It was a hot Summer day. No School, no nothing. Life seemed pretty good at first, and I thought my Summer would go great. Nothing could ruin it, right? Wrong.

Well, at first, like I said, it was fine. Then some... "strange" occurences began happening around the house. It was like, twelve o'clock at night, and everyone (except me) was in bed. I was on my computer, searching around for some things to do, like doing random quizzes, surveys, things like that.

All of a sudden, Hayley, my little sister, came running into the room, crying and shaking.

"Hitomi, Hitomi!" She cried, leaping into my arms. "Something happened! I'm scared!"

"Whoa, calm down Hayley," I comforted her, hugging her. Once she pulled away, I looked her in the eyes and asked, "Hayley, what happened?"

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "I saw a ghost," She said, matter-of-factly. "He was mean, too; He threw one of my stuffed dogs across the room!"

I snorted at such a ridiculous idea. "A ghost, Hayley? Honestly?"

"Yes," She assured me, her mind set on the whole "ghost" idea. "I know I did. What else threw my doggie across the room?"

Well, I couldn't argue with that.

"Hayley, how 'bout you just sleep with me tonight?" I asked. "I was just about to get in bed anyways."

"O-okay," She responded, nodding. I shut down my computer, climbed in bed with my little seven-year-old sister, and we fell asleep.

But something woke me up about four hours later. I heard a loud BOOM. First, I looked around for Hayley; she wasn't there. I looked at the clock for about two seconds, which read 4:32, and got up in search of my sister.

"Hayley?" I called seriously. "Hayley? Where are you?"

I was starting to get worried, but I thought calmly. Maybe she's just in her room, I thought, comforting myself. I shook away my insane thoughts of something possibly happening to my little sister, and went into her room.

I sighed in relief at what I saw; nothing was wrong there.

But when I observed further, I noticed that the window was open. But it wasn't naturally opened; it looked like the glass was busted. I looked out, and shrieked at what I saw.

My little sister was struggling to get out of the arms of this giant demon-thing.

"HAYLEY!" I cried, about to jump out the window. But that would've been stupid; we were two stories high. I decided to be smart, and ran downstairs and out the front door.

"HITOMI! HITOMI, HELP ME!" Hayley cried frantically, coughing and crying.

I swallowed hard.

"I'll will!" I sweared. "I have to!"

But I knew I could do nothing. Right when the demon-thing was about to eat her, however, a boy with spiky orange hair jumped down from somewhere, slashed the demon-thing in half, caught my sister, and landed carefully and unscathed.

I didn't even notice my mouth was gaped open until I got self-concious about my looks.

"Hayley!" I ran up to the boy holding her, who gently let her down. I gave her a hug. "Thank God you're okay!"

Then I turned to the boy with spiky orange hair.

"Thanks for saving her," I said, relieved. "You have no idea how much I appreciate it."

"It's what I do," He shrugged. "And no problem."

But then I noticed he was about to take off.

"Wait, you never told me your name," I pointed out.

He looked wistfully over the horizon, like he needed to get back right then. But he sighed, and turned back to face me.

"Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki," He told me, gripping his ginormous sword behind his back. "And you?"

"Hitomi Wantanabe," I explained. "And this is my little sister, Hayley Wantanabe."

"Nice to meet you. But I really should get going," He sighed. "My family'll be worried."

"Where do you live?" I asked; we were in Karakura Town.

"Around here," He explained. Then, a giant shock came across his face. "Wait – How the hell can you see me?"

"What?" I asked. "What do you mean? You're a person, idiot! That's how!"

"Uhh," He scratched his head. "Do you even know what I am right now...?"

"A human in a bathrobe?" I suggested.

"No, a—wait, Bathrobe?" He gave me a baffled expression, then shook his head. "Nevermind. I'm a Soul Reaper."

"Soul Reaper?" I asked doubtfully, crossing my arms. "What the hell is that?"

He heaved a sigh. "This is my soul, basically, and this is my sword. I fight against those things you just saw, and help protect people. That's it in a nutshell."

"How'd you know that one of those things were here?" I asked. "Are you like, always out at night, waiting for them?"

"Actually, no. I have something called a Hollow Detector, and it tells me if there's one nearby."

"Okay, you lost me again. Hollow?" I asked idiotically.

"That thing you saw."

"It's called a...hollow?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Okay," I said, shrugging. "So...how old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"I'm fifteen, sixteen in November."

"Cool."

"Hitomi, I'm sleepy," Hayley yawned, holding my hand. "Can we go back to bed now?"

"Hold on, Hayley," I sighed. "Just a few more minutes?"

"Hey, if she's sleepy, you should probably let her sleep," Ichigo said pointedly, like she was his little sister.

"You don't think I know that? I want to know more about Soul Reapers," I sighed. "And I doubt you even have any sisters."

"Two, actually. Yuzu and Karin," He explained. "I know what I'm talking about. And I have to go now, before they and my dad think something's happened to me."

"I wanna know more," I pleaded. "Please?"

I wasn't about to just let him go now, probably never going to see him again. My life was so boring. I wasn't going to let this opprotunity go to waste.

"Later," Ichigo explained, then stifled a yawn. "To tell you the truth, I'm pretty sleepy, too. Just killed a hollow and all?"

"Baby," I snorted, but once he looked angry, I changed the subject. "So um...wait, why haven't I ever seen you in my School?"

"Do you go to Karakura High?" He asked.

"Well duh, idiot, there isn't another one around," I pointed out.

"Just shut up," Ichigo sighed, looking up. "Okay, fine. You probably have, you just don't remember me."

"I think I'd remember someone with such spiky hair like yours," I smirked.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Ichigo frowned grimly.

"Nothing, I was just stating a fact," I shrugged, then yawned.

"You're tired too. Who's the baby now?" Ichigo asked.

"Why you-" I growled. But then, out of nowhere, Ichigo disappeared. "Hey! Come back here! I have several more questions for you!"

"Hitomi, can we please just go back to bed?" Hayley whimpered.

I sighed heavily. "Fine," I gave in, picking her up and taking her back in the house.

But before I fell asleep, I just couldn't get my mind off of the whole Soul Reaper-thing.