During their sparring session, Hiei slowed himself down to what he thought was about Anaka's speed. Honestly, it felt to him like he was moving in slow motion, but he dealt with it for the sake of getting some training. When Hiei didn't have his speed advantage, the two of them were pretty closely matched. Anaka, physically, was a lot stronger than Hiei had expected. He wasn't necessarily weak, but most of his strength was in his legs, and moving more slowly robbed him of a lot of momentum force.<br/><br/>Several times they would clash blades and just hold the position, forcing against each other. After a few seconds, they would break apart and come at each other again. It was no secret that Anaka was skilled in acrobatic-type things, and she used these several times while they were fighting. One time while this happened, she came close to hitting him. Very close. But he freaked out and used his super speed to dodge. Anaka ranted at him about how he'd said he'd stay at her speed. He apologized briefly and they continued. Hiei got his own near hit in a little later, but Anaka also dodged. In the end, he only got a small lock of her hair.<br/><br/>After about half an hour, they were both looking tired and sweaty and agreed to call it. Hiei sheathed his sword and glanced at Anaka. "Thanks," he managed.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Oh great,</span>Alastor thought to himself.<span style="font-style: italic">We've dropped to single-syllable sentences.</span>