Tilted Axis

Chapter:13

Killua POV

"Not good enough! Again!" Nobunaga shouts at me. I grit my teeth gripping the hilt of the wooden katana tightly. I repeat the set of movements he has been drilling me with on a dummy. A strike from the right, followed by the left, and finishing with a slash from the top right.

  "Damn it Killua! Watch me!" He shoves me to the side in irritation. "Let your arms and body flow with the movements. Remaining stiff and in place is a good way to get killed." He does the set himself. I watch him shift his weight and altering his arms, hands and feet with each strike. Not each strike is a full power blow but a decisive strike.

  "You do not need full power in each strike. You will become winded faster. You want quick decisive strikes. Your intention is to kill not cut them in half." He taps the tip of his wooden blade to my chest.

   "When using a katana, you need to use more. Don't use just the tip. If you do, you risk cutting too shallow. Giving your enemy the chance to recover and take you down. The full blade will leave a longer and deeper cut. One that will be lethal on or off the battlefield."

  He's about to continue when Phinks strolls up to us. "Nobu! What's the hold up? Killua was supposed to meet up with me half an hour ago."

   "Don't look at me. He was struggling to complete a set correctly." He responds.

Phinks rolls his eyes. "And I'm sure you gave plenty more than just a quick rundown of what he's supposed to do right?"

At this the Japanese male grumbles in his native language. "That's what I thought. You need to teach him to do it correctly. Not just hand him a blade and say go!"

He motions to me. "Come on kid. You have more training to do before the day is up." He begins to walk away.

I nod. "Yes sir!" I give my blade to Nobunaga and bow respectively. I leave him and chase after the blonde.

"Hope he didn't manage to tire you out kid. I've got more in store." He says to me.

"Absolutely. Father has been training me in hand to hand with my brother since I was young."

  "And you're about to learn a lot more." He finishes. A moment later I find myself flat on my ass. Taking me a second to realize he swept my leg out from under me.

  "That was dirty." I retort jumping up.

  "You expect every combatant you come across to fight fair? A fair fight doesn't exist in the real world. Starting with, be prepared for anything. Expect anything. You weren't expecting me to take out your leg. In a battle you would already be dead."

"Your teaching style seems to be similar to Nobunagas." I say arching a brow.

"You may think that now. With him it's important for things to be formal and done right. While we may both say to do something with little instruction, simple sparring isn't as complex."

"So how do you intend to tea-." I cut myself off leaning back dodging his back fist that was aiming for my face.

"Enough questions. You will learn." He continues walking silently and I walk behind him. He remains quiet and we don't stop walking. Instead, we circle the home several times.

   Without warning he quick pivots and sends a kick into my side. Air rushes out of my lungs as I'm knocked to the ground. Without giving me time to recover, he lunges and begins sending quick string punches at me.

  All I'm able to do is block him best I can while catching my breath. I bring my knee up quickly into his crotch getting him off balance and rolling free.

  "You reacted quick. But once again you could already be dead." He says brushing himself off calmly.

   "What was.."I stop in a small coughing fit. "The fucking point of that? And how can you brush off a blow to your testicles that easy?"

  "Once again, I'm teaching you to be ready for anything. Expect anything. You walking behind me is exactly what I wanted. Imagine this, you are alone escorting a prisoner. One could do the same thing and proceed to get your gun, or even choke you with their chains. You leave yourself open. As for your other question, there is protective gear for such an attack. Because I was prepared."

   He offers me a hand and I grab it with him pulling me up. "I'm not going to go easy on you and give you instruction. The best teacher is experience. And with no warfare or things going on what better way is a non lethal variant."

  I sigh. He is right though. Out side of formal training combat, I don't have experience. Especially when the only person I would spar with is Illumi.

"You will learn in time. Soon there won't be a single opponent you won't be prepared for. If they suddenly pull a gun or knife, you will be able to disarm them. A prisoner tries to escape, you will be able to quickly catch them."

"Hope you're right." I rub at my sore side. "I think you get a kick out of beating me up a bit as well."

He grins slightly. "Ohh nooo. Whatever gave you that idea? Here, Let's give you a small training scenario. Let's say I'm a prisoner again." He points over to a table by the house. "Grab the rope on that table. We will bind my hands behind my back."

   Doing as he asks I run over and grab it. "You know how to tie a secure knot?" He asks upon my return. Nodding quickly. "I do."

  He places his hands behind his back and I quickly secure them with the rope. "Feels like a good knot. But no matter how good you think it is." He pauses turning to face me. "Won't be good if you don't check your prisoner." Before I realize it he's raised his arms above his head, free from the binds and holding a pocket knife.

  "You really have an interesting teaching method Phinks." I say to him mildly upset at myself.

  "I'm going to be the closest thing you get to real experience. Sure you would prefer this over drilling the same motions over and over." He sends a quick jab aimed at my stomach. I leap back narrowly dodging but he brings his fist up to my jaw. Stars scattering across my vision. "At least you dodged one of them."

(Authors notes: Happy Halloween! I'm sorry it took me a while with this chapter again please don't yell at me. Life is a pain. Honestly I feel like I almost stumped myself with Killua vs when it's a Gon chapter. But I digress and will continue to work on it. Thanks for understanding and I hope you guys enjoyed and stay safe!