Make New Friends (Shin, Semi-open)

Kuro was in a good mood on this sunny morning. Raiden's iron grip on the Onmitsukido was over and things, though hectic, were returning to normal for all connected to the conspiracy. The Shihoin family's trust in the second division had never been higher than it was now and Tatsuya was back in the Soul Society with his name cleared. But better than all of that were the two hands that Kuro held onto while walking down the streets of the Seireitei. Mika had returned from her time in the living world after being sent on a mission that had blatantly been assigned to eliminate her. Kuro had been worried sick until she had shown up during the fight against Raiden. On his other side, reaching up to hold onto his opposite hand was Kuro's adoptive daughter, Hana. Fearing that Raiden or his men might use her as a hostage against him, Kuro had entrusted her care to the head of the village in the Rukongai where he'd first met her. The villagers there, still grateful for what Kuro, Mika and Ezrachek had done for them, had been only too willing to grant Kuro that request until conditions in the Seireitei were more stable.

Kuro was overjoyed to have his little family back together. Taking the day off from work, they were simply enjoying each other's company without any real plan of what to do with their day. To temporarily escape the heat of the sun, they made their way to a small outdoor cafe for a drink. Taking a seat at a shaded table, they began to engage in small talk while watching the passersby of the busy shinigami city.

Shin was extremely excited to have the day off, he had been training a lot lately since kuro had been so busy. Word was there was a big battle involving kuro and some others in the seireitei and his has had been denied for a while and had spent the last day delivering all the packages that he hadn't been able to do when they closed the gates to him. He was hoping that Kuro would be free to hang out or train him, though he was almost never free so they rarely got to see each other anymore. He had paid a visit to the 2nd squad barracks and had been told that he wasn't there and he was out relaxing today and that he was at a certain cafe. Shin was slightly surprised that they knew his exact location but once he thought about it for a bit, it did make sense, he was a captain after all they needed to know where to find him if something went wrong. Shin got the directions and started to head out to find this cafe.

It didn't take him too long to find it, he had been given good directions, and it hadn't taken him long to find Kuro either, he was pretty easy to spot with his purple hair. The problem was he wasn't alone, there was a woman and a small girl with him, and he looked like he was happy and having fun. Shin just stood there off in the distance watching, he didn't exactly want to intrude, but he really wanted to talk to kuro and show him how much he had improved. After a few more seconds of staring at them he noticed that the girl had noticed him and was glancing in his direction. He wasn't quite sure what to do so he stood there awkwardly.

Kuro noticed that Hana had stopped paying attention to the conversation at the table. It wasn't unusual for her to be quiet, but her attention seemed to be drawn by something else at the moment. Lowering his head to her level, Kuro followed her gaze and saw the little figure standing across the street. There was no mistaking the boy he had met in the Rukongai. Looking out of place just standing on the street by himself, Kuro called him over. "Hey Shin! Why don't you pull up a seat and join us?" Mika looked at the boy then turned back to Kuro. "Who's he?"

Kuro explained, "Just a boy I met in the Rukongai. I helped train him once before to help him get in touch with his spirit power. He wants to be a shinigami and be able to do all the stuff we can one day." He waited until Shin was nearer before continuing. "So Shin, I see your putting your pass to good use. The delivery job keeping you busy?"

Tatsuya walked through the second squad barracks after a trip to his office. Though he had a free day today, he wanted to finish up some items that he didn't have a chance to get to the previous day. Plus he wanted to make sure everyone was doing exactly what they were supposed to be doing. Once he felt satisfied, he knew he could enjoy the day without worry. Tatsuya made it to the outer gate for second squad, where Sumiko had just been walking towards. Tatsuya smiled widely as he caught site of her. "I thought I might find you here." She stated accusingly but with smile. "Well, you know me." He said with a knowing shrug as he kept walking. "Uh huh." She replied as she turned when Tatsuya intercepted her and walked with him. "Besides, you were fast asleep. Figured I would make sure everything was running smoothly." He stated innocently with a smile. "Only you would rather work then have a day off." She reached for his hand. "Honestly I feel I don't need the day off. Been gone for a year, figure that was my vacation." He said jokingly. "I beg to differ." Sumiko stated. "Oh yeah?" Tatsuya asked with a raised eyebrow. "Yeah. We deserve the day off. After all we were always on our toes, making sure we weren't going to get killed by the Omnitsukido. One day of complete relaxation and not having to worry about someone sneaking up on us is well earned." She stated as a matter of fact. "Hmm, guess you may be right." He stated with a slight smirk. "Of course I'm right. Now come on, lets find something to do." She demanded and walked faster, pulling Tatsuya and inciting a chuckle from him. They walked and talked, both enjoying their carefree day off. It was a short while before Tatsuya spotted Captain Akarui and Mika seated at an outdoor cafe. As he got closer he spotted a young girl with them and a young boy as well. "Looks like Captain is popular with the children." He stated with a smile once he was in earshot of the Captain.

Shin was glad that Kuro was willing to have him over, he was starting to feel really awkward just standing there, so he jogged over to the table, slowing down to a walk some 7 feet away just to be safe. Once we was close Kuro commented on his usage of the pass and asked him if he had been busy with deliveries. Shin walked over to an open chair and sat down at the table politely and said, "Yes, I've been very busy the last few days delivering packages around here. I heard a big fight happened, involving a lot of people, so all the passes were suspended until that was all sorted out, so we've been busy with the backlog of deliveries, not to mention all the new ones with people trying to learn what happened." Shin paused, he realized that he had not introduced himself at all it that was just rude. He said, "er, I'm shin, nice to meet you both." nodding towards the girl and the woman. He heard a loud voice off in the distance at that moment that said, "Looks like Captain is popular with the children." He glanced over and saw the biggest man he had ever seen in his life, he was huge, and there was a woman next to him holding onto him.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Kuro grinned sheepishly at hearing Shin's back up of work, "That was because of me. I kind of led a revolution against a corrupt commander of one of the Seireitei's groups. The aftermath has been keeping us busy lately too. This is the first day I've had to myself in over a week." It had indeed been busy after what had happened. And now, Kuro knew that the repercussions had spread beyond just their division and the Shihoin family. The entire Soul Society would probably feel some effect or another as a result of the changes that their struggle had set in motion. While it was bound to be stressful, and perhaps resisted by some who didn't want change, Kuro was sure that the Soul Society would be better off because of it in the end. Mika seemed bored by the subject, obviously fed up with it due to the work it was causing them all. She got the topic of conversation changed back to Shin by teasingly grabbing and yanking a small grip of Kuro's bangs to get his attention. "So while I was hiding for my safety in the living world, you've been hanging out with children again?"

Kuro gently removed his hair from her grip and kept a hold of her hand, causing Mika to start turning bright red like she always did when put on the spot. He spoke with a calm manner that was the complete opposite of the embarrassment now displayed on her face. "I was always hoping for your safe return. But I had to go about life as usual to remain as a key helper for both you and Tatsuya when you returned. I met Shin as I was running through the Rukongai for some quick training one day. He's a bright kid. I'm sure he has potential, so I decided to start training him."

Mika averted her face, overcome by her emotion and tried to get back to normal. Kuro grinned at the sight, and heard the small giggle of Hana on his other side. The antics of Kuro and Mika always seemed to entertain her. Kuro reached out and gave her a pat on the head to relay that he was glad to have her back too. Turning back to Shin, he took care of the introductions. "This young lady is my daughter, Hana. I found her in the Rukongai like you after our squad went to remove a band of bandits from the village she was living in." Kuro reached over and put an arm around Mika, pulling her in close to him. "And this beautiful woman is my Mika." Before he could say any more, the whole group of them heard Tatsuya's voice and looked over to see him and Sumiko approaching their table. Mika was the first to react, jumping up from her seat into a stand while beaming at the pair. "Sumiko-san!" Kuro laughed, it seemed that the pair of them had become closer friends during the time Sumiko had spent with Kuro and Mika before heading off to join Tatsuya. He smirked confidently towards Tatsuya in response to the earlier comment. "Nothing wrong with a little popularity. How goes it Tatsuya?"

"Mika-san!" Sumiko replied with the same enthusiasm as Mika and let go of Tatsuya to hurry and greet her with a hug. "So you're just gonna forget all about me, aren't you?" Tatsuya chuckled and asked Mika when the two hugged. "Hey, I see you everyday, you don't need the extra attention." Mika replied mischievously after the two let go of each other. Tatsuya and Sumiko couldn't help but laugh at the comment. Tatsuya then heard Captain Akarui speak to him. "Well popularity does have it's perks. It's going well. Just finished up some business at the barracks and trying to enjoy the day off." He answered and pulled out a chair for Sumiko. "Trying' being the operative word." Sumiko cut in with a light smile and sat down. "He seems to believe the past year off on Earth was his vacation and he should be working today. I told him he was wrong." She added teasingly as she looked from Captain Akarui and Mika up to Tatsuya with a smile. "Hey, I seem to remember agreeing with you on the walk over here." Tatsuya shot back playfully with an added kiss to the top of her head. "You did, but I don't think your heart was completely in it." She said with a smug look. Tatsuya smirked lightly and shook his head. "So how about you Captain?" He asked quickly desperate to get the topic away from himself. "Who are these two little ones with you?" He said as he got closer and knelt down trying to get to their level, but coming up short. Er, tall depending on how you look at it. "Got something for you guys." He smiled and pulled out two wrapped pieces of hard candy from his pocket, holding it out between the two. One was wrapped in red and the other in purple.

There was a lot for shin to take in, Kuro had been the source of the fighting? he had already heard rumors as such but he couldn't be sure just based off of that, and he led a revolution to get rid of a corrupt commander? Shin was astonished at his audacity and it renewed and increased his respect for Kuro. As the others were being introduced he caught on to the fact that Kuro referred to Mika as His Mika, shin mentally filed down that Kuro was married to this woman. The girl looked to be even younger than shin, and he had to admit that he was a bit jealous of her, being able to live with Kuro and being adopted and having a family. He had to make sure he wasn't rude unintentionally because of it. Two more people arrived. Apparently the man was named Tatsuya, and he was HUGE, shin had never seen a man so large, he didn't even know people could get that big, it was a little intimidating as he walked towards them, the woman beside him had a gentle smile on her face though and it helped take the edge off the intimidation. The rest of the intimidation going away as the couple verbally poked and prodded at each other in amusement. Once he got to the table he knelt down in front if him and Hana and held out his hand with two pieces of candy in it, one red, one purple. He glanced over at Hana and waited til she picked one and he took the other and put it in his pocket. He wasn't sure what to do, the man had asked Kuro who they were, and he wasn't sure exactly what to do with this giant man before him. He unwrapped the candy and popped it into his mouth as a little excuse to talk less.

Kuro laughed at the scene unfolding. Everyone was letting loose after the hassles of the recent events. It felt good to be surrounded by friends now, talking and laughing together like old times. Hana slowly reached out and took one of the candies offered by Tatsuya, her usual shyness intensified by the sheer size of the man she'd never met before. Kuro smiled reassuringly, patting her on the head again to let her know everything was alright. He'd overlooked the fact that Tatsuya was in the dark on the events surrounding Kuro and Hana's meeting. He took a sip from the tea that was sitting in front of him before answering Tatsuya's question.

"The boy is Shin. He's a courier I met out in the Rukongai one day recently. Quite fast for his size and age too. I started training him to become a shinigami after he requested that I teach him some Hohō techniques like shunpo. As for the girl," Kuro reached over and slung an arm around Hana to give her a small hug, "This is my daughter, Hana." Kuro paused for a second, giving time to let any shock that Tatsuya or Sumiko might display from this revelation pass by before he continued. "A while back, I went to the further districts of the Rukongai with Mika and Rayone-kun to do a patrol on a whim. We found a village under the cruel occupation and control of a band of bandits assisted by rogue shinigami. To prevent the villagers from further resisting them, they had taken a number of the village children hostage. We infiltrated their hideout, wiped out their forces, and returned the children to their homes. However, Hana didn't have a family to return to since she was a new arrival to the Soul Society when the bandits struck. She seemed to be slightly attached to me when our group was about to leave, so I decided to adopt her. We decided her name should be Hana since that's the first word she ever said to me, after seeing my bankai."

Kuro took another drink after telling the story. "Unfortunately, the situation with Raiden intensified shortly after bringing Hana back. I placed her in the care of the villagers where we first met until he was defeated so that she wouldn't be in any danger. I wouldn't have put it past him to take my daughter hostage in order to force me to behave." The distaste in Kuro's voice was apparent to all present. "But enough about that. He's gone and hopefully forgotten eventually. So what did you two do in the living world all this time?"

Tatsuya stood up once the children took the pieces of candy from his hand and walked over to the other side of the table to take a seat next to Sumiko. They listened as Captain Akarui introduced Shin. "Thank you." Tatsuya whispered to the server as she left two cups of tea for Sumiko and him. Tatsuya took a sip of tea, Sumiko had ordered while he had spoke with Captain Akarui and handed candy to the children. "Hmm, so young and already impressing a captain. Impressive." Tatsuya stated and looked over at Shin with an approving smile. "And cute, too." Sumiko added with a smile of her own. "Way to go, Squirt. That's the first time Sumiko has ever eyed another male." Tatsuya said with mock jealousy earning him a playful slap on the leg from Sumiko. "Ow!" Tatsuya rubbed his leg as he feigned the pain. "Oh leave him alone. Don't mind him, Shin, he's just grumpy because I pulled him away from work." She said teasingly looking from Tatsuya to Shin, with a gentle smile.

They had a good laugh before Captain Akarui continued by introducing the little girl. "Your daughter?!" Tatsuya and Sumiko shockingly asked in unison. Both were shocked, but Tatsuya was a bit more then Sumiko. He never once heard Captain Akarui mention any children. Once the initial shock wore off, they let Captain Akarui continue. "Well I gotta say, she couldn't ask for a better father." Tatsuya looked between the two. "With the way he looks after his subordinates, I'd hate to see what he does to the person who tries anything with you, Hana-chan." A smile crossed his face as he stated. "And if nothing else, good ole Uncle Tatsuya can straighten them out." He chuckled as he referred to himself. "Tch." Tatsuya snorted at the mention of Raiden. Not a name he ever wanted to hear again. "I wouldn't have put it past him either. That sadistic son of a..." Tatsuya caught himself before he cursed in front of the kids. "Not soon enough." Tatsuya added to Captain Akarui's comment.

"Ah well. Before and after the visit to Yellow Stone I had a wealthy and powerful benefactor providing for me, for a slight fee of my skill set. Not a bad gig, though boring most of the time. We spent most of the time traveling around the world to business meetings as his personal bodyguard. We did have some time to ourselves. Zamoreus was very generous. Even provided an allowance, that I hardly touched. He was even able to create a gigai for Sumiko and myself. Which is how we managed to remain hidden so well. Though not quite up to 12th squad standards. It was for the most part a human shell, we couldn't even use kido. He did offer to make modifications; mechanical. I declined of course." Tatsuya took a drink of his tea before continuing. "But like I said, it was boring for the most part. There was an instant when his compounded came under siege. A mercenary team went in and tore up the place. Even had me against the ropes. They weren't your average humans. Their reiryoku was different. I wouldn't even know how to describe it." He thought for a second to see if he could better explain it. "Nope. But it was unique though. If you were to encounter them, you'd definitely know it was them. Other than that, it was a walk in the park. Though he did send me on missions that needed a shinigami's touch. In fact, during a certain mission I was able to acquire a nice little gift for Sumiko." He pointed to the decently sized tear drop diamond hanging from the pink choker on her neck.

Shin sat there quietly as Kuro explained to the new couple who he was, it was accurate of course. He felt a tiny bit embarrassed as the man complimented him for catching the captain's eye, blushing as the woman called him cute too and they teased him. He was quite embarrassed at the fuss they were making over him. He was glad when the topic changed to Hana, though he also felt bad a little bit fr her being the focus of so much talking. He felt the urge to tell his story but he was quite uncomfortable talking when he only knew one of the 5 other people at the table. He also wanted to show Kuro what he had practiced and that he had improved, maybe he would be good enough now to get the captain to show him how to use shunpo. However he wasn't exactly sure interject, and he didn't want to be rude. He wanted to show Kuro that he had learned how to control his Spiritual power as kuro had, so rudely awoken in him. He wiggled around in his seat a bit and cautiously interjected in a pause of subject, "Um, Can i show you what I've practiced later?" feeling quite ill at ease as the attention shifted over to him. Before the topic had been something he had no clue about, and he felt awkward at the table, but now it was a different feeling. He had no problem training or delivering but he wasn't that good at talking to people, he could 1 on 1. However he was barely able to work up the courage to say that once sentence. He waited nervously for Kuro's reply.

Kuro grinned mischievously at the mention of his protective nature. Tatsuya was absolutely right. If anyone messed with anyone of importance to him, he was a man of little tolerance. That went double for anyone who messed with his two precious girls. He still had resentful feelings towards the Central for what they'd done to Mika to try and get to him. But such feelings could do little without knowing who exactly the perpetrator in their ranks was that had it out for him. But that was something he'd rather not bother their peaceful day off with. Pushing the central from his mind, he allowed himself to fall back into the cheerful banter. They listened to the tale of Tatsuya's and Sumiko's stay in the living world. When he got to the part of the attack on their host's compound, Mika's face grew tense and she shook the table as she stood up with a start, banging her palms down on its surface. "I think I met those guys too!" she exclaimed. "They sound like the guys who we were fighting on that mission I was sent on. They were extremely dangerous. Don't think I would have survived if I hadn't found a way to escape."

"Sound nasty. We may have to look into that some time." Kuro noted as he took another sip of tea.

The rest of Tatsuya's story went uninterrupted, though Kuro did notice the awed look in Mika's eyes as they were shown Sumiko's gift. Women and their accessories... He thought to himself, not daring to mention it out loud. The conversation broke off for a second afterward, at which point Shin interjected with his request. Kuro turned to him for a second, noting the embarrassment on his face before averting his gaze to try and lessen the imposing presence he was likely feeling from talking in a group. "That's a surprise. You must really want to improve if you're doing practice on your own time. A good quality to have, the drive to improve. Just don't go trying new techniques again without having the proper preparation and hurting yourself like last time. But I have no problem seeing what you've learned so far. Whenever you want, just let me know." Kuro was back to his old way of taking things as they came. With the pressure off of him and the worry for his subordinates gone, he was free to calmly live life day by day.

Tatsuya saw the look in Captain Akarui's eyes when he pointed out the Sumiko's diamond choker. It was the same look he probably would of had, had it actually been purchased. "No need for that look, Captain. Sumiko would have never allowed me to purchase it for her. I was just fortunate enough to find a raw diamond while on a search mission in Africa. All I had to pay for was the cut and polish." Tatsuya explained it for Captain Akarui. Before Tatsuya could continue, Shin jumped in with a question. "That's some dedication you have, Squirt. But like Captain Akarui said, try not to use new techniques if you haven't prepared." Tatsuya reiterated before taking another sip his tea. "You really want to become a shinigami, Squirt? It's not exactly the most glamorous occupation." Tatsuya asked and put his cup on the table.

Shin flushed slightly, embarrassed remembering when he first tried to shun-po when escaping from Kuro, heavily mangling his leg in the process. He grew a little angry at the tall man when he repeated what Kuro had said, he didn't need to be reminded twice, and that man wasn't even there!. Shin was quite peeved and said, "I know, I haven't forgotten what happened last time..." He paused and said, "I have to train to keep my licence anyways so I just added some things onto my normal training." Shin shifted his jaw a little bit in a frustrated fashion. The big man asked him if he really wanted to be a shinigami, shin tried to shove away his annoyance as best he could and spoke honestly, "I want to learn how to use the techniques like Shunpo, Kuro said the only way I can learn is to become a shinigami, I still haven't decided whether or not I want to become one. I've been told on many occasions that I have the potential, I've even been told by the, um" Shin paused for a moment and tried to remember how to say the name properly. "The Ohn-mit-suk-ido." Shin paused and said, "Kuro was the first person I've seen that has been faster than me, and then i saw all these weird techniques and stuff, and, and i just want to be better and learn." Shin paused and glanced around nervously.

Kuro saw that Shin was a person with a degree of pride in how he went about things. He felt that he probably should have kept his earlier comment to himself so as to not embarrass Shin in front of the others. But all he could do now was to ease the tension of the situation. "Sorry if we sounded surprised. I know that you're serious about this. Why don't we go and take a look right now?" Kuro rose from his seat and swung Hana up onto his back for the journey. Mika stood next to him, apparently interested in seeing what was so special about this little kid. But even she had to admit that he couldn't be ordinary if he got Kuro's special attention instead of being shipped off to the academy.

As they made their way outside the city walls to get some more room for Shin's demonstration, walking rather than using shunpo since Shin couldn't do so yet, Kuro kept the conversation going to pass the time. "So Tatsuya, how do you like being an innocent man again? It's got to be better than being a labeled criminal constantly worrying about being sighted."

"Yeah, Captain Akarui is the fastest one around here. Though I'm not sure how long that willll hold up." Tatsuya teased both Captain Akarui and Shin. "But I'm sure there are others around here just as fast if not faster then you." He continued. "I'm with Captain. Let's see what the Squirt has to offer." Tatsuya got up from the chair and held out his hand for Sumiko before following Captain Akarui. "I'm grateful to be an innocent man again. I'm pretty sure you might have heard of some of my close calls with the Omnitsukido. Being able to call them allies again if a good feeling." Tatsuya quickly answered Captain Akarui's question. "As much as the living world had to offer, it just doesn't compete with the tranquility of Soul Society." He continued to add. "It was a lonely and dangerous experience over there. If Sumiko hadn't been with me, I doubt I would even be here." He stated with a truthful smile at both Captain Akarui and Sumiko. "Other then the Omnitsukido, I also dealt with some hollows that did a number on me." Tatsuya pointed out that even while he was away, that he still handled Gotei business.

Shin smiled faintly, he would have a chance to show off to Kuro what he had been practicing. He had been doing a lot of practicing of late, not only had be brushed up on his hand to hand combat he had also practiced knife fighting and had bought a large number of throwing knives, 10 of which he kept hidden on his person, he had had his clothes modified so that they were concealed and easily accessible. He also carried a small bag of caltrops with him, another courier had shown them to him as an escape tool and so shin normally carried some around with him for just that purpose.

Shin stretched a little bit as they went along, being sure not to expose any of his abilities quite yet, he pondered how he should go about the demonstration, and decided that he surprisingly wouldn't mind going at it with Kuro again, maybe he would be able to touch him this time. Shin looked over at Kuro and thought about their first "training session" he had been trying to put the fear into shin and it had worked, so well in fact that he had injured himself trying to shun-po away from him. Shin was sure he had improved but wasn't sure by how much, but maybe, just maybe he'd be able to do something this time, after all he had gotten the hang of the energy thing, at least empowering himself using it.

It didn't take long to get to where they were going and a little bit of idle chit-chat had been said on the way, but shin wasn't really paying attention to that. Once they got there he turned around to Kuro and waved him over and said, "Um, I want to practice with you, again. See how much I've improved since before. Is that okay with you?" Shin looked at Kuro expectantly.

Kuro stood by idly as Shin prepared. He was surprised by his request, though he thought to himself that he shouldn't have been. He'd been planning on pairing Shin against Mika so as to lower the gap between him and his sparring partner. But if Shin asked, Kuro wasn't one to refuse. He put Hana on the ground and told her to stay with Mika before removing his haori and tossing it to the ground to allow for easier movement. "If you're sure about this, come at me whenever you're ready." Kuro's style of watching the opponent's first move was heavily apparent as he invited Shin to make the opening attack. He wasn't sure if he'd take the bait, but either way it was sure to be interesting when things got started. The wind blew in a light breeze across the barren dirt land outside of the Seireitei's walls, almost breathing with a sound like the calm before a storm as if to signify the beginning of a great battle.

Shin started to do a few stretches as he realized what he had asked, he hadn't really changed much himself really, and so he knew right off the bat that he would be inferior in speed, the trait which he normally relied on himself to overpower his opponents or escape. He had a few tricks up his sleeve, he had taken the time to ask his normal instructor for a few tip and had practiced quite a few things, first of which, he had a new sword, the blade was about 18 inches long and the hilt about 6, the trick was the hilt was curved, and it usually threw off people's expectations of where the blade would be, just enough to perhaps avoid their blocks or counters. The second thing he had was a little trick he had drilled into him by his instructor, a technique to quickly switch speeds mid-attack, he wasn't great at this yet, it was extremely difficult for shin, but he managed to get it to a level where use it. The last tool in his new arsenal was throwing knives, he had practiced long and hard to be able to throw them fast, hard, and point first, ten of them were currently concealed about his person.

He looked up at kuro who was waiting there, he knew that he'd be watched closely, and that he had to keep his cool and not panic, though it all depended on how kuro played this. Shin thought about it long and hard, how should he begin? go slow and surprise later? or show everything now? He had his new blade which he wouldnt really be able to conceal or hide it until later. He wanted to go all out but knew it would be useless while kuro was in his watching phase, he decided to try to wait until kuro switched out of his watching stance to spring the other surprises. He looked up at Kuro and pulled out his new sword, not intending to use the tricks he knew with it to throw people off just yet, and charged, full speed at kuro, swinging a light swipe at him, waiting for the inevitable counter to come.

Kuro's hands moved like lightning. To the less observant, his zanpakuto would seem to have appeared in his hand from nowhere as they missed the movement when he reached in his robes to draw the short blade. With this in hand, he had no trouble bringing up his defense to block Shin's first attack. It was only an average attempt, Kuro knew that Shin had to have more than that in order to be so eager to spar with him again. But Kuro was always ready to offer support no matter what the situation. Rather than berate Shin's mediocre start, he found a positive spin on things. "Excellent initiative. Your speed is nice as always, and you haven't let down your guard by recklessly attacking me with everything you've got. But I'm sure you have more than this."

Kuro followed up by just pushing back hard against Shin's blade, using his superior height to his advantage to force Shin back. He would normally have moved in for an attack after stopping Shin's sword, but felt that he should set a good example and practice what he was praising. By calmly holding back and slowly gaining an advantage by using what he had, he would find a safe opening. He hoped that Shin would understand that and find a way to use the same method.

Shin's attack had been easily blocked, he had forgotten quite how quick Kuro was, and as Kuro pushed him back he lept back to gain some more room for himself and he realized that Kuro would not let down his guard, and that he wouldn't be able to take him by surprise, he was expectant and waiting for shin's next move. Shin briefly considered showing one of his new tactics off in order to try and get Kuro to lower his guard, but decided against it, if he had to use one he was going to use them all. Shin lept back further to get some more room.

He took a calm breath and dove forward, dashing at Kuro at a decent speed, did a little spin about 10 feet away, reaching into his clothes and throwing out four throwing knives towards Kuro's general direction, and started leaning side to side a bit, trying to throw Kuro's prediction off, once he reached Kuro, he would hopefully be distracted by the knives, shin made a quick slash before he reached Kuro, changing it into a angled thrust, trying to twist his wrist to change where the point was to better hit Kuro, all the while moving as fast as his body could handle, if he had to make a strike, it had to be now, for without the element of surprise there was no way he would ever be able to touch him.

As Kuro pressed against Shin to force him to try a new tactic, the others behind him watched the spar unfold. Hana smiled and laughed in enjoyment at Kuro's display, showing clear favoritism as to who she was rooting for. Mika on the other hand remained calm and focused as she observed.

Kuro took a step forward again to lessen Shin's space when he moved back, but found himself facing four knives which were unleashed simultaneously from within Shin's attire. Reacting quickly, he threw himself to the side, slashing at the projectiles as he went down and managed to swat one to the ground. The other three flew past his prior position and headed in the direction of the observers. Kuro turned to try and think of a way to stop them, but had to turn his attention back to Shin as he rolled into a kneeling position and brought his sword hand up to displace Shin's thrust so that it stabbed the empty air beside him. Kuro kept his sword up and didn't allow for Shin's blade to move back towards him. If he wanted to do so, he'd have to back off and get it out of Kuro's reach to escape the lock of their blades. From this position, Kuro was able to take his eyes off Shin temporarily to see how the others had fared with the stray knives.

"Hmm. Kid is fast." Tatsuya uttered as he watched Shin charge Captain Akarui. "He is. Even faster then me." Sumiko confirmed. "And me." Added Mika. "Too bad that's all he's got. Squirt needs more strength." Tatsuya quickly determined that there wasn't much behind Shin's attacks. "He's still young. Plenty of time to get stronger." Sumiko stated looking straight ahead with interest. "I agree. Besides strength isn't everything. If they can't touch you, an opponent's strength is worthless." Mika defended speed over strength. "Now where's the fun in that?" Tatsuya asked looked down a Mika. "What do you mean?" Mika asked with piqued interest. "I like speed every now and then, but its gets pretty boring when an opponent can't hit you." Tatsuya smirked. "Yeah. You would think like that. Guess someone as big as you would want a fight like that." Mika said with a shake of her head. "Harsh." Tatsuya bluntly replied and chuckled. Sumiko giggled at the two. Before Tatsuya could say more he watched as Shin threw knives at Captain Akarui. Captain Akarui dodged them all but was only able to deflect one of the four knives thrown. Tatsuya quickly pushed Sumiko out of the way of one knife and dropped down to a crotch, catching a knife that was headed straight at Hana's head. The third knife grazed Tatsuya's cheek, drawing a thin line of blood as it flew by. The knife he caught was only a inch away from hitting Hana. Her eyes were focused in shock on the tip of the knife in front of her. Drops of blood hit the ground from Tatsuya's hand as he stood back up. Tatsuya grabbed the knife with his other hand and quickly threw it to the ground, right in front of where Shin's next step would be. "You need to watch where you throw things, kid!" Tatsuya shouted out less then amused. "You alright, Sumiko?" He asked as Sumiko picked herself off the ground and dusted herself. "I'll be fine." She replied. "Captain. I think you need to have a little chat with him." Tatsuya urged in seriousness.

Shin was surprised that Kuro had deflected a knife, he must have thrown them faster than even he would have thought, even so he still didn't manage to land a hit on the captain, even in surprise, his lunge had failed, the captain locking his blade so he couldn't move forward. The Kuro did something odd, he looked away, shin instinctively grabbed one of his hidden throwing knives and went for the stab, he had to at least hit him, that was his goal, to hit the captain, the only goal on his mind. Suddenly there was a noise, and a dagger in the ground inbetween him and the captain, inbetween their feet. Shin lept back in surprise and heard a voice call out to watch where he threw the knives, shin took a quick glance over towards the bystandards and seeing nothing amiss from this distance thought nothing more of it and focused back on Kuro, who was moving, shin was about to throw the knife but remembered the warning, and instead leapt up into the air, completely focused on Kuro once more, totally missing the rest of the man's comments. Shin reached into his person and pulled out 4 of the remaining knives he had, throwing all 5 of the knives he had out towards Kuro's position, at this angle even if he missed, they would end up in the ground. Only then did he realize he had no way of dodging midair, and Kuro could, he was a sitting duck, so he curled up a bit defensively with sword in one hand and dagger in the other, intending to throw the last dagger as Kuro approached and allow him to safely land or counterattack if the opportunity arose.

Kuro saw Tatsuya throw the blade, thankful that none of the watchers had gotten hurt. But he missed Shin's movement as he moved in for a quick stab. Luckily, the thrown blade forced him to back off, but not before it had gashed his forearm slightly. Kuro was grateful that Tatsuya had distracted Shin in his time of negligence. He'd forgotten how focused Shin was on this and that a matter like a few misplaced knives wouldn't take his mind off this fight. Not wanting to put them or his self in such a situation again, Kuro leaped to his feet and circled around so that he was facing Shin with the audience to their side. By this time, Shin had leapt into the air to begin his next attack. Kuro felt that those knives were starting to be a nuisance. He felt a throb from the wound on his arm and suddenly got a new idea. Sliding his zanpakuto across his other arm, Kuro slit an identical gash in his opposite forearm. Folding his arms over each other, he placed each hand on the spots from where his blood was now flowing. "By my hands, taste my blood as if falls from my open wounds. Hado #22: Blood Daggers!"

A crimson glow shone from the wounds on Kuro's arms as the blood lit up with spirit power and began to gather in Kuro's hands. In an instant, the blood had solidified into two handfuls of short kunais. Kuro whipped both hands out together and sent the newly formed projectiles up at Shin's airborne figure. The blood weapons flew like a spray from Kuro and knocked Shin's thrown knives out of the sky. Two remained, flying up at Shin like arrows launched from a bow. This move was one of Kuro's oldest. Being part of the second squad, he had trained extensively in the skill of throwing small blades over the years and this kido was the way he did it. Not one to carry a bunch of extra weight with him, Kuro opted to surprise his foes with using this spell to make his own weapons on the spot. Now that he'd launched a successful counter from his position on the ground, Kuro readied himself with his zanpakuto in hand, preparing for when Shin touched down.