InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Yokai No Kokoro (Heart of A Demon) ❯ Fencing Sensei, Sesshoumaru ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5: Fencing Sensei, Sesshoumaru

Sesshoumaru looked curiously upon Kyoko. "I was beginning to think you would never wake up."

Kyoko, still panting, looked up to see that the sun was already to the middle of the sky; it was already mid-day. She stood and stretched, glad that she was able to freely move again. [I was beginning to also wonder the same…]

Sesshoumaru thrust a charred piece of meat in front of Kyoko. "Here; eat it."

Kyoko cocked an eyebrow at the blackened fish before her as she took it from Sesshoumaru's hand. She slowly took a bite out of it, more as a courtesy than from hunger.

Sesshoumaru groaned. "If it displeases you so, then perhaps next time I should only feed myself. As it is, I was only returning a favor that you had previously granted to me."

Kyoko swallowed her pride as she finished eating the charred meat. "It's… not that bad… I was just…trying to figure out what… ehh… type of fish it had been."

"Oh, is that all?"

Kyoko nodded, despite the fact that she still had the burnt taste in her mouth.

Sesshoumaru nodded in satisfaction. "Good."

Kyoko threw the bones and some of the charred remains of the fish to the ground. "So, what have you got planned to do for the day?"

Sesshoumaru looked upon Kyoko, surprised. "You remembered what I had said last night?"

Kyoko's eyes narrowed. "My body was numb, but my mind was working just fine. I'm not quite as weak as you believe me to be. I thought that I had shown you that yesterday afternoon."

[Impudent bitch…] Sesshoumaru cleared his throat. "Have you ever been taught to use a weapon?"

"No. I need no such training. I am able to care for myself well enough without one."

"You think so?"

"Yes," Kyoko stated in a matter-of-fact tone, showing her own cockiness.

Sesshoumaru drew his sword from his sheath and backed into the forest. Kyoko watched him for a ways, confused. "Where're you going?"

No answer came. Kyoko listened intently for sounds, trying to find where Sesshoumaru had gone. She even tried to find him by his scent, but the wind was of the wrong direction. She flexed her claws, suddenly knowing that he had done this intentionally, as though to prove that she would be helpless in an ambush without knowledge of weaponry. She snickered as she heard leaves crunching from her left. She strained to see the figure making the sound and was soon disgusted to identify the being as Jaken. [Vile beast… I can't even hear anything else because of all the racket he's making…]

From Kyoko's right Sesshoumaru sped out of the forest, his sword drawn. Before Kyoko could so much as blink, the sword was at her throat, with Sesshoumaru standing directly behind her. Kyoko glanced back to see his mocking grin. "See? You didn't even realize I was coming until it was too late."

Kyoko sighed as she elbowed Sesshoumaru in the gut, knocking him to the ground. "And you didn't realize that I could still attack until your butt hit the dirt."

Sesshoumaru grimaced as he stood and sheathed his sword. "If that sword had been at a sharper angle, it would have sliced your throat open. Did you not take that into effect? Or, did you just decide to attack and worry about the effects as they happened?"

Kyoko grinned. "Ooh, touchy-touchy. I knocked you down, so now you're mad? Poor boy…" Kyoko giggled as she helped Sesshoumaru to stand.

Not being accustomed to being insulted by a woman, Sesshoumaru glared at Kyoko, but said nothing. He merely brushed the dust from the back of his kimono. "Jaken, have you brought the item I have requested?"

Jaken panted as he held up a single katana in a beautifully decorated sheath. "Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama."

Sesshoumaru took the katana from Jaken. "This is for you, Kyoko."

Kyoko took the sword as Sesshoumaru handed it to her. She examined the hilt, which was ivory with ivy-leafed pewter vines wrapping around it, a small, ovular silver plate for the bottom of the sheath and an oval ruby as the top of the hilt. The sheath had been made from a cherry, with rose engravings along either side. She drew the sword from the sheath to look upon the shining, razor-sharp blade. "Wow… it's so… beautiful…"

Sesshoumaru snorted. "You expected less?"

"Well… I'm not quite sure…" Kyoko stared at the blade for a short while longer before she remembered her manners. Still holding the blade, Kyoko bowed lightly to Sesshoumaru. "Arigato, Sesshoumaru-sama."

"Well, let's not waste time. See how it balances; get a feel for how it moves. It wasn't given to you as a mere decoration."

Kyoko nodded as she fixed the sheath to her belt and drew the sword completely out of the sheath. She waved the blade about wildly, not knowing how to properly handle it.

Sesshoumaru cringed at the careless way Kyoko handled the sword. He quickly grabbed Kyoko's arm, to stop her poor use of the sword.

"No. Move with the sword; treat it as an extension of your own body. The sword is to become like a part of you, you are not to see it as an object, rather, like another foot or arm."

Kyoko slowly moved the sword about, mocking the movements she had seen Sesshoumaru make with his sword earlier. "Like that?"

"Yes, but you need to actually need to be able to react to something with those movements. Jaken, bring me a piece of wood from the forest here."

"Hai, Sesshoumaru-sama!" The short yokai scurried into the timber and soon returned with a small branch. "Here, Sesshoumaru-sama!"

"Kyoko, take the branch, and, when I tell you, throw it at me." Sesshoumaru ordered as he drew his sword.

Kyoko took the branch from the small creature and nodded her head. "There."

"Alright… now."

Kyoko grinned as she threw the branch full-force for Sesshoumaru's abdomen. Kyoko's jaw dropped slightly as she saw Sesshoumaru quickly move the sword in front of himself and the branch split into two pieces, each falling on either side of Sesshoumaru. "You can't possibly expect me to do something like that."

"Not yet. But soon, very soon." Sesshoumaru approached Kyoko, sheathing his sword once again. "Before you are able to do that, you need to stand in such a way that you have few openings for an attack."

{A. N. Before anyone starts telling me, 'Oh, Ryoko-san, you have him sheath his sword, just to take it out again, every five seconds!' I would like to point out that he couldn't quite hold the sword and have full use of his only hand at the same time. Anyhow, sorry for the interruption.}

Kyoko blushed as she felt Sesshoumaru directly behind her, ignoring all personal boundaries. He reached his arm around her and moved the position of her arms to a type of stance. "Don't move you arms."

Kyoko nodded, not quite sure what he was going to do next. Sesshoumaru backed away, walked around Kyoko, and then firmly placed his hand on the back of her thigh. Kyoko dropped her sword as he began to move her leg as well. She turned around and slapped his face as hard as she possibly could, leaving a red mark on his cheek.

Enraged, Sesshoumaru yelled at Kyoko, "What the hell was that for?"

Kyoko, her face a crimson red of embarrassment, shouted back at him, "You could have warned me that you were gonna be touching me like that! I would have moved my leg on my own, thank you very much!"

"What are you talking about? I was just trying to move your leg so you could learn to stand in a defensive position!"

"Like hell! I know what a man has in mind when he grabs a woman's leg like that! It isn't gonna be any fencing stances!"

"What are you insinuating?"

Kyoko crossed her arms out of annoyance. "You're a grown man, you know what I'm talking about… Just don't touch my leg like that any more, okay?"

Sesshoumaru growled out of frustration. "That was not my intent. Would you cooperate so that we may continue?"

Kyoko nodded grudgingly as she picked her sword back up and put her arms in the positions Sesshoumaru had placed them into previously. "Now, you can show me how to stand."

"Fine then." Sesshoumaru assumed the stance. "See now? Make sure that your feet are turned out; if they're not, then you cannot be as easily prepared to make a move."

Kyoko nodded, then mimicked the position Sesshoumaru stood in.

"One thing that you should always remember to do is to think ahead. This style of fighting is just as much about strategy as it is strength. A full-grown yokai could possibly be beaten by a human child, if the child has a better knowledge of the sword."

Kyoko nodded, surprised by his reference to humans in a better light.

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Some hours passed of Sesshoumaru explaining to Kyoko how to stand, defend herself, attack, strategy, etc. He finally had to test her in some minor way. He picked up a piece of the branch she had throw earlier, to demonstrate his own ability. Without saying a word to her he threw the branch directly for her head.

Kyoko had not seen Sesshoumaru even pick up the branch, much less throw it, before she had to react. She held her sword in front of her face in a defensive position. She smiled as she saw the two halves of the branch fly past either side of herself. "Sesshoumaru-sama! I did it! I didn't even know it was coming!" Kyoko thrust her fist into the air out of joy.

Sesshoumaru said nothing but inwardly grinned, also slightly proud of what she had done. "Alright, now you should learn how to fight with that sword."

Kyoko nodded. She blushed, however, when she heard her stomach growl; she had not eaten since the charred trout he had served her previously. "Perhaps we could call it a day?"

Sesshoumaru looked to the sky and saw that it was nearly sunset. "Fine then. Jaken, fetch some wood for a fire; I'll find something suitable for us to eat."

Kyoko quickly remembered the burnt taste of her breakfast. "I'll cook it, though."

Sesshoumaru nodded. [She really must not have approved of that fish from this morning… oh well.] Sesshoumaru sped into the forest while Jaken trotted away, both leaving Kyoko all alone.

Kyoko stretched, slightly fatigued from all of the movements Sesshoumaru had forced her through. She moved her hand over her abdomen, where she had received injury the previous night. The wound stung yet, it had not fully healed and all of her movement that day certainly was not helpful. She pulled back her kimono from her right shoulder, where she had also obtained injury. She peeled back the cloth strips to reveal that there was no sign of her ever having received an injury there. She took the cloth completely away from her shoulder and pulled her kimono back on. She held the small strips of cloth between her middle finger and her index finger. She concentrated her energy so that they began to glow neon blue. She waved her hand through the air a few times until she finally released the cloth, which then burst into flames.

Sesshoumaru stood at the edge of the forest, watching her in mild interest. He cleared his throat so as not to surprise her too much by his quick return. "Can you do that with anything?"

Kyoko shrugged. "I haven't really tried doing it that often. Most everything I can do, I've happened open by accident."

"Really?"

"Yep." Kyoko held her hand in the air, concentrating her energy once more to produce a violet light at the tip of her index finger. "I figured this out one time when I got mad at my brother. I didn't even do it on purpose…"

"But once you did, you learned to do it on purpose?"

"Yeah, but that's about all."

"What about when you change?"

"Huh?" Kyoko thought for a few moments, trying to remember what it was he was talking about. "You mean when my eyes turn red and all that?"

"Yes, how did you learn that?"

"I was attacked by an oni while I was sleeping about two years ago. I didn't realize what had happened until it was over, my blood was still raging when I saw my own reflection-a wild creature covered in blood. I was so appalled by what I appeared to be that I reverted to my normal state. When I did that yesterday, it was only the second time."

"I see." Sesshoumaru dropped the body of the beast he had killed for their meal that evening in front of Kyoko. "When Jaken returns, try setting the wood on fire the same way you just did to that cloth."

Kyoko nodded as she cleaned the animal, preparing it to be cooked. Just as she had finished, the small yokai returned with the firewood that he was sent to acquire. Kyoko set next to the pile of wood, concentrating all of her energy to the wood. Finally, one of the pieces began to glow, just as the cloth had, neon blue. Kyoko concentrated further to only that piece of wood, and eventually, a small flame burst forth from the wood. She smiled at her small achievement as she pushed the rest of the wood into a neater pile around it so that it would all burn through the night.

Sesshoumaru watched Kyoko's movements in attempt to sort his thoughts. [She seems so pleased at all times. It doesn't matter what she is doing, she smiles all the time, and whenever she accomplishes a task she herself has laid in front of herself. Despite all of the chaos there is in this world, she is still able to relax, smile, and even help others… All of these qualities seem to be so foolish, though. What is it about her that I find myself admiring so much? It certainly is not merely her looks… good looks in a female yokai is terribly common. It could not possibly be her foolish association with humans… What is it?! It is not her strength, she is strong, yes, but she knows not the peak of her abilities. She may even be stronger than I, but she has no knowledge of her own strength…]

"Sesshoumaru-sama, were you going to eat?" Kyoko inquired, offering a fair portion of meat to Sesshoumaru.

Sesshoumaru's thoughts suddenly broken, he nodded as he took the food. "Tomorrow you will learn to fight with that sword, then we shall move on from this place."

Kyoko looked back down to the sword on her belt. She smiled, thinking of the gift he had gotten for her. [He must have really gone out of his way to get this… On such a short amount of time, too. Its features are truly gorgeous and its blade is the sharpest I've ever seen. This blade has been made for the likes of a queen or empress, not someone such as myself. I am no one, really. Just an orphan raised by humans… But, what of Sesshoumaru? What is his background? Is he just another wanderer? No, he couldn't be… the way he dresses, the way he comports himself… he must be of noble background. Perhaps I should inquire…] Kyoko quickly finished her meal and stared deep into the small blaze in front of her. "Sesshoumaru, what kind of family do you have?"

Sesshoumaru glanced up at Kyoko, momentarily stupefied. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just wondering. I remember you said something about your father, but what kind of people were they?"

Sesshoumaru, generally unwilling to tell anyone anything about himself swallowed his pride and began to explain, "My father and mother were both of noble families. My mother, however, was the last of her clan as her family was rather prone to some type of internal disease. I never really knew what it was, just that if she got hurt, she wouldn't heal right, and that just happened to be her downfall. My father was the son of several generations of Lords of the Western Lands, which is my inherited title. He and my mother were engaged by choice of my grandfather, that to say, my father's father. They didn't love each other; their union was a result of circumstance. Her clan would not live on if she did not bear the child of another clan. My mother died during childbirth, I being the result. Mind you, I feel no regrets for the way I was introduced into this world. Shortly thereafter, my father fell in love with a human woman, thus producing Inu Yasha, my hanyou half-brother. I could feel none other than hatred for Inu Yasha's mother; she seemed to have seduced my father into forgetting that she was human. They never seemed to see anything wrong or different with their union, nor did they seem to see that their son, Inu Yasha, would never be accepted into either yokai or human societies. Some years after they had been together, father was attacked by a dragon that he had not the strength to beat. He sealed the creature and, with the last of his strength, came crawling back to that human woman to tell her that he was 'sorry for not being strong enough'. Those were my father's dying words, wasted on some human wench. She soon left our home with Inu Yasha to take residence in her former home, back in some human village. From that, there is not more to know."

"I see… It must be easier, knowing about your family… All I know of my own is that they did not live in this country. They had come from some other place called Chi-na."

Sesshoumaru nodded, not really caring about where Kyoko's parents had come from.

Kyoko pulled herself away from the fire and made a bed of the grass. She lay down and stared upwards into the stars, hoping for some type of relief, but not really knowing how it was to come. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be lost into slumber.

~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~

Kyoko jumped awake, sword drawn, when she felt the vibrations of footsteps approaching her. Before her eyes had even focused she was blocking strikes from Sesshoumaru's sword. Kyoko grinned as she quickly fought off each of his strikes. "No breakfast this morning?" Kyoko inquired sarcastically.

"Not until you have made me lose grip of my sword. Then we shall be done for the day."

"That may not take so long as you seem to think," Kyoko shot back still blocking and making attacks with her sword. "You know, you are really cocky first thing of a morning, Sesshoumaru."

"Are you really listening to your own self? You had not so much as properly handled a sword until yesterday and already you seem to think that you are ready to win against me…"

"I'm a fast learner." Kyoko leapt over Sesshoumaru to attempt to make him drop his guard as he turned around, but it was in vain.

"I just taught you that trick yesterday, you think that you can use it against me?"

Kyoko shook her head as she traded volleys of attacks with Sesshoumaru. This continued for several hours until Kyoko had finally found the point Sesshoumaru was weakest at. She feigned an attack to the right, then spun around and knocked the sword from his hand. "I win." She stretched as she handed Sesshoumaru his sword back. Her muscles seemed a little tired after the spectacular dance of attacks they had played out against Sesshoumaru. "So, now that we still have half of the day left, what have you planned for us, Sesshoumaru-sama?"

"We leave here. I shall find another place to be suitable to show you how to properly use all of your abilities."

Kyoko smiled in approval. [This is it… This is what I live for… This style of living, fighting, this is what I've been missing!]