A/N Hey guys! This is my first note in this story! Just checkin in, hope you like it so far! Be warned though, I have changed some small details from both animes to help them fit each other and my poor excuse for a plot. I say souls don't need to eat in Soul Society, but I remember the group getting hungry while there in Bleach. Oh well! Deal with it, do it for me! The story will turn out that much better! Thanks, now on with the show…
After a day of meditation, all three were anxious to get out of their rooms. Now that they could move around, Soul Society itself awaited them! Sasuke and Sakura both held concerned looks in their eyes, saying that "a day's worth of relaxing" was what had enabled them to move. Naruto eagerly agreed, adding how he'd never slept so soundly for an entire day before.
He had actually slept it off.
I wonder if their swords are like Hitomi. The thought of his sword's mistress still unsettled Sasuke.
Hope that Hotaru will keep quiet. Sakura thought, glancing at the two beside her. Just hearing his voice annoys the hell outta me!
Whew! Naruto's head was still stuffy and half-asleep. A day-long nap will do that.
"So…" He said, to break the strangely awkward silence that had hung around them all morning, "is this guy gonna turn out like Kakashi-sensei? I mean he's already late!"
"It's hard enough dealing with one sensei. I don't need another that's a spirit." Sakura commented drily, sincerely wishing she was back home in the comfort of her own bed.
Sasuke didn't even bother to acknowledge them.
"Ahh! Good to see you three already up and about!" Arano strode in, too happy to be contained by a single person.
Naruto cleared his throat loudly. "I hope you know you're late!"
Arano simply waved him off. "Don't worry about it! By the way," He noted, holding up his index finger very matter-of-factly. "You've probably noticed by now that you're not hungry even after the while you guys have been here!" He laughed heartily, at some joke only he understood. "Or did you think I was just a bad host?"
I don't know, it might have just been some other unorthodox training crap! Naruto thought.
"Yes well," He continued. "Souls don't need to eat! Soul Society itself is made of energy, so you'll absorb your daily suggested serving of carbs and proteins straight from the air! Not that carbs exist anywhere but in the living world! Ah, stupid people!"
He received three blank stares (Yep. Count 'em. Three.), all explicitly questioning his sanity.
"Bummer." Naruto said, looking sadly at his stomach. He rubbed it out of pity.
"No matter!" Burst Arano, "Now you know why we will be skipping breakfast! If ever you see someone eating here, they're doing it purely for its entertainment value! And we have no time for entertainment!"
"Umm…So, what's on the agenda that's so important?" Sakura asked meekly, afraid to excite him any more.
"Training!" He declared gaily, in a sing-song voice. "Me, a weapons master, gets picked to train you! Ahhh I love my job!"
"Don't see why we can't have some fun with that. Sounds plenty entertaining." Sasuke pitched in, his mood lightened by Arano whether he wanted it to be or not.
"Oh noooo." Boomed Arano, "it will be heaps of fun! For me, anyway. It's you guys I'm not so sure about…"
"Well," Sakura said, trying her best not to strangle her new teacher,"let's not waste any time then!" The cheap laugh inserted after clued in her teammates to how mad she was. Hurriedly, they pushed Arano down the entrance hallway and back out the main door.
"All he needs is a green jumpsuit…" Naruto whispered to Sasuke on the way out.
"I know."
"Actually…" Arano stopped in his tracks just outside the building. "Guys, I've just had a thought! If you took my advice, you spent yesterday getting to know your new spirit bodies."
Two pained glances and an innocent stare later, he continued: "Even so, that's no substitute for good ol'-fashioned exercise!"
Naruto's mind played out images of the four of them running laps around Soul Society on their hands in green spandex.
"The horror…"
Ignoring this, Arano stood straighter. "I'll give you…let's say…an hour. Jump around for a bit, do whatever you like, then meet back here. Just don't get lost."
"Gotcha, Arano-sensei." Sakura answered.
"Not sensei," He corrected, "call me Captain." With this he shut his eyes and lay down on the spot. The ensuing snoring was incredible, even for a dead person.
Sasuke didn't wait around, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his robe and dragging him along for the trip as he leaped away. Sakura, though curious enough that it hurt, ignored this and went her own way.
"H-hey! Lemme go!"
Sasuke obliged, letting Naruto fall to the floor with a thump.
Naruto stood up, rubbing his bruised behind. "What was that about? If you wanted to talk to me alone, you coulda just said so!"
"Not in front of Sakura." He replied, "I started to feel that weird energy again yesterday, only it was more intense. I feel like it's everywhere now. I don't know if it's dangerous or not, but it's gotten into everything."
"I don't feel it. You sure you're not just paranoid?"
"Shut up. Just concentrate! You felt it before, remember?"
"Yeah, but I was-"He stopped suddenly, and whirled around. "Sasuke!" He whispered over his shoulder sharply.
"What? What happened?" Sasuke's face flashed a worried look as he tried to read Naruto's expression.
"It's…nearby…" Naruto said, involved in his thoughts. His eyes flicked from place to place as he pondered. "It's coming from…"
Sasuke suddenly felt a pulse of the energy, he turned and joined Naruto in saying:
"YOU!"
The two jumped backwards away from the other, each suspecting something wrong. Sasuke started: "What the hell! You're the one pushing out that energy!"
"Am not!" Naruto retorted. " I think YOU are!"
At that moment, a pair of girls in the traditional black kimono walked past, giggling at the stupid boys starting a fight.
"Hey…" Naruto said under his breath, "Sasuke, hold on."
"What?" Came the annoyed response.
"They have it too." He gestured at the girls, now a distance away.
"What do you-"A sudden bright understanding filled his eyes. At the same time, Naruto's senses were set aflame. The weird, pulsing energy they had felt days before now came through clearly and evenly, from everywhere at once.
Naruto looked around, paranoid. "The hell is this? It's everywhere?"
"Wait, I have an idea. Come on, I want to ask Arano first." Sasuke hopped on the nearest roof and made his way back towards the training lodge. Naruto followed, afraid of getting lost in this place with some alien force lurking behind every corner. At least, so he thought.
Sasuke vaulted off the top of some unknown complex and plummeted straight down to the tiled floor before the lodge. This normally fatal fall resulted in a completely normal landing, with Sasuke looking his own legs up and down with newfound respect.
Naruto came rushing behind, a black-and-orange blur. Spirit legs carried a bit farther than flesh and bone, as he had discovered. The inevitable trip over a raised tile resulted in a completely normal face flop. Naruto just grumbled into the floor, refusing to get up at all.
Arano emerged from the lodge, wearing his overly happy grin still. "I see you discovered the upside to not having a body!" He laughed loudly and patted Naruto affectionately on the back, as affectionate as a sledgehammer.
Sasuke interrupted him and went straight for the meat of the matter: " Is chakra different when you die?" He couldn't help but feel the same odd energy around Arano as well.
"Hmm…" Arano straightened himself out, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "…What's chakra?"
Sasuke stared. Naruto found it in him to stand up and stared too.
A crisp laughter interrupted them all. Sakura was nearing them, having overheard their question.
"Is that what you guys were doing this whole time?"
Naruto looked at Sasuke. Sasuke looked at Naruto. They both looked at Sakura and simply shrugged.
She sighed, already annoyed. "I spent my hour gathering information, like a real ninja should! Not," She added, "that I'm including you Sasuke-kun."
She cleared her throat and entered lecture mode; Naruto sat and prepared to fall asleep.
"I felt this really different vibe on the day we got here, so I went and asked around Rukongai. That's what this place is called," She added, gesturing widely at the area around them. "I found out from some other newcomers that it's called reiatsu. It's like the Shinigami version of chakra, but I don't think they're the same."
Here she kicked Naruto to wake him from his peaceful slumber. He sputtered and jumped to his feet.
"Hahahahahha!!" Laughed Arano openly. Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "Well done, miss Sakura! There's your explanation, you kids!" He turned to Sasuke and Naruto.
Naruto turned red, but Sasuke just looked away grumpily. Why didn't I think of that?
"Sorry to say it, you three. Buuuuut…." He cringed comically, "you're going to have to relearn to control yourselves. Think of it like a reboot; you need to, erm… find your preferences and get used to things in general. You know, learn to tone it down. Otherwise your own bodies will drive you nuts!"
"I'll try." Said Naruto, face still hurting from its unexpected encounter with the tiles.
"Perfect!" Burst out Arano, losing all shame and regaining his all-encompassing grin. "Now! Let's REALLY get to it! Time to train!!"
Fearing for their lives, the three new Shinigami followed him over rooftops. He bounced along gleefully, moving deceptively fast. Thoughts of horrible torture- umm, training sessions, filled their imaginations.
Arano flew to the next complex and bounced off it too, whistling all the way.
