"Harder, Byakuya! Stop swinging like a punk little bitch!" I ordered Byakuya as we fought. We were fighting zanpuktou to zanpuktou and to tell you the truth, I'm surprised on how his zanpuktou turned out. It's not like his shikai wasn't awesome cause it is! I mean a thousand tiny blades that seem so innocent can turn itself into a killing weapon but all the same, I would never expect it to be...PINK.

I dodged the accurately thrusted sword in my face before hopping away. I took a stance and prepared for the next attack, holding Michael in a battle ready position. The only difference between Byakuya and I in this fight is that Byakuya wasn't afraid to reveal his shikai, even if it wasn't mastered. I was afraid. I practiced every day to master my shikai but everyday Michael reveals a new thing that only proves to me that I'm not even close to mastering my zanpuktou.

"Why?" Byakuya asked quietly but I was able to hear him. I tensed my muscles, prepared when he charged me. Byakuya doesn't like to just talk. He usually talks and fights at the same time. True to form, Byakuya dashed forward using his shunpo. I blocked and pushed him back while attacking his left side. He blocked and asked, "Why haven't you released your zanpuktou? I've done so before but you never release your zanpuktou's shikai!" He aimed a swing at my legs and I flipped over.

"I can't release it," I stated while grunting as I blocked a swing.

"Why not?! I know you train with it everyday, why won't you fight with me with it?!" I shunpo'd behind him and pressed my blade to the back of his neck.

"My shikai is not something I could spar with Byakuya. My shikai is made to wipe out entire cities," I warned. He scoffed lightly before shunpo'd to my right. I easily blocked him but faltered slightly when I saw the look in his eyes. His eyes held a suppressed rage. He used my second of weakness to push against my blade.

"Are you afraid you'll hurt me? Don't take me lightly! I could easily defeat your shikai!" I pushed back and took a swipe at his throat.

"Don't take anything I say lightly you brat! When I say Michael in his shikai form isn't meant for sparring, I mean it!" Sparks flew as we fought, I could feel Byakuya's annoyance to my reluctance through his blade and I bet he could feel my stubbornness through my blade. We fought mercilessly, cutting everything we could cut, not giving up and inch of our will power.

"Agito! Byakuya! Don't kill each other!" Byakuya and I immediately stopped our fight with each other as the real world beyond our fight rushed back into our heads.

"Rue-chan? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at the fourth Company?" I asked. Rue ran up to us in a hurry. She didn't answer me at first since she had trouble breathing correctly but when she had enough strength back, she slapped both me and Byakuya in the face.

"Are you two crazy?! Going after each other's throat because Agito is too stubborn to release and Byakuya's pride is wounded! Your pride and stubbornness will be the death of you both!" Rue scolded us. I rubbed my palm against my cheek.

"Owey Rue-chan, don't hit me so hard," I whined, feeling like the tense situation slowly unraveling. Rue's eyes flashed before pointing at me in accusation.

"Then don't do anything that deserves you to be smacked!"

"I believe the correct term is slap," Byakuya said. Rue pointed to Byakuya in accusation next.

"Don't judge my grammar!" We all laughed it off.

"Why are you here though, Rue-chan?"

"I-I need help. Both of you already have your zanpukuto and training to master them. Compared to you, I'm not very special."

"So you want zanpukuto training?" Byakuya added. Rue just nodded. I glanced at Byakuya the same moment he did and we nodded.

"Fine, we'll train you the way we found our zanpukuto but for everyone it's different. First, let's meditate. Calm the mind," Byakuya instructed.

"You sound like Bitchy-sensei," I commented which he threw a glare at him.

"Shut up." I chuckled before sitting down Indian style and relaxing. I watched as Rue copied me and began to meditate before I began my meditation. I wasn't even going to try entering my inner world cause there was nothing to speak to my zanpukuto about. Well there was, I mean later on today I'll go inside myself to train but right now, I wouldn't be surprised if Byakuya cut our meditation short to help push Rue to the limit. But how would we be able to do it.

I was pushed to my emotional limit and when my anger burst forth, I think that's when my zanpakuto was free. It said alot about myself that anger was the thing to free that bit of my soul to fight back. It's like rage was my default setting.

Rue will also have to be pushed to her limit: either emotionally, physically, or mentally. I don't know which one will prove to be the limit of her soul but Byakuya and I would just have to push with everything we have until something breaks.

"It's been an hour of meditating already. Let's get started." Whoa, how long have I been thinking? It felt like a mere ten minutes! Oh well, I must've been napping. I opened my eyes and stood up slowly. Rue followed suit, except something in her seemed to have changed. The look in her eyes were more focused.

"Agito! You explain to her how we're going to bring out her zanpuktou," Byakuya said. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"You have no idea how to bring it out of her huh?" He turned to me with a slight blush on his cheeks.

"Shut up." I just chuckled before starting. I think I already have an idea how I'm going to do it.

~~~