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 shinigami troupe, now one stronger, walked through the thick forests along the path which only that one found too small. Shin walked in front, hands in pockets, and watched the world around him move to the beat of his deadly footsteps. Hoji walked close to him, arms crossed and upper robes folded down over his waist as mantles, staying alert and vigilant of the moving world. Suichi was still nearly incapacitated from his over-expenditure of energy back at Xierd Leek and rode in a satchel made of Jin's torn robes which Jin gleefully carried on his back. He was so enthused about the outside world, one he hadn't seen in apparently so long, at least not as vibrant, that every little thing captivated his entire attention.
Hoji was getting sick of it.
"Tch!" Hoji angrily ticked as he turned around with a glare. Jin was poking at a peculiar flower which grew from the bark of a tree and pursing his lips tightly at it. "Hey! Keep moving! There's flowers everywhere!" Jin picked himself up and continued marching. Shin just kept walking calmly along, ignoring he signs of strife, and smiled at the blue sky above.
"Tch!" Hoji shouted again. "Stop poking that rock!" Jin looked away from his work, poking a rock, and lost his attention to it, breaking it with one too-powerful press. He looked back, then shifted his eyes around rapidly and suspiciously, then hurried along.
"TCH!!!" Hoji shouted with great anger. "What the hell are you doing!?" Jin was lying down on his stomach, face flat in the dirt, almost like he had frozen up mid-step and fell over.
"The ground isn't wet here" Jin said. "I'm just taking the time to enjoy it."
"MOVE IT!!!" Hoji demanded. Jin hurried along and made long, speedy strides over to Shin who waved at him and welcomed him to view the world as he walked. Hoji snarled openly at the image and stormed over, stowing his hands in his pockets and slouching forward. He remembered the very moment when he began to hate this newcomer, the orphan-boy Jin...
"So now what?" Hoji asked. Shin and his company had taken refuge inside a cave while a torrential downpour swept the land and impeded their vital vision in the already dark woods. Jin was sleeping near the mouth of the cave, letting the rain beat against his hand and smiling. Suichi was next to the fire they built, thawing, apparently. "We've got a few days of hiking to get back to the manor, that is if you don't get us lost." Shin hit Hoji's head with an open palm. A harmless slap without any real power behind it, thankfully.
"I get us lost?" Shin asked. Hoji rubbed his forehead and faced away from Shin to scowl. "Jin's obviously big enough to be walking. He's bigger than any of us, anyway. Age-wise I can't tell, his spiritual energy is all over the damn place, but if we really want to find out you can chop his leg off and count the rings."
"Was that a joke?" Hoji asked. "You're so damn dumb I can't always tell." Shin kicked him, hard that time, and paralyzed him.
"We'll just have to get walking" Shin said. "I know how to get back, if memory serves me well. Suichi's in totally bad shape right now, so we'll need to figure out how to bring him along."
"Right" Hoji groaned, rubbing his gut. "We can alternate carrying him on the walk back, you and me."
"I think" Shin said "Jin will be able to carry him better than the both of us combined."
"Tch?" Hoji scoffed.
"Excuse me" Jin interrupted. He was crouched over next to them with a concerned smile on his face. "I don't mean to be rude, but I think I have a solution that can work for any of us here."
"Oh really?" Shin asked. "Then I'll leave that to you, Jin. I trust you to see that Suichi is taken back with us and that all his blood, what's left of it, remains inside his veins." Jin smiled and stood up, his head smashing into the ceiling. Despite Shin and Hoji's winces of pain and the sliver of blood trailing down his eager and enthused face, Jin made no movement of pain.
"I won't disappoint you, Shin!" Jin shouted. "I swear!"
Now Jin had apparently gained favor in Shin's eyes as a readily trainable disciple. Hoji still couldn't decide what he hated the most or liked the least about the overly-joyful young man, but he knew that his huge self didn't sit well with him. Hoji glowered from the back ranks for most of that day, all of them walking down the solid, beaten path through the forest. Eventually their stomachs beckoned them to rest, so Shin scouted ahead and found a stream teaming with fish. He made a crude spear of his own to fish with, catching plenty enough to feed his own mouth, while Hoji caught them by hand and in the end had enough to feed himself twice, which he intended to do.
"What should we do" Jin asked "about Shichi?"
"Suichi" Shin corrected. "No one here is named Shichi."
"Really?" Jin asked. "What about that one with the long hair?"
"I'd venture to guess" Hoji said "that your hair is the longest out of all of us."
"Hey yeah" Shin agreed, cupping his chin. "Mostly his bangs, though, and only when they're over his face." Jin took a curious finger to his streaking, red bangs and ran them in front of his eyes, measuring them out to be longer than his own face.
"Huh" Jin grunted. "They are. Strange..." He said that as if it were all news to him...
The trek continued. After so long of walking even Shin tired of it and once opted to build a wagon, knowing full well that they had no resources to do it with. Hoji offered to use his wind powers to somehow throw everyone into the sky but his plans were dashed when, after a raging debate, he discovered that clouds weren't solid. Jin constantly remarked at the world around him, running off like a child, Suichi strapped to his back silently resting. Shin just laughed and allowed him to enjoy his freedom, not interrupting when Hoji cursed the sweet innocent monster at each opportunity.
The four, three conscious, shinigami were within the final stretch of terrain until the mansion's gates, but a new obstacle came upon them and stopped them all at the border of a pathless forest. Shin and Hoji both glared with dark shadows cast over their eyes, lips curled up in quiet snarls. Jin looked ahead and saw what his comrades saw but only tilted his head and let his bangs drift off over his ear, no anger.
"It's dark in there" Jin flatly observed.
"Hollows" Shin growled.
"Bastardy sons of goddamn bastards" Hoji cursed. He brought his thumb up from his arm-cross and flicked it hard across his nose. "TCH! I hate Hollows!"
"Do you?" Shin sarcastically asked. "I thought you liked them. Good practice."
"Tch!?" Hoji loudly scoffed. "What the hell!? Are you suddenly filling in for Suichi, prick!?"
"Yup" Shin answered as he walked into the darkness. Jin marched after him and the Hoji dashed forward to catch up. All three were swallowed by the darkness where the Hollows they felt lurked and stalked through the impenetrable darkness.
"It's dark in here" Hoji complained. "We need some light."
"Really?" Shin said.
"Suichi would have been funnier" Hoji said. Shin laughed to himself at his failure at the assassin's quirky humor. "Damn. I wish my element was fire. I could give us a torch, probably, I think. How would that work?"
"All of us" Shin said "seem to be far too aligned to the darkness for our own good. Death, Ice, Wind; all primarily invisible in the right conditions. Especially the Wind."
"Death's intangible" Hoji said. "It's not quite the same as invisible. Hey, wait, what the hell were we talking about before!?"
"I have an idea" Jin said. He closed his eyes tightly, then opened them which led to an explosion of dark red light. Chromatic ribbons of multi-colored light flew out from his eyes and illuminated the surrounding area in rippling waves. Six glaring eyes fled at the light, rustling the brush around them. Shin's knees went low and his hand snapped to his sword. Hoji drew his out in both hands and held it horizontally, blade up, at eye level.
"Tch" Hoji scoffed. "I saw that! You bastards!" His voice echoed into the darkness and then returned, bouncing off the trees. More rustling followed as the Hollows rushed around in the cover of the shadows.
"Stay alert" Shin said. "Jin, stick close. Hoji, don't do anything stupid."
"I won't" Hoji said. "I'm gonna wait for them to do something stupid!"
"Good man" Shin said. "I know where to go form here. Just follow me."
"Alright" Jin agreed. The shinigami began marching once again, Hoji circling the group, changing his pose as rapidly as he was stepping, trying to intimidate the Hollows even further into their apparent fear. Little did he know that the fear he was instilling was only a means of entertainment to the monsters as they opened their skeletal mouths to breathe laughter into the air. Shin whipped his head around, hearing them breath and feeling their corrupt life resonating at him. Jin was just grinning and glowing like a lantern, ecstatic to be helping his good friends Death, Death and Shin.
"....." A Hollow approached silently, but the hardened ears of the shinigami picked it's advance and turned to it. The Hollow came from the darkness, perfectly humanoid aside from its long, lanky limbs with a huge mask of tribal design baring giant teeth and round, glowing eyes bordered by a rotten-colored gray mane of hair.
"HEEEEEE-YAAAAAHHH!!!!" The Hollow screamed. It twirled a spear above its head and stabbed down at Shin. Shin's sword appeared, blocking the tip, while Shin stood very straight with his right hand in the folded pocket of his pants. He looked out of the corner of his eye and lethargically decided to kill the Hollow. He swung the spear tip away, stepped in and began swinging. The Hollow's foot met the ground and pulled the rest of its body into a low crouch while it brought its starch-white spear of Hollow bones back to block Shin's lazy one-arm advance. Shin didn't even move tactically. He just walked casually into the Hollow, swinging his sword.
"Show off" Hoji called. Another Hollow came out silently from the brush, wielding two short serrated sabers against Hoji. Its eyes were more roughly angled and angry looking with two long fangs parallel in its upper jaw which reached down to its chin. The Hollows seemed to be of almost identical figure and form, although they held different weapons. Hoji's animal instincts picked pu on the danger and he kicked his leg to throw his entire body away from the attack. He landed, pointed his sword at the Hollow, then snapped it into a reverse-grip position. He rushed in, swinging wildly, back and forth with his whole body, connecting his blade with the jagged edges of the Hollow's weapons.
"Ooooooo" Jin awed. "They sure are strong."
"They're nothing" a cold, hollow voice said from behind. Jin, not thinking, turned around and threw his friends into the disadvantageous darkness to see the third Hollow of long, lanky form standing straight up, meeting Jin eye-to-eye. "Bow before our might! We are Amadeus!!!" The hollow brought it's long arm up, made an angry palm above its head, then swung his arm straight down with the underarm of his wrist leading the swing. The hand stopped just in front of Jin's chest, made no contact, but still some arcane force threw Jin through the air and slammed his side into a tree.
Damn Shin cursed, blocking stabs and slashes on instincts. I can't see.
Do you really need to? Shikei asked.
Oh it's you Shin replied tiredly, still hopping around. Hello, Shikei. What do you want?
Don't take that tone with me Shikei demanded. Close your eyes!
Can't get any darker, I suppose Shin thought. He closed his eyes and saw the darkness dancing about. The spots and blotches of what used to be light in his mind's eye suddenly swam around and formed a trail of movement made by the Hollow which made one last powerful swipe before it jumped away. Shin jumped over it, back-flipped, and landed in a low crouch. What's this?
I am allowing you Shikei explained to see sound.
Ah Shin thought affirmatively. I get it. I'm seeing the resonance of the air as the Hollow moves through it...cool. Shin used his borrowed power and made his way through the woods in a slow crawl. Each inch he moved resonated back to him in real-time as visible echoes of the air as it moved. The world to him became a blur of chalky-white lines which became thick, misty haze as the wind blew through them. He saw the Hollow that Hoji fought, the taller Hollow that had attacked Jin, and of course the rapid displacement from the Hollow that came behind him.
Shin spun around, his heel hooked into the dirt, and swung the spear-tip up just as it was thrust. The Hollow stopped just short of Shin's reach but Shin advanced and got inside. He stabbed into the Hollow's arm with a lunge and slashed down, cutting a gash into the Hollow's side. The hollow didn't howl, it just switched hands and attacked, stabbing down from above. Shin went back on the defensive and blocked. The force of the ferocious stabs sent him down to the ground. He had to brace himself with his free hand to continue blocking as rapidly as the spear came.
"Shin!" Hoji shouted, swinging wildly in every direction at the loss of his vision. "If you can see him, tell me where he went! I'm blind as hell!" Hoji heard his opponent take a step and swung on it hard. He heard a bush move and swung. He heard nothing and swung several times. His actual enemy was standing away from his wild swings, observing his wild actions with its supreme vision. It hopped over to the leading Hollow, one which stood tall and straight with its more defined arms crossed and its mask hidden by the darkness.
"He's an idiot" the jagged-bladed Hollow whispered.
"Indeed" Amadeus agreed.
"Are you talking about me!?" Hoji shouted. "I'll kill you, you damn....GAHHH!!!" Hoji took his sword in its release position, Amadeus aimed its palm at him and fired a blast of air which snapped the sword out of Hoji's grip and stuck it into a tree. "Oh, damn! Crap!" Hoji became worried and searched behind him for his sword but was taken down from behind by the blunt sides of the Hollow's blades. He landed with a grunt and struggled under the weight of the monster. Shin didn't need to see Hoji's pained groans to know he was in trouble.
He grabbed the spear s it stabbed past his sword, drove it into the ground and climbed up it, swinging a deep gash into the leaning chest of the Hollow. He took the spear with him and threw it through the air into the back of the other Hollow, forcing it to tumble away, roll over and throw its bony blade at Shin. He dodged it and dove to recover Hoji but didn't anticipate an attack from behind. The spear Hollow caught the blade and smashed Shin's head with the blunt side, knocking him out until his face hit the ground.
Ow Shin thought.
"Ow" Shin vocalized, realizing the fruitlessness of expressing pain to his inner fighting spirit. He was pinned along with Hoji by the two Hollows as their leader stomped over and positioned itself just over their heads. It's mask was adorned in the back with long, stiff feather-like growths in multiple shades of gray to represent the faded vision of Hollow colors. The front of the mask, below its rectangular eye slots, extended out like a giant bird's beak, revealing the stubble-marked lower jaw and human mouth underneath. Not a Hollow, but a Menos. Shin saw this through his sound-vision and opened his eyes to see that he was fully adjusted to the darkness at last.
"An Adjuchas...?" Shin growled. Amadeus cocked his head, smiling arrogantly, and crossed his arms. He was about to start on a rough, arrogant tangent about his supreme power, when a piercing roar shook the trees and the ground like an unholy tremor sent rippling up from Hell.
YYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!
Suichi was laid carefully on the ground, still wrapped in his tattered cradle. Two glaring, curved blades shone bright, chaotic light into the darkness and revealed the wide-eyed Jin. His body absorbed the darkness, letting it cling around him like inky splotches from an animal in panic, and gave him an infinitely terrifying appearance. The shivering air only amplified the terror as the Hollows became disoriented and stood up. Jin rushed in, took his left arm above his head, stepped in with his left foot and led off with a merciless sweep, ending with his back arched back, his head flung back, his blade straight up to the sky and the Hollow's head smashed into oblivion. Jin breathed heavy, moist breaths as he stomped forward to face down and then rip the face off of Amadeus. The hollow was stunned.
