Kuroba Asashin's Arc

Chapter 10 of 44

In the morning Kenji still slept against the wall. The lizard had not moved. Kuroba stood on the porch and watched the old man's chest rise. Ona swept the boards near the door. Tish carried water up from the well. Kuroba looked past them to the field where two thousand men lay under a thin layer of dust. He had killed a thousand in the desert and thought he had reached the top of the mountain. Yesterday he learned the mountain went higher. He set the odachi against the post and waited for Kenji to wake. Kenji opened his eyes near noon. He accepted a cup of water from Tish and drank it slow. Kuroba knelt on the boards in front of him. He pulled the mask down to his chin so the old man could see his mouth. "Before I open a single door to a student," he said, "teach me. What you did yesterday, I could not do. I want to learn what I can of it." Kenji watched him a long time. He set the cup on the wood. "You already move faster than a man should," he said. "You will not move faster. What you lack is the ground. You trust the blade. I will teach you to trust where your feet stand." He pointed the walking stick at the stone path. "We start there. Now." Kuroba stood and left the odachi on the porch. Kenji made him leave his sandals too. They worked until dark and then again the next day and the next. Kenji did not swing the stick. He tapped Kuroba's ankles, his hips, the inside of his knee, and told him where his weight had gone wrong. On the fourth morning Kuroba caught the stick before it reached his shin. Kenji nodded once and sat down. "Enough for a beginning," he said. "You have a floor now. Build on it." He looked past Kuroba to the hall where the kanji for peace hung above the door, framed by jasmine and rose. "Open your school. I will sit on the porch. When you teach wrong, I will tap your ankle." Kuroba pulled the mask back up. He picked up the odachi and slid it across his back. He walked to Ona where she waited by the roses and told her the dojo would open at first light. She set her broom against the wall. Tish came down the steps to hear it. The old man closed his eyes against the post and the lizard climbed into his lap.