REUPLOAD- hi again guys, I found some grammer and spelling mistakes that bugged me, so I re-edited and re posted the first chapter.

A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you enjoy the first chapter! Updates should be weekly, except for the next few weeks because of exams. I have written ahead so updates should be fairly regular. Please let me know what you think, I would really appreciate any feedback!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot and my OCs!

Bleach, Blood and Hell

Chapter 1:

It was well past midnight when Karin felt it. A hollow, and judging by the spiritual pressure it was a big one. As quietly as she could, Karin pulled on her sneakers and rushed out of the house. No doubt Uryu was already on the job, but there were other spiritual pressures in the area, one's she recognized. Cutting through the park, Karin found herself at the soccer pitch. A loud howl told her she wasn't alone.

"Come on out," she murmured and from the shadows a dark figured hollow stepped out, it's mask luminous in the dark. This one wasn't altogether too tough, but there was something about it's mask that seemed...off. Before she could move, a silver blade flashed and the hollow was split in half.

"What are you doing?" that white haired captain that she remembered stood before her stoically, though his perfect teal eyes showed some concern.

"Toshiro?" Karin's jaw dropped wide open, "I knew there were soul reapers around!" she felt rather triumphant. She knew that Ichigo had been no good at sensing spiritual pressure, and she was quite happy that she wasn't complete rubbish at it.

"Can I ask what your plan of attack was?" he asked dryly, noting her lack of a weapon and adequate training.

"Um...whoops?" there were visible irritation on Toshiro's face at her answer.

"You truly are a Kurosaki," he commented none to happily, "go home Karin." Before she could retort a sudden surge in spiritual pressure made them both stop. It was unlike the other hollows that were in Karakura, it was something different entirely.

"What the hell was that?" she asked, turning to face Toshiro again, who was instead staring out at the darkness around him.

"It can't be," he murmured simply. Without further ado, he grabbed hold of Karin's wrist and before she could protest, she was zooming through the air at an impossible speed, "You are going to go home, and I am going to figure out what the hell is going on and report back to the Soul Society."

"Captain Hitusgaya!" Uryu's voice made him stop. Turning on the spot, Toshiro shunpoed down to ground level where Uryu stood, with his bow out and ready, "How many soul reaper's are here?"

"Six," Toshiro replied.

"Uryu, hey," Karin waved awkwardly with her free hand.

"Karin? Ichigo's gonna kill you if he finds out," Uryu commented getting distracted.

"Get her home," Toshiro ordered, "we have to track down that spiritual pressure-" As if on cue, the pressure disappeared, leaving no trace behind. Then a smaller spiritual pressure appeared along with one other one that wasn't hollow.

"Damn," Uryu muttered, "Come on Karin."

"It's alright, I can get home on my own," Karin shook her head, "I'll you later Toshiro?" it was question, for Karin really did want to see him later, but doubted he would stay. With a heavy sigh, Toshiro thought carefully about his words. Judging by the situation, he would be travelling back and forth between the two worlds for a while.

"Probably," he finally replied and then vanished out of sight. That spiritual pressure had belonged to neither Soul Reaper nor hollow, which left him with an option he would rather not consider.

Before Ichigo could react, a hand grabbed his.

A cero struck the ground where he had been poised for battle but a second earlier. The hand felt cold against his skin, but constant. With a questioning glance, he looked back to see its owner. Barely to his shoulder, she swished blue black locks out of her eyes and pulled him to the ground in some underbrush rather forcibly. For someone so small she certainly was strong. The person in question was the same one he had been attempting to save from the unfortunate place as a hollow's dinner. It seemed she had other intentions entirely.

Mind out of gutter. Ichigo shook of his pesky hormones and rounded on the girl.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo hissed, keeping Zangetsu in front of them. The hollow would sniff out their spiritual pressure quickly, they would only get a few seconds before he lost the element of surprise, "I'm trying to save you!" He was willing to waste those precious seconds arguing.

"I'm sorry, next time I'll let the cero hit you in the face, Bleach!" she retorted sharply, shrugging out of the grasp he had on her hand, "I may not be some all powerful damned Shinigami, but I've got powers too you know?" She crossed her arms petulantly and glared at the bush in front of her.

Ichigo stared blankly.

"Did you just call me Bleach?"

Face palm.

"I smell you, humans," The hollow growled squatting in front of the bush where his dinner hid. He was surprised when neither the soul reaper nor the girl gave yells of surprise or looked at him in horror and fear. The hollow took another step forward. More often than not, his hideous appearance frightened and emotionally scarred any human who could see him. No one had flat out ignored him before. This was an interesting problem for the hollow.

"Really, that's all you picked out of that sentence?" The girl was focussed on Ichigo, "No curiosity as to who the hell I am, or what I am?" So much for the famous substitute soul reaper who saved both this world and the Soul Society. It was more than a little disappointing.

"I'll have you know my hair is natural!" Ichigo retorted in a huff. The hollow remained ignored. Really it was just rude and he was starting to get annoyed with this.

"I don't give a flying fuck-"

"Would you two look up!" another voice yelled from somewhere behind them. Of course they turned to face the new voice that addressed them instead of the hollow. Sporting a white cape and a nifty looking bow, the glasses clad Quincy quickly destroyed the hollow that was about to bite off Ichigo's head. Literally. Once it disappeared, Uryu turned his attention to the orange headed idiot in the bushes and his idiot friend. This was not a happy Quincy, "What the hell Ichigo?" They were here to protect Karakura, not skulk in bushes with strange women aggravating hollows.

"It's her fault!" Ichigo yelled standing up with conviction.

"My fault!" the girl retorted taking an offensive stance as well, "I saved your life, moron!"

"I was just fine."

"Were not."

"Were."

"That doesn't even make grammatical sense you simpleton!" she yelled back furiously.

"It makes perfect sense!" Ichigo raged, "If only you weren't so dense!"

"Would you two shut up?" Uryu hollered, "Now come on!" Like an angry mother hen, Uryu herded the two of them back towards Kiske's shop. They argued the whole way back, but Uryu ignored them, instead focussing on what just happened.

Seven hollows, all with the same mask had cropped up all over town. Hollows never had the same masks; each one was unique and different except for the guilion and these weren't guilion nor were they guilion masks. It was worrying to think that there was a hollow that could replicate itself. There had been nothing but the occasional weak hollow for months now. That idiot Shinigami Urudamani had been enough to handle them. Now suddenly higher level hollows were showing up on a daily basis all with that too familiar mask. Then this strange girl happened to appear in the center of a hollow attack. Uryu had already put in a request to The Thirteen Court Guard Squads for assistance earlier that day, and judging by their response they took the threat seriously as well.

"I could hear you two from all the way inside," a tired looking Hat-and-Clogs strode out to greet the surprise guests he knew were coming. He spotted Uryu leading the group and nodded at him, and then Ichigo. Then the ex-Captain's eyes rested upon the stranger in their midst. He could feel the spiritual pressure coming off her in waves. He was sure Uryu could too. Ichigo...well he still couldn't control his own spiritual pressure properly so it was safe to assume the orange haired Soul Reaper had no idea, "Welcome to Karakura town, Kei Kade."

"And you are?"

"Kiske Uruhara, I was warned of your coming," Kiske couldn't help but smile at the young woman before him. She was so much like her mother in so many ways though you couldn't guess by looking at her. There may have been some resemblance in the eyes, but nothing more, nothing substantial. Kei's identity would remain safe here.

"It's not like I'm the apocalypse or something," she grumped, crossing her arms petulantly.

"Debatable," Uryu muttered earning himself a glare which he kindly returned.

"So you're my new caretaker?" she turned back to Uruhara, interested in finding boarding for the night. It was starting to get late and she was starting to get hungry.

"The Kurosaki's will be housing you, arrangements have been made."

"WHAT?" Ichigo was clearly not aware of any supposed arrangements. No doubt his father agreed without any consent from the rest of the family. There would be hell to pay, no way would he let someone else stay in his closet-his home, he corrected himself.

"Who the hell are the Kurosaki's?" Kei asked, ignoring Ichigo's outburst completely.

"Meet Ichigo Kurosaki," Uryu pointed at the frantic soul reaper with his thumb.

"Oh dear god."

Admittedly the house wasn't too bad. There was something inherently home-ish about it. Despite the remarkable spiritual pressure the occupants possessed, the Kurosaki home still had a certain amount of domesticity to it. It felt as though people lived and breathed and argued in that house. It was something Kei never really had in her life. Something she appreciated, even if she didn't like Ichigo particularly. It was well past sunset and now she eagerly awaiting dinner. Once Ichigo returned to his body, they bade Uryu a quick farewell and then argued the whole way to his house. Now Kei was oddly silent.

"It's nice," she commented softly, "Your lucky."

"Um, thanks..." Ichigo was surprised to hear something less than scathing from her mouth. They didn't speak as Ichigo pulled open the door. Inside, the smells of fresh miso and grilled fish were permeating from the kitchen where Yuzu was finishing up dinner. Karin was stretched out on the couch with the television on and thankfully, Isshin was missing.

"Welcome home Ichigo!" Yuzu greeted brightly from the kitchen doorway, she waved a spoon in his general direction and then stopped short when she saw Kei, "Hi, you must be the guest dad mentioned."

"I'm Kei," she replied warmly with a nod.

"I'm Yuzu and that's Karin," the small girl quickly explained, "I've set up a bed for you in Karin's room-"

"Wait a second, am I the only one who didn't know about her?" Ichigo asked infuriated.

"That's because you never pay attention!"

Smack! A man dressed in a very ostentatious shirt round house kicked Ichigo and watched with satisfaction as he crashed into a nearby wall. Bits of plaster and paint chipped the wall but, Ichigo looked far from hurt. Instead, he glared viciously at the man and retaliated by tackling the man, whom she guessed was the senior Kurosaki of the household, to the ground. The sisters didn't seem fazed, so Kei guessed this was a typical evening.

"What the hell, dad?" he growled furiously.

"If you paid attention we wouldn't have this problem!" Isshin knocked Ichigo to the ground, "communication is vital in father son relationships!"

"You are such a-"

"Shut up!" Karin dope slapped them both on the back of the end as hard as she could and managed to shut them up. Grudgingly both men (Kei found it hard to think of them as such given their behaviour) settled around the table. With a smile, Yuzu pulled up a chair for Kei encouragingly. With a sigh, she settled comfortably between Ichigo and Karin. The black haired Kurosaki was still shooting threatening glares at her brother and father while Yuzu ladled out food for everyone.

"Welcome to our house, Kei," Isshin greeted with a big smile, "If you need anything, just ask me!"

"Sure I will." She gave Karin a small smirk. Ichigo was still fuming and Isshin was starting to get a black eye. Both Kei and Karin were thinking the same thing.

Idiots.

Tap. Tap. Tap. It was so light, it almost sounded like the pitter patter of rain against glass, but it was too precise and to timed. Scrunching her eyes, Karin hoped it was just a dream. She was way too comfortable to budge from the comfort of her bed.

Tap. Tap. Tap. There is was again. Slightly irritated now, Karin yanked open the drapes to yell at the idiot outside.

"What the hell is-! Toshiro?" Karin stopped mid yell at the sight of the silver haired soul reaper standing just outside her window. He looked just like she remembered, with those superbly coloured eyes and that sword at his waist.

"You sleep like the dead, just like your brother," he replied smartly as she opened her window. Rolling her eyes, she stepped back to let the Captain in.

"No hollow hunting tonight?" she asked instead, choosing to ignore the previous comment.

"The others can handle it for a while," Toshiro replied, for once looking weary. Things were getting worse, and he could hardly afford a few hours to recuperate, but the Captain desperately needed a break.

"You look like crap," Karin noted nonchalantly. With his usually crisp haori slightly ruffled and dirt smudge on his forehead, Toshiro definitely looked worse for the wear, "Come on." She pulled open the door and held it open. Looking confused, he followed the girl out to kitchen where she indicated that he sit. Somewhat grumpily, he listened to order and stiffly sat down.

"Your powers have grown," Toshiro commented. She was far more in tune with the spirit world than before; he could feel the spiritual pressure coming off her, it was really remarkable.

"Here's some tea and left overs," Karin quickly prepared a plate, with no real flare like Yuzu would have been able to do, but she got it warmed up. Setting in front of him, she raised an eyebrow and watched as he surveyed the food curiously, "It's fish, Toshiro-" last time he had fish it had been at Orihimie, so his caution was understandable, "Just eat it."

"It's good," Toshiro commented after a bite, sounding surprised, "I'm assuming your sister made it."

"Why can't I have made it?" she asked with a twitching eye brow and Toshiro gave her a 'really?' look and she simply sighed in agreement. She definitely wasn't as handy in the kitchen as Yuzu was. Burnt toast was more her level, "Anyway, what's going on?" For the last month she'd been feeling the fluctuations in spiritual pressure followed by her brother's mysterious disappearances. Sometimes they were so powerful they'd actually make her freeze on the spot.

"Hollow are showing up, and it's getting worse," Toshiro replied with a hand on his chin, "Tell me, when you saw that hollow, did you recognize it's mask?"

"Its mask?" she replied inquisitively as she remembered that night, "It seemed kinda familiar but I couldn't place it."

"Hmm," Toshiro replied distractedly. Both of them swivelled around when a loud howl punctuated the air. It was followed by a spiritual pressure. A weak one. Immediately Karin looked to Hitsugaya who was already on his feet with a hand on the hilt of sword. The pressure of this one was different too, it was far more sinister.

"Go," Karin whispered, leaning against the granite counter. Whatever it was, it scared her, so much so that she double locked the door once Toshiro left.

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