[Arai Shimako]

There was much to be done before a sage apprentice could even begin to learn, well, senjutsu. She remembered her own training of her youth, the way it had started in secret with little practices. The ways it had almost gone awry, the danger she in her youthful naivety had put herself in. Her first mentors had also been very young and still learning themselves, not able to teach her of the risks until she'd already put her life on the line. She didn't want the same for her new, young students. That was why Shimako was going to spend some time on the fundamentals first.

That was the reason she invited Kaname over today for her very first training session. Shimako had spent all night the day before fussing over her potential lesson plans and running things past her hawks, trying to make sure everything would go well.

Her place of residence sat on the outer edges of Sunagakure, not quite along the lines of the rockface where the protective walls and watchtowers laid, but close. It was a relatively tall building with a perch for her visiting hawks to roost. Shimako liked to sit up there underneath the shade when she meditated. It was from this perch that she was able to see Kaname as they approached and she waved over the edge of the roof.

"Hello down there! You can come inside and head upstairs for our training."

[kaname]

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It had been nearly four years since Kana had been rescued from what would have otherwise been a brutal life, undoubtedly to be cut short by dehydration or a flash of errant steel. Her savior was a shinobi, ironic given her distaste for them as a child; though she hadn’t come to Sunagakure an amicable captive.

But in that time, she had grown accustomed to life among the hidden sand. What was left behind was hunger, discomfort and the ever looming threat of death, whether by an enemy bandit in the night or one of the wasteland’s numerous poisons, be it by thorn or stinger. In comparison, Suna was a haven; quite literally an oasis. It was the only civility Kana could recall and compassion had grown on her.

No one more typified the concept than her captor turned savior, Arai Shimako. Perhaps it was an estranged attachment, born of the history they shared, that brought the older woman to take Kana on as a student. It wasn’t common for someone of the lady’s acumen to take someone like Kana under their wing but the child wasn’t complaining; she needed all the help she could get.

She waved up at Arai as she approached the woman’s home, nodding in approval at the invitation before entering the building. The interior was much nicer than the outside, which, not counting its shape, more or less fit in with surrounding structures. The inside was almost as fancifully decorated as the woman who called it home. It didn’t look… expensive so much as it looked high-fashion. The type of design that makes you turn your head and wonder at the type of person who fancied this kind of thing; and wonder Kana did.

But she wasted no more time and headed for the first set of stairs she saw, a spiral staircase further within that promised a higher vantage point. Hopefully Shimako intended to meet her halfway; the building was pretty tall and Kana would likely get lost otherwise.

--- words | Arai Shimako

j.

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[Arai Shimako]

The inside of her home was indeed a reflection of herself, an eclectic and almost maximalist set of decorations filling the space on every wall. She had many blankets, mostly in reds and pinks, clearly a big fan of grabbing any she could from the merchants that came through the village. Carved hangings and knit patterns coated the space, displaying creatures of myth or tellings of legends. It was a far cry from the life she had had as a child - maybe that was why she decorated so extensively. It was nice to have things. Being an actual materialist wasn't very good for a sage, so she would leave all these things if she needed to, but for now she enjoyed the extensive decor!

Shimako rose from her position to come down the spiral stairs within her home, meeting Kaname partway to avoid her ending up wandering or getting sidetracked. Kaname wasn't the nosy sort, she didn't think, but she still didn't want them poking around.

"Good morning, darling," Shimako greeted, placing a hand on her shoulder to give a little squeeze and a bright smile. She was feeling a little nervous about her first training session as a teacher, so she had to channel all that anxious energy into being as positive as possible. 

"I hope you got a lot of rest last night. While our training will mostly be meditation-based, you're still going to get a good workout." Training one's chakra pool up was the same as training stamina or muscles. It would be exhausting, but rewarding. Shimako turned around to walk up the stairs, leading Kaname out onto the roof.

The sun was beating down, as it ever was in Sunagakure, but there was an awning under which the duo could sit and find shade. She had several pillows set out for them to sit on while they worked.

[kaname]

Kana followed behind her master dutifully and, in her wake, left solitude and unease behind. In Shimako’s presence there was always comfort. Granted, that didn’t mean everything was easy, far from it, but that was a different kind of comfort entirely. The warmth that this woman brought into Kaname’s life was a glowing beacon in a sandstorm, a splash of cool water on sunburnt skin. It far surpassed your typical wants; it was synonymous with safety.

The girl offered a warm smile as she tagged along up the stairs. "Yes, I woke up this morning feeling refreshed as ever." As she had been directed to anyways. She had anticipated that this would be a grueling affair and, despite what little she knew about what exactly lie ahead, she had done her best to prepare all the same.

What she did understand was that even with a sterling review from someone as well regarded as her master, not everyone was cut out for the kind of techniques Shimako employed. Beyond just the puppetry, which Kana knew not the first thing about, but the more advanced manipulation of chakra. She understood that she held some degree of latent potential, but the question remained of whether or not she’d be able to harness it.

And today she, well the both of them honestly, would find out. If the results weren’t promising, however, Kana did wonder about her future in the Hidden Sand. What use did they have for a former bandit turned stable tender when half the reason she wasn’t in a cell was her ties to Shimako?

[Arai Shimako]

"Good," Shimako said, pleased to hear it. "You'll probably need a nice nap after this, too," she joked. Finally, she arranged one of the pillows she'd placed out and sat down, crossing her legs. The precision of the pose she took didn't matter so much, but it was notable that she sat up very straight, shoulders back. She motioned for Kaname to sit down across from her as well.

Time to begin her instruction.

"When you work with nature chakra, as I do, you accept chakra from the world around you into yourself. If your own chakra pool is too small, it will be consumed by the stronger nature chakra and you won't be able to sustain it. It'll eat you up from the inside. That's why it's important to be familiar with your own chakra pool," she explained.

"So today we're going to meditate and experiment with your chakra, try to determine if you have the kind of chakra supply you need to contend with natural chakra. Let's start with the basics. They've probably taught you about your chakra core in the academy, right?" Shimako asked, holding her hands over her own stomach.

"Your chakra is created here. Take a deep breath and try to focus on that chakra core, see if you can feel it." Chakra was so natural to everyone, especially to shinobi, that they rarely stopped to feel it inside their bodies.