Just a bit farther! I'm going to be late!

The houses of the inner districts of Rukongai blurred past as I make my way to Seireitei. After I had realized I was dead, Urahara thought it would be a good idea to apply to the Shinigami academy in the Soul Society.

Flashback

'Urahara-san, I cant get back into my body!'

Urahara took a sip of tea and smiled, 'Ah, Kurosaki-san! Nice to see you!'

'What about my body!' If I cant merge with my body again how am I supposed to go to school? IT STARTS IN TWO DAYS!

Urahara started poking and shaking my body. I lifted up my eyelid and turned me around a couple of times. After a few minutes of this, he looked at me and sighed, "I'm not sure how to say this Kurosaki-san, but it seems like your body died.'

'What!? How is that even possible?' this cant be happening! How can I be dead? I was perfectly healthy last time I checked!

'I'm not sure, but it looks like during your last fight your body was injured pretty badly.'

'Yeah, but I got healed!'

'It looks like the healers made a mistake and it caused some internal bleeding in your brain,' Urahara looked apologetic.

'Shit. What am I going to do?'

'I think it might be best to go to the soul society and enroll at the Shinigami Academy to become a proper Death God, your kido could use some work too,' Urahara had a point, I did suck at kido. (not nearly as bad as Renji though!) 'Undercover of course! You're one of the most well known people in the soul society after you defeated Aizen. Lucky for you, they start testing next month.'

'Thanks Urahara-san. I'll go and say goodbye to everyone and leave this week.'

'Not so fast! You have to learn to conceal the powerful Reiatsu of yours! And seal your Zenpakuto!'

Ugg! This was going to be a long few weeks…

I arrived in Seireitei ten minutes before the testing starts. During this last month I learned to seal Zangetsu, but I had trouble concealing my Reiatsu. Fortunately, Urahara had a Reiatsu sealing bracelet that I could use. Before I set off to the soul society, I dyed my hair white. My bright orange hair always got me into trouble and it was a bit noticeable. Urahara told me to change my name too. I haven't decided what to call myself yet. I was thinking about Haku, to match my hair.

I made my way to the school, wondering if Urahara informed the instructors that I had died and was attending their school. Just to be safe I decided to keep it hidden for now and call Urahara later. Now time to find the registration desk.

I tapped some random guy on the shoulder.

"Hey do you know where you register for the Shinigami academy?"

He turned and said,

"Huh? Oh, I'm going there too. You can just tag along with me! I'm Hishida Kado, by the way, but you can just call me Kado."

"Alright then Kado, I'm Kuroki Haku, lead the way!"

We arrived at the academy by noon. The crowd of hopeful, possible Shinigami-to-bes was kind of overwhelming. To Ichigo, it was obvious that more than half of them were not going to make it. They had far too little Reiatsu. Ichigo and Kado shoved their way through the crowd to one of the many desks occupied by low-level Shinigami. We walked up to one of them and introduced ourselves,

"Hi, I'm Kuroki Haku and this is Hishida Kado. We would like to apply to the Shinigami academy." The woman operating to desk looked up at us and slid us some forms to fill out. We thanked her and started writing.

After we handed in the forms we were told that there would be a 6-hour wait, so we decided to grab something to eat. We walked into one of Seireitei's many restaurants, sat down, and ordered some food.

"So, Haku," said Kado, "Why are you applying to the academy?"

Shit. Ichigo, make something up fast!

HICHIGO!? I thought you died when I did!

Nope! Sorry King! You can't get rid of me that easily! Tell him that your mother was attacked and killed bay a Hallow. It's not a lie, just stretch the truth a bit!

Who knew you would be so helpful.

Well you have to give me some credit. I'm not as bad as you think.

"My… Mother was attacked by Hallow when I was younger and it killed her. I want to protect people so that won't happen to anyone else."

Hichigo and I have settled our differences a while ago. (With a lot of help from Old Man Zangetsu) Turns out he's not no that bad of a guy! We actually have a lot in common, although it's not that surprising, seeing as he is a part of my soul.

"Wow man that's brutal! I just thought it would be cool to learn how to handle a katana properly and kick some Hallow ass!" Kado let out a chuckle and rubbed the back of his neck. "Its not like I had that many friends in Rukongai anyway, no family either. So I just figured, what the hell, you know? It's not like I had anything to lose!"

The waitress came back with our food just after we finished talking.

"Itatakaimasu!" Ichigo took this time to evaluate Kado. He had a decent amount of Reiatsu, and a nice build for handling a sword.

After they finished eating, they headed into town to kill some time before their test. Ichigo could only hope that they didn't run into anyone while they were there.

In town, Kado and Ichigo stopped in many stores. They passed one that said, Zanjutsu Supplies.

"Haku!" Kado shouted, "Let's go in there!" He pointed at the store.

While browsing, Ichigo caught a glimpse of spiky red hair that could only belong to one man. Ichigo turned towards Kado,

"Um… I have to go to the bathroom."

"Ok, I'll be here."

Ichigo turned and raced out of the store. Kado sighed,

"I guess he really had to go!"

Ichigo almost made it out of the store, but as he rushed passed Renji caught a glimpse of him out of the corner of his eye.

He looks awfully familiar…

Renji tried to pick out his Reiatsu. It was feint, like an average spirit from Rukongai, but it felt really familiar. He decided to chase after him. He could see the white hair bobbing up and down quickly through to crowd.

Who do I know that has white hair? It can't be a captain, his Reiatsu isn't strong enough.

Who ever it was, he seemed to be running from him, so Renji made his Reiatsu almost undetectable and used shunpo to push the mystery man into an ally.

"Dammit Renji!"
It seemed that the mystery man knew Renji too. The man looked up and…

Wait a minute…

"Ichigo!?"

There you go! The first chapter of my first story! I hope you enjoyed it!

Please Review!

-back-to-my-wonderland