Princess & Dog[Hana, Koga]

"Hehe! Good! Good! That's what I like to see."

The glimpse of that focused look in her gaze filled him with a teacher's pride. Whether slowly coming along or adapting quickly, he remained adamant about imposing one factor of battle in her spirit - conviction in one's attacks. After all, it was a crucial form of any Shinigami's offense. One's connection with their zanpakuto was an essential element to this, but not the only one.

Wielding a sword was easy, attacking with it an entirely different matter altogether. One that required immense focus and a will to strike the enemy down. So far, she was doing pretty well. Using shunpo to evade and turn his strength against him was a sound strategy - commendable, even. His body shifted, but he was so proud he didn't exactly shift around enough in time to counter her strike, the blade cutting through flesh as he felt a chill up his spine.

Oh! Aha! Yes! That was it! Grinning from ear to ear, Koga turned around to face her, his blade transitioning from a downward position into an upward arc, its trajectory targeting one of her legs. A rudimentary counterblow, but far from difficult if she could keep her wits about her.

'If I am ever going to get this right, I must increase my strength,’ Hana thought, her eyes hyper focused on the task at hand. Until she learned to dodge reflexively, she chose to utilize shunpo to get out of the way of most attacks, just like she did here. A burst of speed and she was gone, reappearing on the opposite side and away from Koga's attempt at sweeping at her legs. 'I won't let him hit me!'

Hana swung her blade around again, in an attempt to strike the man at his side. If she had been trained better, instead of figuring most of this shit out on her own, she may have learned to use the dull side of the blade. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Each attempted strike came with the danger of her using the sharp end.

"Good! In battle, if ya got momentum, don't stop. Be decisive and transition right into yer next attack! Now yer gettin' the hang of it! That's what I like to see, Hana!"

And he meant every word he said. Indeed, her current display was very impressive. He didn't have some preconceived notion that she was a terrible fighter, but she did strike him as green, someone who needed a firm push to get them going.

It wasn't the same experience for everyone else, but for him... that push was combat. It kept him motivated. It kept him learning. It ignited his soul just as much as learning and accumulating knowledge.

Thus, it could be said that the current display of prowess unfolding before his eyes as that blade continued to cut into his flesh, likewise filled him with an unspeakable sense of pride. Of course, he was no training dummy, so he felt it was time to turn up the volume a little. His spiritual pressure flared ever so slightly as he vanished and reappeared at her back now, swinging the wooden blade at her side - replicating the same technique she employed with her sword.

"Now, let's see ya keep up when we're both usin' shunpo. Next lesson is guessing and knowin' where yer enemy might strike. Goes without sayin', but the realm of the living's chock full of guys who have speed techniques just like ours. Don't expect enemies to remain stationary for long. When they move, you move. When ya find an openin', continue to seize it until ya cut them down to size! After all, I know yer capable of it! Don'tcha wanna prove the fuckers who doubted ya wrong!? Ha!? Well, here's your chance!"

Being cheered on like this was exciting, even if it was strange coming from an opponent. She obviously didn’t see Koga as a real enemy, or the imaginary Hiroe costume he was now wearing in her head, but she usually didn’t try and cut down her enemies. Within that focused expression, a smile was growing, but it only stayed for a moment. She cut him. She didn’t mean to cut her friend…

‘I cut him.’ ‘Hana, that’s okay. STAY FOCUSED.' 'I didn't mean to!'

Hana didn’t have time to react, not after her mental focus was broken. She barely turned toward Koga as the wooden blade slammed into her side and stomach. She wasn’t tensed or defensive at all in that moment, so she was fully struck. Hana’s eyes widened at the pain, the air was completely knocked out of her. She couldn’t inhale and fell back, curled up into a fetal position to try and breathe.

'Oh, you silly girl. He's fine!' 'I deserved that...' 'Yes, because you froze up!'

"Huh?"

At that moment, Koga was suddenly tossed out of his immersion. One minute, he was clashing weapons with Hana and relishing her current success, and the next he was gazing at Hana struggling to breathe on the ground. A jarring shift, to be sure, but he recognized that she likely hesitated in the crucial moment.

Sighing softly, he tapped his shinai against the ground as he stepped forward. Impressed as he was, he figured she might seize up the moment blood was drawn. Walking over, Koga rubbed his hand across the wound her blade had created and walked over, giving her a moment to rise as he presented his hand.

"Yer so kind-hearted it's practically adorable, but ya see this? This is blood. This is what you did. Proof of yer accomplishment so far. It's nothin' to be afraid of, or ashamed about. Ya cut me. So what? Didn't we talk about that sorta thing beforehand? This sorta stuff always happens in a spar?"

It took a bit for Hana to recover. She took a deep breath and another and another, finally looking up to Koga as the man rubbed the wound and showed her the blood. From his words, she could tell that he likely assumed the blood bothered her.

“It’s not that,” Hana said, holding her stomach. She finally stood back up, and took another breath. "I don't like hurting my friends... I didn't mean to cut you; I so apologize. I know getting hurt in a spar is normal, but I am not used to it."

'Told you that he was fine.'

'Give me a break...'

Hana's expression saddened. "How frustrating. I am trying to get better, but I am not sure how skilled I can become if harming another causes such hesitation."

"Again, what's there to apologize about? We're trainin'. I know ya weren't tryin' to hurt me to injure me or anything. In spars, this sorta thing always happens. Hell, half of the scars I have today came from spars. Back in the eleventh division, I couldn't tell you one time I wasn't bleeding out of one of these bad boys on my chest."

He sighed softly as he used his clean hand to reach in and pat her head. He didn't get it, but he supposed he might have been looking at it from the wrong perspective. After all, he was wholly accustomed to the battlefield. He lived and breathed combat. He fought under Kenpachi's banner once and was proud of it. From what he knew of Hana, she was of noble birth from one of the smaller families, and likely never experienced what a true life or death bout felt like.

"Come to think of it, who were ya imaginin' in yer mind when you were strikin' me? Bit harsh, but the enemy in front of ya isn't gonna care about yer hesitation or whether yer hurtin' em'. If anything, that'll just make em wanna kill ya even more. Sides, I trust you. If ya cut me, it's somethin' ya should take pride in, ya know?"

Hana was just more of a gentle soul. She didn’t like violence because she felt helpless against it. She didn’t like hurting others because she sure as hell knew how bad it was to be hurt. Secrets she doubted she would ever tell anyone.

“A friend of mine… She said she was going to fight alongside me, join me in my Division, and then last minute changed her mind…” Hana answered and let out a soft sigh. She wasn’t really that mad; she was jealous. She had very little direction or understanding of what she wanted to do in life, and Hiroe always came off so confident. “I cannot take pride in hurting someone… I am not that person.”

"Hm..."

Koga tilted his head as he listened to her speak. He couldn't relate to her plight. Was this a girl thing? Sure, he supposed he understood going back on one's word, but if that was the case, then she had already lost the battle before it started. Since he shared a division with Hiroe, he didn't quite know what to say. Stroking his chin for a moment, he simply shifted to something he did understand. If she struggled to hurt someone, even in the heat of battle, then what was her purpose?

"It isn't about takin' pride in hurtin' someone. It's about developing the strength to face those who might hurt you and yer friends. No one's askin' ya to relish in this shit. Soul King knows this ain't for the faint of heart, but... no one's gonna sit around and guide you, Hana. Battlefield's ruthless as all hell. If yer gonna fight, fight. If ya don't want to fight, then don't. That's yer decision. And besides, if I'm successful in say, our second, third, or fourth dates, I'll be the guy fightin' all the battles for ya. Every good princess needs a knight ya know~?"

He humored with a grin. Quite frankly, he found her bashful yet wholly feminine nature adorable. The sort of trait that was genuinely befitting of her nature - and by extension, it simply compelled him to want to protect and defend it. Something, something... a man's pride, ya know?

This was something Hana was truly struggling with. The idea of hurting someone only brought her back to her own pain, what her mother constantly did to her, and the fear she felt every time it happened. Hana wanted to get through it and fight, but could she really when all these fears did was hold her back? A second problem was that she didn’t want to fight people. She thought this would be about fighting monsters, but she is constantly told to raise her blade against other people.

Hana looked over to Koga, her expression saddened and pained; half was from being hit, the other from feeling criticized. He wanted to be her prince, huh? Hana couldn’t lie; she would like to have that in her life. She expected either love at first sight or those long-time romances that finally came to completion at the end of a series. Koga was apparently planning another date though, so…

“Would you like to go out on another date with me?” Hana asked. She was more asking about his intentions, whether that was an actual desire, but any person could mistake it for her asking him out. Of course, Hana did not notice that.