BLEACH: The Dusk In Red

"You know you were in a coma for almost a week?"

"Yeah?"

"The entrance exam for the Shinigami School is in less than 2 days."

Kai grabbed both of Shido's shoulders with unnatural strength. His face turned into one that expressed both fear, distress and depression all at the same time. His dead pan eyes stared at Shido's as he asked,

"How screwed am I?"

"You're over-reacting a bit too much aren't you? There are multiple different ways to enter the academy."

Kai then got on his knees and started to pray. A stream of tears fell from his eyes as he said,

"Thank you god, for this miracle."

"You can stop over-reacting now??? Anyhow this information came from Hisagi from when he entered the academy so it might not be very reliable. To enter the school as a student all you need to do is show proof that you have enough Reiatsu, and pass the entrance exam."

Upon hearing those last two words, Kai sank back into a pit of depression.

"Entrance exams?? In the after life?? Why is this world so cruel?"

"There is another method... but I'm not sure that you would be up for it."

"Spill!"

"You need to be recommended by 3 captains from the Gotei thirteen. Its then and only then, that you need to pass the Reiatsu exam."

Kai sulked heavily. He had come so far and now the thing that shall defeat him is a piece of paper. Truly pathetic.

Shido tried to laugh his depression off but it was to no avail.

"We don't have a lot of the day left so I'll teach you how to output Reiatsu. And then tomorrow, we can try revise for the exam."

Kai seeing some small semblance of hope, jumped onto the bed.

"Everyone in this world has spiritual power, but the proper term would be Reiryoku. This is the power of the soul. Reiatsu is the force that is exerted when our Spiritual Power is released."

"So Reiryoku is the container and Reiatsu is the substance that's contained?"

"Its a not very good analogy but if it works it works."

Shido then pointed to his wrist using his free hand.

"In our wrists, we have vents where Reiatsu is being constantly emitted. We can't shut them off, however we can control how much is released."

"I think I get it now..."

Kai extended out his arm and opened the palm of his hands. He closed his eyes, as he imagined a stream of water flowing throughout his body, and then pouring out his arms.

As he began to concentrate even harder, when Shido started to laugh.

"What's wrong?"

Once he opened his eyes, he was met with a peanut sized sphere of Reiatsu floating above his hand. Shido was laughing so hard, that he fell onto his back as he chocked on his own breathing.

"Even my Reiatsu sphere was bigger than that when I first started!"

"Shut it."

Shido would then spend the entire night, giving Kai pointers on how to manipulate his Reiatsu.

The next day, the two would revise the duties of a Soul Reaper, the basic fundamentals of the world they lived in, as well as some history.

Kurenai, who had disappeared at some point in the previous day, would make random return trips to rest on Kai's head before he left again to go somewhere random. Maybe its because they were in the Seireitei that made them so eager to explore, but this didn't bother Kai all that much.

"How much do you know about the Soul King?", Shido asked Kai.

"Not a lot. You've told me about him before, correct?"

"I guess I have? He is the ruler of Soul Society, as well as the first true Shinigami. His mere existence is so powerful that he cannot stay in Soul Society, and has to watch over us from his palace in the sky."

"Can a person like that truly be called a King if they never meet their people? I could never stand sitting in a chair for 24 hours a day. Being at the top must be very lonely."

Shido was a little jaw dropped.

"I never thought about it like that. Nevertheless we all wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him. The world used to be in Chaos in the beginning and he is the one that brought order to it. It's even more of a reason why we should be grateful."

"Chaos? That's kind of vague isn't it?"

"Its up to interpretation."

Kai swarmed Shido with more questions about the Soul King, however at some point he was unable to answer due to his lack of knowledge on the topic. As this conversation took place, Shūhei Hisagi listened to them from the other side of the door. He smirked to himself before walking off quietly.

"Lets do a quick quiz to test you on the stuff we just went through. What is the name of a Soul Reapers main weapon?"

"The Katana!"

Shido grabbed Kai by the neck while shaking him up and down violently, making him dizzy as he lost consciousness a little.

"WE JUST WENT THROUGH THIS YOU MORON!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Ask me another."

Shido quickly regained his composure before asking,

"Why do Soul Reapers send souls to Soul Society?"

Then with the confidence of a thousand men, Kai said,

"Its because this is where all the cool people are at."

"..."

Shido got up from the bed, and walked over to the window. He opened it and breathed in a some fresh air before breathing out. Once he finished calming his nerves he picked up Kai with ease.

"Hey-- WAIT!"

He then threw him out his window, while throwing several books at him

"If you can't even comprehend a single word which I utter from my mouth, then go back to your own room and study by yourself."

Somewhere in the world

The genius Dr. Tachibana held a syringe containing a pure white liquid. He had finished perfecting his growth accelerating enzyme, and was just about to inject it into the imperfect specimens which were cut from Sakugo.

"Say happy birthday Sakugo. Your Siblings are about to be born."

He injected the syringe into an IV drip, which was connected to all three of the container tubes. As the liquid travelled up the tube, it then split into three before each went their own separate ways. When it finally entered the containers, all three organisms inside them began to vibrate rapidly before expanding and shrinking constantly.

"Yes.. YES! 2000 YEARS OF WORK. AND NOW I'VE FINALLY SURPASSED HER."

The growth of the organisms then started to slow down before they came to a halt. This made Tachibana despair, as he fell to his knees crying.

"SENJUMARU SHUTARA! IS THIS YOUR ATTEMPT AT MOCKERY?! DO YOU FEEL GLAD THAT YOUR FIRST PUPIL HAS FAILED YET AGAIN!?"

"Father..?"

Sakugo approached the despair ridden Tachibana who had reached a new low in their life. They tried to approach them but for the first time, they felt threatened by him.

Tachibana noticing their fear quickly silenced themselves.

"This is a minor set back! If worst comes to worst, then I'll start from scratch."

As if it was responding to Tachibana's cries of defeat, the clump of flesh in the blue tube began to grow once more. As it did, its bone like appendages evolved and started to resemble a humans. In fact, its whole body began to reshape into a form that resembled a young human boy in their 15's.

His hair was pitch black, and its length reached only to his shoulders. It opened its eyes to reveal that they were a reddish brown in colour.

"Sakugo! Fetch a towel!"

The boy started to drown inside the chamber due to it being filled with that liquid. In a hurry, Dr. Tachibana pointed his finger at the chamber and said.

"I really didn't want to get the inside of this place wet either. Hado #1: Shō!"

A thin pulse of spiritual pressure, was then fired at the container, which made the glass crack and shatter open without harming the boy inside. As he fell, all the water inside flooded out.

Sakugo quicky returned and handed Tachibana the towel, to which he wrapped around the boy.

"This is incredible! Maybe it's because that mans' Reiatsu was originally a Quincy's but it appears that the enzyme worked especially well on him. This is your younger brother Sakugo."