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.


With astonishing power, Shin extended his leg and blasted the air around it with a thunderous bang! Unfortunately, his target was not there, nor was he even in sight at the moment. Shin was curious as he spun through the air and slid in spirals to a stop after kicking up a wall of dust. Hoji darted his head around as well, searching the street for the unmissable, ugly little man.

"Where'd he go!?" Hoji shouted. On the other side of the buildings, on the other street, Toshiro was standing smugly in the middle of the street, adjusting his belt.

"Neh-heh!" he cackled softly. "Those idiot swordsmen will never catch me!"

"No, but I will" a voice said from above. Toshiro's eyes flew open and he spun around on his heel, catching a glimpse of Suichi sitting on a window ledge before his weight spun his out of control and into the dirt. Suichi looked on with embarrassment and leaped over to street level onto a low fence. Toshiro grunted as he struggled back onto all fours, then he grunted his way back onto his feet. He snarled, curling his lips and squinting his eyes over at Suichi who looked down at the ground.

"You must be frightened" Toshiro taunted, "you don't even have the courage to look me in the eyes!" Toshiro began his devious cackle as Suichi winced to respond.

"It's not that" Suichi started bashfully, "it's just that...you're so damn ugly that looking at you makes me sick..." Suichi started to softly snicker while Toshiro fumed even more, contorting his face to indescribably ugly dimensions. He reached for his sword just in time for Shin and Hoji to come dashing out on either side of him through the alleyways between the streets.

Hoji skidded to a stop and balanced down with his hand, the other holding his sword up high while his tilting head bore a devilish grin. Shin just stood perfectly still while his momentum dropped and pointed his sword up at Toshiro when he stopped. Toshiro darted his head back and forth between the rising demon behind him and the statuesque demon in front, while the nimble assassin crouched effortlessly on another window sill.

"S-so what!?" Toshiro shouted in challenge. "You're all going to gang up on me at once!?"

"Tch." Hoji grunted. "Of course not. We were going to charge you separately so there would be enough meat to carve between the three of us..."

"But if you're giving us the offer to charge at once..." Shin started sadistically, "then we'd be rude not to take it." So Shin, Hoji and Suichi all charged at Toshiro at the same time. The fat man darted his head around fervently many times, trying to decide where to run or what to do, but all in vain as his adversaries began to descend.

First, Suichi came down with his sword pointed down in a piercing move, so Toshiro jumped back. Back, however, was Hoji's forward, and the maniac man was able to encounter him first. Before Toshiro could fully draw out his sword, Hoji delivered a crushing blow with the butt of his sword to Toshiro's back, arching the stout man into a deformed and painful ball and sending him flying down the street towards Shin. The unamused killer took his sword and flexed it back behind his head with the blunt edge forward. Before Toshiro could regain his aerial bearings, Shin hammered him far up into the air with his sword like a bat, then watched as he came crashing back down, breaking through a house's roof.

"Boom!" Hoji announced excitedly.

"Nicely done, men!" Suichi said.

"No fun" Shin grumped. "No fun at all..."

"Oh! Was that it?" Toshiro said from behind the three. They all turned to see him leaning laxly on a blanket and nibbling on a loaf of bread without a spec of damage at all on him. "I thought you guys would go longer, all that bragging you've been doing..." he taunted as he took a mighty bite of his roll.


"Ah COME ON!" Hoji shouted vehemently. "It doesn't even look like he got hurt at all!"

"Calm down, Hoji" Shin chided, sheathing his sword.

"Tch!?" was Hoji's response.

"It's his sword" Shin briefly explained. Hoji calmed himself down slightly. Toshiro paused from his snacking and glared with one open eye at Shin.

"Really? How do you know?" Hoji asked.

"You couldn't sense it?" Suichi asked. Hoji shook his head.

"He activated his sword when he announced himself to us, remember?" Shin explained. Hoji thought back to a few minutes ago, and realized that he in fact did say the name of his sword as he held it out.

"Well..." Hoji started, "...what's it do?"

"My best guess:" Shin began as he turned back to his opponent, "Time." Toshiro chocked a little bit at Shin's single-worded explanation. "Somehow, he's been going back and forth between points of distance and time simultaneously. We can't see it, or even sense it, as he residual spirit energy gets left behind much like the dust on the road when you flash step. His sword must allow him to leap through time..." Toshiro's jaw was gaping open.

"So that's it" Suichi confirmed. Even if the explanation sounded far-fetched, it seemed more credible coming from Shin.

"Tch. That's confusing as hell" Hoji complained. "Let's just kill him and leave."

"Indeed" Shin concurred. Suichi looked over blankly at his compatriots.

"Really? We just want to kill him now?" he said dryly. Toshiro shot back up and drew out his sword hastily, making a hideous angry face.

"So what if you know how my sword works!" he shouted. "You still can't catch me!" Shin took firm grasp of his sword's handle with one hand and steadied his sheathe with another. The glare form Shin's killing intent was enough to shock Toshiro into a fear-induced paralysis. Then, Shin charged ahead, slowly drawing out his blade while keeping his body steadily low.

"J-" Toshiro stuttered in fear. Shin drew closer. "JUMP, HIYAKUGAMA!" Shin took a powerful slash that ruptured the very air, but missed its target. Shin's periphery vision spied Toshiro reappearing in the other street just as he dashed past an alley and he skidded to a stop. He pointed over to his allies and they followed him over. Toshiro was running awkwardly and rather slowly down the street, struggling for breath when out of nowhere Hoji appeared and stopped himself with both feet and his hand.

"Coil endlessly, Haganerensa!" Suichi called out from above. "Ready! Aim! Rapid FIRE!" The Suichi's coiled arm punched rapidly, and the chain became an extension of his arm that shot down into the street all around Toshiro. Dust kicked up everywhere. Suichi landed down in the street with Chin guarding his back and Hoji just blinked, trying to see through the dust. When the cloud cleared away, Toshiro was unharmed and ready to stab Hoji right through the eyes. Suichi gasped, the audience from their homes gasped, and Shin just smirked.

Hoji leaned back and caught the blade with his teeth. Toshiro was petrified with his smug smile of victory plastered on for effect. Then, with a horrid ripping motion of his neck, Hoji snapped the blade out of its owner's hands and sent int careening into a rooftop. Toshiro was still paralyzed from shock and seemed to be dead, so Hoji just poked him and tipped him on his side. The jolt revived Toshiro, which gave him just enough consciousness to watch as the demonic presence tripled with the looming stares of three destructive monsters bearing down on him. Only a second was to much, and he fainted with foam gushing from his mouth.

"Ew" Suichi said. "I've never seen anyone actually foam at the mouth from fear."

"Surprising," Shin stated, "as you do it all the time."

"EH!?" Suichi replied back in shock. "Well, that's your fault" he argued calmly.

"Tch! Yeah right, you wimp!" Hoji protested. The pointless fight was observed by the inhabitants of the village, who all started sheepishly coming out of their homes. The three stopped arguing long enough to figure out how surrounded by onlookers they were. They all stood in cautious silence at their heroes as their heroes looked around curiously.

"...what?" Shin asked.


"To celebrate our miraculous saviors," the town elder declared over the ruckus, "we have held this fantastic feast!" The town cheered from their sheltered hall as they all gazed longingly at the three warriors already eating the plenteous food. Toshiro was tied up in the back ,watching as the food was being made and taunted periodically by the chefs.

"I knew you were holding out on me!" Toshiro shouted to the cooks as they roasted and basted. "Everytime I came here you always said 'this is all we have' or 'the crops aren't in this year...' BULLCRAP!"

"Cram it, ugly!" on cook yelled before kicking Toshiro in the gut.

"In addition to the feast," the elder continued, "our heroes have requested an audience with our local guard regarding the Kyuuhiouto, as they are questing to rid the country of them once and for all!" Thunderous applause, cheering and praise rang out that echoed over the valley walls and into the sky. Shin glanced around cautiously, then set his eyes forward at the gathered guard.

"Thanks for the food" Hoji said, biting down furiously on his current flank of meat.

"Please, do not thank us" the head guard started. "You're the ones whom we're thanking today."

"Are the Kyuuhiouto really all that?" Shin asked, taking a sip of water.

"They are indeed" the head guard started gravely. "The Kyuuhiouto is basically a gang that acts like one of the major houses that otherwise rules over the country. Their main goal, so far as we know, is to wait for the war to weaken the outer provinces enough that they can take them all over and control the borders of the entire region, setting themselves up as a dominant power in the government."

"That's pretty bad" Suichi said while his compatriots stared on blankly with deep apathy. "How're they going about this, though? Just intimidating the villagers in the outlying perimeters of the region isn't directly effecting the government's control, is it?"

"...more than you'd think" the elder said from behind them. "Who do you think manages the import-export now?" he said. Suichi took a serious gaze into space, letting all the major pieces of the puzzle topple over into place...while Shin and Hoji were fighting with chopsticks over the last piece of meat.