Chapter 4

He woke up panting. His head screamed in agony and his stomach rolled unpleasantly. Dark brown eyes stayed closed as he ran his scarred fingers through his spiky brown hair.

Every day, the headaches seemed to be getting worse.

Yoshi looked to the clock on his desk before sighing. To early to make breakfast. He got up and went to his desk to grab the small marble looking thing. It was almost perfectly clear with dark purple swirls that twisted around it. Madarao's real form.

Yoshi, still holding onto Madarao's orb, made his way to the training hall. When he meditated (which had become a habit since the blank state training) he took the small orb with him as something to center his mind. Occasionally he could even see and hear the spirit dog yelling at him to focus but since the shinkai had been sealed the power fueling Madarao's spirit had been cut off he hadn't been able to hold his spirit form.

His footsteps fell hollowly on the hardwood floor as he stepped out into the hallway. He paused, listening for any sounds that would let him know he'd woken one of his family members. I really don't want them to know about my headaches…and if Gramps knew I was still meditating he'd probably find some sort of training for me to do.

He opened the door to step outside. The air was still chilled from the night before and felt good on his hot sweaty skin. Yoshi again paused to listen for any sounds but the sound of soft snoring was his only response. Closing the door to the house he turned and made his way across the yard to the training hall. He wanted to try something new.

He felt a vague sense of the kekkaishi power he use to use on a regular basis…and it was building up. And usually, that's when I get a headache. He entered the dojo and pulled one of the houin training marks out. After placing it on the floor he put Madarao's orb in the center and took his place a few feet away.

Yoshi focused on the edges of the square until the edges started to shimmer. He switched his focus to the curve of the marble in the mark. The edges of the swirls sharp. This is when he focused on emptying his mind. Entering a near blank state without going all the way. He focused on pushing the pain from the headache away, pushing it out.

Yoshi was startled when he saw a sparkle around the outside edge of square. He narrowed his eyes and focused again on the familiar mark.

"Ketsu" came the quiet whisper.

Yoshi stood up abruptly making himself dizzy from the fast movement, or maybe, from the shock. There, on the houin mark, on the mark that had been a curse to him so long was a kekkai. The blue barrier a perfect square on the very edge of the mark glinting some of the light from dojo overhead.

No…"No…NO!" Shaking, Yoshi made his way over to kneel directly over the kekkai. Did this mean that the shinkai that his mom sealed was leaking power? Why was he able to do this? What about Tokine? Was she able to create a kekkai again?

"Kai!" Yoshi dispelled the barrier and grabbed both the paper and Madarao's orb. He ran into the house and upstairs as quietly and quickly as he could. His heart was racing, pounding his pulse behind his eyes. What does this mean? Yoshi ripped his shirt over his head as he entered his room. He hit the lights and turned to use the dark window as a mirror. He looked over his entire body using the window looking for the houin mark. Panic calming as he didn't see the mark of the legitimate heir on his body anywhere.

Yoshi looked down to the small ball in his hand, leveling out his panicked breathing he began thinking. If he could remember the feeling, the training on creating a shinkai and then make a small enough one he could make one around Madarao's orb. And possibly give him enough power for him to hold his spirit form.

A couple of days later Yoshi was down making breakfast when his litter brother came down quietly. The clatter of utensils and the frying pan as he rolled egg was the only sound in the quiet house. Their Grandfather was at a senior retreat and their father had come home late last night so they were letting him sleep in. Toshi came up beside and stood beside his brother not saying anything.

Yoshi glanced at his brother who stood silent watching him. He sighed and ran his hand over his little brothers hair. He knew he was feeling disappointed in his family but was trying to be understanding. He use to feel like that too when he was being trained and it seemed like it was never good enough.

"You get the notice today?" Yoshi asked quietly.

"Mm" Toshi looked down. "Today after school."

"Damn."

Toshi looked back to Yoshi at the light curse. "You have work tonight."

It wasn't a question. Toshi knew when his brothers work schedule almost as well as he did.

"We'll celebrate this weekend."

"Yoshi-nii" Toshi started quietly, "you don't know if I ev—"

"You made it!" Yoshi moved the frying pan over the plates to scrape some egg on them. "Stay positive…you made it."

He let out a quiet sigh. "Thanks big brother."

Yoshi woke up early again to head out to the dojo. He had been doing this regularly and found that going and meditating every morning was relieving the majority of the pain from his headaches. He was also getting the hang of managing his power output.

He, again, placed Madarao's orb in the houin mark and sat in-front of it. Focusing his mind and power into the orb he felt the shinkai start to form. He felt it waiver as too much power shimmered into the orb and pulled back abruptly. When he reined in his power the pain in his head spiked but he forced his mind to blank. I was so close the other day.

On Friday, after his and Toshi's celebration party, he had gone to the training hall to do some late night meditation. Yoshi thought that the almost perfect trickle of power was due to being relaxed and tired and figured he wouldn't be able to recreate the conditions of the situation but wanted to try. If his Grandfather hadn't come home at that time Yoshi probably wouldn't have gotten distracted and lost his thread of control.

Now, he focused on forming a link with the orb to tie the shinkai to it instead of anchoring it to a place. He felt and saw a spherical barrier wavering around the orb as he slowly pushed more power into forming it. As it solidified, the vague shape of the spirit dog could be seen.

"YOSHIMORI!"

Yoshi sat down with a thump and looked out the window in shock. The sun was starting to peak through. The time had gotten away from him.

"Yoshi…mori?"

He looked down into the green eyes of his long time friend and protector. He smiled.

"Madarao"