Rangiku's Shikai

Retsu Unohana looked curiously at Ten Unohana and Rangiku in front of her. Both their faces were red. "What happened?" Retsu Unohana asked.

"Ahem, well, Rangiku's Zanpakuto achieved Shikai," Ten Unohana replied, changing the subject to avoid the question of why his face was red.

Otherwise, if Retsu Unohana got curious and kept asking, wouldn't he have to repeat how he had just gotten out of bed, Rangiku had peeked at him getting out of bed, and he had somehow said it out loud in front of her?

Fortunately, Ten Unohana's news caught Retsu Unohana's attention, and she didn't ask why their faces were red. Both quietly breathed a sigh of relief, then glanced at each other and blushed again...

"What type of Zanpakuto is it?" Retsu Unohana asked.

Rangiku didn't answer. She simply released her Zanpakuto's Shikai.

"Growl, Haineko."

Retsu Unohana watched Rangiku release her Zanpakuto, her smiling eyes narrowing. Nothing but a smile could be seen on her face.

"So, Little Rangiku, how fast is your Haineko?" Ten Unohana asked.

Rangiku activated her Zanpakuto and casually waved the hilt. A barely perceptible cloud of dust darted swiftly through the air, fast enough to keep up with Shunpo.

"Range? What about its range?" Retsu Unohana asked thoughtfully.

Rangiku froze for a moment before saying, "Not very far."

Retsu Unohana thought for a while, then asked, "Little Rangiku, can you move while you're attacking by waving the hilt? Or use Shunpo while you're doing it?"

Rangiku didn't seem to have considered how frightening that would be. She casually asked in return, "I can. Why wouldn't I be able to?"

Ten Unohana and Retsu Unohana exchanged a glance, each seeing shock in the other's eyes. Rangiku noticed that something was amiss and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

Ten Unohana held his forehead. "You little fool, do you know what it means that you can use Shunpo while swinging your sword?"

"What?"

Ten Unohana explained, "The speed of your rapid sword swings alone can easily surpass Shunpo. Add the speed of the Shunpo you use while swinging, and that's more than twice the speed of Shunpo. Do you know what that means? It means no one within your attack range can dodge your slashes. Of course, your eyes and reactions have to be able to keep up."

Rangiku nodded blankly.

Ten Unohana hadn't expected Rangiku's original Zanpakuto to be so powerful, combining speed, attack power, and concealment into a weapon of mass destruction.

Still, Haineko's abilities weren't quite heaven-defying. Ten Unohana and Retsu Unohana immediately worked out its weaknesses.

As for how they worked them out?

Retsu Unohana relied on her own skill. Ten Unohana, on the other hand, took a shortcut. The reason was simple: someone in Soul Society had a Zanpakuto very similar to Rangiku's. That person was one of Bleach's popular characters, the cold-faced prince of Soul Society's Four Great Noble Clans—Byakuya Kuchiki.

Byakuya Kuchiki's Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura, could break apart into countless cherry blossom-like blades. It had strong attacks, great speed, and a wide range. There was just one issue: defense. Its defensive power wasn't particularly weak, but it had one major defensive flaw—its wielder couldn't let an enemy get close. If attacked at close range, this type of Zanpakuto had no means of counterattacking, because doing so would hurt its wielder. But Byakuya might not know any of this yet, because Ten Unohana had forgotten when Byakuya Kuchiki first achieved Shikai. From the looks of it, he probably hadn't achieved Shikai yet, or Retsu Unohana would certainly have known.

Rangiku's Zanpakuto was even more extreme than Byakuya Kuchiki's Senbonzakura, with extreme attack power, speed, frequency, and range. The price was that Haineko's defense was a notch weaker than Senbonzakura's, because this type of Zanpakuto could only form an indiscriminate attack barrier for defense. Haineko's blades were dust, smaller than Senbonzakura's cherry blossom blades, so forming an indiscriminate attack barrier for defense was even harder.

Haineko did have one enormous advantage, however: its wielder could move while attacking. Senbonzakura's numerous cherry blossom blades covered a vast area when attacking, which was why it had a No-Harm Zone. Moreover, Senbonzakura's blades had a certain amount of killing power even while drifting freely, so Byakuya Kuchiki couldn't dart around using Shunpo after releasing it. If the No-Harm Zone couldn't move as fast as Byakuya Kuchiki, something would go wrong.

Haineko was different. Rangiku controlled its killing power through Haineko's hilt. Haineko's dust blades were present everywhere within its attack range, even around Rangiku herself, but they only moved quickly enough to deal damage when Rangiku swung her sword. When she wasn't swinging it, Haineko's dust blades had no killing power at all. This had appeared in the original Bleach: Haineko's dust blades landed on an enemy, but because Rangiku didn't swing her sword, the enemy wasn't hurt.

"From now on, Little Rangiku, you'll have to train hard in Shunpo and swordsmanship, and work on your reactions," Retsu Unohana said, smiling at Rangiku.

"Mm-hmm, I'll do my best."

Just then,

Ten Unohana yawned. Rangiku had woken him too early, and he was a little sleepy. While he was yawning, there came a knock at the door. Bang, bang, bang.

"Huh? Who would come over this early?" Ten Unohana wondered.

Nevertheless, he went to open the door. As soon as he opened it—

"Senior Unohana."

Ten Unohana looked at the bespectacled Soul Reaper girl outside and said with a grin, "Oh, I'm a senior now?"

"Ah—" "Bang!"

There was a loud crash. Ten Unohana stared at the door the furious bespectacled Soul Reaper girl had kicked, speechless for a long moment.

"You just got yourself another senior. Is that any reason to get so violent?" Ten Unohana deliberately brought it up again, as though he wanted to tease her.

This time, however, the bespectacled girl didn't strike again. She simply looked at Retsu Unohana and said, "Senior Unohana..."

"All right, Little Ten, stop it." Retsu Unohana had spoken, so even though Ten Unohana wasn't done having fun, he gave up on teasing the bespectacled girl further.

"Little Ten?! You're the butcher who killed people in two districts of Rukongai?!" the bespectacled girl exclaimed.

"Great, now I'm a butcher again!" Ten Unohana was somewhat speechless.

Ignoring Ten Unohana's complaint, the bespectacled girl addressed Retsu Unohana. "Senior Unohana, our captain has something to discuss with you. Please come as soon as possible. Senior Ukitake is there too."

Ten Unohana popped back in. "Your captain? Who's that?" In fact, Ten Unohana already had some idea. The bespectacled girl's outfit was distinctive: a short Soul Reaper skirt and a braid down her back. Most importantly, there were the glasses on her delicate face. Her appearance reminded Ten Unohana of the most feminine member of the Visored in the original story—Lisa Yadōmaru.

But Ten Unohana wasn't certain. Lisa Yadōmaru and Nanao Ise were good friends, yet Nanao Ise was still at Shin'ō Academy. Ten Unohana was afraid he had guessed wrong, so he decided to tease the bespectacled girl and find out who she was at the same time.

Hearing the slightly roguish tone in Ten Unohana's voice, the bespectacled girl clenched her fist, mindful that Retsu Unohana was standing nearby. She took a deep breath and said, "Shunsui Kyōraku, captain of the Eighth Division. Satisfied?"

"Tch, what's with that attitude? Satisfied? Bad review, even if bad reviews are really annoying."

Ten Unohana's teasing finally pushed Lisa Yadōmaru past the limits of her patience.

She launched her signature move at Ten Unohana: a handstand split kick with a great sweeping spin through 360 degrees, repeated N times.

Ten Unohana dodged and teased, "I saw them... Mm, black!"

Lisa Yadōmaru froze.

Remembering the move she had just made, she realized she had exposed herself and that Ten Unohana was talking about the color of her underwear. Lisa Yadōmaru flew into a rage.

But with Retsu Unohana right beside her, Lisa Yadōmaru couldn't very well get angry at a child, especially when that child's mother was watching.

With no other recourse, Lisa Yadōmaru shouted, "So you know you're really annoying too, you pervert?!"

She left without looking back. Retsu Unohana smiled and slowly followed, walking ahead of Lisa Yadōmaru...

For some reason, a thought popped into Ten Unohana's mind. The Lisa Yadōmaru of today hasn't gone through everything that happens later. She hasn't yet mastered that air unique to "Secretary Lisa Yadōmaru," who wouldn't bat an eye even if Mount Tai came crashing down on her.

"Big brother, what should we do?" For some reason, Rangiku felt very uncomfortable seeing Ten Unohana lost in thought over the woman from just now, so she interrupted him.

Ten Unohana stroked Rangiku's silky golden hair and said, "What should we do? Nothing! I'm not going to Shin'ō Academy anyway. I'm going back to sleep!"

Rangiku stared at him in shock and stammered, "Huh?! Going back, going back to sleep?"

"What are you thinking? Go sleep in your own room!" Ten Unohana said.

Eighth Division barracks.

Shunsui Kyōraku and Jūshirō Ukitake were drinking on a tatami mat.

"Captain, Senior Unohana is here." Lisa Yadōmaru had already recovered from her earlier anger. Of course, whether she had truly recovered was another question, but at the very least, her expression was back to normal.

"Ah, Captain Unohana is here!"

"Little Lisa, could you get me some sake?" Shunsui Kyōraku asked Lisa Yadōmaru with a grin.

Lisa Yadōmaru saw an unopened jug of sake on the tatami mat and knew Kyōraku was using it as an excuse to send her away.

What they were about to discuss concerned Captain-level matters she couldn't take part in. Lisa Yadōmaru didn't mind; without the strength to back it up, knowing certain things could do more harm than good.

So she took the hint and said, "I'll go get it, but it'll take some time." With that, she left, closing the door behind her.