View Full Version : Dances of Wind and Steel: Waltz of Shadows and Glittering Lights
Dawn came too early for most of the Heirarchs of the Dajas Pagoda. Sakurazuka Anila knew this for a fact, but chose not to allow the laziness of her fellows influence her regimen. Every morning since she was a child, she had been woken before the first ray of light broke the chill of the mountain night in her native Akashima.
Then, she'd had lessons to attend to and the general business of life as a Duke's daughter. Now, she merely had her duties as a Pagoda Warrior to worry about, which was comparatively easy.
Most days she spent taking care of her dojo. The orchids around the pond and at the edges of the rock garden needed almost constant care, and she took pride in the fact that she kept them all looking healthy. The koi in the pond had to be fed, and the pond had to be kept fairly clear of much algae, especially the stepping stones. Inside, the bamboo floors had to be kept polished, the cushions lining the walls had to be kept fluffed, and the ropes on her overhead field of nets had to be kept in repair.
She didn't have to do all of it herself, and were she still at home, she would have been perfectly content to leave the jobs to servants. Indeed, there was a landscaper here for her grounds, and someone to clean up the general mess after each battle. She was sure her father would be displeased that she spent her days working with her hands. She was starting to form callouses on previously perfect hands, but that would only matter shortly before her wedding, not scheduled for more than a year.
What time was left after her dojo was clean and cared for was spent practicing her deadly fan dance. At night, she washed her body and slept, only to get up and do it all over again.
Some days, however, were different. Some days, she had challengers, and on those days, she did no work on upkeep. At dawn, her servant Hissomi brought her hot tea just after she dressed in the form-fitting garment that she wore for such days, and she drank it before heading out of her spartan, but comfortable, bedchambers and starting a practice session designed to limber up her muscles and prepare her for the battle ahead.
This was one such day, a day she had a challenger. The name sounded eerily familiar to her: Tetsoma Kyosku. Since she couldn't recall the name being noble, or associated with the court at all, that meant that she was probably part of a ninja clan. She might even have worked for Sakurazuka Yukio at one point, but the cardinal rule of nobility regarding assassins is to deny their existence until they're absolutely needed. And then have a way to reach a reliable one.
Anila didn't know if she could take on a full-fledged assassin, even in her own dojo. They had odd abilities, even the worst of them. Any assassin that got caught while on a job was a dead one, meaning that her opponent would be dangerous.
I could barely provide challenge to Seether Koran, she thought as she caught a fan she'd tossed up at the end of her morning session. An Akashiman assassin...could potentially be much worse.
Perspiring lightly, she opened the sliding door to the outside, letting her shoes crunch lightly over the gravel path to the pond. It was just dawn now, and she had an hour to prepare her mind. She was better now, faster, and her sensei had taught her to be formidable from the cradle. She could surely handle herself in her own arena.
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An hour later, Anila stood with the same cold beauty as an ice statue in the center of her dojo. The door to the outside stood open, but she hoped that, if Kyosku was the assassin she had assumed her to be, she'd choose to take the battle up, to the ropes. The last time she had attempted a battle on the ropes, the challenger had quit. She wanted a real fight on them.
Nervousness twisted her stomach. She'd been raised on tales of what happened to you in an assassin's grip, and that inspired a snakelike tendril of fear to worm its way through her body, but she was determined to face her opponent with skill, honor, and dignity. She was just waiting for the screen door to slide open.
On the outside of the screen, between the entrance from the Pagoda proper and into the arena, there was a small reception room. A low table on the left had a steaming cup of tea sitting on a heating plate with a small lid on it, inviting the guest to drink. At the far wall sat the maidservant Hissomi, ready to write down the answers to any questions the challenger might have.
All was prepared for Kyosku Tetsoma's arrival, like it had been prepared for the arrivals of so many other challengers before her.
There was no greater logic that gave reason to this decision. No all-encompassing motivation that spurred her further on and defined her choices and her actions. No, it was simple. She was an assassin and a warrior and as such, she enjoyed testing the boundaries of her own body and skills, and what better a place to do it than in the Pagoda where real lives weren’t at stake and one false move could cost her everything. And of all the places to test her skills, she found herself here, kneeling calmly at a small, low rising table with a cup of steaming herbal tea in her hands. Here, where she felt comfortable and relaxed, where it felt like home and the dojo she had trained in all her life.
Some of her worries and her anxieties about this battle had melted away when she’d approached her fighting ground. The beautiful and well-manicured gardens, lined with stepping stones and flowers and plants she knew from her home had been soothing to the senses. Not to mention the building was of classic Akashima style, from the slight angle of the shingled and decorated roof to the low porch and sliding doors. Apparently, her opponent was Akashima in more than just her name but also her upbringing and her style of living. It eased her a small bit knowing she was most likely fighting someone with integrity and honour, rather than the random warriors and so called heroes that traversed the streets and hidden paths of Althanas. The tea was also something that helped to calm that nervous flutter in her heart, as did the meditative state she slowly slipped her mind into.
It was the same thing she did before going out on a mission. Clearing her mind of all thoughts and worries, she allowed herself to fall into blackness, a void where her emotions were barely present and rarely wanted. Here she could put her thoughts and feelings aside and react as her body was trained too, focusing solely on her opponent and her own actions.
With the last of the tea warming her and soothing her from within, the ninja sighed peacefully and rose from the plain, red cushion she had been kneeling on. Straightening her dark purple and black gi, Kyo meticulously went over all her equipment, the process taking her no more than a minute or two. She tightened the belt around her waist and adjusted her ninja-to, as well as tightening her armguards and running her fingers along the hidden pockets that rested upon them.
Looking around the bare room, Kyosku laid her eyes on the maidservant in the corner. She never looked up at Kyo and barely—if ever— left that place on the floor that quite possibly fascinated her. She had heard of servants like this, servants that never talked unless spoken to; never looked their masters in the eye and lived solely for the needs of another. They did not have servants in her village considering they fought against the oppression that the Okinawa were forcing upon them, it would seem ludicrous to have another waiting on them and their every need. They merely did everything for themselves, which was fine with Kyo, she wasn’t entirely certain if she could have someone appear at her beck and call and do her bidding for her.
“To Sakurazuka, please.”
The young maidservant, who never gave her no name to call her, who never spoke a single syllable in fact, turned in her sitting position without looking up at Kyo and without even getting up. Her small hands reached up and opened the sliding door behind her and then her head bowed once more as she waited for the ninja to enter. She thought of saying something, anything to her but the words died upon her tongue. There was no point. This was not her place, she was here to battle.
Walking past her, Kyosku found herself in a large and open room flooded with light from an open set of sliding doors. It gleamed off the polished bamboo floors that the ninja could probably see her reflection in if she tried. Like most dojo, the room was void of anything it didn’t need. Cushions lined the walls of this one, bringing a small amount of warmth into the place but she eyes barely noticed it. Before her focus solely turned to her opponent, she found herself glancing upwards where she saw an intricate set of ropes and nets hanging there empty and ready for use. Seeing it brought a shiver of excitement through her body. Did her opponent mean to fight up there and not on solid ground? How amusing. Kyo had trained long and hard to find the balance she had within her body and she was also quite acrobatic. Though she was unsure of whether or not she could truly fight someone on a battlefield of ropes, she would certainly enjoy the opportunity.
Then her ice blue eyes were on the form of the woman Sakurazuka Anila. Stopping her silent steps along the floor and leaving no more then five feet between her and the woman, Kyosku bowed politely and then stood straight. Every muscle within her body was thrumming and waiting for the release of battle, but she would not make the first move. This was not her dojo and she was the challenger here.
Definitely an assassin. Definitely Akashiman.
The fact that Anila hadn't needed to explain common courtesy to Kyosku spoke more to her than the name and the ninja-gi that the other woman wore. She surmised that further speech would be not only unnecessary, but detrimental. She needed the assassin's respect in the event that she ever needed to use her services, and that meant fighting on a ninja's terms.
Anila returned the bow, keeping her cold brown eyes locked on her opponent's figure. As she straightened up, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, releasing with it the tension that came with the knowledge she was fighting an Akashiman assassin.
She's facing me in the open, which gives me better odds than if she'd been hired to take me out.
But what if that was the plan? No, it couldn't be. Kyosku hadn't challenged her in particular, she had put in an open challenge at the Pagoda, presumably to test her own mettle.
Her mind somewhat eased, Anila regarded her challenger coldly, hands twitching as she debated which fan she should attack with first, since she was expected to initiate combat. She was the challenged, after all.
Launching off her right foot, Anila swept toward her opponent, slicing at Kyo with Uindo, which cracked open in her left hand as it sped toward the assassin's midsection. Hagane stayed back in her right hand to guard against the inevitable counter. For now, she'd make her attacks blatant, straightforward.
In a minute or so, she'd start with the faster, trickier, more deadly attacks.
No words were exchanged between them. Words were unnecessary in this place and Kyo was glad to see that her opponent understood that. More could be said within a silence than one thousand words could ever amass to and the ninja had just learned more from her opponent by her lack of speech than had she parted her lips to say something. This was no game, she took this fight seriously and her position as a Pagoda warrior as well. Respect and honour were most likely important things to her; she knew that as the woman returned the bow that Kyo had given. But she never took her eyes off her. Though the ninja would never attack an opponent in such a situation, the woman was clearly without that understanding.
She knows I’m an assassin…
It wasn’t a hard conclusion to come to. It was the same kind of conclusion someone could easily come to when they needed to pick a warrior out of a crowd. Besides, Kyosku made no attempt to hide it and anyone from Akashima could guess at her profess just by looking at the clothes she wore right now and the way she moved her body. Her motions were always graceful and cat-like, ready to act and react at any given moment. Her job demanded it and her training had ingrained upon her a constant guard that she could never drop. It would, most likely save her life one day, but it could also be quite dangerous, as Jared had learned when he’d tried to roughly shake her from her slumber.
Her eyes narrowed upon the woman as she saw her legs tense and her body shift in just the slightest way. Then she launched herself towards the ninja from her right foot and Kyo felt her own muscles clench with the anticipation of battle, but she kept her body still as she watched her opponent’s arms. First attacks were usually the easier to read and they could give you a bit of an insight into the way that ones opponent fought and Kyo wanted that advantage.
She watched as her arm suddenly lashed out from her side and she made a sharp motion with her wrist that unfurled a fighting fan. They were an interesting choice of weapon that intrigued the ninja ever so slightly. They were not easy to use and though they could be quite useful and easy to conceal, one had to have a great amount of control over the movements of their hands, otherwise they were cumbersome and could be quite slow. Sakurazuka appeared to have more than just a handle on the weapon as she sent it slicing through the air and towards Kyosku’s stomach.
Shifting her weight to the balls of her feet, Kyo jumped back and away from the attack watching as the fan sliced through nothing but the air and missed her slightly bent legs by nothing more than a few inches. Close, but she’d had closer. Before her toes even found the stable ground of the polished floors, her hands were already on the move. Reaching towards the underside of her armguard, her fingers quickly found the hidden pockets and pulled out one of the black shuriken from within. The points of the projectile were covered in a hallucinogenic just potent enough to addle ones eyes, ears and mind. With a flick of her wrist and a fast extension of her arm, she sent the throwing star through the air towards the woman just as her feet hit the ground. Her aim was nowhere deadly, in fact it was slightly off due to the heat of the moment, but she suspected it would land somewhere around her chest or midsection if the attack connected. She was quite close to the woman though, so she suspected it would be rather interesting to see the motions of her body if she did indeed block or avoid the projectile.
Tetsoma-san had not disappointed; the fan charge had been dodged and a counter provided in the form of shuriken. Anila's own sensei had clashed with ninjas many a time, and had taught Duke Sakurazuka Yukio's son and daughter to watch out for the deadly throwing-stars, oft coated with poison.
As she let her unsuccessful strike with Uindo take her left arm out, Hagane flashed open and whipped rapidly around her right hand. A satisfying click heard it bounce off the fan and skitter over the floor.
Anila was starting to suspect that Kyosku was nothing more than a junior ninja; still deadly, but she'd be able to face her on equal footing. Of course, she could be a master and trying to lure the noblewoman into a false sense of security, but there was no time to dwell on that.
Sometimes, Mikoto and Kijo Sakurazuka, rang the voice of her sensei in her mind, there might be someone who would hire another person to kill you. In these instances, if you are to survive you must fight like an oni, whether the assassin is a novice or a master ninja. Otherwise, you will die. Sensei's teachings had never led her astray before.
Initial blows had been exchanged. Now the real fight was to begin, and Anila was determined to not give up any advantage.
With a sudden fierceness, the raven-haired maiden launched into a lethal dance, feet sliding over the polished floor with the smooth fluidity and unstoppable force of an ocean wave. Her fans glittered in the light that seeped into the dojo through the open door and the windows high above as they slashed up and down, over and across, but always forward, always seeking to either open Kyosku's flesh or drive her back. She danced like the Courting Heron, only instead of wings that sought to brush against a potential mate, her tender touches were lined with razors.
A fitting caress for a ninja, she thought smugly.
Mikoto = lord, Kijo = lady, oni = demon, sensei = teacher.
Her projectile met nothing but the cold steel of the woman’s fan. The clang that vibrated throughout the still air echoed in the empty room, followed with a dull thunk as it impacted the smooth floor. No look of worry passed through her slanted and ice blue eyes though as she watched the shuriken land a few feet away. The attack had merely been a test to see just how quick the woman was with those fans of hers. Had she not been able to block the shuriken then this battle would have been short lived, but now that she had seen just how quick the woman’s reactions were she knew this was going to be very interesting. After all, this was about her testing her skills and seeing just how far they could get her. If her opponent was not good enough to block a mere shuriken then this was pointless and would teach her nothing.
With a sudden and intense motion, Sakurazuka moved towards her. Her legs a graceful step forward as if she were prancing through the beats of a waltz instead of the routine of battle. Her attacks were fierce and quick, the glittering fans coming in from different angles towards the ninja’s body, looking for a niche to dig themselves into and for flesh to rend and rip. Kyo’s own quickened steps kept her just out of range of the sharpened edges as the warrior pushed her back. Each swing was designed to either cut her or force her backwards, and eventually giving the woman the advantage over her.
If I keep moving back, she’s going to get me up against a wall.
It was what the warrior wanted, she knew. With her back pressed up against a wall she would have no where to run that the woman could not get to her first, but she was not about to let her pushed her back that far. If she wanted her pinned to a wall, she was going to have to try much harder than that.
Reaching behind her, the ninja wrapped her fingers around the familiar and slightly worn black material of her ninja-to. With a quick pull, she freed them from their sheathes and brought the black coated blades out in front of her. Their surface reflected no light unlike the metallic surface of Sakurazuka’s fans. They sparkled in the light and gave away each attack as they came in, like a shining beacon to the eyes of the wary. Kyo’s did no such thing. Their motions were a blur of black as she lashed out at the woman’s attacks. Far harder was it to stop an incoming blow, while merely deflecting it not only threw the attack away from them, but also left the person open for a counter.
As the left fan come in on a downward diagonal slash towards her shoulder and chest, the ninja reacted quickly. Her hand shot out and intercepted the blow. The fan collided with the flat side of her ninja-to and sent the weapon careening off to the side. As the sound of ringing metal began to die once more in the arena, the woman’s second attack was coming in. It was flashing straight towards her chest. Dropping down to a crouch, the ninja felt the air above her head shift and dance through her hair as the fan sliced through the air.
Placing one of her hands on the floor for support, the ninja quickly lashed out with her leg. A sharp kick aimed straight for the side of the woman’s knee. She was quick on her feet, but if she managed to damage her knee, then she wouldn’t be able to use those fans of hers so well, now would she?
Time warning for me: in under the wire.
She was fast, this ninja, and the battle was going from bland to exciting already. Few people could offer her a challenge that meant anything more than a paycheck at the end of the day; Kyosku meant a challenge on her own level. While before this had frightened Anila, now her blood raced through her veins, and it took all her self control to not to let a grin cross her face.
As the ninja-to brushed Uindo off to the side, Anila watched the assassin's body pivot, trying to take out her knee. It was a basic attack, and an effective one, too. No matter what Anila did at this point, it would at least bruise, since her flurry of attacks had her committed to going forward. But she would not necessarily need to dodge.
As the kick approached its target, Anila planted her right leg firmly on the shining bamboo floor and picked up her left leg, intercepting the ninja's shin with her own and suppressing the wince as bone cracked on bone. Uindo slid over the ninja's dark blade, joining its brother to present its razor's edge to Kyo.
For just a moment, the highly polished floor reflected them like a pond's surface would reflect a crane and a crab, locked in the battle for survival. Anila could probably end it now with a swift downward slash, but that wouldn't have been fun. Instead, she sliced at the ninja's extended leg, withdrawing a couple of steps before gesturing up at the span of rope nets.
A slight smile now crossed her lips as she issued her invitation, although her eyes remained watchful and cold. She couldn't trust the ninja enough to smile in front of her, but it was incredibly exciting to be able to ask someone to join her on her net.
"Shall we take our dance up a level?"
Their legs collided. Instead of hitting the woman in the knee where she had wanted, she instead met the resistance of the woman’s shin. The gritting and jarring feeling of bone cracking against bone vibrate up her leg and into the muscles the tendons and the bones. The feeling of it radiated up her thigh and through her calf and though the blunt force of it hurt like hell, she didn’t show it on her face. There was a slight change in her eyes as her brows were forced down and narrowed slightly, focusing on the body of the woman and how she began her next set of moves.
Her hands here on the move again with those deadly fans of hers, cutting through the air as they in turn changed direction to cut through her as well.
Her leg was open and relatively unguarded, or so it looked to the woman she was fighting. But she too wielded two weapons and though one of her hands was planted upon the ground for balance, the other was free and already moving. Like she had before, she swept in quickly and the sound of ricocheting metal rang out in the relative silence of the dojo. The fan was safely deflected but when the ninja expected a further counter from the woman, she surprised her by stepping away and relaxing her stance slightly.
Coming to her feet, Kyosku glanced curiously towards her opponent, wondering if she was giving up so soon into the match or if something was wrong. But no, she merely pointed to the rope nets that lined the high ceiling above them with a slight smirk pulling at the corner of her lips. Then she asked the ninja if she wanted to take the fight up above.
It was an interesting proposition.
Her balance was very good. Years of practice and training had honed that into her. She needed it, without it she could not survive as a ninja. But fighting upon a net of ropes was something she had never done before. Still, it was a challenge and she was here to test herself and push her skills to the limit and beyond. She didn’t want to play it safe, she wanted the chance to do something she’d never done before and here in the Dajas Pagoda it was such a place to do it, where she couldn’t truly die.
Sheathing both her blades, Kyo nodded to Sakurazuka, “Very well.”
As her eyes moved passed her opponent, she noticed the footholds along the walls meant to give easy access to the net ropes. If she had noticed them sooner, she may have used them when Sakurazuka was pushing her against the wall. Perhaps that was what she’d wanted her to do all along. A quick glance behind her proved that they were on the opposite wall as well. So despite the fact that she didn’t want to do it, the ninja turned her back on her opponent and moved towards the wall. If she tried anything she would be able to hear her hollowed steps upon the polished floors or even see her face looming up behind her, such as they reflected everything like glass.
Grabbing onto the footholds, she hoisted herself up and quickly began the climb upwards. Once at the top, she hesitantly stepped out onto the net ropes, feeling it bend and give under her weight slightly. She only moved out a few feet though, getting a feel for the give in the nets and the way they reacted to her steps and her weight. She also wanted to see Sakurazuka’s fighting skills up here since this was her territory now and Kyosku was nothing but a guest.
Why everyone saw the need to climb the pegs was beyond Anila's comprehension. Maybe it would have been hard to walk up if they had poor balance or were over six feet tall, but each peg was designed to fully support the weight of a grown man and within easy striding distance. Eireann, the last person who had made the ascension to the ropes had, too, felt the need to climb. Kyosku was only slightly taller than the arena's proprietor, so walking up should have been easy.
Oh well. It's almost a twenty-foot climb, doubtless her arms will be a little tired. How much was hard to say...after all, ninja trained in climbing.
Choosing her own ascension point, Anila quickly stepped up and onto the first peg, using her momentum to carry her from step to step as fast as she could. Speed was of the essence, since while she had stood calmly by and let her opponent climb unharassed, she couldn't be certain that the other woman would extend her the same courtesy. Ninja had codes of honor that extended to other ninja, and not necessarily to other warriors as a whole. While they were perfectly capable of being strictly honorable in fights like this, they were also, as a class, not above breaking those bounds to achieve victory.
She's definitely a junior ninja...even if there had merely been a few footholds, a ninja master would probably not have climbed by his hands.
When she reached the top, Anila took a few quick strides toward the center of the ropes. If she didn't pay attention, she could easily get a foot caught in the taught webbing. The design, however, incorporated only straight lines and anchoring knots every two hand spans or so. After all, there was enough to consider in a battle without worrying too much about footing; the net was more an intimidation method than an actual danger. At its worst and best, it provided a little bounce. The give would probably be as good or better for her opponent than for her, but she had to take that risk.
Mildly winded from her run up the wall, Anila stepped up onto the rope platform as Tetsoma Kyosku caught her footing. She did the same, sliding step by step over the strict grid she had made for herself until she was far enough in for comfort. Once more she bowed, steadying her breathing and smoothing out her facial features into the cold mask that she'd been taught was essential to a fight.
A loud crack resounded through the arena as as her two fans opened as one and she slid into a low ready position. She'd let her opponent have the honor of first move this time.
She had been hoping that Sakurazuka would make the first move. That she would be able to see exactly how this rope net reacted when the dance of battle was thrown upon it and not the gentle and light steps that both warriors were currently taking. That’s what she had wanted, so she could gauge and analyze how her moves would be affected and how best she should attack herself. It was not to be though. Sakurazuka made no move towards her, in fact the only thing she did was move in slightly closer to the ninja, keeping a safe and respectable distance but still allowing mere feet to cross for the blow. Then her fans cracked into the silence of the room, broken only by the strain of rope.
Her stance was low, her face was cold. The battle was on once more.
It had never really ended, but given a brief reprieve to allow each warrior their way upon this new battleground, where it was not truly ground. Where each step was slightly absorbed, where the energy put into each attack would be absorbed as well, even if only a little. It was not hard ground and so it would take more effort to jump high, to roll away and to avoid any incoming blows. If that was the advantage that Sakurazuka was looking to have over her, by merely taking away her quick and fast reactions, she may have succeeded, if only a little bit. But Kyosku was adaptable, she changed the motions of her body to deal with new environments, it would just take her time to realize the boundaries of this one. Whether or not it would take her too long was yet to be seen.
Shifting her feet around on the netting, the ninja reached behind her and wrapped both her hands around her ninja-to. With a quick motion she pulled the weapons free once more and the ringing of metal lit the air for only a second until she tensed her legs and pushed herself towards her opponent. Like she had thought, the netting absorbed some of her momentum, but she quickly compensated for it, losing barely any of her speed.
Once she was within range of her opponent, Kyosku unleashed a quick series of attacks. The first she aimed towards the woman’s neck, her right hand coming in with a quick and powerful slash that she had no doubt the woman would block. The second was aimed lower towards the abdomen, a motion that would slice open her lower stomach and spill her insides upon her chosen field of combat should it connect. But like the first attack, she did not expect this one to land either, they were both merely distractions to get the woman’s hands moving and away from the centre area of her chest. With a quick snap of her wrist, the ninja brought her right hand back around and the blade that was gripped within it. The sharpened edge heading in a diagonal slash that would cut open the woman from her shoulder to her opposite breast.
She moved fast, this ninja, but used the spring of the ropes to her advantage a lot less than the young noble had expected. In fact, they seemed to hamper her a little bit. True, even Anila found that it was more a strain on her legs to keep moving in such an environment, but when she did move, there was a little energy added for every little bit taken away.
The blows to her neck and abdomen were easily seen and blocked, twin fans snapping shut as they blocked the darkened blades that aimed to shed their mistress's blood. The blows had been swift, and each sent a jar down the Akashiman woman's arm as they were forced to their untimely stops.
Anila saw the next move coming clearly. Her left arm was held away from her body and up, and her right arm was low and away, leaving her torso exposed. Her sensei had seen to it that the flaws inherent in her dual-wielding style were exposed to her and taken advantage of during her childhood.
As soon as the pressure of Kyo's ninja-to let off of her left hand, she knew the strike was coming. With a strong flick of her wrist, she intercepted the black blade with her gleaming fan, forcing it down and away. Even as her hands moved, she launched herself from the ropes, twisting ever so slightly in midair as she brought her knee up, aiming it for Kyo's abdomen.
She heard the sharp shiik! of fans dragging along swords, smelled the other woman's scent, tasted the incense that she burned in the evenings. Every part of the arena seemed heightened for her at that instant, as her right knee longed for the hard collision of bone against flesh and her left toes felt for the purchase they hoped they'd have, since she'd jumped along one of the lines.
If she'd miscalculated the jump, the battle would be over fast, but she felt herself land and bounce a little on the line of rope she'd depended upon.
None of her attacks had been quick enough. They had been executed perfectly; and yet just as perfectly her opponent deflected them, making the arena fill with the sound of steel clashing upon steel and grinding against one another. The sound was ear piercing and if not for all her years of training she would have cringed as it bit into her ears. Silver met black for the last time and the third strike she had hoped would meet with flesh was deflected once more, sending the blade careening through the air and into some unimagined destination that was not the flesh of Sakurazuka.
This was clearly going to be a more challenging fight than Kyosku had originally thought.
Her opponent did not stop with simply blocking her attack. She quickly countered, using the rope netting much better than Kyo originally had. Her lithe form pushed down on the ropes and then launched her body up as she bent her leg and sent her knee straight for the unprotected stomach of the ninja at the same time.
Attempting two different ways to block at the same time, Kyo tried to quickly step back away from the attack and bring over one of her arms at the same time. She wanted to block it or move out of the way of the blow if she could, whichever happened to intercept the incoming blow first. Sadly, neither of them was quick enough to get it done. The hard bone of the knee impacted upon the flesh of Kyosku’s stomach, hitting skin and tensed muscles and digging into the organs that lay underneath.
Even the tensed and strong muscles of her stomach couldn’t cushion the blow enough.
A loud umph filled the arena as the air was forced from Kyo’s lungs, as pain exploded throughout her lower abdomen. The force of the blow sent her reeling backwards and one of her feet easily slipped into the netting, sending her onto her back. Her back hit the rope and the fall made her bounce upon them, sending her into a backwards flip that landed her on her hands and knees and coughing as she tried to regain her breath. She knew she didn’t have a long time to recover though, she could already feel the rope bend and give as Sakurazuka landed upon the netting as well.
Whipping her head around to find her opponent, Kyo released one of her ninja-to in order to quickly procure a shuriken and launch it towards the woman. Her aim had it landing somewhere around her lower abdomen, if it actually made its target. She didn’t know if it would with Sakurazuka’s quick reflexes. That wasn’t the end of her attack though, even as the shuriken left her fingers, she quickly snatched up her discarded ninja-to and scrambled to her feet. Using the momentum and slight bounce of the ropes, she closed the distance on the two of them easily enough. Once she was within striking range, she lashed out with a sharp and powerful slash towards the woman’s chest, her blade arching through the air and followed by a simple thrust with her other sword, aimed to embed itself deep into her stomach.
Well, I've officially timed out, so Kyo is the winner of the money. Now we'll just see who wins the score.
The assassin's shuriken flew toward Anila with both precision and deadly intent as the Heirarch sped toward the ninja, intent on giving her as little time to recover as possible. Anila, having seen her opponent use the throwing stars before, had been expecting such a tactic and lithely stepped to the side, right onto another taut rope.
She heard it whiz by harmlessly, continuing to propel herself both forward and to her right as Kyosku charged her. The blackened blades thrust forward as though the hands of death itself, but Anila was now out of range of the slash, though the blade that had aimed for her chest did slice her arm.
Gritting her teeth and whirling, Anila slashed at her opponent's neck with Uindo, clamping Hagane and her bleeding left arm close to her body. The wound would hurt later, she was sure, but for now it was deep enough that she barely felt it. Still, much motion was inadvisable; blood was already pouring down her arm, staining her royal blue garments black.
She spun with her slash, following through fully, watching to see what would happen next. She held Uindo open and at the ready, merely keeping her grip on Hagane.
None of the attacks had proven themselves deadly, but an expanse of flesh was opened up and left bleeding upon flawless skin and perfect blue robes, covering them and staining them black. The ninja barely had the time to allow the slightest of smirks to creep upon her face and tug at the corner of her lips before her opponent was on the move though. The wound upon her arm seemed to slow her down little, though she did switch her tactics. She kept it close to her body and came in with a quick slash at Kyo’s neck with her other hand. She was probably trying to minimize the movement of her injured arm, stop the blood from flowing and keep her mind focused on the battle instead of the pain that moving it would likely bring about.
That mattered little to Kyosku though.
This just meant she had an advantage. If Sakurazuka was only willing to use one of her hands, then she was going to have to work twice as hard just to block any more of Kyo’s attacks from reaching her body and further injuring her.
As the quick slash towards Kyo’s neck came in, the ninja found herself taking a few hasty steps backwards and away from its reach while her hand rose to meet it. The sharpened edges of the fan dug into the leather of her armguard. It ripped and tore into the thin leather and reached the flesh that lay underneath it, slicing through that as well. She could feel the sharp pain as it coursed along her arm. Her eyes widened for a moment, before her face fell back into the emotionless mask she kept upon it during battles. Blood dripped down from her arm and hit the ropes that she balanced herself on, but her mind noticed it little. The cut was not deep, only ragged. It would hurt, but pain was something that could be tolerated.
Sakurazuka spun her body around in time with her attack, following it all the way through and the ninja moved towards her with a deadly intent the moment she began to slow and turn to face her. Unlike her opponent, she did not let the wound get to her; she did not favour her uninjured arm or try to tuck the injured one against her body. Stepping towards her opponent, the ninja readied her left blade for a slash across her body, then faked out towards her right side and came in with her right hand instead. A quick and deadly strike aimed at the woman’s neck.
This grows tiresome.
Annoyance flashed through Sakurazuka's system as Kyosku swept back in with a slash from her right to her left, and she watched the weak commitment to an attack on her left side as she dodged left, bringing Uindo up to bat the sword away as it came up for her neck.
Again, she used the ropes to propel her forward, feet sure on the floor that she'd created and practiced upon, but this time she did not bring her knee up. This time she whipped Uindo back from the blade and made a showy slash for Kyo's face. Much lower, she lashed out with her left arm, injured though it was, aiming gleaming Hagane for a blow that would hopefully rip Kyosku's side open.
She'd decided that the battle would not last long enough for her to bleed out, in all likelihood, and victory, more than anything else, mattered. She would not have a junior ninja come into her dojo and take victory away from her. Never mind what tomorrow or the next day brought, now she fought, and now she needed victory.
She was determined to have it, to earn it, or make this other truly earn it. She was a Sakurazuka, and honor would allow her nothing less than honest victory or intensely hard fought defeat.
She was too quick. She kept dodging the ninja’s attacks as if they were child’s play. Even as she faked out and quickly pressed forward hoping to end this battle in a simple move, the woman danced around it. Her feet sure on the ropes and the bounce that they afforded her, while Kyo was left precariously balancing upon them and having to constantly check her balance every time she turned around. She hated this and was beginning to grow annoyed with the setting, wishing that she had instead continued to fight the woman on even ground instead of giving in to her advantage. But then she wouldn’t be challenging herself. Still, that reasoning was beginning to grow boring to the ninja.
As she swiftly moved out of range from her quick strike, Kyosku began to retract her blade back towards her body and into a defensive manoeuvre when the woman came in from a counter. She pounced quickly, her steps closing the small distance in a second and giving the ninja little to no time to react as slashing steel rent the air and moved toward her. She reflexively stepped back, but it didn’t do her very much good. The sharp edge of the fan caught her along the side of her face and ripped through the flesh, digging down to the bone. It slashed along her temple and continued still, slicing into her eyeball and rendering her right eye completely useless before it slashed into her nose and then broke off.
The void she put her mind in and the empty place she dumped all her emotions within could not hold back the cry of pain that escaped her lips as she stumbled back and away from her opponent. The second of the woman’s attacks missing her by a hairline and slicing through the fabric of her gi instead. Blood was pouring down the side of her face and Kyo unconscious dropped one of her blades to clutch at the wound. The thick liquid slithered through her fingers and dripped down from her hand and flowed into her leather armguards, which soaked it up as if a desert heat had dried them. This time the pain was hard to stamp down, to ignore and to push past, not to mention Kyo knew her view of the world was sudden skewed. Without her right eye, everything would look more centred towards the left and there was only so much she could do to correct that.
She had to end this battle now.
Continuing to put up the front of pain and shock, the ninja reached behind her and grabbed onto the cap at the end of one of her sheathes. She didn’t know which one nor did she care. Removing it, she felt the powder within fall into her hand and she clutched it around the handle of her blade, holding it there.
That bitch was going to pay for taking out her eye.
Removing her hand from her face, the ninja grabbed one of her shuriken, a known and anticipated tactic and rushed towards the woman. She used the ropes to her advantage this time, pressing down and propelling herself forward with the bounce they provided. As she tossed the shuriken towards Sakurazuka, knowing she would merely step out of its way or block it, Kyo brought her sword up. The blade arched in front of the woman’s face, though she was never in any danger of the sharpened, blackened edge touching her. Instead, once the handle started to pass by her, Kyosku loosened her grip upon it and blew the powdered substance into Sakurazuka’s face.
It seemed that every time the ninja experienced a setback, she threw a shuriken. Anila had already anticipated this, and it flew past her as she charged. The howl of her opponent's pain had brought a sadistic grin to Sakurazuka's face, and she knew that she now had the advantage. Her injured arm hurt, but it was the furthest thing from her mind, and she could see.
Her opponent was down to one weapon, and Anila wasn't about to let her get her hand near her face. She'd seen her reach backwards, and knew that couldn't be good news.
As the straightened wakazashi flashed toward her right side, Anila slammed Uindo hard into it, forcing it and Kyo's hand away while still propelling forward and whipping Hagane from right to left across the area of her opponent's torso. The ninja would meet her match here in the noble, and if she knew that the noble could defeat her, it would make compliance and respect much easier if she ever wound up hiring this ninja.
She was Sakurazuka Anila, and she would not be stopped.
She never got close enough to release the powder. She never even got the chance. The woman slammed one of her fans into the weapon and sent it flying off to the side, away from her chosen target and away from her body. The move left her open, or so her opponent thought. But just because there wasn’t a weapon in her other hand did not mean it was completely useless. She was a ninja after all. She was not some petty warrior who had plucked a sword from the wall of his father’s home and come here seeking fame and fortune. She was a trained warrior, no, she was a trained assassin from the Kunketsu clan and she would not be defeated by this noble tramp, blinded in one eye or not.
She would not falter!
The attack to her torso came in quickly, intending to rip through the flesh and muscle of her stomach and to the innards that lay underneath it. The woman wanted this battle over with just as much as Kyosku did, but she was not prepared to let it end on such a note. If she was going to fall to this woman, it was going to take more than this to make it happen.
Her good eye perceived the attack as her mind quickly tried to come up with a feasible way to avoid it.
In the end, the ninja tried to use a completely different tactic than what she had been doing throughout this entire battle. True, it was not normally something she would do in a fight such as this, but the majority of her attacks had proved ineffective up until this point in time and she was anything if not adaptable. Whether or not her opponent was, was about to be tested.
Let’s see you anticipate this.
Instead of backing away from the attack, Kyosku threw herself into it. The main force behind the blow missed her completely, though the woman did succeed in slamming her arm into the ninja’s side. Still, that didn’t slow her down, only elicited a slight grunt from the ninja. Using the bounce of the ropes, Kyo pushed off of them and sent her body flying towards the noble woman. Her shoulder was aimed low and towards the hopefully open and unprotected gut of Sakurazuka. If her timing was right, then she wouldn’t be able to avoid the attack having overreached to try and finish her off. Should this work, then the ninja would be more than pleased to show the woman that sharpened steel was not the only weapon upon this earth and that clenched fists slamming into the side of one’s head worked just as effectively.
Anila hadn't expected Kyo to charge straight into her attack. It wasn't what she'd done based on the noblewoman's previous experience of her, but her training had not excluded sudden attacks such as this.
Anila's arm whacked against Kyo's side as the ninja's shoulder slammed into the tense muscles of her abdomen. It still knocked the air out of her and swept her off her feet, but that didn't have her concerned. She felt the ninja's arm move up, trying to hit her temple with crushing force, so she leaned in, pulling her own arm back as her opponent's fist rammed against the back of her head, force slowed by the thick braided bun that Hissomi had wound earlier that morning.
With a swift motion, she chopped at her opponent's unguarded side with her fan, feet scrambling for purchase on the ropes, not finding it. She leaned more heavily on her opponent for a second, using Kyosku's footing to keep her aloft for the second it took her to get her feet back on the ropes.
She was starting to feel woozy, she'd been dealt a serious wound, and while she'd taken out one of her opponent's eyes, she wasn't drawing as much blood per second. If she didn't open her now, the fight would start to go in a decidedly bad direction for the proud Sakurazuka.
Only half of her attack had worked. Her shoulder had slammed into the gut of the woman, meeting the resistance of clenched and tensed muscles that were still not enough to stop the affects of the impact and the rushing air that the ninja could hear leaving the woman’s mouth. She stumbled and she fell away, but as Kyo kept with her and moved in to cause a little blunt force trauma, the crafty warrior moved as well. Her head shifted its position and the sailing fist met the tightly wrapped and braided piece of hair clinging to the back of the woman’s skull instead of slamming into the woman’s temple and jostling around her brain.
It appeared that no matter what she did, she could not get in a proper blow. Nothing that was debilitating, nothing like the wound which had taken out Kyosku’s eye. It was still throbbing and she could feel the blood from it trickling down the side of her face, staining her tanned skin. It was more of a nuisance now, most of the initial pain had faded away to the back of her mind and left her with her sight being the only true problem it posed. So far she was doing all right for compensating. Her quick thinking was allowing her to estimate, even guess how much her perceived world was off from the actual reality of the situation. But if she didn’t hurry up and end this woman’s life here and now then she was going to slip and it would be a fatal mistake on her behalf.
Her opponent seemed to be facing a much bigger problem than that though.
Her attacks were getting sloppy.
As she tried to right herself and bring the battle back under a manageable state for her, so she attacked the unguarded side of the ninja. The motion was quick and slightly uncoordinated and made to rip open flesh so she would bleed just as much as Sakurazuka was. The only problem being, she didn’t have the balance to make such a move. Even as the attack came in, the woman was heavily leaning against Kyo in an attempt to keep her body upright and her feet from slipping through the ropes and tangling within them.
With her own sure footing, Kyosku twisted her body to the side and watched as the sharpened tips of Sakurazuka’s fan rent the area where she used to be. Then she lashed out and grabbed onto the woman’s wrist before she could retract the fan as her feet still struggled to find purchase on their unsteady battleground. With a quick jerk she pulled forward on the woman’s arm as hard and as fast as she could, as the blade in her other hand moved into the path of the woman’s torso.
Chotto matte, Kyo-san*.
Anila had gotten her feet under her just in time, and her hand moved down, instead of just back, meaning that her opponent grasped at air and whirled with it. And that whirling motion was taking her blind eye and turning it right toward her opponent.
Tetsoma Kyosku had been granted too much quarter this battle, between Anila's rare generosity, inspired by respect and fear of what these assassins were capable of, and the ropes staying under her feet. But fear had become annoyance, and it was much worse to annoy Sakurazuka Anila than to anger her. Her opponent's blunder left her open to a ruthless attack - the trademark of both Sakurazuka Anila and her father, Sakurazuka Yukio.
As Kyo's blind eye was fully turned to her, Anila stepped on the taut, yet springy ropes that formed the floor for this battle. Her fans, both open and shining, crossed over each other like the wings of a stalking crane while she lunged with the speed of the serpent.
She lashed out, arms spreading like the wings of a swan in flight, and if she missed, it would leave her open to attack. But could Kyo recover from her failed grab AND defend against attacks aimed at her torso and neck?
*>>>Wait a minute, Kyo.<<<
Sakurazuka recovered too quickly. Her sure steps upon this risky and unstable battlefield were quicker than the ninja anticipated and her move did nothing but put her in a very vulnerable position. When she had reached out to grasp onto her opponent’s wrist and pull her towards her, it left both her sides and her stomach completely open and defenceless. Both her hands were elsewhere, her weapon piercing at nothing but air and forward momentum throwing her slightly off balance. It was just enough that it took her a moment to recover, just enough that she was at a disadvantage when the woman came in for her next attack on the ninja.
Her fans arched through the air, glittering in the light pouring in from outside and announcing their attacks. Instinct won over instead of thought and Kyo gave into it allowing the training she had been undergoing since she was a child to take control of her and guide her body into the necessary motions. Her body tensed and her arms pulled back as fast as they could, trying to protect her from the sharpened steel of her opponent.
It was almost enough, but never quite there.
One of the fans bit deeply into the leather armguards on Kyosku’s left forearm. It sliced through the material and passed it, cutting a jagged and rough path along the skin that lay beneath. Pain caused her grimace and bite down on her tongue, stilling the cry that was building within her throat. She would not give her that kind of satisfaction. Not again.
Sadly, as the death blow to her neck was blocked, the one to her torso bit into her skin without resistance. Her ice blue eyes widened for a brief moment as she felt the cold steel pass through her flesh and muscle. She didn’t cry out though, a muffled gurgle within the depths of her throat was the only noise that could be heard as she felt the blood begin to flow and coat her gi. Then the pain flooded her senses, travelling along her nerves and invading her mind, destroying thought and rationale as her knees nearly buckled and brought her to her end.
Kyo wouldn’t let it end like that though.
She still had some fight in her.
Wrapping her fingers around the fan digging into her armguards and holding it in place, Kyo pounced towards her opponent, thrusting her ninja-to towards her exposed side with everything she had. If this attack didn’t work, she doubted she could recover enough to fight anymore. This was her last desperate move to bring Sakurazuka down with her.
With her free arm finally numb enough that she couldn't move it quick enough and her opponent pouncing like a cat on a mantis, Anila was forced to do something she'd never done before, and never thought she'd do: she let go of one of her fans.
Leaving Hagane in Kyosku's grasp, the Akashiman noble glanced swiftly down at the ropes, spinning away to her right, just as if Kyo had taken her hand and propelled her into the spin, just like in a dance. Her right hand came around for Uindo, taking it and trusting that Kyo's thrust wouldn't finish in time to whip around and stab her in the back.
As she finished the spin, Uindo cracked open, feeling awkward out of her left hand despite being Hagane's identical twin. She saw her opponent, aiming to open the cut on her side further, or give her a matching one. Never had a fight lasted so long in Anila's arena, and she was determined that Kyo would pay for that with pain.
She had failed.
Like the other times before this one, her blade had passed through the air, completely missing her target and leaving her open for another blow. She knew it would have this time. She’d known and yet she’d still taken the chance because Kyosku Tetsoma did not give up so easily, even when facing her own defeat. The outcome of the battle had been decided due to her own actions and her own mistakes. There was a reason her opponent was in the ranks of The Dajas Pagoda, because she was good at what she did. Kyo had taken part in this fight knowing that and seeking the challenge of that and she had been rewarded, but she had also been shown that she had much to learn in her life. She was a master of nothing right now, even her skills as a ninja being relatively novice compared to the others in her clan. But it took experience to grow and this was adding to the already small amount she had garnered.
As she tried to recover from her missed attack, as she tried to bring her sword back towards her body enough to defend herself, the biting end of Sakurazuka’s steel touched her flesh once more. Just above the initial slash in her side it easily pierced the flesh and created a jagged series of slices along it, tearing it, the muscle and possibly the organ underneath. She could no longer tell.
Drawing in a sharp breath, the ninja stumbled back and away from her opponent. She dropped the fan from her fingers; she couldn’t use it to her advantage anyway. She had no idea how to wield fans; that was an art she had never bothered with. As her feet struggled to find purchase on the ropes, Kyo smirked at her opponent. This had certainly been worth her time and the woman had definitely provided a challenge for the ninja, the kind of which she had been looking for.
“A...good fight...” Kyo whispered rather raggedly.
The blood loss was taking its toll on her body. She could feel the sluggish way she was beginning to move and knew that it was only a matter of time. Perhaps there was some fight left in her, perhaps she could attempt another blow. But there just didn’t seem to be strength enough in her limbs. Her arm would barely raise itself and she could feel slight tremors passing through her legs, threatening to cripple her with every small step she took backwards.
A good battle.
As she reached the edge of the rope netting, the ninja inclined her head to her opponent and then allowed her to drop backwards. The cool air lashed at her clothes and her skin, causing the blood soaked material to cling to her and grow cold, colder than her skin already felt. All too soon, Kyo’s body slammed against the hard bamboo floor of the woman’s dojo. The back of her skull cracked upon the surface, throwing her head up and then back down as the sound of broken bone mixed with wet flesh.
"A good fight indeed."
Anila sighed, looking down at her arm and the black stain that tarnished her shirt. It throbbed with pain, but the bleeding had mostly stopped. Anila supposed she should count herself lucky that the worst she'd taken from this fight was a bad cut. The dizziness and nausea lingered, but even without the monks to take care of the wound, in a week or so the worst of it would be a scar.
Callouses and scars? How very un-ladylike, Miyu-chan, her mother's voice scolded in her mind as she started her way down the pegs.
"Hai, hai..." she muttered wearily in response. Really, it wasn't ladylike to leave home and become a warrior for hire, either. But would that be her mother's nagging point? Of course not, since her father had already expressed that he approved of her position among the heirarchs so long as it brought honor to her family.
"Hissomi," she called as her feet touched the cushions that lined her walls. The paper door slid open, and without so much as a horrified glance, the noblewoman's maidservant turned to go get the monks as her mistress walked across the blood-spattered dojo to reclaim her dropped fan. Hissomi had become much tougher herself, over the months. Anila could well remember the frantically written questions that had bombarded her the instant after she'd woken from her battle with Koran and the hurried, insistent attention forced upon her after the training battle with Corona Dyne. A level head in dangerous circumstances was a valuable trait in a servant, and now that hers had developed it, Anila was more confident in her company.
"I have built a beautiful place here, Tetsoma-san," she murmured wearily. "I like my lake with its rocks, the sand garden beside it, the orchids that grow along the perimeter. I like how clean my dojo is when some fool hasn't gotten his or her blood all over it. I enjoy restoring order to the dojo after a battle...but I do not enjoy the battle itself. The novelty wore off all too fast, and while I am sure I have learned many valuable lessons on this floor, in the end, this is not how I'm going to spend my life."
The door slid open again, a few monks taking the battered corpse of her opponent to heal and revive while one stayed behind to work on the Warrior. "You have improved."
"She was a junior ninja," was the frozen response.
"Lady Sakurazuka..."
"I am leaving the Pagoda. We all knew it was only ever temporary, and I don't even know why I was brought here to begin with."
"Very well. What do you plan to do now?"
A slight smile graced the cold face. "I have business calling me back home. I will return."
"Good luck, then." His work completed, the monk left Anila to her own thoughts. She waved away the tea her servant brought her, instead walking out of the dojo's open doors and onto the lake with its smooth stones. She'd always liked the pattern - a flying dragon, pointing north to south.
She stopped at the center, kneeling down. It was just sunset now - and she wanted to see the last one as this particular chapter in her life closed.
Skie and Avery
05-27-08, 04:36 AM
Battle Judging
Dances of Wind and Steel: Waltz of Shadows and Glittering Lights
Anila vs. Kyo
As requested, I'll keep the commentary minimal. Anila is Purple. Kyo is Sea Green.
STORY
Continuity
4/5
4/5
Setting
8
7
Pacing
7
5 Your pacing would have been better served had you not recapped the blocking of your last attack with each post, and the thoughts around it. Battles should be high action, and it's best to leave the block to your opponent, starting your post with how your character perceives the attacks against them and how they react, then the counterattack. Speed and brevity are key in a battle to keep the action up.
CHARACTER
Dialogue
2/5
3/5
The lack of dialogue was ingrained in this battle, so I fuddled the score to show that. I still would have liked more internal dialogue, but there is something I did give a point for here: body language.
Action
13/15
12/15
Persona
7
7
WRITING STYLE
Technique
10/15
13/15
Mechanics
7
6 I saw a few mistakes from you, but one thing that I know I've brought up to you before is your use of "passed" as a preposition. In that sort of grammatical situation, remember "passed" is a verb. "Past" is the preposition you're looking for. It was in post 8 where you said, "as her eyes moved passed her opponent, she noticed..." I was thrown off the flow of the writing reading that, and it would better serve you to use the correct spelling to allow for smoother reading.
Clarity
8
7
MISCELLANEOUS
Wild Card
6
7
TOTAL
70
69
Anila wins.
Anila gains 1150 exp and 575 gp
Kyo gains 300 exp and 294 gp
Additional spoil gp added to above total.
Zook Murnig
05-27-08, 09:45 AM
EXP/GP Added!
Anila Levels Up!
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