Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor Bleach
Warning: Undecided context. This story was firstly planned as a simple adventure tale… but as it progressed it turned my thoughts into a mess of ideas. Please note, it could take strange twists & turns that some might find disagreeable. Hope you can bear with me. While I'll try to keep this T rated, it will contain tragic events and M rated scenarios. Also, OOC characters. Anyways, I hope you'll enjoy…
Summary: Naruto & Bleach clash. With his world ending, Naruto goes in search of a new home. This leads him to a place he cannot escape no matter how much he wants to. Main circle draws around Naruto & Ichigo.
Trapped in between
.prologue.
Stepping onto one of the many skulls lying among thousands of broken skeletons sprawled all over the surface of the earth, a clawed foot pushed down and crushed the round bone into small pieces.
Sharp red eyes looked over the smoke-filled space that was once known as the Elemental Nation. Nothing was alive, everything was gone. The only presence remaining was a thick smell of death hanging in the air.
'Gone…' A figure of a male looked down at his cut, sharp hands that oozed blood. 'It's all gone.' Deep sense of sorrow and remorse flashed in his red eyes before they turned back to the deepest shades of azure.
His world and its time had finally come to an ended. He had known it would come to pass, and he had tried to warn his people, heeding them to listen, alas… none did.
'Is this all my fault? Was I not sworn to protect them?'
"Even Gods can't always be expected to save the world …Naruto."
Pushing the feeling of dread and guilt away from his shoulders, in favor of hearing the soothing whispers from deep inside his mind, Naruto stepped over the corpses of no flesh and blood and entered the crumbled gates of the proud village he once called home.
With his generation ending and a new one rising, the last of his closest friends passing and unfamiliar people coming, Naruto himself had slowly faded into a mythical tale. A hero, who he was once known as, had become nothing but a fictional titan among the gods and people who worshipped them.
Naruto – jailer of the demon, fool of his generation, son of a hero, hero of his village, the savor of the world – had many titles given to him throughout his human life. As he became strong, he had become respected and loved. However, as with most things, this life had to pass…
The merger of the demon was his final title before his existence became an undistinguishable tale in the books.
Walking along the chilly streets, Naruto looked to his right were the ever-profitable Ichiraku stand used to be. Even after all these years, it stood its grown in this very same spot. If only he could remember that taste he always savored so dearly.
Stopping before the crumbled symbol of the Main Tower, Naruto looked up and frowned at the smooth surface of the Hokage Mountain, still standing tall and proud, always overlooking the whole village; however, what was once known as the honorable rulers' mountain was now nothing more than a simple, blank rock.
The end came quickly. No one noticed and no one felt it. But… could the apocalypse of his world really be dropped on his shoulders? Like an everlasting guilt he could not have prevented? Was it truly because of him that people laughed when he said the world will cease to exist?
"No."
Rising his hand, Naruto slashed his claws over thin air, watching as they struck into the sky and tore it apart. A way into an opening portal was revealed, leading into the dark unknown.
Becoming the last of his kind – more than a Jinchuuriki, more than a loyal ninja of Elemental Nations – the demon of these lands and the last person on this world, Naruto found no more reason to stay.
Looking down at the rising dust by his bare feet, he smiled as a symbol of his home village was revealed, carved into a shimmering headband buried under the ground. 'The 'last' will of fire.'
Once a proud guardian of the Nations and a being that outlived centuries, his purpose had finally come to an end. His home and his people were no more.
A spark of electricity cackled around him, disturbing winds and clouds as the portal began closing.
With one final look at what once was and is no more, Naruto's lips formed one last grin before he entered the portal. His mind set on finding a new home and maybe… a place to belong.
.I.
Inside the Twelfth Division's surveillance room, display monitors suddenly turned red in alarm, signaling an intrusion of an unknown entity entering the Human World.
Quickly entering the room, a woman wearing white robes and up-tied hairstyle jumped into her seat and began tapping the keyboards. Soon a picture appeared on the screen, however, completely shaded in black.
Frowning, she tapped a few more commands but got nothing. "Why can't I see you?" Standing up, she pressed a green button over the top monitor and cursed, the picture was still indistinguishable. Peering down at the widely beeping computer, her eyes skimmed over the printed data of the phenomena's outline.
She went agape, "This can't be possible."
Tearing the prints out, she ran out of the room.
..
"Captain Kurotsuchi!"
"What is it Rin? Can't you see I'm busy?" Looking up from his half-dazed patient, Mayuri Kurotsuchi bared his yellow teeth. "If you're here to deliver me one of those annoying complain letters, drop a bomb in it and send it back with flowers."
"No-no, captain. Take a look at this." Shoving the imprints under his nose, the woman scrunched her nose up when she glanced at her crazed captain's experiment.
"Hmm… interesting, very interesting." Placing the purple mixture down, he stared at the prints keenly. "When was this taken?"
"About two minutes ago, captain. I don't understand, our monitors could not distinguish the image of this… thing but it nearly overloaded the system when it tried to read its energetic substance."
Rubbing his cheek, the orange-eyed captain mumbled to himself as he evaluated their new discovery, "It has a very high amount of spiritual energy, but then again it's not a spirit or a hollow."
"Captain? Should I inform the Commander of this?"
"Don't bother yourself, Rin. I'm going to take care of this myself. In the meantime, look after my pet while I'm out." Stuffing the prints into his robes, Kurotsuchi exited his lab.
..
"Where is it located now?" Having read and re-read the imprints of the 12th Division's findings, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the Captain-Commander of Gotei 13, passed a thoughtful looked towards Mayuri.
"Right now, it seems to be wondering around the center of the Karakura town, in Mashiba."
..
Leaning lazily in his chair, a slyly smirking man with lean silver-white hair looked over at his monitor as it suddenly started beeping. Pressing a glowing button, he peered closely at the screen. "Hey now little guy, who might you be?" Pushing a few more buttons, he looked over the radars that measured 'the little guy's' spiritual pressure. His eyebrows shot up. "Not so little anymore I see." 'Aizen will definitely like to hear about this.'
..
Disguising himself under a jutsu in favor of concealing his no-longer-human appearance, Naruto set on top of the tallest building he found in the small town. Prompting his elbows on his dangling knees, he tapped his fingers over a flask filled with silver liquid – mercury: the favorite kind of a drink for a demon like himself. Too bad that he had to use some drastic measures to obtain it, that poor old doctor will probably never recover after their encounter.
The day Naruto found himself entering the new world was the day he hated the place already. Not only because people here were very strange (with all sorts of weird devices used at their disposal), and because those same people were currently pointing fingers at him from the bottom of the twenty-story building (with strange flickering blue/white/red lights on top of the moving 'metal boxes' around them), but mainly because he simply could not get out. All possibilities to open a new portal that could lead him out of this universe were blocked; he was stuck.
'Who is blocking my way out?' he wondered to himself.
Leaving his 'drink' on the roof, Naruto stood up, ignoring the women's terrified screams and men shouting at him to 'not jump', and headed for the exit.
Beneath the building, officers and lifeguards radioed to their companions inside the building that the suicidal teenager was surrendering and about to exit the roof. But what they did not know, was as soon as the doors to the roof opened and police went to apprehend him, Naruto had disappeared and reappeared behind the gathered mob of people below, leaving them to search for thin air, finding only a flask of leftover mercury.
"Che… simpletons." Stuffing his hands in his black pants, Naruto headed for the park.
"Are you sure we came to the right place?"
"Yesss."
"Then where could it be?"
"Urgh! For the last time, I don't know! Quit bugging me about it!"
"What do you mean 'quick bugging me'? We're searching for it together, idiot!"
Looking to his left, Naruto blinked in confusion as two strangely dressed people suddenly brushed by him.
Their outer appearance which consisted of a black kosode and hakama, a pair of white tabi and waraji, and a white obi, was not as much of an eye-catcher as two katanas strapped by their hips. So far, within this odd town he quickly learnt that people did not dress into something as traditional looking as his home people used to, instead choosing to wear too uptight jeans for pants, wavy buttoned up shirts or t-shirts and long jackets. And they definitely did not carry around weapons such as katanas or kunais. Unless a rectangular, flat ringing piece of metal and plastic could be called a weapon, though why place it against the ear and shout at it?
Looking back at the backs of the two strangely dressed people who began bickering over something he did not quite understand, Naruto frowned in thought. With their garments so close to the ones his hometown people used to wear, maybe those two were the same as him? Or were they local folks just dressing up for a costume party? Though why would they use such a traditional wear?
Opening his mouth, Naruto was about to call them out, but stopped and blinked as they suddenly turned towards him. He blinked again, they were staring at him but then again they were not.
"Did you feel that?" asked the short, light-brown haired woman, gripping the leathered handle of her katana.
'Well they certainly ain't 'normal' folk, even if locals.' Naruto stepped back, sensing the air thicken with pressure as the two raised their guard, as if readying for some kind of an attack. Maybe someone was behind him? Besides, it won't be the first time he's ignored. Looking over his shoulder and finding nothing misplaced, Naruto felt confused.
"Hm. Must be your imagination, Kiyone. There's nothing here." said the man wearing a white headband around his forehead and white shoulder straps.
Naruto raised his hand and waived at them. Both tensed again but saw nothing. Naruto was deeply confused now. They could not see him, but they could feel his presence from his movements? Did they even know that they were surrounded by hundreds of people walking pass? Then again as he looked towards said people passing by while throwing awkward glances his way as if checking his mentality, they didn't even seem to notice the other two. 'Are they ghosts?'
"Tch. What the hell?" Dropping her stance, the woman cursed. "I can feel something here but I don't see it."
Hearing that, Naruto looked at his hands. 'Could it be…'
The man rubbed his eyes tiredly. "Forget it. It must be fatigue. We've been out here for nearly three hours without any leads towards that damn thing. It probably doesn't even exist. The 12th Division must have their scanners toasted."
"You're right. Let's just head back to the captain and report we found nothing."
"Aa…" Agreeing, both turned away and disappeared before Naruto's eyes.
'Was that a flash step?' Furrowing his brows, Naruto looked around himself and the rest of the people close by. Everything seemed just as normally ignorant as always. 'They didn't even see those two.'
A sudden drop of rain broke Naruto's thoughts and he looked up at the darkening sky, it was beginning to rain.
"Great. Now where on earth am I supposed to hide?" Naruto left the opened road and walked into the park. He quickly found himself a tree to hide under. It was getting pretty chilly and late, and one by one people rushed through the park away from the rain and towards their warm homes.
Watching the last man run through the park while holding a case over his head, Naruto leant against the tree and closed his eyes. 'Could it be that my transformation jutsu has some kind of an effect that prevents them from seeing me?' Slowly, Naruto let the jutsu fade from his hands and watched them turn back to bony fingers with long claws. 'Or is it the effect of being part demon? But then why can everyone else see me clearly? Were those guys not human? What the hell is going on?'
A sudden sound of something getting shot towards him forced Naruto to jump away from the tree. Not a second latter the tree exploded into thousands of pieces under a bright red light that covered its entire being and tore it out of existence.
Looking quickly towards the spot where the killer light was directed from, Naruto's eyes widened at what they saw. 'It's a person. And he's… flying?'
A fairly short looking young man dressed entirely in white attire, similar to those two strangers he saw earlier, only with longer sleeves, was smirking broadly down at him from his spot in the sky. "I FINALLY FOUND YOU!" he laughed and pulled out a long katana before charging straight at dumbfounded Naruto.
'But he has no wings! Is that even possible here?' Naruto was too wonderstruck over the fact that a person was flying to even have the time to dodge a piercing attack. Sidestepping the flying man at the last moment, Naruto quickly caught his wrist holding the katana and snapped it with a twist, disarming the man from his weapon and kicked him away.
"Bastard!" All the man did was let out a small grunt of pain before he began attacking Naruto in close range with no concern over his broken arm.
"Is that the best you can do?" Taunted the short man as he sent hit after hit towards the blond.
Evading and dodging the man's hits, Naruto was still trying to understand what the hell was going on. Why was this man attacking him? Though his distracting thoughts gave the other an opening and he got punched to the face.
"HA! That's right! DIE!" Screamed the young man as he quickly grabbed his fallen katana and jumped high in the air.
Opening his eyes, Naruto forced his weight onto his hands and quickly flipped away before the man nailed him to the ground.
Piercing his blade into the earth, the man cursed that the other managed to dodge him. "Where did you go now?" He yelled, seeing no signs of the blond anywhere. Trying to feel his energy, the short black-haired man smirked. "Ah… clever. Are you trying to conceal yourself again?"
Perched in a high tree, Naruto breathed out puffs of air as he looked back at his hands that he concealed back under the jutsu. It seemed that even the slightest drop of his transformation jutsu (hiding his true form) would give away his location entirely. 'I guess that's why those two couldn't see me then.'
Walking around the trees, the androgynous looking man tried to find his missing target. He couldn't feel its energy, but he could feel its presence close by. "You're probably confused. I can tell that you're slowly starting to understand the flaws and advantages of your powers in here. That's right, I know you're not from this world. And with that disguise you're using now you are able to conceal your presence from me entirely. I can't even find you by your spiritual energy. However…" Turning his head slowly to the right, the man rolled his lavender eyes upwards, "…unlike a Soul Reaper, I can still see you!"
Startled by his words, Naruto quickly pushed away from the branch before it was sliced opened by the man's katana.
"A rather jumpy fella, aren't ya." Appearing up in the tree the blond previously occupied, the man smirked as he heard loud splashing footsteps near the road. "I got ya now!" With a jump and a dash, he thrust his Zanpakutō forward and pierced it through the black figure running down the road. However, as soon as he came close to his kill, he realized that it was not the one he was hunting down, but a stray civilian just trying to get away from the rain.
The unfortunate man spurted out a gush of blood and stared down at his chest, seeing only blood pour out of it. "Wh-what… is this…"
Scowling in disappointment, the short man ripped his blade out of the bleeding human. "Shit, you're not him. Well sorry, but right now you're in the way." Without remorse, he slashed his katana across the man's neck.
Naruto's body stilled, unable to see but able to hear everything that happened to the civilian that the man brutally killed, if a familiar sound of a blade scrapping against the bones gave him any notion of that. So, it wasn't because of Naruto's abnormality that the short man suddenly came out and attacked him, he was ruthless by nature.
Flicking the blood from his weapon, the man turned his neck to the side. "Still trying to hide from me, huh?" The man outstretched his hand forward. A bright red light began forming in the middle of his palm. "Well, we'll see about that. Cero!" He yelled out and a powerful blast shot out of his palm, nearly covering the entire park, destroying everything on its way.
Hidden behind a sculpture, Naruto gasped as it suddenly crumbled before his eyes. He quickly brought his hands forward and formed an invisible shield around himself.
Pulling his hand back to his side, the man smirked when he saw his target finally revealed behind the dusted area of nothingness. "Are you finally done running… demon?"
Naruto paled at the man's sudden annunciation and quick looked down at his hands; the transformation jutsu was still intact. 'Then how does he know what I am?'
The man pointed his Zanpakutō at Naruto. "You have a very powerful energy deep down within you. I can sense it. No Soul Reaper or Hollow has such an intriguing smell. It's very foul. And I really want to see its full extent. Why aren't you unleashing it?"
Naruto glared. 'How does he know all that? It's certainly clear enough that this is not a normal man. But still…' "Why should I unleash something I don't see point in doing?"
"Are you trying to offend me?!" Pushing his blade high above his head, the angered man yelled, "Strangle!"
Naruto shielded his eyes as a huge gust of wind and dust suddenly smacked into his face. The man had unleashed some sort of a deeper power from within. Pulling his hand down, Naruto blinked his eyes wide. 'What the Hell is that?He'
Before him was the same little man, only now overtaken by an outrageous form. There were eight enormous tentacle-like things connected to his back, and on his head a white bone cowl appeared. Naruto vaguely remembered seeing something on his head when he first appeared. Was that a scull bone sticking out then?
"Do you see any point to use it now, huh?" The madly grinning man challenged, proud by the other's reaction at his self-noted impressive transformation. "Come on! Show me your strength!" he yelled just as one of the tentacles suddenly began storming right at Naruto.
Jumping away, Naruto stared in slight amazement as the white mass slammed into the ground, creating a huge crater. 'What the hell is happening?' Naruto quickly looked up and cursed as another tentacle came storming at him from above and punched him to the ground. Naruto grunted as something sharp abruptly came out of the mass holding him down and pierced him through his left side. Pushing the thing off, Naruto rolled away before another of the white tentacles was forced down on him.
Staring at the blond demon trying to dodge his 'Trepadora', the man lidded his eyes halfway, "This is getting boring. Must I force that power out of you!?" He watched in satisfaction as one his tentacles got the demon in the face and brought him down again.
Naruto got pinned to the ground. Two of the free tentacles formed into sharp spikes and nailed him down by piercing his wrists.
The weird man flew towards him and loomed from above. "Why are you still not letting your power out? Why hide such immensity? Unleash it! Do it before I kill you!"
Despite sweat gathering at his temple, Naruto did nothing aside glare up at the man spitting threats. Keeping the transformation jutsu concealed in his current predicament was a bit challenging, but for the benefit of his pride and self-esteem, Naruto did not want to grant the man such a privilege.
The man was starting to get infuriated. Was the demon doing it on purpose? Was he considering him weak and refused to fight on the same level? "Bastard! SHOW IT TO ME OR I'LL BREAK YOUR SKULL!" To emphases the point, he brought another tentacle up and aimed it at Naruto's face.
Though a sudden gasp from the side halted all of the action and both of the fighters quickly looked towards the walkway. A small boy of perhaps five or six years was staring at the transformed man with frightened eyes and hands covering his mouth.
Naruto's eyes widened while the man's shone in sickening glee. "A kid? Hell, this is just the kind of kill I like best. Innocent and pure." Grinning with delight, the man outstretched his hand towards the shocked boy.
Naruto quickly realized what's to come and yelled at the fear-struck child, "MOVE!"
"Too easy." Sneered the man and fired the red blast he called 'Cero'.
The small child's eyes widened as a red ball of light suddenly blocked his entire view. Covering his eyes with his hands, his scream was silenced by the explosion.
Dropping his hand, the man sniggered at the sight left behind his attack. Nothing but blackness. "Now that the nuisance is gone, I think we can proceed."
Naruto bared his teeth. "You just killed a child. Without remorse."
"So? Children are weak; they come easy and go easy. No big deal."
"What are you?"
"Me?" The man smiled at the attention and proudly proclaimed, "I'm Luppi. An Arrancar."
'Arrancar?' Not too sure whether it's his second name or some kind of a nickname, Naruto did not care to wonder for long. "Well then, Luppi. I hope you're just as good with defense as you are with your attacks."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Bringing the man into furry, the blond's features formed into a sadistic grin.
Luppi's eyes widened as something red suddenly shot out of the demon's abdomen and went straight around him, twirling his whole body in a blood-red energy that gripped all of his limbs and tightened them close. It quickly tore through his clothes and began burning against his skin. "WHA-WHAT IS THIS!?" Screamed Luppi, struggling to escape the gripping power. It was incinerating his body as it curled around him whole.
"Don't struggle… you'll only die quicker."
Startled, Luppi quickly looked up at a tree situated a good distance from the blond demon that was pinned in front of him and stared. There stood the same blond. The same blond he was keeping floored on the ground was standing but not a few feet away from him. An exact duplica'. And he was holding the child who he thought he had killed. "H-HOW? HOW THE HELL?"
Cocking his head to the side, Naruto looked away from his clone, who was now keeping a tight grip on Luppi with his chakra, and replied indifferently, "You said you wanted to see my power. So, I'm giving you a glimpse."
Luppi's eyes widened as the copy of what he now realized was the original sneered at him and bared its teeth. Scarily, they seemed to sharpen the wider the demon grinned. "See you in Hell, Luppi!"
A burning force suddenly slammed into Luppi's chest and he screamed in grand pain before a huge explosion erupted from within him.
The whole ground shook from the blast, startling some people close by.
Un-shielding his arm from around the child in his hand, Naruto looked pass his shoulder. There was nothing left from Arrancar Luppi, except a small part of his bony cowl. 'Irony.'
Jumping from the tree, Naruto kneeled on the ground and placed the trembling boy to his feet. The poor thing was petrified, he was all shaking up, and Naruto doubted it was because of the rain. "Hey," brushing a moist orange strand of hair from his eyes, Naruto spoke gently, "You ok?"
The child's breath hitched and his wide eyes rose up to meet his. Tears abruptly began falling across the boy's dirtied cheeks and he launched himself into Naruto's arms without thinking.
Naruto hissed at the close contact but allowed the boy to cling onto him while he wept.
"Did that man frighten you?" Receiving not much of an answer save a sniff, Naruto awkwardly rubbed the boy's back to try and sooth him. "Don't worry, he won't touch you again. That I promise."
Just when he finally thought he calmed the child enough, a sudden scream from women nearly tore Naruto's ears out and he quickly looked at a bunch of gathered people staring at them from the side.
"Oh My God! What Happened Here?" They screamed, staring dumbfounded around the destroyed park until spotting a dead figure of that unfortunate man who 'got in Luppi's way'.
"Dear Lord, he's dead!" Half of the attention momentarily snapped back towards the blood covered Naruto holding a crying child, and Naruto already knew that things were not going to turn out in his favor.
"He killed him!" One frightened teenager suddenly screeched, pointing at Naruto with an unwavering agreement from the rest of the crowd.
"And he's got a child for ransom! SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE!"
And by the looks of it, Naruto was positive that having police on his case won't be a fortunate omen. 'Better bolt.' Pulling the boy closer to his chest and gathering his chakra around them both, Naruto quickly disappeared from view, with no care of being seen or leaving the humans gaping at what they all have just witnessed.