my test bok for fanfiction so i can use the tts

The Central 46 is, calmly and with dignity (lie), losing their goddamn minds. Yoruichi wants to laugh, except that this is the part of the plan most likely to go horrifically wrong with no chance of correction. 

Well, Kisuke almost certainly has something up his expansive sleeves, but it's probably not nice and no one will enjoy it if he finds the need to step in.

Sometimes Yoruichi worries that he'll start deploying specialized enemy-targeted weapons of mass destruction, and then cuts herself off because they already kind of danced around the topic with the discussion of the future-that-wasn't. 

There's no cause for worry whatsoever, unless Ichigo falls. 

Then they're all doomed, but hey, it's gonna be a wild ride.

Until that point, she's got a job to do. 

The clan heads are all panicking utterly, and one day when she looks back on this memory, she's going to cry laughing. Today is not that day. 

Yoruichi spreads her reiatsu throughout the chamber, just enough for someone to feel if they were paying attention (no one is). Then, in a trick she learned from Kisuke who learned from Ichigo who learned from Unohana, she rips the heat from the room all at once, plunging the entire area into icy stillness. Several people yelp, but the snap freeze works, and she now once again has the attention of her…prey. She lets the technique go and the room temperature rises rapidly back to normal. All eyes are on her anyway. 

"Esteemed Council members, there is no longer time to deliberate. The Soutaichou has engaged the upstart and the outcome is entirely unknown. Will this Council agree to negotiations, or will it remain a battle of extermination?"

For their sake, they'd better chose option one. Yoruichi is rapidly losing patience. 

This is the best fight Unohana has had in fifteen centuries, easily . Shinji is skilled, and cunning, older than almost every other Shinigami save herself and the captain-commander, perhaps on par with Yamamoto's students, with the particular edge of feral ruthlessness that comes from growing up in one of the more lawless areas of Rukongai. Now, to add to that, he's got a level of power that makes her bones hum, the fierce edge to it that makes instincts unused for millennia rear their heads.

She hasn't felt a rush of adrenaline like this in a very long time, indeed. 

They've escalated from zanjutsu to add in hakuda and kido and nearly undetectably fast shunpo, flowing together smoothly in what Retsu doesn't think is arrogance to call the pinnacle of what shinigami combat aspires to be. The last two thousand years of keeping her head down and demon leashed is worth it, just for this. 

They're both bearing a handful of small injuries, inevitable with the speed of their strikes no matter what their skill level. 

Shinji's mask isn't the only thing that changed. His kido have become monstrosities she's never even heard of, leaving her guessing at the purpose of each one based only vaguely on how they feel to her, and even that's being hindered by the Hollow flavor suffusing his reiatsu.

Seriously, she has some Very Serious Questions for Urahara after this. Oh, she knows he didn't turn them initially, but the finesse with which the hollowfied shinigami have been stabilized with doesn't come about by accident. Shinji and his hollow form-- his other half? She doesn't know, and she needs answers -- seem to be in perfect harmony, and there's no loss of control whatsoever. If anything, his control has improved since pulling his mask out of thin air. The foreign edge to his thoughts is throwing her off as well, making it incredibly difficult to predict his movements-- and Shinji is one of those tricky fighters who specializes in unpredictability, in catching his opponent off-guard, and now that Retsu is sense- blind, it's as effective on her as it would be on anyone else. 

Well, anyone else with over two millennia of experience, but eh. Details. 

Her point is, she's having fun, and she can get her answers later, and for now she can just…push herself, in a way she can barely remember ever being able to do against a living opponent. 

There's a fraction of her attention dedicated to the captain-commander, whatever he's doing with the Shiba newcomer, but they seem to have each other well stalemated for now, so there's no need to intervene there. 

Besides which, she has a feeling that Urahara won't take it well if she tries to intervene, and she doesn't mean she'll get a fight out of it, just end up dead when the assassin-scientist jumps straight to extreme measures. 

Either way, it's not currently her problem, so she redirects her attention to a Shinji who's all but cackling in delight. 

Perhaps she can recreate some of those kido he's been throwing around? The sensory manipulations, in particular, fascinate her, so it might be worth a shot. 

There's everything to lose, after all, and there's no better time to learn than with your life on the line. 

Retsu smiles. 

Ryuujin Jakka is old . She's tired, sometimes, an inevitable side effect of being a soul tied to mortal flesh, but she is the other half of a warrior, a survivor , an idealist who looked at all the terrible things in the world and thought to fix them, a protector who sought to carve out a safe haven that they could barely even imagine from the bloody chaos that was all they'd ever known. 

Therefore, Ryuujin Jakka is also indefatigable. 

Somewhere along the way, her other half has forgotten who they were, what they were. What they stood for. For so long now, he has been locking away so much of themselves. 

Even though sometimes she can feel the way his spirit is screaming at the injustices perpetrated by those he chose to subordinate himself to. 

Even though sometimes his emotions are boiling with turmoil to the point where she can do nothing but cry out for him, for them , giving voice to all the rage and sorrow and fear and betrayal that he in his position cannot. 

She knows he can still hear her, even if they no longer speak very often. They have been partners for longer than the Soul Society has even existed. He heard her then without any of the aids developed for most shinigami these days, back when they were all raging against a world determined to beat them into nothingness. He reached for her and she answered, and they became. 

For all that his spirit is in disharmony, conflicted with the choice of security or freedom for an entire people, they are still one. In all things, she is his support, even if she does not agree with his actions. 

This, however. 

This is just disrespect. 

Ryuujin Jakka is not amused. 

The upstarts are bad enough, rampaging through Soul Society, casting aside all pretense of working with the system, resorting to something that isn't anarchy only because of the individual strength of their leader. 

She's seen that before. 

She's been that before. 

It's not sustainable. Humans are only human, and no matter how powerful any one person, they can be betrayed, blinded, can miss things and make wrong calls and be corrupted themselves. 

At what point does one stop , when they start deciding they're above the law? 

In her time, it was necessary simply because no law existed at all. But they'd changed that, and when the system was in place, not perfect but better, so much better, they'd subjected themselves to that same law. 

She is not blind to the rebels' side of the argument, either. The Central 46 have gone far beyond their bounds, pushing a little more each time, and they have become tyrants. They are bloated and greedy and blind and selfish, and care nothing for the common soul that she and Yamamoto had founded Soul Society to protect. The C46 is the absolute worst of the nobility that oppressed and neglected the Rukongai in equal measure before Seireitei had existed and she despises them, the sort of nobles who would have fallen to her blade back when they slaughtered all that dared stand in their path.

She hates them as much as she can afford to hate anything, but. 

But. 

That does not mean she will overlook the upstarts' presumption.

Ryuujin Jakka spreads her wings wide, rearing back on her hind paws, and roars at them. It's a harrowing noise, she knows from experience, and she's mildly impressed when the Shinigami's knees don't so much as waver. One of the sword spirits--the Hollowfied one--shudders in delight and anticipation. The other two don't waver, although the androgynous one in purple stiffens faintly, alert if not quite alarmed. She can't see if the expression shifts on the one with the dark visor. He might as well be a statue if not for the rippling of the ragged cloak obscuring his form. 

That's another thing that disturbs her about this Shiba. He has three spirits, and she knows for certain that the purple one used to be a partner to a Kuchiki she helped seal personally. As far as she knows, there's never been an instance where part of the manifestation of someone's soul decided to sever that connection in favor of forming a bond with another being entirely. 

This newcomer isn't just challenging the status quo; he's demolishing it. 

He's also, she notes, not even remotely phased by her existence after his initial awe. It's not feigned; the youth simply has the air of one who's seen worse.

Ryuujin Jakka does not like the idea of being merely another obstacle on a path filled with them. She and her wielder are among the oldest shinigami still living. They were once treated as the worst nightmare of souls and hollows alike. They have been witness of and party to slaughter the likes of which the soft shinigami of today could not even conceive . 

His indifference stings her pride, but he doesn't seem as if his steadiness stems from simple ignorance, and that concerns her even more. 

What has he seen to make her seem to be anything less than the ultimate terror? 

She will find out. She will rectify this. 

But first, she will put the fear of herself into them. 

Muramasa is not prepared for this. They've known the stakes since they came back in time, and they in particular have been coming to terms with this fight since the battle plans were first laid out. They've been preparing to try to take on Yamamoto and Ryuujin Jakka in the Soutaicho's soul ever since 

They're still not ready. 

Fear is not a foreign emotion to them by any means, and some days it's still a constant companion whispering or screaming in their ears. It's better now, with Ichigo. His other two sword spirits are perfectly willing to help pull Muramasa out of their own head if need be. But the bitter memory of the taste of fear is slow to fade, and so Muramasa recognizes it in themselves with all the harshness of self-knowledge they cannot afford to turn a blind eye to. 

They are afraid. 

It's not a foreign concept to any of them, not even to Ossan, who tends to feel most emotions as though through a thick pane of glass and pure logic. They've all been afraid, especially back when fighting an all-but-god was a monthly or weekly occurrence. Ichigo has never feared for himself, only those he's too slow to save. Shiro, despite being the part of Ichigo that's most in touch with his instincts, theoretically , is categorically insane and therefore reacts to fear with something approaching fascination and anticipation. 

Which means it's only Muramasa trying to wrestle down the numbing fear enough for their brain to function past their instincts. They ought to be used to it, by now, able to suppress their uncontrolled instincts, but even Ichigo's steadfast companionship has not completely assuaged the bone-deep terror that was once their constant companion. 

They're used enough to that to be able to move despite it, though. Their fight- or- flight reaction dials in to "fight" every time, these days, and part of them wonders if that's one of the side effects of becoming a part of Ichigo's soul. 

Regardless of all their considerations and fears, they're aware enough to move when the battle abruptly begins, Ichigo launching himself forward with Shiro and Ossan's forms in his hands, closely followed by Shiro in fully Hollow form and Ossan, wielding a copy of himself. 

Muramasa does not need to be a frontline fighter in these circumstances; Shiro and Ichigo press the attack while Ossan hovers, guarding their backs and watching for critical openings. Muramasa, therefore, allows themselves to fade into intangibility and vanishes like a wisp of the smoke so prevalent here. 

They circle, slowly, keeping a wary eye on the five combatants, four of whom are dwarfed by Ryuujin Jakka's massive bulk-- not that it makes any of them any less deadly. The Captain-Commander is one of the most experienced combatants in existence, and equally cunning and ruthless. Not one of them can afford to make a mistake here. A single failure, a single missed block or unnoticed opening, and he will take full advantage of it, Muramasa has no doubt.

This, too, they are used to.

Aizen had been so far beyond their capabilities that even the thought of challenging him was laughable. Ichigo had spoken of the very first time he had invaded Soul Society, young and naive and perfectly willing to challenge a captain without ever realizing the absolutely massive gap in skill and power and ability. Fighting Aizen had been like that, only to an even more ridiculous extent. Every second of combat had to be technically flawless. They had been so outclassed that even an instant's slip would have been fatal. They'd done it anyway, because the alternative had been losing everyone they'd ever loved, and even then it wasn't enough, but. 

Ichigo had been closer than just about anyone else, though. Kisuke had helped, with an assassin's finesse and Benihime's precision and viciousness, but other than the two of them, a handful of the Visored, Tessai and Yoruichi, and one or two of the remaining Captains, even seeing Aizen on the battlefield had spelled death for everyone involved. 

And even those had been picked off one at a time, every flaw exploited. Fatally, more often than not. Kensei, Hiyori, Tessai, Mashiro and Rose and Love and Hacchi all at once in a devastating trap, Lisa, Toshiro. Yoruichi. Byakuya. Shinji. 

By the end, they really hadn't had anyone left. 

So yes, Ichigo was used to being outclassed, and as his spirits, Muramasa and the others had taken to fielding themselves more often than not, trying to provide even a bit more protection and distraction--it wasn't like it had really taken any of Ichigo's considerable reserves. 

This puts Muramasa in a position they're quite familiar with, then, despite the foreign time and landscape and opponents. They won't ever be ready to face Ryuujin Jakka and the Soutaicho, but since when has that mattered? They have a job to do. 

Settling themselves onto a little spur of rock that is partially sheltered from the waves of destruction emanating from the battle, they turn within themselves and reach . 

See, Muramasa is a blade that reaches out and touches souls . They can take any hint of discord within a being and use it to turn zanpakuto against wielder. They can draw forth the sword spirits in the soul they're touching and allow them to manifest. They can silence the bond between spirit and host, making them unable to hear each other or share power. With Koga, they had been able to hijack that connection and force the zanpakuto into doing their bidding, not by directly taking over but by influencing their desires so that what they wanted was what Muramasa wanted. 

With Ichigo, they can reach out and splice themselves into that connection. They're not taking over either end, they're just. There. Listening. Understanding. 

There is no better way to understand one's enemies than by asking their truest self directly. 

So Muramasa reaches out. Not taking, never demanding, but offering, listening . At their core, every being wants to be understood. Consciously or not, some part of a person was always reaching out to those around them, stretching out and searching for bonds whether preexisting or ready to be forged.

It is this deeply hidden nature that Muramasa uses to connect to their opponents. 

Most opponents. They had tried once with Aizen, and the experience had very nearly disintegrated them entirely, tearing at the part of them that had been freshly integrated with Ichigo, and had almost shredded their consciousness into nonexistence. 

When going over the experience later with Ichigo and Shiro and Ossan, they had come to the conclusion that Aizen hadn't rejected them so much as he had grasped onto the fledgling bond with so much fervor that it had overwhelmed them both. The jagged edges of Aizen's soul, shattered beyond repair by the loss of Kyouka Suigetsu, had grabbed for Muramasa like a man drowning, and nearly killed them both in the process. 

The experience imprinted itself on all parties involved, and for all that no one wanted to repeat the experience-- not even Aizen; perhaps especially not Aizen-- the moment of connection had given Ichigo and his spirits a level of understanding and empathy that was…uncomfortable in its depth. 

Aizen as he had once been was long gone. The remnant was simply howling out its pain like a maddened animal, and tearing the world apart as it did so. 

They'd had a much easier time aiming to kill, after that. It was one thing to know that your enemy was an insane shell of their former self, and another entirely to realize that the part that had been Aizen had been in so much pain that a mercy kill was honestly the kindest option. 

Not that it had stopped his shell from devouring everything, allies and enemies and reality itself, cunning with its hunger for power and the scraps of awareness it retained from its victims. 

The Hogyouku had been at least as mad as its host, by the time the fateful betrayal had happened. 

That will never happen here. Urahara has already ensured it, and in doing so has given them all the chance of a peaceful future that none of them had dared even dream of. 

It is up to Muramasa and Ichigo and Shiro and Ossan to cement that opportunity, and they all know how far they're really willing to go to do so. 

Yes, they would vastly prefer to make peace with the Soutaichou and the Gotei 13 and the Central 46.

No, they would not hesitate if it came down to them or us. They've lost far too many to allow their resolve to waver, even if that means slaughtering two millennia of progress and stability. 

This is the part of them that Yamamoto fears beyond any other. He knows what they're capable of, one monster to another. 

It is Muramasa's job to facilitate understanding so that this does not become necessary. Soul to soul, they must come to terms with each other, both good and bad, and find the common ground that will keep them from tearing each other apart. They share some similarities already, of course, first and foremost being the drive they both have to protect . They just need to realize that what they are trying to protect are two facets of the same thing-- easier said than done, but not impossible. Muramasa is patient and persistent. It is only a matter of time until they break through the barrier preventing understanding. 

That much established, however, does not mean they're finished. No, this is no easy endeavor. What dragon sways so easily from their resolve? 

That part is up to the more combative members of their collective soul. Muramasa will lay the foundation. Ichigo and the others will simply have to drive the knowledge into Yamamoto and Ryuujin Jakka's heads the old-fashioned way-- with a good hard brawl. 

Urahara could probably elaborate more fully on the technical details, on how reach interaction and moment of contact only reinforces the bond already established, but Muramasa doesn't need any of that to know and trust that if they handle their part, the others will finish it. 

Their bond is unparalleled, after all. Who else can say that part of their soul chose them, tore through prior bonds and rejected their former host in favor of unifying with them?

No one, and Muramasa is not ashamed to be very proud of that. 

Together, nothing can stop them.