"Come on! Come on!" Ikkaku yelled as he kept slashing down at Tatsuki with either his sword or his scabbard, the bastard would even sometime exchanging them between his hands in order to confuse Tatsuki about which hand would attack her with an something she could block with her arms or could not.
Ishida and his opponent had gone away due to the Quincy always jumping around in order to make space and shoot his arrows, leaving Tatsuki alone with her opponent if one ignored Orihime standing away from them with her triangle shaped shield in front of her.
Meaning that Tatsuki could go all out without hurting her friend.
"Is the sneak attacks all you got?!" Tatsuki roared as a huge torrent of flames erupted from her mouth, which her opponent barely dodged before he slammed his scabbard to the end of his sword's handle and yelled out.
"Grow, Hōzukimaru!"And with a gust of wind, the two seperate pieces became one; forming a naginata with wooden shaft and red tassel on its end.
This was something she had been expecting for a while. Shikai, the first release of a Shinigami's Zanpakuto through calling out the weapon's true name. Her opponent's wasn't as impressive as those she saw in her training.
"Here I come!" But that didn't take away the fact that it increased her opponent's base abilities quite a bit.
The movements that she could easily follow before had become so fast that she could barely react to the thrusts that came far too close to her chest for her liking. She thought that about just flying up and then drowning the whole area in a sea of flames but that would not only call every Shinigami to their location, it would also definitely end up getting to Orihime too.
So instead she jumped back in order to get some amount of space between her and the bald Shinigami before litting her hands aflame and put them on a defensive form, waiting with her knees slightly bent.
Ikkaku realized that she was baiting him to attack, likely some form of preparation in order to catch his weapon with her flaming hand and try to take it from him. He could use Hōzukimaru's ability to become a sansetsukon, a three section staff, in order to make the blade go around her and get a chance to slash her neck.
"If that's what you want!" But he wanted to break through her strategy, so he thrusted Hōzukimaru with all his might; aiming right below her chest.
*Squelch*
"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime cried out with a horrified expression as blood flew into air and the blade of the spear went into Tatsuki's side.
She had jumped to the side right as the spear had been about to pierce her chest, but not fast enough to completely save herself.
Ikkaku could only smile with a small amount of disappointment. His opponent had been very impressive and it was something of a novelty to fight someone who fought barehanded outside of a bar fight. It might have been even more fun if her little gamble had worked.
"Got you!" Or maybe it had. Going by how she locked the spear with her bicep before pulling it even closer, uncaring of the wet sounds made by the blade moving inside her, and Ikkaku's eyes widened as he lost his balance.
Even as he tried to regain his footing, he could see Tatsuki raise both of her arms up and bring them down just at the moment he managed to regain his footing. Only a moment late as her fists landed on his shoulders and Ikkaku could feel the ground beneath him crack, along with his shoulders.
Years of battle and taking injuries made it clear to him, both of shoulders were pulverized.
And before he could do anything about it, he felt his head get grabbed and his eyes widened as Tatsuki reared her head back right before a new pain erupted in his forehead and the realm of unconsciousness claimed him.
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"Just how long do you intend to keep playin this game?" Yumichika asked as he batted away another arrow made out of reishi with his already released Zanpakutō. The sickle-like weapon with four identical blades had yet to miss an arrow that the effeminate Shinigami hadn't dodged and Ishida was starting to get pissed about it.
The man before him claimed himself to be a fifth seat, meaning that there were two people who were stronger than him in his squad without including his captain and lieutenant. Yet Ishida had yet to land a single attack on him.
Cain had claimed that he and Kurosaki shouldn't have much problem against anyone below the level of a lieutenant, so why was he struggling?!
"You are not an ordinary fifth seat, are you?" He asked, keeping his voice steady in order to make it sound like he had just discovered a secret rather than trying to protect his own pride, right before shooting another arrow.
"Hmm, I guess you could say so." Which was blocked by the unconventional sword. "The matter of fact is that I refused to become the fourth seat when it was offered because I found the number four ugly."
"...Ugly?"
"Yes, it's horrendously ugly; I can't understand how those from other squads can deal with such an ugly number for their position." He said with a sigh. "The one number that is truly beautiful is the number three but unfortunately that position is filled by my friend Ikkkaku, who's fighting your friend right now. I think we both could have become lieutenants if we had decided to act on the chances when there were openings."
"Why didn't you?" Ishida asked with a frown, drawing the string of his bow and taking aim.
"Because then we would be serving under a different captain." The effeminate Shinigami said with a shake of his head before coldly smiling at Ishida. "And our loyalty is only to Zaraki Kenpachi, the captain of the eleventh squad." He then put his hands on his Zanpakutō, which started to emit a green glow.
"Now then, we're far away from others enough, so let me show you my real power. Tear in frenzy, Ruri'iro Kujaku."
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