Red and Black Everywhere (Mei)

She was alone in the training ground this day, upon the top floor of the facility where she usually practiced alone or with Kagura. Her sword was out, not her bokken today. Although she did have it with her just in case. No, today she used Swinging Tempest, for she needed to keep in practice with using the weapon. She had been training hard with Kagura lately, and a training ground was no place to utilize a live steel weapon lest an accident occur. Or at least, it wasn’t the place to use one with a partner. However she still did have to practice with the blade, keeping her movements fluid, graceful, tight, with the weight of the weapon was important. So she occasionally came to the grounds to practice katas with the weapon in her hands. Letting her instincts with the blade guide her.

The whistling sound of the blade cutting through the air, courtesy of the holes designed into the blade to make such a noise, would echo through the area. An ominous tune that heralded the next felling blow with the deadly weapon. The depiction of a starry night was upon the weapon and the guard was shaped like three tomoe with red cloth wrapping around the hilt for grip. The weapon was a piece of art in her eyes, and she loved every moment she got to utilize it. Her usual attire of red blouse, black skirt, and black thigh high socks was what she wore, eschewing other attire for the day in favour of what she was more comfortable in. Her Sharingan was off for the moment and as such her sapphire eyes would be keenly watching her surroundings as she moved through each stance and swing. Transferring from her own personal style, Kendo, and Kagura’s style fluidly and practicing each technique that was derived from each over and over again.

The day the new training facility opened had been an exciting one for Mei because she spent most of her time training or taking missions. Since the new facility had been opened, she had been coming almost every day to get in a few hours of work. Today was no different. Equipped with a long tree branch to use as a practice bo staff, she entered the building with a pep in her step. Working up a sweat during a workout was one of the few things that made her feel alive.

Unfortunately, most of the rooms appeared to be occupied when Mei checked. Some by groups that were already in the midst of group exercises or sparring, and a few by individuals. None of the people training on their own accepted her requests to train together, however. Shrugging it off, the dark haired shinobi continued to higher levels of the training facility in hopes of finding an unoccupied room or someone willing to share. She had no such luck.

Already feeling a bit warmed up from taking the stairs, Mei reached the top level of the building. The door to the  first room she saw was slightly ajar. Feeling hopeful that it might be empty, she poked her head inside to check. It wasn’t empty by any stretch of the imagination. It was occupied by a woman practically dancing through katas with a sword. It wasn’t just any blade, even from a distance, Mei recognized the intricate craftsmanship. It sliced through the air with enough force and speed to whistle. Unthinkingly, the Genin leaned forward, her red cloak shifting until the fabric spilled over her shoulders.

Rather than successfully retreat to leave the other ninja in peace, Mei tripped over her cloak and landed in an ungraceful heap on the floor.

“Ow,” she groaned, sitting up and attempting to untangle the cloak from around her legs. “Sorry about that, I was checking to see if this room was free --all the other ones are full, can you believe it?-- and I noticed that you’ve got a unique sword. I got a little distracted,” the Genin babbled, not recognizing that she was speaking to the leader of her village.

[1]
0/30 natural chakra

Akari was so ‘in’ to her kata’s that she wouldn’t notice she’d left the door cracked. Nor did she notice it open. She would however notice when someone fell over themselves into the training room and caused her to blink in surprise at the newcomer before moving over to help. Akari would kneel down and help the girl untangle herself from her cloak before helping her up. Then she would give her a small smile in greeting. “No problem, it’s certainly nice to look at.” She would say before she motioned with her head to follow “Come on in, I’m the only one up here, I tend to reserve it, but I don’t mind sharing that much. Close and lock the door though would you?” She would ask as she moved back to where she was. Should the newcomer follow her she would smile at her welcomingly. “So what’s your name?” She would ask spinning Singing Tempest between her fingers a bit before stopping and smoothly offering the hilt to the girl.

“Try it out if you want. I’ll want it back of course.” She said with a small grin before leaning against a rock a bit. She was curious about the newcomer who apparently had an awesome fashion sense. Should she try the weapon she would find the whistling noise was made without much force put into the blade at all. Which was the point of the holes carved into it. The balance was flawless and it could cut like nothing else she’d ever seen. She figured she’d let the girl try it out a bit before putting it away and potentially sparring with her a bit. It might be fun. Besides, it wasn’t very fair for Akari to reserve this room all to herself which was all of a mile wide and long. So she felt a bit guilty for her not having a place to train in the facility. “So what was my fellow fashion expert looking to train today?” She would ask, a small joke in the question as she contemplated the girl.

She was pretty, startlingly so actually, with a heart shaped face, gray eyes, and black hair with red highlights. She wore it shorter than Akari ever would, but that didn’t make it any less attractive and she had a lithe and flexible looking body. Akari wasn’t single anymore, but she could certainly appreciate a beauty when she saw one and this girl certainly qualified as one. It was odd to the Uchiha, before she’d met Kagura she’d probably be a stuttering, awkward mess with this girl. She’d also be confused as to what it meant. After that encounter with her brunette girlfriend she knew though that what she’d felt was attraction on a romantic level. On the same day she discovered that she had gotten into a relationship with Kagura that had so far made her deliriously happy. Since then, she didn’t get flustered anymore around a beautiful woman. She appreciated their appeal, but she was happy with her current lover, and she doubted that would change anytime soon, if ever.

[2]

“Thank you.” Mei smiled appreciatively once she was back on her feet.

The Genin shut and locked the door as instructed before approaching the woman with the amazing sword. “I’m glad you don’t mind sharing, no one on the lower floors wanted to.”

While she talked, Mei’s eyes traced the movements of the Singing Tempest as Akari spun it with ease, admiring both the other red and black clad woman’s skill and the way the sword cut through the air with those whistling noises. As if reading Mei’s mind, the friendly stranger offered her the blade.

Mei’s heels lifted off the ground as she shifted her weight onto her toes, nearly bouncing in place from enthusiasm. “Yes please!” the Genin cheered, holding her hands out to receive that weapon. Once it was in her grasp, Mei turned her wrist to make a few short, chopping motions with the blade. Upon closer inspection, she was able to see how the holes in the blade created the whistling sound with each motion.

“This is amazing,” Mei exclaimed, eyes not moving from the sword’s blade. She traced its edge lightly, finger splitting open despite her touching it with almost no pressure. The Genin gave her cut finger a curious look before sticking the digit in her mouth and sucking on it to create pressure to help stop the bleeding.

Still cheerful, she handed the sword back to Akari. She pulled the finger from her mouth. “My name’s Mei, by the way.”

The Genin pulled the long, stripped tree branch from her back. “I’ve been training so that I can wield a scythe one day. I can’t afford fancy equipment or anything like that, but do what I can with what I’ve got. I’ve been practicing bo staff forms to get ready to swing around something that long.”

Mei held up her stick, which was nearly a foot taller than her, with a sense of pride. “I found this in the forest and stripped it down myself. If you don’t mind, could we spar? I haven’t gotten a chance to try out my moves in combat yet.”

The Genin waggled the make-shift bo staff in one hand, as though trying to tempt Akari with her offer. Then, she secured it in a firm grip with both hands, a more serious expression coming to her face. Even though the other woman had yet to answer, Mei was getting ready for a fight.

[2]

20/30 natural chakra

Akari laughed at the information that no one on the lower floors wanted to share. Mainly to hide her annoyance. She’d have to deal with that, the bottom line was with the size of the facility’s floors there was more than enough room to share and to hear that her shinobi weren’t being neighborly annoyed the dark haired kage. She could easily make the training ground a facility not open to the shinobi public after all. Limit it to only those of a certain rank and perhaps their students.

The girl's excitement at her offer to let her try her blade out brought a smile to Akari’s face and she watched as the girl swung it around a few times before testing the edge against her thumb. It split with no effort Akari would smirk at that. Singing Tempest was an incredibly high quality weapon and it was easily her most prized possession. When it was returned she would nod her head in thanks before sealing it away for the time being.

Once she had it sealed Mei was finished sucking on her index finger to apply pressure, a sight that might have made Akari nervous before, but now just made her think the girl looked cute. The gray eyed teen would introduce herself in accordance with Akari’s question and the crystal eyed woman would nod her head in greeting. “Nice to meet you Mei.” She would say, forgoing her own name for the moment. She was starting to wonder if the girl recognized her, which wouldn’t be the first time someone hadn’t. However if she didn’t then Akari intended to get the most out of it.

When Mei presented her ‘staff’ Akari would blink before realizing what she was saying in her explanation. “Why not check a piece of training equipment downstairs next time? I imagine staffs are on the list. Although I’m unsure about scythes.” She would say, looking up and to the side as if trying to recall a memory.

When she offered to spar Akari chuckled before unsealing her bokken. It was a long wooden sword that was made with Senju wood and well crafted to allow it to last a long time. It was for training purposes. Since she couldn’t use Singing Tempest in a spar, she’d accidentally kill someone. “Alright, shall I keep it nice and easy or do you want me to ramp it up to 11 so long as you aren’t ‘too’ injured at the end of it?” She would ask, a smirk on her features as she asked. Depending on the answer she could simply parry and counter her attacks for a while. Or go on the offensive and work to overwhelm her. Either would be a learning experience for the girl by the end of it all.

[3]

Mei laughed nervously at Akari’s question, face coloring a little. “You know, I hadn’t thought of that. I was out training and I jumped on a branch and it broke, and it was just the right size for what I needed so I took it home. Plus a lot of the ones available for check out are a bit tall for me. I’m not exactly vertically gifted.”

The Genin looked slightly disappointed when the Hokage sealed away her sword and took out a wooden practice variant. The look faded. She knew that her peeled stick wouldn’t hold up long enough in a fight for it to even be fun if Akari used her real weapon. Perhaps once she saved up for a real weapon, Mei could challenge the friendly stranger to a spar and request that she use the blade.

“Let’s go all out! If you want to start small, that’s fine, but I want to ramp it up to eleven!”

The serious expression faded, replaced by a wide grin that broke out across her face despite her best efforts to focus. This time, Mei did bounce on her toes excitedly. The idea of a spar brightened her mood most days.

“Oh, if we’re going to do that, should I check out an actual bo staff?” the dark haired Genin asked aloud.

Without waiting, she dropped her stick and called out, “I’ll be back before the leaves hit the ground!” and dashed away.

A few minutes later, certainly well after any metaphorical leaves would have made their way to the floor, Mei reappeared, face flushed and breathing a little hard, giving the impression that the girl had run the whole way. Smile wide as ever, Mei brandished a bo staff and cheered, “Are you ready?”

She took a few steps forward, stopped, backtracked and shut and locked the door before coming to stand across from Akari, leaving only three feet of space between them. As an afterthought, she kicked her branch to the side of the room so it was out of the way. It still had its uses after all --Mei could hardly take the practice weapons home with her and leaving the training facility did not necessarily mean training was over.

“Let’s go! Don’t worry about injuries, I want a good fight!”

By this point, Mei was practically vibrating in anticipation, eyes bright and teeth almost shining from how wide her grin had grown. The Genin looked as though if she smiled any wider, her face might split in two. She had a good feeling about this spar, after watching the friendly stranger practice Katas, Mei knew to expect skill.

[3]
30/30 natural chakra

Akari would give a chuckle as the girl admitted to not having thought of simply checking out a practice staff. To be honest, the idea that they wouldn’t have on ‘in her size’ was amusing too. The shinobi world generally started kids off early in their training so weapons the proper size were hardly rare. When she stated she wanted her to eventually ramp it up she nodded and decided that she’d do exactly that.

Then she would ask if she should check out an actual staff and before Akari had the time to answer she simply ran off to the door, intent upon checking one out. The kage blinked in confusion before laughing to herself and then starting to think for a few minutes while the girl was gone.

Child sized weapons were indeed all too common and that was because the villages, her own included, utilized child soldiers. Hell, Kagura, Mei, and Akari herself weren’t all that old but at least they had enough time to potentially have a real childhood first. Perhaps she should fix that issue?

When Mei returned, face flushed and breathing hard Akari would chuckle. “I’m ready yes, but are you sure you don’t want to take a minute or two?” She’d ask, a curious eyebrow raised as she asked. The heaving of Mei’s chest as she breathed and the dusting of red across her face made her look even more attractive to the dark haired kage but she’d contain such thoughts.

Should she continue to insist Akari would nod and drop into her personal stance. The Art of The Blade Mistress. It was her preferred fighting technique with weapons and it revolved around increasing her own speed with swift, efficient movements while utilizing every trick at her disposal to cause confusion and disorientate the opponent.

While in that stance she would wait, sapphire blue eyed fixated on Mei as she held her bokken at the ready. She would give the impression of someone willing to wait until the end of days. She despised attacking first, but she would if the situation called for it. However Mei was so energetic she doubted the girl would be able to contain herself for long.

“I’ll start simple, when your weapon leaves your hand you’ll have time to retrieve it. When you’re ready for me to really kick it up a notch, let me know.” She’d say, her voice neutral, but confident as she kept her focus upon her sparring partner.

[4]

Of course, Mei insisted that they continue. Her breathing was beginning to even out already, despite only having a minute or two to recover. Her endurance wasn’t bad, but sprinting still got her breathing up and her heart pounding. On bad days, the only way she could get herself to actually feel something was by running until her heart felt as though it would beat its way out of her chest and her stomach leapt into her throat in an attempt to evict its contents. Today, she was hoping to achieve that feeling through a friendly spar rather than intense physical training.

While Akari appeared to have the patience of a human statue, Mei’s grey eyes were alight with energy and desire. A need to do something, to move. Barely contained lightning.

As soon as her opponent got settled into a stance, Mei formed a quick hand seal before dashing forward with a Body Flicker to close the gap as quickly as possible. By the time she had closed in, Mei’s grip was already secured on her practice bo staff and she was swinging it towards Akari’s ribs in a simple, swift motion. They were practically nose to nose, with only a few inches separating their faces. The way Mei’s eyes glittered a thousand shades of grey revealed how delighted the Genin was to begin the training exercise.

It was obvious that the red-and-black clad Genin had been practicing her katas. The movement was almost a textbook perfect imitation of one of the basic moves from the beginner forms for bo staff. It was sharp and precise, but not fluid.

Mei’s pupils expanded, all but devouring her irises in part from the rush of adrenaline that came from sparring and partly due to getting a mild case of tunnel vision from using the Body Flicker technique. With some strain on her muscles, Mei could get up to speed,but she wasn’t quite used to tracking the world as it moved around her at an increased rate. Rather than looking to see where she should strike, she struck at where Akari’s ribs should be if the Hokage hadn’t moved between the time Mei dashed forward and when she attempted the strike.

The red cloak fluttered around her body, but Mei didn’t seem bothered by it at all, stepping over and around the fabric with ease as she went. The skill came from hours of practice and training with it draped around her shoulders most of the time. Eventually, Mei had transitioned from tripping over the garment to subconsciously evading it.

[4]
45/50 stamina
30/30 natural chakra

The first swing was textbook and as such, so was the response. Akari noted that while sharp and precise it didn’t flow through the girls entire body like a good strike should. It was obviously a practiced movement, but she hadn’t made it conform to her body yet and as such it made it incredibly easy to read even without her sharingan and Akari’s response would be swift. Her bokken would move, the wooden blade snapping out, aimed for the staff and her personal style would be in evidence as she swung.

When the weapons made contact, Akari twisted her wrist at just the precise moment to neatly slap the weapon aside and should Mei’s strength be low enough then the weapon would be snapped from her grasp and tossed aside, flipping through the air end over end before landing in the grass ten meters away. The swift parry wouldn’t be enough to stop the ‘momentum’ of the strike though and Akari bokken would lash out and aim to jab the girl center mass with it’s tip. A swift riposte to follow the parry that the girl loved to use in her defense against other weapons. Should this strike succeed, the force of the blow should be enough to knock Mei back a number of meters, how many Akari wasn’t sure.

The crystal eyed girl would keep her eyes on the bob haired genin, having not moved a single step during the process and waiting with the patience of stone. “Retrieve your weapon Mei-san.” She would say, the soul of courtesy as she waited, her eyes unwavering. She had multiple techniques that could be utilized to press the advantage. Including that of Ice and Frost itself now that she had obtained the power of an ice spirit named Shivarra. The presence currently sleeping within her as she sparred against a genin of her own village. She could mentally imagine the entity opening one eye, opalescent in colour before it spoke. “Why bother using my power against such a weak target anyway?” It would ask, a certain pride in it’s inherent strength. The being was powerful beyond Akari’s simple measuring and it’s strength would be poorly suited to this spar.

She wasn’t trying to kill Mei after all, and as such utilizing the strength of a being of ice and frost itself would be in poor taste. Shivarra was a being of winter and as such valued survival and natural instincts. Valued the predatory instincts inherent in all and worked to bring them out within their hosts. Or so she had claimed. She quite thoroughly enjoyed seeing how far she could push her containers before they went mad with predatory instinct. The desires to take, hunt, kill, sate. Her perfect container was someone who could temper those desires, those base instincts in all predators, and make no mistake, man in general was a predator, with thought and reason. Using them as tools and weapons when necessary or shelving them when appropriate. Akari was working to make herself that perfect container, lest she go mad and as of yet had told no one, not even Kagura, of her new status as a host to such a being.

[5]

Even with the Body Flicker, Mei wasn’t fast enough to land a strike on Akari. Not only did the friendly stranger send her bo staff flying in one swift movement, she also jabbed her right in the center of mass with the tip of that practice sword. Mei’s eyes widened as the air was forced from her lungs and her stomach felt as though it might be caving in. Belatedly, the dark haired Genin noticed that she was flying.

Mei twisted her body to orient her boots underneath herself and land on her feet, the soles of her black boots skidded across the floor noisily. One hand dropped in front of her and the Genin leaned her body forward for balance. By the time she stopped sliding, Mei’s fingers were a bit sore from the friction, but she was still upright. Grinning, the short Genin looked up at Akari.

“I knew you’d be strong.”

Fortunately, the friendly stranger was also kind enough to allow her to retrieve her weapon. Mei trotted over to the fallen bo staff and picked it up before getting back into place. While the first exchange had definitely gotten her heart racing, it wouldn’t be much fun if all she did was rush in and get immediately knocked off her feet. It was time to try something else. Mei’s brows furrowed a little and her lower lip protruded just a bit, giving her a pouty look while the teen tried to think of another tactic.

Then, she cried out, “Let’s try that again!”

Mei darted forward, using another Body Flocker to launch herself forward. She tried another horizontal swing at Akari’s ribs, but instead of following through with full force, it was a feint. The Genin pulled the staff back and jabbed it forward, aiming for the shoulder opposite the hand that held the practice sword. Such a strike would be harder to defend against with a simple 3deflection due to the position unless Akari had incredible speed. Mei was prepared for that, too, knees already softened and bent slightly to launch herself backwards in a quick retreat as soon as her weapon flew from her hands.

While Mei was too slow to react in time once she saw an attack coming, she could buy time by trying to predict her opponent’s moves and start reacting before they moved. The Genin hoped that this technique would allow her to make up for the difference in speed.

[5]

40/50 stamina
30/30 natural chakra

The dark haired girl was grinning as she recovered from her flight and skidded back across the ground, using her hand to help slow her down. Her comment that she knew that Akari would be strong caused the sapphire eyed girl to smirk softly. Barely a twitching of the lips really, she really didn’t know who she was then? That would make this even more fun. As Mei trotted over to recover her fallen staff Akari would wait patiently and she seemed to take a moment or two to think, her brow furrowing in thought before she pouted cutely and cried out that they would try again.

“Very well.” Akari would say calmly as Mei began to close the distance between them. The body flicker was a useful technique and Akari herself employed it quite often. Having mastered it to a point of not requiring seals at all. Perhaps she could help Mei master it to the same level. For now though Akari would simply defend against the incoming attack. The horizontal swing toward her ribs lacked the full force of a full on blow and Akari noted it and watched carefully as she began to carefully move her bokken into position to deflect the blow.

However her assumption would prove true as the girl pulled the staff back and instead jabbed the end forward, aiming for Akari’s right shoulder. Akari herself would lean back, allowing the staff to clear her shoulder safely as her blade was brought up to once again parry to weapon aside and clear of the Uchiha’s body. The force of the blow would again throw the weapon aside, clearing her grasp. This time it would be flung in the other direction thought and the training staff would cheerilly flip end over end into the air before landing in the pond.

[6]