Overcoming Adversity (Samejima)

[Kazumi]

When Naoki stopped her movement Yumi just continued to sit there waiting for a short while. It was getting rather hard to hear the shuffling of Naoki's 'feet'. but while she sounded as if she was still making that same sound she didn't seem to be moving back any further. With that Yumi pushed herself to a slightly awkward stand and with her eyes closed she surveyed the area a little. It only took her a second to be sure of the direction the faint sound was coming front.

Unerringly she walked her way over towards Naoki... unerringly except for the duffel bag that was in her way. As she confidently walked over towards the louder growing 'sound' her left foot caught on the bag and downwards she fell. With a yelp of fright she plummeted towards the sandy ground, managing to get her left arm up in time to keep her face from slamming into the sand, but little more.

 

[Samejima]

Is something there? The sand muffled the sound of Yumi's footsteps, but she could sense something that shouldn't have been there sitting right in the middle of the path between herself and Yumi. As the footsteps got closer, Naoki grew more and more anxious about whether or not Yumi would pick up on the position of the bag, and right when it seemed like she wasn't going to, Naoki shot up to try and warn her... But was too late.

"Yumi!" She ran over to the student, trying to help her up. "Sorry, I should've moved it out of the way before trying anything..." she said, dusting Yumi off and making sure she was alright after snapping her fingers a few times. "You did great though, I was pretty far off and you still knew where I was... You might have an affinity for sound too, just needs a bit of training," nodding and putting her hands on her hips, the picture of an approving peer. "Did you want to try again?" she asked, picking up the bag and repositioning it someplace out of the way, if Yumi allowed her to do so.

 

[Kazumi]

The girl let off a soft groan as Naoki attempted to help her up. She wasn't really injured, just the sore mark of where her hand had been ground against the sand during her fall. Regardless she looked a little dazed as she made it to her feet. A few moments passed as she shrugged it off, reaching down to brush the sand off her clothes with her hand. "Ugh... now I am going to have sand everywhere."

She let off a small sigh before returning her attention towards her teacher. "I hardly would call it an affinity. If you didn't leep brushing your foot across the ground every second the entire time I wouldn't have had a clue where you were." She looked over towards the toppled pack and shook her head, "I didn't even remember that I had sat that down nearby. We can if you want... not sure what good it would do."

 

[Samejima]

Shaking her head, the genin commented, "No way, even I had some trouble hearing you all the way back there! I mean, you weren't exactly making much sound, but I had to really strain to hear your heartbeat..." It was weird that she didn't also catch on to the bag when I got closer to it... She probably just needs more training to fine-tune it, make it so that she can detect stuff using the sound waves themselves and not just hear things from their source.

Somewhat too quickly however, Naoki caught onto Yumi's lessening enthusiasm for the navigation-by-ear and moved on with what she intended to do in the first place, which was help Yumi through some training. "Though if you're not really sure you want to go through with it, we could try something else later on... For now, since you've finished your break, wanna hear about those counters, or did you want to just continue with training?"

 

[Kazumi]

After brushing what bits of the loose particles she could from our outfit she stood back up straight and let off another sigh. She closed her eyes and opened them a moment later, refocusing her enthusiasm for what they were doing. "You are the expert here after all. I am willing to keep at it if you think it's worthwhile." She nodded affirmatively to Naoki before her attention momentarily shifted back towards the duffle she had tripped over. "Wish there was an area filled with soft pillws instead of rough sand... Makes me miss the snow back from where I am from."

 

[Samejima]

"Snow?" Naoki lit up, hearing about the cold thing that they don't get in the Wind Country. "I know a little bit about snow, but isn't it supposed to be all wet and stuff when you touch it? Does it stay cold or-" she stopped short, remembering she was supposed to focus on training for the time being.

Clearing her throat, "Um, well, I think you did great with the initial stuff! Just needs practice is all," she finished, patting Yumi on her shoulders reassuringly and grinning. "If you want to though, we'd need to sit still for quite some time..." Yumi did seem to be adverse to the idea of staying still at the moment, and she was quite worried about the outcome of such a suggestion.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi's eyes lit up a little more as Naoki asked about the snow. "Well, it melts when you touch small bits of it, but when you have a lot of snow it keeps itself all cold and stuff. If you wear mittens or thick clothing to keep yourself warm that protects you from the cold, but it also protects the snow from you!" She gave Naoki a pleased smile as the other attempted to get them back onto track. "Oh... well... maybe after? When I am all sort and just wanna lie down after turning into a giant bruise." She giggled and looked around the area once more.

"So, show me the counter... stuff you were talking about? That sounds pretty interesting, I guess." She didn't really know exactly what Naoki was referring to, but if it was related to being a shinobi then she had to do it eventually! That was unless she got booted from the academy... but she had to try! She was not sure what else she would do if she couldn't focus herself on this one goal...

 

[Samejima]

A small giggle escaped Naoki as well, at the comment about turning into a giant bruise. That was how she felt the first few months after she started the training menu she was using, but that would wear off soon... or did she just get used to the feeling? In any case, "Oh, um, so I guess you haven't learned about counterattacking?"

Naoki got into a starting position, legs shoulder-width apart and arms slightly raised at her sides, poised to defend against different sorts of attacks; the defensive stance. Well, most of the ones I know are to defend my dominant arm, since that's the point people try to hit the most, but... Considering however, that her dominant arm isn't the same as most people's dominant arms, she was quite relieved that she'd be able to teach Yumi counterattacking methods that would work with one's left arm. "Basics first, we're starting with the twist!" It might not have been standard nomenclature, but that was what Naoki knew it as. "So basically, once you see your enemy moving to get your arm, you just..."

As she trailed off, her left arm shot forwards, seemingly under some invisible opponent's offense and curling around the figure's arm, twisting it as she straightened her own out. "If it's done right, it'll give the other one a pretty bad sprain! Otherwise, it'll probably knock 'em off guard for a bit, which you can use to-" her right arm twitched for the normal follow-up punch, but stopped in favor of the rising arc her right leg had started, ending in a strong kick which twisted the rest of her body to the left.

Man that was close.

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi watched with eager amusement as Naoki demonstrated the techniques against her spectral attacker. "That looks.. easy enough. What if you move too slowly or don't guess the exact angle of their attack? Won't you be like... just stepping into their fist? How would that help against a kunai or a sword?" Even as she asked her questions she was alrady going about attempting to mimic the movements. She was relatively lite and agile for her level of training, and so the mimicry worked fairly well.

She twisted her left arm awkwardly however and each time she did so she had an annoyed expression on her face. After attempting it a third time she sighed and lifted her right stub to flail it around a little. "I miss it already... If I had known we wouldn't be working together forever I wouldn't have neglected my other hand so much..." She spoke with amused humor, though the sense of despair was still present, if quashed down as deeply as she could manage it.

 

[Samejima]

Nodding, acknowledging Yumi's level of observation, Naoki addressed Yumi's concerns... though with an answer she probably wouldn't have liked, "And that's why the first thing I do when I get into any kind of a fight is to try and remember their battle style. I'd be in a lotta trouble if they didn't fight in a specific style, but as long as there's something they fall back on when they're caught off guard, you can counter with a bunch of stuff!"

"We?" Naoki tilted her head a bit, before she realized Yumi was talking about her missing appendage. "O-oh..." She couldn't offer much more, instead rubbing the left side of her neck in awkwardness. "Well, um... l-let's move on to the next thing!" Guh, why'd I even bring up countering... It was bound to poke at these kinds of things, you gotta think about your training topics more Naoki! Berating herself for not thinking ahead enough, she started thinking about what else she could talk about. "There's many kinds of kicks, which usually just need you to keep your balance while one of your legs swings someplace, but in case you haven't heard about them, lemme tell you about the basic types!"

"So there's always the standard roundhouse kick, which is good for when the enemy can't see - or sense - you coming, but it takes awhile to swing around that far right? In those situations, a push kick might be good, though you still have to watch out if the enemy's hand is close to the center, because that'll allow the kick to be stopped as well - oh! There's a thing I thought up for when that happens, but we'll get to that a bit later! In the cases of both a push kick and a roundhouse being less that useful, just direct that foot downwards, stomping on the enemy's foot," she paused here to draw a breath, "and remember to use your heel, because that part's the sharpest! Might not work on everyone, but well..."

Naoki shrugged at the end of it, signaling she still needed to think about those other people with their steel-toed boots. "Maybe a kick to the shins? Something like that... I've heard those really hurt."

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi did not seem to fully understand what Naoki was saying initially, made obvious by the girl's confused expression. "How are you supposed to remember how they fight if you've never seen them before?" Perhaps you end up fighting against the same people all the time? That did not make too much sense to her, but then again she was not the expert here.

As she noticed Naoki's awkwardness concerning what Yumi had been musing about, Yumi held up her hand and shook it defensively. "No no.. I was just making a joke. You really don't need to be pretending like everything is fine... or pitying me. I got enough of that while I was in the hospital..." She actually looked somewhat annoyed about that fact.

Though, as they moved on to more actual instruction the annoyance, though not directed towards Naoki, seemed to fade away as she became interested in what Naoki was teaching. She seemed only slightly lost after a while, but she was intently nodding the entire time. "And you can do all that just by hearing alone? I still say that is... really crazy impressive. Leagues and mountains beyond anything I could ever do. I have a hard time walking forward with my eyes closed."

 

[Samejima]

"Ah... huh? Did I forget to tell you?" Naoki snapped her fingers, making a sharper sound. "I can use sound waves to sense what's around me, so I can pretty much uh, see what you look like now, minus colors..."

Somehow, by mumbling something like ah, right of course, sorry she managed to get past the awkwardness she was feeling with the whole situation and moved on with the kicking speech.

Once it ended and Yumi finished commenting on it, Naoki would nod quite matter-of-factly. "Well, it's mostly just because of my bloodline really... I mean, I've been practicing with it too," she paused then, and tilted her head a bit before continuing, "Besides, if I couldn't do at least this much to try and see things, I wouldn't still be around here doing stuff for the village." The statement ended with an enthusiastic grin and a nod, one befitting a pre-disillusioned rookie on the force... or perhaps one who has been disillusioned, but was keeping that part of reflection off her mind for now.

"So! Ask me if you've got anything you wanna hear about, or if you wanna practice some moves or something!"

 

[Kazumi]

"Bloodline?" She asked with hesitant confusion, as if she was not sure if she should know this or not. It was times like these that she regretted not growing up inside of Sunagakure. Things such as 'common knowledge' often didn't apply to the poor girl. "You can do all that stuff because your parents can? You did not... learn how to do it? So then... how could I ever be able to do something like that?"

She tried to imagine somehow seeing everything with... sound. It still made no sense to her, no matter which way she looked at it. Sure she was able to locate Naoki, but that was far flung from being able to see what she looked like by hearing her. "So, is that why you snap your fingers all the time? I thought that was like... just some sort of habit or something."

 

[Samejima]

She doesn't know about them? I thought I mentioned it a bit earlier... Ohh, of course, maybe they haven't started teaching her about them! I only knew from hearing that I had one myself after all... Naoki gave Yumi a nod, "You might not have learned about it yet, but there are some things you can read about them from in the Scroll Locker. It just runs in the blood... My parents can't do it I think, since we're not related by blood, but I'm sure someone else can... Like you, a little! Hehe, maybe we're related or something. Or you might just have a different bloodline, since I'm pretty sure normal kids can't tell where someone is that far out just by the sound of some sand."

And at Yumi's last question, Naoki nodded again, snapping her fingers for effect. "It might be a bit of a pain when I need to do things quickly, but I sense things in more detail when I snap 'em. Might be useful in the dark, though people would be able to hear me pretty easily..." At this point in time, she began trying to think of a way to send out sound waves that wouldn't alert people to her presence when she needed to sneak around. Could there be some jutsu that might help her with this? Or maybe she could study up on bird calls.

Either way. "Feeling rested? You did want to train today right? There's a few things on a regular training menu that you might still wanna do..."

 

[Kazumi]

Yumi's brow arched slightly in confusion as Naoki said that she and her parents were not related, but she held her tongue until Naoki speaking of bloodlines. "Me? I would doubt it, unless you are from the northern countries too..." she paused a moment as if she was inspecting the other girl, "and you don't look like anyone I've seen up there. Most everyone is as fair skinned as I am... or more" She nodded in agreement with herself, not considering if such a comment was rude or insensitive in anyway. "So... what do you mean you and your parent's aren't related? Isn't that what being a parent means?" She was not completely naive; Yumi know of orphans and even things such as adoption, but as far as she knew they wouldn't call them parents or anything. Though, she had lived a rather sheltered life after all...

Thn Yumi jumped a little, caught off guard by the sudden snapping sound Naoki made. Her attention re-centered itself on the other girl and her eyes went momentarily wide with surprise before it settled down a second later. Then Naoki was suddenly asking about more potential training. The blonde haired youth had almost forgotten about it among all of the other commotion that had gone on between them the pat few minutes. "Oh yeah... sure. Did you have something specific in mind?'

 

[Samejima]

Naoki thought a little before answering Yumi's question, having nodded at her explanation about the northern countries and how people have fairer skin there. "Um, yeah! Mom- er, Mother said that because Father and Mother are the ones who've been talking to me and teaching me things, they're my parents, even though we're not related by blood - that's how our family thinks of 'family', y'know?" Both her known parents had rather light skin in fact, owing to their histories, though her father is much tanner than he was before from the harsh days. "I do wanna know what my blood parents are doing, but it doesn't bother me much, I'm sure they're nice people anyway," she finished, with a grin. It wasn't a sensitive point at all with Naoki, though to be fair there wasn't much that perturbed her when it came to family matters. It was comments about her physical differences that prodded at her sometimes, though since she already knew Yumi accepted her as a friend, skin color and all, she didn't mind.

"Mostly just the rest of basic training that students do, shuttle runs and punching and kicking repetitions, along with some dodging practice, but since the dummies aren't out here, I'll be throwing some clones at you... What do you think?"

 

[Kazumi]

That thought of not-blood parents still seemed odd to Yumi, but especially considering this older girl was being so nice as to help her, she didn't want to push the issue. So, she simply nodded in agreement as the topic shifted back towards the goal of training. A smirk appeared on her face as the prospect of actual interesting stuff came up. "Oh sure, that'd be cool!" she replied with quick enthusiasm as she began to lightly bounce up and down on the balls of her feet.

For Yumi's part the next couple of hours went smoothly enough. Despite her shortcomings she did surprisingly well, given how new she was at training with only a single arm. That is to say it did not go perfectly, and more than a few scraped resulted in lost footing, balance or simply forgetting that the appendage was not there to assist her in whatever maneuver she had attempted to perform. It would only take a her a few moments to dust herself off and get back to it with as much eagerness as she could muster.

[Leaving Topic]

 

[Samejima]

"Alright, we should be done for the day! Remember to keep your form flexible, adapting it to whatever situation you get into, and any sort of problem should be sorta-easy to tackle." Naoki stretched, having gone through some exercise herself, though it wasn't enough to actually complete her regime for the day. I'll have to do some more a bit later... "Careful on your way home, and get enough sleep for the next day~" she said, waving to Yumi whenever she decided to leave before going back to what she needed to finish for her own daily training. This was the second time she was going through it... But it's always good to get some extra training in.

[Topic Left]