Who: Tsurugi and Touya What: Knife Training Where: One of the Practice Rooms When: November 12th, 2009 Rating: PG-13 Status: Complete
Touya waits in the training room that he rented out for Tsurugi at the time that they had agreed upon. It's not something that he does normally, reaching out to other people, but the way that this school was set up it almost seemed like there was no choice. He would always be stuck in situations with people whom he couldn't rely on and at least Tsurugi had shown himself to be at least somewhat competent. Despite the fact that he had never used a knife before, Touya hadn't had to dodge wild swings like he had with Blaze, nor had he had to worry that the other man was getting in over his head. Checking the two knives that he had brought, he stowed them away before pulling out a coin and as was his new habit, started running it over the back of his knuckles on one hand before making it disappear. Then, it reappeared on his other hand and he repeated the process.
Where the fuck was he? He'd better not be late.
It's not like Tsurugi to be late and he turns up on time, regardless of how Touya had managed to come off as someone both impatient and short-tempered in their brief meeting and subsequent communication. Neither of those apparently negative traits were a deterrence. Tsurugi had learned from experience that certain people who were able to temper and hone both traits were able to turn it into a weapon in tight situations. Touya seemed like the perfect teacher. He'd helped fell a troll, after all.
"Sasaki?" Tsurugi calls in a mild voice as he comes through the door, bringing no weapons with him. The dagger he'd found in the windowless room had disappeared along with the demon he'd stabbed with it. He hadn't managed to tug it free from the tough hide in time.
Touya looked up when his voice was called, making the coin disappear again with his left hand. He was definitely getting better at it. He had been practicing with larger items, pencils and pens as well, but the coin was always useful. It gave him something to do with his hands, for one, and for another it allowed him to focus on something that wasn't necessarily a weapon. A quick glance at his watched showed that the other boy was on time, but that still didn't bring a smile to Touya's face as he pulled out the two daggers, handing one with it's sheathe and its strap to Tsurugi.
"What hand do you use to fight?"
No sense in wasting time. Straight to business.
The flash of the coin catches Tsurugi's eye but he makes no mention of it. There's barely even a chance to send a smirk at the unsmiling face before Touya shoots him the question, which he answers by reaching for the dagger being offered to him with his left hand. "This one," he says, weighing the weapon in his hand. Without the verbal confirmation, Touya might think that he was only here to fool around.
"Strap the sheathe to your right forearm then," Touya muttered, eyeing the other man as if sizing him up. It was strange to be teaching someone. Normally, he would never have had the patience to, and he still wasn't sure that he did. Pulling up his sleeve, Touya showed Tsurugi how the blade was strapped to his own forearm. So he could have practice in putting it on.
Tsurugi was wearing one of his more fitted jackets today and he tugged it off, tossing it against the wall where he'd left his messenger bag and a couple of books on the way in. There was barely enough room to push the sleeve up to his elbow let alone fit a knife in its sheath under it. Habit would have compelled him to fold it up neatly before placing it where it would be safe from dust and dirt, but evil had no appreciation for such practices, and he was sure that Touya didn't either. A quick glance at his teacher's arm for reference and he began to do as instructed, clumsy with the unfamiliarity of the action. It did feel a little like strapping on an oversized watch with a blade for a face.
Touya watched impassively, not saying a word as the other boy strapped the knife to his arm. It was strange for him to watch someone seem so unsure about it considering how used to doing such things he was. When the other was finally done, Touya reached for his arm, grabbing it without any warning to check the tightness of the straps. "It's too tight here," he muttered, loosening the top one and readjusting it. "It feels okay now, but later you'd be fucked."
"Whatever you say," Tsurugi replied with a deferential nod, only slightly affronted. He drew his arm away from Touya, giving it a few loose shakes to get used to the feel of its weight. Not quite a hindrance, but it definitely heightened the sense that he was truly out of his element. "You're going to teach me to move like I was born with this, aren't you?"
"I'm gonna teach you to not move like you've got a knife under your fuckin' sleeve first." Touya frowned at him. "Try to move around, will you?" He didn't really have high hopes, but if he could at least get him to not keep his arm stiff, it would be a good start.
"Yes, sir." A tiny snort of laughter escaped and Tsurugi smothered it with his left hand. Touya was just as prickly as he'd expected the other man to be. Having been given no specific directions other than to move around, Tsurugi started a slow walk, going in a wide circle and trying to ignore the fact that he had a knife strapped to his right arm.
Touya raised an eyebrow, looking at the other man curiously. What the fuck was he doing? Coming up behind the other man, he tsukkomied him lightly, bopping him on the back of the head. "I meant moving your arm, dumbass" Touya frowned, extending and curling his arm to show Tsurugi what he meant. "Even if it's a small knife, it will hamper your movement because you ain't fucking used to it, yeah? So practice moving your arm and making it look natural. It ain't got nothing to do with your legs. "
Tsurugi ducked his head, apologizing with a mock-sheepish grin. "You could have been more specific before letting me act like an idiot, you know? You said to move around, and I did." Flexing his right arm, he imitated Touya's movement. It felt strange at first, but the more the action was repeated, the more he believed that it wouldn't be too difficult to get used to it. "I should get a couple more jackets with more room in the sleeves..." He murmured to himself as he loosened one of the straps a little where it was digging into his arm as he bent his elbow.
Touya just shook his head slightly as he watched, but said nothing. "Safety over style, yeah?" He muttered under his breath, but just watched for a bit, seemingly bored even though his eyes took in every detail. "When you're done dicking around with that shit, I'll show you how to draw it properly."
Tsurugi very nearly rolled his eyes in response but he grit his teeth and held himself in check. The determined expression didn't remain for long, although there was nothing complacent about the smile that replaced it. It wasn't a practiced, nor was it a forced smile. Just a slight upturn of the corners of his lips, blank and unreadable. Touya was unforgiving in both speech and manner and it wouldn't make the least bit of sense to deliberately anger him, at least during a valuable lesson such as this. Second chances were probably not something that would be freely given; Tsurugi suspected that he'd probably have to prostrate himself before the other to get one if he messed up his current chance. "I think I'm ready," he said as he moved to stand opposite Touya, leaving a fair amount of distance between them just in case the drawing of knives from their sheathes involved any dramatic movements.
Touya lifted his arm, keeping it clearly visible as his hands moved, lifting the blade as he pulled it out. There was only so much give when the sheathe was strapped to your arm, but trying to life it a bit and getting used to that motion would keep him from slitting his wrists as he pulled it out. "Make sure you lift it. If you fucking rip your wrists open we're gonna have a hard time explaining why."
There was a tug of nervousness somewhere in his chest, vaguely felt as Tsurugi followed the motion in silence, raising his right arm -- the arm with the sheath strapped to it. He wedged the fingers of his left hand under the hilt of the knife and started to draw the blade out with adamant slowness, lifting it away from his arm as Touya had demonstrated. He risked a small laugh once the knife was completely free. "Doesn't seem like the smartest place to hide a knife after all. What if I have to pull it out in a hurry?"
"That's why you practice," It was a simple concept, one that Touya had learned long ago. A small nick from a knife wasn't going to kill anyone and he couldn't understand the worry. It seemed almost cowardly. "If you're too scared to carry a knife then you're gonna have to stick it in your bag or something and hope to fucking hell that you'll be able to reach it."
"I'm not going to be much use either if I'm bleeding all over the place thanks to my own weapon." Tsurugi shot a glare at Touya before turning his attention to the re-sheathing of the knife. "I'll practice. I'm not here to learn to be a liability to whoever has the fortune of ending up with me if something freaky happens again."
Touya nodded, neither giving an affirmative or negative as Tsurugi spoke. There wasn't much he could help the other with there, after all, that was something that only practice would fix and he calmly went through a list of other things that he could do. "Show me how you'd grip your weapon, he gestures, re-sheathing his own knife as he watched Tsurugi carefully. He had said he was going to make it so that the other knew what he was doing and he meant it.
How many ways were there to hold a knife? An uncertain smile flickers across Tsurugi's face. "Like this... I guess..." He draws his knife again, determined not to let a fraction of his attention wander. The move is quicker than before though still extremely dissatisfactory by Touya's standards. The knife is held the way he would hold one more suited for buttering bread, or dicing vegetables. The junction of thumb and index finger rests over the narrower side of the hilt with fingers curled around it tight, but not to the extent that his knuckles are turning white from the strain. He extends his arm with the flat of the blade towards the ground so that Touya can see how he's holding the weapon.
... This wasn't cooking class. For a moment, Touya could only stare and then he pulled out his own knife again, showing Tsurugi his grip. He's holding it like he would hold an ice pick, the blade pointed down. His grip is firm, but relaxed, not clenching the hilt as he makes a quick stabbing motion with it. "This is for stabbing shit." He says, watching the other man to see what he's going to do.
Right... stabbing. Tsurugi had been so preoccupied with the method of gripping his weapon that it hadn't occurred to him how vital it was for the hold to work in seamless tandem with the act of an actual attack. He shifts the position of his fingers, getting them to resemble the way Touya's are arranged around the hilt of his knife as closely as possible. Now, stabbing. The demonstrated motion is mimicked, albeit with less self-assurance than his teacher. "What if my opponent tries to attack me first?" His eyes are narrowed and his gaze is hovering somewhere above and to the right of Touya's head as he thinks, in his mind seeing the flash of an attacker's blade right between his eyes before he's even made a move of his own.
"Right now? Then you're fucked," Touya shrugged, not particularly perturbed by the idea of it. "You ain't gonna learn everything you need to learn in one shot. Work on holding the knife properly and learning how to do basic shit like stabbing before I teach you how to block with a knife." Impatience flickered over his features. Maybe it was just that he was being too soft on the other man. His teachers had beaten sense into him when he had been too stubborn to listen and he wondered if he could get away with doing the same thing. Mah, probably not. And he wasn't gonna risk shit. Not when they could still turn him into a juice box any time they chose.
Fuck. That.
"If someone tries to attack you first, you fucking run. If you don't run quickly enough, you're fucked." Again, Touya shrugged before demonstrating the proper movement once more and gesturing for Tsurugi to try again.
"Good advice," was all that Tsurugi muttered in answer. He did the stabbing motion again, and a few more times, giving attention to the angle of the jab. Well, it would probably vary with the intended target. Learn the basics. It was just theory and practice for now. He wasn't being made to... don'tthinkofblooddon'tthinkofblood. With a troubled sigh, his grip on the knife loosened and he let the hand fall to his side. Liadan would be a great help right now. That spell of hers that reduced the physical responses to fear. But there was no guarantee that she'd happen to be around the next time. It took a second or two to realize that Touya was still watching him and a warm smile instinctively slid over his features. "Can we move on now?"
"For now," Touya looked at the other man dubiously, not sure of what the problem was. There was something that he could see, there was something wrong, but he couldn't figure out what it could possibly be. Why would he sigh? the way that Tsurugi's demeanor changed only made him more wary as he watched the other. "There a problem?"
"Not that I can think of." Tsurugi seemed almost amused by Touya's question. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, as though restless or impatient. Suspicion was an emotion that the young man encountered often for reasons he could never fathom. Then came the questions, sometimes accusations. It was confusing and he had learned to deal with them as they came, his answers accompanied by a smile more often than not.
Touya didn't get it, but he wasn't going to argue. If Tsurugi wanted to fuck around with this thing, well the only one who would get hurt (immediately) would be Tsurugi himself. He didn't care enough to probe deeper, to ask more questions and instead, he simply shrugged and slowly went through a series of slow movements, almost like a kata as he demonstrated thrusts, slashes and a single block. Then, he gestured for Tsurugi to follow, to mimick his movements as he went through them again, counting out loud in Japanese as he moved.
Tsurugi focused on the movements themselves, willfully trying to ignore the stray thoughts. He fell into each step the way he so often let himself fall into the art of origami, each one a new fold or a crease. Distraction of the tactile sort was the best kind of distraction, and precision was supposed to be his forte, wasn't it? Practical aspects of learning to fight aside, that's all it was. A dance. "Someone -- a friend -- once said," he voiced his thoughts, "that anything with steps can be considered a dance."
A dance, huh? Touya wasn't sure if he agreed or not, but if it helped the other boy to fucking focus on what he needed to. "Keep your arm up more here," he murmured at one point, touching Tsurugi's elbow and raising it so it was in the proper position. "You're gonna need to practice this at least once a day to make it so that it's reflex."
"Then I'll do it more than just once." Tsurugi smiled, keeping his arm in the position that Touya had moved it to for a second or two, memorizing it before repeating the entire set of movements with the new adjustment. "So, where did you learn to use a knife? You don't seem like someone who decided out of the blue to pick it up as a hobby."
For a long moment, Touya simply stared at him. "I learned when I was young," he said finally, watching and nodding when he thought Tsurugi had mimicked him well enough. "It was necessary." His eyes close for a moment against the blood, against the auras that he can see around Tsurugi even now thanks to his cursed sight, but then they open again and his expression is as stoic as it usually is.
"Been running into all kinds of things since you were a kid, huh." With a slight tilt of the head, Tsurugi relaxed his arms, the knife held loosely in his left hand. "What did you need to defend yourself again? Humans, or the big bad forces of evil?" The words, though teasing, were said with a measure of genuine curiosity and respect.
"All of the above," Touya muttered, looking away and to his own knife before he sheathed it. They were done here for the day. "I've always been fucking fighting." He looks over at Tsurugi and down at his watch. Maybe he'd be able to get some time in the training room if he was lucky. "Practice those movements and I'll show you more next week."