Softly Snowing II
Academy Years
~Testing for Entrance~

Upon receiving approval from her parents, Hana found her excitement about joining the academy joining. She now simply had to wait for the day that the testing would be done. She figured she would do well as she in truth studied written word quite a bit and had reiatsu. She had no clue what would be involved in the test.

The next day she walked to the small school house with a smile on her face. Without a doubt, nothing could dampen her spirits. She then slipped into the classroom where Ren was already sitting, watching a certain male from her desk, not making a move to approach the male. Hana slipped in and sat down next to her.

At that, her red headed friend glanced up. "You seem in a good mood, Hana-chan."

"I got good news." The small female smiled. She pulled out her tablet that she used during class and would likely be handing over to the teacher soon as she was entered into the academy.

Ren's eyes became slightly dull as she glanced over at Terunori Inaba. "A guy didn't stop and talk to you yesterday, did they?"

"No." Hana blinked a couple of times. "Why would a boy want to talk to me about anything? Truth of the matter is, I don't see why any guy would want to talk to me." Of course, her mind drifted back to the day that she has spoken to Toshiro. He had flat out told her, until she garnered more confidence in herself to hold off talking to him.

"What do you mean by that?" The female frowned, glancing at the particular boy again, just as Mitsuyo came into the room and sat down next to them.

"Hana, please tell me that Inaba-kun didn't speak with you yesterday." The blond also glanced over at said person, her lips pushed together tightly.

Hana shook her head. "I didn't speak to him at all. Shirezu nii-san did, but I don't understand why, if he wanted to ask me how I was doing, how come he didn't just come ask me during class."

At that, Mitsuyo let out a laugh. "You miss a lot of things, don't you Hana-chan."

As the brown haired female blinked her eyes at her two friend, Ren spoke up. "That's the only way I would want her to be. Anyways, what were you going to say about good news, if it isn't about him talking to you."

"I don't see what the big deal about him talking to me is. He's just a boy, right" However, Hana moved onto what she had planned on bringing up. "I'm going to be taking the test to join the shinigami academy."

"You mean... like how Hinamori-san went and joined the academy ever so long ago?" Mitsuyo frowned at this, then shook her head. "You don't seem the type to join, but then neither did she."

"This means we're going to be saying good-bye?" Ren pouted at this, her mouth folding up.

The blonde female shook her head. "She hasn't passed the test yet." She then turned to Hana. "So, what is the reason that you wish to join the academy?"

"I told my mother and father that it is so I can have a better marriage prospect. However, there is someone I sort of look up to that's gone to be a shinigami." Hana smiled at her two friends.

"You mean Hinamori-san. She is definitely someone to look up to. She's sweet, kind, nice... not to mention so strong. All the older males in our community like her." Mitsuyo stopped and thought about what was going on. "I wonder if I should try joining the academy too."

"Do you even have reiatsu?" Ren asked. "I don't know if I have it or not."

"I don't either." The blonde frowned at this. "Hana, do you know if you have rietsu or not?"

"I actually do have a small amount." The female smiled at the two girls, pleased with herself for something.

ƸΨƷ

After class, Hana walked home, still avoiding the mud puddles formed by the melting snow. She stepped lightly across the ground, only to jump as someone came up beside her. "Is it true that you plan on joining the Soul Reaper academy?"

At that, she stumbled and fell, the hem of her kimono getting mud splattered onto it, along with her left sandal and sock. At that, she turned to see the brown haired mail watching her carefully. "Ahh... Terunori-san. It is good to speak with you, though I think Mitsuyo-chan and Ren-chan would like you to speak to them instead."

"Do you understand why they want that?" The boy watched her carefully. Hana simply shook her head. "You miss things a lot, don't you. Why don't you get what is going on around you?"

"I don't know." Hana said, smiling at the boy. "Everyone say that I miss things, but no one has ever told me what it is that I happen to be missing."

"I'll ask again. Is it true that you plan on joining the Soul Reaper academy?" The male started to follow her back home.

"Yes. It is true." The female continued to simply smile.

"You don't have to join the academy, you know." Terunori spoke up. "I am sure there is someone in this village who would offer your parents to marry you."

Hana paused at this, then turned to him. "It really isn't just about being a better marriage prospect. This is about doing something for myself. I have something I wish to do."

"But you don't know if you'll be able to enter the academy. What if you fail the test Hana?" The boy watched her, concern seemingly showing on his face.

"I'll just keep taking the test until I do pass. This is something I really want, something I feel I need to do. I've felt this way for many years." The female then began continuing her way homeward.

The boy however spoke up again. "You shouldn't go to the testing site alone, you know."

"Why ever not?" Hana blinked as she turned to the male, a bit taken aback by his demeanor.

"There are some people in this world who are not that nice, nor as nice as they seem." Terunori pushed further. "It basically isn't safe. I'll go with you."

"It isn't that dangerous." The female shook her head. "You don't have to go out of your way to do this for me either."

ƸΨƷ

Upon discussing what the young man had told her without really saying who it was who mentioned it, Shirezu decided to take the day off and take Hana to the examination, which would be held in big halls in the first district, in the main village right outside of each of the gates. Thus he was escorting her when they came across Terunori by the entrance.

Her brother shook his head. "You wouldn't happen to be waiting here to escort my young sister to the testing because you want to protect her from the dangers on the road."

"That has nothing to do with it." The boy spattered out his words. "I am going to be going and taking the test too! I thought that since we were both going, we could walk together."

"Well, I am glad I came, as there is already the sign of something dangerous for my little sister." Shirezu hissed out, not at all pleased with the young man's behavior. However, Hana simply turned between the two, confusion written all over her face, not sure why neither one seemed pleased with the other.

The walk was in truth long and Hana felt her feet grow sore. However, this became overwritten due to the fact that she, for the first time in her life, was going somewhere outside the small village. She stepped after her brother, following him while Inaba walked behind her, rather displeased that his plan of action wasn't working.

And then they came to the village that lay just outside of their gate and Hana's eyes went wide, as did Terunori's. Never before had they seen such a place. The buildings were old time Japanese, yes... but they were more elaborate then their small village and built closer together. There were also tons of people milling around, running about.

An entire market place stood in the middle where people would barter and buy goods. Some people haggled over the price of a store, while other people haggled over food. Terunori spoke up at that point. "Why aren't they haggling for water? I remember hearing about how the markets haggle for fresh water and such."

"The water in the first district is clean and near by the market, so there is no need to haggle for such things here. The place that they sell water are in the areas where the water has some contamination problems, or further up where the people live to far away from water. It's this way in this area because of the Shiba clans influence."

"Do you mean the noble family?" Inaba shook his head at this, confusion continuing. "I thought the noble families that lived in the Rukongai liked to take advantage of the people who are supposed to live here."

"Some do, but not the Shiba clan." Shirezu had a look of pride. "They feel it is their job to protect the people and help them prosper as much as possible. Of course, Shiba Ganju is anti-shinigami and would disrupt the testing if he had the chance, but his older sister puts her foot down on that matter and says if she ever gets word about him doing such a thing, he'll rue ever doing it. He's always picking fights with shinigami."

"But shinigami aren't bad people." Hana spoke up at this time. "Hinamori-san became one."

"He's just miffed due to the death of his older brother. Everyone knows that Shiba Kaien used to be a fukutaicho of the Gotei Thirteen. Everyone talked about it a lot around here, as the noble family raised their kids here so that they could come to know the people. However, when he and his wife died, they suddenly disliked shinigami. Nobody knows why though."

At that, they arrived at the test hall and her brother nodded his head. "Either I will be outside the hall when you finish Hana, or I will be in the market doing some trading and bartering."

At that, the two young ones entered the testing hall, receiving numbers and heading to sit down at their spots. Hana was at the end of her row, so the two ended up not sitting with each other as Terunori had to move onto the next row. For some reason he found himself rather displeased with this. The testing began about half an hour later.

At that point, Hana found the test was not as easy as she thought it would be. There was a lot of material she got in the written part, yes, but truth of the matter was, after the written part, she found herself embarrassed by the testing of reiatsu levels as there were some who had much higher levels then her, not to mention she knew nothing about fighting.

Upon finishing, she found that her older brother was in fact not outside and she headed to the market area, with Inaba grumbling about how in truth the place wasn't safe for her to be wandering around alone. He also grumbled at the fact that her brother had come with her for the reason of protecting her, only to leave and not protect her later on.

They quickly found where her brother was and Hana called out to him. "Shirezu! We finished at the testing hall!"

However, as she yelled this, there came a sudden commotion from behind her, a loud rumbling sound almost like a stampede. Both young ones turned just in time to see a man riding a boar come to a screeching halt while another person on a boar came crashing into one of the stalls, a stall right next to Hana.

At that, the stall began to fall right towards Hana. She froze, along with Terunori just as her brother yelled out in fright. However, the man on the boar quickly got off and shoved Terunori to the side and used his body to protect Hana from the falling debris. "Are you all right little lady?" The man stated, pushing the debris off of himself.

At tat, Shirezu hurried over, his face contorted with a level of fear Hana never had seen on his face before. He called out her name and asked if she was all right, to which one of the men who was also riding a boar spoke up. "If you're supposed to be watching her, why is her aniki away from her?"

"I was at the big hall taking a test." Hana stated, to which her brother said her name, glancing warily at the man who was now dusting her off.

"Ahh... you seem to be too sweet to become a shinigami though." The man smiled at her.

"Who are you?" Terunori stated, is eyes narrowing as he watched the man touch Hana, despite it being in a kindly manner.

The man then went off on speal, revealing that he was in fact Ganju of the Shiba clan. When he came to self proclaimed Shinigami hater, the man paused for a few seconds, then got a wacky smile on his face. "Of course, if you became a shinigami I wouldn't hate you. That would be just wrong." However, after that, Ganju turned to her brother. "Don't you think her personality doesn't fit being a shinigami though?"

Shirezu's mouth simply twitched, finding himself rather annoyed at having run into the man. It wasn't a dislike of said person, but more like Ganju was an annoying fly that needed to be swatted away and squished so it was less bothersome. Han though pointed at the busty males face. "What is that?"

At that, Ganju pulled on a device so that it covered his eyes with a circle that had a clear item in it. "These? This happens to be my goggles. I use them when I ride, so that I won't get sand in my eyes."

At that, Inaba turned towards the boards, disdain written all over his face. "Who in their right minds rides boars. And why is one of those guys wearing that thing, whatever it is?"

"What is that thing on his back?" Hana asked, staring at the rather large device.

"That is a clock." Ganju stated. "We use it so that we aren't late getting home. Sis gets mad when we are."

"In other words you have a curfew of sorts." Shirezu muttered. He then grabbed Hana's hand. "We need to be heading back home. I've got what I needed to get done in the market finished."

"All right." Hana stated firmly, reaching out to pat the boar on the nose. As she walked away, waving at the men, Ganju called out that the boar's name was Bonnie.

ƸΨƷ

Until she got her test results, Hana decided to continue attentding school, waiting for them to come. She then saw her teacher with a bundled package and after classes, the teacher spoke for her to come see her. Terunori hung back, leaning on the doorway as the teacher handed Hana the package. "Congratulations on getting into the academy, Hana-chan."

"What about me?" Terunori asked suddenly.

At that, the small female glanced back at him. "Yes. He took the test too."

"Actually, he didn't pass. He can try again after a bit of time has passed, but he isn't ready to join." The teacher smiled at Hana. "You are actually in one of the lower classes Hana as while your test score was passing, it was still very low."

"But still, I got into the academy?" Hana smiled at the teacher, unwrapping the package to reveal two white uniform trimmed in red along with a satchel for carrying things in. She hugged it to herself then hurried to the door, excited at having gotten in on her first try. As she left, she heard some of the boy's who also stayed behind telling Inaba that it served him right and now he had to pick one of the other girls.

Arriving at the house, she found Hita sitting in the sunshine. She smiled at him, then showed him her uniform. "I got in!"

"You did?" Her brother had a smile on his face, but there was also a touch of saddens there. "Why don't you go inside and change into it so that you can surprise mother and father when they get home. To have an academy student, they will be so proud." And at that, Hana hurried into the room.