Alright. This is not my first attempt at this story. As with my Fallout fanfic, I've rebooted them because I had no clue where I was going with either of them, this one being the worst offender. I've corrected this problem, and am now starting them both again. I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1: Enter: Daniel Imahara
The night was still, the only noise the soft hum of the street lights which shined down on a residential street. Cars of various shapes and sizes were parked in front of the houses, which all looked similar. Housing developments always look that way nowadays. An alley separated two of the properties, it's wooden walls flowing into darkness. From this alley, four figures walked into the street. As they walked into the light, more features were revealed. They were all men, looking to be in their late teens. They wore black robes and japanese sandals. The most curious aspect about them were the swords they all carried. These men were shinigami, and they existed on another plane, separate from that of humans. No normal human could see them.
"Where is it?" asked one of them, loudly. He was the youngest in appearance. He had blue hair, which covered one of his eyes. The uncovered one was a light green. Despite his odd appearance, the shinigami had the blandest weapon, a normal katana with a brown sheath and handle and a diamond shaped guard..
"It's bound to be find us eventually." replied another. This one had black hair, kept short and spiked. He had a small patch of a beard, and dull brown eyes. He looked to be a few years older than the blue-haired boy, and wielded a shirasaya style katana. It's sheath was black, and it looked almost benign in the dim light. "Especially if you keep shouting like that Danny."
"Don't call me that Justin!" the boy shouted. "The name's Daniel!"
"Calm down Danny, or I'll kick your ass." growled the biggest shinigami. He was the tallest, standing at least a half-foot taller than two of the others, and a solid foot over Daniel. His hair was wild and reached past his shoulders. It was so blonde, it almost appeared white in the darkness. His eyes were blue, but promised pain to his enemies. On his back was a european sword, a claymore almost as long as he is. It's handle was red, and its guard jutted out in two spikes. It was held onto his back by a leather belt tied like a bandolier.
"Calm yourself first Ace." said the last of the group said. This one looked quite similar to Justin. He had brown hair that was also short and spiked. The major differences were the rectangular glassses he wore and the beard that ran across his chin. The beard was just as brown as his hair except for a stripe of white just under his bottom lip. Unlike his companions, he had two swords, one on each hip. They were shorter than normal katanas, with rust colored sheaths and orange handles. The guards were shaped like crosses. "We need all of us level-headed to catch this hollow."
Ace gave him a shit-eating grin. "Whatever." he said. "As long as we find this damn thing fast, I need something to kill!"
Daniel inched closer to the man with the ponytail. "Is he always like this?" he whispered.
"Oh right I forgot, you're new." said the man. "My name's Nick. And to answer your question, no. He just heard this hollow's powerful and it got his blood-lust going. He's normally a pretty mellow guy." With that, the group walked out into the street. They looked around for a minute, but didn't find anything of interest.
"Did Squad 12 get their info right?" asked Justin. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I've never trusted Kurotsuchi. Hasn't he given false reports before, during that nonsense with Aizen?"
"Yeah, but why would he alter this info?" asked Nick. "At any rate, if it wasn't true we wouldn't be here. Remember, we get our orders from Head-Captain Kyoraku himself."
"So what's wrong?" countered Justin. "We were supposed to find the hollow and destroy it. It's a pretty simple mission, and I'm actually surprised they sent us on it. Aren't we supposed to do tougher work?"
"Did you pay any attention during your training?" asked Nick. "We take the jobs no one else can. That's the whole point of the Suicide Squad. We have no captain, we have no rules, and..."
"...and we do what no one else can, I know." snapped Justin. "It's just, is this hollow really this dangerous?"
"You have no idea." said Daniel darkly, surprising everyone else. He stalked off down the street, leaving the others staring.
"Wonder what that was about." said Ace.
"No idea." Nick said, following after Daniel. "Hey, Danny! Wait up! We need to stick to-"
Suddenly, a roar erupted through the night, interrupting the shinigami. All four of them looked around for the source, when a huge monster appeared on a roof. It's body was a man while it had the tail of a snake. It had four arms, and it's face was covered by a white mask shaped like a human skull, with had a horn coming out of the left side. It's red eyes were trained on the four shinigami below it.
"Soooooouls." it said in a demonic voice. "I'm hungry for souls, and you seem pretty tasty. Give me your souls. Give them to me! The Death Eater!" It roared again, glaring at it's prey.
"Death Eater huh?" said Nick. "Well, I'm Nick. That's Justin. The big guy's Ace, and the little guy over there's... Daniel!"
His words fell on deaf ears. Daniel drew his sword and leaped up at the hollow. Gripping it with both hands, he came down in a chop that would have split the monster's head in half. If it had been there. The hollow had coiled itself back, dodging the blow. Daniel's sword sank into the roof, but he unstuck it quickly, and got to his feet. "My name is Daniel Imahara." he said, his tone filled with rage. He raised his sword defensively. "I know who you are. You're the hollow that killed my parents. You ate them when they protected me. The sinigami arrived before you could get me, but you escaped." He looked down at his sword. "That day, I decided to kill you and became a shinigami. Now, I will-"
"Dammit Danny, pay attention!" shouted Nick, who leaped into the air. Danny looked up, but it was too late. The hollows jaws snapped shut around him. The other three lept to save him, but the Death Eater slammed its tail into them, knocking them back. They watched helplessly as Daniel was eaten by the large white beast.
"Yum." it said, licking it's lips. "Now, who's next?"
"Dammit!" yelled Nick. "Now I have to do extra paperwork, and I owe Ace a beer. I should kill you for that!" Ace smirked and slapped Nick on the shoulder. "Two beers. You haven't paid me back for the last rookie yet."
The hollow paused for a moment, then laughed. "You're not angry because I killed your companion? That's cold even for me." It lunged towards Nick, but Justin intercepted, blade drawn and cut a piece of it's horn off. The hollow screamed in pain and backed off, hissing.
"We didn't really have time to care about Daniel." said Justin. "This was his first mission, and we have a bit of a 'don't get attached' rule when it comes to new recruits." He stepped forward, sword at the ready. Nick drew his swords, the left one behind him in a reverse grip and the right one guarding. The hollow looked at the both of them and sneered.
"Why aren't you attacking? Are you afraid because I ate your friend?" it asked, it's red eyes going back and forth. "Wait!" it's eyes grew wide in fear. "Where's the other one?" The hollow immediately dived off of the roof into the back yard of the house. Not a moment too soon, because Ace came down out of the sky and slammed his sword exactly where the hollows neck had been.
"Bullshit!" he yelled, dragging his sword out of the small crater he made. "I guess you're going to be more fun than I thought! Let's go!" He lept off of the roof again and swung at the hollow, who dodged the blow and struck back with it's fists.
Justin and Nick walked over to the edge of the roof. Justin sheathed his sword and sat down. Looking up at Nick, he patted the roof next to him. "Might as well enjoy the show." he said as Ace and the hollow tore up the backyard. "You know how Ace gets, he's not going to let us get any hits in." Nick sighed, then sheathed his swords as well, joining Justin to watch the fight. I wish I had some popcornhe thought.
Meanwhile, Ace and the hollow seemed evenly matched. Ace had a few bruises and scratches, but the hollow had more, and the last few feet of it's tail missing. "You'll pay for that!" it shouted, looking from it's newly-acquired stump to Ace. Opening it's mouth, it charged up a cero blast.
"Ha!" Ace laughed. "That'll be to easy to dodge!" He jumped into the air, and the hollow followed him. At the last minute, Ace jumped tot he left, avoiding the blast of red energy the hollow sent at him which fissled harmlessly in the air. Laughing, Ace turned to face his opponent. Suddenly, another four blasts engulfed him, fired from the hollows hands.
"oooooooh." Justin winced. "Bala. That can't feel good." However, the smoke cleared and Ace stood practically unharmed, save for some scorch marks on his robes.
"All right. Playtime's over. I'm starting to get bored with you." Ace charged towards the hollow again. The monster snickered, and avoided the attack, preparing two cero's at once to send at him.
"This is the end of you!" it shouted, blasting him with both at once. Ace dodged the first but the second was coming straight at him. He held his sword like a baseball bat and swung it. It connected with the cero and blasted it back towards the hollow. The hollow stared, and couldn't recover from it's shock. It was blasted with it's own cero, knocking it back into the next yard. Before it could get back up, Ace shunpoed over it and swiped his sword, beheading the beast. It disintegrated, its soul now purified.
Ace jumped up to the roof where his friends were. "Glad you guys were smart enough to stay out of the way." he said. "I wouldn't want to have to beat you down again."
Nick grinned and Justin snorted, drawing his zanpaktou and opening a portal to Soul Society. "Well if that's how it's going to be," he said. "You can do the paperwork explaining Danny when we get back." Ace groaned and they all went through the portal, which closed behind them. The street was peaceful once again, and despite one couple wondering why their roof and fence suddenly had holes in it, everything went back to normal.
But for our trio of shinigami, the adventure was only just beginning.
Well, that's it. Chapter over. I hope it was a good introductory chapter. We'll have another "introduction" chapter next that explains some more stuff, and then we'll get started on the first arc (a relatively short one). Also, I hope none of you got attached to young Daniel, because he's not coming back. Ever. Really.
Anyway, rate and review please! Peace =P