Three Years Later

January 7th

It's been three years since Namie met Takuro and she went to Shuno Academy. Namie excelled in most of her classes, scoring within the top twenty in the whole school. She was half way done with the academy and couldn't wait to graduate. She didn't know which division she wanted to join but she knew she had time to think about it.

She'd changed so much in three years that she couldn't believe she didn't want to go to the academy. She actually preferred fighting and training now.

'Way better than starving in Akaishi.'

Despite her good scores and hard work Namie still hadn't found her zanpakuto's name. She could talk to the zanpakuto but it was stubborn and refused to give her its name. Namie talked to the spirit every day with no luck. Sitting in the gardens of Shuno Academy, Namie once again fell into her spirit world.

Suddenly Namie was surrounded by darkness. She looked behind her and in front of her but she was shrouded in a world of darkness. She could not see anything; she could only hear the gentle movement of water, beneath her lay a large sea. She didn't know how far the black ocean reached because she could not see anything. She often spent hours in the darkness wondering what was out there, and wishing there would be a light to show her.

"Maybe if you opened your eyes you would see." A soft voice spoke within the darkness, Namie couldn't tell if the voice was male or female, young or old. She'd never seen the voice either. She knew that soft spoken voice was her zanpakuto; she felt drawn to it and wanted nothing more but to see it.

"My eyes are open." Namie grumbled, for a year she visited her inner world every day, each day was the same, her zanpakuto would tell her that her eyes weren't open even though Namie knew without a doubt that they were. She was growing tired of the riddles and games. All she wanted was to meet her spirit.

"You're eyes are open and yet you do not see." Namie's eye twitched, she was so bored of this, so tired.

"Maybe if there was some light, I'd be able to see." A laugh echoed in the darkness.

"Maybe, you just aren't ready to see." The voice sang, almost mockingly but almost sad too. Namie could tell her zanpakuto wanted to meet her just as bad. 'What am I doing wrong?"

"I don't understand, I visit every day, I train every day. I'm a whole year ahead of everyone else, so how am I not ready!" It was true. Namie trained every day. She memorized kido, she practiced shunpo, and she trained in hand to hand combat as well as swordplay. She spent more of her days training to become stronger. Takuro visited her once a week even, to help her train. Namie just could not understand why she couldn't meet her zanpakuto or learn its name. It shouldn't be that hard to learn a name. Instead she just stands in the darkness with a voice that mocks her.

"It you don't want to be in the darkness anymore. Then simply turn on the light." It was Namie's turn to laugh. Turn on the light? What a joke.

"We're in the middle of an ocean, how am I just supposed to just "turn on a light"." She argued back.

"How indeed." The voice mocked her again. Namie grew too frustrated to continue so she drew herself out of the spirit world.

Opening her eyes, Namie sighed; her zanpakuto was never helpful in giving her tips on how to awaken her shikai. She glanced down into her lap at her sword. It was a plain katana with nothing special about it, Namie wondered just what her zanpakuto would look like, she hoped it was beautiful yet powerful. She got up and placed her sword beside her bed, Namie did most of her meditation in her room. Her room was small, practically closet space with one window and a bed. Namie changed into a dark blue kimono and left her room. She decided that she was going to Tora-Tora, a bar just outside the academy. She briefly wondered if it was put there to help students unwind, which was exactly what she was about to do.

When she arrived, she instantly saw her friends Mika and Sora; they were also in the academy only they were two years behind her. Mika was a pretty girl with short brown hair and green eyes and Sora was tall man with blond hair and blue eyes.

"Hey guys, how long have ya'll been here?" She said while sliding into a chair beside them. Mika grinned with a red face, obviously intoxicated and Sora just laughed sheepishly while scratching his neck.

"Hahahahaah only since about….all day! Nami I'm sooooooo drunk!" Mika laughed as she leaned on Namie's shoulder and got close to her ear as if she was going to tell her a secret but just ended up laughing. Sora looked over at the waitress and held up his two fingers. About a minute later that same waitress was back with two sake bombs.

"H-hey Sora! Where's mine?!" She pouted and her already red face seemed to get even redder.

"I don't want you throwing up again." He said while rolling his eyes, Mika slammed both hands on the table and looked ready to explode she glared into Sora's eyes, Sora looked at her with a bored expression and a raised eyebrow. Mika glared for another thirty seconds before her face split into a huge grin and she sat back into her chair.

"Stupid Sora…trying to ruin all the fun, throw up one time and no one ever lets it go…" She mumbled to herself, Namie and Sora both looked at each other. Luckily Mika didn't ruin the fun for them.

"One…Two…THREE!" Sora and Namie yelled at the same time slamming their fists on the table. The sake fell into the drink and they both grabbed the glass and started chugging. After about four more sake bombs, it was safe to say Namie was drunk. She laughed loudly with Mika and Sora and told them about her confusing zanpakuto.

"At least you can hear yours. I can't even hear mine speak." Sora complained. Mika was about to say something when her eyes got wide and she just had her mouth hanging open like a fish. Both Namie and Sora followed her eyes to see what she was looking at. In the door way stood a tall man with a black shihakusho and a white haori. He had sliver hair and a grin so wide it looked like it hurt. The three of them instantly recognized him.

"Isn't that Ichimaru-Taicho?" Sora asked even though he already knew the answer. Mika nodded her head once. The man walked into the bar and over to a table with a black haired man and a blonde woman who had basketballs on her chest. Namie instantly recognized them both, Rangiku Matsumoto and Shuuhei Hisagi both were fukutaicho's. Ichimaru picked up Matsumoto and slung her over his shoulder, she looked even more drunk than Mika. She started protesting his help and began trying to argue with him. The man kept his foxy smirk and turned around to leave the bar. On his way out he passed our table and a still protesting Matsumoto looked up at us, she reached out and grabbed Namie's hair. Pulling on the long burgundy strands, Namie's head jerked forward.

"O-ow, let go!" Namie yelled as she was dragged out of her seat and a few steps forward by the fukutaicho.

"No! Help! Make him put me down." She yelped at Namie, the man stopped moving and looked back through slit eyes. 'How could he even see?' Namie wondered but her thoughts were cut short by his voice.

"Ran-chan, let her go." His voice was smooth and slightly higher pitched than one would expect from a grown man. His voice dragged similarly to Namie's own voice. Since he'd stopped moving Matsumoto wasn't pulling her hair though she still had it in a tight grip.

"No! You let me go Gin!" She slurred at him, Namie looked up at them through purple strands. This was so embarrassing, of all the things that could have happened to her.

"Why am I being dragged into this. If ya want him to put you down take it up with him. Stop pulling my hair!" Namie seethed at her, she was annoyed that this was even happening to her. Ichimaru-taicho laughed at her words and slowly put Matsumoto on her feet.

"There are ya happy Ran-chan."

Matsumoto let go of Namie's hair and did a small victory dance. Namie gently nursed her scalp which was aching from being pulled on.

"I'm sorry for Ran-chan's actions, little laaady." Namie froze her blue eyes slightly widening, her head was spinning, Ichimaru-taicho was speaking to her. She'd never spoken to a taicho before. She pulled herself back together and stood up straighter, while pushing her hair back into place.

"O-oh no, it's fine, don't worry 'bout it." Namie laughed while still adjusting her hair, and straightening out her kimono. She could feel him sizing her up.

"Yer not a shinigami yet, so ya must be a student, am I right?" He asked her, and suddenly Namie felt very self-conscious. She nodded quickly adding, " Yeah! I've got two years left." He nodded and hummed.

"Well then…uh what's yer name again?"

"Namie Hisari."

"Well Nami-chan, hope to see ya in the Seireitei, bye bye." He cheerfully said as he turned and left Matsumoto leaning on him for support. Namie just stood there and stared at the door.

"That was strange." Sora said from the behind her.

'Yeah, that was weird…..' Namie thought to herself, her intoxication completely gone.

Taicho-captain

Fukutaicho- lieutenant

This chapter is longer than the other two, some chapters will be longer and others shorter really depending on what I want to do with them. I hope ya'll enjoy the comedic relief.