Sheep in Wolf's Clothing (Closed/JT/Hotaru and Mizu)

[“Mizu Tsuraiko" Orina]

Mizu had to admit that the Captain was rather impressive to say the least. The woman even in the midst of that vast ocean was deft and capable, Slashing through that blade of water easily and beginning to burn her way up. However, while she was able to tunnel her way up, she seemed not to understand that Mizu was capable of manipulating the water she produced. As she tunneled her way up, more water crashed in from all sides, filling in the space that was left. not only that, but it SHUNTED downward. Admittedly the force of the water wasn't enough to actually resist the fire, but it was plenty strong enough to force the Captain's body back down, as at the very least, her physical strength was inferior to mizu's own spiritual power.

All he more, Mizu began to produce more water, even as Hotaru continued to burn away at it, the water was not actually destroyed. It boiled, bubbled away from her, and then recondensed with the water around it, as Hotaru more or less was simply moving the water around. Not only that, but Mizu had begun to add to it, adding the water from her own shikai, an effort that did cost her energy, unlike a true shikai. And Hotaru would find something interesting. As she continued to climb, she never seemed to be getting close to the surface. And as she breathed, she would suddenly feel a PANG of pain.

True, The water produced by the initial bubble was perfectly safe to breathe, it was something that sadly restrained her from drowning everything around her. But in actuality, this was a boon. It kept her from drowning allies, and it allowed this. The water produced by her shikai's "passive" was not something that could be breathed. And as Hotaru tried to find the end of that sphere, the water constantly SHOVING her back down whenever there was a break. While Hotaru could certainly burn her way up, she couldn't stop water from rushing in from other directions and drag her back down. And the water that rushed in and stuck around her, was not the type to breathe.

There would be no warning. Thew water didn't look different, smell different, it didn't have a different reiatsu. She would be breathing fine one moment, and suddenly she would have the sensation of a lungfull of water. No matter how experienced she was, plausibly speaking, surely her Captain should panic, yes? And it was in that moment when Hotaru would first realize that she was beginning to drown that Mizu unleashed another slicing blade, when hopefully Hotaru's mind would single out on the notion of escape, as the fear of drowning would drive her to try and escape more fervently, it would be then that that blade of almost invisible water would slice in, and once again try to inflict that nonlethal slash across the woman's back as Mizu swam around like a fish. Not only being a good swimmer, but also able to push herself around using her own water.

She of course, had to concentrate. This was, after all, a Captain, and she expected at any moment the fight might escalate. The biggest advantage was that Hotaru would be utterly unable to see her or sense her precisely through the water. That meant that any retaliation had to be wild and weak, so as not to accidentally hurt anyone or anythign near that dome of water. She knew, of course, that Hotaru could probably obliterate the dome in an instant using her Bankai. But then again, an unseated member forcing the woman into bankai? It was ludicrous. And even now, she couldnt imagine what kind of tricks and cards Hotaru had to pull up her sleeve. In truth? Bankai would be a blessing. She would KNOW what to expect from the woman's bankai. But some other technique? That was what kept her guard up.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru thought that her plan was rather sound, doing what she had done the last time she was faced with water of this magnitude. Well, she didn't know if it was the same amount of liquid as last time, but it was close enough. Her fire was making some work of the water, but she realized a little too late that the water wasn't really moving out of the way and it then started to fill in the gap that was getting made by her fire cannon. It was coming down with such a force that she was getting pushed downwards, back towards where she started from. Once she was pushed down, she was internally cursing at herself for not thinking this would happen.

This was a Shikai power, so she should've realized that the water was being controlled by Mizu. With her efforts being thwarted by the water of this Shikai, she started to feel a pain in her lungs. The pain made her panic for a brief second before her Anti-Pain skill activated. Through her intense, torture-like training with Sozen before he left the Soul Society, she had learned to push past her limits with pain. She was taught to turn pain into more of a focus, among other things that she could do with it. When the pain started in her lungs, she pushed the pain into more of a focus for her in this fight.

She was still drowning, yes, but the pain of it didn't push her to panic, but made her more focused and able to think clearly. Once the skill had activated, she was able to focus more on the details of her surroundings and her enemies. In that instant, she remembered one technique that she had that she hadn't been able to try out before. Now seemed like the perfect time to use it. With her fire sword still in front of her mouth to give her what she hoped was still enough breathing room, she shot her liquid out of her cannon, hoping that this technique would work as well as she hoped it would.

It did. The liquid from her cannon immediately started to change all the water around her into the same liquid that she could command. The limit for this technique in Shikai was one fourth of a mile, or 402.336 meters. She had no idea how big this bubble was, but she doubted that it was bigger than that. She watched as all the liquid around her became her liquid and then it would spread rather quickly through the water around her. She knew that Mizu was using the water to attack, since she had done so before, so she hoped that the liquid around her was changed enough that if she decided to attack again, it would be changed to where it wouldn't hit her.

If this liquid was changing as she had hoped, she was now safe from at least one attack. Looking up, she thought that now might be the time to try to escape. With the liquid around her changing, she would look up and focus on her liquid above her. She would ignite it and this would hopefully give her a straight shot out and she would see the sky. She would work slowly, keeping the flame blade in front of her mouth in case something changed, but she would slowly start to ignite the liquid above her once it had changed until she was hopefully out of this water. This shinigami was definitely a strong addition to her division.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Anti-Pain Skill}Different from pain tolerance. This is a skill which not only allows the user to resist or tolerate pain, but convert it into pleasure, controlled rage, and emotional fuel for combat and strength. Those who possess this skill only become sharper, more skilled, more analytic, and more powerful as they receive more pain and more injuries. Though physical symptoms of toxins, electric shocks, and more can manifest and damage the user of this skill, they continue to fight more and more effectively, and see and analyze the opponent more clearly, as their pain and torment increases. This ends only when they die from the sources of this pain. With a 1 in this skill, Hotaru can endure minor cuts/bruises and up to second degree burns and feel strength from the attacks to power through, getting focus only on her enemy. At 2, this skill will let Hotaru she could power through basic slashes and third degree burns and still power through to attack. It would also let her focus to better see an enemy with illusions and stealth in place, but not completely. At 3, the skill is at its peak. Hotaru would be able to endure torturous pain and power through to continue to fight. She can focus on her enemies' breathing, seeing most detail about them and can see them through illusions and stealth in place.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Henkan O Hassha Suru Ekitai (Liquid to Fire Transformation)}With her liquid secreating out of her released state, it is bound to hit some kind of liquid while it spreads. If it comes into contact with any liquid lower than her Reiatsu Strength, the liquid will be converted to her own liquid. For Shikai, the range is a fourth of a mile, Bankai range is half a mile.

[“Mizu Tsuraiko" Orina]

Mizu had to admit she was doign better than she expected. However, once she saw what her Captain was doing, she narrowed her eyes. And immediately, the entire dome simply stopped and separated. The liquid from her own ability did not conduct to gravity. But her Captain's liquid? Did. And her Captain hadn't just been shoved to the ground, she had gotten fairly high up off the ground. And So the water simply....opened up. Mizu segregated the water. Of course Hotaru wouldn't see it. Her liquid was completely black, she wouldn't see a damn thing.

And even when that lance of water came in, it did get converted into liquid, but it was still an attack, and would slash into the Captain. However, when she ignited the liquid above her, she would find herself falling. Only lighting up a small portion of the liquid. As Mizu had pulled back, kept some of the converted liquid around Hotaru. And the rest of it shrank away, keeping it from making contact with this black liquid, and only giving Hotaru about... a few gallons of new liquid. All of that dome shrank away in an instant, pulling away at a fairly decent speed. And once it opened up, Hotaru would drop to the ground.

After all, Soul society only allowed one to use air ground if you had a special technique, and Mizu was banking on Hotaru not having any of that. But just to be sure. Mizu SLAMMED a single pillar of water into the woman, shoving her down toward the ground, dropping her quite a long ways, however high up the woman had managed to swim, in order to plow her into the ground, hitting her body, in order to avoid the liquid. And of course, since it was no longer part of her dome, her liquid didn't stay floating around her. It fell to the ground below, leaving none of it to protect the Captain from that pillar of water that aimed to piledrive her into the ground.

Of course Even if Hotaru could stand the pain, it didn't mean she was immune to drowning. She would be low on oxygen, what with the water in her lungs, keeping her from breathing, possibly causing the lungs to collapse as they tried feebly to suck in oxygen. All of the Captain's limbs would slowly be building up with lactic acid from her muscles. Holding one's breath was possibel, certainly, but Hotaru was fighting while doing so, putting a bigger demand for oxygen. Of course, Mizu knew that if Hotaru used bankai, she probably would eb able to do something. But she still wanted this. She wanted to BEAT hotaru in her Shikai form. With her dome pulled away except for that pillar of water attacking, separated so that if Hotaru did somehow get her liquid on it, it wouldn't spread to the rest of the dome.

Mizu was about.... fifteen meters away, still hiding within her water. Honestly, if this slam, and the water in Hotaru's lungs didn't take her out, then she would probably have to concede. Especially since she couldn't close in. In normal circumstances? She would close in and begin stabbing. But that Liquid was a problem. A fairly big one at that. And as such she didn't feel safe closing in on the woman, knowing that she could be severely burnt up. Especially with how struggled and panicked Hotaru might be becoming. The Captain wasn't in danger of dying. Not yet, especially since Mizu planned on pulling the water out of her lungs and saving her if she did pass out.

She knew it was against her nature. After all....sinking her teeth into such a beautiful, powerful creature. The very idea made her salivate. But no. this would be Key. If ever Hotaru had ANY doubts about Mizu, this would banish them. And otherwise? Surely it would greatly endear the woman to her, would it not? Self control, as well as the power she had sway over. She Needed this. And as much as it would help her evolution to eat the woman. In the long run.....she needed Hotaru alive. The end game. That was her greatest drive. To keep her sanity. To somehow WIn this. To gain soemthing she could use to destroy the sereitei. And to that end, her patience was going to be a sclose to limitless as she could stand to make it!

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru's liquid was converting everything around her to her liquid, but she didn't forsee the attack. The attack slashed her in the back, since even though it was her, there was still the force of the attack behind the liquid. She felt the slash start to hurt from the pain of the attack. She would quickly back into some of her liquid and activated the liquid to cauterize her wound. She took in a deep a breath as she could with the water in her lungs as her liquid had converted as far as she could see. She had slowly been making her way up, only getting a few feet in the air before she noticed the water falling out of the air.

It made sense, since gravity was a thing. She felt herself falling about five feet towards the ground. While she quickly fell, she saw the huge water pillar that was starting to form on top of her. Her sword was still near her mouth, so she moved her arm at her full speed, making it spew out her liquid, turning the entire pillar to her water before it started to fall on her. She landed on the ground slightly hard on her left arm and got up as quickly as she could. Her cannon was still spewing her liquid out, her liquid now starting to slowly cover the ground around her. This alone would make it hard for Mizu to use her water against her.

Her breaths started to get shorter, realizing that the drowning that she was pushing towards focus was actually catching up with her. She knew that she needed to get a handle on the water in her lungs, but there wasn't that much that she could actually do about it. There were slight black dots flashing in her vision and she knew that she needed to act quickly before she passed out. With what was at her disposal, there was only one thing that she could think of doing. She tipped her sword so the point of the blade was vertical over her mouth. She willed the blade to start pouring out liquid into her mouth.

Her liquid started to drip into her mouth, cutting it off after a few seconds. She started breathing, breathing in a little bit of her liquid, feeling the liquid move into her lungs. Once it was there, it would immediately start to convert all the water in her lungs to her liquid and since gravity was a thing, the liquid would fall and start to pool, she would assume, in the bottom of her lungs. With this assumption, she was finally able to take a deep breath and clear her vision. Rivu~aiasan was worried about what she did, but he knew that she didn't want to pass out in front of one of her division members. With Anti Pain still active, she looked around for her. "You are strong, Mizu-san. Stronger than I gave you credit for and for underestimating you, I'm sorry. How long did you want to spar for, because I can go as long as you want to or need to go."

[“Mizu Tsuraiko" Orina]

While Hotaru's lash ow liquid was able to convert that crashing pillar of water, that did not eliminateall other aspects. Such as it's speed, velocity, and momentum, and as such, rather than attempting to avoid the pillar, Hotaru was slammed not by a pillar of Mizu's water, but of her own liquid, though with the same force and weight as the attack would have held regardless, dashing the woman into the ground as she again fought to fight off suffocation.

Mizu had to admit this was a close fight, and she did imagine Hotaru might have some ways of expelling the water. But she did...not expect what she saw next, as Hotaru promptly lined up that blader with her mouth! She...SHE WASN'T! In an instant, Mizu promptly initiated a Senka, RACING toward the Captain and slashing twice, aiming to swat that blade away from her mouth before she poured too much in, and another to slash the arm at the bicep, in an attempt to keep the woman from doing it again! Admittedly she did the second part on reflex. But all the same.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Hold still! I'm going to pull the water out!" She yelled as she attempted to hold the Captain in place and pull her water out of the woman, hoping to rinse that fluid out of their lungs. She completely ignored the compliment for the time being. She was NOT going to be explaining a potential death of her Captain! Sure Hotaru could replace the liquid with hers, but her liquid was no more breathable than Mizu's water, and if she went on igniting it, she would burn the inside of her lungs, cauterizing them and eliminating any hope of breathing normally.

Needless to say, she made it clear that she had no intention of fighting further as she attempted to save the Captain. Admittedly, it as an admirable attempt, but perhaps not thought out to completion. Or perhaps Hotaru had been intending to force a surrender? She wasn't sure which, and at present she didn't care. One day she DID want to sink her teeth into that lovely Captain, break her apart and make her suffer as she was consumed. But right now? That woult put way too much pressure on her, and not only that, but she needed a fcunctioning squad to do as she could, If anything happened to Hotaru, her swquad would be under surveil and probably have a lot less free time as the woman's workload would filter down until a replacement could be found.

Not ONLY that, but the fact that she would have no more new members of her squad coming in. Newbies dying stupidly was one of her prime sources of shinigami meat, and she knew that several squads already had freezes on new members. No, Hotaru was far too valuable for her at the moment to go ruining all this now. So she put aside the spar, happy with how her own abilities had performed, and spawned a bit more water, intent on giving the woman another rinse if need be. "Did you get it all out? If you need I can carry you to squad four." She insisted, the concern regarding her Captain still so very clear as she attempted to treat the woman and get them to a more stable condition.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru had to admit that with this fight, she didn't think as far ahead as she should have. Was it because she was fighting a squad member? She didn't know, but when the water changed to her liquid, it still hit her rather hard. She should've known that would happen, but like she had already admitted, she wasn't thinking to far ahead in this fight like she like to have in all her fights. While she was standing up, still using her Anti-Pain skill that focused all the pain into focus but she was feeling the shortness of breath from her inability to breathe in deep breaths. It was then that she pointed her sword down towards her mouth.

She looked towards Mizu and saw that she started to run towards the captain. Hotaru used Shunpo to get about four feet away from her, moving to the right. Rivu~aiasan was trying to tell her not to do it, because it was not the smartest thing that she had ever thought of, but to her, continuing the fight was worth it. Division Four would be able to heal the damage she caused herself if it came to that. A few drops were on her tongue before she heard Mizu speak. 'WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! Hold still! I'm going to pull the water out!' The statement made her stop dripping the liquid in her mouth and spit it out onto the ground.

Letting Mizu get closer, she opened her mouth and watched as the water that was in her lungs was slowly getting pulled out. It was one of the weirdest things that she had seen, but in all honestly, it probably wouldn't be the weirdest thing she would ever see. After her death, she learned that weird things became more commonplace, like Zanpaktou powers. All of them were different, and more spectacular than the last. This place never ceased to amaze her. Once all the water was extracted, she saw all the water that was in her lungs as a bubble in Mizu's hand. She took a deep breath, calming down her mind and letting her Anti-Pain skill ease.

When Mizu asked if she needed to get carried to Division Four, Hotaru smiled and patted her on the shoulder quickly. "Now that I can breathe correctly, I should be perfectly fine. I don't think you would need to carry me there. I will probably stop by later to let them check me out to see if there's anything left, but if you're sure you got everything, I'm not worried. I do have to say that your power is impressive. The ability to be able to encapsulate someone in a thing you can control like that, as well as affecting their ability to breathe is great! I'm glad that we have another strong shinigami in this Division to protect Soul Society. Did you have any questions or concerns about your powers or the fight in general that you wanted to talk about?"

[“Mizu Tsuraiko" Orina]

Mizu let out a sigh of relief when her Captain went along with her treatment, rinsing out the woman's lungs and almost collapsing with relief. The fear of having to explain drowning her own captain finally subsiding as it seemed the woman would be fine. rubbing her eyes and shaking her head just a little before she turned her attention back to her Captain and couldn't hep but chuckle just a little, even if she still was witholding that inner hunger, she could allow an earnest nervous chuckle now that the stress was past.

"Thank you, Captain. I'm glad thatit was you I fought against first." She noted. Something blah blah aboutan actual struggle allowing her to control it properly without it going rampant. However she WAS pleased to see that genuine pride in her Captain's voice. Yesssss. She smiled softly, a warm and inviting look, as she silently seemed to admire her Captain. Of course, deeper inside. She was relishing her own success. She had sought out to gain her Captain's trust, and she'd certainly done so. Not only that but she had even been growing quite steadily. She had surpassed almost all her peers in pure power and had been gathering strength quite readily. It might not even be long before she would be surpassing her fellow officers. She might even get Vice Captaincy at some point.

"I admit. I was a little....worried." She murmured. Once again forcing herself to open up. Knowing how hard shinigami got over sharing of earnest emotions. Especially to leaders, for some reason it seemed that leaders always got boners over their ability to get their subordinates to open up. "I was a little....worried that after my hospitalization I was going to have trouble catching up to my classmates. I still have physical problems. I'm definitely not as... physically strong as a lot of my comrades. And I still get tired out pretty easy moving around. But I'm glad that the rest of my abilities seem to have picked up the slack," she chuckled.

Then, of course she doubled back, going a bit pink in her ears and clearing her throat. "S-sorry! I didn't mean to get so personal, Captain! Um... th-thank you very much for training with me, Ma'am." She stammered, immediately backtracking that personable outburst by standing and bowing respectfully as one would expect to behave toward someone of Hotaru's station. Yet another little trick she'd actually learned from some cutie in Squad four who tended to get chummy with her patients and always enamored the upper officers that she found herself backpedaling at. The officers found it adorable, or at least amiable, so she had integrated it into her own little strategies when getting close to her superiors.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru waited until Mizu had finished talking before she decided to talk. She was happy that she had fought her first, saying that she was worried because of her hospitalization. It made sense, since she was hospitalized, as she remembered, for an extend period of time. Worrying about her strength made her think about herself. She too, had worried that her strength wouldn't be enough to stand against some of the strongest people in Soul Society, to stand as a Captain. But, her reiatsu strength had made her more than a match to the Captains here, giving her the strength that she had been looking for.

The same had happened with Mizu. It was good to see that she was gaining her confidence in her own power like that, and Hotaru was more than happy to help her with that. She smiled. "You have nothing to worry about! I have noticed that your body will pick up the slack if you're deficient in other areas. It happened with me and it seems to have happened with you. I would say that you have nothing to worry about, since I believe you have definitely caught up with your squad mates. You definitely have confidence with your release, especially with the drowning thing, nice touch!

Feel free to use these training grounds again, if you want to fine tune some of your release. Also, don't worry about the personal stuff! It happens to the best of us. You're very welcome. You should try to spar with some of your squadmates as well, see how you far against the rest of the division. I sadly need to get back to my Captain duties. It was a pleasure to see how one of the lower ranked members handles themselves against someone stronger than me. Let me know if you need anything else." Hotaru would nod her head in Mizu's direction and walk back into the division, excited that such a strong member had joined and curious to see how this kind of strength would elevate the division as a whole.

[Deleted]

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