Naruto

Bleach

In the End

Arc 02

Hollow World

Prologue

Disclaimer; Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Bleach is the property of Tite Kubo, I make no profit from writing this story.

The creature stood a storey tall. A stooping bulky form of muscle, skin was an unnatural white with dark purple markings running along the oversized ape like arms, converging around its broad chest in a swirl of colour. Its mask was one of a bull-like creature, two meter long horns, black slits for eyes, rows of dagger like teeth.

If there was one thing he hated more than anything else it was these guys. They thought that just because he was smaller than they were that it meant he was weak. Such a feeble logic had no place in this world. From his few weeks of travelling this barren, twisted landscape he had come to a conclusion.

The bigger they were.

The weaker they were.

He blocked the massive fist with a bare hand, watching his much larger opponent struggle with a bored expression. He was tired, agitated, frustrated. For weeks he had travelled through the forests, which he had learned was called the Forest of Menos by its more intelligent inhabitants, and during that entire time he could not remember a thing about who he was or how he got here.

It was infuriating, to not even know ones own name.

But during his time in this hell he had learned a few interesting things. Through observation, followed by action he had learned that he had abilities similar to these creatures. He could condense his power into his hands, feet and mouth, summoning an incredible mass of energy, begging for a release.

Without a thought he opened his mouth, feeling the power rise up from his stomach and throat, coalescing a few feet in front of his maw as a small ball of pure crimson. A ball which slowly expanded until it was double the size. A strange, unnatural sizzling accompanied the energy and when he released it he heard a satisfying thrum as it blasted forward, incinerating the top half of the creature whom was foolish enough to challenge him.

So was he like them?

A monster

He often pondered this, and did so again as he watched the bottom half of his enemy fall to its knees, then onto its stomach, body missing a head or upper torso. He frowned, that was the fifth one today. Feeling a tiny spike of power he turned, seeing a pair of cerulean lights in the undergrowth before they vanished again. This creature had been following him since he awoke. It did not attack him, but stayed at a distance, studying him and feasting off the carcases he left in his wake.

What did that make it?

A scavenger

He didn't mind. The creature hadn't really bothered him, even left him alone when he slept. So he put up with its presence. But he felt its strength. It hid itself well, but he felt an incredible maelstrom of power emanating from this creature, this - Hollow. It was familiar, yet completely alien to his senses. He turned and walked away, leaving the carcass for his silent follower to feast upon.

As he disappeared into the low level mist his stalker appeared, slowly crawling through the underbrush of dead leaves and bushes. It was lithe, skin an unnatural white with cerulean flame markings running along its body. It basic shape was that of a lion-like cat with a snout full of razor sharp teeth, cerulean eyes and two long tails which swished back and forth as it walked.

It prowled up to the dead Hollow, looked down at the half incinerated body and in a quick motion ripped off a mass of meat with its teeth, chewing and swallowing before taking another bite. Not much could be remembered about what she was before. But what little she did know was that she had been a warrior of some description in her past life. She had been a female, which she knew for sure. The details of her demise were unclear to her though.

She could not remember how long she had been here either. Eyes had one day opened to this hellish place. She wandered across the barren landscape, only to be attacked by a monster much larger than she was. Terrified her mind went blank, and when she came too she was feasting off the same animal. Her mouth covered with dark gore.

Days passed, or maybe it was months, or years. She could not remember. But she had killed again and again. Taking the lives of these creatures and eating them to stop her hunger.

The hunger, it was so painful.

Every time she tried to go without food it would slowly get worse, until she would curl up in a ball and mew her pain. She had tried to stop more than once, but the agony, flowing like liquid fire through her veins was impossible to ignore. So she hunted, and slowly she felt herself become numb and cold to the screaming, the pain, and the near deafening roar.

What she was before no longer mattered.

She was a monster.

And to stop the pain she needed to feed.

Then she came across this creature.

A man wearing black robes of some description, head of messy, spiked blonde hair, but what confused her was the mask, worn over his face. It was that of a fox. Crimson streaks across its cheeks like whiskers. Its mouth grinning like a Hollow, showing rows of dagger teeth and two long ears, tipped with red. Yet his eyes were not that of a Hollow. They were a brilliant oceanic blue, which mystified her.

So instead of attacking him she decided to watch him. It was not a new strategy for her. She would usually stalk prey from time to time, sometimes for weeks on end until the opportune moment to make the kill. It was a necessity; some of these creatures were stronger than her. Then he made his first kill, entirely in self defence. She expecting him to feed, but he didn't. Instead he looked her way, motioned to the dead Hollow and moved on.

Ever since then she had followed, watching him with gaining interest as he was attacked by Hollow. How easily he would slay them, and then he would leave the bodies for her. But she would have to face him eventually, for even though she was grateful to him she still had to remember one fact about her past life. She was a warrior, and as a warrior she couldn't just live off another creature's table scraps, no matter how generous.

------

There were three of them this time, three towering demons looking down upon him, eyes glinting with a feral hunger. His own eyes starred unflinchingly back, posture straight and confident, arms folded across his chest as he waited for them to make the first move.

"Hahahaha" one bellowed, closing its eyes and throwing its head back as it laughed with insane glee "You're a defiant one aren't you!"

"Yeah, look at all the size of you runt" another cackled, pointing a long clawed finger at him "You probably won't even be worth a snack!"

He spoke, his words distorted and inhuman "It seems that those who talk are the ones who lack intelligence around here"

"What was that punk?" the third asked, its baboon like mask snarling threateningly.

"I don't know how long I've been here, but I know from experience that the larger the opponent the weaker the opponent" he opened his eyes, the sapphire orbs seemed to convulse, changing colour from blue to a deep, violent crimson "You guys wont even make decent target practise!"

One roared angrily, before its long clawed hand shot out towards the blonde. The small amnesia stricken Shinigami stood perfectly still, watching the approaching appendage with a bored expression. He opened his mouth, as if to yawn, but as the claw came closer a small ball of crimson energy formed, growing larger and larger with every passing second. When he released his breath it fired, encompassing the claw up to the shoulder, ripping it down to its base molecules.

The Hollow blinked once, twice, then reeled back and screamed an unholy cry of pain and terror. Looking upon the stump where his arm used to be, purple blood streaming from the wound. There was a feint boom and the human like creature was in front of his mask, hand shooting out with extreme prejudice and smashing through the white mask with a loud crack. The Hollows breaths came quick and haggard before the hand made a ninety degree clockwise spin, shattering the mask in one quick movement.

The two others watched with open shock as their comrade fell, eyes wide in disbelief that such a tiny creature had defeated one of them so easily. The black robed figure turned, pointed at another with its middle and index fingers, another ball of crimson forming on his fingertips. It fired, washing over the Hollow's upper body, disintegrating it with little to no effort.

The last one looked at the second body, now missing anything above the abdomen and spun around, fleeing from the scene on all fours. He watched it go, eyes narrowing in revulsion. That one wasn't even worth killing. In this world he would be lucky to last another minute.

As if to emphasize his thought a shadow fell from the tree tops, landing on top of the fleeing Hollow with extended claws and an open maw. It was smaller than its prey, maybe a head taller than he was. But the way it landed was graceful with no wasted effort, sinking its fangs into its back, and then clawed desperately to get a hold when the larger bear-like Hollow began to buck and jump. With a growl of annoyance it pounced again, clawing onto the larger ones side and taking a massive chunk of muscle from its left shoulder with its teeth.

The Hollow squeaked before falling, skidding across the forest floor and coming to a halt, whimpering pathetically. The silhouette of the much smaller predator appeared, circling the fallen one once before pouncing for the kill, claws clasping its head and right shoulder, jaw biting down on its neck. He heard the crunching of bone and skin, following by a hastily cut off cry.

In earnest it began to feed, its claws holding the carcase steady as it bit off huge chunks of armoured skin and flesh with its powerful teeth. He guessed by the way she cut through its armoured hide as if it were warm butter that this feline like Hollows jaws had a closing power of several dozen tonnes.

It was definitely the one who had been following him these last few months. He recognised its signature, once hidden now out in full force. It seemed she had stopped hiding, which meant it had finished playing docile.

It looked up as if noticing him for the first time, jaws covered with dripping purple life fluid. The feline studied him for a moment, and then with great elegance for its size it jumped over the half eaten corpse, slowly and precisely closing in on him. He followed her deliberately slow movements with a simple movement of his head, guessing this was a female, yes definitely a female.

The two tailed cat circled him once, twice, three times. Its cerulean eyes not leaving his orbs. It mewed, sounding more like a domestic house cat than a huge lioness, and pounced in one fluid motion. Paws outstretched and mouth open, ready to take a bite.

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Short I know, but that's how Prologues are lol.

Hey folks, I'm back, but updates will probably be a little slow this time considering I have been posting another two stories recently. Ah well. Hope you guys all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

I read the new chapters of Naruto and Bleach last night, and I found myself a little lacking. I mean, after waiting for a full two weeks you kind of expected more than 17 or 18 pages. I know these authors are probably fifty chapters ahead of the publishers and they probably don't take holidays into account, but it was still a little disappointing after waiting for so long.