The Monkey that Reaches the Moon: Growing Fangs
Disclaimer: Don't own anything
Note: So this is a new story idea, it is a sequel to "Run Boy Run" and a prequel to "The Monkey that Reaches the Moon"
Special thanks to PaulaGay for beta-reading!
"..." - Shinigami speaking "..." - Shinigami thoughts
"..." - Zanpakutou speaking "..." - Zanpaktou thoughts
Happy Holidays to all of you! :)
Summary:
Deciding to leave Inuzuri behind and trying their luck at the Shinigami Academy, Renji and Rukia are faced with prejudices, zanpakutous and an adoption that will change their lives forever.
Characters: Renji, Rukia, Byakuya, Izuru, Hinamori, Zabimaru (maybe more to come)
Pairings: RenjixIzuru (short-time), RenjixByakuya (developing/mentioned)
Chapter 1: The Examinations
They stood before the huge, fancy decorated building, watching as one after the other entered and left. The selection process was not an easy one and all of those who had already entered were nobles, born and raised within the walls of the Seireitei. They were the first to try their best and prove themselves worthy of studying at the academy. After them would be those coming from the Rukongai, starting with the 1st district. Therefore they were the last to take the exam, but that gave them time to train more on their skills. It also made things more difficult, because the amount of students accepted was limited and the later they took the exams the chance to be granted a place decreased.
While she used the opportunity, he was laying in the grass, bathing in the warmth of the sun. Thoughts of the dreams he'd had for the past years weren't leaving him now either, he simply couldn't get rid of the strange feeling that accompanied thoughts of the dream. He would find out what it was when he got accepted. There was nothing to doubt his admittance, for him at least.
"You know if you don't train in the meantime you will not get accepted," she reminded him, hoping to get him to practice his bad reiatsu control.
"Ah, don't be like that. Everything will go alright, you just have to believe you know?"
Looking at her best friend, no her brother, she really couldn't argue with him. He was always like this, relaxed and laid back, without any worry. At least to the outer world he was like this, she knew him better than that. She knew that there was a lot going on in that head of his. He had even tried to get that red mop of hair under control, although not with much luck. The wild red strands stood out in every direction, the hair tie barely holding them together.
The sun was just about to set when she was supposed to enter the exam halls.
"Good luck!" he shouted at her, giving her a disarming grin. She smiled back and waved at him, encouraged by his good mood and positive energy.
When she entered there sat three men at a table with a lot papers in front of them, selected in three piles. Taking a stance in front of the men she waited for instructions on what to do.
"Name?" the one in the middle asked. He was old, short grey hair decorated his head. He even had wrinkles around his eyes, eyes that held not as much power as she expected someone of such an age would.
"Rukia," she answered timidly, looking at the wall behind the man, trying to look strong and determined.
"Surname?" he soberly continued, the more surprised he was when she said that she didn't have one. "I see. Inuzuri," he concluded with an even tone.
She felt her chances diminish considerably now. Everyone else that had already been here probably had one, hell even her idiot friend had one!
"First we want to see you performing reiatsu control," the man on the left from her view said. He was not as old as the one in the middle, but she judged him to be quite experienced, his hair even held some of its old black color.
Nodding she took her stance and stretched her right hand in front of her. She would show them that they shouldn't underestimate those coming from the lower districts. Reiatsu control was something she was good at. The more she concentrated on her palm the more energy was gathering there. A small ball of blue energy formed there and after a few seconds the ball increased in its size. Glancing at the three men they didn't seemed to be that impressed, considering where she came from. The ball grew in intensity until the first sweat droplets formed on her forehead and it stopped growing.
"That is enough. What education do you have for hakuda?" Now it was the third of them to ask, she judged him to be the same age as the second one.
"Well… I don't have any. Not a real one, but where I come from we have to protect ourselves, so I have some basic knowledge." She really hoped that this was enough; of course she couldn't compare to the nobles.
"Then you have no shunpo knowledge either. Why did you come here? Why do you want to become a Shinigami?" the one in the middle asked.
It was the first time she ever thought about it. At first it was about fleeing the graveyard that was Inuzuri, but when she thought longer about it Rukia had to admit that she wanted to save others, those weaker.
"I want to become strong. Strong enough that I can protect those weaker." The answer seemed to not satisfy the judges enough, but they nodded their heads anyway.
"You will be admitted to the second class," the one in the middle said.
Rukia's eyes widened in surprise, she wasn't expecting to get her answer this fast. Her eyes brightened and she began to smile. "Thank you! Thank you very much!" she took her paper of admittance and left the hall.
When she exited she saw that there was only one figure left in the waiting area. "RENJI!" she screamed and ran into his arms. When Rukia showed him her letter the hug got only stronger; he nearly crushed her ribs with his brute force.
"Well then it's my turn now, right?" he beamed at her and left to enter the halls. She really hoped that he would make it too, he was not the best when it came to reiatsu control, but he made up for it in other aspects. She sat down and waited for him to come back with positive news.
Walking into the exam halls Renji was curious about what he might expect. The halls were not as fancy as the outer appearance of the building lead one to think, but very simple, and in the midst sat three men. They were the same ones who had tested Rukia; surprise was written on their faces when he came into view of them.
Renji knew of course why they looked at him in such a strange way. He clearly stood out everywhere not only with his fiery red hair, but his anatomy in general. Being as tall as he was, paired with the hair and his slightly tanned skin he drew the attention of everyone.
"Name?" the one in the middle asked.
"Really? I'm the last one and you have my papers before you…" he replied with a raised red eyebrow. When he saw the serious looks he rolled his eyes at them, "Fine. Renji, Abarai Renji," he finally answered them, they weren't making any notes right now which proved him right; they knew his name.
"Show us your reiatsu control," the one on the left demanded.
Renji got in position, stretching his right hand in front of him, palm open and pointing to the ceiling. He concentrated on the middle of his hand, sending reiatsu to the spot. A small ball formed, but the more it grew the more unstable it became. His reiatsu was rising to heights even unknown to him, a small wind appeared and nearly brought the papers from the judges out of order. Suddenly the unstable ball disappeared and Renji's reiatsu decreased considerably. He was left panting in front of the three men, unsatisfied with his performance.
The three began to whisper amongst them, making him nervous. "I can do better!" he shouted to them, drawing their attention.
"That won't be necessary," the one in the middle said, they seemed to have come to an agreement.
"Any knowledge of shunpo?" the one on the right asked, expecting him to deny it like the girl already had.
"Well… some," that surprised them, not expecting such an answer their opinion of him raised.
"Then show us what you can do," they demanded and Renji obliged.
Although he already felt exhausted from the reiatsu control he tried his best to gather enough to perform the shunpo. He was even able to make it, and even though it was not far, the shunpo worked. The three judges took some notes and began to mumble again. It made Renji nervous not knowing what to expect from them now.
"Any education of hakuda?" Renji shrugged at the question. Upon a raised eyebrow he explained, "Depends on how you define education. If you mean by a real teacher then 'no,' but I fought on the streets, defending my family."
They seemed to have seen something in him, they made notes again. Now they came to the final question.
"Why do you want to become a Shinigami?" It was a simple question and Renji knew his answer, but he was not willing to share his reason with them, not even Rukia knew.
"To protect of course," he answered instead. Of course it was one reason why he wanted to be a Shinigami, but his main reason they wouldn't know.
"Just this? Your performances were quite good for someone from Inuzuri. It is clear to us that something drives you and we want to know what it is," the one in the middle said, getting impatient with the red-head before him.
"Well and I won't tell you," Renji got angry himself, wanting to get his answer now.
Not wanting to argue uselessly the judge on the right summoned a hell-butterfly and uttered something before sending it off. "Hopefully he will come shortly and solve this issue for us. You know Abarai Renji, it is really rare for us to involve someone else into the selection. I do hope that it will be worth it."
Looking skeptically at the older man Renji really had no idea what that was all about, "So what am I supposed to do? Sit down and wait?" it was meant to be sarcastic, but the smile from the guy told Renji that he really should do that. Pouting he sat down cross-legged, chin in his palm and waiting for whoever it was they summoned to arrive.
Rukia was still sitting in front of the halls for Renji to come back; she became impatient. It didn't take that long for her, so why were they keeping him so long? Was Renji having trouble? Was he making a fuss, because he wasn't good enough?
The sun had already set and the street lamps sprang to live when a strange looking man went by her. The only thing she could see of him was a pink haori and a straw hat. He looked tall and muscular, but she couldn't determine more. It just made her skeptical when he entered the halls, but she could only wait.
With his eyes closed Renji was nearly in deep sleep when the door opened and fell closed again, startling him. The life in Inuzuri had made him a light sleeper, easy to wake and sensible to all kinds of sounds.
Looking up he saw a tall muscular guy with wavy brown hair, covered by a straw hat, and a pink haori covering his broad frame.
Renji was puzzled who the guy was and why exactly he was here, but something told him to not anger this man.
"So is this the young man you wanted me to come here to see?" he asked in a calm, rough voice. A nod from the one on the right confirmed the question with a simple nod.
"Hmm," he said, while crouching down to be on eye-level with the red-head. Looking into red-brown, furrowed, orbs he thought about asking Katen Kyokotsu for help. It was clear that the young man was not about to say anything of his own will.
"So what now? We are going to stare at each other?" the red-head asked irritated, nearly impatient.
The young man had fire, something Shunsui really appreciated. It was rare that students-to-be or recruits dared to speak in such a relaxed and uncaring way. On deeper thought the boy had no idea who he was talking to, so Shunsui let it slip.
"I thought about talking to each other. What do you think?" he asked with a little chuckle, but when he saw that the frown only deepened he got the impression that things would take longer than anticipated. He sat down like the red-head and took a bottle of sake out of his clothes, opening it he offered some to the man in front of him.
"Well when talking includes sake for you then I'm all in," the man replied, taking the bottle offered and took a gulp from it, handing it back to Shunsui.
"So how were your tests so far?" he asked the young man, trying to get his task done as fast as possible. He saw the man shrug in response, clearly not knowing what to expect from his performances.
"You know what it is I guess. I don't have a chance anyway. I mean, okay so I hoped to get admitted when we came here, but after seeing all those nobles… I don't know…" there was sadness in the voice, resignation as if he had already accepted what he considered his fate.
"But you do know that it is not about heritage, but capability? Only because they are nobles doesn't mean that you are left out," he replied, taking a gulp and handing the bottle back.
"Sure, if you say so… Tell me how we from the lower Rukon are supposed to pay for all the stuff." Yes, Shunsui knew that it often was like this, but he really hoped that the main idea was still pursued. When he joined the academy and was taught by Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni personally he learned that the main idea was to help those with potential develop and perfect it. It was not important where the people came from, but that they learned to handle their power.
"Hm, that is very critical of you. It is more common to accept those with power." And secretly Shunsui was not sure what he felt when looking into his eyes.
"What do you think Katen Kyokotsu? Can you feel something special about him?" he asked his zanpaktou, well both spirits residing there, but hoping at least one would answer him. He didn't even care if it was the demon or the god that answered him.
"There is something, but we can't decipher exactly what it is. We need more insight into his soul." It even was the god part of his swords that answered him, how very surprising.
"Well then you should do that, ne?"
"Don't think we wouldn't. We tried, but something is blocking us out." Shunsui was irritated now. There was little his zanpakutou was unable to accomplish, to enter someone's soul certainly was one of the things they could do.
"What can block you?" he asked them, hoping they could hint at something. On the basis of this he could try to get some information from the red-head, maybe Katen Kyokotsu could enter then.
"Up until now we have never encountered something that was able to block us out, except Ryuujin Jakka, but he doesn't count," the god replied, and Shunsui thought about it. The sword of his sensei was a very powerful one, so surely they would not be able to enter. But this was just a student-to-be… There shouldn't be anything hindering them.
"Except he carries a very powerful demon inside him." Now it was the demon of his soul who spoke. And that somehow made sense. If there really was a demon in the young man's soul it would mean that he was either possessed by it or that it was the spirit of the red-head's zanpakutou. But could that really be? Could a man so young already have possession of something so meaningful? "Don't forget when we contacted you Shunsui. Why should it be any different from him?" the demon reminded him.
"Hm, true. But those occurrences have decreased over the past decades. I would be surprised if he really already has the spirit."
"Don't say this. We are certain that he already has the spirit, that this is the reason why we are blocked. We think that he is not aware that his spirit is already there, so refrain from saying anything."
"Uhm… are you alright?" the red-head asked, waving his hand in front of him.
"Oh, yeah! Say what about you, hm? Anything strange happening lately?" Now Shunsui really wanted to get things done. He needed to get this one into the academy and then he would tell Juushiro about him, someone like him was a rare thing.
"Well… no not really… Listen, it is fucking late, I waited all day to get in here and I really am tired right now, can we please finish what this is about?" The frustration and tiredness were evident and Shunsui decided to just finish things now, he wouldn't get anything out of him anyways and Katen Kyokotsu provided him with enough.
"Of course, please excuse me. Gentlemen, I wish to have a word with you, in another room." Nodding all four vanished in a separate room, leaving Renji behind.
"What impression do you have of this young man?" Shunsui asked them in a serious tone.
"He is unacceptable," the oldest replied and upon a raised eyebrow from Kyoraku added, "If you haven't noticed he is disrespectful, straightforward, doesn't have any manners and he can't control his reiatsu. He would be a danger for all of us!"
"He can't control his reiatsu? Then he can learn to. If you forgot the academy was founded to support those who can't control it, to help them learn. The noble youngsters are already educated enough," Shunsui countered, crossing his arms over his chest.
"But the nobles are giving us the needed money!" it was still the older one that tried to argue.
"Well then give him a place nonetheless, I am sure that the 1st class has this one more place left for him." At the suggestion to put the red-head in the advanced class their eyes widened considerably.
"You can't be serious. He is nowhere near suited for being in this class. Everyone there is excelling at something, but he is just an ordinary Rukon brat!"
"I think that you are wrong. He certainly is not ordinary, Katen Kyokotsu assured me of it and if I have to I will even go to the Sou-taichou," an evil glint entered his brown eyes.
"We will place him in the advanced class," now it was one of the other two judges to speak. Shunsui was surprised by this turn.
"How dare you! You can't decide this on your own!" the oldest was furious now, seething at the other three men.
"It was not me alone, we both decided this and outvoted you," the other nodded his agreement and Shunsui had the impression that he needed to interfere or it would get out of hand.
"Well I think that this issue is solved then. It was a long day for all of us, we should dismiss the young man and go to bed." It was decided now, Shunsui was the first to leave the room. He approached the red-head, who now lay on the floor, and wanted to tell him the good news.
"Congratulations son. You are admitted to the advanced class." The surprise in those red-brown orbs was evident and Shunsui was eager to see what would become of him.
The judges left the room and handed him the letter of acceptance, the two younger congratulated him genuinely, the older grudgingly. But Renji didn't care, he had made it to the academy, to the advanced class even and he felt that the mysterious brown-haired man contributed to this achievement.
Happy he left the halls and embraced Rukia in a very strong hug. When she saw the class her brother would join she was somewhat jealous, but she was happy. Although they were in different classes they would still be together and that was all that mattered right now.
End of chapter 1 from "The Monkey that Reaches the Moon: Growing Fangs"
Please leave a review and tell me how you liked it so far, I am happy to see a lot of reviews to this! :)