Seven Day Shihoin Training Regiment [Solo/Training]

Wed Jan 15, 2020 8:17 pm

This journey that Chidori found herself on was one that was self-focused but in hopes to better her family. While her father was dying, Chidori has come under the realization that she was nowhere near as strong as she was needed to be to properly lead the Shihoin to greatness. Her father was not only an incredibly hakuda user but also had the experience underneath his belt because he fought during World War 3. He had wisdom and knowledge from serving 400 years underneath the Gotei that Chidori was never going to surmount to in the little time that she had left. She knew that if her father were to die today, there would definitely be some infighting amongst the Shihoin due to the fact that they had a weak and possibly incompentent leader. To prevent something like that from happening, Chidori was going to need to train and have some outside help.

Her first place to look was the library. The Shihoin library had a bunch of information in it from hundred to thousands of years ago written by members of the Shihoin that thought whatever they were doing needed to be written down. That being said, there was a lot of stuff in here that was full of useless garbage, like that one time her third cousin from 400 years ago was eating the best sandwich known to man and had to write down both the recipe and his out of body experience. So yeah, picking up a random book from the Shihoin library has the same chance of being the instructions on how to build the Sokyoku to a shitty romance novel. There were quite a few things that she ended up finding that were legitimately interesting, like the way the Shihoin obtained their royalty, the difficulties that were the building of the Shihoin estate, and a way of speeding up the bankai unlocking and mastering process. The thing that she found that helped her though was a book written by her great uncle about his time with the first captain commander Yamamoto. The two weren’t actually close but they did meet and interact, so Kenji decided to write about it. This then brought Chidori to look for more books about him, eventually stumbling upon one about Kenji and his brother, her great grandfather, Shisuke. Then she decided to search for any material written by Shisuke in the library, and turns out a lot of the fighting oriented ones were written by him. Though searching through the books, she eventually found his last writing. It spoke of a volcano formed by his brother roughly 700 miles from the Rukongai and how he wasn’t certain if a seal was going to keep back a monster forever. There were directions to it in the book, though he recommended the help of a Shiba to arrive faster. Since Chidori didn’t really know any Shiba, she was going to have to get there by foot. Maybe her great-grandfather would be able to help her with her problem. That or she was going to waste a 9 day trip getting there and a 9 day trip back.

The trip itself was the biggest pain in the ass that Chidori has experienced in her life, and she’s been through 200 years of princess training. Not only was Shisuke’s instructions incredibly difficult, the environment has changed in the past thousands years or so it has been since he’s written them. So when he talks about certain landmarks, they just didn’t exist now. Luckily, there were still people scattered throughout the wildlands of the Soul Society so some of them were able to give her directions. Some recognized her and others didn’t, though all of them were either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave to abandon the protection of the gotei, at least in Chidori’s eyes anyways. Another aspect of her trip that was a hindrance was the amount of stuff she had to take with her and the wildlife. Most of what she had on her was water and food, assuming that her grandfather had those things available to him since he’s lived by himself for the past few hundred years. Though it seems the wildlife of the Soul Society had also wanted a piece of whatever Chidori brought with her, because no matter where she was there was always some sort of animal following her. At first it was the deer, then the bears, then the birds. It eventually got to the point where Chidori had started to fight back against the animals in the hope of keeping her food to herself.

Though eventually, through all the hardship, she made it to the location. He called it Mt. Hakushuku, or Brothers. Fitting but also kind of simple, not that Chidori wasn’t a fan. Slowly, she made her way through the forest that surrounded the mountain. It was definitely and odd site but it made sense. Since this was a man-made volcano that has yet to actually become active, the surrounding wildlife didn’t have a problem growing and spreading around it. Though, she noticed from farther away, that the closer you got to the mountain the weirder the trees were. The odd things about them would vary, from shape to leaf color. It had a certain beauty to it as well. Though Chidori’s admiration was interrupted by a voice that came from behind her:

“Wait a second… you’re not my granddaughter….” It sounded like it came from a person, though it was a bit higher in pitch compared to someone who would have been her grandfather’s age. Chidori would reply to this remark, “Technically no, but we’re still related. I’m Chidori, assuming you’re the Shisuke I’ve been reading so much about.”

“Reading? I didn’t think that the Shihoin still read anything nowadays. Do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen anyone besides Yoruichi? Hell, do you know how long it’s been since I’ve seen Yoruichi? That bitch hasn’t been here since my birthday 5 years ago…” Chidori couldn’t help but laugh and Shisuke couldn’t help but respond with the same. He enjoyed making light of his situation since it was one that he put himself in. That and he just enjoyed people in general, though he doesn’t often get people where he lived for obvious reasons. That reason, if you didn’t know, being the volcano. “So, what brings you here my little Hina?” Something he thought was a cute nickname for her. Hina, or small bird or chick, for his young family member.

It should be noted that during this conversation, Chidori still has yet to see him and he still has yet to stay still. It seemed that with every word he spoke from a different direction, constantly moving a few meters at a time while he spoke. She also couldn’t get a good read on his position relative to his power; it was like he was everywhere yet nowhere at the same time. Then, suddenly, it all stopped, and in front of Chidori stood a 4 foot tall bipedal cat with two tails and an eye patch. It stared her up and down before speaking. “Hm… You look like more of a Koneko than a Hina to me, eh Chidori?”

Wait, what. Nowhere in the any of the books that she read did it say anything about him being a fucking CAT? She stood there with her mouth agape as she tried to figure out how the hell this was even possible. Honestly, him showing himself actually raised more questions that it answered, like how did he have children if he was a cat? Was there a woman out there that was into that? Shisuke couldn’t help but chuckle at the expression that was on his great granddaughter's face. Perhaps it would be more fun if he didn’t actually tell her what his situation was body-wise. “Anyways, why did you come here Hina?” Oh yeah, Chidori had a reason for travelling over 700 miles to visit her grandfather.

“Oh!” She snapped out of her confused state. Guess this was just going to be a thing that exists now, being related to a cat. “I’ve come to you seeking help, oji-chan. You see, I’m next up in line to take over the Shihoin family but I feel like I’m not strong enough nor skilled enough to lead, especially after my father.” Shisuke stood there for a good moment trying to figure out who Chidori’s father was before coming to a quick realization. “So you’re the pipsqueak’s kid huh? How is he doing? Next time you see him, tell him to visit his grandfather before I get off my ass and visit him myself.” Chidori’s expression immediately went to a sad one and Shisuke realized it was something he said. “Uh, actually oji-chan, I don’t think he’ll be able to do that. See, recently he’s gotten sick and it’s gotten worse ever since. A year ago it was just some bad coughing and shortness of breath, now it’s him coughing up blood and passing out from the pain. He’s been bedridden for a month now and by this point he doesn’t want treatment. He… he just wants to die.” She felt something hot roll down her cheek before realizing she had started to cry. It was something that really got to her, as it should, and she tried to take as best as she could but in reality it was life-shattering. Chidori couldn’t imagine a world without her father and a world where everyone in her family had to look up to her for guidance. Just the thought of this made her emotions overwhelm.

One of Shisuke’s tails were raised up to Chidori’s face and wiped the tear. “Don’t cry my little Hina. A good leader must not show fear or weakness, especially to those that she relies on. One is quick to turn if they realize their leader is not worthy of following.” Chidori nodded and took a moment to collect herself. She was going to have to get tougher physically, mentally, and emotionally. That first part was going to be a bit difficult, maybe she should let him know why.

“Oh yeah I’m pregnant by the way. I don’t think I’ll be able to do a lot of physical training but I’m eager to do anything you need me to do.”

“Nonsense! The increase in your spiritual energy while harboring a child will also transfer over to it! If you become incredibly strong in the next week, then the child will as well! Oh, I forgot to mention that as well. You have seven days before you have to leave, so let's make the most of it, eh? Come on, I’m starving. Are you?” Chidori nodded enthusiastically and followed Shisuke to his home. It was a relatively large wooden house that looked similar to the Shihoin estate in terms of architecture. He had made a stew out of venison and a few vegetables and herbs he was growing not too far away from here. There were also a few mushrooms in there to balance out the flavor and texture, and while it was different than what she was normally used to eating, Chidori was definitely a fan.

And thus began the seven day Shihoin training regiment.

SLAYER

Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:32 am

Day 1

Chidori started out that morning laid out on the hard wooden floor of her great-grandfather’s home. He had set aside a room for her, but it wasn’t a large room to begin with and was unfurnished. Because of that, Chidori had to sleep on the floor though she wasn’t one to complain. She’s gone through some tough living situations when she left home a couple of years back, and in the past 9 days she hasn’t actually slept on anything that remotely resembled a bed since she was travelling. That’s why she was currently sprawled out on the floor as if it was a tatami mat, though it wasn’t as nearly as soft as one. Shisuke took it upon himself to wake up his granddaughter because if he wasn’t going to then Chidori would have literally slept all day. She’s done so much work again in the past month or so that she’s always exhausted all the time. It’s the kind of tired that could let you sleep on demand if you got just a moment to stop and catch your breath….

THWACK!

Shisuke’s method of waking up Chidori was a bit more physical than most, as he grabbed a somewhat flexible stick from a nearby tree and smacked the back of her hand with it. He figured if she was comfortable enough to sleep on his wooden floor then a simple nudge or calling out her name wasn’t going to do anything. And he was correct in his assumption for the most part, and Chidori shot straight up and grabbed at the air next to her. Normally there would be some sort of object she could use as a weapon there, like a lamp or cup, but there wasn’t anything of the sort there besides her grandfather’s leg.

“Ah, I see you’re awake Hina. With my help, obviously.”

“Huh? What? ...what time is it?” Chidori looked around her for a window to realize that the sun was barely up outside. The sky was a beautiful mix of orange, violet, and blue. Though, and she realized this not soon after, that it could also be the sunset. There was no way she slept for 20 hours. Well, it was a possibility, she just didn’t want to consider it reality.

“It’s six o’clock. C’mon, you’re going to catch your breakfast this morning while I got tend to my chores.” Shisuke gave her a wide girn, knowing damn well that Chidori wasn’t going to catch breakfast. At least he didn’t expect her to, but setting high expectations for her was one of the best ways for her to train because when she actually reaches those expectations it would show legitimate progress. “And then you’ll be catching lunch and dinner as well. In fact, you’ll be catching all the you will be eating while you are here for the next week.”

“Wh-...What is the point of that exactly?” Chidori was genuinely confused, curious, and starting to feel a bit sick. Oh boy.

“A good leader must learn how to be diligent and determined to achieve their goals while also being self-sustaining. Sometimes, as a leader, you may make choices that nobody else may agree with though you know deep in your heart that it’s the right choice. In situations like that, nobody will back you and you’re thrown out to the wolves. Now granted the people you are leading are family, but even then, family can be fickle.” Shisuke nodded, agree with the information he presented. Chidori, on the other hand, sort of knew where he was coming from since she was on the other end. When her father had decided to banish her cousin, nobody was happy about it. Though once he indulged them on the reason why, it still made them angry but it made sense about why he did it and needed to do it.

Reluctantly, Chidori pushed herself off the floor, slowly as to not worsen her sickness. “Alright, what can I find around here then? I’d assume the normal: deer, rabbit, some sort of meaty bird? Also can I opt for berries instead.” All she got in response was a laugh, which, she now noticed, was surprisingly deep for a cat. So much so that it was pretty unsettling, and sent a chill down her spine. This was going to be something she was going to have to get used to over the course of the next week.

“Ah well, see, that’s the challenge. See, due to the hollow currently in the volcano, a lot of his energy seeps out into the wildlife and infects it. Which is why, if you were any good at sensing energy, you’d notice the concerning amount of hollow around us. They still keep their nature from prior, so a rabbit doesn’t go around looking for souls but a bear most certainly will. Which is why I recommend you take your Zanpakuto with you and start.” He raised the stick as to intimidate her, which worked as Chidori grabbed it and began to run. Slowly, her sickness started to go away as she started to run through the forest. She made sure to make a mental note while traveling so she didn’t get lost in a sea of trees.

4 hours have passed and Chidori was starting to consider eating her grandfather. If there’s one thing you don’t want to take from a pregnant woman would be food, because she has been seeming to get hungry twice as hungry twice as fast. Doing something like hunting really tested all of her core shinigami skills; she had to be quiet and fast with her hoho, agile and strong with her hakuda, precise with her Zanpakuto, and smart, which can be tied with Kido but in this specific circumstance Chidori has not gotten much use out of it.

Roughly 3 hours later, she came across the semi-hollowfied animals that her grandfather was speaking of. In front of her was a boar that had developed a hollow mask, it’s skin turning black and it smelled of rotting meat. When Chidori stumbled upon it, it was just eating some grass. Odd creature, the thing. It ate like it was still a boar but it was clearly a hollow. Then she remembered that her grandfather said they still thought and acted like it was a boar. Whatever, all Chidori had to do was kill it and… Is this safe to eat? Can hollows be eaten without hollowfying yourself? Eh, she’ll cross that bridge when she gets there.

At first, she thought a headstrong technique would work, it’s only a boar after all. There was an initial flash step towards the animal, though due to her inexperience she ended up roughly 15 feet from the boar. Well that wasn’t optimal, but to make up for distance she tried to flash step again immediately after and stab the boar, succeeding, though her zanpakuto just bounced on the mask of the creature. In retaliation, it decided to ram her with it’s forehead because she was so close. Now on the ground and about to be eaten by a boar, a pang of fear was sent through her body. Was this what fight or flight was like? It’s pretty obvious by now, if you know Chidori, that she chose to fight. The only thing, in her mind, that would get her out of the way fast enough would be a flash step, though because she was on her back there was no realistic way she could move. So if that wasn’t going to work what if…

As a reflex, she brought her hands up to the boar and released her reiatsu around her hands. Her signature black flames poured from her fingertips and began burning the skin of the boar, causing it to roar out in pain. It stood up on its hindlegs, allowing Chidori to roll out from underneath it, before turning around and running away. For a moment, she laid there to catch her breath, though that moment was cut short by a familiar shadow looming over her.

“My, my, Hina, you’re not even going to make it to the end of the week by this rate. I was going to recommend you pick some berries for the week but even they might avoid you at the speed you’re going.” He snickered again. “One of your major problems is the fact that you don’t know how to properly use Hoho, which is essential to take down an enemy. While it’s mainly used to dodge, it’s required by our family to do what we have done in the past. Once cannot expect to ‘kill swiftly’ if one can’t move swiftly. Here, sit up.” He extended his hand--his paw-- to her and she grabbed it, pulling to sit straight up.

“There’s a technique I know that I’ve used to carry out many executions. Using it, I’ve been able to kill an entire hallway of men. I call it Pikaho, or Light Step. When moving you want to mentally plan and visualize where you want to go before. Normally, when a shinigami uses flash step, they just use it to go from one place to another, point A to point B so to speak. Using Pikaho, you go from point A to B to C to D, so on and so on, only taking incredibly short breaks in between. This makes it seem like you are going an incredibly long distance with your Flash Step when in reality, you’re just using multiple in succession. When utilizing your power of solidifying reishi underneath your feet, you can change direction in mid air, for example…” Shisuke walked away from Chidori until he was about 50 feet away. Then, in an instant, he disappeared with his Flash Step, appeared in front of her and jumped to turn upside down, solidified the reishi underneath his feet essentially him hanging upside down, the used Flash step again to land behind her. All of this happened pretty fast, though Shisuke moved just slow enough that Chidori started to perceive what he was doing. “You can become deadly. It’s not the use of Pikaho itself that is dangerous, but how you use it.”

Shisuke began walking away from Chidori again, carrying a large stick with him. At roughly 15 feet away from her, he put it in the ground, and walked 15 feet from that stick away from Chidori. “Alright Hina, your first task is to use your normal Flash Step from where to the stick, then to me.” In her mind, that seemed like a simple enough task to her, knowing how she is in Hoho. If not, well she’s a fast learner.

So Chidori stood up and flash stepped… about five feet. Okay, that didn’t work. Taking what her grandfather said to heart, she’d probably have to do some visualization thing or maybe just lean forward? Hm, she’s never actually tried to better herself in Hoho before so this entire spectacle was something new. Walking back to where she was originally, Chidori though of herself flash stepping and then reaching the stick, the sensation of her weight flying that far, her bod shifting at a speed and distance like never before. It felt good. Now she had to turn that into reality.

Thus, Chidori tried again. This time, keeping that mental image, that feeling while she moved. After everything was all said and done, while Chidori didn’t make it to the stick, she did make it over half way there or approximately 10 feet. For once in her life, progress was being made. And the feeling that she got from it was amazing. So for the next two hours Chidori did the same thing, over and over and over again while her grandfather watched. During this time period she was able to use flash step multiple times and increasing how far she could go. By the end of those two hours, she was able to reach the 30 foot range that was set for her, granted just barely. As she reached him, she still ended up tumbling into him, Shisuke catching her with one of his tails.

“Good, for now anyways. Now, go get your food. It’s getting late.”

Which brings us to now, roughly 3 hours afterwards. It didn’t take long for Chidori to catch up to the boar with her newfound speed. She’s been stalking it for an hour now, waiting for the right time to strike for the kill. To say she was filled with confidence would have been an understatement. She had picked some safe looking berries along the way and has been snacking on those for the time being. So far she hasn’t felt any different or poisonous, so maybe that was a good sign that her survival skills were getting better. Or maybe they weren’t, who knew, it was only the first day. What Chidori did know however, that now was the time to strike.

The sun was lowering and the boar’s movements have slowed down considerably, she assumed because it was also becoming tired. As it started to make itself comfortable, Chidori flash stepped out from a bush and brought her zanpakuto into the side of its neck, going in quite a bit but not nearly enough to kill it. The boar screeched out in pain, standing on its hindlegs while doing so. Chidori gripped onto her sword and held on, following the boar’s motions. At its highest point, she was a good foot and a half off the ground. With all her might, she tried to bring her blade down-- along the side of the boar-- and ended up being successful. A geyser of black blood shot out the side of the animal and covered the trees nearby.

Chidori bent over, panting. That was stressful and she’s was going to have to do a lot more of that in the next week.

Or so she thought.

“Good job Hina, looks like you’re picking up on your Shinigami abilities. Today was just a test to see if you were going to make it through the whole week. Eh… you might just make it. Now, come along, I have dinner cooked and waiting for you.”

“Wait, what? But you said-”

“And I lied. Another lesson: don’t trust everything you hear, especially from your family. Keep them close but always remember that everyone wants your position. People crave power, no matter who they take it from. Also, you were really going to eat hollow meat? That doesn’t sound tasty nor healthy.”

“Fuck you.” And with that note, Chidori passed out from exhaustion. She’s been on her feet for a good portion of the day, rarely getting a moment to relax. She quickly realized this week was going to be hell.

SLAYER

Sun Jan 26, 2020 4:06 am

Day 2

She woke up around the same time as yesterday, though this time of her own accord. Due to how her yesterday ended, Shisuke had decided to be a little bit more lenient to her. Chidori spent a good portion of her morning eating since this would be the first time she would have gotten a chance. While she was stuffing her face, he took the opportunity to explain some things.

“Good morning, Hina. I see you’re up and at it early today.” He smiled at her, while all she could respond with was a look while she kept on eating. “Two things. First off, I’m going to reduce your training session from seven days to five. From what you’ve shown me yesterday and how you’ve been taking in my teachings, I’m confident we can get you to a level where you may even be able to unlock your shikai. That really depends on you, but you seem like a fast learner. Other thing, today you will be completely stationary as to rest you from the amount of physical activity you’ve done. We’ll be focusing on your mental skills more than your physical for the next few days, though today will be focusing purely on your spiritual power and how well you can use it. I understand that Kido is taught at the academy yes?” Chidori nods her head. “Well this is sort of like that concept. You’re going to mold your reiatsu into its own unique forms, such as a custom form of kido specialized towards you. Since you have an elemental affinity this method sounds like it would work better, as you won’t have to cater to the type of kido you want to use.”

It made sense when he explained it, and Chidori didn’t know how else to respond than with a nod. It wasn’t long before the two made their way outside into the forest just in front of Shisuke’s house. There was a clearing there that he would like to call his lawn, and Chidori wouldn’t disagree with that statement. They would both walk a few feet out before stopping and sitting down on the grass.

“Today will be a short lesson. A good leader must be able to visualize what they want to achieve and be able to obtain said goals. Someone who is destined to become the head can’t just go around claiming and doing things as they see fit. There must be structure and there must be ability to obtain it. This ties in with kido somewhat as much of it is visualizing your power transforming into said spell or barrier. Obviously the other part is actually using it but you get what I mean.” Chidori was staring down her grandfather as he said this, taking in the information as he went. It seemed to connect in her mind but in reality it sounded like it was going to be a lot harder than he said. While she had a pretty good control of her reiatsu thanks to her cousin, Chidori wasn’t that confident in her reiatsu control to mold it to her will. Though maybe she was and just hasn’t tried.

Chidori sat there and closed her eyes, imagining her burning inferno of power flowing like a steady stream down a snowy mountain top, destroying all in it’s path. Then she appeared in this image, downstream. The flames haven’t reached her yet, but she was sitting there, waiting. The moment the two entities touched though, the flames consumed her but she was unharmed. Instead they sort of were absorbed into her and were radiating from her. It wasn’t long before the entire stream was gone and all that was left was Chidori, on fire. Shisuke would see that Chidori would go from a low power to spiking, the flames engulfing her in the real world as well but were more controlled. Even though he was a couple of meters away from her, he was unharmed.

“Alright, good. Now that you have your power under control, form it. Bend it to your will and force it to do what you please. Because this is basically making your own Kido, to a short extent, it wouldn’t hurt to add an incantation. I can’t guarantee that it’s going to do anything because I don’t have an element like you.” There was a look on Chidori’s face that radiated the energy of “Oh really?” She decided that going without any sort of incantation was the way to go here. If she was able to conjure up something through sheer will and control than she would make more progress, rather than taking the easy way out.

Chidori lifted up her hand, her palm facing outwards. If she was able to form like a ball or something and then worked her way up from there, then the rest of the day would go by easy. Or so she assumed, as she started to attempt for the ball nothing happened. So she tried again, and once again nothing. Maybe she had to do something to better this. She took in a deep breath, focusing on the flow of her energy. From her head to her toes, from her toes to her chest, from her chest to her fingers. Then, the release of energy from her hands. After that, a wave of flames extended from her arm and plastered on the side of the cliff.

“Hm. That was more of a wave than a ball, but it still did what I need it to I guess. Now let’s see… Can I do that in other directions?” A look of curiosity appeared on her face before she closed her eyes again and channeled her energy again, but this time from her entire body instead of just her hand, all in an instant. What occurred was an explosion of flame, so large that Shisuke had to leap away from her. That was… surprisingly easy to do, seeing as how it was not too different than what she’s done before. She turned her head towards her grandfather, who was now 5 meters away.

“How was that?”

“Terrifying. Good, but terrifying. I think this is where we end the session for today. Go relax. We’ll pick up a new lesson tomorrow Hina. Now, I’m going to go tend to my errrands.” And with that, he was gone without a trace. Chidori didn’t even blink, he moved that fast.

SLAYER

Thu Jan 30, 2020 1:27 am

Day 3

Just like the previous days, Chidori’s training started in the morning. By this point she’s started to come to terms with her situation and has been focused on what her grandfather was telling her. Not only was he training her how to use her abilities as a Shinigami, but has been teaching her how to prepare and how to carry out her new position when the time comes. Because the time will come and there’s nothing to do to change that.

Chidori and Shisuke found themselves in the same spot as the day prior, the grass on the ground both dead and charred. They were also in the same position across from each other, the same distance and everything. If one had viewed them at this point in time today and yesterday, they wouldn’t be crazy to assume that neither of them moved. While waiting for her grandfather to speak, she focused on her breathing and her mental. It was basically meditation, though for her she saw it as taking the time to reflect on life, something she hasn’t ever done. For the amount of shit that she goes through, the amount of shit that happens in her everyday life, Chidori has never taken the time to really sit down and look back on it and learn from it. So, albeit shortly, Chidori attempted to do so.

“Punch me.”

“Excuse me, what?” Her eyes shot open to witness the absurdity of the request. It was less the fact that Chidori didn’t want to punch her grandfather, but more of the fact that she couldn’t hit him due to his speed. Looking at him, all Shisuke responded with was his stupid trademark grin. He chose not to explain what he meant but instead further delve into the point of having her do this

“Today you will learn to hit your mark. You can be all talk, but if you can’t actually achieve the goals you set out for yourself then you will be seen as unreliable and unfit to follow. Using one hand, I want you to touch me. You are able to use your zanpakuto as well, and you get extra points if you do so. Being able to hit me with your zanpakuto will net you a day reduction.”

“I think I’m fine on that ojichan. You forget that I came here of my own free will to learn what you know and end up a better person by the end. While I’m glad that you think I’m good enough to blast through what you have planned for me, I would like to stay as long as possible.” Anyone that knows Chidori would quickly state that this was incredibly out of character, but in actuality she’s just never voiced these. People think she’s dumb because she does dumb things without explanation, while in reality, if she wanted to, she can be a smart person. But she hates thinking.

Chidori approached her grandfather, fists up, and threw a straight jab at him. He, like she expected, dodged. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t going to give up though, because she brought around her other first for a hook, and he just ducked under it. This was going to be difficult, but Chidori didn’t want it any other way. If she wanted to achieve goals, then she has to be willing to deal with the difficulty that comes with, never backing down because that shows not only weakness but incompetence. She’s been paying attention.

So this went on for a few hours: Chidori would throw a punch and Shisuke would dodge, over and over and over again. One would think that she would try a different tactic but she’s a very stubborn and straightforward person, eventually punching would work. Monkeys and typewriters. What this was supposed to train wasn’t her hakuda, but her stamina. Chidori’s been incredibly active for the past couple of days--some might say too much because she’s pregnant--and because of that she’s been able to last longer doing anything, though to be fair her stamina wasn’t anything to cough at. One doesn’t join the Gotei because they’re weak. So again, and again, left jab, right jab. During this, Shisuke did not say a word, simply moving his body out of the way like a cat. It was sort of disgusting if you stared at it for too long, something Chidori tried not to do.

“Your form is too open, if I wanted to, I could just punch you in the throat. Not only that, you are too slow, so tighten up. Lastly, use everything to your resource. In a fight, not everyone is going to play fair so neither do you.” They stopped for a moment as Chidori began to fix her form. She brought her fists closer to her chest and shrugged her shoulders a little bit to make herself smaller. Almost immediately she noticed that her jabs were going out quicker and coming back even faster.

“You said anything right?”

“Yeah, just don’t try to kill-” In the middle of his sentence, Chidori sent a jab straight for his head, causing him to duck underneath her fist. Then, she released her reiatsu but from only around her arm so that it would explode and burn anything in the vicinity. This did end up catching Shisuke off guard, and actually did graze him, lighting his haori on fire. Normally, he would have been able to get out of the way, but because of the way he dropped, moving backwards or to the side would have been difficult.

“Good, good. Not what I was expecting but very good. If you were actually able to gain a stronger control over what your reiatsu can do, then that has the potential of being it’s own version of Hakuda, albeit a little niche.” He praised Chidori while stomping out his haori. If there was ever a sight that she didn’t want to see, it would be her cat grandfather naked.

“Thanks, I learned from the best. And a cat.”

SLAYER

Wed Feb 19, 2020 11:14 pm

Day 4

By this point, you know how this goes. Chidori is woken up at the crack of dawn, goes out with her Grandfather to train for the day, and ends up hating her decisions by 6 PM. It was a good routine they had going on there. Today was supposed to be the day they worked on Zanjutsu, but because Shisuke had neglected his duties yesterday he was going to attend to them. So today her instructor would a stack of papers that her grandfather made for her, with written instructions as well as pictures. His art style reminded her of medieval japanese art. Along with the pictures was an explanation that he wrote to her, to give her the general gist of that day’s plan.

The first thing that was described in the paper was that what she was currently wielding wasn’t going to cut it. Chidori, for a while now, has always wondered why her sword was such an odd shape and almost practically unusable because of its size as well. It was written that she should try to talk to her zanpakuto about it, but that’s going to be a new experience as well. So, she took her zanpakuto and placed it in the ground, blade first. Then, she sat on the ground, her legs crossed with the sword in the middle. This was supposed to be how a shinigami talks to their zanpakuto, and Chidori hasn’t really taken her time to do that. It’s mainly been a whole lot of swinging her sword around and killing hollows, but she knows that this was supposed to be a partnership and she wasn’t doing her part to make sure that her partner was comfortable. She closed her eyes and attempted to speak with the sword, out loud.

“Uh, hello?” There was silence that followed. Yeah, she kind of expected that to happen, but it was worth a shot. Not like her sword was just going to magically respond or something. Until it did.

“Hello there, Princess.” The voice was in her mind, and the first thing that stood out to Chidori was that it had the voice of a woman. For some reason, Chidori expected her sword to be a man, but was sort of relieved that it was a woman. She had a very alluring and sexy voice, something that Chidori would compare with a prostitute trying to acquire her next client. It was also on the more mature side of things, as if she was on the older side and had kids. Again, she would compare the deepness of her voice to that of a cougar speaking to a younger man, which is also oddly mother-like. The word princess was spoken as more of a combination of an insult and nickname rather than one or the other, but Chidori was so used to being called that it didn’t phase her.

“Yo...uh, sword? How’s it going?” This was awkward but how else was she supposed to address someone who has been with her for years but they’ve never spoken with each other. Chidori pictured her sword looking down on her with a smug and confused look on her face, like she was some child trying to talk to a grown up. It annoyed her.

“Sword, huh? I guess it’ll do for now… um, you do know that you do not have to physically speak to me, correct? Just make contact with me and it will make this whole conversation much more pleasurable.” Chidori did as she was told and took her zanpakuto out of the ground and laid it across her legs. Her inner world then appeared around her, the forest she was in was gone. One thing she noticed was that it was incredibly blinding here, and it took her a couple of minutes to fully adjust. While waiting for that to happen, she could feel that the floor was cold and it felt hard. Opening her eyes, she witnessed what her inner world was like: there were a bunch of buildings but they were all destroyed to some degree, vegetation ran rampant and growing up the sides of these buildings. The best way to describe it would be the remnants of humanity, as if people lived here hundreds and hundreds of years ago, but she knew that wasn’t true. They were on the ground, in the middle of what used to be a road, surrounded by tall, multiple story concrete buildings. In front of her was a woman who looked to be of an asian origin. Her skin was pale and she wore a black silk kimono that had a red color and long sleeves, though the sleeves were cut down the middle from the wrist to the elbow. She had long black hair that was straight and was accompanied by a purple lotus hairpin on the left side of her head. Her eye color was white and there was a beauty mark below her red lips. The kimono was incredibly long, dragging on the floor behind her for roughly half a meter and was held together by a gold obi, though you could still see a generous amount of cleavage from her to the point that, if you position yourself correctly, you might catch a glimpse of some areola. As Chidori inspected the woman further, she noticed that she had 6 gold earrings in, 3 in either ear.

“Forever no see, Princess. What brings you to my--our--wonderful home today? Speaking with you has always been pleasant, especially since you never respond.” The woman manifests a smoking pipe out of sand particles that gathered in her hand. Chidori is still looking around as she responds.

“Oh, y’know, nothing much. I uh, came to ask you for something but I guess we can use this time to connect with each other or something, I dun know. How’ve you been?”

“Bored. Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve actually used me prior to a few weeks ago? Forever. Legitimately forever. I’m somewhat disappointed in you Chidori. For someone who’s known to be the princess of a renowned shinigami family, you neglect your zanpakuto.”

“Wait, how do you- nevermind. And I’m sorry I guess, it’s not unheard of in my family to focus more on your hakuda or kido than zanpakuto. Hey, I’m here now though and you were pretty useful when we fought Rat King, literally couldn’t have done it without you.”

“Mmm, true.” She brought the pipe up to her lips and brought it back down, smoke leaking out of her mouth like it was water. “Though it seems this small talk isn’t necessarily getting us anywhere, so feel free to ask me what you whatever you came here for and then be on your way, yes?”

“Damn, sorry for wanting to get to know you or something-”

“It’s not that you want to get to know me out of the good of your heart, you just want me to appeal to you and your request. This is all a superficial meeting only in your interest. I get nothing from this, you get everything. Now, as I said before, speak.”

“Oh, well my bad! I just wanted to talk with my partner but I didn’t know she was such an asshole!”

“Maybe you would know if you gave a damn! That’s why everyone hates you! Have you ever realized that? You only do things on your own time without any consideration for anybody except for yourself! Just take your current situation for example! Who in their right mind would go on a multiple day journey while their father could die any day?! A normal person would spend as much time with that as possible, but you? You left at the drop of a hat. We’ve worked together for hundreds of years but this is the first time you’ve even attempted to speak with me!” The spirit became so angry that she snapped her pip in half, it crumbling into sand afterwards.

Chidori was silent, taking those words to heart and truly processing them. Her spirit was right, Chidori, even when she tries to be nice, is at her core selfish. All of her actions are only beneficial to her, and while she does consider and strive to help others, it all comes back to her. Silence was the only response she felt worthy of giving.

“Exactly. If you want to be someone that the people depend on, you need to really change who you are as a person. One of these days, maybe you should talk with your family without expecting something out of it. Tell your friend you love him without expecting a response. Earn the title of noble instead of just wearing it and expecting people to respect you, because believe me, you don’t deserve any of it. Now, raise your head Princess and ask me your question and be on your way.”

Chidori did as she was told, and looked her zanpakuto spirit in the eyes. “I’ve come to request a form change, though I understand now that it may not happen. Hearing how you feel about me, I acknowledge that I have been a horrible wielder and a worse partner. I understand if you will refuse me and I understand if you wouldn't talk to me again after today, but please. Please. I want to strive for greatness, and I would love it if you were there with me. As you’ve said, we’ve been together forever and I feel like there’s a sort of bond between us that doesn’t need words. You’ve always been there for me when I’ve needed you and you’ve helped me complete some of the most difficult tasks I have ever faced.”

The spirit sighed, looking away from Chidori as she spoke. “Hm. You know I can’t stay mad at you Princess, unless you’ve done something I cannot agree with. I know that you are actively trying to improve yourself and it was wrong of me to call you out on something you’ve done for so long. A lot of frustration that I’ve had these past few decades, so you can imagine what it’s like to finally speak to you.” She releases a sigh. “But my points still stand. This once, I will comply with your request, upon exit you will be met with a brand new me. Though from here on out, it’s going to be very different between us. I’m going to be watching you, very closely. Now that we can communicate I will tell you what you’re doing wrong, what you’ve done wrong, and what you will do wrong, so do your best to be the best that you can be or else you’ll have to answer to me.”

It was after her spirit finished talking that Chidori realized something: it sounded just like her mother. It’s crazy, she knows, especially since her mother has been dead for nearly 40 years now, but Chidori knew that voice anywhere. She was going to confront the spirit but decided it would be best not to.

“Thank you….?” Chidori trailed off as she realized she didn’t know her zanpakuto’s name. A gesture accompanied the tone of her voice and all the spirit could do was laugh.

“You think you’re clever, eh? No, not today. Soon my Princess, but not today.” She donned a grin as she walked to Chidori and flicked her forehead. As she made contact, Chidori found herself back in the real world, her zanpakuto looking much different than normal. Where before it was more of a long dagger or shortsword, it was now a shorter version of the nodachi, a kodachi. It still kept it’s signature black color, with a jagged yet smooth fire-looking hamon or pattern along the side of the blade. The guard was a gold color, much like her spirit’s obi, and a white handle with a black. gauze-like wrapping around it. In the ground was the scabbard, black with a silver design embroidered on either end. At the top, there was a small red rope tied around it. The rope dangled in the wind, and all that’s left is Chidori and her sword.

“Thank you. To the future.” Chidori points the sword to the sky.

“To the future.”

SLAYER

Sat Feb 22, 2020 6:42 pm

Seven Day Shihoin Training Regiment [Solo/Training] Chidori-is-back

CHIDORI SHIHOIN

Day 5

“It seems today is the last day Hina. You’ve come very far since you’ve arrived here six days ago. I think you’ve changed from a girl into a woman, and I’m proud of you. If your father was here, I’m sure he’d say the same thing.” The two were currently in the same opening that Chidori has become too familiar with.

“It seems so, oji-chan. What will be the final thing that you teach me today?”

“Today, we’re going to fix,” Shisuke appears behind her and grabs her tail. This sudden motion and the harshness of his grab surprised Chidori, so much so that she let out an “Eep!” as he did it. “This. The Feline Fatale technique has been passed down in my family from generation to generation, and in all that time I have yet to see someone who has both succeeded and failed at using it. Everyday you amaze me, you know that?”

“I know you meant that as an insult, but I’m going to take it as a compliment…” She let out a weak laugh as she slowly turned back to look at her grandfather. Nobody has touched her tail beside Sol, and even then it was only when they were making love, and even then it was a rare occasion. “C-can you let go now?” Her grandfather complied with the request and released her tail.

“This will be a short lesson, but today we are going to call back on some history. Do you know what the Feline Fatale technique is and how we use it?” Chidori shook her head in response, honestly not knowing how or why. “Ah see, it was a technique given as a gift to my father for helping out some old man in the Rukongail. In reality, this probably doesn’t have any meaning to it and the fact that we all innately know it is honestly very concerning, possibly some magic at work or something, but anyways, that’s the origin of Feline Fatale. Now, you may be wondering why is it useful? As you know, our family is a long line of assassins, and one of the key things that contributes to our silent killing is stealth. Now, imagine you are just the average, everyday patrol guard and you come across a stray cat. You pick it up, bring it inside, and the next thing you know, your boss is killed. Now, it seems that you have either mastered the first level of Feline Fatale or just skipped it completely, because the first stage is a house cat. You ....”

“Are a tiger. Yeah, I know.”

“Yes, and I’m guessing by your tone that you know tigers aren’t exactly house cats. You’ve gone down the path of a more physical and in your face form. Knowing you, that sounds appropriate.”

“Once again, taking that as a compliment.”

“Anyways, you seemed to have had a mishap in transforming back into a human, which is why you are currently the way you are. This is possibly due to the fact that you essentially skipped the beginner’s level. Without knowing the fundamentals you don’t know how to undo them, though I guess it could also be argued that un-transforming is a fundamental in and of itself…” Shisuke began going on a rant in his head before eventually snapping back to reality. It’s actually been a long time since he’s had to teach someone how to use Feline Fatale since it normally came as second nature to most if not all of his relatives. Like he said, Chidori was a special case.

“First things first, we need you to force yourself back into stage 2, but since you’re stuck like this I’m just going to proceed as that’s probably something you can’t force yourself to do. If it were that easy, you wouldn’t be stuck like this anyways. What we can do, however, is force your body into switching forms by inducing a strong sense of protection or urgency in you.”

“Okay… but how are we going to do that?” After the words escaped her mouth, Chidoiri realized that it wasn’t something she truly wanted the answer to. Mere seconds later, she caught a glimpse of her grandfather slashing at her stomach with one of his zanpakuto. She barely had enough time to dive for her own zanpakuto and block the strike with her scabbard.

“Simple, I’m just going to kill your child.” Shisuke lost all the fun emotion in his voice and his face became dead serious. “Either you transform or they will die.” What Chidori felt at that moment was an urge to protect, but fear. Fear of what a world would be like where she would actually lose her baby. The emotions that she would feel, the trauma that she would bear, how everyone else would react. She wouldn't let that happen, no matter what.

Chidori jumped up and back away from her grandfather, attempting to unsheathe her zanpakuto fully as to retaliate against attacks, but Shisuke quickly appeared in front of her and hit the handle of her sword with his, sending it back into the sheathe. He then sent out his foot in hopes of kicking her in the stomach, but Chidori was just quick enough to move her up and redirect his kick to her chest. The force behind it was still enough to send her flying back into a tree. Pain shot up her spine. She needed to do something and fast, or she was really going to be in trouble. If she couldn’t use the blade then maybe…

As Shisuke came close again, Chidori shifted her hand from the bottom of the sheathe to the top by the guard and turned it sideways, blocking his attack to her stomach once again. She pushed him and then thrusted the end of her weapon at him. Not expecting this, Shisuke was forced to block. Using what she learned earlier that week, Chidori brought up her knee to him but coated her leg in reiatsu. His sword being preoccupied, he wasn’t able to block this one and took the hit, catching fire as well. He landed on his feet and quickly put himself out with one quick motion from his hand before launching right back at her.

“You’re fighting for the wrong reason…” This voice was familiar, it should have been since Chidori spoke with the woman just yesterday. Her zanpakuto was speaking to her, and Chidori remembered her words from the day prior. Once again, she was being selfish. She was protecting her baby because she’s afraid of what would happen to her, not the child. There was no will to protect truly, only to keep. What she was doing right now was more akin to trying to stop someone from stealing from her than to keep what she had. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the spirit leaning against a tree, staring at Chidori with a disappointed expression. If she was going to change, then she would have to do it now or else this fight was going to go one forever.

This baby was going to live its life for its own sake. Chidori wasn’t going to let someone else rob this child of life, the experience of happiness and sadness, of love and hate, of pride and shame. To be a mother and bring life in this world is an unwritten promise to protect the child with your life, and Chidori hoped she wouldn’t fail. As her grandfather approached the only thoughts going through her mind were that and the primal urge to attack. Instead of using her zanpakuto, Chidori threw it in the air and lunged, transforming into a tiger in this process and pinning her grandfather to the ground. She growled at him as she gazed deep into his eyes, watching and waiting for his next move. He went limp and just stared at her.

“Good job. That was quicker than I expected, knowing your stubbornness. Now, remove all that anger and primal rage. Be indifferent, like a cat. Release your worry, your feelings, your emotion, and just be.” It took a while for his words to actually reach her, as Chidori was still in her fight or flight mode. As she began to cool down and really listen to what he was saying was when it started to make sense. Chidori had brute forced her way to a higher level of Feline Fatale because she only ever solved her problems in the past with brute force. Most people had the patience to train and learn, but Chidori hasn’t had that virtue up until a week ago. It’s starting to seem like the root of a lot of her problems are her.

Inhale. Exhale. Ever so slowly, she started to calm down and stopped focusing on everything and everything. This showed physically as Chidori began to become smaller and smaller and after a few minutes, eventually turning into a large house cat. She noted how weird it was to be in a form like this, since she’s not used to being that close to the ground. Another thing that was different was the colors, as a lot of them seemed to either be gone completely or merged in with others. It was… odd.

Shisuke picked Chidori off of his chest and placed her back on the ground. He stood there and observed her, making sure that there wasn’t anything strange. The only thing that stood out to him was that her eye color carried over, so now she was a black cat with bright blue eyes. “It’s not perfect, but it will do. Now I need you to go back to your human form. This is a bit more tricky, but you just have to visualize the things that make you human. I find it easier to think of the things that you love.”

Hm. The things that she loved huh? That’s not that long of a list she would have to go over, but definitely something she had to think about. The list went something like this: her father, her sisters, Yugiri, her zanpakuto, Sol, her life on Earth, Desmond (in a weird friend way, he’s dependable and appreciates having him as a friend), and now her grandfather. These were things that she held dear to her and as she began to think of these a warm feeling came over her. Slowly, she began turning back into the human she was before, naked as is the usual of the technique. Chidori looked different then she did before, more mature and more endowed. Her previous appearance was that of a teenager, but this one was more akin to that of an adult, 30s to be more exact. Shisuke brought his hand up to his eyes and began to speak once again.

“That’s all that I have left to teach you. From here on out it all depends on you and the choices you make. I enjoyed spending time with you Hina, and if you see Yushiro, tell him I said hello. I already packed up your things, take this.” He hands her a map. “It should lead you back to the Soul Society and cut down the trip by roughly half. Goodbye, and I love you.”

END POST | THE DISAPPOINTMENT

Seven Day Shihoin Training Regiment [Solo/Training]

Seven Day Shihoin Training Regiment [Solo/Training]

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