𝐋𝐈𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐃 𝐒𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇 || mizu

𝟎𝟒. 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐭𝐡

˚ ༘ ·˚ ₊˚ˑ༄ؘ
⁺˚⋆｡° chapter four ⁺˚⋆｡°

┊͙✧˖*°࿐

❛ in trouble comes strength ❜
⋆.ೃ࿔*:･⁺˚⋆｡°✩₊
∘₊✧──✧₊∘

─── ⋆⋅☼⋅⋆ ───

[ KOHAMA VILLAGE, 1651 ]

    MIZU'S BLADE CUT THROUGH THE AIR WITH AMATEUR PRECISION, shivering as he exerted nearly all of his strength to remain upright. He knew that just a few feet away, Shizuku knelt in the dirt while she watched him. Part of him refused to screw up because of that, another part was because he simply couldn't.

He'd been working on this particular maneuver for weeks now but it wasn't exactly showing in his movements. His wrists still trembled from the weight of his practice blade and the steel clasped around his forearms, and he couldn't get the blade to slice through the pole of bamboo he was nearing.

Shizuku encouraged him from the sidelines every time, her small hands coming together in a hushed applause each time he satisfactorily executed a new move. In her eyes though, it was all perfect.

And then it wasn't.

His sword clanged against the bamboo and instead of cutting cleanly through it, it bounced backwards with pulses of sharp, tinny warbles. Mizu couldn't regain his hold and allowed the sword to drag him to the ground with a soft cry.

"Damn it." he muttered as he sat up, rolling his throbbing wrists. They burned like hell after so many rounds of trying to perfect that swing. Shizuku must have figured this, rising from her spot and running to his side. Her frantic hands hovered over him for a moment, and she grabbed the sword instead.

Her small, lithe fingers wrapped around the carefully crafted handle, shocked by how heavy it really was. Yet Mizu wielded it like it were nothing more than a feather.

"No, don't," Mizu spoke softly as he reached for the blade, his eyes flitting between Shizuku's hand and somewhere just beyond her hip. The pain in his arms seemed to be the last thing on his mind now.

Shizuku stepped just out of Mizu's reach, a surprise burst of hurt knitting her eyebrows together. "What, you think I can't do it right?" The girl challenged, despite her lingering discomfort with the weight of the weapon.

It felt bulky in her hand — well, hands. She had to grasp the handle with both now, her shoulders already growing sore. She wanted to blame it on the differences between them: inexperienced and experienced, short and tall, scrawny and lean, female and male.

Mizu huffed, irritation lining his strong features. He took one last look behind Shizuku before letting his shoulders slump, hands falling into his lap. "What're you doing?" He grumbled, watching the girl try to familiarize herself with the blade.

The thing made her hands shake, and each time she swayed it back and forth, it seemed to pull her along with it. Her face was twisted with a mixture of concentration and panic the more she tried to tame the thing. It was certainly an amusing sight and a smile tugged at the corners of Mizu's lips.

It's probably what he looked like when he first picked up a blade. Wobbly and unbalanced, the blade wielding him rather than the other way around. If he did, Shizuku never let him know.

Shizuku wasn't even aware of how much Mizu's grin had grown until he let out a stifled laugh, the sound catching her full attention. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she realized how crazy she must have looked, and she sputtered out a few protests before they ultimately melted into giggles that matched Mizu's.