Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Enter Ceridwen ❯ Week One Training ( Chapter 7 )

Hiei took off his cloak and handed Ceridwen a sword. "I saw that you had at least three swords on you yesterday so I would like to see how fast your reflexes are."

Ceridwen took the sword and said, "Alright and for the record I have four. One was in my bag." Hiei nodded and took his own sword. His was in his left hand she noted and he wore a thick glove on his right. For their opening stance she had to compensate for the hand he was using and switch sides when the crossed before beginning.

He maneuvered fast. She had to tap into her energy fully to keep up with his blows. She had so far blocked them all but never got a chance to attack. As she changed her speed up another notch she realized she had skipped a beat. Ducking at the last second his sword zoomed over her head. She kicked up, aiming for his left hand but he blocked her attack by kicking in her chest. She flew ten feet away and flipped. She quickly was balanced and on her feet again, breathing heavily.

She studied his pose as he came at her again. If she feigned to her left and went right she would be able to get in a blow. He seemed to be favoring his right arm and if he felt it was threatened might try to go on the offensive when he should go on the defense. It would be a risky move but she had to try.

He saw her going to his right and switched his mode to attack her there but the next thing she was on his left. Halfway through the defensive change she struck. Hiei was spun counter clockwise in a circle and almost lost his sword. He regained balance and charged her. At the same time she charged him. They both aimed for the throat and stopped an inch away. "Stalemate," he declared.

They dropped their arms and stared at each other. "You have very good skills but you need to work on keeping the beat as you increase your speed."

"I noticed that. I should also work on trying to switch to offensive faster and not be kept on complete defense. May I make a suggestion to you?"

Hiei was shocked. Nobody had ever even dared to ask if they could suggest something he should change about his tactics. But then again, she wasn't ordinary nor did she seemed intimidated by him. "You may."

She smiled. "I noticed that you were favoring your right side a little and that you fell for my feign. You did catch it in time but I think you should have seen me change my footing halfway towards you. I think that you should perhaps stick to defense instead of offense when you are trying to protect a certain piece of yourself. That way if the person does feign you don't have to switch and might have won."

Hiei stared at her. She had noticed that he was favoring his right arm? Would she think him an inadequate trainer if she knew? She smiled at him and said, "I think it was really nice of you to go the whole fight as if you had something valuable to protect in your right hand or at your right hip. That was very clever way to show me how to attack someone in that position and how to show me how to attack in that position."

Hiei nodded. Now they were even. She would remain silent at his crippled hand and he would remain silent about her partner and revenge plot. They had reached a silent understanding.

The next week was the same. They would fight and Hiei would tell her what to improve on. Each day she mastered something to his liking and by the end of the week he said, "Now we start over but this time no holding back. We start day after tomorrow." Ceridwen nodded and took a drink from her water bottle. She was accustomed to bringing three each session. She wiped the sweat off her face with the towel she brought now too. In her room she meditated with new techniques the others had taught her.

Tomorrow she would get a full twenty-four hours rest. She would use that time to go to market and buy gifts for each of the guys. This was the only way she could think of to thank them. Kuwabara had finally stopped insulting her and accepted she was stronger than him and could beat him easily. She would get him something because of that. However he had been having strange dreams again. They were starting to unnerve him. Yuske was also getting very stressed.

The only people seemingly fine were Hiei and Kurama. Ceridwen was actually showing strain but kept it hidden unless she was in her room. Her vigorous training with Hiei made her body scream with pain and tiredness. She needed the rest coming up. She snuggled underneath her bag and fell into a dead sleep.