Ch. 2 Indtroductions

Note: For those of you who know nothing about Bleach, this chapter will explain a lot of things.

Takeshi arrived on scene a minute later. He had his Zanpakuto in hand and was ready for battle. "Put that away," Satoshi said, pointing at his weapon. Takeshi reluctantly put the sword back in it's bo-staff sheath. He then turned to face the people in the car. If you could call them that.

"I'm Takeshi Yamashita at your service." he said plainly, having no interest in this anymore.

"Right now is not the time for us to talk. We need to find shelter. Do you have a house?" Satoshi asked Dave, the man sitting in the car.

"Uh, yeah. Hop in and we'll give you a ride."

The two captains got into the car. "Buckle up," Dave told them. They gave him confused looks. Simon got out of the front seat and showed them how to do it. After the two men were buckled up, Dave turned the car around and headed home.

On the way to the house, Satoshi asked Dave and the others many questions, including ones about the Hollows and how long they had been appearing. When the car stopped at the house everyone went inside. Satoshi knew they would have have to answer questions, or, at least he would. Takeshi asked "Why don't I keep watch outside for more Hollows?" as soon as the kids and Dave had sat down. Satoshi agreed. He would answer their questions.

"I know you have a lot of questions," he began but was immediately interrupted by Alvin.

"What are you doing here? Why are you supposed to protect us? What did you do to that thing? Why do you have that sword? What does it do? What do you guys do?"

Satoshi held up a finger to his mouth, and Alvin stopped talking. "I'll start by answering that first question. I am a Soul Reaper named Satoshi Yamashita. My brother Takeshi and I were sent to this town under orders by the Head Captain, who is our boss, to investigate the appearances of so many Hollows, the monsters you've been seeing. It is the duty of a Soul Reaper to slay Hollows and protect innocent souls and living people from them. I have now answered four of your questions." Satoshi paused for a minute, then continued, "The sword is called a Zanpakuto (Soul Cutting Sword) and every Soul Reaper has one. The Zanpakuto can be released to two different levels and is the embodiment of it's wielders soul. They each have a unique name and powers. The two levels of release are called Shikai (Initial Release) and Bankai (Final Release). The difference in power between Shikai and Bankai is 5-10 times greater. Bankai takes years of training to obtain and master and is almost exclusively limited to the Captains of the 13 Court Guard Squads. I am Captain of the 9th Squad and my brother Takeshi is Captain of the 5th Squad. I will not show you my Bankai because it could be disastrous if I released that much power for the Hollows to sense. However, to make you understand the Zanpakuto better, I will now release mine to the first level."

Everyone stared at him as if he had lobsters crawling out of his ears. He knew the only way to get them to believe him was to show them. He drew his sword and placed the pommel agiainst the sheath's entrance and said, "Sun god fade and sunlight recede. Starlight flee and moonlight wane. Kage Akuma! (Shadow Demon)"

The sheath and blade merged together to form a Kusari-Gama weapon with a chain that had an infinite length. Everyone looked scared. This was going to be a little harder than he thought.