Yamatai
Tsubomi Orphanage
Standing just at five feet no inches, wearing the traditional garb of the samurai, and standing at the ready, Rei put her hand on her katana. Her palm rested against the hilt of the aptly named Sashimasu, before lifting it to knock on the door to the orphanage she was patronizing tonight. What she was to get was beyond what she had ever dreamed she would be getting before she had been instructed to find the boy that had broken down every opponent he had faced. It wasn't easy getting footage from the streets of Tsubomi, but the heads of the fighting school had somehow done it after hearing about the street fight turned one man -one boy, rather- show. What they saw made them all aware that they needed this boy's presence at their school, deeply.
Rei was of the mind that children with extraordinary potential be given every chance they could get, but only the chances that they took were the ones that mattered. That was why she was hesitant to give her full backing behind a boy she hadn't yet met.
An old Minkan women came an answered the knock at the door, white hair falling across her face. "Oh... Hello miss. Can I help you?" She asked politely, as she glanced to the swords that Rei was carrying.
The samurai replied quickly, noticing the flash of the Minkan woman's eyes on her blades, "See these?" Not knowing if the woman would be able to differentiate between different types of swords, but taking a wild guess that she couldn't, Rei said, "do you happen know anybody else with these?"
The woman sighed. "Yes, one of our boys does. Well did... We confiscated them after the last fight he got himself into. Is he in some sort of trouble?" The lady asked.
"I'll be needing those," Rei replied tersely. She put a hand forward and opened it towards the woman.
The minkian stammered something at first then sighed. "Of course. Maybe he will stop asking for them now..." She replied, turning around and showing the way to the caregivers room. Children ran and played, though when they saw Rei they stopped and stared. But once she was out of sight they returned to playing.
As they rounded a corner the caregiver stopped and opened a door. As Rei peered inside she saw the caregivers bedroom. The old woman shuffled in and opened her closet to reveal two well kept kendo swords, both painted black with blue cloth wrapped around the hilts. "Here." She said handing the swords to Rei, handling them like one would handle a piece of trash. "I am glad to be rid of the things. We teach our children that violence is never the answer..."
Rei took the swords gently into her hands, holding them parallel to the floor at first before bringing them to her side.
Rei nodded in acknowledgment of having received them from her and then said crisply, like the sound of wind against leaves at the first sign of fall, "Where is he?"
The woman looked over at Rei. "He normally playing with sticks under the tall tree in the garden."
"Thank you, then," Rei said, taking her leave of the caretaker quickly, her ponytail whipping out behind her as she did. She found herself in the garden, looking amongst the children playing before finding one more solitary than the rest, but much more important to Rei than any of the others. He was obviously doing anything but playing. What he was doing was training, the signs were clear.
The tall Nepleslian child let out a soft, shallow breath as he drew his 'sword' then began to practice his normal routine. His clothes were all dingy and looked like hand me downs that didn't quite fit right. He didn't care though as he continued to practice. He tuned out the world, only him and his dummy, the tree. After awhile he stopped and looked around, noticing the new comer. His head tilted to one side as he studied her.
Rei stood as silent and still as she had trained to be until she took a step forward and when she did, William seemed to notice her. She put her hand back on Sashimasu's hilt and took more steps through the play yard until she had reached the Nepleslian boy that had been practicing on the tree.
"Do that too much and you'll be naming your swords something like, 'Treebreakers.'" Rei added as she handed the kendo swords to their owner, "You wouldn't want that."
The boy looked from Rei to his swords and back before quickly, but carefully accepting them. His eyes studied her then saw her swords. As he spoke his words were almost carried away on the wind. "Those are katanas..." He said as he placed his own swords into the makeshift place on his belt.
"This one is," Rei said, holding her hand still on Sashimasu's hilt, then moved over to hold Korosu, saying, "but this one is a wakizashi short sword. Its name means slay. It does so quite efficiently. Would you like to slay?"
He looked at her quizzically.
She bent down a bit, but only a bit, to look more closely at the swords he held and asked, "Do you know what that means, to slay?"
He answered very softly. "To take the life of another..." He replied.
Looking up at the boy, the little Neko woman said, "My question still stands. Would you slay?"
He considered the question again then answered. "Only for the right reasons, but yes..."
Her face, stoic as always, glimmered only in the eyes as she heard his reaction. She thought that enough of a reaction for the boy, but before she turned away from him, said, "Hajime!"
William's swords were out in a flash, immediately taking up a fighting stance. However both swords were drawn. He was using the Twin Dragon form. He didn't say a word as he studied Rei, waiting to see her next move.
Standing with her back towards him, she swept her right foot outwards and took up a horse stance, knees bent at ninety degree angles while pushed back, on the same plane as the rest of her body, before lifting up her arm and pushing a powerful backfist close to William's face. she moved just as quickly away from him and then was out of his range.
William quickly brought up a sword to defend himself while also lowering his stance further. His off handed sword reached out to strike at the retreating arm with a quick jab.
"Oh~" Rei said out ecstatically when William's sword nearly made contact with her arm before she had hopped away from it. The woman took up horse stance again after turning towards him in one quick motion and put an arm behind her back as she bounced from one foot to the other. "Again."
He lowered himself, readying for her next attack. He flipped the swords in his hands to where the blade was held against his forearm to give himself more control.
Rei lifted her feet up synchronistically and brought them both high enough to lightly tap against the boy's stomach before she lifted her arms, put them behind her head as her body moved away from the boy's with the force of impact. She touched her palms to the ground and spring rocketed off of them, landing on her feet.
He drew both swords up and crossed them over each other where she planned to strike him. Her feet came at him and landed upon his swords. As she pushed away, he threw his own weight against hers and moved for a follow up attack as she flew from him. Rei held both hands in front of her, prepared to block the boy's incoming attack after having been bounced off of his swords.
His swords stopped mere inches from her hands. He withdrew and bowed deeply. "Thank you Ma'am for training with me..." He said politely.
"Arigatou gozaimasu," Rei said, thanking him in turn, as she put her hands at her sides and pushed her torso forward in a bow. Then, she said, "You will train with me at a fighting school. Ike!"
The boy looked at her. "I get to leave with you?" He asked in disbelief.
"Nani?" Rei asked, "You want to stay here?"
He shook his head fervently. "No... no Sensei." He said bowing again. "You won't regret this..." He added quietly.
"Ike!" Rei repeated to the boy, "Let's get your things. You don't have to be here if you don't want to, anymore. You'll like it much better where we're going. Much better," she added emphatically, but with the quick tongue she had retained throughout her visit to the orphanage.
He shook his head. "I... I don't have anything Sensei..." He said looking down at her. "This is it..."
"You will get much more at the school. For now, tell me, where did you learn?"
"I am self taught. I have read books on kendo and watched the local kendo team practice. I also watched videos on the Twin Dragon style." He replied.
"I cannot say the same. You have something a lot of us do not have in being self taught. Good for you," Rei said as she waved farewell to the caregiver, who was raising her arms at the pair. Rei continued to wave as she spoke out to the woman, "I will take William, now."
"Are you adopting him?" the caregiver asked, a look of shock betrayed on her face.
"He is mine, now, goodbye!" Rei said quickly with a final wave of her hand before turning her head and exiting the doorway.
William looked down at her shocked. "You...you adopted me...?" He said stopping in place.
"Are?" she said in Yamatigo surprise. "And? You thought you wouldn't? With skills like the ones you have? How?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "The caregiver said that I was a troublemaker, and that 'moms and dads don't want trouble makers as children.'" He said repeating the word he heard over an over when he was passed up for adoption.
"Really? Well that won't do. Their version of trouble maker is really the person protecting them, over their heads!" She pointed to the sky, saying, "There are Neko up there stopping all kinds of trouble from landing on their beds because they were like you and wanted to play with swords and hit people. And look at baba like your caregiver. They're safe because of those "troublemakers.'"
William looked at Rei. "Sensei, you never told me your name..." He said
"Rei, of the esteemed Ketsurui Clan," she said with a light bow.
"Rei Sama...?" He asked
"Hai!" Rei said, walking them across a bridge and closer to the school. "And yours is William, unless we are wrong?"
He shook his head. "That right... Well that is what my pendent says." He said pulling a small silver chain from his neck and handing to her. His name was inscribed across the back of it. "Rei Sama?" He tried to ask again.
"Hai?" she said, this time with a questioning lilt to the word 'yes'.
"Well..." He fidgeted softly as he looked at her. "Since you adopted me...can... can I call you...Mom?" He asked softly.
"Eto," Rei said as she stopped to turn to her. "Eto," she said again, stalling, before wondering if she would like that or not. Before she could decide, she chose to say, "Only in private. Otherwise, I am your sensei."
William moved and threw his arms around her. "Thank you Mom." He said softly as he hugged her. Rei opened her arms wide for him to bend over to hug her small frame and felt the air exit her lungs as he held her momentarily.
She lifted up her hand and put it on the crown of his head and patted it before saying, "For you, always."
Tsubomi Orphanage
Standing just at five feet no inches, wearing the traditional garb of the samurai, and standing at the ready, Rei put her hand on her katana. Her palm rested against the hilt of the aptly named Sashimasu, before lifting it to knock on the door to the orphanage she was patronizing tonight. What she was to get was beyond what she had ever dreamed she would be getting before she had been instructed to find the boy that had broken down every opponent he had faced. It wasn't easy getting footage from the streets of Tsubomi, but the heads of the fighting school had somehow done it after hearing about the street fight turned one man -one boy, rather- show. What they saw made them all aware that they needed this boy's presence at their school, deeply.
Rei was of the mind that children with extraordinary potential be given every chance they could get, but only the chances that they took were the ones that mattered. That was why she was hesitant to give her full backing behind a boy she hadn't yet met.
An old Minkan women came an answered the knock at the door, white hair falling across her face. "Oh... Hello miss. Can I help you?" She asked politely, as she glanced to the swords that Rei was carrying.
The samurai replied quickly, noticing the flash of the Minkan woman's eyes on her blades, "See these?" Not knowing if the woman would be able to differentiate between different types of swords, but taking a wild guess that she couldn't, Rei said, "do you happen know anybody else with these?"
The woman sighed. "Yes, one of our boys does. Well did... We confiscated them after the last fight he got himself into. Is he in some sort of trouble?" The lady asked.
"I'll be needing those," Rei replied tersely. She put a hand forward and opened it towards the woman.
The minkian stammered something at first then sighed. "Of course. Maybe he will stop asking for them now..." She replied, turning around and showing the way to the caregivers room. Children ran and played, though when they saw Rei they stopped and stared. But once she was out of sight they returned to playing.
As they rounded a corner the caregiver stopped and opened a door. As Rei peered inside she saw the caregivers bedroom. The old woman shuffled in and opened her closet to reveal two well kept kendo swords, both painted black with blue cloth wrapped around the hilts. "Here." She said handing the swords to Rei, handling them like one would handle a piece of trash. "I am glad to be rid of the things. We teach our children that violence is never the answer..."
Rei took the swords gently into her hands, holding them parallel to the floor at first before bringing them to her side.
Rei nodded in acknowledgment of having received them from her and then said crisply, like the sound of wind against leaves at the first sign of fall, "Where is he?"
The woman looked over at Rei. "He normally playing with sticks under the tall tree in the garden."
"Thank you, then," Rei said, taking her leave of the caretaker quickly, her ponytail whipping out behind her as she did. She found herself in the garden, looking amongst the children playing before finding one more solitary than the rest, but much more important to Rei than any of the others. He was obviously doing anything but playing. What he was doing was training, the signs were clear.
The tall Nepleslian child let out a soft, shallow breath as he drew his 'sword' then began to practice his normal routine. His clothes were all dingy and looked like hand me downs that didn't quite fit right. He didn't care though as he continued to practice. He tuned out the world, only him and his dummy, the tree. After awhile he stopped and looked around, noticing the new comer. His head tilted to one side as he studied her.
Rei stood as silent and still as she had trained to be until she took a step forward and when she did, William seemed to notice her. She put her hand back on Sashimasu's hilt and took more steps through the play yard until she had reached the Nepleslian boy that had been practicing on the tree.
"Do that too much and you'll be naming your swords something like, 'Treebreakers.'" Rei added as she handed the kendo swords to their owner, "You wouldn't want that."
The boy looked from Rei to his swords and back before quickly, but carefully accepting them. His eyes studied her then saw her swords. As he spoke his words were almost carried away on the wind. "Those are katanas..." He said as he placed his own swords into the makeshift place on his belt.
"This one is," Rei said, holding her hand still on Sashimasu's hilt, then moved over to hold Korosu, saying, "but this one is a wakizashi short sword. Its name means slay. It does so quite efficiently. Would you like to slay?"
He looked at her quizzically.
She bent down a bit, but only a bit, to look more closely at the swords he held and asked, "Do you know what that means, to slay?"
He answered very softly. "To take the life of another..." He replied.
Looking up at the boy, the little Neko woman said, "My question still stands. Would you slay?"
He considered the question again then answered. "Only for the right reasons, but yes..."
Her face, stoic as always, glimmered only in the eyes as she heard his reaction. She thought that enough of a reaction for the boy, but before she turned away from him, said, "Hajime!"
William's swords were out in a flash, immediately taking up a fighting stance. However both swords were drawn. He was using the Twin Dragon form. He didn't say a word as he studied Rei, waiting to see her next move.
Standing with her back towards him, she swept her right foot outwards and took up a horse stance, knees bent at ninety degree angles while pushed back, on the same plane as the rest of her body, before lifting up her arm and pushing a powerful backfist close to William's face. she moved just as quickly away from him and then was out of his range.
William quickly brought up a sword to defend himself while also lowering his stance further. His off handed sword reached out to strike at the retreating arm with a quick jab.
"Oh~" Rei said out ecstatically when William's sword nearly made contact with her arm before she had hopped away from it. The woman took up horse stance again after turning towards him in one quick motion and put an arm behind her back as she bounced from one foot to the other. "Again."
He lowered himself, readying for her next attack. He flipped the swords in his hands to where the blade was held against his forearm to give himself more control.
Rei lifted her feet up synchronistically and brought them both high enough to lightly tap against the boy's stomach before she lifted her arms, put them behind her head as her body moved away from the boy's with the force of impact. She touched her palms to the ground and spring rocketed off of them, landing on her feet.
He drew both swords up and crossed them over each other where she planned to strike him. Her feet came at him and landed upon his swords. As she pushed away, he threw his own weight against hers and moved for a follow up attack as she flew from him. Rei held both hands in front of her, prepared to block the boy's incoming attack after having been bounced off of his swords.
His swords stopped mere inches from her hands. He withdrew and bowed deeply. "Thank you Ma'am for training with me..." He said politely.
"Arigatou gozaimasu," Rei said, thanking him in turn, as she put her hands at her sides and pushed her torso forward in a bow. Then, she said, "You will train with me at a fighting school. Ike!"
The boy looked at her. "I get to leave with you?" He asked in disbelief.
"Nani?" Rei asked, "You want to stay here?"
He shook his head fervently. "No... no Sensei." He said bowing again. "You won't regret this..." He added quietly.
"Ike!" Rei repeated to the boy, "Let's get your things. You don't have to be here if you don't want to, anymore. You'll like it much better where we're going. Much better," she added emphatically, but with the quick tongue she had retained throughout her visit to the orphanage.
He shook his head. "I... I don't have anything Sensei..." He said looking down at her. "This is it..."
"You will get much more at the school. For now, tell me, where did you learn?"
"I am self taught. I have read books on kendo and watched the local kendo team practice. I also watched videos on the Twin Dragon style." He replied.
"I cannot say the same. You have something a lot of us do not have in being self taught. Good for you," Rei said as she waved farewell to the caregiver, who was raising her arms at the pair. Rei continued to wave as she spoke out to the woman, "I will take William, now."
"Are you adopting him?" the caregiver asked, a look of shock betrayed on her face.
"He is mine, now, goodbye!" Rei said quickly with a final wave of her hand before turning her head and exiting the doorway.
William looked down at her shocked. "You...you adopted me...?" He said stopping in place.
"Are?" she said in Yamatigo surprise. "And? You thought you wouldn't? With skills like the ones you have? How?"
He shifted uncomfortably. "The caregiver said that I was a troublemaker, and that 'moms and dads don't want trouble makers as children.'" He said repeating the word he heard over an over when he was passed up for adoption.
"Really? Well that won't do. Their version of trouble maker is really the person protecting them, over their heads!" She pointed to the sky, saying, "There are Neko up there stopping all kinds of trouble from landing on their beds because they were like you and wanted to play with swords and hit people. And look at baba like your caregiver. They're safe because of those "troublemakers.'"
William looked at Rei. "Sensei, you never told me your name..." He said
"Rei, of the esteemed Ketsurui Clan," she said with a light bow.
"Rei Sama...?" He asked
"Hai!" Rei said, walking them across a bridge and closer to the school. "And yours is William, unless we are wrong?"
He shook his head. "That right... Well that is what my pendent says." He said pulling a small silver chain from his neck and handing to her. His name was inscribed across the back of it. "Rei Sama?" He tried to ask again.
"Hai?" she said, this time with a questioning lilt to the word 'yes'.
"Well..." He fidgeted softly as he looked at her. "Since you adopted me...can... can I call you...Mom?" He asked softly.
"Eto," Rei said as she stopped to turn to her. "Eto," she said again, stalling, before wondering if she would like that or not. Before she could decide, she chose to say, "Only in private. Otherwise, I am your sensei."
William moved and threw his arms around her. "Thank you Mom." He said softly as he hugged her. Rei opened her arms wide for him to bend over to hug her small frame and felt the air exit her lungs as he held her momentarily.
She lifted up her hand and put it on the crown of his head and patted it before saying, "For you, always."