Sparring with a Criminal

Starring:

Renai, Eremi

Date: August 19, 2014

Summary:

Eremi encounters Renai training at the lake and the two engage in a short spar.


"Sparring with a Criminal"

Mist Lake, Kirigakure, Land of Water

Mist Lake [Kirigakure]

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A large crystal clear lake with a small yellow sanded island set in the middle. The lake is surrounded with large trees and lush green bushes. There are berry bushes, some poisonous and some not. The grass surrounding the lake displays patches of long and short grass with the odd stone set allowing for great seating. Villagers and ninja tend to wander towards this area for relaxation or training. Filled with an abundance of fish, here also tends to be a great spot for those interested in the fine sport of fishing.

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The day was relatively clear for a day in Kirigakure during Spring. It wasn't raining-always a plus. But, the sky was overcast as usual, giving the place the horribly dismal blue-gray aura for which it's known. The mist over the lake was light today, rolling off gently to the shore like tendrils of smoke.

There are a few people wandering about, genin training, civilians taking leisurely strolls and the like. However, the constant, rhythmic sound of thunking can be heard from in the trees along with the short, precise "Hya!" noise that a girl is making.

The source is Renai. Her hands are wrapped in blood-stained bandages and the genin is mottled with bruising, patches of green, yellow, blue, and purple in randomly places over her skin. And, she is quite literally kicking a tree to make more bruises. The tall girl takes stance and then just.. kicks the medium-sized tree, creating that thunking sound and sending the upper leaves to rustling. Her motion is repetitive and seems almost hypnotic. She's been doing this for a while.

As for the day being clear, it was also relatively calm with little excitement happening thus far. Which worked out perfectly for Eremi considering it was his day off or more correctly, he was let go from another job. It seems that when working as a bartender, you need to sell more alcohol than you drink and when working at a stall in the market, if you aren't awake during your shift, people will easily steal from you…The complicated life of a normal civilian. Not as easy for some. So to help ease the mans suffering he thought he'd come out to the lake and rest for the day. Something that was becoming increasingly difficult with each thud and thunk of a nearby tree.

Out of curiousity, Eremi would go to check it out and see if he could put a stop to whatever might be making that noise. As he approached, he spotted Renai, though she was dressed unexpectedly. Mostly considering that he hadn't figured the girl for a taijutsuist while she assaulted the tree to a point he himself has gotten too before. An unnecessary way to train and something he hadn't discovered until later in life. "That tree owe you money?"

She pauses when she hears Eremi's voice and that slight break in kicking is just enough to let the blood flow freely back into her shin and set her alight with pain. Renai hisses between her teeth and steadies herself. She turns to look at him and loosens the grimace into a grin and speaks through labored breaths. "I wish. I'm killing my nerves." First step, they said. It'll be worth it, they said. Renai frowns and leans forward to inspect her reddened legs. "Well, they're eventually supposed to die at some point. Hopefully soon."

Wincing, she takes a step toward him, testing with putting weight on one leg and then the other. It hurts, but she walks toward the man and sets her hands on her hips while she catches her breath, "What are you up to today, Eremi?"

Eremi looked the girl over, scanning the wounds she had incurred. The man was no medic, but he knew enough about self inflicted taijutsu wounds to know what she was going through. "I see." Glancing between the girl and the tree before focusing back on Renai, "You know, there are easier ways to kill the nerves." Patting at the gourd attached to his side before leaving his hand to rest upon it. "You know, I didn't figure you for a taijutsuist. You trying to…branch out of your expertise or what?" Humming silently as he walks over toward the tree and rubs a hand against the bark. "You hit pretty decently at least."

When he mentions there are better ways of killing the nerves, her eyebrows lift hopefully. Her eyes fall on the gourd though and she frowns. She isn't quite sure alcohol would mesh well with her dietary restrictions. "I'm not. My strengths are in /other/ areas. I was offered to be trained in clan styles but my capacity for managing pain is insufficient." She speaks of herself as though she is more machine than human and, being Touketsu, that is almost true. Renai follows him to the tree and looks at the bark balefully. "Thanks. I've been trying." Her eyes focus in on him and narrow slightly then. "So you /are/ a taijutsuist then, Eremi?" It's really the first clue he's given her openly about his abilities. Of course, the inquisitive girl has to pounce.

"Pain is not an easy thing to ignore." Eremi shook his head slowly as he grasped at the gourd at his side and brought it to his lips to take a small sip before turning away from the tree and looking at Renai. Being a roommate within her home has not shown much to her past, but the more he knew about the girls past, the less he wanted to delve. "Eh, I'm as capable a fighter as the next non-shinobi trained individual can be and considering most Shinobi have no problem training outside of designated training areas, it's not too hard to pick up a thing or two." He'd throw out a few punches in front of him, one hand was balled into the fist, the other simply held tightly to the gourd in his hand.

When he throws some punches, she can't help but giggle like the teenage girl she really is. With the gourd in his hand, it /is/ a little funny. "I think most of us just want to show off." She turns her head to eye a pair of students sparring in the distance. "We spend all this time training and developing techniques. And well.. the only people that ever see my own techniques, other than sparring partners, are typically killed soon after." She lifts a shoulder slightly and looks back to him. "The human ego needs fulfillment sometimes, eh?" She studies him up and down for a moment, inspecting his physique and judging the honesty in his claim. "You want to show me what you've got? I promise to not use genjutsu on you." With the last, she winks and grins slightly.

Relaxing some, Eremi attached the gourd back to his hip before turning to Renai, "I suppose so." Hearing the girl, whether true or not, mention having killed people already was a bit surprising. Were he to look back on his time as a Shinobi, he was sure he could only come up with two times he's killed another and those situations sort of called for it. Hopefully that was just the difference between Kiri and Konoha teachings and not just the girls murderous intents. "Show you what I've got..I thought I just did with those punches I threw out?" He glanced about, seeing all those gathered within the mist lake, "Besides. Are you even allowed to spar with regular villagers?"

RP: Eremi joins the roleplay.

COMBAT: It is now Eremi's turn.

RP: Eremi transforms into SPAR-III.

RP: Renai joins the roleplay.

COMBAT: Eremi finishes his turn.

COMBAT: It is now Renai's turn.

With his words, she looks upward, thinking for a moment. "Well, a regular villager, perhaps. But you claim to be a fighter. So, you aren't exactly regular, right?" She rolls her shoulders back slowly, relaxing her tense muscles. "But I asked. I didn't just attack you so I think it's okay. Who cares? It's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission in this town." She shrugs, obviously not caring much about consequences. "Come on then. Maybe you can teach me something." Renai sets herself into a defensive stance and motions with her hands for him to attack first.

COMBAT: Renai finishes her turn.

COMBAT: It is now Eremi's turn.

Eremi shrugged, "Well, I guess…" Seems it was going to be easier to show the girl just how 'regular' he is, than trying to avoid the fight. So he shifted into a stance, one unlike which he has ever used before. He needed to take his abilities down several notches, otherwise how capable of a fighter he is might surface. "That's good to know. I'll have to keep that in mind. They sure don't afford the same luxuries in Suna. You have to ask for permission and forgiveness…" The boy shook his head at his memories of that village so he could focus on the fight before him. "Well, here. I come." The man shifted up to his toes, bobbed up and down a bit to get a feel for his stance before rushing forward with an arm already reared backwards and a fist clenched tightly.

COMBAT: Eremi attacks Renai with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 13

COMBAT: Eremi attacks Renai with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 15

COMBAT: Eremi finishes his turn.

COMBAT: It is now Renai's turn.

COMBAT: Renai defends against PHYSICAL(13) attack from Eremi with a DODGE…18

COMBAT: Renai wins the roll.

COMBAT: Eremi attacks you with PHYSICAL and rolls a 15. Action?

COMBAT: Renai defends against PHYSICAL(15) attack from Eremi with a DODGE…19

COMBAT: Renai wins the roll.

COMBAT: There are no more attacks for you to defend against.

She smirks at the mention of Sunagakure, having recently been there. Sand.. So much sand. She still finds it in her shoes.

Renai watches his motions as he prepares his attack, noting the loose stance he keeps and the bobbing motion. She twists and turns herself away from the motion of his punches. With the second punch though, Renai would attempt to step into his guard and attempt to punch him in the belly with a quick undercut strike. She only throws the one hit though, wanting to test what Eremi is willing to show her. Should she /actually/ do damage to a 'villager'.. Yes, that would be bad.

COMBAT: Renai attacks Eremi with PHYSICAL with a roll of: 22

COMBAT: Renai finishes her turn.

COMBAT: It is now Eremi's turn.

COMBAT: Eremi defends against PHYSICAL(22) attack from Renai with a BLOCK…26

COMBAT: Eremi wins the roll.

With each punch thrown, Eremi did his best to keep them pulled back enough to allow the girl adequate time to dodge while at the same time trying to make it look like he was giving it his all. Renai would avoid his first strike smoothly enough, but when she actually steps into his second to allow herself an easy follow-up, he's surprised she's already that talented in hand to hand. "Oh!" No time to think on the matter though as he brings a hand down to deflect the gut punch before jumping out of the rest of Renai's reach. "That was close. Too close." The man pants a bit as if trying to catch his breath already even though only a handful of punches have been exchanged. "I guess you want to see more?" He didn't wait for an answer as he ran forward again with the same series of strikes as before.

COMBAT: Renai defends against PHYSICAL(22) attack from Eremi with a DODGE…24

COMBAT: Renai wins the roll.

COMBAT: Renai defends against PHYSICAL(25) attack from Eremi with a DODGE…17

COMBAT: Renai loses the roll and sustains 224 damage.

COMBAT: There are no more attacks for you to defend against.

The girl moves away from the first punch, but the second hits her in a particularly sore patch of bruises along her side. Renai winces and pulls back with a slight grin. "Good. I think you're stronger than you think, Eremi. You should really consider the shinobi life. We always need more fighters like you in the Touketsu." She straightens her posture and reclaims her defensive stance should he wish to attack her again. She'll not attack him again unless provoked however. The style she is being trained in is too aggressive and well.. Renai doesn't exactly understand how to hold back since she's always been so weak in the first place.

COMBAT: Renai finishes her turn.

COMBAT: It is now Eremi's turn.

Eremi tenses the moment his strike lands against Renai and as he notices the girl wince he's worried he wasn't able to hold back his strength enough. "Eh…" Not too enthused with being offered a chance to fight for Kiri when most of his life was spent fighting them. Seeing Renai straighten up, he'd do so as well, having no need nor want to keep the short lived fight going. "Like I said. I'm capable enough as far as regular civilians go, but I don't think the Shinobi life is right for me." Grasping at his gourd to take another sip. "Though if you need a travelling companion, I'm always available. I could carry your gear or something. Still need to find a way to repay your generousity."

The Touketsu girl relaxes and lifts her hand in a wave of dismissal at the mention of repaying her. "You're repaying me enough by keeping the kids out. It seems that the Touketsu do not wish their rising stars to be exposed to dirty vagabonds." Her tongue shows lightly between her teeth, jesting. "I just can't.. deal with orphans." The girl shudders, her shoulders briefly tensing back up in revulsion. She seems to really have a problem with it all. "But yes. I would like for you to travel with me maybe." Renai nods. "You'd have to get clearance. I normally don't leave the country unless I'm on a mission. But when I go hunting in the forests. That would be fine. No clearance would be needed for that."

Despite Renai's objections, Eremi didn't feel the same. Someone saves his life and he's going to repay the debt in an equal or greater way. "Hey, I'm doing my best at keeping a job…well, I'm trying at least." He shrugs slightly with hands extended for emphasis before clasping them together, "Not sure if I'd be able to get clearance though. Though nothing says I couldn't do my best to follow you once you leave the village on a mission right? You did say it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission in this village…Still, who would I have to ask for permission regarding clearance?"

Renai ponders his question for a moment, tipping her head to the side. She bites her lower lip and nods once coming to a decision about it. "Well, technically, I would make the request when I accept a mission. For most, it likely wouldn't be a problem. But, I would have to make that request for every mission which would become tedious and could delay the missions in question. You would be much rather off approaching the Mizukage, Okumo Meruin, yourself and asking for a blanket clearance to allow you to accompany me on a set parameter of ranks. That would be far more efficient than having to make your case every single time. Paperwork, you know. It gets.. boggling. You could just submit the request to the mission registrar, but it would take a few months. Approaching him directly would work faster." Her eyes turn to him to gauge his reaction, wondering quietly to herself what he'll choose to do.

Okumo Meruin…A name that Eremi has heard throughout his entire career as a shinobi and a man he has faced several times. Considering the individual as a man however was laughable. He was something altogether and every time they had fought, it never fared well for Eremi. Though it's been several years since then and both have grown considerably, but to hear Meruin was the Mizukage already was not a surprise, but was overwhelming. "I see…" His face once given his information was passive at best, but there were hints of some twitching here and there as he was trying to hold something back. "Well, eh…" He wasn't sure how to go about this. "I don't want you to be bogged down in paper and waiting months for a response from the magister does seem a bit much…I guess I don't have much choice. I'll see about setting an appointment with the Mizukage at his office." It had been years after all, maybe he wasn't recognizable anymore.

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