[Sora Minami]

"Thanks." Sora said, her head still ringing as she took Zaizaen’s offered hand and stood with only the slightest of wobbles. She had thrown a good part of her arsenal at the man, but apart from that first cut there wasn’t a scratch on him- whereas she was beat to all hell after just a few exchanges. It might have been funny if it wasn’t so damn frustrating. She’d grown, trained, fought and clawed for every scrap of strength she had… and it still wasn’t enough.

"Yeah. A scratch. Because that’s a big deal." She murmured, shaking the ringing from her head as she looked to her old Captain and sighed. Zaizen didn’t deserve to take the brunt of her annoyance, not when she was more mad at herself than anything else. Using the Captain as a yardstick oftentimes didn’t work very well, given how strong he was; you could grow by leaps and bounds and it simply wouldn’t matter because of how far above you he stood.

"Thank you, Sourei-taicho. I appreciate your help." Sora said, bowing her head slightly as she sheathed Samidare- she had a good idea on what she needed to improve upon, at the very least.

Sourei Zaizen