Ikkaku shook her awake at the crack of dawn. He almost couldn't sleep the night before. He was excited about his new pet project to distract him from his worries. She was slow to get out of bed. For twenty minutes of him being as irritating as he possibly could be, poking at her and being loud, she laid there without moving. She only groaned in response to him asking her constantly if she was going to wake up yet. She finally dragged herself out of bed when Ikkaku came in banging pots and pans together to his high pitched voice singing a charming little 'wake up' song for her.

Mina hauled herself out to the kitchen. A groggy and very unhappy looking Yumichika sat on his knees at the low table with his arms crossed. When he spotted her, he flipped his hair and went back to pouting. Ikkaku was standing, resting a thick stick against his shoulder and leaning on another. He looked over at Yumichika and nodded to where Mina had just came from.

"Futon's all yours."

Yumichika let out a little grumpy little 'hmph' and stormed off down the short hallway. Ikkaku looked over at Mina, who stood there with her shoulders slumped, barely able to keep her eyes open. Ikkaku whistled to her like he was calling a dog over and nodded for her to follow him. He threw the stick that was on his shoulder into his other hand and opened the door half way with his free hand. When Mina didn't follow, he looked over his shoulder blithely and raised an eyebrow to her.

"Ya got a long day ahead of ya. C'mon."

And with that he disappeared outdoors. Mina reluctantly followed. When she got outside, Ikkaku tossed one of the sticks to her. Flinching, her eyebrows raised and eyes squinting, face slightly turned away, she threw her arms out in some attempt to both catch and repel the stick. It hit her knuckle and she quickly pulled her hand back to her chest. Her eyes narrowed even more and her mouth made a funny little 'O' shape as she airily groaned in pain.

She shook her hand out and picked up her stick, holding it limply as she examined her hand. Ikkaku's expression was flat. He had his work cut out for him. Mina gave her hand one more good shake and then held her sword out in front of her, donning a very tense and serious expression. Ikkaku went to her and corrected her stance. First he taught her a couple different rudimentary ways to block, which they practiced for hours until she got it down. Then he taught her basic attack moves, which they spent the rest of the day practicing until it was muscle memory.

By sundown, Mina was covered in dirt and sweat and she was starving. Ikkaku prepared fish Yumichika had caught while complaining about how dirty and ugly fish were, on a makeshift spit over a small fire outside. They all slept in the bedroom, Yumichika and Mina on the bed and Ikkaku on the floor. Before bed, Mina laid on the futon, Yumichika behind her with his back to her. She looked down at Ikkaku, who was on his back on the floor staring up at the ceiling. He looked over at her and smiled. This time, his smile wasn't scary.

"You did good, kid."

He shifted over onto his side and moments later, Mina could hear him snore. It comforted her. Despite everything she'd gone through, there was nowhere else she would rather have been at that moment. She would be dead without these people and she wanted to stay with them, even if she could sometimes feel Yumichika's general disdain for her a mile away. At this point, she felt that if she died tomorrow, at least she'd have died trying to do something meaningful for herself instead of meandering away her days drinking and sleeping. With that thought, she fell asleep.

"Go!" Ikkaku's whisper was sharp. They were squatting next to a shack, Ikkaku's eyes fixed on a group of menacing looking men. Mina had only been training for a few weeks, maybe a month and a half. She was a quick learner and determined, and they would also train for entire days at a time, accelerating her progress more than if she had other obligations to meet. Ikkaku decided she should spar with a complete stranger, someone who had no reason to spare her or excuse a slip up.

Mina felt sick to her stomach. She almost wished she was the type of person with nerves bad enough to produce bile, she was ready to take anything to get out of this. She wasn't sure Ikkaku would excuse her just for puking. She started to push herself up into a standing position but chickened out and ducked back down again. She could feel Ikkaku's irritation and became flustered. Ikkaku had lent her his sword and was eager to get it back. She huffed and rubbed at her face, making it all red. She could feel herself wanting to cry.

She started getting angry at Ikkaku for giving her no alternatives. There were three grown men with swords, laughing belligerently and pushing each other around. One of the men pushed the other too hard and the man closest to Mina fell straight on his ass. Mina saw an opportunity to make her first move and made to pounce on her new victim when Ikkaku grabbed her by the cloth of her kosode right in the middle of her back and pulled her back hard, throwing her to the ground behind him. He towered over her, one hand balled into a fist and the other pointing and stabbing at her as he scolded her. His eyes were wild.

"I did not fucking teach you that! Never strike first if your opponent is down!"

He was shouting at this point and Mina's eyes darted from him to the men attracted to the very specific subject at hand, making their way toward the two of them. Mina's eyes were wide and she was jutting her chin out in the direction of the men trying to signal to Ikkaku to shut his loud trap. He didn't care. He knew what he was doing. He was determined that she fight no matter what. As the men inched closer, Mina growled in annoyance and, still laying on the ground, unsheathed the sword and stabbed it into the ground, pushing her weight onto it to lift herself into a standing position. Ikkaku's eyes widened in offense at her treatment of his sword, and his eyes never left her as he stepped to the side to avoid a lazy attack from one of the men who'd made an attempt to sneak up behind him.

Mina made her first move out of sheer necessity, realizing quickly that the man she was so afraid to battle was clumsy and slow. The men he was with stood by in the background, both resting a hand on the sword on their hip. She blocked all of his attacks with laughable ease. She actually started to laugh in disbelief, much to the chagrin of the man she was up against. He snarled and started to hit harder, swing faster. He happened to swing his sword in just the right place for Mina to instinctively grab him by the arm and stab him through the stomach. Both Mina and the man gasped at the same time. Her sword grew heavy as the man's body grew limp and he fell to his knees on the ground. The sounds he made were some cross between a grunt, a cough, and gurgling, and it horrified Mina, causing her stomach to twist into painful knots. Her mouth was agape the entire time and panic coursed through her body. She pulled the sword out swiftly and the man made unleashed a horrible little scream before falling face down, his head hitting her shin, causing her to jump back in shock. The men he was with stared at their companion in terror, turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Mina stood over the man, unable to catch her breath. Ikkaku's sword was blotched with blood. She lifted her foot before the dark pool traveling from the man's body reached her foot, and stepped back slowly, never taking her eyes off of the body. She looked on in horror as Ikkaku pried his sword from her fist, carefully uncurling her fingers. Ikkaku sheathed his sword, Mina stumbled backward and turned around. She leaned against the shack right next to the one they were peering out from and puked up stomach acid. She felt woozy and fell onto all fours, into her own retch. Her breath was labored. She started sob loudly.

Ikkaku crouched down next to her.

"Can you sit up?" He put an arm around her back. His hand was on her rib cage, putting pressure on it to try and coax her off of her hands. She pushed her hands from ground to her upper thighs. She went back and forth between breathing heavily and sobbing. Her face was shiny and wet and contorted. Ikkaku pulled her left arm from her leg and put it around his shoulder. He put his arm around her waist and stood up, bringing her with him. She was trying to calm herself down but the sobs were frequent and involuntary.

"Ok. C'mon, we're gonna walk now." Mina started to look behind her but Ikkaku grabbed her chin and yanked it forward.

"Do not look back."

Ikkaku bent down and scooped Mina up, making his way back to the house. When they got to the front door, Mina was almost catatonic. She was curled in Ikkaku's arms, staring blankly into nowhere. He made his way through the kitchen, where Yumichika sat at the table looked on in genuine concern, to the bedroom where he gently placed Mina onto the bed. She curled onto her side. She was in shock and ghostly white. Ikkaku pulled by the shoulder until she was laying on her back. He was looming over her, looking deathly serious.

"Everybody here has to deal with it. Everyone here faces death every day. You've only scratched the surface."