Sensei and Student

Location Unknown

Four soul reapers are standing in a rough semicircle. They are all wearing cloaks that hide their faces. A fifth then joins them, cloaked as well, and stands in the open part of the semicircle.

"Well?" asks one, the only female of the group. "Any sign of it?"

"No. Not tonight, I'm afraid."

"rrrrgh, this is taking too long!" snaps another. The others murmur in agreement.

"Peace, my brethren, peace! I am still more than certain that what we seek is here in this town. The sweet liquor of revenge will bless our lips soon enough."

Much later, at Karakura High

Kyoko had just walked in the door when Keigo suddenly wraps his arms around her from behind and pulls her into a tight hug.

"Hellooooo, Kyok-oooooooo!"

Without thinking, Kyoko had grabbed him by the collar and thrown him over her shoulder. She blinked, a little surprised, when she saw Keigo fall into a heap on the floor.

"Oops. Did I do that?" she asked as innocently as possible.

A few people looked up curiously, but most continued with their own business, disinterested. Most people were used to seeing Keigo getting knocked around. Puzzled, she continued to her seat. Ryo, Michiru, and Chizuru were standing around her desk waiting for her. "What's up?" she asked hesitantly.

"That." Ryo indicated to a package laying on her desk. Small and rectangular, it was wrapped in brown paper and tied with a light blue ribbon.

"What's that?"

"We don't know. It was here when we got here this morning." says Michiru.

"Aren't you going to open it?" asks Chizuru excitedly.

She does. Gingerly untying the ribbon, she sates the other girls' curiosity.

"No, way!" she gasps in disbelief. "Ch!b! Pan!c Volume 1?"

"Don't you already have that?" asks Ichigo, who happened to be listening.

"Yeah, but I-" she broke off. The first copy she had gotten was ruined because she had dropped it into a puddle when she was attacked the day before. "But how? I hadn't told anyone about that!" she thought, a little distressed.

That night

Toshiro had decided to eat out tonight. He was getting a bit tired of his own cooking. However, he had already spent the last half-hour wandering around Karakura Town looking for a place to eat, with no luck. As soon as he finally found some restaurants, of course, his soul phone went off.

When he found the hollows, Kyoko was there, too. It appeared the she had just arrived, as well.

"You know how to appear at just the right time, don't you?" she asked playfully.

"I suppose so." he replied coolly as they drew their zanpakutos.

There it was again. That same clumsy style. The more Toshiro watched, the more sure he was that it was not done on purpose. It wasn't that she wasn't effective, but she often resulted to hacking and slashing wildly, not unlike how Ichigo used to fight.

There weren't that many hollows this time, so they were rid of them pretty quickly.

"I don't know how you've managed to fight hollows for this long and not get killed. Your form really sucks!" comments Toshiro.

"Hey! No fair! I'm a rogue, remember? I didn't get the special training you got!"

"True."

They are interrupted by Kyoko's stomach growling loudly. "Ehehehe….guess I forgot about dinner….aww, and at this hour, there's no way Yuzu's gonna make me anything!" she moans.

Toshiro starts blushing and looks away. "I was just going to go eat myself…I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I got you something, too…"

"Really! Thanks!"

They end up going to a small restaurant/sushi bar. Kyoko orders the most expensive thing on the menu, sushi and sashimi, but Toshiro doesn't seem to mind. He orders the same thing.

"Y'know, you really need to lighten up." says Kyoko, sipping from her soda. "You're always so serious. It's not good for you."

"…" he only grumbles in response.

Their waitress stumbles by. "Jeez, she's clumsier than me, and that's saying a lot!" mutters Kyoko.

They return to their meals. Without warning, the waitress trips and a large bowl of miso soup she was carrying falls off her tray and lands on Kyoko's head. Toshiro looks up to see her drenched in soup, with the bowl perched on her head like a goofy hat. Not expecting such a sight, he couldn't stop himself from laughing uncontrollably.

"Ahahahahahahahahahaha! You look ridiculous! Hahaha! Kyoko, you should see yourself!"

Kyoko looks at her reflection in the window. She starts to laugh as well.

The waitress apologizes repeatedly, and gives Kyoko some towels to dry herself with.

She takes the bowl off her head. "You see, that's what I'm talking about!"

"Hmm?"

"Isn't it more fun when you cut loose once in a while?"

"…"

The waitress leaves their bill on the table before leaving. A gust of wind blows through the café as someone opens the door, and blows the bill off the table.

"I got it!" they both say as they both reach down at the same time. When their hands both touch the bill at the same time, they both look up. Their faces are mere centimeters apart. Both blushing violently, Toshiro grabs the bill before they both snap back to their seats. They are silent for a long time, both lost in their own thoughts.

"Kyoko, I've decided that I'm going to train you." says Toshiro out of the blue.

"What?"

"You said yourself that you didn't receive any kind of instruction after you became a soul reaper, right?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Do you know where Urahara's Candy Store is?"

"Yes."

"Meet me there tomorrow afternoon."

"uuh…If you say so…"

The next day, in front of Urahara's shop

Toshiro was standing outside Urahara's shop, waiting. When Kyoko finally showed up, the first thing he did was scold her.

"Where have you been?"

"Hey! You never specified a time, so you can't say anything about me being late!"

"…~grumble~…Fine, let's just get started, shall we?"

They walked inside. "Mister Urahara! Do you mind if I use your underground training room?"

Kisuke pops into the front room. "I don't see why not. Why do you ask-" he spots Kyoko and stops in his tracks, all amusement gone. "Well, well. You're certainly the last person I expected to see here."

"Hello, Kisuke." says Kyoko darkly.

"I see you two know each other." "…You could say that…" she says bitterly.

"You're free to use my training room as much as you'd like" says Urahara, changing the subject. He steps back. As Toshiro walks by, he says in a low voice, "I'd be careful, if I were you." before retreating to the back of the store.

"Alright" says Toshiro. "I want you to attack me."

"WHAT!"

"Just do it. I want to see how strong you are."

Kyoko draws her sword and charges at Toshiro. He blocks her attack effortlessly. "Wow. You really do suck."

"Aw, that's mean!" Toshiro walks up and snatches her sword out of her hands. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"You're too slow. We have a lot of work to do before you can even start with the sword." he scans his surroundings. "I want you to run around the perimeter of this room."

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE JOKING! THIS PLACE IS FRICKIN' HUGE!"

"I know. That's why you're doing it."

"But- what about all these cliffs and stuff?"

"If there is a mountain, you climb it. If there is a gorge, you jump it."

"You're crazy!"

"Tessai! Do you have a stopwatch I can borrow? I'll need something to write with, too." Tessai, who seems to materialize out of nowhere, hands him the objects.

"On my mark." Kyoko crouches down. "GO!" She takes off and streaks out of sight.

A looooong time later…

Dragging her feet, she collapses across the finish line. Toshiro is not pleased. "That was…PATHETIC!"

Kyoko looked discouraged. Then something occurs to her. "Hey. If you think you're so great, why don't you do it, then!"

Toshiro is a caught off guard by this request. "Alright, then." he says with a smirk. He places his sword against a rock. "Whenever you're ready."

"GO!"Toshiro runs the entire perimeter in less than half her time. "Wow. I really do suck…" she whines.

"We're ~huff~ just ~huff~ going to have to ~huff~ work on it."

Kyoko ran the entire distance, again and again. Each time she got a little faster. In almost no time at all, her time was nearly as good as Toshiro's.

Later

Kyoko and Toshiro were headed for home when Kyoko sensed the presence of yet another hollow. When they found it, it was chasing after the spirit of a little boy. They killed the hollow easily. However, when Toshiro attempted to perform a konso on the boy, he ran away.

"Stop fooling around. It's time for you to go to the soul society."

"I-I-I'm not ready to go yet!" cries the little boy.

"Be brave for me, ok?" says Kyoko soothingly. "The soul society is a wonderful place."

"H-Have you ever been there before?"

"Well, no…"

"Then how do you know that it's not scary?"

"I don't know. But that's all part of being brave. Doing what you have to, even if you are scared." she smiles warmly. "It's time to go."

"…ok…"

She taps the hilt of her zanpakuto on the child's forehead, and he disappears in a blue light. Toshiro walks up as she performs the konso.

"You did that very well."

"Yeah, well, I've spent my whole career as a soul reaper in the world of the living, so I know how it goes pretty well."

"The way you comforted that child…"

"Child spirits are like that. They're often confused and very scared. Sometimes they die before they can even grasp the concept of death. You can only imagine how that must feel…when no one can see or hear you anymore, and you don't know why…"

"You sound like you know from experience."

"I don't. I knew exactly what was going to happen when I died."

The two walk back to where their gigais are.

"So you've never been to the soul society?"

"No. Never."

Toshiro pauses. "Kyoko, come back with me."

"What?…" she stared at him.

"You're obviously a very talented soul reaper. The Thirteen Court Guard Squads could use someone like you. You'd be a ranked officer almost immediately. Hell, if you could perform bankai, you'd make captain easily. I'd certainly nominate you…"

"…I can't. I'm a rogue, after all… I wouldn't be welcome there."

"I'm sure I could pull some strings-"

"No. You don't understand. The soul society…never mind. Goodnight, Toshiro." she returns to her gigai and leaves.

The End.