I Missed You Too [Private/Ask to Join Only] [Arianda/Henrex]

That aching pain that had accompanied him since his own death -- the blaze that had also taken the lives of the people that he loved -- it was what had made him come to an absolute despisal for the sheer concept of death, as well as an immense fear of it. Thus, for a while, Henrex went silent. He was mournful of Soke's coming death -- but he knew that he had to move past it. It was a bit cliche, but he knew that Soke wouldn't want that. He would want him to keep refining the ways of the ninja, passing the torch in his place.

Henrex knew that Soke wouldn't be around forever and that he would have to pass on. But, he would not be performing the act -- no, Soke had chosen to have his soul ascend into Heaven, and for the Shinigami, that meant becoming one with the Soul King himself. While he was vehemently against it, as he wished for Soke to live in the afterlife as he was -- but, regardless, he respected his master's wishes. It hurt him to do so, but he would allow his master to have the death and afterlife that he wished for.

Thus, breaking from his trance an coming back to reality, Henrex softly ran his hand through Arianda's hair as a gentle smile formed on his lips.

"I'd be more than happy to let you come with me next time, Arianda."

After a tight hug from Arianda, she soon leaped off his lap and sat in attention, ready to begin. Taking a moment to figure out how he would kick this session off, Henrex took a look around at the mansion.

"Before teaching you anything, you have to start thinking like a ninja. I want you to take a look around the mansion, and tell me the things that you think stand out -- structure and design, placement of objects, anything."

Arianda could only give Henrex a big Ari grin before Henrex posed to her to look around and see what she noticed around the room. The demon blinked for a few moments before she looked around. Arianda didn't exactly know how to think like a ninja. Would it be looking for areas to hide, things to use; stuff like that? She really had no clue. Sure, she had a few secret places that the demon had put into the house after she moved in, but, that was likely not what Henrex was talking about. So, the demon took a few more looks around before she started to think hard.

The ceiling of her mansion would be good to hide in. It was high up, and definitely had areas to hide in; the couch, the tv, any place that could be hidden behind. So, the demon finally stopped thinking to look around once more before her sight fixed on one of the parts of the ceiling; one that was quite shadowed and seemed to be good for hiding in. Or something of the sort.

"Uhm... perhaps that? Sorry Henny... I'm not to sure how to think like a ninja just yet I guess."

It was true, she didn't have the best clue of how to think like a ninja; but she at least knew that places to hide were likely ideal. So, after that, the demon took a look at Henrex; waiting for his input. After all, the student and teacher roles had been reversed. Now it was his turn to teach Ari. While Arianda wasn't the best when it came to knowing exactly how to ninja, she certainly could learn given time. And, well, Arianda definitely would need to learn some of the basics quite quickly. After all, this lovely little demon was willing to learn.

As Arianda turned her gaze and attention toward the ceiling, Henrex turned his head up, lifting off the ground for a moment to examine the tile, pressing upward as he took a peek into the ceiling, nodding lightly as he lowered to the ground. But, rather than comment, Henrex started to look around -- now looking at the residency through an entirely new perspective. Eventually, he settled on the remote for her TV, staring at it for a short time before he turned around to face Arianda again.

"Might be a bit unorthodox, but this could make for a quick throwing weapon or a kunai."

The moment he stopped speaking, he flung the remote toward her at Mach speeds. As she was likely to catch it, Henrex simply waited a few seconds before he started back toward her, taking a look around the mansion once more.

"A ninja's weapons are everything that exists. Adaptability is one of the greatest and most important skills that you can learn when it comes to ninjutsu. A pencil could be a useful makeshift shuriken. You could make an easy trap with a lightbulb by shattering it and spreading the glass around."

As he spoke, he pointed to the items he was mentioning that were placed around the mansion. Overall, the main point of this lesson was to give Arianda the ability to think more broadly and embrace a more creative side to combat. She needed that ability if she were to ever fully utilize these skills on the battlefield.

"Because of this, the ninja clan I was trained by developed the set of eighteen core skills to ninjutsu. I don't have the time to teach you all of them, but I can teach you some of it."

Smiling softly and drawing his sword, Henrex tapped into his power of manipulation his Zanpakuto, morphing the weapon into a moderately sized kusarigama.

"And I think one of the first things that we should start with should be kusarigama-jutsu. The art of the chain scythe."

The demon could only blink as Henrex chucked her tv remote at her; which she caught rather gently. It controlled her TV, she didn't want it to break. Which is why she flicked Henrex's head while he was speaking, puffing up her cheeks a tiny bit. She definitely was still listening, and taking note of that, but, he coulda thrown her remote with a little bit less force than he did. She soon placed the remote back down next to the couch; where it should stay as it was a remote, not a kunai. Regardless, Ari listened to what Henrex was saying and took note of all the things she could use as weapons in her own household. It was definitely an odd concept, especially the whole "using a remote as a weapon" thing. Despite that, Arianda took note of it and put it to memory and made sure to keep it secure in her brain.

Soon enough, Henrex seemed to move onto more actual Ninjutsu, which caused the little demon to perk up a tiny bit more as he spoke. She was intrigued before, obviously, but Henrex moving onto Ninjutsu is what really grabbed Ari's attention. So, the demon looked at Henrex; but she was soon puzzled by why he could only teach her some of them.

"I have a feeling you don't have time because you need to do what you mentioned; which I still offered to come. Or is it something else, Henny...?"

The demon turned her head to the side, looking at Henrex as she was still a little puzzled but soon lost her puzzled expression when Henrex changed his Zanpakuto and spoke once more; about Kusarigama Jutsu. It was a good thing he said what that meant, otherwise Ari would be, to be honest, a little clueless about what he just said. However, The Angel of Conflict liked the idea of a chain scythe, so Arianda listened to Henrex, eventually taking her scissors out of her pocket, since she uses her powers of manipulation over the giant scissors to temporarily make them small, grows it to normal size, and lays it on her lap as she sat to listen to Henrex as he would explain the Art of the Chain Blade.

As he lightly spun the chain scythe in a circle, Henrex shook his head softly at Arianda. It wasn't that he needed to go soon -- while that was a part of it, it most certainly wasn't the main reason. It was simply that there was a lot to learn within the world of the ninja. From hand-to-hand combat to ninja magic, there was a lot for someone to learn.

"It's not that. Well...a little bit."

Henrex carefully slung the weapon over his shoulder, before reaching into a hidden pouch around his waist, pulling out and revealing a handful of kunai, shuriken, caltrops, along with a variety of other deadly tools. Putting them back in their rightful places, Henrex took the chain scythe back in his hands, sighing softly.

"It took me almost a year in order to learn the basics of ninjutsu, and I still have a lot to learn. I can't teach you everything, but I can teach you some of the more...important things."

Sliding his hands along the handle of the weapon, he quickly swung the weighted end of the chain scythe, along with the chain itself at Arianda. Meant to drive her focus away, as it reached the end of the curve, Henrex released the weapon, allowing it to spin briefly as he lurched forward and stopped the weapon, merely a breath from Arianda's neck.

"Overall, the main purpose is to use the weight and chain in order to distract the enemy. If successful, you can surprise and subdue your opponent, especially with regular kusari."

Taking the weapon away, Henrex let out a quiet breath as he let the weapon return to its normal form of a sword. Reaching under his cloak, he removed a rather long segment of chain, complete with a weighted end and collapsible scythe attached, and held it out to her.

"This one's a bit longer, so, we might want to move to somewhere a bit more...open, since there's some other ways you can use this that I want you to try."

Arianda pouted at Henrex, wanting him to stay longer so she could learn more; and he should know that she didn't at all mind going with him if he needed to go somewhere. Of course Arianda didn't mind; she wanted Henny to teach her all he could. The demon let out a gentle sigh, watching Henrex closely as he threw the weight chain towards Arianda. Her first reaction, of course, was to catch the weight end, if she could at least. However, it seemed that whether she could or not, Henny let the other end of the Chain-scythe swing around to her and stop it just before her neck; the demon's right hand alight with crimson red flame and pointed towards Henrex. She sighed softly and gingerly pushed away the point of the scythe end from her neck. Afterwards, she had the fire, quite literally, lick Henrex's cheek; feeling like a lick and not fire scorching his cheek.

"Yup... distraction definitely seems like the key there; unfortunately, if I was a normal being, that scythe piercing my neck would be certain death. Well, normally."

She winked at Henrex, grinning at him before she watched him again, the flame she had in her right hand fading away. Arianda nodded at Henrex before she popped her neck, taking the Chain-scythe from Henrex rather gingerly. She looked at the weapon, opening the scythe and gently spinning that very end of it before she collapsed it; slinging the chain over her shoulder and grabbing Henrex's hand rather tightly.

"Cmon! If we need more space then no better place then the back-yard! Not the pool area, No need to fall into water today! But, the backyard should work just fine, Henny!"

The demon grinned widely at Henrex as she dragged him out to the backyard, eventually stopping as they were finally outside; letting go of Henrex rather suddenly before she took the chain-scythe off her shoulder and opening up the collapsible scythe part and spinning it slowly.

"So! What are you wanting to show me with this.. chain scythe thing, Henny? and I still wanna go with you so you aren't alone when you visit your clan or whatever! But still! What are ya wanting to show me?"

Arianda looked rather excited to learn about this particular weapon. After all, Arianda loved all sorts of weapons in the long run; it would be fun to learn another.

Given that something similar to it had happened before, Henrex wasn't exactly putting up much of a fight or had any real amount of surprise when it came to Arianda swiftly grabbing him and dragging him outside. So, straighening himself and reverting his sword back to it's typical sword form, Henrex gripped the weapon with both hands and slid into stance.

"If you aim right, you can use it to disarm enemies, causing another form of distraction. Try that with me."

The moment after he said this, he took a single step forward, raising the sword and performing an overhead strike. Should Arianda be able to disarm him with the chain-scythe, Henrex would step back and call his weapon back to him. But, if she didn't, his weapon would simply turn into a wooden sword and lightly bop her on the head before stepping back and letting his sword revert back to normal.

"Now...another thing you could do is immobilize the enemy. If the chain is long enough, and you have enough range, you can wrap the chain around an enemy's torso and disable them, or you could trip them by wrapping it around their feet, either one or both. Again, try it on me."

Remaining in place, Henrex held his sword in a basic Kendo stance as he waited. If Arianda were to attempt to trip him up, Henrex would allow it to happen, falling to the ground and getting up a few seconds afterward. Taking in a deep breath, he took a glance at the scythe that she held, smiling softly as he returned to the Kendo stance.

"Now, try and come at me like I'm an attacker or a target. Keep unpredictability in your attacks so you can keep me guessing. You don't have to just use what I showed you. Use whatever you can to take me down -- but, you are restricted to the chain-scythe only. Try and use anything you know from your normal scythe too, adapt them to the chain-scythe."

Arianda hummed at Henrex as she watched him gently spinning the weighted end in her left hand, looking at Henrex as he explained to her what he wished for her to do. To disarm. Clearly, it would be a little difficult since she had never used such a weapon, but, the principal behind the disarming itself should be relatively easy. The hard part would be swinging the weapon around the weapon or Henrex's hands. To Arianda, the best way to do this would be to go for the blade of Henrex's Zanpakuto.

As Henrex approached Arianda with his sword raised, Arianda hummed softly still as she threw the weighted end of the chain towards Henrex; flicking it at the right moment to force the chain to wrap around the blade of the Zanpakuto. If it succeeded, she would give it a good yank to the side to try and tear the weapon from Henrex's hands; if not, well, Arianda may have a tiny bump on her head. Afterwards, the demon would rub her head no matter what; taking what she did to memory as Henrex wasted no time moving to the next step of this training.

The demon peered at Henrex, holding the weighted end of the chain in her hand, after she retrieved its length of course, before she threw the weight towards Henrex; flicking the chain once more at the right time to change how it behaved and to wrap around Henrex's chest. The demon then used her right foot as an anchor while she would give the chain a rather harsh pull. It wouldn't create a hard impact for Henrex, but the initial pull might hurt a tiny bit. If Arianda was successful, which she likely would, the demon would grin before retrieving the chain again; a mad grin spreading across the demon's face as Henrex gave her instructions for what to do next.

"Sorry if this hurts then, Henny~ But I won't injure you! Cuz I love youuu!"

The demon grinned madly before she charged at Henrex; the weight end of the chain spinning in her right hand. With a rather sudden burst of speed, Arianda threw the weight between Henrex's legs and then quickly moved to his side; making the chain wrap around his legs. The demon soon then gave the chain a yank to unbalance Henrex; her foot pushing against his back in a controlled kick. The chain also wrapped around Henrex's arms to restrict his movement, so he couldn't attack with his sword, as the demon used a bit of the chain to wrap up the Zanpakuto. Afterwards, Arianda then pushed the now open scythe end of the Kusaragi against Henrex's neck; holding him up a tiny bit so the blade would only be against his neck and not cut him or anything like that. She grinned at Henrex, breathing a bit more than normal as she had to use a weapon she wasn't entirely familiar with.

"So... how was that Henny? Not bad I hope. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to pull it off..."

Keeping his eyes on the weighted end of the kusarigama, his hands gripped the handle of his sword tighter as he waited for Arianda to make her move. Maintaining his stance as she hurled the weight at his sword, he intentionally loosened his grip as she easily yanked the weapon out of his hands, causing it to slam blade-first into the floor.

Readjusting his stance as he wasted no time taking a step forward, he was swiftly met with Arianda also continuing her own movements, retrieving the weighted end of the chain-scythe and slinging it once again in order to wrap around his chest. Stopping his movements, he immediately took action in response, unfurling his wings and spreading them outward in order to force the chain off of him as well as pushing Arianda back as the two of them readjusted their footing and stance again, with Arianda slinging the chain again.

Moving one of his feet backward, he watched as she successfully wrapped the chain around the other foot and pulled him off balance, before quickly restraining his hands as she closed the distance between them, opening the blade of the kusarigama and pressing it against his neck, effectively pinning him where he was. As Henrex started to raise a hand, he soon lowered it, softly nodding in response to her.

"Good job. Chain-scythes are complicated to use in closed spaces like this because of the length of the weighted end needing a lot of open space."

Sliding free and calling his Zanpakuto back to his hand, Henrex briefly tapped into the influence he had over the shape and properties of his Zanpakuto in order to form a kusarigama of his own in his hands, taking the scythe in his hands as he pointed it toward Arianda.

"The scythe part is used to strike, slash, or thrust at an opponent's body, whereas the weight is for ensnaring an enemy's weapon, the opponent themselves, or attacking directly by striking the body. The main goal of using a chain-scythe is to disarm, or make it as difficult as you can for an enemy to use or maneuver their weapon effectively."

Arianda was quite pleased that at least two of her maneuvers worked; but judging by Henrex's movements she could tell he was giving her some leeway. But that was fine, she probably needed it even if she was good with weapons; a new one is always going to be hard at first. She smiled at Henrex, pulling the scythe end of the weapon away from his neck and let him stand up; helping him up to his feet because she could. Well, she would if Henrex didn't completely slip free of the chains. However, she smiled at Henrex and then listened attentively.

It made sense the scythe was used to strike at your opponent. Same thing with what the chain was used for; but she was glad for the seemingly finishing up of this part of their lesson. She hummed softly, thinking after Henrex had stopped speaking before she nodded at him and smiled again.

"I... I think I got it. Here lemme just..."

Arianda gently laid the chain-scythe Henrex had given her to use at her feet; she then pulled a pair of scissors out of the pocket of her skirt. Henrex would probably recognize them right away; Ari's scissors. She spun the scissors by the eye ring and it expanded to it's full size; which Ari seemed to heft not only with ease but a bit of joy. Clearly, this weapon had been her faithful companion for a long long time. She then focused on the weapon, and it's form shifted; slowly morphing, becoming longer, and definitely changed forms. Soon, Arianda held her own chain scythe in her hands. The blade that folded out from it seemed to be a bit sharper than the one she used; but it was also serrated. Arianda smiled, folding it back into itself and then held her scissors; now chain scythe.

"There~! I can probably also just turn this into a scythe too, if I wanted to~ Thanks Henny, got anything else for me today~?"

Arianda smiled at Henrex, gingerly holding the chain scythe before she morphed it into a scythe; seemingly without even giving it much thought. But, it gained a slightly unfinished shape before Ari let out a small sigh and returned the scissors back to their normal form, shrank them, and stuffed them away in her pocket. Afterwards, she walked up to Henrex, picking up the chain-blade she placed on the ground, and gave him another smile.

"Or do I have to wait a little before I can learn more ninjutsu?"