Foreword

Bleach is my favorite manga of all time. The one thing in Bleach that fascinated me the most was its setting, its lore, the types of supernatural beings and powers in the story. But in Bleach's setting, one thing has always perplexed me. Why is Soul Society and the Soul Reapers primarily Japanese? If they're the psychopomps responsible for bringing the souls of all of humanity to the afterlife, shouldn't their ethnicities and cultures be as varied as normal humans are? I may be wrong about this, but I don't remember there being an explanation in the manga itself. So one day, I asked myself what the setting of Bleach would be like if the Soul Reapers were mainly Caucasian (possibly with some ethnical minorities like in USA and Canada) and spoke English. These Soul Reapers could resemble the western depictions of the Grim Reaper, rather than the Japanese depictions of Shinigami. And I began to think of English counterparts to some of Bleach's Japanese terminology. I thought this could make a decently interesting alternate universe. Hence, the idea for this fanfic was born. Of course, since a radical change has been made to the culture of the setting, it would be very awkward to shoehorn in the canon characters. Not to mention, I don't think I know the canon characters well enough to portray their personalities accurately, and I don't know Japanese all that well. Hence, no canon characters will appear (or even exist) in this fic, and all characters will be original. Despite the cultural change, I will attempt to stick as close to other aspects of Bleach's lore as possible, especially the parts about supernatural beings and powers. However, if certain parts of the lore haven't been revealed or elaborated on by the author, I will fill in the blanks, in ways that are (hopefully) consistent with the rest of the lore. I apologize in advance if I get any of the canon lore wrong, since it's been a while since I've read some parts of the manga (I rely mainly on the Bleach wiki for information); please do correct me if you see any errors. The plot of this fic will be similar to the first arc of Bleach canon, but with different characters, and I plan to have it diverge completely from the second arc onwards.

I understand that some people may be turned off by the premise that this fic does not contain any canon characters. As I have already said in the paragraph above, I don't think I'll be able to do the canon characters justice. I hope that the fact that the story takes place in the setting of Bleach, even if it's without the presence of canon characters, is enough to convey a sense of familiarity to Bleach fans. However, if you're a canon purist who thinks fanfics must have the canon characters and that the setting must not be tampered with, then I'm afraid there's nothing for you here. The fic is also meant to be able to stand alone as a story on its own, and requires no knowledge of Bleach to read, though obviously I do not own any of the Bleach lore in the story.

I also have a disclaimer to make: THIS FIC IS NOT INTENDED TO COME ACROSS AS RACIST IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. You are entitled to your own opinions, and if you insist on finding this fic racist even though I say it's not meant to be, then there's little I can do about that. But I will say that this fic is not meant to imply in any way that an English-speaking culture is better than a Japanese-speaking one, or more fitting for Bleach; it's just different. Similarly, I do not meant to imply in any way that the original characters in this fic are better than the canon characters or more fitting for Bleach. If you still find the premise racist, please do not read on.

Lastly, I'm writing this fanfic mostly as a writing exercise, in preparation for an original novel that I've begun writing. As such, I may hold myself up to laxer standards with this fic than with original literature. I also have depression and am taking antidepressants, so my motivation may come and go; that would most likely be the reason if I end up not updating this fic for a long time.

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Chapter 0: Prologue

My name is James Hawking. For as long as I can remember, I've been able to see ghosts.

But unlike some others, I've always been a skeptic. After all that mocking and bullying from the other kids at the orphanage, and the third psychiatrist or so, I was just about ready to accept these "ghosts" as hallucinations, merely figments of my imagination that really shouldn't have been as overactive as they claimed it was. Then I was adopted by the Adamses, and met Rina. She could see ghosts too, just like me.

We could see the same ghosts, and everyone else could see her. That must mean this whole thing is real, right? Not just one big waking dream that a mentally challenged child has been living in for all his life?

If so, then where the hell was her ghost when she…

I can still remember that day, no matter how much I want to forget. The day when we were happily bantering back and forth about some piece of obscure math trivia, before the lunatic with the knife jumped out at us. There was so much blood.

I stabbed the bastard right through the throat, with his own goddamned knife. But that wasn't enough to save her.

We were only fifteen.

I searched for days. Her deathbed, and her grave. Her favorite classroom, karaoke place, bookstore, sweets shop, garden. All the places she liked, all the place she'd been to. But there was not a trace of her. Not a trace of the girl I love more than anything else in the world.

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A ghost of a semi-elderly man floats past me, making a rather stereotypical "oooooOOOOOooooOOOOooooo" sort of ghostly sound. Maybe he's amusing himself because just about no one can see him? Regardless, I pay him no further attention and continue to walk home. What use do these hallucinations have if they can't even show me what I want to see?

Upon seeing the junction before me, I stop walking. I'll… I'll stop coming here starting from tomorrow. Yeah, that's what I'll…

...who the fuck am I kidding. If I haven't gotten over her in five years, I never will. Heh, I must be pretty pathetic, whining about something that happened years ago rather than moving on and doing something more productive with my time… But do I give a shit anymore?

Once again, I look around Rina's grave, desperately clinging onto the hope that maybe, just maybe, she'll show up this time. But nope, nothing but the darkness of near midnight. I let out a heavy sigh.

"We learned about observables today, Rina," I begin to say. "There was a whole bunch of linear algebra, but I think I'm finally understanding quantum mechanics a bit better now. And apparently, 'observing' a system really means hitting it with photons or something, and taking a measurement of how the system responds, so that's why you can't 'observe' the system without changing it."

Cool! Rina says, the usual glint of excitement in her eyes. So people can't see ghosts because they can't interact with them? Well, if we find a way to…

Or, at least, that's what I think she would say. The gravestone just stares blankly back at me, motionless.

"You know, I bet that Gunther guy is getting this much more easily than me," I continue my rambling. "I swear, he skips lectures all the time but still gets better marks than me. Bastard."

The gravestone still doesn't say anything.

Of course. I may not be over this, but hell if I'm not used to it. I've stopped crying after the first year or so, and I'm not about to start again now.

I'm about to keep grumbling about the insufferable German genius in my physics class when I feel the chill down my spine. I've never felt anything like this before, but it's… like… being watched by something feral, ruthless and savage. Something very, very hungry. Was this how our ancestors felt when faced with large predators?

Suddenly, I feel a blow to my back, like being hit by a ton of bricks. The ground falls away from me, and the whole world starts spinning. It takes me a second or two to realize that I've been hurled into the air by some monstrous force, at which point the ground is already rushing back up at me with deadly speed. Half of my brain quickly becomes very thankful for the karate lessons that gave me better reflexes and balance than the average person, as I twist my body barely in time to stop the fall from snapping my neck or crushing my skull.

The other half of my brain is just focused on the pain.

"AAAAAAARGH!" I scream. A hand snaps up to clutch my left shoulder, but withdraws immediately as touching it just makes the pain worse. And so does moving. Oh, God, it hurts. It hurts so much. And that feeling of cold dread is still there, the feeling of being watched by a hungry predator. Just what… what the hell is going on…?

When I struggle to my feet, I quickly start to wonder if I did hit my head a few seconds ago after all. Because the thing in front of me is literally unlike anything I've ever seen before.

It's like a gorilla and a lizard had a baby that's a few times too large. Uh, for the gorilla, I guess. Over three meters tall and all muscle, hunched posture, thick black fur interspersed with patches of dark green scales. Its hands and feet have thick but vaguely human-like fingers, and its long, thick tail tapers to a point at the end. Strangely enough, its lizard-like head is covered in some kind of white exoskeleton, making its face look a lot like a mask.

But the most unsettling part of the creature is the gaping circular hole running all the way through the center of its chest.

The creature opens its bone-covered mouth and screams. The sound is deafening and almost physically pushes me back, but… Nobody in the surrounding buildings seem to notice. Is… Is that thing a ghost then…? But I've never seen any ghost like that before… My whole body is shaking. The only experience I've had that's even remotely close to this was that insane murderer, and back then the sight of Rina getting stabbed drove me into a mad rage, but this time I can do nothing but fall to my knees and shake in terror and pain and just hope for this nightmare to end…

The thing takes a step toward me. That feeling from earlier becomes stronger than ever, making me feel like it's hard to even breathe. It looks at me with its eyes, two glowing motes of ghostly green light, and a purplish forked tongue reaches out from its mouth to lick the teeth of its mask. A hand, looking strong enough to snap me like a twig, begins reaching toward me.

Am I… going to die here…?

Heh… Maybe if I die here, I'll be able to see Rina again…

Before I can close my eyes for the painful end, a sharp gleam of bluish green fills my vision. And the creature's outstretched hand falls off an armless stump without ever reaching me.

It all starts happening so fast then. A black shadowy blur, which would be practically indistinguishable against the midnight if not for the luminescent turquoise aura surrounding its body, blazes toward the creature. Another gleam of the same turquoise, followed by a slicing sound, and a dark blade has buried itself into the creature's brain, piercing right through its bony mask. The shadowy figure makes a pulling motion on its weapon, splitting the creature's head in half before it can even scream again. The whole creature then begins to dissolve into a bone-white substance, and fades into the air, until not a trace of it remains.

The figure turns toward me.

I blink. Now that it's no longer moving ludicrously fast, I can see its shape a bit more clearly. But it still makes me wonder if I've really hit my head too hard, or if the pain is getting to me. Tattered, black hooded robe covering it from head to toe… A large scythe in its hand… It looks just like a stereotypical depiction of the Grim Reaper.

If my shoulder didn't hurt so much, I would've let out a shaky, humorless laugh. I mean… Really? Is my death just so certain tonight that the Grim Reaper itself has personally come to get me?

But… For some reason… This supposed Grim Reaper just doesn't feel very intimidating to me. I mean, sure, the black robe and scythe are scary, but… The blue-green aura it emits feels calm, almost gentle, and… familiar, somehow. If I didn't know better, I'd almost say the color reminds me of-

With a fluid motion, the supposed Grim Reaper removes its hood. And nothing would have prepared me for what's next.

"Rina?!"

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Author's Note

This is a pretty short chapter, but it feels like a pretty good stopping point here. It's a prologue, after all. I expect the following chapters to be much longer.

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Glossary

This is a list of the Japanese terminology in Bleach that I've adapted to English. The list may be updated over time.

Soul Society (尸魂界/ソウル・ソサエティ): Soul Society

Shinigami (死神): Soul Reaper

Zanpakutou (斬魄刀): Soulslayer

Shikai (始解): Initial Release / Līberātiō Initiālis (L.I.)

Bankai (卍解): Final Release / Līberātiō Fīnālis (L.F.)

Gotei 13 (護廷十三隊): The Soulguard

Zanjutsu (斬術): Armsmanship

Hohou (歩法): Celerity

Shunpo (瞬歩): Celeritas

Kidou (鬼道): Demoncraft

Hakuda (白打): Martial Forms

Reishi (霊子): Spiriton

Reiryoku (霊力): Spirit Energy

Reiatsu (霊圧): Spirit Pressure

Gigai (義骸): Homunculus

Hirenkyaku (飛廉脚): Schnelligkeit

All non-Japanese terminology should be unchanged.