After leaving Kirio's palace, the Shinigami arrived at a wooden tower, with Ichigo and Renji using Kon to cushion their landing again. But when they arrived there, they realised that there wasn't anyone around.
"Isn't anyone here?" questioned Ichigo.
"So it seems." said Renji.
"I wonder where have they gone to." said Asa while looking around.
"Hey!" shouted Kon after getting up. "Haven't you got anything to say about the fact that you keep on using me as a cushion?!"
"Shut up." said Ichigo. "You came here of your own will, don't complain."
"My own will?!" repeated Kon. "I said that I was gonna stay in that paradise we just left. It was you who dragged me here."
Suddenly, they were greeted by blinding lights as the spotlights shone on them. "What's that?!" demanded Ichigo, who was using his arm to block out the glare. Renji and Asa mirrored his action.
"Guests!" came a voice through the speakers. "Have a seat!"
"Too loud!" said Rejnji while covering one of his ears.
"What's this sound?!" asked Ichigo, who was doing the same.
"You're holding your heads too high!" continued the mysterious person. "In other words, your heads are..." At that moment, Oetsu appeared before them with his his hands raised. "SO HIGH!" Ichigo, Renji and Asa stared at him with emotionless expressions, clearly not expecting him to be like this. "I am Number One Zanpakutou Creator. Oetsu Nimaiya. Nice to meet ya! Zanpakutou Love!"
After getting them down from the tower, Oetsu brought them to a building, where they were welcomed by a number of ladies with big chest. Besides Kon who was blushing and enjoying the greeting, the Shinigami were staring with shock as the ladies were swooning over the males.
"What the hell is this?" asked Renji with his face flushed.
"Don't let them deceive you." warned Ichigo, though his face was red as well. "I'm sure it turns out they're all guys or something like that."
"Paradise!" swooned Kon while staring at the ladies. "Paradise! This is the real paradise!"
"Shut up!" scolded Ichigo, holding the stuffed lion back.
While they were entertained by the women, Asa awkwardly stood still with a group of handsome men flocking around her. "Um..." she trailed off, trying to get their attention so that she could politely tell them to move away. But neither of them were listening as they continued to praise her. However, she furrowed her brows when she noticed something about the men. 'That's weird.' she noted. 'Their presence doesn't resemble that of a Shinigami. It reminds me of Kage-kun and Tamako-kun. Could they be Zanpakutou Spirits?'
"So!" began Oetsu. "Kurosaki-chan, Abarai-chan, Yamamoto-chan! And mysterious Plushie-chan! Did ya enjoy the welcome show I prepared for you? Let me introduce myself! I'm Oetsu Nimaiya, owner of this Hououden! Nice to meet ya!" He then stood in front of Ichigo and raised his hands, expecting him to give him high-fives. But when he merely stared at him, Oetsu grabbed his hands and made him raise his arms up high and give him high-fives. "Hey!"
"No way..." muttered Ichigo nervously. "Take my place, Renji. I can't keep up with this guy."
"Idiot!" scolded Renji quietly. "As if I can!"
"Hm, something's not right." said Oetsu. "Ya not gettin' into this. Are ya... goin' home?"
At that moment, Ichigo and Renji were about to turn around and leave. But when he said the last part, they halted and turned around, looking stunned. "Jeez." muttered Ichigo to Renji. "Do we have to choose? What do we do? We can't go back now."
"I don't think he'll really send us back." said the latter.
"Who knows?" said Ichigo suspiciously. "He's a weirdo, he might do it." They two Shinigami then faced Oetsu and bowed. "We're not going home!"
"Pleased to meet you!" said Renji respectfully.
"Nooon!" said Oetsu while waving his finger. "Non! Non! Nooon! Ya not askin' in the proper way! Houhouden's formal style is..." Placing his upper body on the ground with his elbows supporting his body weight, he raised his legs up high. "Ya do this and then, "Please!""
"I can't do that pose!" yelled Ichigo.
"Cool down, Ichigo!" said Renji while placing a hand on his shoulder. "We have to!"
"Shit..." he cussed.
The two then did the elaborate greeting, only to have Oetsu to take a picture of them and showed the ladies, laughing with them. That was when they realised that it was a prank. 'Bastard!' they thought.
Suddenly, someone kicked Oetsu in the back of his head, with a force strong enough to make him do the pose himself. "How long are you gonna keep that up?!" yelled the girl with spiky red hair, which was tied up in a ponytail at the back. She wore a vest with a large furred collar, and a short skirt.
"What're ya doin', Mera-chan?!" asked Oetsu while fixing his glasses.
But she ignored him and looked at the three confused Shinigami. "With Master, it's never gonna start." she said. "Come with me!"
Unlike the extravagant palaces that the visitors walked into, Hououden took the shape of a simple shack, located on the edge of a cliff. The only feature denoting the importance of the building was the sign on the entrance, which stated the building's name in the kanji "鳳凰殿".
"This is the real Hououden." said Mera. "Master creates those dubious things because he doesn't want to acknowledge that he lives here!"
"That's quite the gap." noticed Asa with a sheepish smile.
"Come inside!" said Mera, who pushed aside the curtains as she stood at the doorway.
"NO!" cried Kon as he turned back around. "I don't like this sad place! I want the other one!"
"Shut up..." muttered Ichigo as he watched Kon and Oetsu cry together.
"Ya think so, too?" said the latter. "Mysterious Plushie! D'ya understand me feelings?!" The Shinigami then advanced to the palace. But when Asa was about to enter the palace, Oetsu suddenly placed a hand in front of her, preventing her from following Ichigo and Renji. Noticing her questioning gaze, in a serious tone, he muttered, "Ya're not joinin' them, Yamamoto-chan. Ya'll be followin' Mera-chan to somewhere else." Though confused, the said woman could only nod as Mera brought her few feet away from the palace.
"There's a reason why Master doesn't want you to get back your Zanpakutou using that method." she explained. "But before I start, I want to ask you this - What did you think when you were surrounded by those guys?"
"I thought they weren't Shinigami." answered Asa honestly. "Their presence reminded me of my Zanpakutou. That's what I thought when they approached me." As she was telling this, she failed to notice that Mera's eyes widened with surprise for a fraction.
"Have you heard of the Asauchi?" she continued, to which Asa shook her head as a reply. "The entirety of the more than 6000 Gotei 13 members are temporarily loaned a nameless Zanpakutou when they graduate and enter a Division. All of the Shinigami eat and sleep with these "Asauchi" and while continuously training, they project the essence of their Soul onto the Asauchi. They construct their own "Zanpakutou". These "Asauchi" are all made by one person, which is Master. That means he knows the exact position of all the Asauchi he's built so far; and that also means he knows how your Zanpakutou left you." It was Asa's turn to be taken aback, as she looked at her with shock.
"All Shinigami are given an Asauchi, and with hard training, they make it their own Zanpakutou." continued Mera. "That's the origin and the basics of the relationship between Shinigami and Zanpakutou. It's absolute. Soldiers, and of course Captains. The Zanpakutou of the Zero Division, too. And even those who can get their hands on an Asauchi by stealing it from some corpse. Master knows all of them ever since the beginning of Soul Society. Not even one Shinigami was able to awaken their Zanpakutou without one of his Asauchi.
She then glanced at Oetsu, who was squatting at the doorway as he watched Ichigo and Renji fight the Asauchi. "Master knew that this method wouldn't have worked for you." she said before looking back at Asa. "You need to use another way to get your Zanpakutou back. I'm going to open a room for you, and from there, you'll find out how to get back your Zanpakutou." At that note, a portal opened next to them, and Asa stepped inside. "I'll get you out eventually. Good luck." With that, she shut the gate, leaving Asa alone inside the dark room.
'But how am I going to start?' she wondered, looking around as she tried to understand her surrounding better.
"I told you that we would meet again." came a male's voice.
Startled, she snapped her head at the source and saw a pale man, seemingly to be a few years older than her. He had black hair parted in the center reaching to his neck. He wore a long, black kimono that hung loose, exposing his chest, with a red sash around his waist. Asa didn't know who he was at first, but there was one prominent feature that made her heart race - the dark eye circles underneath his pale green eyes. It reminded her of Kage Odoriko so much- wait, could this man be him?
But her doubts were soon answered when he gave her a smile and said, "Hello, Asa-nee." The said woman stood frozen and gazed at him as he casually continued, "How have you been? I hope you've been doing well for the past few days. Actually, I was kind of hesitant to show you my true self. I wasn't sure if I was going to scare you or-" He wasn't able to continue his sentence when he heard her laughing, prompting him to look at her with surprise, for he didn't expect such a response.
Asa approached him and brought him into a hug, to which he returned by wrapping his arms around her back. He was confused at why she would be laughing at this time, but he soon understood why when her laugh began to die down and she started sobbing, as tears rolled down her cheeks and dampened his kimono. He didn't need to ask her anything, because he knew why she was having these mixed emotions. Though he parted with her, he still knew what happened to her, and he felt even more guilty for leaving her abruptly. She thought she had lost everything dear to her, and now, not only Byakuya was able to escape death, she was finally reunited with her Zanpakutou, whom she thought she wouldn't be able to see again.
After rubbing her back in a comforting manner, and her sobs had stopped, he gently pulled her away to see her tear-stained face, wiping them away with his thumbs. "It's okay." he cooed. "I'm here now."
"Where have you been?" she murmured.
Kage Odoriko gave her a pity smile. "It's a pretty long story." he said before looking around. "I think we should go to a place where we can sit and have a long chat." With a snap of his fingers, the room suddenly changed. Asa found themselves in a beautiful garden with colourful flower beds, a fountain, and a marble bench where he brought her over to take a seat. "Do you remember what Tamako said before he and I left?"
"Yes." she said with a nod. She could still remember how guiltily the little boy said that he and his brother weren't being honest with her, and that they had to leave as a punishment. She tried to understand why he said that, but nothing came to mind.
"Well, it's just like he said." stated Kage Odoriko, which surprised Asa. Mustering the courage, he made eye contact with her and said, "I need to tell you what happened to our family."
'Our family?' repeated Asa in her mind, who was even more confused than ever.
Upon noticing her expression, Kage Odoriko let out a chuckle. "Oh, yeah." he said. "Kirio-san didn't tell you anything other than the names of our parents and grandparents." Taking a deep breath, he blurted, "Asa, I'm your brother."