When the stars align for us

Chapter 9

'So, Tomioka,' Shinobu began, 'how am I going to destroy that thing without the necessary amount of poison?'
'You're going to decapitate it,' he said calmly.
Shinobu burst out laughing. Then, looking at him, her eyes widened.
'You're serious,' she stated, 'Tomioka, if I could do that, I wouldn't be in this situation,'
'I know you've been using poison ever since you joined the Corps, but if you're going to slay an Upper Moon, you're going to have to learn how to do this,'
'I know how to do it! I just can't!'
'Come with me,' he said after a moment of thinking.
'Where?'
Seeing that Tomioka wasn't planning to answer her question, she started following him to the unknown destination.
...
Giyu lead her into an open space in the middle of a familiar forest. He unsheathed his sword, and handed it to Shinobu.
'Here. Yours is too thin,' he explained.
Accepting it, Shinobu looked around.
'Now what?'
'Try to cut town the tree,'
Shinobu stared at the tree trunk in front of her. Here goes.
Swinging the blade with her full strength, Shinobu barely left a mark on the trunk. Looking around, she spotted Giyu looking faintly amused.
He offered his hand and she gave him the sword. Giyu took a stance and swung the sword, letting the trunk plummet on the ground.
He handed the sword back to Shinobu and grabbed her hands, which were both holding the sword. Being in a position that didn't allow her to tease him, she decided to simply listen.
'Left leg back, and bend your right knee forward,' he spoke.
He moved her hands to put the sword in a horizontal position.
'Now, release!' He let go of her hands.
Shinobu jumped and swung the sword again. She left great evidence of a blade hitting a trunk, but it didn't fall.
'Now repeat that 50 times,'
Shinobu stared at him.
'What?' he asked.
'I never realized that you had become my trainer,' Shinobu smiled, teasing him.
Giyu rolled his eyes. Shinobu continued to repeat the process.
Twenty minutes later, the swordswoman had finished her fifty sword swings. Her breathing was fine, though her leg muscles were throbbing painfully from jumping.
'Fifty more,' was Giyu's response to her stopping. She groaned.
'Fine, but I need a break first,'
He shrugged.
...
By evening, Shinobu had cut down all the surrounding trees.
'Good work today, Kocho,' Giyu half-smiled, handing her a bottle of water.
'Thanks,' she flashed him a genuine smile.
'You still need to practise though. With much tougher materials,' he added.
Shinobu nodded.
They both sat down quietly.
'Tomioka?' Shinobu broke the silence, 'Could you...not mention this to the other Hashiras?'
'Why?'
'I just don't want them to know,'
He nodded.
...
The next day, Giyu presented Shinobu with a huge boulder, much to her surprise and rage.
'How am I supposed to cut that?!'
'Your strength does not reside in your muscles, but in your speed, so that's what you're going to use. You could use the momentum to slash this in half,' he explained patiently.
'You really think I can do this?' she asked, still angry.
'Of course you can, you're a Pillar,' Giyu explained, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
...
Over the next few days, Shinobu continued to try to cut the boulder down the middle, to no avail, until one evening, something shocking happened.
Shinobu was jumping from one branch to the other, gathering speed. Once she felt she had enough momentum, she jumped towards the boulder, cutting it clean down the middle.
'Yes! I did it!' Shinobu's voice echoed throughout the forest. Giyu walked over to her, when she wrapped her arms around him.
'Thank you for your help, Tomioka,' she uttered, as she pulled back. He half-smiled, nodding.
'You're far from ready though,' he said seriously.
...
'CAW!'
'CAW! Muichiro Tokito has defeated Upper Moon 5!'