Mountain training [NK, IO, Alice]

Why was it so cold.

Oh right, she was in the mountains.....

Why was she in the mountains.  And why was it so cold.

Angel sat on a rock watching a kekaichu crawl sluggishly across the tip of her finger.  Bug's didn't like the cold, why did human insist on coming out to this place.  "I hate training"  Angel repeated to herself for the 3,586,732nd time.  Yes she counted.  She stood up stretching her stiff legs.  She marveled at the speed at which the body got stiff in the cold.  She jumped up and down to get the blood pumping but sure as hell did not appreciate the wind when she did.  "Ninja arn't supposed to show feelings," she told herself.  She had said that many times too.  As an Aburame her feelings were supposed to be even more bottled up than other ninja.  she never knew why it was just how she was raised.  luckily it was also a practice to wear long heavy coats all the time which pleased her at this particular moment.  

Her companion sat nearby.  With his legs pulled to his chest and his arms wrapped around them you wouldn't know that he was so tall.  Cloak he had on covered him completely.  He shared the appeal of annanimity that she did.  she giggled to herself.  Her coat's hood hide most of her face and her well kept shoulder length red hair.  She stood only 4'1" tall, making her less than half the hieght of her friend.  Her hands fiddled with the lining of the pocket of her jacket.

Why was she here?  If she was here to train shouldn't she be moving around a little more?  Taking a few steps angel decided that was not a good idea at all.  She focused inwardly and began to feel a wonderful vibration that warmed her internally.  Over by the tree her friend stood and began to move about seemingly aimlessly.  His height hinted at his excessive weight as much as his thumping footsteps did.  Angel watched him move in a slow arc over to another tree.  She guessed this one was more appealing to him because he sat down again and looked like he was napping.  

"maybe I should just sit down and look at a bug,"  angel said sitting back down on the rock.

Alice gave a long yawn as she awoke from under her favorite tree in the mountains. She had been staying the mountains the last few days trying to train, but mostly she had just been laying around. She knew her aunt wouldn't look for her as her aunt was accustomed to Alice being gone days at a time. Alice was a jounin after all, she should be able to take care of herself right? It's not like it took a lot to keep Alice going, she had no blood so she didn't get hypothermia, water was plentiful in the mountains, and she always had enough snacks on her to last her awhile, though she tried her best not to eat the snacks as food was fattening and she REALLY did not want to loser her figure so close to summer season in the village. She had enough work trying to look good with all the stitches on her body, the last thing she needed was to look pudgy, how on earth would she be able to show herself in public if she had stitches AND was fast?!She gave a loud groan and got up from the ground where she had been sleeping and rested her back against the trunk of the tree. She allowed her hands to trace over the bark of the tree as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to look back on all the times she been under the tree, the training, the napping, the spars, did she forget to mention the napping, all had happened right here. Just then a pang of emotion broke through Alice as she remembered her friend Tee who had always sparred her around the tree, always tried to motivate her, told her his dreams about being a strong anbu. She remembered how he had broken the tree in their fight, and how she swore she would never forgive him, and how he got Inijo Senju to regrow and fix the tree for her. She had never gotten to forgive or thank him for what he had done for her before he died of a sudden freak heart attack in the village. He died thinking she hated him, and that was a regret Alice would always keep deep within her heart of hearts. A tear might have trickled from Alice's eye if she had the ability to cry anymore, but she did not. She shook her head and brushed off  some of the dirt from her orange dress bottom, though the bottom was already torn in places and stained with the earth from her many nights of sleeping in the mountains. She retrieved her discarded medical textbook from the shade of the tree, Alice had begun training in the ways medical ninjustu, as to make sure no one ended up like Tee, killed by their own body before they could realize their dreams. Lately she had been researching a way to user a person's own body against them, and had come up with a theory of a justu  dealing with the cell function known as apoptosis. That's what she was supposed to be training for in the mountains anyways.

She began to walk along the mountain trail, her mind's eye of the kagura active as to sense for any missing ninja or predators in the mountains, as they seemed to always be popping up at inconvenient times like herpes sores, or elderly relatives. While walking she sensed something peculiar, an unknown chakra nature very close to where she was. She decided to investigate and began to speed walk to the location, running was something Alice did only when necessary as she felt she looked gross when she ran as it showed her exerting a small amount of effort, and effort was disgusting.

When she arrived, she stayed hidden in the shadows of the trees, being that is was night and the full moon was out bright, it cast the perfect cover for Alice to remain unseen. She was surprised to see two figures in long coats sitting crouched in the mountains with bugs crawling around and on them, one was incredibly small, and thanks to her sensory she noticed that the small one was the only one among them with a chakra signature. The big cloaked one had no signature, so Alice could till the big one was not human. She had been able to hear the last bit of words the short one said, and by her voice Alice deemed her female. "Looking at bugs doesn't seem like a very fun thing to be doing in the mountains, especially at this time of night." She said as she stepped slowly out of the shadows of the trees until she stood a mere 12 feet away from the girl and her large companion. Alice must have looked strange as she was wearing her ankle length orange tattered dress bottom, that had rip through it revealing her left leg that was cloaked in her black ripped fish net stockings. The stocking looked like they had been stitched multiple times, but if one looked closer they would realize that the stitches were on Alice's leg itself. The stockings ended mid thigh, and Alice was revealing a few inches of her upper thigh after the stocking ended. Her shadow boots masked the sound of her feet so she was ominously silent as she walked. Her kumo head band was tied around her waist loosely as a belt, thought it only clung to her right hip. She wore a sleeveless black top that stopped at her belly button, as well as arm warmers that also had tears and holes in them that began at her gold bracelet decorated wrists and stopped just below her shoulders. Her hair was jet black and styled in two ponytails on each side of her head while the rest fell naturally. The strangest thing Alice had on though was a dark black veil to cover her strange mouth that was stitched in the corners. She would look down at the small girl, cocking one of her eyes brows and putting her hands on her hips, her black nail polish and all white eyes would shine slightly in the moonlight, "Why on earth are you out here at this time of night? This place isn't exactly the safest place to be training, especially at night." As she said this a cold wind blew through the area, and caused Alice's dark black hair to blow slightly in the wind, normally a person dressed like Alice would be freezing their butts off, but with the way Alice's body worked, cold meant nothing to her.

(1112 wc)
(-40 ap for minds eye)

Angel sat distracted with the cold.  While sitting quietly she noticed that it had also gotten dark.  She had wasted another day doing nothing.  It was a good thing that the cold naturally burned calories or she would have sat there without putting in a lick of work.  The rock she sat on luckily had warmed up a bit.  Staring at the bug on her finger brought her back many years.  The first time she had heard her insect companions.  They spoke to her all at once making her faint.  When she awoke they told her it was a part of the ritual that all aburame are subject to at birth.  The insects then became her friends and even trained her chakra to extreme heights due to their constant feasting.  But that was all a part of the ritual.  Even though Angel had been a member of the clan she still felt set apart.  Her father was an enigma as no one ever spoke of him.  Not even her mother would tell her stories of her father.  She had always wondered if her father had been some bad man, that the clan hated.  Her mother had assured her it wasn’t like that.  The only explaination she was given was that he had died in battle, and that he had been a great ninja.  However her mother had no trouble telling her stories of a traveler that had showed up when she had been only 1 year old.  He was kind and had saved her life with a magic charm that Angel wore to this day out of sentimentality.  Whenever she visited her mother in the hospital she would ask if Angel was wearing the trinket.  Her mother had fallen ill and now lived at the hospital so she could receive immediate care.  Angel had offered her the trinket one day hoping that it would help save her.  Her mother was so adamantly against it the surge of energy surprised her.  She mother had gripped her hand and hand stared her directly in the eye.  “Don’t EVER give away this trinket.  It was given to you by an Angel who walks between worlds….It will bring great misfortune upon you if you were to lose it.”  Her mother’s words had terrified her.  Since that day she never so much as took it off.  As she sat on the rock she felt the weight of it against her chest.  The trinket was a small ring made of dark red stone.  It was bent in an odd form though.  That of a one sided Mobius strip. 
 
A bug crawled up her coat and perched itself on her cheek.  She looked over at the form emerging from the shadows.  It was a sight to see a girl seemingly immune to the effects of the cold.  Her dress was a little raggedy but the shape of the Kumo symbol on the headband around her waist put her at ease.  Angel didn’t think this was an adversary that she could best on her good day.  Her trusted friend sat not too far away.  He wouldn’t need to come to Angel’s aid…hopefully.  The attire surprised Angel.  It was as if the girl might have been in some kind of trouble.  Unfortunately Aburame were never good at making small talk.  Luckily it looked like her visitor was one to speak first.  She inquired as to her reason for being here, in the cold, at night.  They were all very valid points.  Why was she here?  She was here to train…but why didn’t she go home at the end of the day?  It took Angel a moment to remember the reason.  She still hadn’t figured out the technique she was practicing.  But that wasn’t something to tell just anyone.  Especially someone she hadn’t met.  She knew better than to tell just any one about jutsu she was working on.  She had told her child hood friend about her desire to learn Puppetry jutsu and she had been scolded by her teachers and Her and her mother had been silently shunned as being black sheep in the clan.  Aburame were to practice bug jutsu and train their bugs relying entirely on them.  But Angel had always been fascinated with Puppets and toys.  She had practiced the art till she had become a puppeteer in her own right.  She glanced over at her friend.  He was her first puppet of many to come.  She had even learned an impressive technique completely on accident and unknown to her how quite impressive it actually was.  Which is why she had come out her to begin with.  She had developed an idea for a technique that would allow her to control people.  It was an interesting concept that might prove useful on the battle field.
 
 
But the Girl who had arrived had asked her a question.  Angel was sure the cold was effecting her cognitive process.  “I didn’t notice” angel thought that pretty much covered it all.  Angel wasn’t much of a talker.  Really none of her clan was.  They merely blended into the woodwork.  But there was no way out of conversing with this girl.  Angel examined her clothes noticing the dress would have been beautiful when it was first worn.  Angels own clothes consisted on a very basic coat, that went down to her shins.  Most times she wore it open to reveal her black tunic and pants of an average ninja.  Her coat was full of pockets at weapon pouches didn’t help her if they were strapped under her coat.  The hood of her coat normally hid her face from others but at the same time she used it to shield against being attached to another’s eyes.  Eyes were the windows to the soul.  If you don’t look into each other’s soul you can’t form an attachment.  This is why Angel only showed her eyes to her friends.  But the girls clothes were very nice…or were.  Angel’s mind was going in circles again.  Maybe she should say something else to the girl.  It was customary to establish some sort of ground work with new people that you meet.  It set expectations and implemented a form of address to establish quick responses.  “My name is Angel.” 
 
More Kekaichu would return with reports of animals they had sited within the proximity.  Angel disregarded the repots.  Rabbits were far from her concern right now.  She wanted to know about this girl who stood in front of her.  Angel wasn’t able to see particularly well in the dim light.  She would easily pass up the stitches and rips in the girls netting.  But the veil was curious,  but I guess hiding your face from a potential enemy in the ninja world made sense.  Going along with that line of thinking Angel considered that maybe she should prove her identity.  Opening the top part of her coat she let in the cold air revealing the Headband that rested on her chest tied loosely around her neck.  She quickly did up her coat against the cold. 


[1,178 words] 

Alice waited for the girl to speak up about what she was doing in the mountains alone with bugs crawling all over her, she was about to say something when one of the bugs perched itself on the girls cheek, Alice would think that most young girls would freak out from bugs crawling on them, or at least feel tickled by the bugs many feet crawling up and around on their face, but this one gave no reaction. Alice took a guess from the hordes of bugs, and the way the girl dressed that she was from the aburame clan, a very well known clan in the ninja world. The clan itself was always a secretive bunch, and they really did not have the best people or socializing skills. Perhaps the girl was a loner like Alice, most Aburame usually were, though being out in the cold was even worse for an Aburame member, bugs didn't like the cold after all, and she was pretty sure members did not want their bugs to die off. The girl seemed incredibly shy, even more so than most Aburame Alice had seen in the village. Shyness could be a crippling factor in the life ninja, ninja needed to be brave in any situation, even social ones. Now that did not mean going up and talking to everyone and trying to make everyone a friend. It meant to be able to stand strongly for what you believed in, and be able to make your voice heard, to not be scared, and to never show fear. Shyness was a smell step into the direction of fear, it was like a gate way the edged a person into a terrifying trap. Fear was a ninja's worst enemy after all, and was the reason that many ninja died in this world, fear claimed more lives than actual fighting and ninja powers did.

Alice finally heard the girl speak, it was quiet, but at least it was words. "You did not notice? What? How could you not notice? You do know the difference between night and day right? You don't seem blind at least from what I've seen." She said this words with a friendly tone, as this was about as friendly as Alice got with people. She took a seat on a large rock, still 12 meters away from the girl, her bugs, and her large companion, and crossed her left leg over her right, adjusting her dress bottom in the process. She put her medical text book on the ground beside the rock as she did, as there was no way in hell Alice was going to get to reading the book at this time of night, especially when she was busying herself with talking to this strange girl. She gave a loud yawn as another cold mountain breeze blew through the area, causing Alice's hair to blow in the wind once more. It was hard to tell when Alice's hair stopped and the night began while it was blowing really, because her hair was just about as dark the night sky itself. The girl introduced herself as Angel. "Angel huh? Well Angel my name is Alice. You are not much of a talker are ya? It's fine thought I can do a lot of talking for the both of us here. Though it is rude to hide your face from people, but hey then again I am wearing this veil, so who am I to talk." She said casually. It really was rude to not show your face to people, but it was also rude to yourself because you were hiding your face and characteristics from the world, when you should embrace and show them off. Now Alice did not say that part because that would of been some deep shit  to lay on this girl she barely knew and Alice was not about deep shits and lecturing people, especially when she did not even know them, and she still covered her strange mouth from view.

She saw more bugs scuttle back from the woods to the girl, probably telling her what was going on. She knew Aburame had the talent to talk and control bugs and this girl seemed no different. She made sure to keep an eye in the bugs so none tried to crawl over to her. Just then the girl did something weird, she opened the top half of her coat up even though she was obviously freezing. Was she trying to flash Alice as a way to hit on her? If so Alice would decline as she really was not into young chicks. "Woah what are you doing there trying to flash me? Zip your coat back off or you'll tits will freeze off." She said plainly, but gave a look anyways, just to be polite and all, Alice was surprised when she not see boobs but instead a kumo ninja headband that was tied around the girl's neck, and rested on her fully clothed boobs. "You really did not have to prove to me that you were a Kumo ninja, you seem to small and shy to be a missing ninja at least." She said while the girl zipped her coat back up. "Though you still have yet to  tell me what you are doing out here in the middle of the night in the mountains. You can tell me it's not like I'm going to eat you or anything, you are so small I doubt you would fill me up anyways." She said giving a friendly smile. Her minds eye of the Kagura was still active so she would be able to tell if the girl was lying as well as sense any movement in the area if the girls bugs or her strange companion decided to try and do something stupid like attack her. She doubted they would as the girl herself seemed like she was not the fighting type, but hey maybe it was all an act, trickery did come in all shapes and sizes after all. 

(wc1011)
(twc 2123)
(-40 ap for mind's eye)

The mysterious girl stayed standing there looking at her.  Probably sizing her up, angel considered.  Angel had been just recently promoted to being a Genin, she didn’t know many of the villages ninja.  Very few in fact and those ones had been far from friendly.  Angel hoped this girl was different.  But the girl seemed to not like her answer.  She didn’t notice it become dark mainly because she had spent many hours meditating focused on a problem while at the same time trying to focus on absolutely nothing.  This may sound odd but the way it worked was Angel focused on clearing her mind such that all she would think about was one thing.  In this case her training.  But it wasn’t an easy task being the cold and updates from her parimeter as well as trying to keep herself and her friends warm, constantly pushed into her consciousness.  At which point she would have to work her way back to her thoughts.  The human body had 206 bones.  It had 360 joints.  On top of those bones and joints were approximately 700 muscles that controlled the body to make it move.  Manipulating a human body took surprisingly more effort and skill than manipulating a puppet.  This was what she was here for.  But she had reached this conclusion after 8 hours of meditation.  How would she explain to the new girl.  She could simplify it for her.  If she did it might seem like she was trying to belittle her.  She could explain the premise in full detail but that would take too long and in that time she would not put in any more practice.  She could be vague and tell the girl she was there to practice a jutsu, that might work but what if she wanted to know more details.  She could lie and say she was lost.  But she was sure she didn’t look lost.  In fact from exactly where she sat she could see down the mountain and into the village.  So being lost didn’t make sense.  So she sat there pondering this question looking at the girl’s feet.  She looked back at her own feet.  Normally she wouldn’t wear shoes or socks or anything on her feet but in the cold even her rough feet had to be covered to avoid frostbite.  But she was off topic.  The girl nearby sat on a rock, adjusting herself to be comfortable.  She didn’t seem to trust Angel but that was fine.  Angel didn’t know if the girl would try to hurt her or not either.  Such was the life of a ninja. Angel couldn’t see what the book she had with her was not that it mattered much.  Just curiosity getting in the way of brain function. 
 
The girl introduced herself as Alice.  Alice.  It had a chime ring to it.  Alice.  Alice was quite talkative.  She caught on to the fact that she didn’t like to talk.  Maybe she caught on to other things too.  Angel wondered how much she knew.  But then again everything that Alice knew wouldn’t help her with her problem.  Or would it?  Angel looked over at Alice chattering away.  Angel knew she liked to talk.  Maybe she wouldn’t mind talking about things that would help angel think.  Alice made a comment about covering her face.  She thought it was rude.  Alice herself had her face covered.  Alice then corrected for the fact that alice’s face was covered as well.  Alice liked to think out loud.  Maybe that was the key.  Alice had been quiet for a long time.  Alice then queried again what Angel was doing out here.  The bug on her cheek had frozen there.  Frowning Angel pulled the little guy of and slid him into her pocket.  The life spans of her insects were only a few hours but she always seemed to feel it as a part of herself dying when they did.  Luckily they reproduced at a fast rate allowing them to grow and adapt.  The Mountain training was actually a way for her kekaichu to evolve and develop the ability to resist the cold.  A few deaths  would promote the growth of the group much like the shinobi promotes the growth of the village.  Everything was very deep with angel.  No one really knew but she liked thinking about these things.  Making connections. 
 
Angel decided to try to get Alice to become an amplifier of her ideas by bouncing them off her.  It might actually help keep angel on track for once.  “How much…Do you know about the human body?”  Angel said in beginning to involve Alice.  The technique she was learning was no big secret so it wasn’t like she had to keep it from her.  “I’m currently studying it for training purposes, but currently I have hit a road block.  You see I have been trying to come up with an epiphany all on my own here.”  Angel wasn’t sure where she should go from here.  If Alice knew then she wouldn’t need to explain any more but if she didn’t, well Angel would have to carry the conversation and she wasn’t sure she wanted to do that.  Angel didn’t like talking much.  She wasn’t particularily shy she … eh she was shy she didn’t like talking with people but then again she didn’t like swimming.  Angel still learned how to swim when she was young.  But as for her face.  She didn’t care if it was rude.  Her clan never had.  A ninja was not something that should be noticed or remembered.  Angel sat waiting.  The remainder of her insects returned to her and she continued.  Her companion stood and aimlessly moved to another tree.  She didn’t know if Alice knew if her companion was real or not but if she paid attention she would notice light blue threads connection her to the puppet.  But the puppet was not moving toward either of them.  Angel did it regularly so that ice would not accumulate in the joints of the puppet.  all of the bugs retreated under Angel’s coat and into her chakra network.

1023 wc


Twc: 2,594

Alice could tell the girl was staring at her, most likely analyzing her movements, personality, speech patterns, trying to find out what made Alice tick, and why she was doing this. She knew because it was how all ninja were, always taking in, being cautious, there was no room for trust or friendliness in the world of ninjas, everyone was ready to betray anyone in a heart beat in order to gain something precious. The precious things ninja coveted were different for each and every one of them, for some it was family, other loves, money, power, justu, rank, bijuu,  etc,  the list could be endless, as greed took many forms and tried many different tactics to allure any ninja into it's vast power in this modern day Tartarus called the modern world. Alice was exactly like everyone else, greedy, though she craved something else, eternal life. She had killed four ninja to achieve her version of eternal life so far. Her five beating hearts moved in synch, echoing through her thread filled body, filling her chamber, no her very being, with their haunting, dark, beating, melody. Alice had even killed a kumo ninja to claim a heart, though he had been trying to defect from the village and attacked her in the first place. There were no rooms for bonds or friends in Alice or any ninja's  life really. Her only friend had died long ago, the only thing remaining was his dna that was inside of Alice, and his dark old boots. Alice did have her sensei Psy, so she could not say there was no one left she cared about, and could trust. She also had her aunt and uncle, but they had grown distant ever since Alice had began her days of living in the mountains for weeks at a time. They most likely thought of her as a monster, she was certainly not all the way human. She could not bleed like a human, nor cry like one, though she some what resembled them if she covered features properly, in the end though she was still not fully human. She was a abomination with a human like body. An abnormality in the common ninja world, a living, wandering  rag doll. Her appearance had not been what had made her a monster to her family though, they had learned to live with it a long time ago. It was what was inside Alice that seemed to have scared them. She did not feel like every one else, she did not think like very one else, she may  have looked mostly human on the outside, but on the inside she could not be farther from it. Her basic human morals, no, her humanity in general, had abandoned her, dissolved and choked by the black threads of her sinking insanity. She no longer could tell the difference between killing a human from killing a common dog. Only that they had different body structures, and that dogs were much more cute and a lot less messy, though the organs of dogs were a lot less useful for her so there benefits and consequences with both, and humans were more fun to play with, they allowed Alice to feel somthing when she killed, allowed her to be engulfed in the sweet frenzy of blood lust, if even for just a few moments.

Yes Alice had learned quite a deal about the human body since she decided to walk the path of a medical ninja. The vast medical knowledge she had gained had been incredibly useful, especially for Alice's unique body structure. She had learned what organs she should keep for herself, in order to attach to herself when her current ones were damaged beyond repair, or if they died to the effects of old age. Alice would be ready to get net organs at any moment in order to continue her sense and branch of immortality, her medical knowledge and strange body were an incredibly useful and vital combination. 

Alice's gaze returned to the girl when she asked how much she knew about the human body. "Hmmm I'd say I know quite a great deal. I am a medic ninja after all." She said, holding up her medic book for emphasis, before putting it back down. The human body was the first thing she learned about after becoming a medical ninja, Alice had to know almost every last part of it or else she had no right to help heal people and call herself a medial ninja. The girl said she was trying to come to an epiphany out in the mountains about a technique the involved the human body. Alice wondered why she could not just do such a thing from the safety of the village, but she decided to help the girl nevertheless. "Hmmm an epiphany up here in the mountains, about the human body well let's see what we can do here." She took a moment to ponder the question before saying, "Well since you are a puppet user it must be something about controlling a person like a puppet with your chakra strings I am guessing." Alice had known she was a puppet user the moment she sensed the faint chakra signature running from the girl to her over grown friend, it was why her large companion had no chakra signature, because he had no chakra. "Well when I need to think of a new way to kick the shit out of people a fight always seems to get my brain working right away." She said softly smiling, her dark lips shining slightly in the moonlight as she did. Alice silently and elegantly got up from the rock  after saying this, extending her arms into the night sky, embracing the cold embrace of the alluring night. She then at the young ninja deviously, a glint of playfulness and malice, like a predator that wanted to play and test its prey, before deciding if it wanted to eat it or allow it to live. " So what do you say, Angel?" As she did this her battle aura would appear behind her. It was an all black humanoid skeletal beast enveloped in a shroud of purple smoke, a crown of smoke would be decorated around the beast's head and it would be holding a large gold scythe in its left hand while it grinned slightly at the small girl mischievously. The aura was just a display of Alice's power, it could not actually do anything or interact with anything, it did not even cost much for Alice to do, but think about it. Alice was started to get excited, something that she had not felt in a long time. Perhaps this girl could help Alice find her own epiphany about her own jusut creation problems. She needed to figure out her apoptosis justu after all. 

(wc 1147)
(twc: 3279)
(-40 ap minds eye, display of power used)

Angel waited patiently as the girl responded to her question.  She almost completely dazed off waiting.  The girl took a long time to respond.  But Angel had other things she needed to think about as well.  Her mother’s illness had recently gotten worse.  Her mother had retired from the life of a ninja to bring up Angel.  She had made the decision after Angel’s father had died.  Her mother could not allow her child to become orphaned.  So she gave up her ninja tools as well as the kekai that had kept her safe through her life as a ninja.  With out the insects to regulate her health as they do Angel’s mother got gravely ill.  The doctors thought that there was a possibility she was suffering from every illness she ever would have if she hadn't had the insects keep her well.  These things weighed heavy on Angel’s heart but she couldn't allow it to interrupt her training.  Angel needed to master this Jutsu to become stronger.  Strong enough to save her mother.  That was her goal.  She thought that maybe if she was able to create a puppet that could sustain her mothers health while allowing her to return to being active.  Her mother was so sad.  The actions she did were to prevent what inevitably happened.  Angel now lived on her own with her mother at the hospital all the time.  It forced her to come out here to the mountains to train in the harshest climates.  She must become stronger.  Angel hoped this girl was her ticket.  She seemed confident but Angel didn't know anything about her.  Her strength’s her weaknesses.  She didn't even know if she was a ninja from her village.  It dawned on her that the headband could just have easily been stolen.  In which this girl may be an enemy and try to kill her.  For all Angel knew she could be psychotic and have no emotional burden of killing angel where she sat.  that was a fearsome thought but angel pushed it out of her mind.  If that were the case she would deal with it when it came up.  Angel would wait for the girls response quietly. 
 
When Alice finally did speak what she said made Angel not care who she was any more.  She just wanted to learn all she could from the girl.  She was a medical ninja?  Madicne skills would help Angel greatly.  Angel was inclined to ask her if she would be willing to teach her the craft.  It would allow her to possibly heal her mother.  Angel now knew the next step in her training.  She would work hard to master the art as soon as she finished learning this new jutsu.  But even before that she would need to make progress.  Alice seemed to be interested in the jutsu she was working on as well.  Alice comment on her controlling a puppet.  Angel was impressed, she hadn't necessarily been hiding the fact that her friend was a puppet.  But most low level ninja wouldn't understand what she was just by looking.  This girl was probably more powerful than Angel thought she was.  Alice had been correct to deduce that she was planning on trying to learn how to control a human body while it was still alive.  It was a technique that would provide her with power over an opponent.  She had already practiced sparring and manipulating an opponent’s weapon just of his reach but to halt an opponent’s movements completely? That was a skill few outside the Nara clan had been able to accomplish.  But if she was able to it there would be little outside of her abilities to stop an opponent.  Of course that was if the opponent couldn’t break her jutsu.  She had heard of a lot of ninja being incredibly strong.  But that was again something for another time. 
 
The next statement caused Angel to take a sharp breath.  Alice wanted to fight to inspire her.  Inspiration through action had always been odd notion to Angel.  She had come up with her inspirations through calm and stillness.  Her skill set lent itself to being still and focusing on the task.  But maybe a fight is not where calm and stillness are able to work their best.  She would need skills other than her bugs and puppets in a battle.  So maybe an inspirational fight was exactly what would aid Angel.  Angel could feel her pulse.  Beating harder.  The girl’s chakra erupted from her back.  The ghastly image there to frighten Angel she was definitely intimidated.  A fight huh?  “OK!!”
 
Angel decided she would take the initiative.  Rolling back off the rock she did a one handed hand stand slipping the other into her weapon pouch.  Pulling out two kunai spinning them on her fingers.  The action was to distract the motions of a Puppet user.  Completing her flip she would flick the kunai at Alice aiming for non lethal shoulder shot’s on each shoulder [speed 50].  A perceptive ninja would notice thin chakra stings attached to the thrown kunai.  Her puppet would also rush to Angels aid.  Denial was able to kneel around Angel with out her needing to couch at all.  He was large because it was his job to protect her.  His leg would cover attacks from the left.  His back would cover the right and behind her.  And his left arms would reach around to protect her front. 
 
Now angel just needed to react to an attack.  Completely hidden from view behind her back she would pour her bugs into her puppet.  Focusing her chakra on the bugs she would do a single hand sign preparing a jutsu.  It was not her intent to go all out but why not use your powers.  It was in the heat of battle that she would discover the answers she was seeking.  “Now come.”  Angel said in a cool tone.  She hoped this wouldn't inspire hatred in the other.  Her actions were merely a challenge, more for herself than towards this girl.  “I am the one that must get stronger.”

1019 words

TWC 3613

Stats/kekaichu/Puppet stats:
Health: 6 / 1 / variable
Chakra: 37 / 0 / 0
Stamina :20 / 11 / 0
Speed: 30 / 21 /50
Strength: 12 / 11 / 41
Action points:214 + 100 (Chunin)
Throwing speed: 60 Throwing distance: 30


adding because i'm updating my signature

The girl seemed to perk up when Alice mentioned that she was a medical ninja. Perhaps she was looking for a sensei herself to teach her the ways of medicine and healing, though Alice most likely would not be the best sensei, she was still learning herself  after all and had only just recently mastered some of the basic medical ninjustu, Alice was a student herself, though her sensei had never taught her about medical ninjustu himself, he knew a great deal about almost anything in the ninja world, and always taught her through the experiences of killing and traveling they shared in their times together. That was not to say that Alice could not show Angel some of the medical techniques she did know now, and perhaps the ones she gained in the future. Alice aspired to create her own medical techniques, and had already started thinking and researching for two deadly techniques she wished to create. Perhaps this spar with Angel would help inspire her to finish her two techniques. Alice could feel her 5 hearts begin to beat slightly faster, thinking about her beloved sensei who she missed and all the good times that they had shared, killing and raping missing ninja, and traveling to other villages on the back of a demon, she was alost exicted by the chance of finishing the creation of two powerful techniques.

The moon would continue to shine bright on the clearing where Alice and Angel were. Everything would be casting long shadows behind them, the trees, the rocks, even  Alice, Angel, and her puppet itself. Now being only 12 meters away from Angel, and 14 meter away from her puppet made Alice slightly nervous as there was a small chance for them to ambush her, so as a precaution Alice focused her mind's eye of the kagura and activated her byakugan just as Angel shouted okay and began her attack. Now with the byakugan and Mind's eye active and focused Alice would react to almost anything, Angel's movements almost seemed to move in slight slow motion to her. The moment angel dived into her pouch Alice knew a projectile of some sort would coming her way, so she prepared the rat hand seal just as Angel threw the two kuni. Alice would appear to sink into her shadow at the blinding speed of her reaction time, Alice did not know for sure if Angel would even see her sink. As Alice sunk into her shadow she was already preparing her next justu, performing the rat, dragon, and nara clan hand seal all at an amazing speed, making sure to hold the last one, just as she became fully sunken into her shadow behind her. The two kuni would hit to the left and right of where Alice once was, but she now was behind the two kuni, safe inside her shadow behind her. As the two kuni would hit the ground, 8 hands would erupted from the shadow of Angel's puppet companion just as it was about to rush to protect her. These hands would be enveloped in shadow and red wisps of darkness. 4 hands would wrap around each of the puppet's arms, while one would wrap around each of the puppet's legs, these hands would spread the puppet out in the eagle position, while the final 2 hands would wrap around the puppet's chest, as if giving it a hug, it would be highly unlikely that the puppet would be able to break through this strong technique, but Alice would be prepared if it was able to with some kind of justu or reaction.

"I want to see what you can do, not what your puppet can." She said coldly, Alice no longer had the friendly care free tone she had when they were just talking, it was not that Alice intended to kill Angel, or that she was mad at her, it was just how she got sometimes when she got into a fight, her voice just seemed to stop exuding emotion. Alice would have two more hands erupt from her own shadow as she said this, they would pick up the kuni in front of them and throw them at Angel, one aiming for her right leg, while the other aimed for her left arm, not that fatal of wounds, but this was a spar after all, besides even if they did do manjor damage Alice could always heal angel of most injuries, at least she thought she could. 

(wc753)
(twc 4032)
(-60 ap for minds plus 50 to my reaction time)
(-40 for shadow punge)
(-40 for hands of nyx)
(used inheritance of darkness skill)
Stats of hands: 50 plus 20 for being 40 over stat cap of justu, plus 10 for inheritance of dakrness= 80 power, 80 speed, and 80 health for the hands)
 Throwing speed of kuni is 120 plus 40 sharpness to kuni giving the kuni a speed of 120 and a sharpness of 90.

Angel landed throwing the two kunai but the girl vanished suddenly.  Angels heart started beating quickly.  She had never fought someone this fast.  Usually her masters pulled their abilities back a little to help their students but this.  The kunai she had thrown obviously hit nothing sticking harmlessly into the ground.  What had just happened the threads on her fingers indicated something was holding her puppet from coming to her…something strong?  Angel had built Denial as a strong defense.  His power was overwhelmingly even more than her own.  It something was able to restrain Him, than Angel had very little hope. 

When she was a girl there had been a boy who had protected her from bullies.  She was weird being an Aburame girl very few guys would come near her unless they wanted to pick a fight.  The pain had been more emotional than physical.  They had said hurtful things and made her feel bad about herself.  She couldn’t help it if her clan forced her to hide her eyes all the time.  She couldn’t help it if the regulation attire was something that completely covered her form.  It was how they had trained and it was how she got strong.  But that one day was more brutal than normal.  She had gotten knocked down and her coat was torn and her face had been kicked.  She couldn’t see quite straight but then a boy with white eyes had stepped in and chased the bullies away.  She had later been told that the eyes belonged to a very prestigious clan, of the Hyuuga’s.  Now that memory of the boy gave her courage whenever a bully came around.

 Angel didn’t have the time to do anything nor would she be able to survive if she took her eyes away now.  The enemy could be anywhere.  An ominous voice that Angel couldn’t believe was the sweet girl that she was having a friendly battle with was speaking with such malicious sounding words.  “you want to see what I can do?”  angel shook her head ever so slightly.  ‘Says the girl hiding in the shadows’ Angel thought to herself. 

The comment had hurt.  What did she mean she wanted to see my abilities.  That’s like saying ‘Hey lets see how rast you can run’  then breaking the person’s legs.  “I don’t know why so many people criticize my puppet skills” angel said.  “I trained just as hard to be able to protect myself as any other ninja trains with their jutsu.  Did you know that I built these puppets myself?”  Angel’s other jutsu were good but she just hadn’t put in enough time with those jutsu.

When Angel was young she had been ridiculed by the clan for trying to learn puppet jutsu.  It was only to have fun but the clan saw it as insubordination.  The rituals were set in place to create a cohesive unit.  Or so they said.  But Angel say the whole picture.  That cohesive unit did not care for the weaker units or the different units cutting them away rather deal with them.  And that is exactly wht they had done.  They had discarded Angel and her mother to become outcasts of the clan.  Luckily the rest of the village didn’t care to much of the inner workings of the Aburame clan, so luckily they had not met much resistance on that front.  But then the damage had been done.  Angel just wanted to play with her dolls instead of the bugs.  But being kicked out was the best thing to have happened to her.  She embraced her gift and began making and training to use puppets as a ninja tool in tandem with her Insect jutsu.  And now she was good at it.

 Angel couldn’t lose to this girl who didn’t understand the bond between a ninja and their puppets.  She would win.  Angels heart rate fell and she became more peaceful.   She kept scanning.  How had Alice been able to disappear like that?  Unless she was a much more powerful ninja then she let on.  Which would only classify this fight as bullying.  Or murder.  The thought filled Angel with dread.  She didn’t want to die.  Well obviously, no one wanted to die.  But Angel simply had no reason to think that dieing was an option.  She had to protect her mother and she had to become storng and make everyone see her for who she really was.  She was someone worth it.  Worth compliments worth friends.  She didn’t have the time or patience to die.

[EDITING]
Angels finger twitched “Where…?”  looking back to where the girl had been a shadow picked up her kunai and had thrown it at her.  The Kunai heading for her arm missed narrowly to the side.  angel was able to redirect the blade with the chakra threads that were still attached to the kunai that Angell had thrown in the first place.  The second of the kunai would miss there mark but angel was not able to make it completely miss, as it cut shallowly into the side of her calf.  Her leg dripped blood for a moment before her insects pluged the wound.  it was a temperary fix but Angel wouldn't be able to do anything straining with that leg.   Angel’s heart beat fast as she had narrowly escaped being skewered by the kunai.  ‘Good now I’m connected’ Angel thought  as her fingers confirmed that the 2 threads that split off the kunais had connected to Alice when she picked up the kunais.  “Seems your quite good at calling out peoples weaknesses while hiding in the background.”  Angel drew a kunai and palmed a smoke bomb.  The later should be hard if not impossible to tell was in her hand.  She took up a defensive stance that would allow her to block all sides.  She continued to scan the surroundings with quickly darting eyes as if to find her opponent.  She knew she would not just come straight out without a hidden attack so angel prepared to defend the best she could.
[EDITED]
 
1013 wc
Twc 4626

[4500 towards Puppet Performance: Skillful Achievement with a Human Body]

Alice heard the girl call out about how people had always criticized her on her puppetry, and how she had made her puppets herself. Alice knew she came off harsh but she had only meant to help Angel realize that focusing all offensive power on one thing would make it easy for her to be disabled completely in battle. "A ninja must be able to adapt to any circumstance, and have back ups in case their usual form of offense or defense is compromised, being a puppet user your way of offense and defense is versatile and rare, but is still even more predictable than others, if you have no back up plan when your puppets are compromised than perhaps you should quit being a ninja before you end up getting yourself killed in an actual battle. You will never grow to your true potential if you focus too much on one thing, and don't put enough time and training into anything else to make it useful." Alice said these words not with malice, but with more of a teaching tone, her words may have sounded harsh but she was only trying to teach the girl things so she did not end up getting  herself killed in an actual battle. Alice had no intent in killing the girl or harming her too much, but that could not be said for all the battles the girl would face in her life. Alice had been attacked by missing ninja who had wanted to kill her once or twice, she knew that they would take an chance they could to kill someone standing in their way, they would analyze the girl's skill set instantly with that huge puppet following her around, meaning her attack pattern and way of offense would be completely predicted much faster than other ninja.  

Alice watched as the kuni thrown by her shadow hands had been, for the most part, ineffective, only causing a shallow cut on the girls leg. Though the cut would stop the girl from doing too much with her leg, she seemed to have plugged the wound up with her bugs. Alice was impressed with the girls quick thinking, now she would not lose so much blood or risk infection. Alice sensed the chakra threads attached to the kuni were now attached to her two shadow hands from her hands of Nyx technique that she had used to throw the kuni, the girl really was smart. Her hands of Nyx technique was by far one of her favorites because of the versatility it had, though it was still limited. Alice could have, at max, 10 hands in play at one time, and she already had 8 being used on the puppet, and her last two now attached with chakra threads. She decided to have the two hands that had chakra threads on them fade out, so the girl couldn't track them if they moved. Without any hands to attach themselves to, Alice guessed the threads would simply fall to the ground or return to the girl. Alice would move silently and swiftly while in her shadow form, while her hands faded as to not be in the same position in case Angel's threads attached themselves to something near by the hands, and still gave away Alice's location. Alice listened to Angel call her out for apparently "hiding." Alice suppressed a laugh, and watched as Angel threw a smoke bomb. Now Alice did not understand why Angel would do this, perhaps she did not know the abilities of the Byakugan, or maybe she just really wanted to use a smoke bomb, either way Alice saw through the smoke as clear as day and was able to see Angel holding a kuni with a defensive stance. Alice would begin to reform behind a group of  eight trees that were 15 meters to the left from Angel. Her form would be hidden by the dark shadows of the trees, as well as the normally blinding smoke from the smoke ball Angel threw. Alice would then perform 5 hand seals and peak her head out to the right of the trees towards Angel, and release a volley of 6 fire balls at the genin. Now usually Alice would not risk showing her location to the enemy, but the smoke would block Angel from seeing her, and the darkness of night would make it difficult anyways to see Alice's form in the shadows. Alice would be able to control the volley of six fire balls as they moved, making one aim to hit Angel from the front aiming for her chest and stomach, one was launched at Angel from the left to hit her left side, one was launched at angel from the right to hit her right side, one would arc up and aim to come down on Angel from above, aiming for her neck area, and Alice would have the final fire ball travel lower than the rest aiming for Angel's legs. Alice knew that the damage the fire balls did would be so weak that she would have no problem with healing Angel if she were injured by them. As the fire balls launched, Alice would say, "Strength does not determine battles, nor justu, nor speed, cunning decides battles, knowing when to strike and knowing when to evade wins battles. As ninja we are linked to darkness and stealth, the ninja that can "hide in the background" better, is a ninja that can out evade their opponent, giving them the a great amount of advantage in battle, so thank you for the compliment." She said again emotionless. Alice would watch from her location to see if Angel could out evade her volley of six fire balls, her shadow hands would still be restraining angel's puppet while this was all going on, as Alice was now only be 12 meters to right of where the puppet was restrained. It was time to see if Angel had what it took to make it in the ninja world.

(wc 1008)
(twc 5040)
(-60 ap for minds eye)
(-40 hands of nyx)
(-20 for phoenix fire, fire balls have stats of 20, not boosting them with the chakra cap rule this time)