“I am the biggest idiot alive,” Himawari muttered to herself, as she glanced sideways at the tall young man beside her, grinning his stupid face off. Himawari raised her eyes to the sky for a moment. She knew this was her own fault, though no-one would ever hear her say those words out loud. And to think, this whole thing had started over a simple bowl of ramen. She’d really only gone home to say hello to Gramps and her two brothers, and they’d made her favourite ramen just for her, so clearly there was no way she was going to say no. But before she was even halfway through, Daisuke-senpai had miraculously appeared and accused her, of all things, of getting fat!! Naturally Himawari had tried to knock him out, but he’d sidestepped her, and then challenged her to a race around Seireitei for shunpo training. At first Himawari had said no, but then he accused her of getting fat again, and she’d fallen for it, hook, line and sinker.

“Ok fatty!” Daisuke exclaimed, “Let’s see you catch this!” And all within a split second, he had vanished from her side. Caught out by the sudden start, she dashed off after him, her flash steps soon falling into line with his own, Daisuke-senpai slowly blurring back into her vision. He merely smirked at her, before his speed increased once more, him disappearing from her view again. Himawari swore under her breath as she made her way after him. She followed him right the way around Seireitei, their shunpo battle carrying them down streets, through barracks and over rooftops. The only thing that could truly keep Himawari up with Daisuke-senpai was her desire to surpass him at all costs. The strain was beginning to show; sweat poured down her face and the muscles in her legs felt taught to the point of snapping. They finally stopped, resting upon the roof of a barrack Himawari was too tired to identify. She’d lost count of the number of laps they’d done, but she was satisfied to see that her competitor was every bit exhausted as she was.
“I can’t be that fat,” she grinned.

+1. It added a nice bit of seasoning to see you using the Honorifics. *thumbs up*

Himawari stood upon the Academy rooftops, eyeing a very similar rooftop in the distance. Squad Two Barracks, she sighed to herself. To lead Squad Two one day had been her dream since she first learnt about the Shinigami. She was training for it so hard; she already excelled at hand-to-hand combat, far more than her abilities with her Zanpakutō, and her ability to use Shunpo was improving every day. But it wasn’t helping her much too much to be missing class.

She jumped down from the roof top, dashing through the Academy courtyard, praying that she wasn’t going to miss her Shunpo class. She flash-stepped behind a large pillar to avoid the eyes of a passing teacher. I bet he’s searching for stragglers, she thought to herself. Lowing the level of her Reiatsu as much as possible, she flash-stepped from hiding place to hiding place: pillars, statues, doorways, any place she could hide for a few seconds before moving on to the next one. She moved as fast as she could, dashing down nearby alleyways, to make sure anyone who might have been following her could be thrown off. She loved the feeling of the wind flowing through her long hair as she moved.She smiled as the area where she was supposed to be training suddenly appeared within her vision. She quickly slotted herself in amongst her arriving classmates, a little smug about her timely and unnoticed arrival.

Approved +1 to speed.

Shunpo was a vital aspect when it came to hand-to-hand combat. That was what Himawari had always been told. In order to overcome an opponent with a weapon, superior speed was key to victory. So when she was asked to spar with an opponent in her shunpo class in order to demonstrate this fact, Himawari could not help but jump at the chance.

She stood on the dusty practice area, the rest of her class sitting just in the corner of her eye. Her vision turned from them to her opponent opposite her, one she knew only too well. Takuma-san was tall, slender and was well know for the sly smile that sat upon his face. The girls of her class adored him, if not just for the silken sound of his voice. But in truth, Himawari was nowhere near a fan of the young gentleman before her, and that was for one simple reason. He too had a desire to captain Squad 2 one day. And Himawari would never allow that to happen.

“What’s the matter Fukuyama-Chan?” Takuma-san goaded her, “Scared?” Himawari scowled at him and dropped into a fighting stance.

“Only of damaging that face of yours,” she smirked back, “I wouldn’t want the other girls to hate me.” Takuma-san’s face flushed as some of the other young men laughed at her comment, and a look of pure fury flashed onto his face. He kicked off the ground, flying towards her like debris in a hurricane. Himawari jumped backwards, avoiding his initial punch, before flash-stepping behind him. He turned and went for her again, but she moved further away. He dashed after her, desperatly unleashing a wave of punches, almost all Himawari was able to dodge with her Shunpo.When it came to hand-to-hand, Takuma-san’s physical strength greatly exceeded hers, but her speed completely outmatched his. She knew if she could keep out of his range and keep avoiding his attacks, hopefully his frustration would get the better of him, and he would begin to make mistakes.

Wham! Himawari recoiled back as one of his fists made contact with her ribs. What the...!? Himawari thought to herself. How had he managed to get a hold of her like that? Himawari leapt backwards, her hand moving down to check her ribs. Bruised, but not broken, Himawari looked up at her opponent who was clearly lapping up the cheers of their classmates. Himawari scowled, partially at his arrogance and partially at her own foolishness for underestimating the jerk.

Taking advantage of his distracted behaviour, Himawari flash-stepped before him, her leg swinging upwards, colliding with his jaw. Takuma-san went flying, a mound of dirt scrapping away as he made contact with the floor and skidded on his back for quite a few feet. Himawari grinned, “Idiot.”

Approved +2 to speed.

Himawari stood upon the top of the pillar, praying he couldn’t see her. Who plays tag in this day and age anyway? It was absolutely ridiculous; she was supposed to be a serious academy student. Well, at least when Daisuke-senpai was around. That man always knew how to get under her skin; taking her hair brush, replacing her body lotion with honey (which turned out to be great for her skin, but not so great when she was greeted by number of insects that simply refused to leave her alone until she washed it off properly).

And now he’d decided that he wanted to play tag. Tag! A silly game she would play with her little brothers, not someone whom would eventually be a colleague in the Gotei 13. She jumped at a sudden sound behind her and flash-stepped to a nearby pillar, narrowly avoiding the sudden appearance of Daisuke-senpai.

“Hey, no fair,” he exclaimed, turning around to face her. Himawari shrugged.

“What do you mean?” she replied, “You said “We’re going to play tag with Shunpo!” I can’t help it if my Shunpo is just more developed than yours.” Daisuke folded his arms.

“You’re still in the Academy,” he looked at her, “You can’t be that much better than me.” Himawari smirked.

“Oh really,” she replied, “Let’s test that theory.” She flashed stepped away, Daisuke-senpai’s outraged shouts fading away into the distance. She headed over the rooftops and jumped down onto the street, deciding to head back in the direction of the school. There was no way he would ever be able to catch her now.

Approved +0.5, nice post it was only barly centered around building her speed though.

((Fine Oh well, I’ll just have to make this one spectacular lol ))

The time had finally come, the time for her to take her Shunpo exam. Himawari had been waiting for this for so long. Shunpo had always been one of her better subjects in the Shinigami academy, and she loved the sensation it gave her more than anything in the whole world. So, naturally, it greatly pained her as she woke up on the morning of her exam, and found she’d overslept. Swearing loudly, she leapt out of bed, immediately flash-stepping around her dorm, throwing on clothes, and sorting herself, before flash-stepping straight out of her door.

Oversleeping was by far one of the dumbest things she’d ever done in her entire life. It wasn’t even really her fault. Her dream had just been so nice; she hadn’t even registered her alarm. She headed straight through the streets of Seireitei, utilising her flash step as much as it possibly could go. She sped past the barracks of several Gotei squads, heading straight for the open training area the test had been assigned to. Seriously, who set tests so early in the morning anyway? She sped down a street, praying that she really wasn’t going to be late to her very first final exam. It was just not going to work out that way, she couldn’t let it.

Relieved as the practise grounds appeared in her vision, she felt a sudden wave of panic as she saw her class already sitting down, several people already going through the test. She flash-stepped forward, quickly slipping into her place in the seated students. The friend she sat down next to leant towards her.

“You’re late,” he whispered frantically.

“I know,” Himawari exclaimed, “The examiner hasn’t noticed has she?”

“Nah,” he replied, “She’s calling everyone up two at a time. She asks you to go through a few sequences, and a few people have had to demonstrate how to use Shunpo in battle.” He smiled at her, “So far we can’t even tell who’s passed and who’s failed. But twelve have already been up, and she said that 7 of them had failed.”

“Ouch,” Himawari exclaimed, turning her attention to the test. The two students before her were engaged in Zanpakutō combat, but Himawari knew they weren’t being judged on that. She watched as every so often one or both of them would vanish from view, before reappearing somewhere else on the field. This continued on for several minutes, before the examiner told them to stop. She looked at her clipboard.

“Fukuyama-san and Takuma-san please,” the tiny old woman exclaimed. Himawari did not move, dumbstruck, oh no. She watched as Takuma-san got up, a smug smirk plastered across his face.

“Fukuyama-san please,” the examiner repeated, and it was then that Himawari forced herself to stand, and walk forward. She stood next to Takuma-san, whom grinned down at her arrogantly. Himawari greatly suppressed the urge to punch him in the face.
“Ok, you two. Demonstrate avoidance tactic 12,” the examiner instructed them. Himawari took a deep breath before flash-stepping backwards in a zigzag pattern, before corkscrewing forward again. The tactic was a lot simpler to demonstrate in actual combat, but she did her best. She dashed forward once more, only to have three more sequences to demonstrate. It was then that the examiner asked them to face each other in combat.

“Zanpakutō are permitted,” the examiner told them, “But attempt to cause serious injury is an automatic fail.” The two nodded before facing one another. Neither one reached for their Zanpakutō. They weren’t going to be needed in this fight.

Himawari immediately flash-stepped away, reappearing behind Takuma-san, aiming a punch to the head. He grabbed her arm and flipped her over his shoulder. Himawari immediately stretched her hand out, back-springing off it back onto her feet and flash-stepping away once more. Takuma-san did the same; the two of them darting around each other at high speed. They clashed quickly, exchanging blow for blow at top speeds. One of Takuma-san’s kicks caught Himawari’s shoulder and she went flying. She crashed into the ground, but Takuma kept coming. Despite her injured shoulder, Himawari had no choice but to get back up and dash away again, if only to defend herself from what would have been a barrage of punches. She reappeared beneath Takuma-san, her leg swinging up to catch him under the chin. He flew straight up into the air, before crashing back to earth. He leapt right back up again, but the examiner signalled for them to stop.

“I’ve seen enough,” she smiled, “Thank you.” Himawari bowed to her and moved back to her place, sitting down. She looked over at Takuma; she knew this wasn’t over, but decided to put it out of her mind. She was just glad the test was finally over.

I'll give this a +1.5 Speed. Congrats you'e out of the frying pan and into the fire!