My Missing Piece {Uzuren}

21

small timeskip to night time.

Rengoku tightened the white belt around his waist, securing it in place. He was dressed in his normal uniform, minus the cape-like haori. The bright flame patterns tattooed to wind around his arms, he'd discovered, stopped at his shoulders, and the one on the side of his face stopped halfway down his neck.

I suppose not every demon has a drastic change of appearance.

Sliding his sheathed katana into his belt, he smiled and exited the room. His plan for the night was to figure out why his breathing form hadn't worked. Sure, there had been no lasting harm done, but it'd caught him off guard. Of course, there was always the possibility that demons really couldn't use the breathing styles. Even so, Rengoku had to at least try.

Walking past Uzui's room, he glanced inside. The sound hashira was bent over a piece of paper, scribbling words onto it. Hearing him pass by, Uzui looked up and shot the demon a grin. A gesture that was immediately returned. Rengoku slid the back door open, closing it behind him with a quiet slam. One thing the transformation hadn't fixed was his hearing. It was still slightly fuzzy, a faint ringing swelling up in his head if he heard a noise loud enough.

Seeking out an open space, he drew his sword. It was a comfortable feeling, having the hilt clasped between his hands. He gave it a few swings, cutting through the empty air. That much could never be taken from him. Taking a wider stance, he inhaled slowly and brought the blade sharply up. The movement was easily completed, but it wasn't as fast as it would have been before. Rengoku frowned, trying out the other forms.

Each sequence of movements were burned into his memory, every small twist or thrust of the sword's tip flawless and sharpened to perfection. (Yes, I know how that sounds. Here, take some holy water.) It wasn't flame breathing, though.

No matter how hard he tried, Rengoku couldn't quite get the moves to elicit the flashes of fire and embers characteristic of his breathing style. He didn't dare try out the more destructive forms, seeing as this was an estate, not a battleground.

Now entirely focused on figuring out the problem, the demon turned to the few tatami mats lying rolled up against the wall. He grabbed one, setting it up on a wooden post. Stepping back, he held his katana at the ready, drawing another breath. The cutting edge slid through the target like it was butter, severing the mat across the top. No difference. He reduced the rest of it to unraveled bundles of straw, still no closer to using flame breathing. His strikes felt slow compared to the speed he'd fought at with Akaza. Two more tatami mats were sliced apart.

Drawn outside by the sounds of metal-through-air, Uzui joined Rengoku under the dim moonlight. Eyeing the shredded targets strewn across the pebbled ground around the demon, he raised an eyebrow. "So how frustrated are we?" he asked.

The demon glanced around at the mess. "Not at all."

Uzui bent down, picking up a piece of tatami mat lying by his feet and straightening back up. He turned it over, studying the frayed edges before tossing it over his shoulder. "Well you won't get much done slicing these up," he pointed out matter-of-factly. Drawing his katanas and tossing off the fabric wrapped around them, he offered "Spar with me." It almost sounded like a demand.

Rengoku looked up at Uzui's face, and, seeing he was serious, nodded. He backed away, taking a stance. But before he could react, there was a golden streak of metal flying for his neck. The demon jumped back, ducking and moving to the side to avoid another two strikes. A simple duel ended with the common goal of rendering your opponent immobile, or forcing them to surrender. Reminding himself of such, Rengoku clashed his blade with Uzui's. Sparks, and they broke apart. Expression serious, the flame pillar took a swipe at his comrade's torso, taking caution to the max in his attempt to keep the blade from cutting anything. Uzui noticed this, blocking Rengoku's katana with a clang while simultaneously twisting both his conjoined swords up to try and disarm the Hashira. Rengoku raised his arm, letting the metal slide and creating a harsh screech with the friction. Now he was in an awkward position, the only good direction for his blade being down. This was such a painfully obvious fact that Uzui smirked.

"Smart!" The demon exclaimed, gripping the hilt of his sword with both hands, thumbs brushing the tsuba. He brought the katana down in a quick arc, forcing the sound hashira to stumble back. Less than a second later they were back at it, trading blows like they were in a real fight, and not a mock one.

Uzui made an attempt at swinging one of his dual blades towards Rengoku's legs. Acting suddenly on pure instinct, the flame hashira raised one leg, stomping down as the sword passed underneath it, trapping it on the ground. Momentarily pulled off balance, Uzui yanked back on the chain connecting the two swords. In the brief second of confusion, Rengoku dug his heel into the dirt, keeping it stuck. He then swung his sword, blinking as the loud clash of metal-on-metal sounded in front of him. The blade he was standing on was pulled out from underneath his foot, and the demon was quickly bowled over. He landed on his back, a strong but gentle weight pressing onto his stomach to keep him there.

"Do I win?" Uzui smiled down at the fire-adorned demonslayer, as if pretending his hand wasn't on Rengoku's stomach, and his knee wasn't placed between the shorter's legs, a little too close to his crotch.

A bright red blush flared on Rengoku's cheeks as he turned his head away, letting out a laugh to shake away the flustered emotion. "Yes, you do," he chuckled. Watching the taller hashira's eyes, he could have sworn Uzui's gaze wandered up and down his body a few times before the sound pillar stood up, offering the demon a hand. He took it, rising to his feet and sheathing his katana. That skirmish didn't help solve my problem, but it was fun!

"We should spar more often! Your fighting was as flashy as ever!"

Rengoku grinned, the warmth in his face subsiding a bit. "Thanks! Yours was, too!"

Uzui walked back towards the door, picking up the wrap for his swords on the way in. Glancing over his shoulder, he smirked, "Though, if your intention was to hide that blushing of yours, you might want to work on that."

Don't come after me for taking away Rengoku's breathing style, I have a plan for this later on. Like- much later.
:sigh:
This is going to be a long book.. :')
Thanks for tolerating meeee