So, this is my first fanfiction. Hope you enjoy it, reviews and such are appreciated.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Bleach manga, however I do own a bottle of oven cleaner.

Chapter 1: Night of the Hunted

Haruki Nakamura, 5th seat of the ninth division, decided to treat himself to a drink in the local bar. His 12 months policing the Inuzuri district was almost done and he thought he deserved it. As someone who had grown up living in the 1st district, Junrinan, he really didn't enjoy having to live in the slums of the 78th district and was really looking forward to returning to the Seireitei, back to the 9th division barracks. He couldn't stand any of the people who lived here but he felt that he should try to have some fun during his last few days.

He entered the bar and scoured around for any signs of trouble, he had an agreement with the local gangs that he would stay away from them in exchange for money but they still probably wouldn't appreciate him being near them. The room was surprisingly empty, usually some illegal activities were going on in here but nothing seemed happening tonight so he started to walk up to the counter.

As he was walking he did notice something unusual; a small man wearing a hooded black cloak at the bar. He reached the bar and sat down at the far right end, his zanpaktou at his side just in case. "Hey, can I get a cup of sake?" he asked the barkeep.

"Yeah, sure" said the bartender, who looked at him with disgust.

"Yeah well fuck you too" said Haruki.

His drink came about two minutes later. said Haruki, taking a sip, "so, who's that?" he said gesturing towards the small hooded figure down the bar.

"I don't really know" replied the barkeep, "just some kid; he's been here all day. I tried telling him to get out but he just ignored me, hasn't said anything at all". Haruki briefly thought about going over and seeing if anything was wrong with the kid, but then he decided not to in favour of continuing drinking.

About an hour later he decided that it was time to go. The boy had gone a few minutes earlier, glancing over towards Haruki, unnerving him with his grey and seemingly dead eyes. He paid for his drinks and left, the emptiness of the streets outside only unnerving him more. As he was walking back to his temporary house he saw a small cloaked figure in the distance, silhouetted by the dim light of the street lamps. 'Is that the boy, wandering the streets alone at night?' he wondered, 'I should definitely see what's up with this kid, maybe get some reward from the parents for his return.'

As the silhouette got closer, Haruki called out, asking the other person if everything was alright, the cloaked boy only looked up revealing his chilling grey eyes. The boy then stopped, reached into his cloak and drew a sword. 'Is that a zanpaktou?' thought Haruki, growing more nervous and putting his hand on his own sword, ready to draw it. Suddenly a massive amount of reiatsu blasted out of the boy, blowing out the streetlamps of the entire town. Haruki could barely move from the pressure, he had never felt such a dark, dense amount of reiatsu. In a blur of blackness, the boy flashed up to Haruki and swung his sword, aiming straight for the neck.

Haruki drew his sword just in time to parry the first blow but the boy managed to stab him in the shoulder with his second attack. Haruki yelled out in pain and staggered backwards. Sensing that he was out matched, he raised his right arm, "Bakuda 25 …" he was cut off as the boy flashstepped up to him and severed the arm with which he was trying to cast the spell. Blood splattered onto the floor and began to gush out of Haruki's arm. The shock of the incident meant that Haruki couldn't even scream, he knew that he needed to get out of there or he would die.

He flashstepped up to the roof tops and began to run, 'I know this town better than him, I just need to get as far away as possible".The boy nonchalantly shook the blood off his sword and decided to follow. Haruki ran as fast as he could, taking all the short cuts he could, blood dripping from his wounds and the piercing pain causing him to nearly black out. He could feel the boy's reiatsu fading and thought that he might actually get away.

Suddenly, another, even larger, reiatsu appeared and began closing in fast. "Shit, two of them!" he panicked and jumped back onto the roofs to try and find where the other attacker was. Suddenly, a taller, but still cloaked man appeared on the roof top beside him, jumped and kicked him down into an alley way.

Haruki crashed into the ground, breaking his remaining arm and gashing his head. Blood pouring down the left side of his face, he managed to get up to his knees, only to see his two pursuers at both ends of the alley way. Haruki began to shake with terror, "WHY? WHY ME?" he screamed at his attackers as they walked slowly towards him, "wh-who sent you, WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!"

"I suppose you do deserve to know the name of the people who killed you" said the man, looking straight at Haruki, revealing his own aggressive crimson red eyes, "I am Takeshi, captain of the Kariodu squad and that over there is Kyoshi, my apprentice"

"Th-the Kariodu" stuttered Haruki, "You mean you're those mercenary's that are top of central 46's most wanted list".

"Exactly" replied Takeshi "you see this isn't personal, well for us anyway. The people of this district are quite upset about how you've been carrying out you're duties and these poor people pooled together a lot of money to see you punished". Takeshi stood up and turned away, "But, as I said, for us it's just business … sorry about that" and with that Kyoshi stabbed Haruki in the chest, blood splattering onto his pitiless face.

"Are we going to move the body?" asked Kyoshi. "We don't have time; more shinigami will be on their way soon. We have to get back to the hideout". The loud muttering of a mob of people could be heard coming around the corner to inspect what was going on. "Let's go" said Takeshi as he flashstepped away, Kyoshi following directly afterwards, disappearing silently into the night.