Merry Christmas, Kazuma-dono!
Just a little story I wrote in about fifteen minutes during class one day about Kyo-kun's present to his Shihan. I like it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket. But I guess you already knew that, right?
Words to know:
Boken- wooden practice sword.
Suba- handle for a boken that prevents your fingers from being hit. A few people don't use them because they grip above the "handle" of the boken.
Shihan- Martial arts master or teacher
Shishou- Martial arts master or teacher
Hajimaru!- "Begin!" Traditionally yelled when commencing a sparring match.
Gi- traditional karate uniform.
Kyo entered through the dojo into Kazuma's living quarters, shaking little flurries of snow from his heavy coat on a chilly afternoon two days before Christmas. It was not a Monday, Thursday or Saturday, which meant he did not have martial arts classes, but this was less of a business visit than one for pleasure. Well, perhaps it was safer to say it was a mix of both.
Kyo smiled at Kazuma.
"I have your Christmas present," he announced. Kazuma merely raised his eyebrows in his favorite expression of, "Oh, really?" Kyo nodded.
"But you are not an easy person to shop for," he said in a voice of teasing severity. His foster father laughed, but quickly lowered his eyes in mock-abashment. "But I've finally found something for you," he continued. The Cat stood up and walked outside, motioning for Kazuma to follow.
Snow had been falling for about an hour previous, the white blanket muffling the noise of the earth in monochromatia. Kyo led his shihan out back to the woods behind Kazuma's house. They labored on the thin, upwinding trail through the woods to the flat plateau at the summit of the small mountain. Two boken, wooden practice swords, rested carefully in stands on opposite ends of the large field. Kazuma walked over to inspect one.
"A new boken?" he asked, guessing his present. Kyo shook his head in a negatory, walking over to the other boken. As Kazuma picked up the sword, he noticed the various dents along the blade edge that marked it as his old one. He wondered for a moment how Kyo had managed to get it out of his house and set it up.
"What, then?" he asked.
"Draw and warm up," Kyo advised with a smile. He shrugged off his coat and hung it on the boken stand, revealing his gi beneath. Kazuma did as he was told. There was something in Kyo's mischievous smile that told Kazuma to be wary as he stretched. When they both finished, Kyo approached the center of the field, sword grasped loosely in one hand. Kazuma followed suit.
"Don't hold back," Kyo warned, putting his second hand on the sword's bottom and holding it in the ready position. Kazuma brought his boken up until it nearly touched Kyo's. "Not even for a single second. First touch of the heart wins. Hajimaru"
They began. From that point on, neither spoke a word. The ringing clack of wood on wood, the meatier thock of wood on bone or flesh, the heavy woosh of exhaled breath, and the nearly inaudible hiss of hot sweat dropping to the snow were the only sounds to be heard throughout the clearing. For stretches of time, nearly five minutes at points, they stood apart, circling, waiting for the other to move. The sun, already low, sank behind the mountains, the night wore on, and still they thought. Livid bruises rose on spots where neither had dodged in time, and since both their suba were removed, fingers were sometimes cracked instead of the boken. Kazuma, following Kyo's request, had not held back, throwing all his considerable cunning and experience into the fight. He ducked in and attacked repeatedly in a flurry of blows meant to throw Kyo off balance and leave an opening for Kazuma to exploit. Kyo parried these attacks admirably, ducking through and around to solidly crack Kazuma's shoulder blade. Kazuma's sword moved quickly, batting Kyo's aside. At times, only a quick hop backward had saved the Cat from losing. He was more determined that Kazuma had ever seen him before, grimly hacking and twisting. Anything Kazuma threw at him, Kyo managed to overcome admirably, even combining several styles of fighting, including a ninja style that Kazuma did not remember teaching the red-head. They both scored points, solidly clipping each other on the arms, shoulders, torsos and legs, but neither achieved the touch to the heart that would end the fight. Kyo nearly slipped on the snow a few times, but he merely wrenched himself upright and continued fighting.
After midnight, finally, Kyo's sword twisted in a peculiar manner and Kazuma's sword flew from his hand and landed in the trampled snow a few feet away. He looked at his sword, his hands, and finally Kyo, who held his sword in a strict lion's tail position, his face wiped carefully clean of any emotion. His arms quaked, but he was clearly ready to continue if Kazuma was. Kazuma stood up, bowed low and said, "I yield." Kyo very carefully set his boken aside and launched himself at his Kazuma-dono. They tumbled in the snow for a few moments, wrestling and playing, finally ending up sprawled in the only pile of snow left untouched in the field.
"I believe that is the longest I've ever fought, practice or no," Kazuma observed. Kyo sleepily agreed, blowing small whirlwinds of snowflakes in the air.
"Did you like your Christmas present?" he asked. "I practiced every day in secret for the longest time, and I was afraid you'd still trounce me." Kazuma smiled. One of the first things he'd mentioned to Kyo while training him was the happiness and pride he had when a student he taught beat him, since it meant that he'd taught the material well, but he had no idea that Kyo would take it so seriously.
They were still sprawled in the snow ten minutes later, cooling down. Energy entirely depleted, Kyo transformed into his small orange cat form in a puff of smoke.
Kazuma mumbled, and staggered to his feet, just as tired as his student. He collected the two boken, deciding to leave the stands and Kyo's coat for tomorrow. He set out on the path for home, Kyo tucked into his coat.
"You're spending the night here," Kazuma noted once they arrived at his home, setting the Cat on a spare bed and pulling a coverlet over him, to ensure his privacy when he transformed back into his human form. Kyo offered no objections. After calling Shigure to inform him where his red-haired cousin had gone missing to, Kazuma fell into his bed, thinking only vaguely of how sore he'd be in the morning.
That's a really short one-shot (just over 1000 words), I know, but I've been thinking about it for a while, and I've finally gotten the chance to write it out. The idea came when I was first training swordsplay with my sensei. Boken fighting is…so amazing. I've never experienced anything quite so brilliant, so fun, so… complete. If any of you ever get a chance, do it.