(Soul Society, 1st Division, Private quarters, 1 days prior)

Nanao was sitting on her bed, just thinking. She had already double checked if everything was prepared, made sure the third seat could handle her duties, and had gone to the 12th to grab the device that Captain Mayuri wanted her to bring for whatever reason.

She then looked over to a corner of her room, the corner with her zanpakuto leaning on a wall. She hated it, and it hated her. She didn't know why it always refused to cooperate with her, but it just would.

"Why the hell did he volunteer me for this? I can't even use my zanpakuto properly."

In the middle of her brooding, a soft couple of taps on the door allerted her of someone.

"Hey, Nanao," Captain Kyoraku stated, "Mind if I talk to you for a bit?"

One stride to the door later, and now her Captain is in her room.

"What do you want, Captain?"

"Just wanted to check up on you to see if you have everything in order."

"Really?" she retorts, not believing that in the slightest.

A few seconds of silence pass between the two of them.

"Fine, fine," Kyoraku mockingly states, "I was curious about how you and your zanpakuto are doing."

A few more seconds of silence appears.

"Horribly." Nanao admits.

"What going on then"

"It refuses to talk to me, It doesn't cooperate with me, and everytime I try to use the damn shikai, I end up only hurting myself."

"That got her pissed." Thought Kyoraku.

"Are you done?" asks Kyoraku.

With a nod, he continues," I wanted to send you on this mission to get some field experience, because I am positive you haven't been to the world of the living on your own. All your job is, is purifying the hollows and sending pulses off, so nothing too hard."

Before Nanao could retort with anything, he continues," Besides, apparently live combat can help the relationship between a shinigami and their zanpakuto."

"Wait, really?" questions Nanao.

"Yep, though, they aren't going to teach you that in the academy. You know, to keep the death rates down."

"That makes some sense" though Nanao.

"So, any more questions before I leave?

"No"

"Ok, good night Nanao."

He closed the door as he left.

(Karakura Town, Kurosaki Clinic, Present)

"What should I make to eat?", mumbled Ichigo.

With three quarters of the Kurosaki family gone, it left Ichigo to fend for himself for food. Which is a tad unfortunate, because while Ichigo isn't a bad cook, he has nothing on the meals he normally eats from his father and sister.

Making lunch wasn't a hard affair, it was just a sandwich, but it was missing a bit of something that would be there if anyone else had made it.

"Every time I try to make something, it ends up too bland," Thought Ichigo.

As the morning became the afternoon, Ichigo felt the call of hunger once again, and had to figure out what to have for dinner

Before he was able to make a decision, he felt a vibration in his pocket. He had gotten a text from his friend, Mizuiro.

-Chad, Keigo, and I were going to get Dinner together

-Want to join?

That solved his dilemma.

(Karakura Town, downtown, Present)

-Are you all inside yet?

Ichigo didn't see the three of them outside of the restaurant, so he had assumed that they had gone into the establishment.

"ICHIGO" shouted a certain annoyance.

With a small sigh, Ichigo swiftly moved to the left, and raised his arm to catch Keigo by the chest, hopefully dissuading him from doing that for the rest of the day.

"Hey, Ichigo" greeted Mizurio

"yo" , Ichigo responds back

"Sorry about him, we tried to stop him, but were too slow."

"No problem."

Chad went to go help Keigo up and told him to "stop doing that," but the three of them knew that he was never going to stop.

"Anyway" started Ichigo, "Let's get inside, I'm starving."

!

"That place was great," exclaimed Keigo.

"Yea, the food there was good," responded Mizurio.

As they began to walk to their respective homes, Chad noticed the time.

"It got dark out"

"Huh, guess it did." responded Ichigo.

A few moments of silence passed, then Ichigo realized something.

"How about you guys crash at my place, it's the closest out of all of us."

A moment of silence passed over the group.

"Sure" stated Chad and Mizurio.

"Are you asking us for a sleepover Ichigo!" questioned Keigo with a bit too much enthusiasm.

"Don't make me take my fucking offer back Keigo."

"Won't it be a bit crowded with your family at your house?" Mizurio questioned.

"Don't worry, the three of them are out till Thursday, so it will just be us."

"So it WILL be a sleepover!"

"Oh my fucking god!"

The group soon descended into bickering between Ichigo and Keigo, with Mizurio egging them on and Chad watching with Amusement. It would immediately halt when an unnatural screech could be heard for miles.

"D-did any of you just hear that?" asked Mizurio.

"The scream?" responded Chad.

"What scream?" then asked Keigo.

"We need to get to my house now!" shouted Ichigo.

"Why?" shouted Chad.

"I can expla-," Ichigo felt the words get stuck in his throat when he turned a corner and immediately saw a hollow on the other end of the street.

The hollow is noticeably long, with a number of appendages coming out at seemingly random points on its body. The mask that it wears is rather smooth looking, ignoring the cut on it that revealed the inside of the mouth that is lined with teeth ready to rip the four of them apart in moments.

It was clear that at least three of the four teens could see the hollow, because three of them were frozen in fear.

Keigo on the other hand seemed to not know what was going on, and without question, just strolled on over to where the hollow was standing.

Immediately the hollow grabbed Keigo and threw him at a wall, immediately knocking him out, then it rushed the other three. It tried to grab Mizurio, but Chad was able to push him out of the way to avoid that fate.

The hollow seemed to get annoyed at Chad, so it knocked him out of the way.. Ichigo couldn't see any blood, but Chad seemed to be knocked out from such an impact

It then tried to go for Mizurio again, but Ichigo got in front of him this time, but before it could do anything, the hollow was split in half lengthwise. Then a strong gust of wind would soon follow.

The Old Man stood next to where Chad was, doing something with his hands that made them glow green. Ichigo tried to run over to where he was, but he soon vanished.

"Where did he go?"

Looking around, he spotted him next to Keigo, doing the same thing to him. Again, Ichigo tried to run over to him, but before he made it to him, he vanished again.

"God Damnit"

Looking around for a third time, Ichigo saw the Old Man next to Mizurio, who then collapsed onto the ground after a bright flash of light.

"What the fuck"

Ichigo had been looking at the Old Man the entire time he was next to Mizurio, then he blinked, and suddenly he was next to Ichigo.

"Ichigo, are you alright?" asked the Old Man.

"W-what the hell did you do to them, why did Mizurio drop to the ground like that?" shouted Ichigo

"He needed to forget, Ichigo. We told you that all of this was supposed to be secret to humans."

"What about the others!"

"I healed them"

After his explanation, the adrenaline rush that Ichigo had immediately vanished, and Ichigo found himself slumped over a light pole trying to get control over his breathing. Relief had washed over him when he realized that his friends were going to be alright.

After a few moments, Ichigo directed his attention to the Old Man.

"How did you know to save us?"

"I was taking a walk and felt your reiatsu go haywire, so I went to investigate"

The Old Man would stroll over to Ichigo.

"Are you feeling better?"

"Uh, yea."

"Good, I am going to transport these three to your home, you should get home and rest." The Old man was facing away from Ichigo and looking towards the bodies, probably deciding how to carry them.

"Are you going to leave?"

"After I get them to your home, yes."

"I want to be trained," Stated Ichigo

"Why?" asks the Old Man.

"Huh"

"Why do you want to be trained?"

Quietly Ichigo started to speak, "My name means One Protector, I am supposed to protect the people I am close to. What good am I if I can't protect friends?"

His voice began to rise,"I got lucky this time Old Man, you were able to save us, but what happens when no one can get to us in time. If someone died because I couldn't do anything, I don't know what I'd do."

Finally he found his resolve," I want to be trained because I don't want to have this happen to one of my friends ever again! I refuse to let them be hunted or hurt by anything."

"Good." While Ichigo couldn't see him well, the Old Man was smiling,"Meet me at the warehouse at 9:00 tomorrow, eat breakfast before you go."

Then in a gust of wind, he left. Looking around, Ichigo saw that his friends were also gone. The Old Man had done as he said.

"9:00, huh"

(Karakura Town, 2 hours later)

A senkaimon opens in the middle of the dark sky, and out comes a figure dressed in black.

"So this is Karakura." Thought Nanao.