"Well then... on to the next class, yeah? S'ya around Haruka-chan." Mugen said cheerfully before taking off down the hallway.

Haruka's eyebrow twitched. "C-chan?" she muttered aloud. "Since when did I give him permission to call me...chan...?"

She sighed as she watched him pass by her again. Just like a person to be so caught up in the moment that they go the wrong way. 'Hmm...I really can't stay mad at him, though. He's just that sort of strange person, I guess. ’ With a small chuckle, she began her walk toward Nature of Zanpakuto class. She would get him for the "chan" comment later.

Nature of Zanpakuto was with Mai. Haruka felt her heart flutter slightly at seeing the younger woman again. She really was something else; Haruka would never try to deny it. The class wasn't really that far away, only over to the left two hallways, down a third, and through a courtyard. All three Nature of Zanpakuto rooms were on the opposite side of the said courtyard from Haruka’s current location. It was a small courtyard, covered with grass and sporting a small koi pond in the eastern corner. Haruka glanced briefly at the pond, but was on the other side of the courtyard before she could really get a good look at it. Classroom B was, fittingly, in the middle of classroom A on the left and C on the right. She drew open the sliding door, and entered the room.

The first thing she noticed was the noise. Or, in this case, the lack of it. Though she was almost positive she still had a couple minutes before class started, the room was absolutely silent. Students sat at desks set in meticulously arranged rows, all of them with their heads turned forward. Well, almost all of them. There was one girl, near the back, with black and gray hair who was turned completely around with a grin on her face. Mai. As soon as Haruka's eyes found her, the woman began pointing enthusiastically to the seat next to her with a look that said, "I saved you a seat!"

Such a show of movement obviously attracted the eyes of the teacher, an old wrinkled woman, and was greeted by a sharp rap on the table with her zanpakuto sheath. Haruka hastily bowed to her, and quickly took her seat beside Mai.

She looked back up at the old, wrinkled teacher and frowned. The woman had long hair so devoid of color that it was nearly transparent. Her face sported many wrinkles, but suggested an unparalleled beauty in her youth. Haruka was sure that her teeth would probably be rotting if she opened her mouth. But with all that said, the worst thing about her was her frown. The woman looked so painfully grief stricken that Haruka wondered if there was truly something wrong.

'I didn't know shinigami could get this old...she has to AT LEAST be as old as the Captain-Commander...or maybe she became a shinigami at an old age?' Haruka frowned herself then, and her eyes widened as she thought 'Am I joining at an old age?!? No, no...I'm only twenty-four...still just a baby!' And she allowed herself to a small inaudible chuckle. With another glance at the front of the room, Haruka caught the name "Hakanai-sensei" scrawled across the board.

"Class." The old sensei startled Haruka with speech. She had a deep, raspy voice that had undeniably been destroyed by something when she was younger. Haruka would guess smoking, but she didn't know if they had cigarettes in Seireitei. Perhaps it was from yelling?

"You will devote yourself completely to learning about zanpakuto while you are in this classroom. I will allow no horseplay, no off-subject chatter, and most importantly, no excessive talking. You may ask your neighbor a question regarding the material, but that's the extent."

'Are you serious? This is one of only two classes that I have with Mai! Grr. This woman is really going to get it. Look at those feeble old bones. I could totally take her in a fight!' Haruka scowled.

"Do not disturb me unless it's an emergency." The woman finished her opening speech. "Now," she said with a completely feigned and failed attempt at pleasantness. "Please open your textbooks to page 10 and begin reading the chapter. Once you're done, answer the questions at the end of the section. Good luck."

Haruka grabbed the textbook sitting in front of her and lazily opened it to begin turning pages. From next to her, Mai cleared her throat. Haruka glanced up at her with some interest, and saw a note gripped in the woman's hand. Noticing that she had Haruka's attention, she quickly thrust the note out towards Haruka's desk. The black and red haired girl eagerly, but discreetly, took the note from the black and gray haired girl, and opened it.

"Oh." came the horrible voice from the front. "And no note passing."

With a grin she couldn't suppress, Haruka shrugged and began to read the note.

"This is going to be such a great class! I can't wait to infuriate her.
Haru, you will help me, right? I totally can't do this by myself. "

Haruka chuckled. That was Mai for you. Insanely devious yet extremely pleasant at the same time.

"Oh of course. We'll tear the room apart. Textbook work my arse."

Haruka replied below Mai's message. She waited a few minutes to make sure that the teacher wasn't watching her, and then quickly slipped the note back to her roommate.

With that done, she decided to check out "page ten" in her textbook. It was the beginning of one of the chapters, which was entitled "Introduction to Zanpakuto: Basics." 'Joy to the world. Can't get any more fun than this!' was Haruka's bitter thought on the matter.

A cough from Mai, this time, saved her from beginning the wonderful "Basics" chapter. With a similar ceremony as used the previous time, Haruka took the note.

"Oh, well, I don't know about skipping the work...I really do want to learn about zanpakuto. After all, we'll be getting ours in a few years. I want to know how to treat it.

"But, still, something has to be done about this teacher. Heehee. "

"I guess. We'll never get strong if we don't know how to handle the Zanpakuto. How about we put pins in her chair?"

Yep. Haruka was absolutely amazing about coming up with original ideas. No one could beat her in that field. No one.

Though really, thinking stuff up wasn't really her cup of tea. She just wanted to get something started. Mai could come up with the genius prank, and she'd execute it.

Mai chuckled upon getting the note. Haruka left the woman to the writing of her reply as she began to read the wonderful "Basics" chapter. And the first thing she noticed about the book was the language it used. The construction of the sentences, the words used, no one wrote like that these days. Their textbooks were entirely outdated.

'Yay. Not only do I have to read it, I have to decipher it as well. No wonder these classes are two hours long...' With a great sigh, Haruka looked back up at Mai, who was just finishing her response to the note. Mai glanced over at the older girl, and hastily handed her the note. Then she stood. Haruka frowned at her, but Mai merely smiled, gestured to the message in the other woman's hand, and walked to the front of the room. Haruka looked down at the piece of paper.

"Hehe. Leave the pranks to me, dearest Haruka. I'll have some good information in no time. Don't you worry."

Well, that wasn't exactly an answer to her unasked question. Haruka looked back up to the front of the room, and furrowed her brow as she did so. Mai was talking to Hakanai-sensei with the sweetest smile she could muster plastered across her elegant face. "Excuse me, Sensei-sama-"

'Sensei-sama? Ooookaaay Mai. '

"If it would be at all possible, I would really like to go to the bathroom."

She paused, and her eyes searched "Sensei-sama's" desk. Haruka shook her head and went back to deciphering the text in front of her. Mai would get her way. She always got her way.

'Let's see here...'

"At first glance, the esoteric zanpakuto looks as if it would be just a mundane katana. But that is not so. Each zanpakuto harbors a sentient being who is the corporeal manifestation of the anima of its possessor.”

'Who do they think we are?! I've never even heard the word 'esoteric' before! But okay. Lets see...it's obviously an adjective used to describe the zanpakuto. Zanpakuto are rather mysterious, and only shinigami know about how they work. So, maybe it means something like not well-known or hidden from the public? So...if we replace that word with mysterious, and all the other weird words it'd read something like:

"At first glance, the mysterious zanpakuto looks like an ordinary katana. But that isn't true. Every zanpakuto possesses a conscious spirit who is the..."

Corporeal...I know that word...hmmm...I'll come back to it...

"...materialized form of the..."

Uhm...Anima...like...life energy or whatever... so then...

"At first glance, the mysterious zanpakuto looks like an ordinary katana. But that isn't true. Every zanpakuto possesses a conscious spirit who is the corporeal..."

Corporeal. I think that means something similar to materialized. So then like, tangible or something? Man. I think I'll take the word out. It can probably function without it.

"At first glance, the mysterious zanpakuto looks like an ordinary katana. But that isn't true. Every zanpakuto possesses a conscious spirit who is the materialized form of its holder's spirit."

Phew. One section down, at least 100 like it to go...'

She felt someone brush by her desk, and saw Mai sit back down next to her. The girl grinned, and gestured to their textbooks. They'd talk later. Haruka went back to the daunting task the teacher had given them. They should probably offer a complex language class here, too, so they could actually learn what they needed to. Either that or get new textbooks.

By the time Mai had switched the eye patch to Shino, given Haruka a perfectly nasty glare, and stalked off to her classroom at the halfway point in the class, Haruka had finally finished the second page. Now she just two more and a few questions to go.

Maybe, just maybe, she'd get it done.

---~~---

The nagging ache of hunger was beginning to set in as Haruka rose to turn in the answers to the textbook questions. The torture of the class was finally drawing to a close, and the torture of a new class was nearing. Shunpo with Shino. The upside of the deal was that Shino wouldn't be coming into the class until the halfway point, so she had an entire hour to enjoy it without the abrasive woman around.

The downside, however, was that she didn't know if she knew anyone else in the class or not. And, seeing that class A was hard to get into, she probably didn't.

Shunpo was located in a large courtyard near the back of the building. It would take Haruka a while to find her way there, so she figured she better walk fast. She passed many students in the corridors, and wondered how many of them would actually make it all the way to shinigami status, and how many of them would quit the way Satine had. All the faces looked emotionless, as if they were so focused on where they were trying to go that nothing else mattered. Well, you couldn't blame them. The Shinigami Academy was a pain to navigate, after all.

It took Haruka almost all the time she was given to go from class to class, and almost all the air her lungs could hold to get to the Shunpo classroom, or courtyard, really. The courtyard was just a simple, large, grass covered field with sakura trees running around the perimeter. The sakura were not in bloom this time of year, however, so the trees stood with merely their plain green.

Students were lining up in a row in front of a powerful looking shinigami. The man had short, spiked, navy blue hair and severely tanned skin. He was also noticeably taller than many of the students, although he was close to the same age. As she got closer, Haruka was able to see his eyes. They were a deep hazel, and danced with the amusement of something known only to him. His mouth was set in a slight smile, and his hands were clasped behind his back. Haruka took a place at the end of the row, and waited patiently for the class to begin.

She didn't have to wait long. The last few students sprinted into the courtyard only moments after Haruka had taken her place in line. The young instructor nodded to them, and allowed the slight smile on his face to become complete. "Good afternoon. It has probably been a rather long morning for all of you talented shinigami-in-training. I know that you are probably all very hungry after expending so much spiritual energy. Well, lucky for you, lunch is right after this.

"However, if you don't understand that simple fact and begin to think that you do not have to wait for lunch to come, then you will find that it never will.”

He paused a moment to allowed his words to sink in and become fully appreciated. A few students laughed, and when they were not scolded, Haruka began to wonder whether or not the man was serious. Then he continued.

"Welcome to Shunpo. My name is Kouguu Juusha. You will, of course, call me Kouguu-sensei. I've never much enjoyed my given name, anyhow.*As you all well know, this is Shunpo Class A. What is expected of you here far exceeds what is expected of the students in the other classes. Remember that. If you cannot handle our exercises, I will be glad to remove you from Class A.

"But with all those formalities aside, I would like to think that you will have fun in this class. I have no problems with you experimenting with your shunpo techniques, just make sure you complete all the work I assign you first. My rules for this class are simple: Get your work done. After that, I don't care what happens- just don't eat.

"However, I do want you to remember that if your skills do not improve over the course of the year, you may find yourself in another Class besides A next year. Let that be an incentive for your hard work throughout the period.

"Now, to today's assignment. I would like you to see how many steps it takes you to get across the entire field, and then report that number to me. Once you're done, you're welcome to try to improve your number. Report to me each time you do so, but only one number is required of you. Have fun. Get to work." He bowed, and the students began to walk over to one end of the field. "And remember," he shouted, "no eating!"

When Haruka reached the end of the field, students were already flash stepping over to the other side of it. Many reported their number to Kouguu-sensei and then went to a corner of the field to socialize. Haruka frowned. They were never going to get anywhere like that. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and prepared her flash step. When she was ready, she began to flit across the field. It took her three flash steps to accomplish her goal.

Upon reporting her number to Kouguu, she realized that her number was one of the highest. No one had been able to do it in one jump, but a couple of students had been able to do it in two. Haruka frowned. She knew that she should be able to do it in one. It wasn't that huge of a field; fully-fledged shinigami could make quick work of it. She was in class A, and excellence was what was expected of her. With another scowl, she made her way back over to the starting line to try again. But still, it took her three steps. She tried again and again, but no matter what she did, she was unable to surpass that number.

And then Shino showed up. It was always unnerving seeing the woman in Mai's body. But there was nothing either one could do about it. Haruka watched her go up to Kouguu-sensei and talk to him. After a moment, he gestured to Haruka, and before she knew it, Shino was standing in front of her. "Sashiburi, hime-sama.** Our sensei wanted you to explain today's assignment. So spit it out."

"Tch." What a pain. She'd never be able to concentrate with Shino around to annoy her. Haruka nodded to the field. "Jump across it."

"Little vague, don't you think?" Shino drawled with a slight smirk.

"Really? I found it perfectly easy when Kouguu-sensei said it." Shino didn't have to know that Kouguu had given a more detailed explanation. In fact, there was no way she could know, and thusly, no reason she should know.

But Haruka had thoroughly irritated the yellow-eyed woman. "Oh really? Well look who's a little genius, hmm?"

"Sure," Haruka spat. Then she flash stepped again, and reappeared a little more than halfway across the field. ’This is further than I got last time…’ Another step showed her all the way across the field. She had broken her record. Maybe she’d be able to get across the whole field in a single step by the end of the week! When she turned around, she saw Shino at the other side of the field preparing to attempt the vaguely explained assignment.

‘What caused that? Was it the fact that I didn’t think about what I was going to do as hard as I usually do? Was it Shino? Or was it the frustration Shino instilled in me? Hmm…’ She’d have to experiment with that later. Right now, she needed to get her score to the instructor before Shino reached her side of the field.

----~~~----

Lunchtime. Haruka had been waiting for it for quite a while. The line moved quickly, and Haruka absentmindedly grabbed the first food items that came to mind: fried rice and sushi- a spider roll. She also nabbed a water bottle, and then went to look for a place to sit down. The lunchroom was crawling with people, but at the far corner of the room there was a table where a single figure sat. He appeared to be rather tall, and had shoulder length, silver hair. Even from this distance, Haruka could see he had make-up on, but she couldn't tell what the color of his eyes was. 'Well, there's no where else to sit...He seems like he'd be easy to push around, anyway.'

Haruka walked over and set her tray on the table. “I’m sitting here, okay?” was her opening statement. She then proceeded to match actions with words and settled herself down at the table. With that taken care of, she looked over at him, scrutinizing him.

“Fine," he told her without looking up. The angle his head was at rendered her still unable to tell what color his eyes were. But he looked somehow familiar, even though the only thing she could see was the top of his head. She thought about asking him about this, but was at a loss for what she could say. ' "Hey! I noticed you had a familiar head...do I know you?" Yeah...never.'

“What’s your name?” Is what she asked instead. It was a good place to start.

And that's when the man looked up. He had piercing green eyes. Haruka had to admit that his face was a rather impressive one. Maybe he wasn't so easy to push around, after all. But all that aside, the new view of his face confirmed her suspicion. She knew him. But from where?

“I’m so sorry, I was daydreaming. I am Kuishi Sato of South Rukongai district twelve. Hajimemashite.***"

'Interesting change in mood...it's almost as if he's trying to cover something up. But hmm...Kuishi Sato...that name doesn't ring a bell. Maybe I've seen him around the academy?'

“Geez, so formal,” she stated, sharply. This Kuishi person was certainly strange. “I’m Haruka Tokoyami. What classes are you in, Sato-san?” She asked before momentarily turning her attention to her rice. It was a strange color. A little browner than it should be. She took a bite, and was surprised to find the taste rather satisfying.

“I’m a hopeful in basic training. I am not in any class.”

'That rules that possibility out. Hmm...'

“You look familiar.” Well, it's not like she was going to let it eat at her for the rest of the day. It didn’t sound so strange now that she had seen his face.

“Perhaps you saw someone who looked like me. Or watched a movie with a young handsome actor that I reminded you of,” he said, and grinned.

“Not really.” Haruka wasn't really much of a movie person. And, this guy sort of had a unique look to him. It would be hard to find a look alike.

Then it dawned on her. School. He had been one of her upperclassmen, and was present at Mt. Fuji. But his name hadn't been Kuishi Sato.

'It was...Ishi...H...Ishikawa Haku! But why is he using a fake name?'

“How did you enjoy Mt. Fuji, Kuishi-sama?" The torment had begun. Oh, she would ask him about his fake name. But not yet. This was more fun. He knew she knew, but if she started asking too many questions, the fun would be over too soon.

“It was fine.” He said, surprising her slightly with a grin. “A little cold, but it was a cold year, as I recall.”

“Well, at least you got a nice view, Kuishi-sama.”

Haku laughed, but Haruka could tell that she had him nervous.

“Seeing that we’re here, now, I’d say we both did.” This time, it was Haruka's turn to laugh. Yes, she had definitely gotten quite a view. But it wouldn't do to think of such things now. Haku was certainly an interesting person. She'd have to keep an eye on him. “I have these premonitions," he continued, "most of the time they’re right. I think we’ll meet again, Tokoyami-san.”

He stood, bowed, and walked away as quickly as he could, his silver hair swishing unceremoniously across the nape of his neck as he did so. He walked so fast, in fact, that he did not even hear Haruka mutter, "Oh, you can bet on it, Ishikawa."

She allowed her thoughts to take her back to this morning, and her conversation with Mugen.

"So…have you met anyone else from the real world?” He had asked her.

'Have I ever.’

Now the only person at the table, Haruka looked down to her fried rice and spider roll. She could eat in peace for the first time in over a week. She dug in, and allowed a malicious grin to spread slowly across her face as she chewed. What an interesting experience the Shinigami Academy was turning out to be.







*Juusha means follower or servant. What can I say, the name suited him somehow, despite the meaning.

**Sashiburi, hime-sama: "It's been a while, princess."

*** Copy from Sin's post: Hajimemashite means “It’s nice to meet you” and is the very essence of a polite and formal introduction, but can only be used when you meet someone for the first time. Haku uses it here to be polite and to reinforce the idea that the two had never met before.