Chapter 8 Lesson 3: Never let them see you sweat. Part 1

Darkness. No light. No sound. Light; a shaft of golden yellow beamed down from an unknown source. A shivering figure lay on the ground in the light; the little ningen girl. Tou-Kou looked up at the light, annoyed that it disturbed her sleep. She heard a deep voice she knew. The man, who had given her the bell pendant, came into the light. He smiled proudly, "You have done well, my child. Your spirit is strengthening every day." He helped her to her feet.

"Who are you?"

"I can't tell you yet, not until you find your other half."

"What does that mean?"

"According to the rules between worlds, nothing I say may be easy to understand, but you are a smart girl and a clever one too." His face suddenly became grave, "The greatest trials have yet to be faced. Be strong, for your sake as well as his."

She wondered who he was. The tall man interrupted her thoughts, "I will be able to see you again in the real world, but you may not trust the forms I come in. you must be aware of all around you. That is your first test….

Tou-Kou,

Tou-Kou,

Tou-Koushin!!

Someone was shaking her awake. Her eyes opened. Koronue's sparkly black eyes pierced her sleepy gaze, making her focus. "Wake up, it's time for training today." She looked confused at him. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes, yawned, and then fell over again. "No, no, get up, we have a lot of work today." The bat pulled her to her feet and pushed her gently down the hall. Something warm and steamy was put in her hands, "Hurry up and eat. Meet me outside when you are done." He faded out of her blurry vision. Tou-Kou began to eat, she did not know what it was in her current state, but she didn't care.

After an eternity, she stumbled outside into the nighttime air. Youko was already up and about. It was not night, but very early morning. Youko laughed at the dizzy girl. "Come on, wake up. Koronue and I are going to start training you to fight. After that little raid last night, I realized you couldn't stay alone anymore if you can't defend yourself."

She nodded half-heartedly. "Follow us through those woods there, when you reach the other side, we will start with basic defense; ready? Go!" the fox and the winged demon flitted off faster than Tou-Kou could blink away sleep. She groaned and trudged forward, with her head hanging lazily. The forest she went through was not the monster filled defense line that Youko and Koronue had made, but a natural work of beauty by the earth itself. There was a clear path, but she couldn't keep awake enough to see it. A dim gray glow lit up the wood. The sun was rising.

Koronue paced impatiently. "Is she crawling? We didn't go that fast, did we?" his companion was pulling up random blades of grass idly. "I don't know how fast she can go, or how strong she is. I planned to get the feel of her abilities in this first lesson."

"Maybe we should look for our pupil, before she gets lost or something." And by 'we' of course he meant 'Youko.'

The fox nodded and stood up. "Lets go find her, "he sighed.

The little dell seemed so comfortable and inviting; surrounded by tall thick trees and lined with fresh morning glories. Tou-Kou had lay down on the soft grass and dropped right off. About an hour had passed since she fell asleep. The sun was off of the horizon's edge and glaring brightly at her. She opened one eye, glaring back at the sun; giving her fiercest growl, she batted cutely in the general direction of the offensive light as if she could knock it away. She rolled over lazily, stretched, and went back to sleep.

The soothing roar of a nearby river drowned the very soft footsteps of an animal out. This creature was a silver fox, shining gloriously in the golden sunrise. He was following a less-than direct trail; it wobbled back and forth across the path, circling various trees several times before leading to a small hollow in a circle of trees. The fox padded softly to the over to the inhabitant of the hollow, put his nose very close to the sleeper's ear and barked very loudly.

Tou-Kou jerked violently out of sleep. Her eyes snapped open, the silver fox sat expectantly in front of her. Glaring hotly, she covered her eyes with her arm and curled into a ball. He barked again, no response. He tugged on her sleeve growling impatiently. Yielding, she sat up and groaned. 'Baka kitsune.' She thought standing up. He leaned his head on the back of her knees, commanding her to walk. Stomping forward, she grumbled nonsensical syllables until the forest was behind her.

Koronue was still pacing in the same spot when she came into view. Tou-Kou was wide-awake, pulling leaves out of her hair. "You certainly wasted enough time, we'll have to compensate now." He said. Looking very innocent, she twirled her hair and looked at the ground. Youko returned to his two-legged form, "The first test is how fast you can run. When I say go, you race Koronue over to that tall pine tree over there. Ready? Go!" The bat demon easily outstripped her, but she still made good distance for time. "Not bad, ningen, but not fast enough. Next test, how strong you are." He held her hands, lacing their fingers together. She blushed absent-mindedly.

"I'm going to push on your hands, you tell me when you can't push back any more." He tried to go easy on her, because she was a girl, and a mere human; she fell backwards before he even gave any effort. Youko helped her up. "The last test, how coordinated you are." The fox gave her a wooden stick, slightly wider at one end. "We're basically going to throw rocks at you, and you hit as many of them back as you can." She snickered; this was a little anti-climactic. 

"Ready?" She nodded. The bandits lightly tossed stones to her, each stone half the size of a fist. This was the test she mastered. She swatted each stone back to its owner, nearly hitting them. She managed to graze Koronue's shoulder before they (and by 'they' I mean Koronue.) decided to stop. "You have passed one of three tests, not good." The fox took the stick-of-death away from her. "I shall train you in speed, Koronue shall train you in strength, and when you have mastered both subjects, we shall take you with us on a practice mission."

She pouted; she really was weak. Koronue stepped forward, "Shall I go first?" he asked his companion. Youko nodded. Tou-Kou ran and hid behind the fox, pleading with her eyes. "He won't eat you, I promise. Would you feel safer if I stayed while you worked with him?" the fox pried her nails out of his shoulders. She nodded feverishly before rejoining her 'teacher.'

"Okay, first step..."

R&R