up close encounter of Fuinjutsu [nk]

Natsume had spent the evening after her graduation celebrating the event with her father and brother, delighting in the chance to stuff herself with barbeque and telling them all about the exam. Her brother had, as she had kind of expected, been excited for her but did not really care about the whole 'ninja' thing in and of itself. His lack of understanding was understandable. He had never shown interest in the life of a ninja like she had. What had surprised her was her father. He had done all the right things: splurged on a feast of a dinner, grinned and ruffled her hair, congratulated her... but something had felt off the whole night, as if he had not wanted this outcome. "Does he not want me to become a ninja? Why...?"

While her nights would often be consumed by unbearable nightmares, this time, she could not get to sleep at all. She had twisted and turned, trying to interpret the odd look in her father's eyes. Had it been disappointment? Fear? Natsume was just following in his footsteps, and could not comprehend why there would be anything negative in that. When the sun rose the next day, the bag under her eyes were even deeper than they usually were. She sighed at her reflection in the mirror and rubbed wearily at the bags, wondering if it would be vain to learn genjutsu simply to hide the unsightly things. "Probably." For now, she'd live with them and hope nobody would ask about them.

She left the house later than she usually would, at 09:00, if she read the sun correctly. She jogged towards the training grounds with only a scroll in one hand and an apple in the other. As she jogged, she would periodically take bites out of the apple, devouring it in its entirety—core and seeds and all.

Right now, Natsume needed, more than anything else, a distraction. She'd already distracted herself plenty this morning, organizing books and supplies into piles and then sealing them into scrolls, then taking a step further and sealing those scrolls into one ultimate storage scroll. It was organized, yes, but it had been done with the intention of wasting time, trying to keep her head and hands busy so she wouldn't think about the odd look in her father's eyes. Eventually, however, she could hear her father and brother waking up and realized she would need to escape the house to avoid confrontation or, even worse, maddening silence as her doubts and fears consumed her. So here she was, rushing off to the training grounds.

Imagine her surprise when she spotted Hoshi, slightly off in the distance, looking for something. "Should I say hello?" She didn't want to interrupt him if he was busy, but he was also the kind of guy that could easily train her into the ground, keeping her occupied with improving herself rather than all her other fears. She swallowed down the doubt that told her to walk away and called out. "Hoshi-senpai!" She waved at him. "Remember me? Notice something different?" She forced a bright smile and planted her hands on her hips, waiting for him to point out the noticeable addition of the ninja headband around her thigh. Even if she would be using him as a distraction, she wouldn't let him know that. She had to pretend to be okay; he didn't need to know about her problems.

She bowed her head bashfully as he congratulated her on the exams. It felt like the first time somebody had said that and was genuinely glad for it. He didn't focus on that for very long, though. "I seem stronger to you?" she repeated. She looked down at her hands and flexed them, wondering what strength he was seeing. "Fighting you, huh? I mean, I could try...? I haven't really learned any techniques that are specifically offensive though."

She scratched her cheeks as she contemplated how to answer his questions. "What I'm planning...?" She glanced at the scroll holding her sealed study material. "I know I'll never be a front-line combatant, not like you, Hoshi-senpai. What I'm good at is Ninjutsu. It's in my blood. But I've been reading up a bit, now that I have access to the shinobi-section of the library, and have you heard of fuinjutsu before?" She held up the scroll she'd been working with in the morning—no seal could be seen, as it was rolled up, but that wasn't the point. "It's fascinating, Hoshi-senpai, the things that can be done. I want to learn more. I want to learn everything. Ninjutsu. Fuinjutsu. Genjutsu. Medical Jutsu." She licked her lips. At some point during her rambling, Natsume had started to inch closer to Hoshi, her eyes lit with a burning, fiery passion. It was like looking into a volcano moments before it erupted. Beautiful. Dangerous. Thrilling.

"Say, Hoshi-senpai. Even if it won't be my specialty... I should still learn some taijutsu, don't you think? Could you teach me something?" At some point, without realizing, Natsume had subconsciously started using puppy eyes, almost as if daring Hoshi to say no.

She stared at the ground as he pointed out the error in her ways. "I've learned that one lightning technique from Zyxis, but, aside from that..." A part of her wanted to shout at him and say it was unfair of him to be so rough on her, she'd only just become Genin, after all! But the part that held herself to intense standards could only agree with his critique, could only demand more from her, and she was a slave to that little voice in her head in the end. She was brought back to reality by his questioning. "Ah, I guess it's not a big clan... but I'm a Koutaishi." She shrugged as if that explained everything. "Paper jutsu users, but aside from my family, I've not met any others yet." She smiled as he defined fuinjutsu for her. "Yes, that's about right. Sealing things, people, but also elements and chakra. It's like jutsu... but written, I suppose, is the best way to describe it."

Her lips smacked tightly together as he demanded that she stop her begging. Had she been begging? She hadn't realized, but now that he'd pointed it out, she did her best to keep a still face. It was, however, hard to keep a still expression when he reached out to grip her face in his hand and squeezed. Hard. Even when holding back, she could feel the immense power of his grip. She tried to stop the wince from showing, but it was hard to tell if she'd managed with her face contorted and squished.

Then it was her turn to demonstrate. He even leaned forward, not bothering to defend himself. Her pride was slightly hurt. She snapped her hand out and dug her fingers into his cheeks [Iron Claw]. Her slightly smaller hand meant she couldn't cover as much of the face, but she made up for it in nails that dug into flesh as she squeezed. She held it there for a moment and then, just as fast as she'd done the technique, tore her hand away from him as if stung. Not because her hand had started to cramp up, but more out of disbelief that she'd done such a thing to her superior. "A-Ah... I..." Should she apologize? But she'd done what he had wanted, hadn't she?

She tentatively held her hand to her chest. "How was it?" She doubted that she had even managed to hurt him, but just the idea of disrespecting her superior made her sick. She needed some reassurance that she was doing the right thing.

She frowned as she was instructed to, as Hoshi put it, 'chill out'. It was a direct order, so of course she would follow it, but she personally disagreed with his viewpoint. He had become a genin before her, was obviously more powerful that her, and should be shown respect for that. It was simply the way she was brought up, and the idea of not doing that... "It's against my nature." She refused to complain about it aloud though.

Instead of continuing to mull over her discomfort, Natsume focused on the offer Hoshi proposed. "A spar?" Even as he put both arms behind his back, a demonstration of how he would be going easy on her, she was uncertain. "I suppose that would be vital experience for me." As she said that, she watched him hop a good 10 meters away from her, even taking the disadvantageous side facing the sun. She frowned. She knew it was only with the best intentions that he did so, but the competitive part of herself hated to be belittled like this. That same competitive streak is what lead to her lowering her stance, rocking on the balls of her feet.

With little to hide behind or distract with, Natsume would have to make do with what resources she had at her disposal: herself and her tools. After a moment of composing herself, Natsume launched herself at Hoshi, her hands coming together to form multiple seals: Bird, Snake, Dragon, Horse, and then Ox. Her hands crackled as she neared Hoshi. She swept a hand at his torso, hoping to catch him with the electric charge in her palms [25 Power, 40 Speed].