The Red Maelstrom

[33] A Sight to Behold

"I must admit that I am pleasantly surprised to watch you fare well in routine exercises. I have barely heard any complaints from you."

Kohana was bent over, hands on trembling knees and greedily taking in gulps of air. She was sweating all over—sweating in places she didn't even know could produce sweat! Kohana was nothing if not diligent when she trained, but why was this regimen the absolute worst? She was rather certain she never perspired this much in her entire life; not even when she'd trained from dawn until dusk!

"Give it another minute," she wanted to say, but feared what would happen if she mouthed off to Osamu again (not that she could because suddenly, her lungs felt far too small— but gods couldn't they contain more air?). He truly was worse than Kakashi. Mild-mannered or not, the man oversaw her training with an iron fist. It was no wonder she had to wait so long to become his pupil—really, she should have seen this coming.

With a sound that was almost inhuman (something halfway between a gruff exhale, a sob, and a shriek), Kohana finally collapsed onto the grass. Where were her legs? Osamu was going to have to carry her to the hospital to get them amputated. Lying down flat on her face like this and feeling the sweet, cool grass against her overheated skin and gasping in large amounts of air, Kohana never felt more like a fish in her life.

Osamu gingerly placed a bottle of water next to Kohana's head, a small smile on his face. "I suppose that should be suffice for the day."

Again, Kohana wanted to say, "'Ya think?", but this time, she was far too exhausted to even think about snark. Running around the entire village twice with just one ten-minute break was probably enough to kill a person who was unaccustomed to a shinobi's moderate-level regimen. Kohana wouldn't be this winded if she hadn't gone through the first quarter of Osamu's routine for the day. At this point, Kohana was inclined to ask how much more of this torture she was going to take, but she knew better than that. While Osamu was training Kohana, he was gauging her thresholds—this week of regimens was a pre-test of sorts for Osamu to evaluate her level of skill and endurance. He did promise that if Kohana did her very best and more, then he would consider teaching her actual kenjutsu sooner.

If Osamu had been expecting her to throw the towel in or whine for hours on end, then he had severely underestimated Kohana's steadfast discipline. Was he underestimating her for losing her battle against Yoshiaki?

Kohana wouldn't believe it if he did; he, like a select few people, knew that Kohana was in absolutely no shape to fight. She'd been told a great many times that it was a miracle she even survived, especially taking into account how far she'd pushed her body when she should have clocked out before the battle even approached its climax.

Osamu sat patiently in front of her, head resting against the scabbard of Wasurenagusa as he held the sword upright on the grass. Kohana narrowed her eyes at him, still unable to formulate any coherent words, but no less emphatic with her glaring. Osamu smiled at her good-naturedly. He really was too pretty to be as evil as he was, but Kohana swore that given enough time, that opinion would eventually be due for change as well.

Without offering any explanations, he carefully lay beside her, resting his hands comfortably on his belly after setting Wasurenagusa down by his side. "Let us enjoy this pleasant afternoon, shall we?" He closed his eyes with the same smile still on his lips. Kohana found herself mimicking his position under the shade of the tree where she collapsed. Now that her breath was in control, Kohana could focus on calming down.

She shut her eyes, savoring the glow of saturated colors spreading across her eyelids. Kohana breathed in deeply, not to catch her breath, but to enjoy the thick, yet light smell of the soil beneath them. As sunny as it was today, the soil was never too dry in Konoha. There was always that fresh, earthy scent that surrounded the village in its entirety. It was home and because of that, Kohana found it much easier to gather her wits once again and allow serenity to take over.