Log: Complete

[naoto-two.livejournal.com]

When; February 18, early morning
Rating; PG. Sparring.
Characters; Naoto [naoto_two] & Zoro [snoringsantoryu]
Summary; He promised to help her train, and who was she to refuse?
Log;

It was early morning and Naoto was already awake, dressed in suitable training gear with her two katana belted to either hip. She paused outside Nill's door, peered into the empty room and wondering if she should leave the girl some breakfast for when she returned home from Kamui's house. Shrugging lightly to herself, the woman turned back to the kitchen/living room area and placed her note for Nill on the dining table, one that detailed where she would be going and when she'd be back. That done, she headed out of the apartment and locked the door.

As Naoto walked down the streets towards the forest, she began to notice the first signs of the curse. People were getting into petty arguments and fights with each other, but none bothered her, so she continued on her way to training. Once at the forest edge, she glanced around for any sign of Zoro, one hand on the sword at her right side.

Zoro approached relatively calmly, swords on his side, like always, holding a duffel bag over his shoulder. Although he had been affected by the curse as well, he didn't show any signs of it while he was around Naoto. Dropping the duffel bag, he rested a hand over his swords.

"You made it. That's good. I was afraid it might've been too early for you."

Early? Well, most people were still asleep, yes, but Naoto had gotten used to waking at ridiculous hours ever since she'd been adopted. "It's never too early," she replied, offering Zoro a faint smile.

Her gaze dropped to the duffel bag on the ground, and she tilted her head at it curiously. "How is this training going to go?" she asked. Fuyumine had never really trained her himself, instead letting her do as she thought necessary and sparring with her on occasion. She was interested in seeing a different method than her own.

Zoro calmly unsheathed two of his swords, resting one on his shoulder, while he let the other hang limp in his arm.

"Well, for starters, I need to see how far you've gotten with wielding two swords. Once I see that firsthand, then I can see what I can do to instruct you further."

He was hardly worthy of being called teacher. If anything, he was making things up as he went along. However, he had learned enough from his former master to know a few things about the art of teaching swordsmanship.

Naoto drew her blades as well—twin katana, one a momento from her late "father" and the other a trophy from the successful assassination of her parents' murderer. Her smile twisted into a smirk. "Very well."

Her attack was immediate; she closed the distance between them in mere heartbeats and swept in low, bringing her left sword up for a slice at Zoro's ribs.

Unfortunately, Naoto wasn't fast enough. Zoro quickly evaded the single slice, then went in for one of his own. In a single swift motion, Zoro moved in and struck Naoto's entire lower chest; however, Zoro had flipped his sword around and used the back of the blade, so no blood was drawn in the attack.

Fast! Naoto had only faced one other person as fast as Zoro, and that was so long ago... She staggered back, her smirk gone now and instead replaced with a look of concentration. Immediately, she launched into another attack, twisting behind him at the last moment and striking out at his side.

Her speed was impressive, but it wasn't enough. As soon as she began to strike, Zoro spun around, swinging his swords in the process, striking at everything around him, which, for the moment, was Naoto and Naoto alone.

She parried and countered to the best of her ability, but it wasn't enough; a few blows hit their mark and she knew she was bleeding in more than one place. She ducked a swing and rolled to the side and out of reach, boots skidding in the dirt. She readjusted her grip on the katana in her left hand, still unused to holding it traditionally, preferring to hold it with the blade down and outward. She remained crouched for a moment, then sprung to attack with both katana at once.

Now was as good of a time as any to finish things. Flipping his swords so that he only used the back of the blade, Zoro parried Naoto's attack, then threw in several of his own, swinging his swords wildly, striking as many parts of Naoto's body as possible.

Again, she tried to block all of them as best as she could, and it was slightly easier now that the grip of her left katana was more familiar, but she could barely get her own attack through. One particular strike sent the sword in her right hand flying, and it stuck blade-down in the ground a few meters away.

The battle was over; Zoro had disarmed her. Sheathing his swords on the spot, Zoro looked at Naoto like a master eyeing his pupil.

"From the looks of it, you rely on single-strike tactics, moving in quick to attack the opponent, hoping to catch them off-guard long enough to land a thrust to a vital area. Am I mistaken?"

Beaten again. Defeated, Naoto let her remaining sword hang at her side, her other hand absently wiping at the blood on her chin. She nodded at Zoro's evaluation. "Generally, yes," she replied. "I rely more on speed than power, since my first blade was a simple knife."

Zoro walked over to the duffel bag he had brought, rummaging through it as he spoke.

"I figured. The problem is, that sort of style wasn't designed for two katana. With that style, you'd be better off with one katana, since you can then focus all your energy into a single, two-handed strike. However, multiple katana are good against multiple foes, since it allows for a wider range than a katana and knife, and it gives you more striking options."

Zoro found what he was looking for in the duffel bag, standing up, then walking over to Naoto. In his hand were two pairs of weights that could be strapped on to one's arms and legs.

"Here, I thought you might be able to use these. They're not that heavy, but if you train while having them on, your body gets used to having the extra weight. When you remove the weight, your body feels lighter, making you faster."

Naoto sheathed her one sword and took the proffered weights. He was right, they weren't that heavy, but it would be enough to help her out at first. She nodded, acknowledging the wisdom behind them.

"That makse sense." She tied them around her shins and lowered arms, immediately feeling the extra weight and not liking it at all, to the point of making a face. But, shrugging, she turned and retrieved her dropped katana. "It feels really awkward," she observed. It was like she actually had to put effort into lifting her sword.

"I imagine it would. However, just bear with it. It'll help with your training."

Zoro unsheathed one sword to compliment Naoto's.

"Alright, come at me again. You can use either one or two katana this time, but be warned. However many you use, I'll use as well."

Just like Zoro had said, the more katana he used, the more attack options he had at his disposal. However, he had no plans of harming Naoto; not until she got used to the weights, at least.

"One katana will be enough for now." She was better with just one, anyway. She knew this from experience, and even after training with two swords for a while, she still preferred one.

She attacked, sweeping in on his right side—slower, though, and Naoto began mentally cursing the weights. So slow. She barely had time to lift her sword before she realized Zoro would simply block it. She pulled the sword back at the last minute, a feint, and spun to strike at his other side.

Zoro had gone to block the first attack, his guard lowered, figuring the weights would slow her down, but hadn't planned on a feint, and had to re-establish his guard. Not having enough time to guard, Zoro side-stepped, just barely avoiding a deep wound, a light gash on his side. Quickly setting his guard back up, Zoro swung his sword at Naoto, making sure to use the back side of the blade like before.

Blocking the attack was out of the question. So, as much as she didn't like using it—too unconventional, she claimed—Naoto let a soru bring her out of the range of the swing, taking the delay in Zoro's reaction to swing upwards, careful not to cut deeply.

Seeing that CP9 move almost made Zoro forget who he was fighting. In a flash, Zoro parried the attack, instinctively reaching for his other swords. When he noticed it was Naoto who used the move, however, he leapt away from her, almost too surprised to talk.

"Naoto...when did you...did Lucci teach you the Rokushiki?"

His movements startled her as well; she'd thought he'd been moving quickly earlier, but that was nothing compared to how fast he reacted to her dodge. For a moment she saw killing intent in Zoro's eyes as well, but then he backed off, also quite shaken.

She nodded. "Yes. I started training in late November, but... I don't like it too much. I only use it when necessary." She raised her katana, and a ghost of a smile played across her lips. "Is there a problem with it?"

Zoro looked at Naoto, truly amazed. He didn't like those moves; the fact that the CP9 bastards used them already put a sour taste in Zoro's mouth when those techniques were brought up. However, if people like Coby and Naoto could learn such moves, they couldn't be all that bad.

"No, not at all. They may end up coming in handy in a tight spot."

Zoro looked down at his sword, then back at Naoto.

"Why don't I teach you another move that'll be handy in a tight spot?"

His amazement caused her smile to widen. Was it really that odd that someone other than a CP9 agent could use rokushiki? Perhaps, and even moreso that someone not from their world could learn it. It wasn't like she knew any more than soru and geppou; her attempts at learning tekkai were thwarted one way or another, and she had no use for the other techniques.

But she was curious about this one that Zoro had mentioned. "What is it?"

Zoro looked at his sword, focusing his energy into it.

"To be honest, it was something my old sensei told me about. He used to tell me that 'a swordsman who can cut nothing, can cut everything,' or something like that. Watch."

Zoro looked over at a dangling branch on a nearby tree, then struck at it with full force. Where a normal swordsman would simply cleave the branch in two, Zoro's sword simply glanced right past it. Zoro's head turned over to a nearby boulder, then barely tapped at it once with his sword, the boulder suddenly splitting in two on the spot.

"This move is something I learned when I was on the brink of death. I still have trouble calling it up on command, but I gather the energy of my body into my blade, and use that energy to cut nothing or everything at my whim."

Now it was Naoto's turn to look amazed. Jaw slack, eyes wide, she stared with disbelief at the split boulder. Never before had she seen anything so destructive and simple in her life. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

"How..." She fumbled for words, eyes darting to Zoro, to the boulder, then back to Zoro. "How is that possible?" To think one would be able to use that in combat! It was downright insane.

"I told you, I haven't mastered it yet, so I can't tell you exactly how it works. All I know is how I feel when I do it. Every time I use this technique, 'Shishi Sonson,' I focus my energy into my weapon. Once focused, I sort of tell my sword what it can and can't cut. It's a powerful technique, even able to cut through steel like paper. If you want to try to learn it, I can help, but I only learned it when I was at death's border, so I don't know if the same applies to anyone trying to learn it."

Naoto's gaze dropped to the sword in her hand. The possibilities that would entail if she learned that technique were many, and perhaps she would even stand a chance against Jyabura's tekkai—or even Lucci—if she learned it. Shishi Sonson.

Her expression set in determination. "All right, I'll try. Even if it takes me to the gates of death. What have I got to lose, anyway?"

Zoro nodded, then sheathed his sword, grabbing the duffel bag and slinging it over his shoulder once more almost effortlessly. Although Naoto might not have realized it, the duffel bag was filled with training weights, their combined weight easily greater than Zoro's weight.

"For now, you should train your body. Like I mentioned before, you might have better luck using one sword for the quick attacks you're skilled at, and learn how to use two swords to fend off stronger attackers, or more attackers. Whenever you feel like trying to learn Shishi Sonson, just let me know and I'll be happy to help you."

Naoto smiled. "All right. And, thank you." Bowing slightly, she turned to head deeper into the forest. "I think I'll continue training. I'll see you around, then... and don't get caught up in the curse today."

That said, she disappeared with another soru.

Zoro smiled as Naoto left, but she had spoken far too late. The curse had affected him, and he was just itching to find a tough opponent to beat.