Rhythm & Beats [Tutor: Kaori]

[Yume]

Even when she has time to herself, Yume would always find something in her songs to practice. The level of dedication she had to perfecting her performances was almost inhuman, so much so that she couldn't always ask for her backup dancers and partners to continuously practice with her. Heck, even the company didn't allow her to stay too long in the dance studio to practice!

So, dressed in her casual clothes--which was kind of unusual for the young popstar--Yume carried her stereo player on her shoulder to a deserted patch somewhere in the training grounds. She timed it so that most, if not all, of the Academy goers had returned home; and for further safety measure, picked a spot within the still standing trees instead of the cleared out training area. Satisfied with her practice area of choice, the idol placed down her music player and pressed play.

The sound of her own voice didn't bother her anymore. It had taken at least half a year when she started to get used to how... not her... she sounded. Now, it was just as part of her as she hears her voice in her own head. The song played with upbeat energy as Yume went through her routine. At one point of the song, she was supposed to dance with a male partner. There wasn't anyone here to help her out of course, so within this deserted training spot, Yume took the risk and created a faceless mannequin (clone) to dance with. Her expression did not seem to match the peppiness of the song however; she was much more focused on getting the moves right before considering her stage presence.

Word count: 281/1500

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Class had been released a while ago and Kaori stayed behind, performing the homework that 'Coffee-Sensei' had given her; to throw 1,000 punches a day after class is over with. Her mother had given her permissions to practice her taijutsu instead of working at the Shrine for only a few hours per day. After she was finished with class, however, she was forced to return home to tend the Shrine; a duty she was forced to perform due to brainwashing from her mother. Kaori threw a punch and silently said to herself, "317," she said in a breathy manner, still sorely out of shape. Duties of a future Shrine Maiden didn't have 'extreme physical activity' in the job description, thus causing whatever endurance she had to remain in decay. Hopefully with all of the exercising she had been receiving with her taijutsu training, all of that would change.

In the middle of her 318th punch, Kaori stopped upon hearing music suddenly play. She fell over flat on her face and groaned a bit. The music had distracted her, throwing her off-balance and into the floor. Rubbing her face, Kaori stood up and walked to the window to see a nothing around the training pad. This caught Kaori a little off-guard, hearing music but not knowing the source of the music. Scowling, Kaori closed the window of the classroom she was throwing punches in and gathered her things and ran out the door and out of the academy building. She ran onto the training pad and looked around again, still hearing the music. While the music wasn't bad or hard to listen to, she still wanted to know the source of the noise.

Clearing her throat, Kaori called out to the disembodied noise. "Hello? Is anyone out there?" she questioned, talking to what appeared to be nothing at all.
----
306 / 1500
Thanks for the tutor session ^^

 

[Yume]

The foreign voice cut through her music and Yume, too, fell off beat with her routine. Though she didn't fall over like Kaori did, the idol stopped in the middle of a move and placed her hands on her hips, blowing up at her fringe in slight exasperation. The indeterminate clone dissipated in wisps of glowing smoke, leaving Yume alone. That was some weird convenient timing, as it was only midway through the song of her first run. Who else would be hanging behind at this place at this time?

She left the stereo to continue playing the song, and stepped out from the trees to the open clearing. It was quite the risk to take, peeking to see who was drawing her out from her hidden spot. But by the sounds of things, this person wasn't someone she knew or perhaps someone that knew of her. Instead, all she saw was a cute, young girl looking oddly out of breath.

By this time, the sudden stop of movement without a cool down began its consequences on the idol's body as well. She found her fanning herself with her hand, with shimmers of sweat starting to form on her forehead. Yume stared at the girl for a moment, discerning her as human before she let herself known.

"Oh, that's me! Sorry. Was I disturbing you?"

The smile was dazzling as an idol's should be; a vast difference from her deadpan when she was practicing alone. The music continued to play, until it ended and moved onto the next one on her album.

Word count: 543/1500

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Kaori continued to look around for the source of the noise only to see a figure emerging from the wood. She took a ready-position, as intimidating as she was only to see a beautiful young woman come from the woods. She dropped her guard to notice that she was sweating. The music continued to play, almost as if it was this woman's theme. Nodding her head, she wiped the sweat off of her brow. "Well, at least it is someone that looks friendly enough," she said with a big smile upon her face. If she was a normal girl, she would be squealing in delight of seeing the idol named Yume; the one who stood directly before her. However, due to Kaori's sheltered life, thanks to her mother's influence with the Shrine, she didn't know of such wonderful music and musicians like Yume.

It was at this time that she realized that her horns were exposed, not having worn a hat. A big blush came over her head and she turned around, sat on her heels, and covered her horns with her hands. "You didn't see them, did you?" she asked Yume with a panicked voice. She didn't like people seeing her with her horns for several reasons; mainly to avoid bullying. This was the reason why Kaori almost always wore a hat or something to cover her head; even during class. Being called 'Monster Girl' and assaulted by young children for merely being born different wasn't something she wanted to experience again. It was entirely her fault for becoming complacent with the head covering while spending the extra time alone after class just throwing punches.

"Don't tell anyone I have them, please!" she pleaded. If people knew that she had horns, she would return to getting maltreatment. Her classmates were already suspicious about 'what was under the hat' due to always wearing something to cover her head. She doesn't want to give them ammunition with them knowing exactly what was underneath it. The song on the boom-box continued to play. "I'm not a monster, okay," she stated as well, obviously traumatized by being called that word in the past.

"What is an adult doing on the school grounds anyway?"
---
675 / 1500

 

[Yume]

Yume smiled back, only to switch over to confusion and surprise at the sudden change in demeanour from the purple haired child. Then she realised that, while the Yamaguchi princess already discerned that Kaori was human by her eyes, there was a reason how she could be mistaken as something from the other world.

As Kaori hunched over, covering her head with her hands, and tried to look as small as possible, Yume tilted her head to the side before approaching her. She crouched down to Kaori's level, right in front of her. Yume peered at her rather intently, perhaps to just double check that this being in front of her really was a human and not a demon that had eaten a human's liver. "Can you move your hands for me?"

If Kaori did, it'd make the examination much easier. Yume tilted her head this way and that, staring, but not touching out of respect of course, at the horns (or tried to, if Kaori was still adamant in covering her head). Finally, Yume beamed at her, very consciously stepping away from the monster talk.

"They look cool! Mind if I use them in my next promo?"

The girl rocked on her heels, albeit clumsily, and fell back onto her rear. Sitting on the grass, Yume figured now was a good a time as any to properly introduce herself. "I thought everyone had gone home so I could practice my performance routine in secret! My name is Yume, or perhaps easier known as U..."

Her hands brought themselves up to a heart shape. <3

"ME! U<3ME. I won't tell anyone about that, if you keep my practice a secret too! It's not released yet." Yume laughed with a wink, soon realising that the girl was more out of breath than she was. "What's a student doing staying behind so late at the Academy yourself?"

Word count: 859/1500

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

A request was made to move her hands. Kaori had this strange feeling that she almost had no choice in the matter. She removed her hands from her horns and placed them upon her knees. She puffed out her cheeks to the side for a moment, with an irritated look before something strange happened. She received a compliment for her horns and then heard possible exploitation of her horns. "No!" she shouted out, as if throwing a small tantrum. She didn't want people to see her horns and having it in a promo would put more eyes upon her horns. While it was a sweet gesture, one that Kaori didn't mind too much, she wasn't willing to be exploited for something she considers a birth defect; something that her mother saw as 'a blessing from the dragons'.

"Fine," she said with a bit of protest. Though, if she kept a popular idol's training spot a secret, she knows for a fact that she'd keep Kaori's secret safe. Nothing's more annoying to an idol than to be swarmed by their fans when they are trying to do something else; when not whoring for attention. "Yeah, I guess if you were somebody famous, telling people about this WOULD be bad for you, huh?. With that, she instantly felt a little bit better, rolling forward to sit upon the grass on her knees.

"Coffee-Sensei told me to stay behind after class and throw 1,000 proper punches. He said that I have strong po-po-," she said as she stammered upon the word 'potential'. "Well, he thinks I can do really well at being a Taijutsu user. So I have to throw 1,000 proper punches just so I can commit to this 'muscle memory' thing," she explained. An idol should know full-well about muscle-memory, especially for one that also dances with their routines. "But punching 1,000 times is very tiring. I have to take a lot of breaks during the punches so it can take hours sometimes,"

"Coffee-Sensei said we would work on conditioning after I learned how to properly throw a punch. But I can't even--- she said with an annoyed look on her face. "I can't even get to 100 without feeling tired," she said. Her lip tilted upwards with an obvious sign of annoyance.

----
1056 / 1500

 

[Yume]

The sudden negative outburst took Yume aback, at a loss of words. Ah, young child, she must have thought Yume wanted to use her herself in a promotion. The idol just wanted to use the idea of horns, that's all. There be no harvesting horns on her side. Before she could correct the girl however, Kaori pouted with a "fine," and settled down.

Yume raised a brow at the ridiculousness that was a thousand punching drills. "That sounds... incredibly boring!" she remarked without shame. "Of course you'd get tired, Murasaki-chan!"

Of course, Kaori never introduced herself. Yume had to call her something besides 'girl.' Though it's not like 'purple' was that much better. She sprung up to her feet, patting away any dirt and grass that grabbed her behind and ambled off briefly into the forestation to grab her stereo player. She came out not long after, pressing a couple of buttons here and there before it landed on a song she wanted. Fast paced enough. The box was laid down carefully on the grass and Yume hopped into a stance, showing the young girl that even she had shinobi training. Even if it was just workout routines with a chuunin trainer.

"You need music to get into the rhythm!" she said, as the introduction of her song was building up. On first beat, the hidden Sennin threw out a strong mid body punch and alternated along with the beat. "Who cares about counting? You do it until you feel like you did enough for the day. Then you do it again tomorrow. You'll master it in no time!"

By this time, she switched the punches to upper and lower aimed punches, adding in kicks and increasing the rhythm as the song built up in intensity. It was only a fairly short show though; by the time it reached about a third way through the song, Yume switched over to a subdued version of her dance routine, just to keep her blood flowing.

"Though I like dancing better than throwing punches to exercise," Yume laughed with a spin and a pose. Bending down, she rewound the song back to the beginning and hopped about next to the girl. "Try it, try it with me! If you really care about counting, if you keep on beat for my whole song, you'd finish about five hundred punches. But you know, if you don't, that's fine too."

Hey, she was pretty good at the mathematics, you know?

Word count: 1281/1500
Marked for training - WC 250+

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Kaori chuckled a bit and shrugged her shoulders. She started to get comfortable with this woman. Perhaps it's her charisma that made it easy to talk to her or if it was some form of passive jutsu that is making things so delightful. Either way, Kaori felt a lot less tense than she did before, allowing her to drop her guard. "Err, well, Coffee-Sensei said it would help me commit it to memory, so I'll take his word for it," she said calmly with a big smile upon her face. She isn't doing this just for herself, but also for a late friend of hers. Just her memory of Mina was enough to keep her drive to fulfilling this 'duty' to become a shinobi; a good shinobi that will make an impact on this world.

Her comfortable demeanor turned to confusion as soon as she was called 'Purple-chan'. It took her a few moments to realize that she didn't properly introduce herself. "Oh! I'm sorry!" she shouted out in embarrassment before standing up and bowing to Yume. After standing straight up, she simply said, "Kaori! Tenkawa Kaori!" However, as she introduced herself, Yume had vanished into the woods, leaving her alone. Confusion set in as Kaori looked around for a moment. Was this the true power of the ninja? Nope, she returned from whence she came holding the loud music machine. More music pumped out of the machine in a language she didn't understand.

At least the song had an enjoyable beat, even if the tone of the singing didn't really suit her fancy. She was more of a traditionalist when it came to music (as that is what she was raised with), but constant exposure to this kind of music may grow on her. That is, if her mother doesn't believe this is some kind of 'devil music' that will offend the Great Dragon. Then Yume's 'production' with the punches happened. What she did say -DID- make sense, but wouldn't she end up becoming dependent on music for fighting if she trained to a beat?

And the punching and kicking demonstration turned into a 'sneak-peek' of her dance routine. While it didn't seem complete, having fighting integrated with the dance seemed kinda silly in her opinion, but in the world of ninja maybe that's the new 'in-thing'. And then the song rewound and she was asked to do it with her. Her heart began to race as she took on 'the horse stance' before starting with her legs wider than shoulder-width apart, fists balled, palm facing upwards and her knees slightly bent. She let Yume take the lead before jumping in, trying to mimic what she's seeing.

It's obvious that she wasn't 'feeling the music' but simply trying to ape what she was seeing. Her punches and movements were rigid, trying properly maintain her followership of what Yume was doing.
--
[MFT: 480 words]
1536 / 1500

 

[Yume]

It made sense in some parts. Of course, it wasn't the wisest idea to overly rely on the music to train how to fight. But it was a good tool to keep focus and keep the power consistent, until it came as second nature without music. It was rare to find someone so in tune with their movements that all their fights were like a dancer number in itself. Yume was not one of those people.

But keeping rhythm for her is as easy as pie.

As Yume started the punches and Kaori followed along, she couldn't help but notice two things. One, rhythm was something the younger girl hadn't fully grasped yet. The idol giggled to herself and ceased her punches but didn't oppose if the younger girl continued her drills. She turned to look at her.

"You're a bit too stiff and restrictive, Kaori-chan!" Yume said, crossing her arms and tilting her head to the side. "Did your instructor teach you to use that stance front on? How often are you gonna use that in a real fight?"

Her hand shot out, weaving past Kaori's punch and gave a short push, aiming the middle of her chest. With the power of geometry and physics, the purple haired girl would be hard pressed to keep her balance, unless she had already mastered chakra control. Yume smiled at her apologetically.

"Unless you wanna work out your leg muscles and hips, I guess this way is okay," she mused with a hand on her chin. The girl looked like she was trying to remember her workouts. "But in a fight, if you really want to have a good root, you should be using the horse stance on the side like..."

She fell into the stance, with one foot behind the other as her torso twisted to face forward and her fists in place . "Something like that? I dunno, I don't like staying still."

Quickly, she shuffled her feet back together and grinned. "I don't wanna get you in trouble with your teacher, so you should continue your drills. But on the side, you should really, really find your own style and let your body movements flow. Trust me! My trainer said so, and he's just got promoted to jounin. What a champ, ne?"

Boldly, Yume reached back out to Kaori, but instead of pushing her over again, she gave her a slight shake. "C'mon, let's shake away that stiffness!" She let go as quickly as she grabbed her and also began wobbling, shimmying and shaking herself. Of course, she looked ridiculous "Loosen up and relax!"

Word count: 1500+ won't bother counting anymore xD

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

With a single shove, Kaori fell over like a bag of bricks. There wasn't any resistance or moving out of the stance; just timberr~~. She fell over flat on her back, quickly sitting up afterward and grabbing the back of her head, which was pulsating swelling almost cartoonishly. An apology was quickly shot in her direction before Kaori shot the idol a grumbling scowl. What she said makes sense; noticing her taking up the 'front stance'. "Well," she said with a very nasaly sound. "Coffee-sensei DID say it was just for stability during practice," she stated with a rather annoying gruff in her voice. But as much as she took her training seriously from Coffee-Sensei, Idol-Sensei (or at least that she likes to call her) made a valid point.

Kaori stood up and observed Idol-Sensei for a moment and then shifted her hands and feet to mimic what was seeing. Her stance went from something a trainee would use, lined up in an assembly line in front of a single instructor, throwing a single punch on-command to someone a bit more powerful in their stance. Her hands were balled up into tight fists, so hard that her knuckles started to turn white. Normally, kids her age would attempt to bounce around, aping what they saw in films, but Kaori wasn't here to goof around. No, she was here because it was her duty; at least it would be her duty to Mina to be here and learn everything she could.

"That's a front stance, by the way, Idol-sensei~" she said with a very confident grin upon her face. She released the grip upon her fists for a moment only to ball them up even tighter afterward. "I think you're right, Idol-sensei. This position does feel a lot more comfortable." It was quite comfortable and not flashy. It wasn't as stupid-spread-out like the other Hyuuga would stand and it gave her enough versatility to protect herself and move her front-leg and arms when she needed to protect herself. However, the best teacher will be experience and with that, she will learn what will be suit her.

Repeatedly, she was told to relax, even going as far as being shook-up by Idol-sensei. Her muscles quickly loosened and her stance much-more noticeably relaxed. "Okay!" she said with an amped up voice. She seemed to be slowly (but surely) getting the right idea on what she must do. "Okay, I think I'm ready, Idol-sensei! Let's try it again!"
-----
More than enough words, trust me~

 

[Yume]

"You shouldn't tighten your fists too much, Kaori-chan," Yume noted before she shook her up to relax. "You'll hurt yourself in the process. Oh, and Yume is just fine. What is this sensei stuff?"

But it seemed like the method worked. Kaori appeared significantly less tense and even urged for a second try--something that the idol responded with an "ehhh...?" Her hand rubbed the back of her head as she looked heavenward in thought.

"Punching drills bore me so much though..." she pouted, swinging her hand back down to her side. She was originally going to practice her dance routines too. Her arms then crossed over her chest and her eyes scrunched closed tight, as if her thinking got just a little more intense. "Hmmm... Hmmm... Oh, I know!"

A clear sounding clap echoed through the training grounds. Yume smiled sheepishly, obviously not intending to have had clapped that loudly and went back over to her stereo. After stopping the music, she picked up the hefty device and walked back to Kaori. She plopped it in the other girl's hands.

"Here. Take this. You can keep it and the disc inside and use it to practice at home!" Yume exclaimed, proudly so as if it was such a good idea she came up with. But that wasn't all! "When you're free, you should come join me in my workout sessions. FiRE E&M building in Red Oak District, you can't miss it! They're usually really early in the morning though... But come by on Fridays! Five-thirty AM?"

If Kaori agreed, Yume would be beaming. "Great! Just tell reception your name, they'll know what to do."

If not, or Kaori was unsure, Yume would merely shrug with a grin and say, "The invitation is always open!"

Nevertheless, she'd have to inform reception about this, get scolded by Manager and buy a new stereo. All in a day's work of an idol, really. With a brief pat on Kaori's head, Yume bade her goodbye for today. "Good luck with your drills, Kaori-chan! I'll see you at FiRE sometime."

Tutor complete. Topic left unless stopped.

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

The advice given to her today by Idol-Sensei (or rather, just simply Yume) was taken straight to heart by the young student. She remained in her stance until the radio and cd containing her leaked album was bequeathed unto her. She relaxed her fists and stood upright with a look of bewilderment. "You're leaving already, idol-sensei? Erm, I mean, Yume," she said before correcting herself. If it was Yume's wishes to be called by her actual name, Kaori felt obliged to follow.

Now that the electronic device was given to her, she looked at the device with questions in her eyes. The use of technology was extremely forbidden in the Tenkawa Household, which made bringing something like that along extremely complicated; but turning down a gift like this - especially if Yume did it for Kaori's own interest - would be insulting to the great teacher that stood before her. A calm breeze blew through the trees as the wind tickled her skin, evaporating the sweat causing a chill to run over her.

The device was heavy, causing Kaori to slouch forward slightly, holding the machine in both hands. An invitation was given to her from Yume for more lessons and with an enthusiastic flare, Kaori nodded her head and shouted, "Of course!" she said, committing the time and location to memory. "Fridays at 5:30 in the morning. FiRe E&M building in Red Oak! i'll be there, Yume!" Excitement continued to flow through her body as she now has yet another master to teach her the basics of combat. Who knows, perhaps Kaori can also become friends with Yume, which would be more of a reward than learning how to fight.

With a pat of the head, the idol began to make her way away from Kaori. A fire burned inside of Kaori as she shouted. "I'll see you!" This was a thrilling moment for her as she sat the boom-box down and waved to Yume as she departed. She continued to wave for a moment until she got far enough away to where she could speak without it being heard.

"Do you see that, Mina? I have a new sensei. She's kind and beautiful, just like you. I wish you could be here taking this journey with me.
We would have made a great team, don't you think?" Kaori said with a somber smile upon her face. With a balled up fist, she pumped it for a moment, ready for what lies tomorrow. "Watch over me, Mina. With her help, I'll make your dream a reality." With that said, Kaori grabbed the boom-box and looked around with a flustered look.

"Now what am I supposed to do with this thing? Oh! I know! The storage room. Even mom can't go in there~" she stated before running off back to her home with the boom-box in tow.

[Thanks for the thread, Yume. ^^ Hope to RP with you again]
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