AN: I've included my headcanon for exactly what it is that Quincy weapons do. Hope it doesn't clash too badly with anyone else's personal interpretation.

And yes, you read the chapter title right...

X-X-X

The Striking Snake

ch4

A Type of Jam

X-X-X

Foxy eyes surveyed the alley through slitted lids. There was a cowering plus soul, but - once again - no hollow.

Gin sighed slightly. "Nope," he called back to his companion. "Another false alarm."

Rukia halted, panting. "Again?" She said angrily. "This is the fourth time this week!"

Gin's eyes swept the alley. Nothing. He turned his grinning visage back to Rukia.

"Ya might want to get that phone checked. Looks like it's broken." He sheathed his dagger.

"It can't be!" She snapped. "These soul pagers are too simple to fabricate a false alarm! And the sensor network would never break - the previous Division 12 captain built it to last, and Captain Kurotsuchi keeps it religiously maintained. I've never even heard of an error."

"Hah, whatever ya say, but it seems like - " Gin paused. "Wait. Hey, you!"

The plus soul, who had apparently been an overweight young man in life, looked up. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates.

"Yeah, you. Ya look pretty scared," Gin remarked. "What was it that scared ya? Other than myself, of course."

The man shook. "A- a huge beast," he said, his voice quivering. "It must have been as tall as a house..."

"That's a hollow all right," said Rukia. "Our equipment isn't malfunctioning, then... but who - or, indeed, what - saved you?"

"I - I - I'm sorry," he replied. "I closed my eyes when I hid in here... I didn't see... all I heard were these weird noises, like something from Star Wars..."

Rukia frowned. "Sounds like some kind of reishi weapon. Not many zanpakutõ would do that, at least not in their sealed state... and it doesn't seem likely that anyone would use Shikai against a basic hollow. Besides, hardly anyone except officers can effectively use Shikai; why would an officer be here in Karakura?"

Gin waved his hand dismissively. "Ah, we'll figure it out. Now, come here, you, and I'll send you on to Soul Society."

X-X-X

In school, Gin found Keigo and Mizuiro whining over their mediocre-to-terrible exam results.

"Exams aren't everything in life, ya know," he said amiably, although his snake-like grin was less than friendly. "Ya shouldn't give up on life just 'cause you didn't do that well on a written test."

"Ah! Gin! My creepiest friend!" Keigo put his arm around Gin's shoulder, despite the awkwardness of doing so - at six feet one, Gin was significantly taller than his five-seven friend. "What wisdom you speak! Come, let us share the pain of being certified morons! We shall be friends for life!"

"What do you mean?" Said Mizuiro, confused.

"Huh?" Replied Keigo. "Well, if we both - "

Mizuiro reached into his backpack, unearthing a piece of paper. "This is the exam results of the top 50 students."

Keigo looked at the list. "Huh? There's no way Gin would be on - "

He stared at the listings. First place, Ishida Uryuu... second place, Kuneida Ryo... third... place... Ichimaru... Gin...

Keigo looked up, betrayal evident on his face.

"Hey," said Gin, his grin almost widening. "I can't help being a genius. I don't even study."

"Lies! It must be!" The melodramatic teenager ranted. "All those times you didn't want to hang out with us, you were secretly studying! What treachery!"

"No... really." Gin scratched the back of his head. "Most days I just sorta wander around town alone and watch people. I don't study at all; the tests are just dead easy."

"Say..." the ever-observant Mizuiro said. "Where's Kuchiki-san? Normally you two are inseparable."

"Oh, well," Gin waved his hand dismissively. "Ever since that strange incident with the TV medium, people've been givin' us funny looks when they see us together. She's been keepin' away from me because of it."

"Oh?" Replied Keigo slyly - or at least, what he thought was slyly. "What are the funny looks for?"

"I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure people think we're fuckin' behind the scenes. It's ridiculous, really."

"Gin!"

The silver fox turned, just in time to see a small figure jump up and slam a green pill into his mouth.

Ignoring his attempts to protest, Rukia dragged him along by the collar of his shihakusõ. "This alert is close, real close. I only got it a few seconds ago. If we hurry we might get a chance to see who it is that's slaying hollows on the sly!"

Gin smoothly pushed himself up and flipped Rukia around; she was forced to grab onto his shoulders to keep from falling. In his 'soul form,' as he thought of it, he could run far, far faster than she could.

"Alright, Rukia-chan," he said jovially. "Tell me where to go-o!"

X-X-X

"Nothing but a plus ghost, again." Gin slid back into his body, coughing up the soul candy and sliding it into his pocket.

Gin didn't shout when he got angry. He purred. It was more menacing by a large margin.

"It's getting tiring to keep chasing shadows, Rukia," he said softly. "When I agreed to patrol for ya, I didn't agree to this. I'm pretty sure ya run pointlessly without my help."

"I - I'm sorry! I can't use my reiatsu sense right now, so I can only use the warnings that come through the sensor net. I don't know anything more than you do!"

Gin paused as he was about to hiss an admonishment. Then his grin seemed to grow even wider. "Reiatsu sense, ya say?" He purred. "Now that, Rukia-chan, sounds like a useful skill."

"It is."

One tall and one short head turned to face the newcomer.

"Good evening, Ichimaru, Kuchiki." The black-haired teenager was even thinner than Gin was, and while he was slightly shorter, he was still unusually tall. He was dressed in an unusual white collar jacket over white dress pants, both trimmed with navy blue.

Gin raised his eyebrows. "Them's odd clothes," he said. "Ya look kinda like a priest."

"Never mind that," Rukia huffed. "How do you know our names?"

The thin boy ignored Rukia. "Ichimaru, you can see spirits, can you not?"

"Huh?" Gin's grin gave way to an equally fake expression of surprise. "What're ya talking about? Of course humans can't see spirits. If they exist."

The boy re-adjusted his glasses, as if signifying his lack of belief. "A new hollow is almost here."

And just like magic, Rukia's soul phone beeped. Gin blinked. No way it was a coincidence.

Reiatsu sense... Gin already knew how to feel the shape of his own reiatsu. He focused his mind's eye on the pattern of spiritual energy around him.

Lacking a lethal intent to give it focus, his own reiatsu flapped about him as loosely as his baggy school uniform, which had never fit right on his thin frame. He stretched out as if to feel the air around him -

A bright blue touch; resentment, wounded pride, anger. Cold and well-focused. Tightly clamped and controlled. It would have been very hard to notice at a distance, but the strange kid was standing right there. And, further off...

The iron smell of blood. Rotting meat. Salt from tears. Despair. The stench of misery and death. A hopeless, bitter feeling; one might even call it... hollow.

Gin opened his eyes, and the other boy visibly flinched at the sight of the sanguine orbs. "You're right," said Gin, almost excited. "I can feel it. I can smell it. C'mon, Rukia - "

"Congratulations, Ichimaru. You've managed the most day-one skill a student could be asked to demonstrate." The dark-haired kid raised an eyebrow. "And you call yourself a death god?"

The boy pointed his hand out in the direction the hollow was approaching. A strange cross icon fell from his sleeve, suspended by a thin chain around his wrist.

Then he moved his other hand around - and a huge longbow of shimmering blue light materialized in his first hand, along with the crackling energy noise that the first soul had described.

The archer pulled the string back, and an equally photonic arrow appeared. The boy stood in a perfect archer's stance as the hollow turned the corner of the street, moving into view.

The boy's fingers twitched, and the arrow flew. The ray of blue light collided dead center with hollow's mask, shattering it with the single hit, and the hollow's body instantly began to dissolve.

As the dust of the reishi burst cleared, there was a slow clapping noise. "Not bad fer ya'! That's a neat weapon, way cooler than my little - "

Rukia proceeded to slap the back of Gin's head. "Nevermind this idiot," she growled. "I'll ask this plainly. What the hell are you?"

"I am Uryuu Ishida... and I'm a Quincy."

Gin raised an eyebrow. It wasn't every day that someone declared themselves a 'destroyer monk.'

"And you know what?" Uryuu turned to face the pair. "I hate Shinigami."

X-X-X

"I hate Shinigami."

The words seemed to echo down the street.

"Huh?" Gin put on his best confused frown.

"You don't get it, Ichimaru Gin?" Uryuu's eyebrows lowered. "What I'm saying is, I hate you."

X-X-X

Back in school, the bulletin of the top 50 students had been posted on the classroom door.

"Wow... fourth place." Tatsuki beamed. "You really know how to study, Orihime. Gin only beat you by a single place. I don't know how he does it..."

"Well, Ichimaru is a genius!" Cooed Orihime. "Of course he'd get great marks without studying. He can understand things after looking at them just once!"

The two girls moved off, Tatsuki admonishing her friend for her obvious crush. They were quickly replaced by a cluster of boys - namely, the odd-ball group that was Gin, Keigo, Mizuiro and Chad.

"Hah! Gin, you know only true morons are allowed in our group!" Said Keigo, grabbing Mizuiro's shoulder. "Look, Comrade Kojima! Such treachery! We shall never again consort with Gin for this! C'mon, Chad, how about us three true fools hang out down by the - "

"Hm." Chad was not one to waste words when unnecessary. Keigo and Mizuiro followed his gaze, to where he was pointing at the list.

'Sado Yasutora - 9th place'

Keigo drew back as if stung, dragging the helpless Mizuiro after him. "Traitors! Traitors everywhere!" The pair quickly vanished down the corridor.

Gin's grin was as wide as ever, and his blood-drop eyes were still hidden behind their slits. However, those that knew him well would have noticed he was deep in thought - he was hardly making any effort to creep out his classmates at all.

'I hate you...'

Gin had heard those words before, but usually it was only after someone had endured his unnerving personality for at least ten minutes. However, Uryuu had said it right off the bat - and it wasn't the kind of insincere declaration one normally got from teenagers. Uryuu had really meant it; Gin had felt the malice pouring off his reiatsu in thick waves.

He had invaded Gin's patrols without so much as a by-your-leave, then had the arrogance to scorn Gin's methods. He did not get irritated easily, but Uryuu seemed to have managed it.

"I don't plan ta go easy on ya next time we meet," muttered Gin to himself. "Better watch yer back, Ishida..."

"Huh? What's that about Ishida?"

Gin looked up, to see a girl with long orange hair. "Oh, Orihime. I was just... wait... ya know Ishida?"

"Of course I know him. He's in our class, after all. Were you looking for him?"

Mentally, Gin reprimanded himself, though his mask did not shift. He often forgot how personable Orihime could be - her cheerful, guileless face was a sharp contrast to his own intimidating visage.

"Ishida Uryuu, right? Look!" She pointed to the exam ranking list. "See?"

Gin looked.

'Ishida Uryuu - 1st place'

Beneath his serpentine grin, Gin's teeth clenched. First place? He was being one-upped on the class listings, too?

He exhaled slowly. No, he knew better. The great Gin Ichimaru would not be riled that easily. Uryuu could not have known Gin was a Shinigami for more than two weeks; if he was excelling in the exams now, then the most likely explanation was simply that he was a dedicated and studious person. There was no vendetta at work there.

"See? Class group three, remember? Well, actually, Ishida-kun doesn't really stand out from the crowd the way you do, Gin... perhaps it's normal not to notice him..."

"Oh?" Said Gin, his mock cheer in full force. "You seem to know him pretty well, Orihime. Are you two close?"

"Oh, not at all," she said. "But he's in my handicraft club!"

Gin's confused frown appeared. "Handi... craft club?"

X-X-X

Gin left school feeling slightly bemused. A fully mortal human had, in one day, beat him at hollow-hunting, exam marks and - he couldn't believe it even annoyed him - needlework.

Naturally, he had decided to follow Uryuu home. Following people while remaining undetected was a skill that no-one had ever outdone Gin at - he moved like a panther.

Thus, he was slightly surprised to hear Uryuu speak up at what he guessed was probably the half-way mark of the journey.

"Do you intend to follow me all the way home, Ichimaru Gin?"

Gin cursed himself for whatever aspect of stealth he'd slipped on, but maintained his joviality. "Well, uh, yeah. That's kinda the point of followin' ya, after all. How long have ya been able ta tell?"

"Since the moment where you and Inoue were spying on me from the classroom doorway."

Gin raised an eyebrow. "Pretty good eye on yer part. I'm as innocuous as I am quiet, when I put the effort in - if I say so myself."

The Quincy snorted. "You may be physically stealthy, but with your reiatsu blowing about you like that, a monkey would have been able to tell."

Gin scratched his chin. "Oh, yeah," he mused. "Yeah, I should probably get used to reining that in, shouldn't I. I guess stealth works differently for spirit beings, hmm..."

"Yes, your abilities of detection and concealment are pathetic," said Uryuu, adjusting his glasses. "You may be powerful, but you utterly lack finesse. If you were at all skilled, you would have noticed my existence long before today."

"What can I say?" Gin spread his arms, wide as his smile. "I have a crappy mentor. She'd rather read manga than train me. I had to figure out that reiatsu-feeling thing all on my own."

"You should be more observant." Uryuu's eyes narrowed to just over twice the width of Gin's. "I've been aware of your unusually high reiatsu since forever. Yes, I noticed back in mid-may when you acquired the powers of a Shinigami. And yes... I know Kuchiki Rukia's real identity."

Gin flipped his grin in a comical display of facial dexterity, leaving him with an equally exaggerated frown of bemusement. "So... where are ya going with all this?"

"Where do you think I'm going?"

"Neh!" Gin shrugged and popped his neck. "I have better things to play than word games. Here's where I'm going with this: yer on my turf, Jam-san. Off."

"That's Quincy to you."

"Yeah, Quince. It's a type of jam."

The two boys glared daggers at each other for almost a full minute.

Finally, Uryuu straightened. "How about a challenge, Ichimaru Gin?" He said. "Between I, a Quincy, and you, a Shinigami... we shall see who surpasses the other. I shall make you see that the Shinigami are unnecessary to this world."

"Suits me," said Gin, grinning widely as ever. "I never liked your jam, anyway. Too sour, y'know?"

X-X-X

Rukia approached the shop, rolling her eyes at the bickering kids - Jinta and Ururu - that Urahara employed as helpers. Tessai was literally holding them apart by their collars, yet they were still arguing furiously.

"Tessai!"

The giant of a man turned to face the tiny Shinigami. "Kuchiki-dono! How good to see you! What brings you here today?"

"Thanks, Tessai." She took a deep breath. "I need to talk to Urahara... is he here?"

"It's lucky you came today," replied Tessai, dropping the squabbling children. "He was planning on leaving tomorrow. Please, head right in."

With only slight hesitation, Rukia stepped into the shop.

To a mortal, the place appeared perfectly normal: 'Urahara Shoten,' a convenience store which mostly sold candy. Its location wasn't much, but it seemed to turn enough of a profit to stay in business.

To any supernatural visitors, it was a lot more than that; it was a black market of various experimental, rare, or illegal items. The owner, Kisuke Urahara, was a very mysterious figure - his jovial and friendly demeanor was about as transparent as coal. All that Rukia knew for certain about him was that he was a condemned ex-Shinigami who had escaped execution, he was a devilishly intelligent scientist and engineer, and that his reiatsu was a lot more powerful than hers and Gin's put together.

"Ahh! Kuchiki Rukia, my most faithful customer! What can I do for you today?" The eccentric blonde twirled his ever-present fan. "And before you ask, I gave you a chance for a refund on that faulty mod soul - I'm not taking him back now."

"No, I'm not here about Kon. He's annoying, but Gin seems to find him tolerable." Rukia flicked her hair in annoyance. "A fine way to run a business, Urahara. I've been trying to call you for two days."

"Oh!" He put on a tragic expression. "Why, how neglectful of me! I do deeply apologize! I was collecting some materials for my recent projects - "

Rukia held a hand up. "Spare me, Urahara-san. You know I won't understand any of it." She looked back up to meet his eyes. "Urahara-san... what do you know about the word 'Quincy'?"

There was a silence.

Urahara straightened his hat. "Quincy, huh?"

"Yes. Me and Gin encountered a kid who claimed to be a Quincy."

Urahara actually looked slightly serious. "That's a name that I've not heard in..." He looked thoughtful. "Oh my, a long time, a long time. A hundred and fifty years, at least. Possibly two hundred. My, how the years fly by when you're away from the court of pure souls..."

Rukia drew back. "A hundred... a hundred and fifty - "

The shop door closed behind her. "Two hundred is correct, Kisuke," came Tessai's deep voice. "A long time indeed. I had thought I'd never hear the name Quincy again."

"Two hundred..." Rukia shook her head. "What are you two talking about?! What the hell's a Quincy?"

Kisuke sighed. "Quincy... once, they could be found all over the mortal world. They were human. Spiritually aware, powerful, skilled... but human. They made it their charge to defend the living from hollows... who, I think we'll all agree, don't take much notice of the difference between a living human and a ghost." He snapped his fan shut. "They were renowned hollow hunters in their time, almost rivaling the Gotei Juusan-Tai in efficiency if not in numbers - "

Rukia raised an eyebrow. "Wait... the Gotei Juusan-Tai has great numbers?"

"Each division is thirty thousand men, Rukia. Did you really get the impression that Rukongai and the Court of Pure Souls houses and feeds a full three hundred and ninety thousand soldiers? The vast majority of the Gotei are scattered around the other, smaller cities in soul society... or stationed on patrol in the living world. But I digress..." He straightened. "Yes, the Quincy were great, once. A huge order, with a rich tradition and powerful warriors. But their time is no more. It was thought that the last of the Quincy bloodlines was destroyed over two hundred years ago."

Rukia frowned. "Destroyed? They didn't die off on their own?"

"No, they did not." Kisuke tapped his fan to his lips thoughtfully. "In truth, the Quincy came into conflict with the Death Gods as soon as they first started hunting hollows. The critical difference between them - the divide which was in place as long as the Quincy existed - was whether or not to kill the hollows."

Rukia cocked her head. "I don't understand. Don't both Shinigami and Quincy kill..." She halted. "Oh, no... you can't mean..."

"Yes, that is it, Rukia," Urahara said heavily. "A natural human thought, to be sure; any Shinigami would think it, were it not that our commanders possess the... call it pragmatism... that only comes with eons of age. The Quincy do not possess zanpakutõ; their weapons have no soul of their own. Thus the reishi weapons they used could kill a hollow soul... but not purify it. The broken, impure reiatsu of the soul could not pass on to the soul society, and could only linger until it was reborn in the human world again. But such faulty rebirths, lacking the proper completion of the cycle... tangled the soul, so to speak, eroding its sanity. When it died it would become a hollow very quickly, and if it fell to a Quincy again, it would grow more corrupt and broken with each rebirth – until a Shinigami could properly purify it. But, horrible though it is, that is not the worst of it."

Rukia raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, the worst of it is the fact that the improperly purified souls would not pass on. But souls that died in the Soul Society would still return to the human world. The river of souls flows in a circle – but the Quincy's methods created a dam in the water." Kisuke tapped his hat with his fan. "I hardly need tell you what that meant."

Rukia's eyes widened. "No... how could they be so..."

"Like I said - the Quincy were living mortals, and the living always lack foresight. Of course the Shinigami clashed with them. Protecting the balance of Samsara is, after all, the most sacred duty of any death god; and the Quincy's methods upset that balance." His fan slid slowly open again. "When the tribe was small, it was trivial. But once the Quincy reached a great number, the balance became noticeably broken. New souls only grew among the living, and old souls slowly drained out of soul society. The very foundations of our cosmos were collapsing... cracks were appearing in both worlds. And thus, Yamamoto made the darkest decision in his one-thousand-something years as captain-commander."

"Genocide," Rukia whispered.

"Yes... extermination of the Quincy tribe. However one might wish to defend it, it was genocide, as surely as the holocaust in the living world. I used to wonder whether or not it was a justified act, however black its method... after all, a total disruption of Samsara would bring about an apocalypse... but it was not my decision, and in any case, what is done cannot be undone." Kisuke stood up. "I am... interested to learn that the Court Guards apparently missed one."

Rukia was visibly shaken by the revelation that the infallible Gotei Juusan-Tai would order such an evil thing. "I... thank you for this information, Urahara-san."

"Ah! It is nothing." Kisuke waved his hand. "Come back anytime!"

X-X-X