The meaning of Pain (solo training)

Sorrow hiked the mountain, well hiked not being such an accurate word since he didn't go far up it. He had heard of the bamboo forests and it reminded him of home. Earth, Japan. His mind was set on training himself today, all his past mentors had told him to cleanse pain from the body. They had said that until they died by Sorrow's blade, he had cleansed all pain from them. He decided to forgo the trails. Knowing the more tired he was when he made it to his destination the more he would be able to feel the pain he would inflict upon himself. He walked through the thick and course grasses until trees dotted the landscape, the ground curved upward becoming and incline, this incline the base of the mountain. He smiled as he walked, his currently bare feet digging into the dirt, the grass, and lastly the thorns. He walked through every thorn patch on purpose, might as well start the training. His feet becoming cut quickly. Some thorns digging into his skin and taking home once there. He didn't wince as the cold bite of pain stung his feet, instead he stomped whenever a thorn stuck into his foot.

Each stomp forcing the thorns deeper into his skin, his blood being left behind on places he had past. He smiled sickly to himself as he walked onwards. He had a reason to go tot he bamboo other than it reminding him of home. He knew the pain bamboo could cause. His mind back onto the night he killed his last mentor, he had felt pain that night. The ma had come to kill him and he turned the table without thought, no thought coming until after the fact. He had viewed his mentor like a father, since his father didn't come to claim him until later. He thought about that as well, he felt no pain in killing his actual dad but he had in a man whom had tried to kill him. Shrugging the thoughts away he walked through a thorn patch, the thorns digging into his legs and his bare chest. Stopping mid way he put his right and left hand around two branches of thorns and closed them. Many of the barbed demons bit into his skin as he squeezed more, they wouldn't break, no they were almost like barbed wire. He closed his eyes and took it in as they sliced deeper into him.

He pulled his hands upward, still closed tightly around the thorns forcing them to shred through his hands. He opened his his eyes and his hands, looking down at his hands he cupped them and watched as his own blood pooled. Bending down he drained the pooling blood into the core of the thorn patch, feeding it for assisting him. He stood back up and let thorns scrap across his bare back, thin ruby tears welling in their wake. Standing fully he exhaled deeply and moved onward. The crisp mountain air feeling good on his body. He took in the view as he walked along, it seemed much like any other mountain but you could hear screams in the distance. Women being raped, men being tortured, the usual. Nothing had crossed his path and it would stay that way, his mind going back to the pain that had been the slaughter of his mentor. He felt the mans blood coat his skin again and the thought alone made his sword arm burn like acid splashed upon it. Shivering he stopped as he noticed he was in the bamboo patch.

He sighed as a shiver over took him once more. His body wasn't ready or the self torture but it didn't bother him because his mid was. Moving over to t close patch he sliced off three branches with his hands, his claws taking shape only for a moment to do their job. He grabbed the falling shoots with normal human hand snow as he moved tot he center of this grove. He dropped the bamboo and sat on his knees next to them, he noticed but one boulder here in the grove, wedged firmly into the dirt. He began to dig into the first shoot, pulling a small knife from his pocket as he cut out sharp and firm splinters. He had seen this torture during the war and he would use it again now. He had also been made aware of it during the Vietnam war. Smiling darkly he widdled out twenty splinters and sat there exhaling for a moment, trying to prepare himself for what would come. His body wanted to get up and leave as did a small part of his mind but he stayed true as he placed the first splinter right under the nail of his right thumb.

Grasping the knife, now closed in his left hand, he wielded it like a hammer head. He didn't stop to think as he slammed it down on the end of the splinter, he gasped as the bamboo cut under his nail and into the flesh, the nail wedging upward as blood poured outward from around the bamboo plug. He hammered again as a jolt of pain shot through his right arm and the wedge went deeper, he kept this up until the wedge vanished under his skin.Now he opened the knife up and dug the tip o the blade into his thumb as he worked on pulling the bamboo splinter out. His whole arm exploding with pain, his mind calmly accepting all the roars of anger and cries of agony. He felt the pain but he kept his breathing calm as he focused on enduring the pain and over coming it. He quietly repeated the process with the remaining nine fingers, his fingers all drenched in blood and his arms shaking as his back ached from being bent over for so long. He didn't cry out once as he felt the pain, he only winced a few times.

Now though was the part he dreaded, he bent even lower down to his feet as he worked splinters under each toe nail, them not digging into his skin, not yet. His back cried in protest as the slices on it were ripped open and bled freely. He shivered as he exhaled a pent up breath. He moved to stand up and did so slowly to keep the splinters in. He looked at his hands as blood dripped freely to the grass below. His mind made up he walked over to the boulder that had been claimed by the earth. Not even wanting to think he kicked his left foot straight at it, all the splinters all being driven in at once. He screamed in agony as he fell over and blood gushed from his foot. Not only had he driven spikes into his skin under his nails he had also broken three toes and ripped the nails off of all of the toes on that foot minus the second toe. exhaling with speed he quickly recovered and forced himself to stand. His eyes cast over and his shoulder rigid as he thought of what he would need to do next.

His right leg shot outward and mimic'd the movement of the left, Sorrow watched as the shards of bamboo slid under his skin, watched as the nail of his big toe ripped off, watched as the second and third toe bent at sick angles, the bones sticking up but not quite breaking through the skin. Next thing he knew he was on the ground again roaring in agony. He watched as the birds flew out of the tiny grove. He stayed on his back as he felt the blades of grass bite into the wounds on his back, he could feel the blood dripping down his feet and hands. He almost felt the blood on the grass. Looking up into the sky he thought once more of his mentor. Thought of how he had trained Sorrow for many years before finally realizing what sorrow was. Thought of how his arm tugged when he cut into his mentor's bowels. His sword arm hurt, like it had been over worked at the joints when he thought of this. Sighing he closed his mind again and sat up. He jammed his left hand in his mouth licking the blood off

Anyone watching would think he was simply enjoying his own blood but in reality he was using his saliva to clot the wounds and stop the bleeding, he had seen wolves do it and it worked for them so it should work for him. He didn't clean his right hand for he had one more punishment for it. He couldn't lick his feet either but he could spit into his hand and rub it in. He rubbed it with force was stars exploded behind his eyes when he put pressure on the broken bones. He stood back up and bent over the boulder. His hands gripping different sides as he tensed and began to lift, it wouldn't budge at first but he kept pulling, his face turning red as the veins on his neck stood out, he could eel muscle tearing and blood vessels exploding in his eyes. But it didn't matter because the boulder finally gave and came free, quickly he put his right hand under it and let it drop upon it. The pain was immediate as his right hand was shattered. He put his shoulder to the rock and shoved it as he body screamed in pain. Pulling his hand free he looked at the broken mess, bones snapped out of the skin, some parts he could see muscle from where the skin had been ripped free. He nodded as he walked away from the grove, letting the hand heal on its own in time.