"Hey...Rei, wake up."

"What...?"

Rei leapt in her seat as the doors of the library burst open, barely managing to cling on to their hinges as a sandaled foot crashed into them and a sword-wielding figure marched inside, head turning left and right, searching for something...or someone. The group of young female nobles gossiping near the entrance stumbled away, uttering apologies that fell on deaf ears as Misaki Kurogane hefted her zanpakutou across her shoulder. Karaishou glinted with dark light as the instructor's eyes locked on Rei.

"Mikihara!"

The sword instructor crossed the huge library in a flash, appearing before Rei, towering over her. Though she had seen many scary things in her short lifetime, the look in Kurogane-sensei's eyes made her recoil slightly, the woman's narrowed glare meeting her gaze and then dropping to her waist at the blade that rested there. It narrowed still further as it analysed the weapon. The girl shifted uncomfortably in her seat, waiting hesitantly to see what her instructor wanted.

"Draw your sword..."

"What...? Here? Are you sur...?" Rei's hand had moved instinctively to the blunt katana at her side but stopped before loosening it, her hand wrapped around the sheath. Drawing a weapon in the library...and this weapon too...?

"Don't make me repeat myself, Mikihara. Draw your sword..." The steel in Kurogane's voice compelled her to react immediately this time, bypassing her hesitation as her thumb flicked the blade free, her right hand drifting to the tsuka of her sword, fingers curling around it.

In one smooth movement, Kurogane's black sword rose, slashing down for a beheading strike at Rei. The katana cleared its sheath as she threw herself backwards in her seat, kicking off the desk, twisting away and bringing her blade up in time to guard. The zanpakutou cleaved through the weapon, the lesser metal giving way and sending the tip of it spinning away but managing to divert the attack into the desk, cleaving through it and cutting a deep groove along the floor. The shard from her katana drew a thin line of blood across Rei's cheek before stabbing down, point first next to Lisa's hand where it rested on her textbook.

There were hushed intakes of breath as everyone waited to see what was coming next. Rei had rolled to a crouch, the broken hilt of her blade held in a guard position before her, eyes focused on her instructor. Kurogane kept her blade aimed at her face for a moment before sliding it back into her sheath and turning away and starting to march off. The instructor paused, calling back over her shoulder to Rei.

"Come with me, Mikihara. Now. That's an order."

Rising slowly to her feet, Rei brushed down her uniform, her face still set as she set down the remains of her blade on the desk. She exchanged a look with Lisa across the table who merely adjusted her glasses and shrugged, offering her the thumbs up for good luck. Leaving her books, Rei hurried after Kurogane, keen not to anger the woman any further than she already was by wasting her time. Trailing behind her, they marched through the corridors, students backing themselves up against the walls to let them pass by. She wanted to ask what was going to happen now but every time she started to speak up, the woman seemed to growl slightly and Rei thought better of it.

At last, they came out into the outside training ground in the courtyard outside the main hall. A couple of third years were sparring but a bark from the instructor sent them scurrying away inside, leaving the place empty for her and Rei, the former walking to the centre of the courtyard and turning around to look at her, face set in an emotionless expression. A senior student hurried forward to hand her an object, bowing and then backing up and hurrying off. As Rei looked closer, she realised it was a sword. Kurogane threw it to her and she caught it instinctively without thinking.

Her eyes widened. The moment it slapped into her palm, she felt a searing heat and almost dropped the weapon. For some reason, her hand refused to open and she just found herself staring at the asauchi...'her' asauchi. Within the sheath, she could feel...sense a razor sharp edge along the katana blade. Her hand wrapped around the tsuka, gripping it tight but refusing to draw it just yet. When she drew her sword, people were hurt or died around her.

"Since you arrived at this academy and set foot in my training ground, Mikihara, I've felt a very strong spiritual presence around you. Though it's raw and untrained, there is a great power within you, as to be expected from the daughter of a former captain. On top of that, constant fighting in your earlier life has given you an innate foundation of using a sword. From there, training here has built on that to make you an able swordswoman."

Rei straightened up slightly at the mention of her mother and nodded, unsure how to respond to this...compliment? Kurogane continued, pacing up and down before her, hands clasped behind her back.

"The longer you've been here, the more your spirit has slowly started to come under control but you still have a lot of work in that department. Your spirit should have influenced your asauchi in its conversion into a zanpakutou at a faster rate than most academy students. So..." Kurogane was suddenly right in front of her, face inches away from her own as she spoke, voice low in a whisper. "Why...have you been leaving your asauchi behind in your room every day, Mikihara?"

Nothing. Rei opened her mouth to reply before closing it. What could she tell her instructor? That she was afraid of her sword? That she'd had a vision of her murdering all her friends? Or that when she fought properly, she was filled with a fighting spirit that compelled her to kill so much so that she lost control of herself?

"Must I repeat every order I give you, Mikihara?"

"No, sensei. I..." She took a deep breath, trying to order her thoughts but still struggling to put them into cohesive sentences. "It's this blade...and also myself. Over the years, I've killed so many people. More than I wish to count. And though I've been trying my best not to believe it, these days, I just can't help but believe that it's caused a...taint on my soul. Dreams...visions...the edge of my asauchi. The first time I used it, I almost cut Kaien-san down. The blood I've spilled has stained me and now it's become manifested in this sword."

She gestured with it, regarding the sheathed weapon. Her dark hair fell around her face as she shook her head, studying her feet. What the hell was she even saying? Taint... Dreams... She winced slightly, wondering how much Kurogane-sensei would berate her for wasting her time with such fanciful and ridiculous theories. Still...it would be nice to have an expert dispel her foolish notions about her problems and set her on the right path. Then...

"You are correct."

What...?! No I'm not... Rei's head snapped up, eyes widening in sudden shock. She couldn't have heard her right. Her instructor was meant to deny it, to remove her fears, not confirm them. A cold sweat broke out across her brow and her mouth was dry as she opened her mouth to speak. "Are you...sure, sensei? Couldn't you be...mistaken or something?"

"Do you think I am mistaken?" The woman turned her dark eyes on Rei and she stopped, waiting to see what she said. Kurogane sighed heavily before speaking. "In the earlier years of the Gotei 13 founding, there was a lot of bloodshed between the new and older factions. Rather than fighting the Hollows, we were fighting ourselves, humans against humans. Some, primarily those who had been involved in the bloodiest of engagements found that later when going into battle, they suffered from fits of inexplicable rage or killing frenzies that they couldn't control, especially when pushed to their limits. Often, they got themselves killed... The rest..."

"From the moment I saw you fighting against Shiba, I knew you were one of those. It's easier for me to identify than other instructors here because I've witnessed it occurring in a number of my comrades while serving with Captain Matsumura." She paused for a moment. "I know because I myself suffered from it."

"Sensei...?"

"When we fight, our spirits rise, giving us greater strength and power. Our raw reiatsu is greater than a standard person but at the same time, it's more wild and uncontrolled. Obviously this is a danger to ourselves and those around us and so...we're going to have to sort you out before the Central 46 rule that you're too unstable. I suppose you're lucky it's me that picked up on this first. If it were a more hard-liner who'd discovered you, they'd have you put somewhere cold and dark for the rest of your life."

What...?!

Rei's eyes widened still further at this revelation before turning to think hard about that information herself, looking at her instructor with new eyes. Kurogane-sensei was like her. And more than that, she'd overcome this...infliction somehow. "What can I do, sensei? Please tell me."

"This is not something you can just rid yourself of, Mikihara. It's something you learn to adapt and control rather than let yourself be controlled by it. Originally, I was taught how to do this by the captain and since your well being seems to be a high priority to him, it seems only right that I attempt to do the same for you."

Kurogane raised her zanpakutou, levelling the black blade at Rei. "I will train you, Rei Mikihara. Both because you are my student and because I owe it to the Captain to do so. Prepare yourself. I intend to force you to your limits to draw out your inner raging spirit. And from there...well we'll see what happens. Depending on your situation at that point...I'll decide on the best course of action to deal with you. Hold nothing back. Don't seek to restrain your rage but let it come forth and take dominance in your mind."

"Here I come." A flash of black light and Rei's asauchi cleared its sheath, coming up in time to parry a furious strike from Karaishou. Another heavy strike and she was thrown backwards off her feet. She landed hard, rolling backwards and then coming to her feet in a low crouch, blade held ready. Her asauchi's normally blunt edge blazed with a gleaming razor edge. There was no time to think further about it. Kurogane was charging and with a scream, Rei threw herself forward, silver blade slashing to meet the black with a screech of metal.

--

"Ah... Stop poking. That hurts."

Shiro's altered vision slowly flickered back into being to find the face of Yuuki Ukitake screwed up in concentration with the sole task of continually prodding him in the arm with her finger until he came back to consciousness. He tried to lift a hand to wave her away but found he couldn't move his body, both because his right arm was being non-responsive and because reiatsu-imbued bandages had been applied extremely tight around his body, pinning it to his side. The woman grinned before stepping back. "Well you're still alive then, Shiro-san."

"Yes yes... You're very observant, Yuuki-chan..."

"We're allowed to tease you for a while now, Shiro-san. Since we saved your ass from those bastards." That was the sound of Sayuri on the other side though out of normal sight. He picked up her spiritual signature sitting on the chair by his bed. From the concentration of her reiatsu, she'd been sitting there a long time. Knowing her persistence for sticking by the nearest sick or injured person in her vicinity, honed over years of following Juushirou around, she had probably been there the whole time he was out.

"Fine... You girls get...one week to do that." Shiro tried to talk confidently but it was still slightly hard to breathe, like his chest was still crushed. It took him several moments before he could contain his coughing fit, muffled by the bandages across his mouth. "How long have I been unconscious anyway? Was I that heavily injured?"

"Are you kidding?" Yuuki suddenly appeared over him, leaning over with the tips of her long dark hair tickling his nose. "It's been over two weeks. You were pretty much dead, Shiro-san. It took Unohana-sama over an hour to stabilise your condition and even then it was touch and go."

"Right..." Now he was more lucid, he became aware of the pain throughout the rest of his body. Though his head swam with what must be every painkiller available to a fully stocked medical facility, his body still felt like it was on fire from where he'd been slashed open and struck by his brother and the traitor Shihouin. He thought it might just have been the end for him back there before the twins found him.

He'd been close enough to death's door on a number of occasions enough to judge when his injuries were serious enough that without emergency healing he'd have passed on. But then that was why these days he always had back-up prepared...and back-up for the back-up, which was where the younger sisters of Juushirou had come in.

Deciding to remain flat on his back, he sighed heavily and looked back up at the ceiling. That was a very familiar ceiling. He'd spent hours lying here looking up at it when he was still a young man, over a millennium ago, learning how to use a sword alongside Kirio-chan, when he'd broken something during training under the watchful eye of the dojo owner.

With a creak, the door swung open as that owner entered, her white haori flapping around her. If he didn't know better from many previous experiences, he might've been put at ease by her serene expression. Then her eyes opened to fix Shiro with her stern, unflinching gaze and the Captain of the 10th Division almost slipped off the edge of his bed as he flinched.

"Captain Matsumura... You have been getting into fights even now. I thought I taught you better than that."

"My apologies, Unohana-sensei."

She sighed, waving a dismissing hand at him. "You are just lucky that Captain Hikifune trusts her sensei more than you, enough to inform me what my wayward students are getting up to when they are meant to be keeping a low profile while the Captain-Commander is trying to clear his name with a certain clan. You have her to thank for me preparing this place for you and getting all the necessary preparations to operate on you while not having to bring you to 4th Division Headquarters and attract all that unnecessary attention to your extra activities."

"I would have done that if that was the only way to save you but it would have caused...problems with the Matsumura clan. Though somehow I think now we already are going to have those...since there was nothing to be found at the Kurayama-ke estate, only some empty cells underground with walls of Sekkiseki that they could explain away as fallout shelters to escape to in the event of another civil war. Not exactly courageous but not criminal either."

"They managed to clear everything out that fast?"

Unohana nodded wearily. "Yes. The 6th Division under the command of Captain Kuchiki raided the Kurayama-ke estate but they found nothing. And as a result, the Gotei 13 looks foolish as a result among the nobles. Well...at least you covered your reiatsu presence while infiltrating the place. The people the Matsumura-ke dispatched to investigate were unable to confirm you being there and your brother is not likely to say anything when he has no proof and official trouble could be just as damning to him as it is to you."

"Ah..." Shiro sighed heavily, even that simple movement causing pain to shoot through his body again and wince. His sensei laid a gentle hand on his chest and warmth spreading from the point of contact, quelling the surge of pain before it could rise further. "I really screwed up this time, huh sensei?"

"The results of your private investigations have not turned anything up yet, Captain Matsumura..." The 4th Captain paused a moment, considering him. "But...I cannot shake the feeling that you may be correct in your actions and the Captain-Commander himself did not issue orders for you to stand down for now."

She turned away, looking out the window on the dense woodland from the high position the Unohana-Ryuu Kenjutsu dojo was situated on. She seemed to be collecting her thoughts from Shiro's point of view and regaining her accustomed calm composure. "In the past, your suspicions have often proven to be well-founded and so we trusted you. You have never betrayed our faith and I can only hope that that faith continues to be deserved."

"Of course, sensei. I understand..." Through a mask of bandages, Shiro's lips flickered in a faint smile. He felt Unohana turn from the window to look back at him, wearing a smile of her own as she regarded him, genuine warmth in her expression, tinged with concern.

"You should be able to return to your...unofficial duties by the end of the week. You always did recover quickly. Though I would advise avoiding prolonged combat if you can help it." Her haori fluttered slightly in the weak breeze as she walked over to the bed where he lay, resting a hand on his uninjured shoulder. "I mean it, Shi...Captain Matsumura. You take proper care of yourself from now on or either Captain Hikifune or myself will be dragging you back here to make sure you do not kill yourself. Do you understand, Captain?"

"Understood, sensei."

--

Sparks flew as the silver and black clashed against each other. Rei's arms were aching but she kept on going, knowing that if she let up for even a moment, Kurogane's blade would find her flesh properly. Blood already ran from a number of shallow cuts across her skin, some overlapping other previous injuries she had taken in the past. The longer they fought, the faster their blades darted in and met, the instructor steadily increasing the pace and power behind her blows, both weapons becoming blurs to the human eye and churning up the air around them, causing strong winds to rustle the trees around the courtyard.

Faster... Stronger... The buildings nearby began to shake as their combined spiritual pressures intensified, the air growing hotter around Rei as she danced around multiple strikes, swinging back for Kurogane between attacks whenever the opportunity presented itself. Her skin began to feel like it was glowing, her sword beginning to feel like it was burning beneath her fingers. The world was turning red, fading to a bloody crimson mist. Not this again...

"Don't hold it back, Mikihara."

That was a whole lot simpler... Instead of fighting it, letting it just take over her. Her resistance fell and in an instant, the world felt like it was exploding in a rain of fire, a storm of flames roaring around her like a tornado. Her sword felt light as it cleaved through the air, just missing Kurogane face by an inch. The asauchi spun in her hand, slapping firmly in her palm as she drew back and then stabbed forward in one smooth motion, striking like a coiled viper as it cut through the distance between the two in the blink of an eye. Time seemed to slow as her blade punched forward to stab through her instructor's heart.

Then she saw her instructor's eyes gleam with the sudden focus of one who has just spied the opening they'd been looking for the whole fight. Rei's right arm stabbed forward in what seemed to be slow motion even though her strike was faster than any of her previous attacks. Seemingly effortlessly, Kurogane suddenly seemed to tilt her body aside to the left, letting the razor-edge cleave past her, only a few strands of hair fluttering away on the winds churned up by their clash.

With a crunch, Karaishou stabbed down into the ground as her left hand snapped out and encircled the wrist of Rei's sword arm. Drawing back her arm, right hand closed in a claw, Kurogane suddenly drove her hand into Rei's forehead, the physical blow just a feather-like brush but the spiritual force behind the hit blasting her flat on her back as darkness closed on her on all sides, swallowing her up and plunging her into her inner world once again even as she struggled to cling to reality...and her sanity.

Almost at once, the darkness was blasted away in a storm of fire as the world of her dreams closed in on all sides, blackened walls rising out of the ground around her. Rei picked up her asauchi as she forced herself to her feet slowly. She could still feel warmth on her forehead where Kurogane's hand had been only the woman was gone suddenly and soon so too was the sensation of her touch as the overwhelming heat all around her intensified still further. There was a flash of light out of the corner of her eye and she spun around, asauchi raised in a guard.

The light was a flash off a mirror, wreathed in flames. The black shihakushou rippled around the figure of fake-Rei as she stood facing her, the reflection's eyes hidden behind her long dark fringe that fluttered on the hot air currents the buffeted Rei back and forth, making it harder to stand straight. There was a gleam of bloody eyes through the black hair, narrowed in cruel stare directed at her. Slashing her asauchi through the air, Rei stood straighter, firm against the winds as she saw her reflection walking slowly towards her.

"Rei... Welcome home."

She grit her teeth, forcing herself not to reply. Her asauchi came up slowly in a guard when suddenly her clone lunged from the mirror once again, the bloodied katana slashing for her head. The strike threw her back but this time she was ready as Rei flipped backwards, rolling hard and meeting the next attack and parrying hard. The fake-Rei kept bearing down on her, several heavy strikes causing her to stumble before she tripped and fell back, just managing to bring her asauchi up, palm resting on the blunt side to support her weapon as her clone slashed down for her head.

"You've improved, Rei." Her clone's face was only inches from hers, burning red-tinged eyes gazing into her own. She hardened her heart with resolve as she faced the hatred and disgust of her reflection. Their blades sparked together, before Rei reverted to her innate basic combat, headbutting forward and then using her foot to throw her clone back. Leaping to her feet, she charged forward and slashed low but the fake-Rei spun around the strike, cutting a shallow wound across the back of her legs.

A faint gasp escaped Rei's lips but she spun in time to stop the next sword swing taking off her head. Three more clashes, more powerful than before, followed by a high swing swept her asauchi high. The fake-Rei became a blur of movement as she stabbed in low beneath her now-raised weapon to punch through her chest. Blood splashed across Rei's face and she gave a faint cry of pain despite her best attempts to suppress it.

The bloody katana protruded from Rei's hand, piercing through the palm where she'd just managed to raise it, barely stopping the weapon's tip from reaching her heart. A grin creased the clone's lips. "Oh that's good, Rei. I'm impressed. But...it's not enough."

"This is the end, Rei..." Her reflection's fist gripped her by the front of her bloodied Academy uniform, hauling her close with the tip of her katana at her throat. The clone let go of her, letting her fall as she took her katana in both hands, drawing back to swing with both hands to decapitate her.

"Mikihara!"

What felt like a thunderbolt exploded across her vision, blasting her away from the inferno. Hands seized the front of Rei's uniform, a coolness counteracting the searing heat across her skin as she was forcibly hauled clear, being dragged bodily out of the fire and back to the real world. They dragged her around as the katana slashed over her head, disintegrating to nothing as the bright sun flared back into existence overhead.

Blinking fiercely to try and restore her vision, Rei found herself looking up into the face of Kurogane-sensei. For once, her stern expression seemed to have softened, showing the concern behind the normal mask of indifference and callousness. The moment Kurogane-sensei's noticed Rei's eyes had refocused enough to see clearly, the older woman's instructor's face returned.

"Are you alright, Mikihara?"

"I... I have no idea what happened? And...what did you do?"

Despite herself, Kurogane-sensei gave a small weary smile, eyes closed as she wiped the sweat from her brow. Although the fight itself hadn't been very strenuous for her, the effort of having dragged her out of her inner world seemed to have been far more taxing than she had anticipated. Still, she recovered quickly as she sheathed her zanpakutou and pulled Rei to her feet. Inclining her head to the left, she called over her shoulder to the dark corridors running alongside the training ground.

"Yadoumaru! Get out here immediately. I want you to take Mikihara here to the infirmary."

"Understood, sensei!" Rei's head snapped around in surprise to see the bespectacled fellow academy student pop out of the bushes. Lisa seemed surprised herself, standing up straight in the middle of some foliage, only realising she'd stepped out of her concealed spot a few moments after doing so. She hesitated for a moment before stepping forward to comply with the instructor's orders.

"She always does that... How does she always know?" Lisa muttered under her breath as she lifted Rei's arm over her shoulders and hauled her up to her feet, supporting her as the younger student limped slowly from the training ground. At first, Rei wanted to try and walk on her own; pushing away from the other girl only to stumble as her legs almost gave way, all strength lost from her limbs. Lisa caught her before she fell and Rei smiled weakly, nodding her thanks.

"Maybe because you're always hanging around where you're not meant to be, Lisa-san."

"That could be it..." Lisa looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing on their slow journey to the infirmary. "But whatever... Let's get you checked out before you fall apart, Rei."

"Alright..."