Oblivion

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Accidental double post.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

For a fleeting moment, as she landed on the pavement just underneath the Hollow, Yue's eyes widened at Kouta-sensei's display of brute strength. He had single-handedly taken down one of the larger Hollows, without even using his Zanpakuto. However, Yue had no time to lose, as another Hollow came crashing towards them. She hurriedly got up, almost stumbling over the fallen senior's body and raised her hand towards the rapidly approaching Hollow. The incantation's words blended into each other as she spoke them but it did nothing to degrade the power of the spell. "Hado # 11, Tsuzuri Raiden!" The surge of electricity from Yue's hand connected with the very middle of the Hollow's mask, partly shattering it, but it continued to advance. Adrenaline was the that made her react as it descended down onto her and she turned, aiming a high reverse kick at its mask. The mask finally shattered under the force and with another Byakurai aimed at its abdomen, it disintegrated.

Yue continued opposing another Hollow that had taken the previous one's place, and, not even bothering about her Zanpakuto, Yue kept up a constant stream of Hado # 1: Shō spells, preventing the Hollows from getting too close and blasting them several feet away. This, of course, couldn't keep them off forever, and Yue knew she couldn't let Kouta-sensei handle them all. She began aiming kicks as powerful as she could manage at the smaller Hollows, watching them disintergrate after quite a few. They did their fair share of damage as well, battering her with dull hits and littering her body with various cuts, but that went unnoticed as her hands gripped a limb and she raised her leg and torso, deflecting a fist that could have quite literally smashed her flat.

It was getting harder to see as the sky slowly darkened, but eventually, it was over. There was no sign of any other being except Kouta-sensei and the two fallen seniors and for a moment, Yue felt mild relief. She vaguely realized that the seniors that led them out into the Human world lay dead a few feet away and her stomach turned - she couldn't stand thinking about it. However, that relief soon changed into panic. "The Senkaimon!" The Gate was gone.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Several years later, Yue left Akimoto-sensei's dojo for the Academy. When she thought back to when she first started out at the dojo and how eager she was to leave, it seemed like such a stupid thing to think like that. The Academy was everything she'd expected, from the various classes to the after-hours activities she was practically forced to join. Most classes were just as hard as she expected but then she met her match: Zanjutsu. Yue quickly discovered she had little to no talent for wielding a blade of any kind - a katana was too big for her hands, just like the bokken (a wooden katana in place of the real one) they used in class. Several months in, Yue lost count of how many times the bokken slipped out of her hands and flew off in the opposite direction no matter how tightly she gripped the handle - it was a miracle no one had been hurt by an airborne bokken yet.

Yet, she did perfectly alright in other classes, mainly Kido. As the months slowly wore away, Yue settled into the monotonous routine of the Academy. Those months turned into years and in the middle of her third year, their group was elected to go into the Human world for a training session involving Konso. It was nerve-wracking, to say the least, as they'd never been in the Human world before.

As they stepped out of the Senkaimon, one by one, Yue was mildly disappointed to see no living beings in sight but that was understandable, seeing as they were in a rather deserted part of the town they'd emerged in. There were various souls scattered around, and as the teacher pointed them out and demonstrated Konso, he motioned for the rest to draw their Zanpakuto's and do the same.

Nearly four hours passed before their 'excercise' drew to an end, and as the students gathered themselves up again, the group was slightly smaller than what they'd started with. The missing students in question were, in fact, only around a 100 feet away, coming back from their last Konso ritual. Their sensei had been careless letting them go that far, despite having taught in the Academy so long. It was when they'd gotten closer that they realized something was... off.

It was quiet, eerily quiet as compared to the small noises that occasionally drew their attention some time ago. Yue attributed it to the fact that most of the souls were now gone - they'd be waking up in Rukongai sometime soon - but now the air was heavy and tense. Then it went wrong.

A couple of Hollows materialized behind the approaching students, and a dozen or so around the group, scaling down the buildings under the cover of the night. It was strange, the way they moved, quietly and without a whisper of sound. Only when Yue turned around, sensing a presence behind her, did it open its mouth and let out a cry that terrified Yue down to her very being. The cry was echoed by most of the other Hollows, those horrifying cries silent to the sleeping humans' ears.

The group, now alert, froze for a moment before panic overtook them. Their sensei berated himself for his carelessness, for not noticing the Hollows' presence but it was far too late. Even as he deflected a claw that swiped down towards a girl, two more were heading towards the student next to her. Zanpakuto's were raised, ready for action, and the Hollows sprang.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Yue eventually looked away, finding Kouta-sensei's stare too much to handle and instead shifted her gaze towards the floor, gritting her teeth. Isao-sama, yet again. "I do not train for him, sensei. I do it for myself and I only seek to improve. Is that wrong?" She paused, thinking over her words. It was hard enough to keep the stress out of her voice, let alone converse with Kouta-sensei. "It has nothing to do with the House... it's just the simple fact that Yukihiro-sensei makes me uncomfortable. I spar with him in the compound in the presence of Fath - Isao-sama."

Even then, knowing that Yukihiro-sensei -- Yukihiro Hayate, if she wasn't mistaken -- was trying to push her hard enough to break was believable, and she knew it was true. The man's presence made her fidget, much like she'd done when she used to spar with Kouta-sensei but Hayate was decidedly worse. Yue vividly remembered dreading the occasions when her Father was too busy to oversee the sparring and sent another Yukihiro instead - her entire body was so tense that she could not slip into the stance and spar properly, leading the evening's routine to failure.

Glancing up at Kouta-sensei again, she faced his harsh eyes, hoping he'd understand. Wasn't this why she preferred him in the first place? Naturally, he was unconditionally strict, but he was still a good teacher and Yue was proof of that. Only now, when she started fidgeting under his imposing demeanor again, did she feel hesitant.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

It had become something of a second home to Yue, having spent more than half her days in the dojo with the rest of the class. Over time, Yue learned to ignore the pain and carry on, trying her best to perfect her stances as much as possible. Of course, this was hard work, and she had close to no time for herself - she had been hoping to explore the library but no such luck.

Meditation was her favourite part - it was something she truly enjoyed, losing herself in her mind and even then, when Akimoto-sensei allowed discussion, Yue never spoke again. It was strange, knowing that she hadn't spoken in the dojo for several months, not a single word, but she kept her skepticism of the precepts to herself - it would do no good to argue.

Since Akimoto-sensei was almost always busy, his son, Kouta-sensei took over. This, sadly, meant that he would not be her shihan during these times. Her new shihan, a tall and muscular brute, that Yue immediately recognized as a Yukihiro, did not go easy on her despite the knowledge that he was beating on his House's heiress. Yue quickly speculated that titles held no significance here - only skill. She had to work twice as hard, dodging his blows while maintaining her stance, knowing that he was deliberately going harder on her than others; soon enough, she began to wish she had Kouta-sensei again. However, not a word passed her lips.

The months passed in this vein, when finally, during a meeting with her Father, he approved of her wish to join the Academy. There was one catch, though - she'd have to improve dramatically as he'd see fit. He'd been watching her progress in his own dojo. Every week, he made her spar with the same man that was her alternate shihan. The results were inaccurate, in a way, as the man was not as brutal in the presence of his House's Head.

A month later, he noted she was not progressing fast enough and promptly told her so. This brought Yue to despair, and it began to affect her sleeping habits. She pushed herself twice as hard in class, vehemently fighting back against her shihan as the stress mounted - when would Isao ever be satisfied? It didn't matter to him that he was asking something of her that took decades - she'd only started actual training in the Yukihiro house's dojo a few years ago. He refused to see how fast she'd improved, forgetting her age and instead focusing on the immediate results. But even through all that, she was still happy, content in trying her hardest and her energetic fighting spirit never failing her.

Night after night, Yue spent the majority of the dark, moonlit hours reading next to her window, not daring to put on the light. By day, she was in Akimoto-sensei's dojo. In the evening, at her own dojo. This pattern repeated itself for quite some time, and the class was slowly but surely dwindling down to just a few students. Yue was among the last of them left and luckily, there were more than enough shihan to spar with the students. She began to hope her shihan would switch back to Kouta-sensei more frequently, as the Yukihiro-shihan was clearly doing her no good. Yue was half tempted to ask for Kouta-sensei again - only once had she had the nerve to actually ask, and she faltered at the last moment before hurriedly asking for a change in shihan after class, her words jammed together and almost inaudible.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

The actual training was grueling, no doubt about it. From when she'd bleakly stepped into the room and took her position at the end of the back row, Yue had expected another two-hour long lecture, not push-ups and running. Having never done actual push-ups while training with the Yukihiro sensei, she found it extremely hard to get her muscles to cooperate and raise herself on just her arms. Minutes later, her chest burning painfully, she managed to get the hang of it, as much as her rather frail body would allow. She was conscious of how weak and staggered she looked compared to the the rest of the class, composed mostly of fit male students that had little to no problems with this exercise. Naturally, when they started on jogging, Yue exhaled a sigh of relief and ran, keeping in pace with the man in front of her and all too soon, it was back to push ups again.

The stances were hard to keep up for more than half a minute and it hurt every single part of her body that had her weight on it. Although she'd endured such stances back with her tutor, it was no match for this.

It hurt. At one point, she didn't want to do it any more. Every part of her body screamed in pain and protest, urging her to collapse next to some of the students and surrender her body to sleep. Somehow, beyond her knowledge, she managed to push on, right until the near end of the sparring session with Akimoto-sensei's shihan. You'd think sparring with a 4'5, 12-year-old girl would make you think twice and consider her predicament but no, her shihan barely noticed and continued on with his brutal hits. Unlike some other shihan, however, he did not taunt her. He kept silent everytime she collapsed under one of his hits or could not maintain the painful stance, offering no praise or words of discouragement. It was uncharacteristic of him; many other, if not almost all shihan were rather abusive, both verbally and physically but he was not; he stuck to his technique and kept aiming blows that would knock her down. That was probably because he was not a Yukihiro - it was clear from his mannerisms and physical features. Later, she would learn that this was Akimoto Kouta, Akimoto-sensei's only son.

After getting up for the nth time, Yue could feel herself getting light-headed. Some of the students had vomited and nearly every one had passed out with the exception of herself and seven others. In the particular stance she was now holding and shakily deflecting blows from the shihan, her legs could not withstand the pressure and immense pain anymore and even before the shihan readied himself for another hit, she collapsed and hit the floor. The shouts and grunts of the other students and shihan in the room were deaf to her ears - she instantly passed out, leaving the pain behind.

How much time passed after that, she couldn't tell. The moment she was brought back to consciousness, the pain hit her truck and from the other students' faces, they were in the same condition as well. Only Akimoto-sensei and his shihan were perfectly fine, although Yue attributed it to decades and possibly centuries of practicing and perfecting the technique. Amazingly, even as she slowly and carefully walked out of the classroom, Yue could still hear Akimoto-sensei training.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

It made little sense.

Yue's mind, having focused so long on Akimoto-sensei's words, was starting to throw her thoughts into one big giant mess. Having sat in the classroom for more than two hours and listened to the man speak, most of it had only served to earn her disapproval. From what little sense it made, particularly precept # 6 which she would grudgingly admit made more sense than all of them combined, the moment the class was dismissed Yue was on her feet and dashed out of the classroom, eager to get out of the crowd of chattering students.

The moment she crossed the Yukihiro compound's threshold, Yue leaned against the inner wall and took a breath to calm herself and organize her thoughts. It was hard work, harder than she'd anticipated but by the time she pushed off the whitewashed wall and headed into her room to change her training uniform - which, admittedly, seemed to be of no use in class - several long minutes had passed.

________________________________________

The sun dipped below the horizon, submerging the compound into darkness. Lights flicked, faintly illuminating the corridors and courtyards in a golden glow, just as Yue took a seat four feet away from the middle-aged man at the head of the room. It was lavishly decorated, being the meeting and sitting room of the Main House and Yue sat patiently, waiting for the man to finish, he lifted his brush off of the calligraphy scroll and looked up. She waited, waited for the man to speak first, something that had been instilled into her from the very first day, from the very first hour of her arrival in this foreign, high-class society.

"How did you find your class with Akimoto-san?" The man, Yukihiro Isao, finally inquired.

Yue found herself at a loss for words, although she'd been expecting this very question. "It... it went well, Father."

She could feel Isao's hard grey eyes on her, scrutinizing her. "Do not lie to me, Yue."

Taken aback, Yue hesitated for a moment before speaking, choosing her words carefully. "He made no sense, Father." With that, she lauched into a recap of his lecture and explanations, her eyes fixed onto the dark wooden floor. Finally, she concluded, "I don't want to go back. Take me to a real dojo."

Silence reigned for a split second, before Isao chose to speak. "Do not speak of Akimoto-san this way again, am I clear? You may be intelligent, Yue, but you still have far too much to learn." He paused for a moment, letting his harsh, biting words sink in. "You may leave."

Shocked, Yue hastily stood up and backed out of the room, barely managing not to trip over her overly-long and decievingly heavy kimono and quietly slid shut the doors behind her.

Inside, Isao frowned, not pleased in the least. He could feel his irritation mounting at the girl's nerve, disliking her mannerisms all the more. Perhaps his wife wasn't strict enough with the etiquette lessons, like he'd specifically ordered her to? Nevertheless, he picked up another scroll of thinner paper, dipped the brush in the pot of ink and began to write.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

If there was one thing Yue disagreed with, it was the fourteenth precept, 'Take care for others'. It was no surprise that so little was thought of why people were selfish, why they put themselves first over others. She'd have thought that given his lecture about the evironment, Akimoto-sensei would have stopped and thought about the situation in certain parts of Soul Society and not overall. Because it was impossible to survive in those areas without putting yourself first. Had it been so, Yue would have died 150 years ago in the winter's cold embrace.

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

Akimoto-sensei's monologue was quickly getting on Yue's nerves. While most of his words registered in Yue's mind, it was hard to accept the statements without solid proof. All this about environment brought back rather unwanted memories of Rukongai and, unknowingly, she realized that that was proof. Rukongai was the proof she was looking for.

It was in the run-down areas of the 80th East District that Yue had found herself sitting on one of the surrounding hillsides, partially hidden by surrounding vegetation and tall trees, looking down at one of the half-collapsed house she called 'home'. Even from her vantage point Yue could see the crowd that had gathered around the old woman she had knocked down and stolen the bag next to her from - the harder she tried to ignore the woman's desperate cries of 'I have nothing left..!" and the disgusted expressions of the people, obviously aimed at the thief, her dead eyes flicked back every single time. She felt worthless - there was no doubt about it. Being the only newcomer in a few years, the residents of District 80 knew who it was that had committed the 'crime'.

She was never there. The seemingly 'young', 8-year-old was never a part of the community. She didn't exist in the eyes of the 500-something impoverished souls that spent their lives in misery. But no matter how miserable, they had each other to some degree. She was always in the background, forgotten, unwanted. Not even a part of the most hated, miserable, dishonorable people the whole of Soul Society had to offer.

So what did that make her?

Yue blinked, taken aback at the sudden rush of memories she'd worked so hard to bury under years spent in the harsh environment of the Yukihiro House. Wasn't that another factor to consider? Hadn't a decade spent with those emotionless brutes made her one as well? Grudgingly, Yue looked up, realizing that the man actually had a point. But what that had to do with fighting was beyond her. The time she'd spent in her own thoughts, shocked to an extent, meant that she'd missed a bit of the rest of the Akimoto-sensei's explanation but that wasn't a huge loss, compared to the realization she'd come to and those horrific memories that had come streaming back. Her mood worsened - Yue sighed quietly and frowned again - the 'class' seemed to be taking forever.

But, in spite of her rather bored demeanor, there was a part of her that wanted to know more. Did the rest of those precepts hanging above her head make sense too?

Bleach: Finding Lightning and Ice

As the students finally started asking questions, Yue shifted her posture, feeling her back beginning to ache slightly. She couldn't bring herself to voice one last question, as Akimoto-sensei would surely recognize her voice. But, with her curiosity peaked, Yue eventually ducked her head, thanking whatever deity was up there for her short stature and said, "But Sensei... no matter how you look at it, conflict is healthy. It allows people to get a feel for the other side, and not only theirs. You did say 'communication is the key', but people are biased and some oppressed. It isn't natural. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not everybody is open enough to listen. Sometimes it takes a conflict to understand. And I dare say, some even enjoy conflict." It only just then struck her how much like a Yukihiro she sounded.