*************
Chapter Eighteen; Asian Sirocco
*************
A butterfly flapping it's wings
caused a hurricane half a world away.
--The Theory of Chaos
*************
-Smack.-
"No good, try it again."
-Smack!-
"You're still not getting it, Enishi."
-SMACK!- -Crack!-
The broken practice dummy hit the ground and rolled across the cobbled practice ground to be stopped by Kaoru's foot.
"It's not about strength, Enishi." she said gravely. "With enough muscle -anyone- can break through a stick of wood with another stick. I don't think you've grasped the Tokkan Inazuma yet."
Enishi exhaled gustily and let the tip of his bodken droop until it touched the ground. "Maybe I don't." he agreed quietly. His hand whipped up just in time to catch the wadded up paper ball headed for the back of his skull.
"Nice try, runt." he said over his shoulder to Yahiko. "It this your way of cheering me on?"
The young boy made a face at his sensei. "You're giving up!" he accused. "I'm not gonna let you, not after the hell you've put me through so far. So try again or I'll throw something heavier and cheaper than a wad of paper at you!"
Kaoru smiled at Yahiko and the boy calmed down. "It is his way of encouraging you, Enishi. Kamiya Kasshin Advanced Style isn't something you can master in a day or so even with years of training under your belt. The Tokkan Inazuma is only the most basic of the basics."
Enishi heaved a sigh. "Maybe I'm going at it from the wrong angle." he thought out loud.
Kaoru nodded. "Perhaps, I've never taught anyone but myself to do it before. Why don't you take a rest and I'll think on it?"
Enishi chuckled and took Kaoru's advice. 'That's so typical of her.' he thought fondly. 'I'm the one who's failing her and she's decided that it's her fault. I'd better set her straight...'
Kaoru watched Enishi sit down beside Yahiko and indulge in some casual verbal sparring with the boy. 'That's not exactly what I had in mind when I suggested he rest, but if fighting with Yahiko relaxes him then I have no room to throw stones. Kami knows I've seen some weird relaxation techniues in my life. Everything from washing laundry to smoking.'
She walked off to the storage shed to retrieve another practice dummy... they were running low on them, perhaps it was time to invest in some new ones. Teaching Enishi her own techniques would be hard on them... especially while he was learning things like the Jinkourai and the Patto Rakurainou.
'Maybe I need to explain the Tokkan Inazuma a bit better, Enishi said he understood the mechanics of the attack before... but maybe he doesn't really. Perhaps he only thinks he does. From the way he was using his bodken earlier I can tell that he's using the air pressure correctly and is using his ki to protect the wood, otherwise the bodken would have broken before the dummy.' she shook her head as she reached the shed and hauled out a dummy.
By the time she returned to the practice groun, Enishi was up again and making a few practice swings... Kaoru watched him from behind her bangs as she set up the dummy.
He was using a standard kendo stance, nothing special. His sword path was straight and of the beating style he preferred. Kaoru pursed her lips, he was relying to much on the power of his own arms instead the power of his ficticious opponent. She herself preferred a slashing style that allowed her to drop out from under her opponents strike and let them fall under the force of their own attack.
Of course he would have gotten into the habit of using a beating strike when training Yahiko to encourage the boy to adopt the slashing style.
"Enishi, you're punching again. You're not training Yahiko right now so don't focus too much on your own power." she chided him and he blushed.
"Whoops, didn't realize." he apologized and altered his form. "Better?" he asked after a few practice strikes.
"Better." she agreed. "Remember, the entirety of Kamiya Kasshin isn't strength verses strength. Your aim is to control the fight and manipulating the opponent into doing what -you- want him to do. Do whatever you have to do to get them down and staying that way."
"Kamiya-sama never put it that way." Enishi complained.
"Ue was a wonderful man," Kaoru agreed. "but he had too many scruples. We're out to protect life with a sword, killing our opponents would be hypocrisy. So to achieve our goal we have to resort to the dirty side of kenjutsu. You might say we're sacrificing many little morals for the Big one. Don't be afraid to kick your enemy on the balls if it means you won't have to kill him!"
Enishi snorted with muffled laughter. "H-hai sensei!"
Kaoru smiled and tapped her head. "Don't laugh, a big part of Kamiya Kasshin is up here. You're a bright boy, use that mind of yours."
"I'm nineteen, do you think you could stop calling me a boy?" he asked painedly.
Kaoru chuckled. "I'm ten years older than you, you're a boy to me and nineteen is younger than you think." she hefted her bodken. "Now, I'm going to try and explain the tokkan inazuma from another angle, ne? There are two basic forms of it; blocking, and cutting. Still with me?"
Enishi nodded.
Kaoru brought her bodken up as if blocking a sword.
"All right, for a blocking tokkan inazuma you would punch with your bodken to stop the opponent's blade." she pushed her sword up for emphasis. "I think you've gotten that one. Use the Tokkan inazuma to block my strike, all right?"
"All right..." Enishi brought his bodken up in a text-book block to counter the light tap Kaoru administered to his blade.
From a normal standpoint, Enishi blocked Kaoru perfectly. His weight was centered and if he dipped his blade he could slip out from under her attack and land one on her ribs.
Unfortunately, Kaoru wasn't watching from a normal viewpoint. She could see a tiny flicker of golden lightning around the tip of his blade, but she noticed that it didn't 'feel' like electricity. It felt more like... sand. He was attempting to cooy the 'lightning' effect. Understanding flooded her; Enishi had caught onto the trick of using his own ki to protect his weapon... but he was attempting to force it into manifesting in a way it was unsuited for!
"Relax, Enishi." Kaoru counseled him as she stepped back and brought her bodken up again. "Let's try this one more time and now try not to think too hard about your ki. Just stick to the basics."
"Huh?" a confused look appeared on Enishi's face. "I don't get what you're saying, I'm doing it the way you said to."
Kaoru grinned. "I see, but just do as I say now... expect nothin. Your problem is that you're trying to make your tokkan inazuma like mine but our ki is inherently different. It will manifest in different ways."
"Different?"
She nodded. "Now, one more time and pull from the very depths of your soul. Show me what you really are." she took an offensive stance.
Enishi took a defensive, his eyes drifted shut and he centered himself. 'draw from the very depths...' he thought. 'but what's there...'
"Here I come." Kaoru warned him.
Enishi's eyes snapped open as Kaoru ducked to one side and went for his unprotected flank. He twisted away like he'd been taught and brought his blade up just in time to sheild himself from a full fledged tokkan inazuma. Blue light bled in fading streakes off Kaoru's sword path, but despite the light show Enishi noticed that she pulled her blade forward and then down in a minute sawing motion just before she struck.
Enishi's bodken didn't stand a chance, Kaoru's went through his weapon like a hot knife through butter. He dropped the useless hilt and danced out of the way of her next attack... she wasn't stopping!
"Enishi!"
He turned just in time to catch the fresh bodken Yahiko threw him. "Thanks runt!"
Enishi shifted to the offensive and rushed Kaoru-- unless he'd missed his guess, Kaoru had just demonstrated the slicing tokkan inazuma for him!
This time he went for an over-head cross strike that would allow him to see exactly what Kaoru did when she blocked him.
Enishi poured his ki into the 'sheath' around his bodken and, even though he couldn't see, it began glowing with the same light as Kaoru's only golden. A phantom wind sprung up around him and he felt the sensation of a sandstorm building up around him.
Kaoru's bodken slid through the air to block him and he saw tht just before the wooden blades me she flipped it in her hands so that he struck the flat. When he felt his blade 'bounce' back away from the edge of hers he knew what had happened. She'd used her ki and the motion of her bodken to create a tiny vaccum along the edge of her weapon. when the air rushed in to fill the void, the impact of air meeting air had knocked him back!
She danced back and grinned at the expression on his face. "Your ki manisfests as a samiel!" she told him. "Do you understand now?"
Enishi grinned. "Yeah."
"Good, spend the rest of the day practicing until you've got it down." she instructed him.
***
Yahiko watched Enishi practice for a little while, until Kaoru left him to do a chore somewhere and it became boring and cold.
He shuddered as another chill wind slipped down the collar of his gi. 'The weather is turning cold' he thought 'Kaoru came to stay with us just in august... it's november now. Wow, has it been three months already?' his eyes narrowed as something occured to him.
The boy hopped lightly to his feet and fled for the inside of the dojo to check the calendar.
It was november fifteenth.
The anniversary of his Kaachan's death.
Yahiko felt a little of his previous good cheer evaporate, but not too much.
'Just last year I went to Kaachan's grave to be miserable.' he reflected. 'Back when I was working for the Shu-ei yakuza syndicate all I could do whenever Kaachan's anniversary rolled around was go feel sorry for myself... but this year.' he felt a smile tug at his lips. 'This year I'm happy for once.'
Yahiko hummed to himself as he went to his room, dug out his small cache of pocket money, and counted it out. The was just enough for a bouquet of carnations to put on his mother's grave.
'I've never been able to afford flowers for Kaachan's grave before.' he reflected as he shut the shoji screen to his room behind him.
"Hey runt! where are you sneaking off to?" Enishi yelled at him as he crossed through the courtyard.
"I'm going to visit Kaachan!" Yahiko bellowed right back, that was they way he and Enishi communicated. Yelling didn't mean anger or hatred, instead it was something of a personal joke.
Enishi blinked. "Is it november already?" he asked in a normal tone of voice.
Yahiko nodded. "Uh huh, time goes by fast now doesn't it?"
Kaoru chose that moment to pass through the front hall with a basket full of laundry, she paused and waved at Enishi and Yahiko before moving on with her chores.
"Never a dull moment." Enishi agreed while watching the older kenshi appreciatively.
"If anyone wants me, I'll be at Tsukimine Shrine until noon." Yahiko told Enishi as he started on his way.
"Hold on runt. Take this!"
Yahiko caught the shinai Enishi threw to him.
"Your Kaachan would want to see you with it." Enishi said gruffly.
'A nice way of saying, 'in case the shu-ei boys decide to bother you again'. Yahiko thought drolly. "Good idea." he agreed out loud.
*******************
End chapter 18
*****************
Gee, this isn't much considering how long it took to get out... well at least it is out.
Chapter Eighteen; Asian Sirocco
*************
A butterfly flapping it's wings
caused a hurricane half a world away.
--The Theory of Chaos
*************
-Smack.-
"No good, try it again."
-Smack!-
"You're still not getting it, Enishi."
-SMACK!- -Crack!-
The broken practice dummy hit the ground and rolled across the cobbled practice ground to be stopped by Kaoru's foot.
"It's not about strength, Enishi." she said gravely. "With enough muscle -anyone- can break through a stick of wood with another stick. I don't think you've grasped the Tokkan Inazuma yet."
Enishi exhaled gustily and let the tip of his bodken droop until it touched the ground. "Maybe I don't." he agreed quietly. His hand whipped up just in time to catch the wadded up paper ball headed for the back of his skull.
"Nice try, runt." he said over his shoulder to Yahiko. "It this your way of cheering me on?"
The young boy made a face at his sensei. "You're giving up!" he accused. "I'm not gonna let you, not after the hell you've put me through so far. So try again or I'll throw something heavier and cheaper than a wad of paper at you!"
Kaoru smiled at Yahiko and the boy calmed down. "It is his way of encouraging you, Enishi. Kamiya Kasshin Advanced Style isn't something you can master in a day or so even with years of training under your belt. The Tokkan Inazuma is only the most basic of the basics."
Enishi heaved a sigh. "Maybe I'm going at it from the wrong angle." he thought out loud.
Kaoru nodded. "Perhaps, I've never taught anyone but myself to do it before. Why don't you take a rest and I'll think on it?"
Enishi chuckled and took Kaoru's advice. 'That's so typical of her.' he thought fondly. 'I'm the one who's failing her and she's decided that it's her fault. I'd better set her straight...'
Kaoru watched Enishi sit down beside Yahiko and indulge in some casual verbal sparring with the boy. 'That's not exactly what I had in mind when I suggested he rest, but if fighting with Yahiko relaxes him then I have no room to throw stones. Kami knows I've seen some weird relaxation techniues in my life. Everything from washing laundry to smoking.'
She walked off to the storage shed to retrieve another practice dummy... they were running low on them, perhaps it was time to invest in some new ones. Teaching Enishi her own techniques would be hard on them... especially while he was learning things like the Jinkourai and the Patto Rakurainou.
'Maybe I need to explain the Tokkan Inazuma a bit better, Enishi said he understood the mechanics of the attack before... but maybe he doesn't really. Perhaps he only thinks he does. From the way he was using his bodken earlier I can tell that he's using the air pressure correctly and is using his ki to protect the wood, otherwise the bodken would have broken before the dummy.' she shook her head as she reached the shed and hauled out a dummy.
By the time she returned to the practice groun, Enishi was up again and making a few practice swings... Kaoru watched him from behind her bangs as she set up the dummy.
He was using a standard kendo stance, nothing special. His sword path was straight and of the beating style he preferred. Kaoru pursed her lips, he was relying to much on the power of his own arms instead the power of his ficticious opponent. She herself preferred a slashing style that allowed her to drop out from under her opponents strike and let them fall under the force of their own attack.
Of course he would have gotten into the habit of using a beating strike when training Yahiko to encourage the boy to adopt the slashing style.
"Enishi, you're punching again. You're not training Yahiko right now so don't focus too much on your own power." she chided him and he blushed.
"Whoops, didn't realize." he apologized and altered his form. "Better?" he asked after a few practice strikes.
"Better." she agreed. "Remember, the entirety of Kamiya Kasshin isn't strength verses strength. Your aim is to control the fight and manipulating the opponent into doing what -you- want him to do. Do whatever you have to do to get them down and staying that way."
"Kamiya-sama never put it that way." Enishi complained.
"Ue was a wonderful man," Kaoru agreed. "but he had too many scruples. We're out to protect life with a sword, killing our opponents would be hypocrisy. So to achieve our goal we have to resort to the dirty side of kenjutsu. You might say we're sacrificing many little morals for the Big one. Don't be afraid to kick your enemy on the balls if it means you won't have to kill him!"
Enishi snorted with muffled laughter. "H-hai sensei!"
Kaoru smiled and tapped her head. "Don't laugh, a big part of Kamiya Kasshin is up here. You're a bright boy, use that mind of yours."
"I'm nineteen, do you think you could stop calling me a boy?" he asked painedly.
Kaoru chuckled. "I'm ten years older than you, you're a boy to me and nineteen is younger than you think." she hefted her bodken. "Now, I'm going to try and explain the tokkan inazuma from another angle, ne? There are two basic forms of it; blocking, and cutting. Still with me?"
Enishi nodded.
Kaoru brought her bodken up as if blocking a sword.
"All right, for a blocking tokkan inazuma you would punch with your bodken to stop the opponent's blade." she pushed her sword up for emphasis. "I think you've gotten that one. Use the Tokkan inazuma to block my strike, all right?"
"All right..." Enishi brought his bodken up in a text-book block to counter the light tap Kaoru administered to his blade.
From a normal standpoint, Enishi blocked Kaoru perfectly. His weight was centered and if he dipped his blade he could slip out from under her attack and land one on her ribs.
Unfortunately, Kaoru wasn't watching from a normal viewpoint. She could see a tiny flicker of golden lightning around the tip of his blade, but she noticed that it didn't 'feel' like electricity. It felt more like... sand. He was attempting to cooy the 'lightning' effect. Understanding flooded her; Enishi had caught onto the trick of using his own ki to protect his weapon... but he was attempting to force it into manifesting in a way it was unsuited for!
"Relax, Enishi." Kaoru counseled him as she stepped back and brought her bodken up again. "Let's try this one more time and now try not to think too hard about your ki. Just stick to the basics."
"Huh?" a confused look appeared on Enishi's face. "I don't get what you're saying, I'm doing it the way you said to."
Kaoru grinned. "I see, but just do as I say now... expect nothin. Your problem is that you're trying to make your tokkan inazuma like mine but our ki is inherently different. It will manifest in different ways."
"Different?"
She nodded. "Now, one more time and pull from the very depths of your soul. Show me what you really are." she took an offensive stance.
Enishi took a defensive, his eyes drifted shut and he centered himself. 'draw from the very depths...' he thought. 'but what's there...'
"Here I come." Kaoru warned him.
Enishi's eyes snapped open as Kaoru ducked to one side and went for his unprotected flank. He twisted away like he'd been taught and brought his blade up just in time to sheild himself from a full fledged tokkan inazuma. Blue light bled in fading streakes off Kaoru's sword path, but despite the light show Enishi noticed that she pulled her blade forward and then down in a minute sawing motion just before she struck.
Enishi's bodken didn't stand a chance, Kaoru's went through his weapon like a hot knife through butter. He dropped the useless hilt and danced out of the way of her next attack... she wasn't stopping!
"Enishi!"
He turned just in time to catch the fresh bodken Yahiko threw him. "Thanks runt!"
Enishi shifted to the offensive and rushed Kaoru-- unless he'd missed his guess, Kaoru had just demonstrated the slicing tokkan inazuma for him!
This time he went for an over-head cross strike that would allow him to see exactly what Kaoru did when she blocked him.
Enishi poured his ki into the 'sheath' around his bodken and, even though he couldn't see, it began glowing with the same light as Kaoru's only golden. A phantom wind sprung up around him and he felt the sensation of a sandstorm building up around him.
Kaoru's bodken slid through the air to block him and he saw tht just before the wooden blades me she flipped it in her hands so that he struck the flat. When he felt his blade 'bounce' back away from the edge of hers he knew what had happened. She'd used her ki and the motion of her bodken to create a tiny vaccum along the edge of her weapon. when the air rushed in to fill the void, the impact of air meeting air had knocked him back!
She danced back and grinned at the expression on his face. "Your ki manisfests as a samiel!" she told him. "Do you understand now?"
Enishi grinned. "Yeah."
"Good, spend the rest of the day practicing until you've got it down." she instructed him.
***
Yahiko watched Enishi practice for a little while, until Kaoru left him to do a chore somewhere and it became boring and cold.
He shuddered as another chill wind slipped down the collar of his gi. 'The weather is turning cold' he thought 'Kaoru came to stay with us just in august... it's november now. Wow, has it been three months already?' his eyes narrowed as something occured to him.
The boy hopped lightly to his feet and fled for the inside of the dojo to check the calendar.
It was november fifteenth.
The anniversary of his Kaachan's death.
Yahiko felt a little of his previous good cheer evaporate, but not too much.
'Just last year I went to Kaachan's grave to be miserable.' he reflected. 'Back when I was working for the Shu-ei yakuza syndicate all I could do whenever Kaachan's anniversary rolled around was go feel sorry for myself... but this year.' he felt a smile tug at his lips. 'This year I'm happy for once.'
Yahiko hummed to himself as he went to his room, dug out his small cache of pocket money, and counted it out. The was just enough for a bouquet of carnations to put on his mother's grave.
'I've never been able to afford flowers for Kaachan's grave before.' he reflected as he shut the shoji screen to his room behind him.
"Hey runt! where are you sneaking off to?" Enishi yelled at him as he crossed through the courtyard.
"I'm going to visit Kaachan!" Yahiko bellowed right back, that was they way he and Enishi communicated. Yelling didn't mean anger or hatred, instead it was something of a personal joke.
Enishi blinked. "Is it november already?" he asked in a normal tone of voice.
Yahiko nodded. "Uh huh, time goes by fast now doesn't it?"
Kaoru chose that moment to pass through the front hall with a basket full of laundry, she paused and waved at Enishi and Yahiko before moving on with her chores.
"Never a dull moment." Enishi agreed while watching the older kenshi appreciatively.
"If anyone wants me, I'll be at Tsukimine Shrine until noon." Yahiko told Enishi as he started on his way.
"Hold on runt. Take this!"
Yahiko caught the shinai Enishi threw to him.
"Your Kaachan would want to see you with it." Enishi said gruffly.
'A nice way of saying, 'in case the shu-ei boys decide to bother you again'. Yahiko thought drolly. "Good idea." he agreed out loud.
*******************
End chapter 18
*****************
Gee, this isn't much considering how long it took to get out... well at least it is out.