36-
Rumi didn't really know what to expect when she was summoned by her captain but the last thing she was expecting was a training regime. So, imagine her surprise when Ukitake taichō whipped out a training guideline for mastering Shikai and unleashing its full potential in addition to exercises on how to develop a closer relationship with Zanpakuto spirit and how to manifest the spirit into real world.
All in all, it tripled her workload directly and just the thought of following it all on top of performing her sixth seat duties made Rumi feel dizzy.
So, Rumi obviously did the thing that was best for her, which was dumping her responsibilities onto Rukia and newer recruits. As for how she got away without getting caught by Kaien and Miyako was simply because of her skills. Those skills were so refined now that most of the newer recruits didn't even realize they were doing Rumi's work for her and even thanked her for giving them the opportunity.
Just like that, another month had passed and Rumi pretty much reached the bottleneck of Shikai mastery. She knew for a fact that it wasn't full 100% potential yet but for some reason, she couldn't push any further as if she was still missing an important piece. At the same time, she could feel it was massive improvement from 80% mastery or 90% mastery. It was as if she was missing the final 1%.
That brought her to try and manifest Kazehime into reality. Since she had been putting some effort into her captain's training program, Rumi didn't take long to manifest Kazehime in reality.
"That's surprising to see you trying that hard." Kazehime's tone was as playful as ever and she circled Rumi while giggling at her trying to make eye contact with her.
"I can work hard when I want to." Rumi said seriously but Kazehime only laughed in response.
"Please, that's hardly working hard compared to what your peers have been doing but yeah, keep boasting." Kazehime crossed her arms and said.
Rumi gasped in indignation, "Since when'd you become so savage?!"
"Since you didn't visit me in innerworld to play with me." Kazehime pouted. "You're bad at this whole pretending to work hard thing. Why don't you just play with me instead of following that white haired guy's so called program?"
"I mean..you realize he's my captain, right?" Rumi asked. "I just thought maybe it's better if I get stronger and because he's a captain, his program would work really well."
"Yeah, but you skipped playtime with me and when's the last time you had fun?" Kazehime still had a sour face, which was quite cute so Rumi had to try her best to not squish her cheeks. Maybe she should get checked out for any underlying condition that makes her want to pinch every child's cheek.
"Um...for the record, I've been pulling pranks for Rukia?"
"....okay that's fun but I wasn't part of that." Kazehime said.
"So, you wanna be part of my shenanigans?"
"Maybe." Kazehime said with a mischievous smile, "If you include me to your playtime, I don't mind telling you about Bankai."
"Wait, really? Bankai?" For a second, Rumi thought she misheard, "Didn't you say I wasn't ready for that yet?"
"Well, you weren't back then but it's a little different now."
"Alright, it's a promise then." Rumi smiled. Who in their right mind would pass up a potentially important clue for Bankai?
"Sure. Now that you've agreed to let me be part of your fun time, I have a suggestion." Kazehime's smile widened mischievously and Rumi suddenly had a bad feeling about it. She was so regretting about this later, wasn't she?
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And, Rumi did regret it as soon as she heard what Kazehime wanted her to do. But, at that point, she couldn't back out because that was a promise between her and Kazehime and besides, Rumi didn't want to blow the chances of ever achieving Bankai in the future.
That was what led her to sneaking into Fifth Division at night and trying to steal captain Aizen's glasses. Well, it sounded better when Kazehime was talking about her idea but now? It was starting to sound ridiculous for the trouble she could land herself in. The only thing that made her feel a bit better was the existence of disguise pendant and its ability to perfectly change her appearance and even hide reiatsu signature. If she combined it with her Falsifier, she could hide her reiatsu signature better and prevent anyone from finding out her sneaking around and her identity.
It was theocratically what she could do but since it was her first time actually trying to use both, Rumi was extremely careful about it with every step.
First step, sneaking in to Fifth Division was a breeze since most guards and patrols were unseated and lower seat positions but as she got closer to captain quarters, Rumi felt a chill down her spine.
"Be on your guard, Rumi. You don't want us to get caught, do you?" Kazehime said and Rumi realized Kazehime was manifesting in reality although she was the only one to really see her.
"I know," Rumi muttered back to Kazehime, "You don't need to boss me around like that. It's your idea in the first place."
"Yeah, I know, it's a fun idea so now go quietly before anyone manages to see through your so called secret skill." Kazehime urged.
Rumi sighed but she moved quickly to the captain quarters with the level of stealth she didn't think was possible for herself until now. Her footsteps were light and movements were swift, not even leaving a trace of her movement or shadows seen. Her reiatsu signature was disguised and even hidden further so that no one could realize she was even there.
A short moment later, Rumi found herself looking into captain quarters to see if Aizen was there.
"Huh..there's no one there." Seeing no one, Rumi quickly slid into the room and took a spare glass Aizen kept in his room. Then, she was on her way back, but of course, there was no way she would head straight to her quarters. She was going to assume worse regardless and would go into the woods, hide out there, change location a few times until she was sure no one would show themselves to catch her, and then finally stop the disguise and falsifier.
It didn't take long for her to get to the forest and hide, while Kazehime kept teasing about how paranoid Rumi was becoming and saying how it wasn't that fun hiding out. Rumi argued that she didn't want to get caught stealing a captain's property and Kazehime called her a scaredy cat.
"Come on, Kazehime. You told me to steal Aizen's glasses together, and I did. That's me completing my end of deal, okay?" Rumi pinched Kazehime's cheeks and said.
"..yeah but how is it fun for me to see you being overly cautious just to steal glasses?"
"Correction. A Captain's glasses." Rumi said.
"Correction. Spare glasses. And he had like a dozen." Kazehime spat back.
"Well, you didn't tell me to steal his daily pair that he was wearing. And you told me to be careful" Rumi crossed her arms proudly.
"Still, this wasn't as exciting as I thought it'd be." Kazehime complained. "If you want to learn Bankai, you uhh..need to unleash the ultimate play..i..i mean mischievous playful side like the wind." Kazehime said.
Rumi raised her eyebrows, "Why do I have a feeling you were about to say play related words? Did you just want to play like a little child you are?"
"What? No?! I-I was teaching you, okay?" Kazehime replied a little too quickly.
"Huh, interesting. I didn't know you're such.."
"Such?"
"a kid- i mean in a good way?" Remembering hint about Bankai was depending on Kazehime, Rumi bit back her teases.
"You better not treat me like a little kid.." Kazehime said.
"Well, then you should be like an adult and keep your end of the deal?" Rumi said.
"Fine, I will tell you about-"
That was when Kazehime paused. Rumi did the same.
They both felt two powerful reiatsu approaching the area.
"Rumi...your reiatsu.." Kazehime started but Rumi nodded, "Already hidden. Whoever they are, we can't let them know we're here, right?"
"Exactly." Kazehime nodded. "But I have a feeling this would be exciting."
"Huh.. How?" Rumi stopped mid sentence as the presences got closer. She stayed silent and decided to watch them.
A moment later, she saw two figures, extremely familiar, walking past talking about some sort of test subjects and experiments. Although she didn't hear most of the conversation and didn't really dare to get close, it was obvious that the two were up to no good. And most importantly, Rumi had finally realized why the captain quarters was empty..
Captain Aizen had been out here plotting some nasty stuff with his lieutenant.
Stuff that could or could not be related to the previous hollow incident...
Clutching the pair of glasses, Rumi decided to leave quickly, while she was still unnoticed.
"Rumi, why'd you leave? It's about to get much more juicy!" Kazehime whined into her ears and Rumi sighed, trying to explain why this was a very bad idea from the start. Kazehime defended that only because they played around, Rumi had found that captain Aizen was up to no good, which was a good point but still, this could have ended in a disaster.
Well, at least after getting away from the scene, Kazehime held her end of the deal and gave her a hint for Bankai.
"Remember your reiatau nature, Rumi. You'll see that the answer you've been looking for has been there, always."
So, it was going to be about her reiatsu in the end? Rumi gave another thought, and realized she actually haven't been paying much attention to her own reiatsu.
Could this be the key? Rumi thought it was worth a try.
Laying in her own bed back at her room, Rumi thought of her next steps. The undergoing mission given by system..now that she saw that Aizen was up to something, she felt like she had finally found a loose thread in a tightly knitted sweater. She'd probably find out more sooner or later, and hopefully complete the mission. But, before that, it would be better to lay low and act like she knew nothing. She wouldn't let anyone know what she found or that she thinks Aizen as suspicious. Not for now.
She would just lay low in this Thirteenth Divison and train until she gets her Bankai and reach captain level. That was her next step, she decided.
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Rumi's stats
[Name : Fujiwara Rumi.
Age : 332 days. (Soul Society).
Race : Enhanced Soul (Shinigami).
Relationships : Abarai Renji (Close Friends), Rukia (Close Friends), Hinamori Momo (Close Friends), Kira Izuru (Friends), Hitsugaya Toshiro (Mentee), Shiba Kaien (Mentor), Ukitake Jushiro (Mentor).
Reiryoku level : Great.
Stored reiryoku : 10290/1,000,000
Spirit class : 3.
Skills : Sloth (Passive), Guradian's Vigil (Passive), Fire Resistance (Passive), Cold Resistance (Passive), Mind's Momentum, Falsifier.
Abilities : Zanjutsu(Advanced), Kido (Intermediate), Hakuda (Intermediate), Hoho (Pre-advanced).
Tools : Zanpakuto, Disguise Pendant.
Zanpakuto : Kazehime (Shikai).]
A/N: Its been so long since I worked on this but here we go. I know this isn't best quality but just wanted to get this going again. I'm working on next chapter so hopefully it'll be out soon and yeah, we'll see the end of this arc by new year i think.