Draze's Tale. (Solo)

This is a solo character development, and will take place over many areas of Soul Society, and thus has been placed in the General area. Please, no touchie, only lookie. PM me if I got something even slightly wrong, as I’m making a lot of guess work with the mechanics of reitsu and such. I plan to continue this as Draze advances, and though it may not look it, it will have a storyline of sorts. By the end, I hope to have Draze achieve Shikai.

[url=] [/url]

Dojo 5C
Just out for a stroll.
Hollow Hunt, Accidental trip to Earth
Wooden zanpakuto training.
Field Trip.
Continuation of Field Trip
Post One
Duel with Sho.
Duel with Garin. Wood chucking episode.
Mission One. the Broken Gates.
Post two
Saying last goodbyes. Also throwing stuff at people.
On the way out of the academy.
Gathering supplies for personal mission.
Post Three

Post One
Draze appeared to be sleeping, his eyes closed, his chest slowly rising and falling, but he was struggling to master his latest skill. His mind was expanded as he tried to sense the wash of reitsu that permeated Soul Society, filled with the swirl of individuals going about their daily business. His aim was to be able to pinpoint many different variables about this information, and himself. He had been assigned this task when he had discovered that he had a talent for sensing reitsu, something that had been pointed out by a teacher when a similar but infinitely easier version of the exercise Draze practiced was done in class. Draze was glad he had something he could excel at now. His kidou practice was dismal, while his swordsmanship and fitness was labeled ‘satisfactory’ by most. If he succeeded in this task, he would become noteworthy, someone that would be useful to have tag along.

So far, the exercise was advancing slowly but steadily. Draze could sense the reitsu’s of people in the entire academy, and a bit of the surrounding grounds, with great accuracy. He could tell where people were, if they were practicing exercises where their reitsu flared, or stealth programs where their reitsu dimmed. Draze saw it all like one who sees’s fires from a distance. Teachers and visiting shinigami were bonfires compared to the average student’s campfires, while the hidden one’s seemed as candles to him. Draze could sense his own reitsu, released from him like body warmth, and noted it to be on par with the average student. This focused his mind. If he could not specialize in power, he would focus on techniques, and he tackled his task with renewed vigour. Expanding his senses, his view of the reitsu of the area beyond the academy’s gates dimmed greatly, and he could not make out anyone’s signature reitsu, and could only hazard a wild guess at individual’s power levels. Still, his focus grew with every day, and he knew he would soon be able to sense a much greater area than now. Returning to the academy, Draze spent hours locating and counting those who were hiding their reitsu’s for whatever reason. It was like looking for a shooting star amidst blinding light, and he could only count four students and one teacher who cloaked their presence in the entire academy, which he knew fell far short of the real figure.

Breathing deeply, Draze awoke from his false slumber, and moved onto his next and final exercise. It was his turn to practice the hiding technique something he was also quite good at. His emitted reitsu faded as Draze focused on keeping it within his body, and, like many times before, he felt a small spark develop inside him as his reitsu built up. From past experience, he knew the spark would grow a tiny amount, and then stop as it reached the maximum reitsu he could hide. From testings in class, he knew that this was basically all of his reitsu at the current time, and it would grow easier with practice. Already, he could be barely sensed by most students, and many teachers would need a moment to locate him. The trick was to do one of two things, as had been explained in various lessons. A shinigami either hid all of his or her reitsu, making them still sensible as a void in everywhere except the real world, where no reitsu floated in the air at all. This allowed a powerful shinigami to sneak up on an unsuspecting victim, as the victim would not be able to gauge the power level of the approaching figure, and thus would be unable to decide to stay and fight or to flee the approaching danger. However, for true stealth, and the method employed by most advanced shinigami, was to match their reitsu output to the surrounding environment, notoriously difficult with the swirling mix that was reitsu. A student walking past Draze’s door would upset the balance of reitsu in his room for quite some time, like a boat leaving surf in its wake. Still, Draze practiced, and grew slowly closer to achieving stealth.

Draze's stomach sunk into the pits as he saw another shinigami carted in through the doors of the 4th squad. He had just gotten out of there, with merely a few injuries, and it seemed the 4th squad were all working overtime. The last mission, involving the closed Seitirei gates, had taken it's toll, and many unseated and low-seated shinigami had been serverly wounded or killed. Draze, a mere student, had been lucky to survive.

Back at the academy, Draze could not focus on his classes. Deep in thought, he pondered his existance. He was a departed soul, gifted with limited and small powers, to battle a menacing and hidden evil that surfaced as Hollows. There were countless numbers of such creatures, and Draze had been bested many times by all but the smallest of them. Stronger, wiser and luckier shinigami then he had faced a gruesome end when they graduated, facing the real world and much stronger Hollows. As a student, Draze was (relativly) safe, but the summer drew near, and his final year was coming to an end. If all went well, and his growth in power continued, then Draze would be accepted into one of the thirteen squads, to battle Hollow many time's more powerful then him.

Draze felt powerless, and he knew why. Even younger, and more inexperianced students, had heard their zanpakuto. A whispered word, a faint image, or a sense of an emotion. From his own, nothing. While his reitsu seemed to be level with those around him, and it's growth was steady and normal, he lagged behind when it came to communicating with his zanpakuto.

Draze, mulling over thoughts of his immenent demise, had an idea. He turned in his seat towards the classroom window, and watched the students who filed past. Most were younger than him, but one or two were far older. They were the weak shinigami, students who's reitsu's did not grow past student level. These people could not graduate, as an ignoble death awaited them outside the sheltered academy, as they could not even fight. They were trapped in a life of janitor and servant status. This was Draze's key out.

Later, in his bedroom, Draze implemented his plan. As if he was practising stealth, he weakened his reitsu aura slightly, and felt the faint spark flicker into existance in his being. With an effort, and due to his practise over the past few weeks, he managed to lock away this reitsu, and any reitsu that flowed out from the natural growth in power level. For now, his reitsu remained constant. He could never graduate.

He was safe.

"Stop." This is good enough." the Old man said, sitting upon a rock by the overgrown path, aided to his seat by Kain. He drew out a long roll of parchment while Draze watched passivly. "I can open the Senkai gate here. It will only take a few moments." That bieng said, he began reading the scroll and muttering to himself. draze sensed a large spike in reitsu from the man, before it dissapeared again..
A former shinigami? A failed student? Who is this man?" Draze pondered.
with a rush of wind, a door sized swirling portal opened in front of the man. The surface was completely opaque, but seemed to shift beneath his gaze.
"This leads to the outskirts of Karakura Town." the old man said, kain already helping him to his feet. He stared at Draze. "I don't know why you want to go there, but i would reconsider if I were you. There are all sorts of Hollows there, and you are merely a student!"
Draze looked down at his waist, where his zanpakuto glistened in the fading sunlight. Then, for a moment, he dissapeared into the shadowy realm that was as close to his inner world he could get. there, he saw his reitsu, normally absent from thsi space as it flowed from his bosy normally. But as he kept some reitsu permanently hidden, it was stored and built up here. Right now, it was barely more than a candle. But he could sense it growing as more and more reitsu was locked away to keep up the facade of his frozen student state.
"If I don't go, I'll never be more than a student."
Before the old man could reply, he stepped through the portal.

Rushing wind and darkness only pushed back by the glowing path at his feet were the only things that greeted Draze within the middle dimension. he took a step forward, but his foot met no resistance, and he almost fell into the abyss below. Pulling his foot back, his mind reflected back to classes on travel between soul Society and the real World. Something about a reitsu path.

He tried channeling reitsu, as if he was about to use kido, into his right foot, and then stepped forward. A glowing footpath appeared where his foot landed, shimmering faintly, threatening to break.

He began to sprint, path lasting only for a second as he ran. he saw grey light ahead, and headed for it.

Bursting through the portal, he felt a new wind rustle his clothes, a wind more natural. The portal closed behind him. He was in The Real World.