With a happy, feral growl, Leiko galloped from the shopping area to the arena. While the sweet, innocent Leiko had been running the show, hollow Leiko was listening from the inside. Because of that, she always knew what was going on around Leiko, unless she was asleep of course. This time, she had been awake, and knew about the impending battle. Having found where to go after receiving some directions, she at long last made her way to the designated ring for her battle.

"Come out, come out, where ever the fuck you are~" she giggled, stretching her haunches. During the trip over to the area, Leiko had stopped at one point, neatly going through her possessions. The presents she bought for nice Leiko, and for herself, as well as the money, were all tightly tucked away in the satchel tied about her body. The strapped crossed from her front shoulder, latching comfortably behind the opposite front leg, circling her upper body. She had tested her movement a few times, sufficiently pleased that the sack would not move and was comfortable on her person. Unless an attendant came up and told her to take it off, she wasn't about to do so.

After her encounter with Shikome, hollow Leiko was ready for a fight. It was a rare occasion to be out and in control, and such an occasion deserved celebration. Nay, it deserved a riot.

Leiko pawed impatiently at the ground, waiting for her opponent to show up.

SPOILER: Click to show

I has song for you

Kimiko sighed as she made her way to the arena. Her fight had finally come up and her waiting was about to finally come to an end. She checked to make sure the pouches holding her newly acquired Kunai and Shuriken were fastened to her licking and a quick use of her shunpo made her confident that they would not come off mid-battle. With one last deep breath she continued on her way to the arena. After passing through the checkpoints she moved through the crowd and came out over looking the fighting area.

Her all black attire was only offset by the three blood red items adorning her waist, neck and hair and she would most likely stand out among those in attendance for the fight. She only hoped that Malik would be around at some point to witness her fight in hopes that she did well enough to prove her worth. She closed her eyes and took a moment to calm herself until she heard her opponent speak. Her eyes snapped open and upon seeing a hollow type beast her blood began to boil. Really? Was she being placed up against a hollow? Oh she would have fun with this fight... At least she hoped she would.

With that she stepped up onto the rail and prepared to enter the ring. Before any of the "guards" could get to her she disappeared silently and appeared behind her opponent, again landing silently. She was standing straight, her back to Leiko and her arms crossed. She sighed lightly before speaking up and making her presence known. "Really now, is that any way to start off?" With that she simply turned to face Leiko, her arms uncrossing and her hand resting on the hilt of her zanpakutou. She cracked her neck and stared at the beast before taking a few steps back and dropping into a prepared stance.

"If you're so ready to meet your end than who am I to disappoint. Shall we begin?" Kimiko know that kill shots would most likely be stopped, but it wouldn't stop her from trying. She was a Shinigami above all else and she would attempt to "cleanse" her opponent no matter what.

Shunpo eh? Leiko grinned nastily, baring her teeth. This was a shinigami of some sort. She knew that speed method anywhere, having lived through the real Leiko during the time Leiko was still a shinigami. She whipped around and took a good look at her opponent.

Interesting.

She knew who she was fighting. Well, sort of.

Leiko didn't actually ever get to know this woman, but she knew her name and knew her face, and knew she was formidable.

"Kurugari Kimiko," she giggled, whipping her feelers into the air. "What a raare treat." She was positively hysterical now, laughing like a madman. Who would have dreamed such an old relic from her past would surface here, just after seeing Shikome. This was getting better and better!

Oh this was going to be fun.

Kimiko looked pretty well the same as Leiko remembered her, so remembering her was easy, but Kimiko wouldn't have it that easy. Leiko was now a hollow, and though she possessed the same, brilliant and unique blue eyes she had when she was a shinigami, her body was very changed. Hell, her voice was even different at the moment, mingled with the hollow's mad tone. So unless Kimiko heard or would hear that Leiko was using Shikome's name, and associated the two together..she was in complete anonymity.

Her feelers, that arched and writhed so eagerly in the air, shot out towards Kimiko, intending to entwine the female. These feelers had about a 7 foot span, roughly a foot and a half longer than her body (which was 5'5" long).

"Lets play, bitch."

SPOILER: Click to show

Another song for you~

Kimiko paused when the beast spoke her name. The voice wasn't familiar and she was sure she'd never met the thing before in her time as a Shinigami. Her mind spun up, though she kept herself focused on the off chance it was a trick of some kind. She felt herself staring at the amazingly blue eyes of the creature and the more she did the more something felt like it was picking at the back of her memory. However, before she could take a moment to try and put the pieces together she saw the two tendrils come rushing at her.

Thanks to her own instincts kicking in she instantly shunpo'd out of the way and in turn removed four kunai from the pouches on her sides, two in each hand. As she moved around the beast she launched all four kunai, one at each side so all four direct paths of escape were blocked. Finally she jumped into the air and drew her zanpakutou and came slashing down. She hoped to hit the thing in som fashion but she wasn't sure exactly what would happen. "If you want to really play you're going to have to do alot better than that!"

Face still marked with a feral grin, Leiko watched Kimiko move away via shunpo. Because it wasn't specified that Kimiko used shunpo to rocket around Leiko and throw the kunai, or if Kimiko threw all four at once in some talented manner to aim in four different directions at once, Leiko was able to smack away each of the kunai. If Kimiko used Shunpo or just threw the kunai at once, Leiko still had seen one of the kunai's glint of metal flying at her, so she reacted in the same manner. How she managed to do this was as follows. With her feelers circling straight above her body, she whipped them in a cyclonic fashion, creating a tornado around her body as she stood in its wide eye. The wind wasn't as strong as she could make it, there was no need in that. After all, she was only planning on repelling the kunai. They weighed little, so the amount of force it took to divert them from her body was minimal. So minimal, in fact, that the wind was not strong enough to lift Leiko up into the tornado, or strong enough to divert Kimiko from her descent. The kunai were pushed away by the wind blast, sent sailing into the arena. Leiko hoped the kunai hit someone in the audience.

"If you were plannin' on distracting me with throwing weapons, you shoulda kept your mouth shut, Kimiko. Didn't they teach you that in the Onmitsukidō!?" Leiko shrieked with glee, her prehensile tail already reaching up toward Kimiko. The tail was about a foot and a half long, two feet if one counted the 6 inches of non-functioning hair that tapered at the end. Yes, Kimiko's cry caught Leiko's attention, and the beast had just enough time to react. Just as she had heard Kimiko speak and turned to face her, the woman had descended well within striking range of her Zanpakuto. Leiko's tail shot up and would attempt to wrap and/or grab Kimiko in its clutches. By now, the wind was dissipating, and her feelers were coming back into play. They too moved toward Kimiko, a tri-point attack coming towards the woman. The tail came straight towards the female, while the feelers came at each side of her, left and right toward her upper arms.

Yes, that would put Kimiko in range to cut Leiko with her sword. Leiko really didn't care, she just wanted to get a hold of Kimiko. So what would Kimiko do next? Try to maneuver out of the way, or stay in range to attack?

Kimiko sneared at the beast as it dared to comment on her training. The fact of the matter was Kimiko was trying to be the distraction but alas it didn't seem to work as she'd planned. As she came down within striking distance she saw the tail and two feelers coming at her in a triangle type attack. Her mind raced as she weighed to risks of going for the strike versus allowing herself to get caught by the creature. She glared into the hollows eyes before using her shunpo to disappear again. Her momentum carried as she reappeared behind Leiko and skid to a stop. Her eyes locked back upon the hollow as she took up an offensive stance and waited. Something was eating at the back of her mind and she just couldn't put it together....

The eyes, it was the eyes of the creature that ate at the back of Kimiko's mind but it just wasn't clicking until she thought it through. When she put the eyes together with the name the creature was using her own eyes went wide with disbelief. Her stance changed as she looked at the creature, a bit more pity in her own eyes now. She shook her head and sighed lightly as she finally spoke out to who she now knew to be... Komatsu Leiko... It took me some time but the eyes give you away... I should have known seeing as the name you're using doesn't surprise me..."

She stood there, the sadness slowly fading from her eyes as her stance once again took on an offensive appearance as her sword came up. "It's sad to see what has become of you since I last saw you... However, it just solidifies my desire to cleanse you." With that Kimiko said a silent prayer to herself and went back onto the offensive. She Dashed forward and went for a head on attack but as she got within range of the tendrils she shunpo'd away. The one thing that Kimiko had on her side was the fact that she knew how to be silent when she had to be. Even her shunpo was dead silent and with that to her advantage she simply controlled her breathing to try and silence herself even further. She would then appear at the back right leg of Leiko and go in for a hamstring attack. If all went well it would limit Leiko's mobility and hopefully her ability to fight back

Oh so she figured it out? That was surprising. Leiko wasn't acting like her old self, in fact she was currently the complete opposite of what this woman might remember. The sweet, compliant girl with a soft, kind voice was now replaced by the manifestation of all her pain and anger. How she managed to put it all together and deduce who Leiko was with such little effort and time was astounding. It was almost unlikely.

That was fine though, absolutely fine, because this woman only remembered past Leiko. Past Leiko was strong, sure, but maybe a little more than average, and nothing to brag about. Leiko didn't accumulate her monstrous strength until the vizard to hollow debacle. There was so much that had changed about Leiko that Kimiko would be unaware of, like her fighting style and abilities. Not that Kimiko would have ever seen Leiko really fight. She had been a meek shinigami, and many whispered that Leiko only got anywhere because of her nobility. One could believe that Kimiko had seen the girl spar once or twice, but they were of separate branches and would have rarely interacted. Leiko only remembered the woman because she had risen through the ranks, and the girl admired such powerful and beautiful women, hence her Shikome attachment.

"Oh so you figured out who I was, good for you. Don't feel too bad for me, its nice being free from those nasty chains in Soul Society." Leiko snickered, watching her opponent disappear, yet again, with another shunpo. An annoying habit of the Onmitsukidō was that they could muffle their shunpo to make absolutely no noise. Ah, how she didn't miss the old days, being stepped on and used by inferior creatures like them.

"Purify me?!" Leiko shrieked with amusement, her feelers whipping around her once more, creating, yet again, another tornado. This one was much, much stronger, enough to rocket a person away from her entirely. Now, since she didn't know which direction Kimiko would be coming from, she encased herself in the tornado again, making the eye a bit wider so that she would not be sucked up into the spin. She began creating her defense as soon as the female disappeared from sight, assuming she would again go for a close ranged attack of some sneaky variety. Wasn't that the Onmitsukidō way, after all?

"How typical of you shinigami trash. All you do is talk about purifying and murdering us poor little hollows. I'm not going back to that hell hole. I refused to be purified and return to being another brain-washed peon like you!" Leiko shrieked again over the roar of the wind that tunneled about her, sitting on her haunches to keep a watchful eye of the area around her. Perhaps Kimiko would be launched into a wall due to the wind, Leiko could only hope. Or perhaps the female would skirt away via shunpo to plan her next move while the hollow was a sitting duck in the vortex.

As Kimiko saw the vortex she started to put on the brakes as best she could. She stopped just in time before slamming head first into the cyclone as it started to form. She jumped back a few feet and stared at the whirling defense. She looked at it up and down as her mind began to formulate a plan of attack. She thought about jumping up and over the cyclone and throw some of her weapons down the center as she figured Leiko was rather defenseless inside the twister but the odds of missing the jump or the landing was a bit to much for her liking.

The only other option she could think of was trying to strike through the twister but she knew that she physically could do it. If her body touched the twister she knew it would launch her into one of the arena walls and it would be game over. She sat there for what seemed like hours when only moments were passing and then it hit her. Her eyes went wide but then narrowed as a grin crossed her features. She glanced down at her sword and turned it sideways.

That was it! The smooth surface of her katana would easily glide through the wind of the cyclone if she were to slice across instead of down or straight through. The lack of surface area for the wind to grab would mean the odds of her sword being flung away were nigh nonexistent and that's all she needed to know. She grasped her sword in both hands and moved to where the back legs of Leiko would be planted within the center of the vortex. She knew that the eye would be a bit wide to allow Leiko to be say but she also knew that it wouldn't be too wide so as to make jumping into the center a non-option.

She took a slow, silent, breath and moved in to strike. She would move right to left and slash in almost to the guard of the blade, making sure to still leave room to avoid making full contact with the cyclone. As she moved her blade would slice through the vortex and, if her guess was right, end up slicing through both hind legs of Leiko as she moved across. The goal was to hamstring the beast and immobilize her. A bonus, should the attack work, would be if the sudden shock of pain caused Leiko to jump and hit her own vortex. However, Kimiko would be happy if she simply immobilized her target.

If Kimiko could see Leiko just fine through the vortex, then it would stand to reason that Leiko could see her too. And all the time Kimiko wasted by plotting and moving around Leiko was just fine, fine indeed. Of course the hollow saw Kimiko grin as she looked at her blade. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the female was going to try something sneaky. Oh how this made Leiko's heart giggle with glee.

Keeping the vortex going, something directly affected by her monstrous strength, as it propelled the wind itself, Leiko watched Kimiko carefully, indiscreetly as if she were unaware of her opponent's plan. To some degree, she was of course, for she was no mind reader. But body language and behavior were lovely clues, were they not?

Kimiko moved with the grace and agility expected of a member of the Onmitsukidō. Oh and Leiko let her, yes yes indeed! But oh the most humorous thing happened next! What happens when one is close to a tornado, one directly generated by someone of such ample strength as Leiko? The wind was impressive, so much so that when Kimiko foolishly stuck in her blade, slashing across and exposing the Widest part with the most surface area to the raging wind, she surely was trapped. As she very clearly, and carefully specified where she would strike with her blade, it would put her body even closer to the vortex, not that it mattered much. Again, the wind was directly generated Leiko's feelers, and those feelers carried the same strength as the rest of the hollow's body. Leiko had even taken extra care to make the vortex inexplicably strong to defend herself, but never had she dreamed her delicious prey would so willingly come to death. Leiko kept directing the wind, head turned as she watched what would inevitably happen next. The wind would have to barrel down on not only the flat of the blade Kimiko so gallantly offered, but Kimiko too. Since the female was so very close to the wind, she too would surely have to succumb to the same fate as her sword. The angry force was more than powerful enough to drive both the sword and its carrier straight into the ground. It would be like being drove into the ground by Leiko's own hand (figuratively speaking, as she lacked hands), for it was nearly that strong.

Since Kimiko had already made the attack, one had to assume she would suffer its consequences. Leiko, of course, watching the whole thing, would stop the wind as soon as it drove her opponent into the ground, should it do so. Again, one had to assume so since Kimiko so eagerly put herself in the situation. She really hoped it was enough to daze the female, as it should have been. It really should be enough to seriously harm the female, but one could not guess at how Kimiko would attempt to protect herself. Perhaps she had some magic defense power too? Though one would be hard pressed to formulate a plan in a single instant, as it only takes less than a second to be drove into the ground like a whack-a-mole thanks to Leiko's nasty wind. And the single instant was doomed to be wasted, as Kimiko probably assumed this attack would work and the Slim window of opportunity would be preoccupied with reaction to failure.

So yes, Leiko's feelers immediately dove after Kimiko as the wind halted unnaturally. It was surely impossible to avoid the pummeling that just came Kimiko's way as a direct consequence of her planned attack. And thanks to the punishment, Leiko would go to seize her prize, her feelers zipping at the female to attempt to wrap around her. Should they seize their prize, they would wrap around Kimiko much like a snake, and lift her into the air. They would squeeze and constrict, popping, cracking, and crumpling whatever bones they could.

The combatants would find that perhaps things were not going as planned. Kimiko lacked the physical strength necessary to carryout her plan as she desired. Leiko's strength was translated into the wind which rotated and twisted unlike a straight line wind. Perhaps with more personal strength the cut would have gone through, but as it were, Kimiko would find the sword wrenched free of her grasp and pulled into the vortex. There would be no real injury to Kimiko's sword-arm, however, the force that had ripped away the sword would stun the muscles of the appendage much like if Kimiko had smacked the flat of the blade against a dense metal object with all of her strength.

On Leiko's end, it had been another shadow cast against her twister that she had reacted to. What you ask? Well, no one is quite sure, though her wind still came to a halt leaving Kimiko in close range and without a weapon as the sword had clattered to a stop between Leiko and Kimiko. The gap between the pair was small now as Kimiko's movement itself had not been halted. Nor had Leiko's Her feelers would strike the stone of the arena's floor causing it to rumble beneath the combatants feet. Surely the impact was not a pleasant sensation for the Hollow.

SPOILER: Click to show

Posting may resume with the same order. First Kimiko, then Leiko.

Kimiko cursed under her breath as she watched her attack fail and her sword get ripped from her hands. Upon feeling the pull she let go and avoided any major strain to her arm but her pride had just taken a massive hit. As she watched the vortex fade and her sword drop between her and Leiko she began to feel a strong sensation of failure. She was running low on ideas and her last best one just failed horribly. When the wind faded and the sword hit she moved quickly, grabbed it, and shunpo'd away before anything could happen.

Once she'd placed some distance between herself and Leiko she sheathed her sword and tried to think quickly. The only way she was going to get in for a hit was to strike the beast when it could not see her, however, if she tried her same tactic Leiko would simply put up the vortex again. She had to get in close before that happened. If she could possibly get into the center before the vortex went up than Leiko would be rather defenseless, especially if she didn't know Kimiko was there. She had to think quickly but she also know she wouldn't be allowed to simply sit there idly to think up a strategy. She had to make one on the fly.

She reached into one of the pouches she'd gotten earlier and drew out six shuriken. She held three in each hand and after a moment she launched all six at Leiko. This was simply a distraction however as once she threw them she used her Shunpo and appeared behind Leiko. It was now that the second part of her plan would come into play. When she initially appeared behind Leiko she spoke up two simple words. "Behind you..." She knew that it was normally foolish to give yourself away like that but it was all part of her plan as the moment she spoke she would use her silent shunpo again to appear on the right side of Leiko. "Or am I over here..." Then the left... "Or over here?"

The second part of her plan was now in motion as she would continue to shunpo around Leiko and alert her of her presence only to disappear before she could be spotted. She knew her speed was her best asset and it was now time she used it to her advantage. She remained calm and focused and as such her moves were fluid and not a single one was wasted. Her plan, hopefully, would be to confuse Leiko enough and frustrate the beast that she would be able to get a strike in or at least get into the eye before the vortex went up again.

Leiko could see Kimiko, though Kimiko probably didn't know that as she never got a full showcase of how fast the little hollow actually was. In all reality, the two were fairly closed matched, and despite the power of Shunpo, the hollow's opalescent blue orbs followed the shinigami as she made a play for her Zanpakuto. Leiko's feelers would snatch forward, timed to match Kimiko's movements to strike just when the female was most vulnerable (just as she was reaching down for the sword). One would snake toward the arm Kimiko was reaching with, while the other would go for her midsection.

It was extremely unlikely that Kimiko would be able to get away in this situation, as the pair were equally close to the discarded sword, and Kimiko had put herself in the range of Leiko's feelers. Also, since Kimiko's speed did not outmatch Leiko's enough to really matter...it was very likely the Shinigami got herself cornered. After all, Leiko did not miss the events that had just transpired. The failed smiting with her vortex, which consequently sent the shinigami's sword to fall between them.

SPOILER: Click to show

You have 24 hours to post before you are exited as per the activity rules on posting when in a thread.

Leiko's feeler connected with Kimiko's arm though the shinigami realized what was happening just in time to contort her position enough that the second feeler missed her midsection. Feeling the power in the serpentine appendage that had her caught, Kimiko was more concerned for her bodily safety than winning a fight. After all, what good was a hand to hand fighter who was missing an arm? "I concede," she stated simply and suddenly the ring was full of skeletons who were trying to pry Leiko's feeler from Kimiko. A victim might not be in Leiko's future, but the victory was.

SPOILER: Click to show

Kimiko exited has it has been over a week.

Thread Rewards:

Leiko - 10 Stats, 10 SP, 1 EXP, 2 EP, 1 Exploit Point

Kimiko - 8 Stats, 8 SP, 1 EXP

Post for placement.

All to force, gracias