Act I: Introduction to a Whole new World

Hot pants fell from my lips as I greedily tried to catch my breath. I had ran about a mile now, trying to escape a group of men who wanted to kill me for whatever reason. A cold sweat dripped from my brow, scared that I may not have gotten away from them yet. My small hands shook as I tried to contain my fears and find help. I looked down at my feet and cursed under my breath. I had been wearing simple, black flats today but it has seemed like I had lost one of them. I wasn't so worried with the fact that I lost a shoe so much as that one flat may lead to my hideout. I knew I couldn't stay very long with that risk but due to my weak lungs I couldn't run any longer. My eyes scanned the area, searching for a temporary hiding spot so I know that I would stay safe for a while. Although it was getting dark and they might not be able to see well that also meant more of those kinds of people will be out and about soon. My heart raced with the need to find a safe place.

I sucked in one more deep breath of air and pushed myself off of the wall I rested against. The sharp bricks dug into my shoulder blades but I paid no mind to it, my only priority was saving myself. I cautiously pushed my head back into the street, looking for any of the men I had spotted. When I was sure I was safe I stepped out fully and scanned the rest of the many faces that walked by. So far I was safe. I didn't waste a second later and strolled away in search for a restaurant and ask for their phone. I needed to call for help as soon as I could so those asshole would go straight to jail. My bare foot connected to the moist concrete, slightly irritating me in the process. I had noticed a small ramen shop in the distance and quickly slipped inside and ran up to the first person I saw.

A middle-aged woman looked me over as I spoke. "Please, may I use your phone. I was attacked and I'm afraid that I may have been followed." Her eyes grew wide as she carefully grasped me and pulled me away from the window.

"Oh, my dear are you okay? What is your name?" I nodded and took the phone she handed to me. I thanked her and dialed the numbers.

"Jack...Callings."

After a few hours later I was finally home. The officers asked me questions and I identified a few pictures of the men. When we were finished they had driven me home. By now it was well after midnight and I was home alone. I had no parents or siblings, only my cousin, Lisa. We had moved here about a year ago when she had accepted a job to teach English and other languages. I had just graduated high school when we moved and was about to start collage, that went out the window in one day. I even offered to stay behind and live on my own but she wouldn't let me go. She is deafly afraid of losing me like I lost my parents. To this day I am still unsure as to what really happened to them, but I will most likely never know for sure.

The house was dark meaning that Lisa hasn't come home yet. Probably last minute lessons for the slower students. Since we moved here in Karakura Town I have never felt so out of place. Lisa said that I needed to explore the world and discover new things before I decide what t do with my life. I figured that I could become a nurse or some kind of doctor to make good money. I know that I haven't gotten the specifics down yet but I am still considering my other options.

I made myself comfortable and went to change into my pajamas. They were white with a black paw print on each leg and a panther roaring on the shirt. I love animals and had to get it. Once I was happy I went and began to check around for a simple diner. If Lisa was going to be staying out late then I know that she would eat on her way home. I don't mind it, it means fair game for whatever I want to eat for myself. I opened the fridge and saw a bowl of her homemade chocolate pudding left and grabbed it without a second thought. With a content smile I jumped on the couch and began eating the rest of the pudding. Lisa is such a brilliant cook I always wondered why she didn't become a chef instead a teacher.

I suck on the spoon greedily and lick the inside of the bowl once I was finished. I got up and took the bowl to the sink and rinsed it out, thinking about the day so far. Lisa took me to the high school she worked at and introduced me to some of her students. They all looked a little strange to me, especially a group of kids that were hanging out during their lunch. A tall, dark-skinned man, a pale boy, a small girl, a girl with strangely large breasts, and a boy with orange hair. They didn't seem suspicious but more mysterious. That was when I decided that I wanted to go home and ended up chased by some shady gang members.

Howl!

I froze and tried to understand exactly what I just heard.

HOWL!

There it is again! I spun around and ran up to the window. We were living in a city so a wild animal was not likely to be appearing randomly. The night was dark with only street lights giving me comfort. I decided to ignore it and step away from the window. I turned off the lights and went straight for my room. As soon as I closed the door behind me I felt a slight shake beneath me, like a quake.

HOWL!

This time it almost sounded like a screech. My window was open so I poked my head out, the wind blowing my long, brown hair in my face. I scanned the other houses and yards, trying to see if someone got a new dog or something. I saw nothing.

"Help me!"

I jumped and hit my head at the top of my windowsill. Once I understood that someone was crying I pulled myself together and jumped out the window, not caring about anything at this point. The soft grass tickled my feet when I landed. I wasted no time and sprinted ahead and out into the street. "Hello? Who is there?" I didn't hear a response but I again felt a quake under my feet. This can't be normal. My head swerved around trying to find the source of the cry.

"Please!"

The cry came from behind me and down the street. I ran and followed closely to the lights. Once I was down at the corner of the street I looked everywhere, trying to find the voice. A glimpse of black against black caught my eye at my right. I ran and tried to find the shadow. "Hello? I can help you?" By now I was getting tired again from the running I had to do. I swear if I find more people being attack by some gang then I any moving away with or without Lisa.

"I'm here."

The voice was a bit calmer but was still far away. I looked down a alley and instantly had a bad feeling. Something wasn't right and I wasn't not going to take my chances with this game of hide-and-seek. "Come out so I can help you." I didn't get a response so I didn't move, remaining under the light. The ground began to shake again and I was freaking out at this point. "Wha-?! Ah!" Something grabbed my ankle and tried to drag me into the darkness. I was able to grab the street light next to me in time. I saw that a bone-like tentacle had a hold of me. "Let me go!" Another bone-like tentacle slithered out and grabbed my other leg, pulling me away from the pole and held me in the air. I struggled to get free but was held back by two more tentacles. A white, boney octopus had climbed from the side of the wall. There were three horns on the top of its head and had six arms instead of eight. Its eyes were nearly black but the irises were golden. The very essence of creepy.

"Stupid girl. You should ignore cries for help in this city." The voice was feminine but also demonic. I continued to struggle which made it cackle. "There is no escape from me."

"Unless I come around, right?" A young man's voice broke our attention. We looked up to the black shadow standing at the top of the building. "Let her go." The shadow blurred out and appeared in front of the creepy octopus before somehow slicing it in half. The octopus cried out before fading away, leaving me to fall into the shadow's arms. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and rubbed my wrists. My eyes looked up at him but I couldn't see him perfectly. The shadow was blurry, almost like someone smudged a charcoal picture with their thumbs. I was able to pick out the color orange and found myself smiling. "Yeah, thanks..." The shadow let me go and made a move to go until I grabbed it, feeling heavy fabric between my fingers. Okay, so this is a real being in front of me. "Hey, you're the kid from the high school aren't you?" The shadow vanished from my grasp, leaving me to gasp like a fish out of water.

I woke up the next morning and spoke of nothing that happened last night, except the attack of the morons. I asked Lisa if I could go with her to the school again and she happily agreed. And now we were riding on a bus to the school now. "I'm so excited that you actually want to socialize! You are going to love the kids here. Who knows, you might be able to make some friends." I ignored her and focused on the shadow that I saw last night. I knew who it was and was going to get answers, even if that meant being dirty.

We reached the school gate and she jogged inside while I lingered, waiting for the boy. I leaned against the brick wall, in the shade, and waited for the group to appear soon. I didn't have to wait long until I spotted the familiar orange and reached for his white collar. I grabbed him and pulled him away from the group that had gained a few more members with crazy hair.

"Ooo! Ichigo! You are such a ladies man!" A woman with even larger breast chirped and the others laughed. There was a bald man standing next to another man with feathers on his eyes. A young boy with white hair stood near the chirping woman while the others were people that I recognized from yesterday. Ichigo was stuttering until he saw it was me who grabbed him.

I let him go and stared at him hard with my arms crossed. "I want answers and now." The others settled down to listen up.

"I don't-"

"I know it was you who saved my life last night. I thank you for it but I need to know what the fuck is going on here. If I need to be aware of some freaky bone-like octopuses crawling around here then you need to tell me now so I can get my cousin and leave." The boy with white hair stepped up.

"You were attacked last night and you saw the Hollow without a problem?" I blinked a few times and looked at him. He seemed so young but his eyes told me that he was the one with authority in this group.

"What the fuck are you talking about? All I need to know is do I need to leave or not?" Ichigo sighed and glanced at the others before facing me. He decided to talk about this over lunch since they needed to get to class soon. I agreed and let them go, watching them leave and enter the school before following behind.

Lunch came as slowly as it possibly could, but it finally came around. We were all sitting around in a circle in the shade, snacking on the school's food. After a minute went by I couldn't wait any longer. "Okay, I have been patient, start talking now." The white-haired boy nodded and put aside his milk.

"My name is Captain Torshiro Hitsugaya. Were are called Soul Reapers. Death gods that help keep the balance of the good and bad souls by reaping them and sending them off to the Soul Society to be reborn. What you saw last night was a bad soul or a soul that had been exposed to too much Spiritual pressure and changed into a Hollow." I had been sipping on my soda when he first started talking but I had to stop so I could full take in what he said.

My eyes never left his until silence filled the air, suffocating me. I looked around and checked everyone's expression before turning back to the boy. "Listen...Captain." He seemed pleased that I called him that. "You are telling me the truth aren't you?" He nodded his head and I sighed. "Great, just great." I stood up and brushed off the dirt on my pants.

The small woman stood up too and smiled at me. "You don't need to worry. We are trained to stop these Hollows, you and your cousin are safe." I felt a bit of respect for her and offered her my hand.

"Thank you. I am Jack, Jack Callings." She smiled and took my hand before everyone began standing up too.

"I'm Rukia." The girl with slightly bigger breasts, compared to the other woman, jumped forward.

"I'm Orihime!" I shook her hand too before the last woman came forward.

"My name is Rangiku." I went to shake her hand but she pulled me into a hug instead, suffocating me with her breasts. I finally pulled away and sucked up a large gulp of air. "Oops, I forget about that sometimes. Sorry." I had a feeling that she doesn't forget but likes to prove to others that she can kill with her boobs alone.

I rubbed the back of my head and looked at Ichigo. He chuckled and offered his hand. I was grateful and took it. "I'm Ichigo and that is Chad, Uryu, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Renji." I waved at them and smiled before stretching and facing them all.

"To make this all clear, we are safe?" They nodded. "Good. My cousin was right about something, you are good kids. Next time one of you are planning on saving me then could you be a little quicker about it? That was a little too close for comfort for me."

Uryu snickered and adjusted his glasses. "Ichigo has always been a slow one. You really shouldn't rely on him to save you next time." We all laughed.

"Hey!"

By the end of lunch I had learned more of the Soul Reapers and the Soul Society, along with the fact that Orihime and Chad were not Soul Reapers but normal humans that poses strange powers. Uryu said he was a Quincy, whatever that was, and continued to let everyone talk. Ikkaku told me that his captain would respect me for my fiery attitude. Ichigo shivered at the mention of the captain. Rukia told me that her older brother was also a captain and Renji was his lieutenant. By the time lunch was over I had a lot more questions but decided that they would have to wait until another time.

I followed them to the class that my cousin taught and she practically beamed when she saw me with them. "Yes! I knew you could make friends if you really tried!" I looked back to everyone who had smiled or giggled at me.

"Yes Lisa and you can make them go away if you really tried too." She pulled away and tempted to fix my hair. "Get back to work." She nodded and I went over to sit in her chair. She didn't mind me and continued her lessons, teaching French. Lisa was always a bright woman and I envy her for that. She had this unique ability to be able to pick up on learning things so easily. After about a half an hour into the lesson I found myself bored and decided to have some fun with this. "Je souhaite effectuer un vidage dans la toilette. S'il vous plaît enseignant." Lisa froze to the spot while everyone looked at me funny.

"Yes, jack. You can go." She was turning pink and I smirked. I know that she may yell at me later but it was totally worth it.

On the way out I stopped by the door and repeated what I said so they would understand. "Je souhaite effectuer un vidage dans la toilette. S'il vous plaît enseignant. It means 'I wish to take a dump in the toilett. Please teacher.' Remember it." Everyone was laughing hard, including my new friends. As I left the classroom I found my cheek muscles growing sore. I realized that I was smiling, and it wasn't forced either. Hell, I even admitted that the Soul Reapers were my friends and it was the first day of knowing them. I guess it was a good thing that we moved here, not counting the Hollow last night.

I found the restroom and slipped inside to use it and came out of it a few minutes later. My hands were still wet because they ran out of paper towels so I tried shaking them dry. "Man, this irritates me." They were a little damp but it would have to do for now. I continued down the hallway, gazing out the windows as I went by. The town seemed nice for the most part, with nice people. When they are not chasing you with weapons. I do miss my old home, and I always will, but for now I decided to at least try and enjoy this new world for me. And hell, who knows, I might be able to find my purpose.

I reached the door to the classroom and walked in without knocking. Everyone looked at me and tried to hold back their laughter. Lisa glared at me so I shrugged my shoulders. "Hey, it was funny and they learned something new." I walked over to the chair and sat back down, looking out the window for the rest to the time. Wondering about the man on top of the building on the other side of the street that seemed to be staring straight at me. Another Soul Reaper maybe?