Sleeping with the Enemy

Chapter 12: Kidou Training

"Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to strawberry fields,
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about,
Strawberry fields forever."
-The Beatles "Strawberry Fields Forever"

Amaya's fingers danced over the ebony and ivory keys of a black grand piano that had resided in one of Seireitei's numerous storage buildings for decades. Her eyes were closed and her head bobbed as she played out Mozart's Piano Sonata in A (Rondo Alla Turca) using no sheet music, having memorized the piece long ago. Amaya had originally gone to the building for the sake of putting old files into storage. There were many filing cabinets as well as furniture hidden under drop cloths. Curiosity had gotten the better of the redhead, for she returned later to see what was in there hidden beneath the dusty old drop cloths.

It was then that she discovered the instrument, discarded and buried under ancient boxes, old tomes, and a substantial layer of dust somewhere in the back of the storage building. In her free time, Amaya had returned with a cloth, removed the containers and other junk that obscured the piano, and used the cloth to sweep away the antique dust that had settled over the piano's glossy surface. She was surprised to find that, other than needing tuned, it was in good condition. She remembered her music teacher showing her how to tune a piano, and she did just that. It was certainly an unusual find, and Amaya often wondered who once owned the piano and what happened to them. 

Nina was perched on the top of the closed lid of the piano studying a hardback green and gold book that Captain Aizen had given her to read to help her with her kidou skills. A stack of smaller books was next to her, but this particular book was fascinating. It held many spells within its pages that she had never even heard of before.

Amaya finished her playing for a moment and looked up at her friend expectantly. "Well, what did you think?"

Nina glanced up. "You sounded great as always."

Amaya stood to look at the page Nina was on. "Is that one of the books Captain Aizen loaned you?"

"Mmhmm..." Nina trailed.

Amaya paused. "It can't possibly be that interesting."

Nina held the book over to Amaya. "Actually, it's very informative. You should see some of these spells in here. This is material that the teachers don't teach you at the Academy."

"Such as?"

Nina flipped to a page. "This spell here bends light to make you invisible and it hides your reiryoku." She turned to another. "And here are some higher level ones...this Level Ninety was the one Captain Aizen used the other day to destroy that Hollow."

"Wow..." Amaya trailed as she read the description in the book. "Is that spell even legal?"

Nina shrugged. "I suppose it is if Captain Aizen used it."

Amaya sat back down on the piano bench and opened a piece of music. "Speaking of your captain, aren't you supposed to be training with him soon?"

"Not for another half hour," Nina said, smiling.

Amaya resumed her playing once more, this time choosing Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers. 

Outside the building, Captain Ukitake, who was passing through on his way to visit Captain Komamura, paused. He swore he could hear piano music nearby, and he strained his ears to listen. Curious, Juushiro walked toward the sound and finally, he happened upon the open door of the storage building to find a very pretty young woman with long, radiant red hair sitting at the bench. He recognized Nina from the festival, but he could not help but lean in the doorway to listen to the redheaded woman play. He felt he probably should have made his presence known to them, but he thought that it would be rude and an absolute disgrace to interrupt such talent.