Swing Life Away ~P, NK~

(Continuing from here )

Altar stood at the top of his home, looking over the railing to the streets below. Far below. Very far below. In adage to Tengakure, the first place he had been able to truly call home, Altar had his home modeled after the buildings there. As such it towered over the other buildings, a skyscraper among the smaller houses and huts of Kirigakure. On nights that it got exceptionally stormy, one could feel the building sway. Lucky it was a sunny day, or the girl would likely heave over the railing.

Wait...the girl! In his idle reminiscing, he had completely forgotten about the newest revolutionary, the medic in training. Turning to her, Altar would put a gentle hand on her shoulder, cocking his head to the right and lowering his body slightly, anchoring himself so she'd feel more stable. The change in height could be staggering and almost hellacious on the head to one unaccustomed to such heights, but he was more concerned about the fact that she'd just traversed time and space as it wasn't intended for the first time.

"Are you alright? Don't make any sudden movements and don't look around too fast. Sit if you need to. Take your time." the boy would say, his voice gentle, paired with the smile of concern in his face. He remembered his first time traveling via teleportation. He had just about lost his stomach on the borders of Kirigakure.

After ensuring the girl was alright, Altar would move his hand back to his side before speaking again. "So, i'm sure you have questions, and those can be answered in time. First, i'd like to know a little more about you. Why don't you tell me about yourself, if you don't mind?" Altar would say, moving back to look over the railing once more, his ears perked.

"I'm...I'm okay, I think." Hanabi answered, waiting for the nausea to slowly subside. Once he had released her and moved over to the railing, she slowly lowered herself to the ground and sat. While she was recovering from the teleportation experience, that didn't help with the fact that she had never been nearly so high. She often felt uncomfortable on the third stories of buildings, and her experiences with even those were uncommon. Adding to that that they were in the open air, and she didn't trust her legs to keep her standing.

On the bright side, she was feeling better about him. The way he had strode into Tsubasa's room without a word had been rather unnerving, but now he seemed to be rather friendly. "Well, um, my name is Hanabi Yuka." She began, not used to talking about herself. "Of the Yuka clan. We're medical ninja, if you're not familiar. It's not a major clan or anything." The young woman went on, her voice dropping into a mumble as she did so. If he didn't pick up the conversation here, she would continue. "I'm, um, twenty. I have-had an older brother, Hoshigoto. Tsubasa knew him, I guess maybe you might've too. I hope to be like him someday. And I guess, I guess that's it..."

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After hearing about her brother, Altar's face would soften, his hands gripping the railing tight, his knuckles whitening. He was knew all too well what the girl meant, and it would've staggered him, shaken him had he not been all too familiar with what the girl spoke of. Loss. And of course, the tyrant was most likely at the heart of this loss, as he was with almost all the losses in Kirigakure.

"Except those you caused..."  Kalamity seethed in Altar's head. The boy could almost taste the smug satisfaction dripping from the demon's voice.

"I'm..." the boy would begin, trailing off and swallowing heavily. "I'm sorry to hear that, Hanabi. I'm rather familiar with loss myself. If you ever need someone to talk to, i'm always available. I know how badly a loss can shake someone." Altar would finish, images of a funeral pyre flashing through his mind. "I'm of a similar disposition when it comes to clan status. I'm the last remaining member of my clan that resides in the nations. The rest of us are tucked away in our own remote village."

"But, what you said intrigues me. What do you mean you hope to be like him someday?" the boy would say, his eyes cast over the misty city below. His stark white hair would glisten, the moisture in the air sticking to his head due to the high altitude. After the girl had finished clarifying, Altar would move back to look at her, crouching down across from where she sat. Introductions needed to be somewhat formal, after all.

"Apologies, I never gave you my name. I'm Altar Shinkou." the boy would say, a smile gracing his face. "Now, if you have any questions for me...?"

Hanabi smiled sadly, clearly he had lost someone, or maybe someones, too. She supposed that must go for almost every shinobi by the time they rose above genin. That was just what happened when you and everyone you know were weapons. Not that that made it any easier.

"Well...I always looked up to him, he was my hero. My father only acknowledged I exist after...after he'd disappeared, so my brother was kind of my dad growing up. He was a good medic, probably better than my father ever was. But it wasn't just his ability. He was...very kind. Sometimes when we went out to get groceries, or something like that, it would take hours, just because he'd stop to talk to anyone that looked distressed or uncomfortable. Then our father would yell at him for it, that healing people for free took business away from the family clinic. Which I guess is true."

She paused, realizing both that she was in danger of rambling on endlessly, and on the verge of tears. Though Hoshigoto had disappeared a few years ago now, she had almost never talked about him since. Certainly not this much at once. After taking a moment to calm herself down, she finished up. "I guess in short I want to be like him as a person. Have his determination, his kindness, his bravery. And be as skilled as him so I can help as many people. He wanted to make the village a good place to live, and I want to help him do that. Even if he's not here to see it happen."

"Um, nice to meet you," She responded awkwardly after he had moved over to her, "Shinkou. Or should I call you Altar?"

Talking about her brother so much made her feel a bit ashamed of herself. After Altar responded Hanabi slowly rose to a position on her hands and knees. The lavender haired girl crawled forward until she could reach out and grab the railing. She shakily pulled herself into a standing position. Mission accomplished, two-handed death grip on the rail or no. She made the mistake of looking down and a fresh roll of nausea washed over her, but she managed to fight it back down. She focused her eyes on the sky, a much more calming view, and tried to pretend she wasn't...well, where she was.

"Questions?" She said once she felt safe to talk, "I don't know...today has been a lot for me. I was worried just about becoming a genin, and now this has happened. The headmaster said I should focus on getting stronger for now." She looked at him, "How should I do that?"

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"Altar will do just fine. Unnecessary formality has never been my thing." Altar would say, pushing a hand through his matted hair. Watching the girl crawl over to the railing, Altar couldn't help but chuckle. He was raised training on buildings double this size. Hell, he had spent hours upon hours dangling from the side of one in one of his more intense training sessions. Seeing someone so unfamiliar and unsure with heights was naturally amusing, though he supposed he should feel bad for finding it funny.

"Well, you've certainly got the heart of a medical ninja, and the aspiration to boot. Just be wary. That aspiration, and that heart can get you in trouble. The path of a medical nin is a slippery slope and should be treated as such. We're far from immortal." the boy would say, instinctively covering his pale left eye with his left hand, his mismatched crimson right eye expanding to account for the faux loss of vision.

Rising, Altar would move his hands to his pockets. "As for getting stronger, you train. That's why I brought you here, to spar. It seems only fitting, as I trained Ren. Plus, it'll serve to get your mind off what's troubling you." Altar would say, taking a light fighting stance.

"If you'd like a change of scenery, I could always bring us elsewhere to ground level. Of course, that'll require another port..." the boy would say, the grin returning to his face.

"You brought me here to spar?" Hanabi asked nervously, looking over the railing and picturing herself tumbling down. It seemed like a viable possibility if she were to fight with someone strong enough to be the headmaster's mentor. Granted such a person ought to be able to save her if it were to happen, but she thought avoiding the situation altogether would be the ideal course of action. "I, uh, wouldn't mind being more...down."

She very carefully stepped back from the railing, resisiting the urge to move back down to the ground. The young woman walked slowly backward until she neared Altar, then turned to him and readied herself to port again. Momentary discomfort was definitely preferable to jumping around up here and maybe-sorta dying. If he would bring them to a new location, once she had recovered from the trip again, she would add "I don't know what I could do, though. I don't know any offensive techniques..."

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As the girl slowly backed her way to Altar, the boy would roll his eyes, deciding to take action and speed up the process rather than wait for the girl to creep her way back across the rooftop. She couldn't be afraid forever, and his patience was never that great in the first place. Dashing forward, Altar would scoop the girl up, placing his right arm behind her knees and lifting outwards and up, catching her head and neck in the crook of his left arm. Of course, this was done with just enough strength to lift the girl quickly, so as not to cause any harm. With the girl in hand, he would open Void and step through, coming to a scene completely different from the one they had just left.

They would now be in the old part of Shimagakure, mostly uninhabited and unchanged by the takeover that had happened oh so long ago. Though the mist remained, as it was everywhere, here the wilds had seemed to take over what had been a nature park, the absence of the atypical tropical sun resulting in a decrease in flora and an increase in weeds and other nuisance plants. Old playground equipment served as a backdrop. Benches, swingsets and merry-go-rounds, all rusted beyond use or repair fit the scene, paired with scattered rubble of various sizes that dotted what were once well used roads.

Altar would release the girl so she stood back on her feet, and take steps backwards away from her, measuring about ten meters distance between the two. Taking a fighting stance, the boy would reply to Hanabi, his voice echoing among the empty street. "You won't need them. Simple hand to hand fighting is the basis of all combat. I won't go in depth, but I can at least teach you the basics. Before I do, though, i'd like to see what you already know, so I know where to start." the boy would say, raising his hands to cover the lower half of his face and sliding his feet shoulder width apart, his right foot taking the back position and facing rightwards, his left facing forward, towards Hanabi. His knees would bend slightly, allowing him to attain a lower center of gravity.

"And don't worry stress, i'm not going to hurt you and you're not going to hurt me. I promise. Let nothing but the fight at hand cloud your mind. Now, begin." Having said that, Altar would wait about ten seconds. If the girl made no move, he would begin approaching her, his feet returning to normal so he could resume typical strides, but his guard remaining up. If he got within reach of the girl, he would throw a right hand at her left side, followed by a left aimed to impact her right cheek. Both hands would retract to guard the moment they made contact, the punches light and swift, a feeling just above the pain of a flick. Assuming both hit their intended mark, Altar would dash back a few steps, pushing himself backwards with the back half of his left foot, landing on the front half of his right.

Of course, Altar would hold back his speed and strength to levels the girl could see and tolerate. This was training, not a brawl.

Hurt him? Hanabi thought once she had regained her senses from the rather jarring experience. She smiled wryly to herself, I wasn't worried about that. I guess if the purpose of this is to gauge my skill, I should take the offensive. She ran at him, staying low to match his stance.

She decided to try luring him into counterattacking, assuming it would be an easier to strike him if he wasn't in the current defensive position he was holding. She kept her left arm up as she got close, hoping it would appear she would strike with it. Just as she would get in range she would instead cut to the left. She would turn her upraised left arm as she did so to remain facing him in the hopes that if he were to attack, she could attempt to block it. If not stopped she would swing her right fist up in a low uppercut, aiming for his gut, as she planted her left foot. She would then sweep her right leg back, attempting to mimic his posture, and bring her right fist back to join the left in front of her chest.

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Maintaining his guard, Altar would watch the girl charge. Well, this was a good start. Taking the offensive meant getting the first move in egde wise and, if you were clever, you could do something truly unpredictable before having to worry about reacting to any attacks thrown by your opponent.

That being said, Altar had seen this before. He himself had fallen victim to trying a similar feint. As such, he knew just how to deal with it. As the girl cut to Altar's right and landed on her left foot, she swing her right fist outwards. Altar would lower his own right hand and push the girl's fist outwards to his right, grabbing on to her wrist at the same time. As he did, he would continue to pull the girl's right arm well wide and past it's intended target, while spinning his body to his right to follow through with the pull. To do this, Altar would shift his right foot backwards of his new orientation, and his left foot would move forward and slightly right, into the path of the girl's feet.

Altar's trip, combined with the pull and her own inertia would cause the girl to do a 180 degree spin and fall. Typically, she would have impacted the ground and been left with the odd bump or bruise, but no worse for wear. However, Altar, hearkening back to his days in the plains of Tengakure, kept his grip on her right wrist firm, breaking her fall and leaving her head in the air, just above the ground. The boy would crack a smile at the event, before his face returned to it's neutral blank slate. 

He would pull her up after about a second of leaving her hanging, and use his grip on her wrist to lift her slightly, along with putting his left hand on her stomach and using the leverage from both hands to push her slightly up and away while releasing his grip on her wrist. If she had a keen sense of balance, she would land about five meters away on her feet. If not, she'd most likely tumble and roll however much further until she stopped herself. Once she landed, Altar would retake his fighting stance, assuming she wanted to go on the offensive again.

Hanabi managed to get her feet below her before reconnecting with the ground. Unfortunately, she lacked the experience to know how to land correctly and had to backpedal several feet, arms wheeling out, to avoid falling. When she came to a stop she resumed a combat stance, blushing. Well that was just embarrassing...He's not chasing after me, I guess he wants me to attack again. She walked forward with her fists up, slowly accelerating into a jog. As she got to Altar she would throw out a light, quick jab with her right aimed at the corner of her jaw. She didn't expect to actually hit him, the attempt was to get the attention of his defense without making a big enough hit to be grabbed again. As she would pull her hand back, she would strike up with her actual attack, her left knee. She would then jump back a foot or two in an attempt to create some space.

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