A Breath of Fresh Air

Kenji sat perched on a boulder, deep in thought or meditation, it wasn't sure which as they were incredibly alike. It was incredibly spacious inside this mountain; caves stretched endlessly into the centre of the rock and many dead ends opened up into rooms of varying shapes and sizes - even after 400 years of living in the mountain, Kenji still hadn't explored all of the idiosyncrasies of this place but his time in hermitage had come to an end for he had finally remembered his purpose and, as such, he could no longer remain still.
Kenji finally opened his eyes and in this cavern, he took in the rock walls and the crystals that glistened from the occasional crevace in the stone. Kenji tied his zanpakutou to his waist and donned his travelling cloak - raising the hood - then strode out of the cave mouth with a silent whisper of goodbye to the cave that had housed him for four centuries.
Kenji took his first breath of fresh air in four hundred years.

The Sun was blinding to Kenji's eyes that had been so accustomed to the dark of the caves but his senses had not dullened. Kenji was striding through a small clearing in a mountain path when he felt a sudden surge of killing intent and stopped dead in his tracks.
"Come out. I know you're there," Kenji said briskly.
By now, his eyes had adjusted enough that he could make out the shapes of the three men who had emerged and blocked the path in front of him.
The man in the middle laughed, "Well, what do we have here? It looks like we got a loner."
Kenji smirked under his hood before it quickly vanished, "I guess you would be correct. Now move."
"You hear that?" The man cackled to his friends, "The loner wants us to move."
This was followed by chuckles of laughter from the other two. All three men were above 6 feet but the man in the middle was the smallest one, barely 6 foot tall whereas the other two were several inches taller.
"And what are you gonna do if we don't?" The man in the middle sneered down at Kenji.
Kenji pulled down his hood and looked the man in the eye before moving the folds of his cloak aside to reveal his tattered shihakusho then saying with a smile, "Stay there and you'll find out."

The men took a step back in surprise and the two men on the flanks looked horrified as though they'd just seen a ghost... Well, technically, they had but they were ghosts themselves also so it shouldn't have warranted such surprise. The man in the middle however, quickly regained his cool and there was even a hint of bloodlust in his eyes.
"That's some fancy clothing you got there," The man said, "Too bad you can't back it up."
Kenji grinned and his bloodlust rose, "Are you sure about that?"
Without warning, the man in the middle drew his katana and slashed at Kenji straight down the middle. Kenji drew the zan from his left hip and blocked the strike with a textbook double-handed horizontal block.
The man turned back to his comrades, "Well? What are you doing just standing there? Attack him!"
Both of them drew their own katana and slashed at Kenji's neck. Kenji smiled and removed one hand from the zan he was holding and quickly drew his other zan, held it in the middle to make a cross-shaped guard and blocked both blades at the same time as they scraped past him.
Kenji moved the katana of the smallest man down before pushing to lock his arms in position; Kenji then punched the man across the jaw with his left hand and spinning to parry the katana of the other two men who slashed at his arms.
Kenji ducked under a slash then rose up and caught one katana in a cross-shaped block, he then closed the cross and twisted, disarming the man. The unarmed man received a strong right hook to the temple and dropped like a log onto the path.
Kenji span back to face the other two men, the smaller of which was nursing his jaw.
"Well?" Kenji taunted, "Think I can back it up now?"

Kenji stood with his zanpakutou at his sides, not even bothering with a guard. This was clearly very infuriating for the smallest man and he rushed, losing his patience. The man slashed diagonally from Kenji's top left downwards but he was blinded by his impatience and hate making the slash even clumsier than they were before and he overextended giving Kenji the only chance he needed.
Kenji ducked and went left past the man. As he went, Kenji's zanpakutou bit into the man's left shoulder and made two parallel diagonal slashes down his torso. The man collapsed into a pool of blood as Kenji regarded him with distaste.
"Arrogance, impatience and hate. They will blind you." Kenji turned to regard the last man. "Will you continue?" He asked.
The man was red in the face, "How can I not when you just hurt and maybe killed my two best friends?"
Kenji smiled. "Ah, a bandit with honour. Worry not, I shall give you a warrior's death."
Kenji sheathed one of his zanpakutou at his right hip and took the other in a two-handed Chuudan no Kamae - the basic of all basics yet the most versatile and advanced form - and faced the man as a warrior should. Kenji lowered into a crouch with his point still hanging in midair as a sign of respect while the other man did similarly. The man was clearly not trained in the art of swordsmanship as his sword skill was exceptionally lacking but he had honour and mind enough to copy Kenji's respectful greeting so Kenji swore to end it in one hit.

They faced each other in total silence as the wind whistled in their ears. Kenji sharpened his focus and prepared himself for the clash. His breathing slowed and deepened, his sight grew sharper as his hearing dullened. Soon, the whistling wind was nothing but a dull noise in the background and all that existed was him and his opponent. There was no stopping it, the clash was inevitable. Kenji released conscious control of his reiryoku and his reiatsu enveloped his body, it's black barely noticeable against his similarly dark shihakusho.
A single leaf lingered between them and the wind died. The leaf fluttered towards the ground, counting the seconds before the imminent surge. Both combatants watched it closely, their focus completely consumed by it. As it touched the ground, the small brushing sound it made was completely drowned out by the sound of the fighters rushing towards each other.
They struck. Kenji slashed diagonally from his top right to bottom left, the other man did similarly. In that instant, everything slowed down and every movement counted. Kenji pushed the man's blade down and just when it was about to hit his hiltguard, Kenji quickly moved the hilt up which also pushed the man's blade up. Kenji span the blade so that he sliced horizontally instead which forced the other man's blade into an upright position and allowed Kenji to slide past before continuing his slash that took the man on the neck.
They ended up in the other person's original position and time resumed as normal. The other man grunted then shoved his katana into the ground and dropped to his knees. Blood dripped from a shallow cut all around the front of his neck.
"Why didn't you kill me?" The man asked as Kenji sheathed his zanpakutou.
"Was there a need to?" Kenji retorted. "I can always finish it, if that is what you would like." Kenji span and pointed his finger at the man, "Hado no 4: Byakurai." A bolt of white lightning shot past the man's ear and into the ground beyond him.
The man paled, "I understand."
Kenji smirked as he put his hood back up, "Good; now take your friends and don't ever let me see them again. You, however, return when you are strong enough. You have potential."
The man scurried away with his friends hanging off him and Kenji turned to the setting sun. The sky was red. The sky was tainted with blood. The sky was his...