Bleach: Memories of an Angel

Bleach: Broken Memories

'' “Sometimes the memories are worth the pain.” ''

Something strange was happening; many of the Shinigami began to notice their Zanpakutō began to grow unresponsive. Toshiro was outside practicing his abilities with his Zanpakutō. He drew forth his sharp katana and took his stance. He focused; his reiatsu becoming immense as he did. The ground beneath him became white frosted sleet and cool gusts of wind swirled around him.

“Hyourinmaru.” He summoned. The dark blackened clouds swirled above him as the sword in his hands broke off into pieces like shattered glass. The center of the sky brightened and came forth the grand and icy dragon Hyourinmaru. He sensed something troubling the mighty dragon.

“What’s the matter?” he asked. Toshiro reached out his hand but Hyourinmaru had broken away into bits of sparkling ice and the katana was back in his hand. “What was that about?” he asked to himself. Before he could ponder any further, he heard something smash through the window behind him.

“Just come out already!” he heard Rangiku yell. He growled.

“Grrrrrr, Rangiku!”

She stabbed her sword into the wooden floor in frustration.

“Get out here Haineko!” she demanded as she speedily looked everywhere; under the table, under the furniture, out the window and above the shelves. He slid opened the door and found her in her tantrum.

“Rangiku!” he yelled. She winced instantly. “What’s the yelling about huh?” he asked.

“Don’t scare me like that; I was just having a friendly chat with my Zanpakutō.” She explained.

“That was chat?”

They were the interrupted by a knock on the door. When it was slid opened, Isane and Momo came through.

“Hello Rangiku, Shiro.” Momo greeted happily. Toshiro scowled that she didn’t address him by his formal title, though Momo paid no attention to that and handed Rangiku a sheet of paper. It was about a lieutenants’ meeting.

“R-Rangiku, what were you doing in here?” Isane asked, taking noticed at the katana that pierced the floor. She explained that she was planning on honing her skills but Haineko refused to manifest several times. Isane then told them that her Zanpakutō had suddenly become unresponsive as well. This began to concern Toshiro, now that he knew that it wasn’t only his Zanpakutō wasn’t the only one not manifesting.

He left the room and began pondering about what was happening to the soul reaper’s Zanpakutō. Was it possible that all of them had lost the connection to their Zanpakutō? As he tried to concentrate, something caught his attention. He saw a faint glimmer down the hall and it seemed to be moving. Toshiro scurried after the light and found several more miniscule lights that he soon found out were tiny shimmering silver and gold butterflies. He recognized them from before; they weren’t any ordinary butterflies, they were someone’s physical reiatsu. They fluttered around him, brushing against his face and their silver white wings sparkling in the light.

“Toshiro.” He heard a familiar girl’s voice call softly. The voice echoed through the hall and the butterflies dispersed. He quickly spun around and saw that he was alone. He then aimed at one of the silver winged butterflies and caught in his hand; lightly enough to not crush the delicate creature.

Later in the evening, every soul reaper in Seireitei began receiving beautiful yet alarming black Jigokuchō (hell butterflies). Toshiro was in his office, going through a bunch of papers with an austere expression.

“What’s eating you Captain?” Rangiku asked. Without a word Toshiro opened a little box and the silvery butterfly that he caught earlier danced around in the air. She smiled at the radiant beauty of the creature, but then her expression soon became as serious as her Captain’s.

“Wait a minute, this couldn’t be…” her words strayed off. He nodded.

“She must be nearby, there was quite a lot of them when I was walking in the halls.” He said with an impassive tone. Then, they saw something else flutter into the office. Rangiku immediately turned around.

“What’s that, is it hers?” she asked.

“That’s not her butterfly; there’s no spiritual pressure. Quickly, we have to go we’ve been summoned.”

''Meanwhile outside of Seireitei but still in the Soul Society ''

Many of the silver butterflies came back to their mistress and the gold ones returned to her soul. The silvery ones excitedly beated their wings and formed trails of sparkling glitter. She looked up from reading and grinned happily.

“Good, you’ve finally return.” She said happily. “But I could swear that I emitted at least a dozen of you, you’re short one.”

One of the butterflies approached her and flapped its wings; one beat, two beats, one beat, four beats. She nodded.

“So he caught one of them; mostly out of curiosity sake I guess.” She figured. “Is there any other news?”

In the sea of illumined sere colored butterflies was one sole black one with marooned lined wings. They dispersed and made a path for the hell butterfly.

“And what brings you here my friend?” she asked it, letting it rest on her palm. It fluttered towards the window where the top Sōkyoku Hill was visible. She shook her head. “I’m sorry but I’m not going, come back when there’s an emergency.” She denied, shooing the butterfly away.

''

''

Their black and marooned wing messengers led them to the top of Sōkyoku Hill. When Toshiro and Rangiku arrived, they saw that they weren’t alone; many other soul reapers were summoned as well. The call to gather at that hour was strange enough, but for such a large gathering was even stranger.

“Do you have any idea what’s going on?” Toshiro asked Captain Ukitake. “Why were we called here?”

“I’m not really sure; I’ve asked but it seems that no one else knew about this meeting ahead of time.” He responded. Everyone was baffled; they hoped that they would find the reason why they were requested, but it seemed that nobody had a clue. White mist began to encircle around all of them.

“Ah, this sucks!” griped Renji. “And this fog is a mess.”

When the haze around them finally ceased, they saw Lieutenant Sasakibe approach them with a distraught look.

“Lieutenant Sasakibe, what’s going on, and where is the head captain?” Kira asked. There was no answer. The lieutenant fell to the floor. They all gasped and became alarmed, some of them started running towards the lieutenant to help him.

“He’s gone under cardiac arrest.” Isane informed. As Captain Unohana and Isane began aiding Sasakibe, Toshiro and Ukitake heard someone behind them. A man, gaunt and tall, stood there in front of them, his dark hair wispy and fur lined his lengthy coat.

“I’m afraid the head captain won’t be joining us tonight.” He said impassively. The soul reapers began to feel fear swell inside them.

“And just who the hell are you?” Toshiro demanded. The man didn’t reply, not even when Captain Komamura loomed over him threateningly.

“And how do you know the head captain isn’t be coming?” he questioned. He didn’t reply. “We’re waiting; what did you do with head captain Yamamoto?”

There was still no reply from him.

“So, you refuse to answer, well in that case.” He then grabbed the hilt of his katana and drew it out. “I’ll just beat the answer out of you!” with that he swung it, but only hitting air. He evaded the blow, stretched out his hand and a strong gust of wind came, nearly knocking them off their feet. Komamura’s reiatsu glowed red as he summoned his bankai. The giant Tenken hovered above all of them.

“I demand you tell us where head captain Yamamoto is!” he shouted. The man stood there calm.

“I should warn you; your feeble attacks won’t touch me.” He advised. This made Komamura furious.

“We’ll see about that!” the manifested form of Tenken raised his sword, but instead of striking their opponent, the sharp blade landed on his master. They all became worried and a few almost panicked at the sight that a Zanpakutō had betrayed its master. Another gust of hazy wind blew and when it ceased he saw someone behind him.

“Who… are you?” Komamura asked. He soon came to realize that it was his Zanpakutō. With no warning, Tenken brought his sword down. Luckily, Komamura was able to block the strike, but then caught by his fiery whip then slashed with his blazing sword. They all stood in horror. Toshiro immediately took action and leapt into the air, katana drawn.

“Reign upon the frosted heavens; Hyourinmaru!” he shouted. Soifon drew her sword out as well to summon her shikai.

“Sting all enemies to death; Suzumebachi!” she called. Her katana glowed red, but the color soon faded. A few moments passed and Toshiro realized Hyourinmaru wasn’t responding. Fire charged at him, but he quickly dodged it.

“Shikai; it doesn’t work.” He said. Many others in the Gotei 13 tried to summon shikai, but nothing happened. The spiritual pressure in their Zanpakutō had suddenly vanished. The man before them simply explained that their Zanpakutō was no longer united with them and that he freed them. Blood escaped from his tear duct and when he wiped it off, several large fires roared up to the sky in Seireitei.

As she was sharpening her katana, she heard the fires growl in the distance. Fear swelled inside of her as she saw the immense flames. The golden yellow reiatsu from her Zanpakutō, Hana no Tenshi glowed and materialized; so did her own. Her silvery white reiatsu manifested into more than a thousand silver and gold butterflies.

“We have to check this out Hana no Tenshi, let’s go.” She said, her katana seeping back into her arm as she bolted out the door, and the butterflies swirling around her.

“What was that?” Rukia asked in slightly feared voice as she tightly gripped the hilt of her sword.

“Just what are you trying to pull?” demanded Renji.

“Oh that wasn’t me, your own Zanpakutō are responsible for this destruction. They’ve all been released from the soul reapers’ control.” He clarified, then maniacally cackling up to the sky. Then, silver butterflies began to flutter in the night sky down in Seireitei.

“Hey do you sense that?” Rukia asked Rangiku.

“Yeah, a great presence of spiritual pressure; you don’t think…”

“No that’s impossible, she went missing, how could she just possibly show up all of the sudden?” Renji said.

“We have to go and check this out.” Rangiku said.

“No, we have to stay here.” Toshiro ordered.

Back on Seireitei, many of the other soul reapers that weren’t summoned were all in a state of fear as they frantically tried to put out the blazing infernos. They spotted a hellish looking creature, who held several blades on chains, laughed; pleased by their horror. He jumped off the roof and slashed into a few of the soul reapers. He formed an evil smile.

“Too easy!” he shouted as he sliced into more soul reapers, their blood splattering onto the ground.

“Must he be so barbaric?” a few of them heard a girl’s soft voice ask. They turned around and saw a young girl with dark long hair and a long scarf that had bells on each end. “Good evening, if I were you I’d start running.” She then swung the bells around, which immediately set on fire. They quickly made a run for it.

“I apologize but I don’t have time to play with you all.” She then vanished and returned in the air, setting more of the buildings in flames. With no warning at all they heard someone shout, “Way of Destruction number 31 Shakkahō!” a ball of red energy struck the girl. They sensed a high level of spiritual energy that felt almost off the charts.

The Zanpakutō turned around and saw a young girl with dark, long, blackish blue hair and a stray antenna that moved with the wind the insects created. She looked like a soul reaper; dressed in a sleeveless and short black uniform, but they thought one like her would still be on Sōkyoku hill. Her reiatsu glowed; the translucent and radiant butterflies whirling around her.

“I’m sorry, but I was really hoping to play with you all; I didn’t come all this way for nothing.” She said with a smile and expressionless eyes. A few of the Zanpakutō winced and so did a few soul reapers, overwhelmed by just the view and feeling of her spiritual energy.

“What’re you all so scared about, she’s just another soul reaper and young one at that.” said the demonic Zanpakutō. “Taking down one like that will be no problem!” he jumped into the air and swung his chained blades wildly in the air. She quickly used flash step and avoided all the slashes, not even bothered to draw out her sword. She then appeared, right behind him.

“Way of Destruction number 4, Byakurai.” she casted; a blinding bright blue lightning impaling him and knocking him on one of the roofs. “You should never underestimate your enemies, no matter what they might look like.”

He growled in frustration and swung his blades around once more, each one only hitting air. Through the fight, the girl managed to keep a straight face.

“It’s odd that you could be Shūhei’s Zanpakutō, Kazeshini.” She said with composure. She then felt a freezing cold wind almost knocking her down. She managed to keep her footing and saw a beautiful woman that was all white.

“Enough of this, we’ve been summoned.” She said simply. With that, she and the others quickly vanished. Seeing no other reason to stay around, the young blue haired girl swiftly disappeared to back to more safer and distant part of Seireitei, also dodging the white wave of snow that the Zanpakutō had created.