Lost Blade [Cheshire/Closed]

She must love to fight. That would be the logical assumption, a glimmer of amusement in the otherwise lurid stare of her honey gold eyes. There was no slit to them, no lack of control or show of impatience; this must be her natural place, the mirrored dagger of Tentadora sliding along the Shinigami's Zanpakuto. Her movements were fluid, graceful--it was as if she was dancing along the battlefield, no different than how she normally measured her steps and held her head high.
That assumption would be wrong.

Her place was not to dirty her hands. She didn't indulge in these activities--combat was unnecessary when you were Queen. Why push your limbs to exhaustion? Why sweat? There were much better activities if your goal was to pant and heave against another physical form. When she did fight it was quick, easy; she hated messes. She hated the twist of her body as it flickered in the air, driving as much force into the stab of her blade as she could and finding herself parried nonetheless. If she attacked someone for, say, insubordination or a disregard for her she went straight for the heart or neck. She ended it as fast as possible so she could discard any unlikely remains and go about her day without too much of a bother.

This Shinigami, however, was proving to be just that. She was stronger! She knew that, knew that down to the very core of her being. There was no illusion to the strength she held, even as the girl in front of her remained stalwart and exchanged even blows. The Arrancar wasn't even the perpetrator of this crime--the moment the tactless creature had noticed her it had leapt in to attack, interrupted mid step along the edge of the this pond. They had quickly changed positions while the cat pressed her advantage. Cheshire had done nothing wrong, objectively, in this instance.

She might have just been coming to visit Jian while she went about her other obsessive duties, a kiss left briefly on his cheek or a mild conversation that petered off when she knew she had to leave again. It was commonplace, intermittent meetings here and there. She was careful, even with him. Cautious. It wouldn't do either of them any good to repeat the events of the night they had eventually shared together, yet it felt like an inevitability. First, before any climatic decisions between the knight and the Queen could be made, she had to find Nazomi. And she would, of course, and after establishing her claim with the ex-Segunda's brushed away they would... see.
So why must this bothersome creature get in her way?!

A sigh, kicking away from the sparks that flew off their meeting weapons. Distance was quickly made, skimming over grass splashing dew around her heels with every loping step. There was a fair space between them, now, Tentadora held in a single languid hand pointed outwards; the light catching the gilded edges of its rose guard and glittering over the red of the petals. If one looked closely, the Shinigami's unshaking form could be seen in the reflection of its glass-esque shaft. "Why?"

There was annoyance to her melodic tone. It had been the first time she had spoken since they had started this fight, only now bothering when she realized this wouldn't be over as easy as she desperately desired it to be. Yes, yes, Shinigami and Arrancar were """mortal enemies""" or what have you--but that hardly affected her. She was so far above that! She had quite a few nice little Shinigami contacts, and otherwise avoided causing trouble. That's all they were in the end; much more trouble than they tended to be worth. Kionchi and Shinkiro were, possible, exceptions; while her thoughts briefly lingered on Walkren. A shudder and a grin, pulling up the irritated turn of her lips.

"You cannot kill me." Queenly and composed, even now. There were no cracks in her personality and no scars on her person--like this one, of all the threatening characters she had met, would be the one to actually harm her. No, if the girl had so much as scratched Cheshire by now she would be long dead. There was this lazy desire, an obligation to end the life of someone who dared to attack her, and a much darker one to rend to pieces anyone who actively caused her damage.

"I do not even know your name," almost a taunt, disappearing into the shade of the trees with a snap of static and falling into a rhythm circling her opponent. Opponent? No. You did not put flies on your level. Much less the level of someone as important as herself. Her body twirled midair as she pushed off a branch, trembling it under the sudden weight of her shifting form. A small volley, maybe three or four, of aptly sea green Bala raced through the air to pepper down on their target. The color was almost majestic in the light of daybreak, only met in beauty by the gleam of amber eyes that dissolved in and out of existence. "You will die here."
That was only a fact.

WC: 867 GP: 17 TGP: 17

Her opponent was graceful to the point of beauty, the monster moved with elegance that afforded it to make the constant mistakes in its form that it made. A competent combatant to be sure, but nothing on the level that Nanami had been. Nanami was prepared for the follow up, but it didn't come, was kept at bay and Nanami knew why, ah, to talk of course, why else would an opponent stop. Nanami wasn't about to complain, she marshalled her energy, drew calming breaths and readied herself for the next pass.

Monster. That's what Nanami called her, but why?

This is a monster you must kill.

The words were there, not spoken once more but burned into her memory, a singular command issued by a near silent companion. No, companion was not the right word for this burgeoning relationship, acquaintances unfamiliar like strangers to one another. Why then did she wield her blade with such certainty, such conviction? The train of thought had begun the moment the raising light had caught the glint of their blade edges.

Now was not the time for this, and yet it happened just the same.

Nanami did not reply to the monster, letting instead the silence hang in the air between them as Nanami straightened up, began to circle her slowly. Nanami's opponent was calm but she could feel the edge of frustration bleeding through and that was the hole in the armor that Nanami could exploit, would have to exploit, to survive.

Nanami twisted as the monster spoke further, and felt the gathering of force as it engaged it's 'sonido' with the tellmark snap of static sound that accompanied it. Nanami stuck to her ground, following the traces of rapid movement just barely. It took her a moment to lock on as she took a moment in one of the trees that formed the inner boundary of their chosen arena and by then the green orbs had rocketed toward her with incredible speed.

Nanami didn't hesitate for a moment, her turn brought the moment of her blade up and her reaitsu flared out, a midnight black glow overtaking her blade for a moment. She became a blur of movement, blade flashing quickly and forming what appeared to be a wall of steel. The blade found each bala in turn causing a cascade of sea green reiatsu to scatter and explode past the shinigami, fading into the air as their form was broken.

Her opponent was still moving quick, perhaps thinking that its ace had won it some kind of injury from the ancient Shinigami. It was fast, but then, moving like that was wasteful and always ran the risk of falling into a pattern against your own intentions. Nanami vanished from her location wordless appearing in the path of her transit, blade gleaming. Nanami pushed to lock the blades together, trusting her position to hold the lock for a moment as she delivered her first response.

Nanami's weary eyes looked into the Arrancar's but it was not fatigue weighed on them. "Do you know how many have said those words to me across the two thousand years I have walked these worlds?" Nanami could hold the lock no longer against the superior opponents power and flashed backwards.

"I fear you will not be the last, Arrancar."

552/11/? GP Total

The girl wasn't much for conversation, she noted.
A grimace briefly, oh so briefly, flickered across the fair features of the Arrancar's expression when those deft sword strikes flashed around the Shinigami's frame and tore through her Bala. Such a display! Her interest was piqued, but not anywhere near enough to drown out the stark annoyance building in the burn of her throat and sharp gaze of her eyes. Every movement the other made, every second of silence and turn of her blade, was just slight stacking on slight against the Queen. Who, then, did this girl think she was? Didn't she see this was aimless?
Didn't she see she had lost before the fight had even begun?

Lavender trailed in wisps from the rush of motion, steaming off the lithe vibration of Cheshire's frame. There was no emotion in the slow spread of her reiatsu, no direction in the blossoming toxic mist. Fine, she thought, her body flickering into point of view upon a single branch to rest for a split second. If direct attacks wouldn't work, she'd choke the Shinigami out with her spiritual energy. It would be a wait, yes, but there was a bit of dark joy to find in the sadism of it all; this could have been avoided, she chided inwardly. If the spirit had remembered its place, hadn't even revealed herself to the Queen--let alone attacked her--on no more than a friendly trip, then none of this would have happened.
She wouldn't have to die for her transgressions.

The line of thought was cut quite literally as a blade surged forward suddenly in front of her. A huff of air panted out her nose, Tentadora barely meeting the thrust and locking the two in place. It was a struggle. Cheshire was stronger in every aspect--better, faster, and on a universal scale of importance--but this, this irritating pest had proven beyond skilled with her bladework. Much more than Cheshire could keep up with, and more than enough to even them out. Their eyes met, darkness edging in on mischievous honey that had long since lost its play at amiability.
Ah, so now she spoke.

"Two thousand years? My, Shinigami, you are old," venomous, purred along with the typical, lighthearted aria of her voice. It was sickly saccharine, enough to turn stomachs and sting lips. "There is a certain sadness in this being your end, then. What a legacy to leave behind."

A laugh! singing in a peal, body breaking from the mold they had melted in and sending her in a retreat to a branch much further away. She teetered on its edge, the heel of her boot chipping at the wood. "At least you can say your end was not entirely in naught. You got to die at the hands of a Queen, after all."
"Even in your final moments you brought displeasure. That is something to be remembered by!"

"Are you not tired, vechiul meu prieten?" There was a set to Cheshire's frame, inclining and sloping like a predator stalking its prey. There was a new surge to her reiatsu, lines drawing negativity along the edges of her form and cracking the bark she readied upon. It grew, a bulbous mass of fog, and began to bare down on the immediate vicinity. Cheshire took this chance to press an advance once more, backed by a looming wave of lavender as her blade descended.

"Tell me your name, Shinigami." A curiosity, simply, wondering if she'd get the chance to detach her head from her body before the answer could even be spoken.

"This is hardly noble of you. Is that not the tagline of your people? Nobility!" Just words. Baseless, weightless, passing the time in taunts until this was over.

"Is it noble to attack without warning? To fight because of some conceived notion of your morality that says 'monsters' like me must be destroyed?" She was under no pressure, really. She could talk as much as she wanted. Why not challenge the girl, even at this moment? Venting her frustrations, that's what this was becoming for the Queen. What better atmosphere would there be for that?

"What a sad existence yours must be." Why won't you just die already? You're wasting my time.

WC: 711 GP: 14 TGP: 31

A parry and back again, the blades unlock and the fight continues, no ground made, no hole in the defenses made that could be exploited. No ground gained, nothing changed. Sword swung, no results. Again and again, move and countermove. Aimless. Pointless. Fighting a monster on the orders of others, following the rules, being dictated to. Cleaning a barracks, interacting with recruits. Loyalty. Pride. Duty. Unchanging. Rigid. Formed for now until the end of time.

Nanami's blade raised, the cycle would continue yet. It was talking again, a beautiful voice that Nanami would aim to tear from it. No rage found, no joy in the idea of it, she wanted it and she'd find a way to make it happen. Two-thousand years, it appeared that Nanami's opponent didn't appreciate the weight of that difference between them. Oh but it went on, flitting back again, using its boundless energy, wasting it. But even with that Nanami knew she could never outlast this opponent.

A queen, how amusing, this Arrancar was no true royalty, but then they were all strange creatures these beasts. Locked in their own madness, Nanami pitied them more than the beasts they came from, to emulate a life yet be so far from it. It was almost cruel.

Nanami was being hunted now, hunted by a cat none the less. She had no time to enjoy the comedy inherent in it, in truth she was tiring. The weight of the power pressed against her but she made no show of it. "I have stood in powers greater than this since before the Soul King was to create the thing that would form your twisted image. Do you expect me to buckle now in the wake of this pale offering?" Old friend? Nanami almost found enough contempt in her to scoff.

The blade descended quick and powerful. Nanami held no hope of evading it, but vanish she did none the less, her blade caught the tip inches from her flesh and diverted it to a narrow miss. The sleeve of her robe drifted open from the fresh cut, revealing the bare flesh of her pale skin beneath it. Coming in from the side Nanami's blade gleamed fast and dangerous, exploiting the opening she was given. To no avail surely, the gap was much to wide for anything but she hoped to create space. Nanami's blade drew back, creating an opening that she dared the Arrancar to attempt to exploit.

"Nobility, a life spent devouring innocent souls for power and you seek to lecture me on right and wrong? Self confessed queen, no wonder you fight like a child, you are one!"

Nanami felt a surge of anger white and hot, not just at the Arrancar's words but her own. There was a ring of truth there, undeniable. Her mind flashed to Nagisa, strong and innocent, an imagined scene of her led in shackles, seated before Lieutenant Kohara. Monsters made of comrades, enemies that were once friends. Fighting the enemies of the Seireitei, eliminating dissidence. A perfect soldier didn't question, a perfect soldier fulfilled her duty. A Seireitei standing against time, never changing, never growing, stagnate. Nanami through the ages much the same.

This a monster you must kill.

Nanami let out a growl, dark and animalistic, hungry. She could hear a heartbeat in her ears pushing her on. In her hands the blade shifted, turning jet black and jagged. The hilt cutting deeply into her palms. For a moment blood dark and crimson bubbled from her hands dripped down the sharp twisted edges of the transformed blade. A hiss came out, hungry, but this time from the blade, across its dark surface translucent near the surface of the blood hungry mouths suck deep the blood that rolled across it and for a moment the blade gleamed. Did the edges grow sharper?

Nanami came in with a sudden wave of force, soundless and wordless was her step, the blade flashed, one quick strike, then another, quick rapid and continuous, a staccato of what appeared like wild blows but found themselves deeply controlled. Each blow was a test, an attempt to shift or move her guard, maneuver or control her positioning, expose and then kill her. No joy, no happy lust for violence but and overpowering drive.

Nanami's face had twisted into barely contained rage, teeth clenched tight, sharp cries of fury punctuating each slash.

712/14/37 GP Total

She wouldn't tell her her name. There was a narrow to Cheshire's eyes, a loss of control to her facade that was slowly cracking through by way of her irritation. She wouldn't call herself bad at or unprepared for combat, and the endurance she had--kept high through the pure force of her desires and the necessity to win--was undeniable but unpracticed. This was not a scenario she often found herself and so her body was unused to pushing itself to any extent; her mind quickly flicking through maybe two or three scenarios in the past thirty years that had her moving this fast or this often. Leisure was lost, the graceful glide of her body taking on an almost primal edge--nothing too dangerous or serious just yet, but enough to note the threatening gleam to her eye.
Who was this, a nameless, timeless Shinigami, to speak to her in such a manner? To think her blade even worthy of crossing with her own?

It was a stalemate, they could both see that, but they also both knew that the moment it ceased being one it would be at Cheshire's upper-hand. The park was tinted with the lavender of her pressure, fully released from its careful confinements and baring down on the both of them; a prick on the back of her neck that she more than enjoyed the feeling of. It was relaxing, almost, to let herself loose. She couldn't say she was relaxed, not with the tense in her muscles or the strain of her fingers around Tentadora's hilt, but there was a fluidity to it all.

"Pale offering?" She scoffed, the regal tautness of her body crouched in a feral assault that sent more sparks flying between them. No cracks. No openings. The Shinigami was proving to be a trial of her patience, but, oh, she was such a saint. This wouldn't be enough to break her; it was hardly enough to splinter. Losing her control because someone proved a bother and added the smallest sense of wear to her limbs was not an act befitting a Queen. She knew better. She was better.
And besides, all attention was on her. Didn't she win, then, either way? The way her opponent glared at her, eyes focused and deadly, almost sent a thrill up her spine. "You will remember your place well enough when your head sits at the feet of my throne," a slight slip into Romanian, "old lady."
Okay, she was annoyed.

Scrap of clothing hung in the air in front of her, a piece of such still twisted around the tip of her dagger. The Shinigami had moved in time to not take a dire injury from her assault--but she had still hit her! There were failings beneath that cold exterior and skillful swordplay, after all. Ugly ones that began to rear their head when she spoke again, anger slowly boiling to such a point that Cheshire felt its palpability. "Oh, did I hit a sore spot?" She hissed, laughing, foot swinging around to bring her into a position just in time to meet the rage-filled blade descending upon her with a kick back; the soft snap and crackle of a Sonido adding just a few more feet of distance between them on these branches; the fighters eyeing each other warily, neither wanting to close the space between them right away.
She wanted this to be over with but she was not an idiot.

"You think there would be a few more independent thoughts in your head, as old as you are." Mischief, dark and joyous, burned bright along the edges of her vision. She didn't care about Shinigami. She didn't care about their 'duties', their 'nobility', nor did any of those ideals truly bother her--it was only when it crossed over like this, became a personal annoyance and got in her way that she bothered to call them out. "Does it hurt to think of the inherent flaws your rigid structure adheres to? Times change, Shinigami, even for one at your age. Not everything in this world is black and white. You may deny that all you want."

There was her, after all, and she was proof that there was a penultimate of morality. "I fight like a child? You think like one!" The indignance was there in her words, carefully masked behind her purr and the melodic notes she worked so hard to carry. She had been dealt many slights in this fight by someone so simple, an aggravation that she couldn't entirely just wave away. "How comfortable your simplicity must be."
No one wanted to see their own flaws, let alone the glaring ones in what they believed in, but Cheshire was more than happy to help. What better tutor was there for that then a perfect being?

Something shifted. Every taste and scent she caught from the girl in front of her was suddenly surging with malice and wrath, a glimmer in her eyes taking her off-guard for no more than the second it took to process the shattered demeanor. How quick she was to anger, and she had the gall to call the Queen a child? Someone had temper management issues. Oh, but could she blame her? How hard it must be to face both your impending death and the death of your very ideals.

Her gaze trailed over the sword, a Shikai, she knew, but she had no details on what this one did--other than unsettle her, a small moment of disgust spared for the screaming, snarling mouths upon the edges of the blade. Its owner fared no better, more beastly than the literal monster that she fought against. Everything past that point melted into a literal blur, Cheshire shrugging her own step forward and meeting the Shinigami midair. There was a sadistic quality about the new assault, though stalwart and silent, that had caution settle back in her bones and go on the defense; a close-range Bala here, a flash of Tentadora here, even fading into a Sonido just to move a few inches this way or that to reflect, parry and dodge blows that would have had her head otherwise. She had never, up to this point, had to fight like this.
There was something thrilling about it.
She was tiring.

A snarl threatened to rip from her throat, kicking out her leg to catch either her opponent's chest or her blade, twisting to swing her other at the Shinigami's head and meet any arm that moved to grab her with Tentadora's blade descending at the same time. "Stop being difficult and accept your place!"

WC: 1107 GP: 22 TGP: 53

Steel met steel once more, cascading wave of sparks across the ground. Her opponent was giving up ground and Nanami was taking it, blade swung each time with a little more ferocity, each attack swung with more aggression behind than the last. Blood was pooling from her hands now, draining swiftly into the blade where the chorus of hungry mouths hungrily accepted the offering. She pushed through her fatigue, fought past the exhaustion and weary muscles, batting through bala, pursuing her opponent through the static echo of the sonido fast on heels.

Gone was the element of strategy, no attempt to bait or expose her opponent was made, it was raw power against power. The expert swordsman could afford no mistake and continued to keep up the desperate bid of violence. And yet, no mark was found against the lithe would-be queen. But, the Arrancar was silent for once, a gift beyond Nanami's appreciation at that time.

They parted and Nanami's drew desperate angry breaths, her eyes were locked on to her opponent, hungry and keen but gone were her attempts to hide fatigue. She swept her blade back to renew her assault but the moment had cost her. Her opponent was in like a flash, a sloppily done set of kicks that conveyed an acrobatic expertise more than a combative one, Nanami braced an arm against the blow, absorbing the impact with a simple gesture, costing her a few inches of positioning. The second swing came out just as predictably, Nanami twisting low as it sailed underneath.

There it was her perfect moment, the opening she'd been searching for.

Nanami's let out a scream, blade tearing upwards towards the Arrancar's exposed frame. They passed one another in a flash of violence, the blade cut deep and they parted backwards a few half steps. Nanami stood frozen staring with an icy expression towards her opponent, breathing heavily yet controlled. Beads of sweat rolled down her face, her long hair was disheveled, wild behind her. A thin line of blood formed across Nanami's face, from the top of her left brow to her right cheek followed by a hiss of pain as the stream began to flow down. She had underestimated her opponent, it seemed.

There is a monster you must kill.

Ba-bump. Nanami's heartbeat had drowned out all noise. Ba-bump. The Arrancar's words fell on deaf ears as she stared. Ba-bump. Pain echoed from her wound, blinding, and exhilarating. Ba-bump. Her blade held upright, during the monster once more to approach. Ba-bump. She felt herself drift for a moment, fingertips tingling. Ba-bump. Unmistakable, undeniable, the truth was there, the difference between them had been clarified. Ba-bump.

She was having SO MUCH FUN!

Nanami gave her a twisted smile, sublime joy written clear across it. Her left eye slid closed, slowly coated in the warm blood that flowed from the wound. "Ahhh," her voice rumbled low, lascivious. Her tongue poked from her lips, cleaning a drop of blood as it rolled free from her cheek to the corner of her mouth. "You are a delightful little thing aren't you?"

Gone was the voice of her Zanpakuto spirit, its endless droning echoing orders and replaced was the shrill scream that once haunted her but now felt so familiar and comforting.

A weight had lifted off her shoulders, a weight so heavy she could scarcely believe it hadn't crumbled her to dust underneath it. It felt so liberating, so free to shed off the delusional identity she had created. Nanami the repentant, Nanami the protector, Nanami the just, Nanami the soldier, Nanami the hero, Nanami the prisoner, Nanami the bound, Nanami the slave! She let out a high pitched mocking laugh, short and quick. Delusions all, there was only one.

Nanami the monster.

"A queen without manners I should think," she grinned, not so wild but still so amused. "To request my name without offering me yours? I'm disappointed." She sighed, loud and dramatic, "Oh but I do owe you don't I. Nanami is my name, since you asked so nicely and did me the kindness of opening my eyes."

She began to stalk forward, blood beginning to roll down her face with force now, as if pulled and tugged by some unseen force. Gradually it began to paint the left side of her body in a steadily thinning stream that colored her robes with a faint stain that continued to spread, up her arm and along twisting and winding until it reached the hilt and began to pour into the blade. The chorus began to grow louder, a faint audible humm that didn't fade. Sunlight had asserted itself over the tops of the trees, the light cast along the crimson stained half of her body.

"You asked me of my independent thoughts, did you not? Haha, oh child." She grinned, this time wider baring teeth, wicked and crazed. "You think I do this for the Seireitei? For those decrepit old fools decreeing justice? Don't you dare insult me!" A rage filled the tenor of her voice, resulting in a shrill high pitched tone. It calmed almost immediately, a low seductive rumbling whisper followed. "There is nothing I love more than to spill blood." Her voice picked up again, loud and excited, bordering on ecstatic. "Please don't disappoint!" She snapped forward, blade swung in a quick short arc towards her. A bait, a feint the strike pulled at the last second as she finished into thin air, materializing behind her in the air, blade crashing down in a savage vertical cut.

"DIE SLOWLY FOR ME, QUEEN!"


933/18/55 GP Total

It was so strange, almost euphoric, to see such a careful mask shatter before her very eyes--and by her hand, in a way. She had obviously pushed the Shinigami far enough along for her facade of diligence and cold, analytical duty to dissolve away into the frankly chilling sight bared for her now. Her parries and guards were fast--they had to be. As much as she hated to admit it, the girl was no slouch when it came to the finesse she worked her blade with. It was only due to her speed that Cheshire was able to keep up, smacking away a blade bearing down stronger and with more force behind it with her own. Physical strength--or spiritual, if anyone was being honest--had never been one of her strongest points, ironically. She relied on her charming personality, quick wiles and threatening glares to invoke the intimidation she needed when applicable. This Shinigami, as absurd as it was, almost matched her in that regard; keeping the Queen on her toes, an insult she would not soon forget.

It wasn't even about killing her.
It was about getting rid of this pest and the weariness seeping into her bones.

Her opponent was no better off than her, though, which now clearly showed; she had stopped trying to hide her exhaustion, an indication of such that brought Cheshire a fair amount of glee. It kept her blood pumping and her pressing on. No time to falter. No time to relax. She would not, under any circumstance, be harmed by such a simple, arrogant creature--let alone killed by it! There was a very short, very shocking moment as her acrobatic attack seemed to fail and she realized she was mostly defenseless with the way her body hung in the air; thoughtless! She had a split second, maybe, to even entertain berating herself--to wonder if she was capable of such a basic failing and misstep.

She felt a blade snag and then they had broken apart again, trading places on far opposite branches and catching their breaths from the relentless assaults they had just endured. What a magnificent display! And what an irritating one, at that. There was a frantic pause as she hurriedly looked over and ran her arm down herself, testing to make sure all of her Queen-ly bits were still where they were meant to be. She didn't feel any blood, any wound--and she would have known, she knew, if she had been hurt, right? It had been so long. So...

She raised her burning golden stare to face the Shinigami. Ah, there it was. Tentadora shivered in her hand, blood dirtying its mirrored surface and staining the white of her gloves--Cheshire then huffing in palpable disgust, flicking it off until specks were coating the tree she stood against. Her chest was almost heaving, she noted, a grimace gnashing her teeth together. How uncouth. Who was she to push the Queen like this? That question hadn't stopped reverberating through her mind.
She hadn't wanted this.
She just wanted to see Jian.

She had to finish this. Neither of them would last forever, nor for much longer. It was not a thought she lingered on for long, instead busying herself in the even furthered shift in demeanor the girl--Nanami, it was now--entertained. A smile? Oh, the positively jubilant little bitch! But why was she so happy? She had been the one hurt, after all, something confirmed once, twice, thrice more with quick self-checks. It was unrefined of her royal visage to fret so deeply about her physical state, but she couldn't help it. There were instincts that ran deeper than the mask she wore. There was a desire to live above all else, pumping steadily and ferociously beneath the desires inside of her. She was fine. She was fine.
Her heart didn't stop pounding.
There was something thrilling about this danger, and something very real. She wouldn't think about it. She wouldn't care about it. She was fine. She was safe. Nanami, of all people, of all creatures on this damned planet and the others that existed, would not be the person to bring her to her knees. There wasn't a single cell in her body that was sure of the opposite. She was resolute in her desperation.

Something still threw her off track.

"Delightful? Yes, I have been told. Have you ever been told how disconcerting you are?" Cheshire lifted a hand, a small orb of green flickering into existence and then growing in her palm. She was standing straight, regal, her head held high and eyes half-lidded in a moderately manufactured disinterest. "Absolutely displeasurable. Here is your gentle reminder." Such graciousness from Her Highness, even in such a state. Nothing peeked past the curious light of her eyes, the mischievous turn of her lips, the stately way her body held. Unlike Nanami, she did a much more cultured--and downright necessary--job of keeping herself intact.

The Bala hummed in her grasp, waiting for the best chance it had to strike. Mid-word? But Cheshire was a creature of curiosity above most else. She wanted to hear what the girl who had seemed to go off-her-rocker in these moments of combat they had shared together had to say between her bouts and fits of maniacal laughter. There was an interest there; undeniable, but ignorable.
She wanted this to be over.

"With all due respect," her tone certainly didn't convey that, "I seemed to have helped close an eye of yours, actually." Taunting, baffled laughter panting through her nose in short huffs. What a turn of events! What a confusing spectacle. "Nanami." She didn't waste the time to play with it as she so loved to do with names, instead cocking her head a centimeter to the side; almost imperceptible, the movement. "Cheshire." There was admiration in the way she spoke her own name, however, almost as if she was more than happy to give it.
Yes. Everyone should know her name.

"Do not speak of manners to me, Shinigami. Nanami," she corrected herself, pushing onwards, measuring her steps to the side when Nanami began to move. The blood had begun to pour in full force, a deathly gleam in the gaze of the cat. It had been awhile. She hadn't seen such a thing, hadn't caused such damage, in so long. Tasteful, in a way, but she was of the personal view that her enemies looked much better without their heads attached. Was that this Shinigami was to her? An enemy?
Pitiable. She was just a distraction, and an annoying enough one at that. Didn't she see had more important things to attend to?

Her eyes briefly glanced over the monstrous spectacle of Nanami's dis-configured and unsettling blade, her tongue probing at a tooth and trying to get the buzz it emitted out of her head. She wanted it to shut up. She wanted her to be gone. She wanted this to be over. "Can you shut that off?" She purred, motioning a hand to indicate the Shikai. She was forcing Nanami to circle her or end up with the Arrancar staring at her back, a position she probably wouldn't favor. She had gone off the deep end, a contentedness in Cheshire that noticed this now. Her opponent was psychotic, bloodthirsty, and she found that she preferred this personality to the stoic quietness she had been met with before. At least she was talking now.
"You know, Nanami," she spoke slowly, evenly, even as the girl screamed and launched herself forward. "Red is definitely your color."

Her words faded in a hiss, raising Tentadora's bloodied blade to block the absurdly obtuse frontward assault; and then finding that Nanami had moved behind her, reacting in time only because of the prick of her reiatsu signaling her change in position and the infuriating shriek of that blade. A crack and she had moved back to the grass of the clearing, almost snapping the branch she had been standing on with the motion and launching the Bala she had held until this moment in a sudden toss. A second one joined it right after, Cheshire kicking back to bring more distance between them and cross to the completely opposite side of the area.

Queen.
She had heard it in Nanami's shrill screech, and a shiver sparked through the tight muscles of her arms and her legs.
Oh, sweet validation.

"My apologies, Princess!" She was giggling, parting grass behind her with the swift movement of her hurried steps. The area seemed to increase suddenly in ozone, her hair lifting to stand on end. "But your succession has failed!" And with that her maw unlatched, bringing in energy to the air between her lips and unleashing it in a suddenly explosive, mostly unrefined, Cero--aiming only to carpet the vicinity in its glorious and searing reiryoku.

WC: 1477 GP: 29 TGP: 82

Ah the mouth continued to run, spoke but said nothing and still she enjoyed the pleasant music as she descended, the very picture of death. Her blade swept down and it was naught but a desperate static filled burst of movement that saved her. Nanami let out a giggle, oh how fun! How pleasurable it was, she escaped death, could she acknowledge the fear of almost die? The question posed serious concerns to her mind. It wasn't fun if they never cried out in terror before she took them. Oh well, if she couldn't satisfy herself with the sounds of the little Queen, she'd have to satisfy herself with a painting of her blood across the picturesque field.

More annoying bursts of green energy, didn't she know they wouldn't work? Simple annoyances, Nanami's blade flashed, cutting both clean without stopping as she swayed towards Cheshire, moving to a gentle rhythm. She hummed to herself as she went. "I'm getting closer my little Queen, can you feel it? The gap is closing between us. Do you wonder how long until my blade tastes your delightful flesh?"

So familiar was the scene, countless battles fought just like it in her life, figures like Cheshire. It was always like this, the same scenes with different pieces, assemblages of events long past. The scent of ozone hit her with that sweet feeling of nostalgia, the way the world grew every more quiet, the Queen had to be desperate to rely on such an uncouth tactic, Nanami grinned in satisfaction as the rush of reiatsu surged forward, aimless and wild with only one aim in mind, destruction. Nanami stopped her movement, poised her blade up. It would consume her obviously, but then she'd always faced the Cero of a hollow with a blade in hand. It was simple when you learned the trick of it.

"Don't bore me," she whispered, eyes sullen.

Nanami's energy surged out, wild and bright like a flickering flame against the intense wave of the Queen's Cero, before the moment of impact Nanami's reiatsu vanished, twisting into the blade which plunged into the mouth of the wave. Energy exploded outward, a flash of light in the color of the cero flashed as the ground tore up in the wake of its energy, streaking far past her. As the smoke cleared, Nanami stood with the fringes of her robes torn and tattered, exposing her bare shoulders and the length of her arms entirely and yet she was utterly unharmed.

"With your skills," she began, a slow lazy smile forming on her lips, "You should stick to swinging that hollow blade of yours around," she giggled as if hearing a joke. Her shoulders slackened smirking with utter contentment with herself, as if she had forgotten the battle entirely. She stared long into Cheshire's eyes. "Do you get it, Queen? Hollow blade?"

Because it was wielded by someone empty.

"Oh how I envy you, so free, anything you want you just take it!" She flicked her blade downward, stalking steadily towards Cheshire once more. "You live by your desires! Base and course! The natural state of all things!" She shouted until she seemed to be left breathless, with a quiet whisper she added "Oh...how I envy you." She slackened, her free hand raising up to her face, coating itself in blood. She bent over staggered, contorting slightly as she went. A sound escaped her lips, reminiscent of weeping.

And then she vanished, a rush of kicked up dust as she surged through the crater formed by the wild Cero appearing in front with a deadly quick thrust of her blade. Her face was smeared with blood now, and it became clear that she was not weeping, but laughing mad and free. She squirmed, doing her best to keep focus, she couldn't help it she was just so excited. How wonderful would it be just to taste her blood, just a drop of that delightful red life that flowed within the Queen. She knew if she did, she wouldn't stop until she drained it all.

681/13/68 GP Total

There was a certain kind of awe, really, in the way her eyes refocused on Nanami once the dust had settled; or been shrugged away, as it must have been, the Shinigami standing there with nary a scratch and only some wear (alright, a notable enough amount to be fair) to her clothing to show for it. Cheshire had felt the pinprick bluster of the other girl's reiatsu but had only been able to see her now in the stance that she held after the fact, wondering just what she had done to carve her Cero away so easily. It fairly entranced her.

It would be understandable if she felt rage, or further indignation, but it hadn't quite registered for her yet that her power had been butchered in a single swift motion from someone that she viewed as so relatively lesser. Non-relatively, really, in the neat, secure little sphere of her personal reality--of course she was less than her! There was no one more than the Queen! But she looked really cool. There was only interest, not really a developing respect but enough of an acknowledgement of the Shinigami's ability that she couldn't get offended by the transgression. Her gaze had trailed off from Nanami to the surrounding area, trees broken down into scattered splinters and ground ripped up and scorched--a drastic change from the peaceful environment the park had been in just moments before.
Not that either of them cared for the scenery.

"You misunderstand, Nanami." Her words were slow, even, misplaced with the way her grin broadened and threatened to split her own face in two. There was absolute joy that danced in her eyes like licking flames, curiosity met and time well spent if only for this moment. "You are the one providing the entertainment." There was not a timeline in existence where the Queen had ever been boring, and she wouldn't have started now, not of all days, not with everything she was accomplishing and heading towards.

There was a more noticeable catch to her breath, especially now, the light of her gaze smoldering if only so she could re-analyze the events so far. How many Bala had she used? Too many. How many Sonido? How many thrusts of her blade? And then all of the destructive energy she poured into that Cero, effort cut away by the sword skills of some random Shinigami who decided to pick a fight because she was feeling trapped by her cycle.
How many cycles had Cheshire broken?
She was definitely tiring. It wasn't to say she wasn't in peak condition, just, that... she wasn't. She had the skill and the experience to back up her finesse in combat, had spent hundreds of years fighting for dominance and staking her claims on the sands of Hueco Mundo--but she hadn't had to fight like this since becoming an Arrancar. She rarely had to 'fight' at all. Her body was unused to such a strain and thus wore quicker--she was, simply put, out of shape. An entirely laughable notion, but a true one, no matter whether she chose to deny it or not.

Nanami, she saw, had grown content as well with that last attack; not enough, though, to sate the waves of murderous desire Cheshire--with her aptitude for such feelings--could feel even now. She was still relaxed enough to joke with the Queen, a smirk met with peals of melodic laughter. "Oh, how cute! You can make puns!"
She couldn't see the ulterior meaning behind Nanami's words, lest they might have pierced her renewed and slowly burgeoning excitement. "I will admit, for all of my perfection, Cero are not my strong suit. Such unsightly things! Do you see what it has done to such a beautiful place? I fear the mortal animals in that pond have been disturbed," and with a wave of her hand, a small flock of ducks fluttered over the water and away--those not already scared off by the two shows of reiatsu or her earlier attack.

"But whose blade here, Nanami, is the hollow one?" She was purring, the hand not holstering Tentadora falling to her hip and gripping it while she inclined a few inches. "Yours does not seem to grow full. Is there any gratification for its desires?" She had noticed now how the wound on Nanami's head had bled out and straight into the hungry maws of her screaming blade. "Or your own?"

Her feet shifted, another defensive stance. The irony of the Queen holding her position when she had every right to push it and climb her way to the top was not entirely lost on her. No, arrogance she held in surplus but naivety she did not. She knew her place, knew how high above it was, and knew what she needed to do to keep it. She mirrored the Shinigami's motions, an almost perfect replication of the slow, daunting steps she took and the careful grip on the blade pointed towards her. "And this, Nanami, is not you living out your desires? Your screams of embellishment about how much you wish to rend my flesh with that sword of yours? A lofty desire, I'll give you," canines peeked from the edges of her lips, "An impossible one, as well. Are you, too, not free? Has this all just been for show?"

"What is chaining you down, Nanami?"

"You seem to be having so much fun!" She trailed off into laughter, watching the sudden stagger and broken sound coming from the contorted, bent form of the Shinigami yelling coarsely only seconds earlier. It was only a reflexive movement--instinct at its source, always the habit she fell back into--that saved the Arrancar from the white-haired girls blade. She didn't shift away, no more running around and throwing out the occasional taunt and Bala. She was taking her stand. Royalty would not be pushed around.

Her other hand met the one on Tentadora's hilt and held the dagger firm against Nanami's oddly-shaped blade, letting it grind along its surface and over her shoulder while narrowly avoiding slicing off her ear. Her heels dug into the dirt, tarnishing the neat black leather of her boots and sending the ground breaking in cracks around them. What happened when an unstoppable force met an immovable object?
Why, you kick. You meet the laughter coming from the psychotic Shinigami with your own, eyes alight with fervent wonder. "You are not free of your desires, Nanami!" She practically squealed, right leg slamming upwards into her chest with a staggered heave of a breath. "You are just lost!"

Magic sung from her lips, time seeming to slow as the flat and toe of her foot swam through the air. "Embrace yourself!"

"Show me that I have not wasted my time here with you today!"

"Entertain me!"

"You are doing a wonderful job!"

What is it, Nanami, that you want? Besides me. You want to fight. You want to kill. You want to spill precious blood and that, Nanami, I can understand--the look of unbridled excitement and fulfillment on your face, the way your expression twists for your twisted desires, that I can understand!

Bare it all for me!
Oh, now she was having fun.

WC: 1205 GP: 24 TGP: 106

I'm drowning.

Her eyes snapped open but all she could see was inky blackness. She was moving, being pulled downward even though she could see nothing to tell her which was up. A moment of panic gripped her but it faded with the sudden realization of where she was. It was not entirely unfamiliar to her, her inner-world had changed once within the last few months but she'd be a poor shinigami to not notice that she was in it.

She recalled Gamikira's first lesson, how to hold herself afloat. She had to empty her mind, to become calm and centered, to let go of her tensions and desires. Nanami closed her eyes, ignoring the desire that bubbled away in her to desperately breath. She shrugged off her worries and concern for why she was here, stopped trying to piece together the mystery. It was easy in the end, she'd done this many times before in the silent serene place of her inner-world, bereft of even the noises of Gamikira even as she watched Nanami closely.

Her eyes opened and she was upon the surface of familiar still waters but the scene was wrong, utterly wrong. Gone was the brilliant blue skies and replaced with a setting light, crimson red and practically dripping with obvious meaning, gone was the warmth like the sun and from it an eerie quiet chill. Most disturbing was the fact that Nanami was completely alone.

For a moment she faltered, felt the weight of her body slipped beneath the waves and once more found herself submerged. Another moment, recentered, she pulled herself back to the surface again and there she did her best to remember how she found herself here.

Ah. Yes. The Arrancar. The conflict, it had felt so simple and clear in the beginning. There was a monster she had to kill, as Gamikira directed her, and yet it had unmade her, what was the lesson to be learned from that, her weakness? It wasn't the Arrancar's words that had dragged it out of her, that monster that lived underneath her flesh. She had been doing so well too, had kept it at bay for centuries, baring a moment of weakness with the poor shinigami Yuki. Why was it changing now? Why was it so much harder? She knew why, she'd been teasing herself, feeding the side of her that loved to fight. It had all seemed so innocent, and subdued. But it had been dangerous, she ignored it and paid the price. Did she believe that monster could be tempered? That it could be changed? Better she cast her sword aside than tempt herself with impossibilities.

Nanami stepped slow across the surface of the water deep in thought, only noticing after a few moments that her steps were tracing small ripples across the surface of the water. Another disturbing change from before.

Nanami had lived near two millennia, she knew the theories, had seen countless shinigami grow, achieve their true potential, master their inner world. She'd literally wrote the book on the phenomena, could give insightful lectures at length on the subject and yet in her own world she felt so lost. Why was it like this?

"Gamikira, where are you?" she called out, voice quiet. Her words echoed out quietly across the vast expanse but she received no reply for several moments until at last she heard a steady rumbling that grew in magnitude as time passed.

Her eyes turned towards the source of the sound, and raised high above her towering far beyond her vision a massive rushing wave had formed. She raised her arms in panic, as if somehow she could shield herself from the force but stopped before impact. Calm, she reminded herself, she had to shut herself from her emotions, her fears, her desires, and center herself. A screech tore itself through the air, as her eyes opened a black phantom stood at the crest of the wave moments before it overtook her.

She was swept up in the powerful towering surge of water and ushered into blackness once more.

----

She gasped, sputtering and coughing like her lungs were filled with venom. Water was heaved on to the ground as her eyes slid open once more and saw solid ground, stained crimson red. She heaved again, coughing what felt like the last of the water but it left her lungs and throat burning white hot with pain.

"Oh no," the words fell from her lips without intention. She climbed back to her feet, hands and knees already slick with the blood that coated the endless battlefield.

This place was familiar to her, more familiar than any other. This was the place she had dwelt from the beginning, the birthplace to a monster, her monster, the same that lived inside her flash, the same fighting against the prison in which she chained it, the same that took the reins today.

None of it made any sense, Gamikira was dormant within this place but she had awakened hadn't she? That's what she said, wasn't it? This place was a false lie, the product of a broken shinigami.

"No no no," she continued, rejection bubbling up from inside. The field stretched endlessly it seemed though she could never tell from the heavy fog that settled. The battle ground was littered with discarded weapons, many rusted and damaged from conflict. The sky was inky dark with wisps of crimson red streaking through like clouds.

The sound rose up above the din, screams of fury and terror, cries of battle of victory and defeat both. Off in the distance she could see the shadows locked in combat, brutal and real yet shapeless and disconnected. The place stank of misery, of evil, of wrong.

"I reject this place," she hissed. She rose upright, arms at her side with tight fists clenched. "I am not this person!"

A scream, terrible and high broke through all others, as it died away so too did the battle leaving an eerie silence save for Nanami's own heavy breaths. She turned on her heels already knowing what awaited her.

A creature lurked in the mists, distant and distorted by the fog but without a doubt watching her with dark eyes that seemed to glow through the fog.

Calm. Center. She had to let get of her tension. Let go of her worries. Let go of her desires. Nanami exhaled slow. "Is this it then? I kill you to overcome this side forever?" She forced herself to speak at a whisper. This place was a mockery of everything she was.

The creature let out another shrill sound, high and almost melodic. Nanami realized it was laughter at once, mocking and yet eerie in its familiarity. Weaponless, Nanami glanced to her side to one of the multitude of discarded weapons from fallen foes and gripped it by its hilt. Anything would do for this she decided. Enough was enough.

It bent low and Nanami drew a short breath. Calm. Center. She had to be ready for the moment it struck-

Her left arm was torn free of the socket, clean and quick. Nanami let out a scream of agony as the blade tumbled from her grip and fell upon the ground. Her free hand clamped tight over the stump of her arm and tried desperately to clamp down as blood surged from the wound. She staggered forward and faltered, slipping to a knee as her scream died out. She let out soft pained noises trying desperately to marshal her wits against the pain. A life time of battle experience had prepared her for much, but losing a limb was a fresh agony no matter what.

"Kill me?" A voice high and amused rang out behind her, familiar of course, because it was her own voice. Nanami twisted around to the source of the taunt panting with the exertion as she felt blood surge through her fingers.

"You can't kill me, idiot, you are -me-." A wide grin spread across the mirrored face that looked like her own, wild and toothy with a voice that edged on madness altogether familiar. It was her, every last inch down the most precise detail in appearance and yet everything about it screamed wrong, twisted. A very picture of what existed now on the surface fighting against the Arrancar.

Nanami could only shuddering, trying to control her breathing as she felt her life spill away.

"Oh come on!" It shouted, a look of disappointment on its face as it waved her unsealed zanpakuto easily in its hand. Blood from her wound pooled and drifted slowly towards the blade which drank deeply. "You know I have to give you credit, all that seriousness and focus. You've given me a hell of a lot of skills to work with, despite your best efforts to waste them ALL!" The voice changed in tenor, mad and unpredictable and the blade was swung quick. The dull end connected with the stump of her left arm and starbursts of light exploded in Nanami's vision as she was thrown to the side and sent toppling in the blood soaked ground. A ragged scream of agony tore itself from Nanami's throat, dying into a series of coughs.

"Pathetic! That's what you are now!" It roared in her own voice dragging Nanami from the darkness that threatened to drag her into unconsciousness. This was the monster that had haunted her for a millennia through her own soul. "Repressed! Locking away your own powers! Afraid! You were nothing when you cast me aside! NOTHING! And now you're even worse than that! Do you even believe there is a you outside of me!" Spittle flew from its mouth as it stalked towards Nanami.

Nanami collected herself as best she could, shuddering was waves of fresh pain ran through her body. In desperation she managed to stagger to a knee once more.

"In the beginning it was me who saved your life! Kept you alive! Kept you safe! Made you strong! In your toughest battles it was me guiding your hand! You owe your life to me! This blade! Everything! And you want to cast me out!?"

Nanami groped blindly at the ground hand slick with blood, most now her own and searched. After a few moments as the creature drew near she found it, metal and firm and gripped tightly fighting desperately through the pain.

"I AM YOU!" it roared, blade descending quick, a fatal slash.

Nanami had no hope to defend against it, even without the near fatal wound she had already sustained, even at her best there was no chance to stop it. To avoid, perhaps, desperately run, abandon all pretense of fighting back there might have been hope but to embrace death was easy. Nanami was ready to stare proudly at the executioner's axe as it descended, that would be a simple task. Compared to the alternative at least, to accept any of what this creature said as truth would be worse than a dozen deaths, a hundred, thousands, endless!

The blade bit deep into her flesh, cleaving hard into her shoulder tearing away at bone, muscle and sinew. Nanami shudders, felt her mouth fall slack and a cold emptiness fill her, but the deed was done. The blade snatched from the ground was buried deep within the monster's heart. Her hand slipped from the hilt and fell slack as blood began to pour.

"I am nothing like you," she whispered her final rejection.

----

Nanami's blade crashed hard against the arrancar's, narrowly parried above her shoulder cascading the two of them with hot sparks. Nanami let out a wild grin, oh good! Her fun wasn't over yet! They slid across the hard cracked ground, weight of it crumbling against the force of their battle. "So the Queen has some proper instincts in her after all!" Ah what she could do with such raw materials! The thing she could from from this beast.

The leg shot forward towards her, and there Nanami smiled at the critical mistake. The Queen had mad her an offering of course, and why wouldn't she!? What was a Queen to a -GOD-! Her hand shot out with alarming speed she leaned out of the way of the blow. Nanami's hand snatched the ankle for but a moment it would take her blade to cut deep into that leg and take it from her!

Like a gunshot, swift and fierce Nanami shifted and changed. Her blade almost dropped. Nanami staggered backwards and gripped her face. "No!" The song had just begun and fell on deaf ears. Nanami heaved a great sigh and fell back a step. She stared at Cheshire suddenly, soft eyes staring through the hand that clenched her face. She'd finally seized control again, cast aside that damn relentless demon, she just needed a moment to collect herself to catch her breath. To calm down, center her emotions, shed her desires.

Cheshire's words hit her ears, soft and pleasant. Her eyes lost focus of her for a moment and clenched both hands tight digging the twisted hilt deeper into her flesh. God, no, what was it doing? How was it doing it? She could hear the sound of screaming in the distance.

Entertain her?

Ba-bump.

No! Not now! Not after that! Nanami panicked, desperately trying to determine what was dragging that thing back out now.

Ba-bump.

"Please!" Nanami's shuddered, feeling a strange excitement ripple from her, how easy it would be.

Ba-bump.

Nanami staggered to a knee, clutching her head, for her ears desperate to drown out the song. The beast had been taunted, alerted but it had been forced back below the surface, put back into its slumber and somehow this creatures sound reached it.

Ba-bump.

"I beg of you please stop!" she screamed.

2307/26/94 GP Total

There was a flash in Cheshire's eyes, the manic excitement burning just moments before being overtaken by a worry she only expressed because of how lost in their fight they had been. Her ankle was in the grasp of a monster, her leg suspended midair while the rest of her was braced to off the pursuit of the blade baring against hers. Her mind flew, reactions and possibilities stretching endless in her thoughts. What did she do? How did she react? The waves of Nanami's murderous desire and glee crashed over her even now, lips stretching thin over the bared fangs of her teeth. How long did she have before she felt the metal biting into her flesh? One second? Two seconds?

The instant Nanami's demeanor cracked, the first second of her confusion and the slacken of her blade, Cheshire reacted. She pressed and shoved the Shinigami's sword off of her own, using the throw of balance to tear back her foot the same moment the other had dropped her attack and staggered back.

Another Sonido, no thoughts cast to the disgust she should feel at having to retreat and return to her defensive. She knew better by now then to believe the Shinigami's tricks, having been duped just moments before by the show of envy and sadness she had so callously put on before jumping her. No, she was steady even as her breath came in ragged pants and her limbs burned from the exertion. Too much. She was woefully unprepared for such intense combat, let alone with such a skilled opponent. It wasn't her fault--the fact that she had become placated with a relatively peaceful existence was simply her right as Queen. Nanami was the naysayer here, her transgressions stacking and stacking with the way she pushed Cheshire to such limits. It ached. It hurt.
She felt alive.

There was validation in the fear and soft, erratic perplexity in Nanami's eyes while they stared at the Arrancar through her fingers. She had staggered more, the two with a good ten feet between them and Tentadora held like a spire before Cheshire in case the Shinigami threw herself forward again. The Queen was admittedly confused, all doubts and anxieties fading into the usual curiosity of her fiery gaze. It was a drastic change in disposition, even more so than the shift to the murderous killer that had been entertaining her for the past ten minutes. It was like Nanami was two or three different people, though there was a gratitude for the chance to rest and collect herself squirming in the very back of Cheshire's chest while she observed her.

No? Is that what Nanami had said? And she was begging her to stop?

There was a stutter to Cheshire's song, a falter that righted itself a moment later. Her expression twisted in ill-conceived malice, blood rushing so violently through her veins that she could feel and hear its flow like a rhythmic, excruciating pounding in her ears. She was sweating, she would note later, a sheen upon the surface of her otherwise perfect skin.
No?
But her entertainment wasn't over yet!

She had no idea what was going on with the girl, why she begged so for her to cease the pull of her power. This was what she wanted, wasn't it? She had expressed so, many times over their brawl. Why would she be so fervently desperate to stop now? Did Cheshire even care?
If she did, was it for more than the interest she had in all oddities presented to her?

"Do you not think me capable of doing good deeds myself, Jian?" It was not hurt in her voice; nothing but the candid, lost melodies that seemed to punctuate this entire situation.

Could she perform good deeds? Jian considered for a moment, contemplated a response. Of course she couldn't not intentionally, not without direction or guidance. As she was there wasn't a single part of her being capable of actual goodness.
"Of course you could, if you so chose to," he said simply and honestly.

For a second, no more than that, Cheshire's eyes were empty and cold. No light, no fire, no emotion. Her maw ached to open, jaw almost creaking as the sight of her tongue spilled forth from her lips and words formed. "Stop?"

"This is what you wanted, Nanami. You cannot lie to your desires." Why the restraint? Why the turmoil?
Was the step she now took leading to a good deed?
Was it the opposite?

There was no understanding in the Arrancar's speech. No revelation that came to her--only the purest senses of bafflement, wonder, and desire. A desperation. Don't take your eyes off of me. Don't take this away from me. You started this--now you finish it. These were all things her eyes once again said, grass parting under her feet. "Why would I stop?"

She disappeared, appearing suddenly above Nanami in a coiled shape as if she was pouncing down on her prey; a Bala humming in one hand, the dried blood on Tentadora's blade shining in the other.
"Come, my lost blade! Don't hold anything back now!"

"YOU'RE NOT DONE ENTERTAINING ME!"

Tell the world I'm alive.

WC: 870 GP: 17 TGP: 123

Ba-bump

----

She felt like she was drowning again, caught once more in a suffocating darkness. Was she drifting beneath the surface again? If she reached up, would Gamikira's hand find hers and pull her up once more?

"You know how disappointing it is, watching you? Mewling around in agony on the dirt, crying out in pain! For endless years I have watched you, taken care of you, guided you, given you your strength...to watch it be wasted like this it just...makes me crazy!" Another wild cackle stretched from its lips and Nanami knew she was back once more.

Nanami vomited, a collection of blood spilling from her mouth on to the ground, she had never felt so tired.

"Did you think you could kill me with that broken sword? If its wielder couldn't kill you, than how did you think you, with your broken resolve, could?" The voice taunted, drawing Nanami's eyes towards it as it drew its hand along its waist slowly, seductively even, resting finally as its fingertips slid across the hilt of the blade that pierced through its chest. "I bet you're wondering how, perhaps it is because I have no heart?" it giggled gripping the hilt tight.

The short blade was thrown towards Nanami, tearing through the air. She didn't think, she reacted, and screamed out as the blade pierced through her hand, pinning it to the ground.

"Idiot girl, do you think that you could kill me in my own world? It is my world isn't it!? That means I am its god! Nothing happens here beyond my will!" It grinned wide, a smile that seemed to stretch inhumanly.

Nanami let out low strained breaths through her teeth struggling to pull her hand free. The blood that pooled continued to flow into the twisted blade her copy wielded, its edge was shifting from pure black to a dark crimson.

"Oh do you remember how we used to play here? You would run, and I would chase you. Tear you apart, piece by piece, oh I remember that hated look in your eyes, the fire, the joy when you picked up that blade." It cackled raising the Zanpakuto in its hand. "And ran me through, the fury, the delight in your eyes. I was so proud of you then."

Its expression shifted, twisting into a mask of despair. "But the time for games is over isn't it, little Nanami? You never learned, never could accept, and that's fine. I've given up on you in fact."

The voice went cold and still, emotionless. "Oh, something I forgot to tell you, little Nanami. This is it for you, when I kill you here," the grin returned as wide and wild as ever.

"Your body will be mine."

Nanami's eyes opened wide, horror and revulsion both tearing its way down her spine. She would not die here, she -could- not die here. She had faced foes infinitely stronger than this one and come out on top, she reminded herself. A quiet voice sprang up, but who had been the one to grant her that strength? She shut it out, all she needed to do was focus.

She gritted her teeth and ripped her hand from the ground screaming with fury and pain in equal measure. "Like hell you will-!"

"Over your dead body?" it finished for her and then in a flash of movement vanished.

Nanami could feel the presence, but she held no weapon, her body was exhaustion far past the point of surrender. She commanded her body to move, every ounce of will that she had she urged to this singular purpose: to survive.

But nothing happened, the next blow would be the one to kill her, and she would become that thing, forever.

There is a monster you must kill.

Everything went black.

----

A final cry for mercy faded out into the empty park replaced by silence, then quiet laughter as the burst of static sounded. Oh the Arrancar was starting to get into it wasn't it? Was it perhaps developing a taste for blood, a joy for clashing blades? Or was it out of desperation, Nanami wondered quietly as her body reacted with endless years of reflexes engrained.

Her twisted Zanpakuto drew a jagged line through the air, a deafening clash of the weapons resounded as the sickly colored Bala shattered into the air, a hand left the hilt and crossed the distance between them without pause, brushing gently along her cheek. "Draga Regina" she whispered and leaning forward planted a soft kiss upon her lips. Nanami pulled back with a lascivious grin and gave a quick shove of her weapon to put a few feet of distance between the fighters.

"I do not wish to fight you anymore," she smiled, blade tipping towards the ground. "After all," she gestured with a free hand and continued, "how could I wish to fight the one who has freed me? Harming the one with the beautiful voice who has called me out is repugnant even to myself. I do not wish to dance with your blade any longer, but of course, if it is desired I will oblige," she gave a wicked grin and tilted her weapon up slightly.

Fondness, what a pleasant sensation it was to have an object that she did not wish to tear apart, well, at the moment.

"It has been a pleasure to meet you, Cheshire. I owe you a debt of gratitude for my,"

"Liberation." The word was given reverence, a shiver running down her spine as she said it.

----

Nanami lay atop the slowly drifting waters, a bright clear sky greeting her from up high, a quick glance to the side and he saw her, soft brown hair that rolled off with playful curls down to her shoulders a bit past, those beautiful blue eyes filled with such peace. She stood no more than a few feet away from where Nanami laid, and around her the water was completely still. She felt a hope replacing the desolate resignation at the sight of her Zanpakuto Spirit but the question lingered, instilled by the conflict moments prior.

"Are you real?" Nanami asked quietly staring into those bright blue eyes. There was a smile at the corner of Gamikira's lips, playing there for but a moment before it faded. "I feel like I invented you-"

"To hide away?" Gamikira finished, her quiet youthful voice as both familiar and surprising as ever.

Nanami closed her eyes and tried to understand. She was dying wasn't she? Why did she feel so at peace, was this acceptance?

"I don't have that answer for you Nanami, what do you believe?"

"I am not that monster," she replied quickly, eyes opening She noticed that her wound, the one deep into her shoulder had healed, but her arm was still gone. It was a weird sensation, she could still feel the arm, move it, control it but when she did nothing happened. Even given her staunch denial she thought of her past, of every moment of spilled blood and violence, every clash of blade, every moment of thrill and ecstasy brought about by suffering.

She found herself weary again, eyes sliding closed.

"I don't know," she said finally, as a rumble began to build in the distance.

Gamikira's face drew a slight frown and nodded. "I am sorry for all that has happened Nanami, and for all that will."

A massive wave swept her up, carrying her deeply below once more, her last vision through the rapidly disappearing light of the surface was of Gamikira’s forlorn gaze.

1261/25/119 GP Total

There was something odd, even now, with the way Nanami held herself; these thoughts continued as Cheshire sailed through the air, her mind working fast enough to process any change in events before her body could. She wasn't sure what the deal was, and there was no way to quite put her finger on it, but the light in Nanami's eyes seemed to repeatedly die and renew at completely erratic moments. Even her expression changed multiple times, not to mention the vibrantly unstable pulse of her reiatsu. The Arrancar kept close eyes on these most of all, using them to determine which personality--as she had decided to go forth with thinking of them as--of the Shinigami's would be the most prominent in that moment.

Malice and bloodlust returned to that monstrous aura just before Cheshire could bare down on the other, her dagger unsurprisingly knocked away and the weak flare of her Bala also brushed off with a quick and effortless finesse. Her adrenaline was keeping her ahead, however, and she was fully intent on battling back. She felt so alive. She could barely hear her own considerations and revelations, such was the heavy force of the blood pumping threateningly through her. At many times she felt like she might burst, exploding into a shower of red and lavender that Nanami's more tasteful and 'evil' personality would revel in.

This, however, did not happen, and there was no more attack to press. Instead she found her lips meeting Nanami's and her body slowed to a stagger, feet falling to the ground as if she had become feather-light at that single, pleasing touch and steadied on the scorched blades of grass crackling under the press of her heels. What?

What just happened?
The words 'draga regina' echoed in her mind, a shiver sparking up the electrified arch and lean of her spine that allowed a few more moments of the embrace between the two girls. She had not, often, spent time bedding women--her taste like primarily in their opposite sex and with those she mainly lay. In that moment, however, imagery of the Shinigami and Arrancar with their sweaty limbs and heaving chests tangled together seared deep into Cheshire's psyche.
Oh yes.

She seemed to almost slump, no less tensed for a counterattack but not looking to start one immediately herself. She would be ready to defend, or kick away, but now as her lips broke from the other set she took her time to collect her thoughts and straighten out the disturbingly confusing events that had just inspired. "Oh."

There was validation in the polite, ecstatic words of the monster in front of her, Cheshire's perplexed if not painfully curious expression framed by the sweaty mop of her hair. "Oh...?"

There would not be understanding just yet, instead taking a step back--just in case, of course--and surveying the Shinigami from that position, tilting her head slowly to the side. Her desire to enforce her song had wavered enough until it had begun to dim out, distracted by the giddy light of the monster's eyes and the way her own lips began to pull back and realization dawned like an ignited flame in her stare. "Oh!"

"Wondrous! What a turn of events!" Her words were cut, occasionally, by the pant of her breath, but with the way her body stooped and leaned in with amazement her exhaustion was disregarded. The adrenaline had slowly began to leave her system, replaced by the ever burning desire for the attention and praise she was now getting from someone she had just been locked in mortal combat with. As the excruciatingly harsh beat of her heart began to calm so did she, her mouth agape in an 'o' to further display her wonder.

She should be furious. She should, in all respects, lunge forward and tear off the Shinigami's head to put an end to the knowing, pleased smile that she held. But she didn't want to! So much had happened in this window of combat, and she was, in the end, content with all of it. She hadn't been harmed, after all, not even a scratch, and her lips still tingled and sparked with the taste of Nanami's still on them. Especially as her primal drive and hold over her song began to fade, leaving her just the Queen once more in all her controlled and amused glory.

"You, my lost blade, are more then welcome," she began, raising her own hand to spread her fingers across her cheek. More then welcomed, as well. "Are you some spirit inhabiting Nanami's body that was let loose by my song, or have you simply been her all along?"

"Which of these personalities you harbor is the real one?" She wasn't intending to press, but the nudge of her curiosities pushing her to get clarification was enough to make the tenor of her words stumble gracefully from her mouth. "Oh, fighting? No, no, no more need for that. We would not want you to get hurt, after all!"

"You are so beautiful," now her speech came in a sigh, amazed with what she regarded as her handiwork. And all the credit was due to her, after all, was it not? She wouldn't be told or believe otherwise, instead content in the knowledge that she had just single-handedly created a monster with explicitly remarkable skills.

Just another tool, just another weapon, fitting nicely into her growing arsenal.

909/18/141

The moment of surrender, the feeling of electricity that ran as lips made contact brought a joy to her heart. She loved moments like those, holding power over any kind of spirit was empowering especially those that held themselves in high regard. Arrancar were just so easy to toy with, they all had a button to be pushed with the right kind of force and they were putty. This one was simpler than most, a little ego stroking, a little pruning, a little feigned interest and tenderness.

Ah, how the pieces changed but the picture stayed the same.

She watched with interest as Cheshire stepped back, waiting for the moment when realization would hit. It was almost annoying, how did she not see the difference!? Like night and day! To be associated with all that pathetic whinging was almost too much to bare, but oh, all she had to do was focus on that pretty face and all was well. Everything was fine now, the truth was much easier to accept, this was who she was after all. Everything else was a veneer afterall. She didn't give a shit about the Seireitei, about anyone, to live on impulse and desire damn the consequence. This little Arrancar had done enough to catch her interest, after all to bring her out and keep her here was a feat not done in millenia.

A useful tool in case things took a turn.

"Ah, we agree then," Nanami marshalled her exhaustion well compared to the younger fighter whose heavy breaths showed exhaustion clear as day, she gleamed a comforting grin. Cheshire was likely to crash hard once the adrenaline left her system, a perfect time to strike she considered nearly salivating openly at the idea. No no, she reminded herself of the greater purpose and stayed her hand.

Lost blade, she wasn't sure she liked the title, not for her anyway, but left it alone allowing the Queen her familiarity, it was more than agreeable with her. The second part caused a slight twinge of darkness on her abnormally bright features. "Ah, a spirit inhabiting this body? Like one of those..." Temper temper. Nanami took a breath and shook her head simply, an insult to go unanswered this was becoming more trying. "I am Nanami, that before was a fake, a mask draped over the truth, worn for survival's sake, a weakness that was long overdue to be lost. It was born in the battles that went on to form the Gotei as it today, the losing side I should mention through no fault of my own. I am the true self, awakened by your...beautiful wonderful voice~." Nanami's blade shifted, sealing itself as she slipped it into the sheathe. She rolled her sore shoulders draped with exhaustion and glanced at her bloody sliced hands. Easy enough to handle.

Nanami smiled, strolling over to her, a mere foot or two away. "Perhaps another time then, you could teach me some of your tricks," she teased though did so sincerely. Ah how she'd love to form that raw material into something credible, a real terror this 'Queen' would be then. "I'd love to dance with you again some day," and all the wondrous things she could do to that body. She sighed contentedly with the images that accompanied such thoughts.

Beautiful? What a kind compliment, one worth being returned in kind. "Ah, how sweet you are, you words are heaven to my ears," and she bent low to take one of Cheshire's hands gently, planting a soft kiss upon it before letting it go. "Did you wish to stop for a moment and sit with me? Or perhaps we could go secure tea and speak. I won't dream of keeping you if you're busy but,"

"It's such a lovely day don't you agree?"

----

Nanami's eyes snapped open and for a brief moment time stopped. Back in that twisted bloody world just as she'd left it. She reviewed the facts. She was Nanami, she'd been in battles that counted beyond measuring, had swung blades against beast and foes so powerful they challenged definition. She was never the strongest being in the world, but when it came to the sword that was her domain. She had begun a monster, but she had become so much more than that.

The swipe was coming in with all the power and reckless abandon of someone expecting a defenseless opponent but with such fury and power that it hardly mattered. Nanami dropped low, feeling the force of the blow send her hair flying freely behind her. With no weapon she abandoned any attempt of an offense and skipped backwards with an artful shunpo which evaded the wild kick her opponent unleashed in the space she had just occupied.

One of the multitude of discarded weapons passed the right side of her body and with one smooth motion she pulled the hilt and the broken blade from the blood soaked earth and slid to a stop to stand her ground.

"That cheating bitch!" It roared its fury glaring at the sky as if to curse it, it lasted but a moment and then it vanished once more approaching Nanami with startling momentum.

The execution came once more naturally, Nanami twisted the broken blade to parry the slash and prepared to bring it down hard to finish the battle in one quick motion.

Sparks flew from the clashing blades followed by the sound of steel shattering. A hot flash of pain tore across her upper body as Nanami retreated back again. A thin gash formed along her shoulder, blood beginning to drip down as she wielded the near bladeless hilt. With a quick simple act of kido she attempted to staunch and slow the flow of blood but barely had a moment before the next monstrous attack came in.

"What's the matter! Did you forget your own power!? Did you think you could stop me with a broken blade in my world!? You've forgotten that I am a GOD here!" But the attack hadn't halted and another dance between them ushered in another attack, the twisted shikai coming in a horizontal arc as they passed. Nanami braced herself, attempting to use the hilt as a means of blocking the attack. The blade bit deep into her hand as she was thrown backwards. Already coming in again, her opponent did not relent for a moment.

"You're pathetic! Even with her help, have you learned nothing!? How can you be so fucking blind!"

Nanami caught her footing and dove nimbly away from the overhead attack which rended through the ground without pause before following up.

The fight dragged, Nanami with each moment bringing another dance, another discarded blade shattered, another accumulating shallow injuries received. Nanami was wordless but her opponents taunts kept up, blade taking on a deep red hue as the battle continued.

"You really know how to pick your friends don't you Nanami! Ahaha, Nanami, who am I kidding. We both know who you are you fake! But -her- really!? What has she done for you! What has she ever done for you!" Each cry was punctuated with another blow, another desperate evasion or fatalistic parry, another wound. "For her you would give up your life!?" It was screaming, spittle flying from its mouth as the tirade went on.

"I PROTECTED YOU! IT WAS ME! ME! ME!-"

The blade was swung, and Nanami weaved away moments before impact, but from the edge of the blade there was a flash and a wave of blood exploded from the rapidly draining blade in a crescent. The impact was immediate ripping and tearing as Nanami was sent tumbling across the battlefield, shattering and smashing into broken blades as she passed.

"ME!"

Nanami slid to a stop, on able to manage short slow breaths as she felt blood drip and roll from her body. Her opponent was heaving, lost in rage but stalking towards her blade poised. She couldn't hear the words now, a loud ringing noise had blocked out all sound. She was hurt, badly, but she found even now, compared to all that was done, the pain was tolerable. After a moment to steady her vision she found herself to her knees. Without realizing she had done it, she reached forward and gripped another hilt.

Wasn’t it all so futile?

Yes. But she would fight on.

How had it come to this? She had met with Gamikira, had found herself restored and able to fight on. She had her focus, her determination and iron will, all her ability and control. She could admit the superior strength of her opponent, could see the path to victory with each and every cut but found herself coming short. Was there something she was missing? Was it a weakness? Was there a truth that her strength in that monster that she needed? Is that what slowed her, and weakened her? Uncertainty?

No. She would not accept that. She would never be that beast again. She would not surrender her body to it! Not ever!

And yet she had to admit reality, could not live in denial of the proven truth.

Her opponent let out a roar that echoed louder than the fading ring and sprang towards her. "YOUR BODY IS MINE!"

The great deception.

"You're wrong."

1555/31/150 GP Total

Neither of them wished to continue this fight, no matter the intent for murder that still swam vividly through the reiatsu of the Shinigami or even Cheshire facing the transgressions she had been dealt today. She knew better than to allow herself to drown in the arrogance and indignation of her emotions. She would not die here because of pride, and even the drive for combat had faded; mainly due in part to the absence of adrenaline harshly coursing through her system. She could now hear her heavy breaths without her blood pounding in her ears, casting an eye that held small traces of disgust down at the heave of her chest. Had she ever sweat before? Yes, of course. Panted like this, even, and felt the ache in her limbs from physical exhaustion. Not in this way, however, and the searing of her muscles reminded her just how far she had pushed herself to come out on top today. Still, even as that gaze trailed back up to Nanami it did not gleam with much spite.
The girl before her had taught her what it felt like to be alive.
She would not soon forget that.

Either way, she always aimed to please. The monster known as Nanami might be playing her, for all that she couldn't discern, but she was silvering her words just as delicately. A strong ally, maybe, but a stronger weapon -- the term alliance implied a bond, while Cheshire saw herself as no less than the wielder of the fine blade across from her. Lost, still, maybe; skilled in combat she might be, but even with those two thousand years backing her up she had no culture to the way she thought and acted until this moment when her sword slid back into its sheathe.
Cheshire would never entertain the company of a mere barbarian for longer than it took to get them in and out of her bed. Nanami was simply lucky she was both beautiful and elegant enough in the way she held her sword. That, the Arrancar could appreciate. The burning, palpable desires so easily indulged were just as tasteful as well.

She began to try and control her own breathing, her will straining against her body but working its damnedest to maintain some kind of appearance. Worn nails flick off dirt from her skirt while her slightly dampened hair is smoothed back and out of her face so her skin could breathe. She would not allow herself a lack of manners, especially in the face of such company -- Nanami was a predator, no less than herself in that regard, and she would likely reestablish her sense of control over this situation with her Zanpakuto through Cheshire's stomach should she show the slightest bit of weakness.
And the Queen was not weak.

Nanami did not seem happy with Cheshire's erratic array of questions, either because of their number or content the Queen did not know, but she pressed on regardless. There was no satiation for desires, and curiosity was one of the strongest; especially for the cat. She was kind enough, in all of her grace after straightening herself out and sheathing Tentadora, to look past the darkness of the Shinigami's expression until that faded and the stare between them could be reestablished. "How very interesting...! I am glad I could help, diavolul mea superba. The world," my world, "could always use more people like you. You have definitely brought a certain amount of pleasure to my day."

There was a lot of use she could get out of the blademaster.
The two played their game well.

She didn't balk away when Nanami took her steps forward, eyes subtly but manically surveying every twitch of her muscles and inclination in her reiatsu -- it was, admittedly, hard to look past the bloodlust that permeated this monster's existence, but she was at least able to read how much of that was directed towards her in this moment. "Oh, my tricks? Really, I would think I could do to learn from you. I have never seen a blade dance with such fluid finesse." An honest compliment, even if the thought behind it was selfish enough. Another addition to her arsenal. An armory of tools, of which Nanami was the prettiest one yet.

"Yes, I do believe it would be in both of our best interests for our paths to cross again some day. This day, however..." She trailed off, a devilish grin splitting her face as the Shinigami's lips met her hand which she extended. The expression was fleeting, sobering back to her usual quirk and a gentle hum that built in her throat. "I really should be going soon." There was very little energy left for her to indulge this entertainment, having long past accepted she would not get to see Jian today -- though... the worry on his face if she showed up in such a state would be absolutely delicious.
No, she knew, she must keep herself in top form and fine shape for presentation. It was time to go home.

"So I bid you revedere, my Nanami." The words were stated casually enough, but the possession rang through every playful arch and part of her lips. "With the promise to meet again."

"I trust you will remain out of harms way? I would hate to see such a pretty face," a lascivious purr, gently and briefly stroking her fingers across the other girl's cheek, "all marred with scars."

"Though I believe there is very little that could harm you."
Monsters didn't bleed.

930/18/159

"You are fine, so few offer such courtesy after a battle like that," which was certainly true because they were almost certainly long dead. "I am overjoyed to have been of service," she swept and performed a short flourished bow.

Nanami grinned at the praise, the return of a compliment to be sure and an acknowledgment in the most basic sense of reality. There was gap between their talents too large to even consider ignoring, but Nanami had to admit her strength and unique talent none the less. "I would happily teach you what I know of course," Nanami grinned doing her best to keep any contempt or desire for violence from her voice. She'd have to find something worthy enough to skin soon enough.

"Ah," disappointment was clear in her voice at the refusal. The Arrancar bade to make some sort of retreat from her presence and for a moment she considered stopping her, of course she still had a user for her but she was hardly in a position to play jailer for a creature so exquisite. "I shall hold you to that promise then Cheshire," no need to correct her misunderstandings of how such a future meeting would go. Regardless of the circumstances of their meeting and parting this day the next one was sure to be a treat. The thought of the things she could enjoy from and teach such a body was tantalizing to say the least.

She considered further indulgence, perhaps caller her her Queen but then she wondered what kind of problem she'd be creating for herself if she indulged the madwoman? Certainly it'd be fun.

She found a breath caught in her throat as the fingers stroked across her own cheek, why was that? Was it their closeness? The sweet sound of that voice? The sublime joy of a promise? Ruby red streaks....

Nanami broke into a grin. "Oh there is plenty that can pierce my armor," she said with a smile, hand moving up to place against her cheek gently, eyes staring deeply into hers with the unmistakable air of a predator looking for something. "Are you sure you do not wish to find out?"

"You might be surprised."

----

Nanami swung the blade in a short arc, catching into one of the grooves of the monster's twisted Shikai, catching and then deflecting it to the side without shattering like all of the other ones before it. Nanami stepped forward, passing along the now unprotected side of her doppelganger and slashed along its body a long deep cut that stretched from its shoulder all the way down to its waist. As they parted and spun to face no blood drained from the expert cut, instead a long white line formed where there would have been a cut. It held a color that mirrored the blade's that Nanami now wielded.

The monster was silent for a moment, glancing down at the line and studying it, hand dragging along the line for a brief moment before closing its eyes and grinning. "Is that all tha-"

"I said you were wrong," Nanami said exhausted with its conversation. Her eyes glanced to the blade held in her hand for a moment. "When you said that my body was yours, that was a lie." She looked up to the monster that wore her face but found that she was beginning not to recognize it as her own. The grin was drawn too long, the teeth too sharp and pointed, long fingernails curved wickedly. Her long white hair looked more like a vast mane. "After all," she began.

"A Zanpakuto spirit cannot control its wielder's body."

Its twisted face drew into a terrible grin, she recognized it now as the ever formless beast whom lived within this inner-world. The fog drew closer, impeding its visage from her. Yellow eyes peered at her from the fog.

It was so easy to live in that denial, that her actions were being dictated to her by others and that she had no choice but to accept them. It was easy to admit that a monster wrested control of her body, that the Seireitei would kill her if she disobeyed, that what she did had wholly justifiable reasons when in truth it was because she was weak. Taking the easy road because she wasn't strong enough to do anything else.

"I cannot deny you any longer, this was once a place in my fractured soul, just as you were. At one time. But I am not you anymore, I do not strive to kill, I do not strive to inflict and accept pain any longer. I accept my past as I move towards the future."

"And I don't need you any longer."

The creature's shrilly mocking laughter echoed across the blood slickened battlefield before turning into a furious roar that promised terrible violence. "YOU IDIOT!" it screamed. Nanami remained undaunted, with her remaining arm she steadied her blade and prepared for the inevitable final pass. "You think yourself so much better than me don't you! You think yourself changed!?"

"I AM THE MONSTER INSIDE OF YOU!"

The roar died out leaving a booming silence. Finally, the creature hissed out.

"You need me, noble one," it mocked, "and I will prove it to YOU!"

A sudden burst of movement, a blood red object moving at incredible speed as it always had the infinite seeming stretch of years that she had done battle with it. In the past she'd always sought to avoid its terrible claws, lash out with her blade and tear it, avoiding being torn in return. Now, she made no move to evade it, standing her ground resolutely, blade poised. The timing would have to be perfect.

The moment of truth, a quick lunge met the brunt of the beast's massive form, its claws swinging down to rend her apart. They found no purchase, the thrust delivering such force they were thrown apart. The beast tumbled across the blood battlefield, fading into the fog almost immediately as Nanami slid backwards, controlling her momentum by sweeping the edgeless white blade down into the ground and bleeding off her speed, ending crouched.

The blade would never harm another, leaving the white marks to signify the harm that could have been inflicted. Nanami could feel the white mark that appeared over the creature's heart as it was thrown into the thick fog, knowing that this time it would not return from such the blow if she chose to inflict it.

I am not you anymore, I do not strive to kill, I do not strive to inflict and accept pain any longer.

That was her choice.

----

Oh the games that she played with herself, make belief and pretend. It was all a struggle for independance masquerading as anything else. She was crazy, she'd known for awhile but madness ran deep, reality was difficult and delusions were a lot simpler. You can't live forever unscarred.

Did the Arrancar notice the shift? The sudden exhale of a heavy weight from her shoulders, a brief look of panic and confusion quickly quashed by the close proximity. The confusion of the taste of someone on her lips. Then a smile as memory returned.

"But I won't keep you longer, that would be selfish." Play the role, prevent the conflict, all the Arrancar had to do was leave and all was fine. To have this dangerous Queen not notice any change. Nanami didn't have a fight left in her, not now. Her hand dropped slowly from her cheek and reminded herself what that thing was, did she consider it anything but a monster for a moment?

Foolish. Right?

1279/25/175 GP Total

You wouldn't really have a choice but to indulge me, now would you, Nanami? The thought only briefly swam around before lazily fading out due to irrelevance, but the grin she returned the Shinigami was spiked with hidden meaning and venomous connotations. She didn't want her to think too much of herself; there was no denial of her bladework, but the Queen could most assuredly kill her should she want to. It would take only a step as they were now, a sudden Cero to a face so close to her own, and the murderous aura before her would simply cease to be.
Ah, but that wouldn't do. They were having such a pleasant time, and the groan of Cheshire's bones signaled that she was only -- logically -- putting herself at risk by remaining here. So she smiled, and she played her game, like the good little Queen that she was. How lucky Nanami was to behold and receive such graciousness.

"Do not worry, my dear Nanami," she purred, tongue briefly grabbing the lingering taste of the Shinigami off her lips. "I would never break a promise." As long as it stood to benefit her, of course, but could anyone expect anything less? She was doing the other girl enough of a favor by not striking her down where she stood for even thinking of hurting her in the first place. It was the simple uses she considered for Nanami that kept her safe, not to mention the creeping exhaustion she was becoming unable to ignore.

Even at this, she had to admit she was entirely taken off guard by the return of the affection and found herself melting at it; how easy it was, in the end, to placate someone driven by their need for adoration. She leaned her cheek into the fingers that spread across it, humming pleasurably deep in her throat to signal how agreeable the situation was. Her eyes shone with a particularly warm and eager light, searching those of Nanami's and keeping them locked in an almost intimate stare. How easy it would be to quench the fire in her bosom and lean in, steal another kiss from the Shinigami, then another, then another. Back her up against a tree, tangle their limbs, roll over the grass, find themselves splashing in the pond with only the heat of their skin to keep them warm--
Aaah, it was almost too much, and it took a second too late for her to articulate these thoughts before they were shooed away by her much more intelligent temperament. The monster before her was still just that, a monster, and the last thing she needed was to find her neck cut in the middle of a bout of passion.

While Cheshire knew desires well, she also knew the dangerous paths they could lead people down and the messy ends they could inspire.
She would never be such a victim to hers. She had perfect control over herself, and knew her place -- as it was at the top of the universe -- quite well.

It was a fun idea, all the same, tonguing one of her canines idly. "The offer... has been greatly considered, you devilish girl, but I do think our meeting has come to its end today." The Shinigami might have lived for the thrill of battle and spilling blood, but could even she deny her tiredness? Cheshire knew without a doubt -- annoyingly enough -- she was not the only person to be pushed to their limits during that fight. In the back of her mind she knew she would one day get Nanami back for that, if nothing else. Some way, some how. For now she was happy to admire the change she had brought about -- and who wouldn't be proud of releasing such a pleasant creature into the world? It was a good deed after all, she reasoned.
It was particularly good for herself, in the end. Surely there was no chiding due for that?

"But another day, yes. More than definitively. No harm could come about me seeing what other cracks I might," her tongue rolled, mirth clear across her features, "identify in that armor of yours, minunat."

Then something changed. Maybe, just maybe, Cheshire might not have noticed it. If perhaps they were not in such close proximity, breath spilling across the lips of the other, or she hadn't been keeping such a steady and knowing eye on that reiatsu of hers; there were quite a few possibilities in this situation that could have kept the Arrancar from seeing the shift back in demeanor. None of them were particularly applicable.

Her eyes flashed, disappointment clear in the golden pools and her fingers pulling off of the girl's face with a slow stroke of their nails. She murmured inquisitively, stepping back enough that the dutiful creature would have to drop its hand from her own cheek. "Now that is quite a sad ending to this chapter. Why did you have to go and do that...?" Her tone remained melodic, graceful, but there was an edge of exasperation she couldn't completely hide away. It had been going so well! She would hate to lose what progress she had made, especially after all the cumulative effort put into this meeting. Cheekily she considered weaving her spell once more and seeing if she could draw what she wanted back out, but... it would not due for her to get into another fight. She wanted to leave. She needed to leave.

"I see..."

"A promise is a promise, my dear devil. You will play with me again, won't you?" Her speech, enunciated precisely, made it clear that it was not a question but an order with a formality tacked on. She pointed out nothing obvious and made no move to attack.
Cheshire didn't have a fight left in her, not now. The Queen did not consider herself bested; after all, really, had she not come out on top in the end? Did she not leave the fight without a scratch, moreover compared to the wounds and strain of the other fighter? There was simply no shame in admitting you were done -- especially when you were victorious.

She offered no more parting words, maybe a revedere, and was gone in a flash. If the Shinigami listened really, really closely, she might have heard a Garganta ripping open and collapsing back in on itself a short distance away.

There was only one note left, and she would let it continue to ring and hang in the air.
Our fun isn't over, Nanami.

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--thread exit