Junkyard

1/12/2020

A/N: First of December. How the hell did I not realise this until I'm typing in the title????!!!

Disclaimer: This is a Bleach fanfiction. Of course, I'm not the owner and creator of Bleach and its wonderful host of characters.

[ Prologue I ]

He ran.

Fled.

Escaped.

Behind the young boy, smoke rose in thick plumes. Before him, lush orange and yellow hills spread out to welcome his hurried strides. Purple blooms swayed vainly to attract his attention and the cool grass beneath his bare feet seemed to invite for a long rest.

However, each breath he greedily took within his thin frame choked him with the smell of ash and burned him awful memories.

He pumped his legs as much as he could, but the fear clouded his mind and every footfall seemed to be bogged down. My death is inevitable. There is no escape. I'm too weak. These thoughts pressed his mind.

Memories of his master's last words were what kept him going even as shrill, blood-curdling screams of others begged him to turn back. To not abandon them. To die together rather than continue an orphan life alone again.

He ran.

Suddenly, in front of him, a monstrous creature cut into his way. The boy jumped away quickly and withdrew his saber. He was not surprised but he had expected the demon to cut him down immediately.

The monstrous being, about the size of an elephant, was a skeletal figure with a deer-like skull on its massive, tusked shoulders. It was swathed in a strange dark purple and black material that blazed like fire. Chained around its neck was a thick, golden chain that draped down to its broad chest, each of its links seemed to have a number etched into them. It was one of the beings that had laid siege on his home: a demon, a spawn of the underworld and the demon king.

"HoRobiRo!" The demon screeched and flew towards the tiny figure below it. Its skeletal fingers were and sharp and quickly pierced flesh as its prey tried to defend himself.

The demonic scream deafened the boy. He leapt back in time, shaking away the ringing in his ears. He brandished his weapon in the strokes his master had showed him. Though he did not possess any real battle experience, doing these practiced movements was better than nothing.

Between his swipes, the cackling demon merely reached forward and swatted. Sharp claws hit the boy's face and all he could register next was a deep cracking from his back. Something coarse and firm bit into his shoulder blades – the bark of a tree most likely. He must have been flung quite a distance to have hit a tree. His thoughts broke off as burning pain flared in his arms. He curled his knees up, knowing there was nothing else he could do when the vibrations of the demon drew closer.

Darkness surrounded him and consciousness slithered further from him. Which was first, it was hard to tell. He just knew something was horribly wrong.

Master, what should I do now?

All he was certain was that his master was still very, very far from his reach.

---

"Master..." Pale lips murmured. "Master Maru..." The boy on the cot gasped and began choking. A nurse hurried to his side and dabbed a soaking cloth to his parched lips, squeezing a bit of water into them as well.

"Where...am I?" The boy asked once he managed.

He could not move a muscle without pain lancing through his whole body. His face seemed to be wrapped entirely in a thick, cottony material and he could only distantly feel the a hand on his chest as the nurse cleaned his body. He felt so stiff to the point he desired nothing more than to fall back into blissful ignorance.