AN: Ok, this took me a bit longer to post than I anticipated.
Disclaimer: I only own the boring kind of bleach
Damaged Souls
Chapter 4: First classes
Day: Saturday, the 19th
Month: August
Year: 1428
Time: 4:03 AM
Location: Main building of the Shin'ō Academy
Rein opened the doors to the main building and quickly walked inside. He looked around and that is was barely 4:00 AM and that almost nobody else was there.
'This either means I am really late or really early. I hope it is the latter.' he thought as he got in line.
A few minutes later he was at the desk. Before he could say anything a paper was thrust into his hands.
"That is the information for your classes, now stop holding up the line." the woman at the desk said.
Looking down at the paper he saw that classes did not start for two hours. Ryuga was either playing a trick on him or really confused. He looked down at the paper again.
6:00 AM to 8:00 AM: Kido
8:00 AM to 10:00 AM: Zanjutsu
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM: Hakuda
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM to 3:00 PM: Hoho
3:00 PM to 5:00 PM: Tactics
5:00 PM to 7:00 PM: Study of Hollows
The content of the list was unsurprising; during the first year at the Academy all students took the same classes at different levels and in a different order. Rein noticed that there was no indication of what class level he was in. Checking the back of the paper he saw a bit of writing explaining that the first class was for placement. He decided to go sit down and wait for other people to show up. Looking around he saw Ryuga sitting in a corner looking at his own sheet of paper.
"Hey, what order are your classes in?" Rein asked.
Ryuga just turned his paper around and let Rein read it. They were in the same order as his were.
"Morning!" a voice called. Rein looked over and saw Senna heading over, holding her own paper.
"It would seem that the three of us have the exact same classes." Rein noted, starting to get a bit suspicious.
Rein noticed that the odd feeling had returned, but it was extremely faint. Turning around he saw the man walking in their direction.
"You noticed me, that's impressive." the man said.
"Just barely, the feeling was so faint it was nearly unnoticeable." Rein explained.
"Anyway, I take it from the look on your face that you've noticed that the three of you have the exact same class order." the man paused "Saiden also has the same order but he doesn't seem to be here yet."
"Why did you do that?." Senna asked.
"Saiden, believe it or not, only seems to be willing to talk to you guys, and Ryuga will do better if he has someone to compete with." the man explained "I also informed the teachers about the situation with your Zanpakuto. You don't need to worry about that, I made it seem as insignificant as I could so you will not get much attention."
"Thanks." Rein said as the man walked off again.
"So that is a Zanpakuto." Ryuga stated "How did you manage to get it?"
"Apparently being around so much Shinigami Reiatsu while using a large portion of my own allowed it to form." Rein said, looking perfectly sincere.
"Ok, whatever." Ryuga said as he got up and walked off "You should head to class soon, you have five minutes."
Rein and Senna followed him to their first class.
During the Kido class they were asked to attempt to cast the first Hado at a block of wood placed on top of a table. Most of the students were able to knock the block off the table. A few students only managed to nudge it a bit.
When Senna's turn came she messed up her aim a bit and hit the block in the side. It flew off at an angle and smashed into the teachers kneecap with a loud noise. After the teacher had finished cursing he told Rein that it was his turn.
When Rein cast the spell the block smashed into the wall and made a large dent. The teacher glared at him, realizing that the damage would be considered his responsibility.
When Saiden's turn came he stepped up and cast the spell without an incantation and the block splintered. Luckily none of the splinters injured anyone, the teacher looked relieved.
Finally it was Ryuga's turn; he cast the spell with the incantation.
Somehow, the spell blew up in his face and singed a large portion of the roof. Ryuga then passed out from using too much of his Reiryoku.
The teacher blinked twice before asking some of the stunned students to do something with him. Rein had no idea what happened; that spell was the first Hado, it should be impossible for it to explode even if you actually tried.
After the Kido class they headed to the Zanjutsu class. Upon entering the teacher passed out an Asauchi to each student.
"In order to determine you levels of ability we will have you fight each other with your Asauchi. You are not allowed to wound anyone, and you will be judged based on how well you fight, no on who wins. You may pick your own opponents, the winners will form one group and losers another. We will keep doing this until each group consists of one person.
Rein was approached by a rather overconfident student. The first thing he did was charge straight at him. Rein ducked under the blade and grabbed his arm, throwing him back.
"Rein, this is not Hakuda class. You must actually use your Zanpakuto." the teacher said in an annoyed voice. He looked over at the teacher, nodded, and drew his sword.
By then the other student had stood up and began to rush at him again. This time Rein swung his blade against the students sword and knocked it out of his hand. The teacher declared him the winner.
The next few fights progressed the same way. Eventually Rein found himself facing Ryuga.
Ryuga was much more skilled than the other students. He repeatedly slashed in a way that forced Rein to block and did not give him any chances to attack. Beginning to get annoyed Rein tapped into his Reiryoku and pushed Ryuga away; Ryuga smirked and jumped at him. Rein, still using his Reiatsu, was able to block the strike and flung Ryuga across the room. The teacher declared Rein the winner.
He looked up and was surprised to see that the only remaining person in the room was Saiden.
When the fight started Saiden ran at Rein, he was not particularly fast. When Rein attempted to block him he nearly dropped his sword from the amount of force Saiden used. Rein found himself being pushed back across the floor.
Rein changed his strategy; he knew that he had no hope of blocking his strikes so he was forced to dodge them. Luckily Saiden was not able to attack or dodge quickly enough to fight Rein. The black haired teen's advantage in speed, added to the insane length of his Zanpakuto, allowed him to slowly wear down Saiden and eventually get through his guard. The battle ended with Rein's Zanpakuto at Saiden's throat.
The Hakuda class had a similar format, the difference being that this would be unarmed combat.
Rein was approached by a student who looked to be fairly strong. When the student ran at him Rein just jumped up, placed a foot on the students head, and shoved him to the ground.
Rein's next fight was a bit more challenging, the student turned out to be very good at controlling his Reiatsu so that leveled the field. As the student slowly moved at him the black haired teen decided he would use speed to win the fight. Gathering his Reiatsu in his feet he launched himself up and landed behind the student. Before the student could turn around Rein had knocked him out.
A little bit later Rein was, once again, facing Ryuga. He fought almost exactly the same as he did before, hitting quickly and hard so as not to give Rein and chance to fight back. It worked for a while until the black haired teen began to find a pattern in his attacks. He seemed to favor a sequence of hits alternating right and left followed by a kick. The next time Ryuga went to kick Rein grabbed his foot and tripped him, placing his foot on Ryuga's neck.
Rein looked at his next opponent. It was Senna. The teacher gave the signal to start, and before Rein cold even raise his hands in defense he was pinned to the wall by his throat. He had lost in under a second.
"What the hell just happened?" Rein asked her as they left the room.
Senna laughed "I won, that's what happened."
"I realized that much. I meant how did you do it." Rein said dryly.
"I used that trick you taught me, I just put as much Reiatsu as I possibly could into my feet and jumped straight at you." Senna explained.
When they reached the cafeteria both of them grabbed a good deal of food to replenish the Reiryoku they had used in the fighting. A bit later Saiden and Ryuga sat down next to them.
"Rein, that was a good fight; I did not expect you to be able to overpower me that easily." Ryuga said.
"You are a hard person to fight though; you don't give me a chance to attack. When we were fighting with our Zanpakuto I just needed to fling you away a bit. When we were unarmed I managed to find a pattern in your attacks. If that pattern had not been there you would have won." Rein paused, glancing at Senna "Of course that may have been a good thing for me." Rein rubbed his neck.
"I was really surprised with Saiden though, he is extremely strong." Senna said "I tried to beat him the same way I won the Hakuda match but he must have seen me coming, he swung at my sword as hard as he could and I ended up smashed into the wall."
"Thanks." Saiden said quietly.
"Ryuga, your Kido abilities were impressive." Rein laughed.
"Shut up." he said flatly.
The group continued to talk, even Saiden joined in a bit. Once lunch was over they headed for the Hoho class.
Upon arriving at the class the teacher brought them out to the same obstacle course they had completed in the entrance exam, the task was to complete it as fast as possible. Every student with the exception of Rein and Senna looked utterly depressed. Senna looked over at Rein and sent him a look saying something along the lines of 'I am going to beat you.' he just smirked back.
When the test started Rein stood still and closed his eyes for a few seconds, wanting to increase his Reiatsu as much as possible. When he opened his eyes they were emitting an intense blue glow.
Not wanting to waste any more time he jumped up to the top of the first obstacle. Many of the students looked up at him, trying to figure out what he was doing. The moment his feet touched something solid he pushed off as hard as he could; focusing his Reiatsu to slightly counter the force of gravity. By doing this he was easily able to jump from place to place and was far ahead of everyone else in the class.
Glancing around he noticed that Senna was nowhere in the crowd.
"Looking for me?" a voice called from behind him.
Rein looked back and laughed, she was a few meters behind him. When he returned his attention to the course he realized that he was headed directly at the side of the final obstacle. Panicking, he started focusing his Reiatsu into his feet and released it all at once. This did succeed in moving him out of the way, but he had not had enough time to direct the energy correctly and he was sent high over his destination. Rein flipped over in midair and once again focused his Reiatsu and pushed himself onto the platform. At the same time Senna had landed on the platform herself. They tied for first place.
"Don't you think changing your path in midair was a bit overkill?" she asked, seeming annoyed.
"Maybe, but I didn't like the idea of smashing head first into something again." he countered.
After they had climbed down they walked back over to where Ryuga and Saiden were standing.
"Are you good at everything?" Ryuga asked Rein dryly.
"Well, I don't know much about Hollows." he responded.
Ryuga looked at him blankly and started walking to the Tactics class, the rest of the group followed.
The test for the tactics class took the form of a series of a game of chess, similar to the Zanjutsu and Hakuda classes the students played against each other to determine who was best. Rein had never played the game before, but the rules seemed simple enough. Looking around the room he saw Senna reading the guide intently, Saiden looked distracted, and Ryuga was scratching his head while holding the guide upside down. Some of the students were smirking, clearly having played the game previously.
When the teacher saw how many of the students were completely inexperienced in the game he let them play a few practice matches. Rein lost the first two matches but began to win after he got the hang of it. By the time the actual matches started he was fairly confident in his ability.
His first opponent was Ryuga, he had absolutely no idea what was going on. He first attempted to move Rein's pieces. The match was over within five turns, Ryuga had managed to put his king in checkmate and Rein barely had to do anything. The next few matches were not as easy, they were very close calls but he always managed to pull through.
When the final match came Rein was up against a teen from a noble clan, he was very intelligent and clearly had a lot of experience with the game. The match lasted a long time, neither player was able to gain the upper hand. The teacher actually had to call off the match because time ran out. Each player still had more than half their pieces in plat.
"Figures you would be smart too." Ryuga muttered.
The group then proceeded to the final class of the day, Hollow studies.
As it turned out there really were no levels for that class. The teacher just handed out a simple survey to see how much they knew already. After they had completed the survey the teacher explained that normally the students would have Saturday and Sunday off. This was an exception because it took time to organize the classes and they needed to start it as soon as they could.
"Hey Rein, you up for a rematch?" Ryuga asked after the class had ended.
"Sure, I will go find the teacher." Rein answered.
After several minutes of searching the group found the Zanjutsu instructor.
"Would it be ok if we were to do some practice fighting?" Ryuga asked.
"Sure, just don't injure each other." he responded.
The group made its way over to the field where Rein had formed his Zanpakuto.
As soon as the fight started Ryuga ran at Rein, who stepped to the side. Not giving Ryuga a chance to start attacking Rein went on the offensive, using the length of his blade to maintain distance between them. Eventually Ryuga began to push back and put Rein on the defensive again. Before long he was too close for Rein to be able to use his Zanpakuto effectively. Deciding to try something different Rein pointed his finger at Ryuga.
"Hado number one, Sho." Rein said calmly. Ryuga was sent backwards and Rein resumed his offensive.
"Hey, that wasn't fair!" Ryuga shouted.
"When did we agree not to use kido?" Rein asked with a smirk.
Rein locked his blade against Ryuga's and pointed at his blade. "Hado number one, Sho." he said again.
Ryuga's blade was sent flying out of his hand and, without pausing, Rein aimed his blade at Ryuga's chest.
"Looks like I win." Rein said, lowering his sword "Good fight."
"Stupid Kido." he responded.
"Rein, fight me now!" Senna said excitedly.
"Sure." he responded.
When the fight started Senna attempted to pull the same trick that she had during the Hakuda fight. Rein, expecting it, ducked under the blade and jumped away. Senna jumped at him and started to attack, her attacks came in fast chains, a set of six to twenty extremely fast attacks followed by a pause. The pause usually lasted around a second. She took full advantage of that second, using it to dodge around him and force him to move. Eventually Rein realized that trying to block all the attacks would not work, he needed to dodge and attack while she was attacking. Soon they had their blades locked. At the same time both of them pointed at the other.
"Hado number one, Sho." they both said. The Kido collided in midair and blasted both of them back across the field.
Senna started laughing uncontrollably as she ran at Rein and tackled him in another extremely enthusiastic hug.
"What the heck?" Rein said, confused.
"I win." she stated.
Rein then felt the blade of her Zanpakuto pressed against the back of his neck.
"Yes, you do win." he laughed.
Saiden and Ryuga looked on with strange expressions, trying to figure out whether or not they should be watching them.
Senna let go of Rein and both of them sheathed their Zanpakuto, the other two members of the group walked over.
"Anyone up for some food?" Ryuga asked.
"Sure." Rein said "I have some money saved up, we can go and eat in the Seireitei if you want."
Senna looked exited "That sounds like fun. But I don't want to make you pa-"
Rein cut her off "Then we are going, and I am paying."
Around an hour later the four teens were looking around in the section of Seireitei that Academy students were allowed to visit, trying to find a place to eat.
Eventually the group stumbled upon a fairly small restaurant and went inside. They were seated almost immediately; the only available place was a booth next to the window. Senna immediately called dibs on the window spot and Rein took a seat next to her.
Saiden, of all people, got into an argument with Ryuga over who got the other window seat, they actually walked outside to fight for it. When they came back in Saiden looked unfazed while Ryuga came in with wide eyes and an open mouth, it was priceless.
Within a few minutes they had placed their orders and they began to chat about the tests. Rein had no real opinion on any of them nor did Senna. Saiden had hated the Hoho testing and Ryuga had hated the Kido and Tactics tests.
Soon thereafter the food arrived and they all ate as though they were starving as promised Rein paid for all the food. The teens then walked out the door.
"Well, it sure has been a while since I've seen Academy students here, they almost always just eat at the Academy." a voice said from behind them.
They turned and saw a fairly tall person with long white hair and green eyes. He was wearing a captain's haori.
"U-Ukitake-taicho." Ryuga stammered.
Ukitake just smiled at them "What years are you?"
Rein, seemingly the only one who was not having a panic attack, responded "We are in our first year."
"Really? Your Zanpakuto is remarkably unique considering that you must have gotten it today." the captain observed.
"I actually formed it independently, apparently being exposed to so much Shinigami Reiatsu after using up such a large portion of my own had some kind of effect on me, it caused me to form this blade and also created a Zanpakuto spirit in my inner world." Rein explained.
"Ah, that makes sense." Ukitake stated "Ok, I am going to get some food before Shunsui finds me, I am not in the mood for drinking today."
"Nice meeting you." the group said as they walked away.
"Wow, I never expected to meet a captain here, that was really lucky." Ryuga stated.
"Yeah, Rein you have awesome timing." Senna said.
The group laughed as they headed back to the Academy.
"Hey, Saiden would you like to fight?" Ryuga asked as they passed the field "You are the only person here who I haven't fought yet.
"Sure." he responded.
Senna and Rein sat off to the side and watched. Ryuga started off the fight by unleashing a unyielding chain of attacks on Saidens blade. Rein chuckled, knowing from experience that it was a terrible idea. Saiden simply swung his blade one time and sent Ryuga across the field. Not one to give up so easily Ryuga ran at Saiden again and started to attack even more quickly, circling around Saiden in the process. It seemed he had learned a bit from Senna's fighting style. Saiden decided to grip his Zanpakuto in both hands and swing down as hard as he could, Ryuga's sword went flying across the field and Ryuga looked stunned. He was extremely lucky to be unharmed.
Ryuga ran across and retrieved his sword "Rematch?" he asked.
"Sure." Saiden replied smiling.
The two observers were shocked, Saiden was enjoying the fight.
Rein glanced at Senna and saw her yawning.
"We are going to head back, have fun with your fighting." he said as he stood up and started walking with Senna back to her building.
"I am surprised Ukitake believed the cover story." she said.
"He didn't, he saw straight through it but he didn't want to call me on it because he didn't know if I had told anyone else the real reason. From what I have heard he is not the kind of person that would force an answer out of someone." Rein explained.
"And you could tell all of that just from the few seconds we were speaking to him?" Senna asked, looking a bit unconvinced.
"I am very perceptive." he responded quietly, so quietly that she barely heard him.
The pair soon arrived at Senna's building.
"See you tomorrow." Senna said as she turned.
"Yeah, good night." Rein responded.
Senna went inside the building and Rein stood still for a few moments.
"Hey, look up!" a voice yelled from above him as he turned to leave.
"Wha-" Rein started to say as he looked up. Senna had jumped from the balcony attached to her room and about to land on top of him.
Senna just laughed like a total maniac as she collided with Rein, knocking them both to the ground.
The pair slowly got up from the ground, before Rein could say anything at all Senna walked closer, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him. Before he even registered what had happened she had ran back inside.
'What just happened?' he asked himself, he would go and ask her but boys were not allowed in the girls buildings and he didn't think Senna would appreciate him getting both of them kicked out. She ran in knowing that he could not follow, if she wanted to talk she would have stayed.
Rein just walked back to his room, completely confused.
When he got back to his room he didn't even bother to take his Zanpakuto off his back before lying down on his bed and staring up at the ceiling, still in shock.
He had been lying there for what must have been an hour when Ryuga arrived at the room.
"You look like you are in shock or something, what happened?" he asked.
Rein just grunted.
"Ok, good talk." he said before lying down on his own bed.
Rein fell asleep soon after that.
Words: 4017
AN: Hope you liked that chapter. I just updated summary and got rid of the 'only hints of romance in beginning' part, I changed my mind a bit, as you can see.
Sorry this chapter took so long to write, I was distracted by someone during school and barely managed to get any writing done at all.
Good news though, I am on spring break now, I might be able to manage a chapter a day for the next few days. No promises though.
When I say they are using Hoho, I do not mean Shunpo, they have not yet learned that. They are just using their Reiatsu to improve their ability to move.
SEND ME YOUR OCs, I need teachers to teach these people, they need names, and appearances, and backstories, and personalities. I don't care how odd the idea is at this point, just send me your ideas. I also need some kind of antagonist, if you have an idea feel free to tell me.
Review, please. It actually does help me get better. Most of the reviews I have gotten have been positive, that is a good sign I think, but if there is anything I can improve on let me know. I can handle it don't worry.
