[BitP:R] Soul Society 4

[Nicklance]

"Oh...so if I just wait out the nightmares they will eventually stop?" She asked with a slight frown. "I got to keep suffering through them in the meantime?"

"You can take charge of your nightmares. With new wisdom, new maturity and new understanding, your subconscious processes your nightmares differently. What's making it worse now, is your accumulation of stress, negativity and lack of sleep. Its simple, imagine if you are out of shape, as long as you keep avoiding exercise you'll just get worse. But if you buckle down and tackle the problem directly, things improve." Akira replies with a smile.

[Kuroimaken]

Masaru nods.

"Your existing training seems to be adapting you well. I'm not sure anything other than lots of practice can help in your situation. I'm not sure if there's anyone who can teach you how to wield them all. I can only say I can lay the foundation for the tower of skill you'll need to build."

"A 'tower' of skill is a little much, Masaru-taichou. To be frank, I haven't been using as many weapons as I expected lately, specially since I discovered that they all are, in fact, the same weapon essentially."

What did he mean by that?

[KnightDisciple]

"A 'tower' of skill is a little much, Masaru-taichou. To be frank, I haven't been using as many weapons as I expected lately, specially since I discovered that they all are, in fact, the same weapon essentially."

What did he mean by that?

"It was an offhand metaphor, Kazuma-san.

Though I'm curious what you mean by using fewer weapons. Are you not using as wide of a variety?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Towers have height as a defining point, sir.

And yes. I tend to rely on the sword form a little too much. I think it's because of the battoujutsu techniques I've developed of late. But more than just that... it seems after I finally started getting the hang of how to control my sword properly, I discovered an... interesting property it holds."

[KnightDisciple]

"Towers have height as a defining point, sir.

And yes. I tend to rely on the sword form a little too much. I think it's because of the battoujutsu techniques I've developed of late. But more than just that... it seems after I finally started getting the hang of how to control my sword properly, I discovered an... interesting property it holds."

"I can see how battoujutsu being fresh in your mind would influence that. Beyond that, what's this "interesting property" you're speaking of?"

[Kuroimaken]

"If you'd like, I can provide you with a demonstration." Kazuma noted. It was only polite to ask permission first, of course.

[KnightDisciple]

"If you'd like, I can provide you with a demonstration." Kazuma noted. It was only polite to ask permission first, of course.

Masaru raises an eyebrow and takes a couple of steps back to give Kazuma room.

"By all means, Kazuma-san. I am officially intrigued."

[Nicklance]

Captain Fujiwara Akira, 4th Division Medical Center and Elsewhere

After prescribing some painkillers for any potential headaches and some sleeping pills to ensure the first few nights of real sleep, Akira takes Orimoto out of the premises and sends her off at the Division gate. Checking her timepiece and noting that her shift is off, she considers finding Masaru and taking a peek at him at a distance, if nothing, so see how he is doing so far after the two encounters they had some time ago.

Taking some effort to find the trace of his reiatsu, she finds him at the training grounds with Kazuma, and it seems clear to her that Masaru is attempting to train the young man, or at least offer an enlightening spar. Taking a seat on the low roof overlooking the training grounds some distance away and masking her presence entirely, Akira observes the fight.

[AnimeKid]

Jiro

After finding out from the staff that the doctor had left Jiro sighs as he leaves the hospital and tries to find something else to do. Unsure at what to do he heads towards the 10 division barracks to see if anything intresting was going on there. If not he could always try to hit up the ramen bar in town. It then occurs to him that maybe he should try to find some daily entertainment since he cannot train the day away thanks to Tachi-chan taking over his training schedule.

[Kuroimaken]

Masaru raises an eyebrow and takes a couple of steps back to give Kazuma room.

"By all means, Kazuma-san. I am officially intrigued."

"As you wish, sir.

Chissokuse yo, Sazan'ou."

The blade shifts into the characteristic form of a kusarigama. Kazuma picked a ring seemingly at random, and wrapped the chain around his left arm, pulling it taught as though holding the haft of a pole weapon of some sort.

"The 47th sinner. Release."

The chain glows with a silvery light before transforming into a large war scythe.

"As you can both see, this form is a fairly standard war scythe. It doesn't hold any outward difference from one such weapon. Yet..."

Kazuma took a practice upwards swing. The blade detached from the haft, connected to it by a very thin but sturdy-looking chain. Once in the air, Masaru and Ryouichi's keen senses would detect a thin wisp of Reiatsu running through the chain itself to the blade. When it "hits", the blade itself breaks down to half a dozen smaller blades similarly connected by a thin chain. The weapon itself doesn't look like it could contain that much chain within itself, and neither does it seem like the chain is actually coming from inside the weapon. The blade-on-a-chain contorts as though possessed of a will of its own, curling about like a snake. Once again, Ryouichi and Masaru can sense Kazuma's Reiatsu permeating the weapon.

"At my current level of practice, I can make my Zanpakutou move about as well as I will it to, though it still follows its own physical restrictions. I can't use it as a longer hand, for example."

[MageSparrowhawk]

Alysha nods. Yeah, sure.

She holds her zanpakuto out in front of her with her right hand, blade pointed up.

Stand and defend, Tetsu no Ishi!

The blade glows and shrinks, and after a moment, Alysha is holding a buckler with a simple, three circle design on it.

"Ooh."
Ooh.
Heh.

"That really explains a lot. Actually loosing your weapon entirely means you have to shift your style dramatically if you release, doesn't it?" Koujin frowns and tilts his head. "What are your offensive options while released? Does your Zanpakoutou have any? How about your skill with Kido or Hakuda?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Well, the way this works is that I put my reiatsu into Tetsu, and it creates a barrier. So, I could use that to attack.

As for Kido, I mainly just use healing Kido.

[Frozen_Feet]

"I can help you better your Hakuda, at least", Hachirou chimes in. "I'm also apt in using Bakudo, so I can offer some advice as to how utilize defensive power like barriers in combat." He rolls up his sleeves. "Do you have any idea how big an impact your barrier can hold against?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

Alysha shrugs a little. According to what Tetsu told me, if I had enough reiatsu, I could block anything.

[Frozen_Feet]

Hachirou takes his hat off and flicks it to the corner. "Well, that unfortunately doesn't tell us much of how things are now", he says, assuming a fighting stance. "We'll do a little test. Put up your defenses and we'll see what happens."

[KerfuffleMach2]

Alysha looks a little uneasy for a moment, but she nods. She brings the buckler up into a defensive stance.

O-Okay. I'm ready.

[Frozen_Feet]

Hachirou takes a lightning-fast step forward, punching quick and hard towards the shield. It's not strongest he could do, but it'd ordinarily be more than enough to send a small woman like Alysha stumbling back.

If she budges even a little at the force of the strike, he'll take another step and punch again, until Alysha either finds her balance and stops him in his tracks, or falls over as a result of the assault.

[KerfuffleMach2]

When Hachirou moves, Alysha caught off guard for a moment. She didn't expect him to move that fast.

However, she is still able to channel her reiatsu just in time to block the first punch. When it connects, there's a burst of light centered on the impact. Alysha stumbles back a bit, since she didn't time the block right.

The first few hits go like this, but by the time he goes for a fourth punch, Alysha will have gotten into the rhythm of it, and blocks the punch without any recoil.

Each time she blocks, her reiatsu flares a little. As if she were only using it for the block.

[Frozen_Feet]

After its apparent her barrier won't yield, Hachirou stops, taking a step back and pulling his arms to a guard. Alysha might notice he gives his hands a quick glance, to check how his knuckles look. "Good. That should stop an ordinary Hollow from reaching you. But I recall you doing better." There's a glow in his eyes, like that of the rising sun, and both Alysha and Koujin can feel the air waver a bit as the 13th Seat lets his Reiatsu pour out. "Brace yourself."

Hachirou pulls both his arms close to his ribs - then, his form blurs as he shoots forward again, striking with both hands against the barrier. There's an audible rumbling sound as he releases a burst of spiritual power on impact.

[Major]

As she leaves, Orimoto thanks the Captain and then heads back to the First Division headquarters. She had some work to catch up on then she would try and take a nap. The Captain was right, if she kept avoiding sleep the stress would build up and only make the nightmares worse.

As she arrived at the headquarters she quickly peeked in and looked around for the Vice Captain. She knew how much the Vice Captain insisted on being in uniform so she always had to watch out to make sure she wasn't caught wearing her normal outfit that she liked much better.

Not seeing anyone she slipped inside quietly and headed towards her desk stealthily. Just because she didn't see the Vice Captain didn't mean she wasn't around..

[KerfuffleMach2]

Alysha holds the shield with both arms now, and the generally upbeat feeling of her reiatsu begins to flow through the air as she prepares for impact.

When Hachirou hits the shield, the flash of light is brighter, and larger. To him, it'd feel like he just ran into a solid wall, with no give to it.

That lasts for a couple moments. But, Alysha underestimated the power of his attack. She suddenly finds herself flying backwards, landing on her backside.

Oof!

[AnimeKid]

Jiro

As he is walking towards 10th Jiro stops cold as he feels a spike of reiatsu from one of the training grounds. His eyes are still and unfocused as he unconciously starts homing in on the energy. Tachi-chan sensing where her wielders thoughts are going immediately starts speaking, "Uh Jiro? I don't know if this is a good idea. You don't know whats going on over there! I mean last time we went to a training ground with someone in it you challenged Kazuma to a battle and...Jiro? Jiro are you even listening to me?!" Tachi-chans words are drowned out at Jiro starts burning shunpo towards the training ground. His curiosity, battle instincts, and urge to relieve his boredom leading him to the reiatsu spike coming from training ground where Alysha and Hachirou are.

[tgva8889]

Ugh...

Myojin sits up in his bed in the hospital, and stretches.

I think I might finally be fully healed. I should probably leave that to my captain and the doctors to decide, however. I'll just busy myself until they get here.

Myojin reaches under his bed, pull out his zanpakuto, and starts cleaning it.

"You should hide that before one of the nurses catches you."

Taiki stands in the corner of the room, his entrance almost silent. His arms are crossed, a visible sword at his waist.

"Good to see you're alive, Myojin. I thought you may have entirely disappeared."

[Terry576]

Yoshi stops and looks around. HECATE is correct; they've somehow swung all the way around to near 10th Division.

"What the...no, never mind. That was merely a mistake, HECATE. Thank you for pointing it out. My goal is 12th HQ. Come, we'll double back."

With that, he turns and heads back in the right direction. It's obvious he's still a bit pensive, about something.

HECATE pauses, perplexed. However, due to her utter... lack of social skills, she asks Yoshi anyways.

"Yoshi-san are you alright? My sensors indicate that you are feeling nervous towards some incident."

[CMOTDibbler]

"You should hide that before one of the nurses catches you."

Taiki stands in the corner of the room, his entrance almost silent. His arms are crossed, a visible sword at his waist.

"Good to see you're alive, Myojin. I thought you may have entirely disappeared."

Myojin sheathes his sword and looks up at the wall across from him.

"Good day, Captain. It's good to be alive. I apologize for my absence."

As Myojin says the last sentence, he gets out of his bed and kneels before Taiki.

"I wish to return to the line of duty under your command, sir. Will you accept me? "

[tgva8889]

"We've known each other long enough, Myojin, you can just call me Taiki. And you definitely don't have to beg." Taiki unfolds his arms and motions for Myojin to stand.

"Unfortunately, your long absence had some consequences. Specifically on your standing in 10th Division. I was informed of your condition by 4th's doctors, and there's no way in your current state you can return to your current position as Vice Captain. Between damage to your reiryoku and your... negligence of your duties due to training, I can only offer you a place as a temporary 5th Seat, soon to be 4th Seat when Konpaku-san is promoted."

[CMOTDibbler]

Myojin stands and nods.

"Thank you, Taiki. I shall certainly accept your generous offer, and do my best to regain my former abilities whilst maintaining my duties. "

Myojin smiles, and pops his neck.

"It's good to be back. So, what have I missed in my absence?"

[KnightDisciple]

"As you wish, sir.

Chissokuse yo, Sazan'ou."

The blade shifts into the characteristic form of a kusarigama. Kazuma picked a ring seemingly at random, and wrapped the chain around his left arm, pulling it taught as though holding the haft of a pole weapon of some sort.

"The 47th sinner. Release."

The chain glows with a silvery light before transforming into a large war scythe.

"As you can both see, this form is a fairly standard war scythe. It doesn't hold any outward difference from one such weapon. Yet..."

Kazuma took a practice upwards swing. The blade detached from the haft, connected to it by a very thin but sturdy-looking chain. Once in the air, Masaru and Ryouichi's keen senses would detect a thin wisp of Reiatsu running through the chain itself to the blade. When it "hits", the blade itself breaks down to half a dozen smaller blades similarly connected by a thin chain. The weapon itself doesn't look like it could contain that much chain within itself, and neither does it seem like the chain is actually coming from inside the weapon. The blade-on-a-chain contorts as though possessed of a will of its own, curling about like a snake. Once again, Ryouichi and Masaru can sense Kazuma's Reiatsu permeating the weapon.

"At my current level of practice, I can make my Zanpakutou move about as well as I will it to, though it still follows its own physical restrictions. I can't use it as a longer hand, for example."

Masaru watches, his right eyebrow lifting in surprise. He waited until Kazuma seemed to have said his piece, and done all he was going to do with his weapon.

"That is definitely a fascinating ability. Can it apply to a sword-shape, assuming your Shikai has one?

May I also guess that this ability, specifically the need for your Reiatsu to control it, is why you've been working out with the sekisekki gear?"

[Kuroimaken]

"It can apply to any shape, even those that would have no business breaking into smaller pieces.

As for your other question... well, yes and no. The truth is, my Zanpakutou is much too difficult to control if I leave it be. It seeks out Reiatsu as I swing - the stronger the Reiatsu, the stronger the impact and the faster it swings, as though its weight changed mid-swing. But that wreaks no small amount of havoc with balance. At first I tried to simply muscle through it, but it turned out to be plain impossible; I got this close to tearing my own arm apart trying that once. So I began to experiment with using my own Reiatsu to control it. A bit of the original impact is lost when using it this way, but it becomes much easier to use.

Trouble is, I quickly discovered that my Reiatsu control was, for lack of a better word, incompetent. Wielding Sazan'ou in this fashion would have me gasping for breath in as little as five minutes, or even after a particular vigorous attack. I needed to train in such a way that I could finely control how my Reiatsu behaved instead of simply letting it out explosively, and at the same time, I needed to improve my reserves of Reiryoku as well. Thus, the sekkiseki gear. I happened upon a particularly interesting discovery while training with my Gantou, as well - I believe I've demonstrated it to you once."

[strawberryman]

Ryouichi grins. "Interesting, Amagatsu-san. I don't believe I've seen your release before."