When Three Became One

Formation Of Bonds
It was a calm sunny day around the Shinigami Academy. Today marks the first day for the new class of students. There was not a discernable face among the crowd. The teacher of this new class was in for a treat today as he summoned the students who were socializing with each other, all eager to find out who their teammates are and start their assignments.

"Alright. Hey! Listen up all of you! Gather around here before you are left behind." The teacher's voice seemed to ring out through the courtyard as the student scuffled about trying to form their lines. "My name is Shirosuke Satonaka and I am the teacher for you first years. You all refer to me as Instuctor Satonaka. I will now call out all names who haven't already checked in with me."

Echoing groans could be heard all around the academy as the students wondered who was it that were holding up team assignments.

"Alright. Kanata Yamato?"

A blonde haired figure stepped foward "I apoligize. I was not aware of check-in. Kanata Yamato reporting in sir."

"I'll let it slide for now since I know how overwhelming today can be for you first years." Shiro continued on through the list "Who's next?....Va-of course..." The instructor rubbed his head in annoyance "Van Satonaka!?"

A figure with a slender body dropped down from a tree. "Hey bro! Why would I have to check in? You know who I am. Come on cut me some slack." Van laughed

"For one. It is INSTRUCTOR KUJO. And secondly you will NOT be given any special treatment due to our relation." Shiro looked at the other students who were whispering about what they just heard. His glare was enough to straigten them back out. "Sigh. Just join the ranks Van. Ok and lastly Akira Cagali? Are you here?"

There was a complete silence. Everyone looked around trying to figure out who could miss out on such an important day for those who were allowed entry into the academy. Meanwhile Kanata looked over at Van. "I have to be in his squad. He's an interesting fellow."

Shiro looked around and waited 10 mins before continuing on. "No Akira? Well let us procede. Now all of you step foward and choose one of the paper slips in this basket. These will determine your grouping arrangements. There are enough for everyone so please no pushing or shoving. Just form one line."

One by one the students walked up taking a slip of paper each with different symbols. Shiro called out to the students once more "There are multiple symbols out there but, there are only two others that have the same as you. Feel free to take this time now to meet your new comrades and get to know them."

The students dispersed running about trying to find their teammates. Kanata looked down at his symbol "Sheep. I wonder what that Van character got. Best to go find out."

Van however had the rain symbol. "Looks like I'll be making some new friends today" He said as he looked over the shoulders of others trying to see their symbols. "Wolf, dog, hawk, sword, cloud, another dog. Hey you have a partner over there buddy. Cat, river, scorpion, fan, hat, dragon. Oh? What do we have here? Another rain symbol?" Van tapped the smaller figure on the shoulder. "Hey. Looks like me and you are a team. I'm Van. You are?" The small girl turned around confused "Oh I'm sorry I was just holding my friend's symbol while he went to the bathroom. I'm a bird symbol." Suddenly a guy in his teens came running through the area

"Yanagi!? Where are you? I'm done in the bathroom. Sadly I wet my uniform."

The small girl motioned him over. "Hey Atsuya. Here you go. This is one of your partners Ram Rutoko."

Atsuya turned and smiled awkwardly "Nice to meet you Ram. My name is Atsuya Tatsumi. I hope we can get along. I think I saw someone else with our symbol over there."

Kanata overheard this and went to go investigate. He found the guy with the other rain symbol talking with his friends on the far side of the courtyard "Excuse me. Would you mind trading with me? I kinda like that one you have there. Reminds me of tranquility."

The tall man turned and chuckled "Why would I give you this? This is sort of like a competition between new students. So tell me why would I help my enemies?" He then placed one of his hands on Kanata's shoulder.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you"

"Oh really little man? And why not?" The tall guy increased the pressure of his grip.

Kanata smirked "Because...." He began raising his hand in a fist "Something bad might happen. Like this.......INSTUCTOR LOOK AT THIS GUY!"

Shirosuke looked over "Odion! Let go immediately! To the detention hall NOW!"

Odion released Kanata and groaned but then started to laugh "Oh well. you lucked out this time. I'll catch you again. Too bad I still have my rain symbol. Wait what the!? Sheep!?"

Kanata was already walking toward Van and Atsuya "Its called slight of hand my unintelligent friend." He joked waving as Odion was led away to the detention hall. He approached Van and Atsuya with a smile. "I suppose I am the third member here."

Van smirked "Really? Suppose? Two flaws there. There are three of us standing here so you would have to know already that one of us didn't have the rain symbol and the only way to know that would be to have been watching us. Secondly I saw your little show with the guy who was supposed to be in our squad. I don't like the method but, he doesn't seem like a good match for us anyway."

"What a wise deduction. You busted me red-handed. Well it's not like any harm came of it, I jus-" Kanata was cut off but a sudden feeling of sickness.

"Yanagi!" Atsuya caught his friend as she fainted and he began to feel faint as well. "Ram! What's going on!?"

Van looked around and spotted a red haired figure walking in to the courtyard causing similar effects on everyone around. "Its HIM!" Van gained an angered look on his face "That bastard."

"Ram? Who is that?" Atsuya asked barely able to stand.

The red haired figure walked up to Instructor Satonaka "Akira Cagali reporting in. I apologize for my lateness to this special first year ceremony. I had to practice a technique I created."

"Ah sooo. ...His name is Akira. And speaking of which its Van not Ram." Van spoke not removing his gaze from Akira as he approached Shiro. "Hmmm I wonder. Let's see how skilled he is." Van charged at Akira with his sword drawn in an attempt to kill him. Akira appeared behind him when his blade drawn

"That wasn't too nice to attack someone without introducing yourself." Akira smirked.

"Van! Stop this nonsense! NOW!" Shiro announced. "Go back to your team immediately. If you choose to continue I will be force to fight you myself. I know you are all eager to battle since all the first years here have learned their shikai already but, the time will come for all of that. Until then stand down."

Van laughed as he started walking back over to Kanata and Atsuya "Yea we can continue this some other time I suppose."

Shiro glared at Van. "Anyway. EVERYONE GATHER YOUR COMRADES AND DISPERSE. The initial attendance and squad grouping part is now over. I will call you back later for the first mission. Dismissed." The students all then started to leave the courtyard and do a bit of exploring around the grounds to find everything. Shiro too began walking away before hearing Akira.

"Wait! Instructor Satonaka! I don't have a team!" Akira pointed out

Shiro shrugged "Maybe if you would've been here on time then that wouldn't have happen."

Akira gritted his teeth "But..."

"Well. There are two others without partners yet but, that's because no one has been able to stand being around them for longer than 5 minutes." Shiro started to grin wide

Akira jumped up in excitement. "You know sensei. I know how that must feel due to my spiritual energy causing pain to a majority of those around me."

"Don't be so hasty. It isn't exactly the same. They are....special cases. You'll see for yourself just follow me for now." Shiro led Akira down into a dungeon like place beneath the academy. As he opened the door a wave of evil intent came surging out knocking Akira back a bit.

"What was that!?" Akira had a suprised yet hopeful look on his face

"That was the aura of your new teammates. Let's go meet them shall we." Shiro began walking down the hallway with Akira following. "Akira. Remember when I told you these were special cases?"

"Yes sensei."

Shiro stopped and looked at Akira "OK well what I'm about to tell you cannot leave this conversation. Got it?"

"Of course sensei. Its not like I have many people to talk to in the first place." Akira laughed

"Heh. I suppose you got me there. Well then..these two you are about to meet along with everyone else down here have a bit of demon blood flowing in their veins. This causes problems between them and most people but, I think you should be able to handle it no problem." Shiro stopped in front of a cell near the far corner. "This is the first one. Are you ready Akira.?"

Akira nodded as he gulped in anticipation.

"Atarashi? Atarashi Kaishi are you in there?" Suddenly a small figure moved into the light before sitting back down

"Yes? What do you need again?" Atarashi spoke releasing his demon blood allowing his hair and eyes to turn back to normal and tatoos to disappear from sight.

"You're being brought out of here again. This is your new partner. Try to get along with this one. I know my other candidate will but, you have the tendency to kill those you don't like anymore." Shiro was glaring at Atarashi as he removed the shackles.

Atarashi stood and extended his hand to Akira "Don't worry. I won't do anything so horrible to this one. I like him. I could feel his spiritual energy as soon as he entered."Nice to meet you. I hope our team becomes the strongest."

Akira smiled "Likewise. Let's just hope that nothing goes awry when we train. I would hate to have to find new partners. You seem to be able to be in my presence without any sign of pain. I have to say that's a first."

Shiro tapped Akira on the shoulder. "I brought you down here for a reason. That unfortunate talent of yours is just as much of a burden as the people that live their lives down here. Now let's move on to the next one shall we?" Shiro started walking further down the hall. "Let's go you two. We don't have all day." Akira and Atarashi laughed as they started running after Shiro.

After what seemed like walking for an hour in the dark they finally stopped at a another cell. "Here we are guys. Allow me to introduce you to the last member of your team. His name is Luka Kagamine." Luka heard the voices and walked toward the cell door

"Am I being freed again? Are these two my new partners? I like it. I feel a good strength coming from each of them. I can't wait until we're able to get to know each other more." Luka laughed smiling at his new comrades.

Shiro released Luka from his cell and began to speak to the trio. "Allow me to be the frst to congratulate you three on becoming the first official team of the first years. I can't wait to see what Team Kagamine can do. Go get some rest in your room. I'll be calling everyone back later on."

Akira looked confused "Team Kagamine? How come I'm not team leader!?"

Luka laughed as he grabbed his new friend on the shoulder "You didn't think I would join without a reason did you? Let's not worry about things like that. We're a team now. It doesn't matter who's in charge. Now let's go grab some grub before we rest."

Start Of A New Day: Let's Begin At The Academy
It was a new day after the team assignments and all of the new shinigami recruits were gathering in the courtyard to receive their first mission. There was a chilled feeling in the air as the wind blew through the area during the early morning. Yanagi and Medaka were in their room waking up and in a hurry to leave for the day.

Yanagi laughed "Its time to go meet the guys."

Medaka was confused on to who she was talking about but went with her friend anayway. Team Kagamine however, were still in their room preparing for the day.

"Whew! That was nice sleep. Whoa! Hey guys let's go already! I want to see what the instructor has in store for us today. Wake up already! I want to go do something!" Akira sounded bored in his bed waiting for his teammates to awaken "If I miss out on the mission I will be higly upset 'leader'."

Meanwhile outside in the courtyard of the academy Instructor Satonaka was making his way around the area getting to know his students. "So are you guys liking the school so far?"

The two small shinigami hopped up from being scared since they couldn't feel his presence "Y-Y-yes sir! Its marvelous here!" The two chirped together.

"Calm down. I'm just talking to you. No need to be frightened." Shiro laughed as he tried to calm his students. "Speaking of which-you two can leave now by the way. Where is the last group?"

Back in the rooms Atarashi and Luka were just waking up.

"Is Luka up yet? If our new leader isn't up yet then there's no way that I'm going to be moving about. It's just the first mission, even if we miss it we still won't really be losing anything important." Atarashi spoke as he was still waking up from a good dream.

"Yea. Yea. I'm up already. Geez! You guys sure know how to make a guy which he was alone back in a prison cell. Then again I like the freedom of being a team leader. I can't wait to see the others who became team leaders." Luka laughed after he sat up in his bed.

"What are you talking about? I don't think anyone else knows their team leaders yet. I think the only reason we found out so soon was because Instructor Satonaka was already there." Atarashi said

Akira sat and thought for a moment. "Satonaka...Satonaka. Where else is that from? Oh! Van! That odd fellow who attacked me yesterday."

Luka looked over at Akira "You were attacked already? And by a relative of the instructor?"

Akira laughed "Well it was more of an attempted attack. I handled him when he came charging in."

"Well guys I really hate to break up this fun conversation but, don't you two think it is about time that we get going?" Atarashi interrupted

"That's true. Well I can get ready pretty quickly so I will hold down the fort outside while you two get dressed and meet me outside." Akira said as he put on his uniform

Luka sat there glaring at Akira "Did you forget that I was the leader? Why are you the one giving orders to us? I don't take orders to well which is part of the reason why me in other teams usually failed."

Akira stopped and looked at Luka "Is it really that important? I was trying to do everyone a favor. Well 'leader' what would you have us do? Since you're obviously the wisest of all of us that are here and seemingly knows everything."

"Well..I..whatever. Team Kagamine get ready!" Luka shrugged

Atarashi was laughing as he got dressed.

"So I guess I'm off. See you guys out there." Akira waved as he left the room. Later as he was outside waiting on the wall of the courtyard he spotted his two comrades coming from the shinigami rooms. "Hey! Over here. Everyone has gathered but nothing has started yet. You two don't look as ridiculous as I thought you would in your uniforms."

"I think that was supposed to be a compliment." Atarashi laughed "Well you don't look too bad yourself. I could've sworn that you would be wearing some kind of combination consisting of rags and such."

"That's all swell. Looks Like you were worried for nothing at all. Let's go join up with the rest of our class and see what today is all about." Luka managed to get out as he yawned

The three then walked over to the courtyard area where they were greeted by Instructor Satonaka.

"Good afternoon you three. Glad to see you could make it here without any difficulties. Go ahead and join the others so that the festivities can begin." Shiro joked.

As the three walked over and joined the big crowd of their fellow shinigami in the courtyard they were met by Van's group.

Van walked up putting a hand on Akira's shoulder "Hey its the bad aura guy and now he has two new friends. Nice to meet you two my name is Va-"

"I don't recall asking someone's name as weak as you." Luka laughed

"Why you little..brat!" Van started to draw his blade before Kanata approached him causing him to sheath it.

"Now now Van. Don't go picking random fights. Unless you want to invite me to it of course." Kanata started smiling wickedly

"So two on two is it? I'm up for a quick scuffle. And I do mean quick!" Akira grabbed the hilt of his blade

Suddenly a massive shadow approached from behind the two groups. "Hey Kanata! Remember me!? Its Odion! You got me in trouble before but now its payback time!" Odion jumped into the middle of the fight causing a massive brawl to ensue between multiple shinigami groups.

Atarashi, Atsuya, and Yanagi were standing off to the side watching as the fight took place. "Hello there. Its nice to meet you. My name is Atarashi Kaishi. And you are?" Atarashi asked sticking out his hands to both people

"My name is Atsuya Tatsumi and this is my friend Rena Boros." Atsuya and Rena shook Atarashi's hands. "Sad to see the supposed strong ones fighting like this. I take it you're with the red-haired guy and the guy with the piercings near his eyes?"

Atarashi sighed "Yea. Those are my partners Akira-the red haired fool, and Luka-the foul mouth pierced guy. Luka is the leader of us strangly enough."

Atsuya and Rena looked at him in confusion "Leader? For what?"

"Oh you don't know yet? I'm guessing this meeting is probably team leader assignments. Fun. I hope this fight ends soon though." Atarashi sighed

Yanagi chuckled "Doesn't look like things with them are going to quite down with them anytime soon. Well I'm going to go find my teammates. Good luck to both of you regarding that whole situation." Rena waved as she walked to her group

Atsuya stood up as he watched the brawl continue "Atarashi! Don't you think we should attempt to break this up before it gets too out of hand? I mean if they release who knows what could happen in this crowd. It could cause a chain reaction of conflict here." He started to rush the crowd before looking at Atarashi and stopping "Atarashi! Aren't you going to help me stop this from idiocracy?"

Atarashi turned and looked away "The instructor already has it under control."

Suddenly Instructor Satonaka appeared from the sky landing in the the center of the brawl separating all of the combatants with a single swing of his blade.

"Enough of this! All of you back away unless you care to take me on." Shirosuke sneered.

"Feh. I don't want to dirty my beautiful blade with your blood...yet. Just you wait. Even if you are my instructor, one of these days I'll make you pay for disturbing my fun!" Kanata growled as he resealed his cane.

Shirosuke smiled "Do whatever you please. As long as it doesn't harm any of the students under my charge I couldn't care less what you were planning....Kanata was it? Anyway. Now! All of you gather around I have a few announcements to make. They concern each team and your next mission so listen well."

The students began rushing to gather with their groups before forming ranks around Instructor Satonaka. They were all looking around at each other anxiously in an attempt to see if any of the others knew what the announcements were.

Instructor Satonaka began to speak "Attention! I gathered you all here today to inform you of your team leaders. So listen closely. The team name I state will be the name of the team captain. Listen to them for they will be who I expect reports on everything you doing from. Here we go. Team Sabi!"

Atsuya looked at Yanagi as she smiled with her friends.

"Team Odion!"

Kanata sighed "Really? That idiot? Oh well."

The instructor continued "Team Josephe, Team Waka, Team Chan, Team Arago, Team Onno, Team Zaka, Team Satonaka!"

Kanata, Van, and Atsuya all came to attention "WHAT!? Seriously?"

The student shinigami began whispering "I bet it's because it his brother." "Yea I wouldn't doubt it. Seems a bit unfair to me" "Maybe his teammates will leave him to die on a mission so they can become leader."

Shirosuke turned to look at them as he finished listing the teams "Is there a problem with this? You could always have a 'private' talk with me if needed. If not then I will get on to announcing the first real mission---COMBAT PRACTICE: TEAM WARS!"