Practice Makes Perfect [Closed]

When the alarm went off this morning, Hanae was brought from a wonderful dream by the loud high pitched beep that all universes seemed to loath. Her hand slapped over the clock, knocking it to the floor with a thud and turning the alarm off at the same time. Worth, though she might need a new clock. Hanae was not meant to be up this early. She had never been a morning person, but Nina was and Nina wanted to train again today. Hanae had promised her an early morning training session and needed to be there within the next hour to keep that promise. And so Hanae forced herself from bed.

Hanae went through her repetitive morning routine. She ate, took a shower, brushed her teeth, got her hair half-way decent, and got dressed in the usual Shinigami garb. Ready and still droopy-eyed from the morning tiredness, Hanae stepped out of her little apartment and made her way to the Tenth Division indoor training grounds. Upon arrival, she quickly noticed someone else was already there. Her mind wasn't registering anything normally, so she stared for quite some time before realizing it was her fucking Captain! Hanae's attention was grabbed by this realization and her focus returned.

With a tired head tilted to the left, she watched his training exercise with a bit of intrigue. It took her a bit to realize that Nina wasn't here. She looked around the dojo to confirm and Nina really wasn't here. It wasn't like Nina to be late. "Odd." she thought and then turned her attention back to Captain Arishima. With her mind coming into focus, she noticed the many scars he had all over his body. She had never seen him with his shirt off before, even with all of the training sessions she had seen him in. Hanae finally stepped fully into the room and slid the wooden door shut, "Hey, Captain."

Hanae dropped a small pack filled with a few bottles of water, healthy snacks, and a clean uniform next to the door. She raised her arms and stretched, leaning to the left and the right. "Have you seen Nina? She isn't usually late... Unless you scared her away, of course." Hanae raised an eyebrow at her Captain and then giggled at the thought, "Also, you do know that Captain Hayashi can get rid of those..." Hanae points to his chest. "You never take your shirt of around people. Something tells me that is why. If you don't like them, ask her. However, some women do think they're hot. Hehe."

Coming to train so early in the morning was not Hanae's preference. She prefered to start the day with a nice walk to get coffee at one of the shops. Getting hot and sweaty is something she often complained about. When Nina was late, Hanae had to worry. Nina was never late to a training session. Hanae had expected her to be training before the actual appointed time they wanted to meet actually. "So you did scare her away. Maybe she left me a note or something..." Hanae said playfully, but was actually looking around for some sort of note. Captain Arishima's words struck a bit of a chord with her. She looked back to him with curiosity in her eyes, but that faded. "I'm sorry, Captain. I didn't know it'd be a sore subject." She had an apologetic smile, "I hope it heals for you soon."

"Now where the hell is Nina?" She walked over to the door that lead into the locker rooms, but no one was there either. Hanae closed the door behind her and put her hands on her hips. "Nina, of course!" she pouted with annoyance, "I don't get up this early. She gets up this early! I prefer to sleep in, make a huge breakfast, get some work done, and then train. Nina wants to be here the moment the sun has shined on the Seireitei!" Hanae flailed her arms like an angry child and then slumped. "If I knew she was going to be late, I could have slept about thirty minutes more..." Hanae whined with a chuckle and then sighed, "In other words, I prefer afternoons for the hardcore stuff, not mornings. How about you? I don't usually see anyone awake during Nina's oppressive hours. *Gasp* Did she threaten you too?!"

"I don't mean it's a bad thing! I can be motivated sometimes too, but I prefer to do it after lunch." Hanae replied with a content shrug. Captain Arishima laughing at her question allowed her to shoot a playful puffy cheeked glare at him. "Hmph. Well, aren't you lucky. She threatens me all the time. Usually with stealing my lunch, volunteering me for extra work, or something along those lines." Hanae listened to his explanation of why he was here and raised an eyebrow. His next question made Hanae wonder and she looked around the dojo curiously. "I'm not so suuuure..." Hanae stepped closer to Captain Arishima and put her hands behind her back. The smile she held was full of mischief and to some, like Nina, would be a dangerous expression to see Hanae wear. A dangerous one indeed...

"You do realize that would mean that you did scare her away, riiight?" Hanae slipped passed him and over to another set of doors. Captain Arishima could probably sense two people approaching the building, but Hanae could not. "I mean, if she saw you coming here, she might have panicked and hid herself away... Now, I wonder why she'd do THAT!" Hanae quickly slid one of the storage doors open and looked inside. She examined the room and then sighed. "Damn, she's really not here..." Hanae said with concern, "That's really not like her." The playfulness Hanae had been having faded away. "I should go check on he-... Oh, hey Miko. Nina, you don't look so well. Are you okay?" Hanae rushed over to the two women who entered. Miko was helping Nina walk, who was obviously sick.

"I'll be fine. It's just a cold." Nina said with a confident smile and gave Hanae a thumbs up. "A cold, my ass. She was collapsed outside. She's got a fever and having a hard time breathing. I'm taking her to the infirmary." Miko glared at Nina as she explained, "You're working yourself to death and if you don't stop it, you're gonna do something worse than this." "I'll go with you." "No, you are going to complete your training, slacker." Nina demanded, flicking Hanae on the nose, "You aren't using me as an excuse to get out of it. You better be here at least an hour, or I'll triple our next training course." "Oh, come on!" Hanae pouted. "Captain Arishima... You mind kicking the slackers ass. She needs it more than you know. Our third seat has gotten soft." "Oh, that's cold." "Warmer than a coffin." "She's got a point."

Hanae's expression drooped when Captain Arishima questioned Nina. "No, no, no! Oh come on..." Hanae crossed her arms and pouted more, "I can't fight it if the Captain says it." "You won't when I do either. Now, shh!" Nina said and began coughing. Nina looked back to Captain Arishima once she finally finished her coughing fit. "Her Hohō is pathetic and so is her hand to hand. She's pretty good at Zanjutsu, but I'm pretty convinced that is only because she was obsessed with the old Kill Bill movie from the world of the living" Nina explained. Hanae looked to Captain Arishima and nodded in agreement with Nina, not a single ounce of shame in her reasoning for learning zanjutsu.

Nina's expression drooped as well when Captain Arishima ordered her to go to the infirmary. She was okay with that, but the continued punishment was too much! Nina tried to interject, "Bu-... I... Wh-..." but she couldn't until her Captain stopped speaking. By the time he was done though, Nina was defeated and slouched even more. "Yes, Captain." Nina agreed with a sigh. "HA!" Hanae pointed at the sickly Nina with a cocky smirk. Hanae stepped up to her friend and bent over slightly, getting in the slouched Nina's face, "You force me to train, then you are forced not to train! Can't argue when it comes from Captain Arishima, can ya? Can ya, can ya, can ya? Now you go on. Shoo. Shoo."

Nina placed her hand on Hanae's face and pushed the girl away. "Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Hanae! Try not to disappo-..." Nina fell into another coughing fit. Hanae and Miko both looked worriedly at her. Hanae pushed Miko to hurry on and take Nina to the infirmary. Once the two left, Hanae looked back to Captain Arishima and then toward the door as if she was going to bolt it. "There's no way I have any ability to escape you..." Hanae looked back to Captain Arishima and then sighed, "I'm gonna diiiie..."

Hanae's worry was obvious if you looked in her eyes. She could keep a straight face, but her best friend being so sick wasn't the easiest thing to accept. Once Miko and Nina left, Hanae's attention went back to her Captain and she expressed her worries about training with him. Of course, she was mostly joking. "No, no. I know, Captain." Hanae smiled and pulled out a ribbon to tie up her hair, "I doubt you'd actually kill me, and frankly, the other Captains could learn a thing or two from you on how to handle their squads." Hanae nodded and finished tying her hair. When Captain Arishima went to send his message, Hanae started warming up with a few stretches that Nina taught her.

"Well, she's kind of right. No, she's completely right." Hanae sighed and looked away embarrassed, "I suck at Hohō and Hakuda. In the Academy, they only really taught the basics of Hohō. I can do minor flash steps, just enough to pass, and only because I was kind of babied through my classes. Nina has been trying to teach me, but she's more of a doer. She gets as good as she is because she just does it and it's like she automatically understands how to perform it. I don't. If you could find a way to teach this..." Hanae knocked on her own head a couple times, "... how to understand Hohō better, that'd be great. I was gonna ask a long time ago, but you being a Captain... Well..." Hanae just shrugged.

Well, that happened. Hanae's body slammed straight into the wall behind Captain Arishima and damn did it hurt. That was an unexpected outcome of a single shunpo, but she did say she sucked at Hohō. Needless to say, Hanae was embarrassed by the failure, but shrugged it off quickly as Captain Arishima explained what she was doing wrong. His explanation was sound and made sense, at least in her head. She watched his movement about a foot to the left and then looked down to her own feet. "So I gotta try it again, huh?" Hanae asked after being told her new destination. She stared down at her feet and did as he said. She concentrated the reiryoku there as best as she could. Unfortunately, her best still left quite a bit of energy throughout her legs and it was completely unbalanced.

When she attempted her next shunpo, she over shot it again and did not find it easy to stop. She reappeared a couple feet beyond her target and slid across the floor like she was wearing socks on tile. She lost her balance, kicking her legs to try to regain it, but fell on her face anyway. "Okay, I blame you for that one." Hanae joked. She lifted herself from the ground and sighed. "I told you I suck at this! Even Nina can't teach me..." Hanae pouted, her cheeks slightly red with embarrassment, "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I did the foot thing, like you said. What went wrong?"

With only slight difficulty, Hanae was able to catch the boken. She raised a curious eyebrow at the practice weapon and looked up to find her Captain coming at her. With a weapon in her hand, Hanae had much more confidence than before. Her Captain's lunge caught her slightly of guard, but not enough that she wouldn't be able to defend herself. Hanae brought the wooden sword between her and her Captain's in a single swift movement, stopping his attack from connecting with her. With that movement, Hanae's eyes showed more focus along with that confidence boost. This was something she knew how to do and enjoyed, so it was definitely easier to react. "Nina did say this was the one thing I know how to do." Hanae said and brought her second hand to the handle of her weapon.

"Am I that hopeless? Even my Captain can't seem to teach me to shunpo like a normal Shinigami!" Hanae was obviously playing around, but her stance was still as strong as the grip on the boken. "I'm only joking... Why the switch though? Did you figure out what the hell is actually wrong with me?"

So what he was saying was that she could do it. Well, okay then. "Um, maybe twenty? I can possibly do more, but that's questionable. It tires me out more than I like." Hanae answered his first question and then thought about his second. She seemed to be counting something in her head and then looked back to him. "Maximum distance I think I've reached is probably four hundred yards with one try. I can get distance, but..." Hanae just shrugged and Genpaku continued on. "Trying to jump, huh?" she repeated and stared at the floor as she considered his words. When she looked up again, he was walking away. The next real part of her training was about to happen. Her mission was hard. "Oh, is that all?" she said sarcastically and slapped her hands over her face, "Alright then. Shunpo only."

Hanae was going to try this, but was not promising herself anything on actual improvement. Her first attempt caused her to hit the wall behind him... again. Her second attempt was the same thing. Her third, she stopped before she hit the wall, but was getting more and more frustrated with each attempt. On her fourth, she stopped and thought about it. Step, don't jump. She tried her fourth time and stopped about five feet shy of him, but lost her balance and fell to her knees.  She groaned in irritation and returned to her starting point for the fifth time. After a few moments of thought again, she tried her fifth time and stopped about three feet shy of being able to reach him with her arm outstretched. Hanae stopped with that one and stared at him, any normal look of cheer gone.

The first strike was extremely anticlimactic. When she hit him, she had expected him to dodge, so being told she succeeded and to go get lunch was not something she wanted to hear. It felt too easy. She felt like she didn't accomplish anything impressive, so after eating a rather unsatisfying lunch she returned to him and demanded more with as much respect in her tone as she could keep. Her training continued on and she was getting the hang of it. She gained a bit more control and understanding on how to implement more accurate shunpo. In her book, these were much better accomplishments than the lackluster strike she had hit her Captain with. And having earned some time to relax, after quite a long training session, Hanae found herself outside. She sat with Captain Arishima on top of one of the large walls that surrounded the Sensaikyuu. They had been here for a while, just watching the sunset.

"I didn't die." Hanae replied with relief, "That's the main thing that matters to me, but holy moly..." Hanae took off her sandal and sock and set it to the side, giving herself a foot massage. The bottom of her feet were red and worn. "Usually this is how my legs feel after a days training with Nina. I guess all of the pain went to my feet since I changed where I was putting my energy." Hanae looked out over the Seireitei at the setting sun and smiled. It was a beautiful sight; she was surprised she hadn't seen this view before. "So, Captain... Why were you okay with helping me train? It's not every day, if ever at all, that someone gets to train with their Captain. And if they do, it's not as much as we did today."

Hanae watched his boyish smile show up and couldn't help  but smile back. She could understand why Nina liked him; Captain Arishima was kinda cute. Unlike Nina though, Hanae had no issue with saying it. "You know, you're kinda cute." Hanae told him, smiling in her own 'girlish' way, "I have no problem keeping it a secret, but only on one condition." Hanae held up her index finger toward him.

"You have to help both Nina and I every now and then. We're not going to come to you for training every day. You're a Captain, we're not that stupid or selfish. However, because of both of our rankings, there aren't that many people that have the skill or wisdom to actually aid us in our climb. We'd ask Lieutenant Makabe, but she's... kind of scary and I don't think she got off on the right foot with Nina during our exercise anyway." Hanae finished her personal foot massages and put her shoes back on.

"So, Captain Arishima, as long as you can agree to that, I promise I won't go around telling anyone about your personal training sessions. If not though," Hanae was obviously speaking playfully, "I cannot promise what happens or who figures out about it. So whaddya say, Cap-ee-tahn? Hm? Hm?"

Hanae's mischievous smile fell to slight fear when he talked about pushing them. She thought for a moment and then giggled like a schoolgirl. She scooted closer to Genpaku and nudged him with her shoulder. "You don't have to worry about that!" Hanae assured him and then became excited, "Nina will love having a training session with you and since I'm finally getting shunpo a bit better, I think training might be more fun. When you feel like you're not getting anywhere, it's really just disheartening and kind of destroys your self confidence. I felt like I got a bit of a boost to mine today."

Hanae contemplated how to answer his question. Her situation was a little different, at least she thought so. "Nina hasn't, I know. She's too concentrated on becoming the best Hakuda user in the Seireitei." Hanae explained and glanced to her Zanpakutō. She hadn't trained with it at all today, but it had been with her. "I've started trying... She's stubborn and keeps pretending to give me her name. At other times, she'll give me a piece of it, or switch up the letters to make something else. I have figured out Sen and kura, since they've been repeated. She's making it a puzzle. Don't know why."

"I see..." Hanae was in half a daze while he explained. She couldn't figure out why her Zanpakutō was making everything a puzzle. Weren't these things supposed to be some sort of image of their wielder? "Well, I don't understand mine just yet. It's there. Every time I talk to her, I feel it, but I just can't grasp it..." Hanae explained, sighing in frustration. "Yeah, it's propelled her. It's propelled her into not gaining her shikai and being average or worse in everything else." Hanae said with a hint of jealous annoyance in her tone, "I suck because I actually suck. Nina can do it. She just chooses not to."

Hanae fell silent. Her mind wandered a bit before a question came to mind. She turned her attention back to Genpaku and raised an eyebrow. "Are you dating anyone?" she casually asked. There was reason to her question, but nothing that seemed on a personal level. In other words, Hanae did not yet have that type of attraction toward her Captain... yet. After getting his answer, she tilted her head and stared curiously for a few moments, "Do you even remember her? Nina, I mean. I can't tell."