AN
Welcome! I hope the story is tickling your pickle, so to speak.
Please, enjoy.
Disclaimer: Bloodborne and Bleach are not owned by myself, but this story and the characters I create are mine and mine alone.
The Blades of Mercy
James was shifting uncomfortably, Urahara's cane nearly poking his nose. Surely the green-hatted man wasn't going to duel a hunter with a stick? James was unable to make sense of his current situation when Urahara suddenly called out a phrase.
"Nake, Benihime!"
When a burst of what could only be described as raw power kicked up a sudden gale, the shopkeeper's cane turned into a blade. James' first instinct was to call it a trick weapon but the transformation was obviously something more akin to arcane than a mechanism.
"I assume your bafflement was about my cane?" Urahara teased, "Should be no issue now though, right?"
"None at all," Said the hunter.
Suddenly Urahara made a quick slice at his abdomen and the fight was on. The hunter was about to make a remark about not allowing him to draw his own weapon when he realized that the man most likely assumed he didn't use one.
This could be used to my advantage. James strategized. I'll see if I can make out a pattern before going in, however.
Gracefully weaving and stepping around Urahara's slashes, the hunter got a feel for the length of the blade and the speed at which it was swung. He bobbed under a stroke meant for his throat and sidestepped into the green man's guard after a hasty thrust. A swift elbow to the chin followed by a heavy palm strike to the chest sent him staggering back.
"You're a slippery one," Urahara remarked. He looked amiable enough still, but there was a newfound caution underlying his stance.
James just shrugged.
"You're not as fast as the cat."
The hunter was put on the back foot however when the shopkeeper started blasting at him with energy waves reminiscent of the moonlight greatsword.
I suppose I've seen most of his tricks at this point, the hunter reasoned, and I have the perfect weapon for him.
James hid the blue flash under his coat, and began to swiftly close the distance between him and his opponent. When he got within striking distance, the curved edge of the blades of mercy snaked out of concealment and left a shallow gash on the blonde man's chest. Not to let go of this advantage, the hunter swiftly detached the second blade from the first and made several more cuts on the man's arms and chest before the shopkeep used the same high speed technique as the cat to get away.
Urahara was left panting a few meters away, eyeing the dripping edges of his opponent's blades.
James began to stalk towards Urahara at a leisurely pace, blades out to his sides.
"Come closer," he requested.
The shopkeep's eyes narrowed at this request, and for a second it looked like he would fall for the hunter's goading, but he swiftly covered it up with a grin, turning his sword back into a cane.
"I think I've gotten enough cuts," he chuckled, "besides, I have all the information I need to decide whether or not we can trust you!"
The hunter was impressed. He thought that he was the one doing the analyzing, but it appears that the blonde man was quite the keen eye. So James sent the blades of mercy away, and awaited his verdict. This line of thought turned out to be false, however, when Urahara walked over to him and plucked something off the shoulder of his coat.
"Yep! This little body scanner 'o mine should let us know who and what exactly you are!"
"So these tests-" James stammered.
"All to get my baby here to work it's magic!" he chirped, pulling another device from one of his green coat pockets and slotting the scanner into it.
The device lit up and Urahara regarded it with interest before turning back to the hunter, who now inexplicably had Yoruichi perched on his shoulder.
"So Kisuke? What's up with this guy?"
"It's James," the hunter seemed to grumble.
Unfortunately for James, Yoruichi was remembering that to bug him later.
"Well as far as I can see he is completely human except for a few small differences."
James raised an eyebrow at this and Yoruichi simply waited.
"First of all, our friend here has extraordinary physical capabilities. He probably can't hit as hard as Ichigo, but he is definitely faster."
Urahara paused at 'faster,' wincing as his many shallow cuts proved this to him.
"The other little detail is that he has no soul."
Yoruichi sat up straight at this 'little' piece of news about James. Human but no soul? How could he be alive right now, and for that matter, could he be killed if it came down to it? Yoruichi emerged from his thoughts just in time to hear James' response.
"Well of course not," came the deadpan reply, "I may not remember how exactly at the moment, but my real body is definitely residing on a higher plane of existence than this one."
"You don't happen to have a god complex, do you?" Urahara asked.
James sighed. It was a pretty far fetched now that it was said aloud, but it was the only explanation he could give with the fragments of memory from his greater existence.
"You don't happen to have any parts of an interdimensional being hanging around do you? That's how I transcended in the first place."
"Parts of a what? " Urahara looked baffled for a moment and paused, but was quickly jarred out of his thoughts by an explosion of reiatsu from the Shaft, as well as panicked yells from the kids.
Now it was the hunter's turn to be confused, as the very air seemed to shake with the invisible force coming from that hole.
"Looks like we'll have to put this off a bit!" he said, dashing towards the source of power with his cane in hand.
"What the hell is that!" the hunter asked Yoruichi, who was running alongside him now on the way to the Shaft.
"Ichigo! That boy with the orange hair! He must be at the end of his chain!" He responded, "I'll explain afterwards, but right now, Tessai and Kisuke might need some help if he were to hollowif- well, go rogue!"
James didn't quite understand, but he was here to help this kid and obviously so was the cat and the eccentric man. This was a little difficult to believe in however, when a rather burly man summoned a swath of cloth to restrain Ichigo, followed immediately by pinning him with multiple large metal rods.
"Looks like Tessai has got this," says Urahara, "get back out to check on the other two, Yoruichi!"
Without a word, Yoruichi speeds up the ladder to the world above. Meanwhile, the hunter is just standing awkwardly behind Urahara. This situation was completely foreign to him, and he was sure he wasn't really needed. Suddenly, a figure shot out of the Shaft and landed a few meters away from the onlookers.
"Ah, Kurosaki?" called Urahara.
The ghastly skull-like mask that adorned Ichigo's face was suddenly smashed apart by the hilt of a broken sword. White shards falling to the ground, the boy's eyes immediately focused in on a relieved-looking Kisuke.
"You're fucking dead Hat n' Clogs." He stated.
Urahara was no longer feeling so relieved.
AN
So, to start us off I realized chapter 2 had "Disclaimer: Disclaimer:" at the top. Rookie move I must admit.
The nature of the hunter's 'human' form will be revealed in due time. For now, I'll leave you with a bit of a teaser of what I have planned, mostly because I like leaving hints.
*The hunter has no soul, but two bodies*
Think on that one for a bit. I believe a few of you clever bastards will figure it out, but that's half the fun.
Another thing before I go however. A lot of Bleach fanfictions cover this part of the story so I'm going to take some liberty with time skips so you don't have to listen to Urahara explain how his modified senkaimon works for the 100th time and I don't have to write it. If you don't read fanfiction often, and you're gracing my infant story with your presence, first of all, thank you. Second of all, much of this info is early on in the manga and anime and is really just general knowledge that the reader knows but the good hunter might not.
But anyhow,
Thanks for reading,
DeadManDreaming