CH2 : Mysterious!

===

"What's this?"

Seimei raised an eyebrow as he looked at the book in his hand.

'A comprehensive guide to all things a student needs to know about being a Shinigami. Zankensoki.'

It was a thick book that had a Shinigami outside on the cover holding an asauchi and slaying a hollow. It seemed so childish even though the concept behind it wasn't childish in any manner.

Seimei was weirded out by the cover but he shook his head and started reading the book. A day had already passed after his admittance in Shin'o academy and Seimei had already been introduced to the basics of the academy.

The book introduced Hohō, Kidō, Hakuda and Zanjustu.

'Hohō is a defensive movement footwork technique used by Shinigami, Kidō are advanced spells used by Shinigami for direct attacks. Hakudo is a close combat fighting style used to subdue enemies and Zanjustu is fighting style used by Shinigami intended for combat with their Zanpakuto or asauchi.'

[A/N : Is this a too large of an info dump?]

Seimei shook his head in dismay. He was never a fan of studying whether it was in his previous life or his current 'life'…?

"Ah well so be it, I'll have to get this over it at one point anyway."

As the light of the lamp turned on, Seimei started his grinding session of studying and memorizing Kidō chants for a few hours.

He didn't know what was driving him, yet a strange force gave him the drive to study so much, which even he didn't know why it happened.

Every cause has an effect, the cause was Seimei being in the Bleach world. And the effect was him subconsciously forcing himself to try his best to survive in a world full of monsters like Ichigo Kurosaki and Zaraki Kenpachi, with villains like Yhwach and Sosuke Aizen.

Seimei woke up as he started his 2nd day in Shin'o academy, a day of him attending Zanjutsu lessons, Kidō chant recitations and general knowledge about the Gotei 13, an organization where future graduates would join.

Seimei was interested in the Zanjutsu and Kidō lessons but would usually doze off during General Knowledge classes, as it was information he already knew.

***

Slash! Slash! Slash!

The sound of wind flowing as Seimei swung his sword sounded around the training ground. Sweat dripped as muscle aches felt like something was piercing every muscle in his body. Yet he swung his sword nonetheless.

He didn't have a cheat but he had time, knowledge and perseverance.

"Why do you work so hard?"

A lean handsome man spoke to Seimei. He was of average height, had shoulder-length black hair, bluish purple eyes, thin eyebrows and light skin.

The man's hair was neatly combed with his bangs pushed away from his face. A single kenseikan was worn on the left side of his head, symbolizing his nobility.

He looked similar to Byakuya Kuchiki, but as it was too early for Byakuya to be born yet, Seimei guessed that the man was Sojun Kuchiki, the father of Kuchiki Byakuya.

"Sojun-san." Seimei looked at Kuchiki Sojun, his long hair which he had grown out slightly flowing in the wind. His skin was fair and looked slightly toned with the sweat dripping down his white student garments.

"Every other student is out making acquaintances and friends while here you are, boy; swinging your asauchi as though it's the end of the world."

He had a slight smile on his face as he continued to speak, "So tell me, boy; Why do you work so hard?"

The wind flew around the two, as though highlighting the words of Sojun.

'How do I respond without saying that I'm scared as shit for the future?'

As Seimei started sweating thinking about his answer, silence took over the surrounding.

He wanted to seem mysterious to Sojun, but couldn't come up with anything.

But just then, a lightbulb lit above his head.

Seimei sighed, as he spoke languidly while looking into the eyes of Sojun.

"As soon as I had opened my eyes, a claw almost ripped a hole into my body. I almost experienced death right after dying once. And I don't want to die again.

I fear death, so I don't want to live just to die again."

'Was that cool enough?'

Seimei thought to himself.

"I see…"

Kuchiki Sojun fell into deep thought as he smiled.

"I like your ideals, kid." He spoke with a smile.

Seimei nodded, as he smiled inwardly.

'Indeed, copying anime speeches can make one seem mysterious…'

"Once you've graduated from the academy, I'll be waiting for you. I hope you can join my division in the future."

Kuchiki Sojun smiled at Seimei and nodded at him then disappeared.

As soon as he disappeared, Seimei sat down in mental exhaustion. He'd probably never even been in such a tense situation before, excluding the experience with the hollow.

"Let's go!" Seimei phantom punched the air in exhilaration. He'd just been invited by a member of the noble Kuchiki clan, the Lieutenant of the 6th Division and the son of Kuchiki Ginrei, the current captain of the 6th Division.

In an area away from Seimei's vision, Sojun looked at the happy Seimei who resumed swinging his sword as a chuckle left his mouth.

"What an interesting child…"

His pale face gained a hint of warmth as he moved away from his position.

***

Clash!

2 blades clashed as Seimei closed in on his opponent, a student who looked like he was 14 or 15.

Sparks flew out as the pieces of metal struck at each other. The opponent, a boy named Tsukisumi Yurio sliced down at Seimei's feet as he chanting a Hadō spell.

But before he could finish chanting, he felt his sword hit air, confusing him and in consequence, disrupting the incantation.

As he looked at the area where Seimei had previously been in which was empty, Yurio looked around in confusion when he suddenly heard Seimei's monotonous voice.

Just as he looked up, he saw Seimei sheathing his asauchi back into his sheath with one hand as his other hand pointed downwards towards Yurio.

"Hadō #4, Byakurai"

A bolt of concentrated reishi lightning struck down at Yurio as he tried to set up a bakudo barrier in vain.

A scream ran out as Yurio collapsed, slight fumes coming off of his now knocked out body.

"Weak." Seimei muttered as he walked back into the crowd.

"Winner, Hitotsu Seimei." The teacher announced as crowd mumbled again.

"Why did he have to call Yurio weak? How disrespectful!"

"Indeed, that was uncalled for."

"What a brat."

"Arrogant."

"Rude."

Seimei heard the insults as a vein bulged on his forehead. But he didn't rage out.

He got insulted because he won, but if he would have lost then it'd have been more insulting.

Being insulted and envied for your strength was fine in his eyes buy being insulted for one's weakness wasn't acceptable in Seimei's eyes.

If you'll be insulted either way, why not be insulted for being stronger than your opponent?

Seimei's thought process wasn't wrong.

In the original story, Zaraki Kenpachi and Unohana Retsu or Unohana Yachiru were clearly deemed as murderers. But because of their strength, rather than being despised, they were admired instead.

Clearly, if they were weaklings who killed that many low level Shinigami and hollows then they'd be infamous criminals even in the modern time and not famed Captains of the 11th and 4th Division respectively.

While the original Gotei 13 was a band of infamous criminals, their strength and the leadership of Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto lead them to become the most respected organization in the soul society excluding the Royal Guard or Division 0.

But Unohana Retsu and Zaraki Kenpachi were strong enough to become captains of divisions themselves and kill Gillians and Adjuchas. Therefore, they were admired and looked up to.

It was a simple concept.

Whatever the strong did, whether good or bad was correct and whatever the weak did was wrong if confronted by a stronger person.

With this thought in mind, Seimei had been training for the past 6 months, becoming the strongest first-year in Shin'o Academy.

But as a consequence, Seimei had made 0 friends.

0.

None at all.

Absolutely 0.

Bro was friendless, fatherless, motherless and maidenless all the same time.

'Ayo wot?'

My bad.

He was a complete loner, a complete nerd. Except he was a nerd for training.

His complete focus had gone to training, to the point that he felt that it was useless making friends when they'd only be grassroot level Shinigami in the future anyway.

He hadn't met any of the characters in the main plot as of now other than Kuchiki Sojun who wasn't a part of the main plot but only a side character.

They were either already in positions of power far away from his grasp or weren't born at all currently.

In a random coincidence, Seimei was almost like Rock Lee or Might Gai in a sense, excluding the bushy eyebrows and leotard. [AN : YOUTH!]

As he sat back down in the corner of the room, Seimei slowly thought about his experiences.

'I've accumulated enough knowledge. Right now I need practical combat experience and not learn about the effects of wrongly chanting Bakudo #16 and how to solve its aftermath. Spars here have slowly accumulated by experience but it's not enough…'

Just like that, time passed on and on as the repetitive life of a student at Shin'o Academy continued for Seimei.

Other than the fact that it was a little too repetitive, it wasn't too bad for Seimei. He could train for long amounts of time, perfecting his Zanjutsu, Kidō, Hohō, and Hakuda.

Yet then came the blockade.

His asauchi hadn't progressed one bit into turning into a proper Zanpakuto at all. It had remained the same shape it had always been. A normal looking Japanese katana.

That bothered Seimei.

No matter how strong a Shinigami's Zankensoki was, his main source of power was inevitably the Zanpakuto.

Plus, Seimei always wanted to know what his shikai and bankai would be like.

After all, like any bleach fan, he wanted to experience shouting "BANKAI!" as he got a massive power up.

Maybe a cool sounding soundtrack as a bonus?

Who knows.

***

Another 6 months passed quickly as the flap of a Hell Butterfly's wings.

Seimei's body had grown from a 6 year to a 15-year-old in the span of a year…?

How?

Nobody knew.

He had long black hair running down his back tied in a ponytail, his white skin was glowing under the sunlight as his bright red pupils gleamed under the sunlight. Unfortunately, they weren't the sharingan.

He looked like a certain Book Of The End wielding fullbringer but with the extra-long hair and red eyes.

"I'd like to pass an early graduation application."