Rain Training

Yoshiko sat right on the hill. Her legs were cross, her hands resting on her knees, while her zanpakuto laided across her lap. Her eyes where shut, leaving just a thin line expression on her face. Complete darkness. That's all she could see. The sound of rain hitting not only the trees and ground but herself, kept an even hum that seemed to sooth the almost frustrated Shino Academy student.

It shouldn't surprise her really, Yoshiko only had her zanpakuto for less than a day. The odds of her discovering her zanpakuto's spirit and mastering her shikai were only far fetched dreams. However, she expected something. Maybe a ringing sound? Or a small voice? Something? No, nothing, all she heard was the rain.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Yoshiko opened her eyes, and laid back in the wet grass, looking up to the strom gray clouds as they dropped water from the sky. While most people found the rain as a hinderance to their daily plans, Yoshiko found that it was benificial. The cool rain water kept the body temperature down as the person trained and sweated. It made the ground soft and uneven, meaning the person had to be aware of their surroundings and that one false move didn't mean for them to land flat in the mud.

Yoshiko took her zanpakuto, resting it on the ground and stood up. Her clothes and her bangs were sticking to her body and face, keeping the coolness to her body. She took a few fighting stances, slowly going through punches and kicks, dodges and twists, everything she had taken notes on that would able her to 'become a better student and future shinigami' as one of the instructors had said to the class.

She stopped after a few minutes, wondering if she should try kido. The first time she had done so, it had back fired right in her face, causing her to crash into a student behind her. She wrinkled her noses a bit, before she looked around. No one was here, so she might as well try.

Yoshiko took a deep breath, calming herself and trying to get hersefl controlled. She looked forward, and raised one hand "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat! Bakudo Number 9; Geki!" She commanded. For the first second, Yoshiko believed she had it, since she could see red. However, there was blue lightning that cracked around her hand, before it back fired in her face, sending her back into the ground and made Yoshiko yelp in pain.

As she sat up, she shook her head, getting frustrated. How come it was blowing up in her face? Everyone else seemed to have this natural knack to do kido, why couldn't Yoshiko do the same? She let out a growl, before standing up, and she began to go through more melee stances, deciding she should strengthen her body instead of her weak kido practices.

Who needed kido anyway? It would end up draining her body wouldn't it? If she didn't need kido, she'd just strengthen her body. There would be a more satisfaction on slicing the opponet anyway than knowing a spell took the enemy out. Where was the fun in that?

After a few more minutes, Yoshiko stopped, letting herself catch her breath, no need to push herself too hard, especially in her first few days. She picked up her zanpakuto and took shelter under a tree. She took her hair out of it's ponytail, shaking it a bit and letting it rest on her shoulders. She leaned against the tree, shutting her eyes.

Oddly enough, she felt content. Like there was no worry in the world. Wasn't that how training was suppose to be? Not to worry about things and just focus on getting stronger for the sake of getting stronger? No. Most people had a head strong goal on why they wanted to get stronger, like Yoshiko did. Yet still, she felt content, as if she could sleep right here.

"What are you doing? Train."

Yoshiko's eye's snapped open, frantically looking around. Who had said that? There wasn't anyone around! She even looked up in the tree, seeing nothing but the branches and leaves. Frowning, she shut her eyes, cupping her hands over her ears to wonder if she could hear anything better.

...

No. Silent. Nothing was there. Opening her eyes again, her red orbs scanned the open area she was at. No one. It was getting on her nerves. "If someone's here, show yourself right now!" She snapped.

There was no reply but the simple rain hitting the ground. Again, she wrinkled her nose. Who ever had said that, had actually startled her. She sighed and went back out in the rain, to continue to train, taking her zanpakuto with her.

She slowly unsheathed the sword, meeting it's black blade. After a few moments at almost gawking at it, she took the hilt with both hands. She held her arms straight, and brought the sword up, then slashed down. Brought the sword up, then slashed down. She had only repeated the process ten times before she felt her arms in pain, but Yoshiko pushed herself. If she stopped now, it wouldn't help built her arm strenght, and her opponets certianly wouldn't take it easy on her, so she couldn't let this training go easy either.

She didn't really understand anything really. Kido, shinigami rules, the 'order' in life. She didn't care to understand it either. Yoshiko didn't see the point of why someone was better than someone else simply because of money situation or where they lived. What about personality? What about the person's strength? Didn't that count into anything?

She shook her head, well, that was far off in the future, right now she had to focus on getting stronger now. If she expected to pass the classes and this academy, she had to show herself as a strong girl. Something that even Yoshiko didn't know she was, although she was putting up a strong front, that didn't mean she wasn't broken on the inside.

After a few more mintues, she finally stopped, looking at the sword. "Why can't you just say something?" She muttered to the sword, "I'd even take a simple hi." She grumbled a bit, before she sheathed the sword. No use arguing with something that couldn't even argue back.