DISCLAIMER: I own nothing of Bleach. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo. The only characters that belong to me are useless NPC-like people.
Well, here it is. My first Bleach fic and my second zombie one. Since it is a zombie story, it's rated T for the usual zombie stuff. There's not much else to say, but enjoy.
Also, if you read this, please take the time to review.
Necrosis, Chapter 1:
Ichigo was staring out a window as he sat at his desk in school. He saw other students outside walking into the school, for school hadn't started for the day. Many thoughts were running through his mind. Ever since they saved Rukia from the Sokyoku and went back to the human world, leaving Rukia behind at her request, it had been rather peaceful. Too peaceful. It was like everything involving spirits had mysteriously vanished. Ichigo had neither seen nor detected any kind of hollows anywhere in Japan for the past three weeks. Could it be an ill omen? Was something horrible going to happen? After all, Aizen did leave with that thing that was in Rukia... was he going to do something with that?
"Is something wrong, Ichigo?" he heard Uryu ask, "It's quite strange to see you thinking."
Ichigo turned and glared at Uryu, "Just what is that supposed to mean?" he growled lightly.
"Oh, lighten up, Ichigo!" Uryu smiled, "Something troubling you?"
"Yeah," Ichigo sighed as he placed his hand on his cheek, "It's just that nothing has happened at all for these past few weeks. You think it's a sign?"
Uryu pushed his glasses up, "I've noticed that and also thought about it, but our reactions to this odd peace is most likely paranoia. Just relax, Ichigo. I'm sure everything is fine."
Ichigo nodded, "Thanks, Uryu, I hope it's just that..."
The bell suddenly rang, signifying the start of class. Uryu nodded at Ichigo as he walked over to his desk. Ichigo resumed staring out the window. He wanted to believe that it was just paranoia, but he couldn't help but feel that something horribly wrong was going to happen...
Mayuri was currently sitting at his desk in his office. His haori was hung up on the wall. He stared at a wall and scribbled on his desk with his unusually long and sharp fingernail. In his ears, he heard the continuous droning of the clock ticking every second. The grating noise was an explosion throughout the silence. Luckily, his mind was focused completely elsewhere.
Over the past few days, his mind kept drifting to his past. His life as a human, his life in The Maggot's Nest, his life as a captain. All had been filled with arrogant, ignorant, unintelligent, and unpleasant people. He was constantly plagued by stupidity of others. Science managed to help him relieve the stress they caused, but now the stress was too great for dissecting and inventing to relieve. This stress was producing anger, the anger producing hate, and hate producing an irresistible urge to lash out and remove the stupidity from the world.
It was time to do that.
Besides, if he waited longer, how much worse would it get? It would no doubt escalate. He was the most brilliant mind in the Soul Society! Few who dwelled were intelligent enough for him to tolerate, and currently his hate showed no exceptions. He even hated his lieutenant Nemu, whom he made with his own hands. It was her small smidgen of free will that irritated him. He grit his teeth as he made a long cut in his desk with his lengthy fingernail.
It was time... time to show the world his hate. But he needed a good enough way to show it.
When in doubt, he turned to human literature. Even though most humans were utter filth, some of them sure did have wonderful imaginations that provided him with interesting ideas. Almost immediately upon thinking of human literature, his mind turned towards the zombie. A wide grin spread across Mayuri's face. It would be greatly amusing to unleash a zombie outbreak upon the Soul Society! Yes, that would be his way of showing his hate to everyone. Mayuri stood up and began to pace around his office, thinking about the zombies.
They certainly would be rather difficult to make. He always loved a challenge, but would his rage-filled mind tolerate such a challenge? The concept of zombies had always fascinated him. The perfect soldier that didn't require eating, drinking, or rest. The perfect soldier that relentlessly pursued its prey and showed no hesitation, no emotion, no memories. The perfect soldier that felt no pain and could only be killed by destroying the brain (which would certainly be difficult for soul reapers, for decapitation would only cripple the body and using a blade to stab through a skull would be rather difficult). The perfect soldier that never killed, but recruited.
But they certainly had their drawbacks, too. They lacked intelligence and the concept of using weapons other than their hands and teeth (although the teeth would be an effective way to transfer the zombiism through bite, with the addition that zombies mauling and eating their victims amused him). One glaring problem was the speed of zombies. They could only walk with a slow shamble. While such speeds might work on terribly stupid humans, soul reapers could easily flash step away. Plus, soul reapers could also focus spirit energy underneath their feet to hover around, effectively making the zombies pointless. Such glaring weaknesses that needed to be taken care of. But how? Creating zombies that could run or flash step could fix the speed problem, but the hovering problem would require a completely different method...
Mayuri made a tight fist as he grit his teeth. This was certainly bothersome. He could simply find a different method of showing his hate, but he was so set on this method. He couldn't swap out ideas now after he had thought this much into it!
"Are you angry, Captain Mayuri?" he heard a familiar voice ask. Mayuri turned around to see Gin Ichimaru standing there, his fox-like face looking right at him. He was wearing a white outfit somewhat similar to the robes soul reapers wore, but it was different.
"Well, isn't this odd? Why would a certain traitor come back to the Soul Society? And to, of all people, me?" Mayuri asked, his face blank as he looked at Ichimaru.
"I suppose I'll get right to the point," the silver-haired ex-captain said, "Aizen sees usefulness in you. You hold a position of power in the Soul Society, yet you are the most reclusive and, for lack of a better term, evil of the captains. Aizen told me to come and try to recruit you as a spy of sorts, since he knows of your hatred towards the Soul Society."
Mayuri listened to Ichimaru's explanation as he searched through various filing cabinets and shelves throughout his office, making quite a ruckus.
"It would be quite fun if I could create zombies and unleash them on the Soul Society, wouldn't it?" Mayuri stated as he searched through his office.
"Well, I suppose..." Gin said, slightly confused. There was a brief pause as the initially absurd remark ran through his head. A wide grin appeared across Ichimaru's face, "Why, yes! It would be quite fun indeed!" he enthusiastically exclaimed.
Mayuri found what he was looking for: a large notebook. He took a pen, flipped to near the back of the notebook, and started jotting down information. Ichimaru walked closer and tried looking over Mayuri's shoulder to see what he was writing down, but Mayuri kept shifting positions. He heard the sound of the pen across paper stop.
"Would you like to assist me in making the zombie outbreak a reality?" Mayuri asked.
"Yes, I'd be delighted!" Ichimaru quickly exclaimed.
"Good! Very good, indeed!" Mayuri said as he closed the notebook and put it and the pen on his desk. The grin on Ichimaru's face slowly fell and turned into a frown.
"Hey! You tricked me into siding with you!" Ichimaru complained, a child-like quality in his voice.
Mayuri scoffed as he turned to look at Gin, "I'm already doing Aizen a favor by wiping out the denizens of the Soul Society! Plus, in a much more entertaining way than Aizen could conjure! If you side with Aizen, you should be thankful enough to help me achieve this goal."
Gin's expression became puzzled, "I'm not so sure about this... I'll have to ask Aizen. If you could hold for a moment..."
Ichimaru opened a garganta and went inside of it, being careful to suppress the spirit energy it created so that none of the other captains could detect it. Mayuri stood there, motionless, as he awaited Ichimaru's eventual return.
Aizen sat at a table, the other espada seated around it as well. He took a sip of tea before the meeting officially began. Ichimaru suddenly emerged from a garganta and walked over to Aizen and whispered into his ear. He told Aizen of Mayuri's plan for a zombie outbreak and that he had agreed to assist Mayuri. Ichimaru leaned away from Aizen as he sipped his tea.
"Well," Aizen said to the espada, "it seems that the problem of the Soul Society will be eliminated by our good friend Mayuri."
Ichimaru nodded and left in the very garganta he emerged from moments ago.
"What!? Where will we get our entertainment now?" Grimmjow shouted.
"Now, now, Grimmjow, calm down," Aizen said, "I'm sure some of your brethren don't see this as mere 'entertainment.' If you want some 'entertainment,' there's always the human world. Besides, the few powerful spiritual beings in Karakura Town will need to be weeded out eventually; along with any other spirit beings they might find to assist them... Now, on to other manners..."
Ichimaru rearrived at Mayuri's office.
"Aizen has agreed to let you rid of the Soul Society," he said with a big grin. Mayuri chuckled to himself as he paced about.
He soon turned to Gin, "I'll need some live experiments," he bluntly stated.
"Oh, me?" Ichimaru asked, "Surely I'll be noticed if I wander about."
"Not to worry!" Mayuri exclaimed as he opened a door and searched around inside. He soon emerged with a black cloak and hat.
"This cloak and hat will mask your spiritual energy," Mayuri explained, "it was originally invented by the past captain of this squad, but I made some modifications. This specific cloak and hat will change the appearance of the wearer to reduce suspicion."
Ichimaru nodded as he took the clothes and began to put them on. His appearance changed to that of a normal soul reaper man. He smiled as he observed himself and noted that his appearance had changed. He began to exit the office.
"Wait!" Mayuri called out. The disguised Ichimaru turned to look at Mayuri, "The experiments need to be insignificant to the eyes of most soul reapers. After all, it would certainly be mysterious if, say, a lieutenant wound up missing..."
"Right..." Ichimaru said, his voice different as well, "I'll leave the seireitei through one of the gates and change my appearance to that of a commoner. Then I'll find some 'experiments' in Rukongai." Ichimaru then left the office.
Mayuri sat down at his desk again as he cackled lightly to himself. This would be so wonderful!