Ichigo looked up at the woman in front of him angrily as he struggled on the floor.
"What the hell is this?!" he exclaimed as he struggled to free himself from the invisible binding that was restraining his arms; making him unable to move freely.
"That is a Kido technique, shitotsusansen, you won't be able to move properly until I decide to release you" said the small dark haired girl standing over him.
"Why are you doing this? I still don't get it, what could you and your high and mighty Shinigami get from some kid like me?"
"It seems that you are not particularly bright are you little one? I had already explained the reason several times before you decided to bolt for the door, we are keeping you because we don't want any more disturbances in Runkongai, the way you kept releasing your Kido so erratically was unacceptable, you need to be reeducated" she said sighing as she sat on the floor next to him.
"Hey miss high and mighty I get all that but I don't see why some kid like you is the one who's going to do it!" Suddenly as though overcome by a sudden anger the girl picked him up by the collar pushing him against the wall.
"Are you so ignorant after living in the Soul society that you have not yet realized that you no longer age? I have probably lived ten times your puny life time and have experienced things that you have never dreamed of, do not assume that I am incapable of teaching a child the ways of the Shinigami!" she said angrily, her short stature had always been one of her weak points.
"So even the Shinigami don't age…" he said quietly, unable to keep the disappointment from showing on his face. Seeing the unhappy look on the boys face Rukia guessed incorrectly thinking that he was upset about being in the form of a child forever. Quickly, she dropped him on the floor and pulled out a note pad and some colouring pencils out of nowhere. Ichigo watched her wandering if the strange girl was ever going to let him go…
Finally after a minute or so the girl looked up again, picking up the conversation just where they had left off…
"Actually there is a way around this as a Shinigami" she began to say, opening up the first page of the note book, which depicted a rabbit with a sword by its side. "As Shinigami we emit more reautsu" she said flipping the page, so that he could now see a picture of a bunny with a lot of blue lines coming out if it "this causes are souls to mature faster than normal souls, resulting in slow changes of appearance over several decades" she said, flipping over the page one last time to show a picture of a bunny with a moustache. Seeing the bewildered look on Ichigo's face she sat down on the floor next to him, asking "Was my explanation not clear enough for you?"
"Just tell me, why the hell does that monkey have a moustache!?" he asked irritably, thinking that the girl was now just having fun messing with him.
"It's not a monkey! It's a rabbit!" she shouted indignantly "And it has a moustache because it grew older and can now grow facial hair!"
"It's a rabbit; its face was already hairy to begin with!" For a moment Rukia looked at Ichigo incredulously, understanding that the way she was now acting was completely inappropriate considering her ranking and situation, but that was besides the point, because in the end she new she just couldn't resist being improper for once, childish. But she did resist, after all he was just a child, there was no need for her to get agitated by such a small kid.
"A rabbit or not, that is beside the point" she said as she picked him up, muttering a few words to release him from his binding "What I really need to be doing is teaching you everything you need to know for your exam" she announced, dropping him back on the floor and watching his delight as he realised he was free.
"What exam?" he asked as he sat on the floor stretching his arms
"The entrance exam, you'll need to take it if you want to become a Shinigami… though I did hear from Hanataro that you didn't seem particularly interested" Ichigo looked down for a moment seeming to consider the idea before looking up again, his eyes stating clearly that he had made a decision.
"I do it, this exam thing of yours because once I fail you'll no longer have a reason to keep me here and I'll be free to go" he said, trying to sound casual. Only a little of his unhappiness at the idea of failing seeping out, making Rukia realise that the kid had more pride then he let on. Maybe there was hope for the kid yet.
"Well that's good because the exam is later this afternoon!" she said smiling, glad to know that the kid hadn't been as hard to handle as she'd thought, meaning that once he'd passed she'd soon be able to get back to her normal duties.
"Right, this afternoon…What the hell!?" he exclaimed, sure that there'd never be enough time for him to learn anything in such short a time.
"Relax kid, since you're from Rukongai you only have to have Reautsu rating and an IQ test, both of which are relatively easy to pass"
"Which means that basically they don't think I'm capable of passing the exam?"
"You wouldn't be able to, since you no virtually nothing about the history of the soul society and the seiretei, its mostly just useless trivia there's no actual point in learning it"
"But most people do it, don't they?" he asked, sounding almost bitter.
"They do" she said, a little nervous as to where this was leading to.
"Then I want to do it as well, I don't want to be thought of as an idiot just because I didn't pass on the same grounds as everyone one else!"
"But its so pointless… you should just be glad that we're even letting you do this exam"
"I don't care" he replied as he looked at her fiercely.
"Fine, I'll teach you child but I'll only teach you the basics, just enough to let you pass, that way you'll be ready for the retake exam in two weeks.
"And I might as well tell you this since I'll be wasting so much time with you, my name is Rukia Kuchiki" she said smiling, unable to stop herself liking the little kid, though it was annoying to think that she wouldn't be seeing Kaien for a while, the fact that the kid looked like him helped, if only a little.
"My names Ichigo Kurosaki, though I guess you already knew that…"
"Lets jus forget all of that and go onto the teaching, I think I'll start on a brief history of the founding of the Shinigami"
While Ichigo was being taught about the boring world of soul society Matsumoto was bragging about her latest find.
"You should have seen him Tōshirō" she said excitedly as she leaned on to his desk; sending all his paper work flying "when I first found him a while back he just used Kido and BAM! The whole wall was just crumbling apart and it's not like anyone taught him how to do it either! A lot of the 3rd rates around here can't even do that, even after they've spent years in the academy! And the best thing is, hey Toshiro? Are you even listening?" she leaned across the desk, pulling the ear plugs out of his ears before continuing "So anyway, I tried to rate his Reautsu but it was just off the charts! I had exactly the same experience as when I first met you except that this time I was even more overwhelmed!"
"And when did this happen?" he asked, sounding interested.
"A few months ago" she said quietly, realizing that for whatever reason, her boss was mad at her.
"Then why are you telling me now?" he asked, his icy stare making it difficult to look him in the eye.
"Its because they brought him in a few days ago, so far he's been reluctant to take the exam but I've made a claim on him, so he'll definitely be coming to us once he graduates"
"If that's the case then its fine as long as you've secured him, we wouldn't want to lose such talent to one of the other squads" he said, while reaching into his pocket for some earplugs, no longer interested in anything else his lieutenant had to say.
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And another short chapter is released…And as usual I apologize in advance for any errors in my work. Now its time for me to reveal my true nature, you know those annoying people who are always asking for reviews? Well I'm one of them! And I don't think I'm getting enough feed back on this story, so please tell me why you're not all reviewing? Is it because I take to long to update? Making you lose interest? Or is it because I haven't written any cliff hangers? OR do you just find the story boring? Tell me in reviews so I can try and improve!