Training to a Point

Spoiler:

The forest is dimly lit from the tree's blocking out the sun so telling if its day or night, one would have to find a beam of light from the sun at some point. The forest no where in sight of the school but is still within its limits. This makes it perfect for training without the worry of harming innocents but still able to keep undercover.

Into the forest bordering the school grounds walked Hotaru. As classes had finished not too long ago she was still clad in her uniform, but had left her other possessions at the edge of the forest. All she needed for this was the glove on her right hand, after all. Deeper into the woods she trekked until she reached the designated meeting point, stopping to take in the nature surrounding her.

'This place is beautiful. Really I wonder why they never recommend coming into the forest.'

Kneeling down at the waterside, the girl peered into the stream before running her hand along the surface of the water as she waited.

"Sensei should be here soon..."

"Already here actually."

The voice spoke out from within the forest as she finished speaking. Ai slowly let himself step out into the open as he donned his teaching attire

Spoiler:

He placed one hand onto his hip as he raised his other up to his forehead and flicked it out to the side in a greeting toward the girl

"Hello there miss Nakano."

Hearing Ai's voice Hotaru looked from the stream to where it had originated to find that he was, indeed, already present. As she turned to face him the girl removed her hand from the stream. However she didn't stand yet, and instead bowed while remaining in her kneeling position on the forest floor as she exchanged her own greeting.

"Hello, Kazuma-sensei."

Once she had straightened her posture she flashed a smile at the teacher before standing upright.

"Exactly how do we intend to train today?"

Ai slowly lowered his hand as she greeted him and he smiled back as she raised up from the stream to ask about what kind of training it was that they were going to be doing. He raised his hand up to his glasses as he adjusted them on his face before speaking

"First we are going to work on your speed. Speed is something that is key in battle. Either it be getting closer to the enemy for a more precise shot, getting further back so they can not strike you but you can them, or to simply understand your surroundings better. I want you to use your Hirenkyaku to go to that stone..."

He pointed his hand toward the stream and then down it to a single rock, just enough to hold one person to stand it on a few yards away. He then moved his hand back and down the other direction

"and then move further down that direction. Move at your own pace at first but in a few minutes, slowing down will have its drawbacks."

Ai stood in his spot and continued to looked forward where Hotaru would appear and then disappear only to show up once more. So far she was doing good but so far she hadn't been pushed. He listened as she spoke about the classes and then nodded his head as she then brought up his other 'talents'. He laughed as he moved both his hands into his pockets

"Well, it varies sometimes. I can dance, I can sing, I can play a few instruments, I can even fence though for a quincy, that can only cover so much. But it's these little things that keep me active and my mind just as much."

"Fencing? That's something else, Sensei. The rest I can see though if you teach music. Except maybe dancing."

As the exercise wore on she seemed to reach her peak while going between the rock and the land. However, Hotaru didn't give up and kept going at that pace for the time being.

Ai listened to Hotaru as she spoke to him about fencing and then about being able to see him teaching all that he spoke of but the dancing. He raised his hand up and let it slide into his jacket and then withdrew a pocket watch and pressed the button at its top to open it as he answered

"Well, for fencing, it teaches you to perceive what your opponent is going to do next. It is not as brutal as kendo but it has the mentality that you control your opponents fate with the single well placed shot. As for the dancing, it shows that every step counts and nothing can not go out of order. You have to make sure that your next step flows with your current one and that one had to have matched the one before. If not, then the entire dance is worthless."

He replaced his watch after closing the clasp and then held his left arm out as his quincy cross hovered in the palm of his hand, his bow manifesting itself as he watched her

"Now that you have the steps, you can not slow yourself or it might be your last miss Nakano. I give you fair warning that I am a dead on shot."

"So that's why you have such interesting hobbies, Sensei?"

At the moment she was doing a decent job on maintaining her pace. However she grew flustered for a moment as she heard his threat and saw that he had brought out his bow.

'Oh goodness. That would be why I had the bad feeling. All I can do is keep from having to be shot at.'

Though in truth she was starting to get a little tired from the repeated use of the ability, she had no choice but to push on now. With only a moments hesitation she continued at the pace she had been working to maintain for a bit.

"Understood, Sensei."

Ai let his eyes follow the girl from behind his glasses as she spoke about his hobbies. He then watched as she took note of his bow and then continued to watch her and as she seemed to understand he nodded his head. He then spoke out once more as he followed her with his eyes, turning and releasing a bow that would nip at her heels as it was fired into the water.

"I've spent my whole life as a quincy and never once wanted to be anything but one. So finding things that would help me improve without actually looking like it helps and does wonders. You should try some of them too, get more in depth, what are your hobbies miss Nakano?"

He didn't plan on hitting her, the thought alone was making him feel a bit down. But there was nothing wrong in playing a farce to make her think that, to better her in her skills....right?

The girl heard the water splash behind her as she landed on the rock again. Surely she hadn't been slowing down already. Despite any fatigue, the girl then began to push herself to go just a little faster as she returned to land and back again.

"I've trained on some Quincy things since I was young. My parents liked me to have more normal activities too, though. Spending time with friends, reading, that sort of stuff. I don't know if anything could really be called a hobby."

Ai watched as she continued to move from one spot to the other as he continued to watch and listened to her speaking about her own hobbies which she really didn't seem to have. He kept his bow up as he continued to watch her and released another shot behind her to hit the water to make sure she kept in mind he was watching

"Ah, your parents must be very proud of you to have come this far. My parents were not as lenient on my qunicy upbringing. Always trying to drill into my head of being better and better by following strict guidelines and rules."

"They both told me before they had a raising similar to what you say...they didn't want that for me. Honestly I'm glad they didn't. And they both handled a lot of my training before coming here."

While Hotaru was able to hold up the conversation and avoid the shots to her feet, she was really growing fatigued from the constant use of Hirenkyaku. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to maintain the pace but pushed herself to avoid the possibility of being shot by Ai. The adrenaline from that danger was likely to run out sooner or later, but regardless she continued to go between the shore and the rock.

Ai listened as she spoke about her parents being simular to how he was supposed to be raised. He actually liked the fact that she wasn't raised in such a way and yet she still did just as good as he had seen before. He aimed his bow in front of her

"And it is wonderful to see that there daughter has grown up to be such a quincy. I would love to meet them one day for a parent teacher conference. Now lets switch it up a bit, you can stop down."

"Conferences? Aren't those usually when you're in trouble over something though?"

Once given the okay to stop, Hotaru was relieved though a little surprised that this stage was finally over. As her feet made contact with the ground she finally stopped her use of Hirenkyaku, giving a sigh of relief. Any relief was shortlived however when she saw the bow pointed in her direction.

"What are you planning next, Sensei?"

Ai listened as she spoke of the conference and it usually being a negative thing. He raised his free hand up and pushed his glasses onto his face with his middle finger and replied

"Well, sometimes teachers like to tell parents about how good there students are doing, not just the bad miss Nakano and you are going to try and match me in direction and speed but this time, let your bow take over. Manifest it so we can begin."

"Yes, Kazuma-sensei."

She was still tired from all that she had done just a bit ago but couldn't let it get to her it seemed. So, for now Hotaru took in a breath and began. On his order the girl reached her right hand out and focused, drawing in some of the spiritual energy in the area around her. In moments, using the glove she'd inherited as a channel, her bow was formed. Once she was ready she looked at Ai and spoke.

"I think I'm about as ready as I'm going to be for this part."

Ai nodded as she spoke about being ready to go and this was actually a training for them both. He was going to have to get something from this as well as he then spoke

"Now remember, follow the arrow and try to see where it is I will be going next. If you want to try and do better, hit my arrows mid-flight but remember, don't aim for everyone or you'll end up missing more."

And with that, he raised his bow straight up and pulled back on his bow as the arrow took shape. He then awaited for Hotaru to mimic before he started

"So to follow your arrow then."

For a moment the girl paused to take a breath. It would seem as though this could be an interesting and possibly difficult training for her. Bringing her bow up, Hotaru placed her left hand on the bowstring. As she drew back the arrow formed. Once that was done she held her bow at the ready to follow through with this next training.

"I think I'm ready, Kazuma-sensei."

Ai nods his head once as she spoke of what it was that he wanted her too do. He then watched as she spoke about being ready and then nodded his head as he spoke

"Let's begin."

He released the arrow into the sky before turning around and firing one at the stone she used in her training just before. He then turned on the heel of his foot to release another down stream in the opposite direction. He would then aim toward Hotaru herself and fire one to the left of her and then another to her right and then another at her feet before shooting another just above her head.

"Right."

Following his motion at the start, she fired the first of her own arrows to the one he'd shot at the sky before going to create another arrow. Instead of going after the next two she took aim as the arrows turned in her direction. Firing again Hotaru tried to intercept the one aimed at her right, then at her feet. Finally she shot again at the last of the arrows, aimed toward her head.

Ai watched as each of his arrows were let loose and she started off aiming for the top by aiming at his arrow. Her arrow was well aimed and nicked the bottom of his own in mid-air. He looked to see the two he shot afterwords were completely ignored and thus the arrows dug into there targets. His last ones were intercepted and curved off into different directions but the one to her left which found itself into the side of a tree.

Ai slowly lowered his bow as he raised his hand up and pushed the glasses onto his face as he then replied

"Come now miss Nakano, that was three arrows that were completely overlooked and could have been shot toward innocent's or fellow comrades. Is there a reason that you decided to take the other four over the others rather than simply shoot in the same direction as instructed?"

When the action for the moment had stopped, the girl listened to the teacher as he spoke and in a sense chastized her for not simply shooting as she should have. Ai did have a point after all that instead of the ones aimed at her she really should have focused on following his movements and preventing what she could. Hanging her head slightly she lowered her bow as she spoke.

"There was no good reason I could come up with. I'm sorry, Sensei. I will try harder..."

Ai watched as she seemed a bit down from his words and he listened as she spoke and just couldn't take it as he folded. He held his hand up and waved it lightly toward her from one side to the other as he laughed hesitantly

"Now, Now, there isn't any reason to get down like that. There is no reason for it, it was just a simple mistake, nothing else you have to worry about. Lets try this again."

Hotaru gave a faint smile as he reassured her that it was a simple mistake. The real life application of this made sense though which was what really had made her disappointed in herself.

"I guess I just hadn't thought of it. I was really surprised to see you shoot at me again as well."

Managing a brighter smile to her face, the female Quincy brought her left hand to grasp the bowstring again, ready to make a new arrow.

"Alright, I'm ready to try again, Kazuma-sensei."