Be her best friend. Those were the last words Aizen said to him before he left for his assignment.

Ichigo had spent weeks training under Aizen and a close team on what to expect and how to maneuver in the human world, as well as other skills like how to be charming.

All that works just to profile Orihime Inoue and get the details on the extent of her powers, her strengths and weaknesses, and what could break her.

Everything had already been set up for him including an apartment, job, clothes, money, and cell phone amongst other things.

He arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, a day before he was to start a job as Orihime's English tutor.

After he had finished unpacking and getting used to his new apartment,!which was two buildings down from Orihime, he decided to explore the neighborhood.

By the time he had gone out it was already most people's dinner times. It was the perfect time to hunt for something to eat. Although he could eat real food, he preferred souls. He looked down at his watch that Szayel developed to limit his spiritual pressure to completely mask his presence. This would be easy.

*

Orihime was walking down an alley towards her apartment, she just finished taking care of a hollow. Tomorrow was a school day and the first time she would meet with her new tutor. While Orihime excelled in all her science and math classes, she did poorly in language, which was a requirement for graduation.

She was almost home when a shiver ran down her spine and she abruptly stopped walking. A hollow. A big one. An alert flashed on her phone. She flash stepped to the location.

There was only darkness and nothingness in the park. Was she too late? She didn't feel the hollow any more. However, Orihime felt another presence that she couldn't place but she shook it off. She scanned the area as the walkway lamps came on again, illuminating the park's pathways.

Orihime was confused and she didn't like the feeling. The hollow had likely been exterminated, but it wasn't purified.

Was it another hollow? A rogue Quincy that took care of the hollow? They weren't allowed to hunt hollows anymore without permission and only the Ishidas had them. She didn't feel their reiatsus. She would have to talk to Uryu about it tomorrow.

A muffled sob broke her out of her thoughts. She ran towards the sound. It was a man holding his head in pain.

"Are you okay?" Orihime asked. The man looked up. Once he saw the shinigami, he started to calm down. At first, he couldn't speak.

Orihime thought that he must've been badly traumatized. It was a mixture of that and that he hadn't expected to see such an attractive young woman.

After catching his breath, he started to speak, "I'm ok now. A hollow tried to eat me and then...something from behind knocked me out. Not a hollow though, something else."

He was struggling now replaying the events in his head, unbelieving the words that came from his own mouth. He stammered, "I...I... c-c-came to though...I don't k-k-now what I saw but I saw him...i-i-t..devour the hollow."

"Are you sure it wasn't a hollow? A ghost?" Orihime tried to clarify.

He shook his head, "I-I don't know. I don't think so." Orihime put away the details into the back of her mind. Did she really want to put that into her report?

"What's your name?" Orihime asked trying to calm the man once more.

"Kazu," He said.

"Ok, Kazu. Thank you for telling me what happened. I'm sorry I didn't get here on time," Orihime said gently. She reached out to touch his shoulder and then held out her hand to help him up. He felt better and she didn't make him feel ashamed for crying or panicking.

"I'm ok," He said reassuringly.

Orihime have him a small, warm smile and nodded her head. She stayed put for a bit and watched him walk away before tailing him all the way home for his safety and her peace of mind. What she didn't know was that she was also being tailed.

As she walked back to her own home, she berated herself for not coming soon enough. She saw fear in the man's eyes like she hadn't seen before and that unsettled her.

*

Ichigo saw a middle aged man cutting across the park and felt a hollow appearing. The hollow was big one too.

Finally, dinner. He smiled as he punched the man knocking him to the ground unconscious. Then he looked up at the hollow, licking his lips.

He was happy and full. Very full. The shinigami appeared not a second later and he hid himself quickly.

The pathway lights came on. And there she was in full sight. He took her in, scanning her features and body. They were more delicate and soft unlike the hardened women he was used to in Hueco Mundo. He smirked. He might enjoy getting to know her.

The only images he had seen of her was from the video Aizen showed when he summoned him - her face and clothes had been covered in dirt, blood, and tears. And he hadn't opened the file of her yet that Kaname gave him to study. Seeing her now close up, his heart started to beat a little quicker but he thought nothing of that.

He saw her calm the man down and follow him home. He saw the tears that ran down her face as she walked home. He didn't understand why she was crying.

But what he knew was that he was captivated - whether it would be in a good or bad way - only time would tell.