A/N: This fic came about for two reasons, 1. It sucks greatly that he died the very moment he began to understand Orimhime and emotions…..sucks…badly. 2. Really some of the Arrancar were just absolutely amazing and so I'm very sad to see them go, so I wanted to give them a "new life" so to say. Yay! This is the beta'd version, done by the very helpful ForeverFalling.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, no that great honor belongs to Tite Kubo.

The Cycle of Souls

Relatively Normal

He hated this. Every night the same dream would plague his mind. It was as if it wanted to tell him something. He let out a harsh sigh as he ran his hand through his bedraggled hair. Really, he was tired of it. It'd been five years; if it wanted to tell him something it should just come out and say it already. But he knew that wasn't going to happen, after all, his subconscious was to blame for his maddening dreams. A part of him knew something that the rest of him didn't and it wouldn't rest until he found out. However at this point he could really do without. It was depriving him of a good night's rest. Not, that he wasn't used to it by now; he just wished his mind would spare him when there were exams to be taken, but that was rather unlikely.

Sighing one last time, he glanced out his frosted window, where the dim light of the sunrise shown through. It would seem the time to ponder his predicament was gone as daybreak waits for no one. Getting out of bed he made his way to the bathroom where his belongings were placed in an orderly fashion, so that he could clean himself up. Twenty minutes later he was dressing himself in the grey slacks, white button-up, and tan sweater that his school uniform was composed of. Taking a few moments to correct his appearance in the mirror, one could observe his features. He wasn't particularly tall or short for that matter, he stood at a balanced height of five feet, six inches. His skin was still slightly tan from the summer months despite it being late in the fall season. He could see evidence of his mother's decision to make him work at the beach, claiming she was tired of his pale complexion. He snorted at the memory and continued to tweak his hair into place, there wasn't anything particular about his hair color, dark obsidian as it was. The most unusual thing about it was the spikes that he'd gelled into it, although his bangs had been combed to the side. He'd never put much thought into his hair before, but when he'd started high school his mother had been adamant about styling it claiming that he needed a change. He rolled his light brown eyes at the memory of his mother lecturing him. So doing his hair had become a habit, one that he neither hated nor liked. It was just something he did for the sake of doing it.

He wasn't one for jewelry, but when he'd seen the ring he knew he had to have it. Sterling silver, the simplicity of the band off setting the intricate engraving of a bat carved into the centre. Independent as he was he'd refused to let his mother buy the ring for him and worked until he'd gotten the money to purchase it. It encircled the ring finger of his left hand; he wasn't sure why he'd wanted it so much. It was just that it reminded him of something that he still couldn't recall. Not one to waste time, he snatched up his large black headphones and made his way downstairs.

She was already sitting at the table when he stepped into the family room, eyes glued to the television. The woman wasn't his real mother, she'd found him when he was twelve- years-old, unconscious in the middle of the street. He'd had no memory of who he was or how he got there. Years later when he thought back on it, he decided that the reason that she took him in was because she was lonely. It made sense when you considered the spelling of his name. He sat down at the table and snapping his chopsticks apart, he began to eat.

"You shouldn't stare at the television like that." He told her as he ate his breakfast.

"Shh!" she hushed as she frowned at anchorwoman's speech. His mother was far more unusual in appearance than him. She'd once told him that through her veins ran the blood of a foreigner despite the fact that he family had lived in Japan for generations. He still wasn't sure whether to believe her or not as he watched her zombie like stare directed at the TV. She was rather tall for a woman in Japan, five feet, ten inches, her hair was deep black like his own, but her eyes, her eyes were a soft amethyst color. Combined with her tanned complexion she had a rather exotic appearance.

He sighed as he finished his breakfast, "Kaa-san." He called to her. "At this rate your eyes will rot and fall out and I'll have a blind woman for a mother."

He stood and walked to the door, "And to think your cooking was already questionable when you could see."

"OI!" She called out to him angrily, but it was too late, he'd already slipped from the house. She glared; she'd get him back later.

He allowed a small smirk to grace his face at the thought of his raging mother. She was normally impervious to insults, but for some reason it always got under her skin when her precious son was the one to fling them. With his headphones secured over his ears and the sounds of well composed music to block out the sounds of traffic and the like, he made his way to school. He always gave himself ample time to get to class as he didn't like to rush. Actually, he took his time with almost everything he did. Not to say that he wasn't capable of hurrying, he could recall several times when his so called mother had purposely made him late in an attempt to ruin his perfect attendance. He paused; the woman was a nuisance, why did he care for her well-being again? He couldn't quite recall. He rid his mind of such thoughts when the school gates came into view, he nearly sighed in relief. He'd made his was to school without running into The Imbecile. Scratch that, he thought as he felt his headphones being snatched off his head.

"So what do we have today?" he heard The Imbecile's voice from behind him.

Turning to coldly stare at him, Tomoe couldn't help the slight irritation of having to stare up at him. Kobushi Tsume, he was an imposing height of six feet, a fact that he enjoyed very much considering he was the younger of the two. His hair was a dark brown, almost black and he had grey hazel eyes. The only thing more unusual was his smile. It had a feral almost predatory quality. It was heavily suspected around the school that he was of mixed heritage, but it couldn't be proven as he much like Tomoe, was found unconscious -although on a river bank instead of the street- with no memory. However, unlike Tomoe he didn't have someone to take him in. Instead he was housed in an orphanage. They expected him to leave this year seeing as he was sixteen, perfectly capable of working and surviving on his own now.

Tsume brought the headphones to his ears only for his expression to go blank as he ripped them back off as though they had offended him, "Not this shit again! Don't you ever listen to anything good?"

Rolling his eyes, he leapt up and snatched the headphones from his grasp. "Your definition of good is the equivalent of baboons banging on trash cans; forgive me if my music's not up to par."

Calmly he turned on his heel and walked towards the building, headphones replaced on his ear. Momentarily he wondered if he should sanitize them, but decided against it, Tsume was annoying but not dirty.

"Oi!" Tsume caught up to him, "So you know we're getting a new teacher right?"

Had the imbecile gone blind? Was it not apparent that he couldn't hear him? He inwardly sighed; he was in no mood to tell him, besides he was probably babbling some idiotic nonsense.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Having finally ditched his moronic acquaintance, he'd arrived in class and taken his seat.

He had fifteen minutes to spare before class started, perfect for a small nap. However his momentary peace was ruined by a repetitive knocking on the wood of his desk. Schooling his face to hide his annoyance, he lifted his head from his desk to stare blandly at the intruder. It was a classmate, one who sat across the room from him.

"Hey sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering, where'd you get those headphones?"

"The mall." He stated blankly.

"Oh. What store?"

Frowning now, "Sony."

Was it not obvious from the label on the side of them?

"Oh, cool. So why are you wearing them in class?"

And with that his patience was gone, "So that I can block out the nonsensical chatter of trash like you." He then laid his head back down, assured that no one would bother him again.

The boy was clearly stunned as he made his way back to his chair, looking back to glare at Tomoe as he sat. He thought he'd been unnecessarily rude.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tomoe's peace was short lived however.

"Ummm…..ano…"

There was presence very close to him; he felt a gentle hand hesitantly touching his back. Opening his eyes he looked up, the classroom was full and the seated students were all staring at him. A slight frown marred his face as he noticed a name written on the board. He looked around the room, as he processed the kanji he'd seen, only for his face to turn into a pair of plush, pillow-like forms.

He moved away slowly to stare up into a blushing face. She had long sunset orange hair and warm grey eyes, but her most noticeable feature was staring him right in the face. He fought the urge to raise an eyebrow at them.

"Headphones aren't allowed in class. Please remove them."

Blinking in surprise, as he'd forgotten he even had them on, he did as she asked mentally recalling her name as he did…Inoue Orihime.

A/N: And yes I'm sure it's obvious that Tsume is really Grimmjow. Now I am only assuming that Grimmjow is dead, as his body or rather his actual death is never seen. So if he isn't then let's just assume he is for the sake of this fic.

Notes: About their names.

Kanzenkiba- is written with the kanji for perfect, complete, & fang. It belongs to the woman who adopted him, but I think it still fits nonetheless.

Tomoe- Is written with the kanji for Friend/companion and wise. In this case she gave him the name tomo when she first met him, because she was lonely, but after actually talking to him and learning his personality she added the e for wise.

Kobushi Tsume- Simple enough, Kobushi means Fist & Tsume means Claw, a rather fitting name for Grimmjow I think.