Chapter 1

On a cold autumn night a man was patrolling over the peaceful karakura town a man with orange hair wearing a black shihakusho he had a sword as long as he was strapped to his back, his name was ichigo kurosaki. Ichigo began his rounds to see if any hollows were in the area he began on the outskirts of town then towards downtown landing on a roof overlooking the city. He glared intensely over the city looking for any sign of trouble. " the night seems eerily quiet tonight" Ichigo stated as he continued to scan his surroundings. He then sensed an odd spiritual presence like non he had ever felt before, it was like someone pressing on his lungs. Ichigo quickly turned around and upon noticing no one or nothing was there, he returned to observing the street below. He then started to return back home. Ichigo began to approach a small house on the edge of town near the river that passed through town and was greeted by his physical body leaning by the door with a somewhat stern yet concerned look upon his face. Ichigo the said "What's the matter with you Kon?" Kon looked up to acknowledged Ichigo's presence and replied "Well to be honest I'm bummed out over the fact I can't go out and be with Rukia." Ichigo responded with a disinterested tone "You do know that Renji would kill you if you tried anything, also I hope you are not doing anything in my body are you?" Kon perked up at the remark and said "Don't worry bro married women are not my thing anyway." Ichigo then let out a sigh of relief and remarked "Besides Orihime would know if it was you based on the spirit energy gap" Ichigo adorned a small glove, and placed his hand upon kons head and instantly a small pill falls on the ground. Ichigo then returned to his body and picked the small pill off the ground and heads inside.

Upon re entry to the home ichigo noticed that the house seemed quite quiet and headed to the kitchen. When he noticed orihime working in the kitchen. Ichigo then quietly walked up to surprise her with a welcoming hug. Orihime was busy making a late supper and was listening to the radio. She had her long orange hair tied in the back as to not be in the way while she cooked. She was wearing a short sleeved silk shirt and sweatpants with an apron tied around her waist. Ichigo slowly moved closer and closer to her when out of the corner of his eye, two small feet nailed him in the left side of his face and he fell flat onto the floor with a loud crash. Orihime turned suddenly startled by the sudden noise and went to investigate when she came across Kazui sitting on the floor shouting "Dads home! Dads Home" she looked to see ichigo face down on the floor in pain. Orihime smiled and leaned over ichigo and said "welcome home Ichigo, how was it out there tonight?" Ichigo began to pick himself up taking a sitting position on the floor, looked up at orihime and said "All is well tonight not a peep." Ichigo turned to face Kazui who had a long innocent smile on his face and said "Why are you not in bed? It's late." Kazui looked perplexed at his father and replied "I was worried about you and was hoping you would come home soon." Ichigo then noticed that he still had kon in his hand and looked around quickly as he turned to look back at his son he said "help me find kons body" Kazui rushed as if he knew where it was and returned with a lion plushy and said in a somewhat cute tone "Is this it?" ichigo said "yes that is it thank you kazui." and placed the pill in its mouth and after a few seconds the doll came alive. As kon began his usual self endowed rant ichigo could not shake the feeling that he had experienced earlier and tried to think of who that might have been…...maybe a new kind of hollow?

9:45pm The following day had passed by quickly as if someone had hit the fast forward on a VCR but for ichigo it felt like an eternity. Deep in thought he was pondering about the spirit energy he felt the night before and had to know what it was, but did not know where to start his search. Ichigo sat at the dining room table just off from the kitchen pondering his predicament. Orihime walked in and saw ichigo deep in thought and went over to console him "ichigo?" she said not to startle him. Ichigo looked up and was kinda shocked, he let out a warm smile and gestured her to sit next to him. As she sat next to him she asked "what is wrong with you today you seem rather distant?" Ichigo did not want to worry her so he let out a short sigh and told her what was bothering him. Orihime the moved closer and gave him a small kiss on the cheek to calm him down

"You will figure this out just be safe." she stated

Ichigo gave a small grin

"OK" he said as went to kiss orihime. It was then that the house shook followed by the hellish shriek of a hollow. Ichigo and Orihime both jumped to there feet both shocked and afraid.

"A hollow after all these years" Ichigo shouted and grabbed kon and switched into his shinigami state. He headed for the door and shouted

"KON KEEP MY FAMILY SAFE!"

Kon then shouted back "No problem! Go get em!"

Ichigo was nearing the downtown core when he felt that same spirit energy as the other day. He finally reached the spot where the hollow was, and to his shock found that the hollow had already been defeated. Ichigo moved to a nearby rooftop and looked down at the street. After a few moments ichigo noticed a strange figure sitting in the middle of the street with the faint glow of the street lamp illuminating him. He was tall wore all black armour, the markings were somewhat reminiscent of a crow in shape and with blue eyes holding a traditional style katana in his right hand. Ichigo landed 20 ft from the mysterious man ,who paid little to no attention to ichigo. Ichigo took a moment to collect himself and with a commanding tone he announced.

"I am substitute soul reaper ichigo kurosaki, and I would like to know why you are here?" the man slowly turned his head towards ichigo and then moved to an offensive stance.

Ichigo stunned at the sudden turn he said "Wait i'm not the enemy, i was only wondering what part of the soul society you are from? or are you some kind of arrancar?"

The man looked at ichigo and said " I am KARAS you are the threat" Ichigo then reached for the sword on his back, and in the blink of an eye karas was in front of ichigo. The man moved swiftly and had delivered a kick to ichigo's sternum launching him backwards into the building behind him.

Ichigo pulled himself from the rubble briefly using his zanpaktou as a crutch to steady himself. After he got a good foothold he raised his sword and began channelling his spirit energy and set his gaze at the man. Ichigo then launched towards him delivering a downward strike, the man raised his sword and blocked the strike without any struggle or hesitation. the two men looked at each other and new that this fight would not be easy. Ichigo twisted his wrist and deflected the block quickly swung the blade as hard as he could muster and launched the man into the air toward the tops of the building across the way. Ichigo then prepared to begin his charge when a chain came flying towards him and had quickly wrapped around his waist. The man had launched a chain from his wrist in midair with the precision of a sniper. The chain suddenly became taught around ichigo's waist, and was lifted into the air. The man then with all is might as if wielding a long whip flung ichigo through the air. The man quickly began a few quick arm movements which had then sent ichigo flying through three corresponding buildings in a vertical swipe. Ichigo now becoming more irritated used his sword to break the chain in two and landed in the middle of the street, and the man landed on one of the adjacent buildings.

Ichigo let out a thunderous roar and released all his spirit energy. the man readied himself for the upcoming attack, unaware of what was to come. Ichigo placed his sword behind him, his aura coursing off him like a wildfire that could not be contained. Ichigo looked up at the man and with all his strength swung his blade and shouted "GETSUGA TENSHOU!"

Karas leapt into the air to avoid the massive wave of energy hurtling toward him, he could feel the intensity and the resolve of the attack, quickly held his sword in front like a shield with one hand, and the other began a series of subtle hand gestures opened a gold gate for which he passed through while concealed by the blast. The blast hit the neighboring building which tore it to the ground in mere seconds ichigo was left bleeding and out of breath for he was now spent and needed to re collect himself. Scanning the area he noticed that the man was not amongst the rubble and wondered if he had got away. A few minutes went by when ichigo felt the cold spirit energy again and wondered where he was. Ichigo sharply looked up to discover something in the sky. It looked like a small craft of some kind plummeting towards him and began firing bolts of energy like bullets. Ichigo quickly pulled his sword in front of him like a shield and blocked the blasts. The craft sharply pulled up and ichigo quickly jumped up and grabbed the wing and held on as it flew straight up into the sky. In mere seconds the craft was above the clouds in the starry night sky illuminated by the bright moon. Ichigo realizing that this KARAS Person was not gonna let up he let go of the craft and slowly began falling back towards karakura town. As he watched the craft a small golden circle appeared in the night sky and the craft flew through it changing back into the armored man he was facing. Ichigo then concentrated reishi under his feet to have a foothold in the sky, ichigo looked up at the man who was now hurtling towards him rapidly. Ichigo only had a few seconds to decide on what he could do but all he could think about was the safety of his family and the town below. A few moments pass as ichigo began to think about his family and what they mean to him and remembered his promise to orihime. Ichigo reached to his side where a large piece of cloth rested on the left side of his hip draped off his belt. hidden behind the cloth was a smaller zanpakuto, he drew both and placed them together as the man drew closer and closer by the second as ichigo stood there in the night sky. The seconds racing by as Ichigo held the image of orihime and kazui in his mind and looking up at the descending man, he sighed then Shouted "BAN..KAI!"

Meanwhile back at Kurosaki household Orihime stood next to a window and facing the direction Ichigo had headed she looked on worriedly that her husband may not come home but still laid in hope that he will persevere. Orihime could feel ichigo's spirit pressure begin to boil and pulse like a kettle about to whistle. Ichigo would soon begin to fight which always made her worry. Kazui wandered into the room half asleep and curious about what was happening and found his troubled mother. Kazui reached for his mothers hand which had rested at her side. Orihime looked down somewhat startled that her son snuck up on her. She crouched down to her knees to give her son a large hug. Kazui then asked "Dads fighting isn't he?" Orihime stunned by the fact that he could tell that at such a young age. Feeling a hand on her shoulder Orihime looks up seeing Kon standing he says "Your dad is fighting, and he will win then he'll come home banged up looking to be healed." orihime held her son close and whispered to herself as she let out a small tear, believing that deep in her heart it was true "HE will win I know it."