Description: Kiyoko catches Hotaru at the place where the Kenpo artist had asked her to meet her sometime. Only when they finally meet again, Hotaru seems changed, and revokes the offer to give the Tai Chi student some pointers...
If Kiyoko attempted to find Hotaru at the property where the young fighter had directed her when they first met, she would have had little luck in doing so. The girl hasn't been here much outside of one violent alteraction with Frei and one picnic with Jiro. It's been a while since she's come back by to do what she used to enjoy doing so much. Tending to the grounds during what little spare time life affords her.
A row of hedges near a back corner appear to have occupied her attention for the most part, the girl kneeling in recently mowed grass, prunning clippers in one hand, simple white gardening gloves over both her hands. At her side is a small pile of stems that were due for trimming in order to get the hedges looking nice again for Spring as the landscape works its way out out of Winter.
Only it seems she's gotten distracted in the task at hand, her hands resting in her lap rather than working their way through the shrubs to clip off more dead branches. Her eyes open, staring vaguely in the direction of the small collection of tombstones further back in the corner.
Kiyoko came a few times after the talk, and then slowly stopped checking as time went on. It's actually been a while since she'd come to the church, wondering now if she somehow messed up the directions. There probably had to be lots of churches in Southtown, and probably more than one abandoned one. It's only a quick peek that she's coming here to take, clad in casual clothing rather than a Tai-Chi uniform as she came the last few times, due to the nature of her presence in the tranquil yard.
She almost misses Hotaru, having taken little more than a peek inside. It's actually not her look that has her finding the Japanese girl, but a hint of blue in her peripheral vision as she turns away that catches her attention. She stops her attempt to leave and looks back to where she saw it, only to see Hotaru kneeling down by some hedges.
She walks over slowly with a smile on her face, glad to see the girl who she considers to be one of her inspirations, knowing nothing of the events of the past few months since last they met. Once she's close enough that there's no need to yell she speaks up, "Good afternoon." She forces herself to keep an even voice, not wanting to sound like a rabid fan as she did last time. Then she notices the far off look and pauses, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"
The girl is perfectly still as Kiyoko approaches, suggesting she hasn't noticed that the quiet yard has received another visitor. The place doesn't look too bad. While she was negligent in maintaining it, friends have come by and done the work in her absense. No... it just needs a little tidying up and it will be back to looking just fine. A flower garden nearby a small pond is in need of some weeding, and let's not speak of the dusting that needs to be handled inside. But all in all, the place looks just fine.
At the voice, Hotaru starts with a bit of surprise, pulled from her reverie to glance behind her. Kiyoko is regarded for a moment as if a complete stranger. It's been a while since Hotaru last saw her. It feels like a lifetime ago. A couple of quiet blinks as she begins to dismiss Kiyoko as just a random passerby before it finally clicks.
A faint smile of recognition crosses her lips as Hotaru bows her head, "No, no, nothing that can't be paused." she remarks, lowering the clippers to the grass and reaching to each of her hands to slip off the gloves before rising up to her feet, turning to face the visitor directly. "Kiyoko was it?" She pauses, hand coming up to rest against her cheek thoughtfully, "I was supposed to meet you sometime ago, wasn't I. Sorry about that."
The girl is quiet as Hotaru fails to recognize her at first, not thinking much of it. She of course doesn't know what's going through her head, but the lack of recognition is obvious, and warranted. Why would she remember that girl who came in that one time and talked to her at the YFCC? There must be hundreds of those out there.
She smiles herself once Hotaru does, "Yes, Kiyoko. I'm surprised you remembered." Her head then shakes slightly from side to side, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure you've been very busy. Your offer was very kind, and I'm sure you must have all kinds of training of your own to do to bother too much with giving tips to someone like me."
She motions around to the yard, "I like it here, it's very calm. And the garden's lovely." She's unsure what to do now that she's actually met Hotaru here. Even if she was told that it wasn't anything terribly important, she was interrupting something. Should she say she'll come back another time? Should she ask if Hotaru has time to help her? In the end indecision leads to awkward silence.
She remembers offering to meet Kiyoko before, but the girl can't quite remember as to what for... But the other girl clears it up for her. Ah, yes, an offer to help teach her some, perhaps. Or at least give her a couple of pointers. The caretaker's smile tenses just slightly as she remembers the discussion a little bit better now. Of course, it's something she would have offered back then, she ponders.
"Ah, right," she replies, her tone friendly even her words are fairly neutral, neither agreeing nor disagreeing to helping right at the immediate moment. Kiyoko speaks of the property and Hotaru glances around at the yard, her smile warming a little, "Thank you," she remarks, focusing back on Kiyoko, "You're welcome to come by it any time. Visitors are always dropping by."
The other girl falls quiet then, leaving Hotaru to perhaps lead the way. She can feel the awkwardness as she's left unsure what to say, and eventually her hand comes up to rest at the back of her head, fingers digging idly into her hair, "Ah, well, I..." She looks a little sheepish, reluctant to withdraw an offer she made before. But things have changed since then. That Kiyoko wasn't nervous about approaching her after all her recent matches is actually somewhat a surprise to the girl.
"I'm afraid I... well, I don't really feel like I can teach anyone anymore." she states, mouth curling into an uncertain frown as if she isn't sure how to explain things. "I'm really sorry, but I'm not going to be able to help you. I do hope you keep it up though." she finishes, managing to work her way back into a smile that looks sincere enough.
Kiyoko nods her head, "I will, thanks." She lets her eyes linger on the small garden and pond when the conversation is on the yard, her eyes unable to see the minor imperfections of a few weeds here and there, not recognizing them among the other greenery for lack of practical gardening experience.
The subject is a hard one to bring up- the initial offer was a kind gesture, and Hotaru has clearly been very busy if she hasn't been here. Outright asking would make Kiyoko feel demanding, something she definitely doesn't want to come off as, but her lack of initiative has unfortunately forced Hotaru to bring the subject up herself. The girls head nods slowly as Hotaru begins, and then tells her that the offer is going to have to be revoked.
There's disappointment in her face, of course. It'd be hard not to be disappointed when an opportunity like that one suddenly isn't there anymore. But at the same time she's not going to throw a tantrum about it. Another nod, "That's okay. I kinda figured you'd be busy since you haven't been around. I was beginning to think I had the wrong place, but, well." Here she is. It's an odd way Hotaru puts it though, not that she doesn't have the time, but that she feels she can't teach others. It hints at some deeper meaning... but Kiyoko is going to let it drop at that- It's not like Hotaru is one of her friends, but instead someone she looks up to and, honestly, a near complete stranger.
"I was actually thinking of giving it up a couple weeks ago. It felt like I couldn't give anyone enough of a fight to make it worth their time. I didn't want to be the person everyone got annoyed with when they showed up on the ticket because they wanted a real fight and not someone who couldn't actually win." Her hand rubs the back of her neck and she gives a sheepish grin, "But one of my friends was able to convince me not to. She fought me without holding back at all, and even if I couldn't win I gave her a hard fight. I'm not sure if I'd have won if she had held back, but if she hadn't taken me seriously at all, I'd have thumped her good."
It isn't hard to see the disappointment in the other girl. Hotaru always was fairly perceptive to begin with, but that isn't even really needed here. When Kiyoko says it's okay, she just looks even more apologetic, but she volunteers nothing of what she's been going through as of late, content to let the topic slide elsewhere without any resistance on her part.
The conversation shifts to the Justice student's resolve and the Kenpo artist begins to look more interested, frowning a little as she mentions giving up. "I know how that feels," she remarks quietly, but not volunteering anything further until after she goes on to explain the nature of a match against some friend of hers. Some kind of benchmark it sounds like by the accounting of it.
"That's good," she replies with a faint grin at Kiyoko's apparent renewed interests after her spar. "But... you can't guage your entire progressed based on just a couple of matches. It's easy to get discouraged when things don't go to well for a while. But if you keep practicing... well... it sounds like you're already doing better on your own."
Hotaru folds her arms behind her back, leaning her head to the side slightly, "Listen to me preach. Tch! I wish I could offer you something to eat or drink, but I don't really keep much around here." She shakes her head a bit. "So you are back to making appearances then, right? Have to challenge yourself to keep getting better. Just because someone bests you one week doesn't mean you can't turn it around the next time..."
"Yea, I know. I wouldn't be worried about a few losses, but I actually haven't ever won a fight on my own. I mean, I've tied a few times, but whether in important fights or just practice ones that don't count for anything I've never managed to actually win." Her sheepish grin returns, "I was taught to focus on protecting myself, so I guess I have a hard time being enough of a threat to someone I'm fighting to be able to knock them out. That's sorta what I meant about not being taken seriously. If I'm not strong enough to beat someone it doesn't mater how long I can play keep away, you know?"
She then nods her head, "Yea, I practice a lot. But I should probably practice more with other fighters. Just doing Tai Chi workouts isn't going to help me beat people up. Well, I don't think it is, anyway." Kiyoko then laughs a little as Hotaru talks about being a better hostess, "No, don't worry about that. It's pretty nice just having someone to talk to. I guess I'm kinda blabbering at you, huh?"
The Justice student looks a way a little after shaking her head, "Not yet, but I'm definitely going to- hopefully this week. There's probably no better way than to just dive back in and either sink or swim. And luckily sinking really isn't all that bad, anyway."
"Well, you did jump straight into the big leagues," Hotaru remarks with a patient smile at hearing about Kiyoko's opinion of her track record. "It's going to be an uphill battle then." she continues, her tone a little distant, as if her thoughts are elsewhere for a moment. But it passes, the girl focusing back on Kiyoko, her smile returning, "It was hard when I started too. Still is, really. If it was easy it wouldn't be fun, right?" she finishes with a faint grin, bringing her hands from beind her back to rest her knuckles at her chin, her elbow propped on her other arm.
She's attentive as Kiyoko describes her fighting style. It's a little different than her own. Knowing full well she can't last too long if she's struck, she simply focuses on taking her opponents down quickly before they correct for her speed... But she knows all kinds of people have different approaches, each with their won strengths and weaknesses as well. "No, it probably won't," she laughs lightly at Kiyoko mentioning fighting other fighters more as part of her practice. "Definitely seeking out people at your experience level is a good way to learn things without being so stressed by dealing with people wtih more experience than you. Local exhibitions, or maybe even inquiring at the YFCC is a good way to find others it would be good for you to learn fighting against."
She nods a little as Kiyoko mentions getting back into it. It's a little hypocritical, she ponders, to advise her to stick with it when she, herself, has pulled out of fighting all together. But their circumstances are thankfully quite different. "Well, it doesn't feel too good," she grins. "Getting hit, especically with what some fighters can do... But..." she shrugs a little, lowering her arms to her side. "That's where determination comes into play. I can tell you've got it."
Kiyoko grins, "Yea, I guess I did. I guess I might have tried to find something more junior to start out with, but that really wasn't the point." Really, the point was to have fun and get a chance to go up against the 'big guys', which is pretty much what she's done. "You're right, though. It really wouldn't be fun at all if it wasn't challenging. I can't really see it not being challenging though, with how many really great fighters there are out there."
"Hmm, yea. The problem is finding people on my own level. I guess I'm not sure where to look, but the YFCC is probably a good place to start." Which is, of course, how she met Hotaru in the first place, isn't it? Maybe it's time to head back there and see if she can't meet someone there. She holds her hands in front of herself and gives Hotaru a quick bow.
"It was nice seeing you again, Hotaru. I should probably go now so you can get back to what you were doing before. I don't want to be too much of an intrusion. I'll give it my best shot, and we'll see what happens from there, I guess." What more can she do other than try her hardest? "I'll try and come around again sometime soon. I really do like it here." She gives a quick smile and a fast wave, and then starts showing herself to the exit.
As Kiyoko seems to be doing all right, Hotaru relaxes, some of the tension from when she first arrived having diminished. The advice seems to have been received for what it was worth. "You're welcome any time, Kiyoko. It wasn't any bother at all."
The Justice student turns to take her leave and Hotaru lifts one hand to wave after her, falling quiet again as the girl departs. A quiet sigh is released as she drops back down to her knees to collect her gardening gloves. How she wished she could make good on her offer to give the other girl some tips, or maybe a light practice spar. Tai Chi... a style that could benefit a lot from some of her own Kenpo techniques, she muses.
"Ah well," she exhales, reaching into the branches to continue her trimming, trying to put regrets out of her mind. She's had plenty of time to drown in them as of late as-is.
Log created on 23:00:38 04/14/2008 by Hotaru, and last modified on 02:46:11 04/17/2008.