Disclaimer: See initial chapter
Chap. 10
Morning: Ryu awoke in his cot bed which was on the wooden floor. The sun was just beginning to peek on the horizon, but that was just fine by him. He wanted an early start today anyway. As he roused himself, he found the usual sounds of the birds and wind refreshing his soul. To Ryu, nothing was as beautiful as nature. 'Well, almost nothing...'
He clothed himself and quietly walked out of his room. Looking into the next, he saw Sakura, still sound asleep in her bed. Her body was practically spread all over the bed with her blanket partially covering her. Ryu shook his head at the shameless display before quickly looking away. Sakura roughly had the body of a twenty-year old woman, which means that she had quite an attractive figure. Ryu brushed the thoughts aside as he stepped outside the dwelling and grabbed a nearby bucket. Again, Ryu absorbed the elements around himself as he walked down to the lake to get some water.
When Ryu returned, he found Sakura in the dojo, training herself. She was just finishing her normal katas and was now ready to practice with her sword. Sakura unsheathed her blade. It was a katana, smaller than Ryu's own blade, but far more agile and compact. Also, the techniques she was employing were somewhat different from his. Ryu smiled lightly. 'She's developed her own style. It suits her. She has certainly improved from before.'
"Sakura. You have to stay focused. Now try again."
Sakura shook her fatigue away and leveled her sword. She began to inch closer and suddenly lunged. Her blade swooped at her sensei, but Ryu simply deflected the strike. Not giving up, Sakura spun around with a sweeping kick, but Ryu lifted his leg to avoid it. While she spun, Sakura arose again, blade rising high. Ryu stopped the blade from rising further and he gave her a soft elbow jab in the ribs, throwing her off balance and sending her to the ground.
"Again."
Sakura breathed heavily. Ryu had been training her since the mourning and it was now almost afternoon. "I'm tired. Can't we take a break?"
The next thing she knew, the deadly silver of Ryu's blade was at her neck.
"This is life or death, Sakura." Ryu growled. "If you were up against another immortal, they would have your head right now."
Sakura slumped closer to the floor, "Gomen."
Ryu looked down at his student. The had been training for two months now and so far Sakura still had a lot of work to do. She was able grasp the basic skill readily. But her advanced training was coming up rather short. She couldn't focus her ki enough to use in her blade attacks. She had to be ready before... He looked at her exhausted face and sighed inwardly. 'This isn't something a person can learn overnight. I guess I should tone it down a bit.'
Ryu moved the blade away and lent down his hand. "But...we have been going at this for quite some time. Grab something to eat and get some rest. We'll resume later, okay?"
Sakura slowly took his hand and he lifted her up. Ryu saw that she was a little sore from the rigorous training and added, "There's a hot spring just over the side from here. That should help."
Sakura smiled and nodded as she limped away. Ryu looked down on the ground.
"Sakura. Aren't you forgetting something?"
Sakura looked back on the floor and slapped her head as she realized that she had forgotten her blade. She expected another lecture about never leaving her weapon behind, but Ryu stayed quiet. She reached to pick it up, but stumbled from the soreness in her leg. Ryu bent down and lifted her light body up. Sakura looked up at him gratefully as he walked out of the dojo.
"Thank you."
Ryu simply nodded.
Sakura continued her katas for several minutes before finally stopping and sheathing her weapon. Ryu handed her a cup of water as she wiped the sweat off her brow.
"So you were going to tell me what you did that you had to return here?" Ryu asked.
Sakura gulped down the water, "Oh, yeah. As I said yesterday, her name is Karin..."
England, 1899 (Thanks Phil)
Within it, a simple fencing match commenced. Both competitors wore the usual white fencing gear and face guards, however one of them was female. She held the foil crossed with her opponents as he lunged. The female easily evaded the blow and stepped back. Her opponent charged with a slash-stab combo, but she saw it a mile away and twirled around her opponents back and lightly slapped him. The fighter stumbled as the ongoers chuckled a bit. Growling underneath, the man did a quick lunge, but the female was too fast as she parried the blow, slapping it out of his grip while she brought her foil right up to the man's neck.
"Checkmate."
The crowd clapped and her beaten opponent took off his helmet to bow to her. She did the same, but gave no bow what-so-ever. The woman was surprisingly young, with blond curly hair and deep blue eyes. She gave an arrogant smirk and declared.
"Come on. Is there anyone that can at least give me a decent warmup?"
The other fencers in the area didn't respond. With good reason too as this young woman had successfully defeated them all without even trying hard. And many of the fencers were seasoned swordsmen. But they stood no chance against her speed and surprising power. The girl looked around and started to slump her shoulders in disappointment when a familiar sensation rang in her head, signaling that another one of her kind was around. Looking to the left, she saw another girl around her age approach. She too was in fencing gear and holding a foil of her own. The blond smiled.
"Well, this is a surprise. Think you can handle this?"
"Not my style, but I can handle it.", the other responded.
The blond began to put on her headpiece, but stopped. "Oh, where are my manners. I am Karin Kanzuki."
"Sakura Kasugano."
The two girls placed their headpieces on and crossed blades. Sakura wasn't too familiar with this type of sword, but it was almost as light as her usual blade so it was manageable. Sakura lashed out first, bring her foil heading toward Karin's shoulder. Karin simply slapped it aside and slashed out with a move of her own. Sakura half-jumped back and Karin came in for another strike. Reacting, Sakura lashed out to strike the blade, but Karin used the momentum to wheel the blade around and slash again. Again, Sakura was forced back as Karin waved her foil mockingly.
"Such an amateur."
Sakura regained her bearings and held her foil up again. But unlike last time, she didn't attack this time. Karin began to inch forward.
"Come on. Don't tell me you're out of ideas already?"
Sakura didn't respond as Karin began to move even closer. After some time, Karin finally attacked. Instantly, Sakura raised her foil to deflect the attack. Sakura then lashed forward, but Karin stepped away from the attack and let out one of her own. The foil swiped close to Sakura's breast, but Sakura had jumped back in time. Wanting to end this early, Karin pulled her foil back and stabbed forward.
But she underestimated Sakura's agility as she raised her arm to avoid the stab and followed up with a downward strike. Karin's foil almost dropped out of her hand and Karin had to sidestep Sakura's incoming stab. Karin stood off to the side. Normally, that technique would have finished an opponent off. Even if Sakura was an immortal, there's no way she should have been able to dodge it.
"Not bad. But you won't beat me."
"Well see." Sakura countered.
Their duel continued as each one slashed and stabbed at each other, only to have the other deflect, block and parry their attacks. Karin was beginning to become frustrated as she had never been up against anyone for this long, mortal or immortal. And she still didn't understand how Sakura avoided her finishing attack. The crowd around them grew larger as they watched the two clashed with each other, the duel becoming more serious with each clash. Finally, Sakura stopped and lowered her foil.
"No. We finish this." Karin growled, panting at the same time.
Sakura was panting as well and she reached up to her faceguard. "What for? It's clear that neither of us has the advantage here." Sakura removed the guard and held up her hand, a gesture she had learned through her travels. "Why don't we just call it a draw?"
Karin quickly tore the face-guard off her head, her face in anger. "A draw? I refuse!" She roared. "We finish this now!"
Without hesitation, Karin lashed out with the foil, aiming for Sakura's head. Sakura reactively blocked it.
"What are you doing?
"Raaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
"Anyway, that's what happened." Sakura finished. "We fought in front of everyone to the brink of exhaustion. Finally, we had to stop, but if it was up to her, she would have kept going."
Ryu lowered his head in thought, "She refused to accept defeat or a draw."
"Yeah. Worse is that now she wants a duel to the death."
Ryu nodded, "I see." Truthfully, if there was any reason to fight, being a sore loser didn't seem like one. But he did understand the matter of honor involved. Karin must have never lost a fight and the fact that she couldn't beat Sakura pushed her. Still...
"Are you planning on confronting her?"
Sakura scratched the back of her head, "Actually, she's been tracking me for a few months now. She almost caught me in a back alley once, but I escaped."
"So she will come here."
"Yep. And I've got to be ready."
With that, Sakura stood back in the center of the dojo and began again. Ryu watched as she continued her katas with renewed energy and determination. Ryu smiled inwardly.
'Definitely improved.'
