Starring:
Date: November 8, 2014
Summary:
Team Alpha squares off to test each other to see just what are each other's limits, where better to test this than the most dangerous playground? The Blood Marshes.
"Team Alpha Squares-off Against Itself"
Land of Water, Blood Marsh
A simple letter was left on Yuriko's window, on the paper left it was only written, < I am waiting outside, planning to stay inside all morning? > Typical for the young Okumo who left it, he was close. Naoya was resting, half napping by the time it was noon in the trees near the Kaguya Manor, how long he had been waiting there would be hard to tell, though he wasn't there last evening. The boy himself was dressed simply, only having a single pouch on his hip which he normally kept a book, possibly a journal and a few notes. A few members of his brood were around the forests, mostly hunting for small critters or larger insects.
Considering how often notes tend to pop up webbed to her window, the smallest Kaguya had made it a point to check said window regularly. Still, while she isn't surprised by it's appearance, it is unusually brief.
Her steps are light as they approach the tree the Okumo boy had started to doze in. From the ground, Yuriko lifts a pale brow at this and tilts her head, bangs falling over one of her eyes. "You're going to get a heat stroke." she mumbles.
"It's hotter up here than underground.. I know." A hand raises and waves lazily towards the approaching Kaguya but Naoya doesn't turn towards her just yet. "Is that why you're hiding inside, have a ice seal on a pillow or cuddle with and cool off?" Withdrawing his hand, the boy moves it to his mouth, yawning some what loudly before wiping his brow. Shifting onto his side, amber eyes open and begin to look around, taking a moment to focus onto Yuriko.
Her gaze remains skeptical, though at least he was talking. That's somewhat reassuring. "Do you really want to know or are you just making fun of me?" Yuriko asks out loud, loosely crossing her arms across her chest. "I could show you, you know. But it being indoors, it might be too civilized for you."
"Much too clean, Leg tells me a lot about the inside of that house of your's now that she stays there more than with us." A light smirk appears on Naoya's face before he shifts, slipping from his perch with a lazy grace to land near to the girl. Rolling his shoulders slowly he turns his head away and nods in direction that would point to something but not towards any building in the village. "I'd prefer the stream or my burrow anyways, much cooler underground. Still trying to find proper stones to tap into the springs though."
"And Leg doesn't know about the moving wall." Yuriko idly retorts, watching as Naoya lands on his feet at ground level. "but you think you know everything, so I suppose it doesn't really matter." Exhaling a longer breath, her hand reaches up to try to brush her bangs from her face. "So why did you call me out exactly?"
Flashing Yuriko a grin, the young Okumo shakes his head lightly, "I didn't call you out. I told you where I'd be. You came out looking for me on your own." Taking a step closer, Naoya pokes at her shoulder lightly as he chuckles. "Since you are out here though.. Did you want to come and check on those plants with me, see how well they are after a few weeks in a slightly different area or still sure they'll die in a generation?"
The younger girl lifts a pale brow at Naoya, shoulder poked without retaliation. "Convenient." Yuriko murmurs. Her slender arms cross against her chest again as she tilts her head at the boy. "I guess I could come along. But it depends on you. On whether or not you can admit that you want me to come along and keep you company. That that's the reason you even left a note on my window to begin with is because you want to hang out. Alone." Yuriko smirks.
Arching a brow for a moment, Naoya closes his eyes in contemplation. His smirk would waver for only a moment before blowing towards Yuriko, an arm resting over his stomach. "It would please me greatly to have Kaguya-hime keep my company." The boy's expressions were attempting to be serious though his mouth wavered, the grin attempting to over take his expression. Though when he begins to stand up up fully, he extends a hand out for her to take.
Yuriko narrows her aquamarine eyes at the boy as he bows. A longer pause lingers before she exhales a small sigh. "I'm not asking for flattery. What I'm asking of you is more difficult, since I doubt you can admit it." The slight smirk tucks at the corner of her lips. "Just say that despite trying to act cool, you really just wanted to hang out with me because it makes you happy. Honest, straightforward."
"If I didn't, why would I be here and why would Legs be living with you more often than most of her clutch, let alone her host?" Moving his hand away from lingering in the air, Naoya rests his hand against the younger girl's shoulder. "I like having you near, you should know that by now." The boy lightly clucks his tongue while shaking his head, soon turning away but then glances over his shoulder to say, "You say you don't want to be flattered, then why do I have to say something that obvious?"
The smaller girl gives Naoya a glance that says that he should know better, andas the hand rests on her shoulder, Yuriko reaches up to take it. "Because despite it being the obvious, it's still nice to hear out loud. And I'm also trying to demonstrate that when you're honest with me, more often than not you'll get what you want." The hand clutching his shifts to casually thread her fingers through his. "Come on. You have to lead the way."
Glancing down at his hand, Naoya watches as their fingers laces together, but once they settle he gives her hand a light squeeze. "We'll be heading through a different way rather than through the middle of the village." Seeming to think about the idea, the boy's face flushed faintly before shaking his head, quickly attempting to free of mind of it. "It's through the cavern and close to the stream, but my burrow isn't close to the flower field side."
Yuriko dips her chin with a slight nod of understanding, her gaze pulling away from him just as a subtle smile touches the corner of her lips. "Come on. Let's go." She passively encourages again. "You have to lead the way, remember?" Her fingers squeeze his, and the girl glances at him out of the corner of her blue green eyes.
It was still some time before noon but with the summer drawing to an end, the sun was already almost at it's peek. Naoya arrived at the barrier, warding off the village to the blood marshes and passed it by, but not venturing too deeply. The young Okumo left letters on the windows of two others, Hayase and Yuriko. The letters weren't for once webbed but seemed hand placed, the message within was simple
< With Feari now assigned with us, we won't have much time to sneak away. We still have to see just who gets to face Yuriko-chan. You sleepy heads can rest but I'm heading to the marsh by the time you read this. >
Scratching at the back of his head, the young Okumo spoke softly while glaring towards his right, but noone else was around. 'Yes yes.. We'll be trying that. You said it was easier, we'll see.' Only after wards thumping the side of his head with his thumb with annoyance.
Joining Feari's team had caused Hayase more anxiety than she had let on. The fact they signed the scroll, and especially that it was done so in blood, brought up a great deal of unpleasant thoughts. So she shows up with an almost desperately eager look. This may be one of their last Feari-free trips. And the Gansaku is looking forward to it. Rubbing her hands, she makes her way through the terrain to Naoya. She's arrived within the hour of Naoya's letter. "Always sneaking up to my house," she says by way of greeting.
"I think he's trying to practice his stealth or something." murmurs a reply, just as Yuriko appears stepping through the treeline. A part of her suspected that he also did it to avoid her Swordsman of a mother, but that doesn't really matter to her now. Instead of the usual yukuta garb, the ivory bodysuit fits snug against her petite frame. Her snowy hair pulled up into a single ponytail on the crown of her head, though long bangs still obscure one of her bright blue green eyes. The small girl is dressed for combat in mind, obviously. She glances between her team mates, her friends.
The boy's head twitches a few times when Hayase first begins to draw close, but he doesn't turn around until she speaks up. "Would you rather have your mum chasing you out of the house with a broom again?" A light smirk rests on Naoya's lips when his gaze settled onto the girl. Glancing to the side, he offers Yuriko a light nod, "See? She gets it. If your mothers found out about the messages and where we were, don't you think they would be asking quite a few things?" Raising a hand, he curls his finger and thumbs behind himself, "Are you two ready then?"
"Yuriko-chan!" Hayase says with a smile, that quickly turns to a disapproving frown. "I can't believe you two signed that contract so quickly," she says. "But I'll come along on our team and make sure you two don't get in trouble. Chase you around with a broom if I have to." She mimes holding the mentioned broom. But she doesn't deny that the setup for the meeting was well planned. She drops her hands to her side at the mention of why they'd come here, and she smiles sharply, ready as she'll ever be. "Of course."
"A boy leaving letters, calling me out to meet in secret. Yeah. That can't be misunderstood at all." Yuriko murmurs with some flatness. As she glances to Hayase, her expression softens with a slight smile, her slender shoulders shrugging. "I didn't see why I shouldn't. Feari-sensei seems trustworthy enough. And I wouldn't want to miss the chance to be on a team with you guys." Exhaling a longer breath, Yuriko crosses her arms behind her head as her gaze flits to the gate. "So you want to fight in there, do you?"
"He offers to help me get what I want. If he fails then I'll leave him behind.. Simple as that. I don't plan to stay under his, or even the Elder's thumb. If I get one of Kiri's seven blades, all the better." Naoya soon offers the frowning girl a toothy grin at the idea though when then talks about trouble, he waves dismissively towards her. "I'll be fine. Trust us."
Turning towards Yuriko, the idea plays through his head and instinctively winces, a hand moving to his ear to rub at it slowly. "See? Messy and annoying. They didn't notice anything marked for today written anywhere so this should of been a easy time to sneak away." Another nod was made towards Yuriko but then turns around and points towards the much larger trees. "Out here, noone will get in our way, also the creatures around here might make it more of a challenge, don't you think?"
Hayase wrinkles her nose at the mention of going into the swamp. While she did insist on coming with them, even berated them for leaving without her, she doesn't seem overly eager to go slogging through the smelly place. But she says, "I think it'll be a great place to train," as if she's ever been in there.
Her eyes light up when Feari's sword is mentioned. "If his sword goes up for grabs," she says, and smiles, "then we'll have to see who it chooses, you or me." She glances at Yuriko to see if the petite Kaguya may include herself in the list of contenders.
When Hayase glances towards her expectantly, Yuriko just lifts a hand and waves. "You guys have fun arguing over who gets it. It'll just give me more time to get even further ahead." she smirks. And with a slight bend of her knees, she pushes off and leaps up onto the gate, never pausing as she then jumps from the gate onto the limb of the closest tree. Glancing over her shoulder, Yuriko quirks a pale brow. "You guys coming or what?"
When Hayase sounded to be confident about being there, the grin on his lips returns and looks away from the pair as he begins to make his way deeper. "If I'm the one taking his head, it'll likely be me then, won't it?" Glancing to the side Yuriko was on, he doesn't pause or get a good look towards her. "You're going to run out of steam and slow down. I told you, the gap between up won't always be, even if you try racing as fast as you.." A light grumble rumbles in his threat as Yuriko hops over him and onto a branch. "Was waiting on your lazy butt." With that said, he jumps suddenly, trying to land onto the tree just past where the younger girl had landed.
Hayase rolls her eyes. "Our kind of arguing tends to end in bruises and cuts," she points out to Yuriko. She watches as her friends leap over the gate, but Hayase takes a moment to glance behind her. Then she'd hop once just to get past the gate, and the next to outdistance both her friends. The slender branch she lands on bends a bit under her, but still bears her weight. "His sword is different," she says to Naoya. "You have to be worthy of wielding it, or you can't use it."
Yuriko flexes her hands as the skin at her palm splits, the bone beneath emerging and building upon itself to quickly form a Epigaea dagger in one hand and a Camellia sword in the other. Standing from her crouched position, she turns to glance over her shoulder, energy already forming in her gut. "Well? What are we waiting for?" Yuriko murmurs. "Or do I need to race ahead for you two to even pay attention."
"We'll talk to it, might just eat it if it disagree with us." Shrugging his shoulders lightly but then watches as she also bursts forward further. "Bleh.. Both of you hush!" Standing still for a moment, a series of spider crawl from his skin and proceed to wrap him in a layer of dense silk. 'No.. not yet. We'll save that for later, once they fun's started.' A chuckle escapes Naoya's lips before he nods his head lightly, giving chase to the pair. "Getting ready to break us up Yuriko-chan, or planning to skip that and start right in to a brawl?"
Hayase gapes when bones start emerging from Yuriko's arm. She's seen this ability before, but never on her. And thinking back…Hayase has never seen Yuriko use her Kekkei Genkai before. Nevermind wanting to beat Yuriko, Hayase has hardly faced her even once. Yet Yuriko's question only makes Hayase grin and speed up to keep ahead of both. As she does she closes her eyes in concentration, and says, "Unlock." Preparing for either a brawl or a chase.
"More like trying to keep you on your toes." Yuriko murmurs light, shifting her weight on the branch to fully face the pair. Her teammates and friends. "I'm not going to make this easy. For either of you. So don't take this lightly." She bends in a slight crouch before she takes a casual leap, and just like that, the Kaguya girl seems to disappear. On their toes indeed.
Turning his head towards Yuriko, the grin on his lips shifts to more of a smirk as he begins to talk. "Oh? Just on our toes? Here Ithought you were.. Huh?" Within a blink, he never noticed the young girl disappear from his eyes. The boy's brood begins to scatter as his eyes grow dulled slightly, looking around fruitlessly. Slipping a hand into his pouch, he pulls out a few sphere and throws them at a tree he was racing towards, hiding it in a mist of smoke is fine dust before kicking off into another position rapidly.
One moment Hayase is following the two, and the next they're nowhere to be seen. She scans around quickly, but of Yuriko there's no hide or hair to be seen. She almost loses Naoya as he moves swiftly behind a smokescreen. She smirks though when she sleuths out his hiding place. But isn't this a 2 on 1, not a complete melee? Nevertheless, when it comes her time to act she would move to conceal herself from both of them. Not moving much actually, just into the crook of a tree, hidden by shadows and leaves.
From her hiding spot, Yuriko is able to easily keep tabs on Hayase and Naoya. Only a pair of eyes visible from the shadows. The pregnant silence stretches for several moments before a pair of a set of ivory kunai is thrown at both of them. The first sparking with chakra that will no doubt stun for a dangerous moment before the second strikes.
Turning suddenly when Yuriko charges towards him, thickened webbing bulges slightly around his forearms as he moves to intercept her. Using his webbed arms as bucklers, he bats out and to the side, letting the girl cut into his webbing while Naoya pushes them off to the side, trying to expose her stance. After the second slash, the boy brings both of his hands in close, attempting to box her ears briefly before straight kicking at her lower stomach. "That almost hurt!"
Hayase manages to evade the first projectile, but gets grazed by the other. She winces in pain, but she didn't fail to see where they came from. As Naoya attacks Yuriko, Hayase plunges in from another angle with more force than ever. She lashes out to kick Yuriko's legs out from under her, and then aim a blow at her midriff.
"When you say 'almost hurt', I hear 'hit me harder'." Yuriko murmurs, smirking faintly. As Naoya jumps straight at her to counterstrike, the petite Kaguya dances out of the way from the box to her ears, managing to flip effortlessly from one branch to the next, as if leading the boy. However, his kick to the stomach connects just as Hayase makes her appearance. Another slight smirk touches at the corner of her lips as Yuriko dances out of the way of the sweeping kick and the following punch. Jumping from the branch, she lands on dry ground at floor level. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." she chuckles. Another, longer sword forms in one hand as she lifts it up, the blade visibly arcing as it forms. "Naoya-kun, I believe you've seen this number." Yuriko winks, just before it's thrown.
Naoya grins to himself when he felt his foot connect firmly against Yuriko even when she was dancing around, only then seeming to notice Hayase appearing. Watching the girl for a moment, he begins to tense his legs until he heard the young Kaguya again briefly before a blade is hurled in his direction. Using his left arm, he bats the blade away but not cleanly, the blade slices deeply into the webbing, soon after cutting into his arm as it passes by. Sprinting from his perch, he charges head long with the girl, literally. The young Okumo doesn't shift his position and rather than punching at the girl, he lowers his head and tries to headbutt her in passing.
Hayase had imagined Yuriko being easier to hit in her mental combat simulations. She supposes imagining it can only do so much. She has to grin when Naoya's goading only makes Yuriko attack harder. Although she winces when her partner gets a blow. She's able to spin around Yuriko's attack. And then she aims a series of blows that seem to aim at different vital points only to suddenly divert to her brow, her cheek, her jaw. All light, lightning swift jabs.
Noaya's blow strikes hard, despite being light on her feet. But Yuriko doesn't miss a step as Hayase comes in to make her move to, trying to jab quick and hard. With a shift of her weight, the small Kaguya is able to easily glide out of the path of Hayase's swinging with minimal effort. The small girl smirks, "Are you even trying?" Yuriko says this as the skin tight ivory body suit suddenly spikes all over, making her a human porcupine. "And don't forget the alligator." she murmurs, offhandedly so as she jumps into the closest tree. And as she said, the giant alligator is already climbing out of the swamp, jaw open as it tries to lumber out of the water and at quarreling prey.
Landing a short distance from where he hit Yuriko, the young Okumo licks his lips shortly, 'two..' Raising an arm, he shifts his fingers faintly before looking downwards after Yuriko's comment. Chuckling faintly, the traction under his heels disappear and he inverts himself in the air, using his heels to stomp at the creature below them before using it as a launching platform to reposition himself. Returning twice more, Naoya strikes with an open palm at the base of the creature's skull where it was the thinnest. "Dinner for later!"
When an alligator bursts from the water, Hayase gasps. And who can blame her…it's a giant alligator trying to eat them! But she manages to flip away from the beast, and lands on the swamp water. Her feet rest solidly on it. At one point or another she must've mastered water walking, because she doesn't seem to have to concentrate on staying on the surface. In the meantime she says, "Unlock," once again. As she does the wounds on her initially close up a bit, not fully healed, but binded to an extent.
The alligator slammed by Naoya crumples, the base of its neck snapped from the impact. Though from the way the surface of the swamp ripples under Hayase's feet, it seems like that one wasn't alone. The back spines of two, three swimming closer. No doubt they'll be trouble if she doesn't move.
From her perch in a nearby tree, Yuriko is already forming more blades. Arched into the shape of boomerangs. "And who exactly is going to cook that thing? Hm?" She throws both swords.
"You seemed to tolerate my cooking last time, might treat you again, though you do owe me some.." With widening eyes, he watches the hooked blade come towards him and raises his arms to protect himself, the blade cutting across both of his arms some what deeply this time though most of the depth was webbing. Over eager to strike back, Naoya underestimates the next blade's speed, it cuts into his exposed side in passing rather than skirting around it. Lowering a hand, the young Okumo clutches at the wound, and lands a distance from the pair, a snarl set onto his lips. 'Fine.. fine.. FINE! We'll do it your way.' The boy's eyes begin to dull noticeably as he watches over the pair. Minor cuts and tears could be heard from the boy as 'something', 'legs?' begin to unfurl from his back, anchoring himself along the tree, preparing himself to continue even though he seems to be tiring.
Too fast, much too fast. Hayase is taking wound after wound. But she manages to avoid any critical hits, especially since Yuriko seems to be avoiding as such. "Afraid she can't hold back my butt," Hayase mutters. Yuriko seems to be doing a fairly good job. And Hayase still can't beat the little kunoichi. But Hayase doesn't lose her head. While Naoya gathers himself for a more powerful assault Hayase leaps in to hound Yuriko, jabbing and lashing out with her fists to reach any part of the Kaguya.
From her own limb, Yuriko narrows her eyes as something seems to unfurl and grow from Naoya's back, though she isn't given much of a chance to linger on it as Hayase leaps up at her with throwing punches and kicks. She scowls lightly to herself, but jumps from the branch to glide through the air, seeming to dance in the air as she lands and jumps again, moving through the treetops. Dodge, dodge, Yuriko smirks as she shifts gears, blurring from the third punch to counter with a hard strike of her own.
Kicking off from his perch, Naoya's speed seems to have increased even further, though his skin is a darker tone, almost bark like in appearance though it was grayed. Rather than an direct approach, the young Okumo charges directly for Yuriko before flickering off, soon appearing towards Hayase with a hick hick but only hops over her head. It wouldn't be until the boy closes in on Yuriko again that he tries to punch her, once along her upper ribs, but at the same time at her hip before bouncing off once again.
Hayase isn't just watching as Yuriko is slashing at Naoya, and he's trying to reach her. Hayase charges in close, but before she can complete her attack Yuriko is sending one of her own. Instead of trying to dodge safely out of the way, Hayase slightly alters her course of movement to duck in under Yuriko's attack and spring forward with a lunging strike at her nose.
As Naoya flickers, Yuriko flickers, their speed countering one another as he traies to catch her off guard, tries to keep her off balance. She dodges his first punch, second punch with ease, though Hayase instantly begs for her attention as she gets in close and strike at her nose. She manages the second hit. Yuriko scowls to herself. "Do I really have to carry both of your bodies back to the hospital?" she murmurs, sounding as if it would be a chore in itself. But even as she says this another blade if forming in her hand, swiftly flickering from one to the other.
When his series of faints and strikes are hardly met with much contact, the young Okumo doesn't seem to react too much but begins to circle the young Kaguya again, seemingly waiting to use Hayase as a distraction. When Yuriko closes in again to cut at him, Naoya steps close but then drops a level, letting the slash cut over his head before returning upwards, trying to strike at the girl four times, simultaneously striking sideways at her elbow, at throat, and aiming at both of her 'floating' ribs.
"I'm starting to believe a small girl like you /could/ carry us," Hayase says with a lighthearted tone. She's starting to understand quite a few things. Although her grin is wiped clean as she dodges around an especially heavy series of strikes. Instead of pulling away from the danger zone she ducks down to knock Yuriko's legs out from under her, and then duck even lower to aim an upwards cut at Yuriko that'd send her up into the air. She hardly looks at Naoya, short of making sure she doesn't impede his line of attack.
Yuriko isn't surprised when he counters her strike, though she flickers with sudden speed as she counters that as well, with a swift hit powered with momentum. His following strikes however, only hit open air. Her graceful steps even in the treetops avoiding each of his attacks. Hayase has more luck sweeping Yuriko off of her feet, following up with an uppercut that sends her flying sever feet. Catching her breath, she turns in midair and manages to land on the side of a tree. While she may be tired, she chuckles under her breath, gathering just a little bit more chakra.
While her speed manages to best his own, two of his arms cross in front of himself, moving together to take on some of the force from her strike and shift to away. It takes Naoya a moment of standing still before he leaps forward some what slower than his normal bursting pace, along with his blows. First he uses his knees when he draws closer, trying to knock her back before following through with a flurry of punches, significantly milder than his heavier blows from before. The young Okumo's arms, especially his new ones were callous and gray, the boy's face was covered with sweat.
Hayase seems to be struggling, her teeth gritted in pain. As if she's pushing herself beyond her limits and getting slightly worse with each passing moment. But Yuriko seems to be tiring too, and therein lies their chance. Before she can form some final assault to end the battle, Hayase doesn't coordinate her assault with Naoya. Instead she waits for an opportune moment to dive in with an extending strike, followed by a punch straight at Yuriko's neck. Hard to attack when you can't breathe after all.
His pace was slower, that was abundantly clear as Yuriko dodges each of his blows with ease, jumping up higher in the treetops as she does. And as Hayase makes her turn, the kaguya dips just out of the wave of her dive, countering the second punch with a sudden burst of speed. As Yuriko forms a Spiral Blade in hand, she chuckles. "You guys can wave the white flag whenever you like." Though saying this, she doesn't hesitate to throw the blade.
Yuriko's words were met with a mostly blank stare. Between assaults, the boy seems to gather his strength. Rocking from side to side, Naoya calms himself though his hands begin to tense and relax. When the blade is hurled again, he begins to charge forward, bringing his arms up to bat the blade to the side, yet when it slides past, blood trails once again, dying the webbing crimson. Landing onto Yuriko's branch, the boy drops and leg sweeps at her while his right arms punch at her thigh trying to knock her off balance hopping downwards to pause once again.
The blows are beginning to take their toll, and as time passes Hayase seems to have less and less ability to dodge. Still no need to use her chakra, either in her techniques or heightened state. She closes her eyes for a moment, to gather her faculties. Naoya is there still attacking. And really, she can't be the one letting him down. Regardless of their wounds, Yuriko seems to be wearing down as quickly as them. So she has to hold on a bit more. So disregarding her wounds she'd say, "No white flag yet," and go in punching.
As Naoya's weight drops onto her branch, she instinctively jumps, avoiding his leg sweep entirely. She falls through the air and lands on the ground in a crouched position, gaze flitting back to Hayase. At the other girl's reply, she narrows her gaze, though there isn't time to react as several punches are thrown. Two hit solidly, though Yuriko dodges out of the way of the third. "Enough." She murmurs, upper lip curling with an annoyed growl. "Both of you look awful. It's amazing that we haven't attracted any more predators than we have. And if you think otherwise, then I'll just leave you here to fend for yourselves."
Tilting his head to the right, Naoya simply stares briefly panting when the young Kaguya begins to speak seeming interested in her words but not understanding them. Opening his mouth, he breaths in but then exhales softly before lurching forward with a hopping kick aiming at her forehead before landing beside her. Exhaling, a mesh of webbing begins to rapidly flow from his mouth as well as from his arms, attempting to bring Yuriko in a net before his lower arms punch forward, not waiting for the webbed binding to even fully settle.
Hayase nods. But she says, "You know, I think you got quite a bit of wounds too. Sounds fair to say since…Naoya!" she shouts in alarm when he goes on with the attack, heedless. She leaps in from behind him, and aims to trip him up. Not painfully, just enough to knock him off his feet. Then she'd go to grab him in a headlock. "Let's stop," she says, regardless of if she managed to grab him. "It's just a spar, 'kay? In fact, let's call it a draw. We're all at our limits. Going any further would be bad decorum."
The kick at her head is avoided, but the mesh webbing spewed from him mouth catches her easier, allowing Naoya the opening he wanted. The second set of lower arms punching the girl down to the ground. Landing on the dry floor, Yuriko makes a face as she tries to push back the brief flash of pain. She grumbles as she tries to climb out from under the sticky webbing. "Baka…"
Even after capturing Yuriko and striking her again, his expression wasn't telling. Naoya hops up in the air, avoiding the leg sweep though he seems to move directly into Hayase's grasp becoming trapped. Moving a pair of his hands to the arm around his neck while his other hands moves behind him and grasps at her waistline. Opening his mouth only chitters could be heard but he looked at her expectantly, though before long he tries to lift himself free even if she was still on his back.
Hayase was prepared with angry words or hopefully reasonable ones. But not chittering. From behind him the girl frowns. "N-Naoya-kun?" she says uncertainly. But she doesn't slacken her grip. Even if Naoya was strong enough, she had the upper headlock so to speak. Plus her feet are glued to the swamp with chakra, so she can't be uprooted. "Get.. a.. hold.. of yourself!" she says, tightening her grip. She's trembling though. "Naoya," she ays, in a hissed whisper. "Unlocking the gates harms me continually. We should stop…for my sake, 'kay?"
COMBAT: Hayase finishes her turn.
COMBAT: It is now Yuriko's turn.
Yuriko pulls off enough of the webbing to at least push herself up. "It's… his transformation." She murmurs. "The most than I can gather, he's turned himself into enough of a spider that he can't understand what we're saying." With a little difficulty, the Kaguya girl rises to her feet. "Let go of him. If he tries to attack again, I'll catch him. You have to close your gates, alright?" Her bright eyes flit past Naoya to Hayase. "I'll try to keep him pinned."
After she says this, Yuriko maneuvers to grasp a firm hold of his shoulders, and once Hayase releases, she grips around Naoya's waist tightly. Close enough that he can't do any harm.
With Hayase's grip slacking around his neck, the young Okumo begins to try and thrash from under Yuriko but finds no yield in her grip. Dull amber eyes look up her as he opens his mouth, baring his teeth at her, though it seemed to be a distraction as fibers begin to flow from his mouth. Gluttony seems to also be one of his faults as one pair of arms were pinned, a second pair weren't. Quickly the second pair begins to move behind himself to firm a grasp onto Hayase, attempting to use threads to cocoon both of the girls at the same time.
Naoya doesn't respond at all to her self-pitying words. That definitely means he isn't in his right mind. When Yuriko tells her to revert and back off, she hesitates to do so. But then she'd nod and after avoiding his ensnarement she would get to a safe distance and revert to her usual state. She lets out a wince. With the transformation gone, she's starting to notice a few of the wounds she'd pushed to the back of her mind. But she's still standing as she says, "Naoya-kun! Snap out of this before you hurt your /friends/!"
Yuriko lifts an arm, blocking the webbing a fraction of a second before she spins to sweep the feet from under Naoya, forcing him to fall. She grasps his shoulders again and falls with his weight, pinning the spidery boy beneath her. "Come on Naoya, wake up. I know you're still in there." Yuriko murmurs, much more calm than Hayase for some reason.
"Ow.." Seemingly with the steady shakes and possibly his head being tossed around, the second pair of arms that were just attacking Hayase, begin to darken further. Before long the once 'arms' were now webbing unravel and becomes loose. "Just what are you two doing?" Glancing upwards, he looks towards Hayase, some what annoyed but also exhausted at the same time. "Weren't we to be working together to catch Yuriko-chan, not tagging up on me." For a moment, he starts to try to sit up but doesn't get very far and concedes to his pinned position.
Hayase breathes a sigh of relief when Naoya returns to his somewhat normal self. But then she scowls, and looks about as if she's going to say something very cruel. But then she waves it off. "What's a minor scuffle between friends? In fact, it helps to clear the air, so to speak." She laughs, but then holds her ribs. "I'm just glad I didn't have to seriously hurt the both of you." She lets out a huff and then sits down, her back against a scraggly tree.
Yuriko narrows her eyes at the boy beneath her. "We decided to make it a draw, and you kept attacking. Even went after Hayase-chan at one point. Baka…" she mutters under her breath, exhaling a longer sigh. Shifting her weight, she rolls off of Naoya. Plopping onto her backside. "Seriously. That transform didn't do you any good after a certain point." Her bright eyes glance up at Hayase. "Between the two of you… not bad."
"Eh?" Closing his eyes, he begins to breath in more deeply, trying to calm down, though he could be heard muttering once again, though his words were mumbled, it sounded like he was starting to ask someone hushed questions. The boy would remain still for quite some time, listening to the pair before speaking up, "I messed up, it was something we were keeping in reserve until I was pressed hard enough.. Mostly foggy but it was easy to see both of you were keeping up, made me want to see if I could push it further between you two standing there at time taunting us." Turning his head to one side, Naoya tries to look past Yuriko and towards the sky. "How much light do we have left?"
"I guess we're at a point where keeping up isn't impossible," Hayase says. She closes her eyes and draws in a deep breath. Shut out everything, the fear, the anger, the pain, the exhaustion. And she becomes a bit more upbeat as she says, "We have enough light left. If we want to do something else. Besides another fight." As she talks she's pulling out strips of bandages, wrapping them around herself and tying each one tight. It can't even be called first aid, but it's better than nothing. "Thanks Yuriko-chan," she says warmly to the girl. "See? You can romp with us just fine."
The younger girl lifts a pale brow as she glances at Naoya, giving him a curious glance while she listens. "'Reserve'?" she murmurs. "You couldn't tell between friend and foe. I wouldn't call that perfected." A small hand reaches up to idly brush back her snowy bangs from her face. "We should probably go to the cabin. It's nearby and it'll give us a place to rest up safely. Grab a bite to eat." Though after a moment she glances at Hayase, curious. "I didn't even use my highest transformation." A slight smirk touches her lips.
Glancing down to where Hayase was resting, he watches as she begins to bandage some of her cuts. Curling a lip, he begins to chitter softly but then relaxes. A troop of spiders begin to lower down from Naoya's leg and over to Hayase, some what cautiously at first. "You heard me.." was said with some annoyance, the boy himself not yet moving. The spiders then begin to rapidly crawl around the girl's arms, in their wake a silken binding that tightens snuggly the more laps around the point they made. The spiders then would move to a new position and bandage there, before a third, not cocooning her but trying to slow her bleeding as much as pressure bandages alone could.
"She didn't use her highest transformation, she says," Hayase grumbles. She looks at Yuriko and says in the same grumbling tone, "You should say that to the crocodile that chomps your pretty little butt. But I never said I went all out either," she points out. She shakes her head. So light headed. She flinches though when Naoya's spiders swarm around her. Just a few moments ago they'd been trying to web her up. But then she notices they're strategically bandaging her up, much better than she herself had. It's enough to stop her from actively bleeding all over the swamp. She lets out a sigh. "With friends like these," she says, with a laugh.
Yuriko smirks slightly. "You th ink I have a cute butt? I'm flattered." A small giggle escapes. She waits until Naoya's spiders are done bandaging Hayase's arm before she shifts her weight, leaning forward and rising up to her feet. "Come on. We can take an easy pace, but we can't stay on the ground floor. The alligator Naoya had taken care of is already gone." And it was. No doubt predators had taken care of it. "Can you guys move still?"
Sitting up slowly, Naoya nods lightly but doesn't stand up until the spiders that had swarmed Hayase begin to retreat up the tree and return to him. "I can still move.. I'll carry either of you if you're too tired to move on your own." While he speaks with some confidence, his sluggish movements might bring that into question. Moving a hand to the side of his neck, he slowly begins to massage the side of it slowly while rotating his neck. "This brood isn't going to be happy working on sewing me back up.. again."
Hayase covers her eyes with her hands when Yuriko twists her comment around. Though from behind her hands she mutters something about pain in the butts, and Kaguyas, and Okumos. She does remove her hands at the mention of alligators. There can still be more lurking. "We're just fine," she says stiffly to Naoya. She hmphs, and tromps off. It seems she was the only one who really needed bandaging up. "Next spar'll go differently," she promises both of her friends. "One day, it'll be you two having to gang up on me."
