Sakumara and Zanpaukto (solo)

Ever since his battle with Masaru Sakumara had felt something in the back of his head, almost like a presence. He was curious as to what it was, but oddly enough he wasn’t worried about it. The presence, or it as he so ingenuously thought of, felt somewhat comforting and also teacher like. Ya he knew that it was probably strange, but maybe it wasn’t because he had heard the teachers mentioning getting to know your zanpakuto. At the time he just thought they meant getting used to how the sword feels, but now he wasn’t so sure.

So a day ago he had decided to go ask the teachers about what he’d been feeling and they told him to meditate upon it. They also seemed a little smug about knowing this kind of thing when he had no idea what they meant. It annoyed him to no end so he stormed away from them and rejected the idea altogether... for that day at least, now he wanted to give it a try and see what they meant.

He entered a room they told him to go to and found that it was very quite almost more than a library was. He saw students randomly placed about with sword on their lap and eyes closed almost as if sleeping, but a few of them had their sword placed somewhere else still resting on their body.

He saw a teacher give him a look that said ‘just be quite or there will be consequences.’ He didn’t really want to test her so he took a seat next to the wall and copied the majority of the others in here. Sitting with his legs crossed and his sword lying across his lap he closed his eyes and tried to find.... something he didn’t know what yet.

He sat there for the longest of times doing absolutely nothing. He tried to keep his mind empty so he could ‘devil deep into his mind,’ but that just wasn’t going to happen. No matter what he did he just couldn’t not think of anything. It annoyed him to no end. After more waiting he decided to take a different approach, because he’d always been different from other people, he started to think back to when it started to happen. When he could start to feel the other presence it was when he had made a friend. At the time the presence it seemed felt content. Now it was as if it was waiting, but also expectant at the same time.

Then something triggered in his mind and all of his sense just disappeared. They came back almost as quickly. He stood up alarmed wary of his strange knew surroundings. What he saw was he was in an open plain that had shin high grass and trees a distance away with snow topped mountains in the distance surrounding him in a circle. There was a smooth flowing river a short distance away. If he wasn’t so nervous right now he would have thought that this place was relaxing.

“Relax.” A voice commanded that come from no where, but seemed to come from every where.

“Who are you?!? Show yourself?” Sakumara shouted out frantically looking every where.

“As of right now you will not be able to even see me, but know this you have done what you have set out to do.” Before Sakumara could even ask what the voice meant it spoke again. “You are now inside of your mind a place where no other being that is apart of you can go.”

Sakumara stood wide mouthed for a second, but it slowly turned into a grin. “Sweet.”

Sakumara was sitting against a tree with his head resting against it as well seemingly asleep. His expression was relaxed, but then he frowned. “So let me get this straight. Right now I’m inside of my own mind and you are the presence that I have felt in the back of my head?” He talked in a normal voice his eyes still closed yet nothing alive, except for the trees, was to be seen.

“Yes.” A growly voice seemed to fill the air. “And you wont answer any of my questions like what are you and who you are? Plus you cant show your self to me?” Sakumara’s voice still neutral. “Correct” the voice answered again. Making a face and sighing annoyed like “so then the only good thing that I got coming here was that I figured out someone else is in my head that I will eventually find stuff about.”

Sakumara was now officially annoyed he couldn’t help it. He had questions that were important, at least to him, that weren't being answered. He sighed loudly and sat up opening his eyes. “Well then I should probably leave...”

“No you will not. Not yet at least.” The voice commanded out. “Why should I?” Sakumara challenged back. At that moment he felt a cold chill run up his spin and he got goose bumps.

“You will NOT disrespect me.” The voice was now dangerous sounding and Sakumara had a bad feeling.

The land scape around him did not change or move, but he felt wind pick up and the slight sound of metal clinking. The air around him was moving dangerously. “I will not take any crap.” The wind seemed to calm and the voice uniformly did the same. “There is a reason and this place as well as I am of great importance to you.” The mysterious yet powerful voice said like a teacher.

Sighing from both annoyance and relief he spoke exasperatedly “then what is the reasoning, because I fail to see it.”

“The reason that you are here is because you set out to find me.” Sakumara rolled his eyes at this “But” the voice startled him. “The reason that I am important to you is because I am part of you and this place represents you.”

“The mountains, forest, and plains to the north” the wind blew and Sakumara got the impression that was the north. “They represent your competitive side, while the south-west represents your darker side.” When he looked northward the trees and grass as well as the mountains seemed to be fighting each other for dominance. The after mentioned seemed that it was shrouded in darkness. The sight was slightly disturbing, but he felt better when he noticed that it wasn’t too big.

The voice interrupted his musings “I am tired and you have been here for too long. It is time you go.”

Sakumara could feel himself fading “Wait! Whats your name?” He shouted out hurriedly.

It almost seemed to him that the presences was amused. “You do not have the right to know that yet.”

The world went void of anything yet again. He came to seemingly a second later and found himself in the quiet room again. He was still slightly irked at his unanswered questions, but felt better finishing what he had done.

Standing up and stretching feeling his bones pop in multiple places he sighed loudly in relief. Taking a quick glance around he noticed that he was the last one there the teacher patiently waiting on him. “Gomennasai sensei.” he said with a slight bow.

She waved him off “Glad you could communicate. It always warms my heart to see new students discover more about themselves.”

Sakumara didn’t know what to say to that so he decided to leave politely. Once the door closed behind him he froze and thought for a moment. “Wait that was my zanpaukto!”

Inside the room the teacher smiled to herself and walked off.