Rather shorter then the rest, and mostly buildup to a larger Chapter 6.

Aveline was in the field again. The rock pile and bird were still there. But now there was a sword lying in the rock pile. Much like a clichéd 'Sword in the Stone' from Arthurian myth. She walked over to the rock pile. The bird looked at her with a piercing gaze.

"What?" Aveline asked it.

"Are you ready yet?" asked a voice.

"Ready for what?" Aveline asked.

"To draw your sword," the voice answered.

At least it was answering her now. "Well if it is my sword, I will draw it," Aveline answered.

"Very well," said the voice, "Draw your sword."

Aveline grasped the sword hilt and slowly pulled. It started to move. It was hard, as if someone was pulling it back in. Suddenly the sword jerked back into where it was. "What the…" Aveline asked.

"No," the voice said, "With strength. Draw your sword with strength and purpose."

Aveline nodded. She grabbed the sword handle.

Aveline opened her eyes. Minako's blue eyes were mere inches from hers. Aveline tensed up with a startled look in her eyes.

Minako calmly blinked. "That is interesting," Minako said.

"What is? Were you…what were you doing?"

"Watching you sleep," Minako said, "People are interesting when they sleep. You see a side of them you don't see when they are awake."

"Okay. What time is it?"

"Time? Your time is both very close and very far," Minako said, "I see great things in your future. But that future will not come with the present."

This was going to be a headache. Minako was definitely strange. "So how was your sleep Minako?"

"I don't sleep. Not since the Sweeper of Dreams left me," Minako said, "I don't mind him leaving though."

"Yeah…" Aveline said. She didn't really know how else to respond.

"That is a lovely Zanpakto you will have," Minako said.

"Wait…my Zanpakto?" Aveline said, "How do you know what my Zanpakto will look like?"

"I saw it in your dream. It will be unique in this world," Minako said.

"So that's what that was," Aveline said. I'm not even going to bother asking how she saw my dream. With her sometimes it's better to not ask questions I won't understand the answers to.

As Aveline left her room she saw Akane leaving hers. Their first class would be together. "Akane, I have to ask you something," Aveline said.

"Oh?" Akane asked, "About what?"

"Yesterday, with the sword trial. You lost to me on purpose didn't you?" Aveline asked.

"Whatever do you mean?" Akane said, "You beat me."

"You saw my attack and moved to put yourself into it," Aveline said, "Why?"

Akane smiled, "I should have known I wouldn't fool you. You are pretty good with a sword. But you are too eager to excel. I find that if you can be the best of the above average people you still get enough respect without having to work as hard."

Aveline frowned, "So you knew what you were doing?"

"Easily. I don't think I could beat you, but then again I don't need to," Akane said, "What was that yesterday, 'we will be friends forever' or something like that?"

Aveline chuckled, "Yeah. Fine."

"Don't worry, I won't slack off when you need me," Akane said, "But until then, why exert effort to be exceptional when you can be good with no effort?"

"Just the way I am I suppose," Aveline said.

"So go ahead and do that," Akane said, "Just don't expect me to. We can still be friends though."

"Sure," Aveline said, "Friends."

Aragaki was talking about the Council of Sixty-Four, the group that actually ran the Soul Society. At first it was interesting. It soon became tedious.

Kido was getting interesting. Aveline's aim was right on target. Her shot impacted on the target in a brilliant flash.

"How did you do that?" asked Hikari Ebihara.

"Do what?" Aveline asked.

"You hit the target," Hikari said, "That was amazing."

"Oh, thanks. Well, I can do something like kido on my own. I call my Energy Focus. It seems to be a normal concentration of spiritual energy, but I can project it at range. It can hurt quite a bit, shatter rocks, and destroys buildings," Aveline said.

"Wow. That's amazing," Hikari said.

"So I am told," Aveline shrugged, "It's like moving an arm for me or something mundane like that. Something I have always known how to do. The hard part was aiming it. So I just used a trick I developed to aim it."

"And what's that?" Hikari asked.

"Well, I clear my mind and then just imagine myself reaching out and touching the target," Aveline said.

"The princess is right," Aki said, coming out of nowhere. Maybe he had been there the whole time. He sure was sneaky. "The trick to aiming kido is to visualize yourself touching your target. After all, your spiritual energy is just an extension of yourself."

"And you are?" Hikari asked.

Aki smiled. "My name is Aki."

"Do you have a family name?" Hikari asked.

"Don't have a family. Don't see why I would need a name for something I don't have," Aki answered.

Hikari got an annoyed expression, "Well surely you had a family once."

"Kinda," Aki answered, "My brother's name was Yuji. He used a family name for a while."

"Which was?" Hikari asked.

"Kamada."

"So you are Aki Kamada," Hikari said.

"Didn't say that," Aki said, "My brother used that name. That name is bad luck. I don't want it anywhere near me. I was thinking of a new last name. Maybe I'll use the last name of whatever I end up marrying."

"You? Get married?" Hikari said.

"Yeah. I am quite a catch," Aki said with a sly smile.

"C'mon Avey, let's get away from this joker," Hikari said.

"Bye Avey and Hikari. See you around," Aki said.

"How did you know my name?" Hikari asked.

Aki held up the class roster with a smile.

"Ohhh, that guy makes me so mad," Hikari said, "How did he even get in anyway."

"Well it all started with a haircut," Aveline said.

"A haircut? That sounds ridiculous. I don't want to know the rest," Hikari said, "Well, let me try one more shot before class dismisses. Watch me, okay?"

"Okay," Aveline said.

Hikari took a deep breath and muttered, "Clear my mind and reach out."

Avey nodded.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" chanted Hikari. A red ball formed and streaked from her palm, striking the target dead center.

"You did it!" Avey shouted.

"I did!" Hikari cried as she jumped into the air.

Itsuro was slow. Very slow. Aveline had dodged his sword stroke easily and was behind him in no time. She hooked her foot around his leg and twisted, throwing him off balance. She body slammed him, sending Itsuro sprawling to the ground.

"Ow," he said, "Quit being so rough. I mean I was going easy on you because you were a pretty gir…OW!"

Aveline was stomping on him.

"Avey, let up on him," Seito said.

"Yeah, let up on him," Itsuro said.

"Fine," Aveline said, helping Itsuro to his feet, "But stop hitting on me. I am not interested in idiots like you."

Itsuro straightened his robe. "Alright," Itsuro said, "I'll stop. Plenty of other fine looking girls out there. Just stop hurting me."

"Alright. Can you agree to that Avey?" Seito asked, "He'll stop being a pig and you will stop hurting him."

"You too Seito? And I thought we were pals?" Itsuro said with waterfalls of mock tears running down his cheeks.

"Well, how about I hurt him less," Avey said.

"Alright close enough," Seito says.

"Wait, when did I let you make decisions for me?" Itsuro said.

Minako was staring out the window when Avey returned to the room.

"What are you looking at?" Avey asked.

"The air is quite cheerful today," Minako said.

"Cheerful? How come?" Avey asked.

Minako closed her eyes and smiled, "Because the sun is out. And there is a slight breeze from the southwest, blowing the air about like how a mother would swing her child."

"Well that explains it," Avey said.

Minako nodded in agreement. "The wind however is bringing me news."

"What sort of news?"

"Of a coming trial. People are going to die. There will be much blood. But in the end, good will prevail," Minako said with the same cheerful smile she had when she was describing the 'happy air'.

"What?" Avey said, "People are going to die?"

"Mmhuh," Minako said, "Don't worry, they won't feel much when they do."

"That's not very…comforting," Aveline said.

"Hmm?" Minako said with a confused look, "What do you mean? People die every day. All the time."

"Right, but death is never good. Somebody always feels sad when it happens," Aveline said.

"Really?" Minako said, "Hmm, that is strange. Among my kind, we felt that death was the final glorious moment of life and the beginning of a grand adventure."

"Well your kind really isn't human I don't think," Avey said.

"Nope. We're not," Minako said.

"Then what are you?" Avey asked.

"Hmm, hard to describe. I don't think humans have a word for what we are. Although the word idea comes close, but is too vague," Minako said.

"So you are an idea?" Avey asked, "An idea of what?"

"An idea in general," Minako said.

"How about a good idea or a bad idea," Avey joked.

"Both and neither," Minako said with a smile.

Yeah. An idea with no ideas…

She was once again at the sword buried in the stone. Aveline looked the bird. The bird looked back at her.

"No witty remark?" she asked the bird.

"There is nothing to say," the bird answered, "Just do."

Just do. Aveline grabbed the sword and closed her eyes. Images flooded her mind as she was knocked back.

"What was that?" she asked in a panic.

"That was your sword. Communicating with you," the bird said.

"How come it didn't happen to me when I was pulling on it earlier?" Aveline asked.

"You weren't listening for it," the bird says.

"And I was then?" Aveline asked.

"You are training your mind as well as your body and soul in the Academy," the bird said.

Weeks passed. Aveline was getting much better with her sword, kido, and adjustments in the Soul Society. They had each been handling steel blades and had been using them on dummies.

It was sword practice. Dueling with Seito and beating Itsuro had long since gotten boring. So Aveline found herself dueling with the intermediates. She was going easy on them, but she was getting better and they were too.

Kimiko swung her sword horizontally.

"Not bad. Horizontal swings with a katana are good for flourishes and getting yourself some distance, but the real power with the katana comes from the down stroke. That is your primary killing attack," Aveline said, as she moved around to the opposite direction that Kimiko had swung, "But the wide swing like that opens your flanks. Try to keep them smaller."

"Thank you," Kimiko said.

"You are quite the teacher," the instructor said.

"Hm, yes. My former teacher told me the reason he taught others was because you really do not know your craft until you teach it to other," Aveline said, "I think I understand what he meant now."

"Good. In all things, learn," the instructor said, "Now everyone take a seat, I have an important announcement to make."

Everyone seated themselves.

"Next week, some of the seniors will be taking this class on a trip to the real world. There you will engage dummy Hollows. Practice well in the meantime. Dismissed."

"A real world trip!" Kimiko said, "That is so exciting!"

"It'll be just like the practice sessions outside against the dummy Hollows," Akane said, "It's more for the seniors to learn how to monitor newbies in the field and deploy a barrier."

"Way to spoil my fun, Akane," Kimiko said.

Akane smiled.

"What do you think Minako?" Aveline asked.

"The so called real world is no more or less real then this one, so the name is a misnomer. I think I'll call that world George instead," Minako said with a smile.

"Huh?" said Hikari.

"I think Minako is excited to go to the real world too," Aveline said.

"George," Minako corrected.

"Right," Aveline said.

"Anyway we'll be okay. The seniors will clear out any Hollows that may wander in and a barrier will be erected. So we'll be safe," Hikari said.

"You have been divided into teams of three," the upper classman said, "These teams will locate and destroy their assigned dummy Hollow. Stay with your group. An advance force of other seniors has already crossed over and set up a barrier, but you still need to be on your guard."

Aveline looked at her group of Hikari Ebihara and Minato Okuzaki. Not bad. She had been working with Hikari quite a bit. And Minato, was an all around nice guy. "I like this team," Aveline said.

"I was hoping I would be on your team, Avey!" Hikari said as she hugged Aveline.

Minato nodded and adjusted his glasses. "Yes, I find this team quite agreeable. I just pity that team over there." He motioned to a team of Akane, Aki, and Minako. Minako was blankly smiling as Akane and Aki were arguing over who would be the team leader.

Meanwhile Kimiko, Seito, and Itsuro were on a team. Aveline pitied Kimiko getting stuck with that idiot. At least Seito was there though.

"So who is that leading us, Minato?" Aveline asked.

"Oh the senior? That is Toji Komehara. Next to him are his friends Kou Genamura and Tatsuya Fuja," Minato explained, "Toji and Kou are okay guys, but Tatsuya is rather obnoxious."

"Alright, the teams seem to be sorted. Through the gate we go," announced Toji.