3 Chapter 3: Sparring

Itsuki stood up and heads towards the bathroom, he washed his face and brushes his teeth, looking at the reflection of his face in the water he was quiet happy with his new face, he look similarly to Michikatsu Tsugikuni and only the color of his eyes is different from the latter. After that he changed his clothes to a purple training gi with two crossed sword on its left breast, As he was done changing his clothes the door slides open and there comes a cute little girl.

Kuina is a little girl, with short dark blue hair, and dark brown eyes. She is the daughter of Koushiro and also his cousin. Her mother died shortly after Itsuki came and burried her near the grave of Itsuki's mother . She has been coming to Itsuki every single day ever since he arrived there and talk to him even though Itsuki just smiled at her and didn't even speak. The young Kuina said " Ohayo big brother Itsuki! The breakfast is ready and father told me to wake you up! " Kuina hold Itsuki's hand dragging him excitedly. Kuina is younger than Itsuki by months and she saw him as her older brother as he always smiled at her warmly though she still did not hear him speak even once during those years but he takes care of her when she got injured during training.

'So this is Kuina? the one that Zoro could not defeat in his childhood and share the same dream to become the greatest swordsman but died due to falling down the stairs? but with me here that wont happen! uncle and Kuina are the only left family for me!' with a smile as he let himself to be dragged by the little girl to the eating area and where Koushiro is.

His uncle Koushiro who had a long black hair, tied in a ponytail with circular glasses and a grey yukata with two crossed sword on its left breast look at them and smiled. They gave thanks before eating their breakfast. After eating they head towards the training area, Koushiro and Kuina were both surprise that Itsuki is following them as he always goes to the garden after eating or go back to his room and they also noticed that he was wearing a training gi this time.

As they arrived in their destination, Koushiro ordered Kuina " Kuina! tell your brothers to come here to practice together "

Kuina quickly do as her father ordered and soon , all the disciple of the dojo are summoned together, the disciple are all from Frost moon village and came there to train. They are all boys and some of them passed the age of 8-10.

Standing in two rows on the left and the right sides, holding a bamboo sword in their hand, waiting for the beginning of their training. Kuina also took a bamboo sword and stand in the first place of the row looking so serious. Among the group of disciple , she seemed to stand out from the crowd as she is the only girl in the dojo and she began to train at the early age of three.

"Begin! " Koushiro voice resounded in their ears and the sword practice began. Itsuki walks towards where the bamboo swords are stored and quickly pick up a sword.

Koshiro notice him picking a sword and asked him "Hmm? Itsuki are you also going to train? " The crowd and Kuina seems surprise as they look at him as it is the first time seeing Itsuki holding a sword and joining their practice but Itsuki just nod at his Uncle in approval without saying a word and began swinging his sword repeatedly.

Itsuki swang his bamboo sword very seriously, perfectly doing as what his uncle told them to do and also improving how he swang his sword by looking at the movement of his muscles and blood flows with transparent world and comparing it to Koushiro who trained for years .

Sword exercise, Swinging their sword for a certain amount of time . When the time is up, Itsuki didn't look tired at all and only his arms felt a little numb for swinging his sword hundreds of time. Maybe because of Yoriichi talents, it is said that he can run for days on end without rest even as a child, he even remarked that he didn't feel the least bit enervated.

Next is the sparring time where every two students would fight with a friendly combat match using a Bamboo sword against each others. Koushiro assigned Kuina to fight Itsuki as the other kid disciples were afraid of her and she is currently the strongest kid in the dojo even though she is only 5 however she started to train 2 years ago,also adding her talents and the other reason why they were afraid of her was because she didn't hold back in a fight.

However the true reason why Koushiro assigned Kuina to fight Itsuki was because Itsuki's movement earlier attracted his attention since it contained his very lecture essence and he, as a master swordsman have been observing Itsuki since he started swinging his sword earlier and could tell that this is really his first time holding a sword.

Kuina who was like a lovely little sister seems different from before, every time she fights an opponent she would become a heartless monster, although she is a girl, she puts more effort than any other kids in the dojo and she would always fight with all her strength.

"Itsuki nii-chan do your best! I won't go easy even if its you!" She warned Itsuki and he just look at her with serious expression. With that, they both took a ready stance waiting for Koushiro's word.

"Start! " Koushiro told them to start the battle,Kuina who held her bamboo sword with both hands raised her bamboo sword high up in the air and swung it down towards Itsuki's head at fast speed .

However, Itsuki also didn't waste time, as he activated the transparent world allowing him to perceive the world around him at a much faster rate, making it appear as if the world around him seems in slow motion and it also enhanced reflexes and speed . He didn't need to focus his energy on his eyes to activate the transparent world and it acts like more passive or a second nature to him unlike Gyomei Himejima and Obanai Iguru because he was born with it.

Itsuki quickly waved his sword towards his opponent sword and hit it making it changed direction, he then took a quick step to the side and wave his sword towards Kuina's neck but it suddenly stopped before making a contact with her skin as Itsuki deliberately stopped it as he didn't want to hurt her.

Itsuki withdrew his Bamboo sword from her neck and finally spoke " Kuina are you alright? " Kuina was surprised that he could speak, her breath halted and her bamboo sword slipped from her hands but instead of answering him, her stubbornness got over her and seeing that she lost to MAN who had just train his sword for a while, she got ashamed of herself and ask him with a teary eyes " Why didn't you hit me? it's because I'm a girl that you too think that sword is not suitable for me right?! " " I didn-" Itsuki tried to speak to her but Kuina immediately ran away from the dojo.

Every disciple of the dojo who watch the match look stunned and amazed to see how quick the match ended as they thought that Kuina would definitely defeat her opponent and win but the reality was against what they had anticipated.

Even his uncle couldn't help but be shocked 'What kind of genius is this? ' and came into him "You finally talk huh? Kuina and I were worried that you will never speak and by the way, is this really your first time wielding a sword?"

Itsuki nodded his head in approval and his Uncle said " You can just practice with your own starting from now as the kids in the dojo were not your opponent" Itsuki again nodded and excuse himself and head towards the direction where Kuina runs.

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Author's Note - I'm not really good at making conversation more livelier but I'm trying to improve as best as I can!