Preparation for the future.

To say she was worried was the understatement of the century. Kira had heard from a few of the villagers suggestion that the leader of yukigakure village was out on important work. There was talk of seeing the young kage training out in the outskirts with the strange sewn up demon she knew could only be youka and echo was no where to be seen either. Kira went about the village searching for any bits of information she could gather as she left two of the shadow clones to train. She walked slowly through the heavy wooden door into the tavern, her long black cloak pulled tightly around her body to latch just at the base of the center of her neck with a simple gold clasp. Beneath it, as usual she wore her signature training clothes, the savar suit which clung tightly to her skin, hiding all but the small fabric covered receptors of the lightning weave underlay, and over that a simple leather crop top tattered and sewn back together only god knows how many times  and a pair of army green cargo shorts that stopped only a quarter of the way down the length of her thighs. Her feet were protected by toes ninja shoes that fit right as spandex against her skin, pressing lightly against the red stone of her amethyst which was embedded under the skin in the center of her ankle. It felt wierd still feeling the cloth brush against the protrusion in her skin but slowly she was getting used to it.

    As she searched the two clones were hard at work locked in combat. "Come on! Outside of this village do you know what could happen!?" The first clone yelled bringing the oversized scythe blade down just past her opponents head. The dodge was sloppy but just enough, allowing the defending clone to watch the intricate silver detailing pass her body by millimeters, close enough thst she could count the small soul like spirits one by one thst seemed to be flying across the long black staff as she struck.

    "I'm trying. Goddess you're much more agressive today. I know I'm worried about them too but I don't think killing me will help keep our friends safe Kira. They were both worried sick. No. To say they were worried to point of illeness as the turn of phrase went would be a remarkable understatement. They were worried past the point of rationality considering the tasks that were given to herself maku and youka and the fact that they, presumably with echo in person would be now braving those tasks, however in a method that could only prove the complexity of the girl both clones as well as the original Kira were showing that emotion in vastly different ways. Kira proved a strong determination to find them and ensure they were safe or if need be die at their sides as warriors.  The attacking clone was not under the calming effects of resolve unfortunately, proving the volition nature hidden within the kind hearted ninja once called the hell's angel. She struck over and over with the large scythe faster and harder then ever before with intent to kill solely because if she was fighting her feelings away there was no worry in having to deal with the realization that she was once more too weak to go and fight along side her team. The second clone was calm, but dismissive. outwardly she didn't show any suggestion that the situation bothered her in the slightest, though within her mind the thoughts swirled like a hurricane that threatened every moment to break her resolve and send her crashing to the ground in tears. She more then the other two was feeling the paralyzing fear that something could happen, the thought that perhaps they wouldn't come back. 

    "Fuck you. " These two words cut the clone deeper then anything she'd experienced so far. As the scythe wielding clone continued to throw strike after strike the eyes of the clone on defense seemed to zone out. Her body moved on reflex to shift out of the way of the powerful strikes one after the other but she threw no attacks, no parrys to open her opponent out. It was like two words coming from your own lips in front of you shattered her world. This only upset the attacking clone more, who began to send great slashes across the girl's body in an attempt to cut her in half. 


     "Kira! welcome!" the bartender spoke as she walked in. Even with the long cloak covering her body and had it was easy to recognize her, the girl who stopped the missing ninja attacks and brought one of their beloved chuunin back home, though without his life. If they'd known.....If the people knew what had really happened they would not praise her name to their children as a protector of yukigakure. Maybe they would respect her, tell her they understood the decision but they would not beam smiles and pass her name from person to person. Still having the reputation suited her. She took a seat at the bar, taking the glass of water that had been offered to her and turned her attention to the bar keeper. "Hey. I was wondering if you'd heard anything about Maku. I haven't seen him in a while...." 


     "If you dont fight me seriously I really will kill you. Come one! Stop being a little bitch. We arent like this anymore. Our days of holding back in fear are behind us. That's what got us left behind the first time you know. " The words met her ears but passed between them without actually making it to her brain. realization of the world around her was out of the clone's ability to percieve right now. She rolled her body left and right in time with the strikes, dodging a few paces to either side or backwards as needed to avoid the horizontal slashes but she never responded in kind. there wasn't a reason to break from the thoughts in her head, which was fortunate because the words that spewed from her opponets lips were venom that would only upset her more and more. 

     
     "No maam. I haven't really heard anything either 'cept that he's gone on some sort of mission. I think he took the wierd guy with him. " He spoke before turning to another of the patrons to take his order. this was bad, she thought to herself. It was true. The more she searched the more she found out that they were in fact gone. There was no note or message to let her know what was going on, no hint as to what they were doing, and no garantee that if they were taking on one of the tasks she knew to be on their agenda they would definitely be coming back. "Thanks.....I assume dai and Kiru are watching the village while he's gone?" The words were soft and seemed a little distant as she slipped into thought. She recived an answer she didn't really pay attention to. It didn't really matter. She knew it would have to be one or both of them as the highest ranked members of the village, most likely with the two jounin body cards watching over them from the shadows to make sure nothing happened. She slid her hand into the bag at her side and after only a second she felt the cold metal of the chokers against her skin. She needed to find them, even if it meant traveling alone, and at the least give them her gifts. it was important to her to be in contact whether they wanted her assistance or not. She kept telling herself over and over it was because she was sick. Of course they couldn't bring a girl on her death bed from some mysterious illness to battle over a village or treat with high ranking officials. There was no way she could have gone with them, especially considering there was no garantee until after they'd left that she'd even have survived. 

     

     The clone was starting to get more and more upset with each attack. her hands were white from the stress of her grip on the staff portion of sorrow of humanity as she thrust it downward over and over again at her oppoent who lackadaisically dodged as if she were moving in slow motion, which to the girl honestly she was. her perception was second to none and always had been, watching and analyzing since the days long ago in the outskirts of the village hidden in the rain, when she had little but her wit ho help her survive. her brilliance had always been her strongest tool, a sharp knife which assisted in the sharpening of her skills. With this combination and the strange ability to watch the world around her move in a state as close to stop time as could be realistically called still in motion she was able to plan ahead of the attack moving her body just enough to get out of whatever was coming her way. This, which the attacking clone knew about and was fully in realization that the girl was abusing succeeded in pissing her off more then ever before. From her shadow five tendrils shot out quickly with sharp pointed tips aimed at various points of the clone's body to disable her and stop this dance once and for all. The slow sway of the defending shadow clone's hips stopped as she saw the tendrils. She could see the look in her eyes flash for a  moment, her eye lids opening just a bit more then usual as she molded chakra to counter the technique before returning to the lost puppy like look. As the tendrils got in range a large black shroud seemed to flow over the girl's body, blackening clothes and skin until she seemed like a featureless bit of black shadow moving slowly away. The tendrils seemed to hit her, but then glanced off to the side as small shield like disks formed just at the edge of her skin angled away from her body to disrupt the forward momentum and push the shadow sewing jutsu's signature tendrils off of her black skin and safely away from her body. She never spoke, never made a sound and barely even seemed to be breathing as she moved in a circle around the training area, dodging attack after attack with the cloak of the night allowing swift protection in the event something got past her perception. As they began to dance again the attacking clone noticed the change in her stance. Her feet were slightly more appart as she shifted her hips and shoulders and each dodge was getting more and more eficient. The look in her eyes never changed, never succeeded in suggesting there was any chance she was actually living in this world but still the movements continued to get a little farther from the attacks. It almost seemed unnatural the way she contorted her form to get out of the way, seeming like the precision she had in rolling and turning her body in time with each attack wasn't possible at the speed they moved and yet every time the attacking shadow clone was sure she'd landed a hit the girl's body would pivot at the last second to open the attack up to meet empty air. 

   

     
 "I have to head out. I need to pack my things..." She spoke the word to no one but herself, though it was loud enough that those in the immediate area could hear. The bartender looked up for a moment before waving to her, not actually having realized what she was suggesting. She determined it would be important to track the group, following any signs that they'd gone one direction or the other to figure out exactly where they were. She was fairly certain they would be headed to Taki or Ame, but more certain it would be taki. The trip to ame would come she expected, but Taki was an endeavor planned out long ago without having been actualized and carried out. Echo was here, or was before he disappeared which she was fairly certain meant he was with youka and maku, and his appearance and then their disappearance made the chances that the time had come to take over the village hidden behind the waterfall was here. Perhaps they were already in control, sitting in lavish chairs sipping frozen drinks in the tropical breeze. Was there a tropical breeze? To be honest she wasn't even sure what the temperature or climate of the village hidden in the water fall was but she assumed with a waterfall it would have to be quite warm and tropical. 

     (TWC 2144)

Over and over the tendrils of shadow struck out like snakes at her opponent, each time meeting a tiny bit of shadow turnin in such a way that it pushed the attack off to the side. The girl was furious and it was showing more and more on her face and yet still she couldn't find a way to get through her opponent's gaurd. She had to give credit to the defensive capabilities she'd creatured, or that they had created at lest, as each of the girls, both the two fighting in the training hall and the real kira who had initially created the shadow clone were in essence and in practice the exact same person. She decided to do something different, slashing downward once more with the great scythe of sorrow to bite it easilly into the floor beneath them causing a huge gash that inevitably she would need to pay for later. It wasn't that she felt responsible for the condition of the training area as it was in fact a place that was meant to be used in this way, but more so that she realized the flooring which was fairly heavy wood was designed to take hits to an extent, but not at all purposed to take the full brunt of the hell's angel's power and rage. Shifting forward quickly she rose up two more tendrils which curled around her body as she moved into melee range with her opponent. The defending kira watched as her opponent dropped the scythe, or more so left it sticking strait up in the floor behind her to begin using taijutsu, assumably to throw more attacks then her opponent could sucessfully block at a range that would make her defense close to useless and brought her sword arm up quickly, one arm crossing over the other, to slip the sword into it's shieth within the shield like chakram. This would do her little good she would have thought should she have had the capacity to actually react to the outside world in any way other then completely passively. her reflexive actions were quite eficient, though the planning needed was lacking. Everything was pure instinct, causing her body to shift and contort like a rubber band, each movement seeming impossible for a being that has a skeletal structure and yet here she was. The distance was closed incredibly quickly, two meters turning to less then a foot in the blink of an eye as the agressive clone tested her new strategy, her actual planning weakened by the rage that filled her entire existence. 

     Once she was within range she lashed out with her fists, throwing a string of seven punches with the intention of peppering the girl's chest with damage. At the end of her attack, which was a swift strike to the girl's left shoulder with her knuckles brandished out and a swift twist at the end to increase power,  two strait jabs to the girl's throat with knuckles extended to crush her wind pipe, a strike just below that with enough power to crack her breast bone in half in a single strike, and then a hook to the center of the girl's shoulder right in the dip of her skin where the shoulder joint ended to connect to the collar bone and a heavy shot to her stromach. Following this she would flare a kick out that due to their close proximity would bring her knee around her body and into her opponent's kidney, pushing her forward and to the side, her leg slipping in to shift a kick into a knee strike at the last moment without allowing wind resistance from the half turn the attack required. As she struck out with her body the shadow tendrils wrapped around her body quickly, aiming at six points in her back in two strait rows downward starting just below the blade of her shoulder and ending an inch past the edge of her short cargo shorts. 

     She responded quickly, her head dropping down to not even be able to see the girl attacking her before she began to react. She turned her body to the side, taking the vital points aimed for away and causing her opponent to reaim the attacks. each attack came in quickly but was met easilly. Her body bend forward and backward dodging the first to attacks respectively and then ducked down with incredibly speed. The next set of attacks floated uselessly above her head as she pushed forward,  bringing her body within inches of her opponents and turning just enough that the final attack slipped pas her, brushing the heavy back cloak as it missed her by less then an inch. Just before their bodies were set to meet the defending clone stepped outward to the opposite side of the girl's kick, putting her foot just behind the other girl's left foot. She spun as she moved, just getting out of the way of the black pointed tendrils of death and more importantly then that putting her opponent into harm's way. THe moment her foot touched down behind her enemy she pushed up on the tip of her foot to spin her body around, moving almost weightlessly around to put the two of them almost back to back before her balancing leg touched down to move her forward once more. The attacking clone closed her eyes and brought her arms up to her chest defensively as she controled her chakra to try and stop the tendrils. Using her powerful chakra she pulled back the speed quickly and just moments before she would have been pierced in six separate points the tendrils finally stopped, their sharp pointed tips brushing against her savar suit before coming to a full stop. Damn this girl, she thought. She was getting mroe and more tired of this rediculousness. This, she was certain, was the reason why Youka and Maku wouldn't bring her on the important missions. Here she was unable to handle a completely unarmed combatant lost in throught who wouldn't even raise a fist to attack her. With an enemy that wouldn not raise fist or weapon to strike her she'd still managed to be countered, causing her to almost be impaled and desummoned back into the infinity by her own powerful attack. As she turned she saw the other girl seeming to dance about, shifting at an angle away from her to ensure she easilly got out of reach. 

    The defending kira was slowly coming back to reality. In her mind she spoke to the demon of chance amber, working out the lost feeling in her head. "Kira....What are you doing. This is a battle not a dance why are you not attacking her enemy. I do support your incredible use of the hyper dance fighting style. " 

     "WHa...." Up until this point, when she rushed towards the attacking kira, she'd not even realized they were still fighting. As she looked up she noticed the girl throwing an attack just out of reach of her body, as her face came within inches of the other girl's. Without thinking her body continued to move, much to her surprise. The shift was incredible. She'd never before tried such a balance heavy movement, but her mind working on it's own trusted her ability to shift and spin and as she touched her back to the other girl's, pushing off lightly to move away from her once more the defending kira finally came back to reality. "What...>what happened?"

    "Child i'm not sure how you did it but you've been dodging your opponent's attacks without even pretending to think. End it. You know waht to do child...." her eyes finally opened up fully, looking with purpose upon her opponent who pushed off of the ground to rush towards her. "Good bye." She spoke, two simple words that would not suggest the lvel of screwed her opponent was about to be in. She formed a half tiger seal quickly, her eyes turning up to her opponent with a soft smile. She used the mastered water trumpet justsu, a stream of water pouring from her lips and the moment it started the water turned into tiny needles, fifty of them to be exact. The agressive clone was shattered in an instant and as she desummoned the defensive clone and the real kira in unison spoke, "Let's go find our team."

 Kira rushed to the inn where she'd been staying, turning to go out the door quickly and run down the street as the final shadow clone simply allowed herself to disappear in a puff of smoke. Kira went through the doors to the inn and her room quickly, memory flooding her mind of the battle, and gathered the essencial belongings before heading out. She would find her friends tonight. 

(TWC 3620 claiming trained in 1000 needles of death (3500 words) 12 stats, and 600 ryo))

Denied for to many words

(approved i guess)