Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Four years came and went and Kitty, Kin and the rest of the class grew in experience. Kitty had grown, but not too much, to be 163 centimetres, (That's about 5'3 feet I think) always carrying a bright smile on her face. Kin had grown too, a head taller than Kitty at 170 (5'6) and had become a smarter girl than she had been four years ago. Both Kitty and Kin had become excellent healers, both having more or less mastered the basics of their shikais.

Igana had grown too, Kitty noticed, just not in the way she and Kin had. Igana had grown tall; about the same height as Kin (not that anyone knew exactly how tall she was as she tried to kill anyone who got near her). She often got into fights in Rukongai during vacation and had, by the beginning of their sixth year, entered with multiple scars on her face and a long one on her throat.

The day came that Kitty and Kin had waited for and dreaded – the application exams to the different squads in the Gotei 13.

Kitty breathed heavily as she and Kin sat in the huge auditorium of the academy to await the dean.

"All right students, this is it."

The dean came walking in from a door at the left side, a man no one had seen before in tow. "I congratulate you all on passing your exams a month ago, but still you need to show that you are worthy of the Gotei 13 and their different squads. I will now leave the floor to my Sasakibe here."

The man stepped up and Kitty got a better look. The man had white hair and a small moustache. He was wearing a white coat over his haori, but not a captain's haori. "My name is Sasakibe Chōjirō. I'm the lieutenant of Squad One."

Kitty grinned. She liked this guy; he reminded her of a butler with an attitude.

"Now this is how it is going to work: all that apply to Squad One come down first and do their exam which is planned by Squad One Captain Commander Yamamoto. After you are finished, I will tell you if you have passed or not. If you have, I'll give you a Squad One shihakusho and you will report to the Squad One barracks in three days. That gives you the weekend to celebrate. If you don't pass, I will ask you to stay behind so you later can do another exam for another squad.

"When all that is done, Squad Two applicants come down to take their exam made by Captain Soi Fon of Squad Two. So on until we have finished with Squad Thirteen. Any questions?"

Next to Kitty a girl from the regular class raised her hand. "What happens if we don't pass any of the thirteen exams?"

Sasakibe smiled gently. "In all the years I have overseen these exams that have not happened once. Don't worry, you will surely find one squad that will have you." The regular-class girl looked a little relieved, but still on edge.

"Now then, Squad One applicants please come down and stand at the line."

"Man this is torture," Kitty moaned a while later as the second squad recruits got their new shihakushos. The Tanaka twins simply nodding their thanks while the rest of the new Shinigami where jumping for joy.

"Well no one has failed yet," Kin encouraged, shrugging.

"That's just what I mean!" Kitty said, looking as the Third Squad exams were starting. "It's like everyone on the tribunes are waiting for the first one to fail, all of us staring and waiting for our turn to go down there and try not to screw up. It's torture, I tell you!"

"Try not to think of it," Kin soothed. "Its almost our turn, the Third Squad is almost finished."

Kitty looked down at the exam. The third squad was a defensive squad so the exam was simple enough. Fight each other for as long as you can, testing the endurance of the Shinigami-to-be. It had been five minutes when Sasakibe asked them to stop, declaring that all had passed the exam making everyone down at the floor jump for joy as they went to get their uniforms.

"Squad Four applicants."

Kitty and Kin rose along with about seven other people, all of them Kitty and Kin knew from Kido healing class, but only by name as the regular class didn't want to have to much to do with the advanced class.

"Now then, as a healing squad, Squad Four has an important job. To ensure you can do a decent healing job, we have cut open some meat; your exam is to heal the wound as fast as you can. Does everyone understand the task?"

Kitty nodded with the rest of the soon to be Fourth Squad members. Kitty got a trolley with a piece of chunked meat on it – smelled like boar, she thought, thinking of the irony of boar being what she was an expert in handling when she hunted in the woods for Olivia. She put her hands over the wound, probably made by a dagger, and started concentrating. Three minutes later she stepped away and bowed to Sasakibe who blinked and came over to her silently to not disturb the rest of the Shinigami in training.

He looked at the meat that didn't show any sign of former abuse, not even a small scar. Next to Kitty, Kin stepped away; her piece of meat looking healthy too… well, as healthy as a piece of dead meat could look. Sasakibe wrote something down at a piece of paper and went away to oversee the other people.

After the last person finished his exam, six minutes after Kitty and Kin, Sasakibe took out a box containing the Squad Four Shihakusho and a bag with the fourth squad logo.

"Let me congratulate you all," he said. "Never have a Squad Four exam gone so smoothly without a single disaster happening. Congratulations, you have all passed."

There was a blissful silence for five seconds… then everything exploded. Kitty and Kin hugged each other, so glad to make the cut. Although, as Kin pointed out a while later as she and Kitty carried a shihakusho and a bag each, they where the first advance class Fourth Squad members in a long time. They were a shoe in four years ago.

Kitty and Kin used the rest of the day to say good bye to all their teachers before they went home to show Olivia what they had managed to do. She was going to be so proud.

……………………….

Two days later, Kitty and Kin went into a shunpo after a teary good bye with a beaming Olivia – as expected she was so proud over her two grand daughters to join the Fourth Squad. Kitty looked great in her shihakusho, choosing to place Toratsune over her left shoulder making an x when she put on her Squad Four bag, which would be filled with medical supplies by the end of the week.

Kin had decided to cut the sleeves on her shihakusho, tying Denkodoragon at her waist like so many other Shinigami did, her bag tied in place like Kitty's.

As they ran through the streets, Kitty said she'd rather be early and make a good expression than getting on time and maybe arrive late because they would get lost.

A while later Kitty stopped. "OH, COME ON! How many dead ends are there in this place?"

Kin sighed to herself. This was the fifth dead end she and Kitty had come across, and they had seen six random holes in the ground. "Okay, maybe if we go on the roof we should see if there is anyone we can ask for direction. Thank god we went early; we still have about forty five minutes to find our way."

Kitty nodded and they jumped off again. After about five minutes they stopped as they saw a girl. She looked young to Kitty, although she didn't know how a dead person aged. The girl turned and smiled. She looked like a young teen, about twelve or thirteen years, with pink hair down to her elbows, and rosy red cheeks.

"Excuse me, we're lost. Do you know the fastest way to squad four?"

Kitty talked fast, a bit out of breath because of the shunpo she and Kin had done for almost an hour. The girl smiled, a bit sad.

"Sorry, Ken-chan and Baldie say I have no sense of direction, so following me would probably only make you more lost. But I think Squad Four is somewhere over there." The girl pointed to the right of where she stood.

"Though knowing myself the safest thing you can do is to go the opposite direction!"

Kin and Kitty looked at each other and raised an eyebrow at the girl's logic.

"Okay, listen; we live in a big round area. If you go forward one way you will eventually get to your destination… I think."

Kin nodded, understanding the girl's explanation.

"Very well, thanks for your help miss; we'll be on our way."

Kitty and Kin ran along and the young teen waved after them. Just as she couldn't see them she frowned.

"Okay, now which way to Squad Eleven again? Come on Yachiru, think! Backwards-braid told you this. Take a left at Squad Six, continue until you get to Squad Nine… I'm lost again. How in the world did Ken-chan manage to get anywhere with me when I was younger?!"

Kitty and Kin eventually found Squad Four about fifteen minutes before the deadline. Breathing heavily Kitty and Kin turned to each other and hugged each other jumping around laughing.

"Ah, new recruits, I see."

Kitty and Kin turned and saw a man sweeping the brick road up to the main entrance to squad four. He wasn't too young, he had adult features on his face, but yet he was still only a few inches taller than Kitty.

"Yeah we're new. We would have been here before but we got lost."

The man smiled gently at them. "Well then, let me be the first to welcome you to your new home. I'm Squad Four's seventh seat, Hanataro Yamada. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Kitty Petro; it's nice to meet you too, Hanataro-san."

"And I'm Kin Tochigi; it's an honour to talk to the seventh strongest person here."

Hanataro smiled and rubbed the back of his head, a bit embarrassed. "Heh, I'm not that special," he admitted. "I can show you to where the new recruits are going to meet up, if you'd like."

"Thanks, Hanataro-san. That would be great."

Hanataro beamed, happy to get some new friends. As he showed them the way Kin suddenly spoke up.

"Hanataro Yamada… that name sounds familiar somehow."

Hanataro blushed. "I played a minor part in the winter war," he muttered.

Kitty blinked as she remembered. "You're the one who healed the severe injuries of Captain Hitsugaya and saved his life after he defeated Gin Ichimaru!"

"It was nothing," Hanataro protested weakly. "We save lives everyday here, and I only did a small part of the job. Captain Unohana did the most… Okay, this is the place, right in time too."

Kitty and Kin looked away from the embarrassed Hanataro to a place were about seven other persons stood waiting.

"I need to continue working, but I'll see you two later." Hanataro smiled. "Oh and one more thing, you will probably meet our third seat Iemura sooner or later. He has blond hair and glasses, he is a bit obnoxious but try to ignore him, it's probably for the best."

And with that, Hanataro bowed and ran off to continue sweeping the floors just as a door opened and the tall lieutenant Isane entered.

"All new recruits please come in. The captain wants to meet you all."

Kitty and Kin smiled at each other and walked in with the rest of their new squad. This was going to be great.