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.


Let us consider this Shikei politely began. Rei instructed you to 'rescue' this child, correct?

That's the gist of it Shin answered.

Under what meaning Shikei asked does the word 'rescue' take in such a case? Are we to convince this creature that we mean to take it away to a better place...or are we to put it out of its misery?

Don't think crazy things Shin chided. Rei isn't the type to enforce euthanasia. She wants this guy back alive, whatever the cost is. The only reason she asked me is because I can actually bring him an inch within his life and carry him back myself...Although, I doubt it'll be that simple.

"Attack" Guy commanded. The huge man's eyes went from glowing, animosity-filled orbs to tightly furrowed glaring daggers. He charged forward on stomping feet with his arms out to his sides, huffing and grunting with each step. Shin set himself up to defend but noticed the body at his side. Jayce was still out of it and vulnerable to collateral damage if Shin wasn't careful. Of course, against such an opponent, Shin couldn't be too careful. He picked Jayce's body up with his foot and gently spin-kicked him away across the room. As he landed he felt a heavy, hot air at his back and rose his scythe up, blocking a tremendous hand chop from his huge opponent with the blunt edge of his scythe.

"Damn" Shin grunted. He waited for the pressure to leave from the chop and then pushed up. The monster made another chop and hit the ground, splitting and blowing it apart. Shin landed from his escape and started spinning his scythe all around his body. "Saishuu Serifu..." Shin said. The monster came sprinting once more from the cloud of dust and made a short kick at Shin. Shin stepped to the side and swiped at his leg, but even with his huge size the man was able to nimbly dodge by carrying his kick through and spinning through the air, landing squared up against Shin.

"Didn't expect that" Guy said "did you? Such a monstrous man, moving so quickly as if weight were just a word."

"It's how you throw your weight" Shin said "that makes it dangerous." The monster glowered down with a flashing snarl and raised up his leg to deliver a chopping ax kick. Shin prepared his scythe to lop that leg off if it came down at him, holding it sideways with the blade pointed up. The leg came down with unpredicted swiftness and Shin instinctively dodged, standing now on the horizontal wall and flourishing his scythe a little before getting it back to its basic position. He glared over at Guy, the mercenary captain, who was sitting at the central throne with a smug grin on his face.

"Bastard..." he lowed. The monster came stomping forward with its arm drawn far back. It punched the wall to bits but missed Shin, who jumped straight for Guy with his scythe leaving a silver trail of cut air behind it. Guy looked lazily up from his comfortable position and grinned.

"Is that all you can do?" Guy asked. A bright flash later he and Shin had switched places. Shin's weapon was sheathed and a sword was held at his throat. Guy stood up beside him and the monster stood in the dead center of the room, glaring through his fearfully black face with shining, white eyes. "It's nothing but rush and rush with you. You don't even consider strategy, do you? You just berserk form here to there, hoping your foolish weapon hits something important."

"Something like that" Shin admitted, showing no fear or even concern for the sword poised to slice his head off. "I do plan when I fight. The plans are just really simple, that's all."

"Is that really all?" Guy asked, aiming his sword up a bit higher. Shin's masterful reflexes kicked in and he slid out from under the sword just as Guy chopped it into the wood of the throne. Shin gripped his sword tight and swung it out of its scabbard. Guy's shinigami garb was sliced but his body was unharmed. Shin advanced with his sword in both hands, an obvious signal of threat, and engaged. He swung hard for Guy's shoulder but the captain was able to block it near the hand guard of his own sword. Shin slid his sword down along the flat metal and brought it back in for a stab. Guy leaped away as Shin stabbed and continued to advance. Shin's swings were fast and fierce, never-ending chaotic clashes of steely might that echoed bright streams of light in the air.

"Is there a plan here?" Shin asked. "Who knows, right?" Shin finally got Guy pressed against the wall, swung his sword so hard that Guy's flew out to his side and then stepped in with his body still in mid-roatation to deliver a gut-smashing kick! Guy coughed most of his spit out mixed with some blood. "Fragile little thing, aren't we?" Guy got mad. He held his sword in a reverse grip and brought it in front of his eyes. Shin retreated in a flash step into the hall and shielded his eyes with his own sword.

HHHHHIIIIIIIAAAAAAGGGHHH!!!!!! the monster-man shouted. Shin looked over and saw the behemoth charging him once again with its hands balled together. Shin dodged by running between its legs and jumped up onto its back, realizing just how much taller two feet made him.

"You're being annoying, kid" Shin said. He took his sword and hit him in his soft red hair with the blunt edge. The pressure of death flowed briefly through the monster and he swayed with his head down. Shin had hoped he was knocked out, but a moment later he threw his body back in a lean, throwing Shin to the ground.

GUUUAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

Again the intense hail of dreadful, mad pressure dropped and Shin was stuck on the ground. The air turned orange and the colors faded into a burnt color as everything started to shake. Even Guy had trouble holding his ground and took his sword in both hands.

What the hell!? Guy thought. He's broken my hold! How did he do that so suddenly?

This feels different Shin thought. It's a lot more intense, but it's much less dangerous...Shikei, did you do something to his head?

I merely looked at it Shikei admitted. Finally the pressure lifted, along with the screaming, and Shin back-flipped to safety with his sword held ready to release. It was a disaster. I doubt I could have done anything if I wanted to or not...

"How perfect" Shin lowed.


Now the bind was broken and Guy began to panic His previously loyal monster of a man been freed of his control and stood breathing deeply through his his mouth which was covered with three of his hair spikes like evil fangs. The man started regaining control of his body and looked around the room with his back straight and shoulders rolled back. Shin observed carefully and began planning on his actions. Then, finally, it spoke...

"Ah~!" he sang. "Ee~!" it continued. Shin's eyes went narrow and his mouth pursed to a single point in confusion. "Oo~! Eh~! Ohh~!"

Is he stretching his vocal cords? Shikei asked.

"He's practicing his vowels...." Shin said. "Did he...forget to talk at some point?"

"The o~~cea~~n is re~~~d!" he sang once more. Guy snarled in anger while Shin just stood with his arms down and his mouth hanging open.

No it isn't Shikei observed.

"HEY!" Shin shouted. The man turned to him with oddly gentle eyes and stomped around to face him. Shin saw now, with the shadows of menace lifted, that this man had the face of a child. Its features were deeply cut, as if his face had refined and toned muscles under his thin skin, and his jaw was sharply pointed at the chin. His nose curved down and came flatly in to his upper lip. His mouth was wide, not unlike a monster's, but his pale-blue eyes were tilted down in sadness and glazed over with an innocent wonderment.

"Who are you?" he asked in breathy, childish voice. "Are you death?" Shin became serious at last at his remark. Whatever this man was he had the apparent mind of a child in an uncontrolled state. He saw Shin in his tattered black robes with his sword that echoed loathing of life as a visage of unstoppable death, and Shin smiled.

"Something like that" Shin admitted.

"Okay" the man said, pointing to his face. "That's good, because I'm death too."

"Are you now?" Shin asked. "Well, death, where's your sword?"

"In here" he said, pointing to his chest. Shin tilted his head and tried to pull whatever innocent childish expression from the action there was to be obtained but the peaceful moment was interrupted by the tip of a sword piercing through the giant man's sternum. Shin scowled and the man's eyes widened in surprise.

"How could this be!?" Guy exclaimed from the man's back where he drove his sword through the other side. "How could my own sword have failed me!?" The man turned his head and looked over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye.

"Hello" he greeted. "Who are you?"

"Oi" Shin grunted. "He's got his sword in you."

"He does?" the man said in astonishment. He reached for the sword in his chest and his hand passed straight through his flesh. Shin took a few steps back and awed at the sight, still ready to release at the first notice of combat. The giant man grabbed the sword from within his own chest and pulled it out, as if his flesh were mud. No blood dropped from where the sword had cut and no signs of injury were detected as the man examined the sword by holding it up high. It barely fit in his hand so he tossed it away and Guy flash-stepped to catch it and position it in front of his eyes.

"Who was he?" the man asked Shin.

"Who are you?" Shin asked. He noticed the man became markedly confused to his question, raising his brows up and crouching down with his hands on his knees to think.

"...a person?" he answered.

"Jin then" Shin said. "I'll call you 'Jin' for the time being, until I get you back safely."

"Back where?" Jin asked.

"Take possession!" Guy announced. Jin jumped up to the ceiling and clung to the rafters like an insect. Shin was left staring at the blade of Guy Rose far apart from his position and angrily opened his eyes wide. "Haunting, Tounusumu Gyoushi!!!" A blinding, flashing light came from his sword and reached into Shin's eyes. He felt his soul being molded and manipulated, the deathly aura he had cultivated leaking out from his own eyes as a terrible clack ooze.

BASTARD!!! Shikei exclaimed. The effects of Guy's sword became instantly effective and Shin hit his knees to the ground, dropping his sword as it smoked with a painful steam...


"Well now" the hollow voice of a skull-faced phantom said, "this is a problem." Shikei, standing in its ethereal robes at the peak of Shin's own internal mountain of destruction, looked out upon the infinite landscape of Shin's soul. Beyond the newly added outcroppings of the stretching mountain was a field of swords, one of which stood out from the rest in its shikai form, that one that looked like a giant, rest-colored steel paddle which had a torn and tattered wrap of cloth at its pommel. The black sky began to crack and the shining black sun started to separate the clouds and let shine down rays of yellow light. The glare that reflected from the swords hit the ground and flowers grew. Terrible flowers with thick tangles of wiggling vines and wide-petaled sunflower petals on winding, twisting stalk.

"So that's his power, eh?" Shikei noted, drawing out a black scythe from inside its robes. It made a huff and brought one of its thick, bone-white hands up to its hood to pull it down over its skull face. "Taking an enemy's weapon to make them defenseless. He's a cruel one, that mercenary. However, it's all useless. I reversed the effects afflicting Jin with nothing but a tap. This is my world. Only I decide what lives here." Shikei flew from the top of the mountain like a shadow in the sky and dove down into the center of the field of flowers. The flowers all resonated with a certain earthly energy, all of them having a life of their own. The flowers were the sword's inner spirit itself!

Shikei spuns its scythe around above its head with whirring hums as the energy of death rippled out. Then he swung it with one hand and reaped the still growing heads off the entire crop of flowers in front of him. Once the stalks were cut open and began oozing with a rejuvenatory lifeblood Shikei opened its skull mouth and let the white orbs of power in its black eyes shine brightly out. A black cloud came hissing out of its mouth and, instead of regrowing the heads they lost, the flowers stalks simply withered and curled up into heaps of black death. Shikei took its scythe in one hand, holding it at its middle, and made a sliding step in with its feet still hidden under its fiery black robes.

"Work must be done" Shikei hissed. "Shin, fight on with your own power. Kill him with your bare hands..."

Back in the outside world Jin came crashing back down to his feet and shifted them apart, glaring at Guy the whole time. Guy sheathed his sword with a smug smile and looked across the floor at Shin, who was still doubled over from the shock of having part of his soul completely removed from his body.

Shikei! Shin thought. He's gone! I can't feel that familiar dread of constant death and uncertainty anymore! Shikei is...I understand... Shin got up and swayed in place. The blackness from his eyes had evaporated and turned to simple smoke which clouded around his face and then blew away as Shin let his Satsu Gyoushi tip through the air. Guy dodged the pressure beam and crossed his arms at Shin. "How utterly sick of you..." Shin growled.

"What's the matter?" Guy asked. "Does it feel strange having a part of you torn away? Is your soul suddenly empty?" Shin wanted to make another snippy remark but the disturbing feeling had him pinned and he was forced down to his hands and knees.

"Death!" Jin shouted in alarm. He looked back at Guy, who was confidently smiling at the defeated Shin. Guy suddenly turned to Jin and forced him to retreat to the wall out of fear. "What have you done to my friend Death!?"

"The very same thing" Guy explained "that I did to you. Of course, with the swords you own, possessing them allowed me to control you as well. This man is different. He is in control of his own soul and can live without his sword, albeit pathetically. However, I can only possess one thing at a time, which is bothersome. So, I suppose now I will have to dirty my hands and kill one of you...I know!" Guy flash-stepped over to Shin and stomped on his head, planting his face into the stone floor. "I'll kill Shin Kenpachi first!"

"Again with the name?" Shin grunted, turning his head to the side. Guy repositioned his foot to pressed down on hits skull, leaving his neck exposed for his sword to cut. "Listen man, you want my name? At this point you're free to take it. But really...do you want to carry this kind of crap for your life?"

"I'm not an idiot" Guy said. "Having the title will obviously mean constant danger from stalking bandits with far too much ambition. But it will also mean fortune! Do you know the highest bounty available for your head?"

"I don't care" Shin said.

"Then don't mind" Guy said, drawing his sword up "if I take it all for myself!"

RRRAAAAAAAGHHH!!!!!! Jin roared. Guy looked to the side and received a flying shin-kick the length of his torso which sent him into and through the farthest wall. Rubble and dust fell onto Jayce's body, finally stirring him up from his stunned coma and opening his eyes. Jin knelt down to pick Shin up and set him on his feet. Shin coughed and nearly fell back, but Jin caught him with his giant hand and set him back up with a smile. Shin started laughing painfully. His bangs were hanging over his eyes but the white glare from them was able to leak out in thin streams of light.

"I'm never going to die" Shin joked to himself, "am I?"

"Of course not" Jin said. Shin turned to him and raised his bangs up with a tilt of his head. "You and I are Death! Death cannot die!"

"Damn straight" Shin agreed. "Why don't you finish up this fight for me Jin? Do you have a sword?"

"Yes" Jin said. "But, isn't he your kill? I wouldn't want to take something that isn't mine, like someone else's meal."

"I'm not gonna eat him" Shin said. "I just need to catch my breath here. I'll come back to fight soon. Until then keep him busy...and make him regret everything in his pathetic life!"

"Understood" Jin said. He stood up and stomped over to the hole in the wall, pushing his way through and making the hole bigger as he stepped out into the hall. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists, then opened his eyes and revealed his piercing, blood-red pupils and blue veins around the corners of his furrowed eyes. He took in a breath through his gritting teeth and began stomping through the halls, searching for the man who hurt his friend Death...


Jin: Man. Jin means, among other things, 'man'. It also means virtue, charity, humanity and benevolence, making the name a little ironic given his fighting nature.
Tounusumu: Sword Steal Gaze