If only... if only I were Byakuya Kuchiki.
Renji Abarai had thought it more times than he could count.
If he'd been a noble like Byakuya Kuchiki, then when Rukia Kuchiki and Muten Natsu ran into trouble, he could've helped them through it with ease.
But he wasn't.
The place Renji Abarai could never reach was where Byakuya Kuchiki had stood since the day he was born.
While Renji Abarai fought his way up from zero, Byakuya Kuchiki had started at one hundred and kept moving forward.
The gap between people was bigger than the gap between a man and a dog.
So what?
Even a stray dog has a bone it refuses to give up.
Try to take it, and it will bite down on your arm until it dies.
This is mine.
Brown fur spilled across Renji Abarai's shoulders. The pelt on his right shoulder stretched all the way to his wrist, swallowing his entire right arm as it transformed into a baboon's arm.
The fur on his left shoulder only reached to the elbow. A skull mask adorned it, and a fang necklace across his chest pinned the pelt in place.
Compared to those changes, the transformation of his Zanpakutō, Zabimaru, was frighteningly extreme.
A massive skull-like snake head draped in vivid crimson fur. Behind it extended countless pale, bone-colored joints, forming an enormous skeletal serpent that coiled around Renji Abarai again and again.
The very last section of that chain of joints, the "tail" of Hihiō Zabimaru, served as a staff handle in his grip.
Byakuya Kuchiki's expensive scarf flared in the wind. "When... did you master Bankai?"
"The instant I made my decision." Renji Abarai tightened his hold on the staff. "I'm going to save Rukia. I'm going to protect Muten. I'm not going to stand by and watch everything happen again."
"Too soon."
"On the contrary." Renji Abarai forced himself to adjust to the unfamiliar power. "If anything, I decided too late."
"The weakness of Bankai is that a Zanpakutō grows in direct proportion to the increase in Reiatsu. Its form and size stray far from ordinary blades, and mastering its use requires at least ten years of training." Byakuya Kuchiki stated it as if it were nothing more than fact. "Using Bankai in battle is still too early for you."
"Too bad..." Renji Abarai swung the staff. "I don't have that kind of time!"
The skull-snake head snapped its jaws toward Byakuya Kuchiki.
Just as the razor fangs were about to touch him, Byakuya Kuchiki's figure blurred, then reappeared atop a tower on the other side.
Shunpo.
With a burst of Reiatsu and a shift in footwork, it allowed movement so fast it looked like teleportation.
Byakuya Kuchiki was a master of Shunpo. He'd even developed a technique on top of it, [Senka].
By adding a spin to the step, he could slip behind his opponent in an instant and strike from their blind spot.
Ganju Shiba and Ichigo Kurosaki had both been injured by that move earlier.
Renji Abarai couldn't keep up with Byakuya Kuchiki's speed, but he had Hihiō Zabimaru. He swept the staff sideways, using the serpent's long skeletal body to expand his reach and wipe out Byakuya Kuchiki's foothold.
The extended spine of bone sealed off Byakuya Kuchiki's angles of escape. The terrifying skull head lunged straight at him, leaving nowhere to slip away.
Byakuya Kuchiki drew his blade and braced it against the fangs, judging Renji Abarai's current strength in a glance.
"This ends now. Scatter... Senbonzakura."
Cherry blossoms whirled.
Hihiō Zabimaru, brimming with overwhelming force, shattered in an instant into segment after segment of fragments. Even the skull-snake head split cleanly in two.
Byakuya Kuchiki landed with the falling pieces, calmly drawing his sword back in, then suddenly sensed something off.
His icy eyes flicked over his shoulder.
The fragments on the ground drifted up like petals on the wind, gathering together again, re-forming into Hihiō Zabimaru.
"Senbonzakura. At the moment of its release, the blade disperses into countless microscopic blades too small for the naked eye to see. They refract light, appearing as scattering cherry blossom petals. I have already discerned the nature of your Shikai."
The skeletal serpent in front of Renji Abarai split open, revealing the Reiatsu surging within.
"The segments of Hihiō Zabimaru are bound together by my Reiatsu. Just now, I deliberately separated them to evade your attack."
For once, Byakuya Kuchiki's expression shifted. His eyes widened slightly, a rare flicker of surprise crossing his face.
"There's no need to look so shocked. I've already figured you out." Renji Abarai spoke steadily. "Senbonzakura has two weaknesses. First, the blades are too small and have nothing to anchor them. They're hard to dodge, but their cutting power is limited. Second, once the blade itself is gone, you lose your own defense. So when facing an opponent you're not certain you can defeat, you immediately revert it back to its sealed form after Shikai."
Renji Abarai glanced at the Zanpakutō at Byakuya Kuchiki's waist.
The fact that Byakuya Kuchiki had just sheathed his blade meant he wasn't confident he could destroy Hihiō Zabimaru in one strike.
I've really caught up to him.
"What surprises me," Byakuya Kuchiki said calmly as he drew his Zanpakutō, the tip pointing toward the ground, "is that even after learning Bankai, you can still remain so optimistic."
He released his grip.
The Zanpakutō fell, sinking into ripples that spread across the ground.
In the next instant, identical ripples appeared on either side of Byakuya Kuchiki. From each one, enormous blades rose in succession, lining up neatly to his left and right, stretching behind him as far as the eye could see.
"Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
The countless giant blades shattered at once into a storm of petals, surging forward like a tidal wave that swallowed Renji Abarai's entire field of vision.
Thousands upon thousands. No. Hundreds of millions of petals screamed through the air. The buildings behind Renji Abarai collapsed in a thunderous roar.
A drop of blood slid down his cheek.
Then another.
And another.
Warm blood burst from wounds carved by freezing blades, spraying from every part of Renji Abarai's body. As he fell, crimson arcs painted the air.
The petals gathered once more into a blade in Byakuya Kuchiki's hand.
He leveled the sword at Renji Abarai's head.
"As I said. It ends here."
"Captain Kuchiki."
A gentle voice cut in.
"What comes next is the responsibility of the Fourth Division."
Byakuya Kuchiki's hand paused slightly.
"Renji Abarai, as the Lieutenant of the Sixth Division, intended rebellion. The crime is…"
"I only heard him say he wanted to save his friends and show his strength to his captain," Retsu Unohana said evenly. "Where exactly was the rebellion?"
Byakuya Kuchiki raised his Zanpakutō.
"Captain Kuchiki."
Retsu Unohana's smiling eyes slowly opened. The curve of her lips did not change, yet an icy chill filled the air.
"What comes next is the responsibility of the Fourth Division."
"…"
Byakuya Kuchiki slid his Zanpakutō back into its sheath and turned away.
"You cannot protect him forever, Captain Unohana."