damned_institute | Nightshift 36: M51-M60 Hallway

And Kenshin did see it. He looked at the two, smiling, watching how they interacted with each other and how they were trying to make sure that he didn't notice. The rurouni just smiled, pretending that he hadn't seen anything. It was kind of like watching Yahiko and Tsubame, though this was...slightly less innocent.

Robin was putting on a brave face for the lady, who was appropriately concerned. Then he was back up, in the ready position like nothing had happened. That was also like Yahiko. Kenshin bowed slightly, still feeling a little bad that he'd managed to hurt him. He laughed nervously. "Shall we try that again?"

"Yeah. Let's give it another go." Matt took up the same stance as before, though he wasn't nearly as focused as he had been (as much as he tried).

He was being played like a harp. No, not even a harp - more like one of those player pianos that worked by itself when you stuck a coin into it. Matt knew this, and yet Holy God those eyes.

She was too hot to be a prostitute, he decided. Not that he was all that well informed on what a prostitute should look like. It was possible she was one of those ones that only the rich could afford because of their beauty and how well they knew how to...

Something dripped off the edge of Matt's upper lip and he glanced down at his hand to see a speck of red. The young man's eyes widened and he quickly wiped the short trail of blood from his nose away with his thumb. Kenshin was going to swing and he'd already been embarrassed enough tonight!

One of the aspects of Ayumu's training had involved making use of any weapon that might present itself, no matter how small or insignificant it might appear. Here, apparently trapped in this strange place without any of the various bits of weaponry she usually carried on her person, she was still not entirely unarmed.

It gave her a tiny bit of satisfaction to see that she was winning this particular battle without the combatants even realizing that it was being fought: Kenshin had apparently accepted her as harmless, to the extent that he'd offered his sword to her, and Robin...well. She rather thought she could count this as an effective use of her time.

But for now the men had their own things to attend to, so she merely re-took her place out of the way, sitting on the bed to one side. She watched the practice with a somewhat worried expression now, though, as if concerned that one or both of them might be injured again.

Kenshin's sword hadn't come near Robin's nose, but it was bleeding anyway. Turning his head slightly, the rurouni smiled. "Innocent" indeed. Robin obviously knew very well where Shimabara was, and what it meant that Sen called it home.

But there were other, more important things to worry about at the moment and the rurouni straightened, sword at the ready. Once he had decided that Robin was prepared enough (he wasn't going to make that mistake again), he swung again, slowly.

It was difficult not to drop the proper method of swinging the blade and just do his own thing once the other man's sword came at him, but Matt did his best not to swing completely from the elbow as he blocked. Whether this was right or not, he couldn't be sure. The swing was slow enough that blocking it hardly took much skill. He really was getting the easy course, wasn't he?

Thankfully, neither had said anything about his bleeding nose. He was going to try not to think of what they might tell others when he was out of earshot, though. He had to focus on the important matters, such as how Kenshin's next strike was going to be.

[skipping Ayunee with permission]

Good, Robin blocked. Kenshin nodded his approval, moving in to take another swing. He was faster this time, wanting to test the young man's reaction speed. They weren't up to "real time" yet, and they probably wouldn't get to it tonight, but hopefully it would at least help his reflexes a bit.

Edited 2008-11-06 03:18 (UTC)

An increase in speed. Good. Kenshin wasn't going to take things too slow. It was still manageable, and Matt brought the sheath up to block again. He went underhanded, trying to meet the weapon's center. That was proper, wasn't it? He didn't think video games and anime were a proper reference for this sort of thing, but then again... who knew? Given where he was figuring Kenshin to hail from...

If his form was off, the red-head would say something. That was about as good as he could ask for right now.

[skipping Ayu again :D]

Kenshin smiled encouragingly. Robin was learning. The swings were becoming more natural now, less forced. The rurouni swung again, faster still. Sen was sitting on the bed, watching with rapt attention. Maybe just a little too attentive, but that made...a certain amount of sense, didn't it? She liked Robin, and Robin was showing off.

"Let's mix it up a little. Now, you come at this one."

Only a couple blocks? Matt had expected more than that, and was unable to help the confused frown that slipped onto his features. Kenshin was the teacher, however, and he straightened up, ready to come at him. He didn't put too much thought into it - just made a downwards sweep with the sheath. The rurouni would be able to block anything, he was sure. Even one-handed as he currently was.

The sword practice was interesting and all, and Ayumu did have to admit that neither one of the men was entirely unpleasant to watch. She'd rather hoped that Kenshin might let slip some kind of clue to indicate where he'd learned the way of the sword, as anything that would help her discover the truth behind the man would be of interest. Of course, in a lesson on the very basic moves, it wasn't too likely, but she still paid close attention nonetheless.

At the suggestion that they increase the complexity she edged back just a little, as though nervous of what might happen to a spectator should something go awry. She still kept her attention ostensibly fixed on Robin, though, her hand hovering almost at her mouth in apparent concern.

Kenshin moved quickly, as quickly as this place and his injuries would allow. In a single fast, easy movement, he blocked Robin's swing and disarmed him. He felt a little badly for potentially embarrassing Robin in front of Sen, of course, but he needed to prove a point.

Smirking slightly, he gave the younger man a level look. "Now. How did this one do that?"

Matt blinked, looking between Kenshin and the sheath now laying on the floor. "Well..." he began, tone very sarcastic, "I would be willing to wager a guess that it has something to do with the fact that you're an expert and I have very little idea what I'm doing. But I could be wrong."

He bent down to retrieve his 'weapon,' holding it loosely. "Could also be that my grip was off," he added a bit more seriously. "So what should I go about fixing?"

Ayumu jumped a little at Kenshin's movement, as though she hadn't expected him to be so quick, stifling a faint gasp behind her hand before it became apparent that there were no injuries involved this time.

Though she was amused despite herself at Robin's response, she merely glanced between the two with eyes wide, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Maybe something like that," Kenshin said, grinning. He liked Robin, liked his attitude, but it was a very good thing that he wasn't going to actually become a swordsman. Any other master would have probably punted him across the room for a remark like that. Or something even less sarcastic, even.

The rurouni nodded. "Somewhat. You're locking your wrists again; makes it easier to break the hold. You're also expecting too much. If you expect the attack, try to predict what will happen, you react just a second too late. You've got to react as it happens, especially here. The creatures here don't rely on any sort of higher thought...they act on pure instinct. So should you."

"...Right." Matt attempted to do as Kenshin asked, but frankly found the instructions a bit difficult to swallow. Act on instinct? That was easy enough to say... and somewhat easy enough to do after lots of practice and familiarity with a weapon... but now?

He would try, however. That was all he could do. It was very difficult not to continuously glance over at Sen to see what she thought of this. She'd probably seen a good many swordsmen in her day. Slept with plenty of them too...

Mental subject change. Matt struck out at Kenshin again.

As she watched, Ayumu absently twisted her hair into a knot at the nape of her neck, securing it in place with a pen she'd pulled from her coat pocket. There was still nothing to give her much of an idea as to who or what Kenshin was, apart from the generalities - and most of those she'd picked up just from his mannerisms.

At this point, she likely wouldn't be able to get any more information from the men unless she got one of them alone. Robin would probably be best; it seemed he'd be easier to work with, and could at least verify some of the fact about the situation. Once the boys were done playing, then.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kenshin saw Sen moving. He tensed a little, but then realized that she wasn't doing anything but fixing her hair. Having lived in close proximity to Kaoru (and then Misao at the Aoi-ya) for the last several months, he was familiar with women fixing their hair. They tended to like being alone when they did that (and get rather violent when disturbed), so he didn't pay the action any mind. He'd been abused enough for one lifetime.

The rurouni blocked Robin again, but the kid was faster this time. Good. He was learning. Kenshin twisted the sheath out of Robin's hands again. "Better, but you let yourself get distracted at the very end." He gave the kid a Look and dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Maybe if you tried to keep your eyes off of Sen-dono it would go a little easier."

Matt's mouth was pressed into a hard line as he was unable to keep his face from reddening once again. Now that had been a straight-out attempt to embarrass him. It was obvious. He was not appreciating this!

Frowning, he stepped back again, once more focusing on adopting the same ready stance as before. No distractions, huh? Right. No distractions. He'd simply have to not allow time for it. Thus thinking, he almost immediately swung towards Kenshin a third time.

Ayumu hardly needed to hear Kenshin's whisper to know what he was saying to Robin; the talk of being distracted, followed by the other's reaction, made it abundantly clear. Perhaps she could work with this, get the two of them separated so she could speak to Robin alone.

She shifted a little on her perch on the bed, moving slightly forward as though fascinated by the lesson. If Robin perhaps got himself injured again, they might call a halt for the evening...

[sorry! I completely forgot it was my turn D:]

"Better!" Kenshin turned on the ball of his foot, neatly dodging Robin's attack. His form wasn't what the rurouni would call excellent, but he had greatly improved from how he had been just a few minutes ago. Now, Robin just needed to remember what he'd learned for later. Practice was going to make perfect, and with all the monsters roaming around...Robin would get a lot of practice.

"Again." The rurouni lunged, lightly grazing the (taller) young man's shoulder with the sakabatou. "You've gotten faster, but you need to be even faster still."

Edited 2008-11-11 23:31 (UTC)

Still frowning, Matt shrugged the shoulder where Kenshin's sword had connected. It hadn't been at all painful, but it was a reminder of their difference in skill level. If the little red-head was trying to tick him off enough to try and pay better attention... it might be working. At least he hadn't been disarmed this time.

Once more he lunged towards the rurouni, aiming to connect somewhere at the man's shoulder blades.

[Timeskipping and Ayuskipping with permission]

They kept going like this for the next several minutes, but soon Kenshin was breathing a little too heavily. He wouldn't have even broken a sweat, normally, but the injuries weren't helping his stamina. When he felt blood starting to seep through his shirt again, he knew it was time to conclude the practice for the night.

"Let's finish this up," he said a little apologetically, giving Robin a small smile. "This one must be showing his age. You've improved immensely. Good job."

Matt too was panting a bit more than he probably should have been. Unfortunately, he couldn't claim injury as the cause - more a case of not performing enough physical activity on a regular basis. It was also times like these the nicotine withdrawal hit him worst of all, a tugging in his gut that wouldn't go away.

He sat down against the wall, sheath still clutched in one hand. He'd have to hand that back at some point. At the moment all he wanted was a nap and a smoke. No preferable order. "You're just saying that in front of the lady." Matt managed to quirk a smile for a moment despite this. "We both know I was terrible."

Both of them did eventually get tired - one was injured, the other clearly out of practice - and Ayumu was rather glad when Kenshin finally called a halt. She'd learned about all that she was likely to from watching them at that endeavor, and it was rather difficult to have a useful conversation while they were busy.

She slid a little closer as Robin sat against the wall nearby, reaching out to rest a light hand on his shoulder. "I don't think you were terrible," she offered, quirking a smile for him. He'd looked like a raw beginner, but she honestly had seen worse beginners in the past. Of course, they were generally about half his age, but that part didn't need to be mentioned.

Kenshin sat down on the other bed, smiling at the two. His shoulder hurt, and he was far more exhausted than he should have been. He wanted to take a nap, but he didn't want to turn Robin and Sen out to do so.

So he didn't. He settled down on his roommate's bed, knowing he'd just get moved once nightshift ended anyway. Robin didn't want to talk to Kenshin; he wanted to flirt with Sen. It would make it harder to do so if the rurouni was there.

"This one is going to rest a bit. Please, feel free to stay here."

Within minutes, he had dozed off, leaning against the wall with his sword propped up between his knees, just like at the Kamiya dojo.

[Kenshin is now out for the count. Feel free to skip him!]

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