A/N: This is a story I have always wanted to see but have never really found one that does the idea justice. In this story Ichigo is a soul in Rukongai about the same time as Rukia is and as he joins the Shinigami Academy with her he begins a journey that will change Soul Society forever.
A/N: I have revised this first chapter for mistakes and have added more to it to make it seem less rushed.
A young boy whose hair was the uncommon colour of orange lay in a crawlspace underneath a destroyed building, a sight not unusual in 78th district of Rukongai, he was watching the group of kids who were currently standing in front of the building.
This was not unusual as most days he could be found watching the groups that passed by what was his makeshift home, but today was different, he had seen this group before and he noticed that two of the kids who were always in this group were not there.
This was further proven by the conversation that the group were having and he received his answer of what had happened from one of the boys in the group when he said, "Rukia and Renji were taken away last night, it was a Shinigami, so I guess they've been recruited, lucky them."
The boy who had been hiding found this interesting but did not have time to think on it as before he realised what was going on he was dragged out of the hole he was hiding in and forced to stand up. In front of him were two Shinigami, the one who had picked him up speaking, "Looks like he has enough Reiatsu, kid what's your name?"
He was not able to do anything else and he knew he had no choice, so he answered, "Kurosaki Ichigo." The Shinigami who had not yet spoken wrote what looked like the boys name in his notebook and replied, "Okay Ichigo well it looks like you're going to the Shinigami Academy."
Before Ichigo could even respond he was speeding away from the home that he had made for himself since he arrived after dying in the living world, unable to even struggle in the tight grip of the Shinigami he resigned himself to fate.
Ichigo stood in a room that was filled with many other kids of varying ages including those who were both older and younger than himself, looking to his right he saw the black hair girl and red hair boy who he had notice missing from the group of children this morning.
He recognised their names as Rukia and Renji, thinking that they might be enjoyable company he told himself to try and make friends with them.
The Shinigami, who Ichigo realised must be a teacher at the Academy, finished explaining about how being enrolled at the Shinigami Academy would change them and told everyone that they would now have ten minutes to talk to each other before they would be called into the room behind him to be tested for their level of Reiatsu.
He turned to start up a conversation with the two kids beside him but before he could the red haired boy came up to did so for him, "Hey, my name's Renji and this is Rukia," pointing to the girl, "from your clothes it looks like you're from a poor district like us, everyone else looks to be from a rich district so it's probably best if we stick together."
The three of them spent the next ten minutes talking to each other and by the end of it they had already become friends, a first for Ichigo who had not had a friend since arriving in Soul Society. They decided to make the courtyard outside of the main Academy building their meeting place and went their separate ways to be tested.
Hearing his name Ichigo walked towards the door that he was being pointed to and entered to find a Shinigami waiting with some sort of machine in his hand.
"Okay, Kurosaki Ichigo, just stand here." The Shinigami said before moving the machine around what Ichigo assumed must be his Reiatsu.
The machine made a noise and the Shinigami looked at the screen, which must have shown some sort of reading that he recorded. Ichigo thought he saw the Shinigami's eyes widen slightly but was sure he was mistaken when a second later his eyes returned to normal.
Ichigo was told where his room was and that he would be told what his classes were soon, so he left the room and began walking towards what he was told would be his new home.
The Shinigami who had been measuring the Academy entrants Reiatsu measured the last kid's spiritual power and sent the boy out of the room. He checked to make sure that no one was left outside the room and released the illusion that he had created before the exam, in his place stood the 5th division Captain Aizen Sosuke.
Aizen couldn't believe what he had seen whilst testing the Reiatsu of the kids, sure some had been quite powerful for their age and some showed a lot of potential if not power, but one kid, Kurosaki Ichigo, had been given an extremely high reading, by the Reiatsu reading machine.
The reading was so high that if it was reported as it is it would be the first time since Ichimaru Gin that a reading this high had been recorded on an Academy entrant, the boy would be marked automatically and watched more than anyone else, that was something Aizen could not allow.
When he had made himself appear as the Shinigami who would take the Reiatsu readings he had intended to gather information about whether Soul Society was heading towards a strong or weak point, he had received his answer when a larger number than usual of strong readings occurred but to have someone with the potential to become a Captain appear had never crossed his mind.
Now Aizen found himself in a good situation, a boy with strength who could be turned to Aizen's cause as Gin had been. So to make this possible, so that he could influence the boy Aizen erased the real recording and replaced it with one that was slightly above average.
This would allow for Ichigo to learn at a level that he could easily excel at, if taught right, but also allowed Aizen to one day recommend the boy for the 5th division squad without competition when the boy had learnt enough from the Academy.
Though this seemed like a good plan Aizen realised that it carried with it one major flaw, the amount of Ichigo's Reiatsu, which even a Shinigami with minimal ability to sense Reiatsu would be able to tell was higher than what was recorded for him. As such Aizen, in an attempt to conceal this, had used Kyoka Suigetsu to give Ichigo's Reiatsu the illusion of being smaller than in reality.
When he decided it was time to bring Ichigo into his division he would take him from the Academy and then, when Ichigo's transfer to the 5th division was confirmed, Aizen would release the illusion and place Ichigo into a seated rank where he could not be watched as vigorously as in the Academy.
Placing the notepad with the results in the box with the rest of the notebooks Aizen reapplied the illusion to himself and exited the room, heading on his way to Gin and Tosen to tell them about the boy he had discovered.
Ichigo was walking with Renji on his way to the advanced class talking about what they thought they would learn in the coming class. Yesterday after being tested Ichigo had gone to his room and found out that he was sharing the room with Renji, he had spent the rest of the day with Rukia and Renji getting to know them.
In the morning Ichigo had found out that both he and Renji had been placed in the advanced class because of their above average Reiatsu whilst Rukia was sent to the normal class. Ichigo thought that Rukia had been unfairly judged and believed that just because she didn't have a large Reiatsu didn't mean that she had to be labelled as normal.
Arriving at the class Ichigo and Renji sat in their seats and listened as the Shinigami who was the teacher talked about what they would be learning and what he expected of them. The teacher looked to be a seated officer but it was hard to tell as Ichigo didn't yet have the ability to understand the Reiatsu he detected from the man.
As the days went on Ichigo found that he could understand and learn what the teacher taught them which was in contrast to Renji who had to put everything into it, just to keep up with Ichigo. Ichigo also found that although he, like Renji had trouble controlling his Kido, that if he limited the amount of Reiatsu he was outputting he could accomplish the easier Kido without trouble.
This did not help Renji however as even after Ichigo explained to him how to restrain his Reiatsu, he maintained that he couldn't. Ichigo at first was unconvinced about this but accepted it after Renji's Kido blew up in his face even though he was following Ichigo's instructions.
Apart from teaching them how to control their Reiatsu, use Kido and how to use their Zanpakuto, which they had received upon entering the Academy, the advanced class had also brought them two new friends, Kira Izuru and Hinamori Momo.
Though their days were sometimes busy they still found time to just hang out with Rukia who told them how easy she thought the normal class was. This enlightened Ichigo to one of the problems of Soul Society, they test applicants to the Academy by their Reiatsu only, and this in Ichigo's opinions was a mistake.
Rukia was actually a perfect example of this; she had normal Reiatsu levels but her determination and ability to learn were high enough that if she were given a chance then she would probably be able to keep up with most of the advanced class.
This combined with what Ichigo knew about the outer districts of Rukongai combined to show him that the Shinigami were being detrimental to everyone. By not patrolling and keeping the law in all of the Rukongai they were allowing many potential Shinigami to be undiscovered and of those that were discovered had a good chance of not going far if they didn't have a large enough Reiatsu.
Ichigo realised that by doing this Soul Society actually kept their Shinigami population to a minimum, if someone were to gather the potential Shinigami that were never discovered then maybe they would be able to overrun Soul Society.
These thoughts however would have to be forgotten for awhile, Ichigo realised, because at the moment there was no way for him to test his theory, not to mention that Ichigo feared that if he told anyone else of this idea that they may lock him up somewhere to ensure the rule that Soul Society currently had.
In any case Ichigo had more important things to do, like the one he was currently working on, learning to use his Zanpakuto. His Zanpakuto had the shape of a katana with a normal guard and a black hilt and sheath that he wore at his hip. He had already managed to communicate with it and had learned its name was Zangetsu.
Ichigo thought that his Zanpakuto looked fairly normal but was confused by it as whenever he held it he got the feeling that it was special, like maybe it was a strong katana but he guessed he wouldn't know until he had mastered it.
Aizen Sosuke was standing in the office of the Shinigami Academy president showing him the names of the Academy graduates that he wished to join the 5th division. It had been a year since he had the discovered a young boy named Ichigo who had a very large Reiatsu and after having discussed it with Gin and Tosen both of whom had recently become captain it they had decided what to do.
Kurosaki Ichigo's name would be place on the normal list of Academy graduates that each division submitted each year and he would be placed into Aizen's division before any of the other Captains could discover.
The president looked over the list and spoke, "Well this looks in order I can authorise their transfer from the Academy to the 5th division, the only problem is this name, Kurosaki Ichigo, he's not a graduate and he's only been here a year."
Aizen smiled and nodded, "I know but I've been watching some of the practical work he's been doing and I think he'll fit in with my division."
"Very well Captain he'll be transferred tomorrow as well, I'll see you next year."
Aizen walked out of the office toward his own division to tell his temporary lieutenant about the choices he had made in Academy graduates, but first he would have to meet with Ichigo, the boy was about to be brought into the conspiracy that would hopefully end the current era of Shinigami.
Ichigo was following his usual daily schedule which involved him and Renji going to their class and meeting the other students that they had met over the past year. This day however was different and Ichigo discovered it when upon entering the class he saw a Shinigami from the 5th division.
Whilst this would usually not be anything to note, this Shinigami was not a teacher nor had they been told he would be coming, Ichigo knew this could only mean one thing, someone was about to be transferred.
The shock of this continued for Ichigo when the Shinigami turned to him and said, "Kurosaki Ichigo, you've been chosen to be transferred to the 5th division."
What happened next was a blur of sorts to him, he remembered the shock look on the face of Renji and his other friends, the Shinigami leading him away from the class and entering an office where a Captain, who Ichigo knew to be Aizen Sosuke, was seated.
The Shinigami who had brought him here then left the office and Ichigo's thinking returned to normal, Ichigo smiled, he realised that although he did not yet know why this had happened that it didn't matter because Ichigo had just taken the fast track to becoming a Shinigami.
Knowing this Ichigo looked at the Captain, who Ichigo supposed was now his Captain, and waited to hear what he had to say. Some might have been worried about the situation that Ichigo was in, thinking they were not ready, but Ichigo knew he was ready; he had been ever since he had learned to communicate with his Zanpakuto.
A/N: I hope this chapter was alright make sure to tell me what you think and review.