Preparation and First FightItsuki then interjected and asked,
"You sure?"
"Yes" Gin replied with determination
Before Gin could continue, he was interrupted by Rangiku
"Then I will become one as well"
This time it was Gin"s turn to be surprised,
"Me too" Itsuki added on.
A surprised look could be seen on Gin"s face hearing his friend"s declaration as he let out a defeated sigh.
On the way back home he informed his friends,
"The entrance exam to the Shinigami academy is in a week"s time and is held in District 1. We should gather some supplies for the trip and leave by tomorrow."
The two friends just nodded in response as they reached home and drifted off to sleep.
- The next day -
All three woke up early to start their preparations for their journey. Itsuki went to the nearest town to earn a few more Kan while Rangiku went to gather some food and water for their trip. Gin was tasked in procuring some sort of transport. As the journey was quite a distant one, according to Gin, it would at least take a month if they wanted to walk it there. Looking at their young bodies and short legs, it would probably take longer.
They all met up at noon with Itsuki bagging around 3000 Kan which was around 3000 j.a.panese yen. Rangiku could be seen holding a rucksack that had stale bread, a couple of rice boxes and three small containers of water. It also contained a change of clothes for each of them and some other necessities. This was all she was able to round up in a short amount of time, but the food and water was enough. Their bodies still young and as they possessed reiatsu, they only ate small portions every so often. What Rangiku packed was enough to last them a few days.
Gin had luckily found a caravan that was heading to the first district. It seemed some merchants saw the entrance exam as an opportunity to profit as they started creating caravans for people who wanted to take part in the exams. There was no age restriction in submitting an application as it was quite open, this meant that virtually anyone could sign up. Due to this, these caravans were mostly full by the time they arrived at the first district.
When they reached the area where the caravans were, what greeted their view was a long line of caravans and 100s of people camping around them. Itsuki could only roughly make out around 500 people but that was not the limit. They were still on the outer reaches of Rukongai, so they expected more to come soon. You could tell who came from what district just by looking at their clothing with the people from the higher-numbered districts wearing completely worn out clothes with patches of cloth here and there to block out the holes.
Now, with this many people there were bound to be many shady characters here. This could be seen with the occasional brawls breaking out here and there for the pettiest of reasons. Another prime example was the three potatoes currently blocking Rangiku and Itsuki"s path as Gin had went off to pay the fees for the caravan, leaving the two alone. Three bald heads greeted their view, completely covering them with their shadow as they towered over them. They wore dirtied vest and simple cotton trousers. Itsuki believed them to be brothers as their facial features were alike. Not knowing their names, Itsuki just called them Ichi, Ni and San with Ichi the one that looked the oldest and San looking the youngest.
They were clearly attracted to Rangiku as they completely ignored Itsuki"s presence. This wasn"t his fault as Rangiku was extremely beautiful and he had pretty much covered his face up. A cynical bamboo hat lay on top of his head while he wore a red mask that covered his mouth and nose.
The reason Itsuki covered his face was because, the first time he went into town without hiding his features, he immediately became the centre of attention. Among the predatory gazes of women and the jealous ones from most of the men, Itsuki realised that his looks may land him in trouble one day. For example, he could catch the interest of someone and immediately becoming someone"s plaything or even sold off.
Although he had his cheats, he was still pitifully weak as he had just learned how to get his mystic eyes in control. This also resulted in him keeping a distance from strangers and including the vile acts he sometimes witnessed, he slowly lost his trust in people. Understanding once again that he was not in a peaceful society increased the iciness on his face as he slowly developed an unapproachable aura.
When Rangiku looked up, she saw their l.u.s.t filled eyes sitting on top of a pig like nose while a disgusting smirk was plastered across their face. As they sized her up, fear and disgust immediately filled Rangiku"s eyes as she slowly backed up hiding behind Itsuki. It was only then when they noticed the presence of Itsuki, however, apart from his unapproachable aura, he seemed nothing special.
As their attention was once again on Rangiku, the one who was leading them, Ichi opened his mouth as a bad smell wafted out and a set of yellow teeth were exposed.
"Hey, ojou-chan, wanna "av some fun"
As the two behind him silently sn.i.g.g.e.red, he continued
"I am pretty sure we would provide better company than this stick here"
Itsuki was all bundled up as he wore loose clothing, giving others the impression that he was just another malnourished young lad. Feeling Rangiku shaking behind his back, Itsuki was silently enraged as he heard what the man said. As his rage grew, his mind became clearer as his memory part.i.tion and thought acceleration started looking for ways in defeating the three men in front of him.
He looked around, noticing that it was only the three of them and they had no back up, Itsuki lunged at Ichi as he was closest, sending his hat flying backwards exposing his silky white hair done up in a high ponytail. A right hook approached the opposite party"s face astonishingly fast as Ichi dodged out of pure reflex. You could see that this was Itsuki"s first ever fight as he chose to hit the face rather than his chest which could have increased his chances of hitting.
Seeing Itsuki punching his older brother, Ni immediately sent a punch to Itsuki"s face as San proceeded to capture Rangiku. Realising his blunder, Itsuki tried to retreat, however was too late as a punch landed on him. This instantly destroyed the confidence Itsuki had built up over training as his thoughts fell into disarray. After quickly calming down he noticed San"s movements as he started to panic. Pushing his mental abilities to the maximum, he thought up a whole new strategy in defeating the three while also calculating the possible ways of them retaliating. As Ichi was slowly getting up, enraged by the fact that a kid caused him to fall over, Itsuki quickly got up and this time ran towards the unsuspecting San. It only took him a split second into creating tens of strategy"s as he slowly got used using his mental abilities in the midst of battle.
He coated his fist up with reiatsu, a little trick he learned whilst training, and instantly appeared next to San as he once again went for the head but this time landing his. .h.i.t. Thinking that his second brother had taken care of the kid, San would never have expected to be hit from behind as he felt a sharp pain and immediately fell unconscious. Ni was still there standing there, mouth wide opened trying to figure out how a kid survived his punch and come out virtually unscathed. He only came back from his thoughts as he noticed the kid running towards him after dealing with his brother. This time instead of punching the kid, Ni went to grab him, however having predicted this move, Itsuki instantly dodged it and landed a strong punch on Ni"s stomach instantly knocking him out cold.
Finally, Ichi got up,
"d.a.m.n, bra…"
Ichi instantly shut up as his blood ran cold. He saw his two brothers knocked out cold and the so-called brat staring down at him with incredible iciness. Ichi could swear he had never been frightened this much in his life as he saw absolutely no emotion what so ever in those azure blue eyes. Just as he opened his mouth to plead for mercy, Itsuki disappeared from his vision and reappeared with an outstretched leg rocketing towards him. Before Ichi"s pitiful brain could process this, a sudden surge of pain interrupted his thoughts as a heart wrenching screech was heard escaping his mouth. Mr Ichi had become miss Ichi, if he was married then Mrs Ichi, not that it mattered now.
Attracted by the sudden shriek of pain, many people looked over only to once again look away seeing a tiny blood stain between Ichi"s legs as it slowly expanded. The men dreadfully glanced at Itsuki"s retreating back who was making his way back to Rangiku. As they subconsciously released a sigh of relief, Itsuki suddenly looked back, all the men unconsciously clenched their legs as they felt a cold breeze pa.s.s through. At that moment, only one thought crossed their minds
"Demon!"
Seeing Itsuki once again turn around and leaving the area with Rangiku, they let out another sigh of relief and went back to what they were doing, taking sneaky glances in the direction Itsuki had left.