Training and application of the mind(Natsume thread)

[Anastasia]

Ah, Friday. After your fun chat with Usagi and the fact that the snow has finally stopped, you don't feel half bad. Over breakfast, your grandfather asks how your training is going...

"Natsume, how have your progressed," he asks, between enjoying a cup of steamingly hot coffee. "Have your efforts borne fruit yet?" His voice is casual and patient, not the normally stern and solemn routine you get in the dojo.

[Midnight Sun]

"Nothing...as of yet sensei," Natsume answers quietly. "Though, I have an idea that might bring me closer to the answer. I intend to try it during today's training."

[Anastasia]

He nods once, "As you will, Natsume." Raising his mug up and sipping, "If your work does succeed....when you work does succeed, I will be waiting for you.

Now...perhaps your time would be better served in the dojo instead of lingering over Kurumi's cooking," he comments with a actual, if small, smile.

"Grandfather, I didn't make all of this to have it go in the trash," your sibling calls from the kitchen, fuming slightly.

[Midnight Sun]

Despite her sister's comment, Natsume does not spend long with breakfast. Before long she's  dressed and inside the dojo. She had been repeating Usagi's advice in her mind all night, and the more she did the more it made sense. Now she was more than anxious to see if it bore fruit.

"I have make my ki branch out in a thousand different paths," Natsume recalls. "Like creating a thousand extensions of myself."

Knowing full well that creating a thousand off the bat was impossible, she decides to start small and create at least one branch....

[Anastasia]

As you finish your meal, your sister and grandfather are arguing back and forth lightly, the joys of family life radiant as you head out to work.

On concentrating, you slowly form and manipulate your ki to your desires...from your force, a tiny wisp of energy branches out, like a tiny, glowing rod protruding from your chest...

[Midnight Sun]

She can feel it forming, but she does not break her concentration. It was a good start, but it felt weak. She needed to make it stronger, more solid...

[Anastasia]

You force your ki to respond to it, to reinforce it...slowly it seems to grow harder, more solid...then...ugh!

You accidently lose your concentration sligthly, the ki branch falling apart and reabsorbing into your life energy. You were getting somewhere, though...if you hadn't just dropped the ball, maybe, just maybe...

[Midnight Sun]

It may not have worked this time around, but at least she could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

'I think I'm beginning to understand how I can apply this,' she thinks. 'Potentially, there are alot more uses for it than just the Thousand Horde Slash technique, and I'm pretty sure grandfather knows that.'

Whatever the case, it was going to take quite a bit of practice if she was going to create more than the small wisp she just barely managed to manifest.

"Well, I can't just stop here, I have to keep trying," Natsume says with determination.

This around she extends her right arm. Perhaps it would be easier to visualize and maintain if she simply imagined as an extension of her own arm.

'I can imagine it flowing out from my arm, like I'm trying to make it longer...,' she thinks.

[Anastasia]

With your will strong and your ki willing, you slowly cause your arm's ki to extend past your fingertips. An inch....two inches...four.....six....seven inches branch off from your fingers, a glowing and indistinct extension to your arm made of pure ki energy.

It ripples slightly as you move your arm, but doesn't dissipate from it' It's shimmery and yellowish, like opaque sunlight.

[Midnight Sun]

'I never imagined it would be so difficult to maintain,' she thinks as her brow creases in intense concentration. Natsume's eye search the dojo briefly before falling on a nearby rack of shinai. 'If I can manage to just reach that rack, I can move on to the next step.'

[Anastasia]

It's a mere six inches away. The first two inches come well enough, yet after that...the struggle increases, sweat forming on your brow and under your arms as you focus. Three inches...harder....pushing....four inches.

It's painful now, in a way, like you're detaching your own skin...hurts....five inches....getting there...just....more....got it! With a final extension, you see the cords of ki make contact with the rack.

[Midnight Sun]

"Focus...past the pain....," she says outloud through gritted teeth. Merely thinking to herself was becoming too much of a chore. "Its a part of me...an extension of me...it doesn't hurt."

Slowly, methodically, she tries to get at least one of the tendrils to wrap the closest bamboo practice sword, trying to imagine it was her fingers wrapping around the object.

"Just...a small bit more," she says.

[Anastasia]

Extending through your pain as the branch splits into three, you reach for the bamboo practice sword....

Grasp.

With a final effort, you take it into your ki hand for just a moment, before the exertion causes the entire branch to crackle and break apart. Some of the energy flows back into you, while a fair deal of shining motes of light scatter all about, like a beautiful Christmas display.

[Midnight Sun]

Natsume collapses to her hands and knees as sweat pours down her face in waterfalls. She was close, so close, but the pain and exhaustion were just too much for her to cope with.

'I'll get it soon, its only a matter of time now,' she thinks. 'I never thought such a technique were possible...I'll master it no matter what....'

She manages to get back to her feet, and  immediately decides that a small rest in her nice comfortable bed is in order, before staggering back to the house....

[Anastasia]

As Natsume staggers off and away into the house, a moment later another enters the dojo. His smile is proud, even as he shivers from the cold he endured. "Well done, Natsume. Such talent...." he comments, as he idly flicks one of the remaining ki spots into oblivion.

---

It's an easy sleep, yet a surprisingly short one. You stir around lunchtime, visions of your ki in dreams guiding you back awake. The next day or two passes well enough, your studies in ki progressing slowly. You grasp the concept now - it's more about executing it. As you head into the dojo on Sunday morning, perhaps your're ready for another breakthrough...

If your grandfather wasn't waiting for you, anyway.

"Natsume," he nods once, "Have your labors bourne fruit yet?"