Disclaimer: I do not own any of Bleach or its characters.

Rated T because I think there will be cursing at some point in the later chapters.

Chapter 1: Prologue

"Matsumoto!" Hitsugaya barked. "What's going on?"

"Oh, taichou! You're here already!" Hitsugaya scanned the surroundings.

"Is there a hollow?"

"No taichou, relax. I didn't call you here because I needed your help. Hinamori asked me to give this to you."

Hitsugaya felt suspicious. He turned to face his vice captain who had a look of utmost sincerity on her face. Realizing that he had suspected her too soon of something heinous, Hitsugaya apologetically held out his hand. Matsumoto quickly dropped something rather weighty into his palm.

When Matsumoto withdrew her arm, Hitsugaya saw a beautiful crystal resembling ice in his hand. It was attached to a light metal chain, which he looped around his neck with a small smile.

"She told me to pass this message on to you: Shiro-kun, stay safe." Matsumoto informed him.

"Thanks Momo…"

Suddenly, a burst of reiatsu flared and then died down. Instincts kicking in, Matsumoto and Hitsugaya pivoted to face the source of the burst. Instead, they found themselves facing air.

"Taichou…" Matsumoto started as she carefully looked around them. "that reiatsu…"

"I know Matsumoto. It was that of a hollow, and a strong one too."

After a moment, they both straightened from their fighting stances.

"Well, whatever it was, it's gone now. Maybe we should find Ichigo and ask him if he's noticed anything weird lately."

"Good idea. But I need to talk to Urahara. Matsumoto, if you find anything out, let me know right away."

"Hai!"

Ichigo was sitting at quietly his desk, studying diligently when a sharp rapping shocked him out of his chair. He glared at the window, but his expression shifted into one of confusion when he saw who the culprit was.

"Rangiku-san? What's going on?"

"Hi Ichigo! Have you noticed anything weird lately?" She asked bluntly.

"Weird…? Well… not really. A lot of stuff has been disappearing from school but I don't think that has anything to do with…"

Matsumoto cut in. "Have you noticed any bursts of reiatsu that don't seem to come from anything?"

"Hey, now that you mention it, I vaguely remember Ishida telling me that right before something disappears, he feels the presence of a hollow leaving Hueco Mundo. Well, I've never felt it so he may just be rubbing things in my face again, that I can't sense things and all." Ichigo scowled. Matsumoto thoughtfully looked out the window.

"Okay then, thanks for your time Ichigo!" she called as she leapt out the said window.

"Hey wait! Rangiku-san! What's going on? Why is a Shinigami of a vice captain rank stationed in Karakura? And who else is here?" But Matsumoto was already long gone and Ichigo only heard his questions disappear into the sky. "She is so… impulsive."

Hitsugaya leapt over Karakura high school, deep in thought. When he reached Urahara Shoten, he strode over and almost ripped the sliding door out of the wall.

"Ooh! Look what we have here! Be careful Hitsugaya-taichou, or else you'll have to pay for damages!" Urahara clunked towards Hitsugaya on his wooden sandals. When he noticed the young captain's brow furrowed in worry, all traces of goofiness vanished.

"Urahara… I probably shouldn't be too concerned. But menos can't move between this world and Hueco Mundo very quickly, can they?"

"No, why?"

"Today, Matsumoto and I were standing above the river when we felt the presence of a Menos Grande. But Menos Grande don't have the ability to mask their reiatsu so the only way it could have disappeared was to return to Hueco Mundo, which it seems to have done in under a second."

"Are you referring to those frequent bursts of intense reiatsu that occur all over the city?"

"Frequent? But today was the fir-"

"Taichou! There may be a correlation between these bursts of energy and objects that have gone missing all around the town!" Matsumoto called as she shunpo-ed onto the porch of Urahara Shoten.

Hitsugaya and Matsumoto decided to split up and comb through the town while Urahara continued to do some research on the pulses of hollow energy. As he navigated around town, Hitsugaya felt a pulse coming from the river, where he and Matsumoto had been earlier in the day. He quickly steered toward it.

As he got closer and closer to the river, the pulses became more and more frequent. When he finally reached the river, however, the pulses had come to a stop. Confused, he looked around the area slowly, taking in as many details as he could. In flash, the river had frozen beneath him and a tremendous amount of energy had rammed itself in his face.

And suddenly, the river was liquid again, but Hitsugaya had already drawn Hyourinmaru and frozen whatever was in front of him. However, before he could get a good look at what it was, the ice around it exploded sending him flying backwards. When he regained his balance, he looked up. From the debris and smoke rose a familiar silhouette.

"Momo…?"

Author's Notes: I know it says this is a HitsuxKarin fic, and it is! The prologue just has to create the setting for the entire story, and Karin doesn't happen to be in it. Look forward to lots of HitsuxKarin in later chapters! Starting with this next one I think...