-Tricked-
Disclaimer: I do not own YYH.
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Chapter 8: Day 1
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Hiei stared at Botan with a weird expression on his face. She was trying to hold the sword right. She put her hands the way he had them and felt a little better when he nodded.
"Now, lift the sword off the ground and over your head." Hiei demonstrated and she watched as he did it fluidly. She sighed and tried to do it as she had seen done. "Once you've accomplished that, try using your strength and bring the sword down onto the wood." Once again, Hiei demonstrated. The sword cut through the five pieces of wood he had in front of him. Botan bit her lip and brought the sword down with all her might. It only got stuck on the first piece of wood.
"Opps.." She tried to pull it out but that didn't work.
"You know you're wasting time, don't you?" He asked coldly. "Pull it out." She pulled hard and fell backwards when it came out. "Get back up and try over again." She nodded. This was not fun at 5:25 AM. She tried again. This was harder than it looked. Accidentally, her finger slipped and hit the sword blade, making her bleed.
"Dammit!" She shouted in frustration. It was not a good morning. She glared at her mentor when he stared at her in amusement. She tried it again, but this time the sword got stuck in the second piece of wood.
"You have got to be kidding me." Hiei shook his head and sighed. "My patience is running on low, so I suggest you get with it."
"It isn't my fault you gave me three pieces of wood to break on the first try to even lift a sword!" Botan cried indignantly.
"Just shut up and keep going." He watched as she tried over and over again, failing miserably. Suddenly, she felt someone behind her. Kurama braced himself behind her and held the sword over her hands.
"Like this." He let go and she stood there as still as a stone statue. She bit her lip again and brought it down with all her might. The boards broke, but they were cut uneven.
"Kitsune, I would prefer if you let my student do it on her own. You won't be there to hold her hand during the battle." Hiei stated coldly. Kurama only smiled, his emerald eyes showing amusement.
"I know that, Sensei." He said sarcastically. "Your student was having trouble because its 5:30 in the morning." He smiled at Botan and she smiled back gratefully. Hiei gave her three fresh boards and told her to do it without help and in one try so that she could get a clean cut, straight through.
"Can you try that on your own, student?" His eyes were gazing at Kurama, who was behind her. He put his hands in the air to prove that he wouldn't try anything. This would be great.
"Yes, Sensei, I think I can." Botan said sarcastically. She lifted the sword a little better than before, pretty good for a beginner who had three days to learn it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, summoning her strength. She opened her eyes and looked directly at the wood. Bringing the sword down with pretty good speed and force, she cut the first two straight enough. The third one gave her trouble and the sword got stuck once again. "This is not my day."
"You can't learn and perfect in 5 minutes, Botan." Kurama said with a laugh. She grumbled. "What?"
"Shut up." She slapped his arm and scowled. This was going to be a long, hard day.
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"Urameshi! What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Kuwabara asked, staring at Yusuke as if the he had two heads.
"Training with grandma." Yusuke answered, getting slapped in the back of the head. He rubbed the sore spot and frowned at Genkai. "What was that for?"
"I am not your grandmother. I am your teacher, dimwit. Now, get up off the floor and get back to training." She sounded extremely irritated. Kuwabara was about to leave when Genkai shoved him over to a different part of the room. "You too." He fell flat on his face. "Lazy. You better learn balance."
"HEY!" He shouted indignantly. "That wasn't nice--"
"Well, I'm not nice." Genkai said bluntly. "Get training."
"How? Where're our enemies?"
"Fight each other if you have to." She said irritably. "I want to see your mistakes." Yusuke shrugged.
"I could care less what we do." His brown eyes focused on his opponent. Kuwabara summoned his spirit sword and smirked.
"Lets see what ya got." He brought his sword down but Yusuke dodged it easily. He punched Kuwabara in the side and jumped gracefully out of the way of his spirit sword. Kuwabara managed to kick him, but Yusuke wasn't off balance for long.
"Spirit gun!" He shouted, aiming his blast at Kuwabara's stomach. The two went on like this for a little while. Yusuke kicked Kuwabara in the chest and sent him flying into the wall.
"Well, I can see that you've improved, dimwit. This will certainly help you in the up-coming tournament."
"Speaking of which, when will it be?" Yusuke asked, wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Next week."
"Great." Yusuke rolled his eyes. "We've got three days to train so that we can kick some guy's ass, then we have the tournament coming up not even five days after that." He walked out, not caring whether or not Genkai wanted him to.
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Kurama watched Botan train with the sword for a while. It was now noon and he had to train. He walked over to see Genkai and the others.
"Hello, Genkai, Kuwabara." He said with a frown. "Where's Yusuke?"
"Who knows? He took off after we were done training. I figure that he went somewhere to train by himself." Kuwabara said with a wave of his hand. Kurama nodded.
"I see." He looked at Genkai for a moment then turned and walked away.
"That boy will be extremely strong by the time of the tournament." The old woman said with a shake of her head.
"Who? Kurama?" Genkai nodded. "Well, duh! He is a demon, after all."
Kurama walked through the woods in the back of Genkai's temple. He could sense Yusuke's spirit energy quite easily. He spotted the boy training by himself, as Kuwabara had said.
"Yusuke, will you fight me?" Kurama asked walking out of the trees. Yusuke turned around and smirked.
"You mean, like training?" He asked. Kurama nodded.
"Yes." He said quietly. "Hiei is training Botan and Kuwabara is out of the question. I need to train with someone who is more like myself."
"But-"
"You know what I mean. I don't want to take it easy these next few days." His eyes narrowed as Yusuke nodded.
"Sure then, lets begin."
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Botan finally got it right. The sword slashed through the air and cut all three pieces of woods straightly. Hiei nodded in approval.
"Getting better, but you need to try five pieces now." He gave her five new wooden planks. They were quite thick for wooden planks.
"Ohh.." Botan wavered on her feet. "I haven't had a break in four hours!" Hiei frowned.
"Breaks waste time. We have three days, remember?" She sighed and nodded. "Now, get on with it." She cut three pieces but got stuck on the fourth. "Okay, hold the sword there. I'm going to teach you another trick." He held his sword just like she had it. He lifted it a little and forced spirit energy out into the sword. He brought it down with as much force as he had. "Try it. Thats right. Force spirit energy into the blade of the sword."
"This is hard." She muttered, forcing herself to stay upright. This was draining her. Her arms were gonna hurt in the morning. She kept her thoughts on finishing the training on schedule so that she could have a little time to soak in a nice hot bath. Taking a deep breath, she copied Hiei's move and almost made it.
"You still have a lot of work to do before you can even sword fight with me. Keep going." Botan groaned. This was torture.
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"Not bad, Kurama. I have to admit that I didn't think you were this strong." Yusuke grunted. He dodged Kurama's rose whip again. He was getting quicker. Yusuke knew Kurama was testing his strength before even thinking about going full force. This was one tough demon. The training was getting brutal. Yusuke gasped for breath a couple of times when Kurama had scared the shit out him.
"Can you go any faster?" He smirked and used the right movements, slashing Yusuke with the whip for the second time in the last few minutes.
"Yeah, give me all you've got." Kurama shook his head.
"There isn't any way I'm damaging my training partner that way." He chuckled and took it up another notch. He could tell that Yusuke was just managing to dodge his whip. "I have to admit, no partner I've trained with, except Hiei can go up this high."
"Thanks." Yusuke grinned but frowned when he tripped over a tree root. Jumping to his feet, he thought himself lucky for just missing another encounter with the weapon. His strength was starting to fade but he wouldn't give up so easily.
Before either of them noticed, it was sunset.
"Time we thought about getting back to see how the others have fared." Kurama said, putting his whip away. "Tomorrow, early morning, we'll be battling with our fists."
"Sounds good to me." Yusuke grinned. "Thats the kind of battling I like." He had to admit, Kurama helped him greatly. His speed was almost horrible before but now he was faster and could dodge better.
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"How goes the training?" Yusuke asked Hiei when they arrived back at the temple. Botan had done well for the first day, Kurama noticed. She was no where to be seen.
"I would have liked to train her more tonight, but she insisted that we not. She accomplished everything quite well, but I doubt that what she learned today will help her any in the battle. She will have to learn real combat. That was just learning how to hold and swing the sword properly." Yusuke whistled.
"You sure are a tough teacher. Making the student do it over and over until they have it right." He shook his head. "Botan must be sore all over."
"Almost right, Yusuke." A female's voice said behind them. "I just called Keiko and I'll be over her house for the night. See you bright and early, boys!" She walked away without a glance behind her.
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"Thank you so much Keiko. I feel so relaxed now." Botan allowed Keiko to brush her hair and play with it for a while.
"How was Hiei for a teacher?" She asked curiously.
"He was tough but got the point across. He isn't the type of teacher to let you do it once and perfect it when you want to. He sets a time and makes you do it right, unless you want to do it again." Botan sighed. "Needless to say, we accomplished what he wanted today. He even wanted me to do more! I said no."
"If you trained any more today, you wouldn't have made it through the nice hot bath without falling asleep." Keiko giggled and shook her head. "Better get to sleep. Tomorrow is almost the same as today for you."
"Good night!" They said in unison to each other before falling asleep.
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Sorry for the huge delay with this. I totally blanked out for a while. Writer's block sucks. Please review!
-Jess-
Disclaimer: I do not own YYH.
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Chapter 8: Day 1
-------------------------------------------------
Hiei stared at Botan with a weird expression on his face. She was trying to hold the sword right. She put her hands the way he had them and felt a little better when he nodded.
"Now, lift the sword off the ground and over your head." Hiei demonstrated and she watched as he did it fluidly. She sighed and tried to do it as she had seen done. "Once you've accomplished that, try using your strength and bring the sword down onto the wood." Once again, Hiei demonstrated. The sword cut through the five pieces of wood he had in front of him. Botan bit her lip and brought the sword down with all her might. It only got stuck on the first piece of wood.
"Opps.." She tried to pull it out but that didn't work.
"You know you're wasting time, don't you?" He asked coldly. "Pull it out." She pulled hard and fell backwards when it came out. "Get back up and try over again." She nodded. This was not fun at 5:25 AM. She tried again. This was harder than it looked. Accidentally, her finger slipped and hit the sword blade, making her bleed.
"Dammit!" She shouted in frustration. It was not a good morning. She glared at her mentor when he stared at her in amusement. She tried it again, but this time the sword got stuck in the second piece of wood.
"You have got to be kidding me." Hiei shook his head and sighed. "My patience is running on low, so I suggest you get with it."
"It isn't my fault you gave me three pieces of wood to break on the first try to even lift a sword!" Botan cried indignantly.
"Just shut up and keep going." He watched as she tried over and over again, failing miserably. Suddenly, she felt someone behind her. Kurama braced himself behind her and held the sword over her hands.
"Like this." He let go and she stood there as still as a stone statue. She bit her lip again and brought it down with all her might. The boards broke, but they were cut uneven.
"Kitsune, I would prefer if you let my student do it on her own. You won't be there to hold her hand during the battle." Hiei stated coldly. Kurama only smiled, his emerald eyes showing amusement.
"I know that, Sensei." He said sarcastically. "Your student was having trouble because its 5:30 in the morning." He smiled at Botan and she smiled back gratefully. Hiei gave her three fresh boards and told her to do it without help and in one try so that she could get a clean cut, straight through.
"Can you try that on your own, student?" His eyes were gazing at Kurama, who was behind her. He put his hands in the air to prove that he wouldn't try anything. This would be great.
"Yes, Sensei, I think I can." Botan said sarcastically. She lifted the sword a little better than before, pretty good for a beginner who had three days to learn it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, summoning her strength. She opened her eyes and looked directly at the wood. Bringing the sword down with pretty good speed and force, she cut the first two straight enough. The third one gave her trouble and the sword got stuck once again. "This is not my day."
"You can't learn and perfect in 5 minutes, Botan." Kurama said with a laugh. She grumbled. "What?"
"Shut up." She slapped his arm and scowled. This was going to be a long, hard day.
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"Urameshi! What the hell do you think you're doin'?" Kuwabara asked, staring at Yusuke as if the he had two heads.
"Training with grandma." Yusuke answered, getting slapped in the back of the head. He rubbed the sore spot and frowned at Genkai. "What was that for?"
"I am not your grandmother. I am your teacher, dimwit. Now, get up off the floor and get back to training." She sounded extremely irritated. Kuwabara was about to leave when Genkai shoved him over to a different part of the room. "You too." He fell flat on his face. "Lazy. You better learn balance."
"HEY!" He shouted indignantly. "That wasn't nice--"
"Well, I'm not nice." Genkai said bluntly. "Get training."
"How? Where're our enemies?"
"Fight each other if you have to." She said irritably. "I want to see your mistakes." Yusuke shrugged.
"I could care less what we do." His brown eyes focused on his opponent. Kuwabara summoned his spirit sword and smirked.
"Lets see what ya got." He brought his sword down but Yusuke dodged it easily. He punched Kuwabara in the side and jumped gracefully out of the way of his spirit sword. Kuwabara managed to kick him, but Yusuke wasn't off balance for long.
"Spirit gun!" He shouted, aiming his blast at Kuwabara's stomach. The two went on like this for a little while. Yusuke kicked Kuwabara in the chest and sent him flying into the wall.
"Well, I can see that you've improved, dimwit. This will certainly help you in the up-coming tournament."
"Speaking of which, when will it be?" Yusuke asked, wiping sweat off his forehead.
"Next week."
"Great." Yusuke rolled his eyes. "We've got three days to train so that we can kick some guy's ass, then we have the tournament coming up not even five days after that." He walked out, not caring whether or not Genkai wanted him to.
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Kurama watched Botan train with the sword for a while. It was now noon and he had to train. He walked over to see Genkai and the others.
"Hello, Genkai, Kuwabara." He said with a frown. "Where's Yusuke?"
"Who knows? He took off after we were done training. I figure that he went somewhere to train by himself." Kuwabara said with a wave of his hand. Kurama nodded.
"I see." He looked at Genkai for a moment then turned and walked away.
"That boy will be extremely strong by the time of the tournament." The old woman said with a shake of her head.
"Who? Kurama?" Genkai nodded. "Well, duh! He is a demon, after all."
Kurama walked through the woods in the back of Genkai's temple. He could sense Yusuke's spirit energy quite easily. He spotted the boy training by himself, as Kuwabara had said.
"Yusuke, will you fight me?" Kurama asked walking out of the trees. Yusuke turned around and smirked.
"You mean, like training?" He asked. Kurama nodded.
"Yes." He said quietly. "Hiei is training Botan and Kuwabara is out of the question. I need to train with someone who is more like myself."
"But-"
"You know what I mean. I don't want to take it easy these next few days." His eyes narrowed as Yusuke nodded.
"Sure then, lets begin."
-------------------------------------------------
Botan finally got it right. The sword slashed through the air and cut all three pieces of woods straightly. Hiei nodded in approval.
"Getting better, but you need to try five pieces now." He gave her five new wooden planks. They were quite thick for wooden planks.
"Ohh.." Botan wavered on her feet. "I haven't had a break in four hours!" Hiei frowned.
"Breaks waste time. We have three days, remember?" She sighed and nodded. "Now, get on with it." She cut three pieces but got stuck on the fourth. "Okay, hold the sword there. I'm going to teach you another trick." He held his sword just like she had it. He lifted it a little and forced spirit energy out into the sword. He brought it down with as much force as he had. "Try it. Thats right. Force spirit energy into the blade of the sword."
"This is hard." She muttered, forcing herself to stay upright. This was draining her. Her arms were gonna hurt in the morning. She kept her thoughts on finishing the training on schedule so that she could have a little time to soak in a nice hot bath. Taking a deep breath, she copied Hiei's move and almost made it.
"You still have a lot of work to do before you can even sword fight with me. Keep going." Botan groaned. This was torture.
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"Not bad, Kurama. I have to admit that I didn't think you were this strong." Yusuke grunted. He dodged Kurama's rose whip again. He was getting quicker. Yusuke knew Kurama was testing his strength before even thinking about going full force. This was one tough demon. The training was getting brutal. Yusuke gasped for breath a couple of times when Kurama had scared the shit out him.
"Can you go any faster?" He smirked and used the right movements, slashing Yusuke with the whip for the second time in the last few minutes.
"Yeah, give me all you've got." Kurama shook his head.
"There isn't any way I'm damaging my training partner that way." He chuckled and took it up another notch. He could tell that Yusuke was just managing to dodge his whip. "I have to admit, no partner I've trained with, except Hiei can go up this high."
"Thanks." Yusuke grinned but frowned when he tripped over a tree root. Jumping to his feet, he thought himself lucky for just missing another encounter with the weapon. His strength was starting to fade but he wouldn't give up so easily.
Before either of them noticed, it was sunset.
"Time we thought about getting back to see how the others have fared." Kurama said, putting his whip away. "Tomorrow, early morning, we'll be battling with our fists."
"Sounds good to me." Yusuke grinned. "Thats the kind of battling I like." He had to admit, Kurama helped him greatly. His speed was almost horrible before but now he was faster and could dodge better.
-------------------------------------------------
"How goes the training?" Yusuke asked Hiei when they arrived back at the temple. Botan had done well for the first day, Kurama noticed. She was no where to be seen.
"I would have liked to train her more tonight, but she insisted that we not. She accomplished everything quite well, but I doubt that what she learned today will help her any in the battle. She will have to learn real combat. That was just learning how to hold and swing the sword properly." Yusuke whistled.
"You sure are a tough teacher. Making the student do it over and over until they have it right." He shook his head. "Botan must be sore all over."
"Almost right, Yusuke." A female's voice said behind them. "I just called Keiko and I'll be over her house for the night. See you bright and early, boys!" She walked away without a glance behind her.
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"Thank you so much Keiko. I feel so relaxed now." Botan allowed Keiko to brush her hair and play with it for a while.
"How was Hiei for a teacher?" She asked curiously.
"He was tough but got the point across. He isn't the type of teacher to let you do it once and perfect it when you want to. He sets a time and makes you do it right, unless you want to do it again." Botan sighed. "Needless to say, we accomplished what he wanted today. He even wanted me to do more! I said no."
"If you trained any more today, you wouldn't have made it through the nice hot bath without falling asleep." Keiko giggled and shook her head. "Better get to sleep. Tomorrow is almost the same as today for you."
"Good night!" They said in unison to each other before falling asleep.
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Sorry for the huge delay with this. I totally blanked out for a while. Writer's block sucks. Please review!
-Jess-