Hey everybody! This is another chapter that probably could have been split into two, but the first part was to short. As always, constructive criticism is always apreciated!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything Bleach
When Karin walked into Zanjutsu class one week after Hitsugaya-taichou had come to teach, she was disappointed to see their old instructor instead of the short, white-haired Taichou. She had grown to rather like the superior officer, even though he did have a habit of acting very strange around her. But then again, Karin did have a bad habit of unintentionally falling over herself around him, so she figured it was just as well. Junji had actually tried teasing her about "having a crush on the chibi-taichou," but had stopped after she kneed him in the groin.
Karin refused to let any romantic feelings show for anyone. If she was really interested in becoming a Soul Reaper, she would have to be completely focused. Although Junji, Gyou, Suzaku, and even Hitsugaya-taichou were all really nice guys, she couldn't think of them as more than friends and comrades. Not that was interested in any of them anyway. She only appreciated Hitsugaya-taichou's power and guidance. That was it. Honest.
When their sensei made them go through another set of seemingly random movements, Karin couldn't help but miss the small taichou and his explanations. While their sensei usually just told them to learn the moves and stop complaining, Hitsugaya-taichou would actually give them examples of situations where the moves would be useful. While their sensei generally stood at the front of the class and yelled out one or two word corrections, Hitsugaya-taichou would come up to each of them individually and suggest improvements. And most importantly, Karin wasn't scared of losing control of her spirit energy and getting in trouble around Hitsugaya-taichou.
When the boring Zanjutsu class finally came to an end, Karin quickly packed up her stuff and left with her friends. After eavesdropping on Karin when she admitted to missing most of her memories, both Gyou and Junji had become more and more overprotective of their little "Kar-chan" or "Rin-chan", depending on who was talking. It was oddly comforting, and so far hadn't become a problem, but there was the occasional moment when she was tempted to hit both of them upside the head. Just cause she didn't remember her past didn't mean she was helpless.
When they got to the hallway, Junji noticed a poster on the wall and read it out loud. "Do you have what it takes? Come learn what requirements you need to get into the squad of your choice!" He turned back to them. "You guys know anything about this?"
Gyou rubbed his chin, reading the fine print on the poster and thinking. "Well, obviously there are some squads that you need to take certain classes to get into. For instance, squad two and the stealth force have their own set of required courses that are slightly different from ours. I wouldn't be surprised if squad 12 is encouraged to take as many science classes as possible, squad eleven is required to go through all levels of Zanjutsu, and squad 4 is required to take healing Kido classes. Others probably have their own requirements, but we would have to ask about them."
Karin looked at the poster as well. "Do they really expect us to know what squad we want to join? I mean, we're just first-years."
"Not really." Gyou pointed to the bottom of the poster. "See? It's meant for third years and up, but lower class-men are allowed to join."
"Ah. That's good." Karin sighed. "I can't see how anyone would be able to know where they wanted to go at this point, unless they had a personal history with one of the squads."
Gyou nodded. "You have a good point. Even I don't know where I want to go yet, and I've grown up around many of the officers."
Junji looked up, surprised. "You don't know where you want to go? I thought you wanted to be with your ji-san?"
"That does have some truth," Gyou sighed. "But I also don't want everyone to think I'm just there because I'm related to the taichou. I want to get to where I go through my own merit."
"Huh." Junji shrugged. "Well, maybe you can join squad 6 with me."
Gyou looked shocked. "Squad 6? But that's led by Kuchiki-taichou. Why do you want to go there?"
"It's got Abarai Renji for its fukutaichou." Junji sighed. "Every kid in the Rukon district knows that the only way out is to join the Soul Reapers and try not to die to quickly. But it is very rare for anybody from the outer districts to even make it into the academy, much less do well enough to become an officer. Abarai Renji is the first guy I know of to reach the position of fukutaichou from an outer district like me. He's the reason why I know that I still stand a chance, despite my poor origins." He had a faraway look, like he was thinking of terrible things in the past.
Karin looked at her feet. She knew all to well how things were like in the outer districts. Ganju-nii had taken her to several of them. They were all nice to her since she was with Ganju-nii, but she had noticed that most of the kids looked to be struggling. She had tried to help the ones that she found, but she knew that a handful of food could only do so much good. For some reason, it had slipped her mind up till now that Junji had grown up in that kind of environment.
Gyou shook his head. "Well, I guess if that's what you really want. I personally think your personality would be better suited for squad eleven."
Junji smirked and playfully nudged his friend. "Yeah, and then where would you go by that logic? Squad four is where all the pansies go, right?"
Gyou fingered his sheathed Asauchi. "Oh, you so going to regret that when we get to the practice field! I'll show you who's a pansy!"
"Why are you two causing such a racket in the hallway?"
Karin turned around to see Suzaku-sempai coming their way, with his bag thrown over his shoulder. The hand that wasn't holding his bag was buried in his pocket, giving his walk an air of effortlessness. Somehow, Suzaku made almost everything he did look effortless.
"Hey, sempai!" Karin smiled. "We were just discussing which squads we were thinking of joining after the academy."
"Hmmm." The older student grunted.
"Oh yeah!" Gyou turned to Suzaku. "You're a year ahead of us, so you probably have to actually start thinking about this. Do you know where you want to go?"
"Squad five, though I would be fine with squads three, eight, or nine." Suzaku continued walking.
"Really?" Junji looked up, surprised. "Why those specific squads?"
Suzaku looked away from them. "I have my reasons."
Gyou grunted. "Well, to each their own, I guess. Hey, Kar-chan, do you have any idea where you want to go?"
Junji piped up. "I've told you already, it sounds like you're calling her your mother. It's Rin-chan!"
Karin ignored him. "I really don't know. The only actual Soul Reapers I've really met were those two who saved me from squad eleven and Hitsugaya-taichou. I know Ba-chan's grandson is out there somewhere, and Kukaku-nee mentioned knowing some people, so I think I should talk with her before making such a big decision."
Gyou nodded. "That is a good point, Kar-chan."
"Hello?" Junji jumped between the two friends. "Are either one of you listening to me?"
"Did you really think think they were?" Suzaku replied matter-of-factly.
Karin opened her eyes to the sight of a bright blue sky, mared very slightly by the occasional white cloud. The expanse of blue reached to the edges of Karin's vision, but from the rough, hard surface digging into her back, she knew it didn't go on forever.
This assumption was confirmed when she turned on her side and saw the harsh ground she was laying on. The earth was black and grey, with the crusty appearance of long-abandoned ashes. Every so often, there was a small patch of green that indicated life was trying to come forth, but it was just beginning to grow.
Several feet in front of Karin, she saw a large bird with the approximate shape and size of a falcon, but colored completely red. It had a peculiar set of feathers sticking up the top of it's head, and its talons gripped the trunk of a fallen, burned tree. It was the only sign of animal life in this burned wasteland.
Somehow, Karin knew that she should trust the bird, though its presence did seem a little scary. Carefuly, Karin reached out her hand towards the bird.
At that simple gesture, the bird burst into flame.
"FIRE!"
Karin opened her eyes to the screams of her dormmates. Groggily, she sat up and tried to register what the problem was. She could hear the screaming, but what really bothered her was the heat...
Karin's eyes grew wide when she caught sight of her room's outer wall. Or rather, the wall of flame that used to be her outer wall. Next thing she knew, she had joined the others in their screaming and was shivering in the courtyard.
How had a fire broken out in the middle of the girls' dorms?
Karin felt two warm arms wrap around her shoulders. Keiko was shaking, obviously with fear. The fire must have spread to her room as well. Knowing her closest female friend, Karin was sure she was more than shaken up.
The group of students who had fled the burning building got larger and more restless as time went on. Karin noticed that Nagami had huddled together with some of her worshipers, who were wondering aloud how the fire had started in the first place. Karin didn't really care, she just wanted to go back to sleep and possibly dream about that red bird a little more.
"Attention! Attention, everyone!"
Karin turned to look at the residential leader for their dorm speaking.
"The fire has been extinguished, and it is OK to go back in the building. There has been minimal damage, but I would like to speak with the residents of rooms 104, 105, 204 and 205. You are dismissed, except for those who I just called."
Karin's stomach did flips. 204 was her room number, and 205 was Keiko's. She didn't know who lived in 104 and 105, but they were probably located just below their rooms. They probably had all received the most damage from the fire, and Karin hoped that was the only reason the residential leader wanted to speak with them.
Reluctantly, she dragged Keiko over to where the residential leader was waiting. She noticed the other two girls were already there. One was a quiet girl Karin thought she recognized from History class, but the other was (to her dismay) Kira Nagami.
The object of Karin's discontent was scowling at her. "What do you want, Shiba-san?"
Karin was about to come up with a snarky comeback when the residential leader spoke up. "Good, you're all here. It is believed that the fire started in one of you four's room. Most of the damage happened in your rooms, so we need to find you new temporary sleeping arrangements till it can be fixed, and we need to launch an investigation."
Keiko looked up. "An investigation? But what if it was an accident?"
"Then no disciplinary action will be taken, but we do need to know what measures need to be taken to prevent this from happening again. Now, follow me." All four girls walked behind her toward to housing center.
Karin couldn't ignore Nagami's piercing glares at her back. It was almost as though the other girl blamed her for the fire.
When the finally made it to the housing center, they were asked to wait in the hallway while their residential leader spoke with the head of housing. Nagami's glares continued to come, and Karin was beginning to feel nervous. She didn't think that she had done anything wrong, but for some reason she felt guilty.
After what felt like hours (though it was probably only a few minutes), the Head of Housing came up to them with their residential leader in tow. She smiled. "Hello girls. Before I can get you settled into new rooms, I need to run a little test. I have a theory about how the fire was started, but I need to test each of you to see if it's even possible."
She pulled out a handheld device with a graduated meter on the side. "This is a device to measure your spirit energy. I just need you to stand still and let me get a reading off each one of you. I will also be feeling your spiritual pressure to sense what kind of element, if any, your spirit energy is most closely associated with."
As the head of housing took the measurements, Karin tried to look at the results on the graduated meter. With the girl Karin didn't know, there was hardly any change. With Nagami, a green light rose up the meter till it was almost one fourth of the way up. With Keiko, a yellow light was visible, but it only got up to about one tenth of the full length.
Finally, it was Karin's turn. She held her breath as the older woman moved the device up and down. She looked at the meter and mirrored the adults' gasps.
The light was bright red, and reached almost to the edge of the measuring tool!
The head of housing spoke up. "What is your name, child?"
Karin looked at her feet. "Shiba Karin."
"Shiba?" The head of housing blinked. "I though Kukaku-sama was the youngest female in that family."
"I was recently adopted into the family."
"Well, Shiba-san, it seems you are an example of an incredibly rare phenomenon. You see, there are sometimes, in a few rare cases, where a person's spirit energy is so high that unless they are continuously limiting their own power it will affect the world around them. It isn't the person's fault, but it does need to be managed. The last time I saw something like this was over 20 years ago, in a small boy with ice powers."
Karin's throat tightened. Ba-chan's grandson.
"We are going to have to get you into an energy manipulation class next semester so you can learn to control your power. Until then, you should wear a energy-suppressing device when you sleep." The older woman headed over to a cabinet and pulled out a red wristband. "Here you go. Just slip in on your wrist when you sleep."
Karin took the wristband and put it on. Immediately, she felt drained and as though a part of her had been stolen.
The head of housing continued. "It seems your energy effects fire, so you probably have a fire-type Zanpakuto. I can't wait to see how it turns out." The older woman smiled. "You are going to be a powerful Soul Reaper."
As the adults left to arrange for new rooms, Karin didn't feel powerful. All three of the other girls, even Keiko, were looking at her with disbelief and fear in their eyes. Karin even saw Nagami mouth the word "freak."
Karin had never felt so alone.
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