I suck so much, I'm SOOO sorry for taking this long! Writer's Block was so horrible to me;n; But I'm back again with the next chapter:D But do know that I actually still had Writer's Block when I wrote this chapter, and there's only ONE reason why I didn't let myself sleep when I usually do (which is around 2:00 A.M. when my compter freezes. It ALWAYS freezes around 2 AMD:), which I will tell you at the end of the chapter:3 Thank you all who reviewed!
On a side note, though these songs may have abosolutely nothing with ROTDD, I was listening to some soundtracks from video games (mainly Legend of Zelda. God I love that). Hm, insperation can strike anywhere, I guess...
Disclaimer: As much as I want to, I don't own Bleach;n; But that doesn't stop me from drawing Chappy everywhere:D
~Chapter 8: Learning in Strange Ways~
Fire of all shades of red, yellow, and orange flared around her. They surround her, touch her skin, but don't leave a burn, as if it was only a leave falling from its tree. She stands there, waiting for the part of her soul that lets her be strong, that lets her defend herself and, if necessary, others.
The area she is in is one of pure destruction; no life lives among these lands, as flames reach across them with their fury. The sky is invisible from the eye's vision, for they are replace by the black smoke emitting from the fires.
Then, the dancing flames slowly start to come together, forming a magnificent sight to behold. First its firey claws, all four of them, position themselves into a stance. Then its glorious flaming wings spread out, only to flap once and settle down on it body, its tail swooshing up and down with them. Finally, its head appears, horns like a demon's sprouting upwards. Spikes flared down its spine, ending at the point of the tail. Its eyes are ruby red, shining with the light of fire.
The female looked upwards and stared into those jewels, saying nothing, not having to say anything to the dragon in front of her.
Said beast slowly wrapped its wings around the woman, enshrouding her from any kind of misfortune.
"Kagi-chaaaaan..."
She put her hand on one of the dragon's powerful thighs, rubbing it with a care not normally shown.
She sighed contently.
"Come oonnnnnn..."
She laid her back down on the majestic beast's leg and slowly closed her eyes-
"Wake up!"
"Gah!" Kagiaka exclaimed as she fell from her previous position.
"Kiroii," the female growled out to the blond, "why would ya do that? Couldn't ya see tha' I was meditatin'?"
"Sorry, Kagi-chan~," Kiroii chirped, "But you know that we have to get ready. This is the day where we have to teach those students!"
"I know that! But couldn' I a' least have a lil' relaxin' before dealin' with those brats?" the red head retorted, putting herself back into her previous kneeling seat.
"Now Kagiaka, you know that isn't fair. Why should you get more rest while the students are most likely going to come in here in a few moments?" Mizuburu said, walking into the room in which Kagiaka will be doing her sessions; a dojo-like room that had wooden swords lined across the walls, and also having much space for practice.
The red haired woman sighed and leaned over her knees*, rubbing hers hands over her face as a way to try to relieve herself of an incoming headache. She eventually leaned back, putting her weight on her arms as she looked up at the wood ceiling above her.
'Wonder how they're doin'...'
As they walked down the long hallway belonging to that of the Academy, Toshiro let his eyes wander a bit, trying to see if there were any sort of markings that would help him nabigate around the maze-like building, only spotting subtle differences in the floors, such as small spots. So engrossed in finding them that he had just barely stopped when all the other students did.
"Alright, we are now inside the dormitories," announced Arata. He turned around and then continued with, "When I call your name, you are to come to the front. Whoever is called after you will be your roommate for the time you will be here. Understood?
"Now, Aiko Daisuke, Hitoshi Ichirou, and Toshiro Hitsugaya, this will be your-"
"What?" Daisuke asked, though it coming out more as an excamtion than anything, "You mean to tell me that I have to share a room with these slugs? That is more than demeaning for someone of my status!"
"Be quiet!" Arata yelled, shutting the young man up quickly, "If you are in such high status, you would know not to complain about what you don't like! These "slugs," as you call them, seem to know that better than you do. Now, stop whining and go inside your dorm," he turned to Ichirou and Toshiro, "Same for you two as well, go inside and get settled in. As for the rest of you, follow me."
Everyone did as they were told, some snickering along the way down the hallway. As the three got inside the rather spacious room with three beds, dressers and one window, Daisuke instantly faced the other two occupants of the room.
"How dare you two humiliate like that!" he screamed at them, "First you try to come here with your dirty selves, and now this!"
"Well," Ichirou stated, "I'm sorry that we made the the lil' child mad, but we did nothing to you to make you act as you did. That was all you."
"You insolate little rat!" the blond shouted, "Do you know how insulting it is to have a member of a noble family share the same room as people like you?"
"Do you know how annoying you're being right now," Ichirou retorted, "How about you listen to the instructer and stop complaining?" So you didn't get what you want. Big deal, it's not like anyone's going to care anyway. From the way you act it would seem like you wuold be ignored in general."
"Would you both be quiet?" Toshiro said, gaining the shocked attention of both males as they gazed at the figure laying on the bed closest to the window, reading some sort of paper. "If you are going argue, please be more quiet about it."
Daisuke had opened his mouth to say something back, but Toshiro was able to talk first, "Besides, shouldn't you two start preparing for tomorrow?" He then waved the paper, which was now revealed to be a schedual for the classes, he was reading previously side to side, "The first class we have is Zanjutsu, and you two remember what she said she would do to us when we got there, don't you?"
Both males' eyes widened, and they immediately became silent.
Toshiro remembered what had transpired the day before clearly, and he was gaining the same headache he had when they were fighting all over again as he and other students tried to find the nessecary classes they needed to be in, now being clad in the blue version of the academy uniform.
...Here...
Toshiro turned to the shouji door and opened it, finding that this was the correct door.
Zanjutsu.
Truthfully, he, along with others, was a little frightened by what the instructer had said to them. And the simple thing that had caused her to say it. As he walked in, he noticed that said instructer was not present in the room. Strange, was he early?
'No, that be it,' Toshiro thought as he looked around, seeing all the other students present, 'It's highly unlikely that everyone was ahead of time. Where is she?'
Crack! Crack!
"Wow, tha' feels betta," the accented voice rang out, as Kagiaka walked out of a door over at the far side of the room, rolling her shoulders out as she did.
Toshiro noticed that she didn't have the swords he first saw on her, but instead had a practice one.
She looked at the surprised faces of her pupils, and sent a look of confusion back at them. "What?" she simply asked.
"Um," one person said, "why are you, um-"
"Oh!" Kagiaka cut in, "I was talkin' ta some otha' teachas back in there, so tha' was why 'm a bit late," she explained. "But that'doesn't matta! What mattas is that I teach y'all the way o' da sword.
"Ya see them swords ova there, ova by da wall? Grab da one that feels da most fittin'. Then stamd where ya think ya got enough room. Got it?"
Everyone noddd their heads and did as she had told them. Toshiro looked at the bamboo swords in front him. Most of them looked to be too heavy for him to even lift from the rack, let alone practice with. But he saw one that caught his interest. He grabbed the long make-shift sword.
'Not too heavy to where I can't move, and not too light to where it would break from someone's brute force. Feels strong, and the hilt is the perfect size,' Toshiro mentally said as he swong the sword a bit. Though it struck him as strange as to how good it was for him, even for a training sword. 'Almost as ifit were made for me...'
He shook the thought from his head. 'No, that can't be. They couldn't have possibly have been able to do that.' And with that in mind, he went back to where he was previously.
Kagiaka smirked a bit to herself, and, after everyone had gotten thier sword, said to them, "Alright, 'oped ya picked good, cuz' that's the sword yer gonna keep for da rest of da time yer wit' meh."
Toshiro, along the everyone else, were shock to hear this. "Why is that, Chikara-sensei?" Ichirou was the one to ask the question they all had in mind.
All Kagiaka answered with was, "You'll see when ya get to yer otha classes. But right now, just focus on this one. Now," she grabbed the bamboo sword strapped to her side, "Fer now 'm gonna teach ya about stances and postions, and we'll go inta actual swordfighting la-"
"Why should we do that?" Daisuke suddenly said.
The class was silent.
"Excuse me?" the red head asked, all traces of her accent gone, "Would you care to explain what you mean by that?"
'She's seems more threating when she talks like that,' Toshiro noted, noticing the many scared faces around him. He himself was a little nervous.
"I mean," Daisuke stated, appearing to not let her tone get to him, "Wh ycan't we just go into the fighting? Why do some useless routines. We're only ever going to use Zanjutsu for combact anyway."
Kagiaka pinched the bridge of her nose, before saying, "Fine. Alright. If you think that you don't need these useless routines, then how about we test you then? See if you really don't need them."
Daisuke should have known that she was baiting him in, Toshiro will later think. But now he watched as the blond raised his sword and walked over to her. "Fine." was his answer.
Any novice could tell right from the start who was going to win. While Daisuke stood with his feet wide apart, Kagiaka slightly sifted her right foot back, putting most of her weight on that foot. Daisuke blindly charged at her, raising his sword above his head to the point where his would-be blade is completely behind his head. Kagiaka calmly stood where she was, not miving a musle. When Daisuke brought the sword down on her, she quickly put her own where his was. She easily pushed him back, the struck him at the side. He yelped, and he let go of the bamboo weapon. She struck him again, this time at his legs, and succeeded in making him fall. She grabbed Daisuke by the back of his uniform and held her sword to his neck.
"Your legging was terrible.," she said, loud enough for everyone to hear, "It leaves you extremely open. Your charge was awful as well. Any fool knows that you shouldn't have your blade in a spot where you can't defend yourself easily. It left you head, torso, and legs open for attack. If I were an enemy right now, you would have been long dead long before I got you where you are now."
Every perosn, save for Kagiaka herself, were shocked at the display of skill she had just shown them.
She pushed the blond away from her, with him crawling back to his spot, ashamed.
"Now," she said, "anymore objections to my teaching style?"
Silence.
"Good. First off, securely grip da hilt of da sword with both hands..."
Toshiro filed out of the classroom with his peers, trying to get some feeling back into his musles. Chikara-sensei did not kid around with her Zanjutsu training. She watched everyone like a hawk does its prey, looking for even the slightest mistake. Doing anything wrong would have her shouting to either start from the begining, or do numerous execises, if the mistake was large enough. Toshiro had managed to do decent enough to not get the exercises, but nowhere near good enough to not start over.
And over.
And over.
He had finally got the numbness out of his arms when he had finally realized something. He didn't know where the Kido class was.
'Strange,' Toshiro thought, 'I found the Zanjutsu room with no problems...'
He kept walking around, trying to find the door that lead into his required destination.
"Shiro-chan!"
Toshiro tensed, and turned around to the voice that called him, only to have Momo glomp him, causing both of them to fall.
"Nnngh! Hinamori! What-"
"Oh wow Shiro-chan, I heard that you entered the academy, but I didn't think that I would find you this quickly!" Momo all but shouted, hugging him tighter. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with Obaa-san? I thought you said you didn't want to be a shinigami? Did you-"
"Hinamori!" Toshiro exclaimed, "Let go of me! And stop calling me that!"
"Oh, come on, Shiro-chan," the peach insisted, "I haven't seen you in awhile! And besides, today's my birthday, so can't I call you that without backtalk atleast for today?"
Toshiro backtracked a bit. 'Idiot, how could I forget!'
He sighed. "I guess-"
"Yay!" Momo cheered, jumpingup and down in pure excitement. She realized what she was doing, and stopped soon after. She chuckled a bit before saying, "Went a little overboard there, didn't I?"
Toshiro only nodded. 'I guess it has been quite a while...'
"But anyway Shiro-chan, what are you doing wandering around, shouldn't you be classes now?" Momo asked with curiousity.
It was then that Toshiro remembered where he was needed to go to. "W-Well," he started, feeling like an idoit for not knowing where he is, "I...don't know where the Kido room is..."
"Oh, you're lost?" a nod, "Well, as a matter of fact, we're pretty close to th Kido room. I'll take you, if you want."
Toshiro thought to disagree, but then decided against it, knowig that she migh try the 'birthday' trick to make him go with her anyway. "Fine."
"Great!" she said. She started to go, with him following, and as she went, she talked about the many things that happened to her that she couldn't tell him before.
"You wouldn't believe it, Shiro-chan! During my first day, I was sitting under a tree studying, and all of a sudden someone falls right next to me! He had red hair pullled into a really spikey ponytail. He's Renji...
"...and then I accidentally ran into this guy. I looked up to apologize, but he was practically on his knees saying sorry. I told him that it was my fault, and after a bit of talking, he introduced himself as Izuru-
"Oh, here it is!" Momo finally said, catching Toshiro's attention.
'That sure was a long walk considering it was supposed to close to us,' Toshiro mused as Momo opened a door, revealing the outside, with a wooden porch-like area.
"Good luck," Momo whispered in his ear, before leaving to her own classes.
"Ah, Hitsugaya-kun, glad you could make it," Mizuburu said to him as he walked towards the class, "You barely missed anything. The only thing you didn't see was me...disciplining, this young man here." she pointed to where Daisuke was leaning against the wall, holding his injuried arm. "He thought he could try to perform Kido without the proper preparations."
Toshiro only rolled his eyes at the "noble"'s stupidity.
"I heard that he had a similar experience with his last class. It seems that he has to get things beaten into him to learn." She turned to the hurt blue-eyed male. "But trust me Aiko-kun, your future enemies will be more than glad to "teach" you. Do you understand?"
"...Yes, Chie-sensei," Daisuke said.
She nodded, and said to the rest of her group of pupils, "Now that the mojority of you have seen what will happen if you do not, know the amount of control you have over your reiatsu before trying to release a spell. We are not going to go straight into spells yet. First, you need to learn how to calm yourself before doing Kido.
"For now, try to maintain your reiatsu into a ball of itself in your hand. Do not be disappointed if you can't do it the first time. It takes practice to do this."
Toshiro closed his eyes and did that. He tried to connect with his spiritual pressure, went deep inside himself to find it.
He ignored the slight pain in his head.
She slowly stood up, and drew the sword slung across her back.
"Mugen no mizu no tōketsu*, Tsumetai Ryuu." she whispered.
He went deeper, until he found an icy cold power radiating, glowing, shining.
He didn't notice the shadowy figure walk past him, smirking, his red eyes shimmering.
Mizuburu put her sword back into its place on her back. The students wouldn't know what hit them.
They would never see that they were frozen, water dripping down their cold bodies.
But that didn't matter right now. Right now what mattered was that he was starting to show.
And that Toshiro was about to release his reiatsu.
"Bakudo no Hachiju-Ichi, Danku!"
Toshiro stepped into the source of power.
Everything flashed by-no, through him.
He felt everything.
Then there was nothing.
"Bakudo no Rokuju, Rikujokoro!"
The six blinding rods attached themselves to the boy just as he had opened his eyes.
His black-coated eyes.
The blast of power nearly released nearly blew the blue haired woman bacl, but she managed to stand her ground.
"So, you seem to be growing quite fast," Mizuburu commented, "You've already lost your Chi no Me*."
"Well, I can't just sit back and watch lil' Shiro-chan grow up without me, can I?" he retorted.
"Oh? What ever do you mean?"
"Stop it. You know what I'm talking about. Oh wait, no you don't. I do believe you're not quite old enough to understand. I'm sure Kagiaka and Kiiroi could help you with that."
"I've heard about you, in very least. Is it true that Master-"
"Yes. This one was truely special. Can barely believe it myself."
"Ah."
"Now, would you be so kind as to release me from this? You're Kido is particularly difficult to escape from."
"How kind of of you to say that. But I'm afraid I can't, not with all these people around anyway. You should know that-
"Yes, yes, But still, it has been a long while since of been able to do anything. The most fun I've had was five years ago, and that was only a few idiotic children. You can't blame me for wanting to leave."
"Yes, I understand what your grounds are, but I just can't let you go. Look up."
He did as she asked, and saw how the light seemed to reflect off something that wasn't there in the sky. He also saw the ice that was creeping up invisible walls.
"Hm, interesting. Your Kido seems to be able to hold up against the ice." he then looked around, seeing the students trapped in ice, "Though it appears your reiatsu is somewhere amongst the same as-"
Mizuburu then started to walk towards the white haired child. Once she got there she put her hands on both sides of his face.
"Ah, so you're not giving me a choice to stay or not, are you?"
She tilted his head so that his eyes would match with hers. She closed her eyes only to open them again, only with them having the same pitch black sclera as the child in front of her.
Blue connected with turquoise as they both glowed. He could feel himself lose consciousness, but before he went away, he uttered one last sentence to Mizuburu.
"He will go with an ending like yours..."
And then he was gone.
Confused.
Afraid.
Cold.
These were coming all at once.
Then...
They all went away.
Wake up...
And so he did.
Mizuburu watched with amusemant as each and every person in front of her shivered, some rubbing their hands up and down their arms to try and get warmer.
She also saw how Toshiro looked dazed, sleepy even. He rubbed against his mid-section, most likely confused as to how a possible ache from the Rikujokoro got there.
She closed her eyes halfway, suddenly not feeling very awaker either. What he had said to her didn't make her feel very well.
"He will go with an ending like yours."
She sighed, but opened her eyes fully, looking at her temporary underlings. "Oh, I see none of you has managed to make one. Better luck next time, to all of you. And Daisuke," he looked up to her, "I took the liberty to take a look at your schedule, and it says that you will be attending Kiiroi Yuki next. Please do not show what you have to me and your previous instructure. I doubt she will leave you with anything less than a black eye if you cross her.
"Well, it is time for you all to leave now. Please do take care of yourselves!"
Toshiro dragged himself from the Kido class, being considerably slower than the rest of his classmates. Ichirou, seeing him like this, offered to help him to the infermary, but Toshiro had declined. Yes, for some reason he was drop-dead tired, but that doesn't excuse him from his classes. He needed to learn how to control his power! He couldn't do that while sleeping.
So it was with that determination that he went on the try and find the Hakuda and Hoho class. 'Now, where is it?'
"Hey!"
Toshiro turned around to face Momo, who was coming down the hallway, waving her arm in the air.
When she finally got to him, she smiled her breath-taking smile, only for it to drop and turn to a frown when she saw the condition of her friend.
"Hey, Shiro-chan, are you okay? You don't look too good..." she said, a worried look covering her face.
Toshiro rubbed his eyes, answering with, "Yeah Bed-Wetter, I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all."
"Are you sure about that?" Momo went on, "What happened?"
"Nothing," Toshiro replied, "I'm just fine."
"Hmmm. Nope. Don't look it."
Despite his drowsiness, he, and Momo, both jumped at the sudden appearance of a blond woman.
Toshiro, after recovering, looked up and reconized her.
"Y-Yuki sensei!"
"Um, excuse me, but who are you?" Momo asked.
"Oh right, you wouldn't know me would you? You're a fifth year right?" after Momo's nod she continued, "Well, I'm the new Hakuda and Hoho sensei, Kiiroi Yuki. And you," she quickly spun around and pointed to Toshiro, "A kid told me that you didn't look too hot. Some Ichigo* or something. Anyway, I came to check for myself, and he was right. You should check yourself out with the nurses, just to be safe, alright?"
"But Ma'am-!"
"No!" Kiiroi exclaimed. She sighed and crouched downto his level, "Look, I know you're young, I know people'll doubt you, and I know that resting in on the first day might not help you anyway with the first two complications. But don't risk your health, alright? You're body is still that of a child, and if you get something messed up early on, you're going severely regret it later. You get it?"
Toshiro nodded.
"Good!" she stood up and said to them, "Well, I have to go now."
She mumbled to herself, "Heard there's this kid who's causing a bunch of problems with his teachers. Oh, I better prepare for the worst..."
Momo decided to interrupt her, "Uh, Ma'am, we can hear you..."
She shot her head up, and came back with, "Well, since you heard me, you know why I have to leave now! See ya!" and with a whoosh of air, she was gone.
Momo stood there, looking at the spot where Kiioi was previously.
"Woah, I've never seen someone that fast before! Have-"
She stopped talking when she felt some extra weight fall on her shoulder. She looked down to see Toshiro, collapsed and sound asleep.
Momo smiled and giggled a bit. "Well, now atleast you'll cooperate and not move aruond."
She swung his limp arm around her shoulder and wrapped her free arm around his waist, and started her walk to the infermary.
~A few minutes later~
Momo was nearing the her destination, when Toshiro mumbled something unintelligible.
"Huh? What did you say Shiro-chan?" Momo asked, seeing if she could get an answer. She leaned in closer to him just in case.
She managed to catch what he was saying.
"Happy birthday...Bed-Wetter..."
Momo laughed quietly, wishing that he would say this when he was fully awake.
"Thank you, Toshiro," She said anyway.
First I would like to say, HAPPY BIRHTDAY MOMO! (remember all fans who don't know! it's June 3rd!)
Second I want to say that I'm SO SORRY for not updateing for almost six months! D: To show my graditude to all who are still reading I made this my longest chapter (beating the previous by alomst 500 words! for me thats pretty goodx3)
To Nagoyaka, I know you're my beta, and i REALLY hope you forgive me for not showing you this first! But I know that you're going away for a bit, and i also couldn't just ignore Momo's birthday:3
Translations~
Mugen no mizu no tōketsu: Freeze in endless water
Chi no Me: Blood eye
Alot happened in this chapter, no? :3
GOOD LUCK TO YOUR SOUL!
