"It's so cold."
My eyes snapped open at the faint voice of a child ringing in my ears. "Is anyone there?" I yell in suspicion, by habit looking for a suitable place to hide. That's when I realize that I am no longer sleeping on the cold, hard ground of area 79 but on a warm, soft bed belonging to the Spiritual Arts Academy. "Right" I mumble, shaking my head at my own stupidity. I guess almost 100 years' worth of habits don't go away so easily.
"What's wrong?" Himei's voice echoed from the other end of the bed, his red eyes glowing in the darkness. "Another nightmare?"
"Just… A voice from the past" I mumble, laying my head back down on the pillow. "I guess the final tests begin today" I say to change the subject.
"Yes, have you thought about which squad you'd prefer to join? If you get a say in the matter."
"It doesn't matter, you know that."
"I suppose I do" he chuckle. "You'll probably get into any squad you want."
"Probably" I agree, knowing my power was far greater than most of the other students. I sigh deeply. "Might as well start warming up now that I'm already awake."
"You do that" he says with a yawn, placing his head back on his paws. "I'll just go back to sleep."
"Like hell you will!" I say, kicking him out of the bed. "If I'm awake, you're awake."
"According to who?" he grumbles.
"Me!" I say opening the window and climbing up. "Now let's go!"
"Alright, calm down already."
There are four shinigami techniques used in battle. Hakuda, Hoho, Kido and Zanjutsu. Hakuda is hand-to-hand, unarmed fighting. Hoho are different step-techniques - the most common one is shunpo, which basically is moving at an incredible speed. Kido are also known as Demon Arts and are a large collection of spells used for different purposes, like attack and defense. Zanjutsu is the shinigami swordsmanship. All of these would be tested on the admission test to the GOTEI 13.
It was still pitch black out when we arrived at the training grounds, not that that would stop us. Though it did make it harder for me since fighting with Himei was always a challenge, not to mention when you could hardly see him.
"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado number 3! Shakkaho!" I yell, firing a ball of fire at Himei who gracefully dodges.
"That's dangerous you know!" a mans voice says from the shadows. "Getting some last minute practice in, eh?"
"Shotaru!" I exclaim in surprise as my classmate reveal himself. How did I not notice his presence? "What are you doing here?"
"Your spiritual pressure went through the roof, honestly I'm surprised I'm the only one who went to see what was going on." He moved closer to me and Himei jumped in in front of me, growling protectively, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"I think you should leave" I say in a monotone voice and he left, disappearing back into the shadows. Something felt off about him being there… It was almost as if there was someone else on the inside. Like it wasn't really him.
"You felt that too, right?"
"Next up is Minami Kurayami" the proctor calls. I walk up to the line and stare my target down as I decide on my next move. I chant the incantation, creating a a fairly large ball of fire in my hand. I aim carefully before releasing it. On impact it blows the target clean of its pedestal. There is a weird sound sparking coming from somewhere behind me, mixing with the shrieks of the other students of my group. Himei comes shooting out of nowhere, knocking me to the ground as a huge fireball flies right over my head. So that's what it was. I quickly look around to find the culprit but nothing seems to be out of the ordinary.
"Thanks Himei" I say, pushing the huge dog off of me.
"Don't think about it" he grumbles back.
As I get back to the group of students who I am taking the exam with everyone is fussing over me, asking if I'm okay. The proctor soon manage to calm them down enough to continue the exam, some still eying Himei wearily as he stood guard by my side.
The exams ended without another incident like the one during the Kido exam, no one was the wiser about what had actually happened and no one could even phantom what the strange events that followed would one day lead up to. But that's not until much later in this story.
The ceremony was held a few days later and every passing student got sorted into one of the thirteen squads depending on their strengths and weaknesses. And as fate would have it, I was appointed to serve under captain Kuchiki Byakuya of squad 6.