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Naruto Saga » Kaze no Kuni » Sunagakure » Excavation Site » Restless Muscles [Private|Invite Only|NK]

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Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
The past few days had been uneventful with Seiryū having taken a break from taking missions outside of the village and missions in general. For him it wasn’t the lack of motivation or the need of payment that stopped him from venturing beyond the village walls for a task assigned to him. Rather, it was something he chose for himself. He already had a mission lined up that required him to leave within the next two days and it would take him upwards of a week to complete; accounting for travel, reconnaissance, fighting, clean up, and unforeseen circumstances that could occur. Getting out of the village for that amount of time should surely ease him out of his current restlessness. But the time between now and leaving the village still seemed like far too much time he needed to wait between the two instances.

His right hand idly swirled the spoon he help, his purple orbs staring down at the now, nearly empty, bowl of cereal he had consumed for a light breakfast. This idle lifestyle, albeit it had only been a few days since his last mission, put him on edge. His eyes were wide awake, sleep had eluded him for most of the previous night and just being cooped up in the village seemed too much for him currently. Getting out of his apartment was a viable solution. Perhaps some training would be able to get Seiryū to relax and alleviate his urge to leave the village today instead of the time he was given.

It was fairly early in the morning, by the standards of Seiryū’s usual laziness when it came to the mornings in general. Maybe to the rest of the shinobi population waking up at seven in the morning was late. To Seiryū it was early. Too early. He wasn’t too sure if this time was considered early for other shinobi, for his lack of… friendships made that knowledge only something he could assume based on his perspective alone. Dropping the spoon carelessly, Seiryū’s right hand shot down to his knee, attempting to hold it down to stop it from thumping up and down. Immediately he knew it wasn’t working, nor did it had a minor effect, causing Seiryū to quickly get himself off the chair. Already being dressed for the day, Seiryū wasted little time gathering the limited gear he had with him; his bow, arrows, kunai and senbon. He still needed to expand further upon it, but the items he had requested from the weapons shop at the Grand Bazaar had been delayed further. The explanation he received was that the scimitars that were being forged for him had to be taken on an alternate, longer route due to tense relations between some of the other major shinobi nations.

Instead of deciding to take the more civilized route out his apartment, Seiryū opted for the quicker method of leaving through window in his bedroom. He had nothing of importance of anyone to steal from him and the only real valuables he held were on his person; his weapons. His proficiency with his current weapons was good, perhaps better than most, but he lacked the skills when it came to kenjutsu and weaponry in close range, in general. He knew what one could do with such a weapon in close range, but he lacked the actual weapons to learn first-hand about how they would fit in to his combat-style. Maybe he could find some willing individual who’d allow him to borrow his weapon to get a feel for one, while awaited for his own weapons to arrive.


611|611 Total

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
Such a soft bed, Lyralei thought.

Sadly, she’d had to have it all to herself.

The image of a pink-haired beauty with curls flowing past her shoulders assaulted her senses, and Lyralei could almost picture the enigma known as Asuna Kuroka lying down beside her. There was something about the woman that was just so… different, so alluring, but Lyralei couldn’t quite put her hand on it…

She sighed on her bed, hands sprawled above her, trapping her auburn locks between her pale skin and the white sheets below, as the memory of last night came flashing back to her. There was a pub. There was a girl. There was her, and there was Asuna, and she’d wanted to toast to Asuna, to celebrate the beginning of a new friendship as the two of them trekked the long path to Iwagakure… But then she’d had too much to drink. Lyralei wasn’t new to liquor, but she was far from an expert alcoholic, and the many shots she had taken had left her in a poor state of mind… and she had blew it.

If she remembered correctly, past the splitting headache, she had leaned in uncomfortably closely to the pinkette. Anyone who had seen them would have noticed her harassing Asuna for a kiss, and… that had been what she had been trying to do.

‘Damnit!’ she cried to no one in particular, turning her body over and hiding her eyes in the soft of her forearm, while her other free hand struck the bed in frustration, once, then twice, then thrice before gripping the sheets tightly as she felt warm tears trickling down her face, staining the white sheets beneath her a dark damp colour.

Her legs remained tangled with the bedsheets, but she subconsciously brought them closer to her, pressed up gently against her chest as she let the remainder of her disastrous night out in one long sob. She recalled Asuna pushing her away – roughly – and then having a few words for her before storming off. She recalled the bar having been too rowdy for it to be a commotion, but all she had heard was silence. She recalled collapsing into the lobby of her hotel and having a helpful bellboy support her back to her room where she crashed.

She hit her bed again, not bothering to muffle the loud shriek that rang in her ears. The other hotel guests could complain to management all they wanted; the hotel could kick her out all they wanted! What did it matter anyway?!

It. Didn’t. Stop. Shit. It didn’t change anything.


Breakfast was solemn. Her eyes were still stained with red even after she had washed her face and taken a shower, preparing herself for the morning while powering through the headache that was only now subsiding. She didn’t pay attention to the food she ate; all she knew was that it was something she had chewed and swallowed, nothing more, with her head still busy getting thoughts of last night away and done with.

Iwagakure… She couldn’t be fucked to go there right now. She never would have thought Suna would throw an experience like this in her face when she had first stepped foot here planning to experience the vastly different culture, and try as she might she just couldn’t foster enough energy to pack what little belongings she had and leave. Much easier to just fork out another couple of hundred ryo to extend her stay by a fortnight.

Standing up and leaving her half-finished meal on the table, Lyralei stalked outside the hotel, walking to the nearby armory where she had left Wind’s Whisper, planning to take it when she had left the village, but now realising that she wouldn’t have to rush the blacksmith on the repairs he was in charge of.

“Ah, Lyralei!” came the gruff greeting as she stepped into the confines of steel and smoke. “Wind’s Whisper still needs a bit of tweaking. She’s firing a little to the left.”

“Cut the crap, Kouda,” she spat, a little more venom than she intended. “Just… give me a practice bow.”

Noting that she was not in the best mood, he went to the backroom and began digging through crates of weapons, while Lyralei leaned against the counter, not caring that her cape caught so much dirt and grime, staining the beautiful and pristine nature green with black oil and dust.

“Something on your mind?” Hisaki Kouda asked, taking with him a simple wooden bow, far less decorated than Wind’s Whisper.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she snapped, turning around to receive the bow and attaching it firmly to the strap on her back.

“Just be careful with that there bow, Lyralei,” the blacksmith warned. “I don’t want your angry fits marring it. It’s only for borrowing, you hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lyralei replied. She walked to the other end of the room, with Hisaki’s eyes trained on her, where an assortment of arrows of all sorts were balanced on the wall, each stack of fifteen held up by downwards curving extensions drilled into the wall at the far ends of each arrow, firmly supporting their stock. “Mind if I take some of these?”

“The normal ones, yeah,” Hisaki answered. “Not sure what you’ll be doing with those, but with what you’re paying for Wind’s Whisper and what they actually cost to make, you can have fun breaking each and every one of those. The normal ones, at least.”

“The normal ones don’t even pierce two inches into the target.”

“What, you want one with explosives? Get outta’ here.”

Lyralei snorted as she grabbed a handful of arrows, fifteen in total, and placed them in her quiver she left at the shop, before attaching said quiver to the strap that held her bow.

Now to find some place to hunt.


–1005–

Borrowed items:

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
Slash. Slash. Slash.

Fiore Koga’s slashes today, as they always were, were part of her training as she prepared herself for the life of a ninja outside the walls of Sunagakure, something that she would need to do if she ever wanted to get her rank up. Unfortunately, her slashes today were filled with much more energy and anger than they were on other days,and the reason was very simple.

Aria Otsuka had vanished. The two of them had last seen each other during Suzume’s rally for the entire village, and they had been forced to cut their already short romantic moment with each other even shorter when Suzume had not only begun speaking to the entire ninja population, demanding their attention and silence, but also when she had ended it and Aria had had to go home without saying goodbye to Fiore.

She was sooo mad right now.

Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.

The straw dummy that she was cutting at fell apart, with her having used far too much strength. She was supposed to use the sword held in both hands to stab and cut at appropriate places so that she could disarm her opponent with the least number of strikes, bu today had been a completely different story from when she had first stepped out onto the battlefield to fight the straw dummy to when the dummy had finally broken down, something that never happened on her other times training because she simply didn’t use that much energy, or let her emotions control her actions like she did today. It was why she had let her swings and slashes run wider than they were supposed to, and it was this reason that their hits had managed to completely decapitate their straw dummy instead of just slashing it to the point where it could be easily replaced the next day.

She let her sword stab into the dirt in her backyard as she leaned on it for support. She was tired. She seldom practiced this much or this intensely early in the morning, but she couldn’t help it. With every swing she took, the image of Aria was emblazoned in her mind, but if she let herself stop, she would stop to appreciate those images. She would wonder what could’ve happened if she had met Aria again, and why was she so stupid?

In her anger she pushed her sword deeper into the dirt before collapsing onto her knees, resting her head against the hilt of the sword. She felt a hand rest unflinchingly on her sweaty shoulder and the shadow of her father hide her from the rising sun.

“You’ve been going at this for an hour, Fiore. Take a rest.”

Immediately, Fiore shot up standing. “No! I can still train!”

“I know you can,” he answered, standing up as well and towering well over her despite her age. He saw how firmly she was holding onto the sword, gripping it as if for dear life. “Have the rest of the day off. You’ve worked hard the last few months.”

“No, I can-”

“But should you? Greater ninja than you have broken trying to drown themselves in their work. Go have a day off, and take the sword with you. I’ll try to negotiate with the blacksmith about your sword, and hopefully he’s done your order.”

“Hey dad? Can I… can I try the rapier instead?” she asked.

“Rapier?” he asked, befuddled. Fiore, in her entire life, had only shown interest in his weapon, the sword, leaving her mother’s rapier to collect dust.

“Yes, I want to try to use the rapier,” she said, ignoring that she’d be throwing years of hard work out the window familiarising with and finally buying a sword.

Her father sighed. “Fine, you can take your mother’s rapier out. Familiarise yourself with it for the day if you want. I’ll see what I can do to change the order.”

“Thanks.”

Her father gave her a concerned frown before walking back into the house, and she left his sword stuck in the ground beside the dummy’s head before walking over to the small weapon’s shed they kept outside their house. Most of their weapons were found inside their house, but for a few that they hadn’t used in a while they stored outside in case anyone wanted to use it for practice. Digging around had her quickly navigating through the crossbows, hammers, and maces to find her mother’s rapier, the only weapon of its kind within the shed, which she attached to her waist with a convenient strap, enjoying how it dangled freely and lightly at her side unlike how a sword would drag on.

She let her hand run down the length of the rapier, not really worried about gashes due to the lack of any sharp points. She felt oddly at ease with this weapon. If possible, she remembered standing with more grace than she used to, standing up straighter. She placed her left hand behind her back and spread her legs wider, before unsheathing her sword and directing it towards the bare wall. She inched towards it, then tapped the tip of the rapier against the wooden wall.

Tap. Tap. And without warning she dashed forwards, shoving the rapier into the wooden wall and having it pierce through a few inches into the wall. Pulling it backwards, she slid it back into its sheathe, clumsily taking her time to get it back through the small opening unlike how her sword was easily sheathed, and then stepping out back into the sunny morning.

“I’m going out dad!” she called out, and a muffled grunt from her mother was the only reply she waited for before heading out the door, planning to go to one of the training grounds to practice her moves with her rapier.

933 out of 933 words
Spoiler:



Last edited by Fiore on Thu May 05, 2016 9:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
Sweat dripped down his forehead, yet Seiryū made no move to reach up with either of his hands to wipe away the drips of perspiration off his temple. While his body exuded the sweat from his pores; his clothes were yet to be drenched as he hadn’t even gotten to the more rigorous portion of his training. Seiryū was nowhere near tired, nor at a loss of breath as he meandered around the training grounds for a short period of time; it was just one of his many short breaks he usually took when training. While others rigorously trained from beginning to end, Seiryū strayed away from that mode of training, simply because it was something that had been forced upon him by his father when he was still living in the Kōga clan compound. Having been thrown in to training from the early age of two and a half up until his father had put him in an orphanage just months after his eighth birthday, Seiryū had decided to take his own approach to training when decided to actually become a shinobi; a decision he made solely for himself and at an age younger than what the Kōga clan standardized among their young.

To a degree, Seiryū was glad he was out of there; couldn’t imagine his life if his father had fully accepted him. Yet there was always the idle thought that remained, about what his life could’ve possibly turned out to be had he been recognized as a son, rather than an unwanted child that his father sheltered for eight years, the reason behind that still remaining a mystery in his mind. There was nothing in his realm of control that he could do to change that nor did he think he wanted to. His life, ultimately, was dictated by his own choices and not those of the clan or a biological father who valued his son’s worth as essentially nothing. Then again, Seiryū wasn’t even sure if he was his father’s only child; it was likely that his father was married to someone – not Seiryū’s biological mother – and had other children with her. That left a slight, albeit forgettable, feeling in the pit of Seiryū’s stomach. He could live with that. He was fine on his own and even then if his father caught word of some of Seiryū’s behaviours in the past, prior to becoming a shinobi, he would essentially be setting himself up for disappointment. He was far better off now, even if he was comparing it to a scenario that he had absolutely no idea how it’d work out.

The training grounds at this time were still empty, though Seiryū had managed to wrangle some extra equipment from an acquaintance he knew that specialized in weaponry as well; someone who possessed weapons similar to the one’s he had requested, though of far less potential and potency. The majority of Seiryū’s own weaponry also lay next to the training dummy; his bow, arrows, and quiver. His senbon and kunai were still on his person, but they barely affected his movement that he really didn’t need to remove them. He had grown used to his own equipment being on his person, but it certainly was refreshing to move about without the items. Perhaps it was about time Seiryū delved in to the territory of purchasing scrolls to hold his weapons. Currently, the two weapons he borrowed from the male were resting next to a training dummy that had been in Seiryū’s sights the entire hour he had been at the training grounds thus far. At most, he’d likely be here for another hour or two before his stomach would require more sustenance.

The two Chinese daos he had temporary possession of gave him some room to work with, allowing Seiryū to develop a sense of what it felt like to hold the weapons and move around with them. While practicing strikes against a training dummy wasn’t exactly the best mode for one to learn, it was the most simplistic, accessible, and harmless option available. Eventually he would need to learn to use them in a fight, hopefully one that didn’t put his life on the line.

“Probably shouldn’t push things them.” Seiryū muttered to himself, eying both the daos that remained sheathed. He’d get to them soon enough, likely spending the majority of him remaining time with them as well. Reaching down for both the sheathed weapons, Seiryū tested their weight in his hands. It was definitely uncomfortable compared to the usual sensation he felt when wielding his bow and arrow. Their weight wasn’t unbearable, it would just take some time getting used to them, especially when having to utilize them in combat. Strapping the sheaths of both weapons on either side of his belt, the press of the bamboo holster against his side was something he wasn’t used to at all, considering the weight he usually carried was on his back in the form of his quiver and arrows, with his bow occasionally joining them. The time to grow used to the added weight, but today wouldn’t be enough. It wouldn’t be enough until he actually got his own set and had time to break them in. He crossed his arms, such that each hand would be able to draw out the weapon on the opposing side, and grasped the hilts with his hands. He didn’t intend to fully draw them out, only taking them out an inch to get slightly used to the motion that would be involved in unsheathing the weapons. Holding the blades just two inches drawn out and holding the position for a few seconds, Seiryū pushed the hilts back towards the sheaths to hide any metal that was poking out. “This’ll definitely take some time.” The words were only for his ears, almost a quiet whisper. While he could just as easily think the words, it had been to quiet thus far at the training grounds, maybe it was just a morning thing.


1031|1642 Total
For the purposes of this thread, as agreed upon by all parties, I'll be using these items as well as anything in my locker:

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
OOC:
A training ground. Lyralei would need a training ground if she wanted to get rid of some of the moodiness within her system. If anyone else was there would be a plus, but certainly not a necessity as the girl from the woods was more than used to firing her arrows off into thin air, basking in the feel of her bowstring resting against her cheek as she tested the strength of the wind, eyeing her target – how far she wanted it to travel, how quick she wanted it to travel, how suddenly she wanted it to travel – all were factors that Lyralei’s years of archery had ingrained within her, making it something even more automatic than muscle memory to flick her cheek away from the string to avoid marring her pristine face as her grip on the arrow would loosen, sending it careening forwards at speeds she could only dream of matching with her own body.

Just thinking about it almost made her body twitch in anticipation as she waded through the crowds that were building in the city center where Suna Hotel was located. People liked to get up early here and head to work, and it was the only thing about the place that she really dislike as opposed to all the other places she could have gone to for accommodation. The morning traffic was hell to deal with, and with her normally not being a morning person and having this particular morning ruined by her night’s experience, she didn’t have the best attitude for dealing with the people who accidentally, or purposely in an attempt to cut her, got in her way.

One good thing about being in the city center, where it was almost always busy even in the silence of the three a.m. mornings, was that all the business were either never closed, or opened so early that she didn’t have to worry about them being closed. It was the same in all villages – companies like these that were famous and situated in the city center were almost never closed to their guests, their doors open to welcome any and all customers, local and foreign, ninja and tourist. She just happened to be both regarding that last statement; it had been how she could visit Hisaki Kouda in his blacksmith and grab the bow and arrows that were now gracing her petite back, the brown of the strap and quiver meshing in very nicely with the similarly-shaded bow and arrows, while providing quite a nice blend for her normally green attire.

Lyralei made her way to the edges of Sunagakure, not quite leaving but far enough from the center of the village that she was clear of all the hustle and bustle that took place at and only at that particular location in the city at this early hour. In the horizon, she spotted a few training dummies set up, likely made of the same hardened clay that she had seen filling the other grounds around Sunagakure – understandable because the material was just so easy to obtain in a desert like Suna. They were spaced equally apart from each other, and she could see ten standing in a row with five metres between them, though upon closer inspection she realised the last one she saw was really human rather than a dummy.

In her current mood, they were both the same, and when she realised it was a guy upon approach, she held off correcting her earlier statement.

She didn’t like guys. They were often disgusting. She held no qualms towards them (yes she did) but she really didn’t like how sleazy men often tried to hit on her while she was touring the village, or villages, since most women hanging out around hotels as late as she liked were either looking for a service or selling one. She’d had her fair share of lewd gazes and the thought of sending an arrow through one such face filled her with enough satisfaction that she was able to shove the thought aside and focus on the man (ugh) in front of her.

Lyralei approached the man slowly, and her approach further decelerated when she noticed the weapons in his hands. Blades. Like, actual, close combat blades. She was already beginning to dislike him even more. She really hated blades. They meshed in poorly with her preferred fighting style of a bow and a set of arrows. The very same set that Kouda was supposed to work on, but apparently failed to deliver on time if she didn’t rush him. Not that she had any more reason to rush him because Asuna-

She shoved the thought out of her head. With practiced ease of eliminating thoughts of close relatives from her mind, polished from her days of ignoring her parents and then outright leaving their house, albeit with their permission and a near monthly supply of ryo she earned, she shoved the thought straight out of her head and drew her bow from behind her, holding it in her left hand as she walked up to the man.

“Do you mind sharing this training ground?” she would ask as politely as possible, although her voice would contain a snappiness in it that betrayed her true dissatisfaction at her current dilemma and condition.

–1901–

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
OOC:
Fiore walked through the streets of Sunagakure with a sense of… newfound purpose in herself. It was a feeling that she had been longing for for the past few weeks, yet had been tormented by never knowing how to find it. To think that to discard the previous atmosphere that lingered about her like a scent refusing to be washed away was simply done by a single change in weapons… The very thought was almost dreamlike. Her father would be disappointed though if she never moved back to using his weapon, which she was now beginning to believe, instead of just suspecting, was what kept bringing her mind back to the thought of one Aria Otsuka, thoughts of which had been pestering her – yes, pestering her now that she realised it was far more bad than good that she was experiencing childhood crushes – ever since she had first met Aria Otsuke back at Sayoko’s Bookstore.

The blade felt… right on her person. Maybe it was something passed down from her mother’s side, but the blade felt at home when hung at the side of her waist, attached only to her person by a sheath comprising four straps running down the length of a blunt metallic pole. It wasn’t the safest option but it was the only one available, so Fiore was simply taking care not to accidentally cut someone when she made sharp turns in crowded places. Luckily, she wasn’t in too crowded a spot so she could look into getting a proper sheath for her rapier whenever she had the time; right now she just wanted to enjoy the feeling of freedom that had come with discarding her old weapon. Her father would be disappointed, but maybe when she moved on from this… lackluster experience that she would decide on picking up the weapon not meant to simply stab, but also to hack and slash, once more.

Currently, Fiore was making her way to the training ground, any thoughts of purchasing a proper sheath shoved to the back of her mind for later in the day, the girl feeling the unusual bout of excitement from the thought of testing out her new weapon on one of the thousands of clay dummies that made the surroundings of Sunagakure their home. And, perhaps, without the cloud of Aria hazing her thoughts, she would be able to properly focus on her stances… which were what, exactly? Fiore realised she had no clue how to fight with a rapier, and could likely only adapt from her previous stance of using the sword… No matter. Fiore had been brought up around weapons her whole life. She’d wielded a rapier before, even if she hadn’t learned how to use it, and this alone would help her familiarise herself with the weapon.

Compared to when she was using a sword… right! The stance! She would have to remember that she had to let her sword do all the fighting for her with sharp, precise, quick stabs and deflects, while her other hand remained as far away from combat as possible to avoid getting in the way of her rapier, so that she had the freedom of deflecting in any direction instead of just away from her person, unlike how she would have had to use her other arm to provide some form of momentum while using the sword. She would have to remember to keep her body straight as well. The rapier was a more graceful weapon than the sword, used for precise stabs and slashes at the tip, not for outright hacking an enemy down. Her arms flexed as she imagined herself in the stance she just had in the warehouse; it almost felt natural, if a bit rusty.

She reached a training ground, though it seemed like there were already people there. That wasn’t surprising. Suna ninja were always training even at such an early hour, so she simply walked to the other end of the training ground, hoping that her practising on one of the dummies wouldn’t affect the other two. Then, however, she realised she could just train with them instead. Sure, her style was a bit rusty with the rapier, but it was something that she could easily adjust to. No wild (relatively) slashes, more controlled stances… She could avoid harming them too bad and that was all she was concerned about! Familiarising herself with the rapier… that’s what she needed to do!

As she walked up to the pair, she realised that it was a girl and a guy. ‘I hope I’m not disturbing them…’ she thought. The guy seemed… experienced, and the bow and quiver of arrows she saw, along with the weapons in his hand, spoke of that. They also possessed a shine to them that said they were unlike the normal weapons she normally got her hands on, and she almost felt giddy to wrap her hands around them if not for the rapier that she was already removing from its sheath, tightly held in her right hand.

“Do you mind sharing this training ground?” she heard the girl ask. Oh, so they weren’t here together? That would make it less of an intrusion, she hoped.

“Can I also join you two?” she asked. “I want to practise my skills with a rapier.”

She knew she looked far from the graceful fighter she saw in her mother during the few times she dueled with her father, as she currently looked like she was holding a sword, with her legs shoulder-width apart and her hand holding the rapier perpendicular to the length of her arm rather than outstretched parallel to it, which she fixed upon realisation, but it was a work in progress.

967 out of 1900 words

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
His hands continued to fiddle with the hilts of the two weapons. Even just minutes after having them, they still didn’t settle right with Seiryū. Maybe that aspect could be remedied when he received his own blades, Chinese scimitars at that. There weapons were custom tailored to suit his own personal needs, but they were rather owned by an acquaintance; one who purchased mass-manufactured daos, not one’s that were custom tailored to one’s own physique and style. Thus, he was left to at least get a rough feel for the weapons in his hands. He’d have more time to practice when he received his very own weapons, much like what had happened once he came in to possession with the current bow he possessed; one that he felt was not as great as it had been a year ago. He was in need of an upgrade on that front, but it could certainly wait.

Seiryū knew he was no longer alone, not because he felt a presence or saw one, but rather heard a voice come from somewhere behind him. “Do you mind sharing this training ground?” In response to the question posed, immediately ignoring the tone the female voice had taken, Seiryū only turned his body slightly, such that he could turn his head a bit more to the left to see the face of the person who spoke out to him like that. Seiryū noted the quiver and bow the woman carried with her, an archer like himself, though he was slowly expanding his repertoire to cover a wider base that would allow for him to be more effective in closer ranges. Seiryū himself could care less about the irritable tone that was directed at him; he dealt with worse. He had done nothing to this person, so he could only attribute her tone to waking up on the wrong side of the bed. He debated what to say in response, likely that he’d be leaving the grounds for her to use freely, yet he never had the opportunity to voice out anything, for once more another voice entered the training area.

“Can I also join you two? I want to practise my skills with a rapier.” Well, at least there wasn’t another person here who intoned dissatisfaction with Seiryū already being here. His eyes travelled a bit further to spot another female who wished to train here as well. The first seemed like she wanted him gone from the training grounds, while the second welcomed the opportunity to test her skills against someone else. He wasn’t sure if the negative attitude the first carried would translate over to the blonde girl, but Seiryū didn’t care whatsoever. Letting both his hands release the hilts of the daos, Seiryū allowed his arms to easily rest by his side.

He looked at each of them briefly, nodding before any words escaped his tongue. While he figured they didn’t know each other due to their lack of interaction and recognition of each other, he spoke to them as if they were here as a group, as it made things simpler. “You two are more than welcome to use the training grounds. I won’t be here much longer, so it’ll be all yours in twenty minutes or so.“ Seiryū would then turn towards the training dummy where he left the remainder of his equipment; his bow and arrows. If he was going to get a sense of how to move about with the daos, he may as well carry all the weaponry he would usually bring along with him on a mission. Doing a quick mental count to make sure he possessed the ten arrows, which he did, he grasped on to the sole leather strap. After slinging the quiver over his right shoulder, where it was usually placed, Seiryū grabbed his bow as well. The weight wasn’t too much different than before, but there was a noticeable difference that Seiryū felt compared to not having the daos on his person. With the bow in his left hand, Seiryū turned to face the dummies once more trying to figure out the most practical method in which he could use the two opposing items in tandem with one another.


734|2376 Total

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
It hadn’t been long before she had asked her question that a second voice spoke up. “Can I also join you two? I want to practice my skills with a rapier.”

The voice was uncharacteristically feminine. Did it come from the man in front of her? But… it didn’t seem like a response to her question… In Lyralei’s irritation and displeasure, she’d failed to notice that the voice hadn’t originated from the male whom she was currently throwing all her problems unto, and instead had come from her right. Turning her head, and her body following, she saw a blond walking up to them, her hair tied into a ponytail falling down behind her. Anyone who asked would have known that she looked…

And Lyralei stopped her train of thought there and then. She refused to let herself go on. The memory of Asuna hit hard, especially their second meeting where the beautiful pinkette had been invited to her hotel room to discuss their travel plans from one hidden village to another, traversing the terrain from desert to earth. Lyralei had, again, gotten playful, and Asuna had shirked away from her touch… Ouch. Her mood soured as she saw the girl walking up to them, and it was upon closer inspection that Lyralei’s green eyes caught onto the careless grip, as if the rapier she wielded in her right hand was any other ordinary blade.

With the way it was held, Lyralei almost scoffed. Of course she’d need to practice, if she couldn’t even get the grip right. In fact, the way she was holding it, tight and rigid, was atrocious. In her travels across the lands, moving east to west, she’d seen many sword users, all of different kinds – sabers, broadswords, rapiers – and all who had gotten on her nerves simply because they liked to get up close and personal. Female or not, Lyralei didn’t enjoy having her personal space interrupted when her bow was drawn and an arrow notched; it was a completely different context that went against approach.

She had enough time to appreciate that this girl, too, while cute, also held in her hand a close combat weapon, something that Lyralei tried to avoid if she could. If that wasn’t enough, the pitiful skill with which she was now wielding her blade nearly made Lyralei cringe, if her face wasn’t dominated by a scowl. She wanted to spar with her with that skill? No thank you! The line of thought brought a downward crease to Lyralei’s lips, as her already volatile mood soured even further at the thought of someone just… intruding on her training, just like that!

“You two are more than welcome to use the training grounds. I won’t be here much longer, so it’ll be all yours in twenty minutes or so.”

She turned her head, the smallest of frowns visible on her face, which, coupled with her narrowed eyes, gave the look of a very unsociable girl. Nevertheless, she turned and walked away, taking his words as invitation to use the training grounds to her liking. She would walk back fifteen meters, far enough that she could warm up, before notching an arrow to her bow and firing at the second dummy from where the man stood.

Practice was practice; she didn’t want to be disturbed.

–2471–

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
“You two are more than welcome to use the training grounds. I won’t be here much longer, so it’ll be all yours in twenty minutes or so.”

After the man said this, he walked over to the training dummy, retrieving in addition to the two daos that he had on his person a bow and a quiver of arrows, slinging the last over his right shoulder, the strap fitting around his body. He seemed to be testing the weight of the quiver on his person, so Fiore could only believe that he was branching out into the ranged department from his assortment of Chinese dao, just like how she was moving onto another weapon that was similarly in her field of close combat, though she was sure that their reasons could not be more different.

However, it seemed as if he didn’t feel like training with her, regardless of what she had proposed before. This was especially sure when he turned to face the training dummy, made of clay as it was, likely to practice one-on-one with the dummy. Fiore was about to speak up, when she noticed that he wasn’t the only one who believed that training alone would be okay. From the corner of her eye, which made her turn to face the other orange-haired girl, Fiore saw that she too was walking away from the dummies, and with the bow in hand, she could only believe that the girl was going to follow his suggestion and practice on her own, before she got more of the battlefield when the man planned to leave in the twenty minutes that he had told them.

“Wait!” she called to both of them. From what she had seen, the two of them would be content practising on their own, separate from each other. She didn’t know of their ranks, nor of how well of ninja they were, but what she had learned from her years of training was that training with a partner was almost always better than training with oneself, as you were allowed many openings that you wouldn’t be allowed if someone else was there to push their advantage, while you were also more likely to build up on these mistakes so you didn’t repeat them in the future.

“What if we all trained together?” she would ask. She was not normally the talkative type, but she was excited. She wanted to learn how to use the rapier; she hadn’t felt this free in… ever. She would look to the girl and the man hopefully, hoping that they would agree to train together. “I can work with… what’s your name, exactly?” she would ask the orange-haired girl, introducing herself in the meantime, "My name is Fiore Koga."

After that, she would wait for their reply to training together.

If they did, she would walk away from the training dummies, such that she, the man, and the dummies were all lined up in one line, separated with fifteen meters between them, while she would not know where the girl would be. She would practise the form that she had only barely adopted, placing one hand behind her back and angling the rapier towards the man, her back straight and giving off a very different feel than the girl she had just been.

570 out of 2470 words

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank

“Wait!”

The words stopped Seiryū from achieving anything that would progress his feel for the two bladed weapons he would temporarily be carrying with him for the next twenty or so minutes. Turning to face the blonde girl, who was the one called out; likely to both of them, Seiryū’s left hand reached back such that he could hook his bow to the leather straps used to hold it next to his quiver. The straps were designed with the quiver, such that a bow was kept in mind when the quiver was initially designed. The mechanism behind it wasn’t too difficult for one to understand. It functioned off a stud button for the single strap used to keep the bow close by. Taking the bow off was even simpler, just having to push the bow behind him a bit harder than normal for the button to let loose.

With both hands now free, Seiryū clasped his hands in front of himself, and then pushed downward such that his palms were facing outward. The slight cracks from the motion put Seiryū imperceptibly more at ease; the slight tingling from his hands had now disappeared. Instead, his ears were keen to listen to whatever it was she had to say. Slowly Seiryū turned to face the blonde-haired girl, his eyes trained on her in curiosity to what she had to say to them. Seeing as how he had gotten the majority of his training done earlier and had placed himself in a scenario where he was, essentially, cooling off, he had more than enough time to spare a few minutes to entertain whatever thought the girl was going to voice to them. His eyes only briefly glanced at the other archer, more so noticing how she held herself with the bow than anything else before his eyes went back to the one that called out to them.

After giving her his full attention, she spoke up once more. Training together, with someone else, while it wasn’t entirely something new to him, was still something Seiryū partook in often enough. Hell, he could likely count the amount of times he trained with someone else on one hand since he decided to actually become a shinobi. The excitement in her tone was noticeable, bringing a light smile to his lips. It was refreshing to see someone… enthusiastic about training. The idea was nice in theory and he certainly wouldn’t mind participating either. He couldn’t say anything for the other girl – the one who would supposedly work with the girl with the rapier.

As the blonde haired girl introduced herself to them, Seiryū had to bite his tongue from saying anything. It wasn’t the first time he was interacting with a Kōga and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but the distaste for them was still there; even if the only one at fault for his hatred was his own father. He could restrain himself from doing anything rash; he had been able to do so the last time he came across another Kōga. Seiryū even was friendly with that individual, albeit it being his one and only encounter with that specific Kōga. She was either younger than him or around his age, given the clan’s tradition, thus the possibility of her having to do anything with his situation was entirely non-existent.

“It wouldn’t hurt to train together.” His voice was slightly rough in getting the words out, but to the untrained ear his tone was practically normal. His gripes with a single man, over years had extended to an entire clan. Recently, over the past year, his dislike for the clan dwindled while it still remained on his sire. There was no introduction on his part, simply because the Kōga only wished to know who the orange-haired female was. Seiryū simply didn’t feel the need to supply them for this information as it hadn’t been asked for. He’d watch the girl line herself up with him, the dummies all being directly behind him and a distance of around fifteen meters between himself and Fiore. It would definitely be interesting to see how he fared against someone who was oriented in close-quarters combat. His hands would remain at his side, eager to react by drawing out his bow or the daos. Seiryū already knew if given the option, he’d default to the weapons he was so used to. “Whenever you’re ready.” He would allow her to make the first move, not due to chivalry, but rather the needs of what he was getting a feel for. Seiryū’s primary intention wasn’t to see how offensive he could be with the weapons, but rather how he was able to move around with them and defend himself in close-quarters, something that hadn’t been tested against him all too much thus far.


829|3205 Total

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
Lyralei had taken two steps away from the line of dummies when the girl had called out to her, freezing her in her steps. Her left hand tightened around the lower wooden limb of the practice bow that called Hisaki Kouda’s blacksmith its home. Her lips tightened into a line, dry cracks barely showing from the hot desert sun and wind, while her teeth grit against each other.

“Wait!” she had called out. “What if we all trained together?” she had asked.

The cape around her neck, flowing down to her mid-back and a contrasting colour of the forest, did nothing to hide the ire evident in her fists. Her breathing hitched for a fraction of a second, as she calmed herself down, mentally counting up to five at a rapid rate. Dubiously, she turned herself an angle, gracing the blonde with her attention, her head rotated to the left to properly look at her as she refused to fully face this woman. The angle of her jaw, the strands of hair down her face, and the ponytail behind her… She was an amazingly stunning woman for her age. Lyralei couldn’t do stunning at the moment. Her narrowed eyes, lazy but sharp, focused on the girl’s, Lyralei wearing the badge of rejection on her upturned sleeves, away from prying eyes but not buried either.

The girl returned her gaze, albeit her body betrayed a little too much vigour for Lyralei that morning. Lyralei could see the small taut of her muscles, limbs held tightly out of the fuel flowing through her blood, but Lyralei still felt as if her right hand was utterly ridiculous. No one and she meant no one held a rapier with a hand not bent at the wrists. Even with an actual sword in her hand, she would look ridiculous. A sword, a tool meant for cutting, held out at the side to provide the wielder invitation to others… She knew why they weren’t brought to dinners now.

“I can work with… what’s your name, exactly?”

Exactly? Exactly? The nerve! Lyralei almost snapped back at her disrespectful, derogatory tone. It didn’t help that rejection, blatant or subtle, had been the only reception she could relate to with females of the blonde’s standing, and her failures were thoughtlessly rubbed back in her face.

“My name is Fiore Koga,” the girl introduced. At least she’d been decent enough to give her own name.

“My name, exactly, is Lyralei,” she answered, bitterness now more evident in her voice. She prepared to add in a statement questioning why exactly she needed to train alongside the two of them, much less her – she didn’t know if the man or the woman was more irritable at this point – but the man then cut her off.

“It wouldn’t hurt to train together,” he said.

Are you serious?! She wanted to scream. However, the surprise was evident, too, on her face in the form of a raised eyebrow, as she finally turned to properly face the two of them, their decision pressuring her into accepting. Her eyes darted from man to woman and back to man, wondering if this ease with which they conducted themselves was normal… Then again she was this cheerful just a week ago. She could recall the same sharpness she saw in his eyes being reflected in the mirror, and the same excitement in her language whenever the prospect of travel came up.

With a sigh, she gave in, chalking up her resistance to everything but the hotel bed up to the poor experience she’d built for herself in Sunagakure; what was to be an out-of-the-world experience had taken her unexpectedly to the gates of hell, and she wanted out as soon as she could.

“If I’m going to be working with her, I’ll at least need your name,” she said, directing it towards the white-haired man, before either of them had taken their next step to position themselves for the battle to come. “We’ve already given ours; it’s at least chivalry to do the same.”

With that, she would accompany the blonde to her spot, standing a foot behind her and a further foot to her left. She preferred to fight at a distance, and with her left hand the one with the grip on her bow, positioning herself to the left of her interim teammate would reduce, just a bit, the risk of shooting her by mistake. Her right hand reached over her shoulder, holding an arrow by the fletching before withdrawing it from the quiver and notching it, the arrowhead pointed at the man’s skull and flowing with her chakra, her hands ready to release at the first moment.


–3274–

135:

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
OOC:
“My name, exactly, is Lyralei,” the woman snapped at her.

Fiore visibly shrunk back a few inches from the tone of her voice. Being a Koga, she could read people’s movements rather well, and it was now that she had been shocked out of her excited stupor that she was able to put almost two decades’ worth of body language training into good use, allowing her to see the tightening of Lyralei’s neck, the strong grip she held on her bow… all signs of anger. Was this anger directed towards her? Fiore’s left leg took one small step back when she had seen this motion. Suddenly, she wasn’t so keen on working together with the girl in front of her, feeling slight apprehension at teaming up with someone whose anger was almost painfully clearly (to a Koga) directed at her.

However, the man’s words brought her back to the moment, back to the topic of training, back to the topic of her art, not her. Shrugging off the slight worry for her safety, she calmed herself down, knowing that Lyralei wouldn’t (likely) shoot her in the back.

Moving to take her position, she pointed the tip of the rapier towards the man, while Lyralei took a stance behind her. She heard the familiar pull of a bowstring, indicating Lyralei was preparing her attack as well, and to provide a sufficient distraction, she decided to charge at the man in front of her, despite his proficiency in close combat.

She changed her stance, preparing to charge at him. Her left hand moved from behind her waist to her side, while her right hand stretched out such that it was parallel to the ground, and her wrist angled so the rapier itself, too, was horizontally placed, and aimed straight at him. She bent her legs slightly to give herself some momentum when she pushed off, and did so in the next second, speeding at him at 5 m/s. As she did this, her right arm drew back, rapier still pointed at him, and should she reach within one metre of him, she would thrust her rapier out at him, hoping that her weapon would be able to make up for the distance.

377 out of 2847 words

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
A light smirk played at his lips, simply due to finding amusement in a select few words. The one now known to him as Lyralei seemed to have the slightest change in attitude, even if it wasn’t visible to most. Initially he just assumed she’d ignore the request of the Kōga of training together, all three of them. Then she happened to agree, albeit without agreeing to it directly through verbal communication. Instead, she seemingly relented, though it didn’t seem like she was fully committed to training with others. She seemed, to him at least, wanting to keep distance from other human beings for the time being, but that didn’t seem like it would occur either for the events that transpired as a result of the female Kōga’s desire to train with both of them.

Seiryū knew he wouldn’t get away without supplying his name, though he had assumed that it would’ve been done when their impromptu training session had ended. There he could simply supply his name and be off. Now, instead, he would supply his name, train, and then be on his way; a slight rotation of the events he had thought would’ve happened. The notion of chivalry made his smirk slightly more apparent. He had heard countless times before that ‘chivalry was dead’ and the likes. Seiryū himself believed in it to an extent, using it in the off occasion he found himself interested in someone – which was few and far between – but most of the time he just treated most other females he came across just as any other person he met. “Seiryū.” He simply supplied them with the answer to the question Lyralei had asked of him. His surname was of no use, nor was it relevant or recognizable to the vast majority of individuals who resided in the desert village.

The next thing he knew, he had a bow aimed at him from Lyralei and from the looks of it she would be aiming straight for his skull. While it was a frightening concept, he was sure he’d be able to move out of the way of it; at least making sure nothing vital would be hit. Seiryū was used to the concept of fighting with a bow and arrow, as he had been utilizing such weapons for the majority of his lifetime. He had dealt with swordsmen before, yet none that had been truly skilled or had gotten the opportunity to strike him while in close quarters. Seiryū was usually able to eliminate them from the picture before they could begin to play with their advantages. His eyes zoomed over to Fiore noting that she was prepared to propel herself forward and strike at him. Since the numbers wouldn’t be in his favour, he figured it was best to play it safe and gauge their capabilities before doing anything too drastic. They didn’t seem to be the most threatening of individuals, but they surely could do work if they cooperated and used specific openings to strike at him.

Fiore having taken off at a sprint towards him, while she seemed perceivably fast due to coming at him, he knew that she wasn’t as fast as he was. Simply put, he could outpace Fiore if this was as fast as she would be going. Having only a couple of seconds to react to her pace, he took quick note of her drawing her right arm back with her rapier directed at him. Quickly coming to a decision as Fiore closed in, Seiryū’s right hand went to draw out the Dao located on his left side and swung it in a motion that would cause it to collide with the rapier before it would meet his person. Metal would meet metal, as Fiore’s rapier would be diverted from its thrusting motion and instead be forced to Seiryū’s right. He wasn’t sure how much he should pull his punches, not really wanting to be in a scenario where he could possibly be too aggressive, nor did he wish to go too easy on them either. It was for the sake of all of their training that he needed to find the perfect ground for his effort to get the best of both worlds.

Should Fiore not be able to react in the next few moments, Seiryū would jump back two meters, prepared for her next assault, though remaining weary of Lyralei’s bow which had been trained on him. He knew that she would have the opportunity to get a good shot off if he wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings, then she would be able to turn the tides quickly in her favour. Instead of going on the offensive, for the time being, Seiryū would simply wait and see their next course of action before deciding the best route to go. His first order of business would be to simply dodge the first couple of arrows that would likely fly his way.


846|4051 Total

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
Lyralei could feel the wooden shaft of the arrows against her cheek, light enough to press into them, forming a small ridge along with the two parts of the bowstring that were similarly barely touching against her face. Her left hand remained gripped tightly on the lower limb of her bow, her weapon and the arrow notched gently at the rest still as the air around her. Her right index and middle finger remained tightly and firmly ahead of the fletching of her arrow, holding it steadily in place from years of practice. Nothing betrayed the rapid beating in her heart that reared its head when and only when she was in the middle of a hunt. The rhythmic and speeding thump thump of her heart pounded in her ears as she shut out every other stimuli to focus on the kill.

It was deadly. Ignoring her surroundings was sure to get her killed, as it would most ninja. But she wasn’t a ninja, not first and foremost. She was a hunter, a huntress, and one who lay in wait for her prey to get into the perfect spot, with the perfect timing, to punch a hole through his individual. She was the hunter, and this man, this Seiryū, was the hunted. In and out, she breathed at a steady pace, nothing about her betraying the adrenaline flowing through her veins from simply assuming the stance that was deeply associated with the thrill of the hunt.

One arrow. One shot. One kill.

She would get Seiryū with one arrow. And if she killed him, then he wasn’t a really good ninja to begin with. She let a breath escape through parted lips, the slight exhale pressing her cheek harder against the arrow and the string, but she paid it no mind as air filled her nostrils once more. She must have stood there for mere seconds, but the world had slowed down around her. It was only her and Seiryū, her tunnel vision blocking out even Fiore who stood not a metre from her. Her eyes were trained on her target, observing his every move and lack thereof as he returned the gaze, both eyes examining her and Fiore, filled with… was that smugness?!

Her left hand tightened around her bow as she grit her teeth. She hated it when her prey made fun of her. The jackalope that trotted in the woods after a missed shot, staring back at her daringly and mockingly as she lined up another to pierce its neck… The bear growled at her when her arrow nicked its ear, instead of outright charging at her… The tiger in the Land of Fire that spotted her before she spotted it, but proceeded to lay and rest its head, its eyes following her every move the only sign of wariness for sudden movements, but not for the threat that she was… She killed them all. Her next shot killed them all. The jackalope died mid-jump, the bear ceased to breathe in the next blink, and the tiger’s eyes never saw the arrow lodged between them.

And the same way, Seiryū would die if she caught him smirking at her.

Somewhere to her right, she felt someone take off. Was it Fiore? She dared not spare her a glance, instead keeping both eyes fixed on her target. Any sudden movements, and she had to be ready to adjust. It was always so with a huntress and the hunt. From her tunnel vision, she saw a speck of blond rush up straight at Seiryū, blocking her from a clear shot, and her brows furrowed. This was why she didn’t want to be teamed up with her. Allies were almost always a nuisance. They always got in the way. They were never where they should have been.

Fiore seemed to have been deflected to Seiryū’s right, and it was in that moment that she spotted her opportunity. Seiryū’s right hand, drawn to the right, and Fiore out of the way… It was the perfect setup. She ignored the freedom of his left hand; if Fiore was any smart she would deny him any grasp on his other dao and lock him in place, but that was for her to brainstorm and not Lyralei. Right now, all Lyralei had to do, was release. Her right hand twitched ever so slightly and she felt the pressure from her weapon relieve itself, and in almost the same instance, her index and middle finger let go, allowing the shot to fly true.

The arrow would fly ahead, straight at Seiryū’s skull, at a speed of thirty-five meters per second, giving him less than half of one to dodge. At the same time, her chakra flared in a way so practiced it was almost second-nature as she layered Genjutsu after Genjutsu on her one arrow, confident she would catch Seiryū in it even if the arrow itself failed to hit.


–4109–

115:

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
It happened so fast. Fiore barely caught the sight of his right hand reaching down to his left waist, fingers curling around the hilt of his dao, and bringing it up to parry her stab. The flat blade of the Chinese dao met the dull portion of her rapier, the first half if she were to recall correctly, throwing her momentum off and causing her thrust to fly far from its target. Her left leg had been the only one in contact with the ground, her right raised in an intended attempt to bring herself closer to Seiryū, hoping to drive her rapier deeper into his flesh. His action, though simple and easily replicable even for Fiore, had thrown her off course, causing her to rotate to the left, pivoting on her left leg as she did all she could to regain control of her body.

Her eyes left Seiryū’s, instead flowing to the tip of her rapier, now hitting nothing but air. At the corner of her eye, she saw the lonely dao resting at his right hip, begging to be wielded just like its partner. If he removed it from its isolated bamboo sheath she knew she’d be beaten in close combat. The rapier was meant for thrusting, but her movements were far too predictable to get past his reflexes. The shine in his eye as she stared shell-shocked from the quick, precise, and efficient deflection of her stab told her he wasn’t even trying. Her mind struggled to comprehend this completely foreign feeling of being outmatched by someone other than her father, but even as her mind reeled her body pushed forward, moving instinctively from years of practice with her blade.

Moving along with the sudden shift in momentum, she threw her right leg forward, heel first digging into the sand to stop her spin. For a split second, she would have her back to Seiryū, left hand slightly outstretched to her left and right hand holding the rapier still. Her heart raced at the precarious position she had found herself in. Close combatants never had their backs to their opponent, especially not swordswomen like her, and her body acted upon this protocol drilled into her head by her father, rotating quickly to the left as she pushed off with her right leg to bring herself face-to-face with Seiryū once more. Her left hand retracted slightly, now bent and between both her and Seiryū, acting as if a makeshift guard against his dao, though her flesh would do little against the tip of forged steel.

Her right hand was extended in the same manner, ready to stab him in the next moment, though the girl herself had no intention to. What had been intended as a quick disarming of her opponent had quickly been repelled by the swiftness at which he had shrugged off her attacks, and her ninja training kicked in just as she rotated herself, rationalising she needed more than physical skill to overwhelm her opponent. Feigning a thrust, her rapier would be intended for the spot to the right of his head, though not coming into contact with him whatsoever. Her feint would hide in it the practised angling of her rapier to reflect the Sun’s glaring rays into Seiryū’s eyes.

However, before her feint, should Seiryū attempt to strike at her instead, Fiore would leap back two meters, hopefully just out of range of his swings and landing in a crouch with her left hand resting on the sand in a second-nature motion to balance herself, while her right wrist would twist, the blade moving from pointing straight at him to pointing down at the sand, also angled so that it would reflect the blinding sunlight into Seiryū’s eyes.

636 out of 3483 words
150:

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
OOC:

He didn’t have to wait too long to know that Lyralei would launch her attack at him, Seiryū knew that it had been coming; it had only been a matter of when and where. Perspective alone told him to dodge from the sound the arrow produced by cutting through the wind, for the arrow was flying directly for his skull and it was followed up by an additional four arrows that were lined up in such a way that they were going to hit him if he should only slightly shift out of their way. Seiryū needed to move completely out of the way and had three possible options available to him. Deciding to forgo utilizing Fiore as a human meat shield for any other projectiles that would be thrown his way, Seiryū kicked off with his right foot, propelling his body to the left to move out of the central projection route of the arrows. With Fiore currently having her back towards him, Seiryū didn’t have to worry about her, as his body instinctually went to avoid having his head pierced by an arrow he saw coming.

He felt a sensation coming from the outside of his lateral deltoid, as the first arrow – the one aimed for his head – landed softly on the ground a couple of meters behind him. He felt the prickling of his skin being cut. The pain had stung, yet at the same time his sensory overload didn’t register the feel of blood upon his skin. Curiosity raised momentarily, his eyes quickly zooming to the right to see the arrows that had flown past him, yet none of them seemed… ordinary to him. Shrugging off whatever thought would arise from that pattern, Seiryū turned his attention back to his two female opponents. With one blade still drawn in his right hand and the other remaining sheathed at his side, Seiryū had the urge to resheathe the weapon and draw out his bow and arrow to play at this game. Her arrows had travelled fast, likely enhanced by chakra, but he knew his own could outmatch the speed she had set them on.

Fiore had turned to face him once more, or likely where he would’ve been had he not moved out of further out of her direct route with her thrust. He noticed the sun’s gleam bounce off the blade, the redirected sunlight hitting the right side of his face, mainly obstructing his vision from that eye. Having half his vision disoriented, Seiryū began taking a couple of steps backward and was prepared to substitute with one of the training dummies should the temporary hindrance be more alarming than he assumed it currently was. Then, without a second thought or a moment of hesitating about what to do, Seiryū took off in a burst of speed, traveling twenty meters per second towards Lyralei. He briefly contemplated using the dao as a projectile, but instead Seiryū reached with his freehand for three of the six senbon he carried on his person. Immediately in quick succession, Seiryū threw them at Lyralei, with the first aiming to strike her left shoulder, the second aimed for her middle, and the third for her right shoulder. He hoped the disorientation that resulted from Fiore’s weapon wouldn’t hinder his aim too much.

Should he get close enough to strike, Seiryū would take his wielded dao to strike a Lyralei horizontally. However, if she were able to attack him before he got in striking distance; he had a solution in mind to defend himself.


599|4650 Total

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
OOC:
So. Fast. So fast. So goddamn fast.

She saw him dodge her arrow. Far too quickly for someone of her caliber. With the distance between them, it should have been downright impossible to see it coming, from when she let the arrow fly to when it struck him in the head, to have avoided it so cleanly. Fiore’s jumping into the fray did little to contribute to the disorientation of his bearings from actually keeping his eye trained on her. That was the only way she knew he could have seen her arrows coming and having his body move in a fraction of a second. Taking into account the normal human response time, he had had less than half a second to respond, maybe less than a quarter if she gave herself credit. But he had dodged them anyway. He had moved out of the way of her arrows, shooting to his left, causing all of her arrows, illusion or not, to miss their mark.

God. Fucking. Damnit. Would nothing go right this week?!

She saw him take a few steps backwards from one of Fiore’s motions. Was that Genjutsu? Ninjutsu? Had Fiore actually done something? Lyralei didn’t know, but she wasn’t given time to think as Seiryū shot towards her like a bullet, travelling almost faster than her own arrows. How? That was… impossible! Eyes widening and her hands shaking, she took a step back in futility as her right hand reached blindly for her arrows in the quiver, moving over her shoulder, and feeling the familiar feathers that decorated the end of all arrows she had seen. Just as her fingers closed around the end of the shaft, she felt something prick into her tricep, causing pain to shoot up her arm, through her shoulderblade and into her brain, overloading her mind with pain. She didn’t get hurt. She never got hurt. Ever. Which was likely why it hurt so much now. Unfortunately, Lyralei wasn’t given much time to comprehend the pain as a similar pricking sensation flared up beneath her right breast, something sticking an inch into her flesh, and then not a tenth of a second later the same tear appeared over on her left shoulder.

Forcing her arms to move, her right hand clumped around three arrows, something she didn’t do much – she preferred to shoot her arrows one by one, accurately, swiftly, precisely – but this was hardly a normal situation for her. By now, she realised she’d backpedalled, and had kept stepping backwards to give herself as much distance from Seiryū as possible but getting no respite from the man. Her left arm shakily threw the bow in front of her, just as Seiryū decided to go for a horizontal cut swinging from his left to his right, and she felt her bow absorb the impact for her, being knocked to her far left and throwing her off her feet. Her hands remain clutched at the arrows, feeling the feathers in her palm as each arrow extended between her index, middle, ring, and little fingers, but that was all they were as the momentum of his strike threw her to the left, causing her to tumble onto the sand.

The softness of the ground likely helped, but it did nothing for Lyralei, whose collapse on the ground, lying flat on her back, did nothing to appease the pain she felt in her body. She never got hit. How did she get hit? She didn’t know. She couldn’t know. Her brain was in too much pain to comprehend. She was stuck in fight or flight mode, and neither left any part for thinking, But, she wasn’t in a position to run either. She moaned. Hell, she groaned in pain. For the fucking hell of it she may have even screamed aloud, but she didn’t let up.

Right now, she had been thrown to the left of where she was, and was lying on her back. If she looked to the left from where she was now, she would see the position that she had just been at just a meter away, with Seiryū standing in front of it should he not have instantly moved, and shakily, she moved to shoot the three arrows in her right hand at him, pulling at the bowstring only barely – they wouldn’t need too much momentum to travel at this range – and released. One would be aimed for his head, while the other would fly towards his chest, and the last one would miss its mark by a large margin, with Lyralei’s hurry having been compensated by a lack of proper technique, causing her last arrow to simply bounce off the string and impale itself into the sand beside her.

Lyralei would struggle but manage to get up on her feet to continue the fight, legs bent at the knees to indicate the fatigue already catching up to her due to the jarring experience she’d just taken with Seiryū’s impromptu attack, fierce and violent and aggressive as it was. If given the chance, she would notch another arrow, fighting through the pain, and aim it at Seiryū, but again not releasing it just yet. Her brain sorted through all the various stimuli and developments on the battlefield, shelving some for later and others for right fucking now, but one thing was for sure: Lyralei would really hate men after this.

–5025–

115:

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
OOC:

Fiore had not expected Seiryū to have suddenly shot to the left, just as she had completed her spin. Was there a reason he had done so? Was he trying to get as far away from her as possible? She would have thought that he’d be more than comfortable with her in his proximity, having seen how she’d floundered with the simple grip of the rapier from back when she introduced herself, to how he had so easily deflected her stab. So why would he-

And then, an arrow flew past her. One arrow. Fiore quickly flicked her wrist throwing sunlight into Seiryū’s eyes as her own darted to the right, not so much to ignore the flare from the sun as it blinded her opponent as much as it was to confirm the origin of the arrow. True to her expectations, she saw Lyralei standing upright, left hand extended and holding onto the lower portion of her bow, just below where the arrow was supposed to rest while one was aiming it, and the other hand beside her cheek, having released the string tied to the ends of the bow which now remained loose yet tight in a straight line. So she was right. Lyralei had shot that arrow, and Fiore decided to believe in the girl’s archery skills in that she knew Fiore wouldn’t have gotten hit. It was easier than to suspect her own teammate, especially when their opponent seemed so much more powerful than they had expected.

Fiore’s eyes darted back to look at Seiryū, and a frown marred her otherwise graceful face as one brow raised itself. Her attack, Blindside, had only caught half of Seiryū’s vision. The man was only half-blinded, and it was his right side. She made a mental note that he would be handicapped if attacked from his right, for the effect of her attack should remain for a while longer, hopefully long enough for her to exploit some sort of weakness, if she could even find any in this man, whose movements with his firm and sinewy muscles wasted no effort whatsoever. At this point, Fiore could only be thankful that she was gay for women, or she’d probably have staggered to regain her gait at simply watching her opponent move as if he were dancing in front of an audience.

As she debated her next move, she saw Seiryū dashing straight for Lyralei. Shit! Fiore turned to face his back, shocked that he had already travelled so far in the barely a second that she took to turn around, and her heart stopped for a moment when she saw Seiryū extend his dao to the right. For some reason, Lyralei had lost her composure. She wasn’t as… controlled as Fiore remembered seeing just moments ago, the stance that she used for archery now lost as she attempted to outrun Seiryū to no avail. Fiore kicked off with her left foot, intent on stopping Seiryū before he could do a more permanent damage to her temporary teammate, or as permanent as it would get during their spar since Fiore was sure none of them wanted lasting, career-inhibiting injuries, and flew towards Seiryū with her Lunge technique, another Bukijutsu technique that allowed her to speed at him at ten meters per second, using the momentum and the force she had kicked off with to give her a burst of speed quicker than what would otherwise be allowed.

She would dash to Seiryū’s back, approaching him from the right, and attempt to stab his kidney, and that was when she saw him slash to the side. Her heart stopped for a moment as Lyralei was thrown to the girl’s left, collapsing on her back and letting out an ear-piercing scream. Fiore’s eyes widened in shock. What damage had Seiryū done to her? Her eyes flitted across Lyralei’s body and saw no blood, relieving her of the notion that Seiryū had given her a fatal wound, and as she returned her eyes onto her target, she saw the familiar glint of metal on Lyralei. Senbon, she realised. So that was what had distracted Lyralei enough to have been the victim of Seiryū’s brutal offense.

She would see Lyralei attempt a pitiful volley of three arrows, one of which would just bounce harmlessly from her bow, while the other two would head for Seiryū, and she would aim to augment this attack. Keeping her eyes on Seiryū and noting that he was able to travel at least twice as quickly as she had made her way to him with the Lunge technique, she would aim to stab him should he choose to move or not. If he remained still, she would aim for his kidney. Should he move away, she would dash towards him, still aiming for the same spot lest he turn so that he was facing her, for which she would instead aim for his chest, while if he turned so his back faced her she would aim for the back of his hip. Nothing too fatal, but also uncomfortable for the next few hours.

870 out of 4353 words

135:

OOC:

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
It was a spar, he reminded himself. People got hurt, they recovered, and they got better because of it. That was the cycle that pertained to sparring. Yet, Seiryū knew he should’ve halted, he could have! His eyes had picked up the signs yet his body was in full swing and trying to stop or redirect his action could’ve potentially made things worth. As it stood, Seiryū hadn’t wished to hurt Lyralei, or Fiore, yet it seemed that no matter his intentions, his action had proven otherwise. He should have started off far slower, easing his way up to a tempo that would better serve to help all of them in the universal shinobi goal to become stronger, yet he hadn’t. Was it the fact that his sparring partners were limited and the last time he had actually partaken in one was when he was a mere genin? Seiryū often trained on his own, never really knowing how his skills compared to others until he went out on missions and mission did not help him whatsoever in knowing how he stood in terms of skills compared to others. Those missions, all of them, were kill or be killed. Seiryū preferred being the one to kill simply because he didn’t deserve the peace that would come from death.

Mental anguish from his past rose slightly and this instance was one that would contribute to it. He had hurt people before, though back then it was due to intention and survival. The other times others got hurt because of his hands were because of missions. Now, here he was, not trying to hurt anyone yet it occurred nonetheless. Maybe it was just fate telling him that easing his mind of regrets was impossible. All of them flashed in his mind quickly before he was brought back to reality by the groan that had escaped the orange-haired female.

He stopped on a dime. Even still not having access to his full vision in his right eye, Seiryū knew what had happened.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

Why the f*ck had he done that?

While none of it was fatal, the regret that developed internally was quick to rise and take over. He had figured there would be injuries because of their training, yet they hadn’t even gone a full minute in to their session before Seiryū had already injured one of his two opponents. Would it simply be better for him to end it here? Even if they had done next to nothing? His internal debate leaned towards ending it here and now, simply because he didn’t want to be the cause of anything worse. He felt like he’d been holding back, yet that in itself had done nothing to stop this particular outcome from arising.

Seiryū’s lilac orbs watched Lyralei reach for her arrows. Defending himself at this close range could result in further injury, specifically if he used that technique from that clan. Dodging wasn’t exactly the most viable case in this scenario, but he really didn’t need to take an arrow to the face. Deciding it best to get out of this situation before older instincts of his kicked in, Seiryū would exchange places with one of the training dummies that he had utilized earlier in the morning. Once he would trade places with the dummy, Seiryū would remain where he stood, not moving an inch, once more delving back in to his mind trying to wrap his head around the situation. Would they take offense if he stopped things here? Likely, but he didn’t want to be responsible for being the cause of more. He could care less if the Kōga could read him right now; he lacked the urgency to mask his expressions. His eyes while they would be watching the two females, they wouldn’t really be watching them at all. He’d pick up movements and all, but his gaze was lost in the distance as his mind rapidly relayed to him numerous messages, all of them continuing to blame himself.


689|5339 Total

OOC:
Chakra 240/250:

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
The moment Lyralei’s four fingers released their hold on the three arrows held between them, she felt something sharp cut into her fingertips.

‘The bowstring,’ she thought. In her rush, she’d failed to apply proper technique. The drawn bowstring had ricocheted back to its position when the only force holding it back was removed. In the process, two of her arrows shot outwards at Seiryū, while the third bounced upwards and landed dangerously close to her right. Simultaneously, her fingers, having released her arrows by simply pulling themselves apart from each other, was caught in the bowstring’s recoil, and she felt the sharp sting from the contact, withdrawing her right hand on instinct, and feeling pain jerk through her tricep due to the senbon caught in it, and her instinctive motion only caused her muscles to press against the thin but sharp piece of metal, irritating the nerves around the injury even more and having her body rebel against her wishes with the inhumane pain that shot through her right arm.

In her pain, she’d shut her eyes. She’d forced them shut, her head jerking to the left in an attempt to shut out the pain radiating from her right, which was so much more irritated than her midsection or her left shoulder, both of which also sported senbon pierced at least half an inch into her body. The bow had been pressed against the floor, flat, her left hand still gripping the lower limb protectively, as if the weapon would help her ward off the creeping pain. She opened her eyes amid the pumping of blood through her head, ears pounding and heart beating loudly as she tried to take stock of her surroundings, finding Seiryū standing there but not pursuing his attack further.

Was he… looking down on her? That… jerk! If possible, her grip on her bow tightened even further as she forced herself up into a sitting position, spurring herself on past the pain that now pervaded her upper body, and the stinging that grew beneath her right breast as her abdomen worked to bring her up into a sitting position, the sharp needle pressing against her inner, exposed muscles. Using her grip on the bow to power through the growing pain in her left shoulder, she brought her right hand, some numbness spreading through her palm and tricep, to forcefully remove the senbon from her left shoulder. When her shoulder was freed of the invasive metal, she felt some sort of numbness as her wound was exposed to the open air, sort of like an anaesthetic but also nowhere near that effective.

Her left hand left the safety of her bow and did the same thing to the senbon in her right tricep, jerking it out forcefully and throwing it on the ground. She saw the sight of a blonde rushing towards the two of them, far quicker than Lyralei herself could have ever moved, but considered to what Seiryū had just managed mere seconds ago, was still paltry at best. Her rapier was held in her right hand, looking more natural now that they were in combat, and although Lyralei would deny ever placing hope on Fiore of all people, she hoped against hope that the girl’s attack would at least hit Seiryū for all the trouble, and pain, that she’d gone through. Which was why Lyralei would curse audibly when she saw Fiore’s attack connect with a training dummy instead of the flesh that she’d anticipated.

F*ck. F*ck. F*ck.

She cursed mentally and verbally as she brought herself to a standing position, her right hand curling around the senbon in her midsection and yanking it out as well, ignoring the blood tricking down her uniform from the wounds she’d already reopened on her tricep and shoulder, and ignoring the small patch of blood growing above her stomach. Her right hand rose over her shoulder to reach for an arrow, but even she couldn’t deny the obvious shake that accompanied her motion, or the heaving of her breath as she pulled on the bowstring and positioned the arrowhead in front of the rest, still pointed down. Numbness spread through her right hand, but she would hold onto her readied weapon in case Seiryū decided to strike at them again. His first attack had charged through the two of them with ease, and the second was only going to be deadlier, she knew it.

“Fiore, charge him,” she’d instruct the girl, assuming she was still in the vicinity. "If you can hold him in place for even two seconds I can at least shove an arrow or two into him.”

Even through her words, though, her fatigue would be obvious. While not one with the best stamina, it wasn’t exactly physical exertion as much as mental exhaustion from registering so much stimuli that had worn her down so quickly. Fighting through it, she would aim the arrow at Seiryū again, although her arm would be visibly shivering from the injury and numbness spreading from her right arm.

–5883–
Spoiler:

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
‘Just a little more!’ she thought, seeing the tip of her rapier approach Seiryū’s body. Her eyes narrowed as she pushed her body to move quicker, especially thrusting harder with her right hand, and her eyes widened when she saw the tip touch against the small point on his hip, piercing into it. ‘I did it!’

Until Seiryū’s body exploded in a poof of smoke. Fiore’s body jerked to a halt as her eyelids rose in recognition of the familiar Substitution jutsu any ninja worth their mettle would know. Her rapier sunk an inch deep past hardened clay, and she jerked it to the side, using the sharp tip to cut her rapier’s way out of the training dummy’s body, , throwing it to her left with a large gash now in its back as she turned to face Seiryū. She kept her right leg extended out towards him, just like her right hand and the rapier she wielded in her grip, essentially facing Seiryū with her right side, allowing her to survey Lyralei without letting her guard down too much.

The girl was in pain. Fiore could see three damp spots on Lyralei’s clothing, not so much damp with sweat from the hot morning sun as much as it was damp from the red blood that was escaping from the three spots she’d been hit by the senbon. The spots were small, relatively when compared to any wound a ninja should be afraid of. However, they weren’t in a scenario where they should have gotten any such wounds, so even the slightest of cuts on her partner was already leaving Fiore slightly worried for her well-being, especially with the amount of pain that she could see on her face. Her eyebrows were furrowed, her eyes were narrow, there was some tension in her neck and cheeks, and her lips were pursed and her teeth were gritting, and that wasn’t to even say the amount of pain Fiore could read in the rest of her body as the girl struggled to stand up.

Fiore’s eyes narrowed when she saw how forcefully Lyralei had pulled the last senbon out from her midsection. The trembling of her hands even as she flung the senbon away was evident of the stress her body was currently under, and Fiore could almost feel some of the pain her partner was feeling simply from being able to read her movements that well. The human body could only react to stimuli in so many ways, and when you’ve experienced it once, and you could see it anytime it arose, the memory shadowed you without halt. Lyralei wasn’t reacting to pain well at all, and Fiore was brought back to the memory of the first time her father had actually injured her in a fight. Merciless, swift, just like Seiryū’s attacks, only Seiryū didn’t seem as if he were to relent.

Which brought her to look at him. He was standing where he was at the start of the battle, and had made Fiore waste one of her lunges in a rushed attempt to save her friend from his onslaught. It was either remain where he would be and watch as Lyralei got slaughtered, her range useless when he got up close, or to return to her friend’s side and waste two techniques that she would otherwise have been able to use to her advantage. Begrudgingly, she had to admit he was smart, especially in the use of his abilities. Unless he fought more subtly than the rest of them, he’d already made them waste likely half their arsenal with just expending one or two of his, if the massive burst of speed he’d put on was any indication.

“Fiore, charge him,” Lyralei commanded from beside her, causing Fiore to look at her partner in shock. She still wanted to fight? She was in no condition to do so! From her studies, while the body was able to take much more punishment before collapsing, this was a spar, not a fight to the death! And Lyralei’s mind… it didn’t seem like her pain tolerance would be high enough to sustain another bout of fighting, if Seiryū was as capable as he had shown, whether with the augmentations of his jutsu or not. “If you can hold him in place for even two seconds I can at least shove an arrow or two into him.”

“And then what?!” Fiore snapped uncharacteristically. “You land a shot or two and then what? If you hadn’t noticed, he’s quicker and stronger, and your body isn’t in any position to take another beating! Look at yourself! You’re shaking already; you can’t even hold your weapon correctly!” Turning to Seiryū, she would point her rapier downwards, the ninja equivalent of raising a white flag. “We’re done with this spar! Lyralei can’t take much more; you win.” It wasn’t so much a request as much as it was a fact. There was no rejecting one’s defeat in a spar; you either fought or you didn’t and it was suicidal to attack someone who’d laid down their arms just for the sake of a more complete victory. Turning to Lyralei, she would sheath her rapier, satisfied that she managed to practice with it, her satisfaction blunted only by how short the fight had been, before helping the girl to the nearby hospital.

926 out of 5279 words

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
Albeit minor injuries, Seiryū felt they shouldn’t have happened this quick. He should have let them get some proper training in, and pacing himself to suit their needs. It was one of the issues that came with solely training on his own; limiting his aggressiveness was difficult to measure. If he truly thought about it and his own capabilities, things could’ve easily progressed a lot worse than they currently were. He only had reasoning to utilize one technique and only that one alone, ultimately Seiryū knew that this was all on him and him alone. This was likely to convince him that training with others was something he simply could not do, at least not for a while until he knew how to exactly pace himself. He thought he could do it, but it seemed like his body wasn’t used to it. It preferred going from zero to one-hundred in a matter of seconds and look at where that got him today. With just three senbon alone, Seiryū caused pain to someone who just wanted to train – even if her initial wish was not to train with him.

From where he stood next the remaining training dummies, his unfocused gaze retaining sight on the two young women, Seiryū debated just calling this to a halt. While the idea was reasonable to him, it likely would not be received well, at least not by Lyralei from what he had seen of her demeanour thus far. Fiore, it seemed to him, would be more open to the idea. Thinking about the concept of calling this short training session to a halt was one thing, yet voicing it out was entirely different. While he could assume how they would react, he could not attribute what he thought to what they would actually do in the given scenario. Seiryū chewed on the inside of his mouth, hearing voices yet nothing really registering in his ears immediately. All he was aware of was the bow once more aimed at him, less steady than before, but still possessing the same threat that his own held. Maybe it would’ve been easier to be set a proper pace with a weapon he was used to, but there was nothing for him to gain out of that. Selfishness, to a degree, had led to their current predicament. It wasn’t that Lyrelei’s injuries were life threatening – they weren’t – that got to him, but reather the overall sense he received from the pain she vocalized and the unsteadiness of her stance now. He couldn’t possibly assume that their training session had led to her current state, there had to be something else in play. Yet, Seiryū’s mind solely focused on what he knew, what he had done.

More words, louder ones, from the girl that didn’t seem as if she would be one to raise her voice fairly often. Seiryū tuned back in to a degree, only hearing bits of the argument that Fiore put up against Lyralei about continuing on. He grabbed the basic gist that Fiore was trying to get across to her companion. As she pointed her sword downward and turned to face him, Seiryū watched Fiore. Stating that she was done with this spar was expected, though he wasn’t entirely sure of Lyralei would agree to an impromptu halt, seeing as how the other woman seemed determined to continue from her previous stance. With the dao still in his right hand, Seiryū went to reseathe his weapon, figuring that if they were done he had no need of them and could return them soon enough. “Alright.” He uttered out to them, loud enough that it could be heard, yet still retaining the quiet nature in which he wished it to be kept. The entire fault of this lay with him, as far as he was concerned. Seiryū wouldn’t move much from his current spot. If this were any other scenario, he would offer to help them back, yet it wasn’t. He was at fault and it seemed that Lyralei held a certain disliking towards him, from the very beginning when she had entered the training grounds. “If there’s anything I can do…” He let the statement trail off, quieter than his previous one as his mind continuously worked and blamed himself.


729|6068 Total

Lyralei Wind

Lyralei Wind


D-rank
Did, Fiore just speak back to her?

“And then what?!” the blonde snapped. Lyralei was hit by a bout of confusion; the look of anger meshed so poorly with the features of the blonde’s face. Her grip on her bow slackened unintentionally as she slowly caught on to Fiore’s words, the bow pointing downwards and the arrow no longer pulled back. “You land a shot or two and then what? If you hadn’t noticed, he’s quicker and stronger, and your body isn’t in any position to take another beating!”

So this was her fault? Was Fiore blaming her for the end of the match? Wait, no hold up – was Fiore attributing the premature end of the fight to her!?

“Look at yourself! You’re shaking already; you can’t even hold your weapon correctly!”

And Lyralei noticed that her hands didi shake. Her loose grip around the bow’s lower limb, the two fingers still in contact with her arrow twitched, and she was very sure it wasn’t because of Seiryū’s previous assault. Her left shoulder felt numb, and her right tricep echoed the sensation, while she could still feel a slight twinge of pain if she focused on the injury in her gut. But hell those were just minor injuries! She could still fight! Her eyes narrowed in irritation at simply being passed off as another pretty face, a fragile girl who was trying to play ninja, a lost little child who wanted to be more than just a simple farm girl. She was sick of being looked down upon and told she wasn’t good enough!

Fiore, by now had turned to regard Seiryū, lost to the angry snarl that crept onto Lyralei’s face. “We’re done with this spar!” the girl announced, the statement directed at Seiryū rather than Lyralei, who had already received the gist of it from Fiore’s previous, derogatory words. “Lyralei can’t take much more; you win.”

Lyralei wanted to protest. The hell was that for?! she wanted to scream. But… she found that she couldn’t. She couldn’t even do this one simple thing of defending who she was and what she could do, not when she had the injuries to boast otherwise. She had been silenced by wounds far worse than the three on her person. Her parents hadn’t thought her good enough to know… Asuna hadn’t thought her good enough to accept… and now Fiore hadn’t thought her good enough to win... Would no one ever think she was capable of anything? Would no one ever accept that she could do more than what she looked to be able to?

“Fine,” she spat as Fiore moved to aid her, blade already sheathed. She found it a cruel joke that she’d belittled the girl’s skill with a blade, yet her experience with archery had failed to do so much as stutter their enemy. She found it a cruel joke that, on the morning after her heart had been torn, her body would be worn down and her mind beaten into submission. She found it a cruel joke that someone that little older than her could outmatch her so… fucking much. And she found it a cruel joke that she was going along with it, all spunk left on the battlefield that she was turning her back on, bow now replaced on her back along with whatever arrows remained. “This is a fucking joke…” she would mutter under her breath, as Fiore moved to support one arm. Lyralei swung her left over Fiore’s shoulder, allowing the blonde to help her stand on weakening legs, and would pay Seiryū no mind – hell she wanted him out of her sight – as the two of them trudged to the hospital to get her exaggerated wounds looked at.

This was a cruel joke.

–6536–

–Exit–
OOC:
SPD: D-2 > D-3, 450 words, 75 ryo
PER: E-3 > D-3, 1475 words, 150 ryo
REA: E-3 > D-3, 1475 words, 150 ryo
Kenjutsu from Seiryū: 1500 words, 0 ryo
Swordsmanship from Fiore: 1500 words, 0 ryo

Fiore

Fiore


D-rank
OOC:
5279 words

[Exit thread]

Kenjutsu from Seiryu: 1500 words
Kyujutsu from Lyralei: 1500 words
Strength: D-0 ⇒ D-3, 1175 words, 150 ryo
Speed: D-0 ⇒ D-2, 725 words, 75 ryo
Endurance: D-0 ⇒ D-1, 325 words, 25 ryo

Seiryū

Seiryū


D-rank
The position he remained in seemed to last far too long, yet when Seiryū’s mind tuned back in to what was happening, it seemed as if both of the other parties were already taking their leave from the training grounds. He hadn’t heard the words, nor did he know if they were actually said, but he could draw his own conclusions that Fiore would be taking the other woman to the hospital, or to a medic, to get patched up and be prepared for another day. The injuries likely wouldn’t be painful for more than a few days – which he could assume from his own injuries over the past few months – but the turmoil it sent to Seiryū was more than enough to put him in place for quite some time. Seiryū blinked once more, seeing Fiore help Lyralei away from the training grounds while he remained motionless for another instance.

Shaking his head, attempting to rid himself of any and all negative thoughts that seemed to want to rise up today, he immediately went over to the training dummy he had exchanged places with previously. It was only right that he set the grounds to the state he found them in earlier, in case the next occupants required tall the dummies in their set places – however unlikely it was, for training dummies really didn’t offer one much in the way of practice. There was only so much one could learn from one before the excercises became repetitive motions of practice that such actions would eventually become second nature. Yet, those would never directly apply to direct combat, he had learned that on his own. The training he received, the practice he put in, neither truly helped him directly, but certainly provided him with the knowledge of what could be done and he adapted from the forced motions.

Sincerely doubting he’d see either of them again, from the events that had transpired today, Seiryū double checked the field before noting that he could leave. He figured there was no point of either of them seeking him out in the future after he botched what could’ve been a decent training session for them. He supposed he could eventually run in to either of them in the village, knowing that at least one of the two woman resided within the village; she had the name of that clan. Yet, even the chance of running in to either was slim, for he resided in the slums and the village was decently sized and populated that it would be a somewhat rare occurrence to run in to either.


- Exit Thread -
440|6508 Total
OOC| Yeap, you two can learn Kenjutsu off me.
Training:

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