Disclaimer- I do not own Bleach nor do I ever plan to...
Rated M- For the language and violence in the further chapters...and stuff...

After getting the text messages the day just seemed to fly by. Ichigo would glance at the clock, wait a few seconds before looking at it again and 5 minutes would've passed by already. It really wouldn't have been all that bad for normal days, key word though…normal. Today was not normal by any means. He'd woken up to a text message pretty much telling him to meet a bunch of assassins like he was going to some goddamn tea party or something! Regardless of how much Ichigo tried to slow down time thought it flew past and eventually dinner was over and he was sitting in his room again, staring at his phone anxiously. Minutes ticked by and the moment he would have to leave and meet his new 'associates' drew closer.

When the clock hit 10pm he heard his sisters start getting ready for bed. Ichigo anxiously waited until he heard them both enter their room before even thinking of moving. For a few minutes though he stayed exactly where he was, making sure neither of them got up and found him leaving the house. Ichigo had purposely entered his room early and had turned off his lights at about 9pm to make it seem like he was already sleeping. To ruin that illusion by getting caught sneaking out by his sisters would…well it wouldn't be good that's for sure.

Only when the clock turned 10:30 did Ichigo move. Getting up he grabbed his phone and jacket before leaving his room. As quietly as he could Ichigo went down the stairs, and after grabbing the keys left his house, locking the door behind him. Wondering to how exactly he was going to pull this off Ichigo started towards his destination, the Starlight Café. It was a good thing that Aizen had included directions otherwise he would have been completely lost as to where to go. The café was buried deep in the center of town and with it's rather non-descript front was apparently hard to miss.

Sighing Ichigo buried his hands in his pocket and lost himself in thought. He was out late at night, with the possibility of being attacked, or killed, or caught be the police or something for being out so late was extremely high but then again that odd was probably multiplied by his currently very high amount of paranoia. The thought of going to a café to meet a bunch of criminals, a bunch of murderers was…well to tell the truth it was rather unsettling. A few images of large muscle bound jerks like the man he killed passed through his mind, if all of them were like that then he was probably going to die a quick death, hopefully painless.

Of course he was currently being rather morbid, Ichigo sighed, it'd be best to just…well not think. Looking around Ichigo got his bearings and continued on his way, according to his directions it was just a few minutes before he arrived at his destination. Just a few minutes before he'd find out whether or not he'd be able to live through the night. Scowling a little Ichigo shook those thoughts off, being this depressing wasn't going to help in any way, shape, or form! Forcing himself to relax Ichigo contented himself to just thinking of his current homework assignments, that was both far away from what was happening at this moment and well…not morbid or depressing.

It didn't take long before Ichigo was standing outside the doors to Starlight Café. Glancing at the hour sign he was a little worried when he saw that they closed in like five minutes. Opening the door a little bell sounded as he walked inside. Looking around he wasn't all that surprised to see the store was completely empty save for the one employee that came up to him with a small frown, "Sir I'm sorry but we're closing soon. I'm afraid we don't have anything to serve you," he said calmly.

Ichigo pushed down the little panic that bubbled up, "I was uh…supposed to meet someone here though. I'm early actually but I…he told me to come here," he said.

The man looked confused, "Strange…who was it you were supposed to be meeting?" he asked politely.

"He didn't tell me his fully name but um his name is Aizen. He to-" whatever words Ichigo was going to say faltered as the man in front of him paled visibly.

In an instant the man looked terrified and turning he pointed towards a door, "J-just go through there, through the kitchen, f-first door on the right," he said hurriedly, looking pointedly at the floor.

Confused Ichigo muttered a quick thank you and then walked towards the door the man had pointed out. What had that reaction been about? If he had been confused before it was nothing to what he was right now, nothing was making sense. Sighing Ichigo opened the door and wasn't all that surprised to see a large well-cleaned kitchen. Wandering to the back end Ichigo looked for a second door, not finding one at first.

It took a good five minutes of searching the kitchen to finally find the door, which was well hidden by the large walk in refrigerator. Opening that he was faced with a little hallway, five doors, three on the left, two on the right. Ichigo frowned, "First door on the right" he muttered and with as much confidence as he could muster Ichigo pulled open the door.

Entering the room he was…well he was surprised. It was empty of people was the first thing he noticed, the second was that this was a really lavish room for such a small store. A large table, expensive looking, sat in the center. Surrounding it were a bunch of chairs, just one of them looked like it cost a fortune. Off in the corner was a little table with a coffee machine and a small tray of what looked to be cookies of some sort. Hesitantly Ichigo walked towards the little table and examined that closer. The tray was filled with cookies, all sorts of them, and instead of being empty of coffee, the machine had a full pot waiting and hot.

Still as confused as ever, and now just a little bit more worried Ichigo took a seat at one of the 11 chairs. Nervously glancing around Ichigo quickly found a clock hanging on the wall, it too fit in with the décor of the room- expensive. Currently it showed the time was 11:03pm, just past closing time. Ichigo couldn't help but feel that maybe he had arrived just a bit too early.

Taking a calming breath Ichigo decided that he had arrived at the right place, and regardless of how early he was eventually the…others would arrive. As to who exactly these people would be Ichigo didn't know, he just really hoped they weren't freaks, but knowing his luck everyone of them would be crazy. Groaning Ichigo lay his head on the table, it hurt to think this much, it really did. Why couldn't things keep being simple?

A little too quickly the time passed by and too soon Ichigo heard someone approaching. They definitely weren't being quite about it either, loud talking voices approached and Ichigo lifted his head off the table and watched the door warily. Seconds later it was pushed open and Ichigo finally got his first look at some of the Espada. Two of them to be exact, both male. One with black hair just past shoulder length, one of his eyes was covered by a strange white eye patch thing and he was grinning and nodding to the other person who looked just as odd if not odder. Short…pink…hair, yellow eyes and a pair of white rimmed glasses, he was the one talking, animatedly explaining something to the other.

Even though he was the only person in the room, and was positioned in plain sight the two talking men didn't actually see him until almost five minutes later. It was in the middle of a sentence that the pink haired man happened to glance in his direction and stopped talking suddenly causing the other to also look in Ichigo's direction. For a few seconds the three of them stared at each other before the pink haired man spoke, "Ah…you must be Ichigo Kurosaki?"

Hesitantly Ichigo nodded, "Y-yeah, and who are you?"

It was the black haired man who spoke first, his toothy grin was starting to creep Ichigo out a little, "Well, well, Master Aizen must be getting pretty desperate to higher someone this young. How long you think he's going to last?"

A chuckle, "Who knows," and before they continued he turned his attention to Ichigo, "It really is a pleasure getting to know one of the newest experiment…I'm sorry. The newest Espada that Aizen has hired. I'm Szayel Aporro Granz, number 8 of the Espada," he said with a small smirk.

Ichigo didn't know if the man had been joking with the experiment thing or if he was serious, but paling slightly he just nodded mutely. Before he could even think of anything to say the other man spoke up, "Nnoitra Jiruga, number 5," pulling out a chair the man sat down.

Szayel did the same taking his own seat and the two of them spoke a few more words, switching to some language Ichigo didn't understand at all. Feeling a little more nervous Ichigo wondered briefly if he should say anything, hell what would he say anyways? "So Ichigo, did you cause that rather…interesting mess that I was told to help fix earlier this week?" Szayel asked.

For a second he was confused, and it must have shown because with a sigh the pink haired man continued, "Considering you were the one who killed number 0 and it was his blood at the scene, you were the one I was cleaning up after. You did a poor job after all, it was pretty obvious to see that a crime was committed," he smirked and looked at Ichigo condescendingly, "I'm frankly a little surprised that Master Aizen even took an interest in you, after all you did such a poor job covering your tracks if we hadn't intervened…" the man purposefully trailed off.

Inwardly fuming Ichigo resisted the urge to say anything, he didn't want to piss these people off. After all, these men had probably killed people for less than one sarcastic remark. When he didn't rise to the bait Nnoitra scoffed, "Just give it up, this kid's probably too stupid to even get what your saying. Ignore him anyways, probably won't be here after his first mission anyways," he said setting his feet on the table and leaning back in his chair.

"Take your feet off the table, it costs more than you ever will," someone said coldly…someone with a sort of familiar voice.

Looking quickly at the new person Ichigo quickly figured out why, it was the exact same man who had shown up at his house the night he had…well the night he had unknowing added himself to the Espada. Black hair, emotionless eyes, and a new feature he hadn't noticed that first night. Two green lines under his eyes, like tear tracks, on his pale skin. Almost as soon as he saw the man quick flashes of the night passed in his head, was this what the man had meant when he said not to get comfortable? For a second the eyes landed on him before turning back to Nnoitra where he emotionless continued to "scold" the man.

Nnoitra scowled and reluctantly yanked his feet off the table, "Just lucky you're a higher number," he grumbled out.

For a second the new man stared blankly at Nnoitra before turning over to Ichigo. "Ulquiorra Schiffer, number 4," he said in that same monotone voice he had been using the whole time.

Ichigo wondered if the man could speak in any other tone of voice or if monotone and boringly creepy was his default setting. Instead Ichigo settled for a weak smile and nod, he really had no idea what the hell to think. Staring at the tabletop Ichigo inspected the really nice lines in it, really was quite expensive looking for a tabletop. Nothing happened for a few minutes, Nnoitra and Szayel continued talking and Ulquiorra sat down another chair and things continued in general quiet.

To say he was nervous would be a horrible understatement, Ichigo could barely keep breathing without thinking of how crazy and stupid this was. Glancing up at the clock Ichigo was a little bit comforted by the sight of the time being 11:48pm, it was almost time for the "meeting" to start. Or whatever this thing was. Glancing quickly at the small room he was a little surprised to see that both Nnoitra and Szayel both had cups of coffee, somewhere in the middle of his gazing at the table they had grabbed some. Three people had showed up, but the numbers went from, so far, 8 to 0. Ichigo wondered exactly what that meant, how many people were in this group.

Before he could get a full grasp on his racing thoughts a new wrench was thrown into the mix. The arrival of another two members, also loudly talking, more so than the first two. It was pretty obvious to see that none of the people in the room appreciated the noise as the newest people entered the slowly filling meeting room. Entering the room first was a woman, dark skinned, yellow hair, green eyes, and probably some of the largest boobs Ichigo had ever seen. Now normally he didn't make a habit of looking at woman's err…assets, but this, well hers were hard to miss. She wore a sweater that covered the lower part of her face but didn't quite cover all of her well you know. Scanning the room her eyes landed on Ichigo and for a second she stared at him before nodding and taking her own seat. Behind her came the second person, the one who had been talking loudly. Loud was also a good word to describe this man. Bright blue hair and equally bright blue eyes, and the guy was…well surprisingly muscular, once again not something Ichigo actively looked for. It was hard to miss when the guy was only wearing a jacket and it was wide open.

Instead of sitting down like the woman the guy eyed Ichigo carefully, "Who the hell are you?" he spat out.

Frowning Ichigo could feel what little bit of him that wasn't on edge grow pissed. Who the hell did this guy think he was, he hadn't even said a word to him and the guy was acting so aggressive, "Ichigo Kurosaki."

Letting out a small noise of acknowledgement he sat down, doing the exact same thing as Nnoitra and setting his feet on the table. "Tch, so you're the brat that Aizen dragged into this fucking screwed up group. Way to go, fucked yourself over didn't ya?" he said with a smirk.

Tightening his fists Ichigo resisted the urge to jump up and try beating the guy over the head until he learned some manners or something. "Seems like I wasn't the only one," he spat back.

The man glared and stood up, "What the hell'd you say," he snapped, looking completely ready to leap across the table and strangle Ichigo.

It was about then that Ichigo realized his mistake, he had antagonized a man who looked like he could break him in half with his bare hands. He was going to reply, before he could though someone beat him to the punch, "Grimmjow calm yourself," it was the woman who had spoken.

Ichigo glanced at her, so far she was the only one who had moved to his side of the table, everyone else had taken their seats on the other side. "You may call me Hallibel," she said calmly, so far seeming like the sanest one of the group so far.

"That fool over there is Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez, and you are Ichigo Kurosaki correct?" she asked.

Not seeing the bottom part of her face was actually making Ichigo a little uneasy, but she was being polite so he made an effort to be polite back. She…seemed normal, unfortunately he really didn't have much to say so he just nodded, "Y-yeah, of course you probably knew that," he muttered.

She nodded lightly, "It was in the message," for a second there was silence and once she realized he wouldn't talk again she turned to Ulquiorra and began talking to him instead.

Glancing at the clock Ichigo nervously tapped the tabletop with his fingers, there was only a few minutes left before the meeting was supposed to start. Looking over at Grimmjow he saw that the blue-haired man was still glaring at him angrily. Glaring right back Ichigo couldn't help but feel a little pissed at this man, what the hell had he done to deserve this idiotic treatment? He had met the guy less than five minutes ago and already this Grimmjow guy looked ready to rip him apart.

Turning away Ichigo glared at the wall instead, just looking at the guy was getting on his nerves. Taking a calming breath Ichigo turned his thoughts to less violent ones. Instead of thinking of beating the man across the table into the ground, Ichigo thought of all the other people in the room. So far his opinion was…well to put what he thought simply…these people were insane. They all seemed like they weren't quite right in the head, then again who was he to say that when he probably wasn't right in the head himself. He had killed a man after all.

Sighing Ichigo drummed his finger tips on the table again, trying to pass the time away without seeming too nervous, although his actions pretty much made that useless. The minutes passed slowly Ichigo watching them, every once in a while glancing up at the clock. As soon as the clock turned 12:20am, a high chiming noise sounded through the room and everyone quickly grew silent. Looking around Ichigo was confused to see that no one else seemed bothered by the noise, in fact they acted like it was normal.

Almost as soon as the chime sounded everyone had straightened out, sat up semi-straight and looked like they were actually paying attention. Ichigo quickly copied their movements and looked as alert as he could at almost 12:30 at night. It didn't take more than a few seconds more for Aizen to enter the room.

Looking around he smiled as he sat at the end chair, which Ichigo had noticed looked different than the rest. More…decretive than the others so Ichigo had avoided sitting in it. Aizen smiled and looked at the people gather in the room, "Well, I'm rather surprised at how many of you showed. A little restless from not having any jobs lately?" no one said anything and after a second Aizen continued, "As you all know this is an introductory meeting for Ichigo Kurosaki, our newest member. But before we begin…how about some tea?"

Ichigo frowned, insane was putting it lightly.

AN: Okay so umm...first off I spelled Ulquiorra's last name Schiffer instead of Cifer, because...err...well no offense but I prefer the spelling of Schiffer to Cifer. I hope no one minds. But if enough people complain then I will be more than willing to change it to Cifer...sorry. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Things will be speeding up from here on out, having introduced a few of the Espada and all that. I uh...hope that I've at least kept them semi in character...umm...but yeah. I'm sorry if I messed up somewhere but again any questions, comments, complaints would be nice to hear. I love hearing any comments...so yeah...thank you for reading this story.