Continued from: Phase Two
It seemed as if time flew past as morning came and Ulquiorra started Kita’s training. They walked down the halls and out the gate of Las Noches. Still walking, Ulquiorra finally paused and turned looking at his fraccion. Though his eyes could find no fault in her expression, she seemed… detached.
Feeling his gaze on her, Kita stopped walking and waited for the next series of instruction. Life had become a strict regimen in which she slipped into without complaint. She did as she was told and was rewarded when seen fit. It was all according to plan, was it not?
“Drop your weapon.” Ulquiorra’s command snapped her back into the present. Like a mannequin, Kita loosened her belt and let it fall. A small cloud of dust rose around her feet. Satisfied, Ulquiorra strode forward without a backwards glance.
“Master,” Kita began. Though no acknowledgement came from the 4th espada, she continued. “Ulquiorra.” Before she had time to react, Ulquiorra’s hand had already cracked across her face.
“Do not address me as your equal.” He stood inches from her face with his hand still raised. He would have been lying if he said that he meant to slap her, but something within him snapped.
Kita’s head turned with his strike, she dare not look at him. “Forgive me, master.”
“Remember your place, fraccion.” He turned on his heel and began walking again.
Kita followed behind her master as they continued onward to another place. Her mouth shut. Her eyes and ears open. She was here to train, not get beat by her master.
A long stretch of silence fell between them and neither felt obliged to break it. However, the same could not be said for the restless menos. They howled and screeched, never once listening to their neighbor’s cries.
“Stop.” Ulquiorra halted 100 yards before the edge of the forest. Here in the outskirts he would train Kita.
Kita stopped, looking around the forest she could hear cries of the Menos’ and lesser hollows. Waiting. Each and everyone one of them waiting for her to enter and them trying to devour her as she did away with them.
“Give me your hands.” Ulquiorra instructed.
Kita extended her hands to him wondering what he was going to do. She said nothing, just watched. He took her hands in his icy ones and murmured a few words. A moment later Kita found that she could no longer move her hands.
“You will not be fighting. You will not be talking. You will listen.”
Kita’s hands were dead weight. Letting them drop to her side she felt this training session was hopeless. Hopeless as in for her sake. How was she supposed to defend herself when a hollow or Menos came after her? Yes, her legs were strong, but she had never defeated an attacker solely with her legs and feet.
“You rely too heavily on your sword. You are nothing without it.” Ulquiorra said bluntly. He lifted her hand and watched it flop back to her side. “Pitiful really. I can change that.”
If he was expecting a reply from Kita, he would have had to wait forever. She was as silent as the grave. Her voice remained sealed since the the strike across her face. Causing her to only nod to her master. She doubted if she would speak even if Lord Aizen ordered her to. She now waited for her masters next command in her training.
“I will kill you if you do not defend yourself, Kita.” Ulquiorra slid his sword from its immaculate sheath and threw it away from himself. It landed with the hilt facing the sky. “Show me that you’re worthy of pretending to carry a sword. Prove it.” He lunged forward with murderous intent.
Kita lept over Ulquiorra as he came at her. She turned in mid air and landed behind him, but Ulquiorra was no fool he turned lunging at her again. Standing her ground Kita spun kicking her legs up and delivered a full round house kick one foot hitting Ulquiorra in the chest the other to the right side of his head. However, Kita was not lucky enough to land on her feet as Ulquiorra recovered and came at her again. He cut the air where Kita once was, but she had rolled out of the way just in time.
“On your feet.”
Kita looked distrustfully at him. Was this a trick? Ulquiorra didn’t usually give instructions during training. She had gathered most of her abilities by watching and practicing on her own. However, Ulquiorra’s orders were not to be ignored. She got to her feet and waited for his next attack.
“Your kick was not balanced. Your eyes did not watch me. I am your opponent.”
She nodded.
“If you feel your concentration on me is not important, then I will remove the obstacle. Close your eyes and do not move. You will dodge every attack. Miss one and you will start again.”
Kita closed her eyes and stood in front of her master. Now it was all on her hearing to avoid his attacks. She knew she could do this. This was not the first time Ulquiorra had her do this sort of technique and she trusted her keen hearing more than her sense of touch and sight.
Time and the minor functions of life seemed to slow down. The menos’ cries faded away. The sand ceased staining their uniforms a dusky orange. Nothing but breathing in. And out. In. And out.
Like a fine tuned marionette, Kita slid into a deadly performance. One wrong move and the price would be too high to pay. If she lost her concentration for a moment---
And then it happened.
All her efforts of brainwashing herself and denial of what was right-- it had reached its peak.
“Kita. Open your eyes. You have passed.”
---
The days moved along as the two of them trained. Ulquiorra had sharpened her awareness in hand to hand combat, sword fighting, blocks, attacks, and any other technique that crossed his mind that she could be taught. He heightened her senses of sound and touch by blindfolding her, making her fight him and the hollows that attacked her as they walked the Forest of Menos’. In a few weeks Kita was fighting unarmed and wielding her sword like never before. She had grown strong; much stronger than Ulquiorra expected. He found that in that few weeks Kita’s reiryoku had more than doubled and he found it almost impossible to unarm her as they sparred. He also noticed another thing about Kita; her attitude. Her rebellious side was gone and she followed every order and rule, to the letter. She was the fraccion, Ulquiorra sought in the beginning. One fitting of the fourth espada; finally, he had pulled that side out of her. No longer did he have to wonder if she was sneaking out or talking to the trash he deemed below him. No more did she dishonor him, only brought honor his way.
Continued To: Frozen In Time
