After walking for about thirty minutes at a relaxed pace, Byakuya increased the speed of his steps, Tama easily keeping up with him. After a little longer his speed walking turned into a light jog, and again she matched him. Around fifteen minutes into the light jog, he increased his speed into a brisk run, and once more she matched him.
He glanced to her and stated, "this is the trick: you want to lean forward slightly, arms straight behind you, and put a bit of spirit energy into the souls of your feet as you push off against the ground."
He then demonstrated a glimmer of white appearing at his feet then in the blink of an eye he appeared twenty miles ahead of her. He raised his arm and waved to her as he shouted, "Try it!"
'How the heck do I do that? I've never used that before,' Tama thought to herself. Then she wondered how you place spiritual energy at your feet. Byakuya watched her and then sweat dropped when he saw her trying to physically force her spiritual pressure into her feet.
'Okay, maybe we need a bit more instruction here,' he thought to himself as he continued to observe her for a bit longer before concluding, 'definitely needs more instruction.'
He flash stepped back to her and nervously chuckled. Rubbing the back of his neck he apologized, "Sorry. I thought you knew how to do that part."
She glared at him and demanded, "what would give you that idea?"
"I saw you use it during that hollow attack," Byakuya explained, keeping his tone even. Tama blinked, her face deadpanning as she replied, "ehh? I didn't know I used it! How the heck can I utilize something I didn't even know about?!"
"Instinct," Byakuya replied as simply as if disclosing his favourite kind of weather. This for some reason unknown to the boy, confused the girl even more. She stopped moving and speaking for a moment before exclaiming, "that makes zero sense!"
Byakuya chuckled while sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. He couldn't help but laugh a little, the way she'd rage, clam and then rage again was adorable to him. Yet he felt like a monster for finding the whole thing cute because of how distressed she seemed over it, the guilt gnawed away at him as his laughter died down. Then the guilt struck him square in the face as if he'd been slapped by a wall. Taking in her downcast eyes and the way her arms were crossed over her chest, her body turned away from him, he knew he'd finally gone and put his foot in his mouth.
"Tama? Hey, I wasn't laughing because it was funny," he told her.
He wasn't prepared for how shaky her voice was when she asked, "then why were you laughing?"
"I was more laughing at myself than you. I keep forgetting I've had more chances to learn some things than you. So it makes sense that you may have accessed some of your abilities without knowing in the heat of a fight, and I should try to better explain the mechanics," he lied.
"Liar," she stated as she looked away from him in disgust.
His eyes widened until they seemed ready to pop out of their sockets while he stuttered, "w-wh-what?"
"You're lying. Your eyes shift to the left when you lie. Nobody ever tell you that? Best do something about it. If you do get captured and they figure that out, you're dead," she informed him.
He blinked before giving a small smile and nodding, "Alright."
He approached her for a moment before a white aura formed around him and he elaborated, "the energy you're seeing around me, is my reiatsu. We'll start with the basics, find a spot and get you used to controlling your own reiatsu."
He knelt down in front of her again, she knew what this meant, and willingly climbed onto his back. He hesitated and admitted, "I never did ask, but I should: are you okay with my hands under your knees?"
"It's fine. I mainly get defensive about my lower and upper back—and well, my rear end," she replied, her voice quieter towards the end. Byakuya's eyes widened as he realized a possible hidden meaning to that and momentarily cursed the creep that had attacked her within his mind. He silently vowed to himself that if he did encounter this cretin, he'd make him suffer.
"Duly noted," he assured her as he took off, heading towards the mountains. He gained a faint smile as he felt her relax against his back, and nuzzle a little into his hair.
'I promise you'll be safe with me. Whatever it takes,' he swore as an internal promise to her while he flash stepped. After a few more steps he landed in the mountain terrain of Jurnrinan and crouched down so she could climb off. He was breathing a little heavier, and wiped some sweat from his brow with the sleeve of his shirt.
Tama observed him and remarked, "that takes a bit out of you after a while, doesn't it?"
"Well, I'm not quite a Shinigami yet," Byakuya reminded her with a cheeky grin. She smirked and replied, "I know. You're just a spoiled prince with private tutors."
To her surprise, this actually offended him the same vein in his forehead protruding as she'd seen earlier with the crowd while he shot back, "hey, that's not fair! I want to attend, I just—I can't go against Grandfather's wishes. He says if I do attend the academy at all it'll only be for six months towards the end of my training. Also, I'd need to have a bodyguard with me to make sure none of the, what he calls, 'undesirables' talk to me. I could be their Captain one day. Shouldn't they be able to interact with me based on that alone?"
She softly smiled at him as she apologized and acknowledged, "those strict rules really bother you, don't they?"
"Some aren't so bad, just annoying. Others are stupid and serve no purpose other than to keep our clan isolated from everyone we're supposedly expected to set an example for. Grandfather claims it's to keep our bloodline strong, but I don't know if I can really believe that. I mean my father is of greater noble blood, through and through. Yet his health is as frail as Captain Ukitake's," Byakuya rambled.
"Captain who? I don't think I've met that one, have I?"
Byakuya chuckled a little as he recalled, "That's right. You haven't. He Captains the 13th squad and he's one of the four founding Captains along with Captain Kyoraku, Captain Unohana and head-Captain Yamamoto."
He removed the water skin from his kosode and placed it under a sakura tree, encouraging her to place the bento boxes with it.
"We didn't come this far for a history lesson though. The first thing you need to improve with flash step is Reiatsu control," he began as he sat in the shade of the sakura tree. He patted the ground next to him, indicating for her to sit. She did, and keenly observed him while she listened to him explain the reiatsu network within their bodies, how it aligns with internal organs and how reiatsu is used in shinigami abilities like kido and flash step.
He then lead her in a mental exercise to focus her reiatsu. Beginning with meditation to enter her inner world, she gained some information from that internal visit. Afterwards, it became about visualization: imagining the power within her flowing as a current, and diverting that current outward, overflowing from its internal pathways. This part took her longer to grasp, however once she successfully completed the exercise a modest white aura glowed around her, causing him to cheer while she giggled happily. The jubilance over the achievement was cut short however when their respective stomachs growled. Byakuya blushed while Tama avoided eye contact with him.
"Time for lunch, then," he announced as he picked up the bento boxes. He handed her the bento wrapped in cloth with a snowflake design. His was wrapped in a cloth with sakura petals. Opening her bento she saw soba noodles, mackerel, broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, and peach slices.
She could smell the spices when he opened his, and his face lit up, in curiosity she asked, "What?"
"Curry rice," he announced, turning his bento around for her to see. It was indeed curry rice with potatoes, carrots, onions, and some sort of fish with a sliced banana.
He nodded to the curry, "try some."
"Are you sure? I know you like spicy foods," she objected.
"Yeah, but trade you a bite of the curry rice for a bit of broccoli," He offered. She smiled as she gathered some of the curry rice with her chopsticks and placed it in her mouth. He did the same with a piece of broccoli from her bento box. She blinked and smiled a bit. Swallowing the food in his mouth he inquired, "you like it?"
"It's definitely different. Might try some more if we have a chance back-" she trailed off, and he knew why. While he was more than willing to hear her call his house home, he wasn't so sure Ginrei would be so permissive. One day though, he'd change that. From a few trees over a man silently observed with a small smile spreading across his lips as the two teenagers dived into their packed lunches.