Preview: Sapere Aude Chapter #4

Moments later, I broke into the clearing, smiling as I saw my cousin practicing taijutsu katas in the center of the field.

“Satsuki-chan! Sorry I’m late. The appointment ran longer than we thought it would!” I called out, running towards my best friend.

“Miho-chan!” Satsuki chirped, running over to me. “It’s okay! I got to practice more of my katas this way!”

“That’s good!” I replied, smiling. “How are you doing with Taka-no-Mai?” I asked as I ran through my warmup stretches.

“Good! Mama’s moving me on to the intermediate stances and kata! What about you Miho-chan?”

Huh, so Satsuki was ahead of me in Taijutsu. Not unexpected. “I’m still finishing out the beginner stances, Satsuki-chan.” I replied, “Though mama did include some of the more advanced movements into my kata.”

Satsuki nodded seriously. “Wanna spar?” She asked, “I wanna see how good I am against a peer.”

“Sure!” I answered, nodding my head. “Just let me finish warming up, okay?”

We sat in companionable silence as Satsuki continued running through her kata, and I continued warming up. After a few minutes of warming up, I moved over to where my cousin was practicing her taijutsu and poked her on the shoulder. “Hey Satsuki, I’m ready when you are!”

The girl whirled around, smiling at me. “Okay!” she chirped, producing a coin. “We’ll start when this coin hits the ground!” She continued, flipping the coin. My perception of time slowed, my eyes tracking the coin as it arced upward, slowly spinning, then raced downwards, striking the ground.

Immediately, my cousin rocketed towards me, telegraphing a jab. My sharingan activated, I slipped underneath it, the series of blows following it being evaded in a similar manner. I saw my cousin frown, only for it to invert, as she leapt up and brought down a kick. Grunting as I blocked the blow, my arms crossed and reinforced with chakra, I grabbed her foot, and threw her away. Without waiting for her to land, I rushed towards the spot she would likely land, attempting to catch her before she recovered. I failed, and we exchanged a series of blows, most of them blocked by the other’s arms or missing entirely.

For a while, we kept up the dance, weaving in and out of the fight, until finally, my cousin slipped up. My sharingan revealed an opening, and I ruthlessly exploited it, delivering a rather harsh kick to Satsuki’s stomach that knocked the air out of her, and sent her tumbling to the ground. Wincing, both in sympathy and in concern, I walked over to her.

“You okay, Satsuki?” I called as I made my way over.

“Mhm,” she grunted, “I can’t wait for my sharingan to awaken. It’s not a fair fight unless both of us have it, after all.”

Offering her my hand, I replied, “I can forgo using it if you’d like?”

“No, please don’t.” Satsuki grumbled, taking my hand and pulling herself up, “Life isn’t fair, and I should get used to that.”

“True enough, Satsuki,” I replied, “Though it was a good fight regardless.” A few moments of silence passed between us, before I asked a question that had been hovering on my mind, “Say, do you feel like eating lunch now? We can move to jutsu practice afterwards?”

Smiling, my cousin nodded. “Sure! Under the tree?” She answered, pointing towards the tree in question.

“Under the tree.” I replied, returning her smile as I made my way over to the tree with my bento. All in all, it had been a good day thus far.