Lazy Man's Training Regimen [Joshua/Hana]

Hana did as Josh asked. Her forms were almost perfection, each step as accurate as they should have been when under no real stress to complete them. Her footwork had improved and her swing was strong. She had been focusing on her skills for a few months now, which included a lot of late night training and sneaking peeks at others who were better than her to get ideas.

"I believe my progress in these simple demonstrations is on par with a seated officer," Hana said without an ounce of pride, but more like a computer making an analytical judgement. "Though, maybe not a high seated officer... Haha."

"What sort of change do you mean?" Hana asked curiously. It was always more difficult for her to take a new step, as if she was always cemented in what she could currently accomplish. He drew his blade, showing off his superior hand-eye coordination with a fancy flourish. Hana tried mimicking it, not realizing if she kept doing that, she would end up fighting very similar to him. Josh would realize mimicry had become Hana's way of being confident in trying new things.

"A spar..." Hana's confidence drained from her voice. She let out a nervous sigh, clearly not excited about the idea. She knew he was right though, so she nodded and readied herself. Holding her unsheathed zanpakuto with two hands, she faced him. She noticed the weak stance and momentarily glared at him. "Why are you holding your sword like a child? I assume there is a good reason for it."

Hana let herself ruminate on Josh's words for a short time. In her battles, her mind never felt challenged, and it was the same for her training. With the rapid absorption of study material that she had been reading through, she felt confident in her understanding of theories around shinigami combat fundamentals. Her book knowledge of it all was fine. It was the practical, the use of it, that held her back.

"Truthfully,” Hana said, drawing her zanpakuto as instructed. “I think my mind is satisfactory for the level I mean to be at. It is often my body that fails me. I am too slow or not strong enough to handle an opponent.” Hana gripped her sword with both hands, staring at the blade with angry, narrowed eyes. Realizing what she was doing, she shook her head and took a deep breath and readied herself in stance.

“Okay, I’m ready when you are.”

They began….

Experience was vital to succeeding in combat, and Hana had very little. Even if she could follow the movements he made, her mind could not keep up as easily. In the half a second it took for him to make his strike, Hana’s mind came up with three what ifs, two buts, and a mild panic. This was the opposite of what she had initially described. Her body moved, albeit a bit late, and she brought the blade of his zanpakuto to his for a quick parry. The clank of metal on metal snapped her out of her thoughts and the strength behind his swing had enough power behind it to force her a step back. He was clearly not going all out, a decision she appreciated at their warm up, but now it was her time to make a strike and counter him.

Hana went on the offense, her stance a simple kendo form. She brought her sword up and straight down at Joshua, careful to conserve her own energy in the process. She was not using any reiryoku now, but she had to learn to fight for longer periods of time, so stamina was important. If she let everything loose now, she would regret it later, especially against a stronger opponent. When her first attempt was done, Hana did not hesitate much for her next. With the finish of her first swing, Hana turned the blade back around and mimicked the same rising attack Joshua had completed a moment ago, keeping more speed than strength behind her.

There had to be improvement somewhere! Hana’s sword was parried, but in truth, she did not expect to hit him. His movements brought him off to her side, and though she saw the attack coming, her mind went wild with possibilities. What angle was he coming at? How much strength? Would he really hit her? Should they be using training swords? Her thoughts slowed her down, made her hesitate.

Since speed was her only real asset in battle, once she did finally start moving to defend herself, her blade barely blocked him. A loud clang and the strength behind his strike, no matter how little there may be, pushed her blade back down toward her, like when you hit a metal bat on something immovable and it snaps back.

Hana turned so he would no longer be at her side, but in front of her. His next attack, however, turned on her "fight or flight" reflex, and she found herself rapidly stepping back as quick as her legs could. The idea of being stabbed in the eye was terrifying. After the third step, Hana tripped over her own feet and fell backwards.

"Ow..." Hana whined, but then gripped her zanpakuto and shuffled back to her feet. She quickly took on her textbook-perfect stance again, ready to go again.

Hana’s stance softened when he told her to ‘hold-up.’ Her insecurities flared up upon being examined, but she kept still with red cheeks, waiting for some sort of analysis. What he noted about her performance was expected. She did fall on her butt, so pretty much being told to work on her movement was not surprising. However, she would not tolerate her Hoho skills being insulted. Hana’s cheeks puffed up and she pointed the end of her blade at Joshua, glaring at him!

“I have no questions, but do not insult my Hoho. It is the only thing I can say I am doing just fine in,” Hana said and lowered her blade again. "I am aware there are many things I can learn, but my shunpo technique is very good. I even passed that class without help. If anything, I need to remember to utilize it in combat."