"TAKESHI!!!"
"OI TAKESHI!!!"
"Oi Dara-shi!"
Loud screaming noises in the background, quite the show for wildlife.

"Chirp" "Chirp"
"Gnaw" "Gnaw" "Gnaw"
"OI TAKESHI!!!"
And then there's nature's natural sound. Wait, what?
Oh well, that counts as wildlife too I suppose.

Kenichii, Hisako and Kaori are wandering through the forests, searching for Takeshi.
He was nowhere to be seen by the time both of them woke up.

"TAAKESHIII !!!
TAKESHIII !!!" Kenichii yelled out.
"Are you really searching for him or are you cheerleading for him" Kaori asked with a mix of disgust, contempt and just overall discomfort.
"Hey Hey. Why Don't you let me do the searching while you fake it, okay?"

"Geez you guys are like an old couple bickering about this and that." Hisako said as he was tired of this incessant banter.
"Ohh please, like I'd be a couple with this guy.

Well yeah, I guess that is right, next to this guy, we'll be labelled as a couple of weirdos."

"Uh-huh so you admit you are a weirdo." Kenichii stopped dramatically, pointing his finger at Kaori.

"Wha-? Nevermind, pointless to argue with that level of genius." Kaori was disgruntled and walked ahead.

"Thank you, and can we just focus on finding Takeshi-san?"
"okay" said Kaori, leaking disinterest.

"And remind me, why the hell did I get roped in to go find Dara-shi?
I bet that lazy-ass is just goofing off somewhere pretending to be training to get sympathy, Humph"

"Can you stop that? He fought his best and he wants to train.
I'm angry at him for running off for training without consideration for his own injuries and my warnings."

"I definitely cannot catch a break now, Can I?
Why did Sensei have to send me with these two nutjobs?"

"HEY, WHO YOU CALLING A NUTJOB, MR. FANCY PANTS!" Kaori and Kenichii both said in unison.

Both momentarily look at each other and then turn their faces away from each other, pouting and sighing.

Few hours before...

"Zzz Zzz"
Snoring noises in the background. And day 2 of the tournament had barely started, and there was an even bigger hassle going around in the medical tents.

"Oh god, where is he, where is he?" Kenichii searched in a panicking manner, turning over the futon and under the beds.

"What are you doing looking under a bed? What is he, A lost kitten?" Kaori asked in a confused and discontented manner.

"AARGH, I'LL KILL HIM TODAY!!" Kenichii yelled out.
"Ugh, stop being so melodramatic, will you?" 

"You don't know how it is, that dumbass is really injured, even the slightest exertion will open his wounds again.

I need to find that idiot before he goes on and does something stupid."

"Why don't you just ask Sugihara-Sensei or Murakami-Sensei if they have seen him before making a fuss around here? Hahh!"

"Zzz" "Zzz"

"And who is this old man? Why is he sleeping on Takeshi's bed?"

"Umm, well Judging by the clothing, I think it's someone from the Shiba clan. It must be someone high up in the ranks. It has the golden and silver threads with the intertwined dragon pattern too.

Hmm, I wonder who it is.

Not to mention, shouldn't he be in his designated guest tent?"

"Well, we don't have time to think about who this might be; we need to find him before Kanroji-Sensei gets wind of it."

"Sensei has eyes in every wall. If he has indeed gone missing, Sensei might have been the first one to know, you know."

"Oh God, Oh God."

"Geez, this guy is going to embarrass me in front of everyone."

"Zzz Zzz-

Ohh, you guys are up. If you are looking for that Takeshi brat, he went out of the tent almost an hour ago." The old man woke up and sat straight up on the bed.

'He has his eyes and ears open while he is sleeping so soundly?' thought both of them at the same time, as they were caught totally off-guard.

"Well, we knew that already by now, except for a lunatic who was convinced he was under the futon."

"Ahh, I see, you must be the Himejima-clan girl. Hmm, your tongue is sharp as ever; well, it runs in the blood, I suppose.

Ohh right, He took his sword and a set of clothes before he left, I fell asleep again after that, so I don't know what happened after."

"See, I told you, the idiot ran off for training. I swear, he is dead the moment I find him.

Let's just inform Sensei and go look for him."

"Hey, who are you ordering around?"

"Fine, Ohime-sama, if you will, please grace us with your divine wisdom for this quest." Kenichii tells Kaori as he walks out of the tent.

Kaori follows and proceeds to yell at him.
"I'VE TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME THAT!!!"

...

"Hmm, so you think Takeshi-kun might have gone out for training.
Well, I admire his tenacity and willingness, if anything." Sugihara said as he scratched his chin.

"Not the time to admire that idiot, Sensei! He had serious wounds to his chest, which could open up at the slightest exertion."

"Hmm, alright, I get your point.
Take Hisako, and the three of you go find him.
Try to make it quick though; the fights scheduled for day 2 are about to start, and we might run out of manpower."

"Yes, Sensei, we will hurry."
"And stop scratching your chin; you don't have a beard." Kaori said as the both of them ran.

"Hey, watch it, you brats."
"Also, I do this so that it can finally grow!" Sugihara said in a low voice, to himself.

Back to the current time...

"Alright, this isn't working out, let's split up and search for him.
Kenichii, you go north, Kaori, you head west and I'll go search the west region."

"Okay, let's go."

The three of them split off and starts to head in their designated direction.

"TAKESHII!!"
"TAKESHII!!"

"Oh god, someone make that guy shut up." Kaori says as she walks away in her distance. The sound of Kenichii yelling gradually decreases.

"Ugh, where is this Dara-shi anyway?"
Kaori seemed pretty frustrated with each step she took.

"He must be goofing off somewhere playing with some monkeys.

Hahh, what a joke of a samurai he is, One little wound to the chest, and he starts squirting blood and fainting like a baby.

I bet he never saw that much blood spilled or any blood spilled by anyone-"

Kaori stops mid-sentence as she saw something that she didn't expect to see.

Words had barely come off her, and there he was.

Bloodied and bruised, with his pure white hakama almost fully stained dark red with blood and dirt on some other sides. His dress was dripping blood, not to mention the blood dripping from his hair.

His eyes and face were still shining brightly as he saw Kaori and smiled at her.

He was barely holding on, leaning on his sword for support.
"Gasps"

Kaori gasps as she sees him like this, placing her hands over her mouth.
"Oh, hey there! Kaori-san. What are you doing here in the middle of the forest-"

Takeshi, who was looking at her, blinked his eyes once, and suddenly he started to see more of the ground and less of Kaori, and it increased very quickly.

Takeshi lost his balance, his legs gave away, and he started to fall.
Right before he hit the ground, Kaori grabbed him by his shoulder and torso.

"Sorry to trouble you like this, haha."
"Just shut up for a while.
Stupid Dara-shi."

Kaori grabbed him and put his hand over her shoulders, and took his sword and placed it in her obi.

She immediately saw the crowd that was behind Takeshi.

"Thanks for taking care of this idiot." Kaori smiled as she said this.
She slowly walked, carrying him and moving back the way she came.

"Well what do you know, he's lighter than he looks.
Or maybe I'm stronger?
Hmm, oh well."

As she reached the place they split up, she started to yell out the names of both of them.
But no one responded to her calls.

"Argh, where are those idiots when you need them."

She continues to walk forward, and suddenly she hears Kenichii yelling.

"Well, at least there is some perk to that idiot yelling.

OVER HERE, YOU IDIOT!"

"OHH DID YOU FIND HIM? OR ARE YOU JUST YELLING TO ANNOY ME?" Kenichii yells back.
"YES, I DID
AND STOP STANDING THERE AND YELLING TO ME AND COME OVER HERE."
"OHH YOU GUYS FOUND HIM?" Hisako yelled from a direction opposite to where the both of them were standing.
"YES, NOW STOP YELLING FOR GOD'S SAKE AND COME OVER HERE!!"

"GEEZ, YOU CAN JUST TELL IT NORMALLY, YOU DON'T NEED TO YELL, YOU KNOW?" Kenichii screamed back.

Kaori, gritting her teeth and shaking with anger, but she managed to calm herself down.
"Uhh, I... yeah, anymore of this, and I'm gonna kill him."

Hisako and Kenichii run back in the direction of Kaori's voice and are shocked by what they saw.

A blood-soaked Takeshi, with his hakama torn in the torso region and some scratch marks on the hands.

The white-colored hakama clearly showed it. The aftermath of a battle and its repercussions.

"What the hell happened to him? Who did he fight to have ended up in such a state??"

"How would I know? I just walked a bit into the direction of the river, and I see him walking towards me, using his sword as a leaning stick, and then he grinned at me like an idiot."

"Hmm, yeah, that sounds more like Kenichii than Takeshi."

"Hey!"

"Well, Dara-shi sticks around with this guy the entire time, I wouldn't be surprised if he caught Baka-chi's disease."

"Hey, you guys do see me, right? I'm standing here, right in front of you, and you guys are insulting me right here? At least have the decency to say this when I'm not around!"
'Wait what?' Kenichii thought this after saying what he, well.. said it.

"No, no, that can't be it, I don't think stupidity is a disease that can be caught like that."

"Hey, both of you stop and focus on getting him back to the village, will you?"

"Yeah, you are right, if it were a disease, I guess both you and I would've gotten it, although I fear for your well being, Hisako."
Both of them continued their mocking of Kenichii as they walked towards the village, carrying Takeshi.

Be-beng! (softly fades...)
Dokon! (resonates in the background)

******

Be-beng!

"Hmm, where am I?
Ohh, right, I ran into Kaori while walking back to the academy.
I wonder what she was doing there. Hmm, oh well.

So, where am I exactly? I guess this is what they call being inside your mind.
Kenichii did say that samurai of higher levels are able to do this with their higher ki levels.

Hmm, I certainly don't have that, I guess this is an aftereffect from my encounter with Grandpa.

I wonder where my body is currently. I guess I'll use this time to think about what I will do next.

What grandpa showed me, hmm, well, that was definitely interesting, intriguing, and I don't know, how I could describe it.

I guess, his hardships did mold him into what he became later on.

Being kicked out of the academy, getting help secretly from his Sensei, and after getting trapped in a cave, he falls unconscious, then there is a blur in the memories, which he said that I will come to know of it in time, and then he wakes up hours later to have an epiphany. How does that happen?

Did something happen during that time that caused him to have that epiphany?

Hmm, oh well, let's not dwell on that. I need to find a solution to my problem, and grandpa said that the solution is already around me and that I know it, but I just need to open my eyes and look.

Hmm, he changed the Ancient Emperor Style in a way that fits his leg condition.
He controlled his upper body movements in a certain flow, in a flow that would neuter the extended movements of the legs, and used its force to compensate for the lost force.

Flow huh, flow... hmm...
Oh! That's it, water!
Water flows! 
Wait, wait, no no, that's not it.
Well, maybe that one was based on the flow of water, but the rest weren't like that.

The second set of movements involved stopping short of the original intended patterns and taking a sharp turn... If anything, that sounds a bit too hard to do.
Hmm, what is that supposed to signify?

Well, anyways. Flow, I'll just focus on that for now.

Aargh, I'm relying on shortcuts again, aren't I?

Okay, okay, I will just see how the flow technique is, learn what I can from it, and use it to form my own technique."

"No, you won't."
"Huh? why? and who is this speaking inside my mind?"
"Wake up, Takeshi?"
"Huh?"

"TAKESHI!!" Kenichii screams.
"Huh?? Huh??"  Takeshi jumps up and looks frantically to the sides.
"What happened?"
"Stop yelling for god's sake, he's already half dead, don't scare away the rest of him to hell.
Hahh..." Kaori says, as she facepalms herself.

"What happened to you? And moreover, where the heck did you run off to early in the morning?" Kenichii confronts Takeshi.

"Well umm..."

"Why did you go off into the forest without telling anyone, Takeshi?" Hisako asks in a calmer tone.

"Well umm..."

"You were already injured, what were you thinking?"

"Well umm..."

"Alright, this isn't going anywhere."
Kaori pushed both of them aside and pushed Takeshi down, slamming her hand on the bed.
Takeshi, totally taken aback by the sudden reaction, was in a state of shock.

"Oi Dara-shi, What the hell are you trying to pull here? Why did you go out so early in the morning?

Do you realize I couldn't sleep well because of you?"

Takeshi, although barraged by the continuous barrage of questions, was more flustered by Kaori being so close to him.
 
"Umm... You are too close, you know?"

"Huh? So what? Answer me now, Dara-shi."

Kaori suddenly realized what she actually did. But she didn't wanna break form in front of them, so she continued.

"Okay, that's enough bullying, Kaori." Kenichii said as he and Hisako dragged Kaori back.
"Do you seriously realize the guy was completely covered in blood, just a couple of minutes ago? And you are pounding on him like a beast."

"Fine.
Hey, who you calling a beast, Baka-chi."

"Ugh, anyways, tell us what happened."

"Well, you guys know how I have one more chance in the tournament, so I thought, I'd get some training done, sharpen myself, and try my luck.

So, I snuck out early in the morning and went to train.

Well, umm, after some time, I was attacked, by a leopard, it snuck up behind me, but thanks to the smaller animals near me, I figured something was up and saw the leopard.

And, umm, well, I tried to hit it and make a run for it, and it didn't go exactly as planned, which is evident from the claw marks I have on my chest."

"Hmm, if it weren't for you in this condition, I would have killed you, Humph." Kenichii sighed.
"Well, you have lost way more blood this time, so I suggest you take rest for quite some time.

Also... about the second chance you have..." Kenichii was interrupted midway by Takeshi.

"It's fine, regardless of whether I get better or not, I'm not appearing for the second chance.

I realized that I have a lot to work on, so I'm gonna focus on that."

"Well, that's a good attitude to have, Takeshi." Hisako said as he patted his shoulders.
"Well, let's head out, guys. Let him take some rest."

"I'll bring your food later on, okay?"

"Yeah, that's good enough."

The trio leaves the tent, with Takeshi alone in there.

The academy was still busy as ever, with the remaining fights of Day 2 of the trial ongoing.

Takeshi smiles as he thinks about something and closes his eyes.

To be continued.