I stayed with Mitaro while he slept. I even fell asleep once or twice. When I dreamt, I had the same dream I always had. The man on the rock in the sea of sand. Even though I couldn't see him, I could tell he was smiling a mocking smile. I knew that he snickered at my feeble attempts to get through the sandstorm. I still tried, futile as ever, but I knew that if I could make it to him I would understand what this dream was about. I walked through the sand again. I even tried to shunpo closer, but that didn't help. This time as I moved, the sand became wet. It got wetter as I moved and soon I was slogging through mud. The more I moved, the more I sank until soon I was completely submerged. Again, I woke up with a start.

Mitaro was sitting up in his bed. Both of us had had our wounds treated when we got back to Soul Society, but Mitaro had remained unconscious. I cleared my eyes and went to stand next to him.

"How are you feeling, Mitaro-kun?" I asked him.

He looked up at me and smiled weakly. "I feel like I've been hit in the head by Akage-san, but I think I'll recover sooner from this than if he really did hit me." We both laughed at his jest. I knew he'd be ok if he could make jokes like that.

He swung his legs off of the bed and stood up.

"Oy, Mitaro, do you think you should be up and moving already?" I asked with concern.

"Relax, it was just a case of overused reiastu. The sleep restored much of what I had used up. I'm fine now," he reassured me.

We walked out of the barracks to find half of our squad waiting for us. Everyong immediately bombarded us with questions about what happened.

"Is it true you guys fought off a hollow?"

"Was it really a Huge class?"

"How did you do it?"

"I heard those things are supposed to be super strong, and you two are just out of the academy?"

A voice shouted over everyone else's, "Hashibara Mitaro! Tsumiato Sai! Please come here!"

We looked at each other and stepped through the crowd. Kira-fukutaicho was standing near the door waiting for us.

"Yes sir?" we both said.

"The captain wants to talk to you about what happened. Come with me." He turned and left. Mitaro and I hurried after and followed him to the captain's office. Abarai-taicho was sitting behind his desk, hands steepled, deep in thought. At least it appeared that way. As we drew close, we could hear deep, rhythmic breathing and a slight snore. The captain was asleep.

"Excuse me Abarai-taicho," Kira-fukutaicho said softly, taking care not to surprise the captain. He took a cautious step around the desk and gently shook Abarai-taicho. The captain awoke with a snort and shook himself fully awake.

"What is it, Kira?" he asked, looking at his vice-captain.

"Sir, Hashibara Mitaro-san and Tsumiato Sai-san are here at your request," Kira-fukutaicho told him.

Abarai-taicho turned and looked at us appraisingly. We both shrunk back slightly at being scrutinized by the captain. Neither of us had ever been this close to a captain, let alone about to address one directly. He turned back to Kira-fukutaicho and said, "Very good. You are dismissed. I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting discussion."

"Yes, Abarai-taicho," the vice-captain said, bowing.

"Oy, oy. What have I said about that," the captain grumbled. "I hate that –taicho thing. Use –san." He lowered his voice and continued grumbling, "I hate –taicho."

Kira-fukutaicho smiled slightly and bowed again. He then slipped out the door and left us alone with the captain.

Abarai-taicho stood up and walked around the desk. He came right up to us and looked us both in the eyes. He was slightly taller than us and had to bend slightly. We looked back at him, not sure what to say, or even if we were supposed to say anything at all.

The captain suddenly turned away and walked back to his desk. He sat down and leaned forward. "Now, tell me what this is about."

Mitaro and I both started talking at once. Abarai-taicho held up his hands and gestured for us to stop and calm down. Mitaro and I looked at each other. He gestured that I tell the story. I swallowed and stepped forward, suddenly realizing that I alone would be talking to the captain of our division.

"Mitaro-kun and I were in the living world, searching for Plus souls to perform the Konso on. We hadn't found any so we got a little bored," I stuttered here, not sure whether or not to tell about our game. I decided not to leave anything out. "Mitaro and I started playing a game of tag. It ended when we felt the presence of a Hollow." I saw the captain's eyes smile when I mentioned the game, but his face darkened when I mentioned the Hollow. He motioned for me to continue. "We searched for the Hollow and found it when it attacked me. With no time to react, we were engaged in a fight. We had an opportunity to catch our breath and we determined to take it by surprise. When it charged again, Mitaro used shunpo to get above it. Without Mitaro there, it turned its full attack on me. Mitaro attacked it, but couldn't do anything more than cause it a little pain and a lot of irritation. Again, the Hollow backed off. This was the time that we called for help. Mitaro said that he had a plan, but if it didn't work he would be dead. Following his instructions I stayed back and sent a message to Kira-fukutaicho as Mitaro went into the fight."

"You stayed back as your comrade, a fellow new recruit like you, went to face a Huge class Hollow alone?" Abarai-taicho's voice grew angry. "What were you thinking?"

I stood straight up at his words. "Sir, I had no intention of leaving him alone. As soon as I had sent the message I was planning on attacking again. However Mitaro had already beaten the Hollow by then. He had released his zanpakuto and slain the Hollow before I had a chance to react."

Abarai-taicho's face changed from anger to shock as I finished. He looked from me to Mitaro and asked, "Is all this true?"

"Yes sir," Mitaro stammered, still uneasy at being addressed directly by a captain. "Everything happened as Tsumiato-kun has said."

"That is very impressive," the captain told him. "I've never known a new recruit to be able to defeat a Huge class Hollow."

"Sir," I spoke up again. "In our time at the academy Mitaro was regarded as a genius among the students. I'm not sure how the faculty saw him, but our peers always knew he was strong."

"A genius, eh?" Abarai-taicho looked at Mitaro. "If you were seen as a genius, why weren't you accelerated through the academy?"

Mitaro looked down at his feet and mumbled something.

"What was that?" The captain stepped directly in front of Mitaro and bent down to look him in the eye. "You should look your captain in the eyes when you speak to him. And speak clearly."

Mitaro looked up immediately. "I denied being accelerated."

"Oh? And why is that? I thought it was the dream of every student to become a full fledged shinigami."

"By the time the academy staff realized that I was so skilled, I had already become friends with many people. I wanted those friendships to remain. I wanted to help my friends through it. Most of all, I was afraid that if I graduated so much sooner than the others, our chances of getting placed into the same squad was diminished." Mitaro looked directly at Abarai-taicho as he spoke. After a moments pause he hastily added, "Sir!"

The captain looked thoughtfully at Mitaro. Suddenly he turned and walked to a bookshelf and studied some of the books. Without turning around he said, "You two are dismissed. You are excused from duties today. I'll inform Kira. Get some rest. You've earned it."

"Yes sir!" Mitaro and I both said. With a bow we turned and left the captain's office.