Class Rivalry [Drake]

[Empty]

Haruki walked slowly through the training yard, examining the form of his young charges as they locked blades, each had been dulled for training to avoid significant injury, yet broken bones were far from uncommon. As he wondered through the pairs he made passing comments about one student's footwork, the grip of another and the swings of a third; whenever he spoke his crisp words were greeted by a short, sharp reply, “Hai Shihan”. Each of his students knew to answer promptly, each was keen to avoid the punishments their intense Sensei meted out, like running five laps around all of Rukongai – an immense task that could take the students days - so instead they hurried to comply, shifting stances, moving their hold on their hilts, being more careful with their follow-up attacks.

Despite not desiring to get on his bad side, many of the students had a grudging respect for their instructor, no matter how they might bad mouth Haruki behind his back; for the intense part time instructor was well thought of by students and other instructors alike at the academy for his blade handling skills. Even the occasional visit by members of the eleventh division who were sent to assist the students' instruction only served to reinforce the student's impression of the man's skill with the blade. Among his class there were several who had little skill with Kidou or Reiatsu, they instead found solace only in the use of their Zanpakutou or through their Hakuda classes; for those students, the draw of the eleventh division and even the second division was immense. As such when one Eleventh Division shinigami showed up and attempted to belittle Haruki (or 'Shihan Kato' as he had come to be called by the students) by humbling him with a Zanjutsu spar, the overwhelming prowess Haruki had exhibited with a sealed tanto blade compared to his opponent's twin mace Shikai had won him countless fans even amid those who aspired to join the eleventh division.

It had been nearly two hours since their class had started and it was just about time for a break. “And Finishing There!” Haruki called out loudly to the group of nearly thirty students, the clash of blade on blade stopped almost instantly – though a couple of pairs continued for a few seconds more, oblivious to the call until those nearby gained their attention. “Alright then. It's time for lunch – we will meet here again in thirty minutes.”

“Hai Shihan,” came the chorus of voices respectfully, each pair bowed slightly to their opponent, though Haruki ignored the occasional glower one gave the other – the sullen look or the implied threats. No matter what each student felt of the other, none would break the protocol that Haruki had insisted upon during their spars, each realised that their Shihan would tolerate no obvious signs of discourtesy towards their fellows in his presence. The last student who had done so had found himself seated at the Shinô Academy gates in seiza from the start of school until the end of their second class, nearly three hours in all – in their lap was placed one quarter of their body weight, nearly twenty kilograms.

As the group began to split up, many were attracted towards the sounds coming from the next field, Haruki allowed his reiatsu sense to skim towards it, feeling the intermittent and inconsistent fluctuations of reiatsu so common while students practised their kidou. One of his own student's a boy called Gouki had crested the top of the hill separating the two practice grounds and had begun laughing to his three friends quietly, from the other training ground Haruki noticed that three of the students had come up to meet the four from Haruki's class and their faces were anything but pleased at what it seemed Gouki had been saying. It was a fairly typical interaction between the two classes as of late – for some reason the Academy had been having the students begin to take on many of the more condescending attitudes of the Shinigami divisions themselves, many of those who excelled in Zanpakutou mocked the Kidou class as being full of pathetic weaklings, while many of the kidou users ridiculed the Zanpakutou class as being morons unable to perform any refined technique.

Though Haruki was unsure of exactly what was being said on the hill top two hundred feet away, from the increasingly agitated expressions on both sides he could tell that it was going to end poorly.

[Drake]

And poorly was right.

What started out as a minor commotion would turn into an unfortunate class dispute. Sadly the Kido side couldn't blame it solely on the Zanjutsu brutes. As the group of four toppled the great hill that separated the classes the heads of the students in the Kido class veered quickly. What happened to be Haruki's class break was Barrett Cal's Kido class afternoon Bakudo instruction.

Barrett, a former instructor at the academy had come back to teach a few lessons on the behalf of a sick instructor. Substitute you could say. Amongst his class was the usual intellectually elite future Kido corps recruits.

Or so he thought.

Lately the two extremes in the academy had been bumping heads. The Zanjutsu bangers vs the Kido corporals. Barrett hated to see such division of subordinates as one day the two clashing groups would have to come together for a common defense. The protection of Soul Society and the Human World. Barrett didn't tolerate endangerment of comrades or an liabilities to the common good. If this persisted past their academy years, they'd have Barrett to answer to.

Anywho, back to our affair.

As ears glared toward the four a heavy tension was being built. Barrett, who was currently preoccupied by another student, was unaware of the three students walking up to the hill. As they approached a shorter male with timid build and glasses was the first to speak: "What are you brutes doing? Your interrupting our lesson. We actually have to concentrate and focus unlike you all who just mindless swing away." The four eyes pushed up on his glasses with a confident smirk. Beside him was an average height female with blond hair and a taller skinny man with short black hair.

All the while toward the back where the Bakudo training was going on a young female with long silver here and a robust, bust quietly practiced her basics. Those of which she somehow missed during her academy years. "Bakudo number four, Hainawa" She calmly recited all the while channeling Reiatsu into her wrists then hands and finally themselves emitting out as a yellowish orange strand of energy. It was thin and faint in color. She raised her arms and moved it around as the thin cord sluggishly responded to her movements, obviously a sign of lower than required Reiatsu. The strand of Reiatsu made contact with a nearby dummy and wrapped around before curling around the arms and barely pulling them back.

The girl breathe deeply and exhaled, "Bakudo number four, Hainawa" She started up once again....

[Empty]

Haruki wandered among the clusters of those among his students who had decided to spend their break on the training field, there were groups having lunch, others merely chatting and a few industrious students who had decided to continue their training into the break - in the main part those who did so were either struggling with their studies or else the most proficient. However his wandering had one other purpose, it allowed him to move close enough to hear the exchange between the students on the hilltop without seeming to be aware of the situation. A fine line indeed.

As the small group from each of classes traded insults, Gouki began to colour in anger, the youth had always had a temper - something which increased his strength in battle, yet Haruki had been trying to curtail since when infuriated the youth often lost his self control. "A brute huh? Beats being a pathetic, pasty little bookworm like you lot." He spat, narrowly missing the student with glasses' foot. Loki grimaced, though he had decided he would not intervene unless things went wrong - he could tell he would need to move soon.

(OOC: A short post because I thought you might want to get things started ^.^)