Disclaimer: The ideas and concepts used in BLEACH belong to Tite Kubo, as well as any regular characters. Most of the characters in this story belong to me. Thank you.


Everyone in the terrifying town had heard of this man. He lived in the wilderness and fought any challenge that approached him. Shin Kenpachi, the man who had slain a fearful tyrant that had previously threw the title of 'greatest fighter' around him. No one, not even the shinigami guards, dared to venture out into the wilderness that that fearsome man occupied. At least, not since the last twenty shinigami and rambunctious bandits never came back from their fights.

This trend continued until an up and coming young fighter emerged from the bloody mist into the town of murder and chaos. His name was a mystery, and his head was nearly bald. This was the only discernable characteristic that could be seen from afar. His head wasn't completely bald, as he did have a rather long pigtail formed from the hair on the back of his head. He also had a four-point star tattooed on his forehead, in the shape of an X, which was blood colored.

Pedestrians were ducked and hiding behind whatever they could find for cover, hoping this crazy looking man would pass them by. His narrow eyes scanned the street for signs of life with a smirk on his face. He had heard the noise of people whispering in hiding, figuring they had seen plenty of nasty crap go down that when a stranger waltzed through town they knew what to do. Still, he inhaled and perked his head before shouting

"WHERE IS THIS SMUG SON-OF-A-BITCH THEY CALL KENPACHI!?!?"

He perked up his ears in wait for a response. No one dared to move, now that they had been discovered. Some stopped breathing for fear that words may accidentally form when they exhaled. The man of madness and mystery looked around for a sign, this time smiling even wider. He began to start walking towards a group of people, arms outstretched, and began questioning.

"Do you folks know? Come on." He threw his arms back to his sides. He rolled his head around and gave out a "Tch" loud enough for the people to hear, then edged his hand slowly towards the sword at his side. He stopped before he could get his fingers wrapped around the hilt, noticing a young girl standing in the middle of the wide and dusty road. Her stare was ice-cold. The warrior turned to her and started approaching, this time holding his sword's red and gold wrapped hilt. He got close enough to eye the girl straight down. She began speaking first.

"What is your name, sir?" She said in almost monotone, flexing her voice only high enough for him to know it was a question.

"Hoji. Araijin Hoji." He said bluntly.

The young girl turned slightly to her right and pointed down the road, never letting her eyes off of his.

"He's down that way, in the forest." She said, still cold as ice. Hoji picked up his head and smiled triumphantly at the distance. He patted the girl on the head as he passed her, then started to sprint full speed down the road. When he was gone from everyone's vision, several people started to wearily step out. A woman ran out and straight to the girl, who was still just standing like a statue in the middle of the road.

"Atsuko! What were you thinking!? That man could have killed you in a second!" She threw her hands around the girl, who still did not move.

"He wouldn't kill me." She said sternly, but without breaking her robotic tone. "I saw it in his eyes. He won't die either." Many people around her who had heard this coiled back in shock. Not a single person returned from that horrible forest.

"How can you be so sure of that, Atsuko?"

"Because," the girl began, this time turning around to gaze in the direction the man had fled, "he doesn't think he'll die." Everyone coiled back even more. All of the challengers were sure of their victory as well, but they were all still dead.

"He's just like the man he's going to fight. He won't win, of course, but he won't die. It won't be long until they both come walking down the street."

Atsuko never made a wrong guess about the victims. One charged in and she added his name to a personal list of people who the man had killed. She always planned on giving him that list just to have, and she knew she would soon get her chance. Everyone else, however, was panicking and throwing frenzied fits to pack up their belongings and leave. Drawing from Atsuko's track record of being right, they had to leave immediately.


Hoji was standing in a clearing and staring at an uncomfortable sight. There lay his pray, helpless and asleep, with his sword resting on his torso. There was dried blood on the trees and red-stained patches of grass in many directions. A small cave was covered with tattered clothing that had been hastily hung on the rocky surface of the stone wall. Most notable, within the strange scene, was a makeshift graveyard, each victims sword acting as a grave marker for a body that was not there. The ground around the swords showed no sign of ever being moved, and a barely noticeable path had been made near the swords, which obviously led to the actual bodies somewhere else.

This guy's no joke. There must be at least twenty swords stuck in the ground. And he's just been waiting for people to come by and kill him all this time? Unreal.

Hoji folded his arms and sat against a nearby tree. He never took his eyes off of his challenge.

Guess I'll just wait 'til he wakes up and challenge him then. There's no honor in killing a sleeping man, monster or not.