“Rukia, you haven’t used your Shikai yet, have you?
Once you’ve recovered sufficiently, come find me in the courtyard.” After saying this, Byakuya turned and walked out of the dojo.
The swordsmanship duel between the two came to an end here.
Byakuya left Rukia some time to rest while he waited outside in the courtyard.
By now, Rukia had finished the cup of Spirit Tea, and her spiritual pressure and physical condition had recovered quite a bit.
Seeing how effective the tea was, Rukia picked up the teapot nearby and poured herself another cup.
In a short while, she finished the whole pot.
After a brief rest, Rukia’s state had mostly recovered.
She tidied her clothes, then picked up her Zanpakuto from the side and went to the courtyard where Byakuya was.
Byakuya was standing in the middle of the courtyard with his back to her.
Sensing Rukia’s spiritual pressure, he said: “A Zanpakuto’s shape, state, and abilities are forged using a Shinigami’s own soul as a prototype.
A Shinigami gains power by learning the name given to their Zanpakuto and engaging in a mental dialogue with it.
That is what a Zanpakuto is.”
“So, what does your Zanpakuto look like?” After saying this, Byakuya turned around and slowly drew his Zanpakuto, holding it upright with one hand in front of him: “Scatter, Senbonzakura.”
After he finished reciting the Shikai incantation, Byakuya’s Zanpakuto began to disintegrate from the tip into tiny blades invisible to the naked eye, until the entire blade had turned into tiny cherry-blossom-colored blades, leaving only the hilt in his hand.
“This is my Senbonzakura.
Come, let me see your Zanpakuto.” Along with Byakuya’s voice, the cherry-colored petals slowly floated around him.
Seeing that Byakuya had already activated his Shikai, Rukia was not to be outdone and drew her Zanpakuto.
She extended her right arm and placed her left hand on it.
“Dance…”
As her voice fell, Rukia rotated the Zanpakuto in her hand counter-clockwise.
“Sode no Shirayuki.”
With the rotation of the Zanpakuto, cold air emanated from the blade.
Then, the entire Zanpakuto turned snow-white, patterns appeared on the hilt, and a long ribbon of the same color grew from the end of the hilt.
“Sode no Shirayuki, an ice-and-snow type Zanpakuto,” Rukia said flatly, without explaining its specific abilities.
“A beautiful Zanpakuto.
Among the ice-type Zanpakuto in the Soul Society, there is likely none more beautiful than her.
I just wonder what her abilities are like,” Byakuya said.
“Hmph, of course!
Sode no Shirayuki is not only the most beautiful, but also the strongest!” Rukia said confidently.
She was certain that with her talent, she could definitely surpass Tōshirō Hitsugaya.
“Oh?
Is that so?
Then let me see where your confidence comes from.” After saying that, Byakuya manipulated Senbonzakura to fly towards Rukia.
Seeing the cherry blossom petals flying towards her, Rukia’s heart remained calm.
She had seen Senbonzakura countless times in the anime and was already well-acquainted with it.
Rukia calmly sheathed her blade and leaped backward to create distance from Byakuya.
With a swift drawing slash, she carved a rift into the ground.
A surge of frost then erupted from the rift, freezing all the incoming cherry blossom petals into blocks of ice.
“Fifth Dance: Shirashimo!”
Seeing a portion of his Senbonzakura frozen, Byakuya immediately changed his attack pattern.
The clustered Senbonzakura suddenly scattered, launching an all-encompassing attack on Rukia from every angle.
“First Dance: Tsuki-shiro!”
Facing Senbonzakura from all directions, Rukia no longer defended passively and quickly dashed behind Byakuya.
At that moment, frost spread across the ground with Byakuya at the center, and a moon-white light glowed from the earth.
Seeing this, Byakuya leaped away from the range of Tsuki-shiro.
The moment he left, a pillar of ice shot up from the ground towards the sky, freezing everything within its reach.
A good opportunity!
Rukia thought secretly, immediately following up with:
“Second Dance: Hakuren!”
Byakuya was currently in mid-air with no leverage.
Naturally, Rukia would not let this perfect opportunity pass.
After tapping four points on the ground, a massive surge of frost erupted from the tip of her blade, rushing toward Byakuya.
Although Byakuya seemed to have nowhere to retreat, Rukia didn’t think it was over.
She knew how powerful this man, who was cool from start to finish in the anime, truly was.
“Your timing was good.
However, the foundation of a Shinigami’s battle is Spiritual Pressure.
As long as the Spiritual Pressure is strong enough, any attack is ineffective.”
Sure enough, after lecturing Rukia, Byakuya released a powerful Spiritual Pressure from his body.
Rukia felt a massive sense of oppression wash over her, and her entire body became exceptionally heavy.
Under this intense pressure, every movement became extremely difficult.
The frost created by Hakuren shattered completely just before hitting Byakuya, then transformed into reishi and dissipated.
By now, all the frost Rukia had created had vanished, and the ice pillar formed by Tsuki-shiro was gone.
Only the drop in temperature in the surroundings proved that a battle had taken place here.
Byakuya withdrew his Spiritual Pressure, and the oppressive feeling on Rukia disappeared.
She let out a sharp sigh of relief; that sensation, as if she were carrying a mountain on her back, was truly uncomfortable.
Senbonzakura gathered together and returned to its initial Zanpakuto state.
Byakuya had retracted his Shikai.
Seeing this, Rukia also dissipated her Spiritual Pressure and sheathed Sode no Shirayuki.
However, Sode no Shirayuki did not return to its asauchi form like Byakuya’s Senbonzakura.
Instead, it remained in its Shikai state.
The originally brown scabbard had also turned snow-white the moment it was released.
Indeed, through the special change of soul fusion, Sode no Shirayuki had become a constant-release type Shikai, just like Ichigo’s.
While other Shinigami still need an incantation for release during battle, Rukia is different; she can use it as soon as she draws it, making her far more efficient.
Most importantly, it’s beautiful.
Aesthetics are a lifelong pursuit.
When everyone else draws a grey blade and you’re the only one with a snow-white one, your style points instantly skyrocket.
“Alright, I agree.
It seems you truly don’t need to continue your studies at the Academy.
With your current strength, you could even become a Seated Officer directly.
In three years, you will need to follow the Academy to the Human World for a Konso Internship.
This is something every Shinigami must experience.”
Rukia nodded in agreement.
Ever since Kuchiki Byakuya adopted her as his Foster Sister, she had been wondering if she still needed to stay at the Spiritual Arts Academy.
After all, the Academy had nothing left to teach her except for Kido.
She could already use Shikai, her swordsmanship followed the Ashina Style, and Byakuya had already said he would personally teach her Kido.
No matter how well the Academy taught, could it be better than the personal instruction of a Captain-level Shinigami?
Shunpo was a footwork technique that only senior students could learn; staying until then would just be a waste of time.
Most importantly, she wanted to avoid Aizen’s release of Kyōka Suigetsu at the Academy.
This ability was far too broken in the world of Bleach, and the only way to break it was to touch the blade of Kyōka Suigetsu.
Since she couldn’t break it, she might as well just not look at it.
That was why Rukia refused to go to the Academy at all costs.
Now that her goal was achieved, she could take a good rest for a while without constantly worrying about how to avoid Aizen.
Aizen’s Hōgyoku was still an unfinished product.
Before determining the location of the other Hōgyoku, Aizen would remain that “Mr.
Nice Guy,” only conducting experiments in the shadows and looking for ways to hypnotize more Shinigami with Kyōka Suigetsu.
To explain based on a reader’s comment: the timeline in this book is different from the original work.
Here, Rukia and Renji entered the Academy much earlier than in the original story.
Hisana had only recently passed away when Byakuya found Rukia; it was as if Rukia arrived right after Hisana left.
At this time, Byakuya had not yet buried all his emotions deep in his heart.
The moment he saw Rukia, all his inner feelings erupted and were poured into her.
In other words, the current Byakuya had become a Sis-con.
He would only act this way toward Rukia, while remaining the cold and aloof god to everyone else.
Besides, Byakuya’s personality was quite lively when he was a child.
Therefore, I feel that Byakuya’s current characterization isn’t a collapse but is rather reasonable.