It had taken Lucy and Rangiku 4 days to walk to Soul Society, Rangiku stopped before the Eastern Gatekeeper as they arrived whilst Lucy looked up at him in awe.

Rangiku hid a smile upon seeing Lucy's expression of shock.

"Hey Kaiwan how's it goin," called Rangiku as she waved up to him.

"Lieutenant," he bowed before glancing curiously at Lucy.

"Same's always lieutenant yee know nothin eva hap'ns roun here," he huffed seemingly glad at being spoken too.

"If yee don mine me askin lieutenant, who's the youn lass with ya?"

Lucy blushed slightly seeing his attention was now on her.

"This is Lucy, she's going to be taking the Soul Reaper Entrance Exam," grinned Rangiku.

Realisation appeared in Kaiwan's eyes and he grinned down at Lucy, "well then gud luck little lass."

"Thank you," bowed Lucy.

Kaiwan let out a bellowing laugh, "so polite, well I shan't keep ya."

He bent down and easily lifted the massive door allowing them passage much to Lucy's awe, "thanks Kaiwan," called Rangiku once they'd passed through.

Kaiwan waved before lowering the door and resuming guard.

"That was the gatekeeper of the Eastern Gate," Rangiku explained to Lucy after they'd walked through. "The gatekeeper's job is to guard the gate and make sure that no one other than Soul Reapers or those accompanied by them can enter."

"I see," said Lucy as she turned back to look at the now closed door.

Suddenly she winced and clutched her head with her right hand, as she opened her eyes there was a giant standing in front of her, this giant then shrank to the height of a 5 year old child wearing a blue and orange jester hat, an orange coat and a white t-shirt with the same symbol on it as is on her right hand.

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to reality.

"Lucy are you alright?" asked Rangiku, concerned about how her new friend had suddenly stopped walking and was clutching her head seemingly in pain.

"If you're not feeling well then we could make a stop at Squad 4, they're the medical division."

"No, no I'm alright, this happens from time to time, it'll go away in a bit," reassured Lucy.

"Ok, if you're sure," Rangiku glanced uncertainly at Lucy before turning to continue walking towards The Soul Reaper Academy.

Arriving at the Academy, Rangiku leads Lucy to the main desk at the reception.

"Hello," greeted Rangiku, "I've recruited a candidate for the Soul Reaper entrance exam."

The receptionist turned towards Lucy who was standing slightly behind Rangiku, "Name?" the receptionist asked boredly.

"Lucy, Lucy Heartfilia," the receptionist nodded and wrote her name at the bottom of a list of others.

"The waiting area for Soul Reaper applicants is through that door on the left," said the receptionist pointing towards a door.

He then gave Lucy a badge with the number 138.

"This is your number tag, when your number is called head towards the door with 2 Soul Reapers standing outside, any questions?"

"What does the Soul Reaper exam entail?"

The woman sighed tiredly, "the Soul Reaper exam has 2 parts, an interview and then a test of your spiritual pressure, anything else?"

"No that's all," replied Lucy as she turned to Rangiku who stood slightly behind her whilst she was talking to the receptionist.

"I'm going to have to leave you now Lucy," Rangiku smiled slightly at the nervous look Lucy was giving her.

"Don't worry i'm sure you'll do fine and I'll be sure to visit you when I have time," she encouraged. "Assuming I pass," muttered Lucy worriedly.

"Hey, I know you'll pass," Rangiku placed a reassuring hand on Lucy's shoulder causing her to smile slightly.

"Yeah thanks, so I'll see you around?"

"Of course we are friends after all," Rangiku grinned and waved before she turned and shunpoed away.

"Friends," whispered Lucy smiling as the faces of the people in her journal popped into her head.

She grinned feeling slightly more confidant before placing her number badge on her yukata and making her way towards the blue door.

Stopping just outside it she took a deep breath, calming her nerves before pushing it open.

Making her way into the crowded room Lucy glanced around nervously immediately spotting the red door with two male soul reapers standing in front of it.

Not sure where to stand she skillfully made her way through the crowd trying not to attract attention whilst hoping to find a more secluded spot where she would be able to wait without being disturbed.

After a few seconds she managed to spot an unoccupied space in one of the corners and quickly made her way over.

Unfortunately in her haste she accidently bumped into another applicant.

Blinking slightly in surprise Lucy took a step back as the much bigger male turned towards her.

"Sorry," muttered Lucy bowing slightly as she turned to walk away but the large male wasn't having it and roughly grabbed her shoulder preventing her from leaving.

"Now girlie where d'ya think you're goin," Lucy narrowed her eyes at the hand on her shoulder before turning back towards the male.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doin at the Soul Reaper Entrance Exam," the male smiled lecherously as his eyes hungrily took in her body.

Lucy scowled in disgust as other people started turning to watch the potential situation unfold.

"How bout ya hang with me n ma boys, don't worry we'll protect you," he smirked.

Lucy sighed in exasperation, "thank's for the offer but I'll pass," she then tried to walk away again but was once again stopped as the man's friends surrounded her.

Mentally groaning she turned back towards the tall male raising an eyebrow.

"Hey I didn say youse could leave, where do youse get off refusin ma generous offer like tha?"

He was now glaring at Lucy who held a board expression, she'd encountered a lot of guys like this in Ryota's bar and if this male pushed too far then he and his buddies would end up on the long list of people she'd beaten up.

Standing slightly straighter Lucy spoke "what part of 'I'll pass' didn't you understand?"

Unfortunately for whatever reason this guy took that as an insult.

"YOU THINK YOU CAN MOCK ME!" he raged attracting the attention of everyone in the room as he lunged at Lucy intent on grabbing her yukata.

However Lucy was prepared for this aggression and ducked the hand reaching for her, she quickly grabbed the man's wrist and pulled forcing the man off balance before grabbing his sash and pushing it upwards throwing the man over her and onto his back.

The man looked slightly dazed but otherwise fine, "YOU BITCH!" roared his friends before they lunged at her.

She easily dodged their sloppy attacks and with a few well placed kicks and punches the man's friends were also down for the count.

Breathing out a sigh, Lucy was startled when the whole room suddenly cheered and clapped for her.

Looking around she realised that the other candidates had made a circle around her and the men who couldn't take no for an answer and were now enthusiastically clapping and cheering.

Blushing slightly at the attention, Lucy noticed one of the soul reapers fighting their way through the crowed to get to where she and the unconscious males were.

"What happened?" he growled addressing Lucy.

She shrugged, "apparently some people don't understand the meaning of 'I'll pass'," the soul reaper sighed in exasperation, clearly this group wasn't the first to have caused trouble that morning.

He nodded to Lucy and called for a few members of Squad 4, Lucy took the opportunity to continue to the available space in the corner.

Breathing out a sigh of relief when she got there she turned as observed the other applicants.

"ALRIGHT APPLICANTS THE SOUL REAPER ENTRANCE EXAM WILL NOW BEGIN, CAN NUMBERS 1 TO 20 PLEASE PROCEED THROUGH TO THE INTERVIEW AREAS."

Lucy sighed she was in for a long wait and who knows how long the interviews were going to take.

When her group was finally called she quickly walked through the room and through the door.

She was then led towards a room with only 2 chairs and a desk.

"Please take a seat" said the Reaper motioning to the available chair as he sat the other side of the table placing his papers on top of it.

Sitting she nervously started playing with the hem of her yukata.

"Applicant no. 138, your name is Lucy Heartfilia correct?"

"Y-Yes sir."

He nodded, "my name is Daiki Kitakawa and I will be conducting your interview. Why do you wish to become a Soul Reaper?"

Lucy gulped nervously, "to learn to control my spiritual pressure so I don't accidentally hurt someone."

He nodded again and wrote something down, "why do you feel the need to control it?"

"I was told it blanketed the whole of district 46."

"Who told you that?"

"Rangiku Matsumoto."

"Ah, Lieutenant Matsumoto," he murmured.

"You're aware that all Soul Reapers are military personnel and therefor must be trained to fight."

"Yes sir."

He stared at her for a few seconds before nodding and writing something else down.

"Have you had any strange dreams recently?"

Lucy blinked in surprise, Rangiku asked pretty much the same question.

"Well there's the giant in the armor, I've started dreaming of. I think he's trying to talk to me but the wind is so loud I can't hear him."

Daiki's eyes widened slightly and he quickly wrote something down.

"That concludes the interview, next we'll be testing your spiritual pressure."

Standing up he gestured for Lucy to do the same before leading her towards a queue of people.

He told her to wait in line and quickly left.

It wasn't long before she was allowed into the large, spacious room where they were measuring spiritual pressure.

She approached the Soul Reaper standing in between a table covered in piles of documents and a platform with what appeared to be a crystal ball sitting on top of it.

"Applicant no. 138, please place your hand on the orb and channel as much spiritual pressure as you can into it."

Lucy nodded and placed her hand onto the ball.

Closing her eyes she could feel her spiritual pressure dying to break free.

It was strange, she'd never really paid attention to it before but now that she was she could feel just how uncontrolled it was.

She channeled as much of this power as she could into her hand and released it into the ball.

"That's enough!" called the instructor and she opened her eyes and released the ball breathing heavily.

She had to blink in surprise at the scene before her.

The man's hair was a mess and his previously neat piles of paperwork now scattered all over the floor.

He coughed slightly getting her attention, "please head through those doors and await your results."

"S-Sure," she whispered still trying to comprehend what just happened.

She winced in sympathy as the man started picking up the hundred or so pieces of paper off the floor.

Exiting the room she looked around the hall filled with all the other applicants, taking note of the monitor on one of the walls.

She walked further in looking around.

Making her way towards a corner she leaned against the wall nervously counting the minutes.

After what seemed like hours a Soul Reaper entered the room and called for everyone's attention.

He announced all applicants had completed the exam and the numbers of those successful will be displayed on the screen if a few minutes.

Everyone turned their attention to the screen waiting with bated breath for the results.

They soon lit up and Lucy began scanning the rows of numbers for hers.

She heard the cheers from other applicants as they found their numbers.

She kept scanning.

114, 115, 118, 120, 126, 130, 132, 137, 138.

It was there.

138.

She'd passed.

A massive grin lit up her face.

A few minutes later the Soul Reaper returned and asked those who'd passed to follow him towards the student dorms.

Lucy smiled as she took her first steps towards her new life as a Soul Reaper.