"Ka-cha, ka-cha, ka-cha…"
Cole shivered all over, upper teeth chattering against the lower. He felt like his whole body was about to freeze stiff. He lowered his head and looked at the girl nestled in his arms like a homebound swallow—Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeved White Snow), gentle and obedient—and stammered, "So… Sode no Shirayuki… c-can you… can you recover like this?"
As he spoke, the breath leaving his lips crystalized into ice the instant it came out.
Sode no Shirayuki nodded softly. "When I'm in my bankai, Hakka no Togame (Censure of White Haze), my temperature can plummet quickly, but the warming back up is slow. I have to rise to a certain point before I can cancel bankai."
"Then… then what about absolute zero?"
At that, Sode no Shirayuki shot him a look. "Idiot Cole. I already ended absolute zero at the seventh second. If I hadn't, you'd have been an ice sculpture by now."
Becoming Hakka no Togame, she had indeed hovered between life and death—but that state was terrifying in its own right. For four seconds, she feared almost no one. Anything she touched would be frozen in an instant, because absolute zero already sealed everything about the opponent.
Thinking of this, Sode no Shirayuki lifted her eyes to Cole and murmured, "Why did you come save me? Is it because I'm Rukia's zanpakuto, and without me she can't use bankai anymore?"
Cole raised a hand and flicked a finger against her forehead. "You're the idiot. I saved you to save you. You may be a zanpakuto, but to me you're also a person."
Zanpakuto in this world… Cole never truly understood what they were. A blade, yes, and yet with its own will. In a sense, they were living beings.
Take Ichigo's inner Hollow—clearly part of Ichigo's zanpakuto, yet always bullying and trampling him like some villain… until the final moment, when he sacrificed himself to bring out Ichigo's Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō (The Final Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer), protecting Ichigo's existence with his life.
So Cole had never treated zanpakuto as "just" a blade. Once personified, they were individuals.
Hearing him, feeling the warmth in his words, Sode no Shirayuki's cheeks flushed pink. She rose on tiptoe, looped her arms around his neck, and pecked him on the lips. "Thank you, Cole."
When he didn't respond, she blinked and looked up—only to see his lips frozen into a little ice lump.
Cole rapped her lightly on the head. What a frigid kiss. Even his brain felt numb with cold.
At that moment, a voice drifted in from far away—Rukia's, soft and ghostly: "Cole, Sode no Shirayuki… what are you two doing?"
Both of them jumped. They turned toward Rukia and found her sitting sideways on a hulking back, head tilted, gazing at the lovey-dovey pair with the stare of a yandere.
Your shinigami girlfriend goes off to be treated for injuries… and comes back to find her man kissing her own sword. What then?
A shinigami girlfriend, injured and freshly healed, returns to discover her man and her zanpakuto making out—what then?
Terrible! I really want to kill someone—what then?
Cole grew a little guilty. What do you do when your girlfriend catches you cheating with her zanpakuto? Asking for a friend. Urgently.
"Let's go explain," Cole said, taking Sode no Shirayuki's small hand.
She hesitated, but in the end did not pull away, letting him lead her over.
Rukia ground her teeth. "Cole. Sode no Shirayuki. You two better have an explanation."
One was her boyfriend who had once made her wait for death. The other was her most trusted partner—who had just chased her eight hundred li to kill her. And somehow these two were tangled together.
Cole coughed, embarrassed. "Just now, Sode no Shirayuki was in absolute zero. I was helping her warm up, so I hugged her."
Rukia glared at Sode no Shirayuki. "Since when does warming up require being hugged?"
It wasn't like she hadn't tested her own bankai. After absolute zero, she could gradually warm herself and cancel it. If someone hugged you, wouldn't you just freeze them into a popsicle?
Meeting her wielder's stare, Sode no Shirayuki turned her head aside with a huff.
Rukia fumed, then swung her eyes to Cole. "Fine, hug her. But why did you let her kiss you?"
Cole's voice went sheepish. "I mean… Sode no Shirayuki and you are one and the same, right? So I… kind of… treated her as you."
Rukia had no words.
Strictly speaking, in Seireitei's doctrine, a shinigami and their zanpakuto were indeed one. The problem was, once the zanpakuto took form, continuing to treat her as the shinigami was… pretty bizarre.
Sode no Shirayuki puffed her cheeks, annoyed. "You just said I'm an independent person."
Rukia sighed and looked at her. "Sode no Shirayuki, I don't know why you're like this, but you and I are one. I want you to return to me—"
"Nope!" Sode no Shirayuki cut in. Under Rukia's gaze, she rose on tiptoe and pressed her lips to Cole's—this time on his newly-thawed mouth.
Warmth and cold entwined as their breaths mingled.
When she drew back, Sode no Shirayuki faced the dumbstruck Rukia, cheeks glowing, and hugged Cole's arm. "I refuse to be oppressed by you shinigami anymore. I am a person now—and I'm going to live with Cole."
Rukia's face went crimson. She drew her blade with a hiss. "You're my zanpakuto—how can you do such shameful things and say such shameful words? Get back in the sword… now!"
"Hmph. I told you—I'm independent. I can date Cole. Besides…" Her voice cooled as she looked at Rukia, tone turning frosty. "If Cole hadn't saved you, you'd already be an ice statue. No—shattered ice."
With her body still at minus fifty degrees in bankai, Sode no Shirayuki's reiatsu surged and pressed Rukia flat.
Rukia, livid, snapped toward Cole. "Cole, grab Sode no Shirayuki for me—"
But when she looked at him again, she blinked. Cole was almost an ice sculpture himself.
Sode no Shirayuki panicked. "Cole—how did you freeze!?"
Rukia shot her a glare. "Because you kissed him! At sixty below, anything you touch freezes!"
The two women scrambled, hauling Cole away in a fluster of limbs.
Elsewhere, the Visoreds, the people from Urahara's shop, and Ichigo (currently towering like a giant) had all witnessed everything. Their expressions turned grave.
Shinji laid a hand on his zanpakuto and said darkly, "Hey, Urahara… looks like Soul Society's in deep trouble."
The zanpakuto of shinigami had rebelled—and now had tangible bodies. They could even use their shinigami's bankai abilities. In a sense, they were shinigami by another name. Even without seeing Seireitei's current state, they could imagine how chaotic it was.
Urahara frowned. "Indeed. For a shinigami to be hunted all the way to the World of the Living by her own zanpakuto means Seireitei has lost all order."
Kensei added, "And don't forget how Suzumebachi (Hornet) left just now—that was the Senkaimon (World Gate)."
Haguruma Gengai's voice sank. "That means the zanpakuto have organization—and may already control Seireitei."
Love scowled. "With something this big, there's no way the Head Captain wouldn't act. If things are still this chaotic…"
Rose said coolly, "Then only one possibility: the Head Captain's zanpakuto has rebelled and taken form as well."
At that, the shinigami present felt a suffocating weight.
Heaven help them. The Head Captain's zanpakuto… betraying. That was a disaster without equal.
Judging by Sode no Shirayuki's combat power, a zanpakuto's strength was nearly equal to Rukia's peak. As for Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni at his peak…
They didn't dare imagine it.
Shinji forced a laugh. "Say… is it possible Seireitei is already a sea of fire?"
No one dared answer. And yet they had to admit—it was possible.
Urahara exhaled. "We don't have a choice. We know nothing about Soul Society's situation. We'll have to wait for Cole to come back and ask him."
Everyone nodded slightly. If Sode no Shirayuki could chase Rukia all the way here, she had to know what was going on.
Ichigo raised a hand, face oddly serious. "Urahara-san, Shinji… if Cole marries Sode no Shirayuki, does that count as cheating on Rukia?"
Urahara: "…"
Shinji: "…"
"…"
Two hours later, at Cole's villa.
Sode no Shirayuki sat on the sofa and spoke flatly. "That's the situation. In Seireitei, you shinigami have been completely routed. Right now, we zanpakuto rule Soul Society."
Urahara and the others went stiff with shock. They'd expected it to be bad. Not this bad. With the zanpakuto rebelling together, the shinigami—caught completely off guard—had been beaten to the ground and lost Seireitei entirely.
Shinji couldn't help himself. "Even if the Old Man's out of the picture, Kyōraku and Ukitake should still be—"
"One's gravely injured. The other's frozen by Hyōrinmaru's Sennen Hyōrō (Thousand-Year Ice Prison). Right now they're like rats hiding in a sewer."
Sode no Shirayuki recited the news coolly.
"Injured!?"
"Mm. Kyōraku faced Katen Kyōkotsu (Flower-Heaven, Bone of Madness) and Sōgyo no Kotowari (Twin Fish of Ruling)—both in bankai forms—and got blown up without effort."
"And Ukitake…"
"He was entangled by a special zanpakuto that drained most of his reiatsu, then sealed by Hyōrinmaru's Sennen Hyōrō."
Hearing the details, however unbelievable, the Visoreds had to accept them.
Lisa couldn't help blurting, "But why? You zanpakuto were the partners we trusted most. Why betray us?"
Sode no Shirayuki's tone went cold. "That's just your self-righteousness. When have you ever asked what we zanpakuto wanted?"
She flicked a glance at Rukia. "Just like her—using the Tenshintai (Heavenly Sent Body) to force me to submit. Isn't that oppression?"
Rukia had no rebuttal.
Urahara frowned. "Even so, you didn't need to go this far. We could have sat down and talked—"
"Don't flatter yourselves, shinigami." The air around Sode no Shirayuki dropped in temperature again. "If Cole weren't here, I'd slaughter you filthy shinigami right now."
Silence fell.
Cole ruffled her hair and tucked her into his arms with a smile. "Thank you, Sode no Shirayuki—for being willing to talk to these filthy shinigami."
Her cheeks reddened. Rukia ground her teeth to dust. Her zanpakuto was flirting with her man while she, the wielder, could only watch?
Heavens. What an absurd situation. If this was a dream, please let her wake up.
But it wasn't a dream. Life moved on anyway.
Shinji rallied and forced a grin. "Well, at least we know the Old Man's zanpakuto hasn't been released. Otherwise we'd save ourselves the trouble and just wait here to die."
The others nodded. If the Head Captain's zanpakuto had taken form, their only hope would be to pray they got incinerated instantly—to keep the pain short.
Having pieced together the causes and the current state, Urahara tapped the table and asked solemnly, "Cole, are you planning to go to Soul Society?"
Cole raised a brow. "What, you're not coming?"
Urahara shook his head with a wry smile. "My position is… awkward. If I ran into the Old Man…"
The Visoreds wore the same wry smile.
Hiyori snorted. "With the Old Man's stubborn streak, if he saw us he'd cut first and talk never."
Cole curled his lip. "I can go. But someone has to come with me. Otherwise, no way."
Urahara leaned in. "Then who do you want to go with you, Cole?"
Cole looked at him quietly.
Urahara: "…"
(End of Chapter)
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