Clovers Under Shade [J. Saionji]

In the midst of incantation, Patel could hear the visceral words of Yomi stretching out into his mind: releasing the Zanpakuto had permitted it greater freedom over him. "You've drawn your sword in a contest of Kido, and duel an opponent who has no sword." She spoke first- "You disgrace yourself for nothing when you cannot win either way." Chastises the spirit, though what she really wanted from Patel was very far from repentance.

Even so, she was the one whom Patel had been asking for help just a moment ago. 'That's why I'm counting on you to punish me, Yomi.' He answered in his thoughts, resolved to finish this incantation. This time he did not pay any attention to J's own recitation. "-flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" Patel spoke, completing Shakkaho's incantation. But the moment Patel finished the last syllable, an injury manifested upon him already-

Where his gi had already been torn, twelve gouges tore Patel's flesh in the shape of a huge human bite into his torso, as if he had been bitten by an invisible giant. An equal amount of blood spews from each tooth-shaped puncture in his flesh, all of which travels unnaturally through the air to smear bizarre kanji onto the pages of Yomi. If anyone was watching- the incantation for Shakkaho had been there previously, but the calligraphy drawn in Patel's blood altered it into a new sequence of bizarre text characters...

Trembling, Patel rises from his knees and thrusts both hands forward. The book of Yomi hovers-up from his hands and abruptly expels a pitch-black miasma of foul reiatsu about itself. "Hadō #31: Shakkaho!" Patel shouts, after which the mouth on the book of Yomi belches-forth a black ball of ethereal miasma. As it travels, it makes a shrieking noise through the air.

In the brief second or so before their Kido clash, Patel marvels at J's own casting of the spell. He had seen Shakkaho many times: it was standard artillery among the Shinigami and perhaps the first major Hadō a Shinigami can learn. But watching J's Shakkaho was like seeing someone draw a perfect circle in geometry, and then expand it to an equally flawless sphere. It was brilliant, stable, overwhelming...

Patel's corrupted version of the same Kido beats-against the face of J's own Shakkaho, and the bleak ball of black shade immediately begins to lose in its clash against J's spell. It breaks-up and deforms around J's Shakkaho in the milliseconds that follow impact with it, enveloping the fiery orb in a decaying ball of miasma. Patel had put everything into that one spell, paying Yomi's blood price to strengthen it, but even so- it was not enough.

A dimmer, smaller version of the Shakkaho emerges through Patel's own Kido blast, hurling into the lesser Shinigami's chest. Even J's explosion is masterfully contained: not so much as an ember touches the crowd, instead blasting a pillar of destructive Kido upwards from where it bursts against Patel. A swathe of magical fire envelops Patel in the blast, knocking him to the ground where he lies in a smoking heap amidst the subsiding flames. Even the cover of his eerie book looks charred where it lays open next to him.

Patel startles alert in a daze, beginning with a deep wheezing gasp: that explosion had robbed him of breath, and filling his lungs causes him excruciating pain. 'He overpowered it even after I paid blood?!' Patel remarks to himself, astonished that even Yomi's power failed to make a significant difference in their contest. His will to fight was destroyed, much like the upper part of his incinerated uniform, but he managed a happy smile even while wincing through the pain.

The lesser Shinigami weakly shuffles-up to his knees, while using a free hand to try and beat-out the lingering magical flames upon him. "I yield! I have nothing left." Patel calls-out, still trying to put out the flames of J's Shakkaho where they persist upon him.

Shikai Abilities Used:

Patel reached out his hand to lay atop Yomi's front cover, upon which the mouth of the book immediately bites his hand. To his visible discomfort, it draws-out a sum of blood equal to what it had drawn to empower his Kido earlier, except this time- the blood glazes the whole book, after which it reverts to Patel's sealed Zanpakuto.

Visibly weakened even more than he was after shambling-up out of the ashes and cinders left by J's Shakkaho, Patel approaches the nobleman while sheathing his Zanpakuto, and then bows deeply before him, until his spine is at a ninety degree angle to his own hips. "Lord Saionji, I challenged you to a duel only as a pretense to see your Kido. While this may have been improper... I did it because I cannot seem to find a teacher." Patel confesses, before dropping down lower-

He puts his knees to the ground, then his palms, and finally his forehead- prostrating himself before J like a beggar. "Please forgive me." Patel apologizes, even while some lingering flames begin to spread again about the ankle of his hakama.

Patel felt no shame prostrating himself before J. Saionji there. He had seen a glimpse of what Kido could be. Even if the 6th squad thought less of him for using his Zanpakuto against an unarmed opponent, Patel would be satisfied with what he'd seen today.

But to his own surprise, J. Saionji did not dismiss him. Patel answered his question swiftly: "Yes, my lord. As I do not have status or connections, however, I have yet to find a mentor." Patel added, while correcting himself. He obliged J. Saionji and gradually stood up, still brushing himself off until the final embers of J's Shakkaho finally dissipated from him. Seeing high-quality kido from the receiving end was certainly a fresh and rewarding albeit painful experience for Patel.

He looks grateful for J's advice: work hard and look to his superiors, or try to find his way onto a mission with some compatriots perhaps... though this hadn't been a failure, forcing his way into J. Sainoji's training session with a false duel might have been wrong.

'What makes you think you deserve one?'

The look on Patel's face says it all: what a great question. A bit of pain, amusement and self-deprecation are all clear on the dark-skinned Shinigami's face. He warps it all to make a nervous grin up at the tall nobleman. "Truth be told, I don't deserve anything." Patel confesses. It did not elude him that his lowly place in life, perhaps even his lack of opportunity, was what he deserved- or perhaps even his destiny.

Even if that was true, though, Patel doubted he was supposed to accept it. He'd decided after failing to hang himself that every opportunity was actually an obligation---and to miss one was a sin. "I just... had to try something." Patel explained, increasingly nervous. He wasn't doing a good job of justifying his behavior if that was where J was going with this...

Patel listened intently to J. Saionji's warning, even though it may have seemed obvious. But even to the charlatans J. Saionji warned him of, Patel wasn't a suitable mark. With nothing more than his stipend of Kan, much of which went to his adoptive mother, Patel had nothing with which to entice even a dishonest tutor.

Even by J's own admission, those who were truly proficient in Kido and able to teach were not accessible, not even to those in better standing than Patel. "I'm in the third division, unseated." Patel answered. He wasn't sure if J. Saionji had anything more for him, so he decided to ask a question of his own just after that- "Apart from my dutes, my lord, I have no goal other than to master Kido. If I may ask-" He began, while starting a few steps towards the nobleman.

Though the mysteries of Kido couldn't be revealed in J's demeanor alone, his way of speaking and his demeanor already imprinted on Patel. He wonders just how much of J---at least so far as he'd seen him today---could be imitated. "Where should I start? How did you get the skills you have today?" Patel asked.