CHAPTER 2: INAZUMA KAZE

Tayomi woke up in her inner world. She stood in a cold dark sea, with the water up to her knees. There was lightning flashing across the sky continuously, but the roll of the thunder never sounded and there was not a single dark cloud in sight. The sky and Tayomi's eyes were of the similar purplish-blue shade. Pink flower petals floated in the dark blue waters and collected near her wrists. She looked across the waters and spotted a tall, slim figure in the distance.

"Inazuma Kaze!" Tayomi whispered, walking towards her.

Inazuma Kaze was a tall, slim woman wearing a dark blue cape, with a pale yellow shirt and navy blue shorts underneath. She had long yellow hair with blue highlights, with her fringe brushed to the right side of her face and the rest of her hair tied up into a low ponytail to the left side. She had fierce, sharp eyes which were pointed at the ends and her eye colour was sky blue. Her fingernails were painted gold and she had a pink cord tied around her right wrist, sharing the same shade of pink as Tayomi's hairband. Inazuma Kaze wore black boots and had another pink cord tied around her right ankle.

"Tayomi-chan!" Inazuma Kaze squealed and ran towards her.

Yes! She's in a good mood today! Tayomi smiled and hugged her. Perhaps today's training would go smoother this time, compared to the last time. She shuddered as she remembered the last time she tried to conquer Inazuma Kaze. Inazuma Kaze was in a very bad mood and she lashed out at Tayomi with all her might. Learning Bankai was much harder for Tayomi and seeing as her Zanpakutou was in a good mood, she decided to begin training right away. Inazuma Kaze smiled at her and opened her palm towards her, saying that she would make Tayomi work hard today and told her to keep going if she wanted to achieve Bankai. Achieving Bankai would take at least a hundred years of effort and Tayomi was willing to go through it. Inazuma Kaze began the first phase of their usual training by firing several darts made of lightning bolts at her. Tayomi squeaked and dodged all the darts. Inazuma Kaze seemed to be firing at a quicker pace than usual and Tayomi feared that her mood would change soon. I have to make sure she sustains this mood, or else I'll take even longer to learn my Bankai…

Knowing her Zanpakutou well enough, Tayomi worked even harder than usual. Inazuma Kaze moved onto the second stage and fired arrow-shaped lightning bolts at her. Her speed had increased drastically and Tayomi had just missed the arrows by centimetres. Although it was hard work, she had to admit that it was a good workout. With such training, she could improve her agility by leaps and bounds. Since her element was lightning, she would never live it down if her speed was average. Her speed had to be exceedingly impressive. She had to move like lightning or she would not be living up to her Zanpakutou's name. Inazuma Kaze had Tayomi running all over the place, jumping up and down frantically in order to dodge her attacks.

"Stop panicking like a small kid!" Inazuma Kaze shouted angrily. "You have to keep your cool, believe in your speed and just dodge my arrows!"

Tayomi took a deep breath and observed the arrows flying at her. Inazuma Kaze sent four arrows at her; the first on her right, the second on her left, the third behind her back and the last coming right in her face. She heeded Inazuma Kaze's advice and got really serious, using Shunpo to jump up and allow the four arrows to crash into each other, causing a lightning-based explosion. Inazuma Kaze smiled and proceeded to the last phase, unsheathing a pale yellow katana, eighty centimetres in length. There was a long chain and two long strips of ribbon attached to the bottom of the hilt, which glowed bright yellow in colour and formed a lightning bolt's shape. It was the hardest phase of all. Inazuma Kaze's speed would increase by ten folds and so did her strength and power.

She struck Tayomi with her increased agility and Tayomi just defended in time, with Inazuma Kaze pushing against her blade with terrifying strength. Tayomi tried to keep calm on the outside, but inside her heart rate had just increased by ten folds as well. The whole purpose of the last stage was to defeat Inazuma Kaze if she wanted to achieve Bankai. At her current strength, Tayomi knew she was far from achieving Bankai and understood why achieving it took at least a hundred years. She was still lacking experience in the battle field and she had come out fresh from school. Only by defeating Inazuma Kaze, would she learn the name of her Bankai and be able to use it. Using Shikai against her is just pointless… She'll absorb my attacks. Using Kidou is pointless too, since my Zanpakutou can absorb Kidou and project it at the enemy with increased power. I'll have to strictly use Zanjutsu and speed to win her… I'm going to take a hundred years for myself to defeat her, definitely.

Inazuma Kaze attempted to slash Tayomi several times, almost succeeding. Tayomi knew that she could not let Inazuma Kaze touch her, or she would use 'Inazuma' against her. 'Inazuma' could be fatal and very damaging to one. I cannot let her touch me at all costs! Tayomi spent most of the battle dodging, since at her current standard, she was unable to fight back completely without getting injured. She could only defend, defend and keep on defending. Inazuma Kaze sighed and suddenly vanished. Tayomi blinked, realising that her Zanpakutou had gotten tired and decided to disappear on her, like she usually did when she wanted to end their training.

"6th seat Tayomi, it's morning already…"

Tayomi heard a voice and opened her eyes to see Captain Unohana and Hitsugaya staring at her. She felt the first ray of sunlight streaming onto her face and rubbed her eyes. She had meditated for the whole night.

"6th seat Tayomi, why don't you see the 6th seat of the 10th Division back to his barracks?" Captain Unohana smiled at her.

"Um…" Tayomi started to blush. "Taichou, I…"

"See him back to his barracks, Sakuri…" Captain Unohana gave her a gentle, yet absolutely frightening smile. Tayomi's eyes were wide and she nodded, still stunned by her Captain's expression.

Hitsugaya and Tayomi stood up and walked towards the 10th Division's barracks. Tayomi sighed and Hitsugaya patted her on the head.

"I was up meditating for the whole night, just like you…" He yawned. "At least you won't have messy bed hair, just like that time when I slept over in your house during the summer…"

"But you woke up later than me that time…" Tayomi mumbled.

"I woke up in the middle of the night." He scratched his head. "Your hair was really messy. You looked like your hair got caught in a tornado or something…"

"YOU'RE EXAGERRATING." Tayomi huffed and dragged him back to the 10th Division's barracks.

Author's note:
So that was a nice look into Tayomi's inner world and what her Zanpakutou's spirit looks like :D I'm going to attempt to draw her spirit too... Drawing Tayomi perfectly is really hard *sighs* I hope you all liked this chapter, please review! XD Thanks! ^.^
Next chapter, we shall all get nosebleeds :D