Heiji was taken off guard for a moment--he'd been the attacker for a while, so suddenly switching roles meant he had to reboot his system. He just barely leaped away in time to avoid the strike to his arm, and blocking the side attack came a bit too late. Okita's stick tapped his side before he could get the block in place, but it didn't follow through. That was a close one...

He was perfectly positioned for another shove, but Okita would probably be aware of that. Instead, he used his block to protect himself as he ducked under Okita's weapon. As fast as he could manage--hopefully before Okita caught on--he shot his leg out in a sweep kick. Nothing that would completely knock him to the ground--just take one of his legs out from under him.