Ryouta walked into the sparring center and waited for Himawari to show up.

Himawari dashed down to the sparring area, where a few guys had told her they’d seen him. Spotting him there, she raced down, only stopping when she finally reached him, panting for breath.

“I have been looking all over these barracks looking for you!” She exclaimed, pointing at him accusingly, “Most people were most unhelpful. One guy I threw into a wall.” She looked at him, knowing he was going to be amused by this fact. She stood up straight, “So? What are you doing all the way out here?”

"Nice. Much more attention-grabbing than kido," Ryouta congratulated her. "And I'm waiting here for a beautiful sparring partner, and look, here she arrives."
Ryouta drew his ninjato. "What say we get to it? You can go first."

Himawari turned around; looking for the beautiful training partner he was talking about, “Huh. I don’t see her.” She turned back drawing her own Zanpakutō, “Oh well, I guess you’ll just have to practice with me.”

She smiled as she dashed forward, flash-stepping behind him, and aiming a well placed swing of Hagane, towards his neck. She’d been looking forward to this. They were finally on more of an even footing now, and Himawari was determined to demonstrate that she had gotten so much better since they last sparred.

ooc: admins, i'm not to picky about what you upgrade here, just not kido, i'll be working on that on my mission, as soon as momo gets here.

Ryouta snapped up his left ninjato to block her horizontal swing. "Just a standard horizontal cut? I'm disappointed." He brought his other ninjato up in a cross and pulled them together, so neither could move, except for their heads. "Still, not that disappointed." He winked at her and made a kiss-y face, then unlocked his blades and flash-stepped backward. "Let's see...what strategy do I want to try out? ... I know!"

Ryouta flash-stepped behind her in a Senka maneuver and stabbed at her elbows, but then, flash-stepped again. It was a feint! He was hoping that as she turned to engage him, he could flash-step above and use an overhead strike to gain the advantage.

((I’m not biased as to what I’m judged on. Just please be fair about it))

Himawari’s face flushed as he locked their bodies together, and burned even harder as he made that kissy face at her. She watched as he pulled himself away, and disappeared from her field of vision. A sudden surge of reiatsu caused Himawari to turn instinctively to counter, but already it was gone. “Where’d the hell he go?” she muttered under her breath. The reiatsu suddenly reentered her field of vision, followed by a sudden sense of dread.

She immediately raised her Zanpakutō to meet his, as he came down upon her, her legs almost buckling under the impact. She silently swore, in disbelief of how strong his reiatsu felt. She pushed him off her, flash-stepping away, to put some distance between them. She knew she was being far too cautious for this fight, but she couldn’t help it. Some things were taking a bit of a toll on her.

Ryouta landed lightly on the floor and regarded her with an impressed/bemused expression on his face. "Nice block! I thought I might've had you there!"
He twirled his twin blades experimentally. "Let's see...I'm gonna need a little more spirit power for that." Ryouta closed his eyes for a fraction of a second longer than a normal blink would be, and in that time, he began to glow with his signature, white, crackling reiatsu.
"...Hado no Yo: Byakurai!" The white lightning surged up his blades, but did not shoot out from them. He was keeping the charge there. "Hehe, good." He gripped his blades tighter, and forced the reiatsu particles around them to rotate and vibrate at high speed (again with the Seele Schneider technique.)
"Let's go!" He flash-stepped in front of her and brought his right blade down with crashing force while bringing his left across to slash at her midriff. During the entire fight, his face always seemed cheerful, which was odd, considering he had said he hated fighting.

It was too fast. His increased strength, powered by the Kidou, had completely caught Himawari off guard. She caught his left blade, protecting her midriff, with her own Zanpakutō, but she’d completely missed the other one. She didn’t cry out as the gash on her lower left arm began to bleed, but she knew she needed to put some distance between them. She flash-stepped away, holding her left arm behind, behind her back, hiding the wound from Ryouta.

You’re holding back! Hagane’s voice appeared in her head.

Do p*ss off, Himawari thought back.

So I’m just supposed to stand back as you let yourself get walked all over, Hagane retorted, I told you. You can’t let your fear rule you here! Hagane let out an exasperated sigh, Look use me. At the very least, I can hide the wound on your arm from him.

Himawari sighed, before holding her Zanpakutō up before her, “Fly Hagane no Tsubasa!” The sword dissolved into light, which flew down to her arms, forming the familiar black-leather and silver-steel gauntlets upon her arm. Himawari brought both her arms up before her face, flexing her fingers so that Ryouta could see the knuckle guards.
“Ok Ayame-kun,” she smiled, “Let’s try this again.”

((Ok these gauntlets: think Sango from Inuyasha.))

He raised his eyebrows. "Pretty Zanpakuto...kinda like you in that respect."
Ryouta hefted both his blades. "I guess I owe you a show too...Inazuma ni koboruru oto ya take no tsuyu, Raikou Arashi."
Both his ninjato extended into hook swords. "Hehe, this is going to be fun. You said you liked Shunpo right? Let's see how fast you are! Shuurai!"
The curved ends of his blades began to glow white and crackled with electric reiatsu. Ryouta made a slashing motion with each of them; a spinning arc of electricity flew out from each one and exploded on either side of Himawari.
"Inazuma is a pretty cool move. Those spinning arcs can either cut or explode, depending on what I want them to do. So...on that note, let's see how well you dodge!"
Ryouta began making slashing movements with Raikou Arashi at intense speed, sending the frisbee like bolts of spinning electricity directly at Himawari.

ooc: sorry about the lateness of this- had to eat dinner

Himawari had to move quickly, flash stepping away, refusing to let her thoughts haunt her. There was no past or future only the now. And she was here. She’d never attempted to dodge lightning before, but decided it was better to try than to allow it to make contact with the steel of her gauntlets.

She ducked below the last one, before flash-stepping beneath him, catching him under the chin with a steel-enforced punch. She grinned to herself, I bet he didn’t see that one coming. She stood up straight, pretending to blow the dust off the knuckles her Zanpakutō, a flirtatious smile playing on her lips.

Ryouta nearly bit his tongue off as he essentially was lifted off his feet, directly upward. As he reached the point where his velocity was 0 (sorry, i'm a physics student), he used Hohou to stand up in the air. "Hey! I nearly bit-th of my tongueth! I shoulda remembered you liked close-range fighting. Oh well, no use crying over my own spilt blood. But, that leaves you at a disadvantage, because, you see, you won't be able to get that close to me again." He returned her flirtatious smile.
"Try this on for size! Todokore!" Ryouta solidified a wall of air with his reiatsu, then hurled it at her. If it connected, it'd be like getting hit by a concrete wall.

((Don’t worry about the dinner thing. It’s fine. But I’m afraid I need to go within the next few posts. I’m 5 hours ahead of you and am feeling sleep deprived.))

“Oh God!” Himawari exclaimed as the wave of air rushed towards her. No other option available to her, she raised her hands to the attack, hoping above all this would work, “Bakudou #8 Repulse.” The shield that flew up would not stop the attack, but it would certainly lessen the impact. Himawari hit the floor as his attack hit her, feeling herself crumple under the weight of it. But, because she’d lessened the blow, Himawari was able to slowly push herself back up onto her feet; a little unsteady perhaps but she was defiantly back up.

“I won’t be able to get that close huh?” Himawari smiled, remembering the lock of hair she had, still tucked away within the confines of her uniform. She sprang up, soaring towards him. She flash-stepped away, reappearing above him upside down using her own Hohou technique, so that her face was in line with his, their noses just touching, her long red hair cascading downwards, “Close enough for you?” She sprang back up again, before releasing Hohou, allowing gravity to take charge again. As she dropped passed him, she flung to quick kicks straight towards the back of his spine, before dropping back to the floor, laughing all the way down.

"Nope. Utsusemi." Ryouta seemed to waver. He had flash-stepped so fast an after-image had appeared, though it was far from being perfect, as it wavered away and didn't react as it was supposed to when touched. He appeared on the floor opposite her, panting slightly. "But...I have to say, it's hard to move that fast."
He twirled his hook swords. "So how did you like Raikou Arashi's Banrai attack? It means 'heavy thunder.'"
If she wants to get close- I'll show her I'm not too shabby at fighting, even if I don't like it.
He flash-stepped forward and attacked with identical yet opposite slashing movements, then began weaving a complex web of metal as he attacked with grace and expert precision. He was attempting to cause her arms to flail, and then he could catch them in the hooks on his swords, and she would be defeated.

Himawari moved to dodge, looking up at him, “It’s cool, though not so great if you’re on the receiving end of it.” She smiled, dodging his attacks with the same precision he was using to execute them. She giggled slightly enjoying the rhythm they had fallen into.

But in a slight moment of concentration failure, Himawari stumbled, her arms immediately flailing out to balance her. It was a successful manoeuvre except for one flaw. Just as she righted herself, Himawari felt something close around her arm, “Oh Sh-!!!”

((I'd better go to sleep now. I'm very sorry. Don't have too much fun withou me ok ))

Ryouta smiled in satisfaction. He tightened his grip on her arm and swung up and down, essentially lifting her up, over his head, then crashing her into the ground. Now is your chance, while she is disoriented! Raikou Arashi's voice rang in his mind.
"Bakudo no Ichi: Sai!" Her arms snapped behind her, and he placed his other blade on her shoulder, near her neck, but in a somehow not so threatening manner.
"I think I win this round...sorry. You're really good though, I've never met someone I could spar so hard with. We're going to be a great team, if we're ever on a mission together."