A/N: Thanks very much to those who have reviewed so far. I know this may seem like a slow start, but I haven't seen many fanfics that go into much depth about the Shinigami Academy, which has always fascinated me as hardly anything is known about it. So, I thought I'd try my hand at describing it, and shall continue to (attempt to) do so as the story progresses. And don't worry, Renji will meet up with his old flame very soon.
Please continue to review! Any feedback or criticism is welcome.
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Slowly out of line
And drifting closer in your sights
So play it out, I'm wide awake
It's a scene about me
There's something in your way
And now someone is gonna pay
And now you'll lead the way
Show the light of day
Nice work you did
You're gonna go far, kid
--You're Gonna Go Far, Kid, The Offspring
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Renji rolled over for what seemed like the millionth time that night, his hands clutching fistfuls of the bed sheets and crumpling them together. His body was wound so tightly it felt like he was made of wire. Calm down, he thought, but that repetitive mantra had long since lost its meaning. The dormitories of the Soul Reaper Academy just so much quieter than it had been back in the shacks in Hanging Dog. As he lay on his back in the darkness, staring at the ceiling, the only sound he could hear were the soft chirps of the crickets in the grass. There were no distant shouts, or clanking noises of merchant carts in the distance. Even in the middle of the night, Hanging Dog was never silent for long.
Yes, the Seireitei was definitely going to take some getting used to.
You'll need all the sleep you can get, genius. First classes are tomorrow, and you won't be able to keep up if you pass out halfway through the day.
He knew his insomnia was going to come back and bite him in the ass later, but it still didn't make it any easier to fall asleep. Wistfully, he wondered if Rukia and Tatsuyoshi were having the same problems falling asleep. Rukia probably is, he conceded, remembering how they used to snuggle together in the dark shack, his arms around her and her hair tickling his nose. Ever since they had first met, they had slept together. She was probably just as wide-eyed and awake as he was, unfamiliar with the lack of strange noises and the warmth of another body to ward away the outdoor chill. Tatsuyoshi, on the other hand...
Renji smirked slightly to himself in the dark. Despite having known the boy for only two days, he already felt quite familiar with him, and definitely had his personality down to pat. The kid was lazier than anyone he had ever seen, preferring to yawn and grin his way through life rather than put in effort. Frankly, Renji was somewhat surprised he had made it into the advanced class with such a laid-back attitude. Just earlier that day (well, it's past midnight now anyway, so it would be yesterday, Renji thought), he and Rukia practically had to drag Tatsuyoshi over to the Lecture Hall to register for their electives. Not only did Tatsuyoshi sleep in and miss breakfast, but right after eating he wanted to go and take another nap. Rukia had resorted to cajoling him to the building with the prospect of seeing if there were any extra zanjutsu classes. If there was one thing Tatsuyoshi seemed to enjoy – besides food and sleeping – it was swordplay.
The Lecture Hall was the largest building on campus, spanning an area so large Renji had almost been certain that the entire market district of Hanging Dog would have been around the same size in comparison. In any case, the massive building stretched more than a city block, surrounded by courtyards and flower gardens and even a hedge maze. The size and diversity of the Academy grounds never ceased to amaze him.
Outside the main doors, a group of Hell Butterflies were relaying a message across campus. "Welcome, new students, to the Soul Reaper Academy! You are now part of a proud tradition: a unique school dedicated to building the stealth forces and the 13 Court Guard Squads of the future. Apply yourselves diligently to your studies, and uphold the honour of our school!"
On the first floor of the Lecture Hall, Renji and Rukia had almost gotten lost in the many halls, wandering past classrooms and examination rooms, together with a vast crowd of other students, who had chosen that time of day to register for extra courses. Although the registrations took place throughout the entire day, Renji had decided to go early to beat the crowds, and Rukia had agreed with him. However, it seemed as though half the Academy first years had been of the same mindset. The hallways were immediately packed with students wandering in a panic until Tatsuyoshi, who knew the layout thanks to his brother, finally took pity on them and led the congregation to the Registration Room.
There had been a plethora of electives to choose from, and Renji was quickly overwhelmed with the sheer variety of the courses. While some were generic, such as advanced kidō and hakuda, some were incredibly obscure, such as calligraphy. And the list went on: Politics and Government, Research and Scientific Development, Healing... half of them looked boring as sin, but the other half interested Renji greatly. Unfortunately for him, first years had to take one mandatory elective, while only a second could be selected optionally. In the end, after poring over the vast course list, he chose Reiatsu Control and Meditation, a group course dedicated to teaching Soul Reapers how to draw upon, balance, and control their spiritual pressure, and Zanpakutō Theory, which taught Soul Reapers the inner properties of their Zanpakutō, as well as how to communicate with their spirits. Tatsuyoshi chose the same electives, while Rukia opted for advanced kidō in place of Reiatsu Control and Meditation.
After their courses were chosen, the threesome had headed back to the Residence Hall, which was a collection of dormitory buildings grouped together on the southern side of campus. While both Renji and Tatsuyoshi had been assigned to Unit A, the boys' side of the first year residence building, Rukia had been placed in Unit B, somewhere on the fifth floor. Renji was on the second, while Tatsuyoshi was on the fourth floor somewhere, most likely annoying his roommate to tears with his snoring.
Renji had been one of the lucky few assigned to a single room. There were only a few on each floor, and they were given randomly to new students. Renji was very pleased to hear it, since it meant he wouldn't have to worry about cleaning up after himself all the time or annoying anybody else. And after hearing Tatsuyoshi snore after falling asleep at the courtyard fountain that night after dinner, Renji was even happier about being placed solo.
His schedule had arrived later that evening, sent to his room by a mail order from the Lecture Hall. It was simple and to the point.
Student: Renji Abarai
Dormitory: Residence Hall, Building One – Unit A, Room 267
Class Schedule (Advanced Placement)
Monday/Wednesday:
Hohō – Theory (8:30-9:30 a.m.), Lecture Hall, Room 165
Hohō – Practical (9:40 – 11:00 a.m.), Training Hall, Room 19
Soul Society History (11:10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.), Lecture Hall, Room 317
Lunch (12:00 – 1:00 p.m.)
Zanjutsu – Practical (1:10 – 3:00 p.m.), Training Hall, Room 11
Rieatsu Control and Meditation (3:10 – 4:40 p.m.), Training Hall, Room 25
Tuesday/Thursday:
Kidō – Theory (8:30 – 9:30 a.m.), Lecture Hall, Room 212
Kidō – Practical (9:40 – 11:00 a.m.), Training Hall, Room 3
Hollow Theory and Training (11:10 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.), Lecture Hall, Room 370
Lunch (12:00 – 1:00 p.m.)
Hakuda – Practical (1:10 – 3:00 p.m.), Training Hall, Room 9
Zanpakutō – Theory (7:30 – 9:00 p.m.), Training Hall, Room 13
Friday:
Hollow Theory and Training (9:30 – 11:00 a.m.), Lecture Hall, Room 370
Lunch (12:00 – 1:00 p.m.)
Zanjutsu – Practical (1:30 – 3:00 p.m.), Training Hall, Room 11
After taking one look at his schedule, Renji knew that Tuesdays and Thursdays were going to be the bane of his existence. Goddamn Kidō.
He tossed once more in bed, heaving a great sigh. It was dark outside, but getting slightly lighter. He could see the barest hint of purple in the otherwise black sky. Renji groaned to himself. That's it, I'm screwed for tomorrow. No way am I going to function well on zero hours of sleep.
Stretching his legs out beneath the soft quilt, Renji began counting backwards from one hundred, hoping he would be asleep by the time he hit fifty. One hundred... ninety nine... ninety eight...
x x x x
"You look like shit," Tatsuyoshi said promptly, as soon as Renji sat down at their usual table in the mess hall. Renji gave an incoherent grunt and reached out for a bowl of rice porridge, spooning it into his own bowl. Tatsuyoshi's plate was already loaded with everything in the immediate proximity; Rukia was sipping green tea and daintily eating a piece of grilled fish.
"How come you look so tired, Renji?" Rukia asked, spearing a piece of fish with her fork and popping it into her mouth. She looked completely fine. Renji rubbed his eyes tiredly. He didn't entirely want to tell her that he couldn't sleep because he missed the feel of her next to him – not in front of Tatsuyoshi, anyways. His cheeks reddened and he shrugged. "Couldn't sleep. I was up all night, just thinking about stuff. You know, courses and all."
"Why the hell would you want to think about courses outside of courses?" Tatsuyoshi looked positively alarmed. "They have classrooms for a reason."
"You're going to have homework, you know," Rukia said pointedly. Tatsuyoshi gave an exaggerated shudder and stuffed a mouthful of nattō into his mouth. "Dnnt sy sch trrbl thngs," he said, cheeks bulging.
"Gross," Renji said offhandedly. With what looked like great effort, Tatsuyoshi swallowed. "Don't say such terrible things."
The room was full of excited activity as students bustled in and out of the main doors, heading towards the cafeteria. Renji had finally given sleep up as a bad job when dawn breached the sky, and after getting changed into his uniform had spent the entire morning watching the lightening sky. At seven thirty he finally went down to breakfast, unable to stand the nervousness any longer.
Rukia finished with her fish and blotted her mouth carefully with her napkin. She looked petit and gentle in her white uniform, with her red hakama. Renji and Tatsuyoshi were dressed in identical clothing, except that their hakamas were blue.
Within minutes Tatsuyoshi had cleared his plate and gone for seconds. Renji was having enough trouble choking down one bowl of rice porridge. "How does he do it?" he asked, watching Tatsuyoshi make his way back across the mess hall.
"Do what?"
"Just, breeze through life like that."
Rukia shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. He was from a better part of the Rukongai, so he didn't have it as bad as we did. But then again, he just seems to be a generally relaxed person."
"Yeah, I guess," Renji mumbled, watching the tables around him. "I can't wait to get started, though. I'm gonna get to the top of my class in no time!"
"You would think that," Rukia sniffed.
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?!" Renji growled.
"It means you're all brawn and no brains," Rukia snapped back. "You need intelligence to do well here, not just muscles!"
"What do you know?" Renji smirked and patted her condescendingly on the head. "You're just in the regular class. They probably don't talk about the big stuff in front of you—"
A vein throbbed on Rukia's forehead. "Why, you insensitive—"
"Don't push me—"
Tatsuyoshi sat back down, watching the two with growing amusement. As they snarled and wrestled with one another, drawing the attention of half the room, he glanced furtively left and right. Perfect, a diversion! He reached out with his chopsticks and stole a large chunk of Renji's rice and, when no one seemed to care, swiped the whole bowl.
x x x x
Twenty minutes later, when Tatsuyoshi finally managed to disentangle Renji and Rukia, they set off across the courtyard towards the massive Lecture Hall. Rukia had wanted to allow them at least half an hour's grace period to find their respective classrooms. Many of the other students had the same idea, and were strolling across the courtyard through the light morning sun. Several older students were also making their way across the grounds, looking tall and impressive in their uniforms.
They split up upon reaching the Lecture Hall. Rukia wandered off to her regular Hohō class, and Tatsuyoshi went off to Kidō theory. "Don't be an idiot and spend the next ten minutes looking for your classroom, Renji," he called over his shoulder as he walked down the hall.
"Like I'd be that stupid," he scoffed back.
Fifteen minutes later he tore into the classroom, eyes roaming the rows of desks. Several students looked at him quizzically as he moved in through the door, gasping for breath. Ignoring them, Renji quickly chose an empty seat on the right side of the room, near the middle. The room was only about half-full, but more students were trickling in as the clock ticked. The instructor, a large bald man with dark skin and shining glasses, was standing at the forefront of the room in front of a lecture podium, waiting for all the students to arrive.
At last, when the room was full and every seat was taken, the man raised his head. "Good morning, freshmen!" he boomed. "My name is Gengoro Ounabara. I am pleased to inform you that your exam scores were the highest. In other words, welcome to the advanced class!" He looked around the room, as though expecting them all to burst into cheers. "Of course, this means that expectations are higher for you, as well. You must train hard and strive to not merely serve your future squad, but to excel in each of your various pursuits!"
Man, this guy's like a broken record, Renji thought distastefully, his chin resting on his palm as he fought to look interested. Just how many times has he given this stupid speech?
"Now, class, we are going to get started with hohō theory. Many of you may think that hohō is a generic skill that simply requires practice, rather than note-taking. Guess what? You're wrong!" Ounabara bellowed, causing half the class to jump. "Hohō is one of the most refined arts in the Soul Reaper Academy, and it is also very difficult to master. As such, you will need to understand the basics as well as the fundamentals of this art before attempting to perform it. Take out your notebooks now; we'll begin with a quick history of shunpo and its applications in the field..."
Renji spent the next hour jotting down notes, paying close attention to the echoing voice of Ounabara. While the man was boring, he definitely wanted to excel in his physical studies, and if that meant having to suffer through extended periods of note-taking and lecturing, so be it.
When the bell rang, Renji had filled two and a half pages of his book with writing. Writing down the date in the top right hand corner of the pages, he collected the notes into a shoulder bag he had been supplied with and hurried with the crowd of students out of the door. He had only ten minutes to get to the Hohō field at the Training Hall, and he didn't even know where to find it. Grimacing, he began to sprint down the hallway, heading for the Lecture Hall entrance.
He spotted the Training Hall almost immediately after getting outside; it was a large building in the distance that appeared to have many open sections. It took him almost five minutes to reach it, and he couldn't even find his room for another ten. At last, he came across a wood sign with "Room 19" written across it, just outside a large gym. Swallowing hard, he pulled the door open and entered.
The instructor was already in the middle of lecturing the class as Renji approached awkwardly from the side. The group of students were all sitting in rows on the gym floor. Several of their heads turned in his direction as he approached, before turning back to the instructor.
"Who the hell are you?" the large man said gruffly, looking over at him. He was dressed in Soul Reaper robes and had a thick, bushy moustache.
"Renji Abarai, sir. I'm sorry for—" he started, but the teacher cut him off.
"You're obviously not one of my students, because you walked through that door five minutes late. My students get here on time. My class starts at 9:40 a.m. sharp."
"I-I'm sorry," Renji stammered. "I got lost."
"You want a map then? I'm assuming you don't need one to take a seat."
Ignoring the soft muttering around him, Renji turned rigidly and moved to a spot at the back row, his face flaming. So what if he had gotten lost? It was his first day. He had never been to the Training Hall before.
Just suck it up, he thought, rolling his shoulders. There was no point moping about it; he had been chewed out and that was that. He would just have to try extra hard to make the teacher respect him.
"Now, I cannot teach you hohō until your conditioning is at a level that allows me to do so," the instructor yelled out to the room. "You know what that means? For this entire period, you will run." A outbreak of muttering swept across the rows; the instructor cleared his throat loudly and the chatter died off immediately. "If you are late, you will run. If you give me attitude, you will do push ups. So you can push up, or shut up. That's up to you."
This guy's nuts, Renji thought dismally.
"All right, everybody get up. I want to see how many laps of this gym you can do in one hour and twenty minutes." Sighing, Renji pushed himself to his feet along with the other students. The instructor raised a whistle to his lips and blew it loudly. "Hop to it."
The sound of pounding feet immediately resounded across the gym as the students began their laps in a large crowd. Renji quickly moved to the head of the group, slipping in between students to get there. He was determined to not come off as weak, and the only way to do that was to be the best. Gritting his teeth, he felt the blood beginning to rush through his body as he ran.
Suddenly a girl pulled up next to him, dark red hair pulled into a ponytail. "Hey there," she said easily, her voice calm despite the uneven jogging.
"H-hi," Renji said, surprised. He had no idea who she was, but she seemed completely at ease.
"You've got a very determined look about you, fellow student," the girl said, grinning. Her maroon eyes were wide and mischievous. She looked athletic and pretty, with long legs and a firm chest. He felt heat rising in his cheeks and was glad they were exercising.
"I could say the same about you," Renji pointed out, covering.
"Yeah, well," the girl said offhandedly, "Sensei Okamodo's kind of a hard ass. I'd hate for him to think me as a delicate little flower, since I fully plan on kicking his ass later on in the year."
Renji nearly tripped in surprise. The girl had spunk, that was clear. But it was also amusing. She shot him a sunny grin as she ran, her ponytail bouncing. "So what about you, Red Pineapple?"
"Red... what the hell?!" Renji sputtered. "What the hell kind of name is that?!"
The girl shrugged. "Well, your hair's red and you have it in that spiky ponytail. I've got to call you something, haven't I?"
"And you couldn't think of anything less stupid than that?!"
She winked at him. "Maybe. Who knows?"
Renji growled at her. "I'm gonna make you regret that."
"Ooh, a challenge?" the girl said brightly, picking up her pace. "Tell you what, I'm going for two hundred laps. If you can beat my score, I won't call you Red Pineapple anymore. Okay, Red Pineapple?"
"Hey!" he shouted, but she was already gone, sprinting off ahead, giggling. Renji shook his head and tore after her, his feet pounding on the hard wood floor as he hurried to catch up.
They all ran for the next hour. His limbs grew watery and started burning, but he refused to stop of give up. He kept pace with the girl throughout the entire time, running at her side. She grinned at him every now and then; he would respond in kind, both of them unconsciously goading the other on. His face became drenched with sweat, and his feet fell heavier on the floor. The girl's red hair became damp with sweat, her ponytail fluttering behind her. The rest of the class became more and more dispersed, as the slower students fell to the back of the group and the faster ones overlapped them.
"Ready to give up yet?" she panted, at an hour and ten minutes. Renji shook his head. "Not even close," he gasped. A stitch was digging painfully into his side.
"Keep moving!" Sensei Okamodo shouted. "Only ten minutes left!"
The girl gave him a strained smile. "Sorry, Pineapple, but this is where we part ways."
"What do you—?" he started, when the girl suddenly vanished from next to him. He nearly tripped in surprise. She was moving so quickly around the room it was as though she were flying. Panicked, Renji also put on a burst of reserved speed, but he still couldn't catch the girl. She raced around him time after time, until finally the whistle blew for the final time.
"All right, we're done!" Sensei Okamodo called. The majority of the students collapsed where they stood, gasping for breath. Several of them hobbled over to benches on the sidelines of the room, falling heavily into them and reaching for water bottles in their bags. Renji followed them, his heart fit to burst inside his chest. His entire body (his face, especially) was radiating heat; he could feel it pouring from him in waves every time his heart beat. He slumped heavily onto a bench, reaching down with shaking hands for a water bottle. Popping the cap, he dumped the lot over his head, sighing as the liquid seeped over his hair and down his shirt.
"Hey, there," the girl panted, dropping down next to him. Her ponytail was sticking damply to her neck and her face was as red as his own. "Fun run, don't you think?"
Renji groaned. The girl laughed breathlessly. "You did pretty well, you know."
"Thanks." He had reached two hundred and seventeen laps, which was quite an impressive feat. The next freshman had only reached one eighty. "You're really good too. I've never seen someone move as fast as you." The girl had reached an astonishing two hundred and thirty two laps, the difference between them being made up in the last several minutes.
"Thanks," she beamed, pulling out her own water bottle and taking a long draught. "But you know what this means, don't you?"
Renji groaned again.
"I'm sure we're going to have a long and beautiful relationship, Red Pineapple," she grinned, hobbling to her feet. "See you later!"
The bell rang and she all but danced out of the gym. Renji shook his head. Girls. Who understood them?