A few weeks later…
She was pressing hard today. Itachi had been almost constantly on the defensive throughout this latest match with the spirit of his Zanpakutō. Backpedaling as he blocked or deflected one blow after another, it was difficult for him to find even the smallest of openings needed to make a counterattack. There was a certain vicious efficiency to her fighting style, relentlessly exploiting even the tiniest of gaps in Itachi's defenses and making him pay for the slightest mistake in blood.
Zanpakutō spirits are supposed to embody key aspects of ourselves, he thought as he fended off one attack after another, but her mastery of the sword… it's far beyond anything I ever achieved when I was alive. Her speed, precision, power and brutality… I've never seen anything like it. Even the Samurai of the Land of Iron could never hope to match her.
How long had this latest match gone on? It had started almost the moment that Itachi had woken up in the morning, and had continued for hours on end. Of course, concepts like 'morning' and 'night' were irrelevant here; the sky above had remained the same since his arrival, with the red-tinted storm clouds, crimson flashes of lightning, and the faint scarlet light of the moon ever-present. The flow of time was very difficult to discern in a place such as this, although the spirit of his Zanpakutō seemed to have a pretty decent handle on it. It was she who told Itachi when to sleep, when to wake, and when to fight, so it stood to reason that she must have had some way of determining how much time had passed in the outside world.
Of course, she had not seen fit to provide that knowledge to Itachi. Only his training concerned her, and as ruthless a taskmaster as she had proven to be, Itachi would not deny that her methods were quite effective. There was no better teacher than experience, after all, and the countless hours that they had already spent fighting against each other were honing Itachi's swordsmanship skills better than any training that he had undertaken while he was alive. Had she materialized during his Zanjutsu lessons at Shin'ō Academy, Itachi highly doubted that any of his instructors would've been able to stand against her.
If only I could learn her name…
Every day he had asked, and every day silence had been her answer. Not willful silence, mind you; her lips had moved, but no sound had come forth. Even with all the time that had already passed, it seemed that Itachi was not ready to unlock his Shikai. When he had asked her how long it would be until he could hear her, she had simply shaken her head and told him that she did not know. There was no set time-period; it would happen when it was meant to happen, no sooner and no later.
"Put it from your mind for now," she had told him once, "It is no small feat simply for you to have reached your inner world after such a short amount of time, even if the manner in which you arrived was not entirely conventional. Most Soul Reapers do not accomplish this task until well after graduation from the Academy."
Once Itachi had learned that he was to remain in his inner world until the portions of his soul were reunited, he had become concerned about how far behind he would fall in his studies of the Soul Reaper arts. His fears weren't entirely ungrounded; the spirit of his Zanpakutō had outright stated that she would not be able to help him advance his academic education, and that she would be a poor teacher with regards to Hakuda, Hohō, and Kidō. He would have much to catch up on once his spirit was whole again, but one thing was quite clear; he would most certainly not be behind when it came to Zanjutsu.
His foe picked up the pace, and Itachi could sense that this duel was at last drawing to a climax. He gave everything he had, parrying, deflecting, and blocking with all the skill and strength that he had to muster. However, after fighting for who knew how many hours now, exhaustion was beginning to set in. The near-constant fighting he had done since entering his inner world had worked wonders for his endurance, but even then, his stamina was but a pale shadow when compared to that of the spirit of his Zanpakutō. It was only a matter of time now until his foe scored the winning hit, but Itachi was still determined to make her work for it.
Sidestepping and redirecting her latest thrust, Itachi seized the rare chance to go on the offensive. Had he been fresh and well-rested, he might've been able to make the most of it, but the slashes and stabs he made were not as efficient or precise as the situation required. His opponent was able to parry and counter, and she made Itachi pay for his weariness with a swift slice into his left shoulder. She then brought the blade to his neck, and Itachi could smell the blood on it.
"Match," she said with a smirk, "Not bad, but your stamina needs improving."
"So I've noticed," he said with a wince as he sheathed his sword before checking his shoulder, "Good thing this isn't deep."
The woman nodded. "Indeed. Get the cloth away from the cut."
Itachi grimaced; he knew what was coming, and it was never pleasant. Nevertheless, he did as she instructed. As soon as she had clear sight of the cut, she pointed her sword at it. A small jet of crimson flames flew forth from the gap in the blade, searing and cauterizing the wound. It hurt like hell, but Itachi didn't make a sound.
That was something the woman made note of. "Not so much as whimper, just like last time. You truly do have a remarkable level of pain tolerance."
"You would know," Itachi quipped.
The woman gave him a stern look before nodding. "Indeed. I think that's enough for one day. We'll continue tomorrow. Get some rest."
She turned around and started to head towards the rock that he had first seen her on, but Itachi stopped her. "Wait."
She halted, but did not look back. "What is it?"
"What's your name?" he asked.
She turned around, her lips moved, but once again there was only silence. Itachi sighed; even if she had already told him not to worry about it for now, it was still frustrating.
The woman shook her head. "Why you insist on asking every day, I'll never know. It's better to let this play out naturally. As our bond progresses, the time will come when you will be able to tell by instinct alone that you are ready to unleash my Shikai."
"I'll still keep asking," said Itachi.
The woman sighed. "I suppose you will. Good night, Itachi."
As she retreated to her rock, Itachi picked a spot off to the side of the path and laid down on his back. Gazing up at the stormy sky, he found it odd that despite the thunder and crimson lightning not a single drop of rain had fallen since he had arrived here. After pondering it for a moment he shook his head; very little about his inner world made sense, so why should its weather behave in a sensible manner?
You have more important things to worry about, he thought as he closed his eyes, like just how hard she's going to come at you tomorrow morning…
….
"There," said Unohana, pointing at Itachi, "The left shoulder this time."
Yoruichi nodded as she saw the cauterized cut. "Must be going at it with his Zanpakutō again. At least he's being productive while he's down and out."
This wasn't the first time Yoruichi had seen wounds like this appear on the unconscious Itachi. The first time she had seen it was the day after he had been left in the Squad Four barracks. Unohana had sent her a Hell Butterfly that day, and when Yoruichi had arrived she'd seen a long and shallow cut across Itachi's chest. The Squad Four Captain had easily been able to heal it, but another wound had appeared soon afterwards. Yoruichi had been amazed once she'd realized what was happening; it was practically unheard of for an Academy student to enter his inner world and train directly with the spirit of his Zanpakutō, but Itachi had done exactly that. It may not have been intentionally; according to Unohana, it appeared that his Zanpakutō had awakened prematurely in order to mitigate the worst of the soul fracture. Nevertheless, it was still impressive.
Itachi was no longer bound by the piercing light of Shitotsu Sansen; from what Unohana had told Yoruichi, that had become unnecessary after about a week had passed. The translucent orange prism of Goyōgai was still active, and periodically the Squad Four Captain or her Lieutenant would renew it or take it down so they could tend to the wounds that had begun to appear on Itachi. Yoruichi wished that she could peer into his inner world and see just what form the spirit of his Zanpakutō took, not to mention witness their fights, but unfortunately that was beyond her power.
What was within her power, though, was the ability to keep informed of his condition, and Yoruichi was intent on doing that. She did not neglect her duties as the Captain of Squad Two, but she still made time for regular visits to check in on the star pupil she had scouted months ago. She typically visited in the early evening, and she was glad that she had made room in her schedule to do so, for even when he was out cold, Itachi had still proven himself to be a most intriguing individual.
It wasn't just the new wounds that gave testament to his progression; it was the sword that lay on the table next to the bed as well. The Asauchis given to students at the Academy all looked the same; it was only after a pupil had truly awakened the spirit of his or her Zanpakutō that the weapon became unique. Itachi's had done so, and Yoruichi was quite curious with regards to the design. The sword itself was a standard-length katana, and the handle had black wrapping, so there wasn't much out of the ordinary there. It was the guard that was interesting; it was crimson, and carved into it were three tomoe surrounding the base of the blade.
"I wonder what the name of his Zanpakutō is," she said.
"So do I," Unohana replied as she healed Itachi's shoulder, "I imagine it will be quite some time before we find out, though."
That was certainly true; even gifted students typically took years after graduation just to awaken their Zanpakutō, let alone learn its name and unleash its Shikai. As vast as the ranks of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads were, it was actually a relatively small portion of its members that had been able to achieve Shikai, and those capable of Bankai were even fewer in number. Still, Yoruichi found herself eager to learn the name of Itachi's sword, and given what she saw now she had a feeling that it wouldn't take him as long as most students to unlock his blade's Shikai.
That's going to be a very special day indeed, she thought with a smile, I can't wait to see it!
She turned back to Unohana. "I should get going. Take care of him, Unohana."
The Squad Four Captain smiled. "My patients are always in good hands, Yoruichi. You know that."
Yoruichi nodded. "Of course. I'll come by again soon."
She gave Itachi one last look, smiling as she did so. "Watch yourself, Itachi; don't let your Zanpakutō's spirit get the better of you. Kick its ass. I want to hear all about it when you wake up."