After rewatching Persona 4 the Animation and Persona 4 Golden gameplay, I can't helped but notice the similarity between the two.
In Persona 4, they tell us that a Persona is a manifestation of a person's personality, referred to as a "mask" for an individual to use to face hardship. Shadows, on the other hand, are malevolent manifestations of one's inner thoughts.
In Bleach, a Zanpakuto is the reflection of a Shinigami's power and soul, and sentient beings unto themselves. Hollows are not exactly the same with the Shadows but Inner Hollows like Hollow Ichigo are. They're pretty much the dark side of the Shinigami's soul. And, if following Hollow Ichigo's example, they were Hollow-turned Zanpakuto Spirits.
So when I put these two side by side, I realized they do have similar concept which is why I wrote this story. Not sure how it will turn out though.
Also the OC here is from a previous story; Persona 4 Golden: My True Self. So you can pretty much say it's a crossover sequel to that. But can be read on its own.
Also for those who had been Favoriting, Reviewing and Following 'The Mirage Prince of Tennis', I want to thank you so much for that. To be honest, I never thought the story would garner this much popularity considering it's a Slash fic. Though I'm so sorry if I hadn't update it since the next chapter is still under construction as I sucked at writing tennis matches that aren't canon so it might take a while.
While on the subject, how do you like my OC from that story, Masahiko?
Comment in the reviews.
~Chapter 1: The New Student~
Some people believe in evil spirits, and some don't.
But people's individual beliefs have little to do with reality.
Behind buildings on dimly lit nights and within lonely, abandoned structures hidden from the moonlight... strange beings lurk in the shadows.
People with strong spiritual energy can see them, but most people live peacefully without ever noticing them.
Focus your eyes on the darkness.
You should be able to see them - the strange beings that live in the darkness...
~X~
"Hey, Ichigo!" Asano called as he flung himself to the orange-haired teen who clothes-lined him right on the neck. The goofy boy fell to the ground, hurting but still alive. Mizuiro walked by, ignoring the downed boy and greeted the teen in his normal way as they entered their classroom, effectively leaving Asano behind.
"Hey, Ichigo. Have you heard?" Tatsuki asked as they headed for their seats. When the boy gave her a confused look, she continued, "Someone said that the third years recently have a transfer student joining them just a week ago."
He raised a brow at that. While it's normal and common for transfer students to come in the first and second years, it's not the same for the third years since they're all preparing for future entrance exams. Either this one is very smart, or very bold.
"Oh, I heard about that!" Chizuru butted in. "I also heard that she's very anti-social and very cold towards anyone. She's even said to have a very haughty attitude to her."
"That's not true!" Surprisingly, Orihime cut in. "She's actually very nice and kind!"
"What, you met her, Inoue?" Ichigo asked, to which she nodded.
"She helped me once when I accidentally dropped my groceries just yesterday!" Orihime said as she reminisced the event.
Orihime hummed a simple tune as she exited the supermarket. She had just finished shopping for her dinner. "Alright! I've got my bananas, apples, tomatoes, teriyaki sauce, red bean paste, onions, strawberry jam, spring onions, celery, garlic and ice cream! All to make my special deluxe dinner!" But just as she was about to walk back to her apartment, the bag ripped open, causing all of the produce to fall to the ground and start rolling away. "Ah! My dinner!"
While chasing a runaway onion, she didn't notice another person helping to pick her grocery up and putting them into a new plastic bag. Orihime frowned, sad that she won't get her dinner when, out of the corner of her eye, she saw something white. Moving back a bit, she saw it was a plastic bag being held by a girl.
The girl has fair-skin, even fairer than hers with long silky platinum-blonde hair and pretty amber eyes. The orange-haired girl tried to remember if she had seen the blonde around. She would have since not many people have blonde hair in Karakura Town.
Realizing she had been staring at her, Orihime quickly took the bag and bowed a few times, "Thank you very much!"
The girl simply smiled, "It's no problem."
The girl then offered to walk her home since it's fairly late and it's not safe for a girl to home by herself. Orihime readily agreed and they walked down the streets. "U-Um, are you new here?" She asked.
"As a matter of fact, yes. I just moved here and started school one week ago." The girl replied.
"Which one?"
"Karakura High."
Orihime brightened up, happy that she's in the same school, "Oh, I study there as well. Inoue Orihime, a second year!"
The blonde's eyes widened a bit as she smiled, "Well, that makes you my junior then. Amamiya Akie, a third year." This surprised the orange-haired girl who then panicked since it's her first time talking to a senior. The older girl just laughed, "No need to be so formal. I'm not one for formalities."
This calmed the younger girl down. The two then talked for a bit; Well, it's more of Orihime doing all the chatting while Akie did the listening. They only stop when they reached the apartment.
"Thank you so much again, Akie-san."
"It's my pleasure. I'll see you at school then, Orihime-san."
"...And that's how I met her. Though I didn't see her today at all." Orihime pouted a bit, to which Tatsuki petted her head.
"Well, she is a senior so she must be busy." Tatsuki suggested.
"I see." Came a voice from behind Ichigo. Said boy flinched away to see Rukia who had a serious expression on her face and her arms crossed over her chest.
"Rukia?! When did you get here?!" The orange-haired teen exclaimed, which was ignored when his other friends greeted her. To which she greeted them back in her girly act.
Ichigo could only sigh, though he wondered why Rukia was so serious about the new senior?
"Ichigo." Said boy turned to her as she whispered. "Later, I need to talk to you." If he were anyone else, he might have thought she wants to confess to him. But judging by the look she threw at him, it's not laughing matter.
~X~
Akie sighed as she looked over her new hometown from the school's rooftop. A small city with an average-sized population, just like Yasoinaba. Her heart clenched when she thought back on the friends she had left behind before a sudden comforting warmth enveloped her. She smiled in bliss as she felt the Social Links she had with her friends gave their support and comfort to her.
She was surprised that she and her friends still has their Persona powers, even though the TV World is no longer a threat or Igor had ended their contract. But it seems they can still grow and change. At least she can still fuse Personas, even without Igor's help and she can still keep her old Social Links. She didn't want to think if she had to start new ones when moving into a new town, while leaving the ones she had worked so hard to bond with.
Though she didn't mind the people here (Some of them, at least) like Orihime. A friendly but slightly clumsy young girl who she had met yesterday, though if Rise were to see her assets, she would be so damn jealous. Hopefully, if she gets the chance to introduce them to each other, the idol doesn't try to grind the poor girl out of every secret of her success.
She felt her pocket vibrating and took out a light-gold Sharp Aquos phone from the pocket. Looking at her screen to see who is calling, she smiled before sliding to answer.
"Yosuke, what's up?" She asked.
What she failed to notice was a large shadow figure looming over her, yellows eyes gleaming with hunger, waiting for the right moment to strike before dive-bombing.
~X~
"Wait, what do you mean?!" Ichigo exclaimed as they stood at a secluded corridor.
"I meant what I said, Ichigo. For the past one week, there had been a spike of Hollow appearances and sudden decreases of them as well." Rukia explained as she took out her Denreishinki and showed the screen to him. There were a blinking dot to signify a Hollow but as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared, not giving him enough time to discern the location.
"It better not be Ishida again!" Ichigo growled. After what happened last time with the Menos Grande.
Rukia shook her head. "No, it's not. The signature is different and that's what's bothering me."
"Why is that?" Ichigo raised a brow.
Rukia shook her head as she pocketed the device. "The signature is neither a Quincy nor a Shinigami. It's actually a Human's."
"So, you're saying that someone in town has been slaying Hollows this whole time?" Rukia nodded. Ichigo groaned as he ruffled his hair. "Great, just what we need..."
"Also, there's another thing that's actually surprising." Rukia added. "Apparently, the Hollows are being purified instead of being destroyed."
"So this someone is not only human but has Shinigami powers as well?" The orange-haired teen asked.
"I'm not certain. If we can only find this person, we'll be able to find some answers." Rukia muttered. Ichigo was about to say something when they heard footsteps coming down the stairs near them. They turned to find a senior with long blonde hair and amber eyes. Ichigo then concluded that this is the rumored transfer student everyone had been talking about. I mean, there aren't many people in school who has blonde hair.
"Oh, hello." The blonde greeted once she noticed them. They greeted back in return and stepped aside to let her through. As she walked by, she paused mid-step before turning to the two. "...You two wouldn't happen to be friends of Orihime-san, right?"
Ichigo blinked before nodding, "That's right. We're classmates of hers."
Akie smiled, "That's great. I actually wanted to invite her to eat with me during lunch break but I forgot to ask which class she was in."
"Inoue said that she hasn't seen you." Ichigo said. "Do you want to see her?"
The blonde nodded, "If it's not a bother to you." Then she froze as she looked out the window before she quickly said, "Well, let's get going. Lunch break is about finish."
Ichigo raised a brow at the behavior before turning to look out the window. It could be his imagination but he swore he saw a white snowman wearing a dark-blue jester's hat and collar with arms and legs punching the living daylights out of a Hollow before disappearing when it knows the Hollow's gone and Ichigo was watching.
He rubbed his eyes before looking back out to see nothing. Either he needs his eyes checked or something's going on.
~X~
Akie sighed as she glanced behind at the empty street before continuing her walk back home. She'll admit, they're a very persistent bunch, ones that refuse to give up despite the countless times she eluded them. But hey, she was one before so she's got no say.
She was in a happy mood after meeting Orihime again who introduced her classmates to her. Unique could be the word to describe every one of them but when she laid eyes on the girl she had met along with the orange-haired scowling teen, she stopped herself from gasping as she stared at the white-clad woman floating beside the petite girl.
If anything, she would have thought she was looking at her Yuki Jyorou if said Persona was not in her soul. The woman stared at her with curious eyes before the blonde averted her amber ones to look at the other students, though she can still feel her eyes. For a spirit who could be snow personified, she has a very intense stare.
Now that happy mood is gone due to the presence that kept stalking her, which made her want to sic her more canine-like Personas on them.
Ever since she first arrived in Karakura Town, fate didn't even give her a chance to settle down before it threw a freaking monster right at her face. Though she wondered what they were. They sort of resemble Shadows except they were... less variety of them than the ones she had encountered back in Yasoinaba. Heck, there was one time she fought a freaking gundam-lookalike. Here, they all have the same features: black bodies with boney-white masks. And apparently, could speak too.
Excluding the ones that came out of her friends and the Sagiris, she had never seen talking Shadows before unless grunts, shrieks and baby gurgles counted as talking.
"And I just fought one..." She mumbled as another of those monsters, this time in the shape of a giant boar, came charging at her. The monster didn't let out a squeal before it became enveloped with fire, mere inches away from the blonde who didn't spare a glance as it disintegrated into nothing. "If I had known this town is over-ridden with these monsters, I wouldn't have ask to move here anyways. Hopefully there's no 'god' out to take over the world..." She muttered as she scratched behind Cerberus's ears, getting a soft growl in return before he returned back to her soul.
"Now then..." She then turned back to the seemingly empty street. "How long are you going to stalk me?"
Out from the shadows came a man wearing a striped dark green and white bucket hat and a black haori with white diamonds on the hem. "How mean. To say I was stalking." The man said as he hid his grin behind his opened fan. "Though I'm surprised you could sense me."
She scoffed as she fully turned to him. "Is there something you need?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a harmless shopkeeper walking by." The man jovially said as he snapped his fan shut. "I was just out for a walk. Cooping inside the shop is bad for my health, you know?"
She would have took him at face-value if not for the fact she's already experienced with lies and deception. Not to mention the crimson-clad lady floating beside him. If the Yuki Onna-like spirit is elegance and beauty personified, then this one is akin to ferocity and majestic lethality combined. The woman resembles those regal queens of China, except without the excessive hair ornaments and a simple red veil that covers only half her face. She could faintly see the intense gray eyes past the veil.
The crimson spirit must have sensed that she was staring at her since she tilted her head with curious-filled interest flashing in her vaguely-seen eyes.
Akie quickly averted her eyes to stare at the shady 'shopkeeper'. "I see. Well, I hope you enjoy your walk. If you'll excuse me." With that, she walked away, leaving the man and his spirit on the streets. She hoped to whatever god that she doesn't clash with him; better yet, he's not an enemy. With all the regal majesty look the woman had going on, the blonde could feel the compressed bloodlust.
She shivered, definitely not someone she wants to fight.
The man grinned again as he watched the mysterious yet unique specimen walked away. "Looks like we have an interesting one."