110 Years before Ichigo Kurosaki...

Being a human turned Shinigami was one of the last things you expected to happen in your life. Yet, here you were. A normal human having awoken spiritual abilities of a Shinigami.

Soul Society, obviously discovering this, decided to take you in, earning you the title of "Substitute Soul Reaper". The second to ever exist, as far as anyone could remember. You had also earned the title, "Protector of Karakura Town", the small town in Japan you lived in in the World of the Living. But, due to your... Let's say "immaturity", Captain-Commander Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto placed you into the Sixth Division in the 13 Court Guard Squads. Your Captain was Ginrei Kuchiki, the current, 27th head of one of the Four Noble Families of Soul Society, the Kuchiki Clan. He was a a man who sees the inability to control one's own emotions as a form of weakness, so he was sure to smack the arrogance out of you. And just like that, you were his subordinate. But no one expected you to be as good as you were. Despite your usual attitude, you had replaced the previous Lieutenant's position of the 6th Division in only a few months. And this had gotten Ginrei to surprisingly warm up to you. You did get on his nerves quite a bit with your attitude however, which was fun for you. Despite it though, he knew you were a good kid. Just... A pain in the ass, mostly.

One day though, Ginrei actually invited you to go to a Noble gathering he had to attend. He had his ways of getting you in. It sounded (and looked) boring as Hell, but hey, free food, right?

Let's just say you got a lot more than free food.

As the Clans gathered and talked, you were bored out of your mind. So, you slowly slinked away from the party.

Checking behind you to see if you were in the clear, you accidentally bumped into someone, hard, knocking you over. Blinking in surprise from the sudden impact and looking up, you spotted a girl who looked about your age, dressed in elegant, royal robes of purple, yellow, and white. She had dark skin, raven-black hair, and piercing golden eyes that reminded you a lot of a cat's. In short, she looked... Beautiful.

"Ow-- Hey, watch where you're-" She soon stopped herself as she looked at you, blinking a couple times in surprise. You didn't look like a noble...

A few beats of silence passed between you both as you stared at each other until she spoke up.

"Uh... Sorry, about that." Surprisingly, she apologized, extending a hand out to you. As she helped you up, she gave you another once-over before a small, mischievous looking smirk started to form on her lips. "...You sneaking away from the gathering too?"