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Dye the BLACK

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Summary: Dying should have led my soul to Heaven; dying should have led my soul to peace. Instead... dying led me to death.

Rating: T for violence, strong language, and some adult content.

Disclaimer: BLEACH belongs to Tite-sensei, Akasuki belonged to Reige, this story is adopted by me.

A/N: Hello readers and I would like to say thank you for your wonderful reviews. I'm glad people like it, and I'm kind of glad I'm setting in a good pace for this story. Yeah, there's the occasional time skip, but as I said, I'm pretty impatient, but I don't want to ruin the story because of how incredibly fast its going. Besides that, I want to make some realistic points on how this goes on when entering the Academy. There was some help thanks to the BLEACH wiki, but still not enough information to go on with. I decided to input a few things from college registration and the likes so the story of the whole process wouldn't come out sounding too easy. Anyway, remember to leave a review from the bottom of your hearts! Thanks a lot!

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the more harder I work the more I have it

~Thomas Jefferson

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Learning Japanese was hard.

It was common knowledge that a majority of Rukon citizens couldn't read or write, so in the event of securing more students to join the Gotei 13, Kidō Corps, or Onmitsukidō, the Seireitei prepared tutors to be appointed a handful of students that needed to learn the basics of reading and writing.

I was lucky the entrance exams wouldn't start in three months, it gave me enough time to start learning. Of all the time me and my mom would speak in Japanese, she never brought up the thought or idea that she could teach me her old homeland's language...

I had no idea how naïve I was thinking that I would be able to catch onto it. Katakana was one of the three simpler things I could learn while hiragana and kanji were just difficult to master. A character could look the same but mean a whole lot of other things if it was pronounced differently.

The barracks, a place for Rukon citizens to take shelter when waiting for the entrance exams and learning how to read and write, slowly began to fill itself up every week. I knew there was more than one barrack, there had to be three more others from each four directions that surrounded the white city, but it was still shocking to be inside a building that was the size of a college campus.

It wasn't long when the semi-empty room I slept in was suddenly full of noise and life with tons of girls surrounding me. Like any school, the girls stuck together and began their little circles of friendships, talking about what district they had come from and what they had been doing before they were picked up on by some recruiters.

Most had obviously come to find a better life for themselves through becoming a Shinigami while very few only joined for the sake of becoming protectors to those helpless.

There were times when I wanted to put down the books in my hands, go over, and sit down with the rest of the girls to talk to them and make new friends... but it felt exactly like it had before; I couldn't relate or properly talk to people. There was such a huge gap between us because they couldn't relate to me as I couldn't to them.

So, I kept to myself and continued to learn kanji and hiragana.

It was probably for the better anyway; there were things that had bothered me since I found myself in this dimension. What was the time line of where I had landed myself in? Was it when that girl went missing in the Real World? Was there an execution going on? Or were all the captains already off to take care of those three traitors and their army of Spanish people?

Hopefully, the whole thing had ended, and I was free to do my own business and deal with my own troubles without any interference.

Besides, I had to be a suicidal maniac if I ever wanted to get myself involved in the life of a Japanese boy who claimed his outrageous orange hair was natural.

~.::.~.::.~.::.~

"I hope I get in!"

"I didn't come this far for nothing!"

"Tch, what a pain."

The three-month period had gone by, and I had only learned so much from within the time period; which was not a lot. Although, from what I was later told before coming out in the barrack's courtyard, the written part was simply to write my name, date of which month and day I was born (year didn't matter, apparently), and which district number I had come from.

I was amongst the many gathered outside of the barracks as people, whom were representatives of the Academy, began to test everyone if they were worth entering their prestigious school. It was never really explained in the show how the little girl and her red-head sidekick got into the school, so it left me a bit blindsided when I watched a couple of kids summon a ball of energy in their hands.

'What...?' I watched on in shock. 'I have to pull some magical ball out of fucking hands to be accepted?!'

I was in deep shit.

It didn't matter if I could read or write, all that mattered to these teachers was that if I had enough spiritual energy for them to allow into their school. I buried myself within the many crowded bodies that were desperate to get themselves out of the hellholes they came from. Now and then, I would hear people who failed beginning for a retry, but they either walked away or were forced to move along for the next person.

I stayed still in the crowd, watching the numbers slowly dwindle down until I and a few others were left in line. It was around almost the late afternoon, still enough sun the sky but the world was changing in a pale orange-yellow. It had seemed that a few people shared my idea by waiting to be last, just to keep away from the inevitable should they fail to succeed to the likings of the teacher's that held judgment over them.

"You there, come along now. We haven't all day!" called one of the teacher's as they stared at a single man distastefully.

Poor guy was shaking like a leaf, but he came before the four teacher's with his hands out. He tried to concentrate to make a ball miraculously appear, but nothing happened. I ducked my head as I heard him make a frustrated noise.

"You either calm down and concentrate, or you get out of our sight, boy!"

"S-sorry!" he squeaked, but tried again.

A minute later, a glowing little ball started to form in his hands that grew a little bigger until it was the size of a teacup in his hands. It was pathetic-looking, but it was still amazing to watch.

"Hm. Good enough, I suppose." someone commented.

And just like that, the man released his hold on the ball and glittered with happiness and joy before being given a piece of paper that said he was given admittance into the Academy. I watched as two more others were picked up by the judges, both of them failing and walking away in tears from failing to produce a spirit ball.

These were nothing like the random pop quizzes or upcoming tests that my teachers from my Other school would pile up on me and the rest of the student body. Sure, they could effect our grade and show how far or close we were to reaching the next grade, but this... This was just a whole new ball game for me.

"Anytime now, child. Preferably this instant!" came a grouchy voice.

They were talking to me, I realized with growing horror. The four teachers were looking at my direction, and I was the only person in their line of sight. The other people were standing a little off from where I stood, so...

'Crap.'

"Little girl," an old teacher waved a single hand at me, beckoning me to come closer. "You're next!"

With a defeated sigh, I walked towards the four men and stopped before them. Their eyes were looking at me from head to toe, like they were sizing up a piece of meat that was hanging from the butcher's window. It was a nerve-wracking experience.

"Your name?" said another teacher, his head balding and his face mean-looking.

"K-Kane Akasuki, sir!" I winced at the stuttering in my voice, no doubt these geezers were already getting annoyed hearing that for the last few hours since this whole thing started.

"District?"

"Rukon district sixty-seven, Hitodoma, sir." I replied readily, my voice not as strong but thankfully not weak.

"Hm? You were recommended admittance by Hitsuhide Shuppei, seventh seat of the Fourth Division, after a Hollow incident in that very district, yes?"

I nodded. "I wasn't aware of a recommendation, but it was true; there was a Hollow attack in the district."

"You were somehow able to kill the creature without special weapons or training?" another asked, looking a little skeptical (in fact, they all looked that way).

"I..." what was I suppose to say? Might as well be honest about it. "I couldn't let it kill anyone. So, I killed it first."

"Hmmm," the oldest of the teachers ran his fingers through his beard while he seemed to be contemplating my words before speaking up. "Usually, when a student is admitted in the Academy, they are offered a scholarship, and they eventually pay back when they begin their work in their respective divisions... But there are exceptions. Such as when the person has retained their own fortune to pay for their classes and studied... or when someone has payed for them fully."

I wasn't sure where this was going, and he seemed to have guessed it because he went on to say something that blew me away.

"Your scholarship, should you be accepted to enter in our school, is fully paid by Gekko Tousuke."

I couldn't stop my jaw from dropping to the floor, leaving me to look like a complete idiot to the four instructors.

"W-what...?" I looked at them, shocked.

Did I misheard something or did that old coot really say that Gekko just offered to pay tons of money to pay for my education in the Academy?

'Ho-ly shit.'

"Let us see what you have in store for us," the same old teacher said as he weaved his bony fingers into his white beard. "Proceed to demonstrate your spiritual power."

"Oh," I muttered, and the dread that left me from before came falling back to me like a pile of bricks. "Right."

Like many others before me, I outstretched my hands with my palms facing each other and stared at my hands expectantly.

Even with the news of being recommended and having my education paid in, I should have known not to get my hopes up for thinking I had gotten through the woods. It was as if someone had come up to me and asked for some sort of miracle to happen, and the world was now looking at me and my bare hands.

With a shallow breath, I closed my eyes and tried to picture a bright ball in my hands, floating just above the skin of palms. After a few seconds, I peeked a single eye open and found, to my displeasure, nothing was there. The four old men looked ready just to give it all up and send me on my way, calling to the next poor soul.

'C'mon, Su! You can do it! Pull your head out of the deep end and just make your hands shine!'

Still, nothing happened. Every passing second and I grew more devastated and frustrated with the lack of results, the old men looking more and more displeased with disappointed display. I could hear their minds thinking that they must have gotten the wrong girl, or that the Shinigami who made the recommendation had pulled some sort of joke on them.

"That's enough," the grouchy one said, letting an irritated sigh escape him. "Girl, you're doing it wrong."

It was like listening to a teacher give me a lecture, a very embarrassing lecture how I, as a good student, failed big time. I could just imagine myself back in my Other classroom, surrounding by many spectators as they watched with cruel gleams in their eyes as they snickered behind their hands.

"I said stop!" the grouchy one growled out.

"Wait, just give me a second." I muttered as I tried to avoid the inevitable.

It was so fucking ridiculous. I knew I wouldn't get far, and I knew that there was going to be obstacles in the way... but it didn't soften the blow knowing this all ended before it even had the chance to begin.

Like hell it ends here!

I felt a hand roughly grab my shoulders, breaking the focus I needed to make a ball appear in the palm of my hands.

But something happened immediately afterward.

The world grew heavy all of a sudden, startling everyone in the vicinity. It was like I was wearing heavy clothes, the weight almost making me stagger on my feet. The other souls that stood away from us either looked like they were carrying a sack full of watermelons or they just simply fell to their hands knees, caught off guard from the heavy.

The teacher, though surprised, stood straight without any trouble. We all just stood there, watching as the world around us was like a blur and there was a ringing silence that came in and out of our eardrums.

But soon as the heavy air had come, it was gone.

I just stood there, a bit shaken from the heavy feeling that built itself on my body, the poor people trying to recover from whatever just happened, and the four teachers looking a little disgruntled about the whole thing. Suddenly, I was whacked on the head.

"OW! What the—" I cried out as I nursed my small bump, looking up at the grouchy teacher who glared down at me through his bushy eyebrows.

"Fool! I did tell you to stop before it started to build up!"

"W-what...?" was my reply, looking more and more confused about what happened.

"I sad you were doing it wrong, didn't I?!" he snarled at me, waving a fist at my direction which I ducked away from to avoid further damage to my poor head. "But you went on ahead anyway, building the power within rather than releasing it through your hands!"

"I..." I didn't know what to say other than the obvious response. "I—I'm sorry."

"Bah!" the grouchy instructor huffed at me. "Had you continued on with your stupid need to impress, you would have not only hurt others around you, but hurt yourself in the process!"

What I though was a way of channeling power through my hands to produce a sphere of light actually turned out to be a sort of metaphorical cork to trap the power within me... which I was taken aback to realize I actually had spiritual powers to begin with.

"I should straight out fail you for this!" the grouchy instructor continued on, and what hope in me I had began to wilt away.

"Now, now, don't be hasty." another instructor, seemingly the youngest and tallest of them, stepped up to stop the grouch. "It wasn't the method we were looking for, but she holds a lot of power."

"True enough," the fourth instructor agreed as he folded his arms. "I suppose she passes, then."

The elder of the four weaved his fingers in his beard, his dark eyes looking at me with contemplation once more, before giving a nod of consent.

"She passes."

"Hmph!" the grouch huffed before giving one last dirty look to my direction. "Fine! Go inside and wait for further announcements! Now, scram!"

"Y-yes, sir!" I loudly exclaimed before hurrying off, my heart drumming against my ribcage like a pounding instrument.

I didn't know why, but for some reason, I was... happy.

~.::.~.::.~.::.~

A week after the whole entrance exams, a different group of people entered the barracks. It wasn't another exam, or anything; it was a small team of people coming in to take each person who had passed the exams a measure for their uniforms.

Out of the five hundred who entered the barracks, only more than two hundred had remained after passing while the others were simply led out of the city, having to wait another six months until it was time to try their luck again.

Women and men were separated for obvious reasons, but both genders had to split in three sections to make the work more easier for the staff.

The shortest people would be measured first, the average-height bunch second, and the tallest crowds last. I was grouped in with the short group, the whole thing over after a few simple instructions.

The process took an entire day because of how small the group was and how many men and women there were. After a small meal time in the barrack's serving area that acted as a sort of cafeteria, I hurried to the bathhouse to hurriedly clean up and get dressed for the night.

A big advantage to living in the barrack's was the indoor plumbing. I shuddered remembering living back in the Rukon district, having to go do my dirty business in some dug up hole somewhere near the back of the crappy shack I lived in. And I remembered how chilled I was when I complained to Asuka how I needed to take a bath badly, and I ended up being silenced when she told me a lot of women ended up being caught and raped by groups of men because the woman simply tried to bathe in a nearby river.

The only means of cleaning was using a wood bucket full of murky water, a soap, and a ragged washcloth to wipe the water all over myself. It was a horrible experience I never wanted to go through again.

When I learned that there was two separate bathhouses for men and women, I, along with many others, were ecstatic to bath in the warm, full waters that washed away the dirt, grime, and unwanted fleas/lice found on our bodies. I was a bit embarrassed to be naked around a bunch of women, but I was willing to overlook it in favor of taking a nice, warm bath that ended with me smelling like a freshly cleaned fabric.

I would never again not show appreciation every time I use a bathroom.

With Gekko having kindly paid my tuition, I was going to build my own money and use it to have a house built for both Asuka and Asako. I wanted them to live a comfy life where they shouldn't be afraid of people breaking through their home, and that they could take their time bathing in their own home without the threat of being attacked.

I wasn't doing this for me, I was doing this for them.

With that, I finished my bath just as the women were coming in to have theirs, and I went straight for the books resting on my bed. Even after the lessons were done with, I still read and learned more and more about Japanese literature. Most had already stopped, but I would see some still taking advantage of the books before having to turn them in when we would all leave for the Academy.

When every woman settled into their beds and it was time for lights out, I tucked the books away and settled into bed.

Three days from now, my future would begin.

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. . . can you hear?

. . . wait for. . .

. . . I'm calling. . .

. . . waiting. . .

. . . for me.