AUTHOR'S NOTE: I feel pretty glad I had this idea walking into my head randomly one day... here is the result! The updates will probably not be very quick, but better late than never, ne?
DISCLAIMER: I do not feel confident enough to say that I own 'Bleach' and 'Naruto' without being terrefied of finding the FBI at my door. So therefore, I state that I do not own anything in this besides my OC and her stuff.
- To Mia, for teaching me the brilliance of dancing in public.
Four figures ran across the snow covered ground without making a sound with a large, grey furred wolf running beside the front runner. Three of them were wearing white cloaks and were chasing the fourth, which were clothed in black and light blue. The three had their face covered by white masks with animal faces painted upon the surface while the lone one had scratched out Kirigakure headband with black cloth placed askew on the head and bandages wrapped around the lower half of her face, Momochi Zabuza style. The person also had a small scroll tied in a string to her belt as well as a long, strange looking sword strapped to the back.
The blade was flammard, had a dark grey, dull color and was four-edged like a rhomb. It was a little more than six and a half foot long and relatively slender, with the four-edged blade being around two inches wide, each side an inch in length.
Around the blade were two others wrapped around it, crossing each other's path. It looked like two snakes had been wrapped around the middle blade. They were smaller and thinner and their color was a dull black. They were made from bending-steel, meaning the wielder could use their chakra to change the blades' form. It was uniquely made for Kizuken Kūseido and so far, only one person beside the woman, whom was its current wielder, had seen it in action without giving their life for it.
The two feet long hilt was wrapped in black leather bands.
Kizuken Kūseido was not the largest or heaviest sword out of the seven that made up the Seven Swords of the Swordsmen, but it was just as deadly, especially with the unique origin of the outer blades. The dull colors made it better for stealth and sneak attacks, since neither sun nor moonlight would reflect off the blade and thereby giving away the wielder's position.
"Incoming chakra signatures from the east, Akashura-sama," The wolf said and the black clothed head snapped in the direction the canine had appointed as the person continued running, picking up speed and increasing the distance between the pursuers and the pursued.
"How long, Kyōto?" The one in the back spoke in a female voice as her beige colored eyes looked sharply around her.
"Thirty seconds at the most. There's no way we can outrun them."
"I can smell them; their killing intent is strong and their chakra is powerful, Taichō." Another, raspy voice spoke.
"Kyōto, save yourself for later. Shinja, stop calling me Taichō; it's annoying."
The wolf barked once in agreement and disappeared with in a large cloud of smoke, obeying his master.
"Taichō?" the raspy voice spoke again. It sounded as if it was coming from inside of her.
She growled in annoyance, but chose to ignore the continuing use of her old rank; there were more important things to focus on.
"Let us make this quick, ne," the Taichō answered with a wary tone in her slightly hoarse, but clear voice.
As she continued running at the same neck-breaking speed, she raised a pair of gloved hands and made several hand signs before releasing her jutsu.
"Secret Art: Hidden Shadow Spears"
She heard the screams of the Yuki ANBU being impaled behind her and a small smirk crossed her face as she felt her three pursuers' chakra signatures drop and then disappear completely.
"They're here," the raspy voice hissed suddenly.
The second the voice had finished speaking, two clouds of smoke appeared and two men stepped out to reveal an identical pair of black cloaks with crimson clouds. Even without the cloaks, the scratched out headbands along with the density and amount of their chakra were dead giveaways for determining S-ranked criminals.
"Looks like we missed all the fun," the silver-haired one of them said in a displeased, arrogant tone, reminding the woman of a spoiled child "This is not my fucking day."
"Shut up, Hidan," the other said with irritation evident in his voice "Or I will cut off your obnoxious head and kill you."
"Che," the one named Hidan huffed with arrogance "I'd love to see you fucking do it, Kakuzu."
"There is no doubt about it's the one," the other remarked "Her chakra levels are as high as a jinchuuriki. Just like Kisame-san informed us."
The woman growled lowly in her throat at the name of her rival; their dislike for each other had been legendary, even amongst the Swordsmen, who were know for their internal rivalry and competitive minds. Kakuzu pulled out a scroll from his pocket and opened it, not paying attention to the way the missing nin's hand was inching its way towards the hilt of the sword strapped to her back.
"Akashura Rin, Missing nin from Kiri, former Shushō of Kiri ANBU's Stealth Squad, a member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist."
Hidan smirked as he looked at the woman in front of him. This was going to be fun. Then he looked at her wary figure.
"As if," he sorted "She looks like a push-over."
"Don't waste too much time, Hidan. I want to get another bounty after this one."
Rin was getting thoroughly pissed. If there were one thing she hated, it was being underestimated. Her eyes shone above her mask and were intently watching the Akatsuki members, waiting for them to make the first move. Her insides
"You are such a money whore, Kakuzu." Hidan snickered "What the fuck?" he then exclaimed as the former Shushō in front of them disappeared.
"This is what happens when you talk too much, Hidan." Kakuzu said as he extended long threads from his arms and pierced them through the snow.
Rin growled lowly in irritation from her hiding place beneath the snow as she felt her glove being pierced and her hand being shallowly cut with the thread-like tentacles. She jumped up and a few drops of blood ran down her hand and tainted the pure snow with droplets of crimson.
"Secret Art: Cutting Bonds" she said as she appeared behind the Akatsuki members and simultaneously sent a barrage of senbon rapidly flying towards the pair.
"What the fuck is that!" Hidan yelled as he saw the black lines snaking their way across the snow heading towards him, not paying any attention to the senbon that were flying towards him.
He grunted in pain as a few of them hit him. Rin's jaw was close to dropping as she saw how he pulled them out and his wounds began healing themselves.
Kakuzu and Hidan easily jumped out of the way from the shadows, using quick footwork and the Body Flicker technique.
"Water Release: Geyser Prison" she released the jutsu on the Jashinist, whose eyes narrowed angrily as water erupted from around him, immobilizing him.
Kakuzu was impressed with her strategy; she had quickly figured out the need to separate them.
"You actually think… unlike my partner," he said as he landed in front of her with a Body Flicker and aimed a roundhouse quick to her bandaged face. She stopped it effortlessly with her arm and pulled up her knee to block his fist from crushing her ribs.
Kakuzu released his Earth Grudge Fear and let his arms extend away from his body in an attempt to snap Rin's neck without damaging her too much. She would need to be recognizable for them to be able to collect the bounty after all. She Body Flicked away from him with the threads quickly following her every move. Kakuzu growled as she pulled the long sword from her back and started slashing his threads, effectively cutting them with as much skill and precision as one could expect from one of the Seven Swordsmen. Or swordswoman in this case.
He felt anger rushing through him and released all of his threads, but the fighting woman either deflected or cut off them all. She could definitely give Kisame a run for his money with her sword, but she was a lot faster. His threads barely had time to attack her before she was somewhere else. Hidan had now escaped the prison technique, but was instantly caught by the shadow bonds not far away and was roaring loudly in pain as the bonds pierced several inches into his flesh.
"Kakuzu, get me out of these shitty shadows," he said, then began laughing like a madman "I'm gonna make her into the best sacrifice Jashin-sama has ever seen."
Rin felt her stomach drop as she saw how the Jashinist escaped her bonds and cackled loudly. If she had not been so focused on keeping herself alive, she would have punched his lights out from pure annoyance.
The Jashinist threw his scythe at her with precision, though it was far too slow to make any actual damage to someone of her speed. She somersaulted over Hidan's weapon and landed in a crouch.
"End this quickly." she whispered before Body Flickering away with neither of the two missing nins having realized what she had done.
She eyed the silver-haired Jashinist intently as she dashed forward and slashed his left underarm off in a clean, powerful strike and then jumped away to a safer distance.
Hidan cried out in surprise well as anger and pain as he dropped his scythe, blood literally pouring out from his arm, "I'll kill you, bitch! That fucking hurt!"
Having seen his strange healing abilities earlier on, she quickly moved behind him and sliced attempted to slice his head off, but the silver haired male jumped out of the way.
"Now, Shinja!" she yelled over the snow-covered steppes as Kakuzu extended his threads to rescue his partner.
The former Takigakure shinobi's eyes widened and he grunted in surprise as a long, black snake appeared out from its hiding place beneath the camouflaging snow and sprung to latch itself onto Kakuzu's leg with its fangs ready to cut deeply into his skin and deliver its deadly poison.
Kakuzu Body Flickered away quicker than the blink of an eye.
He quickly sent threads flying after his partner, whom had picked up his scythe and was fighting off the woman and sent others to fend off the snake, which proved to more difficult than he thought when he was not able to clearly see it; its black scales were effectively concealing it amongst the moving lines of shadows, which were still somehow trying to incapacitate him.
Rin read the situation and did a single hand sign with a smirk spreading beneath her mask, not visible to anyone else. An ear shattering roar of thunder could be heard and a huge lightning bolt was sent flying from the sky, hitting Hidan. Pieces of rock and dirt were sent flying everywhere and she felt Shinja crawl up her body and sneak around her arms inside her sleeves.
She threw a series of kunai before releasing another jutsu.
"Secret Art: Black Dragon of Destruction"
She directed her hands and sent the roaring dragon flying into the crater, where all of the snow now had been melted away by the heat.
Rin suddenly felt a mass of chakra behind her and heard the sound of something flying through the air. She turned around and jumped backwards, but gasped as she felt the scythe slash her right leg, cutting shallowly into the flesh and growled in both pain and anger as the scythe she had originally dodged disappeared with a poof of smoke.
Her eyes widened as she saw the Jashinist with charred skin and a pattern of crimson as well as black burns. There were actual pieces of his body that were missing and chunks of flesh that had been burned away. She narrowed her sand-colored orbs as he licked the blood of the steel blades and then her mouth opened in horror as his body started to change color, his pale skin turned pitch black with white skeletal marks.
She was dashing towards him with her long sword prepared to cut the silver haired male's head clean off when she suddenly fell down and tumbled in the snow. Blood was seeping through her uniform and she raised her head to angrily glare at the Jashinist.
A devilish, manically grin spread across his face.
"Finally caught you, bitch."
"At least she is recognizable," she heard Kakuzu mutter irritably.
Rin hissed as she tried to move. Needless to say, she failed miserably. She clenched her jaw and made a choking sound as she stifled what would have been a scream of pain.
Her body shook and cramped which only increased the pain for her. She panted heavily and fought to keep her eyes open. Her attacker was kneeling next to her with a sadistic glint in his magenta eyes.
"Fucking bastard…" she managed to get out between her choking.
His smirk grew as she coughed up a pool of blood that stained her face bandages and seeped through, the crimson staining her tanned skin and trickled down her chin and neck.
She was laying on her back with her dark red hair spread out, which had now turned even darker due to the masses of blood in it and her bright, sand colored eyes.
"A Shushō defeated so easily?" He shifted his gaze over her form. "I knew Kiri people tended to exaggerate, but this is just fucking pathetic,"
"Hurry up, Hidan." Kakuzu said, not wanting to waste any time "Just kill the girl."
Hidan swore under his breath at the older man and then let his eyes roam over her body and face with a glint in his magenta orbs.
"Like hell, Kakuzu; this is so much fun," He bent down and licked blood from her chin before whispering huskily in her ear "And you're fucking hot."
A thought then occurred to the halfway dead Rin. Shinja's venom would be giving her the chance of a quicker death than the one Hidan would have given her. Probably not less painful but quicker none the less; that sadistic fucker was loudly planning how to make this last for hours.
There was no reason to drag out the pain; she felt like she was going to go insane in agony every second now. Having spent your life training and caring for a snake which could kill a human in less than twenty minutes certainly had paid off.
Rin spoke out her plan to her companion in pained but unnoticeable breaths as Hidan were again laughing manically. She felt how Shinja were sneaking beneath her clothes to rest on her torso before letting her fangs pierce directly into the beating heart.
Numbness. She felt numb. How was it possible? Was she dead? She opened her eyes. No. She couldn't be dead. She could move and breathe.
Was this that so called Heaven one of her acquaintances had once spoken of? No, she did not believe such illogical things. But how could she have survived? She remembered having Shinja's fangs pierce through her skin and then the pain. She knew more than anyone just how effective the venom of a snake of his caliber was. Especially one as healthy as Shinja himself; there was simply no way anyone who had had injected the venom would live to see another day. The venom in single bite was enough to kill roughly one hundred people and she had ordered Shinja to inject five times the amount he usually did to their enemies. Then why?
She raised her upper body and looked around. Hidan and Kakuzu were staring at her, but not really seeing her. Their eyes had not even moved as she had raised herself.
What was going on? Should her killers not at least show some emotion when someone whom they had brutally murdered were moving around?
She was immediately on her guard, watching the two of them with wary eyes.
They were looking right through her.
She then noticed several things at the same time.
Her wounds had healed, she was not in any pain, except for a strange pressure on her torso, she still had her weapons and Shinja was still alive somehow, at this moment curling his scaled form around her arm, her clothes were in perfect condition and there was no blood on her. She very slowly turned her head to look at what was behind her the two Akatsukis were staring so intently at.
And then wished she had not.
With her still having her bandages wrapped around her lower face, you could not see it, but Rin was staring shocked with her mouth open at the place Hidan and Kakuzu had previously occupied before the older had slung her body over his shoulder and both had disappeared to collect the bounty on her head seconds ago.
She was trying hard to not lose her mind. If she was dead, how come she could still have her body?
But what made it even more confusing was this wasn't even an actual body; no one could see her. She had noticed a chain had somehow been placed on her chest and back.
She heard the faintest sound behind her and pulled out her sword as she swirled around and Body Flickered forward in a blurring move.
She narrowed her eyes as her sword was met with the blade of another and she quickly Body Flickered away with the strange chain rattling and crouched in a defensive position with her long sword turned backwards in her hand, the blade following the line of her forearm and she had her index and middle finger raised in front of her face. She was ready to attack at a moment's notice and was already going through several battle strategies in her head.
"Yare, yare," the person who had startled her spoke as she noticed the figure, which was standing where she had been less than a second before "Could ya please lower ya sword?"
Rin said nothing, but continued to glare at the blond haired man. He was wearing a black kosode with a white haori over it and a pair of wide, black hakama. His eyed had that same bored look as Kakuzu.
Not pleasant reminders to see minutes after you have died.
"Who are you?" Rin asked, her voice having its usual authorial even tone even though she had her face bandages on and sent out a small warning flare of chakra.
He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he felt a strange pressure appear then disappear as swiftly as it had come. It faintly reminded him of reiatsu, but still he got the feeling it was something else entirely.
"Hirako Shinji," the man said in a somewhere between polite and bored tone, but stood his ground. Most likely he knew better than to stroll over to a woman whom had her swords raised against him "What's ya name?"
Rin did not reply but continued to watch the man named Hirako carefully, taking in his appearance and carefully analyzing the katana, which were hanging by his hip.
"What happened to me?" she asked, carefully eying his movements.
Rin had already established the fact that she should avoid engaging in close-combat with him. His katana was more appropriate for that type of fighting unlike her sword, Kizuken Kūseido, which was meant for assassinations and quick kills when the enemy was unaware. It would in this case give her a disadvantage. Of course, her skills with it would easily outmaneuver practically everyone, but there was something about that Hirako that put her on edge and had all of her instincts screaming at her that he was a threat.
He looked like he was some years older than her, probably in his early or mid twenties, and carried an aura of authority around him, which she found similar to her own. Hirako smirked and he tilted his head a little to one side, his long, blond hair moving as the wind blew.
"Ya are a soul," he stated simply, as if the fact in itself was the most obvious and boring thing ever "Ya died. And when humans die, they become souls."
Rin narrowed her eyes as she thought carefully about his words. Was he mocking her?
She was not able to read him, not from this distance at least, but she could use more than just her eyes to see through lies.
His voice had a conviction and was without deception and his body language was showing no signs of lies either. He did not seem like he was lying to her. Not right now, at least.
"Let's just pretend that what you are saying is true. What are you doing here?" she asked, still not having lowered her guard the least.
Hirako rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long day.
Shinji had been annoyed, to put it mildly, when he was informed by the Sōtaichō about his newest mission. Special konsō? Was that even a word? Besides, he was a taichō for crying out loud and the fact that he was now in some godforsaken place, which by the way were located in some crappy far corner of the world of the living, with nothing to look at besides snow, ice, snow and… more snow and ice did not improve his mood.
He had more important thing to do than going after some weird reiatsu and send it to Soul Society.
Like keeping an eye on his fukutaichō, to name one thing.
He felt a spark of reiatsu somewhere close by and had determined it to be the soul he had to perform a konsō on. However, this excuse of a mission was turning into something far more interesting than he had thought it to be when he arrived.
The first thing he noticed as he was using shunpo to quickly cover the snow covered plains was the familiar, unmistakable, coppery scent of blood. He increased his pace and short after arrived at what had clearly been a battlefield. Blood was spattered all across the planes and there were several places where the ground had been torn up and the snow melted away, as if there had been several small explosions.
However, the most noticeable was the mangled and bloody heap there was laying crumbled in a sea of blood with two large, cloaked men standing beside. The larger of the duo unceremoniously grabbed the corpse and put it on his shoulder and then they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Shinji noticed a soul staring after them, a young woman. Obviously, it was the soul of the corpse.
He took a soundless step forward and quickly raised his sword just in time to block a large sword from impaling him.
Before he could strike back or even move, the soul that had attacked him was out of range, crouched in a defensive position.
'This is so not my day…'
Once Shinji had managed to convince the woman to hear him out, he told her patiently about what was happening and what Soul Society was. She only asked very few questions, but the ones she spoke were insightful and intelligent. He told her about Shinigami, their ranks and their duties. Somewhere along she had turned the questions a little and Shinji found himself talking about himself and his life. He asked her questions in return and she answered. He later realized she had not actually told him anything and he still knew the same about her before as he did after he had questioned her.
He had also seen she had at least three tattoos when she briefly had removed her short, black outer cloak to readjust the strap for her sword. On her right shoulder were two swirled lines, and when he asked her about them, she told him about it representing a person's status. What particular kind, she did not tell him.
On her right shoulder was a long sword with a black snake curling around it and. The tattoo had a three inch scar running through it, its white lines standing out against her darkly tanned skin and on the inside of her left wrist she had the numbers '0215' in gothic-styled letters. She did not tell him the story behind those either, but gave a smirking, good-natured remark about his own goody-two shoes appearance and in response to that, Shinji showed her his tongue piercing which earned him a surprised, but appraising look and a quiet chuckle from the red head.
Shinji found that she was perceptive, had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor and a very easy-going person, but at the same time not very trusting. She kept her hand on her sword the whole time they were conversing and he did not see her lower her guard once.
"Why are you wearing bandages on your face?" he asked with a smile. The red head just shrugged indifferently, her long, slightly wavy tresses dancing around in the wind. They were a dark crimson color and he thought the color was much prettier than any other red head. Wait, did he even know another read head? Oh well, it is the thought that counts, is it not?
"So what did ya do to get so mangled up by those guys for, Strawberry?" he asked again, pulling his cloak tighter around him. It had to be minus a billion degrees out here, but the woman looked like she was completely comfortable or used to the enviroment, at least.
'Darn. That means I don't get to do the old 'you look cold'-move. Oh well, she'd probably run me through with that sword anyway. '
She gave a short chuckle and looked at him with amusement written over her face. Well, the part of her face he could see for bandages, "'Strawberry'? Is it common for all Shinigami to insult strangers, Hirako-taicho?" she said mischievously, putting emphasis on his title. Her voice was a little muffled by the bandages, but he could hear the lightly hoarse, but warm tone voice that fit her own pretty, but rebellious appearance.
"Nah, I just can't help myself around ya," the blond replied with a wink "Why don't ya call me Shinji-kun, eh Strawberry? It sounds so much better."
"'Shinji-kun'? If I get to kill you afterwards, then sure," she stated, earning a chuckle from Shinji.
'What a Kiri thing to say. Guess I still have it in me,' she thought to herself.
"Just wait, Strawberry," he said in a flirty tone "One day ya won't be able to resist my…"
"Your what? Long, blond hair that flows in the wind and basically screams masculinity?" she interrupted "Sure, I can hardly stop myself from drooling out of desire for your manliness."
She gave him a wink at the end and Shinji just flashed a smile at her, his brown eyes shining brightly.
"I happen to know that many women think my hair emphasizes my masculinity," he said with a fake arrogant expression.
"Was that before or after they got brain damaged?"
"That's cold, Strawberry," Shinji said in mock hurt, holding a hand to his chest.
"Well, we are standing on a snow covered plain. Or did you fail to notice that for your oh so masculine bangs?"
"How about 'Shinji' then?" the blond asked, changing the subject.
His evasion earned him a funny look from the red-head, who chuckled a little before answering
"You will not give up on this matter, will you?" she stated matter-of-factly.
"That's right, Strawberry," he said proudly, as if it was the world's best compliment.
"Fine," she sighed and Shinji beamed, thinking he had won "But don't hold your breath. No, scratch that, hold your breath until I do."
Shinji laughed pleasantly, enjoying his mission a lot more than he should. Well, technically he was disobeying orders and not doing his mission, but as long as he did it later, it did not really matter in his book. Besides, the young woman was far too enjoyable to be around to just send her off. But her chain had become steadily shorter there was no avoiding it.
So without any further gilding the lily and without any more ado, Shinji told her he had to perform the konsō soon, or she would turn into a hollow. Then after having explained the theory on hollows, he raised his sword, but stopped.
"What's ya name?" he said, locking his brown eyes with her unique sand colored ones, holding his sword in front of her forehead, but not touching it "I gotta know."
Shinji saw something in her eyes he could not quite identify. Then his own eyes widened as she moved her head forward, touching the hilt of his sword with her forehead by herself.
He was looking shocked at her as she slowly began to disintegrate.
"My name is Akashura Rin… Shinji."
"I'll find ya in Soul Society, Rin. I like ya too much to just let ya go," he said, smiling brightly as he recovered from his brief shock "Besides, I think ya would be a badass Shinigami."
Rin chuckled, her sand colored eyes shone brightly and he could see the warmth and appreciation in them. Then they closed and she was gone, a black hell butterfly soaring away.
Shinji stood still for a few seconds then chuckled quietly to himself as he thought over the situation. He felt bad for those who crossed her in Rukongai. She would kick their asses with that humongous sword of hers. He had meant what he said; she would make a great Shinigami.
But there were other things to look at.
Like how she was obviously a seasoned warrior, though she had not said so herself, however the scars, the fighting skills and not to mention the sword were dead giveaways. And the strange reiatsu she had was another matter to report to the Sōtaichō.
He opened a Senkaimon, but turned around to look one last time. The blood was still spattered everywhere and anywhere.
Then a thought hit him like a slap in the face. He had spent so much time enjoying talking with the red head he had actually let his guard down and forgotten his mission.
'She dodged every question and I didn't even notice it… Oh, you bet I'm gonna find ya, Rin. I still want those answers…'
With a smile on his face, Hirako Shinji, 5th Squad Taichō left.
Glossary: (If there are mistakes, you can blame it on eu-direct or Wikipedia. You never know with those online things.)
Flammard: A term used to describe a blade that is wavy. You can google it if you feel compelled to do so.
Kyōto: Rebel, outlaw, rioter
Kizuken Kūseido: High Precision Cutting Blade
Shinja: Sacred snake
Akashura: Red carnage (Gory, I know… but fitting for a Kiri :D)
Rin: Dignified, severe, cold
Shushō: Commander-in-Chief. A term usually used for the Commander of either a nation's army or a Commander of a specific part of an army.