Zanjutsu Training

Nikitio had just been accepted into the Shinigami academy. He had already made a few enemies here, a few over there, and some in the middle, just because he showed no fear. He made sure to keep his face void of all emotions at all times. There was only one reason for this: because if he didn't, he would fail. Not his classes, no no, he would fail himself. Showing fear would allow others to pick on him. It would be all the excuse someone needed to come up to him and start problems. It was such a human trait, and one Nikitio hated. Just because a bully died, didn't mean he stopped being a bully. Nikitio refused to be that kid who was new and scared and lost. He would find his own way around this place, and make a name for himself. That was his way that was his calling. He had to do it to not fail himself. He would not show weakness.

Nikitio had Zanjutsu training at this time. He really didn’t want to do it. He would rather not use his blade. He enjoyed the feel of his skin on another. Flesh hitting flesh. It was something he always loved to do. Even in the Rukongai he fought. There it was different though. There he fought for food, for money, for life. There he did not fight to save others. He did it so that he could see the sun rise the next day. That is how he wanted it to be at all times. He wanted to train in Hakuda first. That is not his luck though, he trained in Zanjutsu first. He tried to find the positive here though. That he would be able to get this horrid task out of the way and done with first, which would leave more room for Hakuda later. Besides, he could always practice in his free time. He was sure not everyone would hate him, so he was bound to find a sparring partner at some point or another.

He was dressed in standard academy uniform: blue shitagi, a white kosode with blue stripes, blue hakama, white socks and sandals. He didn’t really like the uniform as he didn’t like bright colors. He couldn’t wait to graduate and wear darker colors. It was more his style. Nonetheless, he would deal with this as it was what was required of him as a Shinigami in training. He arrived at the field where he would be taught the skills of Zanjutsu. He looked around for the instructor, but nobody was there. He sighed and gave up looking around. He sat down in the middle of the field and waited…and waited….and waited. Finally he threw his hands up in the air and stood. Just as he did a Shinigami appeared behind him, his hands were bound, and there was a blade at his throat. A soft voice trickled into his ear. He froze, but refused to give into fear despite the feeling creeping up his spine. The voice was soft, elegant, and yet extremely deadly. “Do not let your guard down. Never give up. And above all else, never settle for anything less than dead…” She released Nikki, and gave him a hard shove forward.

Nikitio stumbled forward and turned to glare at her. She was about two inches shorter than him, long red hair, gentle playing dark eyes, and ivory skin. She placed his blade on the ground and walked to a near by bush to retrieve two wooden swords. She threw one at Nikitio and he barely caught it. She was not going to be easy, that was certain. “Lesson number one! Always respect your instructor!” She shouted “What is your name?” She asked him softly. Despite the soft voice, and playful undertone, Nikitio knew better than to keep this woman waiting. “My name is Nikitio Uril.” He answered with a barely even tone. It was shaky, and filled with fear. He wanted to kill himself for that. She grinned, and walked forward to him with her sword extended. “Defend yourself…” She said softly. That was the end of the pleasant conversation. This was Nikitio’s first step down the path of a Shinigami. This was his first step, and he would not faulter…or so he thought.

The woman with red hair was quick. She effortlessly managed to get to Nikitio and was below him. Her face was level with his waist, and her sword hit him hard behind his knees. His locked knees immediately bent, and he was off balance now. She smacked him with the flat side of her blade on his kneecap, and quickly flipped over Nikitio. His legs burned already from the quick hits. Before he could react she was behind him, blade at his throat again, and arms bound. ”Ignore all pain.” She said quietly, seductively, and with a heavy feeling of pleasure. It gave him the feeling that she was a sadist. “It’s a distraction that will get you killed. Just because we are training doesn’t mean I won’t kill you. Shinigami need to be strong. They need to be fast. They need to resist all pains. Ignore it, Nikitio.” As she said these last few words she quickly drew the flat side of the blade across his chest. He let out a small scream of pain as he felt the wood scrape against his skin. She was clearly skilled with this as she managed to have minimal damage done to his shirt, but a lot of torn skin to his chest. He didn’t have to look to know there would be a long red mark there, possibly even a bruise. He wanted to kill her.

He swung back with his own blade, but she blocked it and kicked him in the stomach. He was sent flying onto his chest. More pain raced through his body. It was sent straight to his head and legs, but focused on his chest. It radiated from the torn skin. He heard her coming and quickly rolled over, face twisted in pain, and raised his sword. She brought hers down quickly, and met his block. She pushed on him hard, and he tried to push back. There was so much pain on his chest, and the strain put on his arms didn’t help at all. “What should you do?” She asked him. “What happens when you find yourself on the receiving end of bad leverage?” She asked in that damned seductive voice. Nikitio tried to shake his head. “Ugh. They are letting them into the Academy, younger and younger. Idiot students…” She sighed, and glared at him. “My legs, you twit. Zanjutsu is swordplay, but that doesn’t mean that you are restricted to only your swords. Save that restriction bullcrap for Hakuda training.” She barked and Nikitio did as he was told. He swept her legs out from under her and she fell over sideways, and Nikitio rolled over quickly to get up. She once more proved her speed by getting up long before he did.

She took a swing at his back and it connected sending Nikitio back down. He tried to get back up but each time she struck him on his back again. “Smarten up boy! Roll over and block!” She shouted and he did, and he knew where to block too. She wasn’t going to damage his manhood, she was going to hit his largest wound. Nikitio held his sword with the flat side up and she hit it multiple times. Nikitio looked at the blade as it rose and fell. Each time was harder than the last. As she raised the blade he leaned forward, swung the blade, and she couldn’t defend in time. The sword made contact with her side, and she winced for a half second. That was all Nikitio needed to get up and push himself backwards in a jump and land on his feet. She grinned at him. “Good. You’re learning. You still have a long way to go though.” She charged him and fainted left, but she struck on his right. Naturally, Nikitio went to block left. He felt the wooden sword hit him hard on his right side. She placed the blade on his side and spun to the left, this time cutting some of the fabric of his outfit. This also did a lot of damage to his skin, even causing some bleeding, but not a lot. This new battle wound connected with his first. The wounds both radiated with extreme pain.

The woman stood before Nikitio and shook her head. “You’re done kid…come back here and train with some dummies next time for a while. I’ll be supervising your of course, but you are nowhere near ready for a real fight.” She turned his back on him and walked away. Nikitio’s grip on the sword was tight enough to cause his fingertips to turn white. “Damn you!!!” He shouted and charged her. He swung his sword up , but he made the mistake of speaking. She turned around and held her blade down. The swords clacked together, and she took a hand off her hilt to backhand Nikitio. Nikitio was sent away a few feet, and he struggled to get up. She kicked up over, her sandal nailing Nikitio on connecting point of his wounds, and Nikitio groaned loudly. She stepped on his chest, once more pressing on both wounds, and placed the tip of her sword at her throat. “Do not tempt me Nikitio Uril…” Her voice was low and hushed. It was dangerously cold as well. She was not playing. Without another word she walked away, leaving Nikitio there to rot for all she cared. Nikitio laid there for a moment before struggling to rise.

Nikitio struggled back to his dorm and fell on his bed. He was sore all over his upper body. He knew this would not be an easy point in his afterlife. He was going to have to train night and day with swordplay. Hopefully not all of his instructors were extremely hard on him like she was. Otherwise he would die on day one. Hell, he might die on the job. His kido class was next. According to his studies, kido would be useful but only if used sparingly. Otherwise he could exhaust himself out before the real fight began. He would have to keep this in mind. Maybe next time he could even use a bit of it in his Zanjutsu class. Yeah, that would teach that woman. For the first time since his class started, he realized he didn’t even know her name. He sighed and sat up, and began to walk to the Kido training grounds.

:: EXIT ::

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The sun broke through the windows of Nikitio’s dorm. The sun fell over his eyes, and he rolled over not wanting to get up. His mind screamed at him though. It commanded him to get up. Less, Claudia kill him in his sleep. That bloody thought alone was enough for him. He got up, got dressed, and walked out. He never liked breakfast, it was a waste of time for him, so he never ate it. Rather he decided that he would just eat lunch when lunch came around and call it a day. Then Dinner, and maybe a few snacks in between. But never ever breakfast. He hurried to the Zanjutsu training grounds and there Claudia stood in all her evil perfection. She grinned at Nikitio as he entered. She pointed to the dummies without another word to him. He knew what she wanted him to do. She lifted up a stick and threw it at Nikitio. He caught it and glared at her. All she did was laughed and shrug. One day he would best her, and he would be the one laughing. One day, she better be on guard.

He walked to the dummy and began with a few simple overhead strikes to it’s shoulder. He then moved to slashes to it’s neck. Then he moved to stabs to his stomach. Claudia laughed all the while. She would make comments like ”You call that a swing!” and ”What the hell was that?!” It annoyed Nikitio and made him swing faster. It forced him to stab harder. It made him slash faster. He used up a lot of energy. His muscles were tense and his jaw tight. He was hacking the dummy to pieces. He wanted it dead. That damned doll was the bane of his existence. It mocked him as much as Claudia did. It’s damned blank face. It’s limb body. It’s EXISTENCE. It taunted him. It teased him. He would not be subject to it’s torment forever. Nor would he tolerate this from Claudia. Her laughter rang in his ear like chimes in the wind, but with an underlay of acid. Her shoulders that moved up and down as he hit the dummy over and over, poked at him. The smile on her face was cold, teasing, venomous. He hated her.

After about an hour of the mockery she stopped him. ”Kid, you got guts. That’s good, I like that. You don’t got no skill though. And I don’t like that. Oh boy, hopefully when I am done with you, you can give at least a half decent stab. Until then, that dummy is going to continue to kick your ass all the way back to the World of the Living.” She smiled and laughed at him again. Nikitio had had enough. Forget about later. Forget about getting better. He would attack, and win, now. Turning quickly he pushed off his left foot and let out a battle cry. He held his stick in his right hand and across his chest. He swung it out to strike Claudia in the right side. She was ready though. She held out a wooden sword to the right, effortlessly blocking the attack. He brought his knee up, and she stopped it with her hand. She then brought her sword up and struck him on the hand that held the weapon. Nikitio swore and dropped the stick. She swung at his neck, and he ducked and picked up the stick. She clearly didn’t expect him to react so quickly, and so he took advantage of that moment to strike her on the side. Claudia winced and brought the wooden sword on his shoulder. She jumped over him, kicked him down, and stuck the tip of her sword into his neck. ”Dead. Not bad though. Still a tad slow, and your movements are too choppy. You need to be rhythmic if you want to have any hope of survival. Choppy movements make attacks obvious and are subject to a block or counter. Remember, it’s not about power, it’s about speed. Ten rapid small attacks can do just as much, if not more, damage than two or three powerful ones.”

Nikitio wasn’t sure but he thought he heard a compliment in there. It was hard to tell because her voice was choked with that same taunting tone of voice. She got off of him and when he tried to stand she pushed him back down. ”You need more muscular endurance. Do fifty push-ups, now.” Nikitio grunted and tried to get up. She brought the sword down on his back and he fell back down. ”Fine fine, I’ll do the stupid push-ups.” He grumbled and got into a push-up position. He began to steadily fall and then rise. He began to fall again, and then rise again. He did this slowly to pace himself. He didn’t want to tire out before he hit fifty. He began to feel his muscles get tense, and sore after he reached about thirty. He began to get slower and slower, and his body began to shake. He wondered how many more he could do before he collapsed. The only thing he had to look forward to was his Kido class. There he could at least do something soothing, and calming without worrying about who was trying to kill him or anything. Derrick did bind his arms though so maybe he could. Nonetheless, he had reached forty-five and was barely rising at this point. His body didn’t want to get up. It wanted to stay on the ground. He didn’t listen though, and so he raised up again. His shoulders and arms were shaking, and his heart pumping hard. His lungs felt like they were on fire.

Finally though he hit fifty and he collapsed. He was panting heavily and Claudia sighed. ”Oh yeah. We will definitely have to work on your muscular endurance. The longer you can use your muscles, the longer you can fight. I’m sure your Hakuda instructor will help you our with Endurance too. Maybe your Hoho instructor will help you with it too. Expect to do this here everyday. When you can do fifty effortlessly, I am going to increase it by ten. Then ten more, and then ten more until you can do one hundred in your effing sleep. So you better get some practice in outside of class. Now get to your next class.” She vanished in a shunpo.


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As Nikki arrived in the room the field that served as the Zanjutsu training area he was surprised that nobody was here. Claudia was usually here to greet him someway. He looked around for her, but she was not to be found. He stopped to listen, but it felt different again. Like back in his room he thought he felt something like a ripple or a pulse of some sort. It was gone before he could explore it though. It felt so weird, and so unusual. It also felt familiar at the same time. Like it was someone he knew. But oh well, that was in the past. He looked around again after he stopped listening to search for Claudia.

When he didn’t find her he sighed and shrugged. She must have been busy with something. He doubted she would ever miss a chance to insult Nikitio for any reason. He saw a rack of wooden swords and some dummies. Well he might as well practice for a while until the psycho showed her face. He walked to the rack and picked up a sword. He tried a few of them before he found one that had a hilt that fit him. Before he tried to test this one out, he noticed something was off. One of the swords was missing. Claudia had already been here, but where was she now? He twirled the sword around a few times before he was satisfied with it enough to turn around. Now he had to find Claudia. She had to be around here somewhere.

He turned around and scanned the area once more. Nothing was there though. He took a few steps forward and looked around again, but still nothing happened. He closed his eyes to listen again, and again it felt off. He was listening, and he heard the various sounds around him. Again he felt a ripple. He felt something that was familiar. Almost like a voice, but without words. It was a person without a face. There was a song with no sound. The source was behind him. Upon turning his mind registered, faster than he thought it was going to, another wooden sword coming down upon him.

His body reacted before he had a chance to. He raised his sword hand and blocked the downwards slash. He couldn’t see the face but by the power of the swing, and the rose painted nails, he had a guess. A foot lodged itself in his stomach and he was forced back, but still on his feet. He looked up at the attacker, and indeed it was Claudia. She stood there for a second before charging at Nikitio. Swiping her sword at his left, he jumped back to avoid the blow. Once he landed he pushed forward and swiped down at her collarbone. Claudia rolled to her right, but Nikitio couldn’t stop. He fell forward, and she smacked his back with the flat side of her sword.

Nikitio hit the ground and rolled over quickly. At this point he learned that once you’re down, people will hit you right away. It was best to get the hell out of there while you could. Indeed, Claudia had struck down and missed. As soon as Nikitio heard the sword hit the ground he stopped rolling and swung his leg out at Claudia to kick her legs out from under her. She jumped though avoiding the legs as if it were jump rope. Nikki scrambled to his feet and looked at her as she brought her sword down tip first upon Nikitio. She was aiming for a rather sensitive area, and so Nikki did the first thing his body thought of. He slid down to change her target to his chest and raise his blade . When the swords clashed, he tilted his sword harmlessly to the side to cause her to fall off-balance.

Nikitio got up and stuck at Claudia’s neck. She rolled over and swung her sword out at Nikitio’s ankles. He saw it just in time and jumped forward to hit her legs. The hit connected and he saw her wince. He had hit it hard enough that there would be a red mark, and some pain there that could effect her walking. She got up and didn’t seem to be hindered. She moved just as fluidly and with expert skill as she did before. She used shunpo to appear behind Nikitio and slash at his back. The attack was a bit more forceful than meant to be and grazed his skin. He bled a bit and bit his lip to hold back the scream. The ferocity with which he bit his lip was enough to draw a bit of blood from there. He turned around and Claudia went for a stab. Nikitio side stepped and struck at her arm, and from there, he struck her elbow. He winced and loosed her grip on the sword. He struck at her wrist next causing her to drop the sword entirely. Claudia quickly touched her foot to the blade before Nikki could kick it away. Her foot touched the blade, Nikitio’s sword touched her neck. ”Dead.”

Claudia looked up at Nikki and stood slowly. Nikitio removed the blade and Claudia decked him. Nikitio flew back and landed heard. ”Never NEVER do that again. You never let down your guard just because you think your enemy is dead. Never assume death until all options are unthinkable. Remove the head or obliterate the heart. I don’t care how you do it. Never NEVER think that your opponent is dead unless you are positive without a doubt.” She cracked her knuckles and her neck. Claudia picked up both the training swords and returned them to the slot where they belonged. ”I saw you noticed the missing sword. No matter what you are doing, or where you go, there will be dangers. You must notice the slightest change in your environment. You must be aware of the slightest change in your opponent. Whether that change be physical or mental, you must notice it. If you can see the changes, you can work around them. Your body is learning, even if you feel your mind isn’t. The way you reacted and moved shows that. Listen to your body. When you fight, let your body do the heavy lifting. Your mind must be sharp to pick up whatever slack your body gives.”

Claudia walked over to him gave him a pat on the shoulder. ”Good job holding that scream in. Never alert your opponent to your pain. When you fight, be an illusion. Seem invisible, even if it’s far from the truth. Allow yourself to fool your enemy. If you can drain his morale, then they will get weak. Their reiatsu lowers and their power weakens as well. Never forget that. The key to defeating your opponent will not always lay in who is stronger.” Claudian left after that.

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