As Shin'ichi was meeting Kenryū the messenger arrived back at the base of the Order of Amaryllis. He knelt at the end of two lines of people wearing shinigami student uniforms, his head bent to the ground. One side with four, the other five; In front of them though, there was another. He had orange hair and carried a Zanbatō on his back. The man at the front of the lines said, "How did your mission go, Afgezant(1)?"
"I must apologise, Gebieder(2), but Aosaki has refused to join us."
"He refused?" the leader of the Order asked.
"Yes."
"Did he give a reason?" the leader asked, confused as to why the offer to join might be refused.
"Yes. He said that he was interested in joining neither the order, nor Squad 11. Once he refused I told him that his participation with the order was not optional." The leader rose an eyebrow. "I didn't wait for a reply."
"I see," the leader said, somewhat annoyed at the prospect of a potentially powerful shinigami growing into said power without the assistance of the order. When the Afgezant didn't leave, or speak further, the leader asked, "Do you have anything else to report?"
"Forgive my impudence sir, and I know that it is not one of my duties, but sitting alongside Aosaki, there was another student whom seemed strong enough to join us."
"Oh?"
"A red haired student, I don't know the student's name, but I've never seen him before, so he must have recently joined the academy in the latest round of selections."
"I see. We shall look into this other student. Did you espy any more potential recruits?"
"I am afraid not Sir. The two females with them seemed to possess more talent with Kidō and Hakuda rather than Zanjutsu, one of whom possessed an almost identical Reiryoku signature to the red haired student that I was talking about earlier."
"So they're related?"
"It is highly likely that that is indeed the case."
"I see. Very well, you have done well enough, despite the failure of the mission with which you were originally tasked. "
"Thank you sir," the messenger said before standing and leaving. He did not allow himself to look at the members of the Order of Amaryllis as they took great pride in protecting their secrecy, not shirking from taking lives to do so.
XXXXXXX
By the time that Shin'ichi had finished his business with Kenryū, the bell had rung for the next class to begin. He had exited the room before he stopped and went back to the doorway of the classroom that he had just left, scratched his head, and asked, "Uhh...where is room XJ102?"
"XJ102? Why?" Kenryū asked.
"That's where my next class is. Is it really that strange?"
"Well, it's just that the XJ rooms are a bunch of warehouses on the far side of the great oval. They aren't really used for anything anymore."
"Okay, thanks," Shin'ichi said, leaving in a rush to get to his class. When he got there he found the building easily thanks to the massive white numbers conveniently placed on each of the warehouses. He pushed open the door to XJ102 and entered. He found that he was now in a large room with only ten other peoploe in the room. The person standing before all of the others said, "Ah, Aosaki, there you are. Well, now that Aosaki-san is here, you all met me at the entrance exam, but I've got to do this anyway. I'm Mitsuhide Akemi and I will be overseeing this class for the time that you spen here."
Shin'ichi asked, "Why are you, the Faculty Head taking the remedial class?"
"Well, normally I take the first years' kidō class, but thanks to you," she pointedly said, "and your abysmal attempt in the exam, that's not happening."
"Ah."
"Now, you will all be paired up with one of the instructors that are here that I've already assigned to you."
One of the instructors' eyes shot open upon seeing Shin'ichi where he stood before her, waiting to be told who they would be partnered with. Akemi said, "Aosaki Shin'ichi, you shall be taught by Kurosaki Yuzu, the Fifth Seat of the Kidō Corps. You will be practicing on the mat set up in the corner over there," pointing at the corner farthest away from the rest of the students. Akemi then listed off the rest of the students and their respective teacher, all from various squads within the Gotei 13 that would best match the base requirements that Akemi had identified during the entrance exam. "Now, pair up and move off to the training areas that I have assigned you."
Hiromi, a female student with black hair that, under the right light, reflected a dark purple, raised her hand as she asked, "Why are we in a room so far away from the rest of the campus?"
"Because," Akemi replied, "all of you here are so bad at controlling your reiatsu that there is the very real risk of you blowing up the academy if one of even the lesser offensive kidō goes out of control."
"Oh," Hiromi said, somewhat incensed by the reply.
"Now, if there are no more questions...?" receiving no reply Akemi continued, "Good, now get!"
Yuzu led Shin'ichi to the field that had been indicated, away from all the other students, him being more of a risk than them, but, before she could say anything, Shin'ichi quietly said, "Before you say anything, nobody here knows who I really am."
"Alright," Yuzu reluctantly agreedm wanting to throw her arms around her elder brother and tell him everything that had happened to her whilst in Soul Society. "As you know, I'm Kurosaki Yuzu," Yuzu said, going along with her brother's ruse, "The Fifth Seat of the Kidō Corps. Akemi-san requested a member of my squad of sufficient power that could shut you down if necessary."
"Geez," Shin'ichi said, tone laden with sarcasm, "She's so thoughtful," causing Yuzu to giggle a bit. "So, Kurosaki-Goseki, what's first?"
Yuzu smirked and said, "I wasn't told the reason that you were in this class, so I'd like to perform Bakudō #1: Sai for me."
"Sure," Shin'ichi said before he began saying the incantation from memory. "The pale tide when the moon has set, the people of coming days will know about the casting of my net, Bakudō #1: Sai," pointing at the dummy with his index and middle fingers of his right hand. As before the limbs of the dummy went flying.
Yuzu's eyes widened to comic proportions at the sight. "I can see why Akemi-san put you in this class." Shin'ichi looked at his sister with a blank stare, prompting Yuzu to continue talking. "There are many reasons as to why a Kidō will backfire. The normal one is that the user managed to get the incantation wrong, but you got it word for word. That means that either your reiatsu is too rough, or too great for such a low-level kidō."
"So...what do we do now?"
"There are a few other things that we could try, but for now I'd like you to try to use your left hand instead of your right," Yuzu said as the dummy was automatically replaced with another.
"Alright, but I'm not sure what difference it will make," Shin'ichi said, playing the devil's advocate. He re-recited the incantation, pointing his extended fingers with his left hand, with an even more spectacular result than the last time. He said, "I'm so sorry," his shoulders slumping as he looked at the ground.
"Oh no, don't worry. I was just taking the opportunity to debunk a theory that a fellow Fifth Seat has been proposing for years."
"I don't know how I should feel about that."
Yuzu smiled. "But seriously, this time I want you to try to perform it without the incantation."
"Without it? Why?"
"If you perform a kidō without the incantation, it will still work, but it will only have a third of the power it would normally have. Do you want a demonstration?"
"Please do," Shin'ichi said, wanting to see just how strong his sisters aptitude for kidō really was.
"Very well," Yuzu said as she pointed the fore and middle fingers of her right hand at the new dummy. "Rikujōkōrō," a ball of golden energy appearing in front of her outstretched hand before six beams shot from it, surrounding the dummy before slamming into it, a golden ring of energy joining the beams together. Yuzu grabbed her right arm below the elbow, changing the position of her right hand so that it had its palm facing outwards. "Haien," Yuzu said, a purple orb forming in front of her hand before it shot at the dummy at a phenomenal speed. The head of the dummy was completely eradicated from existence once the kidō hit it, the torso being scorched black.
Shin'ichi commented, "Wow, that's some kind of dangerous you've got there."
"Yes, but like I said, casting the kidō without its incantation leaves it with about a third of its normal power. Of course, I've trained so that I can get around half the power."
"Not bad."
"Thanks," Yuzu said, smiling broadly, still happy to be praised by her elder brother. "Now, you try doing #1: Sai again, this time without the incantation."
"Alright," Shin'ichi said, still unsure if he should go through with it. "Here goes...Bakudō #1: Sai." The dummy lost its arms once again, albeit not as far as the previous attempts.
"Okay, you're still putting too much reiatsu into your kidō," declared Yuzu, mentally abandoning her brother attempting to learn any lower level kidō. "Alright, I want you to try the Hadō that I used earlier, #54: Haien." Just to be safe Yuzu erected a barrier around herself and their training area to protect against any possible problems that may eventuate.
Shin'ichi commented, "So much faith."
"I do have faith in you Ichi-nii," Yuzu answered, free to call her brother whatever she wanted now that her barriers were in place, ready to erect another around Ichigo if the spell did backfire. "However, going on what just happened, it is not out of the realm of possibility that you will destroy this entire facility if you mess up a kidō like Haien."
Ichigo grunted, "Fine then," and then gathered his reiatsu before manipulating it the way that he had felt his sister do it. A massive ball of purple fire appeared in front of his hand that continued to expand beyond his control.
Yuzu abandoned the barrier s around the training field and herself and formed a green barrier around the orb itself, cutting it off from her brother's reiatsu, preventing from getting any bigger than it already was. She chanted, "Oh great black dog of Rodanini; Ye of light; Ship of Ra; Grant your might; Kekkai #43: Rashōmon of Suppression." Ichigo's kidō exploded. The barrier held.
Shin'ichi, stunned, almost demanded, "What the hell was that?!"
Yuzu calmly stated, "You fed too much of your reiatsu into that kidō, resulting in its going way, way, out of control. So I had to cast a barrier strong enough to contain the blast."
"Yeah, I got all that, but you recited the incantation after you cast it."
"Oh, that. Well, Shin'ichi-san, it's something that not a lot of shinigami know, but if you say the incantation after you cast the spell, it results in a stronger effect, though I don't expect that it will be of much consequence to you."
"No, I guess not," Shin'ichi said, thinking on what had just happened. He asked, "So, what next?"
"Hmm…" Yuzu muttered, thinking, 'What next indeed? I certainly have no idea what to do. Ichi-nii's control over his reiatsu is so poor that even a 30's level kidō could go out of control. Which meanst that I could let him try an even higher level kidō, but I can't cast a stronger barrier than the one that I just used, which only barely held together. Maybe I shoud…' She said, "Wait here a second."
"Sure," Ichigo said, unwilling to try anything by himself in case he really did end up destroying the building.
Yuzu walked over to the head teacher and said, "Akemi-sensei?"
"Yes?" Akemi replied.
"I would like to take Shin'ichi-san to the Kidō Corps Headquarters for his instruction in the art of kidō."
"The…why?" Akemi asked, a former Kidō Corps member herself.
"I'm afraid that in order for me to teach Shin'ichi-san kidō, I shall need stronger barriers than I can erect alone."
"I see. I wouldn't have thought that there would be a need for such a powerful barrier for a first year student.
"Well…"
"Well indeed. Alright. Just out of curiosity though…"
"Yes?"
"Why did you use that barrier before?"
"I'd…rather not say," Yuzu said, playing with the collar of her shihakushō.
"Alright," Akemi said, thinking, 'I'll ask Shin'ichi-san later,' as Yuzu returned to her brother's side.
When Yuzu had reached her brother she said, "Okay Shin'ichi-san, I've received permission to take you to my squad's training ground," heading back the way she had just come.
Once they were outside Yuzu took a few steps before disappearing as fast as she could using Shunpō. When Ichigo caught up with her, on his second step (her tenth), he matched her speed and said, "You're pretty fast there sis, but you'll need a couple of centuries to beat me." Yuzu managed to increase her speed by imitating the changes in her brother's reiatsu and compensating for the difference in stature, but Ichigo was still able to easily outpace her. By the time they reached the training ground Yuzu was panting whereas Ichigo was yet to even break a sweat.
All of a sudden there was a largish reiatsu forcing down on the Kurosaki siblings. They stood there, taking the full brunt of it, completely unaffected by it at all. A drop of sweat appeared at the side of Yuzu's head before she squeaked, "Oopsie."
"Eh?" Ichigo asked, looking at his sister.
"I'm sorry 4th Seat Iga!" Yuzu blurted apologetically, not meaning a single word of it.
"Don't think that your relation to your brother gives you the right to run about the place with your goddamn boy toy and skip out on your duties!"
"My!?" Yuzu shrieked, her face turning red as a tomato.
"Her…!?" Ichigo demanded, his face equally red. Shin'ichi's face wasn't red from embarrassment as was his sisters, no, Shin'ichi was red with rage at the 4th Seat's implications.
The siblings simultaneously said, "Now look here," gaining the seated officer's full attention before looking at each other, smiling before turning back and levelling their combined, monstrous, reiatsu at him. Shin'ichi couldn't be sure, but he thought he saw a puddle form at the 4th Seat's feet as he rushed to get away from the two.
Shin'ichi asked, "What was that all about?"
"Iga-senpai likes to think that he always knows what is best for everyone, even when he makes incorrect assumptions along the way. It's kind of nerve-wracking to think that it is likely that he will get promoted to 3rd seat at the next round of promotions."
"Why is he getting promoted? I thought the Kidō Corps already had a third seat."
"Yeah, but rumour has it that Koga-senpai is getting promoted to be Lieutenant of the Sixth Squad."
"Sixth squad? What happened to Renji?"
"He's now the Third Squad Captain."
"Renji's a captain?" Ichigo exclaimed before snidely commenting, "Seireitei must be light on members if they're making him a Captain."
In his office the Lieutenant of the Kidō Corps looked in the direction that the massive reiatsu had come from and thought, 'Kurosaki? Well, whatever, if it's her then it's probably going to be alright.'
The lieutenant winced when he felt Kenpachi Zaraki's reiatsu skyrocket from the Eleventh Squad and scream out, "IchiGOOO!" so loudly that even the twentieth district could hear him.
Shin'ichi commented, "Ah shit, we shouldn't have done that."
"Why's that?" Yuzu asked.
"Didn't you hear that nut Zaraki? Now he's going to be on the prowl."
"Hmm…that could be a problem, yes. Ah well, it'll all work out somehow."
"How can you possibly know that?"
"It always seems to with us," Yuzu commented.
"Well, I guess that that's true enough," Shin'ichi scowled at Yuzu's smile. "Anyway, we didn't come here just to intimidate one of your superior officer's, did we?"
"No," Yuzu said, back to being all about business. "Now," Yuzu whistled causing her four direct subordinates to appear around her.
One of them, a tallish, buxom, girl with emerald green hair in twin tails extending over her shoulders asked, "What is it, Yuzu-sama?" hugging the back of Yuzu's head into her massive breasts.
An average sized girl with long, golden, locks grabbed the green haired girl's ear and forced her to the ground, demanding, "How many times Ella, don't try to suffocate Yuzu-sama with your lewd appearance."
A short girl with orange hair in two braids wearing glasses pushed said glasses up the bridge of her nose before saying, "I apologise for the brutish behaviour displayed by those two."
"What was that?!" the two brawling females demanded of their companion.
"Please ignore then, Mumei-san," a man with sky blue hair that was about Yuzu's height(5'5").
"Uhh…that's fine," Shin'ichi said, seeing ghostly images of Tatsuki, Chizuru and Cyan Sung-Sun appear above the green haired girl, the blonde and the orange haired girl respectively.
Yuzu said, "Shin'ichi—san, I'd like you to meet my four direct subordinates, Ella Walker," indicating the one with green hair; "Jane Mainard," the golden haired one; "Olivia Wynter," the one with orange hair; "And Trevor McCaig." The three women wore tekkō the same colour as their hair; Trevor wore a sky blue scarf made from windflower light silk. "They may not always get along well with each other, but when push comes to shove they could put up a fight against legends."
"Really?" Shin'ichi asked.
"I like to think so."
"Who knows, one day you might just get to find out, Shin'ichi said, accepting his sister's challenge.
"Anyway, back to why we're here," Yuzu said, hoping to get the lesson back underway.
"Gladly," Ichigo said.
"Ella, Jane, Olivia, Trevor, this is Aosaki Shin'ichi, the student that I was called in to teach at the academy."
Trevor almost glared at Shin'ichi as he asked, "So why have you brought him here Yuzu-chan?"
"Well…that's…" Yuzu gulped. "How should I put it…"
"I just about blew through Yuzu's strongest barrier with really little effort."
"No way!" Jane exclaimed, shocked that anyone could accomplish such a feat, let alone a student; A first year at that.
Trevor, not letting up his glare, moved into Shin'ichi's face and quietly demanded in what he thought was an intimidating way, "What are your intentions with Yuzu-chan."
Yuzu's eyes widened in shock as she barely heard Trevor's words. She quickly turned to look at her brother and waved her hands in front of her, silently pleading for him not to make a big deal about it.
Shin'ichi ignored her. Shin'ichi's face easily fell into the scowl that was never far away. He said, "I think I should be the one asking you that."
Trevor's blood chilled when Shin'ichi referred to him and he lost all colour in his face as Yuzu's turned red. She almost yelled, "Why'd you do that?!"
Shin'ichi said, "You didn't really think I wouldn't, did you?"
"Well…maybe not, but even so…"
"So what is he to you?" Shin'ichi demanded as the three female onlookers looked from one Kurosaki to the other.
"That's hardly a…"
"But I suppose that that can wait, can't it?" Ichigo asked, postponing the abuse that he was going to lay on Trevor for later.
"It better," Yuzu said crossly, sending a chill down her subordinates' spines. They had only heard her use that tone with a hollow that had been about to gut Jane before she disintegrated it with a single blast. It didn't affect Ichigo in the least, being more than capable of inflicting mass amounts of fear into others with the same tone. "Anyway," Yuzu happily said, scaring her subordinates at the speed that her voice changed. The last time she had used it she hadn't let up until she had destroyed over half of the kidō training dummies where they were currently standing. "I'd like the four of you to create a barrier capable of withstanding a seventies level Hadō."
"Seventies? Are you sure we'll need it?" Jane asked, unsure that they would need it given Shin'ichi's current power.
"Don't you trust Yuzu-sama Jane?" Ella asked, shocked that anyone would question their superior officer.
"You take that back!" Jane shrieked.
"Why should I when it is clear that you don't…"
Jane slapped Ella before saying, "I trust her more than you, you bitch, but surely even you can feel his reiatsu? It is hardly believable that it would be capable of needing a seventies level barrier. Especially when you consider that he is a first year."
"Well, you do have a point there."
"Are the two of you daft as well as blind?" Olivia asked.
"What was THAT!?" the two girls angrily demanded, indignant that they could be insulted as such by someone wearing glasses.
"Look at those wristbands. Even you two should be able to tell that they are interfering with his reiatsu somehow."
Jane said, "Even so, I can't see him being able to put enough reiatsu into a kidō to cause it to backfire to that level."
"You might have a point there."
"Hurry it up you three," Trevor said, standing in position to cast his part of the barrier.
"Alright, alright," Jane said, not needing to move as Trevor had moved to a position that was in line with her.
Ella and Olivia moved to their respective positions before all four incanted, "The power of the 88 flow; burst into existence; crumble into dust; Bakudō#78: Aphelion." A bright yellow square pyramid rose up, its sides meeting at a point directly above Shin'ichi.
Yuzu said, "Now Shin'ichi-san, please perform Hadō #54: Haien like I showed you before."
"Are you sure?" Shin'ichi asked, unsure if he should.
"Yes. Don't worry. I told you, my subordinates are truly very good at what they do. When they can bring themselves to work together that is," Yuzu said, her eyes shifting to Ella, though the green haired shinigami didn't see it.
"Don't I need a target?"
"Leave that to me," Yuzu said from outside the barrier. "Bakudo #62: Fukusei," creating a static figure of herself within the barrier.
Ichigo, feeling conflicted, held his right arm forward and said, "Hadō #54: Haien," a massive purple ball generating in front of his palm before firing at the target. The ball was massive, exceeded only by the explosion generated when it hit the target. Ichigo only survived because Ella dropped her part in the barrier, effectively halving the size of the barrier. The barrier itself only barely survived the explosion, bulging out from the force of it.
Jane said, "Well…that was…"
Trevor glared at Ichigo and said, "I don't even have the words."
Yuzu said, "There you have it," to her subordinates.
"I think that we would just waste our time trying to teach this guy kidō. He should just focus on zanjutsu and join the Eleventh Squad," said Trevor, not wanting to spend any more time around Ichigo than was absolutely necessary.
Jane sighed and said, "Trevor, Yuzu-sama brought him here so that he could learn kidō. As such we have to do our utmost, even if you don't like him."
Olivia said, "Shin'ichi-san…"
"Yes?" Shin'ichi asked.
"I have some…issues…that I would like to sort out before explaining to you why you are having the difficulties that you are having."
"Such as?"
"Why are you wearing those wristbands?"
"That's classified."
Jane thought, 'Classified?! Why would a student have something to do with an issue that is classified above a seventh seat's level? Hmm…Yuzu-sama seems to be alright with it,' noting her superior officer's lack of reaction, 'so it must not be something worth worrying about.'
Olivia said, "Well, be that as it may, based on what just occurred I think that it is safe to say that you have a vast amount of reiatsu."
"A vast amount?"
"Indeed. Strictly speaking there are four levels of reiatsu that can be possessed. Average, High, Great and Immense. Most shinigami have an average level of reiatsu, including some of the lower seated officers. Higher ranked seated officers most often have a high amount, up to and including average lieutenant level shinigami. Captain level shinigami possess either a great or an immense amount of reiatsu. Those with a great level of reiatsu can generally control it almost perfectly. Those possessing an immense amount of reiatsu can control their reiatsu perfectly and use it to enhance the user during combat as well as its ability to affect the surrounding environment on a controlled level, allowing the wielder to use it in combat to startling degrees. Those with immense reiatsu can be called advanced captain class shinigami. Vast reiatsu is different."
"Different how?"
"Those with a vast amount of reiatsu tend to supersede the classification of advanced captain level. I could almost call it super-advanced captain level."
"Almost?"
"Yes. While it is true that those with a vast amount of reiatsu can still augment the user's capabilities in battle and affect the surrounding terrain, the way that they control their reiatsu tends to be rather roughshod. In that way their method is more suited for battle, however…" Jane trailed off.
"However…?" Ichigo queried.
"Kidō needs a softer touch."
"Come again?"
"Kidō, in its basest form, is the manipulation of reiryoku to achieve an effect, be it for attack or defence. Each different type of kidō requires a different form of manipulation. #4: Byakurai and #11: Tsuzuri Raiden are both lightning elemental kidō, but the method used for Byakurai is closer to that of #32: Ōkasen, which is itself a fire style kidō."
"Seriously?"
Olivia pushed her glasses up her nose, saying, "I never lie about my work."
"I didn't mean it like that."
"Oh, anyway, as I was saying, your reiatsu is too rough to handle any of the lower level kidō that you would normally start out with." Yuzu watched on proud of her subordinates, and friends, as they interacted with her brother. "As you can imagine, attempting higher level kidō without having any base knowledge of their weaker variants is like trying to run before you could walk. That is what caused Trevor to make his comment, rude as it was."
Trevor said, "Tsk," before turning his eyes away from the others.
"At any rate. The reason Yuzu-sama brought you here, I suspect, is that she would like our recommendation as to how you should be trained and in what."
"That's right," Yuzu said.
"Well I would suggest that he learn some high-level hadō and some augmentation kidō… you might get away with some high level bakudō, but other than that…"
Yuzu looked at her other subordinates and asked, "Are you all in agreement with Jane's assessment?" there were nods of agreement from every one of her subordinates. "Good. In that case, Shin'ichi, I believe that it's about time for your next class."
XXXXXXX
A/N
Before I go on to the stuff this chapter, there's a poll on my profile related to my other story, Sasuke's Sluts. It would really help me out if you could take the time to check it out.
I shall be using Dutch as the signature language for terms within the Order of Amaryllis
1. Afgezant: Messenger
2. Gebieder: Leader
