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Three weeks passed by fast. Xikar and Madarame had gotten into a routine well mostly Xik. Everyday he woke and was subjugated to same training regiment over and over. Of coarse it got harder every few days as the old mad added more weights, or increased the time he had to an exercise. That was only the morning. In the afternoon it was sword practice and kata performing. He was given a strange blunt "sword" that weight about 100 lbs. Xik questioned why when he already knew how to fight with a sword. Madarame said he was only knew how to swing it like a bat. And by using the heavy training tool he would faster with the much lighter real sword.
After sword practice he was instructed to run while wearing a series of weights. They heavy and made Xik uncomfortably slow but he got stronger and his body adjusted. Starting off carrying about 200 pounds, he worked his way up to 500. And without the weights Xik ran faster and jumped higher and punched stronger than ever. His physical appearance showed this changed his body becoming slightly bulkier but still lean compared to others....especially Angus.
Even with all the training there was one thing Xikar didn't see happening, his sword being forged. Whenever he brought up the subject the old man just hit him over the head saying he lacked patience. But he knew something was happening; at night he could smell burning wood and the hear the sound of a hammer banging out metal. Madarame must had some strength to him to be able to stay up nearly all night and train Xik more in the morning. The sound of the forge at night was the only thing that kept Xik around in the morning.
-To be continued.

Another month had finally passed. The training was going well to the point Xik wasn't feeling challenged anymore which was bad. It meant Xik would get bored just laying around waiting for the sword to be complete. It was a nice fall afternoon when Xik came back from hiking he saw something on the Old Man's porch: the completed sword. Xik ran like a child waking up on Christmas morn. He held the blade with shaking hands; finally after all the training and work the blade was finished.

The Saya was lacquered wood of extremely high quality possibly his own private stock. The string that would the Saya to Xik's body was hand woven cotton. He didn't even realize there was cotton field around here. The same cotton was used in weaving the grip of the blade. Both were dyed a deep blue, matching Xik's wardrobe something he didn't think the old man would think about for the blade. Drawing the blade he held up into the light. The blade's black metal was beautiful unlike most blades which had sharpened that was a light metallic color, this sword was pitch black. Of coarse the sharpen edge did have a shine to it which was to be expected.

The overall size was slightly larger than the average katana. If your average katana was 60.6 cm, this one stood at about 70.cm. The hand-guard or tsuba shape was pretty average being a four point star. Engraved on it was a fox like symbol. Xik pondered how he knew about the fox, maybe his markings were a trait for those touched by the Foxes.....maybe he spoke in his sleep.

He didn't much time to think since Madarame appeared a few seconds later. He carrying his own blade, a much larger blade.
"How do you like it?" he asked in same gruff tone. Xik was speechless but eventually came to.
"It's the most amazing looking blade I've ever seen. The detail the craftsmanship. Its perfect."
"It's almost perfect, it still needs a proper owner" Xik looked puzzled for a second until e saw Madarame draw and struck with his blade towards him. Madarame's blade roared as it struck the ground.
"Defend yourself!" he shouted charging towards Xik who managed to distance himself. Placing the scabbard on his Xik prepared for battle. The meeting of the blades created a great flash. Despite the old man's age and size (about 6'7" with a lot of girth) he was fast. Unleashing a barrage of attacks at Xik who couldn't block all the moves he eventually disarmed the black-haired warrior.
Picking up the blade and taking the scabbard, Madarame walked backed to the house.
"You're not ready, and until you are you're not taking this sword" he said closing the door behind him.
-to be continued.