Thirst for Knowledge (open)

Shakaku entered the large. aging library. The large expanse of books and words always took her breath away when she saw it. Floor to ceiling bookcases were all lined up, storing hundreds of thousands of books on their old, wooden panels. She walked straight towards the section on Kido. Though she was an excellent student, kido was not a skill she excelled in. She didn't understand why but honing the power needed to summon a kido was not her strong suit. Like all topics, though, she was willing to try her best to get as good at the skill as possible. She then sat down with a large book and opened it's crinkled pages.

Auryuu opened the twin doors that led into the library quietly. He didn't want to disturb anyone trying to read quality literature, or make themselves some how stronger. Auryuu had never been a reader, but being 5th squad that meant he had to hold himself at a higher stature then those 11th squad brutes. Auryuu thumbed around with his tsuba, as he entered the library and walked passed multiple tables that had 4 chairs for each neatly lined up.

Auryuu saw a single girl, who was reading a title he had finished a while ago. Books on kido were a large commodity, and the rarest ones are hunted by some members of the 5th squad, hoping to improve their skills, or find a new kido. Many legends had spread about the kido held in these books, bringing the dead back to life, making wood into gold, destroing all reiatsu in any person or object. That taboo books were high on Auryuus prioritys too, he wasn't power hungry, but his curiosity was infinately higher than anyone in his squad.

Auryuu browsed the section, he had read half the books the library had held on the matter of kido. After carefully eying each one Auryuu slowly slid out a rugged brown text book, from the top shelf. It was too faded to read the cover and was just in less than seeked condition. Auryuu aproached the table the girl was set up and a plopped his book onto the table and took a seat by her without saying a word.

As Shakaku leafed through the pages in the seemingly ancient book she noticed someone walk in from the corner of her eye. She hadn't realized that people had come to the library at the hour that she enjoyed reading but she didn't dwell on the subject for very long. She found a page that caught her interest. It was information on how to take simple objects like rocks or feathers and transform them into things such as daggers and knives. Maybe using Kido to aid in her hand to hand combat would be a good idea, especially if something happened to her zanpakuto. Before she knew it, the man that had walked in had sat down next to her. She glanced over at the title. She knew you could learn alot from people by what books they read. She was slightly disappointed to find out the title of the book was so faded, the words were hard to make out. She let out a small sigh and turned the page in her book on kido. I sure hope he doesn't think I'm trying to pull some kind of insidious tricks. Shakaku thought since the book she picked up was full of basic to forbidden kido.

Auryuu glanced over to look at her face, after all you could tell a lot about peoples faces. Their eyes held truth about their past. The facial area if they had scars said, this persons seen war, if they had pimples it meant they didn't care to much about their appearance. If they had freckles it meant they had probably been called freckle face by someone growing up. It was the little things that Auryuu noticed. Auryuu looked down to her book, it was one he was already familiar with, and forbidden kido manuals were pretty much outlawed to be read by anyone, but usually a captain, and still they weren't aloud to learn it.

Auryuu dusted off the book as he opened the front cover than began to flip the pages of the book to see what lay inside. It was dusty, raggedy, and the pages were smudged. Nothing about this book said "Good Condition". Auryuu sneezed as he flipped one of the pages, because of all the dust. The book had definately been there for awhile. It was probably a forbidden text.

Shakaku saw the pockets of dust fly up into the air as the man sitting next to her opened it. He let out a stifled sneeze and turned another page. "bless-" Shakaku began to say but went into a coughing fit. "you..." She managed to choke out. She patted her chest and when she looked at the man, he had a hint of amusement in his eyes. "That book is dangerous!" She spoke holding her throat in an exaggerated manner. "I shouldn't be talking though considering I managed to pick up one of the more forbidden books in the whole library." Her voice dropped when she spoke that last part. She didn't want to give anyone the bad impression.

"Thanks", Auryuu said as he got up from his seat. He began to walk to the shelf as he had finished the book in seconds flat, by skimming through it. Auryuu carefully set the book in the place where he found it, and began to stroll around the other side of the bookcase. Many books were set in the library, it would probably take a lifetime to read them all, so no one really went through all of them. The kido texts themselves, were hard to go through, many disapeared, many were lengthy, many were made. Auryuu had read the taboo ones too, but kept whatever information he had read on them written down in a little notebook. Auryuu gave a long yawn, as he approached the most comfyist char in the library. He sat down and began to sleep.

Shakaku watched him as he went to go put up his book. His height allowed him to reach to one of the higher shelves as he placed the book back in. What a peculiar figure, she thought. He's not much of talker. He then plopped down into a large, comfy looking chair and closed his eyes. Shakaku stared down at her book and eventually got bored reading about all the techniques of Kido. She wasn't any good at it and reading all about it wasn't going to make her better. She stood and walked over to the spot that she pulled the book out of and pushed it back into it's spot. Craning her neck to see up to the top shelves, one book caught her attention. The gold lettering on the spine indicated it was a book for beginners such as herself. "Damn being short," She growled to herself as she stood on her tip toes and stretched for the book. Gripping it right by the bottom of the spine and yanked it down, losing her balance in the process and hitting the bookshelf behind her with an oof. She sighed with relief that none other books came tumbling down. Looking down at the book in her hand she noticed that she grabbed the wrong one. This one was advanced Kido, not Kido for beginners! "Cruses..." Shakaku glared at the book. She mind as well flip through it anyways. Sitting back down at her spot, she cracked open the book to find that the wording was in some text she couldn't understand. "Great..." She muttered darkly, frustrated with her inability to pick up a book that was actually helpful.

Auryuu still steadily dazing back and forth to dream land, kept one eye opened and the other closed. He was tired, he barely got any rest lately. He would have to seek out his living world home to actually get quality rest. Auryuu opened both eyes steadily and aimed them at the girl, fiddeling with the books. Auryuu slowly got up from the chair he had been slouching on, and began to walk over to where the girl was. Auryuu put his hand on the girls shoulder and gave her a smile, "What are you looking for?", he said. Auryuu had known the library like the back of his hand, since he had went there to get peace and quiet almost all the time.

Shakaku looked up at the man that towered above her. She didn't expect him to offer help and immediately felt a rush of guilt for disturbing his slumber. Scolding herself in her mind, she spoke. "Oh I'm looking for something on kido. You see I'm not so good at it and it frustrates me that I don't! So I was looking for a book on tips to maybe help me out in different ways than the proctors tell us to." She hoped he would be able to help her since she was losing hope in ever finding a book that could help her and the last thing she wanted to do was to bother her teachers to give her extra lessons.

Auryuu stared at the girl sensing frustration in her tone. She was being a little bit loud, for what the library was used to, so he got the feeling she had not been there often, or barely at all. "Could this be your first time here?", he asked her as he kept a soft smile across his face.

Auryuu grabbed a nearby book from a shelf nearby and slowly pulled it out causing a small dust cloud to form as he pulled the last of the book from it's position. Auryuu walked back to the girl casually holding out the book for the girl motioning to take it. He moved it closed to her his hand outstreching it further to her,"It's alright you can take it", he said as he loosed his grip on the dusty book.

Shakaku stared at the dusty book for a second. Hesitantly, she grabbed it from him. "Thank you. " Her eyes met his and smiled. "And yes, sir. By myself that is. I have been here with a couple of the other students but this is my first time to be alone." She sighed and dusted off the cover of the book awkwardly. She couldn't shake the feeling that she recognized this man. Where could it have been from? She looked back up at him and spoke, "My name is Shakaku Okibi. I haven't been a student for long but I don't want to be at the bottom of my class." Her tone came out determined. "That's why i needed this book on Kidou so I could maybe get some more tip and tricks from these books." She stared down at the cover. "I'm not very good at it, you see." After a few seconds of silence, she looked back up at the man. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, but what's your name? I feel as if I recognize you from somewhere..."

Auryuu kept a kind smile as she spoke in her soft tone to him, following every word carefully. He thought about his troubles with kido, and understood what she was going through. "My names Auryuu Spire, and I would be honored to help you with your kido, I'm from squad 5", he said to the girl, who seemed a tad shy. Squad 5 had been versed well with kido, over the years, it had diversifyied into a fighting squad, to a kido hybrid combat squad.

Auryuu was confused about her recognizing her, he had never met anyone like this before, or atleast he didn't think he did. "And I don't think I've seen you before you must have me mistaken", he said. "If you would like I can take you to the range so we can practice your kido", he said smiling faintly.

Confusion clouded Shakaku. Why did she recognize him? Shaking it off she smiled. "Wow really? That would be a great help to me!" She grinned widely and pressed the book to her chest. "Kidou is such an annoying task." She rolled her eyes. "But I suppose it's helpful when a zanpakuto and hand to hand combat is not." Smiling she shifted her weight from foot to foot. "When do you think we should practice? You're the professional so whenever is convenient for you." She felt a little awkward being inexperienced and having a man she has never met before help her with her techniques. He seemed kind enough and wouldn't judge her if she made a mistake, though.

Auryuu smiled at the girl, "Whenever you want, we could have a go right now if you would like? Auryuu fidled with the books on the shelf as he spoke to her. The amount of dust, was rather massive. His hands became dusty after a little after he looked over the books, rubbing the book spines to see the titles. Auryuu smiled back at Shakkaku once more, her innocent eyes, seemed to wait for a answer. She seemed curious, and gentle, much the opposite of some other female shinigami Auryuu had met. They were almost total opposites, though. Shakaku was a tad shy and not confident of her abilities. Kaiyo was extremely confident, and fierce, but could be gentle. He enjoyed Kaiyo, she was herself, and that meant a lot to Auryuu.

Auryuu waited for her response, eager to warm up.

Shakaku grinned widely. "Sure! Let's begin!" She tucked the book into her book bag and walked straight to the doorway. Turning, she leaned against the door frame and smiled. "I'll meet you there!" She then turned and walked out of the library, eager to begin her lessons.