Bleach: Enosichthon - CH5 (Patreon)

If you’re going to do a roadtrip in the afterlife, I highly recommend finding a giant, nine-foot-tall wolf-man to walk with. They make fantastic windbreaks, shadowbringers, hunters and to top it all, a heck of a violence deterrent, guys would steer clear of us the moment they saw him. Honestly, I was having a blast walking with Sajin, so much so that the last few days passed in a flash. 

"The wind is shifting," Sajin said, looking up ahead. "A storm approaches from the north." 

"A storm? It rains here? Neat," I said, tilting my face up toward the sky as I strolled down the dirt path following behind Sajin. "A little rain will wash all the dirt off our clothes, and maybe clean us a bit." 

Sajin’s ears twitched under his bamboo hat, and he let out a low, rumbling sigh that told me he didn't exactly share my optimism for basic hygiene.

"The rain is rarely a gentle thing in our situation," Sajin corrected, his heavy footsteps never breaking their steady rhythm. "It turns the dust into mud and floods the ravines…. But above all, it drives the desperate into whatever shelter they can find, forcing them together, which makes the paths highly unpredictable."

"Ah," I nodded, kicking a loose pebble off the road. "So less of a refreshing shower, more of a miserable mud wrestling tournament with hungry violence driven lunatics. Awesome."

Well that was a problem.

"Indeed," Sajin agreed as he stopped walking for a brief moment, raising a hand to point toward a jagged line of ruined, blackened structures bleeding out from the horizon. "We are approaching the outer edge of District 80. Zaraki."

I squinted, looking at the district from afar. Even from miles away, the air here felt completely different… It lost the… empty quiet of the wasteland we had been walking through, replaced by a faint, yet very palpable tension that immediately made my knuckles itch, it was almost as if I could feel the violence from this far away, but couldn’t be… right?

"Zaraki…" Sajin said, letting out a growl. "Even from this distance, the thick bloodlust of those who seek only to slay or be slain hangs heavily in the air."

So, it wasn’t just me… maybe feeling things was part of the supernatural package of powers I had gotten in the afterlife. 

I looked down at my hands, giving my fingers a slow flex. "Huh, so that heavy, itchy feeling isn't just the fact I haven’t showered in weeks? But literal bloodlust radiating across the wasteland?"

"It is," Sajin confirmed, his eyes narrowing slightly beneath the wide brim of his hat as he stared at the jagged ruins. "For most of the souls residing in Zaraki do not value life, neither their own nor anyone else's. To them… strength is the only thing that matters, and they test it constantly. It is a crucible of madness."

"I see," I murmured, dropping my hands back to my sides and letting out a tired sigh. "So, what's the game plan, boss? Because if memory serves, walking straight down the main street of that place didn't exactly end well for me last time, and that was on a sunny day."

My chances now were exponentially better, that much I grant you. But if I could avoid a fight to the death, I would, pointless violence was not my style, and that place was exactly that, pointless violence for the sake of it… besides, it would be rude of me to put Sajin on the line.

"I am aware," Sajin nodded, looking at me. "We will skirt the absolute edge of the ruins, keeping to the deep ravines and the outer rocky ridges that border the settlement… It is admittedly… a much longer, more arduous path, and with the weather the footing will be treacherous, but it should keep us hidden from the skirmishes and the eyes of those looking for a target."

Hm… well, I liked that approach.

"So… the scenic route?" I summarized, flashing him a bright, and very relieved smile as I offered a two-finger salute. "Sajin, I have never agreed with a plan more in my entire life. I am one hundred percent on board with the coward’s detour."

Sajin let out a low, breathy huff of amusement. "It is not cowardice to avoid a battle that serves no purpose."

"Ehhh.. potato, potahto, at the end of the day it’s all semantics," I grinned, shifting the strap of my bag and falling into step right behind him. "Lead the way, boss~"

We left the main path before the first drops of rain even started falling.

Sajin wasn't kidding about the outer ridges being an arduous path. The terrain felt like a ninja warrior type of shit, everything was uneven, and covered in loose stuff that threatened to send me sliding into my second death with every third step. Surprisingly, for a guy who was pushing nine feet tall and probably weighed as much as a small car, Sajin navigated the crumbling rock with an annoying amount of grace, the bastard was a giant a cat, while I, on the other hand, ended up using my sword as a makeshift walking stick just to keep my balance.

As for the rain Sajin had talked about. It didn't start with a drizzle, it was… more of a sudden change, one moment we were fine, and the next… the temperature simply plummeted as a sheet of freezing, heavy water slammed into us without so much of a warning. Within seconds, my clothes were plastered to my skin, and the dry dirt beneath our sandals turned into a thick, slippery mud.

"You weren’t kidding," I said, laughing and almost falling off to my death as I did… that would’ve been a stupid second death. “Fighting like this would be a pain.”

"Keep your footing," Sajin replied. "The mud will only worsen from here."

He was right.

As the rain got worse, our progress slowed to an absolute crawl, most so that we wouldn’t fall. But true to our plan, well, Sajin’s plan, we spent the next few hours navigating the edges of the district, one step at a time. It was slow, and dangerous, but every time I slipped in the mud or fell face first into the ground, I just reminded myself of the alternative… fighting in these conditions.

Eventually, we reached a high, narrow path that offered a rain-soaked vantage point of the district below.

I paused, leaning on the hilt of my sword to catch my breath. Through the thick curtain of rain, and mud the slums of Zaraki looked like an even more chaotic nightmare that I remembered…. But even over the deafening sound of the rain, you could hear it.

The faint, sharp clangs of metal clashing against metal. The occasional raw… roar echoing up from the flooded alleys. The heavy itchy pressure in the air was thicker here… I could smell the damn blood, and feel what the people down there were feeling, buzzing like static against my skin. People were actually down there, fighting to the death in the middle of a freezing mudslide.

I let out a whistle, shivering as the cold wind hit me.

"Yeah," I muttered, shaking my head. "We definitely made the right call…."

"The violence will continue until the storm passes," Sajin said, looking at me. He had stopped a few paces ahead, looking down at the district. His eyes were hard for me to see, but the heavy slump of his shoulders told me exactly what he thought of the place, he hated it. "It is a wretched existence."

"Can’t really argue there," I replied, pulling my soaking wet hair out of my face and pushing myself upright. "Come on, boss, let’s keep going. I've got a hot spring with my name on it waiting at the finish line, and I fully intend to collect it."

After another hour of slipping around like a drunk ballerina, even Sajin had to admit the terrain was getting too dangerous for us to proceed. The path ahead narrowed into a steep, crumbling ledge of mud that looked like it would collapse if someone weighing more than ten pounds walked through it, let us.

Sajin raised a hand, signaling a halt, before pointing a finger toward a dark crack, big enough for us to settle, in the rock face to our right. "There. We will wait out the worst of the rain, before we proceed."

"Not a bad idea," I chattered, my teeth actually starting to click together. "I was about five minutes away from suggesting we just lay down and let the mud claim us, not the worst way to die for sure."

The cave wasn't exactly welcoming. It was shallow, smelled terribly of something rotten, and we had to duck to get inside… well, I had to duck. Sajin basically had to fold himself in half to clear the entrance, the poor guy. But it had a roof, so the wind and the rain couldn't reach us, and more importantly, it was… mostly dry.

I dropped against the back wall, sliding down until I hit the stone floor with a heavy sigh as I immediately started wringing the freezing water out of my ruined robe, watching a disgusting amount of brown mud pool at my feet.

"Well," I said, peeling wet hair off my forehead and looking up at the giant settling near the entrance. "I'm pretty sure I smell like a wet dog."

Sajin let out a short, breathy snort, reaching up to take off his soaking bamboo hat, shaking it once, sending a heavy spray of water against the cave wall, before setting it down. "You love to jest, but yes, you smell like a wet dog."

"I do love to joke around… some people say that humor is a survival mechanism," I grinned, rubbing my hands. "Besides, what's the point of whining? We're dry, we successfully avoided getting stabbed by the local murder fan club down in the valley, and we're one step closer to civilization, we might as well have a laugh, right?"

Sajin sat near the cave entrance, watching as the rain poured outside. "Perhaps," he said softly, his voice echoing in the small space. "Maintaining a light heart in a dark world is a strength of its own."

“By the way, Sajin… is there anything you would like to do once we reach the inner districts?”

Sajin was about to answer when he suddenly froze.

His ears pinned flat against his skull, and the thick fur along his shoulders bristled, standing completely on end, as a low, vibrating growl started in his chest, completely different from the warning he had given me back in the desert. This wasn't a territorial threat… no, it was a pure, instinctual alarm.

I stopped rubbing my arms and looked toward the cave entrance. And for the first time since I woke up here, I felt the overwhelming sensation of fear taking up my senses.

Through the curtain of freezing rain, a figure stepped into the shallow overhang. It wasn't a mud-covered thug or a blood-crazed lunatic from the valley. 

It was an old man.

At a first glance, he looked incredibly frail, with deep, weathered wrinkles carving lines across his face and a long, white beard that fell past his chest. He wore a simple, dark robe that looked dry, despite the rain outside, and leaned heavily on a wooden walking stick.

He stopped just inside the entrance, taking in the sight of me and the giant, tense wolf-man looming near the wall.

"Ho," the old man said, his voice quiet but carrying perfectly over the roar of the storm… no it wasn’t that, it was as if my entire body was focused on only hearing the man in front of me. "It seems this shelter is already occupied, forgive the intrusion."

Who the fuck was this old man?

Sajin didn’t relax, if anything, he pressed himself tighter against the rock face, his eyes wide and entirely fixed on the old man, like a cornered animal staring down a wildfire.

As the old man stepped further into the cave, the biting chill in the air suddenly vanished. It didn't just get a little warmer; no… instead a dry, comfortable heat washed over the stone floor, completely neutralizing the freezing wind, and our trembling bodies.

I had no idea who this man was… or what he wanted, but I knew it was in my best interest to avoid any sort of escalation… I needed to keep this peaceful, every fiber of my undead being knew that.

"No intrusion at all," I said, offering an easy, shivering smile as I patted the dry stone next to me. "Plenty of room in the cave for all of us. Come on in and grab a seat before you catch a cold, grandpa."

Sajin let out a sharp, choked breath, staring at me as if I had just offered a seat to the grim reaper himself, and… well, despite the looks the old man carried, his presence felt just like that.

The old man’s gaze shifted to me. His eyes were heavily lidded, almost closed, but I could feel the weight of his stare pinning me in place for a fraction of a second, and for that brief second, I felt as if my lungs stopped working, then after what felt like an eternity, the corners of his eyes crinkled, and he gave a slow, deliberate nod.

"You have my thanks, young man," he said, moving with a slow, measured shuffle to a dry spot near the cave wall, resting his walking stick across his knees as he sat down.

For a long minute, the only sound was the rain hammering against the rocks outside. Sajin remained perfectly still, refusing to sit, refusing to look away from the old man… so it was clearly up to me to navigate this situation to the best of my ability.

"Terrible weather for a stroll," I said, breaking the silence, trying to look as relaxed as possible, leaning my head back against the wall, stretching my legs out toward the sudden, inexplicable warmth radiating through the cave. "You from the district down there?"

"I am merely passing through," the old man replied smoothly, his tone mild and conversational. "An errand took me further than I intended. The rain caught me unaware."

"Yeah, us too," I sighed, looking at the old man. "We were trying to take the scenic route around Zaraki to avoid the local welcoming committee, pretty violent, you know?"

The old man stroked his long white beard, his gaze shifting to Sajin, taking in the fur, the claws, and the sheer size of him. He didn't flinch, and he didn't reach for a weapon. He just observed.

"An unusual pair to find traveling the outer ridges," the old man noted quietly. "A human soul, and a beast of the wastes."

Sajin looked away, his ears dropping. It was the same bitter expectation of judgment I had seen when we first met.

"Hey, don't let the fur fool you," I chimed in, waving a hand. "He's a great friend, and the best tour guide ever! I mean… I'd be walking in circles eating dirt by now if it wasn't for him."

Sajin’s head snapped toward me, his eyes wide.

The old man paused, his hand halting its slow stroke through his beard. He looked at me, then at Sajin, and finally at the sword resting on the stone beside me, as a low, rumbling chuckle vibrated in his chest, a sound that felt oddly foreign coming from him.

“Yeah,” I smiled. 

The old man’s chuckle faded, and the comfortable, dry heat radiating through the small cave suddenly shifted... It didn't get hotter, exactly, but the air grew drier… as breathing suddenly felt like trying to pull hot ash into my lungs, and every hair on my arms stood on end. 

"Surprises, indeed," the old man murmured, his heavily lidded eyes opened just a fraction, locking onto Sajin, as the grandfatherly warmth in his voice completely vanished, replaced by an absolute, terrifying authority. "However, my errand here is not one of leisure… I have come to put down a stray beast."

Sajin let out a choked gasp, his body pressing so hard against the cave wall that the stone actually cracked.

The old man slowly shifted his gaze to me. "You are free to go, young man. Step out into the rain and keep walking. You have no part in this."

He wanted to kill Sajin?

I didn't think about it, I didn't weigh my options, or consider the fact that this old man was currently projecting an aura so… deeply terrifying that it felt like death was coming for me. I just knew that Sajin had been kind enough to help, to guide me through a wasteland, to put up with my endless talking and terrible jokes without complaining once.

So, before I knew it, or could rationalize how bad of an idea this was, my hand shot out, wrapping around the hilt of the katana resting beside me as I twisted my hips, and swung the blade in a flat, desperate arc right at the old man.

I felt my wrists snap forward and I felt the same energy that had once powered my fists, coursing through me as I followed through with the swing.

And then I blinked.

My hands were completely empty… I was still holding the posture of a swing, my knuckles white from the grip, but there was no weight in my grip.

"A poor stance," the old man’s voice noted calmly.

I froze, slowly turning my head. The old man hadn't moved from where he was seated, he was still resting comfortably against the rock, but my blade was now resting across his lap, where he was gently tracing a finger down the edge of the blade, as if inspecting the weapon.

I hadn't even seen him blink, let alone reach out and disarm me mid-swing.

"And a terrible weapon," he added, tossing the sword aside. It clattered against the stone, sliding into the mud near the cave entrance.

A cold sweat broke out across my neck, completely overriding the suffocating heat filling the cave… This wasn't just a gap in skill, or experience, this was a completely different thing, I was out of my depth, by a million miles. Taking a deep breath, and trying to reign my fear, I slowly pulled my empty hands back, curling them into fists, my knuckles itching with that familiar, heavy vibration that had saved me a few times, but that this time, I knew… it wouldn't be enough.

The old man ignored me entirely, turning his piercing gaze back to the giant wolf-man trembling against the wall.

"You have a choice, beast," the old man said, his voice ringing with the finality of a judge passing a sentence. "Turn around. Return to the shadows of your clan, hide your face from the world as your kind was meant to, and I will allow you to leave this cave alive… I will only take the life of this insolent, foolish soul who dared to raise a blade against me."

The silence in the cave was deafening, broken only by the relentless hammering of the rain outside.

I swallowed hard, looking over at Sajin. The giant was trembling, his eyes wide with a primal, instinctual terror. He didn’t know who this old man was, but just like me, his very nature told him exactly what kind of monster was hiding beneath that wrinkled skin.

"Take the deal, Sajin," I said quietly, forcing a tired, lopsided smile onto my face. "Grandpa won’t beat me."

Sajin looked at me, at my hands, at the blade I had just used to try and defend him, against a man who far outclassed us. He looked at the complete lack of regret on my face. And the stupid determination to try and buy him some time, as futile as that was.

“No…” Sajin growled.

“Hm?” The old man hummed.

Sajin pushed himself off the wall and stepped squarely between me and the old man, completely shielding me from the man.

"I have spent my life hiding in the shadows, no more!" Sajin rumbled, not with fear, but with an overwhelming, absolute resolve as he bared his fangs, a low, thunderous growl vibrating in his chest. "This man sat at my fire, shared his food, and he offered me his blade when I was threatened, I won’t abandon him!"

“This is your only chance to survive,” The old man replied, looking at him.

"I will not return to the den," Sajin declared, glaring at the old man. "If you wish to take his life, old man, you will have to step over my corpse to do it!"

I stared at the broad, fur-covered back of the giant standing between me and what might as well be certain death. And couldn’t help but smile… any sane person would have taken the out… I should’ve taken the out, but here we were, facing a walking calamity of a man, both refusing to accept his offers.

I let out a tired sigh, as I stepped out from behind Sajin’s massive frame, coming to a halt right beside him, standing shoulder-to-hip with the trembling giant.

I looked past his bristling fur and locked eyes with the old man.

"Look, I'm going to be completely honest with you, grandpa," I said, my voice remarkably steady despite the fact my heart was hammering against my ribs, because truth to be told, I was scared shitless, but I was not one to let fear dictate how I lived, or in this case, how I died. "I'm no hero… Never have been, never will be, I’ve lived entirely for my own enjoyment, taking the good with the bad, and avoiding this exact kind of pointless trouble whenever I possibly could."

I raised my bare hands, curling my fingers into fists. 

"But there is one line I have never crossed," I continued, flashing the old man a fierce/fearful grin. "I have never left a friend alone to fight the odds. And I'm sure as hell not going to start doing it now… so… you heard the man, if you want him, or me, you're going to have to go through both of us."

Well… this life was short, but I had fun. I just wish the next one, if there is one, is a bit longer.

The old man didn't move, his gaze drifted from my raised fists to Sajin’s bared fangs, and then back to my face. Then, the impossible happened, as the pressure that threatened to flatten us vanished, it didn't fade out slowly, no, it cut off instantly, like a switch being flipped, leaving behind nothing but the damp chill of the cave and the sound of the rain.

The old man closed his eyes, as a deep, genuine chuckle rumbled from his chest.

"Such loyalty," the old man mused, his voice warm and entirely devoid of malice as he reached down, picking up his weird looking walking stick and resting his hands comfortably over the pommel. "It seems my test was not in vain."

I blinked, the heavy, vibrating energy in my knuckles slowly fizzling out as my brain struggled to catch up with the sudden shift. One second, we were standing at the edge of the fucking abyss, and the next, the old bastard I might as well name, Apocalypse, had simply decided to sit back down and stroke its beard.

Sajin didn't drop his guard quite as fast, he stood frozen, his massive chest heaving as he stared at the old man, completely bewildered by the sudden disappearance of the killing intent.

"Test?" I echoed, just now realizing I was sweating bullets. "You've got a really twisted way of handing out pop quizzes, grandpa… that’s just evil of you, I genuinely thought you were about to turn us into ash."

"Had your resolve been hollow, or your loyalty fragile, I would have," the old man replied. "A warrior that cowers at the first sign of death is of no use to anyone, just as souls who abandon their companions are not fit to swing a blade."

I see… if either of us had taken the easy way out, our heads would’ve separated from our shoulders. 

“Who… are you?” I asked.

"I am Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto," he said, his voice resonating through the small cavern, deep and powerful enough to vibrate through my entire body. "Founder of the Shin'o Academy, and Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13."

"Forgive me," Sajin rumbled, his voice trembling with a profound, terrifying reverence. "I... I did not know..."

"Raise your head," the old man commanded.

So… he was the top dog of the Shinigami. 

"Right…" I exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of my neck as a nervous, breathy laugh escaped my lips. "Well. It's an honor to meet you, Commander. I'd offer to shake your hand, but I'm pretty sure they are wet from… well, fear induced sweat, you know?"

Yamamoto’s eyes crinkled slightly at the corners, as a faint and incredibly subtle look of amusement crossed his weathered face.

"You lack discipline, form, and manners," Yamamoto stated bluntly. "But you do not lack courage. Neither of you do." He tapped his wooden cane against the stone floor, with such force that it cut perfectly through the roar of the rain outside. "When the storm breaks, you will cease this aimless wandering. You will walk directly to the Seireitei, and you will enroll in the Academy. That is not a suggestion."