School had just let out, Tatsuki and Orihime said their goodbyes. And the black haired girl headed home. She was thinking over that day's math lesson when an explosion ripped apart the building next to her sending her flying through the air. Tatsuki slammed into the side walk. What the hell?! There was another explosion and the building sank to the ground. A deafening roar reverberated all around her. She slowly stood to her feet. From the rubble of building emerged a large black being with a white mask for a face. Its arms were long and its fingers looked like daggers. It towered above her. Tatsuki could hear a deep laugh emerge from his gut.

"My, my what do we have here?" the creature drew closer to her. Tatsuki stood ready to deliver a blow. "You may not be a soul, but you smell good. I think I'll eat you anyway."

No one around was paying attention her they had all crowded around the debris of the building and were busy looking for survivors. Tatsuki was on her own. She braced herself for a fight. The hollow raised his dagger like hand to strike her, but before he could land a blow or Tatsuki could defend herself. The hollow let out an ear piercing screech. Its arm went flying into the air. Tatsuki opened her eyes and lowered her arms to see a man standing in a black hakama before wielding a very large sword.

"AH! My arm! I'll kill you for that!"

The Hollow swung again this time with his other arm. The mysterious man leapt into the air bringing his sword crashing down upon the top of the hollow's head slicing right through the mask.

"Fucking soul reaper!" it screamed out before disappearing.

The man sheathed his sword and turned to Tatsuki. She could see concern in his eyes. He appeared to be no older then she was. His face carried a scar that ran between his eyes and across his right cheek. His hair was red, short and untamed. His eyes were a dull grey, but Tatsuki could see much emotion in them. The only other thing she could see was a small hand-made bracelet on his right wrist.

"Thank you."

He nodded with a smile. There was silence between the two when the man reached down and picked up her book bag handing it to her. "I'm Tatsuki Arisawa. What's your name?"

He just stared at her, but didn't say anything. Tatsuki arched her eyebrow and asked him again, "What's your name?"

But still she didn't get an answer. She heard the sound of people running and it drew near. The man turned with her calmly and waited to see who rounded the corner.

"Ichigo, Rukia!" shouted Tatsuki.

"Tatsuki! Are you ok?" asked Ichigo. Rukia was too busy staring at the soul reaper. Kai? The man waved to everyone with a half smile.

"Yeah I'm fine. Something weird happened and then another weird thing happened this man showed up and saved me."

Ichigo stepped back towards Rukia, "It was definitely a hollow. Who is this guy?"

"Kai Zetsumei. Legendary Soul Reaper, but he deserted the Soul Society nearly 100 years ago. He is known as the Reaper."

"Well we're glad to see that you're ok, Tatsuki," laughed Ichigo.

"Yeah so am I, you guys came pretty quickly."

"Well we heard the explosion and rushed over. We saw you here and wondered if you were involved," said Ichigo.

"I've been trying to figure out this man's name, but he won't tell me," sighed Tatsuki.

"Well do you have a piece of paper and a pen?" asked Rukia.

"Yeah."

Tatsuki removed a pen and a piece of paper from her bag and handed it over to him, the man took it, looked it over and then back at Tatsuki.

"Write your name down. And where you live. Although I don't think it's from around here," she directed.

He did as he was told and wrote down his name.

"Ok, your name is Kai."

While Tatsuki was busy talking to Kai, Ichigo and Rukia were discussing Kai.

"What do you mean deserted?"

"It's a long story, but one day he left. And no one's seen him since. We know he still does the job of a Soul Reaper, but he doesn't report to the Soul Society."

"Well hasn't anyone ever gone looking for him?"

"All search attempts have failed. We just leave him be. He hasn't broken any rules."

"Hey, Tatsuki why don't you and Kai come over Ichigo's for dinner tonight?"

"What?!"

Rukia elbowed him in the ribs.

"That sounds great. What do you think, Kai?"

Kai nodded with a smile and followed Tatsuki to Ichigo's house. Who was cursing under his breath. But Yuzu, Karin and Isshin were happy to have guests over. Kai managed to find the bathroom before Tatsuki could introduce him. Since Yuzu, Karin and Isshin had claimed that only Ichigo, Tatsuki and Rukia had come through. He reappeared in the same hakama, but now he could be seen.