A/N: This story is going to follow the Bleach anime storyline, with alterations, for the first few chapters and then it'll go into an original arc and then back to the anime storyline with alterations (minus several filler arcs) and then original... ect...
Also, This chapter is entirely not from my OC's point of view but the majority of the rest of the story will be.
And I know that this chapter can be confusing since there's a lot of timeskips, but bear with me. There's also a short author's note at the end of this chapter to clear up some concerns you guys may have.
Ichigo grumbled to himself, barely paying any attention to what was being taught in class. He knew he'd have to reteach himself the material later, but he had more important things on his mind at the moment: namely, a rather short, black haired transfer student. She called herself Rukia, and he knew for a fact that she was the strange person he had met the other night, even if she was currently denying it. He couldn't wait for school to be over so that he could confront her. Without realizing it, his foot began to tap out a rhythm on the tiled floor, earning him a sideways glance from the girl who sat beside him. He grumbled to himself one last time as he placed a hand on his disobedient leg to force it to stop and then did his best to refocus on the board.
The last few classes seemed to take forever in Ichigo's opinion. Luckily, he had managed to zone out near the end and soon found himself jolted awake by the ending bell. The carrot top briskly stood up and followed after the strange girl who looked as though she was expecting his reaction. He confronted her in the courtyard after they had come to a stop. Her nonchalant attitude had been grating on the orange haired teen's nerves and so he found himself yelling rather loudly the first chance he got.
"Alright you freaky little nut job! What the hell do you think your doing?!" He was seething and he made no attempt to hide it.
"Oh! How scary! You big brute, jeepers! Your not going to hurt me are you?" said Rukia in a false cutesy and innocent voice. Ichigo could practically feel a vein throb on his head.
"First of all, you can knock it off with that goody-two-shoes act, okay?!" Ichigo demanded. His patience was thin enough as it was, and it aggravated him further that she kept up her ridiculous act even though no one was really around to hear them.
"Well, I think it's pretty good!" Rukia huffed, returning to her usual self. "Considering that I learned it overnight."
"Alright forget it! So just tell me what your doing here anyway! Weren't you supposed to be heading back to your Soul Society or whatever it was?!" He demanded, trying to calm himself since his outburst had already caused more than one student to pause and watch them before moving on.
An emotion flashed across the soul reaper's face, it was something similar to worry, or maybe dejection. "I can't," she finally answered. Ichigo deflated slightly at the tone in her voice. "Only soul reapers can go back to the Soul Society and I no longer have the power to return anymore."
The teen scanned her face but saw no indication that she was lying. "What do you mean you can't go back?" he asked, much more calm than he had been before. Rukia then launched into an explanation about gigais and how he was expected to fill in for her because it was his fault to begin with.
Ichigo's jaw dropped slightly at her words and he started to yell again. "No way! I only did it to protect my family!"
One of Ichigo's classmates was walking by as he shouted that exclamation. She paused and walked up to them with a questioning look on her face. "Ichigo?" she asked, "What are you talking about?"
Ichigo's faced lost a bit of its colour as he worked hard to think up a good lie. "A video game!" He said, possibly a little too quickly. The girl raised a black eyebrow. "It- it's this new RPG thing Keigo showed me! You- you... uh... make this character and it has this family and... uh..." He struggled to keep up with the lie, but it was difficult; this type of thing wasn't his strong point.
"Oh!" she exclaimed happily, apparently fooled, "Is it Dragon Age? I love that game!" She smiled and looked at him expectantly with her large grey eyes.
Ichigo could feel the sweat on his neck, "Uh yeah! Maybe... I don't know, it was Keigo's game..." He trailed off and looked around as he tried to think of a way to end the conversation without seeming too mean. He was spared of that when the girl's cellphone beeped.
She looked down at it, startled. "Ah! Oh, no! Please don't tell me I'm late! Sorry Ichigo, can we talk another time?" The teen nodded numbly and the black haired girl took off shortly afterwards, running as if she was late for something really important.
Ichigo watched her leave and let out a sigh of relief. "Man that was close!"
"You really should keep your voice down Ichigo," Rukia chided.
He rounded on her. "Shut up! This is your fault too!"
She rolled her eyes, "I wasn't the one yelling idiot." Ichigo was about to retort when she interrupted him. "Who was that girl anyway?" she asked, successfully sidetracking him and quieting down his loud voice.
"That was- that was uh..." He paused as he tried to think of the girl's name. She was a transfer student too, but she had been with the class for several months already. As the teen thought hard about her previous question, Rukia stared down at her own phone that was flashing; her eyes steeled. Ichigo sighed, he really did suck at remembering people, but this girl was one of the few he actually did remember. "Right! That's Haruko Minami. I remember cause her name sounds so surreal; kind of like someone just mashed some words together." The orange haired teen felt proud of himself for actually remembering someone's name but then another thought struck him. "Wait a minute!" he exclaimed as he pointed accusingly at the shorter girl. "You got me off topic!"
Said girl innocently shrugged. "I was just trying to calm you down a bit before we got back to business."
"Well it didn't work!" She shrugged again but said nothing. Instead, she quickly pulled on a strange looking glove and before he could ask what she was doing, Rukia ran towards him. Her gloved hand hit him in the jaw with enough force that he went tumbling backwards. "What the hell was that for!" He angrily exclaimed as he glared at her. He then noticed something and his eyes widened. Ichigo looked down at himself and then back at his body that was lying a few feet away. "What-" He was cut off as Rukia grabbed him and began to drag him to somewhere, staring at her phone the whole way.
That night Ichigo rolled over on his bed, unable to sleep. So much had happened in a single day; Rukia had transferred in, Haruko had unexpectedly talked to him, he had fought yet another hollow, he had preformed his first konso, and he had somehow agreed to take on the duties of a soul reaper. He sighed and shoved his head underneath his pillow. With so many things swirling around he just knew that he wasn't going to get a good night's sleep.
Ichigo stared blankly at the chalkboard. He probably should have been paying attention to the numbers and symbols that were being written up there, but they didn't feel as important as they used to. His thoughts were on all the things that had happened to him the last month or so. He had accidentally gotten on TV, met a strange hat and clogs wearing man, gotten a new talking toy, fought more hollows, saved Orihime and Chad, made friends with Haruko and found out that she had gradually begun to see ghosts because of him, gotten to know Rukia better, and, saved many souls from horrible fates. Although everything was changing so quickly, Ichigo didn't find himself regretting a minute of it. He had the power to protect people and he wasn't going to waste it. The carrot top was shaken out of his thoughts by some female voices. He tuned back in to the real world to listen to their conversation.
"Earth to Ichigo," Haruko was saying as she waved a hand in front of his face in the hopes of grabbing his attention. The teen merely blinked in response; he was aware of what was going on, but didn't bother to respond since he was now trying to read what had been left on the board.
Rukia stood beside the shorter girl, shaking her head. "You're wasting your time Haruko," she said, "When Ichigo is spaced out nothing short of an explosion will snap him out of it.
"How about a hollow?" the other black haired girl questioned jokingly. As if on some strange cue, Rukia's soul pager beeped; Haruko grabbed her own cell as if on instinct. "Woah..." she said, surprised at herself, "I have some pretty good timing!" The soul reaper flipped open her pager and quickly found the hollow's location.
The familiar beeping had cause Ichigo to turn his stare towards the girls. He briskly stood, "Where?" he asked, already alert. Rukia made a motion for him to follow and they ran off: with Haruko right behind them. The realization caused the orange haired teen to alter his stride for a moment as he stared back at her. "What are you doing?" he questioned the girl who had followed along even though she knew the dangers that awaited them.
Her grey eyes met his brown ones before she smiled up at him. "I want to see what these hollow things are!" she stated, not losing her pace as they ran out through the large main school doors. "You guys always run off without me and frankly, I'm sick of it!" Ichigo could hear the determination in her voice.
Rukia looked back at her for a moment before turning to look ahead once again in order to make sure that she was still heading the right way. "But you know how dangerous hollows are, why would you-"
"I know that I may not be of any help and I know that I may not even be able to properly see them," she said, her annoyance at being powerless evident in the quiver in her voice, "But I still can't stand by! I won't stand by and do nothing! Even if I am powerless right now, I'll still find some way to help out if I have to- that I promise you."
At her words, Rukia's face gave way to a nostalgic smile. "I see. I've met your kind before, and I know you won't take no for an answer so-"
"You can't be serious Rukia!" Ichigo exclaimed, cutting her off. "Just turn back Haurko, and you won't get hurt. It's too dangerous!"
"That's not going to work," both girls chided simultaneously. They looked at each other for a second and smiled.
"I've already made up my mind," Haruko said, "And one strawberry isn't going to change it."
"Would you quite calling me that?!" He demanded, annoyed at the nicknamed he had been dubbed.
"Would you quit trying to make me go back?" The small black haired girl remarked, looking up at him rather smugly as they rounded a corner and came to a stop at the soccer field.
Ichigo heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his brightly coloured hair. "Well it's too late now Ichigo," Rukia said as the beeping from her pager intensified. She turned to Haruko as she took out her usual glove. "Stay by me, and be careful." Haruko nodded her understanding. She then proceeded to hit Ichigo, turning him into his soul reaper form. He instantly drew out his overgrown zanpakuto and charged at the hollow. The two girls stayed behind and watched him fight, both unable to provide much assistance.
Rukia turned her gaze away from the ongoing fight to look at the short black haired, silver eyed girl beside her. The girl was focused on the area where the battle was happening; this was the first time in a long time that she had properly seen a fight happen so it was no wonder that she didn't want to miss a thing. Rukia studied the girl for another moment and something about her actions caught her eye. She noticed the directions her eyes were looking, it was almost as if she was watching the actual fight and not just the resulting dust clouds. "Haruko," she started, eyes still focused on the other girl's face, "Can you actually see the hollow?"
Said girl blinked, somewhat surprised; she ripped her gaze away from the field and turned to the smaller soul reaper. "I can only see a vague shape," she replied easily, "Why?" She seemed curious as to what was up with the sudden question.
"Oh, it's nothing," Rukia said, thinking that she must have been imagining things. "It's just that you seem to be looking in all the right places so I was just curious."
"I'm just following the dust clouds and a blurry blob," Haruko said, blinking. "Why would I lie about that? Are you alright Rukia?"
"I'm fine." Rukia shot her a smile before it faded away to be replaced by something that could be considered a longing look. "I guess I'm a bit paranoid... It's just... you sort of remind me of someone I knew a long time ago in the Soul Society. Stubborn and reckless. No regard for your own safety, and strangely determined to pull your own weight."
Haruko smiled kindly at her. "I can't imagine what it must be like to be cut off from everything and everyone you know. You must be lonely, but don't worry." She looked up at her: eyes bright. "You'll gain your powers back but until you do, Ichigo and I will be here for you!"
Rukia grinned at her. "You just rhymed! Great job!" she said as they both started to laugh. Completely ignoring the fight that had finally come to a conclusion, the girls continued to laugh happily, acting as if they were old friends instead of people who had met barely a month ago.
Ichigo eyed the two laughing girls wearily, wondering if they had finally cracked. He went back into his body and dusted himself off. "Of all the people, I get stuck with two insane girls... What are you laughing about anyway?"
"Nothing much," Haruko said once she calmed down. Ichigo shook his head and led the way back to school; speed walking because they were already late for their after lunch class.
"What's going on?!" Haruko exclaimed, looking around so quickly that her shoulder length black hair threatened to whip her friend in the face. "What are those things?!" Her silvery eyes were wide as she gazed at the hoard of horrifying creatures that were appearing in all directions. The sky was littered with them and more were still coming through black holes; there was no end in sight.
Rukia's face was steeled, she couldn't afford to show any weakness, especially not when her friend was anxious enough for the both of them. Over the last few weeks Haruko had steadily found herself seeing the hollows clearer and clearer which was definitely useful, but Rukia had hoped that this wouldn't be how she'd see her first one; or her first hundred hollow as the case may be.
Haruko took some deep breaths to try to calm herself before turning to the soul reaper. "Are those-? She started a question that she had no need to finish. The young Kuchiki nodded and so she then switched to a different topic, "Rukia, do you know what's going on? This many hollows can't be normal!"
"It's not," she answered quickly as she grabbed a hold of the smaller girl's arm and dragged her into an alleyway in order to escape from some hollows that had begun to head towards them. All they could do was run, and so that's what they did. They ran around corners and down allies until they came out into the street and then they began to head towards where the majority of the hollows seemed to be gathering. Rukia was weary from all the kido spells she had been using earlier on. She would have kept fighting but with the majority of her powers gone, she was quick to tire these days. Haruko wasn't much better. She had no powers she could use and it frustrated her to no end; she would have loved to blow them all away, but she couldn't, not in her current condition, not with how things stood right now.
Halfway to the park Rukia abruptly stopped, making Haruko, who was still being led by the arm, to smack into her back. As she rubbed her nose she stepped in front of the other girl and looked into her eyes. "Why'd you stop? We have to keep going!" she said, scanning her face with worried eyes.
"No, this is far enough," Rukia responded calmly.
The other girl raised an eyebrow. "But we're not even close yet!"
"This is far enough for you," she clarified, staring at Haruko with a determined look. Said girl went to protest but wasn't given the chance. "I know that I'm repeating what Ichigo and I have said plenty of times before, but it's too dangerous." A downcast look appeared on the girl's face which caused the veteran soul reaper to feel bad about having to do this. She sympathized with her; she knew what it was like to constantly be on the sidelines, but she also knew that however much she had resented her superiors that they had been right and so she refused to back down now. "Please Haruko, go somewhere safe, and if you insist on going to see what's going on then at least look from a distance." With that said, she ran off leaving a somewhat shocked Haruko to watch her retreating back.
"Boss? What are we going to do?" A small redhead asked as he replace his giant metal bat over his shoulder after he had used it to exterminate several hollows.
Urahara waved his fan as he usually did. "We should probably just keep heading to where they're all gathering. Something interesting should be waiting for us there," he replied lightly, barely affected by the hollows surrounding him or the mess they could be walking into.
The odd group continued on their way towards the park. Kisuke watched the regular people continuing on with their normal lives and found himself rather amused. It was strange how everyone could be so calm when monsters were flying right above their heads. "I suppose ignorance is bliss," he stated to himself.
"Did you say something boss?" Jinta questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"It's nothing, I was just- Oh! Well look who it is!" As they had crossed a sidewalk Urahara had noticed a familiar black haired girl. At his voice, said girl turned and looked up at him with her grey eyes. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" The blonde man started up a conversation as he fell into step beside her. They continued heading towards where the concentration of hollows was occurring. "You rarely ever come to my shop anymore, it's like you're avoiding me."
"That's not it," she sighed, "I've been busy with plans and stuff."
"You have plans?" he asked, intrigued.
She frowned. "Not exactly, I've been running through scenarios in my head. They all tend to end badly..."
"Cheer up!" The shop owner said, "I'm sure things will all work out in the end."
The girl gave a dry chuckle, "You're so optimistic," she stated wearily. "I wish I could do that."
"Years of practice," he said with a grin. She shook her head but had a small smile on her face nonetheless. A few minutes later they had arrived at the park and were greeted with a rather dismal sight.
"Oh my, this looks interesting," Kisuke stated, waving around his fan once again.
The black haired girl gave him a look. "'Interesting' isn't the word I would use," she said as she watched Uryuu and Ichigo become surrounded by a circle of seemingly never ending hollows; and the worse was yet to come. Before their eyes the sky began to tear and a large white foot stepped out.
Her mouth almost fell open at the sight. "You have got to be joking!" She exclaimed, a mixture of anger and annoyance present in her voice.
Urahara turned to look down at her small form. "So what will you do, Kimiko?"
She looked up at him out of the corner of her silver eyes. "Nothing," she responded calmly.
A/N: No, I did not accidentally type the wrong name! Just thought you should know before I start getting reviews pointing it out :3