Our katanas clashed together, the metal blades colliding in a bright flash. I stood facing Renji, who was grinning wildly. We freed our blades, and I leaped back as he slashed at me with his sword.
"Too messy!" I yelled at him, also reveling in this thrill of fighting. I dashed in at his opening, and used the flat of my blade to swing at him, so as not to injure him too much. It connected, and he hissed.
"How is it that you always best me at swordfighting? You don't even fight like us!" He was rubbing his side, which was probably sore from all the blows I'd landed there today. We were in an empty practice room, the one we always used when we felt like sneaking in a bit of friendly fights.
"You're too easy to read, you idiot," I said, sitting down and reaching for a bottle of water. "You're trying to win your fights with brute strength. You're full of openings, because you keep attacking and forgetting to defend yourself."
"That explains my side of the story. What about yours?" Renji flopped down beside me and lay down on the floor. His katana lay a bit away where he'd put it.
"Hmm?" I asked, puzzled. "What do you mean?"
Renji's brown eyes flicked over to me. "Your fighting style. None of it is what our sensei teaches us. In fact, I think it's a complete different style altogether."
"Oh, that." It was nothing new, actually. Ichimaru-sensei had brought it up before, and we'd had a discussion. "Apparently, I fight in the Western style, instead of Japanese-style."
"Say what?" Renji sat up, interested.
"Well, we Japanese use katanas to fight, but in western countries back in the Living World, they use long swords-double-edged swords. This means they can use both edges to cut, unlike our katanas that have only one sharp edge. That's why they have two different fighting styles. I don't know why, but I can use the western style to fight with my katana. It's not exactly that style, since I've modified it a bit to suit a katana, but still..."
"Wow, amazing!"
I smiled. "I know. The teachers don't seem to mind, as long as I win my fights, and since I'm so comfortable with fighting just like this, I've decided to just use the western style, and forgo kendo, the Japanese sword-fighting techniques."
"Huh, which means I need to train even harder if I wanna beat you."
"You bet, Renji."
Just then, the door slid open, and Kira popped his head in. "I knew I'd find you two in here. Have you heard?"
"Heard what?" Both of us asked in unison.
Kira came in, and behind him followed Hinamori. "Our class is going to a training session in the World of the Living!"
My ears pricked up immediately. "Woaaah, you mean go back to the Real World?"
"Yeah! I've been waiting forever to visit that place! I've never been there before, and it's supposed to be this really cool place with a sorts of stuff!"
"Huh?" I looked at him in confusion. "You've never been there before?"
Kira returned my confused look with a blank stare. Then he laughed. "Oh yeah, I've never told you before. I'm Soul Society born."
Hinamori looked as surprised as I was, but Renji didn't. "You knew that before?" I asked incredulously. People born in Soul Society were always a mystery to me. It felt like they were from another world, and I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that one of my friends was born in this place.
"Uhuh. I knew that ages ago. Anyways, I guess we're going there to fight Hollows, not play around, so I think you're gonna have to wait till you graduate to really visit the Living World, Kira."
Hollows are the souls of humans that had stayed too long in the Living World and lost their hearts due to things like regrets, revenge and such. They don't cross over to Soul Society, and they devour the souls of other humans. They're monster-like creatures with various sorts of powers, and they were white masks on their faces. In addition, they have a hole in their chest where their heart is supposed to be, but sometimes the location of the hole varies. Shinigami have two jobs. The first is to perform soul burials on human souls to help them cross over to Soul Society. The second is the eliminate Hollows in the Living World, so that they don't harm other souls and cause a decrease in souls.
"Do we get to fight real Hollows?" I asked. I'd never fought or even seen one before. I felt excited. Ichimaru-sensei had taught me much about them, and to be frank, I was just dying to be pitted against a Hollow. Hinamori, however, obviously did not share my enthusiasm.
"I hope not. I heard the sixth year in charge of the training say that they were going to use fake Hollows. Real ones could cause a problem. We don't have experience dealing with them."
"Fake or not, I guess we'll just have to see later!" Renji said cheerfully, getting up. "Come on, it's time for dinner."
The day of the Living World training session came soon enough. I woke up all jittery and excited. Our class was gathering near the entrance of the Academy, and I joined them. I spotted the shock of spiky red hair, and I went up to him from behind.
"Renji!" I brought my palm down hard against his back with a slap, and he jumped.
"Dammit, Asuka, that hurt."
I snickered. "Where're Kira and Hinamori?" Rukia wouldn't be joining us since she was in a different class.
"Somewhere, though I bet poor Hinamori was up all night trying to sleep."
"Don't worry about her, she's tougher than she looks. Who's in charge anyway, any good-looking guys?"
"There's a sixth year guy who's pretty famous cause he's talented, but he's got a weird tattoo on his face."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Weird how?"
Renji shrugged. "I haven't seen him, but they say it's two numbers, right on his left cheek."
Left...cheek. That struck a chord in my mind.
"No way...are those two numbers six and nine?"
"I think so...why?"
"Nothing, I heard someone talk about it before." I was a pretty smooth liar, if I could say so myself. Either that, or Abarai Renji was just pretty dense. To think again, it was probably the latter. That thick skull of his took up too much space for a large brain to be in there. At least he made up for that with a huge heart.
"Hey there."
A voice I haven't heard for two months spoke behind me. It sounded exactly the same, and it felt like I'd heard that voice just yesterday because it was just so familiar.
I turned, and smiled up at the first guy in the whole of Soul Society who'd treated me like I was perfectly normal, the guy who'd invisibly given me his reassurance when I stood before the five examiners two months ago.
"Senpai!" I exclaimed, delighted to see him again.
Hisagi Shuuhei smiled back at me. "Nice to see you again, Asuka-san."