A Hollow Familiar

Hey guys and girls. I'm back with a concept shot to get back into the rhythm of things and it's with a crossover that I still haven't found I can quite handle. Hope you enjoy.

Story Note:

This takes place before the start of either series. Three to four years in my mind, but that might change as I continue to research certain aspects.

XXX

Chapter 1:

Dull grey clouds gathered over Karakura Town, their forms highlighted every once in a while by the thunderous crash of lightning arcing overhead. Below the streets were flooded by icy rain, turning the roads slick and treacherous. The few people that braved the storm, hurried from cover to cover, trying vainly to protect themselves from the downpour.

Perched on a three storey building, a lone figure paid little attention to the chill of the rain, or the biting wind as it knelt on the corner of the roof, gazing down at the moving figures below it. It had long forgotten what it felt like to be cold, as the sole feeling that consumed it now was a crippling hunger. If anyone had to notice the figure though, they would surely have run in the opposite direction with all the speed their legs could muster to escape such a horrifying creature.

It stood at a little less than six feet, with pale white skin and shaggy orange hair, not too out of place considering modern fashion trends and statements, but the same could not be said about its bird-like feet and clawed fingers, or the gaping hole where its heart should have been. Its horrifying appearance was not aided by the fact that its skin was drawn tight over its bones, giving it a heavily emaciated appearance.

It was not that it couldn't find sustenance, no far from it. It simply couldn't bear to consume what it knew would sate its hunger. For the meal that its body so desperately cried out for, were the human beings wandering about below it. Yet despite this instinctual need to feed, part of the creature refused to, instead living on the scraps of other monsters like it when they fought one another.

As of late though, such spats seemed to have become almost non-existent, leading the creature to believe that something was hunting others like it, or something was keeping them all away.

As it continued its lone vigil, it perked its head up as its senses were assaulted by a strange scent that it had never smelt before. As it continued to inhale the heady aroma, its ravenous hunger took command, ordering it to sate its aching need. Rising to its full height, it began to leap from rooftop to rooftop in the direction of what would hopefully be a decent meal.

XXX

'Of course it would rain on the one day I get to come to the human world,' Rias Gremory, a teenage girl approximately thirteen years old thought, her arms weighed down by several shopping bags, while her hands were clasped tightly around the plastic covering of her new body pillow and umbrella. Despite the oddity of her purchases, most people just brushed it off as they took in her emerald green eyes and blood red hair and assumed that she was a tourist with a shopping obsession. While it was true that she was a bit obsessed with Japanese culture, both ancient and modern, she was in fact a pure blooded Devil and heiress to the Gremory Household of the Underworld, one of 72 families that stood as the pillars of Devil Society.

Huffing as she pressed on through the rain, she paused as she felt a spike in magical energy not far from her location. Narrowing her eyes as it continued to escalate; she sighed and summoned a crimson magic circle under her feet, before setting her purchases down on it.

'It feels like a Fallen Angel and Devil battling, but I can't say I recognise the Devil's presence. So for now I will observe and if necessary step in,' she mused as she took off at a dead sprint, moving far faster than any normal human was capable of.

XXX

Arriving at an old derelict building, Rias panted slightly from the effort, before calming herself and proceeding cautiously towards the part of the grounds where the energies felt strongest. As the poked her head around the corner of the ruined building, she cringed as a human-like figure was thrown into it with enough force to cause the wall to crack and splinter. Examining the figure that had been thrown more closely, she could see that it was a female Fallen Angel with long black hair, wearing a short black skirt and light purple blouse. Glancing across the field of battle, Rias had to suppress a sigh at what was now revealed to be a Stray Devil. He looked similar to a toad with squat arms and legs and a large rotund body. Unlike the amphibian though, his jaws were lined with dagger-like teeth and was sporting a manic grin on his face.

"What's the matter bitch? For all your talk earlier, I would've thought that I'd be a long dead by now," he taunted, before shooting his tongue towards the woman. Spotting the pink appendage out of a single bleary eye, the woman flared her wings and took to the air, just as his tongue slammed into the wall demolishing it. It proved to only be a brief reprieve, as she suddenly found her ankle caught in his slimy grip, before she was promptly slammed into the ground once again.

"You're not even crying out like I want you to," the toad-like Devil said with a sneer as he literally hopped through the air towards her prone form, landing on her legs with a bone-splitting snap. Even though she was clearly in agony, the Fallen Angel still remained stubbornly mute. "Tch, guess there's no point in playing with you anymore then," he grumbled, before hunching down to swallow her whole.

Before Rias could prepare a spell to obliterate the two of them, or for the Stray to swallow his meal, the three of them were stunned as a pale white claw reached out and latched onto the Stray's upper jaw. Unable to see its attacker, the Stray let out a yelp of surprise as it felt itself lifted off the ground, before being tossed away like a ragdoll.

Rias was shocked as she examined the pale white creature that had appeared out of nowhere overwhelm the Stray like it was nothing. She knew such strength was only possible for a rook-type Devil, yet the energy she felt from the creature was nothing like a Devils, or Angels, fallen or otherwise.

Even as the Stray's club-like tongue flew out of the rubble at great speed, the pale white beast took the blow like it was nothing, before clamping its razor sharp teeth down on the fleshy muscle and tearing it off in a shower of black blood. Ignoring the pained scream of its opponent, Rias stared transfixed as it began to voraciously tear into the tongue, pausing only momentarily to breathe as it devoured it at an obscene pace.

The Stray though, despite the loss of its tongue would not be ignored, or defeated so easily. Leaping into the air with a grunt, it appeared in the air above the white beast, its feet aiming to crush the creature into dust as it plummeted towards the ground. As it struck the creature, the ground beneath it buckled, sending debris flying everywhere, even as it sunk deep into the ground.

Struggling to see through the dust cloud it had created, the toad uttered a gurgled chuckle, confident that it had killed the beast that had attacked it. Its victory was short lived though, as its chuckles died in its throat, while its body began to distend. Soon a clawed hand burst through its head, covered in black ichor and gore. It was soon joined by another and together they ripped the Stray in two, revealing the white beast none the worse for wear, panting heavily.

From her hiding place, Rias gulped as she watched the creature resume feasting on the now steaming corpse, any thought of interfering driven straight out of her mind. Hearing the soft crumbling of rock being shifted, she and the creature turned to where the Fallen Angel had risen into the air on shaky wings, her eyes quivering with unrestrained fear. While Rias expected the beast to rush the clearly wounded Angel, it surprised both of them as it glanced briefly at her, before returning its attention to the meal in front of it. Taking it as a sign of luck, the Fallen Angel disappeared into the sky, leaving Rias alone now in her observation.

It was not to last too much longer as the creature suddenly lifted its head to the sky, sniffing for god knows what. Whatever it detected though, it sent it into a flurry of activity, as it scooped up what remained of its kill and leapt off into the distance without sparing a glance backwards. Unwilling to linger in the area much longer, Rias summoned her own magic circle and disappeared back to the Underworld.

XXX

Seconds later, a man with light blonde hair, wearing a green gi and hakama and dark green jacket, landed with a soft clack, his wooden sandals leaving a faint impression in the mud of the battlefield. Looking around at the destruction, he sighed and reached into the inner pocket of his coat and withdrew a simple looking cell phone. Holding it up to his ear as he hit the speed dial, he waited for exactly three rings as usual, before it was answered by a gruff sounding voice.

"Why hello Isshin, how are you doing this evening," Kisuke Urahara said cheerfully and if he had to guess, the person on the other end probably had an annoyed expression on their face, if their rebuke was any indication.

"Cut the crap Kisuke, what's happened to Ichigo?" Isshin Kurosaki asked.

"Why would you assume something's happened to him?" Kisuke asked with a hint of mock confusion, even as he began to shift aside some of the debris with the end of the cane he carried.

"Because that's the only reason you'd call me in the first place!" Isshin shouted back in exasperation.

"Ah well I guess that makes sense," Kisuke said as he shrugged his shoulders. "Well there has been a bit of a complication."

"What kind of complication?" Isshin asked, his tone wavering slightly as he feared whatever news he was about to be given.

"Well you see…the barrier that I had erected to keep him within Karakura Town and to keep other hollows out…well it hit a bit of a snag."

"Did he escape?! Was he eaten by another hollow?!" Isshin shouted into the phone, causing Kisuke to wince and rub his ears.

"No, nothing like that, it's just…it didn't stop something else from coming in."

"Dammit Kisuke stop dragging this out already and tell me what happened!"

"Technically I've been trying to tell you, but you've been the one to leap to certain conclusions."

Suppressing a certain snide remark, Isshin pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. "Fine, then what snuck in?"

"A Devil and Fallen Angel if the energies I'm feeling are any indication," he answered as his gaze swept over to the crater where the toad had attempted to crush Ichigo. "My guess is that they came here completely by accident and his desperation led him to hunt them." Hearing nothing but silence on the other end of the line, he grew slightly concerned. "Isshin?"

"Was Ichigo injured?"

"I'm…not quite sure. There's certainly a lot of blood around, but it doesn't appear to be his. And considering that he took off the moment he detected my presence implies that he was well enough to travel at a decent speed."

"For being a former member of the Stealth Forces, you're awfully noticeable to a simple hollow," Isshin snapped, causing the Kisuke to frown slightly.

"I think we can agree that your son is not a simple hollow, or have you forgotten the sense of self that he still exhibits from time to time?"

"I never forgot," came the muffled reply, before a sigh was heard. "How do you think this will affect his development?"

"I really couldn't say. There's been no evidence in the past to suggest how this will affect him." Done with his inspection of the battlefield, he sighed and broached the core reason for his call. "We need to plan for the eventuality that this incident might draw others here Isshin and considering how well my barrier repelled them, the idea that he might end up a target in their sights."

"What would you have me do Kisuke?" Isshin asked, his tone that of a man defeated.

"I've already given you my thoughts on the topic Isshin…it's not my fault if you're so against it that you would ignore reality." His piece said, Kisuke hung up the call and disappeared with a whisper.

XXX

Elsewhere, within the confines of the Fallen Angel's stronghold, Azazel, the current Governor General of the Fallen Angels and one of his closest friends Shemhazai stood at the bedside of the wounded Fallen Angel that had returned from the World of the Living.

"Just so that we understand this correctly Raynare," Shemhazai began, his tone neutral, "you're saying that while you engaged a Stray Devil, an unknown beast intervened and after killing it, ate it. Does that sound right?"

"My lords…I…I understand how far-fetched it sounds, but that's exactly what happened," she pleaded, staring up imploringly at the two men she worshipped more than anything else. "It was unlike anything I've seen before. It ignored all attempts by the Stray to harm it and dispatched it with minimal effort."

"And what makes you think that this was not simply another Stray Devil? They are nothing more than beasts that have strayed from what little rules the other Devils still abide by."

"The feeling of it my lord…it was….wrong. The energy it gave off…the feelings it evoked, they were simply all wrong," she whispered as memories of its eerie yellow eyes flashed through her mind. "It was hunting for food and for food alone. None of the Devils I've encountered have done that."

Sharing a look between themselves, Azazel gestured with his head towards the door, before getting a nod of acknowledgement from his friend. Turning back to Raynare, he smiled down at her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did well to bring us this information Raynare-chan, but now you need to rest. Don't worry, we'll find out more about this beast."

Taken in by the words of her leader, Raynare could not help the tears that pooled in her eyes as she turned her gaze down to her clasped hands. "I'm sorry that I could not be of more help to you Azazel-sama," she mumbled out through her sobs, as she desperately tried to compose herself.

"Don't worry, you've been more than a help already. Trust me and rest now," Azazel said with one last smile, as he headed towards the exit. Once the door was shut, his expression turned grim and he stalked off down the corridor, Shemhazai keeping pace with him.

"Rumours are already flying that she fumbled a relatively simple execution," Shemhazai commented as they walked. "She'll be the target of their ridicule for days, weeks even, if she continues with this story of a hulking white beast that feeds on Devils."

"I find myself saddened at how cruel we Fallen Angels have become after our banishment," Azazel muttered as he came to an abrupt stop. "Are we so far gone that being banished from Heaven has left us with nothing but hate and malice in our hearts, even to others of our own kind. Why is it that some of us can find it in our hearts to still value love and friendship, while others cannot?"

"That is…surprisingly profound for you Azazel," Shemhazai spoke, a bewildered expression on his face.

"Was it? Perhaps I'm feeling a bit unwell," Azazel said with a laugh as they continued on their way. "She mentioned that the beast possessed a white mask, do me a favour and confirm this please."

"I'll see to it immediately."

XXX

Wow that has hard to write at times. Now as you can see, this will take a slightly more dark turn than what Highschool DxD is normally known for and that is partially due to the fact that while I love the concept, sometimes the ridiculousness of it annoys me (Breast power ups…really?!), but I knew what it was going to be like so I guess I can't complain too much.

There'll be more on the history of how Ichigo became a hollow as we push on. Until we meet again, let me know what you thought.