Rob
Pew Pew Pew
Academy Days III
1150 Words
“Akiyama-sama,” Amaterasu called out to the man walking in front of her.1150 Words
Despite his age, he seemed to have a serious stride in his step. Nothing betrayed that he was an old man... besides his appearance. With a slightly hunched back, and with short, balding hair that showed only grey, Akiyama Katsu was the very definition of old in Amaterasu’s books. Still, his vitality was something she did not want to underestimate.
A master swordsman, an intermediate practitioner of the demon arts were among some of the many disciplines the man had mastered in some way. Her father had always homeschooled her, but Akiyama Katsu was one of the few exceptions to the rule of ‘no teacher’ to have ever taught her before she got accepted into the academy. An enigma of a man, a relic of the past for sure, but a man that she held in high respect regardless.
One of the few, really.
“Akiyama-sama,” she called out again, doing her best to keep up with the man.
Despite being completely focused on the aged man in front of her, the change of scenery around the two of them did not elude her. They’d gone through at least five different corridors within the academy halls and, though they all looked vaguely the same, they each had a different type of ‘feel’ to them. As if they corresponded to a certain discipline of war. One of the halls was decorated with the faces, busts and weapons of prominent zanjutsu experts, and another was filled will all kinds of tomes and the faces of legendary magi.
Men and women of all ages decorated the halls, the walls and the rooms they went through. Most of the kidou practitioners looked like scholars and people you’d more often find in libraries than up close and personal with enemies on the battleground. It was in this instances that their faces betrayed a lot of their tactics. They were mostly smooth, with the odd scar here and there. It was quite unlike the portraits of the more close combat oriented fighters - their faces and bodies showing a multitude of scars and bodily wear.
It was both intriguing and a little unsettling to walk through the halls of these legends. Not so much because she stood in awe of them, but because this was exactly what her father demanded of her too. She was not just supposed to become a legend, she was - as he so aptly put it - meant to be a legend, and she didn’t enjoy that prospect very much. She was confident in her abilities, that was for sure - with some probably arguing that she was kind of overconfident - but she had no delusions of grandeur.
After all, she was still a fledgling among the halls of these great men and women.
Still she followed Katsu, through the halls of the academy and, finally to the outside again. They went through a few of the school’s training grounds on the other side of the campus. There were training facilities for all of the four disciplines and, though she wasn’t really into ‘group’ trainings, the facilities themselves looked imposing in their own rights. The scenery, besides the facilities, weren’t too interesting to look at. Luckily for her, though, she didn’t need to take it in for too long because soon she found herself inside again.
It wasn’t part of the general academy in any way, though. It was probably some sort of faculty office located just off to the side of the school she was now attending. It was small, smaller than she had expected a faculty office to be, but still looked impressive. It looked a lot more western than the rest of the place, but still had that authentic, Japanese look to it with a pagoda styled roof.
Holding the door to the building open for her, Katsu motioned for the Yoshishige heiress to enter and, when she did, followed suit shortly afterwards. She was mildly annoyed with the man ignoring her two times in a row, but she didn’t have the guts to tell that to him. Or, well, maybe she did have the guts for it, but somehow she couldn’t find it within her to call him out on it. Surely he had his reasons for ignoring her?
“Please,” he said from behind, his elderly voice echoing through the room. “Take a seat.”
He didn’t need to tell her twice and, as she took a quick glance around the rather librarian-esque room - there were a lot of books and shelves with books and just general pieces of paper scattered around the room - found a comfortably looking chair and took a seat in it. Waiting quietly for Akiyama Katsu to take a seat himself, Amaterasu kept eying the man with great intent. It took him a surprising amount of time, what with his vitality still being top notch. If the brown-haired student didn’t know better, he was really just an old man.
He was, but he was definitely messing with her now.
“You said you had something to... show me, Akiyama-sama?” Amaterasu asked, impatiently and a little bit crude as she shifted around in her seat and leaned forward a bit.
“Hmm,” Katsu responded, his hazel-coloured eyes glistening with an incredible fire. “But first, show me your weapon, please. Your teacher wasn’t wrong when he asked you why you wielded one such blade as the one you wield yourself. He does not know what I know, but that does not mean he cannot tell.
“We both know who you are, and what you do. The fact that you already wield your own zanpakutou is telling, but not definitive.”
As she listened to the man, she unsheathed her blade and handed it over to Katsu. She wasn’t really keen on handing her weapon over to anyone, but she wasn’t really in any position to refuse the man’s request. She was but a mere student, and she wasn’t supposed to have this yet. It didn’t matter that she forged the asauchi herself, and that it was therefore not too farfetched to think she’d have one of her own.
“Thank you,” Katsu responded, smiling faintly. “It is a beautiful blade.”
Stroking his hand across the flat of the blade, he inspected it intently before placing down in front of him.
“It is not a zanpakutou yet, but it is also no longer an asauchi... is it?”
“No,” Amaterasu responded, “it is not.”
“So you have conversed already?”
“A bit.”
“I see.” Picking the blade up again he turned it with the handle facing Amaterasu, handed it back to her and stood up again. “Rise.”
Doing as she was told, she rose up from her chair and seated her blade again.
“I suppose it’s time I showed you what I meant to show you, follow me.”