Hidden Training (Closed, Galihan)

[Darkoda]

It was an average day within Soul Society. The sun had only risen a hour ago and thus most shinigami was still sound asleep,either not rising for another hour or so, or having already returned from the night watch and since retired to their quarters. It created a calm, peaceful atmosphere for once to sit back and take in the peace before proceeding with their daily duties.

All of this was lost on Shin today, emphasized by his outpouring of reiatsu as he once again gathered spiritrons to his feet, and vanished in a burst of Shunpo on his twentieth "lap" around the 2nd Division training room.

The training room used by the ninjas of the Special Forces were nothing like the rooms of any other Division. For starters, there were two of them; one relatively easy to find that was just your average training room, with some targets, training dummies and a reasonable space for sparring. Then there was the real training room, the one made for the high seated members of the Division. There was no rule that dictated who could or couldn't enter, but there was an unspoken rule that no one speak of the location, or even existence of the hidden room to anyone who did not know already. The room itself was masterfully hidden within the Division, meant only for those with the patience and skill to find the hidden passage, and maneuver past the many traps to the room. The true training facility was actually an entire hidden floor beneath the main building grounds, easily capable of holding the entire division, with everyone having enough room to train properly. Nothing about the room was meant for anything less than absolute mastery. The targets' bulls-eye was nothing more than a dot, clearly designed for the sniping experts to hone their accuracy to perfection. The training dummies were crafted not from wood, but from a material designed to emulate an arrancar's hierro. There was an obstacle course running along the outskirts of the massive room, armed with an assortment of traps ranging from razor sharp daggers forged from pure reiatsu to hidden spikes and and blades. The room itself was constantly illuminated by an unseen source of light,creating the appearance of constant daylight and seemed capable of repairing itself; somehow, all destruction caused always repaired itself, regardless of the presence of anyone within the room. This healing extended to the room's occupants, via the hot springs at a corner of the room, with water that accelerated healing, allowing one to recover from all but the most serious injuries in the span of at most a couple of hours.

Shin was sprinting through the obstacle course, dodging the various daggers that were launched with deadly accuracy at his exact location, at a point that was free of traps on his last run. If one thing could be said about the course, it was that is definitely was not predictable. Shin leapt into the air, solidifying more spiritrons beneath his feet as the ground beneath him became littered with spikes, and not even slowing down, took off running around the bend, flipping over a wall that had just risen from the ground, with some spikes covering it for good measure. Another rain of daggers had accompanied the wall, however, and Shin had to flip to the side to avoid the initial volley, solidifying spiritrons beneath his horizontal feet, then using the makeshift wall to launch himself forward. Repeating this technique, Shin kept boosting himself forward, increasing his speed each launch yet effortlessly maintaining his spiritron formation, catapulting forward at multiple angles to evade the neverending stream of traps the room had for him. Leaping over a final wall, Shin used both of his legs this time to propel himself forward, shooting past the finish and performing a frontflip, righting himself in midair to read the time output of his latest run.

4'36'12

He managed to shave 5 seconds and 4 milliseconds off his time. To a normal person it wouldn't seem like much, but when moving at Shunpo speeds, a second could be a world of difference in a battle. Still he had much room for improvement, even with his wall hopping technique, according to the leaderboards. So far he was still in third place, which could be considered second since the top score was from their missing captain. He was pretty sure that the second place score was from his Vice Captain, and really didn't care about the other scores; they were slower than him, whether from a lack of effort or Shin simply being faster. Since the board didn't show names it would be guesswork to determine who the times were attached to with no possible gains to be found from the venture. The enitre point of this in the first place was to attempt to convince Vice captain Tsuno to train with him a bit whenever he eventually appeared down here. His vice captain was the only person in the division that Shin was sure that he would probably lose against in a fight; the guy excelled at speed and hand to hand combat just like Shin, except he was more proficient at it. All Shin really had over him was a better grasp of kido, and while he could do some screwy things with kido right now, he doubted that would allow him to win in a head on battle, with Tsuno or more importantly, his own zanpakuto spirit. Shin knew that he could convince Kumori to give him his bankai test if he put in any real effort, but his concern was that from his time with her, he noticed that the kitsune was, to be blunt, a speed demon; he still remembered that disastrous race he had with her across Seireitei.She had hinted a few times that Shin would need all the speed he could muster to pass her test of dominance, so the more experience he had with battling speedy opponents, the better.

[Galihan]

Silent footsteps that couldn't be heard by the normal ear crept through the Squad Two common quarters, reserved for the common men unable to meet the qualifications of being a Seated Officer and subsequently entitled to their own private quarters. The day was young, and it wouldn't be odd to expect the Vice-captain to call for early training before breakfast, but today he decided it would be for the best to give them the morning off. If all he did was train the lower ranks with the basics, even himself would inevitably start to get out of practice with time. He had to decided he'd better spend his time in the secret training grounds under Squad Two's headquarters.

It was for the best that the training room, which he and the other notably skilled warriors of Squad Two made optimas use of, be a secret to all but the best of the division. He quietly slid open a large door within a narrow hallway on the ground floor of the complex, which exact one remaining classified, and closed it behind him. The room was a tiny lobby separating the outside from a larger lobby where many people would hang out in their spare time, unknown to them the nearby hidden entrance to the underground sanctuary, as it was often called. The acoustics of the room were designed intentionally to be able to listen in on everything outside on both doors leading to this room, while almost perfectly muffling any sounds from the hidden passageway, so Tsuno had no difficulty knowing nobody would be coming to see him slip into the secret doorway in the wall. What made it most secretive, the doorway to the hidden training grounds, was that this particular hidden passage was one of many known by most of the Squad for easy transportation across the building, but in this particular shortcut was another secret doorway even better concealed than the one used to get in here. This corridor itself was filled with dozens of trap doors in the floor, but only one led to a flight of stairs that went down below to the sanctuary.

Once below, he took note of the evidence that suggested someone else also was down here, as one could see that some of the traps from the obstacle course were already set off and yet to reset themselves. The soothing heat of the healing springs down here reminded him of the spring he had found during his bankai training, running off from the Sokyoku hill, therefore Tsuno was certain there must have been yet another hidden hotspring hidden somewhere within the mountain which was home to the execution grounds of Soul Society, with more potent healing capabilities, but he wasn't in the mood to go looking for hidden caves in his spare time that could be used to train. If anyone was going to fill in the void that Captain Kyuettaru had left in the command of Squad Two, Tsuno knew it would have to be him, and only with constant perfection of his abilities could that dream be realized.

He entered the main area of the training center to see the speedy form of 5th-seat Darkoda. He was aware that Shin was probably more powerful than he let on, given the reishi-draining headband the 5th-seat wore most of the time, possibly even stronger than either 4th-seat Tanaka or rivaling that of 3rd-seat Naiyashi, but being high-ranking was more than just being powerful, it required more, deep from within. Tsuno could tell that Shin was trying his hardest to find what that was, but it was also pretty common knowledge that he was determined to improve his speed in battle, as he had heard about from his spar with Kiataro-kun from Squad 12, so while he was down here he might as well help further assist his training.

Tsuno dropped down into the middle of the training hall, and decided to do a bit of training himself before approaching Shin. In the meanwhile he decided to expel some of his built up frustration from the arrancar that got away who was responsible for the death of the previous 5th-seat. If he ever saw that damned woman again he'd make sure to have his bankai by then so he could fry her monkey-carcass to ashes, assuming that his bankai was in fact fire-based, as was most likely considering that the spirit form of Lotomasa took the form of a giant canine made of flames. Anyways, Tsuno quickly drew his zanpakuto and began slashing away at a training dummy designed with an arrancar's hierro, the short blade leaving fine, shallow cuts that would have dispatched a normal hollow instantly. He gradually began releasing more and more of his energy as he began hacking at the target, eventually ripping the dummy 's artificial hierro to ribbons. Once he was done with the traget, he was fairly sure Shin was aware of him being down here so he decided to seek him out in person.

[Darkoda]

Shin felt a reiatsu signature at the training dummies, and from the feel of it, its owner was a bit annoyed at something. The feel of a consuming fire he got from the reiatsu made its owner quite clear though. Something was irritating his Vice captain, and considering what happened with the previous 5th seat, it was quite likely that Tsuno was still angry at himself for failing to defeat the arrancar who killed his predecessor. Shin had no intention of approaching him in that state; he didn't need to get carved up so early in the morning.

'Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit, Tsuno isn't like that.'

'I know, but still, let him cool off a bit.'

'How odd, you have no problems talking too the rest of the squad but you hesitate with the one who could kick your ass.'

Shin did not appreciate the insinuation in her tone. He was not afraid of his vice captain. Sure he was wary around him, but definitely not afraid. It wasn't his fault he had shyness issues with people he actually respected, that he couldn't really call friends yet.

'Keep telling yourself that, if you can't face him, how do you intend to face yourself? Power alone is not enough to beat me Shin-chan, not that you have the power in the first place.'

He knew she was just trying to get under his skin to get him to do something stupid, but it was too early in the morning for him to deal with her, so he responded like the somewhat childish person he was; he punched a training dummy. Hard. Her close connection to his mind right now would make her feel all the pain he felt from that, and considering her probable inexperience with a fractured bone, her reaction was something Shin was looking forward too.

'Now you're underestimating yourself, you aren't weak enough to break your hand on a fake arrancar's hierro.'

It was dented actually, maybe he put a bit too much power in that fist. At any event besides a slight throbbing his hand was otherwise fine,and Kumori wasn't going to react to something that he wouldn't even notice in the middle of a fight.

'You might want to calm down before Tsuno shows up, unless you want to lose your indifferent reputation.'

Taking a deep breath, Shin composed himself and turned towards where he felt Tsuno approaching. "Good morning Vice captain Tsuno, up for a spar?"

'That didn't sound the least bit rushed or nervous, bravo.' She actually threw in a slow sarcastic applause with it.

'Oh shut up.'

[Galihan]

He continued to swing away at the training dummy until the point that with his final strike his zanpakuto nearly sliced the faux arrancar clean in two before the toughness of the artificial hierro was able to stop the short blade. Tsuno withdrew the blade from the target and slid it into its sheath that hung horizontally along his back, and turned to face an eager Shin that approached him.

"Good morning Vice captain Tsuno, up for a spar?"

Either brief and too the point, or maybe scared or nervous. It was clear to Tsuno that the 5th seat probably respected him or was just intimidated by the gap in their ranks, either way it was visible that Shin looked up to him, either as a superior officer or a role model or even maybe a friend. Tsuno did recognize the distinct need to assert his dominance as an authority figure as among the lower members of the Squad, the common soldiers who would more likely than not never own up to much in their entire military careers in the Gotei 13, but above them he still tried to be friendly with the seated officers below him in the Squad, establishing a mutual respect for one another so that when the time would come, his advancement to the rank of Captain would be accepted without any opposition. It wasn't that Tsuno was hungry for power or overconfident of his abilities, but he was well aware that someone was going to have to replace Captain Kyuettaru in order for Squad Two regain its honor lost during the final moments of the gambit attack on Las Noches in retaliation for the Arrancar attack on Rukongai. While handed a number of defeats at the hands of powerful Arrancar like Zetsumei and being unable to kill ones like Gramica, Tsuno became downright determined to become the strongest to ensure that nobody could stop him from protecting the lives of the innocent.

"Why good morning to you too, Shin," Tsuno replied kindly, the vice-captain walked by Shin, turning to face him as he did "That would be a great idea. Even the best like us need to get better, don't we?"

Tsuno turned his back to Shin as he walked towards one of the large sparring pits in the massive underground training facility. There was quite enough room for lots of high-speed movement and little obstructions to get in the way. Of course this meant there wasn't any cover or places to hide in this specific arena, but being sneaky and remaining out of sight had little use in the heat of head-on combat against an aggressive adversary who knew exactly where to find you, just like the case with the wild barbarian whom Shin had stated in his report to have arrested for demolishing a good portion of the Squad 11 training area. The hotheaded musclehead insisted he was 4th Seat of Squad Seven, but upon later investigation, neither Captain Mouretsu, Vice-captain Chiyo, or 3rd-Seat Shimazu were able to vouch for the validity of his claims, so Tsuno had no choice but have the man locked away inside the Maggot's Nest for being a threat to the safety of Soul Society. It was a damned good thing that Squad Two didn't have to pay for the damages that seemed to happen wherever they showed up, because then they'd be spending most of their precious time fixing lots of demolished buildings than honing their killer instinct with masterful restraint.

The arena itself was a large, rectangular area that's floor was entirely buried under a foot of light brown sand. The sand was useful to train in seeing as it was able provide softer footing than stone tiles, required more control when moving at high speeds to stop properly, and of course could be used to kick up at the opponent for a small diversion that in real battle could mean life or death. They worked with death all around them, without training to hone one's skills to a fine bladed edge then they would join their victims in death, it was Tsuno's job to make sure his best soldiers would be beyond dying by learning how to incorporate your own skill with everything else at your disposal. Personal strength, zanpakuto, the environment itself, all valid weapons given the right conditions, and so they trained together.

"Im ready to begin when you are," Tsuno began calmly and confidently. "you may start anytime."

[Darkoda]

Shin was mortified. He was supposed to show apathy, or borderline evil not nervousness. The last time Shin actually showed anything relating to nervousness around another person was so long ago he couldn’t even remember. Why was it taking so much effort to get back under control?

‘You are nervous around him because he is probably the only person you respect as a superior, and you’re afraid of him because of your inferiority issues. Not exactly a good combination.’

‘Why would I be afraid, it’s not the first time I’ve talked to him.’

‘Did I say your issues were rational? Calm down and breathe, take deep breaths, there we go.’

Well, at least he was back to some degree of normalcy. It could have worse, at least all he let out was some nervousness; he would never be able to live it down if he did something like blush. Really, he needed to stamp down on this inferiority complex, it was nothing more than a hindrance in a battle and even outside one it caused these kinds of problems. He thought it had finally faded away when he went so long without an occurrence, but it apparently refused to go away without a bloody battle.

He silently followed his vice captain to one of the many training arenas scattered about the grounds while suppressing his nervousness as much as possible. He took note of the floor of sand. It would make for softer landing and a good distraction, but there was something about it he knew he should have noted. Whatever, he would deal with it as it came up.

Upon Tsuno’s confirmation that he was ready, Shin fell into his normal battle stance; body relaxed and standing a bit to the side, allowing him to react quickly and making himself a smaller target, while giving the impression to the inexperienced that he wasn’t taking the battle seriously. He tapped his foot on the ground a couple of times and –

‘Don’t you dare.’

‘......what?’

‘You heard me, or have you forgotten what happens when you try Shunpo while you’re unfocused. It would be bad enough under normal circumstances but with the sand covering the arena, you will go skidding away into a rock pillar.’

Damn, he forgot about that. Ah well, he was pretty fast in his own right without it anyway. Shin took off running towards Tsuno, with his left hand pulled back prepared to release a punch straight to the vice captain’s face, and promptly slid on the sand as he got close with a kick aimed to sweep his feet out from under him. If he jumped over it, as was most likely, Shin would simply use his left foot that he kicked out with as an anchor, and swing his right foot into the air to hopefully surprise him and score a direct hit. If he was further than the reach of his legs, he would simply launch himself with the left foot instead of just using it to support him. Tsuno would most likely evade it all, but it ought to get him hopping early on.

[Galihan]

Tsuno waited patiently as he and the 5th-seat began their training. He could see Shin tapping the sand with his foot, most likely thinking of how it would affect his mobility and what possible tactics he could use incorporating the sand, as well as probably considering what tactics the Vice-captain would likely try out. Of course it could also have meant that Shin was either unsure of what to do or nervous that what he would try to do wouldn't work as planned, but Tsuno had confidence in the 5th-seat, he showed a gret deal of promise, moreso than the former 5th seat anyways with would hopefully be the case.

Shin ran at Tsuno and swept his foot low at him, trying to take out his legs. A very well-thought plan, hindering the opponents mobility was often a vital part of taking down any opponent, be they a large powerhouse or a nimble speed demon. Of course, such an opening strategy was rarely uncommon and when Shin began to drop down low for his kick, Tsuno had leaped backwards to safety, but it seemed Shin had planned ahead and flowed into a second kick using his first as an anchor to ground and launch himself into the attack. Thesecond kick was aimed straight at Tsuno's chest, and from their close range its would have likely hit most opponent's but Tsuno was able to block the attack by guarding with his arms crossed in front of him, and while Shin did land a hit, it didn't hurt much, but Tsundo complimented him regardless.

"Good one," he praised, ready to counterattack. "Lots of good strength, but how quickly can you think on the spot in battle?"

While the difference of their power did play a factor in that, it was also due to the fact that the majority of the surface area of the foot that hit Tsuno was the flesh-padded arc on the foot's bottom. Still, it was a very well aimed kick, had Tsuno not blocked than Shin's heel would have likely burrowed deep into his sternum, and would have done a good job at winding the Vice-captain despite the gap in the two's power. Tsuno threw his arms open, pushing Shin away from him and began a counter attack. Tsuno threw his foot into the air, kicking up a large cloud of sand that he used as a diversion to leap high into the air, landing behind Shin and leaping at him with a clenched fist aimed for the ground where he himself was just standing. Tsuno was aware that if Shin sidestepped the punch then he'd be open for a counter, but if he were to step back away from Tsuno then the sand that would get thrown skywards as the fist impacted the ground would leave Shin unable to see properly and be vulnerable for another attack.

Tsuno actually wasn't going to plan that far ahead, seeing as this was ultimately to examine Shin's abilities in battle. While he could have easily pushed the 5th-seat to the limit to see how he handled high-stress situations like facing a stronger opponent in battle, he wanted instead to see how prepared Shin was to take any opportunity to exploit an opening in the target's defense. Maybe Shin would suspect some sort of trap being in the works with a false opening being the bait, and hesitate. In battle you have to be able to decided on the spot when to attack, and strike with pinpoint precision without the slightest hesitation.

Hesitation in battle was in many cases more of a disadvantage than an actual gap in power between two foes. A confidant swordsman with a cheap blade could do much more damage than a reluctant one with a blade forged by a master smith, one's confidence mind being a greater asset than a strong body alone. Tsuno wanted to see if Shin had the sharpened mind to fuel that powerful body of his. The strength and effortless precision behind Shin's own kick suggested that he had the willpower to strike unhesitatingly, but would he be able to think fast enough on the spot?

[Darkoda]

Tsuno had dodged the first low kick as expected, but he was forced to block the second kick that followed it. That wasn’t such a bad thing, but with the headband on, Shin didn’t have the power to actually push his Vice captain back, which left him open for the inevitable counterattack.

"Good one, lots of good strength, but how quickly can you think on the spot in battle?"

How well could Shin act in an instant? That was like asking how good he was at breathing; hesitation could only end badly in a battle, and Shin would never be known for second guessing his actions.

‘Well, not as long as you fight properly anyway.’ Whatever.

Tsuno pushed Shin back with his arms, and immediately kicked up a cloud of sand. Well that didn’t really mean much, sight wasn’t exactly necessary if you could just track your opponent’s reiatsu signature. Shin turned around to see Tsuno leaping at him, fist at the ready. He should know better than to angle himself like that, he was just leaving himself open. Shin leapt to the side, his right hand already raising into position. There was no way that the vice captain was that careless; the situation was probably rigged, and there was more than one way to exploit an opening. Shin muttered under his breath a certain incantation.

“Hado #4, Byakurai.”

The stream of plasma shot from his finger at the position that Tsuno would have landed in. The pillar of sand wasn’t going to stop the kido from frying whatever part of him it hit, and Tsuno’s strategy was now working against him; he wouldn’t be able to see the kido aimed at him through the sand. Still, he kept his guard up. Whatever Tsuno was up to, it was incredibly unlikely that he would fall to a weak destructive art, and a counterattack was probably already in the works. The sand was already proving to be quite annoying; long range attacks were likely to be effective enough, after all, his vice captain never was that adept at kido, but the lack of visibility every time he knocked up the sand made it an unwise decision to charge into the ninja and properly exploit openings up close. It appeared that this fight was going to be decided by strategy more than anything else, if that was the case, fine by Shin, his odds of actually lasting without his full power went up if he could rely on outmanoeuvring his superior.

[Galihan]

Shin seemed unphased or worried at all when he was pushed back by the Vice-captain, nor was he hesitant when Tsuno carried out his counterattack. That was good so far, perhaps Tsuno was taking the 5th-seat too lightly? Might as well step up his efforts to put the pressure on Shin to push himself to his limits. While the cloud of sand did do a good job at concealing the two sparring combatants from one another, Tsuno was definitely able to identify the white flash of light that signified a kido spell in the works. If the light itself werent a dead giveaway, seeing as it would have been too short a time for Shin to utter an incantation for a more powerful spell, it was pretty obvious that this was Hado #4, Byakurai. A basic spell that was effective in the hands of a competent user, yes, and its sudden use in a low-visibility environment was understandable, but for that exact reason it was not going to be as effective as was intended. Though the sand would do nothing to hinder the path of the spell, a pinpoint accurate attack like Byakurai would be hard to hit a target if you aren't able to actually clearly see what to aim at.

A fast jump to the side landing in a roll back to his feet was all it took for Tsuno to avoid the lightening attack , and he gave no time to rest as he immediately began running at the 5th-seat at full speed, coming in at a curved angle, leaping off the ground to send a light but fast kick roughly level to Shin's head. The attack wouldn't be able to deal major damage if it properly blocked or avoided altogether, but a direct hit would probably be more than likely to make the 5th-seat dizzy for a minute or two while he'd have to tighten some loose screws in his skull. Regardless, of the outcome, Tsuno continued his counterattack by leaping high into the air directly above Shin and facing down, hand extended and charging one of the few basic spells he was able to use effectively.

"Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, The sea barrier surges, March on to the south! Hado #31, Shakkahō!"

A small, red ball of energy quickly formed in Tsuno's palm, launching towards the ground near where Shin stood. Of course, the Vice-captain's kido skills were sub-par to put it optimistically, so the only guarantee of hitting was that it would land near the intended target, however the resultant area-of-effect from the explosion would probably make up for it despite not being very powerful. It would be a good opportunity in any case to practice kido, the only spells he could use effectively being his custom-designed fire hado spells that were not suitable for training against a subordinate officer.

[Darkoda]

Shin felt his vice captain’s reiatsu move rapidly to the side. So he managed to see the blast coming and evade, well, it was to be expected, after all byakurai required precise aim to be effective unlike the majority of the destructive arts. At this point, the sand had settled again and Shin was able to clearly see Tsuno running at him from the side. Being able to see him and respond to him were two different things however, and the ninja was coming in too fast for Shin to dodge. He raised his right hand to intercept the kick aimed at his head, and barely prevented what would have been a massive headache from occurring. He did make a mental note of the fact that the kick pushed him back an inch or so. Sand did not offer a firm foothold and he wasn’t exactly heavy.

Tsuno wasn’t done yet though, and he leapt high into the air, right above Shin. Shin really had no intention of chasing down the ninja in the sky right now, so he played to his advantage. He raised his hand in the air pointed at Tsuno, and when the ninja began chanting an incantation, another kido spell? Either he improved at some point or was using Shin for practice. The implications of the latter statement made Shin have to put in more effort than usual to keep the surge of anger off his face, but he couldn’t stop the spike within his spirit pressure. It was one thing for someone who was unaware to underestimate him, but for someone who was fully aware that Shin was stronger than he appeared to do it was a good way to get on his bad side no matter who you were. Shin still wanted to know exactly did he find out that the band was more than decoration but that was beside the point right now, while it was very tempting to change into a more destructive spell, he already had started the chant, and there was no point in stopping now when he was already ahead of Tsuno.

“Ye lord. Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man. Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado #33, Sōkatsui”

Like hell Shin was shouting out the incantation like a moron when none of his tests showed any difference between simply saying it and screaming it out like a banshee, no matter what the books said. Probably meant to psyche out the opponent or some nonsense along those lines.

Shin deliberately angled his hand before releasing the surge of blue flames to avoid Tsuno’s spell, and aim for the ninja himself; the Shakkaho wasn’t going to hit him under any event, and the minor explosion from contact would be muffled by the sand, despite Shin’s close proximity to the blast radius. The most it would do it throw up yet another cloud of sand, which would completely hide Shin from Tsuno’s sight, giving him some time after Tsuno either evaded, or got hit by Shin’s own kido.

‘The thought of being underestimated never really bothered you so much before, what’s so different now? Besides he probably just wants to test your strength.’

Kumori knew full well what was wrong with her friend; since someone decided to lock away their feelings from everyone, his defences to anyone who managed to get past his barriers were weak at best. Now she had to keep an eye on him in case he decided to go back to locking everyone out; it took far too long to force him to accept that he actually had feelings.

Shin didn’t have the time to properly consider Kumori’s question, he had to move fast before Tsuno started another attack. He slid his right hand up, catching the headband in his fingers and pulling it off while simultaneously suppressing his reiatsu as low as it would go. Masked from sight and sensing, Shin jumped an inch off the ground and solidified spiritrons beneath his feet; why didn’t he think of this before anyway? Gathering spiritrons to his feet, Shin rushed at Tsuno, and twisted his right foot in a roundhouse kick straight for his face. Regardless of what Tsuno chose to do, Shin would follow by chasing after the ninja and aiming a series of reiatsu fuelled kicks to his chest, stomach and face. While they wouldn’t have the sheer power of his roundhouse behind them, they would still have enough power at this point that repeated blows in the same place would probably cause some serious damage, and if Tsuno thought about attempting to grab his foot, then even if he was successful, Shin would use Tsuno’s grip to pull himself forward, and aim a stomp right at his face, forcing him to let go or risk getting his face caved in. If Tsuno wanted to see what Shin was capable of, he was going to get his wish.

[Galihan]

Tsuno, while midair, fired his Shakkaho attack at Shin in hopes of landing a decent hit, but it wouldn't be very easy to do so, even if the hado did land close enough to the 5th-seat to cause damage, the amount of damage would be insufficient to be of any use for training purposes. And true to his suspicions, the red energy ball was dodged easily and Shin retaliated with a superior hado spell of his own, Sokatsui. The blue fireball flew towards the Vice-captain head on, but it would be blocked without much hassle, as the spell drew closer, Tsuno's hand reached to his lower back and drew the zanpakuto that was sheathed there. In one swift, fluid motion, Tsuno drew his Lotomasa and slashed at the hado, causing a small blue explosion as the short blade collided with the spell that pushed the airbound shinigami even higher. Just as quickly as he drew the weapon, Tsuno slid the zanpakuto back into its resting place, and brushed himself clean of smoke and embers leftover from Shin's attack.

He's not bad, though the Vice-captain. But not good enough to prove a serious threat to someone of my power.

However arrogant his internal thoughts may have appeared had they been able to be heard by outsiders, he did have a point. Seldom was the case that a 5th-seat could actually hope to be in the same league as a Vice-captain, and when it rarely did happen it was more often than not resultant of some sort of cheap ability from a zanpakuto than actual fighting ability. Sure Shin may have actually been more powerful than a number on record, but the same also applied to Tsuno, who despite being only a Vice-captain was able to compete on even terms with Captain Kyuettaru and was even also training with Captain Mouretsu from Squad Seven as of late in order to improve greatly.

At that moment, Tsuno could feel Shin's spirit pressure spike for a moment and then get back under control as the 5-seat was running at him using reishi gathered at his feet to step on, a simple technique used by almost every single higher ranking shinigami or arrancar. Heck, even Tsuno himself was doing the exact same thing at the very moment in order to remain airborne as he was. Shin threw a powerful roundhouse kick to Tsuno's head, but the Vice-captain was able to block it with his left arm being thrown out into a powerful backhand with equal strength, both of which carried enough force to easily incapacitate an unseated shinigami if not worse. The following kicks were fast, but did not find their target as Tsuno was able to bob and weave, bend and contort his body to avoid being hit. Even the last kick, Tsuno was able to grab Shin's leg by the ankle but was then drawn in for another attack, the 5th-seat throwing a stomp at his face. Such speed and power for a 5th-seat, very impressive but not enough to make Tsuno back down. In fact, despite the foot coming right at Tsuno's face, he did not try to dodge it at all, instead, Tsuno tilted his head forward, his forehead serving as the impact zone of the stomp.

Surely that moment must have come as a surprise to Shin, having just stomped his own commanding officer in the head, who would likely have been predicted that Tsuno would try and back down and avoid the attack. Nope, Tsuno decided to literally take it head-on. Luckily the attack was too high actually hit Tsuno's face so there was no chance of a broken nose that might have happened otherwise, and therefore no chance that Shin could have accidentally have broken the Vice-captain's sunglasses in that attack. In fact the hit landed on Tsuno's upper forehead, the frontal bone of the skull being one of the strongest bones in the human body, a normal human being would be more likely to break their own fist should they punch another regular person of equal strength on that location. Of course these were powerful shinigami, but ultimately Tsuno would not be receiving nearly as much damage had it actually been his face that was hit.

Of course, that moment would probably be dramatic to the point that Shin would not be able to expect what the Vice-captain had planned. His hand still grasping onto Shin's ankle, the two being close enough that Tsuno would be able to guarantee a hit with his next attack while at the same time be unable to avoid injury himself. He began uttering the incantation for his spell.

"Ye Lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, The sea barrier surges, March on to the south,"

Tsuno raised his head to stare at Shin with a freakishly devious grin, and then raised his open palm at the 5th-seat, charging a sphere of glowing crimson energy. From this range both would be injured, but Shin would be in worse condition than Tsuno, seeing as the exact same spell was known to allow a Vice-captain with little kido skills to injure low-ranking Espada at point blank.

"Shakkaho."

The immediate explosion sent Tsuno flying to the ground in a smoking cloud, surely Shin would be in a similar condition but worse off.

[Darkoda]

Shin did see Tsuno slice his flaming orb open with his zanpakuto, which wasn’t expected considering that it would have been easier to just move, so he wasn’t surprised that his vice captain did something unexpected about his attack, after backhanding away his first kick, and dodging the rest. He expected the unexpected ankle grab. He didn’t expect the guy to not dodge the subsequent face stomp at all though. He wasn’t that pissed off; he would rather not have Tsuno deal with the results of getting his face crushed. Oh, so he just bent his head a bit so Shin would only hit the forehead. Really though, he did not know that his vice captain was that crazy.

‘I like this guy. You do realise that you can’t move away from him now right?’

Of course he did, Shin wasn’t blind. Tsuno’s defence to his kick cemented what he already knew; Tsuno was definitely physically stronger than him, so direct confrontations would only end badly for him. Generally when dealing with these kinds of situations Shin would simply use his agility to get by but wasn’t going to work out very well on someone who was practically the top ninja in all of Soul Society. It was a wonder that Tsuno hadn’t thrown him immediately thinking about it, he had to have something more painful planned; Shin wasn’t going anywhere unless he was really willing to kick Tsuno until he let go, and he wasn’t willing to cause any potentially permanent damage to the guy.

‘Really, what’s the point of you getting angry with anything? You’re incapable of maintaining anger for extended periods of time and all you end up doing is keeping is a grudge if you manage to care enough. Not that that’s a bad thing....’

Complaining about a lack of anger? One would think Kumori would be happy that he didn’t have issues with getting lost in rage and making poor decisions –

‘Yes you do, he simply doesn’t know what your trigger is.’

It really wasn’t the time for this; Shin was more than close enough to hear Tsuno muttering something and he didn’t need to get a close up shot of whatever he was using. Tsuno was definitely counting on superior endurance to win this fight if he was willing to use a hado at such a close range, especially since Shin wasn’t the one who would get blown into the ground. He probably was going to rely on the impact itself for the damage, something Shin aimed to prevent with as much irony as possible. As the ninja raised his head to smirk at him, Shin gave him a smirk of his own, while his left hand gripped Kumori and he leaned back, in a move completely copied from the vice captain, Shin pulled his zanpakuto out of its sheath with surprising speed, right into the path of the Shakkaho blast.

The resulting explosion did send him sailing into the air, but besides the splash damage, he was quite fine; he would have been only injured as much as Tsuno was, and as he thought earlier, he wasn’t the one about to slam into the ground. Sand or not, that was likely to hurt. After solidifying reiatsu beneath his feet again, Shin smoothly sheathed his zanpakuto, and shook off the ash from the explosion while resisting the temptation to laugh. Getting knocked away by your own kido couldn’t be healthy for the ego, especially when the means was due to your own technique.

“Should you really be encouraging such recklessness in your teammates?” Odd, that statement sounded quite a bit different from his usual sarcastic bite. It sounded..... lighter, like a friendly joke. Very strange.

Shin pointed a finger at his vice captain’s location, and it was quite obvious what was coming next.

“Hado #4, Byakurai.”

This time, he didn’t shoot just one stream, he simply kept shooting Byakurai wherever Tsuno happened to be. All he was waiting on was for Tsuno to do something that would near guarantee a hit, like coming closer to him to counterattack. He wouldn’t have much choice about that; Shin could easily dodge anything he fired at this distance, and he was sure he could keep up a kido war much longer than Tsuno could, besides, Shin was getting the feeling that Tsuno was far too overconfident in himself, and that was never a good thing in battle. Getting the short end of the stick from his own kido should have tempered him a bit but it was best to be thorough with these things. The moment he came within range, a Rikujōkōrō would put an end to all movements. Not that he would leave him stuck in there, Shin wasn’t going to learn anything like that, this was more to prove a point to his vice captain. He may not be mad about it anymore, but that didn’t mean he was going to let Tsuno get away with underestimating him if he could help it.

[Galihan]

When Shin drew his own zanpakuto to block the attack, he Tsuno was impressed that the 5th-seat would either be an especially quick learner. That was particularly good for Tsuno's assessment of Shin so far. The outcome of the blast itself was damaging to both of the sparing combatants, but not by much, seeing as Tsuno's abilities using conventional kido were limited, meaning if Tsuno really wanted to use kido he was skilled with then it would likely leave the 5th-seat hospitalized in a Squad 4 cot for a few days with serious burns or worse. That would defeat the purpose of training with Shin if he was going to be seriously injured down here.

This also wasn't the first time he's injured himself using his own Shakkaho, so he knew from experience not to pour lots of energy into it, but still being suspended in the air the blast did send him flying towards the ground with quite a lot of speed. Rolling himself midair so he could face the quickly approaching ground, Tsuno held out his hands and feet so as to slam on the brakes so to speak, gripping the spirit particles in the atmosphere to slow his descent to the point that his impact into the sandy floor was soft and gentle. In all honesty the stomp to his forehead was more painful than either the explosion or the fall. Without the headband he usually wore, it was to be expected that Shin would become more powerful than usual whether or not he tried to suppress his own strength.

“Should you really be encouraging such recklessness in your teammates?”

Though the question sounded more friendly and joking than Shin's usual cynical sarcasm, a refreshing change in attitude given the grouchiness that could have come from the 5th-seats mouth at times. While Tsuno couldn't help but chuckle as he straightened out his uniform, and so he almost missed Shin raising his finger for another spell. A barrage of spells, in fact, as when Tsuno sidestepped the first Byakurai, he nearly got hit the next two, and so he began to move at very high speeds in circles avoiding the streams of electricity being fired at him. In fact Tsuno probably would deserve getting hit a few times since he did come off as a bit arrogant, but he couldn't help but try to have fun during training.

"Encourage recklessness? Me? Of course not!" Tsuno called out between volleys of lightning. "In some battles, only those who take risks can triumph!"

Shin was definitely counting on superior range to win this fight if he was planning to keep using hado at such a long distance. It seemed as though either Shin was overestimating the advantage he had with range, or underestimating just how experienced Tsuno was at fighting ranged opponents. As much as he hated to admit it, Tsuno considered the arrancar Gramica to be his rival in terms of speed, and she was probably greater in stealth with her resureccion boosts, and was definately by far superior in ranged attacks, but Tsuno still managed to force her into retreating to Hueco Mundo. While Shin was stronger than the former 5th-seat whom was killed by Gramica's pet hollow, he would probably have also faced the same fate as his predecessor in the same situation, and in all honesty it was starting to make Tsuno feel pissed off that Shin would underestimate him. Tsuno had been working really hard and training the low-ranking members nonstop ever since the incident that left them without a captain, all so that he himself could take the responsibility and take over the squad as the new captain and make sure that Squad Two would never suffer loses like that ever again. It was time to show Shin just how well he could actually fight at range.

"Almighty serpent of destruction!" Tsuno called out loud, beginning the incantation to his very own customized hado spell while still moving around in a circular pattern.
"Soar above the heavens and earth, judge our actions as benign or wretched and punish us accordingly. Deem us worthy of your divine presence, rain catastrophe on the wicked!"

Incantation complete, Tsuno changed his course and leaped into the air in Shin's direction, not caring that he was clipped in the shoulder and calf by two spells. With both palms open and directed at the 5th-seat, Tsuno was going to unleash a spell of his own.

"Hado Number 50," Dragon's Wrath!"

In that moment, a large explosion erupted from the vice-captain's hands as an infernal stream of concentrated flames spewed forth, flowing nonstop as if his arms had transformed into some sort of dragon. For about thirty seconds Tsuno swiveled and swayed his arms to have the flames move about, forcing Shin to keep on the move or else be burned alive in the firestorm. Shin was tough and quick, so changes were that he'd avoid being killed by the inferno but he'd probably be shaken up and have a few burns.

When the flames subsided, Tsuno decided he'd be best offer they take a break. Landing on hot and charred sand, the vice-captain looked for the 5th-seat and called out to him, holding his shoulder and keeping his weight off of the leg that was hit earlier.

"Want to keep going or should we take a breather?"

Hopefully Shin would agree to a break, they'd be able to freshen themselves up in the healing springs down in the training center and try out a different arena.

[Darkoda]

Shin watched on, amusement visible on his face as Tsuno did the shinigami equivalent to deploying a parachute, using the spirit particles in the atmosphere to slow his descent. What would have otherwise been a very painful meeting with the ground turned into a soft landing by human standards, for less a shinigami. He seemed to be taking everything in stride, since he actually chuckled a bit at Shin’s comment. He still paid enough attention to avoid the first Byakurai, but he apparently wasn’t expecting a constant barrage of them since his next couple of shots almost hit him. Then he started zooming around in a circle, throwing off his aim. Well if he wanted to volunteer for target practice, Shin wasn’t complaining.

"Encourage recklessness? Me? Of course not! In some battles, only those who take risks can triumph!"

Hearing Tsuno’s reply, Shin couldn’t hold back his laughter. “Well I can’t disagree with that now can I?”

When was the last time he actually enjoyed a fight without any ulterior motives? It wouldn’t kill him to relax for once and stop taking things so seriously. It probably wouldn’t anyway. Maybe Kumori had a point when she said he’s too high strung at times.

“You actually acknowledged a fault in yourself?! On top of that you admitted that I was right??? Did that blast rattle your head or something? Maybe you should go lie down for a bit Shin-chan, you can’t be feeling well.”

‘Do you exist to just try and irritate me Kumori?’

‘No, but it’s just too much fun to pass up. I consider it a personal duty to mess with you at least once a day.’

She said that with so much pride too. Ah well, the sight of having his vice captain on the run made him happy enough to not bother with his crazy spirit yet. He needed to exploit his range advantage over Tsuno more often.

"Almighty serpent of destruction!"

One of Shin’s eyebrows raised as he considered Tsuno’s words. That was definitely an incantation but what kido spell had those words?

"Soar above the heavens and earth, judge our actions as benign or wretched and punish us accordingly. Deem us worthy of your divine presence, rain catastrophe on the wicked!"

Whatever it was, he needed to be at least somewhat close to use it since he jumped right into Shin’s Byakurai shots. Getting his calf hit like that was not going to be good for his speed.

"Hado Number 50," Dragon's Wrath!"

Shin was thoroughly confused now. Tsuno had his palms facing out and shouted something about Dragon’s Wrath, whatever that was. He understood the name perfectly when Tsuno’s hands turned into two flamethrowers though. He barely managed to get out of the way, but he couldn’t avoid his left shoulder getting hit by the concentrated flames. Shin had experience with getting burnt before, but that was far beyond any burn he ever received. Still, he refused to let the pain show on his face, focusing his efforts on evading Tsuno’s flamethrower with some creative applications of Shunpo and spiritron wall hopping. In the end, Tsuno still managed to clip him again with his flames, this time in the palm of the same hand he got last time. Tsuno either wanted to roast him for some reason or he had a higher opinion of Shin than he gave him credit for if the ninja expected him to come out of this more or less in one piece.

“Enough of this, I’m not in the mood for extreme tag. Bakudo #81, Danku.”

A clear wall formed directly in front of Shin, cutting off the intense flames. Shin was ready to move again when Tsuno shifted positions to bypass the barrier, but the flames started to die down, then fizzle out. So the fire show only lasts for about a half a minute, he needed to keep that in mind for future fights.

Tsuno landed on the charred field, holding on to his shoulder while favouring his good leg. Considering that Shin lost all feeling in his left arm though, he wasn’t any better off. They should put a halt to the fight for now to recover, but there was no way Shin was swallowing his pride to suggest that he couldn’t keep going.

"Want to keep going or should we take a breather?"

That was a convenient way out. Still, Shin took a couple of seconds before nodding his assent, and heading over to the healing springs. He really didn’t like being temporarily one-handed. At one of the pools, he simply jumped in the pool without bothering with removing clothes and completely ignored the stings of protest his arm gave upon contact with the hot water. The minor pain was more than worth getting his arm back in working condition. That fire kido was not a pleasant experience, and it made Shin wonder just what other kido his vice captain had under his sleeve.

[Galihan]

As Tsuno unleashed his hado against Shin, he could tell that the 5th-seat was taken completely off guard by the large fire attack. Hopefully, Shin would be able to prove his worth and avoid getting killed by the infernal wave of violence that was most dangerous hado in Tsuno's arsenal that he could use safely. Safely being used very loosely of course, simply because of his ultimate hado being of such nature that its use was actually considered a forbidden technique while within the Seireitei, just like how among the Espada, their Gran Ray Cero was forbidden to use within their castle of Las Noches. Even still, Tsuno's Dragon's Wrath spell was also a dangerous ability that could have killed Shin if he didn't do such a noteworthy job of avoiding the flames or hadn't decided to use the Danku spell to protect himself. If living was the ultimate test in battle, then Shin would definitely have earned a passing grade.

Tsuno landed below, offering they rest up before training again seeing as there was no way that Shin could have gotten away unharmed, seeing as even the few Byakurai attacks that hit Tsuno were definitely painful enough and there was a major difference between a spell ranked 4 and a spell ranked 50. After a moment's pause, Shin nodded quietly and proceeded to leave the training arena, jumping into a hot pool of water that proceeded to slowly tend to his wounds. The 5th-seat's arm seemed to have some serious burn damage that probably hurt like a bitch, that or left the limb completely numb from nerve damage, so it was no matter that he decided to use his bakudo in order to stop the attack when he must have realized not only was there a chance he might end up getting hit head on, but also in such a case the attack could have hospitalized him or worse. So Shin was able to assess a potentially life-threatening scenario as well as act accordingly, passing grade indeed.

Tsuno's injuries were far less than Shin's, the burns on his shoulder and leg, as well as some other minor burns and bumps were insignificant to an arm with 2nd or 3rd degree burns, so he wasn't in such a hurry to soak into the healing spring. Unlike the 5th-seat, Tsuno at least decided to remove his zanpakuto and the clothing from his upper body, his body was a work of art, his life of constant training and healthy eating made his physique rather well built despite his relatively short stature compared to other shinigami. Being topless revealed not only his muscles but also quite a few tattoos that might have seemed unusual for somebody like Tsuno who seemed to be such a reserved, conservative-type of person. On his front, a single decorative black crescent moon was inked onto his mid-abdomen, but on his entire back was an intricate and elaborate wall of flames and flowers - specifically tulips, the flower symbol of Squad Two. On his right arm, Tsuno had one more tattoo, an eyeball surrounded in flames. This final tattoo was the symbol of his own clan, and not a very uncommon sight if a person was to explore the outer regions of Rukongai, where he used to lead his clan as a form of law enforcement before they were destroyed in the battle that forced Tsuno and his wife to flee and convinced Tsuno to join the Gotei 13.

Tsuno simply sank into the water, and relaxed. These healing waters were not the most potent, sometimes taking hours to fully heal compared to the natural spring he had discovered below the Sokyoku Hill, so he was sure that underground below the execution grounds itself there had to be an even more powerful spring that could heal even greater but he was never in the mood to look for any sort of hidden entrances into the mountain. Tsuno began to sink lower and lower into the pool, the soothing comfort relaxing his tense muscles until he remembered the fiasco he swore to never let anyone else ever learn of, when he nearly drowned while falling drifting off while resting in the healing pond he rested in during his Bankai training. He quickly rose up to keep his head above the water, and turned to Shin who seemed to be enjoying the feel of his burnt arm healing.

"You know," Tsuno began to say."That was a pretty good you did back there, and sorry about the arm. It's just that I wanted to see how far you have improved since last time I saw you fight and I am impressed."

Tsuno began to cup some water into his hand and poured it on his shoulder, also taking off his sunglasses to set them with his folded uniform along the edge of the water, picking up his zanpakuto's sheath, drawing the short blade to letting it soak in the water as well, which was much to its enjoyment, given Lotomasa's lazy nature and fiery composition. Unlike other shinigami who may have been in constant contact with the sword's spirit form, Tsuno and Lotomasa were definitely on a strict warrior-weapon relationship, only communicating in the planning stages of battle and since they have conflicting views of how to fight, they would often not get along so well which would dull the blade on occasion if he over planned a strategy. It was gestures like this that helped retain the sword's killer edge and grant greater synchronization in battle. After his silent pause, Tsuno continued interacting with the 5th-Seat.

"I have to ask, and pardon for being blunt, but what sort of connection do you have with your zanpakuto? I can feel you have a more open bond with her than I do with Lotomasa... Kumori is a her, right?"

That much he was able to guess given its feminine sounding name, but asides from knowing of Kumori's name and a bit about it being some sort of darkness-type zanpakuto, Tsuno didn't know much about Shin's shikai abilities. Maybe he'd be able to see some of the 5th-seats talents if they continued their training using weapons, but until then he would have to wait for Shin to recover.

[Darkoda]

The healing water was doing wonders for Shin’s charred arm; he already managed to regain feeling in it if the stinging was any indication. Well at least his burns were down from third degree to bad second degree. Maybe he should have actually taken off his robe though; it was completely soaked through now. Ah well, he could just flare his reiatsu and dry it off later. Leaning back, Shin watched Tsuno actually bother to take off his top and zanpakuto first. Well now, he didn’t expect his conservative vice-captain to actually have any tattoos, for less so many of them. His entire back was covered with a wall of flames and tulips intertwined – for the record, the only reason he knew those were tulips was because it was his division’s flower. When he turned around, Shin noted a black crescent moon, and most interesting, the tattoo on his right arm. Shin knew that symbol; he saw it on a lot of corpses and some gravestones when he was in the 55th-60th districts. According to the locals, the people with that symbol were trying to keep the general peace, and they were wiped out by all the thugs in the last ten districts uniting against them. So there were survivors of that incident after all.

“What an interesting body that guy has.”

That didn’t come from within his mind. Shin looked over to his left and wasn’t surprised to see Kumori in the water next to him, leaning back, and fortunately fully clothed.

“Fully clothed? Just where is your mind wandering off to Shin-chan?” She was glancing over at him with her eyes half-closed and a seductive smirk on her face. She was actually out in her true form for once –

“You were the one who said you prefer me like this Shin-chan.”

And she was completely soaked. How in the world she managed to get wet when she was incorporeal to everything but him, evidenced by the water showing no signs of her presence, Shin had no idea.

“Well, since you chose to jump into the spring with me still strapped to your hip, I decided to take advantage of the situation. This hot spring is definitely relaxing.” She stretched herself out, bending her back like a cat. Well, at least she wasn’t being perverted anymore.

Shin watched Tsuno sink into the pool, and relax, sinking lower until he suddenly jumped up for some reason. Odd......

“Maybe he nearly drowned himself relaxing like that, you never know.”

‘No way, no one could be idiotic enough to fall asleep at a pool. That would be the most pathetic way to drown ever.’ The thought of his vice-captain doing that was quite hilarious though, and it put a smile on his face just imagining it.

"You know, that was a pretty good you did back there, and sorry about the arm. It's just that I wanted to see how far you have improved since last time I saw you fight and I am impressed."

Impressed huh? At least he didn’t get himself nearly burnt to a crisp for nothing. “Don’t worry about it, my arm’s fine.” A particularly painful spike of pain disagreed with that statement. Still, he refused to let it show and instead slid his eyes over to the left, glaring at his annoying spirit.

‘Would you please stop poking my arm Kumori?’

“Doesn’t look fine to me, it’s still somewhere between second and first degree.” Yes, the pain had nothing to do with her poking him with her dagger-like claw.

He sighed, raising his hand up and swinging it forward, giving a show of flexing it to observe how much it healed, and smacking Kumori over the head.

‘Works well enough to me.’ Definitely worth the pain.

Tsuno washed some water over his burnt shoulder, before drawing his zanpakuto and soaking the blade in the hot water. It looked like Tsuno at least attempted to stay on good terms with his zanpakuto with small gestures like that, treating the spirit as another person instead of a tool. That was one of the main reasons most shinigami couldn’t even learn their zanpakuto’s name, for less to get anywhere near bankai, and if they couldn’t manage to treat a part of their soul with any decency, that was their problem.

"I have to ask, and pardon for being blunt, but what sort of connection do you have with your zanpakuto? I can feel you have a more open bond with her than I do with Lotomasa... Kumori is a her, right?"

“Of course I’m female, what part of my name sounds masculine to you?”

‘It was just a simple question, For all you know he met a guy named Kumori.’ Ah, the irony, giving Kumori her own advice. It left Shin with quite a smug feeling. He left the fox demon glaring at Tsuno and grumbling and thought of an answer to the ninja’s question.

“Kumori......she’s like a close friend you grew up with your whole life, who insists on acting like your older sibling even though she’s no older than you. Then you add in her destructive and perverted nature, her ego, her desire to annoy me every single day, and her ability to manifest herself at will. But even though she’s a psychotic fox demon, she does act in my best interests, and we do get along about as much as a pair of best friends would.” Well best friends who like to fight with each other a lot anyway. There was also the sadism and bloodlust, but that was another matter.

Kumori apparently approved of this answer if her glomping him said anything.

“Awww, you actually said that I was your best friend! I don’t have an ego problem but I’ll let that slide this time.” She has problems with being told that has an ego, but doesn’t deny being insane. Screwed up priorities much?

That’s all well and good, but would you please stop squeezing me so hard? You’re going to crack my ribs like that. And he was having issues breathing. This entire scene couldn’t have looked normal to Tsuno either.

While trying to push Kumori off of him, he asked Tsuno a question to distract him from the craziness. “So, what’s it like with Lotomasa then?” At least he got her to loosen up enough to let him breathe. Now if only she would stop nuzzling him. Not that he particularly minded, but it was still fairly embarrassing.