With all her lessons over, Kesshō went straight towards the room shared by her, Kurai and Yuki. When she arrived the room seemed deserted, no sign of Kurai or Yuki. She checked in the surrounding rooms, some were locked and the ones which were open were empty. Failing to find them she decided to check further down the hallway.

The fort was a maze of similar hallways, one which Kesshō wasn't familiar with. She decided just wandering around aimlessly wasn't a good idea and decided to rely on her senses. With her ears and tails out, she continued her search.

In a hallway, not too long after, she came upon a familiar scent. With the help of her sense of smell she followed the trail of the scent outside. The moon was shining in the sky, a barely visible arc, prepared to disappear entirely the next day, the stars adorning the night sky. The cold winds caused her hair to blow to the side.

The wind, however, also blew away any traces of the scent, leaving her with no leads again. She roamed around in the darkness of the night looking for Kurai. The very wind that blew away the scent returned it to her after a few moments, going opposite to the direction of the wind she tried to locate where the scent came from.

It didn't take her long to find Kurai, though barely visible because of his black clothing. Yuki, on the other hand, was completely visible because of her white clothes. She spotted Mei and Hori as well, talking with the two and someone else. A figure dressed from head to toe in pitch black clothes. Kesshō recognized the outfit, the same kind as the one Yuki was wearing when they first met in the castle, along with those people she found before her first day of training.

"What you are saying does make sense," Kurai agreed.

"The despicable ways of the ninja would definitely suit a hybrid more than the proud ways of the samurai, Hori observed.

The one wearing the black outfit gave Hori a hostile glare before returning to a calm expression as he turned towards Kurai and Yuki. "So, what do you say?" He asked.

"I don't think it would be very helpful on the battlefield." Yuki pointed out, repeating her words from a few days ago.

"She clearly has more skills for Ninjutsu than anything else. Not teaching it to her would be a waste of such talent," The ninja pleaded.

"How is she performing?" Kurai asked turning to Hori and Mei.

"Her performance in Kyojutsu and Bōjutsu are… Unexpected, to say the least." Mei informed, searching for the right words. "She has already mastered the basics and is performing very well, moving ahead faster than any other person I have ever seen. She could already hit moving targets with pinpoint accuracy and block any attacks easily while blindfolded."

"In just four days?!" Yuki exclaimed.

"Yes," Mei shrugged.

"Well, she has done poorly in Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. She has absolutely no strength and can't even hold her bokken properly." Hori said with a shake of his head.

"She is doing well then," Kurai observed.

"How is that doing well?" Hori questioned

"Come on now, it had taken me a month just to master the basics in Taijutsu, and two to properly hold a bokken for that duration without dropping it," Kurai reminded. "I was older and bigger than her as well, so I see this as good progress."

"Exactly, I am quite sure you remember how long it took me to learn the basics in Taijutsu, about four months, and I still can't lift a sword for that long." Yuki sighed, shaking her head at the memory.

A sound from behind caught Kesshō's attention and she spun around, finding a man dressed from head to toe in black standing behind her. The man cracked his knuckles, prepared to swing at Kesshō . Kesshō froze because of the sudden and unexpected encounter, not knowing what to do.

The man punched towards Kesshō, showing no mercy and putting all his strength behind it. Snapping out of her shock, Kesshō ducked underneath the hit and created some distance between them. Her opponent was too large and strong for her to be able to take him down easily. The only thing that she could do was use her tails, which, like having a mind of their own, were also prepared to attack.

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Just as he punched again Kesshō remembered one of the techniques she had been taught, the name having slipped her mind but she remembered how to perform it.

Stepping forward, between his body and his hand, Kesshō grabbed his hand and, using all her strength, tossed the man forward. It was less of a toss and more of a roll, but it still proved to be fatal as his outstretched arm didn't roll along with his body and snapped as he rolled, or tripped, over her.

The sound was loud enough to make Kesshō jump from the crack, and attract everyone's attention from the thud. Everyone looked between her and the man crying and writhing on the ground with wide-eyed shock. Kesshō gave a nervous smile before looking to the ground, not knowing how they would react.

The man in the black clothes next to Kurai was the first to react. "Are you certain she is performing poorly in Taijutsu?" He questioned Hori.

Hori simply stared in disbelief, not having any answer for the question.

The man in all black clapped twice. Just as he did three more people wearing the same black outfit jumped down from the trees around Kesshō. Kesshō raised her tails, prepared to attack and hissed on instinct. The hissing caused the two nearest to her to flinch and take a few steps away to show they weren't planning to attack.

"Don't scare the little miss you three," The man called. "Anyways," he continued, "what did you see? Did she use a Taijutsu technique?"

The three nodded in unison. The man turned to Hori who was gaping at the news. Kurai wore an expression of approval and gestured Kesshō forwards. She ran straight to him, keeping an eye on the three black clothed figures. He knelt down as she approached and patted her on the head.

"You are certainly full of surprises," Kurai chuckled.

Mei and Yuki nodded their approval, Hori still shocked at the news, choosing to remain silent.

"So, are you going to allow her to learn Ninjutsu?" The man inquired.

"Has she learnt everything there is to learn, is there anything left to teach?" Kurai inquired Mei and Hori.

Mei and Hori shook their head in unison.

"If you wish, I can complete her Kyojutsu training with a test tomorrow, I will expend my bōjutsu lesson for that. The day after tomorrow, I will complete her bōjutsu training by using the Kyojutsu lesson. Then, she would have a lot of free time." Mei offered.

"Good, then I will take one of those lessons for Ninjutsu," The man informed.

"What about the other?" Yuki asked.

"She can practice whatever she wants to in that," Kurai declared, "practice is also important."

"It's decided then," Mei said turning to Kessho, "you will need to work harder from now on, I hope it wouldn't be too much for you."

Kesshō was happy to receive this much praise, not having received any when she lived in the castle. This was cut short however with her remembering what she wanted to tell Kurai. She pulled several times on Kurai's hand, telling him to follow. Having been with her for so long Kurai understood and followed.

"Seems like she wants to show something," He informed the others who were all confused as to what she was doing.

Kesshō led Kurai to the hall of the phoenix and, sliding the shoji open, retrieved her bokken showed it Kurai. Not understanding, he tilted his head at her. Kesshō did the gesture of dropping the bokken thrice, the number of times she dropped it on the other days.

"You dropped your bokken thrice today?" Hori inquired with a sigh.

Kesshō pointed backwards with her thumb.

"Yesterday?" Yuki asked.

Kesshō nodded pointed her finger downwards and dropped her bokken, before shaking her head.

"I think we should teach her ninja sign language first." The man in black suggested, finding it hard to understand what she attempted to say.

"You didn't drop your bokken today?" Kurai inquired.

Kessho nodded her head excitedly. Everyone looked towards Hori with a shocked expression on their face.

Hori, who wore an equally shocked expression, approached Kesshō. "You aren't lying, are you?" He questioned, standing right in front of her.

"No need to scare her," Kurai said pushing Hori gently to the side. "I know that she wouldn't lie to me."

Hori contemplated this for a while. "It is true that I didn't hear the sound of her bokken dropping to the ground today."

"How can you tell if it was her?" Yuki asked.

"Well the sound it makes is lower as it much lighter than the rest…" Hori stopped as he sensed the shocked eyes on him.

"I never expected something like this from you," Mei gasped.

Yuki and Kurai exchanged glances before smiling to each other.

"Certainly not something I would expect from a proud samurai." The man in the black clothes said with a shake of his head.

Hori almost seemed to be shrinking into the ground from the remarks. Kesshō could sense his overwhelming nervousness as if it was her own. She put her hand gently onto his and gave a reassuring smile.

He bowed slightly to Kesshō before going inside the hall with the bokken, shutting the shoji behind him. Everyone remained silent for a while, not knowing what to say.

"Seems like with enough effort even the toughest hearts can melt." Yuki smiled, looking up at the night sky.

"Agreed," Kurai and Mei said in unison.

Kesshō nodded her head, a smile on her face. She failed to understand the significance of what happened just now, simply happy to have gotten her point across, and knowing she would be allowed to start actual training from tomorrow.