Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ 30Kisses ❯ Legendary ( Chapter 22 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Zabimaru knows what it means to be legendary.He can see it in the other zanpakuto. It's the improbable, the impossible made real. Time made tangible, the sun given a voice. He sees it in the flames of Ryujin Jakka, the shadows trailing Zangetsu. The silence of Suzumushi, the beauty of Ruriiro Kujaku. Zabimaru knows what it takes to become a legend and knows very well that he has no chance of ever reaching that status.But he's alright with that.Well, he's alright with that now. There had been a time (such a very long time), when he had hated his status. When he had gazed at the indifferent stars above him and howled his resentment at them. When he had wandered through all their different worlds aching for a fight, thirsting to be known for something, anything. It didn't matter what, just as long as they all knew his name!And then he met her.She's a bit of an impossibility herself. Her beauty equaled that of Ruriiro Kujaku, her grace was unmatched. Sode no Shirayuki, dancing in the forests of ice that made up her world, like the moon given a human form. As untouchable as Ryujin Jakka, as mysterious as Zangetsu. Another legend he couldn't hope to match.They hadn't really gotten off to a good start, and yes that was all his fault. He had jumped in, breaking off her dance, challenging her to a fight. Zabimaru had forgotten to even give her his name, so overpowering was his rage. All he wanted was to pull her down from her pedestal, grind her into the dirt like the rest of them.The fact he had won the fight was what broke through to him. Instead of laughing, then destroying the monkey, he'd managed to catch her off guard enough that he got the first blow in, which knocked her flat. Okay, maybe he didn't really win the fight, because she got back up and half-froze him to death a second later, but that was only because he had been so startled that he had gotten a blow in, that he was momentarily paralyzed by shock. Then she flounced off and pretended that nothing had ever happened.It went that way for quite a while. He never did get the drop on her again, but on the other hand she never crushed him the way all the others had. And when they actually started talking to each other, he found she was pretty personable too. A little arrogant, a little naive, very formal, but nice at the same time. Sode no Shirayuki loved hearing stories about his travels and for once, Zabimaru had found someone who actually looked forward to seeing him. So it was no surprise that they became friends.It wasn't a legendary friendship, not like the one between Katen Kyokotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari, which went back to when Soul Society was first formed, or Hyouinmaru and Haineko, which went back even further. It wasn't that it was just the two of them either, there was Nejibana and Hozukimaru and Tobiume. Yet at the same time, he had always felt there was something there; that she would always wait for him and he would always return to her.Until one day she wasn't there.It wasn't that she hadn't gone off before, visiting Nejibana or Hyouinmaru in their own realms. It wasn't until Haineko had told him that she had left the ice fields, actually out of her comfort zone to visit Senbonzakura that he began to feel uneasy. Sode no Shirayuki was the darling of the ice-based zanpakuto and almost never left, almost never was allowed to leave without some escort, either himself or Haineko. The fact that she was taking the time to regularly visit another zanpakuto . . .It didn't help that it was Senbonzakura. He had met the boar during his wild period, and been thoroughly trounced. Not that Senbonzakura had been the only one that Zabimaru had aggravated, but he had been the only one to hold a grudge. The boar had no sense of humor at all. So the monkey wasn't sure why he was worried; as nice as she was, he doubted Sode no Shirayuki had enough patience to become friends with the pig.But as he watched them, Sode no Shirayuki combing out her long black hair, while Senbonzakura brought her strange flowers and rocks to examine, he felt a twinge run down his spine, up through the snake that was his tail. And when she laughed and brushed a kiss on that rough head, the ember in his heart flared to life again.He knew he was watching the beginning of something legendary.