Dudebros [Koga, Ranma]

”Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey, Hōkamaru…”

Ranma was a new man. Stress, panic, low brain cell count, those issues no longer bothered him… for the next 5 minutes.

“… Listen, I’ve been kind of a prick to you lately. Shouting at your face, shaking you around, mentally breaking down in your vicinity… all because not hearing your voice was torture to me. I just can’t forget the day you told me your name – it’s the only word you’ve ever shared with me. Hōkamaru… it’s a pretty name. Won’t you tell me your name, again?”

…

“… Y’know, I think it’s cute how shy you are. Most other Zanpakutō just blabber about, I’ve heard, but you… you’re special. I can just feel it, you’re something really… really special…”

…

“…”

…

“… S-So I totally get your silence and all, talking can tire you out. Sometimes, I don’t feel like talking, myself. It’s all good…”

…

…

“… AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-“

Man, this was tormenting. It was as if nobody was in there… but that was a lie! Hōkamaru granted him his Shikai and its abilities, so he was listening! Talk to me! Pay attention to me! Notice me! INTERACT WITH ME, DAMN IT!

Ranma could be found lying on the floor some random corner, coiled around his sheathed Zanpakutō with dark clouds looming over him. Today was not a good day to try and strengthen his bond with his Zanpakutō.

"You sure are a noisy one aren'tcha?"

Accompanied by a booming chuckle, a rough voice called out to the eccentric man screaming at his zanpakuto. Koga wasn't familiar with everyone in his division, but he wasn't oblivious to the rumors and words he'd heard among his peers. Ranma Gekiretsu. The man who yelled at his sword, constantly demanding that it answer him. To a degree, Koga could relate. He wasn't ideally linked with Sensouya too much, either. If anything, that bastard of a spirit reveled in deceiving him at every turn. Even now, he wondered if the expression of the zanpakuto he had spent his time attempting to refine truly represented him at his core. What if it was just another one of his tricks? Tch. Self-reflection was difficult with all the noise. Better to approach this loudmouth and get his mind off of things. Stepping forward, offering to shake his hand, Koga tilted his head sideways with a wide grin.

"Name's Koga. And you are... Ranma Gekiretsu. The guy with a reputation for having a few screws loose upstairs. How's it hangin'? Any closer to a discovery or still the same ol' silence?"

”Can’t my Zanpakutō be the noisy one?!”

Self-reflection was a tough topic. Koga, surely, could relate – after all, his Zanpakutō was kind of an asshole, too. Not that Ranma knew any of the details – the lad wasn’t the most talkative about it, unlike a certain bandaged weirdo down here. Still, he sure had scars on his face too… thinking about it, they looked pretty rough. But at the same time, there was something artistic about them – Ranma should follow his example and just ditch the bandages, nobody found them cool anymore…

He shook the lad’s hand. Squad 8 had its big share of eccentric lighthouses, and Koga was one of them. “… Why is that my last name? Couldn’t my dick parents have gone with something more profound and less braindead?” he groaned in pain at the mere notion of it, knowing that his own parents had to give him something. Those distant Rukongai goons sure loved playing around with names, and Violent Fury wasn’t the most elegant name to go by. Neither was his nickname Retsu… he was better than that. Way better than that.

“You’d think that, after at least a decade or something, that your Zanpakutō would open up a bit more than just going by a first-name basis, but NOT A SINGLE WORD SINCE THAT DAY- HOW THE FUCK?!”

It just made Ranma question so many things – did he have a real Shikai? Was Hōkamaru for real? Was he actually on the right track? Did he miss Hōkamaru’s message? Was Hōkamaru trying to teach him something? Was Hōkamaru mad at him? Did Hōkamaru like him? Would he ever be able to just… talk… with his Zanpakutō again?

Sometimes, Ranma felt oddly lonely, in spite of all the things that had happened in the last few years. Joining the 8th, and getting together with Erica… and yet, Hōkamaru’s silence was so tormenting.

“… So how’s your Zanpakutō doing? Are they ignoring you, giving you the cold shoulder? Is it typical of Zanpakutō to be like that?”

"Pfft, hell if I know. Mine doesn't treat me with any silence, but he's a real fuckin' asshole. I can say that much."

That said, Koga could certainly relate to the struggle before discovering his zanpakuto's name. Constant meditation accompanied by repeated silence. Of course, there was frustration. Who wanted a spirit that wouldn't answer when you needed it most? A blade like that might as well be useless, but that wasn't the way he should approach advice to a fellow member. Koga could clearly tell the man was experiencing a crisis at the moment, and it wouldn't do to tell him he should cut his losses. Stroking his chin, he stepped forward to lean down and ruffle the man's hair, a reassuring grin playing across his rough features.

"I don't quite understand how yer zanpakuto works, but I know there's any number of ways ya could draw him out. I'm no expert on the matter, but they tend to come out at the darndest of times. Judgin' by those scars, I can tell you've probably been in plenty of life-or-death battles. Hmm... and meditation doesn't seem to be working. When you discovered your Shikai, did your spirit communicate with ys then? What happened? Can you pinpoint that memory, or is it all a blur to ya now?"

Yeah… Ranma had heard from others that Zanpakutō, sometimes, just didn’t like their owners. He really hoped it wasn’t the case with Hōkamaru – he’d actually been clutch so many times before, saving Ranma’s skin by manipulating the speed of foes around him. Slowing down time was, by others’ judgements, a wild ability to have, and… he was kind of a wildcard himself.

So if it turned out to not even be genuine, then his heart would crack.

“I-I wouldn’t say meditation doesn’t work…” Ranma sweated a bit, not wanting to explain that he wasn’t the best at focusing when it came to stuff like that. But he’d gotten glimpses of Hōkamaru, but the guy kept hiding away when he spotted Ranma approaching… so Ranma often hid away in the Inner World, spying on what the fuck Hōkamaru was doing. By doing that, he’d gotten glimpses of his Zanpakutō quietly swinging his sword around as if practicing new moves, its wavy shape constantly moving and changing like a radio’s frequency. It was like the sword itself was still deciding on an appearance.

“Nnnn-yes, technically… so, uh, lemme try and think back- this was, like, years ago…” Ranma rubbed his temples, going way back to the end of the Shin’o times (yes, the weirdo somehow awakened in before graduating, what a genius, right?)

“I just kinda found myself in his place… looked like Soul Society, but everybody was dead silent, still. Like statues – they even felt like stone,” he began explaining chronologically, “And… I couldn’t find him to begin with, he didn’t really greet me or even bother showing up. I had to walk around the entire damn place to find him, and then he was just sitting and grumping like a bullied kid! He didn’t even look at me! So I thought hey, there he is! Let me, y’know, say hi and become his pal! We’re partners, after all- HE DISAPPEARED!”

With a popping sound, Ranma continued: “I don’t know what happened, but I had to find him again! Like a ridiculous… hide-and-seek game or something. Took me forever to find him, lose him, find him again, then lose him, find him again, lose him, find him again-“

Ranma sounded like a broken record at this rate, but he did catch himself at some point: “-and then, he glimpsed at me… he LOOKED at me. I almost shat myself. Then he said one word, just one… and boom, Shikai.”

Looking back down at his sword, he chanted to show Koga his achievement: “Move, Hōkamaru.” Whipping sounds warped the Asauchi into a wavy jian akin to ancient Chinese generals, lavender in color with a strong, bluish tint through the center. A beautiful Shikai. “I’m pretty confident with my Shikai. It’s a hella good Shikai – not to toot my own horn, but it might be too dangerous to be kept around, I mean… j-just saying…” His nose couldn’t hold back from getting pointer with pride.

“But even so, if he doesn’t like me, why give me such a cool power? It’s like… is he shy? Is he that shy? Or is there something I just don’t know about myself? I think I know myself pretty well.”

"Your zanpakuto sounds like a real shitter if ya' ask me."

He stated those words bluntly, an exasperated grin playing across his mouth. As much as he hated to admit it, outside of all the wackiness his recount entailed, they found a relatable strife concerning their zanpakuto. Both were given Shikai only for their weapons to offer nothing else and force them to discover an answer. Sensouya was similarly a pain in the ass who made his life difficult at every turn. In truth, he didn't exactly think his Shikai was the spitting image of cool - not in comparison to Hōkamaru at least. Propulsion hammer that could collect energy. How fun.

In the hands of someone proficient with Kido, it would probably be an incredible weapon. Since Koga was nowhere close to proficient, his zanpakuto branded him with something close to a fuckin' disadvantage. God, thinking about that bandaged bastard was making him angry. Observing the spectacle with his weapon, Koga stroked his chin in relative silence before offering his opinion on the matter.

"Good questions. If what we learned in the academy is somethin' to treat as gospel, zanpakuto are manifestations of our soul. Once we apply our spirit onto our blade and discover their name, we come to know who they are, their intentions, their desire..."

Koga leaned in for further observation, tilting his head to the side as he packed back and forth.

"...And yet, oddly enough, half of us find that we're nothing like our spirits sometimes. Judging from my first impression of you, ya dun sound nothin' close to your zanpakuto. That said, I think yer overthinkin' too much. Yellin' and spazzin' out over it isn't going to help. Shit answer, but, if he appeared at random before, perhaps he'll appear at random again... What would ya even say to him if he answered you? Do you care about him or do you simply want him to answer ya?"

A real shitter… Ranma felt hurt. Pushed to tears, even. Don’t say that about Hōkamaru! He wanted a truly special bond between the two – like Hinamori-sensei and her Zanpakutō. She expressed her deep gratitude for it, that her Tobiume had been by her side and saved her from peril countless times, that she had a strong connection to her Zanpakutō… he wanted something similar. To know Hōkamaru.

“Broooooo… not my darling Hōkamaru…” he sobbed quietly, lowering his head as if the blunt statement physically hurt him.

But Koga was cooking… Zanpakutō were supposedly manifested from their own souls. Thus, they did inherit something from their partners when Ranma and co. applied their spirits into the Asauchis… and yet, so many were surprised by these results? Was it not an uncommon occurrence to get on odds with your Zanpakutō?

Maybe Ranma just needed to talk to Hōkamaru… in his own language. Silence?

In the end, Koga found it tedious to overthink. Ranma did grind his brain wrinkles quite a lot lately, but it was tiring. A waste of time, ironically. And then… he asked the confused boy what he even had on mind should Hōkamaru show himself again. What did he want to say to his Zanpakutō?

“…” That came as a left-field knockback. What did he want to say to Hōkamaru? Hi? Hello? How you doing? Nice moves, show me more? Did he care enough? Did Hōkamaru care enough? “I…” Ranma was visibly astonished, then began thinking…

…

“… I-I don’t know. I just… I think I just wanted to say… hi? I- uhm…”

…

“… and thank him.”

"Thank him, eh? I don't know your spirit at all, but who knows? Maybe he'd appreciate that. Either way, ya should learn to relax more. What's the big rush, anyway? Ya got all the time in the world. My zanpakuto spirit's a real piece of work. To be honest, I'm not exactly clamorin' to see that bastard any time soon, even if I'd like to learn Bankai one day."

Additionally, he felt Ranma ought to relax more. This guy seemed wound up for something that really didn't matter right now. If he possessed a cool Shikai, did it matter if his spirit ignored him? Maybe it did. Since he wasn't exactly buddy-buddy with his own spirit, it wasn't his place to judge Ranma.

As it stood, the simple fact of it was that Rome wasn't built in a day. His yelling at his weapon all day wasn't going to make it hop up and talk to him. It'd only make others look at him weird and give him a poor reputation, and Koga couldn't let that happen.

if they were gonna be working together, he wanted his division mates to feel comfortable, he wanted them to feel connected to their environment. And then, a flash of inspiration struck him. This was the perfect opportunity for them to get to know each other and hang out. Clapping his hands together, Koga's eyes surveyed the surroundings.

"At any rate, since we're already here, let's relax and unwind. Ya wanna go grab a bite to eat and drink the day away? I know a good ramen joint that serves a damn fine bowl. And we can go for drinks afterward. When in doubt, the best way to relax is to get shitfaced. Whaddya say, Ran?"

Yeah… Ranma, what was the big rush, again?

After encountering Armina, Ranma had been… paranoid. But in reality, wasn’t this holding him back? Going too all out? If he wanted to get better at anything… shouldn’t he listen to his taller squadmate and take a chill-pill? Relax? It wasn’t like Armina could just waltz into Squad 8 and murder him – he had squadmates and Ranny and Captain Rose surrounding him. He had… more than that.

This Squad was more to him than that. Once again, reminded of how much he loved this Squad – from the moment he joined, lined up with a few other newbies, greeted by Ranny and the stark, contrasting view of her amazing cleavage – from that exact moment, he felt the deepest of gratitude for joining this Squad.

So yeah… Koga had a point. The moment he mentioned drinks, Ranma’s inner lightbulb lit up: “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.” Y’know, revert to his old roots – have fun! Hang around with his friends, get absolutely wasted, and give Erica a good story about his reinforced relations with this scarred, cool-looking hammer guy!

“Ramen sounds like Ranma, perfect. I know what to name my future kid, now – which is more than possible at some point, y’know… I ain’t no green bean anymore. Not to toot my own horn or anything~”

"Hahaha! That's the spirit, man!"

Koga chuckled heartily as he slapped a palm against his back. That was the spirit. He could worry about talking shit to his zanpakuto another day. Getting his balls twisted in a knot wasn't going to get him any closer to a solution, and he had plenty of time for that lousy spirit to visit him and say hello. Of course, Koga paused for a moment the minute Ranma talked about naming his kid ramen.

He held back the urge to slap him in the head, tilting his head to the side instead, raising an eyebrow at how dumb that sounded. Ranma didn't even sound like ramen. Moreover, who named their kid after a bowl of noodles and broth!? Turning his head toward the barracks exit, he motioned for Ranma to follow as they set off toward their next destination. Since he was feeling generous, he'd probably pay for the ramen and alcohol. Probably.

"Alright, next stop, Ichigeki Ramen Shop! And then we're gettin' shitfaced. I hope you can hold your alcohol, Ran. I won't go tootin' my own horn, but I'm somethin' of an expert at drinking until sunrise without lettin' up. Think you got what it to takes to face me?"