Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Tassadar's Legacy: Chronicles: The Shinigami Ronin ❯ So This is Death... ( Chapter 1 )

I ran. I almost tripped over my own feet, trying to get away. Behind me, parked cars were being flung into the air and landed in the street with a sickening crunch. I ran faster. Street lamps and people were uprooted and tossed away like rag dolls. I kept running, ignoring the stitch in my side along with the fear coursing through my veins as my lungs burned, trying to get away from whatever it was that was chasing me.

An unearthly roar sounded from just a few feet behind me. I thought I was already running as fast as I could, but feeling the breathy roar on my back made me run even faster. I spared a small glance over my shoulder and felt fear grip me tighter as I realized I still couldn't see my attacker, apart from the damage it was causing. I flung myself through a couple, not bothering to look back as they were flung about just like the rest, a few seconds later.

It was almost ironic, that my downfall, literally, would be a crack in the sidewalk. Just that one hindrance and my legs buckled uselessly under me and I fell and my head cracked against the pavement. I tried to lift myself up, wincing and straining to see correctly as everything around me suddenly seemed to split and now there was four of everything. Groaning uselessly, I looked back in abject terror when another screech pierced the air, this time in apparent victory. To my surprise I could actually see the lumbering giant pursuing me now, and shock overtook me as I stared up at its massive jaws , skeletal white mask, and glowing red eyes. I froze as I saw its eyes. It felt like it was sucking my soul out and absorbing it into those terrible glowing red orbs. I could only sit, frozen, as it reached me and lifted one of its gigantic arms, smacking over a telephone pole in the process. The fact that it's so clumsy is the only reason I'm still alive, since it was hard not to notice the cars flying into the street despite its invisibility before. Even though I couldn't see it, I had enough sense to start running as the flying cars came closer and closer to myself.

The gigantic masked ape like monster smashed his fist down, piercing me with its razor sharp jagged nails. A huge burning sensation and waves of extreme pain ripped through my body as it picked me up with my body still dangling on its nails. I briefly wondered why I'd even bothered to join the exchange program that shipped me to Japan, if this is what I get for it. That was my last thought before my mind and senses swam into blackness.

Just as soon as I blacked out, I found myself staring at the monster in fear. Wait, didn't I just black out? I looked on in confusion as it lifted my body in to its jaws, feeling very strange, considering I'm standing on the sidewalk while I'm watching it lift my body toward its jaws. I backed away from the scene, panicking, only to be stopped by a tug on my chest. I looked down to find a chain attacked to my chest. I followed it with my eyes back to my body to see it connected to my body's chest as well.

A jolt went through me as I watched in horror as the monster bit my body in half. A puddle of my blood splashed to the ground and settled and shifted around my feet. The chain crunched in the creature's jaws, and it clattered to the ground with a sickening heavy thud. Is this what it's like to die? The creature tossed my lower half away, and fear gripped me once again as it started lumbering towards me.

The monster screamed again, only this time I could understand it. It screeched again, “SOUL!!!!” I turned and ran, scooping up the chain as I did so, determined not to fall again. The stitch in my side returned, and I thought, `What the crap? I'm a spirit! How can I have a cramp?' With that, I pressed harder, and the stitch seemingly disappeared. I ran faster and faster, all the while thinking, `I need to get away!'

Suddenly, the ground opened up beneath me and I fell into darkness. I felt like I was falling and floating all at once. Then I felt something hard against my back and a light blinded me. I covered my eyes with my arm and sat up. After a moment of disorientation and blindness, my eyes adjusted and I took in my surroundings.

Sand, sand, hills of sand, as far as the eye can see as well as dead grass. That's the sight that greeted my eyes. I scanned the horizon, and could see nothing, no life at all. Despite the bleakness of this place, I couldn't help but feel relieved I'd gotten away from the monster ape. Remembering the chain, I looked down only to find it not there. To add to the confusion, my jeans and T shirt were now gone, replaced by grey rags. Even my shoes were gone, and in its stead, traditional Japanese wooden sandals. Looking around again at my surroundings, I voiced my opinion aloud on the entire matter. “This sucks.”

“Well what did you expect? Fluffy clouds, banquets, and a welcome party?” a voice answered. I whipped around to stare at the voice's owner who'd appeared, literally, out of nowhere. A woman about my age stood with a hand on her hip smirking at me. I took in her appearance, gaping. She's wearing a red leather jump suit and gigantic orange sunglasses, red latex boots, and really long brown hair. Suddenly something clicked in what she'd said and I said, “So I really am dead…” It wasn't a question, just a statement, like I'd finally resigned myself to the fact. She simply tipped her head back and laughed. The way she laughed left me feeling a little weird, I didn't know whether to laugh or be afraid. She stopped laughing after a few seconds and grinned at me and answered sarcastically, “Noooo… you just dreamed you're dead. You got ripped in half baka! What'd you expect?” I shrugged at her sarcasm, thinking more objectively, for example, where I can find people. “Well, which way to civilization?” I asked. It seemed to be her turn to shrug and answered, “Pick a direction. You'll wind up getting somewhere.” She pulled out a katana from behind her and tossed it to me. I caught it, surprised. I looked at it and her in curiosity and she only gave me a mysterious smile and said, “You might need it.” I looked back down at the katana and looked up to ask why, only to have the words die in my throat. She'd disappeared.

Blinking in shock, I quickly regained myself and mused over my situation. That lead me to musing over my life. After all I'd just died. What exactly does a dead person do? And even then, what had I done to deserve this? I thought over my history. My name is Ryu Maramusa. I'm 21 years old, stand at 6'3”, and decided to spend my last year of college in Japan as an exchange student. I was born in Florida to Japanese parents, but they died in a car crash when I was two. After that I started getting shuffled through foster homes with my brother till I was 6. My brother Jeremy, who got lucky and was given an American name, is 6 years older than me. Finally we were adopted by a nice family who even let me keep my name even though I didn't particularly care either way, so they insisted on calling me Matthew.

Checking my bearings, I started heading East, laughing at the irony of my names. Matthew means `gift of God' whereas Ryu means `dragon'. God gifted the land with a dragon. I started to laugh finding that very funny for some reason. I laughed so hard I fell down on the crest of the hill and fell, rolling all the way down. I got up and brushed myself off, still chuckling. I suppose it wasn't really that funny, but it felt good to laugh. I'm single, have a strict family, don't get much fun, I just got chased by a giant invisible masked ape, got ripped in half, and now I'm dead? I started laughing again at the ridiculousness of it all. I die and I go to a desert? Who the heck invented this after life?

I kept going, glad that I was already dead, cause this heat is practically unbearable. I wiped sweat off my forehead and scanned the horizon in front of me. Still no sign of… anything. I sighed and tied the katana to my side with a scrap of these stupid rags.

Bored, and having nothing to do, my mind wandered and I started discussing with myself the wisdom of the strange woman's suggestion to choose any direction. Who's more the fool? The one who gives strange advice or the man who follows said advice? And who's more the fool, when the same man starts discussing it with himself? As I pondered this, my ears caught a sound coming from over the rise in front of me. Stopping, I strained my ears. There it is again. It almost sounds like a voice! Deciding not to ponder the insanity of chasing after random voices in a desert, I rushed forward and scrambling up the steep hill, I finally reached the crest and looked over. I found myself at the edge of a pretty large camp.

Excited at finding something other than sand, I ran forward and tripped and literally fell down the entire hill. Dizzy being an understatement, I waited a moment, then I lifted myself to go into the camp. As soon as I'd done so I decided getting up wasn't a very good idea as I felt a sharp point poke at my back and a blade came into my peripheral. Staying completely still, I listened as a gruff voice said, “Give me one good reason not to kill you.”