She looked back at the man hanging in front of her. His eyes were still open and his face contorted in perpetual fear. She closed her eyes, trying to reimagine the man once again as the straw figure. After a few deep breaths, Shizu opened her eyes again and focused on the straw-filled shirt.

"Just straw. It is no one," she chanted and picked the dagger back up.

She returned to the stabbing. With each new thrust, the fear and disgust of the dagger being shoved into a dead corpse lessened until all of the straw was gone and she was simply left with the mutilated corpse. Blood and flesh coated her forearms and face. The smell of the rotten corpse oozed through her nose. Death and decay. Promise number two: death was inevitable and another gift of life they controlled at their whim.

"That's enough for today," the kitsune barked.

Shizu faced him. “Master?”

"Go wash up. Tomorrow we will begin anew."

#

The training room was just as brightly lit as it had been when she left. Where the destroyed corpse had been was now a fresh one. It didn't have any straw or clothing to cover him. He was at least twice Shizu's age and whatever genitals he may have had were already removed. Even the hair on his body was cut away to provide a clean body for her to stab. Next to him was a table with a mass of objects on top.

Shizu walked over to the table. A multitude of weapons awaited her. The dagger sat in the middle. Around it was a few other weapons ranging from knives or long swords that were bigger than she was. She reached for the dagger to continue the stabbing practice but stopped when the kitsune in his human form stepped out of the shadows.

"Not today. You understand and grasp the concept of stabbing an enemy. An easy maneuver, but useless for most missions when facing against someone actively attacking you with a sword.” He picked up one of the shorter swords and handed it to Shizu. The metal blade had been replaced by a piece of solid wood. "From today on, you will train with this."

Shizu dragged her finger across the wooden blade. "What is it?"

"A bokken. Until you are bigger, you will train with this every day. Practicing every strike on the man, and then when you're ready, against me."

Shizu held the sword out in front of her. The end was far heavier than she had expected. The sword tilted forward despite how much she tried to hold it upward. Once she was confident in holding it, she stood in front of the corpse. The man's eyes and mouth were sewn shut. She took a deep breath and swung the sword down on the corpse's shoulder. It barely made a sound from the impact and left no markings behind.

The kitsune growled in frustration. "Your strikes are weak. Look," he said and stood behind Shizu.

He wrapped his hands around hers, guiding Shizu's hands to the proper area where to hold them. He relaxed her grip and indicated for her to do the same. His demeanor was far different than yesterday. Something caring and trusting in his movements as if acknowledging her as someone worthy of his attention rather than complete ridicule. He lifted their arms above Shizu’s head and slammed the sword down on the corpse. It made a soft thud, louder than her own strike but still resulted in the kitsune grumbling under his breath again.

"Keep practicing. You will eat dinner when you have killed your enemy."

"But he is already dead!" She pointed up at the man’s face.

He narrowed his gaze. "Do you wish him to be alive?"

He swiped his hand through the air and the room was filled with agonizing screams. Shizu looked behind her. The threads keeping his mouth and eyes closed were gone. He let out another blood-curdling scream. His gaze darted back and forth before landing on Shizu.

"You! Demon! Murderer! I'll fucking kill y—”

Before he could finish his threat, his body went limp and the strings reappeared. “Always the noisy ones.” He sighed and brushed a hand against the corpse.

Shizu took a step forward and gulped. She poked the corpse with the bokken. When he didn't respond, she sighed in relief.

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"So, you prefer him dead, I see."

Shizu nodded.

"Good. Now strike him. I will tell you when I believe your strike would kill him." He leaned against the far wall and nodded at Shizu. "Begin."

Shizu took a deep breath and held the sword in front of her as the kitsune had instructed. She closed her eyes, focusing her attention on the sword. Once again imagining it as an extension of her arm like the dagger had been.

"Die!" Shizu yelled and swung the bokken down on the corpse. A true blade would have cut through the body without struggle, but the wooden sword was blunt. Not built for cutting someone open. The thwack sent a surge of renewed energy through her body, but the reverberation of wood on flesh made it hard to hold onto the sword. She dropped it and held her forearms. Both ached from just the single strike.

"Again!"

Shizu didn't look back at the kitsune but picked up her bokken and tried to swing again. The second swing was far weaker than the first. She tried a third time. With each swing, it landed softer than the one before it. Her arms ached and she dropped the bokken to the ground.

The kitsune tapped his fingers against the stone wall in impatience. "Get up. You haven't killed him yet. He's still standing."

Shizu grunted and picked up the bokken. Her strikes held no power against the corpse. "If you gave me an actual sword, I could kill him!" Shizu screamed through the pain. Tears rolled down her face. She wanted to give up. Wanted to go back to her own bed and sleep. She didn't care if it meant no food.

He walked up next to Shizu and snatched the bokken out of her hands. He tapped her arms with the wood. She tried to step away from him, but he glared down at her, keeping her immobilized.

"You don't need a blade to kill a man. Any warrior worth anything could kill a man with a simple branch of a tree."

He stood in front of the corpse and held the bokken in front of him. His left leg was in front while his back leg maintained his balance. The bokken lay in his hands horizontal to the ground. The kitsune let out a battle cry of rage, lifting the sword into the air and slamming it into the corpse. The flesh split open where the bokken made impact.

Shizu looked between the blade and the corpse. Every one of her strikes didn’t leave a single mark, and yet if she hadn’t seen him perform the attack she would have believed it from a real sword and not a practice blade.

He handed the bokken back to Shizu. "Kill him."

Shizu bowed and turned back to the corpse. The damage was erased from the body, brought back to a pristine condition, or at least pristine in the sense of how she encountered it when she first walked into the room. Shizu held her body in the same stance as the kitsune had. Her muscles screamed to move and return to a more natural position, but she fought through it all. Her sword swung through the air and crashed on the corpse. Her arms hurt far less, and the thud of impact echoed louder than before. She continued to hit the corpse, pushing through every last bit of pain while the kitsune hovered over her shoulder.

Her arms screamed for release. There was only one swing left in her body before she would collapse from exhaustion. Even the whips wouldn't bring her back. She let out one final scream of frustration, letting the last bit of her energy out, and slammed the bokken into the man's face. A soft crack of the skull made her halt her next attack. She lowered the sword, huffing and laughing in delight. Even the kitsune silently applauded her success. It didn't split open his flesh like before, but a fractured skull meant one thing: death. She had killed the corpse.

Her stomach curdled as her mind echoed the word death inside. She pushed the feeling down. This was her role in life. If she expected to survive, others couldn't survive. Everything she faced would become like the corpse in front of her.

Shizu stood and faced the kitsune. "I've done what you asked, sensei."

He flicked his tails in response but didn't speak. The way his face remained still like a pool of water spoke far more than words ever could.