When Gakupo pulled Len from the machine, he did not stir. It took at least five minutes for the boy to wake from the dark world he'd been sucked into. When he finally opened his eyes, his whole body trembled. He looked down at his hands, and there was no sign of harm, but he could still remember pain, and he didn't feel much better now. Had it been a dream?
However, he felt weaker, and sort of... hollow. The pain here was real, not just a memory from what he'd seen. His chest still ached, like something had been ripped out of him.
Gakupo grabbed Len's wrist, dragging the still half-dazed boy back through the dark hallways to his room. Had it always been this dark? He knew most halls were lit only with candles, but even so, the light was so much dimmer than he remembered it being. Maybe this was the effect of spending so long without seeing sunlight?
"...Hey," Len said, his voice heavy. "How many times are you going to use that thing on me?"
"As many times as I see fit," Gakupo replied. There was no glee in his words, but there certainly wasn't any remorse, either.
Len bit his lip, looking around. They were almost back. "What is it doing to me?" He asked, voice slipping a little. It scared him to think about it. The hand that wasn't being gripped by Gakupo's reached up to his chest, stabbing with pain.
Gakupo grinned. "I thought I told you what I was doing already."
Len narrowed his eyes. "What does that thing have to do with weapons?"
"You're clever," Gakupo responded, pushing open Len's room door. He shoved Len inside, finally relinquishing his grip on him. "I'm sure you could think of that yourself." And with that he was gone, door closed in Len's face and locked.
Len grit his teeth. God, he hated this place. He needed to figure out a way out of here, but he barely had the energy to stand. He needed to figure out what Gakupo was plotting, but his head burned with pain. He sat down on his bed, staring silently at the wall, lost in thought.
A weapon? Gakupo was using him to make a weapon? How? What could Len do? What did that shadow thing have to do with it? And most important of all—what was Gakupo planning to use that weapon for?
Len shuddered. He didn't want people to get hurt, especially not because of him. Since he was stuck here, he might as well focus on finding a way to stop Gakupo, if he could. Gakupo seemed to know everything that went on; how could he do anything without getting caught first? And trying to break out of this room was getting painful. Who knew what Gakupo would do if he expressly tried to get in his way?
Len sighed. His eyes were sliding closed on their own; he couldn't stay awake now. He lied down, yet even then, he worried to the last moment of consciousness. In that last second, as Len slowly closed his eyes finally, he swore he could see the shadows grow and stretch towards him.
~oOo~
It was early morning, the air still fresh and dew clinging to the grass. Autumn had begun to set in, and the air smelled sharp and crisp as Rin slipped on her boots, and after a moment's consideration, a jacket as well. She stepped into the back yard eagerly, followed by a less enthusiastic Mikuo, who yawned loudly. He'd literally just got out of bed, and had just thrown on a large sweater over his clothes, and wasn't even wearing shoes or socks as he walked out onto the damp grass.
"Do we have to do this now...?" Mikuo asked sleepily. Rin frowned stubbornly at him.
"Yes, we do. You said you teach me how to fight, and you promised to do that once I could split twenty pieces of wood in a row last month. And now I can, so now you have to."
Mikuo sighed, blinking slowly. "Fine... Then let's fight."
Rin blinked. "We're fighting each other?"
Rolling his head, Mikuo said, "Well, duh. What did you expect, that I'd have you attack a tree?"
Rin blushed, frowning more. "N-no! Of course not! Let's just get started, okay?"
Mikuo looked at the blonde girl through half-open eyes. "The enemy will never go easy on you, so don't think I will, either. You better be ready."
Rin looked at the tealette skeptically. He was still slumped over, rubbing an eye with one hand. "Are you ready...?" Mikuo waved his hand in a lazy, dismissive manner.
"Of course, of..." He yawned slowly. "...Course. You can have the first strike. Whenever you're ready."
Rin raised an eyebrow, but she nodded anyway, curling her hands up into fists. She felt a little bad about it, but she approached the older teen, pulled back her arm and punched at his chest.
Quickly, Mikuo stepped to the side, leaned forward, and elbowed Rin in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her, and knocking her to the ground. She stared up at Mikuo in surprise. "How'd you do that?"
Mikuo shrugged, not really seeming to care to answer. "Listen, when you make a fist, keep your thumb on the outside. If you curl your fingers around your thumb and punch someone at full strength, if you land the hit, you could break your thumb, or at least hurt it pretty bad."
"O-oh," Rin mumbled, looking down at her hands. She hadn't really been paying attention to her fists.
"And I know I said you could have the first hit, but don't just inch up to me so slowly. Be quicker about it, or it'll be easy as hell to predict what you'll do. Got it?" Mikuo reached his hand out to Rin, and she took the hand, mumbling "Thanks" as he helped her up.
"You ready to try again? Same as before, you move first," Mikuo said, standing in wait, still as nonchalant as before. "Word of advice: try to keep moving. If you stay still or are too slow you'll get knocked down, so as long as you're on your feet, keep moving."
Rin nodded. Okay, keep moving, she thought, repeating it in her mind a few times. Then, she dashed forwards, punching Mikuo.
"Use your whole upper body when punching, not just your arm," Mikuo said, blocking the punch with his arm, then grabbing her wrist and twisting it back as he took one quick step behind her. Keep moving, she thought, twisting her body around, ripping her arm from his grasp and kneeing Mikuo in the side quickly.
She landed the hit, but she used to much momentum and was caught off-balance, and with a swift jab to the shoulder, Mikuo knocked her over. "Use your whole body when fighting, but at the same time, maintain your balance," He said, helping Rin up again. "The only thing worse than being knocked down by your enemy is being knocked down by yourself. Keep your weight in your feet, or in the case of kicking, the grounded foot. And keep moving. You can't just punch someone and stop, and kick from the same place. Move into the attack, and then attack from there. Good fighting is fluid, remember that."
Rin nodded quickly. This was more complicated than she'd anticipated.
Mikuo looked down at Rin's feet. "Furthermore, keep your feet apart, and your centre of gravity low." He dropped suddenly, turning quickly and kicking the girl's feet out from under her, and she fell back down again. "Otherwise that's what'll happen."
Rin frowned up at Mikuo, pouting a little. "What happened to I hit first...?" She grumbled, getting to her feet.
Mikuo smiled. "But that's not very realistic, is it?"
Rin scowled unhappily, then kicked Mikuo in the shin without warning, punched him in the face. He fell forward suddenly, avoiding the punch, rolling behind Rin and jabbing her in the back of her knee. She yelped in surprise, and Mikuo stood up, grabbed Rin's shoulder, pinching the place between her shoulder and neck, and pushing her to the ground.
Rin growled as she rubbed her neck, then looked up at Mikuo suspiciously. "How'd you do that?"
Mikuo grinned. "Pressure points. Stand up; I'll teach you a few." Rin got up warily, and Mikuo grabbed her arm. He held right behind her elbow, pressing his thumb to a spot inside her arm. "Here, where my thumb is now, is a pressure point."
Rin frowned at him skeptically. "I don't feel anything." In response, Mikuo pressed his thumb in, hard, and Rin let out a small yelp with she hid behind grit teeth. "...Right, carry on."
"You can do what I just did, or you can punch it," Mikuo said. He crouched down, holding a hand to her leg a little above her knee. "Also, same for here. Good for kicking. Plus your neck, as you know, behind you knees, behind and a little above your ankle. Actually, the back of your legs is pretty sensitive as a whole. And your actual back, too, of course." He poked Rin sharply in the back a bit below where her ribs were on the left side. "It's always a good idea to try and keep your enemy in front of you."
Rin rubbed her back, scowling, and Mikuo walked around to stand in front of her. "...That's a lot of points," she mumbled. Mikuo laughed.
"Actually, there's way more than that. There's over three hundred pressure points on the body, but I'm not teaching you them all, because some are more dangerous than others. If you hit someone in the wrong place, you can kill them, so be careful."
Rin nearly choked on her breath. "You can kill someone with these?!"
"Not the ones I showed you," Mikuo assured him. "But be careful with the neck, always. The place you should be grabbing is between the neck and shoulder. Don't ever hit someone in the neck, or the temple. If you try to punch someone in the face, aim for the cheek or the nose. And if you hit someone in the back, go for one side or the other. Don't hit them in the spine. Got it?"
Rin nodded hesitantly, suddenly a little nervous. She didn't want to seriously hurt Mikuo, so she made sure to think over everything he'd said. No hits to the neck or temples or spine. Have to be careful...
A dull pain hit her forehead, and she looked up at Mikuo, who'd just flicked her. "Do you want to stop now or something?"
Rin shook her head quickly. "No, I can still fight more!"
Mikuo hummed quietly. "Alright. But don't worry about the pressure points. Just use the ones I taught you, and it won't be a problem. You can't kill someone by punching them in the arm."
"Right," Rin responded, getting ready to fight again. Thumbs out, stance wide. Keep your weight in the ground, and keep moving, always.
Mikuo looked at the blonde girl thoughtfully and said, "From now on, if you take too long I won't wait for you; I'll strike first if you're not prepared."
Rin nodded quickly, and just as quickly, Mikuo sprung forward, jabbing his thumb into the right side of her stomach, above the hip. Pain shot through the place he'd hit her, and she flinched a little. He made a move to get behind her, but she spun around quickly.
She ducked as he struck at her chest, and as she rose back up she brought her knee with her, aiming for the inside of his leg, right above his knee, just like he'd taught her. But she jumped up very quickly, and she looked up at Mikuo to make sure he wasn't getting ready to strike back, instead of looking where she should have been, which was where she was kneeing, and she ended hitting in the groin instead of the leg.
Immediately, both parties' eyes went wide, and with a slow cry of pain, Mikuo fell to the ground.
"O-oh my god. Are you okay?" Rin asked, feeling rather guilty and a little panicked from all the adrenaline.
"Noooo..." Mikuo groaned, rolling over on the grass. "I said the leg, Rin... The leg..."
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."
Mikuo looked up at the girl, grimacing in pain. "Can we please take a break now?"
"O-okay..." Rin mumbled, reaching out to help Mikuo up. As the tealette got to his feet, his blue-haired father poked his head out the window.
"What going on out here?" Kaito asked curiously, seeming slightly concerned.
Rin laughed nervously. "Oh, just, you know. Training."
Kaito nodded, looking at Mikuo. "How's she doing so far?"
"Well, she'd be better if she just learned how to aim," Mikuo replied through a clenched jaw, looking pointedly at Rin.
"I said I'm sorry, okay?"
Kaito raised an eyebrow. "Well, you two must be hungry by now. Come in; me and Miku were just making breakfast."
The two agreed, and made their way inside. Mikuo looked over at Rin, and eventually said, " Honestly though, you were doing okay back there. You might have got me down even if you hadn't kneed me in the nuts."
Rin looked over at him in alarm. "Just okay?!"
Mikuo shrugged. "You did well for your first day, but you're not perfect. It takes time to develop skill."
Rin grumbled. "I guess that's true..."
"Also, you still have to cut some firewood as part of your chores. Don't think you're getting out of that just because you've started training."
"What?!" Rin scowled, then sighed. "Fine..."
"Cheer up, Rin! You're making so much progress!" Miku said airily, as she handed Rin her breakfast. "And once you've mastered hand-to-hand, you get to learn how to use a sword, right?"
"Yeah," Mikuo agreed. "You've only been here for, what? Two months? Since you mastered the art of the lumberjack so quickly, it means you've got plenty of time to train."
Rin smiled. "That's true! Heck, by the time I get that sword, I'll be the best!"
"That's the spirit," Kaito said, smiling. "Now eat up, okay? I found you a proper job, so today you're going to start, okay?"
Grinning, Rin nodded. Even if she had so much to learn, she was closer already, she could feel it. She was that much closer to finding her brother.
