Chapter 16 version 3

1984

Nicole von Levenshtein sat in the lunch area waiting for Vooren and Tanya while eating the sandwich she bought from the former soul reaper who ran a lunch cart just outside the academy boundary.

Nicole thought she'd come to understand her former commander and fellow noble. Sure she came from a long line of minor nobility and Tanya was an orphan from the peasant class, supposedly. But the years of training under as well as alongside her had given Nicole an understanding of how Tanya's mind worked.

Whatever job was put in front of her, Tanya would do the best she could. Give her command of a mage battalion and she'd strip a minor country so thoroughly of its defenders it could be conquered by simply walking across the border. Put her up against a major power with unlimited resources, she'd step back from the front, redefine the tactical doctrine of the military and then take this new military she's built almost all the way to the enemy capital.

In her mind it was simple, efficiency was what was necessary and if something was not working she would take a step back and come up with another solution that may work.

Which is why she was surprised by the few moments she found where Tanya was illogical. A good example of this was her handling of the souls during their trips to the world of the living. With about 95% of the souls, she was business-like tapping them and getting on with her life. But the remainder were special cases, victims of accidents or those who ended up alone and unable to find someone to help them pass on, seemed to inspire her to be more compassionate in comparison.

Mechanically there were no differences between the Souls but clearly to Tanya there was. Nicole had been one of the few people to see Tanya's body immediately after her death. She'd seen the smile on her face and assumed it had been an easy passing. But perhaps it did not. Perhaps dying alone may have been a logical decision but one that she illogically regretted. The human mind was a complex thing full of mysteries. It's not impossible that she logically decided to try and spare her men after realising she couldn't be saved but regretted dying alone, ever an orphan in death as she had been in life.

The prime example of Tanya's illogical behavior however, was her continued refusal to deal with her sword or Tasha as she kept referring to it. Nicole didn't know what the sword wanted, of course all she knew was that in the year since they'd started going to the world of living Grantz had unlocked his shikai Moeru Sora not long after their first visit. Maybe if it was just Grantz who had managed it she wouldn't be worried but a few months back she had unlocked her own sword Yakan hikō.

As it was though, Tanya who was probably the most adept with kido of the three had fallen behind when it came to the jinzen part of the curriculum. Something that may play a role in determining whether she graduated from the academy with them or not. Tanya seemed nonplussed by the whole situation when she brought it up a few days ago though, giving the impression that the girl knew something she did not.

As if speaking of the devil, thinking of Tanya caused her to appear. Entering the lunch area with Grantz close behind, she came in with purpose and grace, her hair done up in a ponytail. Nicole felt a small spark of jealousy and how well her commander had blossomed over the last few years. Back during the war when she'd been referred to as the short one, she had taken a little pride in being taller than Tanya. Now she would forever be the short one as well as a number of other small comparisons to Tanya. "Royalty gets all the luck," she thought, musing about her own pet theory when it came to Tanya's parentage.

Waving the two over, she brought out an envelope she had received this morning containing a letter that she needed to talk to them about.

"Good morning Nicole" Tanya greeted cheerfully before taking a seat across from her.

"Good morning Tanya, Vooren I also received a letter today about my graduation," Nicole said with a smile showing them the letter.

"Wonderful me and Vooren received letters as well. I guess we'll be in the same graduating class," Tanya commented as she pulled out her own letter.

Nicole let out a sigh of relief thankful that she didn't have to worry about Tanya being stuck in the academy without them.

"Now we just need to find out how to get into the right divisions." Tanya stated matter-of-factly, causing both Nicole and Vooren to stare at her in confusion.

"I've apparently already been assigned a division" Nicole began pulling out the second part of the letter and putting it in front of Tanya. "Apparently, the 13th took interest in my spell casting abilities."

"Huh," Tanya murmured looking over the paperwork "well that was unexpected but from what I know the 13th is a reasonable division, it even has an acquaintance of mine Rukia something. She helped save my life when I first arrived. so do well to make sure and keep her alive so I can eventually repay her for that aid." Nicole began to nod as Tanya continued "I guess it's just me and Vooran who need to-" she was cut off as Grantz spoke up.

"Actually I have been assigned a division as well" he pulled out his own paperwork "I'm to be sent to the 6th."

Tanya looked at the paperwork and looked generally confused. "I have no idea what happens with the 6th but I think I've heard once or twice they're a fine division, you should be able to go far in them."

"But hold on," Nicole interjected, "if we both received papers telling us what division we'll be in with our graduation papers why did you only receive graduation papers?"

Tanya reached into her side pocket and pulled out the paperwork to check again. "There were definitely graduation papers in here but there was nothing else." she said, holding the envelope open and upside down, giving it a shake for good measure.

"Perhaps they are still trying to determine what division to send me to?" She proposed, sounding a bit confused by this development. Before continuing "Whatever the cause I'm sure it'll be fine, wish they explained how this system works better though, I was under the impression we would have a choice in the matter"

"Where did you get that impression?" Grantz asked.

"I once had a discussion with the former third seat of the 10th division and he said that he chose to join the 10th. But then again I was given the impression he was some sort of über genius who had unlocked Shikai in one year. Perhaps when you do that you have more control over the situation of joining a division." She mused out loud. "Well, no matter what, I will just have to deal with whatever comes. It's not like I wasn't planning to change divisions down the line if an opportunity presented itself."

"Should we be looking to change divisions after a while?" Nicole asked, wondering if Tanya had any thoughts on the matter.

To her surprise Tanya waved the idea away instead "Only if you're unsatisfied with your division. Personally, I believe we should all just focus on being the best members of whatever division we end up in for now and only worry about joining back up in one particular division if we find that to be the best place for us all."

Nicole nodded, not sure she understood that right. It almost sounded like Tanya was trying to search for a division for all the members of the 203rd and she wanted to use the three of them as forward scouts to learn what division would be the best one. Did she perhaps know something more about the whereabouts of the remaining 203rd members which she hadn't told them about yet?

"Anyways I am famished, I'm going to patronize the food cart and be back in a few minutes," Tanya said before getting up and walking away leaving Nicole and Grantz alone with their thoughts.

Sitting in the captains meeting hall, Captain-General Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto relaxed in his chair, his right hand grasping his staff as he waited for the next meeting of the day.

As the founder of the Spiritual Arts Academy and one of the few remaining founders of the Gotei 13, he always happily anticipated this time of year. This was the time of year when the youngsters would be squabbling about who would join their division. Oh, sure he'd set up the system to make it easier on everyone. Promising soul reapers would be offered positions from captains of various divisions. Those captains would use reports generated by the academy to pick out who best fit their division. Every year there were also a small number of soul reapers picked based on family lineage or connections to noble families. The modern prestige game those nobles engaged in was not something Yamamoto liked to pay attention to but he let them run amok as long as they did not interfere with the protection of the Soul Society.

Because the system was as simple as a captain selecting an academy graduate to join their division there were a small number of conflicts each year, especially in the first-class where a particularly talented student could get one or two or maybe even more captains asking for them. When that happened inter-squad mediation and negotiations began.

Of course as the head of the Gotei 13 he was the designated mediator. Today he'd already gone through two such mediations, one resulting in the captain of the 6th giving up a claim on a soul reaper who would go into the 8th and one where the 12th gave up two claims that interfered with claims from other divisions so that he could get someone who had been claimed by the third division. There had been some other concessions related to paperwork and technology that the captain of the third had wanted but the primary conflict had been settled.

He had three more similar mediations planned for today and another two for tomorrow. However, the one that was coming up next was a particular oddity. A student had managed to get themselves claimed by three captains. That was not what made it special as triple claims had happened before, no what was special however was that the captain of 11th had staked a claim.

Zaraki did not make claims, all the members of the 11th to date had transferred there from other divisions when they weren't satisfied enough by the non-combat situations, had been judged particularly suitable by the academy proctors or were dumped there because they had failed to master one of the skills other than sword fighting.

In other words Zaraki making a claim on someone intrigued the Captain-General. So much so he'd asked for the class one teacher Gengorō Ōnabara to be brought to the meeting chambers with a report on the student in question. Hearing the sound of the door he looked up and saw his lieutenant Chōjirō Sasakibe coming in with a tray of tea.

"Ōnabara of the soul academy and Captains Aizen, Hitsugaya, and Zaraki have arrived." He said as he placed the tray on a stool in front of him.

Nodding Yamamoto gruffly replied "Bring them in.".

Sasakibe got up and walked back towards the front door, stepping outside for a moment before coming back with the three captains and the teacher in tow.

"Good morning Ōnabara, it's been a long time since we've had a chance to talk." Captain-General mused.

"That it has been, working hard making sure newby soul reapers can survive their duty is a time-consuming process as always." Yamamoto nodded his agreement to the sentiment before turning to the three captains.

"Aizen, Hitsugaya, Zaraki. I understand that you three have a bit of a squabble about a student's future. Could this not have been settled by asking them what division they preferred?" He began.

Aizen was the first to respond "The student has not given a definite answer on what division they prefer, she was sponsored by the 10th, has a known friend and confidant in the 11th and has had several charming conversations with me myself which have led me to believe that she would do well in any division she was placed in except the 12th of which she's made her negative opinions well known.".

Brushing his long beard the Captain-General let out a hollow laugh. "Well, she's got good survival instincts, that's for sure."

Looking to the newly minted captain of the 10th he said "So, your division sponsored this?" He held up his hand and Ōnabara handed the report that Yamamoto then placed down on the table next to his tea. Flipping it open he looked at the first page. "Tanya Degurechaff?"
A German name? That brought back bad memories. "What is her connection to the 10th beyond this sponsorship?"

"Captain-General Yamamoto, Miss Degurechaff was found by my lieutenant in the midsection of the Rukongai, she also stayed a month with us before joining the academy and in that time Captain Isshin Shiba believed she would make a fine officer for the 10th and said so in front of her, I'm simply honoring that commitment." Hitsugaya responded.

The Captain-General nodded it was a very respectful thing to hold the commitments of your fallen commander and something he would have to take into consideration in this case. He then turned to the 5th Captain with a questioning gaze. "And you're interested in this student Captain Aizen?"

"I believe she will make a better than fine officer one day. She says she only wants a middling position, but she has the mind and intelligence to reach captaincy. I simply wish to help her reach her potential." Aizen calmly explained.

The Captain-General nodded at that, the 5th Captain had a track record of finding potential captains amongst his ranks, so he took the man's statement as something of a letter of recommendation. Finally, he turned to the 11th Captain. "Zaraki I was rather surprised to see your name on the list of people I have to deal with today. What possible reason do you have to have interest in this girl?"

Smiling one of his unsettling smiles, the captain of the 11th began. "The girl's got the eyes of a fighter she enjoys combat. That and my 10th officer is a good friend of hers from before their death so I thought I'd do her a favor and get her friend in the same division."

Yamamoto's hand stopped stroking his beard and looked over at the other two captains. "Are you aware of this fighter's zeal Zaraki speaks of?"

"I've seen nothing of this. I heard that one of her friends has gotten into a lot of duels while at the academy. But from what I've seen she is more of an intellectual sort than a fighter." Aizen thoughtfully added to the discussion.

"She's in denial" Hitsugaya spoke up, causing all eyes in the room to turn to him. "In order to improve her swordsmanship before she joined the academy I helped train her a bit, I have seen what Kenpachi is referring to. When she starts getting into a fight she starts smiling manically and adds on this weird kido she knows which causes her eyes to start glowing, it can be a pretty impressive effect. However every time I've asked her whether she enjoys fighting she denies it outright. She claims it is from the adrenaline but anyone who's been in a fight can easily tell what it really is, there is some part of her that lives for fighting."

"Odd Kido spells?" Captain General muttered, opening up the file to get a better look at some of the information inside. Apparently, the student was very good at kido and at hand-to-hand combat, hoho was at a standard level and her swordsmanship whilst far from lacking certainly wasn't particularly good either. Not one of the standard types the 11th would take in that was for sure. "Ōnabara tell me, what are your thoughts on this student?"

"My thoughts? Well, she scores well on graded tests and excels at learning new Kido, however I have noticed some odd things about her. She doesn't make friends easily, from what I've been able to determine the only friends she's made since arriving at the academy were two more people from her first life." Ōnabara responded, throwing another strange piece into the puzzle.

The Captain-General looked up at that, one person from your old life showing up could happen, it was not impossible but three? Either that student was extraordinarily fortunate or there was something strange going on. "What are the names of those two other students?"

"Vooren Grantz and Nicole Levenshtein" Ōnabara offered.

More Germans, either this was a strange coincidence or something he'd have to keep his eye on, that was for sure. It had been a thousand years since the last conflict with the Quincies had ended. It was most likely nothing to be worried about but perhaps he should have someone look into the matter just to be sure. For now, all he said was "Strange but continue."

"During her time under my care she was not involved in many fights, I think that outside of regularly scheduled lessons she keeps her sword sheathed. She seems hesitant to draw her blade in my mind, not aggressive enough to know when it's time to fight."

"Well, now that is a strange one, a reaper who appears to love fighting but is hesitant to do it." The Captain-General noted looking down at the report.

"Perhaps it has something to do with being a soldier in her last life?" Aizen offered.,

That was a thought, he was starting to get an idea of what might be going on now. Perhaps this Degurechaff enjoyed the combat in her last life but since coming here had found that it had done little good for her, which was now resulting in the stunting of her abilities as a soul reaper. If the information on her swordsmanship was anything to go by, It may also explain her inability to master Shikai, he had seen the signs of someone having disharmonious Reaper-Zanpakuto relationship before and this carried all the hallmarks of such a situation.

Looking through the report he noticed that the girl was essentially a genius when it came to kido and reishi manipulation, seeming to prefer a ranged style of combat. As he looked at the report an idea began to form the back of his mind. If her swordsmanship issues could be broken, she would have an excellent foundation to build a captain out of. And he was in need of a new Kido Corps Commander, perhaps in 100 years she would serve that bill well.

Then it came down to what division would best be able to solve her issues with combat. Fortunately, that was a simple question whilst the 5th might be good for making specialized reapers and finding good officers they weren't going to serve this girl well to suit his purposes, the 10th though a good runner-up would not break this habit either seeing as they were still in a transitionary phase after the loss of their last captain and needed to focus on themselves for now. No, no someone whose battle spirit was broken needed to be thrown into the deep end to wake them up again.

"I believe that this Tanya girl should go to the 11th for now," he began, "she needs to learn how to make peace with her love of fighting again or she will most likely stall out and never reach her full potential. After 10 years she can be allowed to transfer to whatever division she wants like everyone else, at which point you three can negotiate with her personally on that matter. But for now, she will go to the 11th.".

Tanya was slightly worried. She had been working under the assumption that if she worked hard enough she would have a choice in what division she could join. Apparently, that would not be the case. After ducking out of her meeting with Nicole and Granz for a quick check of her mail again, to ensure she hadn't accidentally missed anything, she asked the Wall of flesh that was Hidenao what he knew about the situation. Besides learning that he would be entering the 11th division she found out that unless you achieved Shikai or were wildly successful, placement tended to depend on noble connections, high ranking officer connections or wherever the academy staff thought you would serve well.

Considering her former lieutenant and Nicole both received letters from their respective new captains she had to assume that the captains had not put in a requisition for her. And since she had no connections to any nobility she was sure that there was nothing coming from that front. Which meant she was waiting on the faculty staff to decide on where she would go.

That was unfortunate but would most likely not be a major issue. Her grades were excellent besides swordcraft and with that being the reality she was sure she would end up in a reasonable division other than the 11th.

Putting her in the 11th with such terrible sword skills would most likely be considered a crime, that was one of the reasons she had been careful about what skills she showed and developed. The only reason she could figure she may end up in such a division was if the paperwork for application to the academy that she had listed her region of arrival in as the '80 marked her as someone unworthy of the other divisions. But if that happened it likely meant the 11th division was the attrition division and not these skilled warriors as she'd been led to believe.

Shaking her head she picked herself up from where she had been sitting next to her bunk and started moving back into the hallway of the academy only stopping when she noticed there was a new letter in her mailbox.

Reaching over and picking it up she carefully opened it, expecting it to be the faculty's final decision on her placement… The inside of the letter was marked as being from the lieutenant of division 11.

'Dear Vicky's friend congratulations Kenny has decided you'd be a welcome addition to the 11th division. You're required to join us at the 11th division headquarters by the end of the month for a minimum service period of 10 years.

Also as head of the Shinigami Women's Association, I would recommend joining the union so you can help improve the soul society.'

Tanya stumbled back a few steps and fell into a sitting position on her bed. This was barring the 12th quite likely the worst possible outcome. Oh, sure she would be with Visha which would be okay at least the coffee would be superb. But she would be in the combat-oriented division, not the spellcraft-oriented divisions. She would be expected to fight on the front lines if such a situation developed. "Of course I would get an offer through nepotism to a division I don't want to join." She muttered sarcastically.

Well, at least she would finally have an answer on whether or not Being X was after her if any wars popped up before she had a chance to transfer out in 10 years, finally knowing for sure if he was skulking in the shadows would be a welcome change from her paranoia about X.

Getting up she let out a deep sigh and held up her sword before saying"I hope you're happy."

Annoyingly she heard a chuckle in her mind followed by "Why yes I'm sure I'm the only one who's happy with this turn of events. Visha is totally not going to love that her best girlfriend and former commander will be joining her division as a subordinate."

"Since when do you have the ability to talk to me outside our mindscape?" Tanya asked, annoyed by this development.

"Since before you entered the inner world, I have just chosen not to since I didn't feel like talking." Tasha's voice echoed in the back of her mind

"And you're only choosing to speak up now because I asked a question then? Or are you planning to drive me crazy with your delusions?"

Tasha chuckled again "Salary girl you were already driven insane by Being X, I'm simply trying to make sure you put your mind back together properly. As for why I chose now of all times?, Yes. I could talk more if I wanted to but I figured you would enjoy the privacy of your own mind."

"Will it help me learn your name?" Tanya tartly responded.

"Well that depends, would you be willing to follow Miss Hildebrand's suggestion and wear a bit of makeup and perhaps something more than a military standard dress?" Tasha commented, sounding far smugger than Tanya prefered.

"Miss Hildebrand," Tanya scowled at the mention of her name, taking a moment to remember the propaganda department women who shoved her in the cursed dress "You know for a part of my soul you seem to really like a lot of things I have no interest in. That dress she made me wear made others look down on me and damaged my carefully cultivated reputation."

"Oh yes! no interest at all, I'm sure, there's no small part of you that you've repressed because of the damage done to the respect you worked so hard to gain, that had some interest in wearing cute clothing and trying to just be a girl Just like you never played those Idolmaster games." Tasha sounding more and more like the Cheshire cat, so what if she had enjoyed Idolmaster? It was an economic simulation about raising a person's worth. Why wouldn't he have played them?

"I also read Baki, that does not mean I'm going to…" Tasha cracked up, cutting her retort off.

"Yes, you are never going to train yourself into a superior fighter through hard work and dedication mastering martial arts…"

Tanya sighed "Point accepted, so should I be worried that you are contaminated with Being X's vile touch?"

"No I was not created using the small part of you that was brainwashed and mind-controlled by Being X, I do acknowledge that part of you could still be in here somewhere, but if it is I haven't seen it. Now maybe you should go join your friends and celebrate your last day together at the academy. Who knows when your work will allow you to talk again."

Tanya nodded and started moving towards the festivities. Tasha had a point, she might as well celebrate while she could, more importantly she was finally above the legal age to drink in the empire, might well try some local alcohol. Hopefully they would have a good sake, it had been nearly 2 decades since she had a drink of that brew.

Edited by, emberwing, Starstruk

Writer note: Sooo Just to make something clear we might see more shikai end up then you expect, simply because it became more prominent later on in the anime, it's a nice creative outlet, and we had like a dozen concepts run though the back room on what Tanya's shikai would be alone, i have notes for days, i might as well use them.

Arthur note:
Grantz sword=Moeru Sora=Burning Sky

Levenshtein sword=Yakan hikō=Night Flight

Please comment, review, and generally enjoy yourselves…

response to reviews

Kisame Hoshigaki: the wait to see that is now pain

EricFreak: oddly enough i missed not seeing your comment that week, as for tanya not commenting about it, ah thought subtex would be good enough on it.

arthurpendragon1940: that is some deep thoughts... but thanks for the cookie here chapter.

Grocamol: nods agreement

Scarlet Anne: wait there more! where?!

skrapsynneh: here you go