Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Chapter 1: meet and greet.

"And so that concludes the finale lecture on modern day China. I hope you all enjoy your Easter break. And please do not forget to hand in your personal research paper on Tuesday. I know that the deadline is during the holiday but I had to pull a few strings to change the original deadline and the administration set the new deadline during the holiday. If you do not like it then complain to the administration and not to me"

Rose closed her eyes and let the words of her professor wash over her. She was grateful that the deadline had been changed otherwise she would have spent several long nights in the library trying to finish all her work. Thankfully this essay was the last piece of coursework of the year. The next term was dedicated to exams and she only had four to study for. The holiday was going to be very restful.

"…and goodbye everyone. Enjoy your holiday and Ms Bentley could I see you for a minute", said the lecturer.

Rose sighed and gathered up her stuff and headed down to where the lecturer stood, passing exiting students on her way. She waited patiently while her lecturer, Professor Donald Brown gathered up his things. St George's University, the university in which Rose studied at, was one of the top universities in London and came third in the University rankings for History in the UK, beaten only by Oxford and Cambridge. Rose was very proud to be a student at the university.

"Ms Bentley, your dissertation on Mao and the great famine has been accepted by the humanities department and I will be your dissertation tutor", said Professor Brown who smiled after seeing the huge smile spread across Rose's face. He really did like Ms Bentley, she was one of the top historians in the university and like him shared a passion for Asia. Also her dark, piercing blue eyes and elegant brown hair brightened up his rather dull day.

"Thank you Professor Brown" replied Rose with a huge smile on her face. She was incredibly happy to have Professor Brown as her dissertation tutor, he was the expert on Asia.

"I hope that you will show the same dedication to your dissertation as you do to your other work. Now run along Ms Bentley, I am sure you and your friends have plans tonight. It is the last day of term" said Professor Brown.

Rose turned and walked away from the lecture theatre, a visible bounce in her walk. Professor Brown studied Rose as she left, paying attention to her perfect behind. Yes, Professor Brown was going to enjoy his time as Roses' dissertation tutor.

Rose pushed upon the door of the humanities building and made the way to her dorm. St George's students were lucky in that they were allowed to stay in student accommodation until they graduated after their third year. Rose's dorm was situated between the humanities building and the library with only a few stops on the tube needed to travel in between them. She loved the city and the noises that came with it. It comforted her at night. Rose hated quiet nights, her nightmare would always haunt her on those nights. Her love of the city noises was one of those unexplainable things along with her weird ability to see ghosts. Rose could not explain it but one day, a long time ago, she see a ghost of a small boy with a chain hanging out of his chest. The experience had shocked her back then, but after seeing several more ghosts she grew accustom to it. Rose never spoke to them and constantly denied their existence. She did not want her flatmates adding 'ability to see ghosts' to their long list of reason to think that she was weird.

After a short tube ride and a brief stop at the local supermarket to pick up supplies, Rose buzzed herself into her dorm. Rose lived on the fourth floor of a six story building. Each floor was divided up into twenty four individual rooms with two shower rooms and kitchens located haphazardly throughout the floor. Rose was kind to her fellow floor mates but she never let them in. She trusted nobody; she past experiences had taught her to never trust anybody. As a result she had not friends but Rose liked it like that. Although she was lonely most of the time at least there was nobody there to hurt her. It was a compromise.

Rose met nobody as she climbed the stairs to her floor and entered her room, people were too busy cooking dinner to notice her. Rose's room was uneventful and plain with white wall with no decoration apart from a few anti-war posters scattered her and there. In the far right corner there was a single bed with dark blue bedding and a stuffed bunny sitting on the pillow. Opposite to the bed there was a desk that covered the entire wall with shelves bursting with books. Next to the door there was a small cupboard and next to that a dingy looking sink. A small window faced the door which looked out over a busy street. Home was not much but it was a sanctuary for Rose. After depositing her bag on the edge of her bed, Rose made her way down to the kitchen. She may not allow people to get too close to her but she was not anti-social. Interaction with one another was part of being human. Human needed interaction otherwise they go insane.

Pre-drinks were in full swing when Rose pushed open the door to the kitchen. Her floor mates were notorious throughout the entire University for getting totally smashed every Friday before 10 pm.

"…and then I told the boy, Greg I think his name was, to get lost," laughed Lexie who seemed to be concluding a rather funny tale to the rest of the kitchen. "ROSE!" she cried out, staggering to her feet and throwing her hands around Rose who visible flinched. "Are you coming out tonight? We are going clubbing later". Lexie was only just taller than Rose, with short black pixie hair and a bubbly attitude. She could drink her weight in alcohol and could still stay relatively coherent most of the time. Rose could still remember on night during first year where she had had to spend the night in the local emergency room while Lexie vomited into a bucket. Her floor mates tended to overlook Roses reserved nature and come to her with any problem. Being three years their senior she was treated like the floors Mum. She did not mind, it made her feel useful.

"Sorry Lexie, but I have to get up early to work tomorrow, and I still have my research paper to finish," replied Rose, gently prying Lexie of her body and leading her over to an empty chair. "But," she continued upon seeing lexie' sad face, "I will stay for pre-drinks for a little while."

"Yay!" shouted Lexie who then proceeded to shove an entire bottle of Vodka into Roses hands. The clock on the wall read 6 pm which was the usual drinking time Rose's flat mates.

Four hours later and Rose was well and truly drunk. She had downed most of the vodka in her hands and if she did not make a move soon she would never make it to the library.

"Hey sorry guys" she cried out to the very drunk crowd of people in the kitchen "but I have to go. My, my-erm…essay. I need to write my essay". Words were becoming very hard to form. Normally she was a heavy weight but the combination of heavy alcohol and no dinner made her ability to hold her drink weaken.

"What?" chorused the drunken kitchen "but you can't write an essay like that you have to be drunk".

"Hahahaha" giggled Rose, "sadly I really have to go buuuuut I will take this with me." She started to wave the bottle of vodka around. People started to applaud her like she had just made a great speech. Closing the door behind her, Rose staggered to her room and flung the door open. Slowly she started to gather her things together in a bag. She would need her computer, notes and food but sadly the bottle of vodka would not fit into her bag. Still swaying Rose left her room and staggered down the corridor and out into the night.

Shunsui was not happy. Ukitake and him had been forced to go to the world of the living two days ago to capture an arrancar who had fled Hueco Mundo. They had been chasing the creature all over the city, but the blasted being was sneaky and kept escaping. Right now they were resting on top of a big circular contraption with several small pods attached to it that, when turned on, would slowly rotate round.

"You know Shunsui, sometime I am amazed at the living soles. I mean who would think to create one of these. I mean what is its purpose?" said Juushiro while lazily pointing around.

"I don't know Juu" replied Shunsui, "but this thing does give us a great view of the city. What city is this anyway? It does not look like Karakura town."

"We are in the city of London which is located in England and you would know this if you listened to the briefing" answer Ukitake.

Shunsui sighed. He did not like being here. He wanted to be back in his quarters with a good bottle of Sake and a curvaceous girl, or two to warm his bed and not standing on top of a curious devise in the drizzle. He was distracted from his internal musings the beeping of a soul pager.

"Shunsui the arrancar has been located. Come on" said Ukitake who quickly disappeared in Shunpo.

Yare Yare thought Shunsui who quickly followed after Ukitake.

Rose sat at a small table at the centre of the modern library, writing her research paper. The effects of the alcohol were slowly receding making thinking more complex thought easier. She was alone in the library, most people were not as insane as she was for working on a Friday night. Her essay was on the changing of weaponry and fighting style in Edo period Japan and it was proving to be a fascinating topic. Without breaking her typing Rose reached out to grab a handful of fruit pasties4 and then crammed them into her mouth. She needed all the energy she could get. The library was silent, not a sound was made anywhere. For the ordinary human being the silence would have scared them but Rose enjoyed the peace it brought.

Suddenly Rose was pulled from her seat and with a speed that made her dizzy and then found herself pressed against a wall. Blinking several times to help stop the world from spinning, Rose saw that she was being pressed against the wall by a hooded figure and that he was brandishing a sword that looked terrifyingly real.

"Well, well, well looks like I finally found you. I have spent the last few days trying to find you. You are not easy to fine but eventually I did" rasped the hooded figure. Rose gasped as the hand around her throat tightened. The hooded figure swooped down and smelt Rose's exposed neck.

"I knew that you would smell nice but I had no idea you would smell this mouth-watering. You smell delicious darling" murmured the hooded figure against Roses neck. "The boss is not going to like that the fact that I ate you but you smell too good" continued the hooded figure.

"Drop the girl" came a deep voice. Rose turned her head slightly towards the location of the voice. Standing in the door way were two men wearing a black shihakushō, and a white haori. One of the men had long white hair while the other wore a bamboo hat (a sakkat) and had tied his hair back in a loose ponytail with hair pins sticking out. Rose also noticed that the sakkat wearing man had a pink kimono draped over his shouters. Both of them had their hands over their sheathed swords. The hooded figure dropped Rose and turned fully to face the two men. Stunned Rose watched as the three men stared each other down. She had no idea why the two men in black were dressed like the warriors in her research project or more importantly why she had suddenly been attacked. All she knew was that she had either, at some point during her stay at the library, fallen asleep and was currently dreaming, or that drinking before working was not a good ideas because now she was hallucinating.

"Shinigami, you came sooner than I expected. And not just any Shinigami but Taichos. I feel so flattered" sneered the hooded figure.

Shunsui looked down at the girl on the floor and felt all air within him leave. The girl had long dark brown hair that cascaded down her back and stopped mid-way down her back and a long fringe that covered most of her eyes, but from what he could see she had the most intense pair of blue eyes he had ever seen. She had a sort of delicate beauty, one that he had only seen in noble ladies. Shunsui could only describe her in one way, beautiful.

"We should take this fight outside, we do not want to cause any unnecessary damage" said Ukitake with a hard tone.

"The offer does sound tempting but no thank you, I know my abilities and I am no match against two Taicho's" spoke the hooded figure. He turned and looked towards Rose, who was currently backing up against the table where her work was located. "I will come back for you my dear, we have some unfinished business to attend to. Until then" and with a flash he was gone.

"He's gone" said Ukitake while staring at his soul pager.

"Yare, and we were so close. At least now we know what he is after" replied Shunsui. Both the Taicho's turned to look towards Rose who was frantically packing her things away.

"Do you think she can see us?" asked Ukitake.

"I think so" replied Shunsui, "Hey kid" he called out. Rose froze and slowly turned towards Shunsui and Ukitake with wide eyes. "I take that as a yes" murmured Shunsui.

Rose blinked a few times, staring straight at the two unknown men before she turned and grabbed her bag and sprinted towards the open window to her left and jumping out of it.

"Yare Juu, I don't think we made a very good impression for her" said Shunsui.

"We should follow her and make sure that she gets home ok. We do not want her to get attacked again. I am going to contact the Soul Society about this. Now that we know what the enemy wants it is vital that we prevent them from getting it" suggested Ukitake.

"I'll follow her, you catch up later, Juu" and with that Shunsui disappeared leaving Ukitake alone in the library.

Rose was very out of breath and her muscles ached with the strain of running. She could not think, the only clear thought in her brain was the notion of getting back to her room as quickly as possible. She hoped, begged, that this was all a dream because there was no way that her research project would come to life and talk to her. Also the idea that she was wanted by some hooded figure, a gang maybe, was insane. Rose was a pacifist and would only use force when it was the last option. The idea of drawing blood, or even inflicting pain on anybody revolted her. The fact that she was scared of blood also helped amplify her pacifist point of view.

Finally, after what felt like ages of frantic running, Rose arrived at her dorm. Quickly she buzzed herself in and proceeded to fly up the stairs to the fourth floor. The corridor was dark and empty and for a fleeting second Rose was scared that the hooded figure would jump out and attack her again. But as the lights automatically turned on and banished the darkness away she saw that she was alone in the corridor. Letting out a breath that Rose had not known that she was holding, she slowly walked down the corridor. Pausing a moment to find her key, Rose opened the door to her room and froze. There standing in her room where Shunsui and Ukitake, both looking expectantly at her.

"Wha…"started Rose but she was interrupted by Ukitake.

"You left so quickly that we did not have time to explain ourselves."

Rose stared at them, opened mouthed and wide eyed. How had they known where she lived? And more importantly how had they gotten into her room?

"What is your name my dear?" asked Shunsui.

"How, How did you get in" blurted out Rose.

"huh?"

"How the fuck did you get into my room!" repeated Rose with more force. Both Shunsui and Ukitake turned and pointed towards the open window.

"Oh"

"What is your name sweetheart?" asked Shunsui again.

"Rose Bentley…and, and don't call me sweetheart".

"Rose, that is a very pretty name" said Shunsui more to himself than to anybody.

"Could you please explain to me why my research project has come to life in my room" asked Rose. She was really losing her patients.

"huh…research project?"

"What the hell is going on here!" shouted Rose losing all her patients.

Both Shunsui and Ukitake stared at her in shock for a moment. "We are Shinigami, we safe guard the passage of souls from the world of the living to the Soul Society" spoke Ukitake after a pause.

"What?"

Ukitake looked towards Shunsui for support. He had no idea how to explain even more plainly what he had just said.

"Rose, we were sent to the world of the living to hunt down an arrancar called Shadow Crawler. He was the guy who attacked you in the library. We don't know why he targeted you but we think it is because of your reiatsu level" continued Shunsui.

"Wait, hold on a second, when you say 'sent to the world of the living' does that mean that the two of you lived in the world of the dead? And what the hell is reiatsu?" asked Rose.

"Yes I suppose we are dead, but we come from the Soul Society, a place where departed souls go and live. And reiatsu, or spiritual pressure is the amount of power of soul has. Your level is high enough that you, a human being, can see the souls of the departed" answered Ukitake with a kind smile on his face.

"So the two of you came from the afterlife. Does that make the two of you angels? No offence but the two are not how a pictured angels to look like" said Rose.

Shunsui chuckled, he really did like this girl. "No my beautiful Rose, we are not angels but soul reapers". Shunsui paused when he saw Rose flinch at his pet name. 'Interesting' though Shunsui.

There was another pause. Rose did not know what to make of this. She still really wanted this whole ordeal to be a dream but sadly what they said made sense. It explained why she was able to see dead people.

"What…What are your names? You never introduced yourselves to me" asked Rose shyly.

"Oh but that is right Shunsui, how rude of us" said Ukitake. "My name is Juushiro Ukitake, Taicho of the thirteenth division."

"And I am Shunsui Kyoraku, Taicho of the eighth division" said Shunsui. He swooped forwards and grabbed Rose's hand and brought it to his lips. Shunsui could feel her tense and when he looked up he saw the fear in her eyes. 'Interesting, she feels uncomfortable when touched by a man' thought Shunsui as he quickly let go of her hand.

There was another pause, Rose looked down at her feet and tried to ignore the light burn in her hand where Shunsui had kissed her. She could not help but notice how soft and gently his lips were. The pause was only broken by a loud growling noise coming from Rose's stomach.

"Sounds like some is hungry" chuckled Shunsui.

Rose blushed and mumbled something along the lines of 'it's nothing'.

"Come darling Rose let us put some food in your stomach and drink Sake until sunrise!" cried out Shunsui who proceeded to march out of the room.

"Shunsui I don't think it is correct to boss a woman around in her own home" came the disapproving tone of Ukitake.

Rose giggled slightly but followed after Shunsui and led the way down the corridor to one of the kitchens. Shunsui's extravagant antics had broken the tension and awkwardness of the room. Rose pushed open the room to the kitchen and was greeted with the sight of empty bottles of vodka spewed everywhere. On the table alone there were ten half empty bottled of vodka. From what Rose could deduce Lexie and the others had gone all out last night.

"Well somebody had a party in here" said Shunsui staring at the state of the room.

"Sorry, my floor mates had a party in here and did not clean up. Please make yourselves at home. Would you like some tea? Something to eat?" asked Rose.

"Tea would be nice" answered Ukitake who was seated at the table and was currently moving the vodka bottle out of the way. Rose opened her freezer and pulled out an oven pizza along with a packet of oven chips5. Putting them on a tray, she then proceeded to place them in the oven. After that was done she made the tea. Only then did she realise that she had no idea how they took their tea. With a sign she placed three empty mugs on a tray and then proceeded to place three red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting on a plate. When the tea was done she proceeded back to the table, tray in hand. Shunsui was slouched over the table and in his boredom started to read the label on one of the vodka bottles.

"Ne darling Rose what is this?" inquired Shunsui.

"Vodka…and alcoholic beverage" replied Rose while handing out the tea and cakes. "You may try some if you like" continued Rose after seeing the curious look on Shunsui's face. Slowly Shunsui brought the bottle to his lips and took a sip. Rose giggled as Shunsui struggled to swallow the drink and started gasping.

"That is the most disgusting drink I have ever tasted. How can you manage to drink that?"

"Oh well, generally we mix it with something else but yes the taste is rather sharp" answered Rose. With careful fingers she took the bottle from Shunsui and placed the bottle to her lips and took several swings. Somewhere in the back of her mind she noticed the taste of Shunsui's lips on the rim of the bottle. She did not know the taste but she liked it.

"Should you really be drinking Rose?" inquired Ukitake who was looking at Rose with disapproving eyes.

"I think after the night I just had I deserve a little alcohol"

There was a pause.

"Ukitake, Kyoraku, not to sound rude but why are you still here. I mean you chased away Shadow Crawler so why are you still here?" asked Rose.

"We are waiting for orders from the Soul Society. We now know what Shadow Crawler wants and we need to know what to do next in regards to you" replied Ukitake. "Oh and these cakes taste delicious, what are they?"

Rose blushed, "They are red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese ice, why own recipe".

"You made this?"

"Yes".

Shunsui whistled low in approval.

The oven timer went off and Rose went to collect the now cooked pizza and chips. Returning a few minutes later with a plate loaded with food, Rose proceeded to place it in the middle of the table. Without waiting Rose devoured the food like as if it was her first meal in days. Shunsui and Ukitake both raised their eyebrows.

"Would you like some?" inquired Rose.

"No, it fine thank you" answered Ukitake looking at the food with disgust.

Rose continued to shovel food into her mouth and after an astonishingly short time she had finished everything on the plate.

"Ne, you really were hungry" noted Shunsui.

Rose gave him a weak smile in response. A light beeping sound came from Ukitake's pocket. Quickly he pulled out his soul pager.

"Shunsui, an emergency Taicho meeting has been called. A senkaimon is being ordered to open to allow us to return. However, one of us should stay behind and guard Rose. She is still wanted by the Shadow Crawler.

"Yare, Yare. Ukitake you should head back"

"And leave you all alone with a young woman."

"Nothing will happen old friend and I am shocked to find out that you have to faith in me" pouted Shunsui.

"Shunsui, remember the last time we left you alone with a woman?"

"Yare, but that was years ago. Nothing like that will happen" replied Shunsui. "Plus" he lowered his voice so that Rose could not hear what he was saying, "she is scared of physical touch and I want to know why".

Ukitake sighed, "If you so much as touch her".

"Yare, yare Juu nothing will happen" reassure Shunsui.

Ukitake sighed again, "Goodbye Rose and thank you for you hospitality". Ukitake flashed away.

"So Kyoraku what happened the last time you were left alone with a woman" asked Rose in as calm voice as she could muster. Shunsui detected a hint of fear in her voice. The poor girl must have had some traumatic experience in the past that made her avoid all physical contact with men.

"Nothing darling Rose" replied Shunsui with a grin.

"Well I don't know about you, but I am tired" yawned Rose.

"Come on lets go to bed"

Both of them left the kitchen and made their away down the corridor to Rose's room. Grabbing her shower bag and pyjamas, Rose informed Shunsui that she was going to take a quick shower and would be back very quickly. Ten minutes later Rose re-entered her room wearing her plain white pyjamas. Shunsui had stretched out on the floor like a giant, pink, lumpy rug. Turning off the lights, Rose climbed into bed. It was possibly the weirdest day Rose had ever experienced in her life. And something made her feel like this was only the beginning of a series of strange events.