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.

In the peaceful little village situated near the contesting borders, Shin and Hoji were held in high regard. No one else in town, nor in the neighboring towns, had their own swords. Many children had always fantasized about the day when someone would come along and use their swords for good, but the wiser elders had long ago given up hope. Shin restored that hope to everyone with his presence and finesse.

After their money had outlived itself, Shin and Hoji kept their welfare by helping around town. Chopping wood, building houses, hunting game and the occasional uneventful mountain scouting missions. It had been quite a while since our heroes had arrived in the hamlet, and they were starting to like it. Except for Suichi, of course, whose paranoia wouldn't lessen at all. He even seemed to get more jumpy each day. Although this was due in part to Shin and Hoji's relentless quest for combative mastery and the methods they implied for it, Netami was also a hidden concern of his.

He's either long dead or on his way Suichi lamented. His fear was abolished with the sharp slicing of air from behind him. Suichi threw back his arms and caught the blow of the blow that was about to hit him. Something was strange about this blade, however, as most swords weren't made of wood.

"Awesome!" cheered the child from behind. Suichi turned around and let go of the stick. "Did you guys see that!?" he asked his friends excitedly. "He didn't even see me and he still caught it! Say, can you teach us how to do that?" he asked. Suichi chuckled softly and patted the kid on the head.

"It's not something that just anybody can learn" Suichi explained. "Kendo takes years of hard work and discipline to master." The kids looked at him with awe, until they heard the loud crashing of metal in the distance.

"Well, what about Mr. Shin?" one child asked. Suichi sighed and looked off towards the river.

"He's an exception" Suichi begrudgingly admitted. "He's insane and ignores the 'years of practice' rule…"

Down by the river, Shin and Hoji were fighting on top of the water. How they went from calmly fishing to lightning-speed fencing, neither one really knew. The water was exploding all around them, rocks were shattering, fish were swimming upstream to avoid them and then ultimately exploding under the combined pressure. No sound was as loud as the rapid clangs of their swords as they swung.

"I'll dice you!" Hoji screamed with his horrific grin.

"I'll obliterate you!" Shin shouted back in reply, his face stern with hatred.

"HEY!" Suichi shouted. Shin and Hoji stayed their crossed blades and looked over at him. Suichi was fuming at them, as the smoking craters and bloodied running water under their feet. "Aren't you supposed to be working!?" Shin and Hoji glanced at each other. "Why are you fighting?"

Shin and Hoji moved slowly apart and shrugged in unison.

"Are you guys mocking me…" Suichi growled. Shin and Hoji sheathed their blades, picked up their buckets only half-full of fish meat, and started back themselves with Suichi stomping back angrily.

"What's his problem?" Hoji inquired.

"Not sure" Shin replied. "He's probably just angry because he can't duel with us effectively…or something."

"Tch" Hoji grunted. "Too bad for him. It ain't gonna get easier." Shin chuckled and cocked his brow as they both reentered the town.

Back at the inn, Shin and Hoji were finishing their meals while scrubbing the floors and walls. As part of their pay, they also had to clean out the fireplace once the wood stopped burning. The receptionist girl was busy carrying a load of their laundry as she entered the first floor lobby. The floor was shining and the walls were spotless, as Shin was working himself to a sweat with the remainder of a sandwich hanging from his mouth.

"My, you boys certainly do work hard…" she noticed.

"Nah," Shin replied modestly as he gulped down the rest of his dinner. "We're just paying our dues."

"Yeah" Hoji continued. "I just wish Suichi would help us with it."

"You guys spent all my money without asking!" Suichi yelled from the resting seat near the fireplace that Hoji was crouched in front of. "You two are responsible for most of the damage around here anyway!"

"That's not true!" Shin yelled. "It's your shikai that whips around with total abandon and wrecks everything in sight. Our swords are just swords…"

"And yet they still make more marks than mine!" Suichi interrupted. Hoji grimaced with his back turned to the conversation and gripped his sword. Aiming at the fireplace, he swung heavily into it, sending a blast of air rushing up the chimney. A cloud of black erupted over the roof of the inn and into the street below.

"…" Hoji stared. The gust backfired all over him and the sitting area, coating the tables and cushions and fur rugs with a layer of gray and black dust. Suichi made a wide-eyed, angry face of his own facing Shin, who looked on in pity.

"Geez, man" Shin said, "you need to watch that." Hoji started shaking angrily and glared down at his sword. Just before he was ready to shout to the high heavens in curses and other vile language, the door was thrown open.

"OH, my my my! What a horrid little hobble this place is!" sounded out a deep, feminine voice. The reception girl froze up in place and dropped her basket of laundry. Shin looked on with building curiosity, while Hoji and Suichi turned and stared with hostility.

Bound by a hot-pink belt on his slender, muscular waist, was one of the shinigami of the Kyuuhiouto. "Hey, hey babies!" He cheered in his oddly feminine tone while moving his hips and pumping his hairy arms, "Oka Maganeba is here! Roll out the good carpet and prepare your best food!" As the 'man' in lipstick, blush and other overly feminine dressings made 'his' way across the room, two skinny men with hoods made their way after him with swords ready to draw. Shin's mouth moved a few inches down his face in general disgust.

"Well now, honey honey!" sang the man-woman. He drew out his sword and pointed it out at the cowering reception girl's neck. Her eyes went wide and her mouth quivered in fear. "I do hope you can find a place to squeeze me in for the night. My men and I are in very dire need of a place to rest after our long, hard day. Right boys?" The men nodded once, then returned to acting like armed statues.

Hoji started over with his face masked in shadow and a furious scowl. He put a steady hand on his sword and started to draw it out when Suichi pulled him down behind the cushion.

"Don't be an idiot!" he softly scolded. Hoji said nothing but continued to glare. "You heard her before, right? This guy…if he is a guy, is really strong! What if you can't take him on?" Hoji shrugged Suichi off and continued over. Before he could step out of the sitting area, however, he perked his head up and looked over.

"Excuse me," a voice said politely from behind Oka. He batted his lashes and turned around.

"Yes?" In slow motion, Shin's sweeping roundhouse kick came to full impact with Oka's face. The air rumbled lowly as Oka went sailing across into the adjacent wall. Before the two guards could draw out their swords, Hoji had his down in the floor and was propped on it like a walking stick. With a smile and a gleam from his narrow eyes, Hoji forced both men into instant unconsciousness without moving.

"Nice kick" Hoji praised. Shin drew out his sword, nodded, and started walking over to the crumbling hole where the curly-haired stranger was seething from.

"Oh?" Oka said effeminately. "What a hard kick. I'd like to see the muscles that delivered that kick." Oka stood back up with sword in hand, staring down the still approaching, emotionless Shin. Oka batted his lashes again, gave a pouting smile and took and exaggerated stance. Standing up on the balls of his feet with toes pointed out and knees bent, he pointed his sword down from over his head and placed the tip on the back of his hand.

"Come and get me, big boy" Oka taunted with a wink. Shin shivered in disgust and took up his pose, bent knees and single hand wielding his sword at the man, pointed to the side with a fully extended arm.

"Oh, I'll get'cha" Shin replied murderously. "Right in the throat."

Oka's name is a pun to his lifestyle. Oka Maganeba. Okama (crossdresser)