Prelude Of Showdown [Open/Noharu/Ranma]

There were words going around the Eighth Division. Words referring to the conflicts prior, and notions of this confrontative Shinigami named Shura visiting almost each Squad barrack and leaving with roughened knuckles. Some sympathized with her, relating to what she felt, and others were terrified of what a member of the Fourth Division would do inside of their corners. Regardless, many had gathered at the training grounds, including an uncommon face with bandages covering his mouth.

Ranma wasn’t the most battle-happy guru out there, and he was hardly any wildly experienced Shinigami. On top of that, he couldn’t draw clout from his unheard family from the 71st District, not one bit. Instead, he showed up with what he had to his own name – his uniform, his sake gourd strapped to his hip, and his Zanpakutō. And for someone who disliked grinding harder than necessary – with the exception of certain interpretations of that term – what drove him to show up with the news of Shura’s visit? He’d never met this Shinigami before, so what inspired him to this place at this time?

One of the other Squad 8 members decided to step forth upon Shura’s invitation, but once that person saw Ranma move forward as well, the random member stepped back with a grin. “Hey, Ranma! Didn’t think I’d see you here… guess you got a drive in you, after all!”

“I’m not that lazy, asshole…” Ranma chuckled, half a mind to grab his gourd but restraining himself just enough to keep his demeanor intact. He swung his Zanpakutō up on his right shoulder, resting it there while contemplating on Erica’s words… naturally, at one point, if he just gave Hōkamaru space and time to open up to his wielder, then there’d be some more development in play concerning Ranma’s Zanjutsu skills and his sword’s evolution.

But he also noticed that getting thrown into conflict here and there often woke up Hōkamaru, so why not try that again?

“Hey there,” Ranma greeted the Squad 4 member with a rather careless, low tone, “Don’t think you’ll see anyone back down from wanting to protect all of this… should be obvious, really. So… uh… I can kind of tell what your game is, I’ve heard about you Combat specialists from the Fourth Division. If you can help us get stronger, then by all means – we’re in your care.”

Ranma would turn back to face his fellow Squad mates, asking out: “… Hey, anyone wanna go first?”

“Nah, you got this, Ranma!”
“Don’t chicken away now, let us see your new Shikai!”
“Nope, all yours!”
“Don’t be so shy, dude! You weren’t shy at all last night!”
“I can hold your gourd if you want!”

… Y’all set me up, the nerves… he thought to himself with a vein on his forehead before turning back to face Shura, “I’m relatively new around here. Name’s Ranma.”

Being pointed at like that elicited many emotions within Ranma, mostly those of humiliation. She literally did not wait for even a second after his greeting to perform whatever Hadō she had in mind, and despite her Squad’s reputation, Ranma hadn’t raised his guard quickly enough to make evasion any kind of easy.

However, he was wise to activate his Shikai prior to that Shura girl’s most rude sucker punch of a Hadō technique. Fujikohozen no- That someone with a reputation of having troubles with Shunpo could step to the side and turn his body 90 degrees, barely evading the beam of bright lightning that scraped the front of his uniform and left a cutting mark behind… but Shura must’ve seen it already. The expansion of Ranma’s Spiritual Pressure in the form of a bluish sphere, even if it lasted for just a moment.

Damn it! I didn’t mean to use it so early! I’m throwing all my cards out too fast again! he cussed in his mind at his failing skill at secrecy. However, he was sort of ‘woken’ up now and understood that he was in the middle of a damn fight – likely, sort of – to the death against this trigger-happy buffoon. And despite his opinions on Shunpo… at least, there were some uses for it, even for a guy like him. The signature buzz sound accompanied his flickering form, easily visible as he closed in on Shura in a leaping arc with an overhead strike by his Zanpakutō. As he attempted to swing down the wave-formed jian, buzzing flashes emitted from its metal blade as he replied in kind:

“Hadō no Jūichi, Tsuzuri Raiden!”

Damn it… there it was. Her Shunpo, and she executed it so swiftly and without any issues. And it was fast and discreet despite being right in his face – Ranma ended up cutting air at the end as he caught his foothold again. He wasn’t going to beat her in the speed department – might as well give up on that front – but surely, he could still make use of a few other tricks under his sleeve.

But first, he felt the heavy force of a transparent ‘punch’ send him further to the side, his feet grinding against the ground in an attempt to maintain his standing. Grabbing his Zanpakutō with both hands again, he glared towards Shura with an annoyed look on his face, his head aching at the notion of ‘predicting his foe’. Predicting anything sounded like a Zanpakutō’s ability, and all he could do was guess.

Okay… let me try again. Just a feint strike – if she evades, I’ll try out that Byakurai technique – it looked pretty fast. If she blocks, then I’ll… wait, why do I have to be the aggressor?

Feeling a little mischievous, he slowly lowered his Zanpakutō and held it behind his back with one hand, while the other reached for his gourd. As if not taking this battle in any way, shape or form seriously, he was dunking that strong beverage down his throat, while still keeping one eye at Shura’s reactions to the scenery.

Oh shi-

She did not wait for him to even take a sip. Good thing that Ranma had his eye on her, but damn – she caught him by surprise once again! Maybe that was what she meant… to predict your opponent’s moves. Did she predict that he’d take a slurp of his gourd? Was it an actual, legitimate skill? He always thought that the saying was bogus, but maybe it had actual merits…

Either way, how was he going to predict her moves without activating his Shikai? He had to – he even dropped his precious gourd to the ground to brace for Shura’s Shunpo-boosted assault. Right when Shura’s first attack cut through his shoulder, a blue sphere expanded from his Zanpakutō, and time began running much slower in the eyes of Ranma. Shura’s high-speed rush had become tangible to the tanky lad, albeit his left shoulder had seen better days with that deep, red cut…

Ranma was no speedster, but with the power of his Shikai and the expanded sphere it brought, he was able to utilize his swordsmanship to redirect the three next slashes from Shura with his sword – one from behind, another from further below, and a third from his side. Despite time itself slowing down around him, Shura’s Shunpo was annoyingly difficult to keep up with – not to mention, the bluish sphere around Ranma was physically bent to and from by her spike in speed. Ranma noticed this and feared the worst, thus losing enough focus to suffer another cut to his side from Shura’s last attack.

A tad delirious with the stinging pain, he decided to put this ‘prediction’ shenanigan to the test – not waiting a moment for Shura to distance herself from him, he swung his Zanpakutō with one hand in a wide, horizontal arc at full speed, pointing the other hand at the area that he couldn’t reach with the slash. If she went that way in order to evade his slash, then he’d copy her and unleash a Byakurai, uncertain of whether or not she was able to evade that with her Shunpo as well… but someone like Shura would likely choose another path, leaving Ranma to brace himself once more.

Okay, he knew that the Squad 4 members were built different, but not that different! She grabbed his blade like it was a wooden plank, damn it! How sick was that?!

"Shit-"

Coolness factor aside, he was in trouble now – his Shikai’s ability was a short-term effect that needed a prolonged recovery time, and Shura had no intentions of waiting patiently for it to charge back up. That and Ranma’s widened eyes in utter awe at her badassery left next to no time to respond for her counter-attack – even having wasted energy on a Byakurai that ended up piercing a hole through a nearby pillar.

Shura’s next action also threw him off guard – grabbing his face was another world of disrespect, and he almost bit her hand in response. Holding him there while chanting sent his brain into overdrive, alerting the swordsman that she was about to do something very, very pain – yet, he’d never heard this chant before, and thus he didn’t know what was about to happen. All he knew was that his hands squeezing the handle of his Zanpakutō went into action, jabbing the blade forward to attempt at impaling Shura through her right side-

The recognizable sizzle of burned skin erupted from her Shakkahō, blasting onto his face at point-blank range at the same time he yanked his sword at her… but despite the nasty wound it would leave on his face, he didn’t slow down- upon further notice, he pushed further and further towards Shura in blood-coiling focus, his face blackened with smoking ash and his eyes bloodshot red. He pushed hard enough to send a heavy shoulder towards her chest, should his impaling prove inefficient – he wasn’t all there at this point, in a raging daze from the Shakkahō that managed to bring back some of the good-old ‘Retsu’ that he once was.