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Tsurabisu stood in the center of squad 11's dojo with a bokken held tightly in each of his hands. Around him stood more than half a dozen of his squad mates, weapons at the ready. No Zanpakuto. No special abilities. As close as a fair fight as they could do against him.
Tsu couldn't help but smirk even as the first several began their attacks. A dip here and a side step there put him out of range of their attacks. More slashes and jabs flew his way, but he just made a small change in his stance every time a wooden blade came his way and all his opponents could tag was the air around him. True, the blades were falling very close to the mark, but that was how he liked it. It gave them hope. It would make them risk themselves just for that chance to hit something solid.
There was a point in every fight where it happened. That now or never moment where it was kill or be killed. Unfortunately for those men slashing at him, Tsurabisu knew when that was. Without warning, Tsu began lashing out with his weapons, scoring hits on the wrists and arms of several that had come just a little too close to him. An instant later, his blades connected with the stomach of another. A step forward and a duck under a slash got him in a great position to bruise a rib...or three.
Several slashes later and he was facing just one more opponent. 'Poor kid... He's been here in the squad longer than I have and he's actually shaking... I really almost feel sorry for him...' Tsu tossed one of his bokkens to the ground and faced his last opponent. The two eyed each other for what had to have been a full minute before his squad mate finally made a move. For the first time in a while, Tsu was caught off guard. He had to admit, he hadn't thought the kid would try something like that. He watched as his opponent dove for one of his fallen comrade's weapons then came at him with everything he had. Even though his opponent was using two weapons, Tsu still refused to give any ground. Instead, he began pushing his opponent back.
Tsu could see sweat running down the young man's face as he tried battling back, but with such weak attacks, the fight was already over. Tsurabisu swung low, giving his opponent a sizable opening, and of course the kid took it. The kid kicked off the ground, sending himself through the air, jabbing toward Tsu's heart. Only problem was that Tsu wasn't there anymore... Tsu spun to the side of the jab and came up with an upward slash that caught his opponent right in the gut while he was still in mid air. The force of the slash sent the kid several feet into the air before he continued with his original flight plan all the way to the floor.
Tsu tossed his bokken to the floor and called out to all the squad members in the dojo, both the ones watching and the ones lying on the floor. "Come on! You guys are no fun! Can't any of you even hit me? You guys are all I have since Ikkaku's off drunk somewhere and Yumichika hasn't sparred with me since he got that sliver..." A few chuckles escaped those gathered at the mention of Yumichika's little accident, and Tsu had to admit seeing his friend whining about his destroyed beauty because of a sliver in his hand was one of the funniest things he had seen in quite a while.
One more look around the room to see if there were any other takers and Tsu shook his head. Looks like his fun was over for a while. Or maybe not... He began to sense Hikari heading in his direction. He turned to leave but paused for a second. He pointed at the ones just getting off the floor. "You men. Clean this mess up. If Zaraki comes after me for the dojo being messed up, I'm coming after you. Understand?" After hearing enough "Yes sir's" to be satisfied with, he picked up his Zanpakuto, Hoshokusha, and headed out to meet with his childhood friend.

Tsu headed back to the barracks to where Hikari's reiatsu was coming from. He passed a few of his squad members on the way. He asked if they had seen her, though they just shrugged and continued on their way. As he headed down the hall to the squad quarters, he could sence her in the direction of his room. "Great..." Tsu started moving faster, hoping to get there before anyone else found out. He slid his door open and stepped inside, coming face to face with Hikari.
"You know, if anyone finds out you're here, I'm never going to hear the end of it... What do you say we head out and talk somewhere in private?"

Tsu reached out and caught Hikari by the shoulder. "Hey, don't run off. 'Kay? Though we shouldn't stay around the barracks. I'd really rather not deal with Ikkaku. And can you imagine if Lt. Yachiru walked in?" Tsurabisu gave his friend a grin. "Let's head out to the courtyard. That way we can talk. Besides, do you really think anyone around here is going to say anything to you while I'm here? They'd have to deal with me!" Tsu turned and took a few steps down the hall, then waited for Hikari to join him.

"Will you stop that?" Tsu turned to look back at her. "You know full well that I've never thought of you as a burden. How much longer are you going to act like this? I mean, we've been friends practically our whole lives. Tsu sighed and shook his head. "You know, you always do this. You finally work up the courage to talk about your problems and now that we're here, you wanna turn tail and run. I just really don't get you some times, Hika-" Tsurabisu was interrupted as he crashed into something. He hit hard enough to land on his back side. "Ah..what the...?" He looked up to see the tattered Haori of the 11th squad's Captain.

Kenpachi Zaraki slowly turned around to face the two. "And just what the hell is going on? Tsurabisu and...? Hmmm. What's a member of squad 4 doing here?"

"Sorry, Captain. Guess I wasn't paying attention." Tsu glanced back at Hikari as he made it back to his feet, relieved that she had her Zanpakuto with her. "And Hikari wanted to improve her sword skills, so she asked me to show her a few things. I figured since I was off duty, I may as well. Eh?"
Zaraki eyed the two of them for a few seconds before responding. "Well, the Lieutenant of squad 4 wants to learn how to fight? Maybe there's hope for them yet... All right. Get out of here, the both of you."
"Yes sir, Captain..." Tsu made a gesture for Hikari to follow him as he headed down the hall.

"And Tsurabisu," Kenpatchi called after him as he turned away. "If you run into me again, I'll kill you myself."
"I'll keep that in mind," Tsurabisu said with a grin.

Tsu looked down at Keikoku, laying . "Bankai, huh? You know, I'm surprised you've attained Bankai when you treat her like that." Tsu slid Hoshokusha from his belt and then sat down. He placed his Zanpakuto on the ground next to him and gestured for Hikari to sit across from him. "So, looks like we do have a lot to talk about. Tell me about your Bankai. What do you mean you can feel other people?"

She looked away. "I don't treat her badly! She wasn't supposed to kill people! She was supposed to defend and protect! If she can do this..." Hikari squeezed her eyes shut. Then it's all my fault...She thought to herself. "Then I failed at what I really wanted to do!" The cherry blossoms blew around her and she glanced around, sort of getting the feeling like she was being watched, but ignored it, figuring that it was just Tsu that was staring at her. So she continued. "And by feeling... how do I put it... You know how you can feel my reiatsu? Like you know if I'm angry, or happy, or even dying? Well, it's sort of like that. But I resonate. Like for a second, I don't just feel your energy, I *am* that energy. But it scares me, because for that same instant, I *am* everyone else's around me as well. There is just so much power. I can't handle it. And if I can't handle it, where will all of that energy go?"

"That's not exactly what I meant... I mean, look how you just dropped her there. If I ever treated Hoshokusha, she'd never let me live it down. But as for your Bankai, I think you just need practice with it. I seriously doubt you've tested out your Bankai, so I think that would be the next logical step. Don't you agree?" Tsu stretched his legs out and leaned back against the wall. "Do you even know what you can do? Yeah, you say you can feel people's energy, but what about it? Can you do anything with it? Honestly, I'm a little curious about it. Maybe we can get out of here and you can show me. That is, if you don't mind showing it to someone other than your precious Captain Toshiro..." Tsurabisu smirked. He never missed a chance to tease Hikari about squad ten's Captain. Though he knew the story behind it, it still sounded as if she was a little obsessed with him.