Chapter 1: First Encounter

"Out of my way! Out of my way! I'm late," a young woman screamed on top of her lungs while running through the halls of the academy in Seireitei. Some of the fellow students who were on their way to their classes turned their heads trying to find the source of the ruckus. What they saw was quite amusing. Down the long hallway they saw a very tall student whose academy robe was way too short and small. Instead of ending short above her feet, the gown barely covered her knees restricting any movements larger than five inches . Thus the woman was only able to "run" in small tip toe steps instead of taking long strides her very long legs were normally capable of.

However, not only her running style was quite entertaining for the bystanders. Even more funny to watch was her method to get everyone out of her way. Of course due to her height several students immediately went out of her way when seeing this giant screaming woman running right in their direction, but not all of them were fast enough to get the message. Those unfortunate enough of being too slow were simply thrown out of her way by her huge and strong arms getting a short - and very unwanted - flying lesson for free.

The young woman did not care what was happening around her. She ignored the angry yells of people she had shoved out of her way. She also did not care about the laughter she supposedly caused. She was used to being laughed at - being always the tallest wherever she was and always wearing clothing too small for her. She couldn't care less right now about that. The only thing that mattered right now was her being late for class. Not just any normal class. No, of course the one day she chose to oversleep was the day where she and her fellow classmates were to be introduced to their future squad leaders - the taichos of the Gotei 13.

She finally reached her goal, but instead of trying to enter her class room quietly she almost jerked the door out of its hinges still screaming about being too late. Every single person in the room instantly stared into her direction - her fellow students, her teacher and the 13 taichos and their fuku-taichos. Being shocked by the sudden focused attention on her the young shinigami tripped over the door sill, causing her to land right on her face. Closing her eyes for a short moment and concentrating on herself, she felt something warm pouring out of her face. She also heard the laughter and snickering around her: "Clumsy giant did it again!"

"Please stop making fun of your fellow student. I am sure you would not appreciate it when you get hurt and everyone around you starts laughing instead of helping you," a very calm female voice spoke. Immediately the class fell silent. Meanwhile the young woman was berating herself silently.

"Just great Isane. Good job. Not only did you oversleep and were late for class. No, you managed to draw the whole school's attention to that very fact while making an entire fool out of yourself. And on top of it you broke your nose."

While being busy scolding herself, Isane did not realize that someone was moving to her side and kneeling down beside her.

"Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" It was the same female voice that had silenced the class. Isane did not understand how that had happened. Usually teachers did remind the others students for making fun of her, but that had never stopped them from doing so before. Something was going on here, but she did not know what.

Taking a deep breath Isane slowly opened her eyes and got up. Holding her bleeding nose with her right hand she looked into the beautiful and kind face of the woman beside her. She had blue eyes. Her long black hair was braided in front of her. And she had the kindest smile Isane had ever seen on someone's face in Soul Society. Isane couldn't help but stare at her for a moment. While doing so, she also noticed the white haori the woman was wearing.

"She is a taicho. No wonder she made the class shut up. But why does she care about me being hurt? I'm not important. I am just a clumsy giant, who was late for class. Unlike her - she is so beautifully small."

"Oh, your nose is bleeding. Please let me take a look at it," the woman softly asked.

Taken aback by so much kindness, Isane took a step backward.

"No, I'm fine. It's nothing taicho-sama."

"You are falling on your face resulting in a bleeding nose, which is probably broken, right in front of me and yet you are telling me that you are alright? Me, the taicho of the 4th squad and head healer of Seireitei?" the taicho asked apparently not angry about the young woman's reaction but being very amused about it.

"So that is Unohana-taicho. The woman who wrote so many articles about healing kido spells and herbs. And they are very well written as well - it never gave me a headache to read them, though I did not understand very much."

"I'm sorry Unohana-taicho. That is not what I meant," Isane apologized slightly bowing to the woman in front of her. Then, to the surprise of everyone around her, she released some Reiatsu into her right hand and started to heal herself. Her nose stopped bleeding within seconds.

"See, nothing to worry about," Isane responded with an unsure smile on her face.

Unohana was surprised, but only for a second, that a young academy student knew how to stop a bleeding with Reiatsu alone and not even using Kido to do it. Yes, she herself had written an article about it a couple of years ago. At that time she thought about is as a new first aid measure. Many shinigami died on the battle field because of bleedings they could not stop due to their lack of healing Kido abilities. Since that time it was mandatory for all seated officers in every squad and of course for all her subordinates to learn that specific healing technique. Though why this young student before her knew about it and was able to use it, was right now unexplainable.

"Say, who are you and how is it that you know about this healing method?"

"Oh, I am so sorry. My name is Kotetsu Isane. And I read about this method in an article I found in the library a couple of months ago. See, I am very clumsy. And I thought it useful to know how to heal such minor injuries myself," Isane quickly responded while looking shyly at the taicho before her.

"I see Isane-chan. Still, please let me take a closer look at your face so that I can determine whether your nose was broken or not."

"No, that is really not necessary. I am fine." Seriously, why did this taicho pay her so much unnecessary attention. Isane couldn't help but wonder. Meanwhile she tried to move more backwards, away and out of reach of Unohana when suddenly a very scary smile appeared on said taicho's face. Every single hair on Isane's neck was standing on end. She didn't dare to move anymore. At this moment Isane knew, why her classmates had stopped laughing so quickly. This woman was scary - really scary.

Gulping very hard Isane started to walk towards Unohana-taicho, whose smile quickly changed back from scary to friendly.

"Let me see," Unohana commanded mildly while touching Isane's nose with tender fingers. Isane flinched at the touch, because she did not like being touched by strangers and, more importantly here, it hurt like hell.

"It is as I thought. You broke your nose. I can heal your nose but that takes a couple of minutes. Please come to see me at squad four as soon as your classes are over. As for the pain, take this pill now," the taicho said while pulling out a small box with different pills out of her shihakusho. Obediently Isane took the pill and swallowed it. The pain in her face vanished at once.

"Hai, Unohana-taicho. Thank you," Isane bowed again before turning around and taking her seat.