Hello my beloved readers, it's Unknown entity328 with a brand new fanfic XD! This fanfic was requested by my younger sister and I already had a plot swimming around in my head for this just waiting to be used so I thought what the heck? It took a while to get the details right, but I'm happy with the results and I hope you'll support this fanfic like my other fanfics. Now on with the chapter!

Chapter One: The Story Begins

Rukia and Renji were walking along the empty streets of the Hanging Dog district on their way back to their hideout after another successful raid when Renji thought about what Rukia said at their friends graves.

"Rukia." Renji said getting Rukia to turn her head to face him giving him a questioning look. "Do you think we have what it takes to enter the academy?"

"Oh come on Renji, don't tell me you're backing out." Rukia said giving Renji an exasperated look before a sly smirk made its way across her face. "Or is it you're scared?"

"I am not scared shorty!" Renji shouted with a fist in her face and a tic mark on his forehead.

"Who are you calling shorty tomato head?!" Rukia yelled getting in Renji's face angry at the shorty comment.

Before their argument could progress, something fell on top of Renji causing him to fall flat on his face and spill everything that was in the jar he was holding. Renji groaned while Rukia just stood over him with a surprised look on her face. On top of Renji was an unconscious boy looking about fifteen years in age with short spiky white hair wearing a light blue kimono. Rukia looked up to see where the boy could have fallen from only to see nothing but the clear blue sky.

"That's weird." Rukia mumbled to herself crossing her arms in thought. "There's nothing to fall off from, so how did he fall on top of Renji?"

"In case you forgot Rukia." Renji managed to get out reminding the raven haired girl that he was still flat on the ground face first. "Can you get this guy off me?"

"Oh, sorry." Rukia said sheepishly before she put down the jar she was holding and started to pull the unconscious boy by his arms off the red head. Renji got up rubbing his now aching back and looked down to the unconscious boy that fell on top of him.

"Any idea who this is?" Renji asked not recalling ever seeing the boy in the Hanging Dog district before.

"No." Rukia shook her head. "I've never seen him before. Do you think he's a new arrival?"

"Doubt it, new arrivals don't usually fall from the sky." Renji looked at the unconscious boy with suspicion in his eyes. "Maybe he's a ryoka?"

"If he was a ryoka we would be seeing soul reapers running around here looking for him." Rukia deadpanned looking around the district. "Do you see any soul reapers running around yelling 'Find the ryoka' anywhere?"

"I guess you have a point there." Renji admitted scratching the back of his head in thought. "What do you think we should do with him?"

"Let's take him back with us." Rukia suggested as she took one of the unconscious boy's arms and slung it over her shoulder and Renji just looked at her like she was crazy. "We can't just leave him here."

Renji just stood there before sighing and scratched the back of his head again. "Alright fine, I'll carry him and you carry what's left of what we got." Rukia nodded as she moved the boy to Renji's back and she picked up the jar she was holding while Renji looped his arms under the white haired teens legs and stood up. After Renji was sure he had a good grip so the boy wouldn't fall, the two continued their way to the shack where they live. Renji noticed something and looked down to see that the teen on his back had a black tattoo on his right foot in the shape of the number twenty. He raised an eyebrow and looked to Rukia. "Hey Rukia." The petite black haired girl gave the red head an inquisitive look and he nodded his head down. "Any idea what this could mean?"

Raising an eyebrow Rukia looked to the white haired teen's right foot to see the black number twenty tattoo. She looked back to Renji and shook her head. "No clue, maybe he can answer that for us when he wakes up." Renji nodded in agreement and they continued on in silence.

The teen groaned as he slowly opened his golden eyes to see the ceiling of a rundown building. He got up to a sitting position causing the blanket and wet cloth on his forehead to fall and looked around with curious eyes.

"Where am I?" The boy asked himself as he looked around.

"Oh good, you're awake." A feminine voice said causing the boy to turn to the entrance of the building to see a girl with raven black hair with a strand between her eyes and a boy with red hair tied in a messy ponytail. "How are you feeling?"

"I think I'm alright." The boy said unsurely placing a hand on his forehead before lowering it and looked around the shack again. "Where am I?"

"You're in the south 78th district of the soul society." The red haired teen said before pointing to himself. "The names Renji Abarai by the way."

"And I'm Rukia." The raven haired girl said sitting next to the blond boy who was still sitting in a makeshift bed. "What's your name?"

The teen opened his mouth to respond but closed it and looked down to his hands folded on his lap with a frown on his face as he got lost in his thoughts. He sighed and shook his head. "I don't have a name."

"What do you mean you don't have a name?" Renji asked raising an eyebrow. "You've got to have one."

"Maybe amnesia?" Rukia guessed resting her chin between her thumb and index finger humming in thought before looking to the white haired boy. "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Um..." The teen closed his eyes placing a hand on the side of his head as blurry images played inside his head. He was in a cold, dark place with no light to be seen hearing nothing but anguished screams. "I remember being somewhere really dark hearing screams of anguish, that's all I can remember."

Rukia and Renji shared a look before Rukia addressed their guest. "Maybe you should get some rest while we get dinner ready, if you have high spirit energy like us then you must be hungry." As if to answer for him, the boy's stomach started to growl demanding food causing him to blush in embarrassment while Rukia and Renji just chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Sorry for the trouble." The boy said trying to will away his blush as he laid down.

"Don't worry about it." Renji said waving a dismissive hand. "Rukia would have had my head if we left you to die." This earned him an elbow to the ribs from the petite girl that had a tick mark on her forehead while their bedridden guest just sweat dropped as Renji fell to his knees with his arms wrapped around his ribs.

"Pay him no mind." Rukia said before grabbing Renji by the back of his clothes and started to drag him out of the room. She stopped at the entrance to look back to the white haired boy. "By the way, do you want us to think of a name for you since you can't remember your old one?"

The boy blinked in surprise. "Give me a name?"

"Of course." Rukia nodded looking down to Renji then back. "We can't just keep referring to you as 'hey' or 'you' all the time, you need a proper name."

"Rukia's right." Renji piped in pulling the back of his clothes out of Rukia's grip and got to his feet dusting himself off. "Some people in the rukon district can't remember their names and so they give themselves new ones, so why not you?" He reached into the fold of his clothes and tossed a small bag tied closed with a piece of string to the white haired boy who caught it. "It'll be a little while before the food's ready, so eat that for now."

The white haired boy looked at the bag curiously before undoing the string and looked inside to see it was filled with different colored rock candy. He picked on up to examine it for a moment and tossed it in his mouth before his eyes widened in surprise when it touched his tongue. "It's sweet."

Renji laughed at the white head's reaction. "Of course it's sweet, it's rock candy."

"Rock candy?" The white haired teen repeated tilting his head to the side as he took out another to roll it between his thumb and index finger before putting it in his mouth enjoying it's sweet taste.

"Glad to see you like it." Rukia chuckled seeing the look of pure bliss on their guest's face. "Anyway, get some rest when you finish that." She then grabbed Renji's arm and dragged him out of the room leaving the white haired teen by himself to get lost in his thoughts.

'They seem nice.' He thought as he retied the string to close the bag and placed it on his lap. He look out the only window in the room bringing a hand over his eyes when the setting sun blinded him a little. 'Who am I? where did I come from? I can't remember anything other than hearing anguished screams.' He hissed when he felt a slight sting on his right foot and tossed the blanket off him to see what made the stinging sensation and what he saw was the number twenty tattoo on his foot. His eyes widened at what he was seeing and lightly touched the tattoo. 'W-what is this? W-why is it on my foot?' The stinging sensation faded and the teen continued to stare at the tattoo as he tried to remember where it came from.

He sighed and laid down to stare at the ceiling. "Why do I have this tattoo? Did I get it before I lost my memories?" He placed the back of his left hand on his forehead as he thought over what Rukia offered him. "A name, huh? What should my name be?" He shook his head and closed his eyes falling into a dreamless sleep.

Meanwhile, Renji and Rukia were in the room adjacent to the room their guest was resting in standing in front of a fire carefully watching the metal bowl suspended over the flame as the stew in it boiled.

"We forgot to ask him about that tattoo." Renji commented tossing a piece of wood in the fire to keep it burning.

"He probably wouldn't know anything as to why he has it even if we did ask him Renji." Rukia replied chopping some vegetables and tossing them into the stew. "He has amnesia, so we should wait until his memories come back."

"Then what should we do until then?" Renji asked scratching the back of his head. "This place is crowded enough with just the two of us, and there's the fact that we're going to apply for the academy soon."

"That's a good point." Rukia muttered in agreement resting her chin between her thumb and index finger. "It's also a problem that he has no memories prior to being in a dark place hearing anguished screams." She ran her fingers through her hair as she contemplated what to do about their white haired guest before looking to Renji. "Do you think we should suggest him applying to the academy with us?"

"There's no way they'll accept him Rukia." Renji said waving a dismissive hand. "He can't even remember his own name let alone pass the entrance exam." He put out the fire and stood straight up. "Not to mention we don't even know if he has enough spirit energy to even get passed the guardian of the gate to take the entrance exam."

"He must have even a little if he's hungry." Rukia pointed out leaving the room coming back a minute later with three wooden bowls. "Don't forget that residents of the rukon district don't get hungry unless they have a certain amount of spirit energy."

"Oh, right." Renji looked away from Rukia using a finger to scratch his slightly red cheek. "I knew that."

"Of course you did." Rukia said sarcastically rolling her eyes as she carefully scooped some of the stew in the bowls and handed one to Renji. "Why don't you go see if our guest is awake and give him this?"

"Fine." Renji sighed taking the bowl and walked to the room where the white haired teen was sleeping. "I might as well ask him a few questions to see what else he remembers." He entered the room to see that the white haired teen was slowly opening his eyes and sitting up using the back of his hand to rub the sleep out of them. "Perfect timing, food's just finished cooking." He approached the white haired teen and held out the bowl. "Here, it's hot so be careful."

"Thank you." The teen said gratefully taking the bowl blowing on it a few times before bringing it to his lips and took a sip. He continued to drink the stew until it was empty before handing it to Renji. "Thank you, that was good."

"Don't mention it." Renji nodded taking the bowl. "Did you remember anything?"

The white haired teen shook his head. "Nothing, I can't remember anything other than what I told you two earlier."

"That so?" Renji raised an eyebrow looking to the white haired teen's foot. "I take it you don't know why you have that tattoo either, huh?" Again the teen shook his head looking over to the number twenty tattoo with a frown. Renji sighed resting a hand on his hip as he looked at the teen. "Anyway, about your name." The white haired teen looked to Renji giving his full attention. "I thought about it and it's probably not that good." He looked away from the white haired teen rubbing the back of his neck. "What do you think of Toya as your name?"

"Toya?" The teen asked tilting his head to the side.

"Yeah." Renji nodded putting the bowl by the teen and taking the other boy's hand having the palm facing up as he traced a finger along it. "You spell it like this, 冬靖." He looked up to the teen who was still looking at his hand. "What do you think?"

"Toya." He muttered as he copied the writing Renji showed him with his own finger. He looked up to Renji giving a small shy smile and nodded. "I like it."

"Toya it is then." Renji grinned picking up the bowl and walked towards the door stopping to look back at the now named Toya. "I'll go let Rukia know you have a name now, you rest some more Toya." Then he left the room and Toya laid down to stare at the ceiling.

"I have a name now." Toya whispered to himself bringing his hand up over his head and began tracing the characters for his new name. "Toya, I really like my new name." He had a thoughtful look on his face as he brought his hands down to rest by his sides as he continued to look up at the ceiling. "Should I think of a surname to go with my new name? Probably."

Three weeks has passed since Rukia and Renji encountered Toya and let him stay with them as he recovered and try to remember his past. On the second week, Toya made a full recovery and now wanders around the many districts in hopes of finding anything that would help him remember who he was or people who recognized him. He searched seven of the eighty districts in south rukon with nothing familiar and no one he asked knew him or of the tattoo on his foot.

"I'm back." Toya called out as he walked into the rundown shack to see that no one was home. "Did they go out again?" He went into his room that Rukia and Renji gave him and saw a note on his bed and picked it up to read what it said. "Toya, we'll be back before sunset." He looked out the window to see that the blue sky was slowly turning orange. "They must be on their way back now." He looked back to the note when the tattoo on his foot caught his attention and he frowned at the number. "What does this number mean? I searched seven districts and there's no lead to who I am."

"We're back." Toya heard Renji call out and turned to his door to see Renji and Rukia walk in. "Hey Toya, how'd the search go."

"Same as always Renji." Toya replied giving a smile. Over the past three weeks, after getting to know Rukia and Renji, Toya became more friendly and expressed more emotion than he did when they first met. Although he also developed a stubborn streak once he's made up his mind. "No one knew who I was or about my tattoo in district 71."

"At least that's another district off your list." Renji joked giving the white haired teen a grin. "At the rate your going, you'll find out who you are in no time."

"I appreciate the words of confidence Renji." Toya said letting out a sigh. "But I know that there are 320 districts in the rukon district and I only searched through seven of that 320." He clenched a fist holding it up. "I'm not giving up yet, I'll remember who I am even if I have to break into the Seireitei to do it."

"About that." Rukia said joining the conversation. "You may not need to break in to get in the Seireitei."

"What do you mean Rukia?" Toya asked in confusion.

"I talked to Renji about it a while ago." Rukia said giving Renji a side glance and from the look of realization on his face, he knew what she was talking about before she looked to Toya. "Maybe you should apply for the soul reaper academy with us Toya."

"Me?" Toya's eyes widened in surprise. "Become a soul reaper?"

Rukia nodded as she explained. "If you become a soul reaper, you can get in the Seireitei without getting in trouble and you can search through the districts faster." She pulled out a piece of paper that showed a map of the districts of south rukon. "Soul reapers use a technique called Flash Step to go from one place to another at really high speeds." She folded the paper and handed it to Toya. "If you can use this technique, you can cover all of south rukon in a few days."

"Rukia's right." Renji said in realization grinning to Toya. "You can even access their archives to see if there's a clue to that tattoo on your foot Toya."

Toya looked down to said tattoo and had a contemplative look on his face as he pondered what he should do. The mark seems to mock him every time he looks at it, like it was telling him that he'll never remember his past and that no one would care if he did. He remembered everything that Rukia and Renji told him about soul reapers and considered the pros and cons of becoming one very carefully. On the one hand, he can find out who he was faster. But on the other hand, he could end up dead long before he learns anything as a hollow's dinner.

"I'll have to think about it." Toya finally said walking past Rukia and Renji and out of the rundown building they call home. He looked back to the duo who followed him out the door and gave a small smile. "I'm going for a walk, I'll be back." He walked down the dirt path of the 78th district not paying attention to the passing people as he got lost in his thoughts letting his feet decide on the destination. Eventually, Toya left district 78 and entered district 77 continuing on his walk until he stopped at the top of a hill in front of a large apple tree before climbing it to sit on the highest branch and stared off into the distance.

"South rukon is so big, to think there are 240 more in other directions." Toya sighed reaching for the closest apple and plucked it off the branch and wiped it on his clothes before taking a bite. "How long would it take me to search all of the districts? Probably decades if not centuries." He took another bite of the apple as he watched the people walked about without a care in the world. "A soul reaper, huh? Should I enter the academy?" He tossed his finished apple and held out his right hand with the palm facing up and concentrated his eyes on it. A minute later, a glowing white orb the size of a basket ball was floating over his hand and Toya stared at it before willing it away letting his arm fall to the side to watch the setting sun. "I should head back."

The sound of howling caught Toya's attention and turned his head to look behind him where the sound came from and his eyes widened when he saw a giant creature that had green skin with black markings on it's arms and chest, a hole in the middle of it's chest, the top half of it's body being humanoid while the bottom half was a snake tail, and a white mask that looked like a snake head with red markings around the eye holes that had yellow glowing eyes slithering up the hill.

'A hollow?' Toya thought as his body quivered in fear when the creature noticed him and let out another howl before picking speed towards him. Toya flinched at the monster's speed and jumped off the tree branch landing on hit feet stumbling forward a little before running down the hill as fast as he could with the hollow not far behind. 'What's a hollow doing here?!' Toya made a sharp left turn entering a forest guiding the hollow away from the district. 'I got to get it away from the other souls in the district!' He tripped on an exposed tree root and fell face first into the dirt before quickly getting up and running again not daring to look back in fear to see how close the hollow is. 'There's no way I'm dying in a place like this!'

The hollow halted it's pursuit of Toya and it's head looked to it's left before letting out a howling and slithered in that direction. Toya stopped running to look back wondering why the hollow stopped chasing him when a scream was heard and his eyes widened in realization before running after the hollow brushing aside low tree branches until he was in a clearing with the hollow towering over a crying little girl. Toya made a mad dash when the hollow opened it's mouth and lunged towards the girl. Toya jumped forward wrapping his arms protectively around the girl as he rolled along the ground barely missing the hollow's jaw. After skidding to a stop, Toya looked down to the girl who was still crying.

"Are you alright?" The girl nodded burying her face into his chest as he sat up and looked over to the hollow to see it was having difficulty getting it's head out of the ground. Toya quickly let go of the girl placing his hands on her shoulders looking her in the eyes. "You need to run, I'll keep that thing busy for you." The girl shook her head rapidly and Toya moved his hands under her arms, picked her up, and tossed her to the edge of the clearing picking up a broken tree branch and getting to his feet. He looked back to see the girl was still there. "Run! Do you want to die?!" The girl flinched before turning and ran into the forest never looking back. When the girl was out of sight Toya looked back to the hollow gripping the branch with both hand as it finally pulled it's head out of the ground. Toya's entire body shook when the hollow slithered towards him howling but he stood his ground tightening his grip on the tree branch.

Toya let out a yell as he charged at the hollow bringing the branch up to strike only for the hollow to swat him away with it's tail sending him crashing his back into a tree and coughing up blood before falling to the ground. Toya used his left arm to push himself up and quickly got to his feet before charging at the hollow only to be swatted away again with a tail to the chest and skidding across the ground on his back. Toya started to have trouble breathing and knew right away that a rib must have broke puncturing a lung. Fighting the pain he got to his feet again to see the hollow lunge for him with it's mouth open and he closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable pain of being eaten. Toya slowly opened his eyes when he realized he was still alive and looked up to see a man with spiky raven black hair wearing a black shihakusho holding a sword that pierced through the hollows mask before it dissolved.

"Barely made it." The man muttered to himself swiping his sword to the side to get the excess blood off the blade before sheathing it and turning to Toya for him to see that his savior was very youthful in appearance and very tall. He had aqua green eyes and had a spiral tattoo in his left arm. "Hey, you alright kid?"

"I-I think so." Toya replied only to wince in pain wrapping an arm around where his rib was broken falling to his knees.

"Obviously you're not alright." The man stated with his arms on his hips looking behind him. "Hey! We got an injured soul here!"

"Coming!" Out of the trees came a woman with long brown hair wearing the same Shihakusho as Toya's savior only she carried a bag on her back. She stopped and knelt down to Toya carefully laying him down and gently move his arm away from his ribs. She took off her bag and opened the zipper to pull out a pair of pink gloves and pulled them on before looking down to Toya. "I need you to stay very still okay?" Toya nodded and the woman placed her hands over him and they started to glow green.

"Tell us kid." Toya looked to his savior who had his arms crossed. "Why did you fight that hollow instead of run?"

"I don't know." Toya replied trying to stay still like the woman asked. "I was just minding my own business when it showed up." He felt his rib slowly mending itself and his breathing was evening out. "I was scared so I ran and it chased after me. I thought if I could get it in the forest I could lose it and get it away from the district at the same time." He sighed turning his head to look up at the sky to see it was night now and the stars were making themselves known. "But that shot to hell when it went to this clearing trying to eat a little girl. I don't know what came over me, but when the hollow was about to eat I her I just jumped in to save her and told her to run while I kept it busy."

"And that was where we came in when it was about to do to you what it planned with the girl." The man concluded and Toya nodded. The man crouched looking down to Toya and reached down to ruffle his hair. Toya looked to the man in surprise to see he was grinning. "That was brave of you, risking your life to save another."

"I'm done." The woman said as the green glow faded and she lowered her arms and Toya sat up patting his chest a little. "Do you still feel pain anywhere?"

Toya shook his head and looked up to the two as they stood up. "Are you two soul reapers?"

"That's right." The man nodded giving a two fingered salute. "Name's Kaien Shiba, and the person next to me is Mayumi Sato." Mayumi smiled and gave a small wave. "Well, now that the hollow's dealt with, it's time we returned to the seireitei." Kaien looked down to Toya and ruffled his hair again. "Maybe we'll meet again, you should apply for the academy. With your spirit energy you'll get in no problem." He then turned and walked away with Mayumi following him.

Toya watched them leave until he could no longer seem them before getting to his feet and turned to leave in the opposite direction. "So those were soul reapers, huh?" He looked up too see the stars through the gaps of the tree leaves and had a contemplative look on his face before nodding to himself with a smile. "I've decided, I'll be a soul reaper." With his decision made Toya ran the rest of the way home to tell Rukia and Renji he's made his choice.

That's all for now my readers, I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a review to let me know what you thought of this chapter. I look forward to reading your reviews as they help me improve my writing and drive me to do my best to make the next chapter better than the last. Till we meet again!