"Hado #78: Zangerin (Cutting Flower Ring)," The air around me rippled as I swiped my sceptre in a wide arc around me, but as I flared my Reiatsu, I grimaced as my energy simply exploded outwards instead of actually taking the form of a razor sharp ring of energy.
'That's the tenth one that does that,' I thought as I lowered my sceptre, staring at the smoke fading away while remembering how much I've been struggling with Kido spells for the past couple of days.
After my unwanted meet and greet with the Fullbringers, I decided to focus solely on my training and figuring out the Kido spells that Tessai gave me, but unfortunately, learning to use the Kido spells of the level 70's and were far harder than those of the lower levels.
Unlike the regular spells I have where I simply had to take my Reiatsu and tweak and shift said energy to create the desired effect, these higher-level Kido spells required precision.
It was not longer just about fuelling the spell with power and casting it. No, I needed finesse, control and deep understanding of how my Reiatsu needed to be shaped to form the core of the spell itself.
'Hado #78: Zangerin. I said its name correctly, I didn't mess up the chant and my image of the spell's effects were clear so why is it not casting? Tessai made it sound so easy in the book.'
"You're already at #78? My, my~ You are quite the student, Mr. Kanonji."
"Yeah, but unfortunately, I think I'm going to be stuck here for a while," I answered as I looked back at the other figure floating in the air, Urahara hiding the lower part of his face while letting out a chuckle at my words.
"Don't get discouraged now. You may have had an easy time with the lower-level spells, but you are not the first one to stumble at the doorstep of high-level Kido."
"Well, it feels like I've hit a wall. I understand the theory, but the moment I put it into practise, my Reiatsu just…fizzes out."
"Well, then there's a simple answer. You are simply not powerful enough," Urahara spoke bluntly with a shrug and I stared at him before taking a deep breath.
"Yeah, that could be true, too."
"Not could be. It is. I admit that you are far stronger than most humans are and more talented than most Shinigami are in their lifetime, but you've simply hit a natural wall."
"Let me guess, not enough energy?", I asked, not surprised when Urahara snapped his fan shut with a smile and nodded.
"Precisely. High-level kido don't just need technique and imagination. It requires a massive well of spiritual energy to even form correctly. To put it simple, you're currently trying to keep a furnace alive with candle wax. Your Reiatsu recognizes that you're using a spell, but it fizzles out before it can take more energy as fuel to form the shape."
"Hmm, so I'm stuck-stuck, huh?"
"Well, I wouldn't say stuck-stuck. You're simply…under-equipped."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning that your incantation, visualization and control are all sound so you simply need to find a method to fuel enough Reiatsu into the spell," He answered with a smirk and I frowned a bit before I smirked as I remembered the one thing that I had above anyone.
'The Reimyaku, huh?', I mean, I haven't used it in my spells since I didn't want to depend on it, but at the same time, I'm a bit nervous that if I start using it, I might start to depend too much on it.
"Hmm, that is true. I do have a little something that no one else has, but I'm going to have to test it out for a bit."
"Oh, now is a good time, then. Fire away."
"…You just want to study me, don't you?", I spoke, not surprised to see the man shrugging while pulling out a camera and holding it to me.
"Is that some kind of spiritual camera that reads my energy?"
"Something like that, yeah."
"O radiant blade that blossoms in silence," I began my chant, letting my Reiatsu fuel the attack before I pulled on the Reimyaku below and the reishi in the air.
"Petals of steel spiralling through the still air. Carve the winds and bloom with your sorrowful waltz. Hado #78: Zangerin!", Swinging my sceptre in a wide arc, I watched in awe as spiritual energy rose up from the ground and wrapped around me before a circular saw formed around my body.
The next moment, it expanded outwards and sliced through the air, Urahara ducking down and dodging the energy saw while I watched it fizz out at the 20 meter radius.
"Hmm, not bad, eh?", Urahara spoke with a grin and I nodded while looking down at my hands that were shaking profusely.
"Yeah, but unfortunately, I still need to use three-quarters of my energy to just make the spell."
"That is to expected. You're pushing your body and soul to channel a powerful source of spiritual energy that only the strongest of the strongest can use and unlike them, we still don't know how you're able to use Kido spells like the others."
"True, perhaps if I know why I can use, I might have a better chance of using the spell," I murmured while taking a shaky breath, feeling the Hollow Reiatsu of the sceptre being fuelled into my body to restore the fatigue.
"However, now we know that you can do it. It's just a matter of when you'll be able to do it without burning yourself out."
"I can't use it like the others, so I think I'll save those as a battle-ender."
"High-level Kido spells aren't exactly meant for casual usage. They're last resort and finishing moves that you use to shift the battlefield in your favour. All you need now is just more spiritual energy.
"That's easier said than done," I answered, to which the man chuckled as he put his camera away before I blinked as I remembered something.
"Hey, can you look into something for me?"
"That depends if it's worth my while."
"Do you know what Fullbringers are?", I asked and his calm silence all but screamed his answer as he unfolded his fan and hid the lower half of his face.
"I can't say that I do."
"Okay, then. Well, they are humans that can use spiritual energy just like me, but they have an ability called Fullbring that allows them to manipulate the souls of all non-living things. Apparently, I seem to interest them and a group called Xcution wants me to join them, but as we both know, no group that are a part of our world just want to recruit people for no reason."
"You think that they may have ulterior motives?"
"Don't we all?", I asked and caught his smirk as his eyes narrowed with a hum.
"Well, that does indeed complicate things. I was fibbing a bit earlier when I said that I have no knowledge of them. The Gotei 13 did have intelligence of them, but all we know is that their power comes from the remnants of Hollow injuries that their mothers sustained while they are pregnant."
"I see. Then, what do you believe is the best response now?"
"If they've contacted you once and if they truly wish to have you in their organization, they'll contact you again. When that happens, I wish for you to be more capable than you are now to make sure they don't have any ulterior motives."
"Got it."
"I have to ask, though. I thought Ms. Inoue's ability is to reconstruct something back to what it was before it was destroyed. How exactly did she make that sceptre for you?", He asked while glancing at the sceptre in question and I looked at the staff before he rolled his eyes when I shrugged.
"I have absolutely no clue. You're going to have to ask either her or her Shun Shun Rikka. They'd probably be able to give you a better explanation. All I can tell you is that it was made from the Reishukaku, my Hollow necklace and my cane."
"Hah, I suppose that is true. Goodnight for now, Mr. Kanonji."
"Don't add the 'for now' part. Makes it sound ominous," I spoke and shook my head as he simply chuckled before vanishing, leaving me to stand alone in the air outside of Karakura before I floated back down.
However, I blinked as I felt my phone ringing before a smirk grew on my face as I saw Ikumi's name, accepting the call while holding the phone to my ear.
"Hey, Ikumi. What can I help with?"
"Uh, could you come over to my house? There's uh…there's something I want you to know first," I would have pressured more, but the slight panic and hesitance in her voice made me frown before I answered.
"Got it. Give me a couple of minutes and I'll be there."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"So, uh, Misao, this is Shukuro, Kaoru's father. He came to visit today," Ikumi spoke with a smile that was slightly nervous as I stood in the doorway to the living room, staring directly at the smiling Tsukishima who looked up while Kaoru stood beside me with a frown.
"Shukuro, this is Misao and he's-"
"Her boyfriend and close fatherly figure to Kaoru," I answered immediately, watching Kaoru's face lit up and Ikumi turn to me with a blush and a glare while Tsukishima just nodded.
"I see. Well, I did expect her to move on after I left so I am not surprised."
"What? No! Hey, he is just-"
"Ikumi, could Shukuro and I talk on our own, please? I have a slight feeling he's here for me," I spoke with a smile and she turned to me with a glare before catching the look of caution in my eyes as my gaze had never left Tsukisima's.
"Okay~ Just no fighting, okay?"
"Yeah, because Don would kick his ass."
"You're damn right about that," I said with a grin, holding up a fist that Kaoru bumped with a grin while Ikumi rolled her eyes.
"Just don't fight," She said before leaving the room while I watched as Tsukishima waited until I closed the door behind me before his smile faded and a stoic look to its place.
"Clever move, Mr. Kanonji. Claiming the role of a lover and a father figure to establish your boundaries."
"Whatever game you're playing or whatever Ginjo send you to do, it ends here."
"Oh, you misunderstand me. I didn't come here to make a scene or reclaim lost possessions. I simply came to see what has become of my connections."
"Connections? That's quite the funny substitute word for family, isn't it? The strange thing is that you don't talk like a man who loves them like family."
"Oh, I did when they were needed, but…memory is a funny thing, isn't it?"
'Oh, so he is using Book of The End on them,' I thought with a frown as I sat down on the couch opposite of him, the two of us staring at each other.
If I remember correctly from when I watched the series, he has the ability to manipulate and configure someone's past as he pleases, which he usually does to make all of his enemies his allies with one swing of his sword.
Nothing can block it last I checked and he can manipulate not only the past of living beings, but non-living things as well, which is why he was such a threat.
"What do you want from me, Tsukishima? I'm sure Ginjo didn't just send you to come and have a talk, right?", I asked and he leaned back slightly in the chair with his fingers folded neatly in his lap.
"He does not know I am here. Consider this…a courtesy visit."
"To warn me?'
"I'm simply here to observe," He answered in response, to which I raised an eyebrow. "Ginjo does not trust you and neither do I. You're too visible and too loud and yet, you feel like someone that's hiding something in place sight."
"Don't we all?", I asked, watching as he hummed before nodding.
"I suppose we do. Nonetheless, I am simply here to obs-!"
"Bakudo # 61: Rikujokoro!", His eyes widened as I cut him off mid-sentence, his body freezing in place as six thin sheets of light slammed into his midsection while I appeared in front of him.
"I'm going to say this once and only once," I spoke softly as I stood over him, one hand holding his head tightly while the other held a blazing Shakkaho that I aimed at his head.
"I know that Ikumi's husband is dead. I myself have seen his grave and have spoken to his spirit before he passed on so I know you're not who you say you are. You have until the count of three to release whatever manipulation you have done and then get as far away as you can from Karakura Town.
Tell Ginjo that I will be coming to his place tomorrow to talk and if he even tries to attack me, whether it is with your ability or any ability of whatever people you have there, I will nuke the entire city to kingdom come. Am I understood?", I asked, watching as Tsukishima took a glance at the orb before nodding slowly, to which I nodded as I dismissed the Shakkaho.
However, I kept the Rikujokoro on his body which he noticed, glancing at me and I looked back with a raised eyebrow before nodding to the door.
"You get out when they're out," I spoke and he looked back before I felt two bursts of spiritual energy in the kitchen, Tsukishima letting out a slow and shaky breath as the Rikujokoro vanished from his body.
"Remember, Tsukishima. One attack and we're done, understood?"
"Understood," He nodded, standing up with the grace of a man that wasn't just threatened with death before he straightened out his clothes and moved to the door.
"You have changed quite a bit from the man that we saw on television, Mr. Kanonji."
"That's because the man you see on TV is not the man before you right now," I answered back, my body ready for a fight as I was already channelling spiritual energy to my hands.
Thankfully, nothing happened as Tsukishima simply smirked and opened the door, walking out while I followed behind to see Ikumi standing in the hallway while Kaoru looking at him from behind her.
"Leaving so soon, Mr. Tsukishima?", She asked, a flash of relief in my body as I saw her guarded look while Tsukishima smile and nodded.
"Yes, I simply needed to clear some things with Mr. Kanonji."
"You come back here again and I'm blasting you with Don's sceptre," Kaoru's words made me smile sightly as Tsukishima simply walked out the door, closing it behind him as I relaxed with a sigh.
"Sorry that you two had to deal with that."
"It's okay, but…what the hell was that guy?", She asked and I just shook my head while looking to Kaoru who had a frown on his face.
"You okay, Kaoru?"
"Eh, I'm used to guys thinking they can hit on mom through me, but that guy just felt wrong. He had like the fake smile and his whole personality was just stupid."
"…Is a stupid personality a thing?", I asked as I looked to Ikumi, who sighed in response while rubbing her temples.
"If you're going to drag us into this supernatural nonsense, all I ask is that you make damn sure we're still alive at the end of it."
"I promise," I spoke with a smile as I glanced back at the door with narrowed eyes, knowing that if Tsukishima knows of this place, then Ginjo knows as well.
"…How would you two like to move in with me?"
"Oh, we're definitely going to stay with you from now on if guys like that just move as they please, but first…How in the hell did you become my boyfriend, hmm?", She asked with a raised eyebrow and her arms crossed, to which I looked at her before I remembered what I said.
"Uh…you're not?"
"…Kaoru?"
"Hey, leave me out of this. I'm fine being just Don's friend," Kaoru said with a shrug and I watched as she looked at me before my eyes widened as she sighed.
"Tonight, me and you. A date, but I'll make the food. Got it?"
"Got it! I'll help you guys pack!"
A/N: And we're ending it off here~! The Don shows that he is not all-powerful with Kido spells, he and Urahara start making plans on the Fullbringers and Tsukishima and the Don nearly fight.
Next chapter: Xcution and…Shadows?
Anyway, check out my Pat-reon-.-com-/-KingCrimsonNova to read ahead on this as well as many other stories that may peak your interest. If you want to, you are free to, but if you don't want, all's good as I will still be uploading here. This is just me trying to get some extra cash.
As always, read, enjoy, review and until the next one...
Ba-Bye~!