Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I own my OC's and I'm borrowing a few other people's.
Chapter 1: A legend begins
Sleepy little towns like Karakura Town were mostly quiet throughout the night. They were not filled with the echoes of despair, the howls of lost souls slowly decaying in their own own loneliness. But on this night, these unspoken laws seemed to be non-existent as the monsters known as Hollows raised their masked faces and glared with red eyes at the small ball of bright white light high up in the sky, invisible to all but them. The little ball pulsed with radiant energy, slowly expanding until it engulfed most of Karakura and its inhabitants.
Ten small, oddly shaped black shadows engulfed in white light scattered into town, each seeking its own target. Flying past rows of tightly packed streets and oblivious dreamers as each made its own way toward its new owner.
Captain Toshirou Hitsugaya was not known for losing his temper often, save for when it came to his lieutenant's antics, but this was just too much. He'd been ordered to take a team and clear out the swarm of Hollow that had suddenly appeared in Karakura Town, down in the world of the living.
"What do you mean it won't open?" he asked again, his voice raised.
"I...I don't know, Sir. It just shut itself and now refuses to open."
The snowy haired captain stared at the terrified looking subordinate with piercing teal eyes. He stepped closer to the Senkaimon, a portal resembling a traditional Japanese screen door. It was their, the Shinigami, protectors of the souls of humans, only way into the world of the living.
"There was a s...spike in the s...spiritual energy f...from the other side just before it shut, Sir." the subordinate continued in a shaky voice, obviously terrified of the small captain's steadily raising spiritual energy.
Hitsugaya shot him a glare before turning back to the Senkaimon.
"Well if it was a sudden burst of powerful spiritual energy that closed it then another should be able to open it." he said thoughtfully.
Reaching over his shoulder, he drew his zanpakuto and held the sword out in front of him, pointing it at the object of his irritation. A light blue aura began surrounding the captain of the 10th Squad and his sword. With a quick forward movement he thrusted the tip of the blade into the gate. His eyed narrowed as the blue aura grew stronger and his subordinates backed away a little. The air around him was rushing upwards in blue spirals as his brows furrowed in concentration. A crack appeared in the gate as Hitsugaya released more of his spirit energy and the young captain allowed himself a small smirk.
Just as the crack seemed to be getting bigger Hitsugaya's eyes suddenly went wide and in blinding flash of blue, he was sent hurtling backwards. He hit the ground with a thud and his sword clattered out of his limp hand, his aura died down as well.
"Captain!" Lieutenant Matsumoto called in a concerned voice as she pushed past the crowd of shocked Shinigami.
"Send a message to Captain Unohana and tell her what happened, I have to go inform Captain Commander Yamamoto about this. Nobody is to touch the Senkaimon, understood?" she ordered.
"Yes ma'am!"
Gunner Stiles couldn't sleep, which was odd since he was usually a heavy sleeper. He tossed and turned around in bed for a few minutes before finally giving up. He sat up with a sigh and looked at his alarm clock. It was only five in the morning. Running a hand through his shaggy dark hair, he flopped back down onto the mattress.
After a few minutes of futile attempts at going back to sleep, Gunner decided that it was useless and got up. He stretched his arms above his head, pulled off his shirt and began looking around the small room for a fresh set of clothes. He managed to locate a pair of dark blue jeans, a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket that had belonged to his grandfather, a famous detective.
After a quick shower he jogged down the stairs of the two-story apartment where he lived with his father. He walked over to the fridge for some breakfast and noticed that there was a note on the door.
"Had to leave early. Emergency down at the station. There's some leftovers in the fridge if you want breakfast. Love you."
Gunner smiled and shook his head as he crumpled up the note in his hand and tossed it into the trash can. His dad was also a detective, not nearly as good as his granddad had been though. His dad was always busy at work, trying to live up to Gunner Stiles Senior's reputation. Gunner shook his head again, dark brown hair waving around his face. He was never going into law enforcement. Ever
After a quick breakfast Gunner made his way back upstairs of the cramped little apartment. He entered his room and began packing his books back into his bag. He had a big science test today and had been up until midnight studying, evident by the books and notes strewn across the desk and on the floor. He crouched down next to his bed to retrieve a textbook underneath it when something caught his eye.
A small white object he didn't recognize was lying just out of reach underneath the unmade bed. His smokey blue eyes narrowed in curiosity and he reached a tanned arm in as far as possible. His fingertips grazed the object slightly and his vision was suddenly blacked out. Unrecognisable voices swam in his head as memories that didn't belong to him began streaming into his thoughts.
With a gasp he withdrew his arm and sat on the floor, panting slightly from sudden exhaustion. After a few deep breaths he looked down at his hand and realised that he had the object grasped in it.
A pure white fragment of something that could have once been a skull of some animal, a wolf or something. Even though it was pretty strange to find something like this under your bed and then going into some sort of trance when you touch it, Gunner had to admit it looked pretty cool. He spent a few minutes looking for it and finally located a small silver chain. He tied it to his belt and hung the fragment from it.
He finished packing and left the apartment building to walk to school. He'd barely finished walking past the street when he heard a female voice calling him.
"Gunner!"
He turned to see a pair of deep violet eyes glaring at him.
"Uh sorry Marlene I forgot we were supposed to walk together." he mumbled.
His best friend regarded him for a few seconds then offered a brief smile, a sign that he was forgiven.
"Rough night?" she asked, falling into step beside him. "You look like crap."
Gunner smirked. Marlene Castle had been his best friend for six years now. It was strange since they were unalike in so many regards. Gunner was usually reserved around people and could hold his opinions to himself if needed. Marlene however was straightforward and outspoken, never afraid to speak her mind.
"Yeah sort of." he replied.
Marlene nodded with a serious expression and flicked a stray lock of short brown hair out of her eyes. She wore a long sleeved white shirt and dark blue shorts, her purple satchel slung over her left shoulder. Unlike so many other girls she didn't take advantage of Karakura High's policy of students being allowed to wear whatever they wanted by dressing in short skirts and revealing shirts.
They walked on and talked about the upcoming test which as usual resulted in Marlene expressing her amazement at how Gunner still managed to pass since he always put off studying until the night before. As they walked Gunner's jacket swished from side to side and Marlene caught sight of the fragment attached to his jeans.
"That looks like..." she suddenly reached into her satchel and pulled out a small skull shaped object of about the same size. "Where'd you get that?"
The other teen shrugged. "It was lying under my bed this morning and I thought it looked cool." He didn't mention anything about blacking out, not wanting to worry her.
Marlene put the item back into her bag and crossed her slender arms as they walked on. She was obviously deep in thought.
The air suddenly turned colder around them. Gunner gave a shiver and glanced at his friend, she had noticed it too. The sun seemed to hide behind the trees on the street, the air seemed cold and thick with an aura of dread. Both Gunner and Marlene stood frozen, sparing glances at each other and at the suddenly quiet world around them.
He saw it first. A faint shadow at first, then a giant claw lashing at his friend from behind. His instincts took over as he attempted to push her out of harm's way but he only managed to get hit by the large appendage himself as well. The two teens were sent flying across the road, Marlene hit the pavement with a sickening thud, her head bouncing off the ground. Gunner was luckier as he managed to land in a shrub.
Struggling upright and ignoring the pain shooting through his body, he managed to see their attacker clearly. A large beast with pale purple skin and large claws with blunt nails. Its face was covered with a white mask and its eyes were an evil glowing red. There was a hole in the centre of its chest. It seemed to be more interested in Marlene than Gunner however. He picked up his backpack and threw it at the monster's head in order to catch its attention. It let out a low grunt but didn't seem otherwise affected. As it slowly turned towards the young man realisation dawned on him.
"Good job Gunner, you got its attention away from Marlene. Now what?"
It raised a claw at him, prepared to strike.
"RUN!"
For the first time Gunner Stiles was actually glad he had joined the school's track and field team as he took of down the street. It would buy him some time to think up a plan and would draw the beast even further away from a currently unconscious Marlene.
Unfortunately he hadn't counted on tripping and falling face first onto the middle of the road.
Blue eyes widened in fear as the monster came at him with a shriek.
"I don't want to die like this." he thought bitterly.
"Then don't." a strangely familiar voice said in his head, followed by a flash of blue light that sent the monster reeling backwards. Gunner opened his eyes which he had shut tight because of the intensity of the light. He noticed that he was holding a silver pistol in each hand. The monster seemed to have recovered and it charged at him.
"Here goes nothing."
Gunner raised his right hand and pulled the trigger. A bolt of blue energy shot from the gun and hit the ground just in front of the monster, sending bits of debris up into its face, causing a distraction.
Gunner had no time to be amazed at how little the recoil of the gun was since his shot had missed its target. He took of at a sprint and fired two more shots over his shoulder. One of them hit the monster in the eye, cracking its mask a little. Gunner stopped running and took some time to line up his next shot. If he could get a head-shot on it it would most likely die.
He wasn't expecting its long green tongue to shoot out and knock him backwards however.
He hit a wall and felt something crack. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and felt his arms shaking as he lifted the pistols. He didn't have time to react as the beast lunged into the air and pounced. It seemed like the end when suddenly, in a flash of bright pink, a golden lance struck the creature in the ribs sending off course. Gunner's eyes widened as he looked in the opposite direction at his saviour.
So there it is, hope it didn't suck too bad. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought. Also if you want to submit an OC check out my profile. PS: Sorry for the cliffhanger but I couldn't think of a good ending for the chapter so I just cut it off there since it seemed like a good place to end.
