[Trainings & Lonelies] The Omen's Call

[Willoria]

Haruna hadn't even told Kuro what she was doing, or what she was planning on learning. She had set herself to this task, partially with the intent of impressing Kuro later, if she could manage to keep herself on schedule with this anyway. Even as she stood in the empty dojo now, a tanto dagger in hand, it felt clumsy and awkward. It left her wondering if she could really do this. Still, the Sensei had already given her a task to complete and now it was up to her to do it. She could almost feel him watching her even though he wasn't in the room, and it unnerved her. Goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and she couldn't help a shudder as she tried to focus on the weapon in her hand.

She did as she had been shown, trying to flip the weapon from a downward dagger-like hold to an upward hold like one would use for a full size sword. She had been told to first get used to the feel and weight of the weapon, and she immediately started trying to do that. She'd flip it from one position to the next a few times before trying to switch hands with it. But as she first tried to switch hands she caught her fingers touching as she nearly fumbled the weapon.

"You need to stop trying to watch the weapon and feel it." Came a voice from behind her.

'I knew he was watching me.' she thought to herself as she resisted the urge to turn around and level a glare at the man. "I'm trying."

'SMACK!'

Haruna was knocked forward by the sudden blow to the back of her head from the man's head. She stumbled and the weapon clattered down before another smack was aimed to her face, causing blood to run feeling down her nose and she swore at the man outright as she glared at him, when she was finally able to open her eyes once more anyway. "What the hell?!"

Her new sensei smirked at her as he stepped around her, hands folded behind his back. "That blade is an extension of your arm. Do you always examine your hand so closely before you throw a kunai? I don't think so. Pick it up and try again."

Haruna frowned even as she picked the blade up and took up the traditional Toryu stance she had been shown, one known as Close Quarters. She held the blade at a downward angle, pointing towards the ground, in her right hand.

"Now, you will follow my commands." He told her as he stood in front of her, only a few feet away as he watched her closely. "And no looking down at your hands or the blade." He instructed her.

Haruna's frown only deepened at that. She had never really been able to hold a weapon like this before without constantly looking at it and she wasn't sure how she was going to be able to do this without it. Still she nodded and sighed heavily as she prepared herself. As he told her to switch hands she quickly found that as she had sighed she had also tightened her grip on the weapon. In trying to change hands she accidentally sliced across her forearm and with a hiss she tried to cover it with her free hand, only earning an open hand slap across the face.

"No." Was all he said.

She wrinkled up her nose in frustration and buried the rage that was coming up as she took up the stance again.

"Up." He said.

She flipped the blade into an upwards position.

"Down." He told her.

She flipped it down, almost fumbling it with her fingers but managed to keep a hold of it at the last minute.

"Switch."

Again she tried to switch hands and this time she managed to not cut herself, and even kept her eyes up enough to notice the way his eyes narrowed at her work.

"Switch."

She did it again, this time her fingertips didn't touch one another as she handed the weapon off to herself.

"Switch, and up."

She almost tossed it from one hand to the other, but achieved her goal, though she did catch herself glancing down once to make sure it landed once and she felt cold steel under her chin. Her blue eyes lifted to her Sensei, realizing she hadn't even known he was armed and yet now he held a katana with the tip resting under her chin.

"Better."

Training 764/700Show

*[Toryu • Close Quarters]
D- Ranked Taijutsu Stance
Prerequisite: 5 Taijutsu
The signature stance of the style, Close Quarters teaches users of this style how to rapidly change the angle, position and even grip of their weapon without moving their hand from it's signature position at the user's waist for maximum versatility. Users of this style often assume a one foot forward, one back, slightly swayed stance to free up movement as well at the expense of leaving their center open.

[Willoria]

Her nose was still bloody from before, and yet there didn't seem to be a break. Haruna's Sensei, a man named Ichiro, sheathed his blade as he stood in front of her, and began explaining the next technique. It seemed rather basic to the Aisu woman, a lunge that was meant more as a feint than anything. The target was expected to side step or the user was expected to miss and use the move to get in close enough to sweep their legs under the target and drop them to the ground. Of course, while Haruna was still running this through her head it seemed her instructor was intent on giving a demonstration. Next thing she knew was a blade had come less than an inch from her left side and she sucked in a breath in shock. It wasn't until she felt the touch of his leg to the back of her own that she realized what happened and by then she was already on her way back and she hit the ground with an audible 'thump'.

Groaning, the girl rolled over to her hands and knees before stepping back from him, noticing almost immediately the man was laughing. "You really gotta think faster if you're going to make use of this, child." he taunted as he watched her try to recover from the move. "Now come on, take that dagger and see if you can do anything with it."

The girl frowned as she took up the stance she had learned previously and held the tanto dagger in a downward position, thinking over the move. She could almost see her Sensei laughing already, it was clear he could almost see her gears turning as she tried to sort it all out, and clearly he expected her to rush into things. She hated that thought, she didn't want to rush into anything at all, but as she was about to learn, delay wasn't going to benefit her at all either, as Ichiro suddenly stepped forward and into her guard, aiming the back of a fist for her face and knocking her back, blood dripping from both nostrils again.

The girl snarled in frustration and lunged forward, thrusting the blade forward just in front of his torso before she turned to try and sweep under his legs. But as she did she found one of his hands touched her shoulder to stop her and the other slapped at her ribs, sending pain cascading through her ribcage and causing her to stagger away from him.

"Stop giving me all the clues." he snapped at her. "Act, the longer you think, the more you give away. AGAIN!"

She snarled again as she lunged forward but this time she did not extend the blade, she spun away from the man before stepping in again, and this time extending only her hand before spinning across him. Ichiro grinned as he watched the movements this time, clearly strong enough to read the movements and intercept her if she so chose, but he was teaching her, not abusing her after all. Each time she did it again, his grin only grew. She was learning already, testing her own limits. When her feet tangled themselves up at one point and she almost took herself down he reached out and grabbed her by the collar of her clothing and yanked her back up to her feet again.

Within moments it looked more like some kind of a dance. She was step into his guard and spin but as she didn't capitalize on it he'd simply side-step her and force her to readjust what angle she came at him from. Again and again they did this, she would step in and turn and he would side-step away. He was watching her even as she studied him and the way he moved. At one point as she stepped in even Ichiro was surprised to see the glint of the blade out of the corner of his eye but this time she didn't foolishly do some kinda spin that whipped her hair about. The girl suddenly dropped and turned in front of him, her leg connecting with his ankles and taking him down in the leg sweep. Even as he raised an eyebrow at her from the ground, her knife rest just under his chin.

"Better."

Training 742/700Show

*[Toryu • Lunging Feint]
D-Ranked Taijutsu Maneuver
Prerequisite: 5 Speed
A basic technique of the style wherein the user moves in for a basic lunge-thrust with their weapon, only to turn in mid thrust and attempt to sweep their leg under the opponent's own. This tends to be useful as a basic feint and can usually knock down those with less strength than the user who get caught by it.