Tenko & Kirishi "Hope" [TRANSCENDENTAL]

The Vows

“Above all else, be reasonable and irregardless of the orders of a higher being, our other orders are absolute. But one must be respectful of all spiritual beings. And remember, as per our third dictum, that their point of view is to always be considered first. For theirs is the wisdom that surpasses our own, theirs is the view that see’s beyond our own, for no human is wiser than a spirit. Even if the spirit was, at one point, a human.

And it is not our place to question their wisdom. No matter how alien it may seem. For we serve them and these one-hundred and fifty three codes so long as we stay in this world. And if we are to depart this world, may we reaffirm these codes together, guardian and charge, so long as we remember our place.

And may we never harm another messenger of the gods with the intent to disrupt their duty. And may we never steal from another messenger of the spirits. And may we never kill another harrier of the gods. And may we help them at all costs, unless it would interfere with another law. And may we never cut down a tree with the intention to harm its god. And may we never sever the fuin nor ofuda of a spirit placed within a year with the intention to do no harm to us. And may we never slay a myobu-gitsune nor any servant of a greater kami. And may we never hunt a spirit’s follower with ill-intent. And may we never aid those who do.

And may we place our own safety above that of these vows, so we may live another day to uphold them. And may we always know our place, not above that of other men. And may be know our place, never below that of other spirits. May we aspire nor lust for any rank or privilege, except to serve. May we serve humbly. May we serve thanklessly. May we serve again and again, so long as it doesn’t break another vow. May we know our places. May we keep ourselves distinct as harrier and as bodyguard. May we never stray from our duties. May we seek to aid spirits. May we look high and low for them. May we never leave a spirit until our duties are completed. And may we enjoy the privilege of helping. May we never inquire as to why a spirit asks of us our duty. Unless we feel it will allow us to serve them better. May we never sacrifice ourselves for a spirit’s well-being, for any permanent injury will prevent us from completing our other vows.

And may we prioritize peace. For we exist to grant peace to all spirits. May our assistance be neutral with regards to peace. And may the ways of the spirits, while we recognize them as being beyond that of our own understanding, be followed as to perpetuate peace. May peace be brought about by understanding. And may understanding be the strongest shield in our arsenal. For no matter how sharp the tongue, the sword shall always bring only tears. For no matter how hated we must become, may our sacrifice be some-day recognized. May it not be in name, but in spirit. May it not be that we do this for price, but for peace.

We shall not consume the blood of the spirits. Nor the meat. Nor shall we use the blood or meat of spirits in any rituals. We shall never harvest a spirit. We shall conduct ourselves properly before the body of any spirit. If unsure, the spirit shall be laid to rest int he manner most befitting the customs of its people. We must know the burial customs of all people. We must know the laws regarding their practices in any province. We may not consume the milk of a spirit. We may not lay with a spirit, nor a human, unless done so with the intention of propagating our line or the absolute peace of the spiritual world. We may not deface any grave.

We must clean at least one unkept grave from any site crossed. We may not step over a dead body. We may not touch the dead body of a human. We may not consume any portion of any dead body of any men or spirits. We may not wear any portion of a dead body, human or spirit. We may not use a spirit for money. We may not reveal their existence to those who refuse to believe in them. We may not drink alcohol, except to promote peace with the spiritual world. We may not gamble, except when requested to by a spirit, and never with borrowed money. We may not give gifts in quantities of four. But we must if requested to by a spirit. We may not eat bloodied meat, unless requested to by a spirit. We may not cause undo harm to children, nor other spiritualists. We may not attempt to bring back the dead. We may not knowingly deliver a letter that will cause undo strife, unless it is for the long term benefit of the spiritual world. We my not knowingly delivery poisons nor curses nor any sort of weapon that will cause pain upon a spirit. Nor may we touch, nor approach, a sacred vessel containing a member of royalty without first consulting the highest ranking local spirit.

The succession of the house is to be followed irregardless of the will of the spirits, unless a greater spirit intervenes directly. The laws of these succession are to be secret, unless they are requested directly by a spirit. The first born male shall succeed as head of the family and inherent the title of harrier of spirits. If a daughter is born, they are to keep the title only until the time in which a male may claim it. The second-born, irregardless of gender, is to be the protector of the harrier. If the harrier is unable to see spirits, the duty of guardian must be given to one who may see spirits. If none are able to see spirits, the duty may be given to one outside the family so long as they commit an oath of fealty to the family within three moon’s time.

If no male heir is born, and no male in the clan is with the ability to see spirits and has reached the human age of 400 moons, an active female may be declared a harrier. In this event, the retired harrier must consort with the new harriers once every four moons and may not life further than two days from the three main shrines in Gifu. After 800 moons, if no male with the ability to see spirits has been raised or born, the male may declare himself the senior-priest of the family shrine. In this case he must oversee the family’s affairs and, at all costs, find an appropriate heir. A female harrier’s primary duty is to raise an appropriate heir.

Only the harrier may speak with spirits. The protector may only intervene to protect the life of the harrier. If the harrier falls under the protectors watch, the protector is not permitted to live. If these laws are violated, the title may be stripped from both harrier and protector. If the title is stripped, irregardless of the age of the older harrier, it is the older harrier’s responsibility to once again become the harrier until the time when an appropriate match is found. This must never be forgotten.

We shall remain reverent towards all spirits, whenever it would cause no danger to us. But we shall not be hostile beyond what is required to protect us in the event we are attacked. We must hold our lives in the highest regard, only because it is us who helps maintains the balance of the spirits in this world. We shall remain neutral towards all spirits, for we have been invited into their world. Into their home. We are but guests, and they our honored hosts. If they are to reward us with kindness, we must repay that kindness. But we shall never repay anger with anger, nor revenge with revenge. For theirs is the wisdom of a life we have yet to live. Their rights are granted by heaven and earth tremble you at their power. This is the one-hundredth and fiftieth law; may it never be broken.”

The Eye of the Storm

Raised almost exclusively by their Grandfather, the twins never knew a normal parent-child relationship. Everything was for the clan; everything was for the success of the Sugata. Their mother was devoured when they were born. Their father was a drunk ex-priest who blamed the mother’s death on his children and was only grateful to have them so he could be done with his obligation as the Sugata Heir and piss away his inheritance on wine and whores. He was a broken man--one without the ability to see spirits forced to work alongside things he could neither perceive nor understand.
Kirishi’s role in the clan was as difficult as it was complex. From the age of 7 she was expected to travel between the local shrines, and by the age of 11 she was traveling cross-country with little more than the knapsack on her back. The young girl never had a chance to attend school or learn the fundamentals of math, science or history. Instead she was cloistered in a world of spirits, sutra, philosophy and law that would remind someone more of a shugenja (mountainous hermit-witch) than a typical young girl. The only time she would catch glimpses of a ‘normal’ life would be on the sides of the roads to and from the shrines or during festivals at the edges of Gifu. Even then, she was always warned to steer clear of the ‘un-gifted’ children.

Tenko’s role, on the other hand, was quite simple: she was the bodyguard of her sister. She was to make sure no harm would ever befall Kirishi or her reputation. She was to make sure her sister followed the decrees of the clan to a tee and to keep her on the right path. Her body was merely her sister’s shield--a fact she had drilled into her head, and her body, from quite early-on in her training. She had no opinion and no voice; for it was her duty to guard the voice of those with wisdom far beyond mortal understanding. To taint their messages was the most heinous of crimes and as far as the Sugata were concerned, messages from any but the spirits or their herald were impure.
Thirteen years of hiking trails and practicing tortuous traditions, the pair of prankster like twins would find themselves at a cross-roads. Despite formal codes and traditions forbidding the practice, the girls would frequently trade places during their training and errands--giving each other a break from the otherwise repetitive and boring lifestyle they were destined to follow. But by doing so, they risked far more than simple rules: they risked their entire positions. And, by extension, the position of their father.

By now the former Sugata-clan head was happy to just be able to live a modern life: free of the stresses of his previous job (and, thanks to his lack of spiritual pressure, from Ryouja’s hidden shackles). But if the twins wouldn’t take the job seriously, their was a good chance he would be forced to take the position and the daughters would be exiled from the clan. And so the father was asked to return for a night to try to talk some sense into his children. Unfortunately, the man returned to the shrine a drunken and angry mess. And when confronted with who he assumed was Tenko, the bodyguard who kept running off to deliver messages against all Sugata protocol, the old drunkard took to making sure she could never go out on another ‘errand’ for her sister again. He began to break his daughter’s legs with a metal pipe.

Unfortunately that night Kirishi wasn’t out delivering a message as scheduled; she was taking her sister’s place and now lying helpless as her father broke her legs again and again for at least thirty minutes until she felt something deep within her mind snap. The kamaitachi that lie dormant between the sisters had finally awoken--and in a flash unleashed the power of a fourteen year storm in a minute; tearing the man, the shrine and most of its occupants into shreds in the blink of an eye and leaving the young girl trapped in a torrent of deadly wind.

Tenko, Kirishi and a passing arrancar would be the only three who would survive the encounter--even the twin’s beloved grandfather would be killed by the mixture of hurricane winds and the fire caused by several exploding gaslines in the area. Tenko managed to brave the winds and the blaze and embrace her beloved sister long enough to snap her out of the trance; but the damage was done. The home and inhabitants of the Sugata clan were destroyed. And each twin was permanently scarred that night with the only wounds that would never heal: Kirishi’s legs, battered by her father, and Tenko’s back, torn to shreds by her sister’s winds as she held Kirishi close in the eye of the storm.

The pair would spend 11 months on the streets, begging, stealing and doing whatever was necessary to get by--while still visiting the occasional shrine or trying to have a ‘friendly chat’ with a local shinigami or hollow hoping to continue their family’s traditions. Neither girl would ever learn the complete truth of what happened the night their fate was so cruelly spun for a loop. And neither could ever imagine what kind of future fate had in store for them.

Dark Journey Home

The twins knew they were getting in over their heads the minute they stepped into Karakura town. The high concentration of high reiatsu signatures coupled with the modern setting were two extremes that clashed with everything the sisters knew. But before they could take in the town for more than an hour or two they were approached by another oddity: a towncar in which they were invited by a man whose hat bore the crest of their new home: The Honjou.

The twins were slow to adapt to their new life: spending half the time in the luxury of the Honjou Mansion and the other half outside in a small tent in the rose garden. Yet they had found companions who trusted them enough to live alongside and even allow themselves to be occasionally scammed by the shy sisters. Kagami Shinobu taught the twins (or at least Tenko) that there were kind hearted spiritualists willing to help one another out rather than just sell each other out to the nearest Arrancar or take shots at them like the Jundo. Mamoru Seishin taught Kirishi that humans were able to co-exist with the spirits, even though the Honjou Oyabun was himself a bitter enemy of the Hollow species. The two learned about Seireitei and Hueco Mundo from the former hollow hunter. And, after several months, the twins felt they were ready to return home for the first time since the fire.

On their dark journey home the twins found themselves confronted with the Arrancar Suzumei Hakuren. The elder arrancar recognized Kirishi’s desire to wish to serve the spirits, allowing her, much to Tenko’s distrust, to serve the Suzumei family as personal messengers for the Arrancar. Including sending a personal letter to a certain shinigami. The twins exchanged whistles with the Arrancar, having retrieved the devices from their visit to the shrine, and learned that Hakuren was the arrancar who helped douse the flames of the place a year ago and allow Tenko to rescue her sister.
The twins met various shinigami, hollows and humans during their time as Honjou subordinates. They were even involved in the secret affair between Kasasagi Aizawa and Hakuren Suzumei enough to earn some passage to the Aizawa compound in Seireitei.

A chance meeting with a hollow hunter packing a pair of six-shooters first showed Tenko that hollows destroy souls and are not the misunderstood beasts Ryouja’s teachings claimed they were. This sent the curious young spiritualist and her sister back to the Sugata shrine to double check an odd little hunch that had bugged the girl for years.

Sifting through the rubble the twins happened upon the entrance to the family mausoleum. And after some prodding, Tenko managed to talk her twin into exploring its depths. There they found neither bodies nor relics--simply a gateway to Heuco Mundo quickly occupied by Ryouja Sugata himself: the arrancar who at last revealed his mad schemes and then asked the sisters to sacrifice himself to his ‘more perfect form’. A sacrifice Kirishi found herself all too eager to make; much to the protest of Tenko. After a short battle Tenko and Kirishi managed to escape their destiny, but not completely intact. Kirishi left with her mind torn asunder--a lifetime of teachings found false and the very meaning for her life reduced to nothing greater than feed. Tenko lie dying in the snow, abandoned by her sister with the mental connection that bound the pair severed for the first time since they were born. And yet, the otherwise fatal wounds Tenko endured seemed to heal in a matter of minutes; the blood in her body was responding to her desires with such ease that it would have frightened the girl, was she even conscious to feel it.

Reunion in Babel

Kirishi and Tenko both had a number of strange dreams for many months before their fight with Ryouja. Visions of a supernatural archive in which all knowledge was recorded and of a special time and series of locations around the three worlds--most of which neither twin had never visited before. And, as per their vows, Kirishi and her sister distributed this information to as many spirits as possible for several months. Many would learn of the place: Shiki Ashikabi, Ai Muro and Hakuren Suzumei among them. And when the library finally did “open its doors”, each twin found themselves warped to it regardless of their location.

The library was at that point in time controlled by four rival factions: humans, shinigami, arrancar and ghosts. Each believed they had the key to escaping its dull-white confines and returning to Earth with the vast knowledge they’d aquired within its sacred halls. Unfortunately, each only had a small fraction of what would be required to reach a hidden room in the library: the chambers containing the heart and soul of the library itself.

When Kirishi arrived she was confronted by one of these Arrancar, whom she begged to take her life. The Arrancar was honorable and desired a fair fight, but wouldn’t say no to the poor girl who wandered the halls calling herself “cattle”. Fortunately for the twin, Suzumei Hakuren would have none of it; the Espada destroyed the foolish arrancar in a single blow. Tenko arrived, a minute too late to save her sister, and decided to follow the Arrancar and her Shinigami lover, Kasasagi, as they explored the depths of hte library (taking the unconscious Kirishi in tow).

Hakuren had her vengeance against the leader of the Arrancar--slaying him and taking his treasured book that contained the first of four “keys” to reach the heart of the library. Next she attacked the humans, their technology no match to the Espada’s anger. Catching up with Kagami Shinobu, the four conscious adventurers moved onto the soul-draining ghosts, avoiding their presence with Hakuren’s icy aura enough to nab the third book, and finally reached the shinigami--where Kasasagi and Kagami found their reasons for entering the library and decided it would be best (politically) to leave before encountering the “14th Division”. The shinigami were the easiest to deal with, having been attacked by another intruder earlier and losing half their forces to the “invasion” they took upon learning the Arrancar lord was defeated. All four books were gathered.


And like that Hakuren and the twins were instantly transported to another chamber in the library: the padded and lonely white chambers of Akasha: the overseer of the library. She explained that she was a fourth “sister” the twins never knew they had: an entity formed from the missing soul-bits never recovered after the kamaitachi attack when they were first born. An entity created and gobbled up by the library for replace the former overseer; and one who wanted nothing more than to help her sisters who could have never known that she even existed.

Kirishi awoke and was treated by the pair--not simply as a human, but as a sister. The family reunion combined with Hakuren’s chilly embrace were able to snap Kirishi out of her funk; and the Miko of the Sugata was given another reason to live when Hakuren invited her in as an honorary member of her Fraccion. Kirishi had no need to sacrifice herself to every hollow or arrancar with an appetite; she was now equal in status to the writhing horde and given direct orders from another of them to follow and obey. Direct orders to live.

The trio would spend all night with the lonely Akasha before they had to leave the library or risk imprisonment. From that point on Akasha would have no need to feel the loneliness in her heart she had felt since the day she was born; she had bonded with her sisters and from that day forward would at least spend every night with them, telling them stories and recanting that day’s events as they drifted off to sleep...

Death and Rebirth

Tenko’s hatred for her ancestor coupled with Kirishi’s new found freedom as a member of Hakuren’s fraccion let both twins come to the same conclusion: to kill Sugata Ryouja. And so the twins went to meet with their ancestor in a warehouse in Karakura. Knowing that Kirishi’s mental conditioning made her unable to hurt him and that his reiatsu signature greatly exceeded that of the girl’s, the hollow felt confident in his ability to feed off the last of his lineage. What the hollow didn’t expect, however, was that the twins had reached a new pinnacle of power in such a short amount of time. A certain pinnacle that went by the moniker Kiriko, the Angel of Broken Glass. Kiriko appeared that night for the first time, a being composed of the bond between the girls inherently bound and yet her own independent soul. The fusion made short work of the arrancar before returning her ‘sisters’ to the Honjou estate.
The next day the sister’s found Seishun Mamoru, the Oyabun of the Honjou Clan, was missing! A letter notified the sisters of their master’s journey and gave them the entirety of the house, including Mamoru’s mansion!

Taking charge, the twins and Kiriko set to work out to revitalize the fledgling Honjou clan. They sold the Seishun estate and purchased an old shrine on the outskirts of Karakura town near the wooded foothills. Hosting a few matsuri and going on the hunt for wandering spiritualists looking for a safe place to rest their heads, the twins and Kiriko managed to revitalize the Honjou clan one member at a time.

As Tenko and Kirishi met with more of these spiritualists her world view rapidly expanded. From the compassionate and loving Crystal and Ria, to the ruthless and cunning Roash and Yaksha; the twins were able to make both friends and enemies for themselves for the first time in their short little lives. Two months later they had firmly established Kiriko as the hidden head of the Honjou; the “forever ill” Mitsue Shiro who could only convey her wishes for her beloved Honjou via the low ranking twins.
And it was then that the pair would accidentally stumble upon an individual who would forever change their lives; one teleportation mishap into a beach-and-sea world of eternal twilight to meet with Riko Suzumei, head of the Noble Family and the twin’s first non-hollow supporter. The pair spent a good week or two in the timeless space, learning about Seireitei and the politics of the noble houses from the Royal. And after their short vacation, the pair were given the chance of a lifetime: Fealty to the Suzumei. And the good news didn’t slow down for the brave little twins; as once Hakuren learned of the twin’s acceptance into the Suzumei she called her own meeting with the pair and granted them the one thing they had always been without: a mother.

The twins were on cloud nine. Kiriko, however, was still quite perturbed. She had no idea who or what she really was. She knew she loved her sisters and knew she wanted to protect them, but a chilling speech by Yaksha had always left her second guessing whether or not she had the right to call herself a separate entity from her sisters or whether or not she was just a parasitic cyst; a shadow of the two twins whose ideas and beliefs were a mere fusion without any will of its own.

Until one night Akasha saw her sister struggling with her existential crisis and was given a single choice from the library; a chance to affect the world directly and forever alter the timeline of the world at the risk of her own existence. And so she sent Kiriko a single message; a spoiler the amalgamated soul was not supposed to learn until many years later. A single sentence that overcame her with such ferocity and gravity that if it wasn’t for the kindness of one Ria Bartin, she might have just frozen right there in the snowy garden of the Honjou Estate:

“You Are the Kamaitachi.”

New Allies

Tenko and Kirishi were both on top of the world as they continued their move into the new Honjou estate. Visiting the deepest parts of the woods, the pair were mushroom gathering when they were confronted by a lone shinigami by the name of Ine Kenshou. After a ruthless spar between the pair, resulting in the exposure of the Vizard and Kiriko’s true natures, the successful twins healed their adversary and departed. Meeting again two weeks later, Tenko asked Ine to train her in the use of the katana. After a fierce fight the young sister found herself calling out Kirishi’s inability to listen to Tenko when she didn’t completely trust her sister’s plans. This is where Tenko begins to learn how to wield a naginata and a sword, in addition to realising her aptitude for using the kamaitachi’s power to manipulate sound.

Accepting a secret mission from Kasasagi, Kirishi found herself having to make a dangerous choice: to give a fugitive spirit whom she wanted to set free to Seireitei, or to let the girl free and follow her heart. Ultimately she simply allowed the spirit to knock her out and escape the shinigami converging on the location; but the decision would haunt her given she had to betray the people who just trusted her enough to give her the original task.

Tenko is sent by Kiriko on a mission to help the Kosa track down some strange hollows. At the same time Kirishi is sent by Kiriko to meet the Kosa head, Kokuou, and negotiate a treaty with the rival house. The foundations of the Kolat are forged that night as Kiriko, unbeknownst to her sister’s, signs Tenko off to live as a Kosa member from that day onward.

When Kirishi learns that Kiriko went behind her back and gave away her sister, she gets scared that Kokuou will just “use” Tenko and challenges him to a duel. During a brief three way fight with the twins Kirishi see’s first hand what a compassionate and caring person Kokuou was; a human who could be as trusted as an ancient spirit.

Around this time Kiriko is again confronted by Yaksha, who was interested in her project in central Karakura. After a brief meeting she decided to allow the hollow into her life a little--in particular, as a potential resident of the future Suzumei Foundation Library. But all was not well for Kiriko--who found her memories during her days as the kamaitachi slowly coming back to her. And the relatively few memories she’d acquire in her short time with the Sugata sisters slowly but surely slipping further and further from her grasp as the pain and anger of the ancient wind spirits began to drive her inhibitions to a dark place she knew one day she would be exiled too. And so she accelerated a plan she had been forming with Akasha, using a golden clad man who unexpectedly gave the woman the perfect catalyst.

Approached by Gilgamesh, the twins were asked to “fetch” Kiriko. Exposing her secret to the self appointed “King of Kings”, Kiriko appeared before him and accepted his tempting offer: becoming the Herald of the Golden Court in exchange for the future possession of a legendary sword...and the opportunity for her to advance her own plans far ahead of schedule. During her first mission, assisting the Quincy Ryder in destroying the Central 46, Kiriko set her plan into motion. Unfusing in a staged accident, she launched Tenko and what she assumed was the last Central 46 member (Shiki Ashikabi) into a portal. Leaving Kirishi stranded with Ryder, she forcefully cut the twin’s telepathic bonds.

Tenko and Shiki wound up in Riko’s realm. Or, at least, what was left of it since the Royal left the realm to rot. Meanwhile Kirishi lost herself in the tragedy of what she could only assume was Tenko’s death. Snapped out of a rampage by Ryder, she took up the persona and identity “Kiko” and swore to follow Ryder, slay the remaining Central 46 members, pledge her loyalty to Gilgamesh and avenge her sister (whom she only assumed was killed vis-a-vie Shiki Ashikabi’s influence during the fight). Training with a gun for the first time in her young life, she quickly adapted to the militaristic mother-figure and swore her loyalty to Ryder.

Before the Dawn

Ryder and Kiko sped to Russia vis-a-vie a tip from an enigmatic guide who had evidence that the remaining Central 46 bureaucrats were hiding in Chernobyl amongst a group of arrancar the council was keeping secret from Seireitei in exchange for the potential to use their base as a safe house in the event of an uprising.

Allying themselves with two members of the Kosa, the group uncovered secrets upon secrets: the arrancar and Central 46 members were both, unbeknownst to one another, working as agents of the Kilat. Furthermore the group’s “guide” was Kionchi, who then discovered he himself was accidentally working as a member of the Kilat. The group found the second of the three kamaitachi sealed in a stone merged with several of the Kilat gems and a radio playing the same recording for at least a decade: the source of the “voice” that spoke Kilat propaganda to the twins since before they themselves could understand the strange words. And after defeating the hollows, the six arrancar fused into a single being from whence they originally came: the Arrancar Pazuzu. The group retreated, the Arrancar absorbed the power of the sealed Kamaitachi and fled to Hueco Mundo. Their mission to kill the last of the Central 46 was complete and Kiko felt no connection to the kamaitachi since the ‘death’ of her sister Tenko.

Meanwhile Tenko took her time messing with Shiki Ashikabi in Riko’s realm. During their talks Tenko found herself openly rejecting the Suzumei, Seireitei and the Golden Court all at once: their lack of reciprocation in their relationship evidence of their exploitation. It was then that she received visions of everything Kirishi was up to since she had become trapped - and everything Kiriko had done, had planned for and why. She had no idea why neither of their powers worked in the realm; but ultimately she found it less important than how she could use it to exploit the lost judge. Specifically: trading his freedom and information about the golden court for an a deal: to become the first human member of the Central 46 or any other council Shiki might make if the shinigami were to ever regain political control.
Tenko forced Shiki into signing a contract with a mixture of the pair’s blood. Then forcing pair contractually to write no other copies in this medium, she took the precious document to the bathroom of Riko’s beach house and, standing over the unique document, slit her wrists before gouging out her throat and falling on the thing in a puddle of her own blood. Tenko died.

Kiko and Ryder stopped in Hawaii on their journey from Russia, following a string of strong spiritual pressures all the way to the wedding of Tori and Tova Diablo. There Kiko witnessed what she assumed was the end of the world; and what might as well have been the end of her’s. For as monsters tore through cracks in reality before a groom in anguish over the death of his bride-to-be, she stood helpless upon a boat as she watched Ryder get run through by Tova Diablo and tossed far into the sea. So great was the pain inflicted on the girl that she could only lose her lunch and pass out--thankfully in that order. Upon awakening, she would find herself in Tokyo Harbor; her memories as Kirishi returned to her along wtih her conviction and a new recruit to a new organization.

Kirishi returned to the Honjou just in time for a festival - with her booked as the guest of honor! Kiriko (with some help from some Kilat agents) had set everything up: the Kolat would be unveiled to the world that night. And so with a dedicatory nod to their memories, the twin set to work completing the legacy Kiriko and Tenko had died to complete. No sooner did her speech begin atop the newly dedicated Suzumei Foundation Headquaters and Library then she found herself face to face with an assassin. An assassin who struck at the exact moment Kiriko gave her all of her sister’s memories since the twin’s separation. An assassin who turned out to be her own sister - Tenko faking an attack in a desperate gambit to try to get enough attention to her sister’s mental scars and the damage she will cause everyone if she unites the human world under Gilgamesh’s banner. But no sooner did she have a chance to start her own speech than Kirishi found herself imbued with the power, memories and hatred of Kiriko. Attacking Tenko with claws of wind and reishi, eyes and roars of a wild beast and ferocity never before seen by either twin, the rest of the Kolat sprung into action. Ria managed to cage and embrace the otherwise mad Kirishi--her memories of Ria’s kindness able to suppress her bloodlust. Crystal managed to hold onto Tenko. But when Adimus threw warning knife at Ria, the kamaitachi could be contained no more. Charging the masked hero, she bore her claws...only to find them impale her own trained bodyguard sister Tenko. Tenko held her sister in an embrace for just a moment--and a column of light shot from Kirishi’s mouth. The Akashic Records ripped through the skies over Karakura for only a few seconds--their crumbling facade evidence of the damage of Akasha’s ‘spoiler’. Then each twin passed out and slowly drifted to the ground...

The Akashic Wars
Kirishi’s trip to the hospital was intercepted by Kilat interlopers who replaced the young girl’s unconscious body with a puppet. Assuming the doppleganger’s appearance changes were due to the time spent apart and that their telepathy was blocked due to their parting of ways, Tenko accepted the fake. At the hospital the young girl spilled the beans and told her life story to Adimus and Ria, hoping they could help her rescue Kirishi.

Meanwhile Kirishi found her way to Hueco Mundo hunting down either the shinigami she believed to have “corrupted” her sister or Gilgamesh and the Golden Court. Finding Kenshou Ine, Tenko’s sensei, she set about a plot to stab the “traitor” in the back while acting like her sister. The pair broke into the Central 46 Libraries using a seal Shiki placed on Tenko (and therefore on Kirishi as well) in Riko’s realm. Planting a bomb in the only book in the library that dealt with the Kilat, the young girl found assassinating Ine (or just finding a time to attmpt it) increasingly difficult. Until she learned Ine was interested in the Akashic Records; giving her a perfect opportunity to set a plan in motion to catch the hybrid-shinigami in the perfect trap. But after a discussion in the Seireitei libraries (and learning Tenko had made a deal in which the twins were now technically two of the three legal members of the disbanded Central 46), Kirishi managed to talk Ine into a deal: stay away from her and her sister. Forever.

Out of Seireitei Kirishi found herself in Australia with nothing more than a cellphone and its mysterious unlisted contact. Wandering the jungles she stumbled across the arrancar Enrique. After a discussion the twin made a deal with him: to allow him refuge in the Suzumei if she was given passage to Hueco Mundo. Upon entering the wastes, she found herself in the courts of Pazuzu; the Kolat Operative Vasto Lord who gave birth to the twins. It was there in the forest of menos where Kirishi learned the truth behind the twin's physiology—especially as it pertained to the fact hollows were always reluctant to eat the pair since their development of regenerative powers. Rejected even completely, even when asking for a quick death, she went about wandering the wastes until she stumbled upon Erasmus. Tenko, on the other hand, was approached by Enkidu at the Suzumei library where the Kolat signed an official alliance with the Golden Court.

Making it to Rome, Kirishi followd the instructions of the mystery man in the cell-phone to hunt down an artifact she could present to Gilgamesh. Stumbling into Kokuou and Raphael she had no choice but to pretend to be Tenko. Falling head-first into an underground city she encountered the three immortal humans Cornelia, Priscilla and Lucius. But even as Lucius lead the sister alone into a trap it wasn't the immortal the twin should have been concerned about. For as soon as Lucius attempted to backstab the “traitor of the Golden Court”, Tenko sensed Kirishi's reishi, realized the body in the hospital that felt so foreign to her was a fake and sprung into action. The pair reunited—one vying for the attention of a proud shinigami King and the other wanting nothing more than to pull her sister's head out of the sand.

The fight literally shook the foundations of the city. Breaking a hole into the bottom of the Colosseum, the pair dished out enough reishi to attract even the attention of the rogue captain Jemukatashi. But Tenko managed to defeat her sister before the shinigami could intervene...and dragged Kirishi, unconscious to the only place where she knew she could show the deluded sister the truth about Gilgamesh: Seireitei.

Unfortunately the spirit of the Kamaitachi moved from one twin to the next—choosing to possess Tenko during her time of emotional distress. Thus Tenko, confronted by a pair of shinigami that included Jemukatashi himself and embroiled by her hatred of the spirits she believed lead her sister astray, could no longer hold herself back. Accepting the kamaitachi's power in full she went berserk and attacked both shinigami, only to be intercepted by Kenshou Ine, her former teacher, who tried his hardest to get both parties to cease the fight. The battle raged on until Kirishi woke up, seeing her sister on the verge of collapse against two Captains and the Kamaitachi no longer clouding her thoughts, and went in to embrace her sister with the hug she couldn't give her back on the Suzumei Rooftop months prior...only to crystallized by the battle-ready and Enlil-posessed Jemukatashi who used the opportunity to strike a killing blow. Their souls were sealed—their bodies suspended in crystal. And it was time for the Qolat to strike.

A spell from Rukongai dropped the seal over the twin's souls that prevented the “Flush” function of the Akashic Records that allowed it to exist for so long with so many vagrant souls able to exist within it. The security of the realm compromised, it began its own destruction—appearing in the Dangai to await the Sweeper that would wipe out its existence so the Kharmic Cycle could make the library anew where its memories can be safely stored. Not that anyone would prove to me they were even reading any of this by pointing out this sentence in any review of this. Preparing for this, Akasha opened the library's doors to those seeking its power; the memories of sixteen souls entered the library to do battle. Each with its own desires and ambitions; each able to be tricked by Akasha into letting her and the memories of the place leak into the living world rather than be destroyed by the Sweeper or snatched back up again by the next generation of the records. Furthermore, the twin's memories and souls were drawn into the records as well, using Akasha's own spirit as a conduit, and they were prepared as a potential life-preserver incase none of the other 16 would be found worthy.

However the most dominant portion of Akasha's consciousness, self-named Kiriko, couldn't stand to see her children's consciousness tossed aside just so the insane collaboration of memories that called herself Akasha could live in the real world. Fortunately she was able to find one amongst the sixteen who both recognized her, trusted her and whose own soul was fractured enough to potentially allow Kiriko and Akasha escape without the need to destroy anyone's memories or soul: Ryder Barrie.

Unfortunately the Quincy's fate had been sealed. Even if the memories could escape into Ryder's soul, there was no telling how long they could live there until the new library were constructed and the vagrant memories simply torn from them as they had been with the twin's sixteen years prior. Akasha needed not only a body and soul, but the ability to establish herself in the living world as a being who was fated and destined to exist there. And so the tournament was abruptly cancelled and the four remaining candidates brought to her inner-most sanctum: Kokuou, Kohaku, Garra and Adimus. Each was given a portion of the twin's original Hakusei and the instructions to destroy the things that would manifest on their physical bodies in exchange for her undying loyalty and commitment to complete whatever wish they desired. And thus, with the destruction of only the first of the four shards, the twin's found themselves forever separated from their only source of Reishi. The Library was destroyed, its memories sealed in Ryder. And, with a final desperate spell, Kiriko found herself sacrificing her entire existence for the sake of saving her daughters who were flung down to earth, crystal and all...

In a Nutshell
This is the time the twins spent in Karakura after they became Broken Royals but before the Incursion. It deals with them coming to terms with their powers, beginning to ask others what their reason for living was, and establishing relationships with Erasmus and Kasumi. This is a time of fear for the pair, manifest via Kirishi's acceptance of her “gift” and Tenko's denial of her “curse”. The twins struggle against their former desires to be "servants" to the spirits and, in an act of defiance and rebellion, instead hunt the spirits they once desperately tried to serve.
Trivia
• During this time both twins only appear in a thread that takes place at Dawn or Dusk. Otherwise Kirishi is the only twin to appear during the Night, and Tenko the only twin to appear during the Day.
• The themes of this part of my story were meant to be the first and last stages of the Kubler-Ross model of the Five Stages of Grief. In this case it is about Tenko grieving her own death as a human (starting at stage 1, Denial), whereas Kirishi is accepting herself as dead in order to be reborn as a Broken Royal (starting at stage 5, Acceptance).

Most Important Threads
• Related by Blood – Kirishi demonstrates her release at the hands of Erasmus and Liora, causing the Primera to kill his own daughter. This marks the first time Kirishi openly defies/attacks a hollow, even if largely psychological.
• The Price of Knowledge – Alex is killed by Kirishi, who begins to show that maybe her ambitions are less noble than she is willing to admit. Tenko takes over Kirishi's body, but Kirishi still manages to kill Zazi.
• Till There's Nothing left – Tenko realizes she needs to stop Kirishis madness, and vows to protect Kasumi

Summary
The Final Chapter of their human life had closed. They have ascended. Fallen back to Earth. The pair found themselves with the power to absorb the spiritual energy of those around them, but lacking the control necessary to stop themselves from simply draining the souls of the innocent. Refusing to go back to the Kolat for fear of being ostracized and potentially found out by the agents that they believe did this to them, the twins decided to just live under a bridge on the outskirts of town. Every day Tenko would go to public places to try to skim Reishi from the humans around her without inflicting any severe harm to them...whilest asking those like Ezekial who are able to stand near her “what is your meaning of life?”

Meanwhile Kirishi spent her evenings hunting down prey actively; Her lifestyle as a hunter began to clash with her sister's passive parasitism. Each soul she devoured gave her newfound confidence in not only her power, but her position in the spiritual food-chain. And it didn't take her long to begin searching out those with high reiatsu and tagging them as “villains” merely out of her desire for their power. Worse yet, this lust for power would later reach a full on God complex as she realized no one could even approach her level of might. Striking fear even into the Primera Espada and forcing his hand upon his own beloved daughter Liora remains her crowning achievement in proving her “truth” that only in her could true peace be found. And only in her could one find a connection worth having.

Her attacks became more reckless and random, eventually resulting in the Murder of Tatsumi without blocking herself off from her sister! Tenko was able to switch bodies with her sister through sheer force of will, injecting Tatsumi with her blood in a desperate attempt to heal him...and miraculously bringing him back to life! To complicate matters further, the twins quickly discovered that this transfusion not only restored the boy, but made him immune to their drain and able to access their hivemind! Unfortunately testing this method on others in future “hunts” proved futile; something about Tatsumi's soul was special. A fact that Kirishi quickly took as a sign that her deluded ideal was in fact reality: fate had designated certain souls as possible conduits for the universes' inevitable collapse. And if whoever she killed didn't come back to life? Then maybe they didn't deserve it in the first place!

But the body count was starting to rise and even greater powers had begun to take notice. And while Kirishi was able to make a minion out of the shinigami Seireitei sent to investigate the spiritual disturbances caused by the twin's presence, the ”Slum Lord” queen of the spiritualists in Karakura was a different matter entirely. Able to overcome Kirishi's defenses with equal parts obsession and curiosity, the mirror image of herself Kirishi saw in the woman's ambition frightened her such that Kirishi refused to allow her to come back to life! Rejecting even the fatalism she held so dear, she forced Zazi to commit suicide moments after Tenko brought her back to life, leading her sister into a spiral of depression that lead to a very singular conclusion: Her sister had to be stopped at all costs. Even if it meant using the 'daughter' of the late Alexandra to warn Seireitei about Kirishi's machinations.

In a Nutshell
Karakura is attacked. Kirishi is taken from her sister. Tenko awakens as a monster, only to watch her city burn and later be beaten down by Hatred. She is rejected entirely by Kenshou, causing her to spiral into a depression. She learns to live as a hollow, training every day to control her powers as she comes face to face with the monsters she once called an enemy. One hollow in particular, Erasmus, comes to take a place in her life she thought was beyond her reach: Father.

Trivia
• This was very much a transitional arc for the twins: the destruction of the twin's old faction (along with half of Karakura), the birth of Suiren, the establishing of Kirishi as this villain always lurking on the sidelines and the training of Tenko's powers.
• This was by far the twin's first true and complete “adoption” by another PC, even if they wouldn't get a formal family name until the next arc.

Most Important Threads
• This Isn't a Game, Kid – Tenko accepts herself as a monster and comes face to face with Hatred. She regains the memories of her time spent in the Dangai and Kirishi releases the twins full power for the first time in a written thread. The highlight of the “Anger” part of this arc.
• Nothing But the Truth – Tenko comes face to face with the truth of her creation...and the fact she has someone out there who both considers himself her father and is willing to dirty his hands on her behalf. The highlight of the “Depression” part of this arc.

Summary
Then along came a spider, and everything the twins knew and had finally begun to adapt to was turned upside down. Their town is attacked by the King of Hueco Mundo himself. They try to defeat him, but are met with a singular truth: they are not heroes. They are not guardians. They are monsters. Weak. Pitiable. And ultimately unable to protect their own city. Tova takes Kirishi prisoner, leaving Tenko alone just long enough for a flash of horrid light to overtake her.

Sakamoto Miki left no time for Tenko to mourn her failure. And with that failure? Came anger. The anger manifest in the form of an unholy beast capable of driving off even the destructive force of the traitorous half-hollow. Miki manages to get away, but not without instilling yet again that Tenko is merely a monster, devoid of humanity.

And so she runs. And runs. And runs. Fleeing as best she can hoping to find something she can preserve. Someone she can save. Anger grows in her heart as she begins to turn her attention instead to a horrible torrent of power. If she can't save anyone else then so be it. Maybe she isn't a hero! Maybe she is a monster! And maybe being a monster is the only way she can get back at the people who have turned her home into a battleground! Unfortunately for her, the monster to which she bore her teeth was far angrier than she. Tenko was taken by Hatred and tortured, the stone Akasha gifted Umi in the other world keeping her from being able to devour his zanpaktou or spiritual energy. There she came face to face with her own inhumanity, her mind pushed to its limits and then some at the hands of a fellow Sovereign. Managing to tap into the crystal she so feared, the last bit of the twin's prior selves grant Garra his wish: releasing the last remnants of the twin's true Reiatsu. Tenko releases, her mind losing itself to her broken nature in the form of a skinless angel. The gem explodes and hatred towards it towards Las Noches in a display of his seething hatred for the hollow race and his seemingly invulnerable nature when faced even with an explosion of epic proportions.

Realizing the girl was of no use, Hatred dumps the young sovereign off and leaves, giving Kirishi the chance she needed to sever her sister's mind into two: one left in Karakura, and the other occupying what was formally Kirishi's body back in Las Noches, picked up by Kenshou after his fight with Amaya. Meanwhile Kirishi's mind would retreat to a speck of blood left behind during her fight with Kenshou, slowly regenerating in the Dangai as she watched.

Waking in the arms of her sensei Kenshou, Tenko is battered, beaten and unsure of herself. She pleads with Kenshou to help her, but the shinigami rejects her. She reveals her love for him, and he reveals that all he ever wanted from her was the seal she received from Shiki Ashikabi. She reluctantly agrees, whispering a single wish that he grants in a single thrust of his zanpaktou...meanwhile Kirishi in the Dangai uses this opportunity to split and seal her sister's consciousness, putting all the memories of the young girl that knew a thing about Seireitei (and the shinigami she had fallen for) in the body in Seireitei, and thrusting the rest of her sister's mind into the corpse left in a cage in Las Noches...

Her body having melted through its prison, Tenko awoke to find her powers still out of her control and the Primera Espada Aya Lunnitta all too willing to help. She makes an uneasy friendship with the hollow-breed, wary of her drastically changed personality but willing to accept whatever help she could give. It is here that the twin's nature is revealed, Tenko receives her room in Las Noches and Kirishi's plotting all begins to come together.

Tenko spends her time in Las Noches trying to test the limits of her powers. She hopes that finding a weakness she could exploit would be enough to stop her sister and her “might makes right” mentality. At the same time she desperately searches for meaning in an effort to get past her depression, asking all those she meets the same question she asked Ezekial at that bar in Karakura: “What's your meaning of life”. Her first guest Xiaobei helps hone her gifts, both of regeneration and reishi drain. At the same time the animal-like young cat-hollow inadvertently teaches Tenko the wisdom of just being able to let go and follow your instincts rather than brooding over every little problem in your life. It is here that she lets loose, her mind slipping from depression to outright neglectful self-destruction as she feeds Xiaobei her own flesh and blood out of nothing more than a whim...

An episode of self-destruction, perhaps, that would make it all the easier for Kirishi to get vengeance on Tenko for her “betrayal” with Kasumi and Zazi. When Souta arrived to meet the young Tenko neither had any idea he would be the one to steal her first kiss; albeit on the body of the unwilling twin as her mind was under complete control by by the sadistic little Kirishi. During the exchange, more than enough saliva transferred between the two to cause the Sexta Espada's mind to slowly slip into the swarm of the pair of twins, adding yet another hollow to their ever expanding ranks.

But the true target of Kirishi's madness...one of the three targets she most desired, had just made contact. Erasmus had no idea his daughter Xiaobei had made friends with the sister of his personal tragedy. Nor did he realize that Kirishi's madness was partially his own fault; the advice he gave her in the sands of Las Noches so long ago leading directly to her decision to become the monster that had ruined his own life. And that of her sister. The anger in his heart subsided; he still wanted vengeance against Kirishi. And yet when he left to kill the Arrancar responsible for the twin's creation, he found their weakness not so much exploitable rather than pitiable. The twins were the product of a power far more sinister. And while the loyalties of the sisters to one another had lead to the suffering of the Espada, the cult responsible for them had no such saving graces. He was their pawn, and as of this moment could do nothing more than accept his role in their birth...and promise to protect them.

Unfortunately Tenko didn't take this news very well.. Smashing sculptures she had hoped to give the Primera in thanks for his consul, she rejected his grisly gift of Pazuzu's mask. Tenko was depressed that she couldn't do anything more to help her sister...and pissed that Erasmus would take it upon himself to extract the vengeance she so craved. She had just lost yet another potential source of meaning in her life. But who would have guessed that it would be Yaksha who would deliver the statue Erasmus repaired and offer guidance in the form of his “Meaning of Life”. Erasmus, like Yaksha, wanted to see Tenko become more. They saw the potential in her and were just looking out for her...the same way she looked out for her sister.

Unfortunately for her, Tenko was unable to get to her father in time: The End had come. Xiaobei was shot down by a rogue cero belonging to the same madman who brought the twins to the castle in the first place. Erasmus was crushed. Angry. He lashed out; almost hitting his own daughter. Tenko would do whatever he could to save her. Whatever he could to payback the debt. Unfortunately, Kirishi drove a far harder bargain. Taking over her sister's body once again, the broken sovereign expelled Souta from the scene and forced Erasmus to not only drop his vendetta against the warped child she had become, but bow to her as a loyal servant. The knight accepted, licking a trace of her blood from her out-stretched fingers. She had won. Xiaobei was returned to life. Erasmus was hers to do with as she pleased. Her vengeance was complete. Or, at least, approaching its final stages.

In a Nutshell
Kirishi spends her time manipulating the outraged nobles of the Gotei in arranging for a coup of their own Soutaichou. Using her sister's mind sealed in the body of a PTSD addled “fake” shinigami known as Suiren Meiko, Kirishi torments the young girl by using her to orchestrate a plot against the very same captain commander responsible for her creation. Meanwhile she would fabricate a web of lies and intrigue in which she would play the venomous little spider waiting to spring her trap on the entirety of the Gotei with the hope that Suiren would come to realize just how corrupt and vile Kenshou really was.

Trivia
• This arc is largely focused on Kirishi and her manipulations of the Gotei via the simulacrum of Suiren.
• While Suiren is technically the sealed memories of Tenko, her naivety and Kirishi's command over the Hivemind makes her actions largely “Kirishi” oriented.
• Suiren's Meiko's zanpaktou spirit is actually Kirishi driving her to making the wrong decisions. Kitzui disappears shortly after Kirishi is done using her and decides to focus her efforts on Las Noches in the next arc.
• Suiren Meiko and Kitzui are an anagram of “Suzumei Tenko Kirishi”.
• The “Bargaining” in this story is largely Suiren's personal desire to stop feeling guilty. In a way its her memories as Tenko allowing so many to die at Kirishi's hands that are gnawing at her subconscious—the 'faces' of the shinigami Suiren believed were her academy students actually the various victims of Kirishi's earlier rampages. The name is a double entedre of sorts, given the arc is also about Kirishi trying to plea for Suiren to drop the very beliefs and love that created her.
• While Kirishi hates Suiren, she cannot simply destroy her as she's too afraid all the memories sealed within her would just go back to Tenko. Thus she feels she needs to “bargain” with Seireitei to get the young shinigami executed in such a permanent way that even her memories wouldn't survive.

Most Important Threads
• Nothing But a Game – Kirishi forces Kenshou to sign her “games” into law.
• Debriefing – Kirishi demonstrates her dominance over Kizen and strikes a bargain with Jasper.
• Mirror Mirror – Suiren realizes her greatest accomplishment is merely a lie by an enemy who'd rather see her commander rotting in the ground.

Summary
Suiren tries to adjust to life in the Gotei, her memories of years in Hueco Mundo and PTSD still making it hard to adjust to life among other shinigami. She maintains her loyalty, however, even to the point of standing up to one of Seireitei's most powerful (interim) captains using the proud name of hthe beloved Soutaichou to which she demonstrates absolute loyalty. And while her love is far from returned, she remains faithful that eventually he will (at least) see her as a reliable asset. Unfortunately, she completely fails her first mission outside the walls of the Seireitei (finding out that her hakuda was pretty useless if she didn't know how to hold back). But after training away the pain and learning a secret or two behind her beloved captain's signature technique, she manages to get back on her feet and... fail again. This time, however, she is bailed out by the rogueish noble Reima Tanaka, who manages to not only rescue her and complete the mission, but uncover a conspiracy to overthrow Seireitei that Suiren would have no idea she would quickly become a part of.

Kirishi forces her laws upon seireitei with the help of the Captain Commander she so detests. An 'evaluation' of the noble families in the guise of a game-like series of contests, of which Suiren would be the judge. She uses her connection with Kizen to find she isn't the only conspirator in the Gotei, learning that Jasper Aizawa was already preparing to overthrow Kenshou...and asking him if he would be so kind as to form an alliance during these games with which Kirishi could extract her vengeance on Ine. She makes similar deals with Keiji Amai at a teahouse in Rukongai and even Reima Tanaka in his own estate. Revealing herself to Suiren she deflates the little flower who thought she was so special being “picked” by Kenshou as his judge and orders her to deliver a similar message to the Minamoto. Unfortunately she instead chooses to warn the Minamoto and immediately places herself into protective custody. At the same time, Tenko betrays her sister warning the Yasutake in a similar fashion.

And yet Suiren still continues with Kirishi's ruse of a game: biding her time when she can implement her own plans of a noble council with just enough changes to the wording that that it would subvert Kirishi's schemes. She judges the four families participating in the event, and with each learns something about her own virtues: As a Soldier and Hero with the Tanaka. As a Diplomat of Noble Tradition with the Aizawa. As a woman of deserving of respect with the Amai. And finally as an ambitious soul capable of overcoming even the primal fury of nature itself during her trial with the Aeserninus.

In a Nutshell
Kirishi reveals herself as the Villain, and her desire for Tenko to be the hero who will one day slay her. Tenko becomes embroiled in a mess between Weylin and Erasmus. Kirishi is made the Primera Espada, but her heart wavers at the hands of her father when she finally opens up and shows him why it is the twins are the way they are. Tenko learns of her sister's darkest betrayal, and vows to stop her. They attack Seireitei, throwing the plane into chaos. Suiren is exposed as a fraud right after revealing her love for Kenshou and has her memories wiped. Tenko see's first-hand what it was about Kenshou that made Kirishi so pissed and at last joins forces with her sister. The pair devour the Soutaichou's inner hollow and zanpaktou spirits but ultimately lose when he transcends. They are defeated in the void: the "shinigami" side of them that wished to serve order taken in by the Soutaichou as his new Zanpaktou spirits. The "hollow" side of them that wished to serve chaos taken in by the King of Hueco Mundo. And so, their spirits free of the yearning to serve, the pair become One with the Void: true agents of Nothing.

Trivia
• While this arc has the fewest number of threads, it has the most important of any of the other arcs.
• This is where its finally confirmed that the Gotei were responsible for the creation of the twins as experiments in making humans that hollows would resist wanting to eat (in addition to flushing out a cult C46 was illegally operating alongside).
 
Most Important Threads
• Dance, Puppets – Kirishi reveals herself to the Espada and, in the process, becomes one.
• Everything Not Saved Will be Lost -- Kirishi reveals her history to Erasmus, finalizing all the loose ends in her past as she prepares to go forward with her twisted plans.
• Noblesse Obligue -- Kirishi's plot is revealed. Keiji and Jasper openly betray the Gotei. Suiren's murder is faked. Kirishi attacks the Gotei. The shield of the Gotei is downed and the secrets of C46 are literally dumped on Seireitei.
• Lightning Strikes Twice -- Suiren's seals, memories and identity are peeled from her soul one by one as Tokiyo comes to learn the truth behind the Shinigami simulacrum.
• By Any Other Name -- Nagisa is tortured until Kiriko comes out. Kiriko and Kirishi fight. Kiriko's shunko reaches a new level. Kenshou appears and fights Kirishi. Tenko appears and reunites with her sister. The twins absorb Kensho's zanpaktou spirits and inner hollow. Kenshou defeats the twins, taking their shinigami sides as his new Zanpaktou spirits.
• Wither Into Nothing --
Summary
Stopping Adimus from “Rescuing” the twins Kirishi at last reveals herself to the “Hero of Earth” as a villain he can never hope to overcome. She beats him into submission, leaving him broken in the hopes her words will reach him as they did Erasmus and, perhaps, he too would fall and become a knight of entropy.

During the chaos, Weylin goes to Las Noches on a hunt for the man responsible for killing his Liora. Unfortunately, Kasumi is left in the dark and begs Tenko to help find her. Tenko finds herself in an awkward position: bound to Kasumi to protect her family via her oath made out of guilt, and yet bound to Erasmus as a member of her family...she decides to choose for herself and stops the pair from fighting...much to Erasmus' distaste. Leaving Kasumi in Las Noches, she looks over the young Kasumi in the hopes of using her to finalize her decision of staying with the Arrancar.

Shortly afterward, Tenko is called by her Queen to discuss a reorganization of the Espada. She wishes to discuss with Amaya the troubling truths she's learned of her sister and perhaps warn her of Kirishi's potential danger. Unfortunately she quickly loses control of herself in the meeting, the distress at hearing that she hadn't grown causing her enough hesitation that Kirishi was able to take control and show the Queen first hand what the pair were capable of. Kirishi becomes an espada, leaving Tenko to clean up her mess and organize the hollow-breeds the pair had been collecting in preparation for Kirishi's next “act”. Starting by using Sobek to destroy the Tanaka house to shake the nobles up and show them who's boss. Finally Kirishi strikes a deal with Tokiyo to take out Suiren in exchange for both information and the implied legal ousting of the current Soutaichou.

Kirishi and Erasmus have a heart-to-heart as the young woman hopes to finalize her position as his “Princess”. Things turn, however, when the pair take a literal journey down memory lane: Kirishi and Erasmus watch the haunted memories of the young girl's past. She confesses to him that her plan has always been to become an enemy to all the major powers in the spiritual world, only to let Tenko be the one to end her life and become a hero with a place in the world. Erasmus finds the idea abhorrent and, using some of his own memories, confirms to Kirishi the importance of loyalty to one's family...not to mention the evil of the shinigami Kenshou Ine to whom Kirishi had always vowed to destroy. Erasmus gives Kirishi a family name: “Mei”. The pair have a moment the likes of which Kirishi had never experienced before with a parent...but its cut short. Tenko is revealed to have been watching the whole show. Or, at least, enough of it to know now that there exists this “other Tenko” in Soul Society wherein her memories had been sealed against her will. She curses the pair and flees, saying she needs time alone and will contact Tenko when she's ready.

Kirishi calls her sister for a meeting, hinting at an apology. She explains her plan to her sister, attempting to show her first hand the corruption she hopes to end...and the beauty of a still unhatched world she hopes to leave her. She explains that Las Noches is not their home and that their beloved "queen" would betray them in a heartbeat. Kirishi brings in Yaksha who breaks the news that Amaya had let shinigami in their home who killed Rania. Tenko refuses to believe them,despite knowing it is somehow true and in a frantic rush leaves to confront Severence. The queen is amused by Tenko's desire to seperate from her sister and Severence severs the connection between the twins, leaving Tenko on the floor of her throne room and giving Kirishi the opportunity to act without her sister being involved.
 
Meanwhile Suiren hosts the speeches for the nobles, her speech nearly complete as she tentatively grasps her resignation papers having learned she was only being used by the cruel Kirishi. But before she can approach the podium, Kenshou appears in an effort to quell the little coup and at the same time restore the nobility of the families on his own terms. The Mistress of the Void begins speaking to those blood-bound to her, whispering sweet nothings as she prods Keiji and Jasper to instigate a more open rebellion. Finally things snap when Keiji openly reveals his betrayl, Kiriko in the audience rallying for Nothing to appear and Kirishi takes center-stage. Crushing half the stage with the uprooted library of the C46 and destroying the shield of the Gotei in a shroud of darkness, she declares open war on the Gotei and the assembly dissolves into chaos. Tokiyo uses the opportunity to take out Suiren, but secretly betrays Kirishi by merely teleporting her where he could safely remove her seals and see what she's really made out of.
 
Tenko wakes up and is taken to Seireitei by Souta...but its already too late. Kirishi has been unleashed. She takes Nagisa hostage and tortures her physically and psychologically, forcing her to beg for her blood that almost immediately awakens the young shingiami's inner hollow. Kiriko arrives to save her sister, and Penance and Nothing fight. The guiltless insanity of the Mistress of the Void proves too much for the fellow Sovereign to overcome as every attack is regenerated from or devoured almost effortlessly. Kirishi uses the veil over the Gotei to counter-attack, trying to stifle Kiriko's shunko. But the captain figures out in the heat of battle what her shunko really means to her and the rest of the Gotei and all at once becomes the new shield of Seireitei. Taking in the remnants of the broken shield and synchronizing her shunko's wavelength with that of the lodestones around the Gotei, she super-powers her Shunko at the same time Kenshou removes the spikes the Nobles put in the gates that allowed Kirishi to envelope Seireitei in darkness in the first place. Unfortunately this has the unwanted consequence of allowing all that darkness (and the reishi it had taken in while it was up) to zip right back into Kirishi and gives her Kiriko and her super-Shunko as all the fuel she needs to take down the Soutaichou. What she didn't expect, however, was the appearance of her sister...just in time to watch Kenshou reveal his inner-hollow and her identity as the Rose whose death hurt the father the twins loved so very much. The father who had forgiven Kenshou who to that day had yet to reveal his awful secret. Kiriko's aura and Rose's presence cause Tenko's sealed memories to return and she snaps, becoming as dark as her sister much against Kirishi's wishes. The twins pull Kenshou into the Void: their energy otherwise overcoming one another as their conflicting spirits break apart even each other's bodies when too exposed to the physical world together. They appear to have the upper hand, even so much as using their super-charged powers to destroy the Soutaichou's zanpaktou and devour his inner hollow. But achieving that level of "hollow" and removing the last vestiges of both shinigami and hollow from their foe, they find themselves face to face with an enemy considerably stronger than they: a true transcendant, the enemy they were so desperate to destroy: Fate.
 
The turnabout is swift. Fate leaves them broken. Shattered. Defeated. Rose and what remains of the darker side of the twins are left in the void, helpless, but Kenshou's soul refuses to completely accept his new form. Taking the shinigami side of the twin's soul as his new dual-Zanpaktou, he returns to Seireitei...Tenko and Kirishi at last able to serve literally the most powerful of the shinigami in the most intimate way possible.
 
What remains of the nameless twins float helplessly with that "Rose". Their souls unable to devour her. Their lives almost extinguished. Little do they know that their father had since ascended to their level...and using the gift Kirishi bestowed upon him when they melded minds, he is able to find his errant daughters (or what remains of them) and the ghost from his past who immediately recognizes him as "her Artix". Rose desperately pleads to be acknowledged by Erasmus, but Obsession refuses to accept her. He orders his daughters to absorb the "ghost" and return home, at last giving them names: Aiyo and Mie. Unfortunately, for the lonely King, this only solidifies the now clearly separated "hollow side" of the twins: the half-souls quickly becoming one with the remaining blood in the belly of the one time Espada. The twins, now free of both sides of their spirits, say their final goodbyes to their beloved father and accept their new roles. Neither human nor monster; neither hollow nor shinigami. At last casting aside their roles both as servants and killers they are free of what has been holding them back and able to transcend beyond as beings of true Nothing. As those who look over the souls forever lost to this world and the inmutable bonds forever etched between them and the others that they left behind.