Candle Lit Reading (open)

It was somewhat late, the moon was high in the sky, and a cool wind was blowing lightly threw out the area. The library seemed dark, with few lit candles and most of the studying students had gone back to there courts for the night.
Yuko was silently sitting at a dark wood table, hunched over a large green book with several others piled up next to him on varies scientific tops, mostly biology and chemistry though. He leafed threw the ruff pages with his sleeve covered hand; his eyes flickering from left to right quickly, reading at a un-natural speed with the dull candle light slowly dimming.
He hade been there most of the day, finding books on scientific topics he deemed logical or simply topics he did not know or understand. Which was normally rare but the library here at the academy was very large and divers compared to others he hade been to, it was also filled with various topics of books he fond worthy. Most of the larger books he was reading where written or recorded bye squad 12 members and there research. Planning to eventually join squad 12 himself, he made it a habit to read up on there discoveries in research and devilment if he was to join them.
Time seemed to pass slowly as he skimmed threw the both old dusty and newer looking books, gaining numbers facts and significant conclusions discovered bye squad 12.

A creek sounded through the library as Shakaku opened the large double doors into her favorite place in the Academy. It was dim, except for a few candles lit here and there. She took long strides over to the receptions desk and slipped the books she borrowed into the book depository. Turning she noticed one lone man, reading a book by dim candlelight. He had a stack of various other books beside him, though she was unable to read the titles from where she stood. Stepping silently, she lit and candle and carried it over to her favorite section. Glancing through the books on hollows and other evil beings, she kept an eye trained on the man reading so intently. He flipped through the pages as if he was looking for a specific topic that he was sure was in that specific book. There's no way he's actually reading that, she thought, skeptically. Finally, she found an in depth book on hollows and theories on how they originated. She looked at the cover of the book. A large, ominous looked hollow with red eyes was glaring at her through what seemed to be a could of fog and willow trees. All you could make out was the outline of the hollow and, of course, the beady red eyes. She felt her skin prickle. Reading about such creepy things such as hollows was probably not the best idea to do in a large dark library, in the middle of the night and in the light of a candle.

Yuko was deep in the dusty book, not taking note of what was going on around him. the flickering light of the candle at his side seemed to grow unusually which caused him to fall back to reality. Slowly, he looked quryisly around the very dark large library, not remembering how long he had been there or even what time of night it was.
After a moment or two he notes there was another academy student in the library, looking at a very large book that he recalled reading himself only a few days ago when researching hollows basic biology. His eyes somewhat narrowed at her form, he wondered why she was here at this time and not back at her living courts unlike the other students. it was very odd to him, he was normally alone at night in this place because he didn’t really get along or even understand the others. Slowly he shut his book, and place it bye to the others next to him, then slowly stud up. He scanned the shadow covered library with his visible purple eye, trying to recall a certain book he planned to go through next. Eventually he found it, but to his own unforchin it was almost next to the reading girl who he had not planned to socialise with, which was a common thing when looking at his past. he rarely if ever talked to people willingly, not to be rude though, he simply didn’t know any better .
After a brief moment of thought he slowly began walking towards the girl, though didn’t look at her, his eyes where fixed on the bookshelf.

Shakaku noticed the man, now as his figure was closer she recognized him as a student. She smiled to herself. They were already recruiting new students to replace the ones like her, just about to graduate and join a squad. She felt slightly awkward as he inched closer, staring intently at the aging, cracking spines of all the various books. She leafed through her own book, though she was distracted by him. He was so silent, it as a little unnerving. Finally it broke her. "Is there something you're looking for? I know this library like the back of my hand. Especially this section since it's my favorite," she spoke quietly even though no one else was in the library at this time of night. Something about the aura of this quiet place made her want to join into the silence and only speak when necessarily. Though this didn't seem like a necessary time, his presence was making her face warm and her feet tap.

The braking silent somewhat uneased Yuko, and as a response he let out a silent sigh and slowly turned towards the girl, not knowingly making him look much more tired the he normally was. “I wouldn’t exactly say looking… I know exactly where the book I plan to read is”, he said very dully grinning lightly as his eyes darted to the self. He held up his sleeve coverd had, pointing at a very thin but long book with an indigo tint to its Wight spine, reading its title slowly “’advanced hollow cognitics and neural developments’”.
He looked at the girl oddly, somewhat tilting his head. He didn’t know if he had seen this girl before, but it felt like he did. Although he toward over her, he cud tell she was very close to his own age physically but bye her tone of voice he cud see she was very machur and much older than himself. His seemingly endless curiosity kicked in soon after, “Are you a first year? I feel like I’ve seen you here before…”.

Shakaku sighed, happy that she was talking to the new student for one and she was relieved that he was an introvert. She was meeting up with way too many, outgoing, obnoxious, loud extroverts. It was nice to finally have contact with the quiet, somewhat shy person with a philosophical mind like herself. "You might have seen me around. I come to the library a lot and I have had a lot of extra free time in the academy since I will be graduating soon. I have been helping out in some of the other classes and training session so you probably have seen me around." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm afraid to say I have never seen you around, though. You aren't annoying like everyone else so I suppose your being a good student and not giving us a hard time." She chuckled softly and glanced at his book. "Neurology is one of my favorite subjects. I studied a bit of it before coming here. I don't believe I have read that book before, though." They both stared at the cover for a few, seemingly long seconds. "I'm Shakaku by the way." She spoke softly.

Yuko grinned at her, interested in her attempted communication. brushing his bangs back he looked sideways at her, with both his poison green and dark purple eyes. He oddly felt conferrable enough to talk to her, but this was mostly due to his Interest, " yes, most of my research is biological. I'm hoping to join squad 12 when I leave the academy". He ran his hand along the books long spine, and slowly pulled it from it's self, looking at the dark black letters along it's cover. " that’s an interesting name, I'm Yuko it's nice to meet you" he said in his dull sad sounding normal tone.
He flipped the books cover open reading threw the first page slowly his eyes flickering back and forth analyzing the books information "so you like neurology?"

"Squad 12? That's a good squad for you if that's your interest. I thought about that squad for myself but I don't think I fit very well into the mad scientist kind of look." She smiled and looked at him. Her eyes widened, shocked by the unusual colors of his eyes. They were colors she never saw in anyone's face, only in nature. She was intrigued but soon felt embarrassed for staring for slightly too long. "Oh yes!" she answered hastily, shaken from the spell he managed to put her under. "I love the mind and how it works. There was one book..." She muttered as she walked through the isle, craning her neck to see the titles engraved on the spine of the books up high on the shelves. The light from her candle was not helping her for it reflected off of the cold and silver lettering, making it near impossible to make out the titles. "Let's see, let's see... Ahh! There it is!" Shakaku set the candle down on the shelf as she stretched on her tip toes to reach a book that was just out of reach. She managed to grip the bottom of the spine and slip it out of it's home on the shelf. "Look here. This is one of the most interesting books in this library, if you're into bio chemical sciences. I use to want to be a psychiatrist before I realized there was more opportunity for me as a Shinigami. This book here has a lot of information on what situations cause what kind of hormones and how those hormones affect the mind. Very interesting, indeed." She handed the book over to Yuko to examine, feeling satisfied and giddy with excitement that someone had the same interest as her.

His eyes met hers as he wondered why she was looking at him in such a different, much more understanding compared too the others, but he didn’t question it. Soon after he shut the thin book he had in his hands and quickly reached for the one she had held out for him “interesting… that would be nice to read”. he looked at the books cover and slowly flipped it over, leavening threw the pages. “ this will help me a lot, thank you Shakaku…” , he turned to grin at her for a moment and then looked back down at the book.
He looked back at her soon after wondering why she was here so late in the first place, or even helping him. He looked a bit different and even acted different from the others, and if people ever did talk to him they normally fond him very cold and left him alone, or talked behind his back and how weird he was. He looked at her for a moment, seeming very interested, “ so if not squad 12, where do you plain to head after the academy ?”

Shakaku felt pride bubble inside of her because he was pleased with her book that she had picked out for him. While he was flipping through the pages, she decided to glance through the section where she had picked that book from. All sorts of information was crisp for the taking, just waiting patiently for anxious readers to open up their crumpled, dusty pages and take a look. So many of the books looked as if they haven't been touched in so long, especially the ones towards the top where barely anyone can reach. Grabbing one of the ladders that was at the end of ever isle, she climbed up it, glancing at all the book titles that were around her as she went up. Shaken from her search, she looked down at Yuko as he asked his question. "Squad 1. They're ways are more fit for me. Honorable, courageous, determined, always willing to help. Slightly arrogant since most of them become nobles." Shakaku chuckled. "That has me written all over it. I'm all about respect and tradition. I swear, I'm an old lady in a young woman's body." She pulled a book off the shelf that was about legends and folklore. This seems to be something that will keep me interested in my free time, she thought as she climbed down from the ladder, glancing at book titles and covers along the way.

Yuko sighed a moment, looking at the Interesting book, “squad 1 eh ? You seem like the Squad 1 type, good luck getting there” he grinned, shutting his book and holding it to his side. He thought about it a moment and wondered if she possibly wanted to get into squad one to get closer to the captain of the first squad, and the leader of the gato 13. He stud there thinking for a moment before terming to look at her ones agene. “ so, why exactly are you here so late ?”.

Shakaku shrugged, suddenly aware that it was an odd time to be wandering around in a large, unlit library. "I couldn't sleep. So I figured books will get my mind working out all it's energy so it would finally feel tired." She hated the feeling. Her body was aching and sore from her constant training. Her joints were inflamed and her arms were weak with fatigue. Through all her pain, her mind was wide awake, working on overtime for no apparent reason. Nothing was bothering her, nothing was stressing her but her mind and body couldn't seem to agree with each other. one wanted sleep while the other was wide awake so to exercise her mind and give her muscles a rest, she figured having a late night read would be a good idea.
"You're into biology. Do you happen to know anything that could help out my knees? They always hurt and feel tight no matter what I do. Some days they feel fine and others they feel like a knife is wedged in the joint." She winced as she took a step, pushing the ladder back to the end of the isle. "It's not so bad it holds me back from walking but it's always uncomfortable. I think I may have arthritis..." She grumbled, rubbing her knee. She suffered from a slight case of hypochondria so any unusual ache or pain sent her into the medical section of the library, frantically searching for what might be causing the uncomfortable, and even more so unnerving, feeling.

He looked at her oddly, holding his sleeve covered finger to his mouth, wondering what cud possibly be done to her to case this and what intense training she hade been going threw for her to take this kind of injury. It didn’t take him long mentally to file threw the seemingly endless amount of once thought useless knowledge on countless scientific topics before he hade a rescindable solution. He looked down at her, beginning to speak calmly, “ it would be unlikely for a spiritual body that appears as young as yours to develop Arthritis, though you may have joint or muscle damage or even heavy tissue damage, it cud even possibly be a bone fragment that has chipped of and is flowing around is mussel tissue causing this intense pain. Though without some tek I’m afraid I cant be much help in discovering what it is, if I was in squad 12 or 4, with there tools I cud help. Sorry” He sighed feeling somewhat useless and upset that all his information was useless without the tools needed to be sure.

Shakaku sighed, dismayed by his response. "I see. Maybe it's inflamed or maybe I should put it on ice after long training sessions." Looking at Yuko, she gave a large grin. "When you become a Shinigami and get into squad 12 you should check me out and see what's up." She sat at one of the tables, ushering for Yuko to sit with her. "If biology is your favorite subject, why not go into squad 4? They are the doctors; That's what they specialize in," She questioned. When considering what squad's to join, she thought about squad 4 because of her interest in the medical sciences but she figured fighting is more of a rush, more of an experience than hanging out in the medical barracks, all day everyday. Being a noble, though. seemed to fit her personality more easily. She slipped into that position. The decision was a hard one to make but she had finally settled and she was proud of her decision.

Yuko grinned back at her, his eyes looking kinder with every moment. “Actually I lake what you would call ‘normal’ emotions I guess, most likely because of my childhood. But I don’t really feel caring or compassionate emotions towards others, so therefor I feel I would be useless in squad 4.” He smiled at her, contradicting his speech of lake of emotions. But making his emotional damage very clear, “and biology isn’t really my favorite subject, truthfully its more in the bio-chemistry field”, he said slowly, in his dull dry tone. He didn’t know why he was opening up to her like this, he rarely if ever talked to anyone, but she seemed very understand and that somewhat comforted him into telling her about himself. “I really only care about research and development, which is why I’m joining squad 12”, his eyes suddenly looked very saddened which was very rare, “ although I don’t know how to feel when it comes to helping people, perhaps doing something I enjoy, will in the long run help…”

Shakaku looked at him, interested with his response and slightly confused by it, too. "You do seem like an introvert but you don't seem emotionally empty. You must have some pretty thick skin. A good trait to have. People always say I'm deceiving because things normally don't look like they are bothering me when they, in reality, really get under my skin. That's how it is with helping people. I love to help people but I get impatient very quickly with people if I can't provide what I need to for myself first." She frowned. Every time during training sessions, her classmates would pester her and bother her about if they are doing a technique right when she had barely begun to master it herself. It always bothered her when she wasn't finished with her own work and people were asking for her assistance on theirs. Once she mastered a technique or finished what she was doing though, she enjoyed helping people out and being a mentor to people. She enjoyed being the person that someone could look up to.
"Why do you think you are the way you are? What happened?" She questioned, tilting her head. She was curious to know what could make a seemingly sweet man turn so cold at heart and so unresponsive to other's emotions. "You don't have to share if you don't feel comfortable with it, though!" She added hastily, embarrassed that she was butting into his personal life.

He trend to her grimly, his eyes looking much darker than normal, “I’m sorry… but I would rather not discus that… not with someone I have just met”. He kind of flinched a moment, having fragmented flashbacks of his horrific childhood, and how curly his village treated homeless and alone children who looked different from everyone else, how he so oftenly was so very close to such a young death from those peoples lake of empathy. He didn’t talk for a bit looking somewhat disturb, then abruptly looked at her with a faint smile, “so… you plane to join squad 1, I’m not exactly formulary with their specialty’s. What exactly is there preppies?”

Shakaku was crestfallen that he didn't share and her curiosity still bit at her but she respected his privacy and kept her mouth shut. The silence was thick and she felt guilty that she brought back the memories of his past which mush have been very traumatic. She sat, gloomily, contemplating what could have happened to him that was so horrible. When he popped the question of her soon to be squad, she looked at him and smiled. "Well they are an honorable group of Shinigami. They are big on respect, especially to those of a higher status since most of them are nobles. They are a traditional people and enjoy very traditional customs, as do I. They are the leaders and the role models of the Soul Society and I like the idea of people looking up to me," She grinned cheerfully. "It's just the perfect description of me and all that I stand for. It was a hard decision for me, though. I was conflicted between squad 5, 7, and 1 but after long hours of thought, I think that I am making the right decision." She felt a flutter of anxiety in her heart as she thought about having to talk to the head captain for her acceptance into the squad. "I'm going to have to speak with the head captain so he can evaluate me and figure out if I'm squad 1 material." She sighed and rested her head on her hands. "I really hope I am. There's no worse thing than to be rejected by the one squad you want to join..."

Yuko look at her slowly, wondering why she wanted to be a role model and a leader, that she felt she had to be looked up upon and honored by the rest. “Perhaps something happened in her past that caused her to have the need to be socially and rank wise at the top”, he thought. Time went on and he looked around the library in boredom, wondering what time of night it was.
He looked over at Shakaku, she looked somewhat excited about joining squad one, which made him wonder even more. “So your about to graduate from the academy right?” he questioned looking at her happily. “is there any field in the shinigami skills you have specialised in ? Perhaps Kidou or even Zanjutsu?”

Shakaku stuck out her tongue, signifying her disgust in Kido. "I don't like kido. It was the hardest for me to learn. I'm better with my zanpakuto and the cunning and wit it takes. Something about kido and using your spiritual energy and ugh!" She shook her head. "I can perform kido well now but it was definitely not my strong suit." She flipped through her book, scanning it for any interesting stories she may find in it's pages. She knew better than to believe in folklore but something about it made her think there was some kind of truth behind the stories. "What about you? I have a feeling you're Kido studies are going well since the use of kido is more dominant in squad 4 and 12 than any other squad." She stifled a yawn, realizing how tired she was from her unexpected meet up with Yuko in the library. I will start heading home in just a bit, she thought, pushing her fatigue aside so not to be rude to her new acquaintance.

Yuko sighed deeply, looking around the dark halls and corridors of the library, he began to feel very tired because of this. “ I guess you cud say I’m skilled in kido, though I rarely fined something I am unable to learn simply my researching deeply into it enough.” he rubbed his head slowly looking down at her, “ I try to keep my skills overall balanced in most of the shinigami combat skills, like Kido, Hoho and Zanjutsu” . he seemed confused to why she lacked kido skills though, of all people her cunningness would suggest she would be skilled in casting Hado.
For a few moments he was silent, he was wondering what time of night it was, and he long he hade been here talking with Shakaku. “ so when exactly will you be placed in squad one? And do you think they will just let you in ?” he questioned out of simple boredom.

Shakaku furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought. "I'm not quite sure how the system works out. I suppose when I get there I'll tell you how it goes." She felt a flicker of embarrassment in her gut because of her lack of knowledge in how the squad placement worked. In her school, they didn't really talk about it and when they did they just mentioned the basics. She always figured that ever squad did their own thing when accepting new members and there was no particular system that any of them followed. She figured she would find out when she got there.
Shakaku looked up at Yuko and felt dismayed at how utterly bored he looked. "I know I may seem boring, but in my life, nothing really big happened. Both my parents are still with me and I have a brother and I wasn't beaten or harassed. I wasn't bullied. I never failed at anything in my life. I guess I just don't have many stories to tell. That's where the impulse of joining the Soul Society stemmed from is the fact that my life is utterly normal and, quite frankly, boring." She examined her hands with fake interest for she didn't want to make eye contact.

He looked at her sideways, content to her outburst of emotion, though seemed somewhat annoyed “ I didn’t exactly say you where boring me…” he listened to her go on about her family, and her seemingly normal life. It didn’t bother her that her childhood was so much different from his own, and even better. He hade no parents or siblings of any kind he cud recall after being abandoned, and he was abused and beaten very harshly. But this didn’t seem to bother him, he simply looked at her oddly, wondering why she was spilling all this personal information.
He sighed looking up at the libraries ceiling, “ that’s rather interesting, I cant say my life was simpler.” he said lowly, though his tone seemed very uninterested. “ so is your brother also a training Shinigami from a perfect normal childhood ?”

Shakaku shook her head. "I don't know where he is," she lied. No matter what Tatsuya did, she wasn't ashamed of him but she wasn't quite willing to tell people who he was. Despite the fact, she felt bad for lying but gave no signs of telling such a fib. She smiled slightly. "I had a feeling. A lot of people here have had, excuse my language, shitty lives. That's the main reason people come here from what I have observed. And I'm not going to say I'm sorry for them because I'm not. I guess what I'm trying to say is that no matter what kind of bad stuff has happened to you, you define who you are in the end. Not anything else." She looked at Yuko. He probably didn't need to hear that or he probably did. She didn't care either way because he needed to know it. Everyone in the Soul Society needed to know it. Frankly, she was annoying with hearing everyone's sob stories and seeing how seemingly good people turned out because of them. "I shouldn't be talking since I didn't have really a bad life but I know some really good people who have had some really hard times and they turn out bad because of them. Don't let that be you, Yuko. You are a good kid, I can see it in you." She smiled. This time she wasn't lying. She really felt that he was capable of some amazing and good things.

His eyes somewhat narrowed slightly. She hade not denied him being a shinigami, but his whereabouts where unknown to her ? He fond this very unlikely and interesting. Cud he possibly be dead, or even a rogue shinigami, or just simply a missing person like she said, he fond it all very interesting. But he didn’t question her on the matter.
As she went on he fond it very odd how she assumed she new so much about people, though it seem somewhat ignorant to him as well. “ I didn’t become a shinigami because of my past, I became a shinigami because of my future. I can here for my research, that’s all.” he said in his ever dulling tone. “ and I cant say I find It amusing that you think you so critically can judge someone based on there pasts and how they grew because of it, only simply because yours was so “normal” you truthfully have very little right to say theses sob storeys are unmeaning” he said in a questioning tone, though also somewhat annoyed as he was lightly frowning “ and I may seem like I can do good, and I hope I can, but like I said before I simply don’t see how I cud” there was an almost unnoticeable tint of sadness in his voice