Chapter 4: Obligatory Academy Chapter

AN- Wow, this chapter certainly came out faster than the last one. Now that my writers block is temporarily overcome, perhaps I should return to my other fics?

…. *Bursts into laughter*

Humour aside, enjoy the chapter. I'm going to finally try an finish the next damn HPTM chapter.

Disclaimer:A great man once said something along the lines that Time is a ball of wibbly wobbly... time-y wimey... stuff. Therefore if I miraculously gain the rights to Bleach in the far future from Kubo by invoking a duel to the death while he is to drunk to realise, then does that mean I at the moment own Bleach? Probably not, but its a reassuring thing to think about considering how I own nothing but my OC's and plot.

I awoke in a completely different place, feeling oddly at ease. You notice the oddest of things when you wake up, and for me the first thing was the scent of salt tinged air and brine. An odd thing to smell but it was distinct in the way that you can't really explain it but can remember immediately afterwards.

Then there was the sound of the wind, faint and constant. And the feeling of the sun on my face, warmth flowing over me, juxtaposing the feeling of wetness on my back and legs.

All in all, this reminded me of visiting the seaside as a kid with my mum, my sister and my dad. Before he'd died. Those had been good times. Good times.

By this point, I was wondering what my mindscape looked like, so I decided to rise, pushing myself up with my wet hands from the damp surface I had been lying on, then I took a disbelieving look around.

"Oh." I spoke quietly, unable to properly vocalise just what I was feeling. It was a bizzare mixture of nostalgia, happiness, contentedness and awe. The reason my back hand been wet was because I had been sleeping on the surface of an impossibly large body of water.

Around me and below me lay a tremendous lake, so large that it would not be a stretch to call in a really small ocean. For what seemed to be thousands of miles there was nothing but me and the strangely reflective liquid. I felt so alone and small, I was so insignificant when surrounded by this natural sight of beauty. The oddest thing about this lake (Apart from its reflective sheen duplicating the calm clouds and clear skies above) was that it was unnaturally calm. Not a single wave was made by my presence, there was no movement- like this lake was dead. Beautiful yes, but dead. After all, even corpses could look sightly...

On a sudden urge, I dipped my right hand into the vastness. Surprisingly, small ripples formed, then spread, gathering speed and size until I knew that the disturbance had more than likely reached the distant shores that I could barely even see, although half of the shore was rocky cliffs and the other half were beaches.

I felt at peace here in the silence, standing here in the middle of the dead mirror lake.

"About time you got here." Grumbled a voice.

I yelped in surprise, spinning round in search of the voice, since I had been certain that I was alone. I then remembered why I had come to my inner world in the first place, and relaxed.

"Hey Javan."

The one I had intended to meet was sitting about 20 metres away, on a small wedge of land that was barely large enough for someone to park two large cars on. The island featured golden sand, with a isolated palm tree that he was lying against. I hadn't noticed the island because it was so small, I had somehow dwarfed him out by marvelling at the sheer scale of the lake.

Javan rose elegantly and began to nonchalantly stroll towards me with the long accomplished grace of a dancer, until he too was on the still water and stood only a few meters away.

"To be honest," I told him. "I had been expecting someone more impressive."

He snorted. "Thanks for the vote of confidence." For a while now I could only judge Javan based on his voice but now that I had a body and face to associate him with, he seemed less mysterious, more real.

Javan was taller than me, not by too much, but he was still noticeably higher up. Oddly, he had the same general build as me, thin and lithe, but as far as I could tell he still had a greater muscle mass than me (Darn him!). He also had short cropped black hair, a clean shaven face and a pair of black stylish sunglasses that obscured his eyes and matched his playful grin. Add in the smart white suit and trousers that he wore (That really didn't match the warm environment we were meeting in) and the tie, and I could officially accuse him of being a pimp. A pimp, or part of the gay mafia.

"Your suit is totally gay, ya pimp." I stated. "And you had the nerve to accuse me of being a sly dog?"

"And your face is totally ugly, what can I say?"

"And I don't like you." We both grinned in creepy unison.

"I can tell that we're going to get along." Javan laughed, as did I. "Jokes aside, its good to meet you."

"That it is. Now perhaps I can get some damned answers."

"Aahh."

"Like why I HAVE A PIMP LIVING IN MY HEAD!?" Javan flinched.

"Jesus Christ, I'm not a damned pimp! I just have good, albeit sometimes questionable, tastes."

"Answer the question. Why ARE you here?"

"Look..." Javan scratched his chin nervously. "Some of the reasons I'm here are rather personal, so do you mind if I abridge my account?"

"Yeah I mind! I have someone in MY HEAD! How would you feel if you woke up and discovered that you were hearing voices? Just tell me the truth damn it!"

"Fine!" Snapped the man. "But I'm just as ignorant on some things as you are, so I'll explain what I can on why I'm here and also why you're where you are- in Bleach."

"Good." I pouted. "You can start any time you know."

"Brat." He accused.

"Brat?! Just how old are you supposed to be then. You're barely older than me!"

The stylish man ignored my question, instead returning to the topic. "Do you want me to talk or not?" Hearing me shut up, he started his tale. "Anyway, the reason I'm in your head is complicated. The simplest explanation of why I'm here is that I fled here. A while back I was caught up in some troubles and my physical body was lost. My soul was unwilling to die, so fled. Souls don't last long though before passing on, so I possessed the nearest target that I was compatible with, which also had enough hidden energy to keep me well fed."

"Wait a minute, you POSSESSED ME!" I staggered away in surprise. "A GHOST decided to take residence in my head!? That makes no sense!"

"Shut up." Javan grumbled. "I was in trouble! And I'm not a ghost! I'm not possessing you!" He scratched his head sheepishly. "I'm closer to a leech if anything. I attatched my soul inside yours and siphoned off energy to stay alive. Alas, in the real world (AKA not this one) spiritual stuff doesn't really exist in great commodities, so there weren't any dangers around to warrant me staying conscious, so I went into a slumber to preserve energy."

"So why are you awake now?"

"When you appeared in the Bleachverse I woke up because there was more spiritual crap about. Reshi, Reiryoku and Reiatsu and Hollows. All that crap exists here, so because I felt all this I woke up to try and help you stay alive when the Hollow appeared, because if you die so do I. After we bonded, you allowed and accepted me into your soul. You wished for a Zanpakuto, and seeing as I was the closest thing, being an additional soul inside your own, I became a Zanapakuto Spirit."

"How is that even possible?"

"Fuck knows. As I said, I'm as curious as you. I DID say that I had no idea what would happen if we bonded. Either way, I am now connected directly to your hidden power, which you willingly connected me to, so now my Soul is no longer separate and leeching off you. In essence, I am recognised now as 'part of you', so don't need to steal energy. I can stay active indefinitely."

"Oh." I didn't know what to say. It was certainly unbelievable. I mean, what do you say to a ghost that has been sleeping in your head for god knows how long? It just raises awkward questions that I really don't want to ask. "Well, why am I Bleach?"

"I told you before. I wasn't awake when you arrived here, so I can't tell you. I have no idea how you found yourself here by yourself." He didn't allaborate, which was a shame. I had really hoped that he had some answers.

"Oh man." I sighed. "I was really hoping you had some insight into this thing."

"Nope." Javan shook his head vigorously.

"That sucks."

"That it does. Oh well, for now you should make the best of things."

"What do you mean by that?"

Javan began to cackle, then rubbed his hands together in a vaguely evil fashion.

"Javan, just what the hell are you doing?"

His cackle continued.

"Are you in actuality... an evil pimp?"

The alughter then winded to a halt. "Don't you have any idea what an opportunity you have? Look, go with me on this. Throughout my life I have grown used to using a very specific line of thinking to help me make decisions. I asked myself three things: what do I want, what do I have, what can I abuse the hell out of the latter to get the former?"

"Pardon?" What sort of questions were those?

"Think logically. Ask yourself the same questions. You're in a universe which is clearly not a mere anime anymore. Its real, and everything you know really has and will happen here. People are real, events are real, anything that happens to you is real. You'll die when you're killed. You need to make a decision on how to go from this point."

"All right then." What exactly am I supposed to do? How should I feel about the fact that what I had considered to be only an anime series was now my reality that I had to live in until I found a way to leave?

"What do you want?"

"Well... I want to go home. Mum is probably worried about me. And I want to live to get to that point, since I'm apparently being enlisted into the Fifth Squad. So I don't want to be weak. And I guess that letting Aizen win would probably be a bad thing, so helping Ichigo might be an idea while I'm still around."

"Okay, lets stick with that for now." Javan tilted his head knowingly. "So what do you have?"

"Not much." I shrugged. "I have a stupid voice in my head, my physically weak body, a dodgy sword that I have only just managed to summon and don't know how to repeat its summoning, and knowledge on the plot."

Javan cracked his largest smile yet. "So why not use this to fulfil your goals? You have me, so listen to any adivce I have to offer. You have a weak body, so focus on learning Kido when class starts to make up for this. You have a sword, so learn how to use it so you aren't ever weak again. You have knowledge, so abuse the HELL out of it! Whatever you do, you'll need allies. Want to get home, that takes resources. If you ever want this to happen you'll probably need to get involved with canon. So you need allies. So use your knowledge to get these allies, and never let anyone stop you, because your goals are the most important thing that you have to focus on in a situation like this."

"I guess." I shrugged. "I suppose I should just work on getting stronger for now."

"Which brings me to my next point." Javan cleared his throat. "Teaching you how to access your power."

"Didn't we already try that?"

"But now I can try and help you, can't I?"

"How?" I sat down on the water, gazing at my self proclaimed Zanpakuto Spirit with curiosity. "Wasn't it due to my lack of a way of accessing my power that we had to do that whole bonding shit in the first damn place? How is now any different to then?"

"No idea. But you brought your sword out, right?"

"Yeah." I don't know how I did it, but I managed to get it out earlier.

"Then you're part of the way there. When talking about your power you need to understand that its current form is different to how it used to be back before we partied up. Its... diluted... for lack of a better word. Smaller. Less potent." Javan motioned his arms out apart from one another in a child like gesture suggesting size, then brought them together until barely a few inches were between the hands. "Your True Power was given up, locked away, but in return you got a cool sword and me... so yay! Now you're getting power not by tapping into your own vast sources, but instead taking it from your Zanpakuto Spirit... me... who takes it from your pool of power."

"Okay. Again, you've lost me. This explanation is getting nearly as complicated as the plot of Lost." Is it just my bad luck that Fate has decreed that I must listen to complicated explanations that require me to read a Wiki just to understand it? Why can't things ever be simple?

"I guess this IS complicated." Conceded the spirit. "Perhaps another analogy would suffice. Look down. What do you see?"

"Water. Reflective water."

"Well, you know how if you add oil to some water it'll float around in it for a while before getting separating into a separate layer which'll float on the top?"

"Yeah. Go on." I guess I could imagine that. It was basic GCSE Chemistry after all...

"Well, now imagine that you're 'power' is this oil, and that in this lake of your soul it was all mixed in, ready for you to get a bucket full of it and filter the oil you wanted out, to get pure 'power'. Now, you lacked a filter, so couldn't extract the oil. Then I was introduced as a spiritual filter, causing the oil/power to separate, but you're oil was weird and sunk to the bottom of your lake instead of the top."

"I guess I'm following you..." Sort of... Physics was more my cup of tea when it came to the sciences, but I was still decent at Chemistry. My Soul Oil (That's what I'm calling it now. Naming it 'power' just seemed really vague) separated and dropped down to the bottom of my Soul Lake.

"Well, even though you don't need to filter it anymore, its sort of inaccessible considering its now at the bottom of your lake. In essence, you're bucket just ain't big enough."

"I'm assuming this is going somewhere..."

"Stop being so damn impatient! As I was saying, here is when I come back into things. As you're newly selected Zanpakuto Spirit, its my duty to act as a big mother flippin' well."

"I swear you're analogies are getting worse and worse. First you were a plug socket, then a filter, now you're a well."

"Shut up and suck it up." I've said this before, but Javan had moodswings worse than a woman (No offence meant). Its like he was hormonally challenged or something, flickering from happy and perverted to serious and unflinching. "Where was I?"

"You were kicking the bucket?"

"And you'll drop down dead too if you keep at it." See what I mean? Now he's joking again. Does this guy have problems or not? "Moving on, I'm a bigass stone well which is large enough to magically reach this oily goodness. Then, I can go down and pick up some pure oil/power-"

"By the way, its called Soul Oil now. I've just named it, since it was sort of vague before. Just saying."

"Yes, fine! I extract some usable Soul Oil, then you reach in with your bucket and hey presto, you have power."

"There we go then. So... just how do I dip my bucket in?"

Javan applied his palm to his face and sighed wearily. "You know what? I give up. Just try and reproduce how you summoned your sword. You pulled on the Soul Oil I had gathered when you did that, so I assume that the method somewhat works. Who really gives a crap on why and how such stuff happens anyway? You like shonen anime. I should have guessed you wouldn't care for such things."

"Hey! I watch some intelligent stuff!" Which I had! Sort of. I saw Serial Experiment Lain and found it overly pretentious, so I think that counts.

"Undoubtedly you're one of those people that only liked Star Wars because it had Light Sabres and lasers. You probably find monster trucks and Jackass cool too. Additionally, it is my guess that if you were to see Neon Genesis Evangellion, you wouldn't understand a single bit of symbolism in it."

"Stop calling me an idiot! Even the creators said that the symbolism was thrown in specifically to make it seen pretentious and deep when it wasn't!"

"You're from Yorkshire. That explains everything."

"Oh yeah? You're part of the Gay Mafia!"

"Resorting to name calling, eh?" The older man leered at me playfully. "Naruto lover..."

Oh it is ON! He did NOT just say that! "I have higher standards good sir! I stopped watching before it hit filler territory!"

"Hehe... Narutard."

I was seeing red. In fact, I was seeing crimson. "Kamina sunglasses wannabe!"

A shocked gasp came from the male. "My glasses are cool."

And so the argument continued. For a while. Hours. By the time I left my Inner World, I was pretty much ready to call it a day and head to sleep. Names were called and references were made, but in the end we got it out of our systems and were better of for it. It lasted for hours, but similar to how after a catfight some chicks naturally get closer, nerds sometimes do the same thing and become bro's following large franchise wars. Not very often, but it happens.

That was what me and Javan became: Bro's. It was going to be difficult sometimes, but I was sure that this was the start of a great partnership...

XXXXXXXXXX

"Good morning... Marc!" Like a bolt of overly energetic sunlight, a figure burst into the darkness of my room in the wee hours of the morning. "Come on Marc! Its a brand new day!" The curtains were pulled loose letting more of the dreaded brightness engulf me in my bed.

"No... lea'me 'lone." I slurred, still half asleep.

"Nu uh! Look, Hayato's making breakfast and lessons start pretty soon. All things considering I've been pretty good, letting you lay in since its your first day."

I turned over and slammed the pillow on top of my head. "G' 'way. Sleepin'."

By now I could tell who was waking me- one of my new room mates- that Daichi dude. "I repeat! Good Morning... MARC!" And with a tremendous kick to the face I was thrown from my bed to the floor, suddenly much more awake.

"What the hell man!" I bellowed rising from the floor angrily.

"Oh... I might have gone overboard." Admitted the brown spiked haired teen. "Oh well. After shouting 'Good Morning' I had a sudden urge to kick you."

"I wish you hadn't." I complained. "But yeah, I guess I am up now. What time is it anyway?"

"Half six."

"Half Six? Are you insane? That's like the middle of the night!"

"Hehe. You get used to it." He admitted. "Seriously though, you'll be up this time every day now."

"You're all mad." Was the only explanation for this. Everyone knows that the world only starts at half seven, not six!

"As I said, Hayato's cooking, so get your ass into gear." I was hungry, so I did as instructed and got my ass into gear.

Sleepily, I dressed, making sure that I got on the stupid clothes properly, then I ate with my two room mates and observed as they went about their regular morning schedule. I noticed tat Hayato was the silent one with common sense who actually got things done, while Daichi was the joker who sat around being the comic relief character.

Then at long last, it was time to head to school. For me it was an unusual experience. Coming from a western background, I knew that it was obvious that the Shinigami Academy would be vastly different due to its eastern origins. Admittedly I ha my vast anime knowledge, but a watered down pop culture based source was hardly enough for me to be prepared.

I was really starting to wish I had bothered looking at that book Kasumi gave me.

Regardless, I knew that I would just have to deal with it and move on.

"Class, today we have a new... student... joining us." Declared the bald and rugged looking teacher named Gengoro Onabara, who was in charge of my class. For some odd reason, I don't think that he liked me, even if it was only our first meeting when Daichi dragged me into their regular classroom alongside a silent (And still reading) Hayato. "Well?" He snapped at me. "Why don't you write your name on the board and introduce yourself?"

Taking the piece of chalk offered to me I wrote my name briskly on the board, then turned to the seated class and bowed. "Ummm... yeah. My name is Marcus D Solus, although I prefer Marc. Please take care of me." I'm pretty sure that's exactly how anime dictates that people introduce themselves!

"I meant write it in kanji." Added the teacher gruffly.

"Sorry Sir." I replied, although I made no effort to correct it.

He snorted, then gestured to a free seat near the back of the room. "How worthless. Sit down Solus."

I reluctantly did as I was instructed, noticing that I had been placed next to a wall on one side, and a girl I didn't know on the other. I have no idea what I had done to offend her, but she had one hell of a scowl on her face. For the moment I chose to ignore her in favour of trying to pay attention.

I tried anyway. Once lessons actually began, I quickly found myself confused, as if I'd been told to solve quadratic equations without a formula and before I'd learned how to solve a regular equation, which was a pretty good analogy all things considering. How the hell was I supposed to understand a Kido theory lecture without the content learnt before it to ease me in? Likewise, how could I learn if I couldn't even read the board due to the language barrier, nor could I read the textbook due to the language they were written in?

I'm not stupid, but I was still struggling anyway at all the phrases and terminology used by the teacher. By the end of the lesson I was ready to give up and live in the Rukon District.

"Screw school." I muttered while slamming my face softly into my desk. "I never though learning to throw fireballs would be so confusing."

"Hmmm!" Huffed the girl to my left, whom was still scowling at me. "Pathetic. Its basic theory after all." She let out another prideful huff. "This is hardly that complicated, and if you had actually bothered reading the first few chapters of Kido 101 perhaps you wouldn't be in such a grave position, you dunce."

"Shut up." I grumbled with a mild flush on my face. "I'm no dunce. Its been a hectic few days, so sue me for not reading the first few chapters. Besides which, screw you! You've had a month to learn the basics, I haven't."

"Stop making excuses." The girl waved aside my complaints. "Its not becoming for someone making as much trouble as yourself to complain about your lack of foresight for not applying to the Academy during the actual enrolment period."

You know what? Seriously, screw this bitch. She doesn't know me, she doesn't know why I hadn't applied sooner, she doesn't know that I nearly got eaten and she certainly has no right to judge me!

"I don't like you." I declared, narrowing my eyes, looking at the girl for the first time since we had begun to talk. She was tallish and angular, with curves that were above average for someone who looked like she should still be in school like myself if we were in the Human World (Seriously, why does everyone I know here look like my age group? Actually, scratch that. Doesn't really matter). If anything, she was rather attractive once you factored in her short red locks, piercing blue eyes and cute lips. I didn't care about her looks though. Even if she had the appearance of the idol that every male schoolboy dreams about, she probably had the bitchy personality to match.

"Why should I care what an ignorant commoner like yourself thinks about myself." She brushed a loose bang away from her face uncaring to my claim.

"No, you shouldn't. I'm just telling you. I don't like you. Your attitude pisses me off! You don't know me, so don't judge! I mean, who the hell do you think you are?" I claimed, channelling my inner Kamina.

"Who am I?" She seemed almost indignant. "I am Akimi Nishisaka: the prodigious heir to the Nishisaka family." She declared passionately.

"Well I don't care who your family are. You could be the sister to the freakin' pope and I still wouldn't care."

"How mature." She retorted. "I look forward to seeing your insulting manner annihilated once practical lessons start."

"Says you." I quietly mumbled, turning my chair slightly so that I was angled away from her. I tried to put all thought of that girl from my mind and instead tried to mentally prepare for the next embarressing lesson, when Daichi confidently approached me.

"Heeey Marc!" He greeted. "Hows it hangin'?"

"Daichi, you're not black." I deadpanned.

"Sh-shut up." He joked, waving my comment aside. "Hey, I see you're chatting up Nishisaka. Nice." He gave an approving nod at the girl, who could hear every word of our discussion and didn't seem amused. Surprisingly, Daichi seemed blind to this look. "I knew that I was not alone in the endeavour to claim a beautiful woman. Heh, I see ya got turned down though." He placed a friendly arm over my shoulder. "Relax~" He grinned. "I did too. No idea why though. I mean, who can turn down the Daichi Charm?"

I unsuccessfully suppressed my snigger.

"Shut up man." He brushed it off, perpetual grin on his face. "Still, nobody's got at that broad. Try your luck elsewhere."

A book slammed onto the desk next to mine as Akimi began to read in an effort to not assault my sort-of-friend for his 'broad' comment.

"Soooo... you wanna sit with me and Hayato at lunch then? It'd be nice to have company."

I agreed to meet up with him and his quiet companion, only for the next set of classes to begin. Sighing again, I prepared for a class on the basic anatomy of Hollows."Hopefully I might be able to understand this lecture."

"Doubt it."

"Not helping Javan!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Another two lessons passed, another two incomprehensible looks from myself at my inability to understand. "Seriously, who the hell needs to know where to stab a Hollow anyway? You hit it in the mask, so why do we need to know what every muscle and ligament for any possible creature is named?"

"Neh, I don't really know." Admitted Daichi beside me as we walked to the cafeteria where food would be served, while Hayato had his nose in another book of his.

"What are you reading anyway Hayato?" He briefly stopped skimming to show me the front cover, then show me the blurb, before he returned to the sanctity of his pages. "Lord of the Rings huh? Never took you for the fantasy sort, of the type to dip into English material." He shrugged and we carried on.

After getting a meal each (I purchased mine using the students allowance I had found in my room earlier that morning while getting ready) and sitting down, I figured I may as well look over the room since Daichi was too busy scoffing his food to enter into conversation, while I was more likely to get blood from a stone than words from my other companion. I noticed that the girl I had met before, Mika, wasn't here, so I assumed she was out in the garden I had previously seen her working in.

I also caught a glimpse of short red hair across the room; much to my surprise Akimi wasn't sitting in a large group of girls like I had expected someone like her to. Instead she sat alone, elegently eating a bento.

It was none of my business and I didn't really care for her anyway, so I returned to my lunch.

The rest of the lunch break was spent back in the classroom around Daichi's desk, while he told me about how he rated the attractiveness of all the girls in the year by placing them in a top fifty list. I honestly didn't pay attention since I didn't know any of the people (Or three sizes) and felt it was kind of disrespectful to objectify them.

" You prude." Commented the backseat driver in my personal life, Javan. "God knows how the pervert even got 'em though..."

On a completely unrelated note, apparently Akimi was number two, while Mika was around number eight.

XXXXXXXXXX

After lunch we were finally leaving theory in favour of some practical training, since we had at least one Hakuda (Hand to hand combat) or Zanjutsu (Sword swinging practice) session a day. Today I had the pleasure of getting punched in the face rather than stabbed in the gut. Yay me.

SMACK!

"Oww." I was practically flung to the floor as the lad much larger and much stronger than myself gave me an uppercut to the jaw as soon as I stepped onto the sparring mat in the large dojo our lesson was scheduled at, resulting in me hitting a nearby wall and feeling like I had gotten intimate with a speeding truck.

"Owww... again." I slurred, slumping to the floor.

"Solus, get you're ass back in there." Demanded the gruff instructor, whom happened to be the teacher that got me lost in the school for denying me a map the previous day. Apparently he didn't like me, to such an extent that he paired me, more than likely the most lightweight male in the class, up against a major heavyweight named Gurou, whom could only speak in grunts and by trying to rip out my spleen.

"Owww." I staggered up, grasping my chin tensely, already feeling it swell up.

"Get in that ring Solus, before I give you detention for a week."

Hmmm... broken bones or detention? Tough choice.

Gurou shrugged, realising that I was unable to move into the ring. Instead he stepped out of it and skipped all formal dojo practices (Which Daichi had explained to me) and decked me one.

Suffice to say, I left the room with a detention the following day after school and with several large bruises blossoming across my face and body, while Gurou left with a grin, praise and no scolding at the unauthorised beat-down he had given me throughout the hour long sparring session.

"I think I hate Hakuda with a passion." I declared with another wince.

"I swear that Sensei was out of line. I mean, Gurou wasn't even punished!" Grumbled my friend as he escorted me to the infirmary to have my chin taken a look at, meaning I would miss the final theory lesson before the school day finished.

"I know, but there's not much to do, is there?"

"Heeyy! I get that, but it still sucks! I don't want to be harsh, but he kicked your ass! That was an hour of you being used as target practice for that bully!"

"I get tha-aaagghh!" Another wince elected from the simple action of me talking. "I get it. But like I said, I can't exactly complain. He's a teacher, I'm just an ignorant foreigner... as for Gurou, he's a bully. If there's one thing I know, there is always a bully, and they can't be stopped, only endured."

"Endured!?" He snapped indignantly. "If this is what happens every time you have a Hakuda class, then you'll hardly endure! You'll end up as a bloodstain on the dojo mat!"

"I did tell you." I insisted. "From the start I mentioned that I'm only human, so from the start disadvantaged. 'I'm a gonna die', remember? Gurou's build didn't help me either."

"Exactly!" The scarf wearer growled. "I swear Marc, I know we haven't exactly been friends for long or that we even are friends. Hell, we barely know each other, but I can't just leave it like this! That was cruel! Even Akimi gave you a sympathetic grimace, and she's apathetic to everyone!"

"Its fine." I protested. "Honestly. Its fine. He'll get fed up of it eventually and switch him to an opponent who'll actually give him a challenge."

"But that shouldn't have to happen!" Daichi insisted.

"But it does, such is life. Let us move onto the infirmary before I have a lump the size of the Philippines."

XXXXXXXXXX

After having my face treated, school ended, and most people left for either the dorms on school site or through the main gate to return to their lodgings. A third minority stayed in the school for detentions, additional activities and sometimes extra training. I fell into the first group, meeting up with Daichi and Hayato in our flat.

All things considering, today had been very similar to visiting Comicon; cramped with lots of people and minor irritations, while being unsatisfying as a whole.

"I don't think I'm cut out for this." I told them. Daichi had merely promised me that things would get better... eventually. You could tell that I found it really reassuring.

I recalled being told before that I would be tutored by another student, so had not been surprised when I had been given a letter by the nurse in the infirmary telling me to visit a room in another one of the student dorms later today.

Time passed by quickly while I read one of the many English books in Hayato's vast collection that I gotten permission from him to read, although permission was such a loose answer since when I had asked him he had merely turned the page and shrugged, so I had assumed it was a yes. Regardless, I was happy in the small males taste in literature.

Eventually I couldn't put it off any longer. I put aside the copy of Lord of the Flies and informed my room-mates that I had to go.

"Meh. See ya later." Daichi waved me off. "Try not to come back too late; Hayato's in charge of cooking and he prefers not to plate up his food."

"..." Conveyed the other guy in the room.

"Got it." I responded deadpan.

XXXXXXXXXX

When I found out the identity of my 'tutor', I gained the final slab of evidence that proved that the universe was sentient and had it in for me, or at least had a very questionable sense of humour.

"Of course it'd have to be you." I muttered, eyeing the equally annoyed red head standing in the doorway.

"Hmm." She humphed, flicking her hair as she did so. "So you're the fool I'm supposed to be teaching to read and write kanji? This shall be fun." She stated sarcastically, while somehow managing to make out she was being absolutely sincere.

"I like this about as much as you do." I told her seriously. "But not knowing the language really sucks for me and is seriously inconvenient, so lets just get this out the way."

"Hang on a moment, so you're the one I'm supposed to be teaching?" She asked, suddenly sounding confused.

"I guess so." I snapped back. "Based on me being here and your earlier comments, this fact is pretty damn obvious."

"By the Soul King you're irritating! No, of course I know that. Just whom do you take me for, commoner?"

"A bitch?" I asked rhetorically.

She ignored my obvious jab at her. "You're foreign, aren't you? That's why you need to learn the writing system used here."

"Yes." I admitted reluctantly. "I can't read a damned thing here, which is the only reason I'm even bothering to stay here with your unpleasant company."

Again, she ignored my jab. Instead, a sudden look of revelation graced her pretty features, then a brief surge of understanding and perhaps pity. "That's why you didn't read your textbook, isn't it? Because you literally couldn't."

"Shut up." I responded, flushing in shame at admitting this.

"And you couldn't read the board either, could you?" She continued.

"Look, its none of your damn business!"

"And the reason you came in late is to do with you being foreign, isn't it?"

"I have my pride damn it, I don't need sympathy from you."

The brief relapse in arrogance in her features receded and the look of pity swept away, leaving behind her regular expression. "Hmmm! As if I care enough to pity you! Just... sit down."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going to teach you." She informed me matter of factly. "I'm the prodigious heir to the Nishisaka family and I was going to teach you anyway, since its my duty to set a good example to the common sheep of the school by giving out such charity, so I might as well."

"Well thanks." I rolled my eyes sarcastically.

"And because I think I owe you an apology for before." She practically growled out, almost choking on her words. "I am not doing this because I want to, but because I owe it to you and because I think it is pathetic that anyone could be in the academy without being able to even read or write. Therefore, I'll help your uneducated, ignorant self, despite my dislike for your demeanour and manner. In return you will work hard, show me proper respect if only for the duration of these lessons, and will never tell anyone that I have been this generous." She paused. "Got that?"

"Crystal." I stated, sitting down resigned to the fact that I would actually be trying hard in these lessons. "Mika sensei."

"I'd prefer Nishisaka Sensei." She growled. "But I guess this is close enough."

"Indeed."

"Now then,"

SLAM! A large tome smacked down onto the low table I was sat before. Then another dozen books were added to the pile. "Lets get started, shall we?"

Yes, it was going to be a really long session. And yes, it was going to be a very long school year.

AN- Okay, another new chapter without any canon characters. So sue me. Anyway, hope you liked it. You could probably consider this filler since nothing much really happens which is vital to the plot, but I just want to set up the characters and get some interaction in between them. Next time I will probably stick a canon character in, even if it kills me! Probably Momo again, since I kinda like her.

Anyhow, there is still quite a few chapters left in the academy arc which will be used to set things up for later, but afterwards you get some cool stuff. Horay!

*Cries from off stage to 'Get on with it!'*

So yeah, thanks for reading and thanks for those who have previously reviewed, followed or favourited me. Feel free to give me feedback (Or Flame me) so I can improve, or even just write a few words saying "Good chapter, plz update." Every little helps motivate me. Next chapter should be out soon anyway.

So until next time, Undying Soul out.