The next day, Eri rose and Yuriko once more helped her into the shihakusho. She was getting a better handle on it, but there were a few things that she still got a bit tangled up with if she didn't have help. However, considering how little time she'd actually had to become familiar with the garment, she was actually doing quite well.

Today, she would be training with Renji. She'd be getting to learn sword play. She felt a rumbling purr through her being as it seemed Kumori was quite pleased with this. Of course she didn't have a zanpakuto yet… well the sword form of it anyway. She did wonder about that.

~Kumori?~

~Yes, Erisia?~ her sword spirit responds.

~When will I get your actual sword?~ She asks.

~ It does not really matter what physical weapon you take. At the academy all students are given swords.~

~How many students will know the name of their zanpakuto?~

~Very few… you might only be in the company of a very small handful if that many.~

~Why?~

~Remember that most people will not have really been speaking with theirs. They might have felt a presence but the reality will have been much different for most of them. You ended up in a very rare circumstance. I woke long before I was supposed to. I could have kept quiet, but I chose to help you instead of waiting for you. Most of the students will have to learn to listen to their zanpakuto. You already hear me.~

~I probably shouldn't mention it then, should I?~

~The other students will likely comment on it. Though I doubt that you will be able to hide it from the teachers.~

Erisia sighs. All she wanted to do was to be judged on her skill… of course she'd been victim of a very strange circumstance and now she had to deal with the consequences of it. She just didn't know what to do about it all. How much could she really tell her would be classmates? How much would she have to hide?

~I'm going to stand out like a sore thumb… aren't I?~

~You have the potential to do great things Erisia. But you must have faith in yourself and you must trust me that we might get there together.~

She just nods and slips out of her room to join Byakuya for breakfast. She was still half in her head which Byakuya notices. "Is something the matter, Erisia-san?"

"Huh? Oh… no sorry. I was just thinking and Kumori and I were talking earlier. I was just going over things that he said."

"What has your zanpakuto been telling you?"

"Well I was curious when I'd actually get to have his sword. He told me that the physical weapon doesn't matter so much. He said I'd have mine when I got to the Academy. I was curious because you did ask Renji to start showing me some basics." She explains. Byakuya nods. It was still a curious thing to him that she already knew the name of her zanpakuto but the panther seemed reluctant to begin teaching her anything. It was for the best really. She had much still to learn and if she was ever to achieve her full potential she should not be robbed of that training.

"Is it really true that there will not be very many students at the school who know the name of their zanpakuto?" She asks.

"It is the truth. Most do not learn more about their zanpakuto until after they graduate." He confirms.

She ponders this. "Captain Hitsugaya mentioned that he had been speaking with his long before he even came to the Academy." She points out.

"Erisia-san... It is not impossible to speak with the spirit of your sword before you reach the Academy. After all the spirit of a zanpakuto is just another part of a shinigami's soul. The training at the Academy helps to open the mind and make it ready to accept such things. It is not merely about honing the body... It is the balance between all aspects of what it takes to be a shinigami." He explains.

She ponders those words... She supposed that made sense. "But that does not explain why I heard Kumori. Does it?" She asks. In her mind it didn't seem like it did. Sure she'd always been a bit more sensitive person, more attuned to the world around her even after she'd been forced to withdraw to keep out of her father's path... but that still left so much explained.

"From what I have learned merely by having the opportunity to observe you, Erisia-san... You are a much more quiet soul. There wasn't the interference that is usually present so you had a greater chance of hearing him when he did speak. Then you were thrown into an extraordinary situation. And since the path was already cleared and the door already unlocked, Kumori likely saw no reason to keep the door closed." He muses.

Again he made good points... and Kumori seemed pleased with the insight the man had. "I think he's smiling smugly... so something you have said must be right on the mark, though he is refusing to clarify." She chuckles.

Senbonzakura could have commented but chose to refrain. Byakuya was an intelligent man though why he was paying so much attention to this girl when usually it would not be his way was a little strange, but to the zanpakuto, it was good to see some of the other side of it's master for a change - even if only in fleeting glimpses. A life lived with such denials of self is a life half lived after all.

The rest of breakfast continued in relative silence. Both parties requiring some time for introspection - for various reasons. Erisia was a little nervous about the training. She'd never really held anything larger than a chef's knife after all... Of course she did want to help people. She wanted to be able to defend innocents and make sure that what had happened to her didn't have to happen to anyone else. However, the closest she'd come to a sword, was watching a few movies and anime that had people wielding them.

~You had no more experience with kido or healing or shunpo and yet how readily did you take to that?~ Kumori asks.

~I suppose it was easier for me to wrap my head around those. Abstract as they might be, I think my artistic side could translate it for me. But actual fighting with swords... It might seem strange but that's a little more daunting to me.~

~Trust in your teachers, Erisia... you have the ability. You have the desire to protect people. This will only be one more way to help you do that.~ Kumori coaxes. She can only nod... the panther was right. It was just a little harder for her to face this for some reason... Perhaps it was just a little too up close and personal. Her whole life she'd been at a distance and kido certainly let you keep some distance...

They make their way to the 6th squad. Since she went in with Byakuya, of course they beat Renji there. Of course Renji wasn't late but he still didn't beat Byakuya to the office. He offers his usual greetings and they are echoed in their usual ways...

"So Captain, when did you want me to start teaching Eri-chan?"

Byakuya looks up and takes stock of things, there wasn't a lot of paperwork today so it would be safe enough to have them go out now, while the morning was still cool. "Go out now. Use the far training field as it is unused at current. It will give you privacy which I am sure Erisia-san will appreciate since she is so new to this."

"Right. Come on Eri-chan." Renji says as he makes his way back toward the door. Using shunpo he leads her first to the area to pick up a practice sword, getting one that would be about the right size and weight for her to learn with, selecting one for himself and then leads her to the practice field.

"So, you ever held a sword before?" He asks.

"No, I am afraid that the closest I have come to one prior is having watched some movies..." She says softly...

"I sort of figured as much. No shame in it, Eri. I've been to the Living World enough to know that they aren't exactly common place." He chuckles. "Though you haven't had any experience with it, how do you think you're supposed to hold it?" He asks watching her.

Eri tried to think back to the last movie she watched and she tried to mimic the grip. It was very awkward for her. Renji chuckles and shakes his head. He moves to go around behind her. It was after all much easier to correct form this way than with a sword between you.

The contact was far more intimate than Eri had been expecting. Not that there was anything remotely intimate about it, but he was beyond inside her personal space. He'd just neglected it all together. He was behind her, one arm around either side of her, moving her hands into the correct grip. Since she was so petite compared to him it was much easier to do it this way. He wasn't thinking of anything other than getting her the proper foundation.

She turned a lovely shade of scarlet that appeared to be attempting to match Renji's hair color. She'd shied away from the proximity a little as well. Of course she had been abused so it shouldn't be all that surprising that she was a little... hand shy as it were. Though she knew that she could trust Renji making all of her mind understand that was going to take some more time.

Renji noticed the blush and it confused him. He stepped back and he noticed how even her energy seemed to relax. "You okay, Eri-chan?" He asks.

She felt foolish for it really. However she'd never really been very close with people in general - not since her mother had passed away anyway. And he was male... distinctly... blatantly male. While there had been nothing meant by it, it was still far more intimate contact than she was used to having with people... "Yes... I'm fine." Comes her quiet words. He arches a skeptical brow at that.

"If I'm gonna teach you anything Eri-chan, you're going to have to trust me..." He coaxes. Of course maybe that was a little unfair of him to do, but it wasn't a lie. She would have to trust him... what better way to show that trust?

"I just wasn't expecting you to have to... get so close..." She half mumbles... and Eri never mumbled under normal circumstances but she was embarrassed.

It took a few heartbeats for all that to add up in Renji's head. His eyes widen in surprise... He chuckles then. "Well Eri, you're virtue is safe with me. If you haven't noticed I've kind of decided to informally adopt you as a little sister. It was just the easiest way to show you. Normally I don't have to get so close, but you're so damned tiny, it just happened that way." He chuckles.

She just kind of ducks her head and then gets a small smile. "I'm not that tiny. You make it sound like I'm as tiny as that pink haired girl."

"Yeah well don't let that little bundle of energy fool you. She might look like a kid but she don't fight like one."

"Okay, so... back to training... " She reminds him.

"Right... right... anyway... I'll show you some basic forms to go through to get your arms used to the weight of a sword. Might seem kinda pointless but you've never wielded a sword before and you've had to see the forms we make the squad go through every day. Doesn't matter the experience you can always go through them to either gain strength in your sword arm or to maintain it." He explains.

It made sense. Soon they're going through some basic motions. About three minutes in to the repetitive motions and her arms were already starting to feel like lead. How did they do this for prolonged periods?

~Practice and time. That is all the difference that separates you from them.~ Reminds Kumori.

Sure felt like a lot more than that at the moment. Renji had been watching her and he noticed the tip of the sword dropping a little more with each pass through the most basic form. "That's enough for right now Eri. Won't do any good to go until that hits the ground, you'll get hurt and that's not the goal here."

Erisia was very glad to stop... "I do not know how you do this... for so long. I've watched the squad going through forms and sparring... We haven't even been doing this that long and my arms feel like lead." She says with a sigh.

"We've had a lot more practice than you Eri-chan. That's all. You'll get better. Do a little bit every day. Even if it's only ten minutes... Soon the ten minutes will feel easy... then you go longer. Little by little everyday and eventually you'd be able to stand out there and go through forms with the rest of the squad and your arms wouldn't feel like they were going to fall off." He chuckles.

"This is a lot more work than I ever imagined."

"Yeah it hits us all at some point in the beginning. Sounds so great when you first hear it. Then the first practices of it... You hit a point where you wonder what the hell you were thinking. Some people quit then. It happens in every class there are always a few people who drop out. Not everyone is cut out to do this stuff, Eri... But those that stick with it, that won't walk away so easy... they see that with more time and practice it gets easier. It's hard and it's a lot of work... But if you ask me even after all that... all the fighting... It's worth it. Every time we send one of those bastards back to the twisting nether, it's worth it. Every time we can put to rest a spirit... it's worth it. Every time we can save a comrade, it's worth it. You think you're up to that, Eri-chan?" He asks, looking at her.

She ponders his words... biting her lower lip for a moment in thought... Finally, her gaze rises to meet the fiery red of his. "Yeah, I think so." She wanted to be at least...

"Good, now get back to the forms." He chuckles...