Place in the Bleach Story line: Ichigo is 18 years old and in the last year of school. He has regained his soul reaper powers but not found out about his Quincy half yet.

Disclaimer: The Bleach story line and characters are copyrighted to Tite Kubo and my characters and this story are copyrighted to me.

Bleach: Vendetta

By: Renee Benson

© 2012 by Renee Benson

Point of View: The entire story is written in Third Person Omnipotent viewpoint.

Version Edit 6 – 4/30/2015

Chapter One: Incident at the Park

It was just after midnight, the fingernail moon cast a dim glow upon the city below. Three sets of running footsteps could be heard in the street. "How many do we have this time?" Ichigo asked.

Before Rukia had time to answer, Uryū chimed in, "There are three, Ichigo. You still can't sense this?"

Startled, Ichigo responded, "Where the hell did you come from?" Ignoring Uryū's previous comment. "How strong are they, Rukia?" Ichigo asked.

Rukia responded, "Not too bad, just your usual run of the mill hollows. It concerns me because there have been many more than usual recently."

Ichigo, Rukia, and Uryū were approaching the park where the hollows were detected. They split up so they could cover more ground. Ichigo quickly found one concealed in a grove of trees. He didn't even have time to draw his sword before it was bisected by another soul reaper. The girl was dressed like a soul reaper except instead of her Shihakushō (outfit) being black it was a dark purple. Her long red hair was pulled back in a low ponytail except for a patch of bangs that she had tucked behind her right ear. She had a small silver medallion on a chain around her neck and a red sash around her waist. The girl glared at Ichigo with her cold steel gray eyes momentarily as if saying "stay off my turf" then flash stepped away.

Rukia came running up to a confused Ichigo. "Are there any other soul reapers out here tonight?" Ichigo asked.

"No" Rukia responded, "just you and I. Why?"

"Just wondering because that hollow was killed by another soul reaper. It was a girl, but the strange thing was she had a purple Shihakushō and I have never seen her before." Ichigo answered flatly trying to hide the annoyance he was feeling.

"Another soul reaper? Are you sure?" Rukia questioned.

"I didn't kill the hollow; I never even got to draw my sword! Yes I'm sure!" Ichigo snapped back.

"Well, we have other hollows to worry about." Rukia said. Thinking to herself, "I wonder if the Soul Society sent someone else to help, but why wasn't I notified? Why was she in the wrong color uniform? Why didn't I detect anyone else's spiritual pressure?" Her thoughts were interrupted by Ichigo.

"Okay Rukia, which way?" Ichigo asked.

"Um, I don't know. I can't detect either of the hollows. Maybe Uryū already took care of them?" Rukia answered.

"Let's go find him." Ichigo stated. They ran off in the direction of Uryū's spiritual pressure. They found him at the edge of the tree line.

"You are fast tonight, I didn't even see one." Uryū commented.

"You didn't get the other two?" Ichigo asked confused.

"No, I thought you two had taken care of all of them." All of a sudden all three were struck by an unfamiliar spiritual pressure. Halfway across the clearing stood the unfamiliar soul reaper with her back to them, katana drawn and ready for battle however there were no enemies in sight. "Did the Soul Society send another soul reaper to help?" Uryū asked Rukia.

"I don't know, I wasn't notified and I don't recognize her." The new soul reapers' spiritual pressure somehow felt off or wrong to Rukia. She couldn't put her finger on it, but she felt this girl was dangerous.

"Well I'll go find out who she is." Ichigo said. He was still annoyed with her from earlier. Ichigo went up to the girl, grabbed her arm and spun her towards him. "Who the hell are you?" Ichigo demanded in a cold tone.

"Do you really think it's wise to challenge someone who already has their katana drawn without having your own drawn as well?" The girl retorted, not fazed by him at all. "Leave me alone soul reaper, I don't have time to play with you right now, I'm in the middle of something."

Her reaction irritated him even more. "In the middle of what, standing and staring into space? I asked you a question, who are you? Which squad do you belong to?" The anger and annoyance in Ichigo's voice starting to show.

"I already told you child, I don't have time to play with you. Leave now before you and your little friends get hurt." The girl stated. Her voice was even and cold.

Ichigo lost it, now shouting, "Child!? I'm bigger than you are! And I've been protecting my home, family and this town for many years now! Who are you to come in here and tell me to leave? If anyone should leave, it's you! No one asked for your help nor do we want it!"

The girl was starting to get irritated with him so she sheathed her katana to resist the temptation to use it on him. "I called you a child not in reference to your age but to your immaturity as a soul reaper. You obviously cannot even bind your sword! It looks like they will take anyone now. Leave now before you get hurt, you don't know what you're dealing with." The aggravation in her voice apparent.

"I have been fighting hollows for years now; I think I can handle easy ones like this. I've seen things and fought things you couldn't even imagine! I don't need or want your help you obnoxious girl! Leave now or I'll make you leave!" Ichigo bellowed as he took a step closer to her.

The girl finally lost patience with him, "Make me leave? You don't have the skill or the strength to take me on! Just by the very fact of you think that these are ordinary hollows shows how immature you are as a soul reaper! Can't you tell there's something different about them? But then I'm expecting way too much from a child like you!" She was shouting back at him by the end of her response.

They were now face-to-face about a foot apart screaming at each other. Their overlapping angry words were getting harder to understand. Rukia and Uryū just stood there in disbelief watching them argue. Neither Ichigo nor the girl were trying to suppress their tremendous spiritual pressure and as a result the whole area trembled.

"Should we intervene?" Rukia asked.

"Do you really want to get into the middle of that?" Uryū responded. All of a sudden he felt the presence of the other two hollows. "Rukia, their back!"

Rukia could barely feel them with the interference of the two out-of-control soul reapers. "I got this one over here. Are you good with the other?" Rukia asked Uryū.

"Yes. Go!" Uryū stated emphatically.

Rukia tracked down the hollow by the South entrance to the park. She quickly dispatched it and rushed back to her friends.

Meanwhile, as the argument continued, a reishi arrow flew between Ichigo and the girl at head level. It struck the hollow that was only about 20 feet away from Ichigo and the girl and about to attack them. The hollow let out an unearthly scream and started to disintegrate. Ichigo and the girl both in unison looked where the arrow had come between them, then toward the disappearing hollow, then glared back at Uryū who had shot the arrow. They then looked back at each other and continued their argument from where they left off. Rukia ran up to Uryū, "You could have hit one of them! Why didn't you shoot it over their heads? It would have had the same effect."

"I think the only way I would have had any effect on them is if I would've shot one of them. Even then I think they would still be arguing." Uryū stated with an exasperated sigh.

The girl soul reaper abruptly turned and started to leave. Ichigo grabbed her arm again and yanked her back hard "Where do you think you're going?" Ichigo demanded.

"It's obviously pointless to argue with you and your limited intellect. Anyway your friends took care of the other two hollows so there's no point of me wasting my time here with you anymore." She yanked her arm out of his grasp, turned and flash stepped away.

Rukia and Uryū went over to Ichigo. "Who was she? Was she a member of the 13 court guard squads?" Rukia asked.

"She never told me. I never thought I would have to fight the urge to hit someone so much, even if she is a girl, if you can call her that." It was obvious he was still enraged by the argument. "The nerve of her, telling us to leave, it was too dangerous, how dare she?! It's not like we have never faced a hollow before. She was saying that these hollows are different; they weren't any different were they?" He observed the startled reactions of his two friends. "And to answer your question I don't think she is part of the 13 court guard squads. She was very condescending toward soul reapers in general and she really did not like me."

Uryū thought to himself "Well maybe you shouldn't have grabbed her arm like that for starters." but there was no reasoning with Ichigo when he gets like this, so therefore no point in bringing it up. "We should get going, we all have class in the morning." Uryū stated.