Description: Undeterred but slightly bummed by a string of public losses, Batsu decides he needs to step his training up and not slack off. A chance meeting with Kyosuke lets him vent his frustrations, and sets the stage for future intra-Imawano training.
There it is, the last bell. Looks like school is over today at Taiyo High School, this particular group of seniors having finally escaped from the clutches of Japanese Literature, the last class of the day in this particular schedule. Now students are segregated in groups, talking animatedly or preparing for cleanup duty. Spring is coming in early and the nice weather has people's spirits high despite having just had to sit through an absurdly boring lecture on a subject most could care less about. All of them, it seems, except Batsu.
Normally, Japanese Lit is his chance to nap, so long as he escapes the watchful eye of Iincyo or Hinata. Today, though, he was actually paying attention and being awake, if sort of listless. Even the teacher seemed concerned and, in a complete disregard for his typical methods, *didn't* call on Batsu to embarass him. That's fine with the Imawano brat, who's got plenty to think about anyway.
As it is right now, he's leaning against the open window frame, giving no more than cursory attention to people who hail him, a number that gets fewer as it appears plain that he's not interested in talking. Instead he faces into the wind and focuses. Lately, while he's been satisfied that he's been giving his all in fighting, he's not 100% satisfied with the results. The question, of course, is what to do about it...
"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat above him, a calm and almost patient sound. Any inquery was missing from it, though the source of it held a vague questioning in their dark brown eyes. He even managed to avoid adjusting the frame of his glasses to drive the point home. Kyosuke, another one of those 'Imawano brats' waited on Batsu to acknowledge him. His satchel was already slung over his shoulder, his uniform immaculate inspite of it being the last class of the day. Kyosuke wasn't nearly finished with his tasks, but he could spare a few moments to find out just what it was bothering his friend and cousin. Apparently his abnormal behaviour had not gone unnoticed by the A-student.
"I was beginning to get concerned." His tone dry, just hedging being sarcastic. "I'd say perhaps the topic of Tanizaki Jun'ichiro on Japanese aesthetics was a topic that interested you this afternoon..." Yes, there was definate humour there lurking about in his 'stoic' expression. "But I've been wrong before." Not often! But he could be. It was plain Kyosuke better known as Kagami amongst not so close friends, would not accept silence as an answer.
...He hadn't forgotten about all the studying Batsu had to catch up on, and that was blackmail enough.
For a second, Batsu doesn't even seem to notice he was spoken to. Eventually, however, he flips his whole body around so that he's languidly set against the wall and the window, almost as if he would lean back and fall out of it if he were of the mind. The backward tilt of his neck gives him a falsely imperious expression as he takes in what Kyosuke had just said, not the least of which was the name of the person he'd just spent an hour listening to talk of... and which he didn't recall at all until Kyosuke brought it up. "Nah, man, I don't care 'bout stuff like that." Whatever hope Kyosuke may have had that Batsu was developing an interest in fine arts has now been well and truly crushed.
One hand, covered in the red handguards Batsu has taken just to wearing as normal gear, rather than just while fighting, is moving nervously, fingers tapping against the long counter that runs the length of the classroom windows. Something is clearly on the Burning Fighter's mind, but he doesn't exactly articulate it well. Instead, he studies Kyosuke's familiar features for a moment, then raises one eyebrow. "Hey, answer me a question while you're just sittin' around makin' fun of me. You hate gettin' sweaty, right? So how the hell do you train to keep your skills sharp?" Whatever Batsu's opinion of Kyosuke's somewhat... metro... sensibilities, he knows his cousin is a damned good fighter, and respects that regardless.
Kyosuke's eyebrow slowly crept its way up at Batsu's reply. Well, he already knew where Batsu's preferences lay, but inspite of that the blond would take every moment to remind him of a few simple facts. "Fun of you? Now why would I do a thing like that?" A smirk flicked across his lips and he offered a short chuckle, "I've said it before, caring or not...you're going to be graduating with the rest of us. You've come along way already." Remember that home work? Right, you were going to get it done! And if he was getting too much trouble, he was just going to have Hinata come along to corner him...but it seemed as if Batsu had more pressing questions to ask Kyosuke other than the finer points in their studies.
"It's not something that can be entirely circumvented, no." He found himself admitting wrly, Kyosuke's gaze never left Batsu, recognising the seriousness behind it. "The answer is simple, I choose the most efficient method to get the maximum results." Yes, like training in winter. What was he going to do with spring coming along?! "But there's no substitute for experience." Trying not to think back on some of his more recent SNF fights... or his brother's 'testing'. That usually ended up in several days of sheer muscular pain and agony. "Why? You don't think you're getting enough training? Or improving fast enough?"
And whatever anyone may want to think or say about his 'tendancies'...Kyosuke was skilled in his own right. Enough to defend them were he challenged, but like Batsu, he still thought there was a ways to go...
There's a moment where Batsu brings up a hand and scratches his temple, just below the hairline of his trademark pseudo-widow's peak. "So what you're saying is," the Burning Fighter remarks slowly, "that you put in the minimum amount of required work. Agh, sometimes I wonder how the hell we're even related..." Of course, you could say the same for Batsu and Raizo. In fact, saying otherwise around Batsu may be bad for your health... though many have privately observed that Ichimonji and his giant bear of a father have some degree of passing similarity in terms of physicality, and more than a passing similarity in terms of temperament. Of course, that may just be unkind people who see neither nonsense ninja's kinder moments.
Shrugging, Batsu turns around and looks outside the window again as he continues talking, watching students run across the courtyard to the school gate. Do normal kids worry about this stuff, Batsu suddenly wonders, though he doesn't vocalize it. "I dunno 'bout improving, but lately I haven't been pullin' my best efforts when I'm fighting." Kyosuke has doubtless heard by now of Batsu's 'rematch' of honor with Oswald on this very campus, considering Iincyo was present to see it... and how the draw it ended in was by Oswald's grace rather than Batsu's inability to keep going. "I don't care about winning if it's just fightin' for fun or training or SNF or whatever... just had some examples lately of how far I hafta go, is all."
The other eyebrow joined its twin. Minimum amount of-- "Well if you want to put it like that." Kyosyke reluctantly agreed, he shrugged slightly. "I prefer to think of it as not wasting time. Unless if you think consuming energy for hours on something you can get done in one is a bad thing?" Touchy subject? Let's just say sometimes Hayato's constant prodding got a little more under the skin than he let on. He frowned briefly, as if trying too and reading the other's thoughts. Batsu wasn't exactly the hardest individual to read, the other teenager would never be the poster boy for subtly. Yet still, "If that's true, then you just need to figure out why that is." Stating the obvious? Sometimes he had too.
"If it is because you're going up against more skilled fighters, then the solution is simple enough." He paused, adding, "If it's because something else is affecting your focus..." Not as simple. Kyosuke makes it his business to keep very much informed of what went on on campus, it was the nature of his job. Batsu however might quite possibly, miss out on any of his cousin's less than steller performances when it wasn't plastered across the tv. "The boat you're in isn't so different as mine."
Tapping his fingers on the strap slung over his shoulder, he elabourated, "Ask Hyo sometime for a spar and you'll see what I mean." The sentence entirely devoid of any emotion, flat as the earth thought years ago. "Ofcourse, if you need a hand, I'm sure I can schedule something in for you." A smile this time on his lips, faint. He was offering a bit of a tussle. Personally if he got a measure...he did want to help his friend.
"I ain't interested in fighting your crazy brother," Batsu says, immediately and without thinking. Yes, Hyo's reformed now... but that doesn't mean that Batsu doesn't have some degree of lingering suspicion and distrust there. Of course, if it came down to defending Hyo, Batsu would trust him because he's family... and because he's important to Kyosuke, who is in turn one of Batsu's closest friends. That fact seems to hit him on time delay, and the Burning Fighter's expression immediately turns regretful; a hand rubs the side of his head in embarassment, and he mumbles, "Sorry. Still, the trainin' I get from Pop is bad enough without having to get Hyo in on the game." Mugen's two sons may have their own training issues, after all, but if Kyosuke believes in minimum effort for maximum payoff, he and Raizo would butt heads. Probably literally, in fact.
Standing up straight, Batsu stretches and then shakes his head. "Anyhow, I don't think it's that they're all that much better than I am. They got different skills, for sure..." He thinks for a moment on both Adelheid and Oswald turning his own chi attacks back on him, and Sakura's diffusion of his Ryuusei Kick to power her own Hadouken. "I dunno. They got... finesse, maybe?" He bites out the word 'finesse' like even saying it offends his manhood, with its sensual and sibiliant 'S' sounds. "'Specially with energy. I dun know much about the theory, I just apply apply apply," he says, in a rare moment of self-deprecating honesty. "So I might take you up on that. I mean, that's basically all you got goin' for you, right? Pretty lights and 'finesse'." Although his words have potential sting, the Imawano kid defuses them with a grin.
Any other person, and they might be facing some severe repercussions from that statement alone. Instead, all Batsu got was a slight tightening around the eyes that quickly dissipated with a private sigh. Not suprising, the other teenager wasn't one to always process what he was saying first before spitting out, that and he was more than a good friend. He made a slight shake of his head, to indicate no harm was done, though it was a residual effect that was hard to shake off even now. Hyo had made a mistake, an error of judgement not entirely his own fault, they had their father to blame for that...though events were in motion to already pay resitutions of sorts.
"Your father is...formidable." And he'd leave it at that, if it was one person they both knew who could sub' for Hyo's...brutal methods, it'd be the only other elder Imawano. Raizo was torture enough. "That's the key." The different skills, and how they were used. "You'll reach a point where everyone is roughly at the same level...but what gives you that edge to win, is how you recognise and utilise what you know in a given situation." He rolled his eyes ceiling ward to consider this, glancing back, "Maybe." This...finesse. He could sometimes call it luck, like that Ash fellow had.
In a rare move, Kyosuke actually snorted aloud, dismissively. "I think I have a little more than that." Accepting the challenge, he reached out and rested a hand on the other's shoulder, patting him once. "It's a deal then. On one conditon..." He jerked a finger to the board where written on it was tomorrow's class assignments..." Get that done, and I'll see to it that you get enough 'pretty lights' and 'finesse' to shore you up for a week with bruises. Alright?" Yes, always with the paperwork studies! "I have a committee meeting to attend, but if you need any help organising the points...give me a call." He should be awake if not cat napping.
Predictably, Kyosuke brings it back to schoolwork and Batsu's fingers come almost instinctively to his temples, as if he can pre-emptively massage out the headache that all that thinking is going to give him. He sometimes wonders if Kyosuke, Hinata, and even Raizo and Shizuku would pull back on their insistence on homework success if they knew Batsu did it primarily to keep them quiet and/or get them off his back. Of course, *why* he does the assignments might not matter to the Burning Fighter's friends and family whatsoever... merely that he's done them and might, if he's very fortunate, actually leave Taiyo someday. Unlike, say, that slacker Kusanagi.
Plus Sakura went to university, so Batsu can't let her show him up.
"Yeah yeah, broken record," Batsu says irritably, all but stomping to his desk and snatching up his bookbag and stuffing his papers and books into them with wild abandon, talking to Kyosuke the entire time. "Just you remember, just 'cause I ain't got 'finesse' or whatever," or good grammar, for that matter, "doesn't mean I'm weak." He turns to see Kyosuke's reaction to that and finds his cousin... on the way to his meeting.
"Keh," Batsu scoffs, and then prepares to go home and spend some quality time with Japanese lit... joy of joys.
Log created on 20:55:50 03/13/2008 by Batsu, and last modified on 00:30:50 03/21/2008.