A/N- Wow, this is my first time writing for the Bleach fandom That and this is my first time writing in the first person… Anyway, please read and enjoy! The first chapter is pretty much set up, but it'll pick up from there. I have no idea how long this will go on for, but it'll probably take quite a few chapters to get wherever it's gonna go. This is from Ichigo's POV, but I could always decide to switch it up later.

Disclaimer- Not owned by me, but rather Tite Kubo. If it WAS owned by me, however, the Aizen arc would've ended like a year ago! I mean seriously, the pace of the show/manga needs to be picked up.

Pairings- Grimm/Ichi. That's it for now.

Warnings- None for this particular chapter but later on, language for sure, possibly violence, and maybe other things as well. It's AU, no soul reapers.

Chapter 1- Unusual Circumstances

"Hey, Ichigo, it's a beautiful night. Let's go for a walk!"

Thinking about it now, those words and the stubbornness of the person speaking them, may have been the reason that everything worked out the way it did.

The person speaking them was of course none other than Rukia Kuchiki. She was standing on my doorstep with her usual charming confidence. The short girl's insistence when it came to her whims was both amusing and frightening. At that moment, it was quite amusing, but I've seen her when it isn't quite so funny. Those are times I'd rather not talk about, if possible. I didn't technically have anything to do, but we'd both become so accustomed to arguing about things like this that I just slipped into it.

"Do we have to go? I'm busy." I protested.

She gave me a withering look "This is one of the few times you're NOT busy. We just had a big test, you aren't recovering from injuries, you aren't hanging out with anyone else, and there haven't been any pressing spiritual problems."

Ah, "spiritual problems". That one probably needs some explaining.

I, Ichigo Kurosaki, can see spirits.

I'm well aware of how it sounds, however it is the truth. I can see the dearly departed. Not only that, they come to me for help. There are others who have the same abilities I do, but for the most part I'm the one they show up in front of. I don't know why this is, exactly. I've often asked one spirit or another why it chose me of all the supernatural sensitive in Karakura Town, but they seem as stumped as me.

The dead, especially the newly dead, often have unfinished business with the living. Because of that, the require a… translator of sorts, to tell their loved ones how much they care, or help a friend with their problems, and in a few rare cases, to help catch their murderers before they make their final journey into the light.

I can sort of see why'd they come to me, after all even though I'm not the most powerful, my ability is definitely the most consistent. Rukia's "gift", as she calls it, is similar to mine both in power and reliability. For some reason, it seems that Karakura has a high concentration of supernatural activity. There are lots of spirits and lots of people that can hear them.

In fact, most of the friends I have, possess the gift to some extent. Either that, or I met them while I was trying to cross over a spirit to the other side, so they're believers. Anyway, because of my constant helping of spirits, I've become somewhat famous in certain circles.

Anyway, Rukia was waiting for me to give her a satisfactory answer. In other words, she was waiting for me to either give in or suffer the consequences. Easy choice, in my opinion.

"…Fine." I agreed.

"Yay!" She chirped happily "Let's go on the trail that leads into that clearing in the woods!"

"Are you kidding me?" I argued "It's the dead of night, and you want to go traipsing about the woods! No thanks."

Ok, it wasn't actually the dead of night, more like 9 o'clock, but it was still dark out and a walk with Rukia rarely lasted less than an hour. So clearly, I had good reason to object.

Rukia wasn't having it though "Ichigoooooooo…"

I gulped. Her saying my name in that particular manner meant one thing. Trouble.

"Alright Alright, I get it! I'll go!" I finally conceded.

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" Rukia shouted, holding open the door and stepping aside, allowing me to pass.

"Will I be okay in what I'm wearing?" I asked, gesturing to my jeans and short sleeve shirt.

Rukia glanced at me and considered for a moment "Yeah, you'll be fine. It's really nice out tonight."

I nodded and we fell in step together, heading for the woods. On the way we chatted about this and that… Our homework, the latest ghost we'd dealt with, who was dating who at our school… the usual. Well, to be honest I didn't contribute much to that last one. Because I didn't care. Rukia did, however, and made it her duty to fill me in.

Apparently Renji had a crush on someone, but was keeping it a secret and Orihime also liked someone, but Rukia wasn't allowed to tell me who. Not that I wanted to know. To tell the truth, I think Rukia was making up a lie about Orihime's crush in order to get me interested in her. She'd been hinting for some time that the two of us would make a great couple, but I just wasn't interested in her like that.

Anyway, after about ten minutes we arrived at the trail that was densely surrounded by woods, and after another twenty we reached a clearing. In the center of it was a stump from a tree that had been cut down some time ago.

"Hey, Ichigo. Do you know the story behind this clearing?" Rukia asked me, looking up into the sky.

"No."

"Well," She began "The tree that stood here used to be the protector of Karakura Town. However, some greedy men came and cut it down for its resources, this caused terrible things to happen to the town. A little boy's parents died in one of these terrible events, so he came to what was left of the tree to try and save the town, but nothing he said or did had any effect. So he sat on the stump and began to cry."

I simply stood still and listened to Rukia tell the story. I began to get caught up in the events. If nothing else, Rukia was a great storyteller.

"His crying reached a fever pitch, and he suddenly stood up on top of the tree stump and shouted something to the heavens. 'I wish no more disasters would happen!'. And from then on no more horrible events struck the town, however the town's crime and accident rate has remained strangely high, as if someone was causing them, even to this day.

I took a moment to consider what she had said and then laughed a little.

"The only thing you said that was true was about our town's clumsiness and number of degenerates!" I concluded.

She punched me in the stomach. Hard, but not as hard as she could have.

"This isn't funny!" She chided me, even though she was smiling "It's true that fifteen years ago this tree was cut down, disasters occurred, and they suddenly stopped leaving accidents and crimes in their wake!"

I still hadn't quite gotten all the air in my lungs back, so I didn't respond to her. As I recovered, she skipped over to the stump in the center of the clearing and pulled herself up on top of it. She turned towards me and smiled.

"I'll prove it to you." She said, grinning.

"I WISH FOR A BILLION YEN RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW!" Rukia screamed at the top of her lungs.

I rolled my eyes, that wish was classic Rukia. Even as I rolled my eyes, I sort of scanned the clearing, making sure the money hadn't actually appeared. Rukia was doing the same. She seemed a little disappointed when she saw there was none. Well, that was something. If a small part of her actually thought the money would show up then she hadn't made it up all on her own. It also made her somewhat naïve for believing such a thing was possible.

She sighed, smiled, then looked at me, "Ok, your turn!"

I wasn't surprised that she said this. I'd expected her to say something utterly ridiculous along those lines.

"I'll pass." I said disdainfully.

"Oh, come on Ichigo!" She shouted at me "What's the worst that could happen? Besides, as soon as you make a wish we'll leave!"

It wasn't much, but it was enough to get me moving towards the stump. I stood atop the stupid thing and scowled.

"I'm not shouting" I warned

Rukia smiled indulgently, as if she were dealing with a child "That's fine."

I sighed and began "Right now my life is pretty good. I don't particularly need anything, so here's my wish. I wish that if something were to destroy the life I have now, I would have a chance to fix it."

As soon as I said it I felt two things. My body felt lighter, different, but in a good way. I felt better, but in a way I couldn't describe. At the same time, I felt a dark presence somewhere in the woods around us. Whatever it was, I'd not felt evil like it in a long time. Usually spirits aren't evil, just misguided or angry. But on occasion… I shuddered. The memories of those occasions made me shudder.

"…"

Rukia was being dead quiet. Never a good thing, but she was looking down and seemed to have an anxious expression on her face. I rarely saw one on her, so it worried me a bit. Enough to forget about the presence.

"…Rukia?"

She shook herself "Oh, sorry! I got lost in thought there for a moment. My, Ichigo! I didn't know you were so sweet!"

She was back to her normal self.

"Shut up!" I ordered her, frowning.

Rukia simply smiled and headed towards the trail back home. I hopped off the stump and followed after her. We were bantering as we started to leave the clearing. I made fun of her height and she shot out her foot to trip me. Luckily, my quick reflexes saved me from falling. However, as I stumbled I saw something strange. I stopped, bent over, and picked it up.

"Hey, what's this?" I asked to no one in particular.

It was dark, but when I looked closely I could see that it was a small red gem. I held it up to the moonlight and examined it.

"Hey, I'll bet it's valuable!" Rukia concluded.

I chuckled "If that's the case then it must be the tree's way of apologizing for not being able to grant your wish!"

She smiled back at me "No way! You found it, so it's obviously yours!"

I tried to argue with her to take the dumb thing, but she wouldn't budge on the issue. I decided to keep it and give it to Yuzu, or maybe my girlfriend, if I ever got one.

We parted ways at the entrance to the trail, as Rukia lived in a different direction as me. I tried to walk her home, but she waved me off, saying she would be fine. I almost started another argument with her about it when I decided she was right. She probably would be fine. Plus, I wasn't in any mood to escort her to her damn mansion. I swear the Kuchiki family has more money than anyone else in town, and her brother is seriously unafraid to flaunt it. We don't get along, but we don't exactly fight so we tolerate each other for Rukia's sake.

Anyway, I was heading home when a man appeared in front of me. It was dark so it took a little bit to get a picture of his description in my head, but once I did it was clear who the man in front of me was. I recognized him. Not because I knew him or anything, but I'd heard a few rumors about this person. One or two good ones, some neutral, and some really really nasty ones.

"Hello." He said politely.

I wasn't feeling particularly courteous "What do you want Urahara?"

He pulled out a fan and squealed. The idiot actually squealed.

"You know me! Yay, I'm so happy!" He called out in a voice that grated on my ears.

"I do NOT know you, you weirdo! I've just heard about you from around town!" Ichigo clarified.

"But how did you know who I was just by looking at me" Urahara asked, seemingly genuinely confused.

"The description has a hat, wears clogs, carries a fan or a cane, and is a total creep doesn't exactly describe a large portion of the population!" I explained angrily.

"True enough." He said "What else have you heard about me?"

"Just that you're an inventor slash toy maker" I admitted "That and some rumors I'm pretty sure are false."

He didn't ask about the rumors, he simply smiled and began talking again.

"So, Mr. Kurosaki, I have a favor to ask of you." Urahara began.

"… How do you know my name?"

He ignored me.

"You seem to possess an unusual talent for not only seeing spirits, but also drawing them towards yourself. However, you seem to be unaware of your other abilities. Abilities I need you to know if you are to prevent the disaster that will befall us all." He spoke in my general direction.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." I interrupted, speaking the truth.

He ignored me again.

"However, I don't, that is, no one has the time to wait for those abilities to awaken on their own. So I've decided to speed the process along." He said, finally done explaining something that didn't make any sense.

"… What?" I asked dumbly, not knowing what was going on.

He suddenly leapt forward with almost inhuman speed and grabbed my wrist. Before I knew what was happening he had let go and disappeared.

"When the time is right, come to my shop, Mr. Kurosaki!" He shouted, sounding nearby.

I glanced around and saw the fool balancing on a nearby fence, ready to jump to the other side and escape. I took a look at my wrist and I saw something black attached to it.

"What the hell did you do to me, bastard!" I yelled at him.

"Just say 'Absolution Activate!' when you meet someone you know, but don't know!" He advised me, making no sense, which seemed to be standard for him.

"What the hell does that mean!" I shouted even as he began to make his escape "Get back here, idiot!"

He either didn't hear me, or didn't care. And I was left to stand on the sidewalk, completely furious. I examined my right wrist, the one he grabbed, more closely. My initial assumption of something being attached to me turned out to be only half correct. It hadn't bonded to my skin, as I'd feared, it was actually a bracelet. A black bracelet with a skull design on it.

I immediately tried to take it off, but the damn thing was like a Chinese finger trap. The more I tried to get it off the more it seemed to constrict around my arm. Leave to an eccentric inventor to create something so utterly annoying.

'When I get my hands on Urahara I'm going to kill him!' I thought.

I glanced at it again. At least it wasn't ugly, but the fact that it wouldn't come off was an annoyance and a half. I decided that I'd track him down tomorrow after school.

'Ugh. School.' I remembered.

Today had been Sunday, which meant tomorrow was the dreaded Monday. I mean, I saw the good points of school, I did. I got to see my friends, and I suppose it would be helpful later on when I wanted to get a job. But I still didn't like it, even if I did do pretty well. I think my scores on tests surprise my friends more than my ability to see ghosts.

I was thinking about the strange evening I had when I reached my front door, I placed my hand on the doorknob when I suddenly sensed evil in the nearby area. The same one from the clearing. I whipped my head around, but didn't see anything. I didn't have time to pinpoint its location, though because I heard thumping coming from behind the door. Knowing what was coming I opened the door and stepped aside.

"Ichigo!" my idiot father called out, leaping through the door with an overly stylized kick.

I didn't give him a chance to land properly.

"Don't attack your own son whenever he comes home!" I shouted angrily, kicking him in the stomach.

The force of my kick changed his trajectory to a more diagonal path. This lead him to collide with a concrete wall separating our house from another. It probably hurt, but I didn't waste my time worrying about him. He'd be fine. More importantly, somewhere in all the chaos, the evil feeling had vanished.

"You'd think he'd learn after awhile." a voice sighed from the living room couch.

It was Karin. Yuzu was in the kitchen, when she welcomed me back home I greeted her an then turned to Karin.

"You're giving him far too much credit." I contested.

"My dearest Misaki, our son has gotten so strong!" my father cried, hugging a poster of her.

I wish that the poster or my dad's antics were new so I could be creped out by them, but they weren't. My dad had been acting silly my whole life, so I was depressingly used to this sort of thing. I ignored his crying and went upstairs. I grabbed a towel and took a quick shower.

Drying myself off, I returned to my room and put on some sweats and took off my t-shirt. I studied for a bit, but I couldn't seem to get into it. I eventually turned out the lights. As I lay, trying to fall asleep, I contemplated what had happened tonight and what it all could mean. As I lost consciousness only one thing remained clear:

Rukia's worried, anxious face.

A/N- How was that? Good? Not so good? Reviews would be awesome. I think Ichigo might have been a little OOC, but I'm not sure. He's a complex guy after all… anyway! Look forward to the next chapter, where Grimmjow will be introduced!