IV
Sweat dripped from Isao's body and onto the charred floor, stinging his partially burned skin as it did so.. Around him his clothes, all save his hakama, lay smoldering on the ground. The flames of Hisoka's Kido had claimed everything in sight.
"Victory, Hisoka!" called out Gengoro Onabara, the teacher of Class 1 of the Shinigami Academy.
Shaking his head Isao stepped off of the wooden platform that marked the battle ring's boundaries. Taking a seat alongside the ring with the rest of the class Isao watched as another opponent stepped up to face Hisoka in a Kido fight. While he waited his mind drifted off as it often did nowadays.
Seven months had passed since that fateful day in Rugonkai's 78th District, the day that life would forever change for Hisoka, Isao, and Takeshi. They had faced impossible odds, fought through the Kazuya's gang and killed dozens of them and just when things looked to be over they had been saved.
Renji had held up on his offer. He had gotten auditions for the three boys at the Shinoreijutsuin, auditions that the three passed with incredible ease. All three had immediately been admitted into the school and even into Class 1, the accelerated learning class that was the best the Academy had to offer.
At first things were challenging for the boys, who had never been out of the crime filled 78th District. They had trouble adapting to the rules and lifestyle of the Seireitei. Dealing with school was new for them, a challenge that troubled them more than any others. All in all, it took most of two months before the boys could fully adapt to their new lifestyle. Once they did, however, things had only gotten better.
The sound of loud clapping jerked Isao from his thoughts. It took him only a second to see what the commotion was all about. Hisoka's opponent had finally stepped into the arena and everyone knew what was about to happen. Hisoka's winning streak for the day was about to be cut short because his opponent was none other than Tetsuya Mitsuo.
Tetsuya was a young man of Hisoka's age who had grown up in Rukongai's 65th District. Like Hisoka he knew how rough life outside the inner districts could be and so he had done the only thing to escape it he could, join the Shinoreijutsuin. This connection caused him to grow close to Hisoka and the others, turning their group of three into a group of four.
The fact that he was Hisoka's friend and knew most of his moves, however, was not the reason that Tetsuya was going to defeat him. The reason was much simpler: Tetsuya was a Kido prodigy the likes of which hadn't been seen at the Academy for years.
In all there were four main areas of training for a Shinigami: Hakuda, Hoho, Zanjutsu, and Kido. Although all four must be learned in order to pass their schooling, each student tended to excel on different areas of their training. For example, although Tetsuya headed Class 1 in Kido, the art of spells, he was one of the worse at Hakuda, the art of hand to hand combat. Isao was the exact opposite, excelling at Hakuda and faltering in Kido. Hisoka, being highly skilled in all four areas, took a more balanced approach to things and even led the class in his Zanjutsu, or art of the sword, skills. Takeshi was the same way. He was second to none in Hoho and third in Zanjutsu, the art of the sword, while remaining adequately skilled in the other two areas of training.
Unfortunately for Hisoka, the current match he found himself in was a Kido only fight. The only other skill the instructors had allowed the students to use was Hoho, and even that was limited. So, without a sword or the ability to fight with his hands Hisoka was quickly crushed under the might of Tetsuya's Kido.
"Tetsuya wins!" Gengoro Onabara called out, his voice followed by a round of applause. Nobody liked to be beaten and as of yet everyone in there had been defeated by Hisoka that day. Everyone except Tetsuya and Takeshi, who had yet to fight a match, that is.
"Now you know the rules. The streak starts over. We only have time for a few more fights so who would like to volunteer to face Tetsuya?" Gengoro asked. The room fell dead silent, the sound of clapping and laughter replaced by the noiselessness of the wind blowing through the dojo's windows. There was not a soul in the room save Gengoro who stood a chance at defeating Tetsuya in a Kido fight, and everyone knew it.
"No takers?" the frustrated Gengoro asked. When nobody answered a look appeared on his face that noone in the class wanted to see: It was his, I'm about to lecture you look and it was one that everyone tried avoiding. When Gengoro lectured he did not simply lecture, he would make his point verbally before handing out a rigorous, strict, usually uncalled for punishment.
"I'll do it." Takeshi said, more to avoid the lecture than the physical repurcussions. Everyone knew Takeshi, a frequent trouble maker in the Academy, frequently recieved and actually enjoyed the physical punishments the teachers handed out. To him it was nothing more than the day's usual workout routine.
"Good. I was beginning to think our class had lost its nerve." Gengoro said, not even trying to hide the frustration in his voice.
For a moment the class remained silent, awaiting the inevitable response Takeshi was going to make, a response that never came. He simply stripped off his Zanpakuto and strode onto the arena floor, a no-nonsense look of utter concentration on his face. A look his friends had only ever seen when Takeshi was fully determined to accomplish something.
"I bet he wins." Hisoka said, nodding in the direction of the arena.
"Of course he wins. He always does." Isao said pointedly.
"I mean Takeshi." Hisoka replied. Before Isao could ask what Hisoka could possibly be thinking in assuming Takeshi could beat Tetsuya at a Kido fight Hisoka simply said, "Just watch. He has that look. He'll win."
"You seem sure of yourself." Isao replied. When Hisoka merely shrugged Isao sighed and turned to face the arena. If Hisoka was sure of himself he had a reason. He would just have to watch and find out what it was.
"Ready?" Gengoro asked the two fighters. When both contestants nodded he threw his hands down, stepped off the arena's wooden floor, and shouted "Fight!"
As expected Takeshi was the first to make a move, impatient as always. "Hado 7: Aojiroi Honoo!" he shouted, thrusting his hands out as he did so. Blasting out his hands like an arrow from a tightly drawn bow yellow flames shot towards Tetsuya. Aojiroi Honoo, also known as Pale Fire, was Takeshi's favorite and best Kido. It was also the only one above level five he could cast without an incantation. As of yet nobody in the class save Takeshi and Tetsuya could cast a Kido above this level without an incantation and no one, not even Tetsuya could cast a completely silent Kido. Even he had to at least say the name of the spell.
"Bakudo 8: Seki!" Tetsuya roared. Immediately a round shield of reishi appeared before Tetsuya, absorbing the blow from the scorching flames...and casting it right back at Takeshi. But Tetsuya did not simply stop there. Following in behind the flames, which served to obscure him from Takeshi's vision, Tetsuya muttered an incantation under his breath.
Leaping to the right to avoid his own rebounded flames Takeshi thrust out his hands again, shouting the same spell. "No you don't!" Tetsuya roared as he stepped quickly to the side of the fire. "Bakudo 9: Horin!" he roared as he stretched his hands out towards Takeshi.
Orange tendrils shot out of his palms and began to quickly snake their way towards Takeshi, spiraling around in a circle as they did so. Bakudo 9 was, so far, Tetsuya's favorite spell. At a power level of 9 it was also his second strongest, his strongest being a level 11 Hado known as Tsuzuri Raiden, or Bound Lightning.
With the spell shooting from both of Tetsuya's hands, sweeping form both the left and right in order to allow him nowhere to go Takeshi was trapped. Or at least so Tetsuya thought. "Bakudo 4: Hainawa!" Takeshi screamed. As he shouted it he thrust out his left hand towards Tetsuya, a red rope made of energy flying from it as he did so.
Rather than trying to dodge the attack, and thus throwing off his own, Tetsuya simply whipped his hand in front of him and then back. This caused the tendril of energy to swing out into the path of Takeshi's Bakudo, causing the two to collide. Tetsuya's Kido, being of both a higher level and having been cast by a better Kido wielder, dissipated Takeshi's Bakudo on contact.
This, however, seemed to be what Takeshi had wanted. While Tetsuya was busy focusing on both blocking Takeshi's attack and trying to hit him with his own, Takeshi was able to shoot a second Hainawa, or crawling rope, up towards the ceiling where it wrapped around one of the support beams. With a grunt Takeshi leapt in to the air and, using the rope to jerk himself higher as well as propel his body forward, Takeshi neatly flew over Tetsuya's Bakudo, landing nearly four foot to the side of him.
"Hado 7: Aojiroi Honoo!" Takeshi shouted, again thrusting his hands towards his opponents unguarded side.
"Hado 1: Sho." Tetsuya said calmly as he dove forwards, out of the way of the flames, his right hand pointing towards Takeshi as he did so. As if pushed by an invisible force Takeshi's body was thrown backwards by Tetsuya's Hado, slamming hard to the floor. Both fighters hit the floor hard and, using their momentum, came forwards in a roll.
"Bakudo 1: Sai!" Tetsuya roared, reacting before Takeshi could fully regain his footing. As he was coming to his feet Takeshi's arms slung back behind his body and throwing him off balance. This caused him to crash to the floor rather than land on his feet as he had intended.
While Takeshi struggled to break the incantation Tetsuya sped through a familiar incantation. Although the Bakudo holding Takeshi was of the lowest level breaking Kido was not one of Takeshi's specialties and it took him several second to do so. By the time he had freed his body of the Kido and regained his feet Tetsuya had finished reciting his incantation.
"Hado 11: Tsuzuri Raiden!" he roared as he struck his hands to the floor. Everyone in the class knew what would happen next because, despite the rare need for Tetsuya to use his highest level Hado, the attack had never failed to do its duty.
Tsuzuri Raiden was a spell that allowed the user to supercharge the reishi in any object, causing electricity to be run through it. Even wooden objects such as the floor could act as conductors for this Hado. Although the enemy could leap to avoid the lightning running through the floor they could not avoid it for long. The trick to this Kido was that so long as Tetsuya held his focus and continued his incantation while also remaining in contact with the object he could continually use the Hado, making it to where the moment a fighter landed from their leap onto the floor they would be struck by the attack. Tetsuya, who always made sure to use this attack at the farthest possible range, had never failed to finish his opponent with this attack. Until today that is.
The moment Tetsuya shouted the Hado number Takeshi knew what was coming. His eyes seemed to light up as if waiting for just this moment. Charging forwards Takeshi actually ran towards the rapidly approaching current, rather than away from it. The moment before it hit him Takeshi's body vanished into thin air, reappearing in the air directly in front of Tetsuya.
"Hado 7: Aojiroi Honoo!" Takeshi roared. Tetsuya, who was both too stunned by Takeshi's manuever and too close to dodge, was hit full on by the blast which sent his body flying back onto the floor where it lay still, his clothes smoking from the flames that had charred them. All around the room the crowd was filled with the astonished whispers of students asking if Takeshi had just done what they think he had.
Takeshi, who had only been training in the Shinigami arts for 7 months had just performed a Hoho movement known as a Shunpo, or a flashstep. Even though his Shunpo had been both simple and slow, having required him to build up momentum before stepping and even though he hadn't been able to step far this was still almost unheard of in the Soul Society. Only the legendary Flash Master Yuroichi and Soi Fon, Captain of the 2nd Division, had ever performed such a task in so short a time.
Sitting in the stands a stunned Isao turned to face Hisoka, who sat there with a smug grin on his face, his eyes focused on Takeshi. "You knew?!" Isao blurted out in shock.
"Of course," Hisoka replied calmly, " Who do you think helped him learn it?"
When Isao moved to ask how Hisoka interrupted him, saying: "Takeshi was tired of being bested by Tetsuya in Kido matches. We both were. So we developed a plan, or rather I developed a plan and Takeshi executed it."
"How?" Isao asked in astonishment.
"It was pretty easy actually." Hisoka said with a shrug. "You see, although Tetsuya is an excellent user of Kido his fighting style is predictable once you learn his moves. Especially at this level, where even his Kido are limited to level 11. I knew exactly how he would react to each and every one of Takeshi's movements.
"I also knew that the only way to beat him would be to catch him when he least expected it, which would be when he was using his 'finisher', the Tsuzuri Raiden. So I got together with Takeshi every night for three weeks, running through Tetsuya's fighting style and helping Takeshi develop his Shunpo. Of course, this also helped me develop my own but I would have been lying to myself if I thought I was good enough to perform something like that so early. Even Takeshi, who is a prodigy child the likes of which haven't been seen since Captain Soi Fon, could only master the simplest of Shunpo. And that was with three weeks of almost nonstop training."
"Well I'll be damned." Isao said, shaking his head as he did so. For a moment the two were silent, watching as Takeshi strode around the arena with his hands held high, enjoying the attention from his victory. Gengoro was currently checking Tetsuya, making sure if he was truly out of the match or not. When he determined if he was or not the match would either resume or be declared in Takeshi's favor.
"Wait a minute." Isao said abruptly.
"Hm." Hisoka responded.
"What do you get out of this?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" Hisoka said, his voice as innocent sounding as he could make it.
"You know what I mean. In all the time I have known you, you have never done a favor for anybody without receiving something in return. Its just not your style. So what did you get from this?" Isao explained.
"I got a promise." Hisoka simply responded. Although Isao wanted to know what that promise had been he knew better than to ask. If Hisoka had wanted to explain he would have done so.
"The match will continue!" Gengoro shouted, his voice ripping everyone from their moment of reprieve.
"What!?" Hisoka said under his breath, leaning forward in his seat as he did so. He was undoubtedly thinking the same thing everyone else was. That Tetsuya should have been rendered combat incapable from such a direct blow from Aojiroi Honoo.
Shocked, Takeshi turned to face Tetsuya, his mind reeling as it fought to think up another plan. So far he had only managed two Shunpo in a single day. Anything more would result in a failed attempt and would render his body useless for the day. So he only had one last chance to defeat Tetsuya.
That last chance was something Takeshi never got the opportunity to use. The moment Gengoro said "Go" Tetsuya's right hand flashed forward, his index and middle finger pointed directly at Takeshi, and small, grey bolt of lighting blasted from his fingertips and shot straight through Takeshi's shoulder.
The match was over, Tetsuya had won. But more importantly, yet another rarety had been performed today. Casting an Eishohaki, or an "incantation abandonment" Kido, also known as a fully silent Kido, was unheard of for a beginner such as Tetsuya. Only a few others in history had managed such a feat, as with Takeshi's Shunpo. Even with such a low level spell, that one being Hado 4: Byakurai, or pale lightning, it was quite an accomplishment. This day would surely go down in Shinoreijutsuin history as the day two prodigy students had pulled of incredible feats and earned themselves a spot in Shinoreijutsuin legend.