Chapter Eleven
Shinko began spending her days training in Hakoshi's dojo with Kenji and Shinya. Within a day or two, young kendo students from all over Kyoto were filing in and out of the dojo, to challenge the three, or to simply watch.
"This is great – have you duelled Kaname-kun, Kenji-san? He has a really interesting stance." Shinya wiped his sweaty hair out of his eyes, flushed with excitement as he looked around the full dojo, his eyes lingering on the few bright kimono in the audience.
"Kaname's stance is too narrow- he doesn't have enough stability or lateral movement. If you come at him from the sides, then he's at a loss." Kenji said, looking bored. He and Shinya had decided to forgo the protective gear, Shinya believing that no-one would hit him, Kenji believing that the extra speed and manoeuvrability would prevent him from being hit.
"Was that the one with the black ponytail? He could pivot – when Shinya tried the sideswipe he stepped out of the way – he could fight circles around anyone he was faster than." Shinko said, stretching her fingers. The her right hand still ached slightly, and the skin on her left hand was still soft, and pulled slightly when she spread her hand out, but she'd wrapped a thin bandage around her palm and now gripped a bokken experimentally.
"How do you notice this kind of stuff? Not even Kenji picked up on the pivot – which makes Kaname-kun's stance suddenly a lot less impressive..." Shinya grumbled, sitting down next to his sister. Hakoshi's dojo had practically become a tournament ring, possibly with a bit of help from Misao, who had decided that the more people Shinko could fight, the better she could train.
"I kept track of your fights with Kenji – you should try it. You pick things up." Shinko said, standing up and beginning to stretch. "Anyway, I think I'm going to go and challenge Hakoshi-san, so that when I actually start these practise bouts, people will take me seriously." Shinko walked over to the dojo-master, loosening up the muscles in her arms as she did so. She hadn't actually participated in any of the bouts yet, spending her time completing drills in an out-of-the-way corner of the dojo. However, with half of her week of preparation over, she had decided to join the informal competition, cracking scabs or no.
"Reckon she'll win?" Shinya asked, as he watched the two talking.
"Of course. 'Reckon' she'll be hit?" Kenji responded with a shrug. Shinya didn't answer, frowning as he sat down on the bench to watch his sister as she and Hakoshi walked to the centre of the hall, Shinko looking small, even next to Hakoshi's average build. The two faced each other, as one of Hakoshi's students took up the position of the Judge, giving the signal to begin.
Hakoshi attacked, with the frontal assault that was becoming more and more common to Kenjutsu. Shinko neatly sidestepped, pivoting out of the way.
"Hey! That was Kaname's move!" Shinya said in indignation. "That's cheating!"
"No, she just learns fast. Shinko-san has developed a talent for observation." Kenji said, barely paying attention to Shinya as he watched Shinko's technique intently.
"And copying." Shinya muttered. It irked him that Shinko had managed to pick out Kaname's trick faster than he had. After all, she was a girl.
"That's how we all learn. Look, she uses the same styles as we do." He gestured at Shinko, indicating the defensive postures of Kamiya Kasshin as they flowed into deadly Hiten Misturugi-ryu attacks, albeit half-formed, and ineffective in comparison to the real thing.
"She's holding back then." Shinya muttered as he watched his twin duck under Hakoshi's blade, the bokken ruffling the brown spikes of hair that stuck out of her ponytail.
"She's injured – and look, she's stretching Hakoshi's abilities, as well as her own, by intentionally keeping her movements as precise as possible."
"That's what you do in drills. Hey! What happened there? Why did she miss?" Shinya demanded, as Shinko's blade swept under Hakoshi's bokken, before pulling back slightly to crack against his parry.
"Feint. If she'd hit, there was a chance he could parry, so she's probably going to convince him to overuse the guard, so that she can attack elsewhere while he does it automatically. It's basic tactics."
"How do you know? People don't develop habits that fast."
"In a fight they do." Kenji said calmly as Shinya swung her bokken low a third time in succession, pivoting on her right foot to get around Hakoshi's left side as he countered, before swinging the practise sword into his side as she finished the spin.
"Ryukansen?"
"Pretty much. Too easy to disrupt though, if he wasn't expecting something else." Kenji leaned forwards, his hands gripping the bokken. That was how Yahiko had defeated him, as well as cracking one of his ribs.
The student called the first point, and a murmur swept through the crowd as Shinko shoved the bokken into the waistband of the yukata, stretching her fingers out again as she readied herself for the second exchange.
"Best out of three, ne Hakoshi-sensei?" She said, cheerfully. "I don't want a long bout." Her fingers flexed on the bokken, her eyes tight.
"Her hands hurt." Shinya muttered, eyes narrowing, his own hands wrapping around each other.
They watched the bout in silence, like the rest of the spectators, as the two fighters moved back and forth, attacking and parrying, Shinko still moving carefully, until, with a faint thud, Hakoshi's blade swung into her shoulder, the blow cushioned with her own bokken in a guard that had been just a fraction too slow.
"Hakoshi-sensei's point..."
"She let that land." Hissed Shinya, glaring at his sister.
"Didn't want to humiliate him." Kenji murmured back still watching. Shinko shook her hands out several more times before the third bout began.
This point was considerably shorter. Shinko barely let Hakoshi get in three swings, before she crouched down slightly lower, and, with a neat feint, the point thudded into his shoulder.
"The bout goes to... Shinko-san." A wave of applause ran through the crowd, as Shinko bowed to Hakoshi, walking over to Kenji and Shinko.
"Where did you learn that, the pivot you used?" asked a young swordsman with a short and silky black ponytail.
"I watched you when you fought my brother, Kaname-san. You used it. The way you pivoted... fitted very well with the style I use." Shinko smiled.
"But I only used it twice..." Kaname said, frowning. "It's the signature technique of my dojo's kenjutsu – kajou-ryu. I was here to advertise how effective it was..."
"Well, it is effective." Shinko said shrugging as she sat down with Kenji and Shinya.
"Hey, I want to duel you next, Shinko – I would have thought that you'd gotten rusty." Shinko leaned an elbow on Shinko's shoulder, grinning coolly at Kaname. "Go advertise."
"Hey, he was nice. Kaoru-san still complains about when Kamiya Kasshin was small – we could have helped him out."
"Is that you going all moral on us, imoto?" Shinya asked, rolling his eyes.
"I am not your imoto!" Shinko snapped, elbowing him in the back of the head.
"Children." Kenji muttered, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, Shinko already promised me a rematch."
"Hey, I'm getting a queue." Shinko said, grinning. "I wish haha was here to see this."
"Those stuck up little-"
"Shinya-kun, if you want to keep them away from your sister, then all you have to do is let her fight me. That'll probably scare them off – no man would want a woman who's better than him in kenjutsu, ne Shinko-san?"
Shinko flashed a glance at Kenji, hurt flashing across her face. She'd said that, but he didn't have to repeat her. He didn't even think that.
"Well then, I'm not letting her anywhere near you." Shinya snapped, tugging Shinko away from Kenji and giving her a one-armed hug.
"Well, I need the practise if I'm going to have a prayer against chichi. So, if I'm not allowed to fight any of the boys, and there aren't any girls fighting here, then I'll give you a bout." She stood up, ignoring everyone around her as she grabbed her bokkken.
"Are you implying I'm not a boy?" Shinya demanded good-naturedly, grabbing his own practise weapon.
"Yep, pretty much. Wanna make something of it?"
"That's it – this is personal now."
Shinko just stuck out her tongue as she took up her position.
*
Shinya shifted his grip on the bokken, watching Shinko. She was waiting several feet away, her bokken held up in one of the starting stances of Kamiya Kassshin.
In the crowd, there was a murmur. The girls were leaning forwards, watching intently. Shinya felt a stab of irritation as he realised that most of their attention had shifted to Shinko, after her bout with Hakoshi – previously they'd been cheering him on – a few of them had even come up and asked his name. Now some of them were focussed entirely on Shinko, their eyes alight as they watched her.
"Shinya-san and Shinko-san, best out of five..." Said Kaname, who had volunteered to judge. Usually there had been several duels going on in the dojo at a time, except when a girl had challenged first the Dojo-master, and then her own brother – who was one of the best two swordfighters there – the other fighters had lost interest in their own bouts.
"Begin."
Shinya ran towards his sister, whipping the bokken from where he held it at his side, towards Shinko. She ducked away, not even bothering to counter as she completely avoided the attack, before ducking back behind her brother and bringing a slash down towards his shoulder as he spun all the way around to face her, managing to get his weapon up to block her blade a fraction of a second before it connected with his collarbone. Shinko's blade bounced off his with a fraction of the force he had expected, and swung around to connect solidly with his side.
"Don't you dare underestimate me," Shinko said as they stepped back, her eyes narrowed. "I'll get really annoyed if you do."
"I won't, imoto." Shinya grinned, as Shinko glared at him, thwacking him on the head with her bokken.
"You're impossible," Shinko growled good-naturedly, thwacking him on the head with her bokken, before turning to Kaname. "Kaname-kun, you don't need to bother calling the points, we'll do it." Shinko grinned at Shinya and Kaname, backing off, and facing each other.
"...But you can call the start..." Shinya added after a moment of expectant silence.
"Right, sorry." Kaname said, running a hand through the fine dark hairs of his ponytail in embarrassment. "Begin."
Shinya approached rapidly in the Hiten Battojutsu stance, Shinya mirroring him, her feet light – she was going to get out of the way and hit him as he came by again. An instant before he was in range though, he checked his momentum and jumped, leaping forwards into the air, blade swinging down with a faint whistle. Shinko backed off, bringing her bokken up to block, but the momentum was too much to be deflected with her single-handed grip, and the blade cracked into her left shoulder, knocking her blade aside.
"Ryu Tsui Sen?" hissed Kenji from the edge of the crowd, as Shinko pulled away, wincing, holding her sword in her right hand only as she shook her shoulder out.
"Nearly," Shinya said, not taking his eyes off Shinko. "Don't underestimate me, imoto. I think htat was my point?
"Baka." Shinko said, rolling her shoulder and resuming her grip, cautiously approaching with the blade
"Busu – second generation." Shinya laughed back, before charging into attack again. Shinko darted back, keeping away from Shinya's bokken, maintaining the distance as she flexed her left hand on the hilt.
"No way – I'm better than Kaoru-san, by a long shot." Shinko said, darting in with several probing attacks that Shinya easily blocked, counter-attacking in a similar manner. "Although that was a good shot. Get the jump a bit higher, and you'll have it down."
"You shouldn't be talking to me, Shinko – this is a serious fight." Shinya said, knocking her bokken away with a slash at her chest, which she parried with the end of her hilt.
"Well then, let's try a little harder, ne, Shinya?"
*
Damn, the names get confusing. I shouldn't have given two main characters nearly identical names... Also, I'm worried I'm being too melodramatic and obsessed with the technique of the fights. I always hated fight scenes... Anyway, no real pertinent info, except that 'kajou-ryu' would approximately mean 'spiral-style' (I liked Kajou better than 'rasen' or 'neji', since at least with it, I don't have to start putting up Naruto disclaimers)
*