Initiation

Mayu was in a good mood for once. She had been sleeping happily, but then her Vice-Captain, her new one, interrupted her sleep. So now she wanted to test his strength in a sparring match, she hoped he wasnt as fragile as the last one. She stood on the branch of the tree and waited for Togire to catch up.

Togire landed lightly on a branch in front of and slightly below his captain. He looked up at her, his smile still everconfident, almost to the point of rudeness. It wasn't his intention to offend anyone, though. It was just how he was. He brought his hands up and hooked his thumbs around his belt, letting his arms hang loosely, "is this the place, Cap'n?"

She watched him there standing so smugly on the branch below her. It was amusing, to say the least. If anything at least Togire was confident in his own abilities. Mayu couldn't be sure she would be able to control herself if she made him bleed. She did tend to get into a blood lust rage sometimes, especially when Nanao was not around to keep her in check. So Togire's nonchalant manner would change soon enough, because Mayu would be going to go for killing strikes. She swung her sword around once slicing the air in front of her distractedly.

"Yea this is the place, you'll either prove your worth here or die like the last Vice-Captain" She said in a matter-of-fact way. The Vice-Captain before Togire had nearly shit himself when he heard that. Mayu had found it incredibly amusing, but he had died by her hand honorably. He had not stopped fighting, even at the end after she had broken both of his legs. She had bathed in his blood gleefully, but not eaten any of his organs, that would have dishonored him.

Mayu hummed to herself brought her katana up charged right at Togire, giving no warning before hand. It was time to begin his initiation.

The sudden attack had caught Togire completely off guard, but nevertheless, Togore was still able to draw his zanpaktuo and leap backwards onto another branch, avoiding her as she closed in him. Togire then dropped down to the ground, distancing himself from his captain. He chuckled, "Life or death, eh? I should've expected this."

Togire brought his sword up next to his head and whispered, "Live, Shoto."

The zanpaktuo elongated into a four foot long blade with a two foot long handle. The entire weapon was introcately decorated, appearing almost too beautiful to be used in actual combat.

Togire dropped into a defensive stance, "I'm ready for you, Captain."

Togire may have been able to dodge, but was foolish to think that she would let him get away so easily. While he wasted time with dialogue Mayu had already caught a foothold and changed direction shunpoing to stab Togire while he used his zanpaktou's release phrase and stood perfectly still for her. Mayu had a menacing grin on her face, the fight had started and she was already having fun.

Togire's smile widened as he saw his captain charging him. She had wasted no time with conversation and, from the look of things, didn't intend to in the future. He could enjoy working for a captain like that.

As Mayu approached Togire took his long sword in his left hand and, when she was close enough, swung the blade in a wide arc at her, aiming at the center of her chest below her breasts. As he did this, though, he curled in all the fingers in his right hand except for his index finger. Whichever direct Mayu dodged to, there would be a Hado #33 waiting.

She saw the wide arc and her first instinct was to dodge, however she saw Togire curl his hand and knew he was preparing a kido, especially since most people like to fire hadou with their index finger. So instead of dodging she blocked his blade with hers using her right hand, sparks flying as she continued moving towards him closing the distance quickly and preparing kido of her own in her left.

Togire let out a small exhale of breath as Mayu blocked his blade and continued to power forward instead of dodging out of the way. Though unexpected, this new turn of events wasn't problematic. Instead of trying to guage his abilities, Mayu had rushed in blindly. This would hurt her a lot more than it did him.

With his left sleeve blocking his rigt arm from view, Togire pointed his index finger towards her and muttered under his breath, "Hado #33, Blue Fire Crash Down!"

The blast tore through his left sleeve and continued towards Mayu at point blank range. Togire would be consumed by the blast as well, but as far as he could tell, it would be much more problematic for Mayu.

(Way of Binding # 81: Severing Void portects users from other kido up to 89 as used by Kuchiki Byakuya against the 7th Espada.)

She had been expecting him to do something with his free hand and this is why she had not used both hands to block. The moment he brought his hand hers was up as well and she was also casting a kido. "Bakudo 81#:Severing Void!" She yelled, as a massive barrier appeared between herself and Togire, absorbing the blast and protecting her as she stood behind it the blast being sent back towards Togire, as it had nowhere else to go. She liked him already, he was smarter than the last one at least.

OOC: Captain of 11th knows high level kido? Not impossible, but not expected, either. I always assumed Byakuya was a master of kido.
IC:

Togire was becoming very unhappy with the number of times that his captain had caught him off guard during this fight.

The Hado #33 crashed into the wall that had appeared before it, the explosion burning off most of the top of his black robes, leaving only his legs, waist, and right arm clothed. The explosion rocketed Togire backwards, causing him to skid along the ground for a good fifteen meters before slamming against a tree trunk. The scent of scorched flesh and cloth filled the air, wafting up from Togire's fallen form. The fallen man lay stunned for a moment before slowly rising to his feet, using the tree he smashed into to support himself. He turned to face Mayu, his face and torso covered in burns.

He smiled through cracked lips and rasped, "I didn't know that kido existed, Captain. I'm learning something new every moment I'm around you."

The white aura that Togire's zanpaktuo was emitting seemed to ever so slightly flare to life as he continued speaking, his voice much clearer, "Let us continue, Captain Mayu."

The wall dissapated as she released the kido. The smoke cleared and she smelled burnt flesh in the air, a smell she generally disliked. She held her sword loosely and had the blunt side of the blade resting on her shoulder now as she looked at Togire. The white aura around him began glowing more profusely, but Togire had yet to use any sort of ability at her. The blind rush usually teased out some sort of ability by now. She analyzed his smile. He still had confidence, still was smug. She couldn't help but smile. He would be a good lieutenant if he survived this fight.

"You amuse me Togire, perhaps you have potential after all..."

She took the sword off her shoulder and brought her arm down slicing the air. She slowly got into a stance of attack assesing Togire's own defensive stance. She would have to be mindful of Togire's kido use, he seemed to be rather good at it.

"Well then, round two." She said as this time instead of a charge she shunpoed appearing behind him already in the motion of a stab aimed at the center of his back.

Togire pivoted on his heel when he felt the air pressure shift behind him, spinning so that he brought his zanpaktuo in a wide arc at chest level as he did so. A new plan instantly formed in Togire's mind. Rather than dodge the incoming blade he could see out of the corner of his eye, Togire let it come. It would take more than that in order to kill him and the thrust left Mayu completely open to Togire's counterattack. Almost completely healed, Togire's eye twitched as the tip of Mayu's blade entered his chest just below his sternum. Despite all he had been through, he still hadn't learned how to completely shut out the pain yet.

As his blade drew closer to Mayu's exposed flank, Togire dropped his left hand down from it's hilt and grabbed Mayu's forward wrist, trying to eliminate her chances of dodging or blocking his sword swing.

She's an incredible warrior, Togire thought to himself, But she dives in headfirst too often. It nearly cost her earlier, and it's about to cost her now.

As her sword slid into Togire's flesh she could feel hi muscles quivering through the sword. She loved how it felt to cut through flesh and bone, she couldn't explain it, it just was. She noticed his flesh turning pink, and looked newish but not fully healed at all. Well, it seemed that he had healing abilities, now that Mayu had that piece of information stored away she would continue this fight a bit differently. The blade was now almost all the way in before she noticed Togire's blade comig in at her from the side.

Togire's hand was on her wrist, stopping her from running or blocking, but not stopping her body from moving. She simply fell to the ground letting the sword pass harmlessly over he head. She only lay there for a moment before grabbing the hand that Togire was holding her with and flipping back upwards so that her legs would be around Togire's head and throat. Now in such a position, she locked her legs to cut off Togire's air supply, still holding both her sword, and one of Togire's hands. "I wonder if your healing ability handles suffocation?"

Togire hadn't expected the eleventh division captain to be so nimble, and now, he was paying for it. As painful as it was for him to admit it, if only to himself, he couldn't regenerate from suffocation. How his captain had figured this detail out, he had no idea, but one didn't obtain a captain's position by not being a quick thinker. Togire's back was against the wall now, but he still had one last trick up his sleeve. Using his free hand, Togire grasped the blade of his zanpaktuo and drove it through his own side until it was nearly halfway inside of himself.

"Seppuku!", he choked out, a mouthful of blood exiting with the words and raining down on Mayu. Despite this, though, he was completely fine. As long as he kept his sword inside of his body, he would regenerate as if he was holding his blade in his hands. He had often wondered why his sword's manifestation gave him such a bizarre ability despite being one of the most pure beings he had ever encountered.

Togire took his now free hand and pointed it's index finger it at Mayu, trying his best to keep her from moving, "Hado #33, Blue Fire, Crash Down!"

The blue fireball formed at Togire's fingertip and roared towards Mayu, fired from inches away.

She knew he had to be running out of air by now, she had completely blocked off his esophogus. She watched with interest as Togire feebly grabbed his sword turned it on himself and drove it through his body. She was surprised, but greatly impressed, her new Lieutenant was interesting indeed. She laughed as Togire's blood rained down on her, she tried to drink some, and reveled in the taste of blood.

She heard him cough out something, and she thought Foolishness, speaking just that word will cost him. After the sword was inside of him she saw the index finger pointed at her. It didnt take a genius to figure out what was coming next. Oh no you don't. Before Togire had even begun to speak the kido's name Mayu used her flexibility to quickly move her head towards Togire's hand, biting down on his unmoving finger, and severing it from his hand, before the kido name was done being spoken. She chewed Togire's finger as if nothing was wrong while she continued to suffocate him.

Togire was struggling to stand now, black spots beginning to slowly fill his vision. Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered the pain shoot up his hand when his finger was bitten off and eaten by his captain, diluted by the burning of his lungs. Even further in the back of his mind, he was horrified that she had actually eaten his severed finger. His balance faltering, Togire curled the index finger on his hand that was still in Mayu's grip up to her stomach, hoping to catch his captain off guard.

He could no longer see and he was on the verge of collapsing. Even so, Togire couldn't miss at this range. With the last bit of air in his lungs, Togire let out one last wheeze of breathe which roughly translated into, "Hado #54... Waste Flame..."

Togire's grin only widened as the raging garrote of flame erupted from his weakly extended finger into his captain's gut.

She could hear him gargling and looked at him with curiosity. He didn't have much left in him and she seemed to have won without even having to use her shikai. She was content until Togire started gargling. She knew what he was trying to do, and she could feel the warmth of the kido already forming. But how? Then she notcied his finger under her hand outstrecthed. Annoying.

Was all she had time to think before the kido slammed into her gut erupting into a flame that would have incinerated her gut, making it cease to exist if she hadnt buffed herself with her massive reiatsu. She could prevent the incineration, however the pain was immense, and she could smell burning flesh, and could see the extremely severe burns on her stomach. It made her sick but the pain, instead of making her let go and flail like some weakling would do, made her furious, and she clenched her legs even tighter, which would break some of the vertabray in Togire's neck.

She did not let go simply because of the extreme burns, because Mayu wasnt one to flail around in pain. She was the Kenpachi, the first female to obtain the title and screaming in pain wasn't something that Kenpachi did. So instead of letting go, her grip only tightened, it was her way of dealing with pain, the tighter grip helped her concentrate on something else besides the pain.

Her stomach was badly burned, the skin had been burned away to reveal charred muscle, and blood could be seen sliding slowly from the corner of Mayu's mouth as she bit down on her tongue to keep from crying out in pain.

Though Togire's sight had faded away and the pain in his lungs had increased to maddening levels, Togire was still able to take some pleasure in the scent of burning flesh and how his captain's entire body tensed up in pain. It wasn't that Togire had some perverse pleasure in causing pain; he wasn't a sadist. Instead, it was the pleasure one takes in harming an enemy. Togire began to panic, though, when his captain wasn't forced off by the attack. In order to finish him, she had taken the hit from a high level kido at point blank range. Cause for more concern was that when Mayu's body tensed up, she squeezed even harder than she had before. Ever so slowly, Togire's wide grin slowly fell into solemnity.

Too weak to stave off the inevitable, Togire's head shot to an awkward angle, a sickening crack in the air.

Muscles loosened, and Togire Yaiba fell limply upon the ground, taking his captain with him.

They fell in a heap on the ground, hitting the hard earth with a sickening thud. She had heard the snap of bone, and for a moment thought that she had killed the one lieutenant she actually liked. Then she realized he was still alive, and fairly close to death. He needed Shiruba's healing. The pain in her gut was ridiculous, it seems Togire wasn't the only one in need of Shiruba's healing abilities. She walked over to him and plucked out both her sword and his from his limp body. After sheathing both swords she picked up Togire and slung him over her shoulder fireman style. This was going to be a pain in the ass. She began to painfully shunpo towards the 4th division headquarters, her near-dead lieutenant on her shoulder. She wastnt completely heartless, as proved through Nanao, and plus, Togire had proven himself to her.

>>exit

Togire could see nothing but darkness as he floated inside of a dark void.

"Am I dead?", he asked himself, not expecting an answer to come from the infinite blackness that surrounded him on all sides. There was a reply, though. A melodious voice that Togire knew as well as his own answered his question, "No, Togire Yaiba. You are not."

As soon as the voice finished speaking, Togire dropped, no longer floating but now falling through the infinite blackness.

He landed an open field dotted with tall trees, rolling hills, and covered in waist high grass as far as the eye could see. Occasionally, but rarely, a shrine could be seen. Togire awoke under a tree atop one of these hills. He leapt to his feet and immediately regretted it. He was inside his inner world now, perfectly safe from harm. Mostly. There was one person here that he detested looking foolish in front of. He sat back down, but perked up once he heard a chuckle above his head. He sighed, "Hello, Shoto."

Shoto, wearing traditional priestess robes with her dark hair running freely down her back, sat on a tree above his head. She smiled at him, "Hello, Togire."

Meanwhile, in Soul Society, Togire's limp form was carried off by Mayu.

>>>>>>>>Exit