Bleach 1. EP 1 To become a Shinigami Pt 1

A/N. Ok, so I was working on the second chapter for Bleach the Remix, which would've been done by now if I hadn't gotten stuck on the hollow attacks the house and Rukia loses her powers part, so I had to put that on hold for a bit, and while thinking of a solution to the problem, this kinda popped into my head. Hope you guys enjoy the story!

Summary: A year after her mother's death, young Ichigo Kurosaki dies under very mysterious circumstances, leaving behind a devastated family. Soon afterwards, she is found and recruited by the shinigami and enrolled into the academy. Quickly graduating in the span of almost a year at the academy, she quickly finds her place amidst the shinigami. But when chaos strikes and her captain winds up dead during an evasion on Soul Society, what is she to think when things take a turn for the suspicious and unusually fishy?

**WARNING: Slightly smarter and more thought-out and observant Fem!Ichigo; I don't know if I should put a pairing in this or not.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, in any way, shape, or form, the manga or anime known as Bleach. The rights to that belong to Tite Kudo.**

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**Episode 1: To become a Shinigami PT 1**

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The noon sun was warm to the skin as the small village bustled with the noise of a busy day. As a soft breeze danced across the streets, a small girl, no older than nine at most, sat on the low branch of a weeping willow, legs swinging carelessly in the wind as she observed the whole world go by with bored, chocolate brown eyes; short, unruly, strawberry blonde hair that fell to the base of her neck in the back and past her shoulders in the front getting pulled and nipped at by the passing winds before they finally died down. Expression unchanging as ever, the girl raised her hand up to her face, staring at it in false curiosity and contemplation before allowing the tan limb to fall limply into her lap again, the soft cloth of her dark gray yukata resulting in her vacant, unexpressive gaze dropping down to stare at it instead.

"Hey!" the girl looked up in barely noticeable surprise at the voice, having not expected for somebody to call out to her. Her eyes landed on the form of a girl with rich brown hair cut in a pixie style and wide, baby blue doe-eyes, a wide grin on the girl's face as she waved at her. The nine year old stared for a moment, hand lifting up in a slow wave as she watched the girl run up to her, almost tripping over her own two feet twice before she finally reached the base of the giant tree. "I couldn't help but notice that you were all by yourself." At the statement, the nine year old couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow in confusion, wondering why such a thing was so important that it garnered the attention of a person she had never met before. "My name's Kisehana Yume. What's yours?" the girl, Kisehana, asked, the bright smile still on her face as she stared up at her hopefully. The girl stared at her for a moment before finally deigning to answer,

"…Ichigo." She stated in return, still staring at her inexpressively. The girl's smile seemed to grow even further in size if possible at the new information, looking almost proud of herself that she had gotten an answer, as if it were some sort of amazing feat that no other could even hope to accomplish.

"Nice to meet you Ichigo-san!" the girl said, taking a step back to bow in greeting before immediately righting herself just as quickly. She was about to say something else when a voice, this one definitely male in origin, called out the brown haired, pixie girl's name.

"Kisehana!" Ichigo looked up, head tilting at the sight of a couple of boys and one other girl running up to them. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Hey Todo-kun, Miru-chan, Yosehiko-kun!" Kisehana greeted, turning to smile at the two boys and girl, obviously her friends, "I was just talking to Ichigo-san here."

"Who?" the boy standing to the left with brown hair asked as he stared at the girl as if she had grown a second head, not seeing anybody else here besides them, "Wait, don't tell me you actually named the damn tree!" At the accusation, Kisehana humphed in indignation, crossing her arms over her chest as she turned away with cheeks puffed out in a textbook perfect pout that made Ichigo think of chipmunks more than anything else.

"No! Ichigo-san!" she said, jabbing a finger up to the low tree branch, and subsequently where Ichigo was sitting. Following the thin limb up, the whole groups eyes widened as they seemed to recognize her from somewhere, though Ichigo hadn't faintest idea where they might have.

"Kisehana." One of the boys began, tone warning as he slowly edged toward the other girl,

"What is it Todo-kun?" she asked in genuine confusion, bewildered by her friend's sudden strange behavior.

"Come on." He said, pulling at the girl's arm to follow him as they all slowly began to walk away, "W-We should probably get out of here…" he suggested slowly.

"Huh? Why? Todo-kun, what's the matter?"

"Baka, just shut up and come on!" the other boy, obviously Yosehiko, snapped at her, helping to get her moving along by pushing her away while the other boy, Todo, pulled.

"O-Ok!" the girl finally agreed, shocked by her friends sudden, very strange behavior and urgency. "I-I guess I'll see ya later! Bye Ichigo-san!" the girl called as she finally disappeared with the rest of her friends. Ichigo sighed as she watched the girl go, knowing full and well that if the other girl's friends could help it and actually had a say in the matter, then she'd never be seeing Kisehana ever again. _'Well, I guess it's not all that unusual…' _she thought as she stared off into the distance for a few minutes before finally leaping out of the tree, landing on the ground with a soft thud before heading in the direction of the village. She was hungry, and if she remembered correctly, she probably had enough money to buy a small snack, maybe even a whole loaf of bread if she was lucky.

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People seemed to part like the Red Sea for Moses as Ichigo walked down the dirt road, faces filled with apprehension and slight fear as the nine year old passed them by, some even going so far as to run away. _'It's always been like this. Since as far as I can remember, people have avoided me. I'm not sure why though.' _Eventually she stopped, bare feet having brought her to a local bread store she commonly shopped at, the only place that sold things cheap enough for an orphan to buy with what little money they could gather on their own. _'Maybe it's because of the expression that I always have on my face, or lack of one. But they have always been wary, maybe even afraid. Another reason could be that I died and was sent here. But that would be stupid. Almost everybody here has died. We're all spirits, given a second chance of sorts, though none of us can remember what our lives were like before arriving here.' _ She walked up to the counter, digging in her pockets as she pulled out a small cloth bag, opening it to pull out several bronze coins before pointing at a loaf of bread.

"Here you go kid." The man sitting behind the counter said, trading her the loaf of bread for the coins as she proceeded to walk out of the store. _'They call this place Rukongai. It's not heaven, far from it really. But I think it could be worse. Lots worse actually. I'm just lucky I wound up in one of the districts closer to Seireitei.' _At the thought her eyes drifted over to the huge white walls that lay in the center of Rukongai and its 320 districts. _'Supposedly the farther you get from those huge white walls, the more dangerous and unsafe it gets. The less likely you are to survive.' _As her mind began to wander elsewhere, a sudden round of noise drew her attention to the center of the large, dirt road, a small group of four men and a woman walking down the street, unbothered despite the loads of attention –mainly angry, vindictive glares- they were getting. Clad in basically the same uniform, with only one of them; a short boy that was probably only two or three years older than her with messy, pure white hair and wearing a white haori, the girl snorted as she recognized the group almost immediately. _'Shinigami. They live within the walls of Seireitei, and usually only come out to either drink themselves silly or hunt down hollows. At least that's what I heard. I think some of them have families living in Rukongai, so they probably come out to visit as well.' _Her thoughts were once again interrupted as a fight suddenly broke out between one of the shinigami, a tall man with strange tattoos and long, red hair pulled up in a ponytail that made him look like a pineapple, and a bystander that had probably said something to piss the man off.

"What? You want to say that again you dumbass?!" the red head hollered loudly, tone challenging as he got in the other man's face without any hesitation. Ichigo couldn't help but sigh when she realized that the direction she intended to go was the same as where the fight was about to break out. She blinked as her worries were abated when the white haired kid intervened, eyes glaring at the back of the older man's head in silent warning as he motioned for the group to continue onwards and to ignore the abrasive idiot that had tried to pick a fight he had no chance of winning in the first place. The red head huffed slightly, looking almost mutinous, but otherwise did as instructed, continuing to walk with the group as told.

"What? You think you're better than me?!" the arrogant bystander yelled out, trying to rile one of them up and coax them into attacking him. When none of them acknowledged his jibe, the man; bulky and almost as hairy as a gorilla, growled, irritation apparent as he tried again. "Well?" And again, the man went ignored, none of the shinigami even turning or pausing slightly to show that they had even heard the man as they walked past Ichigo and continued on. Eye now twitching and fairly close to popping a blood vessel, the man charged at them, fist cocked high in what would be a very sloppy, very poor punch to the back of the head. "I'll show you!" He called out in anger, fist about to descend on the white haired kid's head, only for the man's eyes to widen in shock as he found himself tripping over one of Ichigo's feet, having stuck it out in the man's way on purpose and saving him a more humiliating defeat by the hands of a much more skilled and experienced opponent, even if that opponent appeared to be just a child. All of the shinigami turned back, having not expected it when the man landed face first on the ground with a heavy thud. One of the older men in the group, a guy with short, spiky black hair and the number sixty-nine tattooed onto his left cheek, looked towards her, staring at her in surprise at what she had done, though the expression dropped from his face as he turned to talk to the white haired boy,

"Hitsugaya-taicho…" he was cut off as the bulky man suddenly stood up, immediately turning to lash out at Ichigo for having tripped him earlier.

"You little brat! How dare you get in my way!" the man yelled in anger, immediately reaching out to try and grab her when one of the shinigami stopped him,

"You know that's not very nice." The shinigami, a man with pale blonde hair, stated; tone warning and serious as he easily held off the bigger man's strength, tossing the brute onto his butt without so much as a sound as he stared down at the man, "She's just a kid." He went unheard though as the man got up, glaring death at him as his fist curled into a tight fist.

"First the brat interrupts, then the shinigami scum." The brute stated with a sneer, as he slowly circled around the shinigami. The blonde man barely moved an inch from his position, seeming to keep at least one eye on Ichigo herself as while keeping an eye on his opponent as well. "What does it matter to you anyways? She's just some nameless kid off the streets. Nothin' important."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean that we'll just sit back and watch while try to beat the crap out of her." The blonde man answered, expression unchanging from its seriousness. Suddenly and without warning, the bulky man smirked, seeming to lung for the shinigami in an attack of pure and raw strength. The shinigami put up both of his arms in an impromptu attempt at blocking the expected attack, only for his eyes to widen in shock as instead the man averted his attention, snatching up Ichigo instead. Dragging her forcibly back with him, the man sneered at the shinigami as if daring them to attack now with her in harm's way.

"Well? So what are you going to do now?" the man goaded, thinking he had won this little battle of wills before it had even started. Ichigo sighed as she stared off to the side, contemplating her choices for a few moments, before suddenly taking ahold of the man's arm in a surprisingly strong grip. Exerting more energy than what may have been expected, she only paused for a second to speak to the shinigami, before flipping the man over her head, the man's eyes widening in shock as he suddenly found himself laying on his back and in pain.

"I don't need saving." She commented as she proceeded to brush the imaginary dust particles from her hands, her arms falling limply to her sides as her whole form appeared to relax once again, "You know, you're actually pretty heavy." Ichigo said as she bent down to stare into the man's eyes, an uncharacteristic, smug grin making itself at home on her face, "But I've flipped men far bigger than you." With that, she stood up, leaving the man blubbering and babbling in stunned silence and shock as she turned to face the group of also stunned shinigami, though they also looked amused as well. Giving a polite bow, Ichigo gave a small wave before running off without another word to the group, taking off in the direction of the wall before suddenly turning down an alleyway and disappearing. She missed however, when the white haired boy's eyes seemed to widen at something just as she disappeared, whispering under his breath so low that his companions almost missed it,

"It couldn't be…"

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A/N. So what do you guys think? I hope you enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading! Please, please, please review and see ya!


	2. EP 2 To Become a Shinigami Pt 2

A/N. Ok, first I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed the story and also either favorited or alerted it. I'd also like to thank those who either just favorited, alerted, or did both for this story. I'm so glad you guys liked it. This is the second episode for Shinigami Death, so I hope you guys enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Bleach. All rights having to do with and/or associated with the manga and anime belong to Tite Kudo and whoever else is in charge of it.**

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**Episode 2: To Become a Shinigami Pt. 2**

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"Ichi-chan!" The blonde haired, nine year old blinked, eyes squinting shut as they were suddenly assaulted by harsh sunlight, nearly blinding the child for a few seconds before she finally shook her head and sat up, carefully minding the fact that she was sitting on a roof that was more than just a couple of yards off the ground. _'Kisehana…' _She noted to in her head, slowly crawling to the edge of the roof before carefully peeking over, eyes immediately landing on the familiar form of a certain ten year old that had taken to living with her for the past three months now.

"Up here." She stated, her voice only loud enough to be heard without yelling as she watched the brown haired girl look up in surprise, barely managing to hide her own amusement at the expression on the other's face.

"Oh! There you are Ichi-chan!" Kisehana's whole face lit up like a light bulb as she smiled up at her, immediately turning around to fully face her, though she still had to look up from her position on the ground since the younger of the two was on the roof. "I should've known that's where you would be, you're always some place high up!" she commented as she reached into her sleeve, pulling out a small cloth bag; the contents clinking together like bells before taking a step back to give Ichigo room to jump down from her perch. "We're out of bread again, mind going to the store and buying some?" she asked as she held the coin bag out for Ichigo to take. The nine year old stared at it as if she'd never seen anything like it before in her entire life for a few seconds, before taking the bag and tucking it away in her own sleeves, nodding in return as she immediately began walking in the direction of the village. "Oh, and watch out for strangers! If anybody you don't know tries talking to you or gives you trouble, come straight back ok?" Kisehana called as she turned to watch the girl leave, hand waving in air until she disappeared from sight.

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'_For three months now, Kisehana has been living with me in the same house. She says it's because we're friends, and friends shouldn't leave each other alone. Though I don't know how she can think of me as a friend.'_

Ichigo sighed as she walked inside the bread store, door opening with a jingle from the bell dangling from the frame, signaling that the store had a customer. Mind slowly wandering to the past as she walked past the shelves, packed with different kinds of bread and pastries.

'_It's because of me that Todo and the others abandoned her after all. They didn't like that she suddenly started hanging out with me, the village pariah, so they stopped hanging out with her, and refuse to even acknowledge that she exists now. Or something like that. But despite that, she's really nice and continues to stick by me, she even treats me like a little sister. Even if we're only half a year apart in age.'_

She stopped as she caught sight of a small chocolate cupcake topped with blue and white icing in the shape of a flower. Staring at it in contemplation for a moment she immediately picked up the case, as well as five loaves of bread.

'_Come to think of it, Today is Kisehana's birthday if I remember correctly.'_

"Fifty yen." The clerk said, watching silently as she dug through the pouch and dropped the needed amount in the bulky man's hand. The man walked away for a few moments to count out the change, pausing in thought for a moment before walking back to the counter, placing the change on the counter. "There you go kid." The man said, before turning back to man the register. Ichigo nodded her thanks, immediately turning to leave the store with the groceries in hand.

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"_Ichigo-san!" the nine year old almost fell from her perch in the weeping willow at the sudden sound of her name being called, only barely managing to catch herself in time before she landed in a painful heap on the ground below. Her eyes widened at the familiar sight of pixie-cut brown hair bouncing in the wind as the owner ran up to the tree. "Hehe!" the girl giggled, a happy grin on her face as she looked up at her with a broad smile on her face, "I was right! You are here!" Eyes sparkled and glittered in genuine happiness as she reached up to climb the tree, almost slipping and falling if Ichigo hadn't decided to help her up. Now sitting next to her, the girl only seemed to smile brighter, gaze drifting up to the skies as her happy expression took a turn for the contemplative._

"_What is it?" the nine year old couldn't help but ask as she watched the girl, expression one of true curiousness, even if her eyes were the only thing that showed it._

"_Huh? Oh, well I was just thinking. Todo-kun and the others are mad at me. They said I'm an idiot, just because I wouldn't believe all the mean things that they were saying about you." She said, suddenly looking at her with meaningful eyes, grabbing hold of her by the shoulders and shaking her slightly, "How can you do it?"_

"_Huh?"_

"_How can you just stand there and do nothing while all those people spread such mean rumors about you?! They're calling you a murderer down in the village, and you just go about every single day like it means absolutely nothing! How?" Ichigo blinked, stunned slightly at the information she'd just been given, _'So that's what they've been saying about me…' _she thought as her eyes wandered skyward, staring up at the evening sky, painted with an almost shell shocking mix of reds, oranges, and obnoxiously bright but beautiful yellows. Sighing, Ichigo gently removed Kisehana's hands from her personage, locking gazes with the girl for a few moments, before finally sighing again. She still couldn't believe that the rumor had actually stuck around, especially when there hadn't been anything to actually lead to it in the first place._

"_Yume-san-"_

"_Kisehana."_

"_Huh?"_

"_If you must use an honorific, then at least call me Kisehana-san. Not Yume-san." Ichigo sighed at the demand but chose to comply all the same,_

"_Fine, Kisehana-san," the girl smiled at her compliance, happy she had gotten at least partially what she truly wanted, "They're just rumors. Nothing more, everything less. They don't make me who I am." Ichigo explained, placing her own hands in her lap as she her gaze shifted back towards the sky, having dropped it down to meet the others gaze, "Besides, I really don't care what others think of me. If I did, I wouldn't be here still." At some point Kisehana had fallen very quiet, seeming to stare at the ground far below them for some sort of answer to a question she refused to voice aloud._

"_I've decided."_

"_Decided what?" the nine year old asked, an eyebrow quirked in bewilderment at the other's suddenly very determined look._

"_You live alone, don't you?" she asked, turning around to face her so face, Ichigo was worried she'd fall out of the tree,_

"_Y-Yeah, why?"_

"_Then I've decided." Kisehana pushed herself off the branch, landing on the ground with a heavy sounding grunt, standing up and turning to face the other with her hand extended out. "I'm no longer gonna hang out with Todo and the others. You're my new and only friend." Ichigo blinked at the statement, now very confused as to what was going on inside the older girl's head. "And it's no fun living alone, so I'm gonna be living with you from now on. Ok?" Ichigo stared at the girl as if she'd grown a second head for a few minutes, actually thinking that the girl she had met before was replaced by some sort of alien or something. She quickly shot the idea to death however, refusing to entertain such a ridiculous thought._

_Releasing a sigh and truly not believing what she was about to do, Ichigo hopped out of the tree as well, landing right next to Kisehana as she took her hand._

"_Ok." At her agreement, the other girl smiled, and Ichigo couldn't help the small smile that had slowly snaked its way onto her face. Seeing the expression, Kisehana's eyes widened as she gasped suddenly. "What?"_

"_Nothing… I just thought that you look a lot prettier when you smile! You should do it much more often, you look so much happier when you do!"_

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"Kisehana-san!" Ichigo called as she opened the door to their cottage, looking around the dark room for a moment in search of her friend. For a few minutes, Ichigo began entertaining the idea that her friend had left while she was gone, only for her to nearly jump out of her own skin as a pair of hands descended on her, slamming down with surprising force on her shoulders. "AH!" she screamed, jumping back and immediately turning on her attacker, only for her eyes to widen as she realized it was just Kisehana, grinning like the mischievous little imp that she really was.

"Heh, got you!" the other called out, sounding truly proud of herself for the near heart attack she had given the other. "So did you get the bread?" At the question, Ichigo nodded her head in response, hand reaching into the bag to pull out the cupcake she had bought the other, hiding it behind her back as she nervously shuffled her feet.

"Yeah. Um… Kisehana-san?"

"Yeah, what is it?" the older of the two asked, looking at her friend curiously. Ichigo shuffled around a bit more, face now border lining beet red as she slowly pulled the cupcake from behind her back, shoving it in the other's face as she looked off to the side,

"H-Here."

"Huh? A cupcake, but why?"

"I-It's your birthday present." At the information, Kisehana blinked in surprise, before a warm, sisterly smile made itself at home on her expression. Suddenly scooping Ichigo up in a hug, the eldest between the two of them took her birthday present, carefully opening it as she dipped a finger into the icing and stuck it in her mouth,

"Yummy! Thanks so much Ichi-chan! This is the best birthday present!" suddenly Kisehana began laughing, "You know it's funny. I completely forgot about it being my birthday, until you came home with this little gift. I love it, thanks little sis." At the new nickname, Ichigo blinked, eyes widening in surprise for a few moments before her normal, blank expression returned, though one could still see the look of familial affection that suddenly made itself at home in her eyes.

"Yeah, Nee-chan."

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_A landscape of sideways skyscrapers and vertical skies as far as the eye could see. A sea of endless blue._

"_W-Where?"_

"_Ichigo." At the sound of her name being called, Ichigo turned around, surprised gaze landing on the figure of a man clad in black and white, yellow sunglasses reflecting the sunlight and keeping his eyes hidden._

"_W-Who are you?"_

"_What an odd question. There's nobody in the world who should know me better than you after all. But then again, this is our first time meeting that you can remember."_

"_F-first time? Who are you?"_

"_My name is …"_

"_What?"_

"_Hm… It appears that you are still unable to hear my voice completely."_

"_What are you talking about?" Suddenly the jungle of metal and glass began fading, the sea of blue turning into a black abyss of nothingness. "Wait a minute-!"_

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"Told you." Ichigo's eyes opened to the sight of turquoise eyes and pure white hair, the nine year old almost jumping out of her skin in shock as her brain finally caught up to the fact that there was a stranger in her house. It took her brain only a few seconds longer to realize that she remembered seeing this boy in town. _'One of the shinigami from that day…'_

"Wow, I guess you were right after all Hitsugaya-taicho." Another voice, this one unfamiliar to her ears, quipped, sounding impressed by whatever they were talking about. Ichigo's eyes drifted towards the door way, eyes widening in even further surprise and confusion as her mind registered the fact that all five of the shinigami from that day were currently in her house, as if it were a completely normal thing to pop in uninvited and without prior warning at somebody else's home.

"What the hell are you all doing here-?" before she could finish she was cut short, the boy locking gazes with her in an instant and causing her to fall completely silent,

"You should get that reiatsu of yours under control." The boy suddenly stated, motion with his head to where Kisehana lay sleeping in her own futon, "At the rate things are going, you may just wind up making your friend disappear." Ichigo's eyes widened as she looked in the direction, horror coming upon her face as she finally noticed the large, fearsome shadow that seemed to slowly be devouring her friend turned surrogate older sister.

"Kise-"

"I'm going to tell you the same thing my lieutenant told me when I first met her. Join the shinigami."

"Huh?"

"You don't want to kill your friend do you?" this time it was the red pineapple head that spoke, looking surprisingly serious despite how he had been acting the first time she had ever seen him. "The best way to prevent that is to join the Academy and become a shinigami." Suddenly he walked forward, digging into his sleeve as he pulled out some sort of necklace, "Until then, this should keep your spiritual pressure under control for now, but it won't last forever." He said, not even giving the nine year old a chance to object as he placed it around her neck.

"Why would I join the shinigami?" Ichigo finally managed to get out without getting interrupted, struggling to keep her voice down to a whisper as she glared at the whole entire group. The black haired man with the 69 tattoo snorted slightly before joining both the red head and white haired boy,

"Like Renji said before, you don't want to accidently kill your friend do you? And besides," he suddenly tapped her forehead with his index finger, applying only a small amount of pressure as he pushed her back slightly, "You hear it don't you? A voice that refuses to leave you alone right? Find that voice, and you'll learn how to control those unruly powers of yours. And the best and quickest way to do that is to join the Shinigami Academy, don't worry. You'll still be able to see your friend." The man said, a surprisingly gentle smile on his face as he stood back. Ichigo sat there stock still now, not even saying a word as she stared at them in wonder and amazement. At her expression both the red head, Renji, and the black haired guy snorted, barely containing their laughter as they turned to leave.

"Food for thought. It's you choice what you do in the end. Kids like you need to learn how to control their powers." The white haired boy said, drawing her out of her shocked silence,

"H-How…"

"We can just tell. And I used to be like you. A kid with too much power and not enough knowledge on how to control it. Take my advice as one who's been through it, join the academy, it'll save you loads of trouble in the end." With that final statement, all the shinigami left, disappearing in a large burst of speed that kicked up a small breeze and caused Ichigo's hair to whip around her slightly before finally settling down again.

* * *

"You what?!" Ichigo flinched at the loud exclamation, staring at her friend-turned-sister through one eye, the other closed shut as she took on a bashful appearance.

"I-I said I want to become a shinigami." _'It's for your own safety…' _she finished in her own thoughts, staring at her friend in hopes that she would understand. Sighing Kisehana started pouting childishly, staring off to the side and refusing to look her friend in the eyes.

"But I don't want you to leave!" she whined out childishly, looking at her as if she'd just said that she was leaving and never coming back again.

"I never said that I wouldn't be able to visit. Nee-chan!"

"Oh that's not fair! You know I'll cave instantly if you call me that!"

"Please!" with a final sigh, Kisehana's shoulder's finally slumped in defeat, giving her the most reassuring smile she possibly could.

"Of course you can go attend the academy. What kind of friend, or sister for that matter, would I be if I stopped you from doing something that's clearly very important to you?" she said as she got up, walking over to the younger girl and scooping her up in a warm hug, "Just make sure you visit, ok? I'd feel awfully lonely without you here." She said, Ichigo not missing the slight crack in the older girl's voice, the tell-tale sign that she was about to start crying.

"I will, promise!"

"You better. Now go get packed, and make sure you become the best damn shinigami there ever was you hear me?" Ichigo nodded, making a noise of agreement as a true, genuinely happy smile made itself at home on her face.

"Got it."

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A/N. So what did you guys think? Sounds kinda the same as the thing that happened with Toshiro doesn't it? Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the story and thanks again for reading! Please remember to review and see ya!


	3. EP 3 The Shinigami Academy Pt 1

A/N. Ok, I know this is pretty fast, but I wanted to get another chapter for this out while I was still rolling with the idea. So here's episode 3! I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything! Bleach belongs to Tite Kudo!**

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**Episode 3: The Shinigami Academy Pt. 1**

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Ichigo found herself yawning tiredly as she rubbed at the corners of her eyes, hair still dripping wet from the shower she had taken before getting dressed and leaving for class that morning. Walking into the classroom, she only barely noted the long, drawn out sounds of the late bell being rung, walking over without even bothering to acknowledge the various stares she was receiving from her fellow classmates as she took her seat at the back of the class, one of the few remaining seats that sat right next to the window that overlooked the inner courtyard.

"Well if it isn't the little princess!" a voice called mockingly, a hand suddenly slamming down on the desk and drawing Ichigo's attention towards the speaker; a rather busty, and definitely older than her, teenage girl with wavy, platinum blonde hair that fell down to her butt and hazel eyes that sparked with a snide fire that promised misfortune to all who crossed her. The nine year old merely glanced at the other out of the corner of her eye, before dismissing her entirely and going back to staring out the window in sheer boredom. Growling after realizing that she was being ignored by the younger of the two, the girl swatted Ichigo's arm out from under her, almost sending her head slamming into the desk she had been using to partially support the weight of her head. "Don't ignore me, Princess." The older girl said snidely, glaring down at her as if she was beneath her,

"Oh, hey Minikui-san."* Ichigo dully greeted, looking all the more bored at the situation, and even less interested than she had before.

"Hmph. You're lucky I'm in a good mood, so I'll be nice to you for once and only say this one more time." To emphasize her point, she held up one finger to signify the exact number of times she was going to say whatever she was about to say, "If you have to call me anything, you must put –sama at the end. After all, I am of Nobility, and as such deserve the proper respect." She turned away, gazing back at the bored child with a smug look in her eyes, "I guess I can let you call me by my first name. But remember the honorific."

"Of course, Majo-baka."* Ichigo agreed, purposely using the insult as an honorific instead as she turned her attention back towards the window, elbow once again propping her head up on the desk.

"Why you little-!"

"Ok, everybody sit down! That includes you too Minikui-san." The teacher said, subsequently interrupting any fights that might've broken out in that very instant as he opened the paper sliding door and walked up to the front. Immediately the whole class went silent, and Majo, disgruntled and seething at not being able to get back at the disrespectful brat, stomped back to her seat, but not before giving the nine year old a warning, throwing in a rather nasty glare to further emphasize the threat,

"You better watch yourself, Rukongai brat."

"And she calls me a princess…" Ichigo dully noted as she placed her attention on the teacher, wondering why he seemed a little more excited than normal as he stood up there behind the desk that by comparison, looked much too small to fit his rather large girth.

"Now class, I have some exciting news." Immediately the class broke out into excited whispers, Ichigo watching from her seat as rumors, speculations, and assumptions spread like wild fire through the classroom in just under five seconds. Most of them consisting of thoughts of the supposedly "exciting news" being a new student. It wasn't entirely unheard of for those gifted with reiatsu to suddenly show up in the middle of the school year, Ichigo herself being almost considered one of those cases, but it was also very rare all the same. Most, if not all students, were usually found by the shinigami if they were from one of the many districts in Rukongai, and usually didn't join until the next year if the school was already progressing through, but still it did happen, and when it did, excitement ran high as the older, teenage girls fantasized about handsome, princely men and the boys, of hot girls without a boyfriend that would give even the "dorkiest" of them the time of day.

As the noise began to escalate in volume, Ichigo vacantly noted the slight reddening of the teacher's face, the man raising his hand up and slamming it down on the desk before him so hard, it almost split in two, effectively startling and scaring all the students into silence.

"Now, as I was saying. I have some exciting news. Today you all will have the great fortune of getting to meet the captains of the Gotei 13 and their lieutenants, who will all be here for the next week to help you all with your studies and other things that we normally don't cover while you're in the academy." At that tidbit of information, all the girls immediately got the metaphorical hearts in their eyes, fantasies of princely new students turning into hot studs with swords and a lot of power. Ichigo could barely restrain herself from laughing out loud at some of the garbage that rolled out of her fellow classmates mouths, though even she had to admit she might've been a bit too young to actually understand why exactly the much older and, though questionable, much more mature girls in her class. "Now class, I don't want you all swarming them like rabid dogs and embarrassing yourselves, so please maintain a dignified air and keep your wits about you. These are officers of the Gotei 13, not your future prom dates." At that last part, he pointedly focused on all the girls in the room staring off into lala land with no sign of returning anytime soon.

* * *

"So what do you Shuuhei?" Izuru asked as he stood next to his captain, who was barely managing to hold back his laughter as he listened in on the loud chatter that came leaking out of the classroom.

"Honestly?" the black haired man asked, looking at his fellow lieutenant with a shit-eating grin that would've made Kenpachi Zaraki, had he actually deigned to show up, proud. At the question, the blonde haired man nodded, expression expectant as he waited for the other's answer, "We're gonna have our hands full that's for sure. Just listen to those girls squealing like banshees. Bunch of hormonal teenagers is what they are."

"Not all of them." The soft spoken voice of the fifth squad lieutenant interrupted, eyes carefully peeking into the classroom through the small crack she had made between the door and the frame.

"What do you mean Hinamori-san?" Izuru asked as he joined her at the door, carefully peeking in as well, though he couldn't see anything of interest that would've sparked the statement,

"Yeah, what?"

"There's a little kid in there." At her statement, all of their eyes widened,

"Wait, what do you mean there's a little kid in there. This is an advanced class!"

"I know." Hinamori responded, finally closing the door fully before turning to face the assembled captain and vice-captains that had deigned to actually show up that day. "But there is definitely a little kid in that classroom. When you walk in, look towards the far back, one of the window seats, in the corner. There's a kid sitting there that looks bored out of her mind."

"Momo, how old?" Momo immediately turned to face her little brother, eyes blinking in surprise for a moment before she looked towards the ceiling in thought.

"Um… I think she's somewhere around seven or eight, maybe nine. She can't be much older than ten at most." The information had Izuru choking on his own spit, blinking in shock as he tried to get air back into his lungs again.

"And her appearance?"

"Oh, um…" she didn't get a chance to answer as the sliding door opened, the teacher immediately beckoning them all in. Faintly, the young female lieutenant couldn't help but feel partially grateful that the classroom was so dang big, otherwise there wouldn't be enough room to fit them all. True, not all of them had come. The twelfth division's captain and lieutenant hadn't even considered the notion, deciding instead to stay behind and continue the research their division was so famous for. The both captain and vice-captain from the third division had decided to come, but the first division's captain had been too busy, and so only his lieutenant had shown up. None of them would even hear of allowing any member of the eleventh division near the school, simply because they were all far too violent and dangerous, and much more likely to level the whole school to the ground with the students still inside.

Of course Momo and her captain had showed up, and even if her captain hadn't been able to, she would still gladly come, even if the large majority of students in the class were a bunch of self-obsessed, love-struck teenage girls who only considered their appearances as important and everything else beneath them. Then there was the tenth, seventh, and eighth division, as well as the fourth and ninth being the only other ones to show up with both captain and lieutenant in tow. The sixth division's captain would be showing up later in the week, but as of now and for the first few days, only the lieutenant, Renji Abarai would be showing up to help out with the class and what they were doing in general. There was the small chance that the second division would show up, but it was actually rather small, as the captain was far too busy as was managing not only her division but also the special task force, or Onmitsukidō as it was more well known as, and she didn't trust her lieutenant to even teach the members of her own division correctly, let alone a bunch of up-and-coming shinigami potentials.

"Sorry if they're a bit rough, some of them can be quite…ah…" the teacher apologized as he led them into the classroom, allowing the captains and vice-captains to line up at the front of the classroom where all the students could see them.

"Immature?" the captain of the third division offered easily, not at all bothered by the warning look Momo's captain gave him, a silent order being sent to behave while in the presence of the students and to not make a fool of himself or anybody else, no matter how great the temptation might have been. "Gomen, gomen. I'll be good, Aizen-taicho." The man answered the gaze easily, looking no less guilty for whatever he might've had planned in that snake-like brain of his.

"Now class, these are the captains and vice-captains of the Gotei 13, and your future bosses. Now remember to be respectful." Immediately a rather pretty student stood up, nodding her head as she attempted to appear seductive to whoever might care to actually look and be interested, twirling a long of shiny, platinum blonde hair between her fingers as she spoke up,

"But of course Sensei. You won't have to worry about anything… Well, you may have to worry about some of the… younger… students." As if to further emphasize who exactly she was talking about, she pointedly glared at the back of what was obviously the youngest student in the class, a very familiar nine year old with messy, strawberry blonde hair who was so obviously ignoring the other girl without even trying, that it wasn't even funny. The third division captain only barely managed to restrain his laughter as the child only just turned her attention back to the class, looking for all her part, genuinely confused as she suddenly found all the attention on her.

"Huh?" was the intelligent reply that came from her mouth, rapidly blinking as she struggled to catch up with what was going on and being said, before finally just giving up with a shrug of her shoulders and turning her attention back to the window without even bothering to glance in the older blonde's direction. Reiatsu sparked dangerously, the edges frayed with a barely contained rage, and some of the lieutenants, and even some of the captains were beginning to entertain the idea of having to intervene before a fight broke out and somebody got hurt, but the child didn't even flinch and continued staring out the window with increasing boredom, which in the end, though admittedly humorous, only served to further irritate the already irate teenager.

"Ugh… My apologies, the teenager is Minikui Majo-san, the daughter of a noble family. She's got potential, but she also has a severe superiority complex, and seems almost fixated on trying to get a reaction out of our youngest student, Ichigo-san, the strawberry blonde starring out the window as if the whole entire world bores her, which it probably does. Again, a lot of talent, just not a lot of real visible motivation. Don't let it fool you though, she's actually a hard worker." The teacher informed, staring with growing exasperation as the teenager started yelling in outrage at the younger girl.

"Isn't that considered bullying?" the captain of the thirteenth division asked, watching with growing worry as the potential of a fight grew even more apparent. "How can you let that pass without doing anything."

"In some cases it would be, but if you've sat here and watched how one-sided these things have a tendency to turn out, and if you've known and taught the two students involved as I have, you come to realize the only one you should really be worrying about is the noble's daughter who doesn't know when to stop or when she is clearly outmatched."

"What do you mean?"

"I said she had a lot of talent right?" the man asked, pausing for a moment as all of the captains and lieutenants nodded their heads in confirmation, "Well, that's part of the problem. Minikui-san has a lot of talent, but she cares more about her appearance and getting a date, than she does actually putting any real effort into any school work."

"I see-!"

"Minikui-san! That is enough! Take your seat and quit trying to instigate your classmate into a fight! Behave yourself, you are in the presence of captain-level shinigami!" the teacher barked out, shooting such a scathing glare at the student that she immediately shut up and relocated her seat, looking all the more like a kicked puppy as she stared at her lap, red faced with embarrassment at having been scolded so loudly. "Again, I'm sorry about that unsightly affair there."

"Not at all. Though I must say the girl's attitude leaves much to be desired for." The captain of the fifth division said, giving the obviously overworked and severely underpaid teacher a polite smile,

"I hope you don't mind introducing yourself to the students."

"Not at all, I'll start." The man said, immediately stepping forward, followed quickly by his ever loyal lieutenant as he introduced them both, "My name is Aizen Sosuke, captain of the fifth division. This is my lieutenant, Momo Hinamori-san."

"It is nice to meet you all." Momo commented politely, bowing in respect before taking a step back and allowing the third division to get next.

"Hey there. Name's Gin Ichimaru, 'n this here's my lieutenant Izuru Kira."

"Hello." And so the introductions continued on, students occasionally stopping them to ask questions before it continued again.

* * *

"Ok, now everybody, we will be moving outside to get a first time view of a shinigami's zanpakutō. Now everybody out and in an orderly fashion. And Minikui, I don't wanna hear any crap from you on the way outside, do you hear?"

"Yes sir." The teenager answered, sounding horribly whipped and defeated as she skulked outside of the classroom, what must have been her friends following not far behind.

* * *

"Hey, you said you're youngest student, the strawberry blonde… Her name's Ichigo right?" Shuuhei asked as he walked alongside the bulky teacher, the man nodding his head in response to the question, all the while keeping a hawk's eye on his students.

"Yeah, that's her name."

"And no last name?"

"She's got one, she just don't like saying it. If I remember correctly, her application said her last name was Kurosaki. Though the way she has a tendency to forget to say it when she introduces herself, you'd think she'd either didn't remember it, or seriously didn't have one."

"What's the main reason?" Izuru asked suddenly from right behind Shuuhei, almost giving the poor man a heart attack to Gin's own amusement,

"Izuru, god you need to start warning people!"

"She's too freaking lazy to actually state it. Not to mention she's got issues with any form of authority."

"Issues with any form of authority?"

"Yeah, she has a tendency to call those of higher rank than her by their first names, though she'll sometimes at least use an honorific to at least maintain some form of respect. And depending on the question, you might not get a straight answer from her."

"Ah."

"Here we are. Everybody line up and sit down at that wall over there!" the teacher ordered, voice booming over the many conversations of his students. As all the students rushed to one side of the huge training room, the man joined them, motioning for the shinigami captains to begin their demonstrations whenever they felt ready. Sighing, Shuuhei scratched at the back of his neck as he stepped up, deciding to be the first to volunteer as he drew his zanpakutō.

"Reap, Kazeshini!"

* * *

A/N. Ok, hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks again for reading! Anyways, please review and see ya!

*1- Minikui is Japanese for Ugly, at least according to Google translate, which might not be all that accurate.

*2- Minikui's first name, Majo, means Witch in Japanese. So her full name is Ugly Witch… And Ichigo called her Majo-baka, which after kanji manipulation in Google Translate, I managed to get to say Stupid Witch. So yeah, her whole name is an insult.


	4. EP 4 The Shinigami Academy Pt 2

A/N. Here's the fourth episode to Shinigami Death. Sorry it took me a while to get up, I couldn't figure out how to start the story, and the lack of reviews I got for the second and third chapter kinda killed my motivation for this story too. Did I do something wrong guys?

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

**Episode 4: The Shinigami Academy Pt. 2**

* * *

'_I dream of a very lonely place; of an artificial landscape of blue structures of steel beams and glass, barren of all signs of natural life…'_

* * *

**_Di-iing~Do-oong~Di-iing~Do-oong_**

_The deep, baritone sounds of a bell resonated heavily throughout the empty feeling space, reverberating until is faded into heavy silence as a passing breeze gently teased and pulled at thin strands of strawberry blonde hair, eyes slowly opening to gradually take in the sudden and unexpected change in surroundings; a pitch black abyss that had suddenly overcame her without warning fading into a world of silence and skyscrapers._

* * *

_'And in the distance, rings a bell long and low. Its home a tall, upside down clock tower hanging upside down in thin air as it counted out the seconds in reverse.'_

* * *

_As her mind raced to catch up with what was going on, the nine-year old girl went over what she could remember, which was admittedly little. Her head tilting in confusion as she stared at the blue sky before, eyes only barely noting the clouds that climbed upwards towards a place she couldn't see thanks to building laying sprawled out above her head like a ceiling, and somewhere in the back of her mind she couldn't help but point out how odd it was that the sun was out, when she felt so sure that it should be night time._

* * *

_'An odd, backwards world where everything was the reverse of how it should be; where everything had switched places or wasn't where it normally would be at all.'_

* * *

_"Ichigo…"_

* * *

_'And the only thing within this large silent world was an old man, cloaked in tattered black.'_

* * *

_"Huh?" the girl asked as she turned around, eyes blinking in slight surprise at the sound of her name being called so suddenly. "Oh… It's you, Old Man." Ichigo noted as she tilted her head to the side once again, eyes slowly taking in the appearance of the black-clad, middle-aged man balancing so perfectly on the pole protruding from the side of the building._

_The man said nothing, instead choosing to watch as the much younger child slowly took in her surroundings once again, as if trying to figure out where exactly he come from. It was a few moments before she decided to finally look back at him, her head tilting to the side for a third time as she seemed to contemplate something before slowly walking up to him, stopping to take a seat in front of him once she was close enough._

_"Can I ask you a question?" she inquired, looking at the man expectantly before deciding to proceed anyways when it seemed he would not give her an answer, "Aren't you lonely?" the man eyes widened slightly at the unexpected question, head tilting to the side in confusion as he eyed the girl sitting with her legs sprawled out in front of her, expression one of genuine curiosity as she stared up at him, patiently waiting for his answer._

_"What do you mean by that?" At his question, the girl blinked for a few moments as her eyes drifted what would've been skywards if the world wasn't as eschewed as it was, her eyes meeting the sight of glass windows on a building instead._

_"You're in this world all by yourself right? Aren't you lonely?" she asked again in response, meeting the other's gaze through his yellow sunglasses evenly. The man was silent for some time, eyes staring at the sky behind her._

_"This place… Is only as lonely as you make it to be... Only as lonely as you feel." Ichigo blinked in confusion as the man continued staring off into the distance, at some unseen place that she felt she'd never be able to find no matter how hard she looked for it. She was about to say something in response when she found herself being interrupted when the bell rang yet again, causing them both to look at the upside down building protruding out an empty space between two buildings where a street probably would've run if this world were upright and not laying on its side._

_**Di-iing~Do-oong~Di-iing~Do-oong**_

_"It is time for you to go, Ichigo…" The man stated, staring at the face of the clock tower as its hands continued going backwards, as if there was some secret answer to a question he himself was refraining from asking held within. Ichigo sighed, slowly pushing herself up onto her feet as she blinked, wondering how she was going to get out of such a strange place when there was no obvious exit._

_"Wait!" Ichigo suddenly called, pausing as she turned to walk away, turning back to face the man who had dropped his gaze from the clock tower to look at her, "You never told me your name." the man stared at her in obvious, silent contemplation before finally opening his mouth to speak,_

_"In time, when you are ready, you shall learn my name-"_

_**Di-iing~Do-oong~Di-iing~Do-oong**_

_Both turned their heads to look at the clock again, the man's gaze dropping once again to stare at the back of Ichigo's head before he continued speaking. "As I was saying before, it is time for you to go. Do not worry, in time you shall learn my name."_

_"But when-?"_

_"When you are ready." Suddenly the scenery began to blur, as if she were in a speeding car rushing by in some inexplicable need to hurry. As the world began to fade to black once again, Ichigo only faintly managed to register the suddenly very distant voice of the man, his voice sounding so far away it was almost scary to the young child, "Ichigo, remember this! You will age if you pull back, you'll die if you hesitate. Let go of your fears and continue to move forward and you will be able to hear my name!-"_

* * *

"Kurosaki!" Ichigo gasped as she found herself being shaken awake, her eyes flashing open to meet the dark grey eyes of one of the visiting lieutenants; Shuuhei Hisagi of the ninth division if she remembered correctly.

"Huh?" came the oh-so-intelligent reply that left her lips as she stared up at the man, eyes blinking in surprise as her mind once again struggled to catch up to what was going on. The man released a sigh, of whether relief or exasperation she wasn't sure, and moved to sit down in front of her. Moving to sit with her legs crossed, she turned to face the man, not having noticed until just a few seconds ago that she had actually been laying down instead of sitting up.

"Thought it was a bit odd to find one of the younger students passed out on the ground seemingly dead. Sorry about interrupting-"

"Interrupting?" Ichigo questioned, obviously very confused as to what the man was talking about, her mind still trying to remember what exactly had happened before she had apparently woken up. Shuuhei blinked at her for a moment, before suddenly starting to chuckle at her in amusement, his hand landing heavily on her head as he ruffled her hair,

"You were in your inner world, weren't you?" he questioned, watching as the child's eyes suddenly went skyward in thought, an expression of realization and recognition dawning her face as she seemed to finally remember what had happened.

"Oh, that's what that weird place is?" she questioned, looking at the man expectantly.

"Yep." He answered easily, eying her as if she'd grown a second head for a couple of seconds before deciding to ask the question he apparently had, "What do you mean by 'weird'?"

"I mean exactly as I said. Weird." She answered, blinking at why the question before deciding to elaborate when he quirked an eyebrow at her, "It's weird. All the buildings are sideways and you can stand on them." She began, waving her hands around to further emphasize her point as she continued explaining the landscape of what had apparently been her inner world, "And the skies are where the wall used to be, same with the ground! And then the clouds go up!"

"Up?"

"Yes up! Like a waterfall flowing backwards!" Shuuhei was trying very hard not to chuckle at her suddenly very enthusiastic explanation, slightly shocked at how much energy she was showing, considering all the motivation and energy she showed in class, which was very severely lacking in quantity. "And there's this one building, a clock tower, that is upside down!"

"Upside down? An upside down clock tower?"

"Yes, if the world was upright like this place, then it'd be on its side, but it's upside down in there. Oh, and tells time backwards." At the obviously confused expression on the man's face, Ichigo found herself quickly elaborating, trying her hardest to explain how odd the clock really was since she doubted she could take him there to see for himself, "The clock's hands go the opposite direction! Instead of going clockwise it goes counter clockwise! And the world's so silent that when the bell rings it's almost deafening in volume!"

"I see." He replied, sitting back as he silently encouraged to continue going into as much detail as she possibly could about her inner world, now that she seemed so open and connected about something rather than as aloof an closed off as she always appeared to be any other time. The moon was still out, and he didn't have a clock with him right this very instant, but he would estimate it to be somewhere around three o' clock in the morning; give or take half an hour. He could only guess that it was the lack of sleep causing this rather talkative episode with the child. Either that, or she was very curious about her inner world.

"And it's blue. Everything is blue. But you know… it's so silent in there, that I have to wonder if the old man is lonely…" she finally finished, tilting her head as she took on a look of thoughtfulness, eyes staring into the far off distance, or maybe even within herself; into her own inner world without her being self-conscious of it. At the mention of a person dwelling within her inner world, Shuuhei tilted his head, now finally and fully understanding why the child before him had been placed in such an advanced class; she was fully communicating with what was possibly the spirit embodying her zanpakutō, even though she didn't know the spirit's name or had yet to materialize the blade.

If he were to be honest with himself; he could still remember when he had met the child back in one of the closer districts in Eastern Rukongai. Even back then the kid had oozed reiatsu uncontrollably so, but it had been so scattered and spread out that it had been hard to detect at first, having been in such large quantities and having been left to spread without being checked that it had blanketed the whole town and the nearby, surrounding areas. He and the others had only been able to sense it when it had spiked suddenly during the incident where he had first come into contact with the kid; back when she had suddenly flipped a man five times her own size and at least 60 times her own weight without a problem. She had been so small and young though, he had immediately brush it off as a hallucination, though he had starting asking himself questions concerning the matter when the captain of the tenth division had brought it up, debating with his own lieutenant over the matter for a couple of months as well as the others who had been present before finally deciding to go and see the child for himself.

Of course, the captain of the tenth division hadn't actually intended on bringing that many people along with him, but Rangiku, the lieutenant of the tenth division, had insisted on coming along and brining Izuru and him as well. Renji, a lieutenant of the sixth had only agreed to come along because he had something to give to the child apparently. They questioned it for a bit until they had arrived and he had actually handed it over to the kid, everyone else having been slightly surprised at the red, hot-head's foresight to bring a reiatsu suppressant along with him for the kid with an admittedly unnatural amount of reiatsu.

The last thing he had ever expected was to meet the kid again however.

"Wait." He interrupted finally, dragging the child out of her thoughts as she slowly turned her head to look at him, a silent question being communicated through her gaze and expression as she quirked an eyebrow at him. "You said an old man?"

"Yeah, an old man dressed in a tattered black jacket and wearing a pair of yellow shades." Shuuhei released a quiet sigh, barely noticeable as he eyed the child. He vacantly remembered what the girl's teacher had told him the other day when they had first arrived to help teach the students of that particular class; how she apparently had some issues with any form of authority and calling those in a position that demanded respect or who were just plain older than her by a good amount of years by nicknames that would've been considered rude from anybody else, but were generally accepted for the simple fact that after many attempts, the teachers had just given up on teaching her any form of discipline and manners when it came to those of higher status. Given that information and with that being kept in mind, he had to silently wonder if she really didn't know the spirit's name and was calling him "old man" as a sort of substitute or if it was simply because she was used to calling him that and he had never bothered to correct her in any form what-so-ever.

"I see… Do you know his name?" he felt the need to ask, watching as her face screwed up in thought for all of five seconds before dropping back into the neutral expression it usually held no matter the situation; even when talking about sideways worlds bathed in blue with upside down clock towers that told time in reverse. At the question she shook her head in the negative, seeming to frown for a bit before she finally decided to speak,

"No, he said I wasn't ready yet. That it wasn't time for me to learn it. I would when I was ready."

"And he hasn't decided when that will be, has he?"

"Nope." Shuuhei sighed as he suddenly moved to get up, reaching his hand out to help the little girl stand up from the ground as he brushed off the imaginary dust particles on his pants.

"I see…" he seemed thoughtful for a few moments, eyes staring fixatedly at the moon before he finally turned to face the child again, "Well, let's get you back to bed. It's getting late and you have classes tomorrow." He said, slowly herding the obviously tired child towards the dorms.

"Ok."

* * *

A/N. Ok, so what do you guys think? Advice is appreciated and I do not mind if you guys have questions you feel you need answering. Please review and tell me what you think of my story! See ya and thanks for reading!


	5. EP 5 The Shinigami Academy Pt 3

A/N. Ok guys, here's episode 5! Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! And thanks to everybody who reviewed! I'm so glad you guys liked the chapter!

Oh, and a guest who called themselves "Someone" asked a question concerning the main pairing for this story. I'm guessing the person was talking about Toshiro Hitsugaya, and to answer the question, I am considering that as the main pairing. So now I have a question for you guys, and it'd make me really happy and also be very helpful if you guys gave me your honest opinion on this. Now keep in mind that the fem!Ichigo in this story is nine years old currently and will be graduating from the academy in a year. Who do you guys think I should pair Ichigo with? I know there aren't a lot of options taking her age into consideration, but do you think I should pair her up with Toshiro, or pick somebody else?

Also, I have another question for you guys. You guys remember Kisehana, right? The OC that wound up being one of the main characters kinda in the first and second episodes. Well, I was debating on whether or not to have her make another appearance. I'm also debating making Kisehana a shinigami, but am not completely sure yet, so second and third opinions would be very appreciated. What do you guys think? Do you want to see more of Kisehana or no?

When you're finished reading the chapter, leave a review or PM me your response please and thank you!

Now onto the story!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach!**

* * *

**Episode 5: The Shinigami Academy Pt. 3**

* * *

The sound of leaves crunching underfoot filled the once quiet air, the moon sitting high in the sky as Ichigo slowly trailed after the students in her class, the large bag heavy against her back while eyes moved around in an attempt to absorb everything in her surroundings. Eventually, her gaze shifted slightly, looking at the white haired captain that just happened to be walking beside her through her peripheral vision, his own teal eyes staring boredly ahead before they went back to taking in her surroundings.

"Ok kids." Shuuhei's loud voice echoed out, the whole group coming to a standstill as everybody focused their attention onto the ninth division lieutenant, his expression unusually serious as he eyed each and every one of the obviously excited students. "Tonight, we're going to practice performing konso. Yes I know you've already been over this and practiced, but that doesn't mean that's it. There will always be room for improvement." He informed, giving pointed glares towards those that were starting to look a bit mutinous at being made to practice something that they had deemed as mundane. "Now I want all of you to split up into groups of three or four, and make it fast. Kurosaki." At the sound of her last name being called, the child looked up, having been staring off to a location somewhere off to the side and not really paying attention to what was being said.

"Huh?"

"C'mere." He ordered, motioning with his hand to further emphasize his point. Ichigo contemplated not following through, but decided otherwise, tightening the straps on her bag before running up towards the man.

"Yes?"

"Do you know where exactly we're going to be headed to for this lesson?" He asked her, his expression stern as he met her inquisitive gaze. At the shake of her head in response the man sighed, scratching at the back of his head as he lifted his own gaze to meet his captain's, the dark-skinned man having been standing back and watching as the students split up, helping to make sure that there weren't too many and that the groups were as balanced out as possible. The man seemed to notice the sudden attention he was receiving, pausing in what he was doing to meet gazes with the other, before giving an almost imperceptible nod of confirmation, Shuuhei nodding in return before dropping his gaze back down to the nine year old standing patiently before him. "Well, we're headed to the human world." He told her, watching her face for any changes in expression, sighing slightly in both relief and agitation when he saw that her expression remained as blank and dull as it usually looked most of the time.

When Shuuhei had heard from his captain about the plans for today's class, he had immediately went searching through the death records in the Gotei 13 archives, his mind drifting in remembrance to the nine year old that had quickly become like a younger sister of sorts for the elder shinigami. Even Shuuhei knew she seemed unusually young for a spirit attending the academy, most usually going years before they were ever discovered by a shinigami or even considered joining without someone else prompting them to do so. The very thought of what had happened to her before she had arrived in Soul Society left him slightly cold and he soon found himself looking through a long list of recent deaths in the human world, his mind silently praying and hoping he wouldn't find her name on the list without him actually realizing it. His worries were only confirmed when he did in fact find her name on the list, immediately pulling up the file as a cold, rigid pit formed at the base of his stomach; filling him with trepidation at the coming day.

The cause of death had not been confirmed, and the circumstances under which she had been killed were particularly strange, but all signs and evidence pointed towards a hollow attack. Her family, probably somewhere still in the living world, devastated at the loss of a sister and daughter. If the information in the file was to be believed and trusted, then it was even more so, seeing as she had died only a year after her own mother, again, the cause of death, though this time they had been sure, was a hollow attack. What was worse was how young she had been when she was killed; as young as she looked, she had died at the age of nine. Almost four months prior to having joined the academy, now going on ten. It was obvious that she didn't remember anything from her time as one of the living, but it hadn't even been a whole year since she had passed on and entered Soul Society. It wasn't common and happened very rarely, but exposure to the human world that she hadn't even parted from that long ago could send her into shock. Even more when taking into consideration the location that they had picked as the sight for training the students; a very spiritually active human settlement known as Karakura Town, and the town the nine year old had lived in when she was still alive.

He had been sorely tempted to request that she not take part in the assignment, but in the end he somehow managed to talk himself out of it.

"Shuuhei?" he was shaken from the thoughts at the use of his first name, gaze dropping to meet the curious eyes of said child, looking up at him strangely as she tilted her head to the side in apparent confusion.

"Huh?"

"You spaced out." She said, watching with barely hidden amusement as the man blinked owlishly, his mind still racing to catch up to what was going on.

"Oh… Sorry about that."

"S'fine." She replied simply, shrugging the matter off quite easily, "Was there anything else?"

"Nah, just stay close to your group, ok? We don't need to be losing students." He answered, ruffling the child's already unruly hair as a sort of fond look crossed his expression before disappearing just as easily. "Now go and find one."

"Ok."

"And hey! It's Hisagi-fukutaicho! Not Shuuhei!" Ichigo shrugged once again, expression dismissive as she ran to join one of the other groups, somehow managing to get placed in Majo's group, which Shuuhei couldn't help but think was purposely set up for failure with those two being placed near each other.

"Hisagi-fukutaicho, everybody's in groups. We need to get a move on." Shuuhei once again found his train of thought getting derailed, the icily calm tone of the tenth division's Toshiro Hitsugaya slicing through his mind like the biting ice he so easily controlled in combat. The other shinigami had gathered around as well without him noticing, eyes nodding in understanding as his gaze drifted back towards the grouped students.

"Hai Hitsugaya-taicho." He replied with a nod of his head, immediately taking a step back to stand with the other lieutenants as Toshiro moved to move the lesson forward, easily taking control of the students despite the fact that they obviously all saw him as being younger than them.

"Everybody, listen up! In a couple of minutes we will be moving through the Senkaimon Gates and into the human world. Make sure that no matter what, you do not lose your hell butterflies. Do that, and I can't promise you'll make it out of the Dangai in one piece. If at all." Many of students broke out into frantic whispers, most shuffling around fearfully at the prospect of getting lost without any hope of ever returning, or being seen again. "Understand?" as a large paper door appeared behind the shinigami, Toshiro moved aside, turning once again to face the assembled group as he flared his reiatsu for a split second, the students immediately quieting down at the sudden drop in temperature as they turned to face the captain once again. "Everybody ready? Good. Let's go."

* * *

"I cannot believe you got us lost." Ichigo watched on in silence as one of the boys in her group growled at their self-appointed leader, giving her a scathing glare as she continued to walk forward unbothered by it. In all honesty, she herself was still trying to figure out how they had gotten into their current situation. They had been keeping up with the other students just fine, and had managed to make it through to the human world in one piece without losing anybody or anything, but the class had just happened to pass by a high-priced clothing store and Majo just had to stop and gawk at the many apparently cute outfits that were displayed in the window. The whole group had been forced to stop and wait, and by the time she was finished window shopping and drooling over what Ichigo personally thought were very gaudy, overtly flashy clothes, the entire class had disappeared without a trace, leaving the small group alone and lost in the human world without a clue as to where to go. To make matters worse, Majo had decided to try and play the part she had given herself without consulting anybody else in her group and tried to lead the other four to where she thought the class had gone, only resulting in getting them even further lost. And right about now, Ichigo was sure they were going around in complete circles. Literally, she could have sworn that she had seen that same stop sign a hundred times already in the past thirty minutes.

She couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow in barely hidden disbelief as she realized that the observation was actually true.

They were walking in circles.

"We are not lost. I know where we're going. You need to have faith in your great and almighty leader."

"More like almightily stupid." Ichigo commented dryly as she met the older girl's gaze unfaltering,

"And what do you mean by that?" Majo bit at her, looking like she was about to turn as red as a tomato in anger as she prepared to lash out at the younger.

"I mean exactly as I said." Ichigo bit back without hesitation, jabbing a finger in the direction of the aforementioned stop sign in hastily growing agitation. "We've passed that same damn stop sign a hundred fucking times already! We're going in circles you baka!" she stated, not even bothering to pause long enough to give the other any amount of time to try and interrupt her, "I don't care if your some bloody nobles daughter! We are lost, and it is your fault! Just admit it already, it ain't going to kill you!"

"Oh, and I assume you know your way around this place better than I do? Yeah right! Nobody remembers what their life was like if they died and were sent to Rukongai."

"Actually I do." At the frank statement, the spoiled teenager shut up, her mouth closing with a sharp click of the teeth as she stared at the other in disbelief, eyes wide as dinner plates. In all honesty, for some time now, as Ichigo had been surveying her surroundings, the place had begun to gradually gain a familiarity to it. As if she had been here before, repeatedly, and that if she really wanted to, she could probably find her way around.

"Yeah right." Majo finally spoke up, crossing her arms in stubbornness. Ichigo ignored however, taking a moment to walk about in a small circle before nodding her head in self-confirmation; it was true, she had been to this place before. The memories weren't clear, and they probably never would be, but she could definitely find her way through the town without any trouble.

"Don't believe me?" she questioned, eyes now burning with determination and a great amount of sureness and self-confidence as she turned to face the other, "Fine then. I'll show you, follow me." She declared, pushing past the older girl, snatching whatever lead and little control she might have had away from her easily as she walked ahead.

"And you actually expect us to follow you? You're the youngest one in the group!"

"Which also means she's possibly the most recently dead. She may not remember everything but she may actually remember this place Minikui-san." A boy much calmer then the practically raging other in the group with shoulder-length messy hair commented, placing a gentle hand on Ichigo's shoulder as a show of support.

"W-what?"

"Yeah, and following almost anybody would probably be lots better then following your lost as hell ass. The kid's right, we've been walking around in circles for the past half hour. I've lost count of how many times I've seen that fuckin' stop sign." The boy who had been complaining before spoke up, crossing his arms in silent refusal to follow the older girl to any place any longer. Majo looked ready to blow a gasket, breath coming in and out in heavy pants of anger as her face turned a searing beet red, before she finally calmed down. Finally huffing and turning away in surrender and defeat.

"Fine." She said, tone sharp and defeated as she proceeded to pout like the brat she truly was, reluctantly beginning to follow alongside the others as Ichigo began leading them down seemingly old yet modern pathways that felt like she hadn't traveled them in years, when she felt like it hadn't even been that long ago to begin with.

* * *

Toshiro's eyes narrowed in suspicion as he did yet another headcount, his face scrunching up in concentration as he finally came to the conclusion that they were missing students, _'But who, and when did we lose them exactly. It must've been after we exited the Dangai, because we did a headcount then too, and everybody was present without any mishaps… So we must've lost them somewhere along the way here-!'_

"Taicho!" Rangiku's voice cut through his thoughts like a hot knife through melting butter, forcibly dragging the much younger male back to reality. "Taicho, we're missing four students."

"I know." He replied, noting the for once serious expression on his lieutenant's face as he continued, "Do you have their names?"

"Hai Taicho. It was Group D, comprised of students Minikui Majo, Ikiba Monosuke, Hataro Shimaka, and Ichigo Kurosaki." The busty red hair replied, suddenly all-business instead of play and teasing as she held up the list with the missing students names recorded on them. Shuuhei suddenly appeared beside them, expression also serious and unusually somber.

"I asked some of the students, none of them seem to be able to recount exactly when they last saw them." The conversation was further interrupted by the arrivals of the captain and lieutenant of the fifth division and captain of the ninth.

"Aizen-taicho, Hinamori-fukutaicho, any luck?" Toshiro asked as he turned to face the new arrivals. Both shook their heads in response as Tousen spoke up,

"Neither did I. There's no trace of the missing students reiatsu to be found in the nearby area." At the news Shuuhei clicked his teeth together in irritation, feeling overcome almost with the sudden urge to completely destroy something.

"Damn it." He cursed under his breath, eyes glaring at the ground as he tried to remember when and where they might have disappeared at.

"Let's not give up just yet… We may just have to back track a bit. They're obviously somewhere in the town at least." Toshiro stated, calm though it was at least slightly obvious that he was worried.

"Ok-!" all of their eyes widened as they caught the tell-tale signs of a hollow's reiatsu, panic immediately settling into the stomachs like a freezing boulder as they looked at each other. "SHIT!"

* * *

"Hey, Kurosaki-san? Do you know where we are exactly? I don't see our class anywhere, or the shinigami…"

"I…" Ichigo began slowly, eyes staring at the front of a very familiar building as the small group of four came to a stop finally. Her chest beginning to ache mysteriously as she continued to stare at the building in growing curiosity.

"I what?" the messy haired boy asked, head tilting in curiosity as his eyes drifted up to the building Ichigo was staring so fixatedly at as well.

"Hey look, Kurosaki Clinic! The building has the same name as Ichigo's last name!" the other boy commented, pointing towards the building in slight amusement as he gazed with a lopsided grin at the older boy.

"Yeah… Odd, don't you think Kurosaki-san? Kurosaki-san?" he agreed, face contorting into confusion as the youngest in the group lowered her head, eyes widening in surprise as he saw tear drops slowly falling towards the ground. "Kurosaki-san?!"

"Home…"

"H-Huh?"

"I share a name with the building… Because this is my home…"

"W-Wait… I don't get it.

"This is my home! I used to live here before I died!" Ichigo informed the boys, hands moving rapidly, "Monosuke-san, Shimaka-san, this is my home!" Both boys nodded their heads in response, finally understanding what the problem was. As the messy haired boy, Hataro Shimaka, had stated some few hours earlier; Ichigo had died fairly young and quite recently. It was still quite possible for her memories to resurface, even if it was just for a little while.

"I see… Do you remember anything else-!"

"AGH!" Both eyes widened as they heard Ikiba suddenly cry out in pain, the sound of blood being spilt reaching the threes ears and causing their faces to turn slightly green at the grotesque noise as they slowly turned around to face the direction their classmate had been standing.

"I… I… IKIBA!"

* * *

A/N. And cliffhanger. As you guys probably noticed, I've been doing a bit of time skipping lately, that's to get things moving and to make sure that I don't spend too long in one single section of the storyline. But as you guys are probably expecting you won't have to worry about me doing any timeskips for the next chapter. At least not at first. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading! Please remember to review and see ya!


	6. EP 6 The Shinigami Academy Pt 4

A/N. Here's episode 6 guys! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except my own OCs!**

* * *

**Episode 6: The Shinigami Academy Pt. 4**

* * *

"Monosuke-san!"

"Ikiba!" Ichigo's eyes widened in horror at the grotesque scene before her, watching with terrified amazement as her classmate's _head _ rolled across the pavement, leaving a bloody trail along its path. By her side, the normally stuck up and headstrong Majo collapsed onto her knees, tears gushing from her eyes like a waterfall as she screamed and cried in the throngs of grief, shell-shocked by what had just happened while their backs had been turned. The whole entire time she was screaming his name.

"Ikiba! Ikiba!" She was only barely restrained from running into certain death by Hataro, who was just managing to keep a secure grip around the hysterical girl as she tried to run towards the obviously dead boy. _'How did this happen? It wasn't supposed to happen!'_

She was shaken from her panicked thoughts, staring up in horror and growing fear as the monster she suddenly found herself staring at; her classmate's killer, roared in both hunger and anger, one hand tightly holding onto what remained of Ikiba's body before chucking it clear across the street and over a few buildings, disappearing into the darkness of the night. The monster then focused its attention on them, looking at them with a hunger that left Ichigo frozen in complete terror as it slowly began to come closer, the ground shaking with every step the gigantic, semi-humanoid beast took.

"Minikui-san… Minikui-san!" Ichigo called as she rushed to the grieving girl's side, urgently shaking her shoulder's and urging her to stand up. She knew that the teenager, no matter how snobbish and spoiled she came off as, had actually held a soft spot for her now dead, rough, hot-headed classmate. If she had heard correctly, they had been friends since childhood, until the older girl's father had forbade them ever even looking at each other again, saying something about being of better status or something of the like according to what a classmate had told her. It had left both a bit heartbroken, but apparently Majo was a good actress, because she never showed whether or not she still cared about the boy a lot of the time. Now she knew that what had been said was most definitely true as she watched the girl tremble and shake, her mind now in shock as the sudden death of somebody that had been so close to her. "Minikui-san! I know it hurts, I know, but you need to get up! We need to get out of here!" She begged, tugging desperately on the older's sleeve as Hataro tried to help.

"What do you know?!" she snapped, forcibly yanking her arm from Ichigo's grip before turning to verbally lash out at the remaining boy. "Shut up! I don't want to hear it!" she screamed, almost biting the other's head off before she proceeded to fall to the ground, both immediately running up to catch her as the monster continued to close in on them, a giant clawed hand now raised to kill them all in one fell swoop.

"Minikui-san! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" the boy yelled as he tried to get the older girl to run. Majo shook her head, refusing to move any further despite the situation as she tried to sit down.

In a panic, Ichigo looked at the grieving girl, than the monster, before looking back at the girl and then back at the monster again. Eyes suddenly narrowed in determination as she drew the nameless zanpakutō that she and her classmates had been given, leaping up to meet the monster's powerful swing head on. She gasped as she felt the bones in her arms quake under the monster's strength, but she refused to give, pushing back against the monster as much as she possibly could.

"Kurosaki-san!"

"Hurry go!" she ordered, not daring to look back as she landed on the ground, digging her feet into the ground as she skidded slightly before using the sudden stop in momentum to push herself forward at the monster once again.

"What?"

"Take Minikui-san and go!" she repeated, moving the sword to block the monster's hand as she tried to take a swing at the head. Hataro looked ready to object, mouth opening to state that he couldn't leave her there to face the monster alone, but immediately shut up at the look Ichigo was giving him suddenly. "GO!"

"Tch." He said, clicking his teeth together in irritation as he snatched his grieving classmate up, dragging her bodily along as he attempted to make an escape with what was basically dead weight now. He wanted to help the younger, but what could he do? The best option right now seemed to be leaving her here to face that monstrosity that had killed their classmate alone while he and Majo made an escape.

"Shimaka… SHIMAKA!"

"Huh?

"AH!" The boy gasped in surprise when he heard the scream, eyes widening as he caught something flying past them, watching in horror as his younger classmate skidded across the ground before falling limp, the monster jumping into the air to try and crush her.

"No you don't!" he called, bringing his own nameless zanpakutō up to block as a clawed hand lashed out in hopes of tearing the nine year old apart. His eyes widened when he heard the distinctive sound of metal clashing against something hard, surprised when he saw a once disabled with grief Majo standing firmly at his side, eyes screwed up in determination with sword drawn as she held off the monster's other hand. "Kurosaki-san, you okay?" he found himself asking as he watched the little girl stumble onto her feet, her head shaking slightly for a moment as she tried to reorient herself before reaching over to pick up the dropped blade that had gotten knocked out of her hand during the first confrontation.

"Hai!" she called in reply, immediately turning around with the blade raised and ready as the monster jumped back, eying all of them with growing interest it seemed.

"That thing killed Ikiba!" Majo stated, looking ready to tear the monster a new one she seemed so angry. Ichigo had half a mind to make a joke or sarcastic comment at the expression on the other's face, but decided otherwise, now obviously not really the situation to be making snide comments and taking verbal shots at one another.

"Mmh." She said instead, nodding her head in agreement as she gradually tightened her grip on the blade.

"So let's get back at it! Ikiba was our teammate!" Hataro called from his position, blade raised high in preparation of the monster, no, the hollow's next attack.

"We need to be careful, that things a lot tougher than it looks…"

"Ain't it though?"

"Watch out!" Ichigo grunted, one eyes closing tight as she moved her blade to the side, blocking the side swipe the monster had attempted to make while they were busy talking.

"You know it's not nice to attack while people are talking. It's very rude actually." The nine year old couldn't but comment as she managed to push the monster back, watching as Majo jumped over her head suddenly, a kido spell charged and ready for use in her hands already as she fired it at the grotesque white mask on the hollow's face. She frowned as the kido spell exploded, Majo landing on the ground next to her with a soft thud, her expression the same as the smoke quickly cleared to reveal that it had only managed to slightly singe the monster's mask and not do any real lasting damage.

"Damn it!" Hataro swore uncharacteristically from behind the two girls, immediately running up to block another attempted side swipe. They were all surprised, Hataro crying out in pain and shock as the monster suddenly backhanded the boy, sending him flying backwards; rolling and bouncing across the pavement before he finally came skidding to a stop, body falling limp as he barely managed to keep conscious.

"Hataro!" Ichigo called, not noticing the surprised look Majo was giving her from behind as she turned to look at her fallen classmate, sighing in slight relief that he was still alive. Her attention was drawn back to the hollow however as Majo screamed out in pain as well, only barely managing to block the violent and powerful punch the hollow delivered, nameless zanpakutō breaking in two with a harsh snap as she crashed into a light post. A huge dent was left behind as she also fell, landing on the ground with a heavy thud as her body went limp as well. "Majo! Damn it!" She swore, slowly taking a step back as she stared at the monster once again in horror, fear becoming even more apparent as she stared up into hungry, glowing yellow eyes.

"Ugh!-geh…" Ichigo grunted as she was almost knocked off of her feet, managing to come to a stop just a few feet away from the prone form of Hataro, the boy still fighting to keep consciousness as he stared helplessly at the ongoing fight.

"K-Kurosaki-san… Ichigo, run… Please…" the boy begged, voice tinged with pain as he stared pleadingly at the much younger child. Ichigo chanced a glance behind her in surprise, eyes widened in shock before her gaze turned back towards the monster, forcing her attention away as the monster gave another deafening roar before it lunged at the girl once again. Ichigo's eyes narrowed in newfound determination as her blade came up to meet the monster's hand head on, sparks flying as it ground violently against the other's claws. "ICHIGO!"

"AAAH!" Blood pooled onto the streets, a nasty gash torn through her side as Ichigo struggled to even breath, her vision fading at the edges as she struggled to not pass out where she stood.

"D-damn it…"

* * *

"_Ichigo…"_

* * *

'_What?' _Ichigo thought, her eyes widening at the sound of her name being called. The voice itself sounded familiar, but it wasn't one of her classmates, or any of the shinigami she had talked to. She knew she had heard it before, but in her mind, muddled with blood loss, she couldn't remember.

* * *

"_Ichigo…"_

* * *

'_Damn it all… I'm going to die here… Aren't I? I… I'm scared…' _She silently admitted, feeling her body sway slightly as the amount of blood she was losing slowly and gradually coaxed her into the arms of unconsciousness.

* * *

"_Ichigo… Do not be afraid…"_

* * *

'_That voice again… The old man?' _"Is that you?"

"Ichigo! Get out of there! ICHIGO!" Behind her, Hataro continued to try to urge her to run away and leave Majo and himself behind. She couldn't help but chance a glance behind her, eyes dulled with exhaustion as she looked at the fallen boy in the eyes.

* * *

'_Ichigo… Do not be afraid, remember what I told you.'_

* * *

Suddenly the nine year old's eyes narrowed in determination, turning back around to face the attacking hollow once again as she tightened her once loose grip on the handle of the nameless zanpakutō. Raising the blade up, her expression became one of pure and unshaking resolve, reiatsu beginning to pour off of her in waves as the rim of her eyes turned blue with energy.

* * *

'_Do not pull back, you will age. Do not hesitate, you will die. Continue to move forward and abandon your fear. Now Ichigo… Call out my name…"_

* * *

"Slice the moon… ZANGETSU!"

* * *

"Taicho!" Rangiku called as she stopped mid-shunpo, eyes immediately landing on a giant geyser of reiatsu, the energy quickly disappearing almost as soon as it had appeared. Toshiro stared at the place for all of five seconds, only taking a second longer to glance back at the others before nodding his head and charging forward, hand already reaching up to wrap firmly around the handle of his own zanpakutō as he shunpoed in the direction the reiatsu spike had come from.

The shinigami arrived in a flash, their images blurring into existence as small dust clouds were kicked up. Eyes widened in shock at the scene that met them upon their arrival. The severed head of one of the students, Ikida Monosuke, lay on the ground, eyes forever glazed over and the rest of the body missing, possibly thrown somewhere by the attacking hollow; they'd have to find it later, and not far away lay an unconscious Minikui Majo and Hataro Shimaka, covered in bruises and various injuries from fighting. But there was no sign of the fourth student, Ichigo Kurosaki. _'Where did she go?'_

"Matsumoto, we're still missing one student. Let's see if we can't find her- What the-?" His order died on his lips as the missing student slowly walked up, eyes dulled more than usual and dragging an oddly shaped blade behind her. She was covered in blood, both her own and somebody else's, and there were bags under her eyes. She slowly walked over to the prone form of her classmate, Minikui, and shook her awake, obviously careful not to hurt her any more than she already had been.

"Minikui-san, Minikui-san…" the older teen muttered under her breath as she finally came to, groaning at the pain that sieged her body for a couple of seconds before she finally met gazes with the younger girl.

"What happened to calling me Majo?" she questioned, slowly lifting a hand to ran bruised and scratched up fingers through blood and grime-caked hair. "And look at you, you're covered in blood."

"I killed it, Minikui-san. I killed the hollow Minikui-san." Ichigo stated gently, leaning her head onto the other girl's in her exhaustion, "I avenged Monosuke-san." The shinigami eyes widened at the sudden change in behavior around the two, who had previously been at each other's throats almost every second of the day when they were around each other. Majo sighed, an arm wrapping around the other girl as she rested her head on top of the younger's, eyes closing again in exhaustion as she whispered out a quiet reply.

"That's good… That's good…"

* * *

"Minikui-san." Ichigo greeted as she walked into the infirmary, taking a seat near the bed as she placed her lunch in her lap. The teenager smiled slightly, hand reaching out to ruffle the girl's hair in affection before laying back down in the bed.

"Again, what happened to calling me by my first name?" she questioned, quirking an eyebrow in previously thought to be uncharacteristic sarcasm. Ichigo merely giggled under her breath, slowly opening the bento she had prepared earlier that day before school had started.

"Ok, Majo."

"Good." They were silent for some time, Majo turning her gaze to stare out the window in contemplative silence while Ichigo silently ate her lunch, only stopping once to think about something before continuing on.

"They're going to hold the funeral in three days." Ichigo finally said, breaking the semi-companionable silence and drawing her new found friend's attention from the window. At the news, Majo seemed to wilt visibly, her answer to the information as dull and depressed as they both felt,

"Oh… I still can't believe he's dead…"

It had been a week since the incident in the human world that had ended in the death of her classmate, Ikiba. The whole group, and really all of the class, was still reeling from the events, and the remaining members were still recovering from the subsequent mental trauma that had resulted from the unexpected hollow attack. Since then, Ichigo, as shocking as it had seemed, even to her, had gotten surprisingly close to the noble's daughter, having so at odds with each other before, they were now almost like sisters in their closeness. Or that's how the other students had perceived it. And the same could be said for Hataro, who had also formed a sort of kinship with the two girls. And Ichigo vacantly wondered what Kisehana would think about this if she could tell her right this instant, but the next vacation wasn't until another couple of months from now, and it'd be a while before she got to see the girl again.

The only good thing that had come out of that incident was that she had somehow managed to awaken her zanpakutō and learn his name. She had even somehow managed to achieve shikai. But it would be a while before she could properly use the sword, and she was still in no condition to be doing any form of battle or training, both mentally and physically speaking. Still, it had come at such a heavy price, and she still wasn't sure if she was truly okay with it.

The bell rang suddenly, signaling the end of the lunch period, and Ichigo nodded her head towards the older girl before packing up her lunch and leaving. Pausing at the door way she turned to face her friend, a small smile crossing her face in comfort as she spoke up again,

"I'll see you after school okay?"

"Okay."

"_Then you just have to get stronger. Remember Ichigo, you are not and never will be alone. I am always here." _

Standing outside the door to the academy's clinic, Ichigo paused, eyes closed in thought for a few moments before they opened again, determination burning bright like a flame within their milky brown depths as she nodded her head in response.

"Yes, Zangetsu."

* * *

A/N. So what do you guys think? Thanks for reading and please review! See ya!


	7. EP 7 Graduation to The 5th

A/N, Here's episode seven of Shinigami Death. Hope you guys enjoy the story! Oh and before you guys ask, Ichigo is ten as of now in this chapter.

**Disclaimer: I own nothing except the OCs!**

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**Episode 7: Graduation to the 5****th**

* * *

Ichigo sighed as she stood in the admittedly stuffy room surrounded on all sides by her fellow students, eyes drifting upwards towards the roof in escalating boredom as she waited for the graduation ceremony to start. They had all been standing there for a few hours now, and Ichigo was actually beginning to contemplate sitting down instead or just plain leaving the giant hall where the event was taking place. Her attention however, was drawn back to the front of the hall as an old man clad in the shinigami shihakusho and wearing the captain's haori over his shoulders slowly approached the stage, immediately taking a seat in a large chair off to the side of the podium standing dead center of the giant, wooden platform. Behind him, following in dutiful silence were the other 12 captains and all of the lieutenants, spreading out to stand at attention against the far wall as the ceremony finally began, the dean of the school walking up to the podium to begin his speech.

"Students, teachers, shinigami captains of the Gotei 13. We gather here today to celebrate the achievements of our proud students, now graduating after six long years of training…" The words seemed to die off into the distance as Ichigo turned away to look elsewhere, quickly tuning out the long-winded, fat man in favor of finding something else of interest.

* * *

"Psst." Ichigo blinked, eyes slightly wide in surprise as she slowly looked around the room. The ceremony was still very much under way, but at least the fat man was no longer talking everybody's ears off with the afterlife's longest speech in history. Her attention was drawn away from her observations however as a hand persistently shook her, causing her to turn around to face the person. Her eyes immediately landing on the sight of a Majo with a mischievous and highly amused grin on her face. Standing beside her, looking just as bored as she herself felt, was Hataro, also grinning at her in slight amusement as well before returning his attention to what was going on up front. "You are the only person I know that can fall asleep standing up, and still look like she's actually paying attention." Majo commented, giving a couple of quick glances around to her surroundings before slowly and gradually pulling her backwards to stand between her and the other boy.

"I think it's funny nobody but us noticed…" Hataro whispered under his breath, voice trembling with barely restrained laughter at the mere thought of it while keeping his head facing forward. Ichigo shrunk slightly at the comment, having the decency to look a little bashful at the fact that she had managed to do such a thing during a time when she was supposed to be paying attention, though it was still slightly expected of her regardless. Both teens knew she didn't have the attention span required to actually stand still and pay attention for any amount of time, and when she found it to be boring, it was just considered a lost cause and she was left to her own devices. For a ten year old,

"So what'd I miss?" she asked, eyes inquisitive, though she still looked fairly tired despite having fallen asleep at some point.

"Besides the longest speech in the history of anywhere?" at the question Ichigo nodded, waiting patiently as the teenager continued, "Well not much actually. See the old man sitting there?" again Ichigo nodded, "He's the sou-taicho apparently. He gave a much shorter, more abbreviated speech that didn't put anybody to sleep but that was it. They're calling students up right now to give them their division assignments right now, they're going alphabetically by last name, and they're about midway through the K's, so you'll be called up soon-"

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Speak of the devil…" Majo commented sarcastically, giving the child a gentle push with her knee as she watched her slowly begin to walk up to the stage, only pausing momentarily to look back at the two subconsciously for reassurance.

"Good job, not many can boast that they managed to successfully graduate from the academy in a year Kurosaki-san." Ichigo nodded her head slightly in response, reaching out to shake the dean's hand before taking her new uniform; the black shihakusho of the shinigami. "You should feel proud of yourself. You'll be in the fifth division, congratulations 3rd seat Ichigo Kurosaki. Do your captain proud, now go stand with your new division."

"Ok." She said, voice quiet as she chanced a momentary glance at the crowd before moving to stand next to the familiar dark haired lieutenant known as Momo Hinamori and her always pleasantly smiling captain, Aizen Sosuke. Said shinigami nodded his head, reaching his hand out in greeting and acceptance of the new recruit.

"Welcome Kurosaki-chan. We'll be glad to have you. And don't worry about settling in, Hinamori-fukutaicho should be able to help you with any issues you may have while trying to adjust to life as a shinigami. I must say, I don't think I've heard of anybody being dropped immediately into the third seat of a division since Hitsugaya-taicho joined us." The man greeted, the pleasant smile not leaving his face at all as he gently guided the child towards the members of his division, leaving her to stand next to the smiling lieutenant as the girl placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hai, don't worry. And if you want, I can see if I can't pull any strings to allow a bit of time off in order to go deliver the good news to any family you have living in Rukongai. I'm sure they'd be ecstatic to hear about it." Momo commented, bending down to get on the younger's eye level before standing up again. Ichigo nodded her head in response, choosing to remain silent instead as she turned her focus back to the front, once again spacing off as the ceremony slowly dragged on.

* * *

"Ichigo! Long time no see!" The highly exuberant cheer came as Kisehana all but tackled her adoptive younger sister to the ground, head smacking painfully against the wooden floor upon impact.

"Hey Kisehana-nee. Missed you too. And it's only been a couple of months since we last saw each other." Ichigo stated as she carefully pushed the older girl off of her. Kisehana pouted at the statement, though still getting up from the floor so Ichigo could stand.

"Yeah, but it's been forever! At least we got to celebrate your tenth birthday together! That was nice right?" At the question Ichigo nodded her head, gaze taking on a fond sort of look before reaching to hug the other once again.

"I really did miss you. Unfortunately I can't stay long."

"Oh, why not?" Kisehana whined out, Ichigo recoiling slightly as she noticed the tell-tale signs that showed the older was about to start pouting in order to get whatever it was she wanted. She quickly rushed to stop it before it got her into trouble again,

"I only came back to tell you some good news. My fukutaicho managed to pull some strings and get me some time off in order to come here and visit you."

"Wait your fukutaicho… That means…"

"Yep, I graduated."

"Oh my Kami-sama!" the girl yelled out, suddenly jumping about in excitement as she began chattering away at a hundred miles a second. "We so need to celebrate! I can't believe it! You graduated! Oh, what division were you placed in?"

"The fifth. I'm the new third seat."

"What happened to the former?"

"Aizen-taicho said he died in combat."

"Oh my…" Kisehana commented, expression one of surprise as she covered her mouth a hand. She blinked repeatedly as her mind gradually processed the information before she finally jumped back into her cheery self. "Well still, congratulations! I'm guessing you have to go back tonight?" at the nod of her head, Kisehana smiled, hooking her arm through her newly instated sister and dragging out of the house. "Well then, let's go! We're going to celebrate!" she called out, dragging her sister towards the village, both girl laughing the entire way.

* * *

A/N. Ok, so that chapter was a bit short… but that's okay because it was a filler of sorts, not important or meant to be terribly long. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading! Please remember to review and see ya!


	8. EP 8 Prelude to Disaster

A/N. Ok guys, here's the eighth episode! Thanks to those who reviewed my story! I was actually going to update a third time yesterday but this monster of a headache I suddenly got did me in. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer: I own NOTHING!**

* * *

**Episode 8: Prelude to Disaster**

* * *

Sparks flew as cold metal clashed with rock hard claws, the sounds harsh as the hollow was sent flying backwards, its back skidding across the ground painfully as it skidded to a stop.

"**How?" **the monster questioned, voice horridly distorted and warped as it slowly picked itself up, bones creaking with the sheer effort it took to stand again. Glaring at its opponent, the hollow let loose a deafening roar, the distorted wail bouncing across the buildings and carrying off into the distance until it finally faded. **"How is it that a mere child has beaten me?!" **His opponent snorted, chocolate brown eyes staring at it with cool aloofness as she approached. Sandaled feet clacked against the pavement harshly, the blade creating a harsh screeching noise as the tip dragged against the ground, leaving a tiny gouge in the surface and a trail of sparks behind before she lifted the blade almost threateningly in front of her.

"…" the girl remained silent for a few seconds, eyes seeming to study the monster for a few seconds before she took her blade in both hands and raised it high above her head. "I'm sorry." The monster's world went black, no pain felt as the blade was swiftly brought down upon his head. Vacantly he noted, the lack of hatred he held for the pre-teen dissipating with her words.

"**Doing your job huh?"**

* * *

"Ah, you're back Kurosaki-chan! How was your time in the human world?" Ichigo found herself being questioned by the lieutenant of her division, the girl seemingly happy as a clam as she bounced up towards the younger, now eleven year old girl.

"Hello Hinamori-fukutaicho." She greeted back, lifting a hand to scratch at the back of her head as she carefully smiled back at the older. Even after a year, Momo's excited and happy personality still threw her off a good amount of the time. Ichigo supposed she'd never get used to it. "It was boring… Very boring." At the description the lieutenant snorted, crossing her hands over her chest as she eyed her subordinate.

"You think almost everything you do is boring!" Momo whined, almost pouting at her for a few seconds before finally straightening out, immediately going back to her normally cheery self as she turned away. Pausing to look back over her shoulder she gave another soft smile, "Come on! I'm guessing you already gave Aizen-taicho your report?" a nod of the head in agreement caused the smile to only brighten, "Good, I need you to accompany me to the thirteenth division." She stated, beginning to walk in the proper direction. Ichigo tilted her head in curiosity, wondering what they had to do there and why she had to come along in order to get it done.

"Why?"

"Well, I'd like to think you'd like to say goodbye to your friend Rukia, right?" Ichigo blinked at that, wondering what was going on with Rukia that she was leaving so soon after she herself had gotten back. She had been hoping to at least get to spend some time with much older girl, if only for a little while before either of them had to leave on assignment again.

"Is Rukia going somewhere?"

"Yeah, she's taking over Karakura Town, at least until they find a more permanent replacement. I still can't believe Shida-san actually died on assignment, but at least he went down fighting. Shiro-chan says that he still had his honor when he died."

"You know Hitsugaya-taicho is going to get pissed at you for using that nickname again, right Hinamori-fukutaicho?" the vice-captain giggled at the prospect, hand lifting up to slightly hide her lips before she calmed down again. The young lady looked back at her, an amused but gentle smile on her face as she reached out to gently pat Ichigo on her head.

"Toshiro doesn't really mind. And besides, I'm sure you could get away with it too!" she said, her tone teasing as her eyes glinted with mischief, reaching out to get ahold of Ichigo's wrist, beginning to pull Ichigo along. "And I thought I told you before that it's ok to call me Momo! You know you're not good with calling any form of authority by their proper titles, everybody who knows you knows that. And that's almost all the captains. Even the Sou-taicho doesn't care that you still sometimes call him Old Man."

"Ok."

"Good." She nodded her head, a victorious smile on her face as they both decided to use shunpo, flashing out of existence for a few seconds before reappearing in front of a large building, the Japanese kanji for thirteen sitting proudly above the large double doors. "Let's go in, ne?"

* * *

"Ukitake-taicho." Momo greeted as she opened the doors to the white haired man's office, both girls leaning over to peek inside. Said man chuckled in amusement at their antics, motioning for both to enter as he quickly put away the stacks of paper on his desk.

"Well if it isn't Hinamori-san and Kurosaki-chan. Welcome, I'm guessing you're both here to see Rukia?"

"Actually, I brought Kurosaki-chan along to talk to her. I'm here because Aizen-taicho sent me. I have a message for you."

"I see." The man said, the ever present gentle smile on his face softening even further. Ichigo couldn't help but note what seemed like a large difference between this man's smile and the smile her own captain gave everybody. "Rukia is in her room getting packed. You know where it is right?" the eleven year old nodded at the question, giving a small smile in return as she turned to leave, pausing only to close the door behind her before heading for the barracks.

* * *

The sun was setting below the horizon by the time Ichigo had arrived at Rukia's room, her sense of direction slightly poorer than most having resulted in her getting slightly lost a couple of times. She now stood before the bedroom door of her friend, eyes staring at it in trepidation as she slowly raised a hand to knock on the door. She almost jumped out of her own skin when the door suddenly opened without warning, causing her to back up and almost draw her zanpakutō in preparation to attack. The eleven year old quickly calmed down however when she saw it was just Rukia.

"Oh, hey Ichigo. What are you doing here?" the rather short, dark haired girl questioned, dark blue eyes blinking in surprise at the unexpected appearance of the younger girl. Ichigo nodded her head in return, moving to the side as the obviously rushed girl walked out of the room, Ichigo catching the slight mess the other had left behind just before the door was closed.

"Hey Rukia. I came to say goodbye."

"Oh, so you heard about the transfer?"

"It's only for three months right?"

"Yeah… But still."

"Don't worry Rukia, you'll do fine." Ichigo said, trying her best to give a reassuring smile. Rukia huffed, obviously frazzled by the prospect of going to the human world to fight hollows.

"Easy for you to say. You're a third seat and one of the Gotei 13's strongest at that." The girl objected, pointing an accusatory finger at the younger. Ichigo just tilted her head, a rather graceful smile on her face, though she herself didn't realize it. Reaching up to gently push the hand down, she opened her arms for a hug, Rukia sighing as she gave in to the offer.

"But Rukia, you're strong too. How many people who aren't in a seated position can boast that they have mastered shikai?"

"Not many."

"And how many people can boast that they have the most beautiful zanpakutō in Seireitei?"

"Nobody but me?"

"Exactly!" Ichigo replied, her smile now turning into a proud grin as she patted the older girl's shoulder. "Now you're going to go to the human world, kick some Hollow ass, and return in three months boasting about how all those hollows ran away scared of the fierceness that is Rukia Kuchiki." Rukia giggled at the last part, amused by the simple image of a hollow running away from her of all people.

"Sure I will."

"But of course. Now let's go get you to that gate! You've got a Senkaimon to catch!" both girls left the barracks giggling and laughing, only sobering up once they actually reached the gates. Ichigo gave a forlorn smile, slowly waving goodbye until her friend disappeared into bright lights of the paper doors. Hand then falling limply to her side, the eleven year old's eyes narrowed as a growing pit of suspicion made itself at home in the bottom of her stomach. Slowly, she turned around to leave, but all the while she couldn't help the feeling that something was awfully strange about this, and worse, that something bad was going to happen. She couldn't help the sigh that passed her lips as she headed towards the thirteenth division's office; she needed to find her vice-captain.

* * *

A/N. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks again for reading! As you guys can probably guess, the Invasion of Soul Society arc is next. Anyways, please remember to review and tell me what you think, see ya!


	9. Ep 9 The Invasion Pt 1

A/N. Here's episode 9. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading! I'd also like to thank those who reviewed my story as well!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

**Episode 9: The Invasion Pt. 1**

* * *

_Blood was everywhere, a whole world fading to black and swamped in pain. Glassed over eyes stared vacantly ahead meeting the horror stricken, chocolate brown of a frightened child, a broken chain laying sprawled out around her bloodstained feet, hooked into her chest._

"_W-What is… Is that…?" the child gasped out, whole body shaking as she continued to stare at the corpse laying sprawled across the once white linoleum, tears threatening to spill from her eyes as her mind struggled the process the dangerous situation she suddenly found herself in. "Is that… M-me?" her voice cracked at the last part, body continuing to shake as she buried her face in the palms of her hands. She was brought out of hysterical sobbing however when a monstrous foot came down, smashing the corpses head and creating an even bigger, bloodier mess, the child being forced to try and swallow the bile threatening to rise up in her throat._

"_**Hehehe… Such a delicious little soul…" **__the voice spoke, cruel in tone and sounding like a strange mixture between a woman's and man's voice, twisted and distorted to sound monstrous and terrifying. __**"I can't wait to eat you… Huh?" **__the monster, face hidden behind a bone white mask, spoke, confusion arising at the sound of a door being opened. It decided to ignore it however, instead choosing to focus at its new meal, the child backing up into the wall in fear. A ghastly, deformed hand reached out, planning to snatch the child up and eat her whole, when it gasped, a sudden, unexpected feeling of pain overriding its senses. The monster's gaze dropped, golden eyes widening at the sight of a sword, blood-stained and yet still beautiful, protruding from the center of its chest, glinting dangerously as it caught the fading light emitted by the full moon sitting high in the darkened night skies above._

"_Damned hollow. Disappear…" a cold voice ordered, the monster coughing up pools of blackened blood as the blade was pushed further through its chest, before suddenly being pulled upwards, even more blood flowing out as the blade finally exited through the head._

"_H-Huh?" the child gasped out, confused as the monster dropped like a rock, the body disintegrating into the air and leaving nothing behind but a giant pool of black blood. "H-HEEAAAH!" the child found herself screaming out in fear yet again, feeling utterly defenseless as she tried to disappear into the wall. Anything to get away from this nightmarish place._

"_Hey… HEY!" the owner of the cold voice called, sighing in exasperation as the child continued to scream. Kneeling down, his serious expression turned slightly warm and softer as he placed a gentle hand on the child's head, the child's eyes widening at the gesture and causing her to look up, her tear stained gaze meeting soft but serious teal ones as the owner of such pretty eyes took the blade in his hand and turned it around, now holding the hilt backwards. Lifting up the now reversed blade, the child continued to stare in wonder at the other, the base now only a few centimeters away from the center of her forehead. "I'm sorry I wasn't here in time to save you…" the boy apologized, causing the girl's once terrified expression to twist in confusion as she continued to stare at the boy. "Pity you probably won't remember me after this, you're actually kinda cute… I probably wouldn't mind getting to talk to you more…" As he gently tapped the child's head with the base of the hilt, the child stared at the boy, taking in the white hair that seemed to shine in the moonlight as well as the boy's eyes. Just before she disappeared into a portal of light, the child couldn't help but voice her thoughts,_

"_Pretty…"_

* * *

"Ichigo!" the eleven year old lurched forward, nearly falling off of the sofa in surprise and shock, not being able to help the almost terror filled scream that managed to slip past her lips. She was quickly caught however, the surprisingly strong arms of a certain lieutenant wrapping around her as the owner supported her easily. "Whoa there, you okay?" Ichigo blinked in shock, mind and heart racing for a few seconds before they both finally calmed down.

"R-Rangiku?" the child questioned, blinking in shock as she looked into the almost comforting eyes of the lieutenant of the tenth division. The busty woman tilted her head, an almost motherly smile on her face as she ran a gentle hand through the younger's hair.

"Yep. You okay?" the woman questioned, finally letting the child go so that she could sit up on her own. "You were having a nightmare."

"O-Oh… W-where am I?"

"The tenth division." She answered, the gentle smile still on her face. "You came to deliver a message for Taicho, but he wasn't here, remember? You said you were going to wait, and went to sit on the sofa in his office, which is this room."

"Oh… I must have fallen asleep."

"Oh did you. I turned away for a couple of seconds, when I turned back, you were gone. You looked so cute too, snuggling up against the pillow like it was a teddy bear or something."

"R-Rangiku!"

"Matsumoto, quit harassing the fifth division's third seat!" both girls jumped as the tenth division captain finally walked in, eyes shooting a scathing glare at the exuberant woman in warning, pausing on his way to his desk to nod his head in greeting the aforementioned eleven year old. "Kurosaki."

"Toshiro." She said, nodding her head back as she watched him drop a rather large stack of papers on his desk, immediately plopping himself down in his chair as soon as he was done. A white eyebrow twitched in irritation, eyes shooting her an irritated glare as the boy, only a few months older then her in appearance, began scolding her again about the usage of his name.

"For the last time Kurosaki. It's Hitsugaya-taicho! Not Toshiro."

"But Toshiro is your name." Ichigo objected easily, a soft smile on her face as she slowly began to relax into their usual banter.

Despite being in separate divisions, Ichigo and the young, white haired captain were actually fairly close, the eleven year old being one of a select few who could actually get away with calling him by his name or even the nickname that the lieutenant of her division had given him without any repercussions other than getting yelled at. Said lieutenant of the fifth, along with Rangiku, would swear up and down to five Wednesdays from now, that they both had crushes on each other and were always scheming and plotting together to see how they could get the two paired up and dating. Ichigo however, would die before admitting that they were at least right on her own account.

She couldn't help the uncharacteristic blush that sprung up on her face in embarrassment, immediately hiding her reddened face in the admittedly comfortable surface of the couch.

"Yes, it's my name. But Hitsugaya-taicho is my title. I would prefer that you at least uphold to discipline while at least talking to me." He commented dryly, dragging the suddenly very shy pre-teen away from the sofa and hiding her now fading blush to him. From her side, Rangiku giggled at them both, suddenly decided to voice her own thoughts,

"Oh come now Taicho! You know you like it when she calls you by your first name, no need to be shy about it!"

"Matsumoto!"

"And besides, you know she's no good with authority. As long as she follows orders on all other accounts, it's fine, right?" Rangiku commented with a mischievous smile, watching with small satisfaction as her captain grumbled in defeat, not being able to come up with a decent retort at the information.

"Fine." He consented, huffing as he picked up the pen lying on his desk and got to work on the stack of paperwork that had been left almost forgotten by the three shinigami. "Oh, why are you even here Kurosaki? Aren't you needed at your division?" he suddenly inquired, looking at the girl inquisitively. Ichigo blinked slowly, mind finally catching up to the conversation at hand,

"Oh yeah." She chirped, placing one hand on the back of the sofa, shifting her weight as she used it as a focus to jump over the brown piece of furniture. "I have a message from Momo." She said, reaching into the sleeve her shihakusho to pull out a piece of carefully folded paper. "Also here." She then pulled out a folder, handing it over to the boy as well, "I think it's a report from Aizen." She explained before turning to leave.

"Oh. You're leaving already?" Rangiku asked as she watched the third seat head for the door. The child stopped, turning slowly to face the woman with a nod of her head.

"Yep. Sorry but as Toshiro said-"

"Hitsugaya-taicho!"

"-I need to return to fifth division, I'm sure somebody needs for something. See ya Rangiku-san! Toshiro!" she called, shutting the door behind her with a wave of the hand.

* * *

Rangiku stared at the door for a few moments longer before turning a rather serious gaze onto her captain, the white haired boy almost completely gone within his work.

"Taicho." She commented, knowing even if he didn't, that he still heard her.

"Yes Matsumoto?"

"Don't you think you should tell her?" the woman inquired looking at the boy with a concerned look. Toshiro sighed, placing the pen down as he lifted his head to look at the other.

"Tell her what?"

"Taicho, you know what I'm talking about. Don't you think you should tell her that you two met before. When she died-!" she silenced herself, flinching at the loud noise created when her captain slammed his pen down on the desk, suddenly finding his icy glare focused solely on her.

"You are never to bring that up again Matsumoto."

"But Taicho-"

"But nothing Matsumoto!" he interrupted, voice loud and harsh as his icy glare turned glacier cold, "That incident was a nightmare, and she's already been through one in her afterlife! I refuse to be the one to remind her of that time, and neither will you." He stated, a threat Matsumoto never thought she'd find directed at her left to hang in the air unsaid as the boy picked up his pen once again and returned to his work. "Now leave."

"Yes Taicho…" she conceded solemnly, slowly sulking her way out of the room and closing the door behind her. Standing outside of the office now, she couldn't help but stare at the ceiling, seemingly pleading to a higher entity she did not truly know existed for answers. "But Taicho… she's already remembering… Even if it is just dreams and nightmares…" she whispered to the air, sighing as she decided it best to go get a couple of drinks. Maybe she could rope the lieutenant of the ninth division into it too; Shuuhei was always fun to drink with.

* * *

Ichigo sighed as she opened the door to the fifth division captain's office, eyes scanning the large room slowly to see if the person she was looking for was inside. Walking inside, she further looked around the room, noting the various amounts of furniture sitting very decoratively but largely unused in the office, except by herself and a couple of the visiting lieutenants and captains. The room was empty, and she was half tempted to sit down on the sofa and wait again when the door suddenly slammed open behind her.

Turning around so fast she almost gave herself whiplash, Ichigo's eyes landed on the slightly sweating, panting form of Momo, looking like she'd just run a hundred mile marathon sixteen hundred times in less than five seconds.

"M-Momo…"

"Rukia Kuchiki's been arrested…" the haggard girl panted out between taking in gulps of air.

"W-Wha-"

"She's going to be executed!"

"WHAT?!"

* * *

"Rukia!" Ichigo called as she ran into the prison cells, body heaving as if she'd just ran from the other side of Rukongai, which she honestly felt like she had.

"I-Ichigo? What are you doing here?" the girl whispered quietly, staring at the young girl in shock.

"What the hell?! You're set for execution and you're wondering why I'm here?" the eleven year old snapped, looking at the girl as if she'd just said the most stupidest thing in all the universe, which she might as well have as far as she was concerned.

"You heard?"

"Of course I heard! Momo told me!"

"You mean Hinamori-taicho?"

"Whatever. What the hell did you do to get slated for execution? Rukia!" she asked, tone urgent as she shook the other girl. Rukia sighed, gently removing the other's hands from her shoulders and sitting back, staring at the ceiling for answers before returning her gaze to the strawberry blonde third seat.

"I gave my powers to a human."

"What? Rukia! That's illegal!"

"Yes, but if I hadn't, we all would've died."

"Wait we?"

"Yes we. There was more than one person there at the time. I had to Ichigo and-!" she gasped in shock as she suddenly found herself getting hit upside the head, Ichigo dragging the girl into a heartfelt hug.

"Enough Rukia, enough." She said, sitting back to look the other in the eye. "It's fine, I understand. But man this is screwed up!"

"I know." Ichigo sighed, slowly standing up to brush the dirt and grime from her uniform.

"Don't worry Rukia, I'll figure out a way to save you."

"Wait, what? Ichigo!"

"Don't worry Rukia! Just hang in there!" the younger girl called with a wave of her hand as she disappeared from the room, leaving Rukia there to scream at her through the cell bars.

"Ichigo!"

* * *

A/N. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks again for reading! I've decided that this is going to be another Fem!IchigoxToshiro fanfic. Anyways, please remember to review and see ya!


	10. EP 10 The Invasion Pt 2

A/N. Here's episode 10 peoples!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

**Episode 10: The Invasion Pt. 2**

* * *

The air was stuffy and more than a little uncomfortable, the vast number of shelves in the dark, candle-lit room hefted down with dust covered books and files as old as the very dirt itself. The silence within the almost immeasurably large room was almost deafening yet peaceful at the same time, only occasionally shattered by the soft, whispered sounds of the crinkling of paper; the old, barely touched, faded pages of a book that had lain forgotten on a tall shelf to never be seen again until that very moonlit night.

"Kurosaki? Are you in here?" a tall man with rich brown hair called out, light brown eyes scanning the room for any sign of the pre-teen from his place in the doorway. He was met with continued, only slightly broken silence, eyes twisting up in miniscule concern as he ventured further into vast archives that contained the long, drawn out history of the Gotei 13 and Soul Society as a whole. Walking along the aisles, he peeked around rows and columns of seemingly never ending bookshelves and old-fashioned, rotting with age filing cabinets; wrinkling his nose up at the amount of dust that had collected over the years without nary a soul –living or dead- ever bothering to visit the old, nearly forgotten place in almost a century, if not longer. He himself had to admit that he had almost not bothered to even think of checking this almost-tomb of ancient laws, forgotten documents, and stored information that would've put the computers in the twelfth division to shame in his search for his suddenly wayward third seat; the eleven year old having mysteriously disappeared without a trace and without telling anybody beforehand a total of three days ago. It had almost sent his own lieutenant into a tizzy over the matter, the girl's old sister, or maybe even a motherly instinct, taking control of her actions and almost resulting in the normally gentle vice-captain almost tearing the whole of fifth division, and by extension, Seireitei, in an almost mad search for the child. That is, if he hadn't managed to catch and calm the overtly worried lieutenant down first.

The man quickly shook his head, forcibly pushing his thoughts to the back of his mind, the matter at hand more important than the events of the last three days. Though honestly he himself had to admit, the news that her friend was going to be executed might have been too much of a shock to her system. "Kurosaki? Kuro- Oh!" the man called out in surprise, almost tripping over himself as he finally spotted the young, strawberry blonde in question, huddled into a corner, amidst a pile of various files and books; her nose buried deep within a particular one. Her appearance was a tad disheveled, and the man couldn't help but frown and the obvious dark shadows under the young child's eyes, a tell-tale sign that she had been getting very little, if any at all, sleep. "Ichigo-chan." He called, hoping slightly that calling her by her first name might draw the child's attention, his usual habit of calling her by her last having obviously had no results prior to having finally found the exhausted child. She blinked, eyes turning up to meet his, expression worn with stress from the past week or so.

"Hm? Oh hey Aizen-taicho." The small child greeted, sounding surprisingly energetic for one so obviously exhausted. "What are you doing here?"

"Kurosaki. You do realize how long you've been down here, don't you?" the man asked gently, kneeling down in front of her to move the piles and stacks of obviously and thoroughly read books.

"Only a couple of hours right?"

"No Kurosaki," he responded, blinking in surprise at the answer. Had she really not been aware of the time that had passed by since she had entered the archives? "Kurosaki. You've been down here for three days almost, not just a couple of hours. What were you doing that you found so important and urgent you disappeared without a trace?"

"Oh… I… I wanted to compare Rukia's case with others. But I can't get into the twelfth division without Hanataro or Rin, so I came here instead." At the information, Aizen blinked for a moment, confused at to what exactly the seventh seat of the fourth division had to do with getting into the twelfth division for information.

"Can I ask why you need Yamada-san to get into twelfth?"

"Mayuri-taicho is less likely to try experimenting on me if I have Hanataro with me." If Aizen had been any other man, he would've found himself face-faulting at the blatant statement that feel from the child's lips. As of now, he just barely blinked in shock, eyes staring at his third seat as if she had grown a second head, before finally sighing in defeat and reaching to help her onto her own feet.

"Come on, let's get you back to the barracks. You need to rest."

"But I'm not done yet."

"Kurosaki-san, do not question your captain on this. You need rest." Aizen said, both expression and tone stern and serious as he gently pushed the child out of the room, leaving the pile of books on the floor while making a mental note to come back and read through what she had already read. Little did he notice, as the child eyes narrowed, subtly slipping a particularly thin book from a shelf as they passed it and into the large confines of her sleeve.

"Hai, Aizen-taicho." She agreed simply, a clever smile on her lips that went unnoticed by the obviously distracted captain.

* * *

"Oh, ohayo Ichimaru." Ichigo greeted as she exited her captain's office, a stack of files in hand that she only barely managed to retain a good grip on as she narrowly missed colliding into the fox-faced, snake-like captain of the third division; silver hair shadowing squinting eyes as the man grinned down at the child, a hand reaching up to ruffle her hair.

"Good morning there Ichi-chan." The older man greeted, his grin suddenly taking a turn for the suspiciously mischievous as he lifted the pile of paperwork from her hands.

"Ah! Ichimaru! I need to deliver those to the thirteenth division!" Ichigo protested, hands reaching up to try and get back the stolen documents, only to end in failure and a pout as the fox faced man simply patted her head in reassurance, turning an almost playfully cruel expression onto his blonde hair lieutenant, whom Ichigo just now noticed standing behind the large man.

"Taicho, that's not very nice…"

"Nonsense 'Zuru! 'Sides, you'll be taking care of this task for her! After all, it's not nice to make a little girl carry such a heavy stack of papers all the way to the thirteenth division now is it?" the man inquired mischievously, shoving the pile into the blonde haired lieutenants hands, before turning back to Ichigo and beginning to gently guide her outside the fifth division.

"But what about that message you had for Aizen-taicho-!"

"You can deliver it!" the silver haired captain called back, waving easily over his shoulders as he lead the only barely managing to struggle third seat in the direction of the west gate. The lieutenant was left to stare after his captain, wondering how exactly he was going to explain to the captain of the fifth division that his third seat had been stolen by another. And for that matter, how was he going to deliver a message he'd never been told the contents of.

"Taicho is so mean to me…"

* * *

"Ichimaru, why are we here?" Ichigo found herself questioning the tall man as she followed him through the streets of Seireitei, eyes looking up to the man inquisitively before they dropped down to gaze at the tiled road before them, the tall white walls that surrounded their home and fortress growing ever closer and taller in appearance.

"Ah, to go meet up with ta rest o' my squad of course."

"But I'm not a part of the third division. Why drag me along instead of Kira-kun?" she questioned again, eyes continued to stare ahead. Gin paused at the question for only a second, feet stopping completely before he finally continued to walk, though a contemplative expression still remained on his face.

"Well, Cap'n Aizen's always having you run back and forth between divisions lately right?" he inquired, continuing in his explanation as she nodded her head, "Well, I thought-"

"You? Think? That's a scary thought, did anything blow up in the process?" Ichigo couldn't help but tease as she continued to follow the silver haired man, watching with an amused grin as the man looked back at her in shock and slight offense that all but lasted a total of fifteen seconds at most. The third division captain almost curled in on himself as he broke into what seemed like bone-shaking laughter, normally fake grin turning genuine as he gazed out of a shielded blue eye at the strawberry blonde standing just a few feet away from him.

"Ya see, this is why I think they should've put ya in ma division. Ya'd fit right in! I betcha ya'd even be able to get poor little 'Zuru smilin' and laughin' too!" Ichigo gave a small snort under her breath as the pair continued walking again, Gin reaching out to ruffle her hair affectionately as they finally approached a medium-sized group of shinigami, obviously the members of third division that Gin had said he was dragging her about to meet. "Or maybe tenth would be better… After all ya in the white captain get along so great together…"

"Please don't start with that, please. I get enough of that from Rangiku and Momo." Ichigo pleaded with the man, eyes gazing at him exasperatedly as the man continued to chuckle under his breath in amusement.

"Ah, it can't be that bad Ichi-chan."

"Oh but it is."

"Ichimaru-taicho!" their conversation was interrupted as one of the non-seated officers present ran up to them, a confused gaze immediately landing on the nonchalant form of the third seat, more than a little bewildered by her presence. "Um…"

"No need to worry, she's just visitin' 's all." The man easily replied, grinning away whatever other questions they may have had concerning her presence at the gate.

Despite what some may have believed about the third seat of the fifth division and the captain of the third's ability to get along with each other, which according to others was actually non-existent. They actually got along with each other shockingly well. Gin, for whatever reasons that were his own, and that of which Ichigo refused to pry into, liked having her presence around and even went so far as to "barrow" her from her division and duties at times. If he were to be honest with himself, he thought of her like the younger sister he had never had. As for Ichigo, it was more of the ability to be more of herself and a little less loose around others that Gin helped to provide when around her, something only a few managed to accomplish and so was regarded as a rather close friend in her own book of sorts. A bonus in Ichigo's book was that he one of only two people that she actually felt comfortable going to when she needed someone to talk to, the other being Toshiro Hitsugaya of the tenth. Combined, they were the only two people she would ever go to for advice outside of her own zanpakutō.

The two shinigami were shaken from their thoughts when the gates suddenly, and to the great expectation to the many present, opened without warning. Immediately the shinigami and Gin drew their swords, Ichigo only standing back in her own individual choice to observe before drawing her blade at the cause.

"What the-?!" the non-seated shinigami immediately burst into yells and shouts of outrage and shock, eyes growing wide at the sight of the guardian of the west gate lifting the giant, heavy-set, wooden door; behind him, the tell-tale silhouettes of what must have been intruders seen behind the large giant.

"Oh ma… Looks like we get ta meet some new playmates, eh Ichi-chan?" Gin asked, tone dripping with a now devilish sort of amusement as he prepared to released his zanpakutō. He stopped however as Ichigo stepped forward, slowly walking up to the giant before bending over slightly to look at the people standing behind him. Gin eyes squinted in concern as the child seemed to go stalk still at the sight of the motley group, seeming to grow worryingly pale as the blood seemed to drain from her personage. He immediately stepped forward, placing a strong hand on the younger, frozen third seat and pulling her back behind him as they intruders entered through the gate. "Yo Gatekeeper, whatcha think ya doing? Lifting the gates forbidden."

"I lost, as such the gate must be lifted." The giant explained, looking all the more like an innocent child. It made Gin almost think twice about what he was about to do. Almost.

"Nope, ya got that wrong I'm afraid. If the gatekeeper loses, he ain't supposed to open the gate, he's supposed to die."

"Ichimaru-"

"Sorry Ichi-chan, I know you don't really like violence, but I'm gonna have ta ask ya ta close yer eyes." The man interrupted, lifting a hand to block the younger's vision as he called for zanpakutō's release. "Shoot to kill, Shinso!" Gin couldn't help the grimace that crossed as his face as he felt Ichigo wince under his hand, the sharp scream of pain shaking the child, only jarring her further as the gate suddenly slammed shut. "C'mon Ichi-chan, let's go back." He said, guiding the third seat back in the direction they had come from, the members of his division in tow. "Hey, maybe Rangiku and I can arrange a date between ya 'n the chibi captain." The silver haired captain all but giggled in amusement as he was forced to dodge the slightly-overpowered-for-a-third-seat swat Ichigo attempted to hit him with, only narrowly managing to miss as she proceeded to chase him, face beet red in outrage at his words.

"GIN!" Gin spent the rest of the afternoon entertaining and distracting the third seat, all genuine smiles and laughs as the minutes passed by easily. He would never openly admit it, even though he knew that man probably suspected it. But the little, short-tempered berry, might just cause him to rethink his own original plans.

* * *

A/N. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for reading! And if you guys wanted to know who took Ichigo's place, I decided it'd make for an interesting plot point to place her sister Karin in her shoes and make her the substitute shinigami. Anyways, please remember to review and see ya!


	11. EP 11 The Invasion Pt 3

A/N. Here's episode 11!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

**Episode 11: The Invasion Pt. 3**

* * *

Ichigo was confused to say the very least as she stood there gaping in dulled down shock at the crater now laying before her, a one beautiful day taking a turn for the uncontrolled and dangerous as smoke rose up into the sky. She only barely managed to register the seemingly distant sounds of the alarms ringing, the call of intruders echoing throughout the whole of Seireitei as everything all but burst into chaos; shinigami running rampant in droves as they rushed to quickly resolve the possible invasion. She found herself taking a tentative step back as a black blur suddenly came bursting out from within the pit, followed shortly after by a definitely human hand.

"What the-?"

"Oh dear, Yoruichi-san. It appears that we somehow managed to land ourselves right in front of an enemy." The seemingly soft spoken voice of a young, peaceful looking boy spoke up, pausing to dust the dirt and grime off of his personage before placing all of his attention onto the shinigami standing before him. Ichigo immediately drew her blade, not yet releasing it, though she was carefully building up her own reiatsu to do so. The boy tilted his head, eyes taking on an almost amused look though he remained stood regardless of however it was he felt.

"State your name and business." She ordered without hesitation, gaze serious despite however disadvantaged she may be at the moment. The boy blinked at the demand, pausing to contemplate whether or not he should answer, before finally seeming to nod his head in ascent to what she guessed he was taking as a request.

"Ah, where are my manners?" he began, a pleased smile on his face as he gave a polite bow, "My name is Mizuiro Kojima. As for my business well, I'd like to keep that a secret for now. What about you?" Ichigo continued to eye him warily, grip tightening slightly on her blade as she stored the information away for later use, a sort of precaution in case she lost or he somehow managed to slip away. She did not fail to notice the black cat sitting on top of the roof staring down at the two of them either.

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki." She informed him, eyes glaring at him with a level of sternness he hadn't seen in but one other person that he knew of personally. Mizuiro seemed to freeze slightly even further at her name, eyes blinking in shock as he seemed to fight for the proper words for what must have been the first time in his life. "Third seat of the fifth division of the Gotei 13. And, should actions call for it, your executioner."

"Did you say Kurosaki?" the boy questioned tentatively, looking at Ichigo as if he'd just seen a ghost. Ichigo looked at him strangely in return for the question.

"Yes, why?"

"You- You don't remember me, do you?" he asked, looking all the more like he resented something. What, the third seat had no clue, her mind drawing blanks when he mentioned her memory.

"No." she answered, eying the boy carefully as his gaze dropped towards the ground, a fist tightening slightly. "Why?" He didn't answer, instead choosing to turn towards the cat who had remained sitting there on the nearby roof for some time now.

"Yoruichi-san, I don't think I'll be able to fight her." He said, speaking as if the cat could actually talk back. Ichigo was surprised however when it did, its voice deep and sounding distinctly male in origin, though she had a feeling that that wasn't the feline's actual gender. Yoruichi too much like a female's name in her own mind at least.

"In all honesty, and not to doubt you Mizuiro. But I don't think you'd be able to take her on even if you were willing to raise your hand against her. She's far stronger than her rank gives her credit for." The cat acquiesced, looking all the bit serious a cat could possibly appear to be and more.

"I see… Well I'm sorry Ichigo, but I'm afraid we'll be leaving now." Mizuiro replied, a shockingly gentle, and more than a little familiar smile on his face as he turned to leave. That familiarity didn't stop her from attacking though.

"Well then I have to apologize myself." She stated slowly as she raised her blade, eyes glowing with built up reiatsu as she prepared to bring the blade down on seemingly thin air. "Because I'm afraid I just can't let either of you walk away. Not without knowing the reason why you are here at least." She said finally, watching with a small amount of satisfaction as the boy's eyes widened, the released attack leaving a large, almost bottomless gash in the ground. She gave them both no time to recover however as she attacked again, raising her blade to slash out at her opponent as the boy attempted to dodge all of her attacks, moving too slow to get past or avoid all of them.

"Please don't make me fight you." The boy begged, tone seeming unnaturally pleading as he once again jumped back in an attempt to dodge another of her attacks. The cat had tried to jump in multiple times, but Ichigo had managed to keep him at bay as well and out of the fight. As far as she was concerned, just one person getting taken down was enough for her. "Ichigo!"

"I don't know who you are." Ichigo cut in, the back of her zanpakutō now almost crushing Mizuiro's windpipe as he gagged for air, now finding himself deftly pinned to the wall. "But somebody obviously failed to explain something to you when they convinced you to pull off such a ridiculous idea as to invading Soul Society. Nobody makes it out alive unless they are really goddamn lucky."

"Mizuiro! You need to get out of there now!" the cat called out in concern from behind her. Attempting to get close, only to be pushed back when the child attempted to take a swipe at the animal. The boy gasped, eyes wide in shock before they suddenly dulled out, sliding shut as the world went black far too quickly. Faintly, he couldn't help but register the words that the girl whispered as he faintly managed to notice the feeling of being lifted off the ground, followed shortly after by the feeling of air rushing by.

"I'm sorry."

* * *

A/N. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. Sorry if it's short. I'll try and make the next one longer. Anyways, thanks for reading and please review! See ya!


	12. EP 12 The Invasion Pt 4

A/N. Here's episode 12, thanks for the reviews and I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

* * *

**Episode 12: The Invasion Pt. 4**

* * *

'_Something's not right about any of this…' _Ichigo thought to herself, expression a dull façade of boredom hiding the rapid amount of ideas and contemplations running rampant inside her head as she walked in silence towards the captain's office of the fifth division. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of her captain since yesterday, and knowing her vice-captain, she'd probably slept in without the constantly smiling there to wake her up. Ultimately, this translated to the older girl being late for the meeting between lieutenants that was supposed to start in just about half an hour, which meant Ichigo probably should walk a bit faster than she was so that the other was at most, just a few minutes late. Releasing an exasperated sigh, Ichigo knelt down low to the ground, seeming to disappear in a burst of speed as she rushed to where the lieutenant was most likely sleeping.

"Momo! Momo!" Ichigo called as she knocked on the door of her captain's office, heaving a sigh of exasperation once again as she proceeded to kick the door in growing frustration. "Hinamori-fukutaicho! Wake up! You're going to be late to the meeting!" she called out loudly, for once showing visible anger as she kicked the sliding door once again. She blinked as the loud noises of something or somebody landing roughly on the ground could be heard from within the room, only further emphasized by the sharp, feminine scream that followed not even seconds afterwards. Listening in stunned silence as the various loud noises of obviously painful bumps and what was probably the cause of a sore foot and a pounding headache later on continued for a few more minutes, before all fell silent and the door flashed open, the lieutenant appearing in a panting heap as she rushed past the younger third seat.

"Oh Ichigo! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?!" the older called as she took off down the hall, joined only seconds later by Ichigo, who had the lieutenant's arm badge in hand as she helped get the lieutenant into a more presentable state while they both shunpoed out of the division.

"Sorry, I honestly thought Aizen-taicho would've woken you up by now!" Ichigo explained as she finally fastened on the badge, continuing to follow the lieutenant as they darted between buildings and rebounded off of walls in half-baked shortcuts that Ichigo knew worked most of the time to get them where they needed to go quickly.

"Oh, Ichigo!"

"Don't whine at me! You're the lieutenant here!" Ichigo called out in return, so distracted with the conversation she almost missed the tell-tale scent of blood that permeated the air, only getting stronger the closer they got to the eastern wall. "Wait…" she said, voice drifting off into the air as she came to a slow stop, walking off in the direction she could only guess the scent was coming from, and silently pray that it was just her imagination.

"Ichigo?" Momo questioned as she stopped a few feet ahead of the other, running back to catch up with the now wandering third seat as she walked along the wooden balcony, hopping over a median that usually was in place to cordon off an area or keep someone from entering a certain way, even though it did little to stop those who could just as easily climb or jump over them. "Ichigo-!"

"Oh kami-sama…" Ichigo whispered out, tone dripping with obvious shock at the blood-filled scene that met both lieutenant and third seat, eyes widened in a mixture of disbelief and horror as Ichigo herself barely managed to swallow the bile quickly rising in her throat. "A-A-A…"

"AIZEN-TAICHO!"

* * *

Izuru and Hisagi had been sitting patiently, Rangiku not far from them when they had heard the horror-filled scream of a certain lieutenant they all knew fairly well. Eyes widening in shock they all darted out of the room, quickly meeting up with some of the captains as they darted in the direction of the source. Fearing the worst, they all quickly sped up, all landing in a hurried rush as dust and dirt was kicked into the air, eyes widening in shock at the sight that met them. A long trail of blood running up along the once completely white walls, ending or beginning – they weren't sure – at the corpse of the fifth division captain, hanging from the wall by his own sword which had been run through his own stomach. The sight was sickening, and the effect only worsened at the sight of the distraught lieutenant standing right below the mess, screaming and crying out her captain's name in horror and disbelief the very thought that he was in fact dead.

"Aizen-taicho! AIZEN-TAICHO! NOO!" The struggling, hysteric girl was easily pulled back by the younger third seat, who stared pensively at the scene as well, though she was obviously having an easier time controlling herself then her superior was.

"Momo! Momo! Hinamori-fukutaicho! Please calm down! Momo!" The eleven year old pleaded as she frantically tried to calm the other down before something set her off and she did something they both would wind up regretting. "Momo!" she found herself cutting off her own sentence as the familiar voice of the third division captain could be heard, causing everybody present to turn around to face the fox-faced, silver haired man.

"My, my… What's this?" at the nonchalant question and Gin's seemingly easy handling of the sight, Momo seemed to snap, shoving off the third seat as she drew her blade and lunged at the captain, yelling accusations in rage and hysteric anger.

"You… YOU DID IT!" Momo screamed, blade easily stopped, not by the captain himself, but by his lieutenant, Izuru, eyes narrowed as the blonde man tried to reason with the other. "Kira-kun? Why?"

"I'm the third division lieutenant! No matter the reason Hinamori-san, I cannot allow you to point a blade at my captain!" Izuru explained, blade trembling in his hand as Momo continued to subconsciously apply pressure.

"Please… Move aside Kira…"

"I can't."

"Move aside…"

"I can't!"

"WHAT PART OF 'MOVE ASIDE' DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!" Momo finally snapped out, now consciously applying pressure to the blade as she tried to forcibly move Izuru out of her way. Izuru easily countered, applying just as much force as he held her back, not willing to move an inch despite the fierceness the other was showing at the moment.

"WHAT PART OF 'I CAN'T' DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?!" he snapped back just as easily. His response only encouraged the out-of-control lieutenant further, other hand coming up to grip at her zanpakutō as she glared at the other.

"Snap, TOBIUME!"

"WHAT-?!" the bridge they were standing on lit up in a bright, fiery explosion, Momo gliding back easily as the others cried out for her to stop and think about what she was doing. Kira slid back on hands and knees, clothes partially singed but otherwise fine as the smoke finally cleared, a dark spot now apparent on the wooden surface as the two continued glare each other down.

"How dare you release your zanpakutō here! Hinamori-san! THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!" she ignored him, instead concentrating her reiatsu close to the hilt of her sword, a fiery ball of condensed energy appearing as she flung it at Izuru, who jumped in the air to dodge. "If you insist on acting like this Hinamori-san, then I'm afraid I'm going to have to treat you… As an enemy. Raise your head, Wabisuke!" he called out, his zanpakutō transforming as he prepared to bring it down on the other's head. The whole of the people gathered fell silent, both lieutenants staring in shock as an sealed blade came into contact with Izuru's, easily holding off the newly released blade as they both stared at the owner. "K-Kurosaki-san? Why are you…?"

"I'm sorry…" the eleven year old apologized, voice seeming to crack as she suddenly forced the other back with more power than third seat should actually have. Standing up from her kneeled position in front of the lieutenant of her division, she allowed her blade to drop at her side for a moment as she took a deep calming breath, closed eyes opening to reveal a newfound determination as she raised her blade again in full preparation and resolve to cause harm if Izuru attempted to lay a hand on Momo again.

"Kurosaki-san… Why are you trying to stop me? You need to be helping to calm your lieutenant down, not trying to stop everybody who tries to help!" Izuru questioned,

"I'm sorry Kira… But if you insist on trying to harm Momo, then I must insist on getting in the way… Just as you must get in the way if she raises her blade against your captain, I have to do the same for the exact same reason!" Ichigo explained, shifting her weight and center of gravity around as she prepared to release one of her most powerful attacks if the lieutenant, or anybody else decided to try something while she was still standing in the way herself.

"Ichigo…"

"Kurosaki-san!"

"PLEASE!" Ichigo suddenly cut Izuru off, tears shedding from her eyes as she stared at the other, a silent plea clearly seen in her eyes that left many that were present reeling in shock. "Don't make me fight you Kira… I can promise you won't be walking away safely… Don't make me raise this blade against you."

"Kurosaki-san…" Izuru gasped out, staring at the other in shock, before his expression went serious, "Move."

"I won't."

"Kurosaki-san!"

"I won't move! HYAAAHH!" she yelled out as she swung her blade wide, a giant wave of energy surging forward and nearly taking out the whole of the bridge and everybody on it that stood in front of her.

"Damn it!" Izuru swore as he jumped into the air, barely managing to dodge the surge of condensed reiatsu just in time as he took a position standing in the middle of the air. His eyes widened as the smoke cleared and he saw the true extent of the damage the attack from what was supposed to be a third seat had caused. "What the hell?" He found himself not having enough time to even breath as he was forced to dodge yet another attack from that same, normally so level headed eleven year old, only winding up further away from the initial battlefield. _'What is she trying to…No way…' _He gasped under his breath as he noticed how much distance was actually between himself and the other captains and lieutenants present, and the third seat and Momo. The gap was huge now, not easily covered unless one knew shunpo or had enough speed that they could clear the distance in under a second, but what really threw him and the others for a loop and a half, was that Ichigo rose from her battle stance, sword now hanging in passiveness once they were standing a certain distance away.

Izuru finally understood what exactly the other was going for. She didn't want to fight them, though she had no hesitation in attacking, she was not exactly aiming to hit anything. Instead she was purposely pushing them farther back, creating as large a gap between the two groups as possible. As legit a plan as this seemed, and well thought it must've been for such a short amount of time, this would not keep Momo from coming after his captain, and it only showed when Momo stepped forward, a hand landing on the younger's shoulder as she made the other turn to face her.

* * *

"Ichigo, what are you doing?" Momo asked, knowing that the others were too far away to completely hear the conversation. She hadn't wanted to get the other involved and had been praying somewhere in the back of her mind that she would stay out of it. She hadn't wanted to make the other step in and use a power that she had been present to hear her get forbidden from using the full-extent of by their captain. To make her go back on such an order, she only felt like she was betraying Aizen's faith in her as the lieutenant. But still, Gin Ichimaru, the captain of the third division, needed to pay for killing Aizen. He needed to suffer for what he had done.

"I'm stopping you and keeping them from hurting you." Ichigo explained, looking at the other as if silently asking her, no definitely pleading with her to stop and let it go for now. Momo blinked for a few seconds, contemplating it, truly thinking and considering making the choice of resealing her sword, but her thoughts were cut off as Izuru lunged forward, sword coming up as she stepped around the younger to block his attack.

"Izuru… Move aside… Don't make me hurt you… Don't make Ichigo defy our captain…" she ordered slowly, suddenly seeming a whole lot stronger then she had before. Izuru's eyes only widened further at the last part, wondering about what part of what was currently going on had to with Ichigo defying an order from the now deceased Sosuke Aizen apparently.

"Defy Aizen-taicho… What do you mean?"

"Stand down Izuru, and move aside!" Momo ordered, completely ignoring the question as she continued to push back with growing strength, causing the other to take an involuntary step back. "Do NOT get in my way."

"Momo…"

"Ichigo… Don't get involved any longer." The eleven year old went quiet, zanpakutō almost falling from her grip as Momo looked back at her out of the corner of her eye, expression serious as for once in both of their lives, she gave the younger an order. Izuru took advantage of what seemed like a perfect moment of distraction, raising his blade in hopes of disarming the other. He was stopped however as Ichigo disobeyed the order she had been given, bringing her own blade up to counter his own. Vacantly, he wondered how she could continue to carry her sword when she had blocked his twice already.

"I cannot Hinamori-fukutaicho. I also promised Aizen-taicho I would watch out for you." She gave the girl a smile, before allowing her blade to sink under the others weight, easily tossing him back and skidding across the almost completely destroyed bridge now. "Slice the moon, Zangetsu!" she called out, disappearing from view in a surge of reiatsu, the now quiet air suddenly singing as it cleared. Multiple eyes widened at the sight of a long sword, almost as tall as Ichigo herself, swinging through the air by the long length of ribbon held tightly in said third seat's hands, energy seeming to pulse off of the elegant cleaver in waves as she continued to spin it around by the white cloth as if it were a flail.

From behind her, Momo shifted to the side, zanpakutō still drawn and ready as she prepared to fling another fireball at Izuru.

"I see." All three shinigami lunged at each other, blades drawn and at the ready to carve into one another when they clashed with something unexpected, the three owners eyes widening in sock as two blades crisscrossed in between what would've no doubt been a messy clashing of metal against metal.

"All three of you stand down." The all too familiar voice of Hisagi Shuuhei ordered, blade trembling under the combined weight of all three released zanpakutō. Opposite of him stood Toshiro, foot standing on both zanpakutōs in order to help Shuuhei keep Momo's blade down while his own zanpakutō kept Ichigo's and Izuru's from clashing at the moment, though the third seat wasn't close by a long shot, the cloth allowing for her to keep her distance while she used her blade like a giant flail. He almost tripped over himself when the blade was drawn back, landing in its owners hands easily in its sealed form as the third seat jumped from her position standing in the air. She immediately went about restraining Izuru, her gaze apologetic as she stared at both the tenth division and third division captains.

"Don't move, help Kurosaki restrain them. Kurosaki, we'll talk later concerning how you handled this situation."

"Hai, Hitsugaya-taicho." She said as she continued to successfully keep Izuru pinned under her surprisingly strong grip. Vaguely, the blonde remembered the time when he had first met the third seat, back when she still lived in Rukongai and how she was able to easily flip the giant man five times her own weight at the least. He did not resist when Hisagi withdrew his blade, arms coming up under his own to help as Ichigo took his zanpakutō away from him, Rangiku and Iba coming around to restrain Momo themselves. He also barely missed the visible flinch the captain of the tenth division gave when she called him by such a formal name, only vacantly managing to also remember the many times both Momo and Rangiku had complained about the obvious crushes both third seat and captain held for each other and how neither would admit it.

"Kurosaki-san… Tell him…" He found himself whispering out as he allowed himself to be dragged away by Shuuhei, leaving the third seat to stand there wide eyed on the bridge with the white haired captain as the other two lieutenants dragged away Momo, arms wrapped tightly around Wabisuke as Zangetsu now lay unused from her hip.

"H-Hitsugaya…"

"Come on, you'll be staying in my division until this is all sorted out. We'll have to wait for the Sou-taicho to figure out whether you should or should not be punished for your actions, though you don't have to worry. At most they'll just get a short time in a cell to think about their actions. Right now is a shaky time, especially since we're being invaded." Toshiro said, interrupting the other as he reached over to gently take her hand, tugging her along as he went back to his division. "I'll have to report this to the commander later…"

"O-Ok." Ichigo replied slowly, following the other as she gave a sidelong glance back to the still pinned corpse on the wall. Faintly, she couldn't help but notice something odd about the corpse, something that didn't sit right with her, though she couldn't put her finger on it quite yet. Eyes narrowing, she couldn't help but be suspicious suddenly, and more than a little angry. _'What in the world is going on here?'_

For once, Ichigo didn't know what to think or what to say.

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A/N. I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter and thanks for reading! Please remember to review and tell me what you think! See ya!


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Bleach, Adventure, Romance