Exploration [Private]

[.DEVIOUS]

(OOC: This thread is currently private. Please PM me for gained entrance; failure to uphold this will result in megarage of epic proportions. )

I lay hanging on a long tree branch, high in the air, letting the warm summer sun touch my face. I yawned widely, a large grape sucker positioned between teeth and tongue to prevent its escape while my mouth was open. As I yawned, I stretched widely, much like a cat just awakening from a nap, and finally settled back down, slowly closing my mouth and my eyes, letting my tongue run over the purple hard candy attached to a white stick and enjoying the flavor and this lazy moment.

It was strange; I was used to being a busybody, having a million different adventures to undertake, but for right now I was absolutely without cause for any sort of sightseeing, game playing, or adventuring. My right hand flexed itself into a claw and I bit down on the sucker stick, grinding its tough material against my teeth momentarily. I hated being sedentary; this life of perdition as a shinobi was usually so much more exciting and entertaining.

Relaxing my hand, I'd then sigh once and roll off the branch, using the grace of a feline predator to descend from the highest branch that I had been resting on towards the ground, my feet and hands touching several limbs on their way down while I landed, twisted, flipped, gripped, and turned my way to the floor, where I would eventually land with a soft thud. Straightening myself, I'd look around the forest of Hi no Kuni and begin to yawn once more, bringing my hand towards my face to cover it.

The idea came to me instantly, my eyes opening wide before blinking twice, a smile creeping slowly across my face. Yes, that was it, I thought to myself! I would simply go exploring some place that I'd never been before. Yes, that was surely a way to make things more fun and entertaining for me! A soft giggle, short lived yet full of the satisfaction that was coursing through every vein of blood in my body, escaped my lips and I would turn. Now, where was a place I'd never been before...?

Ah! Yes, I think I'll head towards Kaminari no Kuni! The mountains sound like exquisite fun. Now, if only I could find a companion.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

Although I had intended to return to Konohagakure promptly, my curiosity had deterred me from such a straightforward path. I knew I’d seen these forests more times than I could count, but each and every time I found myself awestruck. There were always new things to notice, and new things to admire; but mostly, I could simply never take it all in. Perhaps my admiration for the natural world was too exaggerated, though I felt no amount of praise could quite do it justice.

However, I realized that I was on no lonesome stroll through the forest. There was another presence nearby, a shinobi most likely. I noticed the movement from the corner of my eye, and immediately my hands formed a single seal and my eyes closed in order to open a more insightful one. My mind’s eye reached out, chasing the trails of chakra nearby. There was only a single one, and there was little doubt that it was a shinobi. Whether friendly or not, however, was totally uncertain. Either way, I did not hesitate to approach quickly, albeit cautiously.

It was a man with a head of green hair. Notably, it was styled into a single spike at the center of his head, with the rest of the green mop falling disheveled across his head. Had I met him before, I would certainly remember his quite distinctive appearance. With a sigh, I ran my hand through my cropped white hair and approached so that he would notice me. Most likely, he probably noticed me around the time I had him, perhaps before, so any effort to approach stealthily was futile. Besides that, it wasn’t quite my style.

”Oi!” I called out, smiling like an idiot and waving obnoxiously. There was no sign of any sort of headband on his person, so I doubted he was a shinobi that belonged to any village. I was ready to spring into action at any moment. ”Are you lost?” I bent forward a bit, tilting my head curiously. This was an odd place for me to find someone, although I supposed he could say the same about me.

[.DEVIOUS]

Oooh, and what was this? I had stood there for but a moment, longing for a companion, a friend to walk with me through the forest trails, o'er hill and o'er dale, though there were no such hills nor dales within this locale, and within an instant my prayers had been answered. As a master of Sensory Ninjutsu, I had no need for the use of handseals or closed eyes to utilize my jutsu - indeed, as I had called out to the realms of the spirits for a friend, I had chosen to activate my Mind's Eye to see around me with much greater clarity, and I had found a man, strong of chakra, moving towards my direction.

Spinning about, I'd see his white hair and thin frame, taking time to notice the unbuttoned collar and loose-hanging tie, much like my own, although his a solid black in color. His hair, a white that frost could not even compare to, set short and unstyled upon his crown, leaving a fully exposed forehead and face, where a single strip of tape lay upon the center of his nose. Had he recently broken it in a fight? Or was he simply prepared for such an endeavor at all times?

Over his right bicep, the silver symbol of his fraternity lay emblazoned, easily visible and viewable. His arms were covered in bandages, telling me that this man fought. Often. A rush of adrenaline filled my soul as I looked towards the man, who was continuously walking my way. My mouth split into a fierce smile, the sharpened, jagged ends of my filed teeth coming into full display, the white end of my sucker stick protruding through the set of teeth just adjacent to my canines. Indeed, to most people I would appear as a monster, and maybe I was, driven by the need to fight and fight and eat candy until I was finally satisfied with my lot in life.

He spoke then, calling out with a loud voice, questioning whether or not I was lost. I blinked twice, then raised my right eyebrow, cocking it and turning my head to the right slightly, eyeing the stranger, while the smile on my face faded somewhat. Was I lost...? No, I had been within this village's realm for all of my life, as a damned soldier of fortune who took my orders from those who had reason to direct my killing intent.

"Nope, not lost," I said, swirling the sucker around in my mouth in the moment after the speech while I turned my head back straight and lowered my eyebrow. "Say, you wanna fight?"

The question was simple. I wonder what his answer would be.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

There was something in his mouth; either a toothpick or a sucker, judging by the lack of smoke. Either way, I couldn’t help but feel that this man’s presence was . . . unique. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself, or the look in his eyes, or something else altogether, but I felt as if I knew he wasn’t lost before he answered. That he was looking for something else. Now that he was within my view more properly, and turned toward me, I was more easily able to look him over.

Though his hair certainly allowed him to stand out, his wardrobe seemed to serve a similar purpose. From the polka-dotted pants, to the skull belt buckle and the tattered blazer, his appearance was altogether odd. Still, I supposed I wasn’t exactly one for high fashion, so my opinion on such things mattered little. He eyed me as if I were the strange one, noting that he wasn’t lost but saying little else as to his purpose. Instead, he asked if I wanted to fight.

To fight? I thought, head still tilted as I stared curiously at him. Oh! Like a spar! My face lit up at the idea of a friendly engagement, a sort of test as to my abilities. Grin never fading, I simply nodded and smashed my fists together. ”Yeah!” The question was simple, and so was my answer.

Although I probably had better things to spend my time on, I couldn’t deny the chance. Training and fighting were both things I was passionate about, and the offer was simply too much. I could feel the excitement building up within me, and I wiggled my fingers a bit as if it would release some of the pent up energy before I curled my hands into fists and raised them before me. What would he do?

[.DEVIOUS]

I watched, my eyes scrutinizing the man's face as he heard my question and thought it over, his eyes showing knowledge as he pieced together my question. It was then that I saw what I was hoping for - the glimmer of excitement, the rush of adrenaline that was clearly visible within those who loved to fight, and I knew that I had finally found my companion. The smile on my face spread even wider, for I knew what his answer was going to be well before he spoke and gave his affirmative.

Instead of speaking to give an answer, I decided that I would go and have myself a little fun. My right hand would reach towards my sucker stick and pull it slightly from my mouth, so that the hard candy bulb would be between my teeth and then, with a sharp snap of my jaws, the candy would shatter into a bunch of shattered shards with a loud crack, moving my hand away from my face and I would spit the sucker stick from my mouth towards the ground on my right. With that, I stood momentarily chewing on the pieces of my candy before swallowing.

Then, in a half moment, I would flex, taking a position with both of my hands coming forward slightly, the long, sharpened nails of my hands coming forward like claws, my hands positioned about an inch in front of my beast, the left hand slightly in front of my right, while my body crouched slightly forward, my eyes watching the body of my opponent. This stance had no true purpose; in fact, I simply adopted it because it would give me the appearance of a monster or a velociraptor, so much like the rest of me, and with that done, I would begin a simple sprint forward.

When I had finally closed the distance, I would perform a simple, short clawing motion with my left hand, attempting to swipe at my opponent in order to see how he would guard. Oh yes, I could tell that this was gonna be fun.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

My fighting stance was relaxed, but ready. My knees were bent slightly, comfortably, and my body stood angled toward the target of my concentration, with the left side farther ahead. Likewise, my fists were raised to eye level, and my left hand was further out. My breathing fell into an irregular rhythm as I focused on the battle to come; focused, to never fall into a timely pattern. Never to become predictable.

In contrast, my opponent’s fighting stance was beastial. Much like his devouring of the sucker earlier. It was hunched, much like an animal, and it was only then that I noticed his hands--or rather, his claws. Apparently he put some work into maintaining his fingernails as they were, because they were all perfectly sharp and quite long. This, combined with his stance, gave me a sort of idea as to how he would fight; at least, when it came to hand to hand combat.

With my analysis of his stance and appearance done, he had already rushed forward in order to initiate the fight. I’d expected as much, considering his offer, and moved forward to meet him halfway. As I did, my hands were instantaneously infused with light blue, glowing chakra. They were of flames, flickering and burning, encasing my fists in their light at my own command. I pulsed my chakra then, causing them to burn more brightly for but an instant; a sort of warning to him. This was only a friendly spar, after all.

My first instinct was to strike at full strength at the incoming limb in order to remove it from the fight completely, though I chose a different method of attack in order to fit with my standards of a simple spar. Instead, I allowed my right arm to flash out, an attempt to strike at the wrist of the incoming attack with my forearm. I wouldn’t release any built up chakra--instead, I would use only my brute strength in order to both deflect the incoming attack while striking his wrist all in the same movement. Due to this, my body’s momentum was flowing to the right, and I chose to act with it. My left leg rose, charged with a small amount of chakra as it did, and attempted to smash into his side, snapping at him using the top of my foot.

[.DEVIOUS]

The blazing blue fist gave me quite a bit of warning - I was dealing with a person who was capable of utilizing chakra within his body in order to enhance his fighting style. While I had heard of Souin, the chakra-enhanced fighting style, I had never witnessed it first hand. I knew from second-hand knowledge that my opponent was definitely going to end up being quite a bit better at hand to hand than myself, and could seriously injure me should he so wish it.

This excited me all the more. Hand to hand was one of my weakest points. I had been aware of that for a long time, and one of the reasons I often relied upon a demonic appearance. A scared opponent was one who wasn't going to be able to defend as well, but this opponent had the calm and strength of mind to ignore my appearance and simply focus on my fighting. The fact that he was going to be better than began to fuel the flames of my desire, and I knew that I had acted rashly with my clawed attack, but I wanted to see his response.

The man's response was, of course, controlled; devoid of passion, the strike from his right arm came forward towards my left, attempting to deflect my assault. The man's strike would be successful, smacking my wrist away from his body. At the same moment, his left leg would rise up in a simple upwards kick. I had just enough time for my eyes to widen before the kick connected into my stomach, and I felt an intense pain fill me and send me hurtling backwards a few yards.

As I flew through the air, I marveled at the man's strength. It was impeccable, intense, and beautiful! With that thought, my body would smash against a tree with enough force to shake the trunk, and I fell to the ground, my knees buckling as I gasped and knelt, panting for breath. All the while, though, the excitement glowed in my eyes and I looked back to the man and gave him another masochistic smile. Coughing once, I would stand, and, keeping my eyes on my target, would assume the same fighting stance that I had been within.

The only difference is that, this time, I would move forward with a little more caution. That last strike had hurt enough to make me incredibly wary of receiving another blow. I stalked, never moving too quickly, and decided that this time I would wait for his strike.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

My combination offense and defense was successful in every regard. I was glad I’d held back for this spar; still, I’d put a good amount of chakra into my kick, and I knew he’d felt it. Since he was sent flying back so far, I was able to calmly fall back into my normal fighting stance and stare intensely at him. There was a glint in his eyes, one that I hadn’t seen in many people after taking one of my kicks, that somehow excited me. It seemed that, regardless of how this was going, it excited him simply to fight, and despite my nature, I couldn’t help but love it, too.

This was a bit contradictory. For all my love of fighting and training, I detested killing for virtually any reason. I wouldn’t hesitate to heal my enemies if they were going to die, yet there was a certain thrill that came with a fight that I could neither deny or get enough of.

Hand to hand combat was one of my strengths, so for him to readily challenge me in the area gave me a sort of excitement. I felt the adrenaline pulsing through me, and grinned with a light chuckle as he rose from the ground beneath the massive tree. This man had me interested--for all the people I’d trained with, none had seemed to eager to get up and fight again after taking a hit.

After a short cough, he began to approach me once again. This time, things were different, though. Instead of rushing in to attack, he began to approach slower, more cautiously. That was probably a good idea on his part, and I allowed the pale-blue light around my fists to flare up once more before I chose to move in. Dashing quickly, I approached as closely as I could and kicked toward his right side in a mimic of my movements just moments before. This time, however, I did not snap my leg--I feigned the kick at the last moment, choosing instead to set it on the ground just passed my opponent and move in with a swift, chakra-infused jab from my left fist aiming for his chest.

[.DEVIOUS]

At what price glory? At what risk joy? This man was subtle, his fighting style impeccable, understanding intrinsically what he should be doing, but more than that, he understood what it was that I wanted. The thrill, the fun, the rush! Bloodlust danced in his veins, just as it sang within mine, and this time he would perform the charge, dashing towards me much in the same way as I had done him. However, his assault would come differently than my own, choosing to attack in the same manner as he had defended previously, with a kick.

I wasn't in the mood to take a kick like that again, however, and I began to slide towards my right. I was glad that I did, for as I began moving I witnessed my opponent coming forward with a punch towards my gut. Out of instinct, my right hand, which had been up towards my breast as stated previously, would flash downward with as much force as I could, attempting to grab at the man's wrist as it shot forward towards me and push it towards the left as I continued moving to my right, hopefully pushing the attack away from me.

While this was happening, I would find myself pivoting slightly on my left heel, turning my body to my left and bringing my right knee upwards, allowing momentum to increase the damage that the knee strike would do. Hopefully, with my grip upon the man's wrist, he would be unable to dodge the knee jab and I would feel the satisfying connection of flesh. Whether or not my knee would meet a body or not, I would bring my knee back down and remove my hand from the man's wrist, jumping backwards with only enough force to move away from the man about a foot and a half before landing in order to create some distance.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

Despite the feint, my opponent was able to dodge the attack with little effort. That was good--more or less expected--and it meant that the fight was allowed to continue. I realized that, as my attack missed, this would be his time to counterattack. I didn’t plan on letting something like that happen, though, so I focused on him entirely. His entire body was the target of my focus, and in doing so I didn’t truly focus on any one thing. I knew too well that the whole body was a weapon, and to focus only on one’s hands, one’s eyes, one’s legs was a mistake.

His first mistake was trying to immobilize my arm. He grabbed my extended arm by the wrist in order to control it, which in itself was a perfectly ordinary technique to utilize, and normally not very dangerous. What changed the situation here was the pale-blue glow that covered my hands. Instead of fighting his grip on my wrist, I simply counter-grabbed his wrist, which was easily done. With a simple flick of my arm and a bit of chakra pumped to my limbs, I whipped my arm back to the left with intense strength, easily lifting my opponent from the ground and nullifying anything he had planned.

I spun, flowing with the momentum created by my arm which held onto him, around and around, easily holding onto the man. He would find himself lifted very easily, and most likely helpless as I controlled where he would go. Suddenly the spinning would stop, and I would step forward with all my strength, inverting his momentum and swinging him the opposite way, in a path headed directly for my right leg, extended outward in a slightly chakra-enhanced kick.

[.DEVIOUS]

Tricksy, tricksy, my opponent was. He was very adaptable, capable of understanding my planned counterattack at the same time as I did. His arm twisted slightly, grabbing onto my wrist, our fingers clutching around each other's wrist, my index and middle finger on the soft underside of my opponent's wrist, though it was covered by the man's bandages. The biggest difference in this scenario was the fact that my opponent was so much stronger than I was. With a blaze of blue energy beginning to flare, I understood immediately my mistake, but I wasn't really sure what it was that I could do.

As he began to pull upwards, lifting me off of the ground, my left hand would move straight downwards towards my wakizashi and, with proper angling, would attempt to unsheathe it rapidly at around the same time that my body would be lifting past the man's head. With as much force as I could, I would send the base of the grip hurtling towards the man's nose region. Although the strike would be blunt, it would hopefully be strong enough and enough of a surprise for my opponent to let me go, which would send me flying once more but hopefully out of reach of whatever his secondary plan of attack was. At the same time, I would flex my middle and index finger, turning the point of the sharpened nails downward and would attempt to stab past the man's bandages and into the flesh before letting go.

If such assaults didn't achieve my desired results, him letting me go, then I would, of course, be at his continued mercy.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

Unfortunately for me, my opponent reacted to the situation extremely quickly. The wakizashi at his back came unsheathed in the small amount of time it took for me to lift him from the ground, and due to the speed I was swinging him about, I had little time to move out of the way. The hilt of the weapon smashed into my nose with a considerable amount of force, most of which was generated by myself, which caused me to fall backwards off of my feet. At the same time, my hand unleashed its grip on the man and caused him to fly quite a ways back, directly toward another tree. The bandages around my arm were ripped, though in the miniscule time it took for all the actions to happen, no blood was drawn from my wrist.

With the man sent flying toward a tree, my hand was free to do whatever it was I wished. Before I hit the ground, both of my hands moved, placed against the ground, and I found myself in a hunched-over handstand, my knees and elbows bent. A short jerk and I pushed off the ground, landing nicely on my feet before turning to view how my opponent had reacted. Crimson drained from my nose, and I simply moved my forearm to wipe at it, staining my white bandages with scarlet. Briefly, I wondered when it was that this man would be satisfied with out little duel, though I couldn’t complain if it continued onward, either. Still, with the amount of force I’d used to lift him from the ground, even if it wasn’t nearly my full strength, I wondered if he’d be very injured.

If he was too injured, I would probably stop our little match and heal him up. Even as I stood there, I was utilizing Shousen chakra within my nose in order to repair the damage done, and soon it would be completely healed.

[.DEVIOUS]

"Weeee!" I screamed out loud as I flew through the air. I knew that this was going to hurt, I had expected it to hurt, but I knew that whatever pain I was about to experience was less than I would have experienced if the man was capable of doing whatever he had planned. And, on top of that, I was having so much fun. To be so easily bested, a man with a move at every turn, I had found myself quite surprised when all of my assaults had been turned against me so excellently. It made me so happy.

I landed with a crack against another tree, this time the sound being some bones in my right arm breaking as I used the side to prevent my back from sustaining too much damage. I slid down the tree and hit the ground with a thump, breathing heavily, the smile that had been in both my eyes and my mouth never falling from my face. Oh god, the pain... it hurt so much. It hurt so good. A soft chuckle escaped my lips as I tried my best to get on my feet, but failing and falling back to the ground.

"Oh, aye, you're good alright. You defeated a monster." And the chuckle continued to roll through me. I was probably in shock, but that didn't matter to me. All I really wanted was to get up and do it all again. That would have to wait a while, though. I obviously needed a chance to recuperate from this loss. "I'd keep going but I don't think I can right now. I'm sorry."

And with that, I slumped against the tree and slipped partially into unconsciousness.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Kii!]

Man, this kid was odd. Sure, I enjoyed fighting quite a bit, but this guy seemed to not only enjoy fighting, but the pain and suffering it brought, too. That was a rather dramatic deduction from a simple spar, but it was what I felt nonetheless. I knew he had a few broken bones from the noise I heard as he slammed into the tree, and I scratched the back of my head and shifted my weight as he spoke. Unsurprisingly, he seemed regretful that he couldn’t rise to continue our fight.

He slipped into unconsciousness and I gave a light sigh, dropping my fighting stance and making my way toward him. By the time I arrived at his side, my nose was finished healing. Judging by the way he’d smashed into the tree, I figured it was probably his arm that had broken, and maybe a few ribs.

Lifting the broken arm up--which would probably be pretty painful had he been awake--I pressed my right hand to it from the underside. A pale green glow emanated from it, glowing with a light warmth that would fill his arm. The process would serve as a catalyst, in order to rapidly heal the injured area. Fortunately, I had a mastery over the technique, and would be done healing his wounds rather quickly.

---

With a sigh, I rose, straightening my back and looking down at his still unconscious frame. Subconsciously, I scratched at the back of my head and shifted my weight, thinking through what I’d done. The broken bones were successfully healed using Shousen no Jutsu, and I’d made an inspection of the rest of his body in order to assure I’d healed him completely. Nodding, I decided I’d done everything needed and slumped down on one side of the same tree, adjacent to where he lay.

”You’re a strange one, you know that?”

[.DEVIOUS]

While I lay slumped on the ground, lost inside of the dark recesses of my own mind, I found myself dreaming that the man with the frosted hair was taking pity upon me and using a type of sorcery I had no knowledge of. I dreamed that he touched me with hands aglow with ephemeral emerald light and that the touch was both washing away all of the pain that I had experienced as well as healing the serious wounds that I had sustained from his brutally honest assault.

In my dream, I found myself growing immediately attached to this man - this fighter, this healer, this fool that could tame a demon. I saw us spending time together, walking through the lands, conquering all of our enemies and being masters only to ourselves. I found myself comforted, and distraught, and wildly concerned for all of these thoughts and emotions that were fueling through me. I shuddered in my body's forced sleep and found my eyes jerking open just in time to hear him speak softly.

I smirked. "Doctor, can I have some candy?" Strange, indeed.

[/blockquote][/blockquote]