Tomoe's Second Release (A short story, not an RP)

[Yukishiro]

The air in Las Noches, as usual, is motionless and stale. The single toned smell of white sand pushes its way into every nook and cranny. But in the distance, a pressure begins to rise above the other, calmer bodies of this land. It is the power of Yukishiro Tomoe, sitting atop the domed roof of her tower. Her eyes are closed, and her face as calm as the sands below- the only thing that stirs is her hair as reiatsu churns about her being in inconsistent waves. Plunged into the rooftop is the blade of her spear. It protrudes from the white rock into the air, and holds her back erect while the hole it creates doesn't leave so much as a crack beyond what it needs to stand.

Inside the tower sleeps her subordinates. Sheri, the calm and kind-hearted fraccion and sister to Tomoe, sleeps upon the cot given to her with her position. Kazahu, a young Arrancar and son to Tomoe, sleeps in his mother's bed, snuggling beside a sleeping hollow-lizard. On a cushion beside the Espada's bed lies Takuya, the inu-arrancar of the group. Lastly is Kaname, Yuki's first fraccion, asleep on a small cot in as little clothing as possible. Not one of them stirs even though an immense amount of power was swirling just above their heads.

Slowly the rooftop begins to break apart, the spear glowing red hot just as it would if Yuki had been hurt. In fact, her eyelids were shut tighter now, eyes beneath rapidly jerking from side to side. In her mind, there was a great battle taking place. A battle that would decide her future as an Espada.

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Yukishiro Tomoe, is not like other Arrancar. She does not recall being created by the Hogyoku, nor does she recall being more than a lowly hollow; or rather multiple lowly hollow. Instead her mind goes blank shortly after escaping Earth as the Ghost Hollow - Yuki Sakura.

She had awoken in the Menos Forest, changed from whatever form she had taken before, to a young woman again. Her dominant mind cheered with joy as she looked upon her body, as it had been returned to her after so many eons. But, something was wrong. Her right eye was shrouded by a large piece of bone, her skin was littered with the ink of an expert tattooist's drawings, and in the center of her belly as a giant hole that engulfed her navel.

Tears burst from her eyes. Although she no longer held the hideous form of a hollow, her body was now terribly altered by the fate of an Arrancar. Around her Menos begin to gather, sensing a rise in reiatsu.

"You beasts! Monsters of the abyss! I do not belong here! I am Yukishiro Tomoe, a goddess in my time and a lady!" she screams as they crowd around her with hunger. Tears roll from her eyes as she begins to thrash about, tearing the flesh from the nearest Menos Grande and devouring it in her hatred. Through the blood and flesh she screams, still tearing at the growing mass of bodies around her.

"DIE!" shouts the Arrancar, releasing a massive cero from the depths of every pore, and eradicating everything nearby.

As the red mist clears, Yuki is on the ground, drained of her energy. In her hand however is a spear, forged of the same bone that adorns her right eye. Etched into it's handle is the name Sakura, and it would be hers for all time.

From the forest emerges another pair of Arrancar, dressed in the finest of white cloth. They have come from Las Noches by order of the Granada Krysten, to gather the source of such power. As they come upon the naked body of Yukishiro, they know they have found their prize. So without hesitation, they collect Tomoe, Sakura, and the lone Zanpakuto lying beside her dubbed Mu-Go-Ki.

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These early days seemed like a dream to her now. Appearing before the Granada in a bed sheet provided by one of the Arrancar, being dubbed Fraccion to the Espada Noamuth del Sin, even the day she fought for placement of Espada and unleashed the power of her adopted sword Mu-Go-Ki, and destroyed the rooftop of Las Noches' main tower. They made her who she was today, the Trecera Espada in Granado Sharm's great legion. She was head of the military, master of reiatsu, and a queen of pain among her friends and foes. She was respected, feared, and best of all admired; no longer the deformed Arrancar she had felt she was in the forest that first night.

In her mind though, she still fights with the memories of such dreadful days. As Espada drop left and right - being killed or disappearing into the desert of Hueco Mundo - Yuki can't help but dwell on their memories. And because her emotions run so high, she is vulnerable... weak to the will of that Shinigami Zanpakuto, Mu-Go-Ki. And this morning, she fights; battling for control of such a powerful sword.

"I... Can not lose... Not to you!" she groans through gritted teeth. The outside world is but an after thought to her now.

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Her mind was a towering inferno. Unlike most minds with a solid ground to stand upon and a reflection of themselves to see, Tomoe's mind was only a land of flames. In the center of this inferno, protected by an unseen barrier, stands Tomoe spear drawn and blood dripping from her scalp and arms. Set across from her is her opponent, a man hidden in a black hood, holding the blade she once wore on her hip.

"You are not my master, yet you wield me as though you were. You do not deserve me, yet I grant you power. You cannot defeat me, and so I will destroy you." the man says, raising his blade to the sky as the red flames dance in its reflection.

"No, I will never be destroyed by you! I am Yukishiro Tomoe, and I *AM* your master!" Yuki shouts in reply firing a cero at the man in no time at all.

"Then prove to me you are worthy!"

The report of two massive ceros colliding echos through her mind as both warriors clash. Blade on blade, hilt to hilt, both fight without remorse or care for their lives. However, this mysterious man would never give up his defense.

"Mu-Ki, I killed you once before and I can do it again! Why do you bother with this battle?!"

"Because you use treachery to defeat your foes! Rather than battle you toy with their thoughts and what they protect with all their might. Because of this you can never deserve me." And they continue to clash. Yuki takes blows to the arms and legs, bleeding but still smiling and fighting on. In her mind however she knows she cannot win, in here his power is greater than her split consciousness. "I will finish this now! Ban-Kai!" Mu-Ki bellows, drawing out his true form.

He holds the massive blade before him, an eight barreled machine gun aimed directly for Tomoe's chest. And before she could even hear his words, he fired.

Outside in the "real" world Yuki shutters, blood dripping from the corners of her lips. The pressure of her reiatsu begins to fade and the rocks floating about her fall to what it left of the rooftop. But then, she speaks: "Weep, Sakura." Suddenly her spear bursts into pieces forming her release state in both the world and her dreaming mind. Her burning kimono, a glimmering sign of beauty and her mask of utter power. Mu-Ki smiles beneath his shadowed face, a hint of his green hair poking past the reaches of his concealment. The fires in this tower begin to dance and sway, forming to the shape of Yuki's slender body, drawing in close to give her maximum power.

"Good, but will it be enough?" Mu inquires.

"Far more than I will ever need." she replies throwing up her arms with the report of two powerful ceros. Flames criss-cross the beams, engulfing them in a fiery power. Before Mu knew it, they were upon him.

The explosion replies with a massive "Boom" that shakes even Yuki; though this does not make her drop her guard. Within the smoke she can feel the power of this Zanpakuto still beating. And her prudence served her well, for within the same moment numerous reiatsu blasts come rocketing from behind the smoke. Mu steps out laughing wildly as Yuki jumps and rolls, attempting to dodge every shot, but of course this was futile. Bits of her clothing and flesh began to tear away with each slip up... and each mistake slowed her down considerably. In no time, she was forced to retreat into a ball of fire.

"Damn it! In this form I have no weapon, no blade to defend. I've become far to dependent on Mu's presence for my own good." she mutters, tending to her wounds with the remaining reshi she had within her. "Fine then, if he wants a test of reiatsu, that is what he will get. Forget this dreaded game of cat and mouse, Yukishiro doesn't flinch from pain, she beats through it and shatters her enemy with her bloodied remains!"

The flaming barrier bursts, revealing a furious Tomoe, firing an endless volley of bala to match Mu-Ki's instant report of reiatsu bullets. Shot for shot, the two masters of energy match one another, each round hitting another and canceling out. Tomoe steps forward, the skirt of her kimono disintegrating from the flames, eating away at all the reshi around to form more bala at her fingertips. Beneath the explosions she is screaming at Mu, terrible curses and groans of effort or perhaps even pain. "I am a monster, my memory serves to prove this! There is nothing I can do about that now, but I will never submit to death simply because I am not worthy of life to someone's eyes. Yukishiro Tomoe, Trecera Espada shall never fall alone!"

At last she breaks the endless cycle and sonidos directly before her foe, clothes in tatters and cero in hand. With her free arm Tomoe grabs Mu by the back of the neck and draws him close pressing her face to his neck; digging her teeth into his flesh and drawing out his energy. Within a moment the cero she had charged became unstable, growing into a Gran Rey- ready to burst from being so compact. And with no hesitation, Yuki smiles whispering: "Mu-Go-Ki, I don't need a blade, to tamper with one's weaknesses." And so the ball of energy erupted, seemingly disintegrating both fighters.

The tower is now in shambles, Yuki's released reiatsu had torn the roof to pieces and held everything floating in the air. Her startled subordinates crawled away for cover just short of her release coming to fruition; fighting against the growing pressure that threatened to press them into the dust and into the abyss below. But now the pressure fades away, time seeming to stand still. The flames cease their dance as the rocks suspended in the air refuse to fall. Her legs bleed as her finger nails bite into the flesh of her thights, knees drawn up tightly against her chest. It would seem as though she had died, her rieatsu fading rapidly from the air.

A sparkle from within the sheath of her disobidient blade says otherwise. Within Yuki's mind, the fight seems to have only begun.

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No more is the tower of burning inferno, the power of Yuki's fire burned to its core with her last attack. But to her dismay neither of them was wasted in the destruction. She lie panting, mask partly broken almost as if returned to normal as she stared up into the dark void above. Beneath her was solid ground. They had tumbled to the depths of her soul and had landed upon the foundation that formed the persona of "Yukishiro Tomoe" from before the fall of the Edo period.

Painted on its surface is a gruesome scene of a beautiful women split open at the waist by her own blade. Her silken kimono is drenched in her blood, as she is surrounded by the fires of her own hatred. This is the true Tomoe of years long passed. But this Yuki pays it no mind as she struggles to her feet.

Opposite to her on the circular palette of land is Mu, coat dissolved down to a broken cape and a simple samurai's hikori pants. He bares a striking resemblance to a man she knew, but could not place within her memory. All she could think of now, is that she must kill him now... less he try to destroy her again. Tomoe jumps to her feet and draws forward a bala before he suddenly shunpos beside her with a hand wrapped around her skull. Mu forces her head forward and into the ground, pressing her forehead into the tile, matching forehead to forehead on the picture.

"You are the mistress Yukishiro Tomoe, of the famed Toa Shu clan are you not?" he forces through gritted teeth as Yuki struggles against his grip. Failing she replies in the same grunting manner as he.

"I am many souls, sharing the name of this woman is only a coincidence." But of course, this was a lie.

"Bull shit! You share her memories, her pain, and her honor. You fight until you cannot fight any longer. Then you take your own life to spare yourself the disgrace of failure. You are not a tortured soul, you are but a cowardly bitch!"

"No! No, no, no! I am not this disgraced woman. Not any more! I am an Arrancar and an Espada, the most powerful of the souls that roam these worlds!" She continues to fight against his grip, slowly pushing back as her reiatsu begins to escalate again.

"You are not powerful, you are but a beast with a blade. A blade that doesn't even belong to you! You deserve death and nothing more!" He threatens beating her back down with the hilt of his massive blade. "You are nothing, Yukishiro Tomoe. Nothing but a begotten soul with no honor to keep it sane. Nothing but a lowly bitch, forgotten, defeated, and taken as the whore that she always was."

Tears begin to stream from her face, but not tears of the salted water that humans cry, but instead a thick bloody tear that only a broken soul could produce. His words had broken the last straw, the fury in Tomoe's heart burning stronger than ever before.

"I am not weak..." she groans through her tears, pressing her fist into the ground cratering the tiles beneath it. "Nor am I lowly or forgotten..." she continues pushing against his grip as hard as she could. She breaks through the ground holding herself up with a pair of bala that engulf the emptiness below. "And never, ever, are you to call ME a WHORE, YOU BASTARD SON OF A SHINIGAMI!"

Her shouts fill the air as the pressure of her reiatsu breaks Mu's concentration and allows her to push out from under his grip, sonidoing before him and thrusting him back onto the ground. She wraps her thighs about his midsection and throws punch after punch at his chest. Explosion after explosion reports from her fists as bala form without consent and the impact breaking the chest cavity of the Zanpakuto. Though she continues to push on with nothing to hold her back. Her fists break through the skin, and then the bone; throwing blood everywhere. It streams down her face, soaks the cloth that covers only the essentials of her body. It outlines the tattoos that adorn her, fill the wounds that still protrude from her skin, and light the fire deeper in Tomoe's eyes.

Even when she breaks through to the tile beneath him she continues to pound, finding no end to his body. When she was finally sure she had broken him nearly in two she became blood thirsty for his soul.

"Not worthy of you am I?" she screams in his dying face. "We will see, whom is the more worthy!"

Without hesitation she sinks her teeth into his neck, pulling free flesh and soul. And in her anger she devoured him, her mask crumbling to dust in his remains as he screamed out in horror. Her reiatsu fades completely as this beast of nearly full hollow power engulfs her consciousness. She was Yukishiro no more at this point, now left to the will of Sakura, the blade forged of the same bone that adorned her right eye.

With no flesh left to consume, Sakura-Yuki let out a powerful and inhuman roar that shook the invisible boundaries of her soul. And with this she fainted... drained of all her energy.

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In Las Noches the Exequias, the Primero Espada Naomi, Cero Espada Leona, and several of the other ranked Arrancar had gathered to watch as Yuki fought within the limits of her mind. They laid witness to the release of her full energy as it broke down the entire tower to its fundamental elements and then absorbed it into her being. They bore witness as her body writhed with the pains of her final transformation, and the sudden disappearance of any sign of life from within her body. And just as time seemed to stand still, a crowd of Arrancar watched as Yuki tore her blade to pieces as though it were made of hard candy, and devour it.

Mu-Go-Ki was no more, and in his place Yukishiro held a new power... Her second resurreccion: Sakura.