Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo Tite.

The Bodyguard

Mission 2

– The Principal –

The man chanced a glance at the back of the bar, to see the young man – no, teenaged boy – still standing there, on guard. His hard brown eyes were staring at him, as well as the whole perimeter of the bar.

Didn't he ever go to the bathroom? Oh, right. The kid followed him even into the bathroom, though truthfully, he'd never seen the kid take a leak. He even followed him into strip clubs, though his face expression plainly conveyed how distasteful he found it.

'Hmph. What a stale guy.' Well, he took that back. There was that one time…

Abruptly, he turned back and slammed his tankard down.

"Bartender! Another stiff!"

4 years ago

"Mighty good morning, ain't it Haru?"

Karin pretended she didn't hear anything and buried her head as deeply as possible into the flat pillow.

"Rise and shine, sunshine~!"

Still Karin ignored him. She hadn't gotten much sleep yesterday, with all that traveling she did.

"Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!"

No response. Whatsoever. Renji finally lost his patience.

"OI! I'm telling you to effing wake up already!"

That was more like it. But Karin still ignored him. She didn't want to get out of this warm bed, no matter how hard the surface was.

Finally, Renji just pulled off Karin's sheets, and immediately the cold air hit her skin, chasing away any sleep she had been barely gripping onto. Sitting up, her blue eyes blazed with anger at Renji. "HEY! I was trying to sleep! What the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled hoarsely.

Furiously, she tried to grab the sheets back from Renji, which wasn't very difficult, as Renji was staring at Karin's figure, clad in boxers and a shirt.

"You're… skinny."

Too incensed to be worried about being discovered, Karin rolled her eyes and collapsed back onto bed, pulling the sheets over her as she did. In a muffled voice, she said, "Tell me something I don't know."

Remembering what he had come for, Renji dragged her out of bed again. "I'm telling you, get up!" He hissed. "It's five minutes before six!"

Karin groaned. "Is six when you have to wake up?"

"NO! It's technically five-thirty, but I called in a favor just to cover your sorry ass for thirty minutes, now get up!"

He sounded so desperate that Karin wasn't quite heartless enough to ignore him.

"Alright alright. I'm up already." Rubbing her eyes, she stumbled to her feet and started to head to the bathroom, but Renji pulled the collar of her shirt before she was able to take even a few steps.

First she was unwillingly and (what she considered) brutally awakened, and now she was being choked? Whirling angrily, Karin was just about to give Renji a piece of her mind when she saw the doorknob turn.

The door swung open and a pale man with black hair stood there. Renji saw where Karin was looking and abruptly let go of her collar.

"Is there a problem, Abarai?"

Renji saluted the pale man. "No, Preceptor Cifer. Haru's up now."

Preceptor Cifer's face was inscrutable as he stared at Karin. He shifted his eyes to Renji and said, "Abarai, I believe my debt to you is paid back with this incident. Do not let it happen again, or next time I'll take the customary ten points off of each of you for allowing the other to oversleep."

He turned on his heel and left.

Aghast, Karin looked at Renji. "We're checked every morning at five-thirty?"

Crossing his arms, Renji corrected, "Once a month once the semester starts. But until then, every day." He pulled a face. "It's like they think we'll get lazy over break."

Karin was about to ask, "When does – "

"The semester starts tomorrow." Leaning in close so they were nose to nose, Renji snarled, "And don't let it happen again, Akimoto." He turned and headed towards his own room. "Breakfast is at seven."

Heading into the bathroom, Karin brushed her teeth and took a brief shower. She figured it would raise suspicion if she used the bathroom for too long. For all she knew, The Academy could be as anal as to check the water bills of every room. Last but most important of all, she put in her colored contacts. She would have to wake up earlier than Renji did from now on, if she wanted to put them in.

Come ten minutes before 7 o'clock, Karin trotted after her suitemate down eighteen flights to where all the meals were held. Karin was righteously annoyed. "They don't even have elevators here?"

Renji snorted. "They only have ones around the staff room. Bastards."

Once they arrived at the mess hall, Karin was surprised by the variety of food there. It was a buffet; the only things missing were the unhealthy foods and dessert.

She followed Renji's suit and grabbed a tray. Uncertainly, she asked him, "Are you sure this is free of charge?"

Grabbing a large lump of chicken breast, Renji snorted. "If you pass the probationary period, yes, it is. But if you're kicked out, then you have to pay every penny back, with interest. Every crumb you eat, every bullet you shoot." He also heaped plenty of duck onto his plate right beside the chicken. "Oh, and I almost forgot. Your uniform. That'll be a good chunk of money. Thank God I passed the probationary period."

Taking a noticeably smaller chunk of chicken breast, Karin gulped. When she had been under her father's wing, paying for all that would have been small change, but on her own, that would be a lifelong debt. Hastily changing the subject, she piled in a bunch of fruit into her tray and asked, "Speaking of uniforms, when are they going to be distributed?"

"Today afternoon. That's when the probationers' orientation is." Renji said simply, taking an apple for himself. "They'll hand you the uniforms according SML system." As he took a huge bite out of the apple (which matched his hair color perfectly) he gave her a brief once-over and added, "You may be a few inches taller than the average kid your age, but you're so skinny I figure your size will be small. You just won't need to have your pant legs tailored to fit you."

He led Karin to a table already filled with rowdy boys, all around his age. Upon closer look, there were only six boys, though it seemed like much more; they were making so much noise.

A boy with shoulder-length black hair combed back flicked a pea at Renji with a spoon, who avoided it. Consequently, the pea flew to hit a random blonde boy behind him who glanced back, annoyed. The peashooter asked Renji, "Wassup, man?"

Instead of telling him off for shooting a pea at him in the first place, Renji grinned and clapped the peashooter on the shoulder. Waving in apology to the blonde kid, Renji turned back to the peashooter. "Didn't see you all break, Ginjou! I was beginning to think your dad had you under house arrest. How're things back home?"

Ginjou gave a mock world-weary sigh and replied, "Same old, same old. Old man yapping on about how I should kick away this 'bodyguard business' and carry on the family business. Said it was too bad that I didn't fail the probationary term."

Another boy yelled, "Hey! Aren't you going to welcome me back, Renji?" His left eyebrow was partially missing.

A brown haired boy yelled, "Yo~ Renji, catch! Carbs!" A small roll of bread came flying towards them. But it missed Renji by a mile and Karin calmly caught it instead, before it soared over her shoulder towards the blonde boy's head once again.

"Apparently throwing food is a common greeting here." She said coolly, taking a bite out of the roll. It was sourdough.

"Who's New Face over there?" A boy with a mohawk nodded towards Karin.

Hooking an arm around Karin's neck, Renji grinned, "Oh. How rude of me. Boys, let me introduce Akimoto Haru, my new suitemate." He grinned cheekily. "Or rather, my new 'suitie.'" The boys snickered at this.

Karin was confused at this. Shoving off Renji's arm and hitting him with the bitten roll of bread, Karin said indignantly, "I am not your sweetie! I didn't know you swung that way!"

The five boys, including Renji, burst out into laughter.

"And now, that, was a magnificent reaction." said a rather pretty boy with black hair curling around his face, and three purple stars tattooed over his left eyebrow.

"Most people would be creeped out and edge away, but Akimoto got angry!" jeered the boy with the mohawk.

The boy with a half missing left eyebrow laughed, "He just questioned your masculinity, Renji!"

"How are you going to get him back for that?"

Wiping a tear of mirth from his eye, the boy who had thrown the roll of bread calmed down long enough to introduce himself. "I'm Asano Keigo." He offered the seat beside him, while Renji sat down beside Ginjou.

The boy with the half-shaven eyebrow raised his hand and volunteered, "I'm Shiba Ganju. Nice ta meet ya."

The boy with a mohawk said, "I'm Shishigawara."

"Shishigawara *Moe Moe, you mean~" said another boy teasingly.

[*Moe is often used to refer to cute anime girls]

Shishigawara Moe's ears turned red and he shouted, "Shut up! And this bastard," He pointed towards the boy who had just teased him, "is Kojima Mizuiro, a complete playboy."

There was a complete silence after that proclamation. Karin looked on, unimpressed. "And…?"

Moe's ears turned even redder, and he shut his mouth; he had nothing to reply to that.

The pretty boy said, "The 'playboy' is a turn-off that only works on select girls, Moe. Usually, boys admire or envy men who can ensnare hot women." He waved to Karin and added, "I'm Luppi Antenor, by the way. My surname is Antenor, so just call me Luppi."

Lazily, Ginjou sucked on a spoon (the one he had used to flick the pea at Renji). "You've probably already heard, but my name is Ginjou Kuugo. Call me Ginjou. Welcome to The Academy, or 'The Jungle,' as it's commonly referred to among the trainees." Ginjou slung an arm over Renji's shoulder and said, "And we all know of Renji's undying love for Kurosaki Karin! Therefore, he has to be straight!"

Karin fought to keep a straight face. Cheeks rather red, in a flash, Renji had Ginjou in a headlock. "What was that? Hmm?"

A sly voice drawled in a distinct Kyoto dialect, "Ahh~ kids shouldn't play so roughly with each other. Right?" His slitted eyes gave Karin the impression of a fox, or a rather smiley snake.

Immediately the boys were munching on carrots, crunching at cucumbers, and gnawing at chicken bones. "Indeed, Preceptor Ichimaru." Renji replied mechanically, a little too interested at the chicken bone in his hands.

The silver–haired man took a grape from Keigo's tray and popped it into his mouth, giving them one last sly grin before he sauntered off.

Every last one of the boys was sweating after this encounter, and the rest of the meal was silent. That is, until Karin turned to Keigo and asked, "Why were you guys laughing earlier?" which brought on another bout of laughter.

After about thirty minutes of bantering, they were interrupted again by the silver-haired preceptor. He stood in a booth and clapped his hands. "Freshmen, ya'll can meet back here at the mess hall at two o'clock for the orientation. Sound fair?" Though the only response he received were wide eyes, his smile widened and he nimbly jumped off the platform.

"So we're free until two?" Karin asked as they walked down a random hallway on the second floor, pondering what she should do until then.

Ginjou corrected smugly, "No, you're free until two. We, on the other hand, are free for the whole day."

Already, Karin felt comfortable enough with Ginjou to take a playful swipe at him, which he easily dodged.

"Oho… So your true personality is coming out, then?" Ginjou grinned. "You'll have to be a lot faster than that if you want to hit me."

Taking this as a challenge, Karin bet, "You're on. If I get fast enough to hit you within a month, you'll have to…" She wondered what she would bet on.

Renji provided on her behalf, "Switch rooms for a week."

When he saw Karin's quizzical look, Renji explained, "He has the nicest room out of all of us, on account of his suitemate being the heir to Ammo Co."

Karin took in a sharp breath when she heard the name 'Ammo Co.' The biggest rival to Kurosaki Armament, her father's company. Before she could comment that she didn't want that 'reward,' she saw that Ginjou was looking sternly at her. "So, Akimoto, what'll you do if you lose?"

Forgetting that it was a bad decision to say this in any situation, Karin replied, "Whatever you want."

Ginjou's grin stretched from ear to ear. "Oh? You sure about that, Akimoto?"

Karin shrugged. "Sure." How bad could it be?

Sharing a look with Renji, Ginjou whispered conspiratorially, "Then seduce the school nurse."

At this, Karin was taken aback. "What?"

The boys raised their eyebrows at this. Renji stated, "If you gave your word, Haru, then you have to keep it, as a man."

Only Karin could see the irony behind that statement.

Ten minutes before 2 o'clock, Karin waved goodbye to her senpai and left for the orientation. As she arrived at the mess hall, she saw about fifty students already there. A security guard asked for her name. He checked her off on his paper. "Akimoto, two minutes early. Oh-point-five points awarded."

Karin was really beginning to wonder what this mysterious point system was about. She resolved to ask Renji about it later. She sat down beside a small blonde guy, whom she realized had been the one hit with the pea that Ginjou had thrown.

If she was going to stay here for three years, then she might as well make friends, Karin thought. She stuck out a hand. "Hi. I'm Akimoto Haru. Call me Haru."

Tentatively, he shook her hand. "I'm… Kira Izuru. You can call me Izuru. Or Kira. Or whatever you like…"

Karin suppressed a chuckle. This boy was as shy as he was small, she thought. "Okay then, Izuru."

All of a sudden, heads turned like a wave towards the front of the hall towards the podium. A queerly dressed platinum blonde man stood there. He looked nothing like a bodyguard, in his striped hat and semi–traditional kimono. He wore wooden, uncomfortable–looking sandals.

Karin raised an eyebrow, as he raised his head, revealing a face that looked like he hadn't shaved for over a week. He clapped his hands unnecessarily, calling for the attention he already had.

"Attention, probationers." There were murmurings among the freshmen at this. Knowing the reason, the man said, "Yes, you will be on a probationary period for a year. At the end of this year, if you pass the end of the year test and choose to stay, you will be given a full scholarship for this school, for all expenses. But…" he lowered his voice to a whisper that still somehow echoed through the hall, "Should you fail, you will be required to pay for all the expenses. And I assure you, well over three–quarters of you will fail."

Complete silence greeted his words. Then the man suddenly became eerily cheerful, and said in a much lighter tone, "Aaanyway, now that all the serious stuff is over with, I wish you all the best of luck, and shall bow out now." He was about to step off the platform when he seemed to remember something. Hastily, he went back to the mic and announced, "Oh. And just in case you didn't know, I am Urahara Kisuke, the headmaster of this school. Tootles."

All the security and staff looked on, both exasperated and resigned, at their headmaster springing away,

That was it? They called us all here just for that lame speech? Karin felt cheated. But then she saw that another preceptor approach the podium.

He had blonde hair as well, but it was a whole lot more neatly cropped than the headmaster's and not nearly as pale; it was a rather robust blonde. When he spoke, he revealed a Kansai-ben dialect.

"I'm Hirako Shinji. And thank you, Headmaster, for that… extremely motivational speech." Karin thought that sarcasm directed to someone who had already split the scene rather pointless, but she paid attention to what he was saying nonetheless.

Placing his hands on the podium, Preceptor Hirako said, "I'm telling you now, probationers, I don't ever want to hear the syllable 'b' of 'bodyguard' from your lips. The vocational terms for the line of business we run are Executive Protection, Protective Services, Personal Protection or Personal Security. 'Bodyguard' is a highly unprofessional, common term. We are Executive Protectors. Understood?"

Karin privately thought that those were highly pretentious ways of saying the simpler term 'bodyguard.' But with his sharp gaze upon them all, the boys nodded. Seeing this, the preceptor continued, "All of you had your physical and academic records thoroughly examined by professionals to be accepted. All of you had to pass the same test to read the coordinates and get here."

He spread his hands. "So you might be deluded into thinking that you are all equals. Or you might be an idiot and think you're better than everyone else. Or you could actually be smart and know The Academy is referred to as 'The Jungle' for a reason. From here on out, this is a fight for survival. Eat or be eaten. We don't take losers. As the headmaster said, only a quarter, perhaps even fewer, of you will remain this time next year. Bear that in mind as you go about your classes."

Karin thought that this man should become the headmaster instead.

Preceptor Hirako continued, "You may have noticed that we carry out a point system in this academy. You will each have points given every time a preceptor notices exemplary Protection Officer responses. But if they see you show weakness, they will take points away. You all start out with one hundred points. If you reach zero before the end of the year, then you will automatically be expelled and charged with all of your expenses."

At this bald explanation of the point system, Karin saw adam's apples bobbing up and down all around her.

She recalled earlier this morning, "Do not let it happen again, or next time I'll take the customary ten points off of each of you for allowing the other to oversleep."

If she and Renji overslept ten times between themselves, she would be kicked out of the school. It was only then she realized how costly Renji's sacrifice had been. He had called in his favor for her. Well, he called it in for himself, too, but he could have just kicked her awake.

Silently thanking Renji, she saw that Preceptor Hirako had vanished from the platform and that people had started to line up in front the tables. She noted students walking away from the tables with stacks of black and white clothes, and remembered they were receiving their uniforms as well.

Just as Renji had predicted, Karin ended up with size small shirts, pants, and jackets. But her height warranted her a medium–sized jumpsuit for her age group. They were all made of waterproof fabric.

After all the students had received the several sets of uniforms, the staff began to hand the students the standard freshman theory textbooks (one of the titles were really cheesy, reading 'Protectors').

Once the staff were finished handing out all the material, they said, "Dismissed!" and all the students scattered. Izuru trailed after Karin. Noticing the significantly smaller boy following her, Karin considerately slowed her walking. "Where're you rooming at?"

Izuru answered with a slight stammer, "1603. W-what about you?"

Karin heaved a mock sigh and said, "1408. It's a real unlucky number, isn't it? There's a horror movie named 1408, after all."

At this, Izuru stifled a laugh with his uniforms.

"Oh, uh, so what floor do you live on?" Karin asked. "Because even though my room number is 1408, it's located on the eighteenth floor."

"The f-fifteenth floor." Izuru said curiously. "I w-wonder how they number the rooms."

A familiar sly voice answered, "Nuthin' to it. Word is, the constructionists were drunk when they nailed up the room numbers." As both Karin and Izuru turned to look at silver-haired preceptor behind them, he shrugged. "Either that, or it was decided randomly by Headmaster Urahara."

After she had seen the state of the headmaster, Karin rather thought it was the latter.

The preceptor slung his arms over their shoulders, saying, "Never introduced myself, did I? Name's Ichimaru Gin. Everybody calls me Preceptor Ichimaru, but that makes me feel old, so I personally prefer Gin." Considering what he just said for a moment, the preceptor amended, "Well, at least call me Preceptor Gin. Willya?"

Karin wondered if they even had a choice. But Ichimaru Gin had his fox-like smile back on. "Now, What're your names?"

Surprisingly, Izuru answered first. "Izuru. Kira Izuru."

Quickly, Karin followed Izuru's example and added her own alias, "Akimoto Haru."

The preceptor paused, slackening his arms around their shoulders. "Kira Izuru and… Akimoto… Haru… eh?"

Karin wasn't sure if Preceptor Gin glanced curiously in her direction or not; his eyes were mere slivers, and his pupils practically invisible.

He briefly tightened his arms around their shoulders before releasing them. "Well then, I'll see ya tomorrow, Bye-bye~" He waved at them.

When the two where halfway down the hallway Karin turned to Izuru, "What was that all about? Did he just stop us because he wanted us to call him 'Preceptor Gin?'"

Izuru said in a hushed whisper, "Well, I've heard that Preceptor Gin only tells that to students that he takes liking to."

"Hm."

They had arrived at a stairwell.

Karin had come to the conclusion that the 'bastards' (oh, Renji's choice words) were sadists who wanted students half-dead when they arrived at their rooms. Maybe that was their twisted way of conveying that they wanted them to sleep earlier, but Karin doubted it. They probably just enjoyed torturing the students in the guise of 'toughening them up' for the rough world of 'Executive Protectors.'

Silently dreading the climb of eighteen flights, Karin started stretching. When she saw Izuru look at her questioningly, she informed him, "I advise you to do the same, Izuru. Even though fifteen flights is a jot less than eighteen, it's still quite a lot."

Seeing her point, Izuru hastily also stretched. Exhaling, Karin jogged in place before turning to Izuru and giving him a painfully false smile, "Shall we go up these lovely stairs?"

After dropping Izuru off at his floor, Karin arrived at her own, gasping, her quads feeling like water.

She just wanted to collapse on her bed. Except when she unlocked her room, she saw people already occupying her bed.

Heaving a sigh, Karin dumped her uniforms on Renji's head and sprawled on top of Ginjou and Keigo, ignoring their protests.

Renji was looking through her uniform size tags. "Look, I was right, wasn't I?"

Karin mumbled an incoherent reply.

"Wow. Haru's totally out of it." said Ganju's voice. Waving a hand, Karin shooed her senpai away.

"Hey, we should draw on his face." came Renji's excited voice.

This brought Karin to full alertness. She sat up and said, "No way in hell." They probably would draw male genitals on her face with sharpie markers.

Renji looked put out.

The next day, having turned in early the day before, Karin woke up early and refreshed.

Stretching, Karin winced as she found her quads rather sore. But that was to be expected, after that climb of flight yesterday. Renji and the others senpai probably languished every few floors to avoid that. She sighed heavily at the idea of having to climb all those flights of stairs for the rest of the year. Or all three years. Would she have to stay in this room for the rest of her time at the school?

Not bothering to take a shower – she would become sweaty after the physical classes anyway – Karin simply washed her face, put in her contacts and thin black and white uniform. To her pleasant surprise, there were barely any changes to be made; the pants were a perfect length. She would have to exercise a bit to fill up the shirt, but there was plenty of time for that.

Coming out of the bathroom fully dressed, Karin spotted Renji who was pulling on his own uniform.

Quickly, she went back into her own room. But Renji followed her, still trying to pull his black pants on. Thankfully, he had his boxers on.

Looking at Renji strangely as he hopped one-legged into her room after her, Karin asked him, "…What?"

"We have classes together, didn't you know?"

She hadn't. Renji explained as he struggled to put on his rather tight pants, "The probationers and second years take classes together. If a probationer is lucky and passes with flying colors, in his second year he can take third year classes and graduate a year early."

"Lucky?" Karin wrinkled her nose at Renji. "Doesn't sound like luck to me. It sounds like pure skill."

Renji winked at her. "Who knows. Even a scrawny kid like you can bulk up and graduate the same time as us second years."

A smile spread on Karin's face. "Is that a challenge?"

Finally getting his pants on, Renji smirked at her. "Well, if you take it as one, sure."

So she accompanied Renji down the eighteen flights of stairs. They met up with the others at the same table and chowed down breakfast.

They went outside, and Karin scrunched up her face and shielded her eyes. Renji hastily shoved her hand down. He jerked his chin towards one of the preceptors. Karin gave him a questioning look. He muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Shielding your eyes from the sun is a sure-fire way to have points taken off. I did that my probationary year, and got told off real good by a preceptor, saying that if I were to become a professional 'Executive Protector' I would have to keep my eyes on my *principal, at all times."

[*principal: the person the bodyguard must protect. Not to be confused with employer or client, who only hire the bodyguard, though the principal and employer may be synonymous.]

That made sense.

Karin made an effort to keep her hands at her sides. Even when she spotted Izuru, who looked rather ridiculous in his overlarge uniform, she didn't dare wave, settling for a nod and a smile.

The preceptor called for their attention. Putting his arms behind his back and placing his shoulder length apart in the typical bodyguard position, he shouted, "Now, probationers, you're new to this, so open up your ears; I'm only going to explain this once. You will choose seven unarmed martial arts to study, and rotate these over the week, training for three hours. These seven martial arts will be what you specialize in, so choose carefully. There are the basic Japanese fighting styles, Chinese styles, and Korean styles. There's a Brazilian style too, but the instructor in charge of it died last year on a mission."

Oh. Talking about a dead teacher. What pleasant way to start a class.

The preceptor added, "And before you ask, there will be no Taichi here. Although the forms are useful when you perform them in quick succession, practicing the form is slow. Unless you master it, it will just be baggage and an excuse for three hours of lazing about. Another thing is Drunken Fist. Alcohol is strictly prohibited."

Karin frowned at the second part. Unable to restrain herself, she exclaimed, "But Drunken Fist doesn't require for you to be drunk! You're just imitating a drunkard's movements!"

Renji winced and mentally facepalmed. 'Haru, you moron…'

The preceptor's eyes settled on Karin. Almost immediately, Karin regretted her outburst. "Akimoto, right?"

His face was emotionless for the longest time. Then his face broke out into a wide grin. "That's correct! Akimoto, you're awarded twenty points! An Executive Protector must know when to argue and overrule orders for the sake of the principal's safety."

Both Karin and Renji sighed with relief. Security guards began to pass out a list with what seemed like an endless number of martial arts, with the day of the week it would be instructed next to them. Karin looked at the list and saw that Drunken Fist, Zui-quan, was indeed on the list for Wednesday. However, Taichi still was not listed.

So for the first hour, while the second years sparred with each other, the freshmen chose the seven martial arts they would study. There was everything from Baguazhang to Hapkido. Karin looked over all of the martial arts, unable to decide for her greediness. She wanted to learn all of them. Not just seven.

Izuru also stared at the list, but he looked considerably less excited than Karin did. It looked like he didn't want to learn any. Karin briefly glanced at his face and wondered how on earth his physical records had passed the sticklers who looked over applications to The Academy. Did he even enroll here of his own will?

"You know Haru-kun, I th-think I'll decide on Karate and Judo f-for two of them."

"Well, I think I'll choose Five Animals for one. It includes Dragon form. That sounds cool." Looking more closely, Karin added, "And Tiger and Crane."

Izuru looked surprised. "Y-you want to learn Chinese martial arts?"

Karin shrugged. "Why not? I already know Judo and Aikido. Maybe I should choose Jujutsu for another."

In the end, Karin chose Drunken Fist, Jujutsu, Five Animals, Wing-chun(spring chant), and the Korean styles, Taekkyon and Hapkido.

As he had mentioned earlier, Izuru went with Aikido, Judo and five of Karin's choices, aside from the Drunken Fist and Five Animals.

For the remaining two hours, they went divided into Monday's martial arts groups – which Karin had with Izuru for Jujutsu – and went over the basics along with the second years.
At the end of the Jujutsu session, the two were drenched with sweat.

But it was far from over.

Another preceptor had taken over command. Assuming the same standard bodyguard stance, he announced, "For three hours every other day, you will be learning armed martial arts."

Karin's jaw dropped. She had expected grueling training, but she hadn't expected for there to be six hours of it. In a row.

Aghast, she and Izuru simultaneously looked at each other. Out of the corner of her eye, Karin saw Renji, shouldering a glaive, shoot her an amused glance. She made a rude gesture at him, and he laughed outright.

'Okay, I'm gonna take Naginatajutsu (the way of the glaive), and wipe the floor with Renji's ass.'

Though she wavered over Battoujutsu, (having read Rurouni Kenshin) she thought better of it. The was just a manga after all. So she chose Wudang Sword and Kobudou.

She grinned evilly when she hefted a glaive of proper height to her. She would get good at this, and fast; she had incentive, after all. But after two hours, she was still wiped out, and they had only gone over the basics. As she and Izuru tottered towards the mess hall, she noticed to her surprise that Renji was still relatively fresh. Frowning at him, Karin asked, "How are you still so energetic?"

Renji flexed his bicep and said, "You see, I have endless source of stamina."

Karin snorted. "An endless pit for a stomach, you mean." After yesterday, she had realized that Renji's stomach was a black-hole.

Realizing that Izuru was hovering at her elbow, Karin introduced him to Renji. "Izuru, Abarai Renji. Renji, Kira Izuru."

They both blinked at her. "That's it?" Renji asked, disgruntled. "No, 'this is my suitemate,' or 'this is my yearmate' or anything?"

"Okay, so my introductions are short." Karin admitted, albeit with heaps of sarcasm on top. "It's not my fault I don't know your life stories."

"You don't need to know whole life stories to introduce someone properly!" Renji returned heatedly.

They bickered all the way to the mess hall.

After lunch, all of them were in food comas; unfortunately they had to lug their bodies to attend academics.

After wearily climbing back up to her room, Karin gathered her textbooks (and ransacked all of Renji's clothes to find his, as he had pulled a 'senpai' on her and ordered her to get his). Finding her senpai again, Karin followed them to the theory classes.

There weren't any seating charts in the semi-circular lecture hall, so they all went up to back of the room and sat at a single table in a row. Students slowly wandered into the classroom, until all hundred seats were filled.

A burly man with glasses and a bushy mustache came in last, and Karin supposed he was a preceptor.

"I am Tsukabishi Tessai. You are to refer to me as Preceptor Tsukabishi. In this class, we will spend three hours each day studying about the necessary aspects of not only the Protective Service industry, but of regular academics. This week, we will study the protocols required of Executive Protectors, and the week after we will go over logistics."

At the word 'protocols,' Karin fought not to plant her face against the desk. Apparently, she wasn't only one who felt that way. Her senpai seemed resigned to having this bulky, boring man teach them protocol. As for academics, she had already learnt everything she needed to know. She even knew how to do combinatorics; what more did they want?

After listening to three hours of mindless droning straight, another man came in. Rousing from her semi-unconscious state, Karin recognized the silver hair. Though they were sitting at the back, Preceptor Gin saw her and Izuru and gave them a small wave. They sat at the back, but he still saw them? Curious. Maybe those slitted eyes actually hid the visual ability of a hawk?

Precepter Tsukabishi saw Preceptor Gin enter, and closed the textbook with a snap. "Well then, class, Preceptor Ichimaru will take over from now." He began to pack up his suitcase.

"Heya, students, my name is Ichimaru Gin. I'm twenty-six, my blood type is O, my favorite food is dried persi – "

Tsukabishi Tessai paused on his way to leave, and said in a warning voice, "Preceptor Ichimaru."

Gin grin widened as he turned to Tessai. He waved airily and said, "Aight, aight, I gotcha. Aren'cha… late to a meeting or something?"

Taking the not-so-subtle hint, Tessai huffed his way out of the class.

Turning back to the class, Gin continued on a different thread, "Now, I'll be teaching ya'll strategies. Tactics. All that jazz. There is no right answer in this class. And I don't mind ya'll talking 'mongst yourselves, so long as it doesn't drown out my voice. And last of all, the test in this class…" for the first time Karin had ever seen him, Preceptor Gin's slitted eyes opened slightly, revealing light blue pupils. "…will be how to use everything you learn from your other classes on the field."

His eyes returned to their customary slits. "Aight, dismissed!" Then he swept out of the room. All the students stared, stunned at the preceptor's casual manners.

Turning to her senpai, Karin asked them, "Is that all?"

Her senpai looked at her, just as bewildered. "This never happened before." said Renji, looking unsettled.

"…Preceptor Ichimaru never does this." Ginjou looked grim.

Karin looked up, pondering. "I wonder what's different this year?" she mused out loud.

Keigo interrupted the serious atmosphere by jumping up and exclaiming, "This means early break! No homework! More sleep! Yes~!"

I'm only going to put in a few character profiles this time.

Name: Ginjou Kuugo
Age: 16 years
Height: 5'8.5"/174cm (Status: still growing)
Favorite food: Ramen
Least favorite food: Green peas
Favorite sport: Boxing

Name: Kira Izuru
Age: 14 years
Heght: 5'/152cm (Status: still growing)
Favorite food: No preference
Least favorite food: None
Favorite sport: None

Name: Ichimaru Gin
Age: 26 years
Height: 6'1"/185cm (Status: fully grown)
Favorite food: Dried persimmon
Least favorite food: Dried potato
Favorite sport: Sleeping

A/N: Don't worry about all the martial art names. You don't really have to know about them.
You also might have noticed that I have changed my language style a little. This is because the story takes place at an all-boys school. Uh, this means use of rather coarse language… ^^;; :] And my writing flow as well, because I'm trying to get rid of the ellipses breaks. It's a bad habit of mine.