When The Last Blossom Falls [Social | Training | Closed]

[Kei Kusanagi 草薙 恵]

[OOC Note; I intend only to do this as a solo or a trainer working with Kei on Kido. I'll likely post daily for a while until someone joins or wrap up as solo if no one does.]

Class was especially hard that day, cramming all the academy could into it's last chances to interact with the students giving them all the tools they would one day need to succeed. At least that's how it was packaged and sold, time would tell if it held any merit outside of the academy. Surely those that dedicated so much time to rearing the next generation of shinigami wouldn't so flippantly lie, but training and practical application were rarely the same thing. Kei saw this time as an opportunity to find himself though, to figure out what his skillset would truly be. Though he excelled with knowledge and understanding, practical use was still mediocre at best, and barely passable at worst, the main difference between knowing how and being able to perform.

A leaf blew past as Kei walked to the edge of wooden porch just outside one of the training halls. Kneeling down his attention drew to the fluttering leaf. He watched it with narrowly open eyes, most would assume him napping quite often due this habit of keeping his eyes so close to being closed. It helped though to judge distance, so it was a regular sight to see. Kei watched the leaf as if seeking meaning from it's random path threw the light breeze knowing that this was a meaningless phenomenon, a regular occurrence. The leaf landed on the edge of the porch, flicking lightly but too heavy to be swept off by such light gusts. They were barely enough to ruffle strands of hair at this point. Kei would softly reach to brush the leaf off and let it fall to the ground below to a more natural resting place.

"Purpose is not definite", Kei would idly say, trying to formulate at least some meaning from such a mundane sight. The idle musing meant very little but it help truth at least despite being spoken through the filter of a daydream. Kei would take his blade and set it across his lap. He'd read about communing with his zanpakuto though to date all attempts have yielded nothing but the calm feeling one receives from meditating. This wouldn't stop him from at least trying, after all one could never succeed at an action left untried. This too was a phrase Kei had probably said more than once during his time in academy. Most of the other students saw him as being the older wise man that spoke in riddles, despite him being only in his 30s and just a daydreamer himself. Silver hair has it's advantages.

The blade rest motionless in Kei's lap. The sheathed weapon lay sideways with it's blade facing out and the single mahjong tile dangling down to Kei's left side. What will he find when he succeeds? Will the spirit be friendly? Will it speak audibly or is it more of a feeling? Kei searched in his mind though nothing to it came. Another musing came suddenly as he spoke once again to himself, "A new ally is difficult to make, but a new enemy is effortless." The subtle hint of worry in his tone would imply he feared that there might be some unknown animosity for an accidental transgression. Maybe this spirit simply didn't like Kei, or found him unworthy. It would take a lot to prove himself given his current marks in the academy. Kei was passing, but only just.

Voices came from the distance. Two students decided to spar and began to duel in the field. This wasn't discouraged nor was it sanctioned, but they weren't using live steel so it should be OK. Kei would slide his eyes open only enough to see the two. Studying their movements, so much more power behind their swings. So much more speed in their movement. This was an impressive sight to see for the silver shinigami himself. Kei never really did hold his own in a fight like they did. It was so noticeable that the least combative divisions were the first to be recommended to him. This wouldn't stand though. Kei knew there was more he could do with time. And with that thought, Kei would begin considering his options.

Kido became a potential skill he could excel at. During academy he seemed to hold a slightly better than average understanding of it in theoretical terms. The basic training came quite natural to him, but he hadn't been taught how to truly utilize this ability. He considered the basic bakudo he'd read about, how they could be used to control without harm. This appealed to Kei in a visceral way, as he saw this as a way to stop a fight without unnecessarily harming anyone. A pair of handcuffs able to be applied from a distance in a sense. His mind raced through the texts he'd been required to learn, the concepts they'd drilled during his training thus far. He was reaching the end of this time in academy, so this would be the one avenue he hadn't truly explored in a practical sense. Now would be the time to train, to show his zanpakuto spirit that he was worthy to commune with. This meditation was proving quite useful today to clear Kei's mind and reveal a path.

[Kei Kusanagi 草薙 恵]

After some time Kei concentrated on his reiatsu and let it reach out in all directions like tendrils of detection. It was difficult to do for Kei, but in this moment of peace and silence he was able to accomplish a small radius at least where he could sense somewhat obvious things, though to his knowledge nothing was hiding anyway. He kept his eyes closed as he felt out, like stretching a muscle he tried to utilize his reiatsu regularly to the best of his extent, this would help Kei learn more about how it felt to push his limits in a non-physical manner. A form of training as this was, it was inefficient and left Kei wanting for something more concrete. Kei began to meditate with his senses extended, trying to relax his mind while he pushed his senses out, something he'd never tried before.

The breeze blew harder for a moment, Kei's hair acting like a weathervane to show the direction of it's path as it flickered behind his head. The feeling was difficult, every time his mind began to rest his senses seemed to follow. Other shinigami didn't have to try so much just to use this sense did they? This couldn't be how it was for everyone, which meant Kei needed to practice harder push further. Though no matter how hard he pushed, the distance tapered off very quickly and progress was scant at best. His mind would then cloud with thoughts and conscious effort to maintain the limit before trying to slip off into meditation only for the senses to follow suit. This seemed like a struggle with futility.

Resting entirely, Kei stood motionless while his mind returned to silent meditation. If he was good at anything he was good at quieting his mind and meditating. Without all the effort of his senses Kei found it almost immediate that he was able to wash away his surroundings. The breeze that pushed through his hair, the wood that creaked on occasion, even the smell of the grass. All of this just disappeared into Kei's subconscious. There was nothing, but Kei knew that this was just the beginning. There was something but he just hadn't found it yet. This drove him to search, to seek. Instead of looking for his inner spirit though, he began to contemplate the meaning of kido. Not just it's use or intent, but it's very existence.

As Kei considered, images flashed though his mind. They were meaningless on their own merit, shapes and colors with no discernable pattern. Like an unfinished puzzle there seemed to be a sensible image hidden among the chaos that Kei just couldn't yet see. From a practical sense, kido was the manipulation of reiatsu to obtain a goal. Kei found general control came a lot more naturally than anything else he'd learned so he began to shift and sway the reiatsu moving around him to manipulate his aura. It stretched and tightened, like a rubber band being pulled and loosened. It took little effort but there seemed to be a soft limit that Kei just simply couldn't exceed. Some barrier existed that he hadn't found a way through, was it just a lack of practice or was there something there he hadn't yet understood?

Kei began to explore this further. Kido was manipulation of reiatsu, but so far all he was doing was stretching and releasing it. In a sense the reiatsu wasn't changing and being manipulated, it was just being moved. Maybe this was the key to truly understanding the basics of kido, at least for Kei. However, this was like flexing a muscle one has never had before. Kei would picture the reiatsu moving, shifting, but functionally doing this was a lot more than that. The effort had some effect, but it was minor to almost unnoticeable at best. Kei would struggle to manipulate the reiatsu around him, but his mind just couldn't focus it into any discernable shape. He was missing a piece to the puzzle, and it just hadn't come to him yet.

[Kei Kusanagi 草薙 恵]

As Kei struggled to control the reiatsu around him, small flashes flared where control was lost entirely. Quickly it would calm, despite his lack of training in this way his natural ability could act as a crutch. This cycle of control loss and regain fluctuated in time, seconds, minutes between cycles. Still no shapes could form. The thoughts were running wild but Kei decided to quiet his mind once more into meditation, to end this exploration. His thoughts slowly faded, turning into nothingness as he calmed his thoughts, ending his conscious mind. A moment of clarity came in that process. As Kei's mind quieted, his control remained, even strengthened. At first this delayed the flares, but as the voices of students training in the distance faded into nothingness in Kei's mind the reiatsu churned peacefully. While not perfect by any means, it was contained.

In this moment Kei would feel a swirl, like flexing a muscle one had never flexed before. He didn't think of swirls, rather he simply felt them. Was he feeling them because he created them or was he creating them by feeling them? Either way he could sense the reiatsu swirling around him with much less effort than before. Maybe this was less control and more using reiatsu like a limb. Little by little the swirls shifted, growing, moving in rhythm with Kei's desires. He could feel every measurable movement with the energy as it moved about. Never had he been so well tuned to the movement of reiatsu before, and given that it was his own he was able to truly sense it for the first time. To the point that he could feel ribbons of energy dragging along his body like muscles connecting him to it directly.

Feeling the strain growing on this first attempt at flexing such a muscle, Kei relinquished his grip on the reiatsu around him. Letting it return to it's original unmodified form, Kei would return to his silent meditation until a soft breeze blew. Slowly opening his eyes ready to be blinded by the bright day sun, Kei found himself confused at the darkness that spread in all directions. Silence was the next notable feature Kei looked about while considering. There didn't seem to be anyone about and the moon seemed almost dead center in the sky. Just how long had Kei been at this? It felt like minutes at best but clearly hours had passed. Kei had never meditated so hard that an entire day went by without notice. This might have been the most enlightening day of his time as a shinigami in fact.

Kei stared up at the moon, the glowing disk in the sky. He knew that if this was going to continue, if he was going to be accepted as a shinigami, he'd need to push himself a lot further than he had so far. He was accepted in the seventh division, but this was barely true. As it was he wasn't yet going to be trusted with much more than basic patrol and paperwork. That worked out though, it gave plenty of time to practice and train. This was it, Kei's mission. He finally understood as he stared up at the night sky, wind passing through his hair with a sudden burst as if to punctuate his epiphany. The usual smile plastered on Kei's face faded. His usually closed eyes opened in a solemn expression. For a moment, he felt strong, but there was still doubt.

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

I'll grade it as a solo training! If that's your intention with threads, too, then no need to put "social" in them so that graders don't grade incorrectly!

3 posts x 50 TP = 150 TP + 1 extra paragraph x 5 TP = 155 TP total awarded