The First Step

Ippo walked slowly down the road. The loss to Date was beginning to settle in. The fight had been close, very close. Ippo couldn't remember the last half of the match, but from the videos it was obvious how evenly the Japanese Featherweight Champion and the 1st ranked challenger had been matched. It was also apparent just how much of a gap between them there still was.

"Your punches are light."

Date's words echoed in Ippo's mind. In the match it had felt like his punches weren't affecting the defending champion at all. In the video he could see that Date had been hurt by his punches. It wasn't that he wasn't strong - rather, Date had a motivation that he lacked. The realization had haunted Ippo. Other people being faster, stronger, tougher, or more experienced than him wasn't new. Takamura reminded him of it every day (often vocally). The problem was that Date was more enthusiastic than he was. Boxing was Ippo's life! He loved it more than anything! To lose in passion was just too much.

There was also the fact that Date was going to challenge the world. Relinquishing his title and leaving Japan. Ippo would never have a chance to fight him again.

Ahead on the side of the road Ippo saw the tree where his dreams of boxing had begun. Takamura had saved him from being bullied, and shown Ippo his punching skill by jabbing two handfuls of leaves from the tree as they fell. It had taken Ippo a week of practice, but he had managed to get the required 10 leaves by the promised day. That was when his life had changed and he had started along the path of a boxer.

The tree looked stoic in the moonlight. Peaceful. Ippo closed his eyes and then kicked the wooden trunk. The tree shook and leaves rustled down through it's branches. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. In less than 2 seconds Ippo quickly snatched the leaves from mid-air. His relaxed grip and snappy punch at the end caught each leaf in rapid succession. With melancholy eyes, Ippo looked down at his hand bathed in sunlight and slowly opened it. The leaves floated away on the breeze, symbolic of the opportunities he had lost alongside his last match.

Takamura was impressed. This kid's jabs were amazingly polished, though the ones at the end had looked a lot sharper than the ones towards the start. Now the kid looked all depressed. Did he not catch enough? Takamura had seen exactly 10 punches - did one of them miss a leaf? No, it was exactly 10 leaves that were floating away on the wind. The kid must've only thought he missed one. Guess his eyes aren't that sharp yet. Only one thing to do.

*DOOON*

A good punch to the top of the head. Let it never be said that there wasn't a problem Takamura couldn't fix with a punch. The kid turned around in surprise.

"Takamura-san?"

"Heh, I have to hand it to you kid those were nice jabs." And in only a week the thought silently. Now he remembered that it was one week ago that he'd promised the kid he'd train him to be a professional boxer if he could catch 10 leaves by today. Takamura hadn't expected him to pull it off, much less with only one hand, so he'd forgotten about it by the next day.

"T-Thanks..." The kid was blushing. "Uhmmm...is it morning? I thought it was nighttime." So he'd been here all night, and that's why he looks so tired. There was a simple solution to that too.

"Here. Come hit me." Raising his right hand, Takamura called the kid to show him some more jabs. Indeed, punching was a useful tool.

The kid still looked confused, but complied with the request. After a few jabs his mood seemed to have improved dramatically. "Alright, Good!" Ippo continued with the jabs. "Good! Good!" Faster and faster the blows landed against Takamura's open palm. A light had appeared in the kid's eyes. "H-Hey. Hey!" Now it was going a bit far. The punches were coming quick and hard now. "Wait!" The kid didn't stop. On one hand he now had a huge smile, on the other Takamura's hand was really starting to sting. "That's Enough!"

*DOOOOOON*

Annoying brat. He'd tried being patient, but this was too much. Besides he had the rest of his run to finishing before practice at the gym. Takamura started to run along the road, but the kid was now chasing behind him.

"Don't follow me!"

"Wait for me... Takamura-saaaaaan!"