Turning Swallow

Summary:

OR, One morning, four-year-old Sasaki Kojiro remembers a life not yet lived, and decides to do something about it. History changes. SI!Sasaki Kojiro. Expect general lightheartedness, but dark topics when the time comes.

CH. 7 START

It had been roughly a total of four hours since dark had first fallen, and Kojiro had already lit three more candles atop the one he had started with. The sky outside was dark, though it wasn't quite nighttime yet, and though it was bright enough to see, within Kojiro's hut, it was far too dark. In reality, it was probably only around 10 P.M., by the standards of future timescales. Just before the fourth candle burned out, Kojiro finished reading over the scroll for the first time. Surprisingly, the scroll hadn't been all too complex, managing to distill the basics of swordsmanship into several basic descriptions and exercises. Even if he had the barest of experience, the scroll had laid out the fundamentals in simple to understand and intuitive ways. Given how competent of a samurai Seigen was, Kojiro had honestly doubted their choice of teaching materials would be subpar, but it was good to have confirmation. More than likely, Seigen had penned it himself.

First, it had laid out what it deemed the nine basic angles of attack in order of most to least common: vertically, from up and down, horizontally, from left to right and vice versa, and from the diagonals, be it from any of the four directions. Briefly, the scroll had also detailed the pros and cons of each form of attack. The most effective angle of assault with a blade was a downwards swing, the scroll claimed, since that swing allowed for one to attack, all the while keeping your body out of range of a counterattack. It was an all-purpose type of thing, the type of style one used when they wanted to remain in a neutral position. Slashing upwards, on the other hand, was listed by the scroll as an effective type of defense, allowing a samurai to do one of two things. Either they'd force their opponent to retreat to avoid injury, or they'd be able to trade injury for injury with their foe. Attacks from the left and right were supplementary, meant to probe and discomfort the enemy by making sure that their arms and sides were constantly under attack. A slit wrist could end a fight as quickly as a decapitation, after all. These four directions of attacks were what the scroll had named the four 'orthodox' angles, a warrior's go-to in times of battle due to their consistency and relative safety.

Collectively, the diagonal directions of assault were named the 'unorthodox' angles, on account of the fact that in spite of their effectiveness, performing any such attack could put the attacker at risk. Though such a direction certainly made it easy to handicap a foe by dismembering them, in the case of upwards diagonals, if a samurai wasn't careful enough, a mistimed strike in either direction could see the exposing of their own opposite flank. Downwards diagonal attacks were often more powerful, due to the weight behind them, but without careful strength and precise control, one could just as easily bury their blade in the ground as a foe. All of them exposed vitals that needed protecting in exchange for the ability to do potent damage to an enemy. Thrusts were the last type of possible attack, performed in a short and quick manner meant to allow a warrior to gain quick access to a foe's vitals. A successful thrusting strike to the throat was the end of any samurai, no matter how skilled. You had to get up close and personal for them though, so if an opponent was skilled, they could cut you down before you had the chance to stab.

That hadn't been all that was covered in the scroll though, and near the end of it, the various types of attacks one could make were listed. It turned out that using a sword wasn't as simple as swinging it and praying to the heavens that you stuck your opponents with the pointy end before they did the same to you. A 'slash' had been listed as the most simple form of attack and was performed with a sweeping motion parallel to the ground; the attack intended to leave a long, shallow, and most importantly, debilitating wound on your enemy. Such a wound would give a samurai an easier time of finishing off their foe. A 'cut' was a harsher type of attack, one that aimed to leave a wound deeper than a slash would, at the cost of the damaged area being lessened. By attacking at a diagonal angle, one could ensure that a blade would cut deeply, maybe nicking an organ in doing so. A 'chop' was a vicious sort of attack, used when one intended to leave any sort of permanent wound on their foe, often performed with a sharp and harsh movement of the blade. Despite its potential power though, a chop could just as easily get a sword lodged in armor or terrain and could even be evaded, if a samurai was agile enough. High risk, high reward. A 'slice' was an attack that was used when one wanted to leave an uneven wound, heightening the chances of a foe dying after battle due to infection by making it more difficult to treat and heal. At the apex of a slice, flesh would be parted easily but before, a slice was easily knocked away. A 'hew' was less of an attack, and more of a sawing motion, done to break a bladelock, or done when your blade was already in an enemy's flesh to cause more pain and damage. It also helped to loosen the blade from where it had gotten stuck in a body. A 'cleave' was an aggressive chop, different only for the amount of force a cleave contained. A cleave not connecting could send a samurai's guard wide open, granting foes a chance to kill. Such a thing was only used to decapitate an enemy or sever a limb, meant to be fight ending in any case.

Kojiro glanced briefly at the other scroll, being tempted to reach out and read through it as well. He held himself back however, given that he wasn't ready to learn the Toda Sword Style yet, untrained and unpracticed as he was. Going straight into them without experience swinging a blade in a more generalized manner would see him begin to construct a palace upon a beach, build a poor foundation. He had to 'level up,' so to speak, by mastering the basics first. He'd be trading long-term success for short-term benefit if he skipped ahead. Besides, from what he'd seen in the duel between Kagemasa and Seigen, and even the duel between Kagemasa and his son, the Toda-ryu was mostly about finding ways to end fights and break an opponent's guard. He had no need for that when all an opponent had to do was wait for him to hurt himself.

Kojiro began to prepare for rest with a weary sigh, rising from the small table he'd be using as a desk. He already had far too many things to practice from the first scroll without piling more on himself. He rolled up the first scroll, storing the Toda-ryu scroll onto a shelf, before scrubbing himself down as best he could with a small bucket of water he'd gotten the day before his memories had returned. He used a small cup of water and the tassel of a branch with antibacterial properties to clean his mouth, dumping the water and the tassel onto the ground outside. He'd used that tassel a few times already and had to replace it. Once he'd done so, Kojiro threw his dirty clothes into a basket that he'd have to carry over to a river and wash with before slipping on a hanjuban and a suteteko, the rough equivalent of a t-shirt and loose pants. It was best to get to sleep early and wake early if he wanted to get any effective practice tomorrow. There was no sense in staying up so late with nothing to do, even if his new memories insisted that 10 P.M. was far too early a time to go to bed. Kojiro fell into a dreamless sleep shortly afterwards.

When Kojiro rose the next morning, the sun wasn't really even in the sky, despite there being just enough light to see by. After freshening himself with some more water, and changing his fundoshi, underwear, he pulled on a hakama, a skirt-like bottom, over his suteteko and slipped on a susoyoke, an undershirt, before putting back on his hanjuban. To make his outfit truly formal, he needed to put on a kimono, which he could only equate to a suit jacket, but since he was alone, he didn't bother with it. He secured his blade with his uwa-obi sash and tightened it, before heading into the open air. The chill of the morning air hit him, waking him up fully, and he took a deep breath, cold air burning his lungs. As he breathed out, the heat of his breath created steam. The readings from yesterday were still fresh in his mind and Kojiro drew his blade, this time a little more smoothly, despite the fair bit of fumbling. He raised it above his head and brought it down with a grunt of effort, as the scroll had pictured. He had to make sure the blade cut straight, else his sword could glance off of armor and weapons in actual battle, leaving him exposed. Beyond that, good form allowed him to transmit the maximum amount of force. Though the natural momentum of the swing wanted to plant the blade into the ground, Kojiro flexed his arms and forced the blade to come to a neat halt, a few inches above the dirt. He needed to make sure he kept doing that, to avoid damaging his sword. Another thing to keep in mind was the fact that his hands could shake from stopping the sword's momentum either, since that could also mess up the fluidity of the cut. He reviewed the action he'd just performed, checking it over to see if he'd made any mistakes. He found none, but made sure to check with the scroll just in case.

All signs pointed to the fact that Kojiro had done it right. That was good. He was without skill now, but that just meant he had no bad habits to fix or mistakes to unlearn. He'd do his best to make sure to not gain any flaws in his bladework, though he knew that to be truly certain, his swordwork would have to pass through Seigen's approval. He raised the blade above his head again, and cut, this time heard the parting of air, and brought it to a neat stop. He did it again, making sure that each of his actions were correct once more. The fourth time, he made sure to perform the movements in sequence. He wasn't actually feeling winded at all and his muscles weren't sore either. The scroll had recommended a minimum of thirty practice swings to begin with, but Kojiro felt like he could do double that. Maybe this wasn't as hard as the media had made him think it was. By the time he'd swung correctly ten times, Kojiro began to feel the burn of good exercise begin in his upper arms but ignored it, chalking it up to proof that the exercise was working. He continued to swing, and by twenty repetitions, he was still feeling fine. By thirty, where the scroll had recommended he stop, he continued, and though Kojiro felt somewhat winded, he could still keep going for a while. Sixty it was then. He grew steadily more tired until at forty, he came to regret his decision. He could manage, however, despite the tiredness. Forty-seven was then his first mistake occurred, when he let the tip of the wooden blade bury itself into the dirt. He redid that attempt, this time making sure to control the ending. At fifty-eight and several failed swings, Kojiro wanted to give up, but he grimaced, before deciding to press on. There were only two more repetitions. He raised his arm above his head, took a calming breath, before bringing the blade down. At the end of its swing, the tip hovered neatly above the ground. With a great deal of effort, Kojiro finished off the last two swings, breathing a sigh of relief and sheathing his sword. His hands trembled as he returned the blade to his home and collapsed, uncaring that his clothes would get dirty. He was already covered in sweat. His arms screamed profanities at him and he massaged them idly, waiting for some of that soreness to fade away. He'd only completed one set, of a recommended three, even if that set was double a normal one, out of a total of eight different exercises.

He sheathed his sword with sweaty, shaking hands, and collapsed to the ground, uncaring that his clothes would get dirty. He was already covered in sweat anyways. His arms screamed at him, burning in pain, and he massaged them idly, waiting for some of it to fade. He'd only completed one set, of a recommended three, even if that single set was double a normal one, out of a total of eight different exercises. It would be so easy to do the bare minimum, given the excuse of his age, but if he did that, he wouldn't be able to catch up to the rest of his generation, who had years of practice and training under their belts. He wouldn't be able to catch up with Musashi either and that wasn't acceptable. A couple minutes passed and with that thought front and center, he got up. He set his feet parallel to each other and began the next exercise, swinging his blade in from the right then the left, before swinging it from the left to the right. He had to make sure these were parallel to the ground and happened no less than a second after each other/ Kojiro forced himself to do thirty of each, to match his first exercise set. He had to do more to catch up, no matter how tired he was. Left to right and left to right, over and over, then right to left and right to left, over and over. The sword dropped from his limp hands after he was done, and Kojiro dropped too. He gathered himself just enough to grab his blade, wipe it off, and sheathe it, before his energy ran out. He lay there, simply breathing for a while, until it felt like the sun had brightened some, and he rose again. Next was the upward vertical cut exercises. They were slightly perpendicular, rather than directly upwards, given the fact that the human body couldn't actually cut straight up without damaging itself, especially given the fact that the blade he was using had a single edge. He had to raise his blade just above his thigh, before moving the sword at a steep angle upwards. It was almost identical to the sword drawing movements of iaido, bar the fact that the blade started so low. With stubborn effort, he finished these exercises off before taking a moment to sit down and drink some water. The dryness in his mouth vanished and energy soon returned. He began the last set of exercise in the eight. These required him to get into a front stance, and cut in the direction of the leg that was behind. He was to take a step, cutting as he did so, before repeating for the opposite leg, fifteen times each. Of course, he doubled that number, before beginning the final exercise, nearly identical if not for the fact that he now had to cut upwards diagonally instead of downwards. These were harder, forcing Kojiro to use his entire body to generate enough force for the strikes.

When he had finished the final set, he lay there in victory until the sun came out in full and the rooster began to crow. That was the call to breakfast, and given that Kojiro could roughly intuit that it was around 6 P.M., give or take a few rooster's crow was the call for breakfast, Kojiro managed to recall through the haze of exhaustion, and he patted the dust off of his clothes before grabbing the kimono from his house and putting it on. He straightened himself, patted his side, feeling the now familiar weight of his blade, and walked on weary legs to the distant canteen area.

He ate breakfast half-awake, a meal of rice and soup, before heading to the bathhouses to clean himself of the morning's sweat. He loitered there for some time, before deciding not to immediately return to practice, choosing instead to watch the afternoon training in the Dojo. The lesson was in full swing when he arrived, the rest of his generation in rapt attention to the teachings of Kanemaki Jisai. Only his grandfather noticed Kojiro arrive, nodding to him. Kojiro waved back with a smile, before sitting down and watching the others spar with Jisai. He made sure to take notes on what the most common types of attacks were and how Jisai fended them off. As the lesson drew to a close, he slipped away, leaving with but a single thought. Jisai really liked to punish the left side of the student's guards. It made sense, most were right-handed so their defense of their left was slightly awkward, stiff in other words. Kojiro sighed internally, mentally rewriting his practice plans. He would have to practice with his left hand too, something that had slipped his mind until this lesson. He was fortunate to have noticed this quickly too. People learned best when they were young, and since Kojiro already knew quite a bit from his memories, he could focus on what was really important, like learning how to be ambidextrous. Kojiro vowed to do his afternoon exercises with his left-hand. He might as well take every advantage he had, even if to the rest of Japan left-handedness was a sign of being uneducated and poor.

He'd get the last laugh eventually. He could even convince Seigen to let him get away with that taboo on the basis of being a better and more well-rounded warrior. The lesson ended and while the rest of the students went to get lunch, Kojiro made for his hut. He needed to begin practicing with his left hand. Once more, Kojiro hated himself. His left hand, the entire hand in general, had been criminally underused and didn't respond to the sudden trauma of hard exercise all too well. It rebelled with twitches and twinges and spasms of the worst variety, but eventually, it got used to being used and Kojiro made it through his repetitions of the first three exercises, benign downward swings, upward swings, and the horizontal swings. With them done, he was content to resheathe his sword and stretch his left arm. Raising it above his head and pulling it down had all sort of interesting effects on his bicep; he winced as he felt the muscles stretch. He pushed his way through the rest of his exercises, and now that his left arm was loosened up, he found it somewhat easier to finish off the remaining exercises, being the diagonal slashes. Now, the sun was a little bit past the center of the sky. That meant that it was roughly time for the evening lesson and with the time remaining, Kojiro made his way to Dojo. This time, it was a discussion of the effective uses of the forward slash by Kagemasa, Seigen grinning at him as he entered the dojo with the rest of his generation. He nodded gratefully and listened carefully to the lecture, and when it ended, made sure to thank both Kagemasa and Seigen.

He made his way to the bathhouses once more to clean off the afternoon's sweat, then made his way to the canteen for dinner. Full and content with the day's progress, he returned home, making sure to review the exercises and lessons within the first scroll. When the sky eventually darkened, Kojiro changed into more comfortable clothes, rolled up the scroll, and began his nighttime routine. When night came, he was already in bed, ready to sleep. All he had to do now was repeat his efforts in the days to come, and sooner than later, he'd start to see results.

A/N:

Shoutout to olvitsi for the Kiyohime idea, will definitely be using that. I'll make sure to give you a heads-up when I post that chapter. Thanks man!