here's the update! Dunno when the next chapter will be up though... Gomen. My thanks to all who reviewed or PMed me

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Chapter 13: Double schooling

"The last thing I want to do is hurt you. But it's still on the list."

They tested me for my reiatsu level, then they got me to do some basic stuff like form a ball of energy in my hands. I imagined throwing a cero at my examiners. That helped a lot. This manipulation of reiatsu got me thinking though. Other than hierro, cero, sonido and sword usage, i didnt have much variety in my reiatsu usage. Now i was pretty sure you could do a hell lot of other stuff using reiatsu and i was curious enough to first, try to envelope myself with an armour-like layer of energy to mimic how my hierro used to be, and second, try to bind a random examiner with reiatsu. I must have caught them by surprise because the examiner that i had bound suddenly toppled to the ground. Shit. I wasnt sure if this was such a good idea afterall. At least i found out that i could convert my arrancar abilities to a shinigami version and that the ball of energy i produced in my hand was the same colour as my cero-violet. In the end, i found out that what i had demonstrated in the private examination room had been expected. Apparently, the stuff they made me do were also harder than that of the usual exam, so as to really test me. I only hoped that my reiatsu didnt betray its arrancar origins. In any case, the most important thing was, i passed.

I recieved my academy uniform later on and was to change into it. I would only be allowed to wear back my black shinigami clothes when i graduate. My sword was also 'confiscated' by Zaraki, who was going to be in charge of my sword-fighting training. I'm not sure i like the academy uniform very much, but i guess its alright. The uniform consisted of a white and red tunic over a red undershirt, red hakama, white tabi socks and sandals. I couldnt wait to wear my shinigami clothes again. Of course i wouldnt mind if they allowed me to wear my arrancar clothes, but thats highly unlikely.

...

"Cheshaa-chan!" a child-like voice reproached. I blinked, coming out of my thoughts and hastily responding to my new nickname derived from her insistance of the similarities between a certain grinning cat from Alice of Wonderland and me, my smile and i.

"Hai, Yachiru-chan!" i say, while at the back of mind, i couldnt help but think i must sound like a stiff soldier coming to attention. At least i didnt salute. The pink-haired child lieutenant pouted and made this really cute annoyed expression before continuing with her lecture on kido in her usual cheerful and hyper self. She had allowed-insisted, even-me to call her by her name. I sighed. This was going to be a long night. And i had school tomorrow. The captain commander had arranged for me to attend lessons in soul society one hour after school ends everyday and allow me six hours of sleep every night. One hour to finish the day's essay, maths sums and whatnot? Six hours of sleep? Concentration camp, that's what this was. And my training instructors were a punk-looking lieutenant called Shuhei Hisagi, a white haired kid captain named Hitsugaya Toshiro, the hyper pink haired Kusajishi, her crazy fight-loving captain Zaraki Kenpachi and a stone-faced captain named Kuchiki Byakuya. At least Kuchiki-taichou didnt have tear-stain-like-streaks running down his cheeks like a certain espada i knew. I had yet to see that captain smile though.

My next lesson was swordplay with Zaraki. My first lesson with him in fact. I wasnt sure what to expect but it was definetly not having to fight with someone who reminded me more and more of Nnoitra with each minute. Both were supertall, both wore an eyepatch, both had this crazy smile, and most of all, both love to pick fights. I was suddenly thankful for all the sword practice i got from fighting arrancars. Nevermind that i was now a shinigami and was slightly weaker than when i was arrancar. If i managed to defeat Nnoitra, i should be able to do the same with this shinigami. That was when i noticed, slightly amusedly, that a hell lot of Espadas were all pretty egoistic, and i now include myself to that list which already consist of a) Ulquiorra who thinks of everyone below him as trash b) Grimmjow who thought himself to be better than the Espada two ranks above him c) Nnoitra who believes that all females were weaker than males despite the fact that there were two female Espadas of a higher rank than him. So when sense told me that this was a captain that i was fighting, someone of the same rank as Aizen and Gin, i ignored it.

Zaraki Kenpachi returned mw sword to me just before we began the fight. As i havnt been taught shikai yet, i wasnt expected to use it. We were just going to do some friendly sparring, so that Zaraki can check out my standard in swordplay. Hell, friendly sparring? Ha! As if. As soon as my sword was in my hands, he stepped back and swung his sword down on me. I barely had time to dodge the attack. Now lets see, in order to defeat this shinigami, i've gotta first have the abilities of my arrancar self and that means hierro, cero, segunda-ranked reiatsu and speed. Hierro was achieved by condensing the reiatsu over my shinigami skin, releasing my suppressed reiatsu was easy enough too and immediately my speed increased. However, i dont think i can create a replica of cero without arousing suspicion so i'd have to do without it. Now, for the fight...

Crazily enough, i began thanking Grimmjow for all the practice he gave me during our sparring sessions. I even began thanking that kitchenware bastard for foolishly trying to engage in a fight with me every so often. Both of them gave me the experience and reflexes I needed to hold my own against this crazy shinigami. When he swung at my legs, i did a backflip. When he tried to decapitate me, i crouched down and lunged beneath his sword with my own. I was fast, but he was fast too. I missed landing a blow on his chest by a mere centimetre. The next time he struck down with his sword, i briefly wondered if this guy wasnt trying to kill me after all. I mean, in which test of swordplay do you seriously try to behead your student? Okay, so i wasn't dead yet and defintely wont die anytime soon, but i was getting tired of dodging and countering his attacks.

Then dont! The fact that you're fast enough to run away means that you're fast enough to start initiating the attacks, you baka! Ah. Shiroifu.

Basically, just attack. Attack. And attack again. Then the roles will be reversed. Think like your opponent, just as you think like your prey when you hunt. If you want to beat a captain, you gotta think like one. Havnt you learnt that much from your fights with Grimm? Kuroisei? Funny that in the end, my swords were giving me advice on swordplay instead of Zaraki. But their voices reminded me that having not been taught shikai yet only means that i wasnt expected to use it. It didnt mean i couldnt use it. Ha! Zaraki-taichou, you are so going down! (again with the arrancar-like egoism)

I stepped backwards, narrowly avoiding a slash at my stomach, and pointed my sword at Zaraki, my Cheshire-cat-smirk on my face. "Warau, Seifu-gin."

I can't really say how my sword splits into two, but when I did the initial release, the single silver sword glowed in a bright light and like some twisted mirror image, another glowing sword would materialize in my other hand, then the light would disappear to reveal one sword black and the other white. In any case, as soon as I performed shikai-or rather, revealed that I knew shikai-I swear that guy's maniacal smile got even larger, and made me really want to wipe it off his face.

I began striking at him, and found how easy, smooth and fluid were the wielding of my swords as compared to before (I wonder if it had anything to do with the shape and size of the swords) Delighted, I soon became immersed into the dancing of swords, the soft humming song of the blades, the soft tinkling of bells, the joyful laughter of the shinigami when our blades clash and later, the satisfaction when my swords bit flesh and the bittersweet scent of blood filled the air. Was the blood mine or his? Maybe both, but with all that adrenaline, the pain was dulled and all other senses were sharpened. I have never fought like this before. For a moment, i thought i really was gonna win, when it seems like my reiatsu roared over his, but then he took off his eyepatch and to my surprise and horror, his reiatsu exploded and soared to top mine. For a brief moment, I wondered about the state of the buildings surrounding us but didn't have time to give it much thought as the battle ensued with Zaraki now having the upper-hand. When the crazy guy explained about his eyepatch, the first thing I thought was not about how crazy the whole thing was, but about why he didn't take it off earlier. Well i knew why, but i was feeling resentful to the seemingly effortless way he waved aside my confidence in defeating him. In the end, i had no idea what i was really fighting for. It had started out as a fight to show my skills, then a fight to protect my pride as an Espada, to prove that I could defeat him, then a fight just for the pleasure of being able to cut him, fight for the sake of fighting, and now? All I knew was that I wasn't just gonna surrender anytime soon.

Some time later, I felt my entire body begin to ache when the adrenaline wasn't enough to hold back the pain and my stamina began to run itself out. I had never been in a fight this long before. I wondered if Zaraki was beginning to tire too, but doubted it. Then when I brought up my blade too slow too late to block a low slash by Zaraki, my vision clouded over and I fainted.

I woke up in a traditionally-styled room and found myself staring at the face of a young woman with thick black hair. Funny that when I saw her smile, I thought of all the different kinds of spirits that I'd met so far, one with a suspiciously polite smile (Aizen), another with a fox smile (Gin), and two with wide crazy smiles (Zaraki and Nnoitra), one more with a sneer/mocking smile/smirk (Grimmjow) Then there were those with no smiles at all (Ulquiorra).

"Hi." I say weakly. My body hurt like hell under soft bandages. The woman introduced herself as Unohana Retsu, captain of the fourth division. Then she proceeded to give me a description of my injuries, her verdict and... I tuned her out until she mentioned Zaraki, who had apparently brought me to her, then falling unconscious when she was about to check his injuries too. I was consoled by the thought that that monster of a shinigami was significantly injured by me too. I take back whatever I previously thought of shinigami. It seems like it wasn't just Aizen, Gin or Tousen. I have concluded that all shinigami are scary. Really scary.

That's all for now ^_^ Please review~!