Prelude

I was on my way home on a hot, humid evening in early August. I was coming from practice at my Sensei's Ryo at his house. I had just received a new bokken (wooden practice sword). Sensei had ordered it for me from an old Master in Japan. He had been most adamant that the usual commercial items were not made correctly and would not last. He had assured me that this bokken would be well worth the expense and would last me many years. It had been more expensive than I had envisioned, but I did have the money, earned from my summer job, and now it was mine.

My name is Jim. I'm sixteen years old and will be starting my junior year in high school in a couple of weeks. I'm 5'-10" tall, about 145 pounds, have auburn hair and gray eyes. I have been a student of Sensei Yoshie for four years. He is a Master of the Yamato Yaugu Shinkage Ryu. He teaches the Martial Arts of old Japan, especially the use of the Japanese long sword, or Katana.

I was only a few blocks from his house, approaching the downtown area of our little town, when I saw an altercation taking place. It was a block, or so ahead of me. Two guys had stopped a girl. I couldn't really see her well, as they were in the way. Then there was a scream, and one of the guys moved. I saw red hair, long red hair, and I knew it was Ginny. No one else, around here, had red hair that long, or that color. I immediately started to run toward them.

"Leave her alone," I yelled, as I got closer.

The two guys turned toward me. They were both larger and heavier than I am. I recognized them as jocks, members of the football team. They had been in trouble earlier this year, after football season was over.

"Piss off squirt," the bigger one said, as I approached.

"Leave her alone," I repeated. The larger one threw a punch at me. I easily dodged it. The bokken came up in my right hand, by pure reflex, and, as I raised it, I automatically assumed a two handed grip. I went into the first Kata of the Ryu. It consists of four steps forward, delivering an overhead strike, then a sideways slash from left to right followed by a reverse cut from right to left and is supposed to finish with a stab to the chest.

I brought the bokken down from over head and smashed it into the larger guy's head. He dropped like a stone. The shorter one turned toward me, forgetting Ginny, as I advanced. He got the two sideways slashes, one to the side of his head and the other to his ribs. He too went down, moaning.

I turned to see if the first guy had gotten up, but he was still on the ground. The bokken was in the low guard position off to my left. My hands were tingling from the energy transmitted through the bokken when it made contact with those two. My breathing was a little elevated, also, and I was shaking from the adrenaline rush produced by the fight.

I grabbed Ginny's hand, and said, "Come on, we need to leave before the cops get here."

"Jimmy, thank you," she managed through her tears and sobs. We headed back the way I had come, back to Sensei's house. I needed to talk to him.