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  Rokuro must have been pleased by what he saw, Akira thought.   He wouldn’t teach Akira something new until he was certain Akira had learned the basics.   Slowly Rokuro showed Akira the movements he needed to make to do a two-man kata.   Naturally Rokuro taught him the apprentice first.   He did each move slowly so Akira could mimic it before moving on.   After an hour of this training, Akira found himself sore and sweaty again.   He wondered how long Rokuro would work him.
    “No, not like that!” Rokuro said, bringing Akira out of his reverie.   “Pay attention!   Think!   Don’t let your mind wander!”
    Akira chewed on the inside of his cheek and tried to mimic Rokuro’s movements, but the elixir was wearing off, and his muscles were growing fatigued.   He closed his eyes and tried to follow the movements within his mind’s eye.   Suddenly he was knocked off his feet and fell over into the mud.
    “Ow!” Akira protested.
    Rokuro frowned.   “Keep your eyes open.   You can’t fight a battle with your eyes closed.”
    Akira felt like arguing but instead stood up and brushed the mud off his gi the best he could.   He wondered how long they had been training since he had returned from seeing the Tengu.   His stomach growled, and he suspected that dinner would soon be ready.
    “Again!” Rokuro said.
    Akira took a deep breath and walked through the kata slowly.   Rokuro watched him as Akira forced himself to put his sword in the exact position Rokuro showed him.   Rokuro showed no emotion as he finished each cut and block then stepped back into ready stance and dropped back to his knees, slipping the bokken in his belt.
    Rokuro snorted.   “Do it again.”
    Akira bit his lip.   Couldn’t his sensei see that this was the best he could do?   He bowed then restarted the sequence.   The muscles in his arms tightened up, and his legs screamed in pain.   Still he concentrated as he forced the bokken to move where he wanted it to.   His movements were clumsy and wooden; he could not believe that he did any better or learned any more by forcing himself to repeat the same exercise over and over again.   But just as he finished, he caught a small glint in Rokuro’s eyes.   Something within that glint told him that his master might be pleased.   But as quickly as the glint appeared, so it vanished.
    “Enough!” said Rokuro.
    Akira went back into natural stance and bowed low.   He waited quietly, his hands in front of his body and his fingers curled into fists.
    Rokuro walked around him slowly.   “I’m seeing some improvement.   I see you’ve been practicing as I have asked.”
    “Yes, Sensei.”   Akira could hardly keep from grinning.   The Tengu had helped him with his training.   He wondered how much the Tengu would be able to continue helping him.
    Rokuro made the full circle.   “That’s good.   Keep training.   You will need to practice more.   You’ve made some improvement, but you can do better.”
    “Yes, Sensei.”
    “Now go.   Your dinner is undoubtedly ready, and Ikumi is waiting to spoil you.”
    Akira bowed again and Rokuro gave a shallow bow in response.   Akira turned and ran quickly toward home, where he knew his mother, Ikumi, would be waiting for dinner.   He took off his sandals and headed inside.

Chapter Seven
     
    Kasumi sat on her pallet and stared through the window into the moonlit sky.   It was late when she finished her bath.   It had taken several good lathers to scrub the demon scent from her skin and hair.   Even though the demon stench had dissipated and her skin was perfumed with the scent of jasmine and lavender, she could not completely remove the memory of it.   A part of her could still remember the stink of demon long after she had rid herself of it.
    Perhaps this was the curse of being Neko, she wondered.   The cats were enemies of the demons.   It was an old war started at the beginning of time where the Neko protected the