The Lone Flower (Solo)

Another day in the shinigami academy. Ryu was walking into his last class of the morning, hakuda training. He let out a disappointed sigh as he approached. While he did recognize hakuda as an important discipline of the shinigami, he much preferred to use his sword. He had been given what looked to be a standard every day katana upon entering the academy. But the fierce directions of the instructor still resonated within him. "Keep this blade with you every possible waking moment. For it shall be your most important partner for your entirety as a shinigami." Ryu had taken this instruction as if it were gospel and made sure to take his sword with him everywhere. He wasn't exceptionally good at using it yet, but he was steadily learning the basics. If this sword truly was to be his important tool in the future, he wanted to make sure to master it.

The class met in a large dirt floored courtyard surrounded by high stone walls. Ryu noticed he was getting some strange looks from his classmates. The mood of his peers seemed to have turned sour ever since the kido class where he'd teamed up with Yasu and Kana. He didn't know if it was fear, envy or some other range of emotions, but as long as nobody tried to make any trouble for him, he didn't care. As long as he could devote himself to his studies, he'd let the others feel as they pleased. The instructor walked into the courtyard, a fit looking man with what was obviously a well trained body. Ryu imagined hitting him would feel like hitting a brick wall.

"Listen up! Today we're going to start with some basic warm up reps to loosen the body and check our form! After that you'll pair up and do some light sparring. You're all still new, so try to take it easy. We don't want any accidents to happen after all." Ryu could swear the instructor was looking at him as he said that. What the hell? He hadn't done anything excessive in that class before. Or could it be...the injuries of the other team were being held against Ryu and the girls equally? He sighed again and decided to just accept it. A group would always be judged for their collective actions, regardless of the actions of the individual. That was the natural course of things. He swallowed his pride and took his place in the rows of students spread out through the courtyard.

Soon the skies above the school were filled with the rhythmic shouts of students throwing punches and kicks at the air in front of them. The instructor walked through the lines, stopping to give a pointer here and there. The sun beat down and there was little breeze to give them relief from the heat of the day. Ryu lost track of time as he threw himself into the training, determined to succeed at this just like he had with kido. The memories of the slug fest he'd engaged in against his glasses wearing opponent made him cringe with personal embarrassment. Such a barbaric way of fighting was unacceptable. He had to push aside his preferences and work just as hard at this as he was interested in doing with his sword. When their warm ups were done, the lines broke as the students began to find partners for their spars. Ryu saw all types grouping up. Friends interested in some easy supportive combat for mutual growth over here while rivals seeking dominance over each other gathered over there. The only common factor was that nobody was approaching Ryu.

"Guess I really am disliked at the moment." Ryu clicked his tongue in frustration and began to resume the shadow practice from before so as to have something constructive to do to pass the time. He wondered how long he'd have to deal with this isolation. It was slightly disheartening, but what really bothered him was the fact that without colleagues to improve with, he would eventually hit a plateau in his training. Something had to change if he wanted to avoid that.

"Why are you training alone?"

"Huh?" Ryu stopped his practice and turned to face the voice that had sounded behind him. He looked down and saw a short girl staring up at him, more than a foot beneath his height. Her face was one of innocence and genuine curiosity as she stared at him with her emerald colored eyes. "I do not have a partner to spar with, so I am doing this to gain at least some result from this class."

"Oh?" The girl seemed confused for a second as she appeared to be deep in thought. "I thought that with the rumors going around about you that loads of people would want to challenge you and prove their strength. But I guess that means they all chickened out. Lucky for me because that means I get first dibs. Hahahaha!"

"Rumors?...Dibs?" Ryu was thrown off by this girl's words and behavior. She seemed friendly enough, but awfully forward for someone who didn't know him at all. Even Yasu and Kana had introduced themselves before getting this chummy. Further thoughts were cut off as Ryu had to jump back to avoid a straight punch thrown by the girl.

"Don't disappoint me by playing stupid. You know what I want. Let's have a good match and learn from this."

Ryu wanted to get answers, but he didn't have the spare time to even try and form a sentence. This girl was like a whirlwind, swift and fierce with an ever flowing barrage of attacks. His earlier retreat had done little for him as she closed the distance in what seemed like merely an instant and resumed her attack. Thanks to his talent for observing things, her attacks didn't escape his notice. But just because he could see them didn't mean he could stop them all. As he put up his guard to protect his vitals, he received a one-two combo in the side that almost made him double over in pain. He grit his teeth and endured, adding in a swipe to try and force her to back off. His swing hit nothing but air as his evasive opponent seemed to bend like a stalk of bamboo, swaying out of the way of his fist by a hair's breadth and retaliating with her foot as she back flipped out of reach.

Ryu took this brief opportunity to suck in several lungfuls of air. His breathing was already labored, his body sore and dripping with sweat. This girl was no novice. Unlike Ryu and most of the rest of the class, there was no wasted movement in her attacks. Everything was as graceful as if she were dancing. And what made it most unnerving was her face hadn't changed. That same easy going smile that she had greeted him with was still shining on her face as if this was all natural to her. It wasn't like the intense look of a person drowning in blood lust. She wasn't fighting for fighting's sake. This was just a form of fun for her; like a child playing a game. She must have heard rumors about Ryu, Yasu and Kana and got the wrong idea that they were fun targets for her next challenge. Well, Kana might not have been the wrong idea. Ryu still had no reading on that girl's limits.

"Don't tell me you're giving up already. I'm not even close to finished."

Ryu chuckled at the statement. "That should be obvious when you haven't even taken a single hit. Sorry to disappoint you, but you seem to have the wrong idea about me. I'm not some strong new student for you to challenge. I'm new at all of this. I want to improve, sure. But I'm nothing special." He wiped the sweat off of his brow. "But that doesn't mean that I intend to lose this easily." He kicked off from the ground and charged forward to take the initiative. His first attack was dodged like before, but he had anticipated that. Taking a big step forward, he brought himself well within reach and launched a followup attack with his other fist. But as his attack shot forward, something seemed to resonate in his mind that told him he'd just made a terrible mistake. His foe's face dimmed all of a sudden as her air changed from that of a naive child to a wise mature master.

"Issui Style..." The distance from Ryu's step in was shortened even further as she slipped into the space right in front of him, beside the path of his punch making it completely useless. "...Torrent!" With this announcement, Ryu's face froze in agony as a hailstorm of rapid jabs were thrown into his whole torso's front. He couldn't even count how many times she'd punched him in that brief instant. But that thought was short lived as his vision darkened and he collapsed onto the courtyard floor.


Ryu regained consciousness later, feeling that he was not outside anymore. The softness of a futon held him comfortably, indicating that someone had brought him inside. Opening his eyes, he found himself staring at the ceiling of his own room. Sunlight was streaming in through the window, though the bright orange shade of the rays let him know that it was well into the afternoon and approaching sundown. It seemed he had missed all of his remaining classes for the day.

"That girl...she was strong..."

"Yup! It was no contest. I whooped you butt!"

Ryu shot upright in his bed in shock from hearing the voice of his opponent sounding from beside him. There she was, seated next to his bed while holding up two fingers in a victory sign. "I'm sorry about that. Papa told me to take it easy on the others here, but I just get too excited when practicing hakuda. I figured it was the least I could do to watch over you until you woke up to make sure you were alright."

"You..." Ryu blanked for an instant, unsure of what to say. Conceding to this girl's antics, he let out a laugh. "You are an interesting person. A little odd, but a good heart. I thank you for your assistance, as well as for the practice in class. You've given me a glimpse of true ability and shown me how far I am from that level."

"Ah, don't be so formal!" The girl laughed loudly while roughly slapping Ryu on the back. "I get enough of that at home. Besides, we're all classmates trying to become shinigami together. It's natural to get along."

"I guess that makes sense. I am Ryu Katsuragi. I hope we can get along and learn together."

"And I'm Hana Akarui, let's be good friends!"

Ryu paused again. Something seemed familiar about her name. Something to do with the Gotei 13? Or was it one of the noble families? No that wasn't it. He decided he'd find out more about that in the future.

"By the way...your room is a lot neater than I thought it would be. My papa can be a total slob sometimes, so I thought all boys were just naturally messy."

"That's rather rude. We've merely exchanged greetings. Don't you think it's a little soon to be judging my room Akaru-"

"Hana!"

"Pardon me?"

Hana made a pouting face that looked even more comical by the fact that she had her hands on her hips in a stereotypical scolding pose. "It's Hana! I don't like people using my family name. And we're friends now so you shouldn't have an issue with dropping some formalities." She pointed an accusatory finger at his face as she finished her declaration as if to say that he should have picked up on this without her telling him.

"What a strange girl..." Ryu muttered as he pulled himself out of his bed. "I guess I should call you Hana-san then?"

Hana still seemed somewhat bothered by this, but her gaze softened again. "If you must. But I expect you to work on that. Friends shouldn't let things like honorifics get between them, Ryu."

"I'll be sure to work on that." Ryu answered halfheartedly. He didn't know if he could keep going at this girl's pace much longer. He had to find a way to separate them. "I suppose I should head to the dining area. I haven't even had my lunch after all and it's nearing dinner time. I suppose I'll see you-"

"Oh great! I'm famished! Let's go together then so we can get to know each other more!" Hana grabbed Ryu's arm without warning and began to pull him down the hallway without waiting for his answer. Ryu sighed deeply, thinking about how his life at the academy was about to get a lot noisier.

Ryu was standing by as the students filed in to report for zanjutsu practice. He'd shown up early, as usual, but did not feel the same confronting gazes of his classmates he'd received just a month ago. He probably had Hana to thank for that. Her display of talent in hakuda and hoho had shown the class that Ryu was no prodigy to be feared. And as for his respectable image...

"Good morning Ryu!"

The telltale cry sounded to announce the arrival of the brown blur. Without warning, and totally against Ryu's wishes, Hana had developed a repeated habit of launching herself at him upon first sight so as to greet him with a hug. He'd been surprised by this the first few times, then tried to fend her off with his hands only to find her clinging to his arm. He'd recently found success by countering her with his long legs and catching her in the stomach as she flew in. Though this treatment of Hana had earned him some ire from some of the classmates, Ryu had no intentions of letting up. He timed it just right and stuck out his leg to kick Hana back when...*glomp*...he suddenly found himself with Hana wrapped around his leg like a koala on a tree. He shook his limb furiously to try and detach them as Hana gloated over her victory.

"Heehee, got you this time!"

"So you did, now get off me you stubborn little tick!"

Hana jumped off and took the spot next to Ryu as the class began. She was still beaming like a little kid and he could hear the snickers of those who'd witnessed the scene. Ryu didn't miss the ostracization from before, but he felt that he'd lost some respect from his classmates since becoming friends with Hana. Rather than someone to envy or look at as an example, Ryu felt more like the straight man in a comedy duo here to entertain the masses with their foolishness. But he could not deny that it had benefited him. With the class more comfortable around him, he no longer went without practice and was gradually improving his skills. He'd also noticed a change in the sword he had been given and approached the instructor before they began sparring.

"Sensei, I require instruction."

The teacher turned to him with a look of respect, completely different than the glances of suspicion the faculty had given him in the earlier days. "Yes Katsuragi-kun, what is it?"

"The blade I received upon entering the academy has gone through some sort of change." Ryu removed the weapon from his back where he'd been keeping it due to its large size and presented it to the instructor. "It has grown longer and I need a different training sword if I want to better prepare for using this as a shinigami."

"Impressive. You must have taken the advice you were given pretty seriously if you were able to influence your blade this quickly. Congratulations. That is now your zanpakuto and will be your main tool against your enemies. But you are right, such a length will require a different style than what you've been practicing thus far. Let me get you a new practice weapon."

Ryu was given a new bokken to train with, stretching in length almost as long as that of his zanpakuto. Not used to the new area of this weapon, he spent the class in the corner getting a feel for its capabilities instead of engaging in any sparring matches. The distance it covered was certainly an upside to the change, but it also meant that his comfort zone when engaging foes was further out. With such a long and in some ways clumsy weapon, he was at more of a disadvantage if an enemy got in close. He made a mental note to set some study time aside for brainstorming new ways to use a weapon like this.

Class ended and the students all went about their day. Ryu found himself gazing at the sky after the last class had ended and they were dismissed. As he took in the surreal feeling, he found himself thinking that he finally had some level of understanding of the tranquility that Yasu must have been enjoying that day at before kido class. This was what school life was supposed to feel like. Sometimes hard, others easy. It had its ups and downs, as well as its share of challenges and rewards. It was his job to face the experience with a mind willing to learn and soak up all the experience he could in order to excel. And the one who had brought him to this realization more than anyone else...

"I'm only going to say this once. You have opened the door to so many new possibilities for me. Before, I was lost without much hope for success. Then you showed me that I was the stubborn one who needed to be open to new experiences and other ways of thought. I am extremely grateful for this, Hana."

"!"

Hana, who had been walking beside him froze mid step, causing Ryu to turn back to face her with his head cocked quizzically. Her smile was momentarily gone, replaced by a shocked expression with her jaw hanging in surprise. She took a clumsy step forward, almost seeming as though she were intoxicated, wobbling closer to Ryu with a crazy look in her eyes.

"Say it again..."

"Say what again Hana-san?"

"You know what I'm talking about!" With that, Hana launched herself into the air catching Ryu around the throat, hanging behind his back as he made his way to the cafeteria. There she stayed, oblivious to the looks of passersby, trying to force the previously used endearing statement from her tall friend's lips. Ryu played his part in trying to shake her off as he walked, but was halfhearted with his attempts as he let out a rare genuine laugh. He truly was happy with this new life, and grateful to those who had made it possible like his father, Yasu and especially his new friend Hana.