Walking through the rain

Abandoning his ploy to make the tree feel some sense of sympathy and apologize for what was clearly its fault, Ian silently and feverishly rubbed his head in an attempt to relinquish not only the pain but the stars he was seeing too. "Er'... Thanks." he murmured, accepting the help up to which the two individuals so hospitably offered. Once on his own two legs, he took to supporting himself now; albeit he was still rubbing his head. In the midst of this, he surveyed them to gather some sort of idea of whom they might be. It was second nature by now to use some sort of observational skills. "Matsudai, Ian, it's a pleasure." he remarked, taking a moment to try and recover the rest of the sense he had knocked clean out of him.

After the clumsy fellow had gotten to his feet, Akihiko rubbed the back of his head with his hand. "Akihiko Hideo." Suddenly, a sound erupted from behind them. Swiveling on his heel, his hand instinctively went to his sword, but relaxed and dropped when he saw it was someone actually greeting them, not threatening. Heh. Instinct. "Uh, just a spar. Care to watch?" Then he remembered. He was supposed to be sparring. "Oh yeah. Let's get back to that." Clapping his partner on his back, Akihiko started walking away, gaining latitude with every step as spiritual particles concentrated beneath his feet. "I think it's best to fight up here. Don't want to injure the spectators... because I will." Flashing a toothy grin, the shinigami winked.

The wind was a bit stronger when it wasn't being impaired by buildings and trees and stuff. A little colder, too. But oh well. Once he got moving and his blood began pumping, it would lose the edge. Drawing his Zanpakutō, Akihiko activated his shikai with a simple two words. After the normal flurry of feathers disappeared, and he was holding his released weapon, he grinned. The red eye in the middle of the hilt glimmered in the sun, which had gained some strength since their encounter with the fallen and the newcomer. "Richi." Spiritual energy collapsed against the weapon, trapping air particles in a light that dominated the area. Dimming it a little, he took some of the killing intent out of his weapon. "I'm ready when you are." He called out to Kaede, swinging his sword a couple of times to test it's balance.