Golden Silence [Iolana's Training]

Training:

Day after day Iolana was waiting for it, to know that she was going to keep on helping her best friend Eden every day more, and to prove that she was far more capable than people always thought of her. And getting up that morning she was met with arguably her second favourite sight. It wasn’t the approval to be placed in to the graduation class along with Eden, but it was easily the next best thing. It was the approval to be allowed in to the medical class. The excitement caused her to go rushing around her home in the PJs. The letter became horribly crinkled up, accidentally running over yesterday's washing to grab her shoes. But she didn’t care, just having that news she could be properly taught medical ninjutsu was perfect.

Falling back in to bed she looked back over the letter, just thinking over exactly how far she had gotten since meeting the young Dokusei girl. Even after having just been taken in by such a kind older couple, Iolana was so well aware that she had all but excluded herself from the very world. After losing her parents she had dropped right off the face of the world, avoiding anything. But just the chance encounter  whilst looking in to the Dipugakure Academy, she had bonded with her best friend. She didn’t know just what she was capable of yet, she really did not think at first she could be capable of anything. But with Eden’s help she was able to fully embrace that part of her. She never thought she could be good in a fight, but she could support people. She could support her friend. And if she could graduate to being a Genin, just maybe that could become a plural. She shook her head viciously. For all the work it was hard to stop so many voices. Iolana would become a Genin with Eden.

WC: 321 / 300

Spec Training: Alternate Weaponkin Weapon Form - Duel Daggers

“Well well well, look at what we have here,” Iolana truly hoped she could go just one day in the housing compound without any of the little ass holes. The young Fushicho girl hunched her shoulders as she was decended upon by a gang of little shits, surrounded by three young girls and two boys who thought they were tough. To most other young kids they very well might have been tough. But Iolana was not afraid of them, she knew how to handle them and it really was not that difficult. She just so often could not feel the effort to go through with it. She just rolled her eyes and continued walking forwards.

“Oh c’mon Mutie. Speak up,” They found that oh so very funny. Maybe of Iolana lacked the intelligence that they in turn so very clearly lacked she might have found it funny too. But she couldn’t even give them the satisfaction. “We’re trying to talk to you. Don’t you think that’s a little rude,” And then Iolana was shoved hard in the shoulder. She was far too used to it by that point, so rolling with the shove came as second nature. They were too stupid to even tell that after all. It just meant that Iolana wasn’t even remotely hurt, and they thought they were being all big and tough.

“I don’t think she wants to talk guys,” Iolana didn’t recognise the sudden change in tone right away. The guy acting as their leader was smirking wide, stepping forwards and causing the young Fushicho girl to begin stepping back, right in to one of the ass hole’s cronies who immediately grabbed her. She looked back with both surprise, and a little fear as the boy’s grip tightened on her shoulders. This was most certainly not a good situation. The three girls stepped back cackling to themselves over the situation they believed Iolana had been stuck in. “She’s a really pretty girl though,” And then everything was burning within her. Iolana couldn’t know exactly, but knowing what she did, the boy standing over her was older and… wow was he ugly. Iolana’s face hardened as she began stretching her imagination, finding a way out of the situation.

“Aww look, she thinks she’s being tough,” One of the girls mocked and the two with her began giggling. “What a little skank, thinks she’s all so tough.” But she had absolutely none of Iolana’s focus, this was only on the boy in front of her. This was going to be so, so damn easy. She was only thinking about the most fun way to take the boy down.

“Oh don’t worry, I bet she won’t be all tough for long,” He was grinning. And as soon as his hand touched Iolana’s cheek, she was ready to get in to action.

“Err… wait just a minute Kay. I… I can’t hold her,” The other boy tried to warn his friend. But the idiot was not listening. He was too focused, his grip on Iolana’s jaw tightening whilst he was leaning in. He was trying to forcibly kiss her and she knew it. The boy behind her was scrambling to try and get a grip, but as she was readying what she called her AshWraith technique, he just couldn’t hold on to her.

Iolana drove her knee right up in to the boy’s stomach. And everything began to move in slow motion around her. For as much as Iolana had trained herself in her traits as a Weapon kin, for all the recent teachings she had wrapped herself in to learn medical ninjutsu techniques, she was more than capable of fighting by herself when she needed to. And once she was out of the first boy’s grip, she was free to move about. The boy who had grabbed her took the first true brunt of her retaliation. Whilst the boy who had tried to kiss her got the first hit, he got the lightest at that moment. The one grabbing her, his arm was grabbed in turn and yanked behind his back. Iolana pushed and tightened her grip. She found some great delight in the feel and the sound of the snap of his elbow being dislocated. This was soon followed by the hard drive of her knee in to the crook of his back, knocking him down and clear out of the way.

The trio of laughing girls were next. They didn’t outright physically harass her, so she in turn could not find any sort of nerve to do the same. This however would not halt them from getting the embarrassment they tried to put on her. Maintaining her AshWraith form she swirled around them, causing them all to collapse in to each other coughing so heavily, they eyes watering horribly and their lungs hacking up whilst trying to find any sort of clear breath. But that was only the distraction. Shifting her arms in to her metal blade feather form, she swirled around them, slashing at their hair and clothes. Such pretty little outfits they wore, and Iolana just tore them to pieces. They would definitely not be living any of this down.

Screaming and trying to cover themselves, the three ran away, stumbling over each other as their eyes still burned and their lungs still filled with ash. And she dropped the AshWraith form to stand over the shreds of clothing and hair. There was just the leader boy left standing. And Iolana loved the expression on his face. He was absolutely pissed. Pissed as to whether he was annoyed his friends were embarassed, that his ‘right hand man’ had been humiliated and taken down so damn easily. Or what actually seemed more appropriate to her eyes, was that he was denied what he wanted. Iolana knew the type of guy. He thought he was tough, that he could ‘bully guys in to looking good’. And that was not Iolana’s kind of guy even remotely.

She stood staring at him, smirking wide, and cracked her knuckles. He was going to absolutely pay for touching her. Best not tell Kirai though. The boy will have suffered enough.

To his great credit, he actually attempted to throw the first punch. But that only put him deeper and deeper on to Iolana’s shit list. He threw a punch, but he was so damn slow she barely had to even try to dodge. She rolled her eyes and just weaved to the right to dodge the first punch, took a step back and ducked left for the second. Oh wow this was far, far too easy.

“Fuck. You. You little. Fucking;. No talking. Freak!” Each word was a terrible attempt at a punch. And it was no wonder she had been held back in the academy at least three times. Something about that just filled Iolana was delight. Not too long ago she hadn’t ever thought of herself as a fighter in even the slightest regard. Two years ago she would have been victimised for just being who she was. If she hadn’t joined the academy, if she hadn’t met Eden, she would have been pushed around by this very boy who could not hit her any more. “Stop. Dodging. Freak. And let. Me. Fucking. Hit you already!” He was getting slower and far more sloppy. Iolana was starting just to get bored messing with him.

She no longer felt that burning desire for revenge for what he tried to do to her. But she also very much could not just let him get away with it. So as he swung at her again, she just caught his fist in her hand. “Ugh, get… get off me you little freak!” Even as he tried to pull back, Iolana would not let go. She might not have been the strongest, but she certainly knew what her body was capable of, and just what she could actually do with it. It was the Weapon kin trait for strong defensive capabilities that allowed her to just clamp her hand tight on him. She couldn’t do much damage with that alone, but she could solidify enough to keep him from pulling back.

He tried to pulled back hard, but Iolana followed him in without letting him get even remotely far back. Iolana was enjoying just how fearful he seemed to get as he was unable to break free from the little girl he tried to victimise. She wanted to scream in his face, but the whole damn village knew that was never going to happen. Iolana just didn’t speak her mind in a literal sense. In saying that, the number of people that she could even speak with could be counted on a single hand. And two of those she had only known for a year, and a few weeks respectively. This ass hole was never going to even bother trying to learn.

One hard drive of her fist and she could feel his face all but crumbling. Iolana finally let go of his fist as she drove her hand through her jaw, and watched him just drop like a rock. She really expected more of someone who spoke so highly of himself. She felt even worse for him as she stood over him, just to see him crying. He was actually crying. He took one punch from a young girl he was bullying, and he in turn was crying. This just was not one bit fun any more.

Iolana stepped over him, trodding one of his teeth in to the dirt and going to his friend. She knelt down over him, lying down and clutching his dislocated arm. If there was any thing, Iolana knew when she had humiliated someone enough to possibly learn a lesson. None of those girls are going to cause any more trouble, at least until after their hair had grown back, and they would certainly worry for any wardrobe that they wore around the young Fushicho. And this boy was… well he was an ass all the same, but he was more than likely just following orders to try and fit in to this group. She also had to make her own point and just maybe she could get the boy to not join in with the horrible shenanigans in the future.

Wiggling her fingers, she felt the course of chakra just like she had been taught in class. This wasn’t going to be the most perfect of healing techniques, she was after all still a very, very new student to medical ninjutsu. But first she had to put her hands to his arm, both above and below his elbow. And with a twist and a push, trying not to unload her stomach with the sound and feel of the bones setting back in to place, she relocated his elbow. The boy immediately cried out with the pain, and Iolana had to push him down again to keep him still. Actually being able to speak would have made that so much easier, but alas, she was silent as ever.

With both hands glowing with the swelling of healer chakra, Iolana was gently rubbing at the elbow joint from both sides. It was a really slow process, and without external injuries it was hard to actually tell if she was doing any real work. But before too long the boy seemed to be getting in less and less pain.

“Th-thanks,” He said once Iolana drew herself back. He still got a kick in the stomach, and a middle finger for his troubles though. And then she was storming off to home. She was delayed far more than she liked and she still had to finish actually getting ready to move out and in to the new place with her team. Still though, the little session had taught her plenty that she had learned lately. And looked back to her hand she was proud that she didn’t outright go in to the more dangerous use of her newly perfected weapon form. With a shake of her wrist, the blade forms in place of her hand. Beautiful.

WC: 2009 / 2000

Learning:

The new form she had learned to take was so strange to her. Iolana had finally learned a form that she could take to be of actual, real help. Sure she was told a good few times that her cloak form was good, but it was like her. Supportive. She couldn’t use the form to fight exactly. And now she had a team, two amazing girls who looked out for her, and that she had to learn to look out for in turn. That was why she learned the twin daggers form after all. It was just a little plan she came up with, one she hadn’t even told the other two just yet. She had spent time with them, even getting the assistance in having the three bond closely. It was what would make her skills as a weaponkin, the skills to physically be their strongest weapon, stronger. Though admittedly she knew they each possessed their own skills and equipment, she didn’t feel she could trump them, but she was determined to give them some amazing options. As she looked to her hand, keeping her palm completely flat out, before a blade materialised from her wrist. Perhaps not quite what she thought bringing one blade out might look like, but she couldn’t complain. If anything, she felt it could make what she planned to do easier to visualise.

All her self teaching for medical ninjutsu had meant that one of the first techniques she was able to teach herself was for the chakra scalpel technique. A relatively easy method of chakra control to make a blade. She already could make a physical blade, so surely mixing the two would be a piece of piss. With a flex of her fingers she let the light chakra aura slip out from her body, though instead of around the blade like she wanted, it still enveloped her hand like the regular scalpel. With a disgruntled expression she shifted about in her position on the hard as fuck bed. Disable the technique was easy, just a little wiggle of her middle finger and the chakra dispersed. The blade however remained sprouted from her wrist. With a sigh and a flick of her wrist, the blade too vanished, though it felt and looked more as if the blade just disintergrated. She could keep working on it. It wouldn’t take too long to control just where the chakra blade emerged. Although some part of her wondered if it would be easier to learn that level of control if she was in complete weapon form. Slumping back to throw her head in to the overly soft pillow, Fushicho knew their feathers after all, she made the mental note to tell Chi and Kiri later, get them to help. Charging both blades at the same time would be harder, but it would increase the team sync at least, and if she could control that then the technique could be made easier. Plus the other two might have suggestions.

For now she returned in to her studies. She needed to learn how to spot injuries, their causes, before she could learn how best to treat them. Even if the majority of the basic healing techniques worked in using chakra to speed up the body’s natural recovery, it was still always good to know. After all, how could you treat an injury effectively, if said healing might actually cause damage. It wasn’t until she had begun to learn all of this that she actually put thought in to the idea that recovery could be worse if you didn’t have all the facts. A broken leg, yeah the body could heal that, so chakra could heal it, but if the bone was snapped out of place, healing in the wrong place could be a factor that causes retirement for a member of the Republic. Her team had already had enough trouble getting to where they were now, and if Iolana had her way, they would going to be well and healthy for a long, long time. Especially as she had to work around Kirai’s… unique biology. Studying that particular aspect was difficult, and Kirai was still new to her. She didn’t want to ask so soon, but she also wanted to make sure any healing might not harm her eyes… err… eye sockets, more than they already seemed.

WC: 726

Approved

Training: AshWraith I and II, alternatively known as Speed Tiers.

It had been a few weeks now since Iolana had begun trying to learn how to move swiftly, to keep up with Chiyo, and now Kirai was being added in to that mix too. She knew she would never actually be capable of besting them on speed, the two had been trained for that very thing, Iolana definitely hadn’t. She had focused much on making herself sturdy, if she was in her cloak form she could very easily be their shield. Just a part of a special fighting style she was trying to learn, but without another active person it was hard to get much of a grasp on how it should be done. It was a technique that required team work. That could come later.

She had only recently been turned to the idea of using her clan’s ash nature to her advantage, along with the method to which her people used the Sol Fire that were born with the ability to harness. It certainly worked perfectly for the young girl as her very element was Ash in her cloak, plenty to work with there. And so she had been developing a way she could quite literally turn herself in to ash that she controlled to move around with. Not easy by far, but that was what the weeks of training had been all about. And as she took a break for the evening, she could look back and see the wavy trails of black and grey ash that had been left behind, not necessarily marking every step she took, she basically didn’t take any steps in her AshWraith form, and it showed perfectly as she could recount every time that she had phased solid and back in to ash. Next time she had some offensiveness to work on. And she couldn’t wait to show off to the girls.

WC: 309 / 300

Learning: 2D 1C
Defence Tier D and C
Metal Fist D

This absolutely sucked! Iolana hated this part of the training when it came to her Weapon kin heritage. It basically boiled down to being hit repeatedly, and just having to withstand it until she could activate her Weapon form defences at will. For a cloak of metal feathers it really should have been easy. Why wouldn’t it have been easy after all? Just wrap herself up in her own weapon form and… alright perhaps not that easy. Partial transformations were still a learning curve when Iolana was so adjusted to complete transformation to her cloak form. And the dual daggers were still a difficulty in most other forms.

A roll of her shoulders was the only bit of movement she was permitted before she was getting assailed once again. She could have sworn the academy tutor, the only one who might train her through sign language, was doing this on purpose. He seemed to enjoy shooting her with his sling shot. She supposed she should have been thankful that he wasn’t trying to use a weapon like a cross bow or something. But if she didn’t hurry up getting the hang of these defences soon she worried they might force that upon her; get the defence down, or risk getting impaled by arrows or bullets. The more she thought about it, the more she realised they could very well do that, blame it on a medical ninjutsu training on top of defence training.

Mentally Iolana began to retreat within herself, curling an arm around her head and deflecting a shot from the sling. It might have bounced off of her, but it still hurt like all heck. Her swirling thoughts of being useless, a waste of shinobi space in the Nations. But then there was Chiyo’s voice, picking her up. And Iolana’s mental body just went limp against the tug from her oldest friend. Mental Chiyo was trying to help, but Iolana knew she was really useless. Why pull Chiyo down with her. But then a smack of lightning in her mind sent Iolana reeling, just as she was struck head on by a rock from the slingshot. Now she was being reprimanded by both her own brain, and by the teacher. But in her mind space, Kirai was there now. She didn’t have to say anything, she didn’t have to touch Iolana. Another crack of lightning at the same time as the throw of another rock that Iolana instead of blocking, straight dodged. More shouting outside, and more silence inside her head. Another rock came. Iolana stared it down. The rock struck right between her eyes, and crumbled there and then.

WC: 440 / 400

Learning:
B - Fae Dance Mischievous Shower
D - Surface Injury

Iolana Fushicho. The mute. The ‘harmless cloak’. The medical ninja in training of the team consisting of other disabled shinobi. She wanted to seem a threat, so she wouldn’t be picked on any more. Chiyome, her first and absolute best friend, had given her plenty, and plenty of confidence to just be herself over the years. She began so much happier since she made that friend. But compared to what her newest friend, Kirai, the blind mother fucking bad ass, who really encouraged Iolana to be stronger. Before Kirai, Lana didn’t care much for actually being physical in a fight. In her mind all she cared about was backing up Chiyo and watching her back. Quite literally even as a cloak. But that single girl made Iolana feel powerful. It gave her some serious nightmarish flash backs to her father. The man who had beat her just for not inheriting his form as an axe. Or even her mother’s flail form. He wanted the same thing at the most basic level. For Iolana to stop being so scared. To embrace those parts of herself. But Kirai was different. Her father wanted Iolana to be strong to make him look good. He wanted her to get some status. Kirai, even without having said it aloud, made Iolana want to be strong so that Kirai didn’t have to be. So what was this girl trying to be strong doing now?

She saw a cute little black kitty cat.

And now she was following it around. The little thing was little more than a kitten. And once Iolana Ash Wraithed close enough without spooking the little girl, her belief was confirmed. The little black cat was a kitten. And possible even it was the runt of the little. And that in it’s own way resonated with Iolana. She always felt like the runt of the class before Chiyo. Ok honestly she still felt like the runt of the class at times. It was why she read those Hunter Tonish novels, why she didn’t feel so bad showing as much skin in her clothing choices. She wanted people to know she was more mature than they thought. And over time she just felt more comfortable like that.

Later that night she was sat on her door step, a little black ball of fluff curled up on her lap, and the strong scent of tuna wafting around them. Iolana could never keep the little cat, but it was nice to know she might have another little friend out there on the streets. She wished she could speak, to tell the kitty that she had decided to name her Hikari. But that wasn’t possible. Maybe some day she might make a noise. But for that moment she was happy just to feel the body heat of a little cute cat snoozing in her lap. With a yawn she relaxed back against the front door. Nobody would be coming home soon, so Hikari wouldn’t be disturned. She pondered picking up the cat and taking her to Chiyo. Maybe the two could adopt the cat together when they finally found that place for themselves.

WC: 523 / 500

Approved

Learning:

Iolana couldn't believe she had never actually thought of doing something like this before. She could read, it was lesson one back in the academy when she initially couldn't, and therefore she knew how to write. So why not learn to use the ash she created to write messages. Certainly beat the point of carrying around the annoying little note pad. Saved her some money too. All she needed to do was to generate some ash or just use up some chakra to force some out. And boom. She could communicate with so much ease. Perhaps she never thought she'd need it. And this was a way of maturing. She didnt want to talk with just Chiyo and Kirai from now on. She needed to talk with others.

But with that out of the way, she turned to the bulk of what she was practising to use. Her meeting with the... let's say ecentic sensei Ayaka. Even as she stood in the secretive training field that Kirai showed her, recalling that first meeting, she still didn't know what that woman's deal was. But she did have a interesting style that just captivated the young Fushicho weaponkin. She would never be a huge fighter. She had her team for that. But the more time she spent with them, and that spar she had when she first met Kirai. The one where she was royally trounced. She had been looking to learn a style to fight by herself if need be. As she let her mind drift, letting the techniques come naturally as she honed her muscles, she recalled back to that meeting.

Weeks ago, shortly after first meeting Kirai, and with their arrangements in finding a place the trio could live together to get closer, Iolana was returning from her favourite bakery with some chocolatey goods and passing the public training field. With the sun setting most people retreated to their homes to be with family and to eat dinner. Arguably the coisants and muffins were Iolana's dinner. Nobody really cared for her so why not just treat herself with her kunoichi income. Chiyo might not be as happy when they move in together but that was something to think about later.

What stood out however was the woman using the field who was... throwing herself around? Iolana paused, muffin hanging from her lips as she watched. She was just spinning on her heels, throwing her weight around it seemed. She was slamming her hip and... her butt?! And with such... grace. Iolana was captivated by the way the woman was practising some peculiar taijutsu. If it could even be called that. But she was caught. The woman stopping to wipe some sweat from her brow, taking a drink from a flask. But then she hip tapped it, with such speed and precision that Iolana barely dodged it from even that distance. She dropped her muffin in the exchange.

The exact conversation Iolana didn't actually remember. But she was invited down, and witnessed up close the power behind what the woman called the Vitality Impact Style. Supposedly a style designed by a peculiar faunus over a century ago, and taught to several people. Ayaka joked about apparently the base style evolving due to the influence of a dozen children students. Lana did not believe that bit. It sounded too farfetched. But the following day, Iolana was invited back.

It had been a little while now since she last saw Ayaka, but she definitely had something to show for her progress when they next met up. She had merged the style she was taught with her own style, mixed with a variant to her AshWraith ability. The better she got, the more confident she could get in really surprising Chiyo and Kirai when they next sparred. She was going to knock their blocks off. With her butt.

Wiping her brow, she collected her gear, watching as the gentle breeze washed away the remaining scattering of ash she had created and not exactly used. She didn't expect so much to be created, but with this style, she well and truly could become a master of her other techniques faster through the generation. With a big yawn and a stretch, she was more than ready to head home.

WC: 704 / 700

Approved