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 Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:58 am
 
Setting:
At Cherry Tree Hill, a quiet meeting between former classmates turns violent after the first punch is thrown.
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Kazu-chan generated a random number between
1 and 3 ...
3!
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 10:02 am
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 10:41 am
Kiran shrugged at the comment. He guessed he did get lucky when it came to finding his apartment. There were plenty of other Lunarians that struggled to find a decent place to live, especially a cheap place. He could remember looking at some apartments that were much better than the one that he settled on, but they were far out of his price range. He only earned up enough money for the cheapest place from working odd jobs for Uncle, selling fish, and getting his job at shipyard. Luckily, he had been saving up since before they graduated from the Academy, so he only had to spend a few extra months at Uncle's before he could afford the apartment in which he now lived.
"If I see anything, I'll be sure to let you know," Kiran agreed as a smile stretched across his face. He hadn't seen very many openings for apartments lately, especially after the recent events, but he also hadn't really kept an eye out for such things. He was comfortable in his current apartment and had no plans to seek out a new living arrangement just yet.
After their first encounter and subsequent fight, Kiran had apologized for his previous actions. With that in mind and the current conversation seeming to be going fairly well, his guard was, as a result, at a complete low. His hand lowered from his dismissive waving, and the hint of a grin still remained on his face. It came as a shock, then, when he noticed a split second too late as Van's fist came hurtling at his face. His reaction time was slow, and she landed a hard blow to the left side of his face. The surprise attack knocked him off his feet, and he landed with a muffled thud on the hill top.
The thing about being a fighter was that sometimes instincts kicked in automatically. For example, a punch that landed him on the ground usually required a response of retaliation. Kiran swept out in a wide circle with one foot, hoping to return the favor of knocking Van's feet out from under her. Coming full circle, he arrived in a crouched position as he stared with narrowed, watchful eyes at his opponents. He guessed they would soon learn who had improved more since their last fight.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 5:57 pm
Van blinked a few times. One moment, they had just been talking, and the next, Kiran was lying on the ground. Had he not been trying to hurt her? The fighter was about to express regret over her overeager punch, to explain that this was a bit of a tendency she often had, once she realized that he had only been waving and not slinging a dirty punch. But the intention to patch things up was knocked clear out of her head as she saw him recover easily and gear up to return her punch.
His kick, she saw coming, and she was well-trained in avoiding such obvious attempts at knocking her over. Van jumped, but Kiran happened to be faster than her this time and he caught one of her legs, causing her to trip and flail a bit to regain her balance. That had been a close one. When Van had found both feet again, she raised her eyes to the other fighter questioningly, as if still a bit baffled as to what had just happened. Finding that his expression had changed into one that wasn’t exactly cordial, Van let her face set into a rather grim expression. No trace of their former friendliness remained.
She supposed that her initial opinion as to the potential for friendship between Noble and Legionnaire had been correct: decent on paper, but fragile in real life. After all, a single punch was all it took for them to turn against each other. It was regrettable, really—Van had been feeling good about being able to settle her differences with him earlier, but it appeared to her that he had forgotten this.
“So this is how it has to be?” she asked coolly, and she too lowered herself into her trademark leopard style, one that he had seen before. Any chance of an apology had been kicked to the curb by the Noble’s retaliation.
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Posted: Tue Dec 27, 2011 9:39 pm
Only a small part of him was disappointed to see that the swipe of his foot had yielded only a stumble before Van regained her balance. But Kiran couldn't deny that he was also impressed, admiring Van's skill in battle even if it had been a rather predictable, and most likely easily avoided, attack on his part. From his position on his back, however, he was left with few options on how to strike back at her for the punch.
He rose from his crouch, keeping his gaze on Van as she sank into an attack stance. His eyes observed her for any sign of an oncoming attack. "You did punch first," he reminded her as he reached behind his back for his tonfas that were, as usual, tucked securely in his belt for easy access should a fight come along his way. He realized, or a small part of him did, that he didn't have to retaliate simply because she attacked him.
Tension had been building up for days inside him after following Hua An up to Shinmei Temple and learning about the death of the Emperor. An irritating tingle danced over his flesh, like an itch that refused to go away. It was almost like he had be waiting for an excuse to fight and unravel the knot of confusion twisting about inside him. But even he wasn't stupid enough to believe that a fight would solve all the thoughts swirling around in his head since that day.
Kiran twisted one tonfa around so that the long flat length of wood rested flush against his forearm. "I will say you definitely seem to have gotten stronger." He managed a smile. Already, he could feel a bruise developing where her punch had landed. He moved toward her and feinted with his right arm as he brought around his left arm, aiming at her side.
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Posted: Wed Dec 28, 2011 2:04 am
Van chuckled at his words. Was he trying to say now that she had been the one to instigate the fight? Her violet eyes followed his movements carefully as she remained in her leopard position. “No,” she said then, feeling the need to correct him, “I only punched you before you could punch me.” That much was true—the Legionnaire really had believed that Kiran had been out to hit her in the face earlier. For someone as vain as Van especially, a hit to the face would have meant the end of many possibilities. Who was to blame her for protecting her looks?
She was surprised, to say the least, when Kiran pulled a pair of tonfa out from behind his back. Part of her wanted to feel flattered that he now considered her dangerous enough to introduce a weapon into their fight, but more seriously, she realized that they were about to continue the bloodbath between the Nobles and Legionnaires. Van was not without her own weapons, however; in a blink she had produced her own pair of deer horn knives, holding them in front of her cautiously. She had opted for these in place of her usual butterfly swords tonight, for they were easier to conceal.
“Upping the stakes, are we?” she challenged, as she waited for the other fighter to make his move. Van was not unfamiliar with how tonfa were supposed to be wielded, for her swords had a long guard that could be used to manipulate them in a similar way. She could not claim mastery over this method, however, so her senses remained keen in anticipation even as she grinned mirthlessly at his acknowledgment. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”
Her reaction was fast enough, for she reached to her left with both arms, catching the first wooden weapon as it came for her. She jerked both wrists in an attempt to disarm him of the one tonfa, but realized only too late that he had feinted, and the resulting blow on her right side knocked the wind clear out of her. Wheezing a bit as the air returned to her lungs, she twisted her body around in retribution, slashing the crescent knife sideways with her right arm. It was not a killing move, necessarily, but a protective one. One more hit like that and her ribs would be broken.
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Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 11:22 am
"I never planned on hitting you," Kiran argued. He frowned at her words, quickly reviewing the scenario in his head. His hand, he supposed, had come awfully close to her face when he was giving her the dismissive wave. But he couldn't see it from her point of view: the thought that he had been about to punch her. Maybe it was because he was trapped thinking about it from his own view point, but his posture hadn't given any indication, that he could see, of being about to attack her. It wouldn't be the first time the other side had misread his actions.
Kiran caught the glint of light flashing across a blade. His gaze darted to Van's hands, and he noted the pair of deer horn knives that she now held. It seemed, like him, Van preferred choice of weapon was something that could be easily concealed. It was part of the reason that he had chosen the tonfas as his weapon. They were light weight and easy enough to tuck into his belt without being obvious. He had also preferred the feel of them when he was practicing his fighting style. He eyed the knives warily, wondering how well his tonfas would stand up to them. His tonfas were made of simple wood, but they were strong and sturdy enough not to be chopped in half with a single blow from a sharp blade.
"Well," Kiran shrugged with a roll of one shoulder, "we're no longer students, after all." His main reason for drawing his weapon so early was because of that powerful first punch. Van had definitely not slouched off since their last fight. He worried about taking too many blows like that one, so he brought out his tonfas for defense as well as offense.
The feint worked, and he felt his left fist clutching the tonfa connect with her right side. But he had little time to celebrate the victory over one single strike. He jumped back as Van moved to retaliate against his attack. One problem with fighting at close range was having to be fast enough to put distance between him and his opponent to avoid deadly attacks. As confident as he was about his speed, he wasn't always quick enough to avoid every attack. His leap away from Van saved him from receiving a deep gash across his chest, but he didn't manage to avoid it completely. His vest was cut, and blood beaded along the thin trail of blood now decorating his bare chest.
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Posted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:29 pm
Van’s face similarly took on an offended cast when Kiran asserted that he hadn’t been trying to hit her. Whatever his intentions, or lack thereof, it had resulted in a fight. In Van’s eyes, she had only been defending herself. “No?” she asked lightly, pulling herself back into a defensive position as she circled her opponent slowly, “So it just happened, is that it? You just got the random urge to hit a Legionnaire?” Never mind that Van had gotten the first hit; in her head, she was the one defending herself, not the other way around. Arguing with the other fighter was hopeless. It seemed that both were too deadlocked in their view on what had just happened for either to budge.
When she pulled back from her attack, she noticed that she had largely missed the mark. Kiran wasn’t incapacitated in any way, save for the thin line of blood that was flowing from his chest where she had grazed him with a point on one of her knives. Van’s eyes darkened at her failed attack, vowing in her mind to remedy the situation with her next attempt. She danced around him slowly, never letting her feet rest on the ground for more than a moment.
The fighter had spent months perfecting her footwork so that it would be difficult to predict where and when she was going to attack. It was steeped in the leopard animal style that she was slowly beginning to favor. Van, like the spotted cat, was not strong enough for the tiger style, and the stabbing movements of the crane style was hardly her cup of tea. However, she more than made up for it with her speed and aggression. Rooting her feet in a telltale stance, the fighter pounced, weapons flashing.
She aimed to hit both his right knee and elbow, the idea being that he couldn’t defend himself against both. If she could take out one of those joints, the battle would be hers.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 3:50 pm
Was she really trying to pin all the blame on him? Kiran wondered, disgruntled and angered by that thought. He would accept part of the blame for striking back after her punch. But it was ridiculous to think that the start of this fight was all his fault simply because she misread his actions. On the other hand, he couldn't exactly denied that he was happy to have a fight come his way. "Not recently, no," Kiran admitted with a bit more aggression in his voice then he intended. It was mostly true, as he hadn't gone around fighting a fight with any Legionnaires of late simply because he had the urge to punch someone based on which side of the war they chose.
"Although, that urge is starting to pop up now," he added as his hands tightened their hold on the handles of his tonfas.
Kiran ignored the cut across his chest. It was shallow enough that it wouldn't cause much of distraction if he didn't pay attention to the slight stinging sensation coming from it or the throbbing coming from the side of his face where Van had landed her punch. He watched Van, admiring her footwork as she moved, determined not to let her land another strike on him. With her feet always on the move, it was hard to puzzle out where she would move next or when she would attack.
One of the advantages to speed was being fast enough to guard after predicting an opponent's movements. But when his opponent was being unpredictable, Kiran had to put up his guard. He raised his arms before him, ready to block the next strike that came his way. His legs bent slightly in preparation to dodge in any direction that presented itself as the best path of escaping the full brunt of the strike. If he hadn't moved quickly enough before, the blade of her knife would have caused far more damage to him.
Then he caught Van rooting her feet into a stance that suggested she was about to attack. Kiran twisted out of the path of her attack, blocking the knife aimed at his elbow with his tonfa. But while he protected his arm from taking damage, he missed the attack aimed at his knee. The blade bit into his skin, off balancing him. A sharp hiss of pain issued from him. He immediately threw back his arm, hoping to catch her with a backhand swing before she could jump back out of his range.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 5:29 pm
“Then I won’t feel too bad if I hurt you,” Van replied easily, without remorse, when she saw that Kiran was beginning to get angry. If there was one thing that made him a better person than her, it was certainly that he was slower to anger. There were many small things that always had Van flying off the handle—one of them being a perceived punch to the face. Van being Van, of course, would never acknowledge either of these points, instead going to the grave with her stubborn opinions.
As she lunged at him, she had time to be impressed at Kiran’s speed in evading her, which was equivalent to or even better than hers. Their weapons clashed, wood and steel, and after the first attack, Van found herself without one deer horn knife. It had gotten stuck in the wood of the Noble’s tonfa, and the circular movement of his defense had jerked her weapon out of her hand. This was not to stop her from landing her second attack, however, and though the sudden feeling of triumph energized her, she was quickly brought back down by a hard thump to the spine.
Van fell quietly, rolling out of his range as best she could while keeping her one knife out of her own way. Her entire left side tingled, as if each nerve had been tickled. Stumbling to her feet, Van started to feel the casualties of the battle catch up to her. Her right side was reeling in pain from the earlier hit, and now she wasn’t even sure if she had full control of all of her limbs. On top of that, her other weapon was lying uselessly in the grass about ten feet away.
The fight wasn’t over until it was over, though, and Van tried her best not to show that she felt a bit disoriented as she charged in to attack again, her empty hand curled into a leopard fist. As she came closer, she decided to slash the air in front of him prematurely, hoping to fake him out to the punch that was coming toward his head. The more lethal weapon, this time, was only going to be a cover.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:43 pm
No, of course not. Kiran thought bitterly. Why would any Legionnaire feel badly about hurting a Noble? The anger bubbled even more inside him, adding fuel to the already blazing fire. His old hatred toward that air of superiority that Legionnaires tended to hold in regard toward Nobles coiled inside him like a snake ready to pounce. It disgusted him to see Legionnaires walking and acting like the only opinions that matter were theirs, like their beliefs were right and everyone else was wrong.
"I wasn't expecting you to feel bad," Kiran said with a glower on his face, his eyes narrowing with displeasure. "After all, how can the perfect Legionnaires ever be wrong about something?" He practically spat out the question at her. It wasn't simply Van that had stirred his anger but the whole of the Legion supporters.
A smug sense of victory overcame him after managing to disarm Van of one of her knives, though it took a chunk out of his tonfa in the process. That victory was short lived, however, as he jumped back from her. He staggered to remain upright with the large gash on his right knee. The pain was enough to make him favor his left leg, taking his weight off his dominate foot. Kiran gritted his teeth, realizing this wound would greatly impede upon his speed.
The knife cut through the air, and Kiran ducked to avoid another nasty slice from that wickedly sharp blade. A fist punched through the air just over his head, barely skimming the top of his skull. By luck, it would seem, he had narrowly missed a second brutal blow to his head. He thrust both arms toward Van's midsection as he launched forward from his semi crouched position. His right knee screamed from the minor pressure he put on it in performing that action.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2011 11:11 pm
In a rare idle moment, Van hmphed at the other fighter’s words, shaking her head. It wasn’t often that she had a lot of pride in her faction, but against Kiran, she supposed she had to. The woman was arrogant in her own right, but she wasn’t thick-headed enough not to notice the sarcasm dripping from his words. “I’m glad we both agree that I’m always right,” she said haughtily, no doubt adding fuel to the fire that was quickly destroying their fragile truce. She’d singled herself out by saying ‘I’ instead of ‘we’, which was indicative of her standalone role in the Legion, but no one was going to pick her words apart to notice this.
A grim sense of triumph flooded over her when she saw that the wound she’d inflicted on his knee was greatly affecting him, just as she expected. When she had wound up for the next punch, though, she’d missed—it had been her one opportunity to take advantage of his handicap, and now the ball was back in his court. She was quickly becoming fatigued from the strain of the fight, and even though she saw his next attack coming, she could only defend herself poorly, being armed with only one knife whereas he had two.
The next thing she knew, she was flying backwards into the grass, landing hard on her back. In any other battle, the Legionnaire would have gotten right back up and continued fighting to the death, but her eyes fell upon the charred stump of the cherry tree once again.
A dull pang of guilt resounded through her chest. Here they were, fighting like cats and dogs in front of a tree that was now gone because of the very same thing. She lowered her head back onto the grass, staring at the stars that were emerging from the night sky above. Once upon a time, she might have apologized, but now, she merely turned her head toward the bleeding Noble standing before her. “Next time, we fight elsewhere. This tree doesn’t deserve your blood on it.”
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