Joined as One

Hu sat on his bed, his mind in turmoil after Cilian left. He didn't know what to do or how to do it. No matter how he thought about it, he couldn't find a solution. Then he looked at the Zanpakuto on the sword rack. He picked it up and laid it across his knees. "They say a Zanpakuto is a reflection of a Soul Reaper's soul. Then you should be able to give me an answer, shouldn't you?"

With that, Reishi began to flow slowly through his body...

In Fon Shaoling's office.

The atmosphere was a little delicate.

She sat at her desk, working on a document, but she was visibly much less efficient than usual. The characters on the paper were crooked, nothing like her usual neat handwriting.

She hadn't noticed the small inkstain on her cuff, either.

Her eyes were still red. Although she had wiped away her tears, the traces were still visible on closer inspection.

"How could he do that..."

She muttered, her voice barely louder than a mosquito.

Then she muttered again.

"I went that far..."

She kept muttering.

"And he actually... sob..."

As she spoke, she found herself a little childish, but she couldn't help it.

The door made a soft sound.

Fon Shaoling didn't turn around, but her body stiffened slightly.

The footsteps were quiet, but familiar to her.

"Hmph! What does a traitor want, coming here now?"

Her voice was still hoarse from crying, but there wasn't much genuine anger in her tone. It was more a kind of reproach—reproach that Sakiro hadn't taken her side or helped her persuade Hu, and had instead betrayed her by exposing her secrets in front of him.

Sakiro stood behind her, looking at her stubborn figure, and couldn't help sighing.

"Shaoling..."

Fon Shaoling ignored her.

Sakiro walked over, crouched beside her, and looked at her profile.

"I was a traitor this time."

Fon Shaoling's lips moved, but she said nothing.

"But this traitor just wanted you to be yourself."

Fon Shaoling finally turned to look at her.

Sakiro's gaze was gentle, completely unlike her when she was working.

"You went out of your way to put on such beautiful clothes and do your makeup so nicely. You must have put a lot of thought into choosing everything this morning, didn't you?"

Fon Shaoling nodded, her eyes reddening again.

"But you offered yourself in exchange for him doing things for you. Is that what you really wanted? Did you accept his feelings more because you liked him, or more to ease the guilt in your heart after he hurt those twenty-seven people?"

Tears began to well up in her eyes.

"I'd like you to give yourself to someone, not because of a bargain, but because you like him." Sakiro reached out and gently took her hand. "I hope you'll treat him with genuine feelings, not with all that other mess."

Fon Shaoling's tears finally fell.

"But..."

Her voice caught.

"But I finally... made up my mind..."

Sakiro pulled her into her arms.

"I decided to give myself to him... sob..."

Fon Shaoling buried her face in her embrace, her voice muffled and thick with tears.

"And I decided to abandon the lives of those twenty-seven Pluses... wah..."

She cried harder.

"Wah... I think I'm so awful..."

Sakiro said nothing.

She simply held Fon Shaoling, holding her tightly.

A long time passed before she spoke.

"Thank you for everything you've been through along the way."

Fon Shaoling's body trembled slightly.

"All this time, I didn't notice the pain and torment in your heart," Sakiro said, her voice catching too. "I'm truly sorry."

She gently patted Fon Shaoling's back, as if soothing a child.

"From now on, I'll always be by your side."

"I'll be your strength."

Fon Shaoling said nothing. She just buried herself in Sakiro's arms and cried like a child who could finally drop her disguise.

Hu's Inner World...

Hu opened his eyes and found himself atop the Demon World Tree's canopy. Thick mist filled the surroundings, and a light rain drizzled from the sky.

The drizzle fell on the leaves, on his shoulders, and on this world that should have been his to rule. The sky was gray, with no sunlight or outline of the familiar city in sight.

Hu stood in the rain, at a loss for a moment.

"Jiku'a!"

He shouted.

"Jiku'a!"

No one answered.

He walked along the canopy, calling as he went. Rain ran down his cheeks, and he couldn't tell whether it was rain or something else.

"Jiku'a! Where are you?!"

"Even you won't help me at a time like this..."

Just as Hu was about to give up.

"Sigh..."

At last, a lazy voice came from behind him.

"Can't you keep the weather in your Inner World a little nicer?"

Hu spun around.

Jiku'a stood not far away in a blue coat, his white hair wet with rain and plastered to his forehead. He held an umbrella—conjured from who knew where—and looked at Hu with an "I've had enough" expression.

"Didn't I tell you not to come in until you'd cleaned up? Look at this place." Jiku'a pointed around them. "Rainy and gray, without a shred of style. Can't you think about something happy?"

Hu looked at him, suddenly at a loss for words.

Jiku'a sighed, put away his umbrella, and walked over to him.

"All right, I know why you've come looking for me."

"How could I not know what's on your mind?" Jiku'a looked at him, held his umbrella, and found a place that wasn't too wet to sit down, brushing the water off himself. "Right now, you're just thinking too much. Look at all this fog. I love looking down at the city from here, but with all this fog, forget the city—it's hard enough to see this tree."

"Hu, do you like her?"

Hu nodded.

"Then go help her."

"But..."

"But what?"

Hu fell silent.

Jiku'a looked at him, then suddenly reached out and smacked him on the head.

"Ow!"

"Good, it hurt." Jiku'a withdrew his hand. "Look at yourself. You're like you've lost your soul. Do you think she needs you like this?"

Hu clutched his head and looked at Jiku'a.

Jiku'a turned his back to him and looked at the distant gray horizon.

"You like her, right?"

"Yeah."

"You want to protect her, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then there's only one question now." Jiku'a turned back to look at him. "How to do it. What you need is the power to overcome every obstacle for her!"

Hu's brows knitted tightly as he stared at Jiku'a.

Seeing his expression, Jiku'a's lips curved up slightly.

He held out his hand, and blue light gathered in his palm.

A Phantom Blade slowly took shape.

"You already know how to do this, don't you?" Jiku'a said. "But you still haven't truly understood what it can do."

Jiku'a looked at the sword in his hand, his gaze growing distant.

"The Phantom Blade is a projection of the Blade of Power, but its meaning is different from the Blade of Power's. It embodies that person's feelings for his family and symbolizes a possibility opposite to the Yamato: the possibility of uniting everything. This power manifests not to separate, but to bring things together. It can unite the two Kidō systems, Bakudō and Hadō, but that's not all it can do. It can unite the Reiatsu of Hollows and Pluses too. As long as the Hollow hasn't reached the point of complete dominance, use the Phantom Blade to unite a portion of the Hollow's Reiatsu, then carry out the separation. They can be saved, and Fon Shaoling can get the information she wants."

Hu's heart gave a sudden leap.

Jiku'a looked at him and chuckled softly.

"A Plus separated this way," Jiku'a said, "will retain some Hollow power, but will still essentially be a Plus. If that's acceptable—"

He handed the Phantom Blade to Hu.

"Then go give it a try."

Hu looked at the sword in his hand, unable to speak for a long time.

At some point, the rain had stopped.

Sunlight streamed through gaps in the clouds, falling on the canopy, on his shoulders, and on Jiku'a's smiling face.

Hu withdrew from his Inner World, put all the hair ornaments into a box, tucked it inside his clothes, and headed for Fon Shaoling's office.

The office door was ajar.

In the corridor outside, Cilian leaned against the wall with his arms folded and his eyes half closed.

Footsteps approached.

He turned his head and saw Hu coming down the corridor.

Hu saw him and was just about to say something.

Cilian immediately gestured for silence, then motioned with his eyes for Hu to come over.

Hu walked over and stopped beside him.

Cilian motioned with his eyes again—against the wall.

Hu leaned against the wall, standing beside him.

Then Cilian raised his chin slightly, indicating the office.

Only then did Hu notice that the door was ajar.

Soft sounds came from inside.

Fon Shaoling was crying.

And Sakiro was speaking.

Hu listened quietly.

He listened to Fon Shaoling cry, heard her say, "I decided to abandon the lives of those twenty-seven Pluses," and heard her say, "I think I'm so awful."

His heart felt as though something had gripped it, aching in waves.

She was no villain. She was just a child driven into a desperate situation, with no one to tell about the anxiety in her heart and no idea what to do, able only to do what she thought was right in the clumsiest way.

Hu took a deep breath.

Then he straightened and walked toward the door.

Cilian watched him without stopping him.

His lips merely curved up slightly.

The sound of the door being pushed open startled both people in the office.

Fon Shaoling was still buried in Sakiro's arms. Hearing the door, she instinctively raised her head.

Then she saw Hu.

Her eyes widened instantly.

Tears still streaked her face, her eyes were red, and her eyelashes were wet. The rouge on her cheeks had long since been washed away by her tears, leaving faint streaks.

She froze for a second.

Then she quickly ducked back into Sakiro's arms.

Like a startled little animal instinctively seeking shelter.

Hu stood there, looking at her.

He had never seen her like this.

Princess Shaoling, who was always so poised and elegant, the "teacher" who wore glasses and instructed him so seriously in the Kidō Practice Room, was now hiding in Sakiro's arms like an injured kitten.

In that instant, Hu's heart melted completely. His resolve to protect her was strengthened once more.

He walked over and stopped in front of them.

Sakiro looked at him without speaking, merely giving him a slight nod.

Hu took a deep breath.

"Shaoling."

Fon Shaoling's body trembled slightly.

"I like you."

He had said those words before.

But this time was different.

"Not because you're the princess of the Fon Clan, and not because you gave me a name." His voice was steady. "Because you're you."

Fon Shaoling's eyes reddened again.

"I'll help you."

He said.

"I've already found a way to save those twenty-seven people."

Fon Shaoling froze.

"Jiku'a told me that Phantom Blade can bring together different kinds of Reiatsu," Hu said. "They can survive. They'll have some Hollow powers, but they won't die."

Fon Shaoling's eyes widened.

"As for the Hollowfication Experiment..." Hu paused. It was a deadlock. Aizen was not someone who could be dealt with easily; even without a completed Hōgyoku, he was still hard to handle. At the very least, they needed Soi Fon's protection.

"About that..."

Cilian walked in from outside.

He held a stack of documents in his hand and laid them all on Fon Shaoling's desk.

"I got these from the Second Division's lieutenant, Marechiyo Ōmaeda." Cilian walked up to the desk and put the documents down. "The intelligence team's analysis, the investigation team's tracking records, and places where those people might be hiding. Captain Soi Fon has no intention of letting the Hollowfication Experiment go, either."

He raised his head and saw the puzzled look in Fon Shaoling's eyes.

"That brat was trained by me. After I helped him recall some of his old lessons, he told me everything. Those documents say several other divisions will be providing assistance behind the scenes, and there's a record of the First Division making inquiries too. If we uncover any important figures, the Captain-Commander won't let them off easily either."

Fon Shaoling stared blankly at the documents, then looked up at Cilian, at Hu, and at Sakiro beside her.

Sakiro gently patted her hand, smoothed the wrinkles from Fon Shaoling's clothes, and wiped the tearstains from her face before walking over to Hu and Cilian.

The three stood in a row.

Cilian cleared his throat and spoke.

"Your Highness."

His voice was low and powerful.

"For all these years, letting you bear so much pain alone has been a failure on my part."

"But this time—"

He paused.

"The Fon Clan and the Second Division's Stealth Force will stand at your side and be your sharpest blade. This time, we swear to drag the enemy out from behind the scenes. You no longer need to fight alone." As he spoke, several members of the Onmitsukidō emerged from the shadows of the room and knelt on one knee, silently echoing Cilian's words.

The office was utterly quiet.

Fon Shaoling sat there, looking at the people before her.

Cilian, the old retainer who had served the Fon Clan for four hundred years.

Sakiro, the aide who had been with her all these years.

And the subordinates who had weathered countless storms alongside her.

And Hu, the silly boy from the World of the Living who liked her.

They stood there, waiting for her.

Tears fell from Fon Shaoling's eyes again.

But this time, they were not tears of sorrow.

She slowly rose to her feet.

The inkstain was still on her sleeve, and her hair was still a little disheveled, but she stood straight.

"Thank you, everyone."

Her voice was soft, but steady.

Outside the window, the afternoon sunlight filtered through the bamboo leaves, falling on her and everyone else in the room.

Everything had only just begun.