A/N: Welcome to "Fool's Raven", a story that takes place a year or two after Urahara was promoted to Captain and founded the research department. Yoruichi is still squad 2 captain and commander of the Stealth Force, with Soi Fon in her personal guard. I have no idea what her rank was at this point in time, but I assume she was at least in the top ten seats. As the description says, this is meant to be a bit like 'slice of life' anime but with a Stealth Force twist, each chapter covering an snippet of his life and varying amounts of time between each. Enjoy the adventures and misadventures of Sado Akio.

Chapter One: Almighty Hatching

"Sado Akio, reporting for assignment. Commander." a tall well-built man with black hair in a simple style knelt low and formally at the door as he was given the okay to make an entrance. At first I was startled by his appearance. I had expected someone smaller and more slender, the kind of person that usually joined the Punishment Force. This 'Sado Akio' seemed more suited to Squad 11. The only indication that he was suited for the Stealth Force was the fact that his shihakusho was sleeveless, a popular style among hakuda specialists.

Kneeling was the proper and formal way to have a audience with the commander of the Punishment Force, especially when the commander happened to to be the heir to the Shihoin clan, one of the six noble houses in the soul society. It was even more right to be formal considering the commander was also a captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. If any of her predecessors had ever held both titles of commander and captain, it was beyond the memory of anyone in attendance.

As right as it was to do it that way, it did not seem to sit well with either of them. The man, Sado Akio, was clearly not the type to bow to anyone, I could tell it just by looking at him. Even as he knelt there with a neutral expression on his face, it was as if his body was crying out to stand in defiance and demand proof that the person before him was worthy of such an action. The commander, Lady Yoruichi, sat on a legless like a goddess with her attendants, including myself, on hand. She had always found such formality distasteful, though why will forever be a mystery to me.

She looked to me, "Soi Fon, you still have the documents I assume?"

I bowed low, "Yes, Lady Yoruichi, of course. Here you are."

Taking the scroll in hand, Lady Yoruichi smiled at the man at the door, "Come on, you can look up now. Stay face down too much longer and the cleaning staff won't have any dust left to clean. Do them a favor and stop breathing it in."

"Yes, Commander, sorry. I'm not quite used to formalities." Akio sat up, still seated on his legs and his face betrayed an instant of shock before returning to the default state of expressionlessness. I understood the look he had worn in that moment, it was the same look everyone had when they saw her for the first time. The beauty of Lady Yoruichi is that of a goddess of the sun after all.

The commander was used to it though, to the point where she no longer noticed it. Instead she opened the scroll with his information on it and took another look at it, making sure she made no mistakes, even though such a thing was impossible for her, "Sado Akio, fresh out of the academy. Slightly above average grades overall, with very high marks in zanjutsu and hakuda. Hakuda especially," she smiled, and looked to the man, "Well, I can see why they sent you over to us for consideration."

"Thank you, Commander."

"Drop the formalities, you might be a rookie, but your record speaks for itself." she stamped the scroll with a seal and handed it to one of the other attendants, who blew the mark dry and rolled the scroll up before taking it away for the records, "I do keep things pretty tight with the majority of my men, but I think you have enough discipline to forgo such things."

"Then shall I call you Shihoin-sama?"

Well at least the man had the decency to use '-sama'. Lady Yoruichi sighed, "I'd prefer Yoruichi-san. But whatever you are comfortable with within reason is fine. Just lighten up, I have enough stuffy people around me already."

Odd, with me she had only added honorifics to her name as courtesy to me. Lady Yoruichi usually preferred just her first name with people she met. I had not often been in attendance to welcome new members – only when she met people outside the force and squad – and had to wonder if such an effort to draw a small line between the two of them was common. In retrospect, very few members, even those she told to address her informally, left off honorifics.

Akio bowed slightly again, more comfortable with the action this time. He had probably measured her as worthy in the short spans of time, at least enough so to conquer his natural aversion to submission, "Thank you, ma'am. It shouldn't really come up much. After all, names come up surprisingly little in the average conversation."

"True." she nodded, "By the way, why do you want to join the Punishment Force anyway? Very few people actually decide to join us. Do you have family in the force?"

"No, ma'am, I don't actually have any family."

"Really? Well, why are you signing up?"

Akio frowned, "When I was younger, law breaking soul reapers that were trying to escape to the world of the living killed my brother when cornered by the Force."

"You don't blame the Punishment Force?"

He shook his head, "Of course not, that would be stupid. Those reapers chose to break the law. They didn't even have a good reason, it was just something as stupid as greed. People willing to destroy just for a profit deserve to die. My brother dying was an unavoidable tragedy."

"Hm, you're a very reasonable fellow."

"I've had a lot of time to think about it since, though I never did blame the Punishment Force. They couldn't help not being fast enough. I hear one of the members that saved me later achieved bankai and even made captain recently. Clearly he's been training since. That's proof that those squad members were trying. They weren't just sitting on their butts, the skills they used were the best they had. How could I blame them?"

"Ah, so Kisuke Urahara was the one who inspired you to become a reaper?"

Akio nodded, "My goal in joining the Stealth Force is to catch up to him in skill. I want to be as strong as him and get to that point faster."

"Why?"

"Compared to those men I was impossibly weak, so the logical course of action to make up for that is to become impossibly stronger than they were. Captain Urahara is my only living comparison."

Lady Yoruichi looked concerned, "I doubt your brother would want you to kill yourself trying though. Kisuke has a pretty big head start."

"I have no intention of dying or permanently injuring myself. I plan on living a good life as well. Like I said, I've had time to think it over."

The commander smiled, "Good.... Now, on to the matter of your station. I'm accepting your request to be assigned to the Punishment Force, and I'm also assigning you a place in the Thirteen Court Guard Squads. As you probably know, squad two is the muscle of the Punishment Force, guarding any arrested and deploying when the Punishment Force would for any reason be too slow in arriving. That is on top of the usual soul reaper duties."

I wasn't surprised really that he would be placed immediately, Akio's spiritual pressure and grades in the academy qualified him for a seated position right off the bat after all, he had even managed to reach shikai before he left the school. Such a thing wasn't rare, but relatively few graduates each year could boast that (A/N: Kinda like graduating with honors from a normal school).

The commander went into specifics, "As far as your rank in squad 2, we recently lost our tenth seat. If you can prove yourself better suited for the position than our eleventh, then you can have the spot."

"But, Lady Yoruichi, no one straight out of the Academy has ever been placed higher than 12th seat in any squad." I spoke up, mostly out of shock.

She shook her head, "Actually, you're forgetting Kaien Shiba. He was placed as a 4th seat in squad 5 a few years ago. A few others before you're time placed high as well."

I bowed, "You're right, Lady Yoruichi. My apologies, I spoke out of turn."

The commander sighed, and turned back to the silent Akio, "Anyway, this is Soi Fon. She may be a bit awkward, but she knows her stuff. I'm putting you under her care for the time being and since she is under mine, that carries to you as well.

"You honor me, Lady Yoruichi." Akio and I said in unison, glancing at each other soon after in embarrassment, though his seemed far milder than my own.

Lady Yoruichi and Akio both chuckled at the mishap, causing me to shrink a little. A great start to the first big responsibility she had assigned to me. After regaining her composure, Lady Yoruichi continued, still with a big grin on her face though, but that wasn't all that uncommon, "I believe very strongly in grooming the exceptional very closely. We'll see how you do with your training and in typical duties before assigning an official place in the Punishment Force." She snapped her fingers. Another attendant picked up a uniform and walked gracefully over to Akio to present it to him, "Your uniform for official duties."

"Thank you. If that is all I would like to get that 10th seat evaluation done with."

Lady Yoruichi smiled, "You don't want to wait and train a bit? You think you can do it now?"

"So do you, otherwise you wouldn't have bothered giving me a chance immediately. I've only got two questions."

The smile on her face changed slightly. She was mildly impressed? "Shoot."

"First, will there be any restriction on use of our zanpakuto?"

"No."

"Alright, then second, is this going to be a spar, full contact, or to the death?"

"You sound like you don't have a problem with any of them."

"If I was averse to killing other soul reapers I wouldn't be joining the Stealth Force."

"True, but let's just keep this full contact. I don't believe in pointless killing, but the two of you can go all out short of killing each other."

"Alright, thank you. Aside from where to go for the fight, that's all I need to know."

"What about your foe's fighting style? Weapon of choice? Shikai? Don't you want to know any of that?"

Akio shook his head and grinned lightly, "Of course not, that would ruin half the fun."

"Ha, ha, of course. What was I thinking?"

"You wouldn't have told me anyway."

Lady Yoruichi paused at the sudden and blunt certainty in his statement, then resumed smiling, "You got that right, I was testing you and you caught me. Head down to the courtyard and I'll send word to your opponent."

"I'll be going then." Akio bowed low again, "Yoruichi-sama, Soi Fon-sama."

I blushed at the wasted honorific, then flushed an even deeper red when I saw that Lady Yoruichi was regarding my reaction with amusement. In my awkwardness I barely noticed Akio was still sitting there with an uncomfortable and embarrassed look on his face, "Um... why are you still sitting there?"

"Err...um...," He chuckled at himself, "...my legs fell asleep."

Lady Yoruichi was instantly beside herself with laughter. Personally, I had to wonder if he was ready for what she was giving him. After all, in many squads the top ten seats were distinctly stronger or more reliable than seats eleven through twenty. This was especially true of squads two (the vanguard of the Stealth Force) and eleven (the first line of defense for the entire Soul Society). Even if he was stronger then the 11th seated Camino Watanabe, was he worth the 10th seat?

It didn't take long for the fight to be arranged and a crowd to gather in the courtyard.

"Eleventh Seat Camino Watanabe reporting for the evaluation, Captain Shihoin." a plain looking man with a hair style typical among the samurai of the world of the living knelt before his captain respectfully, "I appreciate the opportunity, ma'am."

Across the courtyard, already in position, Sado Akio looked at his opponent with an amused look, almost as if he were trying not to laugh at him. It wasn't the hair, as strange a style as it was, for Akio had regarded Watanabe's appearance with indifference when he'd arrived. It had to be something the eleventh seat had said. Taking into account Akio's clear confidence in his own abilities, I replayed everything Watanabe had said in my mind. The eleventh seat was casual, he seemed to think he was going to breeze through the fight. To a man who thought he had the skills to win and there was no chance of failure, the other side acting the same would seem comical.

Lady Yoruichi nodded to the eleventh seat, "Your opponent is a new recruit with good spiritual pressure and high marks in the academy. Both good enough to make him deserve the post. Take that into account as you take your stance."

Watanabe smiled, not taking the Captain's advice seriously. It made me sick, "Thank you Captain, I'll give it my best."

As the man strode over to his place on the battlefield and drew his blade, Lady Yoruichi already looked bored. She spoke to me without turning, "So... your thoughts?"

I tensed up immediately, and had to swallow hard to make sure my words came out right, though my voice was still squeaky, "Well, they are both going into the match thinking they can't loose, but I think Akio is going to win." I swallowed again, "I remember you told me once that the most certain way to lose is to think your opponent is beneath you. Akio seems more careful. He's certain he can win but Watanabe might as well be walking in with his eyes closed in comparison."

"Ah, you've been people watching like I told you." she smiled, proud of me. I blushed at the praising smile, "The ability to properly measure your opponent is the key trait necessary not only to assassins, but all warriors. If you can't read your opponent, you can't win."

"And Watanabe isn't doing that."

"Nope, not even half trying to. If you were watching Akio when the crowd started talking about Watanabe's approach, he went on the alert, studied his target from the moment the eleventh seat arrived. Akio is smiling right now because he knows he's got the edge. He knows exactly the same thing I know having compared their skills and attitudes: This fight is already over. There's not even going to be any challenge to it." Sighing, Lady Yoruichi stood up and addressed the two combatants, "Okay, rules are simple. Full contact, try not to kill each other. You can release your zanpakuto if you feel the need to. Ready?"

Watanabe clasped his katana in both hands and nodded, "I am, but my opponent has yet to draw his blade."

It occurred to me then that I hadn't taken the time to see what Akio's sword looked like, some soul reapers had different sealed states to their weapons after all, there was even a captain who preferred to keep his blade the size of a knife. Watanabe had a standard katana sized zanpakuto. However, Akio wore a shorter blade more the dimensions of most Stealth Force members but slightly more curved. Other than that it also bore a strange hook on the dull back edge of the weapon against the hand guard. It reminded me of something. At the time I could not place it.

Akio shrugged at the comment about drawing his weapon, "My blade isn't for friendly fighting. I'm fine like this."

Watanabe snorted in annoyance, "The nerve!"

Yoruichi looked to both of the men, "Anyway, being the duel!"

Watanabe came forward and raised his blade, coming down in a downward strike that was like lightning, both in force and speed. It was impressive for an 11th seat to be sure, but more impressive was that Akio had stepped aside casually, so much so that someone just coming up would think he was there at the start. The katana turned and came to the side for a slash, but Akio was already moving and just outside Watanabe's range of motion. With his arms at his side he looked more like an instructor observing a student in disgust than a combatant.

His foe pivoted and his blade came around and down in a single fluid motion, the delay would be invisible to a lesser warrior, but to me and most assuredly Lady Yoruichi, it seemed as slow as a practice drill. Akio was reading the moves just as easily, as he was already out of the way of the strike when it came.

"Time out." he said with disgust.

"What?" Watanabe was perplexed and annoyed, the fool still had not realized how outclassed he was.

Akio looked at Lady Yoruichi, "Is this really your 11th seat?"

She nodded.

"Hm. I thought you were giving me an honor. Turns out you were insulting me. You owe me an apology later, Yoruichi-sama."

Watanabe, enraged at the insult, readied himself, "You dare insult me? You're just a rookie reaper! Take your stance!"

Akio took no stance at all, "You insult your sword with moves like that. You owe your life to that weapon, and you repay it like that? Come, I'll silence the foul tongue of your technique."

Another downward strike was what Watanabe intended, but Akio thrusted the palm of one hand forward, stopping the swing the instant before it would come down. "Too high!" suddenly, in a move too swift for Watanabe's eyes, Akio grabbed the handle of his blade in a reverse grip (A/N: A style mostly used for knives seen all the time in Naruto when they wield kunai.) and brought it across his foe's wrists, a move that would have probably come quite close to removing Watanabe's hands if the striking blade had not still been sheathed.

Without hesitation Sado Akio followed with a kick to the man's chest, sending the target flying backward, "Not solid enough." He grabbed the dominant arm, the sword arm, of his opponent and in a fluid trinity of movement yanked Watanabe towards him, slashed the tendons of the elbow and came back for a stabbing motion across the throat that the greater curve of his blade turned into a slash. The next combination had Akio still holding the arm and going low for a gutting strike across the stomach and a stab to Watanabe's kidney. If Akio had unsheathed his sword, Watanabe would be finished many times over already even though only moments had passed.

I could see why Lady Yoruichi gave him the chance, he still had a way to go in spiritual pressure and speed, but he was easily skilled enough for a seat in the top ten ranks of the squad. With some polish he could go places. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth, I wouldn't let him get by me. He would close the distance between our current skills quickly with the guidance of the commander, of that I was certain, but I would never let him surpass me. I would widen the distance just as fast!

Watanabe backed away, and Akio let him go. The warrior still refused to accept how far outclassed he was. Even though he sheathed his sword it was only because it had to be sheathed to release his shikai. It was a weakness not many reapers had, but it spoke volumes of Watanabe. Having to do that meant you mostly fought with your shikai and most reapers tried not to rely on it too much. It dulls technique. The 11th seat was evidence of that, affected by the fact even more since his shikai was stronger than most.

Akio backed up, putting himself two strides outside normal striking distance and slightly off to the side, seemingly reading the intent as he had his foe's movements. The new position would make a strike at him awkward given Watanabe's stance, even if the shikai had a long reach. Regardless, the officer made no attempt to adjust his footing. In his eyes it wasn't necessary, "Split everything in two, sunder even the rivers, 'Iyashii Bure-do'!" (A/N: Greedy Blade.)

He drew the sword for an underhanded swing, the suddenly ten foot long blade passing through the ground like it wasn't even there and coming up at Akio, who dodged to the side easily. If he had known what was coming he probably would have dodged wider. Unfortunately, he had no way to know that when Watanabe placed both hands on the sword once again and rotated the edge to face him, it wasn't for a second slash.

"What?" Akio, still moving aside from the first attack, stumbled towards the weapon, the blade cutting through his clothes and into his flesh like a rock splits the path of water. Only driving his zanpakuto against the blade stopped the progress of the cut into a mortal wound. Even then the sheath might as well have been air.

Watanabe paused to brag rather than attack again, "How do you like the power of my zanpakuto? My spiritual pressure pulls anything that comes close over the edge."

Akio grunted as he struggled, and failed, to move away from the blade. Only his sword kept Wanton Edge from killing him, "I see, so anything with less spiritual pressure and softer than your sword gets split in two without any real effort on your part. Quite a weapon, I see now why you're so bad at zanjutsu."

"You talk big for a whelp." Watanabe pulled back his sword to ready a second attack.

Lady Yoruichi smiled, eyes riveted to Akio in anticipation, "Sado is better than Watanabe, that's clear. But can he beat Iyashii Bure-do?"

I was curious too. Certainly Akio would release his shikai in the face of such a weapon. What would it be like?

"No, he won't." Lady Yoruichi said, anticipating my thoughts, "You heard what he said earlier about Watanabe insulting Wanton Edge with poor skill. Look at him. Sado's the type who would rather die than draw his blade against someone like Watanabe." She stood up suddenly as Akio shifted his grip on his blade to hold it by the hook on the guard.

In that moment it occurred to me what the hook had reminded me of: the grasping foot of a bird, and that was how Akio was holding his blade, like it was a bird. At first I thought that was how he called on his sword, but then he tossed it over to Lady Yoruichi, forsaking his only defense against Iyashii Bure-do. The breeze picked up suddenly and there was a change in the atmosphere. The fight suddenly felt like a death match."Hold this for me please, if I use it against this guy it will never forgive me. You also might want to call squad four."

Watanabe seethed in anger, "You think you can injure me that badly with no weapon? Don't insult my Iyashii Bure-do with your idiocy!"

Watanabe was so blind in his own arrogance that he didn't notice Akio's spiritual pressure rising, "You do a fine enough job of that. Remember when you insult me that you had to unleash your shikai against such a lowly enemy. In truth, this fight was over before it began, and you refuse to see it or why. So if I can't turn aside the blade of someone with less sight than a blind man, I don't deserve to wield a zanpakuto. If I can't kill someone like you without my sword, I don't deserve my limbs!"

"You're worse than a whelp, you're a fool!"

"Come! If your blade can split me now, then I am a fool. A dead one at that! But if you can't kill an unarmed man in one stroke with such a blade, you deserve neither it nor your life!"

Odd, Akio was more hot-blooded than I had originally believed. Considering how calm he normally was, it came as a bit of a shock.

"So be it then! I'll destroy you for your insolence!" Watanabe lifted his blade high for a downward strike, "HAAAAAA!"

Akio dodged to the side, grabbing the flat of the blade before Watanabe could turn it, keeping its power from being used. "What's wrong? You've got two hands, I've only got one on it. Can't turn it? Maybe you should have the sense to stand closer! At this distance you can't apply much torque at all. If you had any idea how to use this thing right I wouldn't be standing here holding it casually in my hand!" Finally, Watanabe came to the realization that his skills had slipped. His face was one of a man suddenly shot with an arrow for no reason. His pressure lost all focus. Akio's was as sharp as ever, and stronger than it had started, "If you can't use it, I WILL! ARRAAHHHHH!" a single strike to the flat of the fragile blade with the palm of Akio's free hand was plenty to break it. The sword known for splitting things in two had met that very fate itself.

In a sudden dash Akio brought the captured half towards the neck of his opponent. I expected Lady Yoruichi to intervene, she was far more than fast enough to stop him. She made not a twitch however and I swallowed hard when the broken blade came across Watanabe's throat... harmlessly. I couldn't tell from the angle I was at, but Akio must have deliberately swung short of the mark, throwing the blade down instead. There was fresh blood on it, but it was from Akio wielding the exposed blade without a handle, not inflicting a wound

"I win." Akio said, neutral expression returning as blood dripped from his hand. He looked at it and sighed, "I should really be less dramatic about this kind of thing."

Hanging Akio's sword on one finger, Lady Yoruichi applauded him, "Well done, Tenth Seat Sado Akio." A member of squad four that had been waiting nearby came forward and tended Akio's hand and side. I wasn't sure if it was a testament to skill or stupidity that Akio was the only one with injuries worse than shattered pride."

Lady Yoruichi held out his zanpakuto to him, "It's called 'Tawakemono no Karasu' right?" ("Fool's Raven")

Akio nodded.

The commander smiled, "Suits you."

Looking at Watanabe staring blanking at his broken sword in shame, I realized the main point of the evaluation. To her, Akio was obviously suited for the tenth seat from the start. The test not only showed that to the rest of the squad, but it had hopefully corrected a problem with the 11th seat. After losing like that, Watanabe would either try harder once more, or quit. Either outcome fixed the problem.

Truly, Lady Yoruichi was a masterful leader.

Yoruichi's Perspective, The Next Morning...

"Yoruichi?" Kisuke looked my direction, confused for a moment as he looked up from his work, but then he smiled warmly. It was the exact same smile he'd had since we were kids, in fact even though he was an adult, he looked twelve again suddenly, "You don't often come around the lab. What's this about?"

"Well, I was just coming to see you and you weren't in your office."

"Anything important or is this just social?" he grabbed his gloves and waited to see whether or not he should take them off.

"Nothing too important. I just wanted to check some numbers with you and talk about the past."

He raised an eyebrow, briefly in deep contemplation before slipping the gloves off and smiling, "Okay, I've got time." Kisuke turned to a nearby colleague in a white and black mask, "Kurotsuchi, I'm sure you can handle this right?"

"Of course, we're only in the observation stage at this point. What do you take me for?" the man replied in a voice I could only describe as insidious, "The sample should keep just fine, if there's anything I'll notify you and end up handling it before you get here. Like the other times."

"Good to know." Kisuke ignored the harsh words and walked my way, motioning for me to follow him, probably to his office. When we arrived, he sat down at his desk, "What's this about numbers?"

I grinned, "Well, I recently got an interesting recruit in my squad and he happens to be a big fan of yours."

"Really? You'd think he would have joined my squad then"

"Actually he's a fan of your work in the Punishment Force. A fan in the 'I must beat him completely' kind of way."

He laughed, "Well, I've never had one of those before. Maybe I should write this down and celebrate each year."

"The numbers I wanted to check are the dates you achieved shikai, flash step, manifestation, and bankai. He wants to do each one faster than you did. I want the numbers to keep track of his progress."

Smiling he pulled out a journal, "So he's that interesting? You actually think he can do it?"

"I actually think he might be on the verge of manifestation if he isn't there already."

Kisuke dropped the journal from surprise, thankfully it fell to his desk, "That fast?"

"He faced down the shikai of an 11th seat unarmed because he said his sword would feel insulted."

He frowned, flipping through the book, "Ah, so his sword's one of those. He might not be near manifestation, but I think he'll end up capable of it. Nobody can think of their sword like that and not be. I always feel sorry for that type of person. Their swords usually end up being very demanding and somewhat cruel to them." Offhandedly he pulled a file off the shelf and handed it to me, "Here, an account of a bankai trial I got from an old journal. The captain of squad 5 right before Captain Suzunami I believe."

I flipped it open and read it. The trial was too brutal to repeat here, "My god. He actually survived that?"

"Barely."

"That was worse than yours and you said yours would be especially dangerous due to the new method you were using."

Kisuke nodded, "My sword is actually not that demanding of me, at least compared to some. I just have to have happy thoughts and quench the odd blood lust. The only reason mine was so taxing was because of my method."

"Hm. So you think my new recruit is going to have a bad time when he reaches bankai?"

"Yep." he was jotting down some numbers, "I note that you said 'when' and not 'if'."

I grinned, "Hey, we both have eyes for talent you know. I can tell he'll get it. It may take a long time, but he'll be there one day."

"You think he can beat my record?" my friend asked sheepishly, handing me the requested dates.

I shook my head, "No, not really. Especially since he clearly can't use the same cheat you did."

He laughed, beaming from the off-handed complement, "So who is this young prodigy that idolizes me enough to want to beat me half to death? If I may ask."

"Sado Akio, I placed him in the 10th seat of squad two right away."

"So he's already tied me on that one. Are you sure you weren't helping the kid out?"

"Nope, you should see what he did to my 11th seat in a spar yesterday. Poor Watanabe hasn't spoken a word to anyone since." I grinned, having looked at the dates and found a means of teasing my old friend, "Oh and according to the time it took you to get to shikai, he tied you there too."

Kisuke, amused at the idea of a prodigy trying to catch up to him, wracked his brain for a face to the put with the name, "Sado Akio... I've heard the Akio family name before. And you said it was from my force days? What seat was I at the time?"

I shrugged, "Not sure. But he said four reapers being chased for murder and extorting money from commoners killed his brother before you came to save the day. Sado painted it as if you snatched him from the very maw of doom."

"Oh, that one. I remember that one. Now that the pieces of the picture are together in my mind I remember him now too."

"Really? You barely remember your own squad members half the time." I chuckled.

"Don't exaggerate. I know every one of my squad members names. I just keep forgetting their ranks." he smiled, as if I should congratulate him for being absent-minded, "But yeah I really do recall Sado. I was 6th seat at the time I think and higher ranked in the force. I hadn't quite gotten my Flash Step down yet. I felt bad about it until I finally got the technique down. Once I knew it wouldn't happen again I could forgive myself a bit."

"Oh yeah, I remember that. You kept me up for three days straight helping you."

"Sado was a little one at the time but what struck me about him was how he reacted. He didn't seem sad or mad. The kid had the strangest look, like he was recording the whole scene for reference or something. It was weird that he would etch me killing four murderers in his mind. I kinda went a little wild on them too after what they did to the brother."

"Hm."

"Be careful of him." He looked at me with a deadly serious glint in his eye, "A kid like that growing up with a goal like that... I'm worried."

"About what?"

"How sane he really is."

My grin vanished, "Now you have me concerned. Someone like you looking so serious about someone's mental state when you laugh at the mention of your assistant's madness?"

"Mayuri's just an impatient over thinker with no concept of the value of life. He's relatively harmless." leaning back in his chair he continued, "Sado could very well turn into a sociopath, a sociopath trained to hunt and kill soul reapers."

I shook my head, thinking about how awkward the kid was, "I don't see it. He's incredibly serious sure, a little reckless maybe. He's not crazy, well at least not any more than the usual."

Kisuke shrugged, "I've never met him, so I don't know. I'd certainly like to though, since he's interested you and is my number one fan. When you're done torturing him, tell him to stop by."

"Ha-ha-ha. Yeah sure. I'll be careful too." I held up the note with the information on it. "Thanks for the points of reference."

Sado's Perspective, Elsewhere...

I stood calmly as Soi Fon explained the basic principles we would be working on in the coming weeks. She was taking her task as my instructor far too seriously but of course was doing a good job of it. The nervousness she was feeling was clear though, and I guessed she wasn't used to interacting with people outside of her family or Lady Yoruichi. Part of me suspected that was part of the point in giving her the job.

"So, Sado Akio," she wasn't sure how formal to be with me, cementing the fact that I was her first trainee, "I'm sure you know the four principles that make up the techniques of a soul reaper."

"Yes. Zan, or zanjutsu, which is zanpakuto technique. Ken, also known as hakuda, which is hand-to-hand combat. So is movement, or hoho. Lastly is Ki, which are spells we call kido."

She nodded, "Very good. I see you were paying attention in your classes. I thought we would start with bolstering your weak points first. You seem well enough versed in zanjutsu and hakuda skills, but I couldn't help but notice your footwork."

"I apologize, my style is a bit more stationary than most. It comes with specializing in counter and reversal maneuvers."

It seemed like my statement had made some of the pieces of a puzzle assemble themselves in her mind, "Ah, so that explains it. No wonder you handled Watanabe so easily."

"Naturally. A counter specialist would make someone with sloppy skills seem terribly weak."

Soi Fon nodded, "Unfortunately, not everyone is so easy to take advantage of. This is the very reason you need to master hoho. Your speed is lacking. All the technical ability in the world doesn't matter if you can't follow your foe's movements or even move with the same speed."

It took me a second to realize I was on my back. When the realization finally reached my brain I grunted in pain. What happened? I was just suddenly feeling pain in my shoulder and back and lying down on the ground behind my instructor, "Agh! Point taken." I climbed to my feet, "Some kind of shoulder throw right? Amazing how I never even felt you grab my arm."

She blushed a little from the compliment but seemed angry for some reason, "I'm not even all that fast. Lady Yoruichi can do that to me."

Whoa, I'd gotten the vibe that the commander was powerful, and I'd seen captains in battle before, but that kind of speed, blindingly fast to someone blindingly fast to me, seemed completely impossible. I hung my head low. What was I even doing in the Force if I was so slow? Soi Fon was about to say something, but I unintentionally butted in, looking to her with determination, "I need to get faster. How long until I can be as fast as you?"

"That's impossible to tell, but it could take years. I'm the 4th seat of the squad after all, you're 10th. There's a big difference in power levels at each rank of the top ten."

I thought about it, "So you're the 4th strongest person in the squad... that means there's the third seat and the lieutenant between you and Lady Yoruichi in strength... and five people between the two of us." I sighed, "Puts things in perspective nicely, you're so much stronger than me."

Soi Fon frowned, "Enough self-pity, there's no room for that in the Punishment Force. We'll be starting you on a training regiment and get you on the way to a proper speed."

I nodded. I'd have to pay very good attention to the training method, and do it twice as much. I needed to get faster, and fast. There was no getting by it.

Next Chapter: Spreading Wings

In the next chapter, Sado Akio faces off against a superior challenge and the shikai release of his zanpakuto 'Tawakemono no Karasu' spreads its wings. What is the true form and power of his zanpakuto? Stay tuned as you will soon learn that and more about the young prodigy.

Today's Featured Weapon: "Iyashii Bure-do"

Sealed State: Katana, plain in appearance.

Shikai: The blade simply extends to slightly over double the original length. At the wielder's former skill it would gain a golden-hued aura that seemed to flow over the blade as the sword moved or its power was used. The sword did not have this trait anymore by the time of this chapter.

Shikai Ability: The wielder's spiritual pressure extends along the blade length and draws nearby things of less pressure over the edge, splitting anything softer than his blade. Both the pull and the blade density are determined by the ability of the wielder, so the potency of this power hinges greatly on the wielder maintaining and increasing skill. One can assume it was once stronger than its current level.

Bankai: (not achieved)