Noble Love - Bleach (Kuchiki Byakuya x Oc x A bit of Various)

五十九

It had been three days since Renji passed the test given by Oetsu, and a few more for Ichigo to understand his roots. Both Shinigami had their Zanpakutou forged. But the only person left was Asa. While Oetsu was sitting on the ground, the portal opened in front of him, and out came Mera and Asa. "Took ya long enough, Yamamoto-chan." he said jokingly before giving her a small smile when he took note of her tear-stained face. "I guess ya found out the truth."

Asa smiled back at him and wiped away the tears with the back of her hand. "Yes." she meekly replied.

"Good." he said. "Ready to choose your Asauchi?" When she nodded as a reply, he walked towards the doorway and stepped aside, letting her enter the room Ichigo and Renji had previously been in with the Asauchi. She looked around the kneeling Asauchi until her gaze caught hold of one of them. She walked towards it and held her hand out, letting an Asauchi place its hand on hers. The Asauchi soon took on a form of a humanoid with shaggy ivory hair, sharp eyes with black sclera and red irises. A smile was plastered on Oetsu's face. "Nice. Come here. I'll forge it for ya, personally."

He and Asa then slid down a water pipe along with the latter's Asauchi, until they arrived at the bottom the cliff. "Look, yo!" Asa looked around and realised that the water pipe had taken them to an enclosed cavern structure at the base of the cliff, surrounded on all sides by the tides. "This is the reason the Hououden is on top of a cliff, sa! If we don't have all this water, we can't forge your Zanpakutou. And also, prepare yourself, Yamamoto-chan. Because here, you will have to say goodbye to your Zanpakutou Kage Odoriko." A cold sweat dripped down Asa's temple as she swallowed a lump, bracing herself to part from her Zanpakutou. But after hearing her brother's story, she knew that it was necessary.

"E-VE-RY-ONE!" he called all of a sudden. "It's starting, yo!" With his hands doing the signs of the horns, he crossed his arms and shouted, "Welcome to My Show!"

At that moment, Asa felt the presence of five people appearing from above. "HI~~~~~~" shouted one of them. Stunned, Asa turned around to see who they were, only to see four girls each giving Oetsu a punch until the same girl who shouted earlier stomped her foot on his back. "Nimaiya Bodyguards have arrived!" Both Asa and her Asauchi stared, with the former speechless.

"What are you spacing out for, huh?" asked Oetsu. "When I mean everyone, you're included too, yo. "Asauchi"." It then disintegrated into a form of energy, which prompted his helps to begin the preparation for him to forge Asa's sword. He tied his hair up and took off his glasses. "Alright. Isn't it about to begin, no?" Asa stood at the back, watching him forge her Zanpakutou with a large hammer created by one of his helpers. "Did you figure it out, Asa-chan?" The said woman looked at him, confused by his sudden question. "The reason why it looked like Tamako instead of Kage Odoriko."

"No." was her reply after pondering for a while.

"Did you not think that this might be your real Zanpakutou instead of Kage Odoriko?" questioned Oetsu. "That Kage Odoriko is actually the extension of your Zanpakutou, after all? Do you get what I mean? Kage Odoriko is merely a manifestation of your brother, Kazuo, whose will was to protect you. That will eventually found your Asauchi and fused with it, thus becoming your Zanpakutou. Kage Odoriko wanted to borrow your Zanpakutou's power so it split into two; one was for Kage Odoriko and the remaining left was named Tamako."

"Wait." interjected Asa suspiciously. "So that means..."

"Yup." confirmed Oetsu, who seemed to know what she was thinking. "You should know it yourself. Neither Kage Odoriko nor Tamako are your real Zanpakutou. They're both fragments of your Zanpakutou. You real Zanpakutou is..."

At that moment, Asa found herself in her inner world where it returned to the bright, lively woods when she first entered. But what was most important was that she was standing in front of the spirit of her true Zanpakutou. His appearance was a mix of both Kage Odoriko and Tamako; he had pale green eyes with dark circles around them, and spiky black hair with the front hanging over his face as bangs, a part of it was ivory. His attire consisted of a dark green tailcoat, a white shirt underneath, a striped ribbon tied in a bow around his neck, and a small, matching top hat decorated with a black ribbon and a green gem. He wore black pants, white gloves, and knee-high black boots.