She (TakashiMorinozukaxOC)

Chapter 24: That Special Day

"Set! Begin!" 

 Ichi Saito was twenty-three years old. He was a nidan black belt-- the second level-- and above Jenni in age, height, and skill level. He attended dojo for his level every other day at the Haninozuka dojo, and he was a great fighter. From what Jenni understood as well, he was also a pretty good guy. Apparently, he did work for Honey's side of the family-- a travel agent especially for when they had to go to different military bases. Altogether, Ichi was a great guy and a good martial artist.

Today, however, was not Ichi's lucky day. 

Because today was the day that the shodan levels, Jenni's level, were going through the right of passage from shodan to nidan. This meant that all day herself and three others (Shiro, Kenji, and Yumi) from her class were to spend all day showcasing their skill. 

She felt like everyone was there-- they had even moved to the larger room of the dojo complex. The one with chairs on the sidelines and two different sparing mats. The Haninozuka family, who Jenni rarely saw in a collective, was there, along side their cousins, the Morinozukas. Of course, Honey and Takashi sat in the center of their line. Honey leaned on the edge of his seat with anticipation while Takashi sat as cooly as possible next to him. Right now, she was aiming to pass her defense test against Ichi. Jenni seemed cool as a cucumber; but they were both nervous enough for her.

He came at her with a punch to her center, and she deflected his hand and redirected it. His other hand came from up high, but she moved like water in deflecting the chop to his side. Ichi was fairly fast, but Jenni was arguably faster. He sent a kick her way, and she lifted her own leg to her center to cover her. Ichi was a bit taken aback. Even though it was her test, he was not going easy on her. 

By the time it was over, Ichi hadn't been able to get the best of Jenni. After all, she had been training personally with the best of the best: Honey and Takashi. While she had never gotten the absolute best of either of them, she certainly tried. 

Takashi watched as the referees directed her off the mat. Jenni paused and turned back to Ichi, said something with a smile, and bowed. Ichi smiled and seemed to laugh, and stuck out his hand. As they shook hands, Ichi said distinctly, "Congratulations." 

Takashi was glad she was doing so well. So far, her katas were nearly flawless, her defense was passable at worst, and she had passed her weapons examination-- which was Jenni's most fearful subject. Now, all that was left was the sparring match. 

It would be against Ichi again, after the brief break. If Takashi were honest, he'd swear that he saw a tinge of surprise on Ichi's face when Jenni had passed her defense so seamlessly. By the time he had that, thought, though, the sparring match was already about to begin. 

"Set!" Jenni's face narrowed, and then relaxed into a sort of zen he seldom saw on her face. It was like her body relaxed and prepared itself to move at a second's notice at the same time, "Begin!" 

A piercing light streamed in through the window. For once, it wasn't from a certain someone's room across the estate. Instead, it was warm sunlight coming through the curtains. It landed directly in his eyes and caused him to groan. Takashi was never a morning person, especially since the insomniac moved in. But, he hardly minded that small hindrance. After all, she was a special insomniac. His favorite insomniac in the whole world. 

He finally got up, albeit slow as it was. His shirtless top half slipped from the covers, and he sighed at the cool morning air. He looked at his clock: 6:45AM, and figured that he should probably be getting up anyways. Today was a rather important day for Jenni. It was one she had been training for a while to get to, and he didn't want to miss it.