Zanjutsu & suspicions

Kazuma Nikaido strode purposefully through the halls of the entrance building. He was determined to find out what was so special about Daisuke Yagami. The way he had acted when Nikaido had questioned him about his past made Nikaido sure Yagami was hiding something. And he wanted to know what. He strode into the secretary's office, disturbing her from her work.

"Ah, hello, Nikaido-san. What brings you here?" the secretary asked. She was a middle-aged Shinigami with brown hair and glasses, the typical image of a secretary.

"I was wondering if I could borrow the files on one Daisuke Yagami, please."

"Of course. It won't be complete, though, since this is Yagami's first week." The secretary handed Nikaido the file. The files noted the strengths and weaknesses of a student, and they would be updated after the first week, the first month, the sixth month, the first year, and all years after that. They all contained information about a student's origins, like which district they came from, if they were a noble, how long they had been in the Soul Society, etc. They also contained reports of how well a student did on the entrance exam.

Nikaido murmured, "Thank you" and walked away, holding the file in his arms. He barely heard the secretary yell at him to return the file the next day.

Nikaido slumped into his seat in his room. It was a medium-sized room, with a bed, an armoire, and a large desk. There was a small bathroom connected to his room for convenience. He was, after all, a teacher. The students had to use dorm bathrooms.

Nikaido flipped open the file on Yagami and began reading.

''He said he's from the 78th district South Rukongai, that much is true. And his spiritual pressure! It's at the level of a lieutenant's! And he hasn't even unlocked his zanpakuto yet! Only nobles have reiatsu like that. And I was lying about Shirogane… I can't read it at all…It's as if something's blocking Yagami's signature from being read… But that's impossible!''

Nikaido continued to read the small amount of information in the file. As he was reading the section that described Daisuke's entrance exam, his eyes widened and Nikaido nearly fell over.

What the hell… He defeated a fourth-seat officer in zanjutsu in only five minutes!

Nikaido closed the incomplete file, pondering Yagami's unique reiatsu signature, his incredible skill in zanjutsu, hakuda, and hoho, and why he would want to hide his past.

Daisuke sneezed and looked around, confused. Did he have a cold?

He was in the zanjutsu building, warming up for the day's sparring. His headache had finally abated.

The zanjutsu building was a huge gym-like structure, with wooden bleachers on the sides of the large enclosure. A wide range of wooden swords and asauchi were hanging on the walls, some of them very obviously about to fall apart.

Some of the other students had already grouped up into pairs and were play-sparring. By watching them, Daisuke deducted they were all beginners… and very easy to defeat, although there were a few students he saw that were clearly better than the other freshmen. The zanjutsu instructor soon walked in. He was a fairly large man with lean muscles.

"Alright! Class, listen up! My name is Kenjiro Shirogane, and I'm the zanjutsu instructor! In this class, I don't expect brains from you, I expect hard work and improvement. I won't…" Shirogane talked for about an hour about the basics of zanjutsu (stances, thrusts, parries, etc.) and how he was there only to teach the basics of zanjutsu. He wouldn't teach them how to reach true captain's fighting level

Finally Shirogane directed them to the wall to pick out wooden swords. Daisuke once again chose the daito. He had been paired with a girl named Kaede Ikuto. She was one of the best freshmen in the class. They sparred for a few minutes, Daisuke doing his best to tone down his strength. Shirogane wasn't an idiot, however, and he could see Daisuke was playing with Kaede immediately.

After finishing the exercise, Shirogane let the students get water and recover before the next exercise. Several of the students were sweating like pigs. After all the freshmen had finally gathered again, Shirogane gave them instructions for the next exercise. The students would be and sparring one-on-one while the rest of the class watched from the bleachers.

Most of the class had already gone by the time it was Daisuke's turn. He was paired with Kaede again. Before Daisuke could start though, Shirogane pulled him over and murmured, "I know you're not going all out, Yagami-san. I want you to go all out on Kaede-san."

"Begin!" Shirogane called, cutting through Daisuke's inner bickering. Kaede attacked immediately, not wanting to give Daisuke an advantage. Her katana was easily blocked.

If he wants all out, fine, I'll GIVE him all out, Daisuke mentally snarled.

He stepped around Kaede's guard, knocked her wooden katana out of her hands, and placed his katana at her throat. It was basically the same technique he had used against Kenjiro.

Everyone sat stunned for a few moments before Shirogane managed to weakly call out, "Winner: Yagami." He went to sit down on the bleachers, not caring that the eyes of the entire class and Sensei were on him.

So much for trying not to stand out, Daisuke grumbled.

After Shirogane finished with the rest of the class, he began to go through the roster again. This time Kaede was paired with a scrawny kid who was terrible at zanjutsu. She won easily. Daisuke was paired with a large man who didn't last five seconds against the undercover

Near the end of class, Shirogane called Daisuke over to spar with him. Every single freshman in the room was utterly shocked, Daisuke especially so.

"But, sensei!" Kaede protested. She didn't want Sensei to spar with Daisuke, that much was certain. Shirogane just waved her away and settled into his ready position.

''Great. More jealous freshmen.''

"Are you ready, Yagami-san?"

"Hai." Daisuke got into a defensive stance, bracing himself for Shirogane's attack.

Shirogane struck hard and fast, and forced Daisuke to his limits, just like Nikaido had. Daisuke's world became a blur of wood and Academy uniforms, his mind responding only to simple action and reaction. The other students watched with disbelief while Shirogane and Daisuke sparred. Kaede's simmering jealousy wasn't helped as she watched Daisuke spar on equal footing with the Sensei, and she made a mental note to talk to him after class.

Ultimately, Shirogane defeated Daisuke when he finally managed to twist the wooden katana out of Daisuke's hands. Most of the other students applauded enthusiastically, but others sulked at Daisuke's obvious skill, including Kaede.

"Very good, Yagami-san!" Shirogane grinned.

"Thank you, Sensei," Daisuke replied tonelessly.

''Now I've really made myself to be abnormal. Dammit!''

It was time to go by the time the match had ended. Daisuke strode out quickly, not wanting to be caught by the other awed freshmen. He managed to get halfway back to his dorm room when Kaede caught him.

"Oh, you're that girl I sparred today… umm… Kaede, right?"

"Yeah. Kaede Ikuto. And how the hell did you get so good at zanjutsu?" Kaede asked roughly.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Daisuke growled. He turned to approach his dorm room but was stopped when Kaede stepped in front of him and grabbed his shoulder.

"Answer my question," Kaede growled.

"I did! Now let me go! Is it a habit to be this violent to people you just met?" Daisuke hissed back.

Before Kaede could answer he flash away from her, leaving a bewildered Kaede staring at the spot Daisuke had been seconds before.

Daisuke arrived at his dorm room. It was a small room, with brown floors and walls. There was a small bed set up against the wall and a dresser filled with Academy robes. A diminutive desk with a lamp was set in a corner. Probably for doing written homework for classes like science and math, Daisuke mused. A tiny window covered with coarse brown cloth was located on the north wall. The dorm bathroom was near his room. ''I feel sorry for Kimiko. Her room in the girl's dorm is on the top floor, and her dorm bathroom all the way down the hall.''

Daisuke flopped onto the bed without changing and fell asleep, letting his current worries wash away. 

"Hi there, kazuma-kun! How are ya doing?" Shirogane's loud voice broke through Nikaido's musings. He had been trudging back to the secretary's office to return Yagami's file.

"Just fine, Kenjiro-san," Nikaido replied tonelessly. He was still halfway lost in his thoughts.

"Uh-uh." Shirogane shook his head, grinning and waggling his finger. "You know better than to lie to me, Kazuma-kun!"

Nikaido sighed in exasperation, then replied, "Let's take this somewhere private; I don't want any eavesdroppers to listen in on our conversation." He glanced down the hallway where a frustrated Kaede was trying to listen in.

After returning the file to the flustered secretary, Nikaido and Shirogane strode down the hall and entered Nikaido's room for a safeguard against eavesdroppers.

"So, what is it?" Shirogane asked. "The freshmen doing worse than usual?"

"No, no, just the opposite. Daisuke Yagami is too good to be just entering the Academy. He must have had previous training from somewhere. Why else would he"

"Whoa, slow down! Start at the beginning! You have a bad habit of blurting whatever's on your mind," Shirogane sighed.

"Yagami-san flawlessly completed a tag-team Chase the Devil. We're talking about one student against about fifty others," Nikaido began.

Shirogane narrowed his eyes. "He did exceptionally well in my zanjutsu class, too. He sparred with me equally for fifteen minutes before I finally managed to defeat him!"

"That doesn't surprise me."

"It doesn't?"

"No. In his entrance exam, he defeated seat officers, in only five minutes."

Shirogane choked on air and began hacking. Nikaido calmly waited for the zanjutsu instructor to regain his breath.

"Y-you're kidding, right?" Shirogane spluttered.

"Nope."

"How did he do on the rest of the exam? And why was he sparring with Shirogane-san, anyway?"

"He knew an abnormal amount in the knowledge portion of the test. He was equal with you in hakuda and could keep up with some of the more advanced shunpo. The only thing Yagami seems to be bad at is kido. Bakudo number one blew up in Kohaku's face, knocking him out, which was why Yagami was sparring with Shirogane-san."

Shirogane mulled over the new information in his head, then asked, chuckling, "Is bakudo number one even able to blow up?"

"Apparently, since it's what knocked Kohaku out. But what's more upsetting is that Yagami isn't willing to part with any information about his past. He lied about where he came from. He lied about his sensei. He is obviously hiding something, and I want to know what."

Shirogane scratched his head. "That's troublesome."

The two men discussed what Yagami could possibly be hiding from them, then parted for the night after agreeing to keep a close watch on Yagami. Elsewhere, a certain freshman woke from his rest with a start and a loud sneeze.