Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 163 - Cave of Trials
"Tsuki-chan, you're still training."
The next day, Yagami China came to Wayne's house looking for him. When she found his room empty, she already knew, he'd gone underground again.
She climbed down the long ladder tucked in the corner of the bedroom and stepped into the underground sea of flowers. The first thing she did was take a long, slow breath of the dense Reishi hanging in the air.
"As expected." China stretched with a contented groan. "This place really does have the best atmosphere."
"Miss Yagami, what brings you here today?" Wayne had been mid-soul absorption when she interrupted him. He exhaled slowly, settled his breathing, and eased out of his meditative state.
"Came to hang out." China dropped down beside him with a cheerful smile. "How many times do I have to say it — just call me China."
"Of course, Miss Yagami." The corner of Wayne's mouth tugged up. "Here to see my Zanpakuto?"
"Yep. I heard from Seventh Seat Mizusue yesterday that you'd gotten one. So I came to see whether a genius like you could pull off a Touch-Awakening." She stuck out her tongue. "Looks like that's a no."
"Yesterday I did sense the Zanpakuto's Inner World," Wayne said, "but unfortunately, I couldn't even make out what it looks like."
"That's fine. Touch-Awakening is rare. Across all of Soul Society, there can't be more than a hundred people who've ever managed it." China stood and stretched her hands toward two tall stone platforms nearby.
"Bakudō #37, Tsuriboshi." A pale green net shot from her palms and caught between the two platforms, spreading into a tidy hammock.
"Bakudō #18, Star Shine." She waved again and lightly tapped the Luminous Crystal set into the cave wall. A soft halo bloomed outward, washing across the entire underground world. The Spirit Plants carpeting the ground swayed in the light, suddenly more alive, more beautiful.
China surveyed the transformed space and gave a satisfied nod, then dropped onto the hammock and made herself comfortable.
"Ahh... what a waste." Her expression softened with something close to genuine regret. "All this, and Tsuki-chan can't see any of it."
"Through the reflection of Reishi, I can roughly sense what's around me," Wayne said plainly. "Except for the light."
"Why don't you get your eyes treated?" China turned on her side to look at him, still sitting cross-legged a short distance away. "The Twelfth Division has the technology. The Fourth Division could fix a wound like yours in an instant."
"Captain Tōsen never got his eyes treated either," Wayne replied with a faint smile. Then he added something China couldn't make sense of: "It's not time yet."
"What a shame." She sounded mildly deflated. Then she rolled onto her back and stared up at nothing.
With nothing more coming from her, a quiet ripple moved at the corner of Wayne's mouth. Beneath his sunglasses his eyes closed, and he slipped back into soul absorption.
"Tsuki-chan, I graduate in less than a month." Her voice drifted over again before long. Wayne didn't let it bother him. He'd long since gotten used to her interruptions.
"After graduation, I'll inherit the family legacy and join the Kidō Corps."
"Isn't that good? You won't have to worry about what comes next." Wayne's reply was short.
"The Kidō Corps is different from the Soul Reapers' Gotei 13. We're a special group that operates outside the main structure — responsible for maintaining the sealing arrays around Seireitei, rarely sent to the front lines." China turned her head toward him.
"Which means after I graduate, I probably won't be able to come see you anymore."
"..." Wayne said nothing.
"Do you still think I've only been coming here because I wanted to recruit you into the Yagami family?"
Wayne tilted his head instead of answering. The gesture said it plainly enough: wasn't that it?
"Ahh... I gave up on that ages ago." China's face crumpled into a small, miserable look. "Once my family found out you had no talent for Kidō, they dropped the idea. The Yagami family has plenty of retainers — more than a few of them skilled in swordsmanship and unarmed combat. For someone like Tsuki-chan who hasn't made a name yet, recruiting you is far less practical than going after a Soul Reaper who already has."
"In that case... then why are you still—"
"Idiot!" China puffed out her cheeks. Then the air went out of her. "Forget it. There's no chance left anyway." Her voice dropped. "The Cave of Trials runs for a month. That's right when I'll be sitting my graduation exam. After graduation comes my successor ceremony. By that point, you should already be out of the Cave of Trials, right?"
"If nothing unexpected happens, yes." Wayne thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Then... could you come? To my ceremony?"
"..." Beneath his sunglasses, Wayne's eyes rested on the girl in front of him. He had no desire to put down roots in Soul Society. His heart had always belonged somewhere else, to Hueco Mundo, where everything that mattered to him was waiting. But he looked at the hope sitting quietly in her expression, and he let out a slow, resigned breath.
"Alright."
"Really!" The brightness that hit her eyes was instant, wiping out every trace of the sadness from before. "Hehe, then it's settled."
"Mm."
She'd gotten her answer. China left with a grin. Before she went, she used Kidō to light up the entire underground, leaving a soft glow that would last Wayne the rest of the day, even knowing full well he couldn't see it.
Seven days slipped by. Wayne was summoned to the Cave of Trials. Kira, Momo, and Abarai came with him. Rukia, unfortunately, had been placed in Class B and couldn't participate in this trial, though she had received her Zanpakuto, and her awakening was only a matter of time.
Their escort was a teacher Wayne didn't recognize. The insignia on his sleeve marked him as Fifth Division.
It made sense. Whoever awakened their Zanpakuto here, Aizen would want to know what those abilities were. Fifth Division leading this trial was no coincidence.
"This is the Cave of Trials." The Soul Reaper teacher brought the group of twenty students to a stop at the entrance. "Over the next month, you'll meditate inside, channel your Reiryoku into your Zanpakuto, and form a blade spirit. From there, you'll enter your Zanpakuto's Inner World, find that spirit, earn its recognition, and learn its name, awakening your Zanpakuto. Every person's Inner World is different, so you're completely on your own in there. No asking anyone for help. If a month passes and you still haven't awakened, don't be discouraged. It happens. The Cave's energy and facilities improve your chances, they don't guarantee success."
He paused and cleared his throat. "Now. Line up by your academic rankings and enter one at a time. Once you're inside, follow the Hell Butterfly to the innermost entrance. Clear?"
"Yes, sir!" The students answered together.
"Good. You're on your own from here. First — Tsukishiro Hinamori."
No surprises there. Wayne stepped forward at the teacher's nod and walked into the Cave of Trials, following the soft flutter of the Hell Butterfly's wings deeper inside.
The cave was smaller than he'd expected. A stalactite cavern, no more than a few dozen meters tall. Twenty chambers had been carved into the rock, each sealed with an iron door marked with a binding inscription. One room per student. Wayne followed the Hell Butterfly to the innermost door, watched it disappear, and heard the door begin to grind shut behind him. One month in seclusion. No way out.
He swept the empty chamber once, sunglasses off. A bedroll. A single candle. Nothing else.
Wayne sat cross-legged, exhaled a long breath, and drew his Zanpakuto. He planted it in the ground in front of him.
"Come on," he said. "Let me see what you are."
He closed his eyes. His Reiatsu rose, curled around the blade, and he began feeding thin threads of spiritual power into it, slow, steady, patient.
Gradually, his focus softened. Concentration dissolved into something diffuse. And then he wasn't in the cave anymore.
A desolate smell reached him first. Cold wind, blowing from every direction.
Wayne opened his eyes.
White sand stretched to every horizon. A black sky overhead, a crescent moon hanging crooked near the edge of the world. Broken peaks jutting from the dunes like cracked teeth. Rotting deadwood that had given up long ago. Not a single living thing.
"Hueco Mundo." The word came out quietly, barely above a murmur.
He knew this place. But this time was different from the dream, his mind was sharp, fully present, every detail crystalline. What was missing was the haze. That dull yellow fog was gone. And so was the figure that had once appeared out of it.
He worked through the logic. The Cave of Trials didn't force communication between a student and their Zanpakuto. What it did was amplify the Inner World's presence, letting the student enter with full clarity of mind rather than the usual dream-state fog.
He turned and looked out across the sand. Endless in every direction.
"Finding my blade spirit in all of this..." He pressed his lips together. "It's going to be like looking for a needle in the ocean."
He stood anyway. Set out walking. However vast this place was, he had one month, and somewhere in it, there was a spirit with a name. He would find it.
---
On the other side of the cave, Momo, Kira, and the others filed into their chambers one by one.
Momo settled into meditation and dropped into her Inner World almost immediately.
"This is... my blade spirit's world?"
Stars lit up in her eyes.
It was a plum blossom forest, not especially large, but plum trees in every direction, branch to branch. And inside each tree, a fairy. Palm-sized, semi-transparent, wings catching the light, round black eyes bright and curious. They were absurdly cute.
Momo moved closer, studying the nearest tree with careful attention. The little spirit inside stared back, blinking slowly, head tilted. It looked like it had never encountered a creature that walked on two legs before.
"Are you... my Zanpakuto?" A small gleam crossed her face. Her Zanpakuto was these tiny things?
She reached out toward the nearest one. The fairy flinched, bolted back into the bark, and refused to come out.
Momo's smile faltered. She tried the next one. This spirit had a shorter temper, it opened its mouth and spat a ball of rose-red flame directly at her outstretched hand, then fled.
"Finding my Zanpakuto isn't going to be easy, is it." She shook out her singed fingers. Then she balled her hand into a fist. "Swaying one, just watch. I'm going to find you."
---
Kira stood in front of a large estate gate.
A tall young man sat on the threshold. One shoulder bore an iron ball that had to weigh a thousand catties. Strapped across his back was a slab of stone thick enough to crush a house. The sight of it made Kira's eye twitch.
"Th-this... is my Zanpakuto?"
He couldn't begin to understand what his soul had been thinking. He collected himself, forced a smile, and stepped forward.
"H-hello. I'm Izuru Kira. Pleased to meet you."
The tall figure slowly raised his eyes from the ground, a long, unhurried look from low to high, and said nothing. Then his gaze dropped back to the earth. Still. Silent. Like a man waiting out a punishment he believed he deserved.
"...Is he looking down on me?" Kira frowned.
But he caught himself. He knew the theory. The Inner World was a reflection of his own soul. This figure, this estate, this oppressive quiet, all of it came from somewhere inside him. Once the initial unease settled, Kira simply sat down, and began to think seriously about what that meant.
"Getting this one to open up," he said to no one in particular, "is going to take a while." He sighed. But then, it was his own Zanpakuto. He supposed he had no choice.
---
Renji Abarai's situation was considerably livelier.
"What the hell is ALL OF THIS!"
A dense mountain forest. Tall trees in every direction. Renji was sprinting through them at full speed, arms pumping, crashing through undergrowth, and directly behind him, a full troop of baboons came howling and crashing after him, clearly with serious intentions.
"What is my Zanpakuto supposed to BE! Why are there SO MANY BABOONS!"
His voice rang through the trees. It was, without question, the most anguished sound heard in that forest in a very long time. It didn't help at all. Right now, Renji Abarai had exactly one option available to him, and he was already doing it.
---
Each student had entered their own world. Each one was already facing whatever waited inside.
The great doors of the Cave of Trials closed with a slow, heavy finality.
The Zanpakuto trials had begun.
➤ Next: Awakening