Training Solo! [Invite Only!]

Miyuki just grinned as she watched Akai turn off the television and then head over to the door: she enjoyed training as much as she did even if all she did was watch her while keeping an ear out for any sort of approaching danger or distraction. Miyuki crossed the living room with the gym bag hanging by its strap from her right shoulder. She opened the door, waited for Akai to walk out, and then followed after her while pausing long enough to lock the door behind them. Once on her porch she looked up at the sky and took a deep breath of the fresh air: it smelled pleasant with the fragrances from her own garden filling her nose – she didn't tend to the thing herself, she had a gardener who did that for her, but that didn't mean she didn't appreciate it because she definitely did. Even if flowers and pretty things weren't exactly her style. The only reason she didn't tend to it herself was because she felt her hands were meant for bringing death to the world, not life.

Akai looked back at Miyuki expectantly and she grinned before following after her sister like friend: sometimes Akai could be rather impatient, but she loved her for it just the same. Miyuki and Akai moved down the same path they had the day before, nodding to people as they passed by in their early morning rush to get kids off to school and to get to work or run errands. She found herself thinking about how glad she was that everyone around her was so happy – she busted her ass off to ensure that they were safe and well cared for and it was nice to get out and about and see this happiness of theirs first hand.

Miyuki continued through the market and towards the outskirts of the village without being stopped, continuing to nod in greeting to those who stopped and acknowledged her in the midst of their busy morning. Akai ran around her several times, obviously excited and happy by the attention she had been shown. It amused Miyuki so much because she knew how vicious and violent Akai could be when it came to combat, and yet when in the village and 'off duty' so to speak she was as playful and as kind as a puppy was.

When the two reached the outskirts of the village they kept on the same path as the day before, heading straight to the familiar clearing. When they reached it Miyuki paused and looked around: everything was the same as it had been yesterday and there were no knew scents in the air that would indicate that someone had been there after she left. Perfect, simply perfect. She walked over to the same flat rock she had used as a table before and put her bag down. She opened it up, pulled out the plastic cup she used to hold water for Akai, and then a bottle of water. She opened the bottle, poured half of it into the cup until it was full, and then took a swig of the water out of the bottle. Once the lid was tightly back on she poked playfully for a moment at Akai's ears and then put the water back into her gym bag and closed the thing up. She then turned and walked towards the center of the clearing to begin the same process she had done the day before.

Once Miyuki reached the center of the clearing she paused and began to stretch just as she had done the previous day. She started from her neck, worked down to her shoulders and back, as well as her arms. She then moved down to her hips, legs, and finally her ankle and feet. Once she had completely stretched every muscle in her body she moved herself into a seated position and tucked her legs in in an indian style position. She sat with her back perfectly straight and glanced over to Akai who was laying down and doing the same thing she had done before – her ears were tuned to the slightest noise as she obviously listened for any sort of sound that was out of the ordinary.

Seeing that her 'protection detail' was covered she closed her eyes with a smile and started on the deep breathing exercise that would help her to clear her mind and prepare herself mentally and physically for the training that was to come. Miyuki breathed in slow and deeply, held it for a moment, and then breathed out slowly until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the second time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the third time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the fourth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the fifth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. As she continued she felt her mind emptying of the stresses and worries that came with being a Jounin of such a large and popular village.

She then breathed in slow and deeply for the sixth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the seventh time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the eight time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the ninth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the tenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. As she exhaled each and every time she imagined the stresses of her life and of the word being blown out through her nose from her mind: as if she were physically expelling all of them so that they wouldn't be able to distract her from her training.

She then breathed in slow and deeply for the eleventh time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the twelth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the thirteenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the fourteenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the fifteenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the sixteenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the seventeenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the eighteenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the nineteenth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. She then breathed in slow and deeply for the twentieth time, held it for a moment again, and then breathed out slowly once more until her lungs were empty. By now Miyuki's body was completely relaxed and all of her troubles were a distant memory of the past. There was now nothing left in her mind to distract her from the hard core training that was to come in the following few hours.

As Miyuki contemplated if she wanted to continue on with her meditation or get right into training she felt the sun begin to hit her face and warm it: the sun was beginning to rise which meant it was nearing seven o'clock in the morning. Miyuki kept her position for a moment, debating, while Akai continued to keep watch on Miyuki while listening for any sign of danger coming near the clearing or anything out of the ordinary that would signal someone approaching.

After figuring that another few minutes of calmness and relaxation couldn't hurt before she started to put her body through another day of hell she kept her meditative pose with her back straight and her legs folded like a pretzel. Even though she wanted to glance over to Akai to ensure visually that everything was alright she restrained herself: he would make a noise or at least start growling his head off if something were wrong, so there was no need to knock herself out of this meditation just because she worried a little too much.

As Miyuki slipped deeper into this meditative state she found herself flashing back momentarily to the past: when she was a little girl and her father and brother was attempting to teach her how to focus and harness her chakra through meditation she had hated it. She had been utterly unable to sit still for long periods of time, and tended to make life a little bit difficult for her other siblings who were much better at it then her. Miyuki had always been the kind of person to go, go, go, and not stop. It had taken her until the age of fourteen to actually be able to sit still enough to meditate and then another year after that to actually get deep enough into the meditation to completely clear her mind. Thinking back to it now made her smile slightly, though at the time she had been learning it she had been rather grumpy.

She was completely and full in her happy place and knew that it was time to get to work and go through the doubled training she had every intention of completing that day before she went home. It would be hard, and she would be hurting an awful lot when she was done, but she was more than willing to do it for the sake of her village. So, with that thought in mind she rose in one lithe movement to her feet while opening her eyes. She glanced at Akai and saw her still watching her closely while her ears continued to remain tuned in for the slightest bit of noise out of the ordinary that would indicate some sort of danger was close by.

Once Miyuki was completely standing she shifted herself into a taijutsu kicking stance that would give her free movement. The day before she had worked out her arms first until she had completed a hundred punches with both of them. From there she had moved to her legs. Today she planned on mixing things up a bit so that it kept up the muscle confusion: any Taijutsu artist knew that muscle confusion was the best way to continue to see results – if you're body got used to something it would stop showing results as well as muscle confusion would. So, this was the plan which meant that she would start with her kicks and then move to her punches while attempting to keep track of both.

Kicks and punches were completed as the familiar burn from the day before began to kick in followed sooner than the day before by the numbing sensation that came with over worked muscles.

Miyuki glanced over to Akai before continuing on. Akai was sitting up and staring at her still while she continued to pay attention and listen to what was going on. The other female yawned once, blinked, and then laid down to get comfortable. She knew they were going to be here a while so she likely figured it was best to get comfortable. At this point Miyuki was almost hoping that some sort of trouble would come their way – it would be more fun at least then standing in the middle of the clearing and continuing to practice her punching and kicking. But, it was whatever, at least the training was getting done so she couldn't complain too badly.

Miyuki was about a fourth of her way through the training she wanted to do that day and figured that perhaps now was the time to take a bit of a water break; especially as she heard the sound of water being sipped off to her left which was exactly where Akai was. She relaxed herself out of her fighting stance and glanced over with red colored hues to her to her friend who was indeed drinking from the cup of water she had given him.

With a grin on her face she walked over and sat down on the flat giant rock that her gym bag was resting on. She opened it up and pulled out the bottle of water she had pulled out. She unscrewed the cap and chugged a good bit of the remainder of the bottle down. Once her thirst was satisfied she screwed the cap back on and placed the bottle next to her on the rock after ensuring that it wouldn't fall over. She then reached into the gym bag again and opened up the same giant bag of jerky she had had with them the day before.

She stuck her hand into the bag and pulled out a good chunk which she placed on a plate near Akai: the other female all but instantly forgetting the water she was drinking as she began to gnaw like a happy meat monster on the jerky. Chuckling to herself she then pulled a piece out for herself which she tore a chunk off of and began to chew. Miyuki probably could have pushed herself a bit more before taking a break, but she didn't want to risk harming her muscles or doing damage to herself by over doing it, especially after how hard she had pushed herself the day before. No, since she was doubling her training it seemed like the best idea was to take a break every so often and relax, even if it was for no more than fifteen or so minutes at a time.

Her body wasn't a machine, it was a vital organ, and to do her job properly as a Jounin she needed to keep it in tip top fighting shape. Which, of course, meant that she couldn't push herself to dangerous levels. Especially since anything could pop off at a moments notice that she would have to deal with, and she couldn't do that lying flat on her back unable to move in the village hospital. Nope. Not at all.

After chewing up and swallowing her first bite of jerky she took another, glancing down as she chewed at Akai who was still working on the large chunk she had given her. Miyuki glanced at the bag, noticing that it was getting a bit low and figured they would have to stop by the market yet again today so she could restock. Both herself and her friend enjoyed meat way too much to allow such a snack to dwindle and disappear. No, it was best they stock up now and not have to worry about it later on.

A third bite of her jerky and the piece was gone. She chewed in silence and then swallowed. Following this she picked up her bottle of water, unscrewed the cap from it, and with the lid in her right hand she drank while holding the bottle in her left. She emptied the rest of the clear contents before returning the cap to the bottle. She tossed the empty bottle into her gym bag – she was big on not littering and preserving the natural beauty of the village after all – and stretched skyward with her fingers pointing straight up while she stretched her legs horizontally. She could feel the ache setting in and knew she would have to get back to training soon or else she wouldn't get as much done today as she wanted.

Miyuki glanced up at the sky, noticing that the sun was nearly straight above: the position told her that it was nearly eleven o'clock in the morning already. At this rate she knew she would likely end up training late into the night. Miyuki reached over and poked at the top of Akai's head and the base of her ears as he finished eating the last bit of his jerky. A grin spread across her face once more as she listened to her start making that sound that was the equivalent of a feline purring - hey, humans could purr too. She kept up the poking for a moment or two before deciding it was time to get back to work. ”Do you need anything before I get back to training?”, she asked Akai who shook her head no. ”Alright then. Back to work I go.” Or training as it were, which she supposed could be considered work to some people. Miyuki really didn't mind it though, it was kind of nice – like a miniature vacation whose only side effect some some sore and cramping muscles the next day.

Miyuki picked up her next bottle of water, the one that was left unopened, and unscrewed the cap before taking a sip. When she was done she screwed the cap back on tightly and put her bottle back into her gym bag before zipping it up and closed once more. With nothing else to distract her she stood up, stretched skyward while standing on the tips of her toes. She held that pose for a moment before walking back into the clearing. Once more Miyuki took her stance: she planned on going on with her punches and kicks until she hit one hundred or more each, and then following that she would take another break that would involve more meditation. Yes, that was a good plan, and one she planned on sticking to, and so Miyuki began to train her punches and kicks once more with the same gusto as before.

Despite the pain that she was feeling Miyuki decided to keep pushing through: she knew eventually her body would become numb to it and that was the place she was hoping to get to. But, for now she would simply deal with the pain and keep pushing through it and training: one hundred kicks and one hundred punches weren't all that far away now. Not far away at all. And so once more Miyuki took her fighting stance so that she could continue on with her grueling training from hell itself.

Before she got down to meditating once more Miyuki decided that another drink of water was in order; especially after a glance over showed that Akai's cup was almost empty. So, she walked over to the flat boulder from the middle of the clearing and sat down on its edge for a moment. She pulled her gym bag towards herself, unzipped it, and removed the bottle of water. She unscrewed the cap then and poured more water into Akai's cup until it was once again full. When she was satisfied that her friend and self proclaimed body guard was completely taken care of she brought the bottle to her lips and chugged it down a bit until there was only a fourth of the bottle left.

Frowning to herself and thinking that she should have definitely brought another bottle of water with her she screwed the cap back on and replaced the bottle back into her gym bag before once more zipping it shut. When Akai finished drinking some of the fresh water out of the large plastic cup she reached over and poked at the top of her head once more. Chuckling to herself in amusement she kept poking and tickling for another few moments before she stopped.

”I suppose I should get back to work, now. At least I'm over halfway done. When I'm done with this, if it isn't too late that is, maybe we can stop by and grab some steaks for dinner, kay?” Akai nodded before making a face. Miyuki laughed at the silly expression on her friends's face and then glanced up at the sky: from the position of the sun she could tell that it was about three o'clock in the afternoon. She was definitely burning through training hours like crazy. But, at least now she wouldn't have to worry about feeling the burn anymore. Her body was all but completely numb to it. Still, she was going to meditate for a bit to get herself even more focused so that she could finish strong.

So, without further waiting she got up from the flat rock and walked back into the middle of the clearing that was becoming all too familiar with her. With a deep sigh she sat down in one graceful movement indian style and straightened up her back. She rested her hands on her knees, palms up, and closed her eyes so that she could be fully focused. Just as before she started the same deep breathing exercises she had done before, allowing herself to slip back into that blissful peace. She followed the same deep breathing exercise as before, slipping into a very blissful and nicely peaceful mind setting; a mind setting that would help her push past the pain as she continued on with her training.

With her meditating now completed and her mind and body feeling completely at ease she stood in a lithe movement just as she had done before. Once on her feet she took her stance again; feet spread slightly wider than her hips with her left leg up a little further then her left hip and her right leg a little further back from her right hip. A stance that would allow her to have perfect balance. From here it was time to continue with the grueling training and work her way towards that two hundred mark that would likely take her well into the evening hours. Still, steak was a good motivation to look forward to and the faster she finished the faster she could go get some.

Punches and kicks were launched as before, Miyuki's head once more back in her training. Miyuki knew that she could have paused and taken a break, but knowing how close she was she just couldn't bring herself to do it. So no, she continued on just like she had been doing before, determined to get past the two hundred mark with both her kicks and her punches.

Entirely exhausted but exceptionally pleased with herself Miyuki allowed herself to fall backwards, hitting the earth with am oomph sound as she laid there in the grassy clearing and simply stared up at the sky: the familiar throbbing of her aching muscles finally beginning to set in after several minutes in that position. She was done. She had accomplished her goal of doubling the amount of training she had done before. This was great... now, how the hell was she going to get home? That was the question.

Just like she had done the day before Akai stood up, stretched and yawned, and then grabbed hold of the gym bag of Miyuki's before dragging it over to her. She placed it down next to her and then sat down again, obviously more than willing to wait until she was ready to move to go get that steak. Miyuki laid there another few minutes without moving before she finally and slowly sat up. After the dizziness subsided she pulled the gym bag on to her lap, unzipped it, and then pulled out her bottle of water. She unscrewed the cap and chugged down the last fourth of the bottle of water. Once it was empty she put the cap back on and placed the empty bottle into her gym bag before closing it back up.

She took a moment to stretch out her muscles; working her body from the top to the bottom until she was completely relaxed. Once she was done with her after exercise stretching routine she got to her feet slowly, her body still feeling a bit on the numb side. She picked up her bag and pulled it onto her shoulder via the strap before walking slowly out of the clearing with Akai walking beside her.

She moved slowly, not wanting to rush and wear herself out anymore then she already was. It took nearly twenty minutes at this pace to get back to the main village, and then another ten minutes after that to get into the proper market area that her favorite food stall was located. She took a seat on one of the stools and Akai sat down beside her. When the owner came over and greeted her she smiled. ”Two steaks, please. Medium rare. A glass of watermelon juice, and a glass of water, please.” It was her usual order and so after she handed her ryo over to pay for it the owner nodded and got to work fixing the food for herself and Akai.

Their drinks were given first, and she gave Akai the juice while she kept the water. Then the steak arrived and she did the same. Both inhaling both food and drink quickly.

When they were done eating Miyuki left a tip behind and slipped off of the stool. Both her and Akai walked back home where Miyuki got a good and long shower before falling into bed... All without forgetting to set her alarm clock for the next day.

[Exit]

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