Into the Tiger's Lair 3 : Warming Up

"I know! Because the captains are the most ego-loaded freaks in Gotei 13 that it needs superb power to command them?"

Madarame Ikkaku

Even people who hadn't known her for too long would have known what was wrong with Hinamori Momo. For those who had known her, it would be a great loss. The kind-hearted, peace-loving, and almost unfitting to be a vice captain had suddenly become someone who could match the job description of leading a squad of battling shinigami's. Instead of congratulating her, though, they wished she wouldn't change in the first place. This was odd, since sometimes Kira and Renji had said to her to be a bit more 'tough'. And when she did get tougher...

"Kira-san", Hinamori greeted monotonously. She didn't even look up nor admire the falling petals of the Kioku no Ki as usual.

Kira sighed wearily like he would do everyday and dropped to the ground, leaning his back to the same stem, but behind Hinamori's back. He opened his lunchbox uninterestedly--after all, he made his own lunch--, took out the chopsticks and waited for Hinamori to say anything. Since he got nothing, he pinned the chopsticks on a batch of nori and ate. He morosely reminded himself that Hinamori seemed to love having lunch in silence these days. He and Renji complied at first, thinking that she must have needed some time for her own thanks to Aizen. After a while, the still complied, but it was because Hinamori didn't want to reel back into her old self.

He had noticed the change, and it was unpleasant. It began when she stopped smiling, or doing so bitterly. He disregarded it at first; he had had problems himself. Then he had noticed that she had begun using more polite suffixes to their names. He was no longer 'Kira-kun' to her, and Renji was now 'Abarai-taichou'--the latter was not so problematic since the title was considerably one that required much respect. And then her tone had gotten flatter, losing her usual innocence. But most of all, and what bothered him the most, is that she now had scowls on her face so often not even the Eleventh Division grunts dared to shove her aside nowadays.

He hated it. He hated everything about the past three months' events. He hated Gin, for showing that smiling face and yet a dagger behind it all of the time. He hated Gin for being friendly and caring to him, and slowly having him under his control. He hated Gin for making him fight his own friends. He hated Gin for making him a part of his plans. He hated Aizen for devising all their devilish schemes. He hated Aizen for fooling everyone with his almost perfect kindness. He hated Aizen for deceiving the kind-hearted and innocent Hinamori into doing his biddings. He hated Aizen for making Hinamori working so hard to become his vice-captain, all because he could use his admiration. He hated Aizen, for making Hinamori admired him and stabbed her in the end.

Most of all, he hated himself for bending to Gin's will, to be completely unnoticing of what's going on, to be so weak he was to become a part of Aizen's plans in the first place. He often envied Renji, who despite ending up with the coldest captain Gotei 13 could possibly have, became stronger, and most importantly, didn't have his heart shattered by his superior.

This was probably why he only nodded when Renji greeted them in his white robe. Renji's face was showing some sort of disappointment, but Kira could care less. After all, this sort of things had become a daily habit.

"Hey there, Kira." Renji planted himself besides the same tree.

"Haven't you had a meeting last Wednesday? I thought it was just once a week", Kira mumbled.

"Yes, it's supposedly is", Renji huffed, opening his box, "but this one's emergency. Oh, I forgot to tell you. Kira, your test is coming up."

Kira choked. "What test?"

"Taishu test, dummy. The second round?"

"Uh, Abarai, I've passed all three, you know", Kira said carefully, afraid that Renji had finally cracked up.

"Nah, you haven't", Renji said imperviously, "Besides, it's an order from Yamamoto-soutaichou. You, Hisagi-sempai, and that candidate for the Fifth captain...what's her name?"

"I don't know", Kira shrugged. At the same time (with a voice that drowned his), Hinamori yelled, "What did you say?"

Renji winced, mentally slapping himself. "The candidate for the Fifth captain--Oy, don't look at me like that (Hinamori glared at his as though it was his fault); I don't even know who she is...Okay, maybe I do." He added lamely when Hinamori continued staring at him.

"Who is it, then?" Hinamori seethed. Kira gulped.

"Some upstart fresh from the Academy...scratch that. She's not even graduated yet...Her name is Kusanagi Idaten, if that helps", Renji muttered helplessly, wishing he didn't have to be a big mouthed fool and spluttered the news.

"An upstart?" Hinamori growled incredulously. "How come someone like that can be a captain?"

"Ah, well, I think that's what the tests are for", Renji said, careful not to sound insulting at all.

Hinamori stared at the air in front of her, scowling so deeply Renji was beginning to think she would wrinkle before her time. When she didn't do anything else, he sighed and turned to Kira instead. "The test is on Wednesday, inside the Kuragi Woods. You're supposed to choose two other captains."

"Choose...what...why?" Kira countered bemusedly.

"Two captains", Renji repeated, "They just told me to tell you that. They didn't say what for...and honestly, I don't know. Soi Fong-taichou is a weirdo after all."

"S-Soi Fong-taichou?" Kira stuttered, various scared thoughts surfaced.

"Yes, that's right. She's the supervisor." Renji thumped Kira's back. "Good luck to you. Don't worry, every captains involved somehow."

"Eh, how?"

"I said, somehow."

"Abarai-taichou", Hinamori said suddenly (both Kira and Renji jumped a bit, they had momentarily forgotten her existence), "Is there anything at all that makes her qualified for the test?"

Renji rubbed his chin, recalling his memories. "Nothing specific, actually...But now that you mention it, the captains do seem to know something. I don't know what, okay?" Renji added hastily, seeing Hinamori was about to open her mouth. "At least when Yamamoto-soutaichou announced it at the first time, some of them were interested, and later on nodding their heads. If you ask me, they gave their approval rather too quickly...at least faster than mine nor Hitsugaya's."

Kira moaned silently. Renji had mentioned yet another forbidden word in front of Hinamori. To his relief, she apparently decided to give attention at those kind of things one by one.

"Did you give your approval?" Hinamori hissed.

"Well, yeah, the seniors were all in for it", Renji shrugged, "What's a rookie like me had to say against that? It's not like my opinion's going to change anything."

"Who gave their approvals?"

"Ummm...let's see...Yamamoto-soutaichou implied that he agreed...Soi Fong-taichou doesn't count--she's the proposal of that idea, I believe...Unohana-taichou..." with each name, his folded one of his fingers, "...Kuchiki-taichou took it longer to think about it...Komamura-taichou too...Kyouraku-taichou was jolly when he said yes...maybe he was drunk or something...Hitsugaya kept scowling all of the time...Kurotsuchi didn't care (after all, he only cares about dissecting anything)...Ukitake-taichou seemed to be brighter than he usually was in the meetings..."

Hinamori still had her brows furrowed. Kira was really worried that it was permanently etched on her face.

"Look, Hinamori", Renji said impatiently, "if you're that curious, then you can come to the Kuragi Woods and see things for yourself. But I have to warn you, you don't want to get caught in the line of fire."

"Eh, line of fire?" Kira blurted, twitching.

"Yeah...We were told to bring our zanpakuto (not like anyone ever leaves theirs anyways), allowed to use Shikai--get this, even Bankai--and every Kidou we know (Hinamori snorted. Renji was never passionate about Kidou)."

Kira chuckled shakily. "It's not a massacre, is it?"

"No way", Renji waved dismissively, "That's downright messed up...I'll see you later. It's well past lunch time."

"Ah, right! I forgot!" Kira jumped to his feet, hurrying away. He stopped when he realized Hinamori wasn't following him. "Hinamori-san?"

"Leave me alone." It wasn't with an irritable tone, as he had suspected, but rather, sorrow.

Although Hinamori concerned him very much, Kira couldn't help but letting her take care of herself. After all, it was the thing that still made him standing after Gin's betrayal.

He left, without knowing that Hinamori was crying.

-------------

"It says here that you need to choose two captains...with the exception of Yamamoto-soutaichou and Unohana-taichou, but including...Madarame Ikkaku?" Murasaki read, squinting his eyes.

Ryu snatched the letter. He too, squinted. "What does that suppose to mean?"

Idaten sighed. Showing them the letter was a bad idea. Not showing them the letter, thus letting them ranting on and on about it was even worse. She regretted not avoiding them.

"I don't know. This wasn't meant to be your concern in the first place." She made to snatch the letter, but the six feet tall Ryu raised it over his head. While Idaten was as tall as his shoulders, he knew exactly she wouldn't be caught dead jumping like a child.

Akira threw him a reproachful look. "What else does it say?"

"Besides the date and the place, and the warrant to bring a zanpakuto...no", Ryu read to them.

"Actually there is", Murasaki read from behind, taking the letter from Ryu, "I think this means you'll have to fight or something." He gave the letter to Idaten.

"Fight?" Mika squealed.

"Well, yeah...It says you're allowed to use even Bankai--whoa-- and any Kidou. What do you think?"

"Perhaps if you would stop and listen for a while", Idaten said crisply, "Then you would realize that I need your help."

"In what?"

"What do you know about the captains?"

"They are all great?" Ryu answered randomly. Mika glared at him. "Okay, okay, what do you want to know about them?"

"You can at least tell me how they fare in battles", Idaten replied.

Murasaki snapped his fingers. "That's quite easy. I know that the Eleventh captain's all about physical strength--actually, everyone from the Eleventh Division can't use Kidou, including that Madarame chap. The fox-headed captain's not too much different I think--come to think about it, many of them focus only on one aspect of strength...heh. Kuchiki-taichou is quite the bannougata--he's versatile in battle. The Eighth and the Thirteenth are supposedly equal...I suppose they might be good in Kidou, but I won't say anything. The Tenth captain's ("The squirt?" Ryu cut him, replied by Mika's elbow) quite strategic, I think it kinda makes up for his experience. Kurotsuchi--that's the crazy one--packs many traps in his own body. And...Oh, yes, I forgot one. Soi Fong-taichou--you know, the other squirt ("Why would we not know?" Ryu rolled his eyes. "We met her.")--is very agile and the only captain who's good at hakuda and Kidou...something tells me she's rather bad with swords."

"Are you done yet?" Ryu feigned yawning, at which Murasaki glared daggers at him.

"Ne, Murasaki, how do you know so much?" Mika asked her friend, impressed.

"My brother's in the Fourth Division, and he's quite the researcher too...He actually research things and keeps the records of them."

"Don't tell me Murasaki's overtime speech actually helps", Ryu murmured.

Idaten stared at him. It usually took a lot of effort to infuriate her, but (as clearly evident in the two years of their friendship) Ryu had the special talent to annoy her every now and then with a few words.

"A lot more than your loafing around do", she retorted sharply.

Ryu seemingly wanted to reply something, but thought better of it and changed the subject.

"So...who?"

The other respectfully left Idaten to thinking when she didn't answer. The sixth year trainees were freed of all duties, and most of them were idling around in every part of the school, waiting for the time of their practical test to come.

"You know", Ryu said after a moment, "I think it'd be better if we train instead of just doing nothing."

"What, against each other?" Mika asked, "Won't it be dangerous?"

"I guess the least we can do is disemboweling each other", Murasaki suggested jokingly.

"Although we won't get to that stage", Akira glanced at them loftily," I think it's actually a good idea."

"So it's settled then? We'll spar?" The question was met with collective nods. "What will you do, Idaten-san?"

"I suppose you do need someone to watch over you all of the time", Idaten muttered a very bad attempt at joking (it was not even laughable), "Oh, and Murasaki, can I borrow this data your brother keep?"

"Eh, I'll try", he screwed his face, "I'm telling you, it's a bunch of way too sophisticated figures or sorts."

"Alright, let's just get to the training grounds", Ryu declared, cracking his knuckles.

-------------------

No wonder they called it the Kuragi Woods. It was dark inside the woods, with the trees so tall only a little sunray hit the grounds. It was rather appropriate for whatever the test was, since it was located far from Seireitei.

In the entrance that was closest to the city, Idaten found the two shortest captains in Gotei 13 (she wholly blamed Ryu for planting that idea in her head).

"Hitsugaya-taichou. Soi Fong-taichou." Idaten bowed, out of a habit she didn't even know she had in the first place.

Hitsugaya nodded in greeting, while Soi Fong's scowl disappeared for a second.

"Alright, now we'll just have to wait until ten o' clock", Soi Fong said curtly.

"What for? You're dragging us into this without even explaining first", Hitsugaya scoffed.

Soi Fong glared at him. "I was about to. Your big mouth apparently couldn't shut just for a moment, could it?"

Hitsugaya cocked an eyebrow. It was rare to hear anyone saying anything about his 'big mouth'--he wasn't even sure he had one.

"At precisely ten o' clock, the other teams should be moving...so I'll explain everything now." Idaten watched, and knew, that Soi Fong wasn't keen on explaining anything.

"There are four teams, three of them are lead by the candidates, and one of them is comprised of only captains. They're each located in the eastern, northern, western, and southern part of the woods respectively. Are you with me so far?"

Soi Fong was somehow satisfied when Hitsugaya's forehead twitched. Her words hit the right target.

-------------------

"The objective of this test is to test the candidates' abilities in leading a group and using strategies. Yes, Renji", Byakuya droned, seeing Renji's incredulous expression, "That is necessary for a captain, which, unfortunately, some of us often neglect."

Renji fumed inwardly. He tried his best to look unperturbed.

"...Leading? Strategies? Just what are we going to do?" Shuuhei asked.

-------------------

"Each team is given a crest...like this." Ukitake held out a palm-sized green snake-tailed turtle statue in his hand.

"What is that?" Kira blurted.

"There are supposedly four...Seiryuu, Suzaku, Byakko, and Genbu. We have to get the others", Ukitake explained, pocketing the turtle.

Kira looked at Kyouraku questioningly. Kyouraku shrugged lazily.

------------------

"What? Just why do we need captains to play that kind of game?" Ikkaku asked, annoyed. He widened his eyes. "I know! Because the captains are the most ego-loaded freaks in Gotei 13 that it needs superb power to command them?"

"Madarame!" Kurotsuchi snarled. "I'm warning you..."

"Save it for later, Kurotsuchi", Komamura growled, "Right now, we have an important task."

"What? Playing hide and seek?"

Komamura twitched.

------------------

"Get all four of them?" Idaten asked slowly, eyeing the blue dragon in her hand.

"At least get the most, that's the goal."

"You know, that's a very bad idea you have in there", Hitsugaya said snidely.

Soi Fong sneered at him. "That's because it's not my idea."

"Whose?"

Soi Fong looked away. "My best friend's."

That rendered Hitsugaya quite surprised. He always thought Soi Fong was mostly untouchable...then again; even Zaraki Kenpachi had Kusajishi Yachiru.

"All right. You're in charge of the team", Soi Fong said suddenly.

Idaten's head snapped up.

----------------

"You should have guessed", Byakuya droned a bit haughtily, "After all, that's the purpose of the test."

"A game?" When Byakuya turned to him, Renji hastily continued, "And of course a training method."

"Yeah...but why does it take the captains?" Shuuhei asked.

--------------

"Undoubtedly, a captain's prowess should be at least equal with another captain. That's one. The other one is..." Ukitake ran a hand through his hair. "...that the captains are supposedly too arrogant to follow an ambiguous order."

Kyouraku snorted. "Ukitake, you can just say that we are generally big-headed."

"It also takes strength and strategies to take down the captains", Ukitake ignored him.

"Oh, alright then."

Kira shuddered.

---------------

"And what are we supposed to do again?"

"Just participate. No, Madarame, you're not the leader of this team", Komamura said, reading Ikkaku's mind. Behind them, Kurotsuchi spat at the ground, muttering something about beast and bald head.

A vein throbbed on Ikkaku's clear head. "I'll just pretend I didn't hear that. Why, you lost to a Quincy!"

Now it was Kurotsuchi's turn to tremble in anger. "What did you--"

"You don't want to get me angry", Komamura warned them.

They both traded glares instead.

----------------

"Anything else?" The question was directed to Idaten, but Soi Fong's gaze was stabbed on Hitsugaya.

"What happened to your friend?" Hitsugaya asked boldly.

Soi Fong's right hand twitched. However, she didn't even scowl.

"Why did you ask?" She countered through gritted teeth.

Hitsugaya shrugged. "Curious? I mean, if your friend feels the need to develop this kind of training method, I just think that I should know who he or she is."

"You had better ask a grave marker then", Soi Fong muttered in reply, looking at the sky.

Hitsugaya blinked. "Sorry", he mumbled. He avoided looking at her, which Idaten failed to follow. There were times when Idaten couldn't simply believe her eyes, and this was one of them. Her eyes told her that, for a very small fraction of time, Soi Fong glanced at her while answering Hitsugaya. She quickly shoved that thought away when Hitsugaya cleared his throat meaningfully.

"It's time."

Note : Kioku no Ki : Tree of Memories

Kuragi : Dark Tree