Summer Snowflake
By: x.Nanako-chan.x
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OMGOMGOMGOMG!! I have two C2s so far! Omg I'm so happy:D And I also have to thank you guys for all the alerts and favourites! You know who you are.
I also want to thank Andrain John, SpammishRice, windlg, ShadowYashi, Liah Cauthon, DarkSmile, Mimmy700, NotaPunk, Punkey-Monkey and Lolliot for reviewing last chapter but I give an extended thank you to:
Spammy and Andrain John for giving so much though and help for Hinata's zanpakuto and squad. I lurvs you guys
I would also like to separately thank Evanescences Angel so much who came up with a very thorough description of Hinata's zanpakuto. I will, in fact, be using her idea. Thanks so much Angel-chan!
BTW I think this chapter is uber boring, just don't kill me, kay? Oh, and it's been approximately two days since the last chap.
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::: Chapter 3: The Academy :::
I hugged my books tighter against my chest as I walked into classroom. I breathed a sigh of relief as I realized no one had yet to enter the classroom other than myself. I glanced at the clock that hung above the white board and I laughed to myself as I was about an hour early.
As I walked passed the rows of desks and made my way to the back of class, I shook my head to myself. I was still shy after all that had happened to me.
I put my books down and gnawed at my lip as I read through one of the text books.
It taught the basics of how to control your spiritual energy, and I couldn't help but point out how it seemed to work an awful lot like chakra. You harnessed it to enhance your power whether it was for your zanpakuto or creating energy based spells and attacks called kido.
A couple of days ago I tried using a couple of basic ninja jutsus. It seemed I could use spiritual energy as a substitute for chakra but it seemed I needed at least twice as much spiritual energy to suffice for the lack of chakra. I tried doing higher up jutsus but it took a lot of strain on my body. I can't even hold my Byakugan for more that a couple of hours straight, compared to how in Konoha I could hold it for two days at the most.
I sighed. Even after a couple of days of living here I just can't seem to get used to their ways of living… everything just seems so… carefree. I guess that's how anyone would feel if they were binded by the Hyuuga clan's rules for sixteen years.
I had been staying with Nanako for the past couple of days and she just seemed so… lighthearted. She told me that she didn't remember her life in the human world and that's why it was such a shock to her and Matsumoto that I remembered. They explained to me very seldom few souls remember their life before death.
Ever since that day I had wondered to myself if it had been better that I hadn't remembered who I was. I mentally berated myself for thinking this. I had to admit that remembering my comrades was nice. What they did for me, the only word I could think of was… kind. Kiba and Shino were like brothers to me. Kurenai was my mother-figure. Neji was my flesh and blood. Naruto… he was my inspiration.
But the truth is they aren't here anymore.
I played and tugged the long sleeve of my red Shinigami student uniform as past memories raced through my mind.
I thought of the hot red blush that spread across my cheeks when I came face to face with Naruto at the hospital. I thought of how Kiba and Shino trained with me diligently everyday and how kind and patient they were with me. I thought of the day I found out Kurenai-sensei was pregnant and how she wanted me to become one of the child's guardians. I thought of the time when Neji-niisan trained with me in the Hyuuga courtyard and gave me a genuine praise for the first time.
A sad smile crept upon my face as these past memories flooded my mind. It was different now though. I reminded myself how I had to push them to the back of my mind to make room for my new memories.
Sighing as I looked back up at the clock, I realized I had spent about forty-five minutes reading and reminiscing. I shook my head and prepped myself to move to the front of the classroom – I had to develop some kind of backbone while living here.
I trudged towards the front of the class being careful not to trip on the separated landings and sat down. I was bored of reading so I sat and listened to the quiet chatters of the several other Shinigami students in the corridor.
In the next couple of minutes several other students walked into the classroom chatting amiably with their friends. Earlier, Nanako told me that becoming a Shinigami was somewhat of a privilege among sorts. Select few were able to become a Shinigami because most people couldn't tap into their spiritual energy. She also told me that Soul Society was divided in two – Seireitei and Rukongai. Rukongai, she said, was divided into 320 districts where normal souls would reside.
Now that I think about it, I never had any experience with these so called districts. I guess some people came here with friends.
Again, I looked back up at the clock – five minutes before class starts. I looked around the classroom and realized it was just about filled with students. Red and blue Shinigami uniforms stood out from the brown coloured desks. Hearing the door open, most of the students turned their attention towards a man dressed in a black Shinigami attire with a white over-coat on.
He stepped up to the front of the class and cleared his throat gaining attention from the rest of the class.
"I am Professor. Just Professor," he stated. "I want to congratulate all of you for making it into the Shinigami Academy. You all must that you are the beginners in this Academy and that all of you may graduate in six years, but," he added, "if you believe you are up for a challenge, you may enter the advance class if, of course, I see fit. Whether or not you take the advanced class helps define when you will graduate."
His gaze lingered upon the students for a few more seconds as he stroked his brown beard.
A knock was heard at the door and Professor answered with a friendly come in. I smiled a little as Nanako respectfully bowed to the professor and closed the door behind her.
"Professor, the Gotei 13's captains have come to make an introduction to all of the new recruits."
"Ah," he exclaimed as he sat down.
I felt several strong spiritual energies emitting from the corridor outside the door. I felt woozy – Nanako had explained this to be my spiritual energy interacting with theirs.
An elderly man walked into the classroom followed by 12 other Shinigamis clad in black robes. I noticed that only 10 of these Shinigamis wore a white haori over their robes and the others had the regular Shinigami outfit with an arm band holding their division number.
I watched as Professor stood up and bowed to them. A split second later I heard the scraping of the chairs against the floor and looked around and realized the other students had bowed as well.
Crap. I hastily stood and bowed to the 13 Shinigamis which earned a couple of giggles from the class and a red blush across my face. I, as well as the rest of the class and Professor, sat down. I swayed a little before I grabbed the desk to steady myself.
I felt more and more dizzy so I thought of activating my Byakugan in a strive to gauge their spiritual power.
My attention drew to the elderly man who led the rest of the Shinigamis into the room. Wow… he seemed entirely too old to be a fighter – he was bald with a long ivory-white beard and eyebrows. His clothing was a standard Shinigami robes with a lengthy haori that fell over his shoulders and a large wooden staff he used to support his weight. I furrowed my brow in confusion. He didn't seem to have a zanpakuto with him. Even in Konoha ANBU agents brought their katana with them wherever they went.
As he began to make his introduction I finally decided to activate my Byakugan.
"I am Yamamoto-Genryūsai Shigekuni, captain of the first division. I founded the Shiniga-"
He abruptly stopped and looked directly at me. I felt like I was falling. His reikai was very powerful and what I found odd was a large amount of the spiritual was concentrated on his staff. His brow was old and wrinkled and an x shaped scar ran over his bald head.
I stifled a gasp, turned away and hastily deactivated my Byakugan. After a couple of seconds, he took his attention off of me, looked back at the class and finished his introduction; He said that he founded the Shinigami academy over 2000 years ago. I can't even imagine someone living so long.
The next Shinigami who presented herself was Captain Soifong. Her hair was a ravenous black and wrapped in white bandages. Her eyes narrowed as she scanned the classroom and introduced herself as the captain of the second division.
Several other Shinigamis made their introductions but not as Captains. They proclaimed to us that they were lieutenants representing the third, fifth and ninth divisions. I wanted to ask why the captains weren't there to present themselves but decided it was best to ask Nanako after class.
The remaining captains made their introductions but there were a couple in the group which caught my attention as well as the rest of the class. One of the two was Komamura Sajin. I couldn't see his face because it was covered by a wierd bucket thing and without turning on my Byakugan I couldn't see it. I was awfully curious but I decided against using my bloodline – I didn't want to draw so much attantion towards me on the first day. The man seemed rather large though I wasn't able to cath a glimpse of skin underneath all the clothing he wore.
The next was Kurotsuchi Mayuri. I don't know much about this captain except he was the captain of the 12th division and 2nd president of the Shinigami research institute but even so, he gave me the chills. The way eyes shifted from student to student was enough to make me look away and unfortunatly I didn't have the courage to look him in the eye. The man was scary – he reminded me an awful lot like Orichimaru and that fact made my blood run cold.
The Professor thanked the captains and gave a polite bow as they made a quiet exit towards the room. Yamamoto-taicho glanced at me once more before he followed the rest of the captains into the corridor.
The rest of the class was… uneventful. Professor simply talked to us about the general information of being a Shinigami
"Shinigamis govern the flow of spirits in the living and spirit world. Their duties include sending normal human souls to the Soul Society and the purification of Hollows, human ghosts who lose their souls and become soul-devouring monsters.
In the next six years me and various other Professors will be training you in kido, agility, your swondsmanship and we will touch a bit on your skills with hand-to-hand cambat."
We were dismissed after two hours – it seemed today was only an introduction with the teacher, captains and explanation to our studies. I collected my books and stepped out of the classroom.
Frick.
I don't know what I'm supposed to do right now since Nanako was the one who brought me here and I doubt I'd remember how to get back to her appartment.
"I'm an idiot," I thought out loud as I slumped into a slouch.
"What?" a voice asked. "Did you embarrass yourself on the first day? I remember Renji did something like that at the academy. He was like 'Hey! Let me answer the question!' and then the Professor was like, 'But everyone has to move so you could get down,' or something like that…"
I turned around and saw Nanako closing her eyes in a thinking position, her left hand under her chin while her right hand rested under her left elbow.
She straightened up and I realized she had been holding a clipboard and pen.
"Eh, Nanako-chan, shouldn't you be working right now?"
"Actually," she replied, "I've come to bring you to meet the Gotei 13's captains. It seems you caught Yamamoto-taicho's attention when you activated your Byakugan, and what's worse is Matsumoto forgot to file a report in the past few days that I brought you over so even he doesn't know you're from the new dimension.
Geez," she gave an aspirated sigh, "how did that woman even get to be a lieutenant? I mean she barely does anything that Toushirou-taicho says to do, and here I am picking up the slack for her and… eh, let's face it. Life's not fair," she sighed, "C'mon now."
She grabbed my hand and started pulling me along the corridors. We then exited the building and started running on top of the roofs again and made our way towards the center of Seireitei.
"Follow," she said, "just be respectful of the captains, and oh… just… be careful of Mayuri-taicho."
I saw her make a little shudder. Just what was it was so bad about that man to make eveyone feel that way?
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Nya, I can't say I'm too happy with this chapter. I remember Andrain John and Spammy talked about keeping Hinata away from Mayuri ::shudders:: that would be bad really really bad.
Oh and I think this chapter was genuinely longer than most of the other chapters hmm… oh well xD
Anyways, remember, I love reviews!
And yes, I did change the title. You'll see what it relates to later on.
I had a couple of people asking me for a particular pairing but I wanna say that I'd be happier if you guys just vote on the poll -.-; I'm lazy like that... And it seems someone voted on 'Other Pairings' It's not much help unless you PM me or ask for a new choice in a review...
BTW, the definition for Shinigami was taken from wikipedia -.-;
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Next Chapter: My Captain, My Dream
I sat down in a chair down the hallway and started playing with a lock of my inkish-blue hair. I always wondered how I even got this hair color. Sakura's hair is obviously dyed though I had never dyed or used anything other than regular shampoo.
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