Life is a bown of Udon Noodles

[Dain Sinclair]

This was actually a bit of good fortune, Dain thought to himself, as he straightened out his black outfit once more while rapidly walking through the Seireitei. As one of the newer students Dain -and most of his classmates- were often used to help out with menial tasks and labors by their seniors. It was a normal part of academy life he had been told and he had accepted it with stride. Or at least he had always tried to. Today was just par for the course, except that he was told to deliver a small note to a girl named Nakajima Kimiko by one of the instructors. Even someone as green and inept as Dain had heard of the amazing exploits of this student. She was already hailed widely was a prodigy and her exploits seemed to get more amazing with every telling.

Now Dain was usually not easily impressed, but even if he thought about it calmly her feats were amazing. From what he could gather she fought a vice captain without getting absolutely creamed -which is a lot more impressive then it sounds-, she defeated a real hollow and then managed to get into a fight with an eleventh division shinigami and won without so much as breaking a sweat. Although to be fair, he doubted the last part, but perhaps that was just poetic as it was generally not common to assume girls tend to sweat anyway. Regardless of how much of the stories he believed, it was generally accepted by everyone she was incredible.

So to deliver a letter to such a person, who also was his senpai by two years… it did not make Dain exactly nervous, but he did make sure he looked at least presentable. He even quickly swapped his training outfit for his normal academy kimono.

There had only been one problem. He had no idea where she was. The white haired shinigami had tried the female dorms and the class rooms, but had come up empty. Even the elderly students did not seem to have any clue where she was. He was just about to give up when he had run into a weird group who had apparently heard about him trying to find miss Kimiko. Long story short, they were some kind of fan group and according to them there was a good chance that the honorable miss Kimiko was at a noodle shop in the Rukongai. Running into them was already a bit of good fortune. To actually know the shop in question was an amazing coincidence. Just two weeks ago he and a group of students had snuck out for the first time and had a small gathering in the Rukongai. As luck would have it, that was actually where they got some grub before moving on.

Still he had a bit of trouble finding the place as he had only been here once and it was a very… ‘chaotic’ afternoon to say the least. After asking for help and directions several times he had finally laid eyes upon the place. Dain just hoped this would actually be the place were she would be. If not he would be at a loss what to do. He was asked to deliver the letter and he was doubtful that returning it to the teacher would really be acceptable. ‘Ehh… I’ll cross that bridge when I have to.’ He thought to himself, shrugging his shoulders, forcing himself from his thoughts. From the inside of his pocket he drew the letter and began to make his way into the noodle shop.

Even from out here he could smell the delicious food and for a moment he wondered if he had had the foresight to bring to bring any Ryo with him. From what he could remember they had been more then delicious the last time and suddenly he was very much in the mood for a large bowl of their chicken noodles.

Nakajima Kimiko

[Nakajima Kimiko]

It seemed that Kimiko's life as a student of Shin'ō Academy was soon about to come to an end.

A week and a half has now passed since this swordswoman has fought against a Hollow on her very own, and ever since then, the scholar institution has been trying to do its damnedest to send her away so that the Gotei 13 can finally put her swordsmanship to use. Thanks to their accelerated examination program, she passed through many tests that would rapidly allow it to gauge where she should go. The results? Quasi-prodigal mastery of Zanjutsu for a second-year student which perhaps surpassed the skills of common unseated officers, promising skill in the martial arts of Hakuda, good theoretical knowledge of the world and the fabric of Souls... and absolutely no potency in Kidō in the very slightest. With skills such as these, the graders did not take very long to judge where Kimiko should go. Not even a few days after she received her results, it was confirmed that she would be assigned to the Eleventh Division, effective immediately as per the following week.

The result did not surprise Kimiko in the slightest. From the very start of her training with Celes, she had soon understood where she was going to go among the Shinigami squads. Among all of them, there was only one that she truly believed to be more fitting into, and it was the Eleventh Division. It was the only place amongst them where Zanjutsu - the thing that she most excelled at and most admired of all of the combat arts of the Shinigami - was truly valued above all, where cowardice was shown as weakness, and where greatness could truly be found in combat. Sure, it would have been fun to join the Tenth Division to answer to Celes' orders, but answering to Vice-Captain Tsukuyomi instead and potentially having more spars with Shawn was a nice compromise to that. Besides, even if they are members of different Squads, it was doubtful that she would not be able to continue training with her as occasionally as she currently is now.

With that in mind, she was now exhausted. After such a painful streak of countless exams, even that brain of hers which constantly wanted to train all the time wanted a bit of a break. As such, for the week that followed the confirmation of her entry in the Eleventh Division, Kimiko took it a little bit more easily and allowed her body to take it a little bit more easily. She still trained and read books, yes, but not as intensively as before as she was now planning to do so once she is assigned a bed at what is potentially going to somewhat become her new home. Even the voice in her head - the one owned by the spirit which was developing in her almost-completed Zanpakuto - seemed to agree with that recent development, telling her to take a bit of rest and enjoy life for at least a brief moment while it lasted.

Since the academy gave her a week before being assigned to the Eleventh Division, Kimiko was allowed to stay in the school's dorms for that period of time so that she could prepare to leave. It was a way for the administration to tell her to deliver her last goodbyes to her fellow students and to prepare to move her belongings. Thankfully, there wasn't a whole lot of them as she really just owned a few spare clothes and books, and as such, it took her about only an hour before she was done packaging everything. With that, the only thing that was thus left of her to do was relax and enjoy a few more books from the library before leaving, all the while eating the terrible food served at the cafeteria for just a bit longer. Thankfully, in the case of this latter issue, there was a place that she had now become much familiar with ever since Celes introduced her to it. 

Hikashi's Terakawa was just as lively today as it was two years ago back when Kimiko first entered it. The owner was still as optimistic and talkative as ever, and it was needless to say that Kimiko was still welcomed by now as a valued customer. The prices were manageable with the bit of pocket change the student had stored over the last few years here and there, the smells were still just as amazing, and it was doubtful that the taste of it all was not going to be as heavenly as usual. After all, no matter when, no matter where, Hikashi's work has always been that good to Kimiko. "The usual, please, Hikashi-san," she would ask to the owner after exchanging greetings between one another as she sat at the stool with a smile on her face while she kept the scabbard of her sword near her. Only but a few moments later, a bowl of Spicy Shoyu Pork Ramen now rested before her, and not before long, she started eating.

Well, actually, that is what she would have actually liked to do before someone suddenly entered the ramen shop. It was a guy about as tall, a toned one too that definitely sported an older look compared to hers. White buzz cut, a scar on his right eye behind sunglasses and a look that overall seemed fairly intimidating. If it wasn't for his student robes, Kimiko would have honestly thought of him as being some kind of Rukongai thug who had somehow snug his way into this district of Rukongai. Then again, it was so close to the gate of Seireitei that it was doubtful a normal thug could have done something like that. At first, Kimiko's first reaction to him was simply to quietly nod at him in respect, as this was a place of satiation rather than business. "Good afternoon," she quietly told him as she slowly diverted her attention back towards her bowl of noodles. He seemed to be carrying some sort of letter, but she honestly thought that it was for Hikashi or something, who had by now gone to the back of the shop to check the remainder of his wares for the day.

[Dain Sinclair]

Following his nose more then his brains for a moment Dain walked into the noodle shop and was almost instantly overwhelmed by dozens of more flavors. Inside the shop were only a handful of people. It was only a cozy little shop after all with only nine seats at the bar. From what Dain could remember the owner was a amicable fellow who talked a lot, but was nice and polite all the way through. At the moment six of those seats were taken, judging by the conversations a group of 2, a group of three and possibly a single person eating. The conversations were nothing more then a quite whisper, as is expected in such a small establishment. There is a common courtesy rule that implies your own conversation should never bother the other people around you.

Just outside though there was a group of ruffians that were a bit louder. Not shouting or anything, but definitely louder then the normal quite whispers. From their complexion and posture Dain deemed them to be either Mexican or Indian. He listened for a moment but quickly came to the conclusion that they were simply a group of friends having fun. The only reason they were a bit louder was probably that they were ahead of the group average by two or three beers. Now that he knew that it was actually quite nice to hear that group being in such a jolly mood. It left a faint smile on his face. The fact that they had decided to eat their meal outside probably meant they had nothing bad in mind.

He was just trying to absorb more of the atmosphere when suddenly someone greeted him. It did catch him a bit by surprise until he remembered why he was here. It took him a moment to see who greeted him, but as soon as he filtered out some of the parameters he quickly came to the only other obvious academy student. “Domo arigato.” Dain replied with a polite voice, nudging his head slightly and moving his index finger to tip his imaginary hat. He had always claimed his back was simply to weak to act like a Japanese switch blade all the time when he met someone. So over the years in the Rukongai he had adopted this style as a compromise. As he raised his hat he rested his eyes upon the girl who had greeted him.

There was of course a very good chance she was the person he was supposed to deliver the letter to. However if he was perfectly honest Dain had no clue who he was supposed to be looking for. He had figured he would recognize a prodigal student easily enough while training or studying. However he wondered if that would also apply if he found her just eating. An interesting thought and one he would never be able to test it seemed. Aside from the unusual aura, he had been given an extremely in-depth, borderline creepy, description from the group he met before. She seemed to fit the bill to a T. A beautiful, very fit Asian woman, nice volumes, nice short hair that seemed to fit her nicely. What clinched it though were the scarlet eyes. After having run through his mental checklist he decided it was safe to take the gamble and approach her with the certainty she was who he only believed her to be.

Luckily she did not watch him and instead diverted her attention back to her bowl of food. Luckily as in that she did not witness Dain almost tripping over a small dog just dashing through the street and almost knocking him over as he was trying to cross the road to the noodle shop. With a combination of acrobatic stumbling and a few moves that border-lined a circus performance, somehow he managed to dash, jump, hurdle and stumble is way across the restaurant and come to a perfect stop several feet behind the person he presumed to be Kimiko. Without skipping a beat he straightened himself out, brushed his clothes back into shape and used his index finger to tip his glasses back into place. “Excuse me miss. May I ask if you are miss Nakajima, Kimiko?” Dain asked politely with a slightly raised voice, just enough to get over the background noise of other people talking.

He would wait a few seconds to see if he would get any response, if not he would try again and again to see if he could get her attention. If that wouldn’t work at all he would resort to tapping her gently on her shoulders and asking the question again. He would prefer it though if he would not have to touch a woman he did not know. Maybe it was old fashioned, but he still preferred the old etiquette. Which strangely worked in a way that the more attractive/desirable a woman was the less it was appropriate to touch her. This translates into the fact that it would be wrong to touch a duchess but it is perfectly okay to punch out a drunk, smelly old beggar Gypsy woman. While Dain did not approve of the latter part of the etiquette he did respect the first one. That or he was simply shy of touching females and just hiding behind etiquette. Something his classmates had not been able to figure out until now.

“My apologies for disturbing you miss Kimiko-senpai, but I have a letter here from instructor Hamanai for you.” He continued respectfully as he extended his arm with the letter towards her. The edge of the letter was softly pinched between his thumb and index finger, leaving the majority of it open for her to take. “Also would you mind if I sit beside you and have some food? I am positively starving it seems.” He added with a gentle smile, just as his rumbling stomach began to speak softly for itself.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko's attention had fully turned her attention back towards her bowl of ramen by the time this new individual had acknowledged her greeting. Although it was a bit odd for her to hear Japanese words come out of what seemed to be an American-looking guy to her, she did not bother question it as much as how another Japanese person of her country perhaps would have. She still could remember that one time someone from another country had visited the arcade she was playing at back while she was still Human. He was not fluent in her native language was trying his damnedest to be understood with some pocket dictionary he was carrying around. She personally did not mind it at all and was at least trying to communicate with him the best she could in English, but somebody else was pretty mad at it. Who was it again...? Was it that... that...?

Just eat, her thoughts quickly interjected before her hands moved on their own to grasp at her sticks and start eating some of the noodles in her bowl. No. This was not the time to think about that. There was never a time to think about that. Thinking about that person, that mongrel, that piece of filth who stole away the rest of her Human life for such a pointless reason... It is not going to bring her anywhere, or at least nowhere near a place that she could consider to be good in her mind. Well, at least it won't bring her anywhere for the time being while she is still not stationed for patrol in the Living World. One day, she'll find him, send him where he belongs, but for now, she'll let the legal Human world sort his case out alongside all the others. For now, she'll live in the present, live in the moment and not the past nor the future, and what awaited her in the present right now was the bowl sitting underneath her chin.

And so, with a quiet gaze, she went on to enjoy her bowl of ramen, letting the horrible thoughts be swallowed whole by the flavors of the food. Her expression turned from brief sourness to ultimate satisfaction as she chomped on the meat and noodles, doing so with a smile that could almost be considered a bit childish in appearance. By now, she had fully welcomed Celes' philosophy of eating well after training: it allowed her to experience many new flavors she had never tasted before all from a brand new perspective. It probably wasn't healthy on hindsight to always do this, but with the amount of calories she constantly burns every day through training, the physical effects all this food put onto her body honestly probably did not matter very much in contrast to the emotional effects. Just thinking about eating some good food after hours upon hours of exercise was enough to get her moving most of the time, and it most likely won't become a deterrent any time soon.

Eventually, though, the person that she previously greeted called to her by her name, causing her to divert her attention back towards him again. Huh... This guy knew her. Well, at this point, she was not surprised that a guy who sported student robes did: pretty much everyone at the school has heard of her in some way or another, whether it be through rumors or through learning about what has recently happened with her. Still, it was a bit odd of him to call her by name here in Rukongai, and so, with a noodle slowly being sucked into her mouth in the meanwhile, Kimiko would gaze at him from the corner of her left eye over her shoulder as she nodded to him, confirming her identity. Once she was done gulping down the aforementioned noodle, she let out a quiet sigh of appreciation for the food before turning her head towards him.

"Yeah, that's me... Can I help you?" She asked, still not quite sure of what this was all about as her eyes unconsciously looked him over again. This guy... For some reason, she could swear that she had seen him somewhere now that she had a good look of him. Did she pass by him while she was wandering around the school? Maybe that feeling of hers was accentuated by how striking his looks were, which wasn't that surprising; after all, he just looked so different compared to much of the other students she's met at the academy. Then again, it's not like she tends to look at people in the hallways very much unlike a rather-creepy few who she could swear kept following her around just for the sake of it. If anything, she most often just reads her book while she does that, which keeps her from interacting with anybody else over there.

After asking him her question, the man eventually revealed his purpose here. Apparently, the letter that he was delivering was not for Hikashi as Kimiko had predicted, but rather for her. The news surprised her a fair bit. A letter? Really now. Huh... Maybe it was from Yu? It's been so long since she's talked to him. The last time she's seen him, it was back when she still lived in Rukongai, and in all honesty, that was quite some time ago. Well, relatively speaking. In reality, it's been close to two years since she's last gone there. Due to her schedule, she couldn't even go visit. She was just that busy. Ah, now that she was free... Maybe she could go there real quick and say hi? Yeah, that would be nice. The people there, Yu and Koko, the household's dog, must all be missing her and, quite frankly, she also somewhat missed them too even if she has only been there for a short while.

But no, the letter wasn't from Yu. Instead, it was from a particular person that she has now come to know as her rival. The loathsome, the terrible, the annoyingly-severe Kidō practitioner... "Hamanai, huh?" She found herself muttering as she gave a slightly-irked stare to the letter as it was positioned by her bowl. That damned old man actually sent her a letter? Oh, damn it... She can already sort of predict what's going to be written in it. At least she wasn't irked enough to shoot the messenger, so to speak. He seemed kind enough, at least ten times more than that awful elder. "Oh, yeah, sure, take a seat. Hikashi should be here soon," she told him with a bit of an awkward smile before looking at the letter with that comically-irked stare. Seeing it by her favorite bowl of ramen, her moment of respite, was starting to piss her off. Eventually, she would pick the letter and start reading from it.

---

"Dear newest member of the Eleventh Division,

I wanted to send you this letter to inform you of your imminent demise. As a member of the Eleventh Division, you and your scoundrel, sword-loving gorillas you may call friends will tow toe-to-toe with vile Hollows that will most likely proceed to tear you to shreds asunder. Your blades will be left broken, your hands bloodied and your minds most likely reduced to nothing but rage and agony at all of the losses you may suffer during those encounters.

If you are curious about the reasoning behind me sending you this letter, it is merely to instill as much fear as I can, for I hate you. You have dishonored my beautiful class, reduced my teachings to ridicule before the rest of my students, and as such, I will be sure to make this a wonderful habit for me to enjoy at my leisure.

May your stay within Gotei 13 be swift and painful,

Sincerely,

Professor Shinkawa Hamanai"

---

A moment after Kimiko finished reading, she simply gazed it in silence before she then let out a quiet and admittedly-cute laugh. However, soon after, she then violently crushed the letter into a ball of paper before comically throwing it out of the ramen shop with strength and speed, being so quick that even Dain might have been unable to follow her. Even her Spiritual Pressure rose in this particular instance, enough so for anyone who happened to have high Energy Sensory to sense it. After she was done, she returned to her seat with a content sigh. "Cowardly old fart. I'll prove you wrong," she huffed to herself as she then turned back to her bowl, sporting that childish smile as she enjoyed her food. It was like the vibe from before had completely disappeared. "Thank you for that... At least now I know what I'll need to do for the remainder of this week," she told Dain then with that quiet attitude from before. Well, at least she wasn't scary anymore.

[Dain Sinclair]

Dain just sat down on the chair as he could hear an outburst of laughter coming from right outside, followed by a banging noise. It startled the people nearest to that end of the shop a bit, but the noise outbreak quickly began to subside into the usual level. The white haired shinigami raised his eyebrow slightly as he was sitting down, but did not even bother to turn his head. He had witnessed his fair share of loud people in the military over his life and from his experience they were at least half a dozen drinks away from becoming a disturbance. Of course he could be wrong, but he figured that if he ate quickly enough he could get out of there before anything happened. “Hey shopkeep could I have the largest bowl of spicy shrimp Udon Noodles you have… with a fork and spoon please.” He added after a few seconds, as he was not adequately skill with chop sticks.

“Sure, coming right up.” The middle aged man behind the counter replied, before reaching down the counter and slamming a soda in front of Dain. “By the way the name is Hikashi Terakawa. Pleasure to meet another young student aside from the prodigal miss Kimiko.” He added with a wink just as he put down the can.
“Sure. My apologies Hikashi-san. I will do my best to remember that from now on.” Dain added with a grateful smile as he reached out for the soda. Suddenly he was hit by a flashback. “Wait, is this…?” He added with a bit of unbelief in his voice as he looked back towards Hikashi, who had already turned his back towards Dain and was now very busy cooking.
“Ah I hoped that might stir some memories. Around two weeks you came here as well, with a group of your friends and you grabbed the first drink in sight. I just figured I would introduce myself again and give you the soda before you began ransacking the place.” Hikashi replied with a clearly distinctable tease in his voice as he was scooping noodles and sauce into a bowl.
“Ah… I don’t think I…” Dain’s voice trailed off as he did not really have an answer ready.
“No worries. Between the bull fighting, the spontaneous karaoke performance and chicken run your group performed in the two minutes they were here, I don’t blame you for not remembering. I believe you had a hard enough time trying to keep them in line. It reminded me a bit of whack-a-mole to be honest.”
“Y-yeah. They were a rowdy bunch.” Dain replied with a slightly red face as he raised the his right hand and scratched the back of his head in a hopefully endearing way.
“No worries and the soda is on the house. As a thank you for not letting them play ‘train robbers’ in my shop.” Hikashi replied with a big smile just as he put the bowl of noodles in from of Dain.
“Domo Arigatou.” Dain replied with a genuine smile as he slightly bowed his head and tipped his imaginary hat. “Also don’t worry about it. It was my pleasure. My name is Dain Sincara by the way.” He replied before turning his attention towards his food.

Meanwhile it did not escape Dain that Kimiko had seemed… well not pleased seemed the right word. At the least with the name on the letter. That reaction seemed to only get worse as she read the letter and then suddenly she blurred a bit. Well maybe blur is not the right way to put it. Dain was by no means an expert in sensing or instinct… but he was rather good at observations and deductions. He had to be as a surgeon. Figuring out where the hole was in the bowels that made everything look like they were drenched in catsup was the most important facet while operating. So to put it in better words; it was not that he saw or felt her move… it was rather that he had the distinct impression he had not been able to observe her for a split second.

That and the fact that the letter had suddenly vanished were valuable clues something had in fact happened.

The content sighed and the old fart reference were a bit out of place until Dain put some of the pieces together. It was common knowledge that instructor Hamanai had a grudge out against a student. Albeit the academy did it’s best to keep a lid on it, the weird outbreaks during class sometimes were hard to sweep under the rug. Considering the rumors of him being humiliated by a student, the prodigal status of Kimiko and what just happened… oh well it did not involve him anyway. “Is everything okay Kimiko-senpai?” He asked casually, but in a friendly voice between two bites of delicious Udon Shrimp noodles who were still so hot a bit of steam escaped his mouth as he spoke. “I do hope I was not the bearer of bad news.” He quickly continued as he glanced over for a moment, before looking back at his bowl and trying to to get more noodles on his fork and spoon.

One of these days he really had to start to learn how to start using chopsticks. As a medical man he was quite good with his hands so he should be- “W-wait what do you know you suddenly need to do this last week?” He suddenly asked, his right eyebrow raised as he turned his head towards her, as the information just sank in. “Please don’t do anything rash. Instructor Hamanai is dreadful, but he holds my Zanpakutou grades in his hands and I would really like to receive proper training. I’ve heard he teaches the people he dislikes in the actual old shinigami ways.” Dain commented seriously, a bead of imaginary sweat slowly gliding from his face.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko would keep an eye on the silhouettes of the people outside displayed onto the tissue dangling from the shop's entrance with a hum as she enjoyed her food. It seems like those people that came before her were quite the rowdy bunch, which took her a bit aback as a native Japanese. Usually, ramen shops tend to attract the quieter folk like her and Celes, not the kind that instead seemed more in line with what you would instead see in a bar or pub. Were they regular customers here at Hikashi's shop? If so, she found it rather odd that they did not bother to respect the other customers around them who just wanted to eat. She wasn't necessarily bothered by their behavior, mind you, just confused. In her head, there was probably better company awaiting them in one of the many establishments scattered all across Rukongai specifically made for people like them. She would have gone there by now if she was in their shoes.

Well, hey, at least they were not being too much of a bother. Sure, they were loud and unabashed from the looks of it, but at this point, Kimiko was so used to tolerating some students who literally act the same way in class at times that it was just noise to her ears that she could easily ignore. What she found to be much less tolerable in comparison was that damned letter her instructor had dared to send her instead of just coming right up to her face-to-face. After almost two whole years of having to deal with that bastard, she was finally starting to be absolutely fed up with his downright-immature attitude. Ever since she met Celes and started training her, the student has had to deal with countless criticisms from his part. If it was not for her constant need to succeed in her class, she would have already punched him once in his face by now just to make sure he'd keep his mouth shut for the rest of her time at the school.

Before she could even attempt to imagine her beautiful fist meeting the old man's nose at sonic speed, she found herself returning to reality as her anger eventually fully subsided into the calmness that awaited her in that bowl of noodles. It was the messenger's words that had brought her out of her magical Kidō-hating reverie, and although she perhaps somewhat regretted not at least enjoying the sight of her imaginary fist crash itself straight against her instructor's visage, she was a bit thankful that he and, in conjunction, her bowl of noodles were both able to bring her out of it. It was not like her to make a scene like that in public, and quite frankly, she really hoped that this was not going to become a habit of her from now on, especially given that it was doubtful that this letter was going to be the last one she ever receives.

"No, no, it's... fine. Please don't worry about it," Kimiko reassured her fellow student, who had by then introduced himself, soon after she brought a few more noodles and pieces of meat in her mouth to calm herself down. "It's just Hamanai-sensei being Hamanai-sensei." Dain Sinclair... He seemed to be a nice guy, even if he did reminded her of that one American guy back at the arcades. As annoyed as she was at Hamanai for having not told those words of his straight to her face, she couldn't blame Dain for having delivered that letter to her. For all intents and purposes, that petty instructor had probably just hand-picked one of his students at random just so that he could eventually find a way to ruin Kimiko's day. Whoever this guy was, he was not at fault and she wanted to at least make sure that he would not feel bad about giving her something that made her feel frustrated for a moment.

Nevertheless, as much as she didn't want him to feel bad, Kimiko couldn't help but feel a bit peeved by Dain outright telling her to stay calm and not do anything rash, almost as if he was inferring that she had outright admitted to want to beat up the guy. As pleasing as that idea was to her hears, that was definitely not what she had in mind. "Don't worry, I'm not going to beat him up or anything like that... Besides, it's not like I can: teachers are retired Shinigami and Hamanai's obsessed with that lame Kidō of his. He probably could immobilize me with one of those high-level spells before I even try to reach for him," she sighed as she bluntly shut down Dain's assumptions with the back of her hand now pressed against her right cheek as she stared at the guy. Although she hated admitting this, her words were true: even a prodigal student like her could not possibly rival a teacher who most likely recalls much, if not all of the spells available to the soldiers of Gotei 13. "Besides, I don't want to fight someone who probably hasn't touched his Zanpakuto in years. It's not worth my time."

Once she was done explaining herself, she then took put more food in her mouth before letting out another sigh of appreciation. "Sorry... I just really don't like the guy. I wouldn't mind his teaching if he wasn't constantly trying to make me fail because I don't care about his Kidō," she admitted to Dain with a bit of an awkward gaze which seemed to be more fitting to her usual attitude, meaning her quiet and rather recluse-looking self. Speaking of quiet, after she said those words, she remained silent for a bit as she pondered about the attitude she has been showing off to Dain, enjoying her food in relative tranquility as she did so. Eventually, however, she spoke again: "Anyway... it's nice to meet you. Again, I'm sorry, I'm not always like that. The letter just... really annoyed me."

[Dain Sinclair]

Perhaps it was a good thing Dain could not see the violent images that swirled through Kimiko’s head before he interrupted them. Although to be fair he was all to familiar with them. For as much of a front he always put out he was not immune to such kinds of dark thoughts either. To make things worse he had the extensive knowledge to know and fantasize about what would happen if he severed several nerve clusters and connected them directly to the spine. The thought of a human pretzel tearing itself apart by it’s over never impulses was a rather dark on, so he quickly directed his focus back to reality. By sniffing deeply he triggered his olfactory and shot back to the little Udon Shop. Shrugging his shoulders for apparently no reason he sighed and took another bite of his delicious meal.

Dain could not help but nod devoutly though as she mentioned Hamanai being Hamanai. “Yeah I agree with you there. The man is an idiot-savant when it comes to Kido.” Dain continued with a voice of agreeing as he looked at Kimiko. She seriously did not seem to like the guy at all. It was a sentiment that Dain actually shared. “Well you will be happy to know then he has started using his sheathed Zanpakutou as a ruler, punishing those who screw up the basics.” He said with a wry grin as he turned slightly towards her and showed Kimiko the palms of his hands. They were full with red and purple marks and bruises. Some were already healing, others seemed to be day fresh. “He is actually getting quite good at it. The other time I think he actually drew blood when a friend of mind lost his footing and almost shot Hamanai.” He said, his grin growing bigger as he remember the instructor hastily diving to the side, dirtying his normally pristine clothing.

“Do you really think he is that powerful? Also are Kido that strong?” Dain asked curious as it was a question he had been wondering about for a while. In the academy they thought him that Kido was a valiant weapon, akin to magic in the human world. He just had trouble imagining a kind of magic that was powerful enough to defeat a swordsman who could move faster then his eyes could see. To be fair he had not even mastered the most basic Hadou spell, so he was in no position to judge really. “Then again I don’t think Zanpakutou mastery works for me either.” He continued a bit absentmindedly between two bites. “I mean I get the sharp sticky point goes outward towards the enemy… but you think that after having held a scalpel for decades, I would be better with sharp metal objects.” He continued with a heartening laugh while holding the back of his head.

After that he turned his attention back to his food. He found she was nice to talk to, but he had to remind himself that they were not actually friends. He had been told too often he got to familiar too quickly as he tended to talk a lot. Her first impression upon him were good though and the fact that they both dislikes that instructor was a coincidence. For now though it would probably be best if he focused on his meal for now. Still… he wouldn’t mind having a spar with her. From what he gathered she was great with the Zanpakutou, so it would be a nice work-out for him and a good practice. He quickly shook the thought from his mind though. It was completely against etiquette to ask a random senpai to help him train. Even it that somehow always seemed to work out in his favorite anime’s, it seemed too much like an odd thing to do, asking a stranger to help him. Especially the prodigy of the academy. “By the way I do hope your meal tastes good, Hikashi-san is such a great cook, isn’t he?” He suddenly commented out of nowhere, before quickly turning his attention back to his food.

Before he could finish his meal though the ruckus outside suddenly took a different tone. Where it was all happy and just banter before, now he could hear tension, fear and aggression in their voices. What was worse, they all became quite at the same time. Now it was never a good sign when a large rowdy group suddenly got quite and tense. Some wild muttering and whispered cries about mutts and canines confused Dain though. He was in a dilemma though. On one hand he was curious about what was going on outside. On the other hand though he still had half a bowl left of his delicious food and his stomach was sending him active signals it deserved at least that much. With a sigh he began to dig into his bowl of food, but before he could even get half a dozen bites in, the situation outside began to escalate. With his back turned and there being a cloth hanging from the ceiling, Dain could not see what was happening. For someone who lived in the Rukongai though it was a daily occurrence and he almost instantly recognized it.

With a deep sigh he put down his silverware and gave the beautiful woman next to him a glance of faked annoyance. “It looks like things might get a bit rowdy out there. I am a bit new in the academy. Do you happen to know what the policy is for intervening into gang struggles as students?” He asked seriously as outside the whole ritual had begun. Posturing, tempting, clucking and eventually escalation. Perhaps he should have been more serious about the stages as he either missed the signal it had escalated or the groups had missed one of the stages. Either way the thrown brick did not miss the back of his head. Before he could let out a yell or other noise, it impacted with some force into the back of Dain’s thick skull and slammed his face into his bowl of noodles. For a few moments there was only silence, before Dain’s muscles tensed slightly and he pushed himself out of his bowl. “Nevermind… it seems I got a direct RSVP to join the festivities.” He said with a blank face, dropping with soup and noodles, as he turned around and calmly made his way outside. The only sign that he might not be actual calm were half a dozen veins that had suddenly popped up in his reddening neck. “I do believe it could be interpreted as an invitation for two… if you are interested off course.” He said with a terrifyingly fake tranquil smile before he ducked underneath the cloth separation and went outside.

“Ok. Which one of you thought I needed a sampling of brick to spice up my food?”

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Much to Kimiko's dismay, it clearly seemed that the dreadful Hamanai was the star of the conversation for a brief moment. After having imagined unloading so many violent images onto the teacher's imaginary self in her head, she honestly just wanted to talk about literally anything else but the guy right now, especially since she was having such a good time enjoying Hikashi's cooking on what was pretty much going to be her last vacation in a while. Again, it was not surprising in the slightest: the old man was most likely the most infuriating instructor she's ever had to listen to in her whole damn life. If there was any other person that she could perhaps consider to be more insufferable than him, it was perhaps her father. The difference between the both of them was that her father at least had the decency to not constantly embarrass her on a daily basis after a while.

Unfortunately, that was not going to happen for now, for Dain then went on to tell her about some sort of new twisted method of teaching Hamanai had decided to introduce to his class. Kimiko had to take a deep breath upon hearing this, then soon followed by her grabbing her bowl with both hands and gulping a huge amount of noodles down her throat just to calm herself down. Soon after, she put her bowl back on the counter before her and let out a huge sigh. "Right, that's... the worst thing I've heard today, cool," she commented then with a light scowl on her face that she visibly tried her best to push away from her face. So now that she was gone from his class, it seemed as though Hamanai has gone completely off the rails. For someone who is apparently known to teach in the "old Shinigami ways" as Dain puts it, she could have sworn he was not like this when she first joined his class. It's like he never has had to deal with someone like her before, so much so that it caused him to change into a cruel bitter old fool. "I swear, if I hear him do anything worse than that, I will seriously go and kick his ass." 

After her little outburst, she then crumbled on her stool and looked towards the ceiling for a moment. Well, that was just peachy. First, she is told that she will need to deal with that old man's letters every once in a while, and now she then learns that the guy apparently has gone completely bonkers on his own students. Come on... She just wanted to eat at her favorite restaurant during her time off. Couldn't she at least have that before she officially joins the Gotei 13 proper? Maybe she'll really need to beat Hamanai to a pulp eventually. At this point, she is getting really tired of his lame existence still being a thing right now, and she doubted that she was the only one who was currently carrying this opinion around the academy. Hell, Celes might even completely agree with her should she ever actually do the beating. The Vice-Captain did threaten the guy back then when he threatened to cap the students' grade right in front of her for having no apparent talent in casting spells.

However, as far as her anger brought her to commit to such a vivid opinion of the instructor, Kimiko had to consider Hamanai's own capabilities once again, especially now that Dain seemed to question his skills as a Kidō practitioner. In fact, not only was he questioning his skills, but also the Kidō system as a whole. Although she was at first a bit happy to hear that, she soon realized that he did not speak of Kidō in such a way to say that he did not think of it as good; rather, it seemed more as though he did not quite understand it. Once she did, her expression became a bit more normal, albeit slightly disappointed. "Did you ever have the chance to read, like... Harry Potter? Lord of the Rings? Little Witch Academia? Fairy Tail? Well, take all of the magic spells in those and just tie the concept of reiatsu to every single one of them. That's Kidō in a nutshell, Hamanai-sensei knows a lot about it," she explained with visible contempt for the magical system, as shown by how drained she seemed to be solely because she was talking about it. "Basically, you say magic words and you shoot a laser beam or something. Some spells also heal or immobilize. I personally tried learning a bunch of them while I was in Hamanai-sensei's class, but I was never able to do it right. I don't know why, and honestly, I don't really care anymore now that I've gotten away from him."

After Kimiko finished speaking, she then looked down her bowl in an attempt to take another bite of noodles, but then realized that it was almost empty, which caused her to stare at it with pure, unadulterated pain at the thought of becoming a bit more conservative with it. Fortunately, since Dain was there, she did not have to worry too much about it. At least she had someone to talk to in order to ignore the suffering tied to leaving Hikashi's shop. She found his Zanpakuto talk to be a fair bit awkward, but at least she now understood what he was about. Apparently, judging by his talk of scalpels, he had medical expertise. She had no disrespect for those who worked in that field, but she couldn't say it did not slightly reminded her of her father's profession. "Ah, so you were like a doctor?" She asked to at least confirm that she was right, then once her thoughts were at least partially validated, she then hummed: "If so, uh... you should probably look up... How was it called again? Kaidō? It's the medical arts of Kidō. I don't think you'll ever need a scalpel where you're going."

Eventually, they were both able to focus on their meals, which was then that Kimiko had enough to mentally wallow on how much food she had eaten in an attempt to quell her anger. Damn it! She should have taken her time like she is used to do! It's all because of that stupid Hamanai and his stupid letter! In an effort to at least enjoy the remainder of her food the best she could, she would purposefully try to take smaller bites, smaller noodles just so that the moment could last a bit longer. During this time, she was at least able to quiet down and let her rising anger slowly go away. She needed to calm down: this was a sanctuary, a place where she could push everything away and just eat amazing food. Hearing Dain seemingly share that last bit made her smile quite a bit as she chomped down one of the smaller pieces of pork in her bowl. "It's the best I've ever tasted in a long while... In my opinion, only pizza could rival it," she said honestly with a light chuckle. "Most of the stuff I ate ever since I got here was sushi, rice and curry rice. The people in Rukongai made great sushi, but... I don't know, I'm just more into ramen and American food. I miss hamburgers and pizza..." she would say happily before then staring at her bowl with a nostalgic smile, inferring that she still quite missed being alive. Huh... it only took her to talk about food before recalling that she only died two years ago again. She really should stop thinking about that.

Fortunately, or perhaps less so, the rising noise outside interrupted her sad line of thought, compelling her to look towards the entrance of the shop with a confused frown. "Man, what is going on out there...?" She muttered to herself, unsure of what was happening. Only a few minutes ago, these guys were really just loud, but now it seemed as though they were literally shouting at each other. Were they going to fight? Oh, come on, not here... She's always down for a fight, but this really isn't the time for it. As she maintained her gaze on the silhouettes behind the curtain of the shop, she stretched her arm to grab her blade's scabbard which rested against the wall nearest to her, then brought it near her stool to let it rest upon it. She was not planning to use it in a fight per say: she just wanted it to stay near her so that one of the bastards wouldn't dare to steal it from her. "I don't know anything about any of that if they exist," she answered Dain's question with a light shrug before she focused on her bowl again. "I would let them just scream at each other... Honestly, they're really not worth the trou-"

The very moment Kimiko was about to finish her sentence, she saw a brick fly into the shop from the outside to crash straight into the back of Dain's head. The sight caused Kimiko's eyes to widen in shock. "Shit! Hey, are you okay?" She checked on Dain for a moment before looking down her bowl. It was almost empty. Just staring at it was leaving her with mixed feelings now. Damn it, damn it, damn it! This was supposed to be her moment of happiness! Argh... Fine! Quickly, she took the bowl and emptied everything that remained in it down into her gullet before leaving out a heavy sigh. "Thank you, Hikashi-san!" She called to the owner before rising from her stool and checking on Dain again. To her surprise, the man was now standing before her and it seemed as though he had lost every bit of kindness that was previously there during their conversation. The female graduate could not blame him; if anything, it was more surprising that he wasn't downright knocked out by now. What was this guy made of? Stone?

In any case, upon being invited to the fight, she let out a small sigh. This... This was actually starting to get her excited. Truthfully, the excitement began when she saw the brick crash against Dain's head. She knew that it was mean of her to think this way, but she really could not help it. At least her answer to the man's question did not seem to sound too unreasonable to her: "Interested...? These guys have been asking for it from the very start." Her expression definitely seemed to radiate frustration as she grabbed her scabbard and attached it to her obi sash. Even the voice in her head seemed to share her anger, muttering words in her mind that could only be considered to be rather unkind. Soon after she rose from her stool, she picked the brick that now lied on the ground, then headed out of the shop and stared at the source of the brick's trajectory with eyes that could kill. "Alright, who threw this?" She asked those who were outside the shop, using her frustration and overall mental exhaustion caused by the academy to raise her voice. "Who threw this into this shop? Please, answer my question." Her demeanor was definitely excited, with her eyes having now developed into a focused frown. Another rise of Spiritual Pressure came from her, stronger than before. Maybe whatever this fight may be will allow her to make amends with the destruction of her moment in the shop.

[Dain Sinclair]

Dain simply smiled and nodded, until he flashed her a quick grin. “Well scalpels and bullets. Navy marine. We saved people by killing the enemy first.” He said with both a sense of pride and regret at the same time. It was a line he had spoken so often it rolled almost flawlessly from his lips. Having been dead for almost seven decades his time of nostalgia had long past, yet for a moment he thought he saw a hint of it in Kimiko’s eyes. Luckily they were saved from a potentially awkward situation by a timely thrown brick. Thank god he was born with a thick skill and hit over the head so many times in the Rukongai it grew a thick layer of callouses.

Still it was mildly throbbing as he stood in front of the two rival groups who had been bickering just a moment before. Dain recognized the snake symbols of the group mostly dressed in black clothes and leather. It was one of the up coming gangs in the Western Rukongai and they acted like it. From their looks and attitude Dain judged them to be nothing more then arrogant brats. Arrogant from their numbers and rise is power… except for the one in the back. He was far less posing, yet every instinct in Dain’s body screamed danger when he looked at him. The man was wearing a red kimono, sandals and looked a bit too fat to be dangerous. Yet there was something in the man’s eyes Dain did not like at all; a well deserved confidence. Still overall the group did not seem to have any more dangerous individuals and their intrusion here probably had more to do with the size of their group which Dain counted well into the thirties.

On the other side there was a group he was unfamiliar with. Their outfit seemed to be a bit more casual, bleached jeans and colored shirts. They did seem to favor the color yellow though. This group worried Dain though. There were only seven of them, but each one of them looked tough and a veteran to urban brawling. The fact that they did not flinch and had merely put down their drinks and food in a calm manner was alarming. If he had to put his money on either side, he would have put his money on the seven. Yet regardless of who was going to win, it seemed inevitable that this fight would spill through the streets and inflict harm upon innocent bystanders and the decor. Considering the fact that he liked Hikashi, it seemed to be the decent thing to do and try to save the little shop. He might even get a free meal out of it.

Of course that was not the real reason he came out here. Even when he was alive he had been awoken too gun fire too often not to reach for his gun first and storm out guns blazing. He even earned the loving nickname ‘the naked fury’ for a while, as he tended to sleep in the nude. -something he changed after that.- Then in the Rukongai the pattern had held up. He had found himself so often involved in such issues that nowadays he could not help himself. It was like waking up to a full blather; you go to the toilet automatically. If the white haired shinigami heard of trouble near him, he simply could not help but intervene. After all there was a tiny bit of wisdom in the marine logic. For everyone he took out, was most likely someone he did not have to treat or perform surgery on after-wards. So it was a real time saver as well.

Ever since he had come out though both groups seemed to have been locked in a motionless stand still. All the bystanders had slowly left and everyone was nervously looking at him and each other. Dain wondered if perhaps it was common amongst gangs not to attack a shinigami? It made sense in a way, it was never a good idea to take on the only known military power head on. Just at that moment though the female shinigami ducked underneath the cloth separation and joined him outside. From her stance and tone of voice he detected a certain willingness to get in on the action. Dain had to suppress a smile, as he was actually quite pleased hat she joined him. A part of him really wanted to see her fight. See if she lived up to the hype.

Before anyone could react though a gust of wind swept through the street and Dain felt a very familiar feeling. “I did! You got a problem with that… missy?” The guy in the back responded, showing a big devious grin with several teeth missing. For some reason he had fixated on Kimiko an as purple reiatsu was slowly trickling out of him he drew the Zanpakutou he had hidden under his kimono. “Do you think you can take on a former shinigami, little brat?” He almost spat out as he drew half of what once had been a whole Zanpakutou and pointed it towards Kimiko with hate in his eyes. For whatever demented reason he had fixated on Kimiko and as he took a combative stance he released a wave of Reiatsu that almost pushed Dain of his feet.

As much as he wanted to help, he probably wouldn’t stand a chance. Luckily the two groups of thugs seemed to be even more rattled. The little show of might had thrown at least half of his own group across the street and everyone else seemed to struggle to stay on their feet at the same time. “Ehhh… so I guess I will take on the small fries and cheer you on from a distance.” Dain said with a sheepish grin as he gave Kimiko a glance that said it all. After that he drew his own Zanpakutou, flipped it over and casually walked over to the nearest grunt, whacking him on the head with the dull side of the blade. Having caught the man off guard made it easier to render him unconscious. As his unconcious body dropped to the floor, it drew the attention of some of his friends nearby. “Right, back to work.” Dain said as he cracked his neck slowly and began to move towards the punks that were charging towards him, screaming loud profanities at him. Silly of them. They should have preserved their energy for fighting.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko, at first, wasn't too happy with the way things were going. After so many days of constant work and training from exams, conflict was the last thing she wanted to deal with right about now. Hell, she had even gone in the Living World to go beat up a dummy Hollow as part of Celes during that same exam period. If anything, her mind and body both absolutely needed a break from the sort of chaos that they were now just starting to get accustomed to during those first years of their spiritual life, and Hikashi's noodles were the exact thing that she had thought could act as a sort of remedy for this week of supposed tranquility. Well, in all fairness, any good food will do during this period of lesser training and inner peace, but so far, the honest man's restaurant was the only thing that she had been able to think of after she had finished packing her things up in her quarters today.

But no, shenanigans absolutely needed to happen. Worse yet, it had to happen while she was eating. Hamanai was one thing, but having to deal with the equivalent of hooligans who dared to throw a damn brick into Hikashi's shop was a whole other matter entirely. She was glad to see that Dain had been able to endure the pain of the impact of the brick against his head without too much trouble, but the sight of seeing him crash head-first into his bowl as a result of the impact had been enough to make her blood boil. Nevermind the fact that this was all a waste of her time: seeing him crash like that was also just a waste of food too, and that was more than enough to make her blood boil. Now, she just wanted to throw that damn brick back into the face of whoever had actually thrown it, an act that was admittedly completely unlike her, but ultimately within reason. Her patience can only be tested for so long before it all comes crashing down.

With that in mind, the student stood there as her hand held onto the brick that she had recovered from within the shop and her eyes analyzed the crowd. There were two groups standing not too far from one another, staring at each other down with vile scowls and violent eyes. The first, a group who brandished both serpentine symbolism and obvious arrogance, seemed to favor the wear of leather and black while the other instead preferred a more casual style covered in yellow. Kimiko recognized none of them: she was not knowledgeable enough when it came to the matter of the gangs of Rukongai as her own district, the 25th of the South, was not the most chaotic. Additionally, she also simply did not care about any of them, not even the fatter one in the back who seemed to be more confident than the others. As much as she liked fighting, she found no honor in criminal warfare. It was all just a waste of time to her, conflict which breeds no success and only global failure.

As she waited for an answer from the two groups, the student would stand there patiently to hear an answer, her glare still firmly set onto them. At this point, she did not care from which group the brick-thrower came from: all she wanted was to teach him a lesson, go back into the shop and order another bowl. Fortunately, however, a surprise awaited her within the two groups as, in that precise moment, a figure stepped forward. The individual's entrance was spectacular enough to cause Kimiko to lift an eyebrow and focus her gaze onto him as her anger slightly subsided. "Hm...?" She found herself humming in the moment, her expression then turning curious. This wind... She couldn't detect spiritual energy very well, but something about its physical effect on the area reminded her of Celes just a tad bit. Who could possibly exhume such an amount in a place like this?

Apparently, it was the thug in the back. That's right. It was the confident one, the fattened man wearing red who previously did not stand out amidst the others. Judging by his words, he seemingly held no fear for both Kimiko and Dain, and eventually, the reasoning behind why that was revealed itself to them in the form of a broken Zanpakuto. The sight of the blade cut in two coupled with the man's talk of apparently being a former Shinigami made the female student's stare go from curiosity to confusion then annoyance. "Come on, man, that was... lame, even for someone like you," she bluntly told him then before pointing at his words with a deadpan. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, but... a Zanpakuto reforms after a while. You picked that up from somewhere. I know that lying is normal for people like you, but you could've at least... I don't know, found something else to say to me. Anything else."  

After she finished speaking, however, Kimiko's annoyed face then left out a sigh before it turned into a more excited glare. "However... despite that... I can't say that you don't look strong," she admitted then, standing there with her eyes focused onto the man's as she dropped the brick on the ground. There it is. There it finally is. She could already feel her excitement for battle starting to resonate within her mind as she considered the man's strength. With a deep breath, she stood upright, then bowed towards the man, performing a modest Ritsurei. Dain might have heard about this from the rumors that spoke of Kimiko around the academy, about what such a bow from her entailed. It was her official introduction, her own way of telling her opponent what she is going to do to them. "I am Nakajima Kimiko, graduate of Shin'ō Academy and soon-to-be Unseated Officer of the Eleventh Division! Let's have... a great fight!"

The moment she mentioned those words, her Spiritual Pressure suddenly spiked from her body. If her opponent had any kind of ability to detect spiritual energy, he would be able to see a large amount of red reiatsu slowly exhuming from her being, an amount that grew even further once she slowly crouched forward and entered a sort of combat stance, the classic form of the Iaijutsu practitioner. Her right hand stood above the hilt of her blade, seemingly about to unsheathe the weapon at any moment. Suddenly, going then at full speed, the girl then rushed forward towards the man with a piercing, focused glare. Once she was close enough to the man, she would then immediately attempt to unsheathe her blade before slashing at his chest. It was not a particularly strong slash as she wanted to see if he could withstand it. After all, now that her formal introduction was complete, there was only one thing to do: gauge her opponent's true strength.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills}

Note: Due to Kimiko's "Fighter Version 2" Type and her being Rank 1, she receives a +35% bonus in both Speed and Spiritual Pressure, and a -25% penalty in Strength and Reiatsu Strength. This Type also prevents her from ever raising Healing Expertise above 0 and Energy Sensory above 50.

Statistics

Physical	Spiritual		Sensory	Miscellaneous
Strength: 68 (90-22) Speed: 256 (190+66)	Reiatsu Strength: 30 (40-10) Spiritual Pressure: 297 (220+77)		Instincts: 150 Senses: 100 Energy Sensory: 25	Light Aura: 65 Dark Aura: 35 Healing Expertise: 0

Skills

Mental	Battle		Body	Utility
Analyzing: 1 Lack of Fear: 1 Learning: 1 Strength of Will: 1	Weapon - Katana: 1 Martial Art - Hakuda: 1 Battle Analysis: 1 Battle Focus: 1		Acrobatics: 1 Focused Eye: 1	N/A

[Col Arana]

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I count 70 paragraphs; 350 TP