Exkoizu Mi? Can I get some help? [Shishiyuki, Igen]

Receiving a letter requesting assistance in training wasn't inherently that surprising for Shishiyuki. She'd already been a teacher at Shino for quite some time now, and people asking for her help had only become all the more common since she'd revealed the scope of her mastery. This, however, was a bit different. A recommendation from Lady Sawachika wasn't something she saw from most, and it perhaps spoke more to the intensity of this particular requester's commitment than anything else.

Well, if someone had gone through that sort of trouble, Shishiyuki was willing to give them her time, as well. Giving a brief farewell and a few words of advice to the unseated member she'd been sparring with previously, she turned to Igen with her usual composed, almost stern expression.

"Mr. Gyakusuma? Lady Sawachika spoke well of you. What can I help you with?"

Right to the point, but not dismissive. After all, Shishiyuki had made her mastery known specifically so that others could grow as well. Being the greatest meant nothing if you had no one else to face meaningfully.

His awkward silence certainly didn't go unnoticed, and Shishiyuki had to wonder if that was a matter of her appearance or simply Igen being scattered. Regardless, she listened as he explained the conundrum he was facing, and rather immediately she understood why Lady Sawachika had sent him here.

"It is a complex technique to utilize, certainly. Complex enough that even I haev not entirely achieved it, even with my own understanding of hakuda and kido both."

Rather than seeming dismissive, however, Shishiyuki's tone suggested she was thinking on the matter, and she crossed her arms almost expectantly as she seemed to study the young man before her.

"The principles are relatively straightforward, when one studies it. The difficulty comes in the magnitude of the accomplishment, and how taxing it is on one's body and spirit both. You understand the fundamentals of hakuda, of course. The intense empowerment of the body for the briefest of moments, through the use of specific and rigid technique. This is what makes it far more efficient than raw empowerment through one's own reiryoku, but also makes it much more rigid, and leads to the development of schools of martial arts surrounding it. By contrast, shunko much more closely resembles that very same empowerment through reiryoku, a constant flooding of the body's spiritual pathways. This is why one needs not only an exceptional grasp of hakuda, to understand one's own flow of reiryoku, but also of kido, so as to control such an intense flow. Controlling it demands an ability to adapt in the moment, and to prevent it from simply bursting out of the body and crippling oneself."

Stepping into he center of the sparring ring, Shishiyuki gestured for Igen to follow, before taking up the stance of Kyokushuretsu Kongou Ken, hands forward and open, ready to adapt to any change in the flow of battle.

"If Lady Sawachika has recommended you to me, then it means that she believes you would have done well in the 11th Division of old. I, then, will train you as I would have a fellow member in those days. Do not focus on besting me. Focus on your body, every pathway of the reiyroku flowing through it, and on maintaining that flow. I will disrupt that flow. Brace for it. Adapt to it. This training will not end until your understanding is sufficient to achieve even a rudimentary shunko, or you fall unconscious."

Taking a breath inward, Shishiyuki focused on the flow of her own reiryoku. The constant rotation, the flow which had been displayed extensively in her bout with Elyss--she was close, certainly. She waited until it seemed as though Igen had grown stable, and then stepped forward in the blink of an eye.

Her hand flew toward Igen's right arm, her reiryoku spiralling like a whirlpool as it made contact. Shishiyuki kept the intensity as low as she could, her intention not to actually harm Igen but simply to disrupt the otherwise stable flow he was maintaining.

"Of old, yes. The days of Zaraki, rather than the current era, where the combat division resembles little more than a collection of amateurs."

Maintaining his form was good. Shishiyuki followed that first strike up with another to his opposite arm, her pacing relatively slow and her force minimal. These were strikes that would typically lead to little more than a light bruise, as anything stronger might well have been disastrous when training a technique like this.

"It was. Not only in atmosphere, but in strength. A band of those who wished to grow stronger together, to push one another to more exceptional heights to find greater battles. You have met Lady Sawachika, and surely you understand that mentality already through her. She has faced you, and sent you to me to grow further. Seeing a worthy opponent rise to become even stronger is the ultimate thrill for anyone who truly wishes to test their own limits."

She punctuated that with another strike, the cadence of her speech remarkably calm, even rhythmic, as she used it as a grounding measure to regulate the flow of her own reiryoku.

"We did not simply fight, we drank together, lived together. We fought as comrades, and under a leader such as Zaraki, we shared a pinnacle to aspire to, a pinnacle which wished to see us grow to provide him a worthy challenge in turn. Why should anyone join this modern division, by comparison, with a captain no more impressive than the others? It is not combat, merely killing. Shi, indeed."

"I wonder about that."

Pausing to collect her focus, Shishiyuki struck out again, this time bringing her leg up in a kick that had much the same minor impact as her other strikes so far. The disruption to his spiritual flow would likely be at least a touch greater, but it still wasn't intended to actually bring him any harm. Just to raise the intensity for the sake of this training.

"It is not simply a matter of individual members. I keep up with the notable combatants of every division, watch for developments that may prove interesting. Every division has its worthwhile fighters, those who would likely have been drawn to the 11th in its prime. But the question, instead, is why they choose not to go there."

Shishiyuki followed up that kick with another, the pace of her strikes gradually beginning to pick up as she continued.

"That leadership is everything. The members may make up a division, but its captain defines it."