Tracking Quarry (Private Req. Tenko)

[Nanami]

Nanami Hideaki was sprawled out across the academy training grounds lazing, for lack of a better word, in the midday sun as she watched and listened to the sights and sounds of the Kumogakure's bright future training in preparation for their life as ninja. In her idle state, as she waited, a thought crept in and she wondered how many of the children gathered here would die before they reached the end of that journey. This wasn't the first time she'd thought about that very same thing, which was especially irritating because she didn't know why she was thinking it in the first place. She wasn't filled with anxiety about it, certainly, because she was her. She didn't worry about losing, or getting hurt, or even dying because all that mattered was that she moved forward, pressed on, kept fighting, kept getting better.

But knowing that made her wonder how many others who wouldn't make it felt the same way? How many in the past had the same drive but never saw the end of that journey? Maybe they didn't make it because they weren't lucky, or maybe it was because of a simple mistake any others who might survive could do. Any number of hundred factors that killed a talented, skilled, promising ninja.

Her hands drifted across the drying dead patches of grass from the well-trodden grounds, a place steeped in the history and conflict. A place where some of the greatest ninja in history had trained and fought on their path. All the greats of Kumogakure had stood here, trained here once before. She thought of this and felt nothing. Wasn't this a place of supreme wasted effort? There was something cosmically funny about the whole thing. Something she found delightfully, hilariously crude.

All at once, as quick as it came, the gloom dispelled. The shift was signaled by the instantly formed wide grin that replace the lazy almost sleepy expression that she'd been wearing up to that moment and she forgot all about those thoughts. She was here!

Higeki Tenko. The girl meant almost nothing to Nanami, they'd never met, never spoken, never interacted outside of passing shared lessons but today she had piqued Nanami's interests. The was no reason to it that Nanami could point to explain why she had sought her out today, but she hadn't been Nanami's first target. She had a long list of people, a history of harassed targets, people she'd hunted down before. Some might have seen her as a bit thuggish, a bully but nothing could be further from the truth. Nanami had no interest in malice or misery. It was just chance, circumstance, Nanami working her way through the list, mostly. What it might have been was what little she did know about the girl, professional, curt, cold, softspoken. Focused. Nobody really seemed to know much, or want to know anymore and that sat with Nanami. Someone like that was a bit of an enigma.

Nanami liked enigmas. She had no idea what to expect and that was enticing. She watched her from afar, sitting up, still half sprawled along the grounds. Higeki's form was as good as any other student she'd seen. She also wore an expression that betrayed nothing which Nanami might have convinced herself meant she was just going through the motions. It was something else though, she really seemed -serious-. Everyone in the Kumogakure took their training seriously, but her fellow students were children and there was a difference between that and this. It wasn't much but it was enough for her to confirm her decision was the correct one. This one would be fun, she was certain of it. She would make certain of it.

That's all it took, just like that there were no thoughts from moments ago. Even if she thought to try she wouldn't remember what she was musing about because already she was making her way across the field without a moment's hesitation. Already her steps had the little skip of excitement, the little increase in pulse that signaled her excitement, the brief beat of adrenaline that began to flow. She timed her approach for the final strike of some kata. Nanami leapt forward, a quick lunge of a step to brace the back of the dummy, opposite of her quarry. She felt the impact and grinned instinctively, feeling the vibration through her bracing forearm and down all the way through her body. She leaned over the arm, standing almost on her tippy toes to peer over the edge of the dummy, still grinning her toothy grin down at Higeki.

"Wowwie, that was one heck of a strike Higeki! You are Higeki right? Boy there'd be egg on my face if I got that wrong." She let out a huff of a breath and pulled back from the dummy so that she could maneuver around it. Her grin faded to a cheery smile. "Nice to meet you, I'm sure," she said with an obvious indifference. "You can call me Nanami and I'm here to kick your butt," she proclaimed proudly leaning back against the dummy.

Her eyes gleamed joyfully. "Do you accept my challenge?" Don't disappoint, they said.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

You can't relent.

Her body was a rhythm of mechanical motions; a prime, step and strike that flowed seamlessly back into itself. The instrument of her training alternated between every limb she had to offer, including the weapons strapped along every inch of her rigid form. A sharp kick rebounded off her target into a hurled fist, that hearty smack of impact signaling the next twist her feet achieved to send her bat cracking across a wooden face. These movements repeated, ad inifinitum, with no sign of relenting. Her deadeye stare never once wavered from her "partner" in this pursuit, an expression that could only be defined as grim highlighting the lack of any passion within her features.

The dummy, in all its good graces, eventually began to show wear throughout this excessive assault & battery - a fact that still didn't slow the young ninja with glossy straw hair, sweat beading across her flushed brow. Even as her skin betrayed her exertion she showed nothing that acquiesced to that perspective. The black rim of her cap shaded her eyes from any onlookers, denying them their chance to confirm what most collectively believed - nothing could relieve her of that puritanical gaze, not even time. A true, hopeless determination none would dare to match lest they find themselves just as lost.

You can't relax.

Her muscles screamed in a deafening mixture of agony upon glee, the two wholes of her collective personality in a war that waged at the same consistency as her attacks. [The Girl She Was] and [the Girl She Had to Be] struggled to maintain that perfect balance of pure neutrality. Her past struggled in the heave of her chest, porcelain skin ruined beneath mountains of scars that maintained her present and future. Still, she did not falter and she did not let up. This is how it would be, from early this morning to the evening when she slept and within the spaces she could fill between classes and Kumo's infrequent visits. Not that she'd ever let a dog distract her from her work.

A pseudo-twitch of her ear alerted the kunoichi to the arrival of someone who had not been analyzed with the rest of the stragglers flitting about her at the start. This was enough to gain a glance through the very corner of her eye, keeping with the automatic transience of her legs and arms. Tenko was nothing if not ... cautious. There could be no one in her space until she had thoroughly scrutinized them - as subtly as possible - and then noted the exact surroundings that would either impede or aide her in any number of theoretical scenarios. Was it paranoia if you weren't, comparatively, insane? She was just being a good ninja from her perspective.

You can't rest.

It happened quickly. Not fast enough to throw her off, but perhaps that was the intention - it was just fast enough to where she couldn't stop the oncoming blow, feeding into Nanami's desire for the reverberations she provided. This, and only this, earned a sharp blink from the ascetic academy student before she stepped back and fell from her formation in that single shift of her feet. Inertia caught up with her and she felt like hurling, a bubbling red running ruddy across her high cheekbones. She breathed. "Hideaki-san."

It was a formal reply, no hair out of place in her presentation as Tenko took up a stance that could be considered much more polite. A tilt of her head forward was the height of the respect she offered her fellow students, yet one that meant immeasurably more than nothing. It was the vivacity of the other kunoichi that took her most by surprise - an opinion she wouldn't let color her interaction, especially when she realized it wasn't as shocking as it might have been. She had seen this particularly rowdy brawler in classes they'd shared, before, even if she had never personally struck up a conversation or interaction of any kind. If Nanami considered her an enigma, Tenko offered a view of the opposite - the battle-hungry bully was one of the simpler puzzles she had ever so much as noted in passing.

She didn't see it quite that vindictively, of course, but it largely summed up how she - respectfully - viewed Nanami Hideaki. "My name is Higeki Tenko, you're correct. It's a pleasure to meet you." She continued their conversation and framed her replies with the same frosty intensity that had pervaded her actions towards the training dummy. The scene hadn't changed, only the particular battle.

This time her head leaned to its side, a casualty of the challenge Nanami had offered her. "A battle? That seems impractical. These are the school grounds - we are not enemy shinobi, and I fear for your safety if we were to genuinely fight." Tenko shook her head minutely, opening the distance between them by way of swift, graceful steps backwards. "A spar, however? I could agree to. It would be incredibly more efficient to have a target that both moved and responded to my attack."

"In this case, I'd be obliged for your help," she spoke, her voice carrying that same ever-present clarity without betraying an ounce of any emotion that didn't exist in the first place. "You would be a worthy sparring partner, Hideaki Nanami-san."

The World was leveled directly towards her new opponent.

 

[Nanami]

Nanami's bright cheery expression faltered only slightly as her teeth pressed together and tightened. Tenko was reserved. Professional. Unphased. Every moment seemed natural, without exaggeration and with power behind it. Tenko didn't seem like one of those natural geniuses, she worked hard, Nanami saw her doing it more than once. Nanami knew what to look for when trying to determine when someone was better than her, and Tenko had it and Nanami could live with that. She would never even consider begrudging someone for being strong.

But Tenko knew she was strong, and she said it so casually, so indifferently that Nanami felt, viscerally, the cut her remark made. I fear for your safety if we were to genuinely fight. It was such a simple stupid thing to care about, but she the proverbial cut she nade fill white hot. Anger, embarrassment, sadness, envy. Nanami worked hard too! As hard as anyone, certainly even Tenko! She fought, and she fought and she fought, and she had the scars to prove it! The busted knuckles, the pain that kept with her even now! Why wasn't she strong? Why did she have to lose so much? She was struck by the audacity! How dare she say something like that! How dare she assume to have measured Nanami like that, decided there wasn't a chance. Especially as the words carried no malice. If Tenko had said it rudely that Nanami could have stomached. If Tenko seemed like she was trying to get under her skin she could be okay with that! But this? why?

Oh, she thought sneeringly. She'd be obliged for Nanami's help. What a great joy it would be to spar with her. Oh, Nanami-san it's so great to get a chance to train with someone so weak! Her heart rate had picked up again, she could taste copper in her mouth, a faint sting of pain that she didn't notice as she bit down on her cheek and smiled wide still. She never wanted to beat someone so badly, never wanted to win so badly, never wanted to hurt someone so badly. why do I care?

Why am I so mad? was a thought that would occur later, that she would similarly not have an answer for when it happened. But now she didn't think about it, never once stopped to question the sudden anger that swept her up. She merely rode the wave while her smile turned into a joyous sneer. The thrill of fighting hadn't left her, merely been heightened and focused. She wasn't going to just enjoy this fight, she was going to win it so utterly that there wouldn't be a question who was the better. She'd savor the moment when Tenko realized she had misjudged Nanami's strength.

Tenko had danced back gracefully moments ago, giving Nanami ample distance to kick things off. "Okay," she replied hotly. "Good." Like a switch had flipped her entire frame burst into a sudden flurry and threw itself towards Tenko with everything she had. She let out a mighty cry and kicked off the dummy with a quick low leap off the ground. She spun as she closed in and added her momentum to her strength as her leg shot straight for Tenko's chest.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

Tenko was just adept enough to read the atmosphere before it erupted - quite literally, at that. It was the hint of empathy that still remained, buried under the layers of her new studious persona; sometimes, she was coming to realize, that despite the curt & polite manner of speaking she adapted there were times where something she said overstepped the line for someone else. This was difficult for her to reconcile with in any constructive way. Even if she could tell that she occasionally upset people she didn't have the tools to "do better in the future", as she wouldn't be able to pinpoint which of her traits was the recurring problem. She walked like a shinobi, she talked like a shinobi. Improving her people skills wasn't enough of a concern in the bigger picture of her duty, so she was left unaware of any solution.

All she could do was accept it, bow her head, and speak less. There wasn't any time for connecting with someone else. This path of least resistance was ... the path of least resistance. That's why she was almost relieved when the feral brawler that was now her opponent launched herself forward, a sensation she would only note later. For the moment she had nothing running through her mind but the basic protocols for combat - prime, step, strike. She began on the defensive, reflexes guiding the conservative motion of her arm to bring her weapon up against her chest; with an arch back of her spine and a brace of her feet, Nanami's leg snapped into the baseball bat and sent a familiar vibration rumbling through her limbs.

It wasn't an ideal response; she didn't have the time to move out of the way or think of a better plan, not with the speed and abruptness with which Nanami initiated. Tenko kept her teeth ground together, observing the other fighter with a steely indifference when their gazes met in that moment. A quick thrust of her legs sent her in a zagged direction to the left, skirting through the gravel with a sharp twist of her heel. There would be no dialogue while she closed off, narrowing her sharpened senses onto the only factor that needed to be considered until this was resolved. The World found itself sheathed into its holster at her back in a transitory motion to her counterattack, resolving to the same unarmed combat her sparring partner was employing. It would be a smidgen more unfair, otherwise.

The jut of her palm was the prompt that sent her flying towards Nanami, ponytail fluttering crazily in wake of her inertia. She would keep her legs primed behind her free-falling form, letting the indication of her hand headed straight for the other kunoichi's chest speak for itself. Whether the impact was successful or not she would rotate midair, bringing her leg in to Nanami's side and using the law of her continuous motion to then plant her free hand on the rocky gravel and pivot in a roundhouse.

[ MFT 12/31 - 1/7 ]

 

[Nanami]

Nanami grinned with satisfaction as Tenko braced the baseball against her chest, using the weapon to try to absorb and spread the impact of her 'dynamic entry'. She met Tenko's indifferent steely expression with a joyous sneer. The weapon was dense enough, certainly, to absorb some of the impact but it still forced her opponent on the backfoot. A satisfying opening, one only improved if she'd actually landed the blow.

Her satisfaction was immensely short lived. Tenko had danced back, taking the force of the impact with her resulting in Nanami's blow being almost entirely nullified. Tenko wasn't unbalanced, the distance gave her room to manouver. Nanami's foot had only finally reached the ground at the moment that Tenko had seized control of the momentum back from her. Nanami let out a fierce cry as Tenko closed the distance between them and swung her arm hard at Tenko's striking wrist. Her attempted parry fell short, diverting the strike from her chest to her shoulder. She pivoted with the force of the blow, let out a sharp pained breath as her as the sharp blow sounded out around them.

Tenko's move was quick, that itself was a problem. By the time Nanami finished an attack her opponent had time to not only deal with it but return with one of her own. Not only was she quick, but the move was hard to stop, parrying was out, but if she wasted any more time trying to dodge she'd never get to swing. She didn't think about these things, she just reacted. If her opponent was too quick and too strong to give her time to both attack and defend herself, then she'd just attack.

Tenko's followup roundhouse was coming in fast. Nanami reacted, pivoted her weight to brace against the blow as it came in sharp, only to drop her arm and grab for the foot to keep Tenko in place for a moment. The impact was worse than the first blow. Tenko's foot landed with a crack and the wind was driven out of Nanami's lung with another hard gasp. That definitely left a mark, but it didn't seem to slow her reprisal. Nanami swung her leg hard for Tenko's seemingly exposed side to return the favor.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

Nanami Hideaki was not lacking in raw power.

She also seemed to have both the drive (for the present) and ambition (for the future) to back this strength up reliably. What she was lacking, however, was the skill Tenko applied with every movement she made. It wasn't so much talent - not with the effort the straw-haired kunoichi put into molding herself into the fighter she was now - but the sharp way her force of will manifested. This was in direct opposition to Nanami's own, explosive and wildly expressed. If Tenko was a surgical knife, with her precise and fluid movements, Nanami was the baskervillian hound she was set to work on.

That span between them would stay closed as they threw themselves into their altercation - it was a flurry of blows and their resounding impacts, a blur of constant movement. Her gaze hardened at Nanami's hand jabbing her own off course, immediately using a curl of her fingers to dig themselves into her opponent's shoulder at the point of collision. This grip allowed her the balance to perform her next trick, the feeling of satisfaction from her connecting blows lost on her. This was no more than an exercise. She was very careful not to exert too much force, avoiding a resolution that involved broken bones.

Nanami believed the best offense was a good offense, while Tenko felt her strongest offense was a quick and calculated successive assault that pushed her target into that position. It was almost ruthless, like a particularly nasty frostbite in the form of a fighting style. A cornered beast, she found, did not have the same cognitive functions to keep up with a well-planned attack.

This is why she didn't panic when she felt the hand around her ankle, briefly shutting her eyes to better focus her attention instead on each sensation at her disposal. She had to drop her hand from Nanami's shoulder before it twisted, parting ways from skin with a jab of her palm that propelled it off. One leg was caught and the other was still pivoting in the air, leaving only the hand currently digging into the gravel beneath her head. This would be her response to her partner's aggressive response, swiping her fingers off the ground and using the downward momentum of her body pulling on Nanami's to lock the sweeping shin in against her chest with chagrin after it struck. There would be many, many bruises in the morning.

The rest was played out quickly, a sharp twist of Tenko's body that could best be described as a roll helping to propel Nanami's mutual fall and swap their offended positions; in a simpler picture it was almost a suplex if not the reverse of one, using their tangle of limbs and the law of gravity. This would let Tenko end up on top after slamming Nanami into the ground, tensing every muscle at work to keep a firm hold of the procession.

 

[Nanami]

"Crap!" Nanami cried out as what was meant to be a savage kick resulted in nothing more than striking air. Tenko had moved quickly to secure her advantage, Nanami found her body grabbed tight, Tenko's legs wrapped around her upper body in a vicelike grip. She had little time to act, but she tried, reaching up to seize them and try to free herself to no avail. Tenko had momentum on her side and a leverage that Nanami's slight frame could not compete with.

Already she had left the ground, and with the sick feeling of floating that filled her gut was a certain kind of powerlessness. She knew where this was going to end, but she fought on anyway. She let out another mighty cry with what little breath she had left after the dual hammer blows to her midsection and twisted to try to roll into the suplex and get back to her feet, arms moved to brace her head and catch the ground that was rapidly approaching as the world flipped and up became down.

Tenko held too tightly for her to do much else. Nanami braced the impact but hit harder than she could absorb and felt a sharp thud reverberate through her body as he head slammed into the ground. A strange certain static filled her senses and left her in an immediate fog. Her brain attempted a reboot, collected the situation as best it could. She was on the ground and someone, probably, Tenko, or someone whose blurry figure looked a lot like her, had her pinned to the ground. She felt nauseous, her stomach warned her if she tried to move she'd probably have to throw up first.

She moved, vain attempts to get out from under Tenko, simple gestures of clenching and unclenching her fingers and toes as her brain made sure they all worked properly. She let out a little groan as she regained her breath, purple bruises already blossoming.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

Tenko froze, briefly, as the impact of Nanami's head against the gravel of their battlefield sent a jolt through both of their bodies. Her chest heaved in a sharp intake of breath, rigid form planted firmly atop the other girl and keeping her pinned. It didn't take much effort on her part; thankfully, as the strain of such a maneuver had left her legs awfully sore and an uncomfortable bend to her arm. It was the lack of pressure needed to keep Nanami down that enticed those buried feelings of concern to the surface of her thoughts before she could steel herself again. It was okay for a ninja to - to concern themselves with - the well being of their teammates ... ?

She shook her head, taking another moment as she - in a muted huff of relief - felt those writhing, pawing limbs nudge at her. She dislodged herself from the other girl, catching her foot in a sharp hilt into the ground so as not to stumble when she got up. She stood over Nanami Hideaki and offered a hand, reddened along its length and presenting tensed fingers. After confirming with a good look that the younger kunoichi wasn't suffering from any apparent permanent injuries her eyes regained their guarded quality, a calm and icy blue. "That was a good match, Hideaki-san. Thank you for your efforts. I can tell you didn't hold anything back."

Her subsequent bow was a curt lilt of her head, a throbbing in her spine and the muscle of her calves urging her to quickly right herself. It dawned on her after a few seconds, with the speed at which she had subdued the other, that her final comment might have sounded like an insult. Catching herself now didn't change anything so she didn't comment further, but she resolved that it didn't matter. It was the truth. They took the spar seriously and she was the one that came out on top. Someone had to win, didn't they?

And it wasn't much of a competition. There was no peril in this exercise. It was a mutual venture. They would both take away from this, she thought plainly. Even if it was only the bruising they've suffered.

 

[Nanami]

Her vision cleared, but she still felt the sting behind her eyes, the pain of being stubborn of refusing to give into the emotion of self-pity. She screwed up her face tight and turned as the fog left her vision, as Tenko stuck her hand in her face. She hated this, she hated herself, and Tenko most of all. She threw everything she had at her and came up viciously short. Tenko had ultimately disassembled her with what seemed like a casual indifferent amount of effort.

She couldn't have picked more sarcastic words if she tried, and even if Nanami was sure she hadn't it did little to blunt their scalpel-like sharpness. She'd been hollowed out. All she wanted to do was roll over and lay there, give in to the tide. She wanted to slap Tenko's hand out of her face, scream, break something, anything, anything but face the reality of how weak she was.

Because the weak of Kumogakure died.

She was weak. Tenko proved she was weak. Had always been weak. Any hope of thinking otherwise was a delusion she'd convinced herself of because she was afraid. Afraid because she so badly wanted to live. I want to live. Idon'twantodie. She ignored Tenko's hand, rolled over carefully on to her front, pulled herself up and raised her torso off the ground in two hands. She felt like she was going to throw up, the world spun, she was sweating, angry, sad, terrified, furious. She wanted to start laughing like it was all just some dumb joke, wanted to laugh because she felt like something terrible was going to happen. Everything's fine, everything's fine. She let out a groan. Something terrible -was- happening. She let it out, an awful little whisper but it was enough to open the door just a crack.

"I don't want to die."

Just that whisper and then she exploded into sudden action like a bolt of lightning in a summers day at a girl who deserved none of it. Nanami didn't want to die, if she didn't want to die she had to be strong, to be strong she had to be willing to do anything. In the glimpse where her eyes met Tenko's she revealed a glimmer of madness. Nanami's eyes were hateful, full of a murderous anger, teeth bared as she roared, "I'm not weak!"

She lashed out at Tenko's face, a single raking strike with her terrible claw.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

Nanami's refusal of her hand only earned a blink from Tenko's otherwise polite expression. She watched as her fallen opponent rolled onto her stomach, instinctively taking a step back to offer her the space she would need to drag herself up. Her outstretched arm retracted uselessly, going limp to hang at her side. "Do you need help, Hideaki-san--?" She inquired, the passing seconds adding a furrow to her brow. It was now that her bubbling concern reached a more tangible head, a worry that she had genuinely harmed her sparring partner. Tenko might have an arguable reputation as a being a bit of a nuisance to train with, if only because she expected her fellow students to approach exercises with her same level of dedication - but she had never gone out of her way to hurt someone. Small wounds, such as the light bruises on her wrist and chest were common enough occurrences ... an expected risk. If she had actually -

What was that? She thought she heard Nanami groan, inching forward on a foot, before it was followed by a muttered admission she hadn't caught.

It all happened so fast. It was like a movie reel, flashing subsequent images of an approach that ended in the devastation she felt tearing across her features. The most of a reaction she had managed when Nanami twitched - thanking Raiden for her constant, wary guard - was a shift of her form that braced the attack across her jaw and shoulder rather than ruining an eye. It was almost a shame; retaining her vision meant she was able to meet Nanami's crazed stare in that one second, the malice bursting forth from her look punching its way straight through that careful austerity. Tenko's gaze wavered, then shattered.

Reflexes kicked in as blood erupted from the gashes left by Nanami's claw, twisting her body in an acute turn that lunged away with equal ferocity and sent her rolling across the battlefield. She came to a stop in the dust storm she had kicked up, one hand planted over her gushing wound and the other braced on the gravel - nails dug in, keeping her from falling over. She coughed, sputtered, then sucked in a searing breath that almost broke into a moan. She wouldn't let herself be that far gone from a single attack, however, and instead used this chance to steady herself and stand up straighter from the crouch she was leaning into. Shock, then anger. "Hideaki-san!?"

Then nothing, pulling herself into a defense stance. It hurt. It hurt. She hadn't really felt pain like this before - this was a risky profession, but they were still students of the academy. Personal training seminars and calculated dangers would never, she now realized, measure up to this. The reality of an opponent who genuinely wanted you dead. She couldn't just stand here and grit her teeth, even as tears pricked at the edges of the thirteen year old's eyes. If she faltered to something like this she had no right to call herself a Shinobi. If this is how she reacted to real danger ... all of these years of desperately running herself into the ground for this goal meant absolutely nothing!

The World spun along Tenko's fingertips, a firm grip made on its handle before it was evened out in a declaration towards Nanami. "Snap out of this, Hideaki-san. I don't know what's gotten into you, but I won't hesitate to restrain a threat." All worry, all pain and all fury bled out of her features. The perfect soldier, right? That was her purpose. Blood continued to drip from between her fingers but she no longer felt it. No longer heard the erratic beat of her heart in her ears. Nothing but silence as every ounce of her attention focused on the combatant across from her. The adrenaline that coursed through her veins was frozen to a terrifying stillness.

 

[Nanami]

Her blow landed, and Nanami felt a dark satisfaction at that. Everything about this felt right, the look of shock on Tenko's face, the waver of her gaze as Nanami surged in. Her reflexes were admirable but Nanami's speed was better. She broke through, landed a raking gash on her cheek and shoulder. The strangeness of such an injury was lost on Nanami, why a cut? Why did she get cut? Nanami tilted her head and sneered at Tenko, something in her felt a twinge of sympathy, more than that she felt remorse, regret, doubt, but all of those feelings were muted, trapped underneath the surface of her sneering confidence. The murderous rage had muted, but there was no matching the Nanami from the start of the encounter to the one that met Tenko now. Where did the claws go?

She loved this, Tenko crouched, a hand clutched tight over an injury, the other bracing her balance. How quickly the veneer of Tenko's superiority vanished against the slightest resistance. Nanami's smile faded as Tenko rose up again. She shouted her name, shocked maybe? Scared? No, it seemed angry. Angry for what? This was a fight, wasn't it! She hurt Nanami hadn't she? Now she was going to pout because Nanami was able to return the favor? The fun had left now that Tenko had regained her composure, she had ruined Nanami's moment of gloating and the fury returned. She stood defiant to Tenko's own declaration, swept her hand out, bereft of any claws. Was there any to begin with? "Snap out of what! God! People like you really...bug me!" Nanami lurched forward, fueled by an anger she couldn't completely understand, nor explain.

Something in her heart screamed defiance. It didn't matter what, at anything, at everything! But it was Tenko stood before her, unyielding, unmoving, dismissive of her even now and something drove Nanami against that. She wasn't going to be dismissed, she didn't care what it took. Tenko would take her seriously, and she'd prove that by beating it into her.

"Just try then!" she cried, throwing herself towards Tenko, a quickly measured half-step as she delivered a quick one-two, a jab and follow up to mask her attempt to sweep out Tenko's leg to put her off balance and then throw herself at the girl to drive her to the ground.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

Something was off.

Remain calm.

The monstrous limb of Nanami's she had caught a glimpse of had disappeared; if Tenko was a lesser shinobi, she might have even been able to convince herself it was never there in the first place. She wasn't, however, and still had the gushing wound to prove its existence. She didn't know what Nanami was up to but the sheer cold of her current gaze offered her no opinion on the matter either way. The angular sharpness of her face made a contrast between her born frailty and her hard earned severity, a cock of her shoulders prodding her shoulder-bones free into the air behind her. Every inch of her was taut, coiled - ready.

There was no room for shame in that chilled heart of hers, yet if there seemed even a glimmer of such it would be due to her outburst after Nanami's attack. She could rationalize this as many things; but the truth was, the pain wasn't new to her. She had many, many scars that thickened almost every visible section of her skin - a new one now claiming her face, five thin lines down & across. Her guard, too, had still been up, her reflexes the one thing to have kept her from falling prey to the "one-eyed" affliction many older ninja suffered from. Her startled reaction took its first and final breath by her shock, her fear and her concern. Never before had the studious girl been made to wither under a glare of such malice and murderous intent; no one could be ready for that, for the first time, not even her. The upset of Nanami's sudden shift in demeanor and the crazed tinge to her voice as she made her sneak attack did this no favors. She resolved to do better next time.

Remain alert.

Her eyes scanned Nanami, up and down, flits of her pupils reading her continued opponent's movements through a lens of complete grim. She would often show nothing on her face - that was obvious, by now - but there was a shocking quality to the complete drain of niceties she had graciously offered before. She stood before Nanami, listened to her angered if not normalized tone, and reflected nothing back. Tenko Higeki was no longer her opponent - Kumogakure Academy's Finest was. "As you wish." Her tone descended as a judgment, shifting one foot behind her and tilting her weapon to the side in a position more apt for swinging.

Their fight so far had been brief, but not enough to have prevented the older kunoichi from analyzing Nanami's fighting style up to this point. Any worry that she had become a more difficult obstacle was immediately dismissed; her motions might have more power behind them, but she was no less aggressive or headstrong. Perhaps moreso, a certain desperation to her eyes Tenko didn't care to discern. She didn't need to care: there was nothing more about Nanami to learn. Chakra pulsed through Tenko's veins, the grip on her bat flexing her fingers in a bulging grasp. She breathed in through her nose.

Remain precise.

The World took Nanami's assault head on with a sharp flick of Tenko's wrist, the crack from each blow sending a gushing shockwave of air resounding from the points of impact. The fakeout was a cute technique - the problem was that Tenko had no intention of dodging, and even as Nanami's foot hit its mark against her ankle and discharged the shock through her leg her own lifted up in a pivot to strike the offending limb in its calve. Nanami's frame wasn't allowed the chance to push Tenko back - an immovable wall she refused to give even an inch, refused to show any weakness. Not now, not here, and not to her.

Her weapon took the gap between their body before Nanami could, a rotation of her fingers around The World's grip sending it driving straight into the white-haired demon's chest. The shove was harsh, efficient; precise, indeed. She wouldn't put so much force into the counterattack so as to break Nanami's ribs, but she didn't hold back in the same way she had with their previous hand-to-hand combat. She wanted a fight? It was only practical to agree to her terms, lest she cause more trouble. Tenko wouldn't let any more blood be spilt today.

If Nanami looked upon Tenko, she'd see an evenly-held chin and an expression that hadn't shifted a single wrinkle out of place. No, remain ruthless. Remain methodical. Every hour, every day and month and year after year of her extensive, merciless, and unsympathetic combat training had kicked in and she felt as if she had stepped into a world that molded itself around her. This is the result of terrorizing and traumatizing a thirteen year old into the perfect child soldier with nothing to lose.

She did it a hair too well.

[ MFT 12/7 - 12/14 ]

 

[Nanami]

She knew Tenko was strong, that she trained hard and focused but this was unlike anything that she could have imagined. She wasn't like any of the other students, she'd dropped the veneer and in its place was something cold, not mean, but empty, vacant, robotic. Just looking at that face gave her chills, made her grin all the wider. This was what she wanted! Tenko was serious now.

She wasn't surprised when her feints to land as Tenko called her out, nor was she surprised at the shudder of pain as Nanami's sweep struck and met not a yielding falling Tenko but something like wrought iron. Tenko's retaliation came swift as she matched Nanami's sweep, met the force and returned it. Nanami her arms back as best she could as Tenko's weapon was pulled free. A club, a bat really, remarkably simple which...suited her she guessed. Nanami stepped into it, raised her arms to brace against her chest. Tenko knew the trick, she wasn't trying to go for a full swing, whether out of kindness or an unwillingness to make the distance Nanami wasn't sure.

Impact. Nanami felt her body leave the ground but she wasn't going to let herself go down as easily as before. Her arms stung enough to make her turn a cry into something more like a growl of anger as she landed and braced herself. She ended up crouched having slid a foot or so against the ground, resulting in a small cloud of dirt kicked up around her. "Oooh," she stared up at Tenko, crouched but ready, waiting, daring her to attack. "That face your making, so scary." It was. "But what a fake you are! I saw it when I hit you! You were afraid, weren't you? Shocked someone like me did that." She wasn't sure why she was speaking, something tense in her gut demanded it of her, she had to keep talking, keep letting out words that came fast, almost jittery. "God I bet you think you're so freaking perfect! But guess what, someone like me can hit you! Someone like me can beat you too!"

"I hope you're ready! Cuz I'm gonna torch your dumb face!" Nanami clapped her hands together. She knew the seals. She knew the order to do them in, and she knew Tenko was capable enough to know that any Jutsu could be seriously dangerous. What she didn't know, or maybe wouldn't be willing to wager was that...Nanami didn't really have a clue how to actually preform it. She'd bank on it being enough. A set of seals, enough that it looked convincing, a big deep breath drawn in. If Tenko was goaded into the strike, she'd be ready to spring her trap, if she didn't Nanami would use it for another approach, a feint to draw her guard before launching her own strike.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

"You're right," she hadn't imagined Nanami would attack in that way. "I expected better of you." Tenko stood tall over the crouching state her opponent was forced into with her counterattack, looking down with that same pragmatic stare. Nanami first approached her as a sparring partner - now she faced her as a threat, the gashes dripping down her gaunt cheek a static testament. Until she knew the other girl had calmed enough that the incident with ... whatever that claw was wouldn't occur again; it was her duty, as a Kumogakure Shinobi, to subdue her. She readied The World once more, a cock of her foot reminding her of the bruise she just sustained. "I don't consider myself perfect," even if her aspirations reached that high, as should every ninja's. Her free hand swiped a finger through the drying blood as she spoke, flicking it into the air beside her. She didn't flinch. "I just know how to remain in control."

She zeroed in. Nanami's rebelliously painted words weren't alarming but her subsequent reactions were enough to narrow Tenko's eyes to a point, off her feet after the first handseal was formed. Your typical spar didn't include Ninjutsu for multiple, practical reasons; namely that most students their ages didn't have a solid handle on the techniques and most jutsu were generally very destructive. Neither outcome bode well for Tenko, their surroundings or the civilian onlookers, and the matter was only made worse if Nanami actually did know what she was doing. She swung in close, pivoting in a slide that brought her bat in for a home run towards the white-haired kunoichi's hands. She remained cautious, guarded and precise - but if she could interrupt a potential disaster, she couldn't play it any safer.

This wasn't a situation she wanted to be on the offensive. All she needed was for Nanami to relent. At this rate, she could get really hurt.

 

[Nanami]

Expected better of her? Nanami almost ground her teeth together with that remark, what the hell did Tenko know about her? Remain in control? "You're such a baby," she hissed under her breath. Still, everything went off exactly how she expected. Tenko was on paper the better fighter, faster, stronger, but that didn't mean she was better than her! After all, she wasn't the one who fell for such a dumb bluff was she?

Nanami's serious focused expression vanished into a bright wide grin the moment that Tenko began her proverbial home run swing towards her. It was pulled short, aiming for her sealing hands which gave her the out of pulling back and abandoning her fictional attempt. Instead she sprang up, pulled her legs in tight, well over the swing and pivoted enough, pointing towards Tenko's chest and thrust her legs out towards her opponent, using the rabbit kick to turn her opponent into a springboard to get clear.

She soared back several feet and landed with a brief stumble back before catching her footing. "You're so friggin' mad! Who do you think you are to judge me like this! Why!? Cause I hit you!?" she panted, talking was taking her breath but she couldn't help it still. Something in her needed to keep it going. "It's a fight isn't it!? Besides, like I need to use some dumb ninjutsu on you!" She reached into her uniform and grabbed hold of a handle. She threw herself forward, hurling what she had grabbed at Tenko as a smokescreen. A handled kunai, tight worn wrapping around the handle, flew through the air towards Tenko with Nanami behind it. It had a dull edge, something that would become immediately clear upon impact.

Nanami did a baseball slide as she neared, using the momentum to approach Tenko's side as her kunai closed before snapping out a straight kick for her leg to send her down.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

It was a trick.

None of Nanami's spat comments were able to goad Tenko; after all, she was just a machine. A weapon. She had nothing darkening nor brightening her features but a cold gray determination, focused squarely on subduing what she perceived as a rampaging child. This was the sum of her entire existence - how she was right here, right now, carrying out a duty. This was ... all her life was. All any of this was leading to. Of course, she didn't care nor she did she even think about it. You don't stop and consider how gravity keeps your feet on the ground.

None of this was enough to see through Nanami's rouse. Particularly intense spars could be dangerous, but never to rarely had a partner ever employed underhanded tactics to give themselves a leg up against her. It wasn't unexpected or uncalled for, to be sure, it just wasn't a scenario Tenko was indoctrinated towards. She wanted to be able to say her guard had slipped, that she hadn't been cautious enough; but who would ever buy that? She wouldn't be able to. The truth was that Nanami had outsmarted her. That also wasn't unexpected - Tenko knew, pragmatically, that she was stronger than her opponent, but that didn't mean she was infallible even when she felt like she needed to be. She could only do what she always did when she found herself not meeting expectations.

Do better next time or die.

Her bat was still in the middle of its swing when Nanami poised for her counter, blocked only be a hastily thrown arm that felt the full brunt of the younger kunoichi's kick. A convincing blow, forcing Tenko back and a distance between them while she swiftly righted her posture and readied herself again. The bruises were building up and the way her defense had kicked back against her chest disturbed the wound sustained earlier. Irritating. She expressed nothing, said nothing, watching Nanami with hawk eyes and a rigid stance. She couldn't actually believe they were in this position now simply because she had hit Tenko, could she? Tenko would have seen a sudden punch or slap in response to her proffered hand as disrespectful but she wouldn't have fought over it.

No, it's because Nanami had raked her with an unsettling set of claws that very nearly destroyed her eyes while screaming bloody murder. That wasn't just a temper tantrum. That was a lethal assault, something Tenko couldn't take lightly - not while Nanami seemed so volatile. She wasn't here for revenge. She was here for order. Peace. Control. Irregularities did not belong in Kumogakure. Fits of such dangerous emotions from dangerous persons were a threat to security.

She tensed when a hand disappeared into a uniform, instinctively dipping and then countering with a rise of her weapon to meet the other head on: a kunai? Further unsettlement was narrowly avoided by a markedly dull edge, able to smack it away with only a glancing blow. This wasn't the real objective, she found, the racing girl now sliding towards her legs the same moment she was able to deflect the first attack. This kick would land enough of a strike to throw the studious ninja off her balance, sucking in through her nose and using an awkward flip to right herself with hand along gravel. She dug in, focused, then used the landing in a similar manner to Nanami's previous rebound - propelling herself off the ground and back towards her opponent. A veil of kunai released from her pack served as her own cover, aimed not to kill but to pin: specifically targeting four hanging pieces of her clothing.

The World came bearing down on Nanami Hideaki.

 

[Nanami]

She was doing it! Should could do it! Nanami's grin returned fully as she felt her foot make contact, sent Tenko off her stance and back. Nanami didn't press her advantage, she was excited but not stupid. She'd win this if she kept it up, she just had to keep her focus, keep thinking, keep fighting. She was strong, she was strong enough to beat Tenko. Strong enough to live.

Nanami swept back across the ground nimbly, catching her footing as her mind raced to calculate her next approach, the next attack that would expose Tenko for the fraud of talent she was.

She caught Tenko's approach, feeling a powerful if shortlived rush of excitement at having finally provoked her opponent into offense. "They say imitation is the most sincere kind of flattery!" Nanami shot back as Kunai's neared and she bent her legs in preparation. She didn't have a plan this time, it wasn't about thought but action. She just reacted, leapt a short distance straight into the air with a spin. She coiled her legs tight against her body. Three of the four projectiles would pass by her, but the forth was snatched from the air. She used her moment to complete the spin, extended her legs to grab the ground once more and dug in to swing Tenko's own Kunai back at her in a mighty slash.

The World came crashing down upon her, and she swung back against it, teeth grit, with everything she had. "So! Thank-" A loud crack cut her words from her mouth, silenced the training ground for the moment before her scream came. The Kunai torn from her hands spun high into the air and crashed into the ground behind her as she stumbled back. She screamed again, quiet and stifled the sound, almost biting down on her tongue to stop it. She lost her footing on the third short step and fell crumpled to the ground, the third scream drowned out into short hard hissing breaths.

She had met the World with everything she had, and crumbled against Tenko's blow. The kunai served as less than a speedbump, knocked free from her grip instantly, the rest of the force spent against her right hand, angled down past her fingers and against her shoulder where the rest of the force was exhausted.

She whimpered silent, pained hisses between each short breath she managed to pull. White hot needles had ignited along her right arm. She ground her teeth together, tried to pull herself to a standing position but fell. She braced her fall with her hands instinctively and let out another cry as her right side gave way and she fell against the ground.

She could hear her heartbeat in her ear. A powerful thump, thump, thump. It was growing louder, a steady rhythmic beat that began to drown out the world around her. She opened her eyes and everything felt too bright, too loud. The muddy brown ground of the training area was a brilliant almost gold, the brief patches of grass shone deep, verdant green. She saw her hand, her blood, the gleam of metal lying in the dirt. If I can't win I'll die. I'll die. I'm going to die if I can't beat her. She beat me and I'm dead. I'm dead. It was all she could think, the words seemed to carry in her head over each pounding pulse of her heart.

Why am I doing this? Why am I fighting? Why am I...stop fighting. I want to stop fighting. I don't want to fight her anymore! I don't want this! I don't want to do this! Please!

She pulled herself up with her left arm, pulled into a crouch, eyes locked on the abandoned Kunai. "I'm fine," she whispered in an even calm voice. "I'm sorry. I'm done." She turned from the Kunai and looked up to Tenko.

It happened fast. She snatched the Kunai in her left hand, pulled it in front of her as she drove herself at Tenko. She gripped the Kunai tight with both hands and with all her might tried to thrust it into her.

 

[Higeki Tenko]

"Awaiting adjudication."​

She was going to die. It was almost so simple.

Tenko never knew her mother. She rarely thought about her even then, when she was young, and notably less so since she became a shinobi in training - the same with her father, in that respect. She wasn't allowed to have those familial ties after they took her away, so she had all but blocked out the first eight years of her childhood. Trying to focus on it hurt her head; an unpleasant feeling, a warning from that shred of the frail, empathetic girl she used to be to shield her eyes. You couldn't turn your back on being a ninja, really, and that part of her knew she wouldn't be able to keep it up if she remembered. If she realized.

No, Tenko never knew her mother, but she had known she was a respectable shinobi in her own right. A high-level anbu of some far off village, cutting away from the toxic lifestyle to flee with her commoner husband and start up their life on simple farmland. It was only fate - good or bad luck aside - that their choice of residence would end up being her daughter's undoing, putting her in the same position she had no longer wanted for herself. It was even worse, yet terribly cliche, that she had been removed from the picture during childbirth. She passed down those genes to Tenko without any of the good intentions that could protect her from those that came.

Now the daughter was here, "all grown up", and she had nothing but this life to keep her going. Tenko Higeki was a true ninja, through and through, as far as she reflected all of the ideals forced upon her. Consent was long since irrelevant; she ate it up, a shinobi-era victim of Stockholm. She gleefully devoured the cold & lonely lifestyle a Kumogakurian shinobi was meant to lead and not the smallest bit of doubt ever rose in her thoughts to so much as part her lips.

She deserved more, then, didn't she? More than dying here? The sickening crunch of Nanami's hand hadn't phased her despite the assuredness she had fought with before now, holding back in each instance leading to this blow. Tenko didn't want to hurt her: but she did need to win, if only out of this eternally compelling sense of duty. They were very alike, in that way, two sides of the same eager coin. Hot and cold. Fire and ice.

Good and evil.

"Halt." It had all happened so fast. One second Nanami was screaming in pain, urging Tenko to cease from any further blows now that the situation deemed her the victor. She had fallen to her feet, caught her breath, then calmly approached the other kunoichi; step by step, a cautious frost steaming from her chakra-enhanced limbs. She was too wary of another sudden upset to drop the power she was maintaining - the scene felt too familiar, actors playing their same roles in what could only be a comedy. The next, she was proven right for this caution.

It was that fear of their deaths that drove them both, personal sentiments aside. It was Nanami's terror that propelled the kunai towards her opponent's heart, yet Tenko's that decided this final outcome. Lines of blue light flickered and streamed out the side of her gaze, caressing her cheek to billow into the air. That one piercing iris glared down into Nanami's: a wavering hand with a trembling blade, stopped mere inches from killing its target to but graze the skin instead. The demon didn't get her wish. No blood was spilt. There was only a shimmering eye. The symbol of this defiance.

A single blue sigil.

"By the authority of Kumogakure no Sato, you are ordered to drop your arms and surrender.

Verdict?"​

[ MFT 12/14 - 12/21 ]

[ WC: 644 ]

 

[Nanami]

Die, die, die, die, die, die, die, die DIE

Nanami heaved heavy breaths sucking air into her lungs rapidly as the Kunai stopped, tip of the blade pressed against Tenko's skin but going no further. She couldn't breath, her heart rate skyrocketed, hammering erratically as she let out a sound."Wuh..." she stammered momentarily as she tried to breath. She was frozen, still as a statue, she couldn't move, she forgot to breathe as her gaze was drawn into Tenko's and a darkness that had taken residence in her eyes faded. For a moment, a brilliant sharp blue light was her entire world.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she stared into Tenko's, pooled and began to roll down her cheek. She didn't blink, merely stared into those eyes as the kunai in her hands slipped from her grasp and tumbled to the ground. She let out a sound, her lungs remembering how to work for her as the shuddering breath escaped. Nanami blinked and broke her gaze, she saw the Kunai resting on the ground and stared at it.

When the tear reached her chin and hung for a moment before falling she realized she was crying and like a puppet with its strings cut one by one she fell jaggedly to the ground to the ground. She let out another shuddering breath, but whatever it was that held the sounds back before she no longer had. A single sharp sob escaped her throat. She placed her left-hand flat on the ground and stared at the earth as tears dripped from her face.

And cried.