Welcome to Gaia! ::

((xD Fair enough, alrighty well before we begin I sent ya a PM with my questions about your profile just so I have some background information for my posts. Also since I haven't rped with you I have to ask if we are going to trade blows or play the "You cannot hit me" game.))

Krin Stumbled into the arena scratching his head and letting out a yawn that oddly resembled a roar to announce his presence. As he was waiting and attempting to sleep in the observation room he realized half an hour into it the match-ups were listed. He distinctly remembered reading on the listings "Krin Kenpai (7 B) vs Kei Aoi (4 S)" Based on how for everyone else(Krin included) the number meant what squad they were currently in Krin gathered that this Kei person must be a fourth squad member. The fact that a fourth division shinigami would enter a fighting tournament must mean that this person was no slouch in combat even by fourth squad standards. As much as Krin wanted to be cocky going into this fight since he was facing a medical division fighter still he remembered what his former captain of squad two taught him. She told him going into the squad seating tournament to never underestimate his opponent for if he did that then he would lose whatever advantage he had in the first place meaning he would have no reason to be arrogant ironically. Tightening the wraps around his fists he decided to plop down and take a power nap since this was the first opportunity to do so since he had gotten to this tournament. As he was laying down he took in all his surroundings, trying to plot possible strategies which he could use during the match, sadly the surroundings did not provide much wiggle room for strategies unless he wanted to risk getting a ring out. The sad part was the likelihood that his opponent being from squad four preferred to have man to man close combat matches was low making the chance for having a fun match dwindle more and more as Krin dwelt longer upon it.

((So are we gonna trade blows or try to go untouched? I don't normally ask this but I am starting to grow tired of my sportsmanship being taken advantage of.))

Krin's power nap did not last as long as he was hoping it would. Which was increasing Krin's cranky levels with every minute that passed where he was not able to sleep. As he felt the reiatsu approaching the ring he heard a mans voice calling out to him. Lazily half opening one of his eyes while still laying down on the hard metal he realized his opponent had arrived. Now while to most it would just seem like Krin was merely waking up but in the instant he opened his eye he instantly began sizing up his opponent, it was part of Krin's deceptive behavior in a fight. To most, even his own comrades he seems like nothing more then a lazy bum however when the captain truly becomes serious it is a fierce sight indeed to behold with ones eyes. The major thing's Krin preferred to look at when sizing someone up was first and foremost their height and arm reach. As a martial artist size and reach are huge factors in a fight. The next thing he noticed in the corner of his eye was the shinigami's zanpaktou. As opposed to a normal katana he wielded a wakizashi, normally used by feudal samurai in combination with a katana similar to how a boxer throws punches. The wakizashi was used like a boxers jab for quick strikes while the katana was like the straight for slower yet more powerful blows. Krin had no experience dealing with such a sword however he at least was educated on how it was usually used in combat so predicting it's movements would just need time to learn the strike pattern. With his initial observations done in merely the few seconds Krin has held his eye open he slowly rose up brushing off his shinigami robes and fully opened both his eyes, something he only did when he was fighting seriously. Staring at his opponent he tightened his wraps before making his initial remarks before the true combat began.

"Oi oi, you must be the Aoi kid. I guess that makes me your opponent eh?" Krin chuckled with a sheepish tone insinuating that he had just recently rolled out of bed and had not had his morning cup of coffee. This was once again Krin's deceptive nature in a fight, while he looked like he was ready to press the snooze button in reality he was focused and prepared to take a life if needed. Looking at Kei he decided he was done with the pre-match talk and that it was combat time, being the old fashioned honor bound fighter he is he decided to let Kei in on this recent conclusion he had come to. "I wish you luck however I should warn you that I am in the worst of moods right now since every one of my naps since I have gotten here has been interrupted, so I am incredibly cranky at the moment and just waiting to project my frustration onto something." The seventh squad captain bluntly stated. After announcing to his opponent that he was basically ready for combat he adjusted his posture into one of his martial art stances. Sliding his body sideways leading with his right hand because he was a southpaw he positioned his feet to where they were stretched out as far as his thigh would reach and bent his knees slightly before shifting his weight to the balls of his feet for faster reaction response. Taking a deep breath as he exhaled he brought his right arm to where it was fully extended facing Kei and then brought his left hand to where it was right next to the right. Turning the palms up to where the fingertips faced the sky and the palm faced Kei he drew his left arm back by bending his elbow to where it was now right next to his heart and near the other end of his body. This was his first form of Kenpai Hakuda, Assai Hirate. Reiatsu levels rose as Krin channeled his reiatsu to his hands and outlined his forearms in case of a minor blade scraping against them. With these precautions in hands Krin sprung forward in a slightly slower then shunpo dash towards Kei ready to take his advantage during the beginning of the match when releases were not allowed, leaving simply the shinigami's own fighting abilities to defend themselves. With Krin taking the final step to where Kei would he in his rather wide reach he stomped his foot hard on the metal floor bringing his drawn back left hand forward with a surge of all his might right towards the fourth squad member intending to now size up his reflexes and how he reacted to being pressured in a fight.

~1
((Good luck))

Krin took note of the shinigami's reflexes, which was the main reason for the in other circumstances suicidal frontal assault. The young warrior had very nice fighter instincts however as Krin suspected with him being in the medical division he was not able to hone them due to lack of combat experience. This merely confirmed Krin's original suspicion the moment he saw a fourth squad entrant. In order to have the confidence to enter a tournament like this and be in the fourth squad you would need to be somewhat confident in your abilities and Kei surely did have some. However you could have the greatest potential out there but if you do not gain experience it only takes you so far, and Kei was two hundreds too early to be taking on somebody of Krin's combat experience. Still even with that Krin would have to take him seriously if he wanted this fight to go smoothly and carelessly rushing in would not solve things. Looking down at his left fist which was the one that struck the wakizashi he noticed a very noticeable cut in the wraps around his palm which seemed to just prove his point of taking this fight seriously. No matter what advantages he may have the fact was a weapon was in front of him which evened out the playing field fairly well. Chances were when the shinigami actually decided to go onto the offensive that he would make quick work of Krin's wraps and leave his hands in even worse shape. Krin however figured he had a plan to minimize Kei from going on the offensive. The second reason he launched that attack was because every fighter reacts differently to pressure, some face it head on, others back away while defending, and some cannot handle it. Kei due to his lack of combat experience was not one of those people. At this point Kei already believed Krin to be bigger and mightier they he truly was so Krin was going to play to that weakness. Using his intimidation to break down his opponent he would continue to grow his advantage for as long as the time limit on shikai was still in affect, however he had to get to work fast. There was truly so much to do in so little time however that would only aid Krin in intimidation as he would have to come after Kei hard. Being the clever fighter Krin is he decided to use a taunt in order to make his opponent feel like he was in trouble. Calmly and being sure not to show that he was concerned with his hand he lifted his head to speak.

"Oi oi, are you sure you want to do this?" Krin asked making sure to keep his poker face on during this transaction, which wasn't difficult since showing emotion visually wasn't really Krin's thing. "Martial Arts was created so people who lost their weapon would have a way to fight armed opponents. All of your techniques are designed for generic killing. Mine however " Krin said however pausing at the end for dramatic effect before raising the fist that was not cut and clinching it in front of his face before turning his voice to a darker tone. "Were specifically created for killing you." He bluntly finished. Selling it all with fierce eyes that could pierce metal. This was not entirely a bluff, Hakuda was created for taking on armed opponents and Krin was about to show Kei why he was correct. Changing his stance he curved his elbow bringing his hand from being fully extended to where it was only roughly six inches from the shoulder. Then the fighter moved his left hand to where is was almost paralell with his right shoulder(the side he was facing Kei with) so his fists were in close proximity to each other. This was a different variation of his Kenpai Hakuda used for when fighting an armed opponent and with Krin always wanting to show off his martial arts as opposed to using his blade he used this form often. Now came the second part of his bluff. Continuing to pressure Kei to where he felt that it was not in fact a bluff but a certifiable fact. Taking another quick dash towards Kei he made sure the wakizashi was in his line of vision as he quickly brought his right hand forward however not clinching it. In that sense it was quick and like a jab heading towards Kei's jaw and with it his left hand was heading towards Kei's right pectoral which was the side of the body Kei was holding the wakizashi in. In this simultaneous blow Krin incorporated both defense and offense as with inexperienced fighter when you hit them in two separate areas(commonly the body and the face) they panic and are not sure which to defend. Human instinct takes over and they go for the face to defend their preceptors. In fact this move was so effective competition karate officials deemed it an illegal move. Now that was the offense portion, the defense of it was that by sending his fist towards the side that held the blade and keeping it in mid range he was very flexible in deflecting the arm by either the elbow or the wrist in case Kei decided to bring his blade in. Also he had his legs in proximity to do a move Muay Thai practitioners often used of lifting their knee's to launch the opponents arms upward changing the aim of their punch. Krin was truly bringing on the pressure the true question was would Kei's reflexes help him last the release time limit in one piece?

~2

'Worked like a charm.' were the words lingering in Krin's mind after he felt his left palm firmly connect with the pectoral. The Yamikaze technique was brilliant for pressuring the opponent which was exactly what he ordered and with that in addition to Krin's disposition he was certain Kei was right where he wanted him. That's when things took a bit of a u-turn; when Kei jumped back Krin's fighter instincts took over and he backed off not wanting to rush right into an attack. Ironically by staying there he did rush into an attack and suddenly confident thoughts turned into ones of profanity as Krin quickly whipped his captains haori to partially cover the blast and used his reiatsu enforced forearms that were charged when he first attacked to take the rest. He needed to keep it together if he wanted his intimidation strategy to work, luckily the haori covered a surprised look that gave the impression Krin had soiled himself. On the bright side; apart from the slight burns on his forearms and right side he now knew why a fourth squad would enter a fighting tournament. Kei's reiatsu control was phenomenal. Krin however was not all that worried about the close encounter with the explosion. From a logical standpoint Kei at the moment due to the immense pressure he was feeling in a life or death situation retaliated and threw out what he could to stop a potential harm to his body. In other words, basically Krin was going to have to tough through adrenaline before a feeling of hopelessness would kick into Kei's mind. All the captain had to do was to scout Kei's remaining abilities, analyze them, and prepare a defense to where he could get close and continue pressuring Kei.

While at a glance it may have looked like his shikai's ability was to release explosive amounts of reiatsu at the wielders will Krin could slightly detect reiatsu movement from Kei's hand to his zanpakto. Krin however just thought he was going to use it to add power to his cut. Now however Krin roughly had an idea what his opponent could do, however the limitations were sketchy so he would just have to assume the worst. Favor was on Krin's side as he had the majority of the momentum going for him in the fight meaning even if his zanpakto was playing lazy today he could still fight well. The captain however was truly hoping he would not have to show his latest acquired skill as he wanted to save that for later rounds when he would need it. The slight sound of hair flopping around was the next sound heard as the captain of squad seven shook his head for concentration. Not wanting to give Kei too much time to rest he took a swift dash towards him once again however this time keeping his distance with even more powerful and longer kicks. Leading with his right side the right leg was the main one attacking unless he decided to switch his stance to orthodox. Krin however would only change his stance in order to dodge, evade, or overwhelm an opponent.

~3

((Apologize for the delay, school is starting soon so I now am having things to do for a change sweatdrop ))

Krin was no fool; when he noticed the shunpo his awareness was on maximum settings as he detected similar reishi fluctuations that occurred when he first discovered Kei's reishi ability. At the moment the seventh captain had just about enough of Kei's little ability and he was truly growing tired of having to deal with it. This entire fight was becoming a bummer to him since being constantly on the offensive never was his style. He was beginning to rethink his strategy since due to Kei's well thought out traps it appeared as if the pressure wasn't quite getting to him, a surprise however still in the realm of possibility; Krin just needed to turn up the heat. After realizing the reishi was all around him Krin swiftly charged his feet with reiatsu and jumped upwards towards Kei with the force of a shunpo to lift him high enough to try to escape any major damage to him. The partly worked due to the explosions being all around him however his chest which was not protected by his hakama sustained damage and Krin had to clinch his teeth in order to keep from wincing in pain. The upside to that move however was by launching himself at an angle towards Kei the blast force actually propelled him forward allowing him to swoop down on Kei and continue his plan, this time however he was tired of that ability so his zanpakto would be involved in the matter. While still in the air Krin swiftly drew his sword and uttered the words needed to release it's power, surely after all the explosions Krin had gone through Kumo would not remain lazy.

"Breathe...Soudaikumo." Krin said as a large gust of wind howled throughout the arena as his blade took a sharp, crescent shape curve and had three holes appear along the length of the blade. With that Krin came crashing down right near Kei and had already swung his sword releasing a large wind slash from all the air he had collected while airborne.

~4