Guide to breathing

I carefully made my way around the house, sneaking around so as to not arouse suspicion with my very conspicuous sword.

When I saw the coast was clear, I made a mad dash towards the sliding door of the library, opening and closing it shut behind me in the same breath.

The library wasn't relatively large. It was hosted in a small room, which made the seemingly never ending bookshelves which adorned the room tightly packed together, leaving little to no space to move around.

Which explains why the room cannot be properly maintained, with clutter everywhere and books decorating not only the bookshelves but also the floor.

My objective was unclear, he left me with only a key and told me to find a trapdoor. Something which would be nigh impossible if not for my small size. This left me wandering aimlessly through the library, keeping my eyes on the floor and occasionally hitting my head against an outcropping in the shelves.

'Just you wait. I'll get you back for this' My determination to beat my grandpa in a fight only grew stronger as I considered the possibility of him sending me on a fool's errand to get back at me.

After an hour of straight searching, I decided enough is enough and started breaking s**t. I started by moving every bookshelf out of the way, but because they were tightly packed like sardines in a can, I couldn't move them enough. 

My blood started to boil as my frustration reached new heights. Despite the constant shitty weather, I was sweating my ass off and to make things worse, the dust accumulated over years stuck to my skin like feathers on syrup. 

'I must have patience, I bet this is also an exercise to teach me that' I thought, while snapping a bookshelf in half with my bare fist.

Eventually, after hours of feeling around in the now dark room, I felt four divots, combining to make a small square shape, with a strange feeling hole.

"Come on, this has to be it" I said, exasperated 

I lit my oil lamp for the first time, hoping to not burn any books and subsequently burn the whole house down. When the lamp finally lit, I could see the trapdoor, along with the keyhole.

'I beg you' I thought, while getting out my key and inserting it into the whole.

I gave it a gentle twist and the door answered with a resounding click.

"Fucking finally, my god"

There were no stairs leading down into the basement to speak of, leaving me to jump down about 6 feet on a hard, stone like surface. 

The room smelled like rotten eggs, the signature smell of sulfur, along with the heavy scent of neglect.

I looked around with my lamp, only to be met with a whole lot of nothing surrounding me. I walked further into the room and the prize finally revealed itself in the form of a small, hand sized book. Much like an information booklet on earth. 

Flanking the pedestal upon which the book sat, several racks displaying ornate katanas could be seen. Each one more beautifully adorned than the last. 

'A bit too flashy for my tastes though. Who would've thought that the old man would create this presentation for a single worn out book.' I thought, approaching the book 

"Better contain the secret to everlasting youth or something" I said, picking up the book and flipping through its now yellowish pages.

"A comprehensive guide to water breathing. Sounds like some kind of YT tutorial. Anyway what the hell is water breathing"

I opened the first page and was met with the author's personal life anecdotes along with a philosophy piece on the art of the sword.

Obviously, I flipped through until I got to the actual content.

Landing on the first page, my eyes shot wide open and I could feel my heart beating faster and faster because of the excitement.

What I came across could only be described as proverbial solid gold. The book itself was actually worth my whole family's weight in gold as well. It consisted of 10 forms of 'water breathing', something which I saw gramps do and was eager to learn. 

'To be able to split apart steel, it must be that good' I thought, reading all the pages in a flash.

'OK, all I have to do now is put it into practice. Hopefully it's as easy as it looks.'

I jumped up the hatch and rushed to get my sword from the bookshelf I left it at. Though, the maze-like structure of the library made that a little difficult.

Once I got the sword, I jumped back down the hatch and started practice right away. I followed the exact movements shown and described in the book, swinging my sword hundreds of times just trying to get a grasp of the first form 'Water surface slash' which involves generating momentum and concentrating it into one single powerful slash. 

I tried multiple times to replicate the stance, angle, and strength described by the texts to no avail. I swung and swung the sword until beads of sweat started forming on my forehead. The stuffy air of the room made me lightheaded and made it hard to breathe, so my concentration was taking a dip.

After swinging my sword around for a while and having nothing happen, I got bored. So I picked up the book and the sword and ran back to my room. By the time I was done with training, the sun had long set, the hallways now bathed in the soft pale glow of the moonlight peeking through the clouds.

'Fuckk I missed training with dad and dinner too. I'm dead'

I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, my dad is going to kill me, and on the other hand my mom is going to absolutely kill me. 

'Dad it is' 

"What the hell do you think you're doing young man? How dare you shirk your responsibilities and show up here so nonchalantly? Have you no shame?" My father's behavior was understandable, an 8 year old kid going missing through the whole day could only mean disaster 

"Your mother has been worried sick, you're lucky you didn't go to her first"

'Nice!' 

"Are you smiling right now?" My father said, veins popping on his forehead 

"No sir. I'm sorry, I went to visit the garden in the morning and I got completely sidetracked. I spent the rest of the day with grandpa, learning about swords. I'm really sorry, I'll accept any punishment" I replied honestly, making no excuses while performing an almost 90° bow

My father's brow twitched slightly at the mention of grandpa but he still retained his stern expression, now with furrowed brows.

He sighed and placed his head in his palm. 

"Gramps you say huh? Then there's not much I can so about it without getting my clipped off by that geezers incessant nagging" He said, looking defeated 

'Gramps sure is important around here' 

"Let me guess, you got that sword from him?" He said, pointing to the scabbard peeking out from behind me 

"Yes I did, do you recognize it?" I pulled it out from behind my waistband, showing it to my father 

"It's one of our family heirlooms." He said, his soul about to leave his body "Crafted by our ancestors over months of labour. I personally do not care for katanas but even I can see it's value

"If he gave that to you, you might as well keep it, seeing as you're now his favorite grandchild. But be careful with it or pray you never see him again" He said, completely resigned.

"You've been forgiven, but don't think you'll go unpunished, prepare yourself for tomorrow's training with all you got. You may go now. Good night Yuuki"

"Good night dad" I gave a small bow before leaving the study and heading back to my room to give another attempt at learning water breathing.