Hot Spring Time~ [Training. Katon D-B, Fire Shield Jutsu C-Rank]

All things said, it had been a good couple of weeks. He gotten enough done and so far ahead on most of his obligations that he'd managed to swing a proper day off; both from the center (he'd cashed in a shift switch with someone he'd covered a few weeks prior) and a short break from running missions. Not that it was really a break in as much as he just didn't go to the mission room to pick up whatever outstanding mission he could that day; he wasn't on a regular mission schedule since he wasn't part of a 'normal' team. Being the student of the Kage meant a lot of time doing what he'd been doing before, bursts of extreme training, more downtime, then supremely hard missions run back to back to back. Grueling; but not without benefits. For now, though, he needed to work on more immediate worries. He was woefully behind on training his skills, to the point that he needed to take some time and work on them. Even with his last training with his new sensei, he didn't cover nearly enough skills to be where he wanted to be. The gap between him and his Kage was far too great, and even if there was no way to completely close it just yet, he could make a serious dent. Or some kind of dent, anyway.

He had all day to work, and he was going to be smart about it. He was going to mix several activities into one massive day trip. He was going to go to the Hinowa ninja's favorite place to train; a special hot spring complex designed for and only open to local ninja. The place was HUGE, covering an area the size of four football fields. It had to be gigantic, or else there wouldn't be enough room for the ninja to train and work. Oh, there where small areas for pure relaxation, and smaller 'single' rooms for individual training, but in general the facility was several very large pools of super heated water directly from the magma warmed springs below ground, with plenty of open solid rocky floor space for those that didn't want to get wet, or boiled; depending on how insane they where.

The day was planned, but he still had to make some preparations before he left the house. Simple enough, he had to pack his bag with his clothes and what little gear he trained with for himself; and a bag for Coen. Coen was definitely coming with him, the joey had never been a hot spring and it would be a wonderful experience for him. In order to bring him however, Karu had to make sure everything was in order; paperwork had to be gathered, plenty of the special water and juices that Coen drank packed in special cooling containers that would resist the hot air of the springs, small packs of snacks and a proper lunch, the special med kit with fitted bandages and whatnot, etc. Karukaya wasn't the type to take chances when it came to himself, even less so for his baby 'roo. The pack was heavy, but it had everything he needed.

Slinging the backpack across his shoulders and loading Coen into his carry sack, Karu left his little apartment and made his way across the village; the complex was near the ninja academy and administration buildings; so it was a fairly decent walk from where he lived. Karu had settled on the far edge of the village; a lucky score in that his apartment turned out perfect for him and Coen, even though he'd taken the apartment years before he'd ever even conceived of having a 'pet', let alone such an exotic ward. He loved Coen, and he would have gladly given up his little home in order to keep him happy and healthy; that he was able to keep both of them was a wonderful turn of events that made the entire experience that much better. The walk from his apartment was uneventful and easy, it was after the morning rushes, so most civilians where at work, and many ninja where either on duty at the academy, off on missions across the village, patrolling the forests and village edge, or grabbing food after the end of a long night shift. Oh, there where people milling about, the elderly and the tourists that where moving to and from various shops and other destinations. Many gave him strange looks; he was a ninja with a giant backpack and a brightly colored cloth satchel across his chest. That was strange, anywhere you looked. It was even better when Coen had his head up and looking around; it was like Karu had a second head and that was enough to have people gawking at them. Not that he cared, really; it just amused him highly. Coen seemed to highly enjoy the long walk, to the point that about half way through he climbed clean out of his carry pouch and hopped along beside Karu; something he rarely did yet. He was still a bit young to normally be moving around on his own, but he was also getting very large for his age, and needed the exercise. It wasn't that he was getting fat or anything, he was just developing faster than was altogether normal for a kangaroo joey his age. Saito had noticed his accelerated growth recently, and was putting it down to one of two thing; another sign he was half ninja 'roo, or they where wrong about his age and he was actually older than they thought; which all things considered about how kangaroo reproduction worked was entirely possible.

Coen was just starting to get a little winded and looking like he was ready to go back in his pouch when they reached the facility. Karu approached the check in station at the entrance an produced both his ninja ID and Coen's paperwork. While Coen wasn't a registered ninja pet, his paperwork from the center would be enough to get him into the springs; it made it extremely clear that Coen must be with Karukaya or another properly trained keeper at all times, and as Karu was the only trained keeper around, Coen stayed with him. Simple enough. They where issued day passes after a short fuss over the paperwork; confirming everything was right, and calling a check on Karu's ID; as it was slightly out of date, making the information on it incorrect. He was waiting on his new, updated ID, which would reflect his new rank and team information. However, the request for the updated ID was in the system, and he had the temporary paperwork on him, so everything checked out and worked in the end. Karu took their issued passes and they moved inside. Once inside the building, he took Coen's pass and hung it around the joey's neck; they where the type of laminated passes that could be around water without being destroyed, and they came on lanyards that where more than big enough to fit around most necks comfortable. Hanging his own around his neck, he moved toward the station where he could request a solo room; basically one of the smaller areas that was issued to individuals or groups of 3 or less. They where quiet lucky, there where several of the solo rooms open, so they had their pick of where in the facility they wanted to work. This was important, as the temperature of the water and air varied depending on how close to the center of the main spring you where. Given this was Coen's first visit, Karu picked one of the far rooms, where the water would be far cooler and much safer for his partner. While Karu could handle the almost boiling water of the center pools for short periods of time, Coen would he heavily injured and burned almost instantly; and that was not a risk he was willing to take.

They key to the room was assigned to them, and they began the trek across the facility. The place wasn't super busy, but there where people around; some Karu knew, most where strangers. The few he knew got small waves and nods of acknowledgement, the strangers a friendly smiles or 'hello'. A few people stopped him to ask about Coen, who seemed to actually be enjoying the attention at the moment, specially when the child of an older ninja tried to offer him a fruit candy. That... ended better than it could have; Coen was smart enough to know what he was allowed to have, and dried candied fruits where allowed in moderation. After giving Karu the most pathetic begging stare he'd ever seen, he was happily chewing on some dried mango chunks while the child was allowed to poke at his tail for a few moments. All in all a good trade, for all concerned.

Once they finally reached their room, they spent some time unpacking and getting organized. There where lockers near the door, and several different benches and chairs that made for good flat surfaces. Karu took a few minutes to sit Coen down and make sure that he drank something; the warm air would dehydrate him quickly, and he hadn't had anything since breakfast hours beforehand. While Coen was working over a bottle of juice, Karu changed from his off duty clothes and into something more appropriate for a hot spring. He wasn't the type to go nude; not out of any sort of embarrassment over his body, he just didn't like going in springs without wearing trunks. It was a harmless quirk, and one he felt no need to change. The rooms came complete with small, basic 'showers', which where to be used before you go into the springs, in the typical onsen style. The water from the faucet was warm, but not spring warm; more like bath water than anything. Comfortable even for Coen. Once Coen had finished his juice, Karu called him over to rinse him down; his feet and tail where filthy from walking, and he spent a good bit of time scrubbing them down. Once those parts where clean, it a quick rinse down for the rest of him and then he was free to get in the water. Karu took his time in the shower stream, he'd bathed that morning, but there was plenty of dirt on him after the long walk. Once he was clean too, he made his way to the spring. Coen had perched at the edge and was dipping a paw into the hot water; making the strange baby-like burbles that he'd taken too recently. The more he did it, the more it seemed like words; the cadence and rhythms of the noises almost matched normal speech patterns, but the sounds had no real form yet. Not really. Sometimes it sounded almost like he was saying simple words; but it wasn't to that point. Maybe in a few more weeks? Or maybe never, and it was just a fluke. They'd know when they knew.

Karu made his way slowly into the hot water; the pool was large enough to be fairly deep near the center and far edge, more then enough to come up to Karu's chin, if not slightly higher, and that was more than high enough to drown Coen. Once he was waist deep in the water, he turned to Coen and beckoned the joey to come in. To Coen's credit, he didn't hesitate to leap right in; kangaroos are naturally strong swimmers and Coen loved bath time, so it was no surprise he didn't hesitate to leap right in. Coen swam right for Karu, strong legs moving him through the water quickly and easily. The joey was 'laughing', in the way that only a kangaroo could, the sound strange but obvious for what it was; the sound bringing a smile to Karu's face and cementing his desire to keep Coen for as long as he could. He was hopelessly bonded to his joey, and the day he had to give him back was going to crush him; he'd do anything to keep him. He was to the point of desperately hoping that Coen's parentage was what they thought it was, just so that Coen would be permanently removed from his mother's herd; if he was then Karukaya could request to keep him and the chances of him keeping Coen in that case was nearly guaranteed.

Play time lasted for hours; and that was exactly what Karu wanted. Coen had earned a chance to just play and be a kid, and this was a rare treat for both of them. Part of setting up had been setting toys and such near the edge of the pool where Karu could quickly grab them and start new games. He was mixing play with exercise, making Coen really work and stretch his muscles and use his legs and arms and tail. He was giving Coen a chance to just be a 'kid' and play. It was exactly what Coen needed. It was exactly what Karu needed.

It was a glorious time.

By the time it was time for lunch, both of them where exhausted, but supremely happy. Coen was panting heavily and holding onto the lip of the pool, he was too worn out to swim anymore. Karu was in much the same shape, really; he needed a short rest to catch his breath and cool down just a bit. Lifting himself out of the pool, he knelt down in front of Coen and lifted the joey up and onto the solid ground again. Leading him back to their stuff, he dug their lunches out and got them ready, making sure Coen had plenty of cool juice and water to drink while he worked over his special bento; full of wild rice, specially shaved and shaped veggies that took the place of the protein, and fruits instead of pickles. He even had a little pudding cup, made with nut milk and flavored like chocolate; a rare treat for special occasions. He'd even made special rice balls for him, filled with a carrot puree that Coen loved and could eat all he wanted of. Karu's lunch was nothing super special, but he'd put some actual work into it. He's let himself splurge a bit; his own bento was filled with his favorite veggies and bits of grilled chicken that had been flavored with a sweet and spicy sauce, several different kinds of pickles, and a respectable piece of almond pound cake that his neighbor had made for him as a thank you for doing some work around her house the weekend before. He had his own pack of rice balls, filled with a savory jelly or fish pate, and a few stick with dango balls and a cup of red bean paste for desert. Once Coen had finished eating and cleaned up, he set out a small mat that he'd packed and put the joy down for a nap, he was exhausted and if he planned on doing anything for the rest of the day he needed one. Once he'd rested some, they'd play again, and then head home for a light supper and a movie night.

In the meantime, Karu was going to use the time he had to train. Hell, he'd been training in the water, really; all the time had worked on his heat resistances, which meant he'd be able to handle the hotter fires his fire chakra could produce. To test this, he made his way to the middle of the pool; this time using the Water Walking technique to stay onto of the pool. He was proficient enough in the skill to be able to it down on the water, specially since the water itself was very calm, and the surface was almost glassy, now that no one was thrashing around in it. He was going to test his resistances for the moment, see how hot a fire he could handle. The water was a safety measure; all he had to do to put out the flames he'd be creating was to let himself sink into the water; and the humid air would keep any flames from spreading if they managed to catch anything flammable.

Now, Karu had a rather... different, way of training his inner fires. Unless he was focusing specifically on fine control or precision, he didn't spend time wasting energy firing off blasts of fire until everything around him was ablaze. No, he preferred to set HIMSELF on fire. Seriously. He'd find some secluded spot away from flammable object, settle in a meditative position and state of mind, then light himself on fire by releasing fire chakra from every tenketsu he was able to. In general, this worked more toward general power and endurance than control, but it did give him some idea of where on his body he needed to train his control. Once he was settled and sufficiently calmed and focused, he began releasing chakra in a way that allowed it to envelop his body and condense; the temperature rising quickly as the chakra shifted from non-elemental to fire based. The moment the temperature of the chakra was high enough, the air around his body ignited into red flames; enough to cause major burns to normal people, but nothing to a ninja with fire chakra. He held this level of fire for several minutes, letting it sink into his bones and every cell of his body until he was one with it, part of it just as it was part of him. Slowly he began to release more chakra, stronger chakra; raising the heat of the flames into the yellow territory; this was hot enough to use for cooking and sterilizing, the classical idea of what fire looked like was yellow-orange, not much higher than where he was holding now. This level was held longer; it wasn't outside of his power even before training to hold this level, but it had felt uncomfortable and strange then. Now... it was pleasant, almost like the warm sun on his face on a cool day. He could hold this fire for days and never notice it. Knowing this now, he did much as the same as before, he accepted it for what it was and let it fill his entire being until it was part of him, and him of it.

Now was the time to test his limits. He allowed the fire to grow hotter still, into the full orange territory. This was warm, almost uncomfortably so; but he could handle it. He'd eventually end up with mild burns from this, but not anytime soon. He could handle a few hours, maybe even a day with this fire active before he'd have to stop. He tried his best to do as he had been, but the more he tried to embrace it, the more his body tried to reject it. As much as he wanted to handle it, his body knew it's limits. This was just to close to pushing it to be safe, and no amount of forcing it was going to do any good. That being said, he could handle taking his fire higher, see what his limits where for the moment. Steeling his resolve, he allowed his inner fires to rage out of control for several long moments, taking the flames as high as he could handle before risking serious injury and losing control. Rising from his seated position, he turned toward the far wall of the room and inhaled deeply; taking in the fires and mixing them with so much chakra he KNEW he'd just burned his throat before spitting them out in a blazing wall of fire across the water's surface. He watched as the fires raged for long moments before he noticed he could smell singed hair. Wonderful. He was pushing his luck now; and corrected this problem by letting himself fall into the water so that the flames around his body where extinguished. The near explosion of steam was enough to drown the remaining flames and put everything right again; hell, it was enough to create short lived little rain clouds near the ceiling which returned the diminished water levels back to nearly normal. Fun times, yep.

He made his way back out of the water and to where Coen was napping; or had been, anyway. Coen was laying there comfortably, but his eye where wide open and he'd obviously been watching, if the clutched blanket and agitated feet twitching was any indication. Coen was... unhappy, about what he'd seen. He didn't like watching Karu on fire like that; even less so when he could see that Karu was pushing it too far. Flared nostrils showed that Coen had smelled the burning hair and maybe even the bit of burning flesh from inside Karu's throat. The moment that Coen saw that Karu knew he was awake he all but exploded into motion; bounding the distance between them in a single leap and plowing into Karu's arms; clinging to him and very obviously crying, or as close to it as he could. the joey was extremely upset and worried, and he was determined to make Karu understand that.

"Noooo. Nooooo. Daddy noooo."

.....

HolyfuckCoencouldtalk.

HOLYFUCK COEN COULD TALK.

YES. YEEEEEEES.

That was ALL he needed. That was the proof. There was no possible way Coen could speak, even a single word, if he wasn't at least part ninja 'roo. This day was just getting better and better.

"Don't worry baby. I won't do that again. I'm sorry I scared you. Lets go home and have some ice cream, kay?"

"Ice creeeeam!"

Oh yeah. He was definitely keeping this joey. They made quick work of packing up and some light cleaning of the area before heading out. Their passes where returned and they made for home, taking a short detour to pick up some special ice cream to enjoy with their movies that night. He'd take Coen in tomorrow and talk to Saito. If he could get Coen to speak for Saito, it was all but set that he'd be able to take him for forever.

WC: 3795

2500/2500 Katon D-B

1000/1000 Fire Release: Fire Shield Technique

295 leftover.