The Training Continue!The Amazing Power of Takeshi¡

Chapter 3

EXPLORING THE CHALLENGE

After having formally introduced Takeshi to the class, the teacher led them towards the main training field where the examination would be taking place.

"All right, since we have a new student here, but also because some of you might have forgotten about it, I'll be explaining the details about this test again. The goal is to perform 2 different hohō techniques, you may choose which you use. Both the level of the technique and the level of skill that is used to perform it will have an influence on your score. Now, first up, Tanaka and Midorikawa."

Hearing their names being called out, two people stepped from the crowd. The first one a small girl, waist long hair tied into two ponytails, with a child-like round face, looked as if the examination was just a game to her. The second one, a guy with a surprisingly delicate build, but most notably his glasses and the already retreating hairline, giving him the look of some sort of professor, had a different expression on his face though. It was as if he were faced with a life or death battle.

"You shouldn't underestimate either of them Takeshi", he heard Akane whisper.

"The little one is Tanaka Miharu, she looks harmless, but don't let that fool you, she's downright scary once she starts fighting. The other one's Midorikawa Ryouji, he's not much when it comes to close combat fighting or speed, but he can beat anyone present here hands down in a pure kidō fight, I've even heard rumours of him performing level sixties and seventies spells, he's a veritable monster with spells.

Takeshi listened closely to Akane's explanation as he looked at his classmates. The little girl, her two ponytails dancing as she ran towards the teacher, didn't seem to have any problem with shunpō or any other hohō ability, for she happily flashed from one platform in the air to the other. The other guy seemed to have quite a bit more trouble though, calmly using some platforms as some sort of stairs, finally just levitating his body for a few centimetres from one of the platforms.

"That's enough for you two", the teacher suddenly said. Tanaka, excellent work. Midorikawa, can't you ever hurry up, you've made the grade but next time, please perform them a bit faster. Right, next."

As the teacher continued to call names from his list, Takeshi listened intently to Akane's description of each classmate, trying to memorize their names as they passed in front of him.

"Next, Shimizu".

"Well, it's my turn now, wish me luck Takeshi-kun", Akane said as she darted off to take the test.

Takeshi watched intently as he saw her leap towards invisible platforms with ease.

"So far so good", he said as he watched.

As she prepared herself to perform shunpō, he unconsciously held his breath, hoping that this time she would be able to maintain her balance.

She began. Gathering her reiatsu at her feet, she took one last look to where Takeshi stood.

"I can't lose face here, not in front of him", she screamed out inside her mind.

As she felt herself being flung forward, the environment changing into a blur. Choosing the spot to land, she braced herself for the sudden deceleration. Her knees bent when she hit the ground. As she felt herself lose her balance, she whipped around, placing her hand onto the ground. Leaning forward to compensate for the momentum, she skidded for a couple of meters, stopping in the cloud of dust she had gathered on the way. She stood up, looking how far she had gone and found, much to her amazement that she had gone well over fifty meters, without falling.

"Shimizu, excellent work, though the landing could use a little touch here and there", the teacher smiled, lightly patting his clothes to get the dust out.

"So, what did you think Takeshi-kun?", Akane asked as she returned to his side. She didn't get an answer though, for Takeshi had his name called off right after she had returned. He just smiled at her as he ran off towards the teacher. The smile however had told Akane everything she'd wanted. She sighed happily as she watched him run off.

"I wonder how he'll do", she thought.

"Hey mister miracle, show us what you can do", he heard the one Akane had described as Akimoto Momiji shout, "Come on, we were told you'd be catching up to us in a matter of days right? So come on, show it to us".

"Shut up Momiji, leave him alone", Akane bit back at him, obviously annoyed by the comments made by the troublemaker. Takeshi hadn't liked him the minute he had seen him walk up to the teacher to take the examination. Looked like his prediction about him being a jerk were proven to be true, a lot sooner than he had anticipated.

"Sawada, please perform any hohō technique to the best of your abilities".

"Yes sir", he shouted as he leapt into the air as high as he could. Leaving the rest of his class and the teacher well below him. Focussing, he quickly created a platform for him to stand on. As he looked down, he noticed that he was about a fifty meters above the ground.

"Right, now for my shunpō", he said in his mind as he gathered his reiatsu at his feet.

Already having chosen what he'd do for his proving Akane's trust in him to be well-founded, he leapt.

Akane saw the jaws of several of her fellow students fall open as they watched him leap high into the air. Landing safely on a platform. Simply performing this act was remarkable, but what he did afterwards truly stunned everyone present at the field. Vanishing from his platform, everyone lost track of him except for the teacher, whose eyes started shooting from one place to the other.

Several small clouds of dust were thrown up by what seemed to be a localised twister and several students' clothes fluttered as if something had suddenly passed by at great speed.

Takeshi landed a couple of meters away from the teacher, who was looking at him intently, as if trying to judge his power. The students however were looking as if someone had just blown up the academy in their faces.

"Nine shunpō steps in 3 seconds, at an amazing speed too, very well done", the teacher commented.

As Takeshi returned to where he had been standing, he saw everyone look at him as if they'd seen a monster appear right in front of them, in a sense they had.

"Nice job Takeshi-kun", Akane told him when he approached her, "you sure showed them".

"You've obviously recovered from your fear of me", he told her, wondering what her reaction to the comment would be.

"Those taunts when you entered the classroom woke me up, I was just being jealous of you, but I realised that you have an enormous potential and that something petty like you beating me in ability shouldn't have an effect on our friendship".

Surprised by this honest reply, he could do nothing but smile at her, appreciating the fact that she was his first and best friend he had here. He had definitely made quite a bit of enAkanees already, so he'd need every friend he could get. Glancing at Momiji, he knew that he'd be the main pain in the butt.

"Very well, that concludes the hohō examination of today, while I've seen quite decent techniques, some of you definitely have to put in some more effort into it if you're to pass the final exam at the end of the year", the teacher concluded.

"So, Takeshi-kun, what do you want to do now?", Akane asked him, "we've got some time before the next class starts"

"Well, shouldn't we be practising the subject for that class then?"

"Nah, it's just sparring with boken, nothing else, you'll do just fine".

"You sure? I mean, I've never tried practising with a sword in my entire life."

"Don't worry, I know you can do it, you've got the talent", she told him as she gave him a gentle punch to the stomach, "now come on, let's grab something to eat, I'm starving."

As Momiji saw the two of them walk in the direction of the cafeteria, he growled. He'd been outdone again, this time not only by the Shimizu heir but also by the little Tanaka brat and to top it off, the damn newcomer had put even those two to shame.

"Damn them for acting all high and mighty like that," he swore quietly, but suddenly he remembered the next class, his face distorting into a wicked sneer.

"I'll get you during the next class", he told himself.

"So you're the new guy that everyone's been talking about", Takeshi heard someone say behind him. He turned around to find Tanaka and Midorikawa standing behind him.

"Ah, Tanaka-san and Midorikawa-san, wasn't it?", he remembered their names from the examination.

"Please, you can call me Miharu-chan, no need for the formalities", the small girl smiled, Midorikawa simply nodded.

"So, Akane-chan, are you going to introduce us to him yet? Quit hogging him all to yourself.", Miharu teased Akane, who had obviously been embarrassed by the comment.

Noting that the was in a bit of trouble, Takeshi broke the silence by suggesting they go eat something to prepare for the next class. As they walked towards the cafeteria, Miharu continued to ask Akane questions about Takeshi, what his favourite food was, his height, his weight.

"Don't worry about it, she's always like that whenever she gets to meet someone", Ryouji said as Miharu launched another volley of questions at Akane.

"I see, thanks for the advice Midorikawa-san", Takeshi said, satisfied with both the fact that Midorikawa had finally said something and that Miharu's behaviour was normal, for her at least.

They arrived in the cafeteria, all of them choosing something to eat, both Takeshi and Akane taking medium sized portions, Midorikawa taking an extra small one and, much to Takeshi's surprise, Miharu took an extra large plate.

The sheer quantity of food didn't cause her to ease up on the question offensive though. She kept on launching one after the other even as she wolfed down the food with amazing speed.

"You going to eat that?, "Miharu suddenly asked him. In his amazement, he hadn't even touched his own food.

"Yes I am", he replied just in time, Miharu's chopsticks hovering mere millimetres from his plate.

"Awwwww, bummer", she pouted, looking longingly to the untouched food on Takeshi's plate.

To prevent her from making any attempt to steal his food, Takeshi proceeded to eat his food, reaching a speed close to that of Miharu. All the while avoiding the look in her face, he didn't want to be swayed by some sort of innocent puppy-eyes look.

Having finished their meals, they went off to the next class. Arriving at the training room, they could see students of one of the junior years spar.

"They're not too bad", Miharu commented, "but I'm better".

"Of course you are Miharu-chan", Akane replied, "you're a senior, of course you're better than them."

Takeshi used only about 10 percent of his attention to listen to the girls chatter, most of it was devoted to watching the two students fight, the rest of their class sitting at one of the walls. They obviously were novices. He could see gaps in their stances everywhere he looked. Their stiff movements seemed to take an eternity to him. He noticed he was projecting himself mentally into the fight, challenging them both at the same time, predicting their movements, reacting to them. In his mind, it took mere seconds to deal a potentially mortal blow to both of them. Hearing a muffled blow, he snapped out of his trance, one of the students now lying on the floor, his hands on his shoulder.

"That's it for today", their teacher announced, "Kazuma, get your shoulder checked out at the medical post and next time, don't drop your defence".

As Nakajima approached the sparring room, he saw four of his students watch the junior class fight, the new guy one of them.

"Looks like he's made himself some friends already", he thought, hoping that he'd also have some enAkanees already. That would make sure they didn't hold back during the sparring. He didn't like to do it to his students, but it was a necessary evil. If they were to survive in the harsh environment where a shinigami's duties took him, he'd need every bit of training he could get, and fights that came as close to reality as possible were absolutely necessary for this. That and fact that he wanted to see the boy's potential up close.

"Get into the training room people", he shouted as he watched more of his students arrive. Noting the intense glare Momiji shot towards Takeshi, he assumed that Momiji had been greatly aggravated by Takeshi's talent. Instantly, he had decided on one of the match-ups. It would be a fight worth watching, even if it were one between students using boken.

Watching the students each take a boken and sit against the wall, he shouted the names for the first pairing.

"First up, Akimoto and Sawada, you two, get here and start fighting, first to get a solid hit on the opponent's body wins, use of any hohō or kidō technique is forbidden.", he announced as he moved himself to the side. Even if it were boken, he didn't want to get hit by one.

"Right off the bat eh", Momiji grinned. This couldn't get any better, being faced with the so-called prodigy at his first fight.

"Begin", Nakajima announced. He had barely finished speaking or Momiji rushed at Takeshi, holding his sword with one hand, preparing it for a sideways swing. Takeshi looked at him, surprise covering his face. He hadn't thought his opponent would be this quick even without shunpō. He ducked out of the way, the wooden sword creating a whistling sound as it passed centimetres over his head. Takeshi rolled to his side as his opponent twisted his sword, driving it straight down onto the place where he'd been crouched.

Getting back on his feet, he counterattacked, thrusting his sword directly at Momiji's liver.

Watching Takeshi's movements, Momiji had to admit that he was good, really good, but not good enough. He parried the thrust, danced away and struck back, engaging Takeshi's sword at the tip. Using his monstrous strength to it's fullest, he pressed on, the blade sliding down to the guard. Takeshi however, pulled back his sword, jumping back to use the wall as a support to launch himself over his opponent, slashing at Momiji's neck, missing the target by mere millimetres. He had realised that Momiji was superior in terms of strength, but there was not a snowball's chance in hell that he was faster. Using his speed, he advanced on Momiji and launched attack after attack, all the while dancing out of the way of any counterattack. Momiji on the other hand was growing increasingly frustrated by the fact that even though he had superior strength, he couldn't land even a single blow. All he could do was parry the incoming attacks and even that was steadily growing more difficult, not because he was getting tired, but because it seemed as if Takeshi was getting faster with each strike.

"How damn fast is that guy", he cursed as he dodged another attack by mere millimetres.

Noting the frustration on his opponent's face, Takeshi pressed his attack. But this time, instead of coming straight at his opponent, he jumped back. Gauging the range, he leapt into the air as hard as he could. Reaching the ceiling, he twisted around in midair and, using the extra leap off the ceiling for extra speed, rocketed towards Momiji.

The ensuing crack resounded in the room. Dazed, Momiji stared at the remainder of his sword, nothing more than a broken stump. Takeshi was crouched on the floor, holding an equally devastated boken. The tip of it covered in cloth. As Takeshi looked up, he saw what had happened. There was a huge gash in the clothes of his opponent, caused by the ragged tip of his broken sword.

"Well, this is a first", Nakajima said, breaking the silence that had followed the last attack.

"I'll consider this to be a draw, since neither combatant has received an injury and both have lost their weapons."

Cursing, Momiji threw his broken sword to the side and went to sit against the wall. Angered by the fact that he'd been unable to defeat his opponent, more so, it was Takeshi that had launched the last attack, the one that had broken his sword. Had it been a real fight, he'd have lost to that damn new guy.

As Takeshi went to the wall, he saw both Akane and Miharu hold up both their thumbs.

"Hey Takeshi-kun, want to fight one of these days?", Miharu asked him, looking as excited as if she'd just been given a huge plate of her favourite food.

"Thanks but no thanks, I'd rather not fight a friend of mine, even if it's training", he declined, Akane's warning still fresh in his mind.

"Awwwwww", Miharu pouted, but she lit up the moment she heard Nakajima-sensei call out her name.

As she started walking to face her opponent, a guy that was obviously shaking in his boots, Takeshi started a conversation with Akane concerning his fight with Momiji, one that continued during the whole class, only to pause when she was called out herself. The end result of the training session was one draw, two wins and one loss for their group.

With both Akane and Miharu winning their fights with relative ease and Midorikawa, as predicted by both Akane and Miharu, losing miserably.

The following kidō training was different though. While training a simple kidō spell, hadō no 4, Byakurai, both Akane and Takeshi scoring very good marks, Akane had been teaching Takeshi a bit about them beforehand, both destroying their targets, while Miharu didn't even manage to produce even the slightest spark, causing her to walk back to her place sulking after having been reprehended by the teacher. Midorikawa on the other hand was obviously frustrated about his melee skills, or lack thereof, and started his preparations.

"Bone of a straggling beast, spire, crimson crystal, disc of steel, when the wind shifts, and the emptiness ceases, let the clash of lances resonate through the relinquished castle", he chanted.

The teacher responded immediately by casting a defensive barrier between Midorikawa and the rest of the students to prevent any debris from hitting bystanders, most of them diving either behind some pillars or fellow students as Midorikawa fired the spell.

"Hadō no 63, Raikōhō", Midorikawa shouted, as he was enveloped by a bright yellow light, followed by a massive yellow lightning strike shooting out of his hand, racing across the training area and hitting the target dead on, causing a massive explosion, blinding everyone.

The shockwave that followed annihilated every single window within a 100-meter radius and threw up massive amounts of dust that left most of the students coughing as they struggled to prevent the fine dust from entering their respiratory system.

As the smoke and dust cleared, it became clear what kind of devastation Midorikawa had caused. All of the targets had been blasted away, smoking stumps in the ground the only testament to their former presence, the wall behind the devastated targets had also been wrecked, the smouldering ruins causing the entire training area to look as if a rampaging giant had just passed through.

"Well, Midorikawa, as always, perfect marks", the teacher coughed, "but next time, please try to stick to the designated spell please".

Midorikawa only nodded as he turned and walked back to his place between the other students, who were now looking at him as if he were some sort of kidō god.

"Well, I guess that confirms the rumours", Takeshi said to Akane, as he proceeded to shake the dust out of his hair, Akane doing the same.

"I told you he could beat anyone here in a kidō fight hands down", she replied.

"Yeah, but I didn't think he'd be capable of causing this much havoc with a single spell", Takeshi breathed as he looked around.

"RAkanend me never to piss him off would you Akane-chan?".

"Likewise"

As the rest of the students went either to their quarters or the cafeteria, both Takeshi and Akane ran off to train some more on one of the fields. Miharu dragging Midorikawa to the cafeteria to get something to eat.

"So how was his performance?", the headmaster asked Nakajima-sensei.

"It was more than I had expected, he was able to fight equally with Akimoto during the spar and I received reports from my fellow teachers that he scored exceptionally good marks on both hohō and kidō. I can say with certainty that he will be able to join the Gotei 13 is he keeps this up. I might even end up recommending him myself".

"There will be no need for you to recommend him Nakajima-sensei", the headmaster said.

"Yoshikune Taichō has seen fit to request him to take the place of 3rd seat in the ninth Division the moment he leaves the Academy."

"You mean Yoshikune Taichō has actually requested that?", Nakajima asked the headmaster, his tone indicating his shock. It was almost unheard of anyone being requested to join a squad by the captain himself while he was still in the academy.

"Well, I think I can believe why, after having seen him in action. His current abilities are extraordinary, but his potential is virtually unlimited. It's downright scary if you think about how strong he can become".

"Indeed, and it's our job to train him to the best of our abilities", the headmaster added.

"But what about the excursion to the real world? Shall we allow him to participate in it?"

"I believe so, if he shows this type of progress after only two days, then he should have outclasses practically everyone here within a few weeks. Don't worry Nakajima-sensei, he'll do fine."

"If you say so sir", Nakajima said, as he bowed to the headmaster before exiting the room.

Takeshi entered his room, his fatigued body barely capable of supporting him. It was dark outside. He and Akane had been practising ever since the kidō lesson, only pausing for half an hour to go and eat something in the cafeteria. He sighed, it was fun to learn all the techniques and to use them, but being this fatigued was something he didn't really like that much. He showered and let himself crash onto his bed. As he laid there, staring at the ceiling, his mind wandered all over the place. What would be happening from now on, how would the days go by? He wondered if he'd be capable of sparring with Akane as he had done today. Suddenly he was rAkanended about the mentioning of her family name, it was spoken about as if she were nobility, in fact, she was, if he were to believe the comment made by Momiji, the heir to her family. All this worried him, what if she were to be reassigned, he didn't think there would be anyone as good a tutor as she had been.

"I'll ask her about it tomorrow", he thought as slowly, his eyelids closed and he drifted off in a peaceful sleep.

In the meantime, in another block of the dormitory, Akane was laying on her bed as well, pondering about the future. Wondering about her future as heir of the Shimizu clan, she started questioning herself. What if she wasn't powerful enough, what if she failed in her duties. What if she disappointed her parents, her loving parents that had supported her all this time, encouraging her to go on, to push her limits. She loved them, but now that Takeshi had appeared in her life, everything was suddenly shattered. All her hopes and dreams of becoming a top shinigami had vanished the moment he had demonstrated that first shunpō. Was she worthy of being a shinigami when he had outclassed her so easily, after only two days. Even in sparring she had barely been able to keep him from scoring a hit, while she had only managed one. Not to mention the fact that the more they fought, the harder it became for her to dodge his blows. In the end she had told him to stop, her excuse being that she was too tired to keep on fighting, the real reason was something different altogether. She had become scared of him again, scared of his growth, his speed, his power, his potential. It had taken every ounce of her willpower to keep herself from shaking at the sight of him.

She sighed, "What am I to do about all this? I guess I'll talk to him a bit tomorrow, perhaps getting to know him a bit better will calm me down. At least then I'll know that he's a person, not some kind of …", she broke off, cursing herself for almost having called him something she should never call him, even if it were in her mind.

"I can't think about him like that, I just can't", she told herself, slamming her hands into her temples as if she were punishing her sub consciousness. It wasn't until late that night that she too, drifted away in a peaceful slumber.

Chapter 4

Takeshi was awoken that morning by a loud banging on the door. Trying to shake off the last remainders of the fog that sleep had caused to float in his mind, he got up and walked to the door. He opened it, only to find Akane almost hammering on his chest instead of the door. Suddenly, she blushed, still a bit groggy it took him a while to realise why, he was standing in the opening wearing nothing more than is undies. Feeling a blush creep up to his face as well, he slammed the door shut and shot into his clothes. After having combed his hair and having double-checked that there wasn't anything that could possibly embarrass him any more, he opened the door again, Akane still waiting outside, an angry expression on her face.

"I was expecting you to be up at the same time as yesterday you know, not to mention you almost slammed the door in my face", she scowled.

"Sorry", he hastily apologised, "but I was tired after our practise of last night and I forgot to turn it on".

"Whatever, we've wasted enough time already, so come on, let's get going", she said as she grabbed his hand and proceeded to drag him through the corridors. She had decided to talk to him during the evening, not wanting to potentially ruin a perfect morning with some sort of hysteric rant.

Some people, awakened by all the noise, curiously stuck their heads onto the hallway, only to see the one prodigy dragged along by the other. One of them, Sakamoto Susumu, recognising his two classmates, only shook his head and retreated to the silence and calm of his bed, muttering about the fact that he'd been awoken by the two lovebirds as everyone called them nowadays.

After having finished their morning training regimen, Takeshi and Akane went to the cafeteria, encountering Miharu and Midorikawa on the way. Having enjoyed a meal that proved a little more challenging than Takeshi had thought, fending off the ever present threat of Miharu's chopsticks was something that took considerable skill, they went to the classroom.

"As you all know", Nakajima-sensei started, "there'll be an excursion to the real world in a few weeks where you'll be patrolling the streets and, if necessary, fighting hollows. But since this will be your first real assignment in the real world, the others being fights with dummy hollow, I want you all to be properly prepared. For this purpose, I've asked the Kidō corps to do me a favour. They've set up this Senkai gate for us. It's capable to transfer two persons at once to a separate dimension and hold them there until a specific condition is met or the persons have suffered serious injury. You will be going inside in groups of two, naturally. The person you're assigned to will also be your partner in the patrol that is going to take place in a few weeks, but since we're with an uneven number, I was forced to ask someone from another class to come with us on the excursion and naturally, he'll participate in this exercise as well. If he's here that is. Michishige Masaya?"

Quick steps outside the door indicated the hurried approach of someone.

"Yes, I'm here", the boy said as he slid open the door to the classroom, "I'm sorry I'm late".

"Get to your seat please, you know why you're here so I won't have to explain everything again", the teacher said in a strict tone, obviously not happy with the tardy arrival of the temporary member of his class.

"Yeesh, he's so not cute", Miharu pouted as she watched him pick a place amongst the rest of the class.

"You got that right", Akane commented.

Takeshi had to agree, he didn't look like a shinigami at all. His bulky body indicating that he had little muscle, but noticing the way he was out of breath, Takeshi decided that he didn't use the little he had all that often. His face didn't look any better though, his round face giving him somewhat of a nerdy look, and to top it off, there was short blonde hair decorating the top of his head.

"Well now", Nakajima-sensei continued, "I'm going to announce your group and the order in which you'll enter the room. Please take care not to do anything that might disrupt the entrance, these separate dimensions are quite difficult to set up. Inside the dimension you'll find a real low level hollow that has been captured. Your goal is to defeat it without suffering too much harm yourself. Taking the level of the hollow and your own level into account, you shouldn't have too many difficulties with it, but still, be careful".

"First group", the teacher called, "Tanaka and Midorikawa, get inside please".

"Yaaaay", Miharu cheered as she jumped from her seat, happy to be the first to enter the room. Midorikawa being, as usual, less enthusiastic about the fact.

"Those two are always together aren't they?", Takeshi asked.

"They're childhood friends, they've been together for as far as I can remember", Akane explained, 'there's not a change that you'll see one of them without the other being within twenty feet of the other. They also complement their abilities quite well. Miharu-chan is capable of rapid strikes, but since she's quite small, her strikes sometimes lack power, and that's where Ryouji-kun comes in. He's capable of performing devastating kidō strikes while Miharu-chan holds the enemy at bay".

"I see", Takeshi nodded as he watched them appear into what seemed to look like an entrance bathed in pure white light.

"Next group, Tatsukawa and Yamato, get ready".

The teacher continued to call the names of people that were assigned to the same group. Akimoto was assigned to a girl called Saruwatari, Takeshi and Akane were grouped because of her being his tutor and the new guy, Michishige, was partnered with Sakamoto.

The door opened, bathing the room in light. Miharu and Midorikawa both appearing unharmed, though Midorikawa's sleeve was smoking a bit.

"Kidō spell went a bit out of control", he clarified when he saw the questioning looks on his friend's faces," Level eighty spells really are hard to control".

"He got a bit mad because he couldn't land a hit with his sword on it", Miharu added, much to Midorikawa's chagrin.

Had both Takeshi's and Akane's jaw not been attached firmly to their head, they would've crashed clean through their desks when they heard the comment. Amazed, they immediately overwhelmed him with questions about when he learned how to do spells of that level and how he controlled them.

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they hardly noticed their fellow students enter and leave the separate dimension, some having suffered minor cuts. It wasn't until they heard a blood curling scream that they turned their heads to see what had been going on. A few minutes after Akimoto and Saruwatari had entered the dimension, they had appeared again, Saruwatari lying on the floor, bathed in blood that was flowing out of a gash in her back and Akimoto sitting on the floor in shock, his eyes wide open in horror as he stared at the grievously injured girl that had walked in besides him mere minutes beforehand, not noticing the growing pool of blood that slowly crept closer to his clothes, threatening to stain them with it's crimson color.

Having quite a bit of experience with unforeseen consequences of his type of lesson, Nakajima instantly reacted when he saw the girl's injuries, immediately contacting the detachment of the fourth division via hell butterfly and then starting to apply first aid with his own healing powers. By the time the medics arrived, he had stopped the bleeding and stabilised the girl.

"Take care, she's still in danger", he said as they carried her off.

"Akimoto", Nakajima said sternly, "after this class is over, you're going to come with me and tell me exactly what happened in there, understood?"

Still shocked by the events that had occurred in the previous minute or so, the boy nodded and slowly returned to his seat.

"Next group, Sawada and Shimizu, get in, it's your turn", the teacher said, turning his head away from the pool of blood, a silent witness to the departure of the injured girl.

Takeshi got up immediately, but noticed the hesitation in Akane, the sight of the girl having shaken her to her very core. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her on her feet and towards the gateway.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine, you're the best student of this class remember?", Takeshi encouraged her.

"For now yeah", she said under her breath, Takeshi not hearing what she had said. Nevertheless, she shook off her doubt, having seen what fear had obviously done to that girl, Akane decided that she wouldn't suffer the same fate.

She unconsciously gripped the hilt of her zanpakutō as they approached the senkai gate, the opening of it bathing the immediate surroundings in an eerie white light.

"let's go", she said as she entered the gate, Takeshi following her closely.

"Next group, get yourselves ready to enter the gate", Nakajima called, "Michishige and Sakamoto, get up front".

With an audible sigh, Sakamoto stood up. Michishige did the same, only he failed to notice that he'd placed his foot on his own shihakushō. The resulting crash sent a tremor through the classroom as he collided with the entrance to the training dimension, which closed immediately. Inside the gate, Takeshi and Akane were both too busy fighting the hollow to notice the ripple that went through the dimensional fabric.

"Ok, that concludes it, you're an idiot", Sakamoto said as his clumsy partner rose to his feet, only to be faced with an extremely agitated Nakajima.

"Michishige, you're coming with me after I've called the kidō corps to come and fix this", he said as he released a hell butterfly, "and you're coming with us Sakamoto, you'll need to train with your partner anyway".

Looking at the broken down gate, he sighed. It would take even the people of the kidō corps hours to get it back open, freeing those trapped inside.

"I thought this damn thing was to let us out when we defeated the hollow in here", Takeshi cursed as he slammed his hand onto the closed gateway.

"Apparently not", Akane said as she laid her hand on the senkai gate, "something must've happened in the classroom to have caused the gate to become unstable. I figure they'll call the kidō corps to restore it. We'll just have to wait until then".

"Bloody hell", he growled, smacking the door again, "so, what do we do now? Want to spar a bit?"

"I don't think that's a good idea, we may have defeated that hollow that was waiting for us, but you never know what else might show up here".

Takeshi sat down, an obvious look of frustration on his face.

"He's not the type to sit down and do nothing I guess", Akane thought as she sat down besides him. She had planned on talking to him after their evening training but since they'd be stuck in here for a while she might as well talk to him now. At least there was a spot of luck in all of this misfortune.

They sat there in silence for a while, just waiting for something to happen.

Akane turned her head, seeing that Takeshi had done the same, obviously he too had some things to discuss with her. It looked like they had thought the same thing.

"So where are you from?", she asked just as he was opening his mouth to say something.

He muttered, the fact that Akane had beaten him to the punch irritating him a bit, but he didn't see any reason why he shouldn't answer her question.

"I'm from Tokyo, used to live in the suburbs. Not much to do there though", he smiled, "but that's a thing of the past now, no more going back to life I guess".

She looked at him, his face darkening a bit. She guessed he wasn't going to see his parents anymore, or anyone else from the time he was alive. He had lost everything in a flash.

"And yeah, I've lost everyone I ever knew, but at least I got to meet you and the others", he smiled, the comment causing Akane to blush slightly.

"So, what else do you want to know about me?", he asked, a slight grin on his face.

Akane cursed, she'd been found out by him. But at least she'd be able to maintain some dignity, she could hold her own with words as well.

"Oh, I think just about everything there is to know about you", she said as casual as possible, but she couldn't keep a grin from forming on her face as well.

"I see", Takeshi's grin widening even more as he heard her retort.

They stared each other down, but eventually, they both couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into laughter.

"No, seriously, I really want to know more about you Takeshi-kun", Akane said as she wiped the tears out of her eyes.

"Yeah, I know, but don't worry, I'll tell you everything you want to know".

He began to tell her about the time he was still alive. How his parents were, what they looked like, their behaviour. He told her about his friends, the school, the people in it that he couldn't stand, the teachers. He described every little detail of his life for as far as he could remember it. Akane listened to his every word, absorbing it, trying to remember everything he said.

"So where are you from Akane? Also from around Tokyo?", he asked, causing her to snap out of her focus.

"No, I was born here in Soul Society. I've been here all my life", she said, "I've been there a few times on excursions with the academy, but that's nothing compared to the missions some shinigami have to embark on. They stay there for months at a time. Until now, I've only been there for about twenty minutes at a time".

Takeshi looked at her as she sighed. He hadn't thought of her being born here, he'd been wondering how that was even possible, when he remembered the people talking about her being the heir of some family.

As he thought about it, he remembered that he still had to ask her about that, and about her being his tutor and all, so he decided to ask it now, they still had plenty of time anyway.

"So what's the deal with being an heir and all that?", he asked.

She looked up, the look of surprise on her face quickly fading.

"That's right, since you're so new here, you don't know about it. In Soul Society, there are several greater and lesser noble houses, each highly respected by almost everyone in Soul Society, especially the shinigami. Nobles usually have higher reiatsu than average and such, most enlist as a shinigami, with the larger portion of the applicants occupying high ranks. The Shimizu clan was only recently admitted to the greater clans, because of outstanding achievements made by my father, who is at this time a taichō in the Gotei 13. As an only child, I'm the only heir at this time and a lot of people, including my father have high hopes for me. But lately, I've become unsure of whether I'm worthy of being the heir to the Shimizu clan".

Takeshi growled at himself, he'd noticed something had been wrong as they'd been training, but he'd been unable to pinpoint exactly what it had been. There'd been some delay in her strikes and techniques, some sort of hesitation and now he knew where it had come from. She was considered to be the best student of the senior year, everyone had high expectations of her. Then some guy comes out of nowhere and proves to be just as good as her in some aspects.

Akane kept silent, her knees drawn up, her head between them. He knew he had to do something, and quickly too.

"I'm sorry Akane-chan", he whispered barely loud enough for her to hear.

"What for Takeshi-kun?", she raised her head, her eyes reflecting the light Akanetted by the inside of the dimension. He could see that she was on the verge of tears. Again he cursed at himself for hurting her like this.

"I'm sorry for causing you all this trouble, sorry for making you so unsure of yourself".

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"I noticed you were unsure of yourself during the sparring this morning and during the fight with that hollow as well and I think I'm the reason for that, I mean, everyone has such hopes for you and then suddenly, some guy comes out of nowhere and he has, or at least that's what other people said, some amazing abilities. I'd be quite pissed about it as well".

Akane smiled. She hadn't really expected him to apologise. She wiped away the tears that had been forming. "No more of this", she steeled herself, "I'm me and no one is going to change that. Acting like this is totally unlike me".

She raised her head, her stare fixed at the white sky present in the dimension.

"Don't worry Takeshi-kun, I'm not going to be afraid anymore. From now on I'm not going to hesitate anymore.

Takeshi smiled, "That's good to know Akane-chan".

"Don't call me that please, just call me Akane".

"Eh? Why would you want me to …", he asked, but he was cut off when Akane suddenly leaned forward and pressed her lips gently against his own.

His eyes opened wide in surprise, though that faded quickly. As the emotions he had kept inside his heart tore free, he felt himself reaching out for her, wrapping his arms around her, returning the kiss. A shiver coursed through his body as he felt the tip of her tongue wriggling it's way between his lips. A gesture he immediately returned. Time seemed to stop for them, as it does for most lovers, while they kissed. It drew their attention to one another, their perception of their surroundings fading completely.

"We've restored the gateway sir", a member of the kidō said to Nakajima. He'd returned to the classroom as soon as he had finished his business with those kids that had messed up the lessons. The Akimoto kid had been transferred so that he could be questioned about what had happened inside the gateway and Michishige and Sakamoto had been instructed to do a full series of exercises.

"Good, open it up so that we can let out the students that got trapped inside", he ordered the men of the kidō corps.

"Hey", he shouted into the opening doorway, "are you all right?"

The look on his face changing abruptly when he saw the scene inside the gate. The two of them were in each others arms, not noticing him and the kidō corps team that were standing in the entrance, some whose jaws were in danger of crashing into the ground, other simply smiling and two of them sighing, hands raised to their heads.

At the sight of them, Nakajima exploded. He couldn't tolerate anything out of conduct in the academy and this was something he hated the most.

"YOU TWO!", he bellowed. Hearing this, Takeshi and Akane broke their fascination for each other and looked at the teacher, a look of surprise and shame on their faces as they saw the entire kidō corps team standing right next to the teacher. They quickly broke apart as Nakajima came into the gateway, grabbed their collars and started dragging them towards the guidance office.

"Ah to be young again", one of the men of the kidō corps smiled, the rest of his team laughing together with him.

Both Takeshi and Akane didn't dare to say anything while Nakajima raged on about bad conduct at the academy, the potential risks of having a relationship with a fellow shinigami, not to mention one of the same class.

"You're both very lucky that you're allowed to have a relationship with fellow shinigami here at the academy, but even so, refrain from ever doing something like that in front of others again. If not, I'll take measures to prevent it from happening, ever again. Understood?"

"Yes sir", Akane and Takeshi replied at the same time.

"Good, then get out and consider yourselves lucky that you got off with just this. Just make sure you show some restraint in front of others you two".

As they walked out of the office, they let out a sigh and bolted through the hallway.

Watching them, Nakajima sighed, "To be young again, heh, I wish you luck my students, just don't do anything stupid". The students in question didn't hear this though, they were long gone from his sight. In fact, he wouldn't have wanted them to hear him say that kind of line.

"So, you want to spar a bit before the day is over?", Akane asked Takeshi as they ran through the corridors at top speed. Causing quite a bit of heads to turn in their direction. Ignoring them, Takeshi took the lead and ran towards one of their favourite training grounds as a response.

As they trained, he noticed that the hesitation in Akane's movements was gone completely. The only downside of this was that it was also a lot harder to block her attacks. This and the fact that he couldn't help but glance at her face caused him to be hit quite a bit of times.

"Looks like I got back into shape eh Takeshi", she grinned.

"You got that right, but I'll catch up to you Akane", he smiled as he rubbed a sore spot on his shoulder where she had managed to hit him. "It's getting late, we better get going. Rumours are going to spread anyway, wouldn't want to add to them", she explained.

"Good point", Takeshi nodded in agreement. He didn't want their relationship to be public knowledge either. He just hoped those kidō corps guys could keep their mouths shut for a while. The fact that they'd been locked into a separate dimension by themselves was bad enough.

As they entered the dorm, they took care in avoiding the more populated corridors. Because of this, they managed to arrive at his room with nothing more than a few curious glances in their direction.

"Well, this is where I'll leave you be Takeshi", Akane said, a slight undertone of disappointment in her voice.

"Same time tomorrow?", he asked her. Already knowing the answer.

"Of course you dummy", she joked, pressing her finger hard against his forehead. She looked around, making sure no one was in the hallway, and quickly kissed him lightly on his lips. "Good night Takeshi", she said before she darted off towards her own quarters.

Takeshi looked at her until she disappeared around a corner. Sighing, he closed the door to his quarters and threw himself onto his bed. Too tired to even think, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Their hopes for the kidō corps people being able to keep their mouths shut was in vain though. The next day the rumour had spread like a wildfire across the entire campus. This much to the annoyance of both Takeshi and Akane. They were glad about being friends with Miharu and Midorikawa though. Their annoyed expression because people were looking in their general direction preventing anyone from approaching the couple to ask about the rumour. Their reputations speaking for itself. Akane and Takeshi had both decided that their two friends should be told the truth, and thus they knew what was going on before the rumour had taken a hold. Their reactions were quite different though. With Midorikawa looking quite indifferent, in sharp contrast with Miharu who was so excited that she only ate half of the usual amount, she didn't even attempt to steal Takeshi's food that morning. The questioning that Takeshi had suspected didn't happen though, she seemed to be quite considerate about it.

"Don't worry Takeshi-kun, the rumour will die out within a few weeks, besides, we're here to keep anyone nosy away. She grinned as she poked Midorikawa, who nodded in agreement.

"Thanks Miharu-chan", Akane smiled, resulting in a thumbs-up from Miharu.

Over the next weeks both Akane and Takeshi didn't have a lot of time to be together though. The preparations for the ever closing excursion to the real world taking up a lot of time.

But finally, after weeks of preparation, it was time.