Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Seer ❯ She Who Wants More ( Chapter 1 )

I stared down at my zanpakuto where it lay across the table. Over the bowl of rice I was eating, the bared blade looked like any other zanpakuto except for hand guard. Crafted like a piece of artwork, the hand guard wove intricately like delicate vines, leaving a few strands of metal to loop over the hilt and attach at the end. She really was a beautiful sword, but she was such a stubborn little… ugh.

It had been almost five years since I first started talking to my zanpakuto and ten years since I had been able to see her manifestation. Five whole years and my stubborn little zanpakuto hadn't ever told me her name. Every morning I would ask her what her name was. It used to be that she would just look at me in silence, but lately I was getting just the strangest answers. She Who Waits; She Who Listens; She Who Wanders and more. It was really frustrating. The first time she had given me that answer, I had thought it really was her name. I had been so excited and had bounced around all day until the next morning when I asked again and her response was She Who Assumes.

I hadn't asked my zanpakuto what her name was today. It was still morning, I had time before I was due in the West Rukon district for the day's duties. I still had a lot to do though before I went through the city. Perhaps calling out to her would be better done now rather than later… I let out a sigh.

"Zanpakuto, what is your name?"

Like she had been standing there the whole time, my zanpakuto's manifestation was just there, blocking out the light from the open doorway. Today, her kimono was lacking its usual decor. No beads, no golden charms in her hair, and a distinct lack of refinement loomed around her. Normally, she was elegant, like a princess of the noble houses. The mask that she always wore covered her entire face. Today, it was grey with blackened edges, plain and solid without any way to see through. Sometimes, I could see my zanpakuto's teal eyes, but on days like today, there was nothing to see but mask.

"She Who Wants More." The voice that emanated from my zanpakuto was slow and ominous. I always compared it to the way I imagined a siren would talk to sailors in the Greek legends—deep, alluring, and perfectly pronounced.

"When am I going to get your real name?"

She tilted her head to the side. I could just imagine the chiding smile under her mask. "She who wants so much more."

I wanted to bash my head against something hard.

A short while later, I had cleaned up my breakfast and exited the barracks building. Normally, I would have just flash stepped to where I was going, but I had left early this morning. My zanpakuto's words were almost always aggravating. Walking through the mostly empty corridors gave me a chance to vent my frustrations, of which there were plenty lately thanks to her stupid names. Sometimes, I was so busy worrying about her names that it made doing my work a chore.

Normally, I was assigned to the repair and maintenance of the Seireitei, but when nothing needed to be fixed, I was assigned to scouting the Rukon districts for individuals gifted with academy-worthy spiritual pressure or sent to the World of the Living to perform Konso. I had a peaceful life for a soul reaper, not something that most people outside of Squad 4 could boast. I wasn't a combat oriented soul reaper, but someone who sat behind the scenes. This suited me just fine though. I'd much rather sit and do my Lieutenant's late paperwork than go confront a hollow.

My zanpakuto's abilities acted much like a telekinetic's would, but I could only manipulate reishi so I was rather useless in the World of the Living. It was great here in the Soul Society though, so most of my jobs revolved around it.

"There you are, Ria!" a cheery and feminine voice called out from behind me.

Turning, I spotted my Lieutenant running towards me, waving an arm enthusiastically.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Rangiku," I greeted her with a small bow of my head.

"I am so glad I caught you before you left the Seireitei!" Rangiku exclaimed as she stopped before me. As usual, Rangiku radiated beauty. Her golden blonde waves glimmered in the sun, her blue eyes big and friendly. Her outfit hadn't changed either, looking like it was a few sizes too small for the size of her chest and exposing much of her feminine gifts. I couldn't help but feel like a shadow in her radiating presence. The only things differentiating me from an average soul reaper were my longer sleeves and the hummingbird kanzashi I wore in my chignon. Even my silky black hair and vibrant chocolate eyes were dull in her presence.

"Did you need something, Lieutenant?" I asked as Rangiku affectionately grabbed my upper arm.

"I am so glad you asked," She said as she spun me around and began leading me back towards the barracks. "You see, last night we had a little too much fun drinking and broke a few things. I was hoping that you could fix them for us?"

I let out a small laugh, understanding all too well how her drinking spells tended to turn out. I didn't even need to ask who she had been drinking with, because whenever something was 'damaged' during a drinking spell, it was always with someone from Squad 11, probably Lieutenant Madarame.

"So, is this an order or a favor? I'm expected in the Rukon District—"

"It's an order!" Rangiku quickly interrupted. "Toshiro yelled at me this morning. Told me to fix it, and I figured you were the fastest option!"

"Well, thank you for thinking of me." I tried not to grumble. These sorts of little tasks always seemed to pop up when there were no disasters to recover from. I didn't really mind though. I may have been 3rd seat in Squad 10, but most of the time, I minded my own business. Being brought in to help the Squad secretly made me happy, even if I tried to act like it was a bother.

"Speaking of you," Rangiku cooed. "What is your zanpakuto's name today?"

Oh yes, Rangiku knew about my zanpakuto's little name issue. So did all of the other seat holders in the squad...

"She Who Wants More," I grumbled. "Then she proceeded to mock me! I swear she thinks it's funny that she won't tell me. Instead, she says these things that are just down right predictive!"

"How so?"

"Yesterday, it was She Who Seeks, and I spent all day looking for my kanzashi after some kid in the Rukon District stole it," I complained, exaggerating the details with my hands. "Then the day before that, it was She Who Hungers and I spent all day craving Sushi. It's horrible! I can't tell if her words are predictions, or if she makes me think things so they happen!"

Rangiku laughed hysterically, dragging my arm down as she doubled over. I let out of huff.

"At least," Rangiku said between laughs, "your zanpakuto isn't as lazy and full of herself like my Haineko."

Rangiku and I laughed and joked all the way to the Squad 10 headquarters. I had always liked Rangiku. She was what I could imagine an older sister would be like. Well, an older sister who enjoyed exposing herself and flaunting her drinking passions. She was easy to talk to, easy to get along with and almost always in good spirits. She had looked out for me ever since I transferred into Squad 10. Maybe it was because I was the only other female officer in the squad, or because we got along so well from the start.

"Ah, here we are!" Rangiku cheered as we rounded a corner.

I stopped upon seeing what she expected me to 'fix'. Compared to the disasters that had befallen the Seireitei in the past, it wasn't horrible, but for a drinking game gone awry, it was terrible. The entire side of the Captain's office was crumbled on the ground, most of the furniture broken in one way or another and bottles littered the floor.

"You were drinking... in the Captain's office?"

"Well, you know how it is. Ikkaku and Yumichika came over looking for the Captain and one thing lead to another." Rangiku shrugged.

"And they got into a pissing contest," I said dully.

"You got it," she said with a large smile. "So, you can fix this right?"

"Yeah, but it's going to take me a while. The building is easy, but fixing the furniture and other items will take time."

Rangiku clapped me on the back hard enough to make me cough. "Great! The Captain is going to be back in an hour so I trust you'll have it done!" With that, Rangiku vanished with a flash step. I hung my head in defeat. She'd ditched me so she didn't have to be around to explain why this stuff wasn't fixed by the time the Captain returned. I should have expected it.

Letting out a sigh, I sat on the ground and drew my zanpakuto from its sheath. Drawing her across my lap, I swiped my palm down the blade, coating the metal with crimson. She hummed in my hands, the hilt and blade becoming warm to the touch as she absorbed the blood. This was how I got my blade to work with me despite not knowing her name. I made a sacrifice to her, and she allowed me to use her shikai state.

"Okurimono no Kontorōru," I whispered. Power flooded through me, coursing around me in banners of light. I focused those banners, turning them toward the rubble on the ground. I needed the extra might of my first movements to put the walls back in place. I was used to fixing buildings. They seemed to break around here like wooden practice swords.

The rubble on the ground lifted and began piecing itself back together. The bonds that held the mortar together were easy to re-establish. They were stiff and unforgiving, so loosening them up just a little was enough to rejoin them. A little reishi here, a little reishi there, and even the plaster that covered the brick was easy to mend.

It couldn't have been more than twenty minutes before I had the wall repaired and looking untouched. The strain of using my shikai had worn on me during that time, forcing me to release it to regain my strength. I took that time to move into the still-destroyed office. The only things that remained undamaged were the Captain's desk and the bookshelves. I silently thanked my lucky stars that I didn't have to try and reassemble all those books. The last time I had tried figuring out a book, the pages had been all mixed up.

Letting out a sigh, I found a spot devoid of debris and took a seat. Rubbing my eyes, I leaned against the wall at my back. Feeling liquid slide down my face startled me and I looked at my hand. I had forgotten to bind the wound on my hand after sacrificing to my zanpakuto. Even still, blood oozed from the wound across my palm. I looked back toward the door and groaned as I saw the trail of blood I had left behind. I would have to clean that up before I was done.

Shaking my head, I drew my zanpakuto and ran my palm across the back of the blade. No need to cut myself again if I was still bleeding like this. My first cut must have been a lot deeper than I intended. Giving my zanpakuto a moment to soak up my blood, I used a cloth I had stashed in my sleeve to wrap my hand. It would stop bleeding eventually and I would make a trip to the infirmary once I was done here.

"Okurimono no Kontorōru," I whispered once more. It literally meant 'Gift of Control' and made me wonder what my Bankai would look like.

Sighing I turned my attention to the mauled couches. They would be easier than the coffee table. Wood was such a pain in the ass to repair. Most people would think otherwise, but if the grain wasn't aligned just right, the thing would just fall apart as soon as any pressure was applied. It was really frustrating and tedious work.

I closed my eyes and began focusing on reparations. The cushions were first, re-weaving the fabric and mending the broken threads with a touch of reishi. They didn't need much. Moving onto the wooden base, I lost myself in weaving the grain back together. I made several mistakes during the process that I had to tear apart and redo. Just finishing the first couch took me nearly twenty minutes. When I was done, I seamlessly moved onto the next couch, never opening my eyes to discourage myself from finishing. It was tiring work; with every repaired break, I wanted more and more to drop my shikai and take a break. But, I had a time limit to meet. I forced myself to finish the second couch before I let myself give in and dropped my shikai.

I fell back against the wall feeling drained. If only my stubborn zanpakuto would tell me her name, I thought, this would be easy instead of exhausting. Maybe I should come back tomorrow and finish the table. Rangiku would understand, right? And maybe Captain Hitsu—

"You spent too much energy," a distinct voice said. I jumped and looked around wildly before my eyes settled on the figure at the desk.

"C-Captain," I stumbled over the word. "I didn't realize you were here."

"I've been here for a half hour or so," he said as he skimmed over a small stack of papers in front of him.

"I—I'm sorry for taking so long. Lieutenant Rangiku told me you would be back in an hour—" My rambling cut off when he looked at me. Those aquamarine eyes were no longer set in the body of a child.

It had been over forty years since he had taken over the position of captain, and those eyes of his fit his striking features. He was nearly six foot tall and built with lean muscle. His face wasn't so much chiseled with angles as it was sculpted with high cheekbones and a sharp jaw line. His famously white hair was cut a little long, his bangs falling just over his eye as they swooped off to the side. Even with the same old Captain's haori and his greenish blue scarf and sash, he still looked every bit the man that he was. Everything about his personality finally fit the body. It was kind of humorous to think about actually. Since I had been in the squad, he had always looked like he did now, but I had seen old photos from the Captain Photo Collections that Rangiku had stashed in her office. The difference between then and now was simply striking.

"When I told Rangiku to clean up her mess, I didn't intend for her to con you into it, Yamamoto."

"It's alright. I don't mind," I defended. "Wood is just the hardest thing to get right. All those grain patterns are hard to fix with reishi. If it had just been the building, you wouldn't have seen me here."

"Take the rest of the day off," He said casually.

"Captain?" I couldn't help but to question him. "I'm fine, I can return to duty—"

"Can you even get up?"

Touché.

"I didn't think so," he said as he glanced back at his papers.

I let out a sigh. "I'll get up when I don't feel like I might fall over, sir."

I sheathed my zanpakuto and made a point to not look at my captain again.

I wasn't exactly weak for a 3rd seat officer, but I wasn't anywhere near Rangiku's level, let alone Captain Hitsugaya. Learning your zanpakuto's name was one of the first steps in power for a Soul Reaper. Without it, most people couldn't do anything but swing a sword around. It was a blessing and a curse that I could perform shikai, but more frustrating than anything. There were a lot of other people in the squad who could perform a perfectly good shikai, so why I managed to hold the 3rd seat was baffling.

"Ria, I hope you're done in there!" Rangiku called from somewhere outside. "The Captain's meeting just got out, so Toshiro will be back soon."

The door to the office slid open and Rangiku started through the door way. She froze in place at seeing our captain at his desk. "Oh." She quickly threw on a big smile and cheered, "Hi Captain!"

"Rangiku," Captain Hitsugaya growled, his voice mirroring his dark expression. "Care to explain why you made Yamamoto clean up after your mess? That is a total misuse of your rank!"

"But Captain," Rangiku whined. "You told me to have everything fixed by the time you got back. Ria was the only one who could do that!"

"I told you to have your mess cleaned up, not fixed!" His voice hiked up a few decibels. "Why don't you ever listen to what I say?"

"I listen! But you can't expect me to have moved all that rubble on my own! It wasn't my fault!"

I had to cough to hide my laugh at their bickering. Trying my best to ignore the rest of their dispute, I used my zanpakuto to help me stand. I managed to hobble all the way to the door before I was noticed.

"Yamamoto, you should rest a while longer."

"I'm fine. I'm just," I paused to take a breath, "going back to my room."

Without waiting for a response, I headed into the hallway. So long as I didn't lose my balance, or let my legs shake any worse than they were, I'd be just fine. Ha…

I ended up having to stop halfway back to my room. I felt like I was going to pass out if I walked any further. I'd passed by a small gathering area on the way and occupied a bench in the corner. If I just took a nap, I'd feel better in thirty minutes or so. Most people were off fulfilling their duties by now anyway, and lunch wasn't for several hours. It wasn't like I really had anything to worry about inside the Seireitei anyway. Lying down on the bench, I passed out before I could even get comfortable.

I had only intended to take a nap. Really, even my dreams were short. Dreams of wind and softness like no fabric I had ever felt. It had been a fantastic sensation. However, despite how short it was, I found myself waking to a darkened sky. The wood of the bench was warm against my cheek and my body was stiff. I slowly sat up, my body crying out with the aches from the awkward position that I had assumed. As I moved, I felt a heavy fabric sliding down my body to rest on the bench and I quickly realized that it was one of my quilts from my room.

"Good morning," Lieutenant Rangiku's voice said, startling me as my head whipped around to see her sitting on the bench that was backed up to the one I had been lying on. She was turned around, her arms rested on the backs of the benches as she smiled at me.

"Is it that early?" I asked groggily.

"No, it's actually dusk," she said.

I held in a groan as I rubbed my face. I had slept all day... I hadn't meant to do that. "Have you been here the whole time?"

"No," she answered as she stood and started walking around the benches. "I just brought something to cover you. There's a chill in the air tonight."

"Thank you," I mumbled. I reached for the quilt and started folding it in my lap. It was one of the first quilts I had made several years ago, and its age, as well as my burgeoning talent at the time, showed in several ripped seams and worn patterns. I had nicer ones back at the manor, but this one was my favorite and normally sat at the foot of my futon.

"Let's get you back to your room," she said. My attention pulled away from my quilt when she knelt in front of me, her back facing towards me.

"What?" I asked dumbly.

She looked over her shoulder at me as she said, "Your hands are shaking just folding that blanket. Do you really think you can make it up four flights of stairs like that?"

I blinked down at the quilt in my hands as I finished folding it and let out a sigh. I was shaking. I hadn't even noticed. I flicked my gaze back to Rangiku for a moment before swallowing any pride the actions I was about to take would disagree with it. I draped the quilt over my shoulder and stood just enough to wrap my arms over her shoulders. With one swift movement, she lifted me, her arms sliding around my knees to carry me piggyback. She turned and started down the path to the dorms, carrying me like I weighed nothing. My chin rested on her shoulder and my eyes drooped as I focused on rhythm of her steps.

She had me up to my room on the fourth floor before I could begin to wonder how long it would take. I hadn't even noticed her take the stairs, which made me wonder if she had flash stepped so smoothly that I hadn't felt it or if I had dozed off. Either way, she left me at the door to my room with warm wishes and directions to be in her office in the morning.

Once in my room, I didn't even bother to get changed into a yukata. I dropped my zanpakuto on the futon before I fell down beside her, relishing in the softness of my comforter.