Iron Blue Intention

Every once in a while, albeit more than the average soldier, he too needed to return there. Kitsuki, where he received some of his training, and his primary status in the military. Sakaba himself was never overly hyped about returning there, every time proving for different reason but for the most part, all falling under the same category; the treatment. Kitsuki held some characters he was familiar with but wasn't overly fond of. Such included his first superiors, some of his older army friends and his chief commander, most of which could see through his 'normal' facade and into the one thing holding him back the most. If he had to guess the worst possible, Sakaba would even dare claim some of those were hostile towards him, for snagging a spot despite his inabilities.

Wait, no. He didn't come there to reminiscence, or to meet with a particular individual. But rather, several. "Instructor Ouyuu." Introducing himself to the guards keeping watch and easily granted pass, the veteran entered the large and familiar quarters. Semi-familiar, actually, seeing how it always changed in some way every time it returned. This base too, was one of many that constantly evolved and improved as time went by, very much evidenced by the facilities, weapons and drills presented.

Soon enough, Sakaba made his way to one of the training grounds. Not quite as upgraded as the rest, but still only a tad bit different from how he remembered it, the young man quickly met with his colleagues in the area. "It's nostalgic." He commented through small talk; "Only eight years ago, I myself was in the same shoes as these guys." He remarked upon spotting the passing cadets class. The poor trainees seemed out of their breath already, but the instructor in charge didn't look like she was going to let them take a break.

As expected...

Shortly, he was presented with his own class of trainees. Pre-enlistment course, huh? Now there's an unusual case. Most of the time he was to deal with soldiers already past their primary training, but this was even before that. These guys were possibly underage, and from the structure of their positioning alone he could tell how much they had to learn. Taking a slow stroll back and forth, he examined them before inhaling deeply. "Alright. Men, listen up!" He called out with a commanding voice, firmly standing still to face them. "Congratulations to all of you. You've made the choice to join the Hoshido army. In these three next days, you will transition. From men, women, workers, beggars, or wherever you even came from, to soldiers!"

Ah... How annoying, the distanced commander act is.

Call it laziness or dullness if you must, but if there was one thing Instructor Ouyuu always detested in regards to his job, it would be the distanced act, especially with pre-enlisted trainees like these. In the first place, it would only open hostilities between soldiers, albeit such can be easily used to boost their morals with one another by providing a character to hate upon; a task that, while painful, Sakaba would have accepted. ...To a degree. But more than that, considering the short time they spent in this course, and with him in particular, it really seemed like a redundant and stuck-up act that merely states the difference in rank. Something he could understand, but not relate to. With a mere three days at hand, what these trainees needed was not a strict word, but proper introduction to the fundamentals. No matter their backgrounds, they were now going to utilize their talents for the military, and that had its own ways.

Regardless, such were the rules. About an hour had already passed and Sakaba had unwillingly worn the Hoshidan armor over his personal kimono, leading a charge of young trainees up a hill. "Come on!! Faster!!" He commanded; By now, you'd all be dead!!" Yeah, right. Up a hill like this, cavaliers and pegasi were ideal. Infantry units like these would only storm the hill after the vanguard. Which is most of the time, either the aforementioned, or in an unreasonably honorable (and unfortunate) case, the royal family. Still; With little to no knowledge of actual military combat and duration, the lot was likely to believe this lie.

Darned will be whoever invented yelling.

Sweaty from the run himself, fully feeling the sun's still-present rays against his scarcely bare skin in its fullest, it'd be expected that even the instructor would be out of breath. Reaching for his backpack as he reached the top of the large hill he took out a canteen and subtly indulged in it some, after letting the instructor with him to take charge. It's not like he alone was in-charge for their whole stay; he was but one of several staff members.

Fortunately, Sakaba was used to prolonged stay outside. Long drills out in the open ensured that while he didn't always face with direct combat, he knew the drill (literally) better than anyone, and was more than suited for long stays out in the open. His supposed exhaustion was nonexistent after but a few seconds of rest, though the slight dampness under his armor did feel awfully unpleasant. As he began to make his way back, he was then met with an unexpected face.

It wasn't too rare for Sakaba to meet with soldiers he himself trained before. With some years in the task, it was a given he'd meet them again eventually. The problem most of the time, however, as the case with Akemi, was that he couldn't remember every name he came across in his time. Especially when two years have passed. What he did remember, however, were details upon details of training said woman, considering a good four months were spent by her. He clearly remembered the face. He clearly remembered the odd habits. The funny bits, the threatening and unfortunate occasions. All of it; even which class she belonged to.

But only one thing was missing. One, very important detail.

"Hey!" Sakaba's face lightened up as he caught the green-haired in his vision. Genuinely smiling, he offered a light wave. "Wow. What a coincidence, to see you here again. Odd closure, wouldn't you say so?" The instructor jested further. Distance was broken fairly early for Instructor Ouyuu's class, and fortunately that didn't get in the way of the group's final drills. For now, he decided to try his best to work this through in his own mind.

Because for the life of him, as unfavorable as it was, he failed. To recall her name.

As if his mind was read (or rather, the soldier understood), Sakaba was soon properly re-introduced to the woman. Slightly shameful as it may have been, at the mere mention of the name Akemi, his eyes widened and a finger was raised, as if attained enlightenment. "Oh!! Akemi!! Right!..." Seriously, that's just disappointing. Akemi was special among his trained soldiers in the sense that she happened to be one of the very, very few to come from the tribes in Hoshido. An Oni, that he somehow forgot about. "I'm really sorry... I won't get it wrong. I promise." He apologized, clenching at his fist. It was set in stone that the name Akemi Kihara would never again be forgotten.

Hopefully.

"Well... It's less dire need more than it is a mere treat for me." He commented, lightly brushing his hair away from his face as he explained. "Kitsuki base has some instructors stationed here regardless. But, while not ideal, it is some time off the branch camps for me as well. You can call this my pseudo-vacation, heh." He lightly jested, even huffing a bit with a smirk at his own joke.

The reason he was still giving pre-enlisted trainees a hard time laid in their status; not yet soldiers. In just three days, Sakaba would have had an entire week's worth of free time in the city of Kitsuki. With that in mind, pitching in to help an unmanned team was a small price to pay. Moreover, it was the better deal out of the three he was presented with, one of which was returning home. Just the thought of it made the instructor's eye twitch some.

"An inn, huh." Now, more than once had Sakaba heard of the Commander Rule. If you meet your commander in an inn, you're obligated to buy them a round. He too fell for that once. Awkwardly smiling, he immediately thought of that. Does this count as an example? "Very well. Thank you. But for now, how about we move away?" He asked, assuming Akemi would stay to chat for a little longer.

"Preferably some place with shade, too." He'd have even asked to change clothes, if he was granted the option. But, duty was to resume shortly and he had to make use of the time he had.

The instructor laughed lightly. She was right; it was better to have them get used to the worst possible at start. "That's right." He affirmed, raising his head some, probably in unconscious pride. "You've realized that, then. When did it occur to you?" Pre-enlisted soldiers probably had it the worst exactly for that reason, though some soldiers came to think back to it and come to the conclusion. Sakaba assumed that Akemi probably arrived at this idea some time after they parted ways, possibly before she was assigned a post or even shortly after.

"Well, there are some instructors that find this type of job fun." He added, looking away from the woman as his ears could trace the loud voice of the second-in-command with the trainees, who have probably made it to the hill's top by now. "It's practically traditional by this point."

Hastily taking the lead, Sakaba began walking towards the nearest shade he could spot; a couple of trees not too far. Making sure Akemi followed suit, he smiled at her as he made his way. As he arrived, he could already feel himself cooling slightly. The difference wasn't great, but the decreasing heat from his skin was very much present. He reached for a spare canteen and opened it, handing it to the woman. "Here. You should have some." Even if canteens weren't ideal.

Admittedly, Sakaba's spare time Kitsuki was rarely spent on actually exploring the city. He's taken a stroll once every so long, and while he remembered some landmarks and favorite spots, particular inns were never of his interest. "Sorry, not really." He confessed; "Fort Jinya is a stationary base. I've never gotten the chance to stay there for too long." A day or two at most, and those weren't enough to explore what it had to offer. "When did they--... Ah, no nevermind." He was about to ask about the inn's owner, though refrained from doing so a little sheepishly. He'd decided to prevent his curiosity about the owner and their connection to the Fort. If they were active, that was what mattered.

A thought then came to mind. "Say, Akemi. Do you remember the first ambush drill you went through?"

Sakaba did have a direction with mentioning the ambush drill. Since the pre-enlisted men were nearing their time, the night of the second day would be their time for ambush drill. He figured he could spread Akemi's view to
being behind organizing the attack, now that she was a more experienced soldier. "Hahaha! I actually threw a fit there and hit a dummy, thinking it was an actual person." He remembered, putting himself to mockery. "We're all bad with the first time."

Though soon enough, the conversation took a deeper turn. As the explanation progressed, Sakaba's face turned more serious. Naturally, word of the tragedy that befell Fort Jinya reached his ears too. He didn't know which unit was stationed there at the time, but the expression 'we' was a good enough hint for him to at least assume. As an instructor that's been transported so many times, he himself barely got the chance for frontal combat, even though the occasional Faceless and Nohrian invaders was a given. "...Akemi." His thoughts began to run through. The fort was taken by the enemy forces. Was there anything in his power he could do, besides train soldiers? Probably not. That was his specialty, and confronting the enemies would be reckless.

In the first place, if he went out of his commander's words, it would result in demotion at best. Depending on how the coup would go, he might even come to lose his life. But, fact that he had to consider this much proved how far away from the actual soldier's way he had strayed.

"I already have a rough guess, but... By 'we', do you mean your unit?" Obviously, the Hoshidan army wouldn't allow the enemy forces to keep holding onto a fort in their grounds. It was conquered, but it was still reversible. "Or maybe, a band of you and a couple others?"

Despite the decision to classify this information, Sakaba's expression sterned further if by a bit, lightly gulping down the spit in his mouth. The answer was laid right there through the secret, ironically enough. As if it were her own unit, Akemi would have openly stated as much. Which means-- So it's basically a band of mercenaries. Upon coming to that conclusion, several other thoughts followed. The instructor could see the utility behind a bunch like this, but at the same time, it wasn't for sure a registered military body. Chances of success with an unexpected assortment is higher, especially when deploying army tactics, but then it also bore the high possibility that the soldiers were less experienced. He couldn't help but be worried over that...

Though, the subject was supposedly left for later. As it stood, he could get some more information out of this, but decided to retain from such. It may bring discomfort, not just for Akemi but for himself as well. He matched suit with the new topic, finding glee in how his intentions were met correctly. "Well, that's great to hear. You deserve the rest, though I was thinking. If you'd like, why not try fooling around yourself a little?" He asked, trying to up his, and her spirits. "It's really just to scare them a little. You'll enjoy it, I guarantee~" He sure did, when her class went through it.

Taking a short look up the hill, he could see the commander in charge giving the poor trainees yet another drill. He chuckled. After all they've been through, and he's still making them work hard? At this rate, they'll barely have energy for later. "It may be useful to them, yes. But we'd prefer they experience for themselves what it is they're facing. You could try telling them some thing, but I doubt they'll keep that in mind two months in." Few probably would, but definitely not the high majority.

Seems they took a little longer a time than he had planned. Eyes opened wide a bit as he flinched some, perking up in his spot. "A-Ahh, yes. Of course." He let out; "In that case, I may have stayed for a little too long myself. The trainees might think ill of me." He chuckled to himself. It mattered none by the end of the day, but if anything, Sakaba just didn't want to leave a bad example. Laziness is the last thing an instructor needed to show his soldiers.

Standing up, the young man savored what little extra time he was greeted under the tree's shadow, fanning himself some through his clothes before turning to the woman once more. "Then, today at Raven Rest." He affirmed with a smile. "We should be done with them by about 2130. How about we meet around that time? Ah, perhaps later would be better for an inn." In addition, a later hour also allowed him to safely look for the place without feeling too bad about potentially being late, or getting lost. Which, he could ironically see himself getting to.

Giving Akemi a final wave, he began making a slow way to the hill. Though, briefly turning to the Oni for a final say. "Thank you for your time. It's great to see you again, Akemi." He said, offering a wave of his hand before finally going away. Making his way uphill as he recited the name he was given one more time, to stay true to his earlier promise. As Sakaba stepped into the sun's rays again and could feel the heat enveloping his body, he picked up the pace, reaching the trainees and the commander in no time. "Okay."

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