[1980]

The sun's light slowly creeped in through the window of Lunar's room, slowly making its way towards the hapless teenager's eyes. He felt the warmth and grimaced, not appreciating the wake up call. He made the mistake of opening his bright blue eyes while he was facing the window, and cursed at the stab of pain. He groaned and sat up, looking around the small room. He lived in Midorupurēn, 5th district in Northern Rukongai. He had lived in his current residence for ten years, having left his birth home at 9. Unlike most souls occupying the Rukongai, Lunar had been born in Soul Society, as opposed to dying in the Human World. Truly though, the difference was irrelevant. It was said being born in Soul Society granted a soul more reiryoku than one sent, but Lunar was fully aware that the rumors were false. After all, if that were true, Lunar might be at the Shin'o Academy. According to various reiatsu feelers in the district, Lunar had perhaps one-half of the reiatsu possessed by an unseated officer.

Still, it hadn't stopped him from attempting his best. He looked around at the various books strewed across the floor, all of them having to do with reiatsu manipulation, the best way to make up for a deficit in sheer power. He had made progress, albeit slowly. According to at least half of the books, reiryoku could be described in metaphor as a cup of water.

Every spirit was born with a cup inside them, and this cup was unchanging. A typical soul in the Rukongai had a 1/10 liter cup. A standard human had 1/30 liter cup. A captain level shinigami possessed anywhere from 10 to 50 liters. An unseated officer had a liter, maybe 2 if the squad was filled with powerful recruits. The Captain-Commander, by Lunar's calculation based on the rumors of his strength, had to have at least 100 liters or more. The cup was the first measurement of a potential shinigami's strength, but not the only one. In general, reiryoku had a consistent density, comparable to water, if only to stick with the cup metaphor. While the size of the cup couldn't change (with perhaps a few very rare exceptions), the density of the reiryoku could. One liter of honey was better than one of water, as the thicker reiatsu allowed a shinigami to use less reiatsu than one who had only water.

The easiest way to thicken one's reiatsu was to merely wait. A good fifty years or so would easily change the water into honey, which is why the older captains were also the most feared. Lunar, however, was not a patient person. He would not wait for his reiryoku to change, and at that slow of a pace, he'd be older than the Captain-Commander before he would make it to Lieutenant. Thankfully, there were ways to speed up the process significantly. The first was to constantly hold in the reiatsu one unconsciously let out, forcing more reiatsu into the cup than was possible, forcing it to change in density. Shinigami often didn't do this, mostly because they were content with flaring their reiatsu in a show of force. This method was also a little too slow to show results, so most didn't bother. Another way was to do the exact opposite, and constantly drain reiatsu from oneself. This forced the body to produce reiatsu faster in order to keep up, and once the person stopped forcing the reiatsu, the cup would fill up very fast, then be forced to adapt to the flow of new reiatsu into the cup. This was perhaps the best way to thicken reiryoku, though no shinigami would ever consider leaving themselves constantly drained and exhausted just for a comparatively minor power up. The final way was to gorge oneself on reishi, which the body converted into reiryoku, though this would involve consuming vast amounts of food, and Lunar didn't have the money to constantly refill his food storage. Interestingly enough, the Noble Houses produced stronger shinigami because of the last method, as any noble ate far better than a poor Rukongai citizen.

The second option was both the fastest and the easiest, which led Lunar to his current state; exhausted despite the 11 hours he'd spent dead to the world. He had noticed progress though, mostly in his kido, which he had trouble casting due to the vague descriptions of the books. His first attempt at kido, Hado 31: Shakkaho, had blown up in his face, nearly killing him and burning his house down. He'd kept to practicing Hados 1 and 4, Sho and Byakurai, since then. At first, he'd been drained for 10 minutes at the casting of a single one digit Hado or Bakudo. Now he could cast 3 or 4 in a row, and still be drained, but not to the point of exhaustion.

Lunar started his daily routine, flaring his reiatsu as hard as he could, letting the effort burn through his reserves while he ate his morning meal. He then went outside to practice his kido on the crude metal targets he'd constructed. He pointed a finger at one of them, and let his reiatsu gather at his fingertips before shouting the name of his favourite spell.

"Hado no Yon: Byakurai!" The beam of lightning flew across the yard and punched through the metal, dissipating a few feet beyond. Lunar repeated the sequence twice more, before sighing and slumping to the ground, cursing himself for his weakness. He knew he should be a little prouder. The Byakurai was fairly powerful, yet perfectly controlled. A very good showing, considering his less than average reiryoku and lack of formal training.

Still, he wished he could manage more than three. He sighed and went back to training, physical this time, running, jumping, pushups, anything he could manage. After a half hour, he felt a little bit of his reiatsu coming back, and began speed training, pumping reiatsu to his legs to move them faster. He could not quite manage shunpo just yet, but his running speed would rival it over longer distances.

The speed training was another workaround to his lack of strength. It didn't matter if his enemy was 5 or 10 or 1000 times stronger than him, it would amount to nothing if they couldn't touch him. Finally, after another 2 and a half hours of training, Lunar allowed himself a break. He washed himself before going back to his room, picking up a book, and sat down to read. He began to read, but noted with annoyance he'd picked a book he'd read at least three times already. He laid it down and grabbed another.

And then another. And another. And another. After about ten minutes, Lunar realized he needed something new. He could recite these books in his sleep by now. He groaned. All the decent books were in Seireitei, 3 hours away. A six-hour round trip, plus however long it took to find a store and a book. He sighed, again, grabbed a few thousand yen, and started the trip.

Lunar was tired, thirsty, hungry, oh, and he hadn't found a book either. It was looking to be a wasted trip, but he walked into one last store, one who's owner knew him well.

"Ah, Lunar-kun! It is good to see you, friend!"

Lunar smiled at the owner, a wizened old man who was one of the suppliers for the Academy. Generally, he was willing to sell some of his extra stock.

"You as while, Haruki-san. Anything new?" He asked hopefully, his face falling as the old man shook his head.

"I'm afraid not. Most of the copies go to the academy now. None left over for selling, I'm afraid. At this rate, you'd be best off joining the academy."

"Ah, you know I can't do that yet, Haruki-san. I'm not ready."

"If that's the case, you could try around the Gotei 13, especially that squad 8. I heard the lieutenant is quite the reader, just like you!"

Lunar laughed. "As much fun as that sounds, I doubt a lieutenant would find time for a random Rukongai peasant like myself."

"Well, there is a library on the outskirts of the Gotei 13, if you insist on scorning all human contact."

Lunar was suddenly interested. "Really? What kind of library?"

"Well, I don't rightly know, but I've seen some folk go in, and they got that look, ya know?"

Lunar did know. Many people thought the most defining feature of a shinigami was their distinctive apparel. However, if one looked close, all shinigami, or at least anyone with higher reiatsu, had a look to them. It wasn't really a definable quality, and Lunar had wondered if it was merely an effect of reikaku, but either way it was the easiest way to look for a shinigami. Besides the distinctive black robes, of course.

Lunar got directions to the library from Haruki, and made his way there. It was an impressive building, made of some dark wood, and surrounded by a wall of sekkiseki stone. Lunar walked right up to the door, but nearly hit someone as they left the building. It was a tall, thin man, similar in stature to Lunar, but shorter and not quite as thin. The man had bags under his eyes, a look Lunar knew well, having seen it nearly every morning after he had become to engrossed in a book. The man passed without incident, and Lunar slipped by him into the library before the door closed.

And stood still, gaping at the sight before him. Oh, it was a library all right, Haruki had that right. Lunar just hadn't expected it to be 5 times bigger than his house!

The door opened onto what looked like the 4th floor of the structure, with 3 additional levels above. The bookshelves were made of some light wood, maybe birch? Each one was easily 3 meters high, with 6 shelves of books. Lunar saw a few recognizable titles, but most were unheard of to him, and some were written in a different language.

"It's a bit stunning, isn't it?" Lunar turned to see a woman with white hair and brown eyes grinning at him, clearly amused by his stupefaction. Despite her hair, the woman's face and voice remained youthful.

"It's truly magnificent. All of this knowledge in one place…it's incredible!" Lunar managed to reply, trying to hide at least some of his wonder. The woman's grin widened.

"Glad to see someone appreciates it!" Welcome to the official library of the Kido Corps!"

Lunar's mind instantly went into overdrive. The Kido Corps was an organization shrouded in secrecy, a branch of the Gotei 13 that specialized in kido. If this was its official library, Lunar had managed to stumble on a massive treasure trove. The knowledge here would advance his learning ten-fold. However, Lunar was certain this much knowledge had some limits on it. He doubted this woman, friendly though she might be, would take it very well if she learned some random peasant had managed to worm his way inside. He would need to play his cards carefully. He realized he had spaced out for a second, and cleared his throat.

"It looks amazing, though this is my first time here. Could you perhaps show me around?" Lunar asked. It was a risk. He didn't really want to be around anyone who might realize he wasn't supposed to be here. The flip side, though, was the assumptions the woman would make on hearing the question. He's just a new recruit, that's why I've never seen him, no wonder he's so blown away. Probably got sent here because he kept asking questions, he just wants to learn! At least, that was the hope. Plus, Lunar really had no idea how the books were organized, and it was faster to just have someone show him around.

The woman smiled again, much to Lunar's relief.

"Of course I can! I am the 7th seat in the Kido Corps, so I spend a lot of time here. What level of experience do you have?" The woman asked cheerfully. Lunar answered with a faint smile on his face, glad the woman seemed eager to help.

"Well, I know a lot of theory, but my reiryoku is fairly low, so I can't cast much beyond Byakurai. Perhaps something along the line of delicate manipulation?"

"Of course! Right this way! Let's see, the books are arranged differently than most libraries. The higher the floor a book is on, the more powerful the techniques are in those tomes. The books are then arranged by complexity, so the closer to the next level the book is, the more delicacy is required. I've seen people start in the beginning sector of the top floor, mastering powerful techniques, but ask one question about how the spells work and they look like they've seen a ghost!" The woman laughed at her own pun, since everyone in the realm was a ghost. Lunar's mouth quirked, amused.

"Well, since your power is low, and you seem to have a decent head on your shoulders, let's start with the 3rd quarter of the first floor. Oh, but before we do, could you answer a quick question?" Lunar eyed the lady dubiously.

"Yes, certainly. What is it?" The lady grinned, yet it didn't seem quiet as benevolent this time. It looked a little like a wolf baring its fangs at a bit of prey.

"Might I ask why a random peasant knows so much about kido, or how he managed to enter a building with wards to prevent this sort of thing?" Lunar sighed heavily. He knew his day couldn't have given up on messing with him.