One in the Same

Chapter Twelve

   Cat watched him from the porch of the house. Botan had been sitting in the garden meditating for the last thirty minutes. Slowly she sat the kimono she had been stitching down as he began to, even more slowly, get to his feet from his knees.
   "Kyō wa kunren suru hitsuyō wa arimasen." She said as she walked up to him tying her hair up and out of her face. A bokuto was in her own obi now. He had fashioned her one not long ago and had been training her on how to use it. There were still things she didn't understand, but she was quickly getting there.
   Botan sighed and looked up at the sky. "Every...day."
   His English was getting clearer but he still struggled from time to time. Cat fixed him with her eyes. "You can't."
   "You can," he replied looking directly at her.
   "Fine," she replied with a glare before bowing to him. Botan winced as he gave a nod back, not being able to go into the full bow. As they both straightened, Cat couldn't help but look up to the sky. It wouldn't be long before the sun started to set and the moon would come up. Not yet full, but not far from. "Botan," she said with hesitation.
   "Draw," he replied trying not to sound snippy.
   Cat immediately had the bokuto in her hand and in the stance. Botan walked around her, looking over her form. He nodded to himself, gently repositioned her elbow, then moved on until he was standing beside her once again. "Susumu."
   Cat gave a forward slash.
   Botan nodded again. "Yoi. Futatabi."
   Cat repeated the movement, swinging the bokuto up to the other side.
   "Iku," Botan said slightly stepping back and Cat sprang into action. Forward, backward, pivot, left, right, up, sideways. Fighting an invisible enemy. She went slow enough if he needed to correct, he could. The only thing he corrected was her form from time to time. Which was the biggest improvement, honestly. Her footwork had been the biggest struggle. Where she wanted to use the balls of her feet, Botan was constantly reminding her to use all of her feet. He was a skilled warrior, there was no doubt of that. Time and patience were one of his strong suits.
   "Yoi. Good," he complimented with a nod and she came to a stop. He pulled his own bokuto out and faced her. She took a deep inhale through her nose as she took a prepared stance. "Kaishi," he said with a nod and left it to her to make the first move.
   Cat didn't hesitate. The swords cracked as they made contact. She was better at parrying his attacks and getting away from his blades. He kept it slow at first but began picking up speed as they went. She had gotten used to this as well, so it didn't trick her up too much. The clacks reverberated through the clearing over and over. Every once and while she would land a cut on him. He would nod back, tell her "good" then they would keep going. As he went for the left, however, she went to parry. At the last possible second, he spun to the right and caught her squarely on the side of her thigh. Cat hissed out in pain. But shook it off quickly and went for his up arm. Another cut took her off guard and caught her in the upper arm. "Fōkasu," he commanded.
   "Hai," she replied stepping back then moving towards him again. She swung the sword up behind her head and went down at an angle. The very tip of her sword caught just above his wrist, making him hold the bokuto in his left. Not his preferred, which gave her an opening. An opening she took gladly. Cat used her momentum and turned her blade to her left hand and batted the hilt of his sword with her own. Laying her palm on the flat of the blade as leverage, she was able to knock the sword fully from his grip and straight up into the air. "Yoi!" He called out proudly. "Totemo yoi."
   Cat smiled and flipped her bokuto in her hand before his dropped to the ground. She gave him time to pick it up then they went right back to it. Clack clack clack pap clack clack clack wap pap clack. The sounds were soothing to her and she wasn't noticing the pain as much as she had. Learning to work through it. "Never focus on the pain. Pain will come and go. You are in control of it." He had told her in one of their training. That day he had also taught her to meditate. It was not one of her strong suits.

   They continued on until just before dark. He was panting ever so slightly. And Cat nearly cut up head to toe. He chuckled as he looked her over. She didn't glare back as she normally would have. "Kore wa hijō ni yoi torēningudeshita."
   She huffed a piece of hair from her eyes and nodded. "Hai," she replied with a smirk then it faltered. "Sorehanandesuka?"
   Botan moved towards her and gently took his chin between his thumb and forefinger and tilted her head to the side. "Anata wa shukketsu shite imasu."
   She frowned and reached up stroking her cheek. A small torch went through the right side of her face. When she pulled her fingers down, he wasn't wrong. Bright crimson covered her fingertips. It had been at least an hour since he had struck her face. Cat had tried pulling the same move Botan had and moved at the last minute. So instead of his cut going to her chest, he had struck her right across the cheek.
   "Tabe sasemashou. Soshite sore o mita." He said with deep concern. Cat nodded still looking down at her fingers. She didn't understand. She had been drinking regularly. Animal blood was not as sustaining as human blood by any means, and she hated the taste. But it kept her alive. Botan had taught her she didn't need human. Plus, he was the only human she had seen her entire time there.
   "Cata," he said gently taking her hand into his and looking into her eyes with a worried expression. "Where go?"
   "Tá brón orm," she said shaking her head. "I'm here."
   Botan nodded but didn't let her hand go. He turned and lead her back to the house. Once they got inside he told her to sit as he quickly gathered different herbs. She knew what he was doing, but nothing was registering. She had never bled before. Not like this anyway. Slowly, her hands shaking, she began pulling up the leg of her umanori until she had it bunched up to her hip and her eyes widened. There was a gasp where he had first hit her across the side of her thigh. In her haste, she ripped the sleeve from her kimono to see even more deep cuts on her arm and shoulder.
   She didn't remember Botan being there. Didn't remember hearing him walk up or even know he had moved. He was just suddenly there, taking her hand into his own. "I here," he said gently. He had two bowls and a warm wet rag in his free hand. He sat them down expertly and used the rag to clean up as much of the blood as he could. "I here, Cata." She nodded still not looking at him. He reached up and gently stroked her hair away from her face. Immediately, at that touch, her eyes found his. Botan smiled gently at her. "There are." He said with a nod. Cat looked deep into his eyes. There was something there. Something that hadn't been there before. He reached up and gently dabbed at her cheek. He sat the rag down then handed her one of the bowls. She looked down into the rich red and brown liquid. She knew what it was before she even put it to her lips. With the other bowl in his hand, he began to layer a balm over her cuts and wounds. "Won't scar," he said with a gentle voice. Soft almost as if Cat was a child once more. "See," he pointed at one close to her ankle. "Close."
   Cat nodded then went back to watching him. His movements were slow. He didn't want to hurt her. But his touch. That was what brought her back to reality. There was something. Something that wasn't there before.