The Education of Tenkawa Kaori [SSM thread]

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Snipers and You​

Coffee-sensei had instructed Kaori to come to the next training session with her Gallian S20A long rifle. Her instruction usually happened after academy classes. Thankfully, she was given a pass to forego her running and punching for today's lesson. Good thing it came when it did as well, she had received many sideways glances for carrying around a rifle just as long as she was into class and not having it leave her sight; yet another lesson that Coffee-Sensei wanted to teach her. Again, thankfully, Coffee-Sensei was her teacher for the academy today so it was completely allowed; even if some of the students looked rather mortified.

With the Galleon in hand, she held it across her chest before walking down towards the training grounds. Upon entering the training grounds, she noticed Coffee-Sensei standing next to a table decked out with multiple magazines. The man took a sip from his coffee and adjusted his glasses. "Good! You're here! Well, let's get started!" the man stated, waiting for Kaori to approach the table, weapon still pressed against her chest. Upon reaching the table, she looked down at the magazines filled with ammunition. She looked up at the man for a moment only for a nod to be given to her. She looked back down to the magazines and started to load a magazine into her weapon and cocked back the bolt-action, loading one into the chamber.

"Good, you remembered how to do that. That makes our job much easier," he said as he displayed, in the distance, a group of cans. "This should be self-evident what you have to do. However, aim at each can and shoot at a can with a single bullet. Hit or miss, move on to the next and only use one bullet until you reach the end."

Kaori nodded her head and put on her earmuffs to protect her hearing and safety glasses to protect her vision. She moved to the side of the table, knelt down and took aim. She could see a small black silhouette on the cans, looking like people. She remembered what she learned the first time she used her weapon and let a bullet go on the first one. Zing! Miss! She then moved to the next can. Zing! Miss. She continued down the line until all of the cans had been claimed and then stood up, clearing out her rifle.

"You missed every one of them. Alright then. After you load in another magazine," the man said as Kaori did as she was instructed and changed magazines, loading one into the chamber. She got back into kneeling position and aimed at the first can. "Take a deep breath in," the man said as Kaori took a deep breath in and held it. "Let out your breath and hold it afterward," he said as Kaori followed. She held her breath after she exhaled. "Aim and fire!" he shouted before Kaori took aim at the black silhouette and 'PING'. There was a hit. She repeated his process several times, each time hearing a 'PING' with each hit. After she had completed her rounds, she stood up to a big smile upon coffee-sensei's face.

"All hits, let's see how you did!" he said as the two of them walked to the cans and saw each of the cans hit. However, none of the black silhouettes took any damage. "Good for now. Now let's set up your next target," he said as she walked into the woods a bit more and pulled up a humanoid dummy decked out in aluminum cans; so every hit could be audible. Afterward, they returned to the spot and Kaori looked at the dummy. She had troubles seeing it with the naked eye.

"How am I supposed to hit that? I can't even see it," she said as the man took a sip from his coffee. "Just look down the sites and aim a hair upwards to account for gravity. Don't worry, your site is variable so you can change the magnification," he said as he took another sip from his coffee. Kaori didn't quite understand any of that, but she got into the kneeling position and aimed down the sight. She had a bit of trouble seeing the target, but it was visible (at least). She fiddled around with the sight and turned it a little bit, seeing the magnification go ALL the way up to 15x magnification.

The quick zoom caught her off-guard, causing her to lower her weapon. She looked down-range to see the dummy with her naked eye and then looked down the sight once more to see it clearly (and very closely). She was in awe at how good the magnification is. She looked down the sight once more, took a deep breath in, took a deep breath out and held her breath, and pulled the trigger. A loud explosion could be heard as a bullet accelerated from the rifle and towards the target. A loud 'plink' could be heard as her bullet penetrated the 'can armor' on the dummy.

"I did it!" Kaori celebrated. "Good, now unload the entire magazine at the head," he said as Kaori looked back down the sights and 'plink' 'plink' 'plink' over and over again. Coffee-Sensei took a sip from his coffee and nodded his head. "Good. Now shoot all this," he said before pulling out another 100 rounds of ammunition for Kaori to shoot.

"Shoot all of that into the target. Try to hit different body parts. For every time you miss the target, you owe me 10 punches," the man said before taking yet another sip. Kaori turned and looked at the man, jaw dropped in absolute dread. The weapon started to get heavy and the kickback started to bruise her shoulder. She took a deep breath in and held it for a moment. "Yes, Sensei!" she shouted out before getting to work on the remaining 100 rounds.

"Be honest, Kaori. The only person you're cheating is yourself," he said as he waved to her, walking away. "You will be given 20 rounds each day for now on. Now you have to do 1000 punches, 10 laps around the academy, and shoot 20 rounds each day before you go home," he said before vanishing. Kaori's forehead twitched in annoyance. Without saying a word, she aimed down the sights and plinked another bullet right off of of the dummy's head.

"I can do this! You got my back right, Mina?" she asked rhetorically before returning to shooting off more rounds.
---
E Rank Lesson
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WC: 1089
Pay: 2250 (This counts as double due to WC -- 1500 is single pay, 2250 is double pay)

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Stay Flexible​

Coffee-Sensei had told Kaori to make her way back for another class. Romping and stomping towards the Academy, she was still working off a high after having worked-out with Yume-sensei earlier this morning. She always, at least for both times she was with Yume, felt excited to become a shinobi one-day. Life seemed to be going her way for the first time in a long-time. She made her way towards the Training Grounds of the Academy to see Coffee-Sensei standing there, sipping a very, very large thermos of coffee. After taking a long drink of the scalding-hot liquid, he adjusted his glasses to fit better upon his face. Something looked a little different on Coffee-Sensei; his hair looked blonde instead of green. Seems that his hair dye ran-out.

"Good afternoon, sensei!" Kaori welcomed as she stopped directly in front of him in a cheerful manner.

"Good, now that you are here, we can begin. Before our next lesson, we need to get you limber and flexible," he said as a 3 foot by 3 foot mat appeared in his hand. He handed the mat to Kaori and nodded his head. Looking at the mat, Kaori tilted her head towards Coffee-Sensei. He pointed to the ground and, catching his drift, she placed the mat upon the ground flat. Coffee-Sensei summoned another mat and placed it on the ground next to her and his clothes changed to something a bit more appropriate. Taking a seat upon the mat, Kaori followed-suit.

"So, what's the next lesson going to be?" Kaori asked.

"Kicking," he simply responded before spreading his legs, keeping them straight and rigid. "Follow after me," he said before leaning forward and effortlessly touching his toes. Kaori observed and tried to emulate. She leaned forward and tried to touch her toes, only reaching half-way down her shin, feeling tension in her hamstrings. She groaned in pain, feeling the sharp pain running up the back of her leg.

"Stretch to tension, not pain," he said as Kaori eased up on the stretch, feeling the pull of the muscle and not trying to tear her muscle to shreds. After stretching one leg for about 30 seconds, the two moved to the next leg. After that stretch was done, the duo moved on to multiple other stretches, most which Kaori had to commit to memory. After the grouping of stretches, Kaori groans and lays flat upon the mat. This was a lot more tiring than she had thought.

"Good, now that you have done all of those stretches, do it again. Remember to stretch AFTER you do your work-outs. The reason you are doing it with cold muscles now is for the sake of instruction. But after you do your 1000 punches and 10 laps around the academy, you will do all of these stretches twice, doing--" he said as Kaori slowly zoned out from all of the words being spoken by the man. "Do you understand?"

The question had brought Kaori back into the real world, snapping out of her daze. She didn't think stretching would be so exhausting. "Yes, Sensei," she said before peeling herself up from the mat and began stretching again.

"Good, that mat is yours so keep it and use it for your stretches for now-on, alright?" he said, standing up and snapping his fingers to return to his usual outfit and making his mat disappear. "I have to go now, so make sure you finish that before going home. Good work, Kaori," he said before vanishing into thin air.

"Where do you go during these sessions, Coffee-Sensei?" she asked herself. The answer to that 'the world may never know'. So Kaori finished the second round of stretching and now has to implement her half-hour long stretching routine into her daily routine; fun.
---
E Rank Lesson
Requested: Here
WC: 628
Pay: 2250 (this counts as double due to WC -- 1500 single pay, 2250 is double pay)

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Do it for the Kicks! [SSM]

Do it for the kicks!​

"Good, now that you are flexible, we can move on to something a bit more relevant. Something that not too many shinobi do," he said as he adjusted his glasses. "Kicks," he said. Putting Kaori on a week's worth of stretching seemed good enough to start off with kicking. It was ample time to make herself more and more flexible; capable of performing even the most basic of kicks without causing self injury.

Kaori took a deep breath and nodded her head. She had already completed her 1000 punches, 10 laps around the school, shot 20 rounds of ammunition, and did her half hour of stretching. However, her workout still isn't complete. She will have to learn the basic kicks. The man cleared his throat and took up a front stance with Kaori mimicking his movements. "The first kick I will be showing you is the snap-kick. This is a relatively easy kick and can be done with your lead or power foot. Observe," the man said as he shifted his weight to his back foot and lifted his front leg, bending his knee before straightening out his foot. After the snap-kick, he rest his foot down and took a step forward, doing the exact same kick except with the rear leg. Afterward, he stood up straight and let Kaori do it.

Kaori did a front snap-kick only to lose her balance and fall forward, catching herself before planting into the ground. "When you do that kick, you need to shift your weight towards your back leg," he explained as Kaori retook her position and did it again, shifting all of her weight to her rear leg and delivered a groin-high snap kick. A kick that would put any man on the ground in an instant. She planted her front foot and delivered a relatively easy snap-kick with her rear foot.

"Bravo. Remember that when you kick, you are trying to kick through your opponent," he said, mirroring what she had learned in her lesson with Yume-sensei. After the snap-kick was learned, she learned the axe-kick with the reverse leg; a devastating kick utilizing the heel of her foot down onto someone's body. Due to her limited flexibility, however, she only brought her leg up to her chest height, emphasizing on the downward drive.

After that kick was learned, she was taught the round-house kick. Both with the forward and rear leg. This kick felt pretty natural, but due to the strange movement, she had to watch her balance (otherwise she'd lose her balance and become a clear target). The next kick she'd learn would be the side-kick, then the back kick. All-in-all, she was taught the snap-kick, axe-kick, round-house kick, side-kick, and the back kick; the most basic of all kicks.

After Kaori was done with all of the kicks, she put her hands upon her knees and breathed heavily. "Those are only the basic kicks. I will teach you more kicks when you become more proficient. For now, I want you to do 20 of each kick with each foot every day before stretching. Do you think you can handle that?" Coffee-sensei said adjusting his glasses. It was strange not seeing him with his usual thermos of coffee. Perhaps having to show instead of tell made it difficult to drink coffee during the lesson. With that, Coffee-sensei waved. "Don't forget to stretch," before leaving for yet another hot date.

With a grumble, Kaori sat on her butt and began stretching. "I know I want to be a shinobi, but 4 hours of homework is ridiculous."

-----
E Rank Lesson
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WC: 593
Pay: 2250 (this counts as double due to WC -- 1500 single pay, 2250 is double pay)

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Awakening the Dragon [SSM]

Coffee-sensei told Kaori, explicitly, to forego her usual 'homework' of 1000 punches,
10 laps around the field, 20 shots of the rifle, 20 kicks of each basic kick, and a half hour of stretching every day after class for a special type of class.
She was specifically told to come prepared for mental and physical exhaustion. Confused, Kaori approached Coffee-sensei and noticed his back was turned -- perhaps it was for dramatic effect. "Kaori, the time has come to control the beast within you," he said, sounding like something one would read in a manga or watch on a television show (not that Kaori knew what any of those were). He turned his body around to look at Kaori directly. His signature glasses were missing.

"Look at me clearly, Kaori. I'm not wearing my glasses for a reason. Your mother has instructed me to call out the dragon within you and help you control the Ryuugan," he said with a little nod of his head. Thoughts ran through Kaori's mind like a blur. The warnings her mother gave to her about showing her eyes until now seemed to be law. Showing people her eyes would have people calling her a freak, a monster, or much worse. Even though she showed her eyes to Yume, she felt as if she could trust Yume to not alienate her or call her a monster. The only other person who had seen her eyes was Mina. Now Coffee-Sensei knows about it? Why did her mother expose her like this.

"Do not worry, Kaori. What you have is normal for a lot of people. Observe," he said before a burst of color appeared in his eyes, quickly replacing his already beautiful emerald eyes. His eyes rapidly pulsed the colors of the rainbow in a completely random order as well as many colors she had never seen before. Amazed, Kaori walked up to Coffee-sensei and looked him in the eyes. She was dazzled by the colors she was seeing. After a moment of awe, she turned around and shook her head. "She told me I couldn't! She said people would call me a freak!" she said, placing her hands upon her head and squatting down.

"Don't worry, Kaori. She has given me specific instructions to allow you to do it. Now, show me," he said as Kaori slowly stood up and turned to look towards Coffee-sensei and cleared her throat. "It really hurts doing." "Good, I'm here to help it not hurt as much." Kaori then opened her eyes and her eyes turned completely black before red slits, like that of a reptile's appeared for a brief moment before the slits turned into a small pin-point of a fiery red color. The Ryuugan had activated.

As the Ryuugan was activated, she started to feel intense pain rack within her body. "Don't close your eyes, keep them open," he said as he grabbed Kaori's face and looked directly into her eyes. "No matter how much it hurts, keep your eyes open," he said. The pain was unrivaled to anything she had felt before. The pain was equivalent of being stabbed multiple times. Kaori's eyes began to water, wanting to cry from the intense pain.

"Endure it! Fight the dragon within! Don't be weak, Kaori and do it!" the man said, shouting at the girl. She looked afraid. Her eyes darting from side to side out of pain and the moisture overflowing. "It's hurts! I want to go home!"

Kaori found herself in a field of golden grass swaying in the wind. Confusion continued to set in as she looked around trying to figure out where she was. "Hello? Anyone here? Coffee-sensei!? Yume-sensei!? Anyone?" she called out but nobody responded. She continued to look around until she saw a familiar shape in the distance. A small girl wearing a sun-dress was in the distance with the sun-dress dancing in the wind with the golden grass.

"Mina? Mina? Is that you? I've been waiting so long to see you, Mina!" she said as she ran off towards who she thought was her best friend only to come crashing into an invisible wall. She looked up at the wall and slammed her fist into it, causing it to give off a hollow and dull thud, echoing with each strike. She screamed out her friend's name for a moment before the girl turned around and nodded.

"Don't let it win. Control it, for me, Kao-tan."​

Kaori's eyes came into focus, finding herself staring Coffee-sensei straight in the eyes. Tears ran down her face as the man tried to keep her under control. Kaori smiled at Coffee-Sensei and nodded her head. "It doesn't hurt any more," she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. There was no pain any more. While she is still terrified to show others, there was no longer any pain for this moment. Coffee-sensei let her go with a quizzical look in his eyes, as if he didn't expect that to actually work. With a single clearing of his throat, he reaches into his shirt pocket and placed the glasses upon his face. "Good job, Kaori, you did it. How? Nobody knows. You have slain the dragon. Now if you'll excuse me," he said before walking away.

"Make sure you do your homework now," he said with a wave before walking off.

"What? Really?" she asked before nodding her head with a smile.

Afterwards at the Shrine...
"Yes, she seemed to have brought the Ryuugan under control, at least for now. Once the Ryuugan begins to grow, she might have to repeat this process again. I don't know how she did it but--" Coffee-sensei said before being interrupted by Kaori's mother.

"Doesn't matter. What matters now is that she can control the Ryuugan. The Great Dragon would be very pleased to hear that. Now begone," she said as she waved him off. With a shrug, Coffee-sensei walked away before Kaori's mother walked towards the front of the Great Dragon statue located in the Shrine. "The time draws near. Once her body is strong enough, you can return to this world. Please, be patient, Great Dragon."​

D Rank
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WC: 1020
WC Needed: 600
Pay: 3000 Yen -- Counts as double
Single SSM = 2000 Yen
Double SSM = 3000 Yen

 

[Kanagawa Nozomi]

Hands of the Dragon [SSM]

Kaori woke up in a cold sweat, shooting up to a seated position. She had that same recurring nightmare for the past several days now after having 'awakened' her Ryuugan (a special strain of the Byakkugan that only those in the Tenkawa Family are capable of receiving). She dreamed of the moment Mina had died and the grief that stuck with her. Even now, she is trying to be a shinobi as a way to fulfill Mina's dream vicariously. Becoming a shinobi wasn't her dream and if she had it her way, she would do something else, but her devotion to her friend caused her to become a student at the academy.

A single hand was moved up to her forehead, wiping away the sweat. She stood up, out of bed, to leave behind a pool of sweat on her humble futon.
The moon still hung high in the night sky, shining silver light through the cracks of the wooden blinds leading outside. She disrobed out of her bed robe and started to get dressed in her Shrine Maiden attire. The time was 3 in the morning, but after that dream, her ability to go back to sleep had diminished. After getting dressed, she walked outside and began her chores. She grabbed a broom and started to sweep the grounds near the 'Great Dragon' statue.

"You're up early, Kaori," a familiar voice rang out. Turning her head quietly towards the source of the noise, she noticed it was Coffee-Sensei. He had very dark bags under his eyes, drinking an extra large thermos of coffee. Kaori remained silent and continued to sweep up.
She was still annoyed about how she was treated the last lesson of theirs. The amount of pain she had to go through in order to control her Ryuugan better still lingered with her.

"Why are you here so early?" she asked as she continued to sweep.

"Activate your Ryuugan."

"No, why should I?"

"Just do it"

"No."

"C'mon!"

"No!"

"Well, alright then," Coffee-sensei said before taking a LARGE gulp of his coffee and set the thermos down. He pulled out a couple of senbon out of his sleeve and threw it at Kaori. She moved out of the way, feeling the air pressure of one of the needles whizzing passed her. He threw a couple more senbon at her only for her to quickly dodge them. While she was pre-occupied by the dodging, he found himself behind Kaori and grabbed her by the throat from behind; as if ready to snap her neck.

"I'm only going to say this one more time. Activate the Ryuugan," he said before Kaori bent one of her legs at the knees to try to bring her heel up to his groin. This was enough for him to release his grip upon her (to save his jewels). She turned around and the Dragon Eyes,
the Ryuugan, was activated. "Happy now?

"There is a power deep inside of you, Kaori. You know what it is. When your hands look like they are catching on fire. Yeah, those.
Let me see those," he said as Kaori's hands clenched into tight fists.

"I don't know how to use it. It just happens when I get angry," she said as she kept her eyes on Coffee-sensei.

"Oh, I see, that's interesting. Perhaps a demonstration of your power then?" Coffee-sensei said before he snapped his fingers,
seeing all of her siblings come from out of nowhere to watch. This caused Kaori to look around with a dreadful expression. The appearance of her siblings didn't call forth anger, but it called forth fear. None of her siblings treated her like a member of the family; the puppet child was one of the nicknames given to her.

"C'mon, Kaori. Shouldn't be too hard to do for a monster," one of her siblings said. She turned to her sibling and frowned. Even her siblings thought she was a monster because she was born with those eyes and with those horns.

"Yeah, monster. Something as simple as molding chakra around your hands shouldn't be TOO difficult, now would it?" asked one of her older sisters.
Her head started to spin. She loved her family so why would they treat her like this? Coffee-sensei looked to the other siblings and gave them a signal.
Acknowledging that signal, all but one of the siblings backed off for a moment. The meanest sibling was left there, the one that relentlessly tormented her.

He had his eyes fixated upon Kaori and walked up to her and started to pull on her hair. "What's the use of having those gloves when you aren't going to use them, huh? I didn't know that monsters were afraid!" he said with a terrible laugh. He started to sling her around before letting her go, causing her to fall onto the ground. He then ran up to her and kicked her in the chest a few times before spitting on her. "Monsters have no place in this world.
Especially monsters that are chicken shit like you," he said before spitting on her again.

Coffee-sensei walked over to the downed Kaori and squatted right next to her. "You said those hands are activated when you are angry right? Why not try it out on him?"

"I don't want to hurt him," Kaori responded before having a coughing fit.

"You, hurt me? Pffft! There's no way someone like you could hurt me. Too bad Mina didn't get a chance to grow up. She would've been fun to play with," her brother said before Kaori's eyes shot wide open. She turned and looked towards her brother for a moment before her irises changed to a reptilian slit for a moment before returning to the normal Ryuugan colors. Her hands ignited in a blue-ish white energy before she quickly pounced on her brother and started to wail on him. She threw punches with each of her fists, with each attack being blocked by her brother's arms.

"Stop! I'm sorry, Kaori!" he said as he continued to block attacks from Kaori's 'Gentle Fists'.

"How dare you! Mina was my friend! She was the only one to treat me like a human being! How dare you!" she said as she continued to punch at her brother's arms only to be pulled off by Coffee-Sensei. She turned to clocked him in the face, causing his nose to bleed.
Upon seeing what she did, her eyes returned to normal and the flames around her hands vanished. She then turned towards Coffee-sensei and started to bow profusely. A single hand was placed upon her head with a smile.

"Come see me at 4 pm today. I'll teach you how to properly control it, alright?" he said before moving his hand off of her head.
Nodding, Kaori turned and looked towards her brother, scowled at him, and made her way towards the bath. Coffee-sensei walked over to his thermos and picked it up, taking a large swig from it. He then moved over to Kaori's brother, the one laying upon the ground in pain. His arms immediately bruised up.

"Any more and my arms would've broken. You better have that money ready, geez," he said before standing up without the assistance of his hands.
He nodded and waved the boy off, letting him go on his own way.

4 PM
Kaori showed up in a fresh set of Shrine Maiden clothing at the usual place only to see Coffee-sensei once again. "Remember that feeling from this morning? Channel that feeling again. The feeling of anger and rage." he said before Kaori activated her Ryuugan and closed her eyes.
She let rage and anger take over her before her fists ignited in a blue-ish white flame. She looked at her hands and threw them into the air. "It worked!" she shouted in victory. "But why anger and hatred? Isn't there a better way to do this?"
she asked.

Coffee-sensei nodded his head and adjusted his glasses. "Of course there is. But that'll be up to you to figure out. At least you can turn it on or off at your will. So for now, just channel the feelings of anger to use your abilities, understand?" Coffee-sensei asked. Kaori nodded and Coffee-sensei waved her off. She deactivated her Gentle Fist and Ryuugan and disappeared. After Kaori went away, he got onto his headset and turned into Kaori's mother's frequency.

"She's able to control the Dragon Fists now. Sadly, she will have to use emotions that she doesn't usually feel. I think it would be bad for her psyche to continue that way."

"It doesn't matter how she feels. She just needs to be able to use it properly. It's not your place to be concerned for her welfare, Takeda. Your place is to develop her into what is needed, do you understand? The money will be sent to you at the same place tonight at 10PM," Kaori's mom said over the headset.

"Alright" he said before turning the headset off. He gripped his right hand into a tight fist and shook it slightly. He didn't feel happy about what he's doing, but the money was needed. "I'm sorry, Kaori"​

D Rank
Requested Here
WC: 1510
WC Needed: 600
Pay: 3000 Yen -- Counts as double
Single SSM = 2000 Yen
Double SSM = 3000 Yen