"Naturally they send us to do their dirty work…."

"You shouldn't complain so much, Yesora-san. We're only here to check if it's safe for an attack."

"Yeah, well, they could've-"

"-I think I heard something." Three men were standing in a dark alley in Karakura Town. They looked anything but human. The man with the black, spiky hair and green eyes whose name was Denetsu Yesora scowled at his friend. He was the Fracción of the Primera Espada.

"And of course it takes a blind guy to notice something."

"Well, you are pretty oblivious sometimes." The blind man, whose hair was a greenish yellow color, smiled a little. His name was Shiro Latoza, the Fracción of the Diez/Cero ranked Espada. The third man, who'd told Denetsu to calm down, was a blond man with blue eyes, the Fracción of the Tercera Espada and was named Kaito.

"Does it matter? They can't see us anyway." Kaito said, leaning against the wall before discovering it was very dirty and standing straight again. Humans were so dirty sometimes.

"Whatever. We checked the area. It's clear, right?" Denetsu said to Shiro.

"You're asking a blind man?"

"…You're really enjoying this, aren't you? Just answer!" Shiro sighed at Denetsu's impatience.

"Yes, it's clear. We need to wait for Takashi's signal before we can go." he told them.

"He's sure taking his sweet time." Kaito muttered, putting his hands in his pockets, waiting for the other Fracción to give them the signal so they could sit back, and watch their superiors create havoc in this little, peaceful town.

"Dammit, Ggio!"

"What? Jeez, it's not like they saw me!"

"We weren't supposed to kill anyone yet!"

"But she bumped into me!"

"She couldn't even see you, you imbecile!"

"Dear lord." Two of the Arrancar that had survived the war and were now Fracción from the Quinta Espada were arguing over a girl one of them had murdered. Cirucci Sanderwicci glared at Ggio Vega who thought he'd done nothing wrong. Another Fracción of the Diez/Cero ranked Espada, Takashi Yodimaru, sighed. He had short, white hair and blue eyes. He was getting quite irritated by the two who were yelling at each other. He looked up at the sky and saw a pink flash.

"Is that Apacci's safe signal?" another Fracción asked him, Saturo Davi, the Segunda Espada's Fracción. He had blue eyes and black hair till his shoulders with red highlights. He had a feminine build, which caused some people to mistake him for a woman.

"Apparently. Now we can send ours to Shiro and the rest and get out of here." Takashi said, forming a red boll of energy in his hand. It shot up and disappeared in no time. He looked at Cirucci and Ggio who were still arguing and rolled his eyes,

"You two. We're leaving, so stop bickering." he spoke to them in a calm manner. They ignored him. "I said: we're leaving." he repeated, slightly louder but still calm. He still got no response. Getting more irritated by the second, he increased his spiritual pressure. They both froze.

"Was that really necessary?" Saturo asked.

"No. But it's fun. Besides, I detest yelling." He opened a Garganta and lifted his spiritual pressure off the two Fracción. "Follow." he simply stated, and went through it first, followed by Saturo and the other two.

She was running as fast as she could. Sweat dripping down her forehead and her eyes wide. Had she seen what she'd thought? Was it possible that… they were back? No, no it couldn't be. She refused to accept it. But she'd seen them so vividly, their masks, their holes…. She'd felt their presence. It was evil and dark. She'd been walking back from the store when she'd heard some loud voices from a dark alley. She'd just glanced but when she'd taken another good look…. One of them, a man who had his eyes closed, heard her accidentally kick a can. Luckily he'd been distracted by his friend, giving her the chance to run. Maybe they weren't what she thought they were. Maybe they were just some weird people who thought it was Halloween or… or-

"Oomph!"she fell down on the ground when roughly bumping onto someone. She looked up, completely distraught, and then felt a huge wave of relief washing over her.

"Karin! What's wrong? You look upset." Abarai Renji helped her up.

"I… I think I saw… Arrancar." she whispered. The Shinigami's eyes widened, then but then he started laughing.

"Yeah, right. You got me there kid! So, really, what's wrong?"

"I'm serious! I need to check up on Yuzu and dad and… and-"

"-Karin, you've never seen Arrancar before. How would you know how they look like?" Renji asked.

"Because… I saw their holes." Renji froze, staring at her. Actually, staring right through her. Karin didn't notice and continued talking. "They were talking about… attacking the town. So I need to go to Yuzu and dad! R-Renji? Hey!"

"Go home and stay indoors!" Renji yelled as he jumped up to the roof of a building and then left. People were staring at Karin like she was crazy because they couldn't see a Shinigami. But that was the least of her worries. She began running like her life depended on it, and made an instantaneous decision. She grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed a number, then held her ear to the phone, waiting for someone to pick it up. No one did, instead she got voicemail.

"Yo, this is Kurosaki Ichigo. I can't answer you directly so leave a message after the beep…."

His head ached. College was really killing him. He sighed as he rubbed his eyes out and then yawned, while stretching in his king-sized bed his dad had bought for him as a housewarming gift. He was nineteen, and living on his own for a year. He hadn't changed that much, though he'd decided to let his hair grow a little longer. Still no facial hair though, and his dad just loved to pester him about that. Kurosaki Ichigo got out of his bed and opened the curtains. It was a great Sunday morning, but he still needed to finish his essay on English Literature. First he walked to his bathroom and took a quick shower. After that and getting dressed, he walked to his living room and noticed someone had left him a message. It was Karin. He pressed on the button to listen to it.

"Ichi-nii! You idiot, why are you still sleeping? I… I need you to know that… I saw-" the message cut off at that point. Ichigo frowned, and decided to call her back. He grabbed the phone and the dial tone went quickly. He walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge while he waited for a response. Nothing. After getting a lousy answering machine, he dialed again and again. After the fourth time, still no response. That was very unlike Karin. Had something happened? Suddenly, a weird sensation pulsated through his body. For a second, he was nailed to the ground.

Was this…?

He hadn't been able to use his powers for a very long time, but his ability to see ghosts and Hollows had returned after a year, and now he could vaguely see Shinigami and even sense reiatsu, which he hadn't been able to do very easily before. Unfortunately, it didn't reach over a very wide area yet. Closing his fridge and throwing his phone on the table, he walked to the door, putting his shoes and jackets on, grabbing his keys and immediately leaving.

The first thing he noticed was that there was no one outside. It was awfully quiet. There was a sense of danger there, lingering behind every street corner. The perilous silence didn't reassure him at all. He cautiously walked through the streets, until he finally saw a man, screaming in hysteria and running like the devil was chasing him. He was going to run right past him, but Ichigo stopped him, needing some answers.

"What happened?" he urged the man, who stared at him, his eyes wide and his pupils like dots as he stared at Ichigo.

"T-they killed everyone! They're-" Ichigo didn't know what happened, but suddenly, the man was lying on the ground and his hands and shirt were stained by the man's blood. He was dead. Before Ichigo could react to this, he heard someone sigh.

"Wasting my time on these weaklings. Pathetic."

"It's not completely wasting time-"

"-I know that! Just sayin' that I wanted to take on Shinigami myself instead of checking the area. Jeez, I'm not stupid."

"Who would have guessed?" Another person giggled. Ichigo looked up and gasped. It was them. They were here. New ones, but how? How was that possible? He saw three women. One with black hair, the other with purple and black hair, and one with honey blond hair. There was one man with red hair. The woman with all black hair noticed him looking first while the others were talking, seemingly bored. Ichigo saw the indifference in her intense blue eyes change in curiosity.

"You can see me." she said, surprised. The others now also looked at him also. The woman with purple and black hair looked from the other girl to Ichigo.

"Eh? This is the first time I see you look this surprised, Luna." she said, chuckling. Luna didn't answer, but just stared at Ichigo, almost flustered. Ichigo looked for any kind of object he could use as a weapon, but found nothing.

"Oi, you. Who're you?" the only man asked, gaining Ichigo's attention again who didn't know how to respond to that.

"Does it matter? Just finish him off." the woman with blond hair said dryly, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. She looked the most bored of all three. Ichigo took a few steps back. This was… bad. He had no powers to defend himself and was left at the mercy of the four Arrancar. He had so many questions that it hurt his head even more. But most important of all was the safety of his family. Was Karin okay? What about his dad and Yuzu? And his friends? Had the Shinigami already noticed? The male Arrancar unsheathed his blade, which already had some bloodstains on it, and was about to come at him when he was stopped.

"Aurelio." Luna said to the man. "Kanna, Amaya." she continued to speak, looking at them one by one.

"What?" Kanna asked, frowning at her vague behavior.

"This is Kurosaki Ichigo." There was a deep silence. No one did anything for a while but just stare at the woman.

"How do you know?" Amaya finally asked the burning question.

"He fits the description perfectly. Besides, I've seen him before, on the monitor when he was fighting Grimmjow in-" before she could finish her sentence, Amaya was charging right at Ichigo, who could barely dodge the attack, but knew he was done for if she decided to attack him a second time. He saw the blade come for him, almost in slow-motion, aimed at his neck, when another sword stopped it. Ichigo fell down on the ground from the wind and the force this sudden collision created, the noise of metal meeting metal hurting his head even more.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked with a deep frown.

"I could ask you the same thing!" Amaya growled, putting more force behind her sword. Luna still kept her back. By this time, Ichigo had already gotten up again and taken his distance, meanwhile keeping an eye on the other two who were watching, not very surprised by this clash.

"Preventing you from killing him, duh?" Luna answered dryly. She smirked when Amaya put even more force behind her sword. "Now where was this attitude when I fought you?"

"Why won't you move?" Luna didn't say anything, and Amaya snapped. She started attacking her rapidly, but all Ichigo saw was sparks flying everywhere and hearing the constant clashing of swords. Luna blocked all of them, refusing to move aside. Amaya was angry, for whatever reason.

"Anger is a handicap when in battle." Luna remarked, clearly amused. "This is very unlike you, y'know. Haven't seen you this angry before."

"Alec! Stop screwing around and tell us what the hell you're doing!" Aurelio demanded. Amaya stopped attacking for a second, controlling her anger again, and Luna sighed.

"I think we should let Aizen take care of him. After all, his powers are gone. He forms no further threat." she said, and with a glance at Amaya, she sheathed her sword. Then she aimed her gaze at Ichigo. Her stare made him nervous, but he couldn't look away: either he was frozen in fear or her eyes were just that captivating. But there were more important matters at hand, and so he looked away. What were they going to do with him?

"Aizen? You're-"

"-Going to set him free? Yep." Kanna said. "Well, if we're not going to kill anyone else, we should go, right?" Ichigo was completely shocked. He was blown away. Free Aizen? No, they couldn't do that. They had no way to do that! Amaya sheathed her sword, having regained her calm composure.

"Tch. I guess I'll let Grimmjow have his revenge on you personally." she decided, then grinned.

'Grimmjow, he's… alive?' The four Arrancar were about to leave, until Ichigo interfered.

"Wait! Who are you, and what the hell are you doing here?" he yelled. Amaya snickered at his distraught as Kanna decided to answer his first question.

"We're Neo Espada." He could feel his whole world tremble and crack beneath him. "We're here to… well… you'll find out soon enough."

"By the way, Ichigo," Aurelio spoke casually, as if they were friends "if you're looking for your friends, it's best to follow the screams. Well, see ya."

They disappeared before he could say another word.

"Aaaah! This is so. Damn. BORING!" Cruz cried out, slicing down people with every word. They didn't really cut the humans down with the intention to kill, but just to draw some attention. So most of them did survive, though there were some unlucky ones who got cut in critical areas.

"What did you expect? It's a small town." Mai remarked, sitting on the edge of a building while she stared at the wounded and dead on the ground, which was painted red by their blood. She was accompanied by Yukiko, who'd rather not slice people down randomly. Eventually even Cruz got tired and stopped.

"Still, she has a point. Why is it taking the Shinigami this long?" Skullak wondered. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were with them, but they were silent. Yukiko cocked her head to the side a little as she watched the humans on the ground. Some crawling for safety, some crying and screaming, a few unmoved. She'd boldly refused to participate in slicing them down. As for Mai, she simply stated that she wished to safe her sword for someone who was worthy of it. The same was for Skullak. Since it had to be done by someone, Cruz decided to take it up.

"Maybe they're preparing." Mai suggested.

"Or forming some sort of tactic." Yukiko added.

"Speculation at this point is useless. We'll just have to… create more chaos." Skullak said, over the screams of the humans beneath them who were trying to find a place to hide. "Yukiko, why don't you go wreck a few buildings?" he suggested.

"Wreck… buildings?"

"Yeah, like a hospital or something." Grimmjow said.

"I'm not doing that." she refused, scowling at the ridiculous proposition.

"Tch. Typical. Fine, I'll do it myself." Grimmjow got up from his place and targeted a tall post office building. The hospital was a little too far, and the post office was closer. He made a crimson Cero in his hand.

"Do you have to?" Yukiko asked.

"Since when do you care so much?" Mai asked Yukiko, raising her eyebrows.

"I think I pity them." she muttered. Cruz burst out in laughter.

"That's like a lion sparing the lamb because he pities it! It won't get him by."

"Look, I understand killing Shinigami but humans can't do anything-"

"-We're not killing them. Not intentionally, it's just to draw attention." Skullak told her. Yukiko became silent. Mai did understand her position, though it was not one very useful when you were the most despised creature to ever live. She looked at Grimmjow's Cero who completely wrecked the building, creating even more chaos and panicked humans. He then decided to target the hospital, and right when he aimed his hand at it, he felt a blade cut his wrist. He pulled it away before it dealt any serious damage. He took distance and they all looked at the person who attacked him.

"Eh? I recognize you from somewhere…." Grimmjow frowned, then grinned widely. "That's right. Last time I saw you, you had a hole in your stomach." the short, black haired Shinigami narrowed her eyes. Grimmjow looked at the little cut her blade had made.

"You know her, Grimmjow?" Ulquiorra asked.

"Not really."

"No matter. She's trash. Mai, get rid of her." Mai nodded once, finally happy to get in to some action and got up from her place. Suddenly, Yukiko was rudely pulled away from her own spot before a blade hit the place she'd been sitting on just a second ago. Skullak frowned at her, letting her arm go again.

"You should be more cautious." he said, gesturing at a redheaded Shinigami on the ground who'd extended his blade.

"Sorry." she muttered, feeling kind of stupid. She at least hoped to take on one Shinigami, since she didn't like feeling completely useless.

"Skullak, take Yukiko and go to Roxette and Chié. They might need help." Ulquiorra said coolly. Skullak nodded once and both of them Sonido'd away. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow watched as Cruz and Mai took on the other two Shinigami. The battle probably wasn't going to last long.

"Is that all you got? Don't disappoint me!" Roxette was very focused on her fight with the man who had introduced himself as 3rd seat Madarame Ikkaku. She hadn't introduced herself yet, mostly because the man hadn't given her a chance, rapidly attacking her with his naginata (spear). She noticed he liked taunting his opponents and mostly relied on force to deal blows.

"You're quite cocky for someone who hasn't hit me once." she told him as she blocked his blade with her sword. Roxette dodged to the right when he made a second, very powerful frontal attack, which was strange because it left his left side open to her. She didn't hesitate to aim at that spot.

"Split apart." Ikkaku called out. Suddenly, Roxette was hit very hard against her back and she fell on the ground, surprised. She managed to use her Sonido in time to dodge the blade. Confused, she looked at Ikkaku and her eyes widened. His spear had turned into a three sectional staff. She now understood that because of the force of his attack, when he'd split his sword, the section with the pommel had hit her back like a whip. It really did hurt.

"Clever." Roxette commented, rubbing her lower back.

"Are you telling me your name or what?" Ikkaku said, holding his Sansetsukon (three sectional staff) ready for another attack.

"Roxette Angélica. Octava Espada." she said. Ikkaku froze for a split second, then laughed.

"Espada? I thought we'd killed all of 'em two years ago!"

"Yes. We're the Neo Espada. And might I add, stronger than the last ones." Roxette said as she got into position again. Ikkaku roared with laughter.

"Good! Then there's no need for me to hold back!" He charged again, throwing his spear around and gripping the pommel section. Roxette didn't wait for an invitation and also charged straight for him. Ikkaku thought she was taking him on head on, but with a lightning quick step to the right she attacked his side. Ikkaku barely managed to block it with his pommel, but Roxette didn't take any breaks. She continued to rapidly attack from different angles. Ikkaku blocked them several times and dodged. With a Shunpo, he thought he could surprise her. But when he appeared behind her, Roxette had already charged a Cero in her hand.

"Cero." she said. A blue cero shot out her hand. When it was all cleared up, she saw Ikkaku to her right, the clothes on the right side of his torso burned off and smoking. He'd dodged it right in time. Roxette didn't feel the need to kill him, but enjoying a good fight couldn't hurt. Though Ikkaku was boring her quickly. Chié was in another area, fighting with the targeted lieutenant. Well, actually more like trying to capture her. Suddenly, Ikkaku started snickering. She watched in curiosity. What, exactly, drove this man to amusement in a situation like his?

"I haven't had a good fight in a long while! And you sure aren't a disappointment." he told her, holding out his weapon.

'Bankai,' Roxette thought instantly, and took her distance.

"I think you're worthy of seeing this. Just don't tell anyone, if you survive the fight at all, that is. Bankai!"

"Stop dancing around and come down here!" Chié sighed. This was more complicated than she'd expected it to be. Matsumoto Rangiku didn't look like it, but she had quick reflexes. Chié tried to figure out a plan to make her lose focus long enough for Chié to capture her. She had a device in her right hand that would expand to ropes that sucked reiatsu out of whatever they had first contact with. But so far, she wasn't able to come close enough with Rangiku's long ranged attacks.

"Heh, seems like you're having a tough time." Chié looked up to Yukiko who was sitting on the edge of the roof of a little shop. A drop of rain distracted her, and she looked up to the sky. "Hmm… rain during summer time... odd. " she murmured.

"I'm doing just fine." Chié answered calmly and looked down at Rangiku, who was getting impatient.

"Ya sure?"

"Yes." Chié made a sudden dive for it, her sword ready to attack. Both Yukiko and Rangiku were surprised by this sudden move, but the latter got in defense position and steered the ashes quickly around Chié, who'd expected this. "Bala." Powerful, fast bullets of reiatsu shot out her hand, cutting through the ashes and headed straight for Rangiku. The Shinigami broke off her attack and jumped up, dodging them and now on equal level. Chié didn't waste any time, seeing an opening from the ashes that had surrounded her and shot straight towards the lieutenant. Rangiku, who expected her blade, got ropes thrown at her instead.

"What the-" she gasped for breath when the ropes wrapped themselves around her body and Zanpakutō. She fell down on the ground, suddenly feeling very drained from all energy. Chié caught her just in time, but almost went through her knees because of the weight.

"H-heavy…." she breathed. Rangiku glared at her. Yukiko quickly joined her and took Rangiku over from her.

"Now what, genius?" Yukiko asked her.

"Now we collect Roxette and go back to Ulquiorra and Grimmjow." Chié answered. "Then we wait for the Captain to show up."

"Sounds good. Skullak went to Roxette so her battle is probably done by now."

"Damn." Luna cursed.

"What are you doing?" Amaya asked curiously, seeing the Primera with her hand held out in front of her. Luna looked at her.

"Eh… well… how do you open a Garganta?"

"…WAHAHAHAHAHA!" as Amaya laughed her ass off and Luna felt like a complete idiot, Kanna decided to help her out since Aurelio loathed Luna and Amaya was too busy cackling to get a single comprehensible word out of her mouth.

"Just concentrate your reiatsu." Kanna told Luna, who scratched the back of her head.

"Concentrate it on what?" she asked uneasily.

"Imagine you opening a gateway. Think of Hueco Mundo, and then concentrate your reiatsu on your hand."

"Alright…." Luna tried it. Suddenly, a huge, gaping hole ripped out of the sky, Gillian peeking through it. Panicked, Luna blasted the whole place with her white Cero, killing the Gillian and making the hole even bigger.

"What did you do that for?" Aurelio yelled at her.

"I fucking panicked, alright?"

"You're the goddamn Primera! How could you not know how to open a Garganta and then PANIC?"

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

"SHUT UP!"

Hehe, this was fun writing xD

In chapter 3 we'll see the fights of Cruz and Mai, the rest of the fight of Roxette, Ichigo freaking out and Amaya being a smartass.

Also, any ideas for the story? Like, romance-related, action-related, possibly plot-related ideas, because I have only planned ahead until Aizen's escape. I have NO idea what's gonna happen after that :P

REVIEWWWZ PLZ! THNQ! :D