Chapter 2: Rivals
Firedude: Alright! Chapter 2 is here! Don't forget to review and make suggestions on couples. Ichigo and all his friends will appear a bit into the story so you can include them too.
Jake: Thank you Jake, I like it too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters
Firedude: Here we go then, Ready? Set? On with the show!
Ryoko lunged forward and made a horizontal slash at Kazuya's head. He back stepped and countered with a stab to the stomach. However, Ryoko parried it and took a few steps back. Kazuya made another strike at the top of Ryoko's skull. She quickly side stepped and did a spiraling slash at his legs. He jumped into the air and made a downward stab at Ryoko's neck. She rolled to the side to avoid the blow. She looked up at him and gave him a piercing glare. Kazuya rested the kendo stick against his shoulder and smiled at her. "You're pretty good. A lot better than I thought you'd be." She stood up and replied, "Same here…"
Chao leaned over to Kojiro and whispered, "They're really going at it aren't they!? They know it's only a practice duel right!?" Kojiro laughed a little and whispered back, "I don't know, but they should keep doing what they're doing. It's very entertaining!" Kazuya put his sword at his side, as though he were sheathing it and sunk into a stance. Ryoko did the same and did not take her eyes off Kazuya. The two stood in their stances for about ten seconds, before they sprinted at each other. They met in the center of the circle and slashed at each other. Their swords smacked together, resulting in a deadlock.
The two pushed against their swords, trying to gain supremacy. Eventually, Kazuya side stepped and let Ryoko stumble past him. She quickly regained her footing and quickly whipped around. She began to wildly slash her kendo stick at him. Kazuya was able to keep his block up at first, until he realized he was about to be pushed out of the circle. Damn it, I need to do something soon or she'll win by ring out! He looked at Ryoko as she angrily continued her barrage of attacks. I hope this works... Ryoko struck her sword down from over her head down unto Kazuya. He blocked and held his sword in place for a few moments.
He then proceeded to slide his kendo stick down hers until he was at her guard. He took his left hand off the handle of the sword and pushed both their swords to the grounds. He then slid his arm up Ryoko's arms and stopped an inch before her neck. Her eyes widened when she realized that she had been defeated. She let her sword fall out of her hands and hit the ground. The judge at the edge of the circle raised his hand on Kazuya's side. "Winner…!" The judge thought for a minute until Kojiro leaned over and whispered to him. The judge thanked him and continued, "Kazuya!" The crowd stood amazed and some clapped, while others didn't know what to do. Chao stood wide eyed at the fact that her friend had lost.
Ryoko began to walk away with her head hung over and she looked as though she was very upset. "Ryoko!" She looked back at Kazuya and gave him the same glare. He then bent over into a bow which surprised everyone, including Ryoko. He then looked back up at her and smiled. "It was a very good duel. Let's do it again some time." The piercing glare Ryoko just had disappeared and she had a look of shock. Kazuya then picked up his kendo stick and walked towards the door. Kojiro ran after him to the kendo stick bin where he dropped in his sword. "That was an awesome fight man! We should charge ticket sales next time! With that kind of money, I can buy so much Amatsu Kemuri!" Kazuya sighed and uttered, "You're hopeless."
Kazuya and Kojiro walked outside into the sunlight. As they walked Kazuya reached into his pocket and flipped out his watch. "We've still got another three hours before the test… what do you want to do?" Kojiro was about to say something when someone spoke from behind. "Hey! Pervert!" the two looked behind them and saw Ryoko and Chao standing there. Kazuya gave her a smile and said, "What is it?" She put on an angry look and practically shouted, "Don't smile at me like that, you-!" Chao interrupted her by elbowing her in the side. Ryoko then sighed and looked back up at Kazuya. "I'm sorry, what I wanted to say was…"
Kazuya rolled his hand to signal her to keep going, "Go on." Her tone became loud and angry and she said, "It's hard enough for me to say this, so stop!" She realized she was acting angry again and she blushed. "Look, what I wanted to say was… good duel. And I'm sorry, we kind of got off on the wrong foot this morning and I realize now that it was just an accident." Kazuya smiled and walked up to her. He extended his hand and Ryoko gave him a puzzled look. "I'm Kazuya; it's nice to meet you." Ryoko smiled slightly and lightly shook his hand. "I'm Ryoko Mori, princess of the Mori noble family." She then motioned to her side at Chao Liang. "This is my guard, Chao." Kojiro stumbled over and also said, "I'm Kojiro Sakai, I'm his roommate."
She looked between the two and said, "It was nice to meet you two, we'll see you around then." The two began walking away, but then Ryoko looked over her shoulder back at them. "Oh, by the way Kazuya, be ready for the next time we meet. We're rivals now." The two then walked away down the path. Kojiro leaned over to Kazuya and whispered, "It seems like you're rivals with a princess." He nudged him in the side with a smile. Kazuya then scratched the back of him head and laughed a little. Kojiro began to walk away. "I'll see you later Kazuya. I'm going to the cafeteria. I got the munchies." Kazuya just smiled and waved at him, "Alright, later Kojiro!" He waved back at him and made his way to the cafeteria.
Kazuya looked around at all the buildings in the area. He spotted the library out of the corner of his eye and shrugged. "I might as well." He walked up to the large double doors in front of the library and pushed them open. The library was huge and filled with walls and walls of books. Although the place was huge there were very little people in it. He walked around the aisles of books looking for something interesting. Kazuya eventually found his way into a large area filled with many tables. At one of the tables, there was a student sitting there with large stacks of books around him. Kazuya walked up to his table and sat across from him. He sat there for a minute waiting for the young man to speak.
"Can I help you?" He placed down his book and moved a pile of books out of his way to see Kazuya. He just shrugged and replied, "Not really, I'm just looking for something to do, so I came here." The young man let out a sigh and handed a book to him. "What's this?" The young man looked at him like he had three heads. "It's a textbook on basic hollow information." Kazuya smiled and said, "Thanks, but I'll just read it when I need to in class. The young man looked at him and replied, "Well you should at least look it over, you're going to need it for the test." Kazuya blinked for a couple seconds before repeating, "Test?" The young man gave him an amused look. "You truly are clueless aren't you? The first test today is a written one."
Kazuya slapped his forehead and replied, "Really!? Crap, alright I better start reading this…" He picked it up and began to read through it. The young man across the table suddenly said, "My name is Goemon Maeda." Kazuya looked up from his book and smiled. He pushed another stack of books out of his way, so he could clearly see Goemon. His hair was buzz cut and he wore glasses. He had a brown soul patch on his lower lip. Kazuya extended his hand to Goemon and said, "My name is Kazuya, it's nice to meet you." Goemon just looked at his hand for a minute before shaking it. "It's nice to meet you too." They both returned to their books and continued to go through the pages.
Kazuya stopped on a page that interested him quite particularly. "Hey, who's this guy?" He showed the page in the text book to Goemon. On the page was a sketch of a hollow that had an exact human build. It was cloaked in a black hood and skeletal body parts. Its mask was of a skull with a red tear drop coming down from the left eye socket. Goemon took a good look and laughed a little. "That's just Muerte Craneo, he's just a myth. He supposed to be an extremely powerful hollow, but no one's ever really seen him." Kazuya took another look at the picture and shrugged. "If you say so…" He left the book on the table and stood up. "It was nice studying with you, good bye." Goemon nodded at him and went back to his book as Kazuya walked away.
He walked out of the library and looked around for something to do. As he began to walk in the direction of the dorms, he heard a bunch of cheering from around the corner. He walked over and noticed a large crowd gathered around a pit. He walked over and saw many long bamboo stalks poking out of the bottom. He walked over and saw a tall shirtless man standing on the stalks. He had Blonde hair on the top of his head with black sides. He was apparently doing a martial arts demonstration. He jumped around from stalk to stalk, striking at invisible opponents. The crowd cheered and yelled with enjoyment as he whipped out some amazing moves.
After a few minutes, he finished and jumped to the edge of the pit. Kazuya tried to introduce himself to him, but the man didn't even so much as look at him and continued walking. Kazuya sighed as he walked away with a crowd of other students around him. "Don't bother trying to talk to him." Kazuya heard a voice, but he saw no one around. "Hideyori is stuck up and doesn't talk to too many people." Kazuya was still looking around and could not find the disembodied voice. "Down here idiot!" Kazuya looked down and saw a little kid with messy black hair looking at him. "I'm sorry! I didn't see you down there! I-." Kazuya was about to continue when he noticed the kid had fox ears on top of his head. "…Are those fox ears?" The kid crossed his arms and said gruffly, "So what if they are!?"
Kazuya laughed and said, "Well, I think they're cool." The kid put on a blank expression and felt his ears. "You really think they're cool." Kazuya nodded. The kid basked in the compliment for a few more seconds with a satisfied smile. Kazuya looked in the direction Hideyori was walking in. "So who exactly is that guy?" The fox child looked over at Hideyori and said, "That's Hideyori Takeda, he's a real big shot. He's expected to be the top student of the first year class." Kazuya put his hand on his chin and thought about it. Takeda... where have I heard that name before... Kazuya then looked down at the kid. "And who are you? They very rarely let children into the academy, only if they're prodigies."
The kid smiled and pointed to himself with his thumb. "That's me! I'm Yaoto Naoe! I'm a shinigami prodigy!" Kazuya kept in a chuckle as Yaoto bathed in his glory. "So who are you?" Kazuya smiled and said, "Well if you get a big intro, then I suppose I should get one too." Kazuya pointed his thumb to himself like Yaoto did and stated triumphantly, "I am Kazuya! I'm the apprentice to the great Kagetsuna Uesugi and servant of Bishamonten!" Yaoto blinked for a second and said, "Wait, you're Kazuya?" He blinked for a couple seconds before replying, "You've heard of me?" Yaoto nodded and pointed around the corner of the administration office. "There was an officer with a straw hat and an officer with long silver hair talking about you before." Kazuya raised an eyebrow and walked around the corner of the administration office nearby.
He quickly stepped back behind the corner when he realized that there were still two officers standing there. Yaoto walked up behind him and the two eavesdropped on them. "Captain Zaraki, I was told to give you a message a few minutes ago by Commander Yamamoto." Kazuya peeked around the corner and saw a large man with spiked hair with bells on the tips of the spikes sitting on the ground. On his back was a small girl with pink hair. The man speaking to them had scars all over his face and spiked black hair. Kazuya frowned and felt the spikes of his hair. There are way too many people with spiked hair here...
The man with bells stood up and said, "So why'd you bring me here Shuhei!?" Shuhei took a step back and continued, "Commander Yamamoto's message was that Uesugi's apprentice is now attending this academy." A smile slowly spread across Zaraki's face. "Is that so?" The small girl on his back said, "What is it Ken!? Is there a new friend for you to fight?" Zaraki just laughed and said, "Yes Yachiru… yes there is…" He looked back over at Shuhei and said, "You're free to go back to your captain Shuhei… thank you for the message." Shuhei bowed and flash stepped away. Yachiru then said excitedly, "So what now Ken!?" Zaraki just smiled and said, "We're going to stay here for a while and find our friend."
Kazuya scowled and thought a loud, "Why are they talking about me? What's so important about me?" Yaoto blushed and said, "That girl is pretty cute!" Kazuya turned around to walk away and Zaraki was standing a foot away from him. Both he and Yaoto screamed out of shock. Yachiru laughed out of amusement at their shock. Zaraki bent down and got right into Kazuya's face, "You're Kazuya, aren't you?" Kazuya was very close to peeing himself but was able to get out, "Y-Yes, m-my name is K-Kazuya!" Zaraki laughed and stood straight up. "It's an honor to meet you."
Kazuya shakily put his hand up on him head for a salute. "N-No sir the pleasure is all mine!" Yaoto face was a very bright red and he shakily waved at Yachiru. "H-H-Hello, I-I'm-." Yaoto tried to stammer out the right words to say to Yachiru as Zaraki patted Kazuya's shoulder and said, "I can't wait until you become a full fledged shinigami. I'll make sure I put a good word in to get you into my division." Kazuya saluted once more and said, "T-Thank you sir. I'm l-looking forward to it!" Zaraki then flash stepped and disappeared along with Yachiru. Yaoto was still stammering and Kazuya lightly tapped him on the top of his head. "You definitely need help with women. I'll see you later Yaoto, I have to go back to the dorm." He walked away leaving Yaoto still stammering.
Dormitory 1: Room 45
Kazuya opened the door into his dorm room and a familiar pink smoke filled the room. Kojiro was sitting in the middle of the room in front of the small pot. "Hey Kazuya, I'm about to light up some more Amatsu, want some?" Kazuya waved his hand and Kojiro just shrugged. He held up a moderate sized block that looked like cotton candy. He struck a match and lit the edge of the block on fire. He then dropped it into the pot and the whole block caught flame. The block liquefied and filled the whole pot with a pink liquid. Smoke began to billow from the liquid as Kojiro took a sip. He took another looked at Kazuya and yelled at him, "Stop radiating purple!"
Kazuya, now a little freaked out, hurriedly ran into the bathroom. He closed the door behind him and looked in the mirror. He soaked his hair in the sink until the spikes came undone. He then took a hairspray can and sprayed his hair with it. He then combed his hair back and it formed almost needle thin spikes that pointed back. There, that looks better. He walked out of the room and watched as his stoned roommate did somersaults around the room. He stopped and looked up at Kazuya. "You look different… you're wearing make up aren't you?" Kojiro laughed a little as Kazuya sighed. "Whatever, are you coming with me to go take the test?"
Kojiro laughed a little as he finished off the Amatsu Kemuri. "Well, the Amatsu is gone, so I guess so. You go ahead; I'll catch up to you." Kazuya rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. As he walked out he bumped into three other shinigami. One was tall and thin with a black mohawk. The second was tan skinned, just as tall as the first and bald. The third one, who was in the middle of the group, had messy red hair and long side burns. "Sorry about that." The tan one pushed Kazuya and said, "Yeah, you better be the three of us don't like people who get out of line." The one with the mohawk laughed a little and also pushed Kazuya. "That's right Kaoru. You should know your place worm; we're in charge around here. Right Takashi!?" The short one with red hair grinned and walked up to Kazuya and got up in his face. "That is correct Baki. That was very disrespectful what you did just now, how are you going to pay us back?"
Kazuya looked around for a way out, but the staircase that went down to the first floor was blocked by them. He was good at fighting, but was not sure whether he could take those three at once in such a crowded space. When it seemed as though a miracle was the only thing that could save him, that's exactly what happened. A large shadow loomed over him from behind. He looked over his shoulder and saw Hideyori standing over him. The short red haired one looked up at Hideyori and said, "Who the hell are-?" Before he could finish, Hideyori had kicked him and sent him tumbling down the hall. The two ran back to Takashi and helped him stand up again.
He glared back at Hideyori and barked, "This isn't over!" He then retreated with the two back down the stairs. "Thank you Hideyori." He looked down at Kazuya and stated bluntly, "I want to make sure you're clear on something, I'm not your friend. I only saved you because I want to exact revenge against you myself…" Before Kazuya could say anything he walked towards the stairs and walked down to the front door. As Kazuya slowly walked towards the stairs he reviewed all the events that had happened so far. This... this is going to be an interesting year.
Firedude: There's chapter 2! Sorry it was shorter than the first chapter. Please review even if you didn't like it. If you do review, don't forget to include your suggestions for couples.