Guardian Angel

Chapter 1

An Angel gets its Wings

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, I swear!

Alrighty, this is the first time I've delved into the world of Bleach in detail. I really, really, love Bleach, so I'm gonna do my best not to screw the pooch or anything. It'll focus around my OC Matt, and his adventures with a bunch of the Bleach stars, (ex. Ichigo, Renji, Urahara, Byakuya, even Grimmjow) and his developing skills from a Soul Reaper newbie to reaching his full potential.

For those of you reading this who are also fans of my other story Fateful XIII, don't worry, this won't take away from my updates too much, I just got hit with some inspiration and had to put it up. If you're strictly a Bleach fan though, just sit back and enjoy. If you like it, then I'll get more chapters out ASAP, just know this isn't my only story at the moment, so don't expect consistent updates.

Enough of me talking, just go ahead and read.


Matt Anderson, a normal fifteen year old high school Freshman, walked down the suburban streets of Seattle, Washington. He was on his way over to meet his best friend, Holly Nelson, at her house. See, it was a Saturday, and Saturday was always the day they hung out together; played video games, watched TV, saw movies, whatever. This year though, a lot of things changed. Holly got herself a boyfriend, Brandon; he was a Junior and on the basketball team.

Brandon and Matt had friction immediately; over the course of the year, Holly had been spending more and more time with Brandon over him. That really worried him, he felt like he was slowly losing his best friend, and he definitely wasn't in the market for a new one. He wasn't what you called 'socially graceful'. That was part of the reason Brandon was able to pull Holly away from him, he'd begun to convinced her that she was wasting his time on Matt, that she'd been babysitting him long enough. Apparently it was working, but he'd figure something out.

He turned the corner and walked up her front lawn, it was a pretty big yellow house, lots of windows and a two car garage. The lawn was a luscious and well kept light green, with fresh lawnmower tracks running down horizontally. He walked up the cobblestone walkway, and onto the wooden porch. Once the doorbell was rung, he waited a few seconds, and then heard footsteps behind the door.

On the other side of the threshold, stood a girl only slightly shorter than him, with shoulder length blond hair, deep brown eyes, and slightly tanned skin. She contrasted him pretty well, considering he had short black hair and dark blue eyes.

"Hey Holly, what's up?" he asked as he walked in.

"Hey Matt, not much really, I'm just working on my story."

They both headed up the stairs to her room.

"Cool, how's that going by the way?"

"Pretty well, I'm almost finished."

"Any chance I can read it early?" he asked pleadingly.

"No way, not until it's finished and edited, it's gotta be perfect."

They both entered her room on the second floor; it was always where they were most Saturdays. She had a desk with her computer and an HDTV hanging on her wall across from her queen sized bed. Her walls were a robin's egg blue and had a dresser in the corner with a bunch of photos of past years. Her room, hell, her house in general was pretty expensive. Her father was a judge and her mom was a residency director at a nearby hospital.

Things were a bit different for Matt. His dad was a doctor too, but he worked at a small clinic and his mom was an elementary school teacher, so there wasn't nearly as much money coming in.

She walked back over to her desk and began typing again, and Matt watched over her shoulder. She'd always been good at that sort of thing; writing was one of her best attributes. For a while now he'd been itching to know just what she was so furiously writing about; all he knew was it was fiction and that it had something to do with angels and stuff like that.

"So, can you at least tell me what it's about?"

"You already know what it's about," she said without looking up.

Matt crossed his arms. "Come on, you're almost finished anyway, just tell me about the main character or something; throw me a bone here!"

She sighed and leaned back in her chair, stopping her rapid typing.

"Fine, basically the main character is a normal guy who's actually part angel. He's got the flaming claymore and the wings and all that cool stuff."

"What's his name?" he asked.

"What?"

"I said, what's the main characters name?"

"…Matt," she said, looking slightly embarrassed.

He smiled and put his arms around her shoulders, then did a sarcastic 'Aw'.

"You like me, you really like me!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Oh, shut up," she said blandly.

He laughed and let go of her, plopping down on her bed.

"So, what did you want to do today?"

She saved and closed down her book, and pushed in her chair.

"Actually, we can't hang out today; I promised I'd spend today with Brandon."

Somehow, Matt had seen that coming a mile away. It was only a matter of time before the jackass started attacking his and Holly's most sacred tradition of goofing off on Saturday.

"Oh come on, you and I always hang out on Saturday! Can't you guys go out some other time?"

"No we can't, he's going to be out of town most of Sunday, and all next week is finals so he has to study. Today is the only day I have with him."

He flopped onto his back on her bed and scoffed.

"What?" she asked, sounding a little annoyed.

"Nothing, I should probably get going," he said as he got up off her bed.

"Well…you don't have to go this second; you can stick around for a little while if you want."

He turned around and put on a fake smile. "Nah, it's okay; I'll let you have your day with Brandon."

He hopped down her stairs and to the front door, slamming it shut. He wasn't sure if it was intentional or not, but he didn't really care. He didn't feel like heading home, and there was really nothing to do without Holly, so he decided to head to the park and just sit around. He always went to the park when he was upset; it was a place for him to think and not be bothered by anyone. There was a secluded area that no one ever went to other than himself and sometimes Holly.

It was also pretty convenient considering that the park was only a block or two from Holly's house. The sky was cloudy out that day, but it wasn't supposed to rain today it should be okay. After crossing two streets and dodging a kid on a bike, he was at the grassy field of the park. It was mostly a bunch of trees and concrete pathways, but there was also a small playground for younger kids. His destination however, was off the beaten path, so to speak. He headed for the treeline, jumped over the bushes, and ran through the thicket of trees. He ran for about a half a mile before hitting a clearing with a small pond and a single tree overlooking it.

He had discovered this place a few years ago when he wandered away from his parents and got lost. He got scared and ran around in random directions trying to find his way back when he stumbled across this place. Here it was a completely inviting environment; a shady tree, calming water, and the chirps of nearby birds.

He walked over and plopped down against the trunk of the tree, facing the pond. He crossed his arms and legs, getting comfortable and laying his head back, planning on taking a nap. He wasn't sure why, but taking a nap always made him feel better, even when something horrible happened, a good nap and waking up in a place like this could only make him smile. And a smile was something he could definitely use right now.

He was just about to settle in for some sleep when he felt a weird tingle. It wasn't like goose-bumps where you felt cold, this was more of a warm tingle. Despite how it felt, he couldn't help but think there was something wrong here, and this tingling of his was screaming to him. He decided that home suddenly didn't sound so bad.

As he got up, the ground suddenly shook, and the pond had ripples dancing around on its surface. Then another shake; the ripples got bigger, and so did the tingling in the back of his neck. It was definitely time to go. He started running, but the shaking ground kept tripping him up, and as the series of small quakes seemed to be reaching its climax, he had fallen over and was on his back.

That's when he saw it, the black monstrosity that was shaking the ground with a bleach white skeletal mask on its face. It had a gaping hole where its heart should have been, and just being around it suddenly made him sick to his stomach and drained the color from his skin. As it got closer, his stomach slowly turned inside out; he was too scared to move, either that or he was too curious for his own.

In a matter of second, it was standing over him, looking down at him with glutinous red eyes. It put it's face down to him, and stared at him eye-to-eye, then rose up again a few seconds later.

"Ah, you'll make a fine lunch," he said, licking his outer-teeth with his abnormally long tongue. That's when Matt gained the courage to speak.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back the truck up! Did you say lunch?"

He laughed in his deep demonic voice.

"Yes, but first, let's get you out of that annoying body of yours!" he shouted as he plunged down his fist. Matt rolled to the side out of nervous reflex, and the fist crashed down into the ground, crushing it with the force of the blow. Unfortunately, his second hand came down and grasped the fifteen year old in his large hand, and tossed him clear across the clearing.

Landed on the ground and skidded into a tree. He felt a sharp pain in his left arm and his neck was wet. He felt the back of his head with his good arm, feeling blood dripping from an open wound. He felt pretty dizzy from the blow, and the pain in his arm –which he suspected was broken- wasn't helping much. Before he could examine himself anymore however, the monster leaped in front of him smashed the tree he was leaning against, sending splinters flying everywhere.

Matt somersaulted through the creatures parted legs, and tried to make a run for it again, but soon found himself pinned under another giant hand. He struggled to get free, but it was pretty useless, the monster's grip was like steel. He could feel the pressure increasing, as well as the pain. Then he suddenly let go, and Matt took the opportunity. The stumbled up and began a mad dash for the treeline, but stopped with his stomach suddenly felt extremely…different.

He looked down and paled. The monster's index finger –or claw- had pierced through his body. He felt it free itself from his bowels, making it hurt all that much more now that his innards were exposed to the open air. He grew extremely tired all of a sudden and his body slumped over, landing in a growing puddle of his own blood. After hitting the ground, everything went black…at least for a second.

Then, all of a sudden, he was standing again; the pain was gone, and he felt just as good as he'd always had. He looked around, he was still in the clearing, and the monster was still there, the only thing different was that his body was still on the ground covered in blood. He looked at himself to find he was slightly transparent, but only slightly. He also had a chain connecting him to his body, which only served to confuse him.

"There we are, now I can eat!" bellowed the monster.

Matt didn't need any more provocation than that; he bolted away. Of course, he forgot he was connected to his body by a chain, and ended up falling onto his back. He looked up and the monster was still making its way to him, and his fear was growing. He began tugging on the chain that seemed to anchor him to his body. He was pulling with all his might when the white masked creature stood right above him. He kept pulling and pulling to no avail until right before the monster was about to grab him and the chain finally snapped.

Now that he was free, he frantically scrambled away, tripping again, but getting up quickly. He turned to face the monster one last time, and then he felt that warm tingle again. It was different this time though, it was much stronger and much, much warmer, almost hot, like 'someone set him on fire' hot. The weirdest part was, it was building.

The ground around him started to shake, not from the monster, but from him. He looked down; dirt was being kicked up into air and he was growing more visible again. Suddenly, a huge burst of orange energy of some kind was emitting from the ground all around him, it almost looked like fire. It may have looked like fire, but it didn't feel like it, it felt more like a warm blanket enveloping him, slowly wearing down and taking shape.

After a few seconds, it died down and he looked completely different. His shirt and jeans were gone, and in its place was a black robe with a white sash; it looked sort of Japanese. Also, he felt a strap over his shoulder and a heavy weight on his back. He reached his hand back and felt a leather handle and metal farther down, and realized it was a sword.

He grasped the hilt and drew it; it was a slim claymore that looked long enough to be two-handed, but was light enough to be held with one. The hilt was black leather, and the guard and pommel were silver with gold lining. The blade looked to be made out of some kind of iron or steel, and it had a symbol at the base of the blade. It was gold as well. There were three interconnected loops with a circle passing through all three; a Christian Triquetra. It was a stunning blade.

He heard the monster in front of him growl, and he held the sword tighter; he felt stronger just by holding it.

"Soul Reaper, you will be a great meal indeed!" he snarled.

"Soul Reaper?" he asked. He never got an answer, instead the monster charged forward with his claws ready and roaring like an animal. Matt ran forward to, moving faster than he'd ever moved before. From his point of view, the creature was now moving extremely slow, and he had no problem sidestepping his punch and severing his hand. It reeled back and screamed in agony as blood sprayed from its wrist.

Matt kept the attack going, and sprinted forward again, cutting off its left leg. The monster toppled over at the loss of another limb, and was now screaming on its back, blood shooting out from two wounds. He leaped onto its torso and stood over his masked face.

"How's this for lunch," he said as he plunged the blade into its forehead, cracking the mask and causing it to slowly dissolve until it completely faded away.

Once it was gone, Matt rushed over to his body. He kneeled down and looked over it; it was still bleeding profusely, all the color was virtually drained away, and his left arm was still in a strange angle. What confused him the most was how he was here, yet there at the same time, unless he was a ghost or something. He poked his motionless form, but nothing happened. He was thinking the whole thing over when he heard someone call his name.

"Matt! Matt!" called the voice, a voice he recognized as Holly's.

"Holly!" he yelled back.

A second later, she appeared from behind the brush. He stood up and ran over to her, but his hand just seemed to pass through her. Maybe he really was a ghost.

"Oh my god, Matt!" she cried.

Matt ran after her, and the two of them stood over his bloody body. All he could do was stand there and watch her as she lightly touched his now vacant face before completely breaking down and started crying. He put away his sword and sat down on the opposite side of his body that she was kneeling at.

"Matt, no…I said you could stay…why didn't you stay? This is all my fault…I should've just…spent the day with you like always…then maybe you'd still be…" she said through fits of tears and whimpers.

"Come on, I'm right here," he whispered, trying in vain to touch her face. He wished there were some way he could tell her he was alright, that she didn't need to blame herself. Though if there wasone, he didn't see it.

She sat back up, and pulled out her phone and dialed 911. It wasn't much good at this point, but she still had to call him in to the police. While she was frantically babbling words into the little device, he sat there and sighed.

"You may not be able to see or hear me, but I'm still not leaving you," he said as he crossed over his body and sat down next to her.


Over the course of the next few hours, Matt stayed with Holly as the police and paramedics arrived. A bunch of detectives and officers started surveying the area and a few others took Holly off for questioning. Matt was easily able to keep up with the car just by running and jumping, which was a huge surprise to him, considering he was never much of an athlete. He was in the small questioning room where they asked her where she was, when she found him, what she was doing before that, stuff like that. All the way, he was right next to her; even though he was sure she had no idea he was even there.

After her parents picked her up, the three of them plus Matt went to Matt's house to stay with his parents for a while. They were even more hysterical than Holly, and it really hurt Matt that they didn't know he was standing in the room with them, listening to every word. He didn't want to leave his parents, but he was really worried about Holly, and what all this might have done to her head, so he followed her home to watch over her, at least until he was satisfied she'd be okay.

As the day went by, he was starting to get depressed. It was a continuous cycle of crying hysterically, shutting down emotionally for a while, lashing out angrily, then repeat. He'd never seen her like this before; she'd always been the rational one of the two. It was nine o'clock at night when her mother finally came up and tried to calm her down.

She held her tight as she was in another one for her random fit of tears, and all Matt could do was watch as he sat in a corner of her room.

"Why…why did he have to…d-die?"

"It's okay dear; I know it hurts now, but he's in a better place, and I know he's watching over you. Just get some sleep; we'll talk more about it in the morning."

She nodded, wiping away her tears with her already stained sleeves.

Her mother turned off the lights and she started getting ready for bed, which was Matt's cue to rush for the door. He might have been a ghost, but there was no way he was going to be known in the afterlife as a Peeping Tom. After a few minutes, he walked back through the door into the room –he was surprised by the fact that he could walk through walls when he wanted to- and saw that Holly was now in bed. He walked up to her and looked down at her already sleeping form; she must have exhausted herself from all the events of today.

He reached down, knowing full well he couldn't actually touch her, but did it out of instinct.

"I really wish I could just tell you I'm alright, that you don't have to worry about me. I promise I'll make it up to you, for putting you through all this."

"What I regret the most though, is that I never got to tell you that you were like a sister to me. You always watched my back, always stuck with me even when I made a total ass of myself. Keeping an eye on you for a while is the least I can do," he said as he un-slung his claymore and settled down at the foot of her bed.

"I really just wish you could hear me...just for a second."

What he didn't know was that –whether it was an act of fate, destiny, or some unexplainable phenomenon- she had heard every word, and spent the rest of the night with a smile on her face as she slept.


There you have it, the first chapter for my first fic for Bleach. I hope I did alright with it, and don't worry, the familiar characters we know and love with start popping up next chapter. It'll start Matt's journey to figure out what's going on with him and to develop his abilities. Matt will unlock his Shikai pretty early on, but don't expect to see his Bankai for a while, I want that moment to be as emotional and kick ass as possible.

Oh, and to clarify, this story takes place approximately five years after the current storyline of the Bleach anime/manga and it will be shaped based on how I think the story will go. Enemies could be friends, friends could be enemies, and some characters might not even be alive anymore.

Review and tell me how I did please! No problem with criticism, just no flames or nothin' like that, because I'll disregard them on the spot.