Ruka smiled, watching as her Lieutenant and Third Seat began to duke it out in earnest. There was a trace of fondness in her expression, like a mother looking after two of her kids. It was understandable, Raine was a war buddy and something of a pupil to her while Zoe's occasionally withdrawn personality made her want to bring out the best in the young woman. Many had questioned her choice in being so familiar with her squad, a few old Captains had even called her out on it. Some said it clouded her judgement or her leadership... but she couldn't be any different than who she was. In Rukongai she'd learned that family was all you really had in this world, the fact that Ukitake, despite being the mother hen he'd been, had still been so admired and respected had only reinforced this belief. When you had no one else your squad was your nakama- and that was a fact.
The glitter of fireworks caught her eye and the woman chuckled softly, shaking her head. The first time Raine had used that on her had been more than a little amusing. In his attempt to strike her he'd anticipated she'd take on the attack or be close enough to do so. Instead she'd vaulted into the air completely avoiding the effects.
As the fight continued and the combatant's spiritual power grew Ruka became aware of a dull throb in her skull. She ignored it at first but as its persistence bore on her she came to find that it was indeed causing her some pain. She pressed her middle and index fingers to her right temple rubbing it in a circle in an effort to alleviate some of the pain. It only made sense for some muscles to be tense after a good fight but a headache was ridiculous. She'd been much worse for wear many times before. Her efforts were in vain and nothing worked. She stopped trying to massage the area and pinched the bridge of her nose briefly before finally putting her forehead in her hand bowing her head slightly as she fought a grimace. The faint scent of iron reached her nose and she sucked in a breath feeling extremely uncomfortable for an unexplained reason. In an effort to ignore the sensations entirely she redoubled her efforts to focus on her two officers' fight withdrawing her hand and letting it sit atop her folded knees.
After a little while she found the headache alleviating slightly and her focus became exact noting flaws and lessons that needed to be learned. As the two at last focused their efforts into swordplay the majority of the pounding faded and she could be at ease. The ever so slight tension in her shoulders dropped leaving only a faint frown as her eyes locked on her third seat before she slowly shook her head. Couldn't be.
Letting herself relax completely she leaned her elbows on her knees leaning forward to get a good look (and noting rather appreciatively that the acid burns on her arms were now gone). There was no other way about it- Zoe was going to need some of her tutelage. She had raw physical strength but nothing to channel it into much like she herself had been back in her Academy days. She could not, in good conscience, let such potential be wasted. With that in mind she settled herself again and continued to watch the spar.
Don't give me those looks! We can finish this!
Somber Ash
Raine Shiba
Sasori00923
Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 12:06 pm
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〖 ● 〗xxx【九】ＴｈｉｒｄxxＳｅａｔ【九】
Indent.Raine was no doubt skilled with a sword, but so was Zoe. As he deflected her blade and came with his own slash at her abdomen Zoe twisted her arm in a similar fashion and used the hilt of her Wakizashi to aim a strike at Raine's sword hand while pulling back the larger Katana and aiming a stab at his foot. The latter exchange was made to showcase swordplay, the strike to his hand was meant to hamper his movement to block or strike effectively and the stab was meant to hamper his movements; Zoe was forced to fight sealed due to reasons unknown even to her and as such she had become effective at simple yet graceful movements that gave her an edge in battle.
"Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that...
Hate can not drive out hate, only Love can do that."
【Raine's eyes narrowed as Zoe maneuvered about his movements. He hadn't anticipated an attack quite like that. He bent his wrist and quickly withdrew his attack- with barely enough time to avoid the double attack. The blade that she had aimed for his foot had managed to cut the strap of his sandal and lightly pierce through his tabi- leaving a thin line of trickling blood on his flesh. If he had lingered there any further- he was sure she would've successfully impaled his entire foot. He allowed a sigh of relief to escape his lips. He danced backwards, moving himself in such a way that he gained a great distance. He needed to calculate his next move carefully.
"Quick on your feet, are you?" His tone was lighthearted.
He readied his blade again- moving in on Zoe- but only enough so that he was a few feet away. Then he snapped out at her in a sudden lunge. His arm outstretched with his blade. The metal sang as it darted through the wind. This attack wasn't designed to hit Zoe, it was meant to prompt her to attack so he could use the momentum against her.
[OOC] Ohhhhh boy razz
Let your colors burn and brightly burst ༄ Into a million sparks that all disperse And illuminate a world that will try to bring you down - but not this time....
▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅
Somber Ash
TwiDawnLight
Sasori00923
Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2013 10:53 pm
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〖 ● 〗xxx【九】ＴｈｉｒｄxxＳｅａｔ【九】
Indent."You haven't seen anything yet".Zoe replied as Raine moved froward with yet another attack, he was skilled, there was no doubting that as he dodged her last attack, even if she had managed to graze him. As the strike went at her Zoe moved her Katana in an upward arc to deflect his blade and then moved the shorter Wakizashi to slash at his waist, she moved it with strength and speed to gauge his movements, even though he was skilled at deflection Zoe was skilled in swordplay and Raine would have his work cut out as he fought her, she would not give him an inch and expected him to at least entertain her while they sparred.
"Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that...
Hate can not drive out hate, only Love can do that."
Raine Shiba
Short, although we can safely say that since we are doing basic Zanjutsu most posts will come out like this xD
【Now she had fallen for his plan. Hopefully- this would work out nearly as perfectly as he planned it in his head. Her blade deflected his as he expected- and as he had hoped- her wakizashi went straight towards him. He performed one of the least expected tasks expected from someone. He grabbed the wakizashi. The metal sliced into his palm- causing blood to drip profusely from between his clenched fingers. The fiery burn from the severity of the wound coursed throughout the entirety of his body. The receptors in his hand were growing numb- and soon the pain would subside. As long as the artery in his thumb was not severed he didn't have to worry. His thumb was pressed against the flat of the blade, ensuring it was locked in place as he had liked. He choked back a hiss of pain as he tightened his grip. With clenched teeth- gritting from the agony of the pain- he sufficed a grunt.
He had the wakizashi where he wanted it. 'She's going to think I'm insane.' Raine thought to himself as he lunged his body again. His years of training enabled him the ability to fight with his zanpakuto using only one hand. With this strike, he actually intended to hit her. His zanpakuto went in in a wide arc towards her torso.
'The fight to protect life and the fight to protect honor.' The words rang throughout his head. He had remembered Ukitake mention it the very few times he had interacted with the Captain. In this case, it was honor. Raine's father on the very hand- saw them both as fighting to protect the concept of the heart. Raine would do whatever it took to defend that philosophy- no matter the extremity.
[OOC] Raine's thinkin about his daddy, Kaien Shiba
Let your colors burn and brightly burst ༄ Into a million sparks that all disperse And illuminate a world that will try to bring you down - but not this time....
▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅
Somber Ash
TwiDawnLight
Sasori00923
Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:45 am
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〖 ● 〗xxx【九】ＴｈｉｒｄxxＳｅａｔ【九】
Indent.Well, this was unexpected. As Raine grabed Zoe's blade she couldn't help but be somewhat amazed. His method was crude, yet somewhat successful as he threw his next slash. The wide arc of the blade aimed at her torso and Zoe couldn't help but to show a slight smirk, as it neared her Zoe twisted her other blade downwards and stabbed it on the ground to her side so that Raine's zanpakuto would collide with it; As she held the Katana stabbed on the floor she pulled the Wakizashi with force in a sort of tug, the latter was meant to throw Raine off balance and as she pulled the blade Zoe threw a simple yet powerful roundhouse at Raine's face. Who was to say she didn't have at least some knowledge in Hakuda? Sure it was minimal, but it got the job done.
"Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that...
Hate can not drive out hate, only Love can do that."
Raine Shiba
Ah Kaien... Nejibana is one of my favorite Zanpakuto concepts, shame it never got much development.
【Raine watched as her zanpakuto plugged into the ground to prevent his attack- good- that was exactly what he needed. If his attacks were occasionally not successful, he knew it would be good for him to be able to land another attack. Now both her blades were technically rendered useless. The metal of his blade hummed as it made impact with hers, and he quickly withdrew it as fast as he had attacked with it.
Then he felt a sudden force on his hand. The pain had increased so sharply that he let go. She had tugged the blade away from him but he had let go of it early enough to remain on-balance. She followed the attack with a roundhouse kick to him. Here is where Raine would take advantage. With a quick dart to move just outside the radius of the kick- he sliced his blade towards her oncoming leg.
'Gotchya-' He thought to himself. A limb for a limb. His eyes narrowed as he focused on making a direct hit on her leg.
[OOC] The plasma aspect of Raine's zanpakuto is roughly based off of Nejibana's water abilities.
Let your colors burn and brightly burst ༄ Into a million sparks that all disperse And illuminate a world that will try to bring you down - but not this time....
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