Author's Note:

(1) I DO NOt own Bleach

(2) You know the drill -plz review!


When she got back to the shack, it had been totally trashed.

She slipped inside, clambered over the broken furniture, and knelt beside Hibiki's body. There was a dagger and sheath around his waist. Obviously Tsuji and his gang hadn't had time to take his personal possessions.

She unbuckled it and secured it around her waist, below the obi. She wished she could, but she was not strong enough to carry his body away from here. She looked around and saw a small hearth, embers still crackling. She tended the fire for a little, until a flame licked its way into existence.

Then she used the small fire and scattered it. The shack caught even as she escaped outside. She turned and looked at her handiwork. It wasn't much of a pyre, but it was the closest she could give him to a proper burial.

Pulling the dagger out, she swore there and then –this dagger would one day finish Tsuji. Theat way, it really would be payback for him then.

*

Over the next few weeks, she travelled Zaraki, avoiding Tsuji's gang. She learnt how to fight hand-to-hand, and gained invaluable experience by fighting champions of the villages and hamlets outside Tsuji's sphere of power. By building up her own reputation, she would led Tsuji to challenge her to determine supremacy.

She found a discarded sword, dull and blunt, but there was a good-hearted blacksmith who sharpened her blade and made a sheath for it.

Even here, in the very heart of chaos and evil, there were kind souls.

Izumi found a hill with a ridge that overlooked a small hamlet. It was isolated and not many people came here –the perfect training ground.

As a full moon crept into the sky, Izumi watched it. She was hardened by combat, and her eyes were lit in a furious blaze of determination. It was as though a totally different person was standing there.

"Hibiki, I hope you can hear me," she said, eyes on the stars. "I swear your death won't go unavenged. And from now on, I will protect the innocent from evil. And I will stop Tsuji once and for all."

*

Tsuji was the toughest of the tough –he had made his living and reputation by killing and threatening, and no one should stand in his way. For years, he had pushed himself to the limit.

Although it was an unofficial title, he was the Hebi(1) of Zaraki.

His men followed him either because they were afraid of what might happen to them if they didn't and wanted power, or because they were thugs who couldn't get power alone.

Tsuji had destroyed the shack, had had his men take every good they could find. They had come back to take the dagger from that loser's belt –Tsuji had had his eye on that for a long time.

Right now he was in a very foul mood. The shack had been burnt to the ground and, since they had been unable to find it, the dagger was destroyed. None of the neighbours stepped forward to admit to it –they claimed they hadn't seen who took it.

Obviously there was a pillager out there who hadn't learnt their place yet.

Well, sooner or later, he would catch them and take his prize along with their life.

*

Izumi knew she needed to undergo even further training before she could hope to take on Tsuji. The hill where she was camping out was secluded –no one would pick up on her presence there unless she wanted them to.

She had practiced karate when she had been younger –and alive –and she had some experience of swordplay thanks to kendo.

Despite taking on champions, she knew she was still lacking experience. And not one of her previous fights, even those against champions, had been to the death. And she had been defeated by several.

She didn't even know if she had it in her to fight to the death, even if it was to defend someone's honour.

Laying aside her sword, she closed her eyes. It was mediation –she'd done it a hundred times before.

*

There had been a time when she had thought her training and skill had entitled her to fight, even when against an opponent with little or no experience. She had trained in karate, and used it on anyone who so much as looked at her in a way she disliked.

She had been a problem child then –her sensei had been the only one able to keep her in line. He had never showed outright anger, even when she had beaten a child years younger than she was. No, he had sounded so disappointed and sad that she had wished he had shouted.

'Hatred leaves the world hating,' he had told her. 'Power isn't there to be used so recklessly. Just what were you fighting for?'

That had forced her to take a long hard look at herself and admit that her sensei was right –fighting for the sake of fighting was wrong.

So when a group of her victims had banded together, she hadn't put up a fight –she had felt as though she deserved every punch, kick and scratch, no matter how serious the wound was.

Since then, she had held back, kept herself in check and kept her head down.

*

Now that she was dead, did she have the right to break the restrictions she had put upon herself? Could she even raise a sword in mortal combat? She knew Tsuji wouldn't hesitate.

For over an hour, she sat in silent contemplation.

Hibiki Torii –the name kept repeating in her head, his murder played back in slow motion over and over again.

If the death of a friend was not a justification for fighting, she had no idea what was. Even though they had barely known each other, he had been kind, shielding innocents. And a vicious man had ended his life in a blurred flash of steel.

She had a reason to fight, but what about the resolve? Was she truly ready to put everything, including her life, on the line?

Izumi knew she had sworn to Hibiki's memory to avenge his death and protect the innocent, but would he want her to risk her life for that goal?


(1) Snake