I woke flat on my back with a raging headache and a powerful thirst. My first thought was that i was hung over but the lack of stomach-turning nausea and the stale taste of sake in my mouth belied that bleary assumption. I lay there for a moment, waiting for my wits to return to me. Where was i, what had i been doing? Reiatsu, shakkahou, brilliant idea to test my strength... thaaat's right.

"Is the idiot boy awake?" Yoruichi's voice said from off to one side.

"Yes," I rasped. "He is, unfortunately."

"Ah, so the fool regains consciousness. That's good, apparently he does not even realize how lucky he is to be doing so. if he had continued to attempt the spell using that magnitude of power so recklessly and without proper control, the backlash would have killed him without my intervention."

Killed me? Really?

::Yes, really,:: Baboon King Zabimaru said dryly into my mind.

"Is that why my head feels like someone stampeded a herd of Menos Gillians through it?" I asked aloud to them both.

"You deserve worse for so recklessly taking your life in your hands like that in the middle of a mission," Yoruichi said, her cold words belying the heat in her tone. "I had thought you possessed a greater degree of professionalism than that lieutenant. I have half a mind to head back to the Seireitei and bring your captain here so that he can berate you properly, but luckily for you, I don't have time for that right now... too busy saving your wretched little life and all."

"Okay okay, I get it," I grumbled. "I'm sorry! I just wanted to know how much I had in me, that's all. I've never tried to open up all of my chakra at once and I was curious to know just how powerful my kido could get."

"The cat is not the only thing that curiosity has killed," Yoruichi replied.

I was too tired and in too much pain right then to argue with her or offer further justifications, I just lay there tiredly, unable to move. My eyes drifted closed and I lost a significant slice of time. When next I woke I was lying wrapped in a blanket next to a dying fire, ravenously thirsty and hungry. I reached for a pot hanging over the fire with the sweet smell of rice coming from it and didn't even bother with the bowl, or with chewing for that matter. Minutes later I twisted open a bottle of water and gulped it down, then returned to the rice. It was a little bit later that I was satisfied and I lay back down, looking up at the stars wheeling inthis strange sky and considered my most recent brush with death.

:Zabs?: I tried, trying to mentally connect with my sword.

We had gotten familiar with each other over the course of this trip, he was someone I had always privately relied on. I didn't think there were many Soul Reapers who could truly say that they loved their Zanpaktou, but to me Zabimaru was perhaps the one person I could love without fear. He was the one person in my life, Rukia included, that I had loved who hadn't accidentally or on purpose ripped out a tiny chunk of my heart at some point.

::Humph!:: the sword said, clearly irritated with me. I knew why too.

Time to man up and apologize.

:You tried to warn me and I didn't listen. I'm sorry.:

::If sorry were enough, there'd be no need for hell,:: Snakey snapped back at me. They were really upset.

:I'm really really sorry,: I insisted. :Please forgive me?:

::For how much longer are we going to have to drum it into your thick skull that you can't always go rushing into your training or into a battle? How many more times can you be stupid and ignore warnings before you get yourself killed stupidly and sever our bond forever?:

I blinked in surprise,taken aback by the berations from a sword that had alays urged me on to greater acheivements, reveled in my relentless drive and even in the risks and the battles we fought.

:It's lonely, you know, waiting for the call of a soul that is worthy to bear our strength, one of suitable drive and temperament, one with tenacity and fight. It is not easy, the waiting. In that vast dreamless nothing, time passes strangely and you wonder if you have been there for an instant or an eternity.::

I had never considered what it might be like for a Zanpaktou, waiting for their weilder to appear as a candidate for the Soul Reapers in the cycle of death and rebirth.

:I'll take it easier with the kido then. You know it's not my strongest suit and yer right, I shoulda listened to ya,: I said, humbling myself to apologize.

::Damn right ya shoulda listened to us,:: Snakey replied, but despite the grumbling tone I could hear an underlying softness and knew that I had been forgiven my pride and folly.

I yawned again and drifted off to sleep.

...

I was feeling one hundred percent better in the morning. That was the nice thing about practicing with kido, at least for me, unlike with sword practice when I used kido I could count on all of my energy trickling back into its usual place and myself being fully restored after a good nights sleep. The next morning I woke feeling alert and refreshed.

I woke, stretched my body out, put myself through my usual conditioning excersizes as a warm-up, and went to my usual sword-dances and forms. It was a cool morning, the dew from the night before clung onto the blades of grass and it was chill on my bare feet while I ran my body through ist usual practice regimen. Zabimaru commanded me to open myself up to my third Chakra and start regulating the energy flowing through my meridians in order to gain greater mastery over my Reiatsu. I was half-way through, shirtless as usual, and sweating only lightly, when I became aware of the audience. I looked over to note the interested gaze of my two female traveling companions.

"Help you ladies?" I inquired dryly.

"Go right ahead, keep at it, we'll just sit right here..." Yoruichi said smiling widely at me.

"And watch," Isana chimed in, smiling just as widely at me.

There was something about the quality of their smiles that made me feel a little wary, but frankly, I was more interested in getting Zabimaru's training done with than I was interested in analyzing what the heck was going through their minds. Chances were, that with the both of them being women, I wouldn't get it anyway.

I shook my head and continued on with my training regimen, trying to ignore the weight of the two pairs of eyes on me. I wasn't accustomed to training with an audience in the morning and it was a little unnerving at first until I managed to get back into my groove.

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna use the springs before we go," I said, rolling my shoulders to loosen up after I was done with my self-imposed training regimen. "Back ina bit."

I was looking forward to a hot bath for the first time in weeks. Never realized how much I missed the creature comforts of the Seireitei until I was stuck world-hopping out in the middle of the howling wilderness with a bossy female (two of them now if you counted Yoruichi). I all but flash-stepped over to the hot spring with a towel draped over one shoulder, a bucket filled with bath supplies and a fresh clean change of clothes.

I sighed in bliss as I sank into the blisteringly hot water with a feeling of immense relief. Heaven. I felt every muscle in my body forcibly relax itself as I partly floated in the milky-white water.

"Mind if I join you?" Yoruichi called over to me.

There was definitely a note of flirtatious teasing in her voice and I decided that for once I wasn't going to rise to the bait.

"Back off sister," I said in a relaxed tone, stretching out my long legs so that my toes touched the other side of the spring.

"You've already had your turn, this spring's mine."

"Aww, you're no fun," she said in a thwarted, pouting tone. "Are you sure you don't want someone to wash your back for you?"

I yawned at her in reply and made a shooing motion.

"I'll be out in a bit so bugger off," I said.

The hot water felt absolutely heavenly, especially after going so long without. The trip had been interesting and eventful in a lot of ways, not the least was the fact that I got all kinds of fun new enemies to fight and a new aspect of Zabimaru to work on mastering, but I had missed some of the amenities of civilization. It made me sound like a soft, spoiled nobleman's son instead of the stray dog from the slums I was, but it was true; after more than a week out in the field I started missing my creature comforts, by the end of a fortnight I was nearly desperate for a proper bath. Washing in the cold waters of whatever lakes and streams I could find to camp near along the way was definitely not the same thing, I reflected as my muscles relaxed and knots I hadn't known I had began to untense a little.

I soaked for a good while and then reluctantly washed up thoroughly and climbed out of the pool and into a clean change of clothes. They were clothes from the Human World that the missy had gotten for me, but they were the closest ones I had found to my original shihakushou. Trousers of a tough material that I thought I had heard Rukia call "jeans" before, that were properly black in color and of looser, more comfortable fit than some of the others that the mortal had picked out for me. I had only solid, durable boots to wear instead of the tabi and straw sandals I was used to, but I had to admit that in the rough terrain I had crossed so far they had endured well. I wore a plain black shirt without any sleeves that showed the marks still on my shoulders and upper arms, and lastly pulled on the voluminous full-length shadow-black cloak that seemed to completely disguise reiatsu that I had won from the elves. I combed and tied back my hair as was customary and fixed a white bandana across my brow and pulled out a pair of sunglasses I had picked up in the human world and put them on over it.

:You ready Zabimaru?: I asked.

He didn't dignify the query with a response, of course he wouldn't, and why should he? Asking Zabimaru if he was ready for a fight would be like asking someone if rain was wet.

I secured him properly through my belt and walked back to the place where we had camped to find that it was all packed away and Isana was seated atop Tanner with Yoruichi secured to the saddle-pad behind her. Someone was good and ready to go. Good.

I didn't waste my time saying unnecessary things, I just took up Tanner's reigns and headed toward the nearby Gate platform.

I thought I'd quickly post all of the boring chapters in which nothing really happens as quickly as possible so we can get on with the good stuff. This one was, for some strange reason, originally two separate chapters (not sure what I was thinking when I split it up) so I decided to consolidate it, edit and post. Enjoy the two-fer!