Demonic Halo [Momo, Ranma]

Tobiume sounded like a mum. Just like Hinamori-sensei… so they sure had a strong connection. She had to have unlocked Bankai as well. He wondered what her sword even did.

This previous Captain she spoke of… what a fuckin’ sociopath. “And he became Captain, despite being that demented? What the hell was the Gotei 13 about…?” Ranma shook his head. What a strong confirmation – shit really wasn’t any better back in the day, was it? If you wanted to make things better, look to the future – something he’d been wary of, struggling with, and slowly came to terms with. He just had to look ahead… Hōkamaru felt a similar way.

“So after that shit, ya went here… and became a mum? Neato. I’d love to be a parent as well, but under these circumstances… uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…”

His brain sort of short-circuited there. “… Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… uhhh, uhhh…” It was almost as if his eyes turned into static screens. “… S-So… uh, let’s change those circumstances- yes, that’s why I’m here! Kidō time. Gotta keep moving forward, after all – you taught me that.”

She was thankful that Ranma didn’t push too far on her past and Momo was more than happy to let the subject go when the chance came. The Ex Lieutenant's story wasn’t exactly a mystery to those who’d been in the know back in the day, it was just that many of those people had moved on since then. In a way, it made life easier for her and after so much time spent doubting and worrying, the dark haired woman was simply happy that she’d found some semblance of happiness. She did wonder just what on Soul Society was next though, after the recent attack. Just what fate lay in store for her family and the others that she cared for?

“Yeah. Let’s focus on the now and you can show me how you’ve been getting along with your Kido since we last met.” She replied with a smile, clambering to her feet and heading off to the garden where they’d continue with Ranma’s training. “Don’t expect such an easy lesson today though and I’ll expect you to have a go at some of the higher numbered spells. You’re at a level now where you can use the more powerful techniques without having to hold back.”

Her garden would look exactly the same as before, having been stoutly protected by Momo during the attack, a small area of peaceful greenery among the complete chaos that had erupted among the Rukongai during the attack.

Today was going to be another level of Kidō expansion – if Ranma wanted to stand a better chance against future endeavors… if he wanted to stop fearing the fuckin’ future… then he’d have to prepare for as much as possible while he had the time.

Oh, he’d missed the garden – it looked like a completely different world compared to the outside of her house, where it looked like Eden in the midst of a slum. She must’ve attracted plenty of weird guests just with that alone. Ranma was already floating towards the flowers, reminiscent of his love- oh fuck, he forgot to invite Erica again! Oh wait, she was still working under Captain Kuchiki… he’d bring her along one of these days!

“Okay… okay okay okay,” he hyped himself up, clapping his face multiple times before clenching his fists, “Ya mentioned barriers before? Are those higher-leveled Bakudō spells?”

“That’s a fair way of describing them although they generally cover a larger area than a typical Bakudo spell.” Momo would answer with a smile. “With a strong enough barrier and enough skill, you could defend an entire home, which was pretty much what I was doing during the attack. I brought in as many people as I could and formed a barrier around the place before dealing with my opponents.”

Thinking about it further, the dark haired woman didn’t think it was all that fair just to leave him with no hints and eventually continued. “As a starter, how about you just focus on creating a square shaped barrier around yourself? Focus as you would on any other incantation less spell and attempt to surround yourself with a 360 degree box. Barriers don’t have numbers so simply say ‘Hikari no shōheki’. Don’t feel too bad though if you can’t get the hang of it the first time though. This is a step beyond the norm, after all.”

Defensive barrier… y’know, with the shit that had been going on, it was very suitable. He could defend Erica’s home with it! Just thinking about that spiked his motivation by x1000.

But everything had to start somewhere, and Ranma’s hasty heart beat as he tried to manifest this box-barrier-thing. It was a bit exhilarating at the start, trying something brand-new, but since it wasn’t a traditional Hadō or Bakudō… oh well, it had a name. “Hikari no… Shōheki,” he spoke, now wondering just how small or wide his barrier would be.

His Spiritual Pressure gave it form as a tangible but clearly lavender-colored ‘gas’ or mass of Reishi that just kind of floated out of his skin and… tried to form something around him. It surely wasn’t a box at all – it was more like a cloud. Truth be told, Ranma shouldn’t struggle too much with this new spell, because… remember the spell Morikawa-sensei tried to teach him? This was basically just a wider variation, less detail and a new name! Erica, too, had tried it with Dankū!

But obviously, he didn’t catch onto it just yet. “I made a cloud… wait, you said a box, right? Am I close?”

That was an unusual attempt and Momo scratched her head as she stepped closer to look over his work. It didn’t look all that solid and the dark haired woman was uncertain as to how it would stand up to any scrutiny. Still, it was a decent effort for someone who’d never tried to form a barrier before and a smile crossed the woman’s face. “The idea was that you’d make a box of light around you but I must admit that I’ve never seen anyone end up creating a cloud instead so I’ll give you points for that.”

A grin would form on her face at that point and Momo would step back, drawing her zanpakuto again and uttering. “Snap, Tobiume.” Her blade would take on a rather unusual shape although the look of it wouldn’t give away an awful lot about what it could do. Ranma would see soon enough though and after a chuckle, she’d add. “Let’s see how it can stand up to an attack, hmm?”

Swinging her blade, she’d repeat the phrase, sending a fairly small fireball flying towards his cloudy defence. It wasn’t anywhere near her best but it wasn’t meant to be. Just something to test his work.

Huh? He made something new?! Awesome! His handling of Kidō had improved a lot since last time… he wiggled his head from side to side in joy, caught in the delight of achievement before hearing her snap Tobiu- woah!

So that’s her Zanpakutō! Looks like a… pine tree? he wondered with wide-eyed awe at the sight, Kinda… kinda cool, actually. Wait, is hers plant-themed, too? Just like Erica’s… Oh, he’d be proven wrong very quickly, for Hinamori-sensei braced to launch an attack on his cloudy barrier. “Oh, I’m ready! Bring it on, Sensei!” he invited her with confidence, still riding the hype of achieving this effect… but her attack had nothing to do with trees.

Instead, with a swing, she manifested a small orb of flames towards him- fire-themed! Ohhhhhhh, so the branches must’ve been tongues of fire instead! That made sense… but now, he had to brace for impact, hoping that his shield- wait, no, wall- WAIT, HE STILL REMEMBERED MORIKAWA-

*FWOOOOSH!*

The small fireball hit the barrier and spread its flames across, destroying his spell! “Oh, bullshit, I had my focus- I think… uh… wait, Barrier… barrier, barrier, barrier…” Morikawa-sensei mentioned it before – Barrier Kidō arm-

BARRIER KIDŌ ARMOR! His eyes widened in realization- it’d been a while, but she mentioned that her spell conjured Barrier Kidō armor! So if he got better at casting Barriers- YES! YES YES YES!!! He was leaping up in the air as if he’d mastered it first try, though he of all people always had a way to go.

“Well, it wasn’t bad for a first go.” Momo replied, a smile on her face as she watched him rather oddly start to celebrate. She wasn’t entirely sure if there was a need for him to be quite so happy but the Ex Gotei member wasn’t going to put him down or anything. It was a start. “I think we should give it another go though before moving on, as I don’t think your cloud defence is quite fully formed just yet. Try the spell again and then Tobiume will test it again when you’re ready.”

As he prepared, she’d offer him a little more information on her blade if he was interested to make conversation. “As you’ve just seen, her ability is to be able to create fireballs that I’m able to cast at will. When I was training, I was only able to cast one at a time but over the years, I’ve become able to cast multiple if needed. There are a lot more complicated blades out there than her but believe me, it will sting if you get caught by one of her fireballs properly.”

”Just wait ’till I’ve done a thousand go’s!” Ranma jubilates for the future ahead of him, so motivated that his Reiatsu was actually starting to express itself a bit more. But he’d gotten the gimmick that a cloud of Reiryoku wasn’t exactly what she wanted him to manifest… and thinking about it, it’d like like comparing a gas to a solid- oh yeah… okay, this time, he’d try and make a barrier-barrier.

“Hikari no Shōheki…” His Reiatsu expanded from his limbs again, generating a film in front of him. He didn’t want to manifest a cloud… he wanted a clean wall, just like the Dankū he manifested in his battle- yes, just like that! Perfect! He knew he could do it – this time, a transparent barrier was indeed formed, looking like a glass pane. Ranma wouldn’t struggle with new ideas as much as he did in the past… his sense of visualizing these spells, and to mold them with his Reiryoku, had vastly improved since last time.

“Wait, just fireballs, then? Do they… do they hurt a lot?” he worryingly asked, to be answered that – yes – it would sting quite badly if he got it. Even though, at first, it sounded a bit… okay, lame, sorry, if she could manipulate fire freely, it would’ve sounded cooler (big emphasis on ‘sounded’), but obviously, he knocked himself on the side in order to stop underestimating a Shinigami who could probably crisp him up real nicely and make him eat his own words. These fireballs of hers… he could’ve sworn he’d guess that her Zanpakutō could-

You know what, let’s not be mean here.

“Big, fuckin’ fireballs… oh, are they like meteors? Meteor fireballs? Can you make, like, a giganto-hugalamanic-large fireball? Wait…”

What the fuck did Hinamori-sensei have to do with fireballs?!? Okay, now he was even more confused- STOP THINKING, RANMA!!!

“… F-Forget I asked- I’m ready! If I can make these nice barriers now, maybe that Bakudō spell could also…”

The eyes of the Kido expert narrowed as he spoke lightly of her Zanpakuto. Now, Momo wasn’t known for being overly prideful but she couldn’t help but think that he might have been making fun of her Tobiume with his words. The Arrancar she’d used her blade against had certainly not considered the fireballs cast from her blade to be weak and the dark haired woman briefly pondered if she should up the power a bit to teach her student a lesson. It was a rather petty reason but Momo had spent so long being mocked and underestimated that he struck a slight nerve.

“How about I cast a larger one and you can see for yourself?” She replied, offering a question for a question, a somewhat devious smile crossing the face of the Ex Lieutenant.

Momo would then swing her blade again, the sword giving off the sound of a seagull as she launched a fireball towards Ranma’s newly created barrier. Compared to her first attack, the fireball was several times larger, enough that it would truly test the defensive power of his barrier. He thought her Zanpakuto was weak? Well, now he’d learn otherwise.