Kesshō arrived at the hall of the phoenix early in the morning, right after sunrise. The hall seemed to be completely deserted this early, the inside being somewhat dark. Kesshō arrived a good amount of time before anyone else to practice, hoping to be able to leave a good first impression, better than Taijutsu at the very least. She barely slept at all the last night with the excitement of getting to learn Kenjutsu at long last, and did not feel sleepy even now.

Wanting to impress everyone, Kesshō took her bokken and got into position like all other students did every morning. After getting a feel by swinging her bokken randomly a few times she prepared to practice the same way she always saw others do. She performed the same movements as them, finding them difficult at first, but soon they started to flow into the next. She performed the series of slashes she saw the others doing several times, the improvement very visible each time. Her plan was to perfect her swings as much as she could, along with keeping up a decent striking speed.

Bored by performing the same movements seven times in a row, which was much less than what she planned, Kesshō moved to actual combat, not quite however. She was the only one there that early so there was no one to be her opponent, leaving her with only one choice. Kesshō imagined an opponent, it's techniques similar to those of the other students she always saw fighting.

While trying this, Kesshō met several difficulties. One, her bokken didn't stop where it should when it collides with the enemy's bokken. Two, it was hard for her to imagine an enemy's movements while focusing on her own movements as well, and not copying those movements or losing track of her own movements.

At first, she looked like a child that was given a sword and had no idea what to do with it. After a while of practice, however, she looked like a child that knew exactly what to do with it. Her movements got smoother as she managed to imagine an opponent and the clashes, redirecting her bokken almost perfectly everytime it should have clashed with the opponent's. Her movements started flowing into the next and she was like a dancer dancing on the raised platform, a dance of death.

She kept practicing the same way till her slashes had gotten deathly precise, and fluid. She wasn't planning on stopping, but had to. A beam of light that fell directly on her eyes as she moved from the center to one of the sides, broke her concentration. Covering her eyes for a moment, allowing them to adjust to the morning light, Kesshō stepped out of the light.

When she removed her hand she noticed that the shoji was open, even though she closed it after entering. It took her a moment to realise there was a figure standing in the dark, observing her. It would have been hard for human eyes to notice Hori standing perfectly still in a dark corner, but not for Kesshō's eyes. Spotting him she instantly bowed, as was considered a greeting, and respectful.

"Didn't think you would notice." He said stepping out into the light. His clothes were all black, kimono and hakama, making him virtually invisible in a dark corner, except for his fair skin, if he stood perfectly still. "Seems like there isn't much for me to teach you in Kenjutsu." He mumbled as he approached her.

Kesshō got a feeling that something was off. Her heart, or from what it felt like, something in her heart, was telling her to not let her guard down, that if she did it won't go well for her. She didn't know what it was but it caused her senses to be on high alert even when there was no danger nearby whatsoever.

Only due to her instinct and the feeling did Kesshō dodge the attack. She failed to notice before the bokken Hori had been holding, which he swung directly for Kesshō's head as soon as he was in range. She barely dodged it doing a backflip and gaining some distance. Not wasting any time Kesshō lifted her bokken and pointed it diagonally upwards and forwards, the way the other students did during the duels.

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Hori struck again, bringing his bokken crashing down on to Kesshō's head. She blocked it by lifting hers above her head. The force of the blow nearly made her lose her grip on her bokken. Barely able to hold on, Kesshō pushed with all her force to no avail. Hori released one of his hands from his bokken, overpowering Kesshō even with one hand, and palm-struck Kessho with his free hand, sending her flying backwards. She rolled twice before stopping, quickly getting back to her feet she pointed her bokken at Hori again, her taijutsu training having taught her how to quickly get back on her feet from nearly any position.

"In a battle," Hori said, "your enemy isn't going to simply strike you with his hand, he would slice you up if you fight like this. Where are the movements you were performing just now?" He provoked her.

Kesshō calmed herself down, taking deep breaths and going through all the slashes in her mind. Clutching her bokken tightly she sprung towards Hori. He smiled and performed a vertical slash, aimed at her head. Kesshō spun to the side, arcing her bokken to hit Hori's side. Seeing her intention he stepped backwards, lifting his own bokken to attack again as Kesshō's passed harmlessly by him.

Not losing momentum, Kesshō took a large step towards Hori, as large as she could without losing balance while still spinning. Not having room to sidestep Hori blocked with his bokken as Kesshō's bokken swung in a wide arc as she slammed into Hori's. Hori pushed forward this time, prepared to knock Kesshō backwards and finish the fight. Kessho stepped slightly to the side this time, using the force from Hori's attack on her bokken to bring it arcing towards Hori's exposed side.

The force from Kesshō's bokken having been removed and due to Hori applying all his strength, he stumbled forwards, not able to gain control as Kesshō's bokken went straight for his side. It struck him on the ribs and knocked him to the floor, winded. Kesshō had just used the biggest advantage she possessed against anyone.

"Good, you outsmarted me." Hori panted, trying to catch his breath.

Kessho bowed in reply to show her gratitude.

Hori gave a nod of acknowledgement before continuing. "Your biggest advantage against an enemy is also your biggest weakness. They will consider you weak, as you are, and overcommit to an attack. By the time they realize their mistake, there wouldn't be anything they could do if you fight as you just did."

Getting up he patted Kesshō on the head before going to one of the racks. "A bokken wouldn't be a good weapon in a war however." He pulled out a shining steel katana from the rack and faced her. "What do you say? Do you think you are ready for this?"

Even though Kesshō shook her head her excitement was clear on her face, and Hori, noticing this, presented her the katana. Taking the katana from Hori's hands Kesshō nearly toppled over. She regained her balance with Hori's help and tried to keep the katana pointing straight up, while examining it. Mei had shown her what a katana was on the first day, but she hadn't given it to Kesshō, and so Kesshō knew nothing of how it felt to hold one.

It was much heavier than the bokken and Kesshō's hands were already starting to hurt. There were some letters engraved on the steel of the blade. How or why, Kesshō didn't understand, but she knew it said Takatomi, someone's name. The handle of the sword was completely black with a black circular handguard. The blade was silver in color towards the sharp part, and more white-like towards the blunt part.

"Swordsmiths engrave their names on the swords they make. Some engrave words or lines that they were ordered to, it does cost extra however," Hori explained. "Forging a sword is no easy task, and engraving detailed characters on it even more so. I don't suppose you want to be a blacksmith so I will spare you the details."

Taking the katana from Kesshō's trembling hands he placed it back in the rack. "Since you have mastered a bokken," he said turning towards Kessho, "I suppose you should get your own katana, these are far too long for you anyways. Go and have a rest, and eat something while you are at it. Get back here in an hour, I will have something planned for you by then."

After Bowing to him Kesshō walked out of the shoji into the sunlit garden. Now that she realized how much time had passed, she also realized just how hungry she was and hurried back to eat, knowing Kurai and Yuki would have been worried about her as she didn't inform them she was leaving.