Ch5

Netto's mind spun as he stared down at himself. It was weird looking down at his human body on the ground while he himself stood standing in a dark black kimono with a katana at his side.

"This is your Shinigami form," Yoruichi said. "With it you shall be able to fight hollows."

"Cool," he said as he drew his katana and looked at his reflection. He looked the same but with a kimono on. He didn't feel different but he did look cool. "S-So am I a shinigami now?"

His grandfather nodded. "Don't worry you will be trained to fight hollows."

He sheathed his katana. "So what now?"

"I'll come and get you tomorrow," Yoruichi said. "You should begin training as soon as possible. Whatever is sending those hollows after you wont' stop any time soon."

His grandfather nodded. "Go back into your body. You should continue to rest."

He nodded and quickly went back into his body. As soon as he did he opened his eyes and found himself on the bed. "Wow that was something."

He quickly got up as his grandfather handed him what looked like some sort of amulet. "Place that on your chest and your soul will be ejected from your body."

"Got it," he said as he took the amulet and put it in his pocket.

"Be safe whoever is after you won't hesitate to attack again," his grandfather said as he opened the window and left.

Yoruichi nodded. "Don't worry I'll stand guard outside your house."

"Thanks," he said. The cat nodded and jumped out the window into the dark streets.

"Well that was interesting," he said as he took out his PET his netnavi looked equally surprised.

"Netto-kun I saw you on the ground and standing up," Rockman said. "What happened?"

"Well I met my grandfather and became a Shinigami," he said, his heart racing as he slowly processed what had just happened.

Rockman's eyes widened. "Really? Was he really your grandfather?"

"I think it was," he sighed. "Something deep inside of me says it was." He looked at his netnavi, "Rockman you can't tell anyone ok?"

"I won't," Rockman said firmly. "I've always believed you deep down."

He smiled at his net navi. "Thanks I appreciate that. Well for once I think I'll do my homework and go to bed." He and his navi laughed as he got up.

That night he dreamed of a white room. Where am I?

Looking around the white room he was blinded by a flash of light. Be alert. You have a strong enemy. You have to train and get stronger.

The voice was soft and rang in his head. "Who are you?" he asked.

There was a pause but he could the presence of the speaker around him. Don't worry you'll find out who I am, you just have to get stronger.

He called out to the voice but it did not respond, only a bright fire covered his vision. Eventually the dream ended and his mind went blank as he went back to sleep. "Man that was weird," he muttered as he slowly woke up. Looking around his dark room he was surprised to see that it was early morning.

Well this is a record I've never woken up this early. He sat up in his bed and got up. I'm a Shinigami now. The thought was still new to him, and while he was kind of scared of facing another hollow he was also pretty excited.

Grandpa is a Shinigami too. I wonder how dad would feel about that? He sighed. His dad would probably think he was crazy and go on how illogical it was. I know that he is real though.

Shinigami, hollow, and all the things he has seen so far. He long kept it to himself with the exception of Rockman. His parents thought he was either crazy or had an interactive imagination and the few times he told his friends they thought he was making things up.

That boy with the chipped mask who could he be? Thinking about him made his hairs stand up. Something about him wasn't right, he felt nothing but a malevolent presence from him. Why would he target us though? He shook his head. Could his family have some secret they didn't tell him about? It was a possibility that did intrigue him.

When it was morning he got on his day as if it were any other day. His father had returned to work while his mother remained none the wiser of his encounter from yesterday.

"You're up early," his mom noted as he finished breakfast.

He laughed nervously. "Y-Yeah Rockman got me up."

"Well have a good day at school dear," His mom said with a smile.

"I will," he said as he quickly finished eating. After he helped his mom with the dishes he quickly got ready for school and left.

Meiru-chan must be busy. He looked at his neighbor's house but didn't see his friend usually walked with him.

"Netto-kun Roll sent me a message saying that Meiru is sick," Rockman said.

"I see. Hope she gets better," he sighed as he looked at her house. Ironic that I finally get up on time but she is sick. With a sigh he decided to head to school.

It was a nice sunny day and many people were out. He still saw a few spirits though they appeared friendly. He passed by a building when he noticed a figure sitting beneath a tree. It was a girl in black hair wearing a black kimono. She must be a Shinigami. He noticed the katana at her side, a part of him wanted to talk to her but he didn't want to arouse any suspicion.

Yet when their eyes met she stared at him in shock. "You can see me?" she asked.

"U-Uh yeah," he said looking around to make sure that no one was around.

The girl smiled at him. "Don't be afraid I'm a Shinigami. My name is Hinamori Momo."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hikari Netto," he said with a bow.

"Netto?" Momo said as if she were remembering something old. "Well anyway I'm the Shinigami assigned to this area, if you run into any hollows let me know ok?"

He smiled at her and nodded. "Alright I will!"

The girl smiled at him. "Thanks I better get going now. I have to patrol this area."

"Good luck!" he said waving goodbye.

Momo smiled and nodded before quickly running off in a dash. She seems nice. I wonder if she knows Yoruichi or Toshiro. He recalled his friend mentioned someone named Momo but it could have been another person. Well I can ask her next time.

He did his best to concentrate but found it too difficult to think about Yoruichi and his grandfather. What will they train me in? A part of him was excited, yet he was also worried. He didn't know what kind of dangers he would face but a part of him was excited for the adventure.

After school he raced home and found Yoruichi waiting for him outside his house. "So what now?" He asked.

Yoruichi sat up and looked him over. "Follow me."

He followed the cat through the streets to a less crowded area of town. Eventually she led him to a secluded area where they found an old shop with a man sweeping in front.

The man wore a black robe and a black and white hat that covered his eyes. The man looked up at him curiously. "Yourichi is this the boy you wanted to train?"

"Uh nice to meet you," he said with a bow.

"Netto this is Kisuke Urahara. He'll help you train, his shop has a nice training area too," Yoruichi said.

Urahara smiled. "Nice to meet you. Come on both of you."

He followed Urahara and Yoruichi into the shop, passing various isles of goods to a back room. Inside was a large tatami room.

"Alright I'll leave things to you here," Urahara said leaving them alone.

Yoruchi sat in the middle of the room and indicated for him to sit across from her.

"Draw your zampacto and get into a meditative pose," Yoruichi ordered. "Think of your sword and try to ask its name."

He nodded and looked at his reflection in the blade. "It has a name?"

The cat rolled its eyes. "Every blade has its own name. Your sword is your partner you must discover its name. Now think of your sword."

Looking at his reflection he nodded as he sat on his bed. Resting the sword in his lap he closed his eyes and took a deep breath thinking of his sword.

Feeling the sword in his lap a tingling sensation passed threw his body. He held the sensation trying to make contact with it, it was faint but powerful.

"You'll have a long way to go kid," rang a voice in his head.

"Who are you?" He asked.

The voice chuckled in his head. "When you prove yourself I'll reveal my name. For now, welcome to the world of Shinigami."

The sensation ended and he opened his eyes. "I uh felt something."

"Don't worry with practice you can achieve it," Yoruichi said. "I expect you to do your best to be a good Shinigami and to train hard. Do you understand?"

He swallowed. "I do."

"Good now lets practice some sword techniques," Yoruichi said.

Over the next few months, Yoruichi and Urahara trained him physically. He had to learn a lot of things from scratch such as how to hold and draw his sword. He often went to bed completely exhausted but after a few months, he was starting to get the hang of everything. He hadn't had any hollow attacks but his teachers warned him to not go looking for them.

One night while he was resting in his room he found his grandfather waiting for him. "Your doing well for yourself so far," his grandfather said with a grin.

"Grandpa? What are you doing here?" He asked.

Tadashi Hikari walked around his room and looked at photo of the family on his desk. "Just checking on my family. I left a program on your computer, just a little something I made."

"Really? What is it?" He quickly went to his computer and saw a program called Silph.

His grandfather folded his arms and smiled at him. "Put it in your navi."

He nodded, trusting his grandfather he ran the program in Rockman. "Hey how do you feel?"

His navi closed his eyes before slowly opening them. "I feel the same but-" Rockman stopped as his eyes turned to his grandfather. "Who is that?"

"You mean grandpa?" He turned to his grandfather. "You can see him?"

Tadashi Hikari smiled. "Just a program that could help him see the spirit world."

Rockman looked at their grandfather in awe. "Wow so this is what you can see Netto-kun."

"Yeah," he said a sense of relief washing over him for once he would have someone else to talk to about this stuff.

"This is surreal," Rockman said. The navi looked at their grandfather with wide eys.

Tadashi Hikari folded his arms. "Now I wouldn't tell your father he was never the most open minded."

He frowned. "Yeah he likes to see himself as rational."

His grandfather laughed. "Life itself is full of surprises, your father was always rigid and never strayed from his salaryman like lifestyle."

"Yeah he works a lot on his research," He said.

His grandfather smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're a bright kid Netto, I'm glad to have a grandson like you. I hope you can continue to expand your horizons and learn more about this world."

He swallowed his eyes becoming watery. "Thank you. I will Grandpa. I'll train harder to become a great shinigami."