I DO NOT OWN BLEACH!!
After six days of hard and harsh training, Izumi left Zaraki for the first time since she had arrived in the Soul Society.
She hadn't seen the Snake of Zaraki since that one day in the hut, and she was actually disappointed. Her swordplay had greatly increased since she had started training, and she felt more than ready to face Tsuji in mortal combat.
Right now, however, wasn't the time to go looking for him and his gang. She had to meet that Soul Reaper Captain at the North Gate. She made her way through the slums surrounding the central Seiretei.
The orange-haired Soul Reaper Captain was waiting for her a few feet from the entrance to the Seiretei –the pure court of the Soul Society, where the nobles and Soul Reapers lived.
"It's good to see you again," he said. "Are you ready?"
Izumi nodded and silently followed Ichigo. She wasn't sure where she stood with him –he was one of the elite, a Captain of the Court Guard Squads; she was the lowest of the low.
And now she was entering the boundaries of the Seiretei, heading for one of the main buildings.
When Ichigo pushed the door open, Izumi saw three men sitting at a table. They jumped to their feet when the duo entered.
"Welcome, Captain Kurosaki," one of them said. The eyes of the others were on Izumi. The Squad 5 Captain had booked this late exam for a Zaraki girl, and they had been curious for a while.
At the same time, they were surprised; looking at the girl, it was hard to believe that she was a Zaraki. Although her skin bore the looks of recent fights and her arms were muscular for someone who starved, everything else told a very different story. It looked as though she was shy, keeping her eyes averted. There was no bloodlust in her eyes, unlike the terribly insane and powerful Squad 11 Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki. The only blade she carried was a small dagger tucked into her obi.
"We are ready to begin the entrance exam, one of the trio said as the Captain stood to one side. "Please state your name for the register."
"Izumi Kihara," she responded immediately. Ichigo stood to one side, watching. He knew she would be admitted –her reitsu was strong for someone so young. In fact, she reminded him of himself before he had left the world of the living behind for good.
"We are going to test your reitsu level and ask you to take an intelligence test," one of the examiners said. "When you are ready, raise your reitsu level as high as you can."
They were a little bit sceptical –usually spiritual pressure poured out of untrained souls. And yet they had barely been able to detect her upon arrival.
That scepticism was washed away in a moment. Izumi was so good at suppressing and releasing her spiritual pressure it was now almost on a sub-conscious level.
Her red aura manifested itself around her without her needing to slip into mediation. It flickered and twitched around her, like flames. The examiners shrank back as her spiritual pressure rocketed up to that of a Lieutenant before it lowered to that of about a Third or Fourth Seated Officer.
Ichigo watched Izumi –if the kid was this powerful with no training, he was interested to see how powerful she became with training.
An hour and an IQ test later, and the two left the building. Izumi felt pride for the first time since coming to the Soul Society –that spike in reitsu had ensured her placement in the Academy.
Ichigo was heading back into the Rukon Districts –apparently he had patrol duty in one of the better areas.
"Captain Kurosaki," Izumi said, feeling uneasy. Ichigo turned to her. "Thank you for everything you did, sir," she said, bowing to him.
He laid a hand lightly on her head.
"You can call me Ichigo," he told her. Izumi was startled.
"I couldn't possibly show such disrespect," she protested. Then she caught his eye and lowered her head. "Could I just call you Captain Ichigo instead?"
"Seeing as that's as informal as you're going to get, I'll settle on that," Ichigo said. He turned and started to walk away. "I guess I'll see you at the Academy at some point. Take care, Izumi."
"Thank you, Captain Ichigo," Izumi said, bowing to Ichigo's retreating back before he disappeared from sight in an instant.
She headed off, back into Zaraki.
The new term began in half a month; she had some business she still had to take care off.
It was time to dethrone the Hebi.