Fresh out of the Hospital [IO]

Fresh out of the hospital, Satoru makes his way towards a familiar location within the village: the training grounds. Here, he intends to find a partner with which to spar. Though his stay in rehabilitation was not long, his legs are still somewhat new. While they are his own, Satoru does not get the feeling that they are really one with him. So, breaking them in seems to be a sound solution.

The Nara stands with his back to one of the fences, leaning leisurely. Anyone who comes close enough will fall victim to his awkward approach and will be asked for a spar. Whether or not he is turned down, of course, is up to that person.

(118/118)

delete this

While Satoru did think through his entire series of actions, a swift maneuver from his opponent proves to stop him in his tracks. In fact, the suddenness of this interruption is so jarring that he briefly loses his train of thought. To express this feeling in words truly becomes difficult in a formal narrative style such as is proper. For most of the narration which follows Satoru, the story telling has been standard third person limited and present tense. However, at times when the writer (whatever this elusive source is) finds things difficult to truly capture in words to convey the idea to the reader, the proper form of narration is broken. One such example follows.

So, a jarring occurrence that throws one off of their train of thought is not difficult to imagine at all. The hurdle comes with the fact that Satoru is in the middle of a spar, his purpose for which is to form more sound reactions to his opponent’s own actions. Picture it this way: you are intent on watching a pendulum swing left and right in order to catch it in the moment that it stops. You are fully expecting this to happen; such is the nature of gravity and the law inertia. Following this, you are quite prepared for a variety of possibilities upon its ceasing to swing. Just put yourself there in the condition described.

Now, the pendulum is about to stop; you notice it slowing down. Once more, you run through what you can do and choose one just as the time comes. The object ceases to swing. You execute whatever it is you plan to do.

It immediately starts spinning with great speed. See, now you’re surprised. You can’t even begin to ask yourself what in the name of pendulums is going on because you’re so darn dumbfounded at the fact that someone just kicked you in the back with great force and you’re body has suddenly decided to learn a completely new language.

“I’m sorry?” Satoru thinks to himself frantically as though asking someone to repeat themselves because he didn’t quite understand the situation they’re describing to him the first time. Yes, you have likely come to the same expression of confusion. Such is only natural.

Some dust is pushed outward in a small and short lived ploom when Satoru touches the ground. The Nara is facedown, body twitching every so often as he attempts to move but finds his muscles and nerves misunderstanding him. But, as is to be expected of a shinobi, Satoru continues to hold some card up his sleeve. Without the use of his muscles, some jutsu are still accessible to him for the purpose of protecting his body while he tries to regain control. However, a request from his opponent causes him to calm down for a moment.

Satoru is asked to stay down in a calm tone along with a “please”. He complies readily.

“Yeah, okay.” He groans in pain.

She continues to speak but Satoru neglects to listen. This is not out of disrespect but because he would rather put all of his attention into feeling his current bodily pain. He tends to really delve into an injury or moment of pain so as to deal with it and to make it feel more numb while he focuses on whatever is more important.

Aside, he takes note of Genevieve’s question and kindness.

“No, I’m not seriously hurt. Give me a moment to move and we can continue.” His tone is regular, as though what’s happening now is merely an unfortunate snag. As though to say ‘oh, don’t worry about it, I’ll deal with this and we can get back to what we were doing’.

This is purposeful. He would prefer to seem as though he cannot be shaken. If he can somehow spur on this woman’s seemingly dormant aggressive side, Satoru may train with a more difficult opponent. That is not to say that he is not yet having trouble. Maybe this is simply his greed for growth showing in a negative way. But, following this, is a hint of plea.

“Actually…” He begins hesitantly, “do you think you could lift the effect of whatever jutsu you just used?”

(707/1,989)