-Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Rosario + Vampire. They belong to their respective owners.-

a=Narration and descriptions

"a"=Dialogues

a=Inner voices or thoughts

a=Intense dialogues

The story takes place sometime after the Xcution Arc and Rosario's epilogue.

Truth to be told, I wanted to use Bleach's latest Arc, but I'm really poor in material and from the look of things, we have quite some time till we see all the stuff I need to know. Also, in his new state Ichigo could just sweep everyone clean with a single strike, so the action would be too short.

Another thing is that I would be forced to delay a lot my updates to wait for the manga's progression. Now I can update more leisurely since I have all the material I require and in addition, there won't be as many power balances as with my other fic. Here I'm gonna distribute everything Ichigo has gained till that point without roundabouts.

Finally, there might be a bit of OOCness in some cases, but it's necessary to bridge the two series together and create the connections between the chars, so I humbly ask of you to show some understanding.

Now, have a pleasant reading and enjoy!

1: Let the experiment begin!

It was a usual day in Soul Society, and as always, everyone was in the middle of peacefully fulfilling their daily duties with a radiant smile decorating their faces.

The sole person not as pleased as the rest of the Soul Society's community was the captain of Seireitei's 12th Division, Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who was currently brooding inside his lab, accompanied by his loyal lieutenant and man-made daughter.

The reason for that state of his was that he had constructed a new invention, which had the ability to open portals to other worlds, but no one was willing to become a volunteer, and according to their laws, he couldn't force anyone either.

''Hmph! Incompetent cowards! How small can their insignificant brains be to not realize the greatness of my plan?'' he snorted, sitting on a chair, his right fingers touching his forehead in irritation. He tried to convince many soldiers to step inside his machine and travel to another dimension to gather information, but he failed miserably.

However, he would soon discover that his luck hadn't abandoned him yet.

''HEEEY! IS ANYONE HERE?'' The voice of the well-known Substitute Soul Reaper was heard echoing suddenly across the lab's main hallway. Apparently, he entered the place and was searching for its workers.

Hearing it, the mad scientist reacted indifferently in the beginning, since he wasn't in the mood for visitors... but a second later, an interesting thought crossed his sharp mind and he grinned mischievously.

''Hehehe... Maybe there's still a solution to our problem,'' he snickered, rubbing his hands together and calling next his lieutenant closely to whisper something to her right ear.

A few minutes later...

After some wandering around, Ichigo finally noticed Mayuri inside of a half-open door, and without further ado, walked to the interior.

''Long time no see, Kurotsuchi-san!'' he waved at him cheerfully while approaching him with a medium-sized box in his right arm.

Alerted from his voice that he had arrived, the mad scientist turned to him with an annoyed expression. ''What's your reason for bothering me during my busy schedule?'' he responded after laying his eyes upon the orange-haired teen.

He was a man famous not only for his lunatic ideas, but also for his generally eccentric character, so a behavior like that wasn't such a surprise. Thankfully for him, Ichigo was well aware of that to not be affected by his words. Instead, he raised the box to his chest's height, presenting it to Mayuri.

''What is this?'' Mayuri asked with a doubtful stare.

To answer him, Ichigo opened it with his other hand, grinning and explaining to him that Urahara had asked of him to deliver a few samples of some new reiatsu enhancement pills he had developed, and that he needed Mayuri to give them a test run.

''Tch! That man surely has a lot of nerve, treating me as an assistant of his!'' Mayuri frowned, but ultimately had to accept the box due to his curiosity as a scientist. Urahara Kisuke was a pain in the ass for him, but his scientific findings were top-notch and no one could deny that. ''Just leave it on that table,'' he indicated to Ichigo dryly, pointing at a big table across the room.

''Got it!'' Ichigo replied and placed it there carefully, getting ready afterwards to leave... Or so he thought!

Without a warning, Mayuri grabbed his right shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.

''What's the matter?'' he asked Mayuri, wondering about the purpose of that action.

''Since you interrupted me in the middle of my work, I think you could be kind enough to help me with a little something,'' Mayuri told him in a tone that revealed that he wasn't really asking for it, but rather demanding it.

''Ehh… I'm in a hurry, so…'' Ichigo tried to avoid it, fearing what Mayuri had in his absurd mind. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be so lucky. Guessing what he was about to say, Mayuri tightened his grip on his shoulder and narrowed his eyes dangerously, implying that he wouldn't take ''no'' for an answer. Ichigo could always shake him off by force, since he was pestering him, but that would put him into trouble, so his only option was the least pleasant one. ''Haa… Fine… if it's for a little while…''

That reply brought a smirk to Mayuri's face and prompted him to pull out of his right pocket a tiny device and hand it over to Ichigo, ordering him to adjust it inside of one of his ears.

''What on earth is this?'' The teen asked him, examining the device. He had agreed to go along with Mr. Madman's request, but using one of his suspicious gadgets and, moreover, inserting it inside of his body, was way outside his comfort zone.

''Shh! No needless chit-chat! Do what I said, and stand in that spot,'' Mayuri ordered him a second time, pointing at a place near the wall behind Ichigo. Not the best method to convince someone to follow your words, but that was who Mayuri was anyway, so there was no helping it.

If Ichigo desired to get the game over with, he had to obey until the mad scientist was satisfied enough to let him go without causing a scene. And that was exactly what he did! He plugged the device Mayuri had given him deep into his right ear, feeling a small sting for some reason, and standing right where Mayuri showed him. His annoyance about the entire situation could be distinguished easily from his facial expressions, but for peace's sake, he had to be patient.

''Am I good here?'' Ichigo asked Mayuri to confirm if he was standing in the right spot.

As an answer, the scientist gestured to him ''fine'' by making a circle with his left thumb and index finger and approached a large computer, typing something on its keyboard. That caused a machine slightly resembling a phone booth inside of the wall behind Ichigo to pop out and open its glass doors widely.

''Huh? Where did this come from?'' The Substitute Soul Reaper questioned, currently at a loss. He couldn't guess what was happening, but as it seemed, there was more to Mayuri's request than met the eye. The problem was that he wouldn't have the chance to figure it out in time.

''NEMU!'' Mayuri called out suddenly, giving his hidden lieutenant the green light to jump from a secret hideout inside of another wall right into Ichigo's chest, kicking him towards the machine's interior.

A second later, its doors closed fast, trapping Ichigo like a mouse.

''THE HELL! LET ME OUT! HEAR ME, KUROTSUCHI-SAN? LET ME OUT, DAMMIT!'' Ichigo started yelling in frustration, but Mayuri paid no attention to him, grinning and pressing a large button on the keyboard. With that, the machine's interior began glowing a bright white light, swallowing Ichigo's figure whole. ''WAAAH!'' A loud cry was heard then within the light, implying that Mayuri's invention had gotten to business concerning the unfortunate teenager.

A kind of business Ichigo was bound to find out about soon, and not under the best possible circumstances.

Seconds later…

Above a forest near a crimson ocean, a round, white portal opened in the sky, throwing out Ichigo in a crashing course with the ground. Realizing it and not wishing for any troublesome bumps on his head, he swiftly used his shunpo, running through the air and landing down smoothly. Recovering from that, he surveyed the area around him in hopes of getting an idea of his location.

Hopes that didn't take too long to be crushed!

''Where the heck am I?'' he wondered in confusion, several drops of sweat appearing on his face. Ichigo was familiar with a lot of places in and out of his town, but that scenery around him was utterly unknown.

Naturally, this caused him insecurity… Insecurity and great anger! He was feeling half anxious because of the situation he was in, and half enraged because of Mayuri's underhanded trick to force him into participating in whatever he had on his mind.

''Damn him! When I get back, that lunatic's up for the worst beating of his life!'' he proclaimed, a deep scowl forming on his face and his fists clenched furiously. ''Just wait till I get ba—'' he attempted to add before the tiny device in his ear sent a faint electric shock to his brain, forcing him to stop his speech midway.

And that wasn't all!

Following the slight shock, for a strange reason Mayuri's voice echoed inside Ichigo's head in a grumpy tone. ''Why don't you make yourself useful by doing something more productive than foolishly threatening my life, Kurosaki Ichigo?''

From the look of things, what Mayuri had given him to plug into his ear was an advanced type of inter-dimensional transmitter.

''YOU BASTARD! HOW COULD YOU? I TRUSTED YOU!'' Ichigo yelled angrily, touching his ear.

An action that was quite meaningless as proven a minute later.

''Hn! Your trust holds no value to me compared to the scientific discoveries I'm bound to make by sending you to another dimension.'' Mayuri replied to him indifferently from his end of the line. He was a man dedicated to science, so everything unrelated to that came last as a priority for him.

''Another… WHAT?!'' Ichigo questioned, dumbstruck and wide-eyed. He was feeling quite uneasy already about his whereabouts, but what he just heard multiplied the situation's severity tenfold.

As for Mayuri, paying no heed to his victim's disturbance, he nonchalantly began explaining to him his brilliant, as he called it, plan about making new discoveries in foreign dimensions... How he had decided to give Ichigo the privilege of becoming a hero of the scientific world by testing his invention on him… the transmitter's purpose, which was to send back audio and images to his lab by connecting to the poor teen's brain… the fact that it could be removed solely by surgery… and the electric shock's function that was added to ensure that his volunteer wouldn't ruin the mission. Also, as a result of Ichigo's absence, Mayuri would send back to his body a special Mod Soul, infused with all the data he had collected on his character, so no one could find out about the experiment. Well, Urahara Kisuke was an exception, but as long as the copy didn't approach him, everything would be all right.

''I think this is enough. Even someone as simple-minded as you couldn't possibly have difficulties to comprehend your role, Kurosaki Ichigo... Now our little discussion's over. I have other things to attend to, and you must do your job like a proper test subject,'' Mayuri claimed casually and the next second cut off the communication between them with a simple "click."

Realizing that, Ichigo flinched, leaving behind his momentary confusion.

''NO! WAIT! FUCK, YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!'' Ichigo yelled, but with no response coming from the other end of the line. Mayuri had thrown him into the most absurd situation he could, and he abandoned Ichigo there all alone with not a single qualm. When he returned, the mad scientist was as good as dead. ''AARRGG! THAT MANIAC! IF I GET MY HANDS ON HIM, HE'S SO SCREWED! I SWEAR, HE'S FINISHED…!'' he growled in utter frustration.

And he would undoubtedly have continued his rant if it wasn't for a series of female voices coming unexpectedly from his right, cutting his delirium short and drawing his attention.

''Wow! Did you see that guy with the weird clothes? He talks to himself.''

''He must be messed up in the head.''

Two girls of a group of three were heard discussing among themselves while staring at Ichigo with a disturbed expression. They wore a school uniform consisting of a green jacket, a white shirt beneath it, a red ribbon a little below their necks, a light-brown plaid skirt, long white socks and black shoes. Additionally, they each carried a dark brown briefcase.

''Who cares about that! He's armed! Better run for it before he kills us.'' The third girl suggested in panic.

Upon hearing that suggestion, her two friends realized instantly that she was actually right, and without further ado, all three of them ran hastily towards an unknown destination. Behind them, Ichigo was left pondering what that was all about.

''Hey, were those three really able to see me? Could it be that they have high spiritual awareness?'' Ichigo wondered, gazing skeptically at the direction the girls fled to. Normally, the ones capable of seeing him in his Soul Reaper form were generally other spiritual beings and a few exceptions... Were they some of those exceptions? The only way to answer that question was to tail them and do a little investigation, he concluded.

In any case, he didn't know what to expect from that dimension's people and if by any chance they were hostile and they could all see him, he had to devise a strategy to move around without alerting anyone of his presence.

Several minutes later…

After following the path the girls took by jumping from tree to tree to not be as visible as on the ground, simultaneously getting a raw idea of that world's structure, Ichigo arrived at the forest's exit, finding himself in front of a building of slightly medieval architecture. A building that, from the looks of it, was a school, according to all the young people assembled near it, wearing school uniforms like the ones he saw on the girls earlier and a male version replacing the ribbon with a tie and the skirt with pants. Also, everyone was carrying the same type of briefcase.

''Well, look at that! Wherever I go, school haunts me,'' Ichigo joked with a nostalgic smile, sitting on the large branch of a tall tree. Whatever changes his life had undergone within the past two years, he was still a third-year in high school. ''So, here I am, but I'm still not sure how to approach those fellas. It seems that they have never met a Soul Reaper before...'' He mumbled to himself, rubbing his chin.

Then, his left ear picked up a number of loud noises coming from beneath him and with his curiosity rising, he lowered his gaze down. By doing so, he witnessed a group of students heading towards the school building. The group consisted of two boys, one his age and one younger, and six girls, four his age and two younger.

Besides the older boy and a girl with long, silver hair and crimson eyes, the students looked very different from the rest of the student body, each sporting a significant number of personal alterations. One of them resembled a little witch, and another one wore a gothic outfit completely unlike the standard uniform. Everyone had different hair colors—half of them being quite flashy—and different hair styles, including one that seemed Chinese.

They were that dimension's respective heroes, Aono Tsukune and his closest friends, who were up to their usual daily routine; the girls—Kokoa excluded—fawning over him, Fong Fong enthusiastically admiring him while he, himself, strived to calm them down.

''Tsukuneee~, hold hands with me today!'' the voluptuous succubus, Kurumu Kurono, pleaded with him playfully, pulling on his jacket's right sleeve.

''No! Tsukune's going to hold hands with me. I'm his future wife,'' the persistent yuki-onna, Mizore Shirayuki, corrected her friend bluntly, mimicking the action on his other sleeve.

''It's not fair! I want to hold hands with Tsukune-san too-desu!'' the young, genius witch, Yukari Sendo, complained childishly, hopping in front of the three of them in protest.

''Aaahh~… Holding hands~… I would also like to try this with Tsukune-san. Though, that feeling of being left out is quite enjoyable in its own special way!'' the gang's other witch, as well as adviser and a big masochist, Ruby Toujou, claimed blissfully with a flustered face due to the incomprehensible pleasure she was experiencing at the moment.

''Please, everyone, why don't we just continue walking to school as we are, eh? Walking alone feels more comfortable, don't you think?'' Tsukune asked the four girls in a desperate attempt to balance the situation between them.

''Yeah! Tsukune is right. Sticking to each other can be quite inconvenient,'' the gorgeous and proud vampire, Moka Akashiya, pointed out in a lecturing tone. Right after that, she lightly pushed Kurumu to the side, grabbing Tsukune's right hand in a swift movement. ''…and if Tsukune is going to hold hands with someone, it should be me,'' she hummed, smiling, which made Tsukune blush.

Naturally, that worsened the situation, driving Kurumu and Mizore to start yelling at her, Moka to respond with a glare and Yukari to increase her complaints. Ruby was simply continuing with her bizarre pleasure inside of her own world.

''Haa… This thing every single morning… Why Onee-sama can't put a stop to this mess by convincing that guy to marry her?'' the younger, bratty sister of Moka, Kokoa Shuzen, huffed in exasperation.

Since she was part of their gang, she had to join them every morning during their walk to school and accordingly keep enduring their unbearable love comedy focused on the other girls' attempts to win over Tsukune's heart. In reality, everyone was aware of the person he truly loved and how pointless their struggles were, but they preferred to turn a blind eye to that in hopes he changed his mind. That was something Kokoa could neither sympathize with, nor tolerate it ruining the rest of her school days. Aono Tsukune had to make a decision at some point about his choice for a lover and he better made it soon, because her temper couldn't withstand more of these mornings.

''Oh, don't be like that, Kokoa-chan! Tsukune-san is a man of high-caliber and as this kind of man, he deserves the love of every woman around him!'' Fong Fong told her with a smile. He was Tsukune's number one male admirer and if he didn't compliment his idol, who would?

''He's not getting mine!'' Kokoa declared to him stubbornly, crossing her arms in front of her chest while continuing her way behind the source of her annoyance and the loud girls around him.

A few meters above them, Ichigo stared down at them with an amazed expression.

''Whoa! Talk about a bothersome situation… Bet that Keigo would be jealous of that guy for being popular like he's of Mizuiro, but surely, not me! If this is what you have to face by being a ladies man, count me out!'' Ichigo commented in his head with his eyes fixed on that noisy group. He hadn't the chance to form a loving relationship until now, and observing Tsukune's hurdles, that idea drifted even farther away from his thoughts. As a Soul Reaper and direct guardian of his town, he had a lot of important responsibilities resting on his shoulders and no time to waste on various girls.

Moreover, that picture didn't sit so well in his mind. For him, dragging so many girls along seemed unmanly. If you were a decent man, you ought to make things clear between your fangirls and state which one was your true love interest.

''Seriously… I can't understand how someone can choose to live a life like th-'' he was about to add, but his spiritual senses detected multiple hostile auras scattered amidst the woods across from his current location, leading him to scowl. To whomever those auras belonged, they indicated trouble.

Trouble that didn't take long to show itself…

Before he had the chance to fully analyze the auras' origins, a couple of thin, metallic needles were fired without warning from inside the shadows, heading at lightning speed toward Moka, who was walking beside Tsukune. To her luck, Ichigo used his shunpo to move beside her instantly and block them with his Zangetsu before they made contact.

''Eh?! What happened?'' Moka exclaimed, startled by Ichigo's sudden appearance.

''Who are you?'' Tsukune demanded, feeling confused, a state everyone in his group shared with him during that moment.

''No time to explain! We aren't done yet!'' Ichigo answered hastily.

His statement proved to be quite correct; after the failure of the first wave of needles, a few others followed behind, filling the air like horizontal rain. Of course, Ichigo could handle it with much ease if he was on his own, but he had to protect those people, so his movements were restricted to a short, horizontal line between the needles and their targets.

''Shit! They have no end!'' Ichigo cursed, using shunpo consecutively to block with his sword every wave of needles that was coming towards them. He knew where the enemies were, but since he was occupied with blocking the needles, attacking them was out of the question. That irritated him greatly.

Thankfully for him, that uncomfortable position was bound to change in the upcoming minutes…

Witnessing that unknown, young man acting as their shield, Tsukune gestured to the others to assist him. They all nodded in agreement and immediately released their true forms, or weapons in the case of Ruby, Yukari, and Kokoa. Next, the two witches joined their wands together, summoning an indigo magic barrier around the group.

''Huh? What's this?'' Ichigo blinked in astonishment at the wall of energy before him.

''It's our two friends' magic...'' Tsukune explained to him, drawing Ichigo's attention and approaching him in his unarmored Shinso form. ''I don't know who you are, but I must thank you for protecting Moka-san's life. I was careless and I couldn't sense the assault earlier.''

In accordance with Tsukune's words, Moka, who was also in her unarmored Shinso form, performed a slight bow as her own act of appreciation.

''No… Don't mention it. Protecting people is my job.'' Ichigo responded to him in a reserved fashion and turned back to the direction the needles were fired. ''Anyway, we solved the protection problem, but we still have to pull out those rats that keep firing them.''

Hearing him, Tsukune smiled confidently. ''It's okay! You protected us, but we can't have you doing everything on your own. Now it's our turn to take action,'' he claimed and turned back to Moka, Kurumu, Mizore, and Kokoa with a look that implied that it was time for them to counter-attack.

The girls followed his lead and unleashed a series of different techniques that slipped through the barrier right into the needles' firing source. Tsukune's was a large, crimson energy blast delivered with a punch, Moka's was a large, dark violet energy slash through a kick, Kurumu's ten thin, long, pink energy scratches with her nails, Mizore's a small barrage of ice daggers with her ice claws, and Kokoa's some light violet energy arrows through her transforming bat, Kou, who transformed into a bow.

Next, the series of attacks resulted in various parts of the woods to be blown up, revealing the existence of many small, green creatures with long noses and pointy ears holding long peashooters and running around in panic when some of their accomplices laid dead on the ground.

''Goblins...'' Yukari pointed out the instant she laid her eyes upon the green creatures.

''Gob- What?'' Ichigo questioned, at a loss. His knowledge on magic beings wasn't so great, so he was unfamiliar with the goblin's identity.

''Goblins... Earth monsters with small body structure, which live in huge communities and attack in equally huge packs. Their weapon of choice is usually a peashooter with poison needles,'' Ruby informed the puzzled Soul Reaper to enlighten him on their enemies' status.

''Ah… I see… '' Ichigo muttered, thinking that he jumped inside a world of fairy tales due to all the mythical creatures he was seeing around him.

''They must be another team of assassins... Curses, we couldn't publish even a single newspaper with all those assaults recently,'' Tsukune remarked, clenching his fists. Having to repel assassins repeatedly from the day someone put a price on his head, he and his friends hadn't a single chance to enjoy a peaceful school day, or perform any club activities.

''Well, there's no need to sweat, Tsukune! We took care of the previous assassins, so we'll take care of these, too,'' Moka reassured him then with a smile, approaching him and gently placing her right palm on his left shoulder. The gesture soothed his anger and returned him back to his usual, composed self.

''Thank you, Moka-san!'' Tsukune thanked her with a relieved smile and to his fangirls' disappointment, returned the gesture by placing his own right palm on top of her hand.

He shifted his attention back to the goblins. ''But honestly... There are so many of them that if we don't figure out a method to kill them all swiftly, we won't make it in time for half of our classes,'' he whined dejectedly.

Hearing him, Ichigo stepped forward, placing himself in front of them with his gaze targeted toward the goblins.

''If that's the case, I think I may have something that can wipe them all out at once,'' Ichigo announced to everyone, tightening his grip on his sword's hilt. ''I just want to know how strong this barrier is and if it can withstand advanced energy attacks.''

''This is our best defense barrier. Yukari-chan and I trained a lot to be able to summon it. Whatever you wish to do, there's no doubt that it will hold up,'' Ruby informed him in a serious tone to give him a green light to whatever he was planning on doing.

''That's good to hear!'' Ichigo smirked confidently that instant, shifting his sight forward and raising his sword up. ''Let's get to business then...'' he declared, starting to concentrate a humongous amount of reiatsu on his blade.

Two meters behind him, Tsukune and the rest were watching him, astounded by the intense energy gathering so close to them.

''Okay, that's gonna be enough,'' Ichigo deemed, stopping the fueling of his blade with his reiatsu. ''GETSUGA TENSHOOO!'' he roared, drawing his blade roughly to the front and unleashing a massive, azure energy wave that slipped through the barrier and blasted goblins, trees, rocks, and anything else in its path to smithereens. Accordingly, it shook the entire ground around that area, formed a few strong gales and filled the barrier with many large cracks. After traveling a couple of meters, it dissolved steadily into thin air, unveiling a path of dirt where a considerable patch of greenery once existed.

The scene left all of Tsukune's gang with their jaws dropped in awe. They all questioned simultaneously: ''Who is that guy clad in a black and where did he come from?''

As for Ichigo, unaware of the state of the people behind him, he was staring at his work with a perplexed expression. ''Hmm... Maybe I should have held back a little...'' he murmured, rubbing the top of his head in thought.

Due to some strange whim, he ended up going to another dimension, marking unknowingly to him the beginning of a series of events that were destined to affect him, as well as the rest of that foreign world around him.

A/N:

1) Hope you liked the 1st chap. It didn't have many things going of course, but it was mainly the introduction to the story, so we still have time for the candies. ;)

2) If someone can't see it well and wishes to do so (just saying),I uploaded my cover's pic at the bottom of my profile. I was pushing my eyes for 5 days,but I think I managed to create something good.

My thanks to my beta reader mrtysh for her precious help in completing this chap!

See ya next time, guys!