A grunt was heard as a young woman pushed with all her might. "Come on!" she growled through clenched teeth. "Just a little bit further!" Finally, the large object moved one inch over the dusty ground and the girl stopped, straightening out her sore back and dusting her hands off. She looked over her work, proud at the incredible feat of pushing a huge trampoline by herself. Nodding in accomplishment, the girl picked up her smooth, curved stick off the ground.



She glanced up at the side of her house. That should be high enough. With a new resolve she walked over to a ladder, put the stick in her mouth, and began climbing up the two stories that was her house. She was Tara Jenkins, eighteen years old, attending college, and still lived with her parents.



Tara reached the roof and stepped carefully onto the smooth metal that covered it. Walking up a ways, she slipped and fell on her butt, nearly sliding over the edge. After that near fiasco, she decided that perhaps she should climb up on her hands and knees. When she reached her desired spot, she tentatively placed each tennis shoed foot on the scalding metal.



The sun was high in the sky, and the day hot. It was perfect. Tara took the stick out of her mouth and gripped it with both ends, pointing the smaller end at an invisible opponent before her. Tara, however, did not see a stick, she imagined it as more of a sword than anything. Ah yes, she would kill her opponent with her deadly moves. There was only one problem with this. Most of her moves WERE deadly……………………… to herself.



She leaned as far as gravity would allow her to without falling, looking over the edge of the roof. Everything was set, the trampoline was lined up perfectly. She would finally be able to execute a move so cunning, so deadly, so difficult, that she had never been able to do it before. At least, she wasn't able to do it from the ground: she was unable to jump high enough.



Tara smiled to herself, yes, this would be excellent. Gathering up her courage, Tara closed her eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath. Now was the moment.



"Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu!" she began.



She opened her eyes and began to run down the glistening metal that was the roof, careful not to slip. As she reached the edge she hurtled herself through the air.



"Ryu Sui Sen!"



Tara's "sword" was held high above her head as she fell through the air towards the trampoline. Glee filled her eyes as she executed the move, her feet touching the trampoline surface. Of course, she would never be able to be as good as Kenshin, in fact, her executing this move would most likely only do damage by making the enemy laugh itself to death, but she was quite happy with herself.



All of these thoughts ran through her head in an instant as a broad smile planted itself firmly on her face. She didn't realize until it was too late that she had sunk far into the trampoline and now it was ready, like a sling shot pulled to its limit, ready to release its rock.



It began slowly, this slingshot action. The dipping stopped and slowly began to reverse. Instead of giving to her weight, it began to fight against it. Her eyes widened as everything seemed to move in slow motion. It seemed to be taking forever as the large dip slowly began to straighten itself out. A single word ran through her mind. Oops. And then she was fired off of it at an incredible speed for something as simple as a trampoline, with her stick still held firmly between two hands.



"KIIIYYYAAAA!" she screamed as she sailed through the air at an odd angle, flying far away from the house and the trampoline. She began to descend as slowly as she had been thrown. Looking below, her eyes widened even more. Ground. Solid, rocky ground awaited her, not the giving springs of the trampoline.



Her last thought was "This would never happen to Kenshin," as she hit the ground and blacked out.