You Must Defeat My Sheng Long [Shishiyuki, Makoto]

It was, as it turned out, a relatively simple process to establish a private lesson plan through the Academy system. Shishiyuki wondered if it had always been this easy, or if it was one of the relatively recent developments. Given how uncommon these sorts of individual curricula actually were, she suspected it had just been too much trouble for most teachers to consider worth recommending.

Regardless, even if it had still been that difficult, she was not the sort to let that dissuade her.

It was relatively late in the evening for a lesson plan, the very last time period that could be managed under the Academy schedule, but that was ideal for this sort of training. Fewer people around to be concerned about the potentially dangerous nature of the lesson plan, and of course, it gave them both a bit of time between the day's standard courses and this more strenuous class.

For now, Shishiyuki was simply preparing the room, writing out a handful of diagrams on the blackboard before readying the training circle. This would certainly not be a class built only on theory.

What a time, Makoto had not complained though, if anything she found that she enjoyed the lessons to fill her evenings. She hated her evenings being so quiet or that she was training by herself. This was a nice change of pace, Shishiyuki still did make her feel a little uneasy. Makoto couldn't figure it out though.

"Am I late?"

Makoto asked redundantly from the door while seeing her teacher doing some preparation. Maybe it was just extra, but Makoto made a habit of never being late. If anything she would always arrive well in advance, one time she had waited nearly an hour by arriving early because she had nothing else to do and had been given such a vague time frame. Shishiyuki was very precise though, working it out over tea had worked out well.

She put her bag by the door, it just had an extra set of clothes and some water. Makoto didn't like the idea of her clothes being damaged by fighting or being so drenched in sweat after training, this was how she went about it. She always tried to be prepared.

"You are not, no. It is a pleasure to see you, Miss Arima. However, in my filing of the paperwork for this course, it was brought to my attention that you have been put onto medical leave by the Captain Commander, is that correct?"

There was nothing accusatory in Shishiyuki's tone as she brought this matter up, and in fact she had no particular intention of going against her promise to teach Makoto. She would, of course, take it into consideration, but a promise was a promise.

"Ah, do not take this as any intention on my part to make you feel guilty or the like. Our lessons will continue, of course."

"It is, however my physical condition is fine. My arm is fine and the brusing of my stomach has healed with your intervention. I assure you."

Makoto didn't want to have to show her stomach to prove it, it did cross her mind whether or not she should show her just to prove it. That didn't feel necessary though and she was still pretty shy about exposing herself. Maybe she did not consider how she might get scolded by Abalia for taking lessons, on one hand she did take interventions in the form of Shishiyuki's kaido to speed up the healing process.

"Alright, could you explain to me what we will be doing this evening?"

"So long as you are confident in your well being, I will teach you at the fullest. Do not hesitate to inform me if your injuries become problematic again."

Shishiyuki pulled a chair out for Makoto, taking her own seat as well as she leafed through a few notes. While it was all well and good to jump directly to practical work, hakuda had a great deal of fundamental knowledge that did need to be covered.

"We will mostly be covering the basics of the flow of energy through the body, given that is the crux of hakuda's application. Without understanding that, it is unlikely that you will be able to grasp the higher levels of hakuda beyond the surface level."

"Alright. I will."

She took a seat and crossed her legs. The full attention was directed at Shishiyuki. It made sense, Makoto was a little surprised though to hear how the lesson would focus on fundamentals. It was an advanced class, though she wouldn't let herself get ahead of herself like she had already got her way around the basics.

"May I inquire as to the exercises you had in mind?"

Makoto cocked her head when she asked, waiting to see what kind of teacher Shishiyuki was in a one on one situation, would she prefer to just watch and throw some advice at her or would she engage personally?

Obviously, it would be a pointless effort to ask her about the absolute basics, but what someone such as Shishiyuki considered "fundamental" was rather drastically different from what most practitioners of the art would consider "fundamental."

"How familiar are you with the intricacies of your flow of spiritual energy? One can progress quite far with only a relatively basic understanding of it, but more elaborate hakuda techniques are outright impossible without finesse. Can you, for instance, direct your energy specifically into only one finger?"

Shishiyuki had decided that this would likely be the best course of action for them to start out, given that this degree of control was when most found it unnecessary to refine their technique any further.

"If you are indeed able, can you then switch the flow of said energy on a whim? Turn its direction in reverse at a moment's notice?"

"Into a single finger.."

Makoto reiterated the words while bringing her finger up to look at it. A couple of basic hakuda techniques came to mind that used something like that, the way the energy flowed around the body to achieve impossible effects.

The second part is really what caught her off guard. To reverse it on a whim, Makoto could only think of when she had given Abalia her testing strike. That was less spiritual energy though and more just kinetic energy, the strike was pulled with equal force just before it hit and so it came to a standstill.

"I am comfortable with the flow of my spiritual energy in my body, your comments on the reversing of that flow confuse me though. I don't understand how one might pull the energy where it's already in motion and commited to flow in reverse."

Shishiyuki wasn't especially surprised that this particular avenue was outside of Makoto's current understanding. It was, after all, an advanced course, and she doubted these degrees of specialization even tended to generally be taught at all. For general purpose Hakuda, there was no real sense in knowing it, so she understood why.

"Consider the flow of energy through the body when using Hakuda. It should be controlled at all times, yes? Allowed to be expelled at precise times, and measured for the desired outcome. The energy does not simply move into one's limbs, but through them."

Holding out her right hand toward Makoto, her palm facing upward, Shishiyuki used her other hand to gesture toward it.

"Please place a finger on my palm, and I will demonstrate. This degree of control is critical to any more advanced techniques."

"I agree. Yes."

Makoto's eyes focused on the palm in front of her and she did as she was told. There wasn't any hesitation when putting her finger there, maybe the most caution she exhibited was usage of her left hand but given the fact they were facing each other it was the obvious option to do regardless.

Her index finger touched Shishiyuki's palm with a little bit more force than simply resting on it. It was that habit of doing things with a bit more force than was necessary back at it. Makoto didn't notice it, her teacher had really wellkept hands despite the fact that the palm definitely had some calluses.

"Alright."