{If Only I Could Be Running Up That Hill} (Ask First)

[Tatsu Chirako]

Being on the cusp of graduation at the academy puts alot into perspective, in this case the young shinigami had an unshakable feeling of being an imposter, why would someone like him deserve the right to don the black garbs of a soul reaper. The amount of disrespect he showed to the title in his earlier rukongai days surged back towards him, and the actions he did to other rukon citizens, it was something he felt he needed to atone for in full before he allowed himself to accept the title, a personal ritual that he felt needed to be done, the unshackling of his past, to allow himself to leave it all behind and look to the bright future he felt he did not deserve. 

The morning was giving way to the midday sun when he entered the premises of the rukon district, he had made a point of wandering in his academy garbs, the unmissable white nagagi and gray hakama, bare feet in his waraji, the only piece of clothing that was not academy issued was a bright red ribbon holding a high pony tail for his black hair. He felt that the energy in this place was... different usually, normally he felt that the deeper you went into the rukon districts the more contempt one would get, somehow this place felt different, people were armed, proud, rightly fed. This is what made Tatsu raise his head and slink out of his thoughts, his gaze rose up and up and from where he was standing, this mountain never seemed to stop, until he blinded himself with the bright sun piercing through the rare cloud. It was only when he rose his hand to shield himself from the sun that he noticed the stairs sculpted out of the mountain, showing the age of this place.

He worked his way through the bustling town ridged around the base of the mountain. He could see something that he hardly believed possible for a rukongai district hidden so deep, or perhaps it was his memory playing him some tricks. People seemed glad and happy, some sparring in the street, some people shouting trying to sell their noodles louder than the next stall, the rhythmic clang of hammer on anvil as some tried to take notes from the aged smith doing maintenance on a sword that had been shown to him. The life in this area was unlike anything he had seen, perhaps it had been because he lived deeper within the rukon, or perhaps it was because someone was using their influence to make this area better. He chose a vacant food stall and ordered a bowl of savory miso soup with a rack of Unagi, he had been walking for longer than he recalled and had been lost in thought for a while already. 

Slipping on the mask, not wanting to share his feelings with a stranger, he put on a smile and casually asked to the man making his food. "What's up the path?" He'd say with a casual wave of his hand towards the stone path marking its way up the mountain.. "Nijukan Dojo, I'm surprised you don't know ! It is the pride and joy of this district, all the young try to join it these days, with dreams of becoming a legend"  The man, reaching to pocket the currency for the meal and give the young student his meal answered with a content smile, happy not to pry. Tatsu turned on his feet, shoving another spoonful of miso soup in his mouth now all the more curious about this Dojo wondering what he could find up there, surprised that something like this could even exist in a place so deep within the rukongai. He turned and finished his meal wiping his mouth with a cloth offered to him by the old man. He offered a polite boy and moved away without another word towards the stone path. The old man cleared his throat and spoke again. "Think you can bring this up the mountain lad ? It would really help the old bones" Tatsu turned around and met the old man's gaze, looked at him up and down and extended his arm. "No problem, it would be my pleasure to save you some time" He took a box that seemed filled with food for the Dojo. It took about three seconds before most of the food vendors on the street gave more and more food to Tatsu, then a bamboo stick for him to carry everything, everyone thanked him for doing their delivery. He soon resumed his journey, with a delivery of food for the employee's of the dojo. 

A part of him disbelieved that someone would spend the energy to bring a place like this to life, he believed the amount of effort required to bring such a deep district into a bustling large village, or city for that matter, he wanted to meet this person, and so he set himself onto the stone path, using each and every step as if paying respect to this place, that he believe shouldn't exist, or rather couldn't exist without someone with exceptional resolve. 

It took him more than a few hours to transport everything up the mountain within dropping or making a mess, he made the journey with a slow and steady mindset, yet it still felt like the sun was high in the sky when he reached the entrance of the dojo, the building itself rested on a plateau atop the mountain, he couldn't see much further but it still lifted his spirit, even up here he could hear the livelihood of the people inside the temple. 

[Nakajima Kimiko]

The sun rose slowly above the spiritual realm of the Soul Society. Ever so surely, the celestial light shone down, bringing brightness to all as night progressively turned into day as the wind blew quietly down below. As the sun rose, the people began to rise with only but a few exceptions here and there who preferred to remain asleep for much longer. They awoke from their beds, they consumed what could qualify as their breakfast, and then proceeded outside of their home or quarters in order to begin tending to their activities. These activities differed greatly between the social classes of the Soul Society. Most normal citizens of Rukongai resumed the work they have decided to uphold during their afterlife, with this work differing between those who resided in the earlier districts and those remained in the latter. Knowing this fact would easily make one wonder how things would go in a place between the earlier and the latter. To know this, they needed to look no further than the 40th district of western Rukongai.

With the advent of this day of spring, those of the Capital of Swordsmanship began their day with both energy and resolution. Without hesitation nor a need to remain asleep, they rose alongside the sun and began their work immediately before its first rays would reach their large and prosperous village. The businesses opened immediately with their owners beginning their transactions of the day right away, the cooks unlocked their main doors and started to prepare the many foods that would reach each and every one in the village once the sun would disappear from the sky, and the farmers reached their rice fields quickly so that they could make sure their rice is grown as efficiently as possible throughout the rest of the day. Even the younger souls appeared to be greatly motivated and energetic, with each of them helping the rest of the village the best they could. There were, of course, a few typical pranksters... but like the other children, they too were children. There was no qualm to be had with a person who still remained somewhat disconnected to the true aspects of this world, especially now.

It would be easy to assume that this would be an accurate description of this hard-working village. However, amongst these people was a kind that was missed. Unlike the others, they did not opened businesses or go to work once the sun arose. Instead, they awoke in the dojo which rested above the village and headed onward towards the courtyard with a sword at their hip. These people were the loyal students of Nijūkan. They were the people who did not reside or did not have a home within the Capital's great village, the ones who decided to temporarily - or perhaps even permanently - set aside what they once were during their previous afterlife in order to become an adept of the Nijū Kanmeki-ryu. There were more than a few of these people. In fact, there was a shocking amount of them, with quite the number beginning to show signs of spiritual ability. Perhaps that explained the small energetic aura that surrounded the dojo, this feeling of being in contact with the supernatural.

Morning sessions were typically handled by an assortment of teachers who resided within the dojo. One of them was Emile Nelson. A tall and bulky dark-skinned man wearing green robes and a large scabbard on his back who towered above most, he was always available at the dojo during times in which the owner of the dojo could not attend. It was why he, like many others, was awake this morning. In fact, he was awake before everybody else. He tended to the greenery present in the courtyard and the lanterns that had been placed alongside them, he took care of the wooden nafudakake present near the wooden gate that led outside of the dojo, and unlocked this gate for those who wish to attend the lessons early today. It was a process that could be considered challenging for many, but for Emile, it was something that he simply appreciated doing again. He had done this before, long ago, when the dojo was owned by somebody else, and he was happy that he could do this again without the senseless threat of a demon residing within its walls.

For a brief moment after he opened the gates, the man stood outside of the dojo to gaze upon the village below. The wondrous sight of what the district had become since the dojo was cured of its demonic affliction was enough to make him smile softly. To think that they had once all been subjected to poverty and misery... and that, now, their home was a place where both the civilians of Rukongai, the Shinigami of Seireitei, and perhaps even those who could not quantify as either of those things could train together... If it were not for the composure he needed to hold before the rest of the village, it would have almost been enough to bring a tear to his eye. True unison at last, peace at last, seemingly with nothing which could bring it all down into pieces once again. "Look at everything that she has done for our village, Gabrielle." The words almost came out of his lips automatically, as though they had needed to come out a long time ago now. "It's never looked so bright."

As the man continued to observe the village from above, he would find himself eventually somewhat mesmerized by the sight. No one would really blame him for this; after all, it was indeed a pretty sight, even if he found himself having a look at it every day. However, after a time, he would eventually return to the dojo. With the classes meant to begin soon at the time, he had no time to waste. Once he was there and the students had joined him in the courtyard, he would greet them as he always done ever since he was given his new position. Finally, with the greetings having now come to an end, he and other teachers who would join him in the following moments would begin to guide the students through the training sessions of the morning. For hours, they would unleash cry after cry, sword swing after sword swing. The noise that came out of them was loud enough to resonate through the mountainous area and slightly reach the village below, reinvigorating those who could not attend the school just yet.

Eventually, as training proceed and morning turned into afternoon, the sun rose itself far above the dojo, bathing the entire district with its light. By then, the students were understandably somewhat exhausted. They had been following the instructions given to them for hours, and now, they needed a momentary break. Emile saw no objections in allowing them respite, and neither did the other teachers. In so doing, the dojo would momentarily become a place for conversation. A few of the students would head to the nearby buildings to conduct spars away from the others, and a few would head over to the dummies to either test what they have learned onto something that was close to a true target or rectify mistakes in the way they use their weapon. Emile would oversee them all in an attempt to verify that all was well. At times, he would approach one of the students and tell them what they are doing wrong and what they should do to correct themselves. It was the best he could do in the moment, so he thought.

But this moment wouldn't last forever. Indeed, it would not, for a newcomer would pass the great wooden gate of the dojo. The newcomer was a man who was taller than most, yet smaller than Emile, whose dark hair was long and his stride straight. The teacher could tell from the clothes the man wore that he was no ordinary man, but rather a Shinigami-in-training. More specifically, he was a student of Shin'ō Academy. There have been a certain amount of these particular individuals who came to the dojo searching to better their skills in swordsmanship in order to prepare themselves for incoming examinations, and so Emile first assumed that this was the case. However, upon further evaluation, this assumption of his appeared to be somewhat incorrect. If the man was as such, he would have appeared either more worried or nervous, both of which were attributes Emile could not see as he analyzed him just a bit more.

Either way, he was glad to see that there was yet another person interested in perhaps pursuing the Nijū Kanmeki-ryu. In his eyes, the more the merrier, so to speak. In so doing, he approached the man, feeling as though it would perhaps be best for him to introduce himself to him before the other teachers. "Welcome to Nijūkan. I'm Emile Nelson, one of the teachers here. You can stay here for as long as you like," he politely greeted the newcomer before his eyes trailed towards what the man had transported with him. From the looks of it, it seemed as though he had brought food. At a first glance, it would almost appear as though the man himself had cooked everything, but Emile could recognize the meals rather easily. He was slightly disappointed that the cooks decided to give the work to a stranger to the district, but oh well. At the very least, the newcomer did not take this in a bad way. "Heh, I take it that was Hinata's idea. Thank you for bringing the food here for them. You can leave it there near the gate."  

Should the man decide to follow Emile's proposition, he would be pointed towards a spot near the gate that was located next to a wooden rack. The rack did not seem to be very important at a distance, but now that the man would be up-close to it, he would be able to notice that it contained several wooden plates. Each plates had names written upon them, and they appeared to be categorized underneath a larger plate that had been colored with paint. From the looks of it, it would seem as though the plates displayed names of ranks one could often typically find in martial arts, titles based upon the famous dan system established in the Living World. Immediately, he would be able to find Emile's name under Yondan as "E. Nelson". Meanwhile, only but a single name would rest upon the final Shodan category: "K. Nakajima". Since it was the highest rank displayed here, it was needless to say that this was the name of the dojo's owner.

After the food would be settled, Emile would give it all one last good look. The amount that the man had brought to the dojo was plentiful, which was something that Emile appreciated. With such quantities, they won't have to worry about one of the village elders attempting to go up the mountain to bring the food. As kind as it was for them to do so, there have unfortunately been times in which the steps have been too difficult for them to cross, and they thus needed help to bring food upward. This was why the owner of the dojo often came early before the main classes offered by the dojo began in the evening, since she could then bring the food up there without too many difficulties at a very rapid pace. In any case, Emile doubted that the man was only a delivery man. After his observation of the food would be completed, he would turn his head away from the food and ask to the newcomer: "Are you here to follow the teachings of our school?"

The answer to this question would perhaps be evident to many, though he wanted to make sure that this man's intentions aligned with what he believed he wanted to do. Some visitors sometimes only wish to visit the dojo and not actually become students of Nijūkan, after all.

[Tatsu Chirako]

It probably took a few hours before regret started to settle in the young shinigami, the weight of the food everyone had given him was more than a training for him, but he kept pushing on feeling like he deserved every bead of sweat rolling down his face and burning his eyes. The light of the sun was glaring in his eyes for much of the ascent as the serpentine path worked its way up the mountain. Once on the plateau it took him a moment to gather the strength to enter the dojo, his shoulders were screaming at him and the runner's high had already come and gone about 3000 step lower on the mountain path. It was a relief for him to meet this large man who approached him and greeted him to the dojo. Hearing this man was a teacher at this dojo, the young student would gently drop the packages he was carrying along his bamboo stick, and he would turn to face Emile, and offer him a proper bow. "I am honored to meet you sensei. I am Tatsu Chirako, student at the Academy. Reaching this Dojo is a challenge unto itself" He said taking a moment to roll his shoulders before taking his burden once again and listening to Emile instruct him towards an area he could put the supplies. "Please, I was headed up here none the less, I am glad they felt I was up to the task, I assure you it was my pleasure, and the challenge was a welcome one." He tried vainly to suppress that smile on his face, he didn't know how fuzzy inside this would make him. 

Taking a few steps towards the area the tall man designated him to put the food Tatsu would take the time to look at the wooden plates in front of the location. He rose his hand to get a feel for wood and look at the names and the penmanship used to show their respect, The student himself wasn't familiar with the Dan system used in the real world, but he could deduce through elimination that the single Shodan meant that this person was the master of this temple dojo. Perhaps if he was lucky enough he would be granted a chance meeting with this person. Once again Tatsu would gently drop the food in the proper area designated to him by the Sensei, he stepped aside to allow the man to inspect the food he carefully brought up the mountain. "I do hope that I didn't damage the goods in any way, I tripped a few times going up the steps.. Thinking about it now, I should've used Shunpo but.. to me it felt more respectful to climb it once as it was intended" He turned around to look at the ending portion of the trail, to him, this was a much needed time to align his thoughts. 

The young student turned and face Emile as he finished his inspection, somewhat expecting the food to have made it alright, after all he hadn't actually fell down the stairs, but the teacher seemed pleased and asked him a fair question to which Tatsu hadn't even taken the time to think about, he had been absorbed in thought most of the climb and such an obvious one slipped his mind. "Well, I've heard of the reputation of this Dojo, although I did not know where it was situated. I must admit that while I know it is well respected I don't know about the teachings or the train of thought that is encouraged here, perhaps I could ask you for more information ?" Of course he was very interested, something like this could only expand his repertoire and perhaps it would help him save some lives in the future, you never knew. 

Tatsu allowed himself to break eye contact and bask in the glory of this place, he didn't expect this Dojo to be this massive, much less more than the first building he saw. He attempted to glimpse at the craftsmanship of the building, starting from the stone floor which showed the worn of time, you could practically picture where people walked through the years through the usages displayed on these stones. Unpeeling paint showed how well the maintenance of the building was and how much love the people were giving to the place. After this moment spent in awe, he would turn back towards the teacher almost apologizing for his lapse of attention. "Am I allowed inside the premise ?" He hoped he was, he felt inspired by this place, as if he could improve on his swordsmanship or his penmanship simply by being here.

The young student tried to get a glimpse of the other structures on the compound and that's when he noticed just how huge the courtyard was, he shifted himself a little bit to see the full size of the simple courtyard. The awe on his face was enough to tell that he was flabbergasted, every little detail going through his mind from how this place was constructed to the history following the area. This had happened to him in the past when he tried to fathom just how long a thousand year of academy history meant, and how long some of these teachers had been teaching. He had lost himself trying to understand the gap of power between an individual and a captain, and when you really put your head to it, simply trying to understand that gap and knowing how large that ravine is, its pretty scary to him. "This place is really full of surprise." he'd say thinking aloud.


He could only imagine this area during the day when the courtyard was filled to the brim with people training, sparring and going on their daily activities, bustling with life and he was so eager to visit the area he turned back towards the teacher waiting for him to either lead the way or explain why he was not able to visit at the current moment, after all he had come unannounced to a Dojo of good reputation and the area couldn't simply be visited on the whim of every single student that happened to pass, or else this place would have a visitor center or something of the like. "Is there a better moment for me to happen by, I can come back if it becomes a hassle, I really don't want to bother you during your free time" He bowed to apologize. He didn't want to bother the sensei of such a prestigious school, but he really did want to visit the area, the situation wasn't really ideal for the student. 

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Emile's eyes and ears paid both paid attention to the newcomer as he introduced himself to him as Tatsu Chirako. As the teacher had correctly established in his observations, the man was now wearing student robes for no reason, as he indeed attended the prestigious school for Shinigami. Like the other students of the Academy who visited Nijūkan, it was unclear as to how long Tatsu had gone to the school. Well, at least it wasn't to Emile, for the only thing he had learned about those clothes over the years was the way they would be colored differently if they were worn by a man or a woman. Nevertheless, the fact that Tatsu even attended the Academy alone was enough to put him on a pedestal, as the Academy only accepts those who possess an affinity for the spiritual. Not everyone in this dojo and the village below at this current time could properly manipulate reishi, and so their strength would ultimately be limited in comparison to his.

This, of course, did not make Emile think any less of the man. It did not matter to him whether someone could manipulate reishi or not, as there have been notable cases of people somehow being capable of developing an affinity for the spiritual while they trained here at Nijūkan. In fact, he was one of those people. Before his current teacher came to the district to eliminate the demon who inhabited these walls, he was perhaps what one could identify as the guardian of the village, yet he was nothing more than what he was: a fighter. He held Gabrielle's teachings in his heart, yes, but as effective as they still are even to this day, they unfortunately did not grant him any control over reishi or any kind of spiritual matter. Now, he can use what his teacher refers to as Shunpo, and he can even execute some of the techniques she personally teaches, which is not typically possible for someone who is naturally incapable of following the spiritual path. If he could develop spiritual powers and then rival the common Shinigami, so could anybody else. It was only a matter of time and effort.

In any case, after the food was settled down near the gate, Tatsu would speak of the path towards the dojo and how he could have simply used the aforementioned technique, Shunpo, to simply cross it without effort. It was true that he could have done so; after all, it is much faster to go up the slope with the aid of the technique, and also much less tiring in comparison to simply climbing it. However, there was more to be taken from this path than the fact that it was an exhausting one to follow. "You definitely could've used that technique, especially with everything you were carrying. I wouldn't have blamed you for it. I don't even think master Nakajima would have blamed you for it either. Still, that would've been a shortcut, and like you said, it's always better to do things the right way once before taking any of those," he would speak as he gazed towards the gate and the path behind it alongside Tatsu. "At least, that's how I see it."

With the matter of the food and the climb completely out of the way, Emile would then ask Tatsu his question. For as much as this could have only been a simple errand, he very much doubted that that was the case. Again, his observations were correct, as the Academy student then went on to reveal his interest in the martial arts school. Much like the elder who resided in the village down below, the teacher was a bit surprised to hear that Tatsu had a hard time actually finding the dojo. There were plenty of news and rumors about it that circulated throughout Rukongai practically on a daily basis, some of which even reached Seireitei, and his master even told him that this place was going to be a recruitment center for new applicants of the Academy due to all that's happened recently within the earlier districts of the Soul Society. With that said, it was not a grave matter or anything of the sort, and if anything, he was glad that Tatsu persevered and discovered the location of the dojo on his own.

The questions he posed were legitimate. Unfortunately, since the available technology here was rather limited, there was no way to easily convey the school's teachings and philosophy to the masses. So, after the man finished speaking his questions to Emile and observing the school, a smile would appear on the taller teacher's iron expression before he would start proceeding further into the courtyard. He did not decide to answer the questions right away. Instead, he would take on an alternate route. "We let visitors come in, so I might as well give you a tour. Ain't much for me to do at the moment anyway, not while the students are taking a break," he would tell the man as he proceeded onward through the courtyard, hoping that Tatsu was in tow. For a moment, he would remain silent, allowing the man to appreciate the beauty of the refurbished dojo. Though he himself has seen it many times, even Emile could not deny the splendor of the school. It had thoroughly been reshaped into something familiar, yet new, with his own teacher's energy flowing through each and every space within the dojo.

Upon reaching the northern-most edifice that was present within the walls of the dojo, the teacher would stop before the steps that lead into it. Like the other infrastructures that were present, this building was large, yet small, unable to challenge the sun above. Even so, it was nevertheless majestic. Its design was reminiscent of the ancient Japanese architecture found in the village below, with a few additions here and there that was more reminiscent of legends and folklore. These additions ranged from the smallest dragon statue to a few wooden depictions of the Buddha, yet there were also more unconventional sights, such as the Christian cross, the star of David, and the star and crescent symbolic of the Islamic faith. One would believe this to be a negative aspect, especially given the conflicts associated with these symbols in the Living World. Yet, there was no conflict here, or at least no sign of it. Unsurprisingly, amongst the other buildings, this made such an odd edifice appear to be the one which resonated the greatest amount of spiritual energy.

"A lot of people believe that the goal of our school is to teach you how to use the blade. They wouldn't be wrong. Not entirely. We show our students how to wield the sword, and more often than not, you could say that it ends there. But, that's not the whole picture," Emile began to explain as he stood in front of the stairs. He appeared to be stand straighter before the stairs as he spoke, almost as though he was trying to most properly convey what his master wanted from this school. No, not quite. Instead, it appeared more so as though he was doing this, but also almost as though he was speaking to somebody else gone long ago. "We believe that, in time, our school can be a place where the people of the Soul Society can coexist in harmony. People from the upper districts, the lower districts, Seireitei. It doesn't matter where they come from. We want everyone to feel welcome here, so that we can all become stronger together." 

Upon finishing his explanations, he fully turned himself towards Tatsu before giving him that same smile from before once again. "Well, that should be the gist of it, at least. I probably missed a few parts. Master Nakajima tends to explain it all a lot better than I do," he admitted as he appeared a bit less straight than before now that he was done speaking about the goal of the dojo. The importance that he personally held for this place was notable. "If you are still interested, we're about to resume our lessons soon. That'll give you a good look at how they look like. Since you have already a sword, you'll be welcome to join us at any time." His gaze would briefly head towards the wooden rack that was set up near the gate. "If you decide to join us, we can train you as a Hachidan for the time being. Usually, that's where most people of the Academy are sorted when they become students of our school. We've got a few people at that rank here in our dojo, so you won't have any problems fitting in."

[Tatsu Chirako]

Tatsu's attention was slowly taken to the courtyard, it was important to him, to notice all the effort that was put into building this place. Unlike the inner most seireitei where he felt that most of the buildings there had been willed into existence by some supreme beings like the captains, or something even more powerful, he believe through the workmanship that this place had actually been built, which must have been a feat of engineering in its time. The students awe kept growing as his eyes swept the courtyard taking all the details and how he thought this place was wonderful, and he had not even taken a single step within the courtyard. He turned to face his soon to be teacher and the surprise could easily be read on his face.

"This place is amazing, I don't remember who I was before I joined the districts, but I have a feeling that places like these, places of respect, learning and introspection were of great importance to me. And I am glad you allow me to visit, and I am glad that I spent the effort to climb up all this way with no shortcut, it makes it all a thousand times better." It was at this moment that Tatsu took the time to notice the names on the wood aligned with titles he was unfamiliar with along side names. One matching the name the teacher had spoken alongside master, and so he paired the words Master And Shodan together in his mind. He offered a courteous bow to the plaque and turned towards the taller man once again.

Tatsu's face lit of when he was offered a tour by one of the teachers no less, it was an honor for him even though the taller man seemed to find it quite normal. The young man took the time to look himself once over and make sure that everything he was wearing was proper, he didn't want to look bad while walking besides the teacher and make the teacher look bad by extension, that would be horrible. He postured himself and followed the man, he seemed a little surprised when the man said that the Dojo would let people visit on their own accord, perhaps he was expecting a little more secrecy or something, he wasn't sure. Making no comment of it Tatsu would look around at the various students, extending his own senses to see if he could feel their spiritual pressure with his own, simply answering a call of curiousity, perhaps he would even test to feel the teachers. 

Upon reaching the northern most building, and after taking the time to look at the others, Tatsu would glance at the vast building stopping before the first step alongside the teacher, Tatsu's eye lingered on every detail as if they meant something to him but he couldn't pinpoint all the details, some he felt he should recognize, others seemed to have no meaning to him, he had decided to put his faith in seireitei royalty and accept that mythical figure deep in his mind, this belief ingrained by the royal court guard academy. "What is this spiritual pressure, I am getting shivers" He would say looking at the building, as if trying to peer through its wall. It was probably greater than his but he tried none the less to 'tune' his spiritual pressure to the buildings as if extending his 6th sense to understand why this building was giving him shivers. 

Tatsu listened to the teacher intently but the resonance he felt kept him on edge somewhat, as if he could not let his guard down without knowing what it was, perhaps it was his teaching perhaps it was that he knew he didn't know that kept him on guard, none the less he would wrench his attention to the teacher. He listened to the teacher's belief, that all districts of Rukongai could reach harmony through the knowledge of the sword and something inside him felt irritated or jealous, the young student wasn't sure how he felt at that precise moment, perhaps he was irritated that people from the western districts had it easier than he, or he was jealous that they had someone with such greatness actually try and do something, perhaps had he all these chances he wouldn't have lived through the horrors of his districts. 

"Sensei, have you personally been to the further districts ? I don't mean to disrespect you, I had the misfortune of living there before being in the academy, and that is a very challenging belief to uphold, I've seen horrors beyond belief repeated simply because it seemed entertaining to the perpetrator at the moment. Truly if this doubt inside me can be extinguished I will follow the teachings of the Dojo and I hope it is only naivety on my part. I wish to learn as a Hachidan and I do wish to join you on the lessons I am incredibly curious about the beliefs and actions posed here, is there a uniform I need to wear ? Are there many students of the academy here ?" It is important to note that Tatsu meant no disrespect he simply spoke his personal doubt and his respect for the teacher was still as grand as it was when he learned of the teacher himself.

The student looked around looking for where he should set himself up as to not be in anyone's way while he trained, not wanting to appear like a rookie too much, perhaps displaying a bit of fear as to what horrors he is used to within the rukongai districts. 

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Emile was only but recently properly educated onto the idea of spiritual energy. For most of his life, he did not quite understand the concept nor the meaning of it. He believed that it was just something that came with the fact that he remained in the Soul Society, the Shinigami, and the Hollows and Hellions and whatever else those latter chased across the world. Perhaps it was because he was finally able to understand what Gabrielle tried to explain to him in regards to what could be considered as innately "spiritual" once his new teacher came to the dojo, but once she did, he was able to get a better picture of it. Out of everyone he has met, she was the one who could be considered as being the most spiritual. Not because of a ridiculous notion such as her following a deity other than the Soul King, her being some sort of saint, or her attempting to walk onto the path of a monk. Rather, it was because the energy that contained within her - this "spiritual pressure" of hers - was so heavy that she has to always be conscious of its existence. It was not something found often amidst the masses, or even amongst the Shinigami themselves.

Considering this, the teacher was not surprised that Tatsu was shocked of the energy present within the building he showed to him. Usually, spiritual energy is confined to people. Well, at the very least, that is what he personally understood after and Kimiko briefly spoke of the subject during training. What is instead contained within the world itself, especially here in the Soul Society, is what she referred to as spirit particles. However, as the dojo further grew and accepted a greater number of students, it began to emanate a certain amount of spiritual energy itself, a "weight" of sort. This weight was most observed in the building that stood before he and Tatsu. It was hard for Emile to believe that that was how spiritual energy worked, but a part of him believed that this was because the people of this dojo left a small amount of their own energy within the items they left here. With these energies combined, it was unsurprising that anyone with the power to sense this kind of phenomenon would be taken aback.

In any case, Emile said nothing of the matter beyond silence. He figured that Tatsu could perhaps understand by figuring it out on his own, especially since he was a Shinigami and therefore most likely had a more refined sense for such things than his. What he instead decided to pay attention to was the way the visitor somewhat criticized the views of the dojo. He remained silent still as he allowed Tatsu to speak, letting him reveal his personal experience with the latter districts and what remained there. For as long as the man spoke, Emile did not interrupt him. He listened as the visitor spoke of the criminals there, of their enjoyment of afflicting pain onto others, of their terrible sadism that fueled their very being, and how their mere existence thus put the dojo's legitimacy at risk in his mind. The words were not particularly extensive; in fact, they were even reserved, as the man clearly did not want to insult Emile nor the institution itself. Nevertheless, they were there.

Even if Tatsu meant no harm, one could think of this showcase of doubt and disbelief as being somewhat disrespectful. To criticize the beliefs of an institution right in the middle of it instead of outside of it was, after all, something that could easily attract the ire of the institution of its followers. Despite this, Emile was not bothered by the man's words. "Before I came here, I built things. It was a while ago, but every now and then, we had to go out there to make things. Most of the time, we weren't really making anything: we were repairing. Like you, I've seen things. Many things. So did everyone in the village," he would speak as he answered the visitor's first question. He did not say any more about it in the moment, but his iron gaze almost said enough all on its own. Eventually, however, his gaze would return to normal as he would rid himself of the sights that were occupying his mind in the moment. "It's gonna take a while, but we believe that our teachings will eventually make a difference. We just need patience and perseverance, like master Nakajima has taught us."

The man would display a calm smile once again after he finished speaking. Again, he wished his teacher was here. Even if he explained as much as he wanted, some gaps were unsurprisingly still going to appear here and there in his explanations. He was not the one who had founded Nijūkan, and thus, even if he was the owner's closest apprentice as of yet, he was not going to be able to explain everything in excruciating detail. What he could do better, however, was guide Tatsu after the visitor expressed his wish to learn as a Hachidan. As a teacher of this school, showing the ropes to what truly appeared to be a new student of the institution was the absolute least he could do. "We don't offer uniforms here, so you don't need to worry about that. As for students of the Academy, well, we mostly welcome those in the evening. That is when most classes take place." As the man explained, he would walk away from the aforementioned spiritual location, hoping to give Tatsu a relief from the energy there. "You can set yourself up alongside the others. We'll begin in a bit."

And with that, Tatsu would be left alone to position himself in the courtyard. This process would appear to be rather confusing at first, especially since the students were still located haphazardly throughout the area. However, as the classes would soon resume, these same students would start taking a grid-like position in the area with the help of the stone slabs set upon the dojo grounds. After a time, a few slabs would become evident for Tatsu to use, which was set far enough away from the others to not accidentally harm them with his weapon. Emile and the other teachers available in the area would place themselves in front of the students once they were positioned appropriately, after which he would call: "Welcome back! Let's start where we left off!" He called to everyone before he grabbed the scabbard of the blade resting upon his back with his left hand and unsheathed the weapon. Despite the fact that it was no Zanpakuto in the slightest, the blade - an ōdachi - was easily almost as tall as everybody else in the nearby vicinity, and he was able to hold it just fine. "Follow my lead!" 

What would then begin would be a series of swordsmanship lessons that were reminiscent of what were usually taught in Kenjutsu, Kendo, and to a certain extent, the beginnings of Zanjutsu. Some were akin to what Tatsu most likely saw at the Academy, such as horizontal, vertical, and diagonal sword swings, but a few of these lessons were more complicated. One of these particular lessons showcased the use a lesser version of what appeared to be the Iaijutsu technique. No matter the lesson, each of them would have the student first learn of how to properly accomplish a maneuver before then having them do successive repetitions of that same maneuver. During these repetitions, teachers would walk around the courtyard and provide notable commentary to students in an attempt to correct their execution of these repetitions. This would go on for quite some time. Seconds became minutes, minutes became an hour, and an hour turned into hours. However, the teachers remained patient and so did the students, despite the difficulty of the task.

As the training reached its second hour, signs of fatigue would begin to appear in most of the students. Though their efforts were to be commanded, the training was starting to get to them. Many of them were starting to show signs of slowing down alongside the typical elements tied to exhaustion, such as increased breathing and sweating. Emile and the teachers would, however, not grant a break just yet. Classes usually went on for about two hours and a half before a break would begin, and he felt it best to maintain it this way with these students; after all, none of them seemed like they wanted to stop. That is, until something was heard from behind the main gate. It first sounded like a swift shift in the wind heading closer and closer, as though something was heading up the mountain at an incredibly fast pace, until it then turned into normal footsteps. Eventually, a figure would pass through the gate, causing the students to pause for a moment and briefly freeze at the sight.

A Captain of the Gotei 13 had passed the gate. Her slightly-disheveled hair, her sleeveless haori, and the Shihakusho underneath would find themselves slightly edging towards the left as they were pushed by the quiet mountain wind, all the while her scarlet eyes glanced at the courtyard. At her hips rested two Zanpakuto, one resting in a white scabbard and the other in a dark twin, and on her back was displayed the yarrow of the Eleventh Division. At a glance, she appeared almost intimidating. A part of that was due to the spiritual energy that surrounded her being. It was potent, powerful, and overwhelming, with some of it leaving a signature onto the dojo behind her wake. If it were not for her being able to control, this entire place would have most likely being severely damaged. Yet, despite this, this intimidating look would eventually vanish after she let out a sigh and raised her head high towards the people of the school. "Don't mind me! Keep going!" A voice full of energy came from her mouth then. The students, suddenly reinvigorated with her energy, responded with a loud "YES, NAKAJIMA-SENSEI!" and continued with their lesson as tasked.

The woman would find herself close to the front of the grid before positioning herself not too far away from the teachers. Once there, she would start observing the students, wanting to see how things were going without interrupting the class. It was needless to say that her presence was a bit surprising from some of the students that were present, but somehow, that same presence was giving them the energy to proceed onward towards the end of the lesson. In fact, it gave them plenty of energy, enough so that they almost seemed to slightly ignore their exhaustion for a moment.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Technique Used}
Technique Name: Akuma no Ishi (剃るかんめき, "Demon's Will")

Technique Type: Other | Strength of Will Buff

Technique Element: None

Usable by: All races

Class: 3

Technique Reiatsu Cost: N/A

Technique Description and Effects

The projection of one's own will to empower the hearts of others. The user channels the strength of their very soul within themselves before shouting it out, most typically either in a short inspirational speech or a motivational war cry. By accomplishing this, the user is capable of bringing forth the Strength of Will skill of all of their surrounding allies by one point for the next three posts, inspiring them to go further beyond towards victory even if such a thing may cost their lives. A master of this skill is said to have such a powerful will that they are able to instead bring the aforementioned skill of their allies up by two points.


Drawbacks & Weaknesses

As saddening as this may be to those who may be interested in learning this technique, not everyone is born with a powerful will. That is simply a natural, uncontested fact that cannot be refuted even by the greatest minds there is in this world. In so doing, it is not difficult to imagine that this technique will not always show any kind of positive effect onto the people surrounding them, especially if they are used by naturally-uninspiring individuals. In order to guarantee this technique's proper success, the user must possess a 2 in at least one of the following skills: Acting, Charisma, or Strength of Will. This technique can be executed by those who have a lesser version of these skills if they so will it; however, upon execution, there will be a 50% chance of this skill failing to provide any kind of inspiration to allies altogether.


Made by: Nakajima Kimiko

Reserved? : No

[Tatsu Chirako]

Once aware of the building’s spiritual power, it seemed like the whole courtyard seeped spiritual energy and that standing in front of this overwhelming building was the key to feeling everything. Condensed emotions, past fights, it was as if this energy was a summary of past happenings in this place. His glance inched towards each and every cross and in the young student’s mind it was as if there were a million theories going through as he tried to understand how a place like this could feel like this when he didn’t feel such a connection within the academy. Goosebumps riddled his arms as he diverted his glance to them and then towards the teacher, who seemed to be looking at him with a glance of steel, Tatsu presumed he had touched the wrong emotional string, though it was not his intention he felt it fair, and honest for him to voice his doubts in this situation. He turned and looked at the students slowly getting into place, and getting ready for the upcoming lesson.


Tatsu allowed the teacher to peer into him with his steely emotions, he deserved to be reprimanded for lacking respect in such a place, his lack of tact deserved far more than the man was about to give him. He listened to his story about being a builder which in itself deserved grand respect in a setting such as this one, Tatsu’s eyes would glance toward the man’s hand to see their condition, to him a building’s hand would look alot like someone who trained with the sword. “I apologize Emile-Sensei, my words were thoughtless in a place such as this, it was self-centered of me to voice my concerns so soon and in a place such as this, I should’ve displayed only respect” He offered the man a full bow and waited a moment to show that he was truly sorry. “Everyone has their life path, and I hope that the teachings of the school will allow me to have a much more positive outlook on life within the districts.”

Tatsu would look at himself and quickly understand that he would stick out like a sore thumb with his academy uniform no matter where he would place himself. He had hoped for a cool Dojo uniform but those childish emotions were quickly dismissed. It took a moment for the student to find a reason why they would uphold lessons in the evening, and he ended up blaming the sun in his mind, the heat radiating from the sun must make training in the afternoon a chore for both the students and the teachers. Tatsu would nod to the teacher as he gestured towards the courtyard and telling him to get set up near the others, at first he was clueless as to where he should set himself up but after a few pair of students settled into their favorite location, it was easy for Tatsu to understand that the large stone slabs on the ground were designed to give everyone a training area large enough for proper training without wounding of maiming anyone around themselves. After a few minutes, Tatsu would settle himself in the middle of a slab and then looked himself over, making sure nothing would fall off while he was training.

While waiting for the teachers to be ready, Tatsu would stretch properly, he didn’t know what to expect or how acrobatic this style could be, of course he was up to the challenge, but didn’t want to end up looking like a fool in case this was one of the more acrobatic styles. Then he would make sure to pay respect to his blade before the fight, his unformed zanpakuto was sure taking its damn time to take shape, this somehow was nagging Tatsu’s conscience but he did try to keep it a personal matter. Once the teachers took place in front of the crowd, which he was setup to be somewhat in the middle, doing his best not to stick out like a sore thumb. It didn’t take much for Tatsu to break his poker face, when he saw Emile’s Odachi both his eyebrows shot up in surprise, it wasn’t everyday you saw a blade like this, Emile must command alot of respect to have commissioned a blade like this.

The teachers going through the students space wasn’t something that phased Tatsu, he’s been going through this for six years now without pause, and the fact that he was training again during the time he should be going out looking for a squad said alot about his character. Each of his swipes were done with razor precision, as straight as a hour needle on a watch for each of the directions, where things got a little more fancier was when use of the scabbard with implied in the technique, this was something he didn’t do often, even when he used to be living, so it took him more than a few swipes to get it right, and when he seemed to get it right, he knew that doing it a million more times would be required to actually please the teachers going around. This was fun, he didn’t expect to actually learn anything new this quickly and using the leverage to propel the blade forward was a technique he hadn’t ever experience.

Sweat beads rolled down Tatsu’s face, his eyes were burning up from the salt, but he didn’t show any signs of slowing down, each swing he did was accompanied by the proper emptying of the lungs to increase the physical power of the strike, and perhaps the students adjacent to him would feel him unleash his meagre spiritual pressure at the same time he unleashed the strike, trying to push what he learned to the maximum. It wasn’t until he heard a wooshing sound, similar to a shunpo that his attention was ripped away from his meticulous training. He would use his poor sensory abilities to reach out towards these successive sounds seemingly rushing up the mountain, this outclassed anything he determined to be ‘fast’ before this point, something of unbelievable speed was approaching the school and there was no way that a sensory ability like his had any chance to pinpoint what or who it was.

Out of a sudden he heard a final shunpo, someone appeared in the middle of the courtyard, He didn’t want to turn and look, and it took alot of self discipline to keep his training going, well that was until he saw the white haori walk down the center of the courtyard, Tatsu almost choked on his own spit at this moment, this was one of thirteen godly individuals within seireitei just WHY WAS SHE HERE. He shouted in his mind, he believed he would be in trouble if a captain saw him here while he should be out meeting squad representatives. He hoped he would be able to finish without being noticed. Still it would be impossible for him not to try to get a feel for her energy, to him it felt like there was so much more than he could see, and that he was on the verge of something more just by trying to look a little further. He was so focused he didn’t even notice he had stopped training when she shouted to resume their training without minding her, it was as if his lungs had filled with the freshed air, that the two hours that had gone past weren’t even a toll on him.



He couldn’t really hear the other students shout her name, nor did he need to, he had already guessed who she was, he didn’t need to see the flower on the back of her haori either, an introductory class had been given to present who the squad captains were. Tatsu would resume his training half hoping to be noticed, half hoping he would be able to leave without, it was something which was very conflicting to him, the mere inspiration he felt just by having her speak simple words was otherworldly.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

The students had unsurprisingly all paused when master Nakajima arrived into the main courtyard. What they believed would a day of training like the rest they have participated in thus far alongside Emile and the other teachers who resided within Nijūkan had perhaps turned into something that was a little bit more special. Even Emile himself had found himself becoming briefly stunned by her appearance here, so much so that his eyes grew slightly wider before beginning to blink in slight disbelief. It was completely normal for her to appear during the later parts of the afternoon or the evening, but in contrast, it was much less so for her to be here in the early afternoon. This at first caused a slight tinge of worry to appear within the man, though eventually, it would subside upon noticing how upbeat his teacher appeared to be. If something bad had happened somehow, then she would have sported a different look, or called for something drastic.

But such relief was to be expected from a man who had been in contact with Nakajima for quite some time now. He was aware of how she behaved, how she acted, and what was on her mind more often than not. In contrast, Tatsu did not. How could he? He was new to this place, and thus, the only thing that he would have at his disposal in regards to her was the information he would have gathered from her at the Academy, and all of that information would paint the woman in quite the intimidating light. Nakajima Kimiko, one of the currently-active Captains of the Gotei 13. Fighting under the yarrow of the Eleventh Division, she is said to be a most dangerous warrior who - during both the latest attacks against the Soul Society - has slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands of undead creatures and Hellions with only but her blades without breaking a sweat. She was also known for having graduated early from the Academy after almost killed a Hollow on her own during a disastrous student activity that took place within Karakura Town.

With these rumors naturally floating around her person, it would be reasonable for anybody to fear this officer. She, like most of the other people who served a similar position to hers, was not what one would consider to be a normal person when it came to sheer ability. For all everybody in this courtyard knew, it was probable that she could slay anyone here if she wanted to. No, not just probable: no one would survive a true battle against her, not even Emile who appeared to possess such incredible physical strength. Yet as she traversed the courtyard and spread her energy to her students as she told them to to continue their training, it would be clear to each and every one of them - Tatsu included - that such a thing was most likely impossible. Someone who wished to share such emotional power with people would never wish to eliminate those who received the people who received that same power. Well, at the very least, she most likely wouldn't.

The power in question would fuel both Tatsu and the rest of the students in the courtyard for what remained of the training session. Under her watch, her words brought them forward, bringing them the heart and the will to go further beyond. Though their muscles begged for their body to cease all movement and their breathing accelerated further, their emboldened mind refused to stop, bringing them onward without stop. Emile too felt this, and he was not going to deny his appreciation for it. It was what he believed to be his teacher's strongest asset and why the dojo was so successful to begin with. Sure, he too had her energy to some extent and thus could definitely teach others very well much like the rest of the teachers who accompanied him in the act, but there was a difference between someone who shared somebody else's energy and the source of that energy. Maybe one day, he will match her energy, but that day was not today.

Either way, the training would last for a bit longer than expected. As it turns out, Emile, the teachers, and the students shared such a powerful will thanks to master Kimiko's words that they were capable of lasting one more hour rather than the thirty minutes that were planned for their schedule. Given the surprised look that appeared on her face upon the end of the first thirty minutes, anyone could deduce that the aforementioned master had noticed that they were off-schedule. Nevertheless, she made no attempts to bring an abrupt end to this, as she instead decided to continue observing her students. Her eyes wandered from student to student as she studied them, analyzed them. It did not look like much from an outsider's point of view, especially from where she was standing, but it almost seemed as though she was capable of discerning what was right and what was wrong in the way her students followed Emile and the other teachers' lessons.

Considering the smile she sported and the life in her eyes, it visibly appeared as though she was quite pleased with what she was seeing. There was a sense of pride in the students that could be felt from her person, both a feeling of satisfaction and happiness. Emile noticed this right away, and once again, he found himself slightly relieved. It looks like he was following her teachings well-enough to not misunderstand them, and not teach them wrongly to others. With that said, he could notice that her gaze would find itself changing once she focused onto Tatsu, becoming curious. She even turned her head towards the sun a few times, as though she was making note of its position in the sky. There was no sign of her being angry or disappointed about the newcomer's presence here, but she did seem to be confused. Fortunately, this did not last for very long, though it would be rather clear to Emile that she wasn't sure of why there was a student of the Academy here at this time of day, at this time of the year. Introductions appeared to be in order.

The lessons would eventually finally end. By then, Emile's voice would let out one last cry before swinging forward, causing the students to do the same. The cries were loud enough to briefly echo throughout the mountains, allowing those below in the village to feel a modicum of the energy contained within them. As the echo eventually dissipated, the tall man would bring his blade to its scabbard, then call: "Good! This achieves our lessons for the day. I see good improvements in everyone here." His voice was loud enough to reach from one end of the courtyard to the other. "I believe that everyone's ready for it. Tomorrow, we will further cover our the very base of our school: Iaijutsu. You'll understand this technique, and you'll then be able to execute it without fail. If anyone wants to learn more about the technique now, or if you have any other questions, Master Beauchemin, Master Zakarian and I will be available until the evening classes begin."

Once Emile finished, the students would begin to disperse as they would all take a break once again. The most of them would return to what they were doing before training, with their bodies still invigorated by Kimiko's will. However, a few would go inside some of the nearby buildings in order to go take a proper break, either in their quarters or elsewhere. Emile would observe quietly alongside the other teachers before, eventually, he would turn towards Kimiko with a smile. "I take it there's not much going on over there?" He asked her naturally in the moment, doing so with a friendly and respectful tone. In response, the woman would smile back and approach him to better converse with him.

"No. There's still a shit ton of work to do over there, but I... just couldn't do it anymore. I had to tell Gideon to get it done for me." Her answer was honest, albeit ironically quite uninspiring. It was probably due to the tiredness in her voice as she spoke the words, or the way she comically appeared as though she was just recalling the horrors of how the paperwork looked like while she was in her quarters. To that, Emile would simply let out an amused grunt before letting out a quick sigh.

"Well, I hope he's gonna be able to finish that on time. He told me he wanted to follow complementary Rokudan lessons with me a few days ago, and I'm available today," he commented before looking on over to Tatsu. Whether the newcomer joined them or not, he would make sure to introduce him to Kimiko now that the lesson was over. "Tatsu, this is master Nakajima, the founder of our school. I'm gonna assume you already know her to some extent, with you two being Shinigami."

The Captain would analyze the man a little bit further now that he was separated from the rest of the students. Now that Tatsu himself was closer, she could discern the wilder traits that were present in her looks. Her hands were strong and firm, with muscular fingers that appear to have held a sword countless times, and her uncovered arms held a few scars. The most of them were bite marks and claw marks, all of which were most likely left by Hollows and whatever else she has fought in her life. There was even a small cut left on her throat. It wasn't deep, as noticed by the way it healed, but it was there nonetheless. Even so, despite all of these elements, she looked well. Very well, in fact. It was probably because she was in the dojo doing what was probably something she enjoyed doing, rather than in Seireitei doing paperwork. "Nice to meet you. Those are Shin'ō robes, right? I thought you guys still had a few classes to do in the afternoon... Well, anyway," she would dismiss the matter before she gave him a friendly smirk, "you look like you completed your first lesson. How was it?"

Though she had observed him before, the woman didn't appear to want to mention any of her observations to him just yet. It felt like she wanted to hear from him first and foremost in this particular context.

[Tatsu Chirako]

His body felt really good by the time the training ended, heavy breathing, light headed, hands quivering a little, this training was great, so was the runner's high that accompanied it. He looked up to the sky and filled his lungs with air time and time again taking a moment in this bliss, by the time he lowered his glance, it seemed like most of the courtyard had cleared the sensei was talking to the master up front and it seems that he wouldn't be able to slip out unnoticed thanks to this amazing training, still his face had a smile on it, this felt great. He could overhear both individuals talking together and also he could see his teacher looking towards him and he felt like he knew where this was going, so he started walking towards the pair who had been chatting it up until this moment. Upon reaching them he would bow deeply to the Captain, and master of this dojo. "Captain" He would say waiting for the proper etiquette taught to him at the academy allowed him to rise once again and look at the captain who stood before him.


Tatsu would turn and face Emile and nod offering him understanding that he indeed knew of the reputation that preceded the captain. It was something of a legend, the student knew of the godly legends surrounding the royal court guard captain and even knowing these legends and knowing that they were true would still bend the limits of understanding of the young students at the academy, how could a single person defeat thousands upon thousands without knowing defeat or slight injury. That was when his eyes darted between portions of the captain's skin, from scar to scar. Perhaps that was a portion that had been exaggerated, it was still mind boggling to think about the feats of strength that these individuals could perform, or had performed in the past. Tatsu's train of thought was interrupted by the woman's voice, to him it was unbelievable that she would actually speak to him, a lesser link in the chain of command. "Yes Nakajima-Taisho, these are from the academy, I've been given leave to visit the court squads, I did not expect to chance upon you here"


He hoped his explanation would pass as a freebie, he wasn't supposed to be this deep into rukongai and a part of him hoped to stay, while another part of him wished to climb through the ladders of the shinigami corporation. There was a part of him who wished to join the elite and prove how strong he could become, but there was also that part of him that believed he had no part to play and should play no part in this, damned imposter syndrome. "I enjoyed my lesson, I believe I can improve with it and become a better shinigami for it.. erh, Captain !" He stuttered at the last part as he had forgotten about proper etiquette for a moment there. "The first part of the training was a good warmup and the second, the more technical part, I am familiar with Iaido but only through reputation, I had never practised it myself."


At this moment the student would look himself over and make sure he didn't look like a fool while he had an insane opportunity to be with a captain. During his training, he certainly had an ease with his unformed zanpakuto, this was the last step required for him to actually join a squad and he believed that this journey would help him understand why his actual zanpakuto hadn't formed yet. Perhaps meeting a captain would be his twist of fate. During Kendo practice he practise as if his off hand should be doing something else, muscle memory from another life most likely, during Iaido maintaining his scabbard stable made him able to suppress that issue with his blade, nonetheless his skill with the blade could be as good as an academy student would strive to be. He hoped that the captain didn't find his display embarrassing to look at.


He probably had a million things to improve from the point of view of a master but at least he didn't feel like he was flaunting anything, everything about him seemed ordinary, just another rank and file academy student trying to find glory and rid the world of hollows. "I did not expect a captain of Seireitei to be the leader of a dojo in the middle of Rukongai'' He wondered what were the odds for him to actually meet a captain on a personal journey, in the middle of Rukongai even, and he hoped that she was far from the reputation she had at school, she who was renowned to slaughter so many during the past wars, her reputation was strong enough to deter some of the lesser willed students at the academy. Still it was mind boggling to him to see how someone so humane looking was paired with such a reputation, it is said that she could vaporise mountains simply by letting her reiatsu loose, the rumours were running that she could kill thousands of hollows before even drawing her sword.


It wasn't that Tatsu didn't want to believe these reputation, it was more than these were unbelievable, unfathomable, the more the realisation of whom he was talking to, the more Tatsu seemed to become distant in his mind, all kinds of thoughts rushing in and out of his mind. Then as if to put a lid on it, he would tell himself that no matter who he would tell, nobody would believe him at school, he thought many shinigami could go their entire existence without seeing the captains, and he saw one without even being part of a squad, it was like winning the lottery. He tried to burn this moment in his memory, taking in every detail he could see, trying to say if her zanpakuto was apparent and seeing if it gave away any information on this person that seemed so normal, but was renowned to be such a powerhouse within the soul society.


He would lock his eyes with hers, and finally add a question of his own. "Would you please critique my style,Taisho ? It would be the greatest honor for me to adjust my technique with your input" He attempted to bow once again and waited patiently for her reply.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko had had a long morning, to say the very least. Once again, for the nth time, her office had been assaulted by a torrent of paperwork that needed to be completed before the end of the day. Reports about recent Hollow activity throughout the Living World, transcript of rumors floating around the Rukongai about strange Beast-clansmen roaming near the outskirts of the 80th districts, records of Eleventh Division members who had officially finished their chores. No matter the hour, the day, the week or the month, the paperwork never ended. In fact, quite frankly, that is simply all this most-recent Captain believed she had received ever since she been promoted to this prestigious rank of hers. It was needless to say that, now, she understood why Celes was so often unavailable for training after she rose from Vice-Captaincy. It might as well be a warrior's very own personal Hell, a place so much more cruel than anything that a battlefield could offer to the both of them. 

For years, she tolerated the existence of this paperwork. She worked as demanded, writing down what felt like essay after essay for practically everything that was given to her. Either that or something smaller, like a signature or a stamp, depending on what she was meant to do with the given paper. But lately, she has started to grow more and more impatient with it all. She found the majority of it boring, droning, deeply uninspiring, with some of them - more precisely, the ones that simply contained a list of very basic chores completed by the members of her division - even challenging her patience. Amidst them all, the only papers that she could still tolerate today were the ones that she believed were much more important in comparison, such as the reporting of the completion of one's training schedule, or the attendee sheet of those who had visited Nijūkan. Unfortunately, those were few and far between, and so eventually, the inevitable happened.

At approximately 1:30 PM today, the Captain of the Eleventh Division made the personal decision that she would, from there on out, prioritize training both herself and those who wish to follow her teachings than the bureaucracy of the Gotei 13. Such a decision was not done out of spite for the Gotei 13, not at all, but rather because she believed the grand majority of it to be things she did not need to accomplish herself. It was something that she had finally started to recognize as a complete waste of her time, something that somehow positioned itself in a schedule which she believed it had no place in. At a first glance, it was not a decision that was very befitting for a Captain to do, especially not one made by the Captain of one of the squads which was notorious for having the greatest amount of paperwork due to the overwhelming number of members they possess. Fortunately, she had two subordinates that could help her properly accomplish this decision on a gradual scale without too many problems arising.

On this very day, it was decided that she would accomplish half of the work while the others would accomplish the latter half. It was a lot of work to leave to her aforementioned subordinates, but she knew that they could do it. The first, Jin, has been acting as the squad's general quartermaster and administrator for quite some time now. In his older eyes, this was where he now resided for the squad, not because he was weak, but because he was willing to complete the brunt of the battles the majority of the Eleventh Division preferred to avoid. As for the second, Gideon, he always preferred the quiet of writing than the heat of battle. Some may believe this to be an inadequate characteristic of his, considering that he was a member of arguably the loudest squad of the entire Gotei 13... but Kimiko understood where this preference came from, and so she did not mind this aspect of his. As long as he could keep up with training at the same time, he was fine.

So this was why she was here at the dojo so early. With herself freed from the shackles of bureaucracy, she was now fully capable of dedicating herself to both her own training and her dojo at earlier times of the day than usual. Shizukakane and Taishokukane will most likely be pleased by this development. Well, perhaps not Shizukakane; after all, the man does sometimes believe her lack of will for the completion of paperwork to be a bit disappointing every now and then, even if he understands how monotonous it must be for her. Regardless of what he may believe, however, even he would accept it in time, especially considering the darkness within her that was becoming stronger and stronger still with every passing day. As strange as that may appear to be, she needed all the happiness she could get to push it all away for as long as she could until her mind and body both grow strong enough to properly face it one day in combat.

Fortunately, happiness was what she would find in this moment as she observed the students present in the courtyard. Though there were still a few corrections that needed to be made here and there, she could tell that those who were present had made some good progress on their form. She was certain that these people were going to become Godan or even Yondan one day, if not at least Rokudan. But of course, she would eventually notice the most unusual presence amidst them all, the Academy student named Tatsu. It was clear that the man was still new to this place, as judged by the way he bowed to her and called her "Captain". It was also clear to her that he left the Academy at a time where he shouldn't have, as noted by the way he used a strange excuse to defend his presence here. "I don't wanna say I don't believe you, but... all of the squad barracks are in Seireitei. You were right there," she would remark with a bit of a comical expression of disbelief as she stared at the man. Deep down, she didn't mind that he was skipping classes altogether, but she did hope that he wasn't missing anything important; after all, his Asauchi hasn't even formed into a Zanpakuto yet.

The answer that would be granted to her response would ultimately be inconsequential, however. In the end, the man was here, and she was not going to kick him out of her dojo just because he didn't want to go to class. If there was anyone here who was aware of how useless some of those classes could be for a few officers, it was the one Shinigami in the entire courtyard who literally couldn't use Kidō for the life of her, and so had no need at all for of the magical classes that she had to attend. If the man believed this to be more worthwhile, then she was not going to punish him for it, especially not while he appeared this optimistic about his experience thus far. That was something she definitely appreciated from him. "Well, you're definitely not the first person who's heard of Iaijutsu and Iaido. You wouldn't believe how many people come here to this dojo just because they want to fight like an anime or video game character. It's... sometimes a bit embarrassing, honestly," she would explain with a friendly smile at first before appearing a bit nervous at the end. She could still recall that one time a group of kids came here in order to learn only to then almost cut their fingers off by accident while they tried to immediately execute the technique without any prior swordsmanship training. There was no way something like that could happen to someone like Tatsu, but just the fact it almost happened once was awful enough.

This conversation of theirs would continue until, eventually, the man would ask Kimiko to directly critique his style. In other words, he wanted her to supervise him so that he could directly learn what he needed to correct in his present form. The martial arts master would stare back at him, taking note of the determination in his gaze. He was serious. Ballsy, too. Not everyone would directly ask the owner of a dojo to do this for them. Emile almost wanted to say something, though having been made aware of Tatsu's behavior thus far, he was not at all surprised that he would ask something like this. As such, the taller man would smile and cross his arms. "Heh. It's been a while since I've seen eyes like those," he would remark before he turned his gaze towards the Captain. "I'm guessing that's my cue. I'll leave him to you, master."

"Alright, Emile. I'll see you later. Oh, also, tell Akira I'll be there for brunch tonight! I know her mom has been preparing that for a while." Her words would reach the man as he started walking away towards the other students, causing him to nod and wave back at her in response to them. After he would be far enough from she and Tatsu, the superior officer would look back towards the man. The energy that was in her eyes before the conversation began had returned. "Earlier, you said you weren't expecting a Captain to be around here. Well then, as long as you're here, don't see me as a Captain first. Instead, see me as a teacher." As she spoke, she would walk forward into the courtyard, again hoping he was in tow. She would do so in a way that they would eventually find themselves away from the other students, albeit close to the center of the courtyard. After this was done, she would then place herself at a certain distance in front of him that wasn't too far, yet not too close either. "Show me everything you've learned so far from Emile! All of it! I'll tell you all you need to know."

It would perhaps be unclear to Tatsu what exactly she was asking him to do, but after a time, he would most likely be able to understand her meaning.

She was asking him to strike her.

[Tatsu Chirako]

The student looked at his Asauchi, the unformed blade he still couldn’t hear, there was a series of reason he believed he couldn’t hear it, some were more poetic than others, he was investigating one of those means when he discovered the dojo, he was soul searching wondering if the reason behind the silence of his blade was that he was missing something. He hoped that coming here would finalise a process that he had no understanding of. In reality he was very close, his zanpakuto’s were practically screaming their names at him, and perhaps that was a reason why he couldn’t understand them, most teachings in the academy revolve around having a single spirit within their blade, while all Tatsu could feel was chaos as deep as his soul could search, which resulted in the student trying to search for other means to find inner peace, a silence so deep he could hear his blade screaming.



The reply the captain gave him made him feel guilty, he should not have diverted the question and responded to it in a plain fashion. “I’ve finished the classes, I’m postponing joining a squad until I can get a feel for my Asauchi.” He looked at his blade, knowing that most of his fellow students by this time already imprinted their Asauchi into zanpakuto’s and he had a fear of being bullied by higher ranked shinigami if he joined a squad with an unformed blade, so he delayed the inevitable for as long as he could in hopes that he could evade the issue entirely. Although some teachers were pushing him, urging him to pick a squad and that everything would end up fine in the end.



Tatsu had a perplexed face, there were no such things when he was alive, and his face had question marks when he visited squad 13 barracks, most of the gadgets there were above him by leaps and bounds, he had no interest in the world of the living, or very little, all he knew about it were that hollow’s prowled there and hunted humans for their souls. He had no knowledge of humans or their hobbies and machines. “ It’s very shameful to learn techniques because you want to base it on anything else. I believe it's very important to understand a technique and the mindset you have to employ to use it properly, Zanjutsu for example was designed historically to combat hollows, while I believe Iaijutsu was designed to fight humanoid foes, a technique from the world of the living perhaps?” It was observations from his past lesson where he found that the strikes were designed to strike at a humanoid weak point, rather than fighting creatures that were larger than nature.



Tatsu would turn to Emile and offer him a polite nod. “Thank you for today’s lesson sensei, I am glad I got to meet you personally” he would say with a warm smile, truly happy to have met someone whom he could identify with. Then he would turn his attention back to the woman standing in front of him, and politely wait until she had done her chat with Emile.

It wasn’t long until she turned her attention to him, Tatsu would lock his eyes with hers as she spoke to him about not seeing her as a captain, but as a teacher instead. He did not mind, as long as there were no officers around to criticise him for breaking etiquette. “I understand, I’ll address you as sensei then, both are equal in respect in my mind”



It wasn’t after he had said that, that Nakajima-sensei would stand up and walked at a pace where it was obvious for him to follow, the pair walked towards the centre of the courtyard, after all the effort he had gone through to try and be unnoticed, ‘oh well’ he thought. Too late to back down now. Once reaching the desired spot, Tatsu would stop and allow the teacher to create a space between them, then she faced him and spoke about showing her what he had learned from Emile, a great part of him wanted to make his teacher proud by setting himself as someone special but Tatsu knew that she would be even tougher than academy teachers, who were leaps and bounds stronger than himself.



He didn’t hesitate for very long, he looked at her for a moment and decided that she looked ready enough, it took him but a moment's thought to ready and position his blade within its scabbard, angled it properly at his target, and attempted to attack as fast as it could. The Asauchi made no sound as it left the scabbard and the blade flew as fast as the students arm allowed it to. His target was the soft skin above her hip a quick and clean cut to show what he summarized from the teachings he had undergone for 2 hours.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko would find herself briefly looking towards the Tatsu's weapon once again after he explained his true reason behind his presence here in the dojo. Apparently, he was already done with his classes, and the only reason why he hadn't decided to join one of the thirteen squads was because he wished to, in his words, "get a feel for my Asauchi." The Captain didn't believe that that was necessarily a lie, especially since she has had her own troubles with her Zanpakuto; however, a part of her believed that there was more to this than the man was wishing to let out. In usual circumstances, most students who are about to graduate from the Academy have already developed their Asauchi into Zanpakuto. This is often seen by many to be a sign of success, especially due to how important the blades are during conflicts between Shinigami and Hollow. In so doing, those who are somehow incapable of developing their Zanpakuto from their Asauchi prior to their official recruitment into the Gotei 13 are often seen as inferior by others. It is an unfortunate stigma, and in these dangerous times, it was doubtful that it was going to disappear any time soon.

If she had to guess the man's predicament, he decided to avoid registering himself into any one of the Gotei 13 for the time being because he believed his Asauchi was going to bring shame to his name should he do so. The Captain was herself not quite sure that that was necessarily going to happen, seeing as not all of the squads hold such judgemental thoughts about the state of their recruits. Under Celes, the Tenth Division was most likely going to accept him without any noticeable difficulties, and so would one of the quieter squads like the Fourth or the Ninth. With that said, she admittedly found that possibility to be legitimate if he decided to join, say, the Sixth or the Seventh. And if he joins the Eleventh... Well, bullying would probably be guaranteed in that specific case. Given how blunt they are on a daily basis, many of her subordinates would most likely criticize him for the state of his sword from time to time; after all, they did joke around about her own incapability of communicating with Shizukakane, even if that did not last for very long.

In any case, she did believe that his coming to the dojo was a good choice of his. This place, Nijūkan, held spiritual significance across the entire Soul Society. At least, many of the people who visit it tend to think of it as possessing such. Though it primarily acts as a place where people can learn how to do battle with a sword, the energy contained within it cannot be ignored. Neither can the people who somehow developed an affinity for the spiritual while they trained behind its great gate. If a normal resident of the Soul Society can somehow develop such affinities with time and dedication, then theoretically, Tatsu could most definitely better evolve his Asauchi should he remain here. It was unclear how long this was going to take, but for his sake, Kimiko was going to try to help him if that is what he wanted to do. It would be both uncharacteristic and unkind of her to deny his wish, especially given that she has already helped so many before him.

Judging by the way he judged the reasons behind why a few other people come to the dojo, and the way he spoke of the philosophies behind the style of swordsmanship conveyed here, it seemed that he was not going to back down from that wish of his any time soon. Unlike them, his purpose is truly centered around swordsmanship and not around anything else. She was not sure she appreciated his blind criticism of how others perceived the martial art, but she was glad to hear the rest of his words then. "No perhaps there. It's indeed a technique from the Living World. In fact, a lot of what we teach here comes from the Living World in one way or another. All those swords swings you've been doing earlier with Emile...? There was Zanjutsu in there, but the most of it was Kenjutsu," she would find herself confirming to Tatsu as they spoke of the bases of her school. For a very brief moment then, her eyes turned more serious. There was no reason for her to mince her words here. "That's gonna sound dark... but in order to be able to kill a Hollow, you first need to be able to kill a Human. That's just how martial arts work. Besides, a couple of those want to kill us too, and I'm not just talking about the Quincy." 

Indeed, what she said here was rather dark. The responsibility of the Soul Society is to defend Humanity against everything that wishes for its end, and so for her as a Captain to state something like that with what seemed to be experience on the matter would most likely be a bit surprising to Tatsu. The sad thing is that there is simply no limit as to how many people and beasts out there want to destroy everything the Soul Society stands for. Every Hollow wants to destroy it, yes, but there are also the denizens of Hell, the Quincy, and a noticeable amount of Fullbringers that is growing bigger and bigger every day. The worst part about that latter few is that, from how Kimiko has been handling them in a few of her missions so far, none of them appear to be driven by disasters of the past like the Quincy are. Not a single one. Instead, they are driven by something else, either through prospects of future power or financial gain. If this keeps going, the Soul Society will have another faction to defend itself against, and it will be yet another bloody conflict.

In any case, this serious subject would eventually come to an end. Kimiko personally didn't really want it to linger on for much longer, and she doubted that Tatsu wanted it to either. In so doing, she would guide him towards the center of the courtyard so they could proceed with what she had in mind. As they headed there, the other students would naturally find themselves slowly drifting away from what they were doing so that they could witness what was going to happen. The sparring between each other stopped, and so did the noise of swords hitting wooden targets swinging in the air several times over. The dojo owner was not surprised to see that what was currently happening was gathering a lot of attention. It was not often that she was ready to showcase her skills behind the walls of the dojo to a newcomer, and she was aware that many of them wanted to take notes from the way she fought in order to correct the mistakes in their own styles.

She would position herself in front of Tatsu and then speak her words to him. The words were loud enough to briefly echo throughout the courtyard, causing the nearby students to quickly go silent as they watched. The Captain would remain silent as she analyzed the man once again, wanting to see what he was going to do now that she had revealed to him what was going to happen next. She admittedly expected him to at least slightly hesitate at first, especially given that she had brought him in the middle of the courtyard. That decision of hers had been mostly made so that they would have as much space as possible, but with so many people watching at once, anybody would have found themselves hesitating even just a little bit, even those who were already part of the dojo's roster. However, hesitation was not what Tatsu had to display here. Far from it. In fact, the man moved forward, intent on doing exactly what Kimiko asked him to do.

The Captain watched as the man's weapon exited its scabbard and rushed towards her hip. It did not take long for her to recognize the attack as what it was: a Iaijutsu strike. At a glance, considering that this attack was accomplished by a beginner who most likely never actually executed it in real combat, she could tell that it was done well-enough. Its execution was swift, silent, and precise, all of which were good qualities to expect from the initial form of the technique. Despite these qualities, the technique was obviously not perfect. He barely changed his footing as he moved, causing the attack to be very immobile, and he attempted to strike her near the hip, which was a very predictable place for the attack to go to. In other words, he left himself open for a counter-attack. It was a very common flaw tied to the base Iaijutsu technique, so she was not surprised to see it here. Nevertheless, that would need to be corrected in time should Tatsu decide to become a higher student of the dojo.

Acting mainly as an observer for the time being, she would allow the blade to reach her person without worry. Since she was much faster than Tatsu in every single way, his Asauchi did not particularly intimidate her. Once she would begin to feel the sword's iron collide with the cloth of her Shihakusho robes, she would slide towards the direction at which Tatsu's blade was swung, then raise one of her blades' scabbard. It was done at a speed of 50, roughly almost twice as fast as Tatsu's strike, which caused her to appear as though she flowed rapidly in action. Should the man be unable to respond in time to this movement, his weapon to collide with the scabbard, causing a loud thudding noise in the process. This would leave enough time for Kimiko to give the man a smirk. "Good one! Now let's see if you can keep up the pace," she would tell him before suddenly grabbing the hilt of the blade resting in the scabbard she used to block Tatsu's strike, then unsheathing it towards the man's direction in the form of a vertical Iaijutsu strike.

Kimiko's attack was slow in comparison to her standards, roughly at about a speed of 30. To her, it felt like she was barely putting any strength in her arm as she moved her sword out of the scabbard. Yet for Tatsu, it would feel like this attack towards him at his exact pace. Moreover, it was powerful. Not literally powerful, as it was launched with a physical strength of 30, but emotionally powerful. Even from where he stood, he could the sheer amount of spiritual energy contained within the strike. This could easily be seen as cruel by many, though this was the Captain's way to test this student's instinct in a stressful situation. He was stuck in an awkward position with his own weapon almost downright used against him, but there were ways for him to get out of there without getting himself too hurt in the process. What was he going to do to protect himself? How was he going to respond to this maneuver?

Time to find out.

[Kitai Yoru]

104 paragraphs, 520 TP awarded