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.
They say that once every hundred years or so, a special child is born that is gifted with abilities most others can never come to equal. In this period of the Spirit World, there are many average shinigami that would otherwise be on that level of a prodigy in the distant future (present BLEACH). With this in mind, it can be quite hard to imagine what a prodigy child's power would be in this, the golden age of warfare.
Netami is one such child, having achieved his Bankai, or final sword form, at only 20 years old. Netami was praised universally. All the warring clans coveted him as soon as he sought the life of a mercenary. His power was and has always been unrivaled, until another young prodigy was born. Out of pure hatred and jealousy, as well as the premonition of this newborn succeeding him, Netami slew him as a baby, as well as the child's entire family lest another miracle be born into the world.
And so this is where our scene falls. The blood of the innocent and undefended stained on his sword, and the assassin Suichi staring him down opposite a hallway in the no-more family's estate. Suichi knew his chances of survival depended solely on his opponent, and how much he would be able to antagonize him into pursuing him. The plan was to kill this man without fighting him, for there was no hope for any man alive to fight this man.
"Shoot!" Suichi yelled as he shot his arm forward. The chain snapped off and followed a double the velocity his arm blurred forward with. Netami, in a blurred movement of his own, deflected the chain into the wall. The chain continued forward and flew over Netami. Suichi formed a fist and jerked his arm back. "Reload!"
Netami disappeared for a moment, and the chain returned in a metallic blur around Suichi's forearm. Netami reappeared a step back from where he had just been, dodging the chain's attack easily, so it seemed. Suichi kept a serious face, attempting to keep it clear of any emotions for fear of his opponent sensing a weakness. Unconsciously, Suichi took a short step forward.
"Oh?" Netami playfully said. "Feeling brave, are we?" Netami carved a short line in the wooden floor at his feet and smiled up at Suichi. "I won't move past this line, alright? That should give you more than enough chances to hit me." Netami ended his little ruling with a smile and stood perfectly still. Suichi raised his arm and curled his fingers slightly.
"That's fine with me." He balled up his hand into a fist and threw it back again. "Shoot!" The chain whiped back out, perfectly straight and heading for Netami's face. Yet again, it was deflected, and without the slightest movement from Netami but a smile. This time, however, the chain started to ripple and writhe. "Lash!" Suichi cried. Netami's smile faded fast as the sharp tip of the chain's started lashing violently towards him.
For a moment, Suichi had a slight advantage. His training had given rise to new techniques that he never thought he could do before. His only attack and reload method were now expanded to a much wider variety of offensive and defensive techniques that could be used when the moment called for them.
Netami was furiously swinging his sword with a reversed hold, pointing the blade down with his hand pointed normally, to deflect the lashing chain. His face was obscured by his black bangs, but Suichi knew that he had him at least momentarily outmaneuvered. The clashing of metal on metal grew louder and louder through the narrow hall, until finally it stopped. This was an unexpected moment for both combatants, as Suichi's chain was coiled tightly around Netami's sword.
There was a chill in the air. Everything became completely silent for a few moments. Time even seemed to slow down. It was like the moments before one watches their own death, slow and antagonizing to the watcher, and now all Suichi could do was watch on in horror as Netami's nefarious smile became more and more clear by his glowing, murderous eyes.
"AAA-CHOO!" Hoji raised his hand to wipe at his nose. "Tch. What a waste" he complained as he walked along beside Shin. The pair had just finished their daily ritual mediation and spiritual suppression techniques. The basic goal was to focus themselves and their energies into their swords, hoping to spark some kind of instant transformation. The process left them drained and usually very hungry, and none of their nearby "neighbors" were ever willing to share. Therefor, thievery and occasional combat was the only alternative.
"Not quite a waste. See?" Shin said, holding up a large bag full of apples. Hoji dissmissed it as useless, seeing as the food wasn't meat of any kind or alcoholic.
"Tch! What's so great about apples?" Hoji spat. As if in response, an apple hit his ehad and bounced into his lap.
"See for yourself" Shin replied with a mouth full and drooling with apple. Hoji glared at the fruit and took a hesitant chomp out of it. After a few seconds of deliberation, he threw the rest away and grumped on his rock. "Fine. More for me" Shin said as he continued to stuff himself. Shin's noisy eating had attracted and unwanted predator in the distance.
"SHINIGAMI!!" Some ravenous voice screamed out, "Prepare to be devoured!" Yet again, it was some careless, hungry monster that had no sense of eminent danger. Shin refused to even acknowledge the beast, so Hoji picked up his sword and dashed out in front of the creature's path.
"Hey there, bitch!" The creature was stunned for a moment too many. In a flash, a glare of light streaked out from Hoji's sheathe and dissolved into his drawn sword pointed upwards. The creature moaned pitifully and started to dissolve as Hoji marched back to sulk beside his mentor. Shin didn't see what happened, as he had worked the batch of apples down to the bottom of the bag and was desperately searching for a morsel he may have overlooked.
"You're pathetic, ya know!? If you want more just go and take them, jeez." Hoji complained as he sheathed his sword. He sat down again on his little seat with Shin grumbling behind him. "Tch" he grumped.
"Woah! Did you see that!?" a random voice cried out from a distance away. Hoji and Shin perked themselves up instantly and turned to what seemed to be a small caravan of servant-drawn carts heading down the road. Many people had poked their heads from out of the covering of their carts to gaze in awe at the man who had vanquished the beast.
"Hey you! The bald guy!" A man in the frontmost cart called.
"WHO'S BALD!!" Hoji screamed with a demonic face.
"Come on over! We wanna thank you for killing that Hollow for us!"
"Huh?" Hoji and Shin both grunted in unison, and with the same inflection. "Hollow?"
