He kept his head down as he shuffled through the courtyard. When shinigami walked by he didn't meet their eyes. One step forward was one step closer to ending it after all these years. With all the steps he'd taken until now, weren't they all taken slowly one at a time? As he ventured to take another, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a flash of bright pink atop what seemed like an enormous black palm tree. Then, he was bowled over. So much for remaining inconspicuous.
A pink haired shinigami girl rubbed her forehead where it had hit the ground after crashing into him. A man of gigantic proportions with spiky black hair, an eye patch, and a captain's haori had turned around to see where the little girl that was riding on his back had gone.
"Ken-chan!" the girl called to the man. "Watch where you're going! You crashed into... you're new."
"It's your fault!" Kenpachi grumbled. "You were the one who was supposed to be navigating. Besides, how was I supposed to see the little speed-bump sized squirt there?"
"Ken-chan! It's not nice to make fun of short people. This is a new one too!"
"We don't have time to waste on a weakling like him. We have to get to the battle tests. We're already late thanks to your sense of direction."
Yachiru's cheeks puffed up with anger. She turned from Kenpachi and crossed her arms. "If you're so good at navigating, then you go yourself! I'm gonna go with him!" She turned to the boy. "Name and squad."
"Come on Yachiru!" Kenpachi sighed as he grabbed her by the back of her shihakusho and flinging her on his back. They started away, but it was barely two steps before there was a howl. "OW! You bit me!"
Yachiru jumped off his back. "I'm not going unless you bring him." She pointed to the boy that was still on the ground, dumbfounded at the situation he suddenly found himself in.
"Fine!" Kenpachi walked over and flipped the boy onto his back. "Come on. We're late."
"Yay!" Yachiru jumped onto Kenpachi's back as well. Satisfied with the arrangements.
"What's your name?" she asked the boy, but there was no reply. He was sprawled across half of Kenpachi's back with a dazed look in his eyes. "Squad?" Still no reply. "Age?" Silence. "Well, I haven't seen you around, so you must be new. Right?" Quiet. "You'll need to go to the battle exams too, so lucky we were here to give you a ride, huh?" Eventually she just have up getting him to speak and carried out a completely one-sided conversation. "I'll make you our fourth seat and we can be buddies. It's so boring with just baldy and yun-yun. We'll cheer for ken-chan together. Oh look! We're here!" She pointed to the clearing where a crowd was gathered around. As they joined the throng of captains, leutinants, and seat members, he could make out Captain Commander Yamamoto at the center calling out names. Two young shinigami testing for seats would come forward and do battle. The winner stayed on and battled the next one. Yachiru watched with enthusiasm, but the boy could tell Kenpachi found the process quite boring.
In the end, the last newbie standing was a young man rippling with muscles, and from his tactics at beating his opponents, he could tell that the man wasn't all brawn either.
"With that we en..." began Captain Commander Yamamoto, but he was cut off by Yachiru.
"Wait! There's one more!" She dragged the small boy forward. He struggled to escape her grip, but was unable to.
"There is nobody else on the roster." Replied the Captain Commander.
"Then the roster is wrong!" insisted Yachiru. "He's obviously a newbie who hasn't been tested for a seat!"
"Not every new shinigami is elligible to test for a seat leutinant." Yamamoto reasoned.
"This one is! Just let him!"
The Captain Commander glanced at the short and bony boy and smiled. "Sure. There is no harm in letting the youngster try." Yachiru pushed the boy into the center of the clearing.
"Good luck!" Yachiru called, then a thoughtful expression came over her and she ran up to the boy. Reaching into her shihakusho, she retrieved a dented tin can and popped the tab. "I've been saving this, but I'll give it to you." The boy took it in his hand and looked down at it. "Drink it!" She put one hand behind the boys head and took the drink in the other and forced the drink in between his lips. The boy was overwhelmed and choked, coughing up fizzy liquid. She patted him on the back. "I'll see you back at barracks when you're our fourth seat!" She turned and ran back to where Kenpachi was sleeping against a tree leaving him choking on old soda water.
The boy stood in the center of the clearing facing the muscular shinigami. He was outmatched, and he knew it. His knees trembled, and he felt the full force 12 captain-level gazes on his back (kenpachi is asleep). Then he felt himself calm as if he had suddenly been shoved into a very quiet freezer. The pressure of gazes faded away, and all he could here were Yachiru's words "Good Luck." He smiled. As if he'd need luck.
The shinigami waited for the boy to attack, but after ten minutes, the boy still hadn't moved to draw his sword.
"Look at him!" the shinigami laughed. "He's scared stiff! Well... go on. Attack! You're not gonna get in one if you keep that up! You think you can win me without your sword? Don't get cocky brat!" The shinigami drew his zanpaktou, and the fading sunlight glinted off the blade. He charged at the boy, raised his blade and brought it straight down on the boy's head slicing him into two perfect halves. It was a perfect cut, or would have been a perfect cut. When he raised is blade, there was no halved corpse lying on the grass. Before he could comprehend what was happening, he felt a small pinch on the back of his neck. It was the boy behind him, but his the boy's hands were to small to encircle is neck completely. The shinigami smiled and twirled around, pointed his sword a millimeter above the skin of the boy's neck.
"K.O" the shinigami whispered.
"I'm sure we can all so who the winner is here." Yamomoto announced. "So the undesputed victor is Kenta Kudo." He indicated toward the large shinigami. All the captains and leutinants turned to leave. The boy stepped back from the sword, but Kenta didn't move. His sword stayed in mid air where it had been pointed at the boy's neck. What was a victory stance now seemed silly with his sword pointed at nothing.
"What did you do to me?" Kenta shouted at the boy. "I can't move." Everyone turned back around.
Yamamoto turned to Kenta. "You can't move?"
"I can't move anything but my face!" Kenta screeched, panicking. "He paralyzed me!"
"Did your sword touch his neck?"
"No, it stopped before I could get to it or I would kill him for this!"
A grin broke across Yamamoto's face followed by bellows of laughter. "You underestimated the child, Kenta! I'm afraid, those were faulty results. " the Captain Commander chuckled. "The true victor is this child." He nodded toward the boy. "What is your name?" The boy was silent for a moment, hiding his face beneath his bangs.
"Marise Sasaki," he whispered so that only the Captain Commander who was standing closest could hear.
"Marise Sasaki-kun!" Yamamoto boomed. Marise flinched at hearing his named called in such a loud voice. "Which squad and position would you like to have?" Marise remained silent.
"Fourth seat 11th squad!" Yachiru called, rushing forward to envelop him in her embrace. "He's our fourth seat. Right Ken-chan!"
"Wa-wa!" Kenpachi shook the sleep out of his eyes.
"We have a fourth seat now!"
Kenpachi snapped out of his stupor immediately and gave Marise a toothy grin. "Let's fight!"