A/N: Bear with me here... I'm trying to get back into the flow of writing. Hope this is ok as an 'character intro' chapter.

Ch. 2

The sound of two swords striking each other was all that was heard in the compound…

Then a deep breath as one fighter parried a thrust…

A gust of wind…

A step…

Kuchiki Raiden flipped sideways with a handspring out of harms way. Gazing in the direction the attack came from he smiled.

"I can keep up with your shunpo now…"

"Oh really?"

Raiden had blinked… now his eyes looked down to see a sword two inches from his throat.

"Ahhhh… niisama, you could have let me enjoyed the moment a bit longer."

"When able, end a fight as quickly as possible. Drawn out fights are far more dangerous."

"Ano… you know how Fennikkusu is…"

"All the more reason to train for such quick fights… the longer a battle goes on the more pain will be inflicted on you and your opponent. Your soul must learn to accept that on the battlefield the death of the opponent is sometimes unavoidable and the better outcome."

"Yes, Nii-sama," said Raiden with a bow. "Thank you for honoring me with your words."

A hand rested on his head, "But I can honestly say, you have been improving exceptionally fast, congratulations. Your training in the academy has been going well, yes? I hear you're close to achieving shikai…"

Raiden's eyes opened.

He sat up and felt his blankets fall away. Rubbing the last remains of sleep out of his eyes, he pulled himself up to begin readying for the day.

That dream was a memory from several years back when he was still training at the academy. Much had happened since then…

For instance, he really could keep up with Niisama's shunpo now, both in his movement and his own footwork. And he had long since achieved shikai.

Raiden glanced down at his sword as he strapped it in place at his hip. His zanpakutou, Fennikkusu, was the only sword in soul society whose shikai was governed by a special permission of release, just like the captains' bankai was. Unless under exceptional circumstances it was against the law for him to release his shikai without the permission of two or more captains. While a pain in the ass for him, it was something of a badge of honor as well.

It wasn't like his zanpakutou was so uber-powerful that it caused spiritual anomalies or anything like that. In most respects it had the appearance of a normal zanpakutou—with a couple key exceptions.

First off, Fennikkusu wasn't a normal katana—it was a reverse bladed one. Raiden always figured this was Fennikkusu's expression of how it loathed harming others, which was another more personal trait he had found that also seemed to be unique to his zanpakutou—it hated to fight.

Second, the dull side of the blade was a bright red and had the ability to stun whatever it touched, while the sharp bladed side was a vivid green almost the same color as his eyes…

It was because of this green portion of the blade that Harry could not arbitrarily release his sword.

The ability of the green blade… was instantaneous death.

"Hey Kuchiki! Now that we have our shikai, let's spar together! I want to see what the great genius Kuchiki Raiden's sword is really made of!"

"You're on!"

Raiden's grip on his sword's hilt tightened.

As if sensing his distress a windless gust circled the room, and Harry could faintly hear a soothing melody in its voice. Slowly his body relaxed and he gave a heavy sigh.

That was a long time ago…

A knock came at the entryway to this room.

"Enter," said Raiden putting on a blank expression not unlike his Niisama's.

"Ahhhh… 3rd seat Kuchiki-kun, what's with that scary face?"

"Ohayo, Fuku-taicho…"

"Come on, smile for me! You're just as cold as Hitsugaya-taicho, and your zanpakutou isn't even an ice type!"

Matsumoto Rangiku, Vice Captain of the 10th squad, came in and leaned against the wall as Raiden began to roll up his mat to store away. She frowned as she watched him. He really was just like his brother, acting cold and indifferent to all but a few. They even looked a lot alike, with long black hair and complexions the color of porcelain. But those amazing green eyes… they were more expressive than any glare of Kuchiki-taicho's ever could be. They could be as warm as emerald fires… or as cold as green shards of ice.

"Is there a particular reason you came to bug me this morning?" asked Raiden.

"Oh yeah!" said Matsumoto, feigning an epiphany. "Hitsugaya-taicho sent me to get you… oh, about an hour ago…"

"WHAT?!"

All she felt was a breeze as her assistant raced past her.

"Hmmm… I'm not sure if a shunpo was really necessary…"

She continued muttering to herself about uptight men and their over-bearing punctuality as she closed Kuchiki's door and took her time heading back to their captain's office.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"3rd seat Kuchiki Raiden, reporting Hitsugaya-taicho," said Raiden with bow. "I beg your pardon for my tardiness."

"Tardiness?" asked Histugaya. "I wasn't expecting you for another hour at least…"

A twitch formed on Raiden's forehead.

"Is that so?"

Hitsugaya took one look at his subordinate and rolled his eyes. "Apparently Matsumoto did not relay that to you."

"No, sir."

"Very well, we'll just get it over with now then. Kuchiki Raiden, you are to go accompany a group of shinigami academy students on a training run to the real world this evening at 1700 hours. You should be there to great them by 1600. Should an emergency arise, you have permission from both I and Yamamoto-taicho to release your shikai. Other than this, you have the day off. You are dismissed."

"Hai! Thank you, Hitsugaya-taicho!"

"Just be careful… and Kuchiki-san, if you run into Matsumoto, remind her that she still has a stack of paperwork calling her name. Use force if necessary."

"H-Hai, taicho…"

As Raiden left, Hitsugaya watched him go. He was a good subordinate, and Hitsugaya couldn't help but feel a shared camaraderie with him, from one 'child prodigy' to another. He just couldn't shake the feeling that there was something… different about the boy—other than the abnormal rate at which his soul's appearance matured. Where most souls could take decades to reach a visual state of maturity (thus his own less-than-tall stature), Kuchiki Raiden's had matured steadily since his arrival in Soul Society 16 years previous. It was almost as if he were still on Living World time…

But that was impossible. According to Byakuya's report when he had brought the boy back, his chain of fate had been cut, thus his body should be long dead and gone.

Hitsugaya gave his head a shake and turned back to the report in hand. He had too much to do to ponder the mysteries of Kuchiki Raiden.

'Report #A6953: Concerning increased hollow activity and the entity Tom Marvolo Riddle…'

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"Ohayo, Nee-san…"

"Raiden-kun!"

Rukia walked over to greet her younger brother who had just appeared on the edge of squad 13's training field.

"What are you doing over here? It's quite a ways from squad 10's building."

"I have to accompany a group of academy students tonight on a trip to the Living World but Hitsugaya-taicho gave me the rest of the day off, so I figured I'd stop by and see what you were doing today..."

"Oh! I'm sorry, but today's squad 13a 's training day and our captain is in good health right now so…"

"I'm glad to hear that… then your squad should probably train extra hard for him today, right?"

Rukia nodded with a smile which Raiden returned. He knew how much the captain meant to most of squad 13, Rukia included.

"But if your not too warn out when you get back from your mission with the students, maybe we could get in a spar or two and some dinner, alright?" said Rukia, playfully pushing her younger brother.

"I'd be more worried about you getting warn out than me, Nee-chan. Besides, I can take anything you being me!"

"Watch it punk! Just because you have some weird reiatsu and you're higher ranked than me doesn't mean I don't know a few tricks!"

"Heh, they have to reach me from down there first!"

CRACK!

"Kuso! That was my foot!"

"Serves you right, beanpole!"

"Oh hello, Kuchiki-san…"

Raiden coughed and quickly turned to the man addressing him with a blank face.

"Ohayo, Ukitake-taicho. I apologize for the intrusion, I was just inquiring if my sister were free today."

"Oh it's no problem, though it is squad 13's training day so I'm afraid I can't let her go today. But we should be done by nightfall, so feel free to stop by around then."

"Thank you, Ukitake-taicho."

"We're moving out to the forest now, Rukia."

"Hai, taicho! I will be right there!"

Ukitake nodded as he returned to the rest of the group.

"Well, I suppose I'll see you later on tonight then. Be careful…" said Rukia with a small frown.

Raiden smiled. Even though he had been able to match her since his 4th year in the academy, she still worried over him like a mother hen. While a little aggravating at times, he appreciated it none-the-less.

"See you tonight, Nee-san. Jan ne!" And with that shunpoed over to where the training fields ended before changing over to a leisurely walk, wondering what to do with all this free time…

A breeze blew and Raiden lifted his head, closing his eyes…

"Hey you! Watch where you're going!"

"Eh, I'm sorry…"

Raiden's eyes opened. That was Hanataru… He looked walked around a building to see who the other voices belonged to. Three large shinigami stood surrounding a smaller figure who was quickly trying to pick up the medicines he had dropped in order to get out of the brutes way. He was almost done when the largest one out of bunch knocked everything back out of his hands.

"4th squad dunces like you should remember their place!"

"No, please—"

"And what problem do you idiots have with the 4th squad?" asked Raiden in a cold voice from behind the yelling thug.

All three spun around ready to for a fight until they caught sight of who it was.

"K-Kuchiki-san…"

"If you would like a fight, I'd be happy to oblige…" Raiden pulled his zanpakutou and held it leisurely, "Give me five minutes and I'll even request for a temporary release of my shikai, just for you…"

"NOT NECESSARY!"

The three quickly backed away and disappeared. So fast in fact, Raiden wondered if they had used shunpo.

He sheathed his sword and turned back to Hanataru who quickly bowed.

"Thank you very much, Kuchiki-san, I'm sorry for the trouble—"

"It was none. I just don't like people who abuse their strength," said Raiden, bending down to help Hanataru pick up the medicines. "You really should start to stand up more for yourself though, you know. We're not academy students anymore…"

"I know… I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry about it. Just be careful from now on," said Raiden, handing him the medicines.

"Here! Take some of this salve! It's a new treatment squad 4 has developed for emergency treatment in the field. It's especially useful to use to stem the flow of blood out of a wound. Several shinigami have taken to hiding small amounts in hidden locations in their zanpakutou," said Hanataru, handing Raiden a small tube.

"You really don't have to thank me—"

"No really, it's the least I can do. You help prevent me from getting more bruised up, I help you take care of yours when you get them… That's what friends are for, right?"

Raiden nodded, "Alright, thanks then."

0-0-0-0-0-0

Several hours had passed and Raiden could be found lying atop one of the many roofs of Seireitei. In general, the day had been rather boring. But he figured occasionally having a boring day was a good thing.

With a sigh he sat up. Judging by sun, he'd say it was almost 1600 hours, which meant he needed to be on his way towards the academy to meet with the students.

There was an increase of reitsu behind him and a feeling of familiarity filled him.

"You have an assignment, do you not?"

"Hai, Nii-sama. I was about to head out just as you arrived."

Raiden turned around to face his brother and bowed deeply. "Did you wish to speak with me before I leave?"

"Yes. When you return, come see me. I have something I must discuss with you. And be especially vigilant tonight—strange things have been afoot in the Living World."

"I will do as you wish," said Raiden with another bow.

Byakuya had left before he had risen.