Spiritual Refinement (Closed – Bankai)

[kyouzou]

((This fight works in a ‘Stay alive until time runs out’ format. Senmidori will be attack Yuri and throughout the fight Yuri will find herself inside the inner world seeing things from the perspective of Senmidori. The idea is Yuri has to survive until the events in the inner world are played out.))


Recap: Sayurin had successfully learned to cast Hado 63: Raikoho, while training in Rukongai. After countless failed attempts, resulting harmful explosions, Yuri learned the ability, but was too weaken to proceed afterwards. The damage she sustained, the energy she used and the down pouring rain all eventually got to her and she fell unconscious. As she began to fall, she felt a wind cover her body in which she thought to be her zanpaktou’s Boryaku ability. She has now awakened in a canyon-like wasteland. When she went to thank her zanpaktou, Senmidori Tenshi, she saw an unknown figure nearby. Though having never seen the figure before, she knew what the figure was and that alone terrified her.

Reality.

“Thank you, Senmidori Ten…” Sayurin stopped mid-sentence. She looked up from where she had been laying and what she saw shocked her very core. Sitting on a rock, about 5 yards in front of her, was a woman with teal hair, tied in three tails. She wore a green sleeve-less top that emphasized her rather large chest. Below that her stomach was shown and her waste was covered by a skirt that looked somewhat like a dress. The underskirt was blue, while the overskirt was green. Green shorts were seen under it. She wore a blue, long sleeve shirt under her top and a green mask on her face. The woman appeared to be the same height as Yuri, if not taller. Overall, the image of the woman made Yuri wide-eyed.

Although she had not seen this woman before, Yuri still knew who she was. There’s no way she couldn’t know who she was, she had known her far too long to be wrong. Attempting to grasp what was happening, Yuri asked her, “Senmidori.. Tenshi.. is that you?” The look on Yuri’s face balanced between horror and curiosity. As was stated, she already knew the answer to the question, but what bothered her was that this was not her inner world and the woman didn’t look as if she was acknowledging her master’s presence.

“You already know the answer.” The woman said in a voice that sounded similar to Senmidori, but also sounded far more mature. However, what now bothered Yuri was that the voice came from right next to her. In just an instant, Senmidori had appeared behind her. The spirit then swiftly grabbed one of four katana around her waist and brought it down towards Yuri. Unsure of what was happening; Yuri did what she had to do and moved out of the way of the attack. She then jumped back from her familiar.

“What are you doing Senmidori Tenshi!?” Yuri yelled at her partner, now even more horrified at what was happening. The woman looked at Yuri then, while tilting her head to the left, said, “Are you just now noticing that I have changed? I’m no longer Senmidori Tenshi; Senmidori Kazeakki will do.” It seemed as if she lacked emotions when she said that. Promptly, she had pulled out another katana and was now charging at Sayurin again.

“What are you doing!?” Yuri stated as she started dodging the attacks of her zanpaktou spirit. Senmidori would swing and she would jump to the left. Senmidori brought down the other blade and Yuri had to roll to the side. In order to finally create some distance, Yuri focused Reiatsu at her feet and used it to jump off the air behind her and over Senmidori. She ran a couple yards before turning to wait for a response.

Senmidori let the katana to rest at her side. Just as emotionlessly as she did before, she told Yuri, “Didn’t you agree that you would play with me? Instead you spend all your time working. For what though!?” Senmidori questioned, loudly, as she pushed off the earth and came thrusting at Sayurin. Sayurin went to grab for the dagger that was Sayurin, but found nothing. She was forced to dodge the incoming attack.

“What are you looking for? I’m over here!” Senmidori said as she came around with another slash. Yuri rotated on her foot in order to dodge the next attack. Senmidori came down with the other katana, and Yuri pushed back on that foot to allow her jump back. Senmidori allowed the katana to fly from her hand, grabbing a third from her side and thrusting forward. Yuri attempted to move to dodge it while in the air, but her outfit was slashed through. She couldn’t see it, but she knew that there was a small cut in her side now. Senmidori came down with the other katana and Yuri went to grab at the spirit’s arm. Successful in stopping the blade from falling, Yuri asked, “I have to work! I’m a shinigami!.. Why are you attacking me!” Yuri yelled with great emotion as she attempted to dodge an incoming attack from the side by jumping over Senmidori’s head, still holding her arm.

“That won’t work! I’ve seen you do it before!” Just like that, Senmidori broke from Yuri’s grip and came around with another slash. “Sho!” Yuri said as she pointed a finger at her attacker. A burst of energy flew towards Senmidori’s blade-holding hand and knocked it back. “Sekienton!” From Yuri’s hands, burst forth a large cloud of teal smoke. Yuri took advantage of it to move away from Senmidori. “Huh!?” Yuri stopped in her tracks as she felt something unusual behind her. When she turned, she was shocked to see the smoke she had created had begun to swirl around. Quickly the smoke was engulfed by a large tornado that moved around Senmidori. Although she figured it related to Senmidori’s wind abilities, she didn’t expect them to be that powerful.

“You didn’t want to play my games..” Senmidori said as she dispersed the wind. “So I will play your games.” Senmidori said as she began to walk towards Sayurin. “My games?” Sayurin asked. Suddenly the world around her had warped and she found herself in a new location.

Inversion.

Sayurin suddenly found herself somewhere dark. The place was familiar; it was somewhere she had been before. It was a hallway somewhere and it seemed to lead on forever. She looked one way and then the other. She began to walk down the one way and questioned, “I was in a fight against Senmi..” She stopped in her stride, finally taking in her new environment and the changes it involved.

At first it was her voice that made her stop. “Huh? I sound just like… just like Senmidori.” She said as she analyzed her voice. She then caught a glimpse of her hair, noticing that it was now a greenish-teal color. Looking down, she noticed that the her chest was as flat as a childs. She analyzed the situation she was in completely. She was forced to conclude that she, in fact, looked like Senmidori Tenshi.

She had Senmidori’s over-sized shirt that fit her like a dress. Her hair was long a greenish, tied in 4 tails, just like Senmidori. She couldn’t have been taller than Senmidori either. In short, she was Senmidori right now.

“What’s going on!? One second I’m fighting Senmidori and now I am her?” The voice surprised her again because of how whiney she sounded. It reminded her of the many times her zanpaktou cried to her. She analyzed her situation again, “This must be my inner world then!” She knew what it looked like, but normally when she was there, she stood near a large door with a seal on it. This time she was somewhere in the castle that she had never been before.

She began to run around the place, unsure of where to go. She had no idea why she was now there, but she knew there must have been a reason. She ran through the halls, up and down stairs, through doors. As she ran about, it felt as if she was there for an eternity. With no others there, with no clue as to where to go, unfamiliar with the place and in a rather small body, she lost track of time. Numerous times she felt as if she traveled the whole place, but there was always a new place she would wind up. In time her small body grew tired and she would stop to rest somewhere. She would fall asleep and, in time; wake up to find that she was still in that world.

“There’s no way, is this how things are for her? Senmidori must be really lonely.” Yuri said as she continued to move around the castle that was her inner world. The more she moved about the place, the more sorry she felt for her zanpaktou spirit. Senmidori always seemed so happy to her, she never thought that she lived in such a lonely place. It didn’t help that Sayurin had never actually walked around the building.

It had felt like she had been there for months. It had felt so long, that Sayurin had become way too familiar with the small body that resembled Senmidori’s. “How long was it before she found the seal?” Yuri asked herself. It was then that the seal ran through her mind. She knew she had to find that seal; to Yuri it was the only thing in the whole place that stood out from the rest. She ran and ran trying to look for it. Although it felt like months moving through the place without finding anything, it only took minutes to find what she was looking for.

The sight shocked her. When she arrived at the place where she remembered the seal was at, she didn’t see a large seal lit in green like she remembered. The symbol for wind was still on the door, but it looked as if the light had faded, leaving a black image. It was then that the world around her distorted and she found herself back in her fight with Senmidori.

[kyouzou]

Realization.

It took a moment for Yuri’s eyes to adjust. She found herself back where she was fighting Senmidori. Before she could say anything Senmidori came charging at her. Yuri’s first thought was that the spirit was moving a lot quicker than earlier. Senmidori came charging forward at full speed, seeming to be fully intent on killing Sayurin.

Senmidori slashed at her master with one katana. “Sho!” Sayurin attempted again to disrupt the attack of her zanpaktou. The blast hit the woman’s blade, but she came forward with another katana. Sayurin grabbed her arm, realizing how much harder it was this time. Senmidori kicked at Yuri in the stomach, pushing her back, and then brought the first katana back down. Sayurin did a back flip, focusing Reiatsu at her palms to do a handstand in midair. Quickly, she took advantage of this and did a backflip.

Before she could finish the backflip, Senmidori came forward slashing consecutively with her katana. Sayurin Used her momentum heading backwards to allow herself to remain in midair while pushing backwards. “Senmidori!.. I’m sorry… I didn’t know how lonely you were!” She yelled, still backing up as quickly as she could. Eventually during one of Senmidori’s attacks, Yuri was able to apply the force to become grounded.. in the air again.

“I don’t want to fight!” Yuri said as she continued to have to dodge. “You don’t? Then why have you been training so hard? What was it for!?” Senmidori directed back at her. Senmidori pushed off the ground as hard as she could; at Shunpo speed, she was now in the air with Sayurin and returned to her assault.

Senmidori jumped up and slashed forward with her blade. Blades of wind flew from her two blades. Yuri tried to dodge them, jumping side to side. One blade nicked her in the arm creating another small wound. Yuri disappeared sudden; she reappeared further up in the air. “Sai!” She yelled as she attempted to bind Senmidori. Binds appeared around her spirit’s arms just like that. Yuri noticed that she was trying to break free, “Hainawa!” A rope of energy flew from Sayurin’s fingers and bound Senmidori’s arms further.

A wind began to rotate around Senmidori. The wind became faster and faster until it turned into a large tornado. In moments it had dispersed, but it was clear that it was simply the Reiatsu that Senmidori was releasing in order to break the two binds. “Is that all you got? Aren’t you going to use your Hado?” Senmidori began to slash repeatedly with her katana. Blades of wind came at a constant pace towards Sayurin or attempted to Shunpo to dodge them. “Suspending Star!” Yuri shouted as she focused energy into her finger and shot it forward to make a net.

Knowing that wouldn’t be enough to stop the blades, she went crazy with the spell. Net after net shot from her fingers, forward towards Senmidori. Then once Yuri was satisfied, she made a golden triangle with her finger. Focusing her Reiatsu into the triangle just right, she swung her arm and 3 pins flew forward at the mass of nets that now held Senmidori. Senmidori was sent falling to the ground.

The winds returned again, but this time at a greater scale. Senmidori tried her hardest to dispel the bakudo that held her. The winds grew and grew until a far larger tornado appeared. Yuri was almost sucked in before it had dispersed to reveal Senmidori again. Suddenly everything turned dark for a second and the scene changed.

Fate.

At first, Yuri thought she had found herself inside her inner world again, but she quickly realized that this building was different. She was running somewhere, but she couldn’t figure out where. To her left and right, she saw others running with her; these others confused her. She remembered her final mission before dying in the human world. These were the men that followed her into the final part of the mission. Up ahead she also saw a familiar room.

Remembering how the scene went, Yuri attacked the guards that were in her way without hesitation. ‘Why am I reliving this?’ She asked herself, without stopping her run. She ran and ran; eventually she got to where she remembered the final room was. She continued to run, but suddenly something bothered her. She remembered the earlier scene where she was running forever in her inner world. For just a moment she felt as if she was Senmidori again, running down those falls for an eternity. Next she found herself back in the hallway, on the way to the final room.

It was different this time, just like the hallway in the inner world, it felt like it took forever for her to reach the end. ‘Why is this taking so long?’ It was at that moment that she remembered something from so long ago. She remembered the day she met Senmidori. She remembered Senmidori stating that she had waited forever to meet her. ‘Is this what she meant? Just like it took forever for me to find that seal, did it take her forever to find me? And what does this memory have to do with either?’ She asked herself a lot of questions. The more questions she asked the closer to her target she seemed to get. As the questions rung through her mind, she eventually found herself in the final room. The events played out as she remembered up until the explosion.

This explosion was different, however, because in that moment she didn’t suddenly find herself being escorted to soul society. Instead, she saw a bright green light. “Senmidori?” Yuri asked, not sure where she acquired that conclusion. “I was waiting for her?” Time seemed to stop as Yuri tried to analyze what was going on. “I wouldn’t have met her had I not died. I have always questioned was dying worth it, it must have been to be able to meet Senmidori.” She reasoned with herself. “It has been a lot more fun since then. I have met many people, trained hard and fighting was fun… too” It was as if a veil had been lifted off from Sayurin’s head and soon she was back to her fight with Senmidori.

[kyouzou]

Self Knowledge.

“I see!” Yuri yelled towards Senmidori. “I like to fight!” She stated before turning her head, signifying that she had a thought. “Not just that. I like to work, but I enjoy training a lot more.” Yuri slowly put together the pieces that ran through her head. “I fight to protect others and it makes me happy!” She continued on. “I don’t want to fight you for real.. but” Suddenly Yuri charged for the ground at high speeds. She was focus on some point, but it didn’t seem as if Senmidori wished to stop her. There it was, ahead of where Yuri was falling. There lay two katana there. They were the katana that Senmidori had discarded as their fight had gone underway.

Yuri picked up the two katana and got a feel for them both. Once she was confident in her grasp, she turned towards Senmidori. “Fine, we’ll play my game if you want.” Once she said that, a smile grew on Senmidori’s face. A laugh could be heard from her mouth, that Yuri could hear from her distance away. “That’s a start, but we’re far from done.” Senmidori stated as she came forward again.

Senmidori’s katana collided with the two that Yuri now held. They came to a standstill. Both combatants had a look on their face, a look displaying that they completely intended to defeat their opponent. Suddenly there was a shift around them both and Senmidori attempted to dishevel Yuri by sending a wave of wind her way. Yuri pushed off of Senmidori’s blades fast enough to allow her to Shunpo away before she was engulfed by the wind.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" Yuri stated as she pointed her hands towards Senmidori. A fireball shot forwards at the spirit, who reacted by using her own version of Shunpo to move into the air. “Sai!” Yuri shouted as she forced the binds on Senmidori’s arms again. "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." She stated this time, as a blue flame shout at Senmidori.

Senmidori broke from the binds and slashed with her katana. Unlike earlier when a blade of wind appeared, this time a large gust shot forward and negated the blue flame.

"Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" Yuri tried again to use Hado 31. Senmidori appeared beside her using Shunpo. Yuri quickly pulled back on the fireball and placed a Reiatsu shell around it. Senmidori swung at Sayurin and in that moment, Yuri dodged while also placing the fireball on Senmidori. This was the Kido ‘Suspend,’ it would hold the fireball in place on Senmidori’s body until Yuri forced it to explode. She promptly did this and an explosion came forth. Before Yuri could see the results, she found herself in another location again.

The Eye.

This time Yuri started back in her inner world. She looked down to confirm that she was also back in Senmidori’s body. The seal on the door was brightly lit again, but it seemed like something was off with it. The seal seemed far more brighter than she had remembered it and it seemed to discharge some energy. She walked towards it to get a better view.

Within just two steps, her body began to feel really weird. The energy from the door began to seep out and flow towards her. The energy flowed into quickly and she soon found that it was way too much. The pressure began to become painful. It was as if she was overloading on energy and she didn’t know why. She heard the voice of Senmidori crying in pain as the pressure increased more and more.

“Senmidori, is everything alright?” The voice surprised her because it was her own. Yuri remembered asking the question even in the same tone. She questioned Senmidori’s behavior weeks ago while she was training. “This… This was what was happening back then!?” The pain continued to increase. “She was in this much pain and I didn’t notice!” It bothered her because it quickly became clear how these realizations and the ones she just made not too long ago coincided. The problem wasn’t completely that she denied that she enjoyed fighting. The problem was that she didn’t think of Senmidori while she was training and working. She didn’t know that Senmidori was in this much pain.

“What is this seal?” She asked herself, as she tried to reason why it made Senmidori feel so much pain. “For there to be this much power inside my mind, and for it to be sealed.. Is this power mine?” Yuri knew this had to be the case because she didn’t recall gaining power elsewhere. Still, the conclusion annoyed her because she concluded that, “Then it’s my fault she was in pain. My training forced me to pull out more of this power… which first had to go through you!” Yuri realized with great astonishment.

Yuri just sat there, not fighting the pain that had consumed her.. Senmidori’s body. She had no reason to fight it, she felt as if she deserved to feel this pain. She had to feel it so that it wouldn’t have only been her zanpaktou that suffered. The pain only got worse and worse as she sat there for what seemed like forever. “Huh?” Yuri noticed something when she looked at her hand. Her hand was beginning to change.

The fingers on her hands began to become more slender. She stood up from where she was crouched in pain. Looking at the floor, she noticed that the floor was slowly getting farther away. “I’m.. she is growing?” Although it took a long time for the process to occur ((This has been occurring over the weeks Yuri has been training)) to her, just focusing on it and being able to ignore the pain, allowed for it to seem like moments. She watched as she grew in height. She watched as her body changed. Her hips became more curved, fat appeared on her chest. Her body began to show the characteristics of a young teen, than a teen, and finally the features of an adult. There the changes stopped.

She looked over her body and noticed that she looked a lot like the Senmidori she has been fighting. Not just that, but she noticed that the pain had mostly disappeared. The energy flowed into her, but it didn’t hurt. Yuri looked down to see that the over-sized shirt she was wearing now fitted as a breast-tight, sleeve-less shirt. In an attempt to cover the rest of her body, she tried to figure out where Senmidori got her new outfit. Using what she knew, she attempted to manipulate the energy that was being transferred to her body.

First she made a shirt under her current one and then she made a dress. As she proceeded to dress herself she thought out loud, “So this is what led up to Senmidori’s change. This is where that power of hers came from too.” She thought about a lot of things while she stood here. “Why is she attacking me though, does she seriously want to play?” She couldn’t think of an answer. “Why hadn’t she told me about this seal and what was behind it? Because she thought I would worry? This is some power, maybe.. she was worried I would try to tap into it. Then why did she tap into it? Because she wanted to help me with my training? But then she would have done it long ago.. Because she felt I was ready now? She said she wanted to play my game.. She’s a little girl that just grew up, of course she would want to play an adults.. game.” Yuri was now onto something. She already knew that Senmidori simply wanted to play, but she didn’t understand the choice in game. Now she understood, Senmidori wanted to be just like her. Then the reason for her emotionlessness.. Yuri could be no different in battle sometimes.

Needless to say, upon making that realization, Yuri appeared in the wasteland again.

Love.

Senmidori was now standing before Sayurin, with a smile, “Back yet?” She asked with a laugh. Yuri looked at her and let a smile appear on her face, “You know, you don’t have to act like me to be like me.” Yuri said with her own laugh. “Hehe.. Maybe, but it’s a lot of fun!” Senmidori’s emotionless state had obviously been replaced with one that resembled her child self. “Let’s finish this now.” Yuri focused Reiatsu into the middle of her back before letting it explode out. From her back appeared the beautiful wings that accompanied the spell, ‘Tsubasa no Mitsukai.’ “You’re fighting with those!” Senmidori exclaimed with a large smile on her face. “Of course; when I first showed you them, you didn’t react like I would have liked." They both looked at each other with grins before the battle started again.

Yuri flew forward with her wings, slashing at Senmidori with her blade. Senmidori would dance about on her winds evading Yuri’s attacks. One slash, two slash, jump, evade, slash, fly up and dodge. They kept going on and on. Yuri chanted and stated, “Hado 31: Red Flame Cannon!” the spell shot forward and Senmidori defended with her winds. Senmidori than sent a large gust of wind at Yuri. “Suspending Star” Yuri once again shot multiple nets. Senmidori blew the nets away.

The two fought, the two laughed. Unlike before, when it was a fight to the death, now they were really having fun. Senmidori flew up with her winds, Yuri flipped herself using her wings and came around Senmidori, doding the attack and getting behind Senmidori. "Sprinkled on the bones of the beast! Sharp tower, red crystal, steel ring. Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle!" Yuri quickly said before gathering all the Reiatsu she could, in her hands. She pushed the Reiatsu out quickly and made she to send it flying out. “Hado 63: Raikoho!” She yelled as a large burst of Yellow energy shot forward towards Senmidori. Senmidori sent a large gust of wind, larger than that which she previously used. Both grinned as they pushed as much energy into their attacks.

Within this exchange of attacks, Yuri felt strange. Well, she had been feeling strange since the battle begun. The feeling was as if she was missing a part of her, but now she felt that piece was in its rightful place. She knew that Senmidori was now a part of her again, and she knew what that included. “I’m sorry to do this Senmidori, but it wasn’t mentioned in the rules!” Yuri said as she began to focus on the flow of her Reiatsu. The Raikoho was still firing, consuming a large amount of energy, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her. She focused the flow of her Reiatsu up and through the Raikoho and grabbed the familiar Reiatsu found in Senmidori’s wind. The energies that fueled the wind were familiar to Yuri, because they were familiar to Senmidori’s abilities, which she used so often.

She grabbed the wind and immediately forced it to halt or turn around. The wind amplified the power of her Raikoho as it was forced back to its owner. Senmidori was sent flying to the ground, but Yuri quickly used her wings to dart forward and grab her. In Yuri’s arms, Senmidori displayed a noticeable blush. “That wasn’t fair.” Senmidori said as she turned her face to the side and pouted, although it was hard to see under the mask she wore. “You didn’t say I couldn’t do that when we started.” Yuri replied with a smile. “I figured it was part of the experience!” She proceeded to say with a laugh.

As Yuri descended to the ground Senmidori started to say, “Looks like you won, we should play more games like that.” Senmidori said as she hugged her master. Senmidori began to dematerialize. This took Yuri by surprise, but she expected it to happen.

Once Yuri had landed, something happened. A burst of energy engulfed her body and she soon found that she was wearing the clothing Senmidori was just wearing. Yuri didn’t know what to say about it. “I hope to be of more help! Seishinteki Kyoko, that’s the name of our Bankai!” Yuri heard Senmidori say. “I see, I guess this is what you meant by playing again.” Yuri sighed as she said this, realizing that her zanpakto might be more of a pain than before. But Yuri knew that it was the fun kind of pain.

Yuri attempted the multiple aspects of her Bankai, taking note of what she could do in the form. After a couple hours of practice, she decided that she really needed to return to the Squad 5 barracks. “If you’re going to head back, I’m going to bed.” She heard Senmidori say. Yuri was sort of shocked by what she saw before her. She could see a vision of Senmidori in the inner world, but what shocked her more was that she saw her turn back into her child form. “If she can switch back and forth between forms, this might get more interesting.” She said as she started walking towards home, at least where she thought home was.

((I didn’t go into detail about her practice because I’m assuming the abilities are gotten upon learning Bankai.))