Okay here it is! I'll keep the authors notes nice and short when I can (unlike with my other stories) however unlike most fanfics I've read I'll put any descriptions up the top here. (Normally it's at the bottom.)

Kanabō: A spiked or studded two handed war club that are constructed out of heavy wood, or made entirely from iron.

Reiryoku (Spiritual power/energy): is the amount of energy a being has stored within their body or soul, generally those with high level Reiryoku have high levels of Reiatsu as well.

Reiatsu (Spiritual pressure): Reiatsu is the pressure that a person's Reiryoku exerts. In other words, Reiryoku is potential while Reiatsu is energy in use and can be sensed by other spiritually aware beings.

^ The Kanabō info I got from Wikipedia whilst I got the Reiryoku and Reiatsu information on the Reiatsu bleach wiki in case anyone's curious.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OC's!

Enjoy~

Chapter 1: The new addition

I grumbled to myself as I hacked at one of the trees with my newly acquired blade, in truth it was a bit big for my smaller body but it was swift and light to me (At least compared to some weapons I had stolen from other dead people like axes or even the occasional Kanabō which was heavy as hell.)

Over the past few weeks Kazu had me doing various things like running to build stamina and strength in the legs, push ups, pull ups, sit ups, any exercise he knew of and could get me to do to improve my physical strength. Along with getting me to practice with my sword, whether it be swinging down or slashing at a tree repeatedly which I was doing now. He often joined in on the physical exercises after I got the hang of them and actually did them properly. Kazu had said he intended for me to do all this each day when I had the time (When we weren't stealing food or robbing corpses.) there wasn't much else we could do with our time anyway, there was no such thing as hobbies and fun in this district. It was all about survival, however one may call this training a hobby or fun but it was still a way of survival depending on how you look at it. I knew that when they came across a decent blade on one of the corpses Kazu would train too and spar with me as well, however finding a decent blade on a corpse is a rare find believe it or not. Most people who wielded swords around here had a higher chance of survival, or the blades they found were shattered during the battle or just plain worthless. (Or had already been stolen from the corpse by the victor or another scavenger- a lot of 'ors' I know.)

Huffing I collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the sky that was now covered with dark looming clouds. The downsides of training meant I grew hungrier from using up my energy and soon Kazu would too which meant they'd need more food, on the upside they would possibly have more strength, skill and speed to steal food. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen when we could no longer find any food, what if it all disappeared? Would we resort to eating the corpses? Probably. The thought disgusted me but if it was for survival I was…willing…so to speak.

"Oi you done day dreaming over there?" Hirokazu called from somewhere behind me, craning my neck back I saw Kazu upside down with a blade in his hand, shooting up I ran to him with a grin.

"You already found a blade?" I replied in surprise.

A look of irritation came across his face "Only took weeks…" he muttered before continuing "Yea I was out in the woods trying to find stuff like food and came across a guy's corpse."

I nodded in understanding "Did he have anything good on him?"

Kazu hummed in contemplation "Not really- well, he did have a tattered kimono on and some food-"

Slapping Kazu's arm I pouted at him "What do you mean 'Not really' that's awesome! Did he have shoes?" I asked in mild excitement, shoes was almost like a foreign object in district 79 and as she had heard the many districts surrounding their own.

He shook his head in response "Nah, no shoes. I would give the kimono to you but…"

I sighed "I'm too small aren't I?"

Kazu sweatdropped and let out a nervous laugh "Well…it's just that he's a grown male and you're….vertically challenged so to speak."

That was his light way of calling me a child and incredibly short, even for my perceived age I was short. And being called short was one thing I did not appreciate in the slightest, the last time Kazu made a crack at my height I tried to pull his hair out. I also hated being called a child, I may look only eleven (or even younger because of my height) but Kazu and I both figured I was probably almost 32 by now, so I was anything but a child.

"Well why aren't you wearing it right now?" I questioned, ignoring his earlier statement.

He shrugged "I didn't want you to start yelling at me as to why I get to wear a kimono and you don't, it'd be too much of a bother so I thought I'd come and explain first."

Nodding in response the two of us ended up walking back to the house where he changed into a tattered plain, dark brown kimono that reached just above his knees with a black obi fastened around his waist. Circling around once he stretched his arms out and grinned at me.

"Sooo, whatcha think?"

I rolled my eyes "You look gorgeous." I said sarcastically causing him to deflate as I sharpened my sword with a rock, we both fell into silence as the rock grating against the blade rung throughout their small home.

Kazu sighed from beside their food storage box "We're running out of food, we'll have to stock up in the next day or so…"

I hummed in agreement "It shouldn't be too hard to find some food around here somewhere, I'd say we probably need to start breaking into people's homes again to get food."

Hirokazu shot me a glance "No. that's too risky, getting arrogant won't help- just because you've been training doesn't mean-"

Growling I turned around sharply and chucked the rock at him in annoyance, to which he caught effortlessly "I'm not being arrogant! There's literally no markets because of all the crime! You know our district doesn't abide to the law, there's no order. No exchanging of money, money literally means squat when people just kill and steal all the time! Do you honestly believe other people from this district will offer us food? No, they won't. We have to steal it and their homes are where they keep it." I argued.

Kazu remained silent for a few moments, contemplating my words before sighing in defeat "You're right…but just remember the time we both almost got caught? I don't want that to happen again. We have to be more careful this time, if we're lucky we can find someone who isn't home or happened to be killed out in a brawl and left food in their makeshift homes."

I nodded in agreement "Sounds good to me, when should we head out?"

"I think we should just train together for today, I'd say it's best we go tomorrow in the earlier hours of the day." He responded.

I grinned and held up my sword "Alright, for now let's see who's the better fighter." My words causing a gleam to appear in Hirokazu's eyes as they both set off for the woods once more.

Tying the cloth up in a knot to somewhat form something resembling a bag I nodded to Kazu who held his sword tightly as we ran out of our hut, it had been raining the previous night so the grass and mud stuck to our feet as we ran toward the main streets, slowing down we cautiously walked through the streets primarily using back alleys and peeking inside houses with most being occupied by sleeping people. Hirokazu and I had both agreed earlier that we wouldn't enter any home if it wasn't vacant, after all we could end up sneaking in and find no food and risk being attacked for nothing.

After repeating this process for a few minutes, passing various homes made similarly to our own (mostly better as taller and older people had made them) we finally came across a vacant home. I grinned and rushed in whilst Kazu hissed a warning to me as he entered cautiously, this home unlike others actually had a table and some boxes. Opening the boxes one by one I found they were mostly empty except for one box that was half filled with food.

My eyes gleamed as I stared at the food, it would last us weeks! There was bread, chicken, fish and candy! It all smelled decently fresh too! My head snapped to Kazu in an instant as I motioned ecstatically to the box.

Kazu walked over with a raised brow and peered in before looking in shock, his eyes soon narrowed "If its fresh….then someone still lives here." I stiffened at that before we both heard a whimper, we both turned to the bed in the corner where the whimper came from, exchanging glances we approached cautiously. Kazu pointed his sword forward "Make it easier on yourself and come out now." He growled. The response we earned was another whimper.

I tilted my head in confusion before crouching down, Kazu instantly gripped my shoulder and shook his head, I rolled my eyes in response "Do you really think any grown man in district 79 would be whimpering under a bed?" I said rhetorically before once again lowering myself to the floor and peering under the bed.

My eyes widened in surprise as I saw a girl probably older than myself huddled under the bed, she had long straight white hair (or an extremely light blonde) with white eyelashes, red eyes, and incredibly pale skin. Her appearance was a shock but there was no doubt in my mind that she was an innocent girl with the amount of fear that showed in her eyes.

"Hey you can come out, if you aren't planning to attack us we won't attack you." I urged as I sat back cross legged on the floor.

Kazu looked at me questioningly "It's just a girl Kazu, you can put the sword down." After a few moments he obliged and sighed. Minutes later the girl crawled out cautiously and stared at the two of us I grinned at her and jerked my thumb to my chest.

"The name's Hotaru. Over there is Hirokazu, pleasure to meet ya." I said

The girl nodded meekly "M-my names Rika F-Fukuhara…"

After a moments silence I looked to my brother "Hey Kazu can we keep her?"

He looked at me incredulously "She's not a pet!" I whined in response as the girl looked at us in surprise.

"C-could I stay with you two? I don't really possess much Reiryoku so I don't need to eat…" The girl, Rika mumbled.

I looked at her in confusion "Huh? What's Reiryoku? You gotta eat! You must be hungry by now!" I insisted.

The girl shook her head, I was about to insist more before Kazu interrupted me in alarm "Then what's all this food doing here?!"

Rika flinched "Ah… I lived with another male, he let me live as long as I got him food…he recently got killed…" she trailed off.

I looked to Kazu expectantly "Can we keep her now?"

Kazu sighed heavily "Sure. Whatever, I don't even care anymore…" he grumbled as he walked over toward the box.

I went over to help Kazu and motioned for Rika to follow, slowly going through a backdoor that she showed us we snuck out of the main streets thankfully without incident (surprisingly) and made it back to our hut. Kazu placed the box down with a heavy sigh before I looked around almost exasperatedly.

"We're gonna have to either steal more from that house or make another bed ourselves because we don't have a sleeping space for her." I pointed out, Kazu groaned and flopped onto the bed.

"You figure it out. You're the one who wanted to keep her so much." Kazu grumbled making me chuckle.

Rika began to fret "Oh- I don't need to s-stay if it's too much trouble…" I rolled my eyes in response and bonked her on the head with a grin.

"Does it look like I care? Making a new bed will be easy I can even teach ya!" Rika looked at me thankfully as I rummaged through a pile of rags and found two non-blood soaked ones and stuffed one full of decently dry grass. Placing the pillow and blanket next to my side of the bed I motioned for her to sit as I sat on my own side.

"So, what was that Reiryoku stuff you talked about? How come you don't need to eat? What district are you from? You can't be from district 79 originally if you're this scared of stuff. How old are you? Where are-MMPH!" I cried out in shock, the cry being muffled by Kazu's hand as he finally sat up from his side of the bed, I knew he was glaring at the back of my head as I continued to struggle.

"For god's sake shut up." He ground out as I whined slightly before biting his hand, retracting quickly with a slight yelp I felt mild satisfaction that was short lived as he retaliated by whacking me upside the head earning a yelp from me.

Rika coughed slightly gaining our attention "Uhm Reiryoku is spiritual power, I'm sure you've heard of Shinigami right…?" she trailed off.

I blinked "They're those people with the swords and black clothes right?"

"The official soldiers around here who don't bother with our districts because we're seen as nothing but animals." Hirokazu affirmed.

Rika nodded "Uh yea…well, Shinigami possess higher levels of Reiryoku and Reiatsu which means they're more powerful than the average soul if they learn how to control it. The downside is that they have to eat, souls actually don't require food normally. So you two must have higher levels of Reiryoku than average."

I nodded "Oh that makes sense! Kind of…"

Kazu nodded as well "So what district are you from then?"

Rika twiddled her thumbs shyly at that "District 25…."

Kazu and I both looked at her in mild shock, they both expected another district anywhere between 55 to 78 but 25? Kazu's eyes narrowed "What would someone from the 25th district be doing here of all places?" I hummed in agreement.

Rika looked down, her hair shadowing her eyes as her lip visibly trembled "Men from the outer districts…they stormed the 25th district and I…I ran. They killed so many people…including the family I had…..I had to keep fleeing and somehow I ended up in this place…" she trailed off.

I inclined my head sombrely "Sorry for your losses but hey we can be a family now okay?" at this Rika nodded gratefully and Kazu sighed.

"Well her last name is Fukuhara so I guess that's our last name now." Kazu concluded.

I groaned "Agh finally we've been stuck on a last name for years." Flopping back onto the blanket with a contented sigh. Hotaru Fukuhara, I liked the sound of that.

Rika tilted her head in question "You two didn't have a last name?"

Kazu shrugged "We were both strangers in life, neither of us remember our lives previous to this obviously and I gave myself my name and gave Hotaru her name when I found her in an alleyway. We've been arguing on a last name for years."

I hummed contemplatively "Wow, it's been years since we first met….at least over two decades."

Rika looked to me in surprise "But you look to be seven or eight years old!"

I shot up like a bullet in anger "I'M THIRTY-TWO DAMMIT!" I shook my fist at her as Kazu sweatdropped.

"Well…approximately." He muttered, Rika looked even more confused as Kazu elaborated "When she came here we estimated she was around six years old roughly, we obviously age very slowly though and when I found her she could've been around seven? But the problem is even though it's been around twenty-six years since we met it's difficult to judge her age due to her being…vertically challenged. So we aren't sure if she is actually thirty-two but we've left it at that, we both agreed she looks eleven though."

At this Rika let out a small "Oh" before smiling "Well, I'm about thirty-four years old even though I look like I'm only fourteen. I was actually born here though."

After calming down I began to question Rika and her knowledge, she told me all she knew about Shinigami, the soul society, its laws (that obviously didn't apply to them.), the Shinigami academy, what Reishi and Reiatsu was, Hollows, what a zanpakutō was and about the Gotei 13, captains, lieutenants, squads you name it. She was like an object filled to the brim with knowledge that I had never heard of. A whole new world was opening up to me, a civilisation, a structure, it was in summary: mind blowing.

I stayed up later that night, lying in bed after my very first food coma in some time after the delicious chicken Kazu and I cooked. Kazu was fast asleep beside me, I faced Rika who was also wide awake and I begged her to tell me more things about the Seireitei or just the better districts, how things ran, what they did, what the academy was like and what a zanpakutō was in further detail and how she knew all this. Of course her knowledge had its limits but she learnt all of it from her brother who had become a Shinigami, Rika reminisced about her childish excitement learning all of these things for herself the first time.

After what felt like hours of talking I stared at the cloth ceiling in awe "Wow….."I whispered in wonder. I knew deep down that there were things in this world like order and laws but coming from a district that abides to no laws, constantly has people killing each other and stealing among so many other crimes it was near impossible to imagine a world without that. However Rika painted a new picture in my mind.

I felt my eyelids begin to droop before turning to Rika once more I mumbled sleepily "Do you think…I'd be able to become a Shinigami?"

Rika looked at me hesitantly "It'd be a long journey to get there in the first place…and you might be turned down but if you possess a large amount of Reiatsu it should be fine….I'm sure you and Kazu could both get in but being a Shinigami…it's pretty dangerous-" she paused at my blank look before laughing quietly.

"Right. District 79…nothing new…" she mumbled before looking to me with a smile. "I bet you could do it, I've only known you for less than a day but you and Kazu seem like fighters to me. As long as you're prepared to work hard and even kill…." She trailed off.

I looked at her dubiously "God you really are from district 25." She looked at me in shock as I gave her an almost pitying look.

"Here in district 79 there is no order or mercy. It's about survival, kill or be killed. Here to survive you have to steal and even kill people. Laws don't really apply to us, death and brawls happen every day, corpses litter the streets, the clashes of swords and men screaming in pain is a daily occurrence and even women screaming in the alleyways probably being raped and killed isn't uncommon. I've done my fair share of stealing and even killing people to survive, I've trained for weeks now and I have a sword too, so does Kazu. I think we're more than capable to join the academy." I explained.

Rika looked at me in shock and even a little fear "I- I didn't know it was that bad….you a-aren't going to kill me are you?"

My blank stare returned in an instant, I looked at her like she was an idiot "I don't kill innocent and defenceless people you dolt."

"O-oh…that's good." She replied nervously as I rolled my eyes in response before turning and facing a snoring Kazu whose mouth was wide open, I smiled at my brother fondly. He may have been the older one but the amount of times I wanted to stroke his hair or even comfort him was sometimes overwhelming. Sure I was often cold hearted and even a little sadistic but I still cared for my family even if it wasn't biological.

I smiled slightly; in future I knew that I wanted to be a Shinigami. I wanted to join the Gotei 13 and fight to protect; I wanted to be that hero people looked up to, to have Kazu and Rika by my side would be all I could ever ask for.

With that thought I finally drifted off to sleep.

Okay first chapter done! Anyone that wants an approximate timeline I can list it in one of the authors notes at the bottom (Of course I would shorten it considerably and even edit out a few things to prevent spoilers but just the basics to get an idea if anyone is interested.)

As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!