Taking a deep breath, Azdeha closed her eyes and ran her hands over the smooth blade that was Kurobara. She was nervous, and she knew her Zanpakuto could feel it. "Steady girl." She breathed out and looked down at the cold metal under her fingertips.
She had been to her inner world many times, had held countless conversations with the Zanpakuto, but to no avail. Kurobara was stubborn. Even more so than her Shinigami counterpart and Azdeha's lack of patience didn't help. Every time she attempted to challenge Kurobara, the girl had just walked away laughing, insisting that Azdeha was too weak, that it would be far too easy to beat her and therefore not worth her time. That in turn angered the Shinigami and she always attacked out of sheer frustration, rendering her attacks flawed and weak. She never stood a chance.
"We're gonna have it out and I will tame you." Azdeha muttered to herself as she slid the blade back into its sheath and pushed open the doors to the Squad 9 dojo.
Watching Azdeha walk in to the room, the uncharacteristic solemnity and seriousness was almost enough to make Chusei burst out laughing. "Nan da, Deha? You scared or something?"
"Orasai!" Azdeha quickly barked back. "I'm trying to get in the zone!" Choosing not to hinder the situation, Chusei wrestled her smile in to a straight expression and continued to watch as Azdeha came to sit cross-legged a couple of feet opposite her.
Truth be told Chusei wasn't sure how to go about teaching the communication with zanpakuto. She was completely in sync with Shunen-Ryu, but she had come to know him in a tense time in her life. And Chusei wasn't about to talk through a meditation like some tape. That being said, she was starting to think it is the only way.
Chusei knew her friend well but to tap in to the connection between Shinigami and blade was hard.
Looking down at Shunen-Ryu, she tapped in her own connection and for several long moments Chusei and Shunen-Ryu concocted a plan.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Chusei's hands shot out each side of her, the force of the act creating burst of wind that blew out the lanterns around them, plunging both in to darkness. In the dark Chusei could be heard to unsheathe a zanpakuto. With a sudden thud, Azdeha realised Chusei had unsheathed her own sword and plunged it in to the floor before her, a very forward move in anyone's books.
"Close your eyes and meditate." Chusei finally spoke, the rustle of her clothes signalling she had sat back down. "Close of your senses and mentally reach out and communicate with your bare blade. When you next take hold of your blade you should truly be its master."
A little taken aback by Chusei's brash act, Azdeha could only sit for a few moments staring into the darkness. It was unheard of for a Shinigami to touch another’s Zanpakuto except in battle, but she trusted Chusei enough to know that she had her reasons.
Right. Focus Deha. Sit up straight, close off everything around you and concentrate.
She stretched once, expanding her spine and lungs, breathing in as deeply as she could before closing her eyes and letting out a long single breath. She reached forward feeling for the cold steel that was her blade and brushed it lightly with her fingertips. She could feel the reaitsu resonating through the blade, almost buzzing with power. It felt like someone had shot an electric current through the metal. At least Kurobara was paying attention.
Mentally, Azdeha whispered her name, calling to the spirit within the sword, and was immediately pulled into her own inner world.
She was stood in a garden, the long grass swaying against her legs. All around her, the red leaves of the maple trees fluttered around her, shimmering in the sunlight. A koi pond was on her left, a small red bridge going from the path she was stood on to a small shrine across the water. Bamboo shot up from the ground on her other side, the tough wood barely bending in the breeze.
"So, you think you can beat me this time?"
Azdeha turned around and looked towards a young girl sat with her back to the shinigami. She was kneeling on the ground, tending to an extravagant rose bush. The red head took a tentative step forward, wary of the spirit in front of her.
"Don't be afraid, you're not worth the effort it would take to attack you." The zanpakuto turned her face towards the girl, her green eyes sparkling in the sunlight. A slight breeze blew through the garden ruffling her long black hair and stirring the folds of her Kimono.
"What's your problem Kurobara. We both know I'm more than capable of fighting you. Maybe you're just too scared." Azdeha always found herself getting riled up by her zanpakuto over the smallest of things. It was a bad trait to have but something about her sword just irritated her. Possibly the fact that the two were both cocky and stubborn.
"My problem is the fact that I got stuck with you." Kurobara stood up and turned around moving closer to the shinigami with every word. "You think you can just wander in here all determined and beat me? It'll take more than willpower alone. You have to be a hundred percent confident that you can win. Otherwise you'll die."
"Is that why you won't fight me? You're scared you'll kill me then you won't exist anymore?" Azdeha grinned slightly.
"No." Kurobara stepped closer, her face merely millimetres from the shinigami's. "As a shinigami you fight for a reason. What's your reason for fighting Abarai Azdeha?"
Azdeha was taken aback. "My reasons?"
"Why do you fight? Who do you fight for?"
Azdeha had to admit she'd never really thought about it before. "I don't really know."
"When you know that...then maybe I'll consider you ready. Until then..." In a flash Kurobara had unsheathed her sword before Azdeha could react, and in seconds, the shinigami found herself flying backwards through the air towards the Koi pond.
"Kuso!" Azdeha let go of her zanpakuto and opened her eyes. "I swear she's doing this on purpose."
Azdeha glared at the outline of her zanpakuto in the darkness. Beyond it she could just make out Chusei kneeling serenely on the floor, her steady breathing the only sound coming from her direction.
The red head shifted uncomfortably. She wanted to speak to her friend but felt that it would be rude to interrupt her meditation. She chewed on her lip as she tried to figure out what to do. She could always meditate again and try to reason with Kurobara, but she knew that it was hopeless. Unless she could figure out what she was fighting for, then Kurobara would just eject her from her own inner world.
What AM I fighting for?
Azdeha rolled the thought around in her head as she sifted through her memories, trying to remember the reasons she had joined the Academy in the first place, although she already knew the answer. She had joined to be with her brother. But she wasn't fighting for him, that was for sure. After all, he was far stronger than she was.
She sighed and leaned back on her hands staring up at the ceiling, "Dammit, Deha. Think."
