Percy Jackson and the Soul Society: The Weight of Betrayal

III: Destroy to Protect

Percy felt his eye twitch as Rukia set him up to hit baseballs with crappy drawings on him... He felt insulted that she believed he was so incompetent with his sword and the idea of 'aim for the head' that he actually needed to do this kind of training.

He obviously couldn't tell her about his life as a Demigod, and she also seemed to have completely forgotten about Riptide in the heat of the moment, so he guessed he was stuck.

But really, couldn't she have made the drawings on the balls a little different!? For the love of Zeus, the designs were so similar it was almost impossible to tell the damn difference.

And where was his 'mentor' during all this? Reading a horror manga nearby... He was almost entirely certain that this was just an excuse for her to slack off. Either that, or she was convinced that this exercise actually worked.

He sighed as he managed to finish the 'training' and made his way over, putting a hand onto her shoulder... Only for her to scream in surprise and jump away from him, manga held tightly in her hands.

"Y- Y- You fool, announce yourself!" She yelled at Percy, who looked at her with a flat expression.

"You knew I was here, and you're the one who decided to read a horror manga..." He said drily. "Why are you even scared, it's still light out!"

Rukia looked embarrassed, before coughing. "You finished the training?" She asked him, completely sidestepping the subject of her being scared.

"Hitting the balls with 'Head' on them, right?" He asked. "Yeah, all finished with it. Honestly though, how is hitting these balls going to make me any more accurate with my swinging? I mean, at least now my horizontal slashes are going to be a bit sharper... But my point still stands."

"A Hollow's weakness is its head," Rukia told him, something he'd already heard. "If you slice it open, you can beat it in a single blow! This training is so you can accurate hit the head in any situation."

"Okay firstly, then the exercise should have been much harder," he told her. "Maybe have several balls tossed into the air at once, and I have to identify the 'head' and hit it. Secondly, why in the Hades do I have to do this exercise when you've seen how easily I've been beating them thus far?"

"Don't be naïve," she scolded him, while filing away the name 'Hades' for later. "Have you yet to defeat any Hollows in one hit? Sneaking up on a hollow and defeating them is the basics of the basics! Honestly, it's a miracle that you have remained unscathed so far, from the way I've seen you fighting."

Percy felt his eye twitch. He was a bit rusty, sue him! None of the hollows he'd faced had forced him to go all out yet! "Stealth has never been my strong suit," he said, thinking of all the times he'd been caught sneaking and had to run. Honestly, even when he was invisible he was terrible at stealth. "Alright, fine. Though I still think we should be working on stealth over this."

"We'll do that training at a later time," she promised, acknowledging stealth was also needed for those situations. "But this training is important. Anyway-!"

"Hello, Jackson-kun!" A cheerful voice said, making Percy feel like his heart just leapt out of his chest.

"Dear Zeus...!" Percy said, holding his chest and looking back at the person in question... "Inoue-san...?" He questioned, slowly slowing his heart rate. "What are you doing here?"

"Just doing a little shopping!" She said, holding up a leak from her bag. "I bought onions, and butter, and bananas, and gelatine!"

Percy gulped in minor fear at the thought of eating anything with those mixed together. 'Mercy on your soul, Tatsuki... I know you're going to end up eating that horrendous food combination...'