CHAPTER 3 : Jonouchi's Recovery

Jonouchi looked around in the darkness that surronded him. He felt an unusual coldness sweep over his body. He walked on, wrapping his arms around himself to keep warm. His eyes search the premises, and widened in fear. He wasn't alone. He felt a sharp pain in his side. He looked down and fell to his knees. He gripped his side, feeling his warm blood flow between his fingers. A large wolf stood before him. "O'kamitoku, is that you?" he asked, obviously afraid. The wolf turned and began to walk away. "Wait!" he screamed. "Don't leave me here! Come back!" he continued shouting, until the wolf was no longer visible. He was scared. He'd never been so scared in his life. He felt a heavy pain in his chest. His heart hurt. He dropped his head, tears splashing on the ground below. He heard a voice in the distance. He slowly got to his feet and walked forward. He saw a bright flashing blur in the distance. "No, it couldn't be..." he thought to himself. As the light came into focus, he realized what was happening. All of Soul Society was burning. Everything. Three figures stood at the entrance. Two of them laughed as they talked. Jonouchi could see Multiple Hollows in the flames, destroying everything. He stood in horror, watching the other shinigami relentlessly murdered before him. Everything was going to hell. He watched, the city beginning to crumble. The three figures continued to talk as if nothing was happening. One turned toward Jonouchi and smirked. He knew that face. It looked so familiar to him, but most of the face was hidden in shadow. But he could still see that merciless smirk. The figure drew its sword and walked forward. The smirk grew as the figure reached Jonouchi. It slowly inched the blade into Jonouchi's chest, and he was overtaken by darkness. Everything went black.

Jonouchi screamed as he jumped up in bed, and a sharp pain inched up his spine. He groaned as he laid back down. It was just a dream. All just a dream. He was still alive. He looked around, suddenly realizing where he was. It was Captain Unohana's infirmary

"Hey, 'bout time you woke up." he heard a voice say. Jonouchi looked over, startled. There sat 11th Squad Captain Zaraki Kenpachi across from Jonouchi. He remained silent. He could tell he'd been crying in his sleep. "You've been out for two weeks." Zaraki said. "I just woke up three days ago. That was on hell of a fight we had." he laughed. Jonouchi remained silent. "You were crying and sweating madly, and talking about someone leaving. What happened?" he asked, very interested.

Jonouchi just shrugged. "I really don't know..." he replied. "It was all too real..." He explain the dream to Zaraki, who listened intently.

"Wow, kid, that's one wild imagination." he said grimly. "Although, it was just a dream. Nothing more."

A couple weeks later

Jonouchi quietly walked the streets of Soul Society. After he finally recovered conscienceness, it took another six weeks for Captain Unohana to release him. He was happy to be back out in the day light. Being confined to such a small area really took a toll on him. Zaraki healed pretty quickly, he was out in a total of four weeks. He knew one thing. That he would enjoy these next couple of days as much as possible. He knew his next interview would be coming up soon. He began to wonder what they would have him do next.

Jonouchi sat down against a cherry tree, the petals quietly dancing as they fell. He ran his fingers along O'kamitoku's handle. It was amazing how far they've come. He knew one thing for certain, and that was that they couldn't turn back now. They had come too far. It's a game of life or death now, win or lose. He sighed, tossing the subject aside. He didn't want to think about it right now.

He could hear a faint rustling in the tree above him. He looked up, only to find himself face to face with someone. Jonouchi yelped in fear from being startled. "Hey!" the person said, swinging out of the tree. She had lavender colored hair and eyes. "Aren't you the one that fought Zaraki Kenpachi?" she asked.

"Um... Yeah... That's me." Jonouchi replied. The girl smirked.

"I'm Kalinda Asou, 1st seat of Squad 13!" she laughed. Jonouchi was confused. What did she want with him? He noticed her shoulder length hair. He thought it quite an... Odd color... And damn was she short... She must be under five feet, give or take. "Are you SURE you're Captain material?"she asked, circling and observing him. Jonouchi turned a bright red. "I mean, your ability must be impressive for you to have acually cut Zaraki, but you're quite scrawny..." she frowned, looking him in the eyes.

Jonouchi's heart sank. "SCRAWNY?" he asked, angered.

"Yeah. You know, short?"

"Look who's talking!"

"Hey, watch it, you vertically challenged ass whipe!"

"You started it! Pipsqueak!"

She then drew her Zanpakuto, swinging at him. He anticipated the attack, and easlily blocked it and brought his head down to her level. "You're a 1st seat, I'm a soon-to-be Captain. You can't beat me." he laughed. Kalinda blushed furiously, sheathing her sword.

"Sorry..." she said, bowing her head. Jonouchi just stared. "Damn is she cute..." he thought. He scanned her body while she had her head down. She looked up, blushing even worse. "PERVERT!" she screamed. slapping him across the face. She regained her composure, nose to the air.

"No!" he shouted. "It's not like that!

"Nevermind." she seemed serious now. "Are you ready?" she asked.

"For what?"

"Your next, and final test." she said grimly.

"I don't even know what the test is..." he said. "They haven't gotten back to me."

She sighed. "Every Shinigami knows the steps of becoming Captain." she looked him dead in the eye. "Step one, the interview. Next step is the Mock Battle, between you and a random Captain. The final test, A fight to the death between you and the Captain of your Squad. Ichimaru Gin."

Jonouchi froze. He has to fight his Captain... And kill him... He couldn't believe this. One screw up and it was over. He frowned, frozen in fear.

"Heh, I see you're scared." she managed a small smile. "Ichimaru is a rather tough opponent, but from my knowledge, he's nothing compared to Zaraki. It should be simple enough." she said. She worked up a smile. "Anyway, I'll see you later, future 3rd Squad Captain, Mr. Pervert.

Jou stumbled. "Hey! I have a name!" he yelled.

"You never told me it." she smirked with a hand on her hip.

Jonouchi smiled. "It's Jonouchi. Jonouchi Uchiki." he said.

"Jou-kun... Sounds nice..." she smiled and blushed. "I'll see you around, Jou-kun." she nodded and Flash Stepped away.

Jonouchi sat back down and smiled. "Kalinda Asou." he said aloud, drifting to sleep.