Esteed again [Training]

[Runeska]

8/20


"Tai," called his master, "You're supposed to have a wakizashi in the other hand. There is nothing wrong with the stance at this second.”

However, Tai’s face squenched up more, still unsure of himself. “Are you sure? I feel…” His blades dropped downward for a second reflecting the confusion within his mind. If he did this right, he’d have moved on already. But this was more than strange



“Yes,” he said, furrowing his brown while cutting Tai off, “You just have a lot to work toward this style. Continue.”

Renewing his effort, Tai attempted getting back into his stance. Getting into the stance itself was easy, but when instructed to hold it in that position, his left arm started to falter. It was such a strain, due to the extra weight. His left arm was obviously weaker than the left. To add to that, holding the blade as he had caused the weight to tip toward the outside of his body, further weakening the stance. He dealt with however, and pushed on through the pain. It would be worth it in the end. After holding that position for about half an hour without moving, his master finally allowed him to move.

As soon as he tried to take his first step, he fell over. Both his legs were asleep from standing in one spot for so long. It was stupid of him, but apparently, Tai had locked his legs to deal with the unease. As a result, his legs were both asleep, and he couldn’t stand at first.

"Come on Tai, if you struggle with a mere stance, I'm not sure if this style is for you. Perhaps you should leave."

Shaking his head profusely, Tai yelled out, "No wait! I got it, I'm getting up!" It took a bit of effort, but he was up within a minute. Both legs were still sleep, and he was still ready to fall. To wake them up, he tried slapping them with the flat of his blades. The strikes were numb on his legs, as if they wouldn’t respond. However, the circulation got moving after a minute. Turning back to his master, he said, "See, I'm up"

"Very well," said his mater "Now, get back in the stance again and wait. I'll give you further instruction in just a moment."

Without asking question, Tai resumed from where he left off. This time, he didn't lock his legs, and tried not to let his blades drop. He knew that as soon as he had, his master would be back on him again. He didin't plan on failing.



A frame of time passed, perhaps another twenty minutes. His master was still yet to return. His arms were slowly tiring, and beginning to feel like lead weights. Focusing himself, he held the offhand sword tighter, for it was beginning to droop to the side. Another ten minutes passed by, and he was beginning to lose it again. All the other students inside the dojo were laughing at his efforts, and it was getting very annoying. He’d have turned around and said something, but that’s when his master returned.

He was surprised that Tai had stayed there that long. “I thought you’d have moved by now? Hm…” He appeared to be inspecting his stance for any flaws or mistakes in it. A moment later, he began to scrutinize and point out so many mistakes in his stance. “Your knees aren’t supported enough. Your feet are too far apart.” He then inspected his upper body. Your back shouldn’t be bent or arched. Raise your right arm a little more.” He then stopped, and looked on his left arm again. “Tai, I’m warning you. You cannot lag behind, or else you will be here forever. You may stop for a moment”

Immediately, Tai lowered his arms and relaxed his legs. Almost in response, their was a great release of sweat and heat from his body, as if a great tension had lifted from air. He relished in this relaxed state for a moment. However, as soon as the soreness set into his body, master Ren told him to rise again. He did so at such a hurried panicky pace, that the aches and pain in his body didn’t catch up until a moment later. He was fine and ready to continue within one second. Then the next, his face tensed up with his neck craning sideways. Every limb in his body suddenly had so much unrestrained tension and pain, but he tried not to let it show.

“Now, raise your blades again,” said Ren again. Tai stood in the stance that he was told to. Every muscle and nerve in his body was yelling and creaking. From here, Ren inspected his stance again. It had improved only slightly. He still had his left blade angled too low, for his left arm felt like it would collapse. He pushed on forward, and corrected that, which his only major flaw in his stance. It held for less than a minute, then collapsed. Shaking his head, his master called down to him, “Still to heavy for your off arm? Would you like a wooden sword instead?” A second passed, then he said, “You’ll never get anywhere without holding that stance properly for any length of time.”

[Runeska]

?/20


Quickly, Tai rose back to his feet, ignoring the pain in his legs until it began to whither and die down. Through sheer force, he managed to come back into the stance, nearly perfect. This was not what he planned to do with the rest of his life. His face tensed up for a second as he focused and corrected himself to maintain the stance. After a few seconds, it was perfect though appearance.



Calmly smiling a bit, Ren said, “Well then, test your agility.” Without further words, Tai began trying to move about as he had been doing before . It was quite easy this time, or at least compared to where he started. His legs were still sore , but only effected him slightly. He didn’t feel nearly as much restriction as he’d felt when he walked in. It excited him, because he knew was learning. After just over five minutes, he turned around to face his master, only he wasn’t there any more. All of the students were sitting near the wall, staring at him as if he was the big joke of the day. The look made him really tense. He felt like something was about to happen any second now… Scweak!!!



Suddenly, he heard the noisy draw of a sword, and a second later, felt the wind parting behind his neck. Instinctively, he leaped forward, and swung around to face who had tried attacking him. To his surprise, it was his master. His sword had struck the ground, the spot now having an ugly slash mark blemishing it’s surface. “Master? What’s the meaning of this?” Tai was very confused, he felt like he’d just narrowly escaped something… gruesome.


With his brow creased, Master Ren said, “I’m only testing your reflexes. You’ve been so tense, I had to make sure your legs were working.” He watched as Tai’s expression changed to a mix of wonder and relief, then immediately lunged at him. Tai dodged sideways, just barely getting out the way. Before he had the chance to exhale, the blade was halfway at his neck again. He jumped backward once more with all the grace and agility he could muster. That movement caused his feet to trip up slightly, though he got out of the initial range of the attack. A fraction of a second passed, and master Ren disappeared and his master had one of his swords at the back of his neck. “Not bad. Just remember to watch your back and legs when you move about. It seems that you twist your legs up easily, which could cost you alot in a just a second. You can’t do that during battle. Rest for a bit, and I will return.” And he did, gratefully, only the rest wouldn’t be as long as he thought it would

[fina]

Add it, nice job!

[Runeska]

Teiku Ken Kyou (Take and Offer)
Rank: C
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The user parries a moderate (C Rank) strike with the wakazashi and then makes a quick thrust (C Rank) With the katana.
Special: None.
Drawback: Can only be done when unsheathing.
Description: Starting from the a Tsuinken Inisharu Stance, the user parries with the katana, slashing horizontally with the wakazashi as it is unsheathed.
Limit: Must be taught by a Tsuinken Tatsujin of a dojo.



0/20


The return of master Ren was very short, leaving Tai only five minutes if a break in between his weariness. Seeing his master return, Tai rose back to his feet in a hurry. His arms were still tired, but he could continue going for a while longer. Appearing in front of him, he said, “Tai, attack me.” Seeing the hesitation, he raised his voice slightly. “Tai, I instructed you to attack. Do you wish to learn or not?”



“Yes master, I do want to learn,” he answered, and began to attack. Raising his blade above his shoulders, he brought the sword down, sparing not even an ounce of vicious force in his attack. The speed on his blade was quick and precise enough that for a second, it began to split the air. It did no harm however. As soon as the blade was about to hit, he parried with his wakizashi. The sound rung through the air, splitting all other sounds like a bell of victory, triumph, or conflict, in an empty room. In that instant, every student in the room turned their heads in that direction as if it were their cue to come and circle around. But the whole movement took less than a second, and no one had the time to move yet.



Still in slow motion, the force of the blow being blocked reverberated through his arms for a moment, causing a mild amount of pain to flow into his mind. He’d have simply stopped, but he noticed something that he actually hadn’t expected. Ren had started to pull his katana from his other sheath. Tai knew what was coming at this point. He attempted to pull off from his attack and dodge, but the attack was too fast for him to get away untouched.


The result, as the strike began, Tai began a backwards leap to get away, as he attempted to parry the oncoming slash from Master Ren with his own wakizashi. It almost worked, by a half second. Escaping the brunt of the attack, his master’s katana knocked his out the way as he backed way. The tip of the katana sliced at his chest, piercing through his shirt as he back just out of distance. As Tai finished putting a bit more distance between the two of them, his feet landed and skidded backward as he came to a crouch. He touch the spot where blood should have been dripping from his chest to discover that he still had his mesh on. Silently, he breathed sigh of relief, allowing a small amount of tension to dissolve into the air.



“What I just performed was Teiku Ken Kyou, take and offer. With this move, you are supposed parry an attack with one weapon and immediately attack back. Your defense must remain solid as rock, and your attack must be tempered and slice clean, or else the whole motion is useless and wasted.” Standing at that distance from Tai, he explained the move in length to him, and then sent him off to practice with another student. Before he managed to get out of earshot, he said, “Oh, and take off the steel mesh. Any scars you get while learning tsuinken offers you insight in battle, insight that might save your life one day. By missing out on those scars, your body can not learn the lessons in store for it.


Tai had been practicing his move for about half an hour against the student he had been assigned to. The boy, a man of about 20, attacked very brutally. Throughout this time, Tai could barely parry the first strike. His defense had been really slow and weak, and he suspected that this man might be on a level close to achieving Torikkusuta. Tai had long since removed the steel mesh, and thus any protection that he previously had from the deadly skill he had yet to learn. Standing about ten meters away from him, his training partner began to advance upon him again. He went speeding off as fast as he could toward Tai. Waiting very patiently, he attempted to calculate just how he’d have to parry and counter just to get the move going. The moment arrived, and it was do or die.


Standing from the Inisharu Stance, he quickly drew out his wakizashi as his opponent began to attack. The two blades crashed against each other, nearly sending sparks off the blades in the process. The attack of his opponent was well met, him standing firm and allowing him no time to try to attack. Bringing out his katana, he quickly slashed at the man. His attack however, was very awkwardly done, and lacked the required speed to do any damage.


His opponent blocked the attack with his wakizashi, drawing Tai very close to his face. “Listen up, you’re moving too slowly. Are you sure this is your kind of style?” His question was asked very insulting and sarcastically. Tai ignored him though, concentrating more so on his technique than the trash talking .


“Don’t worry about me, I’m catching on very fast. I’d worry about myself though,” he replied back very calmly, shoving off his opponent. Tai resheathed his swords again, getting ready for his move once more. When the man advanced, this time, he tried pulling both weapons at the same time. His action was done way too obviously, and the man predicted the move. It failed horribly as the man he was assigned to practice with merely held off on his attack.

[|Ayame Unbound|]

+10

[Runeska]

10/20


An hour had passed. Tai had improved a bit, which isn’t saying to what degree. He was still struggling horribly against the man he was training with. He hadn’t landed a single blow yet meanwhile, Tai had been injured numerously. He tried to count the number of times that he’d drawn too slow, or forgotten to attack with the other hand, or simply misjudged his own reflexes. Even as this thought ran through his mind, he quickly parried with his offhand and slashed with his right. It blocked the intended slash, but the man dodged his attack quickly abd sliced at his right arm. The pattern continued for another minute, until Tai’s back was left exposed as he managed to dodge far enough to not get hit.




Suddenly, Tai heard footprints approaching from behind him. If he didn‘t respond to that warning sound, this would be it. In a flash, Tai quickly turned around, pulling both swords from his side. As he spun sideways, he blocked the first slash coming in at him, then slashed outward, quickly resheathing afterwards. The man dodged, then slashed at Tai, forcing him to dodge. Each attack was cold yet hot, like tempered steel while his eyes were sharp and angled like daggers at his throat. In every attack that he attempted, the man used a brutal amount of force, constantly leaving Tai blocking and dodging. Even as one attack missed, the man delivered anther brutal slash, which Tai then parried and countered. His guard was beginning to hold up better, in comparison to how it continuously collapsed earlier. In addition, the counter slash was beginning to speed up. The man was moving as fast as ever, despite his blind furry, but Tai managed to nip his shirt, the first actually contact he’d may all day. This caused Tai to grin slightly as he realized he was getting the move now.



“What are you smiling at!” the man yelled, half spitting as he said so. It appeared as though the man was more angered now more than he’d ever been. Tai, who was actually enjoying himself now, quickened his pace as he took note of where his opponent was aiming at. Blocking anther vicious brutal assault, Tai unleashed a powerful slash at his chest. Just then, the man’s rage seemed to mellow out as he hoe much it was affecting his abilities. Tai realized this as the man’s face regained its normal pigmentation and his eyes relaxed. Quickly, the man swerved his body to right, avoiding the blunt of Tai’s attack by a hairs length. As soon as he missed, Tai’s opponent shoved his foot into the ground and propelled himself backward a few steps.


Standing a few feet from his opponent/trainer, Tai took a quick relieving breadth. Just at that moment, he realized how tired he was, from the recent skirmish. The man he was fighting had an enormous amount of sweat beading down his forehead. But without exaggeration, Tai’s sweating body was bordering on dehydration. He was litterally wet enough from sweat to power a few mid ranking suiton techniques. His guard dropped for a split second as he wiped a bit of sweat from his brow.



That’s all it took for things to get beyond serious. In an almost awe inspiring flash of speed, the man literally appeared in front of Tai, blades drawn and ready to deliver a blood gouging assault. Tai didn’t even have enough time to draw a single blade as he propelled himself backward to get away. The edges cut into his chest, and also caused him to fall backwards. Luckily though, neither cut was very lethal. It did however shred the top of his shirt, and cause a decent amount of pain to him. The man quickly ran to him while he was on his back, and stabbed downward. Utilizing every muscle of his mid and lower body, Tai rolled backward and came to his feet in enough time to dodge the attack.



Keeping up this deadly assault, the man sliced across Tai’s body with both blades. The two met in the center and ran across eachother’s length, creating a loud ring sound as the two scrathed past eachother. Back on his feat and ready, Tai drew his swords, blocking both attacks with his wakizashi. The strain was very heavy hard and heavy on his defense. In just a second, his defense would break as his wrist strained against his opponent. Using that moment, Tai unleashed a fast slash at the man’s stomach. As it sliced through the air, the air hummed as it parted away.



His opponent saw the move coming, and moved backward, but not far enough. The slash
caught him in the stomach with the tip of the sword. He managed to recover however, and launched another assault. Tai leaped over him, landing 5 feet behind him safely. “Ah hah, caught you!” As soon as he said that though, he felt a powerful kick land on his face. The force of which knocked him ten meters sideways into the wall. As he flew though the air, everything flashed around him at an incredible speed. For a split second, he saw his a bit of his life flash before his eyes. But, a familiar blurring image around him alerted him of the oncoming wall. Somehow, Tai managed to shift his body weight in such a way that his legs and head switched placed. Where his head would have been flying toward the wall, his feet were now angled to push away as he came closer to it. That movement took less than a second, and that was good for Tai. Nearly two seconds later, his feet clashed into the wall, making a loud thumping sound. In an almost expertly done pattern, Tai managed to push off and flip once, landing square on his feet. Unfortunately though, both his feet took a good deal of shock at his body weight moving around so fast.


A
s he took back to his stance, he realized that his legs were shot at the second, but he’d just successfully blocked and countered a deadly assault. He still had to think though, did that qualify him as capable of this move? Could he move on to the next? Either way, he’d need to rest for a few minutes, or he’d die in the midst of his training.

[|Ayame Unbound|]

Learned.

[Runeska]

Kito-Han (Returning Half)
Rank: C
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The user parries a strike (C Rank), strikes (C Rank), and makes another parry (D Rank)
Special: None.
Drawback: The second parry is very weak.
Description: Starting from the Tsuinken Kibatsu Stance, the user parries a strike with the wakazashi (C Rank), makes a thrust with the katana (C Rank), and deflects the counter attack with the wakazashi. (D Rank)
Limit: Must be taught by a Tsuinken Tatsujin of a dojo.


0/20


Just his luck, his opponent was on the move again. His legs could move, but not enough to fight against such an opponent. In another flash of speed, he was face to face with the man that had almost knocked him into the wall. Instinctively, he lashed out first, going on the offensive. Unfortunately, the attack was guarded and immediately countered with the man’s wakizashi and katana respectively. As the katana neared him, Tai managed to move sideways enough to avoid the attack. He thought he saw an opening and tried to attack. However, that too was guarded as the wakizashi brought itself back forward and hit his blade. The force of the block knocked Tai off his balance, and he fell to the floor, knocking his head with a loud clunk. As soon as his head connected, his vision dimmed from the impact.


Tai’s eyes opened up about ten seconds after he‘d hit the floor. His head was in a daze and his vision was very dim and foggy, but clearing up bit by bit. The fist image he saw, was the same man he was fighting before he’d fallen. Instantly, he leaped up into an attack stance to fight. However, master Ren suddenly appeared in front of him. His face was filled with a bit of concern, though it was mostly mild amusement. “So you’re up, already? You should stay out for a bit”


Smiling a little on the weak side, Tai said, “No, I have to keep going. If I don’t, I’ll never get anywhere. So master, where do I go now?” His face was eager, despite his splitting headache.


“Master, I’ve got this,” replied the man he’d been sparring with. “Just follow me.”
As he and Tai began to walk off, Tai a bit weary, still not aware of how he’d been knocked out, Ren said, “Keep it fair this time Rai. Don’t go too hard, unless he’s up to it.”


Without further words, the next series of moves began. He watched closely as he was first given a demonstration of the move. It appeared as though he was supposed to block, attack, then block again. It seemed as though it wouldn’t that hard, but as with anything, it’s always easier in theory then in use. Watching carefully, he could see that you first parried with the left, then stabbed with the right. Immediately afterward, he watched him parry again. Tai guessed that this was on the off chance that the attack missed. Altogether, it seemed like a very useful technique, he could see someone like himself using this technique quite easily.


After watching for a minute, Tai visualized himself doing the move. Next thing he knew, his instructor attacked him, without sparing a second, Tai dropped into Tsuinken Kibatsu stance. Positioning his blades accordingly, he parried and sliced back, using the move he’d just learned recently to defend himself. “Hey, what was that about?” yelled Tai, a little flustered at the fact that this man seemed intent on causing him harm.


The man stood still, repositioning his blades as he spoke. “Come on now. When are you going to get the system? There is no time for relaxing, no time for rest, and no time for gloating. This is a very dangerous, aggressive style. You must pay attention to what you are doing, or else, it spells death for you on the battle field. Now, if I must take away the safety and install the danger of life and death with your training just for you to understand, then I will!” His face was tempered and cold, once again like steel that had been hammered and folded many times over, then left alone for ages as it cooled and became icy to the touch. Tai couldn’t help but feel just a little intimidated by that face. Peering into it now, he could tell that if he slipped up, goofed off, or just let one get by, that he’d end up seriously injured, if he was lucky.


After the man said that, Tai resumed to his stance. He realized that it was his time to attempt. He crept forward slowly, aware of how volatile and injurious the man’s attack could be. He needed to guard first, so that he could parry in the fraction of time that his partner/instructor might be thrown of balance. Suddenly, the man attacked in blinding fast slice straight to his head. Instinctively, Tai attempted to block the attack with his wakizashi, using his right to deliver his blow. As he thought might be the case though, the man knew and predicted what he’d do. For that, Tai didn’t bother going through with his attack. He knew that the second he attempted contact, he’d be torn from head to toe on at least one side of his body. The aura of this swordsman before him was intense in that it projected an odd bit of hate, and perhaps superiority. It was held in his eyes, the way he carried himself, and even the viscous attack strategy at the moment. Tai lowered his katana just in time block the attack that came in.


It was hard, and sent a bone quacking pulse though his arm as he caught it. His face visibly cringed in pain for a second, though he quickly tossed it off his face in favor of a neutral expression. His attacker had already seen this though, and continued to rattle both his swords and arms with a relentless attack. Every single stroke was in a perfect staccato pattern where immediately after it landed, it lightly tapped away, just to have the next blade continue the pattern like a drum cadence. Fifteen steps backward, then twenty steps backward. That was how long Tai continued his backward retreat. As it stood, he was caught in inescapable pattern where he couldn’t raise a sword past defense without losing the other arm. It was horrible, not only on his upper body, but his legs as well. They were quickly getting tired of moving backward. He knew he was slowly approaching a wall, perhaps ten feet behind him. He was approaching it faster by the second. If he got pinned to the wall, he mine as well pack up and call it a day.

[Runeska]

?/20
A second passed, and Tai tried to break the onslaught by attacking through it. This, regardless of how gutsy and commendable it may have seemed, proved ill advised. His blade was quickly knocked backward, along with his hand holding the sword. The swing through his body sideways and off balance, but the man attacked again. As Tai expected to find the icy burn of the blades striking his side, he suddenly felt the familiar sting of the dojo’s floor. He had tripped, and tumbled sideways while trying to recover from the assault. As his body hit the floor, he was immediately assailed by both swords of the man. Tai managed to roll up from the floor, and end up on his feet again. The whole motion was clumsily done, though under the circumstance, it didn’t really matter, he dodged the attack, and thus managed to live for a second. That second though, was followed by yet another attack. Before a long successive chain could begin, Tai quickly blocked and parried the first attack. His attack was also parried effortlessly, to his dismay, and another attack headed his way. Using his left hand, he parried again, exchanging sword glances as one would exchange greetings. Within just moments, this launched a great exchange, with after about twenty or so exchanges into the chain, Tai’s swords were knocked out of his hands.

Walking up to Tai, the man put his sword on Tai’s shoulder and said, “Game, or should I say death? Not bad though. Pick up your blades. As soon as you are armed, we are in combat again.” Tai quickly retrieved his blades, awaiting the next onslaught.



As Tai rose up to his feet, his first thoughts were on the sounds of the footprints behind him. The man really wasn’t kidding. Tai wasn’t even ready for the fight to continue yet, but there was no use in trying to put up an argument Instead, he used the instinctual knowledge of battle that he and Neoku had learned to predict a course of action. Hearing the heavy footprints, he wanted to say that this would be a downward heavy slash attack, but it was hard to be sure. To be safe, he began a quick roll sideways, and got ready to come to his feet. His guess was right, but the man reacted faster than Tai did, and kicked him to the side. Now rolling on the floor, Tai fought to gain leverage on the floor of the dojo. He skidded for about a meter, then quickly came to a halt. Leaping to his feet like a cat, he had just enough time to quickly parry another attack, though is guard was still a little weak, it held up enough to stave off the attack. However, it sent a painful vibration through his left arm. Amidst the pain in his arm, he attempted to use the other to stab at his competitor. It was a rare clean attack that he normally wouldn’t have been able to accomplish under these conditions.


Despite that, he was met with the same stern face that deflected his attack moments ago. In what he could describe as the most arrogant move ever, the man dodged his attack simply by tilting his head a few degrees left. After doing this, he immediately attempted to stab at Tai with his wakizashi. Tai managed to parry the attack quickly, and leaped back to put some distance between him and the man. Before he could gain the distance though, the man hit him in the face with the hilt of the katana, sending Tai stumbling backwards. However, he managed to keep his balance. There was a nasty bruise on the side of his face too. He ran his hand over it for a second, feeling the sting. It was a very light sting, but it ticked off Tai.


The man suddenly appeared in front of Tai, throwing a massive blow toward his side. Using whatever speed he could muster, Tai parried the slash, angling his blade so that the recoil wasn’t so harsh on his arm. It didn’t work too well though, and every bone in his left arm hurt as the bones rocked and vibrated against each other. Still, he continued on to attack with his right arm, completely ignoring the bone chilling shock that was taking place. In just a second, his attack was parried and countered with enough fluency that it almost set him off balance, but he held his ground, and began to attack and counter furiously. At first, the exchange of strikes and counters was slow, giving Tai time to analyze what he was doing, and how to properly block in a way that didn’t cause him harm or anymore pain. At the same time, he attempted to deliver as devastating a blow as he could.


As soon as he began to devise a plan and get even a little better, the speed of each strike sped up. At first it was just a little faster, allowing a strike or two a second. Then it sped up to a block strike block sequence within two seconds. At this speed, Tai didn’t feel any sting on his arm, and his attack was improving greatly. But then, the speed got more rapid, and he couldn’t maintain the same control that was saving him from pain. Soon enough, there two exchanges of the sequence in a single second, and Tai almost got hit everytime, regardless of how fast he moved. Soon, he was trapped inside another combat chain. This time, it lasted for a solid ten minutes, every slash mimicking lightning in not only speed, but in deadly killing potential.


Tai continued to keep this speed up for a long time, but eventually, his arms began to go sore and numb. The speed put the edge back on every strike, and he’d lost his control. Suddenly, the man struck once with an extremely hard attack. Instantly, Tai lost his grip of his swords as they flew halfway across the room. They lodged themselves deep within the wall and far out of his reach.


As he watched the swords fly, he felt a sudden pain in his chest and right shoulder. He ran his left arm up his chest, and found a small but jagged slash. There was a small amount of blood trickling out. It wasn’t more than a mere surface wound and likely wouldn’t give him any trouble aside from a slight twinge of pain. His right arm wouldn’t move though. It was jammed in place, emitting a dull pulsating feeling. Tai tried to move it again so that he could continue his training. This time, it moved from his side up into a defensive stance. Tai’s face suddenly lit up in pain as the side of his arm spilt open and gushed out a puddle of blood. Tai collapsed on the floor, unable to move or talk through the pain. He did however, glare up at his instructor, who had an amused smirk on his face. Tai’s blood began to boil staring at the smug expression on his face.


He had to calm himself again though. The blood he’d spilt was only from minor in some kind of comparison. It was his excited state that had caused him to bleed so much. He managed to slow his breathing and such as he tore off a piece of his shirt to tie up his arm. After doing so securely, he rose from the floor and went to retrieve his wakizashi and katana. Armed once more, he continued where they’d left off from.

This time, he didn’t have as much energy to spare, so he made every move count. First, as the man advanced toward him and attacked, Tai blocked with his wakizashi, then immediately stabbed forward. He threw his all into the attack, and saw a result. The man couldn’t simply move out the way this time. Instead, he blocked with his own wakizashi then spun to Tai’s side to strike. The strike was blocked by Tai with his wakizashi once more. Immediately afterward, Tai lifted his katana and drove another powerful stab toward his gut. This made contact, but only with his side, since his opponent’s reflexes were still great enough to allow a dodge. It didn’t last too long though. Tai’s arm began to bleed again through the pieces of his shirt that he’d tied it with.

Out of nowhere, his master appeared and stopped the fight from going any further. Tai glanced around in time to see everyone vacating the premises. “That’s it Tai. Lessons are over for the day. Come back tomorrow.” He began to close down the dojo. As he began to walk away, he said, “Perhaps, after you’ve cleaned up.”

Instantly, Tai sheathed his katana and wakizashi. He was completely tired of this, the battling that is. Taking the advice of his master, he left the dojo and all the fighting behind in favor of getting some well deserved rest.

[Exit]

[Tenkai]

Learned.
Add it~