Sword Fight

-2 days later

"All I wanted was just a break." Kenichi sighed, as he walked in the streets of downtown Koryuu.

"It wasn't all bad," Ohma said, "You have a better cardiac capacity after all that training."

"What's the point?" Kenichi said.

"The point is not getting your ass kicked the next time you fight that mophead," Ohma said.

Kenichi paused and then remembered. "Oh... he is going to get what's coming for him - the next I see him."

"Oh, I don't that'll take much time."

"Huh..." Kenichi raised his brows.

"Two thugs are running towards us right now." Kenichi spun around on his heel, in a bit of distance two teens dressed in black, looking like delinquents, were running towards them.

"This again," Kenichi groaned, "I can't go a single day without a street fight."

Ohma looked over his shoulder. "Nah, look at their faces. Looks like they running away from someone."

"From who?" Kenichi asked.

Ohma shrugged. "Let's find out."

So when the thugs reached beside Ohma, he reached forth his hand and grabbed one by the back of his shirt. The delinquent was lifted off the ground and dropped to his bottom.

"What's the hurry?" Ohma asked looking down at the thug, his partner had already left.

"There is a fight on- man. We are getting our ass kicked." He screamed. "Not let me go! We need some backup!"

He struggled to get up but Ohma pushed him down.

"Where is this fight happening?" Ohma asked pressing harder.

"Near... the Katsuya Park. Let me just go!"

Ohma lifted his hand and the thug sprung onto his feet. He gave one clear look to Ohma and ran away, cursing, gritting teeth as he did so.

"Want to take a look?" Ohma turned to Kenichi.

Kenichi snapped, "The whole reason I am training is to avoid thugs. Not go after them."

Ohma rolled his eyes. "I didn't participate, we'll just sit back and watch."

Kenichi sighed and dropped his shoulder. "There is no talking out of this."

***********************

In Katsuya park, there was a ruckus, a dozen thugs were writhing on the ground, and their fight with the six baton-wielding girls of girls' high school was quite unsuccessful. Then the last standing thug fell, losing to another girl who wielded a sheathed iaito.

(A/N: Iaito is a training katana with a dull blade.)

"Bitch..." The thug blurted out as his body hit the ground. "Just wait for our backup."

"I am sure they will not differ from the ones here." The sword-wielding girl said looking down at the thug and started stomping on the thug.

Just as the thug gritted his teeth in pain, he saw two boys running towards him from the distance.

"There they are." He growled.

The girl turned to the boys and then glanced at the girls. "Take care of them."

Ohma and Kenichi stopped near the fight as four girls approached them with batons.

"Why are they coming towards us?" Kenichi asked stepping back.

Ohma shrugged. "How should I know?"

"Didn't Itsuka already warn you all to never enter this park again?" One of the girls said.

Ohma asked, "Now which one of you is Itsuka?" He looked at the other four girls.

"I am Itsuka," The sword-wielding girl said, "now scram out of here, or tase dust like you thug friends here."

"Hold on!" Kenichi said. "We don't even know these guys."

Itsuka rolled her eyes. "Yeah-yeah, I know, now will you get out here? Now scram." Her voice had a tone of sarcasm.

Kenichi turned to leave but then Ohma grabbed him by his collar.

"Hold on!" Ohma said. "You don't tell me where I can't go in this city."

"Looks like I have to instil some discipline in you," Itsuka said and stepped towards the boys.

Kenichi stepped between Itsuka and Ohma with a nervous face. "Hold on, this is just a misunderstanding. You don't need to fight."

"Don't get in my way, Kenichi," Ohma said, "You know I don't back off from challenges like this."

Kenichi paused for a moment as he stepped away and then said, "You came here to fight didn't you."

Ohma winked at him and smirked. As he did that Itsuka dashed forward and swung the sheathed sword at him.

Ohma dodged back with the limiting line and it looked as if the sword passed through him

"The limiting line," Itsuka said in recognition. "Guess you aren't a crude fighter like your friends."

Then she brandished the iaito and dropped the sheath. She swung the blade again, Ohma dodged and when he stabilised his position, a cut appeared on his black T-shirt.

"Fuck! I just bought this a week ago." Ohma groaned. Then he turned to Itsuka. "Does that blade doesn't have a sharp edge?"

"It doesn't need one," Itsuka said. "I could make cuts with just the speed."

She swung the blade again, but this Ohma didn't dodge, instead, he parried the blade with a kick.

"If that's the thing," Ohma said, "then I have to neutralise it with equal force."

'Guess I have to push you down.' Ohma was ready to attack, but it was again Itsuka who slashed first and Ohma blocked with his heel.

Itsuka attacked, holding the blade forward horizontally, one hand grabbing the handle, the other pressing the backside of the blade.

[ Itsuka Style: Yokoichi-Moji ]

"You have good eyes," Itsuka commented. She stepped forward, pulled her blade and slashed again. Ohma dodged leaping back lightly. '-and a flexible lower body.'

"You got some good legs," Itsuka remarked.

Ohma smirked. "Oh, you are making me blush."

'He has an Innate disposition, but it's evident that he trained hard.' Itsuka thought crossing her arms and taking a stance. 'However, he didn't start with anything. He fight weapon users and fought with weapons before. He has the presence of my kind.'

"Why don't I give a remark about you, Ohma said looking at Itsuka's slender body, "How do you swing that blade with such thin arms?"

"Excess muscles only hinder breathing." She said.

"Breathing?" Ohma raised his brows.

"I normally train using a katana around 1.55 m and weighing almost 20 kg," Itsuka said. "You can't just swing a blade like that with the brute strength of arms, you must draw power from your hips and breathing to do it. That's the foundation of Itsuka Style."

[ Itsuka Style: Ogame Breath ]

Ohma noticed Itsuka breathing in and out a mouthful of air and understood what it was. It's called the power of breath or inner strength in many martial arts and It had a quite simple basic mechanic. When a foreign body enters the trachea, you have a coughing fit, this movement in which you use all your inner muscles to expel the foreign body in response to entry. In other words, you control the inner muscles you normally wouldn't be able to control continuously by manipulating your breath and training such muscles to produce more power was also possible.

'Drawing strength from a mouthful of air, explaining it in short breath for power, then inhaling a mouthful again. I understand it now, and I have countermeasures against it.' Ohma thought as blocked another one of Itsuka's strikes with a kick. 'Like an unarmed martial artist, swordsmen are weak during opening made when they are breathing, but she limits them where it's difficult to attack her when she's inhaling or falling back. It is so-called 'constrained respiration' that controls the natural breathing at will.'

"Then I'll beat it with raw power," Ohma shouted, relaxing his muscles, kicking again and tightening them upon impact.

[ Adamantine Kata: Iron Breaker Kick ]

Itsuka staggered back the moment her blade made contact with the kick. This was the first time she was pushed back in this fight. She swung again the blade and again Ohma parried with a kick but this time she brought the blade to a backwards edge with the first semi-circle slash.

[ Itsuka Style: Ryuubi ]

Ohma dodged with the limiting line and another one Itsuka's attack came. She lunged forward with a stab while pushing the hilt of the blade with her other hand.

[ Itsuka Style: Kasumi ]

Ohma's eyes widened and he dodged with a sidestep, almost leaving an afterimage behind.

[ Flame Kata: Phantom Pace ]

Itsuka pulled back and positioned her other hand against the blunt side of the blade and positioned her blade as though it was a pool stick. Then she stabbed forward with lightning speed.

[ Itsuka Style: Chidori ]

[ Flame Kata: Phantom Pace ]

Ohma dodged with a sidestep but felt a burning pain as a red cut appeared on his arm. Ohma bled.

"Guess my Flame Kata is still incomplete." Ohma sneered. Then he dropped into a squat, spun on his heel one leg extended for a sweep.

Itsuka dodged, lifting one foot and shifting her weight to the back foot.

[ Itsuka Style: Crane Stance ]

Then she struck down, throwing her whole weight in it but Ohma managed to avoid it with a small leap backwards.

[ Itsuka Style: Ichimonji ]

Ohma kept his eyes on the blade as he tried to get back up. Meanwhile Itsuka the blade over her head still in the crane stance and took a mouthful of breath. Then she swung the blade again.

[ Itsuka Style: Thunder Dragon Form ]

Ohma moved back with the limiting line, but then a bloody cut appeared on his cheek. It was as though the blade's length as magically increased mid-swing. But how? He was sure in measuring the blade's length with his eyes.

[ Itsuka Style: Carpenter's Cut ]

"Hassun No Nobegane," Ohma muttered as he realized.

Hassun No Nobegane means Eight inch Sword. Eight inch is the length of the hilt, in other words, the length of distance between life and death. By freely controlling the tightness of the grip of the left hand on the sword's hilt, the grip on the right becomes loose in thrusts and overhead swings which makes the hilt lengthen, and if you add the right hand as support while holding the sword with the left hand your cut will be around four inch longer.

"The carpenter's cut, your dynamic vision backfired on you. I am starting to enjoy this," Itsuka said, "but you won't win this fight unarmed. Would you like to borrow a baton? You seem to know a bit about armed martial arts."

Ohma responded by raising his fists. "No, my fists are enough."

"Then as you wish," Itsuka said raising her blade and swinging again.

[ Itsuka Style: Carpenter's cut ]

This time Ohma placed his attention not on the blade, but the flow of power. The blade descended, and Ohma raised his fist and the blade slid passed by the back of his hands.

[ Redirection Kata: Flowing Edge ]

Itsuka looked at him with a surprise for a moment and then swung again. There was a blur of Flowing Edges and Carpenter's cuts between them but both stood their ground. The strikes came from up and down, from left and right, each one Ohma met. All of them were parried with trained precision.

On the sidelines, Kenichi watched, worried about this fight, and then an unknown girl's voice commented from behind.

"Your friend is handling himself quite well."

Kenichi turned to see the source of the voice. A blonde girl who looked similar to Miu in features, with green eyes and looked to be about his age. She had curly hair and wore the same school uniform as the girls Ohma fighting. Kenichi then noticed the sword belt around her waist and a rapier hanging from it.

"It's a stalemate," Kenichi said.

"And not an easy one." The blonde girl said. "Even if the blade isn't sharp as a real katana but it's still metal; Rin's strikes would crush bones upon impact normally. That guy's hands seem to be tough to not get, but do not take serious damage that fellow is parrying up-to-down strikes with the back of their hands and mow-down with his palms."

Kenichi's gaze turned back to match. The clash was still going on, Ohma then changed the rhythm and blocked the blade with one hand and tried to grab hold of Itsuka's hand with the other. Itsuka was quick to react and pulled her blade up over her head and brought it quickly down in a swift full circle strike. Then it became the new rhythm of the fight.

'She is taking too much time. He's is trying to take Rin's extended hand while parrying the slashes.' The blonde girl thought. 'And Rin is quickly moving her left hand upward to prevent that and is aiming for his hand after his hand he misses.'

Ohma blocked another strike and extended his hand. But this he didn't go for a grab, instead, he dropped his weight on the back of his feet and aimed for the opening on Itsuka's midsection.

'I can do it.' Ohma thought. First, his ankle moved, then his knee, then his hips, then his hips, then spine, the force of it moved through his shoulder to the rest of his extended arm and struck forward.

[ Niko Style: Ashura Shot ]

It only struck empty air as Itsuka dodged with a side step. That's when Ohma lost his balance, as he tried to regain a proper footing, Itsuka's blade's assault began. She took the opportunity and changed her stance.

[ Itsuka Style: Dragon Descends ]

Ohma brought his forearm over his head and bend his knees almost like in a crouching position. Then the painful assault of continuous metal sword strikes began on his forearms and hands.

Dragon Descends. For this technique, one relaxes their joints by lowering one's body and applying the force of the outer part of one's feet while having legs open as if standing on a barrel. Since joints get leeway while performing this technique, the whole body's muscular strength is applied which lets even a weak person draw out a great amount of force.

Those strikes hurt but Ohma's conditioned hands and forearm took them. 'My chances of successfully performing an all-for-nothing tackle is pretty low. But, no matter how much she controls her breathing, she can't keep herself from inhaling for so long. She will definitely move back and that's when I attack.'

'I need more power.' Itsuka thought as she exhaled another short breath. Then she drew power, a surge of heat and energy spread from tanden and ripped through her like an electric current. She grinned, feeling no tiredness, only a wild, fierce, limitless force of destruction running through her body into her arms. She swung the blade again on Ohma's forearm and made an ugly red bloody gash.

[ Dou Ki ]

Ohma squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and gritted his teeth as he felt sharp pain running through his arm. A barrage of blades started shrinking again. 'My arms won't last any longer. I should try Ki? Dou? No, it's too risky.'

"Sei Ki it is!" Ohma muttered as slowed his breath. A deep pressure enveloped him, liking being in cold water depths, starting from his tanden. It dispersed in a moment, leaving his senses enhanced. The sound of the blade cutting through the wind, the squeaking of his bones, the blade moving down at him, he could see it, he could smell his own blood in the air- everything sense became so razor sharp.

[ Sei Ki ]

Ohma shifted his weight forward, watching out for the blade and then when the blade came it slip by the back of Ohma's hand.

[ Redirection Kata: Flowing Edge ]

Itsuka raised the blade again with impatience on her face and Ohma didn't feel to notice it amidst the pain spreading on his arms. His eyes were sharper than they had been ever before in his life during that moment, they scanned each of Itsuka's moves under the barrage of strikes. When striking the head, if the sword comes out of the right, it means the force is in the right hand. That stiffens the shoulders and kills the blow's speed, and makes a slanted slash. Ohma didn't miss that and with all the might in his legs, he slipped onto her.

Itsuka's blade made empty air, her posture was broken so was Ohma's. Itsuka felt a hand placed on her waist as she corrected her posture. She looked down at Ohma's slanting his on his left leg beside her while his right leg lay extended.

She quickly positioned herself for a quick stab aiming for Ohma. "You couldn't get a good position for a strong strike or you just clung to me as you fell? At any rate, you successfully invaded my defence. So any last words before I make the final move?"

"Drop your weapon, missy," Ohma said. "You might have a sword, but I got a gun."

At that moment he moved his hips, knees, his spine, torso, shoulder, elbow and lastly his wrist, moving all that force into his palm.

[ Niko Style: Ashura Shot ]

Itsuka left the ground, her body sent flying and she met the hard ground she muttered, "A sunkei..."

Ohma stood and wiped the blood on his cheek cut. "It's been a while since I have been over the edge like this in a fight. But I win this fight."

The blonde girl ran towards Istuka who was knocked to the ground and then turned her head towards Ohma.

"You are not one of these thugs, are you?" She said. "I felt it, Sei Ki, no street thug would have it."

Ohma shrugged. "About time someone figured that out. I am Ohma Tokita, what about you?"

"I am Misa Auclair," The blonde said as she helped her friend get up, "and she is Rin Itsuka."