Of Pride and Stubborness

Sweat poured down Cass' normally smiling face as he crossed the line that marked his fifth lap around the small quarter mile of a track. His arms and legs felt as if they were made of lead as he fell to the ground kicking up a small cloud of dry dust, “This is ridiculous how is anyone supposed to make four laps in under 8 minutes with these weights strapped to my arms and legs?” Cass yelled out in frustration as he forced his arms to slide up so he could push himself up. With a grunt Castiel stood up on aching legs, There is no way anyone could move with these weights on, it feels like the harder I try to to move the heavier they get.

Four weights were the source of all Cass' fury; because he had slacked off during class the instructor had told him when he could make it around this track four times in less than eight minutes he would never have to come to his class again. That offer was one that his pride wouldn't let him back down from because if he did it would mean that he would have to do so in front of his own classmates. After watching him struggle to make the first lap in little under 10 minutes his instructor smirked and told him when he was ready to give up to crawl back to the dojo and when he was able to make time to bring the weights back to him.

Taking a heavy step forward Cass felt his arm swing backwards out of reflex and suddenly realized his own mistake as the wieght suddenly pulled him back down to the ground this time on his back leaving him to look up at the darkening sky. I'll stay out here all night if I have too, but I will not give that pompous instructor the chance to embarrass me. Gone now was the happy-go-lucky Cass that everyone saw on the outside, this was a more determined individual that people rarely saw.

Shikuro had been findling with his own problems his was just as speed based, though his was a whole differend level, he had changed into a new set of clothes, sleevless as otherwise his arms would take extreem damage. But now he figured the training would take a break, and now came walking down the other training area,s while he had used up alot of reserves he still seemed headstrong and steadfast-

A particular place piqued his interrest as he walked up to one of the benches watching carefully, this guy was really going at it, reminded him alittle of himself, though he never went to the extends of useing weights, atleast not himself, though he did have the record for going around the lap fastest back when he was in the academy. He chuckled softly looking around, didn't seem like there was that many spectators but he decided to wait alittle letting the time pass slightly untill the most had grown tired or stopped making their own individual training.

Though Shikuro didn't really get to that point as he saw the kid do the mistake most people did, having those weights on gave you a completly differend weight in your body, and he even had them on his arms aswell. He slowly stood up walking over to him, luckily though due to recent events Shikuro apearance had changed drasticly so being recognized wasn't likely not here atleast only his division so far knew of his new apearance. "You okay there... sport?" He smiled softly and pleasantly looking down at him, moving down grabbing by the shirt in one arm and even with the weight, he flung the guy up on his feet with ease.

Cass grimaced as a new face came into view blocking the reddish glow of twilight from his view the guy was tall from his vantage point on the ground and had dark hair that framed his face. When the Young guy grabbed his sleeve and yanked Cass to his feet he could barely believe it and his face showed it as he stared at the man for a moment. Who in the hell is this guy to be able to lift me with all the extra weights like I am nothing? He must be a really advanced student or maybe even a full fledged shinigami.

After a few moments of staring wordlessly Cass finally regained his composure and moved to bow only to stop as he suddenly remembered that if he shifted to much he would lose his balance thanks to his weights. “I'm fine.” Cass said politely, “But I must get back to what I was doing, if you're here to see if I am ready to apologize to the instructor and admit defeat you are wasting your time. I will sooner leave the shinigami academy than admit defeat than admit that I cant make time on this run.”

Cass turned to start around the track again and this time he did his personal best making it five steps before the weights forced him to his hands and knees. With a Grunt he got back to his feet and tried one more time this time he made it two steps when one of the weights drastically changed and forced him back to the ground as it dislocated his exposed left shoulder from its socket. Breathing heavy Cass closed his eyes and tried to will the pain away but he couldn't move his to get it more comfortable. With a feeling of regret he turned his head to see the guy still standing there, before asking rather regretfully, “Is that offer for help still an option, because I think my shoulder is broken.”

Shikuro smiled softly, letting the guy get hi balance back, ofcourse it didn't matter much to Shikuro, he would just pick him up if he fell again. He chuckled mildly watching him rethink bowing down to say thank you, ofcourse that would only mean landing headfirst and that simply couldn't be pleasant. He was though just being friendly ofcourse, not wanting this guy to go through this challenge alone, but he had to be new as it seemed he haven't understood how a body of a soul differs from a body in the real world.

Shikuro crossed his arms, not entirely sure what the guy was talking about. He tilted his head listening carefully, though as he was done he couldn't help but to let out a mild chuckle though extreemly low he wasn't even sure he could be heard as the guy simply decided to move forward with his challenge. "Thats not what I'm here for... so this is a punishment course..." He shaked his head, never liking the teachers of this place, luckily he didn't have to deal with them one bit anymore. He had egun to walk away from him again as it was clear his help wasn't wanted, or was it?

He hadn't gotten very far as he heard the plea for help he turned again to see the predicament. He let out a sigh walking over there, he felt mildly amused knowing even this as bad as it looked was nothing to a soul really. "Let me guess you're pretty new to the whole being a soul thing... or you can still remember how it was to be human?" He Went down this tame when he grabbed him, he did pull him up more more gently. "Take it easy..." He went to get a look on his left shoulder.

Cass' shoulder screamed in pain as the stranger helped him to his feet, groaning he undid the weights on his arms and frowned. As soon as they were undone they were suddenly feather light sitting in the palms of his hand, “What the hell are these things?” Cass wondered aloud as he looked at them before setting them on the ground. Attending to his shoulder Cass placed his unharmed hand on it and tried to rotate it slowly wincing when it gave a sickening pop as it slid into socket.

“So...” Cass started as he tried to catch his breath that was stolen from the sharp pain. “What brings you out here? I am gonna assume you're one of the upperclassman seeing as you didn't know of the punishment that the instructor had given me for not taking her class seriously.” He held out his hand in greeting. “My name is Cass, although most of the others would tell you to not worry about remembering my name. Most of my own classmates assume that I will flunk out, but I am gonna prove them all wrong, and the first step is to master this damn exercise the instructor gave me as punishment for telling him his class was useless.”

Cass smiled though it was obvious he was tired and still in a pain from his shoulder he looked down at the weights he had taken off. “I don't guess you know if there is a trick to these things do you? It seems that when I put them on they become heavier and heavier until I can barely move. How am I supposed to make it around this track 4 times in 8 minutes if I have to crawl?” Cass was puzzled enough that he had swallowed his own pride enough to ask for help.

Shikuro croocked his head, shrugging bending down to take a look, never been much of a inspecter in things that didn't matter to him, he smiled softly knowing now why this guy had been forced to do this, he simply didn't grasp how the body in this place worked. He stood up again, not wanting to just tell the guy, rather have him figure it out on his own. Would be that much more rewarding if he could do so. He raised an eyebrow watching as the guy seemingly had some warriors spirit, just merely placing his shoulder back like that, for now just keeping quiet.

He blinked however as it would seem the guy seemed to have snapped out of the pain, raising an eyebrow keeping quiet untill he couldn't do so any longer, softly moving into a mild chuckle. "Upperclassmen huh? Well you could say that..." Quickly wanting to keep his identity a mystery he changes the topic. "Well no matter the teacher you should always show them some respect they might surprice you" He smilled softly, seeming to tell the truth and while it might be true, Shikuro himself wasn't one to stick by the rules back then, quite the opposite infact. He however did listen to this guy Cass, and even extended his hand to shake his, smilling softly as he listened to his words. Clearly listening carefully even though he kept quiet, knowing that this would most likely change if Cass actually figured out who he was.

He chuckled mildly as he was asked if there was a trick to it, it wasn't really like that. There was one sorta even though, but not to this alone instead it was basicly a trick to progressing in this world, and in this new form. He scratched the back of his head a bit trying to figure out how to explain this without giving him the answer. "Well Cass I'll try to remember you... I'm guessing you have the most of your memory from back when you were still human..?" He paused watched him closely to see if he was pondering about just those words before continueing. "If so you will possibly remember how that body had muscles to work for you, and those muscles did the lifting... but you don't exactly have that body anymore... you're just a soul" His clear silver eyes stared dirrectly at the fellow, looking very serious trying to see if he got the hint here or not.

Cass laughed as the other student tried to tell him the basics of what being in this world meant, finally Cass held up a hand to stop the man from trying to explain what he already knew further. “I have no memory of who or what I was before waking up on a shore in the farthest district of the southern Rukongai, all I have ever known is being a soul. In fact, the only memento’s I have from my previous life are these.” Cass held up his hands to show the scars overlaying on the back of both of his hands.

Sitting down Cass started to attach the weights back to his legs, maybe the reason he is bringing up the difference between a soul and a human body is because I am missing the obvious clue. As a soul and a shinigami student I am more aware of the amount of energy I exert; that is something that most humans aren't aware of and thus they rely on their brute force to move. Cass stopped and wondered for a moment he stared at the three weights that still sat on the ground. “No...it can't be that simple...”

Cass quickly strapped the rest of them on and stood feeling them suddenly grow heavier; closing his eyes he focused his spiritual aura into his legs and tried to take a step. It worked, but the weights on his arms suddenly grew even heavier and forced him to fall backwards with them pinned under him at an awkward angle. “Well...” He gasped in pain, “That was something else...” Looking over at the man Cass grinned like an idiot.

“What did you say your name was again?”

Shikuro didn't mind the laughter as this was actual very basic for how people lived here, especially shinigami's. Though most people don't think about it, as it has become second nature to work that way, but if you have been relying on your body in you past life, you might be stuck in doing so deep down still. He smiled lightly, nodded softly as he knew how it was to have no memory. He had even gone to the extends of trying to figure out if there ahad been anyone with his appearance noteworthy through history, without luck. He wasn't sure weather it was cause the Seiretei put censor on what information that was brought to those seeking. He chuckled even further at the look of the scars, before long the chuckle turned into a mild laughter, even though he desperately tried not to laugh, wanting to keep the facade up alittle longer if he could.

He shaked his head reaching a hand out, almost stopping Cass in his actions. "Are you sure you want to keep going.. you shouldn't push yourself to far..." He took a deep breath, watching him carefully, not wanting Cass to overextend himself. Though to his surprice it seemed the guy had picked up what he had been trying to say all a long. He let out a soft clap with his hands in applause. He then shooked his head mildly, and reached down to help Cass up another time. "I know right... Just take it easy now okay... don't go an do an overextendsion of yourself" He smiled friendly to him.

He looked surpriced though, having thought he had avoided the topic completly, yet it seemed there was no way around it this time. He though came up with soemthing clever his last name was ofcourse Nara so he would be known as Lieutenant Nara, so bringing out his first name wasn't going to cause to much of a hassel. "My name..? Oh thats Shikuro" He looked closely wondering if this was one of those students who read about the divisions they wanted to enter, if so he wasn't so sure he could pull this one off, ofcourse he was known to have a huge scar down from his eye onto his chest, which he clearly didn't have anymore.

As the man called Shikuro helped him to his feet Cass couldn't help but keep grinning like an idiot. The weights on his arms and legs responded to the reiatsu that flowed from his body, when Cass would focus it to a certain weight on his arm he could move the arm like normal. However, if he let this focus slip for an instant the weight would send him back to the ground. “Well, Shikuro, it's nice to meet you.” Cass smiled and suddenly felt ashamed of himself, he had been so focused on proving himself he had yet to wonder why an upperclassmen would be in need of the track. “What brings you out to the practice field, I didn't think the upperclassmen used this place all that much once they passed their basic physical training classes.

Cass grinned as he let his reiatsu flow into his arms and legs and went to take a step and easily walked a few steps forward, but had to stop. The effort had left him winded, he had never had to focus that much power in multiple places just to move. “This...really...can't be needed by shinigami...they would be to tired to do anything else if they have to do this all the time.” Cass was too tired to keep his thoughts in his head now.

“Shikuro, what the hell does being able to focus your reiatsu all over your body have to do with anything?” Cass asked still thinking the exercise was about learning to move faster and nothing else, of course the instructor had expected him to figure out the real lesson on his own.

Shikuro kept himself ready, should Cass suddenly loose the grip of it. Not sure weather Cass could survive another fall, eitherway Shikuro would try to see if he couldn't prevent it from happening. He smiled with a slight sigh, seeing as Cass didn't know who he was, he would proberly tell him alittle later, but for now he'd keep it too himself. "Nice too meet you too Cass" He crossed his arms, not certain he should even allow Cass to continue anymore, he knew the trick nowm so it would help him even further in later training. "What I'm doing here..?" He pondered for a moment, he was ofcourse their to do some training but the training had prooven it wasn't a trick that was for him. "Well I did some research on some techniques, these training areas are the closest ones to the study halls..." He smiled lightly, as that was pretty much just about it.

He slowly turned and walked with Cass, he could easily pick out how the walk alone too alot of his stammina, left him exhausted pretty soon. "Hey now... you should proberly take a break, you've understood the trick so you should be able to pull it off once you rested and eaten something" The key to regaining spiritual presure was to eat, souls normally didn't require food, yet due to the fact shinigami's used spiritual prsure up on a daily basis they needed to eat however.

Shikuro shrugged for a moment, thinking it over, ofcourse he couldn't just hand Cass all the secrets to being a shinigami, it was things best learned on his own. If Shikuro just taught him the tricks the chances was it might just not stick, or maybe it just wouldn't be as strong. Every soul goes about their training differendly, Cass might not even be able to learn things the same way afterall. "Your focus is much needed in combat... it can be the thing that determinates weather you win or loose... further more that focus unlocks potential normally impossible to do, watch closely..." Shikuro would be gone from sight withing an instant and then back at him, holding four black pieces of metal each weighing an incredible ammount. He dropped the first one, that alone created a bash against the ground the dust flying up from the ground. Then within an instant he'd be gone. The naked eye unable to follow him, as he was useing Shunpo, moving to the fathest reaches of the grounds dropping the metals. Before anyone of them hits the ground creating the same burst of dust alike the one before Cass he'd be standing back at him, the three bashes hitting almost at the same time. Perfect demonstration of Shunpo, ofcourse Shikuro was a master of the technique, being a person who exceeded the norms of speed, even surpassing most of those within the 2nd division.

Cass finally deciding to listen to the man frowned as he lowered himself to the ground and sat down letting his body rest for the moment. When Shikuro disappeared and then reappeared holding four very heavy weights Cass' eyes were wide; he was about to ask how he was able to carry that much when the upperclassmen suddenly disappeared once more only to reappear briefly at the four corners dropping the heavy weights so fast they almost seemed to hit the ground at once. There is no way this guy is an academy student; no way in hell some student could be that fast or that strong. That raises the question of who this man really is, is he a rogue, or could he be a shinigami come here to do some looking around for potential additions to his squad.

Cass frowned, stayed lost in his thoughts for a moment, but when Shikuro returned he gave an applause. “Wow you are quite fast for a student, in fact I have only ever seen an instructor move with that type of speed. You must really be close to graduating or possibly a student that is choosing to not graduate till they reach a certain point they themselves have set.” Cass stood up and shed the wieghts for the time being. “So do you need a hand in your training or are you looking for someone stronger to help you push the limits?”

Shikuro took a deepp breath calming his senses, as it was a simply matter it was still close to the peek of speed needed to throw them simontainiusly, and he was still rather exhausted from his previous training. He smiled softly and watched him closely, he seemed rather surpriced to say the least, but something seemed off, but then again his speed wasn't normally found around this place, he was only hanging around here cause he was doing training he didn't want his division to see, and he didn't own a place for himself.

Shikuro chuckled deeply, ahh there it was, he thought him to be of somewhat to an excelled student. Well he was wearing training drapes and such. He scrathed his head. "An instructor huh... That aside I hate to break it too you but I graduated quite a while ago" He crossed his arms, and felt that he was proberly going to send some thoughts to this guy and he would atleast need some time to process them. And if the conversation was kept going, he might even feel like breaking it too him who he was afterall, he just hoped the reaction wasn't the same like most people, he didn't seem like them, he had more... guts. "Nah I finnished up my training some while ago... don't think its something for me... came here to look if anything fun was going on and then I saw someone wrestling alot with some weights... thought I'd pitch in alittle" He smiled politely and tilted his head lightly to the side.

Cass grinned, his suspicions had been proven correct, Shikuro had indeed turned out to not be a student at all. In fact, he was a shinigami that had come out this far looking for a fun distraction. “I don't think you can help me with this unless you can show me how to focus my reiatsu in four different places at once without tiring myself out so completely that I won't be able to move while doing so.” Cass laughed at the image of him blacking out after making it around the track once let alone four times. Looking at Shikuro Cass took in what he saw in a new light, from the way he carried himself, to the way he talked. Everything about dark haired shinigami carried an air of authority, now that he knew that Shikuro's secret it seemed obvious. “So you're really a shinigami, wow that makes you the second one I have met. Do you mind if I ask you what squad you are from?”

Shikuro let out a mild laughter, not really sure if it was a joke or not. Ofcourse this was a new runt so something like this would proberly be new to him. He scratched the back of his head as it seemed to be seriously. "Do you know what the greatest sign of being able to use spiritual presure is?" He raised an eyebrow, wanting to see if that hint could help the poor fellow figure everything out. Shikuro crossed his eyes however it wasn't like it was normal for a student to talk with shinigami's so it brought some curriosity to him to say the least. "Another Shinigami? Ohh my division I'm of the 11th" Shikuro put on a friendly face, still a bit surrious about this guy, wanting to keep an eye on him atleast, would be fun to watch how he would progress when he left this place. Though he might have some trouble with the basics, he sure had the will power to not give up, and that was like 50% of the way anyway. And it didn't seem like he was bad at taking hints either, but Shikuro had his limits too. He far from knew all there was to know.