Yet Another Kido session (Auryuu)

Shakaku walked into the Kidou grounds with Auryuu. Unlike all the other times she was training with someone, this time she wasn't nervous. She really felt confident in her abilities. For the first time, she felt like she was really ready to be a Shinigami. Her graduation was so close! "I'm going to be graduating in a couple days." Shakaku turned on her heel and faced Auryuu, grinning. "I'm so excited! And I finally figured out the Squad I want to join! Squad 1!" She smiled. It took a lot of stressful thinking but she came to the conclusion that Squad 1 was for her. She hoped she could make a good impression in the Captain. She was happy to get some last minute training in before she was assigned a class ranking. She wished more than anything to earn the respect of the Squad 1 captain and a high ranking would be a good way to do it.

Auryuu looked around the kidou grounds. Many other shinigami stood scattered across the wide grounds, they were barely noticible though. Auryuu streched his arms, as he was about to get down to business. Shakaku broke the news of her eventual graduation and then suddenly turned to him, full of enthusiasm. Auryuu was a skeptic when it came to first squad. Not much was known about squad one other than they had the strongest captain that led the other 13 court guard squads.

"Are you sure about that. There are many other squads." Auryuu didn't know about the 1st squad when it came to anything. His own captain was secretive, and Auryuu had never seen him in person. Auryuu had never seen the Captain Commander though.

Shakaku's smiled faltered. "Well I feel that that squad is the one for me." She said lightly but there was a hint of iciness in her voice. She felt connected to that squad already and she didn't want anyone to try and change her mind. "Do you have a better idea?" She asked. She didn't intend for it to come out sounding rude and quickly regretted her response when it did. She was curious, though. She wanted to know where he thought she should go after being a student for so long.

Auryuu was suprised by Shakaku's tone she took, when she answered. Auryuu spoke lightly. "No that's a good squad. I'm sure it would be great for you". Auryuu didn't know what squad she should join in truth. He was about to suggest his squad, but decided not to.

"Would you like to get started?", he asked as he was getting a little bored.

Shakaku grinned with delight. Nothing would please her more. "Let's! Would you like to show me some moves or is this a spar to show you what I can do?" She tilted her head. Her skin was itching for a fight but her mind was curious to what new kidou Spire could show her. Either way, she knew she would be please with her newly obtained knowledge before her graduation ceremony. Shakaku knew one thing, she was going to pour her heart and soul into one of her last training sessions as a student.

Thoughts flooded his mind. What did he want her to show him, he hadn't actually thought about it, he was just bored, and wanted to improve Shakaku for oncoming battles. "Lets go ahead and see what you can do". Auryuu lunged forward as he shunpo'd behind Shakaku, waiting for some kind of response from the young shinigami. The lion said nothing, his zanpaktou thought of women as fragile flowers, and only hunted male targets. Encouraging it to treat it seriously would be futile with it's silent stubborness.

Shakaku remained calm as Spire shunpo'd behind her. Twisting her torso, she held up her sword, blocking his just at the tip. He was fast and experienced. It wasn't like fighting other students. She gritted her teeth. This wasn't going to end up something she would regret later. "Hado number 8," She spoke and a paralyzing ball formed on the back of her hand as Spire's sword slipped off of her's and was coming down onto her. She felt the satisfying thump as his blade hit the shield on her wrist and sent the paralyzing shocks down his sword towards him. Even if this technique failed her, she was still impressed with herself to be able to juggle using bother her zanpakuto and kido at the same time.

A swift flick of the wrist, lead the sword in the air. The 14 inch light weight sword, simply lost the electrictity as it did a couple full rotations, slowly decending closer and closer to his right hand, which was open ready to accept the sword in his grasp. Auryuu moved his left arm forward like lightning quickly almost touching the tip of Shakaku's clothing, hoping to stun her with his next move, and observe how long it would take her to get free from it. "Bakudo number 1 Sai!".

Shakaku yelped and jumped back as the blade came down so close to her body. Her heart began thumping fast. Spire was a lot better than she expected. Though she didn't plan on joining his squad, she still wanted to impress him and make him proud. She gritted her teeth and was just about to cast another kido when he spoke the binging spell she was just about to say. Before she could react, she felt her arms bind behind her back in a swift, uncomfortable motion. Her sword clattered to the ground. Swearing under her breath as she noticed Spire advance, she kicked up her sword with her feet and kept it close by, just in case Spire decided to take it away from her while was was disarmed. Right as Spire was over her, about to attack she spoke, "Hado number 1! Shō!" She summoned her energy into the hado and threw Spire backwards, catching him off guard and breaking through his kido. She grabbed her sword in one swift motion and while he was paralyzed she ran towards him and swung her sword down, aiming for his ankle. She knew she couldn't hit anything vital and she didn't want to hurt him, but she didn't want him to think he could get away with his attacks, even if it was training.

Auryuu caught his blade with ease as he waited for a few seconds. She disarmed his kido rather fast to his suprise and managed to send a hado back at him. He was pushed backwords, but still held his ground as he expected the girl to rush at him in a attempt to land a strike. Auryuu quickly saw Shakaku's figure as she rushed forward. Her speed was pretty good, but she couldn't use shunpo, which was absolutely normal for a academy student. Auryuu watched her strike as he waited, he swung downwards sweeping the area around his ankle, to intercept Shakaku's blow, as he heard a "cling".

Auryuu pushed the force on his hilt and rotated it in a fast motion hoping to see if the girl could hold her own, with such a block. He watched the sword patiently as the lion fussed about something, muttering something, possibly swearing in a whisper. Auryuu could sense the zanpaktou's total boredom and also could sense his hate for the whole situation.

Shakaku excepted the counter attack, the only problem was her mind wasn't working fast enough to think of a move to play next. She felt the force of his blade pushing against her's, with a force that was suppressed but strong. The look on Spire's face seemed to be mildly interested in her moves, questioning what she decided to do next. Her mind seemed silent now, unlike the loud roar of thoughts it was when she first started her training.
"Hado number 4! Byakurai!" She release a burst of electricity from her palm just as she let go of her right hand off of her sword. The force Spire put in the sword sent it spiraling away from her but the hado she released hit Spire in the wrist. Jumping away, Shakaku grabbed her sword and put some distance between her and Spire so she could catch her breath.

She moved nimbly. She possessed obvious talents in combat ability. He noticed them as she managed to make his sword soar to the nearby ground to his right. It stood about 3 feet away, but it was no matter the lion didn't feel like revealing itself to the woman anyways so the sword was probably pleased with standing on the sidelines, even though it usually was addicted to fighting. The lightning coursed in his wrist as he shook it around, his hand was loose, as he ripped it around in the air, soon tighting his grip as he felt the muscles in his hand tighten up into a fist.

As she distanced herself via jump, Auryuu just let a small grin escape. The grin was more something that demonstrated his determination, but he soon realeased it as he closed both his hands making two closed fists, as he rushed forward with a merciless attack. He bunched up a couple barrages of punches, as his punches became faster due to the loss of his sword. He kept the barrage up, as each punch seemed to be positioned at a different spot each time.

Shakaku was impressed with the force behind Spire's punches. She blocked as many as she could but he was faster on his feet than she expected him to be. When his fist collided with the side of her rib cage, she fell backward with a thud. When Spire went in to land a kick, she kicked up with her feet, blocking his leg and throwing him off balance and balanced on her right leg to kick Spire square in the side. She gasped for air, since she had no time to catch her breath when she felt the breath knocked out of her when she hit the ground. "Bakudo number 4! Hainawa!" Yellow energy ropes formed in front of Shakaku and they wrapped around Spire's arms and legs. She was breathing hard but smiled from the rush of satisfaction she got that she was able to catch Spire. Finally, she was on the offensive side. Wasting no time, the ropes lifted Spire up and threw him against the back wall of the sparring grounds with an echoing thud. The ropes disappeared and Shakaku picked up her sword and prepared herself for the counter attack.

One after another his punches were blocked as he fired them off at full speed, with only a small limitation on his punches strength. Instantly he felt contact with a softer more flesh-like surface. His eyes caught the spot as her ribcage, as the impact was absorbed and pushed Shakaku backwards. Auryuu's leg was blocked prior by her own leg. He crunched down on the ground soon after, leaving a small impression as it landed. His body still stood almost unmoved on the ground even as her force made him almost twist over. He felt a little bad for landing such a hit on her. His eyes closed, soon reopening as he felt the bakudo wrap around him empairing his movement. Auryuu stood still for a second as he fought back against the rope's strong restraint. Bad decision. He felt his force disapear as he himself was knocked backwards against a cold unforgiving wall. He took a small breath as he tried to ignore the pain of the solid wall. He glared as his eyes seemed to turn from brown to orange. He gave a determined look straight at Shakaku. He then looked to his zanpaktou as it glew a faint orange nearby, closer than Shakaku then it was him.


He bursted the ropes, soon as he let out a grunt, jumping and planting himself against the wall horizontally, then simultaniously kicking off the surface, shattering some parts of the wall. To the left of Shakaku stood his sword, as he flew to the air to intercept it. He reached both arms, and casted a kidou with his left to make a potential kido stronger to heighten the effect. "Passionate Blaze!". An orange orb encircled his body like a small sun. He was getting closer and by now was almost an arms length to the blade, which was under his altitude, but he planned to snatch it up speedily.

Shakaku gasped, here eyes wide with shock as she stared at the orange glow that surrounded Spire. She had never seen any sort of kido like this! Glancing behind her, she jumped and snatched her sword from the ground, because she feared that Spire might take it from her while she was off guard. Finally, her mind clicked with what Spire was actually reaching for. Shakaku made a diving leap to get his sword before he could get to it. She was just right under him when he picked it up before her. Growling she jumped to her feet and shook off the dust from her hair. "So close," she growled, scolding herself for not getting to it in time. She didn't linger on that fact for long for the glow around Auryuu was distracting her. What was that? She held her sword steady in front of her and prepared herself. Whatever trick was up his sleeve, she was going to make sure it wasn't going to hit her.

He soared through the air fiercely, as he continued advancing further than his sword. He was one with the wind as he flew. Eventually his outstreched arm finally grabbed onto the familiar texture of the sword, feeling the comfortable hilt, as he felt his zanpaktou's every emotions. The ferocity, the stubborness of fighting against a woman was evident in his zanpaktous will. This of course weakened his own will, as he reflected further about the situation. Suddenly he noticed in his peripherial vision the girls failed attempt to grab onto his sword.

He continued to fly forward as he became closer and closer to the ground. He twisted his head around to gaze at the female shinigami now behind him. The orange orb encircled his body still as he felt the power in it's continous rotations. Soon enough he landed skidding foward leaving marks onto the ground. His head still lay tilted the side as his back now faced her still. He swung his weight around as he stopped almost immediately after his body becomming straight with hers. He threw his sword catching it so the hilt was now on top, as the blade now lay under his firm grip. He charged foward, as he did a slight shunpo a few feet in front of her. His throat was dry so his words came out in almost unnoticible whispers. "Heaven release the embodiment of your fairness and leave this one to recive their punishment".

4 white stakes bursted forth from his area as they erupted to the sky. The orange orb followed as it turned the stakes orange from them soaking their energy into the kido. They rose in all 4 directions as Shakaku stood in the middle of them, as if she was caught in their crosshairs. They shined a bright orange as they lowered themselves rapidly to overlap over Shakaku's shoulders and staple her to the ground. "Let me know if you need help outta that", he said as it began to get close to stopping her in her tracks.

Looking up, Shakaku gasped as she noticed a certain kido that she had read about in books. She stumbled out of the way but it caught her shins and she let out a grunt as she hit the ground, unable to twist herself around so her face hit the ground hard. Her red sword skidded away from her and was just an arms length away, though she was unable to reach it. Feeling slightly dizzy, she noticed speckles of blood on the ground below her. She lurched and twisted as she attempted to get free from the pillars on her legs, spluttering from the blood that was pouring into her mouth from her nose. "Ugh! Okay! What now?" She growled angrily, the hot feeling of embarrassment made her uncomfortable as she writhed on the ground. No amount of movement would set her free. She balanced herself on her elbow, facing Spire and wiped the blood from her underneath her nose. "If this was a real fight, what should I have done now?" She questioned, hot anger still pulsing through her veins. She was smart, though. She knew that failure wasn't a bad thing because some of the best lessons learned were from failure. Now, she was going to learn from what she did wrong to help her become a better fighter. Losing sucks either way, she grumbled in her mind. Somehow she felt as if she had let someone down, despite the fact she was proud of the accomplishments she had made in this battle.

Auryuu felt a sense of guilt, seep into his concious as he looked at the girl. She lay helpless, blood obvious as it poured from her nose. The orange blazing peg stuck in the ground nailing her foot to the ground, as the other pegs were located in the ground behind it. It was un-escapable physically, but spirtually Shakaku could most likely break it. Auryuu stood close as he threw his blade into the air, spinning a few times, before he caught it with his left hand. He tossed it back and forth as he began to speak to the academy student. "There were many things you could've done, you could've taken the hit completely, so you wouldn't be lying on the ground". He kneeled down picking up the blade that was away from her reach. He picked it up, just feeling it. It was heavier than his blade, which was light and nimble much different from hers which seemed very sluggish and confusing to him. He lifted the blade upwards and downwards, the double sided blade was strange, but he liked the decorations to the sword.

Now having the blade he spoke again. "If you can take this blade from me and free yourself from that kido then we're done for the day", he sheathed his own blade as he held hers in his hands. He jumped backwards gracefully. Eventually landing on the soft ground behind him. He swung her sword becomming more accustomed to it as he tested it's attributes. It was infact a little clumsy, in the way the blade was shaped, the feel was a little bit reckless. It wasn't balanced like his, something he noticed instantly. His was smaller, but compansated with the speed of his strikes and thrusts, this made it's versatility and speed unrivaled with everyblade he had ever fought.

Shakaku groaned, twisting on the hard ground. The peg on her foot didn't budge. Watching Spire toss her sword around made her furious and, strangely, protective over it. Her sword was her's and her's only. She felt stupid thinking about it but she felt as if her and her blade already had a connection. She wiped the blood from her nose again and focused on the feeling of the peg on her leg. It didn't really hurt but it felt like a dead weight, making movement of her foot nearly impossible. Twisting around she grabbed the peg. It was slightly warm under her hands and it gave off an orange glow. Closing her eyes, she imagined the stake with it's orange glow in the blackness of her mind. She imagined throwing herself against it, trying to break it but it was hard and didn't budge. She thought about her zanpakuto, which was in the hands of Spire and felt her blood boil. She imagined herself holding it, the feel of it's rough, leathery handle in her palms, how natural it felt to her and how powerful, stubborn and determined it was, like her. She imagined taking the sword into both hands and pulling it back over her shoulder. Then, giving one smooth swing, she hit the glowing stake.
Opening her eyes, Shakaku saw the stake explode into a thousand shards, glittering through the air and reflecting the light from the sun. Without wasting a single moment, she rushed to Spire, snatching her sword from his hands. With a confident smile, she laughed, unable to control her joy to break through his spell and have her zanpakuto within her grasp. "How was that?" She grinned widely, all feelings of anger and resentment drained from her body.

He smiled a little bit, as she snatched the sword from his grasp. He was full of suprise, her ability to break a kido of that higher level for an academy student was a sign of pure talent. Spiritual talent, or maybe a talent for understanding nontheless Auryuu saw that this girl had potiential. His smile still lay across his face as he began to speak again. "That was pretty good", he let the praise flow from his mouth as he uttered the word good. He made it obvious she had done a good job.

He shifted to the side, now begining to turn so his back would face her. "Well I think I might have to go, squad duties and such, well good job", he shunpo'd almost instantly off the sparring ground wall, turning to nothing but a blur, as he passed over it, soaring like a diving sparrow, to eventually find the ground as his welcome mat. He left pretty abruptly, but he didn't care too much, his squad might need him. All the talk of squads had made him feel guilty for not being there. "See that wasn 't so bad", he turned his glare to his sword, as it said nothing and sat quiet.

Shakaku sat on the ground, exhausted from all the energy she had used. She looked down at her sword which was resting in her lap. "We did a good job today," she whispered. She ran her finger over the intricate detailing on the blade and was surprised when she felt a tug in the back of her mind. Was her zanpakuto finally trying to connect with her?
Shakaku smiled and stood on shaky legs, her sword in hand. I'll fight even harder next time, she thought, determinedly. Finally she walked out of the training grounds and off to her barracks where she would rest.