Lying on the ground was a young man, barely an adult. He was thin and pale, although his paleness could easily be a result of his current circumstance. His facial features were hawkish with a scraggly goatee, short brown hair and a triangular nose. His clothes were dirtied by the road he was laid out on. His green thick green wool coat had almost come off his torso, the blue t-shirt underneath pulled in an odd way by the road beneath him. His pale blue jeans were all scraped up and one of his grey canvas shoes had been flung from his feet. On his face was a shocked expression as blood flowed from the back of his head, the car that hit him only a few metres away. A team of paramedics lit by the flashing lights of the ambulance and the streetlights around them surrounded the fallen young man, as well as a group of pedestrians who had witnessed the accident. And standing only a few metres away from that was the young man that was lying on the cold ground. Needless to say he was very alarmed.

At first he was silent, his mouth dropped open in horror.

"Uh… Um…" he began. "Hello? Can you guys hear me?"

Not a single person turned around, nor showed any sign of even hearing him. When he tried to touch one of the paramedics carrying his body away, his hand went straight through the woman's shoulder!

"Okay… guess that it's confirmed now." He muttered to himself. "I'm a ghost. Shit."

He looked around at the place where he'd died. It was strangely unfamiliar. Unfamiliar in the way that he'd never seen it before. In fact up to this point he couldn't really recall anything.

"Oh great, now I have amnesia. Wonderful." He groaned. "I guess that's why I'm being so… blasé about this whole thing. Is blasé even the right word? You know what, forget it. I need to find out where I am."

And so he set off walking away, looking for some indicator of where he actually was. From what he could tell about glancing around, he was certainly somewhere in Japan. How he got there was still currently a mystery. Was he on holiday? That seemed to fit. If he'd gone on holiday there he'd probably learned the local language as well. He seemed to be able to understand all the frantic shouts from the car crash scene. From what he could tell, he was just in an ordinary city. An ordinary city where nobody could see or hear him, and he was intangible and incorporeal. Also dead.

He let out a sigh as he sat down on a park bench. "Okay Lewis, think. Holiday, car crash, now a ghost. Where do we go from here? I guess I could try to find out what kind of ghost I am."

Lewis got up and stood on the bench before spreading his arms wide and hopping off the bench, attempting to fly. The idea that he might be able to fly was proven false as he dropped to the ground with a clump sound.

"Aw what? I can't fly? Lame." He snorted. "I guess the fact that I stood on that bench means I can't phase through objects. Or maybe it works at will?"

And so Lewis spent the next few hours testing out his various ghostly powers, making a mental list of each one that did work and which ones didn't work.

"Okay, flying: no. Object phasing: yes, can toggle on and off. People phasing: yes, always on. Tirelessness: no, for some weird reason. Since when do ghosts need to recuperate? Invulnerability…" he trailed off, looking at the giant drop before him. "Guess I'm about to find out."

Lewis was standing atop the tallest building he could find in the city, a skyscraper that stood next to another of similar height. The building next to the one he was on was actually taller than his, but he'd be damned if he had to climb up another skyscraper. He was just about to jump off when a voice behind him spoke up.

"That's dangerous y'know."

Lewis stumbled and fell back away from the edge, landing on his buttocks. "Ow! Wait, you can see me?"

"Shouldn't I be able to?"

"Well, I am dead after all." Lewis said as he dusted himself off.

"Really?" asked the voice as its owner walked over and leant against a radio tower. "Well I suppose it's lucky that I just happened by."

Lewis turned around to see who it was that was talking to him. It was a youthful man with black hair and a tall frame. Although what really surprised Lewis was his manner of dress. A black robe and a sword hung by his waist as well as a tattoo on his arm. There was no denying it, this man was a Soul Reaper. A very specific one to be exact.

"Who are you?" Lewis asked. He knew full well who he was, but he couldn't have him knowing he knew.

"My name's Kaien. I'm a Soul Reaper if you couldn't guess." He said proudly. "What about you?"

"Uh… Lewis. Professional ghost."

Kaien gave a snort of laughter. "A professional eh? I guess the job market's pretty open if you managed to find a position like that as quickly as you have." He said as he pointed to Lewis's chest. "You've only been dead for a few minutes from what I can tell."

Lewis looked down to where Kaien was pointing and saw a long length of chain protruding from his chest.

"How did I not notice that before?" he wondered aloud.

"You'd be surprised. A lot of Wholes don't actually know they're dead until we Soul Reapers come to move 'em along to the Soul Society." Kaien shrugged. "It can get a little awkward at times."

"Right." Lewis nodded numbly, a hand now wrapped around his chain.

"Just be sure to not tug on it. You probably wouldn't like what happens next and it would make my job way harder than it has to be." He warned. "Anyway, let's have a change of topic. Your name sounds pretty foreign. You're not from Japan are you?"

"Yeah, I guess that's pretty easy to see." Lewis nodded. "I was just here for a holiday, but somehow I wound up getting killed. I think I've forgotten a lot of things too. I must've hit my head on the road before I died or something."

"I probably wouldn't dwell on it too much." Kaien shrugged. "Right now it's your future you need to concern yourself about. I need to send you to the Soul Society."

"So it's the afterlife?"

"Essentially, yes. Although you might need to change your name when you get there, just to help you fit in a bit more." Kaien said before thinking to himself.

"Is that really standard protocol?"

"I could say yes or no and you probably wouldn't know." Kaien shrugged. "How about Kouki Shin? It's easy enough to pronounce so you won't forget it."

"I'm not sure if I should be offended by that or not," Lewis scowled before shrugging. "But I suppose you're right. Shin Kouki it is."

"Alright, now that that's out of the way I can send you on your way." Kaien said, unsheathing his blade. "Don't worry, I'm not going to cut you with the blade or anything. It's just difficult to do this with the scabbard still on."

"Eh… right. So should I do anything?" Lewis asked.

"Just stand still." Kaien said. "And don't worry; I've done this about a dozen times now. You should be just fine."

As Kaien advanced on him, Lewis heard something from down below. A great rushing of wind as something flew up behind him, grabbing him by the back and hauling him upwards. Yelping in surprise, Lewis's head jerked up to see a pure white mask with boar-like tusks on the body of a great black batlike creature with taloned feet. There was no mistaking it. This was a Hollow.

"Mmm! Tasty soul!" another new voice cackled. It didn't take long for it to notice the presence of Kaien. "Ah, another one! That one is much tastier looking than this scraggly thing. I'll save you for later!"

The Hollow tossed Lewis up into the air and he started screaming and flailing, his ascent into the sky completely uncontrollable. He began tumbling over backwards, the world around him starting to merge into a single blue white and grey blur. There was a shout, a the drawn out scream of the Hollow and a single slashing sound before Lewis came to an abrupt halt as Kaien caught him in mid-air.

"Good thing I already had my zanpakuto out, huh?" He chuckled. "That was a bit too close for comfort."

"No kidding." Lewis gulped. "Just what the hell was that thing?!"

"A Hollow. If you'd gone tugging on that chain on your chest like I told you not to, you probably would've turned into one of them if you hadn't been moved onto the Soul Society. Speaking of which, let's set you down somewhere and send you on your way."

As they touched down on the other skyscraper, Lewis sat down.

"I really feel like I need to repay you somehow for saving me." Lewis said.

"Ah, I'm just doing my job." Kaien shrugged. "But if you really feel like it, you could always try to join the 13 Court Guard Squads. Being a Soul Reaper is a tough work, but it gets easier when there are friends to share the load."

"If it'll repay my debt to you, I'll try." Lewis nodded.

Kaien gave a smile. "Good to hear. Now, about that Soul Burial…"

Kaien pressed the butt of the zanpakuto down on Lewis's forehead. As Lewis felt his eyes glaze over and a strange light overtake him, one last thought went through his mind.

'My name is Kouki Shin… And I have a debt to be repaid.'

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Kouki awoke standing upright. This was the least bizarre thing to him as when he looked around, he saw that he was in some kind of feudal Japanese shrine.

"What the…" he began, but he was interrupted by a door sliding open. In the doorframe stood an old man in a white robe, his beard and moustache trailing down to his chest and his eyebrows almost that far.

"Ah, a new arrival. And such a young one at that. Such a shame to have your life cut short when it's only just begun." He said in a somewhat shaky voice. "Still, it is still possible to live your life here in the Soul Society. I suppose you have many questions. I will do my best to answer them."

Kouki gave a nod as he looked around. "For starters, where am I exactly?"

"As I said, you are in the Soul Society. Specifically you're in the Rukongai, which is more or less the civilian district." He explained. "This particular shrine is in the Western quarter, district three. It's also known as Hokutan."

"Right. Gotcha." Kouki nodded. "So… what's with the change of outfits?"

True to his words, he was wearing something different. Instead of his decidedly modern attire, he was wearing a white yukata with green bamboo stalk designs imprinted on it.

"Ah yes. I've always wondered about that myself." The old man chuckled. "Well, I suppose life isn't really worth living if there isn't any mystery to it. Or afterlife in this case."

"I see. Well it wouldn't be the first time I didn't get an explanation to something." Kouki huffed. "So what do you do here then?"

"Me? Why I'm the Greeter of course. You may call me Uketsuke." He said. "Oh, that reminds me. I need to give you this."

From out of his voluminous sleeves Uketsuke produced a red ticket and handed it to Kouki.

"What is it?" he asked.

"To put it bluntly, it's a record of when you died. Think of it as a death certificate. You'll need it for a lot of the official business in the Soul Society. Be sure not to lose it."

"Good to know." He nodded, putting the ticket into a pocket on the inside of his yukata.

"You might want to look at the communal housing." Uketsuke continued. "There's always a room there while you're looking for a family to call your own. Not that the families here are blood related, but it is still good to live with someone you can call your family."

"I see." Kouki nodded. "So where might this communal housing be?"

"I can take you there if you wish." The old man offered.

"That'd be great."

And so the two headed off into the Rukongai. Kouki's new home.

"So what is there to do in the way of work here?" Kouki asked as they passed through a bustling marketplace.

"Well, there's always work to be done. No rest for the wicked as they say." Uketsuke chuckled. "There are some smiths that may be on the lookout for apprentices, scribes for the library, that sort of thing. Hokutan is very much the mercantile capital of the Rukongai, so some work should make itself available to you given enough searching."

"So what about the Soul Reapers?"

"Ah, so you've heard of them have you? Unsurprising really. Most of us were led here by them. If you plan on joining their ranks then you'll have to apply. There's a monthly entrance exam if you're interested."

"What do they look for in this entrance exam?"

"Honestly I wouldn't be able to tell you. I've never taken it." Uketsuke said. "It might not seem much, but I prefer the quieter civilian afterlife. Besides, I have my place here. Ah, we arrive."

Before Kouki was a fairly large building of white stucco and timber with a few sliding doors facing out into the street. Through the open doors Lewis could see a few people lounging around inside with another group playing a game of mahjong on one of the tables.

"There should be an empty room in there. There always seems to be. You'll be able to stay for as long as you like, but you'll probably want to move out once you find a family you can stay with."

"Good to know." Kouki nodded. "Say… where's a nearby forest? Somewhere quiet and a bit isolated?"

"Ah, need to gather your thoughts? That's perfectly reasonable." Uketsuke nodded sagely before pointing down a street past the communal house. "If you keep down that road you should find a track leading to Koifushi Mountain. It's sometimes used as a training ground, so be careful."

Kouki gave another nod. "Thanks for telling me all of that. You've been very helpful."

"Of course!" Ukestuke said jovially. "It's what I intended to do. So many people come through here and are just confused and bewildered by this new world. Take your time and get to know this place. Welcome to the Soul Society my young friend."

With that, Ukestuke gave a bow and shuffled off into the hustle and bustle of Hokutan. Kouki took off down the track at a quick jog, making his way through the steadily thinning crowd until he reached the forest surrounding the mountain as well as finding a track through the forest. As he began marching down the track, Kouki took in the sights and smells of the forest, feeling the cool air under the canopy of the trees, hearing the insects skittering amidst the undergrowth and birds nestling in the trees. He continued walking for a good few hours, his footsteps the only real sounds he heard besides the rustling of the trees of the gentle wind. The trail began to slope upwards and Kouki began to climb the mountain, going up at the same brisk pace he'd been walking at before. As the sun slowly descended Kouki found himself at a relatively flat circular plane, a miniature mesa overlooking the Rukongai. It was here that Kouki stopped and stood, the wind on the mountain blowing his short hair and yukata.

He looked around. Nobody could be seen. Kouki gave a breath before inhaling deeply and letting out a single wordless scream. A scream that encompassed his terror from the Hollow attack, his confusion at even being thrust into this strange new world and his anger at his own vague amnesia. Eventually he ran out of breath, so he inhaled again and kept screaming. After spending a few minutes ruining his throat Kouki collapsed into a sitting position looking at the stars, breathing heavily.

'I can't believe I'm really here. I can't believe this is all real.' He thought, grabbing a handful of dirt from the ground and letting it trail through his fingers. 'But it is real. I'm actually here. I wind up dead in a fictional universe and then I get saved from an imaginary person from a fictitious monster that devours souls, then I get my name changed and sent off to the afterlife! And for some reason I can't even remember how I got here in the first place…'

With all of his repressed emotions out of the way, Kouki began to think. He'd definitely been in Japan for a holiday, that much was certain. He was surely just walking somewhere at night and then got hit by a car. That was understandable. But presumably that car just happened to be the DeLorean from Back To The Future because now he was stuck in an alternate dimension filled with soul eating monstrosities. But it was when he was that really interested him. Tucking his knees up to his chest, he began to think.

'Okay, so Kaien Shiba is still alive. I guess that means this is some time before the events concerning Ichigo and company then. But that means that Aizen is still hanging around conducting evil schemes and shit. Since I have some insider knowledge I might be able to help put Aizen under arrest before he can carry out his schemes. But then again… He could kill me dead. Deader than dead. That is not an appealing prospect.' He thought. "Augh, what do I do? I need to repay my debt to Kaien, but doing so puts me in harm's way. Jeez, that seems really terrible to say out loud…"

His thinking continued as the sun dipped lower and lower in the sky, the clouds turning a vibrant orange. His contemplating went on for quite a while before he stood up again. He'd been sitting there for what seemed like hours, recalling all the times he'd just given up or changed his plans. He gave a sigh. Surely this time would be no different. Kouki stood with his head bowed as he wandered down the mountain path against a sky on fire.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Time marched onwards for Kouki. Life in Hokutan wasn't too bad. It was a little difficult to adjust to, he would admit. The local diet consisted of a lot of vegetables and grains, but at least he was eating healthy. But he was bored out of his mind.

He was lying on his back in the common room of the communal housing, thinking about his place in all of this. It was probably for the best that he stayed out of everyone's way. If he tried to go meddling in anything he'd probably end up dead, or worse, doing even more damage to everyone around him. When the shit hit the fan he didn't want to be the one to kick the turbo button. Besides, being a Soul Reaper was insanely dangerous. Constantly fighting and hunting Hollows and maintaining the balance between souls. It wasn't the type of work for him. But then again, he didn't even have any work now. Neither did a lot of people in the common room. The two people who had been playing mahjong were still there. They might even have been playing the same game. Kouki hadn't seen either of them move from that spot for the entire time he'd been there. Another man with most of his teeth and hair missing was propped up against the wall, a half-empty bottle of sake in one hand and a puddle of drool forming beneath him.

Kouki grimaced. He'd been feeling an itch lately. The kind of itch that wasn't easily scratched. He wanted to buy things. He wasn't proud of it, but he felt like he had a mild addiction to buying new things. Not just any old things, but things he wanted. And lately he wanted a lot of things. A computer for one. It felt like it had been weeks since he'd last used a computer for entertainment, although he supposed it would be difficult to get such a thing in the Soul Society. Then his mind turned to other things, such as new clothing. The single bamboo print yukata he had hadn't been washed for a good few days and it was starting to stink. But he'd also heard good things about the pub not far from the communal housing and he'd been meaning to try out the local brews. He'd never tried sake before. But to get any of that he needed some money. What he needed was a job.

Kouki sat up and looked for his wooden sandals. He'd found a discarded pair after walking by the stream one day. They were worn and the once lacquered wood only had a few flecks of its original coat left, but once the mud was cleaned off them they made for perfectly serviceable footwear. They even fit perfectly. Granted they were a little hard to walk in, but they made him appear even taller, which he approved of.

After finding his sandals, Kouki headed out into the street. It was as crowded and bustling as ever, merchants of all spots and stripes hawking their wares to passers-by on the street, crowded shopfronts catered to by their frantic owners, porters hauling goods around and the regular civilians jostling around looking for wares to buy. Within the crowd Kouki could see an occasional Soul Reaper or two presumably on their off-time, although he didn't recognise any of them. He made his way from stall to stall, asking around if anyone had work available. But he was turned down from most of them. Eventually the crowd began to thin out as the day came to a close, but as Kouki was just about to give up he was waved down by a man standing behind a stall filled with ice and fish.

"Hey, you! Young man! Over here!" he called. "I hear you've been asking around for work."

"Yeah. How'd you know?" Kouki asked.

The man grinned, wiping his nose with his index finger and chuckling. "Word travels fast around here, 'specially during the day. The name's Arata Shun. What about you?"

"Kouki Shin. Good to meet you." He said, shaking Arata's hand.

"Likewise. Well Kouki, ever thought about life as a fisherman? It's slow work, but it's rewarding."

"Sure. I've been looking for work, but I've not gotten anywhere so far. When can I start?"

"Ha! An eager one eh? Good to hear! I'm going to be heading down to the river tomorrow morning with my brothers Gorou and Yori. I'll have a spare fishing rod for you by then." He said before giving an exaggerated harrumph. "Hopefully you'll be able to catch more fish than the other two bozo brothers I've got with me."

"You can count on me." Kouki nodded.

"Good to hear it! We'll be down by the riverbank by tomorrow morning, so don't forget. Now be off with you, I've still got customers to take care of!"

Kouki trotted away, a satisfied grin on his face. He'd gotten a job on his first day looking for one! Talk about lucky. Normally it would've taken him weeks or months to find employment, but that was probably because he was just naturally lazy. But when he actually had something to do he knew he'd do it come hell or high water.

As Kouki walked back to the communal house he pondered the events that led up to this point once more. He was surprised how well he'd been taking everything. From the name change, to the fact that he was now living in a fictional universe, even the fact that he'd died in said universe. It was a bit hard for him to comprehend, but for some reason he didn't feel like it especially mattered. There was an afterlife after all, so he wasn't really dead. Perhaps it wasn't the best way to put it, but it was the best he could come up with.

Kouki passed by the pub that he'd been meaning to check out, the building radiating light and noise as drinks and laughter was shared by those inside. Kouki gave a sad smile as he continued on his way. He hadn't managed to make a single friend during his entire time in the Rukongai. Maybe Ukestuke counted, but Kouki hadn't seen the withered old man since he'd arrived. He was starting to doubt he even existed. The Soul Society was a strange place after all, with a lot of weird biotechnology, supernaturalism and mystical elements about it. He hadn't seen anything truly bizarre, he'd have to go to Squad 12's headquarters to do that, but he didn't doubt that some of the weirdness had leaked out into the surrounding area, like a kind of weirdness radiation. He didn't doubt that the mad scientist that led Squad 12 didn't actually have something like that squirreled away in some kind of doomsday weapon locker.

Finally reaching the communal housing, Kouki stepped inside and dropped himself into his bunk. He'd have to be on time tomorrow.

*v*v*v*

*v*v*v*

Kouki's wooden sandals clattered on the beaten path as he ran for the riverside. He wasn't exactly sure how early Arata meant when he said 'morning', but Kouki was sure he meant earlier than it was now.

As he ran, he spotted the weathered man lounging around on a log by the river, their lines cast into the water. Along with him was another man lying on the grassy bank with a conical hat tipped over his face, a fishing rod held in his legs. Next to him sat a large dumpy looking man with an open vest over his bare chest and pants secured by a simple rope belt. Arata looked over to Kouki and waved to the young man.

"Ah, there you are!" he chuckled as Kouki got closer, breathing heavily. "I was wondering when you'd show up."

"I'm sorry I'm late." Kouki wheezed.

Arata stuck his fishing rod into a large hole drilled into the log he was sitting on before fiddling with a tobacco pipe. "Ah, no need to be so apologetic. You didn't strike me as the type that's used to gettin' up early anyways. But we'll soon fix that, won't we?" he cackled. "By the way, these are the brothers of mine I told you about. The layabout here is Gorou."

The man lying on the ground tipped back his hat to see Kouki and raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Whoa! You might be as tall as Yori!" he gasped before slapping Yori on the back. "Hey Yori, stand up so we can see if he's taller than you!"

"I don't feel like it." Yori yawned as he kept his eyes on his fishing lure bobbing gently in the water.

"Aw come on Yori, don't be like that." Gorou complained.

Gorou had facial features one might liken to a rat or similar small rodent, and limbs were reedy and wiry. Yori on the other hand was greatly overweight and almost a head taller than Kouki, even while Kouki was sitting on the log beside Arata. As Kouki sat down Arata handed him a very basic fishing rod, nothing more than a smoothened wooden stick with a line on the end. There was even a single green leaf jutting from the rod about halfway along it.

"You know how to fish don't you Kouki?" Arata asked.

"I've casted a line once or twice." Kouki nodded. "Got any bait?"

"Sure do." He said, picking up a small pail filled with chopped lumps of meat. "Got some special stuff here. The fish in this stream love it."

Kouki took the hook on the end of his line, affixed a bit of bait into it and cast it into the water.

"Mm. Not a bad cast. Although you'll want to put a little less power into your swing. Fishing is a graceful art after all." Arata said, lighting his tobacco pipe.

Kouki gave a small snort of laughter. "I'd never once thought fishing to be graceful."

"Ah, you'll learn." The old man smiled before his line started tugging. "Oh, I think I've got one!"

Arata snatched up his fishing pole as he yanked hard with a ferocious yell, dragging a great fat fish out from the river and onto the bank. Arata laughed as he dropped the fish into a chest filled with ice.

"Look at that boys, our first catch of the day! I get the feeling we're going to have a good day today!" he laughed.

Kouki looked out over the water and smiled. He felt like he was finally starting to fit in around here.

A/N

A/N

A/N

Hello gentle readers, Shrubs here!

Wow, been a while since I've written a Bleach story. After a lot of other stuff I've decided to go back to my roots and try something a little different. With this story I'm going to try a slower pace than my other ones which usually blitz by so fast I have a hard time keeping up with all the stuff I want to put in it. Either that or I burn myself out too quickly and end up abandoning them. I might go back to them one day. One day.

Oh yeah, and you may be wondering why this is called Wannabe Reaper GV. Well, the GV stands for Good Version because I have another version on my computer that never went beyond 1000 words and is really, really shit. Also I'm a sucker for two letter acronyms. Sue me.

Have any thoughts or opinions on this new slower pace or just want to point out spelling errors? Be sure to put them in a review. I'll be sure to read it! Thanks for reading and I hope I see you around for the future chapters.

-The Shrubbery King