The explosions as Ichigo called them, had become very much part of his life and were now a necessary part of his routine when getting food

The explosions as Ichigo called them, had become very much part of his life and were now a necessary part of his routine when getting food. It was a simple process of blowing something up and using it to distract all the people around him while he took off with as much food as he could carry.

It was just as he was about to cause one of these explosions when a huge man suddenly appeared in front him out of nowhere.

Shocked, Ichigo stared at the huge young man for a moment before opening his mouth.

"Where the hell did you come from?" he asked the big man irritated that he'd gotten in the way of his explosion… Just then the explosion went off, the uncontrollable energy which he'd been gathering in his hands, exploding before it could be sent in any direction. Meaning that Ichigo felt the full blast and was knocked out by his own power…

…

"Are you all right?" Ichigo sat up at the sound of the unfamiliar voice, rubbing his head as he did so, trying to remember what had just happened. He looked around and realising that the entire area around him was covered in rubble a fact which instantly jolted his memory. Looking down at his clothes, which were now burnt at the edges, he could easily confirm what had just happened. He'd just been knocked out by the shock of his explosion. Basically he'd blown himself up. Pulling himself up slowly, so as not to aggravate his sore arms and legs, he saw that the voice had belonged to the tall man he'd seen before his black out.

"Yeah I'm fine" he answered "It's my own fault for messing around; I'm Ichigo by the way"

"My names Sado" he said.

"Then can I call you Chad?"

"I just told you, my names Sado…" he said, not sounding so much irritated as just stating a fact.

"Yeah whatever, anyway Chad, I wondering how you just appeared out of thin air like that" said Ichigo, wondering if Chad, like himself also had some kind of strange power.

"I don't know, I was being beaten up by some kids our age and then I think I might have died, though I'm not sure"

"Your dead" he said, annoyed at himself for not realising the cause of his sudden appearance sooner, he'd never seen a soul from the living world appear so the possibility hadn't occurred to him.

"It's not how I thought it would be" Chad said absentmindedly.

"I don't think anyone expected it to be like this" said Ichigo pausing for a few moments as he remembered something Chad had said earlier "hey you said our age, what did you mean by that?" he asked, finding it difficult to believe that the giant could be anywhere near his age.

"I'm 13; I thought you might be close to that age" he said, not noticing the surprised look on Ichigo's face as he tried to comprehend how they could be the same age when there was such a huge difference in size. Remembering the reason for Chad's death he wondered if they had been bullying him because of his size.

"Can I ask you a question?" asked Chad, his voice amazingly void of curiosity even though he was asking a question.

"Sure, go ahead" said Ichigo, leaning against the wall as he did so, bracing himself for the usual boring questions asking about the Seireite, the guy had just died after all, he was bound to be a little curious about his surroundings.

"What did you just do?" even though he was a little taken aback and a bit thrown off by the question Ichigo answered immediately. "I created an explosion from energy with my hands" he said, pausing for a moment as he looked at the mess around him "Though thus time it didn't really turn out the way it should have"

"Can other people do that here?" he asked, a question Ichigo had asked himself many times.

"I don't know, I've never met anyone else who could do it but I guess there are others.

"Rugongai is a big place, I can't just assume that I'm the only one who can o it just because I've never met anyone else who could" though as Ichigo said this thoughts of the Shinigami came to mind, if anyone else could do it, it was probably them. Though he didn't really know much about them, but he did know that they all have some sort of special power, though he wasn't really clear on what that power was since there were too many rumours on it in Rugongai to get a clear picture.

"Can I ask you another question" asked Chad interrupting Ichigo's thoughts.

"There's no need for you to ask" he said slightly irritated that Chad didn't just say it straight out.

"Is it normal for people to jump around on top of buildings here?" looking in the direction Chad was staring at Ichigo saw a small dark haired Shinigami who seemed to be looking for something…Like maybe an explosion?

"We need to get out of here" he said as he began to quickly walk in the direction of an alleyway "Come on Chad; we need to get out of here!"

"Why?" he asked, keeping up easily with Ichigo using his long strides "Do you know that person?"

"No" he said as he began to run "But I do know what he is: a Shinigami and from what I've heard they deal with strange things in the soul society, sort of like police for the supernatural"

"Then why are you running?" he asked as they turned a corner.

"Well he probably isn't to happy about all those explosions I've been causing lately, I don't know what Shinigami do to criminals but there's no way I'm waiting around to find out-"

"Um excuse me but are you Ichigo Kurosaki?" turning around Ichigo saw a dark haired boy panting hard; he was obviously the Shinigami he'd seen earlier though he somehow found it hard to believe as he was totally different from the two Shinigami he'd met previously. The difference being that he didn't give off the same air of confidence and authority that the other two had, he also looked a lot more frail and weak. He wondered briefly if all the male Shinigami's were like that or if the person if front of him was the exception.

"What do you want with me Shinigami? And how do you know my name?" he asked, now suspecting that this was probably not about the explosions but something else, most likely something about the strawberry blonde he'd seen a few months ago, hadn't she taken down his name?

"Um well you see…She told me that she'd already explained it to you…" said the boy looking a little lost as to what to say.

"Well if you have nothing to say to me then we'll be leaving" he said beginning to walk away.

"Please wait, Let me at least give you your form" he said as he quickly began rummaging around in his uniform eventually producing a tattered piece of paper. "Here" he said holding it out to Ichigo "Please take this, it will hopefully explain things though I can stay here if you want to ask me any questions" Ichigo looked at the boy curiously, he was strangely helpful, in all his time in the Seireite he'd never met anyone so…nice?

"Hey what your name?" he asked deciding that a person like this was worth remembering.

"It's Hanatarō… Yamada Hanatarō" said Hanatarō in a way which made it seem as though he wasn't asked for his name very often.

"Well Hanatarō could you please tell me why you've decided to come all the way out here?"

"Um well it wasn't me who decided it but Miss Masumoto thought you had potential so she told me to come here and fill you in on the details…"

"Potential for what exactly?!" he asked annoyed at the flustered Shinigami.

"She said you had a lot of spiritual energy and thinks you should take the test-"

"Test for what?" Ichigo asked, interrupting him

"The test to see whether or not you can make it into the academy" why can't he be a little more straight forward Ichigo wondered glancing to his side and seeing to his surprise that Chad was still there, he'd completely forgotten about him because of his silence.

"What's this academy for?"

"It's for learning the skills to become a Shinigami"

"So why would they want me to join this place?" he asked, not really believing that what Hanatarō was saying could be true.

"Because they think you have the talent necessary to become a Shinigami" Ichigo stared at Hanatarō as he tried to understand what was going on. There was no way this could all be true, it had to be some part of a bad joke, though he didn't really know anyone who could have possibly done it. There was no way all of this could be true. No fricken way.