The Water Tsuguko

Chapter 4

Takeo woke up in a cold sweat, the soft rusling coming from outside of his room telling him that Giyuu had returned. The boy brought a small hand up to his face, making sure he had not cried from his nightmare- god, how embarrassing would that be- and was relieved to find there was nothing out of the ordinary other than the small rise of the beauty mark right underneath his right eye.

He let out a soft sigh, before looking up at his door, Giyuu appearing in front of him as the door slid open.

“It’s time for training,” was all the man said before sliding the door shut and leaving once again.

Takeo took this as his sign to get ready- albeit he was confused about Giyuu’s short lived conversation with him- and he neatly tidied up his room before putting on a plain pair of hakama pants, a yukata, and his turquoise haori and checkered scarf.

He walked out of the room, and towards the training hall- which happened to be outside- and slid his shoes on before stepping out. The morning was still dark, though small peaks of light blue out in the horizon signified that the world would be waking up to the sun soon.

Giyuu was out in the middle of the field, his hair pulled back into his usual ponytail, though he wasn’t wearing his usual corps uniform. His attire was similar to Takeo’s own- plain hakama pants and a yukata.

He was holding a wooden sword, which Takeo assumed he’d be using to practice with until he was able to fight with a real sword.

“You should stretch first,”Giyuu said. “You’ll have five minutes, so stretch whatever needs to be stretched in order for you to be able to work to your full potential. While you are stretching, I will explain the training regiment that you will follow.”

Takeo nodded, starting to stretch out his calves, hamstrings, back, arms, and shoulders.

“I’d like for you to master at least half of water breathing before the final selection I want to put you in- about a year from now- and after that, you’ll be officially recognized as my tsuguko, and you’ll be able to accompany me on missions from time to time to get field experience. We’ll start with stamina and endurance training this week, and we’ll see how you progress next week, so I can think of when to start your breathing training.”

Takeo listened intently to what Giyuu was saying, determination making its way across his face. Once the five minutes Takeo had to stretch were over with, the real training began.

A hundred pushups were the first thing that the ten-year-old had to accomplish, making his arms feel like jelly afterwards. It was only the first part of his training, yet Takeo already felt as if he wouldn’t be cut out for it. He was small, and always has been, and it would take him a lot longer than most people to be able to be stronger. But he assumed he made the choice to get trained by a current hashira- the highest ranking swordsman- and he should have expected nothing less.

The morning was followed by sit ups, a two-mile sprint, fall practice, squats, lunges, and all the other things that started to slowly kill Takeo from the inside out. After what seemed like an eternity, noon finally rolled around, and Giyuu gave the young boy an hour long lunch break to recuperate and regain the strength the training took from him.

His entire body was mush as he walked into the kitchen. Giyuu made some more udon for Takeo, which he happily gobbled down as if he hadn’t eaten in days. Giyuu ate his like he normally would, slowly as if he had all the energy in the world without needing the food to replenish his strength.

A crow that wasn’t Giyuu’s flew in, and made its place right on the table.

“Caw! A visit to the Water Estate requested by Sound Pillar Uzui Tengen! Caw!”