Rain, Forgive Me

Chapter 7: Test

White lights shone on her gently and were spread over the entire box called a room. This room had a specific name. It contained a desk and a few bookshelves, along with a grandfather clock. The pendulum in the clock swung back and forth in a motion that was almost dizzying. They were almost ready to chime for the end of the hour drew near.

Sometimes lights shining brightly can hurt one's yes but these lights were somehow gentle and illuminated the office perfectly. It was so quiet and still in the room. Neither of the two people in the room said anything for a long period of time.

Riina was one of the people in the office. She looked out the window. It was dark outside, pitch black compared to the light inside. She looked at the clock once more and saw the big hand was on the eleven and the little hand was on the one, indicating that it was almost one a.m. in the morning. Her eyes were watery merely because she had been awoken from her slumber to come down to meet the Captain. The Captain didn't look happy to be awake this late.

She waited until she heard him speak. She hadn't seen him for the past week and a half, not because he was in the hospital, but because she hadn't wanted to see him. She didn't go to the hospital where he was at to visit him nor did she go out of her way to ask how he was. She'd follow his orders and that was all that she would do as his subordinate. That's all she really needed to do.

"Asuka." He said rather quietly. "Thank you for coming at this inconvenient hour."

'Did- did he just say thank you?' Riina simply bowed a little. "It was no problem sir." She lied. Truthfully she didn't want to come but it was an order not a 'come if you want to'. She'd rather be sleeping about now.

"I called you down here to complete a mission. One that just arose to my attention a few hours ago, it is of utmost urgency." The Captain sat at his desk. "Squad six and ten have been assigned to recruit a team to go investigate high spiritual pressures at the edge of the Soul Society. You are to meet the other members as quickly as possible at the South gate."

Riina was shocked. 'Me? Why me? He's gathering a team together to do an important mission and he chose an unseated officer to tag along? It doesn't make any sense!'

"Did you hear me? I said as quickly as possible." He repeated himself, something he did not do often.

"Yes sir!" Riina was snapped back into reality and jolted out of the office into the night. She paused only a moment to take in the surroundings.

Stars were bright this night. Their silver blue light descended unto the surface gently. It created an aura of peace and calm. There were no sounds this night made by people, maybe because it was so late. Yet nature itself was making some noise.

Cicadas buzzed on the trees and crickets chirped. But besides that and the occasional 'hoot' from an owl, the night was quiet.

Riina began to run to the South gate. The gate she had been to the least number of times.

Softly, she breathed and ran in a quiet manner. So soft as not to disturb the peace of the night. With all the serene colors and textures, there was a hue of eeriness. Something about the night that made her feel… uneasy.

She had her zanpakuto at her side. It wasn't fully put away and there was a sliver of silver shining out of it, reflecting the light in the atmosphere. She looked like she belonged with the night. Her dark kimono blended in with blackness. And she tried her best to be as quiet as possible.

The South gate was a pretty good distance away. She wished that she knew flash step so she could get places quicker but she didn't so she stuck to running.

'I- I could always try to flash step! Remember your training.' Riina thought. 'Focus spiritual pressure to the feet. Think about where you want to go, than launch!' She didn't go forward. 'Well it was worth a try.'


Finally she arrived at the gate. There were a few soul reapers gathered there in a circle. They were hard to spot in the darkness. Riina ran up to them almost out of breath but she tried to calm her breathing.

She recognized a few of the people in the group. Some were people from squad six that she had seen around the barracks along with the lieutenant and then there was Rangiku! Riina walked over next to her and was about to ask what was going on when she suddenly got her answer.

"Now that all of the teams have assembled, I'll tell you what this mission is about." Came a strict sounding voice from behind one of the shinigami she didn't recognize.

It was a short guy with white spiked hair. Captain Hitsugaya!

"First off, I'll be leading this mission. Secondly, we're on this mission to see where the high spiritual pressure is coming from. Usually this sort of mission could wait till morning but we just received countless reports of lives being lost because of 'hallows' in the region. Any questions?" He waited for only a second before he answered for everyone, "Alright then follow me."

In an instant, everyone had disappeared. Riina's mouth fell open. 'They all know flash step? All of them but me?' Riina stuck out her hand as if she could grab a hold of them. There was no way she'd be able to keep up with them! Not a chance!

Just as she began to ponder what to do…

"Need a lift?" A red headed man appeared in front of her. His hair looked darker in this lighting.

Riina almost said no but she really did need help. "Sorry. I just don't know how to flash step yet because…"

"Alright you can explain later, come on before we lose them. Get on." Renji instructed.

"Get on where?" She asked. She guessed he was talking about his back since he had turned away from her. Riina jumped up and clung unto his neck.

Renji coughed and tripped backwards holding unto his neck trying to let some air into his lungs. "Do you know how to do anything right?" He quaked in a low voice because he couldn't breathe.

"Sorry." She said and lifted her feet up accidently kicking him in the sides.

"Gah!" He gripped his sides now. "Riina!"

"Sorry…." She was now in the right position to what could be called 'a piggy back ride'. Basically she clung to his shoulders and let her legs fold in front of her around him or at least sort of around him. His waist was too wide so she merely dangled her legs until he caught hold of them and held her body upright.

Then they were off!

"Whoa! Look how fast we're going!" Riina pointed out, she wasn't able to keep track of how many trees they passed in the forest right outside the South gate. But she couldn't look ahead due to his hair and head being in the way. She could only look left and right. "I'm getting dizzy." 'Tree, tree, tree, tree, opening, tree, tree, tree.' Her thoughts rushed trying to keep up with all the scenery.

"Don't you dare throw up on me." He growled.

Riina frowned displeased with her sightseeing progress. 'Tree, tree, tree, tree, stream, tree, tree.' She felt even more woozy then before. Riina had enough of that. She placed her hands on top of his head and wriggled herself up on his shoulders. Renji almost lost balance because of this.

"Stop moving around!"

"Ah, the view is much better up here." She kept her hands on his head to spread apart his spiky hair so she could see.

"This isn't a carnival ride!" Renji huffed.

"It is comfy though." Riina stated and tapped her hands on his head like a drum.

"Stop it!"

"Alright, alright. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." She mumbled.

Renji felt his vein pop from his head. He was about to yell again but decided not to.

They kept running for about ten minutes by that time Riina had fallen asleep.

"Hey wake up." Renji said with an angry tone.

Riina opened her eyes. "Are we almost there?"

"You say that like we've been traveling for hours!"

Riina yawned. "That's what it feels like..."

Suddenly the group ahead stopped.

"Everyone be quiet." The Captain ordered. Riina climbed down from Renji and landed gracefully on the ground.

He took out his zanpakuto quietly, so did everyone else. "Get ready, they're here." He said.

Riina got out her own zanpakuto. The zanpakuto made the sound of sliding metal as she drew it out.

"We're going to split in two. Renji take Hiro, Kaede, Aki and Shuho and head to the east. Everyone else come with me." The Captain ordered. The teams split in two to broaden the search. They ran quietly.

Snap! Riina spun around just in time to block a hallow's attack! There were several other hallows that surrounded the rest of the team as well.

"Good job Riina chan!" Rangiku was also blocking a blow from a hallow.

"You too." Riina struggled but got the hallow back away from her. There were slashing sounds from the team battling with the hallows. Riina jumped up and cut its arm. It roared in pain. More slashing and clinking sounds.

Surprisingly, this hallow was slow and she defeated it easily. "Is that it?" Riina asked no one in particular when she saw the others had cut down their opponents as well.

Just as she said that, the true reason for all the deaths showed up from out of the sky. A flying hallow. It was larger than a five story building and its roar made Riina get wide awake and widen her stance. Its spiritual pressure fumed around its massive skeletal body. It lit the entire area and there was a strong gust of wind around it when it roared. Riina almost lost her footing because of it.

ROOOAARRR! It shrieked. Its loud yell was painful to hear. Riina stood solid this time.

But she was glad there was something worth killing this time. No one moved for some reason. She wondered why then looked where they were looking, to the sky. Several other hallows of the same size and shape landed. Suddenly, Renji's team appeared.

"Looks like you guys could use a hand!" He exclaimed and ran at one of the hallows. Then all the shinigami began to make their moves.

Riina ran ahead of most of them, intending to get a hit on the hallow long before they did. Spiritual pressure flared up in her, white and bright. It was like a light bulb in the night.

She yelled as she spun and thrusted her zanpakuto into one of the being's legs. It's leg ended up being cut off completely by the attack. Others jumped and to strike the arms of some and the other hallows started to counter attack.

Riina wasn't quick enough to dodge one of the counter attacks and was thrown to the ground. She got up quickly though and took a stance again. Captain Hitsugaya had taken down one of the hallow's all by himself and the lieutenants were doing well too. The other unseated officers were about as much help as Riina was while sleeping. In other words they didn't help at all.

Riina wanted to slice down one of the hallows too. So she jumped into the air and brought her zanpakuto down in front of her. But her attack was too direct and the hallow saw it coming the entire time. It knocked her down with its massive claws and she hit the ground pretty hard. "Gahk!" She winced and felt her back ache.

She rolled over slowly and got on her knees.

"Hahaha!" That one she tried to hit began to laugh. "Is that it? You're not fast enough to dodge me soul reaper." It threw its hand down and it was true, she wasn't quick enough to get out of the way. SMASH. Her body got crushed underneath its fist.

She couldn't move. Her whole body ached.

The hallow laughed.

"Riina!" Renji yelled and began to run at her but was stopped by one of the other hallows.

She barely got to her knees. 'I have to move!'

"If you can't move anymore than you'll die!" The hallow yelled and threw down its hand again.

Riina rolled out of the way just by a hair. The surrounding ground, however, gave way! And she was left rolling into a giant crater that the beast had left behind with its force. It roared with laughter again, like it was enjoying this.

'I have to use my shikai! But I can't, there won't be enough time and I'll be left completely defenseless!' Riina thought. 'No, I have to try!'

"Dissipate, Genkaku Shoujou!" She yelled. Her sword began to fade. She stood up weakly.

The hallow clawed at her but she dodged just in time. Then the sword took affect! The being slashed everywhere and even accidently slashed one of the other hallows. But that's all it did, the effects were nearly insignificant.

'No! I thought for sure that would work!' Riina thought as her sword returned to her.

Suddenly, Riina's legs were slashed from underneath her. She fell to the ground bleeding heavily. It felt like her legs were completely cut off! But luckily they were still intact. But it's not like she could use them now anyway.

"Soul reaper, are you ready to die?" It laughed and then prepared to stomp on her and end her puny life.

'I have to move!' Riina told herself but her legs wouldn't move for her. 'No, no!'

Blood splattered on her, purple blood, not her own.

Renji had sliced off the hallow's leg, but out of nowhere, another hallow swung at Renji from behind! Renji was hit because he was off guard. He yelled as he hit the ground.

"Renji!" Riina tried to move. The hallow now had no legs but swung at Riina with its arms.

Riina rolled out of the way, this caused her to only get scratched which was actually quite painful, there were now gaping wounds from her back. Riina looked up. 'What?' She breathed. All the upper ranks were down! Rangiku, Renji, even the Captain! The only ones still fighting were the under seats like herself.

"Guys, what happened?" Riina shouted.

"They're down! I don't know how it happened!" One of the only other girls there said with a terrible trembling in her voice.

"That's impossible!" Riina yelled back.

Then the five hallows that were still alive, including the one in front of Riina, clasped unto each other's shoulders. Their spiritual pressure blew to new heights! Red light came from their massive spiritual pressure and nearly blinded her.

"What's going on?" One of the men asked.

One of the hallow's explained. "We're combining our spiritual pressure for an ultimate attack, one of pure fire. You'll all be burned to a crisp in a matter of seconds."

The bright around them grew stronger and they opened their mouths to let the fire escape from them. The other shinigami flash stepped away.

"What are you guys doing?" Riina yelled, she hobbled up on her feet. "Come back here and get the wounded!"

The fire escaped the monster's lips. All at once it plummeted to her. Riina's eyes widened and in an instant, thoughts flooded to her mind. 'I have to get out of here, but I have to save the others also. I'm too slow I'd never make it! I have to use flash step it's the only way! Otherwise, Renji, Rangiku, Captain Hitsugaya, they'll die!'

Not even a Nano second later; the flames consumed the entire half mile radius. The flames roared high and tunneled over the trees of the forest. It was so bright that the moon's light couldn't shine through it.

The five other shinigami gathered. "Did they…?" One of the males asked.

There was a long pause. The fire toned down a little.

Suddenly a woman appeared next to them in a tiny whirl of wind. She gasped for air. It was the red headed girl named Riina. She had three bodies on her back. "You freak'n cowards!" She nearly screamed and her eyes pierced them. "How could you leave them there in the middle of the battle field? You didn't even know if they were dead or not, you just left them!" Riina panted. The only part on her that was affect by the flames was the back of the hair in her ponytail that appeared to be burned off. Riina placed the heavy bodies on the ground with as much care as she could.

She let down her hair that was now neck length instead of four inches longer when it had been over her shoulders. She threw the burnt pony tail aside. "Don't just stand there, help me check their vitals!" Riina demanded.

"There'll be no need for that." Came Captain Hitsugaya's voice. But it didn't emanate from his body! Riina looked over her shoulder to see him, along with Renji and Rangiku, standing behind her.

All the shinigami gasped including Riina. "What?" One of them asked.

"This battle was test." Captain Hitsugaya said.

"A test?" Riina looked up at them. Then she looked down at the heavy bodies she had carried. She flipped them over to see that they were just dolls.

"Yeah, pretty cool huh?" Renji smiled.

"Test?" Riina clenched her fists together. "I'm hurt and bleeding, my hair is burned off, because this was a test?" Riina stood up and grabbed ahold of Renji's black kimono.

Next thing Riina knew the lieutenant of squad four, Isane, came out. "Don't worry, your wounds are artificial." She said and walked over to Riina. She placed her hand over her head and Riina felt all better.

Then Isane went to each of the shinigami and did the same procedure.

Riina looked down at her hands and felt her hair, that was now back in a ponytail, everything was back to normal. She felt no pain. "Are you kidding me?" She scruffed her hair.

"It's a highly elaborate test to see which new officers are to be promoted to a seat position." Hitsugaya explained. "The hallows you were all battling were dummies. Their spiritual pressure was a simulation."

"You look good with short hair Riina!" Rangiku smiled.

Riina narrowed her eyes. She refused to loosen her death grip on Renji's kimono.

"I suggest you all go home and get some rest." Captain Hitsugaya began to walk away. Rangiku waved at Riina and quickly followed him. Riina let go of Renji, swinging her hand away dramatically. "What a cruel test." She said loud enough for everyone to hear.

Then she turned away and disappeared. The good thing though, she had learned flash step.


'What a stupid, stupid test. I risked everything, or what I thought was everything, for them. It was all just a test. And what about those cowards who were with me, they didn't do anything to help!' Riina complained in her thoughts. No, to say it was complaining was too little of a word, she was raging about it.

She entered her dorm, only to toss things in her room around till a few of them were busted and clothes lay on the floor. She went to sleep almost immediately because of how tired she was. She was still upset at that time though.


"Promoted?" Riina lifted her head.

"After I received the results from the test I've decided that you will be promoted." Captain Kuchiki said.

Riina had woke up that morning to go to his office and collect the usual paperwork, when she heard about this. Here hair was a mess and there were heavy bags under her eyes. She was exhausted from last night.

Her eyes widened with surprise. "Seriously?" She then corrected her improperness. "I mean, thank you sir!"

"You're now a seated officer. 18th seat of squad six." Captain Kuchiki placed a pin in front of her on his desk.

Riina picked up the small pin that every seated officer was to wear and put it on the inside of her kimono. "Thank you again." Riina bowed and ran out of his office with a smile on her face. Going through all that trouble last night was worth it!

"RENJI, RENJI, RENJI!" Riina shouted and jumped on him from behind. He nearly fell over.

"What, what is it?" Renji looked around concerned. He thought that the girl was frightened of something.

"I GOT PROMOTED!" Riina squealed. She was on his back and wriggled up to his shoulders. She looked over his head and smiled cutely. Her red hair draped down over her and dangled in front of his face.

"Why are you on me?" He looked a little annoyed. "I hope you don't make a habit of that."

"DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME? I WAS PROMOTED!" Riina said for the second time.

"Yeah I heard ya. Congrats." He said, "You know what though, you're still weak compared to me. If you ever want to surpass me then you're gonna have to train more."

"What? I'm the stronger one here. We both know that." Riina said knowingly and looked ahead.

Renji burst out laughing, "You?"

"Yes. Me." She smiled. She scrambled off of Renji, causing him to almost loose balance again. Riina fell to the ground, literally. She tumbled and fell on her back. She got up quickly and brushed herself off. "Anyway, I must go tell the world of my great achievement." She put her fist into the air with confidence, "Look out world! Riina Asuka will beat you all!"

Then she flash stepped away.

Renji slumped, "Yeah..."


'I can't believe this!' Riina's smile was carved into her face and it wouldn't go away. 'After years of training, it all just finally clicked!' Riina was referring to her academy days when she was training for years to accomplish flash step. When she was accepted into the Gotei thirteen, she had failed so many times that she stopped training for awhile. But then, just last night, everything made sense! She had achieved flash step.

She was overly prideful of her small achievement but who was to say that it was a bad thing? She was confident, just like she used to be in her academy days, and that was what felt the best.

Woosh! Everything flew past her. She looked ahead and giggled with sheer joy. It was like flying, this feeling. Like she was too fast for anyone to stop her. Of course that's just how she felt. She actually knew for a fact that she could go even faster if she trained.

Riina was ecstatic just being able to do this task. "Bring it on, world, I'll take on everyone!" Just at that moment she tripped and fell into the dirt. Her face implanted into the dust and her legs folded up in the air.

"Mhmhmhph!" Riina mumbled into the dirt. She brought her head up and spat everywhere trying to get the dirt out of her mouth. "Curse you world!" She glared at the sky as if the world was laughing at her, showing her overzealous pride was bad. "I'll say what I want, no matter how many times you trip me!" She waved her fist in the air.

She felt like she was being watched, she quickly glanced over her shoulder. "C-CAPTAIN HITSUGAYA?" Riina stood up quickly. She looked around her noticing she had fallen into the squad ten barracks. She began to wonder what she had tripped on. Then she remembered the little Captain was there.

He looked annoyed to say the least. Or maybe that look on his face told her that she was ridiculous.

She bowed her head, "I'm sorry sir! I ruined your peaceful morning, didn't I?" She looked back up. "No need to say it, I know I'm horrible! I'll just leave you alone now!" Riina blabbed and then ran off.

Hitsugaya didn't move. The same look on his face. Then he continued his morning walk.


"RANGIKU!" Riina ran up to the lieutenant. "I GOT PROMOTED!" Riina just had to tell everybody, and when she meant everyone, she actually just meant the two people she knew.

Rangiku turned around and smiled patting the girl on the head. "Oh really good! Oh, your hair is messed up." Rangiku almost untied her ponytail.

"Not now Rangiku! This is more important!" Riina jumped up and down. "G-guess w-what s-seat I g-g-ot!" Riina's voice changed in pitch and broke whenever she landed and rebounded off the ground. Her red hair bounced with her body.

"Hmm… tenth?" Rangiku guessed.

Riina stopped jumping, "Well great now I feel bad." Riina frowned. Her pride a little lessened. "G-guess a-again!" Riina jumped up and down. She took the jumping very seriously, like she was doing a work out of some kind.

"Twenty?" Rangiku put a finger to her lip.

"I'm not that incompetent." Riina stopped jumping and flung a bang out of her face. "Actually 18th!"

"Oh good, can I fix your hair now?"

"Rangiku!" Riina frowned and pursed her lips. She looked like a little kid. Which she kind of was…

"Okay, okay. Sorry." She giggled thinking this was funny.

Riina didn't find it funny.

It was the middle of the day and Riina stayed with her new friend for a while longer. But before long, Riina went to Captain Kuchiki's office, she had been called in to do a mission. She was curios whether this was a real mission or if it was just a test.

'I hope it's a real mission.' Riina thought. 'I don't think I could handle another test…'