Log; complete

[hajikemomo.livejournal.com]

When; Wednesday Jan 31st, evening/night
Rating; PG-15~ish?
Characters; Zaera-Polo unresearched and Hinamori hajikemomo
Summary; Having finished her training with Urahara, Hinamori decides to accept the other offer she'd received and approaches Zaera-Polo for a fight. [aka; logging with yourself is fun.]
Log;

Shortly after sunset, Zaera-Polo did what he had been doing for the past week; headed to the beach to get away from the stupidity of the City. He'd had enough, from Grimmjow's emotional outburts to his doubt that Aizen-sama was all there in the head, from humans and general stupidity. His blade was hungry, he was hungry. He had fought the only twice since coming here, both times refraining from a killing blow, content to leave Grimmjow fully aware of who was the better. But it wasn't enough. He needed more, more anger, more pain, more blood. A death wouldn't go amiss. But no, Aizen-sama had ordered a truce, ordered them to stand down, told them that fighting without prior permission was not allowed.

And that was an irritation he could do without. Especially as he stopped short of the sandy expanse, noting the presence of someone else. Someone who'd told him four days ago that she would wipe that grin off his face.

He eyed her warily at first, content to keep himself hidden as he ran over the facts in his mind. She'd disappeared for three days, to train under the ex captain, Urahara. She was a kidou master. She was Aizen-sama's broken toy. She was a worthless shinigami who had somehow managed to contribute to the emotional wreck that used to be the Sexta Espada. She was sickenly cute when covered in her own blood and reeling from the shock and - though he would never admit to it again or so help him he'd punish himself - not that bad in a bikini.

But those were facts, and Zaera-Polo knew them all by heart. There was something odd about the way the whole situation was set up, and he hung back in the tree line to contemplate it a little further.

Firstly, it was a surprise to see the small vice captain. Secondly, it was a surprise to see her alone. But alone she was, sitting in the sand quietly. Serene, almost. Waiting. Reiatsu unmasked and blade sheathed. An open target, but he let his sonido place him beyond her, into her range of vision... Had her eyes been open. A smirk, hand dropping to rest on the hilt of his own zanpakuto. Honestly. Still so naive, so trusting.

"You'll catch a cold if you sleep here." It would be fun to rip the second life from her.

Hinamori slowly reached to her left, hand running up the sheath she'd forced into the sand, tapping the guard, finding the hilt. "I'm not sleeping." With a small effort she made it to her feet, raising her head as she opened her eyes. "I was waiting."

His grip tightened involuntarily at her tone, her expression, the way she moved. She couldn't have known he was coming here, and yet here they both were, and though there was defiance she seemed as weak as ever, stumbling to her feet. "I'm honoured, then, vice captain."

There was no one nearby; no one with noticeable reiatsu anywhere they could respond quickly enough. She'd certainly chosen a remote stretch of the beach to wait on.

"Don't be." Retying the zanpakuto to her side the shinigami noted the way he tensed, allowing herself to relax slightly. She was in pain, she was still hurt, and technically she'd said she was going home to get some much needed sleep. But something had driven her to the beach, to wait, to sit in silence and coldness and just be there. Something churning away, rougher than the ocean before her, a driving force that had clung to her, forced her to heal the wounds in a careless manner, forced her to stay awake to listen to her heart beating and watch the sun set and stars come out and remember what she had done, what she could now do, all that she was capable of and all she would be capable of in time. "There's something I need to test. You were the one that offered your services before, unless that offer has expired?"

Ah, so she did intend to fight. But how? She looked drained, exhausted, burned up. Her robes ripped, torn, blood stained. Expression weary and determined, step faltering. And yet she was standing. Interesting. One quick sweep to take note of the burned fingers, darkened and somewhat dull eyes, and the way she seemed too small for her uniform was all he needed to make up his calculating and devious mind. It would be a good opportunity to see how many times he could knock her down before she finally snapped.

To hell with the Sexta Espada, feeling, the truce, even Aizen-sama, all that mattered was killing the shinigami before she killed him; a task that was looking easier and easier to complete. "This is unofficial, you know. Although you said you would, no one was alerted."

"I know. I don't want to have to say we need the rules, to agree on them. If we stop, we stop." Tobiume swung free, point tracing a line in the sand by her feet as she brushed some of the offending dust off her hakama. "If we don't, then we don't." Gathering her reiatsu to her - she'd need all she had left to even think about attempting this, fighting an Espada, fighting at all in her current condition - she waited once more.

Heh. "How kind." Zaera-Polo freed his own zanpakuto, sonido kicking him forward and into her face, blades crashing as she blocked him. "Let us see how long we last then."

She wasn't in the mood for talking at all, more content in answering his assertion with a push, an upwards swing, countering his step forward, parrying his thrust, dodging his strike. Faster than he would have expected given her physical state, but not as fast as he could go, and he pushed her slowly back across the sand, shunpyo and sonido guiding them from spot to spot, clash to clash, determination to curiosity. A splash as they hit the ocean in the dodging game and she kicked back - up - sword pointed fiercely.

"Release it, vice captain."

A smug smile - oh, he knew what that zanpakuto was capable of - and he was already there as she called the shikai blade forth, dodging the initial blast it fired, the secondary one she'd prepared in the interim, bringing his blade down from behind as she spun left, letting blade scrape arm, draw blood as the third hit found home, burned his side and brought a smile to his face.

Unrelenting they carried down the stretch of sand, slowly but surely the Espada goading her, feinting and leading her, waiting on her now for the chance to take her neck. He lost count of the clashes, of the hisses and yelps of pain, of the amount of times he smiled in that self satisfied manner. Sand and water kicked up around them, weighing them down and making it that much harder to breathe.

Three more flawless strikes, skidding to a stop some feet apart to watch warily for the other to move first as they caught their breath. "Interesting results so far, toy." But nothing he couldn't keep up with, couldn't surpass. Raising his hand, he started to charge a cero.

She frowned, deep-set in concentration. The shinigami needed speed, and to do that there was the matter of that pesky limit or forcing her hand. She didn't want to force yet, and the limit wouldn't just break, and she brought her hands forward, "Bone of a straggling beast, spire, crimson crystal, disc of steel, when the wind shifts," blade pointing down, stance as perfect as it had been back in the academy, keeping an eye on the rate of his charge, "And the emptiness ceases, let the clash of lances resonate through the relinquished castle." A shift, wrist turning to complete the hand movements, and in the same calm voice that had released so many similar kidou spells, "Hadou 63: Raikouhou!"

Zaera-Polo backed down, cero fired in a rushed manner and missing completely, sonido taking him away from the dangerous streaks of lighting none-too-soon, but it was the opening she needed and the loosening of the kidou throughout her body that helped snap the limit and she willingly let her reiatsu flare as she prepared another kidou to throw at him.

He should have known she would attempt to slip into familiar habits, knew her strengths and weaknesses as Aizen had written them down and handed over but somehow the girl on paper and the dark haired vice captain in front of him didn't match up.

Dodging yet again he slipped behind her, flaring his own reiatsu to combat the surprising pressure from hers, pushing against the broken limit as he brought steel round to her head. Tobiume snapped up, caught his blade and forced it aside, swung in as he struck forward again and they pulled back once more, assessing damage and struggling to keep the other back with the larger reiatsu force.

The difference was miniscule but he smirked, calculating the situation to his advantage. With zanpakuto in hand he swung once more at her head, smirking as she shunpyo'd out of the way to bring Tobiume down from behind with another blast of energy; the opening he'd looked for to force his reiatsu over the shinigami.

And then she was down, on her knee, blade hitting sand, breathing hard and his still unreleased zanpakuto at her innocent little throat. A second to enjoy the sight of her kneeling like that, coated in sweat and blood and sand and salt water, and the Espada smirked to himself once more. He would be kind and leave her that inch of life. For now. Hands moved blade aside, sought her neck and held tight. "A shame, vice captain, that you did not train for your bankai while you were gone as I thought you might have. You could have put up more of a fight."

The dark haired girl snarled in his grip, clawed at the hands on her neck, hands choking her, depriving her of what she needed. Somehow she managed to splutter, "I have one more thing," somehow she managed to pull her reiatsu back to her and with a low growl she let it explode all at once, reiatsu forcing him back, zanpakuto forcing him back, self forcing him back. Blade bit skin, flashed across white cloth and the vice captain moved back, hand dropping from her face and for one brief moment he caught sight of a monster before he exploded, wound tearing open and pouring blood, leaving the Espada to drop to the sand in shock.

"I may still have the body of a child, but that does not leave me with the power of one," murmured so softly as she wiped clean the sealed blade, sheathed it. The Espada would live, the wound deep enough to kill if left unattended for several hours, but she doubted he would let it get to that. The finishing blow wasn't hers to impart, anyway, mind made up that death would solve nothing. Her voice gained a bitter edge as she continued in the same quiet tone, "This isn't about revenge, Espada. Add to your research, I will gain whatever power I need to bring Aizen down and stop this war. No matter what it takes from me."

He'd been checkmated, and he watched the girl stumble a few steps, pause, unsteady on her feet, then she disappeared completely with shunpyo, taking the last shreds of her reiatsu with her but leaving blood stains in the sand and on his hands to gleam dully in the pale light.

Formidable. And interesting. Coughing blood he forced himself up, taking his zanpakuto in hand. She hadn't even let him respond in time to release it, her reaction speed having doubled if not more so at that moment. A small snarl as his wounds let themselves be known and he sighed, kicking back into sonido. Getting healed would come first, and then he would rethink the limits of his patience with the broken toy. As soon as he regained feeling in his left arm, anyway.

The City had become that much more interesting.