Exactly... Kyouraku obviously knew he was in the dis-advantage so when he went in for his slashes they killing blows for sure but not filled with killing intent. Do you understand? Kyouraku was trying to close the gap not kill him because going straight for the kill wouldn't work. Shunsui got very serious once he understood all of Starks powers and knew there was nothing left for him to pull while Kyouraku still hadn't revealed all of his shikai powers.
Stark also got a cheap shot on Shunsui.... So I don't know where that one was going.
The same could be same for Stark.... Stark never once got a hit on Kyouraku unless he got distracted. It works both ways and Stark had the advantage of safety from a distance.
Yama raising his reiatsu does not mean it is a power up for Kyouraku.... Kyouraku had the ability to do that the whole time its just that he got a little more serious, and look what that did he got a hit on OMQ straight away while half blind.
You don't understand Kyouraku's fighting style, he takes time and slowly tries to understand his enemies abilities before he tries to kill them. Stark it was a long fight, OMQ he was taking his time not really being too active and even with Haschwalth he delayed him for 3 hours just talking.
Yama was very serious about the fight and was trying to kill them just as Kyouraku and Ukitake were trying as well. He even said that he would kill them where they stood even if they didn't release and they would die without a fight.
That's dont even make sense he was useing killing blows with no killing intent? What?...no he did intend to kill stark every chance he could,he even told stark he meant to kill him with a sneak attack right after stark did his release,an then said his release is just not for show...kyoraku was serious the moment he used shikai,even starkk said lets take it easy for sometime but kyoraku was like sorry cant do that.
Starkk shot kyoraku once with a cero which did not even penetrate kyoraku's skin an barely hurt him,kyoraku's sneak attack was much worse it caused starkk to actually lose power.
Starkk was winning that fight,that's why ukitake jumped in to help cause he saw that kyoraku had no chance at winning if he was just going to fight with his shikai the whole time he clearly saw that starkk had the advantage in their fight an that he would land a hit before kyoraku does.
No Yama raised his spirits an thats why he landed that hit an that was the only hit he landed,..no kyoraku goes for kills as quick as posible it's just that he can't land any an as the fight goes on he just gains knolowge an a understanding of his opponents abilities..once again seeing as how he tried to kill stark very quickly after he did his release..an yea him hiding behind nanao walls was just him delaying time.
Well yea if they don't release then they won't be able to don anything against Yama even if Yama was holding back...they must be 5 times as strong when working as a team then when they are alone seeing as Yama easily downed three Quincy while kyoraku is struggling to take down one...well with ukitake shikai I can see it kinda resulting in a draw but yma is still mostlikely to win in the end.