Shikyo stood at the top of a grassy hill overlooking a small valley containing few trees and a small stream of water that passed through its center. The setting sun's rays refracted off the surrounding clouds and gave the horizon an array of colors that seemed to have been painted into the sky. The night was fast approaching and if his calculations were correct tonight would be a moonless night, which would add for an interesting additional challenge considering his plans for the next few hours.

During his time in the academy Shikyo hadn't made many friends, spending his time training instead of interacting with others. However on one occassion after leaving the one-on-one training of Hiroshi and occassionally Jocelyn, Shikyo had sparred with one of his other classmates who, at the time, had defeated him. It was merely by chance that they had run into each other again and now that they both had matured a substantial amount, a rematch was a necessity.

Making his way to the bottom of the hill, Shikyo leaned against one of the trees, crossing his arms as he awaited his opponent.

(OOC: I was aiming for Kidou.)

Kajitora shunpo’d to the edge of the hill, his eyes reflecting the warm colors of the sun as they looked down the hill. His tied back sleeves flapping in the dying winds of the approaching night. He smiled widely, and eagerly waved down to his friend who he hadn’t seen since his days in the academy. Kajitora accredited his rapid success as 10th seat to two shinigami only, Jin Yagami, and the man that stood before him: Shikyo Yoshi. With his friends pushing his skills, he would have never had the resolve to continue at his neck breaking pace. Kajitora jumped down the hill, rather recklessly but once he was in the air he tried to gather his spiritual energy under his feet to soften the fall. He managed to float down at a rapid pace and land on his feet lightly. He walked over to Shikyo and greeted him, “It’s been a while. Good to see you again, Shikyo.” Kajitora paused to take in his surroundings, the smell of pungent grass and the salty small stream pleased his nose.

“I want to extend an invitation to you. I will be requesting immediate re-assignment to Squad 6 once the new Vice-Captain is assigned and they open the doors to fill the lower seats. I was wondering if you wanted to join in? We could use someone strong like you to help re-build Squad 6. I understand if you don’t want to though,” Kajitora offered.

He drew his sword and once he had the zanpakutou in his hand he could hear its screams for battle. Suzaku wanted to fight, that was all she had wanted lately which reminded him he needed to talk to her later. Kajitora didn’t want to immediately give Suzaku the pleasure of crossing swords just yet. He had been studying even more strategies since last time and he knew exactly what he needed to do to set up a good trap. He put his free hand palm down on the cold earth and commanded his energy, which he focused to this hand, “Topple over, spill into the Ocean, Pollute the Waters! Bakudou #14: Oil Slick.” Kajitora loved using his kidou in a way that left him with options, from here he had two main options: attack his opponent sword to sword using the oil to disrupt his balance or use another kidou to ignite the oil.

Oil began to sprout from the ground around Shikyo, and Kajitora thought about what was coming next. In a way, he didn’t know but he knew what he was going to do next would at least have an effect on the battle. He had flashbacks of a certain forest which he had sparred in recently, and how it was practically burnt to the ground. His smile faded as the thoughts of war filled his little brain and he held Suzaku in a defensive position.

OOC: Kajitora +0.5 to kidou.

(OOC: Intelligence in this post)

Shikyo stretched his arms as he felt the approaching reiatsu of his former classmate. Twisting his body as the bones along his back popped into a more comfortable position he waved at Kajitora, "Likewise it's good to see you too. I can't however accept your invitation as I've already begun the application process to the Squad 10." Shikyo revealed to Kajitora. He was the first person Shikyo had told about the application and as he said it aloud for the first time he began to wonder how his current Vice-Captain would take the news.

Shikyo watched carefully as Kajitora unsheathed his blade, thinking that the Shinigami might be foolish enough to attempt an outright charge but was surprised as his opponent unleashed a kidou instead. Geysers of oil shot up all around Shikyo, who immediately leapt high into the air, wondering what other new tricks Kajitora had learned. Standing firmly in the air as if on an invisible platform he looked down to survey the field. A large portion of the area, specifically where he had been standing, was now covered in oil. Any attempt to land would only result in a loss of balance and Shikyo couldn't afford to give Kajitora an advantage like that.

His reiatsu flared as he concentrated the energy around his hands. If his opponent was going to start with a kidou then why shouldn't he? He moved himself back a bit so that he was positioned directly above and behind the field of oil, opposite to Kajitora who stood on the other side of it. "Way of Destruction #2: Reel!" He announced as an invisible energy surged from behind Kajitora in an attempt to bring him closer to Shikyo. If the attack worked then it would be Kajitora who lost his balance, and that moment Shikyo would strike.

+.5 to Intell.

(OOC: Kidou, please.)

His opponent had taken to the sky and Kajitora had thought about chasing him. He didn’t know what to do with the oil, but its time would come. The distance between the two had given Kajitora a brief second to think-but that was always deadly. He flipped his sword in his hand and readied it in an attacking position. But before he could attack, he felt the pull of what he suspected to be kidou-his favorite kidou to use in close range: Reel. He had planned on getting closer, and this was perfect. He thought of a way that he could use some of the oil and save the rest for later. As he was drug forward, he resisted as much as he could and then swung his sword through the oil in front of him from bottom to top. And once the sword had exited the oil, Kajitora jumped up and gave into the kidou that was pulling him up. He stabilized himself in the air by focusing his spiritual energy under his feet. He felt the full pull of the kidou once he was on the same level as Shikyo, and that’s when he used a reel of his own to increase his speed.

“Bakudou #...4: Reel!” He paused for a second as to try and disguise the move that he was about to use. While he was a few feet away from Shikyo, Kajitora’s own reel mixed with Shikyo’s sent him darting at Shikyo like a bullet. He felt the reiryoku that bonded them together as Shinigami thicken like heavy cord that tied to both their cores. It took Kajitora’s breath away for a second to fill connected to another person’s reiryoku and still feel his own. Kajitora noted the strange feeling of using two opposing reels used for the same purpose. It was an amazing feeling like he was a single speck in the grand design of the universe, but Kajitora knew he wasn’t ready to feel spiritual consequences like that again. Kajitora swung his oil dipped sword at Shikyo as he approached at lightning speed. Kajitora even used one flash step at the last second of the attack hoping that it would add that much more speed to the strike that was aimed at Shikyo’s right side. Kajitora thought to himself, the oil is still the key; I can do this-focus!

(ooc: I'm not sure what, if any, kind of stat increase this post warrants because a number of different aspects are addressed so I will leave the decision up to the admin)

Shikyo stared intently at his opponent as he was pulled closer to him. As soon as Kajitora was in the air, Shikyo heard him activate his own kidou and subsequently felt his body advancing toward Kajitora. The pair were being pulled toward each other faster than Shikyo would have liked but he decided to use this opportunity to try a second kidou he had been practicing with during his personal training sessions. Concentrating reiatsu in his palms once more he announced his move, "Bakudo #8: Repulse!"

Shikyo's spiritual energy expanded around him, solidifying into a golden orb that surrounded his body, keeping him safe as he prepared to crash against Kajitora. The crash never came however as his opponent slung a wave of oil toward him before appearing to his right and slicing at his mid-section. Thankfully though, Shikyo's protective shield prevented the blinding attempt from landing and he was able to use his own shunpo to create more distance between himself and Kajitora as the shield slowly faded away.

The low-level kidou he had used hadn't done much to his spiritual pressure and he knew that could use a few more, but decided to wait as he instead unsheathed his Zanpakuto, the vibrating of Miku communicating to him how much she wanted to fight Kajitora's Zanpakuto once again. Twirling the staff so that he held it with the long end below his hand he flash-stepped to right in front of Kajitora, aiming his attack for Kajitora's chest before utilizing a second flash-step to appear behind his opponent, this time with his Zanpakuto arching high over his head as he attempted to land an attack from above. A number of plans and scenarios played through Shikyo's mind and although he didn't know yet which one would play out he knew that he would be prepared.

Kajitora managed to block the first attack from his opponent, but then Shikyo disappeared from his vision. Kajitora thought about only two different attacks that usually followed this: side attack, or back attack. Kajitora barely attempted to block the second, more powerful attack. As he lifted his sword up to block, it stopped halfway up and Kajitora smiled as he said, “Byakurai!!!” He knew that just using the name of the kidou would not have as much of a potent effect, but all Kajitora needed was the lightning to cause a reaction. White molecules formed at the tip of Kajitora’s fingertip as he commanded the kidou, and then formed into an unstable ball of pure energy aka electricity. As the electric beam arched forward toward Shikyo, it sparked past Kajitora’s sword which still dripped with oil and caught the sword on fire. Shikyo’s zanpakutou slammed into Kajitora’s shoulder as he moved his head to the side.

The crushing of his shoulder sent burning pain throughout his arm and chest. He made his brain flinch in pain for a second but he still had enough common sense to use his now flaming sword to swipe at Shikyon and then lock swords with him, giving Kajitora more time to re-focus and block out the mind numbing pain. As the zanpakutous grinded against each other, the two shinigamis could feel the flames licking at their clothes from Suzaku who was now set ablaze!

(ooc: Fighting Skill)

Shikyo recoiled back as the bolt of lightning hit him square in the chest. Fortunately having sparred with Kaiyou, he was use to being hit with electric based attacks and knew how his body would respond as the electricity pulsed through his internal organs. Pushing through the pain he continued with his attack, only to have his Zanpakuto crash against a now fire-infused blade. Flames pulsated off the blade, sending waves of heat upon Shikyo as the two blades remained connected to each other. Aiming his foot toward Kajitora's stomach, Shikyo kicked off the shinigami and propelled himself backwards through the sky, putting more distance between them. Shikyo eyed the flaming blade carefully, debating how he was going to handle the situation and finally decided on course of action.

Shikyo raised his reiatsu, allowing it to flow from his core and through his limbs until it was visible outlining his body and his Zanpakuto. "Scatter the Sands Miku!" He called, his reiatsu building to the point where the emerald portion of his staff burst into a cloud of sand that slithered around him like a snake until it hovered over his head. Shikyo rose the shining golden blade above his head, his spiritual pressure flowing through the weapon and causing it to emit a high-pitched humming noise as it violently shook in Shikyo's hand. Allowing his reiatsu to control the sand above his head he formed it into a glass shield on his left hand, resulting in the golden blade in his right hand and the glass shield on his left.

Pouring his reiatsu through his feet, Shikyo flash-stepped past Kajitora, spinning at the last second and aiming a slicing attack at his opponent's back before flash-stepping further away from Kajitora, awaiting his opponent's response to his release and subsequent attack.

Kajitora was impressed by his opponent’s shikai; it was quite beautiful in his opinion. The golden blade, Miku Kajitora thought he had heard Shikyo call it, now had a black hilt and two white ribbons dancing from its bottom. The white ribbons reminded him of Suzaku’s red tassels and he immediately liked the sword. However, when his eyes settled upon the shield he chuckled a little. He had heard tales that warriors from the west thought they were better than Samurai because they used shields, and this was Kajitora’s chance to prove everyone that thought such a thing wrong. Before he could formulate anymore opinions about the Shikai, Shikyo appeared behind him. Kajitora caught Shikyo out of the corner of his eye as he struck at Kajitora. Kajitora managed to turn and barely had enough time to block with his fire engulfed sword. Sparks shot off of Suzaku as she glowed red in fury, ravenous for more battle, more honor, and more glory. Her imploring was starting to become louder and louder the more the battle raged on, the high-pitched bird screech almost driving Kajitora insane.

His opponent flash stepped away and Kajitora followed him instantly, his senses in a heightened state of frailty. The more he tried to ignore Suzaku’s pleas, the more he could hear the sound of the oil burning on his sword, the wind in the clouds and at one point he swore he heard Shikyo’s heartbeat. Kajitora tried his best to ignore his fluxing senses, and he struck towards Shikyo’s right hand with the golden sword. The flaming sword smashed against the sword and fire reflected in the sword with a golden tint, making the reflection seem like a magical fire. Kajitora switched to a one handed assault with his flaming katana, and used his free hand this time to touch the glass shield and as he did he commanded his kidou to perform. “Hadou #11: Reading Lightning!” He leaned forward with his sword which was entangled with his opponent’s, so if the shield was pulled back Kajitora could reach further. If the lightning kidou hit it would travel through the shield and hit Shikyo. Kajitora had enough for one more kidou, and that’s all he needed: one kidou for his plan that he had been thinking up since the beginning of the battle. He made a mental reminder not use anymore kidou, he could do it-just one more.

(ooc: Same as above, any stat increase will be welcomed and greatly appreciated)

Shikyo's blade skirted along the edge of Kajitora's fire-infused weapon as he turned with just enough time to block Shikyo's attack. Shikyo attempted to put more distance between them, but Kajitora wasted no time in closing the gap, charging forward with his blade and pointedly directing his attack toward Miku. Feeling the increase in reiatsu as it concentrated on Kajitora's hands, Shikyo felt his face form a smile as his opponent attempted the Reading Lightning kidou.

It was one of Shikyo's favorite kidou to use during battle, having performed it numerous times on a variety of opponents and he found it ironic that now someone tried to use it against him. Seeing the electrical energy forming around Kajitora's hand as it surged through the glass shield, Shikyo sent a wave of reiatsu through the device, converting it to sand as it exploded into thousands of pieces, the lightning that entered it now disapparating harmlessly away. The sand surged around Shikyo as he leapt back while his opponent's vision was obscured.

Recalling the sand to him he caused it to slither around his body as he shifted a few of the particles into glass shards and fired the dangerous vortex directly at his opponent. The winding sand and glass tornado expanded as it left Shikyo, intending to inflict numerous cuts to an opponent. His golden reiatsu encased his free hand as Shikyo guided the attack, the dangerous whirlwind moving with unnatural speed toward Kajitora.

Kajitora was completely baffled by the shield as it dissipated by into sand; he hadn’t thought such a thing would happen. Shikyo moved back as the surprise registered on Kajitora’s face. The sand retracted along with Shikyo and began to swirl around his body. Some sand formed into glass shards and spun around with the sand as it filled with spiritual power and then released at Kajitora. Crap, Kajitora thought, I saw his Shikai’s defense but I forgot to wait until he showed its offense. As much as his former squad 11 pride didn’t want to, Kajitora knew he had to release his zanpakutou if he wanted to survive the attack. He put the sword forward and put his hand out as if petting the blade and then he commanded, “Molt, Suzaku!”

The Zanpakutou was enveloped in a red light and then there was a flash of red reiryoku (spiritual energy) filled flames that blocked most of the sand. A move that Kajitora had learned from their common enemy: the Hollows. Not even the flames from Suzaku’s pent up energy could block all of the shards, two hit in the left shoulder and one hit in his right shoulder. All the wounds from the shards began to bleed instantly and filled Kajitora’s mind with a stinging pain which he tried to control. He thought how reckless he had been to think he wasn’t going to release his zanpakutou against such a strong opponent. He smiled as he mentally caught the mistake he had made before it could cost him the entire battle. Don’t worry, he sent his thoughts to Suzaku, I’ll use you more, Suzaku. We’ll fight as one, hell I don’t really have much of a choice now.

His sword now resembled a Chinese broad sword with seven small barbs on the blade, three on the left side and four on the right side of the blade. The physical flames were swallowed up by Suzaku’s flames which disappeared shortly after the release, leaving no flames whatsoever on the zanpakutou. As her reiatsu whipped around him, Kajitora felt slightly intoxicated by her power. His brain now processing at full speed, he focused on his plan now. It took him quite a bit of mental willpower now that it felt like his blood was on fire from Suzaku’s reiryoku, and that liquid fire was pouring out of his shoulders.

Kajitora released the seven barbs from his sword, that fell to the ground below him and his opponent. He waited for his chance to show off Suzaku’s power.

Shikyo watched in silence as his opponent released his Zanpakuto, the force of the crimson spiritual energy whipping around Shikyo and sending ripples through his cloak as it waved in the wind. The flames materialized during the release worked as an adequate defense, and Shikyo was glad that his opponent was now taking the fight seriously.

Admiring the sword in Kajitora's hands Shikyo noticed a number of items falling from the blade to the ground. He didn't know what they were, if they were even important or if they were merely something that fell off the blade when it was released. Deciding to forget about them for now, Shikyo eagerly wanted to test the power of his foe's new blade against his own.

Building his reiatsu as he channeled it through Miku, Shikyo quickly closed the gap between himself and Kajitora, executing a flurry of strikes, feinting high and then swinging low followed by four strikes in a cross-pattern aimed toward Kajitora's chest and finally Shikyo spun around, using his momentum to speed the attack of the weapon as he aimed for his opponent's neck.

As Kajitora blocked the attacks he whisper to himself, “Let those who toss the stone in the pond, be splashed by their own self-doubt.” And as he blocked the last attack to his neck, Kajitora blocked his opponent’s sword with his own and twisted to entangle the swords together at which point he grabbed Shikyo’s shirt with a death grip. Then Kajitora finished his incantation, “Hadou #24: Water Slicing Blade!” Kajitora focused everything he had in his kidou reserve to add haste his last kidou, with his hand stuck in its clinching position he focused everything he could on the kidou as the water began to materialize from the ground below him. The ground which had oil and his Shikai’s barbs still on it. The water surged up violently as Kajitora gave the watery kidou the last of his kidou energy. And his plan was now in fruitation, as the water began to transport the oil which stuck to the surface of the water due to having a higher density than water. He also had added his Shikai’s barbs (which can stick to energy based things) to the oil, making them stick to oil via Suzaku’s ability.

As the wave of water formed into a blade, the top of the water-blade was lined with oil that contained the reiryoku barbs. The extremely dangerous water blade instantly shoot up at Shikyo and Kajitora. Kajitora knew what was coming, but he was pretty sure Shikyo didn’t. As the water blade stabbed Shikyo with its kidou strength that could pierce through most things, Kajitora shunpo’d away once and shouted, “Katsu!” At the signal the seven barbs exploded on the top of the water, causing the oil to catch fire and fuel the explosions that lit the sky. Kajitora shunpo’d away again while he commanded the explosions to erupt. Followed by three move uses of shunpo, Kajitora was finally out of range of the enormous explosion that filled the sky where he and Shikyo had stood just moments before.

Kajitora was impressed that he was able to use his knowledge of chemistry in a battle to perform such a deadly attack. This was the fruit of his kidou training; he knew exactly how each kidou under his control would react with the world around him. If it wasn’t for Kajitora’s inspiration of joining Gotei 13 being the historical Byakuya Kuchiki, he probably would have joined Squad 12 and terrorized all his opponents with the power of science. But that wasn’t the case now, he was in Squad 6 and he simply used whatever weapons he could get his hands on to execute his mission. He could feel the flames heating his face even from his distance, which brought him back to his senses. He looked down at his sword and the seventh barb on his sword flashed red and was growing back on the blade as the other six had. Then he noticed that the tips of his robes were burn't, he wondered what had happened to his opponent. The power of his zanpakutou truly scared him.

Frustration slowly simmered within Shikyo as Kajitora latched onto his shirt. He knew his opponent was planning something, figuring that it wasn't going to be a lightning attack again but was surprised as Kajitora executed a water-based kidou. Looking below him as the rising swell of water quickly approached him, he knew exactly what he was going to do, but hadn't planned on using it so soon. His opponent forced his hand however because as the water neared him, Shikyo discerned that the oil from the ground was now travelling upward with the liquid column.

Remembering how Kajitora had used the oil in conjunction with a lightning-based kidou to set his blade aflame, Shikyo assumed his foe intended to use a similar effect this time, although on a much larger scale. Shikyo's mind worked quickly, realizing that he would only have a few moments from the time Kajitora released him until the shinigami performed whatever he was planning to set the oil ablaze.

Quickly compressing his body into a ball as he forced his reiatsu to explode from his body he called to his Zanpakuto, "Bind the Sands Miku!" The spiritual pressure emerging from Shikyo's body shifted and expanded the sand in the air to condense around him, shifting to glass as it formed a transparent sphere around his body. Sending his spiritual energy in waves through the sphere to increase its strength, Shikyo watched in awe as the blue and black liquid splashed against the orb only seconds before an explosion occurred. Unsure of what attack Kajitora used to instigate the explosion, Shikyo breathed a sigh of relief as the dangerous flames swelled around the glass, heating the inside and causing him to sweat but keeping him relatively safe.

Shikyo was immensely glad that Miku had taught him the move, and now understood what she meant when she said the best offense is a good defense. The flames surrounded the sphere so that from a distance it would appear as only a column of fire consuming everything in its path. As the flames subsided, Shikyo instantly ceased his defense, the glass converting back to sand as it milled through the air.

Considering no one had seen Shikyo's use of the defense before, and that visibility through the previous flames would have been obscenely difficult, Shikyo assumed his opponent thought he was dead or seriously injured. Taking advantage of that fact, Shikyo flash-stepped to the ground, sprinting across the landscape as he identified his opponent's position further away in the air. His reiatsu was reaching its limits, but Shikyo knew that he couldn't give up and decided to take advantage of the fact that his opponent was still injured from his previous attack.

Channeling what was left of his spiritual pressure through his hand, the shifted the rest of the sand in the air into a torrent of glass shards that he launched in Kajitora's direction. The torrential wave sped toward Kajitora from where Shikyo had previously been, while Shikyo himself waited patiently on the ground, catching his breath as he attempted to regain some of his energy before executing his final attack.