Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Academy ❯ Chapter 2

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Today had been the same for Renji: He was sure that if he never had another Best/Worst sort of day again, it would be too soon. On the Best side, Zabimaru was unusually tranquil and there was a good weather forecast out for later that week. On the Worst side his ramen had been cold this morning, there was ice scattered around across Seireitei from the recent freezing rain and he'd sliped and fallen flat on his back--twice--plus, somebody had been using Zabimaru to chop pickled radishes again. Yeah, he wasn't so tranquil anymore. Also, today the head of First Company had called Renji in and told him that he was being taken off war duty and given a vacation, during which he was to have an apprentice. AN APPRENTICE!! As if the fact that Byakuya never assigned him any good missions weren't bad enough. Now it would be painfully obvious that the higher-ups considered him less useful on the battlefield than a psychic monkey. Ugh.
The tram stopped and Renji stepped off the back end, oblivious to the fact that through the whole ride he'd never actually stepped in and taken a seat in the near-empty car. The door to the First Company barracks was wide open, letting in the frigid March breeze. Said breeze was ruffling the shihakusho of the person kneeling inside. He approached carefully but all he could see was long silver-white hair and a large, black backpack that seemed to be...breathing? Which made Renji wonder about the rumors he's heard from the teachers: that one of the new recruits was a crazy fangirl. There was no real suspect but some said she was a fangirl for--gulp--him. Oh, that would be bad. But they'd never pair them together, right? Never. Never ever. No way. Why was she just sitting there?
"Stand and turn around; I want to see your face." She did so very slowly. Her face, had she been a human, would have been beet red but in the Animeverse the thickly applied red lines did just fine. Oh, no...how and why did this happen? Oh well. They'd never change it just for that, anyway, and he'd better get used to this kid. Now that he studied her a bit more closely Renji could see that this girl didn't really look all that much like a shinigami. Let's say she lacked...what was it...a menacing expression? That was it. Her jet-black bangs fell around her face and some whitehair was hanging over her shoulders. She wore her shihakusho more like he wore his, as opposed to the girls' currnt style: The heavy black cotton was loose on her and the only thing pulled really tight was the ties on her hakama. Her eyes were silver. Renji almost laughed: This kid looked about as menacing as a Yorkshire Terrier.
"What?" she asked, seeing his mixed-up expression. The red lines were a little thinner. "Are you the mentor they assigned me to?"
"Yeah..." Now it was Renji's turn to be embarrassed, if only a little. He'd forgotten her name! He knew he'd written it on the back of those schematics..."Takeda Kaoru...right?"
"Yessir."
"The name's Abarai." The higher-ups had been right; Renji could tell this girl had no truoble maniplating her aura...but there didn't seem to be a fighting bone in her body! Oh well...they had plenty of time to fix that.
"Okay. We'll start lessons tomorrow." with control came confidence. "Meet me here after your classes end."
"Okay. I-I mean Yessir." The red lines were back with a vengeance.
"It doesn't matter...get going."
He turned and left without looking back, determined to have somebody ruin a background check.
She watched him leave and then left herself...determined not to act like such a baka at her first lesson.