The first good day [P]

Itami observed Mezurashii's actions while thinking over his past tricks. As soon as she moved and threw the shuriken, he grinned, happy he would be able to test his new jutsu in a spar.

He clapped his hands together, and a gale of wind shot towards Mezurashii, sending the three shuriken flying back at her with hightened speed, twirling in the air mercilesly. The air messed up the girl's hair and the water beneath their feet formed small sharp waves, curled by the fast wind. It would be possible that Mezurashii would be pushed back as well, for the wind was very strong and traveling at high speed. It really depended on her strength and chakra control however.

Itami gritted his teeth as his feet swayed on the waves, but managed to keep his chakra in place. The wind slowly died down and he already reached for a kunai, located in his weapon holder.

[the jutsu I used is called 'Wind release: gale palm' and can be found in my stats if you want to read it over ]

Mezurashii gasped as she was blown back from the strength of his attack, she managed to twist out of the way of her shuriken but one still cut her shoulder, just enough to bleed but not enough to be worried about it.

Sending chakra to her hands she landed on the water and pushed off of it, flipping backwards so she could land on her feet. Taking a deep breath she grinned at him.

"Now that's impressive" she muttered before standing up again, she noticed how he wavered slightly.

'That probably took quiet a bit of chakra out of him, alright then' Mezurashii thought, she closed her eyes for a second.

'Calm of Thoughts. Ruler of Actions. Light of Domains.' She recited and opened her eyes again, focused and clear. She drew three more shuriken, but instead of aiming them at him she threw them upwards, though at an angle where they would end up above him.

She again sprinted at him at top speed, her hand dug into her pouch and she pulled out a kunai. She threw it at him before flying through the hand-signs for substitution, replacing herself with one of her flying shuriken she appeared in midair, high above Itami.

Twisting she grabbed the other two shuriken and threw them at him, as she fell she threw a kunai towards the water and substituted with it once it neared the water. She landed safely on the water and stayed low, the kunai she had substituted with fell into the water with a 'plop' sound as she watched Itami.

As Mezurashii landed on the water and pushed herself off it again, Itami couldn't help but admire her chakra control. He doubted he'd be able to form chakra in his hands so quick and under pressure. She really seemed to be skilled at that.
He looked at her with a side smile as she spoke, his kunai ready for her attack he knew was comming any time now. She closed her eyes for a second and when she opened them again, Itami saw a glint of determination in them.

She ran towards him and Itami braced himself but the next three shuriken she pulled out went flying way over his head. Itami thought immediately that it was some sort of a trick, perhaps an exploding tag rested on them, or a smoke bomb.

He was contemplating turning around and risking Mezurashii's attack on his back but then changed his mind and stayed facing her. Except at the next second, she disapeared and this time, Itami did twirl around, confused and wondering what her plan was. His kunai was raised high, ready. Looking up, Itami realized Mezurashii was high above him, falling slowly but reaching for the two shuriken left in the air. She hurled them at him and Itami barely had enough time to deflect the first with his kunai, as the second one came at him and swiped across his chest, as he was slightly turned at a corner. The shuriken left a tear in the jacket from wich blood oozed out slowly and left Itami in pain. Swaying again a bit, he payed it no mind however, as it wasn't a lethal wound. Instead he turned around again, because as Mezurashii landed on the water and threw a kunai at him, she disapeared again, and this time Itami wasn't about to let her get to him.

She appeared in front of him, watching him with focus and Itami took a second to breathe and forget about his wound. He crouched down a bit, his eyes colouring into a darker shade of red as his emotions took over him and he forgot he was in a spar completely. Avoiding the pain, his mind became blank and instinct took control over him.

Creating hand signs, he managed two solid shadow clones. Their chakra distrubution however, wasn't evenly distributed as he was quite tired. The three of them ran towards Mezurashii. Clone 1 aimed a low kick at her and Itami meanwhile jumped on it's back chargint at Mezurashii with a kick to her chest. If it succeeded, he would then use the momentum from the kick to jump over her and land behind her. Clone 2 would distract her by aiming 5 fast punches at different parts of her body. One at the stomach, one at her right shoudler, one at her face, one at her left shoulder and one at her solar plexus which would render her of breath for some time.
Meanwhile Itami, who was behind her back, would create a third clone.

Mezurashii smiled as the shuriken sliced deep enough, though she hoped she didn't hurt him seriously. However all good humor and companionship vanished in those few seconds, Itami's eyes changed and she knew something was wrong.

Itami created two clone, but she could tell these weren't illusions, the had-signs were different from the academy basics so these had to be solid. They ran at her and Mezurashii sucked in a breath, one swiped a low kick at her but she jumped back to evade it.

Another Itami jumped over him and upon instinct ducked, this was a serious fight. She might as well be in a life-or-death battle right now, she narrowed her eyes as his kick went straight over her head. She twisted into a standing position and hit three pressure points on his leg just before the third Itami came at her.

Mezurashii could do nothing about the hit to the stomach but she allowed herself to keel over to avoid the hit to her shoulder, she stayed low as she dodged the blow to her head but couldn't do anything about the blow to her left shoulder.

"Itami!" she yelled as she diverted the hit to her solar plexus just enough so it only hit her left shoulder again, she stumbled back as her shoulder throbbed painfully.

When she heard another poof, signaling another clone was made, the redhead cursed. Pulling out a smoke bomb she set it off in her palm, pulling out her wakizashi she twisted behind the Itami that tried the combo and hit him in the back of his head with the hilt of her blade. It poofed out of existence.

She ran and jumped over the clone that used the low kick against her, Mezurashii performed an axe-kick against the back of his head and the same happened. Staying low she jumped out of the smoke cloud and looked for the two Itami's.

As the real Itami jumped over Mezurashii, she hit three pressure points in his leg. It was painful and Itami felt as if his muscle spasmed. The pain was distant though. He was lost in his head and all that he felt was the adrenaline pumping through his body. Landing on the water again, his chakra control wavered againg but at the next second, he had it in control and he created another clone.
Mezurashii meanwhile was hit several times but she was skilled enough to get rid of his first clone nonetheless.

Itami's eyes saw all that but his mind didn't register it and he couldn't have cared less at the moment, that she was still so strong. His eyes burned red now. He didn't even hear her yell.

Detonating a smoke bomb, Mezurashii was covered in smoke and Itami momentarily came out of his daze but at the sound of a weapon being pulled out of it's sheathe, he sunk even deeper and crouched low, prepared. He heard a poof as his second clone dispersed and now only the last remained, standing to the left of him.

As Mezurashii emerged from the cloud of smoke, her wakizashi held high, Itami performed a trick with his clone. He held it by it's hands, making a sort of a flip and throwing the clone at her. The clone held a kunai infused with wind chakra, making it sharp to cut through a rock easily. He flew at the girl with high speed and behind him, the real Itami breathed some of the last of his chakra into his palm, creating a swirling wind chakra ball. Slightly hidden behind the clone, he threw it behind it, planning on hitting Mez the same second the clone moved away.

Itami swayed on his feet then, his chakra control letting go completely as his reserves were exhausted. With an annoyed growl he tried jumping up but was already falling into the cold water.
He sunk, lower and lower, but when he almost hit the bottom, his eyes opened, no longer an intense red, but his usual soft red. He blinked and let out a few air bubbles, and then started swimming upwards. Reaching the top, he broke the surface, his eyes wide, and his mind once again clear. He was once more his normal self; ...

Mezurashii stared wide-eyed as Itami sent his clone flying at her.

'He threw his clone? You've got to be kidding me!' she thought as she bent backwards. Everything seemed to move in slow motion, she watched as the kunai missed her face but was just close enough to cut a wayward strand of hair.

She quickly flipped backwards and kicked the clone away, she looked at Itami just in time to see a ball of wind chakra heading straight for her. There was no time to move, no time for substitution. Upon instinct she released her chakra control and fell under water just as the ball was about to strike, her goggles kept her vision clear.

She stayed under the surface and looked back just in time to see the ball dissipate into nothing, Mezurashii would of heaved a sigh of relief but she was underwater. She turned and saw Itami staying afloat, only his head was above water.

'So he's out of chakra then? Kami I hope so' the redhead thought before she swam upwards, she broke the surface of the water and took a deep breath. She looked to Itami and saw his eyes had changed back to the colour she recognized.

'Note to self: whenever Itami's eyes change colour, run' she thought comically as she swam towards him, confident that he was back to normal now.

"That last sneak attack was pretty cool, but I have no intention of returning to the hospital" she laughed as she reached him. Placing a palm on the waters surface she applied chakra and heaved herself up, she stayed on her knees and she breathed raggedly. That had taken a lot out of her.

"Can you get up? Or can you swim to the bank?" she asked as she took another deep breath, silently thanking the Moon Goddess that she didn't get hit by that swirling ball of wind chakra.

'Itami is really strong, isn't he' she thought to herself as she looked at him.

Head above surface, and his mind once again in control of his body, Itami breathed a sigh of relief. All the pain avoided in the state of numbness returned. He felt the wound on his chest and it reminded him of a hundred kunai scraping over his skin again and again. Gritting his teeth, he watched as Mez swam closer to him. He rubbed his eyes to get the water out and mumbled "sorry".

He only used his left hand to keep himself up as the wound was too close to the right side and any movement from his right hand inflamed the pain and made it worse. As Mezurashii stood up again, her chakra reserves probably still high, Itami tried as well but failed miserably. For a moment the left hand emanated some chakra but the next moment his hand splashed back into water and he almost sunk again.

Spewing lake water out of his mouth, he replied: "Seems like I'm going to have to swim back."
He laughed, though his voice sounded hoarse and grave. He couldn't believe he went into one of his weird moods again. He was starting to notice the pattern. Upon pain, he would try to ignore the pain and when that happened, his mind, as in self defense, would go numb. It was a good trait for battle, a survivors trait. But not a good thing to happen when you're sparring with a friend.

He swam slowly, his right hand still not moving much to prevent further pain. He was glad his weapon pouch was waterproof, as he desperately needed the bandages inside it.

Mezurashii would have offered to help her friend but she knew it would make him feel weak, and he has complex about that. Which isn't all too bad when she thinks about it, it helps him get stronger but it can be a problem if he doesn't realize his strengths.

"I have some disinfectant, we should probably use that" she said as they reached the bank, she sat down and pulled her goggles down so they rested around her neck like a necklace as she let her feet sink into the water. Her head throbbed with a headache, putting a hand to her head she noticed it was bleeding slightly. So his hit to her head was enough to break the skin, damn.

Pulling out her scroll she opened it on the dry bank and tapped it twice, with a poof of smoke bandages, disinfectant and a stitching needle and thread appeared.

"Just in case" she gestured to the needle and thread, taking the disinfectant she applied it to the cut on her shoulder before turning to Itami.

"I have experience in non-chakra based medical treatment, so if you want I can help you with your wounds. If your comfortable with it" she offered, waiting for his response.

As they reached the lake's bank, Itami pulled himself onto the grass and breathed a sigh of relief. Mezurashii seemed to have all the medical suplies ready so he only nodded and took his slashed jacket off, and then tugged the shirt over his head as well. The dripping wet clothes were set aside, and Itami didn't care if they got messy with dirt and grass. He needed to clean them anyway and stitch the slashed parts.

He looked at the wound on his chest. Now that he climbed out of the water, the blood started dripping out again. He touched it and hissed in pain. He wasn't very experienced at wounds.

After Mezurashii treated her own wounds, Itami was about to reach for the needle and thank her but she offered to help and he accepted, glad he wouldn't have to do it himself. If he did, he'd probably do it wrong anyway. And since she said she had experience with this, he had confidence she was going to do it right.

"That would help a lot." he would mumble, wiping the blood off his fingers and on his pants. He frowned and looked at the wound again. It wasn't as deep, but it was long. He didn't care much about it honestly. Things like that happened often. Sometimes not even in spars but simple solo trainings too.

Mezurashii nodded and situated herself so she was in front of him. Kneeling by his leg so she had easy access without any awkward positions.

"Try not to move, please" she said as she begun to gently apply the disinfectant, making sure it was evenly distributed before she grabbed the needle and thread.

"This will sting a bit" she said as she began to stitch his wound. The redhead focused on the wound and made precise movements, keeping the threading neat and closing the wounds properly. If they were to tight they would snap easily and cause more harm than help while too loosely they would irritate the wound and would help much.

It was a bit slow but she didn't want to make a mistake, it seemed so much easier doing it on her own wounds. She finished off the last stitch and tied it off, checking over it again she nodded. She noticed the amount of scars he had, and some looked to old to be from training mishaps. Still, it wasn't her business and if Itami didn't want to talk about it then she would respect that.

"That should do it, if you want to be sure we can add bandages but that would probably be overkill. But in the mean time you movements will be restricted so you'll mostly be doing chakra exercises, so I don't want you getting into any serious spars were these wounds can open again, okay?" she informed him as she began to pack up her things.

As Mezurashii thought about her words she couldn't help but laugh "I think I should become a med-nin" she thought out loud, it would make sense. While she can be useful in battle she could also heal her teammates. Well, that and their both stronger than her in terms of strength and chakra.

Once her stuff was away she smiled at him, looking down at his leg she coughed a bit.

"Um, can you walk? I hit your pressure points pretty hard" she said. Looking a bit sheepish she held out her hand for him to take.