Ch. 7 Training

WITH ARIA

I awoke the next morning at dawn knowing the two incarnations had left to report to Naraku though they would be reporting false information thanks to Aria who they thanked profusely last night after their little training session. Flashback: she had just gotten done training the two incarnations though it had taken a majority of the night for them to learn the technique then before they left they both did something unexpected they launched themselves at her and practically hugged her to death. "Hey now there is no need for that remember I said I just wanted to help you because I can" "yes we know but we still want to thank you no one has tried to help us like this before either because they didn't care or because it was too risky to do so and they were not willing to take the risk." So thank you, thank you so much we really do appreciate it." And as she watched them disappear into the night she knew if she succeeded she could truly begin to consider those two family for they were just like her all they wanted was a to be free and have a peaceful life.

She shook her head lightly and went for her morning run that she had missed the past six days because of the incarnations spying and after she left Inuyasha's sensing range she went full speed moving as fast as the wind in the trees. She continued to run for about an hour until she felt she needed to return so she could make breakfast for everyone before they awoke. When she returned she got the cooking pots and pans out of Kagome's pack she went to the nearby stream and got water then pouring it into one of the pans got out some rice and poured that in to pan of water. Once that was done she got out flour and made some biscuits for later that afternoon that would bake in the coals of the breakfast fire while they ate and in the others cases trained. Oh Aria was going to have so much fun training them though they probably weren't going to like it one bit no not one bit at all and Aria couldn't help but see the irony of the situation.

After all not so long ago it had been her in the students shoes getting her ass handed to her while her master sharply reprimanded her for her mistakes now she had her own students and they were going to get the same treatment. But hey that was life and life as well as training was almost never fair and sometimes they wore you to a thread but at least Aria would not beat them nearly to death like her master had when she was a prisoner. She would however probably make them wish they were dead instead of in pain from the training she put them through. She checked the rice porridge then added some nuts and berries from her own pack as well as some cinnamon and honey and stirring them into porridge she got Inuyasha's full attention as he was up quick down from his perch in the trees and by the fire waiting for food. Soon the others began to wake due to the smell of cooking food but as soon as the food was handed out there was an air a general excitement about the camp so they were excited about starting training today huh well it was very likely they wouldn't feel so for very long.

WITH INUYAHSA AND THE OTHERS

Inuyasha was very excited and he could tell the others were to it was their first day of training with Aria as their teacher he knew it would be tough but he was sure he could handle it. Sango woke up to the smell of rice porridge it smelled really good too but what was funny was the loo of bliss on Inuyasha's face as he inhaled the steam from the cooking meal it was the look of a cat who'd gotten into the cream. She stretched and went over to Kagome to chat a bit before breakfast and Miroku Joined them for once not groping or making lecherous comments due to the fact he was too excited. They discussed the different types of training methods they thought Aria would use when training them and made a bet on which one of them would be right needless to say they were in good spirits. They ate their breakfast with barely contained energy and helped Aria clean the mess up from breakfast with the same enthusiasm.

But when they saw Aria straighten up they knew that the time for joking around was over and they needed to focus for she was about to give them their first training instructions as her students. "Alright for starters you will be running to build up stamina, now I know you all have quite a bit of stamina already but you never know when you will need that little bit of extra stamina to win a fight especially in a long battle." They all nodded "all right I already went out running this morning before you awoke and marked a course for you to fallow since Inuyasha has the better eyesight he will be in front and lead the way" she announced. Then she held up a little slip of parchment colored green like a forest plant "this is what the marker looks like for Inuyasha this is also a test of his detection skills since I wish to know how skilled he is in this." Oh and one last thing before I forget the humans are to run or jog five laps around the course I have set you may take breaks if necessary but I will leave that decision with Kagome who will be monitoring your conditions as you run with her miko powers as this is a good way to see how well she can control her powers on the move."

"Miroku you will watch Kagome to see how well she does as the more experienced one of the two of you with spiritual powers and report back to me when you return and Inuyasha I trust you to report how well you could detect my markers yourself."" Also you will be running double the number of laps as the others due to the fact you are hanyou and can handle more stress than they can." "Any questions?" Miroku spoke up "what will you be doing while we are gone?" They all nodded "me I will be preparing for sparing when you return since running is just the warm up" their mouths opened in an oh shape but they agreed they wouldn't protest what she made them do since she was their teacher." "good now off with you" she commanded and made a shoeing motion with her hands.

WITH SANGO AND THE OTHERS

The course Aria had set for them was a hard one and they sometimes stumbled on top of that during the first couple of laps Inuyasha had trouble fallowing the trail Aria set up for them because of how well she had hidden it. She didn't tell them she would be including climbing during their run and a couple of times there were nearly some accidents and if it hadn't of been for Kirara there would have been. And to add to that Sango had a feeling that this was Aria's way of taking it easy on them. If this was easy she shuddered to think what Aria being serious with them was going to be like and that was what only like the first two laps she could only imagine what it would be like if Inuyasha was not there to guide them. Oh kami did her lungs burn with each breath she took it felt like liquid fire was burning her lungs and it was only the third lap and she had to do two more.

At least she wasn't the only one suffering she could see their jog taking a toll on the others as well they were panting and it looked like Kagome was having a hard time focusing her powers on monitoring them. Even Miroku was looking worn and you usually couldn't see strain on the monks face the only one that seemed to be handling the jog all right was Inuyasha no surprise there though he was hanyou. So to keep from stumbling and potentially getting injured she did something her father taught her to lessen the pain she focused on her breathing in out, in out over and over and the pain in her lungs did lessen slightly. After what seemed like forever they were finally on their fifth lap and as they came back she gratefully collapsed into a heap though not for long as Aria told her to get up because if she didn't walk at least a bit her joints would stiffen up. So she grudgingly got up and walked around for a bit before sitting down and accepting the cool water that had a slightly sweet yet tangy taste to it that soothed her burning lungs and throat.

WITH THE INUYASHA

The moment I got back I saw Aria order everyone to get up and fallow her she led us into a clearing not too far away from camp that I had come across on my patrol last night. Up against a tree were staff looking objects with two heavy ends which he assumed they were going to use for sparring and as I watched she handed each of us one until she came to me and handed me one that was bigger than the rest. She didn't say a word but I got the message since I was hanyou I could handle more than the others could at the moment I nodded and she gave me a pleased look but a stern glare after that warned me not to let it go to my head or my training would be that much harsher than it already was. "Alright then I will now fight with each of you to gauge your strengths and weaknesses so I will know what each of you needs to work on the most" they nodded expecting something like this to happen. First went Miroku who was surprisingly skilled although now that he looked back on it he really shouldn't be all that surprised as a staff was his main weapon besides his wind tunnel and sutras and the staves as Aria had called them were a lot like staffs, however he was eventually defeated. Next went Kagome who still rather new to using a sword and her only other weapon was a bow hand a little trouble adjusting to the stave but eventually got the hang of it and put up a pretty good fight.

Sango was third she was the most experienced one of them with swords so as she had been trained with one since she was young but like Miroku who was similarly experienced in staffs was defeated by Aria. At last it was my turn to fight her our battle was the longest of the four but I to was eventually defeated which didn't surprise me all that much as she had defeated me before without a weapon before I could even draw tetsusaiga. Training for the day was over after that and Inuyasha was grateful for that because although he didn't show it the run earlier and the tracking had worn him out and he was sure the others already informed Aria of how well he did in tracking earlier. Miroku had also probably informed her of how well Kagome was able to hold up using her powers while running this morning so that was all taken care of and Aria would probably have a training plan ready for tomorrow so tomorrow's training would be more personalized. Based on what he learned of Aria's teaching style today he knew training with her was going to be rough but well worth it in the end because there would be no more weak links except for Shippo as he was a child so if something went wrong they couldn't blame it on one member of the pack.