trans_9 | Katana Training [Closed]

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Katana Training [Closed]

Nanashi had found an abandoned house in the depths of the city. It had taken a little while to find just the right kind of floor plan. The first room was a normal entrance hall of a house, with a flight of stairs leading up to a loft. The loft was closed off, with doors leading to several different bedrooms. There were three doors on the first floor. The doors to the left and right lead to a kitchen and dining room, and a bathroom respectively. The third door was directly opposite the entrance, and led to what was once some sort of family room, but the only evidence of that now is a left over fireplace and mantle.

All of the other furniture in the room had been dragged out to the neighboring alleyway, though she was considering bringing back in the couches and leaving them in the entrance hall, along with perhaps a table and some chairs. But for now the entrance room remained empty as it had been when she found it. She was busy in the family room, glaring at the hardwood floor. Sure, she had learned swordplay on stone, but her body was far more resilient than a normal human’s body. As she understood, humans usually either trained on grass and dirt, or on some sort of mat that had some give to it. Hardwood floors did not fulfill that requirement.

Well, they could make due this first day. With any luck she would be able to borrow mats for tomorrow. Maybe she could incorporate their pick-up into the children’s training. She remembered her old teacher making her do ridiculous meaningless tasks until she learned discipline. With any luck, Ed and Katara, since she knows that they already have been training, would not need to learn that lesson, and they would be able to move on quickly.

Well, with no mats, and her sword and cleaning materials already out, all she had to do now was to wait for Katara who would be in trouble if she did not arrive early as she had promised. A mysterious long box wrapped in blue cloth and tied with a ribbon of a lighter shade sat on the mantle of the fireplace in the room.

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Katara was having a lot of feelings washing over her in the last few days, but eventually, they boiled down to one very important conclusion: she had more training and to do, and she wouldn't stop unless she was sure she had the strength and intelligence to fight the Ohm. She had taken a few breaths, and of course was right on time: Katara wasn't one for dawdling when there was training to bee done.

She located the place in the city, and was happy that she didn't have to look for the place so much as she simply had to feel for Nanashi's aura: it was fairly unique. As soon as she entered the house, she knew where to go, and upon entering, a ghost of a smile came to her face. There was always the thrill of learning something new that excited her.

"Nanashi," she said, giving her a bow. "I'm here early."

Nanashi heard Katara's footsteps as she came down the street, and was ready to greet Katara as she entered. She bowed her head to Katara and walked over to the mantle, carefully lifting the box with both hands and bringing it over to Katara.

"This is why I wanted you here early." With a bow, Nanashi presented Katara with the box. While it was customary for normal people in her country to bow their heads below the item when presenting a gift, the Queen was never expected to bow nearly as low as anyone else in the country, and true to custom, Nanashi kept eye contact with Katara. It was considered such a serious offence in both her country and the human's if a commoner were to do this to someone of higher rank than them that they could get the death penalty for it. Indeed, people have.

Luckily for Katara, she knew little of Nanashi's custom and more about the ones where she was from, where a teacher and student's respect was shown mutually. In any case, Katara was actually very happy to be here, and happy to learn to fight from someone she'd actually seen in action. When she was presented with the gift, she actually blushed. She hadn't expected this at all.

"Oh, thank you!" she said, smiling broadly. It really was hard to stay frightened and upset on the ship. She appreciated the gift very much, and were Nanashi not instructing her as her teacher today, she would have given her a hug. "What is it?"

Nanashi smiled, "Open it."

She would save the 'As long as you are in this house, you shall call me Sensei' talk for until Ed arrived. He had been told to come fifteen minutes later so that they had plenty of time, even if he decided to arrive early.

Katara undid the ribbon, almost losing the breath as she looked into the contents of the package.

It was a katana, and one that looked as if it had been picked carefully. She was lost for a moment, picking it up carefully, bringing it upward to stare at it a moment. The blood guard had a dragon that reminded her a little of her world, and the hilt...it was as if it were something from her world. She unsheathed it slowly, staring at it, then turned to Nanashi with a look of disbelief that it was hers.

And for that reason, she actually HAD to give her a hug now.

Watching Katara's reaction carefully a smile came across her face. She had spent a good deal of time searching for it, as well as almost all of her vacation money, and a small bit of intimidation. It had been anything but simple to obtain, but with her speed, getting through the city and back to the ship hadn't been too difficult.

Still, the hug took Nanashi just a little by surprise. Not that she was complaining. She laughed lightly and hugged Katara back saying, "Wear this katana and wakizashi with pride, Katara. The Great Dragon Spirit will hear your call if you do, and will lend you his strength. Keep it with you until you start to miss it's weight when it is not by your side."

The words weighed heavily in Katara's mind, and it was as if another part of her world shone through in this act. This was something she was sure that Sokka would have appreciated the gravity of, and had never thought it would happen to her. "I will, Sensei," she said. She put them at her side, turning to examine the room.

She would need to see it quickly, of course: when she started to practice, it would be good to know her surrounding. That would change when she actually had to defend herself of course, but it wouldn't hurt to keep it in mind, with what would be an asset and what wouldn't.

"I'm kind of curious: what is Ed like?"

"Hey, anyone home?" called out Ed as he walked in, carrying a bag of materials in one hand. Dressed in a sleeveless black shirt and pants with sturdy boots, he wore his hair loose since he was still missing an arm.

"Hi," he greeted to the pair. "Hope I'm not late. I'm Ed Elric."

Nanasi nodded her head to Ed, "No, Ed, you are not late, but while you are under my training I expect you to act a little more respectfully, Ed." Nanashi's looked at him sharply. She had hoped for a little bit more discipline from him. Hopefully he would shape up quickly.

"Clearly, Ed is a little sloppy, Katara." Nanashi then motioned for Ed to enter the room.

"While we are in this house both of you are to refer to me as Sensei. Ed, take out your supplies, before we can start you must make your sword." Nanashi picked up her sword and explained to Ed how the hilt was affixed to the blade so that he would be able to make even the inside properly.

"You can have the sheath any design you like, but you must keep the guard simple."

Oh yeah...she had forgotten how much of a traditionalist Nanasi was, and felt a little humbled. She was going to have acclimated to her way of training, just as she had Arha's and Master Paku's. She smiled at the boy apologetically.

So this was Ed. Huh. Blond hair just like Luna's and Carol's. But he looked ready and not sloppy to her: in fact, she could see Sokka doing the same thing. She figured he was going to be a good opponent. He might even already know how to use a sword like Sokka.

"Nice to meet you Ed," Katara said, bowing a moment and then smiling. "I'm Katara."

She watched as Ed combed over the designs, and she had a moment to look at her katana again. She smiled, gazing at it one last time before sheathing it again.

"Nice to meet you too," said Ed with a nod.

After looking over the designs, he made his decision. Drawing a circle on the ground, he dumped the bar of steel, wood and red rope down onto the ground before kneeling and striking it with one hand.

Alchemic light flared and reshaped the materials as he drew the blade with his teeth.

It was long. Much longer than anticipated, extending a good six and a half feet. The entire pommel and sheath made of polished wood, Ed tucked the end of the sheath into his belt as he removed the blade from his teeth. A length of red cloth hung from the guard-less hilt as the string holding it in place jangled with two bells.

"Weltbaum," decided Ed as he took a practice swing with it. It looked like it belonged in his hand, the way the extra cloth moved with it. "Heh. I don't name things often."

Nanashi folded her arms, and raised an eyebrow. She was still amazed about what alchemy could do, but what in the Great Dragon's name was that?

Nanashi took the sword from Ed's hand and held it up. "Time for your first lesson. Sword size." She spun it so that it was vertical. "This sword is taller than Ed." She pulled the string that tied her sword to her simple cloth belt and held it up vertically. "See how this katana is not nearly as large? This is the optimum size for manoeuvrability and control. The same goes for your sword, Katara." Nanashi slid her sword back into her belt and held Ed's sword horizontally again.

She jangled the bells on the hilt with a flick of her wrist, "Lesson two: Bells. They are always a bad idea in combat. They alert your opponent to movement. I commend the red cloth, as it will catch the opponent's eye and remove it from the dangerous part of the sword, but while you are training it will only get in your way. You may add your red cloth once you can hold your own in combat."

Nanashi grabbed where the guard should be and explained, "Lesson three: The Importance of a Guard. With this un-braided, guard-less hilt your hands will quickly be covered with blood on the battlefield, making it much harder to hold the sword. For a novice, this could mean the loss of their fingers. The blade is very sharp, and if your hand slips up past where the guard should be, you will incur a serious injury."

Nanashi slid her hands back down the sheath to about just past two feet and snapped the sword and sheath. "This is how long your katana should be. It should be the size of mine, if not shorter. You can now use this extra material to make a wakazashi- as well as a guard- with material left over. Katara, show him yours."

Nanashi held out the pieces of the sword, looking very stern. It would likely be a bad idea to mess around with the build of the Katana again.

Katara was so stunned at what Ed had just done with his hands and the drawing on the floor, she hardly heard the chastisement for the moment. How on earth did he do it? Was this that kind of music that Luna did? It seemed to even resemble Negi's a little, though Negi usually said his spells aloud. She was still recovering from the shock of it when the words Nanashi was saying started to wash over her.

Oh, of course: with a sword that big, there was no real way for ed to not be at a disadvantage unless he actually knew how to carry around something that big, and even then he had to be flexible enough to respond to the movements of your opponent. She remembered Sokka telling her what Master Piandao once said: the sword was an extension of your limb in battle. She could understand that, now that Kang and Sokka had given her basic instruction.

Upon request Katara unsheathed her Katana and showed it to Ed,m still looking a little humbled. Even if he got sword making wrong he could still MAKE one. He was going to be a really hard opponent in this training.

Biting off an annoyed reply, Ed took the weapon. "Right right. S'not my fault there's a ton of material left."

Light flared as a proper weapon was created and the customary jacket was slung over his shoulders, transmuted from all of the material left over with the cross with the black serpent in the middle of it. He spun the weapon in his hand effortlessly, making an annoyed expression. "Liked it better longer..."

But instead of transmuting the rest of the broken weapon in half, he nicked his finger on it, and light flared again as he wrapped it around his arm like a brace. "I don't do well with two weapons at any rate. One's enough for me."

"Should it be a bad time to tell you that I added flint to the component?"

Nanashi's lip twitched. She was trying very hard to not beat up her student on the first day. She could start with that tomorrow.

She stepped forward, her heel clicking on the floor. Her voice was soft and cold as steel, essentially the exact opposite of Izumi, but no less effective. "I told you to make a wakazashi. You can use it or not, but you will learn to use it.

"From now on, you will not do anything that I do not tell you to. You will not add flint components. You will do everything that I tell you to. You can play with fancy styles when I tell you that you are skilled enough to. Until then, you are to listen to what I tell you. It will keep you from loosing things you do not want to lose."

More calmly she turned to Katara, "Flint weakens the steel. Weak steel can mean your life on the battlefield." Her voice dropped to the same sort of cold fury as before, "But it seems as one of our students here seems to have a death wish."

Katara was definitely caught in an "eep" moment. Although she was still amazed by Ed's magic (she'd call it that until otherwise corrected), even she thought that the flint was a little much. What she had not know was that it could actually diminish the chances you had on a battlefield. She was sure this might even be something that Sokka might have learned. For now, she was just hoping no one sniped at each other anymore. To her, after all, it was the training she was after.

"I'm sure he didn't know," Katara said. "I mean, there's still so much I have to find out too. I don't know enough about the metals and how they work either, but I want to learn. My brother is actually a skilled swordsman, and I'd like to do him proud."

And she would make sure she would learn to make a sword for herself too: she had a feeling she knew someone who would have made her a really nice one too. She hated forgetting things like that.

Edited 2010-07-02 06:47 (UTC)

There was a long awkward pause and then Ed smirked. "Course I know what makes a sword weaker and stronger. And by the way, you pass teacher."

He grinned, just a little wider now. "Alchemy is about being able to think outside the box, to be as creative as possible in your transmutations. I had gotten to thinking about it while laid up in the hospital for a little while. What motivates your need to learn it? So I decided to see how far things can be pushed, just inch by inch."

"You see alchemy is a foundation, but more than that, it provides life, creativity, as well as several different formula to be provided for. But not only that, it's a symbol of for the people."

A flash of alchemic reaction and he transformed the brace into a short sword. "Weapon alchemy is the same thing, created for the use of combat. In a fight, you break something, you immediately repair it. If you lose something, you regain it through another method. I'm a state alchemist which means in laymans terms, I'm not your ordinary alchemist, I'm a Dog of the Military. I'm a living weapon that when I come of age, I go to the front lines and fight, spilling blood. So I know what it means to have a death wish. And I do it for regaining my body, and Al's too."

"Oh and by the way..." He kicked up a stone and caught it. "Here's the flint."

Nanashi folded her arms, eyeing Ed with a cold stare.

"Well, Edward, I am impressed. Impressed that you had the courage to 'test' your Sensei on the first day.

"I am interested in alchemy so that I can fight more effectively and because I believe in the pursuit of knowledge." If Ed was to teach her alchemy she did not see it as unreasonable to answer his question. "While I appreciate that you are going to be teaching me alchemy, while you are here, I am the teacher, and I will be doing the testing- until you have learned the basics at the very least. Once you can handle a normal katana well enough to battle, you can start using alchemy on your sword during training. Until then, refrain from using it. It is good that you can adapt, but I am not teaching you adaptation at the moment, I am teaching you how to not get yourself hurt by mishandling a weapon." Nanashi sighed and began to walk across the room casually.

With far less irritation and much more of a teaching sort of tone she went on, "Dog of the military, you are not special here. Katara has fought bravely on the front lines, and at home I was not like the human king, hiding in the back of the army. I too was on the front lines, fighting for what I believe in. If you are trying to regain your and Al's bodies, then the last thing you should have is a death wish. If you want to accomplish something than instead of making yourself an easy target, you ought to be guarded. That is not to say that if it may advance your goals that you should not take a risk, but taking unnecessary risks only foils your goals."

Waving her hand dismissively, Nanashi turned to her students. "Now, Edward, should I be expecting any more interruptions, or are we allowed to start class?"

While Nanashi was still trying to make Edward understand she was the teacher, Katara herself felt like the student, at least when it came to things like alchemy and weapons. She could do without having to make the weapons in his way of course: her body, by the very act of bending, WAS a weapon in way, but one that was affected by the balance and state of things. In a way, she could see how Ed had the upper hand: he hadn't stumbled into a war, like she had, but was actually IN the war to fight itself, much like the men in her village had to join the earthbenders in fighting the firenation. She listened to the words she said, and when he was done, she gave him a polite bow.

"I guess I'm going to learn a lot from you too, Ed," Katara said. "I don't know anything about alchemy, what we make we do with our own hands, and our bending. But we are a part of everything every time we bend, that can't be stated with more importance. Like alchemy, its a foundation that we start, and part of something that unites us all. It reminds us that we can't force the world around us to change to our whims, because the more you do that, the more you create imbalance."

She didn't know about bodies and regaining them though, so she kept her mouth shut as Nanashi lectured Ed about humbling himself and not taking risks. She agreed with Nanashi there: all of her teachers emphasized learning about yourself, your craft, before getting fancier. The basics always came first.

At Nanashi's last pronouncement, Katara readied herself. It looked as if they were about to begin.

Ed wore a smirk but nodded. He liked teachers with a spine at least, and if she didn't pull punches it would be fine with him.

Stuffing the short sword into his belt, he shouldered the katana. "Alright. We ready to go then?"

Ed seemed like he would be a difficult student. Not only did he seem to want to challenge her every moment, he seemed to resent that she was acting with authority.

She never was a fan of such students, not until at least they had enough training to even half-way earn their pride. Still, as long as he wanted to learn she would put up with him, she would just challenge him right back. Of course, that meant that Katara was going to receive the same challenges thanks to Ed. Somehow she thought neither of them would mind.

Nanashi nodded and backed up to the wall furthest from the door to the room. She took her swords and slid them so that the blade edge faced up into two different sections of a triple- wrapped cloth belt she wore around her midsection. "Today I will start you off with the bare basics. How to wear your katana. This is how you wear your daisho- the term used to refer two both your swords as a pair. Katara- that blue cloth ribbon should work well as a belt. Ed, you already wear a belt, and so it is no use getting you used to a different type of belt when you will likely eventually just change back, so put them in between your belt and pants with one of those loops separating them. Make sure you put on your wakizashi- the short sword- first. This will make it easier to access the katana, which will be your main weapon."

Nanashi turned slightly to the side so hey could better see how she was wearing her swords, "Be sure that the edge is facing up. This keeps the blade from wearing against the sheath and becoming dull. The guards on the swords will help keep them from slipping out."

She waited here for the two to get their swords in place and helped them adjust as needed. "I want you both," she said, staring straight at Ed, "to wear your swords until you miss their weight, and then keep wearing them for at least another month.I want you both to begin imagining them as extensions of your body. Speaking of which, Ed, you will have your arm back by tomorrow I hope?" It seemed more like a command than a question, but Nanashi was considering being reasonable if whoever was in charge of fixing his arm had a good reason to not have it done by then.

"I would like you to both learn the basics together the same way before I begin to teach you how to fight around injuries."

Katara shrugged. She'd never thought she would have to practice wearing her swords a certain way, but if that was what was required, so be it. She arranged the swords exactly as Nanashi had instructed, making sure the edges were facing up, the blue ribbon used as the belt, and kept them at her side. She was already used to this, having the pouch as added weight to begin with, the only problem being that she now had extra weight on her. Sighing, she undid her pouch and left it in the corner of the room: she had never been without it for a prolonged amount of time.

She walked back to where her teacher and Ed were waiting.

"You can't rush Winry's work," replied Ed seriously. "To do so... means death."

Despite his dire warning and joking manner aside, he was dead serious about not disturbing the woman at work. She could get titchy really damn quickly if someone was interrupting her work since she tended to spent three whole days and nights working straight on an entire set of automail. He was seriously hoping she didn't need to measure him for a new leg.

"She's a scary lady when mad," added Ed helpfully.

Nanashi laughed lightly, "I believe I can take a little 'death', but if it is impossible... Well, let us get started." Poor Nanashi had no idea what Winry already went through or how she would react to getting rushed.

"Now, Ed, put that sword in your belt as well, like I told you to do. Pay attention here: You must be careful how you draw your swords as well. I want you to not just practice this here, but outside of class as well.

"Perhaps it sounds silly to practice drawing- and sheathing- your sword, but these actions will ensure that your blade remains sharp. As sharp as it is right now, it should be able to cut through a sheet of silk by just dropping the silk over the blade. This, along with the relatively light weight of the sword and the comparative strength of the folded steel, allows the daisho to be the weapon that flashes in the nightmares of the Angels.

"When you draw your blade, you want to spin the hilt like this," she grabbed the scabbard, with her thumb on the guard, and flipped it so that the blade was facing down now. She took her other hand and put it on the hilt. "Now, it is important to push the katana out with your thumb." Nanashi drew the sword and held it out as she continued, "This will make sure that your blade does not come loose from the hilt over time and helps avoid wear on the scabbard. Because the guard helps hold the sword in your belt, it would be a bad idea to allow it to be loose, or you will have a very sharp blade at your side without a scabbard.

"Katara, begin to practice, and I shall aid Ed with his practising with one hand. With his arm, he is more likely to need to know at least the basics with only one hand, but I would rather you become proficient with your two hands first. And we pray that I will not have need to teach you this for some time."

Nanashi could get snappy if her students did not follow her instructions- she was very careful to not only explain what to do but why- but she would be damned sure that every student was taught how to get around any weaknesses they had. And of course, she would be training them eventually on how to use their skills to their advantage. After all, the only thing she had ever been officially taught were these basics of how to properly treat a katana. The rest she learned on the battlefield. She had worked hard to learn this knowledge. She expected her students to respect her for that, and for them to be grateful that she was sharing her knowledge with them.

She had only taken on a few students before, but all of them were among the best fighters in the entire war. Even with that, most of them died with the coming of the Angels. After that one of them tried to assassinate her.

She hadn't planned on taking on more students, but, if these children were to be fighting in the war, then she would make sure they could fight properly.

Katara nodded at the end of Nanashi's instruction and practiced facing the blade down, then pushing out the katana with her thumb. It was the kind of repetitiveness Aang would have hated, but she knew she had to master in order to have the blade at full use at the time of a fight. This was not to say that she was not interested in what Ed was doing, but as Katara was one handed, she knew it would be difficult to mimic this move with her left one. For that reason she started with the left first, sweating as she started out clumsily at first, then was able to get the grasp of it after the first few minutes. It didn't look perfect, but that would take a bit more practice before she was able to do it in one fluid motions anyway.

She switched hands and had it perfect in only a few tries. She smiled at this, then repeated her actions again. She was intent on getting a little better every time.

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