I felt myself lying down. I heard only a little noise, an occasional muffled shout of rage or indignance. My nose was not streaming any information to my brain about any putrid mixtures of uncomfortable smells.

I felt a hand touch my cheek. Subconsciously, I leaned into it. I was... in heaven. I felt as if nothing was weighing me down. I felt powerful, mighty even. I wanted to think that it was my Anko-chan that was touching my cheek. I hummed in pure pleasure that the hand gave me for some reason, "Anko-chan..." I murmured, continuously nudging the hand with my cheek affectionately.

I heard a feminine giggle, not quite like Anko-chan's, but close enough. "No I apologize, but I do not know who this 'Anko' of yours is," the effeminate voice said good-naturedly and stroked my cheek again, but then stopped, taking his, or her, hand back to their own side.

Wait... what? Whose did that hand belong to, then? And why was my face heating up like an oven on fire? Oh right, it was embarrassing to know that I had been comforted by someone I didn't know. I really didn't want anyone to use that instance to blackmail me. Otherwise I'd have to kill someone, and I didn't want to kill anyone. If I did I would be blood thirsty, and it's best that I'm not that. It would be detrimental to whomsoever was around me.

I snapped open my eyes, only for them to stare directly into a pink something. I had to squint my eyes at the light colour. There was too much light, I had to make it diminish somehow. I groaned at the uncomfortable feeling of getting too much light to my eyes. I sat up slowly, idly noting that my chest was completely bare of any clothing. It didn't bother me too much, seeing as there was only a single other person in this room, and it seemed that the person was female. And an attractive one at that.

I looked around and saw that I was in a decrepit old house, and what seemed to be the rather small attic of it. Actually, I thought it was rather homey, to be honest. The window to my right was closed, but it was obvious that there was a problem with the window, as there was a slight breeze coming from its general direction. The futon – I identified it as such almost immediately – I lay on was a boring brown colour, and from what I could tell, it had seen better days. However, in pristine condition for some reason, was a chair right next to the door on the far side of the room, the room being less than two metres long and a meter wide. On said chair was my kimono, along with the rest of my clothes, my black undershirt, dark grey underpants, and my tabi socks being laid perfectly atop of the bundle of superlatively laid clothing. My wooden geta sandals were right underneath the stainless chair.

To my left was a decaying wall of rotting wood, but curiously without smell. On said wall was a picture of a strangely familiar couple. It looked like a man and a woman, or a teenage girl more like, were standing on a stony and aged bridge, the female on it smiling benevolently and having her eyes closed and the gruff looking man with bandages covering the lower part of his face. Even with the bandages, you could see that he was smiling widely, as if he had just met a thought long lost friend of his. He also had a gigantic, single edged sword with a circle close to what seemed to be the tip of the humongous butcher knife-like sword, as well as a semi circle near the handle of it on the blade's edge. There was a very small handle on the blade, as if the handle itself had been detached from the blade. And by the looks of the shaft in the man's hand, it was obvious that the thing in his hand was the missing part of the sword's stock. Running beneath the stony bridge was a narrow river, but it seemed as if the bridge was necessary, as the bridge was incredibly wide, and a lot of people were walking behind the couple.

And speaking of the couple, they seemed to nudge a memory deep within my memory bank inside my brain.

It was Haku of the Yuki clan, and Zabuza Momochi, wielding the Decapitating Carving Knife.

That sent me in a loop. Why were Zabuza and Haku here, in the afterlife? Shouldn't they be sealed inside my Susanoo or something? Or is there more to it than that? Only way to know was if I asked them about it. There was also the question of where I was. That was also to be asked. I needed answers, and quick.

"Are you going to stop imitating a gold fish or are you going to talk?" an impetuous voice that came from the direction of the door. "I ask because I hate gold fish," as the voice finished I turned my head to face the speaker, and lo and behold, with his bandages covering the lower part of the face, and a sleeveless dark shirt covering his chest, showing off a good pair of muscled arms, and a pair of dark blue pants that reached all the way to his ankles, and a pair of dark blue toe-less shinobi sandals, was Zabuza Momochi.

"No way," I whispered, wide eyed at the former member of the legendary Seven Swordsmen of the Mist. "You're..."

Zabuza arched an eyebrow, or what would be an eyebrow, seeing as he had none, and narrowed his eyes at me, "I'm... who?" Zabuza asked.

I shook my head a little bit and began, "You're Zabuza Momochi, former member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist and wielder of the Decapitating Carving Knife," I once again shook my head and turned my head to the effeminate person who was still smiling beside me, though the smile, I noted, was slightly amused, and not just polite. I pointed at him, or her, whatever, and said, "And you're Haku of the Yuki clan, owner of one of the last Bloodlines from the Hidden Mist Village, the Ice Release."

Haku giggled into his, or her, hand and nodded, "Correct. Now since you know so much about us, how about you introduce yourself, hm?" Haku asked politely of me, though I was certain that although neither of them showed it, they were both surprised at my knowledge. I was certain of it. They were, after all, ninja, and trained at deception. Right? Of course, this is Haku and Zabuza I was talking about. They were freaking bad-ass! Or at least, Zabuza was. He was blood thirsty, but had was kind at heart. That was sort of like me, but not really at the same time. Bah, those thoughts would be available to think about at a later date, not then.

I shook my head again, "Yes," I coughed into my hand in embarrassment at the problem of them not knowing who I was. I was, after all, not of this universe, and therefore no one would know who I was. "Of course," I put a hand on my bare chest and bowed at the both of them, "My name is Shinji Takuma. I am the wielder of the Bloodline of the Rinnegan, and-"

"Rinnegan?" Zabuza and Haku half-yelled in chorus, interrupting me from my introduction.

"Why can't we see it, then?" Haku asked politely, but there was curiosity and a hint of scepticism over the fact that I had the Rinnegan.

"That is because I have cast an illusion on it, a permanent one. I can disable it if I so wish. Do you wish to see it?" Not waiting for an answer I formed the Ram hand seal and in a puff of smoke my Rinnegan eyes were revealed to the world. Or in as it was in this case Zabuza and Haku.

Zabuza took a step forward, not as a threat, but as a curious gesture, seeing as his face was set in an inquisitive expression. "The Rinnegan is said to be a legend, the eyes of the mythical Sage of the Six Paths," Zabuza continued his dialogue about his impressive knowledge on the Rinnegan, "The owner of the Rinnegan is said to be able to master all of the five chakra natures, as well as the unresearched Yin-Yang Release. The Rinnegan user is said to also be able to manipulate gravity, summon anything and anyone they want summoned, said to have immense strength and speed, is able to see chakra, the ability to separate souls from their bodies at a touch of a finger, and absorb all chakra techniques," I was unsure how Zabuza knew all that, but I was also sure that whomever had told Zabuza of that information was dead by now.

I smiled knowingly, "And that's not all," that single sentence took both Zabuza and Haku aback, "The wielder of the Rinnegan is able to use all Bloodlines that have anything to do with combining the chakra elements," I shifted my eyes to Haku, looking deep into his, or her, brown eyes, and continued, "Meaning, I can use the Ice Release," those words surprised Haku, and he, or she, was about to say something before I continued, "And that also means that I am able to use the Wood Release, Storm Release, Lava Release and the Boil Release, among others," I smirked at Zabuza's and Haku's stunned faces. It wasn't always that you met a Rinnegan wielder that claimed to be able to use every single chakra combination nature.

My smirk widened even more, because there was also my Mangekyo Sharingan abilities, but I thought that I should hide those, as my blood thirst took an all time high every time I used one of them. So I better not use them. Or tell anyone about them either. It was always good to have a trump card, yeah? Of course it was practical to also not use those trump cards of mine.

But there were other things to worry about. After all, I didn't expect Haku and Zabuza to be my enemies for a long, long time. Or perhaps at all. Hopefully they would never be my enemies. They would never be openly hostile towards me, definitely not if I showed them that there was not a single reason for any hostility towards me at all.

"No way," Zabuza said, already amazed by the capabilities of the Rinnegan's powers. Haku was staring wide eyed at me, but was otherwise the more composed of the two.

I chuckled then shrugged, "Well, that's what I've experienced anyway," I said.

It was time for me to properly get introduced to the afterlife, if this was it. "So," I rubbed the back of my neck nervously, since the two were sort of starting to stare at me, if they hadn't already. My voice snapped them out of their amazement of my Rinnegan, however. "Are you going to introduce me to the afterlife or something?" I asked of them.

Zabuza shook his head a little, still a little taken unprepared by the revelation about the Rinnegan, while Haku just returned to smile politely and began to talk, "Yes, this is the afterlife. We are currently in Rukongai," Rukongai? That meant that this was Bleach, right? I sure as hell hoped so. Because of various factors that could be taken into account and counted up at a later date. Though... I hoped that Anko-chan was somewhere too. I would love it if she were in Soul Society, whether or not she was a Shinigami or not remained to be seen. "Which is divided into eighty districts," oh, I know. But I played dumb, since it was better that I did not know anything about the afterlife. It was better that way, since if I said I knew everything about the afterlife Haku and Zabuza, mostly Zabuza, would be suspicious of me. "The lower the district number the higher the crime rate. It is unfortunate, but the Shinigami," I played dumbfounded by the discovery of 'Shinigami', "I'll explain that later, but the Shinigami are too busy handling other problems, such as Hollows," once again I looked surprised. And it was surprisingly easy for me to do so. "Again, I'll explain it all later," Haku giggled into his, or her, hand. "The higher the district number, the lower the crime rate. But in the middle of Soul Society – that is the dimension of which we live in, by the way – is Seireitei, the Court of Pure Souls. It is the capital city of Soul Society, it's where the Shinigami live. Now," Haku wriggled around a bit to find a more comfortable seating position, "The Shinigami are what you would call the 'police' of the afterlife. They are divided into thirteen divisions, each having a special task assigned to them. Zabuza-sama and I don't know anything about each of the individual division's assigned to them. The Shinigami's divisions are all leaded by a captain for each division. So far, we only know the name of the captain of the first division. His name is," Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto, right? "Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto. He is the oldest captain of the Gotei thirteen – that's what the military and police force is called – and therefore is the strongest of them all," Haku sighed a little, "But trouble is, we don't know what they mean by 'strong'. He is old," that's for certain, "but how is he the strongest?" Haku looked at me with a calculating glance, but then closed his, or her, – dammit, I can't get over how girly Haku looks like! It's like he, or she, deliberately chose to seem as cute as possible! Dammit all! – eyes and sighed once again.

"That is the question Zabuza-sama and I asked ourselves when we heard that the first division captain the strongest. We figured it out just today, actually. The powers in this dimension is very different from ours. The nature of chakra has more to do with combining both spirit and body to mould the energy formed by the combination into outside effects, such as creating a fire on for lighting, or water for drinking. But here, it is completely different. Here, people have what they call 'reiryoku', spiritual power, and said reiryoku is constantly decompressed and constantly generated. The decompression is called 'reiatsu', spiritual pressure, and if brought in enough quantities can overwhelm a being made out of reiryoku. In this dimension, everything is made out of reiryoku. And everything living is generating reiryoku. And apparently, with training and natural selection or something, the amount of reiryoku generated varies. The more reiryoku a person generates the more reiatsu a person lets out. I have heard that it is possible to suppress reiatsu to the point where it is nigh undetectable, but it is impossible to completely suppress it."

And then Haku stood up and looked out the window as Zabuza tossed my clothes in my general direction. I heard a little scuffle downstairs, and Zabuza grumbled something – while Haku just sighed, apparently in disappointment – and went downstairs to whatever that scuffle was about. I prepared to dress underneath the sheet of the futon. Haku continued, "Now about Hollows. There is little to know about them, since people tend to fear them very much and shy away from the subject whenever I or Zabuza-sama bring it up. So the only thing we have been able to conclude about Hollows is that they are all monsters, with monster-like characteristics, and all have white masks on their faces and glowing eyes," I nodded in response to Haku's words. It all made sense, though I didn't know about the 'constantly decompressed and constantly generated' thing about reiryoku. I just figured that there was a set amount of reiryoku a day and it would be repeatedly replenished or something. But it did make an awful amount of sense, now that I thought about it.

Haku turned around with a flutter of his, or her, kimono, and folded his, or her, arms in front of his, or her, flat chest. He, or she, smiled kindly at me, "So, any questions? There might be something I can answer for you," Haku smiled friendly at me.

I thought for only a moment before I asked a very wanted question of mine. "Are you a boy, or a girl?" I asked 'intelligently'.

Haku blanched and blushed a little bit. He, or she, began scratching his cheek, quite reminiscent of how Naruto used to do when he was embarrassed. "We-Well, I'm a boy," Haku said, but had to repeat it once, "I'm a boy," Haku nodded, determined to make me think that he, or she, was a boy.

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. "Prove it."

Haku lost some colour in his, or her, face, and simply sighed. "Is it really necessary for you to know whether or not I'm a girl or a boy, Takuma-san?" Haku cleverly asked of me.

"Well," I nodded a little and looked directly into Haku's eyes with my own Rinnegan eyes. "That is a good question, but I'd rather know for sure than to speculate. You are, after all, quite androgynous, and I'm tired of not knowing whether or not you're a boy."

Haku blushed heavily this time, but undid his, or her, pink and flowery kimono. He, or she, confirmed that, yes, Haku was a boy.

I blushed as well, and immediately looked away so Haku could hurry and do his kimono again. "Oh... I didn't know, sorry..." I dumbly said. Well, that covers that. Now I know that Haku was a boy. Good to know, I guess...

"This is awkward," I said, Haku hummed in the affirmative in response. But I shook my head in determination. It was time to shake that awkwardness away, and to look Haku in the eye and apologize! Go, Shinji Takuma! You can do it!

And I did. I looked Haku straight into his eyes and I said, "I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable, Haku-san. How can I make it up for you?"

Haku shook his head, "No, it's alright. You didn't know, and you did want to know. Don't worry about it. I have gone to similar lengths to let people know that I am male. Again, don't worry about it," Haku politely shook off my apology as if it were nothing but a trivial matter. Which in his eyes it were probably, but in my own perception was not. It was definitely something worth knowing.

I nodded my head, "Alright," I drawled. I had finally completely dressed myself. All I needed was to dress into my comfortable, and wholly stainless, white kimono. I stood up, now totally dressed, and ready to know why Zabuza was shouting so god damn much downstairs.

Haku must have noticed my confused stare down at the floor, because he tilted his head towards the only door in the room and proceeded towards it. "Come on, I'll show you the rest of the gang," and I followed him down a flight of turning stairs. They were old, but curiously pristine at the same time.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs I saw a curious sight. Zabuza was trying to tame two energetic adolescent children. One, male, had red hair done in a ponytail that sort of made him look like a pineapple, and the other, female, had black hair that in the right light would make it look purple.

I recognized them both.

Author's Note: I hope you aren't angry at me for making Haku what he is supposed to be. A guy. Also, can you guess who the two children are? If you can't, then shame on you! D: