| [May. 28th, 2016|02:08 am] |
For all that Benihime claimed she couldn’t devise a lesson plan in ten minutes, she had one assembled in record time. It involved more sitting. At her direction, he closed his eyes, picked a breathing pattern, and spent the rest of the morning layering his chakra over his skin in varying thicknesses until she finally deemed one acceptable.
“Now,” she said. “How long can you maintain that?”
Raidou squinted down at his fingers. He couldn’t see anything, but the energy tingled faintly against his fingertips. “A few hours, maybe, if you don’t need me to do anything else.”
“Then you will do so,” Benihime said, satisfied. “Kurenai will accompany you.”
A flicker of exasperation crossed Kurenai’s face. “Throwing pebbles at his shoulders, I presume, and taking notes when the shield breaks?”
“I see you’ll have it well in hand,” Benihime said calmly.
And that, apparently, was that.
A little nonplussed, Raidou bowed, expressed his thanks — Benihime waved them away with a sniff — and let Kurenai herd him out, grabbing his boots on the way. It felt extremely strange to move in a chakra-shield, as if his skin was both hypersensitive and padded in cotton wool. The layer was barely thicker than an oil droplet, but it was everywhere. He’d never been so aware of the back of his knees. His clothes felt cloying.
Getting his boots re-laced was a fumble-fingered challenge, but he managed without losing hold of his chakra or tripping down the porch step. Kurenai slipped rather more gracefully into her heels.
“So,” Raidou said. “Where do you want me?”
Kurenai frowned at her wristwatch. “Walking, I think. We’ll take a couple turns around the garden before we start on the pebbles.” Shading her eyes against the sun, she pointed at a stone lantern in the bamboo grove, halfway down the hill. “Stay away from that lantern, unless you want to test your shield against the garden maze.”
Raidou squinted at the lantern, marking it firmly on his mental map “Noted. Any other deadly landmarks to watch out for?”
“If you see flowers, don’t pick them.” She shared a half-smile with him, her mouth making a wry red curve. “At least we don’t have giant centipedes.”
“The day is still young.” One path seemed as good as any other; he picked a paved trail that wound around the other side of the hill, away from the lantern. Kurenai followed, heels clicking on the flagstones.
They completed two circuits at a leisurely pace, Raidou silent, Kurenai serene. By the third turn, sweat had started to prickle at his temples. Perhaps ‘hours’ had been an exaggeration.
Kurenai had been throwing occasional glances at him, in between surveying the expansive gardens and artistically rough path. Her eyes narrowed now. “This part would be easier if I were a Hyuuga,” she murmured. “Unfortunately, the Byakugan also comes with the terrible downside of being a Hyuuga.”
Raidou snorted. |
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