Into to life

It was Monday and competition was months away. Still, that was no excuse for procrastinating. Marie got up and went to the practice arena. In the middle of the arena was Luisa, she elegantly moved the nagamaki in her hands. She was one of the best sword masters in the samurai class. Marie slipped through the door with her back against the wall and scooted towards her katana. Ever since she heard about the weapons of Japan, it inspired her to live her life practicing her swordsmanship.

Once her katana was in her grasp, she bolted to the middle of the arena yelling! Suddenly, Luisa changed her position and countered her attack.

"I thought you would try your sneak attacks again, but you have to be quieter than that."

"Why would I take the fun out of challenging you head on?" Marie barked back.

Both being the best in the class, many wondered who was the most skilled. As friends, they loved to challenge each other, but they never wanted to see who was the best out of fear that it would hurt their friendship. They respected each other's skills, and did not expect the question to hit them in the face. While they were practicing their Sensei walked in.

"Ohayo" they both called out while in the middle of a stalemate.

"Ah! Izumi-Chan and Tachibana-Chan I wanted to speak to you both"

"Sure, after I beat Ms. Tachibana" (While adding a little emphasis on the miss.)

"That's what I want to talk to you about…..You two have to compete against each other for a chance to go to the swordsmanship competition in a couple months"

Both girls stopped fighting suddenly. In unison they both put down their weapons and looked at their sensei. Izumi was filling up with uncertainty and was the first one to break the silence. She dropped her nagamaki and stomped over to where her sensei stood. With a furious and almost determined look she faced him while pointing at Marie and said:

"Why do I have to show my skills against her, we are evenly matched and the competition permits three competitors per team?"

As if the sensei had been prepared for her outburst he looked at her with a smirk.

"The competition is one of the fiercest test of strength, skill, and technique there is, I have decided to choose the strongest men to participate"

"But I can beat anyone with a lightning fast hit!" Luisa motioned her arm down and then to her side as if it were a sword.

"Yes I do know you can beat anyone in THIS dojo, your techniques are flawless like Marie's but both of you lack man's strength" Sensei had an almost sinister look when he growled this statement.

Marie realized he was becoming rather annoyed by the constant bickering and agreed to the duel with no further comment and dragged Luisa out of the Dojo. They walked through the doors to the serene garden to the left of the building. Since they were the only girls who attended the Dojo and the rest decided they were too manly to even look at the "pretty" flowers, they were often alone in the garden. The garden was covered with flowers from around the world. Many had mysterious names Annual Delphinium, Calatheas, Decorative Dahlia, Cattleya and Musas. They were beautiful flowers but Marie preferred orchids while Luisa loved the tsubaki flower.

Luisa had calmed down somewhat, and was now leisurely walking while guiding her hand along a nearby bush, Lusia was quietly humming to an unknown tune when she spoke.

"Who do you think will win, me or you?"

"It doesn't matter as long as we give it are all."

"Well yeah...but out of curio-"

"IT DOESN'T MATTER! JUST DROPPED IT, you will have your answer after the duel."

After that violent outburst Marie left the garden to train. The duel was scheduled to be outdoors in a week. During that time both practiced extensively with different partners. As if they were one person and one mind they asked to train with one if the men that was going to the competition. Luisa trained for eight hours with different partners every couple hours and trained with a sand bag dummy for the next six hours.

The next Monday was full of anxiety for both girls. Marie slipped out of bed and elegantly changed into her Bogu (protective armor worn during Kendo). After fitting on every piece she grabbed the Shinai that was on the chair near her bed. She went to warm-up before the fight. Luisa on the other hand was having a bit of a problem. When she woke up the next morning she could not move. Luisa reached for her phone to check the time, as she stretched out her arm pain shot through her arm towards her shoulder and she winced. The extensive practice the past week had left her entire body bruised and sore. After a moment of mentally scolding herself for pushing her muscles to hard, Luisa decided to force herself to get up, change and head to the arena. Her body was screaming at her every time she moved. Once she managed to change into her bogu, she reached for her shinai. After struggling to bend down to grasp her shinai (which was "conveniently" on the floor) Luisa had stretched her muscles a little so the pain had lessened.

It was 9'o clock and the spectacle did not start till 10'o clock. And by spectacle, I mean it was packed, the court yard was full of hopeful recruits, school children, families and adults. Many of the Sensei's were huddled in a small group close to the fighting grounds, so they can get a better look at the movements Luisa and Marie made when they moved. Luisa had decided to stretch a little more so release the pain from her stiff muscles. Around 10 the crowd had calmed down and the two swords masters took their place at the center of the arena.