as years pass | kyoraku shunsui

five - 'the future'

Graduation day for the students of the Soul Reaper Academy was quite different from the human world equivalent, where everyone would gather around in a ceremony to receive their diplomas. Instead, all the graduating students were gathered into one room where - if he were available at the time - Head Captain Yamamoto himself gave them a speech about their upcoming Soul Reaper duties.

By this point, everyone had received a letter from the captain of the squad that they would be joining; of course, there were three exceptions to this. Shunsui and Jushiro would be captains come the next day, but Shuriken just hadn't heard back from anyone.

It made her ridiculously anxious, if she were to be honest.

Shuriken had grown immensely over the last year of her time at the academy, all thanks to her zanpakuto spirit. Yamamoto had promised her that her work would be rewarded, but as her peers began to leave the room after graduation, she wondered when the old man would speak up.

"Guys?" Shuriken said as she looked towards Shunsui and Jushiro. "Where the hell do I go?"

"You know I'd always be happy to have you in my squad, Ri," Shunsui grinned as he draped an arm across Shuriken's shoulders. "I'll gladly take all the pretty faces I can get!"

"Or if you'd rather have a less painful work environment, you're welcome in the Thirteenth," Jushiro said playfully. Shunsui pouted, but Shuriken laughed.

"I appreciate that, but I'd still like to know where Yamamoto wants to put me," Shuriken then frowned as she looked over to the Head Captain. He was finishing up a conversation with a couple of their now former classmates when he noticed the trio staring at him. Yamamoto then dismissed their peers and motioned his star pupils forward.

"You seem distressed, young Natazaki," Yamamoto always cut straight to the point, even on what was one of the happiest days of Shuriken, Shunsui, and Jushiro's lives. "Did you really believe that I had forgotten to assign you a squad?!"

Though his voice was loud, Yamamoto's tone was more playful than scolding.

"I mean, you're not as young as you once were, Yama," Shunsui teased. "Just because you've not gone completely gray yet, that doesn't mean-"

"Silence!" Although Yamamoto had succeeded in ceasing Shunsui's talking for the time being, he couldn't stop the young man's snicker. "There were several captains that requested your subordination, Natazaki, including both of your dear friends here. I hope you realize that it is no small feint to have just one captain interested in your abilities; yet, you had several."

Of course, Shuriken realized that; Yamamoto even knew that she did. That was why he allowed her to take a moment and let the impression that she had made on the Soul Society sink in. Throughout the various missions that she'd led her classmates on, she'd attracted a lot of positive attention by many seasoned Soul Reapers.

After years at Yamamoto's Soul Reaper Academy, Shuriken was no longer the same pitiful, scared child that she had been after her family's unfortunate demise. Now, she had become a promising up-and-coming Soul Reaper with all the potential in the world.

That, naturally, is what made the choice of what squad she would start in so obvious.

"I, however, have the final say in the placement of all new recruits. Because of the skills that you continue to grow and your incredible dedication to not only your work, but to those around you, you shall join my First Division, Natazaki Shuriken."

For a moment, Shuriken could do little more than just stare at the older man in absolute shock. Had she heard him right? Was she really going to be working under the Yamamoto Shigekuni Genryusai himself? The same man that she'd grown to admire so much, regardless of the seemingly meaningless tasks he had not only her, but Shunsui and Jushiro as well perform?