Dancing Flames [Kasha, Kyo]

It had not been fruitful since he resolved to acquire his zanpakuto, it left him staring at the sword nearby in the Hoo Kanmuri Ken dojo. The barbarian had made herself scarce which allowed him a moment of tranquility in this place. Despite the time he had spent meditating the sword refused to give him its name. It left a sour taste in his mouth that the spirit had been uncooperative in all ways except declaring it would not give its name to a person that didn't know his own.

Of course he did not know his own name. He inherited it and whatever name he was assigned at birth, if any in the first place, was lost to history. Naturally the must be more to it than a name though and it had forced him to evaluate the kind of person he was. A faceless man that wore any face or any name. All of it was veiled under the umbrella of "beauty" but what lay beneath it?

That was a mystery. If beauty was in the eye of the beholder and the person he truly was could only be determined by an onlooker then he had to make himself vulnerable. To be laid bare and judged by someone.

There was only one person that he trusted to make that determination, so on the day that was assigned for rest (not altering his appearance) he had invited his closest friend to the dojo for a challenge. He had never truly showed the full extent of his hakuda to an outsider and it was unlikely that he ever would utilise it so earnestly given the way it would reflect the kind of person he was.

Naturally, Kyo answered the summons he had been sent without any hesitation. He hadn't been particularly busy, but even if he had, he would have dropped what he was doing. A man always accepted a challenge as it was given to him; all the moreso when delivered by a man's very best friend.

"Kasha! I'm here for your challenge!"

Boisterous, but not overexcited. It was a declaration not made lightheartedly, but with all the proper energy that a man should show to a bout between brothers. After all, that was in many ways how he saw Kasha, someone that was family to him as much as any flesh and blood.

"Good afternoon, Kyo."

He said with a faint grin at seeing his friend and opponent enter into the archaic training area with its arena featuring polished stone that had been blackened through training with the usage of fire-aligned reiatsu over the many iterations of Kasha that had stood here before.

"I'm glad you came and I don't challenge you lightly. I will fight with everything I have earnestly and exposed. I will hide nothing, metaphorically or literally, and at the end of our fight I need you to tell me who I am."

Kasha explained to his closest friend and in this moment, his greatest advesary.

"Until I know the answer to that my sword will never give me its name and I cannot abide by that if I will keep my word to you."

"Is that so? Then I won't hold back either. Not that I ever would have to begin with, in a challenge between men, but you already knew that, right?"

Kyo didn't really need an answer either way. After all, he already knew that Kasha knew him better than most. He wouldn't have sent a letter of challenge without being fully prepared to fight Kyo at his best, and that was why Kyo drew his own zanpakuto, knowing it would be a disservice if he fought without it.

"You're looking well today, by the way."

Personally, he'd always thought all the makeup seemed like a disservice, but Kasha'd been very attached to it, so he wasn't going to speak ill of it.

While Kyo spoke he got ready. He shed the layers which weren't necessary and approached it like he would a proper fight. His clothes wouldn't survive the ordeal anyway if he utilised his fire reiatsu to its fullest, except the hakama and bandages which were specifically resilient to the heat.

"Thank you."

He thought he might offer a compliment back though he had already focused his mind to the task at hand with the zanpakuto resting among his possessions so that it would witness the match.

So he took his spot in the generously sized arena and bowed to his opponent. When he raised his head the demeaour of the gentle soul had been replaced entirely with a stranger whose energy leaked out until they took the form of flames. He did not have any bloodlust, aggression, or malice though. He might as well have been meditating without any kind of thought while he centred himself.

"Successor of the Hōō Kanmuri Ken, Jatouen no Kasha. Watch me closely."

Kyo naturally reciprocated Kasha's bow, taking a deep breath as he recentered himself afterward and turning his mind to the bout that he was about to experience. Yes, this was his dearest friend in the world; but all that meant here, now, in this ring, was that he knew better than nearly anyone else how to fight him. It just as much meant that Kasha would know how to meet him, however.

Drawing his zanpakuto, and holding it in a confident and centered stance, Kyo's visage hardened, the face of a hardened man of the Sawachika family, rather than merely one visiting his friend. When he spoke in return, his voice seemed to carry with it even more presence than his usual exuberance, and yet it was far heavier, more serious. The spiritual pressure that accompanied it was no less heavy, like unshakeable stone that would not bend.

"Aspiring heir to house Sawachika, Mitsuro Akagi Kyo. I would not dare look away."

The man who had so often been a figure of cheer and lightheartedness was not to be found here. When men fought with all their being, it demanded absolute respect.

Formalities were over and he took the lead. Eager to pressure Kyo in their bout and undermine any impressions that his pacifism might make him reluctant to take the offensive. With a flick of his hand some of the needles he kept in his hair had been retrieved to throw at Kyo in the same motion.

Nothing more than a distraction which he anticipated to be dealt with promptly. He would approach this duel like he would a game of shogi, to anticipate their actions and act accordingly.

He moved like a black smear of ink as came upon the giant like a living fireball. Graceful and gentle despite its forwardness. His was a style of beauty and subtlety rather than flashy moves that broke bones.

Kyo was immediately struck by the speed at which Kasha moved, both in throwing the needles and in following up on the opening. Kyo himself had been training to no small degree for as long as he had known Kasha; he had to wonder if his best friend had been as well, or if he had simply always been at this level. But either answer was meaningless, and Kyo was simply impressed at the display. Evasion was possible, at least with regard to the needles, but he would only be able to meet the other man head-on given the situation.

So be it. He gripped his blade more tightly, and moved to cut into the Koizumi martial artist with a refined, well-trained cut. Nothing flashy, nothing overstated, but a technique he had honed on countless stone pillars in the Sawachika estate. He had thought to utilize the arena itself briefly, but with a floor of hakuroseki like this, it wouldn't be possible, not at his level, and likely not even at his father's.

Words were of little value here. Even a smile of approval at his friend's skill was nowhere to be found, not when the intensity of the bout was still such a looming threat, and when he had already resolved to fight with his fullest, undivided capability.

The path of his development was linear but the reality was he had not grown upwards since he entered into the Academy. He had simply expanded the range of his position to become more flexible, the strength of Kyo was not something he could underestimate or match so he would have to compensate by focusing on his friend's vulnerabilities.

His black form smeared to the side as some of his hair was clipped by the blade. Footwork fleet enough to ensure that he was behind the swing so that he could flick at Kyo's side with his fire aligned reiatsu serving as an amplifier. The motion would feel like he had just been tapped but his spiritual power would amplify that touch to make it feel like he had been punched.

Amplification was the basis of Jatouen, a subtle application of combustion which allowed him to turn a flick into the feeling of being stabbed or amplify his targets' spiritual power and body's natural healing.

Kasha truly was quick, and Kyo winced as the blow to his side came. It was a remarkable technique, and the fact that he knew it had been such a relatively gentle blow, despite the injury he'd sustanied, meant that he could not afford to risk many more of those. Unlike his best friend, and unlike the woman he'd fallen for, he lacked much in the way of unique capabilities to apply in battle. However, he was still a man of Sawachika. He knew that any man could succeed with the fundamentals, simply through mastery of them.

"Here I am, Fuurinkazan!"

The increase of Kyo's spiritual pressure from the release was hopefully enough to give him at least a moment of reprieve, but he wasn't foolish enough to try and rely on something so unknown. Quickly whipping around, Kyo stabbed toward Kasha with his shikai, before just as quickly drawing it back to begin rapidly spinning in one hand. His other hand, however, he kept up in a fairly open guard, fully prepared to strike or to cast kido depending on the approach Kasha took.

This was the way he fought. Every possible approach was an option, and every possible response was necessary.