Not normal practice, but swordy practice. (Open)

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This was a familiar scene, almost. A young man is going off somewhere to be away from others and out of people's way so that he does not disturb them with his kind-of-obsessive training regime. In the mornings, he had developed a habit of working on his fighting style before even breakfast, pretty much because he liked to be prepared, be in shape, and be sure he wasn't getting sloppy. This was different. It wasn't right for him to take into this particular work while in the school because...well...it was a damn sword and only where a weapon might be necessary would this thing be allowed!

Jin carried the nodachi - the weapon that he had ummm...failed to deliver to another because it was 'stolen' - into the woods for the express purpose of using it in order to hone his skills by seeing how efficiently he could slice, rip, and maim the air, earth, and possibly the trees. The trees were dependent upon his mood and control, really. He hadn't stolen this thing, technically, but he had wanted it - needed it - and the coincidental thievery of the weapon via the brother of his co-worker was at least convenient. He allowed it because this was too important to be let to...whoever it was going to then. He forgot. It was HIS...and now he undrew it, away from people, and began to get to work.

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Kai was training alone as the boy approached he was practicing his speed darting with blinding speed cutting down target after target with his Daito it was like wind was cutting the tree not the boy or the sword. Kai's attention turned to the boy and he blinked wide eyed and he tripped and he fumbled and feel to the ground. He got up rubbing the back of his head with a slight groan of pain having hit his head on a tree trunk.

"G..good morning." He says to the boy unsure how to address him as he dusted off his pants and he sheathed his daito and he turns toward the boy. His face was flushed embarrassed from tumbling into a wreck.

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Training with one's own sword or even by hand is something of great concentration. One could always work it by mere repetition and grow a nice feel for the ability to attack, to make muscle-memory react the way you need it too, but there are two inherent problems. First, it does not go any deeper than that, and second, it is molding you into an unchanging rhetoric. A good fighter must also imagine their opponent's reactions AND recognize that they might be able to see the patterns of anything memorized through repetition. Because if they do that, they can predict your moves and cause you no end of trouble.

Bringing all this in mind, the very moment Jin began to practice, he also heard someone else doing something also not too far away...and then fall over. The thump that he made was NOT...all that satisfying at all. Satisfying thumps were for the enemy, and his enemy wouldn't be muttering out a greeting in - we might add - a decidedly nervous tone. Jin did not actually look in the young man's direction at the moment, because he was concentrating on his poise and attacks, but he DID respond.

"Hello. Getting in a little time yourself, I see."

He didn't exactly know who this person was, didn't recognize the voice, but it was courteous enough to say so, and perhaps NOT to remark upon the smell wafting up from the direction of the buildings. What was that, anyway?

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Kai watch the unknown boy. He had good poise and stance. He could tell he was skilled and understood why hadn't turn to look at him sword training took discipline. He sheathed his blade and turns back to his targets and he bolted ahead at blinding speeds cutting target after target hit 5 in a few seconds. "Yeah...a little sorry about that..thought I'd be alone didn't expect company forgive me."

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Continuous training in this manner led to him finding new and interesting ways to swing and strike with the sword. Katanas, wakizashis, nodachis, and the like were not like the stern chopping blades of other countries. They relied more on the keen slice and the blood-letting, with the idea of slicing off an article as a bonus in battle. Ergo, they had to be treated as elegant and sometimes fragile tools to use them best. There must be some fluid grace to the moves as well as strength, otherwise you're swinging around a flimsy metal club. Mind you, Jin had abilities that could sheer right through a number of things, but that was no reason to get lazy.

"Yeah...a little sorry about that..thought I'd be alone didn't expect company forgive me."

Suddenly, Jin stopped, and then he laughed, not mockingly but with great amusement. The reason was that this conversation was starting to sound familiar.

"That sounded almost like how I felt when Shoku-san caught me training on the roof."

Suishoku Yuubae, having come to the roof to relax with a snack and such, had gotten Jin thinking that he was somehow intruding on something she wanted to do. But it was a big roof and he had made a misunderstanding of the situation. In doing so, though, he found her company rather enjoyable.

"Still, it's a big area, so nothing to apologize for."