"Mother, I'm going out to train," I said, sporting a bright smile as I opened the front door, katana by my side and my hitai-ate along my waist, hidden away by the large dress I wore. She looked at me with a slightly confused face, a tiny amount of rice falling out of her mouth as she asked me why I was going and where, all while she was chewing her meal. I sighed and waved goodbye to her, exiting into the cold night, feeling air brush across my face. She knew exactly where I planned to go, a small clearing outside of the village but still within Konohagakure's boundaries. I felt the fresh grass underneath my feet scream and protest due to me walking over them. Sometimes, I just wondered how the ground felt when one treated them like nothing. The smell of wet ground was unmistakeable, and I loved it for some odd reason. Morning's rain was a beautiful thing and it made the world nourished, so it could grow later. It had been raining all day, stopping just after me and my mother had finally gotten home and began to eat dinner. We took a small stroll around the village and had a bit of lunch at a nearby store, it was all pretty fun. But nothing really beat spicy foods and nature when it came to me. Nature was amazing, and some humans had gone out of their way to destroy it. It made me a bit sad, but I couldn't exactly do too much about it, now could I? I reached the clearing, which became my favorite spot after several explorations that took place in this forest. I let my breath fall short as I pulled out my katana, my eyes focused on a dead tree, something that couldn't comprehend any pain I could inflict onto it. Long breaths, long breaths. I took long, full fleshed breaths now, closing my eyes as I made my pay mind to the tree and only the tree in front of me. 'One foot back, one foot back, Ko.' I pulled my right foot back and made my left go forward just a tad bit more, hardly even a centimeter or two. I knew I didn't normally have time to do this is in a live battle, but just training with a proper position would help me realize my own strong points and weak points so I could incorporate that into my actual fighting. I held the katana with my right hand, yet again feeling the handle of the- no. It was my katana. I felt my grip on it hold tightly, don't mess up, don't mess up. 'Don't focus on messing up, focus on doing your actions.' It felt as if my own father was guiding me, as if he was grabbing my hand and showing me how to squeeze it just right. How to hold it properly, just like when I was a little girl learning to fight.

I remember how mother would argue about something safer than a katana, but father was always so intent on training me this way, that he won every time. I can do it, I can do it. 'Shoulders loose, Ko.' I remembered my shoulders, feeling just how stressed they actually were, so I loosened up, keeping to my deep breaths and keeping myself calm. I was in a zone, I can do this! Face forward. I opened my eyes slowly, I ran at my target, katana trailing me as my hands went behind my back. I wasn't too fast, but I was definitely a bit quick compared to some others that left the academy recently. As I reached the tree, my left hand went to the katana's handle, I swung horizontally, letting the katana make a small infliction into the tree. Okay, maybe small was a bit of an understatement, as it made at least an inch of a cut into the tree. I just stared for a moment, but I realized I had to keep moving as to not ruin the beginning of a short repetitive pattern. I pushed back with my right foot, my boot hitting the visible roots along the bottom of the tree. I sprang myself backward a bit, my right foot landing alongside my left as I backed away about 3 feet from my target. I launched myself back at it the moment the heel of my boot hit the ground, a small amount  of delay in my burst didn't matter to me, for my target was just an inanimate object now. Had it been a person, I might have been in an amount of trouble, and would want to run faster. This time, I swung with the katana to my left side, watching it dig into the rough bark and mark it with a cut. I jumped back again, and this time, I studied the katana, still in the condition I bought it in. I took in a sigh before I readied myself for another attack. I held the katana in front of me perfectly, my body aligned just like how I had done it earlier. I ran as fast as I could, my feet pushing me further and further, bringing me closer to the tree. And I soon felt it, the soft pattering of rain filling my ears and making itself clear to me. The rain had started once more, perhaps to stop me, perhaps to encourage me. In a self-proclamation, I took it as a small discouragement against me sent by some slightly higher power, I sprang forward, my feet kicking off the ground. The noise of something cutting through filled my ears and a large resistance hit me. I groaned out in pain, but my hands never left the katana. My feet hit the ground, and soon I tumbled downwards, a tad bit of pain racking my body. I hissed out a bit, attempting to nurse my wounds without actually healing them.  When I looked up, not only was rain falling down my face, but my katana was stuck roughly an inch inside of the tree. I sighed out and picked myself up, a bit reluctantly at first."Dear oh dear, Ashiko. You need to be a bit more careful," I muttered out, grabbing the katana's handle and pulling it out slowly, trying to not harm the metal as best as I could.

I stretched out a bit, but I still had the energy to roam quite a bit, just maybe not a katana this time? I still had to work on a bit of my physical strength and such. I sat down, sheathing my katana and hiding under the brush of the tree so I wouldn't get too wet. I could try some basic taijutsu, get that strength up and all. I got up, finally deciding on what I was going to do, I faced the tree once more, seeing the wounds I had caused to the dead bark. Three cuts. One deeper than the others, and the other two having been cut horizontally with one over another.  I readied myself, this time doing a position my teachers had taught me in the academy. Kicks and punches were basically the only things I could do, but I could make use of them if I really just put my mind to it and tried hard. It wasn't like Lady Tsunade's super strength or the Hyuga's taijutsu prowess, but I could handle myself most of the time.  Both of my hands were up to my chin, my hips slightly tilted towards the tree. I kicked the tree before I brought the top of my body to it so I could smack it with my right palm. I was kinda copying how the Hyuga clan, but then again, all I saw was someone occasionally punching and smacking things. I couldn't exactly copy too well either, or I'd likely damage my own cells in the process. I just kept at it, smacking the tree with my palm as I made a pattern to kick it every five hits. I tired easily, seeing how taijutsu wasn't my type of thing and that I was definitely wasn't completely built for it either. I took another breath of the now chilling air, I had to go home, it took long enough to get here and it was probably a long trip back. I was gonna get a cold. But it would likely come to some good. And as I sauntered back to my village, only one thought crossed my mind. "I'm gonna be sick." But dang it, I really didn't care too much. I could take care of myself for the most part, with help from mother of course. I could already feel the urge to drink nice boiling hot tea with her.

1,501/1,501

Stats:

EXIT