"What?"
Still pointing to the tiny speck of a target, she orders, "Hit the middle of that on the tree over there."
He looks to Mai who is staring holes in him. The poor boy sighs and focuses on the target. 'Geez.. can it be any further away?' He throws the his knife with great precision. *thunk* It hits the target smack-dab in the middle. 'Ah.. I guess that wasn't bad.'
Yua looks at Mai who doesn't seem to be convinced. Yua hands him the other knife. "Again." He takes it from her and throws again. "Bullseye."
"So what? It doesn't change the fact that I still dodged it." Mai reasons.
Yua smacks her forehead in frustration. "You still don't get it? I thought you would understand considering you have great battle-prowess," Yua sighs. "What I'm trying to show you is that the only reason you were able to dodge is because Taitsuke never wanted to hit you. He missed intentionally. If he wasn't confident in his precision, wouldn't he had just thrown the knives to the bulk of your body instead of aiming for sides of your face? The truth is, that battle would have been over if that block-head over there didn't just use his talent before-hand."
Shocked, Mai looks down in shame. "That means.. I did lose."
"Mm. You lost, but you did well."
The sandy haired girl turns to Taitsuke and apologizes, "I'm sorry for that.. and thank you for the match."
Taitsuke shakes his head. "No need and I thank you as well." Although he made many mistakes in the fight, he won. It's rare for him to win when sparring in with his classmates. It was probably just a bad match-up, but a win was a win.
Blowing away the touching moment, Yua interrupts. "Okay, now that that is over, let me tell you what I saw."
The two sit back down on the dirt floor and listen to Yua's lecture. "I'll start with Mai." The girl gulps, nervous to hear what Yua was going to say. "You did better than I expected. Truth be told, I assumed that you would have struggled more since your style consists of the use of formations. Since you don't do quick releases, I was wondering how you would distract your opponent while you completed your formation. But seeing as you not only secretly completed it, but made a second one as well, I have to say that I'm quite impressed." The edges of Mai's mouth start to curl up until Yua continues. "However, the fact is that you lost and it was all due to your fatal flaw that I was talking about earlier. You don't use any quick releases. It took you two minutes just to push your opponent back. Two minutes is a long time during a one to one battle. What would happen if you needed to escape or if you needed to protect someone? You can't just rely on formations. Also, quicksand.. though it is useful in long-range battles, you were right next to Taitsuke. One could have easily finished you off with a quick release. And lastly, field-manipulation doesn't just affect your enemy. It affects your comrades. Right now, you aren't at the stage exact spots you want to manipulate, so until you can do so, you must learn something that will be able to cover your weak-spots."
Mai furrows her brows and thinks about all the honest and truth-baring criticism she received.
"Now.. Taitsuke, you won this time, but it was only because your opponent was a good match for you. Most Chibushi would have been able to stop the knives with some type of defensive barrier. From what I saw, you probably trained more in Heishi skills in order to recreate the enhanced body movements that your peers were doing with Chi. The way you are now is probably on par with Heishi students in Secondary Training, however you are training to be a Chibushi. Therefore you must learn
techniques that will be fit you battling style. Most people start personalizing their style when they reach their 5th year of Primary training, when basic training is over. It's almost the end of the year now and Initial Trials are in less than a week. Today, you've just began the most basic training exercises. When you can master that, I'll teach you some techniques that will be useful to your Heishi-based style... You must catch up with your peers and learn how to use your Blessings. You're behind everyone else right now, but if you follow what I say, you might be able to catch up.
He nods, but feels bothered by her words. 'Sometimes she says things that seem like they aren't just mistakes.. Blessings? For all I know, I've only had one Blessing.. She probably knows more about me from before I lost my memories.. But still.. Why was I never told about this before? And that story about how we met.. She said something inconsistent back then too. Something doesn't seem to be right.' He shakes his head lightly. 'Taiyou-san already told me that the less I know the better it is for us. I decided to put my trust in her when I found out that she was on our side.'
"-tsuke! Taitsuke!"
He looks back up after his whirlwind of thoughts. "Sorry?"
"For now I'm going to teach Mai-chan, I want you to continue with that exercise. Don't slack off."
Taitsuke returns back to his spot underneath the dead tree and refocuses himself. Finally able to circulate his Chi normally and effortlessly, he cannot waste even a second of his time.
Yua smirks happily at how obedient he is being. 'It seems that sealing his Chi and allowing him to strengthen his body naturally really was the key. Now he can use his Chi without worrying about damaging his body.'
She turns back her attention to Mai who seems to be a bit tired after expending a lot of her Chi earlier. 'Her specialties are techniques probably passed down from her parents... She must have spent all her time practicing how to do them correctly. Formations are good when the enemies are slow or are distracted from the maker, but... To think she was never taught about the fatal flaws in using them. Whoever was both their teacher must have not really been paying attention to their growth. She was probably told that these were strong skills to have so she continued to practice only them. They require a lot of power to complete, a big problem for her age. Just who on earth is teaching these children? I have to teach her better defense and offense techniques.'
"Mai, have you ever seen a barrier before?"
Her face freezes her question. "Yes, during training class. We were taught concepts..."
"Are your classmates good at them?"
"..Yes, a lot of them are able to perform them easily, but I was never good in making them.."
Yua crosses her arms and nods her head. "It's probably because you don't practice quick releases. The way you use your Chi is by slowly gathering it inside you. To make a barrier, you need you need to gather Chi quickly. It also may be because you've never seen an Earth-user like yourself make one before.. When wind users make a barrier, it encapsulates the user in a tornado like wind. When water users make one, they surround themselves with water. Thunder users shield themselves with a electrical shield and so on. If I recall correctly, there are probably only metal users or crystal users on the island and no pure earth-users, therefore you probably never knew where to focus your energy."
Taking a few steps back, Yua raises her leg and stomps on the dirt. From the ground, a round, stone like structure as tall as the trees around them completely surrounded her.
"Oh!" Mai exclaims.
Punching through her creation, Yua walks out from the rubble and smashes the rest back to dust with a few kicks. "This earth barrier is made by taking the Earth around you and strengthening it with your Chi. Sort of like how the wind element requires air, the Earth element requires the earth. Of course that is only if you not strong enough to produce your element.. Anyways, for now, I want you to practice doing this at least a thousand times before the sun sets. Only count the ones that can fit at least three or more people."
"WHAT?"
Determined, the two kids train like there is no tomorrow. Yua watches them while sitting on the top a boulder, but a little after 10 am she starts to doze off. Her body starts to lean backwards and slowly slides down. Before falling off the boulder, she wakes up catches herself. 'Damn. I should go sleep for a bit.' She jumps down and yawns widely. "Hey kids, I'll be going for now. I'll return later. When your hungry, make sure you eat these." She pulls out that disgusting pastry and the green liquid again. "No Slacking. I'll be able to tell if you did." Without a trace, she disappears.
For the next few hours, the two focus on their various tasks, not acknowledging each other at all. "ARGH!" Mai cries in despair. "The most I can fit is probably only me and half a person. How does she expect me to make 3?" Feeling agitated, she decides to take a break. She picks up the weird health foods and takes whiff of them. "Blegh." She put's it aside then feels a nagging guilt in the voice of her grandma inside her. 'Mai, don't you ever waste food. If you do, all of the Gods in heaven will never allow you to enter.' Attempting to eat the weird pastry, she takes a small bite before spitting it back out. "Oh my God of Kame, this is disgusting. I don't even think this can be considered food, 'baa-chan." Putting it down she falls backwards and turns her head to the silent boy on the other side of the training circle.
Even more than when he first started that morning, Taitsuke's Chi circulation felt like it has jumped miles ahead from where he used to be. Though circulation is the most basic of training techniques, it is really helping him understand his own Chi and how it works. It's as if something clicked within him.
Mai watches him out of curiosity. 'From his features, I thought Ryoko would be either a fire or earth element.. who would have thought that he would be a wood-element? I guess Yua-sensei was right; the world really has many surprises.. But why is he doing something so basic? Isn't that for 3rd year students?' She raises herself back up and leans backward onto the boulder, interested in the mysterious boy. 'Wait isn't that tree dead? Don't wood-users usually practice on only live plants? I wonder why he's doing that... Actually, I wonder where he's been for these passed few weeks. His timing really incriminated him.'
After hearing all the conspiracy theories, Mai asked Ayame many times if she thought it was Taitsuke that burned down her Shrine, but Ayame insisted it wasn't him. Truthfully, Mai wasn't one to easily believe or spread rumors, but when it came to her best-friend, she couldn't exactly ignore the possibility. 'Ayame said that it definitely not him, but...'
"Hey. Ryoko."
Too focused to hear her, he doesn't respond.
"Ryoko!"
It's no use. It's like he's possessed, like he's about to make another break-through.
"Taitsuke Ryoko!"
At that moment, Taitsuke's Chi output doubles and his flow becomes sporadic. The tree starts to regain a bit of color. His body begins to tremble and sweat drips down his neck. Unable to handle the fluctuation of power, he falls backward in exhaustion.
Mai's breath stops. "Woah." Before her eyes, the once dead tree produced tiny buds. Utterly Surprised, she asks, "Hey Ryoko. What exactly did Yua-sensei ask you to do?"
Lying on the ground, he huffs, "She said.. to circulate.. my Chi into the tree and then back to my body. You know the regular wood-element exercise."
Mai tries to think back to all of the times she watched the wood-users in her class do that exact exercise. 'I've never seen them ever revive something actually dead before... Usually, they can create plant life, manipulate plants, create poison, etc. But they never bring something dead back to life.. no. It probably was still alive somehow..'
Then, she realizes, "Wait..That must mean you a healer!"
'Taitsuke Ryoko has always been two steps.. no a mile behind everyone else in terms of using Chi. In the last training class I saw him at, his quick release was even worse than mine. When he produced one, it would dissipate just as fast. He had absolutely no talent. I don't even know if he even knew what his element was... Maybe that's what he did these past two weeks. But to come so far in that amount of time isn't possible. No.. maybe it's because of Yua-sensei, she probably knew that he had a rare ability. Most healers are basically just medics that can help speed up the natural process of healing nonfatal wounds or wood-users that can create medicinal herbs. But the amount of people that have his talent are just a handful and dwindling. If Ryoko can learn how to be a healer, his future should be.. brighter than that of anyone from our class.'
"Ryoko.. do you realize what this means?"
"Of course! It means I'm not useless." He lets out a ecstatic laugh looking up to the budding branches. "A healer? How unfitting!"
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