Starring:
Date: December 24, 2014
Summary:
A young Miira begins to teach his younger cousin how to weave wind in more subtle and precise ways.
"Learning how to Breath a Breeze"
Land of Wind
It was the beginning of the week yet the young Miira was already at the Academy's training area even though it was well before noon. Looking up towards the sky every so often, Rikuto tries to guess the time by the sun's position before grumbling from looking at it too closely. "She should be here in little more than an hour.. I think?" Shaking his head lightly, he grumbles a bit to himself. 'I wonder where Tsuchi-sensei is, I think she'd end up being better with lessons about wind jutsu than I am.'
Arika enters the training grounds, the girl accompanied by Ping. Well, chased after by Ping. The Jounin is trying to stop her from eating the final piece of mochi that she was supposed to wait until dinner to have… "Ikitara-san, if you eat that, then you'll have no dinner!" he warns. Arika just scrambles away quickly. "But… I really want it nooow," she whines, looking at the box wistfully. "I won't let you train with Miira-san!" That makes her pause and pout. "Fine…" she mumbles, skidding to a halt just in front of Rikuto. She gives the to-go box to Ping and gives Rikuto a somewhat-moody hug. "Rikkun, Ping-San is threatening me!"
All the while Rikuto sat and watched the pair with a mouth over his lips trying not to laugh as the two argued though by the time Arika drew near, she and Ping both would be able to hear his suppressed chuckles. When her arms around him, the young Miira wraps an arm around the young girl and gives her a soft squeeze. "You can't have your dinner before it's really lunch time. If your tummy grumbles while we practice I'll think about heading to the market for a snack, my treat."
Turning his attention to Ping, the teen dips his head to the man slightly. "You don't have to worry about her, I'll make sure she doesn't blow down a wall or try to buy a week's worth of treats at the market either, you have my word." Shifting back to Arika, the arm around her raises up and pats her back twice. "If you ate it all now, you'll get aches from running around after eating anyways."
Arika nods excitedly to Rikuto, bouncing a bit at the idea of a treat. Ping takes the bag of mochi with a small sigh. "Thank you, Miira-san. I'll leave Ikitara-San to you, then, while I make dinner for us later. Best of luck." With a small bow, he just disappears. Arika scrambles a bit to try and climb up onto Rikuto's back. "Ne, Rikkun! What're you gonna teach me today?" she asks curiously, voice filled with excitement.
"H-hey!" As Arika scrambled to climb up his back, the young Miira teeters as he tries to keep balanced and upright. "Where do to think you're going?" Bringing his hands together, Rikuto begins to rapidly make a set of seals before exhaling sharply. The air that he breathed out quickly began to encircle him closely and soon began to try to tug at Arika, threatening to drag her off of him and toss her about with the spherical shape of it. "You need to learn to to use the wind properly."
Arika just clings to Rikuto even tighter as the wind tugs at her, not letting go until is stops moving. "Okie! So, what're we doing, then?" she wonders, hopping off the Miira's back in a swift motion once the winds are gone.
Only a grumble could be heard as Arika manages to stay on his back even though he tried to blow her away. 'I need to work on that technique..' With his breath faded, the winds quiet, only to have the girl hop off causes Rikuto to mutter to himself further. Shifting a quarter turn, he looks over to her and asks, "I told you, working on how you manage to shape the wind. You can shape it around an edge or help you run more quickly, but have you ever shaped.. a breeze, a gale. Something without anything physical?"
Arika puffs up a bit, taking a deep breath as if to list all her accomplishments. And then she ends with a deflated look and a mumbled 'no…'. She pokes at the earth with her toe, peering intently at the hole before looking up again. "So I need to shape the wind? How do I do that?"
"Breath" was just one word, but the only word Rikuto said before breathing in slowly, holding his breath and exhaling slowly. There wasn't anything special about the breath, but he still repeated the pattern again. "You can shape chakra well, you showed me that. You also know how wind chakra flows, but rather than an object, you are lacing your lungs, your mouth, your breath with chakra." Breathing in slowly, Rikuto exhales towards Arika once, hardly noticeable though he repeats and breaths out again, this time even though he didn't make more sound, a strong gale rushed against Arika. "It's about force, but also control. It's more tricky than fire chakra too, and it keeps moving unlike when you try to shake chakra."
Arika hrms and nods, closing her eyes and focusing her attention on her breathing. The girl takes a few normal breaths, then starts to lace it with chakra, letting it grow stronger and stronger as she continues to take in air.
"Good, good. So you see it's simple to think about.. not as hard as making it focus into a single shape but.. we need to help you work on how much you can control at once." Standing up, Rikuto brushes at his knees before moving away from the young girl. After ten steps, he kneels down and moves a hand into his satchel, pulling out a pinwheel and planting it into the ground, and then repeated such after every five steps four more times before returning. "Now Arichan, can you guess what this is like?"
Arika nods a bit, opening her eyes to watch the Miira set up… Something. "Ummmm… It doesn't seem too hard. But what's that for, Rikkun? To see how far I can send wind?" she wonders, wandering over and giving a pinwheel a small flick with her finger so she can watch it spin. She seems to delight in doing so, despite the small grumbles in the back of her mind. Something about 'waste of time'.
"Yes, no, bit of both and neither" was chimed as he sits back down beside Arika. Moving the pinwheel up to his lips, Rikuto gently blows onto it and causes it to spin rather rapidly long after he stopped. "There are minor competitions, mostly with students and genin, never chuunin though, that test each other's control of the elements. I want to know how well you'd do in the wind bracket. ..There's prizes you know?"
"Prizes?" Arika echoes, eyes lighting up. "Like what? Mochi? Drawing supplies? Money for stuff?" She bounces a bit in her spot, then moves to a pinwheel again, blowing on it so it spins at a medium pace. "What's the wind bracket have to do?" she then asks, watching as Rikuto's pinwheel continues to spin.
"Money for sure, though Mochi and supplies you can buy from the prize money.. Hmm, a week's worth of Mochi and you get to pick how much of it you eat?" As he explains the prize, Rikuto begins to grin a bit, leaning to one side before nudging the girl with an elbow faintly. "Then again, with the skill you have now, you might not even manage to get a treat out of it unless you practice some more." Turning his head away, Rikuto breaths in lightly before exhaling, the first two pinwheels don't move at all, but the third one does, yet the forth was staying still. "Just having a strong breath doesn't help you win, control will."
Arika hrms and nods, making a few handseals as she readies her chakra. The girl blows out, then, and makes the second pinwheel go spinning. Unfortunately, the third one ends up turning as well, but the fact that she was able to skip over one is impressive!
"Hm.. half a point" was answered coolly before moving his fingers up to his lips and breaths out slowly, rather than wind flowing from his lips. flames do as well, snaking out and across the field, making a weaving pattern, similar to a snake, weaving over the second and the forth one by the time Rikuto's lips sealed shut. "Are you trying to control things from the sides or maybe from straight ahead and above? Working from the sides" allows you to control where to move more.. but it's a little tricky.
"Hm.. half a point" was answered coolly before moving his fingers up to his lips and breaths out slowly, rather than wind flowing from his lips. flames do as well, snaking out and across the field, making a weaving pattern, similar to a snake, weaving over the second and the forth one by the time Rikuto's lips sealed shut. "Are you trying to control things from the sides or maybe from straight ahead and above? Working from the sides allows you to control where to move more.. but it's a little tricky."
Arika pouts. "This's hard…" She hmms and closes her eyes again, focusing on how it feels to move the wind near her. She uses a bit of the air currents jutsu she knows, too, to expand her senses and get to know how air travels between the pinwheels and through them. Then she starts to hone in on her breathing, thinking of how the chakra should move as she breathes. Out of her mouth, then along towards the pinwheels… And then continue to move in a snake-pattern? She makes a handseal, breathing in. Then she exhales, letting her breath fill with chakra as it flows out, the girl moving the chakra and wind to send one of the middle pinwheels spinning.
"Very nice. These aren't just about how fast you are, or how strong, but check how can you think of a solution.. quickly. That's a full point." Moving his hands into a brief seal, Rikuto exhales softly, causing a breeze to rush against the younger girl but also to snake out to the pinwheels, snaring the second and the fourth one, making both of them spin rapidly though the fourth one span slowly, backwards even from the force. "Each time a stage is completed, the next is more odd, sometimes even hard for chuunins."
Arika nods a bit and tries to copy what Rikuto just did. Unfortunately, she's only partly successful. A single pinwheel turns at the same rate Rikuto sent one spinning, but the second she targeted barely moves. The girl pouts as she fails again, kicking the ground a few times in frustration. "Is there an art competition in it, Rikkun? I think I could do good in that!"
Turning to Arika, the young Miira leans to the side and pats the ground next to himself. "You are using brute force.. In this instance, force isn't need almost at all.. Close your eyes. Describe to me how does it feel to use these techniques. Take your time." A light smile was on Rikuto's lips as he turns and breaths out forcefully once, causing all the pinwheels to flutter at once, without much tact to it.
Arika shakes her head, stalking off to a corner to sulk instead of even bothering to try and makes the pinwheels spin. "Okie! I got it!" she grumbles, resting her chin on her arms as she pulls her knees to her chest. No, it's not because of Rikuto that she's pouting and whiny. She's frustrated for a number of reasons that Rikuto needs to poke out of her.
Standing up, Rikuto begins to make his way over to Arika grumbling lightly but doesn't complain. Dropping down into a crouch in front of her he uses a finger to poke her forehead lightly. "Arichan, if something is easy and you do it, do you feel proud or just meh? How does it feel to manage to get something difficult done, not just done but done well? You feel proud and excited, right?" The Miira's voice was soft as he spoke to the young girl, turning his ear slightly to listen closely.
Arika frowns a bit. "I mean… I just feel happy I can do it. If it's hard, I'm even happier. But right now there's too much going on!" She huffs again and basically throws herself into Rikuto, making it so that he sits down so she can rest on his lap. And if not, at least she can lean against him and use him much like one would a pillow?
"H-hey!" Stumbling backwards, Rikuto lands on his rear and soon finds himself as a pillow rather than a teacher. Moving his hand down, he soon sinks his fingers into Arika's hair and gently combs it out. "Focus.. focus.. You need to be able to have a clear mind if you want to shape something without a shape. What's eating at you anyways Arichan?"
Arika snuggles the Miira. "I can't figure out what my next sketch is gonna be! And Hachiji keeps yelling at me in my dreams and it's making me sleepy and I can't focus!" She huffs a bit, but starts to relax as Rikuto combs his fingers through her hair, eyes closing a bit.
The young Miira continues to gently scratch at Arika's head before finger combing her hair out slowly as she seems to relax under the motions. "You're next sketch will me drawing how you want to shape the wind. As for 'Hachiji' I'll find a way to put a gag in his mouth and tie him up. No monsters should be keeping little girls up at night. Sound good?" Tilting his head to one side, Rikuto watches the young girl, though with more than a little worry as he says the odd name, unsure 'who' that was.
Arika sits up and nods, hugging Rikuto again before getting up. "Hmm… Okie. Sounds good, I think." She gets up to go over to the wind catchers, blowing again to try and send them spinning. This time around, she manages to manipulate the air enough that two of them that are right next to each other go spinning at different speeds.
The practice wouldn't end within an hour, not even when noon passes though the pair do break and make for the market after a while, gathering lunch but also a small treat of mochi that Arika was begging for. After their meal, Rikuto bring them back to the training area and lays out three rows of five pinwheels and continue the lessons, trying to teach Arika to be subtle and precise with her control.
