The bond of the 12th division, Flash back between Captain and Lt.

Gihara had caught a glimpse of the black kimono’s that were to be handed out at the graduation ceremony, he wondered who was the genius that decided to hide them in the store cabinet near the kidou training grounds. It had been a long journey from the slums of Rukonagi to the verge of being a full fledged shinigami. “ Yo Gi-Gi what are you doing with your head all the way in the closet?” a voice intoned from afar. The slightly raspy inflections followed up by that insidious nick name meant it could only be one person, his best friend at the academy, Hajime Miharu. “ Oh nothing Miharu-san, just making sure everything is tidy in the supply closet, you know, cant be running low on those kinds of things..” Gihara replied as he clumsily removed his head from the closet and smiled awkwardly at Miharu. He knew that if he were to tell about his findings of the kimono’s that somehow everyone would find out and ruin the delicate plans laid out for graduation.

As Miharu continued to gaze at Gihara as if to suggest he was acting out of the ordinary a flurry of foot steps became audible in the hallway. You guys had better get down to the courtyard, the ceremony is about to start. Gihara and Miharu both nodded in unison as they followed the small group of fellow academy students and made their way to the ceremonial courtyard. “ So, what division do you think you will be accept into ?” Miharu asked with a rather confident look on her face as if to imply she had already been assured a spot in a division. “ I have no idea to be perfectly honest with you, hopefully my high scores will get me into the top 10 and I’ll get some good recognition .” Gihara replied as he and Miharu made their way to the courtyard. After Miharu gave him a swift hug she ran and took her seat in the rows of knelt down piers faced toward the line of proud looking teachers. Gihara then soon made his way to his assigned spot and awaited for the ceremony to commence.

The ceremony, filled from one side of the courtyard to the other, with young students clad in white uniforms with either red or blue symbols adorning them. The students all seated in proper fashion, and each of the teachers on the exact opposite side of the courtyard. As the head priciple stood, he had began to give out the orders, and he summoned each of the students up to achieve their official Shinigami Uniforms. The basic, blask robes with white sashes. However, on this day a few of the Divisions had decided to hand pick a select few to join into their ranks, while the rest would be drafted into a division best suited for their skills. This was the reason that a few of the 12th division members where in this location, the taicho. Aiezo Tufujo had been here, wanting to see if, their had been a person who he could add into his ranks. As he arrived, and his white hair gently floated behind him. He had a strong smile, his hands thrusted into his pockets. He could only hope that someone here would be smart enough to join his division.

As he arrived to his seat he smirked. Sitting down resting his arm on the side panels. He looked onward, each of the top ranked students would be allowed to join the division of their own choice, depending on if they could display a shikai or not. Which was the thing needed in order to graduate. Aiezo, had a token to negate and choice any of the top ten students due to the fact that he was a captain, and therefore had more authrity here then the Teachers. He looked onward as shinigami after shinigami revealed their zanpoktous. Projectile, Melee, Defensive, Kido, etc etc. All these zanpoktou where opened and shown in a explosion of glitter and glam. Then it was time that this young lad with black hair to approach the center of the courtyard and display his power on the two trainer shinigami. Aiezo watched on.

It was long after Gihara knelt down before the ceremony began to flood with shinigami onlookers. However among these onlookers were vice captains as well as captains. It seemed soul society held great importance to the next generation of soldiers. Giharas palms began to sweat as his body began to shake in nervousness , the dark haired academy student looked over at his friend Miharu who happened to be looking over at him around the same time. Gihara smiled and nodded as Miharu did the same, both shinigami seeming to find comfort in each others presence. After taking a moment to calm himself down Gihara realized he missed the opening words from the principle and the first student was called up to display their shikai.

One after the other students were called up and released their zanpaktous in large quakes of energy followed by perfunctory applause from the onlookers in courtyard. Soon the name of his best friend Hajime Miharu passed the principles lips and she stood from her knelt position and made her way to the designated area. Her awkward waltz and slightly clumsy tendencies made her much more unique than anyone else at the academy. “ Come on Miharu you can do it..” Gihara thought to himself as he looked with anticipation laced with jumbled curiosity. The reflection of Miharu’s soul would be interesting as she was always un predictable. “ Wash them clean, Nomaisuko!” Miharu exclaimed as large up surge of yellow spirit energy filled the air. Gihara shielded his face with his forearm from the blinding light and debris. As the dust settled two very vibrant objects were present in both of her hands. Flourescent blue water rippled from each hilt as the two objects became identifiable as some form of water-like whips. Eyebrows raised and feint whispering among the crowd could be heard, dual shikai were rare and it seemed to give Miharu a lot of notice. She received a thunderous applause and quickly ran back to her seat with the widest grin.

A handful of names were called afterwards until finally the principle beckoned for Sanshou Gihara. Due to the jitters and nervousness Gihara stood abruptly once his name was called, it was like wound up reaction of sorts. As Gihara proceeded toward the teachers he could feel the hundreds of eyes staring at him, watching and waiting to see what abilities he possessed. Once he arrived he was greeted by the smiles all of his instructors, this however did not make him less nervous but it did relieve some of his anxiety. Gihara paused for a long while as almost froze with nervousness. “ Whenever your ready Gihara.” The principle uttered as the dark haired academy student nodded and unsheathed his zanpaktou. “ Ok, deep breaths, deep breaths. Now proceed smoothly just like you practiced. Feet..shoulder width apart, ok, good. Focus your reiatsu, feel the resonance between yourself and your zanpaktou. Good. Here goes nothing”. “ Frolic, Sono Ijirashii!” Gihara exclaimed as his body began to outline with a dark blue glow of reiatsu that started off stable but then flared up in an excited jolt. Gihara’s reiatsu was bright and reflected his determination. As the dust began to settle many light blue transparent orbs began to fill the air with the flight/hover characteristics of ordinary bubbles. In Gihara’s right hand a blue hilted snake blade with 5 gaping holes continually adding to the array of orbs that were already gravitating around him. The audience looked on in amazement at the beauty of Giharas display while trying to discern the orbs actual purpose. None the less the intrigued crowd erupted in applause as Gihara sheathed his sword. The young shinigami made his way back to his seat taking deep breaths, it was the first time he had every seen those orbs appear, normally when summoned only the snake blade would arise.

(Rushed)

The captain stood up, a smile on his face as he clapped loudly. It was odd and rare to see such a release. That power, simple exciting. It was sure that this 'Shinigami' needed to be experimented with. His power was so amazingly creative that the captain hurridly shunpoed, appearing behind the lad and placing his hand on the boys shoulder. He moved faster then the boy could comprehend. With this he smirked and shouted out loudly. "This lad, he is now a member of the 12th Division and Research Squad." He hollered as a few people cheered and roared. Applauding the man on his acceptence. Only the 12th Taicho knew that this young shinigami was special. "How Joyous." He exclaimed as he appeared back to his seat, with his legs crossed.

The roar of the audience thundered through the young academy student’s body as his back was turned from them and his face soaking in the excited looks of his peers , especially Miharu, as he made his way back to his seat. But before Giahra could give his legs the command to kneel back down a slight gale brushed over his back, followed up immediately by the warmth of a foreign body. A cold, almost mechanical in texture, sculpting of a hand embraced his shoulder. Before the dark haired shinigami to be could turn and acknowledge the presence behind him it had made an announcement for everyone in the ceremony to hear.

Gihara froze momentarily in shock and disbelief at what he had just heard. “ A member of the 12th division! Its next to impossible to enter into that squad without years of science and analysis courses, so why was I picked?’ Gihara intoned unto himself as he turned his head to face the person who had appointed him to the squad. However the same gust of wind that carried the figure over to him had come again and swept him away, leaving nothing behind him but the background of the ceremony. “ So fast…, but who could that have been?” Gihara thought as he sat down with jitters of excitement, his fellow class mates congratulating him with smiles, nods and occasional pats on the back.

After Gihara’s display only a few dozen students were left and their displays had gone by rather rapidly. The principal had then closed with an inspirational speech to the future of the seretei that seemed to have fired up every ones will to succeed with loyalty to the soul society. “ And with that I hereby acknowledge you as full fledged shinigami, no longer are you my students, but now my equals.” The principle said as the black kimono’s from the janitors closet began to be passed out. “ Gi-Gi!” An all too familiar raspy inflected tone had exclaimed as Miharu came dashing toward Gihara with her new kimono adorned.

“ You were amazing out there, and too think you were the only one hand picked for a division out of all the other students. Looks like that white haired metal armed guy over there is gonna be your captain” Miharu stated after a light hug. Gihara scanned the area for person who fit Miharu’s description, the metal arm feature would validate the cold metal like hand he had felt on his shoulder before being announced into the 12th division. “ Oh, I see him! But I wonder what happened to his arm?” Gihara said as he looked at Miharu who shrugged with ignorance . “ You never mind that, you’d better go and greet him. I hear respect and what not is a big deal in the gotei 13 ranks.” Miharu said as he shoved Gihara off toward the metal armed captain.