Khoe; A Tale of Sadness & Joy Ch. 02

He handed her a cardboard box. The picture on it looked as though it contained some sort of gas mask. "This one's new and it's for you. I'm going to give you a quick lesson in driving a tractor, and then we'll be fertilizing to our heart's content all afternoon."

Kerry was a little surprised that she didn't back away then. Hell, she looked interested, he thought.

Taeko wasn't someone who backed away from the unfamiliar, and she'd operated many sorts of machinery in her life, so driving a tractor which was hauling a manure spreader was no stretch. He asked her about it and she smiled, "I have run a trawler with a full net before. I think that this will be only another challenge."

But sitting in the cab of that tractor with the cab closed and the ventilation on full was a chore, since the air conditioning wasn't the greatest and she sat in her own sweat all afternoon as she maintained her set distance off to his right side. They got it done, returning to the tanker over and over to have the two spreaders re-filled and hating the slow trips when the breeze was at their backs, since all that the ventilation did then was suck in the stench, so they ran in that direction with the fans off.

As good as the mask was, she still caught whiffs of what they were spreading and the one time that she'd moved it to adjust the way that it fit, she'd forgotten and inhaled only once.

She was careful never to do that again.

By the end of it, she couldn't tell if it cleared her sinuses or just killed off her sense of smell for a while, but the shower at the end of the day was one of the more welcome ones in anyone's life. She inquired about dinner and he pointed to his truck, "I'm not eating here until it rains at least once," so they went to a little family restaurant that he knew and she amazed him by the amount of food that she ate.

"Where are you putting that?" he asked, "I've never seen a girl eat so much."

Taeko grinned, "Before, I was just doing little things, so I needed little. Now I think that I must work more, so ..." she shrugged.

It was pouring rain by the time that they left and Kerry was glad of it. "I can handle the smell, since it had to be done, but I've never been thrilled over the first day. You need to have a good day's sunshine on a fertilized field or you need rain to scrub the smell out of the air."

"What will you do this evening?" she asked.

"I dunno," he answered, "I don't watch much TV. As a matter of fact, I had the cable disconnected after my uncle passed away. What have you got in mind?"

"I was thinking of watching a movie," she grinned, "I think that you can guess that I went to Chinatown for more than a couple of wooden swords. There are people there who will sell you all sorts of things -- little-known movies for example."

Kerry's mouth began to fall open in surprise as she looked at the dessert menu, still talking with a little smile, "Oh, the first three places that you go to might not have it, and even if one of them think that they might, you have to wait while they send a young relation off to the basement to even find it. It requires patience," she said, "but patience often yields rewards -- if you really have it in your heart to see a movie with at least one bad Viking in it."

"You didn't -- "he said.

"I did," she laughed, "Would you please watch it with me? I would love to have your insight so I might know what is going on in the plot. If you have no way to play it, we can use my laptop."

"Fine," Kerry chuckled, "but I get to cover my eyes at some parts."

Taeko was surprised and she laughed, "But you know the plot. You were there for some of the filming. You can't tell me that there is anything in it which frightens you."

"Oh there is," he groaned, "that was my acting debut, and in all likelihood, it's also my swan song. It's been a few years, and even I'm not used to the crap that they made me say."

As they watched the thing, Taeko sat up expectantly the first time that she could see his character come into view -- even though he was in the background of the shot. When the scene had moved on with nothing much from Kerry, she looked a little disappointed.

"Hey," he smiled, "try to remember that I wasn't even one of the central characters in this. I was just an extra."

She shook her head, "I understand that. But there are the stars of this out in front of you and they would have trouble opening a ... a carton of milk like they sell here."

She frowned, and indicated herself with her hand, moving it up and down, "All that I see on them is air-brushed bellies. They even have trouble holding them in, one of them."

He was surprised that she was that discerning in an instant.

"They should have given them leather armor with the muscles formed in them. It would have saved a lot of bother for nothing. And you were air-brushed too, weren't you?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "I used to drive the make-up ladies crazy. Every day, they'd spray that onto me about four times. After a while, they didn't even look happy to see me coming toward the trailer in the morning."

"Why so much?" she asked and he shrugged, "I did my best to hold still, but ... well, I'm a little ticklish there."

There was a scene where his character was right out front in a battle, beating down the defenders and she watched it intently.

"They told you to do that, didn't they?" she asked, and he nodded, "I can tell," she said, "There would be no purpose to those motions unless it was for show. I have never held one, but I imagine that a Viking-style sword was a heavy thing, and if you were busy fighting all day, you would not want to flourish or embellish the motions at all. It's just too much work."

"That reminds me," he said, "why did you buy those wooden swords again?"

"I practice too," she smiled, "though it is a ... holdover? I don't know if that is the way to say it. It's something left over from the past. On the Japanese side of me, there is a history of a little samurai background."

In fact, there was none of that in Taeko's background at all. Her people were commoners all the way back on both sides, but she wanted a plausible-sounding reason, "I trained a little in Kendo," she said, "but mostly I use it for fitness by using a real sword all alone for the weight and the work of it. I find little in all of the padding to endear the art to me in its current form."

The next day, they were done by a little after noon, since they'd gotten up at dawn. "Free time?" Taeko asked, "So soon? What sort of farmer are you?"

"Well about all I can think of on this section is to plough the manure under a little more, if you want," he smiled.

"Does it need that?" she asked, a little surprised.

"Oh, probably not," he grinned, "but if you're as eager as all of that, hey, go on ahead."

"I think that I will go and play with my wooden swords," she smiled over a little hopefully.

"Hey, can I watch?" he asked and she laughed.

"Of course," she grinned, "but you will not have much time to watch if you pick even one of them up. You will be fighting for your life then."

Kerry wasn't weighed down with much of an ego at all, but her remark made him smile just a little. He was taller than she was and likely twice as heavy. "Ok," he said.

She gave him some time to get used to the lightness and the different shape and when he indicated that he was at least a little ready, she picked up two of them and he backed away.

"Hey, why are you using two?" he asked.

"I am warming up," she smiled, "Most warriors used only one sword at first. After a while, the more wealthy learned to adapt themselves to the use of two -- the Katana, which these are supposed to mimic and the shorter Wakizashi

There was one master who pioneered the use of two katanas at the same time, though he was fond of the Wakizashi as well. I have read that he often liked to throw the Wakizashi, but I am not wealthy enough to wish to try that. I have learned to follow his teaching as much as I can."

She paced around him as he tried to limber up, and he began to feel something like a mouse in front of a cat. When he finally gave it a try, she came out on top in their stilted little competition as they'd set the rules, since wooden or not, they could cause quite a lot of pain if one of them really put much more into it besides the motions.

"I'm having trouble believing what I'm seeing, "he said, clearly impressed, "Every time that I move, you're somewhere else and it's usually a place where you end this the next second. How do you do it?"

Taeko had been enjoying this so much that she'd let herself slip a little uncharacteristically for her. The methods that she'd been taught were all about engaging if it had to be and then finishing an opponent to make good her exit. She'd have to ease off a fair bit.

Besides, she was having so much fun with Kerry that she didn't want it to end anytime soon, so she had to be careful not to let him get too discouraged.

"I'm sorry," she smiled, "It is just the way that my favorite teacher taught me. Let's try it again and I will not do it that way this time."

They sparred on and at times, it would have been worth it to have a video camera there, because it was all technique and a lot of things were held back by them both. She saw some similarities, though not in how he was fighting. She could tell that it was about finishing quickly as well from his side of things -- as he'd been taught -- but in his case, it was much more about brutal force to kill or severely injure an opponent before moving on to the next on an ancient battleground. It required someone who had far better than average speed and strength. She rather doubted that Kerry knew of this.

She knew that he was using a sort of Katana-shaped practice sword and he was trying to use it like the old European skull-crushers, hacking and slashing to advance and never give quarter. The swords wouldn't have stood up if he put much into it. As well, he quite obviously had his own measure of control, never putting much into the motions out of his want to not hurt her.

She really did like the smile on his face, though, even though she was holding back so much and she knew that he knew it as well, and didn't seem to mind. She could see that he was as into this as she was.

And of course, she knew that she could end this at any instant. There was no doubt at all who was the better swordsman between them.

When they finished, Kerry was shaking from fatigue and the effort of holding back. He was so out of shape in this one thing, not having practiced for a time now. But the woman that he knew as Khoe looked plainly thrilled with his efforts as she bowed to him in thanks for the match and as the slight formality of the moment passed, she hugged him very briefly and he stood stunned, not having been prepared for that at all.