Before I get going on this, I just have to ask: if you like it, please review. Good, thoughtful, and insightful reviews encourage me to continue writing.

I've had a pretty busy few days, and when I can I do my best to work on this story. I have some pretty exciting twists coming up, I think.

Also, the dates of chapter releases are very volatile. My life is busy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Bleach. But, again, wouldn't that be awesome?

(Outside Konohagakure Gates)

Sakura was brutal. It didn't take long for Ichigo to figure that out. The pink-haired female was quick to react on the sight of the blond. Their conversation had been lost, for she was far too preoccupied with her rage. The whole ordeal was just a bit frightening, making Ichigo cringe as she kicked the poor blond into the ground. Though there wasn't much Ichigo could say, or do. He was fearful for himself, but managed to gain the courage to take a few steps forward, to get a closer look.

The boy she currently held in the air by the collar was around the same age as Ichigo. (The substitute shinigami felt pride in knowing he was still the tallest in the area.) This boy's attire consisted of an annoyingly bright orange color that Ichigo had to shade his eyes from. Only when he gained the courage to look back, he noticed the marks on his face. For all he knew, those whisker-like marks could be tattoos. Yet this blond boy hardly looked the type to have a tattoo.

Naruto currently held both of his hands in front of his face, looking away from Sakura. Even with his meek greeting from earlier, she was still on edge. "I fixed it all, honest! There's no need to punch me!" He cried.

His attacker raised her eyebrows suspiciously. "How in the world did you manage to do that, Naruto?"

Ichigo took note of the boy's name.

"Seeing Kakashi's face does not mean you've 'fixed' it! You've still disrespected your own sensei!" She barked. "That's taboo!"

"No, you have it all wrong, Sakura-chan!" She tilted her head to the side slightly. Naruto took that as a sign to go on. "At first I had the intentions of burying the book, but I had a talk with Kiba at Ichiraku's Ramen stand. One thing led to another and the next thing I knew I was searching for Kakashi with the hopes of giving his book back!"

The female slowly lowered Naruto back to the ground. Once his feet felt the pavement of the Konoha gates, he sighed in relief. A little too theatrically, he crouched down to the ground and begin to kiss it. That didn't last long, however. No matter how wonderful solid ground felt against his feet, it was in no way delicious. The blond gagged, kneeling towards the sky as he hastily rubbed his tongue.

Sakura shook her head. 'Typical Naruto,' she thought to herself. She crossed her arms, taking a few steps back as he bounded up from the ground. "That was such a waste of time, Naruto." She told him.

He sweatdropped in the classic anime style and sighed. "Hehe. At least I fixed my wrongs?" He told her. He patted his windbreaker down, smiling at the fact there was nothing hidden under the fabric. "See? The sultry book is gone, returned to its owner."

The duo had come very close to nearly forgetting Ichigo's presence. Sakura turned to face Ichigo, motioning him over with a very impersonal hand wave. He felt obliged to approach, considering this strange village would be his home for as long as it took to find his travelling companion and return home to Karakura town.

He stepped through the gates, finally getting a full view of the village. Ichigo was thoroughly disappointed. The village was nothing but makeshift housing, tents, piles and piles of debri, and people bustling all over to get work done. Not far off, he could even see the tip of one large crater in the center of the village. He looked to Sakura and Naruto, an expectant look to his face. "Just where are we? I thought you said we'd be going to a village." He mumbled, looking at Sakura accusingly.

The realization hit her then. "Oh! This is the village, it's just…recovering…" She told him, shrugging modestly.

He stepped past the two of them, his head turning to take in every little detail. One detail in particular irked him. The normal every-day villagers ignored him, which was completely expected. Humans could not see shinigami, even if said shinigami was a human himself. Whereas other people did see him. In fact, they did more than just see him! They approached him! A sea of green jackets and shiny metal plates seemed to sweep over the area around him. Ichigo's hand lingered on Zangetsu's handle.

"Whoa, calm down." Sakura spoke, referring both to Ichigo and the others. With her warning, Ichigo's loosened up, his hand falling to his side. Sakura nodded in approval to him, turning to the shinobi in front of her. In the crowd she saw a particular head of spiky silver hair that jetted upwards. The hair approached, weaving through the crowd. "Kakashi-sensei!" She called as he stepped towards the three of them. "Did Naruto really apologize?"

Of course, it was so like Sakura to say that, of all things.

The Jounin shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure, sure. But that's not really important right now, Sakura." He looked towards Ichigo. "Who's he?"

This man was another strange sight to Ichigo. More than half of his face was completely covered by cloth. Just what was he so afraid to show the world? Ichigo saw this as a weakness, and automatically decided not to expect too much from this 'Kakashi'.

Naruto suddenly spoke up. "That's the same thing I've been wondering."

With Kakashi on the scene, the crowd of shinobi who had been nearby when Ichigo had entered the village dispersed. Whatever the deal was, people expected Kakashi could handle it. He was the Copycat Ninja, after all! Perhaps one of the strongest, and most well-known ninja of Konoha. Even in its battered state, the village spoke for itself when it had such powerful strength like Kakashi.

Sakura knew a time for explanations would have come sooner or later. She walked to Ichigo, putting one hand on his shoulder. "This," she said to Kakashi specifically, "is Ichigo. I found him when I was chasing Naruto outside the village."

"I figured that much. But just what is he doing in the village?" Kakashi answered.

The female sighed. Kakashi was as observant as ever. "Well, Kakashi-sensei, it didn't feel right to leave him in the forest, all lost and helpless! I had to do somethi-"

"I am NOT helpless and alone!"

Ichigo's voice was loud and very unwelcoming as he shoved Sakura's hand off of his shoulder. The fact that they all assumed he was a weakling made him frown. He saw himself as a strong shinigami, especially since he had fought with Kenpachi and Byakuya, two of the strongest shinigami known. He huffed, and he puffed, as he angrily glared at the three of these strange people. "I didn't even ask for your help! I was just minding my forest when she-" he gestured madly at Sakura "-got right in the way!"

Said girl gasped, offended by his words. "You didn't even ask for my help? Who was the one who practically begged me to wait for them? Who was the one that froze at the sight of Summons? Who was the on-"

Kakashi raised a hand to stop them there, he didn't want this little outburst to flare any more. "Did you say Summons?" He asked Sakura.

She turned her head to Kakashi, nodding. "Yes, Summons. After punching the first one, I knew they had to be. Their chakra felt so wrong in comparison to normal wolves." She shuddered. "There were about four or five."

Both Ichigo and Naruto were intrigued by this small turn of events, even though one didn't even know what Summons were, and the other wished madly he could have seen them, respectively. Just the fact that this little 'encounter' seemed to pique Kakashi's interest was enough to label it as a 'dangerous situation'.

"I see…" Kakashi mumbled. "Why don't the three of you follow me?"

Sakura and Naruto both looked to the gates, expecting to see Ichigo standing ready. Little did they know that boy was just about as unpredictable as Naruto. Instead of standing by like he should be, Ichigo was seen as a retreated form in the distance. He was relatively far away, and it was a mystery at how fast he must have gone in those last few seconds to get there. Mystery aside, Sakura was fairly angry. Like she had before, she rolled up her imaginary sleeves and stomped her way towards the orange-haired annoyance. It only took a minute or so before Sakura was walking back, dragging a furious-looking Ichigo by the sleeve.

Kakashi nodded. "Well done, now let's get going. The Hokage will need to know about this…" he raised his visible eyebrow, "'Ichigo.'"

Ichigo inquired as to who the Hokage was (or more like, he demanded to know), which caused Sakura to release him. Having questions was a sign he wouldn't try to run away again. She rubbed her hands together calmly. "The Hokage is the leader of our village. Whenever there's something important or, uh, strange, she is always told."

With Sakura's new intellect, the three ninja stopped short, causing the unaware Ichigo to barrel into Naruto. They stabilized themselves, Naruto muttering unhappily, and Ichigo refusing to make eye-contact. "What now?" Ichigo asked.

Kakashi made eye-contact with his students. It was such a habit to visit Tsunade that they'd forgotten about her condition. There was no way to see her when she was in a coma. The reminder of the damage Pein had done sunk in, and they all scoweled. Kakashi, looking over his shoulder at Ichigo. "Our Hokage is currently…absent from the village…" He said, not lying completely. Everyone was curious as to who was going to be the new Hokage while Tsunade was out.

"Why don't we just go see Shizune?" He said loudly, his suggestion bringing them out of their momentary depression.

Ichigo made a mental note to himself not to bring up the 'Hokage' again.

Sakura nodded. "Sounds like a good idea, Naruto."

The group changed course and veered to the right. They cut between two structures that were currently in the process of being built. Seeing them reminded Ichigo of his previous shock. Sakura had made this village seem to be such a strong, powerful place. Yet it looked like a dump now, just where were all the great things she had spoken about? Before thinking about the consequences of his words, Ichigo came out with yet another question. "So, just what happened to this place?"

Again, more silence. He was beginning to become very annoyed at these constant silences that followed whenever he asked a question. His question was put on a hold when Sakura raised a hand, not bothering to look at him, as she said, "Now's not really a great time, how about I tell you later?"

That of course was a rhetorical question.

(Later. Much later inside of Ichigo's temporary home: a tent.)

The orange-haired male struggled to find a comfortable position on the hard ground. He eventually rolled over to his back, Zangetsu next to him a few feet away. He was smirking, oddly. In spite of everything that seemed to be happening in his life thus far, he was smirking. He had lowered his defenses, concluding that he would not be attacked, and the villagers wouldn't do anything considering they couldn't see him. From what he had observed, only the ninja could see him. This thought made him scratch his chin, and mumble possible solutions. All he could come up with was that the ninja's sight was the result of a birth defect. Of course, that solution was a very stupid idea. A few thousand people could not have the same birth defect!

Eventually he gave up, just staring at the tent ceiling with his head rested on his hands. He still had a stupid grin on his face, the reason for that being his amusement. Every now and then Ichigo would leave his tent to wander around with a leaf, or random cloth on his shoulder. The villagers he would pass could not see him, but they could see the leaf or cloth. The first time he had realized this was an utter accident. Ichigo was merely minding his own business, and had soiled his hands when a villager had run into him, pushing him into the dirt nearby. That little incident had messed his hands with dirt, which he knew Zangetsu wouldn't appreciate. With his hands handing out in front of him like a zombie, he'd taken a cloth from a woman he'd passed to wipe his hands off of. Following the cleansing of his fingers he had placed the cloth over his shoulder, not thinking of what others might perceive him as.

He was literally a ghost now. Villagers all over were avoiding his tent, the constant flow of people thinning in his general area. Ichigo was proud of himself, for he had found one thing to do while he waited for Sakura. She'd promised to explain things to him if he waited, but was taking forever! The sun was setting, and Ichigo was irritated. He had potentially locked himself up in the tent with his willpower. His bad mood was contagious, and he was afraid of lashing out on the villagers and creating a 'scene'. Whether he liked it or not, this 'Konoha' was his homestead for now. He couldn't afford to be kicked out so early.

A noise from outside caught his attention and his ears perked. He swiftly sat up, crossing his legs and looking to the side as the tent flap opened. In came Sakura, and yet another person. The person following behind her was one Ichigo was yet to meet; he was a medium-height, with black hair that stuck the sides of his face. This boy was incredibly pale, and the dark fabric of his headband only accentuated this. What was more offsetting was his apparel. Ichigo raised an eyebrow as he saw the exposed stomach.

"Ichigo, this is Sai." She said, making the appropriate hand movements. "Sai, Ichigo."

Both males nodded to the other. Though Ichigo's nod was heavier, and seemed almost stressed. Sakura couldn't help but wonder if he always moved in such a jerky way.

"Why did it take you so long?" He asked.

Sakura took a seat on the ground across from him, Sai doing the same. She rolled her eyes. "Being a ninja in this town isn't easy, bud. You try being a medical nin who's always needed by the hospital!" She told him, poking her index finger in his direction. "Besides, it doesn't matter. I came anyways, didn't I?"

"Well, whatever. So what happened to thi-"

Ichigo was cut off when Sakura held up a finger. "Ahem. Hold it right there, prettyboy." She told him. "You're the one intruding on our village; therefore you're the one who answers our questions first."

"Alright, fine." He mumbled, crossing his arms in a child-like manner and laying back on the ground with his eyes directed towards the tip of the tent. He made a swirly gesture with his hand. "Fire away."

His arrogance made Sakura's upper lip twitch. Nonetheless, she did her best to ignore his comment and move on with business. "I brought Sai here to be our mediator." She told Ichigo. In her experience, she found that two people such as her and Ichigo did not mesh well together. Sai was a reasonable, logical person, and would no doubt break any fights up if they occurred. She pursed her lips, taking a moment to breathe before she began.

"So, first off, why are you dressed like that?" She asked him, her eyes shifting over his attire. "It's weird."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, turning his head to look at the two of them with the intent to beat the crap out of both of them if they didn't shut up. "This is weird?" He said, waving a sleeve in front of their faces. "How can you think this is weird? This is the shinigami uniform! Besides, if anything, the two of you look weird. What's with that little pouch anyways? What can you possibly fit in that tiny thing?" His words were loud, and incredibly impatient.

"It holds ninja tools," Sai responded in a monotone voice, "And you're a shinigami?"

Sakura was fuming with her anger again, but Ichigo ignored it. He rolled to his side, his head propped up by his arm in a leisurely way. "I wouldn't say a full shinigami, just a substitute." Sai's face was full of confusion. "Eh, long story," Ichigo concluded.

Sakura was at her limit, her anger at the brim and boiling over. "How the hell do WE look weird?" She blabbered, her hands clenched at her side. "You are so extremely despicable! Insulting the ways of the ninja without even trying to understand! Just who do you think you are?" Sakura was stopped from pummeling Ichigo when Sai held a gentle hand in front of her. She looked to him, seething. Upon seeing his face, she exhaled out her anger, and nodded. 'Right, concentrate Sakura. Ignore the baboon,' she thought to herself.

"Anyways," she began. She held her mouth open in the form of a small 'o' for several seconds. Her voice box wasn't working, words could not form. She was so tempted to scream profanity at Ichigo, and rip him to shreds! The only thing she really wanted to say was a very rudely worded insult that she had come up with spur of the moment.

Sai saw this, and knowing Sakura for as long as he had, decided to continue on himself. He lowered his hands to his lap, looking from Sakura to Ichigo and eventually resting his eyes on the sword at the back of the tent. "So why is it that the villagers can't see you?" He asked. A look of surprise on Ichigo's face encouraged him to continue. "I was watching." The pale ninja shrugged.

Ichigo's brows furrowed as he lay back down on his back, his head resting on his arms once again. "You know, I don't really know about that… I'm sure they'd be able to see me if I was in my body… Though it doesn't make any sense, why can you ninja see me, but the villagers can't?"

Sakura had seemingly calm down enough now that she and Sai could share equally confused looks at each other. "We don't know that either." She told Ichigo.

The shinigami looked to the two of them, pushing himself up in a sitting position. He didn't make any eye-contact, but his words were indeed directed to them. "Eh, don't worry about it. You ninja are just, unique. I'm sure that's the reason. But it doesn't really make a difference; they'll be able to see me once he tracks me down here." Ichigo looked around his tent, hoping for the person he thought of to hurry up.

She tilted her head to the sideways. Sakura recalled him mentioning another person earlier. "Is this person the one you needed to wait for?" She asked.

Ichigo took a moment to look at her, nodding. "Yeah. We were fighting a hollow when something happened, and I woke up under some bushes, alone." The boy scratched the side of his head in wonder about his situation. Though it was not of much importance, and he automatically changed the course of his thoughts. He looked back to the ground. "So, mind telling me what happened to this place?" He asked them, adding in quietly, "Please?"

Being surprising at his sudden politeness, Sakura was momentarily astounded. It may have taken a moment, but soon she gathered her wits back up to respond. "Well, it happened not to long ago. Konoha was attacked by the Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki?" Ichigo repeated.

Sai nodded. "Yes. The Akatsuki is a band of highly dangerous criminals and missing shinobi. They've been hunting a certain thing that we have here, in our village. A powerful member, named Pein, attacked our village."

"Wait, hold up." Ichigo interrupted, "One guy did all of, well, that?" He pointed to the tent flap, referring to the ruins outside.

Sakura shook her head. "No not exactly. He was, for the lack of a better term, one guy, but he had multiple bodies. Turns out he was controlling them from far away. His bodies were the ones doing all the damage…they killed so many people…"

Ichigo raised his eyebrow. "Mind telling me what happened to this 'Pein'?"

The female shook her head, gazing at her hands clasped together in her lap. "Pein was defeated, but only after destroying the whole village. Our Hokage, Tsunade-sama, tried to stop him first. But she was so weak from protecting the villagers that were still alive." Sakura sighed, taking a moment to look up at Ichigo honestly. "You may not believe me when I say this, but the one who defeated Pein was Naruto."

It took a moment to process what she said. Ichigo was still shocked at the magnitude of the man's damage to the village. Such pure destruction! And to hear that Naruto was the one to "save" the village made Ichigo further interested, yet confused. "Wait, you're saying the stupid-looking blond kid from earlier stopped Pein?" Ichigo's shock was evident. Neither Sakura nor Sai blamed him. Naruto didn't look, or acts like a heroic hero most of the time. Ichigo had trouble connecting the Naruto he saw (getting easily pushed around by a girl) to a hero who saves villages.

Sakura laughed at his small comment about Naruto's looks. "Yeah."

He shook his head, still in disbelief. "I just don't see it. You pushed him around so easily not too long ago." He mumbled dejectedly, "That kid took down an mighty force?" After a moment, Ichigo stopped himself, remembering that he often got the same reaction that Naruto got. Nobody ever expected Ichigo to be a hero either. For modesty sake, he decided not to mention his similarities to Naruto. He wasn't going to be there for too long, thus he didn't see that it mattered if he told them about his trip to Soul Society or not. However, the silence that followed his words was suspicious. To save his rear end from any more questions, he continued with his own. "So why does Naruto let you push him around so much, Sakura?"

Sai turned to look at Sakura as well, as if this was a question he wanted to know the answer to too. With both of them looking at her expectantly, Sakura smiled meekly. "Well, there are extenuating circumstances. Naruto's been my teammate for years now, and he knows I'd never try to severely hurt him…"

That seemed like such a major excuse to Ichigo. There had to be something else, and he had a hunch that it related to their closeness. Naruto had called Sakura using the honorific '-chan'. To him, it was showing affection, or endearment. Though he did not push it, her answer was fine for now. He knew what he wanted and was content for the time being.

Sakura and Sai soon stood up, gathering their weight onto their feet and heading outside of the tent. For a moment, Ichigo thought they would leave without saying a good bye. As if called by his mind, a head of pink-hair poked through the tent flap.

"Uh, we'll come get you in the morning." She mumbled, disappearing. Ichigo just sat, staring at the tent flap. That couldn't be all she had to say, could that? Even though they hardly got along, Ichigo found it hard to believe that was all she had to say. He sighed, turning his head to Zangetsu. He could hear the sword laughing at him, for reasons that were still unknown.

A voice from the other side caught his attention. Once again it was Sakura. "We'll figure this all out tomorrow…so…yeah…"

With that she was gone, and Ichigo was left alone to get a 'good-night's sleep', which he found nearly impossible on the cold hard ground.