A Quiet Meeting~ {ShibataTim}

Following her last, decidedly eventful but useless trip to library Haruko decided that she had best return to actually find a book that was on a subject she actually needed to be studying. She smiled at one of the librarians and quickly asked her where she would be able to find a book on Kidou techniques. The slightly elderly woman tapped her chin as if for dramatic effect and then seemed enlightened as she pointed her finger to a particular section of the library with a bright smile on her face, Haruko thanked her quickly before striding over to the directed location.

Who knew there could be quite so many books on kidou, she had expected a few, but this section of the library was filled with shelves dedicated to the art. She simply didn’t know where to start, there were small books, thick heavy looking books and upon closer inspection, some that even appeared to be handwritten. She pulled a face as she skimmed her finger along the shelf, picking on out that had ‘Kidou Basics’ written down the battered spine. She tucked it under her arm before looking for another, trekking to the huge library to simply walk away with one book would be, in her opinion a slight waste of time.

Roughly ten minutes later she had chosen four books, three of them relatively small and the fourth quite a large, very aged book. Her intentions were to spend the night skimming through the books and returning the ones she felt she would have no use for the next day. She pushed her hair back behind her ear before making her way over to one of the librarians…

Shibata Tim was well rested by now and this was a new day. A new day where he decided instead of training his physical features, it might be best to train his mind as well. Replacing his night attire for his standard Academy Gi. He made his way outside of his small residence, which had really been a gift from the Academy. Despite it being an apartment he was quite pleased with it.

So, he dispatched for the local library. Where upon reaching it he found many aspiring Academy Students reading and having idle chit-chat, yet at a very low tone. He approached, what he assumed to be, the front desk. Where he waited idly by for another student to finish up his questions for the librarian. When it became his turn to speak as he was next in line, or so he believed. He mistakenly bumped into a woman. Which was a bit surprising to me as he was usually pretty aware of his surroundings. The woman had a handful and armful of books on her person; which had turned had a few hit the ground for his rudeness. Tim bent down to pick a book up and as he stood back up he spoke.

"My apologies miss..." He said at a lower tone then normal. They were, after all, in a library. There is rules on such things; either do not speak or at least speak in a quiet matter. Speaking in a normal tone and volume would just be rude to the other patrons here within the library. He handed over the book to the lady and motioned his hand to allow her to go ahead of him. It would just be rude to step ahead of her in line. Whether or not he was there first, did not matter to him.

As she walked to the desk, she paid little mind to the people around her, seen as there weren’t a huge amount of people in the library she didn’t feel she needed to be particularly aware. Apparently however, she was wrong and she barely had time to register that she was about to walk into another person until it had actually happened and a couple of the books she held loosely under her right arm slipped from her grip and fell to the floor with a dull yet heavy thud.

She sighed out slight, as she bent down to grab one of the books, noting that the person she had knocked into was mimicking her actions and picking up the other one. She pushed her hair out of the way of her eye as she stood, scanning the man before her quickly as he spoke, a neutral expression sitting on her face, she wasn’t really annoyed or anything, after all it was mostly her fault anyway.

“That’s quite alright,” she said perhaps a little louder than she should have done judging by the death glare the woman at the desk sent in her direction. “I should probably look where I’m going a little more often,” she finished, taking the book gently from his grip and pushing it under her arm securely. “Oh no, you can go first, I don’t mind,” she said. She was actually in a fairly good mood, which seemed to make a nice change of late…

She was nice, even in her response. In fact a bit nicer than Tim had expected. Most of the people that he had ran into were a bit rude and jumpy. Except for his recent acquaintance and friend, Anna. Who had mysteriously ran off after they had escorted the thief to a proctor to send to a jail cell. In fact, he should probably look into her whereabouts after he was done here. Taking her kindness swiftly, he moved to the front desk.

"Would you be so kind to point me into the direction of the Ki..do spells section?" He said with some uncertainty. He had no knowledge of the spells except for his light exposure to what Anna had used and figured that they may come in handy. Though he would always trust his blade over such arts. It definitely could not hurt to learn a new art. The librarian nodded lightly and merely pointed here finger towards the aisle where the books were. "That entire section there."

He was a bit surprised. An entire section of the library dedicated to these spells and he had absolutely now knowledge of it. What a shame he must of been to his fellow students in the Academy. Though with his lack of knowledge of these strange spells and arts, he made up for with his swordsmanship. Which he prided himself on actually. Tim slowly turned and began to walk to the aisle the librarian had pointed out. Minding where he was going this time to not bump into anyone again.

She smiled as he walked forward to the desk, unintentionally, (or perhaps, completely deliberately) overhearing what he was saying to the woman. Raising an eyebrow she looked up from where she had been idly studying the back of one of the books to see the librarian pointing her finger in the direction she had just come from.

She pursed her lips slightly and turned to look at her fellow academy student as he walked past. “Kidou not your strong point either?” she asked followed by one note of an almost humourless laugh, looking down at her book once again before turning it in her hands. “I’m pretty bad at it myself, can barely remember the incantations and when I do the thing itself never comes out the way I want to,” she rambled slightly. “So yeah, that’s urm…” she laughed a little, this time a slight hint of nerves lacing the sound, whilst scratching the back of her head with her free hand.

She had this odd habit of thinking that; when she had spoken to a person once, for whatever reason, she had to try and continue the conversation, or make an effort to make sure a conversation didn't fizzle out. She didn’t do it all the time, though it often served as a good way to make friends some people didn’t always want to carry on a conversation, which then just served to make a situation awkward..

As he stepped away from the front desk, he was stopped by the woman who had had bumped into. She mentioned that she was also not adept at the Kido spells that he was intriguing about. In truth, he didn't know diddly squat about the strange spells. So he turned and replied to her.

"Truthfully miss, I do not know single thing about them. They are strange spells that I have only recently witnessed and they seemed to have some usefulness. Perhaps we could learn together?"

Tim left his statements off with a question. It would be beneficial to both of them if they worked together. The woman had already had more knowledge of these strange spells then he had, apparently. So, it would be a leg-up for him, if she would help him.

"Oh how rude of me. My name is Shibata Tim and you are?"

She smiled a little “Oh I know a little about them, but I may as well not know anything at all,” she stated, it was true although she was certainly not the worst at casting Kido she was so far from the best that it was laughable. She shifted the books under her arm, them being heavier than they looked especially as she continued to hold them and blinked a couple of times nodding her head.

“I can imagine they’d be incredibly handy in a tricky situation if you knew how to use them well enough, and yeah, that sounds like a good idea,” she smiled “It’s always better to have company when trying to learn something,” she said, it was certainly much more exciting that sitting around in her room, snacking pointlessly while she studied, not really absorbing much of the information.

She nodded her head, noting that he had spoken his last name first, that was unless he had a peculiarly short last name. “I’m Suzuki Haruko,” she said introducing herself “most people take to calling me Haru though,” she added a couple of seconds later.

Tim smiled to his new acquaintance. She had given her name to him and agreed to learning together. Which would benefit the both of them, he hoped. "Well then Haru, let us find some place to rest our legs. But first, allow me to get some of my own books. If you could find us some seats, that would be good." He smiled to her once more before making his way into the aisle that the librarian had pointed out.

When he arrived in the aisle, he got a bit lost to be honest. There was a ton of more advanced readings, which he tried to not pay any attention to as they would just leave him even more confused. Tim tried to find some basic books and had indeed found a section that held such books. Grabbing a few he looked once more over the shelf for a introductory to the arts and after a few more moments found such a book.

Now he had quite a few books in his grip. Making his way out of the aisle's he searched for his new acquaintance Haru. Hoping that he could pick her head out of the crowd of students. Though he had only just met her and it was proving a bit difficult. It wasn't that he could not remember her face, but that there was so many other faces in the thicket of students also grasping knowledge here.

She smiled and nodded her head once, completely disregarding the fact she was going to take the books back to her room and stepping away from the desk in order to let the next person in the queue go. “Alright then,” she confirmed before walking off in the direction of one of the many small seating areas that were dotted around the large library.

She started closer to the section in which the Kidou books were located and was delighted to find a blissfully uninhabited table that harboured four seats. She rushed over, keeping her pace at a fast walk so as not to look out of place or draw unwanted attention to herself. She thudded the books down in front of her, half expecting a cloud of dust to disperse from the pages, and followed suit, plonking herself down into one of the wooden chairs around said table.

She began flicking idly through one of the books, not really taking in anything just glancing at the sparse pictures that littered the yellowing pages of the largest, oldest looking one she had picked out. She looked up a few times but couldn’t spot him anywhere and so she continued to read, figuring that if he took too long she’d just have to go and find him or something.

He looked away from the aisle. Tables and chairs were occupied by students that he had never even met. Picking out Haru was going to be a bit of a pain, until he noticed that closer than he had originally imagined she was sitting. Tim walked at a slow pace towards the table she had nabbed up for them.

Placing the books down on the table as he pulled the chair out. Before resting his rear end in it and sliding the chair forward. Pulling a single book from the stack of them that he had brought, placing it right in front of him. The title of the book read, 'An Introductory to the art of Kido'. In fact it was just the book he was looking for. For he had no knowledge of Kido whatsoever. It was both foreign and strange to him and the only experience that he had with it was witnessing Anna use it.

"Lucky I found you Haru. There are so many students here today." He said softly as he began to flip through the book reading every line carefully. He would treat this as seriously as he would training with his sword. He felt that if he didn't, he would not learn anything. It was just Tim's way of training, whether it be physical or mental.

She leaned her chin on her knuckles, her head tilted downwards as she scanned the pages, taking in random chunks of information, not looking away except when she turned the page. She was not keen; to say the very least. She hated the study of Kido when learning it practically so having to read about it didn’t have her too thrilled, at least she would leave with her pride intact though, not having the embarrassment of failing in front of the small crowd that was her whole class.

She sighed out over dramatically and leaned back in her seat, her arms falling to her sides limply as she slammed the book shut with a dull thud, before scanning the room with her green eyes, her eyebrows pulling down into a frown as she looked for her new acquaintance. She was about to stand up and go find him when she heard the noise of him placing the books down on the table opposite her.

“Oh good, I was about to go and search for you, most likely forfeiting our table,” she said with a smile as she leaned forward, balancing her elbows on the table. “Find many books of use?” She asked curiously as she gazed forward, he obviously had, but she asked more for conversational purposes than anything.


[My gawd, I thought I had replied, I typed it out like, ages ago, but apparently, I didn't his send or something :S Sorry!]

He flipped through the rough pages; each seemed to have been read threw many a times. A slight sigh came from him as his eyes adjusted to the small font. Just as Haru leaned over the table and spoke.

"I'm sure glad that you have not. There are so many fellow students here. Though I don't know a single one of them..." Tim trailed off a bit. It was true, besides Haru here with him now and Anna. He didn't know a single soul here. Though he hoped he would meet some of them eventually.

Kido, these spells, were very foreign to Tim. He had witnessed Anna use a few of these spells and they seemed to be handy. Whether or not she had master them, was not the issue. They showed their purpose as a range offensive. He, himself, is pretty much limited to hand to hand combat.

She shoved the first book to the side, sliding it across the table gently so she could better access the second book she had picked up. This was more up her street, without saying she was illiterate, the pages were mostly decorated with diagrams informing the reader different stances to take while reciting the incantations, which were printed below the pictures. She could read and write with not worries at all, being brought up in a good district and having parents that had more money than sense, her education had been a huge part of her younger life, she still preferred to look at pictures though.

She looked up at him as he spoke, turning the page absently before nodding her head slowly. “Yeah, I’ve been here a few years, so I know some people, I tend not to go out of my way to speak to people though so I don’t really have many friends. Me and my roommate don’t see much of each other but she’s about the closest friend I have,” she shrugged her shoulders chewing on her bottom lip. “I’m sure you’ll get to know the people you have lessons with though, so it shouldn’t be so bad,” she wished she could be more help but she knew she’d be graduating soon…

In the depth of his own mind, Tim was thinking of entering a Squad. Though he figured that was a far off goal at this point in time. He so wished to serve the spirit world more so. To go off into the world of the living and protect them as he had done so when he was living. He would also be obligated to defend the souls within the Seireitai as well.

He listened to Haru's words of kindness. As they were just that; she was attempting to comfort him or so he believed. "I've come familiar with only one other person than you. I am open to friendship with others. Though I do not know why others tend to stay away from me. I don't believe that I set off a bad aura or what have you. People just generally stay away from me. Which is odd, seeing as how I would, have given, my life up for people."

He chocked a bit on the words. Tim only spoke the truth after all. He did give his life up to rid Japan of the many bandits plaguing the land and in fact, it had cost him his life. Though he had taken many of them with him. He turned the pages idly by as he conversed with his new friend. Taking in what he could on each page.

She felt as though, after just a couple of minutes of scanning over it; the book that was open in front of her would be hugely beneficial in her understanding of the art, though it would by no means make her some sort of Kidou master, it might make her more averagely skilled at the art.

She looked up when he began talking, straightening out her back which made a rather satisfying clicking noise as she did so before focusing her attention on his words, sensing a slight hint of negative emotion in his voice. Her eyebrows pulled together slightly, forming a frown on her previously soft features. “I can’t imagine why people would avoid you?” She said, almost questioning it “I usually avoid people if they look to shifty, but you look just fine to me,” she offered with a smile, wiping the frown from her face. “What about this other person? Are they at the academy too?” She enquired, not meaning to be rude just out of innocent curiosity. As she waited for his reply her eyes dropped to the book again, her fingers brushing off a piece of fluff that had settled on the page.

“I don’t think I could give up my life for people as a whole,” she stated a few moments later after a little thought “my family, I could without question, but I don’t think I could just anyone,” she said it quietly and shrugged her shoulders “I guess that just proves who the better person out of us two is then,” she said with a bright smile.

The words on the page seemed to grow smaller and ever farther away. As he squinted to read the fine print. His head ached and he grumbled a bit. Thinking of how much joy it brought him to train physically. Though he could understand that mental training was nearly just important. Before he looked towards Haru after listening to words and question.

"Her name is Anna and she is pretty secretive. I mean, I would consider us friends, but she might not. She is often lost in her own mind, but everyone is different. Anna is also at the Academy, though I have yet to see her in two days..."

Tim trailed off a bit. Looking at Haru, before speaking once agian. "Better isn't really how I would put it Haru. We are both different than one another, yet you are more adept in things that I may never be at. While the same goes for myself. We are all different and unique, no matter how we try to change that."

He went back to her earlier statement about giving up her own life for others. As he had stated that he in fact had already done such a thing. "On what you said about giving up your own life for others Haru...I don't believe I ever thought of it, I mean yes I was there and made the conscious decision to, but I doubt I ever really thought of it. This brings me back to something I read once; If one fights for the many and the many fights for the one; then the land shall prosper. I firmly believe in it."

She was barely even processing any of the information in the book in front of her and decided she would read them properly when she was back in her room. She looked up at him once more as she heard his voice, raising an eyebrow slightly. “I’ve never met an Anna,” she said simply, of course the chances of her having actually met his friend were fairly slim anyway.

She leaned back in her chair once again as he continued speaking, relaxing slightly “Morally better then,” she said with a smile a gentle laugh before shrugging her shoulders “I’m not really good at anything, my skills are quite well rounded, with the exception of Kidou,” she said nodding her head at the book in front of her with slight frown. “But I like that, I once met a guy who was an exceptionally skilled swordsman, but he was slow and clumsy and had the smallest amount of reiatsu I’d ever felt,” she said with a snort.

Her eyebrows knitted together once again as she thought over his next words, cocking her head to the side very slightly in mild confusion, “you’ve actually given your life up for people before?” She asked quietly “wow,” she said, her frown subsiding as she smiled “I guess that means you weren’t born in the Soul Society then, huh?” She asked, she always found it odd when people had been born in the human world, for she had spent most of her life living with and around people that had been born straight into the spirit world.

He closed the book laid in front of him. It was beginning to drain him staring at the text as it seemed to get more foreign and the font got smaller. He was sure the librarian would allow him to check the book out and if not, he could return later. Placing the book on the stack of his own books that he had collected.

Tim then listened to Haru's words. "Indeed I have given my own life up for those that were living. I only hope that it was not in vain." His stomach grumbled a bit. He had almost forgotten that he had not eaten today. It was a bit strange, he had always imagined that when you died, you simply just ended, but that had been proven false.

"Yes, I was born in the world of the living, not here. I didn't even know if that was possible. Were you born in the spirit world Haru?" Tim asked as kindly as possible. He did not want to offend her, though he did not know why it would of offended her.

Her eyes flickered down to focus on his hands closing the book for just a second before she focused her attention back on him, smiling gently at his words. “What an entirely selfless thing to do,” she said, admiration for what he had admitted an undertone in her voice “I’m sure it wasn’t at all in vain,” she added after a second. She liked hearing the stories people had to tell, if they were willing to tell them.

She nodded her head slowly at his question “Yup, born and raised in the Rukongai,” she said with a smile. “Yeah, if for any reason you were to die as a soul you’ll just get reborn as a human, it’s a pretty scary concept to be perfectly honest,” she said running a finger absently down the pages of the book that was open before her before snapping it shut. “I heard your belly,” she stated almost childishly with a small grin “I’m pretty hungry too, so we could go fetch some food and read somewhere else, or… Not read, weather’s pretty nice would be a shame to stay cooped up in here,” she suggested also plopping her book on the top of her small pile.

Heru's next words baffled him even more. As he looked at her and spoke intrigued. "It was pretty strange to die and end up here; as I never expected their to be a spirit world. Now you tell me that if you die in the spirit world that you turn into a human?" Tim shook his head in disbelief. It was a hard concept to understand, unless one believed in reincarnation.

Tim smiled at her and continued. "Yeah, I've completely forgotten lately that you need to eat here in the spirit world just as if you were living. This whole thing is new to me." He stood sliding his books to the edge of the table, before he offered to pull Haru's chair out for her. "Eating sounds fantastic right now. Perhaps the librarian will allow us to check these out or at least store them somewhere for out return; hopefully."

She laughed slightly at the look on his face, his question actually making her doubt the words she had spoken. Looking down at her suddenly interesting nails she shrugged her shoulders slowly “that’s what I was always told at least, that there is an amount of souls in existence and they are simply recycled throughout the worlds, for it would tip the balance and cause problems if they suddenly started disappearing, hence why the Quincys were a problem,” she stated quietly looking up as she finished.

She nodded her head “I used to forget too, I went so long never really needing food that hunger was an oddity, I fainted once because my reiatsu was pretty much gone because I hadn’t eaten,” she said shaking her head at the memory. “Thank you,” she said as she stood up, with him pulling the chair out for her “she picked up her books and tucked them safely under her arm before pursing her lips “Say we have an exam tomorrow and we need to get a load of study time in, she won’t check up on it and it’s a good enough reason to warrant taking the books away” she said quietly with a grin as she began to make her way toward the librarian’s desk.

He pulled her chair out for her in respect and then in the same motion pushed it back under the table once she had stood up. Tim listened to her as he too picked his stack of books up and held them under his arm. In truth he didn't know much about the Quincy's, but that was for another time.

Tim followed his new friend towards the librarians desk and smiled a bit. A little white lie wouldn't hurt them nor the librarian. Even though they had no test coming up, they surely needed to study. As the two made their way to the desk of the librarian, he sat his books on the counter. "Excuse us miss, but we need to check these books out. For we have an exam coming up and need to cram some studying in." The librarian nodded lightly and stated with a meanish looking face. "I'm sure two students like yourselves do. Just bring them back promptly."

He smiled at her idly and began to walk away with Haru. As they walked past the other tables, chairs and the cluttered room of students, he spoke once again to her. "Do you know where you would like to go Haru?"

She took her books and rested them on the counter in front of the woman, then looked over to Tim as he started to explain their ‘situation.’ She didn’t really take books out often, but she knew they could be really selective about whom they let borrow books, though she saw no reason why they wouldn’t allow them to do it. She smiled at the woman, almost sarcastically upon hearing her clipped tone and picked up her books once more before turning to Tim.

Once they were out of the woman’s earshot and line of sight she scowled slightly “what a sour old cow,” she stated before shrugging her shoulders and pushing the heavy, creaking door to the library open. “I don’t really have a preference, though I think there’s like, a cafeteria somewhere which should sell us something we could take away or we could just hang around in there if you wanted,” she shrugged her shoulders again, something which was becoming a force of habit. She pushed her hair out of her face with her free hand as she walked, slowly as she didn’t know which direction they would be going yet..

Tim smiled slightly at her after they had left the library. Haru had mentioned a cafeteria in which he had never personally gone to. So, he would be forced to ask her directions whether he wanted to or not. "I've never been to the cafeteria. Perhaps you should lead the way for us."

He said as they were walking side by side. In truth the only place he had gone to eaten around here, when he had remembered to eat, was a ramen shop which he had become acquainted with. The boiling noodles and pork brought back fond memories of his home. Though those days were long gone now. Lifting his books up once more to adjust his hold on them.

She began to walk in the rough direction of the cafeteria, not walking too fast, her pace more leisurely than anything else. She nodded her head “yeah, it can be really tricky to find if you’ve not been there before,” she said with a smile remembering the first time she had tried to find the food hall and had ended up in completely the wrong place. She turned a corner and pushed open a door leading to the outside, the route taking them past a couple of the larger classrooms, a couple of which had classes of students busy at work within them.

After a few more minutes, of well educated guess work she pushed open the doors that lead to the canteen, the smell of cooked food hitting her suddenly and making her realise just how hungry she actually was. “They sell loads of stuff, so you’re bound to like something,” she turned to him and said with a smile. She then made her way over to the counter, where she ordered herself a bowl of Ramen noodles and a cup of coffee to go alongside them. She took the bowl as it was handed to her and smiled a thank you at the woman before waiting for Tim to order his own.