Scars as Motivation Attitude [Joint Training]

[Akio Naito]

Participants: [Celes Shindazu and Akio Naito.]

Location: [Atop an empty parking garage.]

Plotline: [Two strangers meet under the night sky, both hoping to self-improve, if only a bit.]

[Training for CTP until class increase, then for SP.]

Sitting on a ledge, several stories up. Akio had been deep in thought again, considering the options. He'd been doing a lot of that since he ran into the rapier-wielding. asura, just couldn't get it out of his head, despite the sicking feeling it gave him. It was everything he hadn't wanted the supernatural battles that had become so commonplace in his town to be. He wanted escapism, duels that could have gone either way, and not... that. "If only..." He said to the empty street below, a mantra of sorts. If only he'd never touched a hollow, would he have been able to avoid notice or escape? Probably not. It wasn't nostalgia for his stronger past self, just a prayer of want and fear, fearing the asura, and wanting to have never met any to begin with.

He stood, closing his eyes as he walked away from the edge, hands slipping into the familiar mudras that mimicked drawing a bow. He was a good four or five stories up, but his regrets still hurt, that's why he had to do this. Segueing into the defensive motion of swinging an arrow, he flourished against imaginary foes in five directions. That's right, he made enemies too easily, Preta, Asura, Human, it didn't matter, he couldn't get along with certain beings, he needed a way to protect himself from that. He drew back the string of a bow that isn't there, a practiced, almost mechanical motion. His regret, his guilt, was not a sea he could break through the surface of, all he could do on his own was this, but it had become easier with time. He released the imaginary arrow, sending a ripple through the air.

His eyes opened with a long, slow exhale. Hazy ribbons of blue light drifted up from the asphalt around the artificial quincy, waving in tune to the flow of the planet's soul. He looked out at what he had created, and smiled. Hanami, the sacred domain of bluebells, was finally to the point he could use it even in the shallow areas, far from one of the dragon steam's direct branches. An onmyodo technique that he could use to change the entire world, someday. But not yet, because he wasn't sure what the change he wanted to make was. Not anymore.

Akio leaned back on his heel, slowly turning in place. Even though he wasn't sure what to do with his brightly burning gift, he could see a bit more clearly than he used to, out beyond the edge of his blue world. That wasn't a metaphor or anything, his good eye had just adjusted a bit to make up for the other one. It had been quite a while since the god he antagonized knocked him out with a sword, and he's been burned a while before that. It only made sense he'd get used to the scarring of the soul. That had been, what, the third time his soul's nature had been altered to that degree?

He went through the motions of an arrow again, maintaining Hanami as he did. More than anything, he was regretting that he couldn't bring his bow with him for a night of training. But keeping it to the range had been a requirement for the sake of legality. He could make do with nothing but the pillar art and the flower viewing ceremony for now, until one day, he could find someone to pass them down to. For now, though, he was only training to keep it running for as long as possible, without the current collapsing. Of course, all of that assumed he wasn't about to be interrupted by someone, which all of Karakura knew was a poor assumption to make.

[Celes Shindazu]

As someone was training under the night sky of Karakura town, so could Celes be found honing her skills in broad daylight within the Soul Society. While there, her blade was held at the ready as she locked eyes with another Shinigami. It was none other than her friend and mentor, Venus. With a little smirk on her face she looked at Celes. With her little smirk, Venus calmly said, “So are you ready to go Celes? Are you ready to try and beat me finally?” With a chuckle, Celes proceeded to shake her head in disbelief. They hadn’t even started and she’s already being taunted.


Celes knew it was all friendly banter, however. Venus and herself were good friends. So much so that little could drive a wedge between them. Venus was her elder. An unseated Shinigami much like herself, but she was also older. Venus had simply never had the motivation before now. To her, Celes was a little sister. Someone to train and look after. As the two locked eyes, Celes maintained a stead grip. Beginning to dash forward at a speed of 50, Celes pushed herself to her limit as she began to close in on the other Shinigami.

Venus softly sighed and spoke. "Soul Reaper Training 101. Zanjutsu. Art of the Zanpakutou." With minimal effort, she raised Zanpakutou to match Celes' strike, making sure to keep a good bit of distance. Or atleast as much as was possible. Twisting at her hip, Celes whips around, moving the struggle of the two Zanpakutou to the side. As she successfully does so, she proceeds to kick Venus in the gut with moderate force. A little taken aback, Venus quickly retreats with a Shunpo and ends up on the crown of one of the trees looking down at Celes.

As she continued to gaze up, Celes finally spoke. "Well now. It does seem I finally got you to retreat Venus." Celes grinned triumphantly, jumping up and down joyfully. Venus quickly hopped down and sighed, gently rubbing Celes' head. "You've learned quickly Celes. Mixing Zanjutsu and Hakudo to mix me up. Quite clever of such a young girl like yourself." Venus saw the younger Shinigami as a kind of fledgeling Soul Reaper. That's why Venus too so much care in training her. She wanted her to be ready for the cruelties of the world. "Well..as a reward for doing so, I will let you go to the Human Realm for a bit. Enjoy yourself Celes."

Celes eyes widened as she thanked her mentor endlessly. After a bit of time, Celes had become ready to enter the Human World. As she did, she looked around Karakura and smiled. It was one of the first times she had ever made it here. To walk where many did before her. It was so much different than her time when she was alive in Russia. It was something she had to savor. Something to relish as she made her way around. As she did though, she noticed a man on a rooftop. Intrigued she dissapeared and quickly reappared on the rooftop. Her Shunpo was far enough that he likely didn't hear it. 

As she looked at him, she saw him motioning the drawing of a bow. It was common knowledge to her that most humans could not see her. Most did not possess that ability. As such Celes decided to test the waters. Almost sneaking up a couple of feet behind him, she clasped her hands together and yelled. "Hello Sir! It's nice to meet you! What is someone like you doing atop a garage at this time of night?" If he could hear her, he'd most likely be startled, but if he didn't then no change she assumed would occur.

[Akio Naito]

Akio hadn't even noticed someone entering the field of his ongoing technique, though the ribbons of deep blue reishi gently lapped at the shinigami as she invaded his personal space. The young man had thrown himself a few paces away from the stranger the moment he had noticed her, leaving himself barely standing until he could manage to correct himself. He may have been below-average in both speed and reaction time, somehow lacking in every factor, but the movement was still reflexive. There had been too many prior experiences to let him keep his guard down. once he wasn't alone. Especially on a night like this one.

Once the issue of keeping his balance was solved, the casually dressed young man straightened out, gauze-wrapped hand gripping one of the streams of softly growing particles for comfort as he turned to face the new arrival. Dreading the possibilities up until the moment he had noticed that his new quest was at least human-looking. Though he had recognized the uniform the mystery girl wore. Not with an understanding of what shinigami were, or what soul society was. He had learned it as being the garb of an asura, one of the 'violent gods' that centered their lives around battle and the collection of lingering souls, and not something he could afford to risk offending. Even if this one wasn't narrating a nature documentary to themselves.

"I had been trying to avoid notice," Explained the frightened Akio, with a mostly-neutral expression. "while practicing this." He said, indicating the area of luminescent blue bands with his free, equally bandaged hand. Though there was an obvious sign of how little more practice he needed in that the technique manifesting those hadn't collapsed when he'd distanced himself from her a moment ago. "I can stop, if you would prefer that?" He asked it politely, even timidly. Everything he could have done to make it clear he wasn't looking for conflict at the time.

He waited for a response from the soul who'd caught him, still on the defensive, and still left wondering what her intentions were. Closely watching them even as he idly adjusted the blackened bangle caught between his bandages and sleeve, and hoped it stayed out of sight. Just the two of them, in a secluded place, lit mainly by the unrealistically rich blue of the ribbons he hadn't stopped maintaining yet. The slight weight of keeping Hanami going was worth having the additional light it provided to him, and the calming presence of something he had actual influence over.