Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach...seriously...

Rated M- for the violence and swearing mostly. Err...and um...mostly as a precaution as well....

Morning came faster than he thought and with it came his sisters questions. His alarm ringing is what really woke him up, sometime between agonizing about what he had just done and the harsh ringing of his alarm he had managed to get some sleep. Ichigo groaned and opened his eyes, he was sore all over and he was pretty sure he was currently bleeding all over the blankets as well, having forgotten to wrap his wound up. Glaring at his alarm clock that was still ringing he reluctantly rolled off the blankets, crossed the room and shut off the alarm. Just crossing the room was a pain.

Looking around he didn't see his sisters and was a little relieved, they had probably woken up already and were downstairs. Yawning Ichigo tiredly made his way down to the kitchen, where Yuzu was probably making breakfast…well were she would be if it was a normal day anyways. Sure enough though she was there, cooking diligently, with Karin sitting at the table reading the newspaper. "Morning," he muttered, taking a seat at the table as well.

Turning from the stove Yuzu smiled at him, although it was a little strained, "Good morning Ichigo, um…have you seen my oven mitt? I can't seem to find it, b-but I thought I had put it where it always is and I thought that maybe…" she trailed off and looked worried for a second.

"Sorry don't know where it is. Might have gotten lost last night when I was cleaning," he said with a small shrug, which hurt.

It was a lie of course, he had let the oven mitt and knives soak over night and they were hidden so his sisters wouldn't come across them on accident. "What exactly happened last night," Karin asked suddenly, setting the newspaper down.

Ichigo was at a lost for words for a second, what exactly had happened last night. He didn't even fully know, "That guy…he…stabbed me, and then after that I…" he hesitated for a second, he defiantly couldn't tell the truth, " I managed to get him out of the house. I…don't know where he went after that," he finished lamely.

In the kitchen Yuzu stopped cooking, "Did you get your wound cleaned?" she asked looking at him carefully.

Shaking his head Ichigo stood up, it was an excuse to leave the kitchen and Karin's unbelieving, accusing stare, "No, I'll go do that right now," he said quickly and left the kitchen.

Behind him his sisters watched him leave in silence. Yuzu worried about her brother, and Karin wondering exactly why Ichigo would have to lie about whatever happened last night…

Cleaning, washing, and wrapping up his shoulder by himself actually took a lot longer than he thought. Enough to the point that Yuzu went to offer her help but found the door locked and was unable to get it. Ichigo had noticed and thought briefly of letting her in but decided against it, why bother her with something he could handle himself. And there was no doubt that he could handle this by himself, he really didn't want to get his sisters involved in this if he could help it.

When he did finish though he didn't leave the room, instead he sat in the chair and stared blankly at the wall in front of him. Everything that had happened, it…well it just wasn't possible. He hadn't dreamed that happened, not only did his stab wound disprove that but his sisters did as well with their own experiences with…whoever that man had been, he had been real. So…who was he? The guy was trying to kill them, that was obvious, but…what did that have to do with his dad? Or in fact, why try killing them at all? Ichigo groaned and grabbed his head, he was giving himself a headache with all these questions and the obvious lack of answers.

Very similar questions to what he had asked himself last night, worse now since he was wide awake now. He could have just called the cops and been done with it, sure he would have been charged with self-defense or…or something! Not now though…the next day just telling the police he knew of the murder would get him sent straight to prison, but what did he know about the law? He was 15! All he knew was from television and stories he'd heard. Rubbing his forehead he cursed his luck, not only had he royally screwed himself over but he was probably dealing with psychos with his luck. Not only that but the man's final words before leaving, 'Don't get comfortable'? What exactly did that mean?

Leaning back in his seat Ichigo sighed, he had really messed up. A quiet knock came at the door, "Ichigo? Are…you alright? I knocked earlier but no one answered…" Yuzu asked quietly.

Glancing at the clock Ichigo was surprised to see that so much time had passed. School was supposed to start pretty soon and he wasn't even ready. It wasn't any surprised his sister was worried, "I'm fine. You two should get to school though," he replied, standing up but after that made no more move to leave the locked room.

From outside the room there was a few seconds of silence then a reluctant reply, "Alright…we'll see you tonight then," and then footsteps as his sister left the door.

He wasn't exactly sure how long he stood there in silence trying to collect himself, he had no idea how he was going to explain his wound, what he would say if the police had actually come to investigate. He had taken care of this in a rushed manner and it showed…showed in a bad way. Ichigo did eventually collect himself and after shaking the ugly feeling of what he'd done, he left the room and walked quickly to the kitchen.

There was a small plate of food for him, courtesy of Yuzu obviously, but other than that everything was cleaned up and the kitchen looked just like how it normally did. Spotless and sparkling clean. Pushing what had happened last night out of his mind Ichigo quietly ate his breakfast, cleaned and put away the plates and then finished what he had started last night.

Getting the oven mitt and knives from their hiding spot he drained the bleach and after rinsing the knives put them away and then looked at the oven mitt. Frowning at the very…drastic difference from what it had once looked like. Now it was just a wet bleach soaked mess. Sighing he picked up the container and oven mitt and walked out the backdoor again. Tossing both items into the trash he hesitated before going back inside. His hand on the doorknob he paused and looked back at the alley were the man had dragged the man he had…had killed.

It could have been the overall haziness of last night but strangely enough the alley looked cleaner than it had last night. Like a second person had come in and cleaned up all the things back here that he had missed in the dark last night. It was…well it was eerie and brought a shiver down his spine. Shaking it off though he quickly went back into the house, locking the door behind him.

With everything from last night taken care of Ichigo reluctantly went about getting ready for school. He was currently missing the first parts of school but if he hurried than he'd be able to make it before lunch and catch the rest of his classes. That and come up with an excuse to the injury he had mysteriously gained overnight. So as much as he could Ichigo stalled himself. Walking as slow as he could, folding and shuffling papers that didn't need that attention, getting everything gathered as slowly as possible. Once everything was ready though and he was dressed there was nothing left to do but walk to school.

With a sigh Ichigo opened the front door, closed it, locked it behind him and turned to unknowingly face on of the scariest people on the planet. Turning from the door he saw the man froze and took a step back instinctively, why he didn't exactly know, he just wanted some distance between himself and whoever that man was. Just a few feet away the man smiled softly, "Ah, so you must be the one who killed him. No other person would be so paranoid for no reason."

The look that crossed his face must have been funny to the man because a low chuckle followed that statement, "No reason to be so afraid. Ichigo Kurosaki correct? I am merely here to offer you a job…if you'd please follow me," he said taking a step to the side and moving so there was room for Ichigo to pass by to the now seeable limo parked in front of his house.

Shaking his head Ichigo quickly looked for any possible escape routes, "I can't, I do still have school to get to," he muttered.

The man smiled again, this time though…it didn't seem as friendly. Overall he looked an intimidating figure. Gelled back brown hair, a single strand falling out of place in between his eyes, a confident look on is face and brown eyes, combine that with the rather expensive suit he was wearing this man obviously had some amount of power, if not a lot of it if appearances were anything to go by. "Kurosaki that wasn't a request. Please, follow me," he said.

A rather sarcastic reply bubbled up but Ichigo managed to hold his tongue and with a scowling face passed the business man and walked to the limo, before he could even think of turning the corner and making a run for it, the man said the words the sealed his fate, "I wouldn't suggest running, we wouldn't want your sisters to get hurt now would we. You tried so hard to protect them last night, why fail at your job right now?"

Freezing he turned and glared at the man, "Don't you fucking dare touch them!" the unspoken words of 'or I'll kill you' hung unsaid but obvious in the air.

Whatever reaction Ichigo had expected it wasn't the man smiling patronizingly at him and ushering him towards the limo, "We'll talk later, I was merely saying. You'll learn soon enough."

Before Ichigo could say anything he heard the limo door open, after a few seconds of glaring at the man he reluctantly turned to get inside the vehicle. Briefly he glanced at the driver who stood there, head bowed, hat covering any features that would have made him distinct. Another uneasy feeling bubbled up but Ichigo couldn't exactly brush this one off. He was getting into a limo the night after killing someone against his will by a man who had just threatened his family…the uneasy feeling was reasonable.

Making himself as comfortable as he could Ichigo sat in the seat on the opposite side of the business man, who merely got in and sat down. Neither of them said anything as the driver shut the door and started up the limo. At first no one said anything, Ichigo didn't know what to say and as much as he wanted to know what was going on he had a feeling that the bastard across from him wouldn't say anything until he had to. So for the first few minutes the rode in silence.

"You may call me Aizen," the man said suddenly.

Ichigo blinked and stared at him, was this guy serious? "Alright Aizen…what the hell is this about?" he snapped, glaring at the business man fiercely.

Once again the man chuckled, apparently Ichigo was incredible amusing to him or something. "Such a temper on you. I merely want to talk is all. I did say I have a job offer for you, I believe it'd be in your best interest to take the offer I'm going to give you Ichigo."

Regardless of what his thoughts were going to be Ichigo had the feeling that he wouldn't have much of a say in this 'job offer'. Steeling himself for whatever he was going to hear Ichigo asked his question, "And…what exactly would that job be?"

Another smile, that in other circumstances might have been pleasant only enforced his uneasy feeling, "To take over for the man you killed of course. In order to keep our numbers from dropping to drastically I recently started this rule that replaces the dead with their killers. Interestingly enough you are the first to have me instigate the rule," he sighed although it seemed more mocking than real, "Here I thought I'd be rid of him first but I suppose I can't always be right."

It took a few seconds to sink in as Ichigo stared wide eyed in surprise at Aizen. He was serious, or at least he seemed serious, so the offer seemed real. Of course that brought of the question of whether this man was sane! He was a teenager, he had no experience in…in whatever it was he'd do! "Are you insane!?" he shouted, his surprised and disbelief obvious.

Instead of smiling Aizen sighed and looked at him like one would a confused child, which of course did nothing to help the business man's cause. "Really now Ichigo, I sort of expected better from you. I won't expect much from you at first. Today is merely the day I explain that from here on foreword you're employed by me. Are you hungry?"

The question took him by surprise and he stuttered a few nonsense words before shaking his head, "No! I'm not hungry! What do you mean I'm employed!? I don't even know what I'd be doing!"

For a second a look of annoyance crossed Aizen's face, it was enough though. Ichigo easily saw it and quickly remembered exactly who he was dealing with. A complete stranger with enough power to not only orchestrate a hit on his family, but if they were in this expensive of a limo enough money to back it up as well…in short a very powerful man. Before he could say anything Ichigo quickly corrected himself as his intelligence finally caught up with him, "A-actually I would like some food."

Seconds later another smile crossed Aizen's face, the same one that kept appearing again and again, that annoying pleasant yet creepy smile. "Very well then," he pressed a button, "If you would please stop by usually lunch," he said, probably talking to the driver.

Crackles of static crossed the speakers for a second before the drivers voice replied, "Yes sir, shall I come back at the usual time?"

"No. I'll call you, today's schedule is a bit different today," and with that he released the button and pleasantly turned back to Ichigo, "Normally I'd wouldn't even have to explain things but I'll briefly explain over lunch. Do you enjoy Italian?"

Ichigo shrugged, "Never really had it," he said as politely as he could.

The sudden change in attitude caused the smallest of smirks to cross Aizen's face, easily mistakable as a small smile if you weren't careful. Not having anything left to say Ichigo sat in the limo silently, his mind racing as he tried to register and figure out what exactly was going on. He had apparently killed someone in a group of some sorts that…well that had this strange and creepy business man as their representative or something, employer he had mentioned. So…that meant what exactly? He'd be working for this guy? Doing what…

Killing people. It seemed a pretty obvious answer now, this guy…Aizen was hiring him…to kill people. Ichigo paled a little, he hadn't actually meant to kill the other guy! Let alone kill others for…for money or whatever it was they got. But…he would kill if it was for his family, that threat Aizen had lightly mentioned earlier hadn't been a mild threat…it had been very, very real.

"We're here Ichigo, if you'd follow me," and with that Aizen left the limo.

Without a seconds thought Ichigo followed after him quickly, he had some questions that need some goddamn answers, and he wouldn't get them from sitting around thinking about his situation. Only from following this Aizen man would he get anything, and he couldn't fix this situation until he knew what exactly he had gotten himself into.


A/N: Well uh...here's the next chapter. I apologize to anyone if this doesn't make sense or um...if there's some inconsistancy. Once again reviews are welcome but not exactly needed. Mostly I just wanna hear from someone who likes it so that I know that I'm not just writing this for myself and putting it up on the internet for no reason...but um. At least I know people are reading so I hope you like it at least. Any questions, comments, concerns? Ask away and I shall try my best to address them as soon as possible. But uh...thank you for at least reading this and I hope you enjoyed it.