Tai: "Well this is the Bleach one-shot I've been working on."

Aka: "Yeah, whatever."

Tai: "Fine. DB, go."

Disclaimer: Taiski does not own Bleach. Taiski does own the Oc in this one-shot.


The Mask of The Rōnin Arrancar

Sand. White sand. The white sand is one of the few things that I remember. The other is the endless night. There has never a sunrise nor has there been a sunset. This is my home, and their's. They are savage, mindless killers. Their appearances change, but they are all the same. They have constantly attacked me, more times than I've ever cared to remember, but they ended the same. Dead at my feet.

I have no name. I had one, a long time ago, but I can't remember it. I wonder if it remembers me? If it does, then is it looking for me? Is anyone looking for me? Does anyone even care? These are questions I've asked myself over and over again.

I do remember that I didn't always look like do now. My face wasn't always covered in a bone white Ondekomen* mask. My head wasn't always shielded within a bone white samurai helmet. That was a theme that my current appearance seemed to have, the bone white color. My body enclosed within the smooth armor that was my skin. Nor were my hands or feet clawed. And I most certainly didn't have a hole in the center of my chest.

I also remember that, before I was this strange thing, I had carried a sword. That would explain the fact I had this bony blade in my hand. And how I was able to use it to kill all those other creatures, who also had holes in their chests. Was that what I was? One of them?

Then why did they attack me? Weren't you supposed to help one of your own kind? It made no sense. Then again, I was much stronger than they were. And unlike them, I was more… Human-like? Yeah, that was the word. Wait… That was it. Now I remember, I was a human. But then, how did I become this thing?

I'm so confused. I can remember that I was a human, but not how I became this freakish monster. Did any of those others feel this way? Or where they never human to begin with?

The mask. Did it have something to do with it? Maybe, if I took it off, I would be human again. I gripped the side of my mask with my right hand and started to pull. The mask wouldn't move, and whenever I would tug, it felt like I was ripping at my skin. The pain was unbearable. I wouldn't give up. No matter how painful this became, even I died from this, my wish to become human again would drive me. Till the end.

After what seemed like an eternity of suffrage, the mask came off with a soothing tear. The relief was soon followed by a burning, growing from within my chest, spreading throughout my body. I couldn't even scream, the pain to unbearable. It to was short-lived. When I stopped, I looked at had become of me.

My body had changed. No longer was I the strange, armored demon, but instead a tall built human. My skin was not bony white but real flesh. When my hands came to my face, I felt the sensation of flesh. My hands? My hands had no claws. Nor did my feet.

But I had no clothing on. Standing, I saw that my sword had changed too. It was now a metal blade with a guard that looked like two triangles attached to a rectangle, and a torques grip on the handle. Beside it was a crimson wooden sheath. I picked them both up, sliding the sword into its new sheath, when I heard chuckling.

Turning, I saw a man of average size with dark brown hair, brown eyes, wearing glasses and a black Shihakusho with a white haori over it. "You quite the skilled one, aren't you?" he said. I didn't know how to respond, I had never met another person that could talk. He seemed to see that, for he offered me a chance to join him in a new world. I agreed.


*Ondekomen = a Japanese demon with tusks and short horns

Tai: "This story might be continued in the Bleach story I may or may not make later."

Aka: "ZZZ…"

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