17 Trouble

"I am so tired~" With those words, Jin fell backward onto his bed and heaved a big sigh with his eyes closed.

"Same here. How is it that some of those other people still were able to handle that exhaustion.", commented an exhausted Fujimaru from the side. In the end, they really ended up in the same room.

Turning his head, Jin opened his eyes again and looked at Fujimaru. "Well, for starters we are still kids. Most of the others in our class are probably much older than us."

"Everybody but that girl, right?" Fujimaru grinned back at him.

"What are you grinning about? Yes, she is very likely not that much older than us. But you can clearly see she is already way better than us."

Fujimaru still waited for something else to be said and Jin only raised a brow to that.

"You really observed her. Even I noticed your somewhat intense stares at her while she performed. What makes you so interested in her?" Fujimaru grinned again. "Do you like her?"

Jin his brow twitched at that moment. "That is what you are on about? No, it isn't like that. I am just curious."

"Remember them saying she is a Kuchiki? That is one of the four great noble clans. I wonder what made her move to the academy. As far as I know, people from the four great noble clans don't really need to visit the Shinigami Academy. They have the knowledge and resources to train themselves."

"I am even sure if they used their authority then they could skip it entirely and get a seated position in the Gotei13 instantly. She does have the talent for it anyway."

Fujimaru just shrugged his shoulders. "Sorry that I am not such a bookworm like you and instantly react to names without hearing them first. But just to make sure. What makes them so different than our home? Arent Lady Konoka and Lord Seigen also nobles?"

"Hmm, you are right about that but just like Lady Konoka said, their authority is limited. So much so that they barely have enough to take us in and not get in trouble for it. Lord Seigen is also a Captain and has some power on his own. If they had as much power as those four houses, they could have trained us at home and it wouldn't have mattered if we are adopted or not."

Fujimaru became silent. "You really are thinking about some hard stuff. I would never bother about things like that. We are here and that is that. If you are so interested in her just talk to her. Is it that hard?"

Jin smiled at his words and did realize that it was the truth in a nutshell. Now that the girl was in the academy she was a lot more approachable for him. "Wow, you actually can say something smart.", he mumbled under his breath.

"What?", asked Fujimaru back because he couldn't quite hear it.

"Nothing."

"You are making fun of me again, aren't you?"

"Is that how you feel?", smirked Jin now.

"Pretty sure about it. You and Matsuri always behave like that if you insulted me."

"Are they even insults or just plain facts."

"...." Fujimaru was thinking about something. "By the way. Did you notice how Matsuri also was fixated on that girl?"

"She was? I didn't notice it that much. But there you can see that your sister is smarter than you."

"..." Fujimaru sighed and now mumbled as well. "Yeah, I may be stupid but you are oblivious."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"..."

"..."

-----------

The next day both of them returned to their curriculum. It was another day where they would do mostly physical training.

At the training, everything went mostly according to plan until something came up.

Jin had to spar with Banri most of the classes. And that was not really a problem. But the more this guy Banri had to train with Jin, the more he became disgruntled. Jin could clearly tell that while exchanging blows with him.

They were instructed to fight hard but remain fair. Meaning no spar should be over-excessive and aim to break bones or injure the opponent further than necessary like beating him on the ground while he can't protect himself.

But Banri didn't seem to care and still used ways to somehow injure Jin from time to time.

The worst was when the teacher of the Hakuda class had a sudden urgent matter to attend to. It became apparent that Banri had some real ill will against Jin.

Banri just started smirking and overpowered Jin easily and hit him hard and brutal. At some point, he even ended up breaking one of his arms while grappling him to the ground.

"Aaah!" Jin just cried out in pain and wanted to stop right there. He even thought this guy would have enough but he was sadly sorely mistaken.

Banri started to beat him up even more. Jin could only grit his teeth and try to protect himself with the remaining arm as good as possible.

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!", shouted Matsuri after seeing that. Some other people also took notice of it but didn't bother to intervene. They knew of Banri´s status and the temper he had. The same applied to Jin.

"What? Do you also want some beating, girl?", scorned Banri in a cold manner while looking at her.

"You...How can you be so ruthless in a spar? Did you forget what the teacher said?", she asked back and still approached them to get him away from Jin.

But that just earned her a hit to her face that sends her to the ground.

"Matsuri!" Jin and Fujimaru were the first to react and Fujimaru even sprinted over to his sister, looking if she was okay. A deep glare was placed on Banri at this moment. "You bastard."

"Huh? I told you, stop interfering you lowlife. Whatever I do to you rats is up to me to decide.", said Banri.

Jin became enraged now. It was alright if this asshole let steam out on him but doing something like that to a girl.

So he punched his face with his good arm while he was distracted. It landed but that only refocused Banri his attention back at him.

"You dare..." He started to immediately beat Jin up again. Even after Fujimaru engaged and tried to help was no use. They both got beaten up badly.

Jin also saw no other means but to use lethal force here now. This guy was just too savage.

"Byakurai!" the lightning was aimed at Banri his shoulder and it did penetrate it, inflicting a bleeding wound.

"Urgh, YOU! So that is how it is? Fine, then I will use lethal force as well." Banri threw Jin with a kick to the wall and went ahead using Hoho to grab his Asauchi. With it unsheathed he charged right at Jin.

But before he could slice Jin apart someone interjected between the two. The person was holding the wrist of Banri and stopping from moving any further

"What is going on here?", asked the female voice now in a cold tone. Her brown eyes were also looking at Banri. "Unsheathing an Asauchi is forbidden. And attacking a fellow student is also punishable. So you better explain yourself."

Banri was still angry. "This little scum used Hado against me! Why would I not use my weapon against him?"

"He used a weakened version against you because you went overboard with your sparring. I clearly saw the three kids being beaten up by you. Do you take me for a fool?"

"You damn woman!" Banri now even tried to overpower her but didn't even notice the armband hanging on her left arm.

"Alright, enough with this." She punched Banri in the guts and immobilized him so much that he dropped his Asauchi. Then she mumbled something. "Sai." It was a spell to keep him immobilized.

"You will be sent to detention where you can stay for a while. This event will be reevaluated and depending on the outcome you may be thrown out of the academy."

Then she looked at Jin. "That also goes for you, brat."

Jin only smiled wryly. "Thanks, Hiyori."

She immediately became angry and hit him as well for good measure. "That´s lieutenant Sarugaki, you brat!"

It really was Hiyori that came to their rescue. "Tsk. And here I was only going to deliver something from that stupid Urahara for your enrollment."

Looking at Matsuri and Fujimaru she sighed a little. "You two get yourself treated at the hospital wing. Jin and I will wait for the teacher and clear this up." Then her gaze went over the other students. "Class is over for today. Get back to your dormitories. Understood?"