When Tora's parents are killed in a tragic car accident, she goes to live with her grandmother in Karakura Town.
There, she has more problems with spirits than ever before.

First, two strange men in Shihakshos show up and demand she go with them to a place called the "Soul Society." Then, she meets a group of students in her class with strange pressure around them. Now, suddenly, people with pieces of white masks are trying to kidnap her? What the hell is going on?

Ichigo Kurosaki is probably the only person, other than Rukia, who's not excited about the new transfer student. Even Uryu seems interested, though Ichigo's not sure why in the hell he gives a damn. Then she comes into his Japanese class, covered in dirt and looking so tired, he isn't sure she can stand on her own. One look tells Ichigo everything he needs to know: Tora Ito, whoever she is, isn't normal.

.:1:.
.:Ichigo:.

"And she looks so cool," Orihime said animatedly, eyes wide and excited. "Even with her hair all crazy, she still looked great!"

"Uh-huh." Rukia smiled. "I'm glad you like her, Orihime."

It was the start of the last class of the day: Japanese. Orihime and Rukia were sitting across from each other, other girls gathered around, gossiping about the transfer student we got today. Keigo, Chad, and Uryu, on the other hand, were surrounding me, hanging around as Keigo listened in on their conversation.

"And she did this thing with her eyes when someone said something about her messy hair, and it was great. Like, she didn't narrow her eyes, just kind of stared with a set expression, and the girls that were making comments just walked away," Orihime continued. "She's just so cool!"

Keigo sighed. "I hope I get to meet this wonderous girl before the day ends."

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't think 'wonderous' is a word, man," I pointed out. "Besides, who cares? We get new students all the time."

"She does seem quite interesting," Uryu piped in, ignoring me as he pushed up his glasses. "I saw her earlier today in the office."

"Even you?" I said incredulously. "Why the hell do you care?"

"You're as bad as ever when it comes to sensing things, I see," he said matter-of-factly.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" I grumbled.

"You really are an idiot." He sighed, shaking his head.

"You—!"

"Watch it, Kurosaki." Mrs. Ochi walked in, a folder in her hands. She smirked at me, and I scratched my head, grumbling as she headed to her desk. When everyone got quiet, she grinned. "Alright, class. Today, we have a new student."

Murmurs erupted, the entire class seeming to have the same interest in this girl as Orihime and Keigo.

"Settle down, everyone," Ochi said, shaking her head. "You can come in now, Ito."

A girl dressed in street clothes stepped in, long hair trailing past her back. It was messy, just as Orihime had said, strands of it sticking up on her head, some falling in front of her eyes. The jacket she was wearing was clearly too big for her, the sleeves literally engulfing her hands, and her jeans were black and tight. But that wasn't what caught my attention: she was covered in dirt. Everything she was wearing had patches of brown on it—jacket, jeans, face, everything—and when she finally looked up, I was caught by the bags under her eyes.

The girl looked like she was ready to pass out.

Then, without warning, the air became dense, thick, like thousands of pounds were weighing on my chest. I could barely breathe as she walked towards Mrs. Ochi's desk. As soon as she faced the class, though, it stopped. Just. Dead stopped.

I glanced over at Rukia, but she was staring wide-eyed at the girl.

"Everyone, this is Tora Ito. She just recently moved here from Yamanashi Prefecture, so make sure to show her around, okay?" When she got a few nods from people, she continued, "Well, Ito, you can have a seat behind Kurosaki, the boy with the orange hair."

The girl nodded and scanned the room, stopping when she found me. Something flashed in her eyes, but it was gone like that, covered up by indifference.

She made her way to the back of the room and slipped into the desk behind me, ignoring the stares people shot her way.

Class went on the same as usual after that. Keigo tried to talk to the new girl several times, but just ended up getting yelled at. Each time, Tatsuki and Mizuiro laughed at him, getting them yelled at too. No one else seemed to have noticed the intense pressure.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and everyone made their escape to the door, the new girl the first one out, leaving the five us alone.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded.

Uryu pressed his glasses closer to his eyes. "I told you: you're still terrible at sensing things. Her spiritual pressure has been fluctuating like that all day."

"That badly?" I looked at him doubtfully. "I'm sure I would've felt that, Uryu."

"Not that bad, no," he relented. "That was actually the first time it's been so strong." "What do you think, Rukia?"

Her finger was at her bottom lip, contemplating. "None of us have any other classes with each other, do we?"

"No," I said.

"And this is the first class she's been in with you, right?"

I nodded. "Why?"

"Because, in no other class has she had such a large amount of spiritual pressure from the students. Maybe, when she walked in, she sensed it and released more just to scare us."

"Huh?" I looked at her. "But she's human, right?"

"It's a possibility, but I doubt it," she said. "After all, how many humans can control their spiritual pressure without even blinking an eye?"

"She has point, Ichigo," Uryu piped in. "She released so much spiritual pressure and still managed to look calm and collected. Even if she did notice ours, she didn't look affected."

"Did you see her, though? She looked worn out," I pointed out. "Maybe it's not easy. Maybe she just has a good poker face."

"Doubtful," he said. "Besides, that was only her physical appearance; that has nothing to do with her mental state."

He had me there, but for some reason, it was hard to believe she was a threat. I mean, she looked like she was ready to collapse at any moment.

"Have you gotten anything from the Soul Society?" I asked Rukia.

She shook her head. "No news yet, but I figure Kisuke could help us."

I sighed. "Probably. Guess we should pay him a visit before going home."

Everyone nodded, and we headed out of school, getting looks from teachers as we stepped out the doors. Half the student body was still outside, groups of people branching across the schoolyard. A few said hi or waved as I passed, some girl even stealing Orihime for a few minutes. When we were out of the school's gate, Rukia's phone beeped.

She flipped it open, face serious. "We have orders."

"A hollow?"

She nodded.

"Over there," Uryu said.

The sky started ripping open, a tear as high as a skyscraper forming. We rushed over, hoping to get to it before it could emerge, but stopped in our tracks.

In front of the gash, standing emotionlessly, was the new girl.

Blah Blah Blah:
So, this was one of the first stories I ever wrote for Bleach about five years ago, and, since it's been on hold for a good year or two, I thought about rereading the chapters to kind of get in the mood to update it, but I realized a very important fact: it's awful. I've noticed that with a lot of my stories lately, including a few fanfictions on here. Like, I love the plots—the general ideas of what they're about—but the flow and pacing and writing all needs some serious help, so it's time for a rewrite! Now, this story was never on FanFiction (only on Wattpad), so I'm adding the edited version on here to keep from clogging my profile on there with FanFiction rewrites (that's why I joined FanFiction anyway, right?). Enjoy, cupcakes~