Chapter One: 自立 (Jiritsu)

Shūhei froze as the Huge Hollows gathered closer around them. The three freshmen, whose names he did not know, were in similar states of disbelief at the amount of Hollows surrounding them. Assistance had not yet arrived, so he would have to fight these himself. Cursing, Shūhei began to run through his options. They were surrounded, so running was out; he wasn't good enough at Kidō to defeat this many Hollows; and he hadn't quite achieved shikai yet.

So the only option was to force his Zanpakutō to give him shikai. While he had only entered his inner world a few times, he had yet to hear his Zanpakutō's name. The only option for survival was to learn it now.

"Listen up!" he shouted at the freshmen. The one who had been screaming stopped to listen, and the other two looked at him in desperation.

"I have an idea on how to defeat them, but I'll need you to protect me until I can activate my shikai. Got it?"

The three nodded, and the red-haired one turned around resolutely, ready and waiting. Shūhei appreciated the boy's willingness, but he needed to learn shikai as fast as possible. Sitting down, he entered a jinzen position, and closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself in his inner world, a spacious forest with hundreds of trees in every direction, except for the small clearing where he met with his Zanpakutō. Shūhei stood up, and searched for where his Zanpakutō spirit was. Shuuhei found the spirit sitting in a tree, nonchalantly picking at his fingernails. He looked up, and grinned when he saw Shūhei.

"Are you finally ready to hear my name? To use me? To reap the lives of every Hollow in existence?"

"Yes," replied Shūhei. The Zanpakutō spirit laughed gleefully, and narrowed his eyes at Shūhei.

"Then hear me when I say my name. Accept it. Use it. Live it."

Shūhei stared down his Zanpakutō, and the spirit laughed again.

"Very well. My name is Kazeshini."

Shūhei's eyes widened. He could not miss the meaning of the name. But he had no time for that. Closing his eyes again, he forced himself out of his inner world, ready to face the Hollows.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting just where he had been before. The three academy students were still alive, surprisingly, but he pushed those observations out of his mind. Standing up, he prepared to release his Zanpakutō.

The freshmen noticed he was standing, and the blonde asked, "Can you activate your shikai?"

Shūhei's reply came. "Reap, Kazeshini."

A burst of green reiatsu enveloped him, and his Zanpakutō changed form. The blade became two scythe-like weapons, connected by a chain. Ignoring the blood streaming down the right side of his face, Shūhei lept forward, throwing one of the scythes towards the nearest Hollow, the spinning blade tearing through its mask and continuing to smash another Hollow's mask. Yanking the chain to the left, the spinning blade of death swept through two more Hollows before Shūhei pulled it back towards himself. He ducked, letting the blade take out the Hollow behind him.

Meanwhile, the freshmen weren't standing around doing nothing. They were firing as many Hadō as they could a one Hollow. The girl had an impressive firing speed, but the two boys weren't slacking in their efforts, either. Eventually, the Hollow fell to their combined efforts. However, when the Hollow was cleansed, the blonde fell down, evidently from reiatsu exhaustion.

Again, Shūhei pulled back on the chain, sending the spinning blade past him. Directing it as best he could, he launched himself towards another Hollow. The blade of his Zanpakutō glittered as Hollow dust collected on it from the amount of Hollow masks it had shattered. Shūhei flicked his wrist, and sent the spinning blade towards another Hollow. He felt elated; rejuvenated, in fact. He could enjoy this. He was winning. They might actually survive this!

A scream of pain alerted him that all was not well with the freshman. Turning back to face them, he saw the arm of the redhead fall to the ground, Zanpakutō with it. The Hollow bearing down on the boy reared up its hand, ready to strike down the poor student.

A long thin blade struck the Hollow down faster that Shūhei could blink. the blade swerved several times and the rest of the Hollows fell with it. Shūhei looked to see who had rescued them. The taichō and the fukutaichō of the Fifth Division had come.

"You've all done a good job," said Aizen-taichō. He knelt down and started applying kaidō to the redhead's arm socket, suppressing the bleeding. Smiling at the girl, he motioned for the fukutaichō to open a senkaimon. The fukutaichō did so, and just from his mannerisms, Shūhei got the impression of a snake. The senkaimon opened, and Aizen-taichō motioned for Shūhei and the two other academy students to go on through. Shūhei sealed his Zanpakutō and followed the two freshmen through, the taichō following behind, levitating the redhead with Kidō. They had survived. Barely, but they had.

Renji groaned as he woke up, feeling pain in his right arm. Trying to sit up, he fell back down in pain. He tried to move his right arm, but nothing happened. Frowning, Renji reached over with his left arm to feel where his arm should be. He broke out in a cold sweat when he felt nothing. He looked down at his shoulder, and saw nothing but bandages where his arm used to be.

Gritting his teeth in frustration, Renji again tried to sit up, and managed to do it this time. Looking around the room he was in, he realized the surroundings were unfamiliar. This wasn't the medical bay at the Academy. Then he saw someone with a black shihakusho coming towards him, and raised an eyebrow.

"Ahh, Abarai-san, you're awake," said the shinigami happily. The shinigami was tall, about as tall as Renji, which was a surprise considering that she was a woman. However, Renji didn't raise this up with her. Instead, he asked, "Where am I?"

"You're in the Fourth Division," replied the shinigami. "My name is Kotetsu Isane, and I'm the 5th seat of the Fourth Division. Nice to meet you."

Renji didn't reply. He felt like a failure. When Kira had fallen down in exhaustion, he hadn't thought much of it, but when a cero had hit Kira in the back, Renji had gotten angry and rushed the Hollow. Looking back on it, he realized how stupid it was to think that he could handle a Huge Hollow by himself when he was just a first year.

Now he was down an arm, and likely to get kicked out of the Academy because of it. "Kotetsu-san, do you know if I'll….if I'll…" Renji trailed off, unable to finish the question.

"Continue being an Academy student?" she finished. Renji nodded glumly.

"I wouldn't see why not," said Kotetsu-san. Renji looked up at her hopefully. "I mean, with your courage being commended by Aizen-taichō himself, there's no way they won't let you become a shinigami, as long as you perform well enough."

"Do you have any advice for me?" asked Renji.

"Well, I'm guessing you're more of a Zanjutsu specialist, am I right?" Renji nodded. He waited for her words of wisdom that would help him on his way to becoming a shinigami. "Become well-versed in Kidō."

"What?" exclaimed Renji.

"You heard what I said," admonished Kotetsu-san. "I"m telling you this because there may be a point when your Zanjutsu fails you, or is unsuitable for the mission, and prevents you from completing a mission, or even leads to you or another's death because of it. Kidō might be a little bit more important for you, as it will help make up for your missing arm. That is my advice."

"Thank you very much," said Renji gratefully. Looking back on it now, he remembered how useful the Hadō had been against those Hollows. Then he vowed to become better in Kidō. Maybe not a master, but definitely not what he had been. "Any other advice?"

"Learn a bit of kaidō. It can be great help if you don't have any healers in your group and you need to take care of yourself."

Renji nodded again. "So you're basically telling me that even if I specialize in one thing, I should be competent in everything else, so that I'm well-rounded?"

"Precisely. You probably saw how powerful Aizen-taichō was, and he is one of the most well rounded taichō out there."

Renji nodded again. He was about to thank her again when the door to the infirmary burst open, and Rukia appeared in the doorway. Renji raised his hand, and Rukia spied him immediately.

"Renji, you idiot!"

Izuru laid back against the tree where he and Abarai-kun had first met. It was a calming place, and Izuru liked to come out here sometimes and relax. Ever since the training in the world of the living, he had put himself into training much more than ever before. When Hisagi-sempai had revealed his shikai, Izuru had realized how much of an asset shikai truly was. After they had returned, Izuru had hunted Hisagi-sempai down and asked him for tips on how to achieve shikai.

The answer he had gotten was fairly simple. Trust it. But Izuru knew there was more to learning his shikai then that. So he started practicing kata every morning and every evening, using his Zanpakutō as much as he could, trusting that it would see him though. Abarai-kun was not out of the Fourth Division yet, as he was still recovering from the limb loss, but Izuru planned to spar with him as much as he could in the future.

He still didn't know how to respond after he had learned the reason why Abarai-kun had lost his arm. After Izuru had fallen down in exhaustion, a Hollow had hit him with a cero, and Abarai-kun had lost it, rushing the Hollow and had gotten cut down near instantly.

Still, Izuru was grateful that Abarai-kun had gotten angry on his behalf. It felt good to have a real friend for once. Growing up, Izuru had been more of a loner, but now that he had a friend, it felt liberating to know that someone cared enough to attack an opponent so far beyond their level just for him other than his parents.

Izuru stood up. It was going to be time for class soon, and he didn't want to be late.

Momo tripped again, falling over and crashing to the floor. But she didn't let that bother her, and stood up for what seemed like the hundredth time. Right now, she was working on a piece of footwork that had been tripping her up in Hohō class, and she was determined to get it right before the next class period.

She had talked to the Hohō teacher after class, and requested some tips for her further learning. While she had always been passable in that class, it had been her weakest one, even more so that Hakuda, and she was determined to improve. The training in the living world had taught her that she should always be looking for areas to improve in. While she was the second best student overall, she needed to push herself if she wanted to become the best shinigami she could.

The easiest way to do that was to improve in her worst class. Hohō was all about footwork, something that Momo struggled with oftentimes. She wasn't sure why that was. Normally, her footwork was fairly sound in Zanjustu and Hakuda class, but when she tried to speed it up in Hohō class, she always tripped up and either fell or made a fool of herself. She hadn't let it bother her, but after that disastrous training trip, she had made it her mission to improve herself in every way possible.

Momo almost tripped again, but she corrected herself, and after that pattern of footwork was completed, she congratulated herself on a job well done. If she just put in enough effort, she would improve, and become the shinigami she had always wanted to be.

Four days later, Renji met up with Kira and Hinamori. He had just been released from the Fourth, and wanted to talk with his friends. Renji found them under the tree where he had first been introduced to Kira, and sat down beside them.

"We have to improve," said Renji, without prelude. "We would have died there if not for Hisagi."

"I agree," said Kira. "Abarai-kun, I want to spar with you later, if you don't mind."

"Sure," said Renji. "I need the practice, since I'll have to adjust my style to fighting with only one arm."

Renji turned to Hinamori. "Do you think you could tutor me in Kidō? I realized there I need to get better at that, otherwise I could be a liability."

Hinamori nodded. "I can definitely do that. Kira-kun, do you think you could help me with some of my Hohō? I've tried to get a little better, but I'm still struggling at times."

"Certainly," replied Kira. "I wouldn't mind getting better myself."

"So are we agreed on helping each other improve?" asked Renji. "If so, then I think we had better get started. I've decided that I want to become a taichō."

"Like Aizen-taichō?" asked Hinamori.

"Better than Aizen-taichō," answered Renji. "He's going to be a bar we can set ourselves against. We are going to improve until we're all taichō. Are you with me?"

Renji put his hand in the center of them. Kira soon followed, and Hinamori put her hand on top of theirs. "I'm with you," said Kira firmly.

"I'm also with you," echoed Hinamori.

The three of them stood up, ready to tackle every challenge that came their way.

Three Years Later…

Renji stood beside Kira and Hinamori proudly, waiting in line at the graduation ceremony. It had been four years of hard work, but they had managed to graduate three years early. All three of them had requested to join the Fifth Division. Now all they had to do was wait for their Division assignments.

"Abarai Renji, graduating with highest honors and in four years. Assigned to the Fifth Division as 18th seat."

Renji stepped forward, surprised at receiving a seat straight out of the Academy. It had happened in the past, but he hadn't expected it to happen to him.

Several more names flew by, until they announced, "Kira Izuru, graduating with highest honors and top of the class in four years, assigned to the Fifth Division as 18th seat."

Kira stepped forward, seemingly with a bit of surprise as well. Renji wasn't surprised at all to hear that Kira had graduated highest in this class. He'd always been best at evening out his skills. Knowing him he'd probably gotten second in each class.

The fact that they were assigned the same seat felt good to Renji, as it meant they would be working together quite often. It took longer to reach Hinamori's name, but when it came, it surprised Renji even more. "Hinamori Momo, graduating with highest honors and in four years. Assigned to the Fifth Division as 17th seat."

Hinamori stepped forward, a determined look upon her face. She glanced at Renji and Kira and Renji gave her a thumbs up. She smiled back.

After the graduation ceremony was over, Renji, Kira, and Hinamori all stood in the line of shinigami assigned to the Fifth Division. So far, they had been directed to the Fifth Division, and now they were standing in a large courtyard with the Division buildings spreading out before them. A small podium stood at the front of the courtyard, but besides than that, there were no decorations other than a few trees near the entrance.

"So Kira graduates top in class, but Hinamori gets a higher seat? What's up with that?" wondered Renji.

"I think it was because Hinamori-kun's skills are more oriented towards the Fifth's ideology," guessed Kira. Renji frowned at that. While he didn't mind Hinamori receiving a higher seat than him, he would have expected Kira to get it instead of her.

"Whatever. I'm just excited to finally become a shinigami." Renji glanced at the beginning of the line. No one had moved yet, and he wasn't really sure what they should be doing.

Renji felt the arrival of his taichō before he saw him. Aizen-taichō appeared in front of them, his fukutaichō beside him, and Aizen-taichō's calming voice echoed over the group.

"Welcome to the Fifth Division," said Aizen-taichō warmly. "My name is Aizen Sōsuke, and I am the taichō of this Division. To my right is my fukutaichō, Ichimaru Gin. It is nice to meet all of you, and I hope that we can work together happily." He smiled gently, and a loud cheer rose up from the new graduates. Renji couldn't help but join in, raising his arm in agreement.

Aizen-taichō raised a hand, and the cheering stopped. "Thank you. Gin, if you would show the new Division members around, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Nice to meet ya," said Gin. "I'm gonna show y'all 'round, so please follow me."

Gin walked into one of the doorways in the courtyard, and everyone began to follow. Renji was about to follow, but Aizen-taichō spoke one more time. "If any of you received seat placements, would you please remain here?"

Aizen-taichō motioned for them to come over closer to him. Renji got a little scared when he drew near because of the sheer amount of reiatsu Aizen-taichō was emitting. When he noticed that they were struggling a little, Aizen-taichō let up on some of his reiatsu, and it became a little easier to breathe. Renji noticed that one other graduate besides Kira and Hinamori was with them, and couldn't remember his name from the ceremony.

"Thank you for staying," said Aizen-taichō. "I wanted to congratulate you personally for your efforts towards becoming an excellent shinigami."

Renji bowed thankfully. Aizen-taichō raised an eyebrow at Renji. Renji raised an eyebrow in return. "Is there something you needed, taichō?"

"No. I was just remembering when I first met you. It was truly an unfortunate meeting. Perhaps we can have a better first impression this time." Aizen-taichō smiled, and Renji nodded his head.

"Thank you for saving my life, taichō," said Renji gratefully.

"I only wish I had been there sooner. Perhaps I could have prevented the loss of your arm. It is truly remarkable to have graduated with such proficiency even with such a disability. You have my regards, Abarai-kun."

"Um, I wish to inquire what you are talking about," the other graduated interrupted.

"Ah, I'm sorry. You may recall that I had come to inspect the Academy one day while they were in the world of the living doing some training against dummy Hollows. However, a group of Huge Hollows attacked them, and the lead sixth-year, Hisagi Shūhei-kun, requested assistance against the Hollows. I heard the call for assistance, and decided to help. Unfortunately, Kira-kun had already been disabled, and because of it, Abarai-kun had fallen into a rage and attacked the Hollow. While it was not the wisest choice he could have made, it certainly was commendable, though he lost his arm for it. I arrived just in time to prevent Abarai-kun from losing his life from blood loss."

"You attacked a Huge Hollow head on while still an Academy student?" asked the boy incredulously.

"And I was a first-year, too," added Renji. The boy gaped, and Renji rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.

"I take it you have not been introduced yet," guessed Aizen-taichō.

Renji shook his head. "I'm Abarai Renji," said Renji. "Nice to meet you."

"I am Tadaro Ushio. Nice to meet you, too." Tadaro turned to Kira and Hinamori. "And who might you be?"

"I am Hinamori Momo," said Hinamori. "Pleased to meet you."

"My name is Kira Izuru," said Kira. "It's good to meet you."

"Now that we have introductions out of the way," segwayed Aizen-taichō, "Let's get on to business. The reason I called you here was to run over the duties of a seated officer. The first duty of a seated officer is to look out for those lower ranked than they are. I expect you to always be watchful, and to help out your fellow shinigami when they request assistance. This is an important part of your growth as a shinigami, as it shows leadership skills that we value highly here in the Seireitei.

"The second duty of a seated officer is to obey the orders of those of a higher rank. This may seem basic, but I wish to stress on you that the chain of command is quite important, and that you should remember to follow orders as best you can."

Aizen-taichō's serious look drove into them the importance of this. "Now, as a seated officer, you will often have to lead or partake in missions to the Rukongai or the world of the living. I must again stress on you that you must follow the chain of command. Without a clear chain of command, a mission that would have otherwise succeeded may fail.

"Of course, when I bring up missions, I must also bring up one of the most dreaded things in all of Seireitei. Paperwork."

Tadaro snickered a little, but Renji paid more attention. While he might not like paperwork one bit, it was still an important aspect of the Jūsanbantai. "I say this in all seriousness when I tell you that I only expect the best from you all in that you do. Paperwork is one of those areas."

Hinamori nodded resolutely. It seemed that Aizen-taichō had spiked her insatiable desire to learn. Renji had learned firsthand what happened when you awoke that particular dragon. He had made a careless comment about maybe wanting to learn a level 50 Hadō at some point, and Hinamori had made every effort to research, learn, and teach him a level 50 Hadō within a month. On the bright side, he had learned Hadō 54, Haien, and was able to use it with the incantation if he hadn't used up too much reiatsu, but it had been hell learning it.

"The final duty I would like you to do is this: train yourself. I do not mean this in just Zankensoki. Train yourself in every way possible, from tea ceremony to calligraphy to music to poetry and to drawing. Set out to learn something new every day." Aizen-taichō smiled at them again.

"That is all that I wanted to speak with you about. Thank you for your time."

Izuru walked with Renji towards the Fifth Division's barracks. As they were walking, Izuru commented, "Aizen-taichō is really nice, isn't he?"

"He's the kind of man I want to be," said Renji. "You up for a spar tonight?"

"Sure. I want to try out that new Hadō Hinamori-kun taught us last week. I'm honestly surprised they didn't teach us more Kidō at the Academy."

"I think it's because they have to move everyone along, and so they have to teach us at a snail's pace. But at least they have resources for students who want to go further in their Kidō. Even though it's probably used mostly by the nobles."

"So what? Anyway, I'll see you after I get settled in!" Abarai-kun entered his room, and Izuru stood at the doorway to his own new quarters. Taking a deep breath, he slid open the door and examined what he saw.

His new quarters were fairly generous, considering the living arrangements at the Academy, where you had to share a room with a roommate. Even still, Izuru liked his new room. There was enough room to comfortably fit several people for tea, which Izuru liked. A small desk was lined up against the front wall, and a closet across the room. Izuru inspected the closet, and found it to his liking. The futon seemed comfortable enough, and there was enough space to house some keepsakes, as well.

Closing his closet, Izuru sat down on the floor and pulled out his Zanpakutō. Ever since Hisagi-sempai had given his advice, Izuru had made it his personal mission to trust his Zanpakutō. The result? Izuru was close to achieving shikai. He could tell, because the last time he had entered his inner world, his Zanpakutō spirit had tried to tell him its name, and Izuru had heard a bit of static, but he was almost there. His Zanpakutō, while rather silent, had enjoyed their conversations.

Izuru opened his eyes and found himself once more in his inner world. Comprised of a large plain, Izuru sat down on one of the many large rocks that scattered the fields of grass. His Zanpakutō sat nearby on another rock, examining his own sword. When he looked up, Izuru bowed to him, and his Zanpakutō bowed back. It had been a custom ever since he had first met his Zanpakutō spirit.

"What do you wish to speak about?" asked his Zanpakutō.

"I wish to finally know your name," replied Izuru. The Zanpakutō spirit stared him in the eye, but Izuru kept eye contact until his Zanpakutō spoke.

"Very well. I shall tell you my name. My name is Wabisuke."

The penitent one. Izuru considered the name. "You have a good name," he commented after a moment of thought.

"Thank you."

"No, thank you," insisted Izuru. He lapsed into silence. Izuru couldn't really think of anything else to say, so he didn't say anything at all.

They sat in silence for a while longer, simply enjoying each other's company. Izuru's visits often resulted in this, but Izuru didn't mind. Silent companionship had its own meaning, just as deep as a any other. It meant ever more now that Izuru knew Wabisuke's name. But for now, Izuru was content to spend his time like this, just coexisting with Wabisuke.

Momo sighed as Renji-kun once again beat Izuru-kun. So far, Izuru-kun hadn't been able to best Renji-kun in a purely Zanjutsu spar, even after Renji-kun had lost his arm. And Renji-kun had only improved in his Zanjutsu since then, adapting his style to accommodate the loss of his arm.

However, if allowed to use Kidō, Izuru-kun would be able to best Renji-kun almost 100% of the time. Even though Renji-kun's Kidō had grown in leaps and bounds, he was still a far cry from Izuru-kun's ability in the demon arts. This was in part due to the fact that Izuru-kun was much better at Bakudō than Hadō, and that made all the difference, as Izuru-kun was still better than Renji-kun at Hadō, as well.

"My turn," said Momo. "I want to spar with Renji-kun." Really the only way to defeat Renji-kun in Zanjutsu was to wear him down. But even then, he still wouldn't lose, as he had more endurance than the both of them combined.

Momo pulled out her Zanpakutō and faced Renji-kun, ready to spar. Renji-kun, as usual, waited for her to make the first move. The main reason for that was if Renji-kun went on the offensive first, then he would overwhelm her in just a few seconds. So Momo charged forward, thrusting forward towards Renji-kun's right side. Momo had been able to best Renji-kun only once, and that had been their first spar after he had lost his arm. Capitalizing on his now open right side, she had managed to get enough hits in to fell him.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to replicate the feat since then, despite her best efforts. Still, her experience level became better every single time she had a spar, and she knew that, in the end, that was all that mattered.

Momo's thrust was quickly guarded against, and Renji-kun's parry forced Momo to abandon her line of attack. Grunting, Momo switched tactics and struck for his left side. It went about as well as could be expected. Renji-kun quickly put some torque into his blade and sent Momo's bokken flying out of her hands. Momo sighed once more. She really needed improvement in her Zanjutsu.

Seven Years Later…

"Hadō no Sanjūsan: Sōkatsui!" shouted Renji, extending his closed fist to fire off the Kidō. The Hollow roared in pain as the ball of blue fire struck its mask, and Renji followed up with another Sōkatsui. This time, the Kidō shattered the Hollow's mask, cleansing the Hollow. A cheer came from behind Renji from one of the two Division members he was leading. Renji had been assigned a long term mission to the world of the living, and he was doing his best to complete it.

Renji turned to his subordinates. "Alright, you two are taking down the next one."

"Yes, sir!" saluted the shinigami. So far, Renji hadn't been too impressed with the shinigami he had been assigned, as neither of them had attained their shikai and were very unskilled in Kidō. Renji had half a mind to request they be sent back to the Academy, but he knew it would never fly with the higher-ups. Then again, Renji still didn't know much about the skill levels of unseated shinigami, so he knew he shouldn't judge the shinigami too harshly. Perhaps their only saving grace was that they followed his orders to the letter.

However, that didn't prevent Renji from trying to get them to improve in every way possible. After the first few Hollow exterminations, he'd stopped healing their wounds, instead teaching them how to do it themselves, and, unsurprisingly, they were quite motivated to learn, since Renji wasn't going to step in to heal any injury that wasn't potentially life-threatening.

And, since he was the officer in charge, it also gave him a chance to polish up some of his weaker Kidō and commune with his Zanpakutō more often. He'd achieved shikai about six months after learning that Kira had achieved his, and since then, he'd grown quite fond of his unusual Zanpakutō. Zabimaru wasn't actually human, so that had thrown him off a little.

But Renji didn't let that stop him from learning everything he could from Zabimaru. His Zanpakutō was quite insightful at times, and was quite good at pointing out certain flaws in Renji's swordsmanship. One time Zabimaru had pointed out a weak point in his defenses, and had shown Renji how to guard against it. In his very next spar with Kira, he had targeted that spot. Renji had been able to parry the attack and riposte without problem.

For now, Renji decided to take a little break. He'd been working on cutting down on the amount of reiatsu he used to fire off Sōkatsui. A few years ago, the sixth seat had pointed out that he tended to use more reiryoku in preparing his Kidō than necessary. Renji had immediately started to cut down on the amount of reiryoku he put into his spells, and found, to his delight, that it actually made it easier to cast the Kidō, because it meant that he handled less reiryoku in performing the spell.

Renji cast seven Sōkatsui in quick succession, observing the drain on his reiatsu levels. After he calculated the entire drainage, Renji smiled. He had definitely made progress. At least, he had with Sōkatsui. He still needed some practice with his higher level Hadō.

Izuru stood patiently outside Aizen-taichō's door, waiting for permission to enter. Izuru, in the past seven years, had mainly focused on learning the ins and outs of his Zanpakutō ability. He'd also been training his parries to accommodate the more powerful strikes of a weightened Zanpakutō. It wouldn't do for him to lose a fight because he wasn't able to block a blow from something he had done.

"Come in." Aizen-taichō's calm voice wafted through the rice paper walls.

"You wanted to see me, taichō?" asked Izuru as he opened the door to Aizen-taichō's personal quarters.

"Yes," replied Aizen-taichō. "I wanted to talk to you about some of your recent accomplishments. It may surprise you, but I try to keep tabs on all of my squad members' abilities. Your's are certainly impressive."

"Thank you," said Izuru. "But I still have much to improve on."

"And that is why I called you here, Kira-kun." Izuru looked up and met Aizen-taichō's eyes. "I realize that many shinigami want to improve in their abilities, but they know not how to do so. I would like to gather a group of select members of our squad and tutor them myself. You are one of the seven I have chosen, because out of all of the Fifth Division, I see in you the potential to be a truly powerful shinigami."

"Who else is to take this tutoring?"

"The Fifth Seat, the Seventh Seat, The Thirteenth Seat, three unseated shinigami, and you."

"What about my fri—my fellow Eighteenth Seats?" asked Izuru.

"Part of what these tutoring sessions will do is teach you how to instruct others as well. I fully expect you to pass this knowledge to other members of the Division, your friends included," explained Aizen-taichō. He smiled gently. "I realize this is sudden, but I would like you to report to Training Ground Fourteen at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow."

"No, I understand, Aizen-taichō. You want this to be kept undercover, so as not to anger our fellow Division members. Telling me just beforehand prevents unreasonable rumors from circulating around. Thank you for giving me this opportunity." With that, Izuru bowed in thanks.

"I hope you will live up to my expectations, Kira-kun. I will see you tomorrow." Aizen-taichō smiled once more, and Izuru left, a feeling of hope welling up inside him. He was going to receive private tutoring from his taichō! It was not something he had expected whatsoever when he had received Aizen-taichō's summons. But it was a welcome surprise. He would work as hard as he could over the next few weeks to improve himself as much as he could.

Momo sat cross-legged on her floor, meditating to regulate the flow of reiatsu through her body. She had taken to circulating her reiatsu throughout her body to control as best she could. It had taken several months of meditation to reach the level of control she had now, but was she ever glad she had tried. Since she had started meditating, her control over more complex Kidō improved considerably. But this had another effect which she didn't immediately notice, but become more and more obvious as time went on. The more she meditated, the faster her reiryoku grew. It had been quite startling at first, but now Momo thought she understood why this happened.

When she circulated her reiatsu throughout her body, she was pulling the reiatsu from her reiryoku reserves and sending them through her body. However, once she had a certain amount of reiatsu pulled from her reiryoku, she stopped drawing from that well and just circulated the remaining reiatsu over and over again. This wasn't anything abnormal; it was how most Kidō was formed—by drawing from her reiryoku reserves and converting it into reiatsu and expelling the reiatsu in a controlled reaction to achieve a certain goal, whether it be destruction, construction, or healing.

But what her method of meditation didn't do was expel the withdrawn reiatsu. Instead, she stored it back in her reiryoku well. This had a twofold effect: first, since her reiryoku well had already partially refilled during the time she was meditating, when she put her reiryoku back, it was forced into her reiryoku reserves, making her reiryoku denser so that it could fit inside her reserves; second, because her reiryoku was now denser and more potent, it put more strain on her reiryoku reserves, causing her reserves to grow in order to prevent her reiatsu from breaking out of them.

In other words, she had just started a cycle of spiritual growth unlike any other seen before.

Her first response upon finding this out was to immediately inform Renji-kun and Izuru-kun. But her second response was one of terror. She had no idea what sort of effect this could cause—it could eventually lead to her body being crushed from the sheer amount of reiryoku circulating throughout her body naturally.

Still, that didn't stop her from continuing her meditation. Only now, she released the extra reiatsu she had used to meditate with so as not to expedite the process even further. She didn't want to kill herself, after all.

"Hadō no Gojūyon: Haien!" The burst of purple flames struck the target dead on, and Renji panted slightly. Just performing the level 50 Hadō once was enough to put a slight drain on his reserves, and this was his third use in a row. A level 50 was overkill for this level of Hollow, but it was good practice for Renji. He had nearly mastered Sōkatsui, and was capable of rapid firing the Kidō for nearly a minute before he would drain his reiatsu.

Sitting down, Renji wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his forearm and took a deep breath. It still surprised him how well he had taken to Kidō after he put some serious effort into it. Hinamori had been an excellent tutor, and had helped him out immensely.

Now he was returning the favor with the two unseated shinigami. "Hey! You two! Get over here!"

The two unseated shinigami hurried as much as they could with their injuries over to where Renji was sitting. "Sir!"

"I want you to fire three Hadō at me, and I don't care which ones, but aim to impress," ordered Renji.

The shinigami on the left immediately took aim with a Byakurai, which Renji deflected with a flick of his finger. "You had better put more power into your attacks, otherwise you won't be able to touch me!"

The other was finishing up an incantation, which Renji vaguely recognized as the incantation for Sōkatsui. He hadn't used any incantations for Kidō for a while, unless he was learning a new one. As he had yet to be really challenged, that hadn't had to change.

But Renji immediately realized that he wouldn't be able to deflect the incoming Hadō with his hand. So he raised his finger and muttered as the shinigami launched his attack, "Hadō no Ichi: Shō."

A small amount of energy burst from Renji's finger, completely neutralizing the ball of fire's momentum, forcing it to explode mid flight. "Come on!" taunted Renji, "You can do better than that!"

The shinigami gritted his teeth and started over, this time weaving two incantations together while the other shinigami started his own incantation. At seeing the one combine two incantations, Renji felt mildly impressed. At least the one knew a little bit of Kidō theory. Well, it wasn't enough to be too challenging to Renji, but at least it was a start.

"Hadō no Sanjūichi: Shakkahō! Hadō no Sanjūsan: Sōkatsui!" shouted the shinigami.

Renji raised his palm. "Bakudō no Sanjūkyū: Enkōsen." A disk of yellow reiatsu deflected the two side by side spells to either side of Renji, exploding harmlessly.

"Hadō no Yon: Byakurai!" Renji switched tactics here and dodged it, letting the pale light flash by him.

"Hadō no Jūyon: Kiuisen!" Seven lights popped into existence around Renji, each flattening out into they resembled feathers.

"Bakudō no Hachi: Seki!" Renji shouted in reply, a ball of blue light forming on the back of his hand. As the seven feathers of Kidō drew near, he used the Bakudō to deflect them, having to spin on his toes in order to do so.

"Aaaaanndd fail," decided Renji. "While you certainly did have some good ideas, like using Nijū Eishō, both of you completely ignored Bakudō, which may have given you the win if you'd used one. So, as punishment, you aren't allowed to use your Zanpakutō against the next ten Hollows you face."

As his two subordinates grumbled and complained, Renji couldn't help but smile on the inside. They were definitely making some progress, and Renji couldn't help but feel proud at the two. While neither of them would ever achieve a seated position, as Renji had been far stronger than the two when he had graduated, they weren't quite the same unseated shinigami they used to be. And that was good enough for Renji. Now, if he could just get them to start trying to learn on their own….

The Sōkatsui collided against Izuru's hastily cast Enkōsen, and Izuru had to force extra reiryoku into the spell after he began it just to hold back the powerful Hadō. Now, Izuru was sparring against the Fifth Seat, and not doing very well at that, but Izuru felt frustration that he wasn't able to hold off the superior shinigami for more than a few seconds. Izuru knew that if this was a shikai spar, he would win near instantly, as he had seen what the Fifth Seat's shikai did when he had been forced to release it against a few Huge Hollows three years ago.

Still, Izuru was doing his best, and he launched an offensive with his Zanpakutō, coming in on the right. He was parried, but Izuru continued to put pressure on the Fifth Seat's position, forcing him to take several steps back. Izuru used a Shō on his opponent's knee to slightly upset his balance, and jumped up, bringing his Zanpakutō down on his opponent's head.

The Fifth Seat was barely able to deflect Izuru's blow, having to shunt it off towards his shoulder or take a strike to the head. Izuru's blade bit into flesh, and the Fifth Seat grunted in frustration. Izuru grinned. "Hadō no Jūichi: Tsuzuri Raiden!"

The Fifth Seat paled in recognition before the electric Hadō shocked his system. He fell to one knee, panting. "Match! Kira Izuru!" shouted the referee.

Izuru nodded at the ref before helping his opponent up. "How the hell are you still an Eighteenth Seat?" wondered the Fifth Seat. "You're at least Tenth Seat level."

"I couldn't tell you," said Izuru. "That was a good spar. I haven't really had anyone other than my fellow Eighteenth Seats to spar with."

"You mean Abarai and Hinamori-chan, don't you?" Izuru nodded. "Honestly, I haven't spent much time with them at all. How good are they?"

Izuru paused for a moment. They had all agreed that as much as they could, they would keep their strengths to themselves as much as possible. "Well, I have never beaten Abarai-kun in Zanjutsu, and Hinamori-kun outdoes me in Kidō, but I beat them out if you switch disciplines." What Izuru didn't mention was that Abarai-kun was excellent in Hakuda and Hinamori-kun in Hohō and would beat him in unarmed combat as well.

"So they're just about as good as you?"

Izuru nodded. The Fifth Seat whistled appreciatively. "That's pretty impressive for kids a decade into being shinigami."

Blushing, Izuru looked up at Aizen-taichō. He was smiling gently down at the two of them. The other spar had already concluded, so Aizen-taichō stood up. "Well done, all of you. I must congratulate you on your performances today. However, there is one more thing I would like to go over today. While most of you have been able to integrate Kidō into your spars fairly well, none did better than Kira-kun. He used an excellent combination of Kidō and Zanjutsu to defeat his opponent. Well done."

Izuru blushed further. "In fact, I have decided to start tomorrow's lesson with a review of Kira-kun's spar with our Fifth Seat," continued the taichō. "With that said, I will see you all tomorrow."

Aizen-taichō's smile indicated that they were released, and Izuru quickly headed back to his barracks. He was too embarrassed to stay around long, and he wanted to avoid the other students, less they start to ask questions. Izuru hadn't ever been really comfortable around lots of people, though he had been able to hide during the Academy by sticking close to his friends, Abarai-kun and Hinamori-kun.

When he arrived back at his quarters, he ran through his nightly exercises of stretches and communication with his Zanpakutō. Izuru went to sleep with dreams of Kidō after Kidō being used to construct a clock.

Momo winced as a spasm of pain swept through her entire body. Frowning, she did a quick diagnostic Kaidō to see if anything was wrong. Momo jerked back in surprise when she saw the results. The amount of reiryoku her body was unconsciously producing had nearly doubled from when she had last checked it two months ago. No wonder some of her spells had started to become harder to use. This type of grown was unnatural.

Momo grimaced. She hadn't wanted to bring attention to herself, but it seemed she might have to in the near future or risk some potent side effects. Turning the corner she bumped into someone she didn't expect to.

"Oh, hello there," said Ichimaru Gin. "How ya doin'?"

"I'm sorry for bumping into you, Ichimaru-fukutaichō." Momo bowed, by her fukutaichō just waved her off.

"Don't worry about it. So, what'cha been doin' recently?" he asked.

"Well, I had been doing a bit of Kidō practice, but my reiatsu had been a little off lately."

"How so?" he inquired.

"It's felt harder to control," admitted Momo. She was gambling a little here, to see if she could ask a favor. If he felt concerned, perhaps he could get a recommendation to see one of the higher seated officers of the Fourth Division.

"That's kinda weird." Ichimaru-fukutaichō's everpresent smile now turned near predatory. "Sure you're not hiding anything?"

Momo gulped. Ichimaru-fukutaichō's killing intent had just doubled, and it was very creepy. "No," she lied, "I'm not hiding anything.

"You're lying," he said. Momo gulped again. Ichimaru-fukutaichō just laughed when he saw expression. "But then again, who isn't hiding something around here? Let me just tell you, most people aren't like they appear. That's just a bit of advice for the future." He put a hand on Momo's head. "I'm not gonna pry or anything, but if your reiatsu's gettin' outta control, just talk ta me."

"I will," promised Momo. She was hoping he would leave, so she wouldn't have to talk to him anymore.

"Oh, ya said you were doin' some stuff with Kidō. Would ya mind showin' me some of that?"

"Not at all," Momo lied again. The smile was almost kind now, which rather surprised Momo. But then again, there was still that snake-y feeling that he gave off at all times.

Ichimaru-fukutaichō led her to one of the training grounds, where he quickly set up a few targets for her to practice on.

"Now, what kinda stuff you been working on lately?" he asked.

"Mostly Nijū Eishō, but I've been working on learning some of the higher level Kidō as well."

"Show me something."

Momo took a deep breath. While she was doing this she might as well impress him. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Carriage of thunder, bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide into six with this! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens.

"Bakudō no Rokujūichi: Rikujōkōrō! Hadō no Nanajūsan: Sōren Sōkatsui!" Six rods of light surrounded one target, locking it into position for her Hadō. Twin balls of blue flame flashed from her hand, and twirled around the target once, before attacking it from both sides.

Momo panted, the effort of using two high level Kidō like that taking a significant chunk out of her reiatsu. The target had been completely eradicated, with nothing left behind whatsoever.

"Color me impressed, Momo-chan," said Ichimaru-fukutaichō, clapping appreciatively. "Got anything else?"

Momo sighed. While she was doing this, she decided to show off her best combination Kidō she had created. It wasn't much, just combining Bakudō no Yon with Hadō no Jūichi and Hadō no Jūni to create an electrical, fiery whip.

Momo held up her hand, generating the Hainawa and throwing it towards a target. As it moved towards it, she layered the Tsuzuri Raiden and the Fushibi with it, so that the crackling yellow whip also sparked with electricity and had a orange string of fire wrapped around it.

When the whip reached the target, it lit up with electricity as the Tsuzuri Raiden did its work. A moment later, the Fushibi activated, making the target burst into flame.

"Whew! That's a bit dangerous there. Wordlessly, too. Tisn't easy to layer three Kidō like that. Say, Momo-chan, why don't you and I have a little fun every Tuesday?"

Momo bit her lip. While her fukutaichō was basically offering her free tutoring sessions, it was her fukutaichō that was offering it. Then again, with someone like her fukutaichō tutoring her, she could easily improve, far faster than she had been before.

"I guess we could," agreed Momo hesitantly. "If it doesn't trouble you too much, Ichimaru-fukutaichō."

"Great," said Ichimaru-fukutaichō. "Call me Gin."

A/N: And that's a wrap for this chapter. This was an idea I had that seemed to say, "WRITE ME!" So I did. Anyway, the main point of this was to explore what might happen if the four of the Academy Students, Shūhei, Renji, Izuru, and Momo, had to deal with the ridiculous amount of Huge Hollows that attacked them while they were training in the Living World. I also got rid of Renji's arm to make it a bit more difficult for him to fight with a sword, so he could get better at Kidō. We'll see how this changes things. I'll give you a warning: THIS WON'T BE LIKE CANON.

There. See you sometime later. I have no idea when a second chapter might come out. This is being powered completely by my muse at the moment, and as all writers know, it is a very fickle thing.

A/N2: Had a reviewer ask for a definition of the Japanese terms I use. So I'm listing them below. Just for your convenience. I'll continue adding them here as I go along. Anything in bold is something I created.

Jiritsu—Self-reliance
Shinigami—Soul Reaper
Zanpakutō—Shinigami's sword
Taichō—Captain
Fukutaichō—Vice-Captain/Lieutenant
Kaidō—Healing Kidō
Zankensoki—Term for the four basic skills of a shinigami
Zanjutsu—Sword skills
Hakuda—Martial Arts
Hohō—Footwork and shunpo techniques
Kidō—Magic (basically)
List of Kidō used this chapter:
Hadō—Destructive Kidō
Hadō no Ichi: Shō—Hadō no. 1: Thrust
Hadō no Yon: Byakurai—Hadō no. 4: Pale Lightning
Hadō no Jūichi: Tsuzuri Raiden—Hadō no. 11: Bound Lightning
Hadō no Jūni: Fushibi—Hadō no. 12: Ambush Flare
Hadō no Jūyon: Hiuisen—Air Feathers Surrounding Pierce
Hadō no Sanjūichi: Shakkahō—Hadō no. 31: Red Fire Cannon
Hadō no Sanjūsan: Sōkatsui—Hadō no. 33: Blue Fire Crash Down
Hadō no Gojūyon: Haien—Hadō no. 54: Abolishing Flames
Hadō no Nanajūsan: Sōren Sōkatsui—Hadō no. 73: Twin Lotus, Blue Fire Crash Down
Bakudō—Binding Kidō
Bakudō no Yon: Hainawa—Bakudō no. 4: Crawling Rope
Bakudō no Hachi: Seki—Bakudō no. 8: Repulse
Bakudō no Sanjūkyū: Enkōsen—Bakudō no. 39: Round Lock Fan
Bakudō no Rokujūichi: Rikujōkōrō—Bakudō no. 61: Six Rods Prison of Light
Nijū Eishō—Twofold Incantation
Reishi—Spirit Particles
Reiatsu—Spiritual Pressure
Reiryoku—Spiritual Power