Snow Miser, Fire Miser Sing-a-long (Shishiyuki/Elyss)

"Certainly."

Shishiyuki wasn't one to question a command from her Captain, though not out of any intrinsic subservience. She lacked that rigidity of her significant other, after all. When she followed Elyss, it was out of respect, nothing more, and as she looked on the transparently looming presence that her captain exuded upon the training grounds, she simply waited patiently, arms crossed.

"A bout, then?"

The alternative, she supposed, was a conversation, but those two things weren't especially unrelated when it came to the two of them.

As the question was asked, Shishiyuki's expression grew more serious, fully understanding the gravity of such mastery, particularly from her captain. She allowed the top half of her shihakusho to fall, tying it around her waist and leaving her torso covered only by the tightly-maintained sarashi that wound around it. Her body, scarred and worn from countless battles, was by now a sight many had seen. Idly, she considered that perhaps she ought to begin covering them once again, but just as quickly she returned her focus fully to the match she had found herself in.

Her own reiatsu clashed against her captain's as it burst outward, the vortex of spiritual pressure having only grown more refined as she had honed herself since their previous match. Her captain had asked for answers, and words were not half as meaningful without a demonstration to accompany them. Shishiyuki unleashed her shunko without a word, unconcerned with the extreme power that such a technique added to her every action. Elyss would not learn through coddling, after all.

"Hakuda is the reinforcement of the body through brief, momentary uses of one's reiryoku, in service of technique to optimize their efficiency."

No sooner had she spoken than her fist rocketed out multiple times in the blink of an eye, intend on not simply clashing against Elyss' blows but crushing them with the intensity of both her mastery of hakuda and the shearing power of her shunko. With each punch, watery reiryoku blasted forward like a jet. Each and every punch may as well have been two.

"Kido, by contrast, is the channeling of one's reiryoku into constructs, long-term effects which vary and carry with them much more mystical effects. Shunko is not so complex as one would imagine; it is utilization of the principles of kido, understanding of the maintenance and construction of such spells, and applying them to the nature of hakuda. A spell upon one's own body, to bring forward an enhanced form. The elemental nature of it is simply the reflection of one's basest nature."

Even as she delivered a flurry of blows that all could have turned a normal shinigami into little more than a fine red mist, Shishiyuki spoke with composure, confidence, the sort of voice that one expected from any master when speaking of their craft. This was who she was, after all; she would never think to fail in teaching a friend.

"Principles. Yes. Do you think shunko's complexity comes simply due to difficulty in its own right? Understanding of its composite parts is vital precisely because of that complexity."

Utilizing a shakkaho at the same moment as a blow was, Shishiyuki supposed, not completely dissimilar to what was being sought, but there was more to it than that. Her expression did not shift to one of approval or disapproval as she stepped forward to once again meet Elyss, but this time choosing not to simply clash against her fist.

"Conceptually, your idea is sound. But hakuda is not simply throwing blows, and shunko does not simply empower one's fists."

No sooner had she spoken than Shishiyuki rapidly turned her body and lowered her center of gravity, her shoulder and back now facing Elyss and intent on making the shakkaho-enhanced blow fly over and past her. At the same moment, the impact of her tetsuzanko was only further strengthened by her shunko, her back a veritable caldera of highly-pressurized water that would simply crush the woman in front of her.

Elyss was a near-indomitable force, that much Shishiyuki was willing to concede. But her thousand years of mastery had not made her so weak as to allow even an immovable object to stand in her way without being worn down.

Shishiyuki took a breath inward as she returned to a more centered stance, hands one more at the ready as she watched Elyss prepare herself. She was at least learning, but it was rather obvious that her intention was on a smaller area than was the purpose of shunko. The vice captain stepped forward, hand drawn up above her hand as water shot from her hand like a jet, the impending downward slice far more akin to a blade than a mere chop.

"Think. If shunko filled only your arm, your fist, the moment of use, why would it always be marked by these wings bursting from one's center of mass?"

It was, of course, because shunko was a full-body effort. Utilizing it demanded the entire body be working perfectly in tandem, and that was why it was such an extreme effort on one's behalf. Shishiyuki's hand cut downward, fully intent on doing whatever damage might be caused if her captain didn't defend. The two of them weren't the sort of women who held back in moments of importance; it would be disrespectful for her to do so now.

"Then you have two paths before you, captain. Either you train until it listens, or you take a different road. Operate using what your energy does naturally. There is nothing wrong with ignoring orthodoxy for the sake of oneself."

That was a lesson Shishiyuki had taken more than a thousand years to learn, and she would not let someone else fall into such an error if she could help it. She didn't continue the bout just yet, simply watching to see what her superior chose, how she replied. Despite her inaction, Shishiyuki was obviously tensed and ready to continue the bout at a moment's notice.

"So? What will you do?"