A.N. RL and sickness got me down and this update is later than the rate I was hoping to keep. Hopefully that will change from here on out. Thanks to Vash and Jon for content reviews, and Warlocke and CB for editing. Enjoy.

'C' Cup

How they were able to be so still irritated me. I fidgeted every few seconds sitting on the cushion with a low table in front of me covered with exam scrolls. The two instructors both taught Kidō at the Academy and wanted to see how much I knew. Just like my other school there was a theoretical and practical portion of the exam. Now usually I'm bad at theoretical but for once I could prattle on as well as my bushy haired friend on the nuances of Kidō history and theorems. It was probably because so much of Kidō was like offensive and defensive magic, something that had always been my strength.  Of course even though I was being tested on my best subject, sitting in an uncomfortable position and writing with a brush was making me forget things.

"Che, this is illegible," Lisa-san said, bringing me out of my brooding. She'd stayed true to her word and followed me around. Now she was standing beside me looking at my work. "Sensei, just have him do this orally like the formal exams of the Gotei 13. His writing is making me nauseating."

"Thanks," I said, too frustrated to take offense. She'd been present during my first sword fighting lesson, I'd quickly become immune to her criticism after an hour of hearing it.

"What do you say, Potter-san? It's tougher on students to answer orally, you have less time to think," one of the unnamed instructors prompted. He was sitting at the far end of the room beside a calligraphy hanging and looked like he'd been sleeping sitting up.

"Please, if you want I can read off the question and answer it. I don't have much writing practice," I said. Lisa-san kneeled next to me and took the sheaf of papers to organize them.

"Writing well isn't necessary for a Shinigami. Just another thing nobles feel like we should teach. Go on, Potter-san," the second instructor sitting on the other side of the calligraphy tapestry said derisively.

"Ahem," Lisa-san cleared her throat. "Explain why the Way of Destruction 11 Bound Lightning requires physical contact."

She looked at me over her serious rectangle glasses and I smiled in relief.  Finally I could start answering without worrying about my exam sheets looking like a five year old's watercolor painting. I answered in much detail, enough that the instructors had to ask Lisa-san to move on. In that way I worked through a mountain of questions at least one foot high.

At the end Lisa-san's voice was dying and the instructors seemed to have dozed off. I was getting ticked off. Why did they ask me all this and not show any interest? Probably for the first time I understood why Hermione got angry at us. Though even professors couldn't take her enthusiasm on some days.

"Well, you have expert knowledge in some areas, novice or worse in others. Spotty training, but what you know you really know. You don't know the details of some high level communication spells, but you have good theories you've come up with about how they work. If you were being treated as any normal student, you'd have passed the Academy's Kidō exams, not well, but you would've passed" Lisa-san said to me. She snorted when she saw the instructors. "Oi!"

She stood up and walked to them as they jerked awake. She dropped the stack of papers between them with a slapping sound. One of them took the top sheet which Lisa-san had been marking on and the other leaned over to look at it.

"Vice Captain…is this all as it was? I became lost in meditation toward the end," one instructor said scratching his head and smiling sheepishly.

From my angle I couldn't see Lisa-san's face but the way the two Shinigami instructors cringed back I had a feeling there was a death glare behind those red glasses. "So, what now?" I asked.

"You have mathematics with Class One. Someone will come for you after that," the instructor dismissed me as he pored over Lisa-san's notes.

She scoffed and turned about-face motioning me imperiously to follow her. I got up trying not to show the pain of pins and needles in my legs. "Math? Are they serious?"

Lisa-san gave me a sidelong glance. "Shinigami keep the balance of souls in the worlds, Potter-kun. How can you do that if you can't even guess my bra size. Math class it is."

It was the second time that morning Lisa-san had made me speechless. I guessed she was a 'B.' I made the mistake of muttering my guess out under my breath.

Lisa-san halted and turned into me. Damn the woman for being taller than me. She stepped into my personal space so that her lips were at my eye level and I could feel her hot breath on my skin. Her chest brushed against mine like a feather and she said, "C."

Then she walked away leaving me embarrassed and just a little turned on.

000000

The hallways of the Shinigami Academy like almost anything else about it were big. Hardwood gleamed at every turn and I could see why they didn't want us wearing shoes inside. It would ruin the polish. Though it felt weird to be walking around in socks all over the place. Unlike Hogwarts the walls of the Academy weren't adorned with many decorations. It was very plain looking but clean. I guess that's the difference between a military academy and a magic school.

Lisa-san seemed to be lost in thought. She was a slender and quiet woman but still seemed to have a big presence. I felt like I had to behave and be proper in her presence. The teachers certainly were treating her respectfully. I suppose the level of a Vice Captain was pretty high. And I wasn't quite over her making me uncomfortable by getting physical with me.   

"I hope you're not falling in love with me the way you keep looking at me," she said breaking the silence.  "I have no interest in men compared to whom I have wider shoulders. Put some more meat on yourself before gawking at me."

My face heated up. "I wasn't checking you out. I was just wondering how important Vice Captains are, is all." I looked straight ahead and ignored her for the rest of the way. The comment about my skinniness really touched  a nerve. I had to do something about it.

"Here, I have to leave you now. I will speak with the headmaster about you. Good luck," she said with a nod and walked away from me. This time I did stare a while, her personalized uniform did show a lot of toned leg. Something moved and caught my attention. A black cat was sitting on one of the high window sills washing its face. "Here, kitty," I called out. It didn't come down but glared at me with its amber eyes. I wonder who it belonged to, I kept seeing it everywhere.

Shrugging I left the cat to its own devices. I knocked and entered the classroom. I almost wept for joy when I saw real chairs lined behind curving benches. I cleared my throat finding myself the target of multiple stares. I'd apparently interrupted the class.

"Sorry, they told me I had to come here next," I said to the Shinigami instructor I'd seen at the morning assembly. The large ledger he'd been holding then was sitting on a desk.

"Come in, Potter-san, complete the test. We will go on from there," the slight Shinigami with long black hair smiled at me.

I was happy to see someone being pleasant and smiled back with a thank you. Taking the sheets from him I found a seat on a bench Rangiku was sharing with some other students. She winked at me but went back to her test.

"And why is the exalted Class Zero student slumming with us lowly Class Ones this morning?" some student I hadn't met called out from behind me. His tone said it all; he hated me.

I didn't turn to look at him but answered him anyway, "They haven't figured out how to make mathematics fatal yet, so I'll be taking it easy with you." That earned me some laughs and the teacher smiled too.

I stared at the questions on the page. It had been a long time since I'd done math and seeing it in Japanese wasn't helping much either.  Just as earlier that morning I had this feeling that someone was very close to me. This time it didn't startle me and I looked casually to where the empty space should've been at my right. Annette was sitting there frowning at my sheet still looking like a doll in her yellow gown.

"What-are-you-doing?" I asked sotto voce.

"Helping, Master," she said at normal volume.

I gave her a sharp look hoping she'd get the message and disappear. "They will see you," I said under my breath.

"Only you can see me, Master. My lady said you haven't studied mathematics in years, so I will be telling you how to solve these. My, it's so interesting to read Japanese without learning it. It's so fascinating. So what you do is…" she went on to tell me how to do every question. It started out with simple addition and subtraction type problems but soon enough we were doing geometry and algebra. I was lost but thanks to Annette I filled in all the questions.

I even forgave her for siding with Izanami earlier.

00000

Yadōmaru Lisa left the principal's office cursing. The old man had corralled her into 'volunteering' her time in exchange for information on Potter Harry. Lisa had expressed her interest in recruiting him clearly, but the old man had been cagey. He wouldn't let her have him, saying only that the boy was going to be the pride of the Academy and he wasn't going to let the divisions mess with his training.

Lisa had tried her best to make a case but even the request of a Vice Captain was not enough to sway the principal. It only made her more determined. What was it about the kid that was so special? She wondered if Potter-san was even worth the time she would be 'volunteering' at the Academy in exchange for the little information the principle had given up. Her interest in him beyond self preservation was whimsical. Although, she allowed herself that he had shown odd abilities and like any smart warrior she wanted to know the strengths and weaknesses of such. But if she were honest with herself she was simply curious. Life had gotten so dull at the top. Hardly anything fun happened.  If nothing else it would be amusing to get him to see other Zanpakutō spirits and tell her what they were. She couldn't wait to use him on her captain. "Why am I wasting my time?" she asked her Zanpakutō. "You haven't had a pet in a long time," the spirit of her blade replied without the buzzing affectation. "Is that all there is?" she asked.The spirit buzzed in a way she knew meant it was annoyed, and didn't say anything more. Lisa smiled to herself. She wondered how much she would hate herself for wasting time once she was bored of Potter Harry. 

00000A pentagram came to life on the wooden floor letting off a sweet incense-like smell. Fire winked out of it about a foot high. It licked the boy's legs but didn't harm him. He stood with his head hung and eyes shut and quiet. Lisa shared a wary look with the senior Kidō instructor. The boy was invoking the highest level demon magic he knew without an incantation and worse without even calling out the name of the spell. He was utterly silent. To have such frightful control, he couldn't be anything but a prodigy. Like breath condensing in the air, symbols of the demon magic began appearing around him. The fire at his feet leapt at the symbols ringing them in wreathes of flame. The pentagram disappeared and suddenly the symbols of air and fire were loose. They twisted and whirled in the air threatening any spiritual entity around them. "I can't believe it," Yadōmaru Lisa whispered to herself feeling the power of the magic whipping around the boy's still form. She could see the twelve symbols were trying to break away from his control to attack her or the instructor. The boy's fingers twitched as if invisible threads tied the summoned magic to his hands and the symbols jerked back. It was an incredibly complex bit of magic, each symbol could change to a binding or destructive spell on the whim of the summoner. The only clue to the power in the symbols was their composition, in the boy's case it was air and fire. Lisa wondered how strong they were: could they immolate her or could the air essence steal her breath? Was she going to let herself believe he was that talented? "Is this enough?" Potter-kun asked quietly as if he wasn't in the nexus of a fiery twister. "I can't hold it much longer." "Yes, that's enough," Onabara-sensei said quickly. Potter-kun clapped his hands over his head. The symbols rushed into his hands and exploded upwards into the sky, shooting a column of fire and wind. Lisa was staring at the sky where the demon magic had disappeared so she didn't see right away that her new found interest had collapsed to his hands and knees. He was heaving and shaking. "You're a little scary, kid. Performing a level 90 combined destructive and binding spell. I'm surprised you're not dead," Lisa said with a small smile to hide her jealousy. Kidō was not her specialty, she was a swordswoman and a specialist at that. "He still needs more control, that was volatile," Onabara-sensei said kneeling next to Potter-san. The large man's size eclipsed the kid making the latter look fragile. "If you'd incanted the spell properly, like you are supposed to, Potter-kun, the spell would have been easier to handle."The kid shook his head and stood up swaying a little. "Incantations are too long. What's the point if they kill you as soon as they hear you starting off the spell? Fights are fast, if magic isn't quick enough to keep up it's useless." The way Onabara-sensei's brows knotted on his bald head told Lisa he was pissed.. "Next time you rush through a level 90 demon art spell make sure no one is around. That way you will only kill yourself. Is that understood? If you need to be fast in a fight, use your sword." The kid nodded once dismissively. "Yes, sensei." The large Shinigami folded his arms and stared down at the slight boy. Lisa rolled her eyes at the posturing. He should give the kid a break, Lisa thought to herself. It was night, long past classes had let out for the day. Potter-kun's day was only then ending - and her own as well, she mused.

Lisa wondered again why she'd wasted an entire day at the Academy. Her curiosity really got the best of her some times. If she was less bored she wouldn't be hanging out with a first year Academy student, trying to recruit him before anyone even gave a damn about his existence. "A week from today you have a test on types of Hollows. You will take the written exam and then join your seniors on a live training mission. If you don't learn all you need to know in a week's time, you're dead. You will be working alone, others will be in teams. Is that understood?" Onabara-sensei said. Lisa frowned. That was a little harsh. "I'll be ready in three days," the kid responded meeting the taller man's eyes. "You have five hours of sword practice, four hours of martial arts, two hours of physical training without the aid of reiatsu, an hour of Shinigami history and tactics every day this week. I'm sure you'll be ready for the test on Hollows in three days with that schedule," Onabara-sensei said quietly. "And don't forget you will be expected to put time in an Academy club as is required of every student.""Hmm, I was wondering what his schedule was going to be," Lisa said aloud not betraying what she thought of the trying time table. The kid's eyes snapped to hers in anger. She raised a brow, trying to send a message that he should calm down. An entire day of testing hadn't been easy on him. And the twelve hour plus training days that were ahead of him wouldn't let him rest any time soon. A normal schedule for Academy recruits was only seven hour long daily. She didn't envy the only student of Class Zero. "I'll be ready in two to take the test, Onabara-sensei," the kid finally said looking away from Lisa. She was pleased to hear his polite tone. Maybe her message had gotten through.  "Don't regret it," Onabara-sensei said and left without another word. 

Lisa stayed leaning against the back wall of the Kidō firing range until the senior instructor left. The kid's arms hung listlessly and he was bowing his head. The sky had darkened dramatically leaving him illuminated only by the moon. 

"That wasn't smart, boyo," Lisa called out. "I didn't think you were the type to lose your cool." She pushed off the wall and made her way over to him, stepping gingerly on the loose sand of the spell firing range. She hated it getting inside her sandals. "I need to get back to my division now. Take my advice, take a break and start acting maturely like you were this morning. You won't last..." she trailed off as the kid turned his head to look at her.

Everything in her peripheral vision darkened and she stared unblinkingly at the kid. She could feel her eyes tensing as they tried to drink in the sight of him. He was bathed in moonlight and was looking back at her just as intently as her. His eyes...she'd thought his eyes had been an attractive green...were pale almost white. Was it a trick of the light? she wondered but didn't care too long. She couldn't look away from his face, from those faint irises. 

She could feel her heart beat loudly. Blood rushed to her face as she drank in each tendril of hair falling in his face, the arch of his cheeks on his too thin face. He raised his arm and languidly motioned her over. Lisa felt herself walk without thinking about it. When she reached him she smelled the sweat and dirt on him and shuddered; something animalistic inside her reared. 

Her heart pounded in her ears and molten heat settled between her legs. She tilted her head baring her neck for the boy. An electric charge went through her thinking how his height was perfect to reach her throat. She wondered if he could see the artery throbbing with her excitement or if she was the only one who felt it. 

He was such a beautiful man, she wondered why she hadn't noticed before. She shifted weight from foot to foot when the warmth got too much and felt the slickness when her thighs rubbed against each other. She reached up to her collar and pulled apart her short robes so he could see more than just her neck. She smiled cattily as she thought of the look on his face when she had brushed her breasts against his chest earlier that day.

She stood on offer, waiting for whatever came next. He snaked his arms around her waist pulling her hips close to his. On contact Lisa swallowed painfully, suddenly finding her mouth dry. She felt his breath inches away from the skin of her neck, and waited frozen. She smelled him in, waiting, feeling the flame insider her become unbearable. But she didn't move or demand anything. Her place was to wait in delicious suspense, she knew that, she was content in that agony. 

His tongue drew a line next to her pulsating artery. Lisa breathed in sharply, all thought and reason inflamed. She felt him place his teeth on her skin and the mixture of warm breath and oddly cool saliva made her want him to take her, to consume her. She clenched her jaw shut before the moan could escape her. It was there, almost, the moment of release. She knew it!

But then he pushed her away violently. 

He screamed and stumbled back falling on the ground. Lisa stared at him feeling dejected but also confused. 

"What's happening to me?!" he screamed holding his head with fingers twisted in his hair. In the moonlight the color of his eyes shone as it returned to green from white. 

Lisa shook her head feeling like her mind was foggy. She didn't remember what had happened between Onabara leaving and her taking her leave. She rushed to the boy who was folded in on himself as if he was bearing a great pain. 

"Water! Thirsty!" he yelled at her. 

For a second Lisa paused, wanting to berate him for his bad manners, but seeing how his face was pulled in pain she ran out of the range to the water cooler. She was lucky to find a wooden bowl and quickly filled it. When she came back to the range entering through door-less doorway the boy was leaning against a pillar on the observation platform. 

She walked to him softly seeing that he was taking deep breaths and had seemed to calm down. He was still holding one arm tightly against his stomach as if it hurt him badly. He took the bowl of water from her with a grateful look and drank in small sips. Lisa forgave him for his rudeness and sat next to him. She noticed that her robe had come undone at some point and frowned before tying it close.

"How hard did you push yourself to cast that spell earlier?" she asked. 

"Almost killed myself. I don't know what happened, I'm so hungry, I could eat...anything. Hell, I almost did...I don't even know how to apologize to you for that," he said. 

Lisa stared at him expressionlessly. She didn't know what he was talking about. "You don't need to apologize to me, Potter-kun. Get yourself to the mess hall and eat. Training this hard will be difficult if you're not well fed." She stood up, knowing from experience that a man who has shown himself to her in a weak moment will not thank her for trying to help too long. He needed her to leave him to make his own painful way back. Besides, he was a soldier in training, she couldn't afford to coddle him. "That's an order, Potter-kun. Go! Eat!"

She waited till he had picked himself up and trudged out of the Kidō spell range. Then she followed him at a distance, out of sight, until he made it to the mess hall. She saw as a red haired girl who had been waiting outside the building went up to him and took his arm. 

Then she left for her division. Wondering if she had more than she could handle to allay her boredom. She had no memory of offering her neck to the boy. 

00000

The ringing in my ears was gone. Rangiku was talking to me but I couldn't really focus. She stopped after I didn't respond to any of her questions. The mess hall was nearly empty. Rangiku had begged, flirted, and cajoled the cooks to keep it open till I could get food. I wanted to thank her but my mind was drenched in fear of what had almost happened with Lisa-san. I didn't even understand what was going on. All day I'd been getting angrier and angrier for no reason. Sure the endless tests, interviews, and one effing etiquette lesson after another were irritating me, but it was not nearly enough to make me want to slice anything I saw moving in half. 

I'd been disrespectful to Onabara-sensei who from what I'd heard was a very senior teacher at the academy. I made a fool of myself claiming I'd be ready in two days for something that it took years for students at the academy to prepare for. But worst of all was the thirst and hunger. I'd never been that ravenous in my life. The hungrier I became the angrier I was. 

Casting that last spell was almost the end of me. Handling twelve different strands of magic that kept changing their nature from moment to moment took inhuman concentration. I'd held it together by sheer will alone. 

And then I'd almost eaten Lisa-san? I couldn't even believe thinking that thought in my head. It was like she had been under the Imperius. She had looked unearthly gorgeous. The sheen of her skin was mesmerizing, the rushing blood that I could hear in her pulsing veins made me want to drink till she was inside me. Each throb on her exposed neck was a tug at something inside. I'd wanted her more than I've ever wanted anything in the world. I needed to taste her skin, to wet my mouth with her blood.

I shuddered as a wave of nausea hit me. Rangiku rubbed circles on my back and I felt myself calm down. "I'm thirsty," I whispered. 

Rangiku pushed a cup of water to me. "Here, what's wrong?"

I gulped down all the water but didn't feel the thirst die. "I don't know. I'm thirsty and hungry, and it's not ending. I've eaten so much food." 

"Maybe it's puberty," Rangiku said. 

I shot her a look and my angry words died in my mouth. Her copper hair was pulled back by a black band that only pronounced the tightness of her skin and the worry in her eyes. "I don't know," I said. "Are you alright? Did something happen?" I asked, thinking something was wrong with her by her off expression. 

She shrugged. "They don't want us here. Think we're too full of ourselves. Just trash from the outer districts of Rukongai. Don't worry about it, I just got into too many fights my first day," she said. 

"I'm sorry," I said. 

"Idiot," she said and ran her fingers through my hair in the way she knew comforted me. "It's not really puberty, is it?" she asked changing the subject back to me. 

I shook my head. "I think it's something magical. I've been losing my temper all day and I almost...ate someone." 

Her hand froze in my hair. "Ate someone?" 

I grimaced at her flat tone. "I felt like I needed her blood," I explained. 

Rangiku stood up with a furious face and jerked my sword out of the sash that I had to wear like a belt to keep everything in place.

"Rangiku, what..." I didn't get to finish because she'd started hollering at my sword. 

She screamed at it, "What the fuck are you doing to him, you crazy bitch? Bloodthirsty slut! Stop hurting him or I will break you into two!"

I stumbled off the bench in my hurry to stop her. The cooks who had been hanging out at the end of the hall were looking at us. I grabbed Rangiku by the arm and took the sword with my free hand. “People are watching!” I hissed at her and manhandled her out of the mess hall.

Luckily the mess hall led out into the main courtyard of the Academy where we’d assembled that morning. It felt like an age ago. But the night’s cool air and the beautiful scenery calmed me and seemingly Rangiku too. She huffed and strode ahead of me to a bench under a cherry blossom tree. She plopped down with more violence than necessary and glared at my sword. “You need to put that woman in her place, Harry,” she started off.

I agreed mentally but didn’t say anything to encourage her. If Izanami started seeing Rangiku as an enemy, Merlin help her.  I sat next to my friend and finally brought my mind around to her accusation. Was it really my sword making me feel and act strangely? It had the ring of truth.

As if summoned, Annette appeared beside us. She stood with her head bowed. She glowed white as if she was made of the moonlight. I looked to Rangiku but she didn’t seem like she’d seen Annette.

“Forgive me, Master. I am a face of death, to master me you have to master my strengths and weaknesses. I was the queen of the night but I was always a slave to my hunger. But you are the Master of Death, you can dominate the Need that has awoken in you because of me. I am so sorry,” she said tearfully.

The anger I'd been feeling all day surged like a wave. "Bring Izanami now!" I growled at the vampiress. She gave a hurried curtsey and disappeared from my sight.  The shadow of the Sakura tree Rangiku and I were sitting under flickered and folded unnaturally before rising into the air to form Izanami's robes.

Midnight blacks and blues of the shadow slipped like silk over her body, leaving bare shoulders and a plunging neckline that any other time would've embarrassed me. A simple silver tiara adorned the ringlets of shining hair falling past her bosom. The cascading hair accentuated the exposed curves as in the gentle wind it swayed to sometimes ensure modesty.

Rangiku gasped next to me and blurted, "Who are you? Where'd you come from?"

Izanami's eyes shone as they caught the moonlight over the transparent veil she was wearing. "I am the Goddess of Death, or the divine being you were just calling 'a bloodthirsty slut.'" Menace mixed with her amused tone. Rangiku shrunk a little and grabbed my sleeve. It was unlike her to be intimidated.

"Leave her alone," I said. "What did you do?"

Izanami stepped forward; she was barefoot I noticed. She reached out and ran her hand through Rangiku's hair. I was proud of my friend for not flinching even though I could feel her fingers digging into my arm. "Thank you for taking care of my little flower, Rangiku. Do not fear me, she who loves my pet is in my care," she said, cupping Rangiku's chin.

Izanami was influencing Rangiku somehow, I had a suspicion she was using her magic because Rangiku relaxed suddenly and leaned into Izanami's hand.

"Izanami?" I prompted. "What are you doing?"

Izanami looked at me and my heart skipped a beat. I couldn't help it. Every time she smiled at me I imagined it was my mother looking at me fondly. She said, "You promised me to lend me your power. She merely feels my love for her, or perhaps, our love for her."

Rangiku pulled back hearing this and her eyes were filled with wariness. Izanami chuckled and dropped her hand. I stood up feeling the rage building inside me too much to hold. "Start talking before I do something…" I couldn't decide what was that 'something' I was afraid of other than losing control.

"Annette explained to you the task, dear heart. To master this aspect you must do what is unthinkable for a vampire, quench the thirst forever. Rangiku-chan, if you want to help Harry you should let him drink your blood and eat your flesh." Izanami cackled and vanished, only leaving the echoes of her laughter on the wind.

"Is she serious?" Rangiku asked in the stunned silence in Izanami's wake.

I felt like there were snakes under my skin, writing in hunger and fury. I felt like tearing them out and choking Izanami. "No!" I growled out past the pain.

"Harry?" Rangiku put her hand on my back.

"Don't touch me!" I shouted at her and clenched my teeth. I could feel the itch in my gums to bite. I'd felt it only an hour ago when Lisa-san had exposed her neck to me.

"We need to get out of here. You don't look good. Let's try and keep your mind off of it," she said and pulled me in some direction. I wasn't paying attention, my vision was throbbing black and red with the need.

"How?" I gasped. I was holding on to sanity barely.

"You have a test on Hollows in two days, right? We better study for it till we figure out what to do," she said decisively and guided me to her room.  "Shoo, cat!"

I heard a cat's annoyed meow and wondered if it was the same black one who'd been stalking me all day.

I'm glad Rangiku's roommate was Kukaku. And doubly happy that she knew binding Kidō to trap me that night when Rangiku was hypnotized by Annette's powers to offer her body to me.

000000

The Princess of the Shihoin clan was dressed in an unadorned Special Ops uniform. She peered unseen into her friend, Shiba Kukaku's, room and sheathed her sword. She was grateful for Kukaku's skill at Kidō and her quick thinking. If she hadn't paralyzed Potter Harry, the princess would've had to execute him on the spot. To be safe Shihoin Yoruichi crouched on the window sill, making herself comfortable for the night and kept vigil.

She was afraid, however, that she would have to throw the promising boy into detention. For her friend's sake she was giving him yet another chance. But she wondered what a threat she was allowing to walk free if he couldn't control his obviously powerful Zanpakutō that he had materialized in the real world without any effort.

She sighed to herself and watched.