Blood for Blood [Training, Inijo, P, NK]

Yuriko had awoken to Aufero's incessant demanding for blood, for souls. It had not been silent, not ever since only a few nights ago she had narrowly missed the opportunity to finally draw blood onto the blade other than her own - a practice none knew about yet. The thought kept haunting her, that if she had been just a bit quicker to react she may have been able to sleep for once, she may have been able to shut the voice out for just a few hours. But instead, she had missed the opportunity and Aufero would not so quickly forget such a fact, instead now drawing her in a trance to this Training Ground in an effort to find someone, anyone, to fight. 

Arriving at the Training Ground, Yuriko let out a long sigh as she observed the area around her. In the center of the Training Area she had arrived in was a barren circle of dry dirt measuring roughly 30 meters in circumference, beyond that was a thin patch of trees which, while not able to provide much in the way of shade or protection, may be useful if the need should arise for a quick place to hide. The sky was still bright, but the sunset was not too far over the horizon, a fact which at least Aufero seemed to enjoy. The area was also very quiet, save for the pounding voice of Aufero in Yuriko's head, as well as the occasional soft chirping of birds and even more softly, crickets. 

With a long and unpracticed yet still somehow fluid motion, Yuriko drew Aufero from her sheath and held the blade so that the hilt was aimed toward the ground and the blade toward the air, though close to her as if she were examining it intently. For a long few moments, Yuriko's eyes focused on nothing but the pulsing red to black color of the blade, her hands clenching tightly against the bone hilt until eventually Yuriko recalled that she was to wait here for someone to come by, and when they did she would challenge them. This time, she would not fail Aufero. 

Meanwhile, The sword pulsed softly with darkness as it was eager for blood, having not seen any but the same girl's blood for some time. While Aufero could be kind, she was not able to survive without food, without souls. She needed souls soon and if not, would be forced to become much less "gentle" with her Wielder's mind than previous. Of course now, the only thing that Aufero was focused on was the impending challenger that may approach them, and if this one would finally give it's soul. 

Yuriko now waited, position not changing at all as she awaited her challenger and the fight that would ensue. While she was deathly nervous, the blade in her hand made Yuriko resolute as well, giving her the courage to stand for now.

[491 WC]

Inijo was sitting at a table, pondering on what to do for the rest of the day. He had been doing so for a while, for the past half an hour really. Having returned from another village a while ago, maybe a few days ago, he hadn't kept track of the time that had passed, he hadn't trained at all. Which was unusual for him, he normally remained training constantly. He sighed, and got up from the table. Pushing back in the chair, and heading for his room. He would prepare for a few hours of training, not wearing what he would normally wear on missions and such, though wearing something better suited for training purposes. He would put on a simple brown colored short sleeve shirt, with somewhat loose pants held up with a belt. Attached to the belt was a scabbard for his dagger, the name being Blade of Woe. After that, he would put on his headband. He tied the two ends together in a knot in the back, the metal plating covering his forehead. On the metal plating was a symbol of the village of Kumogakure.


He then left his home and headed for the training grounds, figuring it would be better to train there, though he never really remembered ever training there, despite the amount of training he has done since before the Chuunin Exams. He didn't move at his full speed, despite him being capable to arrive there in a mere few moments - As he wasn't in a hurry. Upon arrival, he would take notice of a rather familiar person who he had met only once before, Yuriko.

He would walk up to her, at the moment he assumed she was preparing for some training. She was holding a sword, makiing a stance which had the hilt of her blade facing the ground. "Oi," he would say in the process of approaching her. "S'up?" He would ask, figuring he could put his own training on hold for a minute, while interrupting hers.

Startled by his sudden presence, Yuriko made a soft gasp as she jumped backward a few feet, preparing the sword quickly and upon noticing Inijo, she began to speak in a soft yet somehow off from her usual tone, as if it had been twisted, if only slightly, to a darker degree. "Inijo . . ." She began, looking at him intensely with her bright red eyes as a soft smile crossed over her face upon raising Aufero once more. "How would you like to spar? . . ." She added, quickly cutting to the chase as she then stepped forward, moving toward the man with a fluid and confident movement now, suddenly full of purpose.

Inwardly, Yuriko was battling Aufero for control of her actions, or at least for control of her choices. On one hand, Aufero desperately wanted blood and would be more than willing to attack her friend without provocation, but on the other Yuriko knew that this was obviously not something she should seek out, a fight with someone that was a friend and likely a strong one at that. But with the voice echoing in her mind and the image of her soul suspended before her by the demonic blade's human form, asking her to exchange more souls in order to regain her own . . . It was much more difficult to discern what option she would take, to attack her friend or simply flee.

As the battle raged in her mind, outwardly Yuriko attempted to look as calm as possible, but anyone that could properly see would be able to tell that she was visibly shaken: Her eyes widened and seemingly full of fear, her entire body shaking ever-so-slightly and her voice wavering between extremes of calm and catastrophe. Eventually, however, these signs faded and were replaced by the young girl now standing calmly before Inijo, only a few arm lengths away as she raised the blade, tip pointing toward him and said: "Come on, We have to get stronger, Right? So we pretty much have to fight." Yuriko's voice was now back to its normal tone, as a seemingly friendly smile passed over her face as she now waited for the young man to respond, either to accept or decline her challenge. 

Either way, Aufero would not be denied.

Inijo was quickly greeted with a challenge in reply, a challenge to a spar. Before he could accept however, she began to act strange. He paid no attention to it at first, but after a brief moment he began to find the behavior rather strange, though didn't really mention it. She mentioned something about getting stronger, therefore wanting to spar. "Alright then." He would say, "You start off then." He continued, allowing her to take the first move and attack first. If he had recalled correctly, Yuriko had once stated that she only recently graduated from the shinobi academy, at least when they had first met. Considering the gap of training the two had, he assumed he would be far more skilled than her, of course that was him underestimating. He would get a good idea on how powerful she is once she attacks, assuming she goes full strength.

{Nd short}

With a bright smile, Yuriko raised the sword high into the air and let out a sort of battle-cry in a tone that was now manic, no longer soft or gentle as she usually tended to be in speech, but crazed, blood-thirty. "Then let Aufero feed at last!" Yuriko cried out, bringing down a slash toward Inijo in a vertical motion, of course the move would likely be nothing to him, she did so with as much speed as she could muster, the dark energy beginning to show around the blade as she swung it. 


If her attack was unsuccessful, Yuriko would raise the blade and attempt to use "Sun Thief", which by its very nature creates a 25m circle around the both of them which is engulfed in darkness, causing the visibility to and from the outside of the circle to be null. As she does so, Yuriko then once more prepared Aufero for attack, standing as she waited for Inijo to make his move.

If however her attack succeeded, she would await his reposte before performing any further action.

(Apologies as well for the short post, new to the whole fighting thing. Once we get into the swing of things hopefully it will become easier)

[-5 Soul Meter Charge: Remaining charge = 5] (If the Sun Thief move is used, if not the remainder is 10)

Inijo would stand there, Yuriko beginning to yell, alternating her voice to sound a tad bit more crazy. She began by, everso slowly, bringing down her sword in a form of an attack, however she was moving at a snail's pace compared to Inijo's speed. She brought her sword down, dropping it. He let it come close, acting as if he wasn't going to dodge it, then nearly last second the area around him would blur for a brief second, as he side stepped at his full speed, traveling a few mere feet. He moved at his full speed just to show off. "Tell me when to start, kay thanks." He would say, letting her attack some more before he would do anything. He would watch as she would lift her sword up, and perform a strange technique that didn't really do much besides cut off every chakra signature he could sense for the longest range. Didn't do much besides that, so he just waited.

Yuriko, in frustration and in a sort of desperate effort, ran toward Inijo and swung Aufero wildly in a flurry of un-aimed slashes which would provide to be rather weak in power due to her already waning strength and stamina as she then panted in exhaustion and looked up at Inijo with smoldering anger within her gaze as she now ( If she had not been forced otherwise ) would simply stand in place, barely able to do even that as she heard the blade within her mind: "You are too weak to fight even this one now, this much is clear, you must become stronger . . . "  Shaking her head to free herself from the thought, Yuriko carefully slid the blade into it's sheath and, if Inijo would take no action, fall to her knees.

Inijo would begin to notice that he couldn't really sense anything in the field either, though the lightning was only merely dimmed, he could still see. He would begin to take notice of the girl charging - she wasn't exactly making a silent approach, and began to swing her blade in a wild manner in a various number of attacks, he didn't bother counting. Though while she was busy attacking, Inijo merely began to side step the first few, and then make an attempt to grab her arm before she had the chance to continue attacking, the arm which had the hand wielding the blade she used to attack at random. If he should fail then he would let her continue to attack and he would merely keep side stepping the attacks, as his speed was far greater than hers when he wanted it to be. Either way he would begin to notice how tired the girl was getting - After sparring for what seemed to be only a few mere moments she seemed out of breath, it was strange. Then he began thinking of the time of day, how it was late. Perhaps she was just hungry, maybe she hadn't eaten? And then again, she had already been here for who knows how long before Inijo had arrived, so she probably was already tired. He would have released her arm by now, and he would await for her to make any more moves to attack. But she just seemed to stand there, almost barely being able to stand. He would notice the girl now sheathing her blade, and falling down, he assumed to rest with how tired she looked. "Hungry?" He would ask, willing to get some extra dinner despite having eaten himself not so long ago, though depending on her reply.

Yuriko slowly struggled back onto her feet upon Inijo's words, her voice becoming a soft growl in tone as she spoke to him while veiled partially by the Dark Energy from Aufero: "I do not require your pity . . . " And, as she said this, Yuriko stumbled slightly before turning and walking away slowly. She would continue to do so, in the hopes of leaving him behind in the training grounds while she would return to her home to recuperate and regain her strength, while she did not particularly dislike Inijo, she found the fact that she was unable to face him in battle to be rather irksome. One day, she hoped to be able to defeat him or at least become his equal, but for now she knew that such a match was suicide and that she needed to leave before damaging her likely already bad reputation with this fellow Ninja and one whom she had indeed called a "Friend" only a day ago. 

Leaving the training grounds, Yuriko reflected inwardly upon her new blade and of just how much it indeed influenced her; After-all she had never intended to fight Inijo here in the first place, but she had allowed herself to give fully in to the blade's blood-lust and challenged him. She had never intended to even travel to this place, only to seek out shelter, but something gave Yuriko the feeling that indeed, she was bound to this blade and it's will until she became strong enough to resist it. Oddly enough, the blade seemed to sense her feelings and pulsed brightly with energy, almost as if to encourage this form of action in some form or another. This made her wonder just what Aufero truly wanted out of her, and of those she fought.

The sun set fully now as Yuriko was out of sight hopefully from Inijo, leaving him on the Training Grounds alone as she shuffled weakly back toward her home.


[WC: 1,508 = 7.5 stats = 7 stats]

[EXIT]