A few minutes later, Ichigo was dismissed from the building, but it didn't help him much. Everything made him feel like he wasn't really there, like he was watching another guy blank out. He was just a plane on autopilot.

The farther he went, the better his view became of two boys and two girls near the horizon hiding behind rising waves of heat: his friends. They had been sitting down this entire time just waiting for the end of the meeting so it was a mixture of concern for his wellbeing and boredom of waiting for hours.

Even though they were all in the same grade save for one of the girls, one of the boys seemed much older, mostly because of his tall stature and serious expression. He always had his brown, curly hair over his eyes. His real name was Yasutora, but no one except relatives ever called him that. To everyone else, he was Chad. Fearsome as one might picture him, he had promised many years ago to never fight just because.

Chad kept himself quiet, but Uryuu didn't, "What did they want?"

Uryuu seemed especially cold today. Brows knit together and everything. Ichigo was still amazed at how he kept his white clothes in such a clean state all the time. That color was the only thing he ever wore not counting his glasses and black hair, but his face definitely qualified. As reserved as he sounds, he has a few quirks. Being the president of the sewing club in school is one of them.

Orihime, one of the girls, had hair that was slightly darker than Ichigo's but much longer, rolling all the way down her back and held neatly by two blue-green hairpins in the shape of six-petaled flowers. Her brother had given her those pins when she was just a little girl, then died in a car crash that same day, but she was still the same sun-shiny person from before that. She could keep anyone on their toes.

"I bet they wanted to talk about some serious business that only we could take care of, with adventure and damsels in distress and monsters. I'm getting excited just thinking abou- What's the matter Ichigo? You seem out of it." Her wide eyes staring back at him.

"Orihime's right. You look awful."

That was Rukia, a Soul Reaper like the ones from the meeting, but she didn't have a captain level like them. She wasn't a seated officer either, but that was only because her adoptive brother, Byakuya Kuchiki, had forbidden it. Being a seated officer would mean more dangerous missions and as head of the Kuchiki family, one of the four great noble families, and the captain of squad six, he had the influence to keep it that way and protect his little sister. Rukia herself was considerably small in stature yet managed to keep Ichigo in line when needed, which was enough proof that she had skills. Her hair was short, black and some of it was hanging down the center of her face.

Rukia was the reason that they were all here. She was the first domino, the spark that started the wildfire, the last flakes that gave way to an avalanche. It was her who gave Ichigo his Soul Reaper powers, with which he was punching hollow-face in left and right. Before the two knew it, being around Ichigo's friends had given Chad and Orihime their own hollow-fighting abilities. Uryuu was already learning to exterminate hollows, but he never would have gotten involved with any of them if Rukia didn't meet Ichigo.

Taking a deep breath in he began, "There have been findings in the Department of Research and Development. Last night, there were readings off the charts of spiritual pressure scattered in these pinpoints all over the world of the living. When they brought the data to the Head Captain, he had some units sent to each point for investigation; they paged Soul Society back with reports of people turning into Soul Reapers literally overnight," here, gasps could have been collected from a few "I know. Seven total. After a bit, they convinced each one to come to Soul Society, some more than others."

No one spoke for a while until Uryuu raised a question, "You said they were finding these readings worldwide, right?"

"Yeah?"

"How were they able to communicate? They were probably speaking different languages."

"They were. The Department of Research and Development made a band-aid for that. They come in little pills and only last a few minutes, but they work."

"Did brother have anything to say?" Rukia inquired.

"Oh yeah," Ichigo said with a little contempt, "He had something to say. But I didn't like it."

"If I could interrupt," Chad began. "Didn't Captain Ukitake say something about this? That there have been other Substitutes?"

"Never like this there weren't. The cause was totally different."

"Wow! They sound so mysterious! Don't you think so?"

"Well, we'll find out tomorrow. The Head Captain requested that me, you and Chad come since been through the same shock of discovering this place," He pointed to Rukia and said," You was originally just coming with your squad as another Soul Reaper welcoming them in, but they debated it and decided that you're going to train them. Your welcome to come too Uryuu."

"Why not? This could be interesting."

Chapter Two! I'm so glad I got the time to put this together!

Enjoy and please review! ^_^