Yo, Ten here, so if anyone is wondering why I re-uploaded the first chapter of my first story again, is because a few weeks ago I went back to it and started cleaning my story. Yes, that means I read through all the reviews about how bad my grammar was and fixed it. This doesn't mean I found a Beta just yet that could help me. But, if this first chapter starts off with better reviews then I will continue uploading the rest of the story here and delete the other one.

I did this because I wanted my readers to go back and enjoy the story in a more fluid manner. So please read and send me back some feedback. That would really really help me.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. All rights belong to the creator Tite Kubo. This will be an AU with some OOC.

-x-

Chapter 1: Welcome to the Pack

No words could describe the range of emotions Grand Fisher felt at the moment.

On a stormy night, he had been hunting by a swollen river using his lure, disguised as a small child in order to lure in any spiritually aware beings, when he got the attention of two redheads. A mother and her child. Now that he thought about it, he had fooled the boy with his lure; the child tried to save the "little girl" who was too close to the raging currents of the river. The mother, however, seemed to have seen through his lure. Just when he was about to grab the kid, he noticed how the mother started gathering Reishi. He almost thought about ditching the whole thing when suddenly a huge pillar of light engulfed the mother and made whatever trick she was trying to do stop.

He could still remember the look of complete and utter shock on her face, but when she noticed how he was still going after her son, she ran over and used her body to protect the child. He laughed at her predictable choice; instead of just saving herself, she tried to save her son. Oh well, who was he to complain about it. After killing the mother he would've left, but just for a moment, his greed got the better of him and he decided he might as well eat the child.

Seconds didn't pass when he did just that.

He had just killed and then eaten the child's soul when it happened.

An immense amount of power started running through his very being. He had heard of these kinds of events happened before to other Hollows; apparently, he was ready for the next stage of evolution. His instincts started screaming at him. It almost felt as though someone was guiding him somewhere. Deciding to just let his instincts take over, he opened up a Garganta and stepped through it.

-Deserts of Hueco Mundo-

Stepping through the Garganta and touching white sand should have been the first sign that something wasn't right. He had never seen this part of Hueco Mundo before; he usually opened up a portal near the Forest of Menos, where all the weak Hollows lived.

"Ha! This only means that I no longer need to be around the weak anymore!" Grand Fisher's voice was full of arrogance. Allowing the power to flow through him, he screamed to the dark night and allowed himself to become consumed by the power surging within.

Opening his eyes again, he noticed that an empty black void surrounded him. "The hell is this place?! Where the hell am I!" The Hollow asked no one in particular, not really expecting anyone to answer him. He looked for an exit when he suddenly heard another voice.

"Well, look what we have here." A disorienting voice sounded behind him.

Turning around quickly, he froze at the sight of what he could best describe as a demonic-looking monster with the most terrifying looking black mask he had ever seen. 'Wait! A black mask?' The mask was black, but that's not where its strange physical appearance ended. Sharp black teeth were visible, and it was also sporting two black horns in the front. Strange white markings ran through the mask: four spike-shaped marks, two of them stopping by the forehead and the other two stretching past the eyes and teeth, going past his chin and joining with the marks which connected with the hole in his chest.

'A hole?' Looking more closely at the demonic figure, the Grand Fisher noticed a hole where his heart should be. 'Now that I'm looking at this thing more closely, its skin is white.' Finally getting over his shock, he looked at the figure more closely to see, strangely, the reverse of the skin colors of a common Hollow. Instead of black skin, it was white. The white mask was replaced by a black one. Interesting enough though, its appearance reminded him of the Gillians he had seen around the Forest of Menos.

Grand Fisher stared at this reverse Hollow. He didn't remember eating any Hollow with such features. Hell, he didn't even bother attacking any other Hollows in fear of being eaten.

A silence washed through the empty void. No one said anything; both Hollows kept staring at each other until Grand Fisher finally spoke.

"Who the hell are you? What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Having enough of the silent treatment, Grand Fisher was about to ask again when the white Hollow finally spoke. "You know what? I should thank you for giving me another chance."

His words confused Grand Fisher, 'Chance? The hell is he talking about?' He was about to ask what it meant when he noticed his left arm turning into spirit particles. 'What?!' Before he could start freaking out, the Hollow's voice caught his attention again.

"I guess you never heard of what happens to a Hollow who eats a stronger soul." The albino Hollow's wicked grin seemed to have grown even wider, if that was possible. He waited for Grand Fisher's eyes, confusion and fear swimming in their depths, to return to his own wicked and sadistic ones. "Sometimes an idiotic Hollow likes to take a bite out of something that's out of their leagues and when that happens both the awakened soul, which is you, and the dormant soul, which is me, go in a clash of spiritual battle to see who takes control!" He paused in his explanation to make sure Grand Fisher was following along, before he continued, "This only happens when a Gillian is born and is ready to take on a consciousness. And when that happens, whoever's soul is stronger becomes the conscious mind, but that's not what is happening right now. This is a special case."

Fear flooded through Grand Fisher; he still didn't understand. He looked back down at his body, only to see that both his legs and left arm had vanished. His right arm, chest, and luckily his head were still there. But he was starting to feel the top left corner of his mask dematerializing too. "The hell you bastard! You still haven't explained what's happening to me!" The outrage was clearly evident in his voice, the first hint of emotion to come out of his mouth other than anger and confusion since this whole thing started.

"You are becoming a part of me," was the only answer the albino Hollow told him, wicked smile never leaving its face.

Finally, he understood. This Hollow was absorbing him. He was weaker. Years of careful hunting gone to waste all because he let his greed get the better of him and now because of that, he will die. During his years of living as a Hollow, he had lost the sense of fear when he had become a predator, probably nothing of the extreme kind, but a predator nonetheless. But now... now he was in the presence of a stronger predator... an apex predator. Fear clutched his heart.

"NO DAMN IT. THIS ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE AT THE TOP! TO BECOME A RULER, A KING, A PREDATOR!" His enraged voice echoed through the black void, "I AM NOT TO BE FOOD TO NO ONE!" By this point, only the right side of his mask remained. A burst of laughter broke him out of his rage. Glaring at the white Hollow, he cursed himself. One of his questions still remained unanswered. "Who are you?" he asked. "I never ate another Hollow before or anything of such strong spiritual energy! So answer my last question! Who the hell are you?!" Silence once again enveloped the two of them.

Grand Fisher waited. Once again receiving the silent treatment, he was ready to demand the other Hollow answer him when the reversed Hollow spoke, this time in a serious voice.

"You could have left the boy alone and avoided all of this."

Grand Fisher tried to calm down and process what had been said. 'The boy? Is he talking about the child with his mother?'

"That's right, the boy with his mother."

A bewildered look crossed his face. 'How the hell can he read my mind?!'

"Oh no, I'm not reading your mind but with the expressions you are showing in your only eye, you don't have to be a psychic to see where your train of thoughts are going through." Once again, he finished with the same serious tone.

Only a small part of Grand Fisher's mask remained. 'So this is how my life ends, thanks to a greedy choice.' Memories of his human life flooded his mind and all he could do was watch them go by. Finally, after just a few minutes, the last bit of his mask vanished and Grand Fisher was no more.

A lake then replaced the great black void that surrounded both Hollows. In the middle of the lake was an island of strange design. If one was to look from above, they would have seen the island take the form of a crescent moon. In the center of the island was the reflection of the full moon hanging high in the sky.

The white Hollow just stood there motionless for a few minutes before he started walking down a random path. It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. A small child with orange hair, tan skin and now a small hole where his heart should be. By the looks of it, he was unconscious.

He kept staring at the young boy. Seconds pass by, which then turn to minutes before he finally spoke.

"I can just take over your body. Your soul right now."

"..."

"Sheesh, now you're giving me the silent treatment kid?"

"..."

"You never asked for this to happen. Hell, I never asked for this... for this second chance..."

He looked down at the kid with glowing yellow eyes and reached for the boy's face. "You never wanted this to happen and you are not ready for what you will need to do to survive in my world. But I will give you a small gift before I go."

Reaching down to the boy, he put one of his hands on the child's chest, right above his Hollow hole. "When the time becomes right, you will hear my voice." He started pushing his own Reiatsu into the boy, watching as the redhead's peach skin became white as the moon. "It might be in a few weeks, months or maybe even years before you hear me. But when you do, I hope you have accepted what happened and what you have become. I will grant you the power and strength to push past the limits of your very self. Your Quincy and Shinigami powers will still be there, but my Hollow's powers will be the dominant one." By this point, his own body started to dematerialize and get absorbed into the child. It wouldn't be long before he went into a deep slumber inside the boy's soul. "Wake up, Ichigo. It is time for you to leave now."

The albino Hollow started feeling two different Reiryoku. One was weak while the other one was powerful, and they seemed to get closer, but he sensed no killing intent; instead he sensed... hope? Relief? 'Strange... to feel hope in a place like this? Doesn't matter, seems like the child won't be alone here at least.' Looking back at the kid, the Hollow noticed that the boy's skin was now pure white.

"Goodbye, for now, and child hopefully next time we see each other it'll be soon... and maybe you could hear my name, but doesn't mean I can't leave without having you hear it. Even if your unconscious." He let out a small laugh. "My name is L..."

And then everything went dark.

-A few minutes before Grand Fisher arrives-

Some distance away from where Grand Fisher would soon appear were two people. One was a man with wavy, dark brown hair that ended at the base of his neck. Both he and his companion, a young-looking girl with light green hair arranged in a very basic manner, wore a cloth to cover themselves.

Nothing seemed strange about them but in a world where monsters roamed, looking more closely revealed what they were.

The remains of the man's Hollow mask, comprising the bottom jaws of a wolf, was positioned along his neck. His Hollow hole, which was covered by his cloth, was fixed in his sternum, right below the tip of his mask.

The girl's Hollow hole was set in the center of her stomach. Her Hollow mask took the form of a helmet, with two horns on the top, although her left horn looked as if someone had cut it off. The left half of her mask only covered her left eye, revealing her right, which was a pretty shade of light pink.

Surrounding them both were mountains of dead Hollows, and everything was quiet and dull, with absolutely no life, no activity happening around here. Around them.

The man seemed to be asleep while his companion just kept staring at nothing until she sensed a Hollow's presence far away. 'Looks like another one is going through their evolution. Nothing new,' she thought. 'Don't matter how strong they feel when they won't be able to reach us.' She sighed at the last thought. She took a quick peek at her companion but he was still asleep. 'Probably doesn't even care about it.' Glancing at the mountain of bodies around her, she let out yet another sigh.

She was about to ignore the Hollow when out of nowhere its spiritual power just skyrocketed. It almost felt like it completely overpowered their own. She snapped her head around towards the location of the Hollow. Her eyes fixated on the power in the distance. Unknown to her, the sleeping man's blue-gray eyes shot open and also shot towards the location of the spiritual power. And just like that, it vanished, just as quickly as it came.

He said nothing, in deep thought about what he had just felt. 'The amount of power... even from here, I could feel it cover my own.' He kept staring, hoping for it to show up again. He took a quick glance to his companion in hopes it wasn't just him who felt it. And to his relief, she had the same look as him.

She turned around and met his eyes.

"You felt it too, right Starrk?" the green-haired girl asked.

"Yeah, I did Lily," Starrk replied. Joy shone in Lily's eyes.

"Then what are we waiting for?!" she replied all too eagerly. "Someone with that much power won't get hurt by being around us! We can finally stop feeling so lonely!"

Loneliness… it was something they had felt for a long time, since their very power, their presence killed every Hollow who came near them. They used to be one Hollow but because none survived in their presence, solitude ate away at the Hollow until it split into Starrk and Lily. Neither remembered which of them was the original but decided not to question it and be glad they were no longer alone. But even still, their power killed all who came near them.

But here was a Hollow whose power rivalled, or perhaps was greater, than theirs. They saw the hope in each other's eyes. Not wanting to wait any longer, they stood, and Starrk grabbed Lily and Sonido'd towards the location of the powerful spiritual presence.

They reached the spot where they'd felt the power in under and minute. They both started looking around, hoping to find the Hollow with the immense power.

"I don't see anyone around Starrk," Lily said, a hint of disappointment entering her voice.

The brunette felt the same disappointment; whoever's power they felt looked to have left. Ready to just leave, Starrk notices a small body. Pointing at it, Starrk said, "Hey look over there. I think I see someone."

Following his finger, Lily noticed the body. It was small—smaller than her own actually. She didn't think long about it before she dashed towards the body."Hey! Are you the one with the strong Reiatsu?!"

Starrk just looked at it from a distance; he didn't see it breathing or anything at all. It looked dead, like every other Hollow who got near them. Disappointment flashed over his face. "Should have known this would happen," he told himself quietly. So much for hoping.

Just as he was about to call Lily back, she screamed at him. "Come and look at this! He's this close to us and he's still breathing! I think he's just passed out!" Hope filled her voice, and it returned to his thoughts.

'He's alive?! This close to us and he's still breathing?!'

He Sonido'd close to them and looking more closely, Starrk notices his light breathing. 'His alive after all!' Inspecting the body, he notices that it was a small boy. His skin was a strange ivory color, and he had one of the brightest hair colors he had ever seen. He also had a Hollow hole with strange red markings around the hole connecting to his limbs. He also notices the strange black cloth covering his lower half. Looking up at the boy's face, he noticed something disturbing. 'There is no sign of a mask!' The boy completely lacked any fragments of a mask. Which was definitely out of the ordinary; no matter what evolution a Hollow goes through, some fragment of their mask always remained. Even the evolution in which Lily and he were at had some of their mask left. 'But this boy lacks everything—not even a tiny fraction of a sign that he used to have a mask remains.'

A million questions ran through his head. What did this mean at all? Before he could continue his train of thought, Lily snapped him out of his mind. "Look Starrk, he's waking up!" Small groaning noises came from the boy before his eyes opened up and caught both of their attentions.

His eyes were different, yet still held the Hollow-like color. His iris was yellow while his sclera was pitch black.

'Well, that's just about the weirdest thing I have ever seen,' thought Starrk but the fact the kid seems to still be breathing and not dying was a huge relief for him.

Lily's eyes locked with the boy's own strange set. 'They're so beautiful.' Without thinking, she started moving closer to his eyes, trying to see more of it until the boy finally said something.

"Umm, you're a little too close to my face there." A small blush adorned his cheeks.

When his nervous voice reached her ears, Lily leaned away from him, a small blush also adorning her cheeks.

Looking around, the boy noticed his strange surroundings. "Where.. where am I?" he asked in a confused voice. The last thing he remembered was... It was... He didn't remember.

"What is this place?" A small amount of fright was present his voice. He remembered nothing! He didn't even remember his name. Wait. No, that's not right. He remembered his name, but everything else was just a giant mess of memories. Memories that weren't his own. It was like he was watching them from someone else's point of view. However, throughout all the memories, a young orange haired boy stuck out the most. He couldn't remember any of the peoples' faces except for the boy's face and then the realization hit him. 'That boy is me.' Focusing more, he kept hearing his name, but that was it. Any other noise seemed to go quiet, and the faces were still nothing but a huge blur for him.

"Hey kid, you okay?"

Finally brought out from his thoughts, the small redhead finally got a good look at the people in front of him. He noticed the strange white like material and, "Oh my Kami! How can you have a hole in your body and still be alive!" A look of bewilderment crossed his face. The man in front of him had his cloth down, and he could see a hole in his body. The people themselves just gave each other a curious look. The girl answered his question.

"Umm because we are Hollows?" she replied, confused. Now, what kind of question was that—asking about why they had a hole?

"What's a Hollow?" the boy asked, unsure of the word.

That only made Starrk and Lily even more confused.

'How the hell did this boy reach such an evolution without knowing anything?' Starrk thought. This was by far the most he had ever thought about things in such a short time and the last time he ever thought like this was... well... never. Before he decided to try to give an explanation, Lily explained it to the boy. In her own Lily-kind-of-way.

"The same thing that you are," she told him, pointing at the boy's own Hollow hole.

Gaze following her finger, Ichigo freaked out. "Why do I have a hole?!" Now everything was just confusing for him. He didn't know these people, he woke up in a weird place, and now found out he has a hole in his body! He would have run in circles if the brunette hadn't been holding him down with his hands.

"You need to calm down kid. You got a name?" Starrk asked.

Relaxing, Ichigo's unearthly yellow eyes met Starrk's own blue-gray ones. "I'm Ichigo."

With a small nod, Starrk told him his own name. "Hey there, Ichigo. I'm Coyote Starrk," he then nodded towards the girl, "and that over there is Lilynette Gingerbuck, or you can call her Lily for short."

Once everything seems to calm down, Ichigo looks back at the man. They seem normal even with the hole in the man's chest. Going back to the original question, he asked again, "Where am I?"

Before Lily could explain, Starrk beat her to it. "You're in Hueco Mundo. To be more precise, you're above the Forest of Menos." He would keep his answers plain and simple for the boy. Getting a nod in understanding, the boy asks the next thing he found confusing.

"Um, what's Hueco Mundo?"

A sigh escapes Starrk's lips. 'Seems I have to explain everything to him.' He spoke again. "Hueco Mundo is the dimension where Hollows live." The redhead gave another nod of understanding. 'Well, at least he understands fast,' he thought. Seeing as the boy still had a question, he nods back to him.

"What are Hollows?"

At this question, Starrk tried his best to answer him without going into deep detail. He had long-forgotten his time as a simple Menos. Starrk just sighed and tried to think of a simple explanation for the kid to understand. "Hollows are, well... were part of a human's soul who couldn't pass to the afterlife and after a while, they become a corrupted soul and become monsters of some sort. After that, they eat other Hollows to feel 'full' again." Stopping from his explanation and seeing the kid was still with him, he continues. "Once the common Hollow has enough, he goes through various stages of evolution before he reaches the final stage, which is what we are." Getting a small nod, Starrk let go of Ichigo and watched as the kid fell back onto the white sand.

The look in Ichigo's eyes sent a sharp pain through Starrk's chest.

"You said were, as in, was part of a human soul. Does... does that mean I'm dead?" Tears started gathering in Ichigo's eyes. He didn't remember dying; he remembered nothing besides his own name. How did he die? What happened to him? By this point, tears were falling freely.

It pained Starrk to look at the kid cry; he didn't know why, but it just hurt him.

Lily wasn't doing much better. She pulled the boy into a hug. "Don't cry now, Ichigo." She tried to soothe his pain.

"Am I going to be alone now?"

That question brought back painful memories for both Starrk and Lily.

Starrk will not allow this kid to go through the same pain as them. "No." His voice came out strong and firm. Getting the attention of both Ichigo and Lily, he continued, "You don't have to be alone. Not in a world like this. You can become a part of us. A part of our pack." Reaching with his hand out to the boy, Starrk waited for him to take it.

At this, Lily stood up to stand next to Starrk and also reached out her hand to Ichigo. "Yeah, you can be with us. A part of our pack," she told him with a cheerful smile pasted on her face.

Ichigo's eyes lit up. He just kept staring at their hands. He looked up to their eyes and saw the honesty in them. He won't be alone at all and he could see the hope in their eyes too. Not even thinking about it for a second, Ichigo reached out to hold on to Lily's and Starrk's with both of his hands.

Once they had a hold on them, they pull him up.

"Welcome to the pack, Ichigo," Lily said.

He gave them a small smile, tears of joy running down his face. 'I guess I won't be alone here.'

-x-

So what do you guys think? Was it better? Did you understand it better?

Also, someone once mention a grammar website to me before but never got around to check it out myself, are they any good?

Leave a review!:D

Also, this chapter was edited by Silver Snowblossom