SilverMT: OMG! Another story? For those who have been reading my other story, I am really sorry (deep bow) for not updating. Anyway, For Kishi Kaisei I am currently getting into mood of writing it again. For sure I will be updating it soon. Continuing to this new story, I hope that you find this interesting somehow… Anyway please read and review! Constructive criticism is welcomed. I wish for you to support my story.

Disclaimer: Bleach is created by Noriaki Kubo-sama

Kokugen: The Beginning

First Stage

Chapter one: Least Expected

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Like a thief in the dark night

Stealthy and quiet

Waiting quietly

And it happens… Without warning…

I could do nothing but go with the flow

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"Chemotherapy: medical technique used in the prevention or treatment of disease by …" Ichigo sighed and tossed the book aside, as he pushed his glasses back to the bridge of his nose.

Tonight, Ichigo have been praying that he would at least have a quite night to concentrate in his study, but he was interrupted by the noise that he knew so well. It was the cry of his substitute shinigami budge, which right now he wanted to just throw outside his window just to have one night of peace for his upcoming exam. Despite the evil thoughts that have crossed his head he just dismissed it as quickly as it had come.

"Honestly! Why do I still do this anyway?" he said as he begrudgingly dragged his feet to the badge, picking the item that was stored at his side table near the bed.

"You know Ichigo…" said a stuffed lion that was casually lying at his bed. " If you're that irritated that you have to go every night to kill hollows, why don't you just quit?"

"Easy for you to say… I have promised to help them as much as I can"

"That's what you get for making promises without thinking!" The stuffed lion said with a huff as he pulled the blanket. Annoyed with what the other said, Ichigo grab the pillow near him and threw it to the other who jumped and started on cursing the orange head.

Ignoring the mod soul, he pushed the badge in his chest. With a flash of light his shinigami form separated from his body, which he caught easily and gently arranged it in the bed. "Kon look after my body" said the teen as he disappeared in a flash.

Jumping from one building to another, Ichigo followed the trace of hollow energy that appeared buildings away from his dormitory located near the school that he was going to. Thought he was not as familiar to the surroundings of this city as he was with Karakura, Ichigo relied to his senses as he followed the rietsu that the hollow emitted.

He was not really good at sensing rietsu but his current level was enough to sense hollow and other presence enough to be of use in cases such as what he was doing right now. Jumping down from the last building he arrived at a mini park and noticed that there was not even one street light working at the said place. He walked slowly as he cautiously looked for the hollow.

Ichigo's steps faltered as he waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark night which the dim light coming from the moon as his only aid in the dark abandoned park. 'Park at night really gives off a very creepy feeling' Ichigo thought as he continued to scan his surrounding. He's steps came to a halt as he saw a shadow move from the bushes. Narrowing his eyes he silently walked towards it, but before he can even reach the place, the hollow hiding rushed towards him. He was caught off guard because of the sudden charge but recovered quickly enough to block the attack and deliver his own blow at the mask of the hollow. With a loud shriek it vanished leaving no trace.

Looking at the place the hollow was moments ago, Ichigo stretched his muscles to relax. An involuntary yawn escaped his lips as he did so. "Better get going…" he said to himself as he headed back to his dorm room.

It had been a three months since he had left Karakura Town and transferred to Tokyo to continue his study in medicine. He had studied his first year of medicine in Karakura University but transferred after receiving a letter that he has passed the exam in Tokyo University as well as his exam for scholarship. This way, he will be able to help his old man in his tuition fee. Being a second year he had been very busy these past few months most specially this week because his first exam this semester was coming. Despite his busy schedule and all, he did his job as shinigami every night as well. It was really a mystery even to him how he can handle his situation and still in good condition in spite of the pile of reading materials, assignments and pressure from school.

He was about to leap and leave the place when someone grabbed his collar and pulled him with enough strength to push him to the ground. Blinking rapidly he looked up at the man standing in front of him mirroring the deep frown that Ichigo had as he realized what just happened.

Takimoto Kazuki, A man that been respected amongst his peer for being serious and devoted to his work stood in tensed silence in front of a young lad sitting three steps away from him.

He had been assigned to patrol Tokyo area 7 for three years now. Unlike other patrol area that normal shinigami are being deployed to, Tokyo being a very large area which is populated by a great number of people was divided into seven parts and each part are given to seven recognized seated officer. The sheer magnitude of population that can become potential food of hollows and areas where they can hide themselves made it that high ranking seated official was stationed rather that lower ranked ones.

It was three months ago when strange things started to happen in his area. Hollows appeared and suddenly vanish before he can even arrive at the place where a sign of hollow appeared at his tracer. At first he did not bother at all and though that it was just his imagination or his device was not working well. But as days pass by, the weird occurrences continued and decided to call Soul Society and get a new tracer because his was not working well. After receiving the new device, he noticed the same thing was happening and understood that it was not the device that has a problem. It was then that he knew someone was killing hollows in his area.

It was just this night that he was able to capture the person he thinks as the culprit of the weird event that had been happening this past three months. With suspicious look he observed the lad as the other did to him as well. He noted that he might also be a shinigami judging from his shihaksho. He had wild orange hair that reached his neck and long enough to slightly cover his eyes. His eyes traveled at the sword the teen was holding at his left hands and frowned at the size of it. 'Shikai?' he thought as he studied the sword. There was no other explanation for the size of the sword.

Ichigo on the other hand, was also studying the man that had shoved him in the ground. The teen haven't felt the rietsu of the man, which was why he was caught off guard and was in his current position. 'Maybe I have been in deep thought or too tired that I did not feel him' Ichigo reflected as he continued to look at the man. He was very tall, maybe as tall as Zaraki but had a smaller body than the crazy eleventh captain. His hair was as dark as his eyes, or maybe it was just how he sees it because of the lack of light.

"Who are you?" Kazuki asked not leaving his eyes off of the teen.

"I should be the one asking that to you…" Ichigo answered as he pushed himself up from the ground and brushed the dust from his pants, ignoring the warning that flashed at the eyes of the man as he stood up.

"I'm going to ask you again… who are you and from what division are you from?" Kazuki asked once more as his fingers moved slowly to his zanpaktou.

"Ok! Ok!" Ichigo said as he sighs. He was really tired and still wants to finish the reading material that he had set to finish that night. He knew that if he like to arrive at his dorm and do use the time remaining to continue with his studies then the fastest way is to just talk it out with the other.

Stabbing Zangetsu at the ground, he reached out for the stupid badge that Ukitake gave him as a sign of being a substitute shinigami. Ichigo pulled it out and unceremoniously tossed it to the man that was cautiously looking at his movement.

With ease the other caught the badge and looked at it with a frown. Somehow Ichigo really dreaded the expression the other had as he examines the badge that he tossed at the other. The teen really didn't want to hear the question that he knew the other was about to ask.

"What the hell is this?"

With a resigned sigh, Ichigo closed his eyes and silently cursed the kind thirteenth division captain. This was really not the first time that this had happened, but every time it did, Ichigo can't help but blame the other. Thought the badge was really handy device to detect hollows that were near him and help him leave his physical body as he wished, it was completely useless in this kind of situation that he really need to escape from.

Shinigami are very suspicious to people like him and might even jump to conclusion regarding his intensions if he did not present any evidence that he has not intention of harming anyone. Right now he was seriously considering talking to Uketaki about this if he wants to be able to continue being a substitute shinigami.

He knew that the badge was also a device to monitor his activities as a substitute but it was really not helping in letting the captains know his predicament regarding occasions like now. Scratching the back of his head, Ichigo was thinking of a way to prove to the man his good intentions. Despite having doubt about the reaction the other will have Ichigo knew that he must at least try.

"I'm a substitute shinigami… and that badge was given to me by Uketaki–san…"

Kazuki looked back to the lad gauging the truth from what the teen just said. "It's true… you can ask Uketaki-san if you want to know if what I said is true…"

"What is your name then…"

"Kurosaki… Kusosaki Ichigo"

"Hmnn… Kurosaki… Sounds familiar…"

"So… will you ask them or not?" Ichigo asked impatiently. "I am in a rash…"

"No… I will ask them latter. I will take your word for it…" Kazuki said. "By the way my name is Takimoto Kazuki…" He said as he tossed back the badge to Ichigo. "Since you're in a rush…I'll let you go but I will surely ask about you to my commanding officer. And if I found out you are lying… I will make sure to hunt you down…"

"Well, fine by me… anyway, got to go… see you!" Ichigo said before flash stepping away from the other.

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"Ichigo?"

"Sorry, Ishida…" said Ichigo, when he realized that he was still standing in the corridor outside classroom, lost in thoughts of the events that happened last night. "You were saying?"

"Really Ichigo," said Ishida. "You've been spacing out since this morning."

Throwing Ishida a glare he slowed his pace to let the other catch up. Ishida had been studying here since his first year unlike Ichigo that just transferred in his second year as a medical student. It was the quincy that helped him when he first arrived here in Tokyo.

"Trouble found me last night…"

"Well… that's not new..." he said as he arranged his glasses and gave him a meaningful look, "Since we met four years ago… I have come to know that you're a natural magnet of trouble."

"Well, thank you… I'll take that as a complement…" Ichigo retorted as he looked at the other with a smirk. "Seriously… It seems like I have annoyed the shinigami assigned for this place."

"If you're looking for advice, you know that you should better stop paying attention to any shinigami business… As you can see, they already have an officer stationed here…"

"Yeah… I can see that…" he mumbled. "He looks more dissent than the one at Karakura…"

"That's for sure…" Ishida agreed as the exited the school ground and headed for the dorm. "That's why I was as able to concentrate in my studies since first year."

"It had been better if you had told me that earlier… then I would have not bothered hunting them for three months…" Ichigo said flatly.

"Ohh… sorry then… I thought that you have improved since the last time I saw you… improve enough to feel the rietsu level of the person stationed here," said Ishida with a dismissive wave. "Guess I was wrong after all… you didn't even improve."

Ichigo was about to say something when his attention was drawn by the figure of a child who was playing with a ball inside the park. For some reason unknown to him, his attention was completely locked at the child as the movement of said kid run after the ball happily trying to catch it but instead accidentally kicked by his right feet which was enough to send the ball rolling at middle of the street just in front of the car.

Everything that happened was like a slow motion to him as the events played in his eyes. Before he could even blink, he was already near the kid and pushed the child out of the car that was about to hit him. In Ichigo's point of view, everything happened slowly but for everyone who was watching it happened so fast that everyone was not able to react. It was only when Ichigo felt the sudden burst of pain and the feeling of being thrown away did he hear loud shouts before his whole world went black.

Ichigo slowly opened his eyes as he tried to remember what had happened. Feeling something was wrong he rubbed his eyes slowly trying to take away the blurry vision that was hindering him with surveying the place. As his vision cleared, he looked around the place and to notice his position.

It would seem that he dozed off and fallen asleep in the chair that he was currently seating. He noticed that the desk was really big and fancy looking despite the large number of papers piled and scattered all over the place. Blinking once more, he roamed his eyes to see that the room was quite spacious and ceiling was really high. He also noticed that not only was the desk in front of him was fancy looking but everything that his eyes see was as well, from the frame to the other simple decorations adorning the place.

He stood from where he sat and went to the closed sliding paper door that was located at the right side of the desk. He was about to open it when he heard the wooden door directly in front of the desk of the room open and from there a person strode silently inside.

Noticing that Ichigo had been staring at him, the person frowned and returned the look back at Ichigo. Somewhere inside Ichigo he felt that he knew the person. The brown eyes that matched the hair looked at Ichigo as if waiting for the teen to talk first.

"Ichigo?" the person asked as the person noticed unease in Ichigo's face. "If you're thinking of running away from you're paperwork and make me do all the work," he paused, his eyes calculating "then better think again…" he finished as he patted the pile of papers at the desk.

"Aizen Souske…" Ichigo whispered loud enough that the other looked at him, eyes wide with recognition of the man standing in front of him.

"Yes?" The answer that Ichigo got from the other just made his conclusion true. "Are you alright Ichigo? You look like you saw a ghost…"

True enough Ichigo paled as realization of the situation came crashing down. "How… how… I mean… Wh- why are you here?"

"What kind of stupid question is that Ichigo? I'm obviously here to make sure that you will finish these papers before the end of the day… How can you call yourself Captain of our division if you can't even do your paper works?"

All the information that he heard from the other just made Ichigo's question multiply even more. "Why? Why should you look after me?" the orange head asked despite the number of other question that was piled inside his head.

"It's my job as you're vice-captain to make sure you do you're job."

"What?" His voice trembled as he forced the words out of his mouth. Putting it together, Ichigo froze from where he was standing. He was a captain of a division and Aizen Souske, his mortal enemy as his vice captain. With this realization his vision blurred with the sudden assault of pain in his head, and then he lost consciousness.