HELLO THERE!

Thank you for even clicking onto this story. This idea has been stuck in my head for some quite time and I'm sure if I don't write it out, my conscience will never let me off.

So, basically the first two to three chapters will be Namiko's childhood + days in the soul reaper academy. After that there will be more of the cheesy stuff and action! I've got the rough storyline in my head, I just gotta type it out.

Let me say that I might get a bit busy here and there but I will try to update at least once every one or two weeks. I can't guarantee anything because I'm sure I won't be able to keep anything, so I'll apologize first for the many disappointments to come.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

[EDITED 22/9/2013]

Ukitake Namiko was a different child. She, unlike the others, was transported directly from the world of the living to Seireitei after passing on. However, she wasn't in any of the noble clans. Not the Kuchikis, not the Shibas, but the Ukitake family. She was the 'newest' face in the clan in 70 years. According to Jyushirou, the rest of them died in Rukongai, so he decided to enter Seireitei Academy and had become a captain of the 13th squad. He had asked the head captain whether she could stay in Seireitei, since only Soul Reapers were allowed to stay within the walls of this amazing place. He promised to bring her up to become a fine soul reaper and so the Head Captain agreed. This, is her story.

"Kaien-ni! Are you free now? Can you practice with me Kido?" Namiko grabbed the arm of the third seat in her brother's squad.*

"Alright, I'm already done. Let me tell Miyako first." Kaien grinned at the small little girl in front of him.

"Okay! Please come back quickly! Or else that Byakuya Kuchiki is going to get ahead of me!"

"You shouldn't say these things Namiko! What have I been teaching you? You have to respect the nobles of the Seireitei!" Jyushirou shook his head as he patted his little sister on her head.

When Kaien returned, they started their little spar. Kaien would release some attacks and Namiko would fire some of her own to test the strength of her kido. Kaien did away with the incantation while Namiko chanted her afternoon away.

"Okay, here's the final one, Hado 31, Shakkaho!" Kaien yelled out. Immediately, a ball of red energy emitted from his palm and flew to Namiko's direction.

"Bones of beast scattered far and wide, stable crimson crystals, steel wheels! Wind in action and the sky at rest, the sound of flying arrows! Hado 63, Raikoho!"Namiko may look like a small little girl, but she sure was a fighter. She looked as though she was only five or six but in actual fact, she was slightly over ten. Her miniature size made many people think that she was a pushover. And because of her incantation and since the Shakkaho was 5 feet away from her when she fired her Raikoho, the collision exploded , sending her flying backwards.

"Oh no," Kaien muttered under his breath and quickly shunpo-ed to catch her from behind.

"That was dangerous Namiko! You could have gotten hurt badly!" Kaien scolded the girl.

She's gonna be a strong soul reaper. Her kido mastery is amazing. To be able to fire Raikoho at such a level, and she's still so young. Even I took a while to master Raikoho. But her zanjutsu isn't as good, she just can't seem to use a katana properly. Hopefully her zanpaktou doesn't require her to attack using physical means. We just gotta pray. Jyushirou thought inside his head as the whole explosion scene unveiled before his eyes.

"Namiko, where did you practice that spell? Won't you have gotten caught in the explosion before if you have trained to learn it?" Jyushirou asked.

"Oh! I've been training at the river bank near the South exit! If anything, the water just splashes around here and there and well... The fish there are really tasty! Especially when they land out of the water after I fire my Kidou!" She smiled brightly at her brother. And all Jyushirou Ukitake could do was shake his head.

"Ah! I wanna go see how that Byakuya's doing and maybe fire some shots at him to see where he's at!" Namiko sped off to the direction of the six division, where the Kuchiki household resided.

Watching his sister speed off, Jyushirou turned to Kaien and told him, "You know Kaien, I was thinking of sending her to train under Unohana. She has mastered hado and bakudo so well I think healing others should be no problem for her."

"Eh? But she's still so young. Let her enjoy her childhood a bit more first. Even if its her second one. "

"I know, but her reiatsu is already that of a typical seated officer. I'm afraid it's not too long before the head captain asks me to send her into the academy. Captain Ginrei Kuchiki is already considering to enroll Byakuya in. She'll probably want to do the same after learning about it."

"But she might just advance so quickly in the curriculum she might graduate within a year or two. She won't be able to do things she likes."

"No, she's not as talented as you Kaien. While you might have finished the 6 year curriculum in 2 years, Namiko is a bit different. She is very skilled in Kido and she does move really good so her Hoho is not that bad either. What I'm concerned about is her Zanjutsu and Hakuda. She can't raise a sword to the enemy and slay them so swiftly. When it comes to hand to hand combat, she's at a lost too. So if you ask me, she'll need at least 4 years. Her Zanjutsu and Hakuda really needs some polishing up." The Captain of the 13th Division explained his analysis.

The Shiba kid nodded and recalled the time where she couldn't hold a sword firm against the Kuchiki heir. She lost with her face submerged into the mud.

"This friendly competition with the Kuchikis would prove to be good for her though. I'm sure she'll improve her Zanjutsu and Hakuda skills soon." Kaien thought in his head.

"BYAKUYA! TAKE THIS!" Namiko roared as she placed her hand in front of her and prepared to fire a Byakurai.

"Ugh she's here again." Byakuya shrugged and turn around, preparing a Soukatsui on his own.

The two kido powers collided and neither seemed to be able to overpower the other. Both kids gripped onto their katanas, ready to start their spar when the kido explosion was gone.

In between one of their exchanges, Namiko proposed, "Yo Byakuya, how about we do this? Every time we see each other, no matter where, let's make it a unspoken rule that we must spar okay!"

"How can it be unspoken when you just said it?" Byakuya questioned arrogantly.

"Neh stop it, you know that's the way I talk! SO DO YOU AGREE?" Namiko rolled her eyes and went in for another slash.

"Yeah yeah whatever, if I don't accept it I would bring shame to this clan of mine!"

"Clan, clan and clan. Is that all you talk about? You're boring Byakuya!"

Byakuya didn't reply. He simply appeared behind her and knocked her to the ground.

"Tch, fine! You win this time! Don't forget to watch your back, Kuchiki!"

"Ah Namiko, you're here?" A voice appeared from the pond area.

Both of them turned to see Ginrei Kuchiki, the Captain of the 6th squad as well as Byakuya's grandfather.

"Good afternoon, sir." Namiko greeted.

"I see you've been training with my dear grandson. Are you considering to enter the Soul Reaper Academy? I have already enrolled Byakuya in upon his request. You should start signing up soon, else your spot might be taken and you have to wait another year."

"What! You registered without me?" Namiko cringed and scowled at the boy.

Byakuya just gave her the "I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about" look and headed into the Kuchiki manor.

"Sorry sir, but I have to return back to my quarters. Good bye and take care!" She bowed to the Kuchiki head before flying off to the Ukitake house.

"Tch, I cannot believe that Kuchiki already wants to go to the Academy so quickly! Doesn't he want to brush up his skills first? And he didn't tell me! We practically grew up together, how can we keep the friendship if he doesn't even tell me anything? Does he even regard me as a friend! Ah I bet his putting on airs just because he's in a noble family. Look out Kuchiki, you don't know what I can do! You may be from nobility but your honor and pride and whatever you have will be your downfall!" Namiko cursed under her breath.

"Oh, it's Captain Unohana!" Namiko jumped.

She had always admired the lady. Either because she carried herself in a respectful manner or she was just a great healer. Everyone in Seireitei looked up to her. Namiko continued watching the lady as she healed a soul reaper who looked really banged up. When Unohana was done she smiled and left to another room.

"Wow... So amazing, she's so kind and gentle. So strong and so beautiful! And her healing skills are just so impressive." Without knowing what she was doing, Namiko entered the 4th division barracks and followed the Captain around.

"Unohana-san, may I speak to you for a while?"

"Sure. What is it Captain Ukitake?"

Eh? What was her brother doing here? I better hide somewhere before he sees me! But why is he talking to her as though they're so close? Hmm hmm maybe there's something going on! Aha, I knew it I'm such a genius! She laughed to herself.

When she saw that her brother left, she continued following the tall lady without any idea what she was doing. Suddenly, she turned around and Namiko's heart jumped out of her chest.

She really shouldn't be sneaking around in some other squad's barracks especially with the squad that's busy 24/7.

"Hello Namiko, I realise that you have been following me around. Is there anything you want?" The 4th Division Captain asked her.

"I, er.. er... came to see how Squad 4 operates!"

"I see." Unohana smiled, clearly seeing through Namiko's lie.

"Well, your brother was here earlier. He told me that he'll like you to join Squad 4 after you graduate from the Soul Reaper Academy."

"My brother did? Oh that's right! I have something to ask him about the enrollment to the school. See you around ma'am and thank you!" Namiko took off in a jiffy and sped through the halls to catch up with her brother.

Once she had caught sight of her brother, she yelled for him to stop. Namiko then jumped onto her brother's back and his hands slid into the piggyback position to lift his sister.

"Yes Namiko? And what are you doing in the Squad 4 quarters?"

"That's not important right now! Hey hey! Can I register for the Soul Reaper Academy? I wanna join Miss Unohana's Squad as soon as possible! And, and did you hear? Byakuya's already enrolled into it! And he didn't tell me! How fair is that! And I thought we were friends."

Jyushiro snickered and simply told her his plans for her. All this time Namiko was grinning with excitement and couldn't wait till the term started. It was going to be an interesting time.

*Kaien hadn't been asked to become a lieutenant yet so you can see how far back this actually is.

** I took the incantation from the English Dubbed version, please don't kill me for this :(

Did anyone get the puny part where Namiko fired Byakurai at Byakuya? Hehehe maybe it's just me because I'm lame that way! I always thought those two names sounded so similar. Oh and if you all are confused, Namiko looks up to Kaien as a big brother and doesn't like him in the brother complex way! Was just thinking that some people might have mistaken it oopps.

I was really trying to make Namiko sound like a little naive kid and for Byakuya, well I would think that he was already proud when he was a kid. Also, I was thinking of how to make Namiko less Mary-Sueish or is this good enough? In my old account where I wrote stories for other anime, people were telling me that my OCs were usually a Mary Sue. I'm trying to fix that so please tell me if I had succeeded. Thank you :)

So that was the introduction, what do you think? Was it too cliche? Were the characters OOC? If so, who? Was there too many dialogues? Tell me because I need your feedback! Your reviews are important to me because it tells me what my reader wants so I can try to accomodate to their needs. Thank you once again for reading Chapter 1 of "The Drops Within Sakura Petals". Have a lovely day. :)