the unwilling subconscious

[Dizzy]

Being torn between reality and imagination, just hanging the boundary in the middle of conscious and subconscious. The turmoil within the girl’s mind had kept her from entering her inner world for this long, and it was showing so signs of stopping. Frightful winds blasted back and forth across the eye of the hurricane, intruding upon the momentary peace. The waters remained calm and still, a blissful alternative to the crashing waves and torrential rains that she’d encountered the previous time she’d been forced to drag her wielder into the inner world. Still, this was arguably even more disastrous than before. Lexi Hunter’s unmoving body was hanging hundreds of meters in the middle of the winds, either incapable or unwilling to come down to her subconscious. The solemn-looking woman standing on the island in the precise center of all these swirling winds gave the girl a look of contempt. The winds had been aiming themselves more recklessly, already coming close enough to ruffle the elegant white sleeves draped over her arms, and she would have to make a breakthrough soon to avoid being caught up entirely.

Was Lexi too weak to attain her release? In a sense of spiritual power, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. She had easily already passed the reiatsu requirement to gain it - doubled it, to be more precise. And her will to gain it remained strong; not quite the burning desire for strength that she‘d had before Felix arrived and broken the concept of black and white into millions of pieces, but enough to achieve the goal by any standard. So why couldn’t she be brought into the eye of the hurricane? Why were the winds intruding upon her serenity, closing in and threatening to engulf her entirely? The zanpakuto spirit knew the answer to both questions, but she wouldn’t be able to relay it to Lexi. It wouldn’t be helped. The girl would just have to solve the problems for herself.

---

Lexi awoke slowly, rising unkempt and surly from her bed-cushions with all the finesse of a vomiting sea cucumber. She’d just had the strangest dream … but was it a dream at all? It was more of a sensation, that of lying immobile in midair, as screeching winds tore at her, blasting themselves into her and trying to force her down, and she didn’t even have a clue as to which direction she wanted to go. That didn’t make a difference though, as she hadn’t felt herself moving anywhere at all, just lying stock-still with the winds pelting at her from all sides … a strange dream, to be sure.

How did I get here? Last I remember … I was being squished by that hollow back in the living world … looks like Keiji was able to evacuate me before anything too bad happened … did we win?

The petite shinigami looked all around her, taking in the familiar sights and smells of the 4th Division medical facilities. All white, with cupboards and equipment for non-lethal wounds and body damage tucked neatly along the opposite wall. A window was open off to the right, allowing the slightest bit of sunlight to peek in through the looming, grey clouds that signaled the long sleep of winter. Meaningless voices trailing in from the outside as someone from 11th Division antagonized the trainees were the only noises to be heard. Lexi turned away from the intrusions on her silence, shook the hair out of her face, and stood up unsteadily. An nearby clipboard showed that she was pretty much healed and due for released later that afternoon, so she assumed that to mean she could stroll out whenever she felt like it.

… So boring lately in Soul Society. I‘d almost kill for a decent bit of conflict in here. Fighting hollows in the Living World isn‘t bad … but at the end of the day, it‘s all just routine. Especially after my S&M friend beats me to a pulp. Really ought to find out her name, if she wants a long-term relationship.

If it was possible to perform actions in a perfectly boring monotone, Lexi would’ve been achieving it. She slid off her hospital gown and donned the shinigami robes waiting for her in a nearby chair, redid her ponytail, and sat back down on the bed, looking up at the ceiling in a way that suggested she was wishing it would crash down upon her.

Is there anything worth doing here any more? I could go run down to the Soutaicho and get myself an interview, but I‘d have to wait until whenever I get released, plus Keiji‘s probably got that job in the bag if he wants it. Not to mention that I don‘t think they‘d accept a captain who doesn‘t even have an initial release. What a pain …

The door creaked open, a slow and high sound that suggested 4th Division was skimping on building maintenance. Lexi let out a sigh and turned to face whoever had opened it, but she was surprised to discover that it wasn’t a hospital worker, but Otowari Keiji himself.

Keiji looked surprised as well, eyebrows perking up at the sight of her sitting up already in her shinigami uniform. He hesitated a bit, and then crossed over the room to sit next to her, passing her a bento box and digging into his own tray of dango.

“Already awake, hmm? Lune says hi, by the way. A couple of injuries from 11th has been keeping her busy lately.�

Lexi gave her friend a sidelong grin as she flipped up her chopsticks. “Ahh, tell her I said thanks. Anyways, you know me, nothing can take me down for too long. I’m just that awesome, you know? Incidentally, how long have I been out?�

Due to his mouth being full, Keiji elected to instead show four fingers, indicating that number of days. Lexi pursed her lips into a whistle and began to attack her own food. “Heh, looks like I’m improving.�

The purple-haired fukutaicho rolled his eyes at that and the previous comment, hastily swallowing his dango to make a rebuttal. “Heh, you never seem to change. Always wasting all of your energy in a single attack and leaving me to evacuate your ungrateful corpse, hmm? I remember that’s how we met in the first place.�

A rather wistful look overtook his eyes at that moment, and Lexi took the opportunity to interrupt his reverie with a remark of her own. “Pfft, you’re one to talk. I don’t recall you doing better out there, considering how half your entrails were hanging out of that gaping hole in your stomach. How did you get that fixed, anyways?�

The lighthearted conversation, though a nice break from being all lifeless and depressing, didn’t mask her thoughts particularly well. Keiji wore a quizzical look throughout the entire talk, as if he was trying to gain a deeper insight as to whatever inner thoughts she might have accidentally let slip. Being Lexi, she just ignored it and plowed on into the topic at hand. As the two put the finishing touches on their meals, she spoke up again, though with a far different tone compared to before.

“Oi, Keiji,� she began, “I never did get around to thanking you guys for hauling my ass out of Hueco Mundo.�

Keiji couldn‘t hold himself from laughing at that comment, despite the hint of fragility in her voice. “Didn’t you just question my ability to use a fancy lightshow to take down half the hollows in Hueco Mundo or something like that? I figured that was the closest thing to a sign of appreciation I’d ever get out of you.�

The green-haired shinigami’s eyes drifted upwards, back to the ceiling, almost seeming lost in thought. She murmured a quiet thanks and then made a short pause. “… What were you doing right before you showed up here?�

Keiji paused visibly at that. The question itself was a bit intrusive, accusatory even, Lexi admitted to herself, but her friend seemingly decided to tell the truth.

“I was coming back from the captain interview; you remember that, right? Thought I’d pick us up some lunch on the way back, since you were due to wake up soon. Why do you ask?�

“Hmm,� Lexi murmured in a distant sort of way that made it seem like she hadn‘t heard that at all, “I see … Keiji, that lightshow you pulled was your shikai, wasn’t it?�

Keiji looked a bit taken aback by the sudden questions from out of nowhere, but replied, “yeah, guilty as charged.�

Well, it’s now or nothing. Looks like I shouldn‘t bother myself with a captain interview, but it won‘t hurt to have it at my disposal.

“… Then … can you teach me to attain it? I’ve already got contact with my zanpakuto spirit … I just can’t hear her name, no matter how hard I try. It’s like there’s a damper on my senses whenever she says it, I just …�

She halted herself there and looked almost pleadingly up at Keiji, awaiting his response.

[Mystic Serenade]

After leaving 1st Division grounds, he finally felt he could be at peace again. Did just fine, just fine, besides it's probably for the best if you don't get it anyway. Just means I got to work harder, yea. He soon heard his stomach growl noticeably. He looked around with an embarrassed expression on his face, hopefully no one was around to hear it as well. Ah I know, I'll just treat myself to some dango. It's the perfect solution! He pounded the bottom of his fist into his hand as if he just thought of something brilliant, and paced happily over to Rukongai.

"Dango, dango, dango,"� he chanted as he walked along. Sure he could use shyunpo and make some pretty flashy entrance, but last time he did that Sayaka scolded him. It wasted too much energy unnecessarily anyway. Seeing Lune in the distance he decided to go and greet the young girl he began to become more familiar with lately, unfortunately because of all the injuries Lexi seemed to be getting into.

"Lune-chan, Ohayo."

The girl was a little slow in replying, an obvious look of tiredness on her features, "Ah? Oh, it's you Keiji-san. Ohayo."

"So how is my favorite 4th Division medic doing today hmmm?"� he said while ruffling her hair per usual.

"Ah, just been worn out lately..."

"Hmmm I see, I bet looking after a friend like Lexi could do that to you. How is she anyway?"

She shook her head a bit, "Hmmm no, she's still sleeping so she hasn't been any trouble at all. Taicho said she be up any minute now though." Her shoulders slumped, "I've been taking care of 11th Division members lately, their injuries almost rival Lexi's, except there are more of them of course..."

"Ah, what a pain that sounds like, sucks to be you huh,"� his laughter caused Lune to flinch at the comment. "Heh, I kid, I kid. Anyways I was about to go get a bite to eat, I guess I'll pick up something for the awakening disaster. Want to come with?"

Her demeanor lightened up for a moment but then returned to its previous state, "Ah I'd enjoy that, but I just ate and have to get back to work."� She took a quick look at her mobile device, her expression soon turned into one of urgency, "Actually it looks like I'm running a little late, bye Keiji-san." After running off a little bit she paused and turned around. "Oh yes, and say hi to Lexi for me,"� she shouted before heading off once again.

"Alright catch you later!"� The poor girl, oh well its dango time! It didn't take him much longer to reach his favorite stand in existence. He praised himself for going through all the hardship of saving enough for them to make the move, he didn't know what he would do not having it so close by.

"Good afternoon Sayaka-chan, I will have the usu..."� was all he could get out before he found that the flat end of cutting board connected with his face.

Sayaka looked mildly angry, “What did I tell you about calling before you visit.�

He rubbed his nose a bit with his hand. Girl doesn’t lose her touch…. “Ah well you see this isn’t an official visit though,� he said pointing one finger upward in a matter-of-factly manner, “Just a customer coming by get his usual favorite dish and a bento box for his bed-ridden companion.�

“Oh…I see…� she replied with a tint of disappointment.

He quickly moved so he was merely inches away from her face, “But seeing your pretty face is always a wonderful treat hmmm.�

A sudden punch and a “blaarggh� later, he soon found himself laid out on the ground.

“Anyhow, sorry I can’t stay longer, but I’ll be sure to stop by sometime soon,� he said as he gathered his and Lexi’s lunch. “I recently applied for a taicho position you know.�

“Eh really, so soon? But you just became a fukutaicho a little while ago.� She was taken back a little by this.

“Ah well you know, the spot was open so I thought I’d give it a shot, not like it’s a guarantee anyway haha.�

There was a pause and Sayaka soon became quite solemn, “But…if you become a taicho your responsibility will increase and you’ll become extremely busy…�

Keiji could be pretty dense at times, but even he could tell what direction this was going. “Haha, like they could stop me from frequenting my favorite dining place.� He placed the food into a pack and slung it across his back. “Anyhow I should head off now, I’ll make sure to call later.�

A little while and some consumed dango later, he soon found himself being confronted by Lexi on the subject of obtaining her shikai.

“Sure I’ll help you out kid, I suggest we head to the training grounds though. Knowing you, you might blast down a wall with your initial release by accident,� he laughed. “Pay the 4th Division because of you enough as is.�

As the two headed out he thought he’d get a better grasp of what he was dealing with, “So what’s your zanpakuto spirit like?�

[Dizzy]

At the prospect of finally gaining her zanpakuto’s initial release, Lexi’s demeanor had brightened up considerably, and she had returned to her ordinarily sunny self. The two 12th division shinigami strolled nonchalantly over to the division’s training grounds, talking about the training they were about to attempt along the way.

“So, what’s your zanpakuto spirit like?” asked Keiji.

Lexi fingered her sword’s hilt and look downwards at it, expecting her to give a sarcastic remark in her head. It was honestly a surprise when she waited a few seconds and came up with nothing at all.

That‘s strange … she usually can‘t wait to inflate her own ego.

… Not even an insult‘s bringing her out to play? Hmm, I wonder what‘s keeping her.

A few moments of silence later, and still nothing. Eventually, Keiji began snapping his fingers in front of her face to bring her back to reality with a start.

“Oi,” said a rather annoyed Keiji, “I said, what‘s your zanpakuto spirit like?”

Lexi looked down at it one last time before facing Keiji again. “… Sorry about that … hmm, I guess she’s okay. Kind of conceited, I suppose, plus she’s got a bit of a temper, but pretty nice anyhow. Really … aristocratic and elegant too. She’s got a really pretty white kimono, so I try and make sure it rains on her as often as possible.”

Keiji barely stifled a laugh. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you, Lexi.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean?”

They passed through the gate that would take them into the main training facility. It was thankfully unoccupied, which was a nice stroke of luck. The mid-afternoon skies were still overcast, though there didn’t appear to be any imminent chance of rain. It seemed an altogether dry winter, far more than normal, but Lexi wasn’t complaining. It was a godsend, especially if compared to the number of times she’d awoken in a muddy ditch in the living world, with the rain pitter-pattering down all over her previously unconscious body.

The training ground itself was rather plain in texture, as the 12th division was not very vested in fighting. Structures were sparse - a few rock formations here and there, two hills, a couple of trees. The main headquarters stood far away to the west, an invisible kidou shield keeping stray blasts from blowing up anything important. The worries about her zanpakuto’s lack of presence and the sensation of growing winds were put to the back of her mind as both she and Keiji took their places at the opposite ends of the field.

Keiji spoke up, yelling a bit to compensate for the increased distance. “Alright, this is how it’s gonna work! I’ll start by fighting you normally, and I’ll try to gauge your abilities that way. I think the best way to get you your release is if I pit you against my own shikai, so I’ll build up to releasing. Fight as hard as you can, and both of us can use all the kidou and shyunpo we want. Got that?”

As soon as Lexi had nodded her assent from the other side of the field, Keiji disappeared, having drawn both swords and crossed the length of the facility in one fell swoop. He shyunpo’d right up to Lexi’s side, bringing both swords down in an attempt to bisect her. Lexi barely managed to draw her own zanpakuto in time, and the assault clanged off her blade, sending reverberations down her spine. The girl stayed still for a moment, and then succumbed to the pressure of Keiji’s advantages in weight and speed, retreating backwards and transitioning into a fighting position.

“Ha …” Lexi panted, “I thought you were going to build up to your maximum, you jerk.”

Keiji gave her a wide grin that clearly showed that he was enjoying every second of this. “I am going easy on you,” he taunted. “Is it too much, Lexi-san?”

“Bastard …”

Lexi rushed in for an attack of her own, swapping her sword from right hand to left at the last second to try and surprise him. Keiji deflected it easily, but he didn’t anticipate her sliding between his legs and planting a solid kick into the back of his knee. Rather than allow her to follow up, the fukutaichou swung one of his zanpakuto’s hilts backwards into her shoulder, causing her to recoil in pain. Luckily, Keiji took the opportunity to get some distance between them, and a lull opened up in the fighting.

The pain in her shoulder stung, and there’d be a nasty bruise on it next morning, but it would be something she could live with for the duration of the fight, albeit a weak spot for Keiji to target. The purple-haired shinigami himself didn’t seem any worse for the wear; he was standing nonchalantly without even a drop of sweat, even spinning one of his zanpakuto around in his hand and humming a light-hearted tune.

“Heh, your tactics have improved, Lexi-san!” he called over from the other side of the field.

Lexi grimaced at the call - both of them were obviously still just warming up, and she decided she might as well try and gain an early advantage. Letting her blade droop towards the ground for the moment, she pointed both index fingers at Keiji and charged her reiatsu into them. Instantly, thunder began to crackle over her hands, and when she discharged them, they flew off like bullets, searing through the air on a path towards Keiji’s head. The girl followed them, aiming for a simultaneous sword slice down her opponent’s midsection and a kick aimed at his kneecaps. Hopefully, the four-pronged attack would elicit a reaction from him, at the very least.

Keiji twirled his blades to a stop to face the oncoming onslaught. He dodged both electrical bullets by ducking underneath them, and the futility of Lexi’s attack was soon demonstrated by his easy parry of her slash and subsequent slice at her with his free sword, not even letting the attempted kick happen. The slice made a shallow cut into Lexi’s arm, and she withdrew it from the vicinity, instead electing to flip upside-down in an acrobatic movement that allowed her to deliver an uppercut with her foot.

The attack connected, surprisingly enough, though at the expense of a kick to the stomach in return, sending her rolling across the field, ending in a spread-eagled sprawl. Lexi stumbled back up to her feet and rested upon her zanpakuto, attempting to regain her breath. Keiji stood a ways away, rubbing his chin with a thoughtful look on his face.

“Hmm, I didn’t know you were a contortionist,” said Keiji placidly. “You’ve gotten better at improvisation for sure, though your actual swordplay and technique could use some polishing.”

Damn, I still can‘t even get him to start caring, whereas he‘s gotten me to waste a fair bit of my reiatsu, plus he winded me a bit with that last kick. He‘s gotten a lot stronger compared to the last time we fought, but so have I …

Keiji decided to initiate combat this time, blasting off from his position and attempting to drive his swords into Lexi’s body on pure momentum alone. Though, she thought, he‘ll be hard pressed to turn on a dime at that speed. I‘ll take the hit and see what I can get in return!

Unfortunately for her, Keiji swerved at the last second, aiming to slash apart her shoulder instead. Lexi jumped to the side, allowing the blade to rip into her sleeve and graze her arm, but not enough to worry her. She turned, and after focusing more reiatsu into the tip of her index finger, blasted another Byakurai straight at Keiji’s chest. He deflected it off his sword, but the impact it left afterwards offset his balance enough for Lexi to score a small gash on his face. Keiji blocked the follow-up attack, and both of them smashed their swords into each other repeatedly, trying to put in enough pressure to knock the other off balance.

Looks like I‘m finally pressing Keiji enough for him to show some visible effort, kukuku. That‘s a pretty nice sign, though he hasn‘t tried any of his own tactics on me yet. I need to be prepared for that … especially if he starts using kidou.

Without a second thought, the girl broke away from the quagmire and shyunpo’d over Keiji, planting her sword down in an attempt to skewer him. Keiji managed to avoid it, but her follow-up dive forced him to shyunpo backwards at top speed, skidding to a halt several meters away. Lexi chased after him, sword raised to cut into his side, but she was repelled by a fierce swing of Keiji’s two zanpakuto, and he regained his momentum, fiercely slamming his blades down upon hers, one after the other. The resounding clangs were deafening, and it seemed as if his attack was getting stronger with every swing. Sooner or later, he could even break though.

Lexi hardened her reiatsu to match his, blasting him away with a powerful swing of her sword. He flipped around in midair, and before Lexi even knew what was going on, she found two blasts of bullet-like lightning coming down at her. Shyunpo-ing up into the air, she aimed a flying kick down at Keiji’s falling body; he blocked it, but was forced to retreat quickly under the imminent threat of more to come. He retook a fighting stance, rubbing his cheek where the gash had appeared with a thoughtful look on his face and readying his free hand to counter any incoming surprise attacks.

“Hmm, not bad. Looks like I’ll be able to release to fight you without you getting overwhelmed too quickly. You think you’re ready for this?”

Lexi grinned at him, twirling her blade around in her hand. Her zanpakuto spirit had failed to chime in for the entire duration of the fight, and it was starting to get worrisome. What could be causing her to remain silent for so long? It was … uncanny, how she’d all but disappeared since she’d awoken. Had she offended her or something? Rather than dwell on that, the girl returned to the matter at hand, feigning cockiness to annoy her opponent.

“Don’t worry, I’ll have you disarmed within five minutes.”

“We’ll see about that,” laughed Keiji. “Now … akehanareru, Kyokki Hitosashi! Tenchikaimei, Mumyoujouya!”

Keiji’s reiatsu level exploded, and all Lexi could see was the ground underneath him crumbling into pieces under the pressure of his spirit energy, before the image of his body disappeared as the combination of brilliant light and numbing darkness overtook her vision.

[Mystic Serenade]

“Alright, so shall we get started with round two then.” With that he jumped forward, positioning Mumyoujouya about a foot in front of his hand. With a horizontal wave of his hand, he simultaneously struck at Lexi with his dark weapon. She blocked, but that’s what he expected her to do with this level of an attack. “Good good, but remember it gets harder after this,” he said before jumping back.

Both of his weapons began to rotate, causing each strike of his to hammer down on Lexi’s zanpakuto multiple times. If her grip was any weaker than it was the weapon would probably have flown out of her hands. She was keeping up with him so far, but that’d last only so long. Seeing as how he simply had to wave his arms and hands around for each attack, he was gradually increasing the speed of each strike. All the while using the fraction of the stamina used for any regular sword swing and losing none of the potency.

Really hope you know what you’re doing…Lexi.

Thankfully she opted to dodge most of his attacks by now…well actually it was not like she had much of a choice at this point. His attacks soon becoming a plethora of flying chakram that could come in within almost any range. It was almost impossible for her to get within striking range at this point. She was forced to bring her zanpakuto up in defense every now and then, but for the most part her only option was to watch her senior dance and orchestrate his symphony of attacks with his zanpakuto and to dodge them.

So what is this we’re doing now? spoke a soft voice in his head.

Ah, this? Just helping out a friend he answered back as he directed a simultaneous vertical and horizontal strike.

Attacking and overwhelming your companion chipped in the darker of the two inhabitants of his consciousness, Interesting way to help someone out.

Ah ha well, I’m trying to help her achieve her initial release you know.

He threw Mumyoujouya Lexi’s way. She responded by dodging and trying to use the opening to close the gap in between them to get a hit in.

Ano…shouldn’t she just try talking to her zanpakuto more often?

Ah well, apparently she still can’t hear her name…and to my knowledge she hasn’t really contacted with it that often.

He guarded the strike Lexi managed to get in and sent her retreating back with a byakurai and the notion of a chakram coming back to embed itself in her back.

I think she’s probably having communication problems with it, but knowing her she hasn’t realized that yet. Besides I bet if her zanpakuto spirit is anything like her, it’s probably quite stubborn as well.

He brought both zanpakuto back to his side in preparation for an attack.

Anyhow, Lexi isn’t the type of person who gets these kind of things just sitting around and thinking about it…attention span is too short for that haha. This is her best bet, hopefully she can pull through before things get too rough.

Cheh…she sounds bothersome

She is interesting though he laughed.

“Alright,” he spoke out to Lexi, show me the bond between you and your zanpakuto.” He threw both zanpakuto at his green-haired companion.

Shit at this rate I’ll just tire out before anything happens, she watched as both chakram came straight for her. “Ha ha, you stupid? An attack like that I can just,” she swung her sword horizontally hoping to knock them both away in one go, she then noticed a smirk come to Keiji’s lips.

Both chakram came to halt before Lexi’s swing. With a quick notion with his hands, Keiji sent both of his zanpakuto circling around Lexi.

Shit gotta think fast an idea coming to her mind. Right before both weapons collided into her, she hit them both with a byakurai in hopes of neutralizing them. Luckily her plan worked and she used shyunpo to make most of this opening and attempted to get a hit in on the now disarmed Keiji. “Checkmate,” she stabbed forward swiftly…but he still had that stupid smirk on his face.

It was then his shadow seemed to grow right in front of him and came up to grasp Lexi’s arm when her blade was millimeters away from hitting him, “Sorry, it’ll take more than that to take out the King.”

YOU ARE NOT THE KING!!!
YOU ARE NOT THE KING!!!

Jeez…guy can’t make himself sound cool with a relevant comeback can he…

[Dizzy]

What the hell … damn it, looks like he‘s got a couple of tricks up his sleeve. Least he hasn‘t tried showering me with a million spears of light yet, but even if I can find an opening, he‘s still got a fallback … stupid bastard, just waving his arms around while I‘ve got to shyunpo all over the place …

Lexi grimaced at Keiji’s smirking face and shoved all of her weight into a single thrust, attempting to break through the shadow’s strangulating grip on her wrist and drive a hole through Keiji’s chest, but to no avail, and she had to quickly retreat to avoided being skewered herself by the two incoming chakram. Her opponent caught them without even laying a hand on them, allowing them to spin freely around his body, acting as a protective shield.

“Jackass,” Lexi murmured, “I’ll wipe that stupid grin off of your face!”

“Oh, really now?” said Keiji airily, as if they were talking about as mild a subject as the weather. “Your skills have been outclassed completely by my release’s abilities. You’d better start drawing from your zanpakuto’s inner strength now, or you might get hurt.”

Lexi gave him a quick glare before returning the favor to her zanpakuto. The blade, with its emerald green hilt, sterling silver edge, and patterns of wind etched onto the guard, was seemingly no more than just that - a blade. The spirit dwelling within was nowhere to be heard, as she had remained for the last few hours …how could she draw upon the strength of somebody whose presence had just simply disappeared?

“Oi!” came Keiji’s call. “I’m going to start fighting seriously now, so you’d better watch out!”

With that, the chakram that glowed brilliantly was sent hurtling at her position, followed shortly by the one that stole the light from all around it. The reiatsu level had increase for sure, and when they clanged off her zanpakuto one after the other, the impact was easily enough to send her stumbling backwards several steps, nearly even causing her to fall. Keiji didn’t stop there, however. The smirk was still plastered onto his face, if only just to annoy her, but his eyes showed a cold intensity that showed he‘d begun to fight with effort. He swung his arms this way and that, directing the chakrams to assault her from all angles. Some she evaded, some she managed to deflect, but it was easy to tell that he was gradually building up the still-increasing force on them. They came with greater and greater speed, spinning wickedly to clang off her zanpakuto several times, and nearly blasting it out of her hands.

Fuck, I need a new strategy … it‘s no use to attack Keiji when he‘s unarmed, since his shadow can defend him, and I can‘t keep dodging these, or I‘ll run out of energy, and his reiatsu’s so much higher than mine that a head-on assault would be dumb as hell … damn it, Keiji‘s really got all of his bases covered here.

An all-out attack just might be my best bet here … even though every time I try it, Keiji winds up chewing me out for it. Still, I‘d like to see that stupid shadow block a fireball to the face! Just hope my zanpakuto spirit shows up soon to back me up … just what‘s keeping her from communicating with me?

Lexi retreated from the cacophonic clashing of her zanpakuto with both of Keiji’s, spinning her blade back up into a ready position. Keiji had hardly even bothered with moving since releasing his zanpakuto; was he that complacent with it out? She spat on the ground and waited for Keiji to commit to a plan of attack, upon which she’d blast straight through and go right after his vulnerable, unarmed body.

Just a little longer … and there! Keiji sent both of his zanpakuto spinning at her, side by side, spinning with their spokes in-between those of the other. The attacking force of the attack would be enormous, and with the two chakrams spinning at different tempos, it was almost sure to disarm her if she tried to block it. Lexi poured on the speed, running a wide arc and easily avoiding the two chakrams. She accelerated even harder, nearly having arrived at her target now, and threw out a quick flurry of attacks - a roundhouse kick to the stomach, an uppercut with her right, a left hook while switching zanpakuto hands, and finally, a slash with her zanpakuto aimed at Keiji’s shoulder. A shadow only has so many hands, she reasoned, and she expected perhaps the first two to be defended against, allowing her to pummel Keiji for a bit and then barbeque him with a Shakkaho.

Imagine her surprise when none of them even made contact with a shadow, as Keiji had disappeared behind her to elbow her in the spine and send her crashing down to the ground.

Ow … shit … that HURT. At least a hell of a bruise, probably just slightly less than a snapped spine … damn it …

She staggered back up, propped up by her zanpakuto. Her spine was screaming in pain where Keiji had hit it, like red-hot pokers were being stabbed into it, and she glared up at Keiji’s still smirking face, letting him settle into a short monologue.

“I guess you got complacent when I said your tactics had improved,” he said, “if you fell into my trap so easily. Did you really think I’d be that predictable? I was waiting for you to try that; I even intentionally kept my feet in the same spot to get you to do it. A bit more applied force, and I could’ve snapped your spine entirely. Don’t take everything at face value, Lexi.”

“… You bastard …”

Keiji broke away, jumping backwards several strides. “Now, we begin anew! Stand up, or you’ll get a hell of a lot worse than that!”

The chakrams came flying out again, and this time, Keiji followed. Two jumps got her out of the path of the chakrams, but with the increased momentum on his arms, they came at her quicker and quicker, heavily draining her energy reserves.

Damn it … and all he has to do is swing his stupid arms around like some kind of gorilla … where … where‘s my stupid zanpakuto spirit?

Keiji swooped down at her position, easily occupying her lone zanpakuto with both of his own, and delivered a heavy kick to her stomach, sending her flying off at a nearby sloping cliffside wall. The kick winded her, but it didn’t manage to do any real damage … the bulk of that would be accomplished when she smashed into the wall, headfirst. Keiji was chasing her free-flying body, aiming to slice up whatever was left of her when the dust cleared from the blow.

Shit, this is going to take some thinking to get out of … maybe if … screw it, let‘s just wing it and hope for the best.

A split second before impact, she drove her zanpakuto straight into the cliff, using it as a pivot to swing back into an oncoming Keiji. The sudden move came as a surprise to him; Lexi pulled her sword out of the wall as she completed her turn without losing any momentum and drove her foot deep into Keiji’s gut.

The girl didn’t wait to admire her work; she landed on the ground and broke into a full-out sprint, flowing green ponytail trailing out behind her, displacing dust as she ran. Several sharp nicks had formed in the field from having chakrams spin their way into it; a rock formation had been cut through entirely by a particularly vigorous slice from Keiji. Repelling another blow from the darker of the two chakrams, she dove underneath a nearby tree, hoping for some slight sanctuary.

A slightly winded Keiji began striding up to her, pulling his weapons to a stop and spinning them gracefully around his hands. “Oi! I’ll give you points for the sneak attack, but you won’t win anything by getting lazy. Start talking to your zanpakuto already!”

“I’m trying … fucker …”

The purple-haired fukutaicho sped up, smashing the tree over with a swing of his zanpakuto. His other he threw at Lexi, knocking her off-balance. Quick as a bullet, he slammed the first into her flank, cutting through her flesh as easily as a chainsaw through butter, with every bit of the gore caused by spinning blades.

Blood and errant bits of flesh literally exploded out from her side as it was penetrated by three successive 360-degree spins of the chakram before she managed to escape. The redness poured down her side, staining the black shinigami uniform with a dark crimson dye, though the sight was nothing compared to how it felt; a quickly-growing, sizzling pain that lingered and built up each time another spoke shot into her side - it may even have sliced open an organ.

FUCK! THAT … FUCKING … HURT. Damn it … aaaugh …

Keiji didn’t stop there; he followed up with a reiatsu-reinforced kick that propelled Lexi into the same cliffside wall, and then rushed into her prone body as the impact caused her to literally bounce off of the wall, smashing another chakram into her shoulder. As a finisher, he threw her straight up into the air before jumping up after her and slamming her limp body face first down to the ground.

Blood spurted out of her shoulder like water from a broken dam as Lexi lay panting on the ground, trying to gather enough oxygen in her lungs to stand herself back up. Her face and arms were scraped; they’d taken the largest impact from the fall, along with a couple of her ribs that had most likely snapped cleanly in two. Sweat dripped from her face as the pain took hold over adrenaline, gradually increasing in an all-consuming crescendo of agony.

“Hahaha, you're pathetic!” rang Keiji’s suddenly high, mocking voice, distorted by her slight concussion to the point where it had even started to echo. “Come on, kid, you aren’t drawing out any power from your zanpakuto! You can’t just be relying on yourself to beat my release; I haven’t even bothered with any of my abilities yet! Wake up already, or I'll just keep on getting pummeling you!”

Lexi leant heavily into her zanpakuto, staring deeply into its silver gleam. It show her face’s reflection, scraped and bleeding from the many blows she’d taken, yet nothing else - no sign of the eye of the hurricane she had for an inner world, nor the solemn-looking spirit that was her zanpakuto personified. Nothing more … than a blade.

Hey … zanpakuto-sama … I don‘t know what‘s keeping me from speaking to you, but … we really have to work together now, as a team. I can‘t just keep swinging you around like a nameless weapon forever … you‘re my ally in battle, not just a tool or anything ordinary like that. If you can hear me, then … maybe you can help me unlock my inner world again … and maybe help me see your released form.

The blade flashed, a brilliant white blast of light, and then everything was blackness.

---

Did I … did I make it?

Lexi opened her eyes tentatively, and then would’ve screamed and cheered and danced a victory dance if her body wasn’t screaming for her to stay on the ground and never move a single one of her aching muscles ever again. Instead, she just stared into the dark eyes of her zanpakuto spirit and gave her a feeble smile.

“Just what are you smiling about, child?” came the woman’s sudden interjection. “Do not be proud just because you managed to think in a more straightforward manner. Do you know why you could neither speak to me, nor enter your subconscious for so long?”

“It is because you have no resolve!” the spirit exclaimed. “You could only think ’I wonder why I can’t hear my zanpakuto,’ and it took you the entire fight to think ’I want to speak to my zanpakuto!’ That … is what unlocked this realm for you again.”

“You are strong enough to achieve your shikai, yes,” she continued, “but there is still one more reason I will not divulge you my name. You are afraid … scared of the consequences of attaining your initial release, and I will not stand for that. A cowardly wielder will lead to both of ours deaths.”

“I … I …” Lexi stammered, “I have no idea what on Earth you’re talking about. Afraid of my release? I don’t even have an idea of what it is, let alone any fear of it!”

“You are not listening,” murmured the spirit. “I believe I said ‘consequences’. Specifically, the one where Felix said he’d next meet with you after you gained your initial release.”

Sh - shit, how does she know about that? I‘ve kept it so hidden from anyone … I‘d nearly even forgotten about it …

“As one connected to even your innermost emotions and thoughts,” said the spirit, “I shall go ahead and tell you that forgetting and overcoming are far from the same thing. You will overcome this fear, or you will not attain your initial release.”

Taichou … he wouldn‘t do anything to endanger my life … but I don‘t know what he‘d stop at to get my onto his side. I trusted him last time … and the stupid fucker drugged me. Who knows what he could try this time.

Any time I‘m out in the living world, I‘m easy prey for him. Just let me get raped by my friendly neighborhood S&M hollow, and he can heal me … and then I‘ll even owe him for that … stupid bastard. Stay in Soul Society, and I‘m a liability to the Gotei 13. Unless I just transferred to 4th Division or something, except … that‘s out of the fucking question. Nobody I know can match up to him in a fight, and he‘s too smart to fall for any kind of ambush.

There‘s just no fucking way out.

…

“Zanpakuto-sama … I’ll take up your offer. Throw out whatever you’ve got at me … and I’ll take it until I’m not afraid anymore.”

The solemn-looking spirit raised an eyebrow. “Very well.”

She spun around, gesturing to all sides of the hurricane spinning around them. The wind, already spinning at dizzying speeds, seemed to get even faster, whirling around the little clearing that they had to stand in.

“Here is how it shall work. The wind circling around us now has thousands of blades inside it. You will wield my unreleased form, and attempt to find my released form in this subconscious. However … I will be interfering with your attempt, and …”

The spirit pulled out her own sword from out of nowhere - an elegantly designed elongated dagger, the kanji for wind inscribed into the hilt. She spun it once, and held it in front of her.

“For every blow you take from Keiji, I will deal you another. If you fail in this endeavor, then … I will kill you.”

[Mystic Serenade]

“Oi!” came Keiji’s call. “I’m going to start fighting seriously now, so you’d better watch out!”

Better not over do things too much…looks like she can’t take too much more. We can always pick try at another time.

Eh, but that’s no fun at all spoke out another voice in opposition.

Oh, haven’t heard from you in a while Kei-kun, what’s the occasion?

This…

Keiji felt as his right arm commanded Kyokki Hitosashi to be tossed swiftly at Lexi, soon followed up by Mumyoujouya.

The hell…since when could you control my body?

Ever since I was ‘you’. the voice laughed a bit.

Keiji at first only observed as his body moved at what he thought was not according to what “he” wanted. He soon snapped back into reality and attempted to control at least a little of what he was doing, which admittedly wasn’t doing too much to soften the assault that was barraging his green-haired companion.

Hey! This is a bit much, stop this!

Wuss, you said you wanted to help her learn shikai right?

Yea, but I never said she had to get it right at thi…

Bah that’s no fun. the voice in his head interrupted, We’ll just beat it out of her or she can die!!!

Outside of his mental conversation, the battle continued to increase in intensity as he struggled more and more but to little avail to stop the pummeling Lexi was receiving. He did not expect however, to be pulled back into his inner world at some point during this conflict. There before him, stood the man he himself named Keishiro.

“Hey,” he pointed an accusing finger at his other, “the hell do you think you’re doing.”

“Me?” he rose his hands in an innocent manner, “just helping you and your little friend.” He threw a small glare Keiji’s way, “Got a problem?”

“Never asked for your help did I.”

“Well then…” the man dressed in white took an aggressive stance, “that’s just too bad then isn’t it.” Both of his arms shot out to be held at his sides. In a blink of an eye and a dark and light flash later, appeared two chakram near his hands. They looked just as his own zanpakuto but like him, just about everything was inverted in color. “So, going to do something about it?”

Keiji mirrored his familiar’s actions, and to his satisfaction the same event occurred with his own zanpakuto. “Yea, I’ll make you cut it out.”

“We’ll see about that,” his other said as it had dashed towards him in attack.

Before he moved to act, Keiji spotted both his zanpakuto spirits watching the skirmish before them, an urgent look of concern on Kyokki’s face. She reached her hand out and moved forward as if to come to Keiji’s aid, but a hand placed on her shoulder by her elder sister and a whisper later, she came to a stop.

Keiji had little time to ponder on whatever what went on between the two as his adversary was soon upon him, bringing his right arm down in an arc to chop at him with his hand with the nice addition of a spinning razor blade. Keiji smacked it away with the chakram in his left and jumped backwards in the opening the action created. He stood back straight up, “Oh, where were these when we first fought eh? Would have been tons more interesting don’t you think?”

“As if,” his doppelganger scoffed, “like you could have kept up then!” In a flash he soon disappeared from view.

To any lesser being, it would have appeared as if the man before Keiji had completely removed himself from existence and had been spirited away. However with his trained eyes, he saw Keishiro speeding towards him with shyunpo with the intent of striking him down. Keiji acted accordingly, jumping upwards to avoid the oncoming strike and throwing down both chakram down to where his adversary would appear. The attack did nothing as both attempts were knocked away and Keiji soon found himself unarmed for a second attack. Keishiro took advantage of this opening and jumped upwards to attack once again, aiming to strike Keiji on both of his shoulders.

Acting quickly, Keiji took control of both of the shadows within the sleeves of his uniform and had the darkness within rush out to take hold of both oncoming assaults. While this indeed avoided him from getting skewered, it wasn’t enough to completely save him from damage as it appeared stopping the chakram gave Keishiro a pivot point from which to attack in midair. He spun his body upwards, smashing the underside of the purple-haired shinigami’s chin with his foot, sending him flying and then skidding along the ground.

Damn…he’s good He didn’t have much time to think as two chakram soon came flying his way. Once again he used his shadow to halt the attack, rushing towards his opponent afterwards. He motioned for both his own chakram that lay on the ground nearby to rise up and strike his foe as he himself came in for a swift front kick.

“Nice try but you’ll have to do better than that,” Keishiro taunted as he halted both chakram in midair with his hands.

What!?!? He couldn’t respond fast enough to take in what his eyes saw before him, and could only howl in pain as it coursed through his body when his attacker rushed forward to slam both chakram into his shoulders. He gave a gasp for breath as he soon found his troubles were hardly over as a back kick was delivered to his solar plexus, sending him flying back once more to fall hard on his back. His eyes opened in surprise as he observed his antagonist somehow summoned back his own pair of zanpakuto into his hands.

Keishiro slowly walked up to Keiji, standing above him, looking down upon him. “It’s over, aibou,” was all he said right before he slammed down both spinning chakram down unto Keiji’s body whose scream reverberated throughout his inner world.

Outside of Keiji’s mind, his inner world resident was causing an equal amount of damage but to a certain Lexi Hunter. He toyed with her a bit, throwing a flurry of punches and kicks her way with an occasional strike with one of the chakram that constantly circled the two. She managed to guard or evade all of these despite her current condition. She even managed to counter with a few punches herself, feeble that they were. After a quick jump back, she finally opened up enough space between them to attempt a diagonal slash across Keiji’s chest. She never would have thought he would have caught the blade with his bare hand.

“Nice try ojou-chan,” he ‘complimented’ right before delivering a round house kick to the young girl’s skull which sent her several meters away. “You know it’s quite boring the way it now,” he commented as he continued back to the act of ‘chase Lexi around with chakram as she flees for dear life’. “So let us play a game,” he called out as he returned the chakram to his side, “the let’s see how many times Lexi could have died before she obtains her release game!” With that he tossed both zanpakuto side by side like he had done previously.

Like I’d fall for the same trick twice, cocky bastard. She shot a shakkaho at the ground right in front of the two oncoming chakram. It was enough to throw them off course with the addition of creating enough cover with displaced dust to prepare an attack of her own. It was rather unexpected when she witnessed the dust cloud part as if something shot right past it and found Keiji staring her down directly in the face.

“Didn’t think I was going to stand around and wait for you to come to me did you?” remarked the man slyly right before he delivered a strong uppercut to the girl. Her body would have been sent flying upwards had her “training partner” not quickly grasped hold of her long green hair and slammed her back down to the earth. He picked her back, never letting lose his hold on Lexi’s hair. He placed two fingers from his free hand under her chin, sparks from his fingers forming a byakurai sparking and singeing the skin it touched. He opted to lightly smear the underside of her chin as he directed his fingers off to the side to fire the byakurai elsewhere, “One.” He backhanded the young girl away and watched as she struggled to raise her body up once more.

Thereafter he began to shyunpo around the young girl whilst still managing to direct multiple attacks with chakram that constantly kept diving and swinging back towards the young shinigami. After a particular dodge, Keiji moved in to knee his companion in the gut so hard she became airborne. There the two chakram speedily flew around her back and forth, tearing at the green-haired shinigami’s uniform and creating many artificial cuts. “Two.”

Right before she crashed back down to the earth, darkness formed outward of Keiji’s body and entangled the girl, preventing movement. He tossed up Kyokki Hitosashi as it rotated violently until it only appeared as a bright glowing sphere of light. It was not long before ten rays of light shot forth from this sphere and crashed down upon Lexi with the form of spears. One aimed above her head, two at the sides of her throat dangerously close to her jugulars, and two next to her lungs. The rest he allowed to pierce her hands, shoulders, and right leg.

“So, shall we count this as three or seven hmmm?”

[Dizzy]

What the fuck, this is ridiculous! Trying to co-ordinate my movements in reality to fend off Keiji and simultaneously trying to find the one sword flying around in a tornado of thousand? I don‘t even know what the goddamned sword looks like; am I supposed to just try every single one of them until something good happens? It‘s hard enough to just navigate in this stupid fucking tornado, let alone find something in it … and Keiji isn‘t helping! Has he gone insane or something?

The winds whipped around the clearing like literal jets of air, sending Lexi flying through the hurricane like a rag doll, barely allowing her to avoid being skewered by the many swords flying around in the maelstrom. They tore into her body, even slicing open her skin and shinigami uniform. She recognized them as the sensations she’d been dreaming about in the morning, except a hundred times more intense … had she been floating in her inner world while she’d been asleep, her fear of confronting Felix making her unwilling to journey into her subconscious?

It was surreal, to say the least, acting through two realities at once. Seeing the hurricane of her inner world translucent against the backdrop of her fight with Keiji wasn’t something she could describe with mere words - though that was the least of her worries at the moment. Keiji had seemingly gone insane, and although he was keeping from attacking with any lethal blows, his attacks had been augmented in strength, speed, and ferocity alike. The echo in his voice had grown, and it had changed into a high-pitched cacophony that rang through her ears with each of his taunts. All the while, her zanpakuto spirit, seemingly unaffected by the hurricane, was doubling the damage Keiji put on her, and with every blow he gave, she struck at the exact same place with her elongated dagger of a blade.

This is bad … at this rate, I really am going to die … even if Keiji doesn‘t hit any of my vital spots, I‘ve already lost a fair bit of blood … and I‘ve only managed to get about twenty or so swords out of thousands! Well … at least if I make it through this, I‘ll be able to laugh at whatever Taichou can throw at me the next time we meet.

She thrust her hand onto another blade - some kind of rusted scimitar, moved her arm to repel an incoming Keiji, laughing into the air of another reality, and then threw it away without a second glance, as she‘d done with all of the others she‘d managed to catch so far. None of them had felt right in her hand; she’d known that they weren’t the right blades within a second of grasping them. It certainly made it easier, but … there was still a vague feeling in the air … a feeling that none of the swords flying around in the hurricane would be the one for her …

Keiji blasted her in the ankle with another Byakurai, and she tumbled over in midair, allowing the wind to carry her far past the blade she had been eyeing. Another shot like that and she’d no longer be able to even stand up - and like a javelin, the swooping arc of her zanpakuto spirit’s blade caught here right there, sending her crashing down to the ground in both dimensions.

Shit … this doesn‘t even make sense … what kind of a test is this … a test of dumb luck to see how quickly I can pick out one blade out of thousands? I can‘t even influence the result of this kind of thing … how is it supposed to help me in any way? I should assume it‘s a test of intelligence … to see if I can devise a way to find it before I get killed … but retrieving something I’ve never seen is far beyond my ability … maybe … that‘s not the true objective here …

“Oi, stand up!” came Keiji’s ringing voice, tearing her eyes back up to reality. “How pathetic, I didn’t even aim to cripple you. Oh well … as long as you can’t move any, you won’t be any fun. Might as well just kill you now and get over it.”

He sauntered over as he spoke, spinning his zanpakuto in the air. As he came closer, Lexi noticed a tinge of black in his eyes - almost seeming like trick of the light, but definitely there - did that have something to do with the fact he’d seemingly gone insane? He stepped right in front of her, leering down at her, taunting her to try and prevent her own imminent death.

And then he slid his chakram right into her heart.

It wouldn‘t even be a test to find the one blade in here out of a million, more like an excuse to see me die. If it‘s a trick question … a blade somewhere in this hurricane … ANY blade somewhere in this hurricane …

Her zanpakuto spirit charged to make the final blow, without even a look of remorse in her eyes … more like one of disappointment at Lexi’s inability to have found it in time. As the second blade made its way into her heart, she sprung into action, clutching at the spirit‘s hilt in what must have seemed like an attempt just to delay the inevitable. All of a sudden, a brilliant white light engulfed the entire interior of the hurricane …

When it faded, she had the zanpakuto spirit’s blade in her own hands, pressing it right up against her assailant’s neck. It had transformed from when the latter had held it - it was still more like an elongated dagger than anything else, but the handle had transformed itself so that it held the appearance of a glowing candle, with a treble clef inscribed into the wick. A few holes in the blade made it light weight and decreased air resistance, and a thin piece of metal representing the candle’s flame now stood out within the largest of those. The spirit looked surprised - but it was a happy kind of surprised, and when she glanced back from the sword to Lexi, it was with a look of silent approval, that she’d passed her test and gained her initial release.

“Hahaha … that was … an ordeal,” panted Lexi. “Gotta stop waiting till the very last second to figure these things out. But now … now I know your name … Tempestas.”

The spirit nodded … and with a snap of her fingers, transported Lexi back into reality, Keiji’s chakram still sticking into her. Her blade had finished rematerializing, and the look in Keiji’s eyes, now almost halfway coated by darkness, showed only surprise. Without a second thought, she pulled the chakram out of her body, letting loose a warm stream of blood, and blasted her fukutaicho away with a sudden burst of wind.

[Mystic Serenade]

Keishiro collected himself after being blast away a bit back from the little girl's initial release. "Well, well looks like you finally managed to pull it off, looks like you aren't a piece of shit after all." He began walking up to the young green-haired shinigami. "So let's see how much you can do with it."

Lexi was panting heavily; there was really a limit to how far someone could go on determination alone. Heh...punk...how can he still stand up as if nothing has happened... She yelled back for the just for the hell of it, “You’ll have trouble seeing anything when I kick your ass with it!”

It was only moment later when Lexi found herself looking straight into the bright amethyst pupils that lay within the pool of black that were now Keiji’s eyes. She fell backwards as she felt him flick her in the forehead.

“You think too highly of yourself kid, just look at yourself.” He picked up the girl by her long green-hair, “And I thought I’d get a bit more fun out of playing with you too. Welp, guess I’ll just have to find out what else is out here.” He released his hold on the unconscious girl and took a step to head elsewhere, except he now found that there seemed to be some resistance to his step.

My body…I’ll be taking it back now thank you.


Keiji didn’t know how long it had been since he had lost consciousness within his own consciousness, strange as that did sound. His body hurt like hell, he wondered how it was possible for such wounds to cause that degree of pain in comparison to the near painless sensation of him having half his torso ripped off. His eyes remained close, for now he just felt like resting. He then began to hear voices around him.

“You’ve gone too far…” Kyokki whispered as she grasped unto Keiji’s body, her voice slightly broken as she was on the verge of tears. “THERE WAS NO NEED FOR YOU TO DO THAT!!!” she yelled at the pale imitation of Keiji’s image.

“Bah, not my fault he turned out to be a weakling.”

Mumyoujouya approached her sister from behind, and placed a shadowy hand on Kyokki’s shoulder. “You know it had to be done,” she said quietly.

To this Kyokki turned to her older counterpart with a mournful gaze, “For what, so things could turn out like this? If only we persevered a little bit longer…if only…”

“Perhaps we expected too much of him…”

“No, I refuse to believe it! He’ll get up and take care of it…I know he will…”

“Puh-lease,” said Keishiro sarcastically, breaking into their conversation of despair, “just because you two got too tired and pinned all your little hopes on this boy doesn’t mean he’ll pull through for you. Face it, I’ve won the bet. So come on do it, bow down and call me king.”

Kyokki shot a glare at Keiji’s mock duplicate and prepared to yell a response back until she felt a hand grasp hers.

“Guess I can’t take the time to lay here and take a nap.” Keiji raised his head a little bit, “I’m not out for the count yet.” As he picked himself up he softly hugged Kyokki as a pretense for aiding himself in getting up and quickly whispered into the very surprised spirit’s ear, “thank you for believing me and all, but I expect a full explanation sometime.” With that he rose up once more to face Keishiro, calling his zanpakuto to his side once again, “Ready for round two?”

“Only if you’re ready to get your ass kicked again,” he replied mockingly, only to find that Keiji had somehow shyunpo’d right next to him without him noticing and took hold of his right arm.

“I’m sorry but…I can’t allow you to hurt what’s important to me any longer.”

Keishiro quickly pulled his arm away from Keiji’s grasp as he jumped backwards to ensue battle once more, calling forth his own pair of chakram out of thin air as he did before.

The two came at each other, matching each other strike for strike, their movements merely a blur of light and dark to the normal bystander’s eyes. They kept close to one another, disallowing any long range attack. Each of the two combatants’ control over their weapons firm and resolute, refusing to have their weapon merely tossed away by the other. The chakram clanged in rapid succession as they spun and contacted each other multiple times before being held to a quick standstill. However only one could claim victory, and one of the two currently was steadily growing stronger with his assault.

“Improved quite a bit have we? Had an epiphany or something?” Keishiro taunted in between an attack.

“Yea, that I won’t let you use me to hurt others, sound good enough for you,” he said while spinning downward, aiming to slash his first attack at his other’s legs. His clone clad in white jumped upwards to dodge the blow as he expected and instead of following through with another strike that followed the same path he reversed it, raising upwards to strike at his opponent’s chest. This maneuver however proved to do little as Keishiro parried the attack with one chakram and positioned himself to kick Keiji in the chest with both feet. It proved to not be something as simple as a kick when he then combined the force of it with a shyunpo, propelling himself many yards away from where he tossed both of chakram at Keiji.

Keiji staggered backwards from the force of the kick and spun out of the way from the incoming blades. He used shyunpo to charge forward in attack.

“You don’t learn very well do you boy?” taunted Keishiro as he materialized his weapons into his hands like he did many times before, placing his hands behind him in preparation to throw the two chakram. His eyes opened in surprise when he found he had somehow misgauged the speed and distance of his adversary and was staring straight into his eyes.

Keiji placed his chakram parallel to Keishiro’s, “I’ve learned plenty actually,” he said in the brief moment before he brought his legs forward to return the favor of Keishiro’s earlier attack. He used his reiatsu to hold unto both pairs of chakram as Keishiro was thrown backwards. He orchestrated all four chakram to dance around the opposing body, to cut, stab, and slice him multiple times. Keiji then shyunpo’d behind Keishiro’s body and spoke into his ear, “Guess I didn’t get my ass kicked after all.” He spiraled downwards and slammed Keishiro unto the ground below, creating a small crater.

He dusted himself and stood over the fallen body. “So, I guess this body is still mine eh?”

“For now…I guess so aibou.”

For a moment it seemed to Keiji that Keishiro’s body flickered and then it disappeared. He felt a strange chill go down his spine as he felt someone sling an arm across his shoulders.

“But it might not always be yours,” A voiced whispered into his ear, “I’ll be back again someday, so until then stay sharp…aibou.”

A strange sensation ran throughout Keiji’s body when somehow his other walked right into him, melding two into one. All was silent for a while. “So…that explanation would be nice now…”

Kyokki opened her mouth to speak but soon found the hand of her older sister over it who spoke in her stead, “He is simply you…as you grow stronger so will he. As you learn more about us, he will learn the same. You two are one, the same…both ever present in unison. However both of you are also in a sense separate, until you truly decide to become one that is.”

“You know that’s not the entire truth sister,” Kyokki cried out. “He should know…he should know that what he fights is…”

“That’s enough,” interrupted Keiji. He smiled back, “I’ll figure it out on my own, there must be a reason you’re all secretive about it eh Mumyoujouya?”

“That is correct…” she replied solemnly.

“Well then I guess it’s time for me to head out now that I have my body back…I’ll be back later.”

Once he was fully in control over his body, he walked over to Lexi to analyze the situation. Damn…he really did a number on her… He lifted up his fallen companion’s body, and quickly made his way to get Lexi some medical attention.

It was not long before Keiji had arrived at 4th Division’s medical facilities, given Lexi’s current condition it was rather important she was treated quickly. He soon found a rather exhausted Lune who probably didn’t get much rest since dealing with 11th Division’s injuries. Her look of tiredness was rapidly replaced with one of shock and concern over her friend’s condition and quickly called arranged for Lexi to be taken to the emergency room.

As they watched them take Lexi away with urgency, Lune turned her attention to Keiji. His wounds here superficial and almost nonexistent in stark contrast to Lexi’s condition, but they were wounds nonetheless. Keiji insisted that he was alright and needed to medical attention, but Lune was adamant about at least healing the small gash on his face. As she raised her hand upward to his face to engulf it in a shining green light, she finally used the opportunity to get out what was in her mind and spoke quietly, “Her wounds…how did she get them…”

To this Keiji gave no response, in fact, he didn’t know what had happened back there altogether himself.

“Those wounds…they were ones from a blade…did something happen?”

“Training accident…” was all that he managed to come up with for a response.

Judging by the look on Lune’s face, it appeared she was not entirely too satisfied with that answer. Indeed it would be difficult to give a true definite answer to what occurred based on his recollection of the event, short of stating something that’d probably land him in the loony bin. Luckily Lune did not press the issue further.

As soon as Keiji’s wound disappeared, Lune removed her hand and he prepared to leave. “I’m not sure what exactly happened…but please do me a favor and try not to make too big a deal out of this.” He was satisfied with a nod from the young girl and ruffled her hair before turning away to leave. He stopped after taking a few steps, “Oh and by the way, when she wakes up…please tell her that she’s been asleep since her previous injury from the last mission…it’s better if she believes what happened was a dream…I’ll give a proper explanation when I find out exactly what happened…”

As he walked out of 4th Division and back to his own headquarters he wondered exactly was he supposed to make sense of what happened today. Who really was this man he named Keishiro…and why were his zanpakuto spirits so fixed upon withholding the information they themselves had on him?

My other, the face on the opposing side of the coin…