IshikawaInuzuri
New member
Seimei Ukitake (浮竹 清明)
Seimei briefly thought to himself. His demeanor didn’t change, the air about him remained as still as it had—but seeing Yuto charge forward made him second guess his prior choice. He didn’t let it show, but for a fraction of a second he did have a skip in his breath and heartbeat.
He thought about the moment he saw Yuto for the first time, many years ago when he first found his way from the Shin’nō academy to the gates of their barracks. He was lost, like a stray dog. His eyes were full of tears and fear, Seimei hadn’t quite seen anything or anyone quite as pathetic. But, Yuto reminded him of himself when his adoptive grandmother first died and he was left on his own to survive the brutality of the Inuzuki district. Lost and fearful. In short, without writing an emotional and a rather lengthy backstory to how they came to treat one another as siblings—Seimei took Yuto under his wing because he himself never had that privilege. He had to fight, kill, murder merely to survive. That forged and shaped Seimei into who he is now. As such, perhaps the lack of need to survive was what held Yuto back.
Seimei regained his breath and rhythm as quickly as he’d lost it—despite his sentiment towards his younger brother, he had to retain his focus and sharpness and play the available cards as efficiently as possible. Seimei knew what he was doing when he allowed Yuto to attack. He used Yuto as weaponized bait. Seimei retained the ease and looseness he had earlier, and his emerald gaze was stuck on their captain to perceive every little detail to his movement, breath and the very air around him. He kept his senses loose but sharp, seeking for any and even the most minute fluctuations in the Reiryōku of both Yuto and Jushiro.
He ran words through his mind as his emerald eyes recorded the events unfolding before him. Yuto’s charge lacked any sign of structure, and his strike and movement altogether were dismantled far before they could ever come to fruition. But Seimei withheld himself from intervening. Regardless of what the captain said or did to Yuto, Seimei didn’t even flinch. He didn’t even try to move. He had to retain patience and anything he would decide to do in the coming moments would need to have intent and purpose. His mind's eye bathed in clarity. He used his best asset—his skill of observation. Indeed he was a former runner of Onmitsukidō and his skill in Hohō was undeniably refined thanks to his past. However, his skill in stealth and observation eclipsed the rest of his talents.
His senses didn’t simply read and follow the clash itself. But everything in between. What laid beneath it. The control and the precision of their captain, and the effortlessness behind it. But then something caught Seimei’s senses which he perhaps ignored earlier—something faint but undeniable and it wasn’t Reiryōku. It couldn’t be as Seimei would’ve sensed had the captain used Shunpō, but he didn’t. He used raw speed, which in itself was indeed impressive. Seimei wouldn’t waste any more time, but he still had to wait.
His posture became more sharpened, measured and more deliberate. He had to be every single one of those things. If things got awry, he himself had a Kidō technique prepared as a precaution and it could be used at a moment’s notice. But, he would save it for when it would be needed. But now, he would move in silence and precision. This time he did not intend to interrupt their captain, but to use the moment at hand in the best way possible. Jushiro could likely feel the most minute fluctuation of Reiryōku within Seimei, an anomaly that’d disappear as quickly as it’d appeared. But something about it was off.
The anomaly followed Yuto, however. In the same breath as Jushiro had ordered Yuto to stop pretending—Yuto would as if vanish, disappear into thin air. His spiritual signature, Reiryōku, would all become dulled and slipping into near nothingness. And as soon as that happened, Jushiro would notice that Seimei was no longer in his previous position. He had once more utilized Shunpō to carry him across the gap between them in a single step and in less than a blink of an eye—leaving nothing but a lingering afterimage in his wake. His movement gave out no sound nor smoke. He didn’t reemerge directly behind him or at a predictable flank, but within Jushiro’s blind spot in the captain’s right rear as his momentum had pressed forward. He emerged a meter and a half away, and his blade was already in motion and it was primed to slice at the captain at blinding speed and effortless brutality.
A single precise cut with no wasted movement whatsoever. A diagonal arc, as the blade approached the neck of their captain from the left side. He didn’t intend it to merely cleave, but to intercept the space between motion and recovery. He acted with efficiency and cleanness. The rest was up to Yuto. Seimei used Kyōkko on Yuto to hide his perceivable presence at least for the time being and allow him time to strike the captain while he engaged in the fight once more. He used it without incantation or as much as mentioning the spell—it was a technique he had used for tens of thousands of times. He barely required any time or Reiryōku to use it, on himself or someone or something else. His plan however counted on Yuto moving out despite being hit by their captain, he’d have to capitalize on it. And this wasn’t the first time Seimei had turned Yuto invisible to others—as such, he counted on his younger brother to know what’s going on.
If the captain sought to respond with Kidō or a technique of any other form, Seimei had his own prepared as it was told earlier. Seimei still sought to support Yuto—but he had to bide his time in order to see how the attack would unfold. He however counted on the captain to see through with his evaluation.
He shouted at Yuto with promptness and command. As soon as Seimei emerged within the captain’s range however, he confirmed something his senses seemed to pick up earlier now that he stood in his near immediate vicinity—he felt the heat.
He surmised, once more gathering and observing in mere flashes of time. With his blade in motion, Seimei had decided to commit. It was only steel, intent, and nothing excess.
