Right after the mysterious woman dropped down from her perch atop one of the many trees surrounding the battlefield, Katarina knew that the match was over.

Now, Katarina was no fool. She knew she couldn't take on Aethir, given how experienced he carried himself and how nonchalant he acted around her and Lelouch. Yet, despite her weeks of inactivity, she was confident that her abilities would have been sufficient to keep him occupied for a while. It would've been a good workout. For her, anyway. Aethir may just find it a walk in the park, but that wasn't what bothered her.

No, what bothered her was the new arrival. Katarina would've immediately pivoted on her heel and shot a Shock Bullet at her had the familiar sight of the stranger's wardrobe not graced her figures. Her eyes opened just a fraction more when she took in the white mask and the armor plates.

Konoha's ANBU. One of the very best of the best of Konoha's forces, or maybe even the Elemental Continent given the powerhouse that was Konohagakure. Katarina wouldn't underestimate them, at least not again, given how she had barely escaped with her life the last time she bumped into one of them and accidentally insulted them.

What's more, with their overalls, Katarina could barely get a read on them. Normally, she would be able to tell from the slight twitching of people's bodies or their straight backs and possible cuts on their outfits something regarding what she was dealing with. Failing that, their facial expression always had infinite secrets to give away. But with ANBU, their faces were covered by masks, their postures were stiff as statues, and their garments were top of the notch, unscathed from past skirmishes. She hated that. It made her feel so exposed.

Katarina tried to relax herself as she willed her balled fists to uncurl. As much as she was angry that her fight with Aethir and possible training session, what more after weeks of lounging about, had been interrupted, she knew her limits and this ANBU far exceeded them. Showing fury, rage, or hostility wouldn't promote a scenario where she left alive.

“With all due respect,” Katarina began, not once taking an eye off Aethir, Lelouch, yet not ignoring the new figure. “we were just having a friendly spar. We Ronin need to exercise our limbs once in a while, and it's preferable when we know losing one doesn't get you killed and your corpse forgotten. You ANBU should know that quite well, shouldn't you?”

Training:

Aethir was about to finish his attack until he quickly skidded to a halt at the sudden sight of the woman and her clones. 'PEDESTRIAN!!!!' he mentally screamed, creating a large dust cloud as he attempted to stop. Aethir stopped perfectly, but the clone had tumbled, and now rested on the ground, eyeing the ANBU officer angrily. However, both Aethirs slowly eyed one of each of the woman's clones, tilting their heads curiously. "Hey wait..." he blinked, the water clone slowly turning into water, the ronin cancelling the jutsu. He eyed the woman for a moment, studying her armor carefully. 'I think that's... No...' The man then heard Kat speak of losing limbs and such. "Er...I kind of like having an arm, thanks..." the ronin laughed, nervously backing away from Kat. "I suppose there's a line between sparring and raw violence. But...no one landed a hit on anyone yet I don't think." Aethir couldn't help but remind the two how easily he dodged their attacks. He looked at both Lelouch and Kat before shrugging, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed.

He appeared to be smiling and resting, but his true reason for sitting on the ground was to look at the woman from a slightly lower position. He tried his best to try and imagine it was raining, eyeing the woman with his blue eyes. 'I'll say it's her for now...but I'll just treat her like a stranger to be safe.' He continued his smiling as he examined the ANBU woman. 'If it is her, she'll have that scalpel skill.' Aethir soon stood back up before stretching and yawning with his hand over his mouth. 'And now that I know how that skill works...I'll be fine if she attacks. I hope...' Aethir smiled to the woman, not sure if it was a clone or her he was smiling at. "Yes," he began, looking over to Kat and then over to Lelouch, "Just a friendly spar between ronins. Except that guy. He's not in the cool kids club." Aethir teased Lelouch, grinning to him as he said this. Aethir measured the distance between everyone and himself with his eyes, judging it to be enough space for him to feel comfortable. "But...what's an ANBU officer like yourself doing over here, hmm?" he asked, smiling calmly, slowly surveying the area with his eyes as he said this. And while he did this, Aethir decided to hint at something that should ring a bell if this is the same officer from that time. "I mean...I'm not some political man with false accusation in a carriage or anything..." he said. 'Hinting' might not be the right word, but still...Aethir did mention the mission he went on that involved this woman.

However, feeling a mix of impatience, and feeling like the fight had officially been called to a close, Aethir took it upon himself to just walk away from the whole thing. "Eh. Pleasure to meet you Lelouch, Kat, and ...Ma'am." he said before continuing on, deeper into the town of Konoha. He figured this would have been good enough to count as his morning work out, the man deciding to just roam the city of Konoha, taking it easy for the rest of the day... 'What a peculiar group of people...' Aethir couldn't help but think back to the three people he had met this day. Lelouch, who was just some guy who enjoyed ramen. Kat, who was just some girl who claimed she traveled. And that ANBU woman again, at least Aethir thought it was the same woman. "If it is her... then what's her deal? ...Is she following me around because-" he stopped talking as kids ran next to him, staring a Hokage costume for sale. 'I really have to stop talking aloud like that...' he sighed. Eventually, he shook it off, wanting to focus on window shopping, viewing different items stores had for sale.

Word Count: 3436
(1736)

The eyes behind the mask of the original were locked upon Aethir, like the eyes of the clones were locked on their respective targets. They weren't going to deal out some damage or fight those they had been intending to stop, but one wrong move from both the ANBU operative herself or from those she was aiming to interrupt could spark a whole new round of fighting. However, as this was not her intention, Risu simply maintained her clones to stand by and await new orders.

"Little miss ronin, you simply don't seem to understand the reason that I have intervened," The ANBU operative known under the codename Lamya explained to Katarina. "Nor do you seem to be aware of our difference in position. Which means I want you to keep your mouth shut until I say it is ok to open it, is that understood?"

The operative was slightly losing her patience, she had done what she deemed rational, with a ronin who had once interfered with one of her assignments fighting some lower ranked guys in the middle of HER village.

"You however," Risu's clone now spoke against the Hyuuga kid, not really sure what to do with that genin. "Why were you in this fight and how did it escalate to this meassure?"

Last but not least, the young woman turned towards Aethir, crouching i front of him, so their eyes would be at exactly the same height. Trying to understand him by looking straight into his eyes with her golden colored snakelike eyes.

"You should know better as a ronin," Risu hissed deeply, her voice distorted and sounding eerily cold thanks to the mask's interference with the ressonation. "If you ronins want to have some fun and fight, I'd advice you to take it outside of the village's gates…there where you guys are not bound to our village's rules, got that?"

323/1134

800/800 perception B-1-> B-2 complete

EXIT THREAD

active jutsu:

' Get the hell up!!! the battle is still going protect the tribe and the oath you stand by! ' Placing his left hand palm on the hard dirt, his right hand would follow up as if he was doing a pushup. Standing with his hands in front of 'em, he dusted them off and his clothing as well. He wasn't to for sure what was going on after that hard hit to his head, but however, the words might have been annoying and loud, due to the loud noise in his ears as if he gotten tooooo close to a bell that just would rang none stop as if it was an emergency etc. Anyways, he was able to hear out some of they words slowly, it flew in the right ear, and ran out the other as if he was slow. " WHAT!?!?!" he yelled out so loudly it could even echo to the village gates if you listened closely.

Shaking his head, Lelouch would try to get a hold of himself. Few steps forward just by Kat's right side now, he still noticed that other chick that arrive just a few moments ago as if this was a dream? he wasn't to for sure just yet, but there was only one way to find out. Holding his hands out, he looked at them real good. they say if you have extra fingers in dreams, but he only counted ten, assuming he was straight. The boy would continue to stand there. His hand still gripped that kunai that was stuck in the tree in the older actions that took place just before this did. was it all worth? over a damn kunai? but why was he still there? with a sigh, the man would walk away holding his head. "..."

EXIT

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