Origins

''It is the era of the warring souls, a time of strife and pain, loss and sacrifice, with inferior beings bowing toward the strong and the noble. Our journey to the past begins a few centuries before the end of this bloody period (no, not that kind of period, get your mind out of the gutters), where two significant warriors first crossed paths; both of which would serve important roles following the end of these war-filled days.''

Setting: East Rukongai, Miles away from the Yoshida District

A young Raian Getsueikirite, an orphan of the era, was walking along the path of the forests on the outskirts where he and his brother had found a new home after losing their birth parents. Circumstances during the warfare between clans and even classes of nobility and poverty had taken an effect even in the less populated regions of the wandering soul districts. It was not unusual for even prepubescent children to find themselves left on their own, with no caretakers, forced to fight to survive in this cold and lonely afterlife. As the eldest sibling, Raian made it his duty, however young he was, to ensure his brother's safety at any cost, even if he had to abandon his childhood and force himself to take on the mantle of an adult. It was why he was here in the forest now, he was searching for animals he could capture and bring home for food.

He eventually happened upon a riverbed, where a strange sight caught his attention. A young boy, with strangely white hair reaching to his shoulders, a thing that was never seen before by the young Raian prior to this, was sitting there and facing outwards toward the water. His curiosity drew him closer to the young individual, with the white-haired boy eventually picking up on Raian's presence, turning his body to lock eyes with the newcomer.

Their eyes met briefly, before the white-haired boy finally spoke up. "...You stink. Do you even know what a bath is?"

A vein popped in the young Raian's head. "You're one to talk! You smell like wet ass!" he retorted, his teeth gritting in anger. "What the hell kind of greeting is that?!"

The white-haired boy narrowed his eyes, his face curling into a sarcastic expression. "Eh? That's big talk coming from a guy with a spiky afro. That perfectly shaped hair, how do you get your hair to stand up like that? Like a porcupine! Could you be using animal urine?! Eh, Takashi?! Are you supposed to be Takashi Kata?!" his voice getting increasingly loud.

Raian was merely standing there, faint growls escaping his clenched teeth as he regained himself. "My name is Raian! Not Takashi!" he protested.

Also returning to a serious demeanor, the boy stood up to his feet. "I'm Seireitou. It's nice to meet you, Raiyōmaru-san." he replied.

"It's Raian, I said. Does that natural wavy hair block your ears?!" Raian roared.

Seireitou's eyes then narrowed. "What are you even doing here? Nobody ever comes to this forest."

"I'm aware. This is definitely far out there from the rest of civilization. I'm here looking for animals, since me and my brother haven't eaten anything in quite some time." Raian explained.

Seireitou grinned as a result. "You must suck at catching your prey, huh? Fool, learn to take care of yourself!" he began to chuckle, before his stomach began to rumble as well.

"You haven't eaten anything either, you hypocrite!" Raian yelled, growing all the more angry with this guy.

"Hey, that's not fair, Raikimoto-san! I just have diarrhea!" Seireitou stated firmly.

"I told you, it's Raian, you bastard!" Raian roared in annoyance once more. "At any rate..." he said, calming down, as he walked toward the river's edge. "If there's a river here, there should be fish too, right?" he wondered.

"Tch." Seireitou scoffed. "I tried all day to catch one, but them bastards are too slippery." he confessed.

"Well, maybe if we work together, we can catch enough for the both of us to be satisfied." Raian added, looking around the forest floor for anything he could fashion together, while Seireitou yawned out loud and scratched the edge of his ass, watching the former carry out his plan.

---

Roughly an hour later, both Seireitou and Raian were holding makeshift fishing rods created by the latter, whom each found insects around the trees to use as bait.

"...And you're sure this'll work, Raikaitō-san?" Seireitou asked. "These fishing rods look shabby."

"Mispronounce my name again and you're gonna be salvaging your smelly ass from the bottom of the river." Raian retorted.

Seireitou, who was not used to sitting still this long, quickly grew bored with this. While he maintained his one-handed grip on the rod, he picked up as flat a rock as he could find, and threw it at the river in a direction away from where they were fishing, watching it as he managed to make it skip on the water's surface twice before it drowned.

Raian merely snickered. "You suck at rock skipping."

"Shut it!" Seireitou responded.

"Here, watch." Raian then picked up a rock that was near him and chucked it at the river, making it skip along the water at least five times before it finally sank.

Seireitou merely kept his eyes narrowed. "So what. You couldn't throw that rock even half the distance I managed to, meaning I have you beat in strength."

"Oh yeah?" Raian questioned, turning his attention to the white-haired boy. "Let's see you prove it, natural perm!"

Leaving their fishing rods stuck to the ground via a small hole and a stone to secure it, the two walked along the river's path until happening upon a massive boulder that sat right in their path.

Seireitou grinned. "Go ahead, try to lift that rock, Takashi-kun."

"I'm going to smash this rock down on your head, bastard." Raian stated as he approached the massive boulder and gripped his hands onto it. With a heave-ho, the boy tried his best to lift the boulder, but even seconds into the struggle, he could not even budge the stone, before eventually giving up.

Seireitou, in response, gave a hearty chuckle.

"Let's see you try it then!" Raian challenged, with Seireitou smirking and approaching the boulder himself. He gripped the edges of the boulder and with a loud roar, he slowly managed to lift the massive boulder off the ground by a couple centimeters, before finally dropping it in exhaustion.

With a pant, he maintained his grin. "Told ya!" Seireitou mused.

"Tch. That means nothing! Strength means nothing if you don't have proper control!"

Seireitou's eyes flashed a glint. "So it seems we're opposites then. The only way to properly settle this is to face each other in a fight."

Raian went silent at this, but his eyes also became consumed with a small flame of passion. "It would seem so."

The wind picked up, as the two stared at each other silently, as if preparing for a confrontation.

But they were quickly interrupted by the tugging sound of the fishing rods they left behind.

Their attention snapped toward the fishing rods as they both made a mad dash for the river edge. "FOOOOOOOOD!" they both yelled.

---

Roughly an hour later, Seireitou and Raian faced one another, each carrying three fishes tied to one another by a string.

"So it seems we'll need to put that fight on hold. I have to return to my brother." Raian remarked.

Seireitou nodded. "I have to get back as soon. My master will get worried if I'm gone for too long."

The white-haired boy then finally revealed an honest smile. "I appreciate your help, Raian-san." he stated, finally stating the boy's name correctly, with caused Raian to relay a smile as well. "Anytime, Seireitou-san. Hopefully we'll cross paths again, so as to settle our argument."

"Yeah, without a doubt." Seireitou answered, before turning away and walking toward one direction as Raian turned toward the opposite.

Seireitou, however, then stopped. "Oh, Raian-san. One more thing."

Raian turned as well. "Yeah?"

"...I took a piss in the river earlier, so clean the fish well before eating." Seireitou stated.

Raian's vein popped once again.

"...I swear I'll kill you, bastard."

END