Ichigo gave a loud yawn as he slumped forward in his chair and laid his head down on his desk. "Excuse me, Ichigo," his teacher, Ochi-sensei, called from the front of the classroom. "You need to stay awake in my class!"

"I'm up, I'm up," he said lazily, waving a hand dismissively but not lifting his head from the desk.

"Ichigo…" his teacher said again, the clemency in her voice fading.

This time, Ichigo said nothing. Orihime frowned worriedly at her desk. Chad and Uryu sighed to themselves.

"Ichigo! Wake up!" Ochi-sensei yelled. Ichigo slammed his palms on his desk as he stood up.

"I'm not dealing with this crap today!" he shouted back as he quickly exited the classroom.

"He's been acting so strange, lately," Ochi-sensei said with a huff as she resumed teaching. Uryu, Orihime, and Chad all exchanged a quick glance. What's going on, Ichigo?

Aizen had granted them all a grace period of sorts. 30 days, he had told them all in Las Noches. I will allot you 30 days to gather your forces. Then I will attack. This announcement had come just as Ichigo had defeated Ulquiorra, and they had expected Aizen to invade Karakura Town. Head Captain Yamamoto had decided that Ichigo and his friends should go back to Karakura Town and resume their normal lives until the battle began, and that the Gotei 13 would train and prepare for the upcoming war. Ichigo had insisted that it would be better if they all trained together, but the Head Captain had been most insistent. Savor these few weeks of normalcy, Kurosaki, for they may be the last in a while. Even so, since they had returned to the world of the living about a week ago, Ichigo had been unable to focus in school or really on anything else. His main concern was of himself and his own powers. In the battle with Ulquiorra, he had experience an all new Hollowfication, and it had scared him. I lost control back there… he thought to himself as he sat on the roof of the school. It was a clear day out, with only a few thin wisps of cloud in the sky. I almost killed Uryu… He stared at his hands, which were trembling slightly. He shut his eyes tight and held his head with his hands. Dammit, what's wrong with me?

2 A.M. Karakura Town was still. With no late-night Hollow alerts, Uryu, Orihime, and Chad were catching up on some much needed sleep. However, Ichigo lies wide awake in bed, thinking still on his strange new transformation. High in the sky, a Garganta opens silently and unnoticed. A man with spiky black hair wearing a black suit and tie and a strange mask steps out, accompanied by a bald man wearing a white jacket with a high collar and white hakama. "Is this it?" the bald man spoke in a deep voice. His face was covered in piercings; he had 6 small spikes jutting from the bottom of his lip, and a ring going through the middle of his bottom lip. He had a large septum ring, as well as a bar going through the base of his bridge and two studs at the top. His gaunt face had sunken cheeks, and both were pierced with spikes. Both of his eyebrows had been cut into three squares each, and in between each square was a stud, totaling 4 in all. He also had a ring on the outside of his right eyebrow. He also had studs on the outside of both of his bright orange eyes, and in each ear he had just about all the types of piercings you could imagine, including large hollow plugs and industrial barbells.

"Yes. This is the place," This man's voice was distorted as though he spoke through a broken microphone. "This is the Karakura Town we're looking for."

The bald man did not seem impressed. "Then I guess the Gran Garganta was successful." The bald man had long black striped under each eye, and when he opened his mouth the line of studs on his tongue that seemed to go from the tip down his throat were visible. "So now we make our move."

"No," the black haired man said. "You assemble the others and wait for my command. "

The bald man glanced over at his companion. "And what will you do?"

"I have to meet with an old friend."

The bald man turned and walked back into the Garganta. "Very well," he said as the portal began to close. "We shall await further instruction… Lord Mu…"

Hey guys, BlackShenlong here. Pretty short entry in the beginning, I know. Things always start slow for me, I guess. This was really just an introductory chapter to introduce the time this is set and to (somewhat) begin to set up the conflict. Hope you enjoyed it. I will try to update this story at least once a week, if not more.