A Pure Sword, A Pure Soul (Bleach)

A normal life.

That's all you ever really wanted. Or all you told yourself you ever wanted, at least.

But ever since you can remember, you've been able to see ghosts. It's a trait that runs in the family, so you never found yourself talking to them in public, unlike your older brother. Sure, it's not a burden, not like you sometimes tell people it is so that they stop asking you so many questions about it. But it isn't the normalcy you see other people have that you so want for yourself.

Granted, it's always felt nice to be able to help someone who had nobody else there for them, even if they were a ghost.

That's not to say you ever wished you would have to help a sword-wielding ghost deal with a monster hellbent on killing and eating your family one unseasonably chilly May night....


Introduction:

Well, here it is. That Bleach quest I've been wanting to run for quite a while now.

Bleach is one of my favorite manga, and with the announcement of a new anime (though that was a while ago now), and the release of the Hell One-Shot (fingers crossed for an arc), my interest in it has been reignited.

However, this quest is going to be an AU. There are a number of reasons for this; I don't particularly like writing a lot of canon characters, I have a few problems with the story structure of canon, and (controversially, probably) I don't think that there's a satisfying way to beat Aizen. All this aside, I don't have as many problems with canon as a lot of people seem to have, while I don't particularly like the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, I can't say I hate it (though the back half is very weak). What I do hate, and what you can expect to see none of in this story, is information taken from the Novels. Fuck the Novels, if you ever have the desire to read them, find some fanfiction instead, you'll struggle to find something worse.

As for mechanics vs narrative, I favor narrative quests, and don't really feel like rolling a bunch of dice, because things would definitely get quickly out of hand (if you can explain how to play Katen Kyokotsu's games in a dice system, be my guest). So this quest will be using the skill system from Maugan Ra's We Stand in Awe (which many other Bleach quests also use), with some minor adjustments for balance and my own preference.

The story is something like Ichigo's story, though don't expect to be able to use meta-knowledge, it's definitely not going to be beat-for-beat. It's going to diverge more and more as the quest goes on, though never, ever take your meta-knowledge for granted. As for chargen, it's relatively light because I, like many other people, wish that Kubo had done something more with Karin, so it's not entirely a coincidence that Chiyu happens to be a sporty tomboy with an older brother.

This quest will have longer updates and voting periods than Bone and Blood. There will be less frequent updates that cover more content, as well as more frequent options in the middle of chapters that are then revisited.

Basic Skills
Armed Combat/Zanjutsu

Unarmed Combat/Hakuda

Movement Arts/Hoho

Reiryoku Manipulation/Kido

Physical Enhancement


Skill Levels
Skills can be grown, and techniques learned and enhanced by spending XP on them. XP will be rewarded at the ends of Volumes and Arcs, and if it ever comes to it, fan content.

• Incapable - Something you are unable to do for mechanical reasons, or reasons otherwise relating to the nature of your being. Such as a human releasing a Zanpakuto or a Quincy hollowfying.
• Novice (N/A) - You are generally unable to perform this skill/technique, though you may have some knowledge of it and be able to use it (poorly) when pushed to.
• Student (75/125xp) - Something which you have received training in, and are able to use when you have to, though not without struggling. You typically need instruction to get to this level.
• Competent (150/250xp) - Something you are able to do regularly, while not under pressure, without making mistakes, though you still may have trouble performing in the heat of combat. The baseline for many trained individuals.
• Adept (300/500xp) - Your training has been bolstered by experience, a rigorous regime, or a talented teacher. Adept skills and techniques are ones you can use without fail even under intense pressure.
• Notable (600/1000xp) - A skill or technique which you've made your own, and can perform under any circumstances. You may have even developed your own spin on it, or an entire variant. This is the level many experienced Spiritually Aware Humans, as well as lower-ranking Soul Reapers find themselves at.
• Elite (1200/2000xp) - A skill or technique which you've honed to a level most can't even think of taking it to. The strongest Base Hollows, as well as the upper Seated Officers of the Gotei 13 are on this level. Generally, you need a good understanding of your own soul to be able to stand at this level, and such an understanding is required to advance beyond it.
• Expert (3600/6000xp) - The upper limits for many techniques, as well as the ceiling for the skills of most. Most growth beyond this will be unnatural, supplemented by an outside force, or accomplished through extraordinary means.
• Master (5400/9000xp) - Simply put, complete mastery of a skill or technique, the peak performance one can strive for. Master-level techniques and skills are absolutely devastating when used, and the clashing of two masters is generally cause for maps to be redrawn.
• Champion (9450/15750xp) - Champion level skills and techniques are almost always one-of-a-kind. Reaching this level is near-impossible, and if it is attained, then the attainer's name will go down in history. Beings with Champion-tier abilities are forces of nature.
• Legendary (???) - Legends are Legends because they don't exist… Right?

Through chargen, you'll be able to pick up to three skills which are favored. Favored skills cost 75% as much to upgrade as normal. In the second chapter, you'll pick unfavored skills, which cost 125% as much to upgrade than normal. Also in chargen, the skills you choose to favor will be raised from Student to Competent.

Name/Chiyu "Red" Makiyou
Age/14
Hair: Titian
Eyes: Chestnut
Occupation: Middle School Student (Second Year)/Deputy Soul Reaper

Skills
Primary Skills:

• Armed Combat: Novice (Unfavored)
  • Exp: 55/125
  • Sword and bo katas were, unsurprisingly, not a perfect fit for fighting in your Soul Reaper form, but that's alright, you've been able to get by just fine so far. While neither clumsy nor awkward with proper melee weapons, you're not at all comfortable using them in combat.
• Unarmed Combat: Competent (Favored)
  • Exp: 0/300
  • Your long history in martial arts has worked out in your favor fighting as a Soul Reaper. While your spirit-body(?) is stronger, faster, tougher, and has more stamina than your normal form, the mechanics of fighting hand-to-hand are basically the same. Even if Hollows are pretty big.
• Movement Arts: Competent (Favored)
  • Exp: 0/300
  • Going fast is fun, and it's useful, it's no wonder you've taken to it so fast. Redirecting your spiritual power to lengthen your stride (you think that's how Hoho works) and increase your movement speed was second nature to you at first, though going into the mechanics has made going forward with it a bit slower.
• Reiryoku Manipulation: Competent (Favored)
  • Exp: 0/300
  • You've got a lot of spiritual power, which manifests itself as a lot of spiritual pressure. Given your first taste of using your spiritual pressure was breaking out of a kido, you naturally developed towards being able to manipulate your spiritual pressure. Expressing it in more complex ways is still beyond you, but you're building a good foundation.
• Physical Enhancement: Student (Unfavored)
  • 0/250
  • The flip side of the coin of Reiryoku Manipulation is enhancing your (meta)physical body. However, thanks to your natural taking to the former, and your already amazingly powerful (to you) spiritual body, your ability to physically enhance yourself is somewhat lacking for now.

Name/Chiyu "Red" Makiyou
Age/14
Hair: Titian
Eyes: Chestnut
Occupation: Middle School Student (Second Year)

Yup, that's you. It sums you up pretty well at least. There are other things about you, for example, your favorite food is manju (treacherously, the ube-filled ones), you're an award-winning member of the karate club at Kanawanatake Middle School, and you know how to build a computer.

Oh right, you can also see dead people.

Most people tell you to start with that, but that also makes them think you're weird. Then all they can talk about is the ghosts you can see.

What's more important to you than ghosts, or karate, or maintaining your grades, or ghosts (especially ghosts), is family.

You're the second of four children, the elder of two daughters, and the child of a single father. Eight years ago, your family tragically lost its rock, your mother, and you don't think anyone who knew what was going on took that well. Your elder brother, Soichiro, initially split most of the housework with your father, but as of late has become something of a cagey, mopey delinquent (though he tries to hide that side from your family); and your father, Junichi, while initially picking up more than his fair share of the slack, slowly drifted towards the eccentric. In truth, you don't mind your father's wackiness all that much, but you'll never let him know that.

Rounding out your tight little family unit are your younger brother and sister, a set of twins. Natsu, your little sister, is the elder of the two by fifteen minutes; while the younger is your little brother Tousuke. While your little brother is more outgoing and sporty, your little sister is a natural homemaker and something of an introvert, either way, both of them actually take care of the house while your father works, you dedicate yourself to being the golden child (dad's words), and your brother does… whatever he does. Oh, and that's right, Natsu and Tousuke are both 11, while Soichiro is 16, and dad is forty-something.

Speaking of whatever Soichiro does in his free time, you really, really hope that it has nothing to do with ghosts. You have nothing to do with them, very rarely do you respond when they talk to you (if you don't respond, they typically just go away), and you prefer if your brother kept it that way too. It seems that no one else in the family can sense spirits, though occasionally one of the twins will mention an odd feeling when one's around. Maybe your elder brother is secretly a good samaritan with a heart of gold who helps spirits pass on, and the delinquent thing is only cover. Probably not though, that would be way too weird.

Now, ghosts definitely aren't important to you. If there wasn't one around, you might even say that you don't believe in them (but you won't say that in front of one, you made that mistake once). But you just can't stop and let a little girl cry over the broken flower pot that once marks the spot she died. No, if there's one thing you can't stand it's crying kids. Especially dead ones. So you went waaaaay out of your way to pick up a little vase and a new flower before you went home. It made your trip a lot longer, but there was no way you could abandon that crying ghost girl, or not patronize that little flower stand next to the weird specialty shop the twins like shopping at.

All-in-all, between school, karate club, and going out of your way for the ghost, you end up arriving home well after dark. After reading the angry note for you left by Tousuke (on behalf of Natsu, no doubt), heating up dinner in the microwave and wolfing it down, you head upstairs to turn in for the night. As is becoming the norm, there's no light coming from under Soichiro's door and it's locked, meaning he definitely isn't home yet… at 9pm on a weekday. That's fine, it's not like you're your brother's keeper.

A few hours later, you're almost nodding off, with your studying playlist tapering off after you finish a paper for history class, when a particularly loud crash stirs you awake. You've been hearing these crashes and distant booms for a while now, and you'd figured it was something wrong with the power grid, or demolition on the outskirts of the city. But this one was close enough to stir you awake, so maybe it's-

The black robed girl standing on your dresser. That would do it.

"According to the Denreishiki, the Hollow should be within 10 meters of my location, but there's no way one of such power would be able to conceal itself in a house this small…" She says, completely seriously, and entirely to herself. Though there's an unease in the way she stands and talks to herself.

The strange girl/woman (you can't quite put a finger on how old she is, she could be anything from your age to a college student) isn't very tall, the top of her head isn't even close to touching your ceiling, and she has wavy, honey brown hair and wide, warm amber eyes that, along with her light skin give her a distinctly European look. At least her look would be distinctly European if it wasn't for the all-black traditional Japanese outfit over it. A black kosode, white undershirt and sash, and black hakama, she even has old-fashioned straw sandals over her tabi. Oh, and there's a yellow-hilted katana at her side.

Pausing and seemingly thinking, it takes a moment for the girl to start talking to herself again. Not before letting out a long sigh though. "I'll have to search the house, perhaps it's another nascent Hollow with a particularly strong soul?" One of her hands rises to her chin as she daintily moves from the dresser to the floor.

That's where you grab her by the lapels.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here!?" You ask forcefully, shaking her slightly.

And you almost immediately let go when you see the look of hurt and surprise on her face.

"I uh-" You stumble before you reiterate your previous question. "Yeah, what are you doing in my room!?"

"Human, you're interfer- wait no… Human, this is- I mean I," she stutters out a few almost-excuses, before she settles on one. "Human, I'm on official Soul Reaper business. No need to be alarmed, I'll be on my way shortly." She seems oddly satisfied at that answer, even though it answers precisely nothing and in fact raises more questions.

"Are you a ghost?" You deadpan, before patting yourself on the chest, indicating the weird chain every ghost you've ever seen has, "But you don't have the…?"

"Oh, er, yes- I mean no. Yes and no." She's back to the more nervous attitude she started out with. Wait, wasn't there some kind of 'Hollow' she was hunting? "You see, Human, though I'm not one of the living, I am also not a lingering spirit attached to this world, what we would call a Plus, and you would call a ghost. I'm the one who helps those lingering spirits move on to the next world."

"Uh-huh…" you nod, not entirely convinced. "I would apologize if you weren't standing in the middle of my room, but how exactly do I know you're a ghost and not some crazy per-"

Another crash fills the air with noise, but this one actually shakes your house.

"The Hollow is here? But I couldn't even sense it!" The 'Soul Reaper' girl says, an expression of absolute confusion and panic on her face.

"Big Sis!" Tousuke appears as your door is flung open, he's breathing heavily and clutching his side. Something is clearly very wrong. "Some-something's really wrong, I-I can't see, it's-" he looks like he's about to cry, and your little brother never cries. "Shu-nee, you gotta help! Anything, plea-!" With a yelp, he's then dragged back down the hallway by something.

Without a second thought, you grab the boken leaning by your door and start booking it down the hall. Only to collapse with your arms pinned behind your back.

"Entrap and bind, pin your targets down. Bakudo One: Sai!" The 'Soul Reaper' girl calls out, as the pressure begins to set in.

"What the hell!?" You exclaim, squirming and struggling.

"It's just- I me- It'll keep you safe," the 'Soul Reaper' struggles out. "I'll go- I'll he- Your family, I'll go save them and kill the Hollow okay? You stay here!" With that, she runs down the stairs, drawing her sword.

There's no way you'll just sit in the upstairs hallway pinned to the ground with your arms behind your back.

[] She said number one, right? So whatever it is, it must be pretty weak, and she didn't seem that confident. You've done enough jiu-jitsu and judo to know how to break out of a lock like this, and you've been conditioning ever since you were a kid. You can definitely break out of this. (Unarmed Combat)

[] It doesn't feel like there's too much keeping you down, and you've trained for a long time against opponents both bigger and older than you. It may be crude, and it may go against some of your training, but since there are no joints or weapons to work against, the best way out of this may just be brute force. (Physical Enhancement)

[] Along with seeing ghosts, you've always been able to feel them, if you concentrate. You know that they have a similar sixth sense that draws them to you, as well as to other people who can see them. If you have enough of this 'spiritual weight' to see and even attract ghosts, perhaps you can leverage it to get out of this spell. (Reiryoku Manipulation)

[] You've always been flexible, even as a kid when mom was still around you used to make her laugh by contorting yourself. Your flexibility has even helped you out of more than one jam in the ring or demoing locks, and if this 'magic' the girl used on you is trapping your arms behind your back. Makes sense that you'd be able to use your arms' flexibility and slip out. (Movement Arts)

With your bindings escaped, you once more grasp the boken and rush down the stairs, vaulting the railing halfway down and sprinting out the door. At least you start to sprint out the door. Halfway there, you find your father facedown with a serious looking wound in his back, though on closer examination he seems to be breathing fine and there isn't really that much blood, the strike must have just knocked him out. Maybe it makes sense that whatever's attacking your family left your dad alone, he could never see spirits after all.

That momentary distraction aside (though you silently pray that your father is okay), you sprint out the door with your wooden sword held at the ready. You almost drop it when you see the wholly unnatural sight transpiring in front of your eyes.

It's a monster, you can't describe it as anything else. Easily fifteen feet tall, with a hulking, sickly black-green body and too-long neck that look like they're covered in scales. The monster is, at least, humanoid in shape, with a long neck, a broad, heavily-muscled upper body with too-long muscular arms, while its lower body tapers into a pair of too-small, pillar-shaped legs. You really, really, really don't want to look at the monster's face. And that's because, on its face, is a bone-white mask wrought in the shape of some kind of deformed fish, its lower jaw jutting out well beyond the upper one, with a set of needle-like teeth decorating both. Orange lines circle the lips and eyeholes, connecting the three openings like tears. The eyeholes are the worst part, portals into a pair of featureless red pools that faintly glow with pure malevolence.

And it's holding your little brother in one of its massive, meaty hands. Natsu lies at the monster's feet, motionless aside from the occasional wracking sob.

There are a few cuts leaking putrid black blood on its legs and lower body, but it seems like the 'Soul Reaper' girl has pulled back for now.

The monster is barely hurt, and it's still holding Tousuke tight enough that it looks like he can hardly breathe. If the 'Soul Reaper' girl isn't hurting the monster enough to stop it, then you have to do something.

It's not like you weren't going to do anything before, but now you have to win!

[] Charge the monster with your sword. It might be made of wood but if you can wedge it into one of the wounds, you can do damage to it, get it onto its knees, you can wedge it into that mask, or maybe even crack it. (Armed Combat)

[] The monster is vaguely shaped like a person, it probably has an internal structure like one. You may be strong for your age, strong in general even, but you don't think you could even hope to hurt it with your strength alone. But maybe, just maybe you can hype up your strength with whatever ghost power you feel? It seems like you're the only one not struggling under the oppressive pressure you feel bleeding off the monster. (Physical Enhancement)

[] You felt the pressure from the spell, and you can feel the pressure coming off of the monster. Not to mention, ghosts are attracted to you as well. Maybe you can increase your own pressure, and somehow use it to hurt the monster? If the 'Soul Reaper' girl could put her pressure into a spell, if you can manipulate your own, then you'll be able to push it into your sword. (Reiryoku Manipulation)

[] The monster is big, and it seems pretty slow, aside from whatever it used to drag Tousuke out of the house. You may not be the star of the track team, or much of a runner really, but you can move fast when you want to. Maybe even faster if you try to get this pressure thing down? (Movement Arts)

At least you know the monster can feel pain. Sure, your gambit might not have worked, and that means right now you're slumped against a wall and you can feel nothing but pain all the way down your spine, but at least you know it can be hurt.

"Human! W-why?" The 'Soul Reaper' girl chokes out as she catches your little brother and deposits him on the ground after the monster tosses him aside like a hamburger wrapper. She then disappears from view and appears just in front of you, as the monster barrels down the alley towards you.

"Because that thing is hurting my family," you manage to say, even with a light chuckle, through all of the pain. You further surprise yourself by standing up.

"S-stay down, it's after you," the 'Soul Reaper' girl says with fear and panic in her voice, looking over her shoulder at you.

The monster, seeing her momentary distraction, extends its neck at her like it's been fired from a cannon.

"Look out!" You manage to choke out, not quite shouting as you have just had the wind knocked out of you.

The 'Soul Reaper' manages to raise her sword in front of her, but it's too late. The monster's jaws snap shut over her arms, and it's only her stepping back in shock and pain that saves her from having them both torn clean off. Somehow, she doesn't scream in pain or fall over, she manages to stay on her feet, and even keeps her sword up. That doesn't change the fact that there are bloody chunks torn out of both of her forearms.

"Hey, what the heck is wrong with you?" You bring your own boken up, despite how your last attempt at combating the monster went.

"I-i-it's my duty to defend humans," her stuttering is definitely getting worse, is she a rookie or something? Then again this probably isn't a normal night for her, and she even seemed nervous in your room. "It- the ho-hollow, it came here because of y-you, I think," said Hollow ambles towards you more slowly now, sensing that both of its primary prey items have been wounded.

"What?" It's not really a question, it's just all you can bring yourself to say. This monster came here because of you? Why would it do that? A monster is here, hurting your family, because of you? What could this nervous wreck of a ghost girl possibly know!? "What makes you so sure of that!?" You snap, anger in your tone.

"I-I- I mean it just- it just…" she trails off as you gently push her aside.

"Come on then!" You yell at the Hollow, as if it's a particularly persistent opponent in the ring.

"Wha- He- Sto-" the Soul Reaper Girl can't get a word out before you drown her out, yelling at the Hollow again.

"Leave them alone, you just need me to be full, right!?"

The Hollow's neck shoots out again, but instead of its jaws coming together on you, they slam shut over the Soul Reaper's torso instead. Before it can fully close its mouth though, the blade of her sword emerges from the back of the Hollow's head.

The Hollow roars, rearing up and stumbling back as it releases its jaws.

"Human girl, come here," the Soul Reaper says weakly, though she manages to keep her words straight.

"You didn't- It was after-" now it's your turn to stumble over your words and get interrupted.

"I told you, it's my duty to defend humans from Hollows, Human girl," she then holds out her sword. Only her right hand is clenched around it, shakily. The left hangs bonelessly at her side. "Grab the end of my sword."
You do as the Soul Reaper asks.

"The only way both of us get out of here alive is if I give you half my powers," she begins, somehow remaining the calmest you've seen her despite the massive amount of bleeding she's doing. "Take my zanpakuto, my sword, and run your heart through with it."

"It's not Human, by the way. My name is Chiyu Makiyou," you tell her, as you position the sword over your chest.

"Pleased to meet you Chiyu," the Soul Reaper says, "my name is Mai Koukin."

"Let's meet again, Mai," you say with a smile, and stab her blade into your heart.

There's a rush of power that wells up inside you, and the area surrounding you is engulfed in a massive explosion of golden energy. A massive explosion of golden energy centered on you. The sword in your hand feels natural, like an extension of yourself, and it takes the form of…

[] A huge, single-bladed sword shaped more like a knife than anything else, about half as long as you are tall. Your hand naturally adopts a loose grip, away from the blade, which is contrary to all your training, but just feels right. (Unarmed Combat)

[] A golden greatsword, even longer than you are tall. You're surprised that you barely feel its weight in your hand, but that might just be because it's your own power. Because it's your own power though, you can tell without a doubt just how strong you'll be wielding it. (Armed Combat)

[] An oversized golden cleaver, nearly as long as you are tall. The wide blade comes to a wicked point, and you can feel the amount of sheer power in it just by holding it in your hand. (Physical Enhancement)

[] A golden rapier, thin but oversized in how long it is. The thin, needle-like blade comes to a point, and it thrums with power all along its length. Just by holding this sword in your hand, you can feel the flow and presence of the spiritual power all around you, and that inside you, so much clearer. (Reiryoku Manipulation)

[] A golden saber, almost as long as you are tall. It has a split tip, and a long, curving blade. And you can feel, somehow, that just by holding it, you're faster than you were before. (Movement Arts)

-Voting is now Open-