Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, its characters or its settings.
The previous twenty four hours had been a blur. To be pulled from class was one thing, to be told by the Captain Commander himself that they were joining the squads was completely another. Most of them hadn't even really known there was a war going on.
Ukitake's document was a short history leading up to the betrayal of Soul Society by three of their own. If the document hadn't come from the Captain Commander nobody would have believed it. It covered several years but focused on last year forward. The most recent events were less than a week old, the death of the old Captain Commander.
"I don't like this," said Shin Yamaguchi. He was the son of a branch household of the Kuchiki family, a noble who'd been shocked to learn he was going to the front lines of a war.
"Afraid?" asked Megumi something-or-other, a girl from his class. He didn't know her last name. She was one of those overly brave types with red hair. Shin wouldn't exactly call himself a coward but he liked to think he had an appropriate respect for his own life. Megumi was one of those who dreamed of ten thousand dead hollows at her feet, glossing over the bit where you actually had to kill them.
"Not afraid. Just surprised." Shin looked at his little manual from the day before.
It had been enlightening to say the least. There'd been the odd rumor last year, about a group of Ryoka who'd broken into the Seireitei proper, but it was hearsay sort of stuff, most of it too incredible to be believed.
Apparently a lot of it was true. As insane as it sounded. No wonder Megumi was so excited, she probably thought she'd ended up in a story.
In another part of the room a delicate blond stu – shinigami now, she realized, was at the heart of a group of boys. Karina Nemcova knew she was a beautiful girl, petite and exquisite and beloved by the many boys around her. She smiled her breathtaking smile as the boys competed to talk to her about the documentation they'd reviewed yesterday.
She never said a word when they misquoted names or got their facts wrong.
Karina was looking forward to meeting her new squad leader. She'd been assigning probabilities to the various candidates mentioned in Ukitake's literature based on the number of times each younger shinigami was cited by name. Admittedly that was a somewhat weak methodology, but she'd correlated those results against apparent areas of expertise mapped against her own (on the assumption that her own skills would be taken into account). The validity of the results was adequately high given what she had to work with. She'd narrowed the possibilities down to Nanao Ise, Renji Abari or possibly Momo Hinamori.
The math was really quite simple.
Suzu and Keita Tsukamoto were twins, only four years dead. They'd arrived in the first district of the Rukongai and were almost immediately spotted by a passing shinigami. They started the academy quite literally on the day they died.
Neither was quite sure what had happened. An accident probably. Dead was dead.
Both were dark haired, paled skinned. Tall and lean, though obviously Suzu was girlishly slim while Keita was broader shouldered than his little sister.
They'd always been competitive, with each other first and foremost. Not many people knew that. Suzu almost never said anything, Keita figured he spoke even less.
He hoped they'd be assigned together. It was him and Suzu against the world.
"Oi!"
Keita and Suzu turned with the rest of the room, looked to the shinigami at the podium. He wore sunglasses, a thin mustache and a flattop haircut.
And the Seventh Division lieutenant's badge.
"You punks," he shouted, but it didn't sound malicious. "Along the back wall are people handing out the uniforms. Find one that fits, go get changed and get back in here in ten minutes! And make sure you've got your damn Zampakutos!"
It suddenly dawned on Keita how real all of this was. Lieutenant Iba was the real thing, a Vice Captain of the thirteen squads.
Keita was a very skilled fighter, one of the best in his year. Suzu if anything was better. But something was giving him a nasty premonition.
The twins went in search of appropriate uniforms.
Ten minutes later the acting shinigami had assembled, just over two hundred students, from years one through seven of the academy program. All in uniform, all with a white emblem on the right sleeve.
Iba-sama didn't stand on ceremony. "Listen punks, you're being assigned to training squads for now. You're not joining actual divisions. I don't know where you're supposed to eat tonight but don't come around Seventh looking for a handout. Try Eleventh, the food is good there and they love new faces fresh from the academy. Tell them Renji sent you. Or try Twelfth Division, I'm sure they'll have something to feed you. To." He started looking down a list in front of him.
"Okay, I'm about to read out the names of everyone on Training Squad One. Don't forget what training squad you're on." He didn't bother to look up, started calling out names.