Bleach- I can't get an amen
Episode 20- Yoruichi's Special Training (2)
You may try harder to hide yourself,
But the world only reads your trembling all the more clearly.
Even your exhaled breath scatters into the air,
And when you finally become this space's eternal emptiness,
You are nowhere at all,
And yet everywhere at once.
"I've erased the sound and fooled the eye. But training isn't over just because that part is done... The final third step is... real combat, Azuma!"
Azuma still couldn't make sense of what that meant, so he could only stare at Yoruichi.
"...Real combat?"
"If you can grab even a single handful of my sleeve, today's training is over. Use Shunpo, use the mist, use whatever means you want—just grab my sleeve."
When she finished speaking, Yoruichi moved to the center of the rocky mountain. Then she slowly closed her eyes.
Azuma watched her, then started turning the problem over in his head. If he was going to catch her somehow, he had to bring up everything he'd learned in the first and second stages.
He knew ordinary mist alone wouldn't work.
"..."
Focusing his mind, he gathered mist particles around his feet.
Then he used Shunpo slowly, jumping all the way behind her in a single burst.
He was just about to reach her and grab her sleeve.
"...Got you."
At Yoruichi's words, Azuma's expression stiffened.
She flicked his forehead with a sharp tap.
"Agh...!"
Azuma took the blow and dropped straight down.
"Ugh... ngh..."
The force of that flick was far beyond what he'd expected, and for several seconds he couldn't move at all, sprawled on the ground.
"My... body..."
He barely managed to get back up.
The thought flashed through his mind: just how much power had she put into that flick?
It was clear now that plain Shunpo alone wasn't enough.
"..."
Keeping the particles gathered at his feet, he collected himself again and began spreading a thin mist around them.
He planned to fool Yoruichi's eyes like he had in the second stage, then use Shunpo at that instant to grab her sleeve.
The mist slowly spread toward Yoruichi as well, wrapping around her. She kept scanning her surroundings.
Azuma's figure appeared in her eyes through the mist.
His hand reached toward her clothing.
"...Huh?"
Yoruichi grabbed Azuma's wrist as it emerged from the mist.
That was the moment.
"...!"
Azuma appeared behind her with Shunpo.
He desperately reached for her clothes.
Yoruichi snorted at the surprise appearance, then snatched him by the collar with one hand.
"...Wha—!"
Azuma flailed in panic.
Bang!
Yoruichi's shoulder throw landed cleanly.
Azuma was slammed headfirst into the ground.
"Agh... Aaagh...!!"
Azuma clenched his teeth.
"You used what you learned in the first and second stages right away... So there was no sound, and you couldn't be seen. But your killing intent still leaks through. That split-second will of yours is sending ripples through the mist. He may even be able to read the slightest tremor in your reiatsu. Empty your mind!"
Yoruichi kicked Azuma, sending him rolling down the mountain.
He barely managed to land, but the moment his foot hit the ground, all the strength left his leg.
It felt like the fatigue from the first and second stages had come crashing down on him all at once.
"Huff... huff..."
He planted one foot on the ground, but then his strength gave out and his body lurched forward.
He barely managed to catch himself with his arms.
"..."
His vision was starting to blur.
He wanted to sleep a little.
He closed his eyes once and opened them.
A woman stood there.
He closed his eyes once and opened them.
A man stood there.
He closed his eyes once and opened them.
Another woman stood there.
He closed his eyes once and opened them.
Soi Fon was there.
He closed his eyes one more time and opened them.
Sora, Mia, and Ren were there.
He closed his eyes one more time and opened them.
Sora, Mia, and Ren were...
"Huh?"
Azuma blinked in confusion and looked more closely at the three people in front of him.
They were really standing there, looking at him.
"...You guys..."
Their bodies were already a mess.
Blood was running again from Ren's head, and Sora's leg was badly scraped up.
Mia's hands had even more calluses than before.
"...Lord Azuma..."
Ren was the first to step forward slowly.
"...I'm sorry. Back then... we shouldn't have let ourselves get caught..."
Azuma shook his head vigorously.
"No, no... I shouldn't have tripped over Kon."
"...Lord Azuma... I've felt this for a long time. That you always blame yourself for everything..."
"..."
No words came out.
He could only look at them.
He couldn't say anything. The thought that it was my fault followed right behind it.
If he'd done better back then, Ren and Sora wouldn't have been caught either.
"...Please don't be so hard on yourself, Captain..."
Ren said softly, looking at Azuma. Mia let out a small sigh beside him.
"...Yeah. The attack you used on Lady Yoruichi just now... maybe you put too much of that feeling into it, like you had to do something no matter what...?"
Azuma looked at the two of them and nodded.
He could feel the tension slowly leaving his shoulders.
It felt like some of the obsession was leaving with it, too.
Sora stepped up beside them.
"Please don't think of it as suppressing the mist. Just... think of becoming one with it. Not hiding yourself, but becoming the air in this space itself."
Azuma gave one last nod at Sora's words and stood up. He smiled faintly at him.
"Thanks, Sora. I'll try it."
Sora gave a faint smile back and nodded.
Yoruichi watched the exchange and laughed.
Azuma turned back toward Yoruichi. He tightened his grip on his Zanpakuto, but not too hard.
'I've erased the noise... and twisted the line of sight, too. If I want to thin out that hot killing intent, then... like Sora said, I have to do it this way.'
He closed his eyes. He focused, feeling as if he were spreading his reiatsu thinly across each and every particle.
Like dropping a single bead of ink into clear water and letting it dissolve without a trace...
The shape of the mist rose again. It looked the same on the outside. But the texture when it touched the air was different.
The mist began to wrap around Yoruichi again. The sound was still gone.
Azuma's figure appeared once more within the mist.
Yoruichi snorted and reached out anyway, even knowing it was a false image.
But in that instant, Azuma's figure vanished.
Yoruichi looked around in surprise.
The man who had been one meter away was suddenly two meters away the next moment.
The path between those points never reached her eyes.
"...What is this?"
Yoruichi closed her eyes and began sensing for his presence.
But unlike before, it wasn't easy to feel the existence of the entity called Azuma.
"..."
She focused even deeper.
Little by little, Azuma's presence began to return.
She opened her eyes.
Azuma was much closer than before.
"...!"
She reacted instantly, grabbing his collar and trying to throw him again.
Azuma used the split second when his collar was caught.
"...!"
He reached out desperately.
He tried to make contact, even if only with his fingertips.
But Azuma was thrown again.
"...Huff... huff..."
Dust briefly obscured their view of each other before fading away.
"..."
Yoruichi looked down at Azuma lying on the ground.
One of Azuma's fingers was gripping the edge of Yoruichi's sleeve.
"...Got you."
Azuma said quietly.
Yoruichi stared at him blankly for a moment, then broke into a hearty laugh and gave his shoulder a light smack.
"Yeah, that's it. Good job, Azuma."
Azuma panted, then nodded toward Yoruichi.
"...Thank you, Captain..."
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