[] A little girl
The most annoying thing about trying to learn how to heal people is that you can't actually try to learn kaido without two things. You need someone to actually be hurt, and you need a teacher nearby to pick up the slack when your control slips and you accidentally push too much reiryoku into your target, or too little. That's the reason, the main reason, why your progress in the basic healing technique is so slow. You're sure of it.
It would be less frustrating if your progress in other fields was just as slow, but it isn't. Each day you hit harder, dodge more of the random strikes from the mechanical training dummy, and feel another small part of the spells you can practice fall into place.
You stand in a small courtyard. The academy has many of them, and while scheduling one is a pain it's definitely worth the bother if you want to get some peace and quite while you work. The practice halls are... busy.
Muttered words spill out of you, their enunciation careful. Each syllable you speak corresponds to a movement of your energy inside your body, gathering and layering it in just the right way until you finish, point your finger at a target plate, and watch it break into a dozen pieces with a sharp crack. "Hado 1, Sho." You finish with a sigh, and then immediately start in on the next in the sequence. A stack of plates as tall as you are sits in the corner, waiting for their turns.
Hours later, the last plate vanishes in a puff of dust. "Hado 4, Raikoho." You pant.
"Wow! You killed them all, good job!"
"I thought this was a private room." You growl as you turn. "I'm not putting on a show... here?"
It's a girl, not a young woman, but an actual girl. She can't be older than twelve, with pale pink hair that curls out at chin level and a black soul reaper's uniform. There is, you note with growing bewilderment, an armband that you recognize from your general classes as the kind of thing a vice captain wears.
"I snuck in." The girl admits guilelessly. "I'm vice captain Yachiru Kusajishi, hello."
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, from class one." You reply in kind.
"Hm. Ichi-go. Kuro-saki... I know you. I came by to drop off some stuff, but the teachers were talking about you. Talking about somebody behind their back is rude, so I eavesdropped. It turned out that you're pretty popular." She taps her chin, which is sharp and pointed in the way that only a child's can be. "I'm going to call you Ichi, like 'one', because you're graduating in one year!"
Yeah, no. "My name's Ichigo. It's not a hard name to remember."
"But Ichi is your nickname now." She says.
"No-"
The air tingles against your skin, Yachiru's outline starts to glow as though backlit by a pink bulb, and her voice takes on a menacing edge. "Your nickname is Ichi."
"Fine, fine, you can call me Ichi!"
"Great! Are you done with those plates, by the way?" The young girl asks. "Because I have something I want to show you."
Well, you have to sweep them up before you leave, but... "I'm done for now, as long as I don't have to leave." Despite knowing that wearing a vice captain's insignia without being one is a prison-worthy offense, it's hard to think of Yachiru as one.
She frowns, first. "Actually, you have to promise to do something first."
"What is it?"
"I want you to play with Kenny. He really likes people who can get stronger quickly like you are. I think you could be friends!"
"Sure, I'll play with Kenny, just not right now, okay? I'm training." You put off the girl, doubtless somebody's little sister from how young she looks, but don't souls age slower than humans? She could be an adult. A shiver rolls down your spine. That... would be weird. She must have a lot of spirit energy, at least, but part of you looks at her and sees your own little sisters. The image and the thought just refuse to mesh.
Then Yachiru reaches behind her and pulls out... a sword. It's not a usual sword.
A strap is attached to its cross-guard, the handle is wrapped in pink cloth to match her hair, and a pair of small wheels are attached to the bottom, so that it can be dragged along behind someone as tall as it is long. "See? Both of our zanpakuto are different. Do you know what that means?"
"It means my spiritual energy is going into it, and stopping it from taking a normal shape."
"No, Ichi~" Yachiru scolds. "It means that your zanpakuto spirit is really proud. It doesn't see itself as just a part of you, but as its own being that just happens to be a sword. Or maybe it's just a show-off, like Kuchiki vice captain's sword!"
You smile at that. "I guess he is a bit of a show-off."
The girl nods and gives you a thumbs up. "Work hard and take naps, so that you can get really strong, like Ken-chan. Don't disappoint him, otherwise he'll kill you dead before he even notices!"
And then she vanishes.
"What."
Leaving aside that incident, your week draws to a close almost anticlimactically. You're aware that powerful people in positions of authority are watching your progress with interest, but nothing actually changes. You still can't use kido without long incantations and intense focus, which is painful, but you've managed to work on one trump card to use in your next attempt to gain shikai.
...Kukaku Shiba is going to get a pleasant surprise when you visit her tomorrow, you think as you settle down to meditate one last time. At least, she is if you have anything to say about it.
You've worked out a trick, something that should really impress your zanpakuto's spirit, or at least let you cut him up enough that he'll have to admit to your progress. What have you incorporated an aspect of into your zanjutsu?*
[] Hoho
[] Hakuda
[] Bakudo
[] Hado
*Your current skill levels will increase to reflect that you have a single aspect of combat readiness with the skill you select.
