Chapter 6: Friends

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It hadn't taken Inosuke long to barge back into Nagano's room the day she was to be discharged from the confinements of her room. His energy had seemed boundless, if he could foam at the mouth she was sure that would end up happening. Would that concern her? Probably not, it fits well with his personality anyhow. Raising her arms high over her head, she leaned to the right stretching out her torso and upper arms. For too long she had been sitting still, too long she had spent her time laying on her back counting the tiles on the ceiling, counting the leaves that blew past in the day. Unclasping her hands, she kept them raised as she took in the warmth of the sun, the sensation of the grass between her bare feet.

"Come on! Hurry up!" Inosuke shouted from his side of the yard, his patience growing thin.

Taking in a deep breath, Nagano let it out slowly as she shook her head. At least it didn't hurt as much to breathe anymore. There was still a small twinge of pain occasionally, but she had been informed that it was normal, her lungs were in the process of getting back to being used. It had made her curious though how much it'd affect her breathing styles, would she have to go back to the basics and re-train herself? As much as she loathed the idea of it, she knew well enough that it would be unwise to rush the healing process. The idea did occur to her that she could simply test it out, take an easy quest and then figure out that way, as quickly as she'd find out, it'd be too dangerous of a method to use just to see if she needed more training. Best thing for her would be to go off into the woods near her home and try a few, see how she felt afterwards. Heading off into a mission when she still needs training could kill her outright, hashira or not.

"Are you done looking at the clouds?" He questioned, his shoulders rolled as he cracked his knuckles, his body vibrating with excitement.

"Patience Inosuke, Patience." She sighed tiredly. "You'll have your spar." Letting out another long breath, Nagano slid her barefoot back in the grass setting her body into a defensive stance, her hands balled into fists and ready to defend her face.

Laughing maniacally, Inosuke bolted forwards his arms out at his sides as he ran. Narrowing her eyes, she sidestepped him dodging the tackle attempt Nagano assumed he had tried to do. Grumbling in annoyance, the boy whipped around swinging his leg in a roundhouse kick nature towards Nagano's side. Quickly lowering her arms, she grabbed ahold of his leg stopping it from hitting her. Gritting her teeth, she pushed all her strength into her biceps as the brunt of his force continued even after making contact. She had been able to stop him from kicking her ribs, but from the brute force of his kick alone, her body dragged along the grass backwards, chunks of dirt kicked up behind her as she attempted to deepen her stance and stop her movement.

She could feel the wicked grin on his face from behind the mask, narrowing her eyes; she ignored the frantic chatter of the girls that sat off to the side by the mansion's doors. With her just recovering, they had been concerned with her doing any excessive movements too soon, so to ease their comfort they sat on standby in case the fight had gotten too rough.

Pushing his leg off of her, he laughed as his balance wavered. Leaping forwards, Nagano quickly swung her opposing leg low to the ground in attempts of sweeping the singular leg he had on the ground. Turning his attention to her, he swiftly leapt up just as her foot was about to make contact and spun his body around, catching himself in a handstand he righted himself and stood back onto his feet a little farther away from her than he had been just moments ago. Grinning amusedly, Nagano stepped forwards into his space, not for a kick though, instead she lightly lifted her leg giving Inosuke the assumption she was going to kick, but at the last second she lowered her foot and shifted her weight to her left shoulder as she palm striked Inosuke in the abdomen. Grunting from the impact, he kept his arms outstretched to keep his balance as Nagano stepped back into her original defensive position.

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