Prelude- The Ronin Hero

Disclaimer- I do not, in any way, own any part of Bleach. This is only a Fan Fiction, and not in any way approved by the owner(s) of Bleach.

This is something that I have been thinking of for a good amount of time, while I have been working on my Fan Fiction for Naruto ("Second Chances") and Inuyasha. I do hope this shows another side of my writing abilities, seeing as in my other two Fan Fictions that I have posted (on and soon both my Myspace and Facebook account) have very little direct details in what things look like, leaving more up to the mind to fill in. This one I will be telling you exactly how the person looks, just know that it will be described in small parts.

I do hope everyone enjoys this, I do hope to make it understandable and interesting enough to people wanting to read it.

Fan Fiction Written by: SamuraiXero

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Prelude- The Ronin Hero

Iramaki Sanosuke stood outside of a small shop, his unique sword strapped to his back. This sword was very different then most of the blades that the other samurai used; the hilt, instead of being a flat piece of metal, it was shaped into two prongs. But the unique-ness of his sword was the last thing that would draw attention to Sanosuke. The boy, well more of a young man, had his long jet black hair tied up into three different pony tails. On top of the weird-ness of his hair and the unique-ness of his sword, Sanosuke was a wanderer.

Sanosuke breathed in through his nose, then lifted his hand to push back the light blue pieces of cloth that served as a doorway.

"Sano-kun! You're back!", Shouted the very familiar voice of Yuku Kimnoku. Then the young girl buried her face and shoulders square into his gut. The breath that Sanosuke had taken in before he entered the small shop was promptly knocked out of him. The young girl's soft blonde hair fell down to frame the very top of her sobbing head.

"Kimnoku, it is fine. I told you that I was not going very far.", Sanosuke whispered, rubbing the back of the girl's head softly, "How about I treat you to lunch?"

Kimnoku's face shot up and looked at Sanosuke, her red puffy eyes watered more. "You know we don't have any money!", she shouted at the ronin, burring her face into his gut again.

At that, the ronin's face broke into a soft smile. Reaching down to his right side, he pulled of a small linen pouch. As he took it into his hands, the clear as day jingle pierced the air, breaking in-between the soft chatter of three older women. These women obviously thought there was more between the ronin and the young one that followed him around. Sanosuke gave one of them a look that said what he could not, a general 'Don't even think that way about me.', then his eyes looked down at the blonde.

"I think I have made more then enough to treat you to a lunch.", Sanosuke said softly to the crying girl, "What would you like? I know you like mochi a lot, would you like some of them?"

Kimnoku pulled back from the ronin, looking at him with her tear stricken eyes she hiccupped softly then nodded. The left sleeve of her soft pink kimono soon found her nose as she tried in vain to stop her tears, "Wha… What did… you have ta do for it? You didn't do anything too…", she said, then her voice suddenly dropped and became very stern, "… dangerous for it, did you?"

Sanosuke chuckled softly, the dropped his left hand onto the girl's head, messing up her hair slightly. "I might be a samurai with-out a lord, but I have you to take care of. I won't get in over my head.", he said softly, "I swear to you, I will always protect you."

With that, the blonde smiled softly. Then both left the small shop, leaving the three older women looking.

As Sanosuke stepped outside into the light, his hazel eyes squinted. Something that made him resemble a kitsune, which was why a lot of people called him the "Fox Ronin of Izumo". Raising his right hand to allow his eyes some shade, Sanosuke started to scan the area for a spot to get their lunch. Kimnoku's golden blonde hair caused a slight glare to catch Sanosuke's eyes, and growling softly he muttered to the young girl, "Why were you cursed with blonde hair?"

The younger girl's eyes shot up to the ronin, a look of slight annoyance on her face, then she shot back with, "And why were you cursed with your curiosity?"

Another thing that made up the quirky-ness of Sanosuke was his curiosity for everything, which usually ended up with him in positions that put his life at risk. However, this was not just his trait, Kimnoku also had this. Thus how come the two travel together.

The two walked a short bit, finally settling on a small tea house. Sanosuke lead the way in, Kimnoku following behind but not to far. The two sat down at a small table, not to far away from where a large group of yakuza members sat. The yakuza, as was usual with them, were steadily becoming more loud and obnoxious; but all of the chatting came to an end as the two sat down between them.

"Ah, it seams all of you have more then enough to share.", Sanosuke said, drawing his small tanto and spearing a smaller piece of meat. This grabbed almost all of the yakuza's attention, then the next movement of the ronin had many jaws dropped; the ronin handed the blade with the meat on it to the small girl. Smiling softly, his fox-like features showing, he whispered, "Now eat up, Dear."

At that statement, the obvious head of the group, spoke up. "Eat it 'n I'll take yer fingers, girlie!", the head said, gripping his blade's hand grips.

Sanosuke raised a brow to the head of the table, "You touch a single hair on her head and I will kill you."

"Is that a threat, boy?", The head said.

Sanosuke went to reply, when he heard an unnatural roar. Kimnoku also heard it, and proptly dropped the blade, reaching back to the hand grip of her own ninja-to. Sanosuke lunged over at Kimnoku, grabing her and pulling her down while flipping the table. An explosion ripped through threw the side of the building, or at least that was one way of explaining it. The top of the upended table fell off of the lower half, a clean swipe cut it in two pieces. The head of the yakuza group and several of his fellow members had simply disappeared. Several of the workers screamed, then Sanosuke and Kimnoku heard a very deep and empty voice say, "Simple fools, I do not want your spirit energy." then laugh. Sanosuke, almost on instinct, grabbed the blonde girl and rolled back and to the side; the floor and ground where they were moments before was torn wide open.

Sanosuke stood, gripping the hand grip of his sword, waiting for the next attack. Closing his eyes, Sanosuke focused his hearing onto the voice and movements. He heard the laugh again, then "So you want to fight, Human. You are not worth it, I am after a shikagami. But you might be a good toy."

The ronin drew his blade spinning his entire body behind the blade, to his right. Something connected with the blade, forcing his wooden sandals to slide on the wood floors. "I may not be able to see you, jackass, but I know how you attack!", the skilled fighter said, then spun to his left, bringing the blade into a downward slash, "Shikisto, Shockwave!", he shouted. The attack that had made him a famous samurai, Shockwave, was thought to him by one known as a Quincy.

Sanosuke didn't know what it was that he was fighting, but whatever it was, he hit it. The 'invisable' beast roared as the spirit infused air attack slashed into it, and some blood spilled down. The cut was not deep, but it made for an opening. Sanosuke lowered himself and charged forward, very much blindly but listening to the giant foot falls of the beast. He hopped up a small pile of derbies, spinning his body. "Shikisto, Again, Shockwave!", Sanosuke shouted and preformed a cross-slash, only to have it stopped by the beast. The beast laughed its deep, empty laugh as Sanosuke's momentum kept him going; then the beast seemingly flung him backwards.

The ronin's body smashed into several tables, rolling to his feet directly in front of Kimnoku. Sanosuke held his sword up in front of him, blood trickled down from a small but clean gash in his hair line. "You are so not going to beat me!", Sanosuke said, looking in the direction that he was flung from.

"And you think that you can beat me?", the beast said back, confidence pouring out of the emptiness of the voice.

"I don't think it, I know it.", Sanosuke said, a small bit of his blood finally reaching his eye. For some reason, after a few blinks, he could see a very faint shimmering outline of what had to be the monster. Smiling and blinking more, Sanosuke could finally see the entire thing. This had to be one of the spirit monsters, or hallow, that his Quincy friend had spoken about.

Looking dead at the beast, Sanosuke charged, his blade leading the way; the mantis looking beast watched him, raising its twin scythe-like claws. The Hallow brought the first of the two claws down in an arch, Sanosuke saw this move and stopped his run, then jumped. The ronin landed on the embedded claw and ran up it; his blade low incase the Hallow should decide to fling him again, however, the look on the skull-like mask showed nothing but horror.

Sanosuke made it up to the top of the arm, close to the shoulder, with out it moving. "Shikisto! Shockwave!", Sanosuke yelled, bringing up his blade, slicing though the mask of the beast and destroying it.

Sanosuke landed just behind the beast's fallen body, his sword gripped tightly in his hand. "Kimnoku, Where are you?", Sanosuke said, looking around. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the beast slowly break up and disappear.

A soft cough caught Sanosuke's attention, then the soft jingle of bells. Narrowing his eyes, he noticed a small pink haired girl sitting on the shoulder of a very built man. Each had a sword belted to their hips, and their outfits were the exact same; a black yukata with white lining. Standing next to these two was Kimnoku, although something was off about her.

"What the hell are you two, and Kimmi, why are you with them?", Sanosuke said, his knees buckling slightly, exhaustion setting in.

"Sano-kun, It is time for us to sleep", the blonde said, then she pointed to a small form not to far away from her. Sanosuke's eyes looked over at the body; it was hers, then his eyes shot back at the taller man.

"Shikagami!", Sanosuke said softly, as everything went spinning and he slumped down onto the floor.

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I hope everyone enjoyed this little venture, and that I might just continue it, most likely I will.

SamuraiXero