21 Awakening

"Are you…alright?"

"No." Akeno grits out, trying to push herself off the ground. She'd been trying for the past few minutes. She hadn't moved in the slightest. "I'm not." She bites out, sweat rolling down her brow. The 'Weight' Ofudas stuck onto her arms and legs are glowing gently. "How-, how can you stand this!?"

I look down at my own 'Weight' Ofudas. I have five on each limb, each applying their own weight. The earth beneath me is sunk slightly. "I mean," I shrug. "I'm used to it, I guess. I've been doing this for years, after all." I give her a thumbs up. "Don't compare yourself to me. At least you're still conscious."

Akeno groans.

It's the early morning of a sleepy weekend, and I finally bring Akeno with me to the forest I frequent. She was surprised to see the swords, knives, and cinder blocks lying all around, but I easily explained that I was the one that brought them all here.

She was eager to begin, and I suggested she begin with the cinder blocks; it was how I started after all. But she looked at the 'Weight' Ofudas I stuck onto my limbs, and she wanted to follow. I suggested she not to. She insisted, saying, "After all, it can't be that bad, right?"

She's right. It's worse.

"Are you sure this is what you want?" I ask again. "You don't have to train like this. You can use magic and all."

Akeno is silent for a moment, before she shakes her head. "Mom died because I was weak." She says, and then softly she adds, "And I'm never using his light."

I silently sigh. Her anger at her father is…warranted, I suppose. It's a little irrational, but that's something I can only say as an outsider. Akeno is a victim, and whether by choice or by design, her father had not been there when Himejima Suou sent his servants to kill Akeno's mother and drive her out.

This is the other reason why I worry about the incoming Fallen. I am neutral, but Akeno certainly isn't. I can only hope she and the Fallen don't meet.

"If that's what you want." I concede, though not before grinning slightly. "I do suggest using those cinder blocks first, though. At least until I make some weaker Ofudas for you to use."

Akeno glares at me, before she relents with a sigh. "Fine."

The Ofudas on her limbs are ripped off, and I let her rest for a good few minutes as I prepare her weights. A cinder block for each hand, and two blocks tied on a rope for her to pull with her legs. It was what I started with years ago. This should be enough for the time being.

Soon, she begins her workout. Her arms and legs shake as she trains, but the 'Healing' Ofuda I periodically stick onto her back keeps her going. Surprisingly, she doesn't complain all that much. She bears the rather sparse training in silence, with nothing but furrowed brows as she fights against the aches in her limbs.

Although I guess I shouldn't be surprised. She's wandered around Japan for a year and a half; this should be nothing in comparison.

Even then, to my mind, this is a little…slow.

It's no fault of hers. Even with the 'Healing' Ofuda propping her up and speeding up her recovery, the rate her body is healing the muscle she tore during her workout is leagues below what I can do with Primal Energy.

Then again, I am cheating here. I can control Primal Energy, she can't. And more than that, my body is naturally attuned to Primal Energy. Hers isn't. Her Primal Energy is dormant, for a lack of a better word. Unlike mine, her Primal Energy isn't doing anything to help her recover faster. Her body isn't used to it. She'll need my help to slowly build that attunement.

That's for later though. For now, she's busy with her workout.

And as she does, I ponder.

Building her strength is good and all, but what then? I'm learning to fight in all sorts of ways, but that's because the Eyes of God allows me to cheat. Akeno won't have that same advantage. She won't be able to delve into some weapon's ancient history to learn how to fight or whatever.

But what to do? Shinto Magic is a given; she's more than eager to begin making Ofudas of her own now that she knows Kanada can act as a Kami. Maybe archery? Not sure if she'll like it, but it might work. How about the Naginata? She was trained as a Miko previously, and the Naginata seems to be fairly popular among Mikos.

Wait, a bow and the naginata? Am I trying to turn her into a samurai?

The picture forms in my head for a moment, before I quickly shake my head to dispel the idea.

Well, I can always just ask her later. She's a bit busy at the moment, what with how she's wheezing as she does her best to keep the cinder blocks in her hands from falling.

Curiously, I look down at my own arms. They're shaking slightly, but it isn't anything debilitating. If anything, I can barely feel the magical weights the Ofudas are adding onto my limbs. The only reason I even know that they're working is the fact that the ground below me has sunk several inches into the earth.

Hmm. I guess I should add more next time. The recent 'threshold' I broke past must've really increased my strength.

Soon enough, Akeno finally lets the cinder blocks she's been holding fall, and slinks her legs away from the ropes. She takes a step back, and unceremoniously collapses onto the ground. I sit down next to her, and she turns to me with a weak sigh. "How-," she coughs. "How did I do?"

I give my hand a mild shake. "Not bad. You lasted just over two hours doing that. Pretty good for a first try." She nods, and I frown. "I'll begin attuning your body now." I say. "Are you ready? This will hurt a lot."

She firmly nods. "I'm ready."

I smile. "Got it."

I grab a knife I've placed on a nearby cloth, and I make a small cut on her wrist. Immediately, a small amount of Primal Energy floods the wound, trying to help the platelets clog it up. But before the wound closes, I make a cut on my finger. Primal Energy starts leaking from it, and I guide it to enter through the wound on Akeno's wrist.

She winces. "Hot." She whispers, and then grits her teeth. "Really hot."

I nod. "Bear it for a little."

Eventually the wound on her wrist scabs over, but I've done what I need to do. Some of my Primal Energy has entered her bloodstream, and I still hold control over it. I begin guiding my Primal Energy through her body, using it to drag her own dormant Primal Energy to begin moving.

The unmoving white spots beneath her skin start to slowly move. As I move my Primal Energy, I drag more and more of Akeno's dormant energy to move with mine, slowly filling her bloodstream with Primal Energy.

Akeno begins tearing up from the pain, but she doesn't cry out. She sees the concentration lining my expression, and she forces herself to be quiet. I'm quite glad for it.

Soon, in my eyes, her entire body glows with white lines. They're actually her blood vessels, filled with Primal Energy that now moves around her body.

But my job isn't over. The hardest part has yet to be done.

Taking a deep breath, I use the influence I've built in her body and begin dragging all the Primal Energy coursing through her vessels. And with great effort, I start moving them towards her heart, gathering it all into a single spot, with the heart as the container.

Then, I begin to squeeze.

I do so rhythmically, mimicking the beating of Akeno's heart. And as that happens, I send some of the Primal Energy I gathered out into the rest of Akeno's body.

I do so for hours, training Akeno's heart to send out Primal Energy just like it sends out blood. It's a long, arduous process. Her body is not used to it, and it's resisting. It knows that something drastic will happen, and it's resisting the change of the status quo.

But I refuse. I keep guiding it, training it. Soon, it starts sending out miniscule amounts of Primal Energy on its own. Then it starts sending out more. And then more. And then even more.

It takes hours, and during it both of us are in pain. Akeno's gasping and heaving as she tries her best to silence her cries, and I can see my vision blurring, my brain slowing due to the extreme mental fatigue.

Then, finally, it happens.

Something inside Akeno's body shifts. The 'storage' of Primal Energy in her heart becomes permanent, and her heart pumps out Primal Energy just as it does blood. Her bloodstream now glows with moving white specks, and already I can see Primal Energy rushing to the wound I made on her wrist.

Slowly, I turn my eyes to it, and I watch as the wound begins closing. It's slow compared to mine, but it's far faster than any normal person. And in just a minute, the cut disappears.

It's done. Akeno's Primal Energy has awakened.

Of course, she isn't able to see it, nor does she know what it is. But at least her Primal Energy is no longer dormant now. She can't control it consciously like I can, but at least her Primal Energy now actively works to prop her strength up. She'll regenerate faster, she'll regain energy quicker, and she'll be stronger.

And she'll be able to absorb Primal Energy, even if she'll need my help for that. Which also means she'll also be able to break through 'thresholds' like I can. I wonder if she'll start changing like I am?

Those thoughts are far away though. My head feels terrible, as if I just got my head smashed by a jackhammer. I sway for a moment, before I ultimately fall flat on my back. I lay next to Akeno, both of us panting as we stare at the leaf-covered sky.

We came here in the early morning, and now it's late in the afternoon.

"Mother's going to kill us." I say tiredly.

"She will." Akeno agrees between her pants.

I sigh. "How do you feel?"

"...strong." She eventually says. "Like I can punch through trees." She grimaces. "Everything hurts though."

I nod. "That's expected."

We go quiet for a few moments, simply laying there as we try to regain our breaths. The air is fairly cool today, though the fact that our clothes are soaked in sweat isn't doing us any favors.

"Let's leave soon." I say. She nods.

We don't move for another hour.