School House Blues(Yuzuru/Hiroe)

The final bell at the Shin'o Academy sounded out, sending a close to another long, and arduous day of honing the skills of the next generation of Shinigami, and as the afternoon sun began to dip as night time quickly began to approach one student remained. It wasn't like Yuzuru didn't have any place to be at this particular time, in fact he was due to play a set at a tavern down in the Rukongai later that very evening, but something was bothering the young man. Music was his second passion, it was part of who he was deep down to his very core, but as of late? Well, his heart just wasn't in to the music he was playing at that particular moment, and while it would suffice in him selling out a tavern or two, it was just a very confusing feeling to him.

He had always just let the music play through him without a second thought, but as of late the music just didn't play the same way as it used to. He let out a rather audible sigh as he thumbed his way through a few sheets of music that he had been scribbling in over the last few days, finding once again that he was completely indecisive about which direction he wanted to take this particular song. Luckily this funk he was in musically hadn't effected his work as a shinigami as he had continued to showcase a talent for it, but if he couldn't afford a place to live because his music was subpar? Then things would become quite difficult, after all his entire income was coming from music, and little else. He didn't really have any other talents outside of it at that particular moment and the concern was wearing him thin.

"Perhaps a break is in order..."

He stated to no one in particular, pulling out a notebook from his backpack as he decided to spend his time studying as opposed to floundering on a tune. Maybe he would find inspiration from between the pages of his notebook? He mused over this thought as he had heard several famous musicians gained inspiration from outside influences, not that he did much outside of play at taverns, and go to school. It wasn't necessarily the most sociable life, but it was a life, and a life that he had chose. He hummed to himself as he looked over the notes on Zanjutsu forms, zoning out as he did so.

With the final bell, Hiroe had completed a rigorous training session. Exhausted though far from discourage, she certainly required a moment or two to sit down and enjoy a break herself. She wondered if she ought to meditate and make yet another attempt at connecting with her Asauchi. It didn't particularly bother her that she hadn't learned her name, but there was an ardent desire to reach it, to see her spirit imprinted onto this blade, to manifest abilities beyond one's imagination. What would her companion be?

Someone that matched her in personality? A stoic warrior demanding that she never lose sight of her dream and work to master their abilities? Something with fire? Something with pomp? Fantasizing about it wouldn't bring her any closer, however much she desired to draw it out. Her Zanjutsu instructor's advice was simple.

"Don't force it. Keep going at the pace that works for you, and eventually your spirit will seek you out in no time."

Hiroe sighed softly, shaking her head as she walked over to grab her sword and other belongings. Placing a piece of bubblegum onto her tongue, she started chewing on it as she made her way out. However, before she left entirely, she gleamed a familiar man out the corner of her eye. Was that... Yuzuru? Pfft. She remembered this one. Something of a scaredy cat, but he had a good heart. Good work ethic, too. One might even say a gentle giant depending on the familiarity. For a moment, she curiously wondered if he knew the name of his Zanpakuto. Might as well find something to pass the time, she concluded.


With a light stride, she leaned in and gave him a light punch in the back.

"Long time no see, Yuzu."

Nothing seemed to be working, all of the notes he had taken looked like nothing more than scribbles as he rubbed his temples with his right hand while flicking through the pages with his left. Frustration was seeping in and Yuzuru was beginning to visibly show signs of this frustration. His face looking a bit more stern and even angrier than it normally did, if one were to look at it, and not know him they might have thought that he was about to lay them out. It was at that moment that Yuzuru felt a playful jab into his back.

He jumped initially, trying his best to go back to his normal expression as if to play off his frustrations, and quickly turned around to face the source of the jab. And there she was, with pet name included. Looking like an angel being backlit by the setting sun streaming in through a nearby window, Yuzuru found himself staring intently. For a while now he had known Hiroe was a "knock out", as some referred to her as, but today the 4'11 divine being in front of him seemed to wash a bit of his exhaustion away. The frustration and tenseness leaving his shoulders and his face.

She was the only one who knew him at the school for who he really was and even knew about his job outside of the academy work he was putting in. In essence, to him, Hiroe might be the only person in the world he could consider himself close to. Yuzuru put his hand over his heart and then began to speak.

"Don't surprise people like that...and Yuzu?"

He hadn't seen her in a while, not since the tavern he reckoned, and he supposed she was busy with her own training as much as he was with his own. Still, that didn't mean that he didn't miss her. After all, who else could he just be himself with.

"I thought giving nicknames out was something only friends do, Ms. Miyashiro?"

He wondered if they were friends internally, they couldn't possibly more than that of course. She was out of his league on a bad day and in an entirely different universe on her best day.

"What? We're not friends? Huh, I'm a little hurt by that, Yuzu! Also... Miss? I'm not your teacher, silly. We're schoolmates. You can call me Hiroe... and I'll call you, Yuzu."

Hiroe chuckled, casually waving her hand to dismiss his worries. She considered Yuzuru a friend. There wasn't anything he did so far that would make her view him in a negative light. Sitting down beside him, she gazed at him with curious eyes, observing the book in his hands. Was he taking notes on something? Studying? It was certainly a sight that piqued her interest, but catching up felt far more appealing at the moment.

"In any case, how have you been since our encounter at the tavern?"

"Ung..I mean...I don't really have any friends so..."

It was embarrassing to mention just how few people he seemed to hold conversations with or really let into his own personal sphere of trust. In fact, he was sure that she was the only one who even knew about his work in the tavern, or really knew anything beyond the fact that he was a big, stern looking guy. Yuzuru, caught her glancing at his notebook, and pushed it toward her a little in an attempt to share his notes.

"I tend to take notes during school, helps me keep track of the important stuff just in case I grow absent minded because of my job."

She then quickly switched gears and asked the real questions. For a moment Yuzuru said nothing and then let out a deep sigh as he closed the notebook before softly speaking.

"It was going fine...until I started to go through this funk."

Why was he telling her this? Well it is because unlike most of the people he met, he felt a tad bit comfortable around her, and that was mostly because she knew him a bit better than most he supposed. Or maybe it was because she had spoken positively of him a while back and he didn't mind opening up to her a bit more.because of that? Or maybe it was because she was downright beautiful and Yuzuru couldn't help, but blurt out his problems when asked? He really hoped that he wasn't that much of a pushover, but he really had never had someone like this interested in him before.

"Well, you have me as a friend, so put a lid on it, Yuzu."

Hiroe observed Yuzuru in silence, quietly gazing at his notes while he spoke. Hiroe wondered what the notes were for. Kido, perhaps? Those classes were quite complicated at times. Requiring incantations by heart could be tricky. With Hakuda or Swordsmanship, one could certainly rely on muscle memory through physical routine. Any attention towards the notes quickly shifted towards his next words.

A funk, eh? Hiroe was admittedly going through a similar phase herself. Of course, she didn't exactly feel as if she had been in a rhythm to begin with. She didn't feel she was any closer to achieving her dream, and that bothered her each day she arrived at the academy. What was it she wasn't seeing? She wondered.

"Guess it was meant for us to meet up again. I've... kinda been in a bit of a rut myself, to be honest. What is it that's been throwing you off?"

He had to hide from her his happiness at being called a friend of hers, looking away for a bit to get better control over his facial expressions before turning back to her. She had been reading his notebook pretty intensely, maybe she was curious as to what class he had been studying up on? While Zanjutusu was his best class at the academy as of late, he did have several notebooks to thank for that, and this particular notebook was all about proper movements to defend one's self from certain attacks. A noteworthy subject if Yuzuru did say so himself.

When she began to speak, Yuzuru listened intently to what she had to say, locking eyes with her, and hoping that him staring at her so intently wouldn't bother her too much. He had been known to scare off quite a few people with his intense stares. Most of the time he simply had a question he didn't know how to poise or was so deep in thought that he was simply staring out into space in the general direction of that person. He still had the air of one of those guys though. A thug.

"I usually am really good at composing or making alterations to certain songs to play them in a way that is different, but lately...well lately all I can think about is the money I will earn off the song I'm working on. I wasn't always this way...music was always so pure to me and now it just feels like...I'm doing the motions."

Yuzuru looked down and let out a large sigh before looking back at Hiroe.

"But that is not important right now, what is important is what is going on with you. As my only friend, it is important that I take care of you."

He said this with a slight smile on his face as if merely thinking about how he had a friend now brought him just a little bit of joy.

Oh, that's right. Yuzuru was a musician. She recalled seeing him perform at the Tavern. HIroe fancied herself as someone who appreciated music, never humoring the idea of composing anything. Modern advancements in the Soul Society had made music somewhat accessible depending on the device of choice. Hiroe contemplated showing Yuzuru her personal playlist to get his opinion, but he seemed intent on worrying about her issue more than his own.

On one hand, she welcomed that. She was no expert on music in the first place, so any answer would have likely felt disingenuous in her eyes. She'd approach the subject a little later in the conversation. Besides, the way he worded that made her feel a little flustered, but she concluded that is what any friend would say to another. Still, taking care of her? It wasn't like she was some precious gem that'd break at the lightest touch. Hm... Might as well humor him for making her the focus, right? Hiroe cleared her throat in preparation, opening her lips to express the doubt that had been gnawing away at her spirits.

"A-ahem... well... lately I've been wondering about whether I'll truly make any leeway in my training---namely, learning the name and nature of my zanpakuto. I've been here for a while now, and I don't think I'm any closer to some of the peers I admire here. I've started to wonder if I made a mistake, you know? I've been told patience is a virtue, that I should keep at it... but it's hard. I just want to be there with all of my peers, to achieve the dream I mapped out for myself..."

Yuzuru nodded his head, understanding where Hiroe was coming from completely. He felt the same way in a few ways, while his music was the main concern he had right now, he still had dreams of his own. To become a shinigami that his brother would have been proud to go on patrol with. The thought that his brother was gone and he was the lone heir to his family's name had not been something that he had focused on often, but after hearing Hiroe talk about being equal with her peers? He couldn't help, but feel that he himself was a bit behind the image that he had of his brother.

Still, this wasn't about him, and focusing on his brother would not help Hiroe solve her problem, but in reality he didn't know what to say to her. He wanted to comfort her in some capacity, but he had never done this whole "give advice" thing before. Having friends, after all, was uncharted waters for him. He rubbed his chin and began to look deep within himself, hoping he could give her some introspection of some kind to help her out.

"Hmm...I don't know if you should be worried about that or not to be honest."

He said as he looked up to the roof of the room they were in and then back to her, nodding his head as if he had finally gotten some kind of nugget of positive feedback he could give.

"Everyone achieves what they want at different paces and as long as you are working at it...I think at least...you will get what you want. And to me, I can see you work hard, probably harder than most, and I'm sure your peers have noticed that. In fact, I'm pretty sure it would be pretty hard to not notice."

Yuzuru was losing momentum now, this whole giving advice thing was hard for him, but dammit! He was going to try his best!

"So when you learn the name of your zanpaktou? I'm sure not only will you be side by side with your peers, but you will be way ahead of them!"

Yuzuru looked at her sideways and then let out a deep sigh.

"I'm sorry if this pep talk isn't what you expected..."

Hiroe chuckled at the spectacle that was Yuzuru trying to express himself offering advice. It was kind of adorable, honestly. She understood the gist of what he was trying to say. Besides, even if she didn't, he was trying his best. She felt it rude to chastise him for something he genuinely believed she needed. It kind of worked, too. He was right. Everyone achieved things at their own pace. It didn't invalidate the meaning of her work. It was just taking longer than she expected. Wasn't that the point of a dream? To chase it in endless pursuit, regardless of difficulty? Hiroe smiled as she pulled on his cheek, chuckling softly. Nodding her head, she'd speak again.

"What did I say about looking down on yourself? The pep talk isn't what I expected, but you're trying your best to help... and you know? You have a point. Just because I'm not where everyone else is doesn't mean I won't one day reach that precipice I seek in my heart. I think that's a great point of view. Does it solve everything? No, but it helps... "

Pulling her hand away, she stroked her chin before posing a question.

"What about you, Yuzuru? You're a musician... but you're also in the academy... I was once asked why I didn't chose the simple life of inheriting my family's tailoring business. Why did you choose to come here?" It was a curious inquiry. She certainly never asked him that before. She wondered where he was in his own development and what his plans were once he graduated. Would he be the next to go before she did...?