Kaoru does not cry at her father's funeral. It is not that she did not love him, but she must keep a brave face for the ten students who also attended. The youngest ones idly shuffle their feet; they barely remember her father's face. The older ones are worried, furrowing brows and whispering.

"Who's going to teach us?"

"Maybe, there's a different dojo?"

"Idiot! This was the only place where Kamiya Kasshin can be taught!"

That's right. Her father founded Kamiya Kasshin, this new art for this new era of peace. And with him gone, it is likely that the discipline will die with him.

She clenches her fists. It isn't fair, that he had to die and that everyone thinks his work will share his fate. If she were his son, there would be no question that Kamiya Kasshin would go to her. But she's not, and she has practiced and poured her soul into her heritage, just as a son would. Even her father had recognized that.

He was always practicing in the dojo. Her mother, sick but still determined to recover, told her to go to him. He had been away for so long, fighting in the war, but he was home now and she should not be a stranger to him.

Grandfather had taught her kenjutsu. Stances. How to shuffle her feet in the right way. How to hold her bokken. How to strike and cry out. But her father was only practicing the same thing over and over. The same moves, against an invisible opponent. Then, he bowed to the air and looked right at her.

Startled, she gasped and dove back behind the door. But he called out her name and she guiltily stepped into the dojo. She had lowered her head, preparing for a lecture on not bothering him, but it never came.

"Kaoru. Look at me, I'm not angry, I'm only going to say this." Her father took her fingers in his and gripped them tightly. "Our family's produced kenjutsu for generations. But from this day on, I'm going to teach a new style. One that protects life. You are going to be my first student, and that means when we get more students, you'll have to help me. Can you do that for your father?"

She nodded, suddenly thrilled by the prospect. Okaa-san had never liked her affinity towards kenjutsu, but Otou-san was supporting her. "Yes!"

"In the future, if I get too busy, you might have to teach too." He warned.

"That's okay. Because I love kenjutsu!"

She does. She loves kenjutsu. While the girls from her childhood learned sewing, she learned how to perform kata. While they talked of sweets and cooking, she instructed the newcomers under her father's watch. While they have been married off, her life belongs to her dojo and her pride in Kamiya Kasshin. Even now, the rumors of her living alone and being unladylike do not bother her at all. She will follow her own path, as she has since her father handed this responsibility to her. And even though he is no longer in this world, she can stand on her own.

She raises her voice over the murmurs. "I'm going to teach."

One of the younger boys scoffs. "You will?"

"Are you saying that I can't? Who was the one who trained you while my father was away?" She grinds her teeth together, tapping the boy's head with her fist.

"Ack! I'm sorry!" He yelps.

"Listen up, everyone! Practice begins tomorrow, as we always have!" They grumble, but she knows they'll show up at the dojo.

These are her students. Hers to protect, hers to reprimand, hers to guide. And she doesn't care who says otherwise. She will teach Kamiya Kasshin.

She will.