Outside he bar, under deepening night Rangiku laughed uproariously as she danced around on any structure her eyes lit upon. Post to wall to rooftop, Renji was only a heartbeat behind but not close enough to catch her. "What's the matter," she called back, "I thought you were lieutenant to the shunpo master! I'd have thought you'd have learned a thing or two!"
"Dammit," growled Renji. Of course the sake he'd drunk addled his ability to use flashstep at the top of his ability, but the same should also be true about Rangiku. No way could he let her best him! His mind raced through strategies and came up with one. A long shot, but not impossible. He waited for Rangiku to leap again and instead of following he pointed a finger, "Bakudo number 30: Shitotsu Sansen!"
A bright triangle appeared before him and from each vertex a yellow arrow shot toward the Squad 10 Lieutenant. It was an impressive light display, but little more. They simply didn't have the power to attain a velocity necessary to trap Rangiku in place; they flew past her and cracked a wall before shattering. Renji's control of his reiatsu was such that while Rangiku had little trouble avoiding the trap she honestly was surprised by it, never having thought that Renji would use a kido spell when everyone knew he was bad at them. It was that moment of surprise and having to devise an evasion that Renji was going for. He knew she'd never be caught by such a weak spell, but he would never have survived as Byakuya Kuchiki's lieutenant if he didn't have some capacity for tactics.
Barely had Rangiku dodged the Shitotsu Sansen when she collided with Renji. She was unprepared and fell to the ground with an "oof!" Renji, meanwhile, was expecting it and made off with the sake cup issuing a gleeful "HAH!"
Now it was his turn to run from rooftop to rooftop, lamp post to lamp post. The pretty shinigami watched him put some distance between them as she dusted herself off. "No way!" Rangiku launched herself after the red haired man.
She had to race at top speed to get within striking distance, but the advantage of being this far back was he couldn't dictate minute, time-wasting changes of direction in her path. When Rangiku determined he was close enough she summoned her reiatsu properly, pointed a finger and cried out, "Bakudo number 62: Hyapporankan!" This spell worked much more in line with how shinigami were taught at the academy as a white shaft of light became a hundred rods driving Renji into the ground. From the middle of a crater Renji stared up at Rangiku falling on him, brown eyes huge.
As Rangiku approached the fallen man a small red mote caught her eye. She barely jumped clear of the Shakkaho as it exploded, knocking off tiles from a building a few feet away. Above her the audacious man shouted, "Now just buy me a drink of sake and we can call it even!"
Stunned, Rangiku rubbed her eyes. How the hell had he…? She looked at the crater on the ground where she was sure she'd trapped Renji. The Hyapporankan was swiftly disintegrating without the lieutenant in its midst. "What the HELL?" she screamed at him.
Renji laughed as he ran off again. "Just so happens I did pick up a few things from the boss. That was utsusemi, the cicada illusion only us shunpo masters know!"
"Shit." Rangiku scrunched up her face. At this point Renji was rubbing her face in it. And what was up with the Shakkaho? Even knowing it wouldn't be strong enough to hurt her he had a lot of nerve using battle tactics like that. Fine then. She hopped to the top of a nearby building to put him in line of sight and unsheathed her zanpakuto. If he wanted to see nerve she would show him plenty. "Growl, Haineko!"
The blade of her sword dissolved into ash and, at her direction, shot forth toward the fleeing shinigami. Rangiku leapt a few rooftops toward Renji to close the distance and then sharply twisted the handle. "Neko rinbu," she muttered and the ash became a swirling nimbus around Renji. Renji, of course, had stopped, recognizing the ash for what it was and knowing better than to try to dive through Haineko's sheering wall. "Give it back," Rangiku called out. "Or I'll shred your clothes and you can walk it back to the bar in rags! Well, rags if I'm feeling generous."
"Che." How'd it get to this? He tossed the sake cup out of the twisting ash. He knew Rangiku well enough to tell that she'd make good on forcing him into a walk in his underwear – if he was lucky.
Once the cup was in her hands again, Rangiku withdrew Haineko. As she was sheathing her zanpakuto Renji dove for her. "This isn't over yet, woman!" Her flashstep was flawless but her reaction was just late enough that Renji (accidentally) brushed his fingers over a prominent breast. The race was on once again.
As they cleared out of the area a man in an elaborate pink haori watched them from the barracks of his squad. A grin spread over his face. "What a wonderful evening exercise!" he mused to himself. "I wonder if Nanao-chan would be game. I should certainly find out!"