2. Kunieda Ryou. Class 3-B, Highschool. Seventeen years of age. Unknown Swordswoman.
One.
She steps forward on her tip toes, solid in her stance and swiftly brings her shinrai down. The swift movements causes an audible swish in the air around her and a deep cut appears in the wooden training post a few seconds later; but she's not finished.
Two.
Her legs dance in an all too graceful way, as she twirls around, her shinrai thrown precisely from side to side. Another three slashes appear in the post, again she's not finished. Again it's not enough.
Three.
Frowning, her nimble fingers move with practiced agility, her grip changes, looser she thinks. The shinrai sways and dances with her in a deadly yet enthralling way. Left, loop, left, right, up and right once more. One more kata and it's over, she thinks.
Four.
A vertical slice upwards, swift horizontal and one last spin. A bang resides within the dojo and with a heaving chest Ryou looks at the damage she caused. The post is in tatters, crumbling apart, as though a wisp of wind could rip it apart. A scowl makes way on her face, her eyes drawn together in anger, not enough. It is still in one piece, she's still not strong enough. Ryou can't protect herself from demons and Hollows like this, she is powerles-
"You're getting much better," a soft voice pulls her from her reprieve.
Turning to face the entrance, Ryou gives the slightest bow to her cousin. Forced politeness in her every action.
"Konnichiwa Aoi-san," she replies gruffly.
Aoi ignores the greeting, her full cherry lips move softly.
"With the pace you're going, I imagine you'll master the use of a shinrai within a few more months," Aoi's voice is still gentle, but a hidden steel is behind her words.
Ryou stays quiet, watching her cousin warily. As expected, Aoi jumps forward, her own shinrai drawn, the best Ryou can manage is dodging the oncoming slaughter and kicking her cousin in her slim, hopefully frail stomach. Per usual, the kick doesn't connect and her perfect cousin brings her weapon down, keeping it a hairs breadth from Ryou's temple.
"If you keep pushing yourself though, I predict that mastering your weapon would be useless," Aoi's voice is deadly.
"Suimane Aoi-san, but you have absolutely no right interfering with my life," is her bitter reply.
"Hai, I apologise if I overstepped my boundaries," Aoi bends down, her long inky blue hair trailing behind her wistfully.
Tourmaline meets obsidian and a pale, slender hand's outstretched. Scoffing, Ryou stand by herself, glancing at the person she once called sister and turning her back on her. Just like all of Ryou's friends did to her. Slender fingers clench, caressing the new calluses and drawing blood. Trust no one, Ryou thinks.
Calloused fingers tighten on her shinrai as she resists the urge to fight a losing battle. Ryou's blood boils the more she looks at Aoi, the more she thinks of demon cats and monster spirits, things that don't make sense. Things that ruin, always without fail wrecking her life further. A phantom pain jolts her leg, where the Hollow had bitten her so many months ago. Ryou needs to get stronger.
"Ryou, can- can we talk?" Unexpectedly Aoi's voice is hesitant.
"Ie, Aoi-san I can't say I wish to speak with a delinquent more than what is strictly necessary."
"What has gotten into you lately? Ever since the... incident, you've been so cold, can't you just forgive and forget."
"If you can Aoi-san, I'd appreciate some more practice. Alone."
"Why? So you can succeed in killing yourself? Because that's all I see."
"Just go back to your boyfriend and keep lying to me, it's the only thing your good at!" Ryou bites out.
Tourmaline eyes open widen, a shocked silence engulfs the dojo and Aoi is in shock, wondering what exactly happened to the person she called sister. Sighing softly, Aoi watches as her cousin ignores her, ignores their memories, all because of a lie. A brief lie that destroyed years worth of happiness. Turning around, Aoi leaves her younger cousin to her dangerous vice and walks out of her life, if only for now.
The dojo screen slams shut and Ryou straightens her stance.
One.
This one is slightly more abstract, so to explain it, Ryou wants to protect herself, wants to make sense of things that don't make sense. She feels abandoned and in turn, goes to her cousin, Kunieda Aoi who tries and teaches her the way of the sword. But, she's immensely pissed off when she finds out Aoi has been hiding the existence of demons from her and it causes a huge rift in their friendship, because she's sick of lies. Oh, also, she moved in with their grandfather and is currently attending St. Ishiyama.
Anyway, thank you for reading. Oh and yes, Kunieda Aoi from Beelzebub, if you got that, I used it because Ryou's real name is Kunieda Ryou, confirmed by Kubo Tite.