A Returning Member (Lorielle/Kendo Club)

Within the Kendo dojo, the sound of practice weapons clashing with one another could be heard. Students in heavy, stuffy, armor moved back and forth as their blades clashed in a dance of attacking, parrying, and counterattacking. Each step of the dance occurred quickly before it transitioned almost immediately to the next step. As of right now Kahn was fighting one last bout with another student. Their Boken rested against one another, their tips crossing just by a few inches. Kahn's green eyes stared out at his opponent's mask, watching and waiting.

Kendo required one to be react quickly ,and be a few steps ahead of one's opponent. Speed was a key element, however that was one of the elements that Kahn lacked. The bulkiness of the armor did not bother him as he was still lifting weights, however his average speed did not really help him. However, the strength he gained from weight lifting transferred quite well into the force of his blows. Thus instead of relying on speed, he preferred precise and powerful blows. Still his street fighting instincts noted many openings that he may exploit in a real fight, but Kendo was by no means a real fight, thus he would not use his dirtier fighting techniques.

Kahn tapped the left then right side of his opponent's boken gently, trying to bait or trick his opponent into attacking the second year. Upon his third tap, his opponent lunged forward aiming a Men strike. Kahn quickly stepped forward and deflected the blow to the right side, and forced his opponent's blade down. After a moment, he quickly rose his own boken and attempted a a quick Kote cut as a counter attack. Kahn's foot seemed to sink into the floor as he brought the blade down on his foe's forearm.

The student seeing how he would be unable to parry such a blow quickly retreated back three paces, bringing the two students back to their beginning distance. This time Kahn would make the first move and aimed to strike another Kote blow, and the sound of his foot stomping could be heard as he put a lot of force into this blow. His opponent moved to parry this blow, but much to his surprise, Kahn drew the boken back to himself before instead going for a do strike. The red haired second year took another step forward and cried, "Do!". The sound of the boken hitting the torso protector was heard, and immediately Kahn and his foe stepped back from one another. They exchanged formal bows to one another, and at that point Kahn heard Hibiki speak to the club.

"Alright, that’s enough with your current partner! Take a water break and then duel someone else if you want, or relax for a few.". After that was said, Kahn took off his helmet, armor, and set his boken aside. There was only one thing he wanted...and that was H2O, also known as water. A couple beads of sweat dripped from his hairline and he wiped them away

Lorielle was eager, yet slightly dreading the return to kendo. She liked it yeah, but using a sword on her own is alone a bit of a challenge for her, and she will get more injuries than just being sore in the morning given her lack of skill. 'Maybe they will let me use their naginata again...' she thought walking to the door. It was the one weapon she was decent at, and she even had some techniques of her own. In any case, she opened the doors to the kendo club seeing many people still at the club, and naturally so considering it had only been a half hour since it had started. She wanted to study today for today....or rather, was forced to by her parents and had to skip lunch for it, so she ate after school.

She took off her black jacket, leaving a short-sleeved white t-shirt under it, cause she didn't really want it ruined whether she was wearing protective gear or not. Or more specifically, she knew she was going to be sweaty by the end of the day, and she had washed her clothes a day or so ago. She would go to the side on a set of benches where people would watch or take breaks, and set her bag down in the crevice between the lower and higher row of benches, and took out a bottle of water and set it on the actual bench next to her. She took a moment to watch the others fight, so she could soak it in and get back into the mindset of combat.

Kahn heard the doors open, and turned to see who was showing up so late. He was pleasantly surprised to see Lorielle enter. It looks like she came here after all, maybe she was here to rejoin the club. He wasn't going to complain if she was, after all, he enjoyed her company during their last meeting. Not to mention there was rarely much time in class or in-between classes to talk with her. Before approaching he removed the rest of his Kendo gear and grabbed the bottle of water. Hopefully, he didn't smell too bad, but she would understand if he did right? Undoubtedly, she would notice him approaching as red hair was a rather unique trait to have here in Ueitawa.

The second year would offer her a rather friendly wave once she noticed him, and he would take a seat next to her. "Glad to see that you came, Lorielle, how have you been since we last spoke?" He noticed that she took off her black jacket, which he considered rather rare, but he figured that she didn't want her favorite article of clothing ruined by working out. Not to mention with a jacket on under all the protective equipment...she would break out into a sweat just by walking around.

Another thing that interested Kahn was the fact that her weapon of choice was a pole-arm. He had never seen that used in Kendo, in fact he wasn't sure it was even allowed. However, even if it wasn't he would be happy to face her in combat, regardless if a polearm could be used or not.

She opened her water bottle, and took an enormous gulp, in preparation of the battling that would soon take place....or was it because she was getting slightly sweaty in the face? She instinctively checked her forehead, and nope. Her skin was perfectly fine, so maybe she was just in the mindset of already being worn out, which in itself wasn't perfect. 'Cmon....gotta get pumped!' she thought to herself, barring herself from anything below her self-esteem, as moderately high as it was. She liked thinking highly of herself and it not only helped her feel better, sometimes it would prove to be true. She put on her headphones that she liked to carry around a lot, turning to to a certain tune.


While Electronica and Dance was her favorite type of music, she enjoyed this particular Alternative Rock, and it seemed like the melody was perfect for the cold weather. Just sounds like you would be listening to it in the weather. She was able to finish the song, before she noticed a familiar face already sweaty from battle, and closing in on her. A slight smile came to her face. She would wave back to him smiling. "Hey Kahn!" she said looking as he sat down. "I have been decent actually. Nothing much to speak of. I went to a club for the first time, that was a lot of fun. How about you?" she asked Kahn. She recalled her fond, and dizzy memories that night where she met a new friend. She turned her head to watch the people battling and studied them for a bit, seeing that she did remember some of the techniques she saw. She then looked at Kahn. "One second, I gotta ask the club leader something," she said before getting up, and walking around the people sparring to get to the club leader, whom she could not remember the name. "Excuse me sir? Do you still have your practice pole-arm in the closet back there?" she said gesturing to the closet at the end of the large kendo room.

"Me? Well I've been a bit busy with homework and stuff. Not to mention I did a favor for a friend and returned some her stuff that she had lost. Other than that, it's all been pretty good." Her classmate replied and he took another drink, and was about to ask what club she went to, when she asked him to hold on for a second. Which was fine, Kahn could wait. However, while he waited he drifted off to his thoughts about clubs. To say the least, he was normally cautious in such environments. Loud music, occasionally alcohol, lot's of people that are just trying to have a good time...can lead to a less than pleasant environment. Not to mention he would often check clubs in order to find those who hurt his friends, and needless to say he found quite a few of them there. However, that was in his hometown....maybe things were different here?

......or maybe they aren't, but that didn't mean Lorielle was a bad person. She was too kind and nice to be that kind of person!

Hikibi was listening to some music in that sounded from his own headphones when he heard someone address him by 'sir'. He removed his headphones before turning and around and facing Lorielle. The Kendo club leader recalled her from last year, her name was 'Lorielle' right? He offered her a smile, "Welcome back Lorielle, that's right isn't it? Are you coming back to rejoin the club?" The club leader inquired, always happy to have a member return to the club. After she replied then he would answer her question, "Fortunately, for you we still do have that practice polearm you always used. Feel free to get it out again, and take a few swings with it. I must say it will be interesting to see how much you retained since last time. No pressure though, the important thing is to have fun!" Thus far Lorielle was one of the few, if not the only, polearm user that he had seen. Usually, Kendo revolves around a sword, but she took a rather divergent path.

She nods smiling. "A story you will one day owe me," she said. She had removed her headphones and placed them to the side before walking to the club leader. When She stopped he saw him remove his headphones, smiling at him slightly when he remembered her name. It was good because she didn't remember his. Kendo never even meant that much to her when she was still going to it. "Yeah, I am probably going to start coming back," she said. She grinned when she learned they still had the pole-arm. She could not be any more lucky, as she was thanking him as she sped-walked to the closet. "Thanks!" she would call out to him before opening up the closet to look around, taking little time to see the bamboo polearm with a blade made in padded foam on the end, in case it were to hit someone square on the head. She grabbed it, and walked out, it being a bit high and was halted by it hitting the door frame. She frowned and looked up at the polearm and pulled it out of the frame, before nodding and walking back to Kahn.

She sat next to Kahn again, placing the polearm's bottom on the floor, holding the blade end up into the air. She was preparing for battle, and she was going to be ready and quick for it. "I am all set for battle, so be ready!" she said in an overtly confident voice. She used the naginata to pull herself up, though that would prove a stupid decision as the butt of the naginata slipped from under her, causing her to fall to the side onto her stomach. "Ooof! Bollocks!" she said, her British accent suddenly coming out a bit thickly. "Ow...." she said frowning as she got up, her face a bit red from the fall.

'I guess she wants the details.' Kahn thought after she got up and walked away to retrieve her equipment, he took the respite to re-hydrate. The rest of the contents in his water bottle soon disappeared. It wouldn't be too soon to ask her for an outing would it? ...Maybe, unless he could play it off really well. It wouldn't have to be a date...just friends going to see a movie or something fun. However, when she returned with her practice naginata, he smiled at her, and dropped that train of thought immediately as his sparring partner was preparing for battle. There was a confidence in her voice that he hadn't expected, but confidence was of course a good thing to have. Arrogance on the other hand was a completely different story. Though he had to admit he was a little excited to be fighting Lorielle, or may he was just excited to see her again. This was going to be a good bout!

.....though the moment was ruined a bit when she slipped and fell on her side.

Kahn on the other hand began to laugh, though he noted her British accent, he would laugh for a moment. He would however control himself after a few moments before offering her a hand should she need it, "Nice British accent you got there. Perhaps we should have some tea after we're done here?" He joked as he waited for her to take his hand, or decline the offer. The second year then noticed that his peer was lacking any protective gear. He would gesture to his protective gear in a pile near the wall before asking her a simple question.

"Aren't you missing some equipment still? I like your confidence, but I really don't want to hurt you, I'm known to have a really strong swing." By that he meant that he tended to pulverize any defensive maneuvers that a foe used to block his strike. Of course the poor girl probably wouldn't want to be embarrassed further, but it was for her own good. "But, if you would rather go without protection...I will try to hold back my strength. Once again I'd rather not hurt you since you're my friend."

She rubbed her elbow where she fell, feeling a bit annoyed. Were the floors that slippery save for the training mats? What was this a bowling alley? "Dammit all, I need a mat for this..." she said looking up at him. When he made his British comment she gave a pouty face. "Hey! You can only laugh at one of those jokes! Either my British accent, or me falling, you are almost literally kicking me while I'm down," she said. She reached grabbing his hand and pulling herself up, very smoothly actually, bringing her lower body up first and then her upper as if she made a slight wave. One good thing about her was being quite nimble or smooth in movement, and he probably knew that considering her first run-in with him.

She frowned at him. "Oh, so now you want to warn me, like I am a pretty princess? Treading on thin ice here..." she said. That was obviously a joke, that she hoped he would catch as she turned to the equipment room once more. "I'll be back," she said walking to it. She looked inside seeing the standard kendo uniform, and set her naginata to the side, walked in, and closed the door. Taking off her clothing down to the bare "necessities" was the easy part leaving her almost undressed completely, which for whatever reason, didn't bother her at school, though in the back of her head she knew why it didn't bother her. Though it became a bit of a struggle to get the uniform on, usually because if she remembered correctly, others would either help you when you put it on, or, maybe it was just heavy? But, she eventually got it on just right, her mood a bit darkened, thinking about the unsavory event that she was still surprised Kahn had never heard of, but she put on a good face and stepped out.

She grabbed her naginata on the way and waved at Kahn to join her on an empty mat. She would bend her knees, her right one forward, turning her sideface, with the blade pointing out, at an angle towards the face of whoever would be her adversary. "Be ready! Cmon!" she said eager for battle. She was now getting into the mindset of it all. If he would come and approach her, she would bow as best she could with her naginata out, the weapon itself being about nine feet, about the size of her own naginata at home, and the foam blade making up about a foot of that. It was a standard middle stance for a polearm, when used on its own, which usually wasn't the case. In fact, more often than not, people would make naginatas a bit shorter than this one, and pair it with a shield. It was only later on that people back then would try to wield it on their own, and they were good enough weapons if used properly. She was ready to go at any time, the only sound in her head being the clangs of wood from the other bokens in the room.

((I imagine this is PvP without the stats? As in, we are battling, so feel free to be technical and whatnot, this is mostly for fun. Feel free to begin the attack when you get to it.))

((I would say that thought is correct, thus we shall begin))

Kahn would smile at the face she made, and merely replied, "I was more laughing at your fall rather than your accent. I like British accents anyways, they're pretty cool." He never knew why he liked British accents, but he just kind of did. Maybe because they always sounded proper...or rather because they had rather funny names or saying, 'Bollocks' being one of them. Her nimbleness didn't really surprise him, and it reminded him that he would be facing that in combat here in a few moments. She would be quick on her feet and rather flexible, meaning that closing the distance might be difficult. He may actually have to rush her in order to get close enough to hit her.

.....He looked at her naginata before looking back at his boken. He was suddenly feeling a little bit cheated range wise. However, her princess comment, he would look back at her and smile.

"Well excuse me princess." He replied though a part of him had to admit that she was pretty like a princess...of course he kept this to himself. Though she might notice a hint of red on his cheeks, before he shook his head and nodded in reply when she said that she would be right back. While she was gone, Kahn went ahead and put his kendo equipment back on, and when she waved him down he would approach her on the empty mat.  He would bow to her before getting into his ready position. His boken was held at an upward angle with both of his feet facing forward toward his adversary (and friend). When she put words to her eagerness, her adversary position would become tense before relaxing once more. He took a few moments to observe the situation he was in, she had reach on him that much was given. Should he approach slowly, and let her keep creating distance? However, if he rushed in his defense would be a lot weaker. The closer he got to her the more she would struggle to attack him, not to mention it would limit her range of attacks. This would be a rather interesting fight, and it would show if her skills have degraded. Thus far her stance told him otherwise, which only made him more excited with the battle that lies ahead.

Kahn decided to go with a careful approach, and moved at a decent pace toward Lorielle, and kept his blade ready to deflect any blows that she might throw his way. He wanted to see how his adversary would react to this kind of approach before taking any real action. After all, "Slow and steady wins the race" or at least that is what some people would like to think, being fast helps in some situations just as much.

The guy likes British accents? That is an interesting thing, from someone who has been living in Japan no doubt much of his life. She would smile and nod at Kahn being ready at the mat. "Now I REALLY am going to try and get you for that princess comment," she said smiling slightly. She would watch as Kahn formed a standard middle stance that seems to be to go-to for any kendo practitioner. She also saw him start to get a good pace towards him preparing an attack. However the man was not doing anything, his sword just pointed out towards her. Was it some sort of bluff? Was he going to attack once he got to her? Now she didn't want to give him the chance to do so, and so her opening would begin.

Having her naginata to her left, her legs bent in a kendo stance as well, she would back a pace or three to gain some initial distance. Were it to work, his last bit of pacing should not have given him any bit of distance. She would then push her naginata up to his right side against his blade, not really going for his body as of yet, because then, that would give her body away for a strike. She would attempt to strike the blade from the side to knock the boken off center. If it were to work, she would then bring her naginata down to his then-exposed right arm making a quick strike along it, and then backing up a few paces more. If it didn't work, she would hold her naginata against his boken, and move to the left a few paces, bringing her at an advantage angle-wise. At that moment, she would then bring her naginata down to his arm, which at her angle, was now exposed, making a sharp strike. Being a weapon of long reach and easy to make distance with, one of those attacks would probably work, at least make him think twice before simply charging at him. However, if neither move worked, she would continue to the lift, sliding until he stopped charging so they would be a bit closer, she would be back in the same middle stance as before, her naginata on the left of her hip and stomach, and prepared for another attack.

Either way, she was beginning to get into it. Her knowledge of kendo was slowly coming back to her, as far as naginatas went, and the style of katanas. Maybe she wouldn't be as bad as she thought she would be coming back to kendo after a year.

Kahn expected her to attack upon seeing his cautious approach, and as he thought she would try to keep her distance from him. Furthermore, she would back up before attacking, no doubt trying to keep Kahn away. She rested her naginata against his boken before quickly striking, the young man did not quite expect this, and the blade moved exposing his arm. However, Kahn had seen more surprising things in the streets, and knew that he would have to react quickly to avoid getting punished for being caught off guard. He quickly retreated back a few paces, and placed himself out of her range. He kept strafing and kept her in front of him, after all eyes on the prize. Now then it was his turn to get a bit aggressive and take the lead role.

He quickly charged Lorielle hoping to get into a range that would make her weapon less effective, and then press the advantage from there. As he charged he rose his blade above his head, aiming to strike either her head or her arm. At least that is what it would seem, he was actually trying to bait her into swinging at his sides. If she were to aim a horizontal swing at his sides then he would bring down his blade using his own brute strength and gravity to knock her weapon out of the way. If this worked then he would seize the initiative and attempt to quickly strike one of her exposed arms with a quick chop. If he failed to knock her blade away then he would keep his blade against the naginata to prevent it from striking him. Then he would move forward and attempt to close the distance even further.

However, if she were to aim a vertical cut then he would raise his blade to block the attack and then continue his push forward. If he managed to get close enough then he would attempt to shove her polearm off his boken then strike quickly her head while she was exposed. A vertical thrust toward the head, would be met with the same result as a horizontal blow to his torso. Though he would step to the opposite side he deflected her attack to in order to avoid the deflected blow from clipping him. If any of these responses to her counter-attack failed then he would quickly switch to a defensive stance and prepare to repel any of her attacks to the best of his ability.

This would be an interesting fight indeed, he always did like a challenge, and this was his first time of fighting a polearm. For now he was testing her skill to see how she would react if he got closer and baited her into attack. He even had a clever line to say if he managed to hit her more than she hit him. Hopefully it would make her smile a bit....or she may slap him....oh well it would be funny either way.

((Hopefully that wasn't too bad. It's your move.))

As she moved to strike down, Lorielle almost expected him to back up, as he indeed did a bit. Though she was a bit disappointed she missed the hit. 'I just realized....had I gone for the legs, that probably would have been easier to make a hit on. Gosh I have forgotten more than I realize...' Lorielle would think. She also noticed as she slid down, avoiding at all costs rolling, as that would have her exposed, he followed her arc, so when she looked, he was backwards those paces, but still in her sights. 'Close enough...' she thought.

Pulling her polearm in a middle stance, she saw Kahn make a charge to her, this time quite more forceful than before. Putting all the force behind his charge, she figured he really only had the ability to strike forward horizontally or vertically, and even if he stopped and tried to jump back, the stop would be too abrupt given the charge to avoid her attack. His bokken was above his head, which in hindsight, was a silly move for him. It would work if he was against a katana, but certainly not a polearm. Not only that, she knew Kahn was not stupid. No she was sure that he was trying to bait her, cause he would not run straight for her without striking unless that was his plan. Otherwise, he would strike as he ran. However, she knows the polearm has its limits. You only strike horizontally if you have momentum in it. Striking from a stationary position like she was now would be ludicrous. A vertical strike, maybe, but her blade would have to be up higher, and his katana would have to be anywhere but over his head, cause if she struck on high, he could easily turn his bokken to the side and have it slide off, screwing up her attack. But apparently he did not account for one thing about polearms. They are very effective at stabbing.

She would wait until his charge got close enough, not doing anything. And then, at the right time, she would only thrust her polearm forward a foot or two in the direction heading right for his stomach. The best part about this strategy was that there really was no way to avoid it without some sort of shield, or if you had a katana and was not charging directly at her. So given the charge, the thrust of her polearm would go straight into his stomach stopping his attack, and probably hurting him, though that wasn't her intention. She was firm in her thrust, but she didn't use too much brawn, as his charging would do most of the work for her. The polearm, being long and able to close distance fast, striking at it, even if Kahn could, would be futile considering he was running way too quickly at her to move, much less strike from the side considering his bokken was above him. Really the best way to avoid this attack was if he was lucky enough to suddenly fall to the side, cause even if he tripped, he would still land on it getting hit anyway. Nonetheless, her attack in theory, would not hurt him too much? Hopefully? He was running, and it was going to his stomach...but he has gear on? But this may bring him to the ground? Her thoughts kind of raced. She didn't want to grievously hurt him, as she was growing a bit fond of the guy.

Kahn was halfway expected the stab, but he should have known better that she wouldn't fall for such a trick. He would pay for his mistake, as he saw Lorielle thrust her polearm forward. He tried to sidestep, but he was far too late and his momentum carried him forward. He felt the foam end impact against his protective equipment, but it still caught him by surprise. A loud "oof!" escaped from his mouth from the surprise of the impact and he fell flat on his back. A small groan would escape his lips from landing back on the mat, and he would merely say, "Ow." As he placed a hand and tried to sit up.

Should Lorielle approach him in concern because he was hurt, he would hide his smirk for a moment, and once she got close he enough his bokken would tap against her mask, and she would be able to see a wide grin behind his mask, "I got you back princess." Though in all seriousness he was a little sore from that blow, and he would rub the area he was 'stabbed', Though in all seriousness, that kinda hurt. That was a good move, though I was a little bit stupid, but hey live and learn." He would remove his helmet and release his red hair from its confines. He looked at her, half expecting her to slap him, or laugh at his joke. Whatever the result he would live with it, as long as it didn't ruin their friendship.

She watched as her polearm hit dead on, into his body, hearing him grunt before he flew backwards onto the floor. 'Did I hit that hard...?' she thought.She would set her polearm down calmly, but she would rush to him as she heard the groan from him. "Hey hey! Are you alright?" she asked. She would sound concerned, but her pouty looking lips would look a bit...superior? As if she was secretly happy she got that hit, just so she could win. But she would not mean that out of malice, as she liked Kahn. Just a friendly fight is all. Though she would inch away slightly once his bokken touched her mask. She almost expected him to want to continue the fight; which to her, would probably not be very wise. Instead she would notice the wide smile behind his mask and his silly princess comment.

She would swat his mask harmlessly and hold out her hand to help him up. "You jerk. The princess may be a badass," she joked laughing a bit. She saw him rub the area where she hit him and then smiled. "Want me to kiss it an make it feel better?" she said, now laughing a bit more. She stopped when he mentioned how it hurt. "Well, next time I will just have to pay for your meal and go somewhere. Hell, you can pick. Deal?" she asked. Food sounded lovely right now. Nonetheless, she would still keep her hand out offering to help him up. If he took her hand, she would pull him up as best she could. If she failed, she would at least make sure he was still sitting on the floor, if she got him up, she would point to the bench where they first sat with her polearm. "Break time?" she would say, If he didn't take her hand, she would point her polearm to the benches form where she was and say the same.

Kahn wouldn't respond just to lure her close enough for him to play his silly little joke off, though that would indicate he was fine...he just might be a bit sore later in the day or tomorrow morning. Though he couldn't help but notice the little bit of superiority, but that was alright he had learned from this lesson. Next time...things would be quite different. Kahn learned from getting beat, and ask anyone who beat him in a fight...he was a really quick learner. Rarely would he make the same mistake twice, and usually he would come out on top. He would give the underdog a break for now, but the next time...the gloves would come off. However, he tried not to beat her too bad, and he would like to keep this a friendly competition rather than a serious combat between two contestants. Though whenever he sparred with a certain individual named Naito it always felt like the latter.

"Ahhhh, so you are not the type to be locked up in a castle huh?" Kahn replied letting out a chuckle, however his chuckle came to a sudden stop when she asked if he wanted her to kiss it. His cheeks turned a tint red at that comment and he was really quite glad he was wearing his protective mask to hide the blush. How at her offer, he would nod a bit, "That's rather generous for you, but I will only accept if we split the bill 50-50." The red headed young man felt it would be rude otherwise, and he didn't want to turn her down. He would take her hand and get pulled off the floor, and nod. He could go for another break, and would nod at her suggestion.

As the two walked back to where they had sat, "So what kind of food do you like? Besides...potato salad sandwiches because that much was clear from our first meeting. After all if he was going to pick, he would rather pick a place they both like. Preferably without potato salad, unless he wanted to pull a really bad joke on her. It would be funny, granted she might slap him for such a joke, but it might be worth it in the end. He began to think if he should suggest the mall, or would she prefer some place a bit more private? I guess it depends on whether or not he wanted to promote a slightly more romantic feel or just a friendly outing feeling. Would it be moving too fast? Oh well, perhaps he shouldn't think too much on it and let her answer before he makes his decision.