Everything is Different Upon Review: 4
After months of schooling, long days of polishing skills and taking endless notes, they finally had a long weekend, their first with passes, accompanied by lectures about what parts of Seireitei to visit and what parts to stay out of. Going to a Division was a bad idea. Shinigami didn't like it when academy students acted like they were shinigami already. Entering bars was also a very, very bad idea.
So Ichigo and Rukia went with Nakamura, Yoko and Midori to the grand gardens, and then to two historical monuments. Then they made their excuses and left, moving far more rapidly than the others could.
Rukia had pretended to study the map earlier, and Ichigo actually had studied it. They didn't get lost on their way to the 10th Division, though Ichigo had no idea why Rukia wanted to go there.
They did not enter the building itself. Instead, they stopped on a building that overlooked its yard, which was unusually green and grassy. Not to mention large. Practically a park.
The shinigami in it were drilling with less order than he would've expected, but a lot of enthusiasm. He could clearly hear the yells even from their roof.
Ichigo cast questioning glance at Rukia.
Rukia said, "I've been thinking about that Goat Chin guy. What you said about him."
Eyes narrowing, Ichigo settled in to watch.
After half an hour, a man in white Captain's Haori came out into the yard. He was tall, black-haired and broad-shouldered. He spoke to some of his shinigami, and even sparred with two at once without taking out his zanpakutou. He laughed when they hit the ground.
They weren't close, but Ichigo would recognize that booming laugh anywhere. That was his father down there, Captain of Division 10.
A surprisingly simple answer to the question of who his father really was.
Rukia handed him a spyglass. A seldom used piece of equipment, but still part of their kit.
Ichigo looked through, turning the dial until his father's young face came into focus.
Rukia said, "Generalist Divisions like the 6th and 13th have little to do with each other except at the level of high-ranking officers. A shinigami might go decades without seeing the Captain of a different division up close."
Which was why, along with the age difference, she hadn't recognized him.
Rukia said, "Sometimes I wonder about Goat Chin, and how he ended up living there, but maybe we'll never know."
"Maybe. Hey. How long are Captains usually Captains for?"
"Don't you pay any attention in class? Captains Ukitake and Kyouraku have been Captains for nearly a thousand years, and Unohana Retsu for even longer. But from what I hear about this bozo, he might not last more than 45."
So that was her estimate of when Isshin had left Soul Society. About 45 years in the future. 20 years before he'd been born. If felt like a lot of time. There were still 57 years before all the shit had gone down. It felt like a long time. He wondered if it would be.
Ichigo said, "Seeing real shinigami train is nice and all, but I'm getting bored."
She nodded, and they went back to the Academy.
#
#
Graduating in one year would've made too many waves. Three was unworkable; they could only hold back for so long without it looking like they were holding back. Two, then, was the happy medium, and the second year was nearly up.
They had been a very productive two years for Ichigo. He'd improved his reiatsu control to a level that Rukia termed acceptable, become basically competent in Kido, and polished his hakuda, zanjutsu and shunpo to a razor's edge.
And there was the book learning. Ichigo had always been a good student, and unlike a lot of Outer-Rukongai recruits, he'd come into the Academy highly literate and comfortable with geometry and algebra, even if he'd hidden that fact. But it was tough competing with students who, in many cases, were decades older than him, and were already well-versed in Soul Society's history, law and science. Tough, as in impossible.
But bookwise, all you really had to do was pass Tactics and Duties 4 and the Graduation Exam, and the bar for that wasn't high. The Gotei was for the smart and the stupid alike, and it was more important how you held a sword than a pen.
For Rukia, the time had been not useless, but less useful. She already had polish, and that being the case, hiding her true skill level while appearing to do her best had been difficult, especially that first year. But she threw herself into the academics, and into becoming ever more and more perfect at the basics, and she spent a lot of time working one-on-one with the Academy's Kido experts, focusing on the speed, efficiency and accuracy of her chantless casting.
Ichigo's power level had grown, approaching about how he remembered it being when he'd first gained shikai. Rukia had grown by a surprising margin, and they spoke in vague allusions of the fact that Rukia, unlike Ichigo, had merged with her younger self, and what that might mean.
But there was one last thing to do before they applied for graduation.
They were in one of the private meditation rooms, dim but not dark, lit by a brazier in each corner, Ichigo sitting cross-legged on the floor, Rukia on her knees in Seiza. They each held the asauchi they'd selected.
Rukia had chosen an asauchi as long as she knew her shikai to be. Ichigo had chosen one an asauchi as long as he knew his bankai to be.
Ichigo took longer than Rukia to enter his Inner World. He still wasn't as practiced at it.
The old man was not as he'd always been. Zangetsu and his Inner Hollow had combined shortly before the Hougyoku had sent him back, and de-aged him in the process, and his powers remained combined.
It was only the bankai form that he'd seen combined before. Outside bankai, it was a one-armed man with black antlers and white hair, his features a cross between old man Zangetsu and Ichigo himself, and he was dressed in white with black trim.
Ichigo didn't have bankai, not anymore, not yet, had never achieved it against this Zangetsu, though Zangetsu was still its name. He doubted that he had a Hollow mask, but he didn't know for sure. He hadn't tried, and wouldn't until he was somewhere where he knew for an absolute fact that there were no watching eyes, and he couldn't imagine where that might be. Not even the old training area beneath Sokyouku Hill was secure enough.
"Yo," said Ichigo.
"You finally ready to call my name?"
"Yes."
"Good," said Zangetsu. "I'm tired of staying cooped up in here, pretending we don't speak."
Nodding, Ichigo returned his attention to his exterior world and said, "Protect, Zangetsu!"
The asauchi changed form, shifting into the shikai he'd gained when the two aspects of his power had merged, quite similar to his original, but the blade had a lip that formed a partial guard for his hand.
Next to him, Rukia was holding the white blade of Sode no Shirayuki, which looked just as he remembered it.
Ichigo said, "How is she?"
"She is more herself."
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know yet," said Rukia. "But attaining shikai has increased my strength, as expected."
Ichigo closed his eyes, trying to sense himself. Having family summoned Zangetsu, his reiryoku was about where it'd been when he'd fought Ikkaku, though his skills and control were leagues beyond that. He should be able to beat most seated officers, but Captains were beyond him.
Physical immaturity was a greater handicap than he'd once realized. Meaning Toushiro was an even greater genius than he'd known.
He drew his reiatsu in. Hid his reiryoku. He'd never admit it, but he thought of himself as one of those flowers that closed in the day and only opened at night. Normally he kept himself so tightly compressed that utilizing his full strength would take a moment. But having shikai, he was having a hard time returning his apparent strength to its previous level.
Next to him, Rukia's reiatsu fell. Not to as low as it had been before. That they had shikai would be known publicly, so of course she had to show appropriate growth.
Feeling silly, he realized that he got to show growth too.
He breathed out, relaxing slightly, and any observer would've pegged his reiryoku at the level of a 15th Seat or so. Even that was like living in a straight jacket, but it was a straight jacket he was used to.
He shunpoed a couple times across the room and made a few large balls of Kido energy until he was sure he was used to it.
"Ready?" said Rukia.
"Course."
#
#
Attendance at the Graduation Dance was mandatory. Rukia and Ichigo went together because that was a hell of a lot easier than anything else. They were the only ones from their homeroom who were graduating. Besides, Rukia still looked 12 to 14, while most of their peers looked as if they were in their late teens and up. No way in hell was Ichigo letting her go with any developed man who wanted to ask out an adolescent.
Dancing wasn't mandatory, and Ichigo would've refused to do so and told Rukia to go find someone else if not for one fact. Rukia's release command was 'dance.' That made refusing to dance a personal insult, and not a humorous one. It would be rejecting a major part of what she was.
Rukia looked from Ichigo to the dance floor. It was well-occupied. About an even mix of men and women. Since there were more male than female shinigami, the male shinigami were allowed to invite others. Mostly girls in younger years. Though a number of the male shinigami were dancing with other male shinigami. Ichigo recalled that that sort of thing had been more accepted in ancient Japan, before western sexual norms had come in.
The style of dancing wasn't western, but it was closer to that than what he knew of old Japanese dancing. Soul Society seemed superficially like Edo Japan, but, he'd noticed, it had its own things.
Rukia looked back to Ichigo.
Unlike Ichigo, she wasn't thinking about how silly and half-baked this tradition was, or how the rich shinigami were using the occasion to show off their money in fancy yukata and kimono, and that the two of them were just barely formal enough in the yukata Byakuya had bought them two years ago.
She was thinking that she wanted to dance, and she was actually admiring the gaudy, tacky decorations.
Ichigo went to the drinks table and poured himself a bowl of sake`.
"Ichigo?"
He chugged it and wiped his chin. The fumes were clearing out his ears.
"Ichigo, you're a minor!"
"No I'm not." He was nearly 19. The Japanese drinking age was 20, but no one actually paid attention to that. He poured himself a second bowl and drank it more slowly, Rukia watching him with confusion and worry.
By the end of his second small bowl of sake, dancing didn't seem like such a bad idea anymore.
He took her hand and nodded toward the dance floor. The music was enka, but he'd had little choice but to develop a greater appreciation for that.
"Ichi-"
"Come on."
After only a moment's hesitation, she grinned broadly and tugged him onto the dance floor, holding hands, as they were supposed to. Rukia was great, he could tell. Maybe not technically, but she was so graceful, so smooth, so perfectly in time to the music, and her smile was infectious.
By the time they'd been twice around the room, Ichigo was having fun. Dancing lessons had been part of their Etiquette and Culture classes, but Ichigo had done poorly. The instructor had kept telling him to 'dance with his heart,' when it was his feet that were the problem, but with some sake` in him, 'dancing with his heart,' felt like good advice.
He twirled Rukia and laughed. She had on that silly, starry-eyed expression that she usually saved for Chappy and other stupid things, and he was determined to keep her looking that way the whole night.
"Are you drunk?" she shouted.
"No, I'm tipsy." He spun her again, bumped into another couple, and laughed as he regained his balance. Rukia laughed too. He didn't remember the last time he'd laughed so much. Why had he waited so long to give sake` a try? Sake` was good. Sake` was amazing. Almost as amazing as dancing.
Rukia fit him. She was too short, but that was perfect. The thing she was looking at in that silly, starry-eyed way was him. He'd never felt so big, so proud, so worthwhile. He wanted her to look at him like that forever.
#
Ichigo woke with a slight headache, but nothing that could be called a hangover. He hadn't had that much sake`, and Rukia, who had decades of experience with alcohol, had made sure he'd eaten food and drunk water.
Rukia. He turned over, saw her curled up in her own bed. After they'd broken the second screen Hisana had gifted them, they'd given up dividing the room like that, so he had a good view of her. He was pretty sure that below the covers, she was clutching the stuffed white rabbit she thought he didn't know about.
She'd caught, killed, skinned and stuffed the rabbit herself, which was a little creepy, but very Rukia. She was a mess of contradictions. She was serious and silly. She was calm and controlled, and she had a short temper. She was arrogant and she was insecure. She hid her heart, and she speechified from it like no one else he knew. She had a natural sophistication that he was sure had predated her induction as a Kuchiki, and she was crude and aggressive. She was obsessed with her vision of 'cute,' and she was as bloody-minded as any other Outer-Rukongai brat.
Ichigo himself was no stranger anymore to killing animals to make use of their corpses.
Ichigo crept out of bed. It was early morning, and the light filtering through the window was dim and gray. He rested his hands against the chilly window glass until his hands grew cool.
He loomed over Rukia, who was smiling in her sleep. It sparked a warmth in his chest, and he put his chill hands on her neck.
Rukia shrieked as she shot up in bed. Ichigo took a foot right to mouth and hit the floor, cursing.
"Wahahaha!" cried Rukia, understanding the situation as soon as she'd shaken the sleep from her brain. "You thought you'd play a trick on me, but I played it on you instead."
"Kicking me is not a trick," Ichigo said, getting to his feet, one hand covering his mouth. "It's gratuitous violence."
"You're just pissed I won."
"You didn't-"
"Less talking, more getting ready. We've got Division interviews."
"I know," said Ichigo, letting his hand fall from his mouth. "I'm the one who woke you for them."
Rukia looked satisfied. "A split lip, Ichigo! I got you good."
"Shut up and turn around and get dressed. We've got Division interviews." He turned to his own bed, took off his night shirt, which was an actual cotton shirt, just like back home, and opened a drawer, pulling out a fresh academy uniform, hearing Rukia doing the same behind him.
Rukia said, "What did you touch me with anyway?"
"My hands."
An instant later, he was being turned around, bare chested, Rukia grabbing his hands. "Your hands, Ichigo? They shouldn't be that cold. Your circulation. We have to go to Division 4, and-"
"I cooled them on the window first, you numbnut. Now finish getting ready. You're still in your sleeping robe." He turned away, shaking out his uniform.
An absolutely ice-cold hand pressed against his back. Colder than ice. Negative 10, 20 degrees, probably. Just an instant of contact, but he was cursing again and jumping onto the bed.
"That's what you get for scaring me," laughed Rukia.
"Freaking ice-type," he hissed.
#
#
Rukia insisted on going to Division 13. It was a good choice, and since keeping a powerful Lieutenant like Shiba Kaien alive would be a priority even if Rukia had never met him, Ichigo nodded and said nothing about it.
For Ichigo, all the options were on the table. Division 5, they'd decided, was too dangerous, and Division 9, under Tousen was dangerous as well and held less upside. They'd been tempted to dismiss Divisions 1 and 2 out of hand, but there were advantages to both. But still, it was really easy to imagine Ichigo getting court-martialed in Division 2, and Division 1 was for experienced shinigami.
3 was an interesting option. Its current Captain was an old, gray, wrinkled woman who'd come out of retirement to take up the post because there weren't enough Captain level shinigami and she was rumored to be eager to return to retirement. Ichimaru Gin should be taking over shortly enough. But just because Ichimaru Gin had been trying to kill Aizen didn't mean he'd been a triple-agent the whole time. And even if he was, he would likely still tell Aizen all about him.
Division 4 would take him as far below Aizen's notice as possible. If he went to 12, he could off Korutsuchi when he felt like it, and no one would complain since it was Korutsuchi, and he'd become the Captain of the science Division.
Besides his horror when Rukia had suggested murder, there was the fact that Korotsuchi had been on their side in the war, and that Ichigo wasn't a scientific genius.
11th was interesting. He was sure that if he went there, he could get Kenpachi to develop shikai and learn shunpo, and Zaraki Kenpachi with shikai and shunpo was a terrifying thought. But being in 11 sounded hellish to Ichigo, and there was no way he could hide his true strength while undergoing regular 'training,' with Kenpachi.
Going to 13 with Rukia sounded comfortable, but every day he was in a Division with Shiba Kaien was an invitation for someone to do a heredity test.
In the end, Ichigo selected as his first choice what he'd long sort of known he would.
#
#
The Sixth Division was honorable, stable, took excellent care of its members, and was not a popular pick for graduates at the best of times, much less with Kuchiki Byakuya-sama having just taken over, becoming the most junior Captain. So when the Academy's top graduate listed Division 6 as his number one choice, Lieutenant Suzuki Haruto was quietly pleased.
He'd always known that the dignity and class with which he carried himself would make an impact eventually. As the second oldest active Lieutenant, and the most elderly in practical terms, he cut a very distinguished figure.
Still, just because the boy was highly rated didn't mean he was a shoo in. With his reputed strength, he'd surely be seated on arrival, and he knew Byakuya-sama did not intend to seat anyone unsuitable, however skilled.
The graduate was seated cross-legged when Suzuki came in, bright orange hair in contrast to the neutral tones of the room.
"Lieutenant Suzuki," the graduate said, bowing not quite so deeply as he should've.
Seating himself, Suzuki made no comment and got the interview underway with the usual stiff pleasantries and the usual probing questions.
"Why do you wish to join the Sixth Division?"
"A few reasons," said Kurokento Ichigo. "I pretty much knew I didn't want 1, 2, 4, 11 or 12." The specialist Divisions. "Between the others it was about choosing a place that would be a good fit, but not too good of a fit. I wanted some place I would have to grow. To be honest, when I heard about the 'high standards' of Division 6, it sounded to me like a bunch of stuffy bores. Caring too much about polite speech, bowing, how to belt your hakama 'properly,' all sorts of formalities, and learning to care about that isn't what I call 'growing.'"
A tenseness to his face was the only sign of Suzuki's offense.
"But the more I was reading about it, the more I realized that the Division isn't just stricter with its shinigami, it's stricter with itself. In other Divisions, I guess that if someone higher ranked tells you to do something, you do it. But in 6th, there's more care for the individuals rights and privileges, and people don't get to go bossing others around so much just because they're better in a fight. That true?"
"Yes," said Suzuki. "While the modern system is superior to the feudal system, there is value in the old system's focus not just on the obligations of the lower to the higher, of the higher to the lower."
"See, I really like that. Otherwise it's just tyranny of the strong. Plus, I was reading in Seireitei Communications about the issues with ganglike behavior in Rukongai and sexual harassment in Divisions, and people drinking sake' on the clock, and if 'high standards' means not tolerating that ish, I'm all about high standards."
He gave Kurokento Ichigo a slight nod, even if the boy's style of speech was grating at his ears. But there was an issue he couldn't let slide. "A uniform improperly worn can inhibit of movement. I once saw a friend die because he stepped on the hem of his hakama at a critical point in a fight. And I have received reports of many more shinigami dead or missions failed because of a lack of attention to seemingly pointless detail."
Ichigo looked surprised, but sighed. "I'm naturally someone who doesn't care a lot about 'The Rules' unless I see the value to 'em, and I keep finding out after the fact that sometimes, there was a pretty good reason for a rule I was ignoring. That's part of why I think Division 6 would be a good way to stretch myself. Plus, another thing I was reading about. A lot of Divisions have ideas of fairness, of chivalry, of fighting for pride. But Division 6 has a reputation for 'not messing around.' If you have overwhelming force, use it. If you have an unfair advantage, use that too. Just do you duty, and base your pride in that."
Suzuki nodded again. That was indeed one of Division 6's philosophies. As the previous Captain Kuchiki had once so colorfully put it, 'our goal is to win battles, not pissing contests.' Byakuya-sama still struggled to live by those principles, but it was at least true that there was no other Captain in the Gotei 13 so quick to go to shikai.
Ichigo said, "Plus shunpo is my favorite of the shinigami arts and I've heard you've got one of the best Captains at that."
Suzuki acknowledged the compliment with a nod and said, "Of the shinigami arts, which is your greatest weakness?"
"The obvious answer is Kido. I'm not bad at, but it's not as natural for me as the rest."
The boy's scores bore mute testimony to that. Solid in Kido, exceptional in everything else.
"But I think for me the biggest challenge is keeping my head and not letting my resolves run away with me. I can be pretty reckless, and that's fine if it's just me, but if I'm part of a group, my being reckless could get other people killed."
That... was a very good answer, demonstrating the depth of thought to consider something other than Hakuda, Hoho, zanjutsu and Kido, and solid self-awareness as well. Suzuki said, "And your greatest strength?"
"I learn quickly, that's good. But it's probably sheer quantity of reiryoku. Not because I earned it. I just have it. Genetic lotto and all that. Skills are important, but power, power is number one. I don't have a huge amount, but more than most academy graduates, that's for sure."
Suzuki raised an eyebrow. It sounded like bragging, but it was also completely true.
He asked more questions.
#
#
When the interviews were concluded, Suzuki conferred with Byakuya-sama over tea in a traditional room that was slightly cramped and lacked the elegance of Division 6's facilities, but was still adequate.
The first question out of Byakuya-sama's mouth was, "What did you think of Kurokento Ichigo?"
Suzuki said, "Rough, but acceptable. A thinker, and hard-headed, but those traits often turn to the good with time."
Byakuya nodded.
It was a perfectly reasonable first question. Kurokento Ichigo was the top applicant, so it was sensible to mention him first. But Suzuki had thought it odd that Byakuya-sama wasn't interviewing Kurokento himself. And Suzuki had known Byakuya-sama since Byakuya-sama had been a small child. That was why, in the privacy of his own head, he still thought of him 'as Byakuya-sama,' or even 'Young Master,' rather than Captain Kuchiki.
He could tell the difference between Byakuya-sama looking disinterested and actually being disinterested.
"You know him?" said Suzuki.
"A friend of a friend," Byakuya-sama explained. "I'm pleased to accept him into the Division without favoritism."
Suzuki wondered how an Outer-Rukongai brat came to be a friend of a friend to Kuchiki Byakuya-sama, but he knew better than to ask. Young men needed their space.
:::
I published another Bleach fic. "You Might Call it War." Check that out if you like.
I'm getting nearish to the end of what I've already written on this fic. The rate of updates will likely slow soon.
I've been playing Bleach: Brave Souls. A complete waste of time in a way that not even fanfic is, and yet…
If I could magically change Bleach however I liked, the 10th or so change I'd make is getting Yoko Kanno involved in the score for the anime.