Catching Up (Hikari)

Hikari gave her response without a moment's hesitation. Salzem listened in slight shock as she stated that she hadn't felt any sense of malice towards him, that, in fact, she felt he must have had a good reason for doing what he did. She said that she only hoped he'd return safely... She had maintained this hope and praise for so long... This news visibly touched the young ninja, his heart rate escalating and a certain amount of blood rushing to his cheeks. He truly didn't deserve someone so faithful and patient as Hikari. He simply wasn't worthy. He smiled softly for a while, not saying a thing for a second or two before getting up from the table and stepping out from his seat.

"I just had a great idea." Salzem said. "Why don't we head down to the training grounds for a little spar, huh? Lets see how much stronger you've become without me." He grinned at his little joke and, if she agreed, Salzem and Hikari would head back to the front of the restaurant where the waiter was standing at his post. Salzem smiled at him, almost mockingly. The waiter frowned at him. It took all Salzem had to repress a laugh building in his stomach as he paid, then left, his expression nothing short of priceless. Now came the hard part of his day: Walking among the average folk. Everyone in town knew who he was now, acknowledging him as a grade A pariah. They weren't chucking their literal and metaphorical garbage at him today like they usually did (perhaps they were afraid of hitting Hikari by mistake), but he saw them all whisper. Worse yet, he could HEAR them all whisper, right down to their hissy, raspy voices. He heard them all discussing how he should have died, how many people he must've killed, forging rumors left and right as if it were a black-smithy. Lycan hearing was sometimes a curse more than a virtue... The werewolf pretended their hate was nothing, that their words were nothing but air with no meaning. He tricked himself, at least in part, into believing that they had no idea what they were saying and doing, that this was some sort of "nature" thing for them. He knew, though, that deep down he was well and truly hated for coming back. There was no love for a traitor no matter how minor his betrayal was. If he killed a comrade or simply walked out of the gates, they didn't want him and that was painful. Salzem would walk in silence, quietly dragged into the dark, twisted stories drawn up around him and his reputation, taking a macabre interest in which direction the next story might escalate. One man called him a thief, another, a bandit. Some claimed he was a robber and had an entire band of ninja waiting outside the village. That one Salzem liked the most. It was... creative. It also made him wonder if Kasai's attempt on the village was also responsible in part for how badly he was being treated... It was no secret he was learning from the guy back in the day... It made him wonder how much hatred was actually harbored...

After at least 15 minutes of this torture, they arrived at the grounds, the place mostly empty except for those few stragglers who desperately wanted to hone their tai-jutsu skills as per the usual. Somehow, it all came back to here... He wouldn't be surprised if he ended up dying on the earth of a training grounds... Old, grey, muscles and bones rotted away... swatting at wooden dummies with his cane until his heart ultimately failed him... But look at him, reminiscing on the macabre. He was here to have fun with his closest friend and family... It was harder than he thought.... Why was it so hard to have fun with Hikari...? It wasn't her fault, that much was obvious.

"Alright." Salzem announced, slamming his fist into his palm. "Lets get this started then... Hikari, do you want the first move?"

After giving her truthful opinion to Salzem, she waited for the latter to speak. A few seconds passed, the silence drifting through the air, a smile ingrained on Salzem's face from her response. It was evident that he had not expected her to feel the way she did, with no loathing or repugnance. She grinned widely as he suggested they spar to see how much stronger the other has gotten, although she figured Salzem would still overcome her, it would be a fun experience for the both of them either way.

"I like that idea, let's do it!" Hikari happily exclaimed her agreement to her friend. With both of the on the same page, they got up from their table and headed to the front, where their waiter stood at the front post, a frown upon his lips. After they paid him, all the while Salzem looking as if he were suppressing a laugh, and they headed out of the restaurant to the training grounds. As they walked down the streets, Hikari noticed the strange looks people were shooting their way. They were aimed at Salzem, as it seemed everyone could not let go of what he had done the past year as a rogue ninja. Hikari hated that they shot him looks and could visibly be seen whispering and pointing at him, full of hateful and crude words. 

Wrapping her arm around his shoulder (in a side hug sort of thing), if he allowed, she shot him a comforting smile as she spoke up, hoping to drown out everyone else, "The weather is nice out today, huh Salzem? A perfect mix between the warmth from the sun and the cool breeze from the wind. Perfect for a sparring match, wouldn't you agree?"

They arrived to the training grounds fifteen minutes into their "journey", having survived the stares and gossip of those who knew not what had happened. As they stepped across the ground, remains of earlier training scattered across the area, Salzem slammed his fist into his palm in a display of excitement and determination. Hikari pondered for a moment on it it would be advantageous for her to move first or for her to take a defensive position first, as she had no idea what was up Salzem's sleeves.

However, then she remembered that Salzem was not the only who had gotten stronger the past year, she too had her own tricks she could use against his. She even thought about the jutsu she had read about in her Ninjutsu book she checked out from the Konoha Library, along with some Taijutsu and Medical-Ninjutsu books. If the Hyuuga was not at the Hospital or training grounds, she could be found at the library, increasing her knowledge of jutsu in case she ever had the opportunity -such as this- to train and learn these new jutsu.

"I'll go first, if you don't mind Sal!" She cheery said, jumping back a few feet to give them some distance to start out with, otherwise their sparring would not be as fair. She thought about which jutsu to attempt first; her Hyuuga bloodline Gentle Fist technique, one of her fire style jutsus', or a new jutsu she was currently trying, or wanting, to learn. She performed the Ox, Rabbit, and Monkey hand-seals as she took a deep breath, focusing her chakra to see if she could accurately perform this jutsu- as it was one she had never even attempted before. Hikari focused her lightning chakra into her right hand, trying to perform the Chidori jutsu. She felt a surge of electricity run through her hand, making it tremble a little, but the effects listed in her ninjutsu book did not occur, thus the jutsu had failed.

While all of this was taking place, Kuro stood to the sidelines for the moment, wanting to see how the two faired one another first before he attempted to fight as well (since the wolf was still working on getting stronger as well).

(WC: 669)

As they made their way to the grounds, Hikari wrapped her arm around Salzem's shoulder, pulling him into something of a side hug despite the added difficulty to walk. He knew what she was trying to do, attempting to block out the insidious whispers of the towns folk with her actions... Salzem couldn't help but feel at ease as she held him, commenting how the weather was perfect for training, what with the sun shining and a nice cool breeze blowing. He had to admit, when looking at the world through clearer eyes, it did kind of look like a good day... The mix of warm and cool dancing on his pale skin was pleasurable to say the least, relaxing as well. Hikari's presence was a major help as well, especially the smiles she handed out. He couldn't quite understand where the older hyuuga managed to find all her patience to comfort him so often, to be so kind to everyone around her and ignore those she can't please. If their situations were reversed, the lycan would have liked to think he could have acted the same, even though that was a fantasy. He returned Hikari's smile and even her hug, wrapping one arm around her mid-back rather than her shoulders, what with her arm around his and all.

"Right again." Salzem smiled. "I should start testing you on this stuff... I think you'd do well.." As they made their way to the grounds, the young lycan couldn't help but feel like nothing mattered when he was with Hikari- in a positive way of course. All the negativity, the deaths, the hisses and threats, his duties, the death of his friends... it all seemed so far away... He could see them, but it was like through a fog several miles in the distance... She didn't make them go away, rather, she made them keep a safe distance, pushing the problems aside until they were ready to deal with them. For that, Salzem held his friend in the highest prestige. When they reached the grounds and Salzem proposed his question, Hikari readily agreed, separating from him and taking leap back and putting a few feet's distance between them. She seemed to be thinking about something, perhaps what jutsu she'd use as Salzem waited eagerly in anticipation. He watched as she weaved a few signs and held up her hand, lighting seeming to spark between her fingers. He waited one second... two... but there was nothing else to come. He glanced around, just in case a... he didn't know... a thunderbolt would fall on him or something but nothing happened.

"Uh.... That was anticlimactic." Salzem noted, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "More chakra maybe...? Hard to go wrong with more chakra." Joking aside, he could only figure the jutsu's issue was that the young hyuuga wasn't putting enough power behind the technique. With that statement said, Salzem extended a palm in front of him, his gloves beginning to glow with a sanguine light. In a flash, a light blue barrier six feet by six feet in front of him, ready for whatever Hikari might throw. He tucked the other hand in his jacket pocket in an almost casual manner. It wasn't as if he didn't take Hikari seriously or anything... It was just a habit he developed when not using a hand.

"Come at me whenever you're ready." He said with a grin. He had a feeling this was going to be fun.

AP: 807

-30 Gloves of Fortitude

It was pleasant to know that Hikari's efforts to cheer up her younger companion had worked, as she hated to see him down in the dumps, especially in a place they both called home. He returned her smile as they had walked to the training grounds, and he even put his arm around her mid-back, his attempt at reciprocating her awkward side hug. She couldn't help but chuckle as he mentioned testing her on her kindness and cheerfulness. 

At the training grounds, the Hyuuga was not surprised her jutsu did not work the first time she attempted it, it usually never worked out that way anyways. But that was why one trained hard to master their jutsu and become stronger, otherwise there would be no real point in training.

"Haha yeah..that was just to test your reflexes for the unexpected. I'll do it for real this time!" Hikari jokingly called out to Salzem, even if they were in the midst of a spar she figured she could reply to his comments and joke with him while she was at it. Likewise,  Salzem, even though he was her "opponent", gave her some helpful tips for her new jutsu, saying how she needed to add more chakra to perform the jutsu correctly. This did not surprise Hikari in the slightest, as it was a common problem for people -such as herself- to make. She hoped she could impress Salzem with this jutsu, the Chidori (also known as One Thousand Birds because of the way the lightning collides with itself and causing a chirping like sound to emit off of it).

After Salzem gave her advice, the lycan extended one of his palms outward, the other having been tucked away within his pocket in a nonchalant, laid back fashion- almost as if he thought this spar would be a very easy match (though Hikari knew that could not possibly be what he intended it to mean, otherwise he would have been offensive to the "still learning" and "getting stronger" Chuunin-, the glove on his hand glowing a crimson hue, then a light blue barrier glinted in front of Salzem. The barrier stood six feet tall and six feet wide, though what it could deflect against was unknown to the Hyuuga. She figured it would be for chakra based attacks, or Taijutsu based attacks, as both of those were her specialties. She was leaning more towards the chakra side, however, as he had just seen her attempt a chakra based lightning jutsu, so it only made sense that she would probably try to make the same jutsu work again thus his chakra barrier would easily protect him. Though she figured it could be a normal barrier that just blocked all attacks, in which case she would have to quickly break it if she even hoped to get close enough to strike Salzem head on. 

Mentally going through her arsenal, Hikari figured that a long range jutsu would helped her do two things: 1) be able to analyze the barrier and 2) be at a safe distance away from the barrier, in case it had other uses besides just defending. Having chosen her jutsu, which took only a second or two, she made the following hand seals: boar, ram, snake, horse, and lastly, dragon. Then Hikari focused more lightning chakra into her hands, the crackling could be both heard and seen as the lightning dispelled from her hands. Then she thrust both of her palms forward, aiming a large stream of lightning [50 power, 50 speed] toward the barrier. This jutsu is noted as being able to rip through solid rock, thus it is indeed a force to be reckoned with; Hikari just hoped it would be enough to do moderate damage to the barrier. As she waited to see what her lightning stream did, if it did anything that is, she got into a defensive stance in case he took that opportunity to strike.

(Wc: 1,331)
[Ap: 533- 20= 513//Raiton: Jibashi]

The Stream passed right through the barrier as if it didn't exist, allowing Salzem only precious seconds to react to the lightning wave coming his way. He stepped to the side quickly, putting a foot of distance between him and the wave at the very last moment (speed 125), the earth exploding beside his feet as the bolt passed. He raised an eyebrow at Hikari as the barrier disintegrated, obviously impressed by how easily her attack passed through one of his better defenses. Quickly, his hands slammed into a symbol, that of the ram, channeling his chakra into his legs. In a flash, He would be up in Hikari's face at a speed of 200, closing the distance before the hyuuga could even blink. As he reappeared in front of his friend, Salzem's fist would be cocked back by his side, a punch already winded up, aided immensely by his momentum. With a speed of 125 and a strength of 44, Salzem would thrust his punch upwards towards Hikari's stomach, The force of his punch likely causing her to double over in pain at the very least, likely also forcing a good amount of air from her lungs as well should it hit. Without wasting another second, the lycan would draw back his hand and throw another punch with his other towards Hikari's cheek, the strike coming down at a lower angle so that she would slam into the ground on impact (speed 125, strength 46). Whether or not his attacks would hit, Salzem would take a few large jumps backwards (Speed 125), putting a good 55 meters of distance between them as he brought his hands back behind him. As he landed, Salzem threw his arms forward, sending a massive ten meter air-blast towards the hyuuga, the shape oddly reminiscent of a tiger's head (Speed: 88, Power 63). Even if the hyuuga would be able to dodge, the moment she'd side-step the head, Salzem would slam his hands together into something of a tiger symbol, causing the blast to explode, covering that 50 meters of distance in an instant with a power of 63. Given Salzem's 50 meters of distance between him and the blast, the 5 meters gave the shockwave enough space to dissipate to a non-painful force, though it did blow his hair back quite a bit. Should Hikari be struck by one or two of these hits, the worst wounds she would get were a bad scrapes, maybe a cracked bone somewhere.

As the smoke cleared, the lycanthrope waited to see any movement amongst the dust to signal her change in position. He had to admit, she was making this fun. He only hoped the fun didn't end too quickly.

AP: 767

-40 Daytime Tiger

As soon as he launched his Daytime Tiger, Salzem's body began to transform and shift, growing larger and bulkier, taller and more massive until no longer stood a 16 year old kid. There, where the human once stood was a 9 foot 11 white werewolf, letting out a blood-curdling howl as the ground in front of him exploded with his Tiger technique (speed 100). Of course, as Hikari body-flickered, Salzem could track her movements on smell alone, not to mention his hearing and vision. He whirled around, seeing his student in a familiar stance, that of the hyuuga's 8 trigrams. Salzem remembered how painful that attack was... He remembered his chakra being sealed off leaving a vast emptiness where his chakra once flowed. The lycan, not being eager to relive that experience, reached out and snatched Hikari's hand as she dove for his tenketsu (speed 145, strength 50), seeming to make her hand disappear in his massive paw. With her 64 palms disrupted, Salzem would, with a growl, wrench Hikari toward him by her hand before shoulder-checking her in the clavicle (Speed 175 Strength 58), the force of which being more than enough to break one of her bones, maybe even fracturing the surrounding skeleton as well. The force of his check would shove the hyuuga out of his grasp, sending her head-over-heels backwards in the grass at least 3 meters away, kicking up dirt and grass as she fell away. The Werewolf would then fall on all fours, stalking towards his his friend with his lips curled into a snarl.

The power of such an attack would likely leave the hyuuga girl on the ground, incapacitated or knocked out most likely, but he couldn't be sure. Hikari had definitely grown more powerful in the time Salzem had been gone... In addition, she had also stated that she had been out at the hospital somewhat during those two years, leading Salzem to believe she could, in fact, heal herself as well... Then again... Salzem grew indecisive, unsure where to go from here. If he shifted back out of his form, that would leave him weaker, even vulnerable, but his friend had been delt a critical blow... With his morality winning out of practicality, Salzem shrunk back to his human form and ran up to his friend, concerned, but guarded.

"Hikari." He said, reaching out a hand to her shoulder. "Are you okay...?"

AP: 707

-30 Packleader Form
-30 Tokken

Hikari's eyes widened as her friend morphed into a 9 foot 11 pure white werewolf, easily towering over her 4 foot 9 frame. Salzem grabbed her wrist, stopping her Sixty Four Palms technique from activating, before he pulled her towards him and rammed his shoulder into her collarbone. She heard a deafening crunch as she was sent flying several meters away (5 meters to be exact), her body kicking up dirt and grass as she rolled away. Her body ached from the blow, her collarbone being completely shattered. Her eyes were still screwed shut as Salzem got on all fours and began to stalk her like prey. 

Kuro, who had been patiently waiting on the sidelines and intently watching their sparring, ran to Hikari's side as soon as he saw her not get up right away. He stood guard in front of her, growling and barring his fangs to the obviously much larger wolf. Kuro would rather die than let Salzem hurt Hikari anymore. Thankfully, Salzem retracted his werewolf form as he ran up to check on Hikari, otherwise Kuro would have unleashed his Destruction mode upon the werewolf (although the said wolf could have easily fended him off, if he had hurt Kuro than his friend, Hikari, would be very upset and furious with him). Kuro kept his predatory gaze and snarl up as Salzem approached, still on guard of the boy and being overly protective of Hikari.

The Hyuuga blinked her eyes open after several seconds of laying in pitch darkness- she had been briefly knocked unconscious by the force of both the attack and hitting the ground. She could feel the throbbing pain in her chest caused by her broken clavicle and possibly due to a few minor fractures to the surrounding bones. Hikari made the boar then rat hand seals, enveloping her hands in a greenish aura of chakra. She placed her hands over her chest, on top of the broken and fractured bones, and started to amend the bones with a reinforcement of her chakra (although this only lasts for a short period of time, and the jutsu is only temporary healing). As she was doing this, Hikari glanced over at Kuro and Salzem (of course not hearing the younger boy's words from earlier). 

"Kuro, I'm okay. You can stand down now." She gently called out to her companion, who upon hearing her voice turned around and began to nuzzle her face softly, happy to hear she had woken up and was in no immediate danger. "Sal, you sure have gotten so much stronger! And I can't believe your werewolf form- it's incredible, and so big!" Soon enough her chakra had mended the bones together temporarily, and she sat up, turning to face her friend, unsure as to if they would continue their sparring or not.

(WC: 2,312)
[AP: 482- 20 Medical Ninjutsu  = 462]

Salzem ignored Kuro's threatening growls as he approached Hikari, his face a pool of concern. The lycan knelt by her side, experiancing a very small comfort to see that she was breathing. At least her chest wasn't broken enough that shards punctured her lungs... When she didn't respond to his question, Salzem weaved a pair of signs, the boar and the rat, mimicking the signs Hikari herself made then. Even though he knew her perfectly capable of healing herself on her own, Salzem didn't want to take ANY chances with someone he cared about so much. He laid his glowing green hands gently atop hers, channeling his chakra to work along side Hikari's to heal her broken bones. The process, even with the two of them, took a little while to complete. With complete honest and with little shame, the lycan knew he had almost completely forgotten how to heal someone, and he wasn't quite capable of healing Hikari completely the way he was. In fact, if it wasn't for the hyuuga already healing herself, Salzem would have already rushed her to the hospital. He felt his chakra knitting together the foundations of her body, pasting the broken pieces back to their rightful places until the older girl was back in functioning order. Hikari called off her wolf companion, the canine rushing to her side at the sound of her voice and nuzzling her face in relief. Were Salzem the animal he transformed into, he might have done the exact same thing only... different. Instead, he settled for a sigh or relief and a grin as she sat up.

"I was afraid I hit you too hard..." He said, his muscles weak with the intensity of of his relief.  He laughed at her remark, however, his weakness very quickly forgotten. "I'm glad you like it because.... uh... I won't be able to do it again for a while." He chuckled sheepishly, looking off to the side before back at her. Then, he brushed some of his hair on the side of his head to the side, revealing his ear and a curved tooth-like earring hanging from the lobe. It was one of the main sources of his speed, flooding him with helpful chakra that allowed him to surpass his normal limits. Holding his hair back with one hand, he took the earring from it's place before tucking it into a pocket on his flak jacket.

"There... you should find the fight a lot easier now..." He said with a knowing grin. He got to his feet, offering Hikari a hand for her to do the same. If she accepted, the lycan would pull her to her feet before taking a step back and raising his hands defensively. "Well? What are you waiting for? This is a spar after all."

As Hikari was healing her injuries, Salzem weaved the familiar boar and rat hand seals and began healing her as well, his glowing green hands a top hers. She could feel his chakra aiding her own to heal her broken and fractured bones, mending the fragments back together until they were whole once more. Hikari had momentarily forgotten about the lycan being able to use medical ninjutsu, although it was not too hard to fathom her forgetfulness as it had been over a year and a half since she had spoken with him, and even then she rarely saw him use his medical techniques when in combat. Salzem was more of an offensive attacker when in battle, always striking head first at any opponent that dared to challenge him.

It took several moments of the two continuously healing for the Hyuuga to be fully repaired and back in tip top shape. Salzem sighed in relief and Kuro nuzzled her to death when she sat up, her mood brightening even more so at the two's reactions. Hikari laughed lightly when Salzem admitted he though he had hit her too hard.

Her reply was playful and light, "Hit me too hard? Please!" She pointed to herself as she said the following, "I'm a Hyuuga, it'll take a lot more than that to knock me down!" Hikari ended her comment with a cheeky grin. When Sal mentioned not being able to perform his werewolf transformation for a while, Hikari figured it would be that way. Jutsu, and transformations she figured, had to be charged up both with chakra and physically (or else your body would not be able to handle whatever jutsu or transformation you were trying to do). Then Salzem chuckled sheepishly, glancing off to the side and then back at her as he brushed his hair to the side, revealing a tooth-like earring that dangled from his earlobe. He reached up with his free hand and took off the jewelry, pocketing it in his flak jacket.

Hikari, having never seen a piece of jewelry (or what she perceived was some type of enhancing accessory), wondered where would could find such an item, and why Salzem had it. " Salzem, does that earring give you some sort of boost?" After she asked this, she gratefully accepted his outstretched hand, using her legs to push herself off the ground to help Salzem as he pull her up. Then she watched as her friend took a step back, his arms in his signature defensive position. She did the same, taking a jump back as well (giving them six feet of distance between themselves).

Hikari grinned as Salzem called out to her, signaling he was ready for whatever she threw his way. As he called out to her, she surged lightning chakra through her body, ionizing the neurons in her body in a balanced nature that resulted in an increase in her neuro-transmission rate, enhancing her speed and strength. This jutsu made it appear as if her body was giving off a faint glow due to the lightning coursing through her body. A second later Hikari went into action, running towards Salzem (speed 145) and weaved the ox, rabbit, and monkey hand seals. She outstretched her right hand and channeled lightning chakra into her hand, thus creating a sound like chirping birds. She would aim her hand for his gut (power 25) so as to just send a slight electric shock throughout his body, as the full force of the jutsu could fatally injure him.

Kuro, after Hikari began her onslaught of jutsu, stood to the sidelines once more, watching the two as they fought, wondering how this new match up would end. With Salzem taking off his enhancing device and not being able to use his werewolf form for some time, they were both on more equal terms this time around.

(WC: 2,960)
[AP: 462 -30 Lightning Javelin & -45 Chidori  = 387]