I pushed open the heavy door to one of the training rooms in the Throne of Bone, the bone structure cool under my palm. The space was empty—for now—just matted floors, weapon racks along the walls, and that particular smell of sweat and discipline that clung to every dojo I'd ever been in.
"Fucking fantastic," I muttered under my breath, stepping inside and letting the door swing shut behind me with a heavy thud.
Apparently, somewhere along the line, someone had decided I was qualified to lead "additional combat training" for three students who needed it. Three boys, from what I'd been told. And "additional training" was just a polite way of saying they were so shit at combat that their regular instructors had given up and pawned them off on someone else.
That someone being me. Lucky fucking me.
But here I was anyway, because when the Toraono clan asks you to do something in their own goddamn dojo, you don't really get to say no. Not unless you want to deal with the political fallout, and I had enough problems without adding "pissed off one of Suna's founding clans" to the list.
I walked to the center of the room, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck. The Sunagakure banner hung on the wall alongside the Toraono clan symbols, all that proud loyalty and tradition shit. It would've been inspiring if I gave a damn.
The files I'd been given were... not encouraging. Three boys who apparently couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Not detention, technically, but it might as well be. This was where they sent the problem cases, the ones who were falling behind, fucking up, or just plain incompetent.
"This is going to be a nightmare," I said flatly to the empty room.
I started stretching, working out the tension in my muscles while I waited. Rolling my wrists, loosening my shoulders, dropping into a few basic stances to warm up. If I was going to spend the next however-long beating combat sense into three useless students, I might as well be limber for it.
"Alright, Kohana," I muttered to myself, cracking my knuckles. "Don't kill them. Shin would be pissed. Probably."
I glanced at the door, then back at the training mats.
"Let's see what kind of disasters they're sending me."
"Fucking fantastic," I muttered under my breath, stepping inside and letting the door swing shut behind me with a heavy thud.
Apparently, somewhere along the line, someone had decided I was qualified to lead "additional combat training" for three students who needed it. Three boys, from what I'd been told. And "additional training" was just a polite way of saying they were so shit at combat that their regular instructors had given up and pawned them off on someone else.
That someone being me. Lucky fucking me.
But here I was anyway, because when the Toraono clan asks you to do something in their own goddamn dojo, you don't really get to say no. Not unless you want to deal with the political fallout, and I had enough problems without adding "pissed off one of Suna's founding clans" to the list.
I walked to the center of the room, rolling my shoulders and cracking my neck. The Sunagakure banner hung on the wall alongside the Toraono clan symbols, all that proud loyalty and tradition shit. It would've been inspiring if I gave a damn.
The files I'd been given were... not encouraging. Three boys who apparently couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag. Not detention, technically, but it might as well be. This was where they sent the problem cases, the ones who were falling behind, fucking up, or just plain incompetent.
"This is going to be a nightmare," I said flatly to the empty room.
I started stretching, working out the tension in my muscles while I waited. Rolling my wrists, loosening my shoulders, dropping into a few basic stances to warm up. If I was going to spend the next however-long beating combat sense into three useless students, I might as well be limber for it.
"Alright, Kohana," I muttered to myself, cracking my knuckles. "Don't kill them. Shin would be pissed. Probably."
I glanced at the door, then back at the training mats.
"Let's see what kind of disasters they're sending me."