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.
Suichi woke up in a dark and humid place. His head hurt badly and his body felt tight. The last few minutes of his consciousness were a blur of confusion and pain, courtesy of the supposedly demented mad killer, Shin Kenpachi. As Suichi's senses returned to him, he could hear the crackling of a fire and feel its heat. He smelled the cooking of meat and at length opened his eyes to a fire inside a cave. Across from the fire sat the other man, Hoji, gnawing on a stick of cooked meat. Suichi looked up warily, and Hoji looked down.
"Oi, Shin! He's awake!" Hoji shouted with a mouth full of food. A rustling of clothes nearby perked Suichi to open both his eyes. First he could only see the dirt-stained socks, then his vision drifted upward to the tattered pants and torn robe. His sheathe was in hand and held over shoulder and his eyes were fixated on the poor floored man. Suichi thought his life was over, that his quest for glory and retrebution had finally come to an abrupt end as Shin lowered down at his knees to stare closer at him. He raised his free hand up to his face and said
"Yo" in a friendly voice. Suichi stopped breathing for a few seconds. "We won't kill you," Shin continued casually as he rolled down onto his butt. "The only reason you're tied up is because you were trying to kill us in your sleep." The sharp swinging of metal sounded and Suichi was free from his bind. He shuffled cautiously to his knees and Hoji held out the blade to him.
"It's yours, man" Hoji said. Suichi took his sword slowly and sheathed it behind his back. Hoji had seemingly lost interest in him and was piercing more meat with his eating stick from a pile near the fire.
"So," Shin started as he crossed his legs and grabbed some meat with his sword, "what brings you out here all beaten and dying?" Suichi looked startled for a second, having forgotten for a while that he was indeed still riddled with wounds from escaping Netami.
"I was," Suichi started shyly, "attacked." Shin looked over at him through the shadow the fire made on his brow.
"By who?" Shin asked.
"A guy" Suichi answered. There was a weird silence after that, as Shin and Hoji were expecting some more information. Suichi darted his vision between the two occasionally, feeling increasingly uncomfortable.
"Relax" Shin said at length, handing him a round, red object. "Apple?" he offered. Suichi extended his hand and haltingly took the apple from the famous rampaging killer…
How ironic Suichi thought as he bit into the apple. An assassin, hired umpteen times to kill either of these men is now enjoying dinner with them… The sudden realization of his plight just hit him: there was none. If they wanted to just kill him and be done with it he'd most likely be dead. Then another thought came through his head but ended up going out his mouth.
"How'd I get knocked out?" Suichi asked. Shin glanced over in the middle of his apple and looked around. There was a rock near the mouth of the cave that he pointed to. Suichi looked over and saw it, curious as to what it had to do with--
"You hit me with a rock?"
"Tch!" Hoji chided, "no you moron! Watch the rock!" Suichi glared over for a moment then looked back. Shin opened his palm and the air became heavy. Then he quickly closed his palm and the rock was crumbled to nothing over the intense force of gravity. The fire swayed spastically for a few moments until the air became normal again. Shin kept his fist extended for Suichi to double take at several times.
"I'm not exactly sure," Shin began modestly, "but I think it has something to do with my spiritual power…or something." Suichi's mouth gaped at Shin. His reputation was certainly reputable under these circumstances.
"It…" Suichi stuttered. Hoji and Shin both perked themselves up to listen. "It's called Spirit Pressure…a shinigami's raw power in a focused form." Shin and Hoji were now listening very intently to this man.
After the initial shock, Shin and Hoji were ready again. The storm outside occasionally let out a rip of lighting and a blast of thunder but the fire was still hot and the meat was still…there for now. Shin and Hoji sat very properly with swords in laps across the fire from Suichi, staring at him seriously. They had asked to learn, and Suichi wasn't prepared to teach them.
"…so…" Suichi started. Both warriors were steadfast and eager to hear whatever they could about how their powers really worked. "What are you curious about?"
"I-" Hoji attempted to pose a question, but Shin pushed his head down into his own knees.
"Our swords!" Shin exclaimed. "How do we make them release their inner power?" Hoji forced himself back up and spat.
"That was my question!" Hoji shouted. Suichi cleared his throat and grabbed their attention again.
"Shikai" Suichi began, "is what you're talking about. To achieve Shikai, the first state of transformation, you must learn your sword's name. Then, you can activate the release." Suichi thought he had given a decent explanation, but Shin and Hoji were impatiently glaring at him.
"And?" Hoji blurted. Suichi decided to take out his sword and demonstrate. Everyone stood up. Suichi unsheathed his sword and held it sideways with his fists touching at the thumb and index fingers.
"Coil Endlessly, Haganerensa!" The transformation was almost instant for Suichi, but Shin and Hoji were able to observe every moment with undeterred concentration. Lightning struck a tree just outside the cave, and no one moved. The sword seemed to melt into light and mold into a finely crafted chain that started at the elbow and ended as a spike coming off of Suichi's middle finger. With the event over, Suichi raised up his metal-wrapped hand for the two to inspect. "And that's it!"
Hoji and Shin were still unimpressed and anxious for something else to be explained. They both took their swords in hand and drew them out.
"Mine looks like a giant skeleton" Shin said as he eyed his sword over for anything odd.
"Mine just tried to kill me…" Hoji replied.
"Hey!" Suichi exclaimed. "You can't just expect to know the names automatically!" Shin and Hoji started listening again. "It took me years of serious meditation and practice to learn my sword's name, and I barely have all of it's potential unlocked! There's even another level after the initial release that I can't even describe to you." Once Suichi was calm again, Shin and Hoji sheathed their swords again.
"Well then," Shin started, "it seems that we've been doing just fine on our own until now."
"Yeah" Hoji nodded. Suichi looked between the two of them several times. A huge flash of lighting and the roar of loud thunder masked the movements of the two villains, as both swords were now pointed straight at Suichi's neck.
"Train with us, boy" Shin growled. In the darkness, his eyes seemed to glow through the air itself. Even Hoji's teeth were flashing brilliantly with bits of meat clouding an otherwise perfectly menacing mouth. Suichi held his hands up in surrender and returned his sword back into his hand in its normal state.
"Can't we wait until it stops raining?" he pleaded. Shin and Hoji glanced at each other and shot back down to stoke the fire back up. Suichi dropped to his knees and sheathed his sword with his head hung down.
What the hell? Suichi begged internally. What have I agreed to do, exactly? Help two extremely wanted bandits become even more powerful!? This is terrible…The old man probably thinks I'm dead by now. Netami probably thinks I… Suichi returned his face up to the other's level. Shin and Hoji were both leaning against the cave walls and staring outside with their swords tightly gripped in hand.
That's right! Suichi thought with renewed vigor. As long as I'm with these two, Netami wouldn't dare try and track me! It's perfect. He may be a prodigy fighter, but these two are serious killers! As long as I'm here…I'm safe. All at once, the rains stopped and brief flashes of sunlight streaked to the ground as the clouds started to part.
"Get up" Shin said as he started out. "It's ass-kicking time." Suichi let his head fall limp onto his shoulder and he started to weep.
"Dammit, it's never easy for me is it?" Suichi whined. Safe though he was, he was also at the mercy of these two rampant murderers and their twisted whims…not a fair trade. Regardless, he drew out his sword and marched forward.
