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It was late morning when I received the summons to report for the exam at the squad seven training ground; Komamura had asked that his training area be used for the occasion. We walked there together and were the first to arrive. We sat there for an hour before the other candidates showed up. I recognized the two people whom I had talked to before the match with Shinta had begun. I waved them over. They smiled and walked over to me but they froze when they saw Captain Komamura. I blushed and hurried with introductions. "Hey guys, this is Captain Komamura. Captain Komamura, these guys are-"

"Kazumi Maiko," the girl introduced herself. "I'm pleased to meet you Captain Komamura," she said with a formal bow.

"My name is Mamoru Ryota," the boy introduced himself. "I'm pleased to make your acquaintance Captain Komamura," he said mimicking the Kazumi's bow.

"It's nice to meet both of you. I look forward to watching your tests," Komamura said gently; then sensing that the other two were feeling awkward, he turned to me. "I will go over there by the wall; if you need me, just yell," he said kindly.

I nodded. "Okay."

Komamura walked away to leave the three of us alone. When he was gone, both of my friends immediately relaxed.

"Okay, that was weird," Kazumi said. She shot me a questioning look. "What was that about?"

I was going to pretend I didn't know what she was talking about but then decided against it. "Captain Komamura is putting me up for a bit until the program ends." I explained.

"Oh," they both said. It looked like they wanted to ask questions, but then they decided against it.

"So you two made it into the program?" I asked.

"Yep, the Captains really used the arena fights to scout for more potential," Kazumi explained.

"And we made the cut," Mamoru finished.

"Well, it's nice to see you guys here," I said earnestly. "So do you have any idea what we are going to do for the program?" I asked.

"I think they are going to make this a tourney-style fighting layout, with the winners going to the next round and the losers being eliminated," Kazumi said.

"Well, I personally don't feel like wasting my time speculating about what will happen. We will learn when they decide to test us, and if they do make us fight each other, I'm dropping out the second I get paired up with Hiroshi," Mamoru said, only half-joking.

"I think everyone feels that way, especially after what happened to Shinta," Kazumi said, shuddering at the memory.

"Is everyone really afraid of me?" I asked incredulously and a little hurt.

"Yeah, they think you are some time bomb waiting to go off. We know better than that, but that doesn't mean we are in any hurry to fight you," Kazumi said, ending on a joke.

"Well, if you thought I was frightening then, wait until you see my new trick," I said, adding a mock-menacing tone to my voice.

"Well, well... it looks like the freak decided to show his face after all!" This came from an obnoxious guy who was always at Shinta's side. He made sure he had everyone's attention before continuing. "So did they finally let you out of the pound, mutt?"

"Glad to know I still have loyal fans like you to look after me," I said with a smile on my face and a dagger in my voice. "I could give you an autograph if you would like."

That shut the guy up. I turned back to my friends and smiled. "I'm cool with what they say now. I can deal with it no problem. I just needed a change in perspective."

"I heard they took you into custody and put a collar around your neck and chained you to a post," the guy said, after recovering his composure.

"How's Shinta doing?" I asked over my shoulder and almost instantly regretted it. I hadn't meant to sound like a dick, but I failed to think of all of the connotations that statement could hold.

The boy got angry, "He's been doing okay and recovering as well as he can, but you fucked him up and now they are saying that he probably won't be able to become a shinigami. You had to overreact and go ape-shit on him." He was seething now.

"You call me a mutt, and yet you are the one that acts like a rabid animal. I am sorry for what I did to Shinta, but it would probably be best if someone as messed up as he is did not become a shinigami."

"You are one fucked up piece of shit you know that right? You are a disgusting piece of garbage, and whoever did that to you is probably laughing at you right now."

My eyes flashed dangerously. "If I were you, I would think VERY carefully about what comes out of your mouth next. You can say what you want about me, but anyone else is off-limits." My hand was on my sword's hilt.

His face drained of all color as he saw the look in my eyes. His voice shook with false bravado, "Big whoop you wouldn't dare touch me with a captain right here." His hands were shaking, and he looked to be seconds away from pissing his pants.

I took a deep breath and exhaled. "You are nothing but a coward whose presence is a virus to all of humanity," I took my hand off of my Zanpakutõ and smiled, "and the thing about viruses is that no matter how persistent they may be, more often than not, the body always manages to get rid of them." I smiled at him, showing all of my teeth. He looked like he was about to be sick. I turned my back to him and turned my attention back to my friends.

"It's a bit too noisy over here. I'll be over there meditating. You two are more than welcome to join me," I said, giving them a gentler smile.

"Nah, we will wait here until the Captain-commander arrives. We will get you when he shows up if you want?" Kazumi said pleasantly.

"Yeah, that would be nice; thank you," I said.

I turned around and walked off. "I can't stand that guy," Kazumi whispered.

I stopped in my tracks and pretended to adjust my sandals, as I listened to their conversation.

"Yeah, he is too fuckin' creepy for my taste," Mamoru whispered back.

"Well, don't worry; Shinta said that as long as we pretended to be his friend, he would go easy on us, and we would be rewarded by his family," Kazumi whispered back.

"Can't wait," Mamoru said in reply.

I laughed at the naivety of the statement I had given earlier. Thank you, Komamura, for letting me know what people really think and say when they think I cannot hear them. A tear slipped down my cheek, as I laughed mirthlessly at the predicament.

"I know you're hurting. Would you like to talk about it?" Heiwa-Tekina Kagami asked.

"Yes, please," I said.

"I will be waiting," she said.

I reached a tree and sat down. I pulled out my Zanpakutõ and reached out to her.

I was back in the same field as yesterday. I found her standing in the middle of the pond again. I walked out to her. She hugged me.

"Are you okay?" Kagami asked.

"Yeah, it becomes easier after a while," I said solemnly, "but then again, it is probably my fault for letting people in whenever they offer me a compliment."

She smiled sadly, "It's not wrong to let people in; you just need to be a bit more careful."

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" Kagami asked

"For being here for me to talk to, and for being cheaper than a typical therapist," I responded.

"It's not like I'm going anywhere," she laughed.

"I'm sorry. Can I do anything to make you happy?" I asked, feeling bad at the prospect of Kagami's imprisonment.

"Nah, I'm here to help you and I am perfectly content with that," Kagami replied.

"Well then, I have some steam to work off. Care to train?" I asked.

"Sounds good to me; anything in particular you want to work on?" she asked.

"I would like to learn how to use shikai for myself; I don't want to rely on you entirely for fighting," I said.

"Okay, let's get started." Kagami said.

We faced each other for what felt like hours. When we finally drew the sparring match to a close, I was covered in sweat.

"Do you feel better now?" Kagami asked.

I was panting as I answered. "Y... yes, much better."

"Glad to hear it," she said.

I turned my head to the side and heard someone talking to me in the real world.

Kagami seemed to hear it too. "You should probably go now," she said smiling.

"Yeah I should. Once again, thank you for helping me. It means a lot," I said.

"Don't waste your time talking to me. Prove you learned something just now. I won't help unless you ask me to do so."

I nodded my thanks and closed my eyes.

I started when I noticed that Kazumi and Mamoru were both shaking me awake.

"Come on, Captain-commander Yamamoto and a couple of other captains and lieutenants are starting to show up," Mamoru said impatiently.

"Sorry, I'm getting up," I said; and then I remembered what they had said about me, "I'll try to keep the creep factor down for you Mamoru" I finished with a bit of venom in my voice, as I swallowed a small lump in my throat.

They both shot me questioning looks, and then it dawned on them.

"Shit, you heard that?" Mamoru asked.

"Yeah I did," I sighed, deflated. "I don't care anymore, but if you could leave me alone from now on, that would be appreciated."

"What makes you think we would do that? We were beginning to have fun," Kazumi said, all kindness gone from her voice, leaving her sounding like the snotty high school bitch every school is plagued with.

"Yeah, why should we?" Mamoru said, sounding like a clone of Shinta.

"I don't have the energy to waste on you and your bullshit right now, so find some other person to antagonize," I said, walking away from them.

I left them both looking after me and started to walk to the gathering of people who had clustered around Captain Yamamoto. When the last people arrived, he began explaining.

"You are the twenty people who have been chosen to participate in our program. You were all given the choice to attend, and you accepted. Everyone here will be allowed to graduate from the academy early if they can complete the program. There will be no winners or losers; it will be pass/fail. There will be three different categories to go through. You must pass at least two to even be considered to join the ranks of the shinigami. The categories are Kido, swordsmanship, and co-operative team work. Kido will be done on non-living targets; you will be asked to perform the highest level of kidõ you are capable of, then the highest one without incantation, and finally you will be asked to perform a specific kidõ at random. You will duel a partner in swordsmanship to see what level your skills are at. In strategizing, we will throw you into a situation, and you must find a way to neutralize it efficiently and with as little collateral damage as possible," the Captain-commander explained. "Any questions?"

One of the kids in the back raised her hand; it was Mamoru. "How will the partners be selected for the swordsmanship category?"

"You will be assigned to someone at random," Yamamoto said. "If there are no further questions, we will begin with kidõ."

We all cleared the area as targets were brought in. I watched as person after person took their turn. Most of them, Kazumi and Mamoru included, were only able to cast up to hadõ 33. I sighed when it was my turn, and I stepped up to the mark I was supposed to cast from.

"Now taking his turn at the kidõ portion of the exam is Hiroshi Osamu!" the announcer yelled. I was the last person, and I could tell that people were bored and wanted to start the next portion so I decided to make this quick.

"Please perform the highest kidõ you can without incantation," the Captain-Commander said.

I took my stance and crossed my left hand over my chest. "Hadõ 54, Haien!" I threw my arm out and a purple arc of flame hit the target, almost completely incinerating it.

The crowd around me gasped in shock at what had just happened. The captains all had varying looks of surprise, excepting Komamura who looked at me with concealed pride. The Captain-commander remained passive.

"Please perform the highest kidõ of your ability," he said.

Once again, I took up my stance, I placed my left hand over my right elbow to support it. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! On the wall of blue flame, inscribe a twin lotus. In the abyss of conflagration, wait at the far heavens. Hadõ 73, Sõren Sõkatsui!" Twin bursts of blue fire shot from my palm and split in two opposite directions, then met head on and turned the rest of the target to ash.

Once again the cluster of people was amazed.

"Thank you for lending me the power to pull that off," I said to Kagami.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you this, but my power is yours," she said wearily.

"I know, but it doesn't hurt to say thank you, does it?" I asked.

"You are an odd one, you know that right?" she said, laughing in my head.

"Well, you're stuck with me. One more and we should be done; you ready?" I said, putting all joking aside.

"Yep!" she said energetically.

Once again Captain-Commander Yamamoto remained impassive. "For your last spell, I want you to cast Bakudõ 58 and locate Captain Kenpachi," he finished with tossing me a bag of black powder.

I drew a circle on the ground with the appropriate quadrants labeled and started the incantation. "Heart of the south, eye of the north, finger of the west, foot of the east, arrive with the wind and depart with the rain, Bakudõ 58, Kakushitsuijaku!" I slammed my palms to the ground and focused on Kenpachi's reiatsu. I stood there for a minute until I found him. "Captain Kenpachi is on the outskirts of Rukongai and is exhibiting a higher reiatsu then normal; he is possibly sparring with somebody," I reported as I made sense of the readings.

"Thank you, that will be all," Captain-commander Yamamoto said dismissively. I bowed and took my place back in the crowd. "That concludes the kidõ portion of the exams. You will all have a twenty minute break to rest and prepare yourselves for your next challenge. Dismissed!"

I walked away from the crowd, but not quick enough to escape the whispers that followed. I heard people call me a monster and freak, but I was able to push it off without much thought. What caught my attention was the undertone of awe to their jeers.

I was near the wall I was going to sit at and eat lunch when the boy from earlier yelled, "Think fast dog boy!" I turned around just in time to have a rock smash into my face. The whole crowd roared with laughter.

I took a deep breath and calmed myself. They were just trying to provoke me so I would flip out again. I bent down and picked up the rock and examined it. When I was done, I flung it at the wall right next to the guy's head. Upon impact, the wall caved in, leaving a hole about the size of his torso. His face drained of all color, and I was gratified to see a dark spot slowly spread from his groin to his legs. I felt the strain and fatigue from excessive reiatsu usage. I needed food.

I turned around, strolled to my spot, and sat down; starting to munch on my apple. I was deep in thought when I saw a kid being harassed by a bunch of the older kids who were taking his lunch from him. He didn't even resist; he just sat there and let them do it, a defeated expression on his face. When the older kids finished with him, they left; throwing his food on the ground. This is looking kind of familiar. I packed up my remaining lunch and walked over to the kid who I thought was close to crying.

"You okay?" I asked as I got closer.

"You're too late; the others already destroyed my food," the kid said somberly.

Fighting the overwhelming nausea that accompanies déjà vu, I smiled at him. "Then it's a good thing I brought this with me," I said, indicating my lunch. I sat it down in front of him. "You can have it if you want. There's plenty."

"Those other guys will just come back and mess with me again," the boy said without looking up.

"Then I will stay here with you and keep those other guys away so you may eat in peace," I said kindly.

The boy finally looked up and asked, "You would do that for one of the people who laughed at you when you got hit?"

"Look at it this way: if you and I end up fighting each other, I don't want you to be starving," I said, making it look like a selfish reason.

He gave a sarcastic smile. "Since I am so obviously a threat to you, hungry or not."

"Well, we won't know what you've got if you're half starving now will we?" I said with a chuckle.

The kid lightened up. "I guess not." He started devouring the contents of my lunch and then seemed to notice I was not eating. "Aren't you going to eat?" he asked.

"I'm not hungry, plus I had a huge breakfast," I said.

"Okay, if you say so," He said shrugging and digging back into my provisions.

The group of people who attacked the kid a few minutes ago started walking over. "Keep your head down and don't say anything; I will deal with this," I told the kid as he noticed the people getting closer and closer.

"Hey shrimp, you gonna share that food with us?" A scrawny guy asked.

"It's not really his to share," I said, not bothering to look at the people.

"Shut up freak. No one was talking to you!" the scrawny weasel said.

"Well, you certainly are now." I said, smiling at him.

"Sounds like someone needs to learn a lesson about respect," weasel boy said.

"Shoot, it looks like I forgot my pen and paper," I said, intentionally being as big a smart-ass as possible. I got to my feet and patted the dust off of my lap.

"Don't worry; this is something you won't be able to write down." When he finished, two of his friends ran up and punched me in the gut.

The air rushed out of my lungs and I skidded a few feet back. There was definitely going to be a bruise there tomorrow. I got my breath back and the weasel smirked. "Apologize and I won't hurt you again."

"I'm good, but you have to the count of three before I lose my patience and gut you where you stand," I said, getting serious.

They all just smirked at me.

"One..."My hand went to my sword.

Some of their smiles faltered.

"Two..." I had my blade drawn and was aiming it at the closest of the group.

Some of the kids left and got away. Weasel boy just sat there with a smirk on his face.

A hand clamped down on my shoulder and I looked up to see Komamura looking at me. "There will be no need for that right now," he said. "You," he pointed toward the group, "leave now and leave these two alone." The other people in the group dispersed instantly, but the weasel boy just glared at me and smirked.

The boy looked up to Komamura and said, "Thank you for helping out."

Komamura looked down at him and said, "It was nothing. Now, finish eating because the break is almost over."

Komamura looked me in the eye. "A bit of strategic advice; don't show your hand until the last moment."

"I will take that to heart, sir," I said. I realized my blade was still drawn. I sheathed it and bowed respectfully to Komamura. I hope one day I won't have to pretend to not have anything between us.

Komamura must have sensed my thought; his gaze softened in understanding.

The boy was able to eat his fill without further antagonizing from anyone else.

"Why do you think they target me?" he asked solemnly, with his head on his knees.

"You are younger than the majority of the people here. That makes you different, and what is different is a potential threat that must be dealt with." I told him the realization that I had reached two years earlier, when I had first been put into the advanced courses.

"They are scared of me?" the boy asked.

A small smile placed itself onto my face, "Yeah, yeah they are."

"Sweet," The boy said, an impish grin covering the lower half of his face. In that moment he reminded me of my little brother. I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to hide the growing sentiment.

"The trick is to use it against them sparingly. If you use it too much, people won't be afraid anymore. You have to figure out what makes a person's skin crawl," I instructed him. "Don't use it as a weapon, use it as a shield. It will work a lot better like that."

We just sat there for a while after that, and then the little boy asked, "Why do they target you? You are a nice enough person who just keeps to himself."

At that moment, the Captain-commander returned, "All participants prepare for the second round!" he shouted.

"Tell you what, when we both finish here and become shinigami, I will tell you," I said, bargaining with the kid.

"You got a deal," he said happily.

Yeah, now I just have to make sure I will be able to complete at least one of the remaining two categories.