Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Adapting
"Speech"
'Thoughts'
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Chapter 16: Adapting
Unohana had kindly prepared a generous plate of Yakimono alongside two cups of Sake for herself and Koda. Normally he'd admonish himself for drinking this early, but his body hardly seemed to have any reaction to alcohol so he could only drink it for taste regardless.
Drinks aside, the food was beyond a shadow of a doubt exquisite. Easily some of the best food he had ever had the privilege of enjoying, his time on Earth included.
"You're a stellar cook, you know that?" Who knew a bloodthirsty gang leader could have such a refined pallet. If he was going to be able to enjoy this caliber of cuisine every day, then perhaps this arrangement wasn't so bad after all.
Her face seemed to glow a little in response as she let out a supposedly jubilant chuckle.
"Then enjoy it while you can, you have a long day ahead of you" Her clearly ominous tone led him to believe all this "treatment" was just a precursor for the pain that was soon to come.
And he couldn't have been more correct.
He had been led outside, finally giving him a chance to get a better look at his surroundings. There was no way he was anywhere near the 75th, in fact even the parts of the 80th he had visited weren't as bad of this.
Save for the mountains of corpses, allegedly by virtue of the woman who stood quite literally right next to him. He could appreciate not having to wake up to the stench of rot and decay in the morning.
"First and foremost, we need to fix your Shunpo, your lack of finesse isn't entirely your fault but it's still abhorrent nonetheless" He didn't dare interrupt and just awaited her explanation.
Enduring a bit of brashness in exchange for power was more than fine by him.
"You skipped a simple yet vital step when learning how to flash step, you didn't condition yourself enough. So what's happened is you're essentially doing the equivalent of learning to punch with twigs for arms, no matter how much you practice you have no foundation to build upon" Koda's issue apparently didn't lie in technique, but rather in raw strength.
"But don't worry, I'm here to fix that" A sinister smile crept up her lips as Koda was left to await his fate.
"Run" She ordered.
"For how long?" Running didn't seem all that bad, he had done plenty of cardio work for her.
"Until you can't" She meant that, literally.
And so that's what he did.
Lap after lap, it had taken him an entire hour of full sprinting to thoroughly deplete his stamina. He had been forced to run barefoot in order to toughen the skin on the base of his feet, which had resulted in a vicious cycle of small stones and rock cutting into his soles, healing— then opening again.
He had continued to run until all the air had left his lungs, leaving him laid on his back as a sweaty mess. Every last drop of energy had been sapped from his legs, as his new mentor loomed above him with that same faint simper on her face.
'I'm going to be sick…' He scowled as he felt the Yakimono trying to escape his gut.
"At least you didn't complain, as a reward you can rest for ten minutes instead of five— you're welcome" Koda wanted to retort, but doing so would probably spell his demise.
So for now, and the foreseeable future, cursing inwardly would be his only coping method.
His break ended in what felt like a mere instant, Unohana approaching him once more for what was probably even more torture.
"How much do you know about Kido?" He definitely wasn't expecting that question.
"I'll be blunt, literally nothing" Fighting with his sword definitely appealed to him more than using spells, but he'd be lying if he said it didn't interest him in the slightest.
"Thought so, I suppose it would be best for us to start with something you're familiar with" She pointed her finger at a cluster of trees and chanted a familiar incantation.
"Hadō #1: Shō"
It was too fast for his eyes to follow but following the impact Unohana had practically created a domino effect causing one tree to continuously fall after the other, her mastery and Yasui's were in completely different leagues.
'You see Koda, this is why you don't piss her off'
"To start it's best to channel your Reiryoku as a small ball of wind on the tip of your finger like so" She effortlessly formed a sphere of gale that continued to rotate as if it were a miniature tornado.
"I recommend imaging the Reiryoku in your hand as a liquid, slowly vaporizing and transforming into gas as it exits. Go ahead and give it a try"
After a slight nod, Koda did his best to follow her instruction to which he was startled by the sensation of the warmth in his hand slowly leaving.
"Stop" His concentration was interrupted by the sound of her supposedly discontent voice.
"You're using too much, all you need to create is a small sphere not a cyclone— try again" Granted he had become a little dejected, but he wouldn't let that get in the way of progress as he made his second attempt.
And the results were exponentially better, he had his sphere— just like that.
"That was the easy part, now is where the difficulty starts. To actually use these spells they require an incantation, but for this one you should be able to use it by chanting its name alone. The exercise you just performed gives you a feel for the spell, but once you actually conjure it you should be able to do it with your finger alone. The process of Reiryoku turning into wind and thrusting its way forward should happen in one swift motion, not two separate ones"
Koda had expected the spell to consist of pushing the already existing gale, but he knew better than to question the clear expert here.
"Hadō #1: Shō" He chanted with a slight inflection, and rather than achieving his desired result. He was met with a mighty blast of air thumping him right in the face, the back of his head almost crashing against the soil if not for Unohana intervening by catching him midway.
"Thanks…" Though slightly ashamed at his mishap, he was still awestruck at the fact he had managed to make something out of thin air. Or more accurately make air out of thin air.
"Don't worry, I never expected you to get it on the first try to begin with, just keep practicing and you'll eventually get there" Her uncharacteristically gentle tone managed to somewhat uplift his mood.
—
One week had passed, Koda had gotten accustomed to his daily routine of conditioning and Kido practice. However her insistence on sharing the bed was still…uncomfortable, to say the least.
But he was a grown man at the end of the day, he could tough it out.
He had just finished turning all the muscle in his legs into jelly, and had once again moved on to practicing Shō. To his befuddlement, when it came to learning Shunpo and using his sword he was relatively adept, but for some reason he seemed to struggle a fair bit when it came to spells.
He still hadn't managed to cast Shō without blasting himself in the face, and after a week of relentless trying, he felt that he absolutely needed to make that next step today. Lest his lack of progress manage to get on her nerves.
When she wanted to, Unohana was an expert at hiding her expression— but part of him was convinced that she was utterly disappointed in his progress. Whether he was deluding himself or just being plain paranoid didn't bother him, as long as he could remain motivated he could comit.
'Forwards not backwards, forwards not backwards' He repeated inwardly.
Unohana continued to blankly observe him, ready to intervene if he once again failed.
He rose his index finger and pointed it at a piece of bark, slowly moving his lips and hoping for the best.
"Hadō #1: Shō" He muttered.
Swish!
His face was unharmed, all the blast had done was chip a small piece of husk, but that didn't matter to him right now.
'I actually…did it'
"Well done, from now on training that spell will be much easier" Thrilled with his progress Koda didn't bother hiding his satisfaction, he couldn't wait for the day he'd actually be able to use Kido in battle.
Of course swordsmanship was still and would forever be his bread and butter, but why limit yourself?
"However, that isn't the only thing you've made progress with" Throughout the entire week, Koda had been forbidden from performing even a single flash step. Whether or not there was a reason for this wasn't disclosed to him, but he could honestly care less.
If today had proved anything, trusting her was definitely the right way to go.
"You already know what I'm referring to, go ahead and try it out"
Koda gladly planted his feet, and leaned forward preparing to see what kind of leaps in mastery he had achieved.
Swoosh!
He turned around only to notice that her figure had grown much smaller than he had expected.
'Whoah…'
Five meters, in merely one week he was able to cover five times the distance he had originally been able to step over. He was taken aback, Unohana had explained the importance of a solid foundation but he hadn't expected the difference to be this big.
Without touching technique whatsoever, just through running he had made this much progress.
"See? It's a good thing you're with me instead of her" Her backhanded comment didn't escape his attention, but he had to admit there was some, no, quite a bit of truth to it. He didn't want to think of Yasui as a sloppy teacher, but reality was proving otherwise.
Notwithstanding, competent or not— she would remain his friend, he wasn't that blinded by power to discard the good times they had shared. But sometimes you just have to move on to better yourself, at the end of the day strength always comes at a price.
She noticed his conflicted expression, but she knew deep inside he had begun to warm up to her. Whether he admitted or not.
But something bothered her, she had avoided being too confrontational about it, however deep down she had to know if it was necessary to "take action" or not.
"Her name, Yasui, was it?" She solicited.
"What about her?" Koda didn't recognize the tone she was using, making him wonder if he should be worried or not right now.
"Do you love her?" She queried blankly.
"Could you…repeat that?" He reuttered, unsure if his eardrums were working correctly.
"I said, do you love her?" She crossed her arms with a disgruntled look, mistaking his confusion as an attempt to dodge the question. A part of her had been convinced that there was something going on between the two, which she wouldn't stand for.
A tinge of pressure leaked out from her, weighing Koda's already exhausted body and forcing him to grapple onto a nearby trunk for support.
She had a habit of using intimidation whenever she wanted answers regarding his personal life, and although he appreciated her tutoring— he had begun to feel the need to draw the line somewhere.
With the exception of their rather "rocky" first meeting, she hadn't actually done anything physical to him. He knew she could be reasoned with, he just had to pick the right words.
"Would you be angry if I said yes?" Truthfully he held no romantic feelings for his former mentor, but he wanted to use this moment as an opportunity to finally level with his new one.
If he was going to be spending all his time with her from now on, he didn't want a one-sided relationship. He had no issue accepting her as his better when it came to strength, that much was obvious. But he did have qualms with his boundaries not being respected, even if he did hypothetically have feelings for Yasui— was it really any of her business?
"Just answer the question" She pressed further.
Koda took a deep breath, here went nothing.
"I'm not going to answer if you're going to try to coerce me into giving you the response you want. If you want to talk to me about something other than training that's perfectly fine. But just as I would to you, I want you to ask me respectfully, not whilst pressuring me with your Reiryoku. Which I know you're doing intentionally by the way"
No stutters, no inflection and little hesitation. He had conveyed his thoughts plain and simple, and now he was waiting for her reaction.
She was most likely going to lash out, maybe Koda was just moments away from losing a limb. But he could only cast aside so much of his pride, even he had limits.
"I see" The pressure diminished.
In a split second Unohana was right in front of him with her face aimed right at his— unblinking.
Unexpectedly, he had managed to reason with her.
"Well?"
"No, I don't love her" She could tell he wasn't lying, but her inner thoughts remained hidden from Koda as she continued to peer into his eyes, looking for something that Koda didn't even know was there.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Iguana32
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