Chapter 10: The Gotei Trio

Youhna emerged from her world on her back. What now? She sat up, letting her gaze sweep over the garden when she felt a wave of spiritual pressure. It wasn't Hayden's because she could see her breath. The blond was shaking involuntarily as well. Trails of ice snaked along the ground and up the trees, giving the garden a wintery look.

"I-I think we should go…"

Youhna nodded while standing up and helping her friend up.

"Stand back."

Youhna closed her eyes again and let waves of heat roam over the garden, thawing out the veins of frost that threatened to invade the rest of the vegetation. The girl felt an icy breeze rush pass. It was coming back and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the pressure or the feeling that she was being watched.

The white-haired captain sat under a tree far enough to not be spotted by the two students. He effortlessly increased his spiritual pressure to further test the girl's power. She was powerful, but unstable. The heat waves flowing from her were getting weaker then would rapidly increase before getting weaker again, until she fell to the ground panting on her hands and knees while softly muttering a curse under her breath.

"Damn… What the… hell was… that?" Youhna said between huffs. Hayden shrugged, feeling drained herself.

"I don't know, but I think it's gone now."

"Well, let us take our leave too. Help me up will ya?"

The blond sighed while jerking her friend off of the ground only to have her plop back on the earth with a thud.

"Ow!"

"Shh!"

"Don't shush me!"

A low growl from a nearby bush pierced the silent night. The two students threw their partner worried glances before backing up from the trembling bushes. A small brown squirrel left the shadows of the undergrowth, much to the relief of the academy students.

"Oh alright, it's a squir-"

A sudden roar took the girls by surprise as the greenery seemed to be uprooted by some unseen force. The large hollow emerged from the darkness with empty gold eyes. It possessed the body of a lizard and a mask of a bull. The monster looked around before turning its attention to the two startled academy girls, slowly approaching them with a murderous intent.

"Hayden hurry up and release your zanpukto…Hayden?"

The blond was frozen on the spot. Never before had she seen a hollow, much less battled one. Youhna pulled her friend out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by the hollow's tail. Both girls crashed to the ground and watched as the monster's tail smashed a large crater in the earth. The hollow roared and advanced on the two again. Another gust of icy wind flew by, this time carrying small parts of some unknown debris with it. Hayden caught a piece and felt it transition into a liquid.

"Snow?"

It took a moment to register that there was someone standing in front of them. White hair seemed radiant in the rays of the Moon. He slightly turned his head to glance at the pair behind him, but Youhna caught it. Turquoise eyes connected with hers for a split second before he turned to the hollow and sped towards it. A couple of flash-steps and a downwards slash and their attacker disintegrated into the night. The boy landed with the skill of an experienced soul reaper and disappeared. The temperature returned to its regular warm and breezy night, as it should be.

"So he was what we felt earlier huh?" Hayden asked while climbing to her feet.

"Yeah, no wonder I couldn't beat his spiritual pressure…captain level." Youhna sucked in a deep breath and stood next to Hayden.

"Let's go back to the dorms."

"Agreed."

"You guys look like hell."

Hayden and Youhna glared at Akira through bloodshot eyes. The redhead gave a charming smile at his friends before taking a bite out of his French toast. Lindsay arrived with her usual perky attitude.

"Hi guys!"

"Hi Lindsay." The others drawled.

Somehow, the girl always made the other people in the group feel like they were in one of those circles of obsessed people that needed to admit their obsessions.

"Did you guys hear that a captain came to the school last night?" Akira turned towards the ball of sunshine as did Hayden and Youhna.

"I didn't. Did you guys hear anything about it?" The girls glanced at each other and shook their heads.

"A hollow attacked two students last night in the garden. Both of them were too shocked to fight and a captain from the Thirteen Gotei Squads saved them."

"Whoever the students were they must've been pretty weak, the captain didn't even have to use their Shikai." Mai stated while passing by their table with Tara and Cree on both sides.

Hayden stared after the girls with one thing on her mind.

"One bolt…one bolt'll knock the bitch out of her!"

Youhna and Akira held the angry blond back from scathing the girl as she sped up her pace to the lunchroom doors.

Three captains walked the halls of the academy during first period with only one goal in mind. One of the leaders smirked from under his straw hat.

"Brings back memories, huh Jushiro?"

The white haired captain smiled back at his long time friend.

"This is where it all began."

"And this is where it continues…we're wasting time just standing here when we should be looking for candidates for the exam."

The shorter man said, stopping with the two older captains.

"Ah, Hitsugaya…you always seem to find a way to ruin the fun." Captain Kyoraku stated, readjusting his hat.

"It's Hitsugaya taicho and I aim to please."

The three captains split their ways among the three wide hallways in front of them. Kyoraku took the left hall, Ukitake took the right, and Hitsugaya went down the middle. Thus starting the search for potential candidates to choose for the Captain's Initiation Exam.

The students filed into the classroom while Ms. Isako sat at her desk. Students chatted back and forth to each other, exchanging rumors and what not. Ms. Isako cleared her throat to get her students' attention.

"Today we have not one, but three of the Gotei Thirteen Captains visiting the academy. I didn't receive any information on who they might be however, be wary. They may show up in your classrooms."

The class continued as it normally would despite the announcement that was just made. The bell rung for third period and the students left the room in an unorganized manner.

News about the three captains' arrival spread through the school like wildfire as the 'Gotei Trio'. The class periods seemed to go by faster than usual, not that Youhna minded. The day would soon be over. By fourth period, the topic was on everyone's lips during locker break. Youhna walked through the hallways by herself, picking up bits and pieces of other students' conversations. Two girls were talking about one of the captains that visited their class.

"He must be one of the hottest captains in the Siritei!" A girl squealed to her equally ecstatic friend.

"Did you see the way he looked at me?" The first girl shook her head.

"He wasn't looking at you he was trying to see me, but your head kept getting in the way. It's okay, I forgive you for standing between my future husband and me."

"Don't be stupid he's mine!"

"Wanna bet?"

The girls continued to bicker as Youhna passed them.

The girl was on the next hallway thinking about what the two girls said. She hadn't seen any captains yet and she didn't want to. Without a zanpukto it was very unlikely that she'd be chosen for the exam. She was right there and she knew it. She knew her zanpukto's name and had established a bond with Xiomara all she had to do was create her zanpukto before the end of the day. Youhna decided that she would skip lunch and meditate for the hour. That should give her enough time to materialize her zanpukto.

Akira shut out the rest of the world and entered his own world. Recently, he had also been working on gaining his zanpukto along with Lindsay who was meditating across from him. The two were of completely opposite elements. One of darkness and one of light. Every now and then you would get a flare of darkness from Akira and Lindsay would give off flashes of pure light.

…

Darkness engulfed the redhead in an inky mist that seemed like it would never clear. The sky was a gloomy grey and the plain he was standing on rippled in waves from a harsh wind that ran throughout the world. The black mist started to come together to form a great black snake with indigo eyes.

"Kizime." The stoic serpent looked down at its master

"You've come to materialize me haven't you?" The redhead nodded.

"Well, I can't just give you my materialized state… prepare yourself."

Light streamed in from all directions, illuminating a peaceful meadow. Lindsay smiled at her world and sat Indian style on the ground. A large white butterfly soared across the skies and glanced down towards its master with shimmering golden eyes.

"Welcome back Lindsay!"

"Hello again Radia!"

The two chuckled at each other's excitement to see the other again, despite the fact that they had last met yesterday.

"So what are you here for?"

The girl looked back at Radia.

"The Captain's Initiation Exam candidates are being chosen today and-"

"You want me to materialize into your zanpukto."

"Yes please." The butterfly sighed before taking to the skies.

"Wait where are you going?"

"Follow me. You have to prove that you're strong enough to handle my zanpukto form."

The rippling plains were now soiled with spots of Akira's blood as he kneeled close to the ground, trying to get his breath back.

"Give up yet?" Kizime asked, slithering around the exhausted redhead who seemed ready and willing to pass out.

"No, not yet at least."

At that moment, the snake's tail collided with his master's body and sent the poor boy flying several feet away. Akira hit the earth with a painful thud and rolled a couple of feet before coming to a stop.

This was going to be a difficult task…

Lindsay was led to an underground grotto with misty streams of light that filtered through tiny holes from the surface.

"Where are we?"

"This is your testing arena. Each zanpukto is unique in its own way which means that it has different trials for each person. Some choose fighting while others choose a simple test that proves that their master is ready to advance into the materialization stage of their zanpukto. I choose to test you with a simple mirror test. A zanpukto's spirit is only an alter ego of their masters except we have more of the power since we are the weapon after all."

Radia landed on a nearby rock to rest her wings.

"All that my test requires is that you need to catch the streams of light around you and fire them back at me with high velocity and accuracy."

The butterfly left her perch on the rock and glided under the beams of light, gaining more of a glow after each light beam she went under. She turned to her master abruptly and released a discharge of light. Lindsay dropped to the floor as the light rushed pass her and exploded into the rocky wall.

"That's all you have to do."

"Bakudo number 1: Sai!"

Silver threads flew through the air, twisting and turning as they went as they bounded Kizime and restricted his tail from throttling the boy. Akira held a black dagger to his zanpukto's throat with a smirk on his face. Kizime dissolved into the black mist from earlier and the mist slowly started to come together to form a black hilted zanpukto that fell into the redhead's hand.

Lindsay gathered more light as she flash-stepped between the misty streams as she went before making a heel turn to shoot a light beam at the butterfly across the grotto. Sweat dripped down her forehead as she watched the beam exploded against the wall as Radia's did earlier.

"Very good Lindsay, but that wasn't good enough. Try again."

"Sigh, Kizime."

His new zanpukto transformed into its shikai which was a large dark iron scythe with a long chain on the end.

"Perfect."

Lindsay shot a stream of light that was so powerful that engulfed the whole area in light before drilling through the wall over Radia.

"Congratulations Lindsay, you passed the test!"

There was a bright flash of light and the fair butterfly vanished.

"Where did she-"

Her foot hit something on the ground. She looked down to her white hilted zanpukto that rested on the ground and picked it up, examining the sword with delight gracing her features.

"Thanks Radia."

Both teenagers left their worlds in two different conditions. One bleeding from their forehead with aches and pains all over their body and the other dirty with dust and sweat. Despite all this, the two smiled at each other because of the one thing that they managed to have in common. They had both materialized their zanpuktos.

On the other side of the garden, Youhna was already deep into her own world. This time she didn't have to wait ten minutes, instead she had a measly two. The girl spotted her zanpukto on sitting on her perch in her human form, legs swinging back and forth. When she saw her master approach her she smirked.

"Ready for the materialization phase?"

The girl nodded.

Embers swirled around the woman, soon developing into a great inferno. Youhna watched as the inferno died, leaving behind a scarlet hilted zanpukto floating in the air before flying into her hand.

"My release phrase is 'Rise from the gates of Hell, Xiomara'"

"Finally, things are coming together."

Fifth period came with anxiousness as well as incredible waves of hunger pain. Lindsay, Akira, and Youhna all skipped lunch for this period. All of them, (including Hayden) was very excited when they saw one of the Thirteen Gotei Captains walk into the classroom with a jaded look on his face. Turquoise eyes fell on the crowd of students as he looked around the classroom, examining every person and their spiritual pressure. He also took note that there were only five people in the classroom that actually had their zanpuktos.

The most noticeable spiritual pressure was emulating from the girl on the fifth row towards the right. That was one of the girls he had saved earlier, her friend was on the other side of the room on the second row. He turned his attention back to the first girl. Wasn't he the one that sent her to Soul Society in the first place? Oh yes, now he remembered…Youhna Auouye, the famous singer that couldn't take the hint that she died and the only soul that assaulted a captain.

Toshiro couldn't help the simultaneous rise in his spiritual pressure, he was pissed. The temperature in the class dropped considerably and a concerned history teacher wandered over to the fuming captain.

"Um, Captain Hitsugaya is something bothering you? You're freezing half of the class." She said in a hushed voice.

"Tch. Yeah, I'm fine."

His reitsu decreased and the class warmed almost suddenly. Youhna was releasing some of her reitsu, not enough to make her classmates collapse of heat stroke, but enough for the class to audibly sigh from the warmth she gave off.

Ms. Nikima, who had just regained feeling in her feet stepped away from the captain to the chalk board.

"Alright class today we have a very special guest joining us, as I'm sure you've already noticed. Please welcome the Captain of the tenth division, Toshiro Hitsugaya."

Everyone clapped in fear of being frozen to death. Ms. Nikima went on with class, explaining how the first souls created the system of training other potential souls to be soul reapers and what not. Time passed quickly and the bell rung. Hitsugaya got the names of the students that had enough potential to be captains and lieutenants. Leaving the class he jotted down the names quickly and one grudgingly.

Captain's Initiation Exam Candidates

Mai Honshu

Tara Ayesha

Cree Karachi

Akira Okaiza

Hayden Hiroshima

Hitaro Fukujori

Lindsay Kamamora

Youhna Auouye

Author's Note: After weeks of thinking about this chapter, (and many headaches) I finally managed to write out another chapter. Everyone who's reading this hold on. We're about a chapter away from an early graduation…at least I hope.