Weapon of choice (Haruko)

Three days before the departure to Hueco Mundo

Free time. It was something that many people sought after. This was now something that Arawn grew to dread. The strange dream was bad enough, now he had to come to grips with a non-responsive zanpukto. When it rains it pours.After finding out about the loss of his weapon he had thought to cancel his excursion to Heuco Mundo. Upon thinking of the matter the fact he was going in a group, his lack of a weapon wouldn't effect the project in the slightest. He tried to bury himself in busy work, but as with the prior days, there wasn't any to be found. Finally with some reluctance he tried to confront the latter of the two problems. Quickly he found himself in the library searching for any references of soul reapers losing their powers. The dusty volumes and tome has little wisdom to impart upon the shinigami. There were tales of people giving their powers away; something forbidden and frowned upon. But there was no mention of shinigami suddenly losing the spirit that resided within them. It was odd to say the least. He wasn't unable to case kido. Arawn was still able to use shunpo and even stand on the air. There was no problem with his reiryoko in the slightest. Looking up from his book his hand grabbed at the handle of his zanpukto. As he had noticed that night, the blade was cold. This was nowhere near to the chill he go when he activate the weapon's ability. As morbid as it sounded it was holding a dead body. It was a clammy and dull cold that felt unnatural to the touch. Already the urge to pull his hand away overwhelmed him. Arawn removed his hand and stared at it afterwards. Having reached the limits of the library's knowledge he wondered who if anyone he could talk to about the matter. It was an awkward subject to approach. His first thought was to ask Master Sung, but upon asking for release to travel to the hollow home-world, his teacher had broken all contact. He wanted to tell Bryce or Simone, but he had the strong feeling he'd find himself on a dissection table. With a sigh he went about returning the many books and parchment scrolls back to their natural places. It was good to do something even if it wasn't productive. An hour later he exited the library. Gazing up at the sky. Clouds blocked the sun providing some much needed shade for the hot day. Sighing again the started off in no particular direction.

As he moved away from the library he passed a throng of students heading in the opposite direction. They had stopped talking long enough to stare at him. Silently Arawn wondered how much envy they had for him. If only they knew the problems he faced. He tried his best not to grimace. Far be it for him to be miserable and disillusion the Academy hopefuls. He continued to stroll on auto-pilot. No real destination or direction. His thoughts were all that occupied him completely. The wondering shinigami had made a spiral of the school grounds nearly four times before finding himself before the training dojo. As he made the latest circuit he spied a figure entering the training hall. The huddled form was the doorway withing seconds that Arawn wasn't sure he saw anything. Still he stopped. In his mind the scene replayed itself.
"Wait, that was Miyazakii." he said aloud. The old man was the instructor he had met that had later introduced him to Master Sung. Before he knew it he was walking towards the dojo. Perhaps the older man could impart more wisdom upon him than the books. Surely in his many years he might know something about his predicament. The door the man had passed into was open. Arawn stopped at the doorway and looked inside. There training area was completely empty, only the old man sat at the far end of the room. Kenichi, his assistant was busy sorting various wooden weapons along the walls.
"Hello?" Arawn called out "Master Miyazakii?" The old man looked up from a wooden board at his feet. As always the elderly man was playing some kind of game.
"Yes?" Came the wispy reply. "Come in, come in." he said while waving his hand at the shinigami. The red haired man did as he was beckoned.
His footsteps echoed in the spacious hall. It took less than a moment to stand before the old man. Once more he was engrossed in his game, his hand idly rubbed his long white beard. Arawn found it funny that the man had practically no hair on the top of his head, but some much growing from his chin. "Please sit." the man said without looking up from the board. The game board was checkered black and white, but there weren't chess pieces on it. Instead there were red cubes and blue pyramids. Arawn studied the board as he sat down. He was about to ask about it when the sound of a bell rang through the dojo. Kenichi finished his stacking the items and stood in the middle of the floor as the first of the students walked in. Arawn felt nervous, he hadn't thought that there would be a class. Perhaps I should come back later he thought and tried to stand. The old man's hand grabbed his wrist. "No, no." said Miyazakii "Stay. Sit." It was already too late to sneak out as more student filed into the room.

It was safe enough to say that Haruko could be fairly lazy when it suited her; she quite bluntly lacked the motivation to do a lot of things unless they were on her terms. But when she woke up only to realise she had barely ten minutes to get ready and get to class and being female it was a literally impossible feat to achieve. Instead of putting her hair up how she usually would, she simply dragged a brush through it and pulled most of it back into a high sitting pony tail, leaving some hair falling over her face.

It took her roughly fifteen minutes to change and sort herself out before she could grab her Zanpakuto, guessing that since this was Zanpakuto Training she would probably need it, and then began to make her way to her class. She knew the way, but of course the day seemed to have granted her bad luck and she must have taken a wrong turn somewhere for she ended up in completely the wrong place.

It took her a further five minutes (which may not seem like much, but when you’re late it feels like forever) to rectify the situation before she stood outside of the room a grand total of seventeen minutes late for the class. She took a deep breath before she walked into the room, grimacing slightly as all of the students turn to look at her upon arrival.

“Sorry I’m late,” she mumbled, just loud enough so that she knew her sensei would hear before she hurried herself along to her place, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact with mostly everyone. She finally looked up only to see a Shinigami that she had never before laid eyes on, furrowing slightly and hoping his presence would be (If it hadn’t already been) explained…

When the final bell had sounded Kenichi was quick in starting the class. Those that came in a the wire were given an earful from their taskmaster. It wasn't enough to scold them, but he had them assume positions at the front of the class so that all would see them. These unfortunate souls were made to lead the warm up exercises that marked the start of the lesson. It was only simple stretching, but being put on display before their peers while doing so made many flush with embarrassment. Arawn only caught parts of the proceedings as Miyazakii attempted to teach him the strange game. It was an odd one indeed. The object the game was to move your pieces to the other side of the board then back. Seemed simple enough, but there was of course a catch. The cubes could only move horizontal and vertical, while the pyramids could only move diagonally. When you reached the opponent's side you could remove one of their pieces from the board, or restore one of your own. It all sounded rather simple, but upon his game with Miyazakii the old man showed no quarter. Rather quickly Arawn's pieces were trapped and before he could navigate around them Miyazakii reached the other side. By the end of the round he manged to get two pieces back and remove one of his opponent's. Unfortunately it was too late, and there was no way to pull off a victory.

The end of their match was punctuated by Kenichi yelling a the new arrival to the class. He was in the midst of explaining the day's exercise the student entered. Haruko gained the whole class' attention and the instructor's ire.
"Come up here, now!" he ordered his hands clasped behind his back. "As I was saying today you're be squaring off against one another." He stepped back to gesture to the large white ring on the floor behind him.
"We've taught you the way of the sword, but zanpukto are so much more than that. For some they will become a unique weapon unlike anything you'd seen before." At this point Kenichi pointed to one of the racks that sat against the wall. There was a horde of wooden weapons of different shapes and sizes. Axes, flails, swords, staves, clubs. At a glance it was enough to equip several armies.
"This exercise is for you to get a feeling for different kinds of tools. Using your swordsmanship as a base, you'll try to defeat your opponent." He finished. With a grin he turned toward Haruko. "You'll be first."

"Kenichi!" The old man Miyazakii's voice suddenly called out to the instructor. All too quickly did the man turn to face the elder with a bow.
"Yes, Master Miyazakii?" he said looking up and seeing the red-haired man was still in the dojo playing a board game.
"This man will join in too." The older man said never letting his eyes drift from the board.
"What!?" Both Arawn and Kenichi said in unison.
"Master I don't think it's wise_" the old man waved the objection away like swatting a fly. Kenichi held his tongue.
"Sir_" Arawn too was cut off by the older man.
"I had thought this game would take your mind off your troubles, but it would seem something else is in order." Arawn's face was blank. He was so caught up in the game he had forgotten to talk to the man about his situation. "Go." the old man said firmly. "A little sweat will do you good." Almost like a trance Arawn got up and moved to the front of the class.. Some of the students snickered, but Kenichi's glare silenced them. The instructor looked at the shinigami and sighed. "Don't embarrass yourself, my pupils aren't to be taken lightly." He turned back to the class.
"Please select a weapon and meet back at the center ring." Kenichi said. "Once he's done his opponent will select a weapon as well."

Arawn moved to the rack and looked at the various wooden fighting instruments. He pulled his zanpukto from his waist and placed it on the floor. The weapon he selected was a staff. As he pulled it from the hooks he noted that the ends had been cushioned with soft foam. The rounded pole had decent heft, but light enough to swing around with ease. Nodding to himself he returned to the front of the class to stand within the circle. He gave the weapon a few practice swings before tucking it under his arm. Now he had only to wait for his opponent and the match would begin.

She flinched the smallest amount as her instructor called out to her, cursing herself inwardly for not having enough sense to set an alarm and further for not having a good enough internal clock to wake herself up earlier. She moved to where he instructed, a tint of red making it’s way to her cheeks in embarrassment as she stood somewhat formally with her hands held behind her back, her posture straight.

She followed his finger to gaze at the masses of wooden weapons and raised an eyebrow, staring for a second until she heard the words ‘You’ll be first’ turning to look at him to see whom he had picked, she sighed out as she realised it would be herself, not particularly wanting to do any kind of sparring so soon after waking up. When the old man spoke up she knew this would most likely end in a situation that wasn’t particularly in her favour, but the last thing she expected was to have to fight the Shinigami.

Her eyes widened but other than that she kept her expression as neutral as she could manage, composing herself before removing her Zanpakuto from her belt and laying it down gently on the floor, somewhere it would be out of the way. She was uncomfortable as the gazes of the majority of the students followed her when she walked to the rack to pick out her weapon. Predictably she went for something that most resembled her own weapon, but had a longer reach. It seemed sturdy enough and a quick swing with one hand, then with two told her she should be able to get on with it fairly well. She nodded her head before glancing to her sensai, wishing she could literally just crawl into a hole and hide, despising the fact that the eyes of her whole class would be on her.

She stood in position holding the wooden sword in her left hand as she waited for som kind of confirmation to begin…

The dark haired instructor looked back and forth at the two combatants. He observed their weapon choices and then stepped away from the ring. Kenichi pulled into his shirt and pulled out a silver whistle.
"When I blow this, you will both stop and return to the rack and get a new weapon. You will have only 20 seconds to select a new one and then the match will resume. Understood?" He asked.
"Yes." Arawn said simply as he gripped the staff tightly. His palms felt sweaty and clammy. He looked at the young woman. Kenichi's words lingered in his mind. Just because she was a student didn't mean that she wasn't a capable fighter. It was the simple basics of any kind of confrontation. Never judge a book by it's cover, or to be more precise; Appearances are always deceiving. For all he knew this student could be a prodigy. Unfortunately another saying came to mind as pondered this; He who hesitates is lost. The whistle sounded that marked the start of the match. Arawn had chosen the staff since it had reach. Honestly he had very little experience with such a weapon. He gave the wood another spin in his hand and then dashed at Haruko. Rather than swinging the weapon he used the weapon like a spear. As he advanced the padded top of the staff came forward. He aimed to hit he woman squarely in the chest. He hoped to used the longer reach to to his advantage.

She nodded her head, slightly panicked in the inside but appearing composed outwards, she honestly had no idea what weapon she would pick when he blew the whistle but she supposed it didn’t really matter for now. She calmed herself a little, she had a little sparring experience but nothing that would gain her any kind of advantage she went into this fully expecting to be the loser.

He was faster than she anticipated, and she would have mentally scolded herself for expecting so little of a fully-fledged Shinigami if she didn’t have to concentrate all her efforts on his movements. She knew it was too late to move out of the way so a couple of seconds before it impacted her chest she brought her sword up and blocked, using her weaker right hand to brace herself slightly, though she was still forced to stumble back a couple of paces.

After a couple of seconds she did her best to push the staff away before crouching down and extending the hand that held the sword in it, putting as much force as she could muster into the swing she aimed for his shins, knowing it wasn’t perhaps her best bet, but at the moment, in her current position there was little else she could do. Despite the fact that they were only made from wood she was certain the impact would still cause a certain amount of pain.

Despite her size the young student took the hit very well. She was wise enough to cushion the blow further with her weapon. The weapon was already blunted by the padding, so any damage he could have inflicted was probably less than a solid punch. There was so little time to praise her efforts as she was already moving to counter. While his choice of weapon did give him range, it also was downside. He could attack her at distance, but he had to retract the weapon. That gave his attacks enough lag to allow for the student to return fire. In this case the young woman's attack came low and surprisingly hard. He was already pulling his weapon back, but she was too close to block. Unlike the staff, the wooden sword wasn't padded. The wood connected with bone and a sharp pain followed. That was pain was a prelude to the push the Haruko gave to his footing. It was Arawn's turn to stumble. The low strike sent him forwards several steps before he could recover.

Arawn spun around and brought his staff around before him. It was seem that Kenichi was right in his assessment. There was some skill in the young woman. It would seem his spear like attacks wouldn't be efficient to combat her. He would try more traditional moves. Grabbing the weapons with both hands he closed the distance between them yet again. Instead of lunging he sent the top of the staff at the student's mid section from his right side. He drew the weapon back and pivoted on his right foot. Arawn now launched a roundhouse kick at the Haruko from his left side.

She was pleasantly surprised when she felt her weapon make contact with the man and as soon as she was able took a couple of wobbly steps backwards and the straightened up, glancing quickly at the other students, disappointed that a few of them seemed to look a little bored.

She frowned, but instantly turned her attention back to the Shinigami in time to witness her next move, unfortunately she didn’t have enough time to react accordingly and as she tried to dodge out of the way the staff caught the side of her body, just under her ribcage, if the blow had been much harder she had no doubts that it would have winded her. She was given no time to recover as she saw his leg coming toward her, she made to move the sword to block but was too slow and his foot ended up colliding with her arm, luckily it was the stronger of her two arms but she doubted it would have made much difference.

She stumbled to side with little to no grace before stopping herself abruptly turning round and swinging her sword offensively. She had noticed that using the staff was a little more clumsy that a smaller sword, and even though the delay in his movements was small she tried her best to use it to her advantage, swinging at him a few more times, each time from a new angle or side, more slowly than she would have liked, though still hoping to catch him off guard somehow. She knew by now that she was slower than him, and not as skilled but she wouldn’t go down without giving it her all.

His first hit unbalanced her and his second was meant to topple her. The plan failed when she took them in reverse order. Rather than guard his weapon with her own, she did nothing as the staff clipped her. His kick was repelled by the wooden sword. Arawn was quickly starting to regret his choice of weapon. Attacking with is required both hands. If it had been a one handed weapon he could have followed up the kick with a punch or some other strike. A two strike combo was the best he could muster on such short notice. If he had more skill with the weapon he might have come up with a more relentless series of attacks. When his foot landed it the small window of opportunity had already shut. The young lady had recovered and now exploited his own imbalance. While his offense with a staff was lacking his did better at defense. Indeed the larger weapon was a perfect means to intercept the sword swing. Their wooden weapons knocked against one another. But that wasn't the end of it. Haruko released a flurry of attacks now. She was ferocious and unrelenting. Hit after hit. The shinigami backed up and used his staff to block the blade once more. Arawn had to make sure to keep his hands spaced far apart to avoid her hitting them. Everytime he thought he saw an opening she was already making another attack.

Suddenly a shrill whistle echoed through the dojo. Arawn froze like a deer in the headlights. He wasn't the only one. The students that had been lazily watching now were roused from their daze.
"Change weapons!" Kenichi shouted rather loudly he pointed back to the weapon wall. Arawn was quick to lower his staff and move over to the rack.
"15 seconds!" The instructor yelled, warning that there was little time left. It was clever method of rushing them. Give them so little time to look around and find a weapon they are familiar with. "10 seconds!"
Arawn placed the staff back and looked at the weapons around him. His eyes fell on a handle that looked like a dagger. Changing to a smaller weapon might be beneficial. "5 seconds" Arawn had already turned around and headed back to the circle. Only then did he see that what he picked up was not a dagger at all. At first glance it had looked like a blade, but it was completely round. In addition there was a bar on the bottom that didn't look like part of the handle. Was it some kind of guard? Not sure what to make of it he shook his head. Even if that wasn't it's function, he would still wield it like a dagger. Arawn held the weapon firmly in his right hand ready for the next round.

She was disappointed that none of her hits landed solidly, but it a way pleased that she didn’t give him a chance to retaliate. As soon as she heard the piercing noise of the whistle it broke her concentration completely, glad that it meant they had to stop the fight temporarily she made her way to the weapon rack, placing the sword down she began to scan the rack for something she thought she may be able to use with some success.

She panicked a little when he called out that they had only five seconds left and picked up the handle closest to her, giving it a firm pull she found it to be a long pole with a blunt wooden blade attached to the end. Something resembling a scythe, though a little smaller than it may traditionally be. It was heavy and the weight distribution was more awkward than she would have preferred, but seen as she had no time to change her mind it would have to make do.

She moved back to her starting position, giving the weapon a swing to feel the way it moved before she stopped, looking over to her Sensai quickly before back at her Shinigami opponent, really not looking forward to the following round…

Having been so preoccupied with selecting his own weapon he hadn't thought to see what the student had selected. Now that he had returned to the circle he caught a glimpse of the girls' new equipment. How the tables had turned. A minute ago he had a large weapon and she had the short one. He would say the situation was reversed if not for the fact that his armament was many times smaller than the wooden sword she had first sported. Arawn could only pray she was just as unaccustomed to the large scythe as he had been with the staff. There wasn't much time to think as Kenichi sounded the whistle once more. The shrill call startled him yet again even though he was expecting it. The same could be said for the students, the first call had brought most of them to attention already.
"Resume the match!" He bellowed. The students noticed the differences is weapon sizes as well. Suddenly the possibility of an academy student defeating a shinigami seemed a possible reality. Some shouted and cheered. Kenichi cast them a scowl and they quickly quieted down.

Arawn wasn't too happy with his weapon pick now. If he had seen Haruko's first he would have gone with something else. But if he had chances were he would have run out of time. Secretly he was enjoying this. An unfamiliar opponent and an unfamiliar weapon. Anything could happen, and it probably would. Since he had the small of the two tools he decided to move forward. She might use the weapon's reach like he had. Arawn closed the distance and launched a side kick at the girl's gut. Rather than use his weapon to reach her he'd use his body instead. Stepping in after the kick he now swung his weapon in a horizontal slash as her head. The misshapen sai wasn't meant for slashing or thrust as far as he could tell, but it would have to do. At least this time his hands were free. He quickly followed up the slash with a punch from his left hand. Just as she had done he hoped to keep her on the defensive with a series of strikes.

She glanced down at his choice of weapon and her eyebrows knitted together slightly, it closely resembled something she assumed he would feel much more comfortable using and it instantly made her a little on the apprehensive side. She knew she never really stood a chance in the first place, but while using an unfamiliar weapon her chances were reduced yet more. She sighed out loud, composing herself before the whistle was blown, indicating the ‘start of round two’ or something similar.

As expected he made the first move, and she reacted what would have been fast enough, had she been using a sword. But while using the heavy, awkward weapon it was simply too slow, and she missed him completely cursing her lack of skill as his foot collided with her stomach, knocking the air from her temporarily, she coughed once but moved her head away from his strike with the wooden weapon, though it still caught her, pulling some of hair away from the ponytail and causing it to fall into her face. She held the scythe out to defend against his fists but one of them connected with her face, causing her to stumble to the side to avoid the full force of the blow.

She took a couple of steps away from the man, put both hands to the end of the scythe and swung it, roughly in his direction one way, grimacing as the force of it pulled her arm back further than she intended, the scythe’s end falling to the floor, though she recovered as quickly as she could and swung back the other way, making a small noise with the force she put behind the swing…

The weapon Arawn presently employed was called a Jutte. He had thought it was some kind of exotic sai, but having only two prongs was actually deliberate. In another time the weapon was used similar to a police baton. Unfortunately Arawn never gleaned this and attempted to use it as best he could. His charge was met with a clumsy attack from the girl. He figured it's inaccuracy was attributed to his sudden advancement. Hit or not he flinched slightly, before resuming his attack. His first attack actually succeeding made his second one a miss. The blow had made her quite aware of his presence. Haruko did her best to doge the small stick. She was successful in doing so, but not for the final strike in Arawn's combo. He winced inwardly at hitting a female the face, but knew it would be an insult to go easy on her otherwise. A warrior shouldn't be coddled, she would face much worse from the horrific hollows that she would battle. A small grin played on his face as the student didn't buckle afterwards.Already such resilience he thought to himself as she pulled back and swung.

The young student twisted slightly before lashing out, telegraphing the attack. Too close to dodge and yet too far to attack. In stepping back she had put him at mid range. A bad place for the stick wielding man to be. Even if he tried to kick he would miss the girl completely. Stepping back would be a problematic the more distance the less effective he would be. Much like she had did earlier Arawn decided to take the strike on. Much like his own staff attacks it would leave an new opening for attack. As the weapon a came at him he instinctively raised his jutte to guard it. A millisecond later he regretted that decision. There was a knock as the two met, but Arawn's weapon buckled quickly under the thicker weapon. Even if he was stronger than the student his tool wasn't well suited for the task of defense.

Imagine his surprise as scythe wedged itself between the two prongs on his weapon. The second shock came when she pulled the weapon away. Arawn's jutte was caught on it. There was little he could do keep it in his hand. The small handle slipped from his grasp like water. By fluke she had successfully disarmed him. It had all happened in a matter of seconds. The weapons clashed and then Arawn was barehanded. Everyone stood in still in a state of shock especially the shinigami. He could only stare at his empty hand in disbelief before the onlookers exploded into a rousing cheer for Haruko. Kenichi's glare wasn't enough to silence their merrymaking. He gave the whistle three sharp blows. By third call, mostly everyone was silent, but the smiles hadn't faded in the slightest. His look of disdain fell upon Arawn, but the red haired man just shrugged.
"Match over." Kenichi said with a shake of his head. "Face your opponent, bow." Arawn quickly gave the student a polite bow.

Though she realised that putting herself slightly further away would be beneficial to her choice of weapon, she hadn’t realised quite how effective her choice of spacing had been. She was practically running on luck, luck that she didn’t think would hold out.

Her swing was clumsy and badly timed but he was too far away for any form of quick attack, and his weapon was poorly suited to defending against her own, much larger one. She had expected him to step backwards to avoid her strike completely and surprise was evident on her features as he raised the weapon to defend, wedging her own between the blade and the peculiar prong that was adjacent to it. Her second swing was completely on impulse, simply pulling the weapon back to a more comfortable position for herself to plan her next move.

She had to stop herself from grinning like a Cheshire Cat when the force of her swing pulled the weapon from the Shinigami’s hand. She had one, if only completely by luck. The three shrill blows of the whistle confirmed the end of the match, and her eyes were a little wider than they would usually be, in both shock and surprise. She pushed the hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear messily and did as she was instructed, bowing to her opponent. Before shooting an almost cocky glance toward her instructor, she was proud of herself and she wasn’t afraid to show it.

After the unexpected end to the fight, the crowd was re-energized. It looked as though everyone was eager to try their hand at the weapon scramble. The students' renewed vigor was hardly enough to take the grimace off Kenichi's face. It would seem he was expecting a more climatic end to the bout. For Arawn that didn't matter. He had done his best for the most part. He was sure if it came down to spells or shunpo he could have overwhelmed the student, but that would hardly have been a fair fight. He didn't think anyone expected him to fight fair, thus the initial boredom the other students had exhibited. It was fun, a nice game to pass the time. There was no need for the instructor to be so worked up over it. After bowing to the young student he left the circle to retrieve his zanpukto from the floor. What warmth he felt from the well fought match quickly vanished as he bent over and picked up the blade. Still cold, not in temperature, but in feeling. Tucking the weapons into his belt he walked back over to Miyazakii. Stopping before the old man he gave a deep bow. The elder continued to stroke his beard as he looked over the board before him.
"Thank you, sir." Arawn said simply. It was obvious the man had made him part of the lesson to take his mind off his problem. For some reason he found that answer enough to the unasked question. The old man probably didn't know the anything, but he still knew it was best for him work it out on his own. Or perhaps that was just Arawn's own thinking. Maybe the man had just wanted him to help out his class. Perhaps he was just over thinking things. The old man only nodded and waved him away. Arawn figured it best to leave things at that and made his way out the dojo.