The day dawned bright and clear over the dormitories of the Spiritual Arts Academy, shedding light on the students hurriedly getting ready for the day, which would begin at six A.M. on the dot. They would have classes starting at that early morning time right up until they hit their third year was utterly depressing for many of the souls aspiring to be Shinigami. Within her room, the dilemma of getting up early was of little consequence to one Karin Kurosaki, as she was suffering from a bout of nerves, something she was wholly unaccustomed to, though she was also familiar with the feeling. After all, you couldn't be fearless about everything, especially when your placed inside an institutionalized organization, and thrust into a new environment that you must adapt to or die in.

'I can do this' Karin thought to herself as she donned the red and white uniform of the female students at the Spiritual Arts Academy. Her nerves were making her feel sick and excited at the same time. It was like those five minutes before a big soccer game, only worse, for some odd reason. Exiting her new room in the academy barracks, she joined the flow of new students headed toward the assembly hall. New students were easy to spot, mainly because they all had the same half-scared, half-determined look she herself probably had. Older students had this expression of boredom, like this was the same shit, different day. Their expressions spoke volumes about the monotony of academy life.

Thinking about becoming a Shinigami had her thoughts wandering to her brother, who was arguably one of the more powerful Shinigami currently living, with only a few Captains being stronger in terms of pure strength. Instead, they tended toward more skilled. However, her was still a famed hero of the Seireitei. The legacy she had to live up to was a monstrous one, and she wasn't entirely sure she could do it.

Entering a large auditorium, the new students set themselves into neat ranks in front of a large podium, with the help of some fairly angry looking teachers yelling helpfully in their ears. Standing in her spot in the ranks of students, she figured that there were maybe a little over half a hundred students, total. Clearly, a graduating class from the academy wouldn't be large by any means. Looking at the podium, she saw an impossibly old and battle-scarred man standing with both hands on a club-like cane, looking exactly like what she envisioned a wise old elder to look like. Signaling that he desired silence, the old man began to speak. "I am Genryuusai Shikeguni Yamamoto, Soutaicho of the Thirteen Guard Squads of the Heavenly Court. You all wish to become Shinigami, the guardians of the souls of the World of the Living. My hopes are that you will make yourselves worthy to bear the title of Shinigami of the Gotei Thirteen. I will now administer the oath, simple, and unbreakable. Do you swear to protect the Seireitei, and protect the souls of the World of the Living, even if you must sacrifice your life to do so, and swear to follow the orders of your seated officers should you become squad members of the Gotei Thirteen?" asked the ancient Head-Captain, his gravelly voice adding a sense of tremendous gravity to his words.

"I do so swear!" echoed the voices of the new trainees, barely a third of which would graduate, and of that third, most would never rise above twentieth seat in their respective squads. Karin was surprised to find herself filled with the need to do as she had sworn. Something about that old man's words had awoken a great need, a fierce hunger inside of her. She knew that she would do as she had sworn, and even give up her life, such as it was, to fulfill her oath. Being dismissed with a nod from the Head-Captain, the students filed to their first classes, Karin entering her first class with fifteen of her classmates, each of them taking a position behind simple, wooden, desks. Soon after an older man walked in, dressed in the black haori and hakama of the full-fledged Shinigami. The man's dark eyes swept over the room, shoulders back, his salt and pepper hair giving him an air of sophistication and experience that Karin was entirely sure wasn't a sham.

"I am Lareck Retsu, your teacher. You will call me Retsu-Sensei, and with any luck, one day you will all call me by my name. I'm going to take roll, and don't be shy to affirm your presence in this room." The now identified man said, holding up a piece of paper and beginning to call off names. Karin waited patiently until her name was called. "Kurosaki, Karin?"

"Here, Sensei" Karin called before quietly taking her seat. Whispers immediately broke out amongst all the other students.

"Kurosaki? As in THE Kurosaki?"

"No, she's too small"

"I don't know, she seems pretty spunky."

"There will be silence!" Lareck roared, the silence of the grave immediately descending on the room. Looking at Karin, he scrutinized her for a moment, seemingly trying to peer into her very soul. "Are you actually related to Ichigo Kurosaki?" he asked her after several moments of observation.

"He's my older brother." she said, using her iron will to prevent herself from squirming nervously under the stares of the other trainees. She was more than a little disturbed to see that the girls had little hearts where their eyes were at just the thought of her elder sibling. 'Creepy…' she thought, sweating mentally.

Lareck grunted, glaring at the young girl. "Don't expect any favors from me just because you're highly connected. In fact, just because of that, I'm going to work you three times harder than the rest of these wannabe's, and my standards are nothing less than perfection."

"As you wish, Sensei." Karin acknowledged bitterly, resolving to kick Ichigo as hard as she could in the face the next time she saw him. Lareck gave another bad-tempered grunt before he resumed calling roll. Soon after he finished, glaring out at the students as he laid the paper back on his desk.

"Now, as I said, I am Lareck Retsu, and I am in charge of teaching you the combat forms of Hoho, Zanjutsu, and Hakuda. Learning these things is necessary for you to become decent Shinigami, and will very likely be tied up in whether or not you survive your future battles. It usually takes six years at this academy to graduate, though there are those rare prodigies that graduate in less, and for every day of those six years, you are going to report here to me for training. You will be with me for two hours every day, as well as being in a Kido class for another two hours. There is also a meditation class, which teaches you to control your riatsu, as well as the basics for communing with your Zanpakutou, besides those, there is further curriculum designed to teach you how to fulfill your duties, whether you apply to the Kido Corps, Special Ops, or the Court Guard Squads. In this lesson, as well as the Kido lesson, there are too be advanced classes, but only for those who prove themselves to be exemplary. For the Kido lessons, the teacher will be Unohana Retsu, Captain of Squad Four. For this lesson, the teacher will be Toushiro Hitsugaya, Captain of the Tenth Squad." Upon hearing Toushiro's name, a thrill went through Karin. "In order to be considered an exemplary student, you must have hopes of being able to graduate in three years or less. Now, onto your first lesson." Lareck said, Karin immediately noting that he seemed to have a straight to the point kind of attitude as he began one of the most grueling training regimens she had ever been through. She was proud of herself when she could walk out of the room at the end of it. Lareck hadn't been lying; he had been far harder on her than the others. Every muscle in Karin's body felt swollen and throbbing, every painful pulse only heightening her decision to maim her own brother.

She had two more minor lessons before they broke for lunch, one of them dealing about the ranking system and structure of the Seireitei, which was far more complex than she had thought, and the other on the World of the Living, particularly its many languages, which she was told that she would need to know at least three on a passable level before graduating. She was already fluent in Japanese and English, now she just needed one more, and she was thinking about Spanish, as there were numerous tutors of the language.

After lunch, Karin hurried through the crowded halls to her Kido class, where she again stood by another desk for the fourth time that day. Their teacher was waiting for them for once, leaning against her own desk. When all of the students had all filed in, their teacher called roll before she began to speak, introducing herself and her art. "I am Kira Chou, your teacher in the Kido arts." she began, primly folding her hands on her lap, something that just rubbed Karin the wrong way. She was sure that Kira was a good woman, but Karin couldn't stand what she termed 'girly-girls' with the sole exception of her sister. Shaking her head, Karin focused on the teacher. This was something she would definitely need to know.

"Kido is divided into two parts, these being Bakkudo, or restraining spells, and Hado, or destructive spells. In order to be considered as one of the more powerful Shinigami, you have to have the intelligence necessary to master Kido." she said with the air of one who was arrogant in her capabilities, as well as those of her chosen specialty. She was about to continue when she noticed that Karin had raised her hand. "Yes, Kurosaki?" Kira asked testily.

"What about Lieutenant Renji Abarrai of Squad Six? He's achieved Bankai, and he says he's horrible with Kido. And what about Squad Eleven Captain Kenpachi Zaraki, or even Ichigo Kurosaki, a hero of the Seireitei, and one of the most powerful Shinigami there is? As far as I know, he doesn't know the first thing about Kido. What you're saying sounds like you think they aren't powerful Shinigami, despite the fact that they've battled opponents that far outclass any of us here and survived."

Kira's face tightened in momentary disapproval. Who was this girl to question her? "As far as I'm concerned, the only use that Squad Eleven has is to be used as glorified cannon-fodder, including their captain. As for Lieutenant Abarrai, he can still barely use it, so he isn't a total waste of space." Kira said, the way she said total making it seem like she still didn't see him as being worthy any kind of real recognition. "As for Ichigo Kurosaki, although I will admit that he is a hero, and a powerful Shinigami, I will never see him as an equal. He has had Rukia Kuchiki, one of the finest Kido practitioners that I've ever trained at his side on nearly a daily basis, and he has made no effort to learn the art, instead choosing to remain ignorant of its capabilities."

Hearing the argument, Karin couldn't help but make a mental comparison of the three Shinigami in question, and came to a startling conclusion. While Captain Zaraki, Lieutenant Abarrai, and her brother were all very powerful Shinigami, they all had one thing in common: all three of them were dumb as rocks. Thinking carefully, she gave a mental nod of the head, figuring that this probably limited them in how and what they could learn.

Meanwhile, Kira looked at the class before nodding firmly. Turning to the board, she picked up a piece of chalk and began a lesson every bit as mentally exhausting as Lareck's had been physically, showing that while she was highly opinionated, she was also a highly competent teacher who knew a great deal about the intricacies of Kido, as well as how to keep a classes minds from wandering too far.

Physically and mentally exhausted, eyes all but crossing and her body covered in slowly developing bruises and other minor aches, Karin stumbled into what was thankfully her final class of the day. Sitting on the floor with his legs under him at the front of the room was a small, dark-skinned man. Even without moving, he seemed to radiate an aura of total refinement and power. There were no chairs in the room, just several mats spread around, all of a kind that Karin recognized as often used in martial arts dojos. The man, without even cracking open one of his eyes, motioned her and her classmates, all of whom were faring worse then she, to seat themselves on the mats. As they were doing so, their body's movement hampered by their many aches and pains, the man stood up. To Karin and the others, it seemed more as if he flowed, as the movement was so smooth as to be impossible to define as anything but a single motion. "Well, I'm glad you've all survived the day. Six hours of classes must have you totally exhausted, huh?" asked this strange Shinigami. Karin and her classmates wearily nodded.

Their newest teacher gave a light chuckle before continuing. "What you will be learning in this class is easy to define, but hard to accomplish. You will be learning the most refined of all the arts of the Shinigami, that of meditation. This is the safest possible way for you to gain communion with you Zanpakutou spirit, and is also almost always the most effective, especially in forging that ever important bond between Shinigami and Zanpakutou. Your Zanpakutou are the clearest expression of your souls, and so you must have achieved total inner calm, and empty your mind of all thoughts. My name is Yoru Tsuki, and I will be your sensei," he said as he flowed back into a sitting position. For Karin, who had loved her karate lessons, meditation was no problem. As she slipped deeper and deeper into it, she became more and more aware of her surroundings. Finally, she could hear something no one else seemed to be able to: a faint, eerie, howling sound.

With eight hours of classes a day, there wasn't much time for anything else. Indeed, for the first week of the academy, Karin would stumble to her dorm before blissfully passing out, the first day not even reaching her bed. As she got used to the hard training and the long days, Karin made the time for other things. Exploring the Academy, she quickly found the library, and began to show just why she had never gotten less than hundreds on her tests in the World of the Living. Along with her classes, she also practiced Kido and her fighting skills for an hour every day. Such hard training and study paid off, as despite usually stumbling to her bed after midnight, only to get up after only a few hours of sleep to exercise before classes, paid off. The instructors assured her that in every class she was leagues ahead of everybody else, and as such, she was sometimes called on to help teach the classes.

Her teachers were astonished by Karin's work ethic, as well as the fact that almost anything that had to do with the Shinigami arts she learned as naturally as breathing.

Three Months Later

"I simply can't believe her progress." said Kira as she sipped her tea while Lareck, Yoru, Taze, and Jiza nursed their sake, all them discussing the subject of their most promising student, Karin Kurosaki. "It's like she's a fish in water, only on steroids, with really big teeth."

"She does seem to be thriving." Lareck commented, while mentally thinking that Karin was indeed like a fish, and would probably absorb knowledge until her brain exploded; much like the dumber fish would eat until their stomachs burst. "I've yet to set her a task that she doesn't excel in.

Jiza nodded, the dark haired woman taking a sip of her sake. "She certainly is proving herself in my class. She easily passed the proficiency tests for Japanese and English, she's picking up Spanish at a ferocious pace."

"The girl can recite command structure back and forth, and has an almost total knowledge of the etiquette expected of a Shinigami." Taze said. 'Whether or no she uses it is another thing.' he thought, before shaking his head ruefully. "Truthfully, I have nothing left to teach her in that class. She's become something of an assistant, though I usually just send her to the library for the hour, so she can get a little more study time in."

Lareck nodded. "In Hakuda, she could probably hold her own with some of the weaker ranks of the seated officers," he said, watching their eyebrows climb in astonishment. "As for Hoho, she's about average," here he paused, "for a member of the Onmitsukido." Now their eyebrows were making a determined effort to escape their heads. The Onmitsukido were known for being the fastest force in the armed forces of the Seireitei, after all. Lareck shook his head at their reactions before continuing. "As for Zanjutsu, she's an artist with the blade, and could probably go toe-to-toe with almost any seated officer up to sixth without being outclassed."

Kira grinned. "While her ability to remember the longer incantations may be wanting, she already knows the more useful Kido, and I expect that she will only steadily add more and more to her repertoire." Staring at Lareck, she gave a small grin. "My old friend, I think it's time we gave her to better teachers than us."

Lareck nodded ruefully. "I suppose your right. Karin is a rare genius, and I can't help but think that she'll need better teaching than we can provide to truly blossom. Let's send her a note and a new class schedule informing her of her new placement, the other three nodding silently.

Karin was preparing for bed when there was a knock at her door. Sliding it open, she was surprised to see a sixth year student, all of who often served as aides to the senseis. After handing her a piece of paper, he wordlessly walked away. Looking at the paper, Karin couldn't stop an elated smile from forming. After three months of hard work, she had made it to the advanced classes. She couldn't wait to see Toushiro again. It was certain to be amusing.