I DO NOT own Bleach

"I can't believe how short Captain Hitsugaya was!"

Whispers swept up and down the table where the Fourth Years (and one Second Year) sat. Naomi was a constant companion to her sister in a social environment, and the others had no trouble accepting Naomi and including her in their conversations.

Izumi had been filling her sister in on the details of the lesson at dinner when another Fourth Year had leant across the table and joined in. Soon enough, they were all whispering.

"They say he was a genius while he was at the Academy, that he was the childhood friend of Lieutenant Hinamori," someone said.

"Yeah, and look where she ended up –at High Traitor Aizen's side," another said. "At least Captain Kurosaki set her right."

"You probably shouldn't whisper about someone who could turn you into a popsicle with his zanpukto," Izumi commented. "Hyorimaru is supposed to be one of the most dangerous ice-based zanpukto.

"You sound worried, Izumi," Raidon said, leaning across the table. "Is it because you can barely beat Umashiro these days?"

"What are you talking about?" Izumi shot back. "The last time I checked, Fenikagi easily thawed out Umashiro. What I'm trying to say is that Hyorimaru's at a completely different level than any of our zanpukto. He belongs to a Captain."

The rest of the Fourth Years laughed at this exchange –the two genii were so closely matched, the course of their training matches was impossible to predict.

After a while, the conversation turned to the pro and cons of each Sqaud, and onto where they wanted to go on graduating.

"I'm going into the 2nd Squad when I graduate," one of the girls in the group said eventually.

"So you're willing to put your life on the line, Aza?" one of the boys said. He was one of the laziest in the class, to the point where they all wondered how he had gotten into the Advanced Class. "That's what the Stealth Force is all about."

"Of course I am!" Aza shot back. "I'm willing to make that commitment to protect the Seiretei. Could you make that sort of commitment, Ryo?"

"Probably not," Ryo admitted, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm sorry, alright?"

"So where do you want to go, Rei?" Izumi asked another girl, a timid member of the group. Rei raised her head.

"I want to learn more about Healing Kido, so I guess Squad 4."

Another student laughed – it was Shota, one of the best when it came to Zanjutsu.

"Man, that's lame!" he said. Rei hung her head. "For me, the course ahead is crystal clear, and it's Captain Zaraki's Squad 11 for me."

"And that just proves that you're brawn and no brain," Izumi shot back, coming to Rei's defence. She allowed her Lieutenant-level reitsu to increase subtlety. Shota's laughter stopped abruptly.

"I…sorry, Rei," he hastily said, wanting to avoid a conflict with Izumi. "So you're not going to Squad 11, Izumi? Why not? I thought you were a Zaraki yourself."

"Maybe I am, but I'm not suited to join a combat unit," Izumi said. "Besides, Fenikagi's a kido-based element type. He'd just go to waste in Squad 11. Haven't you heard the whispers that they only allow melee-type zanpukto?"

"What about you, Raidon?" Aza asked, rejoining the conversation. "Where are you heading?"

"I have to join Squad 6, remember?" Raidon said, not liking the remainder about his duty to his family –he got that lecture from his father often enough.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Aza said, remembering far too late.

Naomi sat quietly, listening to the conversation around her. She was hardly aware of the world around her these days. Izumi knew what was happening –she was nearly at the stage where she could finally find and hear her zanpukto-spirit.

It was with a feeling of foreboding that she slipped into sleep in the empty room –Izumi was out late, probably still studying with the rest of the Fourth Years in the library. Apparently they had a test the following morning.

Now she knew how Izumi had felt a year ago, on the threshold of finding the name of her zanpukto.

As she slipped into dreams, she found herself on a moss-and-fern covered plateau, a wind whistling around her and through her hair. A few seconds later, a figure appeared before her where there had been nothing a moment before.

She was a towering figure, wearing a dress of the finest silk which rippled around her. A tiara adorned her pure golden hair. She had the face of something kind and yet terrifying. But she had no name.

"So I still cannot share my strength with you, Naomi?" the figure asked. That was the worst part –her zanpukto knew everything about her. And the tone made her shiver in her sleep.

The apparition faded as rapidly as it had appeared, a thread blown away on the wind.

Out of the two sisters, it was Naomi who excelled in kido in her year. But her other disciplines were poor, even with Izumi's constant training and pressure.

The two would train together, and everyone noticed a similarity between the two –both of them used relatively short weapons and moved with the same rolling grace, as though they had been trained by the same master, as though they were dancing rather than fighting. During these sessions, Izumi never used the unleashed Fenikagi against the unnamed zanpukto.

Izumi was more balanced than her sister; although she was better at Zanjutsu and Hakudo, she used Kido and Hoho as back-up styles of fighting. She was an average student in the general subjects of History, Law and Arithmetic.

She was as worthy as Raidon of her image as a genius. In a couple of years, she had almost completed a six-year programme.

Although she was unaware of it, there were great expectations from her teachers on Izumi's future, even if she lacked ambition and a clear idea of where she wanted to go after the Academy.

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