The unnaturally warm heat of the sun seemed to follow Caius as he made his way towards the dojo in which his spar with his captain was about to take place. As he walked he unsheathed his zanpakuto and stared at it, he had just attained shikai and he guessed this spar was to help train it, however since that day he hadn't used it. His stomach dropped as nerves began to kick in. What if he couldn't use it? Or what if it's too dangerous and he ends up hurting a ton of people? He stopped, his eyes staring at his own in the blade before shaking his head and sheathing it once more. He won't know until he tried, right? As he looked up he could make out a silhouette of someone sitting knees crossed with the back against the wall of the dojo. Caius raised his hand and waved as he began to close the distance, his Captain coming into full view.

"Yo."

Takasugi raised his cup as Caius approached. It was about as much politeness as he had in him, but he thought it was the effort that counted. "Nice blade ya have there. Hope the asauchi was to your liking?"

He didn't expect Caius to answer. Not really. Who ever heard of an asauchi failing the hand that held it? Nah. Any failure would be on the part of the shinigami, and he had seen enough failures in his time. "We're on the clock, but yer the boss so ta speak."

The sake had chipped away at whatever facade of refinement the Academy had battered into him, but he didn't think it mattered. Better the brat get to know his captain for who he really was, sans frills. "You even know its name?"

He had been told that Caius had manifested his spirit. His vice captain, or rather one of them as he knew the man would be quick to correct, seemed certain the guy was ready. Ito Asa was rarely proven to be wrong, but eh... there was a first for everything.

As Caius approached his Captain acknowledged, but his demeanor and the way he spoke shocked the man. "I thought Captains had to be a bit refined," He thought before giving his Captain a glance up and down, his thoughts quickly stopping as the captain spoke once more. The more the Captain spoke, the more he felt he was getting lectured, his eyes narrowing before taking a deep breath, soothing whatever anger was beginning to circulate in the pit of his chest. "Be calm, he is just trying to rile you up for the fight" He thought, closing his eyes as he exhaled. "Yes, my blade and I have been acquainted. I am guessing that is why this spar has been requested" His voice tried to stem the anger but a few words would still have a sting of rage to them. "I am ready whenever you are sir"

The kid hid his emotions poorly, that much was true. Takasugi took a sip of his sake and stood up, not bothering to put his socks and sandals back on. "Yer definitely one o' mine with tha' attitude simmerin' under ya skin.'

It didn't bother him. If it were a brat from another division he might have had a few choice words, but Caius was 1st Division and it was only right he were passionate about it all. Being 1st division gave a man a certain amount of grace before the Captain, even if the man himself had little. It was to be almost expected that he'd end up with the pissy wildcards.

"I'd have dragged yer ass here even if yer weren't ready. No good havin' Shikai if ya can't handle a basicass sword. Take it from me, sprat. Took me over 100 years to manage wha' most would in a few years o' solid work. Then again, most don' end up trapped in Hueco Mundo runnin fer their life."

He said it with no real sting but the memory made his fingers twitch around his sake cup. He put it down with a shrug, and turned to face Caius. "Takasugi Masao, 1st Division Captain." It was only polite to introduce oneself, or so his Vice Captains had reminded him. He didn't give Caius chance to respond before continuing. "Tell me about yer release before we begin, or what ya think ya know. Very few shinigami end up knowin' tha' whole story right off tha' bat."  

His eyebrow raised as his Captain mentioned being trapped in Hueco Mundo running for his life. He looked his captain up and down again, this man had been trapped in Hueco Mundo? Why? By whom? Should he ask? His thoughts kept racing until they halted as his captain introduced himself. “Caius Kogami, 1^st Division 12^th Seat” He replied in kind. “My shikai explained what my inner world represented” He began, his eyes removing themselves from the captain and steered off to the left as he recalled the volcanic area he had been surrounded in previously. “She also told me how I could progress with her, so no. I don’t know the whole story” He explained, his eyes returning to the captain. “But, what I know shall suffice for now”

"Good man." Takasugi replied, cracking his neck. "This is a trainin' session so don't be expectin' me to go all out. Best way to get to know yer own blade is to fight against it."

He rummaged around in his shihakusho as he spoke. Pulling his zanpakutou free, he grinned and tossed it several times as he finished his explanation, catching it by the handle, then the sheath over and over again. "You'll prolly adapt to this better than I did, given yer blade is of a more... typical length."

He wasn't kidding. He was often met with a double take whenever he used his zanpakutou, for it resembled more of a knife than anything.

Spoiler

"If ya spend time learning yer own weaknesses, it'll be harder for the enemy to exploit em' and much easier on ye' to learn how to turn em' into strengths. Ye' follow?"

Without waiting for Caius to respond, he threw his sheathed zanpakutou in a casual arc at the man, expecting him to fumble the catch in surprise. He then stepped forwards and drew Caius's blade from his hip without permission. It was a grave taboo to handle the blade of another Shinigami in combat, but Takasugi didn't care much for acceptable conventions.

He brought the blade of Jigoku no Shukufuku swiftly down against Caius's right shoulder, giving him plenty of time to react for the speed he was truly capable of.

He rolled his eyes at the lecture he was being given again on the manner of the training session. He didn’t expect the captain to go all out, or there would be no need to call it training, it would be more like leading a lamb to the slaughter. Although, the next part made Caius’ eyes widen. What did his captain mean by adapting to his knife better, before he could think much more of it, the blade was already in the air, spiraling towards him. Taking this opportunity, Caius reached up, barely grabbing the blade by the hilt as his captain approached, taking Caius blade in return. It had been a mere second before the captain began to assault, bringing Jigoku no Shukufuku down towards him, he turned his body to the left, the blade coming down just narrowly by his side as his body shifted. “What is he doing?” Caius asked himself, although, the answer would have to come later. Caius shifted the blade around, the actual blade held in a reverse grip before he swung it diagonally across, aiming to strike the captain’s side and arm before spinning the blade once more and coming back down in the same manner.

Takasugi ducked the blade by taking a calculated step backwards. With a raised eyebrow, he tapped the palm of his free hand with the back of Caius's blade and pondered the lad's frustration. It wasn't often he took the time to train one of his own, let alone spill a few precious pearls of wisdom, for it wasn't often he actually gave a damn. He took another step back, far enough that he could reach Caius with the tip of his katana. Also far enough that Takasugi's Kijin no Zetsubō was nowhere near enough to reach him. 

"Yer blade gives yer an advantage, but it's as good as crap if yer can' appreciate what it'll do for ye. I don't know what yer deal is kid, and I don' much give a shit. You'll listen to th' words comin' outa my mouth if I have to beat every las' sylable into ya' with yer own damned blade."

With a shocking burst of reiatsu, Takasugi shot forwards with a shunpo that cracked like a gunshot. Despite saying he would be taking it easy, he decided the only real way to get Caius to take him seriously was to demonstrate the gap in power between them. If it didn't work? Well, it wouldn't be the first time he sent a broken subordinate for an extended holiday in the 4th.

He didn't strike Caius with the cutting edge. Instead, he twisted the blade around in his hand and struck diagonally at Caius's chest with the gleaming spine. It wouldn't break anything, but the speed at which he lashed out was the full extent of his abilities condensed into a single moment, and as he moved he felt the air around him shake the very steel of Caius's katana. 

Unfortunately, the Captain had taken a step back to duck past his own blade. The Captain began to spout more nonsense on how the length of his blade gave him an advantage and how he was gonna beat his words into him with his own blade. With a sudden burst of speed, the captain had closed the distance, Caius’ eyes widening as he had no chance to stave off the damage this time and as stuck with the dull end of his blade, he would take a step back, then one more. The steps were slightly staggered as he began to feel the strain on his chest from where he was hit. “If it’s the distance you want,” He said, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the Captain. “Then how’s this?” He spat onto the ground, his hands loosening around the knife, a thin yellow rope-like energy would begin to etch around the hilt of the blade as Caius began to channel his reiatsu through his hands, this being the work of the fourth bakudo spell Hainawa before tossing the blade towards the captain, keeping his hand tight around the rope to recall the blade whether it hit the captain or not.