Chapter Two

Training

Hiroki awoke to a pounding on his door. He rubbed his eyes as he laid there, trying to figure out if the knocking had been real or in his dreams.

BANG. It was real. He groaned as he threw off his blanket revealing that he was wearing pajama pants and a t-shirt. He yawned while sitting up, and got out of the bed. Hiroki made his way over to the door which still had someone knocking on it. He groaned as it was his first day of summer break, and he didn't have to work today. His original plan was to sleep in, but when he looked through the peephole in his door, he realized that that wasn't going to happen.

On the other side of the door, dressed in a yellow summer dress with jean shorts underneath and white sneakers was Makoto. She had her arms folded, her foot tapping impatiently as she waited for Hiroki to answer the door. She lifted one hand, about to knock again before Hiroki quickly opened the door, trying to avoid another loud noise as he wasn't fully awake yet.

"What is it?" he asked groggily while Makoto hesitated for a second, her fist frozen in the air. She quickly lowered it, so her arms were crossed once again. Her expression was one of annoyance.

"'What is it?'," she repeated. "It's your first day of training, or did you forget that you agreed to help us."

"I said I'd think about it," Hiroki responded, reflecting on yesterday's encounter. After Sadao had asked him to join, Hiroki was still unsure about everything, so he said he needed a day or two to consider it.

"Except that I know you'll join us," Makoto said confidently.

"And what makes you so sure of that?"

"Because your life is boring."

Hiroki was speechless for a second, registering the blunt comment that was just hurled at him. He didn't think his life was boring. He went to school, worked part-time and…and what? He thought. That was it, he realized. He had no friends at college. He never had friends in school at any level. Along with that, he had never had a girlfriend either. To be fair though, he never tried to approach anybody, so it was at least half his fault.

"There's nothing wrong with a boring life," Hiroki responded, more than just a hint of annoyance in his tone. "And besides, how would you even know?"

"Because I've been keeping an eye on you since the school year started," She answered as if she didn't just reveal she was stalking him.

"You've been watching me?" Hiroki asked.

"Not all the time, geez," she turned her head away from him, and he noticed a slight blush. "Besides, it doesn't matter. Whether or not you do decide to join us, it's best if you get some training. You don't exactly look like someone who would last in a fight."

"Hey!"

"Well, it's true. And if an actual Shinigami or Quincy found you…well, I'd rather not feel responsible for what happens."

"Aw, you do care."

"Shut up. Now get dressed and follow me."

"I didn't say I'd go with you."

"If you don't, I'll just stay here and pester you until you do."

"Then I'll call the police and report a stalker."

"I am not a stalker!" She yelled probably louder than she meant to. Hiroki could see her face turning red and chuckled to himself. Alright, I guess I might as well see what this training is about, he thought.

"Fine fine, I'll go with you. It's not like I'm doing anything today anyway. But can I have breakfast first at least?"

Makoto sighed, calming down, "Alright, just make it quick."

Hiroki turned from the door, but left it open, "You can come in if you want."

Makoto hesitated before taking a step into the apartment. After she shut the door behind her, she slowly made her way down the short hallway, following Hiroki. Hiroki's apartment was long, but not wide. There was a storage closet immediately to the left of the entryway. The first door to the right led to the toilet. A little further down on the right side was a small kitchen area with a single-burner stove top and a refrigerator set into a small alcove. Across from the kitchen was the door to the changing room that also had laundry machines in it. That room then led to the bathing room. At the end of the hallway was an open door leading into the living area. Hiroki's twin bed was along one wall while a TV on top of a stand was on the opposite wall with a desk next to it. A small table sat in the middle of the room, and across from the door that Makoto just used to enter the room, there were some closed floor-to-ceiling curtains which Makoto assumed covered a glass sliding door that would lead out onto a balcony.

"So what exactly is this training?" Hiroki asked as he made himself some toast.

Makoto, who was standing almost directly behind her host, answered, "It'll be a few different things including physical and spiritual."

"Spiritual?"

"Well, you've never been in a Shinigami form before, so it's something you'll have to get used to. Also you'll need to figure out your Zanpakutō's name if you want to be anywhere close to the rest of us."

"My what?"

"Just hurry up and eat, so we can leave. And you're still not dressed."

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute." Hiroki finished off his toast and threw on a thin hoodie and jeans while Makoto waited near the entrance to the apartment. Once he was finished, the two of them left and he locked the apartment door behind him.

"So where are we going?" he asked as they made their way down three flights of stairs to ground level.

"Outside of the city," Makoto answered. "Somewhere where we won't be seen. The others are already there waiting for us."

"Everyone else is going to be there as well?"

"Well, not everyone. Takeo and Sadao have other business to attend to, and Hitoshi doesn't care enough to come and help. That child doesn't seem to care for anyone but himself and Sadao. The twins will both be there as well as Chiyo, and luckily, Akane will also be there to provide any first aid."

"First aid?"

"Well part of your physical training will consist of sparring so yes, first aid."

"I've never really done any sparring before."

"Well then you're going to learn."

They walked at least a kilometer before they found themselves in a wooded area outside of the city. It wasn't densely forested, but there were enough trees that they wouldn't be noticed by other people unless those people looked hard enough. Hiroki followed Makoto past trees until they came to a decently-sized near-circular clearing. There were a few fallen limbs scattered throughout, including a rather large one on the opposite side of where Hiroki and Makoto entered. Upon this limb sat Akane, her hands resting on her knees as she listened to Maiko and Sho argue. Chiyo stood off to the side, looking at her cell phone, occasionally taking a picture of herself.

"Look, I don't care how curious you are about him, I don't trust him," Sho said.

"You don't even know him yet," Maiko responded with a pout. "He could be a good person. Besides, you said the same thing about Hiroshi when he joined."

"And I think it's pretty clear that he doesn't care about us or our group. If selling us out meant him living, he'd probably do it in a heartbeat."

"But you don't know that, and probably never will. Just trust that Sadao-Oh," Maiko stopped as she saw Hiroki and Makoto enter the clearing. She replaced her pout with a wide welcoming smile, "You're finally here." Sho rolled his eyes and walked over to sit next to Akane.

"That's because somebody wasn't ready when I got there," Makoto replied.

"Because I didn't know you were going to ask me to come and train," Hiroki said, a scowl of annoyance on his face. He shook his head, "But that's in the past. I'm here now ready for…well whatever we're supposed to be doing."

"The first thing we need to do is to have you enter your spirit form," Akane said. "Then we can test your speed, your strength, and have you understand your Zanpakutō among other things. Because you already seem closest to Makoto, she'll do the honors."

"The honors?" Hiroki turned to see that Makoto was already in her Shinigami form. She drew her sword, and Hiroki turned back toward Akane. "Wait, how am I supposed to-." He gasped as he felt something go through his body. He slowly looked down to see half of a katana sticking out of his stomach. He then turned his head and saw that Makoto was holding the hilt that belonged to the blade that was through him.

He felt a pulse then suddenly found himself looking at his own body. It was slumped on the ground, Makoto standing over it, sword in her hand though Hiroki realized that the sword had no blood on it. He then realized he was wearing the same black and white clothing as Makoto. His left hand brushed something, and when he glanced down, he saw a katana with a gold hilt and a silver "X" shaped handguard. Two thin white strands of fabric hung loosely off the bottom of the hilt. He grabbed the blade and slowly pulled it out of its sheath. The blade itself was silver and was seventy-four centimeters in length. He looked at it, his mouth open.

"Am I…dead?" he asked, looking around at the others for an answer.

"No, not really," Akane answered with a warm smile. "All that has happened is that your soul is temporarily split from your physical body. You can always re-enter your body whenever you want, but in this form, we can train you better. And from here on, you should be able to go into this form at will. The only reason you couldn't do it before was that it was locked inside you. Makoto, by thrusting her sword through you, used part of her own spiritual power to unlock yours." Her expression grew serious and dark. "But I must warn you, your body and soul can both still be injured, so if you decide to go into this form, make sure your body is somewhere safe, understood?"

Hiroki gulped and nodded. He had only seen Akane twice now, but she had come off as the sweet, motherly figure in the group. Looking at her serious face and hearing the tone that matched it caused Hiroki to question what he originally thought.

"Good," Akane said, her smile returning. "Now that that's out of the way, let's test your reflexes."

"My ref-," he was interrupted once again by Makoto's blade, which was now next to the right side of his face. It was only after he saw the blade that he felt the cut form on his cheek. He jumped to the left, holding his own sword with both hands. He could feel sweat building up on his forehead out of nervousness and a small trickle of blood running down his cheek as he looked at Makoto who hadn't moved from her stance, the blade still extended out. She turned to him.

"That was atrocious," she said.

"A little warning next time," Hiroki shouted.

"Why? Your enemies won't give you one." Suddenly Makoto became a blur and was in front of Hiroki, her sword coming down towards him. He put his own blade up to block, but wasn't nearly ready enough. The katana's met, and Hiroki's was knocked low. Makoto's blade was now so close to Hiroki's face he had to go cross-eyed to see it. She pulled it away and took a step back.

I didn't even see her move, he thought.

"Did you just teleport?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"No," Akane replied. "She used a technique called Hirenkyaku that our Quincy half allows us to use. It lets us ride the flow of Reishi that we have created below our feet. One of the biggest abilities the Quincy have is Reishi manipulation."

"Reishi?"

"The main component material of souls and all spiritual matter."

Hiroki turned to Makoto, bringing his sword back up and positioning it in front of him. He took a deep breath before nodding toward Makoto, giving her the signal that he wanted to continue. Once again, she blurred and Hiroki found himself putting his blade up to block. They two blades connected, but Hiroki was able to keep his up this time.

"I did it," Hiroki said, letting out a happy chuckle. That was cut short though as Makoto blurred and was now behind him. He felt her leg go into his side as she kicked him, sending him and his Zanpakuto to the ground. He groaned in pain.

"Okay, so when do I get to learn that Hiren-whatever move?" he asked as he slowly picked himself up.

"Not until you learn how to manipulate Reishi," Makoto answered. "When you can do that, we'll move on to Hirenkyaku. But first, you have to keep sparring until Akane says you can move on."

"But what if I don't get to that point today?"

"Oh you probably won't. But that's why you'll train every day."

"I can't do that everyday. I have a job."

"On those days, you'll just have to find time. It's summer, so it's not like you'll have to focus on school. And you're not a part of any clubs."

"Oh right, I almost forgot that you were stalking me."

"I was not!" Makoto shouted, her face growing red. "I already explained-."

"You're open!" Hiroki yelled as he jumped toward Makoto swinging his sword at her. She flicked her own blade up and blocked Hiroki's while only using one hand. Then she blurred once again and Hiroki felt the tip of her blade at the base of his neck.

"Next time, don't announce when you're going to attack," she said before taking a step back and removing the sword from its threatening position. "Now, again."

The two of them sparred back and forth, and everytime Hiroki thought he had gotten the advantage, Makoto proved him wrong. After nearly an hour of fighting, Hiroki was starting to feel out of breath. Sweat ran down his face though he wasn't sure how sweat was possible while he was supposed to be a spirit, but sure enough he had to wipe it out of his eyes a few times.

"That's enough for now," Akane said. Makoto sheathed her blade.

"Huh?" Hiroki responded. "Come on, one more. I know I'll land a hit this time."

"You won't. But your speed is improving, so that's something. Unfortunately if you continue with how tired you are, you risk hurting yourself. No, we'll move on to something else. Don't worry though, we'll get back to sparring."

Hiroki grimaced but put his blade away anyway, "So what's next?"

"Next is Reishi manipulation training," Akane responded.

"And how do I do that?"

"It's quite simple: just feel it."

"Feel…it?" Hiroki asked, one eyebrow raised. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to be feeling."

"Just concentrate. We're in a more natural area so the Reishi should be higher here. I want you to just…reach out and feel it with your mind."

"Is that really the best way to explain it?"

"Just do it, and stop asking so many questions," Sho butted in.

"Sho, you're not helping!" Maiko reprimanded her brother before turning to Hiroki with a big smile. "Just try your best."

"Thanks," Hiroki responded, though he felt like the sarcastic tone in his voice was lost on Maiko by the way she was still smiling. He took a deep breath and tried to clear his mind. After a minute of concentrating he could actually feel something. It was different from the air around him as if there were two different currents running opposite of each other. There was the normal wind that blew around him and whatever the other one was that felt as if it blew through him. He wasn't quite sure how to explain it exactly, but just that it was different.

"I think I feel it," Hiroki chuckled. "First try."

"Well I'd hope so," Sho responded. "We could all do it on the first try because sensing Reishi is an innate ability of ours. The real question is can you control it?"

"You really couldn't just congratulate me or something?" Hiroki asked, annoyed at the guy sitting on the limb.

"Let's put it this way: when you impress me, then I'll give you praise. So far, there's been nothing you've done that makes me think you belong here."

"He is one of us," Akane responded.

"What is your problem?" Hiroki shouted.

"My problem is-," Sho began to stand up, but stopped himself as Akane put her hand in front of him and gave him a serious look. He sat back down. "Nothing. Just keep training."

Akane turned back to Hiroki, "Now that you can feel the Reishi, try gathering it at your feet."

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to do that either."

"Like this," Maiko said and was suddenly next to Hiroki who jumped back. Makoto at least had a blur when she did hers, but there was no blur with Maiko. Hiroki also noticed she was not in a Shinigami form.

"Wait, I thought we had to be in this," Hiroki gestured at himself, "form to use the technique."

"Not at all," Maiko responded cheerfully. "Our Quincy half allows us to use it in both human and soul form. Though it is easier while we're souls since we're closer to the Reishi in a way."

"Alright, I guess that makes sense. But why did I see a blur when Makoto used it, and not with you?"

"Simple," Sho answered. "Maiko has better control of Reishi than Makoto does. In fact she's probably the second best Reishi manipulator we have behind Sadao." While Sho did smile and sounded like he was praising his sister, Hiroki couldn't help but feel like there was some sadness behind it.

"So," Hiroki turned to Maiko. "Could you actually explain it? I feel like that would make it easier than just showing me since I couldn't exactly see you move."

"Of course," Maiko replied happily. "So think of it kind of like telekinesis."

Hiroki blinked, "What?"

"When you feel the Reishi, just try and gather it at your feet. Once you've done that, all you have to do next is ride the current that you're feeling. And soon enough you'll be able to move at high speeds and even," Suddenly Maiko was standing in midair about a meter above Hiroki, "float. Well, it's not technically floating. I'm standing on Reishi, but you get the idea." She dropped back down to the ground in front of Hiroki. "Now you try it." She took a few steps back to give Hiroki room.

Hiroki concentrated again on the current he had felt before and tried to gather it at his feet with his mind like Maiko had explained. At first, he wasn't exactly feeling it, but after a few minutes he felt something around his feet, and could even sense another current below him. He tried to concentrate on the current, and he took a step forward. Suddenly he found himself behind Makoto who jumped back in surprise.

"Ha!" Hiroki threw his hands up and exclaimed in joyous surprise. "I did it!" He looked around hoping for praise, but instead was met with looks of shock.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh, no," Akane replied, finding her voice first. "It's just…no one's ever been able to do it on their first try."

"And when they could eventually do it," Makoto spoke, "they didn't make it that far on their first successful attempt."

Sho's mouth was open, but he quickly closed it before responding, "He probably just got lucky. He's still nowhere near as fast as Makoto, let alone the rest of us."

"So I take it I didn't impress you?"

Sho sighed and rolled his eyes, "Fine. You did…alright, I suppose." Hiroki was a bit surprised that Sho gave some praise, even if it was just a little. But he accepted it, not wanting to spoil the moment.

"Alright, well since you did that quicker than expected, we will move onto the next thing," Akane said. "But like with sparring, you are still going to practice it when you can. Now for the final thing today. You're going to try and figure out the name of your Zanpakuto."

"The name?"

"Yes, the name. But let me be clear on something first. When I refer to the name of your Zanpakuto, I refer to the name of the spirit that embodies it. The same spirit that lends you its strength in battle."

"So you're saying my sword is…alive?"

"In a sense. Don't forget that your Zanapuktō is not a tool to be used, but a partner to be relied upon during battle. If you respect it, it will help you. But before you can do so, you must learn its name."

"And how do I do that?"

"You must speak to it. The best way to do this is to meditate with it until you are capable of conversation."

"That's it? Just meditate?"

"Yes, though it may take longer than you might think. Now, you go ahead and use the rest of our training time to do that."

"What about the rest of you?"

"We're just here to make sure nothing happens while you train. Don't worry about us."

Hiroki had never tried to meditate before, so he just sort of sat down with his legs crossed like he had seen in movies and shows and other media. He laid his sword across his legs since he wasn't sure what to do with it and took a breath, trying to clear his mind like he did when he manipulated Reishi. As he concentrated, he could hear some noises clearer like the click of Chiyo's phone camera, the muttering of Sho, and the pacing of Makoto. He realized concentrating might be a bit more difficult than he originally thought.

Hiroki had been sitting in the same spot for over two hours, and yet nothing had happened. He had tried placing his sword in different positions: facing the other way while on his legs, flat on the ground, in his hands, stuck into the ground. Nothing was working. He knew meditation required patience, but this was ridiculous.

"Alright," he said standing up. "I don't think this is going to work. At least not today."

He looked around at the others. Chiyo had left nearly an hour ago, but everyone else was still there. Akane still sat on the limb in the same position which Hiroki marveled at since it seemed like she hadn't moved from that spot for their entire training session. Makoto had decided to sit down on the ground, and the twins were off to the side sparring. This was the first time Hiroki could see their Zanpakutōs.

Sho's blade was normal with a basic circular handguard, but his hilt was wrapped in black and there was a hollow circular ring at the base of it. Maiko's sword also looked normal, and her hilt was wrapped in blue though her handguard looked like a five-pointed star though the arms of the star were long and thin.

"I guess we're done here for today then," Makoto sighed. "After how quickly it took you to figure out Reishi manipulation, I thought maybe you'd be able to figure out the name of your sword just as fast. Oh well."

"Sorry," Hiroki shrugged. "I wish I could have figured it out since I'm pretty interested in what it is, but I'll have to try again later."

"We could always do it the other way," Sho spoke up as he and his sister had stopped sparring.

"I don't think that's the best idea," Makoto said. "We already saw how he was during sparring."

"What other way?" Hiroki asked.

"The way where I try to kill you," Sho said. "It's rare, but in a life-or-death situation, a Shinigami, or Splintered in our case, can figure out their Zanpakutō's name. So what say you? Do you want to fight?"

Surely he wouldn't actually try and kill me, Hiroki thought. He'd stop before delivering some kind of death blow. Also Makoto mentioned that Akane was here for first aid, so it shouldn't be a problem if I get injured a little. Especially if it means talking to my Zanpakutō.

He looked at Sho nodded, "Alright, let's do this."

Akane sighed while Makoto protested, "I really don't think this is a good idea."

"Sho, you really shouldn't do this," Maiko tried persuading her brother but to no avail. Sho just smirked and slid a finger into the ring at the base of his sword's hilt. He began to spin it, and it started to shrink while it spun.

"Swap, Basho Dorobō," he said, and when the sword stopped spinning, Hiroki was surprised to see him holding a black Kunai in his right hand complete with the same circular ring that the original blade's hilt had. Hiroki readied his own weapon.

Suddenly Sho was behind him. Hiroki spun to block but felt a piercing pain in his arm. He looked as Sho removed the tip of the Kunai. It wasn't a big wound though there was a very thin stream of blood. But what really caught Hiroki's eye was the small black dot that appeared over the wound. Sho slowly moved his left hand up next to his face and snapped. Hiroki blinked and found that he was where Sho was standing and Sho was where Hiroki had been standing.

"I think you're under the misconception that I won't try and kill you," Sho said. "I already said life-or-death situation, so get ready."