//------------------------------//
// Rebellion: The Last Toju 
// Story: Bleach: Heart of a Hero 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
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A week went by since Sombra called the entirety of his army to Soul Society and had Narunosuke lead him to the resting place of the majority of the remaining Toju, who had been surprised to find a powerful group of enemies waiting for them and had been calmed down relatively easily. It was in times like this, where the population was suddenly increased by some event that had happened, where Sombra was happy with the fact he had planned ahead and built a large number of buildings and structures for the rest of the beings that would become his followers, as none of the former Toju had to bunk with the rest of his followers and wait for him to build more buildings for them. The Arrancar that had been with him since he claimed Hueco Mundo were happy with what he had done, as a few of them were former Zanpakuto spirits and were overjoyed that he had saved the rest of the spirits that didn't have masters, while others were just happy to have more of their kind to interact with. From what he was able to tell the number of followers that he had was evenly split down the middle, in terms of gender anyway, and while a good number of them were just Gillian ranked there were quite a number of Adjuchas among them, not that any of them seemed to care about the power ranking anymore.

Despite that fact, however, all of the Arrancar knew that there was some ranking to Las Noches, as Sombra did keep the notion of the Espada, the ten strongest followers that he had at any given moment, in terms of Arrancar, and that seemed to please everyone that served him.

The former Toju were pleased with their new existence, as they finally had a place to call their own and didn't have to worry about moving anymore, they weren't consumed by a blinding anger for the Shinigami anymore, and they finally had someone that they could serve with everything they had, finding a new purpose at last. The former Toju started their training the day after they returned to Hueco Mundo, and found someplace in Las Noches to call their own so they had a good nights sleep before they got started, and Sombra was pleased to find that all of them were eager to begin learning what it meant to be an Arrancar. While all that was going on, and he left the training to the Arrancar that were assigned to be instructors at the moment, he headed out and talked with the dragon Hollow that wanted to live near Las Noches, as he had, thanks to Szayelaporro's research, found an area that she could live in, which made the Hollow happy as he manipulated the surrounding area to form her new home, creating a cave for her to call home. He was also sure that the rest of Las Noches would be happy to have another Vasto Lorde hanging nearby, just in case they found themselves without him there to defend them against any dangerous threats, and he had the feeling that both Starrk, Harribel, and Ulquiorra would be happy to have another member of their rank nearby.

Once that was done he returned to Las Noches and headed to the room that the communication sphere was resting in, where he tapped it and opened a link to Soul Society, which was where Muramasa, Zangetsu, and Haineko were staying for the moment since he was sure that there were some Toju left in Soul Society. The trio reported that they were assisting the Shinigami in their repairs, since it only seemed fair to help them out while they were looking for the remaining Toju that he was sure were lurking in the area around the Seireitei, since there were seven of them left, based on the count he made when they had freed the Toju in the cavern. Truthfully he knew that the trio wanted to leave, since they were eager to meet the newest arrivals of their kingdom and finally relax, but they knew that he was counting on them to keep an eye out for the remaining Toju, so he could collect them when they were saved, before the connection was terminated as he moved on to the next task he wanted to take care of. He walked out of the chamber that the communication sphere was in and used the walkway that was connected to the building to head out into Las Noches, where he looked out over his empire and observed the Arrancar that called Las Noches home with a smile on his face.

Everyone was happy and it seemed like an ordinary kingdom, with the Arrancar going about their day and doing whatever they needed or wanted to do, and while he did that he glanced over at the training grounds and wasn't surprised to find that Kyoko was still there, trying to better herself for the future. He had to admit that Kyoko, despite the fact that she hadn't been a Hollow before her transformation, and knew nothing about the world that she had been thrust into thanks to the Toju that had merged with her body, was adapting quite well to her new life and was showing signs of being an incredibly powerful Gillian ranked Arrancar, or maybe even a low ranking Adjuchas if she was lucky. It wasn't just her innate ability to see bits of the future, hence why the Toju had sought her out to begin with, that was allowing her to keep up with her training, rather it was her determination to prove herself and keep herself from being discarded, something from her time as a Human since she had been rejected by nearly everyone she revealed her powers to, but at the same time he had no intention of abandoning her, not after hearing what she had been through. It was like what happened with Haineko and Zangetsu, they had been hurt in some manner and he extended his arm out to them, pulling them into a world that they could thrive in, and that was what he had done for Kyoko, something that she seemed grateful for as she dodged the incoming attack and knocked her instructor onto her rear.

In that moment he decided that she was going to be of the Adjuchas class one day, as her skill with her weapon was impressive, despite only recently getting it, and her ability to adapt to the battle she was in was the same way, something that Kyoko definitely seemed proud of.

"It's amazing what you've been able to do in just a month's time." Yoruichi said, where she flashed down to where her love was standing, allowing her to look out over the empire that hadn't been in Hueco Mundo some time ago, though at the same time Sombra found that she was wearing her Arrancar attire, instead of her normal clothing, "It's also amazing to see the Hollows of Hueco Mundo calm down and act differently than what we originally thought about them, showing me that there is more to this world than we first thought."

"The Hollows are happy because I've changed Hueco Mundo from a desert and am returning it to how it looked before the first Dios Hueco was chosen." Sombra replied, though he continued to smile as he looked out at the empire that was his to lead, because he was proud of the fact that he had been able to change both the world around him and the fact that the Hollows changed in accordance to his improvements, "You know, I originally felt that being the Dios Hueco was going to be hard, even given the experience I had in the past, but now, after seeing how they're all reacting towards the changes I've made I can tell that I had nothing to fear at all, not if everyone's happy with me."

"I'm sure that you would have been a good ruler, regardless of which realm you were chosen to rule over," Yoruichi added, because based on what she had seen so far, during her time in the new Hueco Mundo, she was sure that the Hollows and the Arrancar would be happy with Sombra as their leader, and she was positive that the same thing would have been true if Sombra had been sent to Soul Society or Hell, that things would have changed for the better, before she stood beside him, "You know, both Nel and Harribel are still curious if you're going to take more than one lover, to follow in the footsteps of your predecessor, though neither are willing to bring it up to you, since they know your busy with making sure your kingdom is up to your specifications."

Sombra wasn't surprised to hear that the two Arrancar were still thinking about that, since they had started talking about it after Aizen was defeated and occasionally mentioned it, to remind him about what the previous Dios Hueco did before their demise. At the same time this was the first time Yoruichi had mentioned such a thing, while her tone told him that she was actually interested in what he was thinking, meaning that she had to be okay with the idea of sharing him with the others, since she had a habit of adapting to the beliefs that Hollows and Arrancar possessed.

"Are you saying that you're okay with sharing me with them?" Sombra inquired, as while he was fine with sticking to a single lover he couldn't deny that he was interested in the idea, because during his time as king of the Crystal Empire he had stuck with no lovers, since his mind was torn by what happened before be became king, so he had no experience in something like that.

"It's worth trying out and seeing if we like it." Yoruichi replied, because while she would have preferred keeping Sombra to herself, in terms of love, she also knew that hearing that he tried things out with Harribel or Nel, or even both or all three of them, would likely appease the Hollows and Arrancar more than they already where, "The question is do you want to give it a chance?"

"You know, if all three of you are up to it, I think I'll give it a shot," Sombra said, as this was turning out to be quite the interesting day for him, but at the same time he made no move to leave the walkway just yet, as there was one thing he wanted to do before he and Yoruichi talked with Harribel and Nel, "but first, I want to be absolutely sure that the Toju threat is taken care of and that we've saved them all... and then we can see what the others think about your idea."

Despite what a few of the Captains were thinking, that Sombra was just looking for an excuse to keep some of his soldiers stationed in Soul Society, Yoruichi had know him longer than they did and knew that if he said there were seven Toju that they had missed, then there were seven more for them to hunt down and save before they disappeared. Once he was sure that all of the Toju had been saved, and converted into Arrancar, she knew that Sombra would withdraw the three Arrancar that were still in Soul Society and leave the Shinigami to their business, until he and his army were needed for whatever threat came next. It also made sense that he'd want to save anything that resembled fun for when he actually had time to have fun, since he was a ruler first and a warrior second, which was why he was so focused on making sure that this incident with the Toju was over, for them and Soul Society, and that made her happy that he was willing to expand so much of his energy helping others out. In the end she nodded her head in agreement, as she was sure that Nel and Harribel could wait a while before they got the answer to the question that they had been asking for some time, and they would be happy with whatever answer Sombra gave them, once he was done with the Toju.

Since she had faith in Sombra's ability to determine that something was happening, or would happen, she was sure that the remaining Toju would make their move soon, since that was what Sombra had to be thinking about right now, and then they could finally relax and focus on something else... they just had to be patient and wait for someone to tell them that the Toju were on the move again.





While Sombra was busy in Hueco Mundo, making sure that everything was fine and that his subjects had everything that they needed, everything seemed to be peaceful in Soul Society, since the amount of incidents had dropped to zero in the days following Sombra's action of taking all of the former Toju to his empire. For the most part the Shinigami were able to continue their repairs without having to stop and chase down another menace, though despite the fact that many were sure that the Toju were done for they were slightly confused as to why three Arrancar were still hanging around the building that had been given to their forces for the duration of their stay. They, like their Captains, believed that the threat was over and that the three Arrancar could head back home, though the Captain-Commander trusted Sombra's belief that there were still seven more Toju running around and was glad to have the assistance, because if they weren't chasing any threats he knew that he could have the three Arrancar assist with the rebuilding effort, something that Muramasa seemed okay with, confirming that he was making things right and improving his reputation with them. Zangetsu and Haineko, for the most part, were working with the other Zanpakuto, to see if they could find any of the seven that Sombra was looking for, without blowing up part of the Seireitei or anything, like what happened with the SRDI's building a week ago.

Of course they were all interrupted when a young man with white skin, with a few meat cleavers strapped to a strap he wore diagonally across his body, burst through one of the windows of the building that he had been running through and landed on the ground, before turning his head as three Shinigami spotted him... though as he hurled one of his cleavers at the Shinigami Kazeshini, the first one to respond to the Toju's reiatsu, moved into the area and used his own weapon to knock the cleaver out of it's path.

"That's a nice weapon you got there." Kazeshini commented, though at the same time he turned towards the cleaver wielding Toju, who still had two more attached to the strap he was wearing, and knew that he was going to have to wear his foe down so Muramasa could save him when he arrived, "You know, since I've got to wait for someone to come save you, why don't we see whose is stronger!"

Hisagi flashed into the area that the Toju's reiatsu was coming from and frowned for a moment when he saw that his Zanpakuto spirit was already here, where Kazeshini started to swing his scythe-like weapons at the Toju, light enough to force him to defend himself as the Shinigami backed away to give him some room. He wanted to go all out, he really did, but his orders were to wear the Toju down and prevent him from escaping, so Muramasa could work his magic on him and turn him into an Arrancar, though that didn't stop him from grinning as he swung at his target and forced him to defend himself with one of his two remaining cleavers. For the most part the Toju parried his attacks well, showing that he had some promise as an opponent, if he was allowed to fight the being when everything was said and done, before he forced his foe into a nearby street that would force Hisagi and the others to move if they wanted to see how the battle came to an end. The Toju seemed concerned for his safety, since he seemed to be sweating and considering his options on what was going on at the moment, though that was before Kazeshini paused as the Toju dropped his weapon and started to act like he was choking... though before he could do anything the Toju burst into orange flames for a moment, where the flames, which felt like reiryoku, burst out in all directions and left the spirit.

As the flames disappeared, however, Kazeshini raised his eyebrow in surprise as he found a Zanpakuto, without any sort of reiatsu coming from it, resting on the ground in front of him, meaning that something had killed the Toju before Muramasa even had a chance to arrive and save him.

"Kazeshini, what did you do?" Hisagi asked, because after defeating him, and returning him to his original state before his mind had been controlled by Muramasa like the rest of the Zanpakuto spirits, he had been hoping that the blood lust that his partner felt had been taken down a notch, but he was disappointed in what he saw.

"Nothing... I did nothing but chase him into this area." Kazeshini admitted, because something was wrong with the situation that he had found himself in, and he was sure that, despite the scene that was in front of him, Hisagi knew that he hadn't killed the Toju on accident or anything, since his orders were to capture it, "He just suddenly burst into flames and his reiryoku poured out of him..."

"Now that sounds odd." a voice said, where both Kazeshini and Hisagi turned to look behind them as Renji, Saru, Hebi, and Muramasa arrived in the area behind them, though while they did that Muramasa looked at the fallen blade with a look of concern on his face, showing that he understood that something was going on, before they determined that it was Renji that had spoken, "What could have caused him to suddenly lose all of his reiryoku?"

"Maybe he expired?" Saru commented, as that was something that they had been warned about when they first learned of the existence of the Toju, which was the reason that Sombra had asked them to find as many of the Toju as they could and save them before such a fate befell them, "This is likely what happens to a Toju after a certain amount of time, so I guess it's a good thing that we managed to save as many of them as we could, otherwise we'd have a sea of dead Zanpakuto just laying around and collecting dust."

"Still, the suddenness of him expiring seems odd." Hisagi stated, to which he picked up the Zanpakuto that was on the ground and noticed that there wasn't a single trace of the reiatsu he had been feeling earlier coming from the blade anymore, confirming the fact that the Zanpakuto spirit must have expired, "Either way, this means that there's only six more Toju running around the Seireitei, so we should be on the lookout for them in case the same thing happens to them, though telling Sombra that one of them expired isn't going to be good, since he's been so bent on saving as many of the Toju as he possibly can."

"Yeah, he might not like the news of one of them expiring," Renji said, as he had seen what happened when Sombra was annoyed or upset about something, kind of like the time where he was fighting Szayelaporro and used a number of powers that had turned the tide of the battle easily, before shaking his head, "We'll have to tell him eventually, so it might be best if we inform him that the remaining Toju might expire soon and just let the six of them expire, but something tells me that he'll insist that we try to save them anyway."

Renji and Hisagi glanced at each other for a moment, knowing that neither one of them wanted to make the call that brought the Dios Hueco back to Soul Society, to which they nodded their heads and silently agreed that they would inform the Captains once they had some time to see if anything else happened, before walking away from the Zanpakuto spirits that were behind them.

"Honestly, I don't see why Sombra would case about one expired Toju," Hebi said, to which he sighed for a moment and looked up at the sky, because there were just some things in this world that he didn't understand and the being that was known as Sombra was one of them, "especially when he has an entire army in Hueco Mundo."

"Given his own history, it's a matter of granting others the second chance he was never given," Muramasa spoke up, as he remembered what Haineko and Zangetsu had told him, about their Lord starting out as an innocent youth and becoming the dreaded king that history remembered him as, before overcoming all of that and proved that one's past did not define who they were, something that he was trying to do as well, "besides, he promised that he'd help Soul Society deal with the Toju, so what happens to them is his concern, since he knows they can be saved. Finding out that one of them actually expired is going to annoy him, as it means that we're running out of time to save the others, and he might bring in more Arrancar to help the Shinigami search for them, but we have no way of actually knowing that he'll do until someone tells him what happened to this Toju."

"Regardless of what Sombra does, we need to have a talk." Kazeshini said, because there was something about this entire situation that didn't sit well with him, which was why he banished his scythe-like weapons for now and turned away from the spot the Toju had been standing in moments ago, "I think it's about time the Zanpakuto got back together and had one last meeting, away from our Shinigami, and we should invite Zangetsu and Haineko as well, since they both deserve to know what is going on as well."

Muramasa knew that if Kazeshini was taking something serious, like he was doing right now, than he and the others should listen and do as he suggested, to which he and the two spirits of Zabimaru nodded their heads before they went their separate ways for now. He was sure that Lord Sombra would hear of this, one way or another, so he decided to wait until morning and see if someone had told him what was going on, to give Renji and Hisagi the chance to contact Hueco Mundo and relay the news, but this situation seemed worse than it actually was. The way that Kazeshini acted told him that they might not be dealing with the Toju expiring, rather that another one of their kind was drawing in enough power to keep himself from expiring, even if it meant killing off the rest of the Toju and whoever got in their way. Since it seemed that Kazeshini knew something he decided to trust the Zanpakuto spirit, which was why he headed for the building that Zangetsu and Haineko were in, surprising them by his sudden arrival, especially since they had been getting ready to head out and help the Shinigami as well.

Both of them were happy to hear that they had found one of the missing Toju, though they were surprised when he told them that it had burst into flames and it's reiatsu had disappeared completely, leaving it's Zanpakuto behind, to which they glanced at each other and nodded their heads, showing that they understood that this could be a problem. As such the three of them headed for the one spot, in the entirety of the Seireitei, where they might have a simple meeting and be able to depart the moment it was done, the spot where Zaraki had fought both Tosen and Komamura back when Ichigo and the others were invading Soul Society. The only way they knew where the battle had taken place was because it was recorded in the records, something that Muramasa could easily access since he was only looking for the battles and not any specific information about a powerful relic, and before long they were headed out to the area in question. Of course since it had been in the afternoon when the Toju had been found, and it was the late afternoon when Muramasa found out where the battle took place, the trio got to the area in question as the moon rose into the air, though as they came to the area they stopped as they noticed that two of the spirits were already present.

Hozukimaru and Ruri'iro Kujaku were sitting in the area that they were going to be meeting in, apparently sharing some sake with each other as they talked about the moon, and not even a few moments later Kazeshini and both halves of Zabimaru walked up the street, to which the trio joined them and entered the area as a group.

"What's going on here?" Hozukimaru asked, though at the same time he noticed something interesting, since he had never seen both Kazeshini and Zabimaru hang out before today, and he could tell that Ruri'iro Kujaku was thinking about something else at the moment, "You two never hang out. In fact you tend to stay away from them as well."

"Yeah, well our partners have been spending more time near each other," Kazeshini replied, answering the first part of the statement, since it had been directed towards him, Saru, and Hebi, before the three of them sat down as the Arrancar did the same thing, "and we occasionally work with the Arrancar since they're only doing what their Lord asked them to do, but that's not important right now."

"Good, because I think this was his failed attempt at teasing you guys." Ruri'iro Kujaku commented, though at the same time he finished what sake was in his cup and set it down, as he had been hoping to drink a little more before the others arrived, before turning towards the group that had called them here, "So, why did you decide to call this meeting? Especially at a time like this?"

"There's no easy way to say this, especially considering who we're talking about, so I'll just say it," Kazeshini said, to which he looked at the assembled Zanpakuto spirits that had come, far less than he was hoping to see, but at the very least they could spread the message once the meeting was over, "We found His tracks."

"Are you serious?" Hozukimaru asked, because if Kazeshini was talking about who he thought he was talking about, and he had the feeling that he was doing just that, than the remaining Toju were in trouble, which made it a good thing that so many of them had been saved and taken to a different realm.

"Definitely." Kazeshini replied, where he glared at the group for a moment, to show them that he was being serious, and while most of them knew who he was talking about both Muramasa and Zangetsu seemed confused, which he was okay with since he planned on explaining himself anyway, "The Toju I was chasing after earlier suddenly stopped all of a sudden and his reiatsu was just drained out of his body, returning him to his Zanpakuto state, even though there wasn't a trace of him left in the blade at all... that was His move alright."

"From what Captain Mayuri could tell, all Toju have a finite amount of reiatsu that keeps them in their current state," Saru added, reminding them that there had been something they had learned and failed to inform Sombra about, but at the same time that fact didn't matter very much, not since so many of the Toju had been saved before they even neared that point, "and, from what the Captain determined, once they run out of that amount of reiatsu they would disappear, even though Muramasa saved them before they could get to that point."

"So they had a chance to go extinct from the start," Zangetsu commented, to which he leaned back a little and stared at the group, who turned their heads and looked at him for a moment, since he was happy about what they had been able to do, "I guess that means that Lord Sombra's plan to find and save as many of them as we could worked better than he could have hoped for, especially since it appears that the others might expire before we find them... but something tells me that you aren't talking about that right now."

"Yeah, the guy we're talking about can steal another Zanpakuto's reiatsu and use it as his own." Kazeshini said, to which Muramasa and Zangetsu raised their eyebrows for a moment, as that sounded like an incredibly dangerous ability for someone to have, "The problem is that this particular spirit surpassed his master in strength, and that's mostly because his master was holding his power back, but now that his Shinigami is dead he can use his powers however he desires, which is a problem for everyone."

"I see, so he's going to overpower whoever is in his way and take their reiatsu for himself." Muramasa stated, though as he said that he said his hand to his chin, showing that he was thinking about something, even though he was happy that three of them had transformed into Arrancar, since it made them much safer than the others, "The Shinigami will be hard pressed to defeat someone like him, so it might be best if we skipped all the unnecessary pain and just called Lord Sombra in before anything else happens... he could stop this Toju before the situation gets out of hand."

"While you do that, I think we should set a trap for him." Ruri'iro Kujaku added, to which he stood up for a moment and looked at the moon, something that he found beauty in, despite Hozukimaru's opinion that it was far too bright for their meeting, before he decided to say what he had been thinking about the entire time, "And we even have the perfect bait; me. Now, before any of you say anything, let me tell you that Yumichika and I have been talking about the status of our relationship, since I was freed from your mind control, and we have come to an agreement that we would like to propose to Sombra when he next visits Soul Society. We've decided that since we cannot get along, without our own desires and lifestyles getting in the way, and the fact that Yumichika will not relent on his punishments whenever I don't feel like coming to his aid, since he refuses to use my true name, that we should go our separate ways, permanently... as in he's willing to let me separate my soul from his and become an Arrancar."

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Haineko asked, because she knew that most Zanpakuto were in agreement with their partners, that they should remain the way before Muramasa showed himself, she was surprised to hear that there was another spirit that wanted to separate himself from his partner.

"I know, I don't have the track record that you have with Matsumoto," Ruri'iro Kujaku said, as he had thought about that fact for a while now, figuring that someone was going to object because of what he was saying, before he sighed and looked at Haineko, "but Yumichika likes to call me names, chips me against whatever he lashes out at when I decide to ignore his summons, and refuses to call me by my real name unless he's away from everyone else and is sure that no one can see him when he activates my true power, a power that he hates with all his heart. We've agreed that, since Sombra is taking in Zanpakuto spirits that aren't happy with their Shinigami partners, like you and Zangetsu, that he might do the same for me if we asked him."

Haineko had nothing to say to that, because she didn't know that Sombra would do if he was approached with such an idea, so she remained silent as Kazeshini told them that they would spread out and tell the other Zanpakuto spirits about the dangerous Toju that he had discovered. Once the meeting was over Haineko headed out to the area that she knew two of the spirits, Tobiume and Kyokotsu, were in, as they were joining Matsumoto, Hinamori, and Ise in a bar so they could enjoy the night, and while she had been invited she had been planning on doing something else, but the threat that Kazeshini had mentioned told her otherwise. The group was happy to see her when she arrived, as if they knew that she had taken her time before joining them, and welcomed her immediately, though while she didn't actually need to eat any of the food she did so out of habit and did the same with the sake that was offered to her, since she couldn't get drunk at all, but while that happened she glanced at the Zanpakuto and told them that 'He had been found'. Tobiume and Kyokotsu glanced at each other, understanding who she was talking about while the Shinigami were too focus on the meal to hear what she had said, before they went back to what they were doing so they could make sure everyone was up to speed when morning arrived.

Haineko learned that the other half of Captain Shunsui's Zanpakuto, Katen, was at the barracks drinking sake with her partner, meaning that Kyokotsu would tell her other half, in some manner, that they had confirmed the existence of a dangerous foe that might endanger the Seireitei... and, when the dinner was over, Ise and Hinamori had to pull a drunken Matsumoto away from the bar as Haineko went the other way with her fellow spirits.

As the three of them headed out, however, Haineko felt something that she wasn't expecting to feel so soon, as she noticed the flash of another Toju's reiatsu appear somewhere in the Seireitei, though before they could even move in the direction of it, so they could save the Toju, the reiatsu disappeared as suddenly as the cleaver wielding Toju's when he was fighting Kazeshini. That worried her, as that meant that there were two permanently dead Toju that couldn't be saved anymore, though as she started walking forward she had to stop a few seconds, because the reiatsu of a second Toju doing what the first one did, appearing and disappearing rather suddenly. That was three beings that the dangerous Toju had destroyed, meaning that three Toju were still unaccounted for, but that only told her that they needed to gather their forces and prepare for the being's arrival once more, because if they did gather together they might entice the being to come out of hiding and doom himself, especially since Zangetsu and Muramasa would be with them. Eventually she came to a stop and told both Tobiume and Kyokotsu to talk with the others without her, causing them to stare at her for a few seconds before they moved forward, where she turned to the side and headed to the Thirteenth Division's barracks, as she came to a decision about whether or not they were going to tell Lord Sombra about this.

It didn't take her long to find the barracks that she was searching for, though when she arrived she knocked on the door and patiently waited for someone to come and let her in, because while she was aware that time was of the essence she wasn't going to just barge in like she owned the place, and she was a little surprised to find Rukia standing on the other side of the door, since she figured that she'd be back at her manor or in the World of the Living.

"Haineko, what brings you here this late into the night?" Rukia asked, because it was getting close to midnight and she was surprised to find that Haineko was still up, especially since she knew that Arrancar needed sleep, if Sombra was anything to go by, but at the same time an Arrancar only came here for one reason, even if she was hoping that she was wrong in her thoughts.

"Kazeshini found something earlier that I think needs Lord Sombra's attention, but he and the other Zanpakuto think they can deal with it on their own," Haineko replied, showing that she knew that the being the others had found needed someone like her Lord to assist them before someone was hurt, while at the same time she noticed that Rukia was a little surprised by her response, "They were planning on telling him later, but the Toju in question has killed three of his own kind already and it's only a matter of time until the other three are taken out as well, so I figured that it would be best if someone told Lord Sombra about the situation before it escalated any further than it already has."

"That sounds like Kazeshini," Rukia said, to which she shook her head as she waved Haineko into the barracks, as this sounded like something that needed to be done quickly, especially if the dangerous Toju had already killed three of the other Toju and might be targeting the other three that they were looking for, "I was helping Captain Ukitake with the rest of the paperwork, for the repairs done to the area of the Seireitei that we're stationed in, when you arrived, but based on what little you've told me, and the look on your face, I can tell that this is more important than what we were doing, and I'm positive that the Captain would agree with me."

Haineko nodded her head and followed Rukia into the barracks, where they walked down the hallway that would take them right to the room where the communication sphere was in, and while she believed that it would have been better for the Shinigami to just hand it over for the duration of their stay she was also fine with this. It wasn't long before they came to a stop at the room that the sphere was resting in, where Rukia opened the door and entered the room with Haineko, who approached the dark object and rested her hand against it, where she thought about Hueco Mundo for a moment and waited for the connection to be made. At first Yoruichi appeared on the other side, which made sense considering that she was spending more and more time in Hueco Mundo, before she moved out of the sphere's sight and they were left with nothing for a few seconds, though that was followed by Sombra stepping into view and only stopping when he was ready to talk with them.

"Ah, Haineko, I was expecting a message from you and the others in the morning, but this works as well," Sombra said, because since it had been a week, and there had been no reports of the remaining Toju showing themselves at all, he knew that it was time to withdraw his forces and let the Shinigami run things their way, since they could contact him once the other Toju showed up in the future, before he noticed the look on her face, "Did something happen since the last time I talked with you, Zangetsu, and Muramasa?"

"You could say that, Lord Sombra." Haineko replied, though at the same time she knew that Kazeshini wasn't going to like what she was doing, but it was better if they had Sombra on their side, instead of just lashing out at the Toju that he had confirmed the existence of earlier, "Earlier this afternoon one of the seven missing Toju made an appearance in Soul Society, a man that was wearing two cleavers attached to a strap around his chest, and was carrying a third one in his right hand, to use as his main weapon against those that tried to stop him. Kazeshini was the first one to encounter the Toju and proceeded with the goal of capturing him in mind, but what actually happened was that the Toju in question burst into orange flames and returned to his Zanpakuto state, and from what he said he couldn't feel any reiatsu coming from the blade. Naturally both Renji and Hisagi believed that it was just a matter of the Toju expiring and didn't even bother to consider that maybe another Toju had siphoned the cleaver Toju's reiatsu, to extend it's own existence, and Kazeshini gathered a few of the spirits earlier and told us that he knew who was behind this odd occurrence, even though he didn't say the spirit's name at all.

The spirit's name is Kirikaze, meaning 'Mist Wind' when you translate it, and his powers allow him to generate wind of whatever power he desires, the ability to transform into mist if he so desired, and apparently the power to absorb the reiatsu of the other Toju, since he struck down two of the others on my way here, hence the reason I decided to contact you before he has a chance to go after the other three."

"Based on what you're telling me, it sounds like Kazeshini is trying to get the others to join him," Sombra commented, showing that he was thinking about what he had just been told, and while he seemed a little sad that three of the Toju had perished, since he had been trying to save them all, that sadness was gone in an instant, making Haineko wonder if she might have envisioned the look on her Lord's face for some reason, "so they can all attack this Kirikaze at the same time, hopefully wearing him down to the point where either Muramasa can step in and free him, or they knock him down to the point where he shatters into a thousand pieces. Very well then, I shall be in Soul Society in the morning, so tell Kazeshini not to do anything reckless until I arrive, though something tells me that even if you did get the message through he'd just ignore you anyway and lash out against Kirikaze with whoever decided to aid him."

"I will try to tell him to stand down until you arrive," Haineko said, though at this point she wasn't surprised to find that her Lord had figured out what was going on and seemed to have a plan in mind for what to do when he arrived, but before the link between the two realms was disconnected there was something else she needed to say, "Also, from what I was told both Ruri'iro Kujaku and Yumichika have come to an understanding with each other, as in they can't stand each other and want to separate their souls from their partner, despite the fact that nothing terrible has happened to Ruri'iro Kujaku, save for being called a name he hates and being based other objects from time to time when he doesn't come to his partner's aid."

"Of course they would be having problems as well." Sombra replied, showing that he must have know about their problems ahead of time and had been hoping that they would have come to some sort of agreement that wasn't about separating them from each other, before he shook his head and looked at the sphere on his end, "Okay, I'll talk to them when I get there, and after Kirikaze is taken care of, so hopefully they don't do something incredibly stupid before I have a chance to talk some sense into them... but knowing them, since it's mirrored in other Shinigami as well, something tells me that they'll do something stupid before I get there to assist all of you."

Haineko nodded her head and the link between the two realms was disconnected, though once that was done, and Rukia knew that the Zanpakuto were planning something insane without telling their partners what they were thinking of doing, which was why she headed out with Haineko the moment the connection was gone. As they headed outside the barracks, however, Haineko noticed that the various Zanpakuto spirits were already on the move, as it appeared that Kazeshini and the others had told the rest of the spirits about the fact that Kirikaze had been found, meaning that all of them were going to converge on their foe and attack him. While the two of them headed through the Seireitei, keeping an eye on where their main target could be located, Haineko noticed that Zangetsu and Muramasa flashed down into the area behind them and moved beside them, but the looks on their faces told her that they had been unsuccessful in trying to stop the spirits before they did anything stupid, despite the fact that they hadn't heard what their Lord had said. The Zanpakuto were preparing for battle, following the faint trail of Kirikaze's reiatsu to Rukongai, meaning that they needed to head there as well and try to stop them before they did anything stupid, which would happen since it appeared that Kazeshini was running the show at the moment.

When they arrived in the last area that Kirikaze's reiatsu had come from, however, Haineko found that their target must have already moved out of Rukongai, as she didn't see any signs of him anywhere and the trail she had been carefully following had ended at one point, meaning that they needed to be careful as they looked for their foe.

The four of them had searched the area of Rukongai they had come to for a few minutes before spreading out and surveying the other districts around them, as they needed to find the area that Kirikaze had gone off in so they could get ahead of the Zanpakuto and stop their stupid plan from becoming a reality. As time moved on, however, Haineko let a smile appear on her face as she eventually sensed the arrival of Kirikaze's reiatsu once more, though this time it was coming from another part of Rukongai and she headed out immediately, where she found the others had noticed what she was doing and followed after her immediately. While they headed out towards the area that their target's reiatsu was coming from Haineko noticed two interesting things, as the first one was the fact that the other three Toju had shown themselves at last, as their individual reiatsu signatures were in the immediate area of each other and they seemed to be moving, bring her to the second fact, which was Kirikaze chasing after them. That was bad, since they were supposed to save the Toju and Kirikaze was stalking them, meaning that the other three might end up dying before they managed to reach the area that they were in, which was why she was moving as quickly as she could and knew that the others were doing the same thing. When they arrived at the area that the reiatsu signatures were coming from, and came to a brief stop, Haineko saw what was a humanoid lion Toju, a humanoid ape Toju, and a square Toju that was just a walking face run out of a street and separate into three different directions.

Of course that was when Kirikaze showed himself, showing them that he was a large, green colored muscular being with long, white colored bovine-like horns, bovine-like ears, and completely red eyes, though he had a long, black stripe-like plate on the top of his head that was kept in place with a small gold pin on his forehead, along with his nose having a piercing, which was a large gold ring. Kirikaze wore a large metal pauldron with an extension covering his neck on either shoulder, which were connected with a brown belt and gold buckle that cover part of his pectorals, and he also wore metal gloves, gauntlets, and greaves, though he had large, angular black shoes that covered his feet and dark gray pants that were held up by a brown belt with a golden Y-shaped buckle. The large Toju's weapon was a dual-edged sword, a large one that matched his large frame, though not even a moment large he turned to his left and cut down the lion Toju before it could get far away from him, destroying the Toju as he tore it's reiatsu from it's body. Once that happened he turned around and threw his blade through the air, impaling the ape Toju not even a second later and repeating the process that happened to the first one, where Haineko was shocked by how quickly he was acting as he transformed into mist and surged around the face Toju, consuming him as quickly as the others, before he reformed in his physical form and roared as his orange reiatsu filled the air around him.

"I certainly didn't expect him to be so big," a voice said, to which Haineko and the others watched as Hozukimaru, who was the one that had spoken up, and the other Zanpakuto spirits stepped out into the area that their foe was standing in, where they all stared at Kirikaze, showing that they weren't going to give up since they knew that he was running around, even if standing down was the best move for them, "Whatever, let's get this over with and take him down."

"That won't be necessary," a voice replied, to which Haineko, Zangetsu, and Muramasa looked to the side as Sombra, in his Resurreccion, appeared before them and the Zanpakuto spirits that had prepared themselves for battle, where he stared at the Toju in front of him as the shadows vibrated, "Cristales de Anulacion."

The group watched as the shadows surged forward for a moment and seemed to wrap around Kirikaze's wrists for a few seconds, surprising everyone that was watching the large creature, because it appeared that nothing was happening save for stalling Kirikaze, before Sombra completed his task. Haineko's eyes widened for a moment as the shadows pulled back, revealing a circular cuff of black crystals that were attached to Kirikaze's wrists, almost like they were growing out of his skin, and when the Toju focused on his powers, to turn summon a powerful gust of wind and knock them all around, nothing happened, much to the spirit's confusion. Not even a few seconds later Kirikaze tried something else, as in he attempted to turn into his mist form and attack Sombra from behind, but as the group observed what was going on they found that this power was unable to be used as well, and when the Toju grabbed onto one of the larger crystals he tried to siphon it's power into his body, before finding that not even that power worked. Haineko had never seen anything like this, that a simple skill could take away someone's abilities and prevent them from being used, though as they stood there Sombra's horn glowed for a moment and several shadowy chains wrapped around Kirikaze's body, preventing him from moving and allowing Muramasa to get to work, especially since his deadly power had been taken care of.

"Lord Sombra, what did you do?" Zangetsu asked, because he hadn't been expecting something like this to happen when Haineko told them that she had contacted their Lord about the situation, but that didn't stop him from glanced at the various Shinigami that decided to flash down into the area as well.

"I used an ability that I used to use all the time when I was alive," Sombra replied, and that was true, he used this one ability to take away the powers and abilities of those he was facing, before he glanced to the side and found Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Hisagi, Kira, Matsumoto, Ise, and the various Captains whose Zanpakuto were about to be involved in a big battle flashed into the area around them, "Cristales de Anulacion is a power that allows me to pretty much nullify the powers and abilities of an opponent that I use the technique against, hence why it's translated name is 'Nullification Crystals', and the only way for Kirikaze to lose the crystals is if he beat me into the ground and I lost my concentration, or if I willingly got rid of them."

"Wait a second, are you saying that you've always had access to this ability?" Renji asked, causing some of the group to turn towards him for a moment, while at the same time Sombra nodded his head to confirm that his Resurreccion had access to the power that he was only now showing off, "Why didn't you just use this against Aizen? You could have taken away his powers and prevented him from doing anything, meaning we could have locked him in a prison or executed him without sending him to the Shadowlands for the rest of his days."

"Well, I had just unlocked the power of the Dios Hueco and Aizen was the only challenger that I could test my new power on without him being utterly destroyed," Sombra answered, causing Zangetsu to nod his head in understanding, as part of the reason he had refrained from using the ability was because it would have taken the fun out of showing Aizen just how screwed he was, a lesson that had taken some time for the traitorous Captain to learn, "Remember, the old me would have sealed Aizen's powers and cut him down without a second thought, to get rid of an obstacle, but I wanted to see just how strong my power truly was and he was the perfect opponent for me to fight against... and besides, he truly deserved to be sentenced to the Shadowlands until the day he dies, since he wanted to disrupt the balance of this world by killing the Soul King. Since Kirikaze has some troublesome abilities, like turning into a cloud of mist, commanding the wind, and absorbing reiatsu, this was the perfect ability to nullify his powers and make it that much easier for us to capture him, as well as take him someplace where we can harness his power and deal with his rage."

Most of the Zanpakuto spirits thought that Sombra was a little insane for even suggesting that Kirikaze could be tamed, since his partner couldn't do that when he was alive, but Sombra was up to the challenge and it wasn't long before Muramasa stepped away from a humanoid creature with two white bovine horns growing out of the sides of his head, showing them that the process had been successful. The moment that was done both Yumichika and Ruri'iro Kujaku approached him, stating the case that Haineko had told him about earlier, that neither of them wanted to be tied to the other anymore, and despite the fact that Sombra knew they could compromise and be wonderful partners, since he was positive that they could have two Release Calls, depending on which power Yumichika wanted to use, the two remained stubborn and set in their ways, to which he sighed and simply nodded towards them once. As such he and the others watched as the duo went through the same process that both Zangetsu and Haineko went through, but this time around neither of them were hurt because they were both agreeing to the separation, because when Zangetsu had done it there had been no pain since he was merged with Ichigo's body and Haineko's attempt had caused Matsumoto pain, or rather just a few cuts and some heartache. He honestly thought they had made a stupid decision, as Yumichika wasn't as bad as Matsumoto had been and he felt they could fix their relationship, but since neither of them wanted to compromise he simply watched as they separated their souls and Ruri'iro Kujaku stood with with the rest of the Arrancar, since he now possessed a Hollow hole in his stomach and some white feathers in his hair to represent his mask.

The moment the pair was separated, and both were ready to continue their lives without their partner, Sombra and the others watched as the Zanpakuto spirits glowed blue for a few seconds, where they all dissolved into nothingness and returned to living inside the blades that their partners carried, showing Sombra that all of them had intended for this to be their last battle, something that he had interrupted. In the end it was for the best, since they had no way of knowing if Kirikaze would have actually killed one of them in the process of their fight, stripping their partner of all their powers in the process, and they could have easily killed him, the last of the Toju, in their desire to protect their partners from someone like him, hence why he was glad that he had moved when he had. Now that everything was said and done, and the effects of Muramasa manifesting the spirits of the Zanpakuto had finally run their course, Sombra knew that it was time for them to officially pull out of Soul Society and return to Hueco Mundo, though not before Matsumoto insisted on him coming to the World of the Living soon so they could celebrate the fact that everything was returning to normal at long last.

As Sombra and the others headed out of Soul Society, however, he knew that there was no such thing as normal in this world, since there was no telling when one of the other threats that Captain-Commander Yamamoto told him about could show up out of nowhere, so he resolved to remain on his guard and see what the future held for all of them.