Solo Training: Raijin 1 [WIP]

[Kento Waffles]

This is a solo training thread for CTP (sometimes SP), the first of several, which will depict how my newest character, training tier Raijin Kawada made it into becoming a Soul Reaper. This thread's story actually opens before the present day, but will meet with the present day and eventually Raijin too will be participating in stories. Along the way of the overall story, there will indeed be some RPC interactions.

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Music

Rukongai North District 80: Zaraki. 3 years before the end of the Prison Lord Arc.

Asauchi... When at last my training has succeeded and my discipline become as tempered steel, I manifest my sword. Raijin sat quietly in the middle of his dinky, broken down hut made from stone and straw. The one room structure had straw covering the floors to make it more comfortable, yet lacked furniture past a looming black shelf, a fireplace for cooking, and a table upon which ingredients could be prepared to eat. Physically and literally 18 years of age, Raijin was a heavily muscular and physically fit individual with unkempt black hair, dark bags under his eyes, and an unsettling gaze. He wore a dark, sleeveless cloth shirt and dark blue cloth pants. His feet were bare.

His body was emitting steam as small amounts of spiritual energy poured off of it. Raijin's hands were clasped together as he made this journey for himself, and the smoke began to surround his hands and produce a material object within. Minutes passed as Raijin exerted tremendous effort and focus. Sweat beaded from his brow like a current. The average Soul Reaper took this action in the academy, but Raijin had learned how to do it by finding an old textbook which talked about the basics of creating an Asauchi and mastering it so that it became a Zanpakuto. The first step was to create the sealed form, the blade called Asauchi. The next step would be to communicate with it and ask its name.

Slowly, yet gradually, a sheathed katana was produced in Raijin's hands. He smirked. His eyes were closed, but he could feel it as his weapon formed. He could sense Asauchi. Raijin started to increase his effort and focus even more on his soul, trying to look deep within himself as his reiatsu started to increase and his spiritual pressure began to rise. "Tell me your name..." he whispered out loud. He was starting to see it... Behind closed eyes he at first only saw darkness, but gradually he saw some sort of far away silhouette masked by a thick veil of smoke or fog. Raijin couldn't get any closer to it, no matter how much he focused.

"Tell me your name..." he said. Yet still the image did not become any more clear. Frustrated, Raijin released his full spiritual power and clenched his fists tightly around his new weapon. His whole body was now matted with sweat but he did not waver. He couldn't afford to now. He was so close... He had formed the weapon and would be able to use it to its fullest if he only continued to focus.... That was until his door banged open, permitting entry to a large man with dark skin and huge muscles. "Yoooo, Raijin, some chick is here to see you," the newcomer said in a clunky voice. At once, Raijin's concentration was interrupted, the image shattered, and he snarled as he opened his eyes.

Standing quickly and grabbing a hold of his friend's collar, Raijin bellowed. "Did I not ask NOT to be disturbed?!" The dark skinned man grinned at Raijin, not taking his anger seriously. "Yeah yeah I know," he said. "But this girl is seriously a hell of a beauty, and she came looking for you specifically. She named you by name. Raijin of Zaraki. Said she belongs to some family, or something... Ka... Kawa... Kawasukis maybe?" Raijin's eyes flew wide. The Kawadas! What could a Kawada want with him now? Raijin stood up quickly, keeping his new blade with him, and busted past his friend, out into the light of his battered, blood covered village, and toward whoever wanted his presence.

More music!!



A girl who looked about Raijin's age, albeit being more than a head shorter than him. Her white hair was in elegant spiraling curls and she gazed upon him with amber eyes and with a warm smile. "Raijin?" she asked. "Are you Raijin of Zaraki?" Raijin looked suspicious as she asked him, unsure of what she wanted. Indeed, she was clearly a Kawada. Dressed very neatly with not a single part of her attire out of place, a patch on her strangely Western, maroon outfit bore the phoenix that was the Kawada mark. She was remarkably beautiful, but nothing Raijin hadn't seen before. His friend had exaggerated. Furthermore, he was suspicious. Was she a rival come to eliminate him? She was about the right age.

"Or, more specifically, Raijin Kawada. That's your birth name, isn't it?" she asked him. When Raijin still did not reply, she continued. "My name is Sakura. Sakura Kawada." This did not at all give Raijin even remotely any of the information that he wanted. It was, essentially, a waste of his time. He needed to return to his studies of his Asauchi and try to discern its name so that he could release it as a proper Zanpakuto. There would be no point in trying to return to the Kawadas as he was now. "The fuck do you want from me?" Raijin asked her. He took a threatening step forward, ready to unsheathe this weapon that he had only just produced.

"Don't feel threatened," she said, not even flinching as he got within inches of her face. "I'm not here to hurt you or take anything from you. I'm your father's butler. I've decided that it would be a good use of my time to perhaps train you and make you stronger so that I can take you back to the family with me. We could really use your presence." Raijin spat at her feet and turned away. "You? Train me? Fucking ridiculous. You're so small and fragile looking. I'll go back when I feel like it." Raijin started to walk away, but that was before Sakura spoke. "So then if I can defeat you easily, you'll accept my tutelage?" she asked him. Snarling with rage at her impudence, Raijin drew his new sword and lunged.

Sakura hopped back and easily caught Raijin's wrist, stopping his attack. "I may look weak to you, but I've lived ten times longer than you and I'm probably leagues stronger." Not even stopping to care, Raijin tore his wrist out of her grasp, immediately displaying superior physical strength. "Oh! Your strength is a surprise!" Sakura baited as Raijin, well accustomed to fighting with a sword-like weapon, began taking powerful strikes at her. Sakura dodged all of them and poked Raijin with a finger. His arms immediately swung to go behind his body and lock together, and his legs came together as he buckled to the ground. "Bakudo #1: Sai!" Sakura exclaimed.

Raijin stared up at her with a growl. "Now-" Sakura began, but Raijin's spiritual energies started to explode forth from his body. "It's no use-" Sakura tried to warn, but... Raijin's reiatsu faded and he instead flexed his muscles, breaking cleanly out as he shattered her Bakudo and picked his sword up. "Impossible...!" Sakura exclaimed. "With just strength?!" Raijin came forward, his rage only deepening as he slashed straight at the surprised Sakura. To his credit, his blade landed right on her face, cutting at it. ...Except that it stopped there. Raijin found himself unable to cut her, and instead lacerations appeared on his hands and blood dripped out.

"What the..." Raijin began before suddenly an overwhelming feeling of gravity crushed him to the ground. Sakura stood over him, smiling. "My, your physical strength is something else. I've never seen anyone break a Bakudo that way before," she said coolly. "But I still outclass you. What's crushing you right now is the weight of my spirit. And the reason you couldn't cut me is that the reiatsu I unconsciously let out is that much stronger than the blade you crafted by focusing and forging yours. As you can see, we have a difference in strength that you cannot overcome. So, will you accept me?" Raijin, staring up at her, gritted his teeth. "Tomorrow," he said. "Fight me again tomorrow."

[Kento Waffles]

One year later

"What makes you so keen to fight me every day?" Sakura asked. She and Raijin had shared this shack that he lived in for a full year now, and he had fought her every single day without fail for exactly one year thus far. 365 battles. And Raijin had been defeated in all of them. This didn't mean that he wasn't getting more powerful or skilled, but it did mean that her ability in battle just exceeded his that much. When he had realized that his Asauchi would only result in being cut, Raijin had chosen to fight her with just his fists and arms, trying to find ways to break her joints or cause her to overextend and break them herself. Trying to choke her or grapple with her. And though she commended his strategic thinking, he was still beaten.

"Fighting is how you progress in life..." Raijin told her. "Before I started this great trial, my father acclimated me to the brutality of the world. I already know that to take what you want, you need to be assertive... Often or usually with violence." There was a dark intensity to Raijin's eyes. A very refined, focused rage. He carried it with him everywhere he went. For the past year and all his days before that, Raijin had carried it along all his duties. When he chopped wood for fire, he did it angrily. When he went hunting for food, he used his rage to kill animals. When he interacted with his friends, it was out of their mutual agreement of what the world was. Violent.

"And what is it that you want?" Sakura asked Raijin. For the past year, Raijin had spent his mornings getting wood and food for the day. He would then rest for an hour, warm up, and fight Sakura again. Lately their battles were far longer as she seemed to attempt to train him. He lost every single time. After his defeats, Raijin and Sakura would dine, and then Raijin would go into town to see to his other business. The large, dark skinned man that had first alerted Raijin to Sakura was named Raito. He and Raijin were the same age and had grown up together, having met early on and realized that banding together would help them survival in this tragically brutal place.

"Revenge..." Raijin said. "Revenge for the humiliation the Kawada family has suffered... That's why I was sent here. So I could get stronger and take my revenge... One day I'm going to stamp out all of the other noble families beneath my foot... And I will at last have my revenge." When Raijin spoke this way it was always with some degree of ferocity. He had done this every single day when he spoke to Sakura. They were always together this past year. She accompanied him everywhere he went. The rest of his allies were quite used to her, particularly Raito. She had succeeded in inspiring him to train harder too.... As if he would follow Raijin when Raijin finally left Zaraki.

"How very like your father..." Sakura observed. They were seated at the fireplace in the hut with bowls of hot soup, eating as they spoke. "What happened to my father?" Raijin asked. "If you're supposed to be his butler, you should be with him too, but you've been here. And you follow me everywhere, which means you're never seeing him. ...Is he dead?" And at last, Sakura revealed the truth to Raijin. "Yes," she said. "He died briefly before I met you in the War of Angels, a fierce war against the Quincy army called the Vandenreich." Raijin pondered this for a moment, but realized that he was essentially lacking some basic knowledge.

"Quincy...?" he asked. "Humans who summon reishi to create bows for combat," Sakura explained. "An old tribe. The Vandenreich is the largest and most powerful gathering of them in history, and they were quite the threat when we fought them. Your father died in the final battle that won the war." Raijin's eyes were somber. He did not budge and was not surprised by this news. If his father had been taken down, then the enemy truly had been formidable. But Raijin would not falter... He would surpass his father, and no arrow shooting scum would be able to overcome and defeat him. That much was certain. Guaranteed, even. No one would kill him like that...

"What do you want from me?" Raijin asked at last. A question he hadn't asked since their first day meeting one another. And it was at this time that Sakura told him. "I want you to make the Kawada family strong again. Without your father, we can do nothing but plunge downward as the inferiors of the family juggle leadership. For now we have your great grandfather, Jinbei Kawada, but he's old and brittle compared to what he once was. Sooner or later he'll be too weak. The Kuchiki Head is already much more powerful than he is..." Raijin thought about this. Kuchiki Head...? He had to wonder about that Kuchiki Head. Who exactly could be stronger than the mythic Jinbei Kawada that he'd heard stories of as a child?

"Kuchiki Head...?" Raijin asked. He was familiar with the other Great Noble Families. The Kasumi'Oji, the Shihoin, the Shiba, the Kuchikis. He was aware of most of their general fates up to a point. His education as a child had been rigorous. But he didn't know much about current states of affairs. "Their Head right now is a man named Sozen Kuchiki. I don't think it would be exaggeration to say that he is the most talented and cunning Soul Reaper alive today. He's powerful. He succeeded in defeating the enemy that killed your father. If we're going to be competitive against him and his family, we need to produce someone more powerful than him. And more powerful than Kenryoku ever was."