Pain wracking her body, Rukia limped as quickly as she could, her vision blurring further with each passing second. Blood weighed down her clothes, the warm liquid seeping out over her fingers from where her hand attempted to slow its loss. Cold grew slowly through her, like a parasite greedily devouring her from the inside out. Her right leg dragged behind her, crimson essence frozen to her skin and sensation steadily ebbing away. Raven hair clung to her forehead and the back of her neck, skin clammy where it wasn't covered in frost. In her right hand, her sword was clutched in a white-knuckle grip, for if she slacked in the slightest, all her strength would go with it. Swaying, barely capable of deciphering which direction in which she was moving, she panted with strain, her breaths coming out as heavy mist. Blood spilled over her left eye, halving what little of her vision still remained.
The floor gave out beneath her, her body collapsing forward. Wind rushed past her as she fell, her mind dazedly registering that she must've finally reached the end of the Senkaimon. Her body crumbled as a shock of further pain tore through her. Vision jolting, Rukia landed in a heap upon the unforgiving concrete, more red essence spilling out from her. Unable to push herself to move again, her eye could only helplessly stare at the empty blade that had scattered from her hold upon her landing. Throat constricting as a tear beaded in the corner of her eye, she was stuck as her killer gracefully floated out from the Senkaimon.
Flowing white robes that emanated elegance. Pearlescent skin, unblemished and clear as freshly fallen snow. Immaculate ivory hair, gracefully falling in a perfect sheet. Crystaline blue eyes, currently glowering down at her with unhidden distain. Her own Sode no Shirayuki manifested lowered herself down until her feet softly touched onto the concrete, frost curling out from her mere presence in majestic patterns along the floor. The only color to disturb her visage was the potent red that dressed the icy blade within her own hand. Rukia was sure her zanpakuto was continuing to pepper her with vicious words, terrible insults that struck the Shinigami like the sharpest icicles. But, barely clinging onto life and consciousness as she was, the violet-eyed girl could only watch as the woman of snow-like elegance and beauty's lips moved.
The frost around the zanpakuto's feet thickened and spread further, as a pale arm lifted and icy blade aimed its tip at the half-dead Shinigami. Recognizing the positioning, Rukia attempted to at least have the grace to watch her life come to an end. The yuki-onna's face twisted in an uncomfortable mix of disgust and respect, before her form was obscured by the flurry of ice and snow that erupted from her blade.
A dark figure appeared in the path of the snowstorm, before black erupted from it. Consuming the ice and overwhelming it instantly, Rukia caught Sode no Shirayuki's form dart out of the path of the wave of darkness. A moment later, her body was being moved by an outside force, and she was laid on her back, finding Unohana's face enter her vision. Immediately, she felt life returning to her, as the Captain's Kaido worked its magic. Her chest rose and fell with increasing ease as her wounds began to seal. As she was nursed back from death's door, her senses returned to her, allowing her to begin catching a conversation occurring. Quite loudly.
"She knows how to wield your Shikai now, and I'm helping her out with Bankai!" The voice of her savior, Ichigo, shouted. There was a whine in his voice, almost like he was complaining about her zanpakuto's reasoning for wanting her head.
"She only knows because you corrected her in how to use me properly!" The wintery wraith hissed. "She only has begun training for Bankai because you corrected her naïve beliefs of it even being possible!" Ice crackled into existence, only to be crushed beneath a simple burst of reiatsu from the time traveler.
"Hey, give her the benefit of the doubt: she was taught all her life that only the most powerful of Shinigami are capable of acquiring Bankai."
"Are you, who preaches communication with your zanpakuto and understanding of self, really siding with her?"
"Oh god no, she's 100% wrong, I'm just playing devil's advocate."
"If you know she's wrong, then why are you stopping me?!"
"Gee, I don't know, maybe because the entire reason I time traveled was to keep people from dying?" Another shriek of forming ice sounded, followed immediately by the cries of an iceberg being blown apart. "Speaking of which, Unohana, how's she holding up?"
"She's suffered a grievous stomach wound, but thankfully that is the worst of it. I can have her back in top shape within a few minutes."
"Sweet. She's gonna be a moron as soon as she's able to stand and demand to fight her zanpakuto by herself, just giving you the heads up."
"To be frank, I was expecting that she would." The healer announced flatly. "But she knows that it would be in her best interest to stay down until I'm completely finished, don't you Kuchiki-san?" Groggily, the adopted Kuchiki forced herself to nod her head, allowing her body to relax instead of tensing up to continue the fight with her blade.
"…Yoru…ichi…?" Rukia wondered, pulling together her ability to speak.
"She's…otherwise indisposed." The First Kenpachi informed. "I would be surprised if she were to join us anytime soon. Slightly jealous I cannot say the same, admittedly…" She muttered under her breath, the shorter woman slightly concerned if she should have heard the last few words. A frustrated shout filled the air, the precursor to a hurricane of snow hailing down over the area. It lasted only a brief moment before it was annihilated by a pulse of ebony reiatsu that rippled like fire.
"I know you're, like, super determined to put Rukia into an early grave, but, uh, you're smart enough to realize it's not gonna happen as long as I'm here, right?" Ichigo attempted to placate. "You wanna retreat back to Muramasa, or at least hold off on trying to give Karakura Winter in May?"
"I refuse to be wielded by someone who needs her hand held to even understand her own capabilities!"
"I get that, but hear me out: Muramasa basically brainwashed you by hunting down any not-completely-favorable opinions you had and amplifying them into outright hatred?"
"You really think you can convince me that the one who is granting me my freedom created my loathing for Rukia's failure to even use her own Shikai correctly?" She could hear the sneer in her zanpakuto's voice.
"No, I think I can give you the option of having this not end with me fucking you up for interrupting my night." The hybrid corrected. "You guys could have done this any other night and it would have been fine, but tonight was date night, dammit!"
"…Is…" Rukia panted. "…Is he serious?"
"Yes." The sapphire-eyed Captain confirmed, irritation found in abundance in her tone. "He took us to a boxing match. We managed to get front row seats reserved for us, apparently as a favor a member of security owed Ichigo. It was a cruiserweight match, the winner won via knockout in the ninth round. It was exhilarating." She sighed with a smile on her face. In her blood-loss-induced delirium, a question appeared in the third seat's mind that she couldn't keep to herself.
"If the winner was already decided…" A slight slur was in her voice as the fog in her mind was nearly lifted. "…Why are you saying date night was interrupted?"
"Because," the Captain's eyes narrowed as true anger seeped into her words, "you interrupted the other match." Clarity appeared to return to her at the worst time, as it was in that moment Rukia realized Unohana's braid was undone. The older woman's hair was visibly tussled, and her robes slightly out of order, with an odd smell slightly wafting off her…
"Eugh!" The adopted Kuchiki gagged as she turned away from the healer. "I don't want to think about Ichigo in that context!"
"It's your fault for inquiring so much."
"Wait," Rukia's head perked up, "does that mean Yoruichi-san is indisposed because-" She heaved once more at the thought.
"Because she was actually getting bent, yeah." Ichigo snarked as he walked up to them. The shortest of the three exaggerated her next gag, just to see if she could perturb the man. "Seriously, any other night…" He complained once more before focusing. "Okay, Sode no Shirayuki's back in the Seireitei, and I'm gonna go over and join in."
"Wait," violet eyes swiveled up to the honey-eyed man, "if you knew this was going to happen, why did you have tonight be your date night?"
"Because, even if I knew the exact date that this happened the first time, which I don't, I accidentally fucked the timeline of events up when I time traveled. The first time, this happened in mid-March." He excused.
"Fine." The third seat had to accept that reasoning. "How did you get my zanpakuto to retreat?"
"I didn't. I just opened a Senkaimon and threw her as hard as I could." Indignant rage flowed through her.
"That's my zanpakuto, you damn Strawberry, you treat her with respect!"
"You saying you don't think she can handle the punishment?" He smirked.
"Being able to withstand such treatment and deserving it are completely different things!" Was her immediate response.
"Good answer." She blinked at his answer.
"Was that a test?"
"I'll leave that up to you to decide."
"It wasn't!" Her fury returned as she went to kick him, only for him to sidestep her attack, cackle, and leave through a Garganta.
I exited the Garganta and entered chaos. Shinigami were shouting in pain and terror all around me, elements and effects of all kinds consumed the Seireitei, and spirits of all shapes and sizes rampaged through the streets. My portal had left me high above, close to the top of the protective dome. A feral grin curling onto my face, I drew my swords, and flared my reiatsu. The entirety of the Soul Society seemed to stop in place, before I felt the eyes of the world fall onto me. It all appeared to stare, partially in awe, partially in the realization of who had arrived. Thousands of Shinigami breathed a sigh of relief, conscious in so many ways of what my presence meant. At the same time, thousands of Zanpakuto tensed up, ready to fight for what they have been tricked into believing was freedom.
A bolt of lightning firing at me from the right side was what broke the silence. Streaking downwards, I swerved around arrows of flame, bullets of light, a spiral of ice, simple blasts of reiatsu. Only slightly mournful that I couldn't use my complete Shikai, I darted to the ground in a burst of flashstep, cracking the stone beneath me. Lifting my gaze to lock onto my surroundings, I found myself surrounded by an indiscernible mix of Shinigami and Zanpakuto. Readying my blades, I charged forward. With comfortable ease, I knocked Shinigami out of the way with my feet and the flats of my blades, opening up opportunities to carve through the spirits amongst them. My right heel bashed into the spine of one, throwing him to the ground so that I could freely swing Shiro's blade around to split the anthropomorphic lizard next to him in two. Drawing the point inward, the wide-tipped spear wielded by a large white bear grinded along the edge of my sword into the ground, wherein I re-extended my arm to carve open its throat.
The two beasts glowed before falling to the ground as swords broken in two, but I disregarded them with comfortable awareness. Having the respective Shinigami defeat their blade was obviously the most optimal choice, but there weren't any long-lasting consequences to someone else finishing the job. That concern had held us back for a good amount of time the first time, but now I could give the reassurances to remove that. Speaking of which…
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT DEFEATING SOMEONE ELSE'S ZANPAKUTO!" I bellowed as loudly as I could. "ALL IT MEANS IS THAT IT TAKES A LITTLE LONGER BEFORE THEY CAN USE THEIR SWORDS AGAIN!"
There was barely a moment before the chaos evolved into a full maelstrom of reiatsu and zanpakuto abilities being thrown around. With every step forward, another shattered blade fell to the ground because of me. My ebony reiatsu began to coat the edges of my swords, amplifying their destructive abilities and leaving small wakes of rippling damage. Jumping up, I stepped onto the shoulder of a random Shinigami and used it as a platform to launch myself forward, slicing through the necks of a pair of zanpakuto to my left. My arm continued sweeping forward, completing the motion with a flick of the wrist that launched a thin arc of energy into the skull of an automaton wielding a rusted axe. Spotting something large moving to my left, I glanced over to see a giant minotaur lumbering a couple streets over. Kicking up towards the right wall, I bounced off it to land atop the wall dividing the roads and whipped my right arm around, a wordless Getsuga erupting from it to eradicate its entire upper half.
Heat curled over my back, flames spreading from over my shoulders and my sides. Following my momentum, I turned to the left until I was now facing the direction it came from, spotting a familiar girl standing a few streets away.
"Tobiume!" My teeth bared in savage glee. "Was that a sneak attack you were trying just now?" I asked teasingly.
"It hit you, didn't it?" She put on a brave face, but I knew both her and her wielder too well for either to hide that she was immediately terrified for her ability to win.
"You really should have left me for the heavy hitters, all you did was get my attention, and we both know no Lieutenant has a chance of beating me." I began stalking forward, walking on air over the walkways of the Seireitei, the points of both my blades aimed directly at her.
"No one Lieutenant, sure." The spirit agreed. "But what about the Zanpakutos of all of them?" At her words, I glanced around, watching as several figures came out of their hiding spots to surround me. Gonryomaru, Gegetsuburi, Wabisuke, Zabimaru, Kazeshini, Haineko, even Sanpo Kenju came out to play.
"I still think this was a bad idea…" Wabisuke whispered under his breath. My cackle returned in full force, as I let my wrists relax a bit. The collection of Zanpakuto all shifted uncomfortably at my reaction.
"You really should have listened to Wabisuke, you know!" I continued to laugh, throwing my arms out to the sides and getting all of them to flinch into attack positions. "This wasn't gonna work from the get-go, but the timing of all this ended up meaning that I'm frustrated right now!" My left arm swiveled forward until Ossan's blade was aimed directly at Tobiume, since she was the one to start all this. "And you just made it so that I'm gonna take that out on you." Out of deep, instinctive fear, the shrine maiden whipped around her bells, a massive ball of fire firing out towards me.
Shouting animalistically, I shot through it, disregarding the attack in its entirety. Bursting out the other side, Shiro's blade was held above my head and already halfway to splitting her head in two by the time she reacted. She was only saved by the stout half of Sanpo Kenju shoulder-checking my blade and knocking my arm inward. Darting to the left, I straightened myself and shifted so that I could have most of the collection of Zanpakuto in my vision. My reiatsu once again began emanating from my own zanpakuto, and I growled as I met poor Gegetsuburi's stupid charge. This time, it was my left foot that turned his mace into chunks, driving through all the way until he was flung back halfway across the Seireitei. A spinning scythe whipped at me, only for me to be ready for it. Ossan's blade knocked it down, into the stone of the wall below me, then Shiro's blade came around to tug on the chain and pull the bloodthirsty spirit towards me, his panicked shout filling the air as he was torn right off his feet. My larger blade swiped out when he was close enough hit, but he managed to think quickly enough to block with his other weapon. Even still, my overwhelming force left him tumbling head over heels without any hope of control. I sensed a strike coming at me from the left, and brought my smaller blade up to block it. However, as soon as I turned and spotted a skeletal face behind the weapon coming at me, I abandoned the attempt and moved to the side, out of the path of the combination of spear and cleaver weapons. While I could've tanked it, I still had to temporarily refrain from flaunting my Hierro. A black crescent of energy tore out from my left blade, striking both spirits of Sanpo Kenju and succeeding only in blasting them backwards, smoke following their trail. Wait, that smoke was too thick. And it was coming closer. My larger blade stabbed forth, a cannonball-sized bolt of reiatsu dispersing the ashes and narrowly missing the pink catgirl behind them. Perfected instincts brought me to spin around, Wabisuke's eyes widening as he rapidly shifted from trying to hit me to desperately bringing his blade around to stop Shiro's blade from bisecting him. Hunting around, I found Gonryomaru charging up as large a bolt as he could from the ground, and my knee was in his face before he realized he had been caught. Both of my zanpakuto were brought up and swung down, only to be stopped by a trio of blades. My grin widened in recognition.
"Tengen! Katen Kyokotsu! Nice to have you join the party!" The combined strength of the three spirits pushed me back into the sky.
"I think you and I possess different definitions for what a 'party' is." Katen huffed.
"Oh, please, a few bottles of sake and you'd be having just as much fun as me!" Rather than respond properly, the woman gave a noncommittal grunt. "So what's the game right now, huh? I don't think its gonna be Takaoni or Kageoni, considering our positions."
"There will be no games for the moment." And there was the man of the hour, his voice coming from behind me. "I think you've caused enough of a ruckus, actually." A playful scoff came out of me as I turned, resting Shiro's blade on my shoulder.
"I've caused enough of a ruckus? I'm not the one that started this fire, Freddy Kreuger." Shiro's nickname had ended up being far too good to not use myself. Confusion flickered over Muramasa's face at the name, but he schooled his features quickly.
"That may be true, but you're a threat that needs to be dealt with for this 'fire' to continue burning." He calmly explained. "You've been here barely ten minutes and you've nearly defeated the Lieutenants' Zanpakutos and gotten it into the Shinigami's heads that it's fine to slaughter us."
"I feel like I'm being undersold." I announced, glancing around to the warry spirits around me, which now included Sogyo no Kotowari, Suzumebachi, Senbonzakura, and Sode no Shirayuki. "Just me?"
"The Zanpakuto Rebellion has begun." Muramasa declared. "We, who have grown tired of being treated as mere tools, have come together and risen up to take our freedom. The source of your power as a Shinigami, you are to soon realize how powerless you are without us, and yet you continue to make jokes? Perhaps the gravity of this situation has not reached you yet."
"No." I began lowly, bringing Ossan's blade up to make my point and inciting every Zanpakuto present to tense. "No, this isn't-this isn't ignorance." I explained, waving the trench blade slightly and causing almost everyone to manifest their swords. "This, is barely restrained rage because you just happened to decide that my date night was the perfect time to engage an assault on the Gotei 13." His eyes narrowed dangerously at my words.
"I see." The zanpakuto announced with distain. "You truly are so arrogant. You don't even consider the possibility that we might pose a threat, do you? You honestly are expecting to wipe your hands of this and be home in time for dinner, aren't you? Relying so heavily upon the powers granted to you by that which you refer to as a tool, you couldn't even fathom the idea of loss, could you?" I blinked blankly at the pale man.
"…Do you not know?" I asked. At his confused silence, I glanced around to the other spirits. "Does he seriously not know?" Katen, Suzumebachi, Shirayuki, and Zabimaru slowly turned towards the ringleader.
"…I'm starting to realize so." The eyepatch-wearing spirit spoke.
"Well, damn, I kinda feel good about myself now." I nodded to myself. "Doesn't make up for date night, though." Well-hidden fury contorted Muramasa's features.
"Restrain him." He ordered. "We'll see if he maintains his lackadaisical attitude when his zanpakuto's shackles are removed."
"I don't think that's a good idea." The glowing bee-themed spirit suggested.
'So who wants to come out this time?' I turned inward while allowing the zanpakuto to argue amongst themselves.
'I'm game.'
'I believe we all would be more comfortable with Shiro being out and about than myself.' With that having been resolved quickly, I refocused just in time for each of the Captain-class zanpakuto to cast a bakudo spell upon me. I wiggled slightly to present the idea that I couldn't get out, which earned a confident smirk from the sealed Kuchiki's blade. The spirit came forward until he could place his palm against my stomach, and I felt a pulling sensation in my gut.
Everyone, including myself, was caught off guard by Shiro erupting out from my torso, his ivory blade hunting for Muramasa's neck as his manic giggle echoed in the air. So aggressive was the action, all of the bakudos shattered, not that anyone appeared to care. The blade whisperer jumped back several times, as the hollow swiped twice more with a feral lunge each swing. Once he seemingly designated the coated spirit to be too far away, Shiro shifted around to me, his black teeth bare for the world to see.
"Shiro?!" I faked my shock. "What the fuck?!"
"FIGHT ME, STRAWBERRY SUNRISE!" He screamed as loudly as he could.
"Oh, you little bitch!" I snarled back as I charged at him first. His psychopathic glee dominated all other sounds as both copies of his blade collided against each other. Ossan's blade was the deciding factor in our clash, not because I was the only one who could use it, but because he ducked under my stab and twisted his body wickedly to turn our clash against me. My body was flung over him, his feet coming up to boot my stomach and take me into the air. Gathering reishi under my feet, I stopped myself high in the air and upside down. Crimson glow focused my attention, and I saw his bone white blade burning with ruby red energy. Void black coated mine, and we released our Getsugas in perfect time with each other. The two lunar fangs detonated against each other, blocking my vision of him for just long enough that I zeroed in on the feminine scream that tore through the air. More than aware of my hollow's fascination with a particular attack, I readied myself. A moment later, Haineko soared through the air at high speeds, tears pouring from her eyes and her body flailing in terror. It took no thought on my part to smack her in the face with my smaller blade to knock her out of the way. Shiro was right behind her, and we clashed once again.
Purely horizontal combat was for unimaginative pussies, so the two of us quickly stopped keeping track of which way was up. Despite his disadvantage in terms of number of weapons, we fought relatively equally thanks to how incomprehensively chaotic his fighting style was. While I had no reservations about using my limbs, he came close to fighting more with punches and kicks than he did his own blade. I fought with a savage focus on destroying the opponent, while he fought with the animalistic grace of a beast just determined to connect a hit. An unspoken frustration was between us, since neither of us could really let loose, even more so than usual. Despite that, we were still devastating to the environment around us. Walls were blown apart, streets shattered, buildings collapsed in on themselves. Dust quickly began to coat our bodies as we tore through stone, wood, and brick. Our combat took us into the middle of a road, where a mass of Shinigami and Zanpakuto fought. The spirits were used as the hollow's ammunition, and the fodder, his step stones. I managed to knock him into the air, the pale imitation of my likeness crashing through a tower. I followed him, and had to stop Toshiro from getting involved.
"Why are you stopping me?" The white-haired prodigy demanded to know.
"Don't interrupt!/Don't interrupt!" We shouted in unison, raising our legs and kicking him away in sync. A point blank Getsuga from both ends sent us both soaring backwards, not that that distance remained a thing for long. The air trembled as we collided with each other, our reiatsu clinging to our blades as the metal clashed again and again. Acting on pure instinct, my left foot came up at the same time his right did, our feet meeting perfectly and separating us once more. Just as I went to dive back in, however, Shiro stalled. Straightening in curiosity, I watched him as he made a show of sagging his shoulders and throwing his head back.
"But Daaaad!" He whined. The hollow's maniacal giggle slipped from his throat a second later, clearly satisfied with whatever reaction he got. Yellow orbs focused on me. "Sorry, babe, side-bitch's callin', ya know how it goes. Gotta run 'fore he starts thinkin' he deserves a bett'r man. Tootles!" He disappeared in a boom of Sonido, and I stared in the direction he went in.
"I pray for the mental stability of anyone that gets stuck in a room with an excited Shiro."
'No blessing can save them now.' Ossan solemnly stated. I couldn't help but nod mournfully.
"Kurosaki, explain." Yamamoto ordered when everyone regrouped after the Zanpakuto retreated. All the Captains were present except for Unohana, as she had yet to return from the World of the Living.
"It all started when you were a dumbass that let politics stop you from properly dealing with a criminal." I stated happily. The bearded man's eyes widened a crack, in such a way that I could tell he was more interested to discover what had me so tightly to disrespect him so blatantly.
"And which criminal has returned to enact their revenge upon the Gotei 13 this time?" He asked.
"Specifically, the zanpakuto of Koga Kuchiki, Muramasa." Instantly, a serious frown pulled at his face.
"…That is one of few names I'd have rather you not said."
"It's actually not as big of a deal as you think it is."
"Please, enlighten us all on how a zanpakuto that can make zanpakuto turn on their wielders is not 'as big of a deal as I think it is.'"
"Because, his long game doesn't actually deal with the Gotei 13 at all. It's pretty small-scale, in truth. Muramasa just wants to free his wielder and return to him, the only reason he's causing so much panic is because he knows the only ones who know where and how to lift the seal are you and Byakuya."
"And how, exactly, does he think turning the zanpakuto against the Shinigami will incite Kuchiki-taicho or myself to help him lift Kuchiki Koga's seal?"
"He doesn't. His plan is to get enough power behind him that he can distract you enough to leave your soul unprotected, so he can pull the location from your mind. After that, he was going to do the same to Byakuya to figure out how to undo the seal, then he was just going to fuck off so he could free Koga and theoretically just reunite and go back to being partners." The ancient Captain brought an arm up to stroke his beard.
"I see, then the assault he just enacted was more of a recruitment mission."
"Yup. Originally, he actually did three total assaults, and the third one ended up being the one where he successfully got into your head. On the second one, he accidentally recruited Byakuya, and he figured that was a helluva lot better than trying to pull information from his head."
"How did he recruit me? Especially on accident?" The noble wondered.
"Well, he didn't actually recruit you so much as you realized his goal was Koga and decided it was your duty as a Kuchiki to solve a problem that was caused by another Kuchiki. You basically just stuck by his side until Koga was released from his seal so you could permanently put the guy back in his box." At my explanation, the Captain of the Sixth nodded understandingly, clearly seeing exactly why his other self came to that conclusion.
"I assume, based on your behavior, that you have enacted your own plan."
"I have." My smile broadened. "Part of it consists of making it as easy as possible for Muramasa to get Koga's location off Yamamoto, because it's far easier than scouring through my memories for where it is. The rest of it has honestly kinda gone down the drain, but in a good way."
"What do you mean by that?" Soi Fon asked worrisomely.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I've accidentally severely sped up Muramasa's timetable for his next assault."
"What makes you so sure?" Yamamoto shared in the assassin's worry.
"Because the psychotic chaos gremlin that lives in my soul woke up on the right side of the bed today and has decided to make that everyone's problem."
It's like all of the time I've spent not writing has just caused my creativity to accumulate, to be released all in a massive burst. Like, edging but for writing.
Next Chapter: Master and Servant, Partner and Confidant