(Author's note: Speech written in italics is actually spoken or written in another language by the indicated character. It has been translated and noted this way for the reader's benefit.)

Chapter 4

"Finished." Raijin shouts again, his Zanpaku-Tô at my neck. There's three days left until the exams and he's kicking my butt in seventeen seconds flat. I groan and turn my head to where my sword, Akahana, lies, two meters away.

"Pick her up." Raijin grumbles, removing his foot from my gut. He sits down on a boulder at the base of a tree. "Emiko, I don't know if you realize it, but seventeen seconds is not a long time." I pick up Hana again, and give him a blank look. It's not as if we haven't been over the dynamics of fighting before. "You need to kill me in seventeen seconds if you want to make it through the exams."

"I'm sorry. I'm trying, but I just don't know how to do better." I stare at Akahana's blade, curved around in what looks like a heart. Both sides are sharp. It seems like it would be an advantage, but I think I could hardly use a normal blade.

"You haven't even used your Shikai." Raijin mentions again. It's hard to control her, though, in first release. Harder than she is normally.

"Isn't it just that you need to show promise to make it in? Why do I need to do all of this?"

Raijin looks me sternly in the eyes. "Because you aren't a talented fighter. You weren't made for fighting. If you walked in there without my help, you'd never make it through. You weren't born to fight, to kill. So you need the skills, because you don't have the talent. But, you were able to unleash and contact your Zanpaku-Tô." He glances at Hana, as if I didn't know what he was talking about. "You reached the eighth dan in martial arts. You understand the psychology behind your enemies' fighting styles. You have the skill. It just needs to be honed to the point that it looks like talent." He stands, flexing his limbs. It's never less intimidating. "Let's go again." He holds up his sword once again and waits for my attack.

Akahana hums excitedly in the back of my head, where she always hovers immaterially. She loves fighting much more than I do. I suppose she makes up for where I fall short, in a way. Never mind that. Time to rush him. Akahana's blade quakes in my hand, and I hook it around the hilt of Raijin's sword. I yank it toward me. "Strangle, Akahana." I command, attempting the Shikai, and her blade stretches toward Raijin's arms. He pulls away and his sword drops. I lunge forward, Akahana corkscrewing for the kill, twisting my wrist uncomfortably. While she makes her move, I kick Raijin's sword up with the toe of my boot and catch it with my free hand. I re-adjust my weight and kick with the same leg – an unexpected move. Raijin buckles at the middle and I jab toward his shoulder with his own sword, stopping before I make a wound. Akahana is now wrapped around his middle and I turn my wrist, allowing Raijin to fall forward onto the flat of her blade.

"Finished." Raijin smirks. He rights himself and Akahana reluctantly withdraws. "Shikai is often much more effective than people think." He says, hinting, and takes his Zanpaku-Tô from my hand. He turns his face up to the moon. "Let's do this once more tomorrow, then it's up to you." He starts walking away.

"What was my time?" I call after him, hopeful.

"Fifteen."

Fifteen seconds. Raijin walks back to the bath house, but I stay to meditate on my win. Fifteen seconds. I know he'll expect me to fight harder tomorrow. He knows I can do it now, even though he didn't do his best this time.

"I wish you wouldn't hold me back." Akahana pouts from inside my head, using my knowledge of English. "He could use a couple cuts and scrapes to show him who's boss. He doesn't even have a real Zanpaku-Tô." She's right. His real Zanpaku-Tô was destroyed when he was banished from the Seireitei. He refused to kill with his sword, and they had no choice but to relieve him from duty.

"I can't wait until we get to the ranks. Then we'll get some real action." I shake my head at her. I do enjoy a fight, in good sport, but sometimes Akahana seems a little more bloodthirsty than me. Sometimes that worries me. As Raijin had explained, a Zanpaku-Tô is made from the same Reishi that make up the owner. But I didn't think my soul particles were that mean.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, Akahana. We've got a long way to go until we reach the Court Guard Companies. We just need to get into the academy, first." It took me a month just to get her to come out and give me her name so I could accomplish Shikai. It'll be ages before we can get to that level, in one of the thirteen companies.

"Don't kid yourself, Emiko. We're gonna be the best." Hana continues to argue. "The thirteen captains will be begging us to join. We'll go straight to third seat. Then we'll fight our way up to captain." She smiles wickedly, casting an image of herself in my mind.

"Yeah, sure. In twenty years, if we're lucky." I'd done my research on the thirteen companies. The captains are terrifyingly strong. We could never defeat one, even if we trained for a thousand years.

Akahana laughs. "I say five." She takes in a sharp breath; apparently she's had an epiphany. "We should try to get into Twelfth Company!" She giggles excitedly. I know why. Kisuke Urahara is the captain of Twelfth Company. She thinks he's gorgeous. I wouldn't say I disagree, but I don't sit around gushing about it.

I roll my eyes at her. "Let's just get through the exams, then we can giggle about who the most handsome captain is. " I stand and pick her up from the ground, turning back toward thre bath house. "Let's go get some sleep."

In reality, you're not even supposed to be able to materialize your Zanpaku-Tô before you enter the Shihô-Reijutsuin. We have to fight with regular swords for the entrance exams. We'll probably skip a couple of years, since we're so far ahead. Maybe, just maybe, we'll make it into an actual battling company. Some are destined for healing and relief, like those recruited to Fourth Company. The higher numbers are those destined for battle.

Kisuke Urahara is not only the captain of the great Twelfth Company, but also the founder of the Department of Research and Development. Rumor has it, Urahara is working on a way to create a better Soul Reaper. I don't know about that, but the fact remains that he's handsome.

I wind through the myriad within the bath house until I reach the back elevator. It actually goes faster with only one person on it. I punch the up button and listen to the elevator grinding its way downstairs. Everybody else is always asleep by now, so it's no surprise that the elevator is up top again.

"We should spar with Aidrian!" Akahana giggles. "He's cute!" I roll my eyes again.

"Put your hormones under control." Of course, she shares my taste in men, but that doesn't mean that we can just go chasing after any decent-looking guy unfortunate enough to walk past.

"Ha! I don't have any, probably. I don't think so…" She shuts up to ponder that. I must say, I'm glad. Having a "living" conscience is no fun.

The elevator rumbles to a stop and I step through the doors as they slide open. I push the third-to-last button and slump back against the elevator wall. It couldn't hurt to spar with someone other than Raijin, but I wouldn't do it just because the guy's good-looking. I'd do it for the experience. I'd be more ready for the entrance exams if I practiced different fighting styles.

"I think I do have hormones, since I'm kind of you. Whatever you feel, I can feel. So, no, I will not put my hormones under control." Akahana smirks at me, putting another image into my head, assuming that she has now won the argument. Am I actually like this? I hope not.

"Okay, fine. Then just shut up."

"Somebody's cranky!" She sings back. "I'm sure the sight of Captain Urahara at the Shihô-Reijutsuin will warm your cold heart." She laughs, then disappears before I can reply. If she could feel, I would punch her.

The elevator dings and the doors slide open when we reach our destination. I slip out and step softly through the hallways until I reach the room Analise and I share. I can hear her soft, yet obnoxious, snore already. I gently slide the old-fashioned rice paper door open and set Akahana against the wall inside.

"Don' move, ya city slicker…" Analise mumbles in a southern drawl. She has dreams in a different dialect every night, and has the habit of talking while she does it. I try to ignore how annoying it tends to be, particularly when she gets to New Jersey.

I slide one of the drawers beside my bed open and fish out my sleeping clothes. Casting glances over as Analise tumbles around, I slip out of my work clothes and fold them back into the drawer. Looking down, I pause. It's always hard to look at. A thick, jagged scar cuts across my chest, from the left side of my collar bone to the top of my right breast. It only serves as a reminder of the piece of plane that ended my life. Slowly, the weight presses down on my chest again, filling me with emotion that I don't care to feel. Grabbing my other shirt, I throw it on over my head to stop the moment. I can't deal with this now. I have to keep my mind on the exams. I put my shorts on as well, then slip into bed and roll over, filling my mind with dreams of the Seireitei, and where I can go from there.

(Author's Note: I love feedback! Drop a review if you have the time!)