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Zakuro smiled, but her scarf hid it nicely. The ice wall shook and groaned as it shifted along itself creating a hole for Karu to fall through.

((Sorry X.x Just got through with a story arc involving a baddie named Kara, and it's pretty close to Karu. And I meant to fling Zakuro. X.x Oh well, sorry about that ^^; ))

-=Neko Held his ground and concentrated his chakra into his legs and right arm. A thick layer of ice formed around his fist and he slammed it into the summon, more then enough force behind his punch to stop Mara in his tracks, and most liely disorient him for a few moments=-

Zakuro halted a moment. The gears in her mind were pratically buzzing. She highly doubted the trick would work, but she had to give it a shot anyway. If for nothing more than curiosity. She did the proper hand movements and chanted again. The layer of ice around Neko's fist started spreading along his body. It crawled up his arm making it rather heavy, and if left unchecked, would cover his entire body in diamond hard ice. Zakuro hoped that while he was forced to counteract her chakra, Karu could get in at least one hit. That should be enough to make Neko end the practice battle.
If not, then she would become very usless very soon.

-=Since it was his Jutsu, the the ice was infused with his chakra, meaning ice around Neko's fist didn't budge an inch, despite any amount of concentration Zakuro could put into it. As the armadillo rolled back towards Neko, he ducked low, and came up with an uppercut right under Mara, blasting off Chakra as he made contact, putting enough force behind it to send Mara flying well across the room. Neko glanced at Karu, raising an eyebrow in curiosity, and preparing a bit of hic chakra=-

She thought not. It had worked before on lesser opponents, but of course the sensei would have a stronger hold than she would. Still, it had saticfied her curiosity. After all, learning was all part of being a student. She watched Karu get pummeled for a moment. This entire battle just seemed so one sided. He couldn't possibly think they would actually win. Was he waiting for them to give up? Or maybe the fight was only a distraction from the real lesson. Zakuro looked about the room. Yesterday he had taught them the harsh extreemities of water, how harmful it could really be. Maybe today was meant to teach them another use.
Zakuro started to chant. She had one last idea. She knew they could never win by force, but you don't have to render your opponent unconcious to make the fighting end. The water in the lake rushed upward and created two domes. One around herself and one around Karu. The water hardened creating perfect half circles with absolutly no weak points in structure.
Zakuro huffed and sat down. If the sensei truely intended for them to harm themselves trying to win, then he would at least tire himself trying to force his way through the ice to get to either one or the other.
She just hoped that the real lesson was to know when you were outmatched.

Zakuro let out a white puffy sigh and the domes melted away. She was exhausted to the point her skin was a sickly pale. She got up and rubbed some of the soreness from her hands. It was hard to tell whether her eyes were filled with pride or relief, but having not slept in the past few nights was now really taking its toll. She didn't pass out, exactly. She just sort of closed her eyes and sat down again.

-=Neko looked at Zakuro with a small sigh, heading over to check on her, still keeping a wary eye on Karu=-

Karu, stand down. It's over. That's an order.

((._.?))