Prologue

For nearly a century, I have been the captain of the 12th company. Ever since my dad, all my other family members and friends whom were just humans died, I moved into Soul Society. I've always meant to go and look for them, but kept on putting that aside for later on.

Oh, and as for my kids - Rikokou (first born and son) and Santona (second born and daughter) - I had them attend school with my kind before I allowed them to Shinigami Academy. It took quite some time to convice Renji, but at least it was worth it. After all, they were part human and I wanted them to have experience in human world as well as Soul Society.

But as those two attended Shinigami Academny, no one expected anything bad to happen. I'm not sure how others remember it on seeing it, but I remember it as though it was just yesturday when it happened. It was that vivid in my mind and still is.

Chapter 1

I was working outside the gate at the south side as I gave people homes. All I did was just give them their number without care and told them to which small town to get to, which was just blurting out west, east, north and south. Of course, I didn't bother to look at them for long because I was making sure that there wasn't a riot going on between people in the town.

Suddenly, Rikokou came running up to me and his red-orange hair was all messy. He cried out, "Mom! Tell Santona to leave me alone! I'm trying to study for my exam tomorrow at Shinigami Acadamy and it's the biggest exam of the year!"

That's when Santona came running up to me. I swear to god that they looked almost alike, especially with their blue eyes and red-orange hair. Santona was trying to catch her breath as she yelled, "Rikokou is keep yelling at me just because I'm trying to practice my shikai and my bankai! Tell him to just give me peace and quiet, mom!"

I snapped at them, "Both of you! Go to your father's office and tell him about your little problems! I need to sort these people to their homes while they try to find their family! And the Center 46 won't be very happy if I don't finish the assignment that they gave me!" Rikokou obeyed at once, but when Santona was about to complain, I yelled, "Now, young lady! I'm a captain and the 12th Company depends on me and your father to keep them together! In other words, I can't afford to get fired from my position!"

Hinamori came running up to me when Santona went through the gates and she cried out, "Captain Kurosaki! The village up in the north! They're being attacked by a group of hollows that are as nearly as huge as menos and there are student-teachers there and they haven't faced this kind of problem! Center 46 wants all the captains there immediately! They should have finished off most of the hollows by now, but there still should be more!"

As I took out my zanpaku-to, I ordered her, "Take my spot here for now, Hinamori."

As I took off, I heard Hinamori call to me, "Be careful, Captain Kurosaki!"

It wasn't long before I arrived, but when I did, people were in a panic as they ran all over the place as they screamed. I heard loud booming sounds from further up and I saw a hollow that looked like a huge gorilla that was bigger than my bankai struggling, almost as though it was fighting someone. I ran towards where the hollow was at top speed and when I arrived, there was a Mexican male with locks of hair covering his eyes fighting the hollow and he had a very farmiliar shield on. I looked around myself as I ordered in loud tone, "Clear out, people! Get out of here as soon as possible!" When there were some Soul Reapers who looked terrified, I yelled at them, "Do you guys not here me? Move when I tell you to! I'm the captain of the 12th company, I say!"

Renji appeared and called to me, "I heard what happened from Santona! Anything I can do to help out?"

Nodding, I told him, "Take the student-teachers out of here! They could get seriously hurt!"

Renji started to move towards the Soul Reapers, but stopped dead in his tracks and cried out with fear, "Move out of the way!"

As I turned around, the Mexican guy jumped over me and kicked the hollow right in the head just as it was about to strike me. A very farmiliar voice asked me, "You alright, captain?"

I just nodded and striked the hollow right in the head as quickly as possible. When the hollow disappeared, I asked him, "Who are you?"

"My real name's Yasutora Sado, but I've gone with a different name for long time because of an old friend of mine," he told me. As he looked up, he quietly said, "You look a lot like Ichigo's kid. Forget what her name was, but you look a lot like her." When I heard my dad's name, I went into shock, but I didn't show it.

Renji ran over and put his arm around me. As he pulled me away, he said, "Did you leave your post or something, Ichisan?"

I didn't respond for awhile, but I snapped out of it and quickly answered, "No. No, I didn't. Hinamori came and told me about the hollow incident. I put her in charge for now." When I got back to the south side, I told Hinamori, "You can go back to what you were doing before you came here. The hollow's gone and there's nothing to worry about."

Hinamori nodded as she asked, "Anything I can do for you before I go back?"

"Can you keep your eye on a Mexican guy by the name of Yasutora Sado?" I asked her. When she had questioning look on her face, I told her, "It's nothing for you to worry about. It's just that there's something about that guy that I can't explain." Hinamori nodded and left.

I don't know what it was or why it is that there seemed to be something bothering me. Everytime that Yasutora's name came up in my mind, I couldn't help but think about what he said, especially the part when he said my dad's name. His voice. His nationality. His armour. His hair style. It all seemed so farmiliar to me, but I couldn't remember what it was that he reminded me so much of. Something deep inside told me that it wouldn't be long before I would find out who or what it was that he reminded me so much about.