The next morning found me warming my muscles at the practice yard with the seven prospective replacement officers, five of which I had fought and done some training with myself. I hadn't been a Lieutenant for long at all, but the recent battles and upheavals had taken its toll on the more experienced squad members. The seniors that were left were all either low-ranked talentless fighters with mediocre abilities, or men who, for whatever reason were simply not interested in advancement. I didn't get that kind of attitude, even before I'd taken up the sword, I'd always felt that it was a person's responsibility to better themselves and their skills for the sake of those who looked to them; but it worked for them and they did thier job, so who was I to argue with them about lacking ambition? After a few minutes of good warm-ups and limbering to get ready I faced my first contestant.

Saki Miamoto was taller than average for a woman (I still had inches on her, of course) and slender. She was light on her feet and used her height to advantage to give her reach. I was unsurprised to see that when her sword was released from its quiscent state it was long and thin like a rapier with a shield on the hilt. You could often tell a lot about a person and thier fighting style by thier zanpaktou. That wasn't surprising considering that the soul swords were in fact a part of us.

She easily dodged Zabimaru's opening drive and swing, spun out of the way of his reverse swing and sped in close to engage me at the hilt. She'd been quick to realize one of Zabimaru's weaker points; it was a blade that worked it's full power at a distance; the true force was accumulated at the end of the blade and when it was extended it was difficult to defend my stationary position. I gave her a mental point for her observation skills and called Zabimaru in for a close-in fight. Her swings were swift, light taps along the teeth of my blade, easily parried and my superior arm strength made my guard an unwavering wall of defense. She was fast, but her moves were a little predictable, she tried to surprise me by feinting a lunge in from the front and then dodging in a blur of flash-step to attack from the side. I parried and countered easily, sending Zabimaru out to drive her off. She jumped up to dodge and stabbed down as she fell to pin the extended teeth to the ground I countered by twisting my wrist, reversing my grip and sending the whip of teeth chasing after her into the air. She blocked and flipped lightly to the side, trying once again to knock zabimaru off to one side. I moved with the momentum of her push and swung the extended teeth in a three-sixty to take her from behind, but naturally she was too quick and moved out of the way.

We broke apart for a moment, pausing to catch our respective breaths (or she did anyway, I was just getting warmed up) and studied each other a little more closely. I could see she was frustrated by the fact that, while she'd been dancing around the practice ring, I'd barely moved and inch from my original position. I could practically see the decision on her face, she was going to try to make me move, put me on the defensive and win that way.

She suddenly came in low and fast, sliding under my guard and nearly taking me out. She'd quickly figured out another of my weak points; in the same way that a snake strikes and accumulates the full speed and power of a deadly attack at its tip, it must first be coiled to strike. It must have a stable, stationary base with with to coil pent-up energy, and so it was with Zabimaru. Take out the base and the attack fails. I quickly called Zabimaru in to his blade-rest (the widening saw-blade) form and countered her strikes. She was fast, but because she was a lightweight her swing didn't have much power behind them. Though she swung at me with all her strength I didn't move an inch except to casually block her swings. She needed to work on her precision, and her attacks were too predictable, at any time, had i chosen to, I could have countered her moves and finished her, but that wasn't the point. I was here to test her character as well as her fighting prowess. Zabimaru in its closed form however was still wide and heavy and I was a pretty strong guy so my blows hammered at her as I kept myself directly in front of her and she was forced to give ground. I may not be as fast or as light as she, but when it came to close fighting I was certainly no slouch either. The only problem, which she was quick to catch onto and take advantage of, I noted with another mental point for her, was that my size and strength made my movements larger. Our blades met over and over and I could feel the detirmination the burning drive to win against the opponent who stood before her. Under her steel I sensed she had a suppleness to it that spoke of an active and clever mind behind it. I nodded mentally to myself and decided that she was getting one of the spots. Which one would depend on my other fights. She spent a while doging and weaving and darting in for attacks that, while there were a few close calls, did not break my defenses. By the time I knocked her blade to the side and made her yeild we'd accumulated a small crowd.

:Sheesh, who told them to bring the stupid banner,: I grumbled to myself.

Off to one side stood a small knot of young and not-so-young no-rank Reapers squeeling and cheering and making all sorts of unnecessary noise as they watched me fight. They had a large banner with my name on it surrounded in little hearts with words of encouragement on it. The fangirls showed up at every practice they could find out about to cheer me on and make lots of noise. One time I made the mistake of taking my shirt off half-way through the practice session (it had been a humid morning in summer) and they had all went positively ape-shit. You'd think someone had shouted shoe sale at the mall or something.

All the lieutenants had them... fan clubs composed of lower-ranked members, usually those members who were content with a lesser position in the squad instead of advancing to the highest position they could attain. So far as I could tell, they spent their time and money in somewhat frivolous Seireitei-related pursuits like gossip at the baths or their respective associations. I wasn't sure if I bought Kuchiki's statement that such workers were the backbone of the Soul Reapers, but.... meh. Whatever. The general consensus was that as long as they didn't get obnoxious or interfere in the lieutenants private lives, the fanclubs were allowed to exist on an unofficial basis. Matsumoto's fanclub was enormous, predictably, it was filled mostly with men. Kira had been surprised and a little chagrinned by his; it was mediocre-sized and mostly women (and a few of the boys from Fourth). Every Lieutenant had thier own reaction to them, ranging from pride to embarrassment. From what I had heard, Hisagi liked his, or rather, he liked the easy opportunity it afforded him for... ah, recreation (sex). I found the fanclubs strange, and a little creepy, and generally did my best to ignore them. Especially my own. I had been really surprised to discover that I actually had one in the first place; most people took one look at me with my narrow mean-looking eyes, and my tattoos, and my Rukon District background and did the exact opposite of becoming my fan. It was a little unsettling to be admired for a change.

:Rank hath its privileges, I guess,: I thought dubiously.

I kept hoping that they'd come to their senses and find something else better to do,... but no, there they were, every time I went out to practice or duel, waiting on the sidelines with an encoragement and love banner, bottled waters and towels. Their squees and cheers weren't going to distract me from a good fight, so I had no real grounds to get rid of them. I sighed internally and signaled that my next match was up.

"We love you Renji!" one particularly enthusiastic fangirl called from behind the banner and three of her friends squeed excitedly. I tried to keep my disgruntlement to myself.

:What the hell?" I wondered to myself.

I often wondered what they expected me to do when they shouted these pronouncements at me... I mean, was I supposed to wave? Was I supposed to smile or laugh or do a backflip?

I turned to face my opponent instead.

The match was over a little more quickly than the other one, the fight had told me a number of things about Anji Nishiji, a young man who had been among the first groups I'd personally tested straight from the Academy. The first thing the fight told me was that the great potential I'd sensed in him the first time I'd tested him was still there, but still sleeping. The second thing was that he was uncertain of himself, he didn't attack aggressively enough to win and when he did attack, part of him held back. Third thing I found was that, even though he had plenty of strength in his swing, he was aiming at all the wrong targets. I made a mental note to have on older fighter take him under his wing for additional practice.

The next fight was with another promising (relatively recent) recruit named Zaku Shinomichi. He was a strong fighter with a zanpaktou that released into the form of a double edged broadsword with a wider double-bitted axe at the end of it. His movements were large to account for the extra weight of the swing of the broadaxe but he compensated for the relative slowness of movement by sheer, raw physical power. I'd fought worse though. Zabimaru had no difficulties at all in weaving around Zaku's attacks and scoring multiple hits in one go. When our blades met however, the assessment I came away with was that the young man was straightforward and earnest as a person could be and not be a complete sap, and that he would barrel his way through any obstacle in his path to keep his friends safe. In my book those qualities made him a good candidate.

My fourth opponent had a style that evenly distributed speed and strength, he was a talented fighter but a little lazy, the impression I came away with was of someone who had always had good things come to him and therefore had never really had to work hard for anything. I immediately dismissed him as a candidate in my mind, he lacked detirmination and this would be a serious flaw in a leader.

Fifth up was another woman, Kali Sujo, she was smaller than Saki had been. Like the previous women I had fought, what she lacked in size and strength she generally made up for in speed and accuracy. Her zanpaktou was made for ranged fighting, the hilt had a thousand little needles bristling out from it and there was a small channel down the length of her double edged Chinese sword that would launch a needle as she whipped the sword through the air at a person. Because she was so small, she was even lighter on her feet and thus even quicker; her main attack it seemed was to flash step to different places so quickly (most) couldn't track her and throw darts at her opponent, aiming for the vital meridians of the body, paralyzing or possibly even killing as the mood struck her. Nice. I couldn't help but admire that, even as I whipped Zabimaru out to deflect all of her little stingers and arrow in on the next place she would be flash stepping to. She was taken by surprise that I'd managed to predict her next move. When our swords met I came away with the impression of her being a canny fighter, fast and a little on the vicious side, and very very ambitious. She wanted power, but I couldn't quite determine if she wanted power for it's own sake or if she had a particular goal in mind. This one might bear some careful consideration.

Sixth in the ring was another young man I'd fought before. Like the others he'd shown real potential in his skills and he seemed to have a lot of the qualities of a good leader, but (and lately there always seemed to be a but) I wasn't so sure about his ability to handle leading people into battle. He seemed more like one of those leaders that attracted people to him with his inner gentleness and made people want to like him. His sword skills were geared mostly toward evasion and misdirection rather than vanquishing an enemy. Still, not every squad was made of hack-and-bash fighters like me, we needed our fair share of people who knew how to evade and counter as well, and I needed another squad where I could put all those excess kido fighters they seemed to keep sending me.

Seventh was a no right off the bat. Someone had spoiled the kid too much as a child so now she was thoroughly self-centered, with an over inflated opinion of herself and her skills. She did command impressive kido skills and an admirable strength of self discipline, but it was a good thing that hat's were not part of the uniform, because she would never have fit one. I tried not to humiliate her on purpose, but damned if her expression when I knocked her on her ass in two swings of Zabimaru's tail wasn't amusing.

It had been a nice morning exercise for me, I hadn't broken much of a sweat, but, as always, the act of one on one combat gave me some greater insight into my own fighting style. I was good power-fighter, but I could definitely stand to work on my speed. After all, Zabimaru was the snake tail, snakes were well known for their speed. It seemed a little odd of me, now that I thought of it, to only concentrate on one aspect of my zanpaktou and ignore all of the other advantages it might offer me.

::It's about time!:: Zabimaru growled directly into my mind. ::Now stop moping around and get cracking.::

I blinked in surprise. Despite the fact that I considered us partners, and him as an odd sort of friend, my zanpaktou usually didn't seem to have much to say to me unless I asked him his opinion first.

:Ya got somthin' ta say?: I asked him curiously.

Zabimaru rarely commented on anything but when he did I always thought he was worth listening to. He made sense.

::I got no problem with you honing your skills in your own way and time, we've gone far you and me, but you gotta learn to grow sphereically.::

:Huh?: I said blankly. I received and image of a ball expanding outwards in every direction at once.

:That means all different directions,: he clarified. ::Winning a fight is more than just who's stronger or who can get the better position, speed and reflexes are important too. So is using that head of yours for something other than just decoration.::

:Anything else?: I bit out, suddenly wishing that I hadn't asked him for his opinions.

::Yeah. Yer an idiot,:: the Baboon King informed me.

:I am not!: I objected hotly.

It was bad enough that everyone else in the whole Seireitei besides maybe Rukia thought so, I didn't need my sword thinking that of me as well. Maybe I wasn't a tactical genius for figuring out fighters and strategizing ways to beat them but I could usually handle myself pretty well.

::Sure you are,:: Zabimaru disagreed easily. ::Ya got some prat movin' in on the girl you love and instead of putting him in his place and showin' her who's the best, yer jus' gonna let him waltz off with her without a word o' protest. Face it, that's wimpitude.::

:It's not that simple!: I snapped. :She already cares for him, and if I go in there and just lay the smack down on him, assuming I could do it at all, she's gonna side with him and get mad at me for being violent. I've already finally made it to lieutenant and kicked the crap out of the Hollows in Hueco Mundo so there's not a whole lot else I can do to impress her with.:

The thought that I might have finally clawed myself to a place where I could be at her side finally and not have to lower my head only to find that when I got there I would only be at her side as a childhood friend and a reliable ally just sort of made me want to curl up in a corner somewhere and die. I'd never felt despair like that before. It was like I was a sailor in a boat that had always had a sail and a rudder to keep me going forward and a star to guide me and now my sail was gone, I was without a rudder and my sky had clouded over. I was dead in the water, hanging in limbo without anyway of knowing where I was going or any destination to aim for even if I did have the power to get there. I was cast adrift, without purpose and I could only watch with my heart dieing by inches as everything I truly valued drifted further and further away from me. I had always just thought she'd be there, constant as a star. Only now... she wasn't. I didn't know what to do.

::That's the kind of attitude you need ta fix before you do anything else,:: he told me. ::We've gotten where we are by grit and detirmination alone. Even if we do have the stuff to make lieutenant, we still have things we can improve on and if you don't have the detirmination that made you what you are then you're gonna loose everything. You've always known who you are and what you want, where you're going and how to get there, that's why we can fight at this level at all. If you don't know anything anymore then what have you got to keep you going?::

:Nothing,: I replied glumly.

Zabimaru made a disgusted noise in the back of my mind and turned over and went back to sleep. It was awfully quiet and lonely here without him. He did raise a good point though. I didn't get to where I was by quietly sitting back and doing nothing. But battles of the heart weren't the kind that could be won with a sword. That didn't leave me in a very good spot. I needed to clear my head and decide what I was going to do next.

Most of my paperwork was already done and Kuchiki was out at some noble function, dancing attendance on some noblemans daughter at her debutante party or whatever so I found myself with a rare free afternoon. Since I had become Lieutenant, free time was rare, there was always something for me to do; either Kuchiki had me sent out on some mission or other, or I was running the squad, or training the noobs, or filling out forms, or he had me babysitting the fort. So here I was with a rare free afternoon.

:I need to take my mind off things... maybe i'll look into that thing.:

It was sensible enough and even quasi-legal, if anyone asks I could say that I was out investigating an anomaly for the sake of expanding on a report I'd written. The fact that it'd get me out of this place and into territory where part of me felt like I still belonged sometimes was just a fringe benefit really.

I dropped the latest stack of paperwork on the Captain's desk for him to just sign and have sent to their various departments while I went out for the day. I dropped back by my quarters for the tattered dark cloak I wore when I visited the Rukon District, people there tended to avoid a man in uniform. I grabbed my base-pass and a very small pouch that contained only a few coins, and my decoy-pouch weighted with lead slugs. Growing up in a place where there were more pick-pockets and theives than there were drunkards had taught me a few things (I never told anyone else this, but listed among my other skills would be, pick-pocketing, roof-walking, cut-pursing, lock-picking and rudimentary espionage). I made sure my pass for the Gates was on me, and flash-stepped to the South Gate, showing Jidanbo my badge and headed out.

As promised, a new chapter. It's a nice little filler in between the last one and the more plot-oriented scenes that happen in the next chapter, where the information really gets cooking and we at least get a name and a hint about the nature of the mysterious new enemy. Look forward to it, and please review! I see you all next Tuesday, or... well, maybe Sunday if I get enough enthusiasm to pressure me into posting early.