Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Several hours later, Ichigo was just finishing up his homework when he saw something fluttering in the corner of his eye. Turning to look closer, Ichigo was surprised to see a black butterfly fluttering around his room. He was wondering where it had come from when he saw a short young woman with a sword appear suddenly on the top of his desk.

Jumping lightly off of his desk without looking at him (which was probably a good thing, seeing as he was gaping in shock), the stern looking woman said quietly and ominously, "It is near…" What is near? Are we being burglarized? She is wearing all black and probably came in through the window when he wasn't looking. Ichigo realized that he should probably be defending his home from this mysterious intruder, so he kicked her with the strength born from many random attacks.

The woman looked utterly shocked, which was a definite improvement over her stern look. "You can see me?" she said incredulously. "You kicked me!"

"Of course I can see you," Ichigo said impatiently. "So, are you a burgl-urg." Ichigo was cut off by his father's surprise attack from behind which knocked the wind out of him.

"Keep it down!" The only possible reaction to that was to punch the madman into the ground, before ranting about how he was only protecting the house from intruders. The black-clad girl had gotten up, and Ichigo absently noted that she was wearing old fashioned samurai garb.

"What intruder? I don't see anything Ichigo. Is this another way for you to rub your face in the fact that I can't see ghosts?" Isshin looked like he was about to burst into tears. Ichigo took another look at the samurai woman. She could be a ghost…

Ichigo forced his father out with another kick, before frowning at the woman. "I am a shinigami. Normal people cannot see me." She said proudly.

Ichigo sat down at his short table. "Explain who you are and what you are doing here," he demanded, looking at her closely. The woman also took a seat, although she sat in the much more formal seiza position. Ichigo noted that she sat seiza with her knees apart, like a man, instead of together which was more common for women. Along with samurai robes, she also had a katana at her waist. If she is a ghost, he thought, then she's probably a very old one. Or just a cosplayer.

"As I said, I am a Shinigami. I have come to this town in pursuit of a malevolent ghost. It is my responsibility to find this spirit and destroy it before it can harm others," the woman said. Definitely a cosplayer.

"I don't believe you," he told her. It was actually funny how shocked she was at his reasonable objections to her story. "That violates almost everything I've ever observed about how the world of ghosts works. I've always been able to see ghosts, but I've never seen a shinigami before. Points for making up this elaborate fantasy though, brat." He almost felt bad about saying this. After all it's not her fault that she's dead and needs to invent wild stories to cope with that fact. He started shooing her back towards the window, hoping to get her to play her games somewhere else.

She whirled around angrily, saying, "How dare you! First Bakudo, Sai." Ichigo arms went behind his back, and he lost his balance and fell over. That…violated all of his theories. The woman is a witch. He tried to move his arms, and failed utterly. The salaryman ghost, who Ichigo had completely forgotten about, was hiding beneath his bed, looking terrified. Even for someone who can see ghosts, this situation was getting very surreal.

"What did you do to me!"

"That is a binding spell, magic that only shinigami can use. You are now unable to move," the woman looked very vindictive, and Ichigo wondered what he had done to offend her. Even if she was a shinigami, and considering the state of his arms, he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt on that subject, surely she was used to people not believing that story. "I may look like this, but I am over ten times older than you. How dare you call me a little brat. I should kill you for that insult. Fortunately for you, the laws of Soul Society forbid the random killing of the living." Someone appeared to be sensitive about their height.

Despite what she had just told him, the witch drew her sword. She brought it down, a look of pure fury on her face. Ichigo desperately screamed "Wait," only for her to actually hit the salaryman ghost on the forehead with the hilt of the sword.

The ghost still looked terrified, and he begged her not to send him to hell. The witch told him gently, "It is not hell that awaits you. The soul society is a restful place." Her expression was almost gentle. The ghost disappeared into white light. Ichigo's surrealism o'meter went up another couple of notches.

"What did you just do," he asked. "Where did that ghost go?" He needed answers, and answers that actually made sense.

"It is called konso, or as you would say, I sent him to heaven." Fortunately for Ichigo's sanity, the woman seemed quite ready to explain to him, even if she did insult him while doing it. Rummaging through his school supplies, she picked out a pad of paper and a marker, a quickly sketched something. "I suppose you believe me now. You should be glad that I'm willing to instruct children. There are two types of souls. Normal ghosts," she pulled a page off, showing Ichigo a terrible picture of a bunny face surrounded by flowers, "are called pluses. They are good spirits. Bad spirits," another page, of a teddy bear face surrounded by lightning, "are called hollows. They eat the souls of other spirits and occasionally attack the living. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes. Why are your drawings so bad?" Seriously, by her illustrations, we live in a cartoon world. The witch apparently wasn't amused by that comment, and showed her annoyance by leaning over and drawing on his face. He attempted to stop her, but unfortunately, he was still caught up in the spell. He could only hope that she didn't draw her animals on his face, and he tried to rub the marker off on the floor. The woman was evil.

"I will continue. Shinigami have two duties." A picture of a rabbit face going through a thick black line. "To guide pluses into the soul society and to destroy Hollows." A bear face with a big X over it. There was something bad about this, other than the terrible drawings at least. She's looking for a Hollow… Ichigo went cold.

"Are you saying that this Hollow is around here now!?" His sisters were downstairs. Is this woman telling him that they are in danger?

"Well, yes," the shinigami said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Then why are you still talking to me! Go and kill it," he could only think of red hair over his shoulder, and blood.

"I can't feel it's presence," the shinigami admitted.

Ichigo was about to take the apparently incompetent shinigami to task when he hear a terrible roar. It defied description, and Ichigo knew instinctively that whatever gave it was terrible and deadly. Oddly, the woman was ignoring it, and it looked like she kept talking below it. "What are you waiting for? Can't you hear the roar? Go and kill it!"

The shinigami looked surprised. "Roar? I cannot…" Apparently it hit her all at once, for she started to rush out of his room.

"Wait! Is that he Hollow?"

"It is the Hollow. I will deal with it and return."

"It's attacking my family! Release me," he begged, desperate to protect his family.

"You fool! There's nothing you can do to help. If you tried you would only raise the number of casualties. Stay here and let me deal with this," the shinigami went to open the door, only to find Karin on the floor on the other side.

She looked terrible, a bruise on her forehead. "It hasn't gotten to you," she panted. "Dad just fell over in a spurt of blood… Yuzu and I were attacked…It was huge… I came to warn you…I could barely see it…Dad and Yuzu couldn't at all...Ichigo, run away before it sees you," as she slumped over. The shinigami leaned over her, checking her.

"Do not worry. She is merely unconscious." Ichigo was glad to know that his little sister was still alive, but that didn't mean that she wasn't hurt. He couldn't afford to be held by the shinigami's spell. He strained against it desperately, ignoring the woman's insistence that he stop. Soon enough he found a weakness and shattered the bonds. Grabbing his baseball bat, Ichigo hurried past the woman, and ran down the stairs.

Downstairs was a terrible scene. There was blood spattered all over, and his father's body lay bleeding by the wall. There was a hole in the wall, and through it Ichigo could see the outline of a great hulking figure. It moved, giving Ichigo a better look at it. It was enormous, covered with plates of what looked like bone, with a large hole in the middle of its chest. Worst of all was its face, which was utterly inhuman, especially the teeth, which were just too big and numerous. He had been expecting a human spirit, not a monster like this. He was shaking, and found that he couldn't move.

Then he saw Yuzu, held in its monstrous grip. There was blood on her cheek, and Ichigo was gripped with sheer fury. He griped the baseball bat tightly, before attacking the thing. It knocked him aside with a single punch, breaking his bat in the process. It loomed above him, and Ichigo was certain that he was going to die, just like the rest of his family.

Until a black blur went over him, and the shinigami cut deeply into the Hollow's arm, freeing Yuzu. Ichigo caught her. She was unconscious, and Ichigo thought for a second that she was already dead, until the shinigami yelled, "Do not worry. None of your families souls have been eaten."

Ichigo almost couldn't believe it. Karin was ok, yes, but what about his father? "Wait! Don't these things eat soul? Why is it here if its not eating souls?"

The Hollow was thrashing around in pain, clutching at its maimed arm. The woman stood facing away from him, holding her sword in a way that screamed On Guard at him. She answered without turning around. "Hollows eat the souls of the dead. They rarely go after those still living. But they are drawn to high spiritual levels. I have never heard of a human who could see Shinigami, much less break a binding spell. Your spiritual levels must be very high. It is probably after you."

"What?" Ichigo hoped that she had not said what he thought she had said. "Are you saying that I'm the reason that my family was hurt? The reason Dad is almost dead, and Karin and Yuzu are bloody and unconscious?" He was shouting now, not bothering to care about the shocked and apologetic look on the shinigami's face as she turned back to face him. All of his focus was on the monster behind her. It had recovered from its pain at it arm's injury, and was coming straight towards them. It knocked the woman out of the way with a terrible swipe of its arm. She crashed into the wall with such force she knocked some of the stone down, surely unconscious.

That was another person who was injured because this thing wanted to kill him. Enough people had gotten hurt because of him.

He screamed, "That enough! You want my soul? Then come for me! DON'T GO AFTER ANYONE ELSE!"

Apparently it could listen, because it came right at him. He braced himself, eyes open, ready to punch this thing, when there was a flash of black in front of him…

And the Shinigami was between him and the Hollow, black robes quickly soaking with blood. The monsters jaws were buried in her stomach and shoulders, and her sword was wedged in the mouth. The Hollow released her with a mighty roar, and she fell to the ground. Ichigo rushed over, scared that she might be dead.

She was still alive, and struggling to get up. She saw him, and said weakly, "You're an idiot. You couldn't possibly have harmed it. Were you thinking that it would just go away if you scarified yourself? You fool." She was right. She was this wonderfully self-sacrificing person, and now she was badly hurt, all because of his stupidity.

"I'm sorry. It's just" He was going to attempt to justify his actions when she cut him off.

"I would normally say not to worry about it, but I am now to badly hurt to fight." There was the ghost of a smile on her face. "We can now only wait to become its food.

She nodded towards the Hollow. It was still screaming, but considering the way it had eventually ignored its arm, it would probably be coming after them again soon enough. It was all his fault. If he hadn't been so stupid, the woman could have killed it before he had distracted her by yelling.

He was bought out of his growing funk by the Shinigami asking weakly, "Do you want to save your family?"

Ichigo felt hope rush in with the woman's words. "Is there a way to save them? Tell me! I'll do anything."

"There is a way." She had propped herself up against the wall, holding her sword out. She pointed it at him and said, "You must become a Shinigami."

Hope started to wither. "How can I become a shinigami?" He wasn't a ghost, or whatever other sort of weird supernatural creature this woman was.

"I will pierce your heart with my zankaputou, while channeling half of my powers. You will become a shinigami temporarily. It will allow you to fight the Hollow on equal terms."

He wasn't sure. "Are you sure that this will work."

"No. There is a high chance that you will die, even with your reiatsu. However, there is no other way." At least she was honest about it. "There is also no time," she said pointedly.

They were distracted by a whimper from Yuzu. He rushed over to her quickly. She murmered, "Ichigo…Go away Ichigo…it's dangerous…run."

That was the end of it. His family, not to mention the shinigami woman, was counting on him. And really, there was no question. He knew that he would be doing this the second that she mentioned it. Ichigo walked back over to the woman and told her, "Give me the sword, Shinigami. Let's try this."

She smiled through her pain. "It's not Shinigami. It's Kuchiki Rukia."

"And I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. Let's hope this isn't our last meeting." The Hollow was recovering, and had started to shamble towards them.

Ichigo put the point of Rukia's sword at his chest, then reached down and put his hands above hers at the hilt. He had the weirdest feeling that this had happened before. Rukia barely had any strength in her arms at all. It was as much him throwing himself on her blade as her impaling him, but the sword went straight through.

There was a moment of terrible pain throughout his body, then the most spectacular feeling of lightness imaginable. He almost blacked out from the sensations, but managed not to. When he opened his eyes, the Hollow was almost upon him and Rukia. There was a sword in his hand. He swung wildly, taking off its arm. It roared, then lunged at them again. Another swing made a large wound over its chest. The sword felt wrong. It was unbalanced, and far too light. Of course it feels wrong, this is a borrowed sword. It was probably made for the girl's height, and she was a midget. He scored another line through the monster. He was amazed that it was still standing after all of this abuse.

Then he made an overhead swing, cutting deeply into its face. That appeared to do it, as the monster started to fall apart and disintegrate, screaming the entire time. He waited, unconsciously taking the same on guard position that Rukia had used earlier until he was sure it was gone. Then he turned back to Rukia and Yuzu. He had barely taken one step towards them when the black and purple sparks in the corners of his eyes swarmed upwards. Then all he saw was the ground, rushing towards him as he blacked out.

Coming up: One really weird dream, and the day after's events. Maybe Orihime's brother, who knows.