Adam laughed as she passed him a bamboo stick rather to be safe than sorry, he guessed. He did what Kurumi had showed him and he tried to sycronihize the stick with his foot but fell over to his side a little. He teased himself by just laughing out loud..."Maybe, maybe we can try something different Master Hollingberry...? Do you mind that or do you just want me to call you Kurumi- you are my teacher at the moment."

Oh, now he was getting really formal. Not even her students called her Master. She giggled at the thought. "How about you just call me Kurumi," she said with a smile as she placed her free hand on his shoulder. But then she got a little serious. "However," she said taking the stance again. "If you cannot get comfortable with this movement...then kendo is going to be very difficult. This is the base for all movements." She made the movement again including the loud kiai at the end. "You need to...let go of being shy and afraid." She knew that Adam was comfortable around her, at least she was very comfortable around him, but Adam was keeping a lot of emotions tucked into. Now was the time to let that all out. "Visualize all that you are afraid of...everything you feel apprehensive about.... visualize that as a being standing right in front of you." She watched him with her caring and concerned violet eyes.

Adam shook his head nervously as Kurumi told him what to do to perform the stance better. He thought hard about his apprehensiens and focused his soul and mind into that. He shook his arms around and wobbled his legs then did the movement again. This time he smacked the floor with his foot and kept his balance better, he didn't fall over, so that was progress.He smiled as he looked up to her, to see what she would tell him, to * try it this way or you're doing it all right but... Or let's just do something different* ..."So, how was that as a second attempt?"

Kurumi smiled. "That was much better," she came around the back of him and put her body in the proper starting position once more. He really just needed to stop before hitting the floor and then he pretty much had it. "This time, I want you to close your eyes," she instructed. "Before you strike, try telling me what you see." Later, she would explain to Adam how this technique is what got her through all the suffering of her childhood.

Ever mentally slapped herself. Make some friends. Hey, look! There's Ella! Maybe I should say hi to her friend...yes, I'll do that.

"Hi! I'm Ever...I'm just a friend of Fee's, and I just wanted to say hi..."

No, that sounded stupid!

"...And to say that I love your skirt!" She added quickly, with a giggle. It was a very pretty skirt, really.

Adeline was bored to death so that means........ DANCE! She ran into the room of requirement and started spining and spining and then she saw a fuzzyness blob of something. She stopped spinning and noticed Kurumi and Adam. "Hello there" she said slowly, turning red, at all the dancing she did.

Adam nodded. She wanted him to tell her what he saw??? Did she mean like what was running through his mind , but in literal terms he would see the black of the inside of his eyelids. He smiled, his mouth twitching slightly. He thought about it... He saw fear and anger, confusion- is that what Kurumi meant by Teling her what he saw???"Well...I see anger, fear , confusion, unloved by my parents, lost- I feel like a part of me is missing- like a part of who I am in my family is not here...IS that what you want to hear, or want me to think in a way?"He asked while his eyes were closed.

Perhaps Adam was not comfortable sharing this type of information with her yet, or, he seemed unsure as to what he was seeing. Kurumi returned beside Adam and closed her eyes too. "I'll tell you what I see," she said as she began to visualize herslf. "I see a tall figure....around them are glowing and swirling lights that I understand to mean self doubt. This figure is made up of faces...so many faces of those who have bullied me, tore out my hair, poured mud over me, called me horrible names...they are all there. Their eyes are watching my every movement...The figure is getting closer...I can almost smell the poisonous breath coming from their open mouths...just a little more and...Now!" Kurumi said as she brought her weapon down and stomped her foot, most likely startling Adam who had been obedient and kept his eyes closed the entire time. "Part of kendo is learning to fight your inner demons..."

Adam opened his eyes and took a few steps back. He had never seen Kurumi so engaged in anything before, it was a new part of her that he was now watching. She was different when doing Kendo- she was stronger than she truly was. Adam understood a bit better now."Ok, I'll try again..."He closed his eyes concentrating."I see many people surronding me, telling me what is wrong and right for..."He thought of all that had happened at Hogwarts so far,"A heavey weight a heavy burden on my shoulders, learning everything from my friends, it's making me fall...Ummm... Then a bright light, a bright flamming light and a gently glow after that..."He smiled without realizing it, realizing that Kurumi watched him smile..."An the big bang- the decision that I have to make..."The energy surged throw him and he striked the ground with such force it reverbrated back up his legs and arms, all up to his form..."WOW. I think I did it..."He breathed.

Kurumi clapped her hands. "Adam, that was great!" She smiled giving him perhaps the biggest hug she had even given him - making sure to drop her sword before doing so, of course. She then noticed the small dent he had made in the floor and laughed. He really had gotten into the swing. Discipline would come later, for now it was all about the emotion and letting go of the side of you that you feared - the side of yourself that you were afraid to face. "This is what I used to do everyday after school," she explained sitting on her knees. "My oldest brother, Ryunosuke, would always be in the kendo dojo part of our home after I got home from school - I usually had tears in my eyes about something that had happened. I could never be brave at school, but, I don't know...something changed in me when I was at the dojo. I felt braver, more concentrated, more alive than I felt anywhere else." She took a deep breath and looked over at Adam who still seemed to be very pleased with his most recent strike. "My brother taught me how to fight my own demons, fight the memories...it's the only thing that got me through it all..." She smiled. She really hoped that this exercise was helping Adam as well. From what he had told her about his family, it sounded like Adam had a lot of demons himself.

"Thanks."He sighed... He listened intently as Kurumi explained how practicing Kendo was a way for her to escape all the bullying she had received from her mean and cruel classmates."I'm glad you found a healthy way of letting go of what was happening to you while at your school- you chose peace and discipline over blood and fight...Your demons earlier, they sounded fierce- was that just your classmate demons or Hitomi demon?"he wondered, she had yelled out with great entushsiasm.

Kurumi sighed as she leaned against the wall. "Hitomi...she is sometimes among the faces," she admitted sadly. "Most of the time it is a group of boys that always bullied me. Sometimes my mother with appear...sometimes my own face..." She smiled weakly at him. "My demon never really appears to me in the same form...you demon will probably change as well."

"Yeah that makes sense. Demons are the people that get in our way and block our path of success...An it changes just like people do...Sooo... umm, do you want to do something, like share stories...Do you have any funny stories?"He asked her this , now knowing she had been bullied he doubt it that she would have any."Or I can tell you somethings about me and my family..."He suggested taking a seat.
The room changed apperance. Many black stands and chairs, with a marimba and drumset in the background, music posters started floating in the air.Adam guessed the room changed to what people liked.

Oh oh oh! Changing room! Adam probably had not seen the overly excited kid in a candy store look she got when magic was happening, she she was certainly in that mode now. She jumped to her feet as the kendo dojo began to change, but she was not upset about it...quite the opposite...this was exciting! "How...how are you doing this?" she chirped in excitement looking down at Adam with her violet eyes. Hearing Adam ask some more questions, Kurumi sat back down, still watching the room change out of the corners of her eyes. "I don't know much about you and your family...you told me that your parents are not supportive of you being able to use magic," she said in a gloomy tone. Perhaps now was the time to talk about happier things? "We can talk about that...or if you want to share funny stories, we can do that too," she said as she started to laugh remembering some funny stories between her and her brothers.

"Funny stories are a better choice for us today...Yeah? Well, I remember when I was 9 my cousing got married he was like 30...And his brother- the best man, got called out on the dance floor , by the bride...And he just started going crazy, he did some robot dance, and did twirled on the ground- break dancing, don't know if you have ever heard that...An everyone was just calling him * crazy * as we all laughed...So what about you, any stories with your parents or brothers?"Adam said laughing remembering the memory..."The room is just changing into some music room.. Maybe because we are really happy together here, with each other..."He patted her hand...

Kurumi's hair started turning that rose pink color again as Adam patted her hand. She noticed the change, but this time decided not to fight it. It was just the two of them in the room sharing stories and she felt very comfortable. No sense in fighting change this time. "My youngest brother, Junichiro, went through a phase where he liked break dancing," she said as she laughed at Adam's story. "I remember I was with my mother shopping in a big shopping center, and my brother was trying to impress this girl he liked by doing some street performing. He had a pretty big crowd watching him...but then he went to do a flip and slipped on some ice cream that someone had dropped," she started to giggle. "You should have seen his face. One of the best reactions to slipping I have seen in a long time!"

"Aww man.."Adam said with sorrow for the dude."Let me guess, the girl laughed at him, and walked away. He never got her after that, or is he a smooth talker..?"He asked, imagining the scene inside his head as she told him what had happened.."Yeah, my cousin one time just did backflips off his room wall and he would land on his bed...Our families sound similar but are so different..."

"Luckily for him, the girl already really liked him, so she instead went over and helped wipe all the ice cream off his face," Kurumi was holding her sides giggling. "Yeah...it's strange how two people can be from two very different places yet share so many similarities," she said still giggling a little, her hair was entirely rose pink now.

"Well that was sweet of her...yes, you are right...We are so different yet, somehow I relate to you because or families seem to act the same way...Maybe that's why we get along so well."He guessed.
He looked up as Kurumi's hair was a bright pink, he stratched his nose, but noticed she did not care about her hair color this time...Maybe she seemed comfortable like this, talking to him, that she wasn't afraid of who she truly was, as if she were accepting herself for her."I love your bubblegum pin hair."He smiled.

She leaned back against the wall and continued to watch the room changes occur. It was almost like they were in a music studio. "Really?" she laughed flipping her hair like Sapph did often. "You don't think it clashes with my eyes?" she started laughing more. It was funny how comfortable she felt with Adam.

"No."He laughed thinking of Sapph moving her hair like that."It goes perfectly well with your eyes..."He looked in more deeply."Too perfect."He whispered. What was going on here? He was quite clueless but had a sense that perhaps, these two were sharing a moment together. Adam unlocked his eyes from her gaze and looked around. The room was beginning to have a musicy feel to it. He got more comfortable seeing so many posters of instruments.

Kurumi blushed a little. "Your sweet," she giggled flashing a smile at him with her straight white teeth. Kurumi also began to look at the musical theme of the room. It reminded her of a story. "At my elementary school, we would have English classes several times a week. One day, we were studying 'I can play' a musical instrument. We had to interview our classmates to see who could play what, and two of my classmates said they could play the piano. I volunteered to share my results and said, 'Ai and Yu can play the piano.' The teacher thought I was saying 'I' and 'you'...so he kept trying to correct me because they couldn't play the piano..." she started to giggle. "It turned into one of the only times that I made people laugh and people complimented me for my sense of humor...although I hadn't realized what I had done."

*Still walking with books in his arms he talked to Mia the whole way up. It was so easy to talk to her about anything, she had become his good friend. While talking he started walking down the hall then back up it thinking of his room. Once he had made his third round the door came up. It was a thick light warm wooden door.*
"Alright, now have you ever been in a magical room before?"

Mia lent up against the wall and watched with fascination as Matty walked up and down three times before a door appeared in the wall and she straightened up, a look of excitement on her face.

"No. Is there like a secret password or some sort if initiation to get in there?" She was teasing of course but for all she knew that's exactly what you had to do to get in there.

"No, you just have to help carry a dumb boys books. And you passed with flying colors."
*He smiled and shook his head.*
"What you really have to do is walk by this hall three times thinking of the room you want."
*Matty moved the books to one hand and opened the door. It was a bright sun filled room with soft warm chairs and couches, a fireplace, and a large grand piano. Two large windows let sun light in but not to much. When you get close to look out of them you see nothing but light. All along the walls were books and swords.

Walking over to a table he set his books down then took hers. He rubbed the back of his neck waiting to see what she thought.*

"So... this is the room in my mind..."