Iris Potter and the Soul Enigma
Chapter 3: Fighting 101
Iris flinched as Abarai Renji's Shikai Zabimaru nearly cleaved Roto, another classmate of hers.
"He's gotten better since last time I saw him fight." observed Iris from her position amongst the other classmates. Today was sparring day, held every Friday, it was a day meant to relax after a full week of lessons, and as such it was a very popular day. Students would organize by class and fight, there where no winners, each student taking their turn to fight another. It reminded Iris of her impromptu DA lessons during her Fifth Year at Hogwarts, informal and fun, Iris knew that the main goal was to bolster relations, and it was working.
Even from her position within the crowd Iris could feel the stares on her, after her showing during the first day of class Iris became "Our new celebrity" as Snape would have put it. Before she was the "Ryoka with the strange name and brilliant green eyes", now she was the latest prodigy, someone to watch out for and monitor closely.
"No matter where I go it seems I'll always be the centre of attention!" Iris griped.
CRASH!
Iris blinked out of her reverie and saw that the match was over, Renji had incapacitated Roto, who was being dragged out by some junior 4th Division healers to get patched up. Ronoji-sensei quickly stood up and clapped along with the rest of the class, Renji had the good grace to look embarrassed at the praise.
"Well done Renji-san! That was a brilliant show, however, I couldn't help but notice your shoddy footwork, which can mean your death if you're not careful, work on that." She instructed, Renji visibly deflated, a scowl marring his sweaty face as he shuffled over to his position, sheathing his Zanpakouto as he sat down.
Ronoji-sensei glanced down on her clipboard of names and a quick smile graced her lips before she cleared her throat.
"Next up... Potter-san vs Rangiku-san, please step forward." She announced with an exited voice.
Instantly the conversations around Iris dimmed, everyone was looking at her now and whispering. Iris knew why, today would be the first day anyone would see her fight, and expectations where high. Iris knew from experience that they expected a spectacular show, and nothing less than total victory would disappointing and would severely damager her reputation, not that she cared about such things of course.
Iris stood up and sparing a second to wipe off any dirt and creases on her uniform, Iris plodded over to the centre of the ring, dreading the coming fight, not because she might lose, but because she could seriously hurt Rangiku-san if she wasn't careful, Red Lion had instructed her too well...
"You know the rules by now yes?" asked Ronoji-sensei, Iris nodded in affirmation, as did Rangiku-san. The rules where fairly simple and straightforward, only Shinigami arts where allowed and don't cause an injury that can't be healed quickly, nothing too restrictive, unlike Wizarding Duels.
Iris bowed before Rangiku-san as they met, Iris hovered her right hand over Red Lion as she waited for the order to fight, she was already thinking of the quickest way to win, not wanting to prolong what could potential become a very messy fight.
"FIGHT!" Yelled Ronoji-sensei and immediatley Rangiku-san drew her Zanpakouto and screamed.
"Growl, Heineko!"
Iris' eyes widened as she barely managed to dodge a sudden cloud of light grey ash that erupted out of her the scabbard, instead of a blade as expected. Landing a few metres away after her backflip, Iris narrowed her eyes and regarded her opponent who was smirking at her, an ash cloud barely visible around her.
Coming to a quick conclusion, Iris sighed and withdrew Red Lion, and brought it into position.
"Roar, Red Lion." She calmly intoned.
"I need to be careful and finish this in one move." She reasoned.
Unlike most other Shikai's, the only major difference between it and Red Lion's sealed state is the shape, no visible effects or attacks where prominent, and to the uninformed, it appeared to be the most boring Shikai ever. But that was what was so special and in some ways sinister about her blade, it was the Sword of Gryffindor in all ways, which included the ability to take on the properties of anything that would make it stronger, as such, it had the potential to become the deadliest Zanpakouto in existence, and Iris hadn't even achieved Bankai.
As the dust cleared, Iris could be seen holding Red Lion in the traditional longsword guard stance, taught to her by the old Lion during their nightly sparring sessions inside her mind, something she greatly enjoyed and dreaded, being in her mind didn't make his attacks hurt any less!
Rangiku wasted no time and flung Heineko at Iris, the cloud of ash rushing her at great speeds, Iris simply brought her guard up.
Clang!
The ash scattered around the blade and his wielder harmlessly, and a curious thing happened, the ash that landed on the blade was absorbed into it, something that Rangiku quickly noticed.
"What was that?" She asked in confusion.
Instead of answering Iris slashed her blade across from her in a neat arc, and a small cloud of ash sprung forth and headed towards Rangiku, who was so shocked she barely had time to deflect the attack, brining her arms across her body in cross shape as the cloud stuck, forming a thin yet deep gash across her forearms, the real Heineko protecting her from the worst of it.
There was a sudden still as students and teacher alike held the breath in shock. Rangiku, panting from exertion glared hatefully at Iris, and brought her seemingly empty handle into a guard position, ash forming into shape around her.
Iris smiled apologetically at her.
"Red Lion's ability is to imbibe anything that makes it stronger, meaning any attack you use against me, I can use it back." She explained.
Not giving her a chance to absorb the information, Irish flashed behind Rangiku using shunpo or 'Flash Step',the Shinigami ability to move at the speed of sound and grabbing the middle of the blade with her left hand, Iris brought Red Lion's pommel upon her opponent's head with a mighty swing, executing a perfect 'Murder Stroke' as the Lion called it. A perfect way to incapacitate your opponent without killing them.
And like a bag of potatoes, Rangiku bodily crashed onto the floor, out cold.
There was a stunned silence, nobody spoke for several seconds before one brave soul coughed and that seemed to break the spell, at once everyone started yelling questions at her, the din was so bad that Ronoji-sensei had to release a particularly loud Kidou spell above their heads and once again silence fell across the room.
"That was a very interesting demonstration there Potter-san, and the most unique Zanpakouto I've ever had the privilege to witness, I dare say you'll go far within the Gotei 13." Ronoji-sensei announced, she looked proud but Iris could see the worry in her eyes, she was worried too, now that she revealed Red Lion's secrets.
Sealing her blade and sheathing him. Iris joined her classmates at her place, the students around her giving her a wide berth.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
"Potter-san, Potter-san, please wait!" came a weak voice behind Iris, turning around Iris saw Rangiku running at her, a bandage could be seen around her stomach and some where covering her head.
Iris stopped and smiled warily at Rangiku, preparing to fight if she wanted a rematch. Rangiku eventually reached Iris, panting from exhaustion, Rangiku was bent over with her hands resting on her thighs, giving Iris a good view of Rangiku's sizable cleavage, Iris turned away blushing.
"Why does she always wear such a low cut top? Is she aware she's giving everyone a free show?" Iris pondered as she regarded the very interesting pattern on the walls around them.
"Potter-san." Rangiku repeated after catching her breatch, she stood up and grinned broadly at Iris, Iris blinked in confusion.
"You gave me a good thrashing back there! I just wanted to tell you that I don't hold any grudges, it was a fair fight and all..." Rangiku said, twirling a strand of her hair left hand, the other being rested on her hips.
"Oh..." Iris answered dumbly.
"I mean, your Zanpakouto is something else! I've seen all sorts but yours is the most unique for sure, well... There could be one more awesome out there but until I see it I'll stick with my previous statement." Rangiku rambled on.
"Thanks... I think." Iris answered.
"But, I didn't particularly want a unique Zanpakouto you know? I was famous when I was alive and I kinda hoped I'd be able to be normal here, is that so much to ask?" Iris grumbled.
Now it was Rangiku who blinked in confusion.
"You remember your life before you came here? Wow, that's very rare!" She gushed, face alight with interest.
"Wait... What do you mean you want to be normal? Thats... Thats... Wow." Rangiku seemed lost for words, as if the entire concept of wanting normalcy was beyond her comprehension.
Iris sighed and gave Rangiku her best attempt at a remeasuring smile.
"Thanks for not holding a grudge Matsomoto-san, it was very mature of you, I'll be heading home now, see you in class tomorrow yeah?" Iris continued, she felt particularly foolish about sharing her desires with her.
"She won't understand, nobody ever does." Iris thought gloomily.
As she turned around to leave Iris was not prepared to be suddenly caught in a bone crushing hug from Rangiku, being glad Iris was caught from behind, lest she get a face full of boob.
"Awww you are too cute Potter-san, I'll see you later!" She let Iris go and ruffled her hair, Iris was suddenly aware at how short she was compared to Rangiku.
"Please call me Rangiku." The buxom blonde requested in a soft and kind voice, smiling broadly at Iris, blushing furiously Iris nodded and used Shunpo to escape, she could hear Rangiku's laugh all the way to her room.
Thanks for reading!
Many thousands of apologies great readers! I have been having a lot of family issues the past few weeks and consequently my stories have suffered as a result. But don't worry, everything is sorted now and I'll be back in the swing of things, and should be updating this story and my other story regularly.