Disclaimer: all characters belong to Tamsoft and Marvelous Entertainment respectively. GrimGrave makes no money out of writing fiction.
Bittersweet Defeat
"In the moment when I truly understand my enemy, understand him well enough to defeat him, then in that very moment I also love him. I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves. And then, in that very moment when I love them... I destroy them."
— Orson Scott Card
Blood trickled down Katsuragi's forehead. Her legs were sore, her arms stung from various cuts, and her heart raced, hammering beneath her breast, yet the adrenaline rush was still kicking in.
She grinned. This was infuriating yet thrilling! Hikage was a strong opponent, worthy of the blonde's attention: skilled in hand-to-hand combat and knives, the Hebijō student was as deadly as she was beautiful. Honestly, how many times hadn't Katsuragi caught herself staring a moment longer than she had meant to at the viridian-haired shinobi? With medium length hair and piercing amber eyes and a body to die for, the blonde often mused over how Hikage would definitely be her favourite prey instead of Asuka if the green-haired girl had enrolled in Hanzo Academy.
A girl could dream, could she not? One day, she'd win over Hikage – one day, she would wipe off that expressionless face off her, and make her see what she was capable of.
What spurred the blonde on anyway; the desire to make the green-haired girl accept her? Katsuragi didn't know, but she refused to give up.
"Why don't you just give up?" the green-haired girl taunted. "You can't win against me. You never have."
"We won't know unless I try," Katsuragi replied. She staggered over, her eyes never leaving Hikage's, and kept grinning. "There's a first time for everything, Hikage!"
"They say that," the Hebijō student commented and played with her knife. "But what makes you think this will be the one?"
"I told you," said the blonde. "We won't know until we try! So I'll try again, and again, and a hundred times more if I have to, until I finally settle the score between us!"
Hikage scoffed. "You truly are an idiot." Her lips pursed for a moment and she smirked. "But I don't dislike that passion of yours. If you're eager to die, I will be happy to oblige."
She grinned back at her rival. "I don't intend to die. All I want is to defeat you."
Neither said a thing after that. As silence settled, the girls leapt at each other with a speed only a shinobi can muster, with iron greaves and steel knife aimed.
Time stood still for but a moment and blue-green pools looked right into amber ones, exchanging unspoken words before the girls landed opposite one another. Hikage was the first to fall as she clutched onto her right leg, but Katsuragi hissed as pain bloomed in her right arm, blood producing from the strike.
"Looks like you still have some fire left…" the Hebijō student remarked. "Interesting, but I wonder how long it will last. You are in a pretty bad shape as it is."
She wasn't lying; the wound was deep and the blonde could not move her arm as freely as she wanted.
"It's not over yet!" Katsuragi spun around rushed headfirst at her opponent before leaping forward, kicking wildly with her iron greaves –
"Such an attack is too easy to read," Hikage whispered – when had she managed to get behind the blonde?! – and punched the Hanzo student in her gut. She watched Katsuragi roll across the ground and snickered loud enough for her rival to hear. "You talk the talk, but you don't walk the walk," she taunted.
The blonde tried to catch some breath as she clutched at her now bruised waist. Hikage was toying with her; she could have easily plunged her knife into her instead of punching.
The green-haired shinobi could at least take this fight a little bit more seriously.
"You're fast; I will give you that," Katsuragi commented. Forcing herself to stand straight, she had to fight the pain and not let it show. The blonde had always considered herself strong and able to take a good number of hits if she couldn't avoid them. But Hikage… That girl was frighteningly strong.
And yet it only made the blonde happy. While she enjoyed the thrill of battle and competition, that elation only reached its peak when it was against the green-haired girl.
If only Hikage could enjoy it as well…
"Are you done spacing out?" The voice sent a shiver down Katsuragi's spine and the feeling of equally cold steel sharply pressed against her throat. The Hebijō student was right behind her. "It must have been quite the daydream if I could just walk up to you like this. Care to indulge me?"
The Hanzo student scoffed and smirked. "I just wish you would enjoy this as much as I do."
"Enjoy this, you say?" Hikage replied. "You put up a good fight – just not good enough. I am simply humouring you since you don't know when to give up."
"And that's what makes you stupid!" Katsuragi exclaimed and swiftly elbowed her rival in the stomach – releasing her from the threat of the knife – and spun around to connect a kick with Hikage's upper body and send her flying across the barrier area. "You're my rival, idiot! Don't you feel the thrill when we meet?! The rush of battle as trade blows?!" She took a deep breath and yelled as loud as she could, "DOESN'T ANY OF THIS MAKE YOU THE LEAST BIT HAPPY?!"
The emerald-haired shinobi hadn't even crashed into the ground twice before she vanished and reappeared behind the blonde –
"What joy is there to fight you when you can barely stand?"
-and stabbed the Hanzo student in her left shoulder, feeling the knife piercing through muscle and bone with a sickening noise and the girl's scream of agony. Katsuragi quickly fell limply onto the ground. Her voice eventually went quiet.
"You won't die," Hikage said. "But this marks yet another win on my part." She ripped out her knife and stood up. She watched Katsuragi bleed out on the floor. "The concept of emotions is not uninteresting…but how could I enjoy doing this to you? You really are peculiar."
She stepped over the blonde's body and glanced back. "…If you can still hear me, I hope you have learned your lesson, Katsuragi."
A low gasp got her attention as the Hanzo student struggled to support herself. "The next time… things…will be… d-different…Hikage…"
The emerald-haired girl managed a smile, sly as it was. "I suppose I could look forward to that."
With a grin of her own, Katsuragi fell back down on the floor. She'd make Hikage see things her way eventually.