A Burden's Truth

The sound of metal breaking and clashing as the two of them fought. Time became a linear thing, something he just couldn't find. He'd been at this a while, that was the sense he got. Wounds on his body began healing again, it wasn't anything deep. The vastness of those words and how many he'd broken.

How many swings had it been, how many hours had passed him? He'd not been sure of anything at all. It was just a drop in the lake that was time. The ripples continued to span this eternity. He moved to bring a sword down when it broke again. He felt his digits clasping the broken hilt. As the question entered his mind finally.

What was he doing here, why was he training this hard? Was it for the reason of power so he never got hurt again? No, that didn't sound right to him. He'd wanted to restart the Kenpachi, to begin a line of elite Captains. People who earned the right to fight for this place.

But why was he fighting now, memories of Hime, Hanako, and Laskt flooded his mind? There were people who held influence beyond the pale. These people weren't big influences who held pull and weight on this world.

They were cogs in a machine, run by the society and the world's elite. The Kings, Queens, Head Captains, and so many others. Did he fight to find satisfaction in battle? No that didn't seem right as he went through the motions of this battle. Fatigue had set in, some time ago it must have shown.

She'd pressed the attack on him, the hits he took had grown. As the puzzle in his mind, continued to move. Like a rubric cube slowly finding the solution to it. Why did he seek Bankai, what was it he was looking for in it? Why did he constantly chase power, was it to protect others?

He cared deeply for those in the Gotei, wishing to protect them from the monsters under the bed. Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red. That was what he believed and maybe lied to himself about. Was it lies he fed himself to give him a moral superiority in the end?

Was he being self-righteous and following what he called Zin's way an act? It felt like he used the man's name like a diety almost. Was the difference between him and Colin how they survived after? What had changed in the years since that moment?

When he broke the glass of the mirror, had it not shattered completely? His digits clenched as a small glow began to emit from his body. The tell-tale signs of his energy coming out. Cracking began forming on the swords, many of them shattering outright. His frame stood still as he clenched his fists tightly.

His resolve, burned brightly as the fires began to pour out of his body almost physically consuming the area. His eyes looked up, those blue eyes glimmering with power. He was done with doubt and fear, questioning himself at every turn. Comparing himself to other people, he was the last one.

"I am all that remains, I am not just some person left behind like the others. I am Yoshitsune Kobayashi, the last Crow. I wear my name with pride, I will not put them to doubt. My blade will find the strongest and fight them. My Burden is one that I carry with all I am. I do not seek your Bankai for anything less. Then taking the entire Gotei's Burden upon my shoulders when I walk on to the battlefield."

The aura he gave off was potent, as he began walking towards her. He didn't carry swords in his hands. He brought with him no weapon or feature as he found his resolve. Not just in this sense but the power of his determination. To protect and carry the Combat Division on his shoulders. He would revitalize it, the Kenpachi, and everything he set out to do.

He didn't know how not yet so every moment of this story was his life. He would wield his blade and use all the information and knowledge he had. Every last fragment of his being, to crack open the veil. He'd protect them all, fight any being he was shown to.

The blades around him began breaking and torn asunder as the Bankai began to reveal itself to him more.

The knowledge of the name entering his mind, the test of his resolve had been accomplished. But now came the challenge, that would shatter any notions he had about it. His form stopped as she clapped her hands together smiling.

"That's just what I wanted, my power isn't for one who doesn't know the answer within. You've passed this test, by the by all these swords here would break used by you." She said softly as she sat down now, on a rock. The next training would far less cerebral and focus on the physical element he needed.

Now they were entering the truth of the matter and the world as it stood. He'd come here to fight her, but the reality was nothing could harm her. Not while such doubt plagued him deeper within his mind. Hidden away behind the layers and layers that he'd built up over the years. He is as unknown as the depths of the sea, but slowly a piece had broken off.

The layers were peeled aside like an onion, though slow the progress was there.