6Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my OCs.
At last! I could do it!
Today was the day that it had happened. After several weeks of trying, several extra lessons, several meditative exercises, and several practices it had finally happened. At last, I could do it, the very thing that had eluded me for a while now. The result that I had been waiting on for so long finally seemed to have appeared as I mentally prepared myself for the ride of a lifetime, deep into the world of my psyche when the pull came from the deep recesses of my mind.
The day today had been going very good as we had, more-or-less, some free time aside from classes. It seemed like something important was going on in Seireitei and thus a few of the instructors had been called off for the day giving us ample time for self-practice. The situation brought back some very fleeting old life memories of school classes when me, and my classmates used to miss them intentionally.
I was curious about the events today though. I had wanted to ask but I couldn't find anyone to ask about it due to the fact that I haven't particularly made any friends because of being reclusive, well, besides the obvious Captains I made acquaintance with.
As I said before, it had only been a month and a half in the academy for me, but just some general greetings along the way of the other students, in my class, tended to make them leave me doing my own things, most of the time. A lot of the students in my batch seemed to be from the more well-off community of Seireitei and thus, most of them just didn't want to associate much with an unknown outsider. They all had their own small groups to mingle around in which left me with ample "me" time.
I could also probably chalk up the lack of any aggressive moments towards me to the fact that they had seen me communicating with the Captains of the 7th and 3rd Divisions but they never approached me about it.
With the classes for the day already concluded in the first half I found myself with a moment of reprieve. It was late afternoon and after lunch the teachers had instructed us students that we could all continue to improve on some of our techniques until the next short Zanjutsu class we had for the end of the day. That had given me the ample time to focus on the one thing I desperately wanted to improve on and get better on. The one thing that I had wanted to do again since I started learning in the academy, and that was entering my inner world.
Walking out of the institution building and into the training field I searched for a space where I could start the process. Running my eyes all around the place I found a small secluded area, right by the edges of the training field and close to the small bush forest that was close by. Utilizing my recently trained Shunpo I had already covered the distance between and after brushing up the place I proceeded to sit down, legs crossed with my Asaūchi in my lap.
I closed my eyes, a few slow, deep breaths and then, I tried to visualize the falling, the sensation that I felt when I was, first, able to reach my inner world; I waited for that pull. I could still hear the distant voices of the other students, the explosions of spells, the sounds of the natural environment around. Everything came into focus, even my sensory vision felt more refined. The various ways the wind bent around the crevices and trees, the mishmash of noise from beyond the training field, and also, my observer, whoever they were, sitting on a place far from reach but still, possibly, able to keep an eye on me; the world came alive in my senses.
-'Can't let them bother me. Need to focus more.'
I waited with my eyes closed, trying to ignore the excess and focus on the part where I wanted to be, on what I wanted to feel, to at least try and connect with the conscious part of my mind I wanted to bond with. Then it happened.
-'Woah!'
In an instant I could feel the changes, conscious as I was to the happenings of the outside world as soon as the pull came from inside my mind, I could feel the excess drown away from my focus and then it all started feeling different.
The world outside slowly washed away from my focus and then the world around me seemingly changed, twisted in its form. My mental gaze focused onto the far-light of sensory immersion as I seemed to float down towards some place that thrummed in my heart, a place where I always wanted to reach; a place where she waited.
My zanpakutō.
At last, it would appear that I could do a proper Jinzen again. Finally, as I felt the pull slow down and my feet were able to touch some form of solid base underneath I knew. As my vision cleared from the lights and looked around me for the first time, I knew,
-'This is my inner world! I finally made it!'
Astonishment filled my heart as the place that I had wanted to revisit many times before, yet for some reason couldn't, filled my vision. Looking at the scene, it brought me a sense of accomplishment and, with it, came the unrestrained awe at what I saw all around me coupled with many more intense emotions, that I couldn't explain, blossom within. I could feel another, close to me, around me even; like a bed of flowers spread all over my back. It was her!
-'I can feel you. Where are you?'
I still remembered her face, the short pastel hair with full black lips and violet eyes, and I could still remember the sensation of when we had met long before, once. I felt an intense burning desire all around, soaked into the very aura of the place I currently stood at with my mental self.
It had been only the second time, since the first, I had been able to fully immerse myself with the familiar sensation of being in my inner world, an inner world far different than what I remembered from back then, a world I never expected to have existed within me; my inner world had changed since the last time I was here. I could see it clearly now.
-'This world, my inner world, this is…..this is new.'
Where before it all reeked of incessant death, decay and violence with blood and guts all around in a chaotic collage, now it seemed to reek of only controlled malignance and deadly order; and it all stemmed from the way my inner world seemed to have gone through an overhaul since I last saw it for myself.
Where there were stitched up grotesque meat patches and innards stitched-up all over a gory palace-room of flesh and skin collage walls and accessories before, now, the place was far different than what it was before.
-'It's changed…changed so much...from what I remember.'
First, there was a sky now. The sky over my head melded into the horizon all around me while it displayed the most crimson of all red, like a haunting backdrop to un-ending heights and depths that, now, had several boxes floating around. There was a platform, a single huge platform, where I currently stood and it seemed to be floating with the way I could see the drop off the edge that I currently stood near to. The platform had three grotesque bleeding pillars that were made up of human skin stitched around what looked like muscles and bones; the blood leaking from it being drained towards a huge bed of red which seemed to be situated right in the centre of the pillars.
As I approached the centre of the platform much more new additions came into view. Around the pillars and bed lay a circular garden of Red Spider Lilies in which I could see wounded and still bleeding carcasses of faceless beings, even the pillars had no characteristics to it besides being haphazardly stitched-up skin, muscles and bones. The world still looked grotesque but far more, tamer, organized even, as if it awaited a guest.
I reached the bed.
Large in size, trad-canopy in design with an ornamental headboard, void of any blankets with just a mattress covered with an embroidered red and purple sheet, pillows of white and the posts, especially the two posts in the headboard, decorated with patched up human skulls and elaborately designed all around with stitch marks as well. The bed just oozed comfort and a sensual appeal but far in contrast to the posts that just reeked of malice and violence; an alluring juxtapose.
Besides the non-existent wind that seemed to make the various Spider Lilies, growing right around the bed area, caress my legs whilst they swayed around rhythmically, I didn't see the one whom I had wanted to meet. Glancing around the place, from the ends of the platform to the never-ending horizon far beyond, I still didn't see my zanpakutō spirit anywhere around.
-'I know you're here. I can feel you all around me, all over me. This place feels so different than what it was before, where ar-!'
-"My, oh my, finally, you are here, my dear Goshūjin-sama~"
A melodious voice, far sweeter than anything I've heard, whispered from out of nowhere as it seemed to draw near and suddenly, before I could even turn or move, someone appeared, right over my back. Arms came circling around my neck as someone seemingly draped over my back with a certain kind of womanly assets pressing in. I heard another whisper. A song or an ode?
-"Your spirit wails like an Onryō of the night
Speak now, your desires. Bare to me your heart, my Lord
Lay down by the Higanbana fields, sing me untold stories
And show me your passionate Love~"
Her face close to mine, she pressed closer and nuzzled to my left as her scent reached my nose, a mixture of lavender and something else. It made my heart skip a beat.
-"You're here."
-"Hai, my dear Goshūjin-sama."
She moved around a bit as I turned my head to only see amethyst eyes and full red lips on a mesmerizing familiar face framed with one long bang of shining obsidian-like hair on her left whilst being tied in an elaborate bundle atop her head with an assortment of Kanzashi-esque jewellery. I couldn't help my surprise from showing up as she only gave me a small mirthful smile in return.
-"You…..this is….wow….you've….you look so different."
And I meant it. Her appearance had seemingly undergone a transformation, unlike anything I knew and remembered, from the first sight. She had changed herself, her looks truly, from the last time I could remember what she looked like, even though it wasn't under the best circumstances. Her last form had left a mark on me and she had been a recurring face that had appeared, in brief moments, during the time I was truly out of it after I was expelled from the inner world last time and dropped unconscious. Her face was the same albeit a bit more radiant and slightly younger but everything else on the surface had changed.
Her dress that she wore before, a modified orange-black kimono with a low hanging neckline that exposed her cleavage and shoulders had also changed, now a far more vibrant and elaborately designed variant with a different colour palette to it with the same lustrous modifications, accentuating her deeply embedded femme fatale.
Now, she wore a royal variant of a kimono that seemed to be a mix between a furisode and a hikizuri, of red and orange shades mixed in with black and violet, having excessively long sleeves and a far more, broader and longer bottom layer that seemed to trail behind her and also pool around her. A broad and thick emerald obi band with a glittering obi-dome while also having golden embroidered designs on it, just like on the dress, which resembled various Baku-esque insignias spread around the surface layer from her waist to right around the full back it seemed. Black long nails with a shiny wrist band on her left hand as well, wearing the current attire she looked even more alluring and even more of a delightful mistake that one may never have enough of despite the dangers of it.
I could only stare.
"It's unbecoming of you to stare my lord. Why I might just blush~"
Soft giggles, like sensual strumming of strings, followed as I could only watch while she, sly as she could be, took my hands and directed me to the bed in front of us. I could only numbly look while my head ran with so many possibilities of the current situation with whatever knowledge I could remember of the Bleach verse in general.
There were so many things going through my head at that moment. This abrupt change into what I could remember; the change to my inner world, the change to the appearance of my zanpakutō, to the subtle changes on my inner world's atmosphere as well. How was all this possible? Did zanpakutōs change according to wielder? Did personality affect the inner world creation? Did the soul need a catalyst for all this changes? Did my inner world change because I had taken over completely? Was it because of my slow soul amalgamation? I remembered how zanpakutō spirits changed with Bankai training or if they wanted to hide their true powers or name from their wielders, with Renji and Ichigo's zanpakutōs being prime examples. Was it what was happening with me as well?
So many questions.
-"Hmh, your thoughts echo in this realm my lord."
-'Huh, what does she mean by t-!'
Another giggle followed as I felt my head being laid down on her lap while my whole body lay down on the bed. I didn't even know when it happened but she caressed my hair and before I could make sense of anything else she stopped my train of thoughts as she said, - "You do not need to think to yourself in this world my lord. Your thoughts are mine as mine are yours."
-'Wait! My thoughts?!'
She merely closed in towards my face with a smile as she spoke again, - "Yes, it has all changed hasn't it? As your soul bound itself to my core, it changed even me and it is with all those changes I found glimpses of the unknown.
-Speak now, your desires. Bare to me your heart, my lord.
-You are far more interesting than what my previous wielder would have been. As I said, my lord, your thoughts echo in this world of ours. You think of a time that is still to come, like visions. You have so many plans, and a single desire, a single goal. You showed me events that I can only ever imagine. You think of things that somehow do not feel of this time yet it feels so close to home. You think of possibilities that I can only fathom currently. You have changed me, made me anew.
-You even knew of my origin."
The way she described everything that I had subconsciously thought of in my head, with every word she said, it all brought me to a pause.
"Your origin?"- I said this more to myself than to her and I knew she had heard it still. So she knew then? She only smiled back.
-'Wait, events only imagined, possible futures, visions, don't tell me-!'
-"Hai, my dear Goshūjin-sama."
My eyes met hers and they locked in as she softly left a lingering kiss on my nose tip.
-"I know all that you know."
North Rukongai
Edge of District 32, Hatsugen
Four figures shunpo'ed over a river as they entered the dense forest area that covered the outer edges of the 32nd District of Rukongai. With strict orders from the Sōtaichō and the destination already mapped down by the hidden Ōnmitsukidō soldiers that led covertly, Captains Mori Teruo, Shūmitsu Minowa, Ōtsuka Nanako, and Kimiyashi Itsuo arrived at the first scene of crime.
-"You think Ikuo really lost control Teru?"
-"Can't say Itsuo-kun. I met him a few weeks before this incident but he had told me to not worry and that he had come up with a solution for it. Other than that, nothing."
-"Could it be possible? A zanpakutō gaining self-awareness for its abilities like that, aside from their wielders, Teru?"
-"Never heard of it, but then again there aren't many living-type zanpakutōs is there?"
"You two in the back! Stay focused!"- Minowa shouted from the front lead as Teruo and Ikuo followed with Nanako just a few steps ahead.
"What's got his back itching?"- Nanako slyly commented as Teruo and Ikuo snickered lightly, Teruo more so.
-"You never know what stick he puts up his ass everyday Nanako-chan."
Everyone knew about the rigid Captain of the 6th Division. A person with a lifelong dedication to order and discipline, even more so than the Sōtaichō to the point it could be termed as overzealous of him. But the other captains knew it was just the way he was and that was how the 6th Division operated; a firm believer of strength and the law and what it meant to be righteous.
-"Well, don't mind me I'm going to go ahead this way and search up some clues Teru-chan!"
-"Don't make me stop you for it Nanako-chan."
The captains spread out in the area that showed signs of a recent battle with the broken tree trunks, skid marks on the ground and small craters scattered around. Teruo glanced around the vicinity when something caught his eye in a far distant shrub to his right. –"Think I found something!"
The others quickly converged in his location as Teruo said that and approached the shrub trail where he seemed to have truly found something. A haori, a Captain's haori, of the 5th Division, torn and bloodied, was found in that unknown forest floor trail covered by the shrubs that the captains walked on to enter the district forest.
-"It seems like Satowaru-taichō and his lieutenant were attacked around here."
Minowa examined the torn piece of haori Teruo had found as he gave the area around a one-time check and then addressed the other captains in the area who gave him their attention as well.
-"Saitō-fukutaichō had reported that the ambush happened from above. Satowaru-taichō proceeded to engage the violent zanpakutō creature but they were outmatched and Saitō-fukutaichō was forced to retreat due to his injuries. Judging from the reiatsu remnants around it could be that Takahashi-taichō could also be nearby which would mean the Kenpachi is somewhere close around here."
-"You came up on that deduction fast Shūmitsu-kun."
-"It is Shūmitsu-taichō and you shall address me properly as such, Mori-taichō."
-"Can't list-~~" "What more can you say about it Shūmitsu-taichō?"- Itsuo interrupted Teruo by asking a question to Minowa.
-"With no presence of Satowaru-taichō we could assume that he has been consumed by the zanpakutō."
-"Hmm, shouldn't we have found traces of Takahashi-taichō's reiryoku around here as well?"
-"Then please investigate his whereabouts yourself Kimiyashi-taichō. It's not just me who should have all the answers now should I? You're a Captain as well."
Itsuo merely raised an eyebrow at that dismissive reply from the 6th Division Captain but didn't comment further but Teruo butted in again.
-"Hoh! Is that any way to talk back to a comrade? C'mon Shūmitsu-kun we aren't in Seireitei currently, enjoy your outdoors."
Minowa, meanwhile, only turned and showed his back to the other three as he clutched the torn haori and started walking towards the jungle in the front.
-"I am not here to enjoy. We have been ordered to capture the criminal Kenpachi and bring him in to Seireitei. It is in the best interest that we be competent enough for this investigation and I would like it if you all took your jobs as a Captain more seriously. I won't deny I will happily kill the traitor as well since the Sōtaichō had given us permission for it."
-"Mah mah, you should chill out. When we find him let's have a moment and try to defuse the situation c'mon. Nobody has to die anymore. Takahashi-kun should still be around here somewhe-!?"
-"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
An unearthly sounding roaring shout echoed through the forest foliage around them along with a huge burst of reiatsu, as the four captains tensed at the scream and hurriedly shunpo'ed towards the shout.
'The Ōnmitsukidō! Their reiatsu disappeared!'- Teruo's eyes narrowed as he met eyes with Itsuo and Nanako who nodded back at him with their own weary gazes. After shunpo'ing a few distance in to the forest all the captains had to duck, surprised as they were, as a body covered in full black came flying towards them. Minowa dodged but Nanako acted quickly.
-"Bakudō #4, Hainawa (Crawling Rope)!"
Bright yellow chains of reiryoku blasted out of Nanako's vicinity and seemed to enclose around the figure as it tried to dodge but couldn't and got captured rather easily with the Bakudō spell. But it wasn't for long as the figure in all black seemed to just slice through the bindings in the next moment and Nanako had to put up a defensive block to stop the incoming kick.
Being closer to Nanako, Itsuo jumped in, unsheathing his zanpakutō blade, a katana with a blue handle and circular guard, as he went in for a slash but the figure caught his hands. Eyes narrowing Itsuo had to change his position when the figure seemed to almost launch an energy ball of reishi point-blank if it were not for Teruo kicking it away at the last moments towards the forest floor.
-"Hadō #63, Raikōhō (Roaring Thunder Sear)!"
A thundering explosion reverberated around the whole of the forest as Minowa released the Kidō spell he had already readied himself to use. Engulfed in the attack the figure disappeared into the explosion, a smoking crater left in the forest floor. The four captains, still weary of the attacker, stood around the place of the attack as they waited for the next move from the figure.
"Is that Chōryūmaru?!"- Itsuo spoke up as he kept his gaze towards the still smoke-laden crater. His zanpakutō in hand Itsuo was ready for any surprises that were to come.
-"Don't lose track of it if it comes out of there Itsuo-kun!"
Seeing Itsuo with his zanpakutō out the other captains also unsheathed their zanpakutō as well. Minowa unsheathed a normal length katana with a small rectangular guard that had eight short outgrowths like a spider's legs. Nanako unsheathed a katana as well but slightly elongated with a Mobius-like guard and had a short thread dangling from the pommel. Teruo unsheathed an uchigatana with a normal rectangular guard that had curved corners.
-"It came out the east side. Kenpachi Ikuo could be around here somewhere."
Just when Minowa said that out loud, an attack from above cut the tension of the moment as Nanako had to dodge a slash that came from above her. She had been able to sense the killing intent that permeated around her, focused even, and so she faced her attacker.
-"There he is!"
Kenpachi Ikuo had appeared in the battlefield and gripping the tantō he had he growled menacingly at everyone present in the vicinity. Minowa shouted but the next thing that happened took everyone by surprise as Teruo and Itsuo narrowed their eyes with suspicion.
-"miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinoooooooooooooowaaaaAAAAAAAAAA!"
Ignoring the female 8th Division Captain in front, the seemingly bestial and possessed Kenpachi roared and disappeared only to appear before Minowa about to kick him in his chest. Minowa blocks it but he is sent away further into the woods while the smoking crater built up reiatsu all around. A shockwave occurred as before Teruo could react, the figure in the crater unleashed a reiatsu slash towards Itsuo while the possessed Ikuo seemed to ignore everyone and made a straight dash towards where Minowa disappeared to.
-'What does Ōno-pachi want with Minowa?!'
Nanako shunpo'ed towards Itsuo as soon as the slash had happened, gripping her zanpakutō she reached Itsuo and both of them stopped the incoming reiatsu slash while Teruo made a move towards the place where the possessed Kenpachi had dashed in to, right after sending Minowa flying.
-"Stay on Chōryūmaru! I'm heading towards Minowa!"
Teruo disappeared into the dense foliage where the Kenpachi and the 6th Division Captain had also disappeared into. Meanwhile, on the other side of the clearing an overhead slash by the dark figure that was Chōryūmaru is blocked by the blade of Itsuo while Nanako closed the distance.
Hearing and seeing Teruo flash away towards the Kenpachi and Minowa's direction Itsuo and Nanako merely focused their abilities on the figure that was apparently the zanpakutō humanoid summon of the Kenpachi.
Nanako started with a downward straight slash but the figure twisted itself and attempted to kick her but she dodged it. Itsuo didn't waste any time as he jumped into the fray and proceeded with a series of forward slashes while Nanako gave him space but Chōryūmaru steadied itself quickly and then dodged or blocked the oncoming slashes. Itsuo got inside its comfort zone with a flash and wanted to slash through the front but the zanpakutō summon blocked it barely and was forced back even more.
Pushed back, when the force sent it flying a few distance, Chōryūmaru, got into an offensive position. Before it could attack back there was a huge explosion that seemed to have occurred in the deeper parts of the forest line as the ground shook with huge smoke clouds in the distance.
-"They're having fun I guess. Right Itsuo-chan?!"
Before Itsuo could even respond to Nanako's words Chōryūmaru had gathered a huge quantity of reiryoku in his blade and proceeded to unleash it as a huge reiryoku slash that barrelled towards Itsuo very fast.
-"Bakudō #81, Dankū (Splitting Void)."
A translucent orange-yellow barrier stops the slash attack. Itsuo was able to react fast enough to cast the barrier spell while Nanako readied another Kidō spell of her own on a different point of the battlefield. Five bright lights of pinkish pure reiatsu formed around Nanako as she looked at the humanoid zanpakutō, focused on it while the smoke cleared and she waved her finger towards the advancing Chōryūmaru who broke into a sprint noticing her.
-"*Hadō #85, Gosei Hirameki (五星閃, Five Star Flash)!"
Five laser-like beam shot out of the brightly illuminated points as the zanpakutō got bombarded by the beams while racing towards Nanako. Explosions followed through as the shockwaves and the fiery blasts reverberated around while a part of the forest got engulfed in everything.
A towering flame explosion wiped out a part of the forest but when the dust cleared Nanako and Itsuo were surprised to see the outcome.
-'It didn't even faze the fig-! Wait! The sword it had is broken.'
A broken black blade in hand, Itsuo saw Chōryūmaru, it looked down at it for only a moment before it suddenly flashed towards Nanako who couldn't block the dual sidekick that followed through. She got launched towards one of the trees as it splintered and bent a bit. Itsuo didn't waste any more time.
-"Pierce through, Raishūmaru (雷壽丸, Lightning Illumination)!"
Chōryūmaru would've followed through with another flash towards the incapacitated 8th Division Captain when something pierced through its right torso out of nowhere and the humanoid zanpakutō got pulled back, stopping it. Before Chōryūmaru could react further, a burst of electricity flooded its whole body as it started to erratically spasm and noiselessly scream in a featureless face.
Still, with much difficulty, Chōryūmaru took control of its body and quickly let loose an unstable reiatsu attack towards the side of Itsuo which engulfed the Captain in another explosion. The electrical attack stopped, leaving the humanoid zanpakutō reeling and taking deep breaths.
Something is retracted from its body as the dust and smoke cleared and, moments later, showed Itsuo gaining a few scratches and tearing on his haori's right side. His hands held his zanpakutō that he released just before; Raishūmaru.
The zanpakutō seemed to be a kind of kusarigama-esque weapon but heavily distinguished from one as this one had a very elongated and thin needle-like blade, on one end, connected with reiatsu strings to an oversized sickle blade on the other end with a much bigger handle and grip. It sparked yellow reiatsu crackles of electricity.
'Its wounds are healing back. Pure reiatsu and reiryoku for its conception and form, this zanpakutō is even more abnormal.'- Itsuo had major thoughts running through his head as his eyes kept one focus on Chōryūmaru and the other on Nanako who was slowly staggering into standing up.
As the broken sword slowly remade itself in the hands of Chōryūmaru Itsuo had also quickly deduced the possibility of abnormal healing properties the zanpakutō summon could possibly have, so he acted fast. When Chōryūmaru moved Itsuo gripped Raishūmaru's sickle and flashed towards the other zanpakutō, the needle end being rotated very fast with the reiatsu string attached.
The first strike is blocked as Chōryūmaru locked blade with the needle end. The next rotating slashes are more diverse and unpredictable but Chōryūmaru dodged and side stepped almost every move. At one point Chōryūmaru got on the offense but Itsuo tightly locked the zanpakutō's half-blade with his string, dodged the punch, turned and got inside the zanpakutō's vulnerable zone close to its body and tried to stab it with the sickle end. Chōryūmaru bent a bit forward, the stab missing by an inch, as Itsuo's hand is grabbed and he is thrown away from the vicinity. A red ball of reiatsu attack is sliced through in the next instant by Chōryūmaru.
Dodging another slash attack from behind, Chōryūmaru engaged the, now, healed Nanako in a sword dual as the 8th Division Captain started pressuring the zanpakutō summon into the back foot.
Fluid and fast stabs and slices were the focus of Nanako's swordsmanship as she slipped in a lot of short and thin cuts onto the skin of the zanpakutō summon, the broken blade playing a major advantage for Nanako. A flurry of forward slashes followed but Chōryūmaru dodged one too many slash forms and intended to counter but his shoulder was stabbed, again, with the needle-like blade from its back. Its eyes found Itsuo as the Captain pulled on the string and dis-balanced the zanpakutō summon.
Seeing the opportunity Nanako followed through quickly with a reiatsu enhanced slash attack but with an insane amount of flexibility Chōryūmaru merely steadied itself mid-air and then side-stepped the slash of Nanako by mere centimetres. 'That is new!'- Nanako's eyes widened as she looked at the zanpakutō summon who only punched her with its other free hand and sent her flying a few distance away.
Yanking on the string Itsuo isn't given enough time to counter with his attack when Chōryūmaru pulled on it and sent him towards the recovering Nanako. Itsuo merely steadied himself besides the other as both of the Captains got ready for another round.
-"Some penny for your thoughts over this Nana-san?"
-"Phkthuu! I forgot how much I loved fighting Itsuo-chan."
Truly, it had been a while for the female Captain to have jumped into a fight after a long while and it had excited her blood when she had faced the current opponent she and Itsuo were facing. A challenge as well, the opponent was not weak and seemed to be a real threat which got Nanako even more ecstatic to fight. Brutal but beautiful was the philosophy of Nanako.
A philosophy she had adopted after seeing the 4th Division's Captain in action, but she didn't know it herself; a story for another time.
"Also, I didn't forget that the shinigami reject over there seems to have been the one to kill some of my squad members if this is how everything is turning out to be." – Nanako reminded Itsuo as she gripped her blade tight and ready. Chōryūmaru stood before the two as well, as it seemed to only keep a focus on the two captains without doing anything else, the broken sword had, at last, been fully remade.
-"Hmm, well it's been a while for me too and probably would be for Teru as well."
A distant explosion rocked the ground and a shockwave reached the three but none of them gave it any mind, eyes and mind focused on their opponents. Itsuo and Nanako kept a steady build of reiatsu that seemed to be countering the subtle reiatsu of the zanpakutō summon at front as well.
-"His blade had regenerated it seems like, huh. You think you can do something?"
"Only one way to find out Itsuo-chan."- Nanako replied to Itsuo who merely nodded back without his head turning away from Chōryūmaru. Gathering reiatsu around his zanpakutō Itsuo proceeded to exert more crackling lightning bursts through the blades as Chōryūmaru gathered reiatsu as well.
-"Its reiatsu is depleting. I'm going to do my thing and you can do yours, Nana-san?"
-"Well, it's been a while since I've used her. I hope I'm not rusty."
"Real joke Nana-san, you've been handling yourself well." – With that said Itsuo launched a piercing thunder attack towards Chōryūmaru who also made a dash towards the attack with a glowing black blade in hand. Itsuo moved as well with his zanpakutō at the ready. The attacks collided and created another explosion that launched a towering form of dust and smoke shaking the area.
-"Silence the sound, Majin Rappa (魔人喇叭, Devil's Horn)."
A pulse of reiatsu later Nanako now stood with her released zanpakutō. A very thin elongated blade that reached the ground, dual edged, with a pink line running through the middle from the tip to the hilt, with a green handle wrap and a design filled Mobius-like guard; the zanpakutō seemed to keep vibrating sporadically in minute bursts that hummed in the air.
It had been a while since Nanako had unleashed her zanpakutō and it was against someone who seemed to have allegedly caused a few of her division member's deaths. Nanako merely smiled at the prospect as today it would be her killing someone for the sake of justice again.
-'Oh, how fun being a shinigami is!'
And then she re-joined the battle, as well.
A/N: *Original abilities and zanpakutō will have kanjis written alongside it when they appear for the first time.
*Original, self-made Kidō spell for one Hadō technique.
Next-up: Big Fight chapter
Other fanfics:
They Said a Storm was Coming, Ch11: 35%
Jujutsu Kaisen One shot, Pt 2: 40%
Ja ne!