It seemed the late afternoon always brought useless and endless paperwork. Not only that, but it was doubled since evaluation day had finally arrived and the paperwork needed to be completely in time for the banquet tomorrow night, where the members of the sixth division would come together to celebrate their promotions, if they had any. Byakuya had started this just two years ago, when he realized he should show some form of kindness to all of his subordinates. His overall attitude hadn't changed much, aside from that detail but he wasn't the same taicho he was when he first became one. There is no doubt.
He signs his name, showing he was promoting Rikichi to third seat then took another form to apply another to sixth seat. Then, he came to the paper that showed the tenth seat was vacant. He remembered his visit with Miyagi Chinatsu, who burned into his casual thoughts more than once. He'd taken a risk writing to the Miyagi clan elders about allowing Chinatsu to join the sixth division.
Of course, he had done research and found she had entered the academy at a very young age and was surprised to know she must have been training herself for nearly a century. He doubted she did so without any help, and it would require questioning. Byakuya knew if the woman had ever heard of what he had done, she was begging for the window of opportunity. The Miyagi clan had a week to give it thought and now that he was at the last minute to wait, he guessed his plan had failed.
And for the second time in a short interval, the noble man was proved wrong.
"Taicho!" Renji called from outside the door, and the noble allowed him entry.
"Yes, Renji?" Byakuya asks, giving the fukutaicho a glance before looking through the profiles of those who could take the position.
"There is a woman who came to the office, she says she's here to apply for the tenth position, Taicho," Renji says, standing in the doorway.
Byakuya continues his work nonchalantly, "What is her name?"
Renji thinks for a moment, "Miyagi Chinatsu, I think."
Byakuya nods, "Send her in."
Some minutes later, he is met with the sight of Miyagi Chinatsu standing in a shinigami uniform. She waits until Renji leaves to smile, "I can get use to this, I think. The uniforms are much more comfortable than the ones I remember from academy."
Byakuya lays down his pen, "You have not gotten the position yet, Miyagi."
Chinatsu gives him a sheepish look him remembers, staring directly into his eyes as she had before. He couldn't make himself look away and resume his cool attitude as he usually did. "You wouldn't have made all the trouble if you didn't think I could get the position. I thank you, your influence changed their mind significantly."
Chinatsu walks forward, hand on his desk. When he looks, the noble sees that the hilt of the zanpakuto at her hip is a deep forest green with her free hand on the hilt. She follows his gaze, "I don't really know what to do being able to carry it around instead of hiding it under things in my closet," she laughs, "Anyway, what do I need to do to get the tenth seat position?"
Byakuya sighs, glancing at the paper even though he knew without looking what the requirements were. "You'll need to showcase fair use of Hohō and Zanjutsu. I'd like to see your shikai."
Chinatsu moved her hand from the desk and pushed her fringe back, "With all that, a woman can get nervous. I'm assuming I'll have an opponent?"
Then the noble felt brave, "Yes, Abarai-fukutaicho will be your opponent."
Shivers traveled down the woman's spine. Now she was nervous. What the hell was he thinking? She hasn't had an opponent at all for some thirty years. The last one she really sparred with any effort might have been of a fukutaicho position if he had joined the Gotei thirteen. Her experience gave her no confidence, as she hadn't seen him in so many years she lost count.
"At least that gives me room to use all of my abilities, right?" she breathed quietly.
About ten minutes later, a small crowd had formed around the training grounds. Most were division members, but there were a few from other squads. Byakuya looked to Chinatsu who stood on one end of the crowd, with Renji on the other. Her face showed she was unconcerned there was a crowd of at least twenty speculators, but she glared in Renji's direction, signifying that she was nervous.
"Abarai, refrain from using your shikai. Miyagi, you should remember your requirements, use your shikai when you're comfortable. Begin when you are ready."
Upon his words, everyone respectfully took a few steps back.
"She claims to have shikai.." Ikkaku's eyes slit, watching the girl carefully.
"You're suggesting she's lied about it, Ikkaku?" Yumichika looks up, only to find Ikkaku rubbing the back of his neck.
Ikkaku rubs his chin, "I recognize her. A few years ago, I heard someone talking about training a noble from the Miyagi clan. It must be her. I also heard that Kuchiki-Taicho was meeting Princesses of Noble clans. I think she's trying to impress him."
"It's very unlike you to assume such things," Yumichika raises his eyebrow before turning back in time to watch China disappear in a blur of shunpo, blade free from it's cavern to attack Renji. The fukutaicho had just enough time to react. The Zanpakuto met in screeching clashes, and it took carefully trained eyes to see who initiated which strike.
"Renji's holding back," Yumichika sighed.
Ikkaku scoffed, "He has to, she's already moving on the defense and they just started."
Byakuya watched with a slightly furrowed brow, but not enough for anyone to notice. Chinatsu finally moved away a pace or two and sighed, "Sorry, Abarai-fukutaicho. I'm a little more rusty than I thought.."
Kuchiki-Taicho found himself praying that it was all that it was, and the statement he'd heard from Ikkaku Madarame was not true. He watched Renji's figure relax just a fraction of an inch at her words, and with a speed not even he could watch Chinatsu had disarmed Renji.
"Did that really just happen?" Rikichi exclaimed from aside Byakuya.
"Tch. She's not even taking advantage of what she just did," Ikkaku sighed.
"Because it would be a shame to end my assessment so quickly without shikai, besides I just used a cheap trick anyway." Chinatsu smiled, risking the glance towards Ikkaku while Renji reclaimed his Zabimaru.
Renji grit his teeth, reprimanding himself for relaxing at all and stepped forward to continue the fight. Chinatsu closed her eyes and whispered, "Entangle, Tennyo," and shoved her blade into the ground. Barely a second later, ten giant evergreen vines rip from the ground beneath Renji's feet and he had to use shunpo to get away from them. The ten vines unraveled like a blooming flower and everyone watched in wonder as Chinatsu jumped onto one, immediately lifting herself up some forty feet into the air.
The other nine vines crept across the ground, climbing into the air only to dive for Renji with razor sharp accuracy while their owner stood perched high above, looking down like a hawk. Renji uses shunpo, jumping up to attack Chinatsu in the air but she throws out her arms, diving into the center her vines created.
As the vines begin to retreat so Chinatsu can pull her blade from the ground, Renji takes advantage. Renji goes in for the attack, Chinatsu's eyes widen while she tries to pull her blade from the ground, but not soon enough. A shallow gash goes down the middle of her back to her hip.
Everyone waits for the girl of nobility to gasp out in pain, but were sadly mistaken when she wasted no time in attacking Renji's thigh as he landed on the ground. "Tch, not bad." Renji spoke as he took a distance so both of them could consider how badly injured they were.
"Thanks," Chinatsu breaths, forcing herself to stand up straight despite her injury while Renji shifted his weight carefully. Chinatsu finally took the opportunity to bring out her other shikai release. "Purify, Tennyo!" Everyone watched with a bemused expression as the hilt and blade of her katana turned to a perfect crystal color.
Byakuya's eyes suddenly replicated Ikkaku's in their slit appearance. A navy blue reiatsu seeped off the blade and made him wary of it's possibilities. With observant eyes, he noticed the reiatsu was sneaking through the grass and forward towards Renji.
Renji came forward and attacked her again and when their blades met and he became focused, noticing the navy blue fog. The reiatsu rose into the air transforming into pure water. It came down like a wave onto the fukutaicho and carried him backwards several feet. It took the muffled call for Zabimaru to slaughter the wave. Zabimaru came forth to connect with Chinatsu's side.
Both Renji and Chinatsu were panting heavily when Byakuya called for them to stop and signal the assessment was over. Two healers from Squad 4 went to either ones aid and Byakuya went forward to Chinatsu. "You held yourself very well, Miyagi Chinatsu."
Chinatsu smiles from where she sits, "Thank you, Kuchiki-Taicho. Did I pass?"
Byakuya resisted the urge to smile, keeping his apathetic gaze, "Fool, is that all you care about?"
"Yes, it is," she laughs, "Because if I've made the tenth seat I have something to tell you."
Byakuya stared at the girl intently and she closed her eyes under the pressure of his stare, "What is it?"
"So I've made it?"
"Would I have asked, if you had not?"
Chinatsu smiles, daring to gaze directly into his gray eyes again, "Call me China."
Byakuya shook his head and turned, "As always, bold in everything you say, Miyagi Chinatsu," and then he turned to leave.
And the crazy, I NEED TO WRITE THIS, came back pretty major. I read the last chapter I wrote of the whole thing and I felt better knowing this does get A LOT better. With that, I hope this was better than my last chapter. So thanks for all the alerts and the favs and reviews, kicks in the motivation. I'm probably gonna make a "Collectable Zanpakuto trainer card" (a WHAT?) …A list of useless information about Tennyo's weaknesses and strengths and uses. Mostly for my entertainment… heehees.
Also, let's pretend the nickname China also makes sense. :)
R&R please, just a smiley face will do!