The pair of Kunoichi hadn't really separated since they turned in the mission report. Nozomi's mind was a buzz with questions, mainly about Mitsu's appearance. It was so much different than she was used to. But at the same time, Nozomi didn't want to ask out loud, because she wasn't sure who was allowed to know, or if it was sensitive information, and had no clue who was or wasn't listening, or following her. There was a chance they'd be able to discuss it later anyhow, but Nozomi didn't mind waiting too much. For now, she was more focused on passing sidewards glances at the red head, blushing every few minutes or so. It was like just getting into a new relationship for her, but at the same time, there wasn't anything different. It was still the same girl. They were still at their core the same people.

She was the one taking the lead of where to go, although Kaekio should still remember her way around Kiri, from the time that she showed up at Nozomi's doorstep, and Nozomi had given her a grand tour of the village. It was more in the effort for Nozomi to find something to do that she wound back up at the Training grounds, which was where she spent about 70% of her free time at. Even after the mess where someone attacked her for no reason. It was comfortable to her. But now, Mitsu would be in her city, indefinitely. And now, Nozomi had something new to adjust to. Would she be able to train as much, or would she have to do dates, or would she balance the two, or would her dates be training sessions? They both had to get stronger. Nozomi couldn't let her peers just surpass her. She needed to be able to reclaim her clan, to prove her strength, and to assist Kaekio in her goals. And Sero was just staying one step ahead of her. She couldn't fall behind.

She stood in silence for a little while, watching some of the people training and doing some random sparring matches. Nozomi shook her head ever so slightly as she watched someone she'd been giving pointers to make more mistakes than she could count, having completely forgone any sense of teaching she'd provided. Sometimes the genin here just wasted all their potential by bull rushing in without thinking. That's why they'd continue losing. That's why Nozomi had been able to progress so much, so quickly. She thought things through, took the time to learn the fundamentals, and the skills, and hone them instead of improvising everything. Proper improvising in battle was built off of the basics. They were tried and true methods of both mounting proper defense and proper offense. Forgoing one would ensure you lost the battle, as if you went full offense, any counter attack would shred through you before you could mount a defense. And if you only defended, then eventually you'd be barrelled through, and wouldn't be able to counter attack. A good defense would incorporate an offense, so that you'd be able to defend, launch a quick counter attack, drop back to defense, and keep both going.

Nozomi sighed, motioning with her head towards the pair of genin she was watching and breaking the silence as she took a seat on the ground to observe the goings on. "You know, Mitsu, I've been a tutor over here for the Genin since I was a Chuunin. I've tried to instill some of the fundamentals into people's heads, things that were learned in the Academy, but for whatever reason, once they graduate, they seem to lose all grasp of their previous learnings. I'm half convinced the Academy students are better fighters before they graduate."

WC: 630

The mission went off relatively well with little to no hiccups. Well aside from that one moment where she let whatever sero's chakra inside her take a firmer hold than she would like. But the got through it, taking out one of the men in pure surprise and then both Nozomi and Hachiko both had there own 2v1's and managed to come out on top. So now after they turned the mission in and Hachiko got changed into civilian clothing, although still keeping her sword on her. Just in case. Hachiko and nozomi were strolling around Kirigakure no Sato. Mainly looking for something to do. Hachiko not knowing her way around Kirigakure as much let nozomi take the lead.

After a fair amount of time nozomi entered into the Kirigakure training grounds. The pair stood there for a few moments not saying a word simply watching the less experienced shinobi practice and train. Hachiko watched them with a fair amount of interest. There was some that were her age, and maybe a few that were older, but not many seemed as skilled as her. Few exhibited special skills and abilities, and less had the makings of an experienced chunin. Granted Hachiko hadn't been a jounin for long. And she would more consider herself a top notch special jounin than a jounin, but there she found herself. But she was, actually rather impressed with her own progress. Having made it this far, she felt near proud of herself. That was before her mind swept back to Kumogakure. Her true home. One she could not defend or fight for at this moment. And so as she looked over these individuals who were leagues below her. She knew she still had leagues to go before she could truly take back her home.

With that in mind she began stretching as nozomi began to talk. Unfortunately, Hachiko wouldn't have much time for dates and time to relax. Because almost any waking moment she had available to spend, not serving Kirigakure, or Nozomi. She wanted to spend training to get stronger. But she did listen to her girlfriends remarks and smiled as the girl said she had been a tutor to some of the people here. Hachiko naturally assumed it was the ones who seemed to have been form and techniques. But herresponse was this. "oh? If that's how you feel how about we have a spar to show them how a real shinobi does it?" she'd say with an eye smile and extending her hand to her sitting girlfriend to help pull her up. If nozomi would take her hand then she would help her up and take to the center of the training ground. Setting her weapons down near where nozomi had been sitting. She'd then say "So, no weapons and no chakra sound fair? I don't want us to seriously hurt each other or anyone around here." she'd say as she flexed not only her character but also sero's aura to let the people around them know to clear out and take notice. The former being dense enough to cause lightning to spark off her and around her and the latter creating a suffocating and intense pressure in the air, combining both surely made her noticibly to anyone in the surrounding area. If nozomi stood before her unarmed as well then Hachiko would latch on with her close range tracking range and give the girl a quick bow, but making sure to keep a close eye on her so she didn't do anything funny. Not that she didn't trust her girlfriend. But honor was something best left to samurai.

---

WC: 619
TWC: 619

Nozomi had been so enraptured by watching the people sparring that she almost didn't hear Hachiko's response to her own words. Blinking slightly, Nozomi considered the request for the two of them to spar, to show everyone how to do a proper spar. She was a bit hesitant to accept the match, considering how their last fight had been. She still was worried about it, and that had been evident to her mostly because of her fight with Maigo, when she'd been caught in his final genjutsu. Beyond that, she wasn't sure that she was better than Kaekio, and that meant that if she were to lose a spar, it might undermine what people thought about her. She was untouchable, in their mind, and hadn't even been hit in any of her spars, unless she allowed it. Against Kaekio, though? Was she ready to lose that?

Taking Hachiko's hand, she was helped back up to her feet, even though she didn't need it. The young blonde didn't mind indulging in her girlfriend's strange antics, and her desires to pander to Nozomi like she wasn't a strong Special Jounin at all. Then again, perhaps it was just politeness. She didn't know, Nozomi wasn't good at discerning why people did things. She watched as her girlfriend laid down her weapons, stating they wouldn't need to use weapons or chakra during this spar, which kinda made her feel a little better about it, and she nodded. "I mean, when I fought Maigo, one of his jutsu missed me and hit one of the bystanders who wasn't prepared to dodge it. I'm not good at keeping out of tunnel vision during my spars, so it's better if we don't. I just hope I'm good enough to fight you. I may be a Taijutsu master, and you may not have any formal talent in it, but you're fast, and can read me before I can complete my attacks, so I don't even know if I can touch you. At least, that's how it was. I don't know if it still is."

She took a moment to unsecure the straps holding her weapons to her, taking off her tanto's, and emptying her kunai holsters. Another unhooking latch to take off her windmill shuriken, and she was set to go. Going to the field and bowing to Hachiko, Nozomi would wait until the girl was ready. Taking up her usual stance in the now cleared field, as the chakra and the Aura that radiated off of Hachiko made people back away, perhaps due largely to the feeling that she radiated being so similar to Sero's, Nozomi stood directly across from Hachiko, watching her every move. She held her basic stance that was reminiscent of the Gentle Fist technique, woefully aware that her open palm fighting was much less effective when she wasn't utilizing her clan's jutsu, something she wished she could fix, but never had the opportunity to. There wasn't much reason to anyhow. "Ready when you are." she said nervously. She really hoped this wasn't a wash. She was a master Taijutsu specialist, she was actually skilled in hand to hand combat. Nozomi didn't think that Kaekio knew much more than the basics, so in theory, she should be much better, but that girl had the Ryuzoji gift of insane reaction to things they shouldn't know were coming. She'd heard a bit about it during her stay in Kumo, but never a full thing.

WC: 580
TWC: 1210

"I mean, when I fought Maigo, one of his jutsu missed me and hit one of the bystanders who wasn't prepared to dodge it. I'm not good at keeping out of tunnel vision during my spars, so it's better if we don't. I just hope I'm good enough to fight you. I may be a Taijutsu master, and you may not have any formal talent in it, but you're fast, and can read me before I can complete my attacks, so I don't even know if I can touch you. At least, that's how it was. I don't know if it still is" Nozomi said as Hachiko walked over to clear out the crowd. and then nozomi walked over after unstrapping all of her weapons and such, while she was doing this Hachiko was still flexing her chakra. the ominous aura radiated off of her like a dark sun. as lightning crackled around her. it felt... nice. being in the ANBU she generally had to keep her chakra signature on lock down so she could slip through the village undetected, and with sero's aura she had to be even more mindful, but getting to release both, even if only to "Stretch" them, felt nice. Hachiko cracked her neck as Nozomi told her she was ready, and then Hachiko simply nodded, but she had a pit in her stomach. The last time she had fought her girlfriend she had gone into a blind frenzy and nearly killed the poor girl. That was partially the reason Hachiko had restricted the fight was because they both had grown even more deadly since then, and so going full force would mean that one of them was going to die. So naturally Hachiko felt unease. And she was sure nozomi felt the same. So hachiko had an idea.
'
Hachiko stretched her arms forwards, and then began to speak "Alright the-" Mid sentence from standing still she body flickered straight infront of her girlfriend, the sound of chidori marking her entrance and exit, which occurred basically simultaneously. Before her girlfriend would even register that she was there, Hachiko would step into her girlfriend and wrap her arms around her waist, bringing the girl into her and kissing her. After the kiss she would tuck nozomi's hair behind her ear, and then say "Remember i love you, win or lose. " she would say, and then stepp away from her girlfriend, then immediately go into a back handspring til she was about 15 or so meters away from her girlfriend. she would then get a serious look on her face, as she put one foot in front of the other, but still standing relatively straight up, with one hand in front of her and the other behind. She would then say "Ready." Her eyes and her Kekkei genkai then closely watching Nozomi. Nozomi was probably more experienced in this kind of thing then she was. Though, Hachiko was more experienced then one might think. Being a Bukijutsu specialist meant she had to know how to manevour and use her body. just because she didn't know how to use taijutsu techniques, didn't mean she couldn't fight hand to hand. Either way, this would be an interesting fight at the most, and she didn't expect it to be easy. Even if Hachiko had her Kekkei Genkai active, just because she knew something was coming didn't mean that she could react to it in time. So she simply took a deep breath and focused in on her opponent.

---

WC: 603
Total WC: 1222

Nozomi stood ready for the fight as she felt Kaekio's chakra flex around their battle arena. The place was noticeably clear of any intruders for their match, as people tended to give Nozomi space during her spars. She was one of the few Jounin who even bothered routinely going to the Training Grounds to keep her skills sharpened. Most of them chose to keep their reflexes sharp through missions and training their genin rather than utilizing the space that was designed for training. She could understand it, but she herself wasn't particularly busy with assignments, nor was she saddled with the burden of a temporary team at the moment. Instead, she chose to spend her time here, getting to know the regulars, and training those who asked her to, as it kept her own skills sharpened. There really weren't many people around that could push Nozomi in a match, especially not a Taijutsu one, but Kaekio probably would be able to give her a run, if not just outright beat her.

Her hands went up into the basic style of the Gentle Fist, letting her stance remain passive, as she wasn't on the offensive or defensive just yet. Her hands never really changed except for when she was attacking, it was mainly her feet that positioned her better or altered her defensive capabilities, so there wasn't much variation in her stances as it was. Only the Dragon Dance she'd recently learned really offered her any variation from her usual stances. That was probably going to be utilized in the spar, because she would need the shift in speed to be able to out match Kaekio's skills. Unfortunately, it traded off her strength in order to pump her own speed and reaction time, and her strength was already sacrificed in the use of their taijutsu as it was, so she was effectively lowering her own strength the same amount that would be absorbed by her Flak Jacket, so it placed them about even in terms of damage they'd be taking from a direct hit. She was mentally doing all the calculations in her head, when Kaekio did something unexpected.

The girl had been talking, getting ready to start the match, when suddenly she disappeared and reappeared right in front of Nozomi, in an instant. It caught her off guard, and if she had been in combat mode at that moment, she'd have instantly activated a dash or her propulsion to body rush the girl, or to backtrack and gain some distance, but she wasn't, so her reactions were quite a deal slower. Before she could respond, Kaekio moved forward and kissed her, and Nozomi momentarily forgot that anyone else was around as she melted into Kaekio's arms. Nozomi blushed in response and nodded in reply, unable to currently speak her own feelings very well. "Same." she replied as Kaekio back hand sprung towards where she'd begin.

She repositioned herself back into her fighting stance and continued her mental preparations. She'd been with the other girl long enough that she knew her movements, her speed, her capabilities. That should give her an edge up on Kaekio, but the same was true about Kaekio. She'd been around Nozomi a lot, and her clan's Taijutsu was probably mapped in her mind just as easily. But that's where Nozomi held the edge. She'd never done her Dragon's Dance in front of someone else before, choosing to practice her stances in private so that when she unveiled a technique, it would be much more of a surprise. The competitive spirit in Nozomi was enough that she planned to go all out with what she had in this match, because she wanted to prove to Kiri that she could fight her girlfriend no problem. Even if none of them knew who Hachiko really was, they still could infer that Nozomi was dating her by that kiss alone, and that meant that the same stakes were now at hand as were the Chuunin Exams.

Choosing to keep her stance as it was, Nozomi had already begun preparing her mind to switch itself over to the battle meditation style of the Dragon Dance, so that she would be prepared to use it whenever needed, but had not currently decided to use it. She needed to feel out Kaekio's taijutsu first, and let the girl get familiar and comfortable with her own, so that when she did switch over, it might actually throw Kaekio off enough to let her get a surprise hit or series of hits off. It was hard to change reactions in the middle of a battle, Nozomi knew that much, as the body got used to certain cues and instinct took over to increase reactions against certain moves, but as she was a master of Taijutsu, and had trained in multiple styles, she could easily flow between different styles, while Kaekio would have to constantly fight against the instincts against the previous style while Nozomi was switching it up. That was the true danger of a Taijutsu master, beyond perfected body mechanics.

She would be the one to initial combat, surprisingly. Unlike in the Chuunin Exams, she didn't hold back, and her fight began with actual conviction. Without spending too much energy in her movements, she didn't want to tire herself off from the get goo, but going as fast as she could sustain, Nozomi cleared the distance between the two of them with little effort, starting out her assault with a leap, twisting her body into a kick aimed horizontally at Kaekio's left shoulder using her right leg, and would lash out with her left leg to use Kaekio's torso as a springboard to launch herself away from the girl if possible, so she could regain full footing on the ground. She was effective in the air, and without the danger of jutsu or weapons coming towards her, Nozomi didn't mind sacrificing footing, although she was of course much more comfortable on the ground.

WC: 1000
TWC: 2210

Chakra: 290/290
Techniques used:
1 Post Prep of Dragon's Dance in place, not currently in use

Spoiler:

Stats:
Strength: B-3 / A Rank | -1 Himitsu Drawback
Speed: A-2 / A Rank | +2 Taijutsu bonus
Reaction Time: A-1 / A Rank | +1 Reflexes
Perception: A-1 / A Rank | +1 Ace Eye
Endurance: A Rank / A Rank

Born Ill: 1/8

After hachiko preformed her little stunt she simply back hand springed back into her initial location, and after she gave the vocal command that she was ready Hachiko was surprised. This was something that didn't happen often for a Ryuzoji given that kekkei genkai, but Hachiko was honestly surprised. Nozomi was the one to initiate. She began running towards Hachiko. At first thought Hachiko thought her little stunt might have messed with her girlfriend's head, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her. The last time Hachiko had the chance to initiate she lit her girlfriend on fire and won the fight. Not only does this show strength and determination for Nozomi, but confidence as well. It was a welcome change in her girlfriend, put a surprise non the less.

As nozomi sprinted towards Hachiko she began analyzing the Girl. Nozomi was faster than she last remembered, but that didn't matter much. Her form was nearly perfect, and there wasn't anything Hachiko could really say to improve it. Especially given that she wasn't a taijutsu specialist herself. Aside from that, she'd have to tease more out of her girlfriend during the spar. But there was this pit in Hachiko's stomach. Something she couldn't quite figure out either, and it distracted her enough she didn't quite notice Nozomi jumping in the air, and by the time Nozomi was ready the only option Hachiko had was to dodge. Dropping down quickly as the first kick breezed past her head. her attention focus on the left foot, which would have been heading at her chest but was now heading towards her face. Hachiko threw the top of her body to the side and watched the foot fly into the space where her head used to be, and as she watched it she knew. Instinctually she knew that she could grab that foot and slam nozomi into the ground. In fact she had spotted at least four openings she could have taken. But as the foot carried on and Hachiko simply did another back hand spring and then slid backwards to where she was 10 meters from the girl. She knew what that pit in her stomach was. She couldn't. She couldn't stand even the thought of hurting her girlfriend again. Her mind flashed back to the exam where could vividly remember the screams of Nozomi. The special jounin having to rush in to save her. how utterly defeat she did she felt after scene, and how broken she felt, knowing she had done that. She felt sick. like physically ill. she wanted to vomit. There was no way in hell she could go through that again.

"I concede." the words slipped out of her mouth before she even registered them in her mind. they came out dark and serious, a lot more than Hachiko intended. and so she gave herself a moment to catch up and then she let out a slight giggle, and gave an eye smile. ""Haha, i guess i didn't realize strong you'd gotten. you're way too much for me to handle."" She knew she sounded fake.  she had always been a terrible liar. And how pale she looked at the moment probably didn't help it either. she looked and felt like she was on verge of crying. And she didn't even really know why she lied. The only thing she could think of was that she didn't want to admit to her actions of the past. one of the several things eating her up inside. In all reality Hachiko had been beyond a shitty girlfriend. and she really didn't deserve Nozomi. Someone who fought so hard, and who worked so hard. She had even go so far as to Shelter Hachiko from Kumogakure, with her kages help, but in reality without nozomi, hachiko probably wouldn't be here right now. She owed the girl so much. and what had she done to repay her.

Hachiko took a deep breath. The air around her felt thin. like she could no longer breath it, and it felt tight. like she was wearing a thick skin suit, only it was everywhere. She took another deep breath, but this time it was choppy. She was having more and more trouble containing her emotions. And Hachiko couldn't handle it anymore, so in a poof of smoke she vanished. Body flickering to another small, more secluded and empty training ground, where she then collapsed. She could at the very least breath. She then laid down and took several breaths, and let out what was building up in her eyes. She cried. she simply laid there and cried, and when she was done she  simply laid there and looked at the sky while she let her breathing slow. It only took a few minutes, but it had been hell, and she honestly had no idea what that was. She honestly hadn't really felt anything like that before, but it terrified her. whatever it was she knew. There was no way she would ever suggest anything that might come close to harming nozomi again.

---

WC: 873
Total WC: 2095

Nozomi figured that Kaekio would be able to dodge her attack fairly easily, it wasn't really anything special, and it was a preliminary move to start out the fight, so she wasn't too disappointed that she'd been dodged. If she'd aimed a bit lower, she probably could have caught her with the kick, but it really wasn't important. Kaekio quickly retreated as Nozomi's forward motion brought her back to the ground, landing in a low crouch, ready to spring forward towards Kaekio to push her attack, when she was caught off guard and rooted to her spot in the crouch. Kaekio had.... conceded? Nozomi's mind blanked, and she wasn't quite sure what was going on. Her girlfriend had been able to dodge that with little issue, what was she talking about? Nozomi wasn't too strong for her, they were evenly matched for the most part.

Then she noticed how pale her girlfriend was. This was a newer side of her. It took a moment for Nozomi to register what the issue was. She had issues fighting Nozomi as much as Nozomi did fighting her. Their fight in the Chuunin Exams was on both of their minds, and Kaekio couldn't bring herself to actually fight against her. Nozomi had something to prove, but Kaekio had actually inflicted a lot of damage to Nozomi. Despite her own successful counter attacks, Nozomi had almost ended up dead, and Kaekio had received comparatively more minor injuries. Even though there was no danger of death in this fight, Kaekio couldn't bring herself to actively fight against Nozomi. The other girl had already vacated in a flash, nobody being able to trace her movements, but Nozomi could, she'd learned how to do so in her Hunter-nin training.

The surrounding crowd was already congratulating Nozomi, most of them shaking their heads. They'd known that Nozomi would come out the winner, of course, and that the girl was stupid for even challenging their undefeated champion of the Trainin Arena. A few people exchanged money, having obviously bet on how long the match would last, but Nozomi wasn't paying attention to any of that. She shrugged off the congratulations as her eyesight sharpened immensely, the ANBU sensory she was trained in activating, to pick up the traces of Mitsu's chakra. To her surprise, the girl wasn't all too far away, still within the Training Grounds, just in an abandoned arena. Nozomi disappeared in a body flicker, leaving her items where she'd deposited them, not concerned as she frequently left her things at the Training Grounds. Anyone would be stupid to steal from her after all.

She appeared in Kaekio's field of vision to see an interesting sight of the girl finishing up crying. When she was done, Nozomi sat down next to her and ran her hand through Kaekio's hair comfortingly and looked up at the sky. She was silent for a moment before she decided to speak her mind. "You know, I don't hold the exams against you. You fought spectacularly, and you ended up winning them in the end anyhow. I came out of it alive and fine. I'm a Jounin, and a Hunter-nin Captain. A little Taijutsu match between the two of us wouldn't be life threatening to either of us in the slightest. I do damage with shards of chakra and weapons, and you do damage with your swords as well. We could bruise each other up and it wouldn't matter too much. I understand that you don't want to hurt me anymore, but I'm sure I'd be fine. But we don't have to fight anymore if you don't want to. I understand if you can't do it. Just let me fight by you when it's necessary to, that's all I want. I'm not a dainty little flower who needs to be coddled. My rank alone should be enough proof of that."

WC: 684
TWC: 2894

As hachiko finished up crying she noticed the girl standing in her field of vision, as well as with her own sensory. then girl then walked over and began combing through Hachiko's hair, which felt really really nice, and after a few moments placed her head on Nozomi's lap, still looking at the sky, while the girl began to speak. "You know, I don't hold the exams against you. You fought spectacularly, and you ended up winning them in the end anyhow. I came out of it alive and fine. I'm a Jounin, and a Hunter-nin Captain. A little Taijutsu match between the two of us wouldn't be life threatening to either of us in the slightest. I do damage with shards of chakra and weapons, and you do damage with your swords as well. We could bruise each other up and it wouldn't matter too much. I understand that you don't want to hurt me anymore, but I'm sure I'd be fine. But we don't have to fight anymore if you don't want to. I understand if you can't do it. Just let me fight by you when it's necessary to, that's all I want. I'm not a dainty little flower who needs to be coddled. My rank alone should be enough proof of that." Hachiko let her girlfriend finish, as she stroked her hair. Then after she was done Hachiko let out a small and sat up. "I... i know..." she said now looking down on at the ground, with her legs folded underneath of her, as she semi faced nozomi. "It's just the fight started and my mind followed different scenario's, each leading to you getting hurt, and them my mind flashed back to the exams, where all i could remember was your scream." Hachiko began to tear up and choke up at this point. "And i just couldn't stand the thought of possibly causing that again.." she said wiping away some of the tears that were beginning to form and then hugging her girlfriend. "I understand your not weak. i just... i just couldn't. i can't hurt you anymore... i've already done it enough." she said crying into nozomi's shoulder.

and it was there she sat for a little bit crying, until she could finally get a small hold on her emotions once more, before she leaned back and looked at her girlfriend, before looking at the ground in shame once more. "I-i'm.. sorry... And i know that i've said that alot.. but can you forgive me again?" She would say looking back up into her girlfriend's face before kissing her gently as the two sat there. She would then wait for the girl to respond, and after she did, she would wait a little bit and then say. "Well it looks like we both left our stuff over at the others grounds... let's go get it shall we?" she would say noticing the girl was still as empty handed as she was in the 'fight'.  She would then stand up, and offer her hand out to her girlfriend in order to help pull her up. out of courtesy more than anything, but when she pulled the girl up she would simply interlace her hand with the girls left hand and begin walking down the path, to reach the main path, to head to the other grounds where the stuff got left.

---

WC: 594
Total WC: 2678

Nozomi listening to Kaekio's response silently, as the girl had done so on her own monologue. Her conclusions had been confirmed, as Kaekio started talking about the different scenarios that she'd had in mind. Nozomi frowned at the fact that each of them led to her getting hurt, as Nozomi felt like Kaekio was underestimating her vastly. For the most part, basic taijutsu would need multiple strikes on the same spot for it to even bother her, especially while wearing armor. Did Kaekio think that Nozomi was so weak that she'd get hurt so easily? Or that she wasn't quick enough to block strikes from hitting the same place multiple times? Without jutsu, Nozomi's ability to last against Kaekio was vastly larger, as was her ability to stop herself from being injured. She knew more on how to absorb the strength from a blow and weaken it than she did with jutsu, because one needed chakra to counter, while the other was basic muscle memory for her at this point. She said nothing though, as it wasn't important really to her.

She hugged Kaekio and held her as she cried. When prompted, she kissed her gently, and then Nozomi replied with a quiet voice. "You've got nothing to apologize for Kae. " she said, using Kaekio's name rather than Mitsu. Nobody was around and they'd already brought up the exams, so anyone who had been listening in if they couldn't put that together already, wasn't important enough to matter. This was more important for her to use Kaekio's name at the moment than to hide it as Mitsu. This was a moment between the two of them as they were, not as they currently are. From there, though, she just held her until Kaekio was ready to get up and go and collect their things. "I really need to invest in some seals or something. Leaving my things laying around with no way to retrieve them makes me kind of uncomfortable at times. Plus I can easily carry everything on me at missions too."

They got up and collected all of their things, Nozomi ignoring all the looks everyone was giving the two of them. She smiled and shrugged. "Guess I'm still undefeated?" she let out a small chuckle. "Alright. We need to get going now, maybe relax before Ayakashi's meeting, cause I think things are going to get really crazy with preparation once it's gone through." If she was willing and cooperated, the two of them would make off, and thus, they began their preparation for the speech that would take place in the near future.

WC: 440
TWC: 3334
Training: Bukijutsu A->S [7258/9000]
attempting to Exit/Close thread

"You've got nothing to apologize for Kae. " Nozomi said in a soft quiet voice. the word "Kae" took her by surprise. it was something she hadn't heard in a awhile. It was Nozomi's sort of nickname for her full name, Kaekio. Something she hadn't heard in awhile, having only been refereed to as Mitsu, or Hachiko lately, and something she honestly kind of missed. But the words before that, Hachiko didn't feel right about. She had plenty to apologize for. She had done so much shit and fucked up so much, she honestly wasn't even sure how someone like nozomi could even still love her at this point. These were the thoughts going on in her head and she stood up and muttered the words mentioned before. The words "I really need to invest in some seals or something. Leaving my things laying around with no way to retrieve them makes me kind of uncomfortable at times. Plus I can easily carry everything on me at missions too." stopped her train of the thought, at least for the moment, as the Ex-kumo nin cracked a smile, and walked with her girlfriend to the training grounds, as she wiped the tears for her eyes.

The walk to the training ground was rather quiet, as hachiko had a lot on her own mind. She had messed up quiet a bit, where as her girlfriend had just been rather... alright. she hadn't really done anything of note that had really hurt or belittle Hachiko in any way, shape, or form, outside of simply out training Hachiko. Which while hachiko had largely made up the fact she couldn't keep up with nozomi, she had definitely noted an increase in the girl's speed and strength even from the very brief moment of training the two had shared. Which was impressive at the least. Either way, the two made it to the training ground relatively quickly, and the congratulations for Nozomi continued. Not that Hachiko really minded, though not the the two had really even had a fight, an exchange of blows hadn't even really occurred, which really didn't seem that worthy of such praise in Hachiko's eyes, but she supposed a win was a win, and that's all that really mattered to some people, and not the quality of the match its self. Either way, with that all said and Done, Hachiko set off to get ready for Ayakashi's announcement. Something Hachiko premised was about the Sanosuke's actions at the very least.

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WC: 433
Total WC: 3111
Training:
Suiton: D-rank 1500/1500
Speed: A-rank -> A-1: 1000/1000
Words left over: 611

[Exit thread]