Opening her eyes she was met by the red color in the brown mud, the smell also clearly pungend copper in her nostrils.

"Get up!" The voice of Yamamoto buldered behind her. She slowly pushed her face out of the mud and lifted herself to her feet.

"Pick up the Jo!"

She bent over and picked up the wooden sword.

"Now ready yourself again, you haven't landed a proper blow all day! If this was a real fight you'd be long dead and rotting!" Yamamoto yelled.

Baiken turned to him and lifted her sword, brown of dirt, splintered here and there from all the clashes with his, the red of her blood already varnished his Jo with a maroon hue.

"One more time! Ready!" Yamamoto charged and swung, Baiken evaded and countered but he was too quick for her at this stage, he brought the sword full speed and struck her gut so hard she flew back a few meters and hit the dirt again.

"Your tollerance to pain is reaching it's peak, in the beginning you screamed like a baby, now atleast you remain quiet, guess that's good for somethig"

Baiken remained down.

"Get up Baiken, a true samurai accepts defeat with honor, you can never be a true samurai, so get up!"

With cringed teeth she hoisted herself to her feet again.

"Go clean yourself, you're a mess" Yamamoto said and entered the house.

Baiken has lost count on how many times she got hit by Yamamoto's Jo, she placed her wooden sword on a nearby wall, then headed to the spring near by, Yamamoto beat her near to death the one time she dared come into the house as dirty as she was now.

Allowing the cold water to rinse her naked body she shivered of the cold and pain, by this time she knew all she needed about being a woman, her mother teaches her this daily, and Baiken knew she will probably never fall pregnant, Yamamoto gave her that gut blow every day, he said she should learn to use it, it's dishonoring to a samurai not to either die by the sword of his enemy, or to be able to cut his gut during seppukku in defeat.

Baiken had no idea why Yamamoto hated samurai so much, when he in fact was one, every day he'd go out early morning to do his duties, during that time her mother would educate her in cooking, cleaning, litriture and even how to sexually pleasure a man.

"Take care of your husband one day Baiken, and he will take care of you, a man sexually relieved will not go looking for sex elsewere" Her mother said, but Baiken spat out some blood, she didn't know her father, he died an honorable death, or so she heard.

After wrapping herself with a towel she headed back to the house.

Baiken Kazuna, age 17, hair black, and a peculiar rare eye colour, white, which earned her an aweful nickname at school.

This is why her mother teaches her, not a school anymore. She entered the house and the inviting smell of food reached her, but she knew dinner time had to wait, Yamamoto entertains himself with art first before they can eat.

In her room she dropped the towel and slipped into a black kimono. Then she headed to the living room where Yamamoto was waiting on the tatame. Baiken sat down with her back towards him, then slipped the top of the kimono off to expose her back, covering her chest with her arms.

Yamamoto took the two sticks in a bowl of ink and continued working on the tattoo on her back, stabbing the ink into her skin with the sharp edges of the sticks. This was his third masterpiece, the first was a dragon that ran up from her ancle around her leg, around her knee, getting broader over her hip and ended with it's mouth open over her navel.

It was excruciating but not quite as painful as Yamamoto's second tattoo, under her breasts flush over her diafragma he edged in two bat wings, the center where the body was a dagger that ran from above her breasts, between them down, it's tip stopping right above the head of the dragon.

The third piece of art Yamamoto was busy with on her back took two months now, and he still hasn't told her what he was tattooing on her, not even her mother said anything.

"You need to speed up Baiken, you will never be as strong as me, that's why you should rely on your speed instead" Yamamoto said as he rapidly and repeatedly pricked the sharp stick into the skin of her back.

"Understood Sensei" Baiken said trying as much as she could to hide her hate, so many times she wanted to run away, so many times she was beaten near to death for trying, escaping Yamamoto seemed impossible.

"I'm done for now" He said placing his sticks back into the bowl, Baiken knew she had to remain seated so he could inspect his work.

"Good, cover yourself and let's eat" Yamamoto said standing up.

Baiken stood up and closed herself gently, she didn't want the kimono to touch the tender bleeding flesh where the tattoo was extended.

After dinner Baiken looked forward to the one thing she actually liked doing with Yamamoto, and that was sex. In the beginning she was completely against it, so her naturally fending him off ended up in him forcing her. Over time she found out if she allowed it to happen it felt better, in fact she liked it, she even found ways to position herself to increase the pleasure.

"Baiken, tomorrow I'm leaving for a weeks trip with the emperor, and this night will belong to your mother" Yamamoto said and left the room, her mother cleaned the table then left as well leaving Baiken alone at the table.

She was angry, of all the pain and shame Yamamoto caused her, he turns away the one thing she looked forward to, stubbornly she stood up and left to her room. Inside she almost slammed the door shut, but rather slowly slid it closed.

Pacing around in her room her mind was out of routine, she was looking forward to that sexual pleasure. Clicking her tongue she sat down on her futon, her mother said meditation helps clear the mind so she clasped her hands and closed her eyes.

Her mind ran through the fight with Yamamoto, he made no mistakes and it was hard to beat him, no matter how well she could already wield a sword. But then her mind ran back to the final step in her routine, she wanted sex, it was a stress reliever she needed to cope with this shit.

Baiken opened her eyes and looked down at her lap, she slowly retracted her right arm into her kimono and tried pleasuring herself, it worked, even better than the intercourse with Yamamoto. Baiken tried as hard she could not to make any noise as the pleasure escelated, she could decide how much and how little she wanted it. After giving herself multiple orgasms she fell down on the futon, sighing of relief, but wincing at the pain of the tattoo on her back.

So Yamamoto was going away for a week? If there was any better time to escape this hell it was now. Baiken didn't care of the half finished tattoo on her back, she didn't care that her training wasn't finished yet, she didn't even care what her mother would say, tomorrow when Yamamoto leaves with the emperor she will leave this place, and run for an entire week if she had to. Semi excited Baiken silently got up and packed a few things in a duffle bag, then after hiding it she fell asleep.