A New Friend:

I sparred for quite a while after my fight with Guntei. While sparring, I learned just how little I did learn from Urahara and Ichigo. But the method used was very much the same, whack at each other until you challenge the fight given. I actually overcame three opponents when a man walked up to me and pulled me aside. I found this strangely formal for a man from the eleventh squad.

"Are you Sanju?" He asked. So I guess he wasn't from the squad, everyone already knew me from here due to my fight with Guntei. He was as tall as myself and had short brown wavy hair that stopped just short of his eyes.

"I am. And who would you be?" I asked in return.

"My name is Shinrai, and I have been asked by my captain to escort you to see him."

"Great, another escort." I said exasperatedly. Shinrai raised an eyebrow. "Fine, fine. Lead away." I waved. As we left, I waved to Guntei, and got a crowd of waves back, apparently I had made quite a good name for myself in the barracks.

After a bit of a walk of silence, I decided to get a bit of information about whom I was going to meet. "So, which captain do you serve under?"

"I serve under Captain Kuchiki of the sixth division." He answered promptly. I was silently pondering for a second where I had heard Kuchiki before, before it hit me like a brick. Rukia Kuchiki. So that meant that this man was in fact related to Rukia. This realization also made me pale. From what I remembered of him, he didn't seem to pleased when I had mentioned she needed my help to beat the denizen of hell.

"Can you tell me how your captain usually is?" I asked, hoping Shinrai would give me a better description of his usual tendencies. Maybe he had just been in a bad mood.

"The captain is never one to express his emotions." 'Really?' I thought, 'He seemed to wear them quite obviously.'"He also cares deeply that his squad and family are kept safe."

I mulled what Shinrai said as we arrived and he escorted me into the barracks to the captain's office. It seemed rather similar to the fourth squad barracks, but I really couldn't say about the eleventh, I hadn't really been inside. As we stood in front of a door with a plaque engraved with 'captain', Shinrai turned to me. "Just remember, be as polite and as formal as you can to the captain."

"Alright." I said, and with that, Shinrai tapped on door.

"Come in." I heard the familiar voice say. Shinrai opened the door and stepped in. I followed close behind and stepped to the side to see the room. It was fairly big, with books lined across both opposing walls, and a desk with the captain behind it. I also saw that there was a man with spiky crimson hair in a ponytail with a white bandana around his forehead. With a quick glance, I also saw there was a badge on his left arm with the number six and an insignia of a camellia flower. Wow, I never thought science class would have been applied like this.

"If you will excuse me captain, I think this conversation is for private ears." The crimson haired man said.

"No Renji." Captain Kuchiki said, holding up a hand. "This concerns you as well."

"Very well sir." Renji said, simply standing aside, giving the captain a full view of Shinrai and myself.

"I shall formally introduce myself then, new comer." Captain Kuchiki said, standing up. "I am Byakuya Kuchiki, captain of the sixth division of the Gotei 13. This is my lieutenant Renji Abarai." He said as he gestured to said man. "You have already met our twelfth seat, Shinrai Midoten. Now, may you introduce yourself?"

"Uh, sure. My name is Sanju Roku of Karakura. I recently became Soul Reaper about a week or so ago." I said formally. Captain Kuchiki simply nodded.

"And how long have you known my younger sister, Rukia Kuchiki?" At the mention of her name, I could plainly see Renji tense up, but I continued.

"That I'm kind of unsure of." I replied hesitantly.

"Oh? Why so?" He asked with a raised brow.

"For some reason, I feel like I met her first when she and Ichigo saved me from being eaten by a hollow, but I also feel like I met her when she transferred in as a freshman. But also when she came in and knocked Ichigo…out…by her…hand…" I trailed off. "Now that I think about it, I also recognize you, Renji. Yeah, you, Ikkaku and Yumichika from squad eleven, Rangiku and Toshiro. And if I'm not mistaken, Toshiro is the captain of squad, um, ten?"

"That's correct." Captain Kuchiki said simply. "I see you're recalling a time from before the war. Renji, do remember this man?"

"I can't say that I do captain."

"Ah, don't worry about it, I'm not a very noticeable guy." I said, but it stung a bit. That was the exact reason why I was here, right? To be noticed? But the captain moved on before I could wallow anymore.

"So you've known Rukia for quite a bit, but not as a Soul Reaper?"

"That's right sir. I only knew she was a Soul Reaper a week ago. Before that is all jumbled."

"So how has she been teaching you?"

"Sir?"

"Any superior should know when to train a rookie in a dangerous field. Not doing so would risk everyone in the party otherwise. Rukia should know this. So I ask again, how has she been teaching you?"

"Um, she mostly taught me Kido. Combat and such were dealt with by Ichigo and Urahara."

He stared at me for a second before turning to Shinrai. "Where did you pick up Sanju?"

"From the squad eleven training grounds sir."

I could barely see a flicker of a smile, but it was gone as soon as it popped up. "Very well, seeing as you could survive in that pit, I take it you were sufficient enough. I would like to see how well my sister's training has brought you along." Oh man, I did not like where he was taking this. "I think a show of skill is required here."

…

Not five minutes later, Shinrai and I were standing face-to-face, swords drawn, in an area similar to where I was battling the eleventh squad. Except this place had the men standing around the field, there were considerably fewer impact craters, and only Shinrai and I were to battle. Captain Kuchiki and Renji were both sitting in seats on the patio of the barrack, kind of like how Kenpachi and Yachiru had.

"Begin!" Kuchiki shouted, and at that Shinrai charged at me, coming in with a mid sweep. I blocked, but he was gone as soon as the blades met. I was barely in time to throw my sword over my shoulder to block the swing coming at my back. Ichigo's lessons on perception really did help.

I don't think Shinrai was ready for me to block, because even with the disadvantaging stance, I was able to shove him off. I turned to face him, but he was gone again. "All right, if, we're going to play that game." I said as I deflected a blow to my right, "Splice, Shiyouso!" As before, the hilt grew up and the blade became a faded green. With the faster eye, I could tell that Shinrai was coming in for a foreword thrust, so I sidestepped.

Just like the problem I have, Shinrai couldn't stop in time to move to the change, so I took three quick stabs at his side, making three tiny gashes with a tiny amount of blood from each. I then moved away, leaving him to remain still in confusion until he spotted where I had gone.

"And if we're going to play that game, I think we're going to be needed on equal footing. Don't think that I got my seat for nothing." As he said that, he drew out his sheath and crossed it with his sword in front of him. I was intrigued with what he was doing, and if I knew anything, he was pulling out his Shikai. "The frozen walks!" He said as he dragged them away from each other and I could see white sparks coming from the connection. "Hoko no Tsundora!" And with that, there was a final white flash that I had to close my eyes to not get blinded by it. When I opened my eyes, I was greeted by seeing Shinrai Holding two white tonfa with blue hinting.

"All right, if I'm going to go with color coding, you can control ice, can't you?" I called out to him. But I couldn't be to right, there was to much smoke coming from the tonfa.

"Not quite. How about I give you a demonstration!" And suddenly, he disappeared. I whipped around just in time to see him swing his tonfa right for my face. I lunged backwards, again, thanking I had taken gymnastics. Not wanting to end up on my back like my squabble with Jinta, I tried to move into a back flip, but I slipped and landed on the ground. Something hard landed in my lap, and I look down to see what it was. It looked like a little rock. I go to pick it up, but as soon as I touch it, it shatters like glass.

"Confused on what I just did?" He taunted.

"A little bit, yeah." I admitted.

"Good!" And he disappeared again. His flashstep was really starting to get annoying. I picked up Shiyouso again and looked around. I couldn't catch up with him. Every time I thought I caught a glimpse of hime, Shinrai was gone. How was it that he was able to move fast enough for me not to be able to see him with Shiyouso?

"Your wondering how it is that I can move faster than you can see me, aren't you?" I spun around and saw him standing right behind me, with a large smirk on his face. I swung at him, but he was gone in an instant. "You were close when you said I control ice. Care to guess again?"

I shivered at the thought that I was close, but not spot on. Then I realized, I wasn't shivering from the thought, I was actually shivering "You control the temperature, don't you?"

"Very good. Unfortunately, I can only make it go down, but I can freeze anything I touch. The ground, even the air. I haven't been getting faster, you've been getting slower." That weapon was scary. The fact that it could do that much damage sent a shiver down my spine, or maybe that was the lowering air temperature again. Now that he mentioned it, I did notice the air cooling down. This was bad, I had to come up with something fast. Then I thought, if I couldn't keep up, what would he do if I slowed down on purpose? I readied myself again, focusing. But as I was doing that, Shinrai got a blow at my side. I landed a few feet away, and Shinrai was crouching over me in a second, smiling. "That would be my win." He said.

"I don't think so." I grinned.

"Halt!" Byakuya called from his seat. "The match is a draw!"

"What!" Shinrai exclaimed and stood up, hitting his head against a rock pillar directly behind him. "What? But how did that? You!" He exclaimed as he looked back down at me. The crowd started dispersing as the captain and lieutenant got up and left. Shinrai made sure to step away from the pillar and sheath his sword before helping me up. "How did you do that?"

"Simple." I said as I lifter up a rust brown sword for him to see.

"But I thought that you were speed based?" He said, confused as I released Shiyouso and sheathed him.

"In part, I am. But in another part, I'm earth bound. When you came in for your last hit, I was able to feel you coming. I had already released Shiyouso and was waiting with Shiyouso in his earth state. When I hit the ground, so did my Zanpakto, so when you stood over me, I made pillar behind you."

"But how did you know that would work?"

"Simple, you were confident I couldn't track you." I patted him on the shoulder. "And I had the element of surprise." I ginned.

"Wow, you have some very sharp senses." Shinrai said as he stuck out a hand. I gladly shook it, seeing as I had just made yet another friend.