#suzumushi

[mmag-translations]

Clodsire Nursing | By Suzumushi

Commissioned by @haropla

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Did you know that the Bell Cricket (Meloimorpha japonica) is commonly found throughout much of Asia? They are well known in Japan for their beautiful chirping song, often being kept as pets for said song. Their wings are wider than most crickets, looking more like melon seeds than typical wings.

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Photo by Ryosuke Kuwahara

[bleachplease]

Title: See No (d)Evil

He couldn’t see… anything at all. The darkness swallowed him in a single, hungry gulp. The sudden absence of colors and shapes felt oppressive, making his thoughts race involuntarily. His eyes, deprived of their usual stimuli, responded to the void by producing red afterimages that resembled bloodstains.

The abyssal blackness closed in on him without mercy.

Was this how Kaname experienced the world every single day?

If so, as utterly isolating as it was, it also seemed fascinating. Not simply because it was limiting and therefore demanded the sharpening of all his other senses. But because of how unfair it was to be forced to live that way.

Such injustice surely sparked an understandable anger. And anger could be a useful tool when properly refined and directed. It often served as the engine of necessary change. That was how all progress began.

He couldn’t hear anything either. It wasn’t the kind of silence meant to soothe the mind – it was absolute absence, not of sound itself, but of the very ability to perceive it.

Such profound sensory deprivation could easily have driven a lesser Shinigami mad. Suzumushi’s power was truly magnificent, granting its victims the rare opportunity to experience a deathlike state while still alive.

No sight, no smell, no sound, and worse still – no ability to sense spiritual pressure. Of the six basic Shinigami senses, four were nonexistent within Kaname’s Bankai. For most unfortunate opponents, this state must have triggered an instinctive panic.

If Aizen had been a different person, perhaps he too would have felt the fear of being helpless. But Aizen was a master of controlling the senses. His heart beat calmly in his chest with a steady rhythm.

“How very interesting,” he mused, or at least attempted to. It was impossible to verify whether the words had come out correctly when no sound reached his ears to confirm it. Regardless, Aizen decided to speak anyway, knowing that Kaname could hear him.

“You can end your opponent’s life with a single blow. What an efficient and merciful power.”

The pitch-black void around him didn’t shift; there were no shadows to flicker within the perfect darkness. If Kaname approached him, Aizen wouldn’t be able to hear it, nor sense his presence in any other way.

And then came a sensation, a gentle pressure against his skin. Not spiritual, but purely physical, tangible and real.

It didn’t seem like much, only fingertips brushing against his wrist. Yet within this empty void, stripped of all sensations, the touch registered with far greater intensity than it normally would have.

Aizen’s reiatsu didn’t flare; it merely coiled beneath the surface of his skin, tense and ready to erupt. But no reaction was necessary. His rational mind had no doubts about Kaname’s pure intentions.

At the same time, the realization came to him – cold and sharp as the edge of his blade.

If his body could still register touch…

Aizen knew exactly what it meant.

“Oh, I see,” he said to no one, his eyes seeing nothing but blackness around him. The only indication of Kaname’s close proximity was the warm, unmistakable sensation of his fingers lingering against Aizen’s wrist.

“I must apologize to you, Kaname. I mistook your power for mercy, for granting your enemies a clean, swift death.”

He paused, letting the faintest smile slip across his face – a reaction Kaname would never be able to see, only infer it from his tone of voice, if he allowed that nuance to be heard.

“But now I know there is no place for mercy in your heart, only judgment, punishment, and justice. And your Bankai truly captures your essence. It is a worthy Bankai, Kaname.”

If there was a touch, there could also be pain – a vast sea of it delivered to the victim in this hopeless state of blindness and deafness. This only highlighted the hatred Kaname had always carried in his soul. The man called it justice, but Aizen didn’t believe in such ideals. Morals were forged by weak and fragile minds seeking escape from the harsh reality of this corrupted world. He wouldn’t admit that to Tōsen, of course, because Tōsen needed this lie of justice to keep himself on track. However, witnessing this Bankai and experiencing its cruel potential firsthand made Aizen see clearly what was hiding deep in Kaname’s heart.

All this blackness, all this hatred, all this need for revenge – it was all beautifully aligned with Aizen’s own desires, and Kaname would lend it all to him.

Just for him.

And for the necessary change.

Perhaps Kaname didn’t fully understand the mechanism behind their inevitable alignment – just as an insect wouldn’t understand the hand closing around it. Deep-rooted anger had connected them, and so had isolation.

Both of them were alienated in their own distinct ways: Kaname for being born blind, and Aizen for being born… strong.

Kaname’s blindness had never been a threat to Aizen’s plans, nor the reason Aizen manipulated him. On the contrary, it was precisely why he had never needed to use his tricks on Tōsen.

He relaxed his muscles, not allowing his fingers to twitch as Kaname’s hand slowly closed around his wrist – a sensitive spot for every Shinigami, where the reiatsu vents were located. A thought arrived of its own accord, ugly as a drop of ink carelessly spilled across neat handwriting: He is measuring my reaction, the logic behind the thought was undeniable, checking for fluctuations in my spiritual pressure and taking my pulse.

Yet he did nothing with this realization, waiting for the thought to pass like a breeze on a summer day. If he wanted to, he could break the contact. He could probably even use his dense reiatsu to shatter the Bankai itself.

He didn’t want to do that. He didn’t feel any need to free himself.

Kaname pulled at his wrist then, still gently but clearly demanding a reaction. In the pitch-black, soundless pit of this deadly domain, Aizen’s brain anchored itself to the only stimulus available – to the single point of contact – and so the pull felt like a huge change, inflated into unreasonable importance.

He followed the instruction without resistance, letting Kaname guide his hand. It felt terribly close to reliance, and Aizen hated it. Bottling up this undeserved hatred, he reminded himself that it was safe. With Kaname, it was the closest thing to trust he had ever known.

The man guided his hand up and forward until Aizen’s fingertips met some resistance. A rough, uneven texture bloomed as a new sensory detail under his touch. His brain immediately recognized it as the cotton wrapping around Suzumushi’s hilt. The moment his fingers grasped the sword’s handle, Aizen’s perception suddenly returned to normal – all of his senses: his sight, smell, and hearing – activating all at once, as though someone had switched on a light in a dark room.

The sheer contrast in sensory input almost took him aback. The ink-like darkness still surrounded him, but now he was able to see Kaname standing right in front of him. Close. With his fingers wrapped around Aizen’s wrist, holding it carefully.

Aizen’s eyes had to adjust to the piercing blackness. When he gazed down at Kaname’s face, he saw the hidden conflict just beneath the calm surface. Not in the eyes, they were blank and expressionless, but in the corner of his mouth that failed to form a straight line, or in the way a vein was pulsating at his temple.

Aizen briefly wondered what lay at the root of this inner conflict. Was it about revealing the obvious flaw in his newly attained Bankai? Or was it a regret over having the audacity to touch Aizen’s hand without spoken permission. Whatever the reason, Kaname’s body language betrayed the lack of confidence. Yet his hand stayed where it was – at Aizen’s right wrist.

“Aizen-sama, I want to thank you,” the man said calmly, and his smooth voice was close to a whisper. It didn’t echo through the depths, but rang in Aizen’s ears as the only source of the sound in this bottomless pit of darkness.

“For bearing witness to my first Bankai release,” he specified after a pause – a pause that stretched like a breath held too long to be meaningless. “For inspiring me to reach this level of power,” he added. “I will refine this power so that it may better serve our righteous cause.”

“Oh, it will be very useful to us,” Aizen told him, shaping his tone into approval, each word heavy with unwavering certainty. “In fact, I can already think of multiple scenarios in which it will grant us strategic advantage.”

He didn’t elaborate on his plans any further; Kaname didn’t need to know them to follow. Instead, he made sure to let his smile be heard in his voice. There was no manipulation in it; he was genuinely pleased. Pleased with Kaname’s progress, with what his Bankai could offer. Even with Kaname’s boldness when the man lifted his chin, as if to look directly at Aizen's face with his unseeing eyes.

For someone as devoted as Kaname Tōsen – someone who understood who Aizen really was – such bold behavior must have felt almost sacrilegious. The man squeezed his wrist a little tighter before releasing it reluctantly.

A muscle reflex, Aizen assumed, or perhaps an emotion strong enough to manifest as a physical reaction – briefly expressed, then contained again.

The absence of contact left a different kind of sensation, a tingling against his skin where Kaname’s hand had been. His own fingers moved to trace the braided cords of Suzumushi’s handle, his fingertips memorizing the feel of them – the same way Kaname might learn the shape of a foreign object.

Getting to the tip of the hilt, Aizen tightened his grip around it. His thumb rubbed against the cold iron of Suzumushi’s end cap. Once. Twice.

Then he lowered his head, leaning toward Kaname just slightly.

“Sight, smell, sound, even reiatsu awareness – your Bankai removes them,” he murmured, purposely softening his voice to make it more magnetic. His lips were now barely inches away from Kaname’s ear, so he was certain that the man could feel his breath on his cheek.

Yet Kaname didn’t flinch. His stillness only sparked more curiosity within Aizen’s mind. His lips curled gently into a placid half-smile as he let go of Suzumushi, allowing his senses to be consumed by the overwhelming absence once again.

“There is one last thing left to be examined,” he said into the void. The words left his mouth and vanished into the deafening silence.

“Kaname, would you like to assist me with another test? If touch still remains, I wonder… what about taste?”

[tanuki-kimono]

Fanstastic late summer/early autumn outfit, pairing this brightly colored kimono showing mushikago (insect cages) among akikusa (autumn plants*), paired with a matching if more muted obi depicting an adorable suzumushi (cricket) among hagi (bushclover).

*usually the seven ones depicted together are => bushclover/hagi ; pampas grass/susuki ; Chinese bellflower/kikyou ; arrowroot/kuzu ; maidenflower/ominaeshi ; pinks/nadeshiko ; boneset/fujibakama.

[gallusrostromegalus]

So now that we're getting into the nitty-gritty about the zanpakuto, I'm immensely curious about what you're gonna do with Kaname's zanpakuto. Cuz if I remember canon right, he "inherited" (graverobbed?) the sword from his deceased friend, who we are told is the impetus for his whole crusade and made it his own to honor her. I'm interested to see your thoughts :))

You are remembering canon correctly! Suzumushi is NOT Kaname Tousen's Sword! It's the Sword of his friend/unrequited love interest Kakyo NoSurnameInCanon, who was fridged murdered, and when the central 46 refused to prosecute her killer because of his Noble status, that's when Kaname's crusade began, carrying Suzumushi.

...yeah.

In AEIWAM, it's similar, but instead of a friend/unrequited love interest-

Kaname is twelve when he dies suddenly, and reincarnates in the Soul society as a Tween. He is unceremoniously dumped on a country back road in West 51 with only the clothes he died in and no memory of his previous life besides his given name. Kakyo is also about twelve when she dies, and is dumped about four feet away from Kaname five seconds later, and sprains her ankle on the fall. She remembers her past life ("It Sucked"), and reassures Kaname that the guy that left her here said there was a 50-50 chance she'd lose her entire memory. That must be what happened to him. Kakyo can't walk on her injured ankle, but she can see where she's going. Kaname is a strong lad with great balance, and offers to carry her on his back if she can navigate him towards a village. It takes several freezing cold nights, scavenging for food and a terrifying encounter with a rabid dog before they finally reach the village.

Since neither actually knows their birthday, but were both 'reborn' on November 13th, and because they look extremely different, they decide that they are now brother and sister. And ever since then, Kakyo and Kaname regarded each other as twins.

They actually stumble into a library at the edge of a fairly large river trading port, run by Tomoko Tousen, a retired Gotei-13 Archivist, and her husband Yasuke, a retired shinigami, who gained a surname when they married. They never had children of their own, and it's nice having the young things about, so they adopt the 'twins', and they become Kakyo Tousen and Kaname Tousen. Fortunate, as it rapidly becomes apparent the twins have spiritual powers of their own.

Kaname is the gentler and shyer twin, and closer to his godmother, who figures out how to enchant a pair of glasses so they can 'read' text he looks at and speaks it to him, and he takes to books and archiving and data science like a duck to water.

Kakyo is a litter rougher and more gung-ho twin and takes after her adopted godfather, and dreams of leaving home and becoming a Shinigami herself... but their godparents are elderly, and can't run the library on their own, and she doesn't want to leave Kaname completely on his own.

Still, when she wakes up one morning from fitful dreams to discover she's holding a sword of her own, the whole family rejoices. Suzumushi is a not very powerful Zanpaktou, and strangely eager to avoid conflict for a weapon, and is content to stay in the river town, practicing Katas with Yasuke and occasionally lightly Harassing her weilder's brother- but before the year is out, Kaname has gotten used to sometimes having what feels like a clockwork cicada climb up his back or sit on his head, chiming and chittering while he works.

One day though, Kaname is talking with Yasuke, about how neither of them remembers their previous lives. Yasuke confides that while he doesn't remember who he was or where he lived, there are some memories that not even death can erase, like how his body remembered exactly what to do the first time he picked up a sword.

Kaname has nightmares after that, of picking up Suzumushi and knowing exactly how to wield her.

Time passes, Their godparents pass. And Kakyo stays with Kaname. Neither one really wants the other to be alone.

Then one day, A komuso monk comes to the library, body covered in robes and face hidden by his Tengai. ... A Really Big Monk. His name is Komamora Sajin, and from the way he acts around Kaname, Kakyo can tell he's taken care of people who are frail and missing senses before. Kaname is very fond of him- they have similar natures, and the actually-nine-foot-tall Sajin is very good at getting things off of high shelves and convincing difficult patrons to behave themselves. Eventually, he asks to stay on a more permanent basis, and Kakyo begs him to do so- she needs to become a Shinigami, but she can't abandon Kaname. They agree, and when she tells Kaname "Stay here, and stay gentle." it her telling her how much she loves him, and wants him to be happy.

...So you can imagine how devastating her death was for him.

Doubly so when he arrives in Seireitei to handle her funeral arrangements and touches Suzumushi's hilt for the first time- the rage, the grief of the sword spirit courses through him, baying for vengeance- and worse still, so does his body's memory of how to weild a sword.

He and Kakyo were about as close as humans can get, and Suzumushi knew him for as long as the spirit had known Kakyo- if there's someone who'd be willing to avenge her master's death, it's her beloved 'twin' brother.

...but this implies a lot of WIERD stuff about Kaname and his relationship with Suzumushi.

Sometimes Zanpaktou can be passed from one person to another, incarnating a bit differently each time (like how Senbonsakura is the Kuchiki Family Sword), but other Zanpaktou will die if thier wielder does. Suzumushi is not a particularly powerful zanpaktou- Tousen and Suzumushi are regularly ranked last in the "most powerful captains" fan-polls and rightly so I think. Rightly so, because I think Kaname's power is significantly nerfed by carrying a sword that is not his. Even if he and Suzumushi are particularly close, that's different than his own, and I don't think Suzumushi ever intended to be a heritable sword. Actually using her probably takes a ton more energy for Kaname that it ever did for Kakyo. Futhermore, Kaname might also be spending a ton of energy keeping Suzumushi alive past her time.

Suzumushi only has one potentially-lethal maneuver and that's an alternate form of her shikai. The regular forms are "Spell of take a nap and stop rioting" and "Spell of no for real you're losing your sensory privileges until you calm down". Both are way more crowd control abilities rather than Deuling ones, which fits with both his and Kakyo's characterization of wanting Soul Society to be a better place- Suzumushi is a sword that's practically built to get in the middle of a major battle and get everyone to STOP. And I gotta wonder- were these the original abilities of Suzumushi, or something she crafted for Kaname? Especially his Bankai- That's a weird Banaki for a sighted person like Kakyo to have. Or is it the original, drawn from Kakyo's experiences living with Kaname? Either way, he's either using tools not intended for him, or Suzumushi is heavily deviating from what she was meant to do, as a weapon.

My point is, as good as Kaname was- and he was good, he made Captain (and not just because they were... out of officers after the Turn Back The Pendulum Incident), but he did apparently hold his own in battle against everyone but fucking Kenpachi.

In AEIWAM, he does this by focusing on his technical skill as a swordsman- what he lacks in power or Zanpaktou abilities that are actually useful in Duels, he makes up for in learning really advanced, high-level Kido* and getting damn good at actually using his sword as a sword. In the fic, Kenpachi is a huge admirer and actually kind of Jealous of Kaname's technique- he declares that of all the captains, Kaname is the strongest, because he's the one punching highest above his weight class, while eveyone else (including him) is coasting by on their enormous power reserves or more duel-adept Zanpaktou, yet Kaname can go toe-to-toe with all

"It's like watching a little bitty Bat beat up a Tiger!" He says.

So, if Suzumushi is not Kaname's Zanpaktou, what is?

For that, I think we need to look at what happened to him after his hollowfication.

After dinner. this takes up a lot of brainpower.

[distinguishedshoeduckdonut]

Resurrección : Suzumushi Hyakushiki: Grillar Grillo (鈴虫百式狂枷蟋蟀 (グリジャル・グリージョ)

[littleeyesofpallas]

i never even noticed but when Tousen uses his resurreccion, he uses an attack called Los Nueves Aspectos[九相輪殺]: "9 Sourin Killing" in Japanese and of course, "The Nine Aspects" in Spanish.

But there's a bit of wordplay in that [九相] is of course the same as the "9 Phases" that I went on a whole wild goose chase on about before(I'd reblogged directly at first but i forgot what a wall that post chain already was, so I'm just linking back instead) but a Sourin[相輪] is a part of traditional Japanese architecture, generally found on pagodas; and Kurin[九輪] specifically refers to the 9 ring structure making up the trunk. Nine Aspects and Nine(Ten...) Rings, just like his bankai. This also referencing the fact that these rings typically have wind chimes hanging off each layer, tying back to suzumushi[清虫]: "pure bug" being a pun on suzumushi[鈴虫]: "Bell bug" which can refer to a few different species of cricket.

So, bells, and rings, buddhist iconography, and the 9 aspects of decay all present in both his bankai and his resurreccion(or at least this one arrancar style attack)

[drawtag]

TŌSEN KANAME  as  egon schiele’s  Danaë  //  (09.15-18.2021)

 an evolution .