Dance With The Devil

Forget

After sitting down for a moment, I thought about it, and didn't change. It would be easier to do some of the high-kicks that I needed to practice. I just sat in the empty, dusty, space, that i called mine for the moment. I wrapped a similar brace on my right arm, only using gauze. I then check my bare feet for splinters. After the dissipointment of finding none, I make my way slowly down the stairs, still barefoot, out to the front of the house, which was noted by others on the front line as 'Nayame's place', 'Nayame's Jail House' or 'The shack in the Middle of Nowhere'. It was literally in the middle of nowhere, far away from the war front, in the frontier, in the middle of a field of shortly-cut grass that extended for five miles on all sideds. Peaceful place. But one isn't here for long, unless you're Nayame, who's here whenever an important front line warrier, is down, recovering from injuries, like yours truely, the twig girl.

Hosoi came out a minute later, wearing confortable clothes, with Nayame yelling after him, "Give me an hour so I can clean up 'Gret's mess."

"Fine, but no longer. I don't plan for this to take long" I reply, before sitting down on a rather large tree stump. "Sit." I command, as Hosoi looks at me strangly, as my eyes signal, I mean the ground.

"On the ground?"

"Yup. Now sit." He hesitated, but sat down. Gracefully. What did they teach at that school? Grace? Grace didn't get you anywhere in battle, unless you knew how to win. Then you add skill, and endurance, and will.

"Regret, what do-"

"I am superior to you. You must not refer to me as Regret, otherwise you will be disiplined greatly."

"Then what can I call you?" He asked, still in shock of me making him sit on the dirt ground.

"First, 'can' isn't a word. I think you CAN call me something. It doesn't mean for sure. You must use 'Shall' instead, along with replacing the world 'Will' because it isn't a for sure. For now on you shall talk using 'Shall' instead of 'will' and 'can' understood?" These were rules. The basics, that all people learned to obey if they wanted to be part of the millitary. I only had to be told once, and after that, I never made that mistake again. When refering to someone superior to you, one had to use these rules. Anyone not, then they didn't have to follow the rules. Simple.

"Yes, now what shall I call you by?"

"Master, Master Nakashibi. Teacher. Something along those lines. If you don't know a military personal's name, then refer to him or her as 'sir'. If not, referr to them by their last name, as in Nakashibi. If they are older than you, reer to them as Sir, or mister, abravated Mr. , unless they are female, and not a military personal. If a female military peronal who is confident in her place, and is high up in status, and if they wish so, they shall be called ma'm. Otherwise, as followed; A women in military is sir, unless told specifically by that person otherwise. A women with high status, and wealthy, or any female in an elegant place is madam. If a wealthy women with high status is in military, she may wish for others to call her madam. Respect her athoridey. Otherwisek if a women is married, then she is Mrs. Followed by her last name. If she is not, or is, and under the age of sixteen years, she is Miss. followed by her last name. If you do not know the status, or she is unmarried and ove the age of fifty years, she is Ms. This may seem basic, but is one of the most important things you need to know. Lastly, if they are the same age, and a close friend, or are younger and do not hold more power than you, refer to them by their first name, If they hold power, then by their last name, understood?" I barked. If one did not know this, they could get in serious trouble. It was so basic, yet neccary to do your job right.

"Yes, Teacher"

"Good. Now I'm going to attack you. You need a weapon. Create one with the earth. Stand up."

"But I learned that creating weapons is-"

"Forget that. You will die if you don't."

"But it's against the-"

"Forget the rules, forget everything they taught you in school. You are now training to be a military personal. You follow very different rules. In addition, no backtalking, unless specified to one superior to you."

"Yes Teacher"

"Now create a weapon, and attack me."

"But you're hur-"

"no backtalking!" I shouted, "And no 'but's. They are usless in this war. They will only get you nowhere."

"Yes Teacher"

"Now come, and attack me. You won't hurt me. Trust me."

He didn't create a weapon, instead just ran up to me. His loss.

At the last second, I dodged him to his side, as his eyes widend in shock. He almost froze, as I roundhouse kicked him in the back, and he fell face first into the dusty dirt.

"Ow, I thought-"

"Pick yourself up. You'll get beat up if you don't. Expect to have it hard, and have bruises, and cuts. Nayame can heal some of them. But don't be crying to her like a baby. You need to build up the tolerance to things like this. Otherwise you'll get taken down easily. And that's the last thing you would want. Now go, get rest. We'll start real training in the morning tommorow, at seven, sharp. Right here, by this tree stump. If you're not ready, then I won't train you. Now go." He got up, and with one last glance at me, before walking off.

That's the first thing one must know. Forget everything taught before this. The only thing that matters now, is if you live or die. It doesn't matter if you win or lose, as long as you come out alive.