"Nazeka. Nazeka."

The voice continued to get clearer and clearer until I could finally tell who was calling my name. I opened up my eyes and waited until the blurriness faded. In front of me was Toushirou shaking my shoulder… with his jinbei shirt hanging open. My face burned as I sat up, quickly ran a hand through my hair, and made sure that my shirt was shut tight.

"W-What is it, Toushirou? What time is it?" I rubbed my eyes and quickly glanced out the window. It was still pouring down rain, so it was hard to tell if it was morning yet or not.

"Nazeka. I had the strangest dream. You and your zanpakutou spirit were in it. Syugoryuu, right?"

"Oh yeah. Toushirou, that wasn't a dream. It really did happen."

"But even the part about… you know… us being drawn together?"

"Well—" I began to say yes, but I thought about it for a second. Syugoryuu said that the experience would be one-way… but now that he told him too, it would feel more like we're being forced to love each other. Just say no. That's all you have to do. Say no, "I don't remember hearing that."

"So… I just dreamed that?"

"Yeah. I guess so," I grinned and playfully punched him in the arm, "What, did you just dream something of your inner wishes?"

I watched as his face changed to three different shades of red, "W-What are you—I mean, why the heck would I—No!"

I fell back onto the bed laughing, "I was just kidding. But damn, you seem to be serious!" But… maybe I am too…

"You jerk!" He smacked me in the head and stood up, fixing his shirt and going back into the other room. I called after him, "I'm sorry! I was just messing around! Sheesh…"

I stood up, looked outside again—the rain had slowed to just a mere sprinkle… finally!—and I could finally tell that it was sometime early in the morning, but now I was wide awake, so there was no going back to sleep. I changed into my normal wear—which was basically a black and red yukata—and rolled up my bed, tucking it back inside the closet. I took one more glance outside to see that the rain had stopped entirely.

"Yes! Hey, Toushirou! The rain stopped! That's good, right?"

"Yeah, it means I can go home now," He muttered, walking in the room with the clothes he had borrowed in his hands, "Here. I oughta get back. I'll see you later, then."

I took the clothes and he opened the door, but I grabbed his shoulder, "Damn, are you still upset about what I said? Jeez, I was just kidding. No need to take it so personally. Here, we can go eat now that the rain has stopped, so why don't we go together?"

"Thanks, but I need to go. Thank you for everything. I really mean it. Goodbye."

He shut the door behind him and I could hear his footsteps disappear outside, leaving me alone in my room. I stood there with my clothes still in my hands… wondering why he had been so eager to go back home.

Shinigami Academy

September 26th, 1951

"Hey, Nazeka!"

I heard my name being called and turned to the direction from which it came. Renji was standing there, waving his hand.

"Hey Renji! How's it going?" I asked when I ran up to him. He smirked, "Fine my short little friend," he ruffled my hair, "Ready for graduation?"

"You bet! I can't wait! I really wanna be in a squad already!" I fixed my hair.

"Where'd you apply? I applied to the fifth, sixth, eleventh, and thirteenth squads."

"I applied to the seventh, eighth, tenth, and thirteenth. But, wow, you applied to the eleventh! Damn, are you sure you're cut out for it?"

"Like hell I am! Why didn't you apply?"

"Because I know very well that I'm not qualified for that squad."

"Whatever. I think I'm qualified enough. Anyway, some kid wanted me to tell you something."

"Who? What?"

"Um, this white haired kid… he's a first year. Anyway, he wanted me to tell you that he wanted to talk to you during lunch today. He said he'd be waiting for you with a friend of his out in the courtyard."

"Really? Okay, thanks Renji," I turned around, but he grabbed my shoulder, smirking again, "So, does this little first year have a crush on you or something?" He started laughing, but I turned around and gave him the sweetest smile I could muster… right before kicking him hard in the shin. He stammered and crouched, holding his leg, "Ow! Damn it Nazeka!"

"Don't make fun of Toushirou in front of me, Renji. Next time you do, I'll make sure to kick you somewhere else," I said evilly, and his eyes widened. I turned around and waved, "See ya later, Renji!"

I ran down the hall and out into the next building—where our zanjutsu class was. I was almost late—the bell rang about a minute after I had arrived (Unfortunately for Renji… he was late). The instructor entered, made a small speech about our zanpakutou, and then explained that we would be learning how to unleash our shikai. Yes! I thought, Finally! I've been wanting to do this for forever!

He told us to sit and talk with our zanpakutou spirits, and once everyone had talked to them, he would pair us into groups and we would spar with each other… in front of everyone. Wait… but then everyone here would see… that's so unfair! What if we wanted to keep it a secret! ARGH!

We all sat in different places, and commenced the talking with our zanpakutou part. I closed my eyes, took my zanpakutou out of my belt, laid it on my lap, and focused. It wasn't long before I was taken into my inner world, this time out in the grassy plain.

"Hey there, Nazeka. This is unusual… you came to visit me during school hours. So, what do you need?" Syugoryuu whipped his tail and smiled, standing up out of the tall grass.

"We're learning how to unleash our shikai."

"Oh… that's what you guys are doing. Hmph, did the instructor say it wasn't going to be easy?"

"How so?"

"Well, you know how with learning bankai, you must defeat us and suppress us to bend to your will?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you just have to beat a challenge we assign you first."

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not," he grinned even wider, showing off his huge fangs.

"Don't tell me I have to endure more of your jokes."

"No, no, something much harder than that," his grin faded and he suddenly became serious, "Every master of mine has had to go through this test. Only one of them failed and died. Let's see if you can beat it."

"Well, what is it then?"

He looked up at the sky and smiled again, "You have to ride me."

"Wait, that's it?"

"I'm not finished. You have to ride me when I'm on a rampage."

"That still doesn't sound too bad."

He picked me up by the neck of my kosode and flew me to the gate separating Toushirou's inner world and mine. He roared, and Hyourinmaru quickly came to the gate. Immediately, Syugoryuu's nostrils flared, his back arched, he dug his claws into the ground, and he began to growl furiously. He's still so angry at Hyourinmaru, that just seeing him pisses him off.

"Nazeka, he goes on rampages often and easily. He'll attack anyone, even you," Hyourinmaru explained, obviously glad that he was safe on that side of the gate.

"Yeah, thanks."

I watched Syugoryuu carefully; his pupils dilated until they covered even the whites of his eyes, his mane stood on end, and his growling grew fiercer and fiercer in each passing second. He glanced at me, and before I knew it, his jaws were closing in on the air just in front of me, his huge fangs glistening. So, this is how that guy died… yippee. So, how am I gonna get on his back? Hmm…

I looked around for some way to climb on safely, but the only things were the trees—and he would surely just attack me in those—and the tower. Wait! The tower! That's it! I thought as his jaws snapped down on where I had been standing a few seconds ago. I quickly ran to the tower and climbed about a story worth of stairs and found the nearest window. I climbed into it and pressed myself outside as much as I would dare for fear of falling out.

The sound of his roar in the tower was deafening, and I could feel the old stone structure sway a little from the force of his body slamming into the sides of the tower as he quickly flew up the stairs. I waited for just the right moment, and as soon as he passed me on the stairwell, I jumped on his back, wrapping my arms around his neck as hard as I could. He flinched and slammed into the side of the wall, my head smashing against the old stone with bloodcurdling force.

Blood dripped down the side of my head, but I still held on, even as Syugoryuu bucked and writhed inside the cramped stairway. We climbed to the top and shot out of the opening, where he dropped down onto the platforms upside down, smashing me underneath him. My grip nearly faltered, but I clung on enough so I wouldn't fall.

He did several somersaults in the air, dove, thrashed about, and did about fifteen corkscrews before settling down just a little—giving me the chance I was looking for. I slid up farther on his neck, a few inches from being able to grab his horns. But as soon as he felt me shift, he climbed higher and higher into the clouds; I wondered how much farther we could possibly go. And as soon as I thought there was no way we could go any higher, he dropped like a stone and went into the steepest dive I've ever seen.

The force of the air was crushing, and I had trouble breathing from the pressure. The ground grew closer and closer, and I had no choice but to just try and move up a little farther. I don't know how I did it, but managed to reach and grab onto his horns, sliding me up onto the beginning of his neck. But grabbing his horns wasn't enough to control him, so I took one hand and reached out for one of his long whiskers, feeling the pressure build on my arm, and I just knew that my arm would surely be ripped off.

I grabbed it, making him yelp as I clutched it tightly in my hand. All I had to do was to grab the other and I could control him. I wrapped my elbow around one of his horns and tried to grab the other whisker; but I couldn't reach, so I let go of the horn and felt myself fly back as my legs were losing their hold on his neck. I flailed my hand in an attempt to grab the whisker as the ground came racing toward us.

Gotcha! I screamed in my head when my hand closed around the thick, soft whisker and I pulled on them both, making Syugoryuu's head come up and end the horrifying dive. I reseated myself on his neck and made sure I had a good grip on everything. He roared in pain as I made him go up, left, right, down, left again, and finally down to the ground in front of the tower.

He landed none too gently on the grass, and as soon as I let go, he lifted his head so I slid down his neck and onto his back. He bucked and I went flying off, landing on my back painfully in front of him, knocking the wind out of me. But he wasn't calmed down yet; his teeth were still bared and his growl still echoed in the trees, but Hyourinmaru released a roar that rang for miles, making Syugoryuu come to his senses and my skin crawl.

Hyourinmaru left after that—no congrats or anything—but Syugoryuu stood by my side and laughed, "Well, look at that, you're in one piece. That's a first. My last master was the one who died, but the two before that lost at least one limb."

"Well, that's—good," I choked out, still trying to breathe. He looked me over, "Well, no broken bones, but you'll certainly be bruised tomorrow."

"What about—my head?" I sat up and took a deep breath, wiping some of the blood off the side of my face. He looked at it closer, "No worries. I can fix that."

He licked the wound once and it was healed. I was amazed, but a little skeptical, "So you can do that, but is that it?"

"Is what it?"

"The wound is healed, but what about my skull?"

"It's fixed too. But I can't fix bruising. Besides, they'll be all over you."

Great… I thought as I wiped the rest of the blood off, "So, now that I beat your 'challenge', will you tell me how to unleash my shikai?"

"You earned it," he sighed, "Just say Kanzenchouaku* Syugoryuu, and whalah, shikai. It's time for you to head back. See ya later."

"Bye! Thanks, Syugoryuu!"

I opened my eyes and saw that I was back in the classroom, several of the others still asleep in their inner worlds. I stood up, put my zanpakutou back on my belt, and walked up to the front of the room.

"Master, I've gained my shikai."

"Good. Go wait out in the training area with the others."

"Yes, sir."

"Arghh!" Renji yelled, thrusting his sword against his oponent's—Mizuki Inuzuka—but was pushed back when Mizuki ducked and kicked Renji's legs out from under him. He got up and backed off, jumping to the other end of the training ground, yelling, "Hoero**, Zabimaru!"

His sword stretched into a wide black sword with jagged edges, with the very last edge sticking out like a dagger. He raised his arm and swung downward, his zanpakutou stretched, the different edges coming apart and wrapping around the Mizuki.

"Yeah! Renji!" I yelled, punching my fist in the air. Everyone else was screaming encouraging words too, including Kira and Momo, who sat beside me.

Mizuki's arms were trapped, and his loss was sealed when Renji ripped back Zabimaru and left thousands of jagged cuts all over the poor boy. He collapsed, dropping his unreleased zanpakutou and groaning as he hit the ground. Kira, Momo, and I stood up and yelled, "Way to go, Renji!" He heard us and grinned, resting his zanpakutou on his shoulder.

"Very good, Renji. You pass. Congratulations, you're ready to be part of the Gotei 13," Master said, and I felt my stomach drop. This test was to prove our worth as shinigami. For the next few months, we would be perfecting our shikai and our fighting skills, as well as our kido.

"Next, Nazeka Mamori and Momo HInamori."

We got up and stood on either end of the field. Master stood up and raised his hand, which was the signal to draw our zanpakutou. He dropped his hand, and sat back down as we took our stances.

"Hajike***, Tobiume!" Momo shouted, immediately releasing her zanpakutou. It changed into a silver blade with several smaller blades jutting out in right angles. She charged at me, and I slid to the left when she was a few inches away, quickly sheathing my zanpakutou and pressing against her right wrist with my palms, putting her behind me and facing the opposite way. I could hear the crowd to the side all cheering, with people screaming for either me or Momo.

"Did you see that! She put away her zanpakutou and just turned Hinamori around with her palms!"

"I think she's too cocky. Nazeka shouldn't put away her zanpakutou like that."

Momo turned around and raised her blade as it was covered with pink reiatsu that gathered at the tip and formed a ball. She brought down her blade and the ball launched into the air straight at me. I did a quick back bend and landed on my hands as the ball of reiatsu passed over my stomach and hit the ground behind me; I could hear the faint sound of bells ringing as it crashed into the dirt.

"Woah! Did you see that!"

"Who knew she was so flexible?"

"Yeah, Nazeka! Kick Hinamori's ass!"

"C'mon Hinamori, take this bitch down!"

I slowly raised myself up, feeling the pain in my back spread to my ribs and then to my pelvis. Ah crap. I really shouldn't have done that. I reached for my sword, but my arm was jerked back when an unsuspecting ball hit my in my right shoulder, burning it bad enough to reveal the skin and even burn deeper than that. I immediately grabbed my zanpakutou and backed off as Momo continued to fire those balls at me. Tch, ths is going to be harder than I thought. I can just simply dodge them constantly; after all, I'm not that flexible. But I'm better at Hakuda, not Zanjutsu. Okay, well…my shoulder's injured, I don't know what my zanpakutou does, and my entire abdomen is ringing with pain from that insane backbend. Well, might as well give my shikai a try since that's part of the point.

I held my blade in on hand and raised it over my left shoulder, screaming, "Kanzenchouaku, Syugoryuu!" I brought it down across to my right and watched as it changed. The guard and blade disappeared, leaving me with just the hilt. But twelve teal gray cords sprung from the hilt, each splitting into four other cords near the ends. On the very end of the cords were steel chains that ended in small razor sharp crescent blades.

Four more of the fiery orbs came flying at me, and I raised my arm, slicing through each of them with the ends of the whip. I brought down the whip and watched as the cord stretched and wrapped around Momo's left arm, digging the steel into her flesh. I pulled back and felt the crescents pull on her arm; she screamed as the steel came free, flying back. I raised my hand, but I suddenly felt something strange in my arm.

I looked to the side of me and saw the image of a young man holding onto my arm at the wrist and gently touching me on my shoulder. He had wild steel gray hair that was pulled into a loose ponytail at his waist; but it didn't end until about the backs of hi knees. He had two long strands of hair on either side of his head that curved around him and two scars on either jawbone. His eyes were yellow and he wore traditional 18th Century clothing with a chain around his waist in the same crescent symbol as my guard. His hands were cold, scaly, and clawed, like birds feet.

He looked at me and smiled, taking my hand and guiding it gently across my body, back up, to the left, the right, and then down. The whip stretched and curved around until it had completely surrounded Momo and closed around her, just Renji's had done. He pulled it back and I watched as Momo's skin was tainted with her own blood when the crescents ripped through her body.

This time, she held in her screams and stayed standing, much to my displeasure. But the man next to me sighed and let go of my hand and pointed to my left arm. I glanced over at it… but then did a double-take. My arm was bleeding as much as hers was, and then I saw that my clothes were soaked with blood. But I had never been hit! How was that even possible! The only thing that should be injured is my shoulder, and it should only be burned!

"Do you know what Kanzenchouaku means, Nazeka? It means 'to reward the good and punish the evil'. Momo hasn't done anything evil, so what happens when you attack someone innocent is that the wounds you inflicted will be inflicted on you… even worse. As you see, you just did something evil by attacking someone innocent," Syugoryuu's voice rang inside my head.

But what about her? She's attacking me, who's also innocent! I haven't done anything evil!

"…You lied to Toushirou."

I stopped. This was true. But there had been a good reason, and besides, Syugoryuu hadn't even kept his promise not to tell!

"It doesn't matter. That was selfish. You've done something evil, so she's in the right."

So even my own zanpakutou was against me. Well then, fine. I returned my sword to normal form and sheathed it. I flash stepped over to Momo and did a roundabout kick to her head, which she blocked using her Tobiume. But while I was still in the air, I flipped around and kicked her on the other side, knocking her to the ground. I was about to continue, but the Master interrupted us.

"Enough. Mamori, Hinamori, you've both passed. You showed extraordinary skills out there today. When Mamori realized that Hinamori had a long range attack, she backed off, using the distance to measure how much time she had until the attacks would hit her, using her brain and defensive well. Mamori also used her head by using another long range attack that had a better chance of hitting the target. And when she realized that her shikai had a major weakness, she switched back to Hakuda, her next primary offense and defense.

"As for Hinamori, by using a long range attack, she could push Mamori back, forcing her to use her zanpakutou instead of allowing her to use her primary offense tactic. Then she had the strength to continue fighting even when she was severely injured. Well done, both of you. I'm interested in seeing how you two will develop as shinigami over the years."

We bowed to Master, "Thank you," and Renji and Kira joined us to take us to the infirmary.

I looked around the courtyard where a bunch of people were hanging out, eating lunch. Leave it to Toushirou to fail to tell me where he'd be waiting in the courtyard… I leaned against one of the many pillars and waited. Who was that guy that guided my hand today? That couldn't have been Syugoryuu, could it?

"Jeez, what happened to you?"

I jumped and spun around to see Toushirou standing there with a black haired boy about my height and age. They were both eyeing the bandages on my hand and my torn clothes. I shrugged, "Just a Zanjutsu class exercise."

"Well, damn, that must've been some exercise."

"We learned how to use our shikai today. Anyway, who's this?" I smiled at the other boy. Toushirou explained, "This is Kusaka Soujirou. He's in my class. Oh… and we have the same zanpakutou," He muttered, obviously not too happy. Kusaka smiled, "Hey there. Nice to meet you. You must be Nazeka. Toushirou talks about you a lot."

I didn't respond. '"So you have two masters now?'" Syugoryuu's fight with Hyourinmaru… was over these two close friends who have the same zanpakutou. How horrible!

"Er, Nazeka?"

"Oh, yeah, pleasure to meet you too, Kusaka. Toushirou told me about you."

"Well, that's good to hear."

"Nazeka, I was wondering if you'd eat lunch with us today," Toushirou muttered, and I chuckled, "Sure. Where shall we eat?"

"Over there," he motioned to a tree in the left corner of the yard. We all moved over there and sat down in the shade, unpacking our lunches.

"So, you wanted to talk to me, Toushirou?"

"Yeah, but I'll tell you later."

"Okay…" I said, a little disappointed. I tried to pull out the wrapped onigiri, but my arms were so torn up, that it was hard to unwrap them or even hold them; it was just too painful. I was fidgeting with the wrapping, but then a hand grabbed mine. I looked up and saw Toushirou—with his expression completely nonchalant. His hand slid underneath mine and unwrapped the onigiri; and he picked it up and held it up to my mouth, "Here. Your hands must hurt."

"T-Thanks…" I could feel my face burn as I took a small bite. He set it down in my lap and took a bite of his own rice.

"So—Kusaka," I forced the rice down my throat to speak, "You also have Hyourinmaru as a zanpakutou. How did that happen?"

"I… I don't know. I mean, I had wanted to be a shinigami when I was little, but I didn't have a big enough spiritual pressure, so I knew they wouldn't accept me. I concentrated so hard on raising my reiatsu, and then one day, I finally gained a large spiritual pressure. Maybe Toushirou's Hyourinmaru heard me and wanted to help me."

Yeah, but you don't realize what an incompetent bastard you are. Do you not know what will happen to Toushirou! You prize your zanpakutou more than your friends. You're not fit to have either of them.

"Wow, that's so… unusual. I've never heard of two people having the same zanpakutou. I wonder how they'd tell the two reiatsus apart."

"I don't think they can…" Toushirou muttered, stuffing his mouth with rice. He picked up my onigiri again and held it up to my mouth, but I took it and held it delicately, "No, it's okay, I can do it. It's just my arms and my palms. I can pick them up," I took a bite out of it and shrugged, "See?" But when I tried to pick up my water bottle, pain shot up my arm. Tears welled up in my eyes, and I tried to ignore them.

"Must I help you with everything?" He picked up the water bottle, opened it, and held it up to my mouth; but this just irritated me. I mean, I know that he was just trying to help, but the thing that just bothered me was that I had trouble eating my own lunch. If I want to be a good shinigami, I need to learn to take the pain. So I took the bottle from his hands and drank it myself… even though the pain built up in my elbow and wrist, and my bandages were getting redder by the second.

"You idiot! Don't force yourself to use your hands if it causes you pain!" He grabbed the water bottle and set it on the grass before grabbing my arm and examining it, making sure that the bleeding had stopped.

"You certainly care a lot about Nazeka, don't you?" Kusaka teased, and Toushirou immediately let go of my arm, stuttering, "Well, y'know, we're—we're friends after all. Friends look out for each other don't they?"

"Yeah, I suppose they do," he replied, grinning and taking a sip of his water, "If that's the case then, I hope that you and I become great friends, Nazeka."

I nearly spit out my water, but after regaining my senses, I swallowed it quickly, saying, "Oh, w-well, I do too." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Toushirou roll his eyes.

We sat and continued eating, talking about different things, like school, and what we were hoping to accomplish when we graduated. Then the bell ran soon after, alerting us that lunch was over. I stood up, and Toushirou helped me pick up my lunch before saying goodbye and disappearing with Kusaka.

I had only one impression of Kusaka from that lunch… and that was that I absolutely hated him.

Nazeka's Room

March 28th, 1952

I felt something fall on my chest early the day after my graduation while I was in bed… trying to sleep in.

"Hey, Nazeka, wake up! You've got some interesting stuff today that the Captain wanted to give to you," Kaien's voice was loud and disruptive, forcing my eyes open so I could glare at him.

"This is one of the only days I get to sleep in. Go the hell away!" I pulled the covers over my head and groaned, and I felt whatever he had dropped slide off. My covers were ripped back and Kaien hit me on the head, "Get up! I wouldn't get used to sleeping in if I were you. Here," He picked up what had slid off and handed them to me. It turned out to be several folded pieces of paper. I took them and opened them up; and after reading halfway down the page, the papers fell out of my hands.

"…I… I got a seat? I got fourth seat?"

Kaien nodded, grinning, "Under my recommendation of course." I jumped up and hugged him tight yelling, "Thank you, Kaien! Thank you!" He struggled underneath my grip and eventually pushed me off him, picking up the papers.

"You do know that you start in three days, right?"

"Yeah, I read that. I can't believe it! I'm a fourth seat under you and Ukitake!"

"That's Ukitake-taicho now. You were allowed to call him that when you weren't in a squad, but now that he's your captain, you're required to address everyone with their proper suffixes. Which means—"

"—I have to call you Shiba-fukutaicho? Aw, I'm going to miss calling you Kaien."

He sat there in silence for a second, "Or I suppose you could call me Kaien-dono if you want, like Rukia."

"Yay!" I yelled, hugging him again, but he immediately pushed me away and stood up, clearing his throat, "Anyway, as of three days from now, you will be the fourth seat of the thirteenth squad; therefore you will have more duties than a normal class officer. Your shihakushou will be here tomorrow and you are allowed to stay in this room, but you will report to us each morning at 6 a.m. to receive your instructions for whatever mission you are assigned."

"Yes sir!"

He left soon after, and I laid back onto my bed, just about bursting with excitement.

*Kanzenchouaku Syugoryuu—means 'Punish Guardian Dragon'. Technically, Kanzenchouaku means 'to reward the good and punish the evil'.

**Hoero—'Roar'.

***Hajike—'Snap'.