Smoker was busy with some paperwork when someone knocked on the door to his office. Hmm, he didn't have any meetings lined up today. Last he heard, Tashigi had taken it upon herself to personally train their newest recruit, Weaver. The girl had killer instincts, a unique power, but little to no skill in hand to hand combat, or any kind of combat. Tashigi would be fixing that soon. Despite being a swordswoman foremost, Tashigi still knew the basics in hand to hand and would thrash the other Marines, mostly. Tashigi was the best swordswomen in Smoker's crew, and was easily stronger than all of them, except Smoker, but Gunderson had more technical skills in unarmed combat. Smoker would have prefered letting Gunderson take charge, but allowed Tashigi to take on her new protege since she kept bothering him.

The person behind the door seemed to have gotten tired of knocking and simply barged into the smoke filled room, revealing a tired Amy Dallon. She simply walked in and jumped onto his couch. Smoker gave her a weird look, but continued working at his desk. Stupid paperwork and online forms.

"I like what you've done with the place." Amy said, taking out a cigarette box she had stashed somewhere in the room from her previous visits.

"It helps me keep my focus." Smoker said simply, blowing some smoke from his mouth. He looked up slightly. "You don't usually arrive till after your hospital shift." Panacea usually came after school or her hospital shift to 'destress'. In a sense, Smoker was a glorified therapist. Honestly, he didn't mind. She seemed to have a lot of problems. Hina would have made fun of him.

"Had another fight with Carol. I didn't want to hangout with Vicky and Dean, so I decided to come here instead of school." She replied, smoking cigarette in hand. Smoker simply nodded and went back to work, a silence filling the smokey room. She played with her phone for a bit.

The Protectorate was going to be out of town for a few days, which meant New Wave, the Marines, and the Wards were going to be in charge of keeping the peace until they returned. Hellhound had been causing a ruckus, attacking Empire dog fighting rings. The ABB were surprisingly quiet, but Smoker was sure the silence wouldn't last long.

"Shit. I need to go to the bank in a few days."

Smoker simply grunted his response. Patrols needed to be organized. Squad One and Two would take over the Protectorate patrol's, which left eight more Marines beside himself and Tashigi. He supposed he could deploy two Marines to the Boardwalk to assist the Wards. The other six would remain at Marine HQ. Tashigi would lead Squad One, and Smoker would transfer Squad Two to Gunderson, with Weaver joining him. Yes, that would work well.

"You can control any type of smoke right? Not just the one you can make." Smoker heard Amy ask. She was getting...bolder when it came to asking questions, mostly about back home.

"Yes. If it's smoke, I can use it."

"Cool. So say if there was some type of knockout smoke, could you just…" She made some weird hand signs. "Control who it affects by preventing it from entering friendlies?"

That was...actually a good idea. He would look into that when he had time.

"Most likely."

Amy swelled up with pride. "Im so smart."

Smoker nodded and went back to his work for the hundredth time. The Undersiders were also surprisingly quiet after breaking into that casino. Smoker would catch them, and make sure that they stood trial to the full extent of the law. Tattletale would have to learn when to keep her mouth shut. In a fight, you always take out the thinker first, by any means. Causing some smoke to make spiral formations, Smoker spoke up.

"I know you're the one who took the kite video."

"Shoot."

"One, two three, one, two, three. Catch up Weaver." Taylor took deep, deep breaths. Tashigi was making her do a workout more intense than anything Taylor had ever done. Currently they were in Marine HQ's workout room. They were doing jumping jacks for a whole hour now. Nonstop, jumping jacks.

"I-" Taylor started. "I'm trying." She knew she wasn't this unfit! Tashigi was wearing a simple tank top as she worked out next to Taylor, without breaking a simple sweat. Taylor tried to avoid looking at her.

"The body must be in shape if you're going to learn how to fight." Was all that Tashigi said. Wearing her mask made it harder.

"Remind me-" Deep breath, "Why do I have to wear my costume while doing this again?" Another deep breath. This made Tashigi pause for a second, causing Taylor to follow her example.

Taylor still hasn't revealed her identity yet. She wasn't sure how Tashigi would react to her neighbor being the Marine's newest recruit. Smoker, like he said, didnt care if she chose to reveal it or not. Taylor really appreciated that, though he seemed stricter than she thought he was.

"So you'll be used to fighting in it of course." Tashigi stretched for a few seconds before turning to Taylor. Taylor made sure she made eye contact.

"Our next workout, I want you to also focus on your swarm. Bother Alby with it or something. We're going to focus on you multitasking today." Tashigi really loved to bother Alby for some reason. What an overused gag. What is this? Some Earth Aleph comic book?

"Sure. What's next anyways?" Taylor bent over and stretched too. Her costume was going to smell like sweat and ass by the end of the day. Dad...didn't have to know. He was barely home anyways.

Tashigi walked over to a stand with some wooden swords, apparently an upgrade from clubs. She threw one to Taylor, which she barely caught.

"We're going to try out different styles of fighting to see which one fits you the most." Tashigi gave her sword a few practice swings. "Every Marine has their own unique style. Captain Smoker has his jutte, Gunderson has his fist…"

Tashigi entered a foriegn stance with her sword.

"I have my sword."

Shoot, Taylor wasn't going to like this. Tashigi kept a smile on her face.

"I want to see what you know before teaching you some stances."

Taylor definitely wasn't going to like this. No wonder that Kazuki guy cackled like he came out of an Earth Aleph cartoon when she told him Tashigi was going to train her.

Apparently, Tashigi used to serve as a drill sergeant before her promotion to Master Chief.

Attempting a pitiful imitation of Tashigi's stance, Taylor lunged at her.

This was going to hurt her more than Tashigi...literally.

A/N

The plot thickens. What types of Rokushiki do you guys want to see Taylor eventually learn? I have an idea for Tashigi, but it's not concrete yet. I have a lot of plans for the Undersiders, and Dinah. I hope they don't disappoint.

I'll write as much as I can as I'm currently unemployed. I didn't get to have my graduation or prom back in May but that's ok.