Starring:
Date: November 4, 2010
Summary:
Fuyu and Nobu have a chat at a dessert bar about Nobu's goals.
"Unwell"
Dessert Bar - Kusagakure
It has been about a week now since Fuyu's match against Hyuuga Kukiko. She has not been available much to spend time with her team, and she regrets that. Too many matches needed a proctor. Too many people had questions. Too many security concerns from other Uchiha who had come to watch the tournament. Half the Uchiha were convinced that Fuyu could have beaten Kuki but had given up in order to appear weak, so that she could then lay waste to the 'losers' and then have a rematch in which she knew all of her opponent's strengths and weaknesses. The other half were disappointed… But hopeful for the results of a rematch. The idea that Fuyu could lose AGAIN had not even crossed their minds.
What is Fuyu planning? Right now, she is having an icecream sundae at a dessert bar along the road. She has invited Nobu to join her.
Nobu wasn't sure what to expect from Kusa on his way here, but even his craziest guesses hadn't involved ice cream. Or any sort of frozen dessert, really. Since she's now his team leader, Fuyu's involvement was easier to anticipate, but he still really doesn't know exactly what's going on here. He hadn't seen her match, but news of the loss wasn't hard to find. And apparently it was more embarrassing than just a simply loss, but he'd heard a variety of conflicting stories, all of which sounded far-fetched.
In any case, he's come to the dessert bar at Fuyu's request, ready to see what it is she wants from him. He takes a moment to look around for her as he steps up, then spots her and walks over. In his usual reserved manner, he bows to her and greets, "Hello, Fuyu-sama." Then he simply watches her, waiting to see how she'll respond.
Fuyu turns her head when Nobu shows up and nods towards him in acknowledgement. "Hello. Care to have a seat, or would you prefer to stand?" She does not wait more than five seconds for an answer or action to be taken before starting in on why she called Nobu here. "I called you here because I realize I have not been giving much in the way of the training I had promised to Team 5. I regret this, but this tournament has kept me busy. Still… I want you to know that I have not forgotten you all. I intend to make sure you all succeed in your goals… I offered to teach you strength by tolerating pain. But that's now what you're looking for, is it?" She asks as she looks from the icecream she is stabbing with a spoon, towards Nobu.
"I can stand," Nobu answers without much thought. He'd rather just stand their, hands at his side and his attention on Fuyu. "I understand," he says, once Fuyu is finished speaking, "I knew that the tournament would interrupt some people's schedules. And I knew that the team might be included." He pauses for a second to consider those last couple of sentences, glancing down at Fuyu's spoon. Then he looks back up to her. "What I'm looking for is… complex," he explains. A bit of his voice's usual flatness is replaced by some hesitation. "It's related to a number of things. But learning to tolerate pain could be one of those things."
Fuyu turns her attention back on the icecream she is in the process of destroying, aesthetically, and finally scoops some up and puts it in her mouth. After swallowing, she has heard what Nobu has to say. "A lot of things can be complex. I'd like to hear it as best as you can describe, in your own terms, unless you are uncomfortable doing so. One way of increasing a team's functionality is for the members to know and understand each other. Knowing what motivates an ally can assist in nonverbal communication, among other things."
"You may have some idea already," Nobu begins, "But the truth is that I am not… completely healthy. I need to take a number of different medicines regularly to keep myself… alive, probably." He glances to the side a little, perhaps not entirely comfortable with this sort of frank talk. "The other thing that keeps me alive is my training. I'm in poor health, but I'm still fit. When I make my body stronger, my life is better, and I need less medical treatment. Every doctor I've asked doesn't think I'll be able to stop using medicine outright, but if I keep getting stronger then I won't have to depend on it as much." He swallows. "That's my concise explanation."
Fuyu actually had not suspected anything like this. She thought there was a personal reason, yes, but this… "Hmm…" She just makes a thoughtful noise at he explanation. Then she says, "I see." Then silence as she eats about half of her icecream without another word. When she finishes that half, she wipes her lips on a napkin and turns to face Nobu fully on her stool. "So you need to push yourself, but not so hard that you cause harm to your body… Pain tolerance won't help with that. It will help you if you have to keep on fighting while your health is declining, but other than that, it won't 'fix' you. However…" She looks at the icecream bowl once more, now full of mostly-melted dessert. "That doesn't mean I can't help you. It just means a change in tactics for your training regimine. I'll push you as hard as I think you can go without risk of death, if that's what you need. But I won't torment you. Your training must be training, not torture. Hurting oneself doesn't make oneself stronger."
Listening to Fuyu's response, Nobu nods along. "That is the sort of thing I was looking for," he agrees, "When I said I wanted to become stronger, what I really meant is that I want to fight back my health problems." He stops talking for a second to think. "As for how hard I can be pushed… I don't expect it's much less than the average chuunin. My health is poor, but I've overcome its effects on my strength and endurance… more or less." He follows Fuyu's gaze down to the melted ice cream. "In any case, I'm prepared for whatever training you have in store for me."
