Practice makes permanent II (Arcana)

The day had yet begun as Arawn began his trek to the kido training field. It had been weeks since he promised himself to resume practicing his demon arts. Too many things had gotten in his way, mainly the workload of officer. Budgets were bad enough, but he also had to deal with attendance and progress reports. He had more authority over projects, but rarely got to take part in them. It hurt to see the lab he led over running so smoothly without him. Part of that was the already streamlined system set up. Still he could attribute it to Bryce’s and Simone’s help. They were the best assistants anyone could ask for. After lunch, he decided to visit the field and get some work done. Arawn raised his head to look at the sun shining high above him now as he walked the paved streets. Under his arm was tucked the old, but still usable kido book he had found months ago. He already had some spells in mind worth his attention; he would try his best to address them all. The rest of his trip to the area went without incident. As Arawn entered the training area, he quickly noticed that it was not as empty as he hoped it would be. It would seem that a class from the academy was currently taking a lesson. Some of the students not watching their fellow classmates bungle spells looked up as the shinigami entered. Arawn smiled weakly and gave a small wave to those who met his eyes. He only held their interest for a moment as they once again paid heed to the teacher should their turn come up next. Doing his, best avoid disturbing the group Arawn took up a spot several feet from their session.

The dilapidated book hit the ground with a thud. Arawn took some time to stretch his arms and pop his back. Doing that didn’t help with kido casting in the slightest, he just felt like doing so. With that done, he opened the book and thumbed through the pages.
“I should have used a bookmark,” he muttered unable to find the place he desired. Moments later, he recognized the words on the page. “Ah.” he exclaimed quietly. His finger ran along the paragraphs of text until they came to rest on the first on his list: Bakudo #23. His eyes scanned the spell as he tried his best to commit every word to memory. He glanced sideways at the still practicing class he couldn‘t see any of them looking his way. Still it would be very embarrassing to fail a spell in front of academy students. By the seventh reading Arawn was completely sure he was ready to try it. He stepped up to the firing line and closed his eyes. A moment later his eyes snapped open as he let his reiryoku flow. Holding his right hand out in front of himself, he began the chant.
“Four elements, forge iron, and imprison the infractor, who's endless sin must be blocked from Eden.” as the chant came to a close he flexed his fingers. “Bakudo #23: Tetsuori.” As the words left his lips, a glowing bar winked into existence in his right hand. Arawn blinked. He hadn’t expected it to happen so suddenly. After a moment of studying the strange glowing cylinder, he tried to remember the next step; he needed to select a target. His eyes locked on the target down the field and Arawn focused on it completely. To further his focus he pointed his left hand at the training dummy as the rod fell from his right hand. It felt silly to drop the weapon, but that is what the book had instructed him to do. The cylinder dropped and hit the ground, but rather than bounce and roll on it’s side the bar sunk into the ground effortlessly. A wondrous sight to say the least, Arawn half expected himself to fall into the earth as well. In less than a second the bar was gone, a half moment later something happened to the target. A rod very similar to the one he had just dropped began to rise from the ground at the target’s base. It had barely cleared the ground when another joined it, then another, then another. Twenty-four total rods rose rapidly around the target. Coming up at an angle the long bars met at a point forming a cone around the training dummy. Arawn smiled; success on the first time. The 15ft bars imprisoned the target. It was simpler than he expected, and looked a like a quite effective method of confining an opponent.

Kido Training
Bakudo #23: 781(481)/330

The bright yellow sun was warm on Yuko’s head as he silently strolled through the empty ally’s leading to his kidou class. With an almost carless stride he slowly stomped one foot after another, a small blue book bag in his arms. He had been very late for a kidou class on this sunny day, having to rush back to his room for a newly exchanged book on kidou he had recently borrowed from the academy’s library and its seemingly endless amount of books. Though he fond kidou simply “uninteresting” being naturally average with it, he seen no purpose to deeply research into its basics and master its higher capability’s. But as his teacher had instructed kidou cud be very useful in compact, and beneficial for any type of shinigami, which he fond very unlikely because most of his combat would be based around capturing specimens to bring back to his lab, he didn’t want to “kill them in one blow” as the teacher so oftenly quoted.

Ones eventually reaching the field he wasn’t surprised to see his class not notes his silent presents, the majority of them where reading threw thick textbooks or attempting simple spells, most being somewhat successful. He didn’t bother to join their social cluster and oddly stepped to the side, as he so oftenly did, leaning against the cold stone walls of the fields perimeter beginning to open his blue book bag to fish for his precisely picked dusty kidou book. It didn’t take him long before he was leafing through its deep brown pages, covered in what looked like a handwritten text with small diagrams and drawling’s. A few moment later he rose his left sleeve cover hand, beginning to focus his Reiryoku into his palm, he fettled his fingers around letting the Reiryoku dace around in his hand someone comically befor beginning to chant slowly in a dull careless tone “ ye lord… mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings…” a small red orb began to flickering into sight, growing slowly as he spoke, “Ye who bears the name of man… inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges … march on to the south. Hado number 31 Shakkaho ” the red orbs began to grow, about as big as a head now, hovering in his palm slowly rotating as it gave off a deep hum of its charged spiritual energy . He didn’t fire it though, but simply looked into its eliminated form casting a red tint of light around him and his close surroundings. The light seemed soothing to him, he simply gazed into it, holding its stability carefully without the slightest fear of it self-destructing.

He studied the freshly made enclosure for several seconds. There was sense of pride in doing something successfully; even if it was just a kido spell. A smile on his lips he tried to dispel the prison. It would seem that it wasn't that easy. The spell had made the physical objects that wouldn't vanish that easily. Arawn groaned and turned to consult the book. As he turned his eye caught view of a student student holding a red orb near his own face. He froze and did a double take. No, he wasn't imagining things the student was doing something extremely dangerous. What could be going through his head, didn't he know that his own energy could still hurt him. With a burst of spiritual power Arawn shunpo'd across the field. As he reappeared he grabbed the young man's wrist with his left hand. Forcefully he pointed the student's arm down the field.
"Release it." he grunted at the young man. "Release the spell now!" The other students stopped their practice as the shinigami suddenly appeared in their ranks and was shouting at their classmate. It would seem that none of them had noticed the young man's odd behavior. To them it almost looked like he was bullying Yuko. The student began to crowd around the two and started to murmur their concern. If any of them thought the shinigami was being mean; none of them spoke up nor tried to stop him. Arawn ignored them. He kept his gaze locked on the student. Normally his ability to sense spiritual power was severely limited. Now that he was so close to the boy he could feel the student's reiryoku. It wasn't so weak as for him to doubt the spells power. If the young man had lost control of the spell there was little doubt he would have harmed himself and perhaps the other students. The teacher barely took noticed the the class was no longer paying attention as he rambled on about the basics of spell casting and development. Imagine his surprise to see a shinigami standing there.

Yuko stud silently ominously starting at the red mass of Reiryoku, studding its pulsing form with the greatest intensity of his observation. Suddenly he felt a burst of power energy ahead of him, possibly ten or fifteen feet yards away. But before he cud react he felt a stern hand grip his wrist and lung him forward. His eyes widened with the shock of the moment, and he almost lost control of the red kidou orb in his now held out hand. His visible dark purple eye then narrowed in annoyance to see it was a shinigami who had almost caused him to kill them both, and was now scramming in his face about releasing the kidou. The man looked angry and worried, he wondered if he thought this was Yukos first time attempting and holding a stable kidou such as this. Slowly he held his arm towards a target and raised his curled fingers into a flat palm before releasing the mass of red Reiryoku at the targets in the distance. It flew through the air quickly with a shallow whistle and crashed into the target, exploding on impacts nearly destroyed the target all together. His fellow students gasped at the sight, but then went back to their study’s and attempts seeming uninterested or not willing to get involved if this shinigami was attempting to bully Yuko.

He eventually trend to face his savvier with a look of annoyance and confusion. “was that really necessary ?” he questioned quickly, looking at the man “ if you are worried I would have lost control and let that kidou explode in front of me, then you should not have so quickly pulling my wrist like that, if I hadn’t have sensed your presents at the last moment I may have lost control of it and hit you with the Shakkaho..” he said somewhat slowly, trying to get a sense of the shinigamis personality that from what he cud tell from their meeting was very forthcoming.

OOC: Although not canon, for this site most students only learn kido 1-10.

The student's statement was bothersome. He claimed to have been in complete control of the spell. It was possible he did indeed have a firm grasp on the kido. While it was good to have confidence in one's own abilities, it wasn't an excuse to be reckless. Before Arawn could formulate a proper response someone else began to speak.
"What's the meaning of this!?" the professor bellowed as he moved through the small crowd of students. The middle aged instructor was quite red with fury that his lesson was being disturbed. As he pushed the last student aside he came face to with Arawn holding Yuko's arm. He tried his best to hide his annoyance. "You there, unhand my student!" he commanded with a snap of his fingers. A few of the students giggled. The teacher had a habit of snapping, and barking orders. It wasn't completely successful, but for him to expect a stranger to respond to it accordingly. Of course it didn't work, but Arawn did break his gaze on the student to address the teacher.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude." As he slowly released his hold on the student's arm. "I was practicing over there, when I noticed this man doing something quite dangerous." The instructor looked dubiously at the shinigami and then to his student. He didn't recall having any troubles from the young man before.
"Is this true?" he asked Yuko his face scrunched up, in anger. It was obvious he didn't like to think that his students could cause any problems. The students reflected the teacher. If they misbehaved it meant that his ability as a professor was lacking. He wasn't about to admit such a thing.

A female student with short brown hair stepped forward just as the teacher made his inquiry.
"I saw him teacher! He was waving his hand around while you weren't looking." With those words the rest of the class gasped in surprise and all eye rested on her. This was exactly what she wanted she loved the attention being a witness gave her. She hadn't seen a thing, but wanted to see Yuko get punished for something he didn't do. Honestly she had nothing against the boy, it was just she didn't like him due to the moody atmosphere he seemed to radiate. Kozue was one of the more diligent, pretty, and popular students in the class. She was the closest thing one could come to nobility without being a noble. There was no way the teacher wouldn't believe her testimony. With that in mind she had to keep the shinigami from disputing her version. Stepping forward she grabbed Arawn's now free hand and pressed it between her own. "This man saved our lives, he's a hero." Standing next to Arawn she stood a good four inches shorter than him. She flashed the prettiest of smiles at the him and stealthily pressed herself against him. Some of the students cheered already believing the quickly crafted lie. Arawn was unable to respond to the awkward situation. The teacher stared at Yuko with a scowl, Kozue's reputation as a good student went a long way towards her creditability.

Yuko remained very calm and silent, watching his instructor have an emotional outburst on the shinigami who thought he saved saving him. He found it rather annoying really, how common people so oftenly lost control of there anger over the most simple of things. Although it seemed all very upsetting to him, letting this kind person who cared enough to try to save him take this outburst of rage from his teacher. He planned to explain what had happened, but before Yuko cud a girl had stepped forward from the bungle of students behind the teacher.

He had seen her before and he knew her treacheries and selfish ways. It wasn’t unlike her to trample others in her way, and bully the helpless until they were completely incapable of social interaction; he found it odd that after she did all that she was praised by the others. Yuko silently frowned in annoyance, watching her step towards them, he knew what she was going to do and really didn’t feel he needs to bother with it.

But ones she began to ramble on he found it all very cunning. Phycology being one of his favored sciences made it much more interesting for him to investigate her attempt at a lie. He grinned lightly, looking at the cheering students as she claimed the shinigami to be a hero. Truthfully though he cud have cared less for what she had blamed him for, he rarely cared what others thought of him if truthful or not. But this time it interested him. Why was she doing this? Was there something to gain, or simply her own need to center the odd person out? Slowly he stud from his comfortable leaning position on the kidou fields bordering walls, looking down at the girl as she drew closer to the shinigami who tried to stop him. He tilted his head in curiosity stepping forward. “I wonder… is it your own self gain that drives your deceptions? Or simply a need to be socially accepted bye thoughts around you, permeably ones seen as a higher rank like the shinigami you so closely embrace now?” he said in his dull dry tone, looking at her as if she was a spacemen under his microscope.

He smiled at her in curiosity, looking at her with the sinister intent of curiosity, and ten to his other classmates. He was obviously the sores of attention with most of the male student giving him dirty looks and threatening glares and the girls snickering or looking very annoyed. But he didn’t care about that; his gaze was on the girl and her attempt at bullying.

Kozue merely sneered at Yuko's words. He really was creeping with that stare. The more she looked at him the more her dislike for him grew.
"He doesn't even deny it!" she quickly pointed out. While his analysis of the girl might have been correct, he wasted his words. Rather than attack the attacker his time would have better spent trying to sway the crowd. Logic was often lost on those in an emotional state. Yuko's words had went into on ear and out the other for those of his class. They had been shocked to hear that he had made an attempt on their lives, but now that surprise faded. Anger now rose in them as they saw that he had no remorse for his actions. "This guy is sick, he should be expelled!" There were many shouts of approval from those around her.
"He's always leering at the girls in class." A girl's voice rang out, but she didn't step forward to be identified. There was no way to verify the statement or further inquire upon her.
"I my money went missing out of my desk last week." came a young man's voice again from out of the crowd, but not stepping forward. There came more shouts of all sort of strange things that had occurred to the class. Missing books, a broken window, a lost piece of jewelry. Each one blaming Yuko alone as the cause. He had now become the public scapegoat for all the misfortune that had befallen everyone. Without even a shred of proof they all began to shout and yell in unison angered by the criminal before them.

The teacher's face got redder and redder. He hadn't heard of half these incidents and to know they had all happened during his class was shocking. To hear all of this in front of a shinigami was embarrassing to say the least. Arawn was just as shocked to hear all the testimonials from the classmates. Was this boy really that much of a trouble maker? If so his earlier actions weren't that strange at all. Perhaps they were right perhaps this student should be expelled. The teacher's eyebrows twitched anger. The boy's calm appearance did little to sooth the beast rumbling in his chest.
"How dare you disrupt my class!" he yelled at Yuko. "In all my years I've never tolerated such undisciplined behavior! I have half a mind to have you kicked out and tossed into the slums!" Kozue did her best to hide the smile on her face. Things were going much better than expected.

Yuko’s calm Expression didn’t change as the girl began to talk back, but he really didn’t see any logic in her words. “my my, you are foolish” he glared at her calmly, “ I clearly said ‘is it your own self gain that drives your deceptions?’ if you had half of a logical mined you would understand my stating your deception would employ that you did intact lie, which would be me denying”. He knew logically speaking to her would be useless, but he didn’t care it was a simple observation.

As the rest of the class ranted along with her he began to understand there disliking of him, and there lack of understanding. This all really didn’t matter to him; he didn’t care what they thought they belayed, he simply watched in silence. But ones his teacher stepped in he found that the only logical thing to do would be to clarify things for his wellbeing and continuing his research as a shinigami. “Well it seems you all have a desire to team up on me, how upsetting.” He looked at the shinigami who had tried to save him sideways, “even if what all you said was true, do I really seem like the troublemaking type” he was looking at his teacher now, “ go for it, pull my records and you can see I haven’t ones misbehaved at this academy. Do you really think I would suddenly follow suet to all of these fools’ lies?” he wasn’t exactly acting in defense he simply seen no reason to allow this to go on any longer, “and if you have a hard time believing in me ask the man who approached me in the first place” he looked at Arawn with a light grin “and he can tell you what really happened”

The teacher sounded furious. Chances were he would keep to his word and have the poor student expelled. Arawn listened to the boy's second attempt to defuse the situation. From the scornful looks of those gathered it was even less successful than the first. Arawn wondered how much of the yelled accusations were true. This was his first time meeting the student, there was no way for him to know what else he may or may have not done. First impression aside he did seem quite docile at first glance. The way he talked wasn't of one that normally socialized with others. It was quite possible that most of the grievances these people had came from their misunderstanding of their fellow student. They were probably only just that accusations without even the faintest bit of proof to validate said crimes. These observations he kept to himself as the boy now tried to appeal to his instructor. The older man's face was now redder than a cherry.
"If you record is clean it probably is because you've never been caught!" The instructor retorted. It was a valid argument. "Don't try to play innocent now. Are you calling everyone a liar?"
It seemed that the teacher wasn't about to entertain the thought of listening. Was he too simply going along with the crowd? Possibly. Peer pressure of sorts. The shock of the whole incident was enough to keep Arawn from being swayed by the girl's simple words and the classes' overall pettiness. It was all slightly amusing in a twisted sort of way.

Yuko ended his argument by addressing Arawn. It wasn't a bad idea to include him further, but his words might not be any more effective than his own. Still if they did view him as a 'hero' he might be more useful than he thought. He wanted to choose his words wisely, but in their agitated state they might give those words the attention they deserved. Arawn took a deep breath and let his reiatsu pour out. The effect was immediate; everyone was quiet as the shinigami's spiritual power washed over them. While he was nowhere near the level of power high rank officer might emit, it was more than enough to subdue the angry students. All of them were instantly quiet and started at the source of the stunning force. Arawn released the breath he had taken and looked around at the sea of eyes staring at him. He coughed to clear his throat and began to speak.
"I saw this young man," his left hand gestured at Yuko. "holding a spell dangerously close to his face while the other students were practicing. While it was true he might have hurt others while doing so, in all probability he alone would have been killed by such actions." The students faces were blank and the teacher's face had gotten less red. "A no time did I see him wave said spell in a malicious manner." Arawn tore his hand from Kozue's vice like grip and gave her a small glare. "Was he being reckless? Yes. Was he trying to hurt anyone? No. I hardly think that's grounds for expulsion. " Arawn felt it best to leave it at that. With the initial incident gone the other statements lost some weight. The looks of confusion on the students faces said as much.

Yuko was somewhat annoyed with his teachers lake of understanding and simply fond it idiotic “indeed I do” he said as a reply to hi assumption of him thinking everyone in lying “and even if I was never was cote for the lies they say, and even if they were true. There is nothing of such in my records and you don’t have the power to expel me at your rank based of what these fools tell you” he sinker at the teacher, obviously testing the limits of his rage. But simply fond no reason to show formal respect to such a person who would follow the others so carelessly. The other students where shocked at his remark, which was obviously filled with suggestive tones of sarcasm, but he seen no point in showing any of them respect, they were simply scientifically illiterates to him now. “And I had full control over the kidou I manifested; if I had hurt anyone with it would have been I…”

Yuko was shocked though when the “hero” began to talk and actually didn’t take their false side, he was very clear, and seemed to be able to calm everyone very skillfully. Yuko tilted his head in interest, who cud this man be? He was obviously a well-rounded shinigami but what squad cud he belong to, and why he was so easily able to manipulate the mood of the situation with such little effort. He silently looked at him, ignoring the rest of the class. “What squad do you belong to?” he questioned t Arawan; obviously being very off topic to the others but to him it was simply fuelling his interest. Who could this odd person be?

The teachers face became another type of red as the student gave him a verbal tongue lashing. But the words of the shinigami had done a good job of calming the instructor enough to open his ears; and jump start his brain. The barrage of claims of wrong doing were a little suspicious. The fog of the anger was thinning and fear and panic were setting in. If what the shinigami had said was true, there was indeed no reason to expel Yuko. Doing so might cause some problems. It was possible the shinigami were to report the incident. After the exertion of spiritual force he had a feeling this wasn't a simple unseated crone. Who he was or how much clout he had was unknown. That thought along was worrisome. He looked from his student to the shinigami. The sea of eyes was on Arawn, but the man felt much more pressure. As he thought he now noticed even if the students were looking at him Arawn most definitely was. There was no animosity in that stare, but the instructor still had to advert his gaze. He now realized he has been speaking and acting rather rashly. The gathering of students were doing the same, having the momentum of anger stopped it was hard to start again. They realized they had been a little hasty in their actions as well. Regret formed on many of their faces as they too saw the error of their ways.

With a grunt the teacher waved his hands over his head as if quieting the already quieted crowd. The motion did get everyone's attention to say the least.
"I think it best we finish with the lesson." he said louder than he expected. "After class I'll address this matter properly." It was the best course of action he could take. With the shinigami's testimony he could only think that the When all the students had left he'd find out what had really happened from the students directly. "Anyone that wishes to a formal complain please meet with me after the bell." Making such a decision publicly could be disastrous. There were several mutterings and whispers from the student. Being a crowd was easy, but to speak as an individual was too much to ask. Gradually they began to separate and disperse their will to proceed broken. Arawn grinned at the man's cunning. If he made a formal complain alone and was wrong only he would be on the line. But if the students did provide their evidence then Yuko's guilt would be undeniable. But should it prove overturned he could blame the students. And it looked like none of them were willing to step up to that platform. The student Yuko asked him a question and Arawn's grin didn't fade in the slightest.
"Someone of no consequence." he said patting the student on the shoulder and then let the hand rest there. "Some advice: you should watch your words in the future."
The students no longer crowded around the Arawn, Yuko, and the instructor. Kuzoe had slipped away with the crowd and retreated to a corner with her friends. The mood of the class had changed. They all averted their gaze from the trio still standing by the target line. It was the instructor that spoke first.
"I thank you for you help in the matter, but I ask that you leave this student in my care." he said with a cough. The man didn't like to apologize, and did so with great effort. Raising his hand from the student's shoulder Arawn gave a small bow
"I pray this matter resolves itself." Was as he said as he made his way to the other side of the field to continue his training. He shook his head and left. It was a safe bet to assume the teacher wouldn't bother to apologize to the student after all the hassle he'd received. With a shrug he reached his training area picked up the discarded book. He'd wasted enough time on the matter, it was best to get back to work.

Yuko remained ominously silent, though somewhat confused to why the shinigami who had tried to save him so willingly followed his inserters stern orders. He had so easily manipulated the classes moods with seemingly very little effort and then followed the teachers request so willingly, it all seemed very odd to Yuko. Eventually as his class went back to there textbooks and kidou attempting he leaned agents the fields bordering walls, sliding down to a sitting position with his knees up and his textbook resting on them.

Time went bye fast with the sun slowly creeping across the sky and clouds beginning to role in, lowing the temperature slightly. the students had finished there assignments and the lesion for the day and soon after all beginning to head to there living corders, or another class. Some turning to glare at Yuko as they passed him. He however didn’t leave with the rest, and simply sat against the bordering walls reading his dusty book, leafing threw the dark brown pages slowly in sheer boredom.

He cud see the shinigami who tried to save him, yet simply didn’t no he hade full control of his kidou in the distance practising his own kidous. Yuko still seemed a bit interested in the mans whereabouts thought, and what squad he cud possibly belong to. The clouds rolling in began to darken slightly making the air fill with thick moisture. Yuko sat there alone in the silent’s reading, looking up every so often at the shinigami in the distance, his interest growing.

He tried his best to put the whole incident behind him by working on more spells. The dirty old tome lay open and ready, its spells waiting to be mastered. Arawn sighed and put his mind to the task. Before the interruption, he had just finished performing Bakudo #23. Arawn planned to proceed to the next one. The 24th seemed very impractical at first glance; magnetism spell. Hollows weren’t known for using metal weapons. Such a spell would only function against a sword wielding shinigami. Perhaps there was a deeper meaning to the spell than that, but Arawn couldn’t fathom it. Once more, his eyes scanned the page and committed words to memory. He stood once more before the target area and released his reiryoku clasping his hands together in deep concentration.
“Pull of the Earth, shroud me with thine energy and repel from me biting steel! Bakudo #24: Gyaku Jisei.” The released energy vanished as if consumed. Arawn looked about expecting some kind of flash of light, but nothing. He stood there silently look for some sign the spell had been successful. Maybe he had done something wrong, but he could swear he felt his energies taken by some enchantment. Within moments, the feeling faded. He bent over and retrieved the book. No, all the words were right. All that he had to do was focus his energies after the chant. The dusty tome said nothing of any visual manifestations. Not very helpful in the slightest. He gave a sigh and tried again. “Pull of the Earth, shroud me with thine energy and repel from me biting steel! Bakudo #24: Gyaku Jisei.” He took care to enunciate each word carefully as he reiatsu blasted at full power. The power once more disappeared as the chant ended. There was no doubt the something had happened, but no way to know if the spell was in fact working. With a grunt, he dropped his hands and let the fall to his sides. His left hand hit the hilt of his zanpukto and tsuba dug into his side. Arawn slapped his own face with his palms. He needed something metal! Once the spell had faded, he removed his weapon from his hip and placed it on the ground. He gave the sword a glare as he repeated the spell for a third time. Again there was outward sign of the spell being done other the drain of his reiryoku. Very slowly, he bent down and reached for the metal sheath. As his hand got close, the sheath moved away. He tried again and still the sheath moved just out of reach of his fingertips. Arawn gave a small grin and lunged for the weapon and the sheath literally hopped away from him. For several moments, Arawn attempted in vain to pick up the weapon. All tries to do so failed and move the metal weapon away from the grasping hand. And so he moved about like a man trying to pick up a slippery bar of soap a smile on his face all the while. Finally, the spell faded and Arawn grabbed the weapon and placed it back at his hip. It was at this time he realized how silly such a thing might have looked to anyone watching. As he glanced about, he noted that the students had all, but left. They were all probably too busy to notice his foolery. With a shrug, Arawn returned to his book. There was still some time, he needed to practice more spells before it got dark. His stomach growled, the repeated castings were already taking their toll on him.

Kido Training
Bakudo #24: 606/340

Yuko read threw his book of old kidou’s most hado which for some reason bothered him, but most of his reading at this point was simply based of boredom. Still looking up every minute or two he watched the shinigami attempt many kidous, repeating there chants over and over. He found it all very ironic, the man questioned his own capabilities yet when observing someone who was in control attempted to stop him based on a first glance of fear of Yuko killing himself with a simple kidou. He watched as he struggled with a kidou yuko had never seen before, at first it looked like his charged up energy was a waste, and there was no visual evidence of his casted spell. But eventually he seen the man placed his own sword down and recast the spell, with the movement of his hand the sword went flying in the opposite direction. Yukos eyes narrowed in confusion, this was obviously a magnetic spell he cud tell that much but he didn’t understand its purpose. Why would such a spell be invented for a shinigami when there main task is to kill hollows who rarely if ever use metal in their arsenals. His interest in the subject grew like a wild fire and he eventually stud with his book how held agents his lower chest bye his sleeve covered hands. He slowly walked towards the shinigami, though made an effort to stay out of his view, he didn’t want to be seen approaching for some reason yet it was unlikely he wouldn’t be in this now large empty field.

once eventually about 5 yards behind the shinigami yuko spoke up slowly, “ what an interesting spell…” he was oddly kind of shy, which was normal in his case but he didn’t care he only wanted to no more about that certain spell. “ what particular spell was that?” he questioned the man curiously.

Arawn's ears perked up as the quiet voice intruded upon his thoughts. It would seem that one of the students has a passing interest. To his surprise it was the student he had stopped from possibly hurting himself.
"If it isn't the troublemaker." Arawn said aloud upon recognizing the young man. He gave a small smile as he dusted his hands off. He thought that was the last he would see of the lad. The teacher was probably waiting for him in his office. This was hardly the time for him to stop and fraternize. Arawn shrugged.
"A magnetism spell apparently." He said answering the boy's question. "Bakudo #24 to be exact." As he mentioned it, he wondered how long the boy had been watching him. Was there the whole time seeing him chase his scabbard across the ground? It must have been a very amusing sight. If he had seen such a thing the student showed no sign of it. He tried his best to hide his reddening face at the thought of knowing someone had indeed been watching. Arawn could only guess that the young man was more interested in the spell than the shinigami's strange actions. Already he could feel his ears burning from the embarrassment. "If you stick with your studies I'm sure you'll be able to use such a spell."

Yuko tilted his head letting his banging fall to the side revealing his odd poison green left eye. He cud tell from the man’s exception that he thought of Yuko as if he was a hoodlum, one of the scientifically alliterate fools he found so useless to this interesting world. But this didn’t really concern Yuko; he didn’t care much of what the man assumed of him. Though he found it strangely odd that the man had failed to see even bye his speaking that he was much smarter then he looked.

But as the man went on about the kidou he seemed to think Yuko was simply asking such a question in attempt of a greater understanding of this spell for his own self benefit at manifesting it himself. He found this somewhat insulting in his own twisted way but didn’t show any trace of emotions based on it, and only waved his sleeved hand up and down as a jester of annoyance. “ No no, your misunderstood. I simply wished to get a greater understanding of this kidous purpose… After all it isn’t likely to find a hollow who uses metal weapons that this kidou would have use for” he sighed looking at the man’s sword he had only moments ago successfully demonstrated the magnetic kidou on, “ it just seems all very odd, if I didn’t know any better I would say this kidou is for battling other Shinigami…” his dull tone broke into a light grin as he looked back at the shinigami.

So it would seem the lad had come to the same conclusion; the spell might have been intended for combating shinigami.
"That's an intelligent observation to say the least." Arawn said as he picked his thick book. "But it may have not been the intended purpose." He thumbed through the tome without looking at the pages. "All these spells were made by the Kido Korps, must like the 12th squad I figure they developed them over time through trials and errors. All these spells perhaps it was merely a by product of their research?" Something like the magnetic repulsion spell could be just a stepping stone for other spells. There was no denying that when used during a fight the spell could work better against a shinigami, but it could have other applications. Maybe if it was used in tandem with another spell it's true potential would be revealed.
"We only have ourselves to practice with and this spell came into being from a sparring session." It was very possible. Necessity was the mother of all invention, so a spell to repel weapons might have been born from a sparring match. Arawn had noticed there were alot of spells that used fire and few the used water. There were light based spells, but few that used shadow. "What was made reflected what was needed at the time. " Arawn finally looked down at the book in his hands. He had turned too far and lost his place. Quickly he tried to turn back to the previous pages. "But that's all just theory, there's no way to know what they were thinking when making the spell." he said finally. "I try not to think of why they made it as to how I can use them."

Yuko sighed but somewhat understood the man’s explanation, “well yes but as you know most kidou where developed long ago, it isn’t like there’s a new one every day. And a higher purpose would most likely make sense in this case, but at this point we can only assume that this spell is very useful when it comes to fighting someone with a sword.” He grinned, “And why not look into why the spell was made? Greater understanding is very necessary for further development” he looked down at the closed dark book in his hands, wondering why some kidou merely focused on a certain elements or type of sprit summoned essence like fire or lightning. He found it all very byist truthfully, which is why he didn’t spend much time on kidou, he found most of their lower leveled spell to simple. “What I find troublesome is the lake of originality in theses kidou spells” he flipped through the first few pages of his book. “there all just repetitions of the same basic fire or lightning spell…”

He sighed ones again and looked back up at the man grinning, “ so then, random question but what squad do you belong to shinigami?”, he questioned trying his best to sound very polite, the man sounded like a very informed pension and that was a good trait Yuko thought.

Again with the question about squads. Why was it so many students were fixated on such things? So like always he decided to just lie to the young man.
"I'm currently unassigned." he said after a brief pause. "I figured if I improve my kido skills might help my application to a squad." It wasn't too uncommon for people to show their skill during routine training exercises and being scouted by a particular division.
"If a patrol comes up I'll have a chance to show them what I'm made of." he said as he turned more pages through the book. "The 1st or 7th squad perhaps. I never really thought about it." He had heard rumors about all the squads, but knew almost no facts about them. Arawn had the joy of fighting the 2nd squad captain, he had a general idea of how such a man might run a division. What squad this kid wanted was anyone's guess. From his attitude you'd think he wasn't cut out to join any division. He didn't seem the type to work well with others. Nor did he seem the very active type. Those were two traits one generally didn't need in a shinigami. Was there really a lack of possible shinigami that such people were given a chance of joining the 13 Gotei. It was possible with more training the student would change, but that was doubtful to say the least. His stomach growled again. The temptation of skipping his practice and going to lunch growing by the second. Arawn tried his best to push the hunger out of his mind and yet it came back to gnaw away at him. At best he had enough in him for one more spell, but which one. Looking down at the page there were several decent spells that wouldn't take long to try out. Arawn's eyes rose from the page as he gave the matter some thought. His gaze fell on the student before him and small grin came to his face. "Since you're here, would you like to assist in my training." It was possible the young man would say no. After all he didn't know Arawn, thus could not trust him. Who knows what spell he might cast on the unsuspecting student. Even if he didn't agree to help the spell could be used against the target down the range. Of course that would rather boring.

Yuko’s mismatched eyes narrowed at his reply. He wasn’t a fool and he new a shinigami at his level with the amount of control he showed bye calming the class with his Reatsu was not common for a un-squaded shinigami. But he brushed it off and didn’t feel like nagging him about his suspicions statement.

He eventually nodded slowly, “ I guess ill help you” he said in dull under toned grin. He flipped threw his large dark book at many Hado spells that he fond boring. He wasn’t really fond of kidou to begin with, he would much rather spend his time in a Lab rather then on theses fields. But this man was interesting and he found it reasonable to stick around and learn what he cud from the man. After all kidou cud be very useful in combat. He stepped closer to the shinigami, still looking down at his deep brown paged book with a somewhat intent look of his face. “ what spells have you planed on attempting ?” he looked up at the man threw his parting purple hair. He kind of frond though, he wasn’t his best today after all; sleeping in and being late for class then being yelled at bye his fool of an instructor. Yuko found them all very extra incompetent today, but built it in himself to tolerate this man for as long as he cud. Hoping to gain some knowledge of the suspicious aura of deceit he gave of after talking to him.

The student was quick to agree and Arawn couldn't hide his surprise. It would seem he had sparked the young man's interest or perhaps just his curiosity. Either way he had a living target to practice his skills upon. He felt a small twinge of guilt as he eyed the many spells he could try out on the willing student. Quickly came the moral and ethical voice telling him the obvious choice would be to avoid a Hado spell. Using an attack on a student would be just wrong. There was a strong possibility that it could end up killing the young man if not severely injuring him. That was something he would like to avoid as all costs. A bakudo spell it would be. Those would be much safer by far. Still he wanted to try something interesting at the very least. One such spell grabbed his attention and he decided it was the best one. Nothing harmful, the student could probably survive it.
"You won't have to do much." Arawn said as he took several steps back cradling the book in his right arm. After there was adequate distance between himself and the student he looked at the book once again to learn the words. He stood in silence repeating the words to himself many times. Finally he looked up that young man and smiled. "Ready?" he asked, not caring how the boy answered as he began to let his reiryoku burst forth.

His right hand still clutched the old kido book while his left hand pointed at Yuko. Arawn's stomach gurgled, but he ignored it. Focus he told himself mentally and began his chant.
"Mother Earth, answer my call and punish this offender with your limitless power. Bakudo #43: Earth's Fatal Embrace." His reiryoku diminished as the spell activated the ground began to rumble at Yuko's feet. The even ground suddenly rose around the student bubbling as if someone was pushing it up from beneath the surface. Arawn could feel the vibrations from where he stood. But then the shaking stopped and the ground quickly returned to it’s normal level. Arawn felt his knees give out from under him and he fell forward dropping the book from his hands so he could catch himself. For a minute he sat there on his hands and knees taking deep breaths. Quickly Arawn raised his hand to keep the student where he was.
“I’m fine.” he added to reassure the young man of his status. He felt very light headed, even as he thought he should take it up later, he decided to continue. That had been so close to being perfect. Slowly he rose to his feet and took another moment to take a deep breath. Bending over he picked up the book and looked at the chant one more time. Arawn then tossed the book to the side and clapped his hands together like he was praying. The reiatsu exploded around him as he put his all into the spell. A thin golden glow outlined his body. His eyes never left Yuko’s position.
“Mother Earth, answer my call and punish this offender with your limitless power.” Slowly his shaking were raised them above his head. “Bakudo #43: Earth's Fatal Embrace." As the words ended Arawn dropped to one knee and slammed both of his palms onto the ground. The glow around his body vanished and the ground at Yuko’s feet exploded like a geyser had just gone off. Dark mud surged forth and swirled about the unsuspecting student like a snake. It spun as it rose around his feet. Swiftly it moved to cover and entrap the target. Arawn watched the mud’s work from afar a faint smile on his face. As amazing as it was to behold it was probably very shocking for the student to experience. He slowly stood up stood; ready to dispel the kido if the student decided he'd had enough.

Kido Training
Bakudo #43: 640/530

At first Yuko stepped back in shock when hearing the Kidou spells number, his eyes narrowing soon after. There was no way a shinigami who was un-squaded would be capable of a 40s level spell. But his questioning was silenced when the man casted his second attempt at the spell, one which Yuko hade never heard of before. The ground under him began to pulls and before he cud proses what was going on fast moving mud shoot from under him slowly encasing his body. His eyes winded at the sight, this was indeed an interesting kidou that he knew nothing of. “How… unexpected” he snarled under his breath, trying to pull himself free but failing

He figures sense the man had simply begun before laying out rules that it must have been a spare, and began thinking of a way he cud possibly escape this kidous grasp. It was obviously earth and water elementally, which meant the few spell he had mastered would be useless in disabling it, lightning spells would only harm him rather than free him, and the rest where to low of a level to remove this troubling mud. He sighed deep fathoming that his only chase was offence in this situation. He grinned devilishly and pulled his right arm free from the mud pointing his index finger in Arawns direction. His body slowly pales with his dark purple Reiryoku. “hado number 4, Byakurai” he kind of whispered the spells name as his finger lit up in white light, soon after erupting into a thin straight lightning bolt flying towards Arawn. The spell was not that strong, after all he didn’t recite the sprit chant but overall it would be damaging to most.

The spell as working perfectly. The mud was slowly consuming the student it would seem Arawn was completely successful in it's casting. He watched as Yuko raised his hand and pointed at him. Was he giving up? Imagine his surprise when the young man released the spell at him. Surpise would have to wait, Arawn dove sideways to avoid the energy bolt. He had felt the student's spiritual power and knew he was stronger to some extent. Unfortunately in his weakened state it was doubtful he could manage a proper defense. A simple spell from an acadmey student would be enough to do some serious harm. The white lightning arched over him while he forced his head down out of it's path. The bright light faded and Arawn looked up. Here he was trying to avoid harming Yuko and the boy had nearly done him in instead. With a groan he rose to his feet and dispelled the moving mud. The animated dirt stopped instantly. For a second it hung in the air frozen, then it fell to the ground lifeless in puddles. The mud that had attached itself to the student clung to him like normal mud would. The spell was meant to encase the target then harden. It would seem by ending it early it merely reverted to it's natural state. Since it was actual mud it didn't vanish like magic either. Arawn rubbed his chin as he took these facts in. Very interesting, now he turned his attention to the student.

"Well I'll say that worked well." he said simply enough. The other man's uniform was ruined. As he spoke clumps of mud fell from the student's body. He did his best to suppress his chuckle. He had thought to yell at the man for almost killing him, but at this point he felt they were even. He should have told the student to say something when he wanted the spell to end, but hadn't. So technically Arawn was to blame, still there were better methods of getting his attention. "I think I'll end my practice there. I thank you for your help." He gave the student a very deep bow like one gives an opponent after a sparing match. Arawn quickly scooped up the old kido book and walked towards the field's exit. He stopped and turned around."The teacher wanted to see you after class, right? I think you should go change before seeing him. I'll go to his office first and tell him you'll be late." With the book in hand the shinigami left the field and headed toward the Academy's main building. He would be sure to tell the teacher what had happened and also make sure no real complaint was levied against the strange young man. It was the least he could do at this point, he felt guilty for getting him all dirty like that. Still he marveled the student had managed to break the hold of a 40's spell long enough to fire a counterattack. The boy had some potiental. With a grin Arawn hurried toward the main building. The sooner he did this the sooner he could grab some lunch.

Yuko was shocked to see how fast the man hade dodges his spell, but his surprise quickly turned to annoyance when he released his binding spell and Yuko noticed the mess his academy uniform was in. he sighed deeply and tried to pick up his book with his now muddy sleeve covered hand. It wasn’t long before the shinigami thanked Yuko and walked of the fields reminding him about his teacher he fond very annoying. Yuko was somewhat shocked though, the man had only casted one spell and he thought this would have turned into a sparring match. He shrugged though and eventually left the Kidou training fields to head back to his room and change into a cleaner uniform.

It took him about 20 long minutes to reach his living corridors and change, and then finally head back to the Academy’s large head building, which he would have been at much sooner if not having to change. He passed by little students now, most in classes or on their lunches. He on the other hand was done with classes for the day, and rarely fond the need to eat so simply did his best to head to the academy’s head building before his teacher got any more annoyed.

He eventually reached the large formal building and stepped in slowly. The halls where very clean and plan filled with more teachers then students at this time of the day. The large red symbols printed along the seemingly endless doors read the names of academy instructors, which lead to each of their individual offices. One after another Yuko slowly read the names on the doors, looking for his kidou instructors. Soon after he found it at pretty much the end of the long dull hallway. He sighed a moment before opening the heavy door and stepping in.

Kidd-holmes, approved.