Hiatus? What hiatus? Sorry about that... school has been pretty hard lately. I (and my co-author) are going to try and continue posting/writing over the next few weeks despite the fact that finals are coming up. We have quite a few chapters already written, so those will be posted once a week.

Thanks for reading! Reviews will be much appreciated - we are open to criticism as well. Thanks again!


Chapter 6

Alex's P.O.V.

February 28th

I charged with my sword raised high above my head. Once I was around five feet away from him, he disappeared. Spinning around in confusion, I felt a push from behind me, tossing me to the ground. I groaned in anger and stood up. Toshiro was few feet away from me, grinning like an idiot. Running at him again, he disappeared and I spun around swinging my sword. I heard the clashing of metal as our blades hit each other.

"You are adapting quickly. That's good," he complimented.

We battled like this for a few more hours, taking turns attacking and defending. By the end, I felt confident that I could take down a hollow on my own. I panted heavily and bent over to catch my breath. This is a lot harder than I thought. I'm fucking tired.

"Okay, that is enough physical training today. Now we will try to get you to release your sword into shikai mode. This takes a lot of concentration. Shall we begin?"

I nodded my head. Hmm… What does he mean by release my sword? And what is a shikai? I guess I will find out soon. I hope it's something flipping awesome that I can use to become THE RULER OF WORLD! Or maybe it's a lame power that won't be very useful like calculus. I will never need to know what the vertical asymptote of a graph is in the future! Why do they teach us that? I glanced around and noticed I had been pacing around and thinking to myself for a while. Toshiro was just standing under a tree shaking his head in disappointment.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought!" I yelled over to him.

"I could tell." He sighed. "Now sit."

I did as was asked of me and put my sword in my lap. I raised my hand. "Teacher! What story are you telling today?" I asked in a child's voice. I could see the annoyance written all over his face.

"I am not your teacher. Now listen-"

I cut him off. "You're right. You're too short to be my teacher," I snickered.

He ignored my comment and continued. "The first step is making a connection with your sword or zanpakutou. Each zanpakutou is its own being that becomes part of your soul."

"Okay, so how do I make that connection?"

"Close your eyes and let the world drift away. Focus all of the energy you feel around you onto your zanpakutou."

I shut my eyes and, soon enough, all of the sounds and smells that were once surrounding me were gone. Although my eyes were closed, I could see swirls of blue energy spiraling around me. I gathered them with my mind and pushed them onto the sword that lay on my lap. Suddenly, the world around me disappeared and I was in a meadow covered in flowers of many different kinds. It was magnificent. If only I'd brought my camera. I would be all over this. Sighing heavilyI stood up and began wandering. Where am I? Why are there so many damn flowers? It's so hard to walk when the grass and flowers are up to my knees. Ahead of me, I saw a dark forest. I would normally avoid the scary woods, but I could feel something calling me from deep inside it. Slowly, I crept up to edge of the tree line. I peered in to see if it seemed dangerous but it checked out. Each step I took in the forest made the feeling of someone calling me become stronger and stronger.

I traveled through the forest until a small pond came into view. Standing on the top of the water was a woman more beautiful than I had ever seen before. She had long flowing blonde hair that cascaded down her back like soft waves of the ocean. Her dress was the color of the water on which she stood, small waves splashed around her feet. As I neared the pond, I noticed that her dress was actually made out of water and it flowed down her body like a waterfall. She stretched her hand out towards me as if beckoning me.

"Hello Alex. Come here," she commanded in a soothing, melodic voice.

Normally, I would have been a lot more cautious than I was but she made me feel safe and I understood that I could trust her. Without thinking, I stepped on to the pond. OH, SHIT! I shut my eyes and waited for the splash and feeling of water around me, but nothing happened. I opened one eye and saw that I was standing on the water. Opening the other eye, I saw the woman before me. I jumped back a little in surprise. When did she get there? I am standing on water! This is so cool! If I weren't so freaked out right now I would definitely be having some fun with this. My thoughts spiraled around my mind, terrified, curious, and ecstatic. Then I remembered the woman. I snapped out of my thoughts and decided to inquire about her.

"Umm… who are you?" I asked, unsure of myself.

Her blue eyes sparkled in the sun as if they were their own bodies of water. She looked even more beautiful up close and seemed to be about ten years older than me. She smiled gracefully at me as she answered my question.

"My name is…" was all she said before I was jolted back to reality. I hyperventilated as I searched for some clue to where I was. I began to calm down when I saw those turquoise eyes staring into mine. I realized that I was in his arms and scrambled out of them to hide the blush that was rapidly consuming my face.

"Are you okay? Did you learn the name of your zanpakutou?" he questioned.

"No. I was pulled out before I could get her name."

"Well, that's fine. That just means that you weren't ready yet. We will just continue your physical training for now."

I nodded and we started our sparring match again.

In no time, a week had flown by. Everyday, after school, Toshiro and I would head over to the forest to train. I never did attempt to go to my inner world again. After training one night, I collapsed on my bed, my entire body aching. I groaned as I tossed and turned on my soft bed before darkness overtook my vision. Faintly, I remembered someone whispering goodbye to me and softness touching my forehead. Sitting up quickly I glanced at the clock. I am late! Why didn't Toshiro wake me up like usual? I sprinted out to the living room where I was going to give that short little bastard a piece of my mind when I noticed he wasn't there.

"Toshiro?" I called out cautiously.

No reply…

A single piece of paper lay on my kitchen table. I picked it up and read the neat writing that was sprawled across it.

Dear Alex,

I have gone back to soul society. I trust that my training will come in handy when protecting yourself and the citizens of Kankura town. Hopefully someday our paths will cross again, but, until then, this is good bye. I had an amazing time with you and I hope we can see each other again. If you have any questions regarding your abilities, find someone with the name of Urahara Kisuke. He should help you when controlling your powers.

Goodbye,

Toshiro

I read the letter three times before everything clicked in my head. Collapsing on the ground, I felt a few tears glide down my face. He was the first true friend I had found since Victoria left. That day I didn't go to school; instead, I went out and put the training he had given me to good use as I hunted hollows mercilessly, earning the nicknameBlue Chibi throughout the hollow world.

Victoria's P.O.V.

March 3rd

I sat with my legs crossed on the floor of my dorm room. I held my black-handled zanpakutou in my hands and tried to ignore the sound of sparring students.

Concentrate, Victoria. Concentrate.

A herd of students ran past my door. I felt the vibration of their heavy feet thumping on the hard wood floors and realized that this was exactly why no one ever got anything done in the dorms.

Ignore them. Focus. Try to make the cool zanpakutou thing happen.

I tried for several more minutes before gritting my teeth in frustration. An hour had already passed and I felt like I was getting nowhere. "It takes time, ya know," my tutor had told me. "Ya hav'ta be patient."

Screw patience. This is ridiculous. How long does it normally take for zanpakutou to talk and stuff?

"Answer me, damn you," I muttered. Still sitting down, I grabbed my sword and pointed it to the ceiling. I had already used it in training a lot. The mock fights I could do, unlike Kido. I swished the blade around, sheathed it, then stood up. I plopped onto my bed(western style – no futon for me) and snuggled into my fuzzy blanket.

Hinamori had gone on a mission or something and Jen was with her friends. I had no one to hang out with for the whole day.

This is why you have nothing to do, Victoria. You have two friends in soul society. Alex is still in the human world doing human things like attending school.

I burrowed into my pillow in self-loathing. I had many acquaintances but no close friends other than Alex, and she was in a different world. I knew I needed to act friendlier to people and I knew that I wouldn't survive by myself. Time was different in soul society and I needed people who would age at the same rate as me. The thought of finally being able to return to the human world only to see that Alex had aged and died terrified me.

It had been over a month and a half since I'd last seen her. A lot could have happened and I wouldn't know about it.

What if she gets a boyfriend?

I chuckled to myself. Alex with a boyfriend. What an interesting thought. If she did get one, though, he better not be a douche.

If he breaks her heart I'll have to leave soul society to beat the shit out of him and give him a good talking to. He'll have to be kinda short though… Alex is only 5 feet tall and he needs to be in the kissing zone… Hmm…

At 5'6", I was half a foot taller than Alex. It was an accomplishment I was proud of even though I sometimes had to reach things for her.

Many guys here in soul society weren't at all bad-looking. Some of them were quite attractive. Unfortunately, there were a couple problems.

One: competition. There were a lot of other girls here, many of which were gorgeous.

Two: ranking. I was a student. They had actual jobs.

Three: age. I was eighteen. These people were, like, 100 or older. I don't know about other soul reapers, but I didn't really want to be interested in someone who was quintuple my age.

Four: personalities. There were some soul reapers here with extreme personalities, and most of them were absolutely terrifying.

These problems narrowed down my choices to no one.

Dammit, Victoria. Get your shit together. YOU will have plenty of time to date in the future. When you are 200, you will look like you're in your twenties. It's all good. It's all good in the hood.

I sat up and grabbed my zanpakutou. With my determination to talk to my zanpakutou renewed, I put on my great "shit is going to get done" face and drew my sword. I crossed my legs and narrowed my eyes at the stubborn blade.

Say something, please.

Five minutes.

Can you talk or will you talk?

Ten minutes.

Talk to me, dammit.

Thirty minutes.

I swear to everything, if you don't say something soon I'm going to throw you on the floor.

Forty-five minutes.

Just kidding. I won't throw you.

An hour.

Please… just say one thing…

Two hours.

One thing… that's it… I'll stop bothering you… Just say hi or something… or your name cause that would be incredibly helpful… please…

I sighed and curled up on the floor in defeat. My stomach rumbled and I glanced at my alarm clock. It was already 6:09. Dinner was at 7:00. I forced myself to stand and almost collapsed as the blood rushed to my head. I leaned against the wall as everything came back into focus.

I dejectedly looked at the cold zanpakutou in my hand. Just then, I felt a strange tingly feeling. I froze as the tingly feeling grew stronger and covered my whole body.

In my mind, I began to realize what was happening, but I didn't fully understand until I heard a beautiful voice whisper, Hello.