Exams and Captains

Now, Nekoru, during his first life as human, had always been a bit reluctant about science, as it was too downgraded. But since then had passed over a century, and he had been marveled by its gigantic progress; he would have never guessed the soulphone would have replaced the combination of pigeons to communicate at great length. But now that he had been tied up by Mayuri Kurotsuchi, shinigami and mad Vice-captain of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute, and his latest creation, an artificial daughter of sort, so that the former could cut off his hands and attach them to the latter, his opinion switched back to 'it sucks'. And he would have screamed it aloud, if it wasn't for the fact that the 'artificial daughter' was smothering him. The only thing could do was feel his limbs strapped against the bed he had been trapped on and heard Mayuri's maniacal laughter as he was about to deal the fatal strike which would have amputated Nekoru's hands.

Then the boy could hear a door opening and a soft-spoken voice, of an adult man, the kindest voice that could come from a man. Nemu vanished as fast as she could from the room to avoid being seen. Nekoru gasped for air as soon as she vanished. Mayuri cursed between his teeth, his face turned livid at the newcomer.

"Hello, Mayuri! What were you up to?" the man kindly said. In the meanwhile, the boy's head turned at the same direction of Mayuri's. He could not see the man fully, for he was in a backlight, but he recognized glasses under the silhouette.

"Nothing in particular – the mad scientist said - I was talking to this boy"

Nekoru attempted to talk and make a rebuttal, but as Mayuri pointed the zanpakuto at him, he shut his mouth and surrendered.

"Well…. You know, the boy has a lot of paperwork to do… and even some commissions!" the other shinigami said. Nekoru smirked, he could not do much with his hands tied up.

Mayuri growled and nodded. Turning at Nekoru, he raised his zanpakuto and slashed four times. Nekoru closed his eyes as he saw it, but discovered, much to his surprise, that Mayuri had just cut off his bondages.

"Oh well, okay! Painter boy, you and your hands are safe. Stand up and get out of here!" the madman angrily said to Nekoru, which happily complied and left with the other shinigami. As he looked back, he saw Mayuri wickedly smiling at him.

No way I'm getting deceived again! he thought. He then turned at his savior. He appeared as a mild-featured man with brown scholarly hair enhanced by square glasses.

Quite harmless and nice-looking, Nekoru kept thinking.

"I am sorry for what happened to you – the man said – I would like to apologize in the place of Mayuri. He is a great man…. He just happens to occasionally overlook ethic problems! But he's okay… But, now, switching to you… are you okay?"

"Well, sir… I am fine! He managed to do nothing to me!" he said rubbing his head.

"Good then – the shinigami said smiling – so…. You are the one who works at the identikit unit, don't you?"

"Yes!" Nekoru replied with a nod.

"You know, I saw your work…. Quite impressive, I wanted to ask something, but… I don't know", the man said.

"What?" Nekoru asked intrigued.

"I don't know if I can ask you… You must have been tired and shaken by what Mayuri did…." he said, not wanting to disturb Nekoru.

"Please – Nekoru said - I'm interested!"

"Well…. I have a commission I wished to give you…." the brown-haired man said. At this, Nekoru's stare predictably hardened. Another shinigami was trying to trick him the same way?

"Well – he said making a smile – sure! But first I want the cash… I am sorry, but it is my standard procedure."

The brown haired man looked a bit inquiringly, but after a smile, he nodded and accepted.

"Of course, I'll pay you immediately!" he said taking a paper and writing something.

It must be a check! Nekoru thought, but once he read what the man wrote, he could not believe it.

"Sir, this is a reference letter for the Shinigami academy!" he said embarrassed and shocked.

"Yes, I know it! I doubt you could get there on your own, as you are not very rich nor you came from a noble family," he said.

"But … but… why?" Nekoru asked, surprised

"Well, you are a normal human, but you live among us shinigami. You hear directly of their tales and adventures, you can see their special powers, the shikai, and yet…. You can do nothing, just watch… but if you become a shinigami, everything would change. Think of the adventure and the fame, the power you could get! Wouldn't it be beautiful? Would you like finally to gain more freedom? Not to be anymore bound to be a simple person…. But to be an hero!" the shinigami said in a suave, charming and almost poetic tone, which made Nekoru's eyes gleam for a second.

I…. being a shinigami? Well, I've never thought of it… but the shinigami is right. It would be great. Becoming one of the legends I constantly hear of, swinging my zanpakuto in the name of justice… Nekoru thought, entranced by his word.

"S-s-s-sure! Do you think I could pull it off?" he asked.

"You are a good man, Nekoru Mei, and you have a decent reiatsu which, once it's refined could be a very great addition to the Gotei 13! I think you should take a try", the man said with a kind smile.

"Thank you sir, thank you…" Nekoru said completely moved, only to interrupt himself once he realized he did not know the name of his interlocutor.

Checking the letter, he repeated: "Thank you, Lieutenant Sosuke Aizen-sama! I am eternally grateful… just a question, what is the drawing?"

"I would like to have a drawing of the most detailed map possible of the whole Soul Society, especially the Sereitei! Take your time, though! I can wait even for a century! Also, no need to be so formal: Aizen will suffice," Aizen kindly said with friendly laughter.

"Thank you, Lieu… Aizen-san! See you soon!" Nekoru said happily.

Who would have guessed he, Nekoru Mei, butler of the Kanagori family, painter, tracer of identikit, would, no, could have become a shinigami? He did not even think of it before…. But now… He could really become one of them. It gave him a shot of enthusiasm: he could become a legendary figure.

Once Nekoru returned home, he finished most of the paper work he had been assigned to compile, started the drawing Aizen had that kindly asked him to do, making a first outline of it.

Nekoru then had dinner and started sleeping. His dreams were of heroes and legend, and he being part of them. Hollows were being slaughtered by his Bankai and Captains feared and respected him. Only time would tell how much reality would have clashed with the dreams.

Bookworm, a normal hollow with a craving for soul. He had fought, killed and eaten even 2 shinigami… but he had a quirk: he loved, really LOVED, reading books. He'd rather read a single book than devouring a thousand of souls. He sometimes wondered what made books so fond to him, but never put much thought in it.

"C'mon, Manto-san! Get out of your room," a woman said.

"No, darling… I am reading… these legends are… so wonderful!' the man said to his wife….

All of sudden, a snarling voice snapped bookworm back to reality. It was Meltdown, another hollow, a bit blob-like in appearance and much more vicious than Bookworm.

"C'mon, you shitty bat! Don't just look there," he said to Bookworm. The hollow snarled, but Meltdown was stronger than him, so he had to follow. Along with him there were other four hollows: the strongest, and the closest to evolve into a higher class Hollow, a Menos Grande, the mantis-like Abringer of Despair, his lackey, the pig-like Warthog, and two insects-like hollows, Leech and Parasite. Most of them, Bookworm included, were around only to eat the souls Destroyer would forget.

It was an odd kind of friendship, he thought as they were hunting, all of sudden getting another flashback.

"Manto-san!, another man said to Manto.

"Oshiro-san! Buddie? How it's going?" he asked him.

"Wonderfully! Don't you know the good news?" Oshiro asked Manto, to which he shook the head.

"The storyteller is here! And brought a lots of new scroll to the library", he said.

All of sudden, a troop of shinigami arrived. At first the hollows were quite sure they would win…. But at the first charge, Warthog got his eye slashed away and Leech was cut in half. Bookworm was fighting, when, all of sudden, he saw a separate incident. A man was walking off the street, not noticing a car which was going at full speed. He couldn't stand to see more. Pushing away the shinigami he was fighting against, he rushed and unleashed a violent sonic roar, which made the car explode. The poor guy looked at the spectacle and ran. The shinigami, instead, had been saved by her companion.

Meltdown was nowhere to be seen, for he had escaped before the fight had even started. Abringer was fighting to a standstill with his shinigami, and was the only one unscratched, but Parasite was fatally wounded by the other shinigami. Abringer of Despair exploited the situation and ate the flea-like hollow, fittingly. But the shinigami bonded him with a combined Kido Spell and were about to strike a fatal blow, but Warthog saved his master. Outmatched, the hollows were forced to flee.

Back in Hueco Mundo, the first thing Destroyer did to his servant for having saved him was to berate him, to the point of physical abuse.

"How you dared to save me, you …." Abringer yelled at him, horribly cursing. In the meanwhile, Bookworm was looking far away. He had fought and nearly been killed like all the others, and he had figured the why they had lost… the shinigami were using teamwork, while the hollows had been clashing against both the shinigami and each other. If they had worked together, they might have won.

Humans – bookworm thought - humans have something…. Philosophy! A set of value… and so on… we need something similar. Hollows are stronger and faster than humans, so they are better! And we'll do it! I'll do it…. I must set some values, and hollows will finally be superior to shinigami and their stupid Soul Society. ALL VALUES WILL BE HOLLOW!

Nekoru had been working a lot in these four years. Not only he was working as a freelance painter and as a tracer of identikit for the shinigami, but now he was a student of the Shinigami academy, thanks to Sosuke Aizen's reference letter, who had recently become Captain. It was quite hard to keep up to the study, due to the massive mole of exams and training. It was even worse when someone wanted to kick the crap out of you just to prove his strength.

Still, he was fatiguing a lot, he had concluded most of the exams, and, according to most instructors, he could end up finishing the course in just 5 years opposed to 6 with a decent score. After all, a creepy smiling kid (who was among the one who often humiliated Nekoru in a fight) had passed the whole course in just a single years and had become 3rd seat. Nekoru hoped to be able to surpass him one day, and everything was going smooth. Sure, occasionally lessons took a whole different twist, especially when captains went to make a special lesson. There were already some who made courses, like Aizen himself, who taught an optional calligraphy class at the academy, which was so popular that students had to sit in corridors for the lectures due to the numbers attending (and Nekoru was among these sitting in the corridors).

Also, there was the special lesson Yoruichi made about Shunpo. How could he forget it?

All the students had come out on the roof, when all of sudden all of them (Nekoru included) felt as if something soft had bumped against their head. All the class looked at each other, attempting to figure out what it was. Then a female voice at the centre called them out: "Hi everybody! The lesson begins! "I am Yoruichi Shinoin, Captain of the 2nd division and, most importantly, Goddess of Flash, being the foremost master of Shunpo in the history of Soul Society, as the lesson we take in question is about Shunpo!"

"Hohō is an important skill for most Shinigami. .. Shunpo is the most commonly used Hohō technique. However, there are variations even within Shunpo and other Hohō techniques that only master Hohō practitioner can use.

"Shunpo, a movement technique that allows the user to move faster than the eye can follow. The focal point that determines the bases of this technique is speed. As speed is the main point of the technique the method is best characterized by how fast one can get from point A to point B in the least amount of steps. Training and skill are what determines how fast a user of Shunpo can move; those of little skill in the technique or those who haven't used it an extended amount of time would obviously be out of practice, causing those individuals to be considerably slower, which requires the use of more steps to move the same distance and become winded far easier in a shorter amount of time.

"Senka, a special Shunpo technique where one moves to their opponents back, directly attacking and sealing one's "Saketsu" and "Hakusui" in one strike. The movement is so fast that an opponent may not be able to tell whether he was attacked from the front or the back and even an outside observer may find it impossible to tell what the movements are.

"Utsusemi: It allows for a movement at great speed leaving an afterimage behind. The afterimage may even appear to have taken damage … "

And the lesson proceeded.

"But you know most of it, so now we will practice!" she said with a smirk and making appear a piece of paper.

"This is a diploma for the Shino academy! Take it and you pass!" she continued.

Everyone was amazed and, indeed, one of the students raised her hand and asked: "WHY?"

"Well – Yourichi nonchalantly said – if you can outrun me while I use shunpo… why should you be here?"

"And for the winner, there will be another special prize! - she said with a sultrier tone – the allowance to see and share my wardrobe… or my bathing schedule!"

Now, all the girls and the boys were listening.

"The contest to catch me is around the whole academy! It starts now! - she said – Ready! Steady! G…!"

She shunpo-ed so quickly that nobody was able to see her or listen to her finishing the phrase. And, so, the contest of tag started. Everybody flash-stepped as fast as they could, Nekoru was no exception…

The bathing sched… I mean, the diploma would be perfect to frame on my wall, he thought. Then, he finally saw her playing with the diploma as if it was a flag: at the sight, Nekoru shunpo-ed even faster. She, who had her back turned at him, noticed it, faced him and let out a grin. She looked like to be at hands' reach… only to flash step at the last second so quickly Nekoru did not see her move, just disappear, and at her place another shinigami with a similar speed who was crashing against him. With a swift move, both of them dodged each other and let out a sigh.

"You nearly killed me!" Nekoru said to his companion.

"I am sorry! I was concentrated only in taking the diploma," the other said, to which Nekoru sighed.

"Don't worry, Shirogane-san! It happened", Nekoru said shaking the head and then both of them resumed flash stepping.

He kept looking for her for over 20 minutes, but eventually found her. This time, Yoruichi had been dealing with half a dozen of students, so she was lightly taken by surprise when Nekoru managed to grab her haori from behind, followed by other two students.

"Well done… now how do you…?", he asked her, only to be interrupted by Yoruichi who had flash stepped out of her clothes, leaving him speechless.

"Nice try!" Yoruichi teased them before disappearing again. But nobody gave up, and the chase for the Flash Goddess and the diploma/allowance for her wardrobe/bathing schedule resumed even worse, as now the students were actively sabotaging each other

After a brief struggle to take her haori, Nekoru found Yoruichi standing on the roof. He let out a wide grin, especially because she had a very nice back, and fantasized a bit about her.

Third time is the charm, after all, he thought.

"Please, boy, don't lose the element of surprise to admire me!" Yoruichi teased him once more.

As a reply, he blushed for a second and let out an apologized: "Sorry, Captain Yoruichi Shihoin-sama!"

"Why are you so formal? Stop and get me, geez!" she sighed with a playful and friendly tone.

Nekoru nodded and got ready to get her. It did not work. Instead, Yourichi shunpoe-ed the way out and took back the haori… but to Nekoru it did not go that well: he tripped over her leg and, due to the inhuman speed of his shunpo, flew away and afar with a loud scream.

Yoruichi gritted her teeth as she jumped and saved him from crashing against a roof, with which his forehead had already come in contact with.

She then looked at him: he looked too traumatized to continue, after nearly killing himself.

"Now… sit down and be quiet! You did well!" she said to him after setting him down.

With a sigh, he accepted and safely retired. After all, he still had all the odds to pass the course even without this exercise, so he was pretty much safe. Most likely it was the right thing to do, as nobody managed to get that damn diploma from Yoruichi. She was so fast he could barely keep track of her.

The diploma must have been a ruse to further apply us with shunpo! - he realized with a sigh – nice ploy, Captain Yoruichi Shihoin-sama! Nice ploy… and nice back… and nice saving! Though my head hurts a bit.

At the end of the lesson, he had a nice and friendly talk with the captain, which ended with Yoruichi giving Nekoru a headband of hers, which he used to lighten the pain, in exchange of a painting of his. Overall, a nice lesson, which he fondly remembered, to the point he still kept the headband… though he had an awkward time when a certain noble kid noticed he was wearing a similar headband… Luckily, nothing came out of it.

Then it got worse. Just a week later, the problem of the disappeared shinigami was finally solved… But Nekoru could not help but notice how many were missing. Urahra, Tessai, Shinji... even Yoruichi. At first he ahd dismissed such a lack of reiatsu, but one day happened to eavesdrop the rumors captains were exchanging. Apparelty the responsible one was among the most unexpected: Kisuke Urahara, captain of the 12th division, was apprehended along with the leader of the Kido Corps, Tessai Tsukabishi, were arrested under the orders of the Central 46 Chambers. Apparently, they were quickly given their sentences, as most of the trials with the Central 46. Urahara was sentenced to become human and to be exiled to the Human World for "committing crimes against researching and invoking forbidden phenomenon" as well as "deceiving and inflicting grievous injury to fellow Shinigami". Tessai was sentenced to life imprisonment in a Level 3 detention area for "using forbidden Kidō techniques." Before either of their sentences could be executed a masked Yoruichi entered the building knocking the guards unconscious and rescuing the disgraced former captains.

Nobody managed to find them and had been looking for them for weeks… When Nekoru heard this he went into a frenzy: what could he do? He had not even finished the drawing for Yoruichi… He tried to check everywhere, but still… he was an unseated shinigami looking for a pair of captains who had disappeared for OVER A WEEK, what could he have done? Exactly what he achieved: nothing. No traces, no clue, nothing. That was a bad day for him…

But life moved on: replacement captains were found, and Nekoru continued studying at the Shino Academy, as the lesson became more difficult and with a faster pace, with the first Konso ceremonies and real fight against hollows, mostly in company with instructors, though.

But he proceeded and succeeded: that accident and the scandal of the trial just strengthened his determination, both to make Soul Society a better place and to find the guilty people, even to see whether they were really 'evil', as deemed by Central 46, or 'misguided'.

Now he had only the last exams: achieving Shikai, the initial release of his sword. Who knew which kind of power would have received: a kickass fire power, like the one of the Captain Commander? Or Turn his sword in one thousand of blades? Turn it as long as the whole Sereitei? Create shockwaves? Or something even better, like bending the rule of reality or, at least, human senses? Sure, he hoped not to get a zanpakuto identical to another shinigami, otherwise he would be forced to fight him/her in a duel to death.

But it was useless to think the negative. A beautiful future was waiting for him: once he got the zanpakuto, he could have even joined a division. He had already got some request letter from the 12th division captain, now Mayuri (that was ready to welcome both him and his 'beautiful hands'), and the 5th captain, Aizen. He also was keeping in consideration the 9th, which was held in high regard as it was in charge of the Seireitei News Magazine and investigations; and the 1st division itself, of course… it could have been a great honor, after all.

So many choices, the boy mused as he was cooking a cake to celebrate the night before the final exam, when he saw a very small, young girl with pink hair and a blush on her cheeks. She was wearing the normal Shinigami robes, with the Lieutenant insignia on her arm. Nekoru had never seen her, but could understand who she was.

"Good evening, Lieutenant Yachiru Kusajishi-sama! What do you want from me? I am Nekoru Mei," Nekoru said.

"HI, Neko-neko!" she said looking more at the cake than at him.

Nekoru realized and asked her: "Do you want some cake?"

Yachiru let out a wider smile: "YAY! CAKE!"

Nekoru was happy to give her a slice, but eventually, she ate all of it, much to Nekoru's surprise. Luckily for him, he had baked some cookies too… but Yachiru ate them all. Fortunately, he could make himself a sandwich… but Yachiru ate it too… He then settled down to a glass of water, as Yachiru had even found a large lollipop.

Then he looked at the glass. He could hear some sounds… and the water was moving. A large shadow covered his small house and then appeared a muscular shinigami with a wild and aggressive appearance, wearing a sleeveless captain's haori with a ragged look, his hair spiked with small bells at its tips and wearing a special eye patch on his right eye, towering at 202 centimeters (approximately 6 feet 6 inches).

Nekoru looked at the newcomer as he couldn't help but mumble his name: "Za-za-za-zaraki Kenpachi!"

"Yes – Kenpachi said looking at Nekoru – that's my name! I got lost… have you seen my lieu…"

"Ken-chan!" Yachiru interrupted him and jumped onto his back, to which Kenpachi cracked a smile. Nekoru was a bit… puzzled to see such a cute little girl and a demoniacal brute together, but soon Kenpachi looked back at him with a piercing stare.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

"No, nothing?" the boy asked, terrified by Kenpachi. He had heard that man had killed the captain of the 11th division with a single strike, so, if he'd wished to kill Nekoru, he could have done it with little no trouble. Looking away, Nekoru swallowed.

"Another shinigami, I see!" Kenpachi said looking at Nekoru's zanpakuto, a four feet long nodachi with a very long hilt, green-colored, around one foot long. The boy did not have time before as the voice of the Captain Commander himself, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, spoke through the intercom.

The message echoed through all the Sereitei: "Attention, Hollow, Adjuchas Class, in the Human World! Top priority! Alert."

Zaraki let out a smirk.

"My blade was getting a bit too much rusty, after all!" the large shinigami said as he unsheathed his zanpakuto. The blade was much longer than that of a standard Zanpakutō, roughly the size of a nodachi with a guard that extended inward from its center similar to a shinai. The hilt was white although most of it was wrapped in bandages, as was his sword's sheath. It looked as wild and aggressive as its own master.

Nekoru was sweating out of fear, and only a tapping on his shoulder snapped him back to reality. It was Yachiru.

"Wanna come with us, Neko Neko?" she asked him, but before he could reply, he was forcefully dragged by the lieutenant.

She is much stronger than I could think of! – he thought – not that it would help if she was weak. Her captain is Zaraki Kenpachi, one of the strongest shinigami around…. I don't want to be subject to his wrath!

The enemy was a gigantic, around 8 feet tall, with a large tail with a mace-like end and a pair of tail. It looked as something which had come out from hell. Zaraki saw the monster and laughed like a madman… but it was different from Mayuri's: it was deep and menacing. The fight was brutal: both the captain and the hollow were apparently going all out against each other, Kenpachi swinging his sword like a mad-man and the hollow fighting with a mix of Ceros and brute strength.

Nekoru tried to fight against the Adjuchas, but as soon as he tried to slash him, the hollow slammed him against a wall, next to Yachiru, coincidentally, who was looking amused at the fight, occasionally cheering for her captain.

Then the Hollow started getting the upper hand. So Kenpachi one-upped himself by taking off his eye patch and raised his spiritual energy, which condensed into the shape of a skull.

It was then Nekoru felt odd. He was trying to breath… but couldn't. He opened his mouth to gape for more air… but he could not let it out.

"What's up, Neko Neko?" Yachiru asked him as he repeated the same.

"I … - he said with very little voice – can't…. breath…."

Yachiru looked at him confused as he passed out, welcoming the bliss of unconsciousness!

When he woke up, he was in the 4th division headquarter, along with a winning (but not unwounded) Kenpachi, who was laughing and smirking to celebrate his victory. Well, at least all of them were alive, so he could not complain.

And finally, the day arrived, the day of the final exam, where he would have gotten his shikai. Nekoru went to his instructors and gave them a good riddance, not without tearing it up. He then was placed into tatami where he sat down and started meditating.

One places their sword over their lap and takes a meditative pose and then forces their mind to become one with the Zanpakutō, remembering the lessons he had been given.

In this form, one can call out the true form of the powers of their Zanpakutō. This form is something that Soul Society has worked out over the thousands of years since its formation. It is entirely about speaking with one's sword. All other techniques require a level of subjugation in order to obtain. This form is about entering a state of calm to enter the inner world of the Zanpakutō and engage them there in a battle far more brutal than any previous battle with one's Zanpakutō spirit. Engaging in this form allows for instant skill being attained in what would take thousands of years- In this meditative state, one is so deeply entranced that even sustained wounds are ignored.

The instructors looked at him. They could recognize he was fully focused and hoped to see soon another student finally ending his own course of study.

Hours passed and passed. Eventually, he opened his eyes surprised.

"So, Nekoru Mei – an instructor asked – might you tell us the sword command?"

Nekoru looked down and shook his head.

"I…. heard nothing…. There was nothing!"

TO BE CONTINUED…