okay like i said...i'm sorry i took so long to update but i really didnt feel like typing up this chapter...while i absolutely loved this chapter it was still a pain in the ass to type up taking my several hours because of all the changes i made in my revision and shit...and i sincerly apologize for taking so long...i have the beginning of chapter two written but not much...anyway i hope you enjoy. =]

Chapter 1

Truthfully, even if I was fresh out of training camp, I should have known. All the clues were right there, right in front of my face, but I guess I unconsciously decided to over look them; something that would undoubtedly get me killed in this line of work. The train conductor's face was drawn and his eyes had no hope, like he had seen one too many horrors. He was extremely jumpy, twitching and shifting his eyes from left to right like he was searching for something that was going to jump out of the shadows and eat him, he almost seemed like he was waiting for it. He handed me my bags and I nodded my thanks.

"Be careful young man." I looked at him confused for a second before nodding and walking away with a wave over my shoulder. I walked out of the train station and stopped. Just what had I gotten myself into? This place was like a ghost town. There was seriously nobody to be seen and for the first time since making the decision to come to this city I was starting to regret it. I started walking again; searching for someone, anyone around. I walked for two and a half hours with no luck. Not one soul…fuck. I sat down on a curb, took a deep breath, and blew it out in a huff.

"It's not very smart to be walking around alone in this city." I startled out of my thoughts and looked up. I had to stop myself from gaping. There was a guy standing in front of me. He was about 6'1-6'2 and looked to be about 26. He had the brightest cyan colored eyes I had ever seen and a head of hair only slightly darker than that.

"Who are you?" The question snapped my out of my musing. I stood up and stuck my hand out for a handshake.

"I'm Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki." The guy just crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me.

"Hn. Names Grimmjow, not that it matters, if you keep up like you are, you'll be dead before noon." I looked down to hide my smirk and looked back up when I had my expression under control.

"I can take care of myself, thanks." The guy, Grimmjow, just raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. He started to walk away when a thought occurred to me.

"Hey! Wait!" Grimmjow turned around to look at me. "Can, can you help me? I'm new here…"

"Obviously, everyone who lives here knows better that to walk around alone and unarmed."

"Maybe I am armed!" Grimmjow looked slightly surprised.

"There is no way you're packing heat anywhere on that scrawny little body of yours."

I glared slightly but decided it was for the best; if he didn't think I was armed it would give me that much more advantage if he jumped me. I sighed and asked what I had been wondering for forever now,

"I need help finding the police station. Will you help me?" Grimmjow looked at me skeptically.

"Why do you want to go to the police?"

"That's my business." I gave him a defiant look. He huffed and started to walk away. I stared after him for a minute before deciding what the hell and started to follow him. From what I had deduced so far, this guy was a bastard, flat out. He didn't seem like he liked people very much at all and suddenly I didn't feel comfortable following after him. I mean I was completely confident in my ability to protect myself but why put myself in that kind of situation to begin with yea?

Oh well too late now. It was only after I had run into him while lost in thought that I realized he had stopped. Grimmjow turned and glared at me as he reached for the door handle and opened the door, pushing me inside before walking in behind me. I watched as he walked behind the counter and into a back room. I must have been showing my confusion because the chick behind the counter in the computer chair ask,

Is there a problem I can help you with?" I looked at her and smiled. She looked to be about 22 and she had sea foam green hair and huge ass boobs, her name tag read Nel.

"Hello Nel. My name is Ichigo Kurosaki," her eyes lit up with recognition, "I just got out of training camp and was told that I would be positioned here."

"So you're the new recruit?" excitedly she, literally, jumped over the counter, grabbed my hand, and dragged me through the door Grimmjow had just gone through. All the conversations that were going on at the time stopped and everyone in the room turned to stare at me as the door slammed shut. I swiftly, and subtly, took a look around the room. It looked like a mix between a living room in a house and the break room it was supposed to be. On the wall across from the door was a counter. In the middle there was a sink, and a little ways to the left, a coffee maker. Next to the coffee maker was a microwave. The right side of the counter ended with a refrigerator. Above the sink was a two-paned window that could be pushed out from the inside if necessary. Against the right wall was a couch with a flat screen television above it, the left an exact mirror image. In between the two couches was a coffee table. The left side couch had three people sitting on it. There was a tall lanky guy smoking a cig with long black hair, one gray eye staring out the other hidden behind a white eye patch. He looked to be about 27. Next to him, in the middle, was a guy who appeared to be sleeping. He was all laid out and relaxed looking with his feet propped up on the coffee table but there was a slight hitch to his breathing that told me he was awake and if I hadn't been as good as I was at what I was trained to do, I would have missed it. He had shoulder length wavy brown hair, a goatee, and he looked to be about 29. At the end of the couch next to the "sleeping" man closest to me was a woman with long blond hair pulled into a half ponytail. Her arms were crossed under her boobs, which were as big if not bigger than Nel's. Her eyes were gentle looking, but I could see a hardness behind that, a mask then. She looked to be about 28. Glancing over to the right side of the room, two people sat at opposite ends of the couch. The one farthest from me had a creepy grin, purple glasses whose frame was shaped like bony wings, and shoulder length pink hair. He looked to be about 23. On the side of the couch closest to me was a rather short man. He had straight black hair and bright green eyes. He was sitting up completely straight with an air of reluctant tolerance for those around him. His face showed no emotion but his stare felt inquisitive. I'd say he was 22. The last person I looked over was Grimmjow. He was leaning against the counter sipping a cup of coffee.

It might have seemed like we had been standing there in silence for quite some time, truthfully it had only been a couple of seconds. (I told you I was good at what I was trained to do.) The pink haired one spoke up first, a curiosity in his eyes with a glint of something else I couldn't identify. Note to self be wary of pinky.

"Who are you?" He looked me up and down stopping at my bright orange hair. I had to stop myself from scowling.

"My name is-." Nel cut me off.

"Guys, this is Ichigo Kurosaki. He is the new recruit we were told was coming." I looked over to Grimmjow briefly and noticed his surprise. I tried to hold back a smirk but couldn't. I did however hold myself back from telling him I told you so, in a sense of the phrase.

"He is fresh out of training camp so be nice to him okay!" Nel said with her hands on her hips as if she were scolding a bunch of children. She glanced at me and smiled before pointing to the blond woman.

"This is Halibel." Halibel nodded in greeting and I returned the gesture.

"She is really quiet and doesn't speak unless she has to." Nel whispered to me but she was smiling in Halibel's direction.

"The one next to her is Starrk. Starrk opened his eyes to glance at me before closing them again. "He is a lazy ass who likes to sleep all the time." Before Nel could introduce the next man, eye patch decided to get up and walk toward us, stopping close enough that when he bent over he was only centimeters from my face. He had a piano grin and I had to stop myself from leaning away and I hardened my eyes.

"Yo Carrot top, you sure you're in the right place? You look a bit small and weak to be here. Maybe you should run home to your mommy and keep playing with your dolls. Anger flashed through me at the mention of my mother and stick didn't know what happened I moved so fast. I glared down at him with all the anger I felt.

"Maybe you shouldn't judge me by my appearance Stick. And while its none of your business, my mother is dead so I suggest you never mention her again." The man on the floor stared at me for a good while before he busted out laughing. As he got to his feet he held his hand out and smiled his giant piano grin.

"I like you Carrot top. Name's Nnoitra." I shook his hand and he went back to his seat on the couch grinning all the way. Nel hesitated before finally nodded towards Grimmjow,

"Since Grimm brought you in, I'm going to assume that you two have already introduced yourselves." Grimmjow and I nodded.

"Alright then, the next one is Szayel. He's the one with pink hair. He is our computer specialist." Szayel just grinned, the unidentifiable glint still in his eye.

"And this stoic, unmoving one is Ulquiorra. He-."

"The only thing this piece of trash needs to know is to stay out of my way." I was slightly startled. Ulquiorra's voice was full of disdain, his face only showing a little bit of that emotion. I couldn't help but feel a bit smug that my earlier observation of him was correct; Ulquiorra did think himself better than everyone else. Wonderful, a mini Byakuya.

"Sooo… how old are you Itsugo?"

"Itsugo?"

"Yea, it's cuter than Ichigo." She gave me a sheepish smile and an innocent look that reminded me of my little sister, Yuzu, fuck. I sighed and decided to answer her question rather than lose an argument about my name because let's face it any girl that reminded me of my sister would win every argument hands down.

"I'm 20." I watched their reactions. All but Ulquiorra looked startled. Well and Starrk, he was still pretending to sleep and Halibel didn't look like she cared much either but other than that, the rest were startled.

"What the fuck. You're only 20? YOU'RE NOT EVEN LEGAL DRINKING AGE YET! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING AT THIS FUCKING POST LET ALONE OUT OF COLLEGE?" Grimmjow burst out. All I did was nod. He started mumbling to himself, "What the hell? What were they thinking sending a snot nosed brat here? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck…the higher ups are just pissing on us and don't even have the decency to call it rain…" Grimmjow grumbled some more before confronting Ichigo again.

How the hell did you manage to get through training camp? You should still be in college for fucks sake!" All I did was smirk again.

"I graduated high school at 16, college at 18 – having tested out of most of the required academic classes, only needing to take the ones required for my career. I finished police training camp at 19 and took another year to go through the Seireitei elite guard training program. I am a certified cop and I specialize in knives, guns, swords, and hand-to-hand combat. Anything else that you would like to know that might have left out?"

"Shit Carro' top. Wha' are ya? a genius? Nnoitra's eyes were bright as he looked at me. I just continued to smirk and then I listed off all that I had gathered from observing these people for this short amount of time.

"Halibel...my guess is your 28, Starrk is 29, Nnoitra is 27, Grimmjow is 26, Szayel 23, Ulquiorra 22, and Nel is 22…am I right?" I looked at them all, this time the only one not surprised was Ulquiorra. I looked over at Nel when I heard her giggle.

"Actually Itsugo, I'm 23…my birthday was last week." She smiled at me.

"Well damn…I was close though." I smiled back at her and heard Grimmjow mutter under his breath, "Fuck he really is a genius," which just made me turn my smile into a smirk as I looked over at him.

"What was that Grimmjow?" I winced mentally, even I could hear the cockiness in my voice that time...something I couldn't let get to me. "Those who get cocky are the first to die." Yoruichi-sensei's voice flittered through my mind.

"I said, Damn Berry you really are good." I bristled at his words.

"Don't. Call. Me. Berry! My name means "to protect one thing" not strawberry!" Grimmjow smiled a toothy feline grin as he started my way.

"I think I'll call you whatever I want to Rookie." A sudden sliver of fear raced down my spine sending chills throughout my body. I tried my hardest to hide it but I could tell by the way his grin widened that at least showed in my eyes. Grimmjow leaned forward and whispered in my ear so only I could hear it.

"Do I scare you Berryhead? Heh. Good, I like the look of that fear. It suits you." He leaned back still grinning and walked past me and out the door. I recovered quickly and smiled at everyone while internally I tried to figure out why Grimmjow could affect me so much. My smile widened at I decided that this place was sure going to be entertaining. I said my goodbyes and headed to my pre-rented apartment that HQ set up for me.

i did put a slightly copied line in there from Avatar...its copied as word for word as i could remember from off the top of my head because it was a spur of the moment decision to put it in there X] lol... "To protect one thing" came from the ichigo kurosaki bleach wiki page...and i dont think there is anything else i need to explain...well until next chapter...whenever the hell that'll be X] lol i'll try not to make it too long =D