intraspective | Konohagakure no Sato, Thursday Evening (Fandom Time) / Jan. 4th (Konoha Time)

Ino laughed.

Perched up on a wooden fence, elbows on her knees and her chin propped up in her hands, she watched with bright, rested, eyes as Zack was walked again through the basic steps to walk up a tree.

It was a skill, truly, that wasn't usually taught to those who hadn't gone through the Academy, but her father had decreed that he was going to learn a few things, or so help him, and while she was supportive in the sense that she'd give him theory…

Well, when it came to watching his practical attempts, Ino tended to dissolve into giggles. (Truly, he wasn't doing so badly for someone who, a week and a half ago hadn't known chakra from dirt, but…)

"You've got to keep your eyes open while moving," she called helpfully, before cracking up again.

[NFB, for ze puppy, mmm gratuitous timewarpiness.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

puppy_fair

"My feet are finding the tree just fi-OW."

And there his behind went, hitting the dirt again. Zack was fairly certain that it was only a matter of time before the local kids started to gather around to point and laugh, too. He sighed as he picked himself up and dusted off his behind again.

"Well, they were," he mumbled, shaking his head.

He knew better, at least, than to ask why he wasn't allowed to just jump up. That was improvement all on its own.

From:

intraspective

Ino giggled as her father threw up his hands in exasperation--she could tell he wasn't truly mad, though Zack might not know the difference--and shifted on her perch. There was a brisk wind, and it was wrecking havoc with her hair.

"You need to use more chakra," her father informed Zack, "enough to make your feet want to stick to the tree."

"And eyes open," Ino couldn't help tacking on. "Directions help!"

Ino wasn't being much help, no. But at least she was in a genuinely good mood?

From:

puppy_fair

"More chakra," Zack echoed, looking at his feet, and then at the tree. He had trained under Angeal. No amount of exasperation would throw him off after learning the tricks of the SOLDIER trade from that man. And so this time, he was going to take a deep breath, focus on using more chakra, and then shoot a grin at Ino. He'd get this down, yet!

It was probably about two steps up the tree that he heard the trunk make a kind of ominous cracking sound. And, upon hitting the ground butt-first once again, he looked up to see what in the world had gone wrong.

... The tree had a dent in it. The tree had a dent in it because he'd stepped on it.

"Oh, man."

Ninja, Zack Fair was not.

From:

intraspective

"Now you're using too much chakra," Ino heard her father say over her laughter.

Sorry, Zack, but your girlfriend was finding you an awesome source of amusement this afternoon. It was hard not to when she'd learnt all of this back when she'd been twelve and had had less issues with it.

From:

puppy_fair

"Maybe I should just go into landscaping," Zack mumbled, frowning thoughtfully at the tree as he picked himself up again. "How do I tell if I'm using enough?"

Presumably, the answer would be, "You'll know when you don't fall on your butt again."

From:

intraspective

"It's a matter of concentration," Inoichi said, in his lecturing voice. "Too much chakra and the tree will repel you. Too little and you slip right off. Before moving forward, visualize the chakra evenly spread over the soles of your feet."

Ino wriggled her toes happily while her dad ran through the theory of it again.

There was something very--pleasing--to her about being right where she was, with her dad and Zack together and the sun out. It was cool, for Fire Country, but not raining. That was good enough.

From:

puppy_fair

"Like shoes," Zack mused. "Chakra shoes."

... Something like that.

"Okay. I'm going to do it, this time."

He took a moment to close his eyes, to focus. There was him, and there was the tree. And then there was this chakra stuff, which was nothing like using materia, which had taken him a bit of doing to figure out, too. And now... chakra shoes!

This time around, it was about four steps up that he'd started slipping. He grit his teeth, pushed his focus, slipped into Combat Mode, and... Stuck fast.

Okay. So maybe he should have done that from the start. He knew he was pretty terrible at concentration unless his DMW was on the roll, but he'd wanted to figure this out for himself. Nevertheless, he was going to grin a little and take a few more steps. It was a little victory, even if he sort of had brain surgery to thank for it.

"Nothing to it!"

From:

intraspective

"Good," her father said, sounding unimpressed. "Now get to the very top of the tree."

It was a tall tree. At least fifty feet tall.

Ino was still smiling a proud little smile.

From:

puppy_fair

Hey, what was fifty feet when you jumped out of helicopters for fun? But man, Angeal would have lectured him something terrible if Zack had ever admitted to that much. Zack bit his lip as his reel lingered on Angeal's face for a moment in his mind's eye before continuing on its spin. He was supposed to be thinking about trees and chakra shoes, not that.

He took a few more careful steps, making certain that he had the proper feel for it, before picking up the pace a little, and all at once deciding to tackle the rest of the tree at a run.

Zack was nothing if not ambitious.

From:

intraspective

Zack began to run and her father shook his head, mouthing at her 'An idiot! Idiot!' and Ino cracked up laughing again.

"Walk back down," Inoichi ordered, hands on his hips. "And then walk back up. This is an exercise in control and stability against gravity, not how fast you can run."

Ino bit her lip and grinned. Walking down was harder--because gravity was a helpful enemy.

From:

puppy_fair

Little bits of bark went flying as Zack skidded to a stop, and then turned himself around. His hair was hanging in his face, but that was nothing new. And the height didn't bother him at all. The tricky bit was going to be--

Yep, he took a step and all but thudded forward against the tree as gravity took hold. Okay. That wasn't so bad. It just meant that he'd have to move a little more stiffly, maybe. He certainly had the body strength to manage it. Another step, feeling kind of like a stiff-legged scarecrow as he did so. Maybe a rusty mech or something, as his other foot thumped onto the trunk.

Step number three? Still not so bad.

It was about step number four that he felt his feet slipping, and before his brain could catch up with his body's reaction, he launched himself off the tree in a jump, cartwheeling mid-air so that he could land it properly.

... Fifty feet down.

Thank goodness for SOLDIER.

"... I guess you want me to do that again, huh?"

From:

intraspective

A raised eyebrow and a glance at the tree was Inoichi's answer. (That'd be a 'yes', Zack.)

Ino glanced at her watch and smiled. Well, he should have time enough to try at least once more before it was time to drag him away from her father for a few hours.

"It gets easier," Ino called helpfully.

From:

puppy_fair

"Yeah, I bet," Zack called back, laughing a little as he set on up the tree all over again.

This time, he took it more seriously, actually taking his lumps and walking up the tree, trying to get a feel for the way gravity was working so that when he turned around again, he wouldn't find himself taking flying leaps just to keep from skidding all the way down.

This time, he managed the trip both ways. Except for that part at the very bottom, where he had to go from standing sideways to right-side-up all over again. Stepping off the tree was more than a bit of a stumble, arms cartwheeling like mad so that he didn't actually land on his face again.

He was going to blame the fact that his only experience in getting down from the tree again had involved him landing on his bum.

From:

intraspective

Ino clapped, grinning at him brightly.

Inoichi nodded. "Better," he said, "we'll practice more later."

Then he was gone in a swirl of smoke and leaves and Ino wriggled her fingers at Zack, beckoning him. He could come over! Give her a kiss!

From:

puppy_fair

Mission Accomplished!

... Oh, over there! Zack could do that, sore behind at all!

He grinned as he made his way over to join her at the fence.

"I will never, ever look at ninjas the same way again," he announced, before leaning over to claim a kiss. It was his victory smooch, for making it up and down the tree without falling, even if he'd only managed it just once.

From:

intraspective

Mmmmm kisses.

She grinned at him, placing one hand on his chest for balance (not that she needed it) and wrinkled her nose. “Dare I ask how you’ll view them now?”

From:

puppy_fair

"Way, waaaay more coordinated than me, for one," Zack laughed. "I don't think I did too bad though, did I? Do you think?"

... Maybe it would be best not to answer that honestly, Ino.

From:

intraspective

She leaned forward for another kiss.

“You’re learning,” was Ino’s response. She felt that was a nice and safe one. “I think Dad’s warming to you.”

From:

puppy_fair

"Yeah?" Zack laughed a little, happy to claim kiss number two. "I was starting to wonder, with all the throwing his arms into the air that he was doing. I was half expecting him to start pulling hair out if I fell again."

From:

intraspective

“He didn’t yell,” she pointed out lightly. “And he kept explaining. Totally an indication that he doesn’t hate you.”

Or that he was willing to put up with a damn great deal for her. Either of which made Ino feel warm and gooey inside.

From:

puppy_fair

Zack tilted his head thoughtfully for a few seconds, musing on that one. Inoichi was starting to seem more and more like Angeal when Ino explained things like that to him. He wasn't entirely certain what he thought of that.

"Does he train people often?"

From:

intraspective

“I don’t know how much actual trainin’ he does,” she admitted, wriggling closer so she could snake her arms around him.

Shut up. She was still a bit clingy.

“But he heads up the Intel. specialists and so I figure he’s got to do a good bit of it…?"

From:

puppy_fair

"Intel? Like the Turks?"

Which went to show just how much Zack knew about the Turks. And about Konoha. Unless he was being willfully dense again. It was always so difficult to tell, with Zack.

"I bet he doesn't have to teach many of them how to walk up tree trunks."

From:

intraspective

“A bit like the Turks,” she said, lifting her shoulders in a shrug. However he was thinking about it, that was a good enough description for her to work with. “And no, walking up trees is a lot more… basic… than what he normally teaches.”