14 Days at the academy (1)

Itsuki could be seen entering an empty field. He kept his sword strapped to his side as he felt that it would be best to get accustomed to it. He then put on a few weights he grabbed on the way here as he started his training regime. Immediately, Itsuki could feel the difference from having no weights at all to having around 10 kg strapped to each arm. He could also feel his reiatsu being used up in an even faster speed than before.

When he started to train in the basics of the Hiten mitsurugi-ryu, he could feel the difference as his stances were less perfected than before. Although he couldn't train in the core techniques of the sword style, he could still practice the basic techniques which helped increase his physical capabilities. Also, practicing with a sword was different than practicing with sticks. The weight felt different than usual and Itsuki had to keep changing his stance just so he could find one that he is comfortable with.

Once he had completed his training regime he sat down and placed his sword on his lap. He tried to connect to his inner world but, ultimately, failed to do so. Coming out of his session, he started to feel a faint connection with him and the sword as the sword started to show signs of changes. He saw that a mixture of white and a deep black appeared on his sword handle. Feeling he made some improvements he made his way back to the dormitory in a joyful mood.

Entering into his room he noticed that Gin had already went to bed and had placed his zanpakuto on the side. The blade seemed shorter than usual with hints of white and silver appearing on the handle. On the desk there was a sheet of paper that depicted Itsuki's timetable. Looking at Gin's timetable it seemed that they will have all their classes together. After looking thorough the timetable, Itsuki got out of his school uniform, put on his pyjamas, laid down and started his daily meditation while hugging his sword. It wasn't until midnight he fell asleep.

- The next morning -

Itsuki woke up to the sun shining in his eyes and saw that Gin had just woken up himself. After getting up and washing himself Itsuki put on his uniform, placed his zanpakuto on his waist and left for the cafeteria for breakfast.

First class was Hoho and it was in the same training hall with the same teacher from yesterday. He started showing simple movements of Hoho and allowed the class to copy his movements while correcting them on their mistakes. The class only had around 25 people and, unfortunately, Rangiku and Yuroe weren't with them.

Itsuki found the training easy and completed the movements first time with no mistakes earning him the praise of the teacher. He was then led to the side and an assistant teacher came with a practice sword in hand and Itsuki was given one goal, dodge the incoming strikes without retaliating. Then started a session of beating, at first he was hit left and right, but he started to show signs of improvement immediately. Itsuki had started to dodge randomly, then systematically in the fastest and most efficient way possible. When Gin joined them he saw Itsuki dodging in ways that were never seen before.

The assistant teacher, seeing Itsuki still dodge no matter how much faster he swung his sword, he notified the main teacher, who then left the group that were still learning the first basic movements. He came up to Itsuki and started to show him ways to increase his speed and run faster while using less energy. He showed him ways to breathe to reduce energy consumption and then left Itsuki to his own devices.

Seeing Itsuki ahead of them, Gin clenched his fists and vowed to become stronger. Hearing the teacher call him he got up to a round of thrashing.

In the end, only Itsuki and Gin completed the first task of knowing the basic Hoho movements.

What followed was lunch, Itsuki and Gin made their way to the cafeteria and saw Rangiku already there alongside Yuroe. The group of four reunited, they proceeded to get their meals and sit in the corner. Many girls were eyeing Itsuki as he took down his mask to eat, only to hear a massive noise to the side instantly attracting their attention. Everyone turned only to see a boy had fallen down and his food was all over the place, the noise was of his plate impacting the ground. While some people moved to help him and some servants started to clean up, the ones eyeing suddenly remembered Itsuki only to see him with his mask back on and an empty dish in front of him.

'Fast'

Was all that went through the girl's heads. Declaring to themselves that they would see his face sooner or later they went back to eating their foods. After a tiring and long rant from Rangiku with the academy being too hard, Itsuki and Gin made their way towards their next class, Zanjutsu and Hakuda.

They were the first to arrive and it was Onabara Gengoro teaching them.

Noticing the changed swords with the two, he gave the two an approving look and went back to waiting for the class to arrive. Once everyone had arrived he noticed that nearly all of the zanpakutos had a slight change to them. This showed that the students at least had some faint connection with them.

Gengoro started to demonstrate the various forms of hand to hand combat from things like simple punches, jabs and kicks to things that seemed a little more complicated. He then said that everyone would have their own way of fighting before he told everyone to place their zanpakutos to the side and start to practice the basics. Although Gengoro pointed out a few mistakes of Itsuki, he realised that Itsuki wouldn't make the same mistake twice and was ahead of his peers.

Afterwards, Gengoro then told them to pick up a practice sword. Once he demonstrated the basic sword moves, he moved on to assessing how the class did it. His attention was immediately drawn to Itsuki once again as he completed the sets flawlessly. His posture was correct and the force he put into his swing was correct.

"Itsuki, stay behind"

Once class had ended Gengoro called for Itsuki,

"Yes, sensei"

Gengoro didn't reply and just handed him a practice sword as he got into the chudan stance with his practice sword in front of him. Itsuki immediately understood his intentions and went in front of him and also got into a similar stance. It was silent as the two opponents eyed each other. The silence was suddenly broken as Gengoro shouted

"Attack!"

As soon as the signal was given Itsuki rushed forward.