A chuckle came out of his mouth. "What's so funny?" I asked, my voice a little bitter. "You didnt make a scratch on me." he said. "Maybe if i had a real sword i could..." i stated. He laughed, "You realize i am probably using a 1/4 of my power, right?" I laughed, my sword never leaving his neck. "Good...i was gonna say i needed a new teacher if this was your strength." I lifted my sword off of his neck. "Let's save the fighting for the test." he said. I agreed and headed toward my seat. When i did every pair of eyes were upon me. They stared at me as though i was an angel that just descended from the ceiling. I sat down beside Ichigo. "How did you do that?" he asked, surprise in his voice. "What? If you can't do something as simple as that then you shouldn't graduate." I stated. Ichigo's left eye twitched. I just wondered: out of anger or amazement?
The day went on and the final bell rang. Every student got up and headed for the door. Mr. Kuchiki said his goodbye's to every student that walked out the door. But when I got there, being the final student in the line, he stopped me with is right arm. "May I speak with you?" he asked. I said nothing and he apparently took that as a yes. I walked to his desk and he began to speak, "Your fighting this morning..." he started, "It was very good. How did you learn to do such things?" he said, smiling at me. I closed my eyes and smiled as well, "Hmph. Natural talent, I suppose." I opened my eyes to see him smile and cock his head a little up. "Is that so?" I didn't have a good feeling about this. Something was about to happen and I could guess what. I stood in a fighting stance; I suppose I was psychic because he did the same thing. I twirled behind me and grabbed a sword off the wall and he drew his. We both ran toward each other and our swords clashed. His face was right in front of mine with a smile planted on it. "Hmph, good start. He began to speak, "Now listen," I listened well, our swords still clashing. "I will use 1/2 of my power, and if you can scratch me, you pass...deal?" he asked. I answered with my sword, I did my move and hitched my leg around his to twirl around him, but he stopped me by placing one hand on my shoulder and back flipped behind me. He placed his sword across my neck, "I don't fall for the same trick twice." He whispered in my ear. "You might not, but you don't know how to do the tricks right." I reached behind his neck and placed my sword on it while his was placed on my neck. "You should've locked my arms." I could hear a growl in his throat. He jumped back and I turned around.
"You are a smart one." he said. Unfortunately, he was correct. He twirled around and tried to strike me, holding his sword with one hand. I defended myself by clashing my sword to his. While our swords were clashing he kneed me in my stomach. I coughed up spit and clenched my stomach. He jumped over me. "Hmph, what was that supposed to do...?" suddenly a huge slash was on my right shoulder. Blood oozed from it and down my arm. "How the...?" I clenched my shoulder in pain. "It seems I overestimated you." I stood up and growled in anger. I swung my sword toward him with my free hand, he countered by clashing our swords again. I, using one hand, was strugling, while on the other hand, he was using one hand, too, but overpowering me. I was bending back with too much pressure. I was nearly to the ground. I let go of my shoulder and placed my hand on the ground. I did a handstand and kicked the sword out of his hands. He laughed, grabbed my leg, and flung me to the wall. I coughed up blood. My vision went a little blurry for a moment, but when I regained my eyesight I saw him walking over to me. I glared at him in anger. He bent down to meet my height because I was sitting down. "Are you finished?" I kept glaring as he continued to talk. He shook his head, "I thought you were your father's son..." I couldn't take it. I swiftly stood up and grabbed his neck, running with unbelievable speed and shoved him against the wall. "I am..." I whispered. He laughed, "Then prove it." I threw him down and before I could damage him, he was behind me. He grabbed my neck and threw me against the wall across the room. In a blink of an eye, he was there too. "You're not doing a good job of proving it." He stated. I glared one more; we were back were we started. "If you ever want to follow your dad's footsteps, you must graduate. I believe you have more potential than anyone, please show me I wasn't lying to myself." I closed my eyes, than as fast as lightning appeared behind him. He smiled and turned around, then, as I suspected his eyes widened. His breathing cut short and he slowly fell to the ground. He stared at me as blood soaked through his robe. Under it, a slash that stretched across his entire stomach lied there. "You didn't overestimate me...you underestimated me." I said, starring down at him. "And for the record, I could've done that at anytime." He starred up at me with wide eyes, "Then...why didn't you?" I shrugged, "I guess...I didn't want to follow in my father's footsteps." He looked at me confused. "...but--" before he could finish another teacher ran inside, "What happened to you??" he screamed. Mr. Kuchiki looked at me and smiled. The teacher followed his gaze towards me, "Did he do this to you??" I smiled with my eyes closed. "He did do this to me...and he passed." My eyes opened, full of shock. "What??" The teacher said, confused. "And you are your father's son..." he finished. I made a "hm" sound. He took that as a thank-you. Suddenly there was a throb in my shoulder and I clenched it. I was still in pain from that. Mr. Kuchiki started talking once more, "Oh and just remember...I was using only 1/2 of my power." I smiled. The teacher was left confused and I walked out the door to my house.
When I reached my front door steps I knocked three times. The minute Megumi saw my shoulder she gasped. "What happened?!" She screamed. I knew this was going to happen. "It's nothing, Megumi, calm down." I said and walked inside. "'Nothing'?? Are you insane, the cut is huge!!" She came over and looked at it, "This needs treatment, come with me!" "Treatment? No! No! It's just from a test, calm yourself." "What test does this to you?" She gestured to the wound. "Will this calm you? I graduated, ok?" I said aggressively. She stopped babbling and starred. I thought she stopped breathing. Megumi stood there, motionless. No movement came from her body. The hand that wasn't clenching my shoulder waved in front of her face as she stood there, staring into space. Suddenly everything got let out in a second, "OH MY GOD!! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? THAT'S AMAZING! THAT'S BEYOND AMAZING! OH MY GOSH, I COULD CRY!!" She ran to embrace me in a huge hug. Megumi squeezed the life out of me. "OW!" I yelped; she embraced my shoulder too. "Oh, sorry...anyways, that is so good! I can not believe you graduated...well I can, cuz after all you are Kaien Shiba, anyways that is so cool! When are you going to the test and--" "Megumi! Please, I get it, I graduate, good for me!" I went over and sat down on the couch. She could sense my annoyance so she followed me and sat down next to me. "Do...you...want to graduate, Kaien? Truthfully?" She said, looking me in the eyes. I didn't look her back; I starred straight in front of me. For once, I didn't know how to answer that question. When i was fighting Mr. Kuchiki, when I was clashing swords and using my all to defeat him, I felt...whole. Happy. I was...having fun. Enjoying myself. But at the same time, i hated it. A few minutes ago I was actually displaying the very thing that slaughtered my mother and father. I shuttered at that thought. I was having fun, yet I hated it. So, for once I had no idea what to say when she asked that question. "I really don't know, Megumi." I said. She put her arm around me, "Tell me why you don't know." I explained what i felt while she watched me with full interest. After i finished she smiled and began to speak, "I know what you mean...but your father would want you to follow him...don't you think?" she said. "Yeah...he would...but I...I don't know what to do." I said, starring at the floor. "...Do whatever you want, Kaien, I'm not forcing you to do anything, but if you ask me, i would love for you to defend your village." With that, she hugged me and left the room. I listened to what she said. I got aggravated and groaned. I leaned against the couch and racked my brain for ideas on what to do