Kenjutsu 101 Class B - Completed

Denive's classroom was wider than the rest and there were no chairs only mats on the floor while the walls were lined up with bokken of various sizes. She herself sat in the seiza position while sipping some tea as she waited for her students to report to the classroom. She was teaching theory of course, but how could they grasp the concept if they could not see it in action and thus practice what they learned in the classroom immediately. No, she didn't agree with the theory and practical aspects of a shinobi being separate, they meshed together and she would teach it that way.

As she took another sip her eyes would glance at the paper in front of her which had the names of the students in this classroom. Regal Gekido, Yvette Ocelot and Maximilian Bishamon were just naming few she unlike her peers had put the faces not the names to memory and she didn't believe in calling attendance, it was pointless. If they showed up, then they showed up if not, then they failed, it was as simple as that, and those who were tardy would be tardy on the battlefield and their comrades would die.

Class. We will begin shortly. she said to the few which were already present as she was ready to begin the lesson.

Spoiler:

The first day of class and on his list was Kenjutsu 101, the basics of sword fighting. For the most part it would be a good class for him, considering he heavily used his katana and short broadsword which stood on his left and right sides of his waist respectively. As he made his way through the building he was holding his class schedule, looking at which class to enter. It took a few minutes but he finally found the classroom and opened the door, walking through it.

Keeping the door open as he walked inside, the room seemed less than an ordinary classroom. Quickly scanning the room it seemed more like a dojo, a small one, but a dojo nonetheless. Seeing who he can only assume was the teacher, he rose his hand like a wave as he moved to one of the mats in the second row and sat on it in the same position as the assumed teacher. As he sat he removed his weapons from his waist and sat them on the floor besides him, not needing them while he was only sitting.

Now he would wait for either other students, or with the unlikely case, no students and the immediate begin of instruction. Regardless he would love to see how this person would teach the class, if she was indeed the teacher.

Yvette was one of the students who would shuffle in with the masses choosing that particular moment to walk in so that she wasn't singled out, no she would be more of a generality, she would sit down mimicking the teacher and sitting likewise in seiza and placing her blade next to her but keeping her hand on the handle. She didn't like..not being in contact with it, it felt as if something was missing from her life and that she was truly alone, she didn't seem like it but she did desire companionship just not with shinobi, shinobi she had decided very early on, were the scum of the earth, and as much as she loved her parents they were shinobi. She would look down at her blade without saying a word, it would seem that their teacher didn't care for calling attendance as she merely stated that they would begin shortly and nothing else.

She liked that, saying her name out loud and replying to summons attracted attention despite being minimal, it seemed once she spoke it called attention to the fact that she usually blended into the background. Sure some wouldn't notice but the more perceptive the more attune to change and those who were like herself would pick up on it, and that wasn't really something she wanted. She did miss the company of Aura, the kitten had protested in her cute way when she told her she couldn't accompany her to classes, after all a summoning contract as an academy student, not many could boast of that. Yvette herself, hated boasting, and it would only attract even more of that unwanted attention, after all the Cat contract despite thought to be lost was known to have one major user, her great, great grandmother, Lexiane U. Arashi and any shinobi worth their salt and versed in history knew exactly who that was.

Kenjutsu 101, huh. Maxi said as his amber eyes scanned his class schedule. Kenjustsu wasn't something he was too fond of but he had chosen it nonetheless seeing that he and his grandmother had frequent discussions about how his grandfather was skilled with a sword, so Maxi decided to give this class a go. With his hands stuck inside his jacket pockets, he walked towards the classroom, his foot steps echoing in the empty hall, even though it seems everyone already had already made their way to class he continued to stroll leisurely, why rush?

The door to the classroom had already been open as Maxi stepped into the classroom,the set up wasn't what he entirely expected but then again who would teach Kenjutsu in an ordinary classroom. He would turn to the woman who faced the others and gave a small bow and took a seat at the back. He would place his katana in front of him and waited for the class to begin.

Denive scanned the eyes of each individual as they entered, simultaneously watching their movements. Even in the crowd she could pick out even the most subtle of details. Finally once all ten students arrived she took one final sip and scanned the students before speaking. "Welcome to Kenjutsu 101. Today we will be perfecting the basics starting with the swing of your blade." She stood up and grabbed one of the many bokken. "To a master of Kenjutsu any solid object is capable of being equivalent to the power of a sword." She walked over to a small desk she had placed out on one side of the room. Holding the bokken in a simple overhead position, both hands held firm on the hilt, she spread her feet slightly, one facing perpendicular to the desk the other toward it. Breathing in calmly, she exhaled and then swung her blade down in a flawless arc toward the table. The swing ended by her right perpendicular foot. After she straightened up the desk split evenly in two, a clean cut. "Now. Everyone. Grab a bokke. And spread out. I want you to begin with 100 overhead swings."

Watching as the instructor performed their task Regal didn't really show any amazement from it. It was a good stance and all but in combat, one would barely be able to make use of such a stance, to its fullest at least. As the instructor gave them their first assignment, he, listening, grabbed one of the bokken and got into the stance, he saw demonstrated earlier. A simple stance which Regal had learned, and abandoned, long ago due to finding it useless with what he wanted to do with a sword, not only his katana but also his short sword which said stance didn't apply to. Probably the reason why he didn't take the assignment given to seriously, a terrible trait gained from his ancestors, to deem most basics useless as they never apply to a specialty as a whole, unless you counted genjutsu which was based on the person's imagination.

Regal was thinking to much, after the assignment was given he proceeded to walk over to the bokken and pick one, before returning to his place in the class. With the bokken in both hands, he got into the same stance as the instructor. Raising his arms above his head, he brought it down producing a swing. That first swing would begin a series of swings, to be more specific one hundred per the instructors orders. To Regal was this tedious work? Maybe, actually yes it was, but the instructor must have her reasons or she wouldn't be the one teaching the class. Regal would just have to listen and wait to see if the instructor would teach them something new instead of these swings.

Yvette would tuck her blade into her hoodie while everyone else was transfixed on their sensei cutting the desk in half with her bokken. She knew what would probably happen next and when their sensei told them to grab a bokken her hunch was proven correct. She would walk over before slipping into the stance and would begin with the overhead swings with no groan or voice of disapproval. She had done this before yes but most would not have, it was her own personal time she had spent practicing kata, whether it was a basic stance, the few stances of Tenmetsu she had spied upon, she was used to practice and likewise was used to the eventually muscle fatique she would feel.

Eventually she was done having deliberately slowed her pace to show that she was "tired" finishing in the lower half of the class as if she didn't have much proficiency in the ways of a sword, she was sure their sensei, if she was a true swordsman would of noticed her weapon and the subsequent absence of it so she would hopefully see it as a sign of hiding ones skill or could ridicule her ruining her incognito plan. It was worth a try at the very least and she would exhale softly when she was done with the swings. She resisted the urge to twirl the bokken within her hand as she liked the weight of it, perhaps she would steal one, or two for her own personal use.

Maxi stared out the window chewing a piece of gum, the class felt a bit stuffy so he removed his hoodie and placed it behind of him, the teachers words were all muffled as he felt the room spinning around him, his heart racing as he began to sweat profusely. It was the sound of the desk splitting in two that made him aware of his surrounds once more and watched as the others in the class shuffle towards where the bokken was kept. What was that? , he thought to himself as the others passed him, slowly he rose to his feet and grabbed his bokken and looked around to what exactly he was suppose to do.

After watching the other students, he took his stance and began his overhead swings, even though the task wasn't that difficult, due to his little "episode", his body felt fatigued, he could barely stand and move his arms but he had to finish this exercise, "I have to finish...." He kept telling himself, as he swung the blade over and over again, the sound of the blade swinging through the air and the feel of the never ending exercise started to upset Maxi as he gripped the bokken tighter and swung it harder. When he was finished he tried to calm down as he awaited further instructions

Denive frowned as she watched the students just go up and grab a random bokken. They had already made one flaw and most would notice the grip was too large or too short, maybe off balance. Everyones basic technique was fine in their swing but it lacked because of one specific reason. "Put back your bokken and take a seat please," she said with disappointment spilling from her voice. She would wait and watch, eyeing each students movements as they went to place away their bokken.

Yvette would pause before waiting for others to put away their bokken and would follow suit mainly to blend into the crowd, she was thankful like her many others made mistakes so she wouldn't be singled out or anything. Once she put away the practice weapon she would take a seat back in the seiza position her blade tilted for easy unsheathing in the case of need but hidden under her hoodie one of the reasons she liked her blade so short. What...did we do wrong? she thought to herself while staring at their sensei trying to figure out her mistake could it be she didn't want them to use the bokken or she wanted them to not just pick a random one but be assigned some to use?

Regal stopped mid-swing when the instructor spoke, he was confident he wasn't doing anything wrong, with his swing at least, but maybe the instructor was seeing something he, well the entire class, was not. Putting away the bokken, he would take a seat back on the mat, having to look down to make sure it was his by his two swords which set on both sides of it. He wouldn't be a real student if he didn't wonder what was the problem, for him he really had no idea as he looked at the instructor waiting to see what she would say.

Maxi gripped the bokken tightly as the teacher spoke. His strange headache had come back again, he tried his hardest to hide the fact that something was wrong with him and so far it seemed to be working. He didn't know why the teacher had told them to stop the exercise and get back to their seats and quite frankly he couldn't care less, the only thing he had on his mind right now was to quell the thirst for blood. He put back the bokken where he had found it and slowly staggered to his seat back to his seat. Nearly tripping over his katana he had forgotten to taken up, he sat down and awaited for the impending lecture his teacher was about to give them.

Once everyone had returned their bokken, Denive took her own seat. "Some of you need work, even if you don't realize it. And this is where we shall apparently start. First off. I am sure you noticed the varying sizes in bokken. Does anyone know why their sizes are different?" She asked, her eyes meeting most of the students as she waited for an answer

Yvette just stared blankly at her sensei after all others could answer the question, her being a know it all would just make her stand out and she didn't want to stand out even more than a small girl in a black hoodie would. Meaning, in short she didn't really stand out at all which was perfectly fine with her after all being noticed in the field meant death and for someone who didn't even want to be a shinobi not standing out was the best approach to life. Just blending in the background unnoticed, until she wanted to be noticed that was her way, her code...her nindo.

Regal couldn't respond if he wanted to, even though he couldn't respond he was confident he knew the answer. It had something to do with each individual being different so picking a random bokken, or sword in cases of not training, wasn't wise, but that is what Regal was told. At this point in his kenjutsu carrier did he listen to it much, not really. After all he had already become accustomed to his katana and short broad sword. Sitting down he would look around the class, seeing who would answer, if anybody would answer.

Maxi looked around the room as the teacher asked a question and no one seemed to be interested in answering the question, he shook his head and looked at the clock hoping that this pain riddled day would be over with, all that was on his mind right now was to get somewhere far away as he knew something was wrong with him, he just couldn't tell what. Maybe i should ask to see the nurse?, he thought as his eyes shifted all over the room as he began to sweat profusely once more. He would begin to chuckle as he felt pain in places he never knew existed, it was a bit sad that it took him long enough that he was either near switching or was about to. He slowly ran his hand through his hair and thought about what would happen to everyone in the classroom, then again he wouldn't even care once it happened. He had read about this trait amongst bishamon but he had no recollection of it happening to him, maybe his mother was responsible for that one she always tried to protect him from the curse but without her it was inevitable. The different size of the bokken represent the different styles of weapons i guess?. Maxi had broken the silence hoping the class would hurry and reach its climax,he wasn't sure that was the correct answer but in all honest he didn't care. He had more important problems to deal with.

Denive sighed in disappointment then turned to the bokken. "Wrong. Each bokken is of same shape, but not size. Now please. Someone answer this question. If just one of you can then all shall pass. If none can then you all will fail my class." She spoke stern words, unwavering from their intent. She really meant to fail them if none could come up with the appropriate answer.

Yvette blinked, she didn't really care if they passed or failed she was confident someone would figure it out at the very least, otherwise well...tough shit. She would sit there silent the frown on her face hidden by her scarf and her eyes giving off no indication of fear. It wasn't that she wasn't intimidated she just didn't really care for the class that was about it. But if she failed this class then she would have no choice but to learn more about swordsmanship on her own, it wasn't that she couldn't but she would prefer not to speed up the time she spent in this institution. She supposed she could..break her rules just once the damage would be minimal since she wasn't the first to answer people would pass it off as desperation out of potential failure, no one wanted to fail well she did but people didn't know that yet. In addition if she got it correct then most will chalk it up as a lucky guess even though it wasn't, she did vow however fo rthis to be the first and last time she spoke in this class.

Everyone is of a different size, it would make no sense for someone like me who is tiny to use a large bokken as it would throw my center of gravity off, likewise it would be pointless for someone huge to use a tiny bokken as they would simply swing it around as it it was a toothpick and be unable to properly preform the kata if they were given an actual sword. The reason they are of the same shape is because they are all meant to represent a sword the differing lengths is also similar to swords, only after one is experienced enough can they be picky and choosy on their sword length after all a master can use a tanto to dispatch someone with a Katana just as easily as he or she would with a katana or a kodachi. Yvette said her voice calm and her eyes locked on to her sensei. If she got it wrong at least she tried to put her input in and perhaps someone else could answer the question, though it would cause people to think despite how her reply was formulated she was stupid. Though that too was something she didn't mind, she was there to learn after all and if they underestimated her it would make blending in easier.

Threatened with failure only for not answering a question, now that was taking things a little to far but their teacher probably had her reasons even if they were a little over the top. Regal couldn't answer but he would dwell on the question to try to find an answer, so he could see if he was correct or not. His thoughts for an answer took him back to his days of training. In the beginning they simply gave him a bokken, one about the same size of a normal katana, which they gave him the same training as this one.

After they felt he had gained enough training in the bokken they moved him to a real katana, not the same he currently has in possession, for some more training. During that time is where he realized he could not solely use a katana and decided to add the shortsword, but not in the same way as a daicho pair. What did that training teach Regal, no sword was the same, they had varying weights, heights, metals, etc to them. It made each one different similar to the traits that made people different. When they picked up the bokken earlier, apparently none of them cared about which one they picked and thus cared nothing about the way they used their sword, so they would be taking this class only to further their wild, uncontrolled swings, not useful in anyway during combat. From his training Regal was past this point and honed his skills for the most part, not dismissing two-handed style, but tending to rely on one-handed, regardless he should have taken this class as if he had never wielded a sword before.

Denive smiled and look at the girl who spoke. "Very close. Just about spot on minus a few details. The shapes are the same, just as a sword and just as each of us share similar shape. Yet just like the bokken we are of differing sizes and therefore differing balances. To first master the way of the blade is to first find the balance of blade and body. So tell me hatchling. What was it you all did wrong?"

Tch...that's it I fucking hate her. Now I have to break my vow, and everyone's attention is focused on me, and I can't act stupid now because then they'll notice I'm downplaying my intelligence...not what I wanted to happen...damn it Yvette gritted her teeth upon seeing her sensei affix her gaze towards her luckily it was hidden under her scarf while her eyes showed nothing of the inner rage she was feeling. This could possibly ruin her plan her nindo, okay breathe calm down..relax it can be fixed the damage already done it could get worse but she would not allow that to happen. We didn't care about which bokken we picked up nor did we ask you about which we should use, we just assumed they were all the same and chose according to what we wanted without any regards for what would be our proper size. she said blinking once while still maintaining eye contact with the woman while silently hoping that she wouldn't call on her again.

Denive closed her eyes and sat once again. "This class is lucky. You pass. Now choose the appropriate bokken. Two hundred strikes this time. Once you are finished return the bokken and you may leave. Show proper form or I shall hold you for remedial classes. Now begin."

Yvette would wait for the others to pick up the correct Bokken and she would find one for her size, before picking it up and walking back over to her position and pausing not wanting to be the first one to swing and when the others begin so would she. While swinging she would slow down deliberately so that she was not in the first batch to finish nor would be one of the last to finish deciding to slip back into her usual stance in the class, unnoticed, ordinary unappealing. Once she was satisfied a sufficient amount of people had left the class she would finish up her own swings before placing her bokken back and silently walking out of the classroom.

Exit.

Once they were allowed to Regal would go back over to the bokken and pick the correct one, the one closest in resemblance to his katana, not exactly due to being a bokken but close enough, which would take him some time. Two hundred strikes, after finding the appropriate bokken he would return to the mat and take the stance. With a breathe he would begin to deliver his first few strikes before continuing on with them to complete the full two hundred. After a good amount of time, he would finally complete the specified amount and return the bokken to its place. Not speaking, like usual, he would pick up his two swords then bow to the instructor before leaving on his way, probably to the next class or where ever.

[Exit]

Maxi would shrug as he picked up the bokken and followed his teachers instructions carefully. His eyes scanned the various bokken and picked up one, he believed suited him more and too his stance. He would commence with two hundred strikes and would be the last one left in the class. It figures. Maxi put back the bokken and nodded to his teacher before headed to the most deserted area of the academy.

{Exit}