ya over my shoulder." Fragments of a giggle fell from her throat before a laugh slowly pieced itself together. The hollow grinned in accomplishment.
"…Thank you, Hollow-kun."
"Call me Shiro." The lieutenant blinked. "King gave me the name. Boring as fuck, sure, but it's somethin'. And that's what matters." Witch smiled in response.
"Then thank you, Shiro." A giggle popped out of her throat. "Never thought I'd see the day where I'm friends with a hollow." A smirk fell upon the zanpakuto's face.
"Ya better get used to it. Yer gonna be seein' me every day, aft'r all." She smiled genuinely, and the hollow couldn't help but smile in response. "I gotta go. We've got a shitload ta do, and we've just gotten started." He explained as he stood. Witch rose with him, before glancing at the locked cell door.
"I hope you don't plan on breaking the door down. The guards might send someone to attack you."
"Was thinkin' about it." The pale spirit admitted. "I decided not ta." The lieutenant with him jumped at the sudden shouts from the guards outside the building. She snapped to him.
"What's happening?"
"I'm part of a dual-blade zanpakuto. That's my other half grabbin' the keys." On cue, Ossan appeared in front of the cell door through Hirenkyaku with a key ring held in his hand. The Quincy spirit silently looked through the dozen keys before taking one and slipping it into the lock with ease. With a soft click, the door was swung open.
"Hello, Hinamori-san. You may call me 'Ossan'." The girl looked between the two spirits for a moment.
"Kurosaki-san isn't good at naming things, is he?"
"Dreadfully so."
"Fukkin terrible." The zanpakuto agreed. The lieutenant smiled softly.
"Then I guess I'll see you tomorrow?" The hollow opened his mouth to answer, before his eyes passed over the inside of the cell once more.
"…Gimme a sec. I'll be back." As confusion dusted the woman's face, Shiro boomed away in Sonido. Thanks in no small part to how familiar he and King were with the Division, it did not take long for the spirit to find what he was looking for. He re-entered the cell promptly, ignoring the knowing look on his Quincy counterpart's face. The confusion that had grown to cover Witch's face was replaced with shock as soon as she realized what he held in his arms. Because of this, she was left to stare as he sauntered past her and plopped the mattress he stole onto the stiff mat that she had slept on the past few days. She then gaped as he slid the mat out from under the mattress and stood it up on its side in front of the toilet. A frown marred his face for a second, before he punched the mat in a couple places and bent it so stood up more reliably. The hollow turned back to her with a wide grin.
"There. Now ya got a bed, and privacy."
"Th-thank you."
"Welcome. See ya tomorrow, Witch!" With that, the zanpakuto pair left, pointedly ignoring the visibly shaking guards as the duo passed the terrified men.
"Seeing you reform your friendship with Hinamori-fukutaicho reminded me how eager I am to reform my friendship with Sasakibe-fukutaicho." Ossan sighed wistfully.
"You'll get the chance. We both know it, hell, King'll actively get ya the opportunity."
"I am aware." The Quincy's lips twitched. "We have been here for less than a week, and already things are better." The hollow glanced at his counterpart with a smile on his face before shifting his gaze to the sky.
"Yeah." He slid his hands into his pockets. "For everyone."
"Indeed." The thoughts of the zanpakuto trailed to their orange-haired wielder. "For everyone." They could've returned to their wielder's mindscape instantly, but the pair decided to enjoy the walk over to Unohana's abode. According to their signatures, the orange haired time traveler and his partners were already inside, in the bathroom, if the zanpakuto's memories served them correct.
If the duo slowed their strides, no one would know.
"Ahhh, cold water is nice." I sighed after downing half my cup. After facing off against Yama's Bankai, cold drinks were never as refreshing. I would've preferred if the bath water was also cold, but neither of the women I shared the tub with had been exposed to the ancient shinigami's overwhelming heat. Sure, it wasn't at the level the Head Captain thought it was, but it was still as intense as the lower levels of Hell. I briefly wondered if Yama's Bankai truly was powerful enough to burn away dimensions at its best. I knew from experience Bankai's could become powerful enough to destroy dimensions, so it wasn't impossible. Yoruichi leaning into my right side dragged me out of my thoughts. I glanced down, and she had a content look on her face. I had to make sure to focus on her face.
"Ichi-kun~, why didn't you tell me bathing with you was so nice?" The werecat purred.
"According to you, doing anything with me is nice." I drawled.
"Fair." The goddess of flash sighed happily. Unohana leaned up to whisper in my ear.
"I must admit, it's shocking to see how unaware she is of her feelings." I smirked and whispered back.
"It's more like she keeps getting distracted and never gets the chance for the realization to slap her upside the head. Knowing for sure that I was together with a second person is also making it hard on her. It's such an obvious answer who it is that she immediately shoots it down kind of thing."
"I see."
"Hm? What'cha talking about?" The werecat mumbled, half-asleep in the water.
"Nothing important." I hummed.
"Alright." We remained in the bath a few minutes more before getting out. I sighed as I toweled myself off. So much to do, and we haven't even figured half of it out yet. There were still a lot of people who had to go through training that my zanpakuto and I haven't thought about yet. Over half of the training regimes we've already thought about are vague directions at best. Kurotsuchi and Kisuke need to figure out and counter technology they've only heard of. The exile of the Urahara Shop and the Vizards needs to be lifted. We have next to no progress in organizing the Opening Assault. Then there was the matter of finding a way to keep the training secret from the Wandenreich until we wanted to reveal it. They would become aware that we're getting stronger just from the increase of reiatsu, and strengthen themselves to counter it. We had some leeway in that a lot of things happening because of my coming to the Soul Society was already seen by Yhwach and Haschwalth. Some changes could come about that the Quincy would just write off as because of me, but revolutionary things like Zaraki unlocking his zanpakuto or Toshiro finding out about the true power of his Bankai would be too much for the Wandenreich to write off as a natural occurrence.
I ran my hand through my hair as I walked out of the bathroom, Yoruichi and Unohana behind me. The mocha skinned goddess had foregone her jacket in the comfortable environment, and I had joined her by removing the coat wrapped around my waist. There was no chatter as we found our way to my nurse's office, each of us tired in our own ways. The raven haired medic took her seat behind her desk, and silently continued with her paperwork. Yoruichi flopped onto the couch with the intent to have a nap, and I sat in front of the coffee table to continue with The Plan. I unrolled the larger map of the Seireitei Ossan had appropriated from somewhere and used some paper weights to hold the corners down. Luckily, the table was large enough that the second, smaller map of the Seireitei and the hand-drawn map of the Schatten Bereich comfortably flanked the main chart I would be using. The map of Hueco Mundo made with Halibel's help was placed next to the smaller Seireitei graph. Unohana was fine with me snatching half a dozen pens, and I tossed them onto the middle diagram as I took out the scraps of paper acting as people from my coat.
As always, I started with placing the Quincy down, because so long as we didn't do anything to change that, they would appear in the same places and travel in the same patterns. Larger scraps of paper with Soldats scribbled on were placed at the edge of each Division. It had taken hours going through my memories and listening to dozens of reports from fodder Shinigami hundreds of times to get exact locations on the squadrons of exterminators. I took one of the pens-a red one-and carefully started marking the map with arrows and symbols to describe the movement, patterns, and actions of the foot soldiers. After jotting down he main points, I went over each again to double-check that I had everything right and to add anything I missed. Then I started on the Sternritter. Some were easy. There were more than enough accounts of some that scribbling out the actions were thoughtless. But others were near impossible. The whereabouts of Yhwach's personal guard were almost completely unknown for most of the war. Almost. It had taken an incredible amount of effort, research, and going over my memories countless times with Zangetsu, but I had managed to get a somewhat vague run down of the actions of the guardsmen. Yhwach and Haschwalth were placed down, with a highlighted baby blue line marking their path.
It took nearly twenty minutes, but I managed to finish with the Quincies. Each of the scraps in front of me were marked with a letter describing which Sternritter they were. Circles of red marked the areas Sternritter E was ordered to take out. The path of Sternritter F was bold and noticeable in black. Squares of navy blue were safe zones from the vantage points Sternritter L would take up. Yellow surrounded the path Sternritter G would take, marking the range of her ability. A black X inside of a sky blue box represented the hiding spot of Sternritter U. Sternritter Z's path was the most noticeable, solid red with black edges. It was a mess, but one easily understood by anyone who had studied to read maps like this.
I began setting up our side with the people Zangetsu and I had already figured out. The scrap marked with my name was slid into the only position I could take if we wanted to win. I hated it, but the tactician drilled into me by Ossan and Kyoraku said I had do. Kisuke was placed in Hueco Mundo, alongside the Espada. The home-field advantage was essential, especially since Soldats had only the most minimal practice in fighting on sand. I frowned at where I placed the Espadas we had and shifted them around. The path the Soldats and Sternritter J had taken was simple, a straightaway towards Las Noches. There were a lot of opportunities for ambushing on our part. The Wandenreich mostly deemed the arrancar to be mindless beasts with a lot of power behind them, so Yhwach only sent one Sternritter to the endless desert to not waste powerful players. 'Jail' had-or will, I corrected myself-taken two squadrons of Soldats with him. With each foot soldier being lieutenant-class, the Quincy planned to overwhelm the extreme few arrancars residing in Las Noches with numbers. But since Starrk, a frighteningly good wave clearer, was still alive, the Espada could be positioned to whittle down the numbers before they reached the home of the Espada. Potentially, the Primera could take out all the Soldats and leave the Sternritter by his lonesome to fight 5 of the most powerful members of the arrancar species. Along with Kisuke's guidance and general paranoia, they could possibly take out the 'Jail' and rush over to join the main fight in the Seireitei before any real destruction could take place.
Zaraki was best wandering around the Seireitei and taking out anyone he came across. The only problem was the path he would take. I couldn't risk him being hit by a blood splatter from 'Zombie', or 'Love's' power, or taking unnecessary damage from crossing paths with 'Explode'. He could be assigned a path that caused him to encounter 'Fear', since the current Kenpachi deemed fear to be an even more useless emotion than confusion. I placed Zaraki's scrap of paper over the 11th Division and used a double line to scribble out his path. I paused a few times, but I managed to scribble out something that allowed him to take out Sternritters F, O, R, and Q. A moment later, I erased it, as the path had him run right in front of one of the 'Y' Sternritters, and it was a complete unknown which 'Yourself' he would encounter. Yhwach had given the twins a path for each of them to cause chaos, but he left it up to them which would walk what path. Which meant it was a 50/50 chance that Zaraki would either encounter a fake Yhwach that he could cut in half, or a fake Yhwach that could cut him in half. And I would not take that chance. Then I noticed a yellow line and remembered that Sternritter T was tasked to fly a path in the sky instead of staying on the ground. I was less concerned about the power of her lightning, as any captain and most lieutenants would be able to tank it, and more concerned about the resulting effect the lightning would have on their ability to fight. I sighed heavily and rested my forehead in my palm.
Kurotsuchi or Byakuya could keep her from safely using the skies. No, just about anything Kurotsuchi could put out would be something she can fry, and Byakuya would basically be giving himself a handicap by spreading Senbonzakura so thin. Uryu could potentially shoot her out of the sky. Wait, no. She can counter his arrows, and he's more useful against other Sternritter. Komamura…won't work. He can reach her, but his Bankai is too slow to hit her. He can distract her, but that doesn't really solve the problem, especially since she's aware of his zanpakuto's weakness. Even with his conditionary immortality, she could shock him into muscle failure. Shinji? Sure, she'd know what his Shikai does, but that didn't magically give her the ability to work around literally everything she perceived being reversed. Dammit, no. We tried that once. She coated her body in lightning formed from reishi, so we couldn't get in close, and we couldn't use kido. I weaved my fingers through my hair in frustration. Over half of the Sternritter had been taken out by me, and that was only because my abilities don't give a shit who I'm fighting. In order for us to have any chance at victory, I could not leave the position I had assigned myself, meaning I was stuck until I had completed my one task.
I sighed. Ossan often told me that if a solution could not be found, solve a different problem. I raked my eyes over the maps in front of me. I landed on the paths of the 'Y' Sternritters. I needed to figure out which twin followed what path. That would determine whether I could have Zaraki run the path I had come up with or not, along with give me ideas on what I wanted other allies to do. But how? No one knew who was where. Dozens of accounts confirmed that there were three Yhwach's in the war zone, and many others established that the twins played Yhwach until their deaths. As far as we knew, there was no time limit on how long the 'Yourself' ability could be active. In the few plans that I had managed to dig up in the aftermath, the twins had been ordered by their King to not shapeshift into someone else under any circumstances while on the battlefield. One twin copied Yhwach's appearance and memories. The other copied his appearance and powers. Neither could copy both memories and powers. There was no way to forcefully return them to their original forms. Directly encountering either ran the risk of encountering the one with the power, and thus ran the risk that whoever came up on them would be one-shot. Both had access, thanks to their Quincy powers, to Blut Vene and Blut Arterie. Both could also use Quincy bows. Yhwach had ordered them to only use their basic Quincy techniques, and he limited himself in the same way, but that was irrelevant because I knew who the fakes were already.
But I didn't know how to safely decipher which fake was the threat. One could be killed by any captain or lieutenant in a single strike. The other could kill any captain or lieutenant in a single strike. Yamamoto? Sending him out against the twins eliminated the risk involved, since the ancient captain would be strong enough to take out both. No, Yhwach ordered the twins to copy himself because he knew a rusty Yamamoto wasn't strong enough to take him out at his best. If the Head Captain managed to take out the twin with the power, the Quincy King would be alerted that Yamamoto had regained his power. He would have his soldiers switch gears to a back-up plan, and even if they switched to a back-up plan I know of, we wouldn't have the ability to change our own strategy to counter them.
Shit, and even having someone to encounter one of the twins to find out which one they were was suspicious enough activity for Yhwach to turn things around on us! I needed to figure out a way to not only figure out which twin had the power, but eliminate one or both before they could alert their King! A pleasant feeling manifested at the back of my neck, and I was dragged from my thoughts. I made to twist my head, only for something to smack the back of it.
"Ah, ah, ah!" Yoruichi denied. "Stay still. You've been looking like you need a massage since you came here, and it's only gotten worse since you've started working on that map." I blinked, and what I now recognized to be the mocha skinned goddess's hands returned to the back of my neck and resumed the massage. "And you definitely need it." She mumbled. It felt good. Very, very good. It had been a little over 7 years since I last got a massage. Automatically, my eyes started to close from the feeling. A sigh left my throat, but not from frustration.
Ossan also regularly told me that I needed to relax. I glanced down at the maps in front of me. Something like this wasn't something that could be completed in a day. A low groan rumbled out from me as the goddess worked her magic. We were on a time limit, yes, but not a short one. No more being a machine, I reminded myself.
Without any hesitation after that, I dropped the pen in my hand onto the table.
"Let me get comfortable." I requested, and the ex-captain obliged. Her hands lifted from my neck and I stood up, making my way to the couch as I removed my armor and Zangetsu. I heard an approving hum from my masseur as I shrugged off my shihakusho before I kneeled onto the piece of furniture and laid down. It was soft, and cushiony. Also a little warm from Yoruichi having napped on it. The woman in question shot off in shunpo, and came back before I even started to wonder where she had gone. She was holding a jar, and I remembered that the 4th Division kept a stock of massage oil. As she sauntered up to me with a wide grin on her face, I allowed myself to relax completely in the company of my two favorite women and inside what I had come to recognize as a second home. She straddled my waist, and I couldn't help but mentally chuckle with the knowledge that she loved the excuse, before pouring some oil on my back. The sound of the jar being lowered onto the floor was faint, a little bit because of the mats making up the floor and a little bit because of Yoruichi's extensive stealth training.
Once her hands came down to truly give me a massage, I stopped caring. I had a lot of built up stress, from 7 years of horrific war, almost non-stop combat, the mere idea of time-traveling, all the preparations I had made to time-travel, everything regarding preventing the Winter War, the preparations for the Blood War, and the Hell of trying to not get found out by the enemy that was constantly watching us. And, somehow, the woman on my back was undoing all of it. For a moment, I thought about biting back my moans. Then Yoruichi rubbed a spot in just the right way and that thought was shot and buried. My eyes fluttered shut from the pleasure and I turned my head to allow the sounds coming from my mouth to flow out freely.
Maybe having more stress just made the massage feel better? It certainly felt better than the one I had gotten in the brief interim between the Winter and Blood Wars. Then again, that massage hadn't been delivered by Yoruichi, so maybe the goddess was just better at it. There was always the possibility it felt better because of my awareness of Yoruichi doing it. A knot that had been there so long I had forgotten about it came undone, and my mind blanked.
What was I thinking about? The ex-captain ground her palm against a spot next to my spine, and something guttural rumbled out of my throat. The woman paused for a second, and lifted her hips for a moment. I didn't have enough brainpower to put any thought to it, and she continued soon enough anyway. She rubbed at something between my right shoulder blade and my spine, and I growled in pleasure. I made a promise to ask Yoruichi for a massage at least once a week here on out.
"Yes." She sighed.
Apparently I had said that out loud. Great, saved time. And she said yes, so all was good. Now that that out of the way, why did I feel a wet spot growing on the back of my hakama?
"Don't worry about it." The goddess answered quickly. So I was still talking out loud. Eh, she said not to worry about it. I couldn't think, so the potential meaning behind that statement flew over my head. I heard giggling. Was too far away to be Yoruichi. Oh, yeah, Unohana was here. The goddess responded to the giggling. I was still basking in pleasure and comfort, so I didn't care enough to listen to their conversation. It ended quickly. I think. Yoruichi had been massaging me the whole time, I wasn't really paying attention to anything other than that.
I was suddenly being slapped lightly into wakefulness.
"What?" I hummed. Yoruichi was very close. As in, pressing herself against my back and breathing into my ear close.
"How about we continue in the bedroom?" She sounded…impatient? I shrugged, my head still a bit sluggish.
"Sure. Hang on." Instantly, her limbs wrapped around me and I sat up. I blinked once I opened my eyes.
"Where's Unohana?"
"Waiting for us in the bedroom, now come on!"
"Alright, alright, calm down." I waved as I stepped off the couch. Grabbing Zangetsu as I passed the sword was automatic for me. I didn't slip it through my sash, though. I was going to put it down once I entered the bedroom, so there was no point going through the hassle.
Opening the door to Unohana's room was what brought me to full wakefulness. The woman in question was wearing her sheer white nightgown, and nothing else.
"What did you two talk about?" I asked, dumfounded.
"Giving you a reward you are in desperate need of." The raven haired medic purred.
"Hold-" Yoruichi, with her intimate knowledge of the human body thanks to her stealth training, managed to lean in a way that threw off my balance before pushing against my back to get me to stumble into the room. In a display of speed and precision synonymous with the ex-captain, the door was shut and locked behind me so fast I barely felt the goddess hop off my back. I turned my head to shout at the werecat, only for the woman's lips to crash against mine passionately. I froze, and she pulled back with a soft smile on her face.
"It's kinda funny, how I thought you were the dense one." She sighed. I gulped. I could feel my resolve shudder at the look on Yoruichi's face.
I feared for my ability to restrain myself.
Hi! As I said in the beginning A/N, I'm gonna do my best to get the next chapter uploaded before the weekend is over! Sorry if the ending of this feels a little rushed, I couldn't think of a smoother way to do it!
Next Chapter: Waking the Dragon.