Kaito awoke to the old man looking at him with squinted eyes as if examining a lab rat that had undergone some strange drug dosage, "W-what the...hell" was all Kaito could string together as he tried to form a sentence. The old man nodded as if Kaito's lack of speech was something that was to be expected, "Quiet and go back to sleep, boy. Your body still hasn't recovered from the first session" the old man scolded Kaito in a firm voice. Wanting to resist, Kaito tried to lift his hand to push the old man away so that he could sit up in the bed, but his body wouldn't move at all and in fact the effort had put Kaito back into a coma. "Bloody idiot..." he heard the old man mutter as his eyeballs rolled back into his head and his eyelids slowly shut out the light of the world that he was finding increasingly trying the more he explored. When Kaito came to again there was no one in the room and his body felt good; better than it had ever felt before in fact so he threw the covers off and made his way out to the backyard of the shack.

Once he reached the backyard, Kaito found the old man sitting on an stool that looked almost as old as he was, "Ossan, what exactly happened to me?" Kaito asked earnestly. The old man didn't reply to Kaito's question instead he simply pointed to the mark on the ground and it all came flooding back to Kaito as he relived all the pain; pain that drove him near the point of insanity. "You did well to survive in the state that you were in. Either way we need to get your mind prepared for the next two sessions of that training. While your body may feel as if it is ready for another session right away the truth is your mind wouldn't be able to take it" the old man quickly explained. Although Kaito was sure that he could handle another session of that dreadful training right now, he realized that the old man could be right about his mental fortitude as he remembered the strain that was put on his mind the first time he went through that grueling training. Nodding his head in agreement Kaito asked the next logical question, "So, how do I get ready then Ossan?" he asked politely. Again the old man didn't answer Kaito's question, but instead pointing at a huge boulder that was sitting in the right corner of the small backyard.

Kaito groaned as he realized what the old man meant even before a word left the old man's mouth, "You are going to squat that boulder 100 times today and then tomorrow you will do it 500 times" the old man said without any remorse in his voice. Grumbling to himself Kaito walked over to the boulder and heaved it over his head and onto his back while he asked, "Why should I do this when you can just forcibly increase my energy with that tech--", Kaito started to say. Suddenly he felt the weight of the boulder crushing down on his body, "It will build your mental strength back up" the old man again replied candidly to his question, "Now begin" he barked. Sweating just from holding the boulder on his back Kaito squatted down the first time and he felt his quadriceps screaming for mercy as he hit the bottom of the squat. Focusing his mind and body, Kaito pushed his way back up to the standing position, "1.." he grunted out through clenched teeth. Going down again Kaito felt his body nearly giving up on him, but he forced it to continue the moving through will power. Once he hit the bottom, Kaito's face twisted in exertion once again as he pushed his way back up to the standing position, "2" he called out.

The afternoon wore on and Kaito's body was racked with exhaustion, "Dammit, I can't stop now, not when I'm so close to finishing" Kaito thought as he struggled back up from the sitting position of the squat, "89" he called out as the veins in his neck became visible. He could feel the blood pumping a thousand miles per hour as he tried to get a hold of himself, staring straight ahead and not allowing anything to ruin his focus because he knew that the moment he stopped pushing with his mind was the same moment that his body would fail him. Breathing out, Kaito started on his way down again and he continued to move downward to the point where his legs were now parallel to the ground and it hurt so much that Kaito felt that his brain was going to explode from the effort of keeping his muscles from shutting down on him. "Come on...Come on..." he pepped himself mentally as he reached for more power within the confines of his body to push back up to the standing position. This continued deep into the night time where Kaito found himself in a devastating situation, "Shit..." he cursed as he tried to keep himself from dropping completely under the weight of the immensely heavy boulder. Kaito was on his last squat, but he had gotten stuck in the squatting position and couldn't seem to find that power to stand up once more which would complete his training for the day.

"Come on, boy" the old man said sternly, "Push harder so that we can go inside and you can rest your bones for the next level of training" he said. Even thought Kaito heard the old man's pleas, it seemed as if his body would no longer take instructions simply by use of will power, "Body....please...don't freaking give out on me here..." Kaito begged his body as he felt the boulder's weight pushing his butt closer to the ground than he had wanted it to go. Clawing for any reserves of power left in his being, Kaito pushed with every fiber in his being hoping that it would be enough just to try pushing, but he quickly realized that it wasn't working. It was as if the harder that he tried the less his body was willing to respond to him; his legs quivered from the sustained effort of being in a squat and they were actually beginning to cramp up. Kaito decided to commit his entire being to the last squat as he looked up into the sky and let out a roar that most likely woke the entire Rukongai area from sleep. Slowly, but surely Kaito's last ditch effort pushed the boulder back up; completing his final squat and Kaito staggered past the old man into the house where he immediately found the bed and fell into it from sheer exhaustion.

welll i'm pretty hooked, keep writing
+3 spirit power

Kaito was up the next morning even earlier than the old man was and it was before the sun had even broke the horizon to signal the start of the new day, "I should probably just get a start on this whole boulder lifting training now since I already know that 500 squats with that huge thing is probably going to take me until next week..." he thought. In truth, Kaito was grateful to the old man since not only had he provided the boy with a place to sleep, the opportunity to get stronger, but he had also given Kaito a pair of tattered pants and a shirt; albeit these were hardly acceptable clothing to be wearing in public. Though this didn't matter to Kaito, who in his first days literally walked around naked so he was thankful for whatever piece of cloth he could wear that would cover his extremities he was happy to call them clothes. Walking over to the boulder, Kaito hoisted it over his head as he breathed out because of the immense weight that the boulder beared upon him, "This thing doesn't seem to get lighter at all..." Kaito grunted as he prepared to do his first squat.

After minutes of preparation, Kaito breathed out heavily as he began bending his knees to the parallel position so that he could get the maximum benefit of the workout; to his surprise the first one was relatively easy and it seemed to clear up the tightness from yesterday's training. He sprung back up with the same ease as he had heading down, "Maybe this time I won't be half dead before I finish my squats..." Kaito joked to himself although he knew how serious the truth was behind that joke. Now inspired by the relative ease of the first squat Kaito started going a bit faster than he had originally intended to, forgetting about pacing himself so that he could probably finish before the old man even wake so that he could just go and sleep the day away. He headed down for his second squat and found it to be much like the first one in terms of its difficulty; Kaito simply thought that the reishi particle training was taking effect making him much stronger at a faster rate as he rose back up into a standing position.

This continued until he managed to reach squat 150, where suddenly just his raw muscle could no longer sustain the weight of the boulder any longer and he was struggling to simply carry the boulder on his back. By this time the sun had risen and was shining brightly down upon Kaito as he struggled to carry the behemoth of a boulder, "What the hell? It was so easy before" he stammered out loud. The old man came walking out with his arms folded and his face twisted in a frown, "I see you lost composure and decided to try rushing through the squatting. If you weren't so fool hardy you would have realized that your spirit power is what is going to take you through the end of the exercise, there is no possible way for you to squat such a huge thing with just pure muscle" he explained. Kaito nodded in agreement to the last part of the statement, but he didn't know how the old man's explained would silence the war between his body and mind as he prepared for his next squat. Going down once again, Kaito pushed as hard as he could, going deep within his body to find the strength to do and it was then that Kaito realized that his body was shaking from the exertion of keeping the weighted boulder on his back. He wouldn't stop as he gathered a huge amount of energy as he went down and then threw as much power as he could into his legs so that he could drive upward again.

Through the method of simply using his spirit power to push up through his legs so that he could lift the boulder up again from the squat position, Kaito managed to squeak out about another 50 squats before he had completely depleted his supply of energy. Shaking his head at the old man he called out, "I can't go anymore. I have nothing left to push with...if I go on, I will most certainly die" Kaito said through bated breaths. The old man didn't respond to his with anything other than to shake his head signaling that he didn't release Kaito from the training and that if he gave up it would simply count as a failure in the books. Kaito closed his eyes once again as he went down and started to feel gravity take its toll upon his weary body; it took all of Kaito's will to draw forth anymore energy to lift the boulder leaving him stuck at number 207 as nighttime descended upon him. "Giving up is not an option" Kaito thought as he once again squatted with the strain of the boulder on his back threatening to take him down; suddenly it became hard for Kaito to focus and he could feel himself giving way to a fall.

Just when Kaito thought that he was going to fall with the weight of the boulder on top of him, a last second burst of energy allowed him to put his foot out in front of him so that he didn't fall forward. "I can do this old man" he said with a voice that said that he really believed that he could do what he had set out to do which was in this case squat the boulder 500 times. Going this down this time though Kaito didn't feel any energy as the boulder weighed down on him nearly forcing his behind into the ground, "Come on...come on...come on...COME ON" Kaito said through gritted teeth as he jerked up and down a couple of times trying to get his body back into the standing up position. He felt himself falling forward once again and this time he was sure that he would fall dead on his face with the boulder crashing down upon him, ending his life. It seemed that it really was the end for him, but then just as he began to give in to despair he looked at the old man's face and drove upward with the boulder on his back in a last ditch effort to reach his goal. Unfortunately because he had started to fall forward, Kaito pushed up and out causing his balance to fall forward and onto the ground. The boulder came crashing down on his head knocking him out in the process of rolling of his muscled body.

+2 spirit power

About two days had passed since Kaito had done the training with the boulder and today was to be his last day before he underwent the second training of the reishi particle technique that the old man had invented to increase his spiritual power, "I wonder what its going to be like to be stronger..." Kaito wondered as he sat up in the bed. He heard the old man's footsteps as the man's uneven walk came thumping closer to the door, but Kaito made no movement indicating that he was already awake which was why the old man was coming up to the room. The door opened and the old man stared at Kaito in his raggedy wear without blinking before saying, "You have 1000 squats with that boulder to do...I suggest you get a start on it or else I'll make sure that you have 10, 000 more to do after that" the old man said gruffly before leaving. Sighing Kaito made his way out of the bed and shook his hair out a little bit so that it at least looked as if he had attempted to do something with it. As he stepped out of the house, Kaito felt the warmth of the sun hit him with rays that seemed to welcome him to the training that would mostly likely result in his death, but he didn't care since there was much that was clouding his mind today.

Making his way to the boulder, Kaito stared at it blankly, not with the usual disdain that he had come to regard the boulder with, but with absolutely no emotion at all as he picked it up, "What's wrong with me today?...I feel as though I'm empty and none of these tasks are meaningful anymore..." he realized. Hoisting the heavy boulder onto his back, Kaito grunted as the full weight of the stone made itself apparent and coupled with the added force of gravity pulling on his body as well didn't make for an easy task ahead of him. Breathing so that he could gather some focus to his being, Kaito readied himself to perform the first of 1000 squats that he had to do for the day and as he reached the point where his thighs were parallel to the ground he felt the small tension that normally built up in his muscles whenever they were exerted upon. This didn't bother Kaito, but he was worried as to how far he would be able to go with this exercise since he had barely managed to finish off the 500 that he had been given last time, "This task seems that it is going to prove itself to be impossible after all..." he thought as he pushed up wearily for his second repetition of the training. He continued pushing the limits of his body with relative ease until about noon or least that was what he thought it was because the sun was now directly over his head and searing hot as it blazed down angrily upon the land below it.

With the boulder weighing about three times what it had when he had initially started the training, Kaito's endurance was slowly wearing down between the penetrating heat and the unrelenting weight of the boulder bearing down upon him; threatening to crush him the moment he gave up. Beads of sweat rolled down his being and soaked into his clothing as his legs struggled to keep from buckling underneath him as he attempted his 100 squat which wasn't all that hard for him to do , but still sapped away at his energy. Slowly lowering himself once again, Kaito felt his lungs contract and expand with the effort that he was putting forth in order to maintain the herculean level of determination that he felt himself slowly losing as the time passed. It was in the afternoon when Kaito had managed to reach squat number 560 which was surprising to him because he hadn't expected that he would have increased his fortitude and constitution by that much in such a short amount of time. No matter how easy it was for him to reach squat number 560 though, it wasn't guaranteed that he would be able to make 1000; he had already begun to feel the lactic acid in his muscles eating away at them as if it were a poison intent on hindering from his goal.

By now the beads of sweat that were only slightly visible became rivulets of sweat that sprung from every part of his body even the parts that weren't being used in the strenuous training that Kaito was currently involved in, "This old guy always manages to come up with the toughest training I have ever seen..." Kaito blurted out as he struggled to stay standing. The slight panting that Kaito had been suffering from earlier in the training had blow into a full fledged gasping for air as Kaito continued to push his body to the breaking point in order to achieve the power that he needed to find his reason for fighting. The light in his eyes flickered as even his consciousness came to him in fleeting moments which was an indication of the level of exhaustion he was feeling, "I-I don't... think...that I have much more to give" he said with a goofy smile as delirium began to take its effect upon him. Stammering forward with the weight of the boulder on top of him quickly snapped him back to reality, but it didn't change the drained feeling that still coursed through his bones and threatened to overwhelm him in a battle of keeping his wits. The old man marched out of his house to see how Kaito was doing at around sunset, Kaito was sure that the old man had expected that he would have given up at this point, but to Kaito such a thing was impossible with what was at stake for him.

He stared at the old man with eyes that were loaded with determination as he once again descended into a seated position all the while gritting his teeth, "Kid...you...I didn't actually think that you would be so foolish as to go all the way to 1000" the old man said with his mouth slightly agape. Kaito couldn't help, but to chuckle at the idea of giving up at this point, not when he was squat number 923; to Kaito to give up now simply because he didn't have the determination to push any harder would essentially be the epitome of his existence and he couldn't live like that so he continued fighiting against gravity and the weight of the boulder. The ground seemed to shake underneath his feet as he completed another 15 squats which put his total 938 squats with the boulder, "Old man...to give up now...would be like...finding a treasure...and never unearthing to take home with you" he wheezed as he struggled to finish his 939th squat. Finally he heard a pop and then colors began swirling in front of him while at the same time he felt all the energy that he had gathered to continue pushing slipped out of his being. The last thought that he consciously remembered thinking was that he was never going to give up on something that he truly believed was worth fighting for ever again even if it mean that he would perish from the world.

+2 spirit power

(Spirit power please. Thank you judges)

Kaito was woken rudely to the old man's rough hands shaking him violently with seemingly no remorse or even attention to the fact that the young soul had just attempting to squat a boulder of incredible mass 1000 times and almost done it. He turned away from the old man's assault of words hoping that it would give the old man the message that he wasn't going to get at this point in time, but the old man's response was to curse loudly and deliver very strong smack to the back of Kaito messy head. Naturally Kaito gave up trying to fight against the old man's wake up call by choosing to sit up to hear exactly what had gotten the old man in a such a fix that he had to come and abuse Kaito in the manner that he had, "It's time for the second session of the reishi training" the old man said. Upon hearing this Kaito glanced down at his arm to see that his forearms to see that they were now riddled with goose bumps which had seemingly popped out of nowhere. It was then that he remembered what the experience had been like for him the last time that he had undergone the reishi training.

Even though Kaito protested many times to the old man saying that he needed one more day before he would really be ready to handle the full force of the training that the old man had invented from the notes of some dead scientist shinigami. The old man adamantly refused and quickly dragged Kaito out of bed then managed to push him out into the sun, "Seriously old man...your strength is ridiculous so why don't you do the training and I will monitor you?" he suggested feebly. Without bothering to respond to Kaito's suggestion the old man eventually managed to thrust Kaito into the middle of the insignia that was essential to the training and it was the same insignia that brought all the painful images flooding back into Kaito's brain. As he almost made a move to get up, the old man thrust a rugged finger in his face, "You will do this training because it is helping me to gather notes which may eventually allow me to get into the Sereitei and out of the shit hole lifestyle..." the old man said angrily. Not knowing what to say into the face of the old man's anger Kaito simply stayed put and awaited the old man to activate the training that Kaito knew would feel like hell a thousand times over.

The moment that the reaction was activated the insignia beneath Kaito began to glow in a menacing purple hue which then seemed to create a vacuum around Kaito, "This...is just like last time..." was all that Kaito had time to think before he felt the first wave of pain. Immediately as the first wave of pain was sent in shock waves through Kaito's body, he reached down and dug his fingers into the dirt in an attempt to try dealing with the pain; sweat poured out of every inch of Kaito's body. Suddenly all around him he saw blue specks floating in the air and he instantly knew that those small blue specks would be bombarding him continuously testing his will power and determination as the smashed his very being into pieces. Kaito clenched his teeth and closed his eyes as he felt his muscles expand and contracting at a rate that caused different parts of his body to grow rapidly in a painful manner to the point that he felt as if he were about to explode. He could feel his mind already trying to make any scenarios in which he could rid himself of the pain that was rampaging through his body, but he knew that none of them were possible because of the paralyzing pain that was now shooting through his body.

Rearing back his head, Kaito let out a inhuman scream; it was a scream that even he couldn't recognize as his own voice, but knew that it was also a symbol of how inhuman the pain that he was feeling was. "Being dead I shouldn't have to worry about things like pain and death or any other things of that nature, but this is almost enough to make me want to deal with living all over again..." was one of the very few coherent thoughts that coursed through Kaito's brain. Still screaming Kaito clenched his fingers even deeper into the ground as his thigh had already pumped itself to the size of a mutated watermelon and showed no signs of stopping which was what made Kaito realize that he might not make it through this second level of the training. Closing his mouth and forcing his head back down so that he was looking in the direction that his seated body was facing, Kaito tried to call out to the old man to stop the training, but found that he couldn't even use his mouth to form sentences. This more than anything else caused him to panic and he removed his hands out of the holes that they had dug into the ground as he brought them to his lips pinching them over and over again.

He was trying to see if he could get the feeling back into his lips, but he wasn't having any success in that area as the pain only served to further his worrying thoughts and Kaito began to claw at his throat for a reason even he didn't understand. Suddenly he heard the old man in the background trying to say something to him and from the tone of the old man's voice he could tell that it was very urgent or that it was something that he had done that was making the old man angry. "Hang in there boy, you are closing in on the last part of the absorption process. Don't panic or else you may accidentally force yourself into shock which would most likely result in decomposition of your own spiritual structure!" was what Kaito heard the old man say. Realizing that he had been panicking for no reason, Kaito tried to focus himself using his will power as his body continued to shake from the continuous abuse that was being rained down upon it from the bombarding reishi particles. Once he managed to somewhat separate himself from the insufferable pain that racked his body, Kaito felt a familiar light headed feeling that signaled that he was progressing into the final stages of the training session and for that he could only await impatiently.

Brilliant.

+2 to Spirit Power

(Spirit power please. Thank you judges.)

Kaito's body prickled with pain as the reishi forced its way into this being giving almost no regard for the pain that it was causing him and Kaito loathed the pain, he loathed the small flickering lights that continued to float around him injecting themselves into him without permission. He could hear the old man telling him not to panic or else he may die, but Kaito had already decided that death was far better than what he was suffering at the moment; his eyes began to glaze over as he watched more of the spirit particles bombard his body. Unlike the last time where the pain seemed to numb Kaito's body after sometime, this reishi training session only achieved the purpose of making it feel as if small, blunt needles were jamming there way into Kaito. The pain was so intense that there was a dull throb in his brain, as if his mind was trying to tell him that his pain receptors had enough torture to deal with, but Kaito couldn't do anything about the pain as he clawed the dirt with his fingers. His breathing had accelerated since the start of the training because of the force that the pain had hit him with and Kaito had noticed that as the pain had increased so did the rate of his breathing; this made him realize that at the rate things were going he may actually end up dying.

His pupils rolled up into his head as beads of sweat streamed down his face in torrents, "...T-this is...t-t-too...much for me..." he screamed in his head, but Kaito's mouth was occupied letting out an unearthly scream as his body continued to convulse with pain. Using his will power Kaito managed to focus his vision once again as he looked to where the old man was sitting cross legged staring at him intently, "What...are...you doing...Ossan?...D-don't...tell me...that you think I can do this..." his mind thought fuzzily. As the next wave of the reishi particles crashed into his body, Kaito once again stared up into the sky as the pain shot through every muscle in his body; it seemed as if his body itself would breakdown from the sheer force of the particles exploding through it. While the pain was still intense, Kaito began to realize that there was an odd sensation that was beginning to take precedence in his consciousnesses; it was as if he was no longer in his body, but rather he was merely watching the experience through another's eyes. Even as Kaito became more aware of the feeling he also realized that his body suddenly felt an exhausted feeling spread through it; it was one of those feelings that people generally were afraid to fear because of its sickly, sweet warmth.

It was at the moment that the feeling that had spread throughout his entire body that Kaito realized that it was death that was creeping through his body and attempting to take his life away from him, "No...NO, I can't die now..." he kept telling himself as he struggled to stay awake. Darkness began to creep from the corner of his vision and he knew that unless he did something that he would end up dying without ever finding the what the reason was for him wanting to stay alive; he would never be able to verify the strength of his existence. The darkness had nearly taken his vision up completely and Kaito struggled with all his might to try and feel something, anything even if it was the pain that was fine because Kaito knew that if he could feel anything it meant that he was alive. Despite all his struggling Kaito could feel the peaceful calm creep over his body and Kaito for the first time felt the true fear that came upon a person just before they reached their expiration time. As his eyelids sank ever lower Kaito could feel the weightlessness of the eternal silence that was creeping over him as he stared at the clouds above him, "I wonder...if I will ever be as weightless as the clouds that float in the sky..." he felt himself say as he closed his eyes for what he thought would be for the last time.

Although Kaito had thought he had died he still heard the noises similar to the reishi particles crashing into his body at high speed and he couldn't help wondering whether or not the particles couldn't tell when a being had no longer existed, but there was also the fact that he could hear anything at all. "How can I still be hearing things if I died already?" Kaito asked as suddenly there was a flash of light and Kaito found himself in a black voided space where he was standing upon what looked like a stained glass path way. The pathway resembled something of the windows that he had once seen in the real world when he was patrolling by a church, but it didn't help to explain why he was at such a scene when he was dead now. A light that had been in the peripheral of Kaito's vision began to throb as if it were calling out to him which forced Kaito to look up to see what exactly was happening up in the vicinity of the light, "Where I am I?...just what the hell is this place?" he wondered only to hear his thoughts echoed all around him throughout the space. Shrugging of the strangeness of the place Kaito focused on the light that was above him as he began to recognize that he had seen something similar in his mind's eye the last time that he had gone through the training.

Kaito gathered himself as he brought his feet underneath him preparing to leap through the air so that he could leap into the air and hopefully snatch the ball of light which in turn would bring him out of this dark world that he was in; at least that was what Kaito hoped for. He leaped for the first time and became immediately of the strength of the gravity that pulled upon his being as he leaped into the air as if it was hungry to swallow him into the ground if only he would allow something like that to happen. Leaping another six times, Kaito found himself hunched over breathing hard as the area around him seemed to suck the life out of him and was making it hard for him to breath despite all the training that he had done before, "I...must reach that light..." he tried to pep himself. No matter what he said to himself, Kaito didn't feel any power or resolve coursing through his veins as he attempted to gather up the strength within his weakened astro-projection. After several deep breaths in and out, Kaito pushed his chest forward and roared in to the open space as he leaped into the air once again this time escaping the grasp of the gravity, but in the end even with the reiatsu that he possessed he was able to leap up there. Even in his mind his breathing began to become heavy and he fell straight to the ground once he landed back on the ground of the stained glass pathway, "I WILL FIND THAT REASON...AND IF THAT MEANS BREAKING FREE OF THIS WRETCHED PLACE THEN I WILL DO THAT!" he proclaimed out loud to the emptiness that surrounded him.

+2 Spirit!!! Wow... You fit the qualifications to become a captain... O.O

(Spirit power please. Based upon trying to find the will to survive. That's the gist of the story here)

His chest rising and falling rhythmically as he stared above him at the light wondering how he would ever attain the strength to reach it, "....I'm so tired...even with all my struggling...don't tell me that in the end it was all futile...?" his thoughts drifted aimlessly into the air of the strange and foreign space around him. Dropping to his knees, Kaito wondered whether or not simply giving up would give him relief to the pain and tribulation that he had faced since he had entered the world of souls; it was as if some force truly wanted him to suffer to the point that he would break. Sweat dripped from his face as he looked at the ground that was made of stained glass trying to understand why he had to be the one who was always struggling just to find something that would help him understand himself and his purpose within this world. Pounding both his fists on the ground repeatedly, Kaito tried to somehow break the glass floor beneath him so that the world would come crashing down around him. The reason behind this irrational desire to destroy the place was that it would offer the young soul a sense of control, it would at least offer him the sense that maybe there was something in this world that he had sovereignty over.

To the boy's dismay the world that he was entrapped in yielded no such sense of control to him as it remained intact despite his constant pounding on the ground and soon Kaito could feel his sanity fleeting from him as he began to yell as he pounded maddeningly against the glance ground. Little by little Kaito could feel himself giving in the despair that had crept into his heart and taken a firm hold of his being and what made him become even more afraid was that he was laughing as a new person, a new consciousness began to emerge; one that was maniacal in nature. Outside of the place where Kaito was trapped within his own soul, Kaito's body continued to convulse with the bombardment of reishi particles that continued to crash into his body unrelentingly. The old man watched on with no emotion, but anyone who would have passed by would have been able to tell that he wanted Kaito to awaken from his coma more than anything else since the young boy had become much more than a chance to test his invention. Suddenly Kaito's body exploded into laughter, but not the kind of laughter that made other people want to join; it was the kind of laughter that came from a broken spirit whose heart was now filled with hatred on loathing.

The laughter escaped the mouth of the boy's body an mercilessly escaped into the sky as saliva began to drip from the sides of the mouth which the horrifying cackle was escaping even as the body was being barraged by the reishi particles and it was then that the old man became truly afraid of what had become of the young man. Back within his mind, Kaito heard a laughter that he at first had thought had been his imagination, but then he realized that it was himself that was laughing so recklessly when he looked down at the glass reflection. The person that he saw in the ground had his features, but they were twisted up in such a way that Kaito became quite sure that the person that he saw could never have been him. As if hearing his feelings towards the image suddenly it stopped laughing as its own crimson eyes donned two cat like slits for pupils, "Kaito...give in to your despair! Allow me to break free so that I...I mean you can take control of your destiny once and for!" the image called out to him. Shaking his head more in disbelief, Kaito began to back away from the spot where the image was hoping that he could escape it and then somehow make it to the bright ball of light that hung high above him.

Suddenly a hand burst forth from the ground and gripped onto the ground as if it the hand were trying to pull something out that was trapped within the ground and Kaito could only stare in disbelief at what he was seeing, "Just what is going on?" his mental self asked as he tried to grasp the situation. The laughter that he had heard from the reflection in the ground was heard once again, but this time it was louder and much more intimidating as Kaito could feel the fear beginning to creep into his being as he shook his head hoping that he was simply hallucinating. The "other" Kaito stepped out from the ground with a smile on his face, "I didn't think I would ever fucking get out of that screwed up prision you call a subconscious..." he said as he raised his right palm in the air as if to weigh it. Licking his lips, the person stared at Kaito with those same cat like pupils and held out his arms as if looking for an embrace, "Come on buddy, its the real you. Why don't ya come give me a nice welcoming hug?" he asked sarcastically. All Kaito could manage to do was tremor in the spot that he was standing it as he slowly, but in an unsure fashion shook his head no at the figure's request which was more a reaction rather than him consciously choosing to say no.

With no warning at all the figure leaped at Kaito and grasped him firmly by the shoulders drawing the young boy's face close to his own, "Why are ya afraid of who you really are? You don't like it? Can't bear to look at the you that was created by all the self pity and bitching that you stall up within yourself?" it questioned Kaito. A spiritual force that Kaito hadn't been aware of suddenly began to creep on him as if it were a living thing that was no intent of choking the life from him as the figure continued to speak, "Did you think that such weak ass emotions wouldn't come back and bite ya in the ass?" the figure questioned him again. The spiritual force took the form of a shadowy specter whose hands where creeping up to Kaito's neck while covering his entire body in darkness and where the darkness touched Kaito felt a cold emptiness; it reminded him of the feeling that he was feeling as he was striking the glass ground just moments before. Staring down in horror as the shadow seemed to be advancing up his body with a pace that would leave Kaito no time to react, the young boy tried to figure out a way to counter its progression, but fear and feelings of weakness along with inferiority prevented him with coming up with anything that would help him. Realizing the figure for what it was Kaito realized that unless he found a way to take control of himself once again one of two things would happen; he would die from the reishi particle training that he knew was the cause of all of this instability or worse yet this "other" Kaito would grow strong enough to survive it and live on as him.

I like the idea!
+2 to Spirit Power

(Spirit power please. Thank you judges)

Kaito watched in horror as the figure in front of him laughed maniacally as it pointed him, "You don't seem to get it..." the being said as they stood in the place that looked as if it were completely constructed from the stained glass that is used to make church windows. The being, who looked like Kaito, sounded like Kaito, and the young boy was sure that if he got close enough to smell it the scent would be familiar to his own, "You think I'm just some monster created from some unresolved feelings that you have stored up somewhere in your lazy mind?" the being laughed as it approached Kaito. When it was close enough that Kaito could see the truly twisted nature of the being's face, Kaito knew that there was no way that this twisted perversion of himself was his true being, but before he could fight back he felt the being's presence begin to thicken the air around him. Even while it was laughing it still exuded a nature that was still filled with blood lust as it grabbed the quivering mental projection of Kaito within his own mind by the collar, "So..." the being started to say as he brought Kaito's face closer to his own. "...what do you say I persuade you into letting me take over this miserable existence of yours...?" he said with a grin that made Kaito's eyes widen in fear as the being raised him high into the air so that Kaito had trouble breathing.

On the outside the shadows that had merely been creeping were now thick pythons that were slowly wrapping around the body of the young boy, who was still being bombarded by the reishi particles that were forcing their way into his body as the old man continued to watch the boy's body quiver and writhe in pain. The only thing that he could do was to keep the training going and hope that the boy didn't die as the training began to take its toll upon the body, but at the same time he felt the obligation to do something. Kaito's head which had been forced into an upward facing position because of the force of the training had suddenly looked back down at the old man, but there were no pupils in the eyes as the body reached out towards the old man and the lips began to twitch as if they had something to say. As the shadows made their way towards the boy's throat the began to give off a kind of black smoke as they thickened menacingly around the boy's neck. Once the boy's body was covered for the most part by the shadows they seemed to constrict his body in such a binding manner that it was easy to see that they were squeezing the life out of the boy's body despite the fact that boy's body was still resisting them.

Within Kaito's mind the figure that looked like him threw him across the ground towards the edge of the stained glass pathway upon which they stood upon with a laugh that seemed to pierce to through the darkness that surrounded in the lonely house of his mind. "Oh come on, Kaito..." the figure seemed to add fondly as he ran towards the young boy's fallen body and kicked it with anger, "What's the matter? Where is that burning desire to figure what why you want to live so badly? What about the strength of your existence?" the specter began to say as he pressed his foot on his back. In Kaito's mind it shouldn't have been possible to inflict physical pain, but the figure seemed to be the only one oblivious to this fact as he continued to press deep into the self-projection of Kaito's self within his mind, "W-why are you doing this?" Kaito demanded between clenched teeth. The being let out another howling laugh as it picked him up so that he now stood upon his feet, "I'm doing this because you refuse to acknowledge your true feelings...your true nature...like a moron!" it finished as it threw a punch the floored Kaito. Struggling to get back on his feet Kaito sat upon one knee as he attempted to gather his breath within his body once more since he was feeling the dreariness that had come with taking the abuse of specter that continued to fight him.

"It burns that you can't win my friend...that the value of your existence is going to confirmed by someone other than the weak sniveling piece of shit that is at my feet currently..." the figure taunted as he threw a downward punch towards Kaito's head causing him to collapse onto all fours. Breathing hard, Kaito could feel his consciousness submitting to the new madness that was beginning to take over him, but he didn't know what he would do if things were to go back to normal and he became unsure as to whether or not he even wanted his own identity back. The being seemed to sense his intentions and began to laugh, "So even you are beginning to see that there is really no way that you can go back to being the same miserable person that you were before..." the specter laughed. Knowing that the specter laughed at his own indecision made him feel even lower about himself than before and he could feel the darkness of the specter's presence closing upon him with vicious anger. "You know...your right about that..." Kaito said even with his mouth pressed into the glass that was supposed to used as the floor, "I'm not sure whether or not I want to continue an existence where I have no control..." the boy continued to explained.

Suddenly a new strength welled up within him as power came bursting forth, "So in order to take control of my existence..." he said as he pushed upwards against the figure's pressing foot attempting to get up so that he could face his opponent as he should have before: as equals. As he continued to get, Kaito could feel the darkness that had threatened to swallow him slowly disappearing as he could feel his confidence becoming stronger and stronger, but there wasn't all it would take for him to take back his body from this being. "...I'm going to start by taking control back from you...I'm going to take back control from every doubt in my mind of whether or not I can succeed...and I will walk out of here a master of my own mind!" Kaito said in a gruff voice as he threw the figure's foot off his back. Outside there was a noticeable change in the state of the boy's body as the shadows progression had not only stopped, but in fact they decreased in size and began to shrink back towards the center of the boy's body where they had originated from. The old man could even sense a new stronger aura coming from the boy as watched what he could only describe as a transformation of sorts with a sense of hope that the boy would survive the training and come out even stronger than he was before.

+1.5 spirit

(Spirit power please.)

Kaito's spiritual power was growing as his body continued to gather in the reishi particles, but that was the only thing that was making his strength become drastically greater for within the constriction of his own mind he was fighting the battle to take control of his own destiny once more. The other Kaito had his palms pressed against Kaito own palms and the two forces collided causing huge fluctuations in spiritual power which was demonstrated as the body seemed to convulse even more rapidly than it had been before. In his mind Kaito could feel that even with his new burst of strength that he was going to lose because his mind was weakening along with his body since it was under the duress of the reishi particle training yet he didn't want to give in to the grotesque copy of himself either so he continued to fight. Pushing with every ounce of strength that he could gather from the far reaches of his being, Kaito tried to fight back, but even with all his determination there was no power for him to fight against. Before long the being had subdued Kaito's consciousness and was beginning to take control of the mind that had once belonged to the soul of a boy that had only wanted to find out the purpose of his wanting to survive.

As the light dimmed on his consciousness, the young soul reviewed his experiences since he had first came to Soul Society only to find that it had been one hardship after another, one trial that had to be overcome followed by a series of others; in fact he even began to doubt that it would matter if he should lose himself to whatever this specter was. Just as he was about to give in permanently a certain thought made him hold on to the sliver of consciousness that he had left which was, "I survived all these for a purpose...why not survive this?". As the question began to pound deep within his soul the mental projection of Kaito found strength enough to stand up once again after having been stepped into the ground by the other version of himself which was now laughing maniacally into the vast space that was Kaito's mind. "This...this isn't..." Kaito began to force through his crushed spirit's lips, "This isn't where I will allow myself to meet my destiny!" he proclaimed to the specter in front of him as he straightened his stance and readied himself for any attacks that were sure to come. On the outside, Kaito's body continued to struggle against the force of the reishi particles binding themselves to his soul, but the old man could see that the sinister reiatsu that had been leaking out of the body had disappeared which allowed him to heave a sigh of relief.

Returning back to his own body after taking control back from his "other" self, Kaito awoke to the pain of the training still continuing in full force, but this time he didn't feel the same sense of despair that he had the other times that he had undergone this treacherous training. Although his body was pulsating with pain that sent shock waves flashing through his skull, the young soul gritted his teeth and beared it with every fiber in his being as he knew that they only way to take grasp of his destiny was to so. Clawing the ground with each passing second that the training continue, Kaito struggled against the impulse to scream out loud because of the pain, "This is one long ass training that just seems to go on and on, but I already promised myself I wouldn't give up..." he continued to cheer himself on. Even as he told himself this Kaito could feel the pain of each cell in his body screaming in agony and finally he could hold his shout in any longer as he reared his head back letting out a barbaric shout into the air. It even seemed as though Kaito could see his entire body bulging with power that was overwhelming as he continued to sit upon the symbol and absorb the reishi particles that would give him the strength he needed to become stronger.

After what had seemed like hours of yelling at the top of his lungs, Kaito finally slumped into himself in exhaustion, but it wasn't over as the particles still crashed into this skin at high speed without showing any signs of stopping, "When will this pain end?" Kaito wondered wearily. Fighting the urge to simply pass out so that he could escape the pain, Kaito gritted his teeth and attempted to shout once more only to find that he no longer had the lung strength to continue yelling at such a high level. His attempted cries were indicative of the lack of strength that he felt anywhere in his body, but at the same token he realized that giving up would mean that he would be forfeiting his will to live as well his actual life. Allowing the pain to permeate through his being, the young soul tried to distance himself from the pain that was draining his body of the little strength that it had, but Kaito felt that he had gone through difficult training before so he should be able to make it through this. Cry after cry escaped his raspy throat and he began to feel the unsettling sensation of being dizzy as he sat in one place allowing reishi particles to rain down upon him with no remorse whatsoever, but he continued to fight.

Finally after what seemed to be hours of excruciating pain that surged through the young souls being, the particles finally began to dwindle down from the savage levels of assault that the training had initially started with, "D-did I really make it through after all?" Kaito asked in bewilderment. As the last of the particles seemed to dissipate Kaito struggled to open his eyes as the sweat that dripped down his face burned angrily as the beads seeped into his eyes, but the young soul didn't even have the strength to wipe his face with his hand. Every inch of his body burned in agony as he struggled to his feet while the old man hurried over to him with a worried look on his face, "Kiddo, you okay?" the old man asked in a shaky voice. Kaito chortled a bit before glancing at the old man from the corner of his eye, "Ossan...even if I wasn't okay, what would you be able to do about it?...it would seem that each person has there own destiny so worrying about others at this point is unnecessary..." he explained to the old man coldly. In some small way Kaito acknowledged that the other side of his personality had been right since he had always tried to maintain distance away from his emotions when making his moves, but now he realized that it didn't matter that he did that as long as his goals were achieved; the young boy's thoughts swirled as his body finally succumbed to the exhaustion that had been seeping through it.