Hey friends and fans, Kairomaru is bringing you another Force of Souls Chapter! The ten day training period is passing. Ichigo has unlocked his Shikai by learning Shingetsu's name. Now, he has to figure out the abilities of his Zanpakutō. Luckily Urahara has PLENTY of hypotheses about that! And a spartan training method to go along with it! Chad is being put through Kensei's spiritual combat bootcamp. The teen will learn how to fight, or die trying, and Kensei doesn't really care which! Tatsuki and Orihime are focusing on their own specialties first, but will have to be forced into a prodigiously short time of learning their Zanpakutōs' names as well.
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Chapter 21 – Progress Can Be Harsh
We think a flower on a cliff is beautiful
Because we stop our feet at the cliff's edge,
Unable to step out into the sky
Like that fearless flower
"Bakudō #12: Hiroi Byōbu!" Orihime cast and the barrier of Reishi was formed in front of her before unfolding into the ten panels, widening the area of protection laterally. The Bakudō was just in time to block a barrage of small fireballs that had been launched at her by her new teacher.
"A good defense, Inoue-san." Tessai nodded to the girl with a smile. "However, you must also know the limitations of each of your spells as well." He held up his palm in front of himself and began to chant (entirely to give Orihime some actual time to counter him). "Stone of black. Call of indignation. The glow is sought. Hadō #6: Sanran Hinoko." Flames filled Tessai's palm before scattering into a wide wave of sparks and embers, the small fireballs each only the size of a tennis ball at most.
"Ah!" Orihime flailed as Tessai directed the small fireballs over her shield. The sparks rained down on her previous position as she abandoned it with a quick use of Shunpo.
"Come now, Inoue-san, you need to counter, not just run." Tessai followed after Orihime with some haste, keeping his own Shunpo to just above Orihime's speed to pressure the girl.
"Lone spear. The clouds shine. Silence falls. Hadō #4: Byakurai!" Orihime pointed her index and middle finger at Tessai, launching a thin beam of lightning at the man with as much power as she could put into it.
"Good." Tessai had simply sidestepped the beam without issue. "But what will you follow up with?" He was already bearing down on her.
"Bakudō #4: Hainawa!" Orihime skipped the incantation and lashed out with the crackling yellow Reiryoku.
Tessai blocked with his left forearm, and the yellow Reiryoku solidified into a constricting rope of yellow Reishi. But Orihime apparently wasn't done yet as she focused and reached out for Tessai while chanting.
"Eldest tree, darkest maw, flash of light. A wizened crow soars above all. Hadō #11: Tsuzuri Raiden!" Orihime's hands sparked brightly as she placed her palms against Tessai's muscular chest. The Hadō coursed through Tessai, but he didn't seem overly bothered by it. "The storm rumbles. Scattered dust, compressed sky. Strike of the blackened hammer. Hadō #22: Atsudama!" In Orihime's right palm (still pressed against Tessai's chest) a compressed sphere of air made a hissing sound as it formed.
BAM
The detonation of the spell sent Tessai skidding back all of a meter.
Orihime, on the other hand, went flying backwards and bounced off the ground twice before rolling to a stop. The airhead was more dizzy than outright injured, but she could feel the bruises forming already. Orihime pushed herself up, only noticing Tessai standing next to her (perfectly able to end her with any Kidō he chose, if he didn't just end her with Hakuda instead) and she sighed at her lack of effectiveness. She'd thought that her combo would've worked better than that.
"You chained two Kidō back to back, very well done, Inoue-san." Tessai smiled at her, offering his hand to help her up. "You're on your way to being capable of Nijū Eishō, or the Twofold Incantation." He praised his newest student.
"Nijū…Eishō?" Orihime accepted his hand up and looked up at her sensei for an explanation.
"Yes, it's a rather advanced skill for Kidō practitioners." Tessai spoke in his 'teacher voice', a calm tone that nevertheless had a commanding authority to it. "It is a class of Kidō Incantation where the Kidō practitioner mixes the incantations of two entirely separate Kidō spells together to simultaneously save time and confuse their opponent."
"Oh!" Orihime's eyes sparkled at the idea of being able to cast two different Kidō at the same time. "But…what if you mess up one of the chants?"
"That's why it's an advanced class of incantation." Tessai chuckled at the girl. "It takes much time and practice to become capable of successfully performing Nijū Eishō. But to answer your question, the most likely result is that both spells will fail entirely."
"I see." Orihime nodded as she took note of the new information.
"Are you ready to begin again?" Tessai asked a moment later, seeing that Orihime had caught her breath.
"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat! Bakudō #9: Hōrin!" Orihime rapidly chanted and wrapped Tessai up with the coiling orange and yellow spell. "Hadō #31: Shakkahō!" The bright red fireball blasted into the bound Tessai, and Orihime quickly utilized Shunpo to make some distance. Tessai was far too powerful for that quickly thrown together combo to do much.
"Very good, Inoue-san." Tessai congratulated his student. "I believe you've earned yourself a new Kidō!" The fact that he was already on her tail (perhaps only three meters behind her) put a dent in Orihime's excitement about learning a new spell.
-Tatsuki and Yoruichi-
"No." Yoruichi's masculine voice called out and Tatsuki landed on her back.
"Ow…" Tatsuki grimaced as she got back to her feet.
"Hakuda and Hohō are not two separate things you should be trying to do at the same time, Tatsuki-chan." Yoruichi had started calling her new student with the affectionate suffix on the second day of their training. "Your Hohō should flow into your Hakuda, letting you use the footwork in tandem with your strikes."
"But Hakuda has its own stances and footwork compared to Hohō." Tatsuki grimaced at the contradictory nature of the two Arts.
"Indeed, it does." Yoruichi nodded, the black feline looking entirely unbothered. "But they are not mutually exclusive from each other."
"So, I have to figure out how to combine the lessons of Hohō with the Hakuda forms?" Tatsuki came to the conclusion swiftly. "They're so different though."
"Yes, Hohō emphasizes footwork for evasion, positioning, and outright speed." Yoruichi spoke with the air of a master. "While Hakuda is rooted in the proper forms to utilize the body to the greatest effect while striking." The black cat's golden eyes held Tatsuki's gaze. "But instead of trying to utilize each separately, wasting time switching back and forth, you need to incorporate the methods of Hohō into your Hakuda footwork."
"The methods…" Tatsuki was confused at first. Yoruichi's words rolled around in her head for a long moment before the proverbial lightbulb came on. "Is that what I've been doing wrong?!" She dropped into her Hakuda stance and blurred forward into a straight punch that left a large spiderweb of cracks against the plateau that she'd punched. Said plateau being almost a dozen meters away from where she'd dropped into her stance.
"You figured that out after just hearing the explanation once, very good, Tatsuki-chan." Yoruichi praised with the cat equivalent of a grin. "Now…" The predatory glint in the cat's eyes was unsettling to Tatsuki. "Let's see you use it properly while we have a little spar."
"I'm sparring with a cat…" Tatsuki just sighed and took up her stance. "Are you sure that you're not just a fan of Kung Fu films?" This seemed similar to the origins of the animal-based styles that were shown in many such films.
"That remains to be seen, young grasshopper." Yoruichi replied with a laugh before the afterimage faded away.
Tatsuki barely got her guard up in time to block the tail that was aimed at her head. The unexpected amount of force behind the strike staggered Tatsuki. Her arm throbbed where Yoruichi's tail had struck her. Tatsuki tsked as she felt the rapidly forming bruise. "How the hell?"
"It's like I told you before, Tatsuki-chan." Yoruichi spoke up from behind Tatsuki. "If you're in control of your body and your Reiryoku, why wouldn't you be able to control where the force you exert goes?"
"You are so teaching me that!" Tatsuki vanished and a low kick threw up dust where Yoruichi had just been.
"If you prove capable." Yoruichi agreed, sitting on Tatsuki's outstretched leg.
"Okay, now you're just showing off." Tatsuki deadpanned at the black cat.
"Perhaps." Yoruichi's feline grin was prominent as they both vanished and their spar began.
-Chad and Kensei-
"Hit me like you really want to kill me, idiot!" Kensei slapped down Chad's punch and popped him in the face with a jab. The speed of said jab was so fast that Chad had only seen a blur.
"Hrrrnnn!" Chad's left fist nearly screamed through the air on a collision course with Kensei's face.
"Too slow!" Kensei caught the punch and then kicked Chad's leg out, throwing the teen to the ground harshly. "You gonna get up, or are you gonna let me stomp on you?" His boot came down and Chad rolled away.
"Hah…hah…" Chad was breathing heavily now. He was controlling his Reiryoku better now, able to cycle it through his body while fighting, but that hadn't made much difference to Kensei.
"You think Soul Society is going to give you time to catch your breath?!" Kensei vanished and reappeared in Chad's guard. The uppercut was barely dodged as Chad took a step back. "You're slow!" Kensei's elbow landed solidly in Chad's stomach. "You throw your punches like an amateur!" His knee collided with Chad's face, breaking the teen's nose. "And your balance is less than shit!" He criticized as Chad hit the ground again. "At the rate you're going, you're just gonna die."
"No…" Chad huffed out, forcing himself back onto his feet. He was wobbling, but he wouldn't fall, he refused! "I'll get better." Chad kicked off the ground, using all of his strength. The tall teen shot forward and threw his transformed right arm forward, the punch aimed at Kensei's face.
"Predictable too." Kensei raised a block only to watch as Chad pivoted into his next step and drove his left fist towards the silver-haired man's stomach. A dull thud rang out, the sound of fist meeting flesh, and Chad exhaled. "A feint. That's the first time you've done something that resembled a proper move." Kensei had caught Chad's fist in his opposite hand, stopping the punch cold.
A white spark leapt from Chad's left fist onto Kensei's palm. The exile's eyes widened and he shoved Chad away with a Tesshō strike to the chest. The teen slammed into the ground with a hacking cough from the unexpected blow.
"The fuck is wrong with your left arm?" Kensei questioned the teen, staring at his left arm with narrowed eyes. He knew that sensation. He'd felt it every damn day for the last century plus. Ever since that bastard had betrayed them all and used them as lab rats.
"What?" Chad slowly sat up as he got air back into his lungs.
"Don't 'what?' me!" Kensei nearly stomped toward Chad. "Why does your left arm feel similar to a Hollow?"
"It does?" Chad blinked and stared down at his untransformed arm.
"Are you fucking spiritually blind too?" Kensei grabbed Chad by the front of his shirt and hauled him to his feet. "How the hell do you not know what a Hollow's Reiatsu feels like?"
"I've only ever seen the one." Chad answered, confused at his trainer's reaction.
"Then how the hell does your left arm feel like a Hollow's?" Kensei's eyes bored into Chad's with a promise of pain if he didn't get an acceptable answer.
"I don't know…I've only had this power for a short time." Chad couldn't give the man the answer he sought.
"Fucking Urahara…" Kensei cursed as he turned and walked away from Chad. "Always one weird ass thing or another with him, I swear." He ran his hand through his short hair for a moment before turning to face Chad again. "Alright, I think I have an idea to force the answer out of you, even if you don't know it yourself."
"Huh?" Chad blinked at Kensei's words.
"You're going to overcome this next attack with only your left arm." Kensei ordered as he raised his hand to his face. A swipe of his hand and a mask appeared on his face. The mask resembled a flat hockey face guard, with six slitted eye holes arranged in two columns. It had three extensions on either side which covered the sides and back of his head, as well as his ears.
"What the…?" Chad murmured in shock. Even he could feel the change in Kensei's Reiatsu when that mask had appeared. The mask itself vaguely reminded him of the Hollow that he'd defeated to protect Ichigo's little sister.
"Use your left arm to beat this, or you're going to die." Kensei's voice was odd, as if two people were speaking at once. He held out his right hand and red Reiryoku gathered into an orb. The orb grew bigger and bigger, until it was roughly the size of a volleyball. With an odd sound, a mix of a hum and a buzz, a beam of destructive red light was fired at Chad.
Chad didn't have time to think, the beam was already upon him. He swung his left fist forward, pouring all of the Reiryoku he could into it. The red beam met his glowing fist and stalemated for a moment. The heat made Chad grimace as he felt his skin burn. He poured more and more Reiryoku into his left hand. He needed to overpower this! The heat alone was making him sweat profusely, but with the very clear danger to his life barely being held back, Chad didn't notice.
"Is that all you got?!" Kensei's odd dual voice demanded, still supplying power to the beam. "You're going to die!" The beam swelled as more Reiryoku was poured into it.
"Gnnngh…" Chad struggled, being pushed back by the power. His entire body felt like it was burning up. He tried to overpower the attack, but he couldn't. He didn't even notice as his shirt burned away. His left hand felt like it was being eroded and burned away as he continued to struggle against the overwhelming power.
'I don't want to die.'
That singular thought resounded in Chad's head from the deepest part of his mind, where the most primal of all instincts lay. The sole desire to survive came with a stark and brutal realization.
'He has to die.'
"AAAUUUHHH!" Chad bellowed loudly, even heard over the clashing of the Cero against his left fist. A pulse of power erupted from Chad and the Cero was dispersed into wisps of energy that left small pock marks all over the ground around him.
"About time." Kensei remarked, his mask vanishing the same way it had appeared.
Chad stood still, wisps of smoke rising off his body. The shirtless teen didn't seem to be aware of anything at the moment, but there was most definitely a difference now. His transformed right arm was the same as before, but his left arm had changed. The armor covering it was white, with a red stripe running down the length of the center. His fingertips had red diamond shaped marks on them. A single spike protruded from the shoulder, the red line running up to the tip of it.
"Looks Hollow enough." Kensei mentioned after looking over the new form of Chad's power.
"What…is this?" Chad had snapped back to awareness after a minute and was now looking over his left arm.
"My best guess?" Kensei walked over to his temporary student. "That's the manifestation of your will to survive. It's the physical representation of your willingness to kill to ensure your own survival."
"Survive." Chad recalled his final thoughts before this power had awakened. Even the brutal and cold thought that Kensei had to die so that he could live. He clenched his left hand and felt the strength in it.
"Right arm defends and the left arm attacks…well, at least you're balanced out a bit better now." Kensei shrugged, finally satisfied with the answer he'd uncovered with his rather unorthodox method. "Come on, we don't have all day, let's see what this new thing of yours can do." He motioned for Chad to follow him. 'It makes sense why his left arm felt like that now. Hollows are all about instinct, they're driven by it entirely. Even after they gain intelligence, they still follow their desires. This kid's instincts were directly manifested through his power.' Kensei once more cursed Urahara for dumping this weird situation on him.
-Urahara and Ichigo-
"Hmm…" Urahara hummed as he experienced Ichigo's gravity manipulating Shikai again. He was still rather casually dodging the Substitute Shinigami's attacks as they practiced though. "I see…the effect does indeed increase in proportion to how much Reiryoku you use."
"Damn it!" Ichigo did not suffer under the effects of Shingetsu. But Urahara had only taken a bit of time to seemingly figure out a way to move mostly normal as they sparred.
"Do you think you could condense the effect to just your blade alone, Kurosaki-san?" Urahara questioned after knocking Shingetsu away with Benihime, briefly upsetting Ichigo's footing.
"I'll smash you with it if I can!" Ichigo promised and focused on his Zanpakutō.
"Oh my…very interesting." Urahara had a wide grin as the increased gravity lessened considerably. He raised Benihime to block the next strike and his knees nearly buckled when the two blades made contact. The sheer pressure of the gravity he was holding back with Benihime was very impressive. "That's a very heavy blade you have there, Kurosaki-san." He adjusted his own Reiatsu output and pushed Ichigo back a bit as he stood to his full height again.
"Guh!" Ichigo hacked as Urahara kicked him in the stomach, launching him a few meters back.
"You mustn't get so focused on your opponent's sword that you forget to watch the rest of their body, Kurosaki-san." Urahara instructed with a smile that Ichigo REALLY wanted to wipe off the shopkeeper's face.
"I really want to crush you." Ichigo unleashed Shingetsu's gravity, pouring his own Reiryoku into his Zanpakutō to increase the power even further.
"Oof…that's rather intense…" Urahara mentioned as his body strained against the large increase in pressure. 'Hmm, starting to get light-headed…my blood is having a harder time trying to get to my brain now.' The scientist noted his body's response to the increased gravity. "Sing, Benihime." He swiped his sword and an arc of crimson Reiryoku was launched at Ichigo.
"Nnnrrgghh." Ichigo ground his teeth as he blocked the attack, even though it sent him skidding back nearly five meters before it dispersed.
"Hmm, still feeling the increased gravity, so the effect isn't limited to just around your body." Urahara was still analyzing Ichigo's Shikai. "Expanding the area of effect does seem to lessen the pressure though."
"Hyah!" Ichigo thrust his Zanpakutō forward, not taking a single step from the spot he was in.
"Whoa." Urahara quickly grabbed his new bucket hat before it could fly off his head. He did rather enjoy the falling sensation as he flew backwards away from Ichigo. 'Isn't this interesting? I see that I'm moving backwards, yet I'm in free fall as if I was falling towards the ground. The disparity between what my eyes see and what my body feels is actually rather disorientating.' He planted his feet when the effect lessened and he stopped 'falling' backwards. "At the moment it seems the limit of the gravitational alteration is roughly forty-five meters, give or take." Urahara called out to Ichigo with a smile.
"Can you not enjoy this so much?" Ichigo grimaced and rushed the shopkeeper. "I'm trying to kick your ass!"
"And failing." Urahara let off another arc of crimson Reiryoku that knocked Ichigo backwards as the Substitute blocked it. "Besides, we satisfy my curiosity and you learn the power of your Shikai at the same time this way. It's a win-win!" He laughed at the annoyance he saw on Ichigo's face.
"I swear I'm going to beat the hell out of you, Hat n Clogs!" Ichigo leapt back into the fray, exchanging sword strikes with his current mentor.
-End of the Day-
Dinner that night was full of conversation. Chad's new development had gotten a lot of praise from Ichigo, Tatsuki, and Orihime. Urahara had listened to Kensei's theory on it and eyed the Hollow-like armor covering Chad's left arm. He'd need to get a sample from the boy for study. This power of his may need some assistance if he was going to fight Hollows with it. Even in exile, Urahara was still a Shinigami. The Balance of Souls mattered to him and he couldn't let Chad potentially destroy the Hollows like the Quincy did.
'I wonder if I can make something that would allow for a Konsō to be performed by him?' Urahara wondered once Chad had deactivated his ability and his arms returned to normal. One part of the scientist's brain would be devoted to coming up with theories for such a device for the rest of the night.
"Arisawa-san, Inoue-san, Kurosaki-san, it is time for Jinzen practice." Tessai spoke up once dinner was finished. Tonight, the Kidō Master would be the one watching over them, since it was Urahara the night before.
"Coming!" Orihime smiled, moving to follow after her Kidō instructor.
"I hope I at least see someone tonight." Tatsuki sighed, stretching her arms over her head before following after them.
In a quiet room, Tessai sat out cushions for the three teens and then one for himself. He then picked up his own Zanpakutō that was leaning against the wall. To the three new Shinigami, it was the oddest Zanpakutō they'd ever seen.
Tessai's Zanpakutō looked like a modified shakujō, the staff that monks carried with the rings on top. It had a flat head and three rings on either side for a total of six. Other than that, it was a solid black color and seemed to have nothing else of note about it.
Seeing the three teens' curiosity, Tessai chuckled and revealed the secret of his Zanpakutō. He pulled it apart near the end, revealing that the blade was inside the staff and the staff itself acted as the sheath. The straight blade was reminiscent of a chokuto, and was rather long, seemingly to fit with Tessai's impressive 200cm height. After letting the three teens look for a few moments, Tessai laid his Zanpakutō across his lap and took up a meditative position.
Following his example, Ichigo did the same with Shingetsu, and Orihime and Tatsuki laid their own Zanpakutō across their laps as well. A few deep breaths were followed by slower ones as the four Shinigami sank into meditation to enter the Jinzen state.
-Tatsuki's Inner World-
"Well…this is the same 'welcome' that I got before." Tatsuki noted as she looked up at the large mountain before her. It was covered in bamboo, trees, and was almost stereotypical in the 'Martial Arts Hermit' appearance. Seeing the stone stairs that led up the mountain, Tatsuki began to jog up them. The first time she'd come here and walked up them, she had barely made it to the middle point before her Jinzen had ended.
What had to be almost ten-thousand steps later and Tatsuki arrived at the midpoint that she'd seen once before. It was a flat area with a small stone wall that separated the forest around from the small traditional dojo-like building in the center of the four walls. There was a pond within the walls and the occasional clack of a shishi-odoshi (deer scare) was heard.
"You certainly took your time." A woman's voice was heard. The shoji door opened and a woman emerged from the building. "Are you sure that you want to meet me?" The woman was older than Tatsuki, probably in her late twenties or early thirties, and had short, dark brown hair. She wore a red Dogi with a black belt and her feet had slippers on them. The woman's skin was lightly tanned, as if she'd been out under the sun for a while. But the most striking feature were her eyes, a fiery orange color with slitted black pupils.
"It's nice to meet you." Tatsuki greeted what had to be her Zanpakutō.
"Hah…" The woman sighed and sat down on the wooden floor just outside of the shoji door. "Still treating me like a stranger, I see."
"This is the first time we've met." Tatsuki pointed out to the spirit.
"And yet I know everything about you." The woman smirked, placing her right elbow on her knee and resting her chin on her palm.
"I'd like to know everything about you too." Tatsuki walked forward.
"You already would, if you stopped keeping me at arm's length from you." The spirit mentioned with a slow exhale.
"But...I'm not?" Tatsuki was honestly confused by the woman's words.
"Aren't you?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow. "You can't even be honest with yourself half the time. How could you open up to me?" Left unsaid was that her Zanpakutō could be considered her 'other half' and that the 'half the time' could completely exclude the spirit from the time Tatsuki was honest with herself.
"What do you mean?" Tatsuki felt her eyebrow twitch at the woman's words. "I'm always honest! I say what's on my mind and don't mess around!"
"There it is…" The woman shook her head. "Always so tough. Can't admit that you want help, even when you need it."
"You're starting to annoy me." Tatsuki grimaced at the spirit.
"Of course, I am." The woman stood up and stretched a bit. "You want to fight me, don't you?" Tatsuki's eyes widened at the question. She hadn't made any hostile moves…but she had thought of fighting the spirit for her words. "This is why you don't know me. Why I can scream out my name, -,and you can't hear it."
'I couldn't…' Tatsuki had only heard an odd sound like static when the spirit had spoken her name.
"As you are now, you'll never hear me, no matter how long I wait." The woman shook her head with a distant look on her face. "The distance is too great."
"I'll show you distance!" Tatsuki growled and leapt at the spirit. 'Why is my Zanpakutō such a pain in the ass? Ichigo described his as an older man that liked to stargaze and offered support.'
"Aggression, how predictable." The woman sidestepped Tatsuki's kick and smacked her upside the head. "Always your first fallback, being tough." She redirected Tatsuki's next three strikes easily. "You just can't let yourself need help."
"I don't need help to kick your ass!" Tatsuki dropped an axe kick on the woman, only to miss and shatter the wood below. She was smacked across the back of the head again and stumbled forward a step.
"You don't even have a reason to fight me." The spirit pointed out and Tatsuki lashed out with a roundhouse kick that was just as easily dodged. "Is it so hard to let others close?"
"I let plenty of people close!" Tatsuki argued right back, her punch dodged and another smack to the head all she got for her aggression. "I love Ichigo, Orihime, and Rukia! I have friends! What do you mean I don't let others close?!" She snapped off a front kick only for the spirit to take a single step backwards and avoid it.
"And how many of those people have you allowed to help you?" The woman questioned simply. "How often is it that you take care of everything by yourself?"
"I don't need to bother them when I can do it on my own." Tatsuki nearly stumbled as the woman redirected her next strike but made no attempt to smack her upside the head again.
"You don't even realize it…how unfortunate." The spirit looked at Tatsuki with sympathy.
"Realize what?!" Tatsuki lunged forward, throwing out a combo of kicks and strikes that had won her competitions and tournaments before.
"That maybe they wouldn't be bothered to help you." The woman caught Tatsuki's final strike and spun them both. Tatsuki found herself sitting on the wooden floor with the woman behind her. "That perhaps they offered you help not because they thought you needed it, but because they wanted to." The spirit began to run a comb through Tatsuki's short black hair. "Why do you think you have to handle things alone?"
"I can handle it…" Tatsuki murmured, her anger cooling and the tension in her body slowly bleeding away. "They can just leave it to me."
"Is that how they see it though?" The woman continued to comb Tatsuki's hair.
"How should I know?" Tatsuki gave a non-answer. It was almost like talking with her mom back in the days when she and Ichigo had done karate together.
"You wanted to help Ichigo back then…but you didn't know how." The spirit spoke plainly and Tatsuki grimaced. "You protected Orihime, because it was something you could do easily." She mentioned, still combing Tatsuki's hair. "All it took was beating the bullies up. Violence solved it. Being the strongest solved it. The tough girl that didn't need any help, she could help others."
"What's wrong with that?!" Tatsuki whirled around and got in the woman's face. "If I hadn't stepped in, then Orihime would've been miserable! How is that wrong?!" She demanded, grabbing onto the front of the spirit's Dogi.
"I never said it was wrong." The spirit pointed out as her hands grasped Tatsuki's wrists. "You just never let that part go. Did you?"
"Shut up!" Tatsuki yelled only to nearly scream as the grip on her wrists turned burning hot. The entire area was suddenly a sea of flames and Tatsuki was burning.
"Anger, rage, aggression…powerful things…but much like fire, if they're not controlled properly, then they can burn everything around them." The woman spoke, completely unbothered by the fire that was burning Tatsuki. "How long before you start burning those you care about? How long before your refusal of their help begins to burn those bridges that you hold so dear?"
"I…I…" Tatsuki couldn't get words out, her throat was so dry…the pain was too great.
"You're not alone, Tatsuki!" The woman yelled at the girl, letting go of her wrists and hugging her instead. "You couldn't help him back then…but you can now, and you don't have to do it alone." The flames vanished as if they'd never been there. "You love them, you let them in, so don't lie to yourself. Don't deny who you are." She looked into Tatsuki's eyes. "Don't reject me."
"I'm…I'm sorry…" Tatsuki apologized as tears filled her eyes and she buried her face into the spirit's Dogi. "I just wanted to help them. Because I couldn't for so long…" She bawled for the first time in her life. Crying and letting out the emotions that she'd kept in check to maintain her façade of the tough girl that could handle anything.
"And you have helped them." The woman gently rubbed Tatsuki's back. "But helping others doesn't mean never accepting help from them. You can't help someone if you're pushing them away, even unintentionally."
"I know…I just…I just thought that if everyone could depend on me, maybe I could forgive myself for not being able to help him when he needed me most." Tatsuki returned the hug, still sniffling and crying into the Dogi of her Zanpakutō.
"You helped him more than you know." The spirit assured her with a smile.
Tatsuki cried for a bit longer, until her tears were reduced to mere sniffles. "It feels good to let that all out."
"Of course, you've been holding it all in for far too long." Her Zanpakutō soothed her with a gentle head pat. "When you let down the walls, and stop denying yourself and who you are, you'll find that many things can change." She leaned down to Tatsuki's ear and softly whispered. "My name is Mōsho, and I'm very happy that you've finally let me in."
"I'm sorry it took me this long." Tatsuki sat up and apologized to the part of herself that she'd denied for so long.
"We'll have plenty of time together from now on." Mōsho smiled at Tatsuki. "I'll teach you how to wield our power properly. Kicking you around isn't too difficult after all."
"Hey..." Tatsuki deadpanned at her Zanpakutō, making Mōsho laugh brightly.
-End Chapter-
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Hard work and a lot of effort brings about change!
But sometimes, we have to accept ourselves and all of our shortcomings before we can make the changes that matter most.
Orihime continues to learn and excel under Tessai. Chad has unlocked his left arm already?! Kensei's bootcamp from hell is pretty effective, huh? But is the left arm anywhere close to the level it was at when it was first revealed in Canon? Tatsuki finally meets her Zanpakutō!
Progress and progress, everyone is growing!
Even though Ichigo is getting pissed at Urahara's scientific analysis while they're fighting! Kek!
What happens next?
Keep reading to find out!
Until I get your reviews, later!