5 Exchanging moves

"Eh? You want what?!" Taeko once again stopped concentrating on her training and turned towards Ink with a surprised expression but behind that expression, she was glad that he finally found the motivation to do something. She knew that these peaceful days will sooner or later end and she promised her mentor that if Ink will become just a burden she would have to kill him with her own hands. Right now, she was truly glad that Ink has shown initiative otherwise she would have to try her best to convince him.

This time the older woman didn't mind Taeko interrupting her training and instead she kept staring at Ink.

"Here you go" The older woman threw the same wooden sword at Ink who barely caught it then she approached Taeko and took her sword from her hands.

"Eh? Grandma...Wouldn't it be better if he could train with someone of his age first?" Taeko asked with a bit worried tone since she could feel her mentor's intentions.

"You were also taught by me, I don't see any problem. And the boy's wound is already "fine", isn't it?" The older woman said, standing in front of the boy, casually pointing the sword at Ink.

'Besides, you would have gone too easy on him. He needs to know his limits, even if he doesn't feel pain doesn't mean his body is indestructible.'

Ink nodded and quietly stared at her, making her wonder what he is currently thinking about.

"Come, I will let you start" The older woman said and Ink took one slow step forward before knocking off the ground with his forward leg and slashing the sword at her right shoulder from above.

Although the older woman didn't seem impressed, she thought otherwise about Ink's sudden approach, however, concerning his technique with the sword, she didn't feel anything. She knew that she had no right to be disappointed since he has never held the sword in his hand before.

She blocked Ink's attack, redirecting it to the side making him almost stumble down. Despite the embarrassing situation, Ink just corrected his "posture" before attacking once again this time from the side to force her to take a step back or to block his attack completely.

The older woman just glanced at his attack before swinging her sword upwards, knocking Ink's sword up, however, Ink's grip on the sword was much tighter than she anticipated so he only staggered back.

She used this chance to leisurely swing her sword at his side where approximately was his wound located while he was off-balance.

'I...' Ink hopelessly watched the sword nearing him, he anticipated that her first attack would be around his wound, he anticipated that she just wanted to find a good chance so she wouldn't have to swing her sword too fast and this moment was perfect.

He anticipated her way of thinking yet he couldn't react to it since his hand with the sword was still up and his balance was off.

'...I won't lose!' Ink suddenly remembered his old village and gritted his teeth. He brought his left hand to his right side, intending to catch the wooden sword and he swung his right hand down, completely disregarding defense.

Ink's course of action was most likely ideal in that kind of situation but not everything went as he intended...The older woman's sword connected much sooner but he was at least able to protect his wound, however, his own attack missed only by a few inches since he swung the sword while he was falling backward, therefore, she didn't have to even take a step back to dodge his attack.

'?!' Nevertheless, the older woman's leisure look changed to a surprised one when the tip of a wooden sword missed her head only by a few inches, however, that wasn't the only thing that surprised her. There were immediately several things that caused her to look at Ink sitting on the ground with a surprised expression.

Even Taeko who watched the entire exchange was shocked at their last exchange.

'He...knew where I was going to attack!'

'He...saw through grandma's intentions!'

"Get up, Ink" The older woman for the first time called out his name and brought her sword near him. Ink nodded and gripped the blade of the wooden sword and the older woman helped him get up.

"That was amazing, Ink! Are you sure you have never held a sword in your hands?!" Taeko ran up to them and praised Ink with an excited look on her face. She was happy that Ink seemed to have some talent, at least for quick decision-making. This showed that Ink was perhaps capable of truly being under her mentor's wing but it all still depended on her mentor's decision. And even if she was praising him, her own proficiency with blades was unfathomable considering her age.

'Don't praise him too much...' The last thing the older woman wanted was for him to become overconfident. And the fact was that Ink still lost despite her not trying much, however she would have to deny if someone said that his efforts and decision-making were only average.

Ink just nodded at Taeko's enthusiasm.

'Well, looks like I don't need to worry about that' The older woman thought when she saw Ink's blank expression despite being praised.

"Take off your shirt, Ink" The older woman said which slightly confused Taeko but she thought that her mentor was just concerned about Ink's wound.

"...Why?" Ink just asked one thing but his expression never changed despite knowing that he has been caught.

"Because if you do, I will give you these" The older woman said and shown 2 small urns in her hands.

'?!' Ink's eyes have finally shown decent reaction as if he knew what lies inside those urns. He rolled his shirt up without saying anything in reply.

"?!" Both Taeko's and the older woman's eyes widened, although, the older woman looked much calmer than Taeko however that didn't mean she wasn't surprised.

"You did that yourself?" '...There isn't anything for numbing the pain inside that house, how did he do it with me standing so close to the opened window? Even if he just released muffled groan, I would have heard that.' The older woman asked while thinking with a serious expression, looking at Ink's stitched wound.

"...Sewing hides and animal skin is normal, no?" Ink asked while looking down at his stitches that fortunately didn't come off after their exchanges.

"...Here you go. Taeko, let's call your training off for today. I will go to the town to get a few things for our tomorrow's training, so be careful you two." The older woman didn't reply to his question and just gave him two small urns before walking away from them with her hands behind her back.

"Yes, grandma! Don't worry, I will take care of Ink." Taeko waved at her as she was leaving.

.

.

"We have the entire free day to do whatever we want, what do you want to do Ink?" Taeko asked with a smile, excited that she can finally be outside with Ink but she had no idea what to do now. She had no experience of what usually kids of her age do.

"...Can you...teach me?" Ink looked at the position of the sun and found out that since the time he joined, the sun moved by a decent margin. He finally felt like he found the activity to kill the time, not to mention it would be training together with Taeko...He was contemplating whether the time would flow even at a faster rate since being around Taeko made his time flow faster...now if he were to combine the two...

"Eh? You want to...train? Y-Yeah, let's do it! I will show you basics so you won't always end up off-balance whenever someone parries your attack!" At first, Taeko was surprised by his proposal but she happily accepted, after all, training with her grandma and training with Ink would be completely different and it wouldn't tire her as much.

Truth be told, she was more than happy to see him want to train despite just losing. This way, he would be able to join them on their journeys and she could still spend time with Ink to become even better friends.

"First of all, your posture! We need to correct it and also the way you are holding the sword!" Taeko started correcting all of Ink's major mistakes. Since he was just starting, he ended up only performing overhead swings for several hours.

His endurance shocked Taeko and she even suggested calling it a day after seeing him completely drenched in sweat but Ink always just replied he is fine, just a bit thirsty. He usually took only 5 minutes breaks before resuming swinging for another half an hour. Taeko stayed all the time near him, correcting his mistakes whenever she could while she was doing her own training from time to time.

"?!...What are you two...?" When the older woman came back at the dusk, she was shocked to see them in the same state in which she left them when she secretly checked on what they are going to do before leaving for the town.

She looked at Taeko who just smiled and waved at her. Taeko wasn't so tired since she took it easy today but her mentor was still surprised to see Taeko being so cheerful during the training.

"You should stop now or you won't be able to move tomorrow." The older woman said when she arrived near the Ink who was completely drenched in sweat, completely ignoring his surroundings, however, when he heard that he won't be able to move the next day, he immediately stopped swinging.

"Eh? How did you do it, grandma? I was trying to make him quit for an hour by now." Taeko asked, slightly pouting her lips.

'I thought that Ink is my friend so why did he listen to grandma but not me?'

"...You need to use the right words for someone being so absorbed in the training." The older woman said with a light smile before urging them to take a bath, especially Ink.

'...In the end, maybe he won't be a bad influence for Taeko as I previously thought...' The older woman thought with a genuine smile, obviously out of everyone's sight.