Understanding
The next morning, Youki opened her eyes to see a bird on the window, which was still opened. She looked over to see Sasuke propped against the wall, fast asleep. She looked turned her attention to Naruto, who was still holding her, fast asleep. When she tried to get up, he held on tighter, it made her laugh. Eventually she got out, and gave him a pillow to clutch. She walked outside and looked around, the forest was still. She went around to the back to find Koji pulling up her carrots.
"Did you have a good-night's rest?" she asked.
"Yeah, I slept well." Youki answered happily.
"It's good that you rested, we shall start now." Koji said picking up a sickly carrot. "First, I want you to make this carrot healthy again."
"How do I do that." Youki asked.
"It is quite simple really: first, you hold the carrot, then you must focus you chakra into your hand, then expel it into the carrot. Now, the trick is you concentration; you must want to heal the carrot for it to work. Anything else might result in you doing something from possibly healing it to blowing it up." Koji said handing her the carrot.
Youki was nervous, but she thought she might as well give it a try. She focused on healing, trying to picture different times when she saw it or performed it. At first, the carrot stayed brown and shriveled. Seconds later it began to straighten out and become orange. Youki's eyes lit up in excitement, she was doing it. She got too excited as the carrot began to swell. Luckily, Koji was fast enough to snatch it out her hands before she made it pop.
"Good, good, good. You're a quick learner, that's even better. Now, I shall move on to something more difficult." Koji said. She went behind the cottage, and brought out an injured squirrel. It had a broken leg and have a high-pitched whimper when she set it on the ground.
"Now, there will be times when one of those two are injured, and of course you will need to heal them without blowing their limbs off."
This last statement made Youki sweat some.
"Don't worry, I have a method to help you heal. How much do you know about the anatomy?"
"Well, I guess my dad taught me almost everything he knew, and he was a doctor."
"Splendid! Then this won't take long either. Now, when you heal a wound, there are things you want to manipulate in the process. Blood is the first thing, it will help as a conductor for the energy you put in to heal the wound. Now when you put in your energy to heal the wound, it must be soft and flowing. Don't rush it, just be patient with it. You can have it flow quickly, but not too quickly, you'll burn out the victim's cells that way. If you do it correctly, their cells use no energy whatsoever, and the person's lifespan is unaffected in the long run. Now try it: remember, like water you must make your energy flow into the wound."
Youki took a deep breath, knelt over the poor creature, put her hands over it, and focused on the broken leg. Her nerves were going crazy, mainly for her fear of blowing the poor thing up. She shook her head, and her doubt out of her mind. She tried to picture a flowing river in a forest to help her. She then took away the forest so that just the river remained in her mind. She pictured that river as blood flowing through the body, and started. It was slow, taking her about ten minutes to clear out any infection, and another two to close the wound up. In the end, the squirrel was happy, licking her hand before scurrying off into the forest. Youki jumped for joy, proud of herself for this new feat.
Sasuke walked out the house,"What's going on here?"
"Koji's teaching me how to use my power!" Youki exclaimed happily,"You should've seen it Sasuke! I healed a squirrel's broken leg! This rocks!"
Naruto came out, rubbing his eyes, then stretching.
"Hey, what's going on out here?"
Before Youki could answer, Youki threw two shuriken at Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke repelled it with his sword, Naruto ducked.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?" Naruto yelled.
"Keeping you on your toes. If you two wish to protect this girl as you say, you must be watchful at all times." Koji said. She turned to Youki,"Now, we shall try a new exercise. Shield them."
They all looked at her in confusion,"what do you mean?" Youki asked.
"Shield them. I do not mean get in front to keep something from hurting them, as you did with the kunai. I mean for you to form an impenetrable aura around them. Do it."
"But, I really don't know how."
Koji sighed, this child was a handful,"When battle is upon us, there will be times when the enemy catches them off guard with a fatal blow. I want you to learn how to augment them with inhuman feats, enough to get them out of harm's way. The first thing you need to know, if you will not attack, is how to defend. Do what you did when you healed the squirrel, focus on shields, protection, repelling blows, like Sasuke did with the shuriken."
Youki looked at Naruto and Sasuke, lost on how she would even make it look. As she stared at them, it came to her. Confident now, she focused not on shields, but barriers and force fields, shaping hers in the form of their silhouette's. None of them realized she had succeeded until Koji threw a kunai at them both. It a flash of yellow light two inches from their faces indicated where the barrier was. All three stood, stunned at what just happened, their jaws dropped.
"Excellent, excellent! You make progress quickly, good. This is good, now we can work on this all day." Koji said.
"All day?" Youki said in disbelief.
"Yes. It's essential that you learn how to do those two skills almost by second nature. I hope you've prepared yourself."
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After a long day of healing and shielding, Youki was in unusual high spirits. Koji thought she'd be dead tired, but she still had energy left. It was a mask that Youki was wearing, her true feelings she hid, not wanting the others to know. What was on her mind was what happened last night between her and Naruto. She spent most of the day attempting to avoid him, which was successful since she was training, and he was doing his own training. When they finally met up with each other, she had something to tell him.
"Naruto, about last night..."she said staring at the ground.
"Yeah, what about it?" Naruto asked, uneasy about the way she seemed.
"Well, it can't happen again." She said quietly.
She didn't give him time to respond, only ran out the room. Naruto started, but Sasuke put his arm out in front of him to block him.
"No, she needs time alone to discuss that with herself."
"Which will leave me plenty of time to discuss something with you two." Koji said walking in.
Youki went outside to the side of the cabin, leaned against the wall, then slid down, her face in her hands.
"This is a question that burned in my mind when I first saw you three, but now I feel I should ask it: why do you protect her?"
"You said it yourself, if she's caught they'll use her to free Void." Sasuke said.
"No, for you two, it is more than that."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"I mean, you two have other reasons, deeper reasons, for keeping this girl safe."
"And what would those reasons be?" Sasuke asked. In his mind he was asking the same question.
"I hadn't noticed until now how similar you three are. You have lost or never had a family, you have suffered deeply at the hands of others, yet you three took very different paths. One, channeled loss into anger and vengeance, seeking power. Another, channeled loss into the will to prove others wrong, and win respect. The other chose to accept the loss and suffering, though mistrustful of others remains unchanged in spirit. All three of you have gazed into what could've been your possible futures, just by being around one another. I think you two really protect her because her will has left her unchanged, untainted from the blight of this world, and it is your wish to keep it that way. Make no mistake, she is not easy to overcome, and neither are you two, yet that is what makes you three strong as individuals. For her, however, she has not felt love or kindness from another human being for so long, that her mind would not accept it so quickly if it were to come her way." Koji meant that last statement to be for Naruto.
"So, what should we do?" Naruto asked.
"Eventually she will come around." Koji said walking off. She turned around to tell them something else,"We leave tomorrow morning. It is time we brought this issue to people who can aid us."