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.
Notice: This story is not set within the normal story line of BLEACH. It takes place a few thousand years beforehand (before the Academy was founded), and many of the ideas presented are fan-made and are not to be considered within the context of the BLEACH universe.
In this world there are spiritual beings known as 'shinigami', or Gods of Death. These beings co-exist in our world to protect it from demonic creatures known as 'hollows'. When a person died, a shinigami comes to judge them and either sends them to righteous afterlife, or into the pits of Hell. Those who are innocent enough to ascend into the afterlife are reborn as shinigami themselves, but to a lesser degree, and live their lives normally in a New World.
This is the story of a young man, killed in war, and filled with the regret of never having a satisfying death. This young man was found and judged by a shinigami to live in the afterlife as a spirit, but even the prospect of life after life gave the young man's soul no hope. Lost and alone, the young man wandered through the vast expanse of the villages that bordered a great walled city, Seireitei, until he was approached by a man whose eyes were filled with evil.
"Hey you!" the burly looking man said, pointing to the young wanderer, "Move aside! This is my town and you ain't welcome in it."
The young man's gaze never left the dirt road he had been treading across. He had heard of the town in question, Zaraki. It was the absolute worst of the many districts that he had ever passed through. All his life, for nearly 20 years after his first death, he had been dodging attackers and hiding in plain sight, waiting for the righteous shinigami to come to his aid. It had never happened.
"HEY! I'm talking to you, PUNK!" With that insult, the burly bandit gave the young man a swift kick in the stomach that knocked him back a good distance. He struggled to stand, but couldn't bring himself up from a crawling position. From there he spat out the blood that had gathered in his mouth and dug his nails into the dirt and clenched his teeth.
Why he thought while enduring the pain, Why can't I fight? Another swift kick to the stomach sent him crashing through a poorly upheld shack.
I used to be strong, always fighting and always winning. Dammit! This is unfair!
He was so lost in his though to notice that the bandit had brandished a sword over his head.
I want to help people! I want to live! I…The bandit swung downward.
I want to fight!!!
The bandit's blade had stopped. Surprise and fear had overcome him. He was looking down at a bleeding, dying soul with a sword clenched tightly in had that had come out of nowhere. The young man wielding the sword seemed to be equally surprised, but was overcome with anticipation rather than fear. He almost effortlessly pushed his attacker's sword away and rose to his feet with a deathly-cold look on his face.
The bandit recovered and re-armed himself before going off on a tangent of fury and desperation.
"Listen you, do you know who I am!? My name is Taro Kenpachi, a name that I inherited by killing the most enemies and the former wielder of the title! Do you think you have a chance against me! Well?"
The young man had rested his sword on his shoulder, not bothering to look at his adversary when he replied in an apathetic voice.
"So, if I kill you, I get that title, right? Very well then." He turned to meet the frightened bandit's gaze and grinned a horrible grin of blood lust and feverish killing desire.
"From now on," he began, "I will be named Shin." He raised his sword and pointed it at his opponent's face. "And in a few seconds, I'll add Kenpachi to it" He licked away a speck of drool that had escaped his lips when he thought of this.
I will be feared again as I was in life. I have a weapon, I have power…I have a name.
They charged each other screaming. It was over in a second, and in that second, Shin Kenpachi was born.
This is the story of a man with immense power, the man that made the name 'Kenpachi' a thing of legend. This is the story of death himself as he stalks the land of the Soul Society in search of the ultimate fight.