Summer 3, 116
A day passed while the group of students in white outfits practiced sword forms. The teacher, an honest man raised in the area, was eventually satisfied with his students' progress despite the task being extremely painful. Even though Caelum didn't stand out among them for doing such unimportant chores, his body took the instructions well and stored the motions for later use.
"All right, pupils!" There was a call over the soft murmur of students speaking in the groups they had gradually settled into after training side by side. Caelum kept to himself, but on numerous occasions he would find that foolish girl yapping at him innocuously as if he hadn't made it obvious that he didn't want her to crowd him. "We're going to start moving to the standing position today, and dealing with an oncoming attacker will be our first line of defense. Quite simple and effective when handling naive novices.
A sense of eager silence descended upon the room as all eyes turned to the elevated section of the dojo main hall, where the teacher stood with his practice sword firmly grasped in two hands and his focus fixed forward. Then, with a gleeful smile, he turned to face the crowd, as though he was thinking.
"Hi there, you! Yes, you! Come on over here and assist me!"
Immediately, Caelum felt the weight of many pairs of eyes focused on him. Rather than writhing under the overwhelming attention he was now receiving, he chose to project an outward, callous coolness as he simply raised his calm gaze to meet the Instructor's. For a breath, then two, the two held their ground, and then Caelum started to slowly walk by the sea of white and onto the plateau, where the teacher was waiting for him, grinning broadly. Now that he was close, it might have seemed a little more sinister.
"Excellent, excellent. The teacher teased, "I thought you were going to decline. Make every effort to strike me."
Without any other guidance, Caelum hurled himself at his teacher, almost tripping and falling along the way, but his footing was secure as his practice sword shot up to slap that brash smile off the older man's face. As Caelum watched the teacher drop into stance and prepare his sword until Caelum was actually within reach, time seemed to slow down. When it was time, the instructor executed a terrifying and graceful show of speed as he drew his practice sword and slashed diagonally at the practice sword that was attacking. Caelum felt pain in his wrist from the abrupt shift in force, and he lost his balance instantly, falling to the side and tumbling off the stage. Painful hues flickered behind his shut eyelids.
The skin between Caelum's shoulder blades prickled with embarrassment and wounded pride, but he stood up quietly, his only sign of rage being the blazing flames of passion in his eyes. He stomped back onto the elevated platform, slamming his practice sword into its sheathe. Then, he fell into the stance that the teacher had just adopted. They had practiced it so much that it was as natural to him as breathing. With his hands poised in anticipation and his legs still crouching, the rest of his body contorted like a spring.
The instructor launched his attack silently and unexpectedly. Of course, there were a few minor variations. For instance, the Instructor retained the grace that was always apparent in any man who took pleasure in wielding a blade, despite the fact that his charge was every bit as careless and imprecise as Caelum's had been. With only a few seconds to respond, Caelum was surprisingly free of the fog that usually surrounded battle. His body responded with ease, and his thoughts were clear. His strong hand pulled the wooden stick out of the sheathe and flourished it overhead, striking down with a strong, diagonal slash that not only deflected the Instructor's onslaught but also disarmed him. One hand held the practice sword's length to steady it.
Without saying anything, Caelum finished the form and slid the practice sword back into its sheath before getting up from his stance. "That wasn't bad." The teacher eventually stated, "good job," but his eyes were a little wider. "Maybe I ought to bring you up here for additional demonstrations. You appear to perform better right away."
To those who weren't paying attention, his excitement actually seemed even more annoying than it had before. Caelum's eyes narrowed suspiciously as he listened to the man explain that this form was the last one they would learn before they got better outfits. A breath at his side informed him that the woman from before was standing beside him, excited about this little piece of information.
Caelum cast a sidelong glance at her. She didn't look bad, and he thought she had enough athleticism visible beneath her outfit. He questioned whether she was really swordsman material. "Even so, what's going on with my head? I've never considered a girl this way before…" the woman pulled him away from his thoughts in that awful moment and met Caelum's eyes, her own sparkling with innocent childlikeness. To his dismay, Caelum was blushing once more.
"Are you okay?" She inquired.
"Yes," Caelum managed to say.
"You sure?"
"I said yes!"
The attractive girl bounded off with a harrumph, allowing Caelum to gradually regain his calm, or as close to it as he could manage. It took him only a moment to realize that everyone, including the instructor, was staring at him with interest in their eyes while trying not to smile condescendingly. Caelum's cheeks flushed even more from realization, and then it didn't seem so unlikely that they would burst into flames at that very moment from sheer embarrassment. Fortunately, the teacher showed compassion and carried on explaining the promotion procedure without making fun of Caelum.
"As I mentioned earlier, you won't always be fighting one opponent against one, so this final form is meant to assist you in fighting two opponents at once."
He asked two students to join him on the platform, and then he sat down, albeit awkwardly, with one knee fixed firmly in the ground as though he were stuck between the motions of sitting and standing up. While one student advanced in front of the other, the other came from behind. Caelum observed with great interest to see what the Instructor would do because it appeared to be a challenging situation. The two students launched an assault with a single sound of warning.
But the teacher was quicker. He quickly raised himself to the point of being entirely on one knee and withdrew his practice sword from his sheathe far enough to prevent the front attacker from swinging downward by jamming the hilt into the student's hand. The instructor swiftly spun, pulled out his practice sword, and easily swatted the other student's blow away. Then, without pausing, he skillfully slid the practice sword back into position as the other student staggered clumsily to the ground. Caelum was taken aback. As one of the students clenched his hand in agony and the other struggled to stand up, the teacher remained stoically ready for another attack, should the two have the courage to try.
"You just need to practice timing the hilt thrust, that's all." The instructor gave the student attention while he was still clenching his hand. "We might work on more complicated things tomorrow... but for now let's get into groups."
Caelum looked around the room for the woman who kept pestering him before he could stop himself and saw her practicing ferociously with another guy. He noticed another student's gaze and forced himself to relax, even though he felt his expression harden. His name was… he didn't remember actually. The young man appeared completely unprepared to be a swordsman, with sandy, untidy hair and shorter stature than Caelum, but Caelum was aware of this.
Caelum prepared to draw the practice sword loose, dropping into an awkward half-seated, half-kneeling stance. Isao moved forward with a swiftness akin to a cat, his feet remaining silent on the hardwood surface as the force of his swing propelled him ahead of schedule in Caelum's direction. The practice sword was only partially drawn out by Caelum, allowing the hilt to block the practice sword's slashing motion just above his opponent's fingers. The other boy dropped his weapon in pain and hopped in place. He'd gotten hit a little too hard and now he needed to rest his hand.
Caelum, who had no partner left to practice with, gave the woman one last look before forcing himself to turn away and leaving the dojo. He didn't know if she actually liked him or if she just liked getting on his nerve. She'd actually gotten him to want to train with her… then she'd gone and picked someone else to practice with. It was annoying and Caelum wanted to confront her… but he didn't want everyone looking at him like he was an idiot. Again.
(Note to self: DNU)
