Author's Announcement: Sorry this has taken so long, Erisia's muse did not want to cooperate and I am sure you can understand why... She wasn't really over the moon for the idea of sparring with Ikkaku but here it is... I hope you enjoy it. Please read and review. Thank you!


The following day, Erisia made her way to the training ground and found a lot more people than she had been expecting to be gathered there. All of her friends, what looked like half of the 11th squad and most of the 13th were there as well as a small handful of other people as well. Great, not only was she going to get the crap beat out of her - there was going to be a full audience to witness it. Mentally she sighed.

~ The crowd is to your advantage, Erisia. ~ Kumori comments.

"How do you figure?"

~ Ikkaku knows that if he does anything dishonorable most, if not all of them will seek retribution. And as much as he enjoys fighting, even he does not want that kind of fight. I do not know if you are fully aware of it, Erisia but you have befriended some very skilled people." Kumori chuckles. It was the truth but he was also trying to lighten her mood. She would need a clearer head if she had any hope of sparring against Ikkaku for any real length of time.

"I wish we did not have to do this." Erisia sighs to the spirit within.

~ Yet you have said that one day you might accept his challenge just to get him to leave off. Well this is your chance to prove yourself... You cannot back down now. ~

"I know... but... that does not mean that I am eager to cross swords with him."

~ Just try to relax and think of this as just another training exercise. ~ Kumori coaxes.

Erisia tried to calm down and convince herself that it would be just like any other training exercise but it wasn't easy. Sparring Renji had been one thing - this was another entirely... Despite the fact that Captain Ukitake had attempted to put as many precautions in place as possible, Erisia wasn't stupid. She'd been around the 11th division enough thanks to befriending Yumi and Yachiru to know how their sparring sessions usually ended. Still she knew she needed to focus no matter how hard it was going to be to do so. Somehow, she was at least outwardly calmed by the time she got to the center of the training field.

Trust in yourself and in me and we will get through this together. ~ Kumori promises.

Captain Ukitake took the field for a moment and explained the terms that were set for this training session. Once both parties acknowledged that they heard, understood and accepted the terms, he made his way off to the side to watch. Erisia and Ikkaku faced each other and bowed. Then, it began. Ikkaku did not waste any time and was immediately pressing with a fierce attack.

While Eri had not expected him to go easy on her by any stretch of the imagination, neither had she been entirely prepared for coming face to face with his ferocity. She was hard pressed to deflect his attack and lost a good deal of ground because of it but she managed and darted away with shunpo to give herself a moment to catch her breath and steady herself once again. He taunted her for running away but she did not let him get to her...

She applied her kido tactics even if she wasn't allowed to start using kido yet. She used other tricks as well. Things she had learned from the various people she'd trained with from before coming to Soul Society onward. Though he hated to admit it, Ikkaku was impressed - especially when she pulled out a move he actually recognized.

"You learned that from Yachiru... Didn't know you two sparred." He chuckles.

"What you do not know about me, Ikkaku could fill a vast library." She retorts.

"We'll see about that, Eri-hime." He teases, wanting to spark her off. Her eyes flashed dangerously and he laughed as she actually pressed an attack of her own.

They went back and forth and he had to admit that her style shifted and changed a lot thanks to the influences of the people she had trained with... But she still didn't have the heart of a warrior - not like he did. She actually got in a good cut to his chest when she pressed an attack that actually broke past his guard and that only made him get into the fight that much more.

By the time she was allowed to start using Kido, she had received cuts to her left leg, right arm and one across her back - the severity of which no one could quite tell. She was trying her hardest to protect herself against him but it wasn't easy and his brute force broke past her guard more often than she would like to admit.

She was getting tired however and she needed to stop the fight soon but she didn't just want to call it... Quitting was something she knew he would never let her live down and she did not want to think of what new ways he would come up with to annoy her. She threw a few spells at him to distract him mainly and to let her get enough distance to start putting a plan into action.

She was going to have to be careful in order to pull it off but... if she could manage it, maybe she could actually.. save her own hide in this.

"Uh-oh" Renji comments...

"What is it?" Yasuo asks.

"I recognize that shift in her reiatsu."

"What is she doing?" Haru inquires.

"Casting a kido net."

"What for?" Akane asks.

"Could be anything knowing her... but.. it'll be interesting regardless. If she uses it in combination with shibireyubi, Ikkaku is going to be pissed." Renji chuckles quietly.

Sure enough, Erisia was working on a kido net and she cast it as quickly as she could manage... Darting to the clear area above it to try and lure Ikkaku into it. He was a little shocked when he got all tangled up and even more so when her lips moved and he saw power arc into the net and suddenly found himself unable to move. She'd cast the net and paralyzing kido quickly and had not used her full focus on either... so the effects were lessened. Of course the net was dissolved as the paralyzing kido arced along it but it had done what she needed it to do.

As soon as the kido wore off though, Ikkaku was on his feet and swearing up a storm... He grabs his zanpakuto and its sheath and slams them together, calling out the release command. The red flare of his power around him stalls Erisia a moment as his shikai releases... She backs off... debating on the merit of releasing her own...

~ You will have to release at some point if you wish to have a hope of keeping up with him. ~ Kumori comments.

She sighs and deflects an attack, using some hand to hand she'd picked up from Uruhara as well as shunpo to get away.

"Rend, Kumori Kurohyou." She calls out, and her sword transforms into its released state.

"Kido blade, shoulda figured." Ikkaku scoffs.

He is quickly after her again. Her stamina had improved but she was no match for him... and she was wounded... and she was starting to wonder if she wasn't a bit more wounded than she'd first thought. Still she had to push that out of her mind... a fact made all too clear by the fact that another blow got past her guard, the point of his zanpakuto going into the front of her shoulder...

Thankfully not her sword arm but it still hurt and she could feel the warm blood already... She focused on him... and then let him get tangled up in Kumori's whip like tendrils... He was going to have some marks of his own left over from fighting her and both she and Kumori wanted to ensure it. He cursed about the biting cold of the shadowy tendrils... and he could tell that she was starting to fade in the fight.

She lasted a lot longer than he'd expected but he was by no means done. Still he was impressed with the way she combined all of the different things she'd learned from her teachers... She wasn't a warrior but she was going to be a hell of a shinigami someday. But enough was enough. The next attack he sent her way, landed her on her back in the dirt with the point of Hozukimaru at her throat.

"Do you yield?" He asks, grinning ferally despite the blood coming from the myriad wounds he'd gotten in the fight. He'd have preferred ending the fight differently but he had agreed to Ukitake's terms and thus, had to make due.

She could only nod her affirmative as she felt her energy leaving her... Kumori returned to his sealed state and she winced in pain as the dirt got into the slash she'd taken across her back. Those gathered had been impressed that she'd held out for so long against Ikkaku. Granted he had actually held back quite a great deal so it had looked to be a better fight than it might have been otherwise, but she had still done well regardless.

Akane was the first at her side. "You okay Eri?"

"No... he got in a lot more hits than he should have... I couldn't block nearly well enough." She admits quietly to Akane...

"Haru help me get her up." Akane comments and soon the boys are holding Erisia on her feet so Akane can assess the damages.

"How in the nine hells were you still fighting him Eri?" Haru comments as he sees the various cuts and bruises she bore.

"I don't really know... sheer force of will?" She inquires. She felt miserable now that the adrenaline was wearing off.

Others saw her friends holding her up and came over to investigate. "Is everything alright?" Renji asks as he comes closer. Then he sees the state of his adopted sister and sighs... "You should have stopped when you got that cut across your back Eri."

"Didn't really feel it at the time..."

"You're feeling it now though, aren't you?"

"I think that's an understatement." She sighs.

"We need to get you to the fourth and get those cleaned out and tended to." Renji points out... He notices the deep sigh and how she hangs her head... but before he can chide her for it, someone else already is.

Slender fingertips tip up her chin. "How many times must I remind you that you need not hide your face?" Comes Yumi's voice.

"I am not certain, Yumi..." She trails off.

"Why do you feel the need this time?" He inquires.

"I got wounded enough that I'm going to have to go to the fourth, despite the efforts made to keep me from having to go there."

"You took that cut to the back very early on in your match against Ikkaku and you lasted an impressively long time after that before the injuries took their toll on you. Had you not been using so much kido you might have lasted longer. But you did quite well for someone who is still so very new to all this." Yumi assures her.

"I shouldn't have gotten hurt at all."

"Nonsense... I was watching the fight and for someone who is not a natural warrior as Ikkaku is, you acquitted yourself quite well against him. Were you less skilled you would be far more injured than you are. While Ikkaku held back only enough to keep within the boundaries set to allow this match to happen, he did not pursue you with any less focus than he does any other opponent. Ikkaku is a far more seasoned fighter than you are. He has been at this much, much longer than you have so there is no shame in having been bested in this... You fought well. Had you not expended so much of yourself he would have been done in with that evil combination of a kido net and paralyzing kido. Had it not released when it did you would have been able to best him without retaliation." Yumi points out.

Erisia blinked at his words... and he chuckled at her reaction. "You are in some ways a far more balanced fighter than Ikkaku will ever be. We learned kido at the academy but I do not think he has used it since we graduated. What you lack is not will or skill... merely experience, Erisia. You combine methods to enhance your skills and mask your weaknesses... For someone not even a year out of the academy you are doing beautifully... So enough of that trying to hide. Yes, Ikkaku bested you in this match but it was a training session. You now know more of what you need to work on... So even in losing you have won knowledge."

"You are being wasted in the 11th Yumi. You are far too intelligent to languish as fifth seat." Erisia chuckles, wincing as it pulls the slash across her back.

Yumi preens a bit at the compliment. "Perhaps but I have no desire to leave the 11th at this time. Now go on and let them get you healed up." Yumi says with a smile as the group moves her off to the fourth division.

Ukitake was worried for his 13th seat but no lasting damage seemed to have been done. Yumichika made very valid points... He had hoped she would not be injured at all but at least it was nothing too severe. He arranged to have one of the other lower seats take over tending to the butterflies and made sure to stop by and see his subordinate to reinforce that he was proud of the progress she was making.

Unohana had shooed most of her friends away. The minor cuts were easily healed but the gash to her back was far deeper and she wished to make sure it was properly cleaned out before healing it so that there would be no lasting effects from it. She had a special drawing salve that would make sure all of the dirt was out of the wound, though it would have to remain on it overnight. Come morning she could finish healing it and send Erisia back to her squad...

Before visiting hours were over, Erisia received one unexpected visitor. He was quiet in his entrance as she appeared to be resting... she was laying on her stomach of course, in deference to her injuries... She was still a bit bruised as well but the other cuts had already been cleaned out and healed... She felt him enter the room. She'd been meditating in a manner of speaking - going back over the fight in her head so that she could make note of where she'd gone wrong and fix it once she was released. She was somewhat surprised though, that he was here. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked in the direction she felt his energy coming from.

"I am sorry if I woke you." Comes that familiar voice. Her eyes flickered around and noted that it was just the two of them present at this time.

"You did not wake me, Byakuya. I was merely going over the match in my mind..."

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks to the numbing agent, Captain Unohana put on the slash."

"It is nothing serious, I trust?"

"It was pretty deep but not serious. She just wanted to put some drawing salve on it overnight to make sure that it is fully cleaned out before healing it just to be safe." She explains. He nods, that did sound like Unohana. "Were you there?" She inquires.

"I did watch your match with Third Seat Ikkaku, yes."

"I did not see you there."

"I prefer to keep out of plain view so as better to observe... besides your attention was focused on your opponent as it should have been."

"I do not think I focused enough. Had I, I would not be here." She sighs.

"I think you do not give yourself enough credit... You did very well despite the differences in your skill levels. Third Seat Ikkaku only held back enough to stay within the boundaries Captain Ukitake set."

"That's what Yumi said."

"And he is correct. Third Seat Ikkaku still pursued you with his usual level of bloodlust and you held your own quite well." Byakuya comments.

She looked away... as much as she liked being around him... sometimes it was hard for her as well and this was one of those times. She felt so... graceless right now... and so very vulnerable and she didn't want him catching on to anything that... might.. upset him... But she was curious as to why he was personally here. Surely Renji or even Unohana had informed him that she was fine...

"Forgive me for asking... but... I cannot help but be curious as to why you came to check on me personally... Surely Renji or Captain Unohana told you I was okay." She says softly, keeping the tone of her words light as she was uncertain of this whole situation really.

~ Just tell her the truth. ~ Senbonzakura coaxes. Byakuya weighed the options and decided that perhaps... just this once, he could do so.

"I suppose I am here because despite their assurances I wished to confirm it with my own two eyes." He admits.

His words have Erisia opening her eyes once again and looking over her shoulder at him... the question in her eyes though she could not bring it to her lips. She was certain this was one of those times she was being allowed to see behind his mask and she was fearful if she said something wrong the mask would fall back into place... He noticed the look in her eyes and felt the shifting of her reiatsu..

"I came to check on you myself, because I was worried." He admits so quietly she was scarcely sure she'd heard him. She just blinked at him in shock... It was not how he most wished for any of this to be coming to light but... how he hoped to begin was going to have to wait. Not that this was really beginning anything more than letting her in on the fact that he cared for her... but... at least it was a start - right?