Okay, so, here's the first chapter. I hope you like it! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, you can send them in the form of a review. Thank you, and enjoy!

It had only been one year since Ichigo graduated from the Shinigami Academy and joined the ranks of the Gotei 13. He was assigned to the tenth squad, led by his father, Isshin. Being a new Soul Reaper, he hadn't been able to see much action. Until one day...

"Attention, all squad captains! Emergency captain meeting. Attention, all squad captains! Emergency captain meeting. Attention-"

The entire seiretei was in chaos. Ichigo was training with his friends Renji and Rukia when they heard the alarm. Immediately, the trio had to split as they each went to their own squad barracks. When Ichigo arrived in the barracks of the tenth squad, everyone was questioning the occurrence.

"What's going on?" "Is a hollow entering Soul Society?" Question after question filled the room. Not familiar with many of the members of the squad, Ichigo sat in the corner, waiting for his father-no, captain- to return and give them their orders. The wait was long and enduring, but Ichigo's patience wasn't tried much more than an hour when Captain Isshin entered the barracks. The room fell silence upon his entry.

Isshin Kurosaki held the respect of all his squad. He was a strong, determined man who's courage and dedication always pulled them through to victory. He knew when to laugh, when to cry, when to comfort, he was great at knowing what to do and how to do it. As such, he had befriended every last member of the tenth squad. All the other squad captains recognized him as a truly remarkable and talented Shinigami, and had the utmost respect for him. But many envied him for his abilities.

The captain was incredibly strong, and could defeat most enemies without even calling out his shikai. Rarely had anyone seen it, not many knew his zanpakuto's name. Even rarer was seeing his bankai. The only ones that had seen it were the Central 46 when deciding whether or not he was fit to be captain. Not even Ichigo, Isshin's only son had seen it. The tenth captain was also extremely skilled at demon magic. His bakudo was more powerful than anyone else's, and his speed was quick, and his strength strong, and his mind sharp. Because of the envy towards Isshin, they envied Ichigo as well. They expected him to be just as talented as his father, maybe even more. Yet Ichigo hasn't even mastered his own zanpakuto. The blade refused to give Ichigo it's name. Many wondered how he had graduated without knowing its name, but they just assumed that it was because of his father's influence. Ichigo believed that too, and everyday he was reminded of it, as everyday he would think, "I'm not fit to be a shinigami." Several times, Ichigo wished he could go back to the Academy to finish properly.

The captain gained everyone's attention, then announced, "Everyone in our squad is to guard the northwestern corner of the Seiretei. We have received word that extremely powerful Hollows will be attacking..." The captain whispered to his lieutenant, Toshiro Hitsugaya, and the two began to gather the soul reapers of squad ten. Ichigo was assigned to the fourth seat's squadron. The fourth seat was named Hisagi Shuusuke. Hisagi quickly took his team and led them to their area, which was located near the captain's team.

They're destination was an area full of trees. In the area were several training grounds that several of the teams still used, some of the grounds left abandoned. The area, for now, was still and calm. The sounds made were that of the shinigami in the area. Not even a cricket chirped. The sky was a purplish-orange, colored by the setting sun in the west. In the east, it was already dark, and the moon could be seen low in the eastern sky. Ichigo looked back to west. The radiant red sun was halfway under the horizon, casting the distant landscape a black, compared to its brilliancy. The sky seemed calm, almost as if nothing bad were about to happen, as if they weren't in a state of emergency. Then something happened that took Ichigo by surprise.

A small opening cut through the sky. It was black as night. At first, it was nothing more than a small slit, but gradually, it grew taller, opening up to show multiple figured standing just on the other side of the threshold. From such a far distance, Ichigo couldn't make out their faces, but could see something that looked Hollow masks upon their faces, all of different shapes and designs. One in the middle of medium height sent an arm slicing through the air, signaling to the others to scatter. Immediately, Ichigo pointed out the sight to Hisagi, who yelled to the captain not far away.

Ichigo turned back to the lone figure. The black opening had vanished, leaving only the person's silhouette in his place, cast into shadows from the setting sun. Ichigo watched him for a while, then the figure moved. A second later, it had somehow broken though the barrier surrounding the seiretei, and was right in front of Ichigo.

The novice shinigami gave out a yelp of surprise at the figure before him, the small orange hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. In front of Ichigo was a male, only a fraction taller than himself. His eyes were of an emerald green, with tear streaks of the same color marked down both cheeks. His black hair with a green sheen was shoulder-length, and half was hidden behind a mask on the right side of his skull. His expression was of none. Ichigo had only heard of such beings from his father/captain. These things were Arrancar.

Terrified, Ichigo stepped back a few paces, his hand on his zanpakuto's hilt. He was in perfect position to attack, but was to scared to do so. The Arrancar took hold of this opportunity and seized Ichigo around the throat, lifting his feet off the ground. Ichigo began to choke. The Arrancar looked up and down Ichigo, as if examining him. Whatever he was thinking was a mystery as his face remained void of expression. Then the Arrancar made eye contact with Ichigo. Soft spoken words escaped his lips.

"You'll do just fine."

Scared for his life, Ichigo began to claw at the Arrancar's hand, trying to pry his way to freedom, but the hold only strengthened. Then Ichigo's neck began to burn, and tears came to his eyes, blinded by his pain. From behind him, Ichigo heard a battle cry, and he fell to the ground, the hand still attached to his neck, the burning sensation still upon his throat. Gasping for air, Ichigo tried once more to remove the hand from his neck, oblivious to the battle just to his left.

Isshin Kurosaki had his blade pointed at the green-eyed hollow, fury blazing in his own eyes. The Arrancar reacted quickly, pulling his own katakana from its sheathe. The two went into a blur of movement, the others only watching in awe. Only one of them, Hisagi, rushed to Ichigo's aid. Trying desperately, Hisagi attempted to remove the hand from Ichigo's neck, but every time he touched the severed limb, it would burn him to a whole other degree, worse than anything every before.

Risking his self, Hisagi grabbed hold of the hand as tight as he could, and pulled as hard as he could, despite his selfish urge to let go. Ichigo was slowly stopping his resistance. Hisagi kept pulling as he heard Ichigo gasp for air to fill his lungs. The fourth seat's hand began to bleed as he continues to pull. Not giving up, he gave a final tug, and, falling backwards, he had pulled the hand off of Ichigo. The young Kurosaki's body went limp.

Isshin fought the Arrancar viciously, angered that it had dared hurt his own son. He stole a glance at Ichigo, and seeing that he was no longer moving, he paused for a moment, then began to fight with more tenacity than before. Sparks were sent flying as the blades struck, each time, more and more sparkling lights scattered the vicinity. The Arrancar was keeping his end up, although he had only one hand to hold his sword. Backing up a long way from the Arrancar, Isshin held his zanpakuto in front of him and said, "Pass judgment! Masaki!"

The captains katana began to glow a light blue, then it changed shape. The blade lengthened twice its original length, and widened another two inches. The tip began to curve, and straightened outwards, creating a sharp point perfect piercing any surface. The hilt wrapped itself up Isshin's arm, attaching itself to the captain's body. Several spikes grew out of the end of the zanpakuto. The squad stood as they watched the captain reveal to them his shikai.

The captain released another battle cry and lunged at the Arrancar. Before he got halfway to him, however, the Hollow sheathed his sword, then held his hand out in front of him, and muttered, "Cero."

A shot of black energy erupted from his pale hand, and sent the captain out of sight. The witnesses gasped as they began to worry over their captain's survival. Soon, the eruption stopped, and the squad could see their captain again. He held his stance in front of the Arrancar, who had stopped all motion. The soul reapers began to cheer as they saw that their captain had driven Masaki through the Arrancar's torso, his hollow-blood splattered across the green lawn. The captain let a smirk crawl across his face, then his body went limp. The Arrancar twitched, then moved his remaining hand atop the zanpakuto that had injured his body. With ease, he pulled the blade out and threw the shinigami to the ground. "Hmph..." it said, stepping over the body as if it were a mere rock in its path.

From across the grounds, Ichigo gave a small groan. His fluttered open as he pushed himself from the ground. He rubbed his neck, still warm from the burn, and sore at that. He looked at the scene before and saw his father lying on the ground. Alarmed, Ichigo ran to his side.

"Dad..." Ichigo whispered. He felt his father's neck, checking for pulse somewhere, but felt nothing. "No, Dad, you can't..." Ichigo leaned over his father's dead body and wept. He wept only for a brief time, for he looked up at the Arrancar, casually walking away as if he was taking a simple stroll after dinner. Ichigo jumped up and, out of rage, pulled his zanpakuto out of its sheathe. The Arrancar reacted quickly, and somehow managed to catch the blade between his thumb and forefinger. Ichigo pulled his blade back, and attacked again, not letting the Arrancar pull out his blade. Again and again, Ichigo thrust his zanpakuto at the Hollow, and again and again, the green-eyed menace threw his attacks back. Finally, the Arrancar threw Ichigo far across the lawn. Staggering to his feet, Ichigo felt something stir inside him that Ichigo had never felt before. Suddenly, an unknown force pulled him deep withing the depths of his consciousness, into a world he had never seen before.

The world consisted of hundreds, maybe thousands of, skyscrapers. Yet the gravitational pull turned the whole world on its side, and the buildings were sideways, making their own horizon. There were three figures in the world, one of which was a confused Ichigo. Another one was a man dressed in a long dark cloak with straggly dark hair, a stubby beard, and V-shaped sunglasses. The other figure was a hollow that looked just like Ichigo, except, it looked like a picture taken in negative. They were completely quiet. Not a sound was made, save for the wind occasionally lowing between the sideways skyscraper. All the while, only one word was in Ichigo's mind. He muttered the word, and the man and hollow both nodded. A smile appeared on Ichigo's face. The world suddenly vanished, and Ichigo was thrown back into the blood-stained garden. Taking a stance he never took before, Ichigo prepared himself to fight, then shouted a phrase he never had before.

"Shout! Zangetsu!"

His zanpakuto began to change, growing longer and thinning at the tip, creating a fine point. There was no hilt or guard on the sword. Ichigo held the sword straight out in front of him, then brought it back over his head. With one mighty swing, he brought the sword down, releasing a streak of black reiatsu flying towards the Arrancar. Stricken with shock and surprise, the hollow wasn't able to dodge, and took the blow head on. When all had settled, the body of the enemy was sprawled on the ground, then gradually faded away into oblivion. The shinigami cheered for the victory.

Ichigo threw down his blade and ran to his father's side. His body had turned cold as ice. Crying, Ichigo sat there, holding his father's lifeless hand. That day, that dark, dark day, the tenth squad, and the entire Gotei 13 lost an incredible captain, and Ichigo lost an incredible father.

His whole world began to swirl into darkness, and all became a blur. The pain Ichigo felt still heavied his heart. He could hear someone calling out to him, but he chose to ignore it, wanting to be left alone in his misery, but they would not stop calling. His world started to shake as he heard the shouts grow in volume.

"Ichigo...Ichigo...Ichigo...ICHIGO!!"

Awakening from his memories, Ichigo Kurosaki, captain of the tenth squad, opened his eyes to see his younger sister Yuzu Kurosaki shaking him from his sleep.

"Ichigo-oniichan, Toshi-chan is here!"

Grumbling, Ichigo stood, and, after his sister had left, changed into proper clothes, the memories of his father's death still haunting him.

Thanks for reading, please review, and I hope you come back for more!

-PixieTitan-Uchiha XD