Quick Learner

Kaoseu woke up early that morning, relishing at his new rank. He grinned as he stretched his back and arms and yawned heartily. He felt energized and excited as he slipped out of bed and into his clothes, grabbing his blades as he walked through the door. He went down to the barrack's meal hall and got himself some breakfast, deciding an extra helping wouldn't be too bad as h polished off his first plate and returned for more. After eating, the 12th seat Shinigami wandered off outside, feeling the warm air and deep blue sky pull him along as they wished.

He had his arms behind his head as he walked along, a smile at his lips. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting the scented air fill his lungs with their rejuvinating caress. he looked in front of him, finally focusing on his surroundings. In the distance, he saw the Shunpo training area and grinned, this time one thought. He had yet to try his hand at the Flash Step, but decided now would be the time to try. His mind made up, he brought his hands to his sides then partially slipped them into his pockets as he walked onwards to the massive track that was sprawled out before him.

He could hear the noises of the track as he drew closer. Shouts to friends, whistles from several instructors who yelled and commanded their teachings. The steady beating of feet on asphalt as they ran. The drip of sweat, the heavy, forced, and carefully measured breathing of the ones that ran the hardest. Kaoseu instantly fell in love, and knew this was a place he would enjoy coming to often from now on.

As he stepped onto the track, it was as if every instructor present sensed it, and a stream of whistles blew in eerie unison, as well as the voices that shouted the same thing, "Hey you! No one on the track without the proper equipment!" Kaoseu was startled, not knowing what they were talking about. He began to take another step closer when suddenly all three instructors disappeared suddenly and then everything was dark and Kaoseu felt his feet lift from the ground and air rush by him. Then the sun returned and he was lookin at the sky again as the hands of the three instructors left his face. He sa up hurriedly and slid back, raising a fist in a sort of threatening manner as he shouted.

"Wha- What the hell was that?!?! How'd you guys get over here so fast?!?! And why'd I end up over here?!?!?! What gives?!?!?! he shouted, utterly and hopelessly confused. The instructors laughed and the one on his right spoke first, and it went in order to the left from that. "That was Flash Step, ya lil 'tard"
"It's also how we, and you, got over here so fast."
"And you ended up over here 'cause you're not allowed on the track without the proper equipment, which you're not wearin'. Come with me, 'fore we gotta get rid of ya!" they all three replied in turn. Kaoseu was slightly creeped out at their seemingly choreographed dialogue patterns. He stood and went to follow the guy that had told him to do so, but suddenly he was gone, as were the other two. Kaoseu looked around in shock, trying to figure out if he had imagined the whole thing, but then saw the three guys standing over by a building and walking calmly through the door. There was no way anyone, living or dead, could move that fast.

He ran to catch up with the three of them, contemplating at how that kind of speed was even possible, when he blinked and they were gone again, just as he came up to the building. He mentally shouted all kinds of curses as he walked through the door and into the large building, which turned out to be a locker room. The three instructors were standing a little ways off, in front of an open locker. One was emptying things out, another was putting some items into a box, whilst the last one loaded what looked like new gear into the locker. "Well, get over here so we can show you your stuff! Geez, you new guys are so slow..." said the instructor that had told him to follow them over there in the first place.

Kaoseu walked, deliberately slower than his normal pace, to the locker. When he arrived, the other 2 disappeared with their respective spoils of the mini locker-raid. The remaining instructor pulled out a long piece of form fitting black fabric, which hethrew at Kaoseu. "I'll be your instructor for today, and whenever you come back. That right there's the standard clothing. There are other parts and styles to it, butya gotta earn 'em. Get dressed and be out on the track in 45 seconds. Each second your late is another 5 laps. Begin!" he said, and disappeared again. Kaoseu was puzzled, and then the instructor's words struck home. He cursed to himself, realizing he was wasting precious time as he rushed to get out of hisclothes and stuffed them unceremoniously into the locker and slipped on the black unitard like attire. He didn't have time to put his shoes on and rushed from the locker room, barreling out onto the track.

"47 seconds. That's an extra 10 laps, which means you've got a grand total of 160 laps to do today. Congratulations!" said the instructor as he turned around and began to walk away. Kaoseu groaned miserably as another person walked from the locker room and saw him standing there, and the instructor walk away. As he burst out laughing, Kaoseu turned on him and gave him a skeptical glare. "What's so funny?" he asked the laughing Shinigami. His reply scared him, and only made his initial impression of the instructor slightly worse. "Your instructor. That's Rekka Gazō, the fastest Shunpo user since Yoruichi Shihouin's day. He's also the strictest instructor, and only teaches one student at a time. So, you're lucky, but screwed. Sorry pal!" said the laughing Shinigami as he walked away again, shaking his head.

Kaoseu felt as if he'd died a little inside. The morning had started out great, and now he was about to be tortured. With a heaving sigh, he followed the instructor, obviously named Rekka, to a starting line. "We'll start with conditioning. You're not anywhere close enough yet to learn Shunpo. Start those laps now. I want you done before noon, which means..." he said, looking at a timer that had most likely come from the human world, "You've got 2 hours. Better get started." Rekka finished. Kaoseu grudgingly stepped up to the line and set himself up as he would have in his highschool days in the living world, and awaited the Rekka's call. "On your mark... Get set... GO!!!" he called, and as the last word left his lips, Kaoseu took off full tilt, not wanting to know the consequences of failing to complete the task on time.

---One Hour Later---

Kaoseu ached all over. His breath came in ragged, short puffs. His body was drenched in sweat. His bare feet were blistered beyond recognition. Despite all this and the fact that he'd only managed 80 laps as of yet, he pushed himself, keeping his pace as fast as he could.

He was tired and didn't know how much longer he could keep this up. He had been desperately trying to figure out how to use Shunpo, because he knew there was no way he'd be able to manage to finish the rest of his laps without it. His pace was getting slower, and visibly so. He sighed, thinking about what he already knew and what there possibly could be. He thought about how effortlessly Rekka seemed to do it, and a thought struck him; Maybe he was just trying too hard.

He continued running and felt slightly rejuvinated, making his breathing measured and even. He ignored the searing burn each one brought to the back of his throat. He loosened his muscles, letting them contract and retract naturally. He then focused on a point a little ahead of him and stretched out his leg, as if it actually would stretch that far, and concentrated a bit of reiatsu to his feet. Then, suddenly, he felt the world blur and he was trying to put his foot down, but not fast enough.

He hit the ground oddly and rolled, the sudden momentum from the increase in speed causing him to flip head-over-heels like a ragdoll-esque car. He kept up the roll for a good few seconds and then stopped abruptly, colliding facefirst with a fence that marked the boundaries of the track. There were bits of asphalt and dirt on his face from his roll and he sat up painfully, carefully rubbing the stains and bits of rock from his raw-skinned face. "Well, looks like you've got some potential yet. Although I wouldn't call that botched, poorly attempted, sad excuse of a mishap anything near a Flash Step. Get up. You've got another 80 laps to finish. See me when you're done." Rekka said next to his face and he had disappeared by the time Kaoseu turned back around.

Kaoseu grimaced as he picked himself up. He felt tired but knew he had no choice but to finish. Now that he had done it once, he figured he could flash step again. He walked back to the track with that thought on his mind. Slowly, he began to run. He did another lap to work out the kinks he had gotten in his wreck and felt better.

He rounded the corner of the last turn before the finish and decided on trying another Flash Step. He focused in the distance, about 3/4 of the way down the track and went through the same procedure as before, letting his body move naturally as he extended his leg with the certainty he could reach that spot, as if it were right in front of him, then added a bit of reiatsu to the soles of his feet. The world blurred again, and instead of faltering in his footing, he followed through with the step. He felt his foot hit the asphalt and let his concentration break ever so slightly and he was rolling again. This time though, he didn't wait and picked himself back up an began at a mild gait, regaining his composure.

He tried several more attempts on every other lap. He still hadn't mastered it and knew he still had a ways to go, but he could manage it well enough that he didn't fall every time. The effect was dizzying and made him off balance and off center, but it was a start. He managed to shrink his number of remaining laps to 2 and heard Rekka call out that he had 3 minutes left. He cursed mildly and went for it all out. He looked up ahead and to his left, focusing on a point close to the end of the curve. He relaxed his body, extended his foot, focused the needed reiatsu, and the world blurred around him again.

He followed through with step, keeping the mindset that he was still running normally. Immediately he focused his eyes on a spot in the distance, past the finish line, and repeated the procedure, before he could get dizzy. He continued like this once he reached that point until he made it once again to that last curve. He focused on a point just past the finish and repeated the tactic one last, his body weak, his mind slightly feeble, but intent on finishing. He felt the world blur again and planted his feet firmly. He stopped abruptly, right in front of Rekka. He gave the instructor a stupified grin and asked while swaying, "So how'd I do?" Then, he passed out, his body overexerted and drained to it's limit. Before his hearing went out, he heard Rekka reply, "You did better than I thought you would. I'll make a helluva Shunpo user out of you yet. Be back here bright and early tomorrow." Kaoseu grinned in his sleep and the sounds of the world ceased.

He awoke much later, in his room, dressed in generic white clothing, his belongings neatly placed on the foot of his bed. He grinned and slid his feet from the bed and made to stand but a searing pain shot up his legs and he fell back onto the bed. He looked at his feet and noticed they were bandaged heavily, and vaguely remmbered waking up in the 4th squad treatment center at one point. He sighed and lay back in bed, closing his eyes to try to sleep. He was sore and knew his feet were raw as fresh-butchered steak, but he also knew Rekka wasn't going to care either. He flipped on his side and drifted off, dreading the moment he opened his eyes to a new day and the greuling training regimine that he knew it would bring.