New fic. Yet another new fic. But unfortunately this one was fighting it's way out no matter what I did. Also my first time in the Bleach archive, which I shall enjoy. A couple of things to point out in this.
1. Because this is of such huge import in this fan archive, this ff will be promote Ichigo/Orihime, Renji/Rukia, Uryuu/Nemu and Grimmjow/Neliel (stress Neliel, not Nel). Aside from these I will not be promoting any other pairings besides those already established, (Urahara/Yoruichi, Byakuya/Hisana, Isshin/Masaki and Shunsui/Nanao) and even when I say this will support these pairings, that doesn't mean that Romance will be the major plot thread. It will be one, minor plot thread, that will exist in the same fashion as it does in Bleach. In a secondary, inferred role. This is primarily about action and adventure with a touch of horror, humour and mystery.
2. Do not harrange me about updates, please. I'm doing my best, with six other fics in process as well, four of them of similar length and depth as this one. Bear with me.
3. If you have a suggestion, or something I forgot to mention, please let me know.
4. This is AU and is set after Ichigo has started his training with the Vizards, just after Renji and Chad have started training, Uryuu is in training with his father Ryuken, and just as Rukia and Orihime have decided to train together.
5. Note that in this story I'm going to attempt to mix the English translation and the original Japanese terms. Some I'll translate, i.e. Taichou will be Captain, Sou Taichou, Captain-Commander, others will stay the same, i.e. Shinigami, reiatsu and so forth. I like the translation of Shinigami for Bleach though, as Soul Reaper is quite accurate, due to the history and the nature of the role, but I'll be using shinigami.
Alright enough warbling from me, let's get rolling.
" " is speech, ' ' is thought and if you come across " ' ' " then it's a quotation in the middle of speech.
I do not own Bleach, nor do I make any claim to the material. This is merely a fanfiction, which is making no money or profit. Bleach is copyrighted Tite Kubo, Viz Media and TV Tokyo. Support the official release.
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"Abandon Hope, all ye who enter here!"
Prologue
Zennosuke Kurumadani ran forward, his supple zanpakuto flowing through the moonlight. His target was a Hollow, one of the many evil spirits here in Karakura town. Whatever his superiors said, the number of spiritually aware people in this town was drawing these Hollows to the town in their droves. He was hard pressed to even come near achieving his mandate of defending it. Even staying out of the furious battles that had taken place here between the forces of Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society, chaos was the only way to describe the situation. Whilst that substitute and his friends could do as they pleased, he was left holding the baby, as it were. Typical.
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He was reminded of his quarry the moment it lashed out with one of its tentacles. The Hollow was laughing uproariously as it lashed out with the tentacles that Zennosuke supposed had probably been hair at one point the Hollows previous life. As they impacted he used his Shunpo to swiftly avoid the blows.
"You think you can defeat me?" the Hollow bellowed between blows, his attack increasing in speed as his amphibian like body coiled itself for a spring. "I've been slaying people since before you were a thought in the mind of your slut of a mother!"
Zennosuke's eyes narrowed, and he lashed out. The Hollow let out a scream as the keen edged blade, fuelled by rage, sliced through one of his legs. Scuttling like a crab the Hollow dodged out from underneath the next blow.
"When we next meet in Soul Society, I will punch your face for that remark, you inbred little maggot."
For a moment the Hollow stared and then burst out laughing even harder. "Soul Society," he garbled out through his guffaws, "I was bound for the Pit you moron. Every one of my fellow inmates on Death Row was told the same thing. 'For your crimes in this life, you will surely be punished in the next.' I have no intention of going there. Any of my fellows who were like me and escaped initially, were soon snapped up."
The Hollow's yellow eyes narrowed on the Shinigami in front of him and he growled, "I will never go there. So I will slay you!"
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Zennosuke leaped backwards, his zanpakuto swinging up and catching the Hollow's grasping hand in its tracks. Pushing him back, the Hollow advanced, his long arms making his already simian pose, appear more and more apelike. It would have been comical had Zennosuke been hard pressed to avoid those long arms and those dangerous claws that were mounted on each finger. He leaped up in the air, gathering reishi beneath his feet and elevating himself to a high point. Looking down he could see the Hollow throwing out his long arms and clambering up towards him across shop fronts and roofs. With a single bound the Hollow leaped into the air, arms outstretched and grasping at the Shinigami. Zennosuke prepared himself, drawing back his arms and preparing a nadegiri. He had been working hard on this manoeuvre and it would essentially be another step on his route to a seated officer's position. That was his dream at present, one that he was determined to achieve. He brought the blade down. Without even needing to look he knew it had impacted squarely on its target, slicing through the Hollow's mask smoothly and quickly, a clean kill, yet another to add to his tally. With the customary flick of his zanpakuto away from his body, he sheathed the blade as he and the Hollow hit the ground.
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Turning, he looked at the Hollow. For a moment, it seemed not to notice what had happened, then it faltered, its expression turning to one of horror.
"What have you done to me!" It screamed, terror evident in its voice. Zennosuke almost turned away, the fear in most spirit's voices as they were consigned to the fires and madness of the Underworld was always a horrible sight to behold. But it was also fascinating, in a morbid obscene way. The Hollow froze, its head cocked and its ears straining. Then the mask split, light streaming from it into the air. Rumbling, the Gates of Hell rose into the air, the twin skeletons on the looking down with their malicious grins which boded ill for any that passed these gates. Ominously, the chains holding the Gates shut snapped with sharp cracks, like the breaking of bone. With agonising slowness the creaked open, hinges rattling and the jamb scraping along the ground. A terrible noise filled the air as the Gates opened, a rattling, shrieking blast, coupled with the screams of thousands of tortured souls in utter agony. That was what awaited the newly deported Hollows to the world of the Damned. As it reached their furthest apart point, Zennosuke awaited the tightening of the charmed ropes which kept the doors from getting to far apart. Nothing, no ropes, no charms, no tightening. It was at this point that the Gatekeeper would reach out with his long blade and impale the Hollow before dragging it back in. Nothing happened. Then Zennosuke noticed it.
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Two hands gripping the Gates, holding them open. These were not the hands of the Gatekeeper, these were the hands of something else. One of them left the Gate and dropped to the ground, talons sprouting from the finger tips and digging into the concrete as if it were snow. Then they gripped. With agonizing slowness a figure dragged itself out of the Gates and flopped onto the ground. It was almost unrecognizable, draped in leathery wings that covered most of its body, as well as a mess of hair that covered its head with two horns protruding from the mass. Gasps of breath escaped it as it lay there, completely wasted and completely immobile. For a moment there was silence, then the Hollow realised he was still free and in the world of the living with a Shinigami. With a roar it sprang. Zennosuke, frozen in shock, was slow to react, his zanpakuto was only half out of his sheath before the Hollow was all but upon him.
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Out of nowhere, the Hollow's screech was cut off. There was pure silence for a moment, before the first drop of blood landed on the ground. A slight moan of pain escaped the Hollow as it looked down at his stomach area. Four long pointed rods extended from his belly. Zennosuke followed them back to their source with bated breath. The body of the creature was lying on the ground, one arm raised, the fingers extending out to impale the Hollow. Save that it was no longer a creature, it was a humanoid figure, still draped in leather, but as it raised its head Zennosuke saw, within the shadow of his face, two glowing red eyes with catlike pupils glaring out of the darkness. There was a long, thin hiss that grated up the spines of anyone who heard it and infiltrated their brain, paralysing them. Another whine of pain escaped the Hollows open mouth as the fingers curled slightly, then retracted. The body of the immobile Hollow landed on the ground next to the creature, the devil. Rising onto its knees, the devil gripped the Hollow's head in both hands. Zennosuke felt the bile rise in his throat as the devil opened its jaw, unhinging it at the same time, baring fangs that grew to three inches in length, then bit into the head of the Hollow. With a tearing noise, the devil ripped off the head in a violent display of barbaric power. Casting aside the mask fragments, the devil swallowed the head of the Hollow whole. With another savage bite, it ripped into the body of the Hollow. Zennosuke finally succumbed and bent over, emptying his stomach's meagre contents onto the ground.
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By the time he looked up, the Hollow was gone, the devil wiping traces of Hollow blood from his mouth. Then he sighed in satisfaction. A blur and a voice beside Zennosuke's head spoke.
"Why so affronted Shinigami? It was what awaited him in the Nether realm after all."
Zennosuke leaped away, turning to face the pale face of the devil.
"What the Hell?" he spat.
"Not quite." The devil chuckled at that, "a more correct expression would be one that those fools in the West were so used to speaking. 'What the Devil!' was the phrase if I recall correctly."
Zennosuke went to draw his zanpakuto, as he did so crying, "Good Morning, Tsuchina-"
"Hush please," the devil placed his right hand on the hilt of Tsuchinamazu and his left across the Shinigami's mouth, "less noise, and less reiatsu, if you please."
Zennosuke started to shake in that grip of iron. No matter how much he struggled he couldn't move. The devil sighed and then gestured with his left hand, a light gathering in it and falling onto the Shinigami before him. Zennosuke tried to scream, but no words would come out of his throat.
The devil shoved him back. "Sit. I've placed a Silence ward across your vocal cords, so you won't be able to speak until I allow you. Now, sit. I've a few questions I want to ask you."
Unable to speak, and unable to run, the Shinigmai sat. As he did so, the pressure on his vocal cords, unnoticed until that moment, vanished.
"Who are you?" the devil asked.
Zennosuke silently gulped air in desperation. "Zennosuke Kurumadani. I'm a Shinigami of the Gotei 13 currently assigned to Karakura town." He hesitated for a moment, then continued. "And if I may ask, who.."
"You may not ask, nor will you attempt to ask any more questions, lest I break your arms." The devil had a calm and cultured voice, but one that belied his savage and ruthless nature that had already been displayed. The Shinigami did not doubt he would carry out his threat if provoked. Frowning the devil spoke on. "What year is it? In Human terms?"
These questions made no sense, at least not to Zennosuke's mind. They had no tactical merit, they had no political merit and they appeared to be merely the questions of a tourist. "It's the year 2003 according to Human terms."
"Interesting." The devil was silent once again. Pursing his lips he appeared deep in thought. "Where am I?"
"This is Karakura town, in the country of Japan."
"Japan. Perhaps indeed. But still interesting."
There was silence. Then the devil looked directly at Zennosuke. "I've no more questions. Well, not the sort that a Hollow can answer. I know for a fact that to extract military information from you would be difficult task, one that would require torture and copious amounts of bloodshed. I know that would merely make the process more difficult."
Zennosuke seemed to sag with relief at this. Then as he looked up, he saw the devil's face a mere few inches from his own, the eyes red, with dark purple sclera and slitted black pupils, and the mouth drawn up in a grin. Looking into those pupils, Zennosuke found himself unable to move, his vision collapsing until nothing was left but those eyes, framed in darkness.
"So I've decided to eat you, and drain your blood for the memories contained within."
Zennosuke screamed noiselessly as the jaw unhinged and the fangs, dripping saliva and razor sharp, came down. The devil lunged and there was the most rending pain he'd ever known, then nothing but black.
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The demon finished his meal, the last vestiges of blood soaking in through his skin. He stood, allowing the blood memories to flash through his mind at the speed of light. Filtering them, he selected the ones he wanted, and ingrained them into his own psyche. Eyes opening, they changed, dropping down into a human shape and coloured blue. For a moment he examined himself and collected his thoughts.
"Well. It would seem that much has occurred since my last visit to this Otherworld." He glanced up at moon and laughed quietly.
Vanishing from that point, the devil reappeared in front of a hospital building. He strode to the wall and planted his feet on it, twisting around until he was stand on the wall as if it were the floor. Slowly, twisting his head from right to left, he climbed up to the top, constantly taking note of his surroundings. He reached the top and turned to look out across the city. For a moment he admired the sight.
'Truly magnificent. What amazing feats these humans are capable of. There are times I miss eating new arrivals. It detaches one from the truth of this reality. This should be enlightening.'
to be continued...
The next chapter should be up soon, considering how much this story is beating at my head to be loosed. Please read and review.