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 Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 7:27 am
Quiet. Rin-ji could do quiet, at least comparatively. He hoped that he'd have some sort of advantage over a noblewoman with big feet, and he thought that with great affection. The ruins of the military training field extended past the wide open expanse into a series of crumbled walls and pillars that must have once made up some offices. Now, however, they served the purpose of a new game for a couple of teens.
Rin-ji scrambled through one of the windows into an open breezeway, wincing as some rocks tumbled onto the dirt. He looked once up and down the long hallway and determined it safe before he dove into another door. From this new hiding place, he peeked around the corner and listened. The peeling red, black and gold paint did something to help assure him that his bright red shirt was helping. The Fire Nation was just not that good at subtlety. Everyone else dressed to blend in, but oh no, not the almighty--
Rin-ji stopped his thought process. He was frozen, hunched over and listening, much like a mouse. He was good at listening for the approach of nobles, he praised himself.
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Posted: Fri Sep 28, 2007 12:21 pm
Unfortunately for Rin-ji, most nobles didn't also have years of combat training. Of course, her training hadn't exactly prepared her for this. Which was strange, really, when one thought about it. But then, the Fire Nation really wasn't that good at subtlety. Why sneak around somewhere when you can barge right through?
Li Ren's childhood had not been made up of games of hide and seek or tag. There had been lessons on etiquette and decorum, reading and writing, and occasionally arithmetic and other subjects that were meant to make her a most desirable prize to some terribly worthy young man. Even after the lessons were over, there had been no hide and seek, unless you counted the times she had snuck out of the house and left the servants to search all over the city for her.
As she prowled through the ruins, her chakram secured at her hip in case she needed them, Li Ren tried to listen for any signs of where Rin-ji might have been hiding. She paused in front of a door and thought she heard something. Opening the door revealed only an empty decaying room. She took a step inside and scanned her surroundings: an open windows, some rumble, and an unpleasant smell. Not the same unpleasant smell associated with her target, however. She stepped back into the hallway and closed the door behind her, continuing down.
It was really only a matter of time until she found him.
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 4:39 pm
Rin-ji peered out from behind his doorway to watch Li Ren's retreating form. That was very close, but it had given him his chance. Her back was to him, he could take her by surprise and then she'd be so impressed by him. He had to shake his head and cease his daydreams before the moment passed.
He dashed out from the doorway and quickly closed the distance between himself and Li Ren. He took on an offensive stance, a typical risky move for Rin-ji, and trew his body into a strike aimed for her shoulder. "Got you!" He yelled triumphantly.
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Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 6:47 pm
So much for Rin-ji's servant-trained stealthiness.
Li Ren was taken by surprise. She hadn't expected him to have the nerve to attack her first. But his announcement had been just enough warning for her to move forward and dodge the brunt of his attack, only stumbling slightly as his fist connected with her shoulder.
As she regained her footing, she pivoted backward, aiming a strong kick for his stomach. "That's what you think," she replied haughtily.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 9:02 am
Rin-ji cursed loudly. He tried to dodge, but the kick still caught his hip painfully and made him spin. He tumbled to the ground and actually managed to roll out of it into a crouch. Automatically Rin-ji made use of his one advantage and his next strike was a low kick that was way too far away from Li Ren to actually hit her. Instead a thin wave of fire was sent towards her at knee-height.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:05 pm
Damn, firebending. He was bound to do that eventually. With the wave of fire coming at her, there was little else for Li Ren to do but attempt to spring over it. Leaping in time, she tucked her knees in close and the flames licked the bottoms of her boots as they flew past.
Landing back on the ground, Li Ren quickly covered the short distance from herself to where Rin-ji was crouched, unsecuring her chakram as she did so. With one in each hand, she slashed one through the air dangerously close to Rin-ji, but stopping short of actually hitting him. In a different situation, the twisted look on her face could have been humourous.
Li Ren was perhaps not the most emotionally well-adjusted partner for playing hide and seek with. She was far too competitive.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 1:49 pm
Rin-ji jumped back to avoid the blades. Even if Li Ren didn't intend to slice him up, they were intimidating. As she lunged he spun to the side and allowed her to pass him. He imagined he could feel the blades just a hair away, though that was a very dramatic exaggeration. Once she was just past him he tried to strike down sharply between her shoulder blades.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:35 pm
Li Ren shouldn't have been trying to intimidate him. Rin-ji was more ballsy than she had estimated. The strike hit her solidly and she reflexively reached behind her as she fell, swinging her chakram at anything she could reach.
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Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:16 pm
The mood was interrupted by a sharp yelp that Rin-ji immediately regretted. It didn't make him sound very tough, but the blade had definitely struck his forearm as he instinctively lifted it to protect himself. He clasped the shallow wound and looked at it with mild horror as blood ran down his arm. "Ouch," he whined eloquently.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:12 pm
Li Ren froze when she heard Rin-ji's voice and she turned to look up at him. Her expression was probably more horrified than his was and her chakram clattered against the floor as she abruptly dropped them.
"I.. I didn't mean to," Li Ren struggled to speak. She was ashamed of herself for swinging her weapons around carelessly and injuring someone she cared about. But for some reason simply saying that she was sorry sounded dumb in her head and instead she just helplessly watched Rin-ji for some sign that he forgave her.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:33 pm
Rin-ji grinned at her, though it was a bit of a grimace as well. "It's okay, I'm alright," he assured her as he peeked at the cut. "It's definitely not as bad as it could be. Just a scratch." He leaned back against the wall and lifted the wounded arm above his head. He heard once that it slowed bleeding.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 2:26 pm
Rin-ji had no idea how relieved his smile made Li Ren feel. "Here, uhm," she began awkwardly as she deftly unfastened the closing on his top, exposing a good portion of the bindings she wore on her chest. "Let me help, I shouldn't have..," she trailed off as she began to unwind the binding, tearing off a roughly foot long piece. She absently hoped it didn't smell too heavily of sweat.
"Give me your arm," she instructed as she reached above his head and though her tone was kind, there was clearly no room for argument.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 3:29 pm
Rin-ji obeyed and presented his arm to her. "Y-you don't need to..." He objected weakly, trying not to look at her open shirt. "I could handle it, it hardly hurts at all." Despite his posturing, he knew very well that she was doing the right thing. This hadn't really gone as he had planned with impressing her and showing how much he had improved. His cheeks were pink with the combined embarrassment of her mild immodesty and his own perceived mistake.
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Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2007 1:31 pm
"I'm not letting you bleed all over the place," Li Ren chided, pursing her lips together as she focused on wrapping Rin-ji's wound firmly. Her open shirt was not a concern for the moment and anything too scandalous was still hidden under her bindings, though it was certainly not a situation she would ever want her parents to find her in.
She had managed to slip back home that evening without arousing notice, but that didn't change the fact that her parents were already extremely displeased with her. She'd been made to write a letter to Zan Minh the next morning apologizing for embarrassing him and they were still waiting to see if things would be smoothed over. For now Li Ren was on a far tighter leash than she had been on previously, and yet the only thing that would stop her from meeting with Rin-ji would have been to forcibly lock her up.
"There. All taken care of," she said as she finished tying a small bow to keep the bandaging on. Then, attempting to make light of the situation, she smirked and added, "Now you can show off your battle wound to all your friends."
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