Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach
Rated M- For violence and language

That night he got a total of about four hours of sleep and then his paranoia and the fact it was morning kept him from trying to sleep a little more. The morning actually went alright, if you discarded the fact he kept locking and relocking the back door about ten times in one hour. He only stopped when Karin began complaining and trying to get him to reveal why he was being so paranoid. Ichigo spent the morning trying to figure out what had happened last night exactly. There had been that crazy meeting, introductions to all those people, his co-workers apparently, and then…well the ride and comment had been the icing on the creepiness cake for sure.

Of course then there was the whole little conversation he had with Ulquiorra. Sighing Ichigo wandered his house, normally he'd be having fun with his friends but today. Stopping in front of his room he pushed open the door and glanced at the phone laying on his desk. Walking up to it he picked it up, opened it, comforted himself with the fact he had 'No new messages' and then closed the phone and walked away. Repeat every twenty minutes or so. He didn't know what exactly he was looking for when he opened the phone only to see it was the same as it had been twenty minutes ago. But it did keep him from repeatedly locking the doors.

Eventually though the pacing got old and Karin yelled at him again and so reluctantly Ichigo took a seat on the couch next to his sisters. For the most part he remained there, only once and a while glancing up towards the stairs but Karin's angry glare kept him rooted to his seat. The rest of the afternoon passed in general laziness, Ichigo eventually actually relaxing and watching what was on the television instead of trying to think up a solution to his problem. Something he had been trying to figure out since he had gotten himself into this mess.

In fact the whole day passed in relative ease after that. After they finished their show Yuzu cooked dinner while the two of them remained watching television. Dinner came and went and for the rest of the evening they watched television, his sisters briefly grabbing their homework only to bring it back downstairs and finish it up in the living room. It was a rather pleasant change in fact from the last week where Ichigo had holed himself up in his room in hopes of trying to figure a solution, ignoring his sisters and acting more than just a little unnecessarily ornery towards them. Having a nice quiet evening like this was…nice.

He couldn't completely forget the problem though, it hung in the back of his mind like a black cloud, angry and threatening. Ichigo did manage to ignore it successfully and by the time his sisters went to bed he had practically exhausted himself. All the pacing, worrying, lack of sleep, and panicked thinking was not helping his health any and frankly he was a little surprised he hadn't made himself sick yet. Of course…he had always been the sort of person to take on problems that weren't his own and try to help others. If karma existed it better have had a damn good reason for why he was getting in so much trouble.

Sighing Ichigo wandered up to his room, only after triple checking the locks and walking through the entire house once of course. Laying on his bed Ichigo stared at his ceiling for a few seconds, he knew he had to check it at least once more before he went to bed but…looking at his desk Ichigo stared at the little white phone. He was slowly starting to hate that color. Grabbing the device he flipped it open and almost winced when he saw the little screen, 'Three New Messages'.

After steeling himself for whatever would come he went to his messages. At fist he relaxed a little when he saw that none of them were from Aizen but…here he frowned a little. Instead of a name there was just a number. The number 4, Ulquiorra. The first two were from him but the third was different, instead of a little number 4 there was a number 3, Hallibel. Confused he went to her message first, the little timestamp said it had been sent sometime around 1pm, sort of strange. Opening it he quickly skimmed her message, it was rather short and simple.

0, Wanted to make sure you're still alive. Also I'm not sure if 4 will be a very good teacher for you. He's rather hard to get along with. Also he seems to forget the simple things. I'll talk to Master Aizen -3 p.s. only use numbers, no names

Staring at it for a few seconds Ichigo felt what little hope he had slowly sink into the ground. If the only semi-nice sort of sane person from that meeting last night was warning him…it really wasn't looking all that good for him. Sighing he deleted her message, like he'd been told, and continued on to the other two messages. The first was rather to the point.

I expect you to be at the 11th training facility after you finish your schooling. Simple mention my real name and they'll point you in the right direction. Do not be late, we have much to cover if you are to be ready by the deadline. Considering this is your first mission I will have you do very little, this will be the only time I shall do that. If we work together in the future I expect you to carry your weight. -4

For a few seconds Ichigo stared at the message. Was he supposed to understand the message? 11th training facility? Was that an actual name or some kind of code he was supposed to figure out. Sighing he realized he'd actually have to look up the address if he wanted to be on time, lateness didn't seem an option with this guy. In fact Ichigo almost wanted to bet that if he didn't show Ulquiorra would end up at his front door to drag him to training. Either that or tattle on him to Aizen. Either way he'd be forced to train. Turning to the last message he looked at that, hoping that maybe it'd hold a few answers or at least a hint or something.

Number 0 as I'm sure you are aware this mission will ultimately decide your fate. Should you fail, then more than likely Aizen will terminate your employment. It would be in your best interest not to have that happen, which is why I'm getting paid to do this. Your job for this mission is simple, look up our target and gather as much information as you can. The internet is rather helpful. -4

For a few seconds Ichigo stared at the phone. Who the hell was he supposed to look up again? Was he seriously supposed to remember?! Groaning he rubbed his head, he could feel a huge headache coming on. Getting fired didn't seem too bad, but in all reality getting fired by Aizen was probably a synonym for getting gutted like a fish. Putting his phone down Ichigo sighed and picked up a piece of paper, he'd write down all the names he remembered…hopefully…one of them would be the 'target'.

Sometime during the night he fell asleep at his desk, names scratched out and rewritten different ways all over the paper. He had failed to find the name that he was apparently supposed to know, and instead had just ended up spelling all of the names he'd heard. The only good thing that came out of his empty search was the lack of dreams, instead of having his usual nightmare he hadn't dreamed anything, a good change in his mind.

Waking up to his alarm Ichigo peeled the paper off his face, staring at it tiredly before crumpling it up and throwing it away, then turning off his alarm as he walked out of his room. He had school to get ready for and an address to look up and not a lot of time to waste. That morning was probably one of the fastest he got ready for, and for good reason. It took him the rest of the time to even get a basic location on this '11th division training facility', which really wasn't a good name to work off of. The best he could find was a building in one of the worst neighborhoods in town called…well 'The 11th Division' which seemed right, but he wouldn't know until he got there.

School went surprisingly well considering he was on edge the whole day. He was noticeably twitchy and it was hard to force himself to calm down around his friends, he managed though…well at least he thought he did. Lunch had been the worst, with no work to focus on and keep him awake his exhaustion started catching up to him. He had almost fallen asleep until Orihime had started talking to him, keeping him up and awake, which was a good thing. If he had fallen asleep in the middle of the day people would ask him about why he was so tired which would lead to more lies…something he didn't want to have to keep doing if he could help it. Then again he wasn't in such a position to have much control right now.

As soon as the last bell rang Ichigo stood up and stretched, he had about twenty minutes to get to the bus stop and catch a ride to the far end of town and then about a ten minute walk to this '11th Division' place, hopefully he wouldn't miss the bus, walking all the way there was not something he wanted to do right now. Successfully maneuvering his way through the crowd of leaving students Ichigo managed to leave without being spotted by his friends, well at least as far as he knew. Making it to the bus stop was easy, with time to spare he got himself a seat near the front and took out some of his homework to get done on the ride there. He had a slight feeling that this training was not going to end up with him having a lot of free time afterward.

Focused on his work so much he almost missed his stop, almost. Noticing at the last second he ignored the glare the bus driver gave him as he hurried off the bus, also ignoring the angry muttering the man said as well. Shoving his work back in his bag Ichigo took a piece of paper out of his pocket, on it was a quickly scrawled map and basic directions. Not that he needed it horribly much, looking around Ichigo noticed a few places from his memory. A few times Chad and him had been down here, and a lot of it looked sort of familiar. Walking slowly down the street Ichigo followed the basic directions, avoiding some of the places he knew would end up in a fight if he was so much as seen in that area.

In the end Ichigo ended up standing in front of a large building, that…well considering the surroundings actually looked really nice. The front was a simple wooden door and a wall, no windows, just a sign by the door reading 'The 11th Division', and that was it. No open or close sign, no way to see if this place was even still running, no window…just a door. Taking a breath Ichigo relaxed himself and opened the door, unknowingly stepping into probably one of the weirdest places on earth. Inside was just as simple as the front door, it was a little room with very little furniture. There were two chairs, a few plants and then a desk. Behind the desk were two doors, the one on the left said 'Do Not Enter on Pain of Death' with what looked to be green crayon in childish handwriting, and on the right door was a sign reading 'Welcome' in the same handwriting. Both signs were covered in scribbles of flowers and skull and crossbones in the color pink. At the desk sat a single person, at the moment Ichigo couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.

Short black hair, and a sort of feminine face which in itself wasn't that confusing, but throw in the feather decoration on the eye and just the general way they were sitting…it was mildly confusing at first. Until he spoke that is, "Can I help you?" definitely male, which now that Ichigo was looked a little closer, seemed pretty obvious.

"Um y-yeah," Ichigo mentally hit himself, he wasn't in any danger he didn't need to stutter, "I'm looking for a Ulquiorra Schiffer?" he said, taking a few more steps inside the building which seemed pretty safe.

Almost like flipping a switch the man went from polite to disappointed, "Oh," he sighed, "Your with that deadbeat? That's not beautiful at all," he muttered, mostly to himself it seemed.

Not really knowing what to say Ichigo went with the safe response, "I'm sorry?"

The man shook his head, "Not your fault I suppose. First time here, obviously, I would have seen you otherwise," he frowned and looked Ichigo over carefully.

Shuffling uncomfortably Ichigo cleared his throat, "Listen can you just point me in the right direction? I really don't want to be late," he said, trying not to sound as nervous as he felt, it seemed like he got the right place but what if he was late?

"Oh of course," standing the man put a little sign on the desk that said 'Be back whenever' in loopy cursive letters that actually took Ichigo a few seconds to decipher, "Follow me please," he said and with a little hum the man opened the door that said 'Welcome'.

Following after him Ichigo's eyes widened as they entered the huge room behind the tiny lobby. It might have been because he had just exited from a rather small room into a much larger one, but it looked huge! Scattered throughout the room were various workout stations, punching bags, what looked to be a boxing ring, a group of people doing various stances, people fighting with swords, people fighting hand to hand. The whole room looked like it was in a state of chaos, there wasn't a person not doing anything, everyone was doing something whether it was holding up something, training, cheering on those fighting, no one was standing quiet. It was…well it was exciting! "As you can see, we're a large mix of various fighting styles. We welcome most, but we try to be fairly exclusive so nothing, how would most people put it, so no one unenthused about fighting can get into our establishment," the man nodded, "Yes that sounds about right."

Staring blankly at the man Ichigo wondered what exactly this place was. Unenthused? This guy didn't look all that strong but then again he had learned long ago not to judge people by just their looks. Instead he nodded hesitantly, hoping that would be enough of an answer.

For a second the man just stared at him, then he nodded, "I'm glad you agree. Well shut the door and follow me," he said curtly and turned and started walking along the wall.

Shutting the door quickly Ichigo followed after him. He sort of wanted to ask why they were walking along the very square room's walls and not just straight through the middle, but decided against it. This guy was a little…strange, and Ichigo still didn't even know the guy's name. "We have all the main stuff going on in the middle, so going right through it is often very dangerous. I'm not sure if you'd make it through without being late to this…appointment you have with Schiffer. Plus going along the edges brings you to the back faster."

Apparently the man had waited for him after a few steps, "Most of the…classes take place towards the center of the room. The heavier the material, the more to the center the class is. The outer fringes have the weakest and quietest classes, the ones that are easiest to walk by without being called in to demonstrate," he explained as they started walking again.

Hearing this Ichigo quickened his pace a little so he was walking closer, not for protection of course…just you know, so he wouldn't get lost…in a square room. This place really was pretty interesting. Twice they had to stop as someone was thrown into their path, one on the floor in front of them, the second into the wall. Both times the guys had just glanced at the man and paled before moving their 'lesson' elsewhere, a little farther away. It was…strange. Eventually though they made it to the back of the square room. They had reached the corner and looking around Ichigo saw that the room looked the same from this spot as well, the only difference being the view of the fights. Ichigo couldn't see any doors that would lead into a quieter place, because Ichigo really doubted that Ulquiorra would be training him out here.

"Aren't you coming Kurosaki?"

Turning Ichigo was stunned to see a door now opened up, how could he have missed that? Seconds ago it had just been a blank wall at a corner, now there was a door and the man was looking at him impatiently, holding the door open, waiting for him to enter. Moving quickly Ichigo entered the room and the door was shut behind him. A small click was heard and just like that the room was blissfully silent again, just like in the lobby. "Are these rooms soundproof?" Ichigo asked.

The man smiled brightly, looking both pleased and surprised, "Yes they are actually! Most of the men here haven't even realized that yet. First time here and you've noticed, pretty observant of you. Then again it isn't exactly a hard observation to make now is it?"

Nodding slightly Ichigo didn't quite know if the guy was making fun of him or was being serious. It really hadn't been a hard observation to make, the large square room had been so loud he could barely hear himself think and it had been hard to catch what the guy was saying. Which was probably why they hadn't talked much on the way here. Looking around Ichigo realized this room was fairly similar to the lobby, it was a simple room. More plants, a few more chairs, but this time no desk and instead of two doors there was a just a single doorway that looked like it exited into a hallway of sorts. "Schiffer has room 3 which is the last room in the hallway, do you need me to lead the way or can you find it yourself?" the man asked, pointing to the doorway.

Ichigo shook his head, "No, I can find it myself. Thanks for getting me here uh…" he hesitated, he still didn't know the man's name.

Picking up on it easily the man filled in, "Yumichika Ayasegawa, and nothing to it. If I didn't we'd never get any customers here other than the normal lackeys. No one seems to realize that this place does have bills to pay," he frowned but then quickly brightened into another smile, "Enough about that though, you don't want to be late to your appointment."

Before Ichigo could even think of anything to say Yumichika had already left the little room and then he was alone again. Very much so alone. For a second he stood there, eventually though he turned and walked through the doorway and into the hallway. It was, like the rest of this place, strange yet simple. It was a straight hallway that probably followed the wall of the large square room. Unlike the other places though it was decorated, tasteful pieces were on the wall with the doors, filling in the space between them. There were only three doors, and they were spaced a large ways apart, but in between them on the walls were decorations. Something he hadn't really expected, and it was mildly distracting. A few times Ichigo paused to stare at a painting, or a explosively colorful fan, and there was even a large set of feather set to look like a painting but were clearly feathers.

He made it to room three, which was clearly labeled with a very fancy gold number, on an equally nice door. This whole hallway was definitely made to impress whoever came to visit, Ichigo didn't know about anyone else, but it was kind of working. He had other things to think about though, like the training session he was about to enter. Staring at the doorknob for a few seconds Ichigo tossed about the idea of just leaving, but just as quickly he tossed it out - just leaving wouldn't get him anywhere.

Steeling himself Ichigo opened the door and entered the room. Once again he was left stunned. It, like the rest of this place, was a square sort of room. To the left there was a low lying table, and four cushions set out, one for each side, just a little further down from that table was a jutting wall with a door, what that led to he didn't know. The rest of the room was like the large square training room, open and now that Ichigo was paying attention, mildly springy and probably cushioned. On the farthest wall from him was one other door, what that led to, again, Ichigo didn't really know. The only thing that Ichigo really noticed was the fact that the room was…well empty, of people that is.

Closing the door behind him Ichigo walked around the fairly large room until finally just sitting down on one of the cushions. Looking for a source to tell time he was a little disappointed to see that there was none, so instead he took out his phone. Setting the white cell phone on the table he stared at it for a few seconds, then he grabbed it, opened the phone and checked the time. He was…well maybe not on time exactly, but he was close enough, but that still didn't explain where Ulquiorra was. Yumichika had talked like he was already here so then were was he? Before Ichigo could really form a theory the door on the jutting wall opened up and Ulquiorra stepped out.

Not bothering to say anything Ulquiorra walked to the main door, locked it and then walked to the table and stared down at Ichigo for a few seconds. The silence seemed to stretch on for an uncomfortably long time, "Go change in the bathroom, there are clothes in there for you."

Not wanting to do anything wrong, yet, Ichigo got up quickly and went into the room Ulquiorra just left. Surprisingly it was a very nice, very large bathroom. It was green, various shades of green tiles made up the inside of the room. It was kind of cool actually, the various colors made up different spirals and designs on the floor and on the half-tiled wall. A shower to the left, and a large bath on the right, a large mirror hung over the sink, a toilet, a few cabinets, all with a sort of matching green shade color scheme. Closing the door behind him Ichigo looked for the clothes that Ulquiorra had mentioned and quickly spotted them, white was easy to see in this room.

Changing quickly Ichigo was surprised at how well they fit, they fit perfectly. It was…well mildly creepy in fact. The clothes themselves were simple, a t-shirt and a pair of loose sweatpants, pure white in color. Folding his clothes up Ichigo exited the room and looked at Ulquiorra, who was calmly sitting at the table, doing something on his own phone. It was about then that Ichigo realized he wasn't the only one with an Aizen-issued phone, but as he looked at Ulquiorra's phone he was mildly surprised at how different the two phones were.

Unlike his own simple and white phone, Ulquiorra's was a deep shade of green, and looked like it cost three times as much as his, it seemed so much nicer than his. "You can leave the clothes in the bathroom," Ulquiorra said without looking up.

Doing as the other man said Ichigo put his clothes back and went back into the main room, shutting the door behind him and stood awkwardly for a few minutes. Eventually though Ulquiorra shut his phone and put it on the table. Standing up Ulquiorra walked into the large open space, Ichigo following behind a little lost at what he was supposed to do. Stopping Ulquiorra turned and looked at him carefully, Ichigo noticed that he was wearing the same thing he was only instead of a t-shirt it was a long sleeved shirt, another difference between them perhaps. Again nothing was said and Ichigo stood there awkwardly, this time though it lasted longer and the only reason it broke was because Ichigo got too nervous, "So should I be doing anything?" he asked.

Nodding Ulquiorra turned and walked to the door in the training area. Opening it up Ulquiorra stepped inside and a few seconds later came back out, closing the door behind him. Then he tossed Ichigo something, which he caught on instinct alone. It was a pair of gloves, sparring gloves, like some of the people in the main room might have had on. Feeling a little unsettled he put them on and looked at Ulquiorra who already had his on and was waiting for him. "Are you ready now?"

Ichigo frowned, "For what?"

"To begin," Ulquiorra answered, his voice really was fairly emotionless.

Shifting so that he was favoring one side Ichigo looked at the gloves he had on, this was all he was going to get? "Shouldn't we…I don't know, have some headgear on or something?" he asked.

"I will avoid hitting above the neck."

"What about you?" Ichigo asked confused.

This seemed to amuse Ulquiorra, or it might have, it was kind of hard to tell when the guy's face stayed so blank, but his tone suddenly seemed a little more amused, "I don't think you need to worry about that."

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something else but was cut off with a quick, "Begin," and with that one word his training had begun.

A/N: Right...well uh...long time no see everyone? Sorry about the whole lack of updates, I sort of lost inspiration BUT it has returned! I apologize for not updating sooner but I couldn't quite gather my wits enough to get a full chapter out. This one is slightly longer than the rest...err...but not by much. Sorry again for not updating. I plan to update a little more regularly from now on. Once again I do apologize, for the first two weeks I had a real reason (my laptop was being repaired) but after that it was pure laziness and for that I apologize. But I'm back and more on task than ever. If all goes well in two chapters we'll really start getting down to the action.

Any questions about my story, any comments, complaints or concerns, please direct them to management using the button down below. Please and thank you, all feedback is appreciated. Thank you so, so, so much for reading my story.