A/N: Yes, I know I should be working on my other stories, but I wanted to try this new story out and see how it would go. It's a fanfic for Bleach and is all about an OC named Kiki Uzumaki. That's all I can tell you though. Enjoy the story.

Note as of 2/3/13: Well, I've seen some more Bleach episodes recently and am discovering that just about all the Arrancars I orginally placed in this story died in the canon. That's gonna cause some problems later...oh well, there's not much I can do now.)

(Edited and somewhat re-written as of 2/3/13)

Disclaimer: I in no way own Bleach or any of its characters.

Chapter 1

Prologue: Impending Graduation

My name is Kiki Uzumaki.

My life has been spent in mediocrity. I have tried my best to live as a normal girl in this world and have pretended to be ignorant of the monsters that haunt this town. No, they haunt every town that I go to. That fact hasn't changed in the least since that day all those years ago.

Still, living as if I don't know the truth corrupts my conscience. It's been that way for a long time and I didn't expect it to change anytime soon. The cycle of mediocrity goes on, never changing. The truth of what lies within the darkness is never revealed nor talked about and life goes on without pause.

"Kiki, hey are you listening?"

I look up from my work to see my newest acquaintance, Orihime Inoue staring down at me. I hadn't talked to her in about two weeks so her sudden presence was a bit of a shock. I figured that she'd forgotten all about me, preferring to spend time with some of her other friends.

"Are you going to come to the party tonight?" she questioned, grey eyes widening in anticipation.

"Probably not," I answered simply. I didn't even know what party she was talking about.

"What!" she exclaimed, those eyes twinkling with a luster that could be called anything but natural. "But you've just got to come Kiki!"

"Well, where is this party going to be?" I asked despite knowing that I had no plans to attend said party.

Orihime placed her hands onto her hips. "At the school of course, it's the Senior Graduation Festival of Celebrations Dance!"

"Senior dance festival what?" The whole thing sounded like a big mouthful of jumbled up craziness to me.

"The Senior Graduation Festival of Celebrations Dance," she repeated after taking a long deep breath. "We're celebrating the fact that we only have one month until we graduate high school. Everyone is going to be there, you just have to come!"

I'm not the type that goes to dances or anything like that. I'm a boring average school girl who wears glasses and can actually see the paranormal things around me. This dance screamed trouble for a girl like me and it didn't sound all that great. Besides, I'd already missed the biggest dance of the year.

As silly as it sounds, I had always dreamed of going to the perfect prom when I was little…when I was normal.

Before that horrific day.

"So will you please, please, please come Kiki," Orihime asked excitedly.

I shrugged. "I don't know Orihime, I'm going to be pretty busy as it is."

"Please, I don't want you to miss out on this Kiki!" Orihime exclaimed. "This is our Senior year, the most exciting year of our lives. We have to live it to the fullest! You never know what might happen in the future, so it's important to live for today!"

I honestly don't know how her speech compelled me to say yes, but it did.

And the second the words left my mouth I regretted them.

"YAAAAAAAAY!"

"Darn it," I thought, silently wishing that I'd had the guts to tell the girl no. I was just too nice for my own good I suppose. Oh well, at least the dance can serve as a distraction.

"Meet me and Tatsuki at the school at seven," Orihime commanded, gathering up her things. "Don't be late."

"Okay," I told her just as the bell rang. She darted out of the classroom in seconds with a giant grin on her face. Once she was gone, I began to look over my essay one last time. It was due tomorrow and though it was nearly finished there was still something missing from it.

Truth be told, the topic of the essay was a hard thing for me to write about. The assignment was to write about your outlook on life and what you think the future holds for you. Did I know the answer to this question?

The answer to that question is an obvious no, so I wrote a bunch of crap that would get me an A and not the truth, which would have resulted in an F+.

More lies; more deception. Does it ever end?

"Have you forgotten?" my conscience asked. "Have you forgotten the reason you came here; the reason you ran away?"

I would never forget. Never would I forget the pain and anguish that had torn through my soul that night. I still bear the scars of those painful memories. Most of them have faded, but there remained one scar on my forehead. The single red slash that was covered by my dark auburn hair. Though covered, it was still there and it still reminds me of the events that occured. Nothing would ever erase it. No matter how much I try to forget, the memory returns and I remember the nightmare that I lived through.

That's the trouble with running away. The past always catches up to you in the end.

"Hey, Kiki."

I looked up to find Ichigo Kurosaki staring down at me. He wasn't someone I had ever associated with in the past, but Orihime spoke of him enough to grant me a little insight of what kind of person he was among some other things. Right now though he just looked intimidating with that scowl plastered on his face.

"Can I help you?"

He just shrugged, his brown eyes narrowing on me. "No, I just wondered why you're still hanging around in here. Everyone left already."

"I know," I told him, hastily gathering my things. "I was just looking over my essay, you know the one about our outlook on life."

"Yeah, I remember. It's due tomorrow."

I nodded, placing my folder into my backpack. "Alright, I'll see you later then. I left the room quickly with him on my heels, but once out of the classroom we went our separate ways. I wanted to turn back and look at him, but I kept my gaze ahead and told myself not to look back.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," I thought to myself as I walked ahead. "He isn't normal either. He can see and sense them too."

I've been studying the actions of people around me for as long as I can remember. I'm an observer and a deep thinker. It's probably the only talent that I have other than seeing those monsters.

Still, there's something rather strange about Ichigo. There's just something eerie about him that I can't quite put my finger on. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if I desire to know what that foreboding aura I since around him is. Then again, I think I know already...he's one of them.

One of the Arrancars.

As I walked, I felt my hands clench up into fists. If Ichigo is one of them…I'll have to eliminate him, but I won't make any decisions yet. I have to continue observing. I have to know more.

My best bet at this point is to actually attend this dance. That'll give me plenty of time to study Ichigo's true nature. After all, if Orihime has anything to say about it, he'll be there along with the other friends who can sense the monsters. Yeah, Ichigo isn't the only one that isn't normal around here.

A/N: That's the first chapter. Hope you guys liked it. Please forgive me for late updates on other stories. I promise that I'll do better in the future. However, as far as this story goes it won't be updated for a little while. (Yes, I know I'm terrible at organizing these things but hey. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.)