Outward Reflections [Asami, Hyosuke]

Her counterattack deflected by the opening of the wagasa, Asami recoiled in time to observe the red liquid fly from his weapon and then simply hang in the air around them. The overwhelmingly acrid smell in the air told her all that she needed to know. It was blood, and he was controlling it. Had she been in private, genuine disgust might have sept through her previously guarded mask but she was able to hold it at a sobering frown. It was not the fault of a user as to what powers their zanpakuto granted them, but it could also be said that it was a reflection of one's inner self in at least some aspects. What an affliction to bear, and yet he used it so indiscriminately.

Yet, as soon as he had presented his advantage, Hyosuke retreated and took much of his blood with him. The lone straggler being the dagger embedded in her thigh, which she permitted herself a glance towards and was rewarded with the knowledge that it appeared to be either made of or coated in blood. Given the abilities he had already displayed, leaving it there was nothing short of foolish, but perhaps he intended to try to punish her should she go to remove it. A weakness of two-sword styles was their lack of a free hand, after all, so perhaps it had not been the most prudent decision to simply endure his initial salvo. But lamenting the past did not solve the problem in the present.

Sliding a step back, Asami prepared to make more space between them when Hyosuke surprised her again by suggesting that she take some time to heal her injuries and consider the exact question she had just dismissed. Likely it was another trap, a chance to catch her off guard again, but still, she was expected to answer. Again she turned, presenting him with her left side in profile, as her right hand returned her black weapon to its sheath before reaching down and ripping the blood dagger free before going to toss it aside. All the while her gaze remained levelled on Hyosuke, waiting for another sign of attack or trickery.

"I am fine to continue, rather than waste time dulling my senses." That much was certainly true. Though her clothes were a little torn, the injury from his spell was already almost gone and the cut at her side was hardly the seeping wound that it might have first appeared. That was Asami's strength, her ironclad constitution. "You showed a lot of different techniques, I have shown very little in return. Incantation-less magic, impressive agility, manipulation of blood. Changing my strategy accordingly is only practical now, but information cannot be gained without paying a price for it."

Hyosuke considered Asami's words for a moment, no attack nor trickery came from him this time, and instead he merely nodded in a polite bow to oblige her.

"As you wish Asami-san and your views on duty are wholly shared, respectfully."

As Asami made her point about having learned a bit about Hyosuke's fighting style, and he little of her own, his chin tilted back in appreciation as he smiled. A soft chuckle leaving him as he grinned.

"True enough, but can you endure long enough to use it?"

For now Hyosuke would weave the blood back into Benicho Kogo and angle the umbrella down, closing it tightly, into something resembling a fencing stance as he kept his appraising grin and gaze affixed firmly on Asami.

"Your move, Asami-San. I think I will accept the wisdom presented to me, after all, no good teacher does not also learn from his students.~"

Hyosuke kept the palm he had pierced angled behind him, not revealing the blood to be found there, even as it assumed a position simply to help him maintain his balance. After all, as the blood dagger Asami tossed aside clattered to the floor it stayed well out of her direct line of sight, and she was correct in considering it a mistake to toss away or otherwise dismiss. Baiting her forward as he was would only make it more likely she would forget about something so innocuous as a single dagger that barely did any damage, especially one that had already been used for it's purpose. It was, to any reasonable person, no longer a threat and more inconvenient to keep in one's body than toss aside out of reach.

Granted Hyosuke expected a change of tactics as Asami had hinted, as she was now aware of one of his more direct tricks with Benicho Kogo, though it was something rather simple and one who knew his abilities could likely anticipate with forethought. Unfortunately for his determined student he was far, far from out of things to teach her today and he planned completely on staying true to his question and testing her endurance as well as her mind.

Though no attack came from Hyosuke as he offered both answers and questions, Asami was not so foolish as to think that it would not. She drew her weapon again as soon as the dagger had been removed, crimson eyes lingering upon her opponent though sparing a single glance to make sure that the bloodied weapon was not already moving of its own volition. Though Hyosuke had revealed at least one facet of his power, there were many other factors to consider around the manner in which he wielded it.

"Of course, I hope my offence proves satisfactory to you."

Asami did not launch into the attack as soon as she spoke, waiting a few moments to make it more likely that he would not be on the back foot, and only when she was ready did she throw herself forward with a flash step of her own. Closing the distance between them in a moment, she appeared right in front of her target. First, she brought her katana down across the length of Hyosuke's weapon, seeking to drive both weapons to the ground with the force of her blow whilst also limiting the flexibility of the Wagasa should he attempt to pop it open again.

Whether that initial strike was successful or not, Asami was already moving onto the next stage as she matched his own prior display of speed by darting around behind Hyosuke with a second flash step. This time she didn't strike with her blades, still holding one back for an immediate attempt to counter, as, instead, her right leg went to stamp on the back of his own leg as close to the knee joint with a crippling intent of her own. Certainly, there was little that she was holding back in terms of strength and a few decades in the Onmitsukidō's Detention Unit had turned her limbs into weapons just as deadly as the ones in her hands.

Hyosuke gave Asami a smile, a nod, and readied himself for them to continue as she wished for him to find her rebuttal satisfactory. A level of cordial professionalism that brought some respect to the surface of Hyosuke's voice as he responded curtly.

"I am sure I will, Asami-san."

As Asami moved in Hyosuke was able to track the movement well enough, though she was splendidly fast, precise even, and as she angled her weapon into his already-downturned weapon Hyosuke gave a faint nod of approval of her choice of tactics. Though he had already begun to roll the hilt of the weapon in his hand, following the force of her strike and drawing the tip of the Wagasa even further away than her weapon was already pushing it. Once the hilt was spun around, now wielded in a hammer-fist reverse grip, Hyosuke leaned forward and delivered what meant to be a firm, cracking strike to her jaw with the butt of the Wagasa handle. Thankfully for Asami, however, she had begun to move already and Hyosuke found himself striking only her afterimage.

With a growing smile on his face Hyosuke felt Asami move behind him and, in this instance, he was quite fortunate his bloodied hand already faced behind him. The moment Asami appeared there his palm would erupt with a half-liter of blood from his hand, acting as something akin to a flashbang eruption of crimson aimed for Asami's head and chest, seeking to blind or otherwise throw off the accuracy of her attack. After all, being sprayed in the face with blood would be rather... disorienting to the most well trained of warriors if for no other reason than it would earn an automatic blink-and-flinch response for threatening the target's eyes.

Nonetheless Hyosuke did feel Asami's kick drive into the back of his knee with enough force to drive him down onto that knee, earning a sharp hiss of pain from the dojo master, though he was not quite out of ways to respond just yet. Though in it's Sealed state Benicho Kogo could not move his blood fast enough to intercept such attacks he could, still, respond to them. So as Asami stepped on the back of his knees Hyosuke would attempt to dredge blood up from the fibers of the robe she stepped on and HOLD her foot to his knee. Not allowing her to withdraw the appendage as he used his reverse grip on Benicho Kogo to stab it into his own guy. The Wagasa phasing through the blood in the fibers of his clothing and emerging in one of two locations.

If the blood had been successful in capturing Asami's foot it would attempt to lance up into her calf, further seeking to cripple her mobility with a fierce stabbing wound. If the foot capture was unsuccessful then it would emerge from the blood on her body or face he had sprayed earlier, attempting to impale her undamaged arm and further hinder her. If neither of these were successful the Wagasa would appear from the back of his robes, as if it melded through his body, and open itself once again. The blood within the fiber's of the Wagasa spraying out in a vicious series of spikes and thrusting jabs along with the Wagasa's tip.

Hyosuke's initial blood spray would be mostly countered by Asami's tanto-wielding arm, which had yet to commit to the offensive, coming up in time to shield her face from most of the attack. It did mean that the arm itself was covered in his blood, and there were a few drops that had made it past her guard and onto her face itself, but not in as vast quantity as he had likely hoped. That much had been accounted for, but what had not been expected was that his clothes themselves would suddenly become adhesive. Her initial attempt to simply return to a neutral stance was met with ample resistance, so she applied a little more effort to the matter. It took precious moments, but she was finally able to pull free with a forceful tug.

Unfortunately, she only caught the briefest of glimpses of him seemingly stowing his weapon into his robes and had not the time to process this strange development before the Wagasa emerged from where her foot had just been stuck and stabbed upward into her retreating leg. It was her turn to grunt in pain again as Hyosuke found another creative method of catching her by surprise, but a wound like that would not stop her from continuing the attack. Her other leg kicked off the ground, lifting her entire form into the air as she added another step to give her more momentum before launching herself over the kneeling Hyosuke and delivering a spinning slash with both tanto and katana toward his right shoulder as she went.

The black and green blades were quite the peculiar pairing, but Asami hoped that either one would strike home so that she could use that as an anchor point to swing herself down and land on the other side of him again. Failing that, she would have to use a sudden flash step to give her the push that was needed to keep moving around him and use his own broken posture against him.

Hyosuke was honestly beginning to enjoy this duel with his newest prospective student. Asami possessed an earnest lethality and grace to not only her actions but her being that he could not help but respect. She was responding well, very well, to a rather unorthodox fighting style but she made what Hyosuke considered to be a very flashy mistake many combatants fell prey to: she put herself at the sluggish mercy of gravity by jumping over him. Even from his knee Hyosuke was able to react quickly enough to begin his next planned course of action.

As Asami landed back in front of him, now back in something resembling her original position, Hyosuke's response was swift and precise. Intent on being the ending blow of their confrontation unless Asami could respond well enough to keep herself in the game. Even before Asami landed Hyosuke had pulled his Wagasa from his robes and turned it around, swiping Asami's blood from the tip in one fluid motion as he did so before opening it once again to act as an effective barrier from her attacks. But playing defense was not his only recourse. In the same moment Hyosuke would manipulate the blood knife Asami had thrown away, the one now well behind her, and with his form now hidden by the Wagasa to keep his movement secret, he would send it forth aiming to impale Asami in the back close to the spine. Not attempting to truly hit her spine or anything so serious, but an unexpected blow meant to disorient her.

To help keep Asami from executing her follow-up Hyosuke would manipulate the blood on her arm to pull her DOWNWARD as hard as it could. Given the amount of blood it would be much more forceful than the grasp on her foot, and in the same moment, even the loose smear on her forehead would attempt to push her head BACKWARDS. Under normal circumstances Hyosuke could not react to the strikes of another in his Zanpakuto's sealed state but the precious moments Asami had used to leap over him had given him the time to prepare these motions in the brief seconds it had used.

If, from that point, Asami had executed her Flash Step or not Hyosuke would be calling forth Bakudo #62 Hyapporankan regardless with the hand that had collected her blood. A mass of blue-white rods would fan out around his body, far enough away to be visible around the Wagasa, and with a simple hand gesture the rods would lance forth with great speed. If Asami was successfully kept in place by the blood knife striking her and his blood on her person twisting her body enough to stop her Flash-Step then the special quality of his Blood Magic would see to the rods curving around the Wagasa at an angle, unnaturally so for a Kido, to pin and impale Asami by her clothing to the ground. If Asami had, regardless of the interference, executed her Flash-Step, then the rods would curve around Hyosuke to attempt to impale and immobilize Asami to the ground behind him.

Asami had not expected him to call upon his discarded tool so soon, her senses were hardly dull enough not to track the one apparent item of blood that he had neglected to return. Of course, it was understandable to use such a weapon when one's own stance was broken so that it might provide the advantage to return to neutral. For that purpose, it would certainly prove advantageous. His weapon emerging once more from inside his robe was another aid, though she was yet to deduce the exact nature of that technique. It did certainly succeed in blocking her strikes from impacting him, becoming the shield he needed, but it at least prohibit him from making any blade strikes.

Swiping behind her, guided by a spare glance, the knife would find itself matched by her katana and ideally deflected or destroyed. Unfortunately, again, Asami had no idea of the finesse at which he could manipulate these objects. If there was a way that his attack could persist then there was little that she could do beyond enduring the shrapnel.

The pull of his blood against her limbs was also somewhat unexpected, though by this point she was unsure if anything that touched his blood could truly be trusted, so she leant into it and dropped low at a frightening speed. Left with little other option, she simply discarded her tanto and let it clatter down first. This did free up her hand to catch her fall, though, and Asami used her new position to attempt to sweep a kick under the guard of that cumbersome umbrella. Ideally, she might catch his other leg and bring him down to her level, but failing in that simply inflicting some more damage would be sufficient.

There was a third layer to his plan, though, and one that she might have struggled to deal with by itself. A powerful Bakudo spell delivered at close range was going to have problems connecting with her, but the blood factor helped in guiding the rods down upon her and drew an exclamation of surprise from Asami. She had never intended to simply lay there and be hit with such an attack, of course, but there were far more lances than she could avoid. A few did miss her, the sharp angle making even his extra guidance unable to salvage them, and some more were evaded, but, by the end of the barrage, Asami was pinned to the floor by a dozen or so rods. He had tried to prioritise her clothing, so the injuries were rather light, and already she was straining against those bonds. Exactly how long he could hold her there for was not yet apparent, but it was hardly going to be forever.

As Asami cleaved the thrown knife in twain it's form broke and clattered to the floor in an oozing splatter of liquid blood. In the same moment his blood began to tug her form it seemed Asami at least noted the Wagasa did not reach the floor itself in the same instant Hyosuke noted her Tanto hitting the floor. As Asami's leg swept under the Wagasa expertly and Hyosuke's Bakudo pinned her to the ground Hyosuke did motion with Benicho Kogo to cause the blood that had once comprised the knife thrown at her to grasp and discarded Tanto and slither away with it. Bringing it out of Asami's grasp as his leg was taken out from under him.

All at once Hyosuke would find himself falling onto the floor along Asami's pinned form, his leg half laying atop his arm at the calf and Hyosuke would snap Benicho Kogo shut. Taking a moment to note Asami struggling with the Bakudo before he calmly extended Benicho Kogo out and, rather gingerly, touched the sharp tip of the Wagasa against her throat under her chin. More a tickling touch than a real threat but enough to make the point as he gave a genuine chuckle. Their match ending not so much in a roar but in a casual whimper as he grinned at her. The cool metal of Benicho Kogo falling down to trace the artery to make the point their match was over perfectly clear before Hyosuke pulled it back.

Now laying there for a moment Hyosuke would move his leg off of Asami's own and, rather than move away, he simply laid there and waited for her to potentially free herself. His voice now rather casual as he nodded.

"Well, Asami-san, I can certainly say you have proven your capabilities. If not in your laudable determination than in your adaptability as a warrior."

Now sitting up Hyosuke would cross his legs, letting Benicho Kogo rest against his shoulder, and he would offer her a hand to aid her in sitting up if she wished it.

"I am quite sure the 5th division could do with much worse than yourself. I am sure your Captain is quite pleased. Though that does raise the question of whether you feel instruction here to be something you wish to pursue. I would gladly have you on as a student if you wish but if you feel it to be too great a strain on your time then do not feel beholden to accept."

Standing up now Hyosuke would not offer a hand again, suspecting that even if Asami had accepted a hand to sit up she would want to stand on her own two feet, and he would give a small bow.

"Regardless, seeing such a determined and focused woman in action is always a pleasure."

The beams of energy began to crack as Asami writhed against them, the strength of her body testing itself against the spells, but she was not fast enough to prevent his blade from finding her neck. It was unlikely that she could achieve more from this position, beyond perhaps giving him a single spiteful stab with her katana, and that would only end in her immediate demise. She was pretty soundly defeated, and so her second weapon fell to the floor as well.

The lustre left her eyes at that realisation, the thrill of the fight fading from her as she stopped actively trying to escape the binds holding her in place. Glancing at Hyosuke, there certainly was no malice to her gaze though it contained at least some frustration. She had likely not expected to best the master of the dojo, but was the frustration at the quality of her own defeat or the manner of his victory? It was not immediately obvious, though her brow did furrow as he simply sat up and left her pinned there. Silently, her leg which had been trapped under him retracted close to her before beginning to kick out the rods and disperse them manually. After a few close kicks, she simply pulled her body upright and let the rest collapse away.

"You are too kind, Master Niyagata. I suppose I should be thanking you for humouring me so."

Looking down at her clothes, rent and torn from where he had stabbed and impaled her, she let those sensations of pain wash over her as the adrenaline too began to wear off. The base of her foot ached quite terribly from where it had been sliced, a miserable wound if ever there was one, but it would fade and scar eventually. A little memento of their bout.

"My duties as a member of the Gotei would take priority over anything else, but I may still drop by from time to time when the fancy takes me. If you would have me, of course."

Asami had not intended to shun his offer to help her up, caught up as she was with freeing herself of the bonds that he had not dismissed, so she did wait a few moments after Hyosuke stood to see if he would offer again. Finding him to have moved on, she took matters into her own hands again and eventually stood. Resting awkwardly on the side of one foot to let it continue to heal.

Of everything that had taken place during their bout, the kicks, slashes and abuse to his leg that he would no doubt be tending to none of it compared to the revulsion Hyosuke felt the moment he saw the all-too-familiar sight of the excitement and determination leaving Asami's eyes. In truth he held no small amount of an urge to order her to dispel these doubts but.... he was not her captain and only, perhaps, her teacher. He showed none of this on his face, of course, though it was a close thing. He had admired her tenacity and devotion, so to see it replace like this so starkly..... he was dissatisfied to put it lightly. Enough that he shook his head, retorting firmly.

"I did not humor you out of pity Furukawa Asami, I respected your challenge out of just that, respect."

Tilting his head forward in thought at Asami's remark about her duties to the Gotei Hyosuke took a long, serious moment to think. It was, perhaps, the best thing she could have said to help break the indecision currently taking place in his mind. She had, in a way he doubted she realized, dictated his approach as much as if she had physically commanded him to do it. Thus Hyosuke respected Asami's condition, he felt, in full and set Benicho Kogo aside before approaching her. His eye did not leave her as he extended his hands, left palm cut open horribly, and focused his energy into restorative Kaido. His focus was largely on any extraneous damage to her torso and limbs, as his pride did not quite allow him to kneel and focus the healing directly on her foot, his skill was enough that it may help somewhat.

After doing this Hyosuke was beginning to feel a sort of internal weight, a tingling heaviness, as he felt his energy struggle and rouse somewhat beneath the eyepatch's suppression as he had just began to touch something resembling exertion. That done Hyosuke would inhale sharply and step back, nodding his head, as his demeanor changed in a flickering instant. Becoming serious, though not angry, a she crossed his arms and met Asami's gaze with a rather fierce determination. His voice was not a commanding bark, but it was lower, more authoritative in a way only one who had ordered others to death could command. One could almost call it a bit..... reproachful as just a small bit of the authority Hyosuke commanded as a noble and once commanded openly as a Captain, shone through.

"Furukawa Asami, allow me to make things two things perfectly clear to you. First, do not insult me by assuming I would humor or coddle a woman of your capabilities. Every ache and pain I will nurse tonight you earned as a warrior, wipe that doubt from your eyes, it ill suits you."

Hyosuke let that semi-order hang in the air for just a brief breathe before he nodded again.

"Secondly, I am nothing if not a man of principles, as such it is due to said principles I offer you a choice and, whatever it may be, know that I will respect it utterly."

Hyosuke then allowed himself to relax a small bit, his features softening a little, as he gently smiled at her.

"Whether it be considered improper you have shown qualities both admirable and intriguing. At present the principle I would have known to you is that I do not.... DO. NOT. Romance my students. But you have intrigued me equally as a woman and as a combatant, as such, you would be more than welcome to return here whenever you wish should you choose to take the path of the student, but it is a binding choice. Beyond that, if my supposed kindness is of any interest, I would also have our next time together see you smile, if possible, but should that be your choice then I am afraid I would have to deny you the ability to return here for training. But I do trust one thing..... that you have proven whichever choice you make you will be devoted to it, and so, I will honor it equally and fully."