The remaining time of their first year went by fast and soon, it was time for Jūshirō and the others to begin their second year at the academy.
The five friends were standing outside the academy gates, ready for their 2nd year.
"You guys ready, Shunsui asked"
"Of course, said Koji"
They all walked inside and split up at the dorms so they could leave their things.
"Good thing we didn't switch roommates, said Shunsui"
"Agree, said Jūshirō"
After they had left their things in their room, the two went to look for the others.
They found the three heirs talking to a from their class
"Oh Ukitake, Kyōraku, said one of them"
"Hello Kasahara-san, said Jūshirō"
"Beautiful as always Hiroko, said Shunsui"
"Never change do ya Kyōraku, said one of the male students named Takashi"
"Be quiet Nagayama"
Hiroko and two other girls, Harumi and Miki giggled a bit at the boys.
"Come on now, Yamamoto-sensei wanted us to meet him in the Dojo once we had left our things, said Kazuhiro, another male classmate"
"Right"
Everyone walked out of the school building and to the dojo were Yamamoto waited.
"Welcome back everyone"
"Thank you sensei"
"While your classes don't start until tomorrow, I want to give you all something"
Yamamoto pulled away a sheet and revealed rows of katanas.
"These are Asauchi, nameless Zanpakutō. From this year and until you graduate, you will train with these blades. Slowly but steady, the essence of your souls will be imprinted onto the blades and that is when they will become true Zanpakutō.
-Each of you take a sword and whenever you have the time, take that time to meditate with the swords to try and imprit your essence onto them"
"Yes sir!"
Each student got up and one after another, they grabbed a sword before Yamamoto dismissed them until their class the next day.
"We finally get to train using real Katana, said Koji"
"You're quite excited over this Shiba, said Yamato"
"Of course. Since father showed me his, I've always wanted to train to get my own and see what it turns into"
"Don't they just turn into other swords, Miki asked"
"Nope. The form they take depents on their weilder so it doesn't have to be swords, it can be many different things"
"Can't wait to see what they'll turn into, said Kazuhiro"
"It will probably take time, said Jūshirō"
"Ukitake is right, Sensei made it sound like it would take years for them to change, said Masaru"
"Hopefully we'll have true Zanpakutō by the time we graduate, said Takashi"
"That would be a good thing, said Hiroko"
The rest of the day was spent getting ready for the new challenges ahead and the next morning, everyone was up and ready for their first class of the year.
"Good morning and welcome to your second year here, said their Hakuda teacher"
"Thank you Sugawara-sensei"
Konoka Sugawara was a woman no one wanted to mess with. She was tough and a great master at the art of Hakuda or Hand-to-hand combat who Yamamoto had picked to train the young reapers.
"I know this is your first year with Hakuda but don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because you're newbies
-Now pair up by finding the person who has the same symbol as you and I'll show you the basics"
"Yes Sensei"
Konoka watched as everyone took out the notes she'd given them when they got there and started to look for their partners.
Once they had done that, she looked at Yamato.
"You're the student from the Shihōin clan aren't you?"
"Yes ma'am"
"I heard your family specializes in Hakuda quite a bit"
"We do. I've been trained since I was little in the art by my father"
"Then come over here and help me demonstrate the basics"
Yamato nodded and walked up to their teacher.
Everytime she tried to kick him, he crossed his arms over his chest to block or he was quick to dodge it which impressed the others.
"Well everyone, now it's your turn"
"Yes sensei!"
The pairs spread out a bit across the field and began by training to block attacks.
As he blocked a kick from Masaru, Jūshirō was pushed back a bit.
"You okay Ukitake?"
"Yes. Don't worry about me
-You just came at me with more power than I expected"
"Okay.
-Let's have you attack me next"
"Right"
Before they kept going, Masaru looked towards Koji and Shunsui who seemed to be fooling around as soon as Konoka wasn't looking.
"Does those two ever take things serious?"
"Just what they want to take that way"
"You're right"
They then went back to their training.
Once class was over and they were walking down the halls, Shunsui placed his arm over Yamato's shoulder.
"I guess we know who's gonna be the teacher's pet for Hakuda"
"Come on Kyōraku, you know Shihōin isn't like that, said Masaru"
"Kuchiki is right, said Takashi"
"Besides, none of the teachers have favorites, said Kazuhiro"
"So far, said Koji"
"No one is gonna like you if you keep goofing around like you did during Hakuda class just now, said Masaru"
"I didn't"
"Ukitake and I saw how you and Kyōraku were fooling around when sensei wasn't looking"
"What the teacher don't know won't kill her"
Masaru just sighed at the other noble heir while their friends just chuckled behind them.
They walked out of the school and made their way to the dojo.
"I know you all are eager to train with the Asauchi I gave out yesterday but we won't be training with them just yet.
-Today I wanna try on thing with you all"
Yamamoto picked up two wooden swords and turned to the students.
"I wanna see how good you are against me but to make it fair, you will do it in pairs"
He looked at the youngsters before his eyes landed on two.
"Ukitake, Kyōraku you're first.
-The rest of you make space for us"
As the two friends got up, he threw the wooden swords to them while the other students sat down by the walls.
"You two ready, Yamamoto asked"
"Yes sir, said Jūshirō"
"Then let's begin"
Yamamoto picked up a wooden sword of his own as his students assumed battle stances.
"How should we do this Shunsui, Jūshirō whispered"
"I say we just take him on"
Shunsui then ran towards Yamamoto and thrusted the sword forward but their teacher stepped to the side and knocked him to the floor with his sword.
Jūshirō took that as his chance and tried to attack with a slight jump but Yamamoto blocked it and when Jūshirō landed, he poked him in the back with the tip of the sword.
"Well that didn't go as well as I thought, said Shunsui"
"Did he really believe attacking sensei head on would work?
-Let's try together. One of us distract him while the other attack"
"Good idea"
Both got up and Yamamoto watched them as both ran towards him.
Jūshirō attacked so Yamamoto had to block and Shunsui took that as his chance to get behind him but their teacher pushed Jūshirō away and blocked Shunsui's attack.
A while later
Both were pretty tired after trying to get at least one hit in on Yamamoto.
"You boys did better than I expected"
"Thank you sensei"
The two friends got up and bowed to their teacher.
"Sit down and take a break"
Both nodded and sat down, watching the rest of their classmates try the same thing.
Later that day:
The students were at their history class and everyone was pretty thankfull when their teacher told them that they could leave.
"Thank god this day is over, I'm still sore from Yamamoto-sensei's class, said Shunsui"
"What do you think we are, said Koji"
"You two did it the best out of all of us, said Masaru"
"Guess Ukitake and I have talent then"
Jūshirō just slightly shook his head at his friend as Shunsui kept bragging about how they did the best in class.
A man who they recognized as one of Yamamoto's assistance then came up to them.
"Which on you is Jūshirō Ukitake?"
"That's me"
"This letter just came in from your family. It seems urgent"
"Thank you"
Jūshirō took the letter and as the man left, he opened it.
The other's watched as he read through it and that his eyes widened.
"What is it Ukitake, Yamato asked"
"My father... he's been killed"
Author's note.
The names of their classmates are actually names of the actors in the Bleach musicals.
Hiroko Kasahara is the actress that portrayed Unohana.
Takashi Nagayama played Toshiro in the first 8 musicals
Harumi comes from Harumi Inoue who played Rangiku
Miki is the actress who played Rukia
Kazuhiro is the name of the actor who played Ukitake in the 2011 musical
Their sensei's name Konoka also comes from another Bleach related thing and that is that a character in the 3rd Phantom game is named Konoka Suzunami