A/N: Hey, thanks for the reviews so far! They're really encouraging.

Just to clarify certain things. Shiro is not imbalanced. The others are just weak. It's pretty much the comparison between Hollow+Bankai Ichigo and the first Ichigo without Zangetsu.

Well, now that that's done, let's get the party started!

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. I do, however, own the OCs thus far.

Chapter 9

On the way to the Kido examinations, we passed by group three; Yosuke's group. The man himself had a bored look on his face, and as we passed each other, he gave a quick wink.

That probably meant he did well, so I probably had to bring myself up as well. Meh, no problem.

The facilitator of their group, Omaeda nodded to Shuhei as they passed one another, which he returned curtly.

We broke off from them when we made…another left turn. Having practically zero sense of direction, I wasn't sure whether we were going in a circle or not, so I turned to ask Akiro to confirm.

"No, we're not moving in a circle. It's more of a… I don't know what it's called, but to answer your question, no."

Great. Onward to Kido, then!

Kido really was boring. All they asked us to do when we reached there was form a sphere of reishi above our palms. At least, until someone asked whether they could actually demonstrate some Kido they knew.

The two instructors, Instructor Maeda and Instructor Aiko (once again, a guy and a girl) had replied with a yes, and affirmed that more marks could be earned that way. The feminine instructor also added that only legitimate and registered Kido spells would be accepted.

Without any further ado, five of the ten candidates volunteered to perform Kido, myself being one of them. Ayame had volunteered as well, but Akiro seemed content with where he was, with a solidified reishi sphere thrice as big as his head.

Impressive.

Although elf-lady did offer to give me imaging tips to help with the formation of the sphere, I decided to attempt Byakurai instead. If more marks could be obtained, why not give it a shot?

Remember, Shiro, don't build up too much power.

Right, right. One more question.

What is it?

How do I use Eishohaki?

Chant the incantation in your mind, while actively directing the reiatsu as you would if you were speaking out loud.

Oh…I get it. So when we speak out loud, it's just the thoughts that matter.

Something like that, yes.

Great… Now how did the words go again?

I ran through the incantation with elf-lady once more. Since it was an exam, I wanted to get it right.

Even though things got a little more exciting, it was still pretty dull as three of them picked a beginner's binding spell, Sai. It was the first spell of Bakudo. Now, if there were some lights or signs of energy flow, it would've perked me up a little, but no, there was absolutely nothing besides the binding of the instructor's arms behind his back. What was even lamer, two out of three of them failed to completely seal his arms, resulting in controlled freedom of movement.

Ayame had snickered at the two failures, and didn't even look remotely impressed by the only successful attempt. Personally, it wasn't awe-inspiring to begin with, so I wasn't impressed as well. Out of respect, I clapped alongside the others. As with Ayame and I, Akiro looked bored as well.

"Next!" Instructor Maeda, who had just broken free from the Sai, called out. Despite his small frame, he had a very powerful voice which could probably reach to the Hakuda room.

Without any hesitation or signs of nervousness, Ayame stepped forward. She calmly stated to Instructor Aiko that she would be invoking Bakudo number nine, Horin. Knowing Ayame, this would definitely be a good show.

"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" She chanted, holding out her palm. Even the amateurs in the room could feel it; reishi was being drawn to and around her.

She drew back her arm and cried out the release words.

"Bakudo number nine, Horin!"

At her call, two streams of orange energy swirled around her fingers, one on each hand. With a practised swing, she shot out one jet of light at her target.

Me.

"What the hell!?" I yelled at her. I managed to shunpo away in the nick of time, narrowly avoiding the unpredictable tendrils from touching me, but a warning would've been nice.

As if she predicted my shunpo, she swung her front arm back in a horizontal line, sending the scintillant stream at me. At the same time, she swung her other arm backwards, and Akiro, who wasn't expecting it, suddenly had coils of orange energy tightened around him.

She got him good.

Well, I wasn't planning on sticking around to let that fluorescent tendril catch me either, so I shunpo-ed to the end of the room, out of the spell's reach.

…Only to find that Ayame had again predicted my move and the same tendril was already waiting at the back. The moment it made contact with me, it swirled around my body as it did with Akiro and tightened. It didn't hurt, but it didn't feel very comfortable either.

Oh, I get it. This was her revenge for our interference earlier.

Obviously.

Ayame joined her arms together, bringing Akiro and I back to back. Surprisingly, the Kido joined itself, the pattern on its tendril changing a little, fusing to create a fascinating fractal-like structure.

And now, Akiro and I were literally joined at the hip.

I took a quick look around the room and noticed that every remaining candidate was staring slack-jawed at the event that just transpired. Even the instructor was a little surprised by her ability. Her Kido accuracy matched her Hoho precision. The culprit stood there with a smug smile on her face.

"Well done." He congratulated her, flashing at her a quick approving smile. She nodded and took her seat, leaving Akiro and I bound together.

"Next?" He turned to the rest of us. Finding no hands in the air, he prompted once more. "No one?"

I couldn't even raise my arms. The seal was way too tight. I could attempt breaking it as the teacher did, but…

If your reiatsu is stronger or equal to hers, it'll come off.

And how do I do that, elf-lady?

Focus on the threads that bind you. She yawned. Figure out the rest yourself. It's time for my nap.

…What.

So my zanpakuto spirit takes naps. Just great. Focus on the threads, huh?

I closed my eyes and allowed my instincts to take over. Somehow, through some kind of third eye, I could really see the thin spiritual threads wrapped around my body. They were a glistening pale yellow and seemed to conduct electrical waves of the same colour.

Focus on the threads, not the electric.

I channelled my reiatsu to a thread, generating an equal amount of blue waves of electricity that flowed in an opposing direction. As they cancelled each other out, the threads no longer had the reishi pressure as reinforcement and dissipated upon my slightest movement. I opened my eyes.

My chains were gone.

"Me." I informed, getting up. All eyes seemed to be on me though, and I automatically searched for the icy blue pair that I knew. They showed no surprise, as if she expected me to break free from her hold.

I turned to the instructor.

Shiro, are you really going to attempt Eishohaki? So she wasn't sleeping after all.

Yeah, I am.

I advise against it. You need to have complete focus.

But I can get more points, right?

That is likely.

Then I'm gonna try it. Let's do this.

Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm.

I held out my hand and the familiar sensation tingling around my palm flowed into my finger. It definitely felt weaker, but it helped with the power control issue.

The flash of the first spear marks the beginning of battle!

Time to decide what to shoot it at. I scanned the room for an object, and noticed a wide array of targets the end of the room. Perfect.

I curled my fingers. According to the rhythm, it was now or never.

"Hado number four, Byakurai." The last syllable escaped my lips softly. No point shouting in front of the ladies.

The blinding jet which flew from my fingers seemed smaller but faster than before. Within moments, it blew up the fourth target from the left directly at the centre. Bulls-eye!

Or it would have been, but I was aiming for the third from the left, meaning I missed by a whole target.

Well, no one needed to know that, so I kept my mouth shut.

Not too shabby. It probably looked pretty good too, since they're unaware of your intended target.

I thought you were supposed to be sleeping?

Um, yeah… about that…

What about it?

I'll tell you some other time.

…That's just annoying. And irritating. And every other equivalent synonym.

Believe me, Shiro. I know.

...

I just realised something. The whole room was clapping at my demonstration.

"Well done. That was an exceptional display of Byakurai and Eishohaki." Instructor Aiko praised.

"Thank you." I replied, moving to take a seat next to Ayame, who was in turn sitting next to Akiro. She was halfway explaining something when I arrived at my spot. Akiro prompted me to take a seat next to them, a suggestion I gladly accepted.

"Perfect timing." She remarked. "I'm trying to explain Eishohaki to him."

"Oh. Carry on then." I said, feigning a little interest in what she was saying.

"I was thinking- oh, never mind." She turned to Akiro. "Eishohaki is…"

I was barely paying attention to her description of the technique. I had another question to ask my zanpakuto spirit.

What is it? You know, I think she has the patience of a saint. If anyone were to ask me this many questions, I would've smacked them on the head many, many times.

Why was the Byakurai I fired faster than normal?

You hit the Byakurai's sweet spot.

Sweet spot?

Every Kido, especially Hado, has its sweet spot in power. If you overload it, the destructive capability increases. However, it has the possibilities of exploding in your face if it goes too far. On the other hand, a lack of power would cause the spell to fizzle and fail. Getting it just right results in the exact way it was intended to be used. At this stage, the Kido is usually at its strongest.

I see. So bigger is not always better, huh?

That's what I was trying to tell you from the start!

"Isn't that right, Shiro?" Ayame turned to me. Startled, I pulled myself out from my conversation with my zanpakuto. Needless to say, I was completely unaware of what she was talking about.

"Yeah." Since the question itself was rhetorical, answering blindly was a fairly safe escape route.

It worked.

We were sent to the assembly hall (the area where we first imprinted the cards) to wait for the results to be calculated from the individual scores received from the instructors. Ayame, Akiro and I met up with Yosuke, and after a brief introduction, we dived straight into conversation.

Yosuke was the favourite from group three that Shuhei mentioned earlier. Who would've guessed?

The four of us seemed to click, and well, it marked the beginning of a promising group of students, four of the five favourites from the West Gate exam.

A group which would later take the Soul Society by storm.

…

Okay, perhaps that was a little too much drama.

You think?

We continued our little chat until the three lieutenants entered the room with papers in hand.

"Everyone into their groups, now!" Omaeda instructed.

The candidates quickly assembled in their respective groups. Yosuke gave a quick wave before departing for the third group.

"Listen up! We're going to read out the results now. For those of you with scores above 700, you are to take three steps forward. Candidates getting below 300 are to leave the room. The rest are to stay as you are."

They began reading out the names and scores in ascending order. There were about 60 people who were present, and around 10 of them got a score below 300. On the other hand, only 10 people had scores above 700 thus far.

"Ayame Mochizuki, 849." Shuhei called out.

Said person stepped forward. This was already expected.

"Akiro Sanada, 856."

He also stepped forward.

"Shiro Aragaki, 902." He looked up and grinned at me, the action speaking volumes.

Whoa, that's high. I took three steps forward myself, joining Ayame and Akiro, along with 10 other people.

"Keiji Osato, 931."

That's just insane. He must've been really good to get such a high score. I looked around for the guy who achieved higher than I did. He was standing at the end of the row, looking smug and pleased with himself. He looked like a weirdo, what with the afro on his head. Funky.

"And the highest score of the West Gate exam. Yosuke Shibuya, 972."

What. The. Hell.

A/N: Sups. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I got stuck halfway, as usual.

Anyways, I've chosen a regular interval to update this story. I might upload before, making it two chapters a week, but for now I'll update the story every Sunday, so there'll always be one chapter per week.

Thanks for the reviews so far, and please continue doing so.

They would be extremely appreciated! =D