"Byakuya brat!!! Get your ass out here!!!" I yelled as I ran through the hallways of the Kuchiki manor. By now, everyone knew my routine and no one bothers to smack me upside the head when I use foul language. I run straight into Byakuya's room only to find him sprawled out on his bed with drool coming out of the side of his mouth. I smirk with evil intentions before walking to his desk and picking up his beloved picture of the Seaweed Ambassador. Don't ask me where the fuck he thought of this shit, he just did and he's obsessed with it.

"Byakuya, if you don't wake up now, I'll destroy your beloved Seaweed Ambassador," I say sweetly. Byakuya moaned before rolling over.

"Five more minutes..." he mumbled in his sleep. I shrug my shoulders before ripping the paper. He jumped into the air and rushed towards the desk, wide awake panicking.

"Not Seaweed Ambassador!" he called out. I fell on my ass and started laughing at his horrified expression. He picked up the two pieces of paper before his face turned red in anger.

"YOU IDIOT AGITO!!! I THOUGHT YOU RIPPED SEAWEED AMBASSADOR!!!" I didn't rip his precious picture. Instead, I ripped a spare piece of paper on his desk but it sent him over the edge and now he was wide awake.

"Calm the fuck down. You're up, and we need to train with Rue-chan. We all have our shikai's so now it's time to train with them. Or, you know, train in a round about way with them."

"You finally mastered your shikai?" I scratched the back of my head.

"Feh! I gained my shikai, yes but actually mastering it? Hell no." He nodded his head and I stepped outside to give him privacy. A young maid came up to me.

"Are you hungry Agito-san? We've made extra portions for your arrival to the young master." I smiled in gratitude at her while she blushed a light pink.

"Yes I'm hungry. Thanks for the consideration." Her face turned a darker pink and she bowed and hurried away. When she disappeared around the corner, I heard a bunch of whispered squealing.

"Didn't think you had it in you. You're such a player." I turned around to see Byakuya having an amused face. I rolled my eyes at his comment.

"I, at least, treat them better than you. If a maid were to tell you that, you would have ignored her and just walked to the dining room, not even sparing the maid a glance. How the hell are you gonna find a wife with that sort of attitude?" Byakuya bumped shoulders with me as he walked down the hall.

"Please, with my looks, they run to me," he said cocky. I sigh in frustration, looks like I'm gonna have to beat him down again today like I do at every training session.

"Ha! With your attitude, girls run away from you!" He ignored me as we entered the empty dining room with two seats prepared. After coming here so often, the chefs know exactly what I like and I'm acquaintances with most of the maids and butlers.

"Where is Rue-chan?" Byakuya said casually.

"Rue will be here in a second. She off at the Fourth Company picking up a first aid kit. She's been getting really good at stitching us both up you know."

"She still wants to be a healer? Even if her zanpakuto is ... like that?" By 'like that' he meant vicious. Even I was surprised at how cruel her zanpakuto's abilities were. Most Shinigami look down at dishonorable fighting. Having a poisonous blade was more than just an insult as it was inexcusable. But take in the fact that Rue's shikai not only poison but forces her victims to commit suicide was probably one of the most horrific fighting styles anyone could ask for.

With her horrific blade, it would seem illogical for Rue to become a healer.

"Yeah. She says that just because her zanpakuto can't heal, doesn't mean that she still doesn't want to. I actually think her zanpakuto's ability is pretty good cause it's a defensive dagger and can end a fight really fast. Plus, the Fourth Division has Unohana-taichou and you've already heard the stories." We both shiver in fear and he nods in agreement. As we eat, the door slides open and Byakuya's grandfather strolls in. It's rare for me to see him nowadays. He's usually off at his Sixth Company office, or doing a mission.

"Good morning, Grandfather," Byakuya politely says. My hand twitches and Kuchiki-san notices.

"You may do what you want Agito. You are Byakuya's best friend," he comments and I immediately smack Byakuya upside his head.

"What was that for?!"

"For being a stuck up prick! Your grandfather comes in here and you say good morning as if someone died. Where's the sense of family in this house anyways?! Why do you call him grandfather? It sounds real stiff when you say it. You know what? From now on, Imma call you Old Man" I say to both Byakuya and Oji-san. Byakuya looked like he was on the verge of strangling me while Pops just chuckled in amusement.

"I see Byakuya had chosen a good friend," he says and I feel my ego swell.

"I'd rather kiss an eel than be friends with this pain in the neck," Byakuya mutters.

"Make another comment and I'll murder your ass during training."

"Like you could even touch me," Byakuya smirks. I instantly reached out and poked his cheek.

"Just did," I mocked while a red anime vein appears on his temple. He slapped my hand away from him and started eating his breakfast quickly. I ate my own breakfast before looking at Pops.

"I just kinda sorta insulted the Kuchiki family, threatened your grandson, and I changed your name to Pops and you still haven't ordered assassins to assassin my ass. What gives?"

"If you were anyone else, I would have punished you but you're not. Besides, you're ... you."

"Damn straight," I say before standing up.

"Come on Byakuya-brat, we gotta go beat each other up." I start walking outside and Pops stands up.

"You won't mind if I come and watch you train right?" I shook my head no and walked outside. I placed a hand on the hilt of my zanpukuto.

"Ready to go?" Byakuya said behind me. I silently nodded before we both shunpo'd away with oji-san following. We made our way to the training grounds where Rue was there on the ground, going through the first aid kit that was the size of a sack of flour. Huge

"Yosh! I think that I didn't bring enough but something tells me that I brought too much ..." Rue trailed off when she caught sight of oji-san.

"Good morning Kuchiki-sama!" she said cheerfully. Kuchiki nodded in acknowledgment. Rue stood up and together, we walked to the middle of the clearing.

"Today we're going to train in our shikai forms. Or, at least, Byakuya is. You didn't forget your zanpukuto again did you Rue-chan?" Rue pouted when I mentioned a past reference.

"Can you let that go? It was only one time and yes, I brought it."

"Good, You're gonna put that down and try this on for size." I reached into my hakama and brought out a khanjar, one that wasn't a zanpakuto and one that wasn't poisonous or would cause suicide.

"Where did you get this?" Rue asked, taking the khanjar from my hands and testing the weight.

"Yoruichi-san has a lot of fun toys to look at if you ask," I say. Rue untied her zanpakuto from her hip and rested it against a nearby tree. I begin to do the same.

"Now hold on!" Byakuya rebelled, "Why aren't you training with your shikai?"

"I told you," I said still not faltering, "My shikai isn't friendly. At all. Like there is nothing nice about it and it'd be better if it were sealed for the rest of eternity."

"You have to unleash it at least once," he reasoned, "Don't you want to be a seated officer?"

"Nope, you're not gonna change my mind," I said while resting my zanpakuto down beside Rue's. Luckily, I stashed an extra couple sets of katana around the clearing just in case our training took an interesting turn. I just out one of the extra katana and started swinging it around

"Okay, now this feels wrong," Byakuya said, "I'll be unleashing my shikai and you both have a huge handicap."

"Think of it like this," I suggested, "Rue will be learning how to defend herself from an all out attack from every direction with her little blade. Also, you're a distance fighter so her zanpakuto might be useless on you. But training here will be for her to learn defense. I will be speed training because goddammit, your shikai is fast and it hurts when I get cut. You will be training on how to attack on two fronts, two different opponents, and two different focuses. Think you can do it?"

"Who do you take me for?" Byakuya said, "Scatter, Senbonzakura."

I was immediately attacked by the pink petals of Senbonzakura but I defended by ... running away. What? I needed to move! Rue-chan would keep to her spot at the east side and I would move to the west so that Byakuya's attention was evenly split. I was actually thinking about jumping around from the north and south just to spice things up a bit but I'd think about that later.

With my very plain katana, I tried my very best to dodge and actually strike out against the pink petals. One-by-one, cuts began to appear on my skin, showing holes in my defense that I tried to fix.

I glanced over at Rue to see that though she had considerably less petals than me to fight against, she was still being viciously pushed on all sides.

I focused on my fight and decided to move it up a notch. Instead of focusing all on defense, I tried attacking Byakuya.

It was ridiculously easy.

"Oi!" he cried out with I nicked his ear, "Watch the face!"

"You watch it!" I yelled back, "That's not my job!"

"I thought you were only defending!" Byakuya said.

"Hey! Just because you're simple doesn't mean I have to be!"

"Ladies!" Rue-chan shouted over the sounds of clanging metal and rushing petals, "No cat fighting!"

"Cat fight this!" Byakuya said and all of his petals withdrew to make a tornado of pink surrounding him. Each blade , spinning counter clockwise making a most perfect defense. Byakuya's hand were up, fingers spread and though he was smiling, sweat was gathering on his furrowed brow, his concentration growing strong.

I dared not even test his defense. If I did, I would be torn like a wood shredder.

"Can you do it counter-clockwise?" Rue asked. Byakuya bit his lip in effort as the blade's switched direction. Yes, he could do it but it took a second for him to switch.

"What if..." I mused outloud before saying, "Byakuya! Do both at the same time!"

"What?!" Byakuya cried out in disbelief, "Have you lost your mind?!"

"At least try it!"

He widened his stance, arms spread even more, fingers straining for control. This time, his eyes shut and his bitten lip began to bleed in effort. Slowly, the petals began to move both ways, like layers of a cake. One layer would move clockwise while the other would move counter to that. Obviously it was putting a strain on him.

The faster the blades moved, the more his limbs shook. Both me and Rue watched very carefully to make sure he didn't rupture a blood vessel in his brain or something. Faster and faster the blades spun, rising up higher and higher as he tried to complete his defense. But he couldn't.

With a scream, he dropped to his knees gasping for air, his petals falling to the floor. Both Rue and I rush forward to act as support.

"How are you feeling?" Rue asked, checking the pulse at his wrist, "Light headed maybe? Are you seeing spots? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"I'm fine," Byakuya said but he didn't push away Rue when she checked his pupil dilation, "Two fingers. A little bit light headed? I feel good."

"That's the adrenaline talking," she diagnosed, "I think you'll be good with ten minutes rest."

"Good first try," I spoke up at his side, "Don't know if you'd want to practice that later but it was a good start. See? This is why we have training."

"What about you guys?" he said, "Got anything out of it?"

"I got a good defense, I think," Rue said looking over her own little injuries, "There's just a lot of petals. I think I'll have to work on seeing with all of my vision because I keep missing some."

"I'm weak on my right side," I said while gesturing to my arm that was ore cut up than my left, "Plus my speed needs a good kick in the ass. I think I'll have to talk with Yoruichi-san about her training me in a little Hohou. How about you Byakuya? What do you need to work on besides that impenetrable defense?"

"I had trouble focusing on the two of you," Byakuya admitted, "I was more focused on you, Agito than I was of Rue."

"So we continue training like this then," I said, "Alright then, we ready to go once more?"

"My ten minutes are up?" he said while getting up on his feet.

"Why? You tired?" I teased.

"Ha! Like I would ever give you that excuse."

"Let's go!" Rue said. We all spread out to where we once were and took our stances. Since day was a lot about our defense and his offense, Byakuya led the attack, lashing up with a wave of pink petals. Instead of dodging, I met each blade head on, trying to keep track where each petal was going but it was as difficult as counting grains of sand.

I glanced over at Rue to see that now she had a larger group of petals attacking her, proof that Byakuya was learning and trying his best to improve.

When the right moment came, I dashed out of my defensive stance and charged at Byakuya, aiming a stab at his left arm. Byakuya hissed before aiming more petals to attack me, which showed that his improvement was short lived.

"You little punk Agito! Why did you suddenly charge me!"

"You should be aiming at both offense and defense!" I suggested, "Try a quarter to encircle you with instinctive defense, and the rest and be your offense."

He did as suggested, a quarter of his sakura petals drifting to encircle his feet to act as a defensive measure while the rest whipped around to attack both me and Rue. Rue and I caught each other's eye contact and as one we switched motives.

We stopped our defense and began our assault.

"What the f-!" Byakuya couldn't speak for long because straight after his petal defense stopped my blade, Rue was at his back. The offensive wave of pink swirled around to attack Rue and I spun over to cover for her as she led the assault.

We pushed him hard with both defense and offense, me usually fighting off his defense while Rue hacked at his offense. We worked fast, working around Byakuya in near perfect synchronization but Byakuya hadn't been training since preschool for nothing. He gave as good as he got.

Finally, I started noticing something that I forgot. Byakuya was using shikai. Both Rue and I were not. He was using up his reserves of reiatsu for power while Rue and I stuck to melee attacks. Shit.

"Break!" I called out and we all jumped away from each other. Rue flopped to the ground and gave an exaggerated groan.

"That was awful!" she complained obviously about the many little cuts that shred up and down her arms.

"At least you're not the one being teamed up against!" Byakuya said sitting down on the grass to catch his breath. His zanpakuto was resealed and it was obvious that our training was over for now. I kneeled down on the grass, being extra careful that my own cuts didn't get into contact with the surrounding dirt.

"What are you complaining about?" I asked, "You got a million blades at your beck and call. If anything, Rue and I are being teamed up against."

"I bet if you trained with your shikai it would be an even fight," he scowled.

"No," I immediately said, "Nice try but no. I'm not gonna-"

"Agito-san," said Ginrei Kuchiki finally speaking up after observing our training session, "Why did you deny both yourself and your sister right to your shikai?"

Oh, that's right, we never told him exactly what was happening. He must have been surprised to see his grandson going against the Diabolos siblings with only his shikai unsealed.

"Kuchiki-sama," Rue said, "My shikai isn't meant for sparring purposes. Due to the nature of my shikai, it's more of a last defense tactic. A weapon to end a fight as quickly as possible. Agito-kun assigned me the perfect handicap so that I can learn how to properly use my shikai without ... ending the fight prematurely."

"That is acceptable," he said with a moment's pause, "What about you, Agito-san? What excuse do you have?"

I was really, really uncomfortable with the stares everyone was giving me and I rubbed my sweaty hands against the grass.

"My shikai isn't..." I tried to explain without being too ... dramatic, "Nice. It's not something I can proudly show off."

"Agito-san," he interrupted me, "I ask that you display your shikai against me." We all startle to our feet. Oji-san didn't just ask, he commanded it of me.

"Wait a minute!" I called out, "It's not something I can unseal lightly! It's like ... think about a comet except more concentrated!"

"You will prove to me that you have gained your shikai," Oji-san said, "And you need not worry for this old man. I think I would be more than enough." Ginrei Kuchiki flared his most tightly controlled reiatsu and I knew that I was stuck. I had to do it. This wasn't Oji-san talking to me. This was Kuchiki-taichou of the Sixth Company.

"Move back," I ordered both Rue and Byakuya before fetching my zanpakuto. Michael must have known that he would soon be unsealed because he had grown warm, nearly humming with barely contained energy.

I moved back to the center of the clearing and unsheathed my sword. I was not happy to be unsealing Michael.

"Do we really have to fight?" I ask cause I really didn't want to. Kuchiki-taichou mused over the question before stating, "A simple demonstration would be adequate."

Ha. A 'simple' demonstration. How funny.

I take my stance, changing my breathing pattern and slowly rising my reiatsu level for my incantation.

"Conquer," I said, my hair whipping around in the dry heat, the grass catching on fire and burning a circle around me, "Michael."

Heat consumed my entire arm and I grimaced at the bite of flame. I was still a novice at controlling the exact output of power I unleash so right now, to everyone else, it must feel like I'm pulsating a heatwave.

My katana had changed to that of a two-edged broadsword on fire. My hand-guard and hilt were simple except the butt of the hilt, where a big fat jewel of a red emerald. Besides the golden flames that leapt off the edge of my blade, it would appear to be simple but it wasn't.

It really wasn't.

They say that a weapon isn't lethal until put into the hands of someone with evil intentions. Maybe what they say is true about weapons with no souls but a zanpakuto has a soul.

Mine just happens to be raging.

I felt my blood-lust roar to life. My anger reared it's ugly head and I snarled at the opponent before me. I rose my zanpakuto to the sky and said, "Smite, Michael."

The blue sky turned white like the sun was falling.