This is volume one of the Hollow Chronicles

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any of its forms, but if I did, Kenpachi and Unohara would take "Hospital Love" to a whole new level.

In the event that you are displeased with my level of skill, please, don't hesitate to send a Review. I will use the best of my skills to reply to each one, but in the event that things are getting repetitive, then I will make an area in my Authors note to comment on it.

Please note that this is my first official FanFiction, so please go easy on me.

I give thanks to my first friend on this site, Pehpig, who helped me get things ready.

~Grimmjow~

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaques. You are being tried for the murder of innocent humans and souls, assisting in the Invasion held by Sosuke Aizen, and for the destruction caused by your frequent rampage in Karakura Town. How do you plead?"

Grimmjow sagged down, his head still throbbing from his visit to the interrogation room. He didn't even have the strength to plead guilty. They had made sure of that, beating him over and over until he couldn't tell up from down. They would poison him until his blood turned to jelly and heal him up, doing this over and over again. Those damn 12th division bastards certainly had their fun with him. In fact, that guy with the weird make-up reminded him of Szayel. And that wasn't a good thing.

"Normally we wouldn't even be holding such a trial, but you seem to be on good terms with Ichigo Kurosaki and Orihime Inoue. To quote, 'Grimmjow is rude and ill-tempered, but possesses honor, integrity, and duty.'"

Perfect. Broken in body and spirit, Grimmjow has been reduced to relying on testaments made by his worst enemy. Normally he would have struck each of these fools down with one swing of his zanpakuto.

But as of now, his hands were bound, and he couldn't even draw the strength necessary to lift his arms.

He sat there, on his knees, his arms chained behind him. He had been beaten so badly by his guards that he couldn't understand where these voices were coming from. They were loud, and sounded as if they were coming from all directions.

He recalled to where he had been discovered in the ruins of Las Noches.

Kurosaki had left, along with that woman and that beast of a Soul Reaper. He had been discarded like a petty rag doll and left for dead. He could feel his spirit particles leaving from his wounds, the vast amounts of energy he had worked so hard to obtain was gone. He was at the strength of one of his lower Fraccion, worthless. He wouldn't have minded being struck down by Tosen or Kurosaki, but he wasn't even given that privilege. Nope, he had been left to die a slow and meaningless death.

Lying there, his pride had been crushed and his enemy had saved his life from his comrade. He could feel the blood pouring out of his open wounds. The sand was turning into mud due to all the blood he was emitting. Small, parasitic worms made from single-cellular spirit particles were making their way through his body. The pain was excruciating, and wasn't letting up in the least.

The lit, dark sky shown overhead. With Aizen gone, his Artificial Sun was loosing tremendously needed power, Grimmjow worried that it may collapse, forming a supernova of reishi. And that could destroy everyone here, even Aizen. As he contemplated his death, a Shadow loomed over him. The reiatsu didn't feel familiar, so he knew he wasn't safe. Hell, he knew he wasn't safe even if it was one someone familiar.

"Don't bother struggling. We have your spiritual pressure locked and your zanpakuto has been confiscated."

Those were the last words he could remember from that desert.

The shinigami had cuffed him and performed basic medical aid, even if it was only enough to keep him alive until they got to the Soul Society. But not nearly enough to give him the energy to fight back when they kept him tied down with restraining Kidos, or Bakudo as they call it.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

When he came to the next time, he was being interrogated back in the Soul Society.

It was simple enough. Was he loyal to Aizen, or was he being manipulated? Blah, Blah, Blah. He answered just like they wanted. One time he even got hit because he didn't phrase his answer in the form of a question. He remembered that it was the guy with weird face paint asking him then. The ass didn't know when to quit.

He spent his days catching mice in his jail cell. There were so many, he was sure that they were intentionally releasing them just to toy with him. Whatever. It stopped his Boredom and they were tasty snacks. One time he caught a big, sewer rat. It was the size of Yammy's dog, which wasn't good. It was filling, but he wondered if he had gotten infected with the unwashed blood and meat he had obtained from the rat. There was something bizarre about those rats. The reminded him of his human life, which was one thing he never wanted.

~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~

"Grimmjow? GRIMMJOW JAEGERJAQUES!"

He jumped to attention. His neck almost snapped, swinging his head up so fast. It already started to hurt again. He wasn't nearly healthy enough to stay awake this whole time.

"You have been given the choice between Death or Parole. Your Execution will be painless and swift, we can assure you. Or…" They paused checking to see if he was paying attention. "You can choose to work as a Deputy Soul Reaper."

The notion sent fury down his spine. They we toying with him. They wanted to have him work as their little hollow hunter? "What wrong with your previous deputy shinigami?" The words hurt as they came out, but he wanted to know what had happened.

"It is of no concern on your part, we simply need a new one." So Kurosaki was out of commission, huh? That was the only bit of good news he had received since the end of their match.

They droned on and on until Grimmjow realized that they were serious. They actually wanted him to go around, killing his own kind. They were nuts. Did they honestly believe that he would willingly consent to this? He figured that they were expecting him to decline so that they would have a valid excuse to off him right then and there.

"You will be stationed down in Karakura Town, where we should be able to keep an eye on you. Of course, there will be some strict rules you will need to consent to."

1. You are not allowed to injure any human or Plus that you will come across.

2. You will be assigned to a local denizen of Karakura Town with a significant amount of spiritual pressure.

3. You are forbidden, under any circumstances, to intentionally allow a Hollow or Arrancar to kill off a Human or Plus on your watch.

"In the event that any of these rules are broken, then your parole will be permanently revoked, and your execution will be performed on the spot."

Grimmjow scoffed at the idea, but he couldn't say no. Death was one thing. He had already experienced it before. But to die now, his spirit wouldn't even exist. He would cease to even think.

"Do we take this as your rejection?"

"No. I'll take the job."

~Nel~

The three Arrancars looked over the desert and watched the situation occur. The first was a big, hulk of an Arrancar, with a Tiki mask covering his face. His body was covered in a full body suit covered with polka dots along the back. His name was Dondochakka.

The second Arrancar would have been considered Lanky, if it weren't for his short stature. He wore an insect-shaped mask and a loincloth. He carried plenty of pearly white armor, ranging from a chest plate, to arm and leg coverings. His name was Pesche.

The third, their leader, was something else entirely. She was a female Arrancar, appearing around 16-17 and had glossy green locks that settled upon her pronounced bosom. On her head, sat a skull, the shape of a ram, though it was missing its bottom jaw, and its top jaw that broken into two sides. Her name was Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, Nel for short.

What they saw was pure chaos. After the Espadas had been killed off and the three Commanders had been executed (or had simply abandoned them), order had been lost. Arrancars of of all shapes and sizes had began fighting for Aizen's throne. That's what happens when you get a complete annihilation of a dictatorship. With no successor clearly shown, it was evident that a Civil War would erupt.

The only obvious candidate for the thrown would be Yammy, as he was the only Espada she knew to have survived. The thing was, Yammy had vanished after the war, and no one could find him.

Nel could have went for the throne if she wanted to, but she wasn't one for holding power. She also was missing a large portion of her power. Though not so much that she would have been forced to stay in her child-form. After her battle with Nnoitora, a lot of her memories had resurfaced, and along with them came her powers.

She still wasn't strong enough to reclaim her previous position as the 3rd Espada though. She may never, not with the growing expectations for the strength of one.

Pesche, the Arrancar with the Insect mask was the first to speak up after they witnessed the chaos unfold. "What should we do, Master Nel?"

"At our current strength there is no way we can prevent any of this fighting."

"Then what should we do?" Dondochakka cried, shaking behind the quartz trees that grew beside them.

"We leave, right, Master Nel?" Pesche asked, formally bowing towards his master.

Nel walked past Pesche as she looked on to the horizon. "Aizen is gone. The Espadas are no more. Therefore, you are by no means required to stay with me."

"We know, Master Nel. It is by our own will that we have stayed by your side for so long." Pesche replied, not even moving to face his master.

"We've been calling you our Master out of pure respect, Master." Dondochakka cried, prostrating himself before her.

"Well don't. As my last command as your Master, I denounce you as my Fraccion."

The two Arrancars' faces, if we could see them, turned white, but neither could hope to reply.

"And as your equal, I ask of you, will you follow me?"

And with that, the two immediately stood at attention. Well, Dondochakka, the hulk that he was, could only hunch forward, as his body was too large. "Yes, Master Nel!"

Nel smiled as she put out her hand in a gesture to stop them. "Friends don't call each other Master."

"They do if it is of their own free will, Master Nel." Pesche replied, with Dondochakka nodding his colossal head in agreement.

Nel smiled as she beckoned them to follow.

~Chad~

Yatsutora sat on his bed, his hand, palm up, was rested on his knee. He knew what his power was, but not where it came from. He focused his spiritual pressure into his right arm, forming his usual black, armor-plated weapon.

But with a second rush of energy, he took it to the next level, forming his shield, or, Right Arm of the Giant.

Then, with a simple relaxation of his muscles, all of his armor vanished. His attention was diverted to the ringing of his cell phone. Recently he and a couple of his friends from work have been meeting up, so he assumed that they were calling.

They weren't.

URAHARA came up on the Callar-ID screen of his cell-phone, so he shrugged and picked it up.

"Hello , good evening Mr. Sado."

"Good evening Mr. Urahara. How can I help you?"

"I was just calling to see how you were. Maybe ask if you wanted to go view the cherry blossoms bloom with Yoruichi and the group."

"Sorry, I've going with Orihime, Ichigo, and Uryuu." He hung up, just as he gave his reply, not caring to say good-bye.

But as soon as he did, his phone rang again, with the same URAHARA on his screen.

"What is it now, Mr. Urahara?"

"You never let me finish, I had another favor to ask of you."

"Hmm" He answered, nonchalant.

"A visitor from the Soul Society will be showing up in a week. And I was wondering if you could be so kind as to pick out a room for him in town. My place is far too crowded at the moment to accommodate any more travelers."

"I understand. Anything in particular?"

"Oh, nothing really. Just make sure that there is plenty of peace and quiet, and a nearby convenience store, around, 20 minutes from it."

"I'll look into it."

"Thank you very much Mr. Sado. Now then, I must bid you farewell, I'm a very busy man, as you know."

And with that, he hung up, hoping that Mr. Urahara would not call back. When he didn't, Yatsutora sighed with relief and dialed Orihime's number.

It only took the bubbly redhead one ring before she picked it up. Her signature barrettes were already attached to her head, all six petals on each.

She had been meaning to call Chad about Obon, which was coming up soon. She was wondering if she should invite Uryuu. She felt like it would be rude not to, but asking him felt embarrassing. She was hoping that if Chad would come along, she wouldn't feel as embarrassed.

"Orihime?" Chad asked, listening to her breathing, wondering why she wasn't talking to him' .

"Huh? Oh, yeah. What did you wanna talk about?" What was she doing, holding Chad up when he was calling her.

"I was wondering if you would ask Uryuu if he wanted to go watch the cherry blossoms with the rest of us. Maybe after, we could all go to Obon?"

"Yes!" Orihime screamed. Then, settling down, she asked, "Should we ask Urahara-san as well?"

"Nah. He's going with Yoruichi and the others. See yah?"

"Bye." And with that, both had hung up.

Authors Note:

OK. This was really just a Get things going type of chapter. You can expect more, in depth, quality work from me next time.