Sleeves Wet with Dew [Fuuen, Erika]

Despite having gotten in a hit, that didn't necessarily raise Fuuen's confidence in the situation. If anything, it only made him suspect that Erika would adapt further, and he knew he was quite correct as she switched to another blade. He had dealt with others who utilized blades of such a length, of course, but assuming that from her would have been foolish.

Her stance was one that he knew would be difficult to approach, especially if he maintained a reactive approach as he had to this point. So, instead, he shifted stances entirely, into the Third of the Ukiyo Hakkei, the Clearing Wave style. His blade angled forward, a relatively orthodox stance, his foot forward and his whole body tensed. Aggression was key, and while it certainly did not come naturally to him, he remembered the fallen foe from whom he had inherited the style.

His eyes opened more, a fire behind them that seemed almost not his own, and he immediately opened with a horizontal slash, not wide or overly strong, but calculated, ready to follow up on any opening.

He struck and her eyes were as cold as ice compared to his own, not out of hostility or killing intent but detachment. She was focused and so she was in a clear state of mind where there was only the present situation, instinct. Erika's form changed, moving forward and pivoting to press her hand against the blunt edge of the sword and reinforce it against his swing. Becoming side-on from him in the process.

Immediately after his blade connected with her's she extended the foot closest to him and aimed to step on his foot to trap it. Ruin his balance so that she could maneurve her own sword to attack him and either trap him next to her or force him into being unable to retaliate or protect himself.

While Fuuen had anticipated what would presumably happen, what he had failed to consider was the speed with which it would happen. As their two blades made contact, Fuuen knew that the situation had become extremely disadvantageous, and he could do little as she threw him off balance with her step.

He was now trapped against her, and he allowed himself a faint smile as he conceded defeat to her. After all, what else could he do in this situation?

"I believe you've taken this particular match, Vice Captain."

"Very well, Fuuen."

She said while taking her foot off his, her eyes were a bit softer now rather than being hard and focused in the midst of a match. Erika didn't feel like she had particularly won, he had cut her first and she had done in three swords what he only did with one. She supposed that was a difference in fundamental, he pursued a single sword to its core and she pursued infinity.

"That sword, it is not an asauchi is it?"

She inquired, that was a particular sword which did not fall into anything that she knew. Due to that, she wanted to know what it was.

"No, ma'am, it is not."

Fuuen sheathed his blade once more, a certain degree of reverence even in that simple act. He had admittedly been intending to utilize the Yuudachi less, but this had been a special circumstance. He still took pride in this sword, even if he wished to remove himself from it for the sake of the position he had taken up.

"I have always had this blade with me. It accompanied me in life, and it has continued to do so even after death. I suppose, in that respect, it has crossed the boundary between those two existences."

The idea that such a thing was fairly exceptional was not necessarily lost on Fuuen, but the greater implications of it simply did not concern him. All that mattered, in his view, was how it carried into the art that he pursued.

"I see, and why does it do that?"

She inquired while rested the odachi over her shoulder, with a thoughtful look on her face. It wasn't a zanpakuto but it seemed to behave like one, did it have any greater spirit attached to it? It wouldn't based on what he told her, yet it didn't function as an asauchi which a zanpakuto would develop from.

The many thoughts filled her mind while contemplating the situation that he gave her, though he did speak like it had chosen to accompany him through death. Was it a soul of someone attached to him turned into a sword? Too many possibilities, no clearcut answer.

"If I knew the answer to that particular question, I think that would provide me an unfathomable amount of insight into both myself and my blade."

Fuuen's hand rested on the blade a touch longer as it lay in his sheathe, but his attention had naturally returned to his superior. This was a topic he had spent a good deal of time thinking on, but he had yet to find any concrete answers. He would rather like to, of course, but he would be lying if he said that he knew exactly how to do that.

"I have wondered if my attachment to this blade has interfered with my ability to connect to a zanpakuto properly."

"Is that so?"

Erika kept her eyes fixed on the sheathed sword before placing her nodachi down and walking up to him with an outstretched hand.

"May I hold it?"

Maybe something would stand out to her if she held it and was able to study it a bit better. As it stood now though she didn't have much idea from just looking and his own confusion about it didn't help her. It presented a new avenue which she hadn't been exposed to, what would the God of the Sword think about this peculiar sword she wondered or Murasaki even.

That particular question actually caught Fuuen off guard just a touch, if only because he had never been asked that question before. At least, not in a situation that he believed it was a genuine question, and certainly not in a friendly environment. He still hesitated just a touch, but after a moment, he removed the sheathe from his back, and held it carefully out to Erika.

"Of course, Vice Captain."

He didn't know what she might expect to find from the sword. As far as he knew, it was simply a sword, nothing more and nothing less. A sword bonded to Fuuen's own soul, certainly, and one which encompassed the whole of his being, but a sword without any spirit or existence of its own.

Just a sword she thought when she handled it, she took a bit of note for the sheathe. It was particular, Hitsugaya's sheathe simply disappeared as he drew it out she recalled or something like that when handling an awkward sword. This one had a strange adjustment to facilitate the length of the sword though, quite clever.

"Has it ever broken?"

Erika inquired while drawing it out and holding it. Trying to test the balance and weight. Another important detail to a zanpakuto came to mind which she didn't ever experience, none of her swords happened to have this attribute so she didn't immediately think about it.

"Has this sword ever felt difficult to wield or is it weightless? This length is quite cumbersome."