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Chapter Four: Training from Hell and Making Friends
Bruce lee once said, "I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times," and as I land on my back for what must be the ten-thousandth time it feels like, my sensei must agree with that philosophy. After a year of being with sensei I know my skills are leagues above from where I started, maybe not able to fight a competent fighter but definitely able to bring down your average man or woman.
One of the first things he did when I accepted being his student was having me wear a blindfold, telling me that to truly see the world around me, I must see beyond my eyes. After telling me that, he then proceeds to kick my ass all over the forest, from hip tossing me, overhead throws, and repeated light jabs.
Though it's not like I took all of that without complaint, sending random attacks whenever he was close, being able to smell him and hear his footsteps when they were right next to me. Keeping the blindfold on the entire time, because as mad as I was, he was still trying to teach me and hone my senses, yet it was still an effort in futility.
Yet after an entire day of pointlessly attacking whenever I could, I calmed down and did my best to take in all the information my body was telling me. I strained my nose to the limits to finally catch a faint trail of his scent, focused my ears to the soft padding sounds of his footfalls, hearing the dirt silently being pressed deeper into the earth.
Though as soon as he saw how I was getting closer to following him, those small tells soon disappeared as well, showing his five hundred years of experience and chi mastery.
Three days going through this went by, eating and sleeping with the blindfold on before I was able to use my other senses to their utmost. Feeling the wind of his movements on my skin, the slight radiating heat of his body, and even tasting the various scents in the air.
After a week of all of this my senses were sharpened to their limits, hearing his heartbeats even a few yards away, feeling the sound of his movements on my skins, smelling the barest of his scent mingled with the smell of crushed plants and disturbed dirt, finally being able to track him, seeing a world on fire through my senses.
Here I am now a year later, age seven and still wearing the same blindfold, with it being washed when I rinse off in the river or by the well, and getting taught more Judo, having gone over Brazilian Jiu Jitsu last week, and boxing footwork the week before. The idea of going over some of the best principles of various martial arts over and over again until they are instinctual. Getting tossed onto the ground again, making sure to slap it with my hand, breaking my fall, the breath is still forced from my lungs, and I've never been so happy for my healing ability.
"Again" Sensei Izo yells in German, another area of lessons we're going over, having just finished the first year going over Japanese and Chinese, though we went over the writing and its different forms for the first two. Now and for the rest of the languages we go over it will be just its spoken forms more than anything else. But getting back to the present I let out a brief groan before my body returns to normal, doing a quick kip-up to get ready and return to my fighting position.
Feeling him come closer through my heightened senses I move closer to him with a sudden burst of speed, grabbing his robes with my back slightly next to him in an to attempt to shoulder throw him. He quickly kicks one of my legs to widen my stance and throw of my balance but just lower myself to adjust, focusing my grip down to his wrist, locking it and he lets me throw him to the ground.
"Finally!" I yell out in joy, feeling some schadenfreude at him being the one on the ground for once, even if he let me take him there.
"Good job girl, remember that feeling you just had, adapting to your opponent and immediately taking the opportunity available to you, but remember you need to temper your actions with patience and experience so as not to fall for the traps of your enemies" he says with small smile before shifting to a frown, expressing the severity of his warning.
"Yes Sensei" I say, nodding and focusing on his words, doing my best to show I'll take his lessons to heart.
"Good, now let us head back home," he says, making out way back to the home that was about four miles away from where I made my own hut. Built in traditional Japanese architecture and hidden by the forest, it was both beautiful and peaceful, with a few Sakura trees in the courtyard.
It was here that I trained in the basics of various martial arts before going out and sparing in the forest to fight in less controlled terrain. I also practiced more relaxing endeavors to help balance out my life such as singing, tea ceremonies, cooking or preparing traditional Japanese meals, and even taking time to meditate as sensei played the bamboo Shinobue flute.
"We'll have some soba tonight with matcha on the side, I will take care of soba, and you, the matcha" he says with a smile while also letting me know I'll be working on my tea ceremony skills. He continues on, "And after I'll have my sake as you work on one of your dances" he says without any shame as he heaps more practice on me, even as I stumble. As much as I have grown to truly respect and like my sensei, the man seemed to drink like a fish. But I guess we all have our quirks in the end.
Arriving home after out short walk, and yes, this place has started to feel like home to me, with my sensei being like a grandfather in a way, a crazy drill sergeant like grandfather, but still, a grandfather all the same. Going our separate ways, I head over to the well in my section of the yard, quickly rinsing off after removing my gi, and throwing on a white cotton shirt and pants with a white yukata. Tying the obi and tossing on a pair of sandals I head inside you prepare the matcha as Izo prepared the soba, enjoying a companionable silence as we ate, and I served our tea.
After cleaning up I think on which form of dance I want to practice, having three to choose from, classical Chinese dancing to work on my balance, acrobatics and flexibility is intensive but also fun. Kenbu is the next option, which is basically a Japanese sword dance that works on honing control, patience, and precision when going through the different sword forms and making sure every movement is exact and flows into each other. Lastly is the Shibu style of dance, teaching the same things as kenbu but with more flowing movements and artistry, and the style I decide, grabbing my two fans with Sakura petals painted on them.
Heading outside I sense my sensei with a small taiko drum on the ground and some of his sake next to. Holding my fans close I bow slightly to him before going to the center of the courtyard, sitting on my knees in the seiza position, ready to begin.
"Begin!" he says as he starts a four four beat on the drum, tapping with one hand as he sips on some sake with the other, waiting for me to start.
Taking a breath I stand up in a fluid motion, arms extended and opening the fans, before moving forward in controlled steps, starting to spin with the fans. Stopping with a sudden motion I bring my left fan to my face, leaning back slightly as I keep the right fan extended before I continue forward once again. Arms held wide I toss my right fan high into the air as I then lean back to catch it again, flowing into a single leg spin and collapsing down in a seiza position once again. A short dance showcasing my balance, control and spatial awareness.
Sensei Izo nods and smiles at me, impressed with my dance and control I showcased, bowing slightly to show his thanks and appreciation for the performance. "Good work girl" he says, a genuine smile spread across his face, "tomorrow you will work on your archery and blade throwing in the morning, classical Chinese dance after lunch, and we will finish off working on your capoeira movements" he says, serious once again and ready to keep up my schedule. Those bladed feet of yours will make the style especially deadly and will work very well with your monstrous stamina and speed" he finishes off.
"Yes sensei" I say, happy to have such a knowledgeable teacher and one who could help me incorporate different elements from different styles that suited me.
"Next week we're going to incorporate elements of Muay Thai and Wing Chun, we'll see about testing the durability of those metallic bones of yours" he says with what seems to me a slightly sadistic smile.
Hearing that I pale slightly as thoughts run through my head for what he might have planned to train me, because even if I heal fast, that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt even with my pain tolerance. Once again, a similar word appears in my mind at the tortures training he has planned: Shit!
ΩΩΩ
Another year has gone by with more varied training and added languages, having finished German and Russian I am working on French with Sensei, the last language we will be working on, which is pretty good for an eight-year-old like me. After that we will make sure to move through our previous languages I've learned from now on, so all of them become easily fluent for me.
Though another exciting discovery for me in regard to another language is that I'm a Parselmouth, something that definitely shocked me because I thought that skill came from the horcrux. I'll have to look up my family tree when I get back to Britain or come into contact with the goblins, because right now I have to assume that I'm related to the Black family in some way.
Coming across a magical variant of the Japanese mamushi is what led to said discovery in the first place, and that's because I accidentally got a bit to close to the snake, hearing it's hiss of warning. This particular magical breed can blend in with the environment like a chameleon, and its venom is still as potent, being able to melt flesh. After realizing it was saying "Get back", and that I wasn't hearing things, I quickly connected the dots, apologizing in return before leaving, probably giving it a shock as well.
Though outside of the various languages I have learned or discovered, I have continued incorporating various martial arts into my repertoire thanks to my sensei. After working on various elements of Muay Thai and Wing Chun, I started to incorporate cane fighting with Silat and two elements of Wushu, a contemporary Chinese martial art. Jian shu or sword play is focused on quick but controlled attacks, but I've incorporated the use of a short spear instead of a sword, which has suited me better.
This way I can do quick controlled strikes and slashing attack while being able to get close to slip in clawed punches as well. I also incorporate basic magical attacks with my free hand such as pushing and pulling attack to throw off my enemy's balance, as well as a few elemental attacks like fire or lighting, though the lighting can shock me as well.
I keep up my practice with my magic so that I can blends both magical and physical fighting seamlessly, though a wand will allow more versatility. I want to make sure never to be helpless without my wand, but my sensei pointed out that a wand acts as both an amplifier and more fine control over our magic.
I will make sure to be able to do whatever I can do with a wand without one as well, just in case, but why throw away something that helps and amplifies my abilities? Pride? No, I'll make sure to get a wand and increase my versatility with my magic over time and when I go to Hogwarts, because my sensei might be aware of the wizarding world as well as some of their strengths and weaknesses just in case he ever needed to fight one, but he never needed to learn our form of magic. So right now, my basic use of magical telekinesis and a few elemental attacks will have to do for me.
The other form of Wushu I am learning and show a good talent in is Qiang Shu, basically spear play, hence the short spear I use for Jian shu. I make use of use of supple body work and fluid motions to better work with the length the spear offers me, keeping my distance from my opponent. Using techniques like parrying inward, parrying outward, stabbing, downward striking, tilting, enveloping, and figure-8 circling, I can deal with a verity of weapons and even spells if I can incorporate a magical spear.
And being that I am learning a verity of weapons at the moment, sensei is also teaching me the basics or forging right now, so that I can forge my own weapon in the future. Right now, I'm making simple knives in the coal forge, making sure to watch the temperature and judge the color of the metal. Eventually I will start working on folding metals together, making Damascus patterns, and working with sharpening stones.
The final test before my own blade will be imbuing my magic into the metal and wood, everything from using my magic for the fire to pushing it into the metal and wood as I hammer and carve. This way I can add my intent and magic into both, so that I can add a few abilities that will suit me, while making it near imposable for others magic to affect the weapon. This will also allow me a shield against enemy spells, though I still have to be carful of certain spells that are explosive and elemental, or certain dark spells like the killing curse that I could defend against but could also break my weapon as well.
But right now I can put all that stress and work behind me for the moment because it's my time to rest and relax, so I'm heading to my favorite part of the forest that has a beautiful Sakura tree. Maybe this time I can avoid the Japanese mamushi, no need to antagonize him again and risk a bite, it might not affect me, but again, it still hurts as I heal. With me I carry a basket with some dango and a tea pot with some dark tea, conjuring and heating the water when I get to the Sakura tree. It's even nicely shaded overhead so that the sun won't be much of a bother, though I do hope to avoid the rain that might come with the clouds as well.
Though of course something happens when I finally have some time to relax, because I swear to whatever god there may be, Potter luck is a real thing. How else can you explain almost dying one day and then meeting an awesome teacher not long after, and the same could be said about my reincarnation as well.
Going through hell with the Dursleys, only to awaken memories from my previous life and amazing mutant abilities. This will probably be another instance of that, as I hear a lightning bolt come down in the distance in front of me, causing me to hurry forward.
I can smell the smoke and feel the heat before I even reach the fire, but when I arrive, I see that it's my favorite Sakura tree that was hit, not starting to burn, with someone recognizable there as well.
"Back! Get Back! Flee! I need to flee! Trapped!" I hear the same Japanese mamushi as before, finally sensing its location higher up in the tree, surrounded by flames.
Seeing the snake surrounded by flames I quickly yell up "I'm coming to help!" hoping the snake could hear me as I jump up into the tree, ignoring the burns on my hands along the way. A few moments later I reach the snake high in the burning tree, reaching toward it.
'Stay back!" it hisses back in fear, moving away from me and the flames.
"I'm here to help, please, let me take you down" I hiss back, the flames coming closer all the while.
It hesitates for a moment before slithering forward and wrapping itself around my arm, after which I quickly jump down to the ground. Yet looking at my favorite Sakura tree burning, I can't help but feel a bit of melancholy, think of the times I watched its petals fall and relaxed underneath its shade.
Taking a deep breath as the snake wraps itself around my arm, I really need to check if the snake is a he or she later, I connect with my magic. Holding out a hand in front of me I start conjuring more and more water above the tree, before letting it rain down, drowning out the fire.
"Thanks" the snake hisses out, finally calming down enough to talk to me.
"No problem" I respond, "Do you want to head out to another tree now?" I ask.
"You safe, I'll stay with you" it responds, surprising me. Having a highly dangerous and camouflaged snake around could be useful, plus, a new friend is always nice. Though not sure what my sensei will have to say, I'll just have to ask when I get back home.
"So, want to be friends then?" I ask, not sure what the snake might think.
"Friends? Yes, friends" it hisses back in response, making me rather happy for another companion. Though I look back at the tree again and wonder if I can help in some way. Putting my hands on it I push my magic into it, channeling my intent to heal it through my magic.
After a few moments the burns on the tree start to flake away, new wood growing in its place, new branches sprouting out, and a sky of pink petals bloom overhead. Suddenly, one of the new branches the sprouted drops to my side, with a few blooming cherry blossoms still attached, about ten inches long and two inches thick.
Grabbing the branch I can feel my magic coursing through it, and I feel like I found my wand wood, while also wondering what my magic did to the tree. If the whomping willow can be a sentient magic tree, maybe my magic can do the same for this one, but only time will tell what it will become.
Looking down at the snake I hiss out "I'm going to take us home, that fine with you? Oh, and what's your name" I ask.
"Yes, fine with me. Name is Yumie" she responds.
"Yumie, pretty name. Let's head home Yumie" I respond, picking up the basket I dropped and putting the cherry tree branch inside before heading home. This was definitely an exciting day, and I have to wonder what's going to come my way next?
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!