"Forgive me for sounding presumptuous, but I find it hard to believe you're the simple salesman you say you are."
Urahara smiled. "Now what would make you say that?"
L looked around at the massive underground cavern, taking in the barren scene. He looked back at the man who was still smiling at him as if he were a new playmate.
"No reason."
"Good. But I do have to say that there may be a little more to me than I told you at first. As you already know you are a shinigami. There is one other shinigami who is human like you – in fact he should be here shortly.
"Another shinigami? And why is he coming here?"
Urahara waved his fan. "Training of course. We can't have you running around with that energy of yours."
L sighed. He was too energetic?
"Your spiritual pressure is impressive for someone who didn't even know they were a shinigami. Not on his level but still nothing to sneeze at. So we'll have you two train each other for a while."
Shuffling forward with his hands tucked into the sides of his hakama, L looked back at the man. "Why go through all the trouble?"
"I'm just that nice of a guy?"
"Really?" L wondered, giving him an analytic look. His shadowed watch was returned with an equally piercing gaze.
Jinta shivered. "Both of them are a little off."
From across the underground room they heard someone yelling and Urahara squinted toward the distance.
"Looks like he made it. Good."
In a few minutes a young man came running up, spiky orange hair standing out in the sun. L watched as he came to a stop near them.
"You called? Are you going to train me some more?" He asked, looking eager.
Urahara laughed. "Oh no. You're going to train him Ichigo."
Ichigo looked over at L who stared up at him, unblinking.
"Are you serious?" He asked, sweating a bit.
This guy looks a little unbalanced. He thought to himself.
"Of course I'm serious. Starting today you two will be working with one another."
L nodded. "Hello. My name is L. And yours?"
Ichigo blinked. "Wait. Just L?"
"Just L."
He scratched his head. "No last name?"
"None that I'm at liberty to tell you about."
"And what does that mean?"
L sighed. "I can't tell you, that's all."
Ichigo snorted. "Fine, whatever. I just won't tell you mine then."
"Hurry up and make up Kurosaki!" Urahara taunted, causing the substitute soul reaper to glare at him.
You bastard…
With a smile Urahara watched as they shook hands.
"Great. Now we can get down to the easy part."
Light looked around the room.
To either side of him were young men and women dressed in a similar manner as him. He'd been forced to change out of the black clothes he had arrived in and into a white and blue uniform that didn't seem to carry as much rank
Plus that guy said something about an academy and making a proper shinigami out of me. So I guess this is some sort of school.
As they stood in a long line facing the front of the large room a man entered from the other side. He smiled confidently at them from behind his gold-hued sunglasses, his pink spiked hair catching Lights attention.
"Hey. It looks like everyone's here so I guess I can start now." He began, looking around the room. "My name is Sho and I'll be one of the instructors taking you through this crash course. As you can see there aren't many of you here. That's because all of you are the best and brightest of your class."
For a moment he seemed to look right at Light and smile.
"So you've all been chosen to take a masters course if you will – this is a program designed to separate out those who have the potential to become Captains."
The rest of the students murmured to one another and Light could only listen in on their conversations.
Captain? So I'm guessing that's a pretty high rank. What am I doing here though? I don't know the first thing about being a shinigami…well, outside of the Death Note.
After the class had settled Sho continued.
"I will warn you though, this is not a class for the faint of heart and there is a very real possibility of being killed in training. Where in the normal classes you train with dummies in this advanced course you'll be training with actual Hollows."
A collective gasp ran through the crowd and Light once again stifled his irritation at being in the dark.
"You'll also be training on high level kido and will by the end of the course be at least at a Lieutenant level. Of course if you manage to achieve a Bankai you'll be assigned directly to a squad in the field to gain experience."
One of the boys to Lights left raised a hand and Sho nodded to him.
"S-Sir!" The boy stammered. "Doesn't it take years of training to reach Bankai?"
"Of course." Sho winked. "But there have been exceptions to the rule."
"Does this have anything to do with the disruption in the Seireitei?" Another asked.
"You'll find out soon enough." Was the teacher's response. He pointed behind him.
"These two doors will lead to your quarters. Males on the right, Females on the left. You'll stake out your bunks and get ready for bed. You'll need your rest for tomorrow. Dismissed."
As the spiky haired man left the room the rest of the students began talking excitedly to one another. Some celebrated while others wondered nervously about the day to come.
So it looks like I should do some information gathering. I need to find out all I can…
"Hey! You're new here?"
Light turned to be faced with a strange young man with reddish brown hair and odd eyes. The boy laughed. "Jeez! You look so tense!"
"Do I?" Light asked, trying to look relaxed despite how he felt.
He really shouldn't do that to people. But now I can ask some questions.
The other boy smiled, nodding. "Uhhuh! You look really tense. Maybe you need a girlfriend?"
Light removed the boys arm from his shoulders.
I'll start by asking someone else.
"Excuse me…" He murmured, walking away. The other man stood for a moment before following him.
"Hey! Where ya going? C'mon, let's talk!!"
Later that night Light stared up at the ceiling, turning the information he had gathered over and over in his head.
So…shinigami here are guardians of the dead that lead souls to Soul Society. Hollows…are monsters that are made from souls…and shinigami vanquish them. The ones mainly in charge of this are the Gotei 13. The highest rank of shinigami in the Gotei 13 is Captain – that's what they're training us for.
"All I have to do is pass this training then. That'll be easy seeing as I was always an exceptional student." Light whispered to himself, smiling.
And when I'm in the Gotei 13 I can go to the real world and look for L…If I'm here then there's no way that he's not.
Drifting off into a gentle slumber he let his mind run over his plans for the future.
"WAKE UP!!" A voice echoed in the chamber, causing some students to fall out of their beds. Light sat up with jolt, looking for a clock.
"I could have sworn I just went to sleep!"
The clock read 4:00AM.
"Y-you're kidding me…."
Sho banged an empty pot, creating as much noise as possible.
"RISE AND SHINE KIDS!!"