Preface:

This Alternate Universe fanfic builds on the ideas behind Bleach, before it became the series we know and love today. There will be a number of notable differences, a fair amount of which I'll tell you right now:

-Some.. let's be honest here, a lot of, and possibly even your favourite characters will be completely absent.

-Rukia is the primary focus of this story, and due to main character privilege a little bit more badass than her canon appearance, who is fairly badass already.

-Almost all shinigami use a gun -like zanpakuto.

-Soul reapers / death gods have no uniform, other than an insignia of their rank, unit and division worn as an armband

-The tone will be darker and more violent and dealing with more mature themes in general – in this universe people (generally) die when they are killed.

-The story should occasionally have its softer and lighter moments as well.

-Hollowification occurs over time, basically the older the hollow, more unhuman it will look and the more powerful it will be and thus proper hollows are far more rarer but also a lot more deadly, often requiring teamwork to take down.

Rest of the differences you will find out as you read. These are the building blocks I'm starting this story from, so let's get on with it.

Chapter 1: The introductions

The blade effortlessly pierced flesh and bone, tearing through his heart and spine.
"Idiot!" she shouted, sliding his limp body off of her weapon in a quick swiping motion.

She couldn't worry about him right now, as the hollow wasted not one precious second of confusion from the unexpected sacrifice, its elongated nails scratching her chin before she could move out of the way.

He could hear a faint sound of battle around him before finally losing the sense of his surroundings. He wasn't completely dead, he felt this. But he was in a void state. No sound, no light. No sensation other than the company of his own thoughts. He had no idea how much time had passed when a dim light appeared in the distance. And it was coming closer... Or he was being pulled towards it – it was hard to tell from his perspective. There was shadowy, feminine figure in front of the light.

Finally within arms reach, she grabbed him by the throat and violently threw him to the light behind her.

In that very moment he experienced pain. Crushing pain, and dull pain caused from smashing headfirst in to a brick wall, but it was a little hard to notice under the pain caused by the large gash through his ribcage.

"Goddamn fool! What were you thinking...!" She started her rant as the boy slumped to the floor.

"Brrllgg," was all the gurgling he could muster as a response.

She ran hands through her hair in frustration, then suddenly lifted the index finger in her right hand as if she remembered something important. She drew lines and curves in the air, then pushed something, like a gentle wind, towards him.

"Feel better now?"

And he did. All the pain was absolutely gone, coinciding with the sudden disappearance of his wounds.

"How did you..?" he asked, leveraging his torso from the floor to rest his back on the wall he was thrown at moments earlier.

"Never mind that. Why did you run straight in front of my prey?"

"Prey?! You were trying to kill him!"

"YES, YES I WAS! And I did, no thanks to you!" she shouted, "And 'it'. It is an 'it'.'It' is not a person."

He was visibly confused, and seemed to disappear in to his thoughts.. The woman who up until now had frantically walked back and forth in the room, sighed, walked up to the boy, and sat down next to him.

"I know this is a lot to take in right now," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder, "But can I ask you something?"

The boy didn't say a word for at first, his eyes locked on to the floor tiles in front of him he almost seemed locked in a trance.

"Alright." he said suddenly, "Ask."

"What is your name?"

"Why..."

"Just answer me."

"...Kurosaki Ichigo."

"My name is Rukia. I wish I could say it's been nice to meet you..."

Ichigo snortled, his eyes still fixed on the floor. "Yeah, you and me both."

"...But now I need to ask something more important. How long have you been able to see ghosts?"

Ichigo's eyes widened, and he finally turned to face her.

"What, you've never seen a dead person before?"

"It's not that... I just... Who are you again?"

Rukia shook her head and stood up, turning her back towards Ichigo. She pointed at a scythe few meters away, resting on the opposite wall. Ichigo burst out laughing.

"HAHAHA! Are you serious? You can't be serious..."

"I am a... Death God." she said in a somber tone.

"You really are serious."

"About ten minutes ago you died, but I brought you back, since your death was my mistake."

Rukia turned back towards him, now looking him squarely in the eye.

"You just got yourself a second chance on life. I would suggest not to waste it, young one."

And in the blink of an eye, she had left. Briefly in her place was a faint black fog that dissipated in the space of a second. As fast as it all had happened, only things Ichigo had left in the schools gym was a ripped and bloodied school uniform, and a head full of questions.