Arc 1: Leaving Home
Chapter 1: Discovery
A/N: Of course I don't own Bleach, or the characters, or the setting, and while we're at it, I don't own a zanpaktou either. Although that would be awesome So read and enjoy! I expect to update either tomorrow or next week.
"Out beyond Seireitei, beyond the Rukongai, there are unnamed lands where the soul reapers do not patrol. These are the lands where Hollows run free, the forests are old, and the mountains are miles high. These lands are far too large to ever have been mapped, for they cover the rest of the world of the spirits. But, in every habitable area of land, there is a small tribe of humans. Too small to be considered any real power by themselves, but combine all the tribes and they outnumber all the Rukongai and Seireitai many times. The Seireitei do not consider them a threat, even if they were to rebel, because they have no soul reapers among them.
"But, the Seireitei forget something. The reason they only settled a small settlement, Rukongai, is that the abundance of Hollows made it impossible to expand any further. The tribes, however, survive.
"The reason for this, in part, is that they do not actively seek out hollows. If a hollow attacks, they fight. If the Hollow does not attack, then they do not seek to destroy it. And yes, believe it or not, some Hollows do not attack, they may lack hearts but not necessarily brains.
"More reason for it is because they have an uncanny ability to sense everything around them, including spiritual pressure. The reason for this is that they project a field of spiritual pressure, and any disturbance in it they can sense, much like a spider web. This is called Kumonosu.
"The third part of the reason is that they all can fight, in one way or another. They all have their own way of fighting, and as a group, they are called the "Free Fighters."
Elder John finished his story, and all the young adults sat staring at him. The older ones, who had heard this many times before, fidgeted, or daydreamed. However, some younger ones had just heard the tale for the first time. It was the only story anybody knew about anything that dealt with the Rukongai. The young teens listened with awe.
All except for one. David asked his elder, "Elder John, what's a soul reaper?" It was a strange question, mainly because David had heard the story before. But it had just now occurred to him.
The elder looked perplexed. "I'm not sure David, I know I used to know, but I cannot recall. I am sorry."
"It's okay," said David. "I'll just find out by myself."
The elder laughed. "And just how do you plan to do that, young David?"
"I'll ask my dream." said David confidently.
Elder John smiled to himself, before realizing that he truly had no idea what a soul reaper was. He was going to have to think about David's question, he knew that it was important.
A young woman walked into the circle. She had dark, wavy, waist length hair, bright green eyes, and her name was Marissa. She was gorgeous in the way of a free fighter, well-muscled with a look in her eye that could stop a Hollow in its tracks.
"John, what are you telling the children this time?"
"Just about the Rukongai, Marissa. Nothing harmful."
"John! No one even knows if that place exists." She tsk tsked to herself. "Now now, it's time for bed. For all of you," she said, with a hard look at John.
"All right all right," John chuckled.
Later, as they all turned in for the night, the watch was set, and the children safely tucked away, John struggled to remember what a soul reaper was. He struggled with the question until his watch and all the way through it. It was only when he was almost asleep did he finally remember, the soul reapers and their zanpaktou's. They made fighting normal Hollows a solitary task, and slowly they turned the art of fighting into a thing of pride. That was when their ancestors had left the Rukongai. Fighting for pride was like commercial artwork, back in the world of the living. No one knew that John still remembered his life in the world of the living.
But he did. And like he loved painting there, he loved fighting here. But none of the time did he fight for pride, nor did he ever paint to sell. It was simply an abomination of the art to do such things.
And he drifted off to sleep, happy that he can tell David his answer in the morning. Not that he was sure he wanted David to know about the soul reapers and their zanpaktous, for all he knew David would become one of them. He was something of a prodigy, after all.
It had all started when David was 9, and staying with one of the injured women. They had set a guard outside the door, but 8 large Hollows ambushed him, somehow avoiding his Kumonosu. He never stood a chance.
David ran out to the cave entrance, and stood, facing the hollows. In the panic of a young 9 year olds mind, all he wanted to do was help. So, as the injured woman reports, he threw his arm around his body, creating a half-circle of spiritual pressure with 8 arrowheads projecting off of it, each aimed at a Hollow. He then proceeded to smash his fist into the inner rim of the spell, and each head flew off at a Hollow. He killed each and every Hollow with that one move.
This, of course, was an amazing feat. It left him in a coma for 9 days, and when he came out of it finally, he had a hollow mask on. But, he tore it off almost immediately, and nothing Hollow-y every showed itself on him again.
While John was remembering old times, David was having his dream. He had this dream almost every night now, and it was always lots of fun. It involved a lot of boulders floating in a hollow sphere, also made out of rock. There was also a monkey, who told him lots of things. It the monkey who taught him how to manipulate spiritual pressure so well. It had made him into a prodigy among his tribe.
Also, here he fought with the monkey. It helped him to build up his spiritual pressure. He was only 16 now, but already the best fighter in the tribe. None could come close to his ability, although there are a couple who could either outdo him in terms of straight up power or in skill.
He thought he could take on a Hollow all by himself, but no one in the tribe would let him try. What he had done when he was 9 was a miracle they all concurred, and miracles only happen once.
But he still trained, to use the monkeys word. He had to call it the monkey, because every time David asked it its name, it said that he hadn't earned that yet. But tonight he didn't plan on fighting. He wanted to know what a soul reaper was, and he thought for sure the monkey would know.
And so it did. "Soul reaper, eh? You mean you don't know? Hoo hoo hoo hooo who!"
It did that a lot. The whole "Hoo hoo hoo hooo who!" thing, the golden monkey was hyperactive. It never stood still; it always bounced from rock to rock, moving them around as it jumped.
"Of course I don't know! I've never heard of one before today!"
"Well well well," it said. It jumped to David's rock and actually stood still, for the rest of the conversation. "There are two key pieces of information you need to know about Soul Reapers," it said, its voice serious, "one: They are the ultimate fighters, they consider it weak to NOT be able to take down a Hollow by one's self. Two: you are one of them."
David just laughed at him. "Oh really? So why are they the ultimate fighters then?" He didn't even hear the second part, he considered himself to be the best fighter there ever could be.
"They fight with a special sort of sword, called a zanpaktou."
"If I want to, I can fight with a sword. I don't see what's so special."
"Aye, but you have to create it. And every time you hit something, you have to make sure it doesn't break. You have to continually put spiritual pressure into it. With a zanpaktou, you don't. It has its own spirit inside of it that makes it strong."
"Yeah, okay. If these even exist, where is mine?" David asked, suddenly remembering the second part of the monkey's previous statement. He was sure he had cornered the monkey this time. This would be the first time he had proven the monkey wrong!
"I am your zanpaktou."
And before David could say anything, the monkey materialized a sword in its right hand, and held the tip to David's throat. "If you want to be a soul reaper, take this sword from my hand."
Shitshitshitshit, David thought as he backed away from the sword at his throat. "Fine then. But it won't be a fair fight. You can't hurt me. This is merely a dream, after all."
"Fool. You think this is a dream? This is your inner world! If you die here, you die." And to demonstrate his point, the monkey lunged at David, who turned to dodge, but was not nearly fast enough and caught a sword to the gut. He felt his body, his actual body, react to the sudden pain.
David tried to materialize a sword, but found that he couldn't!
"Free fighting won't work here. There is no spiritual pressure here!"
David tried to sense the spirit pressure around him, and quickly found that the monkey was lying. There was plenty of spiritual pressure here, but it was all leaving the sphere as quickly as it was….made? Yes. Spiritual pressure is being made here. What the hell does that mean? These were his thoughts, as he dodged the monkey's attacks. Now that he was aware that he couldn't use his kumonosu, he was reacting appropriately. He was looking at the monkey, as opposed to relying on his kumonosu. But, it was not a form he was used to, and he knew he would soon fail.
Again, he tried to materialize a sword. Nothing happened, but he felt a burst of spirit pressure from the center of the sphere explode outwards. Of course…if the monkey is telling the truth, then any spirit pressure I create will come from here and go outwards, towards my "body." As the wave of spirit pressure hit the two of them, the monkey jerked a little away from the source, disrupting his attack. But David felt nothing.
He may be my zanpaktou, but he is still a separate spirit, at least in here. David didn't even notice that he had begun to accept the monkey's words as true. It follows that a large blast of spirit pressure should be enough to slam him against the wall. Maybe if I just stem the flow of energy, until it can destroy him if released all at once. Yes, it is working.
The monkey noticed of course, and decided to let it work. It proved that David had more than just his pride; there was at least an ounce of brains in his head. So the monkey followed David's movements to the wall, and prepared himself for the blast.
David let it go, and it worked just as he suspected. The monkey was thrown against the outer shell, and dropped the sword. Before the monkey could recover, David grabbed it.
"Satisfactory, monkey?" was the last thing he could say before he woke up. But he woke up different, now he was in black robes. And at his waist, there hung a scabbard. In the scabbard was a sword, the exact same sword the monkey used.
He sat up, and looked around. He remembered the elder's story, and using his brains, realized that it would not be good for him to be seen like this. People would not like him; they would assume he was like all the other soul reapers. He would be exiled. That would mean death.
So he sneaked off, and hid his robes. Luckily, he had his old clothes on underneath. But he just couldn't leave the sword behind. It seemed stupid, after all that work to get it. And the stab wound in his side was a constant reminder.
After trying many things, he finally strapped it on to his back, underneath his shirt.
And, as John slipped off into sleep, he noticed the change in David. John did not sleep well that night.
A/N: Now that you've read it, I'll pester you for reviews. Pester pester pester pester!