Chapter 3

I awoke as I was rudely dropped on a dirt ground, and Alex landed next to me.

"Ow!"

Alex and I looked at each other, and we suddenly remembered everything that had happened.

"Hey Alex, I can remember everything!"

"Yeah, Sayuri, I can remember everything too!"

We stared at each other and started laughing. I sobered up quickly when I remembered my family, but then realized that since I was in the Soul Society, I might see them again! I stood up and realized we were in a line of people waiting to be assigned.

I craned my neck to see if I could see my family anywhere. The pain of losing them such a short time ago was still acute, but I felt a little better knowing that I might see them again.

Suddenly I noticed Yumichika running towards us.

"Hey! Sayuri, Alex!"

We smiled and ran towards him.

"Hey, Yumichika!"

He looked at us queerly, and said, "How come you two remember who I am?"

"Well, we remember everything that happened."

He looked at us in bemusement and notified us, "The Head Captain wants to see you, so come quickly!"

We ran with him-Yumichika no doubt wishing he could use flash step-and arrived, Alex and I panting, in a nicer looking area. He slowed to a walk and led us through a matrix of buildings-The Soul Society! Maybe I'll see the captains!-and I started getting excited. I could tell Alex was too, and we exchanged bright smiles as people busily walked to and fro around us.

We arrived at an open building, and we entered. Yumichika knelt before the Head Captain, and we were surprised at how imposing the Head Captain looked. We knelt as well, not knowing what to do.

"Sir, here are the two I performed a konso on."

The Captain looked at us, and said, "So! You two are Sayuri and Alex, I presume?"

I looked at him and said, "Yes, sir. I'm Sayuri, and this is my friend Alexandra, Alex for short."

"I see. You two are quite unusual. No doubt you are unable to remember anything from your past?"

"Well, sir, actually we can both remember everything." Alex answered.

"Quite interesting. Perhaps you two are something new. This has happened before but only once, and it was with a Soul Reaper who died some time ago. No matter, I can sense that you, Sayuri, have an incredibly powerful amount of spiritual pressure that can rival that of a captain. It reminds me of the Substitute Soul Reaper, Ichigo Kurosaki, but you seem to have even more, and you are not even a Soul Reaper yet. It is strange that you could use your spiritual energy without training as a human."

"Yumichika Ayasegewa, please enroll these two in the Spiritual Arts Academy (Author's note: according to the Bleach wiki, it used to be called the Shinigami Academy but got changed. I might refer to it as the Soul Reaper Academy or Shino Academy later on though. Sorry for any confusion.). I would still like them to take the entrance test as I am sure they will not fail, but it will serve to measure the extent of their power and knowledge at present. Is this all right with you, Sayuri and Alex?" He said this in the stern I-just-gave-you-a-choice-but-you-can't-refuse voice.

"Yes, sir!" we both answered simultaneously.

"Then go with Yumichika. We will see if you two will become Soul Reapers. Study well."

He gave a rare smile and we stood and bowed before leaving.

We started chatting to Yumichika, who seemed quite pleased that we wouldn't have to be normal souls in the Rukongai districts as he felt we were special. We arrived at a huge campus and a huge main building which had a large sign on the top that read "Shino Academy". It was extremely busy at present, and the students surrounding us gaped at the sight of Yumichika, and they started pointing and whispering. He led us inside and talked to a man there quickly, who nodded and beckoned to us. Yumichika said, "Go on, follow him. He manages the entire Academy, and will let you take the Entrance exam. Today is the day of the exam, so good luck!"

He smiled and waved, then used the much-desired flash step to probably go back to his squad. The man introduced himself in a deep voice and told us,

"The exam merely measures your knowledge of the Soul Society and how much spiritual pressure you have, and determines if you will be placed in the advanced or beginner class based on your potential, or not be accepted at all. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." I felt obligated to call him "sir" since he managed the Academy, and he led us to a huge auditorium.

"You will take the test here. Sit here and the test will be administered in five minutes."

We sat down and looked at each other, then burst out talking so fast that five minutes passed by quickly. We giggled about how we were in the Academy and everything, and I thought that Yumichika was more handsome than in the anime. The death of my beloved family was still fresh, but I unconsciously buried those memories deep in my head because of the trauma I had experienced.

Suddenly, three men walked into the room and everyone became quiet. They walked to the front, faced us, and one said,

"We will administer your exam. The first portion is written, and the second portion will be administered after all of you are done. You have a limit of 2 hours to complete the first portion."

The two other men handed out the exams and pencils, and when that was done, they told us to start.

Guys, sorry for the long delay in posting! My laptop conked out on me and I was waiting to recover data from it. As compensation, I will post more than one chapter! I apologize for any sloppi-ness.