A Promise Kept: Takumi Vs. Hishime.

[Kirihara Takumi]

(ooc: Okay, I really feel like I should apologize for this one - I was gone all this time, off doing stuff for my Army enlistment... and I just got back. I'm in. Anyway, that's why I was gone, but I should've given some warning, so sorry. By the way, how much time would you say has passed since each time Takumi used his Sea of Silk jutsu? Couldn't be that long, I don't think...)

Takumi was surprised when one of his kunai stopped early but there was not clang of a deflection. A hit? He hadn't been expecting that, but when the thread loosened a little more, that could only mean that she'd dropped it. So she was there, then. Moving stealthily in her direction, he thought he might've heard her breathing when suddenly there was a bright flash in the distance, followed by the unmistakeable crack of thunder.

"Crud... No way that's natural." Takumi winced. "Don't tell me she uses lightning...?! Just my luck..." When it came to electricity, Takumi was practically defenseless...

However, the flash had an unintended side-effect - Takumi was able to just barely spot a silhouette that didn't belong to any of the rocks (he'd memorized their locations)...

"Time to end this."

Going from stealth to speed, Takumi charged at his opponent, dragging along all of the shuriken and kunai by their threads and hurling them forward in a huge mass that spread out slightly as it flew, but still hanging onto the threads. Takumi decided that this would be the best time to use his kekkei genkai, releasing his other jutsus and activating it as he ran...

"Chakra Conversion."

[Hishime]

(OOC: Again, don't apologize so much. XD' As for the time.. Uhm.. No, not that long, that's for sure. I think.. about 10 minutes have passed since the battle has started. So..)

The young woman inhaled deeply, then exhaled again. She had to think clearly; put aside any unnecessary thoughts and focus. She had to redirect all of her attention to her opponent. He wasn’t just a boy who talked big and practically had no impressive skills at all. In fact, he wasn’t even close to that. He was, indeed, a worthy opponent. Someone who was worth to draw your blade for. Also, she had to admit, he had some original techniques there. She had never ever seen someone doing all that. Someone who used sand as weapon and shield – that was the weirdest thing she’d seen so far, but this...

It was hard to clear her mind. There many thoughts in her head, many thoughts that didn’t even have anything to do with their spar. Dreams, memories, and wishes. They were all there, but she didn’t need them at the moment. She had to think of a way to defeat him. Takumi had the advantage. He had skills in long distance, and as well in close combat. While she was only skilled when it came to stealth and short distance. Plus, his jutsu were strong. Although she still didn’t know what it was, she was positive that he could use it on a lot of materials. But, the suspicious thing was, they were all made of silk. That had to mean something. This was the most important thing; stay away from the silk. Yet, that would be a problem when she had to get close to attack. She just had to think of a way...

Suddenly, footsteps were heard. Something seemed to cut through the air, and it wasn’t just one single object, it were lots of them. She could hear it, although the sound was only barely audible. And she could feel it; something slashing through the sky as if it was nothing. It had to be something thin and sharp. According to the fresh wound on her thigh, it was rather obvious; kunai.

Only one thing came in her mind. She had to get out of there. Running and jumping would be hard with her injured leg. And disappearing would take too much chakra; she would need it for later. The muscles in her body tightened. If she stayed in place, this battle would be as good as over. She had to get close to him. But how?

The kunoichi turned on her heels, now facing the rock. She took a few quick steps backwards, her eyes wide open with her hand on the pouch. She didn’t know what was coming right now. It was an attack with kunai, that was for sure. And that didn’t make things easier. She had pretty much no armor at all, which made her an easy target when it came to sharp things. Hishime bit her lip nervously, just what attack would he use this time?

[Kirihara Takumi]

Pouring as much of his physical energy into his chakra as he could, Takumi followed his bladed net of threads as it flew forward and expanded into a wide, loose net - if he'd gotten his direction right, she would soon be entangled and possibly suffer a few more wounds... then it would be over. He would have to use the greatest justu of his own creation, but it would quickly end after that. At this point, he wouldn't even need the Sea of Silk... Spinning and swinging the threads about him, sifting them between his fingers, Takumi created a hemisphere of thread with an outer layer of shuriken and kunai reaching out to a distance of 10 meters - the full range of his final jutsu. He was sure she was now somewhere within that range, so she would quickly be ensnared. The closer she was, the more effective it would be... Of course, if she came all the way up to him, it would quickly bind them together so tightly that even close combat would be ineffective... but unless his hands were disabled, he would still be able to finish it.

[Hishime]

The women stumbled backwards at the sight of the many blades that came around the rock. It was worse than she thought it would be. She bent through her knees in an attempt to jump and dodge the attack, but her injury didn’t seem to allow it. Instead of jumping backwards, she couldn’t lift her right leg, and tripped. This was a terrible mistake. This was it. If she wasn’t able to get away, then she wouldn’t be able to win. The female tried to get back on her feet, but that was a hard thing to do with the slippery soil beneath her. The kunai and shuriken got closer and closer. No more time was left. She couldn’t flee from this one.

The shinobi closed her eye tightly, preparing herself for the pain that was yet to come. And it came, sooner than she had hoped for. It would be impossible to explain the way it hurt. She honestly believed, that this was one of the worse things someone could physically experience. The girl screamed. She couldn’t feel where she had been hit, her whole body felt like it was cut and stabbed at the same time.

Hishime gasped, a small trail of blood coming from her mouth. She fell completely silent. She could make no more sound. Her body felt heavy, her vision was slowly getting blurry. She fell to the ground, her pale skin darkened by the mud, her clothing ripped and blood dripping from her wounds.

[Kirihara Takumi]

(OOC: Holy...! This wasn't quite what Takumi had in mind... Oops. )

A terrible scream split through the mist, and far too many of the kunai and shuriken stopped swinging for it to be a mere trick... Takumi paused, worried that his last attack might've been serious overkill... To make things worse, the threads were still tight - she hadn't removed them, and it was likely that she wouldn't be able to... Following the threads, Takumi found the kunoichi collapsed on the ground, bloody and covered in wounds and weapons...

"I... I didn't mean..." He took a step back, eyes fixed unblinkingly on his opponent and his voice trembling. "I didn't think that... that this would happen..."

"I only wanted to entangle her so I could use my final jutsu... It wasn't supposed to be like... like this..."

[Hishime]

(OOC: Oh well, who cares? )

The ninja slowly opened mouth as footsteps were heard beside her, as if she tried to speak. She looked up at the man that had been her opponent for this battle, her ocean-green eyes only opened half-way. Her with blood covered lips curled into a tiny smile. She was satisfied. For a moment she had thought that he had taken the spar as an opportunity to finish her off, but the look in his eyes seemed to prove it wrong.

‘I..’ The boy stuttered, staring at her with wide eyes. ‘I didn’t mean.. I didn’t think that.. that this would happen..’ The girl gave a slight chuckle. She closed her eyes again, not feeling like she had the energy to keep them open any longer. She laid there, motionless. With her pale, blood-covered skin, it almost looked like she had died. While, in fact, she still wasn’t even close to dying. The little smile didn’t fade from her face, it remained there. With some of the last power she had, she spoke with a soft voice.

“Don’t worry. I’ve had worse..”

[Kirihara Takumi]

Takumi's blood practically froze when her eyes closed and she lay still, but then the kunoichi managed to say something perhaps even more chilling.

"Don't worry. I've had worse..."

"Worse... than this?" Takumi shuddered as he tried to imagine what she could've been through...

He bent down and lifted her gently, careful not to make her injuries worse.

"Come on... I'm taking you h-- ... back to my place."

Carrying the injured woman in his arms, he headed back as quickly as it was safe to with her injuries. He didn't want to cause any more harm than he already had...

"I hope she'll be able to heal herself," Takumi thought, remembering that she was a medical ninja. "I really don't know much about medical ninjutsu... the closest I come is my first original jutsu, and I can only use that on myself..." Calling for medical ninja to help wouldn't work for this, because from what he could tell, she had enemies everywhere...

"I'm so sorry..." Takumi said in a barely audible whisper...

[Hishime]

(OOC: Well, I'm off to bed. It's getting late.. See ya tomorrow. ;D)

Hishime shivered gently at his touch. Her heart skipped a beat; she hadn’t expected it to be so gentle, so kind. Actually, she hadn’t been expecting it at all. Her eyes slowly opened again as he lifted her thin, shivering body. Her vision was blurry, she couldn’t see his face anymore, not clearly at least. Only his eyes stood out from the blurry mix of colors.

‘Come on.. I’m taking you h--’ The man suddenly stopped, probably realizing that wasn’t a proper sentence to say. The girl blinked. Home? Was he going to say ‘home’? The smile slowly faded from her face, causing her to look even more like a dead ninja. Emotionless and lifeless, that’s what it looked like. And if she wouldn’t be blinking all the time, he would probably also be thinking that she was dead.

‘Back to my place...’ Takumi finally finished his sentence. The girl didn’t take her eyes off of him. What was she supposed to look at anyway? The smile didn’t return to her face. Instead, she laughed quietly. Her silent laugher was soon replaced by a slight groan; it made her stomach hurt. Today obviously wasn’t her lucky day, that was for sure. Still, she had had a lot worse. This was nothing comparing to what she had experienced before.

‘I’m so sorry..’ Takumi’s whisper was only barely audible. It sounded like he felt guilty, like he felt ashamed of himself. Why? There was no reason to be sorry. No reason to feel guilty. It was her own fault that she was wounded. She just hadn’t fast enough. Plus, she was always easily distracted.

“Don’t be..” Hishime whispered in reply, her voice just as quiet as his, only softer.

[Kirihara Takumi]

(ooc: Okay, goodnight! See you... er... hopefully tomorrow, there's something going on but I think I should still be able to get on.)

"Don't be," she whispered back softly.

"......."

If silence could sound like a reply, it did here. He didn't open his mouth or make any sound. He didn't even nod. Just a soft silence under the sound of his footsteps. Takumi looked out into the mist as they neared the village.

"It'll attract too much attention if I go through the normal way..." he sighed to himself. "I guess I have no choice but to take the secret path..."

Adjusting course to go around the village, staying out of sight, he came to a small pool of water.

"Can you hold your breath for a while...?" Takumi asked quietly, still unnerved by the condition he'd put her in.

[Hishime]

The silence that shortly followed was enough of an answer for her. She knew that he would still be sorry; that he would still feel guilty for quite a while. He just had to see it. It wasn’t his fault. If she had been faster, and less distracted, she wouldn’t be this injured right now. Plus, the same thing could’ve happened to him.

Hishime closed her eyes once again, starting to feel rather dizzy. Losing blood wasn’t a good thing for a human being, especially not for one that was practically still a child. Her head felt heavy, and it was aching. She was losing consciousness. And that wouldn’t make things easier. Right now, both of them were a very easy target. If an enemy was out there somewhere, then this would be the perfect time to attack.

‘Can you hold your breath for a while?’ The tone in the man’s voice hadn’t changed. It was quiet, and maybe even a little nervous. Hold her breath? What did he mean ‘hold you breath’? Why would she? The kunoichi would’ve looked around, and asked him what he was talking about, but she didn’t seem to have the power to do that right now. She rested her head against his shoulder, struggling not to lose consciousness. She was putting a lot of trust in him right now, and she hoped that he knew that. Letting him take care of her while she was badly injured – it couldn’t be done with only a small bit of trust.

“Maybe..” Her voice was quiet and weak, yet kind and soft at the same time. Her breathing wasn’t as heavy as before, but she didn’t know if that was a good thing, or a bad thing. Her body felt weak, like she couldn’t move even a single finger. She knew this feeling very well, she had experienced it many times before, and some times even worse.

[Kirihara Takumi]

"Maybe..." she replied weakly, resting her head against Takumi's shoulder.

"Maybe? That sounds dangerous... Come on, think! There has to be a way to..." An idea struck him. Takumi blushed at the thought, but... at least it should work...

"I have... a jutsu that should help, but.... I would have to do the breathing for... for the both of us....." he said quietly, trailing off towards the end. "We'll have to go underwater for a while, you see, so....."

[Hishime]

‘I have.. a jutsu that should help but..,’ Takumi spoke quietly, ‘I would have to do the breathing for... for the both of us.’ What? He would have to do the breathing for the both of them? Just where was he going? The female sighed silently. She noticed that he was getting a little nervous. So, that could only mean, that this ‘jutsu’ would be something awkward. Something that, normally, wouldn’t be used.

‘We’ll have to go underwater for a while, you see, so..’ The man trailed off, probably hoping that she would know what he meant. In fact, she didn’t. She found it rather odd, and illogical. It did made sense that if she couldn’t breath on her own, he would have to help her. But, ‘for the both of us’? That sounded weird, in her opinion.

“Don’t mess it up..” She whispered quietly in reply. She was confused, but according to the way he said it, and the current situation, she guessed it would probably be necessary, whatever this jutsu would be.

[Kirihara Takumi]

(ooc: Well, this is getting a little... unusual... I hope you don't mind...?)

"She is so gonna kill me after this," Takumi thought as he waded into the water.

"Ocean's Blood jutsu."

Water started coursing into his wound and circulating through his body, and he took a deep breath. He no longer needed to breathe - the jutsu took care of that... This air was for her. Silently slipping underwater, Takumi carried the kunoichi across the bottom, heading for a secret passage. Carefully but quickly, he brought her face up to his... locking their lips together, blushing fiercely, and exhaled slightly so that she would - hopefully - understand his intention.

"Yeah... she's gonna kill me."

[Hishime]

(OOC: Nah. And to be honest, I knew exactly what you meant. )

The girl gasped slightly as the cold water caressed her skin. Her wounds stung like hell by the freezing and bacterial liquid. She felt herself sinking underwater slowly, and managed to take a small breath just before she went under completely. They went deeper and deeper, and she, herself, would soon run out of oxygen. Suddenly, something strange happened. Something warm touched her lips, something soft. It felt familiar. It felt.. comfortable...

She was disorientated. She didn’t know what was happening at the moment. Only one thing was in her mind. Oxygen. She was in desperate need for air. She opened her mouth slightly, as if she was about to inhale. Instead, nothing but water filled her mouth. One of her hands shot at her throat, as if she was trying to stop the feeling of chocking. She was starting to panic. If she didn’t get some air very soon, she would drown. And she wasn’t planning on dying yet.

The pressure on her lips remained there, which confused her even more. Just what the heck was happening? Then, something else filled her mouth. Something else than water. The horrible feeling of drowning seemed to stop. Both of her hands moved to the source of oxygen. She inhaled as much air as she could, while, she still didn’t exactly know what was going on. She could only be grateful for the sudden air-pocket. If it wasn't there...

[Kirihara Takumi]

(ooc: Yeah, I thought you did, but your character doesn't seem to have caught on yet. I'm glad you don't mind, it would've been really awkward if you'd been like: "What the heck do you think you're doing, you perv?!?! ")

Takumi flinched a little when the kunoichi suddenly grabbed his face, but relaxed as she breathed deeply. One less worry, at least... He continued to carry her through the secret passage, moving as quickly as the water would allow while trails of blood flowed behind them. The warmth of the young woman's body was a stark contrast to the chilling water around them... After a while, Takumi could see a small patch of dim light shimmering not too far away. Home.... for him, anyway.