Whatever Heiji had been expecting to block, it certainly wasn't what happened. The look on Okita's face made Heiji's stomach seize in terror, and suddenly he was seriously defending himself.

Fortunately, the fear that had caused most of his organs to freeze helped Heiji move faster. He quickly blocked the strike to the left, then lashed out wide to the right, knocking the stick away. He winced, realizing that he was starting to lose his discipline. Reeling it back in, he followed close to Okita as he dropped back. He wasn't trying to get a hit in, just trying to get in Okita's face a bit and limit the room he had to work with.