Chapter 2

Giggles were heard everywhere as I walked down the corridor slowly. Yep, something embarrassing happened, as you would probably guess. At the party Ikkaku just had to goad me into drinking. Guess what happened? I drank. Drank, drank and drank. Drank till I was drunk. Then the embarrassing part happened. I happened to start climbing on the tables and dance around, taking off my clothing one by one. That nosy guy who I beat down before taped down the whole fucking event. Immediately it was sent to the 9th Division and distributed throughout Soul Society. SOUL SOCIETY. GOD DAMMIT.

Overnight, fan clubs have sprung up all around the 13 Divisions. Fan clubs made of girls, and full of fan girl fluffiness. I hated that. Well, I was quite sure most of the fan clubs were just made to annoy the heck outta me, most probably by jealous shinigami. I didn't care. (If you haven't realized, that was an extremely obvious lie)

Now, back to business. It was the start of a new day and all, with me waking up early in the morning with a crazy hangover. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention? I drank with Ikkaku yesterday night to drown our, correction, MY sorrows. But yeah, the medicine from the 4th Division is miraculous. Hangover was gone in less than five minutes, heck, I wasn't even done shaving yet!

Okay now. Seriously. Back to business. I was heading down to the Training Grounds, where Ikkaku had said that training was being held there today. I guess we had to train, sometimes. The days in the division had been pretty easy-going so far. My other friends were running up and down Soul Society passing memos and all, but all I've done these few days are going to the hot springs, reading those erotic doujins from the human world that I somehow love, ogling at girls on the sidewalks. Yeah, that's about it.

Ahah! I was here. The Training Grounds were large, really. The Official reason was that the 1st Division wanted a large space for us to practice in, so we can jump around and do all sorts of stunts without breaking anything. But then, we all know that those guys over at the 1st Division are a group of misers. They were already reluctant to give us a big plot of land, much less decorate? It was a simple, four walls place. Areas were marked out, similar to those things they called "Tennis Courts" over in the human world. Already there were shinigamis sparring, and the morning air was suddenly upset with the cacophony of clashing blades and the shouts of other shinigami, in an attempt to psyche out their opponents.

"Hey! You're here!" shouted a familiar voice, far to my left.

Turning my head, I acknowledged the familiar figure of my newly acquainted friend, Ikkaku Madarame. He was watching over a pair of shinigami practicing, his sword leaning against his shoulder. To others Ikkaku might seen as a careless man who's most likely to cut himself, but to the members of the 11th we all know that he was a consummate warrior more than capable of holding his own in a fight 10 to 1.

"Cat gotcha tongue? Comeon, say something. Aint ya supposed to greet a friend?" Ikkaku said in his usual drawl as I walked over to him.

"Hello, baldy." I said with a smile, though it was larger than normal. The extra size for the small was so that he would understand that it was a joke. I wasn't above to get hacked to death on my third day of work.

"Ya'll be sparring me tahday." Ikkaku said in a controlled voice, as a vein pulsed in his forehead, while he closed his eyes attempting to purge his anger in a rather comical way.

Before I knew it, we were already standing in one of those drawn-out arenas that were used for sparring. My sword was already drawn and it hung loosely in my right hand. I could sense glances at my sword. Yes, I was different. Most of the zanpakutos came in the form of a katana, or a weapon with a Japanese-motif. Funnily enough my blade came in the form of an English broadsword. My blade's cross guard came in the form of a dragon's head, with the hilt being its neck. The blade of the broadsword extended from inside the dragon's mouth. The blade was carved with many symbols, with I was unable to decipher. Perhaps it was a good sign, perhaps it was bad. Anyway, I HATED THE ATTENTION!

ICHI!

NII!

SAN!

HAJIME!

I wasn't exactly paying attention to the commentator's shout, before I realized that Ikkaku was heading towards me. Like a raging bull. He had a head start on things, and I was immediately forced into a defensive. Swinging my blade quickly I managed to parry a few of his quick strikes coming from the katana he was holding, but then I felt a stinging pain in my side as he used his sheath to smack me. Ouch! Who the heck fights with both the sword and sheath? Well, Ikkaku, maybe, but not really anyone else.

My mind quickly processed the new set of information and it willed my body to adapt to the new information. Immediately I had my sash tied up around my hand. There wasn't any use of it, since we were fighting bare-chested. My robes lay in a mess just outside of the arena, and all both of us wore were a pair of pants to maintain some level of modesty.

Using my wrapped hand I gripped onto Ikkaku's blade sheath, pulling it away from him. The sudden force exerted sent him stumbling forwards. Using this moment of confusion to my advantage I clashed my blades with Ikkaku, twisting my blade around his, in an attempt to use my sword as a lever to wrench his katana out of his hands.

In my eagerness to end the fight I did not notice the playful grin on Ikkaku's face. When I finally noticed it, it was already too late. The distance between us was too short for me to make a quick attack with my sword, not to mention that it was tangled up in his. Also, the distance prevented me from flash-stepping away from his body, as there was a chance I would cut myself on his blade in my bid to escape.

"Oof!" was the only sound I let out throughout the fight, not counting the grunts of exertion.

Ikkaku's foot had found his way to my gut, and the sudden blow knocked all the wind out of me. It all happened so fast, that I had no time to react. It was followed up by a palm to the chest, driven forward with momentum from the stumbling. I found myself soaring through the air, the wind rushing in my ears as I managed to raise a hand towards Ikkaku. There was only one way I could possibly make the fight a draw, and I wasn't about to lose to Ikkaku, even if I was a rank lower than him.

In that short few seconds before I collided into the wall I could yell out three short sentences;

"Carriage of Thunder!"

"Bridge of a spinning wheel!"

"With light, divide this into six!"

I felt the spiritual power leave my body, as a small part of my reiatsu reserves ebbed away to fuel the spell. I had attempted a high-level spell, level 61, to be exact. It wasn't one that I had mastered, but it was enough to not allow something to break free from it by pure physical strength.

My body was a sore and stiff all over as I got up, after slamming into the concrete wall of the arena. Six beams of yellow light had been emitted from my finger tips simultaneously, and it had slammed into Ikkaku's midsection, holding him in place. The impact of the spell had too pushed him out of the arena boundary, leaving the fight at a draw. Oh, did I mention that if you stepped out of the boundary, you lost?

I stood up, holding a cut on my left shoulder, where an outcrop of rock from the wall had cut it via the friction. I snapped my fingers, and the six beams of light surrounding Ikkaku had vanished, putting a stop to his repeated swearing.

"Well, good job on ya first try. Lucky ya could use Kido. But shh, don't use that too often. We the 11th Divisioners hate Kido." And in a lower tone, Ikkaku had added, "Because we can't exactly use it. It doesn't listen ta us."

Cheers erupted from the crowd that had gathered to watch the short, but educational fight that had just took place between 3rd and 4th Seat. Most of the crowd was made up of girls of varying appearance. Some were incredibly short, while others were elegantly tall. Their beauty varied too, but none of them seemed to interest me. Although, one of them piqued my attention. Her shock of orange hair was tied up in two ponytails, pointing up to the sky before drooping down on both sides of her head. She had her arms crossed, eyes closed and a sulk on her face. Most of the girls came to watch the two men with a body of lean muscle fight, but apparently this one didn't.

When the crowd had cleared, I walked towards her, who was slashing away at a straw dummy with unneeded ferocity. The exhaustion of the fight had cleared away quickly, though I still had not put my robe on. It was a sunny, but windy day. It would be a pity if I missed it, and well, I'll give the ladies a chance to continue ogling at my body. Can't blame me for being gorgeous.

"Hey." I tried to make my voice some friendly, but it came out awkwardly.

The girl froze, before dropping the wooden sword and turning around, hands on her hips. She was more of the stubbornly cute type, though the saying "If looks could kill" would be appropriate to use, on the glare that she was shooting at me.

"What?" she said irritably clearly annoyed. I should of probably waited for her to finish first, before speaking.

"Hey, I'm uhm, Kentake Hoshiro from the 11th. You are .. ?" A slight smile crossed my face. This girls always, and I mean always, interested me.

"I didn't ask for your name! Well, I'm Ai Etsu." She said, still in that voice that told me "You annoyed me. You'll pay."

"So .. What division are ya from?" I ran a hand through my hair, trying to keep casual.

"Are you 11th Division-ers getting too much sun? Or are you simply blind to not notice the emblem on my shoulder? It says 4th, idiot. Need me to spell it out for ya? F-O-U-R-T-H." the last few alphabets were emphasized greatly, as if I was some kid with a learning disability.

Now, if it was a joke, I would probably have laughed. But what was the problem with her? The tone she used told me that it wasn't a joke, obviously. It was meant as an insult to my division for being battle-crazed maniacs. I knew that the 4th Division members were always bullied by those from the 11th, but she was taking this too far. She was being obnoxious, stereotypical and bitchy. Especially bitchy.

"Well, I just wanted to say hello, Miss Ai Etsu. There was no need to be so rude." I responded coolly, though a tinge of annoyance could be heard in my words.

"You've said your hellos. Now you can leave. Leave." She said this loudly, drawing the attention of those all around to look at us. It was if she was giving me a challenge, like "Are you man enough to continue?".

Blood pounding in my head, hot-headed me shot back at her, "You don't own this place, why should I leave?" In order to add insult to injury, I drew my sword and cut the dummy she was practicing on with a casual swipe. The art of Quick-Draw enabled my sword to shoot out and return to its sheath in the blink of an eye. I placed my hands at my hips, miming her and giving her a defiant look.

Ai had quickly overcome her shock of getting the dummy sliced in half, and fired at me. Though much shorter, she stood on her tiptoes to give me the effect that she was fierce. Very fierce. "WELL, I DON'T OWN THIS PLACE BUT I BOOKED IT FOR MY DIVISION TODAY. SO IF YOU DON'T LISTEN I'LL HAVE TO REMOVE YOU FROM THE AREA. FORCEFULLY."

"I'd like to see you try, shortie."

Those words did it. It wiped the smile off the smug little bitch's face, and it was replaced by a look of anger – And pure hatred. She was shivering now, rather comically, if not for the fact that I was in a verbal battle. Without saying a word she had lifted one foot incredibly high, and stomped it down mind.


"OWWWW!" my cry of pain reverberated throughout the training arena, drawing the stares and giggles of the crowd. The girl was dragged away by her friends, though she struggled greatly in their grasp.

I hopped around in a small circle, both hands grabbing onto my foot. Who knew that shortie could have so much strength? Well, short people tended to have more strength, or so he heard from Ikkaku Madarame, amidst giggles as he explained the hate between the 11th and 4th.

"Well, the 11th hates them for being weak. Not me, personally, but from the 6th Seat onwards they hate 'em. Don't know why. The 4th hates us for bullying them. It's a natural cycle since the start of the 13 Divisions. Pay no heed."

Well, I didn't know what was the problem with Ai, but somehow, there was a slight attraction that pulled me to her. Never would I know that it was the start of a love-hate relationship.