[[ Hello everyone!
I just want to thank you for taking the time to read this fanfic.
I have slowly been revising the current chapters I have now with new details and with some changes to the storyline.
The beginning chapters will be about Miyako and Byakuya's Academy days. There will be a timeskip somewhere up ahead, haha.
Again, enjoy! And do leave a review and let me know what you think! ]]
In the Chamber of Souls, a very large and immeasurable chamber located inside the main building of the Academy, Shinigami-to-be's were crowding inside the chamber and were taking their seats. The Chamber's design was similar to an auditorium with thousands of seats perfectly organized into rows that stretched up to four meters from the center platform in the front of the room. Seated on the central platform were over two-dozen teachers that were dressed in white kimonos with black haoris that were trimmed with a light grey. As everyone was chatting amongst themselves, an announcement was heard over the telecom and the murmurs that echoed throughout the Chamber slowly grew to silence.
Welcome new students to the 1,97Oth Shin'ōAcademy Entrance Ceremony! We are proud to announce that this year's entrance exam marks were one of the highest we've received in decades! Congratulations to all the students that are here today and we hope that you will continue to work hard in your studies! We offer you a warm welcome to a proud tradition of ours and we ask that you uphold the honor of this facility without fail.
With the ending of the announcement, all the students stood from their seats and gave a hearty applause that was amplified due to the acoustics in the Chamber. As everyone sat back down in their seats, someone stepped up to the podium that was placed in front of the central platform. As everyone's gaze was focused on the podium, it was revealed that a Shinigami from the Gotei 13 was about to speak. The man possessed shoulder length black hair forming side bangs that framed the right side of his face and was wearing the standard black Shihakusho with a grey and black trimmed haori.
"Welcome, new students of the Shin'ō Academy," the man addressed the crowd. "I am Asuka Katakura, one of the enrollment advisors, as well as the sixth seat of the Gotei 13's third division. As many of you have heard from the intercom earlier, this is one of the highest marked classes we've had in years and we have high expectations of you. Whether you join the Kido Corps, the Onmitsukido, or the Gotei 13, we expect nothing less from you and hope that you will continue to bring success even after leaving here in six years. Now before I assign you all to your classes, I would like to introduce our hardworking teachers to all of you."
The first teacher to introduce himself was Gengoro Onabara who was the chief instructor for class 1-A, or better known as the special accelerated class. He was a very large and muscular man that had a shaved head and looked as if he was a very stern teacher. However, the students will come to realize that to Gengoro, teaching is what he is passionate about and he will have his class not only leave with a secured position to wherever they choose to go but also with a lesson they will carry with them throughout their life journey.
After all the teachers finished their introductions, it was finally time for the students to get assigned to their classes and everyone was simply filled with excitement. As Asuka took the stand once more, a large holographic screen appeared above the platform and displayed several sets of numbers and names. The first row were the classes labeled from 1-A to 1-N, and the columns that followed each row were filled with names that represented the students that were selected for each class. Of all the names that were displayed on the board, there were two surnames that jumped out to anyone that knew of the rumors that were flying around Seireitei. In class 1-A there were two students that possessed the surname of "Kuchiki" and "Urahara."
. . .
"Okay students, let me introduce myself to all of you. My name is Gengoro Onabara and it's a pleasure to inform you that out of the entire incoming freshman class, your test scores of the entrance exams were the highest. Congratulations for making it into the Advanced Class! Of course, that means that the expectations are higher as well. I'm certain all of you are already aware of this but you must train hard and strive for excellence in your future pursuits. Now, to get this class started, let's have each of you introduce yourselves one by one. Miss, why don't you start us off? Please tell us your name and whether you're planning to join the Gotei 13, the Kido Corps, or the Onmitsukido." Gengoro and the rest of the class focused their attention on a young girl that couldn't be older than 11 who possessed purple eyes and tricolored hair of purple, white, and a light brown color.
"My name is Urahara Miyako and I'm interested in joining the Gotei 13." The girl spoke with her soft voice. Upon hearing the name Urahara, a spark clicked into Gengoro's mind, Urahara, huh? Didn't think I'd see Kisuke's sister here so soon. Let's hope she's as impressive as her brother was. Gengoro thought to himself as he gave an approving nod to Miyako and thanked her for sharing.
"Okay, next." Gengoro pointed to the boy that was next to Miyako.
"I'm Sakurai Hiroki and I want to join the Onmitsukido!" the boy said proudly as he looked at Gengoro with proud eyes. The introductions continued with the various aged people that were in the class and when it came to be a certain teenager's turn, everyone's eyes showed a great amount of respect as he introduced himself.
With such grace and confidence, the teenage boy with his grey eyes and long black ponytail, captured the attention of everyone in the room. "I am Kuchiki Byakuya and I hope to join the Gotei 13."
As Byakuya took his seat, everyone was murmuring amongst themselves saying things such as: 'He's definitely going to take over Kuchiki Ginrei Taichou's position when he graduates!' and 'Such grace! What else can you expect from a noble?'
An Urahara and a Kuchiki, guess we have some high expectations for this class, ha-ha. Gengoro thought to himself as he observed his group of highly potential students, "Alright, now that introductions are done and over with, everyone take one of these textbooks and read up on your Hado and Bakudo spells. We will be focusing on that tomorrow so you better come prepared. I expect nothing less from the Advanced Class. See you tomorrow, Class dismissed." As Gengoro made his way to the teacher's lounge, the students quickly grabbed a textbook and decided to crowd around Byakuya as they were still mesmerized by his presence. Byakuya simply responded to them with a confident smile as he tried to be calm and collected by the sudden attention.
"Oh, it looks like you're here too Byakuya-San." A voice commented from the entrance. All the students turned their attention over to see who was the owner of that voice and there stood a tall lean-built man with light skin and grey eyes. His hair is a messy light blond with strands framing the sides of his face and hanging between his eyes. Anyone can tell that the person that walked through the door was a captain due to the haori he was wearing, it was the newly appointed captain of Squad 12: Urahara Kisuke.
"Onii-Chan!" The young Miyako yelled out as she ran into her elder brother's arms.
"Hey little one, how was your first day?" Kisuke asked as he better positioned Miyako so she wouldn't fall.
"It was good, we're going to be practicing our Kido tomorrow!"
"Ah, I see. I'm really proud of you Miyako, the Advanced Class? Who knew you had such a smart little brain." Kisuke teased as he ruffled Miyako's hair.
As the two were smiling and laughing, the other students that were observing this scene had on expressions of repulse as they heard rumors about the new captain of Squad 12. They whispered things like: "How could someone as weak as him become a captain?", "I heard he doesn't know how to do anything in his captain position, how did he even get the job?", and "I heard he can't even control his division and that no one likes him. He's always confused and doesn't know how to lead them."
Upon hearing the whispers surrounding him, Byakuya was going to speak up for Urahara Taichou but then a loud yell was heard instead.
"That's not true! Onii-Chan here is really strong! If he weren't then he wouldn't have become a captain! Squad 12's captain just left so of course it'll be hard for the others to accept him so easily! Don't look down on Squad 12's Urahara Taichou!" The angered voice belonged to Miyako who was starting to look flustered since she too possessed "quiet-like" qualities like her elder brother but she was unable to withstand the negative comments she heard about Kisuke and defended him.
Kisuke then ruffled Miyako's hair once again and gave her a gentle smile, "Arigato Miyako-Chan but don't worry about me okay? Come on, let's get going." Kisuke then held Miyako tightly in his arms as they walked out of the classroom and made their way to Squad 12's barracks.
As the loving siblings left the classroom, the students that remained continued to whisper about the Urahara siblings and then decided to attack Miyako saying things such as, "I can't believe someone like her got into the Advanced Class. She must have cheated." And "Didn't she say she wanted to join the Gotei 13? How could someone like her do that?" The other students then started to laugh and Byakuya couldn't stand to hear anymore. He pushed his way through the crowd and headed toward the front of the class to grab his textbook. The other students then turned their attention to him once more and as he walked out of the door he told them, "You shouldn't judge a book by its cover. One day, that girl will definitely surprise you."
The next day, the fifty students returned to their classroom in anticipation for their Kido training but before they made their way to the Kido Training Field, Gengoro told the class that they will be split into ten groups of five. The groups were determined by picking a piece of paper that had a picture of a shape on it that was placed inside a large black hat. The shapes and group numbers were as follows: (1) Circle, (2) Square, (3) Triangle, (4) Star, (5) Heart, (6) Diamond, (7) Pentagon, (8) Rectangle, (9) Hexagon, and (10) Octagon. As everyone picked their shapes and joined their groups, most of the students were hoping to join Byakuya's group, which was the Star Group. The Star Group consisted of Kuchiki Byakuya, Sakurai Hiroki, Kawasaki Taijo, Towa Yoshiro, and Urahara Miyako. As everyone's groups were now finalized, Gengoro brought his students to the Kido Training Field.
"Okay, Circle Group, your task for today will be Bakudo #4: Hainawa. Aim for the wooden targets in front of you."
As the first group said their incantations and performed Hainawa, an energy rope appeared and bound their targets arms. Gengoro nodded his head at the group and wrote down his observations.
…
Then it was finally Star Group's turn. Everyone's attention was solely focused on Byakuya, even three of his teammates had their attention on him. As for Miyako, she simply focused on the wooden target in front of her. With all that attention, the pressure must be immense. Miyako thought to herself as she glanced over at Byakuya who saw her and gave her a small smile.
"Okay, Star Group, you will be performing Hado #31: Shakkaho. Remember to say the incantation correctly."
As the five students prepared their stance, they recited the incantation in unison, "O Lord, Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter wings, you who bears the name of Man, Inferno and Pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, March on to the south!" five balls of red energy then whipped through the air damaging the target creating a cloud of smoke to appear. As the smoke cleared, it was revealed that one of the puppets lost its arm, two received damage to their chest, and another two were completely destroyed. Tracing the destroyed puppet back to Byakuya, he received looks of high regard and a round of applause.
The Kuchiki boy sure is impressive but so is the Urahara, Gengoro thought to himself as he traced the other destroyed target to Miyako. He wrote down his observations and the next team was set to perform their task. As Star Group returned to the back of the line, Byakuya managed to slip past his admirers and make his way to Miyako who was sitting alone.
"Excuse me, your name is Miyako, correct?" The polite noble asked as he approached the lonesome girl.
Miyako, understanding that he was a noble, stood from where she was and gave a slight bow. "Yes. I am Urahara Miyako, Kuchiki-San."
"You don't need to be so formal, we're both classmates." He assured her in an attempt to make her more comfortable, "Anyway, I wanted to tell you that your Kido skills are really good! You managed to completely destroy your target! The others may not have noticed but your Shakkaho was definitely stronger than mine." The boy pointed out as he gave Miyako a cheerful grin, "That's it, I've decided, from now on, you're going to be my rival!" Upon hearing those words, Miyako's eyes widened in complete shock. "Let's work hard together, Star Group's Urahara Miyako!" Byakuya then held his hand out with a large grin on his face in excitement.
Miyako was completely confused, why would he want to be my rival? We've only met yesterday, how can he just decide that? But even I can tell that he's strong, I don't think I would be able to- As Miyako was thinking to herself on how to react to this situation, her thoughts were cut off as Byakuya grabbed her hand and shook her hand for her.
"It's final! We're rivals!" he said in a cheerful tone.
The focuses of the next two days were more Hado and Bakudo practice and like always, Byakuya was the star of these practices. As for Miyako, no matter how hard she worked, everyone simply disregarded her, well, everyone except her self-proclaimed rival Byakuya. Everyday after practice, Byakuya would walk up to her and compliment her for her hard work and to keep it up. Some of the students saw the interaction between the two and a spark of jealousy started to occur. The other students only saw Miyako as someone that resembled her elder brother: weak, clueless, and unreliable. Unfortunately for Miyako, her weaknesses were going to be revealed during the Zanjutsu lessons that were taking place today.
As Class 1-A made their way to the Zanjutsu Training Hall, Gengoro announced that today's training would be focused on the groups, meaning that each group of five will be training amongst themselves. Since each group is uneven, Gengoro already planned out how to approach today's training. First, two people from a group will battle against one another. Then another two will battle against each other. The remaining student will then proceed to battle the person that won the first battle and the person that wins that battle will fight against the person that won the second battle. Everyone was able to understand the directions clearly and Circle Group was the first to start out.
…
When it was finally time for Star Group's turn, Byakuya was up first and he was battling against Taijo, a teenager who was just a few years older than Byakuya. The battle was over in an instant and Byakuya was declared the winner of the first battle. Everyone was amazed at his strength and how he was able to use a katana so swiftly and elegantly. The next two to battle was Miyako and Yoshiro, one of the female students that saw Byakuya compliment Miyako one day after the Kido training. Yoshiro was a fairly intimidating girl and she was two years older than Miyako. However, driven by jealousy, Yoshiro gave a menacing glare to Miyako and intended to attack with full force. Miyako instantly knew that this was not going to be an easy battle, especially considering her below average Zanjutsu skills.
Without giving Miyako a chance to collect her thoughts, Yoshiro immediately charged at her and attempted to strike her.
Miyako tightened her grip onto her katana and tried to block the attack but the force was too strong and ended up pushing back Miyako closer to the wall behind her. Without a moment's hesitation, Yoshiro continued to strike Miyako and Miyako was barely able to keep up with Yoshiro's lightening fast Zanjutsu skills. Even though Miyako knew Zanjutsu was not her forte, she still tried anyway. Using her katana, she struck at Yoshiro continuously but despite all her efforts, Yoshiro was able to easily evade her lashes. Finally, Yoshiro proved that she was way stronger than Miyako and finished the battle as she knocked Miyako onto the ground while her katana flung across the floor.
Humiliated, Miyako just hung her head on the floor in defeat as the other students were saying, "See, she's just like her brother: worthless and weak. How is she even worthy of Byakuya-Sama's attention?" and they also gave her looks of abhorrence as Yoshiro gave a smirk and returned to the group to continue on to the next match.
I knew it, Miyako thought to herself as she looked at the katana that was a couple feet away from her. It's all Kuchiki Byakuya's fault.
Then all of a sudden, she saw a hand held out to her. As she motioned her head up, it was the last person she wanted to see at the moment: Kuchiki Byakuya. He held out his hand to help Miyako get to her feet but Miyako was embarrassed and angry about what has happened and so she ended up slapping away Byakuya's hand, which caused the other students to get defensive.
"How dare you be rude to Byakuya-Sama like that!" Saying such things only made Miyako feel angrier.
Byakuya looked in Miyako's wavering purple eyes and was utterly confused. All he wanted to do was help Miyako because after all, she's his rival but to Miyako, Byakuya was simply a bad omen that she wanted to get rid of. She looked into Byakuya's grey eyes and ran out of the classroom leaving a guilt-ridden expression to appear on Byakuya's face.
[[ And that's the end of chapter one.
What'd you think?
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you for reading the first chapter of So Close Yet So Far! ]]