Kuro walked out to the sparring grounds of the academy today. It had been a few days since his encounter in the rukongai with the two fukutaichous. It had truly been a wonderful experience, but it had also reminded him of how much he still had to do and learn. Their power was amazing, and if he ever wanted to fight alongside them he had to get better.

Kuro drew his sword and started to practice his swings. This only kept him focused for a few minutes. Then a voice he thought he remembered spoke inside him, Isn't what you're doing pointless? You won't become better just by swinging at invisible enemies.

Kuro sighed. The voice was right. This was another pointless exercise, nothing like a sparring match with a real opponent. He wished that he hadn't had to cut his match with Kaiyo so short. She was strong and fast, and extremely nice.

"I guess it can't be helped." he said as he pushed off the weighing doubts. "I'll do anything to get better, even if it bores me to death." He resumed his practice, the wish that an opponent would show up still persisting within his mind.

Kaiyo had just been humiliated by her old Kidou teacher; who asks the vice Captain of the 11th squad to help with a Kidou lesson anyway! Sighing slightly Kaiyo tried to block out the image of her feeble Kidou spell; easily blocked by the teacher, Kaiyo's Kidou ability was that of a newly recruited shinigami just out of the academy. The small girl slumped down as she strolled along the path to leave, she was helping with a Zanjutsu lesson the next day and she was determined to be the best they'd ever had, her feeble attempt to make up for her inability to se Kidou.

Kaiyo titled her head sideways as she saw a familiar figure swinging a Zanpaktou in one of the sparring grounds, Kaiyo grinned happily as she bounded over, 'hiya Kuro what are you doing?'.

Kuro paused in his sword training as he heard Kaiyo's greeting. He turned to face her as she walked over.

"Hello again Kaiyo. It's nice to see you again. I was just thinking about you a moment ago."

He glanced down at his zanpakuto and made a bit of a disappointed face.

"I've been practicing with my sword today. Even though it was interrupted the other day, I know that our spar was far in your favor. I have to improve my skills, as well as my spirit power. So I came out here for practice, although sword swinging and imaginary opponents can only take a person so far."

Kuro glanced back up at Kaiyo with a bright smile that seemed to radiate the indifferent message, 'oh well. what else can I do?'

kaiyo giggled slightly; she had never been one to be coy, 'Wanna spar?' she smiled happily. Once more Kaiyo bounded to the opposite side of the sparring ground and smiled cheerfulyl at Kuro. Unsheathing her Zanpaktou the blonde girl readied her stance and waited for Kuro.

Kuro was happy with this turnout. He might be far behind the vice captains, but that just meant that battling them would give a much better outcome than fighting someone of his own level or lower. He readied his zanpakuto and crouched down into a battle stance with his knees bent, as tense as a spring.

"Guess this is the continuation of last time." he said with another smile. "Ladies first."

Kuro's eyes narrowed. He was determined to not lose sight of Kaiyo as easily as the other day.

Kaiyo giggled, manners were hard to come by in her squad, Kaiyo was fairly certain Himawari had thrown one guy through a wall for slamming a door in her face instead of holding it open for her. Kaiyo nodded quickly to Kuro, keeping a cap on her spiritual energy Kaiyo leapt into th air; her Zanpaktou raised high above her head she aimed her slash down onto Kuro's shoulder. following by a smaller jump into the air and a double kick at Kuro's head.

Kaiyo skidded backwards along the ground and signalled for Kuro to attack.

Kuro reacted as soon as Kaiyo raised her blade above her head. He could tell that she was preparing a slashing attack to throw at him. Raising his blade above his own head, he met Kaiyo's blade as she came down. He wasn't so lucky keeping up with her secondary attack. He instinctivly blocked the first kick since Kaiyo had used a similar attack on him in thier previous spar. But he did not anticipate the second blow, and had launched a counter-attack at Kaiyo's attacking leg with his hand in a karate chop. The kick made his head ring and he almost lost his footing.

Shaking his head to clear it, he saw Kaiyo's backwards movement. Not wanting to give her room for another furious charge, Kuro decided to take the initiative and flash stepped straight at her so that he was almost on top of her. Holding his sword in a reverse grip with his left hand (ooc: he's a south paw lol), he swung its handle in a wide arc attacking Kaiyo's side. At the same moment, he jabbed with his right palm at Kaiyo's torso, right under her neck in an attempt to draw her attention away from his curving sword attack.

Kaiyo reacted quickly; shifting her body weight she spun on her right foot to avoid the fist heading towards her neck; her Zanpaktou colliding with Kuro's as the sound of each sword smashing into the eacher rang through her ears. Kaiyo smiled happily into Kuro's eyes, 'Nice attack' the blonde girl spoke with a sweet sincerity to her voice.

Kaiyo's eyes glistened slightly in the light as she leapt into the air. Waiting for a moment the small girl leapt down towards Kuro, landing quickly at his side and using her momentum to spin around him, slashing her Zanpaktou along his back as she went. kaiyo skidded backwards behind Kuro before sheathing up her Zanpaktou, 'I'm still practising hand to hand' she grinned; adjutsing her stance, ready.

Kuro's eye's screwed up in pain as Kaiyo's blade traced along his back. He spun on the spot to face Kaiyo, taking a sharp breath and a moment to deal with the pain. He quickly adjusted to the feeling and a kind smile returned to his face. He sheathed his own sword in response to Kaiyo's act.

"I was feeling uneasy using a real sword against you anyway. I didn't want to scar that pretty face after all."

Kuro raised both of his fists in a ready stance, then launched himself towards Kaiyo with another flash step. He aimed his step to stop a couple of feet in front of her, then flash stepped again so that he was behind her right shoulder. Taking a chance at launching a surprise attack, he quickly jabbed at her shoulder. Continuing his assault, he danced in a tight ring circling around her backside, throwing 6 more palm thrusts at various parts of her back. He finished this assault then copied Kaiyo's act of skidding backwards after attacking. As he went back he pointed his finger at Kaiyo.

I'm not so good at this stuff yet, but I should be able to hold her for a moment. Kuro thought to himself. Then he shouted, "Bakudo #1: Sai!"

A small burst of power shot from Kuro's finger towards Kaiyo. Kuro dashed straight behind it, not waiting to see if it successfully hit her or not. Even if it worked, a vice captain like Kaiyo would only be bound for a moment by such a low level kido cast by an academy student. Not wanting to waste that chance, Kuro pulled his arm back, aiming a stronger thrust at Kaiyo, hoping to land a meaningful blow.

((OOC: they changed the rules so you can't flash step until you have 20 speed points by the way ))

Kaiyo couldn't help but shut her eyes briefly taking in a deep breath; savouring her fight. Timings never been a speciality of the girl she opened her eyes to Watch Kuro's fist collide with her shoulder; knocking the small girl off balance. Kaiyo giggled as she spun round quickly as moved her hands accordingly to block the hits. Kaiyo really needed to get better at hand to hand, she could block the hits but her aim wasn't so great so it often hurt after a while.

Kaiyo hated Kidou; a slight flashback of her all too recent failure of Kidou in front of the top academy class burned across the slighty angered girl. the Kidou spell hit; Kaiyo didn't see much point in trying to dodge, the small girl stayed standing. Biting her lip slighty Kaiyo saw the floore in her plan, she had decided to keep a cap on her spiritual energy, the girl let out a small sigh; releasing her reiatsu. kaiyo felt a tinge of guilt as the binding spell exploded around her quickly, but the girl decided that it could possibly be spirit training for Kuro; she hoped.

Kaiyo leapt ducked as she turned around; the whistling of air flying past her head as the small girl quickly grabbed Kuro's fist on the return. Kaiyo pulled Kuro's arm to her side and turned to her left, aiming a kick for Kuro's chest. Leaping backwards the small girl capped her reiatsu again, not wanting to spoil the fight.

Kuro was smothered for a moment as Kaiyo's reiatsu burst from her body. His breathing became heavier and his movement slowed a fraction. He could do nothing as Kaiyo intercepted his attack and countered it. Her kick caught him full in the chest and he could feel that there would be a bruise there before nightfall. He fell to his knees as Kaiyo capped her reiatsu again, gasping in pain and gulping for air.

She's incredible. That reiatsu is far beyond mine, just like her speed and her skills. Realistically, I don't have a prayer. But at the same time, I want to continue. This fight isn't about winning or losing, it's about reaching my heights and pushing them further!

Kuro pushed himself off the ground and took his stance again. Taking a deep breath, he concentrated on his own spirit power. His eyes glowed for a moment as his own reiatsu flared out. It was nothing like Kaiyo's had been, but it was adequate for an academy student. He bent forward and charged toward Kaiyo as fast as he could. Changing his style, he leapt from the ground right in front of her and sailed over top of her in a somersault. As he turned inverted over her head, he balled both of his fists together and took a heavy swing at the back of her head. He landed behind her and continued to run away from her, in case she recovered and had followed him. He paused at the opposite side of the sparring ground and faced her again.

well i dunno if you know this but in here you can only be awarded points for spirit power, i only say this because none of your post's seem too be angled that way although they are decent post's buuuuuut i will approve +1 to spirit power as it would seem your char is growing and growth brings power increases ^^

Kaiyo grinned as Kuro's spiritual energy spiked, she decided it had been a good idea to release her spiritual energy; but definately not something she should try again. Kaiyo still couldn't help herself smiling at Kuro, he really was good. Leaping over the small girl Kaiyo followed Kuro as he switched fighting style and punched at the back of her head. Kaiyo took the first hit then flung her body backwards to avoid the other. Her head slightly spinning Kaiyo glanced over the sparring grounds to Kuro. Next hit is going to be a good one she called to herself.

kaiyo propelled her body forwards; her arms pumpin at her side she leapt into the air; the next part wasn't going to be so easy but the optimism that usually lead the small girl never wavered. Spinning right before Kuro the Lieutenant shifted her weight, throwing her body down; using the momentum of the spin and the bonus of gravity being on her side Kaiyo landed quickly right before Kuro, crouching up from her landing she let loose a double punch against his chest. Stepping into the attack with her left foot she lead with her left hand. Kaiyo leapt backwards again; she needed to start drawing out more power from Kuro, but the blonde girl still felt guilty about releasing her spiritual energy. Kaiyo bit her lip as she waited for Kuro's attack.

Kuro saw Kaiyo's move, but was surprised at her quick use of gravity. Her punch came completely unexpected and it was all Kuro could do to take a step back to soften it a tiny bit. He watched as she leapt back again.

She's trying to draw out my strength. If she was fighting to beat me, she could have done so easily by now. That much is clarified by that power she released a momemt ago. I don't know how much stamina I have left, or how much power there is in me to be released, but I do know that I'm not just letting this fight end here.

Kuro did not attack, but concentrated further on his power. He felt his reiatsu and believed that he still had some power untapped. Concentrating further, he struggled in his mind to push his power out further. Suddenly, his zanpakuto pulsed in its sheath in his robe. Drawing it, he stared at its blade.

"You want to fight too?"

As if in response, he felt a power that felt just like his, but seemed to originate from within the sword flow into his body. His reiatsu spiked even higher for just a moment and Kuro forgot his weariness and wounds. He took his sword in hand and stared across at Kaiyo.

"I know we were trying to fight hand-to-hand, but I have an obligation to my partner. I want to get to know him or her (ooc: he hasn't met its spirit yet) better and they say the best way to know someone is to fight with them."

Kuro charged once more, the heightened power seeming to make him lighter. His running felt easier and faster. When he reached Kaiyo, he bent down and swung his whole body in an arch motion, adding momentum to the swing he threw with his sword at Kaiyo's side. All of his energy was in this assault and hit or miss, he knew that this was the end of this fight.

Kaiyo's eyes glinted excitedly as Kuro drew his Zanpaktou; this was getting good. 'Go for it' she called happily as Kuro gripped tightly onto his Zanpaktou, more spiritual energy followed. Kaiyo figured Kuro would attack with more resolve if he felt more confident with the attacks, this meant for Kuro to get that extra bit of power Kaiyo just needed to take a few hits, but not make it obvious. Kaiyo's eyes watched as Kuro grew closer and closer, he was definately faster.

Kaiyo moved too slowly as she tried to turn away from the attack she felt the familiar cold of metal slicing through her skin. Blood trickled down her side as kaiyo smiled up at Kuro, 'Hit me once more then we can stop'. Kaiyo knew Kuro was near exhaustion and he had used most of his energy in his last attack; but growth came from reaching your limit and going further. Kaiyo ducked under Kuro to get closer and aim a punch at his stomach. Spinning in the air she jumped backwards behind Kuro and waited.