Zangetsu carefully moved through the air as he made his way back to the Seireitei, knowing that some of the Shinigami that were keeping their guards up would want to stop him once they realized that he was carrying one of the Zanpakuto spirits that had rebelled against their partners, but he wasn't about to let them stop him. He was going to do exactly what he had said to Matsumoto and Hinamori a few moments ago, and that was take Haineko to the Fourth Division's barracks so Captain Unohana, or even Lieutenant Isane, could give her a check up and be absolutely sure that she was fine, especially since she had been attacked by someone she had considered an ally. There was another reason for him to prolong meeting any of the Shinigami that were running around the Seireitei, and that was because he was absolutely pissed that one of them, a Lieutenant no less, could be so horrible to their own Zanpakuto partner, as Matsumoto seemed to think that everything was Haineko's fault. Sure, he hadn't been acknowledged as a Zanpakuto spirit by Ichigo, not until some time after he had separated from his uncaring partner and became an Arrancar, but seeing another spirit go through something similar to what he went through made him angry, especially when Matsumoto didn't even rush to Haineko's side when she was attacked by Tobiume.
While he thought about all that, and tried to cool himself down before he reached their destination, he also recalled Haineko asking if she was going to be in trouble, including him telling her that he'd basically do everything in his power to convince Lord Sombra that she was innocent, though he honestly hoped Sombra saw it the same way he did.
Despite lowering his speed a few times, and making a few more steps than he actually needed to, Zangetsu was able to get them into the courtyard of the Fourth Division's barracks quite easily, surprising a number of the Shinigami that were guarding the area, but when they saw him, however, they backed off and left him to his business. Several of the higher ranking Shinigami came out to see what was going on, though none of the Captains had shown up yet, but he paid them no mind as he walked up the stairs and stepped into the building he had come to, making sure to turn slightly since he was holding onto Haineko. Some of the Fourth Division medics paused to look at them for a moment, just to be sure that their eyes weren't deceiving them, before returning to their important work, allowing him to make his way to Rukia's room, which just so happened to be the last place that he knew Isane was working in. Zangetsu was fine with everyone ignoring them for the moment, as the medics were more focused on tending to the wounded Shinigami that had been put in such a condition by the other Zanpakuto spirits, and it also allowed them to reach their destination without being stopped at all... though when they entered the room Zangetsu discovered that Isane wasn't present, causing him to sigh for a moment as he gently shifted his stance and let Haineko stand on her own.
Fortunately, despite some of the high levels of reiatsu being thrown around in the area he had come from, Rukia was still resting, which was good considering that she had used quite a bit of power and failed to free Sode no Shirayuki from Muramasa's control, but he knew that she'd be up in no time.
"Are you okay?" Zangetsu asked, though as he let go of Haineko, who stood up and stretched her legs for a moment, he stared at the mark that had been left behind by the bell that Tobiume had used to hurt her, as he was worried that it might be worse than Haineko thought it was, "Does it hurt?"
"It stopped hurting a few minutes ago." Haineko replied, to which she smiled for a moment, as this was the first time in years that anyone had actually shown any concern for her well-being, though while she had been hoping that her partner would have been the one to do it she was more than willing to settle for Zangetsu being concerned, "Besides it aching for a couple more minutes, and leaving behind a bruise for a day or two, I'm perfectly fine."
"Alright, but I'm still going to see if I can't find anyone to tend to it, before we go see Lord Sombra." Zangetsu stated, though his senses informed him that his Lord was back in the forest they had come from and happened to be moving back towards the Seireitei, meaning that he must have gone to talk with someone and was coming back to inform them of what he had discovered, "I'll be right back."
Haineko nodded and watched as Zangetsu headed outside the room that they were in, where he moved to the side and started his hunt for someone that might be of assistance to them, causing her to sigh as she looked around the room that she was in, as well as spotting the Shinigami that Zangetsu might know. It made sense that he'd know Rukia Kuchiki, since Ichigo knew her and he likely had access to those memories at some point in time, but she could tell that the young Shinigami was exhausted from her battle and was recovering, despite the fact that her Zanpakuto partner was still on Muramasa's side. A few seconds later she pushed that thought to the side and looked out the window that was nearby, mostly so she could look at the night sky and ignore the fact that the other Zanpakuto would consider her a traitor to their cause, before she decided that it honestly didn't matter what they thought of her, since most of them hated her to begin with anyway. The reason most Shinigami, and their Zanpakuto for that matter, hated her was because Matsumoto spread those horrible rumors about her being a lazy and uncooperative Zanpakuto, causing her to sigh as she took a seat nearby, while making sure not to sit on her tail, before she put her head in her hands.
She had agreed to free herself from Matsumoto so she could live an exciting life without being chained to someone that utterly despised her, to someone that was so willing to damage her blade if she wasn't fast about responding to her summons, but so far her 'exciting' life was full of pain and boredom, making her wonder if she had made the wrong decision and if it was too late to correct it.
"Excuse me." a voice said, to which Haineko's ears, which were actually cat ears that were hidden by the hair on her head, twitched for a moment, causing her to pull her head out of her hands and looked up at who was talking to her, only to find a female Captain standing in front of her, with Zangetsu nearby, "You are Haineko, are you not?"
"Y... yes I am." Haineko replied, though even as she said that she felt something under her eyes, to which she rubbed away the tears that had formed for no reason, even though she had the feeling that her discovering that most Shinigami and Zanpakuto likely hated her had been the cause of the tears, "Who are you?"
"Captain Unohana, of the Fourth Division." the Captain answered, to which she offered Haineko one of her smiles, as it appeared that the Zanpakuto spirit in front of her was sad over something and would need time to come to terms with whatever she was feeling, before she held a hand out, "Zangetsu told me that one of your fellow Zanpakuto spirits hurt you when you were trying to get out of a dangerous situation, that being getting into a fight with Zangetsu at your ally's insistence, and that he wanted to be sure that you were okay before the two of you meet up with Sombra, so I decided to come check on you myself."
"Okay." Haineko said, though she followed that up with taking the hand that was offered to her, where she allowed Captain Unohana to help her back onto her feet and then had her sit in a nearby stool, so she could see what sort of problems she had to deal with before they could leave the room.
As it turned out, after a few minutes of studying her body with whatever healing Kido she was using, Unohana was able to determine that there was nothing seriously wrong with her, all that had been left behind was the bruise that she was sporting, something that she mended easily. When Haineko inquired why she bothered to heal it, since it would have done so in a few days and that she needed her reiatsu for the other wounded Shinigami, Unohana simply said that it was a small thing and took next to no energy for her to mend, and there was the fact that she was going to be meeting Sombra soon, who would have gone out of his way to heal it as well. Unohana also explained that Zangetsu told her the situation was more shocking than she originally thought, that she hadn't left Matsumoto simply for her own selfish reasons, like some of the other Zanpakuto spirits had done, but rather because she had been hurt too many times and was growing so tired of the same thing happening over and over again. Before she could ask how Unohana figured that out, however, she was reminded that Isane would visit Matsumoto from time to time and usually came back with little instances of where Hitsgaya's Lieutenant would be mean to her blade, something that she told Hitsugaya about, despite the fact that Matsumoto failed to understand the message.
In the end Haineko found out that there were some Shinigami, the Captain and Lieutenant of the Fourth Division, that had been concerned that Matsumoto was going to do something horrible to her blade, meaning that she had a few more friends than she originally thought she had, and she walked out of the room a few moments later looking pristine, as the bruise was gone and she wouldn't have to worry about it. Once they were done with her checkup Zangetsu made sure she stayed close to him as he headed towards the room that his Lord was waiting inside, the same being that had dominated Muramasa earlier and could have easily struck him down right then and there, ending the rebellion before it got even worse, but she was sure that the King of Hueco Mundo had a plan. Haineko also noticed that a few of the wounded Shinigami were glaring at her as they walked by, like it was her fault they had been wounded, and she informed Zangetsu that she actually hadn't lifted her blade to anyone since she had been freed, as the only foe she wanted to face was her partner, so she could try to get some respect out of Matsumoto, but as of their last meeting that plan was no longer one that she was willing to follow. Zangetsu shocked her once more by saying that he believed her, that he knew that she didn't hurt the Shinigami they were walking by and that her only desire was to gain some measure of respect from her Shinigami partner, and the reason behind him believing her was because he tried to get Ichigo to realize he was the 'real' Zangetsu, who the Old Man was pretending to be for a long time.
Haineko thought about what little Zangetsu had actually said about his ordeals, though even with knowing only a little about what he had been through she came to the conclusion that they had to be kindred spirits, that both of them had suffered at the hands of their Shinigami partners in some manner, but Zangetsu had freed himself, which interested her the instant she made that connection... and before she could ask how he had done that they came to a stop outside a room that had a closed door, one that separated them from where Sombra was sitting.
"Lord Sombra is on the other side of this door." Zangetsu said, informing Haineko of something that she might not even be aware of, since it was impossible for anyone in this world to feel the power of the Dios Hueco and both Hollows and Arrancar had to be told where he was by feeling what Hueco Mundo told them, "I don't know what's going to happen once we step inside, but I promise you that I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure he sees that you aren't the problem, that you're just like what I was some time ago... a Zanpakuto spirit whose tired of being abused by the one person whose supposed to be their partner, even if the abuse is different than what happened to me."
Haineko nodded her understanding, as at this point she knew that running away wouldn't make any difference if she suddenly decided to run, especially since both Zangetsu and Sombra could catch her quite easily, and watched as the door opened, revealing a room where Sombra was sitting at a table, which had some tea items resting in front of him, and an open chair sitting near him. The sound of the door opening caused him to look up at the game of chess that he had been playing by himself, or rather against one of his Zanpakuto spirits since his horn was glowing and one of the pieces was moving right before her eyes, but it seemed like he and whichever spirit he was playing against had reached a stalemate in their game, which was put away the moment Zangetsu stepped into the room. Haineko hesitated for a moment, as being this close to the King of Hueco Mundo, a creature whose reiatsu she couldn't even feel, was more intimidating than she originally thought, before she steeled herself and walked into the room as well, which closed a few moments later, which she assumed was because of Sombra's 'magic' powers. As she walked towards the table, seeing how there were seats set aside for both her and Zangetsu, she felt the presence of another Arrancar on the other side of the door, but this time around she accepted that this was happening and took a seat near Sombra, while at the same time Zangetsu sat at the opposite end of the table from his Lord, allowing the two to be near each other while they talked.
Before anyone said anything Sombra's horn glowed once more and the four walls of the room flashed for a moment, like he had done something to them, before he reached forward and poured a cup of tea, where he handed one over to her, which she accepted, before a second was levitated over to Zangetsu, who took it and sipped on it for a few seconds, something that Haineko followed... only to discover that the tea had a sweet taste to it that seemed to calm her nerves, which she guessed she needed after everything that happened to her recently.
"I have sealed the room, so there's no need to worry about someone barging in," Sombra explained, knowing that Zangetsu knew about his magical powers and the number of Kido that he could perform, even though part of this was a Kido spell and another was an actual magic spell, "and there's no need to worry about someone hearing what we're going to talk about. I have given Grimmjow the only key to the seal, which has been placed on the other side of the door that you came through, and it will glow green when the time comes to open the seal, so we'll have some peace and quiet before I decide to unseal the room. Now that the explanation is over, and we can enjoy our calming tea while we talk, allow me to introduce myself: I am Sombra, King of Hueco Mundo, though I am also known as the Dios Hueco, or the Hollow God if you prefer, which is a being that only comes around once every one thousand years and is granted a level of power that is far beyond what a Vasto Lorde is capable of commanding. You, according to what I have learned from both the Shinigami and Zangetsu, are Haineko, a name that means 'ash cat' if my translation is correct, and you used to be partnered with a pretty powerful Lieutenant, up until recently anyway."
"Yeah, that's me." Haineko replied, though she remembered her Shinigami partner learning that Sombra liked to gather facts and bits of information before actually using them, making her wonder when he learned that she was the blade that was tied to Matsumoto.
"Don't worry, Rukia and Renji told me bits and pieces of each named blade that the current Shinigami have," Sombra said, as it had been an interesting learning period where he figured out how many named Zanpakuto there were in Soul Society and gained a good idea of their individual powers, "and don't worry about any bias I might have picked up from their stories, or rumors, about certain blades. I prefer to see things happen and form my own opinions, and the same is true for when I learn new pieces of information, as I like to form my own thoughts on something that happened or on someone that I'm meeting for the first time, so you won't have to worry about me being angry at you for whatever it is that Matsumoto said... not until I form my own thoughts on the subject anyway."
"What Lord Sombra means is that he'll sit in his chair and listen to your story." Zangetsu explained, as sometimes there were instances where an explanation was clearly given and other instances where someone needed to explain a piece of information before they could begin, "Just take your time and tell him what happened to you."
"Well, I guess it all started a long time ago, back when I first came into existence," Haineko said, as she remembered the days exploring Matsumoto's inner world, a place that she had long called a resort that was merged with the largest shopping mall in the entire world, since it contained everything her partner liked and changed all the time to match whatever style was in, "Exploring my partner's inner world was fun, because there was always something new for me to look at, try on, or experience after Matsumoto first discovered something's existence, and there was even a place where I could train without wrecking everything. When I felt she was strong enough I started calling out to her, trying to get her to hear my voice so we could converse and I could see if she was worthy to wield the power that I had developed, and despite the time it took for my voice to reach her, as it took some time and some additional training to help her out, I was overjoyed when she finally heard my voice and I could give her my name. It was the beginning of a beautiful partnership, where we'd train together to help her understand my powers, we would spend some time shopping and trying things out in her inner world, and for a time it felt like I had a really close friend that understood me and would never leave me..."
"But then you let her learn your Shikai." Zangetsu stated, as he recalled what Haineko had said, back when she had been confronted by her former partner and Matsumoto had said to her at the time, while at the same time Sombra remained silent as he listened and took a few sips of his own tea.
"Yeah, everything was going great until then," Haineko continued, nodding her head to confirm what Zangetsu had said, to which she took a few sips of her tea and felt herself calming down a little, meaning that Sombra knew that this was going to be somewhat emotional for her, since she liked being friends with Matsumoto, and all of this was just dragging it back to the surface, "Matsumoto was strong, both her teachers and I agreed on that fact many times, and some of the Shinigami were surprised that I hadn't given her my Shikai command, but part of me felt that she wasn't ready for it, that once she had it she'd stop coming by and I'd start losing my friend. I kept the power of my Shikai from her for some time, trying to make her ready for the responsibility that came with it, but one day she begged me to teach it to her, so she could catch up with Gin, who she had a crush on for some time, and I reluctantly gave her the information when she bested me in battle. I was overjoyed when she reached her goal, to become a Lieutenant, but since that day she got comfortable in her new position and stopped coming to hang out with me, whether I wanted to practice my skills or help her learn, and after some time I started training on my own.
Unfortunately things only got worse after I gave her access to my Shikai, and it all started with Matsumoto telling some of her friends that I was 'stupid' because I had a horrible fashion sense, because I 'wasn't getting with the times' and stuck to some older clothing that I happened to like. At first it stung a little, though I felt that maybe she was just trying to help me out and inform me that I needed to dress more like an adult, and while I did that I wondered why she couldn't just come tell me that to my face, instead of spreading rumors about me. For the next month she made all sorts of remarks about me, my taste in clothing or perfume, my mannerisms, and anything else that she wasn't too fond of, all to the other Shinigami that were around her, and soon whoever would listen to her believed that I was going from an incredible partner and was becoming a 'lazy, stupid cat that acts like a brat'. It hurt to have my best friend call me names and treat me like I was nothing, especially when she stopped coming into her inner world to meet with me for our meetings, so one day... I decided I wouldn't heed her call to show her how it felt when her partner didn't come when she was called, only the consequences were more severe than I thought they'd be."
"What did Matsumoto do to you?" Sombra asked, though at the same time he could tell that this wasn't something that Haineko wanted to talk about, even though she was pushing herself to tell both of them the tale of what actually caused her partnership to suffer and become what it currently was.
"Matsumoto... she... she swung me at something and shattered my blade into several pieces," Haineko replied, though this time she stalled for a moment, as the point in time that she was talking about was painful and she could have easily perished as a result of what her partner had done, if not for one of the scientists that saved her life anyway, "What I was doing at the time was thinking about my actions, since I had refused to come when Matsumoto called for me, and before I could actually do anything else my body was wracked by an intense pain, like I was being split into multiple pieces or something. In a moment of anger my partner shattered my physical form, nearly breaking my spirit in the same way, and all I had was the will to continue living, something that allowed me to get through the pain and piece myself back together, while my blade recovered with Matsumoto's help. Obviously I recovered and my powers were just fine, they were just the same despite my recent injuries, but in that moment of anger Matsumoto did more than wound me, she caused a fracture to form in the bond we have forged in the time following us first finding each other.
After that happened, well, she never did apologize for breaking me like she did, saying that it was my fault that I put her in the situation that resulted in her breaking the blade like that, and since that day our bond was never the same as it was in the past. Matsumoto took to calling me more horrible names, to reflect her anger towards me not listening to her that one time, adopted a new habit of using my physical form to strike objects out of frustration, and even chipped me in the process, but never once did she apologize for any of it. In her mind it was all my fault, that the reason I was a 'lazy, stupid cat' was because I didn't want to take anything serious and refused to come when I was called, but, as you both know, the bond between a Shinigami and a Zanpakuto is important, so her constant damage strained the bond we had and prevented me from hearing her voice many times over the years, until she got used to it. Sure, I was able to hear her call me when the situation was dire, but other than that she deemed me as her 'stupid bitch of a Zanpakuto', that I was a 'worthless piece of trash' that she was stuck with, and... well, you get where I'm going with this."
"Yeah, I do." Zangetsu stated, to which he drained the rest of his tea and set the cup down on the table that they were sitting at, where he realized that there were worst partners out there and that he might have actually been a little lucky, since Ichigo wasn't as bad as Matsumoto was, before he glanced over to his Lord for a moment.
Despite the amount of time that he had been in Sombra's presence, and knew some of his mannerisms, Zangetsu already knew that it was next to impossible to tell what the King of Hueco Mundo was thinking at any given time, though right now Sombra was clearly thinking about what he had learned. From what he knew his Lord had always been like that, making it seem like he wasn't there so he could get the whole story about whatever was going on, straight from the source, and generally he knew which side of an argument was right and which side was wrong. There was even the fact that Sombra was the first one to figure out that he was Ichigo's Zanpakuto spirit and that the Old Man wasn't who he said he was, despite Ichigo taking forever to figure it out, meaning that he had an eye for detail and must have been keeping an eye on Haineko's emotions during the entire tale. Haineko, for the most part, seemed relieved to bring the tale to an end, and he couldn't blame her for wanting to split from her abusive partner, especially after hearing what Matsumoto had done to her, and right now she seemed confused as to what she needed to do next, so he moved his chair over to where she was sitting and rested a hand on her shoulder, calming her down as a weak smile appeared on her face.
He knew that it took some determination to tell a complete stranger, especially someone who was standing against the Zanpakuto spirits and the 'freedom' that Muramasa was promising them, the story that Haineko had just shared, but right now it was out of his hands and all he could do was wait and see what Sombra did.
"So, there are others out there that are hurting their Zanpakuto partners," Sombra commented, indicating that he had been thinking about what he had just learned, where he could tell that Zangetsu believed Haineko's tale, that Matsumoto was to blame for their falling out, and he couldn't blame him for thinking that way, not when he saw the same thing in her eyes while she talked, "Very well then. Zangetsu, as of right now there will be a second objective to our current mission, and that is to see how many Zanpakuto spirits are truly tired of being tied to their Shinigami partners, whether they are like Haineko and are being abused or if it's just Muramasa playing on their frustrations. Right now I think there's only two other spirits that are in your old shoes, meaning that there's someone other than Haineko that we have to find and talk to, but first we're going to truly free Haineko from Matsumoto and let her walk a new path, free to make her own decisions without having to be broken over them."
"What do you mean by 'truly freeing' me?" Haineko asked, because as far as she knew Muramasa had already freed her from Matsumoto, but at the same time she knew what happened to Zabimaru, that they were beaten by their partner and taken back, meaning that their freedom was limited no matter what happened.
"It means that you would be separated from your partner and become two separate beings," Sombra said, to which he raised a hand and beckoned to Zangetsu for a moment, as he was the prime example that he had to offer anyone about what he was talking about, "As you no doubt know, Zangetsu used to be the Zanpakuto spirit that was partnered with Ichigo Kurosaki, but after so many attempts to get him to see the truth, that the Old Man wasn't his actual Zanpakuto spirit, Zangetsu had enough and split his soul from Ichigo's, allowing him to take all his power and leave Ichigo's inner world, becoming his own being that was no longer tied to Ichigo. I've been studying all the Zanpakuto that have been freed from their partners, in the manner that Muramasa has been using, and despite what he tells you there are still a few strands connecting a Zanpakuto spirit to their Shinigami partner, meaning that there is still a connection that allows a Shinigami to recover their partner from his influence. The method that Zangetsu used, to pull himself away from Ichigo, was where he severed all those stands that connected him to his partner and then, once they were all gone, he pulled his soul free and became a new being... of course there's no way to know if the process is painful or not, considering that Zangetsu was in control of Ichigo's body at the time."
"Wait, so you're telling me that in order to free myself from Matsumoto, completely, I have to break these strands and then pull my soul away from her soul?" Haineko inquired, though from what she gathered Zangetsu must have just cut the strands in half and then yanked his own soul out of Ichigo's body, but the part about pain made her worried.
"Yep. That's all there is to it." Zangetsu said, to which he got up for a moment and looked out the window, where he noticed Matsumoto standing outside, chatting with some of the Shinigami, which meant that she was either looking for them or she didn't care, and he had the feeling he knew which option she was going with, "Like of it this way, you're opening your true heart and accepting your true nature, because I went from a Zanpakuto spirit and became an Arrancar, and it's been the best decision that I've ever made. Before Lord Sombra came along the other Arrancar were either trying to kill each other or kill whoever Aizen's enemies were, but once he took control several friendships have been formed among our ranks, including me making friends with both Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, so if you decided to join us, and left Matsumoto behind, you'd find yourself among friends in no time."
Part of Haineko didn't like what Zangetsu was implying, that the 'true heart' of a Zanpakuto spirit was the core of a Hollow, the very creatures they were designed to purify as their Shinigami partners used them, and that by opening their 'true hearts' they would become just like him, an Arrancar in service to the King of Hueco Mundo. From what she could tell the four Arrancar that had come with Sombra seemed friendly towards each other, like whatever hatred they had felt for each other had been erased, and it sounded like joining them might be better for her, especially if it meant being freed from the abuse that she had been suffering for a long time. She also guessed that it would be the exciting change that she had been hoping for when she agreed to join Muramasa's cause, even if she hadn't actually hurt anyone or done anything for his rebellion, and if she did become an Arrancar, like Zangetsu did, she could always hide the Hollow hole with some article of clothing, even though she thought she could rock the Arrancar themed attire the others were wearing. She smiled for a moment as she envisioned herself in the clothing that Harribel was wearing, or maybe she'd be able to design a similar dress in the future, and she knew that her smile seemed to improve the mood of the room, that the duo might know what she was going to do.
In the end Haineko got out of the chair that she had been sitting in and knelt before the King of Hueco Mundo, while at the same time she kept her smile on her face, because if his promises were true, that the Arrancar weren't trying to kill each other and had become friends, than maybe she could escape the abuse and find where she truly belonged.
"Lord Sombra, I would be honored to join you and leave Matsumoto behind." Haineko said, because while she had once thought of Matsumoto as a friend, the only friend that she might ever have in this world, that bond had been broken beyond repair and her partner was doing nothing to make it right, so she was going to change her life for the better and escape before she was broken beyond repair.
"And we would be honored to have you join us." Sombra replied, though while he and his followers hadn't come here to actually free some of the Zanpakuto from their partners, as that defeated the original purpose of their mission, he was amending their mission and making sure they reunited the Zanpakuto that weren't being abused to the partners they had been forced to leave, while gathering those that were like Haineko and freed them from abuse, "We'll perform the event in the morning, before everyone gets ready to continue their tasks in taking care of the wounded and keeping an eye out for any of the other spirits, but there is someone that we'll need to keep an eye out for, since she'll come running once we start the process. Zangetsu, once you see Matsumoto enter the area that we're doing this in, since she's bound to come and look at what we're doing, I need you to restrain her until Haineko is free, just in case her meddling with the process does something we're not expecting. Once that's done we'll figure out what our next step is in stopping Muramasa's rebellion, before he has a chance to complete his plans and escape from our grasp."
Haineko had the feeling that Sombra knew something that she and the others didn't, that there was more to this rebellion than what she and the other Zanpakuto spirits had been told, but at the same time she decided to trust her new Lord, especially since Zangetsu did, and see what he had planned... even though she was excited for what the morning brought, since she was finally freeing herself from Matsumoto's abuse at long last.
Despite the fact that she should have been excited for what the morning had for her, since it was going to be the start of a new chapter in her life, Haineko found that within ten minutes of the meeting being over she was exhausted, to which she was carried over to the area that Zangetsu and the other Arrancar had been given for the duration of their stay in Soul Society. Zangetsu explained the situation to his comrades and friends when they arrived, that she was just like he had been and that she would be joining them in the morning, once she had freed herself from her Shinigami partner, and she found that three of them were interested in seeing a new face join them. Harribel, on the other hand, she couldn't read at all, though she had the feeling that the powerful Arrancar was pleased to see that Sombra was rescuing those that were being unfair treated by their partners and offering them a new life, even if it would be different from the one they had known in the past. Haineko did apologize for her exhaustion, since she wanted to stay up and chat with them for a while so she could understand what she was getting herself into, but the other Arrancar knew that she needed her strength and let her drift off to sleep the moment her head hit the pillow.
When morning arrived, and Zangetsu shook her awake when it was time to leave, Haineko yawned for a few seconds before following the Arrancar out of the building they were staying in and headed towards the Fourth Division's barracks, the courtyard to be exact, where she found Sombra standing outside the building.
"It's not too late for you to back out and go back to being a Zanpakuto spirit." Grimmjow commented, as he knew that this decision must have been hard for Haineko to come to, especially since Zangetsu gave him and the others a brief idea of what she had been through, and there was always the chance that she'd back out of it before they got started, "None of us will hold it against you if you suddenly decided to change your mind..."
"No. I've had enough of being abused by my partner." Haineko stated, though she appreciated that one or two of the Arrancar actually cared for her well-being, especially since they barely knew her, and this time she was going to do exactly what she said she was going to do, which is why she stepped forward and approached Sombra, "Lord Sombra, I'm ready to change my life for the better."
"It's good to hear that your standing firm on this decision," Sombra replied, to which he stepped out of the way and beckoned for her to step forward, allowing Haineko to stand in the exact center of the courtyard, the location where she would separate herself from Matsumoto and become her own being at last, and escape being abused, "What you'll want to do is gather your reiatsu until it forms an aura around your body, something that is preceded by the air shaking for a few moments, which is the sign that you'll want to close your eyes and focus on breaking the connections between you and Matsumoto. Zangetsu was able to get it over with in a matter of moments because he was merged with Ichigo, but since the Shinigami would frown on us killing Matsumoto, even if you restored her life seconds later, we'll have to do things this way and let you take your time. Once you get to a point where you feel the bond between your souls is ready to break, and separate you two into two separate beings, you'll be surrounded by a gust of wind for a few seconds... after that you'll be your own person, free to do whatever you want."
Haineko nodded her head and watched as Sombra backed away, just as some of the lower ranking Shinigami seemed to notice that they were doing something, before she sighed and focused on what she had been told, to which her reiatsu gathered around her. As she did that she formed her blade in her right hand and stared at it for a few moments, where she thought about what she was doing and imagined what Zangetsu had done would have been the same thing if he hadn't taken over Ichigo's body, before she focused her mind on the task that she was trying to accomplish. Her white reiatsu flickered and increased as she stood there, the air shaking for a moment at the same time, though as she did that she found that more Shinigami, including Captain Unohana and her Lieutenant, came out to see what they were doing, but it was easy to tell that none of them would bother what she was doing. She didn't know if they knew what happened to Zangetsu or if they were interested in what was happening, but she remained in the same place that she was standing in and let the air shake around her, allowing her full power to gather in the area as she prepared herself, before she closed her eyes and tried to visualize the strands that she had been told about earlier, feeling two strands attached to her arms and two more attached to her legs.
It seemed so simple, that she could find them as easily as she had, before she focused her mind and power on one of them, which was when she found that the strands that were keeping her tied to Matsumoto were stronger than she thought they would be, as the first one she tackled with her power just vibrated and pushed her back. It was almost like the strand was saying that the bond between them couldn't be so easily broken, but after all the pain that she had been through over the years flashed back up to the surface, and her aura strengthened as a result of her determination to free herself, she focused on the strand that she had just attacked and redoubled her efforts. Of course the strand tried to resist what she was doing, just like it had done moments ago when she first struck it, but this time around Haineko found that she was putting some dents in the defenses that she was encountering, because after a few moments she felt her power sink into the strand, weakening it more than it already was, before she gave it a final push and the strand unraveled. It was like a part of her had been liberated from Matsumoto's soul, which was why she was doing this in the first place, and the fact that this was actually possible made her grin as she turned her attention to the second strand, because she was going to cut her way through the four strands and then separate her soul from her former partner's soul... and then, once she reached that point, she'd be her own being with the power to do whatever she wanted, even though she'd also be following Sombra's orders from time to time.
"What in the world is going on out here?" Matsumoto asked, as she had felt that there was a large gathering of both Shinigami and Arrancar in the courtyard of the Fourth Division's barracks, and she was right since there were a number of people gathered to watch what was happening, before she winced as a small cut formed on her left hand, "What the... who in the world attacked me?"
"No one attacked you, Lieutenant Matsumoto." Zangetsu replied, though at the same time he did as his Lord had told him to do, he appeared behind the confused lady and grabbed both of her shoulders, because if she did anything to Haineko this could get ugly real fast, "All that happened was that Haineko used her power and broke one of the smaller bonds that exist between the two of you, a strand that was keeping her tied to your soul, though it appears that the act of breaking such a thing had a small reaction. I guess it's to be expected, especially since the only event of a Zanpakuto spirit leaving their partner is, well, when I left Ichigo during his adventure into Hueco Mundo, and that was a clean separation since I was in control of his body, so I guess a separation like this is going to have some pain involved, at least for the Shinigami anyway. It seems that Haineko might be able to get some revenge for all the pain you put her through over the many years you two knew each other."
"Wait, she's abandoning me?!" Matsumoto exclaimed, though as she said that she attempted to move, only to find that Zangetsu's strength was enough to keep her where she was standing, meaning that she couldn't tackle Haineko and stop her from doing what she was doing, "Let go of me! You can't take my Zanpakuto spirit away from me!"
"We're not the ones who drove her to do this, I merely told her what she had to do and let her make the decision all on her own." Sombra stated, as he had been waiting for Matsumoto to arrive and knew that Zangetsu would prevent her from doing anything that could endanger her former partner, which was why he walked over to them so he could be near them as Haineko worked to free herself, especially when she turned her attention to her next target, "Besides, why do you suddenly care what happens to Haineko? From what I've learned in the last couple of hours you only cared about her when you were trying to get her Shikai, but then, once you managed to learn that, it started to turn into you only cared about yourself and started tormenting her with names that tore her down, and that's not forgetting about the times you chipped her edge and even shattered her blade in a fit of anger."
"That... that bitch!" Matsumoto said, to which she fought to get Zangetsu off of her, because she couldn't believe that Haineko would be so stupid to run to someone else and complain about her, though she was forced back as a cut appeared on her other hand, mirroring the first one, "I'm going to beat some sense into her, once I figure out how to get you to stop holding me down like this."
"And there it is, the attitude that Haineko despises more than anything in the world." Zangetsu growled, to which he glared at Matsumoto for a moment, the act of which caused her to pause in her movements as she locked her gaze with his, where he allowed her to understand that he was annoyed with her, "You're too self-centered to care what's happening to the spirit that's supposed to be your Zanpakuto spirit, because it has to be all about you and you never gave Haineko a second thought after you gained control over her Shikai. All you did was keep her trapped in your inner world, locked the door, and made sure to forget where the key was located, leaving her to live a life where she couldn't communicate with you, despite her attempts to reach you while also making sure to keep her skills ready for when you needed her assistance or wanted to train. Did you ever stop to think what happened when you shattered her blade in your fit of anger? No, I'm going to guess that you didn't care and that you simply rushed to repair the blade, instead of checking on your partner, like you should have. Were you aware of the fact that when you broke Haineko's blade that one time, and shattered it into several fragments in the process, that you nearly killed her in the process, and that it was by her own determination and will to live that she was able to hold herself together until you got her blade reforged?"
Matsumoto paused for a moment, as she remembered the day that Zangetsu was talking about in great detail, as it had been the turning point in her relationship with Haineko, but she realized that he was also right, she had never even considered what she had done to Haineko that day and how she had damaged their bond, and it shocked her to hear that she had nearly killed her partner by doing what she had done.
"That's right, you should be shocked by that piece of information," Zangetsu said, though at the same time the wind burst out of where Haineko was standing, as her aura had grown that much stronger over the last couple of minutes and she must have shattered the next obstacle, considering the third cut that formed on Matsumoto's right leg, "Ever since that day she's been trying to reforge the old bond that the two of you had, because she wanted things to return to normal, and yet all you did was ignore her and remained the same self-centered person you were since that point in time. Haineko said that overtime she had trouble hearing your voice and only came out when the need was great, like when you went up against Harribel's Fraccion, and her growing frustration at you not treating her with a shred of respect caused her to join the rebellion when Muramasa contacted her. Let's face the facts, you forced Haineko into the position that she slowly found herself in and kept beating her with either harmful names or chipping her blade when you got annoyed, so I think it's only fair that you lose the Zanpakuto spirit that's supposed to be your partner."
"No. You can't take her from me!" Matsumoto stated, to which she struggled against Zangetsu's hold as a fourth cut appeared on her left leg, but this time around she didn't let that stop her from trying to get to her Zanpakuto spirit, to which she glanced at the bright white aura that was wrapping around Haineko at the moment, "Haineko, you stupid cat! You can't just abandon me like this!"
Before Zangetsu could do anything, as it appeared that Matsumoto didn't get the fact that her name calling was doing more damage and wasn't fixing the problem that she had created over the years, a white wavy beam burst out of her chest and raced towards the aura that was around Haineko, where it connected to the Zanpakuto spirit as well. Zangetsu knew what it was, as Haineko had reached the point where all she had to do was open her true heart, accepting the fact that she was leaving behind her position as an abused Zanpakuto spirit and that she was taking up a new position as an Arrancar, all while leaving behind her Shinigami partner. All she had to do was unbind her soul from Matsumoto's soul and take her power back into herself, just like he had done when he was separating himself from Ichigo, and then she would be her own being at long last, free to do whatever she wanted and gain the respect of those that she chose to associate herself with in the future. A few moments later he watched as a crack formed in the middle of the connection between their souls, causing Matsumoto to scream in pain for a moment as Zangetsu gently released her and let her sit on the ground, but he knew that this was because of the two souls, who were supposed to be bound until death, were being separated from each other, and since it was Haineko that was going though the effort to pull them apart, Matsumoto was the one to suffer.
Despite the pain that Matsumoto was in, since it had to feel like her soul was being broken into two halves, she forced herself to stand and faced the wind vortex that was now forming around Haineko, though as the moments ticked by the cracks continued to form in the connection between them, where Matsumoto forced herself to keep calm and not scream in pain as the bond was breaking before her eyes. When the connection between them actually snapped in half, freeing Haineko from her abusive partner, Matsumoto was knocked onto her back as her half of the connection slammed into her, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared, and she couldn't help but scream once more as she felt the pain of losing someone that had been close to her for a large portion of her life. Haineko, on the other hand, looked down at the piece of the connection that surged into her chest and kicked up a torrent of reiatsu, dust, and wind that prevented everyone from being able to see her, even though a few Shinigami rushed over to Matsumoto and helped her onto her feet as she stared at the torrent of energy in front of them. Zangetsu stood beside the other Arrancar for a moment, as they were all studying what was happening before their eyes, while Sombra stood nearby, as he was eager to see if this method worked as well as Zangetsu's possession and separation method did, before the wind died down, the dust fell to the ground, and the surge of reiatsu died down.
When the smoke cleared Sombra found Haineko standing where she had been standing moments ago, though this time she was holding her Zanpakuto in it's sheath, but while she looked the same there were some changes, which was mostly the small white tiara that had to be her mask fragment, though since they couldn't see her Hollow hole Sombra assumed that it was above her chest and below her neck, meaning that it was hidden by her fur like chest piece.
"I'm... I'm free!" Haineko exclaimed, to which a happy smile appeared on her face as she realized what she had been able to do, especially since she looked over her form for a moment and found that she seemed to be almost the exact same as before, only now she was no longer tied to Matsumoto, before she looked over at the nearby Arrancar and knelt towards her new King, "Lord Sombra, Zangetsu, thank you for freeing me from my former partner. I will gladly join the Arrancar that are following you and serve you as well."
"It's nice to have you join us," Sombra replied, to which he and the other Arrancar smiled at Haineko, especially since Zangetsu moved forward and helped their newest member onto her feet, before he considered something as Matsumoto glared at him, "We'll take some time to get you situated as a member of my growing empire, and whatever duties you might have in the future, before we start thinking about the rebellion and the rest of the Zanpakuto that Muramasa is still controlling at the moment."
As Haineko and the other Arrancar agreed with him, and his followers helped Haineko understand the difference between what she had been and what she was now, Sombra glanced in the direction that the forest ruins were in and knew that it was only a matter of time until Muramasa made his move, and then they'd attack him in return... but until then he'd focus on making Haineko feel better about her decision and get her moving down the right path, to mend the wounds that Matsumoto inflicted on her, and he was sure that Haineko would enjoy the changes to her life.