Summer 1, 116
Silently, Caelum awaited the instructor in charge of the new students' class to demonstrate the prerequisites for obtaining their uniform, signifying their official status as a student of the dojo. He was waiting in the back with a few others, his hands folded across his chest and his face expressionless. His outfit's white sleeves were already dirtied from his hand brushing against the dusty wooden walls.
When the more experienced student had finished teaching the newer ones, he moved to the next class and said, "Welcome all," the instructor with dark hair laughed, the weak light from the outside sun causing his eyes to flash. "Reflexes are incredibly important to the swordsmanship taught here at our dojo. without reflexes you are doomed to die," he said, coughing awkwardly when no one else laughed with him.
Caelum quickly forced himself not to snort. He didn't quite fit in with the other students, he didn't like this man, and he most definitely didn't like having the obvious pointed out to him. "Basically, I'll have you start honing your instincts from the get-go so that you'll be able to process information more quickly in the event of an enemy attack or when you come across a foe. Now face each other and form two rows. Now! Move quickly."
Before long, two lines of four students dressed in white faced one another while brandishing their practice swords, softly clasped in the forms they had either learned beforehand or were just familiar with before entering the dojo. "I want the side that is facing me to swing slowly overhead now. In this manner, the instructor gave a demonstration before continuing. The sound of wooden swords clacking loudly was heard right away. The instructor yelled over the commotion, "I said slowly!" but Caelum quickly lost focus of the instructor.
His "partner" was a rough-and-tumble kind of guy with bruised knuckles from fights; he was not very graceful with a sword. Caelum, at least, had thought so. As soon as the idea entered his head, he was barely able to raise his own practice sword in time to deflect the powerful blow that was about to befall him. With a cunning smile, the boy raised his practice sword once more and struck Caelum with an unrestrained ferocity. Caelum's two-handed guard failed miserably to stop the heavy weight behind the strike this time, causing his knee to painfully fall to the hard wood floor. His face was expressionless, but his arms numbed with pain.
"Enough! I want that same side to try to topple their partners by sweeping at their ankles. This will assist in developing your quick reflexes. Proceed!" The older person yelled and moved to assist students who appeared to be having difficulty.
Caelum leaped lightly as the savage student across from him swung his practice sword clumsily, obviously trying to do harm. That was not the end of the assault. The big boy suddenly swung at Caelum's head, arms, chest, and any other part of him he could reach. Caelum ducked beneath and swung, instantly leaping back from an ankle sweeping hack before smacking away yet another block with a counter swing of his practice sword, his face was blotched with red spots from too much exertion. By now the combative duo had broken off, and Caelum found himself out in the windy sunshine, pursued by his obviously enraged peer with a flailing stick.
Caelum pitched over onto his back and started to roll away as another blow was directed towards his head. He could feel the heat of the sun on the floor through his clothes. Although he shouldn't have let the distraction become a distraction, Caelum was helpless to stop his pursuer when they launched another, muted attack by the time he recovered. A third practice sword easily deflected the heavy blow in the space of a breath, and the teacher stood over Caelum, staring hard at the panting boy across from him. "Enough."
For a brief moment, it seemed as though the boy, overcome with fury, was going to confront the teacher. However, the moment quickly passed, and the two parted ways, the large student lowering his head in submission. With a warm smile, the teacher nodded and turned to face Caelum. "You both put on quite the show, I thought. In retrospect, I probably ought to have taught you all some practical defensive techniques before you started attacking each other to death." A tense chuckle emanated from the door, and Caelum noticed the remaining students, all dressed in white, hesitantly glancing at the scene.
Furious at himself for his brief slip-up and even more so that the teacher had intervened, Caelum got to his feet and scowled at the black splotches of mud that were ruining his clothing. Even though his shoulder was burning and he was starting to feel pain in his back, he maintained a serious expression and gave the teacher a forced polite look.
"Thank you." After that, he made his way to his home.
When he finally made it inside, Caelum stood with his practice sword lightly clasped in both hands, enjoying the cool breeze that came with nightfall. His hair appeared a delicate color in the moonlight, and he gazed at the light for a while as it reflected in a window. "I appear so frail. Too feeble." The idea appeared to bring back the hurt from the previous altercation at the dojo and the guilt he felt for needing assistance, but he quickly put the hurt aside, leaving his injured ego to rot.
It was night and he was alone. As far as Caelum could tell, nobody would be able to see his shadows practicing in the area behind his home. At least, nobody awkward enough to make themselves obvious.
Breathing, he concentrated on the sword he was holding, his surroundings, and his own heart rate. Then, he bowed his head slightly, almost into a bow stance, which is the stance of a swordsman getting ready for combat. The picture of an ideal warrior, stiff and proud in a way, materialized in his mind, accompanied by the same warm grin that had accompanied him to every sparring session since he could remember. He told himself, "First, sheathe the sword. Hold one hand close to you and the other slightly out of reach. Moreover, maintain your light gait."
Sheathing the weapon the way he had practiced a thousand times, Caelum left his right hand hovering close to the hilt, poised to draw instantly, and his left hand grasping the sheath just below the hilt. Just as his teacher had skidded to a halt and sheathed his katana once more, Caelum sidestepped and his teacher, or the mental projection of him that he summoned in solo practice sessions, leaped forward with expert grace, sword lashing out of its sheath in a weak thrust. It was a charade. Caelum's teacher still had a lot of attacks that could kill him if he wasn't prepared, even with his back to him.
Caelum remained crouched in his form, bouncing on the insoles of his feet, and waited for what seemed like an eternity. The night's silence magnifies even the slightest disturbance. The sound Caelum had been waiting for finally came. His teacher's cloth made a gentle sound as it twisted from the strain of motion. With such elegance and quietness, he'd knelt making it difficult to think such a big man could be capable of such a thing. The older man rose from his stance, using the momentum that came with the rising, even as his knee found the soft earth. A blade hummed through the air, cutting in a circular motion. Caelum simply fell into a roll, rising to his knees, unsheathing his own weapon, and angling its tip to where his teacher's throat would have been. The move was so quick that he had no time to notice it.
His shoulder was still hurting badly, and his breath felt hot against the cool evening breeze. He grimaced as he saw that even more dirt had accumulated on the once-solid white clothing, but his focus was quickly drawn back to the spectral image that had just moments before used the spinning sword technique to stand up and face him directly. Although his opponent was completely imaginary, he imagined that if it could talk he would have said "Not at all bad. Although you could have done a better job of figuring out how to get out of my sword's range, your response was swift and accurate."
The imaginary swordsman vanished from the scene like a dense vapor condensing back into water. Caelum looked up at the sky and realized he still had plenty of time to get a good night's sleep before going back to the dojo for the lesson the following day. For the time being, his swordsman training had been put on hold.
(Note to self: DNU)
