Training of The Hyuuga

Maloren arrived at the training ground early in the morning to begin to try to better himself. The sun was rising and and air was crisp and cool, the grass still wet with dew. He cracked his neck and began to go over the technique in his head. "I need to complete the Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms today if I'm going to further my training." He thought as he took in a deep breath and released it and moved toward his training dummy to begin. He dropped into his stance and began moving toward the dummy to strike "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms" He called as he began striking the dummy. "Two palms." He called as he struck the dummy twice. "Four palms" He said as he struck it two more times. "Eight Palms" He called as he struck four more times. "Sixteen Palms" He called as he struck it six more times. He missed on the fourteenth strike however and messed up the technique.

He sighed as he stood back up and scratched the back of his head in exasperation. "I'll have to keep trying" He said as he took in a deep breath and  moved down into the now familiar stance again to try to technique once more.  

(210 wc)

What was the purpose of life? What was life, other than a frantic little scurry through something so vast and wide that you couldn't even begin to grasp at the possibilities? Why do we even bother when all that awaits us is a cold end? Why do Taco Tuesdays have to be on Tuesday? These were good questions, ones that Risako had neither the time nor the will to answer. Actually, come to think of it, they hold no significance to this topic, or character, whatsoever, so please ignore them. 

With a groan, an arm escaped from under the sheets, pulling them down from her head. On the floor was her pillow, and on the other side of the room lay her cover, another night of tossing around it seemed. With a tug, she attempted to free her legs from the cocoon of fabric that entwined and immobilized her. After several minutes, she deemed this practice a failure, opting to roll around until she was unfurled into the world, bare. For some reason or another, Risako figured leaving her windows open during the colder seasons was a good idea. Maybe it'd help wake her in the mornings or something? No? 

Putting all that intense training she had received to work, the chuunin sprang into action, just as her feet touched the floor, she made a few large steps across the room. With the speed it would take to snatch an arrow out of the air, she snatched the bottom of her uniform off of her dresser, and attempted to snake her way into her own pants. Just as she finished putting one leg in, the other decided to opt out as she tripped, and barely avoided hitting her head on the floor. Slowing down, Risako placed a hand against the cold wood of the floor and pushed her self into a sitting position, before wiggling her left (and final leg) into the correct pant. From the floor, she leaned over and snatched her shirt off of her bed. Admittedly, this was much easier than the pants. 

Let's fast forward just a bit? 

By the time Risako was arriving in the training grounds, the sun was just a barely rising, and the birds had moved onto warmer climates, or they would have been singing their songs. Normally, Risako's sleeves were rolled up, but now they went down past her hands, which were in her pockets. Unusually, her shoes were actually on her feet, rather than walking bare, and her flak jacket was snug. Where as she expected to arrive to an empty training ground, she was greeted with the sight of a boy around her age smacking away at a dummy. Of course, she was totally unaware of his lineage, so Risako thought he was just smacking it without a purpose. 

From where she stood, Raven hair whipping every little way each time the breeze picked up, she called out, "Need any help, or are you all good?"

Maloren jumped slightly at hearing the girls voice. He had been so focused on his training her failed to look at his surroundings. He turned to her and took note of her appearance. She looked pretty small at just over 4 feet tall and had silvery eyes that almost made him think of her as a clan member, but he would of known her instantly then. He nodded in her direction at her question. "I wouldn't mind assistance if you're up to it. I'm trying to learn my clans sixty-four strikes. I keep missing one or another, I'm pretty sure the problem is my footwork." He explained as he smiled softly at her. 

"She's kind of cute" he thought to himself with a small blush and internally kicked himself for letting himself get that way again. He had to admit though, with her raven hair whipping in the wind and the silver eyes that didn't quite look like the byakugan she was attractive. He'd have to keep his thoughts to himself, and do his best to not let that little crush get worse.

(393)

As Risako got within what could be considered the normal distance to hold a conversation, (not quite arms reach, but not much farther.) I mean, personally, it was far enough that both Risako and this Hyuuga would have enough room as to not impede personal space issues. How'd she know he was Hyuuga? The eyes. It was always the eyes. With her observation out of the way, her lazy side hoped the answer would be an abrupt "No."

Instead, the young man before her crushed her dreams and said, "I wouldn't mind your assistance."

Though her face didn't express it, the whole situation with her pants had her ready to throw in the towel and call it a day, despite the sun just topping the horizon. Risako was low-key the master of uncomfortable eye contact, and most often, those who were shy could not escape her gaze. So, with an unbreakable eye lock, she said "Hm. Foot work is pretty tricky." Her tone was kind of uninterested, as if she was an expert talking down on an apprentice. "It's mostly about balance and control, having the strength to stop yourself on a whim doesn't hurt either. Back in the academy, I was touted as the taijutsu master." 

Risako allowed her sentence to hang for a second, realizing this conversation felt the slightest bit forced. With a bit more pep in her voice, she piped up, "But that was in the academy. Taijutsu wasn't something I really pursued afterwards." What were her hands doing this whole time? Why, as stated earlier, they rested in her pockets, due to the cold, (at least to her it was chilly.)

The prolonged eye contact was a bit uncomfortable, and his blush worsened as he didn't want to seem rude and break it. He nodded his head at what she was saying, it made sense after all. He sighed outwardly and cracked his neck absently, a bad habit of his that he was sure he'd regret later on. He looked back toward the girl with the silver eyes and instantly gathered the impression she was more than a little lazy. That was fine though, he himself liked a day to lounge more than some. He resumed eye contact after breaking it from cracking his neck and spoke once more. "I appreciate the tip on balance and control, I should be fine then I don't want you to waste your time." He said as he bowed his head and turned toward the dummy, falling into a now familiar stance.

"Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms!" He called as he moved and struck the target two times. He would then move forward with the technique silently, shifting his feet slightly before striking twice more for four. Another shift would yield four more strikes for a total of eight, where another would bring him up to sixteen. After another shift he'd get to thirty before messing up and missing the target badly. He stood up straight and sighed in annoyance. He knew he shouldn't be surprised, who got a technique down after just a couple of tries? No one normal, that was his opinion. Despite the chill in the air he was starting to sweat a little. He briefly thought about taking off his shirt and tossing it aside, but decided against it with that chuunin there. Bad enough he was blushing like an idiot in front of her, why start stripping too?

He dropped down into the stance once more before calling out the name of his technique "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms" before moving through the motions again. He tore through the first sixteen strikes as if they were practiced countless times, before screwing up and missing on the twenty-seventh. He sighed outwardly at this, his figured starting to hurt quite a bit at striking a wooden training dummy. That is however what he get's for beating up the poor log which saved countless shinobi before "Amen" he thought to himself. He long since decided that which was used for the substitution technique for konoha shinobi should be considered a deity to them. It was one of his odd quirks that a lot of people found weird. 

(816)

Risako resisted the urge to do a mock version of what the boy was practicing. By that, I mean, it was almost visible how much she had to restrain herself from breaking out into a refined, classy, graceful spree and flurry of random pokes. The one single thought that kept her from doing that, was, despite her lack of a clan or large family with various customs and what not, the fact that she didn't want to offend this fellow by mocking something that virtually every member of his family practiced or strove for. 

Instead, despite the situation being a little dull, she stood by and watched, the way a coach does during a team practice. Her feet spread to be shoulders width apart, toes forward, and her arms crossed. During her observation, she wondered if learning the style in question could be compared to learning an instrument. Or rather, learning to play a specific song note by note. It wasn't something you rushed through at full speed right off the bat, for that only cemented the mistakes without any room to observe and change. No, when you start with an instrument, you find a comfortable pace, and then play through the song. Once you've mastered that, you pick up the speed and throw some neat little tricks in there. 

"Try doing it slow." It was stated bluntly, as a command, and if he asked why, Risako would tell him. But if he didn't, she'd not bother as to why. 

[I apologize, a lack of sleep and a bunch of work didn't leave me with much time to post yesterday XD]

Maloren literally stopped what he was doing and stood up straight. Afterwards he facepalmed himself so hard kami chuckled. "OF COURSE?!" He screamed in his head as he shook his head slowly at his own stupidity. "Figured I miss something like that, of course if I perform it slower then I can speed it up to learn it faster." He muttered under his breath as he dropped down into his stance again, taking a deep breath and letting his body relax. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms" He said before striking the target two times at a much slower pace than before. "Two palms." He called as he did so, he'd then continue on with two more strikes. "Four palms." He cry, before moving on. "Eight palms......Sixteen palms.." He'd continue before reaching the set that he had trouble with.

He shifted his feet this time, to get the necessary traction as he moved to strike the dummy sixteen more times. "Thirty-Two Palms" He'd cry out as he shifted his body one more time before striking the dummy thirty-two more times. "Sixty-Four Palms!" He cried in slight elation. Sure it was slowly than it should be, but he at least did it. Now he needed to speed it up so that it was usable. 

He took a deep breath before standing up straight and looked over to his temporary coach and smiled toward her in gratitude. His stupid blush evident on his face as he looked at her. He then turned back to the dummy, instantly dropping into his stance as he did so and moved through the technique again. Only this time at a slightly faster pace. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-four Palms!" He cried as he moved through the technique once more. "Two palms" He called as he struck the target two times, this time at a pace much closer to the one required to perform the technique to satisfactory levels. "Four palms!." He'd exclaim as he struck it two more times, maintaining the speed with which he did so. "Eight Palms!....Sixteen Palms...Thirty-Two Palms...Sixty-Four Palms!" He'd cry out as he completed the technique again at only a slightly slower pace. 

At this point he decided to take a small break, reaching into his pack he pulled out a couple of candy bars before tossing one to his temporary companion with a blush on his face.  "Here, I'm gonna sit down for a couple of minutes, you're welcome to join me." He said as he sat against the training dummy, leaning his back against it for support. "I'm Maloren Hyuuga." He said simply, as he opened his bar and took a small bite. 

(1249)

(All good, I'm patient :))

As her new student (for the moment, at least,) turned to her and gave a heartfelt smile relaying his gratitude for her coaching, her pseudo-byaakugan ignored the certain body signs that all humans gave off, namely, the red cheeks in this case. As a sort of understanding, Risako would shoot him a quick wink, before he turned to go back to practicing the technique. At this point, she began to wonder why exactly she was sticking around, for what was she to do now? He had the foundation of the technique down-pat it seemed. Let's just suppose she liked to see the fruits of her (not so hard) labor, and maybe she slightly wondered how this individual fared as one of Konoha's ranks. 

When he finally seemed finished, Risako was a little surprised to be rewarded for her efforts. (Which were just, absolutely difficult, mind you.) As the candy bar arced through the air, her hand snapped to it like a snake, unfolding from her previously crossed arms in a flash. When offered to sit, Risako saw no harm in taking a break. (With all that work she did, ya know.) With a quick nod, she said, "Sure."

Walking over to the training dummy, she plopped down against it (for it was wide enough for her to still have a little room to lean on) and her new friend, (for only friends will give you food, and you should lean on them as well when they do so.) Sitting like this left Risako and Maloren shoulder to shoulder, her legs tucked in and away from the candy giving stranger, to her side. For a few seconds, she was silent. Not that she talked too much anyway. Stupid and silent, Risako was. Of course, after Maloren introduced himself, her fingers would tear open the wrapper on the candy bar, peeling it about halfway down, so as to use the wrapper to keep her hand from getting sticky. 

"Risako Akara." Her left arm would move across her chest and her hand would reach out to Maloren with an open palm, proposing a handshake. After the handshake, (presuming he did shake her hand, if not, she'd just awkwardly  lower her arm back to her side,) she wasn't sure why, maybe it was her weakness in the verbal arts, but, she felt compelled to say, "So," as her eyes gazed across the sky.

Wordsmith of the century, she was not. If it wasn't her who would break the ice, then, who?

[1440 WC]

Maloren took her hand into his and gave it a firm shake before taking another bite of his candy bar. His blush worsening due to the close proximity of the girl. He shifted his legs so that one was lying straight on the ground and the other was pulled to his chest so he could lean his arm on it. The day was turning out to be a lovely day, with the mid morning sun starting to be back the early morning chill. He could tell it would be a hot day, as early as noon if he was any judge. He took another small bite of the candy before closing his eyes a bit and enjoying the quiet. He liked it this way, peaceful, calm, quiet. It made for wonderful meditation, and gave him ample time to think. 

"Nice to meetcha Risako." He said as he looked over to her and shot her a smile. Thanks to her the technique would be completed in short order. He'd bet money on him getting it easily on the next try. He wanted to thank her for it somehow, even if in all reality she didn't do much. The single observation she made saved him almost the entire day, and for that he was grateful. He quickly realized however that he had been quiet for far too long at this point. This became painfully obvious when he heard her so "So". He almost facepalmed at his ignorance, he got lost in his own head again. 

"Sorry, I tend to enjoy the peace and quiet sometimes and get into thinking. I make such a wonderful conversationalist don't I?" He said with a stupid grin as he looked back up into the sky to watch the clouds lazily list by. "I was thinking of how I could thank you. I know you didn't do much other than observe and give your thoughts, but that alone quite literally saved me the entire day." He voiced his thoughts from before. "How about you let me treat you to lunch? You pick the spot." He offered as he finished the candy bar before standing and walking over to the dummy right next to the one they were leaning on. 

"After I do this of course..." He muttered as an afterthought before dropping into the stance he had become so familiar with. "Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!" He called before tearing through the first thirty two strikes at break neck speed before shifting his feet into the exact position needed and adding the last thirty two. "Sixty-Four Palms!" He cried he struck the final blow of the technique, finally adding one of his families signature techniques to his repertoire. He stood back up straight before working his shoulders a bit and turning back to Risako. "So how about that lunch offer?" He inquired with a small smile. There was no smugness or ill intent in the smile, just gratitude, and the desire to repay the favor. 

(WC 1746)

With this post combined with the word count gained from Here after that link is approved I'll have 2000/2000 for 64 palms

Claiming 64 palms and 8 stats