Gateway 59

I spent most of the walk back after my talk with Aizen and Tousen thinking about what their revelations meant.

Soul Society was strong—I figured that out the day I arrived—but to find out that it was even possible for one being to passively hold three full universes on its back even while essentially brain dead? Insanity.

No. Real insanity was finding someone who was planning to usurp such a being.

Even though I only knew Doni out of my six siblings, I couldn’t help but feel Aizen would fit right in. The harebrained plan to kill a god, the willingness to do what it takes to accomplish his goal, and the goddamned arrogance I could see lurking behind the surface when he talked about his and his allies' capabilities.

Some of the things that had to be done made me a little bit uncomfortable, but I understood their necessity. What mattered if he killed a few hundred souls in the Rukongai and some Shinigami on his path? It was better than if the balance got skewed and thousands of souls had to die to fix it.

He didn’t say what he needed that amount of souls for, just that it’s what’s going to propel him to become an equal to the Soul King. I couldn’t figure out how that was possible when every mildly successful Hollow could stack up that many souls without evolving to a Gillian.

I didn’t begrudge him his secrecy either. I barely told him anything past my title and my ability to travel to different universes, never mind my newfound interest in dark magic or my connection with Luna.

___

Entering the 11th barracks with a sigh, I pulled out my wand and got ready for my ‘Though Love’ style of training.

The weekly spells I cast on the division were a nice start, but that was just to get them used to magic. After the first month, in addition to that, I started walking around the division casting whatever I felt like in whoever was close by. This forced everyone to learn how to defend and, this being the 11th, to attack back.

A Disarming charm on someone training, a Tripping jinx on a guy flirting with a girl, and a Color Change charm to change the shihakusho of one of those macho types from black to bright pink.

I rarely used attack spells—those being reserved for people who already figured out how to fight back—so I mostly cast annoyances. Losing a spar, having the girl you’re trying to chat up laugh at your misfortune, or being laughed at because you’re wearing bright pink were minor inconveniences, but when you were at risk of it every time you were out and about, it was better to learn how to defend yourself. And it worked.

I had to defend from about a dozen spells as I walked towards the place where Ikkaku’s and Yumichika’s match would take place. None were very good, but it meant the casters were learning. Soon enough, I could see magic becoming a natural part of the 11th’s way of life.

The training ground was full when I got there. Members of the top brass fighting for positioning wasn’t a common occurrence, so a lot of the lower-ranking Shinigami wanted to watch the show.

I wasn’t particularly excited, having seen those two clash enough times that it had become routine.

So, the moment Zaraki called for the start of the fight, I mentally checked out of it to talk to Luna through the lockett instead.

She was doing well, apart from some weird nonsense Ron’s friend came up with. She told me she dealt with it, so I let it go.

Luna also told me that the third task would be a maze, which didn’t sound like a great idea if her complaints about the audience’s inability to watch the second task were anything to go by.

We kept exchanging messages when I felt an abnormal spike in spiritual pressure in front of me.

Looking up, I saw Yumichika snarling at Ikkaku, both of them with their Shikais in hand, before he put his hand over his Zanpakuto’s blades.

“Tear in Frenzy, Ruri’iro Kujaku!” Yumichika screamed, making the sickle-like blades of his Zanpakuto glow and extend, turning into multiple peacock-feather-like vines and rushing straight at Ikkaku.

“What the fuck,” I heard someone close by say, a feeling that was shared by everyone present.

Glancing at Zaraki, I saw him gritting his teeth at the reveal of whatever that was. I honestly had no idea.

Ikkaku tried desperately to defend himself from the vines, but it was a losing battle. Even with the Three-Sectional Spear form of his Zanpakuto, which gave him both range and mobility, he couldn’t keep up with the dozen vines from Yumichika’s Shikai and was quickly captured.

With all of his limbs being held by a vine, Ikkaku’s spiritual pressure started to drop rapidly, coinciding with what appeared to be thorns sprouting from the vines.

“Tear in Frenzy, indeed,” I muttered, noticing how the vines were draining Ikkaku’s spiritual power.

As Ikkaku struggled, the thorns grew until they resembled pre-bloom flowers. Seeing that, Ikkaku stopped moving, deciding instead to look at Yumichika with respect.

“I didn’t think I’d need this in this fight,” he smirked. 

“Ban-” His spiritual power, once almost depleted, shot through the roof, giving him the strength to tear off the vines holding his arms so he could return his Shikai to its spear form. “-Kai!”

Ikkaku’s already increased spiritual power exploded outwards, tearing apart all of the vines holding him in a flash of white light.

When the light receded, Ikkaku stood with his new weapon in hand: A giant Chinese Monk’s spade in one hand and a giant Guandao in the other, each with a long cylindrical weight for a pommel. From the pommels, heavy chains connected the two blades in his hands to a giant floating axe head behind him.

“That son of a bitch!” Zaraki exclaimed, his gritted teeth growing into a savage snarl.

I was honestly impressed. Not only at Ikkaku’s and Yumichika’s real capabilities, but also at Zaraki’s self-control not to go there and beat both of them to an inch of their lives.

“It seems Baldy and Yun-Yun have been holding back on us, Kenny,” Yachiru said. “How about I make a punishment for them?”

“Hah!” Zaraki laughed. “Good idea, Yachiru! You can do that after I beat them up!”

“Yay!” Yachiru cheered.

With his Bankai activated, Ikkaku had an easier time fending off Yumichika’s vines and moving in to attack, but it was short-lived.

Yumichika’s superior speed had already been a problem before, but now that Ikkaku’s weapon wasn’t specialized in mobility, he lost the ability to effectively counter the vines, which had multiplied to two dozen in number.

Ikkaku still managed to free himself when he was caught, but between Yumichika Flash Stepping away every time he tried to attack, and the steady decrease of his spiritual power when a vine got hold of him, the result of the fight was already decided.

The axe head floating behind him had some kind of meter in the shape of a Chinese dragon carved on it, and it was slowly increasing with red light, but it wouldn’t be filled fast enough before the end of the fight.

He tried a death spin attack to give himself some space, and it worked for a moment, until Yumichika Flash Stepped behind him and covered him in vines. The flowers on the vines started blooming at a rapid pace, and Yumichika quickly stepped back and sealed his Zanpakuto, leaving an unconscious Ikkaku on the ground.

“Victor, Yumichika Ayasegawa! The new third seat of the 11th division!” Zaraki screamed to the cheer of the crowd.

Zaraki, Yachiru, and I approached him. Zaraki still pissed off, Yachiru radiating unholy glee, and I wanting answers.

Just one look at us told Yumichika what we wanted to know, and he was quick to start explaining.

“I have a Kido-type Zanpakuto, and Kido wasn’t exactly accepted in the division until recently,” he said, raising his hands in a placating manner.

“That all?” Zaraki grunted.

“I also disagree with my Zanpakuto a lot,” Yumichika sighed. “So I used a release command that’d piss him off and change his name so he won’t reach his full power.”

“Why-” I start to say, only for Yumichika to interrupt me.

“‘Bloom’ is a much more beautiful release command than ‘Tear in Frenzy’, and ‘Fuji’ (wisteria) is my Zanpakuto’s spirit's least favorite color, while ‘Ruri’iro’ (azure) is his favorite.”

I… didn’t have an answer for that. I could slightly understand his reticence towards Kido due to the division’s view on magic, but I could read between the lines; he focused too much on his disagreements with his Zanpakuto for it not to be his main problem.

The mere notion that you’d be in conflict with a part of your soul to such an extent was absurd to me, especially for someone with Shikai.

I might not agree with everything mine said, but I still understood that it wanted what was best for me. I had no idea what could lead someone to that point, and I wished to never find out.

___

“This, is the key to your girlfriend’s continued survival,” Kisuke Uraha said, setting the Asauchi I had given him on the table between us.

It was a few days after Yumichika’s promotion to 3rd seat when Urahara told me he was done during one of my visits. His dramatic flair was annoying, but if it worked, it’d have been more than worth it.

“Looks the same to me,” I commented mildly.

Urahara sighed in annoyance. For the past few weeks, every time I came around the Shop to hang out with Tessai, he’d show up to comment on the spell we were making. Tessai and I always tried to make the spell weirder after it, to combat whatever ideas Urahara put in our heads. It was the least I could do to just lean into my mystic persona the same way Urahara did to his scientist one to make comments on his projects.

“As I was saying,” Urahara gritted out. “This is what you’ll use to turn your girlfriend into a Shinigami, at least a substitute one, at least.”

“And how do I do that?” I asked. Ever since he mentioned needing an Asauchi, I had an idea of how it’d go—the tool to do it wouldn’t be a sword otherwise—but I still needed to make sure. Miscommunication was the last thing I wanted in such a delicate matter.

“You stab her in the heart,” Urahara said.

“That’s it?” I pressed. It seemed a little too simple for what it was supposed to do.

“No,” he shook his head. “You’ll have to fill it with spiritual power first. And not just yours either. I’ll say it at least half of it has to be your spiritual power, and the other half from a minimum of five other Shinigami, but I’d prefer it to be ten.”

“Yeah, a prime number would be better at magnifying the properties of whatever spell you cast on it,” I nodded.

“This has nothing to do with your nonsensical magical numbers,” he scoffed.

“So it was a coincidence that you decided 11 was the best number for the donors?” I snorted.

“Yes! That was just the best number according to my calculations!” He exclaimed.

I just raised an eyebrow at him, fighting with all of my power not to burst out laughing.

“Ugh,” Urahara groaned as he threw his hands in the air in defeat.

The division between scientists and mystics was a sore spot for both him and Tessai. While they were best friends, they couldn’t work on a project together without a ridiculous amount of conflict, and it showed whenever the subject came up.

Despite my messing with Urahara, I wasn’t set on one path or another. I just got along with Tessai more, so I mostly took his side.

“Anyway,” Urahara said. “You’ll also need better control of your spiritual power if you want to do it personally, since you’ll have to activate the Asauchi before stabbing her. If you can’t do it, I recommend taking another Shinigami with you so they can do it instead.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I brushed his comment off. It was true, my control had been increasing steadily ever since I started learning Kido, not just over my spiritual power, but my magic too! I was reaching a point where I wouldn’t need my temporary wand for most day-to-day stuff, and I couldn’t see myself taking longer than that to not need it for fine work.

Every piece of information back home said that Campione were considered idiot savants for our ability to quickly mastering different skills. I had a hard time with it, though, since to me it seemed to only work when learning new magic instead of everything I tried my hand on.

It took learning about Soul Society’s concept of intent for me to understand that it wasn’t about just trying to learn or do something, but wanting it. I needed to will myself into getting better, and it had to be genuine.

I didn’t have a need for precise wandless casting, so it took me much more time than it should have to learn, and I was still a ways away from mastering.

On the other hand, I felt the need for a weapon and the skill to use it on my skin, so learning from warriors with decades, if not centuries, of experience was a breeze.

After I understood that, it was simple to just focus more and more on it until my control increased to an acceptable level.

“If you say so,” Urahara said, before pulling out a pair of red fingerless gloves with the image of a skull shrouded in blue flames on the back, and throwing them on the table. “These will let you take her soul out of her body so you can train her in her new Shinigami powers. You only need one, but since you won’t be able to get more if something happens to it, I decided to give you a spare.”

“Thanks, Kisuke,” I said genuinely. We might like annoying each other, but I still greatly appreciated how much he was helping me.

“Don’t mention it,” he said in fake bashfulness. “Oh! The goves are also great if you want to scare humans into leaving you alone!”

“Yeah,” I nodded, thinking on some things I could do with it. “I can see that.”

___

A few weeks later, Nanao and I sat watching as Isane was trained in dual-wielding by Kyoraku.

Ever since Isane had taken her friend’s Zanpakuto as hers, Kyoraku and Ukitake had taken her under their wings to teach her how to best integrate it into her soul. Unfortunately, they were the only others with dual Zanpakuto in the Gotei, so her time with them was limited due to the duties the three of them had as Lieutenant and Captains.

I was in a relatively privileged position in that the 11th didn’t have much work to do most of the time. We were the combat division, and apart from the low-ranking members spread around in our territories, our job was to get stronger.

Sure, I was training the division in magic, but that was sporadically during the day, with only my weekly spells with a set time to be cast.

As I focused back on the spar in front of me, a wave of hurt, grief, and anguish hit me so hard I lost my breath and felt my heart constrict.

“Wha-” I barely managed to say when another wave hit me, and I figured out where it came from.

Luna

___

A/N: And that’s that.

As I finish this chapter, so too does the Bleach arc draw to a close, for now.

Recently, I was reminded that Em Dashes exist and have more purposes than denoting speech in Portuguese. Y’all have no idea how many times I had to rewrite a section to avoid a line that I could have used them.

As always, thank you all for your support! See you again next week.