A Battle Outside and Within

Finally opening his eyes fully as the light of the twin blazes died down, Suguru found himself unharmed, if not a bit sweatier. In front of him, lay the charred remains of what once were the rabid wolves, not simply ash and black bones. For someone who wanted to primarily negotiate with the wolves, the kunoichi didn’t pull any punches when it came to dealing with the canine threat. That spark of respect that had been lit by her first kill shone a bit brighter, albeit this was mostly subconscious, as even if asked, Suguru would have not known why, if not outright denied it.

Instead, Suguru’s mind was more concerned with one-upping her efforts. He was no great shinobi, but he knew how to be flashy. Already devising the plan in his mind, that of speedily closing the distance between him as he flung fireballs from his hands, trapping them in before leaping in the air and send a barrage of fireballs and for the climax, finishing them off by sending fire down a tree branch, and causing the tree to erupt in fire.

“There is no way she can top that.” Suguru smirked to himself, feeling confident in that statement.

Alas, before he could even start acting on his great plan to come out as the ultimate badass and win the girl, the girl one-upped said plan by something which Suguru didn’t imagine even possible, let alone be done by him. Wolves, Birch and dirt fused in the heated furnace that was the effect of her Katon jutsu, vaporizing into ashes in mere moments. Suguru had to take a step back as he shielded his face from the blinding heat, his exposed skin feeling the scorch that the blaze exuded.  

Silence came as quickly as it had been taken, a faint ringing in the genin’s ears as the sound of the blaze turned into a weak echo.  What was he to say to that?

“Good thing you did that or else there wouldn’t be a forest left?” She would obviously ask him to demonstrate, and of course, he had no clue what jutsu she even used, let alone one to top it.

How could he win the day if she seized it by the balls and crushed them? And he had a feeling he was going the get the verbal equivalent of that.

Yet when the kunoichi spoke, she didn’t brag or ridicule Suguru. Instead, she seemed, down trot, if not sad. Confusion spread across Suguru’s face, before the ever toiling contraption that was his mind came with another of his Suguru ideas. Albeit he barely talked to women, mostly since they rarely knew he was there when he was around, Suguru had read a lot of manga. And from that, he learned that if a woman cannot be convinced by force, that he had to appeal to their ultimate weakness; Emotion. Problem was, Suguru had the emotional range of a dead frog.

Thankfully, the ever convenient plot device, the voice in his head, came to the rescue.

“This is not one we want to antagonize. Future value can be seen.” The cold voice boomed in his head, sending him to the backseat of his mind as words came up his throat.

“The enemies of the leaf, be it trained shinobi or a simple back of wolves need to be dealt with the same way, with unrestrained might and no mercy. There is only pride in doing your duty as such.” Suguru found himself saying, his voice taking that deep cold husk.

Finding himself once again in control, he summoned an ounce of courage in himself and laid gently his hand on her shoulder. That is, unless she turned quickly and caused it to land somewhere else…

[13]
WC: 625

Jutsu learned:
Exploding Flame Shot (-150 WC)
Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire (-150WC)
Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique (-150WC)

TWC: 3,580

It'd seem Tsukiyo shut down the man's ideas of showing off in one intense burning blast, leaving the battlefield wiped out by her impressive jutsu. She has proven his 'statement' very incorrect...although she was pretty drained now. She'd depleted a huge chunk of her chakra reserves and felt tired now. But still--she was standing...better then last time. But she didn't buy into the one-upping or bragging, not right now. She'd killed those she would call her own...the only time in her life she felt any regret over killing something.

But it was her duty too. They was a danger. A threat. They couldn't keep living like that. They had been suffering, and she gave them a swift death...and cremation. Not even bones had survived her flames, nothing left of the wolves that once growled their way. As she looked at Suguru--she could see the confusion on his face...probably because for now she'd lost her attitude she held most of the night, and now seemed vulnerable even.

Maybe he was about to play into it and try to take advantage of the situation--someone....something else intervened. Tsukiyo seen it, she wasn't blind and surely not stupid, the tone shift in his voice, his words...this was no longer Suguru speaking. It was the thing that'd freaked her out of his mind earlier. But as soon as it came, it went, and the normal Suguru was back...the man summoning up the courage to rest his hand on her shoulder. She sighed deeply, normally she'd have tried to slice the man's hand off, but she simply turned away to look back out across the charred battlefield.

After a moment of her being quiet she'd take a step back, out from under his hand, but turned towards him. "...Here...I cut you earlier--I might as well fix it." she said with a slighty tired and defeated voice. Forming a few hand seals, a hand would glow with green chakra and she reached up, hand coming to hover just over the man's cheek--where she'd got him with a kunai earlier--holding it there for a moment as it healed the small cut. It wasn't but a few seconds and she was finished--retracting her hand.

"I guess lets go collect our pay...I'll give you the honor of walking me home." she said, turning on her heel and beginning to walk back towards the village. Surely Suguru wouldn't give up that chance, maybe wasn't quite what he hoped for--but was better then nothing right? She'd continue walking back to the village, collecting Suguru's jacket he'd dropped earlier and returning it to him...sans the scroll. She had to get paid too right? Easier to say they both did the mission he had been assigned if she had the scroll, right? Ether way she'd get her pay and if Suguru wanted, she'd let him walk with her back to her large penthouse apartment before parting ways. No...she would not invite him in.

And like that, the battle was over. His hand was light on her shoulder, afraid of what wrath she might invoke on him because he touched her. Yet, as he looked in the eyes of the Kunoichi, he only saw a very tired woman, mourning loss. And with that, his thoughts of macho one-upping and getting the girl vanished, fi just for a moment.  He wanted to ask her why and if she was ok, yet he choked in his pity and she turned to look back at the ashen battlefield that was the grave of the wolves.

It was one of those rare moments were Suguru actually thought about something apart from women or fighting. He thought about himself. What was loss to a person like him? He never had anything, not even his pride was really his own. A pride carried a name. Uchiha. Senju. That was all the names of clans he could he remember, but still; he had nothing. And that meant he could never lose anything. It was just him and the clothes on his back. And the voice in his head.

When the kunoichi took a step forwards, leaving his grasp, he was excepting her to fall to her knees crying or turn back and slap him, yet she spoke about healing his cut. Suguru was utterly confused about. He had completely forgotten about the cut in all the excitement and was going to protest that he needed no nursing from her.

Yet he found his tongue tied and body limp as she reached with a radiant hand across his cheek, a warmness spreading were his wound was, easing what little pain he might have had.

It was also that point he realized he was topless, a moment of embarrassment before he kunoichi took the liberty of returning his haori which, he silently thanked her for.

The walk back to the village was silent, the kunoichi probably overwhelmed with sadness and Suguru hypnotized by her behind and his mind still reminiscing about her touch. So much so, he simply nodded when she told him he could walk her home, not evening checking she gave him the correct half of the payment, which in other circumstances he would have argued that since he signed on the mission, he should get a bigger cut. Yet the only cut he thought of was the one she had healed.

The walk to her home was equally silent and awkward. Time passed like a flowing lake and Suguru found himself in front of the closed door of a rather big house.

She didn’t even say goodbye.

And he didn’t even know her name.

“Ah, women, can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” Suguru sighed to himself, as he walked to the hot springs, deciding a good hour or two admiring the view there would get his mind off the events of the day.

[14]
[EXIT]