AN: Okay, so this is something which has been bugging me for awhile after watching RWBY. Since it's Christmas break I actually got motivated to sit down and spit the damn thing out. The potential Bleach crossover was too good to pass up. The Grimm look so much like Hollows, that the rest was a simple jump away to work out. Alright, so I'm pretty sure chapter one will be pretty good at setting up just how this crossover is going to work.

"This is even worse than I was expecting."

Two men were standing in what could only be described as a war zone. Where once may have been a village, there was now nothing more than smoldering rubble and debris. One of the men, perhaps in his late twenties with prematurely grey hair and glasses pointed towards the destroyed buildings with a cane. "There wasn't a fight here at all; somebody wanted this place completely burned to the ground."

"Grimm possibly?" the second man asked. The pair had been sent out when reports of a massive fire had been received. Intel on what had happened was scarce. This one was older, stoutly built, and carried a large axe across his back. He seemed almost regal in appearance; his most notable feature being his large moustache which matched his slowly greying hair.

"Doubtful Peter." The younger man replied, walking through the rubble. "This is too focused. This has to be the work of a person…no…more likely a group."

"This makes me sick." The now named Peter said, pulling up fallen timbers and digging through the debris. "They have enough to worry about here in the outskirts with the Grimm, who would do something like this?"

"Someone looking for something." The younger man muttered mostly to himself. This was a simple farming town out in the middle of nowhere. They were nearing the borders of what was considered safe; the areas the huntsmen and huntresses had control of. "Whatever did it must not have known exactly where it was."

"What makes you say that?"

"This was a very methodical attack." The younger man explained, gesturing in a wide arc. "Every single structure in the area has been incinerated. Whatever it was, they wanted it gone." The situation didn't make any sense. What could a place like this have that would cause someone to do this? That and…

"Ozpin."

The younger man turned to face his older partner. "What is it?"

"Something doesn't add up here."

"Are you referring to how there don't seem to be any remains?"

"Wha…well yes actually." The older man replied. "For a town this size, for something like this to happen and nothing to be left behind…"

"Yes, it's odd." Ozpin strode over to another burned pile. "Either everyone got out alive, which I highly doubt, or they were taken away. But why would they take them away then burn down the town?" It had to be one of those two options, unless the fire was burning at a ridiculously high temperature, something would be left behind. He began to dig out the pile, hoping to find some clue. He didn't see anything, but what he heard stopped him in his tracks. "Breathing…Peter get over here!" The second man sprinted over to his partner. "Someone's buried under this; we have to dig him out!" The two men frantically dug at the still smoldering rubble, trying to find the person buried beneath it. They continued until they found what they were looking for. "My…god."

What they had found could only be described as a man in the loosest use of the word. It held the correct shape, but the figure's body had been blackened from the flames. It was obviously that it wouldn't be around much longer. A raspy, barely audible wheeze echoed from its downward facing mouth. "Ichi…" the figure half wheezed, half growled out.

The two men, no longer shocked by their discovery began to gently flip the man over. To their dismay, the burns were just as bad on his front as they were on his back. What drew their attention most however was what it wore on its face, a bone white mask vaguely in the shape of a skull partially blackened by the same fires which had burned the body. The younger of the two men went to remove the mask, but before his hand could touch it, the mask disappeared in a flash of black energy. Underneath it was revealed a miraculously unharmed man's face, possibly middle aged. What was left of his hair was a dark, chocolate brown. His ragged breathing revealed four overly sharp canines. "Get this man some water!" Ozpin all but shouted to his partner. The older man complied almost immediately, pouring small bits of his canteen into the man's open mouth. He drank greedily, and after a few seconds Ozpin asked him a question. "What…what happened here?"

"Th…they….anted….me." The man scratched out, each word seemingly causing him pain.

"What…wanted you?" Ozpin asked.

"Attack…town." The man continued.

"The town yes, what happened to the others?"

"I held….em off…long enough." He muttered before launching into a coughing fit.

"More water." Ozpin said, motioning for his partner to pore some more.

"ICHIGO, where is…where." The man lunged forward from the grasp of the men before falling back to the ground in pain, his body completely unwilling to move. "Where...where is he?"

"Who?" Ozpin asked.

"My…son."

Peter and Ozpin looked at each other quickly. There was another person in this pile. They knew what they had to do. Peter, being the larger of the two, dug down into the pile of ash and wood, his hands only stopping when he encountered a hard thunk. He quickly uncovered a rectangular box seemingly hewn from stone. Carefully picking up the box, the older man walked out of the pile of rubble.

"Ichigo!" The dying man shouted out, trying to crawl towards it. He hissed in pain as his wounds ground against the ground.

"Bring it over here!" Ozpin shouted out. After carefully placing down the stone box beside the dying man, Peter lifted its lid.

"WAAAGGHH!" The cries filled the area.

"It's a baby." Ozpin mumbled in amazement. All this destruction and a baby survived it?

"Ichigo…" the dying man mumbled, pulling himself over to look inside the box. Upon seeing the crying baby, tears welled up in his eyes. "He's ok…he's ok…" and with one last breath, he slumped down lifelessly.

The two men stood in silence at what had just happened before them. A dying man giving the last of his strength to make sure his infant son was alive. It was sometime before either one of them spoke, the cries of the baby between them the only sound for miles.

"You saw what I saw Ozpin." Peter said first, looking down at the now deceased father. "The mask, the teeth, those eyes… I never would have thought I'd see one."

"A Vizard." The younger man continued. All those stories they had been told since childhood, and here one was before them. "But how can that be, even if they did exist thousands of years ago, they should all be dead by now."

"Obviously not." Peter added. "If what he says is true, he must have been able to buy time for everyone else to escape. If what you said before is true then what they were escaping from must have been a formidable force indeed." He glanced down at the still screaming baby between them. "What are we going to do with the little one? If he's that one's son, then he's probably a Vizard as well."

Ozpin looked down at the infant with pity. It couldn't be more than a year old and without a home, father, and likely its mother as well. "Tell me Peter, how much do you know about them…the Vizards I mean."

"They were humanities main force against the Grimm before the discovery of dust, kind of a hybid between the two." The older man stated. "The process of becoming one was incredibly dangerous, and those who turned gained superhuman physical abilities, along with other dangerous side effects."

"Like what?"

"When their power is properly manifested, a white mask like those on the Grimm would appear on their face, their eyes would change as well." Peter continued. "Whenever the mask was donned, the eyes would blacken with a golden iris. There are also tales of highly aggressive if not outright violent behavior."

"How well did they do in human society?" Ozpin asked, reaching down to pick up the child.

"Mixed results, some better than other….what, you're not thinking about taking that thing back with us are you?" The older man half shouted in shock. That thing was Grimm at least in part, their natural enemy.

"It's a child without a home or parents." Ozpin said, cradling the baby. "What would you have me do, leave it out here for the beowolves? Besides, it's the least we can do for that man." He looked down at burned remains of the boy's father. "He gave his life to let the others escape; we can at least give his son a chance."

"But…" Peter tried to protest.

"But nothing." Ozpin cut in. "Come on." He stated bluntly, turning away from his companion and back to the road. "We have a report to file."

-19 years later-

"It's like a biiiiiiiiggg slumber party!" Yang flopped down beside her sister with a thump.

"I don't think dad would approve of all the boys though…" her younger sister Ruby replied, scribbling something down. The two of them were in a large room with all the other new students, preparing for their true initiation into the academy the next day.

"I know I do." The blonde answered with a growl. She took a look around the room, until something caught her eye. "What's that?" she asked, looking at what her sister was writing.

"Oh, just a letter back to the gang at Signal; I promised to tell them all about Beacon and how things were going."

"Aww, that's so cuu-"Yang's reply was cut off by a well-placed pillow to the face, courtesy of her sister.

"Shut-up, I didn't get to bring my friends with me to school." Ruby said, annoyed. Normally she wouldn't even be able to come to Beacon for another 2 years, but because a certain silver haired professor took an interest in her, she had been allowed to attend early.

"What about Jean?" Yang asked, struggling to keep a straight face. "He's….nice. There you go, plus one friend! That's a one-hundred percent increase."

"Well I'm pretty sure Weiss counts as a negative friend." Ruby said with a sigh, flipping onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "Back to zero."

"There's no such thing as a negative friend," the blonde countered. "You just made one friend and one enemy." She sighed. "Look, it's only been one day, trust me you have friends all around you. You just haven't met them yet."

A flick of a match drew their attention to another part of the large ballroom. A girl with long black hair and matching bow was sitting up against the wall, reading a book in the light of newly lit candles. "That girl…" Ruby thought aloud.

"You know her?"

"Not really, she saw what happened this morning, but left before I could say anything."

"Well, now's your chance." Yang said, jumping up and pulling her sister with her. "Heeelllooo!" She called out to the girl, dragging Ruby behind her. "I believe you two may know each other?"

"Aren't you the girl that exploded?" she asked, looking up from her book.

"Uh yeah...my names Ruby." Ruby said nervously, beginning to extend her hand only to retract it quickly. "But you can call me…crater…uh…yeah just call me Ruby."

"…okay." The girl mumbled out annoyed, as she went back to her book.

"What are you doing?" Yang quickly whispered to her sister.

"I don't know help me!"

"So…uh… what's your name?" Yang scrambled.

"Blake."

"Well Blake, I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister." The blonde declared pointing to herself. "I like your bow!"

"Thanks." Blake answered simply.

"It goes great with your…pajamas!"

"…right."

"Nice night don't you think?"

"Yes, lovely. Almost as good as this book." She glared up at the two sisters. "Which I will continue to read as soon as you leave." She added, turning back to her book.

"Yeeahh, this girl's a lost cause." Yang said dismissively.

"What's it about?" Ruby asked.

"Huh?" Blake muttered looking up once again.

"What's it about? Does it have a name?"

"Well…it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." Blake explained, obviously surprised someone had asked.

"Oh yeah, that's…lovely." Yang said with a roll of her eyes.

"Two souls…is it about the Vizards?" Ruby questioned.

Blake's eyes widened. "Actually yes." A small smile crossed her face. "But how did you know that?"

"I love books, Yang used to read to me every night before I went to sleep. Stories about heroes, monsters, the Vizards, they're one of the reasons I want to be a huntress."

"And why is that?" Blake chuckled. "Hoping you'll live happily ever after."

"Well I'm hoping we all will." answered Ruby. "As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books; someone who fought for what was right, and who protected people who couldn't protect themselves."

"That's a very ambitious goal for a child." Blake replied. "Unfortunately the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." She added, seeming to look off into the distance.

"Well that's why we're here, to make it better."

"Ohhhh, I'm so proud of my baby sister!" Yang called out before glomping her sister in a massive hug, much to Ruby's dismay.

"What in the world is going on around here!?" A new voice called out, belonging to a girl with long white hair. "Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep!?"

"Oh not you agai-"

"Shhh, guys she's right people are trying to sleep." Ruby said worriedly.

"Oh now you're on my side."

"I was always on your side."

"Yeah, what's your problem with my sister?" added Yang.

"She's a hazard to my health!"

After some time and much fighting, the girls all went their separate ways and crawled into their own sleeping bags. "Seriously, what is her problem?" Yang mumbled exasperated. Just being around her seemed to put her and her sister on edge.

"Just let it go Yang, hopefully she'll calm down." Ruby said with a sigh, trying to get comfortable.

"By the way, what was that thing you were talking to that girl about?" Yang asked.

"What, books?"

"No, what her book was about…lizards or something?"

"No, it was about the Vizards."

"What's a Vizard?"

"Yang you used to read those books to me when I was a kid, how do you not remember?"

"I don't remember everything I've ever read, cut me some slack."

Ruby sighed. "Ok, well where to start." The girl gathered her thoughts before continuing. "You know how it the war between humanity and the Grimm turned in our favor after we discovered dust right?"

"Yeah, everyone knows that."

"Well before that, legend has it that the Vizards were our greatest defense before its discovery."

"So they were a bunch of knights or something?"

"Not at all." Ruby continued. "A person without dust or Aura wouldn't have a chance against most of the monsters out there, especially that long ago. The Vizards were an attempt to bridge the gap between humans and Grimm."

"Whoa, like a werewolf or something?!" Yang asked excitedly.

"Not quite." Ruby answered. "Somehow they figured out how to cross the two into something else…something better. Imagine a person with the strength to stop a car with their bare hands, to shrug off a blast from a cannon. Hunters and huntresses defeat the Grimm with technology and skill, the Vizards did it through brute strength."

"Well that sounds awesome." Yang commented. "An army of supermen punching giant monsters in the face. Why don't they still do that?"

"Well, according to legend the process was incredibly dangerous; thousands may have died just to get one successful result. Once dust was discovered, the human cost was just too great."

"Wait, how could they have done that way back then, wasn't that thousands of years ago?" the older sister asked.

"Like I said, it's just a legend." Ruby said with a yawn, rolling over to sleep. "I doubt it ever really happened."

"Shame, I'd like to meet one."

Professor Ozpin sat in his office, gazing lazily out of his window. Something had been on his mind for some time now. He was pulled from his thoughts with a sharp knock on his door. "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Glynda. "So, what is it you needed to speak with me about?" asked the huntress, taking a seat.

"Well simply put I'm going to institute a change in how the freshman teams are going to be formed this year." Ozpin replied, putting down his coffee.

"How so? The four person team format has worked well for decades, why change it now?"

"The four person format will stay the same, I assure you." Ozpin replied with a wave of his hand. "However, I want to put these teams under the guidance of some of the upperclassmen outside of the classroom."

"What would be the point?" Glynda asked, skeptically.

"The professors have to deal with a large volume of students; I think assigning the senior class to assist the freshman could help both parties. The seniors can add to their experience and the transition could be made far easier for the freshman."

"Wouldn't that interfere with the team dynamics Ozpin?" the huntress asked. "We assign team leaders for a reason. Such a system could hurt their growth."

"You misunderstand." The headmaster continued. "The team leaders would still have final say in their own teams. The assigned member of the senior class would simply act as a mentor or tutor when necessary; one which would only have the members of one team to assist."

"hmmm" the stern huntress hummed in thought. The ideas made perfect sense, but why bring it up now? The teams would be decided in less than a week. "Professor Ozpin, may I ask you a question?"

"Certainly."

"Just what kind of students do you think could fill this role?"

"No less than the best of course." He answered. "Students with stellar records and high marks would be the first considered for such positions. In fact…" The man reached into a drawer in his desk and pulled out a stack of papers. "…I made up a list of candidates last night; I was hoping you could look through it."

The blonde huntress accepted the stack with a nod. She began to scan through the papers. She recognized many of the names on the list, bright examples of the academies students, with even brighter futures ahead of them. An entire incoming class held under the wing of the exiting best; if everything was as Ozpin said, perhaps this idea would have some merit... her eyes locked onto a name. Then again, maybe not. "You have to be joking." She said in irritation. "Him?"

"I think it could do him some good." The professor answered with a slight grin.

"I cannot accept this." Glynda continued, slamming down the stack. "I don't trust him. Putting him in charge of a bunch freshman is completely unacceptable."

"Now Glynda, calm down."

"Now you listen to me Professor." The huntress almost growled, slamming her hands down onto the desk. "That boy can barely show up to class without causing an altercation. If you put him in charge of a group you'd just give us all more headaches."

"I disagree." Ozpin replied stoically. "I think an opportunity such as this is exactly what he needs to pull himself together. To this point he's largely been alone. You know as well as I do that isn't just because of his attitude."

The riled up huntress shut her eyes and rubbed her temples in frustration. She wasn't going to get anywhere with this. Ozpin was going to do what he wanted in the end. She sighed. "I think this program has merit." She began. "I will also accept his entrance into the program, but only with one condition."

"And what will that be?"

"If there is ever any indication that his actions are detrimental to the team he is assigned to, he will be removed from them immediately." Glynda declared, her eyes deadly serious. "I have been lenient to this point, but if that boy interferes with the freshman I will not stand idly by."

Ozpin considered her words. The woman always had been overly strict on the boy, but her words did hold merit. His time at Beacon had been a roller coaster; moments of great success, sadly clouded by more than a few problems. Hopefully this would be just what he needed. "I'll accept that condition." With that, Glynda grabbed the list of names with a stern look and headed out of the office; obviously riled up.

The headmaster sighed and turned to look out of his window. He was taking a gamble with this plan of his, and he knew it. The potential for success was equal to the chance for disaster. At the end of the day, he just had to hope for the right team. "Ichigo, this might be your last chance, don't do anything stupid."