Open Get Ready, Get Set, Go! (Open thread)

[Tenken]

“Okay, from the top now!”

A clear voice rang out through the woods, as clear as the bright sky above, carried on a crisp winter breeze through the leaves and branches. The source was a slight thing, still growing but obviously beginning to show the shape she would take later in life and obviously never going to rise above any but the shortest of people. What Tenken lacked in height and weight she appeared to be making up in hair. Voluminous pink waves cascade down from the crown of her head and envelop it like a strawberry cone. It does frame her face quite nicely, the bright gold eyes eyeing a tree just ahead of her with determination.

And then she’s off, her sneakers kicking up dirt as she leaps at the tree and twists in the air to land with her feet on the trunk. The weight of her loose cargo pants and slightly-less loose shirt weighing slightly on her form as she begins to run up the trunk. It was an exercise meant for students, true, but one she hadn’t yet perfected. As shown when she reaches the lowest branch a couple dozen feet up and immediately tries to stand upside on it it only to go falling to the ground.

A high pitched squeak sounds out before a flash of blue light pulses from her briefly. When it fades she’s a few yards away on her butt, glaring up at the tree. An AiT should be able to do this! The young teenager rises and begins to brush the debris off her as she keeps glaring at the tree. ”Dammit, those instructors made it look so easy too! Why can’t I do this?!” With a flustered huff she walks over to the jacket she left nearby and fishes her phone free, checking to make sure no one had tried to get hold of her while she was out here.

She didn’t want to think about the fact that it had been three hours and all she could manage was busting her ass each time she hit that branch.

 

[Sugihara Aki]

Hikaru strode along the outskirts of the village, bound for the forest beyond the gates. It had certainly been an eventful week, work notwithstanding- although it was still somewhat strange to her that she had such work to begin with. In between patient visits and the dreaded beginnings of her very own pile of paperwork, she had found out that Konoha had recently seen a growth in entrants to its Academy. She enjoyed seeing others following the same path she had; supposedly it was yet another product of her new rank and general new feeling of old-ness, however elderly a 15-year-old Medical Chief could feel. Regardless, she was boundlessly curious about the proposition of teaching that Asuka had mentioned during her promotion.

The handful of Byoin staff who she had bounced the idea off of were encouraging, and so she decided to spend an hour or two searching for a good place to hold outdoor sessions. On her way through the steadily denser trees, Hikaru pondered a list of potential subjects- though she would love to begin with introductory Branch courses and combat scenarios, like all the cool teachers did, the fundamentals were probably a smarter choice for a ‘first lesson’. She would have to remember to speak to the head of the Academy in the coming weeks, if she could track him down amidst all his new students.

A bright voice derailed her train of thought, and she stood blinking at the forest that now surrounded her. It certainly wasn’t one she recognized immediately, and that was enough to direct her curiosity away from plans to meet with this Matsuno Hama. Following the direction of the shout for a minute or two, Hikaru came across a brief clearing in the woods populated by a short form with the pinkest hair she was pretty sure she had seen in her life. The girl looked about her age, if she had to guess, and seemed to be practicing a standard Chakra Control exercise: running up the side of a tree. She watched as the Genin (or was she a student? Branch member? She admittedly hadn’t seen her around before) toppled from the trunk and landed rather uncomfortably.

Hikaru didn’t especially want to intrude, but she felt obligated to introduce herself just because she didn’t want to be spying on anyone either. She gave the girl a moment to collect herself again, then entered the clearing, giving the pink shape a wave as she did. “Hey, I’m Miazaki Hikaru.” The Med-nin held out a hand and leveled her gaze in the direction of her new slightly-less-tall acquaintance, suddenly wondering if she should introduce herself with her rank as well. “I’m a Medical Chief-” she added, somewhat regretting how spontaneous it sounded, “and I was looking around for a spot to perhaps hold classes in the future. What are you up to? If there’s someone else around who’s close to my age, I wouldn’t mind getting to know them!” She was guessing, but despite the fact that the girl was nearly half a head shorter than herself, she struck Hikaru as more of a peer than a student.

[MFT]

 

[Tenken]

Tenken reaches back into the jacket to put her phone away, glad no one had tried to get hold of her, and pulls her hand out with some water, drinking it down. As she does, a voice sounds behind her, which leads to spluttering as the girl nearly chokes from surprise. After a bit of hacking and holding up a hand for time, she turns and finds the hand held out, and a gaze on her form. This one seemed a bit more serious than Tenken herself.

And her rank confirmed it, even though she barely looked older than Tenken herself, this one was well up there in rank, standing just shy of a Sennin. Tenken immediately takes the hand with a shake, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree as she smiles. ”Nanashi Tenken! I’m just trying to find a peaceful, quiet place to do some training away from those dull people who would judge me for not mastering things quite so fast. I found the trees here are just perfect. So tall and so large you have a lot of room to train in.” The words spilled out like a waterfall, obviously this one had no problem talking.

”I think the forest is a great spot for a class, actually! Like I said, the trees are good for things like chakra control. Oh! And you can use them for stealth, or even helping kids learn the importance of cover in combat. Had more than one instructor teach me that lesson a hard way.” As she speaks, she reaches up and now a wire would become noticeable leading from behind her ear, twined into her hair and vanishing into her shirt top. She tugs, pulling the earbud out so she could listen better.

”Well, how old are you? A medical chief has to have a lot of experience I thought, but you look like you’re my age. Are you one of those kunoichi who can look young even in their fifties?” The girl bends over to go into her jacket again, coming out with a small protein bar of chocolate which she offers to Hikaru.

 

[Sugihara Aki]

Hikaru raised her eyebrows, giving the girl a moment as she apparently cleared her throat of an overzealous sip of water. When she seemed alright, the Med-nin returned her sudden grin, shaking her hand for a moment. So she was a student, or had been at least. From how it sounded, she was having some trouble with her Chakra control specifically, since she had been trying to climb the trees around the clearing for some time now it seemed. Hikaru also answered with a nod- though Chakra control had always come particularly easily to her, she didn’t want to completely alienate this girl before they had gotten to talk for more than a minute.

She was glad to hear her thoughts on the spot for a class, especially since she had so many great ideas for topics to cover. “Hey, those are some good points! I’ve been wondering whether to try classes for Medical stuff or just general knowledge- I guess it’d be much easier to just go with some of what you said. Heck, you could even help me teach if you’d like!” She looked at her new acquaintance; speaking of not alienating her immediately, she had just gone and offered her a junior junior teaching job… she had meant it, though, and waited for a moment to see if she got an answer.

The last question caught her off guard. “N-no, I’m not 50. Really, I promise.” She held up her hands, supposedly to prove that there was no secret jutsu going on. “I’m almost 16, actually. To be honest, I was promoted pretty recently… and anyways, I said you looked close to my age. If I was that old, I probably wouldn’t be rude enough to call out other people too.”

“Anyway… I guess this would be the spot for a class, if I can get ahold of the Academy director or my Sennin to arrange one. Hmm… I like the idea of general Chakra control practice with the trees around here, although I would like to fit maybe something else quick in. Any suggestions?” This girl seemed very bright- in a few ways- and she was happy to bounce ideas off her if she didn’t seem to mind.

 

[Tenken]

At least this one was friendly, the last person of a higher rank that came across Tenken in these woods wasn’t very cordial with her and kept screaming about people getting hurt and shooed her out as fast as he could. Hikaru seemed to be less inclined to do so, and also didn’t bring up anything bad about Tenken’s obviously disastrous training so far. And she was being treated as….almost an equal. That was new, usually the higher ranks had treated her like a kid.

”I would love to learn medical stuff. Helping fix people up after getting hurt would go a long way to my dream. Of course I’d prefer to stop them from getting hurt in the first place.” And suddenly there was a squeal of joy. ”Of course I’d like to teach! The more people who can help defend the people the better. Oh this is awesome!” As the protein bar is uncollected, Tenken simply opens it up and breaks off a piece, popping it into her mouth as Hikaru protests the elderly comment.

”Oh, I was hoping to meet one of them. I need to learn the secrets of looking young forever. Can’t be a superhero with wrinkly skin and bags under your eyes.” The protein bar is set on her jacket, open and inviting if the other wanted to grab some. ”Well, for more ideas…people might get hurt if they’re out here climbing up trees. You mentioned medical stuff, you could help teach basic first aid! How to handle scrapes and cuts, bruises and sprains – stuff like that. And mental training too, a lot of people get depressed if they don’t succeed at stuff fast enough, so discipline training could help there. Gotta lace up those boots and keep going or you’ll never become your dream.”

With that said, Tenken points to one particular tree that had a kunai with an attached scroll shoved into the trunk near the crown, where the branches were so thin they wouldn’t be supporting even her miniscule weight. ”My old….friend….put that there as a marker for me to test against. He said when I can reach the top and collect the kunai and get his message for me. This was right before he went on his last mission.” Even her bubbly personality took a hit at the thought of Tsu, but she put on a brave face.

”I’d prefer it if you didn’t use that tree for training people for…sentimental reasons. But you can also use them for games. Hide and Seek out here would be fun, and can be used to train kids without them knowing it’s more than a game. Same for zero gravity tag if they can walk up the trees better than me. And I heard there’s an old cave system under here that could be useful for teaching how to move around in pitch dark.”

 

[Sugihara Aki]

“Absolutely! Medical knowledge is super important- obviously I would say so, since mine has landed me in a Chief position, but I really mean it.” Whether you chose to become a full-time healer or not, Hikaru was a big believer that medical skills were invaluable for everyone to have at least some background in. After all, everyone was full-time Shinobi. As her companion continued, she grinned- it was great to find someone else who shared her newfound interest in teaching. She broke off a small piece of the protein bar that Tenken had offered her, popping it into her mouth and chewing slowly. She laughed at the girl’s image of an elderly superhero, “Well, I can’t say I know anyone who can do that kind of thing… or at least not that they’ve showed me. I suppose it could work as an extension of the Medical Ward technique, which I’ve used a few times before- although every time I did, I activated it once and used up all the chakra to heal myself a little bit instead of making myself look different. I guess I’ll have to get older before I can start testing a permanent-youth jutsu, anyways…” It was an amusing train of thought, and the best part was that it might even work (in theory, that was).

A session covering both standard Chakra control and basic Medical jutsu… she liked the idea, especially if there was going to be someone else to help her teach. “Sounds good to me. We could split the students into two groups… I could teach one group how to do simple Medical jutsu, if you wouldn’t mind running the other group through Chakra control and tree-climbing.” Tenken certainly seemed like she had a fair amount of practice at doing it herself. “And I like the idea of the mental training as well! I think that’s part of being a teacher and guiding people through something- it’ll be good to keep in mind.”

The girl pointed to a kunai embedded in a certain tree trunk, one that she hadn’t noticed before. As she explained, Hikaru simply nodded silently, respecting her acquaintance’s memories; she had lost loved ones herself, though it had been a long time. “Yeah, of course. That’d be up to you, if you want- I’m pretty sure I’ll have my hands full with Medical jutsu instructions.” It sure sounded like there were plenty of things to teach in this part of the forest. The Mednin made a mental list of the newer students she had seen so far, which admittedly weren’t many- perhaps she would have to post a notice somewhere around the Academy later. She gave the pink-haired girl another smile. “Alright! Thanks a bunch for helping me out- I’m excited for this class already. I can speak with the Medical Sennin later- if all goes well, I’ll have something posted around the Academy soon. I’ll let you know when… does that sound good?”

 

[Tenken]

Tenken had plans that, sadly, did not involve the medical branch. She figured ANBU was the branch for her. It got her out of the village eventually so she could help more people in more places. But at the same time learning how to heal those people was also a thing that could of a lot of use to someone like her. As Hikaru takes some of the bar Tenken ponders the idea of teaching a class herself. It would be awkward, since she was barely out of the Academy as it was. As Hikaru muses on medical jutsu, Tenken muses internally on teaching. ”What’s Medical Ward?” Her golden eyes suddenly focus as her wandering thought stops. She’s never heard of such a technique and it obviously piqued her interest somewhat.

”I can uh…I can try. I’ll work on my chakra control. But it’s a bit hard to do for me because of…well…this.” Tenken bring her right hand down onto her left leg and then her right, each time a metallic sound ringing out. ”Prosthetic legs. Makes it harder, I’ve been told. It’s also why I train alone so much. I have to work out how to channel my chakra in different ways.” She left it unsaid that mental training would likely be something she would have experience in helping with. She’d gone through much to get here as was obvious by not only the legs and arm, but the kunai stuck to the tree above. The life of a shinobi was a life of loss, unfortunately.

”Oh, no problem. I love helping people. Why I want to be a superhero, afterall! And yes, that sounds great!” Tenken is taken from her internal thought by Hikaru. She gives another bright smile to the other. It had been some time since she talked to someone her own age so freely, not since she lost Tsu. She wasn’t going to let pessimistic thoughts stop her from being social. ”So, why did you want to go into the medical branch?”

 

[Sugihara Aki]

“Oh, Medical Ward? It’s a really helpful technique that I picked up from a book, I think- it works by infusing Medical Chakra into a seal that can be activated when you’re injured enough to automatically heal you. Here, let me show you…” Hikaru rolled up her sleeve, repeated a pattern of seals with her right hand, and touched the exposed arm with her middle and forefinger- a collection of black markings blossomed from the spot she pointed to, gathering themselves into a circle. She showed the seal to Tenken. “That’s about all I’ve figured out how to do with it so far, but it can be super helpful in a fight. I’ve also seen staff at the Byoin use it on patients who are undergoing surgery, as well; hopefully I can learn the method required to scribe the seal on someone else.” She released it with the same hand, and the markings faded from her skin. Smiling at the chance she got to teach someone, she added, “I suppose if you used a slightly different type of seal to release the stored Chakra over time, you could theoretically maintain the appearance of a much younger person. I’ll let you know if I ever figure out how to do that!”

Hikaru raised her eyebrows in fascination with the girl’s prosthetics. Suddenly, she had the same respect for her new acquaintance as she had for her first tutor, Soku, with her then-missing arm. The Mednin nodded, what she was saying made sense: “Actually, I think you’d do great! Part of training is overcoming adversity, as I’ve been told. Again, if you wouldn’t mind, I think people could learn a lot from what you have to say and teach.” She absolutely meant it. Hard work, in her eyes, was the only way she could have possibly gotten as far as she had, since her ‘natural talents’ amounted to marginally more efficient chakra and reading a lot.

She looked up at the canopy of trees, idly thinking about various specifics of their planned class. The question brought her back down to earth for a moment- it was a good one, and it took a moment for her to fully remember herself. “I think it was originally because my father has a background in science and works closely with the Research division, although to be honest it was mostly because I felt I could learn the most there. I would have been happy to go into the Main Branch, and I have a lot of respect for most of the ANBU as well. Medical just seemed like it would teach me the most useful things- the village could always use a few more healers, after all.” She turned to look at Tenken quizzically. “And what about you? You said you want to be a superhero, which I want to hear a little more about! Some people dream of becoming the Hokage, others dream of becoming travellers of the world, and I dream of becoming an ok Medical Ninja, which I guess I already am. But I’ve never heard of someone dreaming of becoming a superhero… I suppose the world could use a few more!” She grinned- it was fun to sit in the forest and talk about their dreams for the future, actually. Perhaps she should go on walks more often.

 

[Tenken]

Tenken watches as the seals appear as little marks on the other’s arm, her eyes widening at the sight of it. Tenken’s work with chakra was far more basic, and without any subtlety to it. She suddenly had ideas of using chakra to make tattoos and other markings for fun. That would be a good business. And it could heal you when you were injured enough without intervention. Such a good idea.

”That’s so cool! I really should spend some time at the Byoin! Even if I’m not a mednin I can learn a lot! I think I’m going to accept some of your classes.” She needed to learn things like this, not only for herself but for others. Perhaps she can keep others from losing as she had. If she could prevent someone else from losing their Tsu, it would be worth it. ”I…thank you for that. I used to think these legs, this arm, my b-….I used to think I was less human because of everything. But my friend showed me otherwise. So I have to try extra hard to make sure he would never be disappointed.”

As Hikaru speaks of her father and her background, Tenken takes the next to last piece off the protein bar and hands the rest to the girl. What she said made sense, it sounded like Hikaru fell into it, which Tenken doubted it was that simple but it would be nice to have your path laid out. Dad is in research, I go to research. Mom is in theater, I go to theater. Tenken had no such help. Dad was a merchant and he was dad. Mom was a housewife and she, too, was dead.

She starts slightly at the question being turned around on her now. ”Oh um…I-“ she stops for a second to take a breath. “It’s because of Tsu. He accepted me. He made me happy, and safe. He made me feel…normal. And then, we went on a mission. Not even a dangerous one, we were just supposed to run some stuff to Crater City. But we got attacked by some bandits let by a rogue shinobi. When it was over…Tsu was…he was…” Tenekn lowers her face, tears suddenly on her cheeks.

”He made me promise him, promise him that I would make others feel like he made me. Safe, accepted, happy. Whole. I can’t do that by just being a person. If the Hokage could do that, they would have saved him. If a traveler could do that, they would have been there to help. But a superhero? A superhero could have saved him.” She made no mention that as he died it was in her arms, she herself lapsing between consciousness and darkness as she held onto him.

”Sorry…I think I just killed the mood…”

 

[Sugihara Aki]

Hikaru found herself grinning again. “Glad you think so! I’m pretty new to teaching, actually… so I’d appreciate getting to test myself with someone I know in the class. There are a bunch of new students running around, and I haven’t met any of them yet!” Tenken went on, looking a little more pensive, and the Mednin’s expression became neutral again. The girl seemed to have plenty to keep her going, she admired her for that… but it made her touch on her own beacon of Shinobihood for a moment. Her mother had been 28 when she died- not the youngest to fall in service to the village, although it seemed increasingly so with how few deaths she heard of nowadays.

Hikaru took the rest of the protein bar the girl handed to her, nibbling on it while deep in thought. “Nobody is less than human- that’s all we can ever be. Not to use a random anecdote to try to console you, but one of my dad’s coworkers is almost completely made of metal, actually. He was apparently in some legendary battle, and had to get most of his limbs replaced, and I thought it was the coolest thing when I first met him!” She began to worry that she wasn’t communicating very well. The Medical Chief sighed, and continued to sit next to her companion, listing to her next words.

Her frown deepened, and she began to hear the pain in Tenken’s words, but she let her go on. She had to have something to say to this girl, some way to sympathize with her and tell her that it will be okay, I’ve gone through all of this too and I know what you’re feeling. She remembered the hollow shock at her mother’s death quite well, but it felt so far away from watching a friend go. Hikaru glanced at the tears that shone on her friend’s face, and a familiar, sore feeling rose within her. She spoke up, “I think that’s a great reason. Tenken, you strike me as a really determined person… and I’m truly sorry to hear about what you’ve had to go through. I lost my mother many years ago, and I hope I can understand what you’re feeling.” The soreness flared up once more as she looked the girl in the eyes. Moving her gaze off to the side, she continued, “It sounds strange, but I haven’t cried since before I can remember… not in a good way, either. It feels like I’m being prevented, like I can’t let my eyes protest life no matter how much I want them to.” She blinked furiously. “If it’s helps, I’ve felt almost inhuman myself for that. The best I can do for you is tell you I’m sorry, and that I get what it’s like, and that I consider you a friend.” Hikaru looked over at Tenken, her brown eyes colored with as much emotion as they could hold.

“Oh, you didn’t kill the mood at all. In fact, I think it’s good that we got to talk about this; I’m glad I can trust you. There’s no doubt in my mind that you’ll make a great teacher- what do you think?” She raised her eyebrows, letting a small smile touch her face. “Everyone’s lost someone, and those that haven’t will some day, unfortunately. You talked about mental fortitude earlier- if anyone can embody that, I think it’s you.”

 

[Tenken]

The moment was, indeed, a bit more somber but that giddy anticipation was there, the excitement of knowing something new was coming up for her to experience. And experience it with someone she seemed to click with. Tenken would nod at mention of the new students, it not being so long ago she herself graduated from the Academy. There were very, very many new faces running around, to the point she didn’t even try tracking them yet.

As Hikaru nibbles and ponders over being less than human, Tenken bites her tongue. It was a good example the girl gave, but the limbs were the least reason Tenken felt self-conscious about herself. There were days she woke up and felt….wrong. Like her own body was just not the right one. And there was the unique condition of her birth to contest with, the fact that she, he, they….were indeed different physically. Tsu had been the first other than her parents and the mednin who saved her life to know. He had accepted her fully, uniqueness and all. Confusion and all. She missed him so.

Hikaru’s words helped, however. It was weird, but people always thought ‘Well, don’t say you know what someone is going through because it doesn’t help them’, but that was the rational mind talking. Emotions were not rational, they were erratic and wild and latched onto sympathy like a starving man to bread. As Hikaru looks away and discusses not crying, Tenken looks at her for a long moment, then gets a determined look on her face and promptly gives the other a very platonic hug.

”Not crying makes you no less human than my limbs do. And I am happy to hear that, I didn’t think I’d make a new friend today but here I have.” She smiles and steps back a bit. ”And I’m also happy not to have killed the mood. Can’t be a superhero if I go around killing things.” Her golden eyes gleam as the tears she’d been fighting back begin to recede. ”I like to think I’d be good at it, but we won’t know until I try. I want to try, I want to help people. And not just for Tsu. But for me.” To be accepted. To feel normal.

"I think we better plan out our lessons then, huh?"

 

[Sugihara Aki]

The hug surprised Hikaru, but she responded with a half-smile, the kind that comes only when a weight has been lifted. As much as her problems seemed weird and out-of-place once the words had left her mouth, she appreciated the other’s acceptance. “...Thank you. Me too- I came here looking for somewhere to hold a class, and I found a co-teacher instead.” A laugh escaped from her as Tenken continued, “No, you’re not a super-downer at all. Let’s try, then!” She was excited for this new burst of energy, and felt refreshed from their unforeseen heart-to-heart back there.

“Ok, let’s start with laying out a course for tree-climbing…”

[Topic left]

Thanks for the topic! I'll make a starting post for the class in a few days.