What is a Sword? [Pvt | Misato]

It has been a few days since Aien has been discovered and during these days Aien has been spending resting at the hospital. It was the fourth day since Aien has been recovering from whatever attacked him before. So by then the tension had at least died down by a small margin and Aien was released from the hospital that early evening. To be honest Aien is curious on what the Student Council was up to, but tomorrow is the festival like event for the school. Ochiru informed Aien the other day that they decided to hold the activity at the Seven Leaves Dojo, which was apparently fine with Aien's uncle. Though Aien has a feeling that they're probably already wrapping things up since looking at the time the 5:30 mark is normally when they fully close up the meetings. It's currently 4:00 and it takes about thirty minutes to reach to the school. Meanwhile it actually takes Aien twenty minutes going the opposite direction to get home. So Aien took the short route and just went home.

When Aien got home, the young man looked around the vicinity to realize that there's no one around here. Meaning that they're probably out somewhere; most likely to the dojo if Aien had to hazard a guess. Still, this was probably the best opportune time for Aien to do some meditating to gather his thoughts. Of course, Aien previously had plenty of time to meditate, but meditating and actually resting are two different things. Plus Aien has been thoroughly exhausted after all he's been put through that it took a while for Aien to focus on something to calm himself down. Honestly Aien is amazed that he was able to hold off Gage's torment as long as he did. To think that he was ready for more torment as well is something Aien can barely comprehend on what drove him to that point of insanity. He was well past his limits that was for sure, and survival was all Aien could think of at the time. So the young man looked around the living room for a moment and found his own personal boken. It was a bit dusty and appeared to not have been touched for so long. But when it's hidden under a fire place that's never used unless it is really cold it can get a bit dirty. Still, laying the wooden katana over his lap as Aien sat down, with his eyes closed Aien begins entering a meditating trance where it almost appears like he's falling asleep.

---

The rushing sounds of wind drowned out every bit of sound that could be heard to Aien. He opened his eyes and realized that Aien was falling from a bank of fog like it spat him out. Aien looked 'up' to see the familiar gravel floor, and kind of like last time this happened Aien panicked in a small margin. However this time Aien flipped his body and proceeds to land on his feet. Granted the gravity in the air forced Aien down on one knee, but it didn't hurt him like Aien expected it would. After all he didn't have any method of slowing down his descent, and the force behind it was enough to cause the gravel to stir up in the air. Once the dust had settled, Aien fully stood up on his feet and looked around for a moment. Nothing seemed to have changed from last time, nothing but gravel stretched as far as the eye can see. Aien still can't pass twenty feet from where he stood due to the thick wall of fog surrounding Aien. One difference is that Aien's boken is still in his hand, which is a good thing as he didn't bring it just to show it off to his soul.

"I must admit, I wasn't expecting you to arrive so soon, but it is great that you came Aien." The familiar soft and welcoming voice spoke from the fog. Striding out of the fog is the very same woman as last time Aien was here. She stood probably close to six feet tall which is a few inches taller than Aien with her long and black hair pulled up into a braided ponytail. Her attire is functional in Aien's opinion, and like last time Aien is almost overwhelmed by the sheer power she possesses. In truth it was bugging him that everyone that he's come to spiritually meet always have this aura about them like they could crush Aien in a heartbeat without even doing anything. He understands that such is the desire for power, but at the same time it is encouraging Aien to finally take up a sword. Even though the boken is a wooden imitation of a katana, it is still something that is forcing Aien to take up. Before Aien was determined to take on the peaceful life because it seemed like the easy way through life, but recent events has encouraged Aien to take up another path.

One thing that definitely wasn't on this woman before is that she's actually wielding a katana except the blade is a little shorter than the average katana. Probably a few inches longer of 2 feet with a hand and a half on the hilt. The Tsuba is rectangular, the sides having small half circle cutouts, polished to a coppery gold. "Why the expression Aien? You didn't actually think I of all people can't tell what's going through your head?" She spoke with a smirk on her lips, and Aien has actually been wondering if maybe this was a mistake. She could cut him down without even trying, but that frustrates him on how easily anyone can take him down. If anything, since she is Aien's soul, then just maybe he can practice his skills with his own soul. "I suppose not, but at least I didn't bring an steel weapon. However I am not going to complain. I want you to help train me." Her smirk faded into a frown as she flexed her spiritual pressure into a powerful form of a Reiatsu Burst that sent Aien flying about 50 meters through the fog, but as soon as Aien hits one side of the wall the fog engulfs Aien and spits him back out through the other side of the twenty foot radius. Right where the woman can simply raise her foot and stops Aien's knockback without even budging.

"I can't train the one I am bound to. I am your sword and thus only you can train yourself." She spoke as the woman flexed her spiritual pressure again to create a heavy gravity effect to send Aien into the ground for about two inches. Leaving a small indention of his body as Aien was struggling to even withstand her pressure. It was frustrating to Aien as this is exactly would happen if it were anyone else. If not just step on him like a bug on the floor kind of like what the woman is doing right now. Her once soft and welcoming eyes hardened into a cold and heartless emotion. The sickening feeling of being weak and helpless even in his own world wraps around Aien's gut and is only smashing away the already weakened foundation that holds up his personality.

Eventually the woman lightened up on the spiritual pressure and allowed Aien to crawl himself out of the hole that he made with his body. Additionally, Aien's emotions were running on high as he was completely filled with dread and helplessness once again. The memories of that Hollow that attacked him, sure he managed to escape, but if it weren't for the power he had before Aien would've been chewed up and spit out waiting for the next meal. Misato, one that Aien believed someone that he could talk to while being fully introduced him into the spiritual world, quickly showed that even with his power she could cut him down in an instant. Gage, despite that Aien has been grateful, managed to kidnap Aien without Aien even noticing or even protecting himself. Now here he is, hoping to seek aid from the person he thought he could turn to and happened to repeat what a certain few has demonstrated before. In the end Aien was weak, and has been weak this entire time. Aien has been so afraid of using any power of his because he believed that it could kill people if he used it so carelessly. Yet he's been proven by a number of occasions that his power don't mean anything to these spiritual beings.

Thinking about it in his emotionally weakened state destroyed what little amount of strength he had left; as tears began to stream down his face. "Misato once asked me, 'what is a sword'... I feel like I already know the answer to that, but the answer is meaningless when I don't even know what am I anymore..." Aien grit his teeth as he remained on the ground with his face to the ground as the boken had been ripped from his hand when the woman shoved him away. Balling his hands into a pair of fists before slamming down with one of his fists in a mixture of emotions. "How can I protect anyone when every single time I come across someone spiritually they're always so much stronger than I am! How can I even protect my own sister from those monsters when I am so weak...." The woman was silent as she continued to glare down at Aien with her cold eyes. There is a reason why she pushed him to this extent. It is because he was already this much of an emotionally wrecked when he came into this world for the second time. She won't tolerate Aien being in such a state and still striving to become something that he's not. So the best course of action she decided to take was to destroy what was left of Aien's foundation and have him reflect on his past.

"Honestly... I think I am the most horrible and weakest person to even be partnered up with someone as strong as you... There's no way I can even compete or even try to step a fraction of what you're capable of... No matter how much I try." The woman's hand on the sword tightened more listening to Aien's pathetic words. To be honest her feelings were being hurt for Aien even saying such things. In a way he was complimenting her, but she is taking it as an insult. She simply extended her hand outwards to the boken and it flew to her hand almost like she issued an unspoken command to come to her hand. Flipping it to catch the wooden blade, the woman lightly pokes Aien on the shoulder with the hilt. Aien, still on the ground, turned his head to be able to look up at his soul with painfully defeated eyes stained with fresh tears that continue to be shed. Come to find out that she too was crying, but it was only recently because of what he had just said. "I don't care why you're going through. I don't even care it is because you think you're too weak to do anything. But I don't want to ever hear you say that I'll be better off with someone else again! Do I make myself clear?" Aien grew quiet as he stared at the wooden hilt that belonged to the boken for a minute. Eventually, Aien quietly reached up to gently take the boken by the handle and the woman let go of the blade.

She took a few paces back to give Aien some space as he stood up to his feet before wiped the tears away with his sleeve. Her tears still fresh on her face, the woman still waited for Aien's answer as she held onto the sword firmly. "I..." Aien began to speak, but he choked and couldn't get the words out. It's like he knows what words to say, but they just won't come out. Before he could even get the words out, the woman vanished from sight and immediately Aien is reminded of Misato using that same trick. The most logical point is to get under the enemy's blind sight, and that would mean getting behind the enemy if you're fast enough. Believing that's where she was, Aien quickly reacted by doing a backflip from the ground. "Think again shorty!" The woman exclaimed as she was actually falling to the ground from above as she literally grabbed Aien by the face and slammed him down to the ground. However she was grinning and Aien at first gasped from the sudden force. "Good try though, at least you're learning instead of sulking now." Aien frowned a bit before he used his cupped fist to land a blow onto her inner elbow. With her power and everything else it most likely only tickled, but it made her arm buckle slightly and Aien used it to his advantage. Simply by moving with the pressure to more or less slip out of this woman's grip.

This attempt, no matter how futile it may seem, just made her grin even more as Aien rushed to stand up on his feet. She certainly didn't waste any time to take a mighty upward swing at Aien and thankfully he brought down the boken's blade to clash with steel. There was a powerful shockwave erupting between the clash, but it most definitely wasn't from Aien. This is obvious as Aien is blown away again several meters from his soul. Upon landing, Aien rolled onto his feet while quickly recovering his stance. However the boken has been split in two from the clash. Heaving a sigh, Aien focused his spiritual energies into the blade as white reishi from the area come together on the boken. Where it'll form back into the boken almost like it didn't even had a scratch on it. "So tell me, you said you think you knew the answer to that question." The powerful lady spoke before whistling to Aien's neat trick that he just pulled out of his ass. Aien figured that since this was his world and it is a world for spiritual related activities. Even his boken is made out of reishi, so the only way to fix it in his world is by feeding it more reishi. Simple right?

Anyways she vanished from sight one moment and the next instant later she's right in front of his face with her sword resting on her left shoulder. "You know, about what is a sword?" At first the male was surprised at her astonishing speed, but his mind was able to comprehend it somewhat. "A sword is something you pour your soul into. The sword becomes part of your soul, and together with soul and body they're more powerful than they are by themselves. Basically, a sword is the extension of my harm, the bearer of my soul, and the very same sword that I've always carried with me my entire life. I just never noticed that it was in front of my nose this entire time." She looked a bit surprised at first, but then she was pleased with the answer. "That was certainly a mouthful to swallow, but it'll do I suppose. Like I said I can't really train you when it comes to what you're specifically looking for, but I suppose I can at least tell you my name." That's when Aien's original personality started showing up again. "Oh, so I can call you beautiful then? That'll actually be kind of interesting watching everyone's reaction calling my own soul beautiful." She paused for a second before smacking Aien on the back of his head with a frown on her face. "Call me that again and I'll show you how beautiful a crater is." Then clearing her throat as Aien rubbed his head as a reaction. "Anyways, you best remember this well. For knowing my name is something that'll definitely improve your spiritual powers exponentially. It might not be enough alone to take on powerful enemies, but it is a start to learning about your Zanpakutou." Aien would nod his head in agreement seeming to forget that she is literally maybe an inch from his face so he has no choice to but look at her in the eye only. "My name... is Taiji... Should you ever need me, simply will me to your side and I'll always respond to your call."

Misato Ketsugōi

OOC: Aien is having an emotional breakdown for character development :3 so there is no problem with anyone's character because I feel like I have to mention this that it's purely IC.