Bored and spoiling for a fight... (open)

Garin stood in the center of a sparring mat, practicing his quick draw with the ridiculously tiny Zanpakuto he was given. It was funny. If his spirit was such a huge two headed dragon, why did it manifest in such a puny sword? He did have to admit that the blade was becoming more familiar in his hand though. He had his own unique grip that allowed him to block and attack with what he was used to fighting with: His fists and feet.

Waiting for someone to come challenge him, he drew the sword and began to flow through a kata he'd learned while training with an old outlaw who specialized in hand to hand combat like him. Kicks, punches, blocks, and because of the sword, slashes that would have been punches.

When he really thought about it, the sword wasn't so entirely useless. He would probably die if he tried to fight one of the other Shinigami without a blade at least to lend him it's blocking power, and his right jabs and haymakers were now deadly in far more then their usual figurative sense. He felt a surge of smug satisfaction from somewhere inside and knew it wasn't from him. So his Zanpakuto was trying to communicate. He wished he could understand more then the occasional emotional cue...

Draze wandered in with a big grin on his face, a spring in his step, and long zanpakuto clasped at his waist. He ignored the one student there who seemed to be boxing at an invisible target in front of him. Draze made his way to a target dummy on the far wall of the room, and faced it side on, his left shoulder facing the dummy, with hands lying flat by his side.
With a small, "Heyuh!", he un-sheathed his zanpakuto with a reverse grip, pulling the blade out of its scabard as fast as he could. He brought the sword over his head, both hands still clenched on the hilt, so that the blade pointed downwards, and was barely an inch from his face.

And then he let go.

With a tiny adjustment of his left foot, Draze stepped slightly to the left side of the hanging blade, towarsd the dummy. His hands, which had just let go, reversed their positions, and his left grasped the falling hilt while his right swung out as a counter-balance. With a swish, he brought the blade arcing over him to slice deep into the manikins wooden head. The blade, sharper than average, cut through the targets skull, and finally came to rest in the center of the wooden chest.

Draze rotated the blade in the target, and with a crack, the dummy split in two. One half fell to the floor, while the other seemed stuck to the katana's edge. draze spun, and launched the wooden missile at the other student.

Garin noticed the man walking in out of the corner of his eye, but didn't bother trying to get his attention. If he was interested in sparring, he'd say something for certain. He continued to move through Katas as the man prepared for his blade attack against the dummy.

Garin did notice the length of the blade as it came out with violent force! The dummy was cut in half and Garin stopped for a second to look on with wonder at the power of the long Zanpakuto. It turned out it was a lucky break that he'd been looking because he saw the wood flying towards him! His eyes went wide and without even thinking about it, a kick lashed out to smack the wood off to the side.

His eyebrows raised. "You should watch where you swing that thing. You almost hit me with that piece of wood." Garin figured the guy would apologize and go away, but it would seem his spirit felt otherwise. He could feel the dragon inside getting excited at the prospect of battle!

Draze took a step towards the man, grinning innocently, blade switched to be clasped in right hand. Now that the blade was still, one could see it in detail. It was slightly longer than a daito, and had a grey line run down its length. Its most notable feature was a tiny spike a hand length from the end of the blade. It seems that the wood had been hooked on this, and not, in facy, glued to the blade.
"Sorry, I guess my new teqnique still needs work! Let me try another one."
With that, Draze crouched, and then jumped, bringing his sword above his head, looking ready to swing. The grin had fled his face, replaced with an almost blank emotionless expression.

Garin's eyes went wide as the man leaped towards him with his blade high. What was wrong with him!? Garin lifted a palm and grimaced as he aimed for the man's chest, "Hado Shi, Byakurai!" he shouted, and a brilliant white bolt of lightning shot out from his hand towards the other Shinigami.

Draze's leap was cut short as the lightning bolt raced towards him. The prepared strike he had was thus ruined, as he had to use it to block the lightning. Still, singed and in great discomfort, Draze landed short of his target.
Breathing low, one hand clenched to his chest where a stray bolt had hit him, he gestured around the room with his zanpakuto.
"Zanpakuto training room. Afraid to use yours?"
With that, he clenched his sword again, and raced towards the left-side of Garin, preparing a vertical slice at stomach level, that he would use from a distance just out of reach of fists and legs. Draze knew that the biggest advantage he would have in this fight would be the length of his zanpakuto.

OOC: That and the fact that Garin's sword skills are practically worthless. XD

IC: Garin was ecstatic! Not only did the spell shoot out accurately, but it also did a bit of damage. Perhaps he wasn't about to be killed after all! This guy seemed better with a blade however, and his blade was the exact opposite of Garin's Zanpakuto. The long blade gave him a tremendous advantage.

He also seemed aware of Garin's flawed defense. Holding the blade in his right hand the way he did made it easy for him to block moves coming from that side as if he were blocking a punch or kick, but his left side was vulnerable.

200 years of training helped him dodge back as he knew the blade was coming, but not quite as fast as he'd like. The tip of the blade cut his stomach pretty deep and the gash began to bleed profusely upon contact. Garin backed up more, now applying pressure to the wound while he tried to think of a way to defend against this guy.

He thought, and finally decided to adopt a new style that was designed to fight opponents that had weapons when he was unarmed. He let the pressure come off the bleeding wound. He would need to focus on ending this quickly if he was going to fight this way. Getting into stance, he watched to see if his opponent was going to move.

When draze had run to the left and sliced forward, he hadn't counted on one thing. Momentum. He stopped as quickly as possible, but he had still moved too far forward, and the right side of his back was now exposed to Garin. He spun around, jumping backwards and moving his blade to block.
Block an attack that never came.
Garin stood there, bleeding from the stomach, in a combat stance. He seemed to have retreated slightly, as Draze and Garin were now out of even Draze's sword-range.
Draze looked at the bleeding wound on Garin, and lowered his sword.
"We can stop if you want. I'm not trying to kill you, you know. Say the word, and I'll stop."

Garin's eyes narrowed. "If you'll let me do a quick patch up, I'd be fine to continue." That was true. Still watching the other shinigami and prepared to leap away at the first sign of aggression, he pulled off a sash and wrapped his stomach tightly. It wasn't perfect and would need changing later, but it would do for the fight.

Once again, he got into a fighting stance and waited. This time, he was standing sideways so that only his right side was exposed and he could defend against whatever attack might come.

Draze wiated hwile the other man bound his wound, and when he was done, raised his sword again.
"Ready? Well then, here I go!"
Draze began taking small steps forward, slashing in front of him in random and blinding movements.

Garin waited patiently as the man moved forward and experimentally cut feints towards him. He blocked each move with his sword arm as if he were blocking a punch or a kick, but with the blade of his sword pressed against his arm to keep the slashes from actually cutting him.

He stood firm and waited for him to move his blade again, and he pointed at the man with his other hand. He muttered an incantation under his breath as he watched him prepare for another slash. "Engulfed by the need of want come forward" he whispered and this clenched his fist as he shouted "Hado Ni! Reel!"

He prepared for his opponent to be yanked forward at which point he planned on a vicious slash to the chest thrown like a well timed hay-maker.

As Draze stepped forward slightly, he saw Garin move towards him and stick his blade in the path of an oncoming slash. Wih a din of metal on metal, Draze's zanpakuto crashed againts Garin's, which was layed across his arm. this was repetaed a few more times. but when draze made to slash again, he was interrupted by Garin's chant. "Engulfed by the need-" was all Draze needed to recognize the Kido, and he desperatly flung up a hand and yelled "Hado One! Thrust!" as Garin completed his chant.
With one hand on his sword, Draze fell forward, turning slightly so he couldn't see Garin. Completely unable to block or counter any oncoming attack, all he could hope for was that his kido had countered Garin's.

Garin managed to yank the man forward, but it appeared he'd come up with a just as good move. Even as Garin's Kido yanked him forward, the other man's thrust knocked Garin backwards and out of range. He cursed silently and got back into his stance quickly. He needed something better if he was going to bring this guy off guard.

He decided then that he should go on the offensive. It would be the last thing the man would expect and might just surprise him enough to bring him off guard. With a roar, he charged forward, the sword still point down, but now sticking out so that when he punched, the blade would slash. He threw his first punch at the enemy's blade, hoping to knock it aside so that he could get in close enough to give him a good punch with his other hand.

Draze fell to the floor where Garin had previously been, and as he got up, his blade was knocked away across the room, which was the least of his problems as Garin planted a vicious punch into his chest, knocking him back to the floor.
With out the chant, and barely a wave of a hand, Draze fired of the first Hado again, trying to get the brutal fighter away from him so he could recover.

Garin saw him raise his hand and assumed that he must have been trying to give up, but to his surprise, the man used "Sho" against him. Provided, it was a weak blast, it still pushed him back a few feet. He couldn't stop now, though. Without a sword, he had a chance to perhaps win this bout!

This time he wouldn't pause at a hand up. He sheathed his blade even as he charged the man. At this point it would only get in his way. He was a much better fighter unarmed and if his opponent was unarmed, it would make this battle settled for him to put up that ungainly sword.

It took less than a second to cross the meager distance between them, and Garin jumped into the air, kicking out his left leg to stomp the man's chest. It was meant to be the first part of a two part combo. If he hit the man's chest, he'd follow up with his right leg kicking up into his chin, ending with a graceful back flip. If it worked, it would probably end the fight, and at the very least would leave his opponent badly disoriented.

With the second afforded him from his improvised kido, Draze took in a breath, and breathed out a second spell. By saying it's name, it would be slightly stronger, but he did not know the chant, so it would have to do.
"Seki" he said, and the small green shield flashed into existence between Garin's foot and Draze's chest. The shield would repel one attack, before shattering.
After his spell. Draze tried to roll over, aiming to recover his blade.

As his opponent had planned, the shield intersected his first kick and buckled. It was just far enough away that the following kick simply hit air. Garin landed gracefully and charged at his opponent who was scrambling for his blade. He couldn't let him get to it if he wanted to win. Reaching out towards the sword, he called out without incantation, "Hado Ni! Reel!" using the Kido to yank the blade towards him.

Draze crawled along the floor, reaching for his blade, when he saw it twitch. It suddenly flew past, heading for Garin's outstretched hand!
"This is why I hate kido." Draze thought to himself. "Oh well, lets fight fire with fire.
Rolling onto his back, Draze extended both hands, and pointed at the waiting Garin as he waited for the incoming sword.
"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo No. 9!"
This was Draze's most powerfull spell, and the menacing red light that appeared to shine from Garin seemed eager to prove it.

Luckily for Garin, he wasn't trying to grab the blade, and simply wanted to yank it off to his side. He'd always hated fighting with swords and it would have defeated the point to try and fight the other man with a blade. Not so luckily was the fact that the binding spell caught him completely off guard. He heard the sword skid along the ground and struggled desperately with the paralyzing power, but it was to late.

Breathing deeply, he relaxed and prepared for a push. The blade was still behind him and he could break free of the spell he was sure before it was to late. He only hoped that he could muster enough will to break free before his opponent got behind him.

OOC: And I think you've got this one in the bag. I'm not seeing how I can actually win this if your guy is merciless enough.

OOC: Meh, this is just an experiemnt. Not sure if I'm liking the whole 'Merciless Killer' shindig, so I'm going back to original personality. BTW congratz on the graduation!

IC: Draze rocked forward into a crouching position as his blade clattered against the floor, and used the position to leap for his blade. Grabbing the hilt, and rolling over his sword, he spun round in a crouch to level the blade at Garin's neck. The opponent seemed ready to break out of the spell, but it was already too late.
"Checkmate." he said, and then rose, sheathing his sword, as the red light finally dimmed.
Draze grinned then, and extended hsi hand. "The name's Draze. Academy student, and general swordsman."

Garin tried to push out of the Kido in a burst, but by the time the spell was broken, The man's sword was at his throat and he knew he'd been beaten. As he listened to Draze introduce himself he couldn't help but smile. He accepted the hand shake and said, "I'm Garin. I'm supposed to be going into the 3rd division from here actually." He stretched a bit and touched the hastily wrapped gash on his side and winced. He would need to get it taken care of. "I thought I had you there at the end. Nice work with that Kido. I'm a crappy swordsman, but my hand to hand fighting is top notch."

He turned as if to go, but then looked back again and said, "One of these days when you get into a squad, look me up. I'd love to train with you again. I might even be able to learn a bit more about using these awkward weapons." With that he motioned to his blade. Inside, he could feel something like bottled rage and realized that without even trying, he'd just insulted the blade. Having a blade that could feel hurt was going to take some getting used to.

With the last thing being said, he turned and went off to find a healer.

"I'll take you up on that!" Draze yelled to leaving Garin. However, he felt an uneasy feeling that he wouldn't be seeing Garin anytime soon.