Chapter 9: Spar

" Well, this is certainly refreshing..." Ryouta replied, sinking his body into the pool of hot, steaming water, allowing his body to soak up the heat. He sighed in content, dipping his body ever so gingerly, allowing his body to acclimatise to the heat of the pool. He dipped the towel he had with him in the hot water and draped it over his head, allowing the hot water to run down all over his face.

" Hmm..." Hiroshi mused, covering half his head under water.

" You seem down..." Ryouta remarked.

" Well, honestly, I usually take baths by myself..." Hiroshi admitted.

" There is always time for change..." Makoto laughed, throwing his hands over Hiroshi.

" You are too close for comfort..." Hiroshi replied.

This remark made Ryouta and Makoto take the nearby buckets and started filling it with water, dousing Hiroshi with hot water over and over again. Hiroshi retaliated by jumping up and throwing water all over the place. Their shouts and cries could be heard several feet away, where the other girls were soaking themselves in a separate pool.

" Man, those boys sure are noisy," Sora sighed. Suzumi merely giggled.

" I must say, this is one pretty luxurious place you have here. A large house, an outdoor spa...I'm envious..." Sora admitted.

" Well...it's just that my family has been well-established in the Sand village as master puppeteers, and we have a long history lasting even before the founding of the village. That's why...much like the more famous clans you have in your village. I'm sure they live in houses quite similar to mine," Suzumi replied.

" You come from a line of puppeteers? Wow!" Sora replied, quite surprised.

" It's nothing to brag about..." Suzumi replied sadly. " As much as I wanted to take up my family tradition, I apparently don't have much skill for it. I've never really had talent, nor the interest for that sort of thing. I've tried, but I guess I just disappoint my parents most of the time..."

" Hmph!" Sora grunted.

" Eh?" Suzumi exclaimed, surprised at Sora's reaction.

" Bah, forget about family duty and all that crap. There is no point in learning a concept one never wants to put to heart. I, for one, believe that you should take whatever path that you truly believe in. As long as your heart is pure and true, that's a true way to becoming a shinobi. Do what you can excel in, and what you believe you can achieve. That's what I truly feel..." Sora replied.

Suzumi smiled slightly, then replied " You may be right..."

" What do you specialise in, by the way? I've seen that Makoto is an expert in using elemental ninjutsu, along the lines of Ryouta, except his elemental affinity is probably wind, if I'm not mistaken, and he's close to Ryouta's level in terms of usage. Hibiki is a more of a melee combatant, using a spear, much like I am. I haven't seen you in combat as of yet, so I don't know of your capabilities," Sora asked.

" Poisons..." Suzumi said.

" Eh?" Sora asked, raising her eyebrows.

" Well, actually, I'm trying to specialise as a medic-nin, but I mainly use poisons and genjutsu in my attacks. I use a variety of them, most of them to enhance my usage in genjutsu," Suzumi said, smiling.

" Hmm, I personally dislike poison users..." Sora mused. Seeing Suzumi's expression, she continued with " Allow me to rephrase that again: I dislike going up against poison users. They are darn irritating, and really, I doubt my constitution is enough to withstand most poisons."

" I don't think so...I figure you are pretty strong yourself..." Suzumi admitted.

" Well yeah, us girls need to show the guys we can stand up for ourselves...I've always lived trying to prove a valid point," Sora replied, getting out of the pool and drying herself with a towel nearby. " But then again, I've always trashed Hiroshi, so perhaps my point has been long proven. Anyway, I'm not going to soak that long. I'd probably wrinkle up too quickly."

Sora excused herself, and left the pool to get dressed. It was pretty late, although it was pretty hard for her to get tired, so she decided to walk around the house trying to find something to do. She quickly dressed herself and ran off outside, deciding that she would enjoy the sights of the village at night.

It was pretty cold, as deserts always are in the middle of the night, but she was tough enough to withstand the cold despite not wearing anything else than her normal attire, which was only suitable for daytimes in the desert. The cold, chilly winds bite against her legs and arms, but she didn't falter. In fact, she decided it was good training.

" What are you doing out here dressed like that?" a familiar voice called out.

She spun around and spotted Hibiki perched on top of the roof of the building opposite Suzumi's residence. He sat there, glaring at her, his spear already equipped in his hand, although he had not yet extracted its blade. She glared back at him, wondering what was his attitude all about.

" What's your problem, damn it? If you got something to say, then say it, coward, and not run around throwing me scathing looks all the time. Why, got angry cos a girl whooped your ass?" Sora asked, grinning mischievously.

" That's nothing to be proud of..." Hibiki replied darkly.

" Heh, what, you want a real match? I'm all yours, damn it. It's good to exercise after a meal," Sora said, crackling her knuckles. " Perhaps I should just beat some sense into that dumb brain of yours, then maybe you'll start treating me with some respect."

" The only respect you'd be getting is my spear up your ass. Don't blame me if I beat the crap out of you," Hibiki replied, sanding up, flipping his spear in both his hands.

" You are on!" Sora exclaimed.

Crouching slightly, Sora suddenly leaped up at him, flying at him at a tremendous speed, her powerful legs launching her up towards him. Hibiki struck with his spear, stabbing it forward, but Sora tapped it aside with two fingers, knocking the spear out of her way as she continued to fly towards him. Hibiki raised his hand to intercept the punch that came towards his face. There was a loud thud when her fist made contact with the palm of his hand.

She flipped in mid-air, her legs reaching out to hit him, but Hibiki backed off fast enough to avoid the blow. Sora didn't let up, and as soon as her feet touched the landing on the rooftop, she launched into a flurry of strikes, her arms shooting in all directions. All her hits came in contact with his spear as he spun it around with expert precision, making sure he was well protected by his weapon. Sora threw a punch, but there was something different about this one. Hibiki saw the hand coming, but his eyes caught sight of a second hand, as if he was seeing double, coming in from the right.

He dropped to the ground in an instant. He had deduced that the hit was a dangerous one, since he could feel chakra within her hands, and whatever it was building up inside her palm wasn't going to be nice when hit. He rolled back and flung a few shurikens in her direction, forcing her to back up. She didn't, however, and just merely knocked the small metal weapons aside with her fingers. Hibiki threw a few more at her direction, which she deftly handled by tapping them aside just using her fingers, catching two when she had seen through his attack pattern.

" That style...looks like some sort of a martial arts style from your village," Hibiki admitted.

" A little variation from the Hyuuga's Gentle Fist, but really, I only use this to knock aside weapons...other than that, I prefer to use real brute force," she said, snarling as she threw the shurikens she caught at him. He twisted his spear around, knocking the things to the ground, but Sora took that time to spin around behind him, and he barely caught a glimpse of her flying behind him.

Fast, and not even using any chakra control to her feet, but pure force using her muscles...Hibiki thought.

Sora swung her arm, aiming for his head. Hibiki ducked in an instant, but her foot came flying towards his face. Gathering chakra to his feet, he shot out a burst, making him spin aside as her kick missed his face. He tapped her slightly with the end of his spear, knocking her off balance slightly. As she tried to regain her composure, he leaped back several feet and held his spear in front of him, his body preparing for an attack. He shot out at once, and Sora saw a blur of movement as he suddenly seem to disappear as he dashed at her.

It was to Hibiki's surprise that his spear was met with considerable resistance. There was a powerful crash, and the sound reverberated in the night air, ringing all around the place. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Sora having slammed two of her fists onto the blade to stop it from hitting her squarely in her face, the spears edge barely touching her nose.

How is this possible...my attack should have enough force to pierce through metal, and she stopped it with her bare fists...Hibiki thought.

" So, you are really serious, huh? Guess you are...focusing your strength and forcing all the power towards the end of your blade...I must commend you on having such skill. Now, it's my turn to show of my specialty," she said.

Her hand moved quickly, sliding under his spear and tapping it aside as her hand reached out for his face. Hibiki felt the impact of her palm on his face, but she merely attempted to push him down, pressing his face and throwing him down. She drew her hand back, but Hibiki knew this wasn't any punch, since he could sense the chakra build-up in her arms.

He acted at the last second. Just as she was about to hit him, he threw up his arms with all his strength, and rolled aside at the last second. This threw her back at the last second, but her attack still continued. As he steadied himself, he saw a smoking crack on top of the ground they were on, even though her fist never touched the surface.

" Sonic waves..." Hibiki muttered.

" Yeah, pretty much..." Sora said, grinning at him.

" It's hard to believe that you can alter chakra into sonic waves in an instant, even without seals..." Hibiki replied, gritting his teeth.

" Oh no, I didn't do any elemental manipulation..." Sora admitted. Hibiki was visibly surprised at this. Sora picked up one of the shurikens that Hibiki had thrown earlier that was on the ground and tossed it in the air, and as soon as it reach eye level, she raised her right hand next to it and snapped her fingers right at the shuriken. Her hands didn't make any contact with the shuriken, but it was suddenly propelled forward towards Hibiki, but it didn't come at a dangerous speed, so Hibiki merely caught it in his hand. As he did, he could feel the shuriken vibrate slightly.

I get it now...she has somehow found out how to fine-tune her body to move in angles and speeds that will cause her to create ripples in the air to act as waves...which means she could punch the air and send forward a small shock wave because her hands were moving at supersonic speeds...Hibiki thought.

" Looks like you've figured out my technique, no?" Sora laughed.

" Tch, that's nothing..." Hibiki replied arrogantly.

" Yeap, you are right," she said. Sora's hand suddenly started to form seals, making three in total, ending with the Tiger seal. Hibiki felt an intense collection of chakra in her hand, and as she threw her hand to the ground, cracks started forming along the floor. " Because taijutsu isn't the only thing I know."

Hibiki reacted immediately, tossing his spear in the air and forming seals of his own. Sora saw that, and attacked him immediately. He finished his jutsu before she managed to attack him, and even though she flew at him at supersonic speeds, he managed a replacement technique in time, and her fist slammed against a slab of sand.

The block of sand burst into a thousand particles, turning back to the minute pieces that once formed it. The shockwave created from the attack blew the sand all over the place, before a rush of wind took over. Sora looked around, trying to spot her target. There were blurry images of Hibiki circling around him. Genjutsu...no, it's some wind based ninjutsu used to trick my senses...Sora felt.

" Come..." Hibiki replied.

Sora moved out of instinct, just going with whatever her senses told her, and they told her Hibiki was to her right. She was right, and she shot at him at an insane speed, her arm reaching out to hit him, as she herself saw the edge of the spear flying at break-neck speed towards her. They then seem to pause in their attack, Sora's hand right at Hibiki's face, while his spear at her neck.

" Are you two trying to kill each other?" Makoto asked calmly.

Sora took a good look at what had happened. Both Makoto and Ryouta had interrupted the match: Makoto holding Hibiki by his neck while his other hand on his spear, while Ryouta caught Sora's hand, and his free hand in a shape of a seal. She felt that her hand had lost an amount of chakra, and she figured that he had nullified her attack. However, it would be hard pressed for Ryouta to hold her off when she executed her best attack, and as suspected, she found that something had managed to stop her besides Ryouta.

" For a sparing match, it's getting a bit too heated up, don't you agree?" Shikamaru asked, his Shadow manipulation technique binding them to their spot as he caught both their shadows, stopping them from moving any further. " Sora, your 'Sonic Blow' technique is too dangerous to use in a spar unless closely supervised by experts, you know that very well. Were you trying to blow his brains out?"

" Hey, he started to fight first, and he came at me with all he got..."

" You could have just backed off..."

" Me?! Back off?!"

" Sora!" Shikamaru exclaimed, this time sternly.

" Tch!" she replied.

" And what right did you have to use your 'Windwalk' technique on Sora? What were you thinking?" Makoto demanded.

" What would you know?" Hibiki scowled.

" It's time you put aside your differences and..."

" Easy for you to say, after whatever happened to your parents! What would you know about me?!" Hibiki exclaimed.

" Hibiki!" someone shouted loudly. Everyone spun around to look at Suzumi, who had gathered at the front gate of her house along with Hiroshi. She looked up at them, and it seemed like she was on the verge of tears.

" How can you say such spiteful things to Makoto? Didn't you even consider his position? His feelings? Do you really think he feels as such?! How can you be such a spiteful bastard?!" Suzumi exclaimed. And this time there was no stopping it: she broke down crying. All of them looked at her sadly, not sure what to say.

" Why...why...why are we fighting against ourselves?...I...I...just wanted to meet new friends form the Leaf...that's all...was it just so hard to accept?" Suzumi sobbed. She dropped to her knees and covered her face, sobbing loudly. Hiroshi looked pretty dumbfounded, not too sure whether trying to comfort her right now would be a good idea or not.

" Release me..." Hibiki said quietly. Makoto merely kept quiet. " Release me...I'm not going to fight anymore."

Shikamaru released his Shadow Manipulation technique on both Sora and Hibiki, and both Makoto and Ryouta released their grips on their teammates respectively. Hibiki leaped off the rooftop and landed next to Suzumi, who was still crying.

" Suzumi...I'm sorry..." he said apologetically. Hibiki could actually sense that he meant it, although he wasn't sure whether he was sorry about starting the fight or he was attempting to stop her form crying as it was making him feel guilty. Hiroshi suspected it was the latter.

" Go away..." Suzumi said withing sobs.

" Suzumi...I'm sorry...please don't cry..." Hibiki pleaded.

The next reply took everyone by surprise. Suzumi stopped crying at once, and then looked up at him and stuck out her tongue in a playful manner, although it looked real silly as tears still fell down her cheek. " You are a real jerk, you know that Hibiki...it takes me to start crying before you feel sorry..." she said. The tone in her voice indicated that she was pulling their legs and wasn't really crying in the first place. She then started grinning mischievously at him, her brilliant teeth flashing at him.

It took a few moments before Hibiki could string a sentence together. " Urm...someone please tell me I'm trapped in one of Suzumi's genjutsus..." he said, scratching his head.

" Unfortunately, I would say it isn't..." Makoto said, grinning." I must say, Suzumi, that was a brilliant performance there...you got me totally..."

Suzumi walked up to Hibiki and slapped him in the face. " That's for being a jerk! Should have done this in the first place to avoid any of this nonsense..." she said, slapping him repeatedly over and over. Hiroshi felt that she was now acting like some lover who was totally disappointed in Hibiki's attitude towards her.

" Hey, damn it...stop slapping me..." Hibiki said, raising his arms to defend himself. He may have no qualms about beating up Sora, but he was not about to lay a finger on Suzumi so easily, so he merely allowed her to have her way. The rest of them started laughing, seeing now that Suzumi had broken up the tense atmosphere.

" Excellent...now since everything is settled, let's get some sleep people..." Suzumi said, motioning for the rest of them to come in. As they did so, she turned on Hibiki once more, and he flinched, as if expecting another hit from her. " Apologise to her, Hibiki. You owe her that much."

Sora glared at him as he glared back. After a while, he turned his head aside and said " Hmm..." under his breath.

" You darn prick, that was no apology!" Sora exclaimed, her finger pointing at him.

" Coming from him, it should suffice. Allow me to return her to her proper place before she does anymore damage," Ryouta said. With that, he dragged her back inside Suzumi's residence, along with the help of Hiroshi, who held her by her legs. Makoto and Shikamaru followed quickly, leaving Suzumi and Hibiki outside.

" Want to come in? I can always supply a place for you, and you should know you are always welcomed in my house," Suzumi invited.

" No, thank you...I don't think I deserve your hospitality at the moment," Hibiki replied quietly.

" Hmm..." she mused, turning around and going back into her house.

" Suzumi?"

" Yes?" she asked, turning around.

" I'm...really sorry..."

---

" Damn, if they allowed me one extra second, I would have beaten the crap, and some sense, into that idiot. Hmm, to think I was this close to teaching him some manners," Sora grunted, folding her arms. " But then, man, that was really nice of you to bitch-slap him in such a fashion."

" That wasn't..." Suzumi started.

" It was a figure of speech, I didn't mean it that way..." Sora sighed, lying down on the mattress that was provided, stretching herself. She had exerted a bit too much in her fight with Hibiki, although the strain wasn't that bad. She yawned loudly and noisily, feeling tired now. " Hmm, well, all in all, that was some pretty good exercise. Now with that, I think I can get some good night's sleep."

Suzumi watched Sora tuck herself in, covering herself with the blanket and lying down on the mattress that was provided. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep, and Suzumi was quite surprised at the rate she could fall asleep so easily.

" That's one noisy girl..." Makoto sighed, leaning against the door.

" Hmm, perhaps..." Suzumi said, getting up and leaving the room. " You don't mind staying with the other two guys, don't you?"

" Me? We are having too much fun playing card games right now, I doubt we will be sleeping anytime soon," Makoto chuckled.

" Are you freaking them out again by being able to guess what cards you have at the moment?" Suzumi asked, smiling.

" Hmm, yes...I wonder how long it will take for them to realise my trick?" Makoto said, leaving the place, heading down the corridor.

" Um...Makoto...?"

" Yeah, Suzumi?"

" You don't hate Hibiki for that statement, do you?" Suzumi asked timidly.

" No...I'm a pretty understanding person. I can understand why he dislikes our Leaf comrades, and I sympathise with him. But he'll come to understand one day that he cannot hate them forever. After all," Makoto replied, turning around to smile at her " We are no longer enemies."

Suzumi returned a smile of her own. " Yes, that's true," she answered.