Yoruichi led Isana through the basics of kido while I cooked dinner, and I had to admit to feeling privately impressed with how fast she picked up the basics. I still struggled a bit with understanding the nuances of them still. It often felt like, no matter how hard I worked at it, my skills in that area always improved at a snails pace, if they even improved at all. In the Academy they'd taken to calling me "old Charcoal" at least until I caught and beat the crap out of enough of them to get them to stop.

:Maybe now things will be different,: I thought hopefully.

I'd laid all of my inner demon's to rest, and my reiatsu wasn't nearly so hard to control so...

"Where are you going?" Isana asked as I gave the little forest critters roasting over the open fire one last check before I rose to my feet and headed towards the edge of the camp.

"I'm gonna go do a little practicing of my own," I replied.

I didn't want to admit it out loud, but I was very curious deep down, to know just how powerful my reiatsu attacks could get when i went all out. So far, I'd only opened up four of my chackra's the remaining two chakra had never even once been touched, and I wanted to know what was in 'em. I was good enough with the shakahou to test it out using that, so...

"Be careful," Yoruichi cautioned.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered as I paced off into the woods to find a good spot to practice by myself.

I found a nice little clearing in the woods where the strange goldish-colored moonlight from two moons shone down on me from the break in the tree branches. Figuring that I couldn't hurt if I centered my thoughts a little bit first, I pulled out Zabimaru and ran through a few of the sword-dances with him first, opening my first chakra and pulling out the energy in a steady even stream and sending it spinning neatly through my meridians flowing throughout my body. This was what a person who was good with kido would be able to do naturally with all of their reiatsu. I'd never tried moving all of my kido through my body, I got up to about the third chakra and all that energy flowing through my channels started looking for a way out. It pulled and popped and fizzed and struggled against the restraints of being forced to flow consistently through the channels in my body like a wild thing. Practicing with Zabimaru while trying to maintain an even flow to my reiatsu seemed to make things go smoother for me, so that was what I generally did.

:Ya think I'm ready fer this?: I questioned my blade as I widened my stance and sank my wieght into ready position, the reiatsu from my lowest chakra coiling warmly in my belly like fine whiskey.

::No,:: baboon King Zabimaru replied with a tired sigh. ::But I think you are going to try it anyway. You always do. At least this time don't start off with the highest level, work your way up.::

Well, that was good advice at least. I nodded to myself and pushed the sluice-gate of my first chakra all the way open, pulling out the power before it could even start to rush and sending it in a carefully controlled stream throughout my meridians. I very carefully envisioned the pattern-shape of the kidou spell I wanted to perform in my mind, a small knotwork geometric of lines of power weaving out in a spiral reminiscent of a spiders web. When I was certain that I had the correct image of the spell in my mind, I pulled on one of my main meridians and ever so cautiously began to weave the meridian into a mirror image of that pattern. I [aid painstaking attention to the details of the pattern, something that I rarely ever did, normally I just knotted up the meridian into as close an approximation as I could whip up on the fly, recited the chant or (more often) just shoved raw power into it and turned it loose. This time I made sure to get the lines of power that formed the structure for the spell perfect then I began to recite the chant.

"Oh ruler, mask of flesh and blood..." I chanted, attentively forming each word inside my mind.

I could never figure out what the hell the chant was supposed to mean exactly, Momo had once tried to tell me something about the spell calling on elemental powers outside of our spirits, using our own spirit powers as a channel to work our wills with, but I never really understood it. All I knew what that it worked (most times).

Indeed, as I progressed through the chant, I pushed power into the pattern I had formed in my mind, force and energy blossoming out from the center of the pattern and racing out along the lines of power like a ripple on the surface of the water. Instead of the power struggling and pulling, trying to escape this time, the power flowed in in an orderly way, flowing smoothly out into the spell.

A neat orb or red fire formed perfectly in front of me, not even trying to burst free for a change. I almost lost control for a second as a feeling of elation welled up within me. I was doing it! Before the spell could falter I refocused my concentration and put my mind back to the spell.

I felt a coiling in my gut as i reached the end of the incantation and the power started to gather and stretch the lines of the spell, seeking a way out. This is where I usually had the most difficulty, but this time, like pulling back an arrow and releasing it, I let the spell fly at my target with a shout of

"Shakkahou!"

The orb of red fire burst forth from my flattened palm and roared through the air, for once not veering off its path or wobbling and falling short. The cairn of stone I had aimed at exploded with more force than even I had been expecting and I had to duck a little to dodge the debris from the blast. I felt a grin stretch its pleased way across my face as i surveyed the results of my success. I'd never managed any results so well or so easily.

:Okay!: I congratulated myself. :Now, without the chant.:

I summoned up the same pattern in my mind, pushing and pulling my meridians into the remembered shape, and shoved a wave of power into it with roared outwards from the center, more like an explosion than a ripple. The orb of red fire materialized in front of my flattened palm instantly.

"Shakkahou!" I shouted.

The war cannon burst away from me, not quite singing me, but stinging a little with the backlash of its release. It destroyed the next pile of stones I had sighted. It wasn't quite as powerful at the one I had performed with the chant but it wasn't so bad. A person couldn't tell by looking anyway. To get in a real practice, I fired off a few more shakkahou's, just to make sure I had it down before I proceeded.

I unlocked my second chakra, sending the additional power of my bound reiatsu spinning out to join the power from my first chakra of my meridians. It was a little more difficult to control, but I had gotten better at it over the last few days what with the battles and my practicing with Zabimaru. I formed the spell, chanted while let power flow into the patterns of it and released. I could feel the difference in power right away, the red flame cannon was less a deep crimson and more of s scarlet with contained power. The power also quivered a little inside the spell pattern, the ropey lines of power pulling just a trifle with the less controlled reiatsu spiralling through them. I needed better control. For the next two releases of the spell, I concentrated on getting the energy to flow smoothly into the pattern. After about a half an hour of steady practice, I felt that I was ready to try opening up the third chakra.

The Shakkahous that followed the release of the third chakra were even more difficult and I had to forcibly strain to keep the lines of force in the spell from pulling out of their set patterns and disrupting my spell. The reiatsu pulled and pushed, straining against the constraints I'd put around it. The shakkahou's I released the first few trials were more what I was accustomed to when I worked with kido, crude, difficult to sight and keep on target, and sending a nasty little backlash my way when I released them. But when they did land on target... whew! Let me tell ya, they were impressive! They not only obliterated the target but they left a sizable smoking crater from the amount of sheer energy released. I worked away at getting the reiatsu from the third chakra to even out and start flowing through my meridians and into the spells more smoothly. The smoother the power flowed through the meridians in my body, the smoother my kido blasts became, but my reiatsu had always been a bit difficult to work with, too much like me I guess, contrary, powerful and disinclined to listen when people wanted to tell me what to do. Still, it did seem to be getting better, and after another hours practice I decided that i might be ready to try tackling the fourth chakra.

::You may wish to reconsider that,:: Baboon King Zabimaru advised. ::Your control over your first three chakra, while improving is far from absolute. Taking on the upper three chakra at this point would be inadvisable. You are not ready yet.::

"Hey, I thought I had mastered all the chakra,: I replied to him, feeling a little miffed. What had all that unbinding and emotional turmoil been about if not to enable me to access the true power of my reiatsu?

::Unsealing is not mastery,:: Babs replied. ::Your meridians are not prepared to handle the full might of that energy yet, if you attempt it while you are still so unprepared you may burn yourself out.::

I was getting a little weary. Like any practice with Zabimaru, it was a real workout. My skin was already coated in sweat and I had stripped down to my pants only. I would have had sweat dripping in my eyes if not for the bandanna around my head. Still...

:I need to know how much power is in there,: I said stubbornly. :I might have a tough fight tomorrow and I need to know what I've got in reserve to draw on in case I need it.:

::He never listens, does he?:: Snakey said in a resigned tone.

::I suppose in the end, painful experience is the only teacher he hears. Let us hope he survives this one.::

Well, it wasn't quite agreement, but my Zanpakutou was reluctantly on board.

:Let's do this!: I said.

I closed my eyes and focused my concentration inwards, unlocking the gate within myself and throwing open to door to the sluice wide open. The energy of the fourth chakra rushed into me in a swamping wave, warm and heady, like a bottle of warmed up sake. I swayed a little on my feet, the ready rush of power feeling very similar to drunkeness. I tried pushing it into my meridians but couldn't quite seem to reach through the happy foglike feeling of dizziness that accompanied having so much power saturating me. I could feel it in the air around me, staste it on the wind that kicked up with me at it center, tugging my hair and cooling the sweat on my body. It even felt a little difficult to breathe, my chest tightened in reaction to the somewhat suffocating feeling of the power expanding outwards under my skin. I panted a bit and dizzily tried to put my mind back on the spell.

I swayed a little, trying to keep my feet, as the world tilted around me in a whirl and tried to get the near-overwhelming wellspring of energy swamping my senses to flow into my channels like they were supposed to. My throat felt dry and scratchy as i started to gasp out the chant. The power struggled in ways that I had not felt since my early days in the academy, when i was just beginning to learn how to control my spiritual power. It felt like that, only to a factor of about ten; this spiritual power had real fight in it, it bucked like a maddened bull, metaphysically tossing me about from the inside. I struggled to hand onto my perch in control of it letting ut jump about and kick as it would, I tightened my grip on the metaphysical reigns and wrestled the flood of raw power into some semblance of order and submission. I had come this far and I was not going to be beaten by the force inside of me.

It took several failed tries but I at last managed to gather in most of the power, center it, and send it spiraling through my meridians. There was still some power floating freely about but for the most part it was somewhat controlled within my meridians. Once I had it flowing through my channels and my chakra in a more controlled manner I found that I could breathe a little better and that the feeling of semi-drunkeness faded little by little as I gained greater mastery over it.

I struggled to push and pull my meridian into the pattern of the shakkahou. It took real effort this time, the wild, willfull might of my power fighting me every step of the way. Even after I had gotten through the first level of the spell it still struggled against me, straining with real power to get free. It still had a kick like a mule but I was starting to get a bit of a feel for it, again I wrested for control. If I could fight Zabimaru into submission then this shouldn't be much more difficult. It took a lot of work and by the time I managed to wrest my meridian into some semblance of the pattern for the spell I had sweat pouring off me and my hair was positively drenched in it. I began the chant again, the spell straining against me like it was playing tug-of-war, but I held firm, pouring my effort into maintaining the parameters of the spell as I proceeded to chant and pour energy into the pattern. Power roared through the empty lines of the pattern like a wildfire, once I had loosed the energy there was no modulating its flow, no reigning it in. I knew what that meant. Backlash. I'd never released this much of my own energy so I didn't know how bad it was going to be but my guess would be... bad.

:Hang on,: I thought to myself desperately.

Part of me was terrified by the power flowing through me and the painful end I knew was going to come with the release of that much reiatsu lashing back at me, but I had no choice now, I was in it.

"Fool!" I dimly heard Yoruichi Shihouin's voice berate me as the vermilion orb coalesced in the air before me. This was no tame little fire ball, this was an immense globe of fiery pain, barely restrained by the spell. It grew bigger and bigger and I couldn't seem to stop pouring energy into it as I chanted, I had so much reiatsu already invested into this that it just wouldn't stop. I would have no choice but to release the power and hope I survived it.

I couldn't breathe. I panted but my chest still felt tight, like I couldn't get any air into it from the power-saturated wind screaming around me. I couldn't breathe!

:Can't give in, almost there...:

I felt the energy kick and struggle.

:Almost there...:

The globe of fire expanded outward, flares of unrestrained reiastu popping out like solar flares from off the surface of the sun, the energy flickered and tried to burst free. I clamped down on it even as the reiatsu continued to pour into it as I chanted. This had already gotten out of hand, I should be trying to concentrate and focus the fireball, not feed it so it got large, but I was already having so much difficulty-

"You idiot!" Yoruichi snarled at me, appearing at my side in a flicker of motion. She touched her finger-tips to three points along my spine, just below each of my chakra points, I felt a force alien to me wrap itself around my meridians and pull. My energy began to drain out, feeling a lit like the siphoning that had went on inside of the shadow of the Shadowbeast. The orb began to shrink a little and my spell started to unravel.

"Release it you brainless ape," Yoruichi commanded me in a tone that would not hear any argument.

She was crouched down behind me with one hand on the middle of my back and the other hand touching the ground, I had no idea why.

With a wordless feeling of indescribable relief I pushed out, sending the red flame cannon ball screaming towards its target. The ground beneath it ripped up and it veered off to the left, I clamped down desperately on the spell, my knees getting weak, then it jerked to the right and I pulled it back on track with the remainder of my strength. I was just about tapped out. I weakly braced myself for the backlash of energy as the spell disconnected fully from me as it found its target. The target was not just destroyed, not just obliterated... it was vaporized. The stone at the bottom of the crater actually liquefied and melted into black slag-glass.

"Uhlhg!" Yoruichi made a wordless grunt of pain-filled impact and I felt a mild sting wash over me, but not nearly the power that I had been expecting from the backlash. Even so, it was enough to render me unconscious.