By the time I had finished with the spell circle the sun had gone down. Since I was sure Yoruichi had finished explaining what our next steps were to the others and we were only going to head out in the morning I took my time returning to the Elder’s house.

Which might have been a good thing since as I turned the corner I was forced to jump back to avoid getting trampled by a group of delinquent looking people riding… boars?

Oh right, I guess that means everyone got to meet Ganju. Honestly I kinda forgot about him. Still that reunion should be entertaining, so now I’m looking forward to it. When I made it back to the house Ichigo was raging about some jackass leaving in the middle of a fight while the other either ignored him or tried to calm him down.

I made my way past that mess and headed to the guest room we had been loaned for the night. With any luck Yoruichi would be too preoccupied with Ichigo to remember what had happened in the Dangai.

“Alexandria.”

Or she could just be waiting for me to be alone so I don’t have an excuse to avoid her.

“What’s new pussycat?” Just because I wasn’t likely to get out of this talk didn’t mean I had to be serious about it.

“We need to talk.”

“Well as much as I enjoy your company, I tend to like my girls a little taller and much less fuzzy. Hope this doesn’t change what we have between us, I do like you as a friend.”

“Would you be serious!” Yoruichi snapped, apparently not appreciating my sense of humor.

“Not if I can help it.”

The two of us stare at each other, each waiting for the other to break the silence. Since I didn’t really want to talk about what happened, I was fine with not saying anything. Unfortunately Yoruichi is perfectly aware of this and continues probing.

“Is it such a big deal that you really won’t talk about it even if it clearly affects you that much?”

I mulled her words over a bit. “It has some implications I really don’t want to think about, so I’m using the classic coping method of repression.”

“Is it linked to how you were experimented on?”

My head snapped over to Yoruichi. How the hell did she come to that conclusion? I had been very reluctant to discuss my past due to how outrageous it was, but I was confident I had never said anything that would lead someone to think I had a history as a science experiment.

“How…”

“You get really cagey about where you came from, were very focused on Kisuke’s background as a scientist when we first met, freaked out about the gegai development lab and never went near it again, and need to be either surprised into medical checkups or physically delivered to them. Kisuke also thinks he saw a few signs of soul modification but they are so slight it's more of a hunch than solid evidence.”

I mean, she wasn’t wrong about everything she said but all of that could be easily explained away as unrelated behavior. Most people didn’t like medical checkups after all, and the gegai lab is literally just covered in dismembered body parts. That Urahara had apparently noticed the soul modifications was new though

“You figured it out with only that?” I said a little weakly.

“Well, no. There are a bunch of smaller details but those were the highlights. So? What happened in the Dangai?”

“Alright, fine.” I sighed heavily. “Let me give you some background before we get to that. You’re right, I was made as some kinda soul experiment. I was told I was a test to integrate several skills directly into the soul of a single personality to be used as a mass producible soldier. Unfortunately for me, it didn’t go very well. So rather than a supersoldier my creator ended up with a barely stable mess. I didn’t have the innate understanding of my abilities I was supposed to, and even the knowledge of what some of those abilities might be would have been enough to destabilize me. Rather than be disposed I made my way to Karakura, and ran into Urahara shortly afterwards.”

Hopefully that is informative enough that is enough that Urahara and Yoruichi won’t try to figure out more about my past. Really not sure how I could give them the whole story without sounding crazy.

“Who exactly was your creator? And could you take us back to where you escaped from after this?” Asked Yoruichi.

Bleh, guess she would want to check up on a scientist hacking souls together to create a mass produced army. Hmm, how to spin this…

“I never actually found out his name. We only talked once. And once I made sure he would never be able to follow me I cleared out the area I was in when I left. As for going back, sorry but I have no idea how I would do that.”

All technically true statements. I never found out ROB’s name, he flat out told me coming to any one dimension would pop the thing so he can’t follow me, I think, and the soul jar I was in would be empty when I was tossed out. With a little luck Yoruichi might think that I killed my creator and burned the lab down before making my escape, but I’m not going to volunteer anything else about that if I can help it.

“So after all that, I figured I that was the end of it and I could just move on with my life. But when we entered the Dangai, I felt my soul shift around a bit. Just enough that when we entered the Soul Society it actually repaired some of the damage I didn’t even know was there.”

“Damage?” Yoruichi asked leadingly.

“Yep, you know how I do this?” I asked, projecting a simple katana in my hand. “It’s actually not the full extent of what I should be able to do. While I was off making the spell circle, I started trying to figure out if anything changed. Turns out, our little trip fixed my ability. Now I can do this.”

‘I am the bone of my sword

Steel is my body and fire is my blood

I have created over a thousand blades’

[TRACE ON]

In my other hand a new sword formed. The hilt was covered in a simple black wrapping and had a sharp bend where a red tassel hung from the golden endcap. Instead of a more traditional tsuba, there was a golden u-shaped metal piece that extended up a few inches on the perfectly straight blade. Despite the elegant look of the sword, there was a distinct aura of bloodlust coming off the blade making it seem like the sword itself was eager to cut everything around it.

“Alexandria what exactly have you done.” Yoruichi hissed dangerously. Her tone alone made it clear it was not a question, and if she didn’t like the answer she would make me regret it. Still she was taking this better than Urahara did, it was one of the only times he fought me seriously. Though seeing someone manhandle the manifestation of your soul would rub most Soul Reapers the wrong way, even if the copy I made then lacked the presence of this one.

“I created a copy.” I said simply. “A perfect copy nearly indistinguishable from the real thing. Although I haven’t really mastered it yet.”

Yoruichi settled back on her haunches, at least calm enough to hear me out. “And how deep does this copy go? If you managed to get the feeling the blade gives off did you copy the Zanpakuto’s spirit as well? Is it as powerful as the real thing?” She pauses for a second, “Did you doing this affect Kisuke at all?”

“Like I said, it’s a perfect copy. Well, at least of the sword. Since I only have Urahara’s, Gin’s, and Ichigo’s to go by I’m guessing for some of it.”

Yoruichi nodded in acceptance.

“The copy I make seems to have the full abilities at the moment I see it. I don’t know if that means all the abilities of the Zanpakuto or just the ones it can perform at that moment.”

“Wait, does that mean you can copy the Bankai as well?!” Yoruichi cuts in.

“Doesn’t seem like it. I can’t use either Gin or Urahara’s Bankai, probably due to the nature of Bankai in general. I don’t copy the Zanpakuto spirit as it turns out. No idea if that means I can copy a Bankai if I see one though…” I trailed off, distracted by the thought until I was pulled back to the conversation by an impatient cough. “Right, no, me creating a copy won’t affect the user at all. The entire thing is sustained through my powers. No input from the original at all.”

After my explanation she finally relaxes enough that I don’t feel like I’m going to be attacked if I say the wrong thing.

“You never said if they are as strong as the original”

I let out a frustrated snort, “Yeah, well currently they aren’t, even if they should be. Annoyingly thats just cause I haven’t mastered the ability, not because of an actual restriction.”

“That’s how most abilities work Alexandria. Why does that bother you?” Yoruichi comments dryly.

“It bugs me cause practice won’t help me here. I need to form a deeper connection to the mental plane I have. And its linked to a chant based on me understanding who I am as a person and my soul.”

“That actually sounds pretty close to how most Soul Reapers train for Shikai. Though from the sound of it the connection you need is much deeper.”

I wasn’t exactly looking for sympathy regarding the new troubles I had run into trying to get the full abilities of the Unlimited Blade Works to well...work for me. Still the now unconcerned tone of Yoruichi was getting on my nerves a bit. Now that I explained that I didn’t affect her friend with the ability, then everything else was just dependent on training in her mind. But my soul was damaged. Would that mean it was impossible for me to master the UBW until I found a way to fix it? Could I even fix it? I didn’t know, and just that alone was frightening. Of course we were also on a schedule so I couldn’t even take the time to really adjust to the new changes, I would just have to put my worries aside until our mission here was over.

“Was there anything else you wanted?” I asked somewhat irritatedly.

Yoruichi quirked an eyebrow at my tone, “Not really. Just wanted to make sure you were alright after what happened. Though it seems we got sidetracked a bit.

Will you be ready for tomorrow? The kids and I won’t be following you for at least a full day so you could wait a bit if you aren’t prepared.”

“I’ll be fine.” I snapped.

Clearly recognizing my worsening temper Yoruichi got up and started towards the door.

“In that case you should get some rest. Goodnight Alexandria.”

-o-

The next morning was a little tense as half of our group were not in good moods at all. I was still a little pissed at Yoruichi for practically accusing me of messing with Urahara’s soul at first then dismissing my issues as unimportant. Yoruichi was pissed at Ichigo for wasting time wanting to wait for a full day just to have a rematch with someone he fought last night, partly out of a desire to keep on schedule and at least a little due to realising how she acted last night. She probably realised what she did to piss me off, but was a little too proud to actually apologize about it. Ichigo was in a bad mood for having his fight interrupted but he’s getting over it and is currently more concerned about the blood pouring down his face from Yoruichi scratching him.

So basically, now it’s down to me and Yoruichi being in bad moods and the other not being sure what to do about it.

While the others finished saying their farewells to the Elder, Orihime made her way over to me, “Um,Miss Alexandria?”

“You can call me Alex, Orihime. I’m not big on formalities.”

“Oh okay! So, um, I was just wondering, did something happen last night? Both you and Yoruichi-san seem upset with each other.”

Say what you want about her, Orihime was certainly observant of the people around her when she wanted to be.

“It’s fine. We had a conversation last night that got a bit out of hand. Nothing to worry about, now you better get ready to leave with the others. Don’t want to get left behind do you?”

Orihime gets a confused look on her face, “Leave with the others? Are you not coming with us Alex-san?”

“No, the method Yoruichi wants to use to get inside the walls won’t work for me, so I’m going to use a different method and meet all of you inside.” I say with a reassuring smile.

With that I push Orihime back towards the rest of the group.

“Now go on! Looks like they are getting ready to head out.”

Finally she listens and heads over to the three boys, Ichigo and Uryru arguing about something unimportant while Chad stands impassively nearby. Leaving the perfect chance for Yoruichi to intercept me alone.

“Are you sure you’re comfortable heading in there by yourself? It wouldn’t be an issue if you waited to catch up with us.”

Yoruichi might be awkward about apologising but she does care.

“Yeah, I’m already going to be playing catch-up trying to get to the middle of the Seireitei. If I don’t get a head start you guys might be finished before I even get there.”

She nods.

“Very well, in that case be careful. We should get a move on as well.”

-o-

Soon after that we all set out for the main road. I would head back towards my spell circle while the rest of the group would head off into the countryside. But for now we were just enjoying a stroll through the streets.

As we walked the town started to wake up around us. People starting their early morning routines or just chatting with neighbors. It was a nice dose of, well not normalcy since it still looked like something out of a historical drama, but it did help improve my mood seeing a bunch of people moving about so relaxed.

Eventually though we reached a crossroad where we would need to head in different directions, so I guess it was time to say goodbye.

“Alright guys, I’m this way” I pointed off towards one of the paths “I’ll try to join up with you in the Seireitei, but until then listen to Yoruichi, watch each other’s backs and don’t let Ichigo do something stupid.”

“Hey why am I getting singled out here!?”

“Cause you’re the idiot that ran off and fought a gatekeeper when we didn’t even need to go that way, then tried to fight a captain, and then apparently got into a fight with a local. All within a day of being here.” I mercilessly retorted.

The orange-haired soul reaper looked like he wanted to argue the point but couldn’t discount the facts against him. Eventually just grumbling something while everyone else seemed amused.

We said our goodbyes and split off. I finally got back to the spell circle I set up last night and gave it a quick checkover for any errors I might have missed.

Naturally I found nothing considering how many times I checked yesterday. But I was still a bit nervous about actually using the thing. Unfortunately I had a schedule to keep if I wanted to reach the same area as everyone else on time. So I stepped into the middle of the circle, pulled out the proto-device I had created and paused. This was it, no turning back after this.

I sent a wave of mana into the circle around me and connected it to the device in my hand.

The circle lit up in golden light, quickly rising from the ground to above my head. It felt like electricity was dancing over my skin, and then there was a flash and the world vanished into white light.