After 10 Years - Chapter 4

Two Weeks Later

When Homura and Shizuku returned to the Academy for their second semester, they quickly learned that the Soul Reaper training was much harder than they expected.

Instead of getting out at four o'clock like the last semester, since much homework wasn't given for sword-fighting or Kido, they were expected to stay at school later into the evening to train.

Today was an assessment of the students' endurance.

Homura and Shizuku sat at the edge of the training room with their legs crossed Indian-style and their hands on their knees, taking great care to make sure their backs were as straight as possible. Homura wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. It had to be about 80 humid degrees in the Soul Society today.

'Homura Kurosaki!' The instructor called.

'Hai!' Homura yelled as loudly and deeply as her voice would let her and ran to the front table where the examiners were sitting. She bowed deeply, making sure she made no eye-contact whatsoever with the examiners.

'Push-ups...' The Head Examiner barked.

'Yessir!' Homura yelled, still not looking her examiners in the eyes.

'Down...'

'Sir!' Homura dropped to the floor and lifted her body off of the ground. Already she could feel her arms shaking.

'As many as you can do...'

'Sir!' Homura yelled, balancing herself on one arm as she wiped more sweat away.

'Begin...'

Homura instantly began to pump her arms up and down, making sure her nose and chest touched the floor every time.

'Five... Six... Seven...' The counter called.

Homura gulped for breath and continued her drill. Her sweat-soaked uniform felt like ten extra pounds weighing heavy on her back.

'Eleven... Twelve... Thirteen...'

Homura felt herself begin to slow. The fatigue and the heat was finally getting to her, but she wouldn't let herself stop. She didn't know how many the other students would be able to do, but she set a goal of twenty-five for herself. She thought that would be good enough to start...

'Sixteen...'

Homura wanted to stop, but she knew she couldn't. The good speed and momentum she had when she began was long gone by now. Right now, she was pumping at a slowing pace of one push-up every three seconds. Normally, the examiners should have stopped her by now, but Homura was still making sure that her nose and chest were still touching the floor every time.

'Nineteen...'

Homura couldn't steady her breathing any more. She had worked so hard on breathing properly until now, but now that she was so close to the goal she set, she was throwing everything to the wind. Homura gulped in air at every second she could and tried to pick up her pace.

'Twenty-one... Twenty-two...'

Homura couldn't help but feel slightly triumphant as she neared her goal.

'Twenty-three... Twenty-four... Twenty-five...'

She had made it... but now she was trying to go beyond.

'Twenty-six...'

Suddenly, Homura felt a stitch in her wrist. She quickly dismissed it. She couldn't let herself stop now.

'Twenty-seven... Twenty-'

Homura didn't exactly know what happened next. A sharp pain shot up her wrist, coursing up her arm and through to her shoulder. Her wrist had given out and buckled underneath her, dropping her to the ground.

'Done!' The examiner called as he wrote Homura's count on his paper.

Homura rolled over and winced. She sat up and held her wrist gingerly. Already it looked swollen. Homura caught a glimpse of Shizuku watching intently, worried for her wrist. Do her dismay, she also noticed the other students snickering to each other. At the sight of the examiners, Homura hurriedly staggered and struggled to her feet, standing at attention.

'Sit-ups...' The examiner barked, giving Homura not five seconds to catch her breath.

'Yessir!' Homura called breathlessly. She dropped obediently to the floor, lifting her feet off the ground and threading her fingers together behind her head. She winced as more pain shot through her wrist.

'Begin...'

Homura began crunching as fast as she could. Her goal was thirty crunches, but she wasn't sure if she would be able to make it.

Homura couldn't even hear the counter calling out. Already her stomach muscles were aching, and she wasn't even sure how long she had been at it. She knew she wasn't breathing right like her instructors had shown her during the whole week before, and that was affecting her performance now.

The only sound in the large room was Homura's labored breathing as she continued her sit-ups.

Homura sat up one last time, and with a large gasp of breath, fell back onto the floor. She was preparing to start again, but the Examiner called time.

'Done!' He called as he wrote on her paper. 'Thirty-five...'

Homura slowly stood up, mentally pleased with herself; she truly hadn't expected to do so well. Although her results were surprising her, Homura knew she couldn't keep this up much longer. It was so hot...

'Six-inches...'

Homura got back down on the floor and laid flat on her back. She groaned mentally, as she knew what was coming. When she first heard of the exercise, simply lifting both legs off the floor, she thought it seemed easy. When she actually got on the floor and tried it, her legs felt like lead, and the thirty seconds they usually held for, felt like forever.

'Ready... Up!' The examiner barked. The counter hit the button on a stopwatch.

Homura painfully raised her feet six inches off the floor, mentally reminding herself to breathe. When doing this exercise, it was very easy not to...

She felt her entire body begin to tremble as she held her legs up and her muscles tightened. She ground her teeth and felt her back arch as she steadied her legs, forcing herself to breathe. Every second the stopwatch ticked felt like an hour to the girl suffering in the middle of the floor.

Homura looked over her body down to her feet. She checked to make sure her legs were still straight and locked. She straightened her toes and continued trying to breathe steadily. Try as she might, she simply couldn't, and seconds later, her back arched sharper, and her feet fell limply to the floor.

'Done!' The examiner called, and once again wrote on Homura's paper. 'One minute, eight seconds...'

Homura sat up. Instantly, her neck began to ache. She hadn't realized that she had tensed it so tightly.

'Get up!' The examiner barked.

'Yes Sir!' Homura rushed to her feet.

'Balance... Right leg first.'

Homura nodded. She didn't have the wind to speak.

'Up...'

Homura clenched her teeth as she lifted her weary leg up into the air.

'Thrust your ankle out further...' The examiner reminded.

Homura nodded and did as she was told, pulling her toes back and pushing out the ball of her foot, as if she was really kicking something.

Homura's fatigued feet began to tremble under her weight as she tried to balance herself on her other foot, which was easier said than done. In an attempt to keep her balance, Homura found her left foot begin to dance and skid along the wood floor, trying to move with her swaying body. She felt her balance begin to fail as she swayed to and fro more often. She was weak, weary, and hot, but she knew she had to push herself.

'Down!' The examiner called.

Homura obeyed quickly as she caught her breath and wiped away the sweat that was now pouring down her face.

'You may sit.'

'Thank you, sir!' Homura yelled, diverting her eyes from the Examiner and resumed her seat on the floor next to her brother.

'You did good...' Shizuku whispered.

Homura couldn't talk; she was gulping in air like a man at an oasis would gulp down water. She nodded lightly and tried to smile at the only friend she had.

'Shizuku Kurosaki!'

'Hai!' Shizuku yelled deeply as he stood up. He shot a worried glance back to his sister as he ran to the middle of the open floor and stood prepared to begin what was only the first half of the grueling examination.

'Push-ups...'

-XX-

Shizuku did altogether better than Homura had done. She was happy for him. The second half of the examination consisted of drill punching, drill kicking, both on a heavy bag, knee-downs, (a test of leg strength where she had to go down on one knee, and get up without the use of her other foot) and finally, several different varieties of jumps.

She also had to give a demonstration of her swordsmanship. Homura knew she had done poorly, she had only been taught the most basic of attacks and blocks during the last few weeks. Many of the other 'higher' students were able to demonstrate multiple different kinds of stabs, slashes, and overhead attacks. One of the other students was able to run up a wall, flip backwards, then land and slash directly on top of their opponent's head. Homura and Shizuku were awed by the talent the student possessed. This student, like themselves, was a bit of an underdog as well. He wasn't popular like all of the other students that torment Homura and Shizuku, but he wasn't an abused student either. He was incredibly well-rounded from what Homura and Shizuku knew of him.

-XX-

The next week, after another grueling week of drills, conditioning, and training, Homura, Shizuku, and the rest of their class received the scores of their endurance examination.

That day, Homura stood at attention in front of a short professor with squinty eyes who barely looked at her. Homura made sure not to look him in the eye. It was a common rule at the Academy, never look a teacher or instructor straight in the eye.

'Miss Kurosaki...' He began.

Homura took in a deep breath as she prepared herself.

'The results of your endurance examination weren't that good...' He continued, no regret in his voice. He spoke clearly and to the point.

Homura, forgetting to keep a guard on her emotions in front of the professor, heaved a huge sigh of disappointment. She quickly kept her emotions in check once again.

'But they weren't that bad either. Nothing that can't be improved by training.' He continued, completely ignoring any noise she had made. 'Your push-up count could've been higher, I was hoping for at least thirty from you. But you came close, and there will be more training down the road, so you will have a chance to improve.' He began, reading from her paper. Homura nodded and the professor continued. 'Your sit-ups weren't too bad either, I was hoping for a lot more, but what you were able to complete will have to do for now. Your leg strength is about average for a student of your rank. Do you practice these exercises at home?' He asked.

Homura nodded. 'I try to, sir.' She said shortly.

'Don't try... Do.' The professor corrected her as he looked back at her paper. 'Your balance needs some work as well, we will make sure you have more training in that portion as well, like your swordsmanship, which I wasn't pleased with at all.'

Homura hung her head.

'Many of the students lack that skill in the beginning,' He tried to console her. 'But you and your brother stood out more than usual. We will make sure to focus more on it with you, as it appears you weren't taught properly up till now.'

'Yes Sir.' Homura nodded.

'In conclusion, not good, but not bad. If you apply yourself, you'll be able to overcome your disadvantage...' The professor finished as he handed her her scores.

'Disadvantage?' Homura asked, taking her papers.

'Your human father...'

'How is that a disadvantage?' Homura nearly yelled as she felt her blood begin to boil.

'Please Miss Kurosaki, return to your training and send the next student in.' the professor replied coolly.

Homura bowed and left the short man's presence, passing the next student in line as she went.

'Go on in...' Homura mumbled to the student as she passed, keeping her head low so her tears of wouldn't show.

AN: Chapter Four! Hopefully everybody likes it so far, and hopefully I'll upload it correctly the first time. Won't happen again guys, I promise. If anybody has any complaints, let me know now, or forever hold your peace. Thanks everybody! Feedback please! :D

PS: It's a bit short, a bit rushed, but I wanted to get it up, the next chapter we'll get deeper into the actual plot...