Kyojuro Rengoku Ice Heart And Flame Soul

| Chapter Thirty-One | Upper Two

I trained for months, getting back into shape, back to myself before I had Kinjuro. I needed to have Hashira-worthy skills. My speed, my swordsmanship, my reflexes; all had to be remastered.

Kinjuro spent a lot of time with his uncle and his grandfather. Senjuro loved the time he got to spend with him.

I pushed myself, and I went to headquarters almost every day. Even Shinazugawa had commented on my relentless training.

"Rika, you dumbass, you're going to kill yourself." He said.

"I have to get back into shape. I need to build back stamina." I said.

He jumped into the yard and lifted his leg and kicked toward me. I sidestepped, and he turned and threw a punch.

It felt great to do this. My body became agile and flexible again. I could move however I wanted and not worry about anything.

Shinazugawa kept up the attacks, and they were relentless. Possibly more so than Kyojuro's when we trained. This was good training, and since I could keep up with a Hashira, I must have still been worthy of the title myself.

Giyu wasn't such a great training partner these days. We did plenty of teamwork in our training, but with sparring, it just didn't work out. He went too easy on me. It thrilled me to have a challenge this time.

It had been at least an hour of us attacking and dodging and defending. We had attacked so rigorously that we both broke our bokken, and we were using our fists. He eventually stopped, and I stood there, waiting for another attack.

"See! You can keep up, your skills are alright. Go home, take a day or two to rest. I get it, you want to avenge Rengoku. You won't be in any shape to do so if you're dead, so stop this now. I've just proven to you that you can handle yourself, and that you don't need to kill yourself with training this harsh." He said.

"Since when do you care?" I asked.

He clicked his tongue and turned away, walking from the training yard.

"I don't. I just don't think Rengoku would want to see you in this state."

"Thanks for the training, Shinazugawa." I said.

"Whatever, just take it easy now."

He left the yard, and I looked at the bokken lying on the ground. Broken. Would Kyojuro have allowed a training session with him to get that intense? I knew Giyu never would.

Maybe Shinazugawa was the best sparring partner I have had up to this point. I wondered what the other hashira were like. And Uzui hadn't been around for a while. I wondered what sparring with him would be like. He could spar with me using two weapons. That would be a significant challenge. My feet took me forward, and I ran from the yard.

"Shinazugawa!" I called.

He turned around as I rounded the corner. I stopped, and he glared at me. Right, this was the Hashira that I riled up years ago. I had once said I would never get along with him, and now we've just had a sparring session.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"Have you seen Uzui? He hasn't been around lately and I-"

"What? You haven't heard about what happened to him?" He asked.

My eyes widened. Something happened to Uzui? I really hoped Shinazugawa wasn't about to tell me that Uzui died, too.

"No... What happened?" I asked.

"He retired. Lost an eye and hand in his last fight."

I gasped. Uzui lost a hand? That must have been a harsh battle. I had to visit him. Or maybe I would follow through and invite him to come meet Kinjuro.