[hirana kizumi]

A HEART'S A HEAVY BURDEN

It was genuinely funny, watching Kojirou process what she’d suggested; she could see the cogs turning in his mind, the little hamster on the wheel that made up his little teenage brain sprinting at top hamster speed to click the puzzle pieces together. Bemused, she watched as he took her suggestion of meditation and immediately decided to run with it, sitting cross-legged on the ground like post-training stretching was never a thing he had heard of before. Instantly, despite the fact that this was his first time trying, his brain apparently slipped away into space, all thoughts visibly vacating his mind. Kizumi sighed, and sat down opposite him. How long had it taken her to learn how to quiet her thoughts and meditate properly? Too fucking long, and this kid gets it immediately. Typical. Every generation better than the last. "Exactly like that,” she said, careful to keep her voice low and soft so as not to bring him out of his self-induced trance. "But focus on your breathing, nice and slow. In… and out. Breathe with me.” She inhaled for four beats; held her breath for seven; exhaled with a heavy whoosh of air for eight. Over and over again she repeated the same rhythm, occasionally offering a word or two of encouragement to the genin, until she was able to blanket her mind as well; and they sat for some time just like that, meditating in the grass in the afternoon sun. [END]

Honō Kojirou -- 244

LAIKA OF THQ

[Honō Kojirou]

Quiet. It had gone quiet.

He heard a very low voice, but it quickly ebbed away from his attention. Was it Kizumi-sama? Who knew…

Kojirou had already dove into the abyss. He wasn’t exactly thinking about something in particular, but everything was suddenly so silent. The world was pitch-black from his closed eyelids. He couldn’t see anything, not even the tip of his nose. Wherever he was, he didn’t register the presence of anything around – not even the presence of his own flesh… but that was slightly wrong.

There was a strong presence in his abyss. It was a flow, a sort of river-like motion that entered his nostrils and escaped his mouth. Sometimes, the flow began cumulating in his lungs, and he felt a bit stung by that. As if his lungs were about to explode… but he didn’t stop breathing. If anything, the longer this went on, the less it stung him – his lungs got used to the extra pressure on the walls, and he began inhaling a bit more than right before.

His mindscape was a weird, weird place. Kojirou, in general, was a weird, weird boy… but today had been the most zen training session ever.

WC: 200

[END]