Sparring with Inania (training)

This is how life should be, Baenlin said to himself a few moments after he woke up. He was Inania’s house, in Inania’s bed, with Inania curled up inside of his arms. She made everything that he had seen wrong with the village seem much better than it had. She was a passionate woman, letting her feelings make her decisions for her, as warm a person as you could find...and so opposing in nature that Baenlin still did not understand how this was working, nor did he plan to question it too far. He did know that some of that passioned seemed to prove infectious, for lack of a better word. Baenlin dedicated himself as much to her as she did to him. For the first time, Baenlin felt as if he had a home, and it was in her arms.

He spent several minutes trying to worm his arm out from under her head, but Baenlin could tell by the subtle changes in her breathing that he had accidentally woken her. Still, she pretended to still be asleep for his sake simply because she knew he was trying. Baenlin could not help but smile. Such a little thing...but he loved her a little more for it. Baenlin left her lying beneath the sheets and went to the kitchen without getting dressed. He poured himself a glass of orange juice to wet his throat, and then headed for the bathroom. He was just stepping in to the shower when Inania walked in to the room. The spent a great deal more time in there this morning, but they eventually came out clean.
Both left Inania’s house that morning every happy, but they left their emotions at the door. They were both shinobi and they knew where their emotions belonged. They would not let it interfere with today’s training. Both were still nude as they walked behind Inania’s house to the pond she kept back there. They also had small, water tight packages filled with what gear they did not want to get wet as they traveled to their training spot. Baenlin walked out on the surface of the pond and waited for the downward sucking sensation that he knew Inania was going to put into effect in a few moments. As expected, he felt the expected suction on his feet and was drug down into the water a moment later very suddenly. It was much easier for Baenlin to keep his calm this time around since he both knew that he was not under attack and he knew where this trip would end. He came out of the underwater river at the foot of the mountain thirty feet above the lake where Inania and he had first fought and laid together. The night air chilled his wet skin for a moment or two as he sailed through the air before he landed lightly on top of the lake.

Baenlin was just unpacking his gear when Inania came out of the same tunnel he had. She proceeded on to shore right beside Baenlin. Not a word was said though. They were both focusing on what was to come. Baenlin of course was ready first. he was in his normal jeans and hoodie with his new leather jacket with fur around the neck trim to help keep him warm. His forehead protector was around his neck, his katana on his hip and his kunai in his pack on the back of his belt. She was in her usual revealing outfit with the split down the front that went straight to her navel. The only time she wore anything under it was when she was teaching, and even then the clothing was tight enough to leave little to the imagination. The bottom of the whole get up was just far enough down to keep from being called completely inappropriate as well. She knew the effect of her image and wielded it as well as she could any kunai.
After they were dressed and ready they made their way to opposite side of the lake. They each took a few moments to center themselves and then each let fly a kunai. It was difficult to tell who made the first move, they were so in synch. The report of impacting metal sounded across the lake as the kunai each deflect the other. Before they had splashed in to the lake, two trough of water had appeared in the surface of the lake as Baenlin and Inania sped to meet in the middle, Baenlin meeting her butterfly knives with his katana. Following that was a flurry of blows that most would not have been able to keep track of. Baenlin did not even have time to think about how he was moving his sword. He would barely perceive the flash of light off of metal and his sword simply would move there. Eventually though one of Inania’s blades found it’s way through Baenlin’s defenses and cut a deep line across his chest. In that moment Baenlin knew he could not keep things as they were. He managed to push Inania away for a moment, and in that time he activated both his Lightning Release: Mark 1 and Full Body Current. He came back at her just as she came at him, but this time they were evenly matched. Baenlin’s new speed enabled him to keep up with both of Inania’s blades as he slapped them aside. Eventually he was able to open up her defenses enough to slip the tip of his katana in and graze Inania’s shoulder. Luckily she was able to jump step out of the way enough to avoid what could have been a much more serious injury. As she jumped away she hurled both of her blades at Baenlin, forcing him to take a moment to deflect both of them. Having bought herself a few moments with that move, Inania quickly formed several hand signs, breathed in deep, and expelled what appeared to be six streams of glowing water. They arced up and sped towards Baenlin. He was forced to dodge them, but as soon as he landed on the surface of the lake again he began running for shore. He knew there was more to that jutsu. The beams Inania splashed down in to the lake right where Baenlin had been standing, making a very large splash from the force of the impact. Even before they hit, though, Inania started forming the hand seals for another jutsu. This time, she used the water itself in her jutsu. She turned the up splash that resulted from her last jutsu in to a dragon shaped tide and sent it rocketing at Baenlin. He was running as fast as he could on shore. He was staying ahead of it, but he had to take to the trees to keep out of the flood that came with the jutsu.
When Baenlin finally managed to look back at the on coming wave, he saw Inania riding on top of the dragon’s head, rapidly performing hand seals. He also noticed that the dragon was moving much faster, and was in fact gaining on Baenlin. He had to do something now or this match was already over. In mid air, Baenlin spun around and launched his Flight of Screeching Eagles at Inania, but he arced them out in different directions. When she got off the beams that she had to counter with, she was forced to focus on all three bolts. This took up enough of her attention that Baenlin was able to get off to her side enough before jumping up in the air above her that he was able to get there without immediately being seen. Still, he knew she had detected him coming from above with the rasengan he had formed. She had to jump aside to avoid being leveled by it. She had not been his target though. Instead, he had turned her own strategy against her and was instead aiming for the dragon. It impacted where Inania had been standing, destroying the structure of the water dragon. He had to leap away as the collapse caused another large wave to crash through the surrounding forest. Now both him and Inania were standing in trees opposite of each other. Both were also smiling at the fight so far.
After the water receded they both jumped down. Baenling stabbed his katana in the tree before joining Inania on the ground. They stared each other down when they were both on the ground again, but they were still smiling. Now they came to both of their weakest points: taijutsu. That did not mean the contest was any less intense. Neither had a particular style, nor were either of them particularly strong physically, but they were both very fast. Fist flew at their opponent with blinding speed. It was long periods before either of them could blink for fear of missing that incoming knock out punch that could come streaking in at any moment. Inania tended to favor kicking, as she had long legs in comparison to the rest of her body, and she used this to give her a reach advantage. Baenlin had learned this some time back and had started trying to use grappling and boxing style techniques. If he would get inside of her kicks he would have the advantage. That, however was much easier to say than do. While she was not the best in tiajutsu, she was as fast as Baenlin was even with his jutsu, and he legs had a strength that any man had to admire in one way or another. In the end though it was Baenlin’s lack of stamina while using his Lightning Release: Mark 1. The jutsu drained him so fast that it nearly halved the length of time that he could fight. Inania was just starting to breathe heavy when Baenlin collapsed from exhaustion.
Inania did not say anything when this happened. She simply dug out their sleeping bag, rolled it out without opening it on the first dry spot she could find, and then helped Baenlin over to it and laid him down. His lungs burned as he laid there struggling for breath, but Inania laid down next to him and her presence soon began to soothe him. They laid there for some time, as had become their custom. Eventually, Baenlin passed out from exhaustion and Inania laid next to him for an hour, just thinking. Baenlin never saw the looks of doubt she held on her face during times like this. She cherished Baenlin, but she knew this relationship was inappropriate. She was normally dutiful, but this just seemed a betrayal to the village in her mind to be with someone so young. Still, she could not deny that Baenlin was a good person, and if he had been just a few years older she would not have any reservations at all. Baenlin, however, could not wait for that, whether he knew it or not. When the old man had come to her with the problem he had seen in Baenlin, she knew he had planned on leavin soon. She was well aware that he had been spending more and more time outside of the village. She had even tracked him on a few of his expeditions. She cared for Baenlin...but a big part of her knew that she was only doing this so that he did not go missing nin. She had gone so far as to arrange a team for him just to make sure that was not the boy’s future. She just hoped it paid off. The same thoughts buzzed around her head every time Baenlin was asleep around her. She would have liked nothing better than to wake Baenlin just so she had a distraction, but he needed to rest just know. She was stuck with herself for a while. It was almost noon when they made it back to the village that day.

(WC=2024, 10 stats, 20 JP)

Approved!