The Samurai and the Wary Sun [Training Hanzo I/O]

The voice was enough to make her freeze mid step, her chakra cementing her to the spot without a thought as her head turned toward the noise - narrowing her eyes she watched his salute and wave, only raising her eyebrow at his question before glancing around. I guess it would look odd to be zipping around but it seemed as logical as any other practice could be… As the seconds passed in silence her memory served her well - she knew exactly who this was - yet another one of the men who was falling over themselves to get in close with Izumi at the bar that night. A sparring partner was better than running drills alone though, so in that moment she would take the step out into the open air and allow herself to plummet to the ground; only about 15 meters. Though it was a long way down she landed with a small bounce in her step before striding over to the man who towered over her as he did before, stopping roughly 5 meters from him and giving him a quick once over. 

“Yo.”, her voice was flat but not uninviting as she spoke, “You’ve never seen a maneuverability drill? The trees serve as obstacles and you are supposed to be training your ability to change directions as quickly as possible… it’s not nearly as efficient as some of the other training I’ve done but it will do for a warm up.” As she spoke she gestured to the random groupings of trees around them, some of which now had bark missing from her repeated points of contact. Taking a few curious steps around him, noting the wrapped item on his back, she would come back around to face him. “What kind of training do you do? Anything worth sparring against?”, her tone had shifted a little, dipping to challenge him perhaps, all while her gaze of yellow bore into him with unflinching intensity. “Something is better than nothing right?”


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Her arms would cross over her chest, her stance balanced between her two legs standing firm as she listened to his analysis of her proposal. At this point the sun was beginning to steadily rise, cresting over the horizon and nearing the midpoint of the height of its arc - causing the light to spill in behind her and add a glow to her hair as well showing the sweat gathering at the back of her neck. His one uncovered eye had been taking her in as she spoke and his body language was apprehensive at worst but other than that he was a fairly open and easy person to communicate with; if only socialization was her strong suit. Her right eyebrow would shoot up in surprise at his words - did he not realize how that sounded or was he actually trying to make a sexual joke? He must be joking though… if he considered her better than him at just a glance - yes she was fast and agile but that isn’t everything, brute strength can negate most of her ability without him breaking a sweat. All the while the widest grin was plastered on his face, and as someone who rarely smiled it made her lips tighten into their traditional scowl. She would move a few meters closer so she was within reach of him before commenting.

“For someone who looks like you, missing an eye even, never being in a fight comes across as hard to believe. How did you earn that eyepatch anyways? Trip and fall over your own two feet?” She would smirk a second before shifting her body with fluid and practiced movement - left leg sliding back slightly wider than her hips and staggered with her right, raising her hands into fists and throwing a single cross body punch directly to the jaw he was just holding only moments ago - her entire body weight was thrown into the strike as her back foot pivoted along with her core before snapping back into her original position with a slight bounce in her bent knees. The smile wasn’t a full one but something akin to it was playing at the edges of her lips that could be seen through her raised fists, before giving a slight laugh and lowering her fists to allow them to hang loosely at her side. 

“Now you can say you have been in a fight and got your ass kicked by a woman. But unless you can help me nurture my affinity for water chakra you might be better off finding someone else to train with for the day.”, she would turn and stalk off to her bag, grabbing her water bottle and taking a few deep drinks, only looking over her shoulder once to ensure he was okay. She was no brawler by any means, while she packed a punch for her size she had very little umph behind it.

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With the bottle to her lips she watched him over her shoulder, the glance turning into held attention as he surprisingly had something to say concerning water nature. The seal of her lips on the bottle would break as she narrowed her eyes, instead of gratitude she wore skepticism on her face - people don’t give things freely without wanting something in return. Dropping the half empty bottle back into the bag she would stand and cross her arms across her chest as she watched his hands weave familiar signs in unfamiliar patterns.

‘Water Pressure Trigger’, her expression morphed from skepticism to worry as she quickly snatched her bag from the ground in an attempt to save it from being soaked - only just being successful as the bag left the ground just as the water surged onto the spot it once sat. As soon as it surged it dissipated and she dropped the bag once more on the ground - but held her guard. “Alright then, I’m up for the task of learning, though to be fair I’m more of a book learner so we will see how this goes..” With her arms still crossed she would move over to him a bit closer, holding her body language at a very obvious ‘guarded but observant’. He would begin with the fundamentals before moving onto the exact method one would need to take in order to draw out water-chakra - once she had some of those down he would move into showing her the ‘Water Pressure Trigger’ he had started earlier. As guarded as she was, Kunika was equally a sponge for information - soaking up every comment and bit of advice offered to her. 

After the lesson it surprised her to hear the words, ‘what is your name anyways?’. Freezing in place, her hands still holding the Boar seal as her molten gold eyes shot up to his face with the expression of bewilderment. Had he just taught her all of this without even the base knowledge of her name? Hadn’t they met already? Was she so forgettable next to her sister that - as the memory replayed the expression would soften into one of realization. She remembered that night again … and even after her threat he chose to help her. Her frozen hands would fall to her sides as the shame of it all hit her with full force; the light of day being shut out as she closed her eyes in embarrassment and lifted her face to the sky. Even with eyes closed she heard the removal of his equipment and even felt the thud of their weight as they hit the dirt a meter or so from where she stood. 

Scrunching her eyebrows a bit she would peek out at him, now standing with his arms crossed, and causing her eyes to shut even harder as the weight of her rudeness settled in. The moment of silence was barely noticeable but it felt like an eternity to Kunika, people were supposed to be her forte but it seemed she had more to work on. With a heavy sigh she would roll her shoulders before opening her eyes and looking him in the face, “Thank you, first of all… for teaching me. I am Kunika Akari, and… I’m sorry for how we first met. I don’t understand exactly why you chose to help me despite knowing nothing about me but… I appreciate it..” While her tone was sincere her expression was verging on pained - she was not one for apologies so for her at least, this was a big deal. “And you are Kurokawa Hanzo, the one who so brazenly infiltrated a group of men and stole their prize of my sister, congratulations are in order.” The last words came out harder than the rest as they sounded as though forced through gritted teeth.

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Emotionless expression. Soft, elegant hair red hair moved as his feet took steps forward in the path that he has taken. He usually doesn't train in such a place, but he thought he might as well give it a try. It had the perfect setup for the tools and instruments that he would need with training his unique release and of course, his medical ninjutsu. With his arms behind his back, he wore his typical Chinese-style battle outfit. He preferred to stick to tradition while the others took on the more modern attire and appearances. Speaking of appearances, it has been consistently vexing that many members of the village believed that he was girl because he had such a feminine physique. Even when they knew from his early childhood. He couldn't believe that people could be that unintelligent, but he is, thinking about it now.

Mikaela sat next to a tree in the advanced trainings grounds. He hummed to a made-up rhythm even he didn't know where it was going. The sky was dark with clouds that covered it like a blanket. It looked like it was going to rain, but you could tell it wasn't. It was just a cloudy day. The emerald-eyed Senju stretched his hands above his head running his hands through his hair.  He stood up and looked around, he really did need to work on his chakra some more, but some days he feels like he can't get anywhere with it. Mikaela shook his head; he really did need a partner. Someone who could help him out and vice versa. Also, someone he can compete with because he's tired of sparring with his himself and working with Hikari. He really wanted to fight someone who had a different style than those he trained under. Mikaela smiled as he walked out from underneath the tree.

He looked around the training grounds, it was empty beside him or so he thought when he heard the sound of what sounded like someone jumping through the trees, that's when he seemingly jumped and hid the tree and watched at a female finishing her run and then begin to start with some slight training. He should wait till she finishes her training, or should he wait for someone else he pondered. He never really thought of asking for help before. He usually likes to do things on his own, but the weird thing about it is that it somewhat makes him happy to work with people. Well, he thinks it's just the thought of him being needed when working on something. Mikaela's thoughts drifted from the subject back to chakra. He knew he had excellent chakra control but what about in a fight, however, would his wood ninjutsu and medical training come in handy? As he studied her, looking over her tiny body, black hair, and the black jumpsuit. 

The next thing that appeared was a man, well, a man that looked like he's been through some shit. Then the next half-hour they talked about training, and then tried to train and whatnot. She wanted to learn water nature, he wanted...well what did he want? He already knew her name and what she wanted but he didn't even know his name and what he wanted? Such secrecy...ope she just said his name, Kurokawa Hanzo. Never heard of him. In fact, never heard of these people before. Maybe it's time Mikaela should. Usually, Mikaela would be more self-aware than this but he decided he needs to have a little fun.

Performing the hand signs Snake, Ram, Hare, Ox, Dog, Monkey, Snake, the ground begins to rumble and break apart as a 10x10 meter Chinese serpent dragon comes crashing through into the air, allowing Mikaela to jump onto the head from the tree. Guiding the dragon near the ground and focusing onto the duo, he would stop the dragon meters from them, all while standing perched upon its head, "So, are we having fun?" Mikaela said as he gave seductive smirk at the two.

[TWC: 672]