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.
"And that's our story," Aya finished, bowing rapidly at Hoji. "Please forgive us for our intrusion." Hoji wasn't paying much attention after she finished her tale, as he was still training with Shin, doing push-ups with his thumbs and keeping his body vertical in the air.
"So what if you two are engaged or whatever, doesn't mean you can run away…" Hoji mused to the girl. The young boy was still having nightmares under Hoji's coat which he gave up out of pity. Hoji lowered his face to the ground one last time and pushed himself high into the air. Then, he floated slowly back down.
"Tch. Well," Hoji started, "I guess I'm not one to ridicule someone else's life. But you kids should get going," Hoji started walking away from the child still seated and watching warily, "we've got work to do."
Aya glanced over at her would-be fiancée and frowned pathetically. Who was she to go against her parent's wishes so callously? Even if Sensuke took the blame for their wandering off, she would still get a verbal lashing from her parents.
The future of our clan is riding solely on you marrying the Mokojiro boy! Don't you dare disobey us, and don't even think about letting down the clan! Do you understand, Aya?
Her father's voice echoed hollowly in her mind. She could remember her seated in the middle of the family's sitting room, being appraised like a piece of furniture with the eyes of all her relatives locked on her. She didn't move, she barely breathed. And she could remember how angry Sensuke looked, angry and scared as well.
Sensuke groaned and sat up slowly, rubbing his head. Now that he had fainted twice in the same setting from isolated events, he was ready to bravely stand up and defend himself.
"One! Two!" Sensuke awoke to the loud grunts and rhythmic shouting of Shin and Hoji training by swinging huge logs over their heads repeatedly. Sensuke felt another faint coming one, but recollected himself and crawled over to Aya, who was watching the impressive display of power from a distance.
"Psst! Aya!" Sensuke whispered from the brush behind her. "Come on! Let's go before people come looking for us!" Aya nodded and started walking over to the forest thicket. She considered bidding the shinigami farewell, but decided against it from the looks on their faces. The heated passion that twisted with aggressive happiness with each stroke they took, she didn't want to interrupt that.
Suddenly the brush rustled lightly, and two guards dressed in red and golden robes came bursting through the woods. Inadvertently, one had stepped on Sensuke, knocking him out yet again.
"Lady Aya, are you alright! One weasely looking soldier shouted. Aya in turn tugged on his robes from the ground and looked apologetically at him. The soldier nearly burst into tears as he dropped his sword and scooped the child up in his arms.
"Ah! The Lady Aya is safe! Our clan is secure!" He let out an airy laugh of triumph as his partner stood in total shock at the two other people standing in the grove's clearing. Their faces were burnt into his mind, the two murderers that had been roaming the country side and destroying entire villages. Shin Kenpachi and his cohort of unimportant detail.
The other guard stopped his happy dance and nearly threw the girl he was celebrating into the brush behind him. She landed on top of Sensuke just as he was standing up.
"Stand back, Lady Aya! These two are beastly criminals of the highest degree!" Shin and Hoji turned away from their training and walked slowly over to face down the two guards.
"Shin Kenpachi, you are under arrest for resisting arrest for murder and rampageous behavior across the country!" the weasel-man said with his sword staring the pair down. Shin and Hoji just stared at him, Hoji adding a little more rampant anger to his own stare.
"This doesn't seem to be a very fair fight, don't you think?" Shin asked dryly. The guard glanced over curiously at his partner, who was now collapsed on the ground and foaming at the mouth. He turned back to face the duo, then blinked and shot is head over again and screamed.
"What did you do to him?" Suddenly, there was a massive build up of pressure all around the unfortunate guard. Shin and Hoji glared at him through seemingly white eyes as the guard's vision faded from a blur into darkness. Both guards were incapacitated by the presence of Shin and Hoji, and the two laughed slightly.
Aya and Sensuke had observed from the bush they were hiding in at the spectacle. Sensuke had been secretly hoping for an all out fight, but even from acknowledging the massive presence that Shin and Hoji had, a fight would have been far to destructive for either he nor Aya to handle. Aya was just staring with wide and shimmering eyes.
"You two!" Shin suddenly shouted and pointed at the wrong bush. "Get yourselves back to your homes! It won't be long before more of these bastards start arriving." Aya nodded silently and picked up Sensuke. Shin noticed the direction they were heading and corrected his finger to make him look less like an idiot. It was too late, however, and Aya could hear Hoji's smart remarks fading as she raced through the woods.
"So, you're the next target…" Suichi dropped from the rafters of the hall to confront the log-haired man walking away. The man turned with an innocent smile and faced the assassin with a blood soaked sword pointed at him. Suichi reached to draw his own sword, but his hand stopped in mid-movement.
The air suddenly became surprisingly heavy. This was a common technique of the shinigami guards and royal soldiers, to manipulate their spiritual energy into a pressure that pushes around on everything around them. The smiling man with a charismatic and smug smile started walking towards Suichi, just as he adjusted himself to the pressure and drew out his sword.
"I know what you've done, Netami. The guild will have its vengeance," Suichi hissed as he grabbed his sword with both hands and pointed it sideways, "and I will deliver it!" Netami, smiled and glared through his parted bangs at the assassin's to be attempt.
"Coil endlessly," Netami's smile went from innocent to manic and terrifying, "Haganerensa!" The sword, in a blur of light, extended and coiled around Suichi's arm up to his elbow. When the brightness faded, Netami was still bearing his teeth and glaring venomously at Suichi's new weapon: a chain wrapped tightly around his arm and ended in a spiked link that dropped slightly off his middle finger.
Suichi glared at the nearly laughing Netami, and threw his arm back, readying an attack. Netami raised the sword that was still dripping with the blood of the noble family he had just finished slaughtering before his assassin came, and the battle ensued.
Haganerensa Steel Chain
