Bleach: Derailed

[46] How you'd shove your sisters away from harm's way again in a heartbeat.
[35] Hoping that your friends are coping well, with your death and all.
[6] Achieving shikai, and getting over this roadblock in your path.
[3] Being able to interact with your family again, as if you were alive.

You sit in the shadow of a tree, with your zanpakuto in your lap, laid across both of your thighs. At first you think about how strange it is that such a large sword weighs almost nothing, then whether or not meditating is actually going to do anything, and finally on how you died.

It was a morning. There wasn't anything special about it, other than the way it ended. One moment you were sitting in family home-slash-clinic, eating breakfast. Yuzu was getting something out of a cabinet. Karin, already narrower in build than the other girl, and generally darker in attitude as well as hair, was beside her, pointing at whatever Yuzu had failed to see. Dad was in the other room.

There was a screech outside, headlights filled the window and you acted without thought. Somehow, you reached the girls between one heartbeat and the next. You picked them up by their shirts and hurled them away as the wall shattered and a white wall slammed sideways into you.

...You don't remember much after that, until you stood up. It was impossible, and you remember reassuring your family that you were okay. Dad'd rushed in. He hadn't looked at you.

And then you realized that Karin wasn't looking at the same place Yuzu was, or that your dad was.

She was the only member of your family, other than you, that could see ghosts.

After that, sticking around the house seemed like a bad idea. It'd taken a few days for that weird guy with the cane and the sketchy attitude to find you after that, and give you your options. You could turn into a soul-eating monster or you could go peacefully into the afterlife, with his assistance.

"But for all the shock and the blank pain dying caused you... you made the right choice. said that you'd protect them and when the time came, you just did it."

Your eyes snap open at the sound of another voice, familiar and unknown at the same time, only to jump to the side. You were ready for there to be an inner world inside your soul, but who's ready to open their eyes and realize that they're standing on a window? Below you, through the thin glass pane, is an endless expanse of skyscrapers turned on their sides. In front of you is what should be the floor, but isn't, and you're standing on the wall. As though that weren't enough, there's something else.

Somebody else.

"Hey." The inverse version of yourself on the other side of the room says with a wave. "Are you awake in there?"

"You... must be my zanpakuto." You reason.

"Tch. Obviously I'm the sword you wield, but drop the possessive." The man says. He's not quite your opposite. He still points with his right hand, and his skin is bleached white compared to our slight tint. "Since you're so obviously struggling with this," he says patronizingly, "I'll explain. This is your inner world. I am [--------], and you are the person who wants to impress me so much that I'll give you access to my powers."

"I'm going to guess that it's not as simple as asking." You quip.

"Nope." The sword spirit smiles, and draws his sword. Unlike yours his is a wicked-looking blade with a more severe curve to its leading edge, though not to its back. Its steel is matte black, again except for the edge, and there's no actual hilt, just cloth wrapped around the steel tang. "See, this is me. This is what you want, but you don't get what you want until I'm satisfied. Want to know how I'm satisfied?"

You don't get a chance to respond. The spirit dashes forward and, with one swing of its blade, hacks a ragged hole a meter long in the wall of the skyscraper under your feet! "You learn how to get out of the way of things that want to kill you!"

"Hey! I did the best I could!" You draw your own blade and catch your zanpakuto's next blow with the flat.

"Well if you were serious about things, your best would have ended with that truck eradicated!" The white spirit snarls. "This isn't exactly my thing, but I don't get to do what I always thought I'd get to any more, the other guy's gone, and you got killed by a drunk driver delivering produce! You have to learn how to avoid standing in the path of certain death. So pretend that I'M THAT TRUCK and SURVIVE!"

This is not what you were expecting when you started meditating.

Thoughts flash through your head, bits of plans. You could definitely score a telling blow if you put aside defense at the perfect moment, and focused on making a powerful offensive move, but it'd be tantamount to stabbing yourself. You wouldn't typically dare try something like that, but your zanpakuto is yours. It's a reflection of your own soul, and you can't just commit the world's most ironic double suicide by stabbing your sword with your sword while your sword stabs you. Maybe that'd happen if you tried to commune with someone else's blade, but not this one.

You could also try the opposite approach, and try to bait the sword's spirit into being reckless so that your more composed defense can create openings for you to exploit.

Or you could just refuse to fight. This is a stupid test, not the least of the reasons why being that you didn't have a zanpakuto when you died, so lack of skill with one didn't damn you.

What to do?
[] Try to win the test
-[] Put a priority on attacking instead of defending yourself from attacks.
-[] Focus on defending until a weakness shows itself, and then attack.
[] Refuse to take the test
-[] What's this supposed to prove anyway? You needed hakuda, not zanjutsu.
-[] Wait, wait... Can he explain about what he meant by the other guy?