Maloren and Junko's Training Post 1

Maloren became conscious soon after Junko started performing CPR and quickly began to cough out all of the water that he decided to foolishly invite into his lungs. He sat up on his arm and breathed deeply. His mind was racing at a million thoughts per minutes as a small blush graced his face. He didn't quite understand what all had happened. As such he was, understandably, disorientated. He looked around and saw Junko sitting above him, looking worried out of her mind. He then looked over and saw Katashi running over to see what was going on, also obviously worried. He sat fully and shook his head, becoming light headed in the process, he quickly grabbed his head. "Okay, so that wasn't my shining moment of the day..." He muttered under his breath, marveling at his own stupidity. "What the hell happened?" He asked as Katashi finally arrived to join them. He opened his eyes again after the light headedness faded and looked to Junko as she was the closest. 

(1225)

Junko smiled. "No, it wasn't, and that's what I'd like to know. Do you think you can stand up? I want to get you into the shade." Junko would stand up, bending down and putting her hand out for Maloren to grab onto. At the same time, she would look up to Katashi. "Oniichan, can you go and get some food and water, and maybe some gauze, from town? Best to not make Mally walk too far right now."

"Sure, Junko. I'll be back soon," Katashi said as he ran off, sprinting as fast as he could into town, as soon as he had put his clothes back on. It was still a fair bit away, though, so it may take him awhile.

Assuming that Maloren accepted Junko's arm and her shoulder as support as they walked, Junko would begin to sweat a little. She wasn't super strong, and if Maloren put much weight on her shoulder, it would be kinda hard.

[1191]

Maloren accepted her arm but kept most of the weight on himself, only using her to help stand upright as he did it. They made their way to the shade and he sat down against the tree. Sighing in relief as the oppressive heat was held at bay by the tree. He knew Katashi would take about a half hour to return with food, water, and gauze from the town judging by the distance and he looked to Junko and smiled. "Thank you Junko-chan" He said as he unconsciously licked his lips a little. He felt a strange sensation on them and he couldn't quite place it. "What happened Junko? I black out and came to on the shore by the lake with you over me. I just remember coughing up a lot of water..." He said, trailing off at the end as he very quickly put two and two together as he realized Junko had to have given him CPR. 

On this day he would break the records for darkest blush three consecutive times, truly an astonishing feat. His mind went back to racing and he said in a low voice "What small world do we live in that my biggest crush ends up performing CPR?" He muttered as he continued his legendary blush and avoiding eye contact like the plague. His eyes soon widened however as he realized that he said that out loud. He was on pace to breaking the record for a fourth time before he took a very deep breath. "Maybe she didn't hear? I'm  pretty sure I said it really low so maybe she didn't notice" He thought, praying to kami that he was right.He quickly became a fidgeting mess as he glanced over to Junko, hoping to still have his friend.

(1524)

The trees were not far, so the pair approached them quickly. "Just relax a bit now," Junko said, right before Maloren said "Thank you."

"You fell into the water," Junko said as she sat down next to him. "I'm assuming either heat stroke or exhaustion, or maybe you exercised too much without eating. Did you eat today?" Junko was looking at him worriedly. She had some medical training, but had never really performed any potentially life saving anything until just a few minutes ago. "Either way, I ended up having to give you CPR. I'm not sure it was totally needed, as you were live and kicking by the second round, but it was better safe than sorry." Junko was kind of scared about how nonchalantly she was talking about this. A shiver rushed through her body, even on this hot day, when she realized that Maloren had almost died, and she was talking about it like it was a minor inconvenience.

And then she heard it, the words that Maloren whispered under his breath. Her face instantly turned around and she blushed, although not as badly as Maloren was. Should I pretend I didn't hear him? she thought. By his reaction, it was obvious he had not wanted to say that and it had slipped out.

And then she reached out, almost against her control, and would try to wrap her fingers in Maloren's.



Meanwhile, somewhere on a trail in the middle of a forest...

Um.. fuck. I think I'm lost.

[1448]

He felt her fingers try to wrap into his and he wrapped his in hers in return, shocked at that particular action. He sat there in a contemplative quiet. He couldn't imagine her returning his feelings. He began to wonder if this was a dream or not. "Could this simply be a dream?" He whispered to himself as he subconsciously pulled her her up and kissed it. "If this is a dream then that pretty much won't matter, and if it isn't then I'm just more embarrassed which I can deal with I guess." He thought as they rested in the shade. He realized he had intentionally come to this training ground to train on a new technique, but he figured he'd get to it later. He was relishing the contact with his long time crush too much to want to move unless she did. 

He briefly wondered what would happen if he tried to actually kiss her instead of her just giving him CPR. "Would that be too forward?" He thought to himself. Being from a clan of stuck up nobles and avoided because of it left him a bit wanting in terms of social skills. He took in a deep breath and exhaled loudly, enjoying the few minutes of piece of quiet with her as he doubted it would happen often.

(1747

Junko wasn't sure why she had grabbed Maloren's hand. It had felt right. But him kissing her hand.. didn't. She wasn't sure why, but it felt weird. Not "I hate this" weird, more of a "why is this happening" weird. She would pull her hand out of his and wrap her arms around her legs, sitting with her head in her knees. She wasn't sure what to think right now.

Meanwhile, on the trail that doesn't split at all...

Fuck. How am I lost? Katashi thought, not realizing that he was in no way lost. The boy thought he was lost as he figured he should have been to the village by now. He was simply overestimating his speed. Well, if I walk in a line long enough, I should make it eventually, right? he thought, taking off in, incredibly luckily, the correct direction.

It would be but a few minutes before he arrived in the village, perplexed as to how he came out of the exact spot in the forest through which he had entered. Was I not lost? he thought as he went to a local store. Katashi would purchase some rolls, a bit of cheese, and a half pound of ham, as well as several bottles of water and a few juices, plus 3 bananas. Paying the cashier, he would take these things across the street and purchase a simple first aid kit, and a large bag to make carrying everything easier. Then another two large bags when the first one broke. With the items in tow, he began running back to the training area.

[1733]

Maloren sighed internally when Junko pulled her hand away, he figured that would happen. Things would be awkward between for awhile but he at least hoped she didn't think less of him for his feelings. He wouldn't say these things out loud of course, that would make it even more awkward. He reached up, and cracked his neck again, before standing up and shaking his body up. He was still in his boxers, and the sun had thankfully dried him off as he moved a few feet to the training dummy without saying word. "She wouldn't like me that way anyway, I don't what I was thinking.." He thought as he activated his byakugan and began striking the dummy as before, quickly, and accurately. The bits of paper on the back of the dummy would begin falling off as his chakra struck them through the thick wooden dummy. 

"I will learn the 64 palms before the day ends" He said to himself under his breath. Training helped him keep his mind off thing, and rejection hurt no matter who it was. So he would use it as fuel for his training. He wasn't mad at Junko, perish the thought. He was mad at himself, for acting like a fool the entire time when he should have been level headed. "I shouldn't of acted like that at all.." He would mutter under his breath in his frustration as he performed a quick combo, knocking off the few bits of paper from the back of the dummy and sighing. He could easily use his chakra through his strikes now, it was practically muscle memory at this point. This meant he would no longer need the paper to make sure.

He looked over to Junko and spoke softly, almost too low to hear "I'm not mad at you, not in the least Junko-chan." He began as he sighed and looked off toward the pond, the noon sun glinting off the surface as if it didn't damn near kill him a bit ago. "I'm just frustrated that this came out like this. I had never intended you to know." He finished as he sighed and looked back to the dummy to focus. He would need to get his mind right to begin learning this.

(2127)

Junko would just ignore anything she heard, although she wouldn't hear much since the training grounds were a fair distance away. She was confused right now, although she could not figure out why. But instead of sitting there, she stood up. She straightened her back, and put her arms down at her side, palms to the ground, took a slow, deep breathe, and then slowly released it. Perking up her shoulders, she walked briskly back to the training area, putting up a combative stance in front of a log. And she began punching.


Katashi would arrive shortly afterwards, and Junko welcomed the break from the awkwardness in the air at his arrival. She would grab a few drinks from him, as well as a little food, and sit on the edge of the water, her feet in the pool.

[1872]

Maloren was brought out of his focus by Katashi's arrival. He turned and calmed himself down before walking over to him and smiling softly in greeting. He took a drink and a sandwich with the supplies he brought and, after thanking him, sat against the training dummy. He felt he should keep his distance from Junko at the moment. Especially since he acted like such an idiot before. He consumed the food and drink and then proceeded to stand back up and face the dummy. He knelt down into a stance he memorized from scroll after scroll and took a deep breath as he channeled his focus. "Eight Trigrams: sixty-four palms!" He cried as he began striking the dummy.  "TWO PALMS!" He cried as he struck the dummy twice. "FOUR PALMS!" He cried as he struck two more times before switching his footing "EIGHT PALMS!" He'd call again as he began to strike the dummy four more times only to mess up on his footing and miss the last two of them. 

He sighed as he righted himself and cracked his neck loudly. Thoughts of Junko played in his head over and over, why did she begin to hold his hand? He wondered He began to really assume she was just humoring him and began to get a little bit depressed over that but quickly squashed those feelings. He would focus his emotions into his emotions and use them to progress. He decided as he straightened up and took a deep breath before falling into his stance again. 

"Eight Trigrams: sixty-four palms!" He cried as he quickly tore through the first two sets, getting to where he was before. He quickly continued on "Eight Palms" He cried as he struck the dummy four more times. "sixteen Palms!" he continued as he chained into eight more. "Thiry-two palms!" his yell could be heard for a good distance as he began to strike the dummy sixteen times, only to mess up when he got to strike thirty and overshoot the mark, missing completely. He sighed as he shook up his arms a bit. "Of course I'll mess up a couple of times...That's why I'm training." He thought as he jumped up and down a few times to. 

(WC 2503)

Maloren sighed before deciding to call it a day and waved good bye to Junko and Katashi. The sun was high in the sky and he decided that after nearly drowning that he deserved a half day off. He walked back home slowly, whistling a tune as he left the field.

(Junko told me she would probably not post for along time if at all so I'm opting to end this thread now.

TWC 2503 

Claiming 12 stat points plus 327/200 toward 64 palms.
is it possible to use the word count of that last post of mine (327) toward 64 palms?)