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.
The three shinigami, including the titular Shin, continued marching down the beaten path that led into, ironically enough 'Death God' country. Each region had a different phrase for their shinigami and different levels of respect. From Seireitei came the honor of being objectified as soldiers worth only the weight they could drag in dead bodies behind them. From Soul Reaper country came the fear and admiration of the rare and far-between man to develop a sword. Most of the shinigami fleeing from persecution or wanting a peaceful life would go from shinigami lands to become Soul Reapers. These 'Death Gods' though, who knows as of now what level of respect or fear or even hatred Shin and company would garner upon arriving to their destination?
"Hey" Hoji began suddenly "I got an idea."
"What?" Suichi asked.
"We're about" Hoji began "one good flash-stepping sprint away from the town, right?"
"About" Shin answered. "Granted, by walking, we're taking the long route there. If we decided to run as fast as we could we could get there in a few minutes rather than...tomorrow."
"Then let's race" Hoji said, stepping in front of his comrades and turning to them. "We need some kind of training while we go, right?"
"That's what Hollows are for" Shin said. "Of course, El Diablo didn't teach us anything..."
"Yeah" Suichi agreed. "And those four just a moment ago were too weak to be considered training. Shin just glared at them and took them out."
"It was awesome" Shin said. Hoji was nearly shaking, he was so impatiently frustrated. Shin and Suichi both noticed that he was about to explode, so they conceded. "Well, a race would be good. No shikais though."
"Dammit!" Hoji shouted. "Tch. Of course not. No, that way I'd actually win!"
"It's not training" Shin said "with winning or losing. In training you only lose so you can learn. Whoever wins the race loses the training we get from it."
"Hey, wait" Suichi said as Shin got into position. "Didn't you just...about losing and..." Suichi quickly contemplated the uselessness of debating reason in Shin's speech with Shin himself. Most likely Suichi would be proved wrong with a sharp sword to the throat. "I hope I lose" Suichi eventually said.
"That's the spirit" Shin said. All three lined themselves up and crouched down to the ground, one hand in the dirt and their good leg forward. They were ready to sprint and leave the Hollow Forest behind them. Ahead lie a fine stretch of broad wilderness, the forest spreading out and far away from the beaten path that led over the hills and, hopefully, to a town where militant mercenaries had taken over with the aid of a hypnotized young shinigami.
"On three" Hoji said. "I'll count." Suichi actually felt exhilarated, mostly because the chance to get away from Shin and Hoji in an exercise for once was a happy chance he didn't want to pass up. Their power had been escalating so much and so quickly recently that he was in a constant fear for his life. This fear of death came mostly, and obviously, from the Death-aural Shin.
"Three!" Hoji counted. "Two!" Everyone tensed up, ready and serious about racing, although not so much about winning. "One!"
"Bye" Shin calmly said. He disappeared. Not even a trail of dust was left. He just simply vanished from the realm of the living altogether.
"He's fast" Suichi said.
"Tch" Hoji grunted, still in attack position and forehead twitching. "GO!"
"Oh, that's what we were waiting for" Suichi said. He disappeared as well, just a bit slower than Shin, and left a twirling wisp of smoke in his wake. Hoji started running, just plainly running with his legs an arms pumping. He obviously mis-understood the actual concept of what Shin had said. He wanted to lose really badly.
"This'll show those bastards!" Hoji shouted. "I'm gonna get there last! I will win the training!!!" Hoji huffed and stormed onward through the forest and into the rolling meadows. He was an idiot.
"This is nice" Suichi shouted to himself. He stuck to the close-quarters of the forest that rolled away from their destination. It was in his instinctively honed training to be in the shadows, in the cover of darkness should an enemy come to him. "It gives me time to think."
And now I will Suichi thought. Just as he was getting settled in his peaceful dash through the blurred woods, some uncomfortable presence roused him. What now? A Hollow? Suichi started looking around him. First to his right, where he saw nothing. Then to his left, where he saw nothing. He turned his head forward again just as a flashing strobe of bleach white appeared out of the woods on his left. Something must be nearby...or chasing me. Perhaps I should go faster... Suichi decided to jump up over the forest canopy and take a quick look all around himself. He spun slowly through the air and observed everything around him, and that's when it came.
From the ground, a Hollow pounced at Suichi and nearly hit him, but Suichi was able to tuck in his legs and sault away back into the forest where he resumed his sprint. Okay Suichi began internally, that's bad. A Hollow really is chasing me! I need to get out in the open! Just as he considered his direction from within the shrouded woods, the Hollow came back to attack again. Suichi could feel it in the air, the sweeping sensation of a swift death coming at his back. He ducked down and avoided the clean sweep that sliced down several trees. Suichi was forced to roll away and stumbled somehow into a clearing with a spring surrounded by rocks. He retrieved his sword and awaited the arrival of his enemy.
Out from the brush a totally animistic roar came. "GUROOOAAAGGGHHH!!!!" The Hollow came stomping out into the fresh, green grass of the clearing and gnashed its teeth. It's skull face was smaller than other Hollows, a normal sized skull for its body. It's chin was oddly cupped in a crescent shape with two curved points at either end. Its teeth were all incisors, all sharp and deadly looking. The two teeth at the very end of its bony grin were much longer than the others and pointed down. The Hollow's eye holes were triangular and viciously angled with deep yellow malice-filled eyes inside. It's head extended out in sharp points where the temples were and then ended in a spike that was curved back like a fin.
Of its body one thing was apparent, this Hollow was a killer. It had huge, sharp scythe blades as forearms attached to bone-thick parts that came down from the shoulder. Its torso was all one static, almost carved section of bone and white abdominal muscles where the arms and legs connected. It had a spiked hip part carved into the torso, eliminating the ability to turn at the waist where the leg 'bones' connected to the torso. Even its legs, the lower part, were sharp points at the bottom as feet. It was a skeletal mess with the ribs sticking plainly out and points curving in toward its stone-hard solar plexus region. From its shoulders down to the bottom point of its hip area there were two long, thin green stripes that made a V. The hole in its body was small, located between its collar bones at its upper chest.
What this thing was called could not be attained. This Hollow only had the sense to know that it was hungry and Suichi was food...wherever Suichi was.
Isn't this all kinds of ironic? Suichi pointed out from a tree he hid in. He stood among the dense leaves at the top of the tree and looked down at the Hollow, holding his sword tight in his left hand. I felt a surge of death that reminded me of Shin. Now a Hollow with scythes for arms is trying to kill me...heh. Maybe this is fate telling me that Shin will be the inevitable death of me. Suichi ceased letting his mind wander and decided on his course of action. Just as the Hollow found its prey again with its sharp spiritual senses, Suichi leaped from the tree and delivered a stab into the Hollow's shoulder. He slashed down, then used the inertia to balance on his left heel and let his blade come to slash it again in the chest before backing off. Two attacks with only one attempt. The Hollow shouted madly with pain.
"RUUUUOOOOAAAAAGGGGHHHH!!!" it screamed. Suichi landed back in his ready position, holding his sword out in front of him and on hand up with two fingers before his stern and kill-ready face as a sort of pomp and style. The cut Suichi made at its shoulder had nearly separated its arm socket from the rest of its torso. The left arm of the Hollow was out of action now, and Suichi approached once more.
"No matter what" Suichi decided "I'll get the most out of this training!" Suichi stomped forward with his left leg and made a flurry of stabs and slashes with his left arm and kept his right in the same position. The Hollow grunted in pain after each attack and started backing up with its stick legs. Desperate to fight, the Hollow made a kick that Suichi easily dodged. Then, once it knew Suichi could no longer cut at it, it swung its remaining sharp arm. Suichi caught it with his blade and felt the immense physical pressure of the skeletal Hollow press against his sword. The two were caught in a power struggle, but the odds quickly changed. Suichi saw all the cuts and wounds he made, stained with oozing blood, start to quickly recover.
"Hehehehe..." the Hollow deeply chuckled with malice. It shrugged its other shoulder around its static socket, the wound now healed, and slowly bought the other sharp bladed arm up for Suichi to see. Its strength was too great for Suichi to just push away and retreat from, and now its other arm was ready to slice him down. The Hollow reeled its free arm back as far as it could, taking a step back so it could rotate its torso as well, and roared. "GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"
Dammit! Suichi mentally screamed. Time seemed to slow down as the razor-sharp death came in from Suichi's undefended right side. I was outclassed...by a Hollow!? In what seemed to be the fleeting final seconds of Suichi's conscious life, he made the provoked decision to release his sword. Without the time to say the words properly, he simply screamed and hoped for the best.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!" The spirit of Haganerensa responded to Suichi's desperation and released his sword just in time. Not only that, but the sword took self-conscious control and warped itself to block the incoming attack. The Hollow growled and squinted its yellow eyes at Suichi's new defense. With its own starving desperation, the Hollow snapped its arms forward and pressed them against the chain around Suichi's neck. The blades met tip to tip and crushed Suichi's neck...
Meanwhile, as Suichi fought the Hollow in the woods, Shin reached the crest of the largest hill from the starting point and crouched to one knee to look out to the horizon. In the distance, over three more hills of rolling woods and dirt road still, there shined the lights of civilization.
"Well" Shin said to himself "it's a bit farther away then I had guessed, but we're almost there." Shin stood up and turned back around to find his comrades. He saw nothing. "I still can't see Suichi or Hoji. I expected one of them to get up here by now, but who cares. Hoji is probably making this race as hard as possile by going through the woods or not using his flash step or something. Suichi...he isn't one to mess around. He should be up here by now." Shin looked out to the rolling hills of lush grass and flowers one last time, catching a glimpse of the sun lying just over the highest distant mountain peak from where he and his company came from.
"Night is falling" he said. "They better get here soon."
Hoji, as per Shin's prediction, was indeed making the race harder on himself by still running with his own two legs rather than flash-stepping to the goal line. He was panting heavily and his brow was heavy with sweat, but he pushed onward with a victorious smile.
"I'm winning!" he cheered between heavy breaths. "I'm gonna beat them..at losing! I'll definitely win! Woo...hoo!" Unfortunately, Hoji lost track of his steps and veered away from the beeline course he had set. Now he was going in the wrong direction.
