Chapter 11: Spar

"Is that all? I though this reknowned dojo could teach me something, but I if the students are so weak, I guess I was wrong!!"

Silence decsnded on the dojo, all the children had their eyes wide open, Kuina and Cassius who were standing to the side were just as surprised as the others since they didn't expect Hotaru to be able to hold his own against Sachiyo, not to mention him winning this easily, so they didn't react to the insult.

But unlike the rest, Koushirou had a small smile on his face, his eyes which were always looked close were slightly open.

"Good job, Hotaru, you're very strong for you're age, but it look like the challenge was too easy for you, and since you think that this dojo wouldn't be able to teach you anything, how about you and I have a little spar?"

"Spar?"

Hotaru raised his eyebrow, wondering if Koushirou is actully gonna fight him, he knows Koushirou is way stronger than the current him, but he would like to see how much is the diffrence between them.

"Sure, let's spar old man!!"

Koushirou walked to the swords barrel and picked one randomly, with a smile he walked to the middle of the arena, Sachiyo having been dragged to the side by the other students.

Hotaru and Koushirou stood face to face but the diffrence in their stances were obvious, Hotaru was holding his sword with two hands and had a serious look on his face, whilst Koushirou held the sword with one hand and had the same relaxed smile on his face.

'Dammit, his not taking me seriously!!'

An older student steped up, stood between Hotaru and Koushirou, and with a solmen look on his face asked.

"Are you both ready?"

"Yes!"

"Yeah"

This time the rules were reversed Hotaru was standing in a proper stance showing how serious he treated the fight, while Koushirou was in a relaxed stance not bother at all.

"Begin"

"Thunder Breathing: Total Concentraion"

Without wasting a second, Hotaru used Thunder Breathing to dash at Koushirou as fast as he can, he knew that Koushirou didn't take him serouisly and it pissed him off, so he wanted to land at least one solid hit by catching him off guard, otherwise he might not have the chance to hit him.

Bang~

Hotaru arrived infront of Koushirou and delivered a fast arcing downwards vertical slash, but to his surprise, Koushirou's sword blocked his strike.

"Water Breathing: First Form: Water Surface Slash"

Landing on the ground, Hotaru quickly adjusted his body before he crossed his arms and released a singular, concentrated slash at Koushirou but was blocked again.

'Dammit, I failed'

Jumping back Hotaru didn't rush into attacking again, he tried thinking if there was any form that he know that'll allow him to land a hit on Koushirou.

"You're very strong, Hotaru, I get now why you were so cocky earlier"

"Cocky?"

"Yeah, the way you stood and talked and even looked at Sochiyo was enough to show that you didn't take him seriously"

"Flame Breathing: First Form: Unknowing Fire"

Attacking again while Koushirou was talking, Hotaru eyes widened when his sword was meet with Koushirou's sword since his reaction time wasn't delayed in the slightest.

"Ho? attacking me while I'm talking and not completely foucsed, although some people might think it unhonorable, to me it mean you can tell that you are no match for me, which is a good sign that you don't overestimate you're capabilities"

"What are you doing?"

"What are you talking about?"

Jumping back after his attack failed, Hotaru frowned and asked Koushirou a question to which Koushirou titled his head in confusion.

"You're here just talking, we're supposed to be sparing and you're leacturing me instead"

"Oh, that, well, you said that this place can't teach you anything, so I wanted to show you that you're wrong, and that you shouldn't rush to conclusions without knowing the full picture, but if that is all you have to offer, I don't know if I should make an exception and allow you into my dojo"

"What? are you looking down on me??"

"well you did it first to my student, so why shouldn't I?"

"Don't compare me to them!!"

"Flame Breathing: Total Concentration"

Hotaru lunged at Koushirou and swung his sword again but was blocked, he kept swinging at Koushirou but to no avail, Koushirou blocked every attempt with no effort, and slowly Hotaru attack became more and more aggressive.

Hotaru swung his sword again but this time Koushirou titeld his body slightly which made Hotaru miss his strike and losing balance, and Koushirou didn't let Hotaru's mistake go as he swung his sword where it hit Hotaru's shoulder

Bam~

"Ugh..."

'God Dammit'

But the hit didn't make Hotaru back down, instead he began switching between Breathing styles to try and take Koushirou off guard.

"Water Breathing: Total Concentration"

Switching to Water Breathing Hotaru movement became more fluid, and he was able to transition his strikes more seemlessly, he was able to perform one attack after the other more fluidly and in a new pattern, which made Koushirou eyes widen slightly, before he chuckled and blocked him again.

Boom~

Hotaru kept attacking over and over again, each time from diffrent direction with the help of Water Breathing his attacks were fluid and fast despite him changing angles in every strike.

"Haa,haa,haaa.."

Hotaru stamina was being slowly depleted, and he felt his arms were numb already and his body's muscle were burning up from the continuous use and changing between Breathing Styles.

"You're getting frustrated"

"What??"

Surprised at being spoken to by Koushirou in the middle of the fight, Hotaru didn't understand what he ment by that.

"You're getting frustrated and desperate in you're attacks, before now you're attacks had a rhythm to them and each move was seemingly planed, but now, you're just swinging you're sword without thinking probably"

"You're sword is moving fast but the attacks are weak and you're not managing you're strength porbably, honestly, I'm greatly disappointed in you're performance, I expected more"

"DON'T TALK DOWN TO ME DAMMIT, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE???"

Hotaru gritted his teeth so hard they started to hurt, but he couldn't careless about them since he felt dizzy from anger at the way Koushirou was talking to him like he's incompetent.

"Flame Breathing: First Form: Unknowing Fire"

Boom

Attacking again Koushirou blocked it with no effort, Hotaru steped back and lowered himself a little.

"Flame Breathing: Second Form: Rising Scorching Sun"

Boom

Blocked again, Hotaru Adjusted his stance and using the momentum from his previous attack swung down his sword.

"Flame Breathing: Third Form: Blazing Universe"

Boom

"Haa,Haa,Haa...I'm not done yet"

"Water Breathing: First Form: Water Surface Slash"

"Wind Breathing: Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist"

Despite all his effort, Hotaru's met with the same fate, being blocked with Koushirou's bambo sword, at this point Hotaru was barely hanging on to his consciousness by a thread, using all those forms in succession left him mentally and physically exhausted from the pain.

"It's already over, Hotaru, you put up a good fight but..."

Disappearing mid sentence Hotaru eyes shrunk and he raised his guards up preparing to defend the incoming attack, but suddenly he felt pain shoting through his neck and into his whole body before his vision slowly turned dark.

"...I think you should get some rest, you already pushed yourself beyond you're limit"

Those were the last words Hotaru heard before he lost consciousness.

------

Looking at Hotaru unconscious body, Koushirou had a lot of emotions going through his mind before quickly shaking his head.

"Sachiyo"

"Y-Yes, Koushirou-sensei!!"

"You and a couple of older students, take Hotaru to a room and tend to him, make sure he's gonna be okay"

"Yes, Koushirou-sensei"

Quickly picking up Hotaru's unconscious body with the help of another older student, they left the room after bowing to Koushirou.

"Kuina"

"Y-Yes Father!!"

"Go with them and make sure they do it probably"

"Yes Father"

Standing up, Kuina walked to the door, but not before turning and giving her father a glance then turning back and qucikly following them.

'Father is so strong, I need to work harder and become strong too so I can help him achive his dream!!'

"What are you still doing lazing around? Hotaru is you're age and he's far stronger than all of you, so get back to training"

""Yes, Koushirou-sensei""

Watching the students hurriedly scrample around and start continuing the exrcise from before, Koushirou looked toward the door and then toward the bambo sword in his hand, before with a smile putting it back into the barrel.

'Maybe, he'll be what they need to win...'

Shaking his head, he returned to coaching the young students, pushing that thought to the back of his mind.

------

"Ugh..."

'Where am I ? what happened? I was fighting Koushirou and then...'

"Ah"

Opening his eyes, Hotaru felt his body a little sour, looking around he saw that he was laying on a futon with his shirt off, and it looked like his bandages had been changed since they didn't look the same as before.

"You're awake"

Hearing a female voice coming from beside him, Hotaru turned to look at the origin of the voice, who was entering the room.

"You're...Kuina, right?"

"Yeah, my father asked me to make sure you're treated probably, I gotta say, you are really crazy to fight like that with the injurys you had, you opened you're wounds and we had to replace the old bandages."

"Ahaha, sorry, I guess I got carried away in the fight, how long was I out for anyway?"

"Not too long, just couple of hours, but according to the doctor, you still need to rest for at least 2 more days to avoid the risk of opening up you're injurys, so I'll go bring you some food, since you must be hungry"

"Okay, thanks"

Watching kuina leave the room and closing the door behind her, Hotaru let out a long sigh, before closing his eyes to reflect on the battle.

'It's really frustrating to lose, even though I knew I was no match for him, I still couldn't accept that I was going to lose like that, not to mention how I snapped at him, I don't think I was like that in my previous life'

'Come to think of it, when I killed Skinny John I didn't even feel the slight discomfort, even if the adrenaline of the battle toke my mind off of it, I didn't feel even the tiniest bit of remorse that I took a human life like when I did in my previous life'

'Did I change? wait, I remember the A.I saying that because I spent some time in hell, it might have affected my personality a little bit, was she talking about this? not feeling anything after killing someone or me losing my temper easily?'

Forwning at that thought, Hotaru was snapped out of it at the sound of the door opening, he opened his eyes to see Kuina coming into the room.

"My father told me that you might prefer to not eat alone so he asked me to invite you to join him for lunch, would you like to?"

"A-Ah, sure, why not"

Standing up Hotaru followed Kuina out of the room and into the hallway, walking for couple of minutes before stopping infront of a door.

"My father is inside, you can go in"

"Okay, thank you"

Opening the door and stepping inside the room, Hotaru saw a table with food on it, it looked freshly cooked as steam was still coming out, and at one side of the table sat Koushirou, and on the other side was an empty chair.

"Hotaru-Kun, please come in"

Saying that with a smile made Hotaru gulp down, before closing the door behind him and taking a seat.

"So, Hotaru, should we have a little chat?"