Cliff-side Kido (Group: Hikari, Akimoto [Closed])

There was a sudden movement on the tops of the trees, a branch snapped out of place and then whipped back to place, leaving a “poof” of leaves. Two hundred feet further another disturbance on the treetops happened again. To an untrained eye these snaps would like some miniature explosion on the treetops and they happened quickly together, but it wasn’t anything like that at all. A small Shinigami in a blue kimono and white Haori, whipping over her shoulders, was using a technique called Shun-po to get to her destination. She was running behind, but the satchel slung over one shoulder carried an essential set of items for today.

Hikari could see the cliff up ahead; she would reach it in the next flash step. Quickly she planted her foot on the wall of the cliff and redirected herself to where she was now running vertically. Because of the mission she had just gotten off of, she was heading to Aki-chan’s “secret” place from the north and normally she would be so late either. With another quick couple of flash-steps she scaled the wall to the top. Aki-chan was waiting at the edge, looking outward, the little girl shot up past his face. Focusing her reiryoku in her feet she did a little flip and stopped so she was standing upside down right in front of Aki-chan’s face. With a quick kiss on his nose she flipped back so that she was facing, the way normal people stood, behind her boyfriend.

”Sorry I am late, had to pick this up, then on my way I got a hell butterfly sent to me. There was a nasty Hollow that had penetrated the soul society up north of here. Stupid thing took out sixteen Shinigami, so I had to take care of it.” Hikari spoke like this was nothing. Of course to her it wasn’t and her unblemished clothing, well except the Haori she wore, spoke volumes to this truth. Hikari hadn’t even broken a sweat over killing this hollow. Yes, this little Shinigami was by far the strongest Female Shinigami in the whole Soul Society. ”Okay Aki-chan, we are going to go ahead and work on a few more Hado today. Let’s go with Hado # 4 Byakurai. You should have mastered this level of Hado by now, but you don’t have any practice with moving targets and more importantly targets with a higher spiritual density, like other Shinigami, Hollows, and Arrancar.”

Hikari pulled out a sizable amount of tea saucer sized disks from her satchel. ”I had the 4th division cook these up for me. The yellow ones are the strength of Hollows, the green ones Arrancar, and the red ones Lieutenant level Shinigami. We are going to start today off with the yellow ones.” Hikari said all of this quite too casually for some. She had just basically told her student that he would be eventually training his Kido to use against other Shinigami and it didn’t bother her in the least, at least it sounded like that. It wasn’t a hidden fact that Hikari had killed a Shinigami before, but she still didn’t like having to kill anyone. Soon there would be a chance that the both of them would though and that is why Hikari was showing him how to kill and to kill effectively.

Handing Aki-chan a yellow disc, Hikari told him to fling it over the cliff like a Frisbee. The disc was launched out into the air and Hikari pointed at it with her index finger. ”Hado #4 Byakurai!” The white lightning ray launched itself at the disc quickly. With a loud crack the disc vaporized. Giving Aki-chan a walk-through on the theory-craft behind getting more power into the spell, she grabbed the discs and was ready to start chucking the discs into the air. Hikari needed to get Aki-chan perfect in Kido quickly so she didn’t have to worry about his safety and so that they could have more time together doing what a boyfriend girlfriend combo should be doing.

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Words; 678
GP: 13
Total GP: 13

The cute little Shinigami had planted a kiss on the nose of Aki before he knew that she was there. He laughed to himself due to his lack of perception. One day, it'd bite him in the ass. His teacher began explaining why she was late, and made the entire situation seem effortless. Akimoto understood that it was, as her blue kimono didn't even have a scuff on it. Whatever it was that she had killed, it stood no chance.

As she spoke, she took out a bunch of what appeared to be tea saucers out of her satchel. Hikari told the young man of how the 4th division had created these, and that the color determined the strength of the disk. Taking a yellow one, apparently the weakest, she asked him to throw it so she could demonstrate. Giving the disk a good hurl, he watched as the petite captain fired a Byakurai that vaporized the disk almost instantaneously. Then the girl grabbed a handful of them, giving a brief walk-through of the craft of Kidō as she did. Asking him to try out the 4th Hadō, she launched the first disk. As it sailed out over the edge of the cliff, Akimoto's mind thought quickly about what to do. He could do as she asked, or show her that he was further along than she gave him credit for. Opting for the second one, he silently nodded to himself.

Holding his right hand out, two fingers outstretched, Aki said calmly, “Hadō 31. Shakkahō.” An orb of red energy bloomed from his fingertips, firing at the disk with pin-point accuracy. As the blast engulfed the little disk, it tore it apart. The yellow training saucer was nothing more than a wisp off ash. The young man motioned for more disks to be thrown, and as the captain launched more, first one, then multiples at a time, Aki shot them down. “Shakkahō! Shakkahō! Byakurai!” The words rang out over the cliff as every little disk thrown was terminated mid-flight.

Looking at his girlfriend, he paused to say, “By the way, you are very pretty today,” then looking back at the last saucer thrown, he said, “Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shōnetsu to sōran, umihedate sakamaki minami e to ho o susume yo! Hadō 31, Shakkahō!" One last red orb formed at his fingertips, but this one was much smaller. As it fired, it neatly pierced a hole right through the center of the target, then continued sailing of into the sky. The disk burned from the hole made by the Kidō, eventually disintegrating all the way to the outer rim.

Turning back to Hikari, he smiled warmly and inquired, “Well, what is the next step?”


Word Count: 469
GP: 9 (19)
Total: 19

Hikari didn’t know that her boyfriend was all ready well versed in Kido, let alone being able to throw a Hado 31 around like it was nothing at all. Smiling at him she decided it was now time to show him the difference between a Hollow and a Shinigami or Arrancar. This one wouldn’t be so easy this time. In fact she was sure that at his level he would barely put a dent into one of the Green or Red discs.

“By the way, you are very pretty today,”

Even though she didn’t blush that much anymore when he paid her compliments of this type, this one was the first one she had heard in a few days. Turning slightly pink she nodded her head and then watched him do a Hado #31 with full incantation. This one made a small hole in the center of the disc and then burned it to its outer edges. This was well executed and the same idea would have to be used in order to destroy the next set of discs.

”Good job, you have successfully killed all of the hollow discs, but now we step it up. I want to make you aware of one thing…” Hikari spouted the words off in her absolute tone, one that let people know that there would not be any deviation from the topic at hand. ”These discs are much stronger. Take this seriously and use Hado #4, you will be able to maximize your Spiritual Pressure in that low of a spell, even without the incantation.” As Hikari walked back to the bag she spoke to Aki-chan once more.

”Oh and by the way, you look very handsome today.” Hikari had to say it with her back turned to him. This little timid girl was still trying to get used to being “mushy” with her boyfriend. Hikari was much better at battle than love and she knew it, but this didn’t stop her from expressing her feelings, even if they were delivered awkwardly and quietly.

Letting the blood return to its normal distribution she stood up with a handful of the discs, which signified Aki-chan would now be shooting at Shinigami. Walking up next to him she took Aki-chan’s hand a squeezed it briefly, just to show him that she would much rather be enjoying his company more than what they were doing right now. They hadn’t gone on any dates lately, but then again the both of them didn’t have time for dates either. Hikari needed to desperately teach him and get him stronger so Aki-chan would be able to defend himself, and live. That is why she sacrificed her time with him, she wanted him to live. ”I need you to do this Aki-chan, you need to live okay?” The statement was said under her breath and more to herself than to Aki-chan, but she still had to say it.

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Word: 488
GP: 9
Total GP: 22

Hikari put on her most serious tone and told Akimoto that he did well, but the disks he was going to firing at were much tougher. She instructed him to use Hadō number 4, as he would be able to put all his spiritual pressure into it. He would need to. The strength of the disk was now at the level of a lieutenant Shinigami. He would need to focus and try like hell to destroy these ones. As he put his serious face on, preparing himself for the training he needed, Hikari shot him a compliment back.

”Oh and by the way, you look very handsome today.”

Akimoto didn't quite know what to do. That was the first time she had gone out of her way to give him a compliment. Slowly, but surely, the blood crept up into his face, giving it a nice red tinge. She didn't seem to pay any attention to the comment, her face only a light shade of pink in comparison. It looked like she wasn't being affected as much by the nuances of being romantically involved anymore. He would have to try harder...

The petitie captain stood up, a nice handful of the disks in her hand. Before she began throwing them, she walked over and gave his hand a squeeze. The look on her face was one of worry, and that nearly broke Akimoto's heart. He didn't want to see the girl fret over anything, let alone him. Almost too quiet for him to hear, Hika muttered under her breath, ”I need you to do this Aki-chan, you need to live okay?” That was when it all made sense. Her worry, the training...it wasn't so he could help her, it was so he could live. She cared about him enough that she was sacrificing the time she could potentially be using to be romantic with him to train him so that he could survive the coming storm.

His body filling with resolve, Akimoto allowed his spiritual pressure to let loose a bit. The sudden spike refreshed him, as he was used to concealing it. The other students usually were nowhere near him in spirit, instead beating him in strength. There was no way he would allow himself to die. Not now. Not ever. He would be there for Hikari during the war and after it as well. If it meant busting his ass and sacrificing his time, then he would do so. Focusing his reiatsu around his index and middle fingers on his right hand, he looked at Hikari and said, “I'm ready...begin when you're prepared.”

The captain gave the first disk a good heft, sending it sailing out over the end of the cliff. Aiming his shot just in front of the disk, the young student spoke, “Hadō Number 4! Byakurai!” The white ray of energy left his fingertips at blinding speed, making direct contact with the disk. As the smoke cleared, the disk simply continued to sail away, its flight path altered severely, but no damage done. Without looking at the young woman next to him, Aki simply said, his voice full of determination, “Again.”

Disk after disk sailed past him. Disk after disk becoming the target of a Byakurai. Every one that the captain threw took a little more damage than the last, until eventually, one of the Hadōs took a small chunk out of the side of one them. Not even a smile hit Aki's face. Without waiting for any sort of reaction, he simply said, “Again.”

More disks flew away, each of them getting blasted by the white rays. Feeling something wet on his foot, the golden-haired youth looked down finally to see that there was now blood dripping from his fingers. He was nearly gasping for air, his body struggling to keep up with the pace he had set for himself. Hikari began to speak, her voice so tender and sweet, but she was cut off by the word, “Again.”

The barrage of little disks continued over the end of the cliff until finally, Hikari told him that she was on the last one. Nodding slightly, Aki motioned for it to be thrown. No sooner had the target been thrown, than did the young man begin reciting the incantation for Byakurai. He recited it calmly, with massive amounts of concentration. As he reached the end he let all his emotion out, his feelings for Hikari, his fear of losing her, his resolve to live...

“HADŌ NUMBER 4!! BYAKURAI!!”


Word Count: 761
GP: 15 (30)
Total: 34

The disc kept of being thrown, Aki-chan’s determination never wielding. His body was getting exhausted and he was starting to bleed from his finger. Hikari needed him to do this, but not at the extent of his own safety. ”Aki-chan. Let’s---“ Hikari was cut short of her sentence with a determined “Again”. This girl had asked him to do this and she was making him become stronger, not the normal natural way, but through tedious training and forcing his Reiryoku to grow faster. This would be both of their consequences. The tears that formed in her eyes blurred her vision, but she continued to throw the discs out into the distance.

”Aki-chan this is the last one.” Aki-chan nodded in acknowledgement and Hikari let the last one fly. Aki-chan recited the whole incantation of the spell and let the demon magic fly. He was too weak right now to try that, but Hikari wouldn’t stop him from letting him try at least.

The spell hit that disc dead on and the spell erupted and crackled the air around it. The full incantation had made the spell more powerful, but because of the weakened state of Aki-chan the disc only cracked. Hikari looked up at the man she cared for so much, his eyes were glazed over and it looked as if he had passed out from over exertion. Hikari smiled gently, knowing that even in this man’s unconscious state he stood there in determination. He would refuse to give up and that was one of his best qualities.

Hikari picked him up in her arms and carried him over to a tree so he could rest a little more comfortably. Hikari was glad that he was unconscious, she never wanted him to view her as a monstrously strong woman, and she wanted to remain being the little girl that Hikari hoped Aki-chan viewed her as. The Demon Captain vowed to protect this man from anything that ever tried to hurt him and if that meant pushing him even though it was hurting her, she would.

Hikari waited by Aki-chan side and did some light patching to his hand. She had also procured a vial of medicine that helped one’s soul chain and soul link recover at an amazing speed. Putting the potion in her mouth, Hikari force fed Aki-chan the drink as he slept. He coughed gently and then went back to his slumber. They still had more hours of day light before Hikari would call it a day. She removed herself from Aki-chan’s side and started to retrieve all of the discs once more. Most of them were still intact and unfortunately most of them could be used again.

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Words: 451
GP: 9
Total GP: 31

Opening his eyes slowly, Aki couldn't see anything. His vision was blurry from sleep, and after a couple of blinks, it was beginning to clear up. Looking around as his senses returned, he realized that he was leaning up against a tree. How he got there was beyond him entirely. His finger was patched up a bit, but had obviously been bleeding for some reason. He opened his mouth to speak, but found his voice to be hoarse and rough. Focing the words through the pain, he called out, “Hika-chan? Where are you, love?” Finding no answer, Aki slowly worked himself up to his feet. He walked over to the cliff, only to find a pile of red disks and a satchel. Memories flooded back into his mind about the training. He vaguely remembered firing a Byakurai with a full incantation, but could not recall the result. Again looking around briefly for Hikari, and again finding nothing, Akimoto decided that his training would not wait for her. He needed to train so he could live; waiting for her would simply waste time.

Grabbing one of the disks, he gave it a solid throw over the cliff. Firing a solid feeling Byakurai, he was sorely disappointed when all it did was veer the disk off course. Throwing another, Aki made sure his aim was accurate. This shot making a direct hit, and crating the same result, he decided it must be the power of the Kidō. Giving another disk a solid throw, he fired a full incantation Byakurai. This time a small chip popped off the side of the disk. Aki swore aloud. That was nowhere near the power he would need to survive. He needed more training. More disks. More power.

Again and again the student threw the little red disks, and time after time his white ray of energy simply pushed or chipped the target. Slowly, he was getting frustrated, and he noticed that the bindings on his fingertips had been burnt away, his fingers bleeding anew. Aki refused to stop for a little blood. Hurling a disk as hard as he could, the golden-haired youth decided to give more than he had available to him. An elder student had tried teaching him a fairly advanced Hadō, only a couple numbers above Shakkahō in level, but far more destructive. Giving it everything he had, and a bit more, Akimoto yelled the incantation, "Kunrinsha yo! Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Shinri to sessei, tsumi shirame yume no kabe ni wazuka ni tsume o tate yo! Hadō, 33! Sōkatsui!!”

From his outstretched hand, an enormous beam of blue spiritual energy ripped towards the disk. Akimoto could feel not only his hand burning, but his arm, and a good portion of his chest, too. The beam hit the disk with pinpoint accuracy, although Aki could not determine the results of the blast. As soon as the beam made contact, he lost his footing, the torrents of energy too much for him to handle. The wave threw him backwards like a rag-doll, sending him careening into a tree. Hitting his head hard, he suddenly felt very dizzy. As he lay there, Aki could feel the presence of a warm liquid on his neck and back. Ignoring it for now, he stood back up, albeit with much difficulty. Walking back to the satchel, he picked up another disk. Before he could throw it, however, he heard the sounds of someone approaching from behind him.


Word Count: 588
GP: 12 (18)
Total: 46

As Hikari gathered up discs she saw the starting of more Hado #4’s being shot off of the cliff top. A smile found her mouth. Aki-chan was back up, and training yet again. She was glad that he had done it on his own initiative. As the discs kept on flying, she would retrieve them, unfortunately they were starting to get even less damaged as the training went forward. Hikari could tell that this wasn’t due to exertion, but frustration. It was time to teach Aki-chan the next lesson and show him how to accomplish what he needed to do in order to shatter these discs.

As she started to head to the cliff, the sky lit up in a brilliant blue. It was a Sokatsui. This was one of Hikari’s favorite spells and one too advanced for Aki-chan. If he did it wrong he would only injure himself in its wake. With a quick flash-step she cleared the multiple hundred feet incline in one jump. She didn’t want to see Aki-chan there with an arm missing that would be totally counterproductive and stupid. As she reached the top Hikari saw him get to his feet, the spell had knocked him backwards twenty or so feet. The back of his head was bleeding and he looked wobbly from the hit to the head. When Hikari saw him head to the cliff to continue, her blood had reached the point of boiling. She needed to give him another lesson.

”Bakudo #1 Sai!” The command bound Aki-chan’s arms behind him, and forced him to the ground in a kneeling position. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about him trying anything stupid. ”Hado #33? And you thought you could control that? Akimoto Nakamura! You are one huge fuckin idiot! Do you think you will become stronger just by trying out new hado’s that you have never done before? Have you even thought of why I am making you use Hado #4? I guess not, so let me tell you then. It is because you lack the control needed to cast the spells at higher levels and effectively cast them to maximize its damage or holding potential. Even this Bakudo #1, yeah Number one would be very hard to break, even for me. Do you know why? It is because I have the control to make this simple Bakudo just as strong as a high level spell of the same type.” Hikari was hurting inside, she had pushed him a bit too far and it was her fault, but he had done something that was too dangerous and not smart, all of that because he wanted to become stronger for her. Kneeling down next to him she softened her tone of voice.

”Aki-chan I am doing this so you can live, but I don’t want you to kill yourself by pushing too hard. Frustration isn’t going to make your spells become stronger. These spells come from focusing your energy into one spot, and I don’t think you have been focusing on the right spot. The next spell you cast I need you to visualize the spell growing from the center of your mass, gaining power as it reaches your finger. Keep on letting the power grow until it reaches your target, then let the spell explode with all of the energy you have put into it. We will get to the higher Kido in a bit, and soon you will be the one who will be the master, not me. Until then don’t do anything without my consent first.” Hikari was pleading with this man now; she didn’t want him to endanger himself anymore.

While he was still bound she treated his wounds and placed another vial of liquid in front of him and telling him to drink it. Reaching to her side she hugged him from behind and showed him that she cared for him greatly. With a flick of her finger she released him from the bakudo.

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Words: 665
GP: 13
Total GP: 44

With no resistance whatsoever, Akimoto's arms snapped behind his back. He recognized the spell as Bakudō number 1. Hikari immediately began to lecture him about how frustration got him nowhere. The anger in her voice was covering up a tremendous amount of sadness. As she spoke, tears began to flow down his face. He had pulled an idiotic move, and she was hurting because of it. Her lecture over, she knelt down next to him, her voice much sweeter now. She began instructing and pleading with him simultaneously. The young girl told him about visualizing the Hadō, how to let the energy build as opposed to trying to force it. Aki understood her words, and vowed silently to give it his all to learn this way. While he was still bound, the girl treated his wounds, and gave him a strange liquid to drink. The liquid was cool and surprisingly refreshing. Her touch was soft and caring as she patched him up again, hiding all the strength that she possessed.

Hikari then gave the young man a hug from behind. Aki strained with all his might to turn and hug her back, wanting nothing more than to give her an embrace of his own. The restraints were cut loose by the captain, and in a flurry of singed kimono and flesh, the golden-haired youth whipped around, grabbing Hika like she was nothing more than a small child. He lifted her up off the ground in a hug that was overflowing with emotion. The tears were still streaming down his face as he softly whispered, “I'm sorry...”

Letting her back down to the ground, Aki took a step or two backwards and said, “I know, I know... Baka...” as he softly punched himself in the stomach, letting a sheepish smile escape. Turning back to the disks, he motioned for the girl to throw one. Already he was building the energy, feeling it in his heart. He formed the Hadō slowly, feeling it creep along his arm and into his fingertips. As the little disk tore across the sky, he quietly said, “Hadō 4, Byakurai.” The white ray of lightning fired forth from his index finger with nearly double the speed it had the previous attempts. The beam was much thinner than all the other shots, but was much brighter and far more intense. As it hit the disk perfectly in the center, there was a solid sound of an explosion, followed by a cloud of smoke. Akimoto waited for the smoke to clear to hear Hikari's view on his performance, hoping that at least a small improvement had been made.


Word Count: 442
GP: 9 (10)
Total: 55

The disc was thrown just like normal; the incantation was said with a calm clarity. This time Hikari felt something that was lacking before. The hairs on the back of her neck started to tingle and she could feel the power of the kido grow as Aki-chan beckoned its power. “Hado #4 Byakurai”, the lightning strike sprang from his finger this time it was more solid and it had a power that it lacked previously. Aki-chan had been able to focus his power just a bit more and the power behind this spell was much more formidable.

There was a small clash and a poof of smoke as the spell had hit the disc. With a bit more practice a cracking sound would replace the small explosion that he had caused, but what Aki-chan had done was enough to break the plate into five smaller pieces. The shattered pieces flew to the ground leaving thin smoke trails in their wake. Hikari smiled and gave Aki-chan a soft pat on the back; he had accomplished what took her five years in just a few days. ”I wasn’t able to produce that type of power until my fifth year in the Academy. You sure have a talent with the Demon Arts, one that will hopefully make up for the total lack of skill you have with your sword.” Hikari didn’t speak those last words to insult him, but as always she showed her lack of elegance and tact in her words. Hikari didn’t fault Aki-chan for his lack of talent with the sword; he would become efficient enough with it over time. In fact Hikari knew that it would take time, she was never proficient or even considered a prodigy with anything she had done. Her skills were earned by many hours and days of practice. The same hell she put herself through, in order to become exceptional, and would be the same hell Hikari would put Aki-chan through.

”I am going to be throwing these out in five second intervals. Destroy each of them. Keep the same intensity that you showed me, but let me warn you. Doing this will take more spiritual energy and will cause you to get tired faster. When I see you getting to that point we will rest for ten minutes. In those ten minutes you will meditate and start refilling your spiritual pressure. Once that is done we start again. We will not stop until you either pass out, or you cannot stand anymore.” Hikari picked up a large bunch of discs then threw the first one, then a second, then a third. They would do this all night if Aki-chan had the power to do so.

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Words: 450
GP: 9
Total GP: 53

Watching the smoke clear, Akimoto noticed that the disk had fractured into five pieces, each of which were falling towards the ground with a trail of smoke behind them. The young man smiled, as he knew that the shot he fired was a lot better than any of his previous attempts. It felt a lot better, too. The blast wasn't as harsh on him as the others had been. The bandages on his fingertips weren't even touched that much. Sure, they were a tad singed, but the fact remained that they were still on, and not burned away. It was a good, clean blast, and Aki was proud of himself. A soft pat on the back was felt, and a awkward congratulations was heard. In telling him he was doing a good job, the small captain also somewhat insulted his swordsmanship. Aki simply laughed that fact away as her not exactly being the best talker. She probably didn't mean to insult him, so the man ignored it.

The young girl then told him that she would be throwing the disks at five second intervals. Five seconds was almost the exact time he needed to fire a solid Byakurai like the last one. She intended to wear him down one disk at a time. Once he was drained, she would make him meditate, then repeat. Without hesitation, she began picking up the disks, forming a large pile in her arms. The golden-haired youth calmed his mind and began building the first of many, many Hadōs. As a disk flew past him, he took aim, letting the energy flow through him, and fired the first shot. The Byakurai launched out from him, striking down the first disk quickly. No sooner had the smoke cleared from the first shot, than did a second disk zip out in front of him. As that one was shot down, a third replaced it, then a fourth. The student's mind could think of nothing but the Kidō he was using, and soon sweat formed on his brow. A few more Kidōs, and the bandages had burned off his fingers. A couple more after that, and he could barely stand. Aki's breathing was ragged, coming in bursts. He was getting exhausted, but he knew the importance of what he was doing. He would wait for the petite captain to give the word to meditate. Again and again, the white ray fired from his fingertips. Disk after disk was shot down, fractured into four or five pieces.

Finally, Hikari stopped him, sitting him down and telling him to meditate. Aki sat cross-legged on the cool grass, simply focusing on his breathing. He briefly closed his eyes, letting the cool breeze rush over him. When he opened them, however, he found himself in a place far more different from the one he had just left. The clearing he was in was much smaller, and there was no cliff. It sky above was dark, and he was surrounded by giant trees. Had he passed out again? Did Hikari move him somewhere? Standing up slowly, the young man called out to the forest, “Hello? Is anyone there?” A familiar voice echoed slowly through the dark trees, answering him. The voice was that of a small girl, much younger than the one he was expecting to hear. “Oniisan? I'm over here...”

Looking to where the voice seemed to be coming from, he spotted a set of stairs leading up into the woods. That must be where the girl is. Walking up the stairs, Akimot called out again, “I know your voice Masshirona, where are you hiding?” With no response, the young man simply trudged up the stairs at a faster rate. Hours seemed to pass, with him doing nothing but walking up stairs. Eventually he reached the top of the climb, and as he made that last step, the student realized he was entering the same clearing he had arrived in. In front of him, he spotted the beginning of the staircase. Quickly he spun around, but behind him, there were no stairs to be found. Thoroughly confused, he decided to avoid the stairs and try to make his own path through the trees.

Climbing over the logs and ducking under the tree limbs, Aki made his way through the forest. The progress was slow, but he felt as though he was on the right track. Several hours more passed, and he was beginning to get disheartened. He had reached his Inner World, but had no idea what he was doing here, let alone where he was in it. Stepping over a rather large log, he found himself in a darker version of the cliff-side clearing he was at with Hikari when he closed his eyes. In the middle of the opening sat a ghostly, white fox with multiple tails. Pointing a shaky finger at the entity, the golden-haired youth asked, “A-are you Masshirona?” Saying nothing, the fox simply nodded its head as a thick fog settled into the clearing. Aki yawned loudly. When did he get so tired? Sitting back down on the grass, he crossed his legs, and decided that he would talk to the fox a bit more. Closing his eyes briefly, the young man was surprised when he opened them to find, not the fox, but the face of Hikari.

Word Count: 895
GP: 18 (5)
Total: 72

Not long into Aki-chan’s meditation; Hikari noticed a familiar look on his face. He had gone into his inner world. She had chosen right in making him work this hard. In his inner world he would be able to recuperate and gain the strength needed to continue. Hopefully the ten minutes she had told him to meditate would be long enough for him to do what he needed to do in there. She knew that it would most likely be hours inside there, but everyone’s time moved differently.

The ten minutes was almost over and Aki-chan looked more asleep than meditating but as she was ready to nudge him and wake him up, his body started to produce a strong reiatsu. The level was almost on par with hers. With a smile on her face that was all the confirmation she needed. He had just met her Zanpakutou spirit. Maybe for the first time, maybe not, but this was the event Hikari was hoping for. Very soon, maybe after then next meditation, Hikari would be able to introduce the next step in performing stronger Kido.

Without even noticing it, she hadn’t moved away from Aki-chan’s face. His large blue eyes opened and gazed at her. It must have been a surprise for both parties, since they both retracted a bit. Hikari stood straight and walked over to the bag once again. She wouldn’t show Aki-chan the flushed face, it wasn’t time for pleasantries yet. ”Assume your stance again Aki-chan. We still have hundreds of discs to go before this day’s lessons are over. Again five second intervals, you should be recharged enough your Zanpakutou is strong so I won’t let you get away with any less than fifteen to twenty discs this time.” Hikari retracted her arm and let one fly. This was more of a tactic to get him watching the disc and not her. Even though she wanted to let him see her, she couldn’t right now.

It was amazing to see Aki-chan complete these spells with more relative ease. Hikari was slightly jealous at his Zanpakutou’s willingness to lend her power to him. ”I helped to you know, no need to get yer panties all up in a bunch.” Sasanoha sounded a bit more agitated than usual. He had been that way for a while now. He was more willing to get violent than give her kind words or insults out of jest. ”Shush Sas, you weren’t always that nice to me, but I know you did it for good reason. Just let it be.” Hikari said in her mind with a bit of frustration. No words of an apology or anything came back. Soon Hikari would have to go into her inner world and see what was going on, but that was for another day.

At disc ten Hikari decided to switch things up a bit more. ”This next disc do Hado #8 Ryūguchi.” This spell wasn’t used much due to the complicated incantation, but he needed to jump up a level or four. This spell was shot out of the palm of the hand, much like Byakurai it was lightning based, but this spell was a dark blue-ish black and upon impact the spell would engulf the target attempt to consume it, thus giving it the name of “Dragon’s Bite”

____________
Words: 555
GP: 11
Total GP: 54

His eyes now open, and the young girl now gathering more disks, he thought about what had just occurred. Hikari was wearing him down so that he could go into his Inner World, and she succeeded. The captain knew what she was doing, that was for sure. Akimoto simply wished that he could have talked to the kitsune a little bit longer. There was so much he wanted to ask, and he didn't have enough time in his Inner World to ask anything. Another round of disks would probably land him back in that dark forest. Hikari was helping him a lot more than he originally anticipated.

”Assume your stance again Aki-chan. We still have hundreds of discs to go before this day’s lessons are over. Again five second intervals, you should be recharged enough your Zanpakutou is strong so I won’t let you get away with any less than fifteen to twenty discs this time.” The petite captain seemed to be making it a point to not show here face, and Aki wondered why. Then again, he wasn't sure why she was that close to his face when he woke up either. In any event, the young man lifted himself off the ground and moved over to where he was stationed earlier. ”This next disc do Hado #8 Ryūguchi.” That was a Kidō that Akimoto had barely heard of before. He had practiced it a bit on his own, but he was not sure if he was preforming it correctly or not. Only one way to find out, he would have to give it his all.

As the young lady launched a disk into the air, Aki focused the energy from his core, letting it grow towards his palm. He aimed at the little disk, and yelled out, “Hadō 8! Ryūguchi!” The spirit energy burst forth from his hand, rapidly crossing the air in between him and his target. The lightning was very dark blue, almost black, and it zipped through the sky like a snake, curving around erratically. Akimoto was worried he had misfired as the ray shot past the disk on the right side, but then it curved back, hitting the disk from the front-right side. The Kidō had actually circled around the edge of the target and came back to hit it? Had he said the incantation correctly? Unsure of what had just happened, he prepared to fire another. As the next disk launched outwards, he fired again, with nearly the same result. The Kidō arced under the disk, circling up to hit it from the front.

Hikari continued firing the red contraptions, and Akimoto launched Kidōs from his palm until he finally collapsed to one knee. Looking up at the young girl, he noticed that she hadn't stopped throwing the disks yet. Firing another Hadō number 8, he felt himself sliding towards the ground, and nothing he could do would stop it. A solid thud was heard as his body hit the ground, beyond that, he had no clue what happened. He was out cold.

Word Count: 513
GP: 10 (18)
Total: 82

The jump in Hado strength had whittled him down considerably faster this time. He reached the goal of twenty discs and the last one he destroyed while slipping into unconsciousness. Hikari smiled at that last attack and knew that he was growing alarmingly fast. She couldn’t let him sleep though. He had to return back to his inner world and receive more guidance from his Zanpakutou. She was the one that needed to feed him the power, and he needed to learn the symbiotic existence between his Zanpakutou and his use of Kido. Without this relationship he would be hard pressed to continue at a higher levels.

Crouching over him she gently taped his cheeks until he woke up. ”No sleeping yet, you need to meditate.” Hikari helped him into a sitting position and ushered him on to go back into a meditative state. While waiting she decided to give him another hint. ”Aki-chan, when you get to your inner world you need to meet with your Zanpakutou as soon as you can. Speak with it and learn from it. Only when you are able to learn of each other and trust each other, will you be able to call on its full power. Your Zanpakutou is a part of your soul, but when you have harmony between each other you will be able accomplish even more amazing feats.”

Silently Hikari stepped away from Aki-chan and allowed him to slip into his meditation a bit further. Again it didn’t take long for that familiar look to come across his face again. After this days training Hikari would ask him more about his Zanpakutou and maybe she would talk to him about her own. She had shown Aki-chan her released Zanpakutou once before, but since then she hadn’t talked much about her sword or his. Hopefully this experience would be a good time to show him the abilities of Sasanoha and maybe he would be able to learn a few things about how a Zanpakutou’s power increased when both Shinigami and Zanpakutou lived in harmony with each other.

Soon enough the ten minutes were coming to a close. Hikari went over to Aki-chan and was about to break his meditation, but this time he had a peaceful serene look and aura about him. This wasn’t the time to be breaking this meditation. It would be insulting for her to do that. Patiently she waited for Aki-chan to break his own meditation and then it was on to the next part of the lesson.

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Words: 422
GP: 8
Total GP: 62

Akimoto, laying flat on his back, was woken up by the feeling that someone was using his cheeks as bongo drums. Very slowly, and with much effort, he opened his eyes to see what was causing this sensation. There, crouching over him, was the captain he had been training with. The girl was very beautiful today. How could she be so pretty, and so feared? Shaking the thoughts from his head, the young man listened as she spoke softly, ”No sleeping yet, you need to meditate.” Hikari sat him up, and Aki forced himself to position himself in the meditative stance. The young girl began to speak, but not a word of it was heard. The student was already deep in meditation.

Finding himself back in the dark forest, Aki did not hesitate to search out the white kitsune. Quickly and quietly, the golden-haired youth dove through the trees. He lept over logs, ducked through the underbrush, and used overhanging branches to swing himself along. As he came to the cliff-side again, there stood, not a fox, but a young girl. She was much younger than Hikari, but seemed much older. She wore a sleeveless black kimono and a red haori. Her hair was the purest white, and she had fox ears and multiple fox tails. A black eye-patch covered her right eye, leaving only the left one to show any hint of what color her eyes might be. As Akimoto made eye contact, he saw that the eye was red, which somewhat chilled him. That was a bit unnerving.

“Who are you, if I may inquire, and what happened to the fox?” Aki tried to be as polite as possible with his questions, as he didn't like the prospect of pissing an entity in his Inner World off. The girl responded in the ever-familiar voice that drove the student daily, “Oniisan, you are silly! Its me! Masshirona!” The spirit danced around in the clearing a bit, a wide smile on her face. The young man spoke up, almost sad to stop her from dancing, “It is a pleasure to finally meet you, and speak to you too. I came to seek out advice from you. I want to pro--” “I know what you want Oniisan,” the little girl interrupted, her dancing never ceasing, “I might help you... but first we play a game! Do you like hide-and-go-seek?” Without waiting for an answer, the girl shape-shifted into the white kitsune, and took off. She ran deep into the forest, disappearing quickly. Her voice echoed through the woods, calling back to Aki, “Betcha can't find me!!”

Chuckling to himself, the golden-haired youth began running after the little fox, unsure exactly of where he was going. He tried his best to follow her lead, but there was nothing for it. He felt like he was running in circles. Looking down he noticed that he was on the staircase again. No wonder he was going in circles. How was he supposed to find her, if following her lead didn't work? What did he do last time? Suddenly, it clicked. He needed to blaze his own trail, and not follow her lead. Cutting sharply to the left, Akimoto began leaping and crawling through the forest, no longer caring if he was going the same direction as her. He would find her eventually, but he was going to do it his way, not hers. Hours seemed to pass, and every now and again Masshirona's voice could be heard, “You're not very good at this game. You are going the wrong way.” Akimoto ignored the voice. The last time Masshirona said to do something, it ended with his memories being scoured like they were a file folder. The young man swore softly at Mitsutaka for that, but then continued on his way.

Coming into another clearing, Aki felt as though the girl was in here somewhere. Slowly looking around, he saw nothing in the grass, and when he turned to leave, something rustled up in the branches. His vision snapped up to the treetops but by then the girl, now back in human form, had lept from the trees in a full-on aerial assault. With no time to react, Aki was hit square in the chest by the girl, who simply latched onto his chest in a hug. “ONIISAN!!! YOU FOUND ME!!” she cried out, snuggling up to him. “I will teach you what you wish to know,” she said, leaning back. Touching the tip of his nose, she continued, “...next time.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she tapped the tip of his nose again. When she did, Aki blinked reflexively. Opening his eyes, he found himself back on the cliff-side with Hikari. Looking up at the petite captain, he said, “She is a strange girl....”

Word Count: 816
GP: 16 (34)
Total: 98

“She is a strange girl....”

Hikari looked over at Aki-chan was a confused look on her face. She understood that he had met his Zanpakutou spirit, but that was one response that she didn’t expect, either way the look on his face was priceless and caused the cherub girl to giggle slightly. The meeting went well Hikari could tell, Aki-chan’s spiritual pressure was even once again. It wasn’t as strong now as it was when they had started their training, but that was to be expected. This time around he should be able to last a lot longer with the help of his Zanpakutou.

”Okay Aki-chan, now it is time to show you something that will help your Kido become even stronger.” Hikari handed a disc to Aki-chan and motioned him to throw it into the clearing. As he did it she unsheathed Sasanoha with her left hand and pointed at the disc. ”Hadō 8! Ryūguchi!” The spell launched from her hand and screamed towards the disc. The explosion when it contacted the disc was phenomenal. The smoke swirled with red bolts of energy, and then the shockwave hit the both of them. Hikari felt the static charging through her arms and up her spine. The little girl hadn’t used her full power in quite a long time and this just reconfirmed to her that she was on the right path in teaching Aki-chan this.

Looking over at Aki-chan, Hikari was surprised to see him gaping at the cloud of smoke that still lingered in the air. ”The reason you need to be one with your Zanpakutou is so that you can use its strength as well as your own. This spell can be magnified by five times its normal power just by using some of you Zanpakutou’s power. Remember you companion on your hip is very strong, but you need to catch up to its level in order to tap into its power.” Hikari gathered up a more discs and launched the first on.

In just a few short hours Aki-chan had grown quite a bit. His potential with the demon arts was astonishing. It wouldn’t be too long that he would be able to learn more advanced spells on his own. Hikari just hoped that her training would also train his body just as well. If he didn’t have the stamina to do the advanced spells this training wouldn’t amount to much in the long run. ”And you think that all of this training will save this maggots hide in the future Hikari?” Sasanoha’s voice was full of bile and disgust. Hikari didn’t quite know what to think of his reaction. Here she was preaching about learning to trust one’s Zanpakutou, but Hikari was starting to feel quite uncomfortable with her own. ”Yes I do Sas and I think it would do you well in helping to. I would be devastated if he was killed due to me.”

There wasn’t any response for quite some time and Aki-chan was still going strong. Hikari only had a handful of discs left. ”I guess it can’t be helped you are the Queen after all.” The voice inside her head sounded jumbled almost if Sasanoha and some female’s voice spoke in unison. The voice ran chills down her spine and caused her to stop her disc throwing. Quickly looking at Aki-chan with a big feigned smile she told him to start his next meditation.

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Words: 573
GP: 11
Total GP: 73

Akimoto listened as the petite captain told him, and demonstrated, how a Kidō was much more powerful when it was fired with the Zanpakutō unsheathed. The young man was absolutely shocked, and didn't fully believe her until he tried it for himself. Unsheathing Masshirona, the student fired at the first disk. The Ryūguchi launched out of his palm, engulfing the target without hesitation. The small tidbit of knowledge that Hikari had just imparted onto him was making each shot he fired at the disks not only more powerful, but they were taking less of a toll on him as well. She was most definitely an excellent teacher. The spells were cleaner, and they fired faster too. He kept the firing up for much longer than normal, but without any warning at all, the young girl simply quit throwing the disks. Turning to see why, Aki saw a look of dread upon her face, which quickly became a forced smile. She told him to meditate, but the young man wasn't going to just let that face go.

“What is wrong? Why were you afraid just now?” Akimoto stepped towards her a bit before he continued, “Are you okay? Please tell me, I am worried about you. Seeing you afraid is quite a scary site, love.” Waiting for a response, the golden-haired youth sat on the grass, eyes still upon his teacher. “I will meditate when you let me know what happened, but not until then.” Placing his Zanpakutō in his lap, Aki continued to look at the young girl, who was still attempting the forced smile. He could tell it was hard for her to keep up, but she was doing it for him. While it was a nice gesture, he would rather know than be left in the dark. That sort of thing was not a fun position to be in. Akimoto spoke one last time before getting ready to wait for her to respond, “I swore to help you, and that is what I intend to do. If it means being left in the dark, say so, and I shall meditate. I would much rather know, and at least be able to offer my help when I can.”

Word Count: 373
GP: 8 (7)
Total:106

Aki-chan had caught her look of dread. Right now she didn’t want to explain what was going on with her, hell she didn’t quite know herself. How could she explain to him that she had another voice in her head, and that her Zanpakutou’s voice was slowly changing and becoming less like him? ”Remember the changes I said I may be going through? Well I think they are coming closer and closer. I don’t quite understand what it is, but I can overcome this, I know I can.”

Hikari had a look of determination on her face; she didn’t want to fall prey to her own weaknesses. Looking back at Aki-chan she gave him another little smile. Even though it wasn’t the large happy one it usually was, this smile had strong warmth behind it. Hikari was happy that she had someone to talk to, someone she could lean on if she needed to. Aki-chan was doing a fine job for her and he was doing his best to becoming someone who would be able to stand next to her. At that moment the little girl wanted nothing more than to smother this man in showers of hugs and kisses, but she knew that this would deter from the object of today’s lessons. “Maybe tomorrow we can relax.” Hikari silently thought to herself.

”Aki-chan…” Hikari looked at him with caring eyes and then continued again. ”We can’t doddle around too much. We still have a bunch of discs that are stronger than these Shinigami discs. I want to make sure that you are able to get through these before the night is over… Besides I don’t think I will be able to hold back if we continue to sit here talking. I may end up doing something that will distract the both of us from our goal for today.” Hikari said the last part bashfully and had to look down. Her voice even quieted up considerably.

Looking back up Hikari could tell what Aki-chan was going to try and do, with a quick Karate-chop to the top of his head she snuffed the actions out even before they could be accomplished. ”Meditate first, then ‘maybe’ I will give you a treat after you are done.” It was playful and maybe a little lovey dovey, but she wanted him to return to the lessons and focus on what they were trying to do right now. With a pouting look on Aki-chan’s face he did as he was asked and started to meditate once again. This time he started it with a slight smile, most likely due to the promised treat, and continued to do so through the rest of his meditation.

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Words: 450
GP: 9
Total GP: 81

The girl was getting good at not only deflecting his worries, but preventing kisses. Her quick chop to the top of his head knocked any and all thoughts of holding her and being flirtatious out of his head. She told him about her worry that she was changing soon, but that she was going to handle it. Telling him to meditate, with a shot at a 'treat' later, the young man closed his eyes, a smile on his face. In the Jinzen position, it took no time at all for him to awaken in his Inner World.

Standing in the darkened clearing, something seemed a tad amiss. There was a thick fog that had settled into the forest, and it was clouding his vision. Masshirona called out to him, beckoning him to come and find her. “It will not be easy this time, Oniisan. If you can find me, however, I will teach you what you need to protect her. I like her.” With a girlish giggle, the voice faded away into the mist, leaving no trail of which direction she was. Why was it that everyone was all of a sudden offering him treats? Smiling widely, the young man called out, “Alright little one, ready or not, here I come!” With that, he took off, diving through the trees like a wild beast. Branches were used as items to swing with, logs were mere hurdles... nothing would prevent him from finding the girl.

Then he realized how cold it was. There were little snowflakes falling, and his breath was showing fairly heavily. His skin rippled with goosebumps as the temperature hit him. As he shivered, he called out, “You wouldn't happen to be causing this weather, would you?” Her reply was swift, and still left him with no idea as to if he was going the right way, “Of course not, silly! You are! You always like to challenge yourself, and to prove that nothing will stand in your way, you added another obstacle!” That shocked him a bit. He didn't want to challenge himself...or did he? He loved a good challenge, and this would definitely be one for the ages. Fine then, he thought, I will find her anyways.

Forcing his way through the fog and trees, he began to grow tired. He continued to trudge through the thicket, the sweat rapidly forming on his brow. The only problem was, the harder he tried, the colder it became. The droplets of sweat were now freezing on his face, causing him to be chilled that much faster. Hours and hours passed. He was beginning to slow down, the fog and snow getting to him. Finally he burst from the trees into a clearing...which he realized as the clearing he started in. Desperation and anger seeped into him. Deciding to take it out on the fog, Akimoto began to chant. A few more brief words were followed by his arms extending out towards the fog-bank over the clearing. He then shouted, at the top of his lungs, “Hadō 58! Tenran!!” The whirlwind tore out from his palms, ripping the fog and snow away from the ground and up into the sky. Looking down, the clearing now removed of its shroud, he noticed that the little girl was standing in the center of it, no more than a yard from where he entered. She smiled as she spoke, “Sometimes, the thing you want most in life is right in front of you.”

Word Count: 587
GP: 11 (44)
Total: 117