Kenichi: Not just her disciple
I do not own Kenichi.
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AN: Hello readers. Thank you for patiently waiting for another chapter. I can't believe how long it has been since my last update. I had no intention of waiting this long to update.
Thank to everyone that has been reading my story and to everyone that has left me reviews.
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Chapter 9
Readjustment
Everyone is sitting at the dinner table in their usual spots. Shigure made sure to stay a little extra close to Kenichi. Shigure was also back into her normal attire.
Sakaki was drinking quite merrily with Kenichi back and he was even breaking into moments of laughter.
Apachai had a great big smile on his face the whole time and kept talking about how he couldn't wait to start advanced training with Kenichi.
"Kenichi, not that I am trying to sway your decision, but are you sure that you want to start the advanced technique training?" Asks Akisame.
Kenichi looks at him seriously.
"Yes. I need to do this."
The tone in his voice tells Akisame and the others how serious he is about it.
"Shortly after dinner, . . . . we train . . . . to break . . . your rule."
Gloom comes over Kenichi and he very slowly turns his head to Shigure.
"After . . . dinner?" He says with a lot of nervousness.
She nods.
"But we don't usually train after dinner."
"You're . . . serious, . . . .aren't . . . you?"
He nods his head with tears starting to well up in his eyes in expectation of how his night is going to go.
"Break what rule?" asks Kensei.
"For not hitting girls." Kenichi simply says to them.
Miu angrily looks over at Shigure.
"But that is what makes Kenichi. That is one of his convictions! Why are you trying to change him?"
"It's flawed." Retorts Shigure.
Miu grits her teeth.
'How dare she try to change Kenichi like that. Just because they are together now, doesn't give her the right to change him like that.' Miu think angrily to herself.
Kensei decides to jump into the conversation.
"I am actually not against this. There are quite a number of female martial artists out there. Not fighting them simply because they are women would be an injustice. But, are you sure that this is what you want, Kenichi?"
He nods.
"I have committed to that as well. I gave it a lot of thought, and you are right. It would be unfair to them as martial artists. He looks at Shigure. They took the time to learn their techniques, then it is only fair that I respect that hard work."
Shigure looks at him proudly.
Ma does as well while he thinks about Renka.
Miu grumbles over it lightly.
"I don't know why you seem so upset about that, Miu. I figured that you would have been happy about that declaration."
She doesn't really give him a response back and just goes back to eating.
Every so often, Miu glances over at Kenichi and Shigure and gets an annoyed look on her face. This doesn't go unnoticed by Shigure.
'Is she . . . jealous?' Shigure wonders.
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After dinner, Kenichi and Shigure had stepped outside for a brief moment.
"Before we train, it's time for me to talk to Hayato."
She nods to him.
"I will see you in the dojo afterwards?" She asks and states at the same time.
He gives her a nod in response.
He starts to turn away, but he gets stopped by her.
As he turns back to face her, she grabs his shirt and pulls him close. She gives him a kiss and then releases.
"Good luck." She says and then walks away.
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After knocking on grandfather's door and getting permission to enter, Kenichi goes in and sits across from him.
"I am not going to beat around the bush. I have a lot to do and no time to waste. You know why I am here."
"Yes, Kenichi, I know why you are here. I did promise that I would talk to you about this."
"Yes, you did."
They both have serious looks on their faces.
"Why? Why did you have Miu purposely deceive me like that?"
"I am not going to say that everything that you said had no truth, but I am also not going to say that everything was true."
"So what is it then?" Kenichi says frustratingly.
"When you came to this dojo, a great many things came to mind. I saw how you cared for my granddaughter, and I saw how far you were willing to go to get stronger. After seeing that, many of things that you mentioned did go through my mind. I want the line of martial artists to keep going. Your money has been helpful to us. It has been a major help to us financially."
'It's not like any of them have a steady job.' Kenichi thinks to himself.
"What about Miu? Did you really think that I was so fragile that I would break without her?"
"I wasn't sure. You were quite fixated on her. I knew that she was one of the main reasons why you have been able to muster through our rigorous training here at the dojo. We all saw the differences in the feelings between you two though. We saw how you felt about her, but we also saw how she felt about you."
Kenichi sighs.
'I guess that explains all of the comments that everyone made while we were at the island.' He sadly thinks.
"So why did you resort to the lies?"
"I suppose that the thought did cross my mind that perhaps she might change her feelings towards you. But, I am not going to lie to you. I wanted you here as a distraction and a protector."
Narrowing his eyes, Kenichi gets an even more serious look on his face.
"Why?" He asks Hayato angrily.
"There is another secret. One that we have been keeping from Miu herself."
"More lies?" Kenichi also says angrily.
"Her father is part of Yami and he killed her mother."
Kenichi's eyes go wide in shock.
"I didn't want her knowing about her father and I wanted to lead her down the right path of the Katsujinken, the saving fist. Her father had once fallowed this path, but then he had fallen from it."
"So you WERE just using me this whole time?"
With a nod, Kenichi is given his answer.
"When were you going to tell her? When were you going to tell me? This isn't just some simple matter. You are talking about a group of deadly martial artists that Miu's father is a part of. You knew that this group is out there. You knew that they could come out of hiding again to come after me or her and told neither of us. When were you going to tell us, when it was too late?"
"I am sorry, Kenichi."
"That was kind of a half-hearted apology. How can you talk about the Katsuhinken when there are all these lies?"
"That's being rather rude, Kenichi."
Kenichi stands up and glares at Hayato.
"This is coming from the man that resorts to lies and trickery. I've had enough of this tonight." Kenichi gets up and heads for the door while saying this.
Then he looks back at grandfather.
"You need to talk to her about this. No more lies. Would you rather she learns about it from you, or on her own?"
He leaves the room.
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Along her walk to the dojo, Shigure comes across Miu.
She starts to walk past her.
"Tch." Miu snidely makes.
Shigure stops and stares at Miu.
"What?" Shigure asks.
"Why are you doing this, Shigure?"
Shigure cants her head to the side and gives her a confused look.
"Why are you acting so lovey -dovey with him and saying that you are engaged." Reiterates Miu.
"I do . . love him, . . and . . . we ARE engaged."
"That can't be! You have to just be using him. You haven't even showed signs of loving him."
After thinking about everything that she had gone through to go be with him, Shigure narrows her eyes in annoyance.
"Haven't I? . . . . Don't be jealous."
Miu steams with anger.
"I am not!"
"You stared during dinner. . . . You're used to him . . . . fawning . . . . over you, . . and now . . . he's not."
This makes Miu stop in her tracks for a moment.
Shigure begins to turn away, but Miu regains herself and continues her argument.
"Why are you trying to change Kenichi?"
She turns back to Miu.
"Not change . . . make better."
Miu grits her teeth.
"He must . . . get over . . . those hurdles."
Wanting to quickly end this stupid argument so that she can get to the dojo, Shigure briskly turns and begins walking away.
"How dare you take my Kenichi, Shigure!"
This causes Shigure to stop in her tracks. Before Miu even realizes it, Shigure is right in front of her. She is within a couple inches of Miu and glaring at her.
"He's mine – not yours. We claimed each other." She says seriously and softly to Miu.
Miu processes this for a moment as to what she could mean by claimed.
"You didn't?" Miu asks.
Shigure gives her a nod and her mouth drops open.
"You can still be his friend if he so chooses. But, if you can't handle him and I being together, then back off. We don't need your childish and jealous antics."
Shigure walks away, leaving a very stunned and confused Miu.
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In the dojo.
Kenichi stands in front of Shigure, whom is holding a tightly rolled up paper. Behind her are several other weapons that have been laid out. Among those weapons are a shinai, a bokken, and her katana.
Kenichi looks at her nervously.
All of the other masters are around the dojo, waiting to see how this is going to turn out. Grandfather is not present. Miu cautiously stands just outside of the doorway.
"Kenichi." Shigure says to him to get his attention.
He looks away from all of the weapons and looks at his fiancé.
'This is the scary side of her. She is in her master mode. I hope I don't die from this.' He thinks to himself.
The other masters also have similar thoughts on whether he is going to live through this as well.
She holds the paper up.
"I am going to start with this. If you start trying to hit me, then this will be all that you have to deal with."
"But, what I don't?" He hesitantly asks.
"If you cannot satisfactory perform, then I will step up the intensity by switching weapons."
He takes a big gulp.
'I am going to die!' He screams in his head.
"Hey, Shigure!" Sakaki shouts out to her.
She looks over to him.
"Yes?"
He takes a swig of a beer.
"Just remember not to go too easy on him just because he is your fiancé."
With a look of despair and shock, Kenichi turns his head to Sakaki with his jaw dropped.
'Thanks a lot.' Kenichi inwardly thinks.
Shigure turns her head back to Kenichi and takes a fighting stance.
He does the same.
She charges in for the attack.
While he blocks her hand away, she gives him a perfect opportunity to attack her stomach, but he holds back.
She quickens her pace and smacks him in the head with the paper.
While Shigure resets her stance, Sakaki shakes his head.
"You should have taken that opportunity, kid."
Kenichi grits his teeth.
'I can't do it.' Kenichi tells himself.
"You can do it, Kenichi. You just have to put your mind to it." Says Akisame.
'He did that mind thing again.'
"Shigure is not going to let up until you do." Kensei says to him while he strokes his mustache.
Kenichi sighs, and then they go at it again.
'This is going to serve a double purpose for him. I knew he was just going to start with blocking. So, he is first going to learn to defend himself against people with these kinds of weapons. Then he will break this rule about not fighting girls.' Muses Shigure.
As this carries on, Kenichi begins to develop a pattern of blocking. She changes it up and starts using different tactics.
Every time he doesn't take an opportunity, she smacks him with the paper. She also increases how hard she hits as well.
Eventually, the paper becomes useless.
"Hmph." She says while looking at the limp paper.
She tosses it aside and picks up the shinai.
'Crap!'
She begins her assault again.
She swings at his left side.
In a defensive motion, he raises his left arm up to fully accept the hit.
He takes the hit and she gives him another opportunity to attack her.
He holds back again.
While pursing her lips, she trips him with the shinai. Then she makes a downward strike at his head. She stops within an inch of hitting it.
"You're dead." She says to him.
He sighs and then gets back up.
'Maybe I'll just try to at least touch her. If I do that, then maybe she'll back off.' He thinks to himself.
She launches at him again.
She swings at his left side again, but this time he ducks under it.
She gives him the opportunity just like she did before. She gets surprised when she finally sees his arm moving toward her.
Sakaki quirks an eyebrow and he sees this movement.
Kensei and Akisame shake their heads. They both instantly recognize what he is trying to do.
'This is just like his practices with Miu.' Akisame thinks.
The disappointed look on Shigure's face says it all as he just touches her stomach.
She slaps his hand away angrily and gets back into a fighting stance.
She starts her attacks again. This time, her movements are swifter, and she starts smacking him along other areas of his body.
The sting from each hit causes him to rub at each area after a hit.
He keeps this up for a short while.
After getting frustrated, she switched to the bokken.
He tries to switch his tactics again, but she sees right through his jujitsu stances.
Numerous attempts are made to pin and throw her to no avail.
Welts begin forming on his body from all of the hits that he has taken.
'Please, Kenichi, I don't know how much more of this I can take doing.' She pleads in her head.
After a little bit longer, she switches to her sheathed sword.
Kenichi was showing sign of getting quite warn out, and is holding one of his shoulders.
"Again!" She shouts at him.
Miu tugs on Sakaki's shirt in worry.
"Shigure?" Sakaki he says in a questioning manner.
She doesn't even look at him. She only looks at Kenichi.
"Say nothing." She orders Sakaki in response
'He needs this. A man will do what he needs to do when he is pushed to his limits. Kenichi is almost there. Will he prevail, or will he break?' Shigure ponders.
She continues again.
After some time, Kenichi is barely managing to hold himself up. His entire body hurts and he spits out a small amount of blood. He breaths heavily. Sweat pours off of him. Thoughts run back and forth in his head about what is trying to be accomplished.
She unsheathes her sword.
The site of it terrifies him.
"Focus, Kenichi." She tells him.
He shakes his head and brings his attention back to her.
"Are you still going to dishonor me like this?"
'Dishonor.' He repeats to himself.
"Fight back, Kenichi, or this could kill you."
She gets into her fighting stance again.
Apachai covers his eyes.
Kenichi's heart skips a beat as he stares at Shigure's sword.
She darts toward him.
"No." Kenichi softly says.
His warn out body kicks into fight or flight mode. His eyes go blank.
With a shift to the side, he moves his head out of the path of the blade. He crouches down slightly and sends a punch into Shigure's stomach.
The punch wasn't very strong considering his physical state (and the fact the he punched one of his masters), but he punched her never the less.
Everything finally catches up to him and he drops to his knees.
Shigure quickly sheathes her sword and kneels down in front of him.
He comes back to his senses and finds that he is being embraced by Shigure in a hug.
"You . . . did good." She says to him.
He lets out another hefty sigh.
She hefts him up and onto her back.
"Where are we going?" He tiredly asks.
"The bath."
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The following morning.
Miu had made breakfast and was getting the table ready.
She gives Kenichi a slightly bigger portion after everything he had gone through the night before.
Everyone starts gathering for breakfast.
"Hey! Where's Kenichi?" Asks Sakaki.
Miu looks over at him and shakes her head.
"Maybe he is having a hard time this morning after last night's ordeal. I'll go look for him." She replies.
She quickly walks off to check on him.
She gets to his room and she starts to slide his door open.
"Hey Kenichiiiiiii, it's time for break . . . fas . . . . t." The end of her sentences slows down because of the sight that she sees.
Her mouth drops open and she goes bug-eyed in shock.
"You . . . should knock . . . .next time." Shigure calmly says to her.
Miu simply nods and slowly slides his door shut.
Sakaki looks at her as she comes back to the table.
"Is he coming?" asks Sakaki.
She closes her eyes and smiles really big.
He gets a confused look as he looks at her odd behavior.
"Oh, yes. He will be coming in a couple of minutes."
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A/N: Thank you for reading another chapter of my story.
My 'Monster Musume: Drago's Quest' story is up to chapter 4 - Complete
My 'Familiar Of Zero: Saving Grace' story is up to Chapter 59