Starring:
Date: March 17, 2012
Summary:
On her first real mission as an official Chuunin of Kumogakure, Rise finds herself already off to rough start thanks to a chance meeting with an Arch Rival.
"A Bad Start"
Old Forest Road
Old Forest Road [Fort Kyuusen]
I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*
This winding road pushes its way through the forest, not far from the path that a stream takes through the woods. At one point, the road crosses the stream with a simple bridge.
I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*I_I*
Tsiro had been in the area on undisclosed buisiness. He was on his way back from the fort making his way back to Kirigakure. He walks casually down the middle of the road. It seems to be a really nice day. The sun is out and there is a slight breeze in the air. There is not a single cloud in the air.
Rise might not have liked helping snobby merchants, but even /she/ had to admit that being allowed along with the driver instead of walking or riding a horse herself was a welcome change. However, being content was not enough to keep her from missing Tsiro's form further up the road. On impulse she instructed her partner/only genin subordinate to only keep an eye out for another route and to /NOT/ follow after she sprung out of her seat to take off running down the road.
"H-huh!? Wait! Rise-chan!"
"JUST DO AS I ASK GEKI! And its Rise-/SAMA/ dang it!", She called back over her shoulder mid-run.
Within a minute of running, Rise slid to a stop in front of Tsiro. Weaponless and excited by appearance, yet wary enough to keep from showing no other weakness. "Ka-gu-ya!", She called out, folding her arms over her chest. "I hope yer just pass'n through because I'm not letting what happened last time happen again."
Tsiro hears the girl yelling as she approaches him. He heard the words she spoke to her subordinate. "I see they are passing anyone and everyone into becoming a chuunin. Pretty sure if they knew how you randomly attacked people and carried post war time grudges they might have thought twice." The boy smirks as he watches how the girl responds.
Rise had wanted to start yelling, stomping, or outright try to kick the genin for the comment. But, she resisted with the aid of the pain spreading through her arms from tightening her hold on them; and smiled through the pain. "Not really Kaguya-san.. And I would ask ya to take a guess, but I'm already guess'n that'd be too much for a mind like yours." She stated cheerfully. "Now, are ya gonna tell me rather ya pass'n by… or should I we quit the small talk right here…"
Tsiro raised his eyebrows as he was unsure why she cared if he was passing through or not. "Special mission from the top. I'm here to interfere in a not so secret Kumo mission. They told me you were here. I swear, not sure why they require the cow manure your guarding, but I'm suppose… nvm." The boy laughs a bit.
In the back of her mind Rise knew what she was doing was /not/ exactly what the typical chunnin measures for extracting more information, but it was the only thing her conscious mind could come up with immediately. At least as far as subduing and learning what else Tsiro might really know. Thus… she sucker punched him right off the back, or at least 'tried' to do so before sliding into a basic taijutsu stance. "One chance Kaguya… if yer lieing ya betta skedaddle now.. if yer telling the truth…. *growls*… then I ain't I can't let you go this time."
And let the brawl begin. The boy knew the attack was coming sooner or later. He stepped to the side of the girl before raising up his hands. He then fires off a set of bullets from his finger tips. They were headed directly at the girl. "You may have passed the chuunin exams, but that does not mean that you can beat me. I am too strong for you. Walk away and save yourself the beating."
Although angered by Tsiro's dance step style evasion out of range of her punch she smiled happily as well. She had anticipated it after squaring away with the Kaguya so many times before. It even made her a touch happy to slide back into such familiar pattern. So much so that she paid little attention to thinking, and focused purely on 'watching' her body's instinctive movements. Every step and last minute side-dash leaving behind a faint after-image of the Shirokiri. "It doesn't matter how strong you are, or better yet, /were/ compared to me. I ain't gonna allow ya to ruin my mission so willy nilly cuz of the past… and — " She stepped in low and tried to head butt Tsiro hard in the gut. " — I ain't failing when they need me!", She called out just as launched a rising knee either still in the air or after he moved.
As Rise moves in to headbutt him in the gut a bone protrudes from his elbow and comes down hard on her shoulder. The boy then dances to the side to avoid the next hit. He places his fingers together to build his chakra. Then bones begin to protrude from his entire body. "I really wish you had just walked off little girl. Oh well, another chuunin dropped by Tsiro."
Beyond wincing from the pain flaring up in her shoulder Rise refused to acknowledge the injury further. Except that is to keep that arm in mind as a limb to sacrifice if she needed to. "So, its Tsiro-teme…. Well listen up then! I ain't walk'n away so long as ya still plann'n to interfere with my mission, and I ain't letting no smug little boy say he dropped me like it was nothing! Ya got me!?", Rise called out, and out of defiance used the very same injured arm to jab a finger in Tsiro's direction while the other hand free'd up a soldier pill for a quick swallow.
It was the wrong one…
"Blech!.. Ugh.. Aaauugh… Damn, broadsword." She muttered under breath as the effects quickly took over. The most prominent being her hair growing frazzled and seeming to grow out by another few inches. "Tch! Whatever.. now are we gonna keep dance'n or are ya just gonna stand there'n smile as I beat the pants off ya!?"
"How did you become a chuunin?" the boy asks. He was a mere genin and expected to be childish. This girl though was ranked higher and randomly attacked him usually. Other times she took some coaxing. "Yeah, lets continue this dance." the boy states as he moves forward. He holds his hand out and fires off some bone bullets from his fingers before rushing in and aiming to slash her with a bone from his elbow.
"Don know. Guess they liked what they saw back in Suna's promotion exams." Rise replied with her cheeks puffed up pridefully and a shrug. Seemingly relaxing her guard until for a second when she shifted to shrug her shoulders careless… but within an instant the air changes around her as the attacks started to fly. The first are avoided if only barely as Rise rushed into to get in closer. A mistake that still cost her another wound, but at the very least she managed to avoid the worst of it by raising by calmly striking the blunt side of Tsiro's strike away in passing.
"Still got a serious edge you.." Rise murmured before launching at Tsiro in a vicious series of kicks, followed by a kunai being slipped into her hand mid-strike to try and catch Tsiro off guard with a close range toss from it.
Tsiro danced and dodged away from each of the kicks. The kunai barely misses him. He glances towards it as it passes by him. "Admit your limits. I have no interest in you beyond the fact you seem to be hiding from reality." The boy then dashes forward and turns around infront of the girl aiming to stab her with both of his elbows. He was trying to keep the speed up to prevent her from evading damage.
Twice he struck with that insane (by her standards) Kekkei Genkai of his, and twice she ended having her own arms shaved to pieces while trying to evade and block all at the same time. It infuriated her to no end… but, rise knew very well not to allow her anger to get the best of her in a situation like this. History had already proven time and time again that to do so would mean to welcome defeat. To welcome death at the hands of her rival again. So… she grudgling retreated after letting the last elbow shot carried her further back. "Alright.. he's just to good at close range…. *sigh*… so…" Shuriken upon shuriken, one after another she let loose her small arsenal of weapons from her back pouch. All of which were sent with the intentions of veering wildly to stir up Tsiro's rhythm too much to dodge them all. She hoped, at least.
Tsiro looked like he was dancing one of those fancy dances. He stepped forward and stopped. He took one step backwards and then two forward. He could smell the blood on the girl. It was time for him to attempt to finish it. The boy lunged forward towards Rise. He attempts to smash her with the bone from his knee before looking to elbow her in the back.
She saw the strike comming… but could do little more than twist and try to push the blow as it came in further away. A partial success that left her breatheless for a brief moment once the knee bone strike pierced through the side of her abdomen. She closed her eyes against the sharp pain. Inadvertantly turning to a tried and true old method on instinct when Tsiro went around to stab her in the back. Instead, he scrapped a nice size gash straight through her vest while forcing her off feet. She rolled, despite the pain now starting to eat at her, back onto her feet to glare at Tsiro. Bloodlust burning in her veins.
"RISE-SAMA!!!"
The haze faded almost instantly. "…… *huff*…. Kuso…. Ro-kun! Just fall back!"
"But"
"I said, FALL BACK *censor*"
Rise didn't bother to look back at the boy even as she heard the wheels finally start to move-move. Instead she grabbed her combat knife to hold it up defensively before her as she waited for the end.
Tsiro watched as Rise was badly injured. "Now, I guess I should make a chuunin decision of my own. Do I take you out permanently or do I let you walk away? The boy was thinking over the answer. "If you are not alive, then there will be no more of this childishness. Also I might get rusty…"
Rise didn't even bother to dignify Tsiro's casual approach to her future with even a growl. She simply continued to stare into the Kaguya's eyes as much as possible with an unwavering resolve. A resolve focused purely on stalling for more time for their cargo and employer to get away.
Tsiro looks off towards the wagon and her subordinate. Usually she acted out of impatience and other non virtues. "Little girl, I am not here for your mission. I was simply passing through. If I was to have attacked you, it would have been using some form of stealth and you would be dead. It is a noble concept to take a beating for the mission or for your comrades, but there was nothing noble about this. You recieved another beating at my hands because you were over zealous and assumed me here for a bad reason. I am not sure if I should be honored you would see me as such a threat that you move ahead of your mission and sacrifice yourself or if the people of your village have zero ability to select leadership."
The boy then places his finger against his head, scratching an itch. "Get out of my sight. When you earn that Chuunin title come back and talk to me. Maybe then you will see something other than our battle by the bridge." He was almost certain that was where her hatred stemmed from him. Each time they had fought since it was different. He was able to hit her now. He was proven victorious each battle after that. He then paused for a moment before walking off. "Tell me something though. Why do all of you girls attack me on sight? The Uchiha girl traveled all the way to Kiri like you did and attacked. Yui often attacked me walking through my own village. Are you all jealous or is it that a man is shown superior?" It was a genuine question that Tsiro wanted answered.
Rise saw, grew, and fed off the color red that seem to fill her entire by the time Tsiro had finished speaking. It was intoxicating as it was nauseating with the former quickly starting to rise to the top to fuel her next action. But as her limbs trembled from the private war that was waged within her, Rise found herself slowly become undeniably…. angry, with herself. So much so in fact that after taking one disgusted look at the blade in her hand Rise roughly sheathed, then finally let as much tension as the currently tainted blood would allow ease out of her stance with one deep, calming breath and her guard being relaxed in the process.
"Your right.. I was over zealous… foolish even, to let you of all people bait me into lashing out after just one 'careless' admission on your part." She stated hollowly without looking up from the ground. "…. But yer wrong to tink I'm bein blinded by that battle… Tch! Though it iz a sore spot for me sometimes…" She added with a light mirthless giggle. "…. And I can't pretend to know what they be think'n eitha so it ain't no point in ask'n me somethin like that…… All I know iz that.. my blood can't help but come to a boil whenever yer around." She simply shrugged, then turned to walk away. At first without the intention to speak again or even look at him unless Tsiro decided to stab her in the back, not that she cared all that much at this point since she held up her part of the mission so far. But in the end, her mouth started moving anyway. "Ain't cuz I'm jealous eitha, or cuz I think a man be superior to me……. I can only think.. believe itz cuz those eyes of yours remind me of what I used to be… and what I would've probably became if not worse had I Ren-kun had not found me." Rise called back before starting to jog in blissful ignorance of her injuries now that the pain was numbed by something worse in her chest…
Tsiro watched as the girl seemed to have a slightly hard time with her words. It is not until she is a long way away that he makes his own comment. "So she fights herself when fighting me. I wonder just how much a demon I must be to be seen as what is wrong in that girl…" He shakes his head and then continues to walk on his intended path before the fight began. The bones begin to retract into his body. "Another set of clothes pretty much toasted. I know why Kibushi pretty much fought naked. Oh well."
