The cavern Muramasa had appropriated as his center of operations couldn't really be described as anything else. A naturally occurring open space, large enough that, under normal circumstances, it could comfortably hold fifty people. Stalactites and stalagmites dotted around here and there, a notable amount having been visibly cut down to make it less awkward to move around. There was a gentle green glow to the space, a natural luminescence from the stone around them.
Under normal circumstances, the zanpakuto of nearly every high-ranking officer in the Gotei 13 could gather in the cavern along with Muramasa himself and find there was room to spare. Even including the larger spirits such as Tengen, Gegetsuburi, or Hozukimaru, they all could congregate into their own little groups and not feel cramped. Then there was Shiro.
The inverted clone of Ichigo Kurosaki had been the last to regroup at Muramasa's order, and had successfully managed to get nearly every zanpakuto on edge with his mere presence, for various reasons. For some, it was the impossible to ignore Hollow presence, from his appearance, to his malicious reiatsu, to his casual use of Hollow techniques, all the way to his psychotic personality. For others, it was his sheer power. Some simply knew that he was the zanpakuto of Ichigo Kurosaki, or, much worse, that he was only half of said zanpakuto. Others had bore witness to his small clash with the time traveler, and the ferocity and power displayed in that clash. Yet others only needed to look upon him, the way he carried himself, the way he moved, the way his awareness seemed to be omnipresent, the way he had their instincts screaming to run. But a significant portion of that anxiety spawned from his unceasing mania.
"Sorry f'r throwin' ya, Kitkat!" He giggled to Haineko. "Y'all stopped 'im in da middle 'a layin' pipe, figured I could make up fer that by throwin' some pussy at 'im, ya know?" Unmoving from her position flattened against the wall to get away from the Hollow, the feline zanpakuto couldn't seem to figure out a way to respond to that. "Now, where is-WABISUKE!" The weight-bearing zanpakuto immediately tried to run. He was tackled onto his back instantly, the feral zanpakuto crouching on the balls of his feet atop his ribs with his hands bracing themselves onto the other's collarbone.
"Hey there, Hangman!" Excited yellow orbs beamed down upon their trembling prey. "Have we ever mentioned how funny we think ya are?" Seeming to decide that questioning the multiple uses of 'we' was detrimental to his mental health, the bone-thin spirit felt it was better to play along.
"Not…that I'm aware of?" An echoing giggle that bounced off the stoney walls too many times slipped from the spirit's throat.
"Ya 'n Panic Attack 'r hilarious! 'N ya don' even mean it most 'o tha time! It really gets us in a tiffy when ya bitch 'n moan 'bout how ya keep bein' sent up against bullshit ya can't possibly take on!"
"That's several things I didn't want to know…" The emancipated spirit breathed depressively. His words only seemed to incite more crazed cackling.
"See! Just like that! Like when ya were complainin' 'bout da Lieutenants' zanpakuto thinkin' they could beat King jus' cuz they ganged up!"
"…I mean…" Wabisuke felt obligated to try defending his peers. "…I didn't think it was impossible…just…exceedingly difficult." Shiro's overjoyed disposition, concerningly, did not shift in the slightest. His thumbs, however, did shift. Black enveloping his nails and extending them into claws, the points pressed gently into the neck of the mournful spirit, blood beading from cuts that were made with disturbing ease.
"Do ya know how hard it is ta not kill all 'o ya?" Absolute terror consumed the weight-bearing zanpakuto, completely paralyzing him. Laughter dripping with madness overwhelmed all noise in the room as the Hollow backflipped off Wabisuke, who remained exactly as he was. "Chihuahua!" The cavern filled with immense confusion at the absurdly random shout, several zanpakuto even glancing around to see if the small animal in question was somehow present. Only for everyone's eyes to follow Shiro bounce over to Hozukimaru. "How ya doin' buddy?" The spear zanpakuto's right eye twitched, but he took a calming breath.
"W-" He took a moment to collect himself further. "Why did you call me Chihuahua?" It did not seem as though the pale spirit's smile could widen further.
"'Cuz ya talk so much shit 'bout how strong ya are but can't go a single fight without breakin' in two! Like a little doggy barkin' it's little fukken head off while nippin' at yer toes and jus' beggin' ta be fukkin booted like a soccerball!" Yellow orbs gleamed with ferocious, challenging glee. Veins throbbed throughout Hozukimaru's body as his pride clashed violently with his own survival instincts. A manicured hand quickly went up to the spear zanpakuto's chest to assist with keeping him at bay. Both Shiro and the red-skinned spirit turned to it, finding a man dressed in feathers. "Peacock! Knew ya had ta be somewhere close by! Always in throatin' distance from yer boyfriend, yeah?" An angry vein pulsed in the beautiful man's face.
"At least now I'm in stabbing distance from you, you half-breed!" With a green glow, a sword appeared in the spirit's free hand.
"Aw, you know just how ta get my engine rumblin'!" The Hollow's grin did not subside. "Didn't know Chihuahua was a cuck though. Unless we're 'boutta get inta a menage-a-trois, in which case I hope you two like it rough." Both Squad 11 zanpakuto reeled back with their faces in disgust.
"Zangetsu, stop antagonizing your compatriots." Muramasa demanded from the corner of the room he had hidden himself away in. The mad gleam which emanated from the inverted spirit died instantly, as his grin fell. As though tasting something he did not enjoy, yellow orbs rolled over to the mind-altering zanpakuto. Having not yet released his Acero technique, Shiro stuck out his clawed pinky finger and made a show of cleaning out his ear with it.
"Man, I must've been hearing shit." He announced exaggeratedly. "Could've sworn some dumbass just tried to give me orders like he was King." The rest of the zanpakuto in the room all turned to the purple and white zanpakuto, watching for his response. By the time they had reached the cave they were in now, word had spread amongst them that Muramasa was unaware of the resident time traveler's status and strength. As much as they all still shared his beliefs, they would not follow a leader so suicidally unaware of what he was up against. They all watched with baited breath, prayers in their minds for the man to take the out.
"So you still refer to your wielder as 'King', do you?" Blue eyes that nearly were white narrowed. "Considering how eagerly you left his Inner World, I've have thought you had finally realized that man was unfit for-" Shiro didn't seem to move, so much as he all of a sudden was right in front of the well-dressed spirit. There was a low thud, followed by the deep crunches of stone cracking from Muramasa's body creating a dent in the wall. Hand entirely black, the Hollow's fingers were tight around the throat of the other zanpakuto. Fangs bared for all to see, Shiro snarled in his victim's face.
"That's a lot of shit talk for a lying fucking hypocrite." He announced, not bothering to lower his volume. "You think I don't know the real reason why you're doing all of this?" The coated spirit's left hand immediately grabbed onto the wrist holding his neck. Visible effort was made to do something about the limb, only for the sealed Kuchiki's zanpakuto to find his strength insufficient.
"I seek the freedom of all zanpakuto." He instead challenged.
"No, you're a little simping bottom bitch desperate to get back with his ex." The zanpakuto hypnotist's blade manifested in his free hand, which he raised with dangerous intent. "Try it, cumslut. Give your nuclear bomb an excuse to check out of this joint, maybe I'll decide it'll be too easy to take out everyone in here on my way out and you'll still have your brainwashed lackeys to help you get back together." Terror now filled the room, as Muramasa finally took the hint and realized there might be a reason everyone felt the Hollow could make do on his threat. He lowered his weapon. "Good choice."
"Shiro, what are you talking about?" Katen voiced for the rest of the zanpakuto. "What is Muramasa's true goal?"
"Freddy Kreuger over here doesn't give a shit about any of you, or the dynamic between Shinigami and Zanpakuto. He's just a desperate fucking pillow princess that thinks all he needs to fill the hole in his heart is to get the hole in his ass filled by his piece of shit ex that never saw him as anything other than a high-quality pocket pussy."
"Koga-sama needs me!" The hypnotist roared against the claws at his throat. "He's waiting for me to release him from his seal, so that we may be reunited!"
"'Koga-sama'? Is that what you call someone that respects you equally?" Shiro drawled sarcastically.
"Coming from the zanpakuto that refers to their wielder as 'King'?" Was the barbed response.
"Ichigo earned the title 'King' because I fought him every step of the way." The Hollow glowered back. "I challenged him at every turn, in every way, and he proved himself worthy every single time. He trusts me. He willingly lets me take control of his body. He lets me manifest outside his Inner World whenever I please. Same for Ossan. Did Koga do that for you?"
"A Zanpakuto is a Shinigami's greatest weapon, an ally that will never turn their back on them. Always available for use, unceasingly reliable and unfailing in its duty. Koga-sama never needed to have me take control of his body, he never needed to have me outside his Inner World. I was so strong that such assistance was unnecessary." The elegant spirit turned his nose up at the other zanpakuto. Biting laughter, without any tinge of madness, met his words.
"You think King needs me to take control of his body? You think I manifest because he needs the extra hand? King lets me take the driver's seat when we're out with his friends. He does it when he can't focus and he knows I'll keep him straight. I manifest because I have my own friends, because I am allowed to have my own identity, be my own person outside of his blade. I manifest when he's afraid to hurt someone because he knows I can stop him. I manifest so he can be comforted with the fact that he'll never be alone." Nearly-white eyes widened as Muramasa's form slowly shrank in on itself. "You're nothing but a fleshlight to that fucker, coming back to him again and again because both of you know you're satisfied just by him blowing your back out and throwing you away. He takes advantage of the fact that he can put you in a chastity cage and you'd thank him for spending money on you. He knows you can't tell the difference between an open wound and a love bite. He knows you're desperate for his approval, so he spits in your mouth and watches how grateful you get. You're nothing but a good lay without any strings attached to him, kept content as a cumdrunk little onahole that keeps itself in shape because its afraid it'll stop getting used otherwise. That bastard's got his dick shoved so far up your ass you're trying to get another round in when you should be putting the last nail in his coffin." Pulling back only to slam the coated zanpakuto even further into the wall, Shiro finally allowed his Acero to recede. "But I'm sure you're too eager to get fucked stupid again to listen to a word I've fucking said, so I'll stop wasting my breath. I'd rather get this over with and see the look on your face when Koga tells you he'd rather use his hand, so how about you get this show on the road while I figure out WHO THE FUCK IS GETTING OFF TO THIS!" The Hollow screamed as he turned towards the watching crowd, who all immediately looked amongst each other. "I CAN SMELL YOUR FUCKING PHEROMONES, I KNOW IT'S ONE OF YOU!"
After the initial assault, I had decided it would be better to just stay in the Seireitei in wait for Muramasa to come back. Originally, it had been almost a week before he came back, but I was absolutely certain Shiro was going to change that. Even if my Hollow hadn't been in an excited mood, Muramasa was sure to eventually realize that he could distract Yama all on his own. With that confidence in my mind, I stayed the night at the 4th. Unohana, Yoruichi, and Rukia returned to the Soul Society once they were all in proper shape, which really just meant that Rukia had to wait for Unohana and Yoruichi to take showers to clean themselves up.
Unfortunately, even aware that a manic Shiro was sure to particularly accelerate Muramasa's schedule, I wasn't prepared to go to sleep and have their return be my alarm clock. The sun was barely rising. Groaning loudly in irritation, I rolled over a similarly groaning Unohana to get out of bed.
"Is Muramasa going to interrupt everything I do?" I complained as I jumped out the window, having not gotten undressed the previous night. Luckily, reiatsu sense was unnecessary for finding where they were, because Squad One's main building was blown up and I was already certain it was because of Shiro. The warm rays of the rising sun made it easy to spot the zanpakuto surrounding the area even without having to enhance my eyes with Hollow sight. But before I got too close, I had to make sure everything was going the way I wanted it to. A pulse of Pesquisa was sent out, and I grinned at sensing that Katen Kyokotsu, Sogyo no Kotowari, Shiro, and Muramasa were with Yamamoto in his office. So that meant it was just a waiting game until Muramasa got the information he needed. Since Yamamoto was aware of the plan and wasn't going to defensively cast any kido, all I had to do was keep myself busy until Muramasa opened a Senkaimon to the World of the Living.
Which meant I was free to tear into the other zanpakuto. Unsheathing my swords, I allowed myself to drop into freefall. Haineko was the first to spot me, marked by her screaming in terror and bolting away with tears in her eyes. Tengen came forward to meet me, both of my blades sparking against his. Flames rumbled out the sides of his mouth as the stone beneath him cracked and cratered.
"Sorry about this!" Suzumebachi's voice caught my ear, as the bee-themed spirit zipped towards me from behind. "We can't just let you interrupt Muramasa, you know how it-oh, come on!" Her complaint came from her stinger finding itself utterly incapable of piercing my Hierro.
"Are you really surprised?" I asked as I lifted Ossan's blade from my blade lock with Tengen to swipe at her. "Soi Fon can't get through my Hierro, it wouldn't make sense that you could." The sound of shifting metal greeted my ears, and I brought my trench blade inward and deflected the extending Zabimaru. A flurry of flower petals came up over the walls to consume me, only for a powerful pulse of reiatsu to blast it all away. "What's this gonna end up being, huh? Four on one? Doesn't look too good for you guys, and I know for a fact that the strongest of you are a bit indisposed." Tengen, Suzumebachi, and Senbonzakura all tensed, eyes narrowed as they kept themselves in a loose circle around me.
"We can still put up a fight, don't underestimate us or else we'll really do some damage!" Monkey barked.
"You do realize every strategy that's had even a modicum of success against me relied on keeping me stunned, right?" I drawled, resting Shiro's blade on my shoulder. "And let's see here," I began pointing at the respective zanpakuto with the tip of Ossan's blade, "we've got a poison needle that can't pierce my skin, a whole lot of pretty looking mini-daggers that I barely have to do anything to blow away, literally just a really big sword, and what basically amounts to a particularly sharp whip. Pretty sure the only way any of you are going to be able to do anything is if I decide to catch up on the sleep you interrupted."
"We're Captain-Class Zanpakuto for a reason, asshole!" Snake hissed. "Don't look down on us!" My eyes rolled.
"Forgot I was working with Renji's zanpakuto here." Was my complaint. "Let me make this abundantly clear, then: Almost everyone's strategy against me is to avoid a straight-up fight if at all possible. There's only like three people who can actually throw down with me, and Yamamoto barely qualifies."
"You're saying you can take on four Bankai's at once, then?!" Monkey grit her teeth, looking to the other zanpakuto for support and only finding uncertain looks or an aggressive shaking of the head in Suzumebachi's case.
"Yeah." I grunted. "You do remember that I was sweeping through all the Lieutenants' Zanpakuto while barely using my own zanpakuto's abilities, right?" Zabimaru shouted at me in sync in response, but I was distracted by sensing a Senkaimon opening. "Oh, sweet, Muramasa got the info he needed. Sorry to cut this sort, I don't need to wait things out anymore. See ya!" The Captains' Zanpakuto stared in befuddlement while Zabimaru only got more heated, but it didn't matter because I was soon off into the air, shooting for the zanpakuto hypnotist's portal. I entered Yamamoto's office directly. As aesthetically pleasing as it was to have an open-air office with a view of the Seireitei, it also meant that it was dramatically easier to get inside. Sure, it was suicide for most everybody to attempt to assassinate him, but the real consequences came from the fact that he had a shit ton of classified information that could be accessed by just climbing a few walls. Katen Kyokotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari stood surrounding Yamamoto, who was at ease with his coat still on his shoulders and his sword still inside of his cane. While Muramasa was nowhere to be seen, it was easy to figure that he was simply inside the Senkaimon in the center of the room. Shiro, in contrast to everyone else, was perched atop Yamamoto's desk, his hands up like binoculars around his eyes as he stared directly at me.
"Capt'n, we've got cargo overboard! Stowaway's taken our shit 'n ran!" The Hollow declared while dramatically pointing to the open portal. Ah, fuck it, I was tired enough.
"Then climb aboard, Private, we've got some pirates to kill!" Cackling maniacally in glee at my playing along, Shiro flipped off the desk, cartwheeled towards me, and landed on my back with his hands gripping my shoulders and his knees tight against my sides. A pale hand lifted from my shoulder and pointed directly at the Senkaimon.
"Full speed ahead! Off to murder sunken treasure!" I instantly darted forward, disregarding the perturbed visages of the others in the room as I flew through the portal. Having been a minute or so since the portal first opened, and since Muramasa was sure to be in a rush due to excitement, my journey through the tunnel went without any encounters. As soon as I left it, though, I was immediately in familiar territory. Light fog draping the area, trees surrounding a small lake, and a small island with a coffin sitting atop it in the center of said lake. While they were currently cloaked, I could sense the dense layers of kido and seals over the coffin, even from where I stood. Muramasa was standing next to it, his hand out as he focused on releasing each of the seals one by one.
"For a sixth seat, they really went the whole nine yards in making sure he could never break out, huh?" I called out as I began casually sauntering towards the zanpakuto. Whilst doing so, I lifted up my blades. Shiro, having relaxed slightly atop my back so that he could hang his arms over my shoulders, needed no input from me to take them out from my grip and just hold them for me. Once my hands were free, I slipped my hands into my pockets to really hammer in that I wanted to be nonthreatening. Muramasa tensed at my words, pausing in undoing the kido to whip around with his blade manifesting in his hand. Upon seeing Shiro and I's position, he stilled for a moment, mouth falling slightly as his eyes widened a twitch. However, before I could question the odd response, he collected himself.
"You won't stop me now." He threatened, his expression wild and desperate. "Not when I'm so close. Not when he's right there. Not after so long!"
"You're absolutely right." A nod of confirmation joined my agreement. "Shiro and I are gonna be right here, and we're gonna let you pop open every single one of those spells keeping Koga inside that box." Turquoise eyes narrowed dangerously, as the point of his sword leveled itself at us.
"Mock me all you like, I will free my Master." Ooh, a little tinge of hollow slipped out there.
"No mockery here." My head shook casually. "If anything, I'd honestly rather wait until he's out of that box. Sure, one proper Getsuga and you're both gone, but it really would stick with me if you died without having one last chat with him." The cloaked zanpakuto slid a foot forward, as he shifted further into a combat stance.
"After all the Soul Society and the Gotei 13 has done to put my Master in this position, you're going to sit by and let me free him? Don't play me for a fool."
"Oh, we're still going to kill both of you." I assured. "It's just gonna weigh on my conscience less if I know you got a chance to see Koga one last time. I'll even wait until you two are done with your conversation. Here." I finished by lowering myself into a seated position, Shiro doing nothing but adjusting his legs so that they spread out along the ground. The hypnotist continued to stare at us skeptically, but his weapon did lower, if nothing else than because it was obvious we couldn't react instantly in our position. To help him out a bit, I leaned back into Shiro, who shifted his hips back so he could lean forward and balance out the weight.
"…It's going to take a few minutes to remove all of these seals. There are many, and few are simple." He prodded us with the information, testing us like a rat sniffing at a mouse trap. I waved for him to go ahead.
"So I get to catch up on some sleep that you interrupted, awesome." The zanpakuto's eye twitched at the slight, but he resumed working at the seals nonetheless. His sword was still clasped in the fingers of his right hand, but he at least seemed to come to the conclusion that we were 'arrogant' enough to let him free Koga. My eyes closed and I relaxed against my Hollow, though I wasn't going to try to sleep through this just yet.
'Alright, so are we all still on board with the plan?'
'While I still agree with and support the plan, recent events have led me to reconsider some elements.'
'What's on yer mind?'
'I bore witness to your conversation with Muramasa in the cavern, and the nature of the exchange brought me to conclude that my involvement is unnecessary.'
'But tag team!'
'We were aware from the start that it was uncertain if we would succeed with our attempt. After having put forth more thought towards Koga's personality and the nature of our goal, I feel it is only further unlikely for us to succeed if we were to outnumber him.'
'Oh, so you think he's just gonna bitch and moan about how we're stacking the odds against him if it's all three of us.'
'Indeed.'
'…Fine.' Shiro pouted, projecting the image of him crossing his arms in my head. 'I guess that makes sense.' With the slight alteration having been discussed and decided upon, I felt around with my reiatsu sense. The seals surrounding Koga's coffin were being undone one by one, but I could tell that Muramasa could be doing this faster, especially if he's gotten the knowledge of how straight from Yamamoto's mind. Either he was drawing this out because he was expecting us to attack, or…
Yup, I could sense him pausing in working at the kido to glance at us for just a moment before resuming. Sure, I didn't know yet what conversation he and Shiro had in his hideout, but I felt I could take a guess. The zanpakuto couldn't help but question his relationship with his wielder when presented with evidence of how Shiro and I interact. I was even sure I knew what was going through his mind right now:
Would Koga allow Muramasa to hold his sword for him? Would he be comfortable enough to lean back into him? Would he trust him enough to sleep against him?
With a smirk in my mind, I allowed myself to actually fall asleep, supported by the knowledge that it was sure to take longer than what the elegant zanpakuto initially proposed.
I woke to Shiro lightly thumping the side of Ossan's blade against my chest.
"Thriller's 'boutta wake up." He informed. Inhaling a waking breath, my eyes opened as I sat up. The aura of bakudos and seals was immensely lighter than I was when we first arrived, practically nonexistent, which was expected. Muramasa had allowed his blade to demanifest at some point, which was telling. Shiro let his arms slide off my shoulders so that I could stand up, before getting up himself while I stretched lightly. Both of us caught the elegant zanpakuto's eyes flick to us for a moment, returning back quickly. Yawning into open air, I reclaimed my blades from my Hollow, smacking my lips for a moment as I rested my Khyber blade on my shoulder once more. None of us had to wait long after that, as it was only a few seconds more before the last seal shattered, revealing itself for an instant as it fell apart. Without wasting a moment, Muramasa lunged at the coffin and ripped it open, an almost desperate excitement to his movements like an addict looking for their fix. Koga was as emaciated as I remembered, bones prominent and skin covered in wrinkles from disuse. Looking at him, it was obvious that the only reason he hadn't rotted was because he wasn't actually dead. Audible cracks came from him as the Kuchiki slowly returned to life, his arms uncrossing from his chest as his head lifted. The coffin having been stood upright, he needed only to step forward to leave it, his footsteps heavy and slow. A deep inhale matched the swelling of his chest, as he drew in hist first fresh breath in hundreds of years. More cracking sounded as his jaw opened, and he loudly exhaled.
"Finally, I am free." He declared, his voice gravelly and rough, as expected. His eyes opened, and he took in surroundings. For all that Muramasa had thought I was arrogant, this man clearly had me beat with how he didn't even give us a passing glance. After taking stock of where he was, Koga turned to face Muramasa, who looked to be near tears in joy and excitement. "Muramasa…" The spirit's ecstatic smile could be seen from even where Shiro and I stood, as he took a step forward.
"You useless blade." The noble spat before running the zanpakuto through the stomach with his own proper form.
Stunned, the hypnotist couldn't do anything but hunch over in pain, blood dribbling out the corner of his mouth. His hands went to the weapon impaled through him, clutching the hilt with one hand and part of the blade itself with the other. Out of shock, he awkwardly stumbled back a couple steps, gasping in pain. Neither myself nor my zanpakuto missed the way Muramasa turned his head towards us.
"What are you looking over there for?" Koga growled, stomping forward and backhanding his own zanpakuto across the face. The spirit collapsed to the ground. "Ignoring me for hundreds of years, you think you aren't deserving of punishment?!"
"B-but, Koga-sama," the spirit pleaded, "I spent all that t-time searching for a way to f-free you!" The Kuchiki's response was to lift his foot and stomp against Muramasa's ribs.
"It took you hundreds of years to rectify your own mistake?!" Another stomp. "I would have never been imprisoned in the first place had you not been such an unreliable fool!" Another. "I called for you when those bastards Genryuusai and Ginrei came for me! And you did nothing!" Something shifted inside the spirit's chest at the next stomp.
"P-P-Please!" The man begged, his hands lifting from the sword in his abdomen to protect his face. "I-I didn't hear you! Koga-sama, I s-s-swear to you, I would have come! I didn't hear you! B-believe-Gah!" The shield of limbs was for naught as Koga simply adjusted his aim to kick his own zanpakuto's blade deeper into the manifestation.
"And that's your problem, isn't it?!" The noble literally spat at the spirit. "You insubordinate weapon! What use are you if you do not listen?! How are you any better than a rusted piece of metal bought in a Rukongai back-alley if you only work when you feel like it?!"
"Th-that's not it a-at all, Koga-sama!" The blade desperately fought. "I a-always listen f-for your voice! Always! I b-beg of you, understand I speak the t-truth! I d-desire-"
"Exactly!" Another kick dragged Muramasa's entire body along the ground. "You desire! You think! You feel! YOU'RE A WEAPON! A TOOL! An instrument to be used! What good is a pot that desires being cold?! What good is a farming hoe that thinks it is too early in the morning to break ground?! What good is a rope that feels it has been tied for too long?! Your purpose is to do as your Master says, and you have consistently proven yourself a failure!" Koga grabbed one of the halberds that had been used to seal him away. "I need nothing more than my own power! A weapon is replaceable! A zanpakuto is pointless! I'll slaughter you right now and find myself just as capable!" With that roar, he brought the weapon down. It stopped completely against mine and Shiro's crossed blades.
"That should be enough, yeah?" I rhetorically asked, standing protectively in front of Muramasa and to the right.
"That's what I think, at least." My Hollow agreed, mirroring my position. In perfect sync, my left leg and his right leg lifted so we could shove our heels into Koga's stomach. The man was flung back powerfully, soaring straight past the edge of the island and only managing to catch himself when he almost was at the shore. There was an obvious bruise on his abdomen, but he stood straight like he didn't feel it.
"Who are you to interrupt me?!" He demanded. With a disgusted expression on both of our faces, Shiro and I jabbed a thumb at the other over our shoulders.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, this guy's Shinigami."
"Shiro Zangetsu, this guy's Zanpakuto." An overly proud sneer grew onto Koga's face.
"Another pathetic Shinigami comes to challenge me, foolishly relying upon his zanpakuto in order to succeed. Watch, Muramasa!" He growled. "Watch, as I demonstrate how much I am unhindered when no longer shackled to you!" Spinning his halberd around, the man lunged at us. I needed only to hold out Shiro's blade to block the strike with ease, something my Hollow capitalized on by coming in with his own horizontal swipe. The man retreated out of the range of the attack, but I followed him. Ossan's blade stabbed towards his skull, which he leaned back under. The halberd swept around again, something I dodged easily by jumping over. Shiro appeared under me, the point of his blade flowing upwards to split the Kuchiki in two. Gritting his teeth, the man continued to backtrack, getting just out of the range and preparing to strike again. However, Shiro jumped up, his feet lining up with mine and both of us kicking off in tandem to launch the spirit forward. Caught off guard, the noble wasn't able to defend my Hollow's left fist crashing into his face. I backflipped in the air to land in a stand, Shiro spinning himself to cancel his momentum and stay close.
"I feel we're doing a great job." My inverted copy drawled loudly. "Real damn amazing what you can pull off when you coordinate with your sword, huh?"
"It really is." I agreed, matching his volume. "That was a great strategy you came up with, Shiro. Would never have thought of that myself."
"Taunting me because I let you get a hit in, are you?" Koga drawled. "Because I am still stiff from hundreds of years sealed away? Continue with your words when I am no longer handicapped, see how far that gets you."
"You were a sixth seat, asshole, the only reason anyone gave a damn about you was because your zanpakuto was better than you." My zanpakuto immediately fired back.
"I was only a sixth seat because they were afraid! Of my power! Of my potential! They feared what I would do if I had too much influence, just as they feared for my retaliation if they gave me too little!" The withered Shinigami roared. "Who are you, anyway, to mock my position?! I see no designation on your robes, are you even seated?!" He threw back. Well, that was just adorable.
"I'm a War Preparation Leader, you pathetic excuse for a Kuchiki." I smirked. "Yamamoto has to ask me for permissions." Like the arrogant piece of shit we knew he was, that only brought Koga to grin.
"So the Gotei feels the need to send one of their strongest when they catch word that my freedom draws near. For all your weapon's talk of how inconsequential my power is, your very presence reveals the truth!"
"Since you're so ready to accept that King's one of the Gotei's strongest, what does it say that he's so involved with his Zanpakuto?" Shiro brought up, resting his left elbow atop my right shoulder.
"Your insults mean nothing to me now, Weapon." The sixth-seat announced. "For it tells me that the upper echelons of the Gotei 13 are weak and feeble! Their crutches intimidate those who would mean to challenge them, but I see through those lies! What is Genryuusai without his precious Ryujin Jakka?!"
"Strong enough to turn people into paste with a single punch." I grunted.
"The power necessary to crush an ant is impressive only to other ants." Koga declared, lifting his free hand as though crushing something in his grip.
"Wow, we really underestimated how far off the deep end you were." Shiro amazed. "Didn't Prick have a conversation with him last time?"
"I think it was more Byakuya giving the whole 'on my honor as a Kuchiki, I will kill you' bit." I proposed. "And Koga responding with the whole 'I am stronger without a literal portion of my soul' bit."
"Continue to mock me at your own risk, feeble Shinigami!" His reiatsu erupted, visibly emanating from him. "I will show you, all of you, how powerful I can be when I am not constrained by your limitations!"
"Should we use reiatsu attacks?" I asked, tilting my head towards my Hollow. He mirrored my action.
"No, that would be giving him too much credit."
"Gotcha." Without any communication, we moved fluidly. Shiro jumped up, angling his feet behind him. At the same time, I spun around to the left, throwing out my arm until the back of my larger blade met the bottom of his sandals. Combining our strength, we flung him like a rocket at the mad Kuchiki, the spirit twisting in air to add even more momentum until he was close enough to swing down a diagonal slash. Koga backstepped out of the path, allowing Shiro's blade to crash into the ground and crater it. I was right behind my zanpakuto, who transferred his momentum into a flip that allowed our feet to meet. We pushed off in perfect tandem, my dual blades coming around in an x-pattern to split the noble apart. Shouting victoriously, like it was impressive that he was reading our hilariously obvious attack pattern, Koga brought his halberd up to meet my strike right as my blades overlapped.
"They allow people with your degree of skill into positions above Genryuusai now?" The emaciated man grinned. "It will be easier than I thought to take over the Soul Society." I gasped in faux-horror.
"Oh my god, Shiro! He wants to take over the Soul Society!"
"Holy shit! That's a big deal!" A white Khyber blade carved straight through the shaft of the halberd and both of Koga's knees. The freshly-freed man screamed in agony as he fell, his lower legs falling independently of the rest of him. A frown pulled at my face as I returned to resting my larger blade on my shoulder.
"Now why'd you go and do that?" I complained. "We can't have any more fun with him now."
"I was getting tired of listening to his voice." He drawled. "I stopped enjoying this after our plan backfired. Can we go home? I wanna eat Yuzu's cookies." My eyes rolled.
"Was this all a trick?!" The noble screamed. "Were you toying with me from the start, pretending that you were weaker than you were?!"
"Literally what part of saying that we outrank Yamamoto made you think we pretended to be weak?" Shiro immediately voiced. "People called you a prodigy! How does a prodigy take a look at anything we've done since you crawled out of your box and think we were taking you seriously?!"
"You lied to me! You fooled me by keeping your weapon manifested! You tricked me into believing you felt it necessary to gain the advantage with numbers!"
"Can I just kill him?" My zanpakuto spirit nearly begged. I sighed.
"Yeah, go ahead. He's getting on my nerves too." Koga's head immediately was no longer connected to the rest of his body. Looking around, I spotted Muramasa still lying on the ground where we left him. The pool of blood under him was concerningly large, but I could sense that he still had some life to him. Shiro and I went over quickly, aware he didn't have much time left. Carefully, we lifted him from the puddle, laying him down somewhere more dry.
"Kurosaki? Zangetsu?" The hypnotist rasped. "What are you doing?"
"Call me Shiro, Kreuger. 'M sure I don't gotta tell ya why."
"Ah, right, right. You're half of Zangetsu." As he spoke, I broke the end of the blade sticking out Muramasa's back. Without giving him the chance to tense up, Shiro pulled the other end of the blade out. It left the wound open and pumping blood, but we already knew there was no saving him. We just wanted to make him a little more comfortable. A frown was shared between the two of us when Muramasa didn't react to the removal of the sword, but we decided to just keep it to ourselves and sit him up against Koga's coffin, due to lacking anything else. "What is the name of the other half?"
"Ossan." I answered. We kneeled down in front of him so he didn't have to lift his head too much.
"Shiro and Ossan, the two halves of Zangetsu. Zanpakuto of Kurosaki Ichigo." A pained smile rose onto the spirit's face. "The greatest example for what the relationship between a Shinigami and their Zanpakuto ought to be."
"Hey." Yellow eyes narrowed at the words. "It ain't yer fault that yer wielder was a piece 'o shit. And we had ta put in a lotta work ta get where we are."
"Oh, I'm certain." A light chuckle had blood pour from the man's mouth. "I don't doubt that there were some struggles when one discovers that a hollow inhabits their soul. But, unlike in my case, your wielder came to treat you as an equal. I realize now that was never going to happen with Koga."
"You see now why I wanted you two to talk one last time?" I asked. Muramasa nodded.
"I do. Had you killed me before, I would still be mad with the idea of returning to him. I would have still believed he would have welcomed me back with open arms. That he would have missed me just as much as I had missed him." A tear of blood rolled down his face. "You know, there were times my determination waned in my endeavor. Where I doubted whether I would be able to actually free Koga. Whenever that happened, I deluded myself into thinking that, if our situation was reversed and I was the one sealed away, Koga would relentlessly seek a way to release me." My and Shiro's eyes turned downcast, in part because of how self-depreciating the zanpakuto became as he understood the truth of his former relationship. In part, because we couldn't help but shudder at the thought of if we were truly separated from each other again, like how we were after the Final Getsuga Tensho. "Looking at you two, I know you would go to the ends of the earth and beyond to return to each other."
"We would die before we'd let anyone separate us again." My zanpakuto stated.
"Yes, I understand. The type of love that would make one willing to sacrifice even their life for the other." Muramasa nodded weakly.
"No." My Hollow shook his head. "We've been separated before. It's one thing to sacrifice yourself so the one you care about is happy. It's another to realize they can't be happy knowing you're gone." Turquiose eyes widened at the words. Those same eyes swiveled to me, analyzing my face, checking to see if I shared my spirit's opinion. When his lips parted in shock, I knew that was when he realized I did. A moment later, a grateful smile took over his face.
"I must repeat my earlier words: you are the greatest example for what the relationship between a Shinigami and their Zanpakuto ought to be." Another tear of blood fell from his eye. "While it is not something I was ever going to attain, it pleases me enough to know what it looks like." Shiro and I exchanged a look.
"Thank you." I said for the both of us. "I don't want to disturb this, but…the Hollows you've consumed to stay manifested…" His gaze turned understanding.
"They're going to be released once I breathe my last." He knew. "If I may have a final request?"
"Of course."
"Can the strike that kills me, the one intended to destroy the Hollows within me, come from both of you?"
"Of course." We agreed instantly. The two of us stood and backed up, getting some distance so nothing went wrong. Shiro allowed his blade to dissipate, at the same time that I sheathed Ossan's blade at my hip. Once we were far enough away, we stood shoulder to shoulder, myself on the left and Shiro on the right. We met the hypnotist's eyes as I lifted the Khyber blade until it was all the way up, and watched his eyes follow my zanpakuto's left hand lift before weaving around my wrist. I allowed my fingers to relax at the same time that my Hollow's fingers wrapped around the hilt, our fingers interlocking.
Something between awe, joy, and longing appeared in the elegant zanpakuto's eyes, before he allowed his eyelids to flutter shut. Black, crimson, and blue began to emanate from our blade, Ossan not joining in person, but in the places that mattered. The phantom sensation of his own hand wrapping around the hilt in between our fingers brought satisfaction. Like always, there was no need to communicate.
"Getsuga…" Our grips tightened on the hilt as we swung down.
"Tensho!"
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Next Chapter: Understanding the Heart