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.
Shikei had taken to the highest roost of his mountain of destruction to escape the quickly encroaching flowers of control.
"This is bad" Shikei said, hacking away at some of the taller and more bothersome plants. He looked out with his glowing orbs inside his empty sockets and saw the wide-spread disaster across the infinite plains. Mann's sword, a landmark for the center of Shin's combative mind, was covered completely in tangled vines and bright-yellow petals. The top of the ruined mountain was the only standing area of death in the entire land. "Even I can't fight everything off at my current power. However, without Shin's energy I can't release myself any further! There's no helping this..." Shikei's robe spread out over the peak of the mountain and became a crackling fire of blackness, leaving the phantom disrobed and standing in its nearly glowing bone-white skin with scythe in hand. "I just need to bide my time..."
Shin himself had taken to the floor in a relaxed, meditative position and passed out. His pupils were diluted with the stagnant liquids in his eye and became gray with off-white centers. His fingers were laced tightly together to form a ball in his lap and his head stayed only slightly hung down. He looked dead, but he still breathed. Jayce stirred up painfully from the rubble that coated him and finally managed to stumble up to his feet. His sword was already sheathed from when he could only move his arms and both his hands occupied space clutching at his throbbing head.
My brain! Jayce thought painfully. It is as if someone stepped into my head, tore apart the temple of my mind and then a vicious rain swept away everything that wasn't fastened to the floor! Agh, what was that terrible pressure? It certainly wasn't that shinigami Shin's. His was so much more blunt and depressing. This pressure was all over the place! Jayce walked a few steps forward and then saw Shin sitting in the middle of the floor. His first instinct was to run behind something and pray that he wasn't seen, so that's what he did.
Did he see me? He asked. Jayce poked his head up just slightly above the still semi-standing piece of table he hid behind and looked over at the silent, stoic shinigami. Even the air around him seemed to be dead, which bode well enough for Jayce who was unprepared to face this terrifying man again so soon. He seems out of it. Perhaps he was defeated while I was incapacitated? Jayce got out of his cover and walked over, trying to be as passive and non-hostile as he could lest he set off some kind of instinctual reflex deep within the warrior's mind. He was finally close enough and got a good look at Shin's face.
"He's gone!" Jayce said. "Guy Rose must have given him a thrashing. He's been stabbed in the chest and lost what seems to be a lot of blood. I nearly pity him.: Jayce sat down across from him and then found the black sword lying just a bit away. It seemed to be smoking with a dark vapor that came from within the metal itself. Jayce felt the need to retrieve it and place it near to its owner but as he drew close to it he felt his heart slow drastically. He staggered in pain and coughed out before falling back and clutching his chest while rolling on his side and gasping.
Even unconscious Jayce thought, he is a deadly man! Jayce managed to crawl back up onto his hands and feet and looked across with fear at Shin. The darkness on Shin's brow tried to hide his face from Jayce's awing eyes but it just resolved to darken his eyebrows and emphasize how much bone-white was in his eyes. Jayce quickly scrambled onto his knees and humbled himself before his fearsome opponent. He took a pose similar to Shin's, folding his hands properly over each other in his lap and closing his eyes to concentrate.
Perhaps if he sees me Jayce thought mimicking him out of honor he would spare me. Or at least go easy on me. Shin Kenpachi...I lay my life to you upon your waking. Meanwhile Shin's half-dead mind drifted off into some unknown extremities of his own subconscious without his soul and he became lost, even meditating inside the blackness of his own mind.
Well Shin thought within his own thoughts, I'm screwed. I forgot how to wake up again..."Kagome, Kagome..." Jin hummed menacingly. He stomped through the halls with a heavy slouch in search of the enemy of death, Guy Rose, his former captor. He sang the whole way with a small, childish grin on his smooth adult face, the spikes of hair drooping down instead of hugging his skin like normal. "...the bird in the cage..." As Jin continued intermittently humming and singing Guy hid in the shadows behind a piece of tapestry, masking his presence with a basic kido spell he knew Jin wouldn't be able to see through.
Damn that man Guy thought. I can only possess one sword at a time! Now I have to get this runt into submission and drag him back to his box. The only problem is that body of his. He and I have similar elements, Earth, which is the only thing that allows me to harm him but at the expense of my own pressure field. If I miss a single swing I'll be at his mercy until I can muster up my energy again to run away! It's so annoying to deal with. I wish I could just remove the curse from that zombie's sword and put it back in this one's head!!!
"...when will you come out...?" Jin sang with a nasty chuckle, finishing up the first verse. He reached inside his chest with his hand and seemed to scratch. He straightened up and looked at his surroundings. Long rugs hung all around him on the walls, perhaps hiding something valuable behind them, like more wall or his true target. Jin looked behind one and gave the empty space he found a long, hard glare. Then he let the fabric slide back off his wrist and moved across the floor to another one, singing in a low voice as he went. "In the evening of the dawn...what senseless lyrics, eh?" Jin didn't sing the second part, obviously. He was in fact talking directly with Guy, whom he knew was tailing him. Guy tensed up and increased the energy of his spell to totally hide himself down to even his body heat.
Damn Guy thought. Has he somehow found me out!?
"It's only straight thinking" Jin said "that you would hide close to me. I'm less likely to look there, after all, but now I am looking for you nearby. So really, what is the point of you living if you can only think in such terms? Huh? Why don't you just go off and die on your own?" The calmness and lethargy with which he spoke only made Guy more nervous than before when his demented singing echoed in the halls. Jin took a long pose, not moving a single muscle and letting his teeth show from his slacked jaw, until he began walking once more across the hall and sang.
"...the crane and turtle slipped." He drew back the tapestry and smiled at the wall. Guy took his chance and tried to escape but Jin quickly turned around and lurched forward with a stretched arm to grab the very rug that hid him. Guy tried to think of a resourceful plan of escape, but no matter how he looked his sharp-nose was as good as broken, if he was lucky. He continued using his kido an waited. Jin ripped the curtain away and saw nothing. Guy retreated with the fluttering fabric and silently made his way behind the monster of a man to slice him up form behind with his sword.
"Who stands right behind youuuuuu...." Jin sang. Guy thought those lyrics were too well chosen and made an undetectable jump in the air. Jin reached slowly inside his chest and grabbed something hard with a metallic clank. "NOW!?" Jin spun around on his heel and brought his hand crashing down into the stone floor. Blocks and bits of stone blocks flew up in a plume of destruction that Guy avoided by canceling his kido to permit his flash-step. He was now staring down Jin with a blade in his hand, a released blade that came from within him.
A huge continuous chunk of metal, worn and spotted with stains and rough from the time of training incalculable, it resembled a huge deep-blue butcher knife with a slight curve at the tip, as if to make chopping up vegetables or meats in a kitchen all the more easier thanks to the rolling motion the curved edge would produce. The cutting edge seemed extremely dull upon a glance but the ground had been divided cleanly in half. Jin's smile had grown wide and wrinkled his otherwise innocent-looking face. His hair-spikes became jagged like bolts of lightning and hung out just in front of his face, seemingly afraid to touch him. He chuckled from his breast and shook with each low, diabolical laugh.
"Ah" Jin growled, "there you are. I found you! I found you! You're it now! You're it! You're it!!!" Jin's childish taunting didn't work in the monstrous voice he as using. Guy retreated three steps for every stomp that Jin made his way until Jin made a mad dash with his blade drawn back around his neck, ready for a disastrous body-cleaving swing.
"What was that?" Kinden asked.
"Something important" Suichi said. They were in a guest room with Suichi lying on the bed and Kinden leaning against the wall farthest from it, untrusting of the still awake assassin. "You can still fight, right? Maybe you should go look."
"I refuse" Kinden said. Suddenly the power grew much stronger and a huge blade went through the door, then a monstrous stomping retreated down the hall and more howling swings of a huge, metal blade were heard as some pitiful soul dodged the manic swings. Kinden's eyes were wide open with fear as he was right next to the door that exploded out. Suichi was looking on, rather unimpressed, and leaned his injured body up.
"You should probably stay here" Suichi said, changing his mind.
"Wait here" Kinden said, clutching his sword at his hip, "I'll go inspect. Promise me you won't leave without me seeing you out, alright? I can't have you wreaking even more havoc through the halls!"
"I got it" Suichi said. Kinden left and Suichi expertly flipped himself off the bed and onto the floor. He tightened his bandages and inspected his previously frozen body parts. Everything was alright once more. His skin was fully thawed and he was no longer in pain. In fact, he'd been like that for a while, but he humored Kinden with his constant explanations of kido and its use to fully heal himself while he could. "Now then, I just need to find Hoji and get out of here. Shin can handle the rest." Suichi went out into the hall and saw the damage. Most of the floor was ripped up and the walls had huge dents. Suichi squinted down the darkness where he heard a battle in the distance and retreated in the opposite direction.
Shin works fast he thought.
"HRGH! HRGH! HHAH! HAAH! HUGH! HRAAAGH!!!" With shouting grunts like that Jin continued swiping and slicing at a seemingly impossible speed, all of his wild swings hitting right in front of him where Guy continued dodging. Guy jumped down onto the bastard butcher knife and stepped up onto Jin's wrist, delivering an overhead cut down into Jin's arm. Instead of simply passing through his skin like a heated blade through clay it sank in with a bloody noise and the wound started spurting blood. "AAAAAHHHH!!!!!"
"When Earth meets Earth" Guy explained "there is destruction. Our elements are the same, Jin, even if your is dampened by all the others!" Jin shook Guy off and kicked him while he was still in mid-air. Guy flew down the hall and went into a stone wall. He struggled to get out and saw the glaring, mad face of Jin rushing forward to tackle him. Guy dodged to the side and Jin went barreling through the wall, creating a huge cloud of dust and rubble as he went. "What a terrible waste of your power!"
"You there!" Kinden roared. He came up faster than Guy expected and aimed down his angled nose with his bastard sword. "Oh, it's you" Kinden said almost expectantly. "I apologize. I thought there was another raging Death God from lands away around here."
"There is" Guy said as he retreated down the hall. "He's in that wall!"
"Eh?" Kinden grunted, watching Guy leave. He foolishly turned his back on what he just assumed was a broken down wall and set his sword on his shoulder. Jin crawled out from the darkness with glowing eyes and snarled breathing. "In the wall? Is such a thing really possible?" The growling behind him continued on for a few seconds before he became aware of it, and then he turned and saw it, the monster of a man that was Jin with the one evil blade clutched angrily in his unscathed right hand.
"RAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!" Jin roared. The sheer force of his roar and the pressure that coupled it sent Kinden to the ground. Jin started running chaotically down the hall, meandering and bumping into the walls with quick yelps of anger and Kinden quickly regained his consciousness from the shock of the floor.
"What an immense man!" Kinden thought. "He's half the size of an ordinary giant, I believe! He certainly didn't look that strong in terms of sheer muscularity, but god damn, he looked frightening! Should I pursue after all...?" Kinden pieced the puzzle together rather quickly, a giant butcher-knife wielding maniac chasing the battle-weary and fleeing Guy Rose, and realized that his assistance was truly unnecessary. He sheathed his sword and turned laxly around. "Well, Guy can deal with this on his own. After all, he has an army of world-renowned mercenaries and some kind of secret 'super-soldier' in reserve to aid him. He doesn't need an 'unlearned' old man like me slowing him down." Kinden started to chuckle and walked down the hall.
Although Kinden thought, there is the stark possibility that that huge man was his super soldier gone berserk, in which case he is thoroughly screwed! At that turn of thought Kinden opened his mouth fully and began laughing boisterously.
"BUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Serves the bastard right! BUAHAHAHAAAA!!!!"
Jin quickly caught up to Guy who was inadvertently catching up to the injured Suichi.
"I can still make it outside" Suichi told himself. He sensed danger form behind and jumped up high, turning in the air while drawing his sword. "Who is it?"
"What!?" Guy exclaimed. "Another one of them? Is he with that pathetic shinigami from before!?"
"RAAAAAAWRR!!!!!" Jin roared.
"What a lame roar!" Guy exclaimed.
"What in hell is that!?" Suichi shouted. Jin came up fast, huffing and jerking forward with each step. He swung down hard into the ground, right behind Guy, throwing him off his balance and his feet. Guy went saulting through the air until the toes of Jin's feet came up swiftly in a running punt that sent Guy straight up into the rafters. Suichi landed with a wince and observed the apparently one-sided fight. Guy was lodged in the ceiling, blood dripping from his mouth and eyes rolled back in sheer pain. He shuddered at the pain that coursed through him but dared not to move, as being up high had somewhat of an advantage against the manic warrior. Jin huffed and growled with his bangs all spiked until the blood came down and hit him on the head, the colors indistinguishable from each other.
"Eh?" Jin grunted. His hair straightened and clung to his face again and his eyes turned back to the cool blue from before. "What happened? Did I lose already? Death will be disappointed in meeeee..." Suichi stood calmly, observing the sharp change in behavior and making a stern mental note of it. Jin looked at the cut in his arm and brought it up to his mouth. He placed his lips over the wound and slobbered on it loudly. Suichi squinted curiously.
I have no thoughts for this Suichi thought. Jin took his mouth away, dragging along several wet strings of spit as his arm drew away, and shook the spittle off. His wound was gone, all traces of it vanished with the spit. Not even a scar remained. Suichi was markedly impressed.
"Eeeew~" Jin whined, still shaking his arm. "Now my arm's all wet and stickyyyyy~"
"What the hell...!?" Suichi hushed unexpectedly. Jin's ears pricked up and he turned around to Suichi, leaning his head over his shoulder innocently.
"Oh?" Jin grunted. "Are you...Death as well?" Suichi became paralyzed. Something about this man's childish eyes drew him in and dragged him down into a deep, chaotic well. Suichi could tell just from a glance that this man was extremely dangerous, regardless of how he talked and how he seemed to look. A wise thought indeed...
Meanwhile, outside, Hoji took his penance for dishonoring himself by sitting cross-legged with his fists together in his lap atop the fountain in front of the mansion. A group of curious and daring townsfolk had gathered around to observe the constant noise and clatter from within the halls of the building, though some were there strictly to pick on Hoji. Namely the spoiled children who had never seen a true warrior before and enjoyed throwing things at him to test his balance.
"Hey baldy!" one child shouted, wielding a stick, "Come down from there, baldy! You're blinding us with your bald head!"
"Melon-head!" a little girl shouted.
"Now now" a parent of one of the children chided politely, "it isn't nice to mock strangers. Even if they are bald." Hoji had enough. He flash-stepped to the ground and stood glaring over the children and woman. When she turned she recoiled in shock to his sudden presence.
"I ain't bald..." Hoji growled. He turned around, grasped his pig-tail and Picked all three children up by the collars of their odd shirts with one hand. "YOU SEE THIS!? IF I'M BALD, WHY DO I HAVE HAIR GROWING ON MY HEAD!? TCHEEEEEEEH!!!?????"
"Calm down, sir!" the woman exclaimed. "They're just children! Don't kill them!!!"
