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Chapter 5: Flutter
Captain Kuchiki took me out to the squad six training grounds. He took his sword from it's sheath and impaled it into the ground.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, Rairyu. Alright Katsume, here is how this is going to work. We are going to spar. I want you to take me on with your sealed zanpakuto. For the time I will not use mine. We will have two training sessions. Each training session will end when you manage to draw blood on me," he said as he stood before me.
"But Captain," I exclaimed in confusion, "without your sword, it shouldn't be difficult to cut you."
"Leave that to me. Come at me with all your force. If you don't you will not succeed," he said as he beckoned me to attack. I drew one of my swords and rushed him, but just before I got in range, I used flash step to get behind him, just as I drew close enough to strike, he leaned to the left and completely avoided my attack. He stuck out his leg, tripping me and sending me rolling in front of him. I scrambled to my feet.
"Flash step is only effective when you are faster then your opponent can follow," he said as he suddenly appeared directly before me, flicking me in the forhead, sending me backwards.
"Noted, Captain," I said as I appeared directly in front of him with my sword in mid swing.
"You got faster?!" He asked in surprised as he was forced to jump out of the way. "I thought I told you not to hold back."
"Forgive me Captain. I was guaging your speed."
"Something tells me that last one wasn't your top speed either."
"Correct..."
"You only waste both of our time. I am not going at 100% so guaging me now has no benefits. Focus only on slashing me with your blade. Come at me with the intent of every strike being a fatal blow. Then maybe you will draw blood," he said as he stood behind me. I didn't even sense him move. He was so fast I couldn't even make sense of his movements. He planted his foot into my back, once again sending me into a rolling fall. I looked up and he stood where he started once more.
I got to my feet and prepared myself. I changed my one handed sword grip to a two handed grip. I charged him at full speed, catching him off guard for a moment, just long enough to make my cut. He held out his hand and stopped my blade with his bare hand, much to my surprise. Though my blade made contact at full speed and power, it did not even mark his hand. But I had him where I wanted him.
I disconnected the raiti bond in my hilt. My blade seperated into two and with the second blade, I slashed him across the chest. I jumped back. He stared in confusion.
"I thought I told you to fight with your sealed zanpakuto," he said a little angry.
"I am. You made the assumption that my Zanpakuto takes the form of two blades, the Katana I used a moment ago, and the straight sword that I still have sheathed. But in actuallity, Empi (The flight of the swallow) takes the form of three blades in it's sealed form. The two katanas are two halfs of the same whole. They share the same sheath and unless I break the raiti bond between them, they remain as one blade," I declared confidently. "And I have succeeded!"
"Is that so?" he asked as he pulled apart the new hole in his uniform to show that his skin was still quite in tact.
"How?" I asked in disbelief. His eyes closed and he took a deep breath.
"When two being fight, they can only cut each other so long as two conditions are met. The blade is sharp enough to cut, and if the defender's armor is thin enough to be pierced or cut," he explained.
"But you are not wearing armor..."
"Spiritual beings with tremendous spiritual preasure can often use that spiritual preasure to make their skin so thick that it can not be cut easily. The hollows use a similar method, their's is called Hierro, or steel skin. Also since my spiritual preasure is greater, then by comparison your blade is duller to my harder skin."
"Then how can I possibly cut you?"
"I leave that for you to decide," he said calmly. I sighed and re-united my two katanas. I drew the straight sword, holding it in my left hand. I charged him, using both swords, I slashed from every possible angle, but once again he evaded my attacks. He grabbed my wrist and threw me off balance. I began to get frustrated. He stood above me. I moved to slash his eyes, but he grabbed my wrist and drove my Katana into the ground. "You are definatly putting more spirit into this, but I have yet to wittness your killing intent. How long will you dull your own sword?" he said as he struck me with the back of his hand, making me fall to the ground, flat on my back. I felt my spiritual preasure rise.
"How do you expect me to continue fighting defensivly, your enemy will not simply avo-" he began to say before I slashed him across the cheek. A tiny cut appeared on his face and a small drop of blood dripped to the ground. He wiped his wound. "Much better. Now we can move on to step two."
Chapter 5: Flutter
Captain Kuchiki took me out to the squad six training grounds. He took his sword from it's sheath and impaled it into the ground.
"Sorry for the inconvenience, Rairyu. Alright Katsume, here is how this is going to work. We are going to spar. I want you to take me on with your sealed zanpakuto. For the time I will not use mine. We will have two training sessions. Each training session will end when you manage to draw blood on me," he said as he stood before me.
"But Captain," I exclaimed in confusion, "without your sword, it shouldn't be difficult to cut you."
"Leave that to me. Come at me with all your force. If you don't you will not succeed," he said as he beckoned me to attack. I drew one of my swords and rushed him, but just before I got in range, I used flash step to get behind him, just as I drew close enough to strike, he leaned to the left and completely avoided my attack. He stuck out his leg, tripping me and sending me rolling in front of him. I scrambled to my feet.
"Flash step is only effective when you are faster then your opponent can follow," he said as he suddenly appeared directly before me, flicking me in the forhead, sending me backwards.
"Noted, Captain," I said as I appeared directly in front of him with my sword in mid swing.
"You got faster?!" He asked in surprised as he was forced to jump out of the way. "I thought I told you not to hold back."
"Forgive me Captain. I was guaging your speed."
"Something tells me that last one wasn't your top speed either."
"Correct..."
"You only waste both of our time. I am not going at 100% so guaging me now has no benefits. Focus only on slashing me with your blade. Come at me with the intent of every strike being a fatal blow. Then maybe you will draw blood," he said as he stood behind me. I didn't even sense him move. He was so fast I couldn't even make sense of his movements. He planted his foot into my back, once again sending me into a rolling fall. I looked up and he stood where he started once more.
I got to my feet and prepared myself. I changed my one handed sword grip to a two handed grip. I charged him at full speed, catching him off guard for a moment, just long enough to make my cut. He held out his hand and stopped my blade with his bare hand, much to my surprise. Though my blade made contact at full speed and power, it did not even mark his hand. But I had him where I wanted him.
I disconnected the raiti bond in my hilt. My blade seperated into two and with the second blade, I slashed him across the chest. I jumped back. He stared in confusion.
"I thought I told you to fight with your sealed zanpakuto," he said a little angry.
"I am. You made the assumption that my Zanpakuto takes the form of two blades, the Katana I used a moment ago, and the straight sword that I still have sheathed. But in actuallity, Empi (The flight of the swallow) takes the form of three blades in it's sealed form. The two katanas are two halfs of the same whole. They share the same sheath and unless I break the raiti bond between them, they remain as one blade," I declared confidently. "And I have succeeded!"
"Is that so?" he asked as he pulled apart the new hole in his uniform to show that his skin was still quite in tact.
"How?" I asked in disbelief. His eyes closed and he took a deep breath.
"When two being fight, they can only cut each other so long as two conditions are met. The blade is sharp enough to cut, and if the defender's armor is thin enough to be pierced or cut," he explained.
"But you are not wearing armor..."
"Spiritual beings with tremendous spiritual preasure can often use that spiritual preasure to make their skin so thick that it can not be cut easily. The hollows use a similar method, their's is called Hierro, or steel skin. Also since my spiritual preasure is greater, then by comparison your blade is duller to my harder skin."
"Then how can I possibly cut you?"
"I leave that for you to decide," he said calmly. I sighed and re-united my two katanas. I drew the straight sword, holding it in my left hand. I charged him, using both swords, I slashed from every possible angle, but once again he evaded my attacks. He grabbed my wrist and threw me off balance. I began to get frustrated. He stood above me. I moved to slash his eyes, but he grabbed my wrist and drove my Katana into the ground. "You are definatly putting more spirit into this, but I have yet to wittness your killing intent. How long will you dull your own sword?" he said as he struck me with the back of his hand, making me fall to the ground, flat on my back. I felt my spiritual preasure rise.
"How do you expect me to continue fighting defensivly, your enemy will not simply avo-" he began to say before I slashed him across the cheek. A tiny cut appeared on his face and a small drop of blood dripped to the ground. He wiped his wound. "Much better. Now we can move on to step two."
