Enter the Dragon II [Closed, Meili]

Karakura. Spiritual hot spot. A key place on Earth where the barriers between Soul Society and the World of the Living became their thinnest. They said the Soul King hammered a nail through this point and that is why the tunnels of the Senkaimon found it so easy to pierce here. Watari Suzumei came out onto a training ground that he had Raphael Laurent prepare for him. The intention was simple - to train.

He owed Meili Baozhai many things, he owed her a conspiracy, he owed her a pile of dead bodies and he owed her an escape. To be fair if the young noble of the Baozhai house hadn’t let him away with a great many things he may have been imprisoned in the Maggots Nest. But he wasn’t - He’d won. Well sort of, there were now four major noble powers (five if you counted Yuki Kameko, but most people didn’t because of the size of her house).

The four nobles that Watari had recruited that night had formed the strongest alliance the Soul Society had ever seen! It had reshaped what people knew about the nobility. Suddenly, without warning - minor nobles were touchable. They weren’t flawless. The minor houses were in uproar, falling one by one as their crimes were brought to light. Soon minor houses wouldn’t even be noticeable.

All a part of the plan.

“Bezaliel”

His Zanpakuto’s eerie presence coiled around his mind and just like that the connection was open. They could speak freely and commune as one - communing with ones Zanpakuto’s was always a weird experience for Watari, he had not quite got used to the snarky tongue and the critical eye of the Zanpakuto, but he was getting there.

“Where’s the young Baozhai?” the blade queried, he was surprised the weapon even remembered the young noble. Maybe the weapon had more access to his memories then what he had thought? Either way it was a worthwhile question.

Their training ground was an abandoned warehouse, rock pillars had somehow been hauled in from wherever they had managed to be sourced from. The regular wooden floorboards had been covered by a thick layer of sand - the perfect hidden training ground.

Watari, that night - which now seemed long ago but really it had only been a few weeks had promised Meili Baozhai to train her in Zanjutsu. Now he was going to make good on that promise.

Meili had already been to Karakura Town a few times, all of them for training, or for missions, or both. However, as she was but a student, all of these had to be supervised, or as Meili like to put it, babysat.

Today's babysitter? Someone whom she actually trusted and, despite her Zanpakuto spirit's constant reminders, respected...sort of. Watari Suzumei, the orchestrator of the Great Noble Massacre, as it's come to be known, however only a small few know of this fact, Meili being one of them.

"You know he is just using you, right?"

Meili gave a frown as her spirit decided to nag into her ear once again. She'd been hearing her a lot more recently, and she had a feeling it had to do with her getting closer to her goal of both becoming an actual Shinigami and not just a student, as well as the fact that she's no longer 11th in line for becoming the Head of the Baozhai, but 7th.

In her spare time since the party, she's challenged the surviving Baozhai Nobles that didn't make it to the party, or chose not to attend, using her family's ancient method of Sakura Back Fights. The first few fights were tough, but now that she's gotten the flow of things, she feels that the rest will be a cake walk.

"I know. But his goals align with my own...so...for now...I'll let him use me...besides, he's not that bad."

She spoke internally rather than externally, as she came upon the training ground that had been set up for her and Watari's use. She casually skipped up to Watari, a beaming smile upon her face.

"So, this is where we'll be training huh? It doesn't look too bad."

For the second time since she'd started attending these social events Yuki was late. It was a little embarrassing. Still, she had just recently returned from a rather intense foray into Karakura Town. Her injuries from the encounter still stung.

Paper doors appeared near the two Shinigami, opening to reveal the wolf. She wore her Shinigami outfit. Thankfully it covered the bandages that she wore today. With a little hop she exited and upon landing she gave both Watari and Meili a respectful little bow.

"I apologize for my tardiness."

Watari had sent her this invitation. He was going to assist Meili with training. She certainly wouldn't mind helping. Besides, it was a good chance to spend more time with the young Baozhai.

And with Watari, of course.

"I am here to assist" she began, stepping closer to the two. "And to observe."

And to make friends. Oh. Right.

She stopped near Meili. Then she lowered herself into an even deeper bow.

"Also I must apologize for my behavior during the party. And the window."

“I have some good people here, people who have been putting together the pieces for me, Baozhai-san” Watari said to Meili who had apparently been hiding amongst the training ground - practicing maybe? He was unsure. Amongst many other things Raphael Laurent had helped organise Watari’s mind a fair bit about where he was going and what exactly he was doing and to be honest he couldn’t thank the man enough for it.

Watari tilted his head at the arrival of Yuki - oh right - he had forgotten she was meant to be assisting. How had this been arranged again? He could’ve sworn it was just meant to be Meili and him but then it wasn’t as if he was particularly adverse to Yuki being here. In fact he loved her company, it was just . . .

“You’re terrible at romance?” Belaziel crept in the stream of consciousness of their thoughts much like a river converging. Honestly the weirdest part was it felt to Watari like it wasn’t a river converging at all, more like a mountain of salt added to his river. They weren’t even romantically linked either - he’d just kissed her head is all and she might’ve gone along with the whole marriage thing in the end. But as part of the ‘new’ Watari he was trying to be a better person and being a better person meant he shouldn't’ try to force marriage onto the unwilling.

“She smells of strawberries - again” Watari hummed in his head.

“You are going to make a sword vomit”

“I didn’t know that was possible”

“There’s a lot of things I didn’t know were possible! Like a sword that talks! Wow, look mom, no hands!”

Watari once again driven back to the idea that as far as he knew his spirit was a skeletal head with yellowing teeth that seemed to be heavily sarcastic and pointed out the objectively worse parts about his personality.

“It’s probably the easiest place to train outside of Soul Society and I have no interest training there. Did you know I met a mute the other day? Great guy, really, but his ability to hold a conversation is a lot to be desired” Watari still struggled to grab what his name was. The lack of noticeable conversation really threw a spanner in the works at remembering all these people he came across. In fact if it wasn’t for the guy’s peculiarity at being mute, he would’ve probably been entirely forgotten.

“Also I think we can freely speak our minds about the party now that we are out of Soul Society, Yuki weren’t you wanting to host a meeting at your estate?”

Meili frowned at the mention of the party, and at Yuki thinking she broke the window. In reality, only one person was to blame for breaking the window, and that person happened to be the one who was currently going to help train her.

"Don't worry about it Wolfie. It wasn't your fault the window broke."

She gave a sidelong glance towards Watari as she spoke that last sentence before returning her attention to Yuki.

"And your behavior was perfectly fine, again, not your fault."

She then turned her attention to her teacher for the night as he mentioned he had no interest in them training in the Soul Society, which Meili would have to agree. The Soul Society right now was in a state of chaos. Nobles were scrambling to pick up the pieces from the Massacre, the divisions were trying to find the culprit, and the Academy was basically shut down as the professors tried to do their best to help clean up the mess left over.

"Speaking of speaking our minds, you know you're gonna have to do more than help train me before you've made up for what you did at my party, right?"

Yuki straightened out her posture. The apology had been made and accepted. All was well! Hell, Meili didn't even blame her for what had happened, so that was a relief.

Wait. Wolfie? Did I not introduce myself before? I must have forgotten.

"Ah. You may call me Yuki."

It's a nickname.

Oh. Wolfie. I suppose that works.

"Also he is correct. I wished to invite each of you to my estate so that we may further plan out how all of this is supposed to proceed. You are also each invited to visit my estate whenever you please, provided I am not otherwise occupied. Or on Earth. However you must know that the accommodations I offer may not be as lavish as you might find with the others."

Then again Rei would get some company in that case. Perhaps she wouldn't mind. Yuki had done her best to treat the woman as a guest despite her having been assigned as a servant. The same treatment had been shown towards her retainers. It was all still very awkward for Yuki, perhaps even for some of the others.

In any case Watari was taking the lead on training today. She figured he had a good plan for it.

“Hey, yet again, since all of you seem to remind me how much of a terrible guy I am” Watari chuckled and pulled out Bezaliel whilst gesturing to Yuki’s own Zanpakuto. “I wasn’t the one who struck first” a lot of Watari’s injuries from fighting Yuki had closed up. He still had a long set of scars that ran down one of his arms from when she’d clawed him during their impromptu bout in his mansion. Apparently even though the injuries weren’t life threatening, they’d still scarred his flesh and he wasn’t particularly interested in getting the scars removed either. They were a memory, a promise. To put him down.

“The first lesson in Zanjutsu is a question I ask everybody. Why do you swing your blade? Shinigami are driven by a singular purpose, a purpose that hollows out all their actions “to hunt hollow” they say, to “keep the balance” and they use it to justify everything they do. We should keep the balance, but that isn’t why they swing their blade” Watari ran his finger along the edge of Bezaliel, he was taken back to when he’d examined Kisho Matsumoto and asked him the same question. The truth was Kisho Matsumoto had also not given him a straight answer but that hadn’t meant he’d failed the exam. Kisho didn’t know his reason, but his body did, his body knew its purpose.

“We all know my reasons, I do it for justice, I do it to cull the monsters of men that exist in our Soul Society, I do it because that’s what I believe in” Watari was also well aware that his words were hypocrisies to their ears. He was in fact himself, to them a monster. There was an old saying that you needed fire to fight fire and Watari was okay with them thinking him as such.

“Without why, without conviction. Much like with your fists when you strike” Watari would need to thank Yuki for that reference later “You won’t be able to beat anyone. Your Zankaputo might as well be a club” there was something in the way that when you decided to dedicate your spiritual pressure to a cause, no matter how small or how big, the way your blade was swung, it swung differently. It was honed with your spiritual pressure’s will made manifest. A vorpal blade.

“It starts with why”

Why? Honestly, it was a great question. Why did Meili swing her Zanpakuto? To be honest, she didn't really swing it. Mostly she stabbed with it as the blade was barely 5 inches in length and not exactly suited for swinging like any simple sword. It was made for thrusting, or slicing someone's neck open. Honestly, it was the best weapon for someone of Meili's size, as she could easily slip into events and stealthily take out the target before they even knew something was up.

"Honestly? My weapon..." She casually unsheathed her Zanpakuto, showing the small weapon off. "I use my weapon for the honor of my clan."

Her face was unusually serious. Gone was the 14 year old smiley girl, and now stood before them was a girl who had wisdom, and pain, far beyond her years.

"I use it so that I can bring honor to my father's name. So that I can stop being laughed at, looked down upon, treated like dirt."

She would grasp hard at her weapons, her knuckles turning stark white as a result. She casually looked up towards Watari.

"You use your weapon for justice, then my answer would be honor. Honor, and pride. I'm proud of who I am, and who I can become with the help of my weapon. With your help." She looked over to Yuki. "With yours as well."

"Good...good...you're learning child..."

Yuki reached up, scratching a claw gently at the side of her head. She hadn't really meant to remind him of that. Watari was trying to change. Or, at least, she hoped so anyway. But it was fine.

That is a pretty good question. Why do I swing my blade?

To hunt. To kill. To protect.

Well yes. But I think he is looking for something more. . .more important?

There isn't anything more important. On that note, you could probably kill him right now. His guard is down.

A mental groan filled her mind. No. She wasn't going to kill him. In fact she still owed him, didn't she? Besides, striking an unarmed man was dishonorable. He had a weapon, yes, but he hadn't drawn it.

Her attention snapped back to reality when Meili started to speak. Of course her gaze was first directed towards the little zanpakuto. It was small, yes, but she knew full well that small things could be dangerous. She was a living example of that! Or, at least, she liked to think so.

Honor. That is a fine purpose.

The wolf nodded once in approval. Honor for her father's name. For respect. Yuki could most certainly appreciate that goal. Perhaps they were more similar than she'd first thought?

"I will do what I can. Your reason for fighting is just, one which is shared between us. I believe you shall make a fine warrior."

A little awkward? Perhaps. But she wasn't any good at this stuff. Ah well. She was giving it her best!

“And with honor, your blade has reason to be swung. Swing only for honor, swing only to protect your family name and swing with pride” as if to demonstrate Watari swung Bezaliel in the direction of a nearby rock, the shock wave generated by the Zanpakuto split the rock in two. To swing your Zanpakuto was to swing with everything you are and everything you hope to be, each strike was a step towards the future.

“There’s an old quote that says that to swing your Zanpakuto is to swing with the duty of a captain. To swing without is just meaningless violence. Mind you understand the difference” Watari understood many things, most of all he understood the morality of Society. Yes he could justify his own means but that didn’t mean others couldn’t - as long as he knew why he did the terrible things he did then it didn’t really bother him what others thought.

Unless of course, what others thought was the thoughts of Yuki Kameko. Idiot.

“You always say that your Zanpakuto isn’t good at stabbing things. That is simply not true. A Zanpakuto in nature is Shinigami Justice, it is a decisive strike that delivers peace to Hollow but at their hearts all Zanpakuto are katana, such as when they release they are still “Zanpakuto”"the mentor pointed at the blunt edge of the tanto as if to explain his point. If she swung with her justice behind it then the edge of her strike would manifest, her Zanpakuto wouldn’t be hardened by her raw power it’d be sharpened by her will.

“A blunt edge can still cut if swung with enough conviction - now don’t just break the rock, deliver your justice to it”

Meili listened intently to what Watari had said. He was right, about everything. He even demonstrated his point by splitting a rock with nothing but the air pressure from his swing. Either he was just that powerful, or these were trick rocks. She wanted to find out for herself.

She casually walked up to one of the rocks and picked it up. Yup, it felt real. She gently tapped the rock with the butt of her Zanpakuto. Still felt real.

"So they're not trick rocks. Good. You're not picking on me...today..."

She gave a light smirk towards Watari before setting the rock down and taking several steps away so that her Zanpakuto wouldn't make actual contact with the rock when she swung.

"Concentrate child...concentrate, and you too can do what he did."

Meili slowly closed her eyes and took a deep breath in through her nose, before exhaling through her mouth. Opening her eyes, she would try to imitate Watari's movements...with nothing happening.

"Damn..."

Without ever having touched it Watari managed to split a rock in two. This certainly caught Yuki's attention. Hell, she had never even tried something like that before! Could she do that if she put her mind to it? It would certainly help against people who utilized kido.

Didn't think I would be learning something today.

She looked to her sheathed zanpakuto. Meaningless violence? No. Her violence always held meaning. Perhaps nothing as fancy as justice or honor or her family name, but there was always a point to it. To fight. To hunt. To kill. And perhaps sometimes she shared the same meaning. Honor especially. Perhaps pride. Wrath. All of these things could sharpen a blade.

Wait. Trick rocks?

Why hadn't she thought of that? A wary glance was cast towards Watari, but Meili had inspected them. Honestly she was glad that they weren't illusions or toys. That would have really pissed her off.

Meili attempted to do the same thing that Watari had to no avail. So, with a shrug, Yuki drew her own blade and moved closer. She lifted it overhead, grasped the hilt with both hands. Focusing upon the idea of splitting the rock the wolf cleaved her weapon down! There was enough power to disturb the air, to cast away pebbles, but no cut was left behind upon the stone.

I'm going to need to figure this out. This is going to bug the Hell out of me.

"It appears I cannot do it either. Not yet" she stated, releasing an agitated sigh as she shouldered her weapon. "But we'll both get there. It just takes practice."

Wait. She was supposed to be assisting Watari. Right. Turning Yuki ventured back over, standing slightly behind the man. This was Meili's training session. "I apologize. Continue."

“Reiatsu is the power of all things,” Watari explained, walking forward towards the rock and tapping it with his knuckle. It was real, no tricks and he ran his finger along the edge of Bezaliel, to show that it too wasn’t some sort of toy. Perhaps this had been the wrong trick to start off with, however the lessons that it taught were emphasized so well. He’d keep going, hopefully they would under, he was surprised that Yuki herself didn’t.

“We Shinigami use the power of the Zankensoki to manipulate our reiatsu. Kido to give our reiatsu form, Shunpo, to give our reiatsu grace, Hakuda, to give our reiatsu power and finally Zanjutsu to give our reiatsu purpose” Watari demonstrated to them slowly as he slowly swung his blade at the rock, the reiatsu condensing around the edge of the weapon and then being released with a pop as it hit the rock.

“When you deliver your will with any form of the Zankensoki, you are willing your reiatsu to do what needs to be done. To be fair doing what I did at range is something that I would expect you to train a lot to do, but at closer range you can focus it enough to aid you in cutting the likes of a rock clean through” Watari demonstrated as he thrust his Zanpakuto through the rock and it cleaved it clean through like a knife through butter. The blade itself wasn’t the thing cutting the rock, it simply was a conduit for Watari’s strength and reiatsu that willed it forward.

“Hakuda is no different, it’s not your body where the true strength comes from, it’s your essence, your will, your reiatsu. Why do Shinigami bounce back more than mortals? It’s not because we’re dead, it’s because we’re at our essence stronger” Watari ran his finger once more along the blade's edge and pointed to a rock that was a distance away. He’d read a text once, of an old master who could simply raise his Zanpakuto and channel it’s force to deliver a deadly puncture to anything he willed.

Watari snapped his wrist and his Zanpakuto was snapped forward.

“Onibi (鬼火, Oni Fire)”

A wave of physical force snapped out concentrated at the end of his Zanpakuto and drilled a hole through the rock.

“These are advanced applications of the same concept. A wave of force, a hole in a rock, to project your will onto your Zanpakuto is to exercise your will on the world. Is it in short “purpose””


Watari turned and looked at Yuki.

“To be a master, raw power and skill in the essence of battle are not enough. We’ve fought, I know. Your natural talent and ability to adjust to a situation is boundless. But to be truly great you will need to learn to exercise your will to achieve greater results”

He then turned to Meili.

“Just like how you punch a rock, the same things apply when you slice it”

She would keep swinging her blade, going in from different angles each and every time. Soon, however, she would look like a kid just wildly swinging a stick.

"Ahhhh...why won't it work?!"

She had a frustrated look upon her face, tears in her eyes.

"You were able to do it so easily, and here I am looking more like a fool than usual! You must have cut the rock in advance and done it make yourself look cool!"

She pointed an accusing finger towards Watari, a childish pout on her face as she huffed and threw her tantrum.

"It's the only explanation that makes sense!"

"Calm down child...you're acting like a spoiled brat..."

"But it's the truth. He had to have cut the rocks in advance and then left the other ones all alone."

She heard a chuckle in her mind.

"Come now child. You inspected the rocks yourself. How would you explain the split rock having stayed together until you got here?"

"But..."

"No buts...now straighten your lip and apologize."

She slowly walked over to Watari and gave a light bow.

"I'm sorry for my behavior just now...I'm just frustrated that you made it look so easy and I'm having such trouble with it..."

She refused to stand back up, and after bowing, sat down on the ground with her legs crisscrossed. While she was outwardly out of her tantrum, she was still internally frustrated and upset.

Exercise my will to achieve greater results?

He mocks you. Take his tongue.

To be fair much of the fighting she threw herself into did not hold much weight behind it. It was her duty. It was a way to feel free. It was fun. But rarely did she fight for something important. Perhaps she was wasting her effort on trivial things.

Like friendship.

Meili was certainly unraveled by her failed attempt. Then again she was still young. Well, she looked young. Yuki didn't actually know her age and sometimes it was difficult to tell when it came to Shinigami. Perhaps this was an act, but then there wasn't much of a point if it were. The swift apology also proved otherwise.

"How many years did it take for you to master that technique, Watari?"

She was curious for her own sake, yes, but the question was primarily for the young Baozhai's sake. Certainly such an attack could not have been learned overnight. Hopefully knowing this would lessen the bite of her temporary defeat.

You didn't get it either.

I will eventually.

On that note she turned her body slightly, facing another rock. Her blade was lifted straight up, tip pointed to the ceiling. Instead of immediately striking she held her weapon there, eye shutting to focus. Focus on her intent. This was about cutting down foes she could not feasibly reach. Cutting what she normally could not. Improving.

Her eye snapped open. Again her blade swung down, full power put behind the cleave but all her focus was upon the rock. Within her head she willed it to be cut, to snap into two cleanly split pieces! But again nothing happened.

She would get this. Eventually.

Watari raised his arms in loss. He had no idea, he’d taught other people this and they had got it in a shorter time. He was clearly missing something? Was it because Yuki was so blinded by physicality that even projection was completely alien to her? Meili, Watari could understand because she was younger and more inexperienced but the concepts she used when punching her fists were exactly the same as when she swung her blade.

“No, it is my fault. Apparently for this I am a terrible teacher but Yuki also makes a good point, it still took me a few weeks to master this regardless” Oh had she said years? Shit. Oh well, Watari was still confident in his ability to teach them regardless. Maybe he needed to be more practical? With that, he would walk up to Meili and beckon her to stand and draw her Zanpakuto whilst sheathing his own.

“Zanjutsu is like musical theatre. When you have nothing left, that is when you “sing”, when you can’t sing anymore you “dance”. Meili I know everything is grim right now and none of it makes sense, but let me help, remember everything begins with your reason”

He adjusted her shoulder position.

“Stance wide, body lowered”

Watari placed his hand on Meili’s as she guided the blade.

“As you’re moving forward, do it with purpose”

He reached out with his spiritual pressure, only slightly, he let it guide hers out, to wrap around the blade with affirmation, he called to her Zanpakuto, it wasn’t just a stick, it was a tanto, it was a Zanpakuto, it was justice!

And for just a moment, Meili’s spiritual pressure would sheath the tanto.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yG8caPPY1Y

Meili continued to pout as Watari gave a lecture. Well, it wasn't exactly a lecture, but it felt like a lecture that would be given to academy students. I mean, yeah, Meili was an academy student, but she got lectured enough at the academy, she didn't need to be lectured by someone she viewed as a friend.

However, as he offered his hand to her, she took it, allowing him to adjust her stance and move her arm. A light blush crossed her face as he did so. But that was quickly replaced by a stern look as she followed his directions.

"The old man makes a valid point...your reason is good...but you must put feeling behind those swings of yours."

"But how can I do that when I don't even know what I'm doing?"

"Listen, learn, live...maybe then you'll be able to hear my name child."

Meili gave a smirk as she held her Zanpakuto. As Watari released his grip, Meili would move to swing her tanto down, however, before even swinging down, she would drop her blade, pull her fist back, and punch forward, a shockwave of air pressure following suit and slamming against the rock, leaving large cracks. Her feeling wasn't enough to crack the rock in two, but it was enough to crack the rock. This brought a smile to her face as she turned to look at Watari and Yuki.

"Did you see that?! It wasn't exactly Zanjutsu...but...I decided to take your lesson and...use it with what I'm best at...which is punching...maybe with enough training, I can break the rock with just the air pressure from my punches!"

Weeks. Well maybe I can do it that amount of time too.

Regardless the point was made: getting this sort of thing mastered in the first day let alone the first try was unlikely. Hopefully Meili wouldn't feel too bad about it. Of course she probably wouldn't need to worry too much. The young Shinigami was certainly eager to jump into their studies.

Yuki didn't really get the musical theater analogy. Is that usually how it went? People played music, ran out of said music, sang, ran out of songs, and then danced? She had never actually been to one before. It didn't really sound like a good time either.

While Watari positioned Meili's body Yuki mimic'd the adjustments, carefully studying the two. Was that her problem too? An incorrect fighting stance? Doubtful. There had to be something else to it.

Oh, she dropped-

A burst erupted forth from the little Baozhai's fist, catching Yuki off guard. As it turned out she really didn't even need her blade. "I believe I see the issue now. We shouldn't really be focusing on her zanjutsu" commented the wolf, free hand moving up to rub at her poor ears. What a loud attack that had been!

"That was impressive."

Meili punched and Watari would just blink as the wave of force from her fist shattered one and then another rock. He would then blink, once, twice and then thrice as he understood what she’d done. In a way she’d just reapplied what he’d taught her to Hakuda, which Watari guessed was fine, in a way she was learning. Watari smiled at the girl and her accomplishment of course like everything else she had solved it with her fists.

“Now all you have to do is do a similar thing but use your Zanpakuto as a conduit for the force. Then you’ll be cutting rocks as hard as you hit them in no time” Watari crouched and picked up her fallen Zanpakuto handing it back to her, it was a shame she’d dropped it. For a moment the mentor had sworn Meili had clicked to what was needed, but then she’d hesitated and resorted to what she knew best. Well, that was why they said teaching somebody was never easy, especially if it was something they weren’t used to.

“Great job Meili, but yet again, you can’t solve all your problems with punching somebody so hard their bones break. Sometimes you have to stab them, speaking of - Yuki do you want any help or are you just going to keep trying until you get it?” He looked over at the wolf girl and was suddenly greeted by a flashback of trying to kiss her and then the woman responding by nearly tearing his throat out, there was no way he was going to attempt touching her unless she consented, lest she stab him.

Meili gave a slight pout as she politely grabbed her Zanpakuto from Watari. She wanted him to praise her, and instead he was saying what she did wrong.

"I know that...and stabbing things isn't the hard part...that's what my Zanpakuto is designed for..."

"You dropped me...you actually dropped me!"

"If my Zanpakuto is designed to stab things, and I can already do stuff like that shockwave with my fists...why do I need to get that same level of power with my Zanpakuto?"

"I can't believe it...you dropped me...how DARE you child...why I have half a mind to..."

Meili would internally start to ignore her Zanpakuto. In reality, she hadn't meant to drop her Zanpakuto, but in the heat of the moment, she...kind of forgot she was holding it.

"Besides...you saw just how strong my fists are..."

Watari was right to a certain extent. It was possible that punching could not always save Meili. A blade might help. Learning how to wield it properly would at least give her that edge as a backup weapon.

However Meili was also correct! She could already unleash so much power with just her fists, and it was made abundantly clear that she was most comfortable utilizing them in the heat of combat. At this point the little wolf was certain that somebody else would be best suited to train the girl. Someone who was an expert in hand to hand combat. Of course Yuki did integrate it heavily into her own combat style, but she didn't know how well it would fit the young Baozhai.

"Hm? Oh."

Right. She had been trying to do the same thing, hadn't she? It was made just a little more embarrassing now that Meili had managed it with her fists. But today wasn't to improve her, and so she shook her head. "No, but thank you. Today is about training Meili."

She stepped closer to Meili, waving a hand towards the girl's blade. "You need to focus more on utilizing your body during combat. Because of my style of fighting I might be able to assist with that, however today we should focus on your swordsmanship while Watari is here. I understand that you prefer your fists. Most problems could be overcome by such power. But it is never to your disadvantage if you are skilled in more than one style of combat. Your blade is small, yes, but there are many advantageous situations for such a weapon."

Yuki finally stopped when she was within arm's reach of the younger Shinigami. "If an opponent is close enough then you can remain safe within their reach. In those instances your weapon gains the advantage. Tighter quarters will also be to your advantage. Also you can hide such a blade. Never underestimate smaller weapons. You yourself are a proper example of this."

On that note another point came to mind. She pointed to Meili's weapon. "What you should do is start each battle with your blade. It is small, yes. Your foe will notice this first. Many will remain transfixed upon it. They might even think you weak for it. But you fight against them, you prevail whenever possible only utilizing this weapon. And if you move in close enough? Well, that is to be expected given your zanpakuto. Your fists you save for last. A secret weapon. Your true strength, when you need it. One unexpected strike on the same level you delivered to those rocks will put down most foes. We could work on your legs too. Knees. Elbows. Turn your entire body into one secret force to be reckoned with."

Meili didn’t get it. He couldn’t blame her, Zanjutsu at it’s finest simply wasn’t something you picked up after one session. He really had hoped he was getting something with her, but it seemed the weight of her success at doing it with her fists blinded her from everything else.

Then Yuki decided to give it a shot, it seemed like she understood where he was coming from. That Meili’s skill with her fists was indeed amazing but not the purpose of the training. That simply throwing a punch and slicing a blade weren’t equivocal if you didn’t understand why you were doing it.

It seemed Yuki understood the way Meili should fight better than Watari, but it really wasn’t Watari’s place to be teaching her combat strategy. To be small was indeed Yuki’s greatest advantage, she was light and mobile and with her ambidextrous tail could easily get on top of enemies with ease.

“The Zankensoki are the four pillars. Four weapons a Shinigami can use to topple the greatest Hollow. To be a master of one and ignore the rest is folly. This is what differentiates good Shinigami from Great Shinigami” Watari added to the end of what Yuki was saying. Meili’s fists could indeed be a secret weapon, drop the Zanpakuto, distract the foe and numb their brain for a moment then deliver a strike to their body to shatter their bones.

“Let them believe you are limited by a Zanpakuto, let them believe that you can dance only with blade and then when they disarm you, shatter their confidence with your fists” Watari breathed in and channeled the energy through his fist, the same energy he’d refined into his blade. This was a technique that Titus had drilled into him again and again, a blow for one hand, a blow that Meili had practiced only moments before

He slammed his fist into one of the rocks that littered the arena and the spiritual pressure rippled through it caused cracks to criss cross the stone across its surface.

"Ikkotsu” - Single Bone.

The type of attack that could crack a Hollow’s mask in one blow.

Meili was once again reprimanded, this time, however, she couldn't tune it out as they were right. While Meili had always considered herself to be a powerful fighter, she was really only strong in one area, and that was her fists.

Perhaps she should have paid more attention in the Kido classes, not that she was bad at Kido, she just never excelled at it like some of her peers had. As for swordplay, she'd always just ignored that class entirely, preferring to study on her own with her fists. As a result, however, she never had any sparring partners other than some training dummies. That's when an idea came to her.

"Perhaps my problem is the way you're teaching me...not that your teaching is bad, it's not...it's just...maybe I don't need a motionless target, but something that fights back?"

She looked up at Watari, a serious look on her face.

"I have a feeling that the few fights I've won so far in my Sakura Back Fights were because my opponents were my family members, and they were...not going easy on me...but were taking me lightly, thinking that a member from the Yan family, the ones who rarely if ever take up combat roles within the Gotei should they get in, could never truly have great combat skills..."

She clenched her fists a little, thinking back on how her opponents had taken her lightly, that realistically she should rechallenge them to a real fight this time.

"But both of you here know the truth. I may act like a fool...I may play an idiot...I may be an idiot...but the three of us here know that when it comes to combat, I'm actually really good. So...perhaps instead of a motionless target dummy...one of you should fight me...for real...with the intent to kill me..."

"...Are you crazy child?! Do you realize what you just said?! If both of them came at you, you do realize you could actually die, right?! I can't protect you from that."

"I know...but this also works in our favor...because I learn best through actual combat...so...perhaps this will also enable me to hear your name..."

"...child...are you actually suggesting that by getting the snot beat out of you...that you'd be able to clean the gunk out of your ears and hear my name? ...that's a crazy idea, and of course one that only you would come up with...I can't say I condone the method...but there is something to it..."

Watari knew what he was talking about. Of course Yuki did forsake one of those four pillars, but then it couldn't really be helped. She just couldn't utilize kido. That just meant that she could make up for it in other areas.

Still. It would be really helpful to learn some. Maybe someday.

He'd also agreed with Yuki's idea. Lead off with the blade. Draw the enemy into a false sense of victory. Strike when they were least expecting it. She was an honorable person to be sure, but in battle most tricks were acceptable. Wits were a weapon to be honed and used as long as one did not act dishonorably towards other people.

Like poison. Or hostages.

Do what you must to survive.

Of course Meili also seemed to somewhat get the point, but she also had an idea of her own, one which Yuki had to agree with. It was much different fighting another person. Had she really trained primarily with dummies? Well, people who took it easy on her, but that wasn't much better.

"Agreed" she replied, nodding once in approval. "You should be training against people who do not hold back. That is a very good idea. However if you want someone to fight you to that extent then there might be an issue." Well, okay, Watari could probably hold back easier than she could. "Strike that. There might be an issue if I am the one administering the training."

Yuki turned towards Watari. "Perhaps you should take over here. I can keep an eye on the battle from the sidelines and jump in if necessary. Unless you have a better approach for this?"

Do it. Fight her.

“Woah woah” Watari held up his hands and stepped backwards at the sudden change in conversation. Were they both stupid? Had they forgotten who he was? He was Watari Suzumei! You know - the guy who practically tossed Yuki out the window with one hand around her throat and had beaten her to near death before being stopped by three nobles and a sudden epiphany that maybe she shouldn’t die. He most definitely was not the right guy for fighting anyone, especially with the whole getting better project he had running behind the scenes. That was tough work.

“I don’t know how you reason I’m a better person to fight than you” He said pointedly in Yuki’s direction. To be honest they were both bad, but Watari was probably objectively more bad considering he actually used the four pillars in tandem. He could do it right now, unbridalled Watari in all his majesty binding pillars slamming into their bodies, bisect Yuki’s tail kill the advantage, blow to Meili’s head to stun her - follow up with a Sokatsui that she wouldn’t be able to deal with and then prep another binding kido for Yuki, finish off Meili then-

“You’re the one that says I can’t go killing people, this beats your stupid mantra. No killing intent here! Apologies” But what if Yuki gave in a little to her inner beast? What if for once the beast girl got to play with somebody a little weaker? A little more vulnerable? What if the wolf girl just gave in to her inner monster just a tiny bit, surely Watari could humor that? He wanted that after all, for her to see what he saw that the world wasn’t just about being righteous, it was being consumed by the need to kill as well.

“C’mon Yuki, you’re the one who likes to fight surely you can put somebody's face on Meili’s?”