What a wonderful day! Himiko thought as she woke up at her usual time: 4:00 a.m.
Jumping out of bed, Himiko quickly scurried into the bathroom. Brushed her teeth, washed her face, all of that, before changing out of her pajamas, and into a tracksuit.
It was time for her morning exercise!
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Himiko made her way to the forest and found Giza in their usual meeting spot. The rat man had just finished attaching his training weights to his legs, and arms.
"Himiko, just in time. Shall we begin?" Giza said as he got ready to sprint.
"Yes, sensei!" Himiko shouted, giving her teacher her signature fanged grin, as she got ready to run beside him.
Everything went quiet, while the two took a breath.
And then they ran.
The two sprinted at full speed. Giza quickly out-pacing Himiko, leaving her to run on her own.
She ran and ran, and ran. Not slowing down even for a moment.
Because you see, this wasn't an ordinary run. Himiko wasn't pacing herself. She had to run at full speed, for as long as she could.
And the key part of this exercise, which would allow anyone to do this for extended periods of time, was control over your breathing.
While many anime did exaggerate the effects of controlling your breath, doing so did allow one greater mastery over their body and how it functioned. This included allowing you to maintain your top speed for longer than you would be able to otherwise.
Of course, doing this was not exactly easy or pleasant, especially for someone inexperienced.
A more apt description of the process would be, hellish.
It required absolute concentration, discipline, and practice, to even start getting it right. Let alone maintaining it for any period of time. And doing it while not running into everything in front of you.
Of course, Giza could keep this up for hours on end.
Himiko?
"PAH!" Himiko tripped over a particularly hard-to-spot root and slammed face-first into the dirt. Her momentum caused her to skid forward, scraping her face across until stopping after a couple feet. "Owie."
About Five minutes.
Himiko continued her breathing practice, as she pulled herself up. Helping keep her attention off the pain.
She simply got back on her feet and started running again.
Even if she couldn't keep it up for long. Even if she kept falling. She just had to keep getting back up.
As Giza had told her. Failure was not to be feared or mourned. Only learned from.
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"Nom nom nom nom nom!" Himiko gobbled up her breakfast with all the care of someone who'd been on the brink of starvation. Sucking up rice and fish like a vacuum cleaner.
"As awesome as your ninja training is, I have to wonder how you keep up with it almost every day?" Kuki asked as he ate beside her. Doing so at a much slower pace so nothing got on his outfit.
"Mmmmm." Himiko took a second to swallow the massive load of food in her mouth, before responding. "Well, the whole point of the training is discipline. If you stop or make it easier, then you're not doing it right."
"I mean I guess, but why do you wanna be a ninja so bad? Why not just be a regular hero?" Kuki asked her.
"...Just to be safe," Himiko answered, somewhat cryptically.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP.
"Ah! Times up!" Himiko cried as her alarm went off. She dumped what was left of her rice down her throat, and stuffed the fish into her mouth, before running away, waving goodbye to Kuki.
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Next on the list, bucket climbing.
Giza and Himiko stood at the foot of a mountain, with five buckets of water, all filled to the brim.
Himiko was carrying one bucket, and Giza was carrying four. Using a carrying stick, one over his back and one in his mouth.
Giza gave Himiko a look to signal that the exercise had started, before he went up to the mountainside, and started climbing.
Himiko on the other hand, simply started going up the steep mountain path.
This exercise was traditionally far more slow-paced than the sprint, but it was about as deceptively simple.
All you had to climb up an entire mountain with a full bucket, and back down.
Without spilling a single drop.
If even the tiniest drop of water spilled, you would have to go down, go to the nearest river, fill it back up, and try again. Until either you succeeded, or Giza told her to stop.
She'd failed more times than she could count. It was really one of the most frustrating forms of training Himiko had ever put herself through.
But it was also EXTREMELY good in training concentration, focus, determination, and of course, discipline.
It was this very training that made many others in the family quit Giza's ninja training.
But not Himiko.
She wanted to see this through. No matter what.
Slowly making her way up the mountain, Himiko made sure each step was measured. That no ground she stepped on was uneven. Stumbling even just a bit would mean she'd have to go all the way back down the mountain.
She continued going up until she found one of her first real obstacles.
A small rocky wall.
The path up until this point, was steep, rocky, and filled with tripping hazards. But nothing that you couldn't walk through by being careful.
But this wall, which was about double Himiko's height, needed to be climbed.
I hate this part. Himiko slowly brought the bucket up, and grabbed the handle with her mouth, using her hands to keep it steady, and making sure she had it safely in her jaw, before finally approaching the wall.
At this point, she was familiar with all the little grooves and footholds in this particular wall. And she just went through the motions, while making sure the bucket didn't spill.
"Grrrrr! Grrrrrr!" Himiko had to pretty much grind the top of her head against the wall, to make sure the bucket didn't tilt. Which given how pointy the rocks were, was rather painful.
But she'd been through all of this before. Failed a million times. And succeeded over a dozen times. And the kind of training Giza went through made this look like a cakewalk.
And so sure enough, she made it to the top.
Holding onto the top with one hand, while taking the bucket in her other hand, and climbing up.
"Ah, ah, ah." Himiko took a second to catch her breath and rest her aching body, before picking herself up and continuing up the mountain.
Dreading the many other walls to come.
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By the time Himiko had gotten down from the mountain, lunch had passed and after eating, they moved on to their next exercise.
Now after all that back-breaking running and climbing, and bucket carrying, the rest of the day would contain more low-key exercises.
Namely, meditation.
Himiko and Giza were meditating by a small waterfall, sitting on two rocks while in the standard meditation pose.
Despite not being as physically taxing as most training, was not a cakewalk. Mainly because the act of sitting still and trying to clear your mind, was, especially for a child, and especially for a child like Himiko-
"Zzzzzzzzz." Himiko snored as she drifted off, slowly deflating on her rock and leaning forward.
Easier said than done.
WHACK!
"Gah!" Himiko jolted back upright as a smack in the back of the head from Giza's tail, woke her up immediately, and she resumed her attempt to meditate.
Yeah, this was easily the exercise Himiko struggled to complete the most.
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While meditation was the thing Himiko struggled to actually do. It was not the most mentally taxing of her exercises.
Himiko sat in front of a table. With Giza standing beside her. And a cloak on the wall opposite to her.
A very loud clock.
TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!
And on the table, was a cup filled with O-negative, blood.
Her favorite.
It was right there. Inches away from her face. And she was so, so thirsty.
TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!
She could feel that thirst clawing at the back of her mind. Trying to move her limbs against her will. Trying to get to the blood.
But Himiko fought against it. Visualizing it in her mind like wrestling a puma.
The metallic smell tickled her her nose, leaving a tiny taste in the back of her mouth, that made it even more of a struggle not to just grab the thing and chug it down in one gulp.
But she held out. Her body trembling, her mouth-watering, and her eyes focused on nothing but the cup.
So many times she'd reached out for the cup, and failed the exercise.
But not anymore.
TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!
As time went on, the fruits of her training became more evident, as resisting the siren call of the sweet red elixir, slowly became easier.
Not easy, but easier.
And that's what made all of this worth it. All the pain, all the headaches, all the hours spent on bettering herself through tortuous, back-breaking effort.
All of it was worth to make sure she kept this new lease on life.
TICK! TOCK! TICK!
"Dinner time has arrived," Giza announced, as the hands of the clock finally reached their desired point.
With trembling hands, Himiko slowly reached for the cup. If she tried to make a rush at it, Giza would slap her hands away.
She grabbed it, and brought it to her lips, before letting the blood hit her tongue.
"Mmmmmm!" Himiko groaned, as finally her thirst was quenched. With the taste of blood, and victory.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, and I'm sorry about the lack of holiday chapters, but real life has been rather hectic.
Anyway, please review and have a nice day.