Beast and Berry Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Bleach parody: patreon reward

Bleach: Beast and Berry

Karakura Town has been frequently visited by more powerful and unique hollows, sending a low level shinigami or even a lieutenant is becoming more difficult. Komamura Sajin volunteers to to take the position. He meets a rather unique human capable of breaking kido, and can see spirits. He gets injured by a hollow attack and passes his powers onto Ichigo. Ichigo/Komamura/Harem

Chapter 1  

Soul Society was experiencing a crisis. Karakura Town had become the Sacred Spirit Ground, a heavy point of traffic for souls, and had sudden bursts of large spiritual pressures. Hollows were coming to the town and evolving quickly by eating souls, worse yet some were getting cleverer and instead of attacking and eating humans some hollows were possessing humans. Hitching a ride, and drawing in the natural well of power that was building there.   

Attempts to protect the town have ended in failure, as four seated officers were killed, while a few others had returned heavily injured. With the threat level rising, a meeting was held on who was to patrol Karakura Town. Everything below Lieutenant was dismissed due to the severe number of casualties and injured.  

Some Lieutenants volunteered, and even with a seconded response from their respective captains, Head Captain Yamamoto wasn’t playing around. “Due to the serious nature of these events we must send a captain not only to patrol but to protect Karakura Town.” he slammed his cane down. “Sajin Komamura, can I trust you with this task?”

A large man stepped forward, unlike the other Soul Reaper captains in the room, Sajin stood as the tallest, his body was heavily covered, you couldn’t see what was underneath his heavy robes, his gauntlets, boots, and a thick helmet that covered his head like a knight. “I will handle this, I’ll leave my Lieutenant in charge until my return.” Iba stepped up and gave a bow.  

No one questioned this as it was the Head Captain’s decision, but there was some concerns. Sajin was quite the interesting fellow, very few knew what he looked like. He served as captain for many years, but he was distant to the others. With the matter in the hands of a captain, some minds were put at ease.  

The meeting was dismissed, but Sajin hung around to speak to the head captain. “Forgive me head captain, why did you choose me for this task, Captain Zaraki was certainly gunning for it from the start.”  

“The situation is very complicated, I needed someone with a balance of strength, intellect, and understanding of this situation. While Kenpachi Zaraki is a very skilled fighter, he is not best suited to handle the more delicate matters this mission entails.” Kenpachi, Mayuri, and Tossen had volunteered for the mission. “While Mayuri Kurotsuchi has a brilliant mind, his curiosity and willingness to experiment on living things makes him unsuited for such a mission. Tossen while a good candidate, I felt lacked the strength to carry out this mission. We are dealing with a difficult threat, the hollow growth rate is high leading to difficult opponents so you must be on your guard. In combat training you have been shown to be the most adaptable.”  

Sajin was pleased at the praise.  

“Another issue is hollows possessing humans, it makes it difficult for those who rely on their spiritual senses to locate them. I recall you have a nose for tracking down hollows.” Sajin nodded. “Exorcising a hollow from a human is necessary before purifying it. What happens to the human after the possession must be observed, as hollow possession can lead to humans with supernatural abilities.”  

Komamura understood, Mayuri might try experimenting on the humans to see if they awakened any abilities. To make matters worse he could completely see Mayuri allowing hollows to escape and possess more humans to trial and error and see what powers he could cultivate. Possession wasn’t a common ability among hollows, but a deadly ability none the less. The head captain put a hand on his shoulder. “I trust you to handle this mission.” Sajin nodded.  

He headed out and bumped into Tossen. “Congratulations on the mission.” the blind soul reaper said.

“No hard feelings I hope.”  

“Not at all, so long as the job is done justice will prevail.” he got in close. “Be careful Sajin, humans with power tend to go crazy. If you aren’t careful you’ll face even greater danger than the hollows.” he patted the man’s back. “Be safe my friend.”  

“Thank you Tossen!” Komamura walked off to meet the Hell Butterfly, unaware of patch Tossen placed on his captain’s robe.  

As Komamura went through the Dangai. “Did you place it?”

“I did, he had no idea.”  

“And he won’t lose it?”  

“Not a chance, he’s the old man’s lap dog, Yamamoto’s words are gospel to him. He’d never lose or toss his coat.”  

“Excellent, let the games begin.”  

-x-

It was late when Komamura entered the human world, the sky was clear, and the moon was shining bright. “Komamura Sajin reporting in, arrival in the human world achieved.” He sniffed the air. “I smell a hollow!”  

He raced through the streets and found a strange man walking around in a trench coat. The man was panting heavily, gripping a knife tightly in his hand. He appeared to be stalking a woman before he could do anything, Komamura appeared behind him. “I don’t think so,” he hit the man with the butt of his zanpakuto. “Exorcise!”  

A mark appeared on the man’s body, it glowed and a monstrous howl was heard. From the man’s mouth, black goo erupted from him. “Damn you, damn you soul reaper...how did you find me?” The goo reformed into a hollow.  

“I could smell your sinister stench!”

“Curse you!” he tried to attack Sajin, but with one clean swing he slashed the hollow and turned it to ash.  

“Just a small fry, he couldn’t have been possessing this human for long.” He couldn’t sense any power from the human but just to be safe, he pulled out an adorable pez dispenser-like object with a doggy topper. Since the human hadn’t tapped into any powers, he had to act fast.  

He popped a candy into the humans mouth, this candy would distabalize any potential powers the human could have developed from being possessed. Once awakened the candy would be useless. Humans with supernatural abilities could be difficult, not only does power tend to corrupt, but humans with such skills can tip the natural balance. ‘I must do my job diligently!’  

His ear flicked as he heard a cry in the distance. “A hollow!” he raced off to take care of the problem. Hollows continued to appear one after another, keeping Sajin busy for hours. ‘This many hollows, even for the spirit site seems irregular.’ As he kept killing various hollows he started to notice that while their bodies differed their masks were the same. He killed the latest one in a park near a clinic.   

He soon realized they shared the same scent. “They are all the same!” he gasped. A sinister chuckle was heard and a tall figure appeared from the shadows.  

“So you figured it out, a bit too late I’m afraid.” The hollow looked like a strange executioner, its body was bulky standing as tall as Komamura, but had teeny tiny legs and big arms with a tiny mask mask for a face. It’s hollow hole was in its back, and its body appeared to be cloaked with strange clasps running down its body giving it the appearance he was stitched up down the middle. Sajin was surrounded, hollows of varying shapes and sizes with similar masks appeared all around him. “I’ve been wearing you down for some time, I doubt you can put up much fight left.”  

He sicked the horde of hollows on Komamura. “You underestimate a captain!” he gripped his zanpakuto tight. “Roar Tenken!” with one swing, he created a phantom blade that sliced through the horde of hollows at once. He then threw a punch, creating a phantom fist that went for the main hollow. It hit and sent the hollow skidding back, but it was a tougher hollow.

‘Does its body shield against blunt attacks?’ he took a fighting stance. “You appear to be one of the unique hollows that have been causing trouble.”  

“Can you really blame us, this place...you can taste it in the air, so many ghosts, so many strong souls...it’s delicious.”  

“You can control as many hollows as you want, I’m still gonna end you.”  

“Control...fufufu...let’s see about that.” It snapped its fingers and hollows it had all over the city came to the park. Komamura used his shikai and continued to cut down the hollows.  

“You are quite troublesome, but in the end you are just a hollow!” He seemingly killed the last of the swarm and charged at the main creature. “Physical attacks may not hurt you but I’ve never met a hollow that couldn’t be slain by a zanpakuto!”  

The hollow chuckled, and before Sajin could swing his arm down, and thus slash at the hollow with the phantom blade. The Hollow’s buckles popped open and a wave of white limbs spewed out and nabbed the captain and quickly restrained him. The new batch of hollows swarmed him so quickly he was soon restrained. The creatures made noises as if they were laughing. “You never did ask me my name, Nacimiento. I don’t simply control hollows I give them life. I was well on my way of taking over this site for me and my children.” It’s body slimmed down for a bit, and the buckles snapped shut. “You killed many of my children, but no matter once I eat you I’ll gain enough energy to easily amass a new army.”  

Sajin struggled, but he was overwhelmed by too many hollows. “Cease your futile struggling, even if you are a captain, you’ve been fighting for a full day. Even Soul Reapers need sleep, you pushed yourself too far stupid captain.” It was true a soul reaper or hollow could transcend sleep by drawing on their spirit energy.  

Nacimiento took hold of his helmet. “Now, let’s get a good look at my dinner!”  

“Stop...” The helmet came off and a gasp was heard. Komamura Sajin was not a normal man, or even a normal soul reaper. Instead of a human face or body, he had beastly features, fur instead of hair, a muzzle, golden eyes, fuzzy ears, he was a wolf-like anthro.  

“I see now why you wear a mask, to think the Soul Society keeps beasts like you around.”  

“Kyaaah!” Without warning, an orange haired body came in with a soaring kick, and kicked the hollow right in the head. On instinct, the hollows holding Komamura went after the one that attacked their source. Komamura didn’t hesitate, he tore the hollows apart and reduced them to particles.  

“Mr Soul Reaper are you okay?” a small ghost girl appeared from behind the orangette.  

“I am thank you.” the girl gasped at the sight of him, his ears flattened. He looked for his helmet.  

“Is this yours?” the orangette had it.  

“Yes!” the orangette handed it to him. “Thank you!”  

“Your senses must be sensitive if you have to wear that thing.”  

“That’s not why I wear it.” He put it on his head.  

“Really, I don’t see why?” Sajin couldn’t help but laugh.  

“You must be joking.” He looked at the boy and his eyes widened. There was no way he didn’t see his true face, but there wasn’t a single speck of fear or disgust in his eyes. His eyes were warm like chocolate.

“Not really.”  

“Have you seen my kind before?”  

“Nope, but I can tell you aren’t a bad guy.”  

“Damn it!” the hollow the orangette kicked finally got up. “You little brat, how dare you kick me. How could a normal human kick me?!” it thrashed. “You can’t possibly be human!”  

“Look monster, I don’t know what you are, but lot of ghosts have been saying you’ve been making the town hard to haunt in. Get out!”  

“You dare talk to me that you stupid human! My children and I will take over this town, you are all just cows to be slaughtered!” Sajin had enough, and with one swift slice, the phantom blade came down and cut the hollow in two. “Curse you...”  

“Whoa!”  

“Soul...reaper...don’t think...you’ve won...I was keeping the other hollows at bay...you may have killed me...but others...will replace...me!” it said before fading away.  

“Well that’s not ominous at all?”  

“Ugh...” Komamura slumped.  

“Whoa there big guy.” Ichigo helped him up. “You okay?”  

“Just tired, but I have a job to do.” he went over to the little girl, and helped her soul pass on. “Rest in peace, little one, I’m sorry I scared you.”  

She shook her head. “No I’m sorry, you are a good doggy, I shouldn’t have been scared.” a warm light washed over her and she vanished.  

“Come on big guy, you can crash at my place.”  

“I couldn’t…”

“Do you have anywhere else to go?”  

“Well...no...”  

“Then no buts, come on. What’s your name?”  

“Komamura Sajin, and yours?”  

“Ichigo...Ichigo Kurosaki!” he smiled.  

To be continued