Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. If you think that I own either of them then please enlighten me on how.

Crossover

Chapter One: How It All Started

The wind feels crisp and cold today. The wind here is always either warmly touching my face or briskly scratching my body. Today it's just cold…and maybe a bit heartless. There isn't that much to do in District 34 of Rukongai. I usually do what all the kids do in this somewhat peaceful area: swim and stare at the clouds. Right now I'm just lying in a tree doing nothing at all. It's been like that ever since I remember; and there isn't much to remember at all…

I think I came here 4 years ago. I was founded by a gentle old lady and a barbarian of an old man. They took care of me when I first got here. They never told me their names so I just called them Granny and Gramps. Granny was always a sweet lady and never once yelled at me. She always said that I was young and learning. She didn't even yell the time my friends and I wrecked the house. I loved her and never wanted to part ways.

Gramps on the other hand is one foul ass. He always made me do the chores, go into town and buy the heaviest items and carry them home, and beat me whenever I was out of tone. There is one thing I am thankful for though. And that is the swordsmanship he taught me. You see, Gramps was a weapons dealer. He was always molding, inventing, making and fixing weapons. I stumbled upon an iron sword one day. I could barely lift it so swinging it and using it was out of the question. Gramps saw me one day trying to learn to wield it and came over to me. He said in his harsh sounding voice "Kid, let me teach you the art of the samurai". I asked him "Since when were you a samurai?" and he replied with "Heh. Kid, you don't know half of who I am."

And that began my training. I studied under Gramps up until this very day. I always wondered where he learned to wield a sword. There are not that many who can wield a sword like he could in Rukongai. He also always used the same sword whenever he needed to defend us against wild beasts and it never seems to get rusty or broken. It was always the same red hilted sword. The guard seemed to be in a shape of a leaf or plant. I never saw that kind of plant before thought so I leave it unnamed. Gramps seems to sometime even talk to himself. It's kind of strange but I guess old people just grow old.

I asked him one day where he learned his arts and where he learned to wield swords. He said one word: Seireitei. He then told me of all the amazing people in Seireitei. You see, the Rukongai area is where the peasants live. We don't have anything special about us. But in Seireitei, there are these people called Shinigamis who protect the whole society. Gramps told me about the Konoha 13 as well. He told me that they were the elite fighters and that there are thirteen major divisions. Each division is led by a Captain who Gramps seem to have an affection for.

He always told me how great and powerful they were. I didn't believe him though. How could normal beings be THAT powerful? In any case, the captains lead the entire Seireitei. There are thirteen major captains but in addition to those "powerful beings" there are also three Elite Gefnerals. The Elite Generals give orders to the Captains and they are separate from the Captains themselves. According to Gramps, three of the captains are also Vice-Generals. I think that means that they are direct subordinates of the Elite Generals or something like that. I never really understood what Gramps was talking about. He never did make sense to me. All he was to me was my arrogant, aggressive, crazy guardian.

"You never know what you have until it's gone" or at least that's how the saying goes. I had that feeling first hand. Gramps was suppose to meet up with me near the riverbank one day to help me with swordsmanship. He said I needed to fine tune it and help him catch wild boar for dinner. He never showed up. I waited until sunset on the riverbank until Granny came and found me. She told me that Gramps left and won't be back for a long time. I felt sometime die inside me. I don't know why I wanted to cry. I was pissed off at that coot. But somehow tears just strolled out and ran down my face. I started to cry loudly at the fact that Gramps disappeared without telling me. I don't know why I cried. He was a crazy, arrogant dumbbell and its not like he died. So…why am I crying? Granny took me into her arms and told me to never cry again because it makes my face look like a squid. We went home and couldn't sleep at all.

I owe a lot to Granny and Gramps. They gave me my birthday, which is July 15. They also gave me my name: Ichigo.

The next day I went sword practicing by myself. Granny couldn't teach me because she never touched a sword in her life. She was a pacifist I guess. I practiced my swipes, my swings, and stabs. I tried perfecting the techniques that gramps showed me before he went away, but I never could back then. I started to run along the river and catch fish for granny. She seemed to be out of ingredients and asked me to get some food. Of course I would never say no to her.

That's when I crossed path with something very powerful and knew nothing about until that day. There was this bear with a hole in the middle of its chest. That alone piqued my curiosity and I decided to approach it. I also never ate bear before so I thought it would be a nice change from fish and pigs. I attacked it like the confident idiot I was. It turned around pretty fast and it struck my left arm with its claw. I was thrown against a tree and fell flat on my face. I heard it approached me and I smelled it's foul breathe. I was scared out of my mind. I couldn't swing my sword with one hand and I couldn't even get up. I stared at the bear thing and hoped that I could scare it away with my eyes. Not a smart idea. It jumped and then it started to come down as if it wanted to crush me. It did want to crush me and I closed my eyes and hoped for the best.

Thump Thump...Thump Thump...That's all I heard from the inside of my head...

Nothing happened for 10 seconds and I looked up. The bear was pierced through with multiple black tentacles. It then vanished into thin air. "Are you ok?" That's what I heard and I looked over to see a somewhat tall figure. He had his hair tied back and was wearing a black kimono with a white haori over it. "Wh-who are you?" I asked in pain. "You know you are a troublesome person right? Recklessness like that will get you killed one day." I just kept staring at him. The person sheathed his sword and faced the other direction and started to walk away. I recognized a number on the back of his haori. Eight. That was on the haori.

"Wa-Wait! Who are you?!" I cried out as loud as I could. He looked back "Tch. Might as well tell you as long as you shut up. My name is Shikamaru Nara. I am the Captain of the Eighth Division. You should get home before another hollow comes and gets you" He disappears into the forest and I just stared into space. A captain? In Rukongai? Impossible. I got up, grabbed my sword, and limped my way home.

When I got home, Granny was in shock at the state I was in but she didn't raise her voice. She took me to the nearest clinic and stayed there over night. I couldn't rest that night either. I kept seeing the image of the Captain that was in my presence. Gramps said that these captains were the elite fighters of Seireitei. Why would one of them help out someone like me, a commoner? I concluded that it was just a coincidence that he and I were in the same place at the same time. "He must have been on business or something" I said to myself. I tossed and turned on the floor for around 3 hours and finally drifted off into sleep.

End of Chapter 1

Hey guys, sorry I made this short. I promise the future chapters will be longer. R&R please 