[Flash Back] Sairou vs. Maou Shiden

[Katagami Sairou]

Sairou stood at Squad Three's secret training ground, another man in front of him. Sairou's hair was much longer than he would have in the future, almost reaching half way down his back and tied in a ponytail. He didn't have a captain's haori, as he was a lieutenant at the time. The man in front of him was squad three's captain. The captain was tall and had shoulder-length hair, with half of his face being covered by it. The field was soaked in a small layer of water, but it wasn't from the rain. Apparently, Sairou's captain decided to train by himself before bringing Sairou there to gain Bankai.

"Err... Captain... Am I really supposed to get my Bankai in this spot...?" he asked his superior, reluctant to use his electric-based zanpakutou in the wet field.

"Ha ha ha!! Not to worry Sai-kun! You're at an advantage when there's water on the field, right?" the captain responded in an overconfident tone. Sairou knew the captain meant well as always, but the captain was never really the kind of person to think things through completely.

"Y-yeah... but Shiden would have the same advantage, right? And he's a lot faster than me..." Sairou said with a sigh, as he examined the field for a dry spot, but finding none.

"Just a minor detail, my lieutenant!" the captain replied with another laugh.

"Oh well... I might as well start trying to get Bankai then..." he said, not too excited about the coming battle.

"Alright! Good luck, Sai-kun!" the captain replied before returning to the Seireitei.

Sairou sighed as he sat on the wet ground and set his zanpakutou across his lap. "Let's see... how to bring you out here..." he said, staring intently at his blade.

((----))

"Oi! Shiden! Come out of there!" Sairou called out, holding his sword straight out as he yelled at his spirit to show itself. He'd been trying for about half an hour, but with no luck. He began swinging the blade around to try and get him to come out, but after tiring himself out, he gave up. He then looked around the field, an noticed a decent sized rock. Already irritated with his zanpakutou's stubbornness, he walked up to the rock and began hitting his blade with it.

"Come ooon! Come out already!" he shouted as he swung his sword at the rock in a bored manner. Before he knew it, the zanpakutou began to glow, causing a grin to come over Sairou's face. After a short moment, a bolt of lightning shot out from the blade aimed at Sairou. The Shinigami immediately dropped the blade and ducked, covering his head. "Wh-what the heck!? You can't almost appear just to shoot lightning at me! I could've died!" he shouted, looking to the blade from under his arms.

"Fine! I'll just pull you out from your world then, if that's how you wanna do it." he said as he grabbed the zanpakutou and sat down once more, with the sword across his lap. He set his hands on his knees and closed his eyes before entering his inner world.

[Katagami Sairou]

Sairou entered his inner world, ending up in a small clearing surrounded by an infinitely large bamboo forest. The sky above him was dark, as lightning was flashing in the sky. "Alright, Shiden, I need to get Bankai, so either you go with me, or I force you out." he said, holding his zanpakutou in front of him.

"Really? You've never been this enthusiastic about anything before, you know." a voice said as the glowing yellow eyes of his zanpakutou appeared within the bamboo forest. A large purple and black-furred wolf stepped out into the clearing before laying on the ground and yawning. "I'm tired right now though, so maybe we can try it tomorrow."

"Come on! I can't become a captain unless I learn Bankai first!" the Shinigami said, as he grabbed the giant wolf around its neck and tried to pull him up from the ground, but instead was flipped over when the wolf moved his head to the side.

"You want Bankai pretty bad huh?" Shiden said with a yawn as he stood up and walked to Sairou, who was laying on the ground face-up. "It's not gonna be easy you know." the wolf said with a sigh. "But you're not gonna give up, are you?"

"Of course not! The captain's planning to retire so he can put his attention to his sushi restaurant, so I need to gain Bankai ans get strong enough to replace him!" Sairou said as he quickly stood up.

"Fine then... I guess I can help you out then." Shiden said with another yawn. "I'll be out there after you." he said, as he walked back into the forest.

"Alright! I'll see you there then!" Sairou said with a grin as he returned to the training ground.

[Katagami Sairou]

As Sairou returned to Soul Society, he saw a black face with glowing yellow eyes staring back at him. "Shiden!" he said with a grin as he went to pat the wolf on the head. The wolf responded with a jump backwards, before Sairou could touch his fur.

"Hmph... I said I'd help you out, but I'm not really feeling it much anymore..." the spirit said as it curled up and closed its eyes.

"H-hey! You can't just go back on your word like that!" Sairou shouted to the black and purple wolf, standing up.

Shiden opened one of his eyes to look at his master and then let out a laugh. "You're one to talk. You don't finish the work given to you by your captain. You just slyly pass it off to the other squad members. Tell me why I should do any different? You're my master, and I should learn how to act from you, right?" he said with smirk as he stabbed at Sairou's habits.

Sairou stood still for a moment at his zanpakutou's words. "Fine. You win. If you think I'm not good enough to reach Bankai, then I'll just have to prove that you're wrong!" he said as drew his sword. Shiden's ears perked up at his words and then the wolf stood on it's feet with a smirk.

"Yes, prove me wrong then." he said, waiting for Sairou to move. "But you'll never be able to catch me." the spirit said, before laughing.

"Heh. We'll see about that!" Sairou called out as he charged towards the wolf, ready to slash, but by the time he reached the spot, Shiden had already moved back quite a bit. "That's not fair, running like that!" he yelled, as he used shunpo to move behind the wolf to try and get a surprise hit in, but by the time he appeared, the wolf was gone again, and nowhere in sight.

"Too slow, Sairou." a voice said from behind the Shinigami as the wolf thrusted his two back legs into Sairou's back, sending him flying a few feet forward.

"Hey! That was a dirty trick! I thought you were just gonna do-woah!" he began, as he was cut off by a flying ball of electricity, barely managing to dodge. "I'm trying to talk here!" he said, angrily waving his sword in front of him. "Whatever. I'm still gonna win this!" he shouted enthusiastically as he charged at Shiden.

"Oh? I didn't know you could move this much in one day." the wolf said as he mocked his master. As Sairou came closer, Shiden shot another ball of electricity, which Sairou dodged with a Shunpo; appearing behind Shiden again. "Getting better." the wolf said as Sairou's blade came close to the wolf, who ducked down and took off before Sairou could get another strike in. "Still too slow though." he said with a smile as he awaited Sairou's next move.

[Katagami Sairou]

"I've had enough of this running around!" Sairou said, charging at Shiden once more.

"The same trick again, Sairou?" the wolf asked, sending multiple balls of electricity at the shinigami, who once again used Shunpo to appear behind the wolf. Shiden anticipated the movements, and send a volley of electricity behind him as soon as Sairou appeared.

"Bakudo 81, Danku!" the shinigami called out before quickly moving outside of the barrier before it broke from the attacks. "Bakudo 62, Haypporankan!" he called out as a rod of energy formed in his hands and he threw it at his zanpakutou spirit. "Dodge that!" he taunted, with a grin. The wolf jumped out of the way, coming close to dodging the kido, however his tail was pinned by a few rods.

"Looks like you can actually fight when you feel like it." the wolf said, before letting out a sigh. "You win. I'll train you to use your bankai." the wolf said, as the bakudo disappeared, freeing his tail.

"Yes!! Alright then! How do I get started?" Sairou responded enthusiastically. Shiden simply sat down and smirked.

"Beat me in a fight." the wolf said with a laugh, before he was enveloped in purple electricity. Once the electricity had faded, a human form of the wolf stood, his hands covered by the zanpakutou's Shikai form.

Sairou stood with his mouth open, having never seen his zanpakutou in that form. Before he realized it, Shiden was directly in front of him, aiming a punch to the shinigami's gut. Sairou bent backwards almost 90 degrees, dodging the punch, before using shunpo to gain distance. "You know, a warning would be nice next time!" he shouted out, before moving his blade in front of him, pointing the tip towards Shiden. "Flash, Shiden!" he called out, as his own sword transformed.

As soon as the transformation was over, Shiden had appeared behind him, sending a lightning-infused punch at the shinigami, who guarded the technique with his own weapon. A volley of strikes and dodges occurred, before Shiden gt a hit in, sending a kick into Sairou's side and sending him a few feet away. "Well, at least you aren't getting rusty from lazing about." the zanpakutou said with a smirk, before sending a beam of electricity at the shinigami.

"Crap." Sairou said, before countering with the same technique. "You're gonna kill me if you keep this up, you know!" he called out as an explosion occurred, sending the two of them a few feet backwards.

"If you die, then it just means you weren't trying hard enough and don't deserve my bankai." Shiden responded, as he got up from the blast. "It's time to get this started though..." he said, stretching his arms, before taking a fighting stance. "Bankai." he said, as a large amount of reiatsu erupted from the spirit, causing him to take the form of his bankai self. His hair had increased in length and become white, except for the purple-colored tips, and on his arms were larger versions of his shikai weapons. "Well, let's see how it goes from here." he said with a smirk as he charged at Sairou.

"W-Woah! Wait a minute! That's not fair!!" the shinigami called out as his spirit charged forwards, his weapon charged with electricity. As Shiden drew closer, a large beam of electricity shot out from his weapon at Sairou, who was barely able to get away. "I'm really gonna die if I don't really try to beat him..." he said to himself, as he used shunpo to dodge the multiple beams of electricity that were fired at him.