A Stroll to ease the Soul

Another commission drawn by the amazing artist
Please go watch and support her work, it's wonderful and she deserves every single word of praise!

This time however it is Leo's character Kagutsuchi and Tia Harribel in a time shortly after the Wandenreich conflict. In the story, a young Kagutsuchi begins to climb the ranks of the Seventh Squad, which in the story is vacant after the conflict between Aizen and Ichigo (I assume this was written before the Wandenreich appeared in the manga) due to the deaths of Komamura Sajin and Iba Tetsuzaemon. By the time the story progresses to when the Wandenreich conflict takes place, both Tia and Kagutsuchi are nearly the same age and the newly appointed Captain of the 7th Division and the captured Queen of Hueco Mundo.

During a mission into Hueco Mundo to root out a group of ancient Shinigami that threaten to take over the Soul Society and rule it in the ways of the 'Prophecy', Kagutsuchi would stumble upon the captured Tia inside Los Noches. Freeing her and taking her back to the Soul Society with him causes him to be questioned as fitting material for Captain status, and by majority vote, he is demoted to Vice Captain.

Nearly five years after the Wandenreich conflict would have occured, Tia Harribel has not only been granted the ability to fight in the 7th Division, she ascends to 3rd Seat. Despite many of the Captains knowing her Espada nature, the men and women comprising much of the 7th Division are unaware of her origin and have rallied around her and Kagutsuchi for leadership. Not only is that a reason, but Tia and Kagutsuchi form a close relationship, and the other Shinigami of the Division seem to support and rally behind them even more, the Division soon having the least amount of causalities on both missions and sudden attacks on the Seireitei or World of the Living in just a short year.

While Tia normally wears a black kosade and white shitagi as most other Soul Reapers do, in a more private setting such as the barracks she simply wears her breastplate. Meanwhile Kagutsuchi, who once bore a sleeveless Captain's Haori over his kosade now just has his black and white armor underneath. While most of the time in Prophecy there are only hints as to how close the two are, I imagined that more than once they would walk late at night when the other Division members were asleep or away, under a moonlit sky. Blychee must have thought the same thing and for that I sincerely thank her so very much!

Prophecy is a short story by Ascended-Spartan that I came into possession of just over a month ago, and was the first story that his character Kagutsuchi would ever appear in. While Kagutsuchi is described in the story as a tall, armored figure, more along the lines of a Japanese Samurai, Kagutsuchi's recent changes to fit a new history show him in European-appearing armor, with large sword breakers and plate armor. I loved the story because it told of how an Espada and a Shinigami could fall in love, despite the adversities that strike them in their time together and their ridicule by the higher ranking members of the Gotei 13, they would still blossom; when at the end Kagutsuchi finally kisses Tia. While it doesn't say he does, that's how I interpreted the last few paragraphs of the story.