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Everyone in the arena turned toward me when I stepped out into view. I stopped and felt everyone's gaze on me; hundreds of eyes bored into me, and I started to sweat. Oh fuck what now?

Everyone stood up, and I flinched thinking I was about to pelted with another barrage of pebbles. A loud roar of applause erupted from the stands, even the students were clapping. I stood, there dumbstruck, as the sound reverberated through the ground and bounced off the walls. I looked at the other participants and captains, and they were all giving polite applause as well.

The kid from earlier came running toward me; he probably knew I was confused about the whole ordeal. When he finally reached me, he started dragging me to the center of the arena.

"What happened?" I asked, fearing I was still dreaming.

The boy just laughed as he brought me to the center. "You were the best fighter out of everyone! This is the people's way of showing admiration."

"What about them?" I asked, indicating the people who had stoned me earlier, and the people at the outside.

"Power is popularity, and you have no absence of power as you have just shown," He said, laughing, as he walked away.

I looked around and saw a few other people at the center with me.

"We are the top contestants," A girl said to me kindly, oddly enough she was one of the people who mocked me constantly. "You are number one," she finished.

"But I lost my fight," I said.

She laughed. "We all did, but you were the closest to winning. In fact, if you were fighting anyone else you probably would have won." She looked at me for a second with a weird look.

"What?" I asked, feeling self-conscious.

"Nothing, it's just that you're kinda cute." She said winking at me.

I blushed a bit, and then I remembered who she was. I gave her a steady gaze."You didn't seem to think so before."

She waved away my comment. "That was before, this is now."

Power is popularity; I guess you were right, kid. Still, it is nice not to be completely hated by the populace; even if this girl is barking up the wrong tree. I chuckled at my own little pun.

"What's funny?" the girl said, obviously flirting.

"Nothing, just a lame joke that popped into my mind," I said with a faint smile on my lips.

"If you say so," she said, shrugging me off.

We stood there for a bit longer and were showered with applause and praise from the crowd. When the crowd had finally calmed down, Captain-commander Yamamoto stood in front of us and addressed the audience. "These are the top contestants so far. These individuals have excelled at both challenges and are guaranteed a spot in the Gotei 13. They will be given the option to continue with the program, or they may stop now. The final challenge will begin immediately!"

I turned and saw the smug looks of those around me, and i heard them all talking about how they were going to stop here since they were already guaranteed a spot anyway.

"Hey you, kid with the freaky eyes!" one of the kids called over to me.

"My name is Hiroshi," I told him.

They all looked at me as if we were old friends who had been companions for years. The boy cleared his throat. "Pleased to meet you Hiroshi, my name is Chiba," He said, offering me his hand.

I took it. "It's nice to make your acquaintance," you spiteful bastard.

"Want to come with us to this awesome restaurant not far from here? We are all guaranteed a spot anyway; lets go have some fun to celebrate," he said, again pretending to be a life-long friend.

"No thanks, I don't believe in doing things halfway. I am going to stick around and finish this up," I said politely.

"Why bother?" the girl who was flirting with me asked. "With your power and abilities, you are guaranteed a seat position."

"Like I said before, I don't believe in doing things halfway; I intend to finish what I started," I said again.

Another girl rolled her eyes. "You are a serious buzz-kill, but I guess you can't help it being anti-social and all."

I narrowed my gaze at her, and the others sucked in a breath as they realized what she said. "I apologize for not running to the people who attacked me ON A DAILY BASIS! I am sorry for being a person who sees things through, because that was what kept me sane when i was avoiding said people. I mean, how dare I feel even slightly uncomfortable with the people who have harassed me endlessly for the past three years and are now just taking an interest in me because of my power."

They were all shocked speechless at that little outburst. I turned my back on them and addressed Captain Yamamoto. "I will be staying to complete the program," I yelled to him. He nodded his understanding and went about his business. "Now, if you will excuse me," I said to the group behind me.

As I walked away, I heard their murmured whispers. "That guy needs to lighten up," one of them said.

"I can't believe I actually thought he was cute."

"Did you see how he shot me down? Five bucks says the guy is gay?"

I ignored all of them and went on my way. I found the kid just sitting by himself and made a beeline toward him.

"Hey!" I shouted, making sure everyone knew I was talking to him. At the very least people won't mess with him.

He waved a bit and then noticed what I was doing. He gave me a slight nod of thanks.

I reached him in no time with people staring the entire way. "You didn't make the cut?" I asked quietly.

"Nope I choked on the fight. I was supposed to fight the captain of squad 10, but I freaked and he had me beat in three seconds flat," he said in embarrassment.

"That sucks. Well, at least it was better than the first match," I said, trying to crack a joke to lighten the mood.

He laughed a little bit. "I guess that's true."

I flopped down next to him. "You aren't missing much over there. It's just a bunch of pretentious assholes that need to have the shit beat out of them."

"Wow, you are really aggressive," he laughed.

"I know. I think I'm bipolar, I should get tested." I said, laughing with him.

"Well I, still have one more shot, and if I fail I can always just graduate on time," he said. We sat there a minute just enjoying each other's company. "Oh fuck," he said suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"We don't even know each other's names," he said.

I laughed, "Well, my name is Hiroshi, but I think you may have established that by now."

"Well, now it's official. Pleased to meet you Hiroshi; my name is Yamada," he said, shaking my hand.

I laughed again.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"Nothing, just a déjà vu moment," I explained, "although I hope it doesn't play out the same way."

"Of course you don't. Life would be boring if it happened like that," He laughed.

"It certainly would." I looked out at the remaining people; there were seventeen people left including myself. "It's an odd number," I said out loud.

"What do you mean?" Yamada asked.

"The remaining people, there are only seventeen people left total; that's an odd number," I explained.

"So?" Yamada persisted, still not knowing where this was going.

"So, there aren't enough people to keep an even number of people in the teams," I explained.

He looked around and counted for himself. "You're right, I wonder what they will do about that."

"It looks like we are about to find out," I said, pointing to Captain Yamamoto as he started to speak.

"The third and final round will begin now! All but one of our top ranks has chosen to omit the final stage. Hiroshi Osamu has decided to stay and complete the third round." The crowd of shinigami roared their approval. Yamamoto turned to the people who decided to leave early. "You are dismissed." They all nodded and then left the arena. "Since there are an uneven number of contestants left, we will have to work out with one group of three. The contestants will be allowed to choose their partners for this challenge. They will have ten minutes to form teams, and then the details will be given on what to do next." He turned toward us. "Your time starts now!"

The words were barely out of his mouth when a swarm of people came over to me asking to be my partner. They shoved an indignant Yamada out of the way.

The guy with the weasel face parted the crowd and walked to me. "I've decided to let you be my partner." He said this as if it were some big honor or something.

I rolled my eyes at him. "No thanks, I will have to decline that oh-so-generous offer."

I got up, dusted off my pants, and made my way to Yamada. "Hey Yamada! Will you be my partner?"

He just looked at me. "You sure you want a runt with ya?"

"Nope, but I don't see a runt here, do you?" I laughed.

"Whatever, it's your funeral," he sighed, and then smiled. "I would love to be your partner."

"If it does turn into one, I expect no less than a dozen roses," I joked as I offered him a hand up.

"You'll get eleven," he said, taking my outstretched hand.

"Cheapskate," I laughed.

The other people still pestered me, saying that there was supposed to be one group of three people. I held up my hand and pointed at Yamada. "Look at him, he's in charge. Ask him!"

He gave me a dirty look. "Thanks for throwing me under the bus." He whispered.

"Anytime," I whispered back.

He looked at the people, who glared back at him. He let out a sigh of relief as he saw three people in a corner. "Looks like we already have a group of three, sorry."

The others turned and saw the trio. They all exchanged defeated looks and dispersed into their own teams.

"So I'm in charge?" Yamada asked, smiling.

"Completely; I'll be the muscle," I retorted.

"I'm good with that," he mused.

After the ten minutes, we all grouped around Yamamoto who started giving instructions on what was supposed to be done. "You and your partner will be tested in cooperative capabilities. As a member of Gotei 13, you must be able to fight alongside your comrades without fail. Each team will be assigned to a captain and will be given tasks to complete. Your job is to complete the task at hand efficiently and quickly. No two teams will be assigned the same task, so you will not ride along on another team's success. I will be here, and your assigned captain will inform me if you pass or fail," he finished and waited a bit for it to sink in. "A captain will come to your group, and that will be who judges you. Those of you who think you can bribe a captain better think again. Any attempts at that will result in immediate termination from the program! Spread out and wait for your captain to arrive, and you will start on my mark."

We all dispersed and went our own ways. Yamada and I found a nice patch of shade to wait in. I watched as the crowd filling the stands started to leave and return to their own business. I looked at the other groups and noticed that captains were already starting to arrive. To my dismay, I saw Komamura paired with the weasel kid.

"Hey, it looks like the kid is heading our way," Yamada whispered.

I looked, and sure enough, a kid about our age with white hair and turquoise eyes was walking to us.

When he arrived, he looked us over. "My name is Tõshirõ Hitsugaya, and I am the captain of squad 10. You will address me as Captain Hitsugaya and nothing else. I am the captain in charge of overseeing your team in your task."

"Pleased to meet you; my name Is Yamada Masato, and this is my partner Hiroshi Osamu," Yamada said, introducing the both of us.

He gave Yamada a look and then turned his attention to me, "You were one of the people who were given the opportunity to omit. Why didn't you do it?"

"I don't believe in doing things halfway," I stated simply.

He nodded. "That is a good reason. On to business; you two will locate and capture my lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto. She was last seen at squad 9 headquarters with Lieutenant Shuhei Hisagi."

"Are you serious?" Yamada asked.

A small smile forced itself onto Hitsugaya's face. "Quite, catch her and bring her here within the next two hours. Please refrain from unnecessary destruction, but you may use force if needed. You may begin."

Yamada and I looked at each other before heading off to the barracks.

We ran and made it to squad 9 headquarters within 15 minutes. I asked around to see if anyone knew where Matsumoto was. We were told she was last seen at the lieutenant's office at the center of the compound. We ran around until we found it. We knocked on the door and were allowed to come in. We came into the room and saw a man and woman sitting across from each other. The woman was completely wasted and barely able to sit up.

"We were instructed to bring Lieutenant Matsumoto to Captain Hitsugaya as quickly as possible," Yamada explained.

The woman whose back was to us turned around in a flash and hugged Yamada to her chest. "NO!" she slurred, "I don't want to go!" She finished by crushing Yamada into her oversized breasts. When she let him go, he gasped and fell down to the ground with the world's biggest nose bleed.

I looked at him and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Shut the fuck up!" he yelled, getting to his feet. He wiped his face and then turned back to Matsumoto who was scratching at something inside of her cleavage. Yamada's nose started to bleed again, and he whirled on me. "You do this!"

I laughed at the amount of blood rushing to his face. "Okay." I settled down and walked over to her. "Lieutenant Matsumoto, Captain Hitsugaya has asked that we escort you to the squad seven arena so he may talk to you."

Matsumoto was clearly not paying attention. At that moment, she looked over at Yamada and realized he was staring at her chest. "PERVERT!" she screamed as she slapped him across the face. Yamada flew across the room and hit the wall with a solid thud. With a hmph, she sat down across from a bemused man with purple hair who must have been Lieutenant Hisagi.

I walked over to Yamada and helped him to his feet. "You okay?" I asked him as I got a good look at the handprint on the side of his face.

"How come you don't get hurt?" he asked, rubbing his mark.

"I don't get hurt because I don't get caught staring," I said.

"Shut up!" he said, his whole face turning darker than where he got slapped.

"Well, I may have a plan if you want to hear it?" I said, all joking aside.

"Whatever, let's just get it over with," Yamada said, his face returning to its original shade.

"All right, here's what we have to do. . ." I said, whispering the instructions to Yamada.

His face drained of all color as I told him what we were going to do. "You know the chances of us surviving that are slim to none, right?"

I smiled at him. "For you at least; but don't worry I got your back."

He let out a sigh and then spoke. "Let's get it over with."

********************************************************** one hour later

"Growl, Haineko!" Matsumoto screamed as we ran from her furious onslaught of attacks.

We were both out of breath by now, and my energy was almost depleted.

"She made another wall of ash!" Yamada said.

"Shakkahõ!" I yelled and blew apart the wall enough to run through. "We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't squeezed her boob!"

"I told you I tripped!" he cried desperately.

What had happened was that I told Yamada to steal the sake, and then Matsumoto would chase us down drunk, trying to get it back; but when he went to take it, he tripped over a stack of papers on the ground in front of him. He flung out his hands to grab onto something and ended up with both hands grasping firmly on Matsumoto's breasts. She was pissed and attacked instantly. She unsheathed her sword and started slashing at Yamada. I got in the way and we ran.

"Well, at least she is so focused on chasing us she doesn't seem to notice that we are heading the right way," Yamada said, trying to make a joke.

"This is taking too long; Shakkahõ!" I screamed, making a hole in the wall in front of us. We jumped through and ran at an even faster pace. We were still a mile away from our destination. This normally wouldn't be a problem, but when one is being chased by a drunk lady with a sword that turns to razor sharp ash, things get a little out of hand.

We ran past startled shinigami who were plowed down as Matsumoto ran after us. I looked back, and it looked like she was running out of steam.

"It looks like she is slowing down." I looked at my timer and see we only have forty minutes left. "We need her to hurry up."

"I know what to do," Yamada said, giving me an evil grin. He turned his head over his shoulder and screamed, "Hey lieutenant, my friend here says you're fat and old!"

She stood there processing what had just been said, and then her face and gaze went icy.

"You asshole!" I screamed, running as he stood there laughing.

"I'll see you there!" he called out as Matsumoto ran past with death in her gaze.

I turn and ran as the crazed psycho chased me down. Why am I running? I focused and then started using flash step to get ahead.

"THAT WON'T SAVE YOU!" Matsumoto yelled from behind me.

I was just outside the gates to the arena when I felt her tackle me from behind. We were both sent flying through the entrance and into the arena. I hit the ground with her on top of me. "NOW APOLOGIZE!" she screamed, forcing my face into the dirt.

"I didn't call you old! My friend is lying!" I screamed, gasping for air. "GET OFF OF ME!"

She looked at me and saw I was speaking the truth. She got up and dusted off her pants. "Why did you want me out here anyway?"

"They were instructed to bring you here by me," Hitsugaya explained from the stands. "What is wrong with you, Matsumoto? You look flushed."

"Don't ask," Yamada said, strolling in.

"Why shouldn't-" Hitsugaya began, but was interrupted as Rangiku punched Yamada square in the face.

Yamada stood up with effort and shot Matsumoto a look. "We brought her here with as little damage as humanly possible. Did we pass?"

Hitsugaya responded. "Be here tomorrow at eight o'clock."

Yamada and I exchanged looks of pure joy.

"Now then" Hitsugaya began, "did you finish the paperwork, Matsumoto?"