Disclaimer: The story written here is based on characters created by Tite Kubo and Norihiro Yagi. All Bleach characters and related material are owned by creator, Tite Kubo. Likewise, Claymore characters and all related material (except for original "Claymore" characters that I created specifically for this fanfic) are owned by creator, Norihiro Yagi. Please remember, this story is only fanfiction and not part of the canonical storyline of both manga.
Author's Notes: I wanted to thank everyone for their comments and support. I also want to thank Samurai89 and FFwatchdog for the very helpful tips that they have given me. If anyone else has any other tips or would like to help with the storyline, please feel free to send me a message. Hopefully, I didn't take too long writing this next Chapter. It's been really hectic at work lately, so I wasn't able to finish it as quickly as I would've liked. This chapter went through several revisions and I'm hoping everyone likes it. Again, a big THANKS to everyone!!! :D
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Bleach/Claymore: The Yoma Hollowfications
Chapter 2: The Darkness
In a small valley surrounded by mountains, several miles Southeast of Pieta, the snow has stopped falling for the moment. A moderate breeze begins sweeping through the area, blowing snow in an easterly direction.
"MOM?!" the Claymore said with a look of bewilderment on her face, "Sorry to disappoint you kid, but I'm not your mother. You must've hit your head on the ground really hard from that fall you took."
"......." Ichigo continues staring at her with a dumbfound look.
"Geez, humans, what a pain!....whatever, look....we gotta go, now." she said, sounding somewhat annoyed.
She picks Ichigo up and places him on her left shoulder without much effort and hustles away from the battlefield. She runs up the side of the mountain with inhuman speed and in mere moments, closes in on her destination.
"Wa...wait, where's my.....my zanpakuto?" he asked grunting.
"Huh...your what?" she asked, "Please shut up while I save your life, O.K.! You people really are a pain in the ass!
As soon as they reach the ridgeline closest to the valley, but safely away from the battle, she finds a hole in the rocks and places Ichigo inside, albeit a little rough. She stands up, looks down at the battle before her and pulls out her broadsword. But before she can leave, Ichigo calls to her, who seems to have regained his senses again.
"WAIT....what's going on here? What's happening?" he asked in a loud tone.
"Not only are you human, but you're also kinda stupid. We're fighting against a group of Yoma, including two very large Awakened Beings (or so she believes) with......strange, enormous yoki.....quite different than anything I've ever sensed. Those two just appeared out of nowhere. I don't know what to make of it." she tells him.
"A what?! yoma....awakened beings?" Ichigo said, looking a bit confused, "what I saw were two Hollows.....Gillians."
"Huh?! I have no idea what the hell you're talking about!" she yells, "I've got no time for this. Stay here if you want to keep on living!"
The Claymore turns and departs quickly towards the battle. Ichigo tells her to "hold on" but she's already half-way down the side of the hill before he can utter those words. Frustrated, he slowly starts to crawl out from under the rocks where she placed him and edges his way forward to get a better look at what's happening down below. What he sees, horrifies him to his core. Hundreds of dead, human bodies lay scattered all over the snowy landscape. Nearly all of them torn apart. Also, along side the human bodies are the dead carcasses of strange-looking "monsters" and more surprising to him are the remains of........Hollows.
"So many....dead....bodies, this is horrible. What in the world is going on here?! And those Hollows, aren't they suppose to disappear once they've been struck down. Their bodies are still there for some reason. How's that possible?!" Ichigo says aloud.
The 6 Claymores below, slowly dispatch the group of Yoma that has surrounded them, but with the appearance of the Hollows, it makes the task highly difficult even with most of the warriors using half of their "Yoma powers". The number 23 Claymore, Tiffany and number 42, Isidora team up to engage a large Yoma. The Yoma charges at the two warriors, extracting his claws at the tips of his fingers. Long, bony blades springs out from both elbows, quickly extending and swings in the direction of the Claymores. Tiffany jumps high in the air to avoid the attack then brings her sword to the left side of her body, holding it with both hands. Isidora rushes forward and easily ducks the attack. In one quick motion, she cuts off both of the Yoma's legs with her sword. Tiffany, before landing on the ground, swings her sword wide and slices the Yoma's head horizontally in half. He doesn't scream....there was no time to. Another one down, four left. As Ichigo watches the battle at a distance, his eyes begin to open wide and he starts to yell,
"BEHIND YOU! THE HOLLOW'S GONNA SHOOT A CERO! LOOK OUT!!"
Tiffany and Isidora dosen't hear him, he's a little too far away and because of the fact that in the midst of battle, a person's focus is sometimes on one objective, to kill the enemy. Things happen very quickly in a battlefield, unfortunately for them, they're going to find out first hand how quick. Both Claymores feel the strange, enormous yoki behind them. In Ichigo's world, what they're feeling is actually called reiatsu or spiritual pressure. This is the first time that they've ever felt anything this strong. So strong in fact that it leaves them paralyzed for but a moment. "A moment" is all the time the Hollow needs. They both turn their heads to look back and see the giant Hollow with the long, pointed nose staring down at them. A bright, red light begins to grow in size and intensity, directly in front of its open mouth. The captain of the group, hears Ichigo screaming. She looks around and sees the chaos that's about to happen.
"ISIDORA....TIFFANY, GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!!" she screams in vain.
Too late. A huge red beam shoots out from the Hollows mouth. Isidora doesn't have time to move. The top part of her body is engulfed by the Cero. Her body is thrown dozens of yards away and lands into the side of a hill. There isn't much left of her upper body. Her head is all but disintegrated. Tiffany jumps away but barely dodges the attack. The beam hits her left arm and she spins counter-clockwise and slams hard into the ground. The Captain yells again,
"TIFFANY.....ISIDORAAAAA!!!!!"
"DAMMIT!" Ichigo yells aloud with frustration, "I gotta get up and do something! I'm not going to let another one of them get killed!!"
The snow finally returns along with the wind. Unknown to mostly all of the participants of this battle, except for the Claymore Captain, they are being watched carefully by two different groups. One located closer to them in the South and the other, located Northwest, high in the mountains. The group in the North, are seven in total. All wearing long cloaks with hoods covering their heads. All of them are women. The group in the South, have a total of five. All are men. The leader of this group has been grinning ever since the appearance of the two Hollows.
"Heh, two creatures this time. PERFECT. Once they are all killed, we'll use them to make ourselves even stronger."
"Was it really necessary to use our Yoma as cannon fodder?" the one at the end asked.
"The answer is quite obvious, without doing so, our plans could not continue forward." he said, noticeably irritated, "I do things for a reason, something you may not understand. So don't ask me anymore stupid questions!"
"What if the warriors can't defeat those two creatures?" another one asked, "They've already lost three from their group."
"You may have your doubts, but remember, the Captain of that group is the Organization's number 3............Galatea." the leader responds.
"She's the same one that rescued that human boy from the battlefield." utters another.
"That's correct." he says with a slight smile, "Speaking of the which, I believe that boy came through the portal right after the second creature appeared. I wonder what his connection is with those lumbering giants. Anyways, in the slight chance that Galatea is unsuccessful and her group is killed, I want you to go there and finish the job. Bring me their heads along with their masks. Do you understand me......Lugar?"
"Of course......Xeger, I'll take care of it." He says with a growing grin. The sclera of his eyes slowly turning black.
The Hollow turns its attention towards Galatea and the rest of the Claymores. It fires another Cero. "LOOK OUT!" she yells at her group. Most of them manage to dodge the beam except for one, number 38 Laura. She loses both of her legs and is knocked unconscious in the process. The Cero not only incapacitates one of the Claymores, but manages to kill two Yoma as well. The Yoma are not pleased, to say the least.
One of them jumps towards the Hollow in a futile attempt to avenge the two that were cut down. The Yoma opens his mouth and dozens of small spears shoot out, some hitting the Hollow's body and causing it to scream out in pain. Most of the spears actually travelled straight through the hole in the center of the Hollow's chest. The Hollow grabs the Yoma in midair with its right hand, its arm emerging from the side of its body. It then brings its hand up towards its mouth, clutching the Yoma with a strong grip. The Hollow charges a Cero. In a desperate attempt to save his life, the Yoma transforms his right arm into a long whip with two blades at the end, forming a large, two-sided ax. He swings, but misses the Hollow that's holding him. Instead, his attack swings up into the air then down, hitting the ground and causing debris to fly in all directions. One of the blades accidently hooks onto something metallic......it's Zangetsu.
The Hollow shoots the Cero and literally blows the Yoma in half. The upper and lower parts of his body, flying in different directions. Zangetsu is knocked loose from the Yoma's transformed arm. Ichigo sees his zanpakuto thrown high and far into the air, which lands near the base of the hill below his location. The tip of the blade being embedded in the ground with only half of the sword exposed. His zanpakuto's white, cloth wrapping attached to the tang, begins swaying furiously in the strong, snowy wind.
"Za..zanget...su," Ichigo said in a low, almost whispering tone.
His thoughts again revert back to that time in his foggy, empty inner world where he found nothing but Ogihci's zanpakuto.
"You really are quite pathetic, Ichigo Kurosaki!" a voice said in a deep tone, "You'll never amount to anything with that fragile psyche of yours. So much potential but such a weak and foolish soul. You smell of fear. It's eating you alive. Why don't you just crawl back under that rock you were hiding in and call for your Mommy. Oh, that's right, you can't cause she's......dead."
"WHO SAID THAT?! WHO'S THERE?! DON'T YOU EVER TALK ABOUT MY MOTHER AGAIN YOU BASTARD, I'LL......I'LL KILL YOU!! DO YOU HEAR ME?!!" yells Ichigo at the top of his lungs.
"Heh, look at you, lying there like a wounded puppy. I'm suppose to be afraid of you. Ha, I'll tear your soul apart without breaking a sweat. I'll bet you can't even save that woman who rescued you earlier. The one that you thought was your dear-departed Mother. She's going to get killed just like your real Mom, all because you SUCK!!"
"SHUT UUUUUPP!! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP, DAMN YOU!!" yells Ichigo, even louder than before, "I'LL RIP YOUR DAMN HEAD OFF!! SHOW YOURSELF, YOU BASTARD!!"
"Hey Loser, maybe you should change your name to SUCKCHIGO.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA." the voice retorts.
"SCREW YOU!! YOU BASTARD!!!" Ichigo screamed angrily, unwittingly releasing an outrageous amount of reiatsu at the same time.
Everyone present in the area, pause for a second, feeling Ichigo's colossal, overwhelming spiritual pressure, even the Hollows give pause and look his way. The remaining Yoma is smart and runs away from the battle, in the opposite direction.
"What the hell is that?! Could it be that boy from earlier?" Galatea wondered, "Is he some kind of Awakened being?"
"Interesting, that boy has more strange yoki than those two creatures combined!" Xeger tells the group, ".....We have a change of plans everyone. The boy is your new target, Lugar.....annihilate him and bring me his head instead."
"It'll be my pleasure." he says calmly with a smile growing across his face.
In the North, the entire group of women feels Ichigo's reiatsu as well, even from their distance. The leader removes her hood as the snow blows across her face.
"Did you feel that too......Miria?" one woman asked.
"Of course, Tabitha.....I believe we all did." answered Miria, "We didn't need your abilities to sense that strange and powerful yoki. I wouldn't be surprised if the Organization felt it as well. We might be dealing with a new kind of Awakened Being......something very dangerous that could threaten not only us, but all the lands here."
"What's the plan?" a short-haired woman asked.
"Helen, I want you, Clare, Deneve, Cynthia, Tabitha and Uma to continue hiding yourselves in the North," ordered Miria, "if any of you must leave for any reason, I want two or more of you travelling together. Nobody is to travel alone....is that understood?!"
"Yes, Captain," they all say.
"Also, try to avoid ANY and all contact. That includes other warriors from the organization as well as Yoma, especially Awakened Beings." Miria continued, "I'm going to take a closer look."
Clare, Helen and Deneve requests to come with her, but she outright refuses and tells them to get back to the Northern lands immediately.
Miria puts her hood back over her head and disappears down the mountainside. All the women turn and begin walking in the other direction, except for one. Clare removes her hood and says out loud, "Be careful Miria, come back safe.....if you don't, I'll never forgive you..."
End of Chapter 2
