This battle was a long-winded scene, and so I extend my appreciation and gratitude to Andrew Glasco for his help and all that he contributed.
Chapter 36
The Final Battle
One cloudy afternoon, having made his decision on when the last battle was to take place, the stoic young assassin awaited the presence of his captive a mere fifty feet outside the cottage, clad in his classic yellow ninja gi with his crimson scarf billowing into the wind. Many days had passed by since he first ensnared the girl within his trap, and since then they experienced numerous events together, from both physical and mental endurances to mild pleasantries, but now, it was finally time for their final match to ensue. His intent amber eyes rested upon the door of the wooden structure as he wrung his calloused hands together in idle anticipation of the showdown that he knew would soon occur; he fought to keep his mind calm and his body relaxed to convey the strength of inner confidence. In that particular instance, he opted for a rather dramatic start to their encounter-to-be, albeit somewhat derived from the desire to gauge his opponent's reaction, and so Kenji patiently remained stationed in his position, anticipating the arrival of the feline zoanthrope.
Contrary to his body's rigid and slowly stiffening pose, his mind was fairly active and began to run rather rampantly with memories of both pleasant and distasteful situations that he and the weak captive girl had shared over the past few weeks. In his most private and contemplative states, the puzzled assassin repeatedly wondered what special trait or aspect she possessed that made him act so leniently toward her, especially considering all her expressive instances of blatant disrespect. The mere existence of their deal baffled him at times, despite the fact that he had been the one to initiate it, and if Uriko actually managed to pull off a victory against him, then his betrayal to his master would become a startling reality. Traveling down that train of thought brought a twinge of unease to Kenji, and while he had initially only desired the slender brunette for her body, he was unable to deny steadily becoming accustomed to her sweet, almost intoxicating smile…
Inside, the girl in question was relaxing upon the cot with one of her frequented books after she finished completing her early noon training; scarce an hour ago, she had woken up after a short nap and found the main room quiet and empty, as usual. Her eyes began to grow weary from the long reading period, and with a slow blink, Uriko set down the manga upon the mattress, ending the task, and then she glanced out the window to note the time, quickly deciding that she wanted to leave the cottage for the little hours left in the day. The brunette casually glanced down at her outfit, currently donning a thin yellow jacket over a white undershirt with a mid-knee length pink skirt; she reminded herself to ask Kenji when he came back later – as politely as possible, of course – if he could bring her clothes out to be laundered so that she would be able to wear something else for the rest of the week. Averting her focus on the intention to venture outside, the feline zoanthrope playfully twirled her auburn braid over her shoulder and pranced over to the door, eager to breathe in fresh air and once again stroll about the forest to her carefree whims and desires.
Once the petite youth emerged, the collected ninja was standing in plain sight; he seemed quite prepared, and even more tense and serious than normal, as his light amber eyes dashed to her form instantly, but he said naught a word, presuming that she could detect the somber mood.
Her head tilted slightly to the side in wordless wonder when Uriko noticed the older fighter poised stiffly, as well as the icy look on his face… he appeared to be concentrating very hard on an object or a thought, and after feeling just a bit anxious from his intense gaze, the Kenpo learner greeted him softly, "Um… hi, Kenji. What's going on?"
He noted her outfit with more than a mere passing glance as she came more fully into his view; however, as he was a trained ninja prepared for battle, his cravings were easily disposed of for the time being, and his face betrayed no sign of interest toward her person. The young man dismissed the formalities with a sharp glare and he informed his frail enemy, "Prepare yourself immediately."
His stern expression, accompanied by the words ringing in her mind, caused a faint alarm to go off in her head, and in a flash, the slender brunette realized what he meant, though she quietly asked to clarify, sounding surprisingly calm, "This is our… We're gonna have our last battle today, I guess?"
"That is correct." Kenji fell silent for a few moments, allowing her to fully feel the impact of the statement, and his eyes never wavered from her petite figure even as he continued to elicit smoothly, "The day has come, Uriko. I defeated you in our first battle, and you concluded the next one by somehow managing to grasp victory, but I assure you that will need to exert much more energy in our upcoming encounter. Only one of our desires will be realized at the conclusion of this fight: either the end of your imprisonment, or the beginning of your life by my hands. I doubt that I need to emphasize the severity of our match today, for I am certain you are fully aware of the stakes of this battle on both sides. Give nothing less than your best effort if you truly want to win. You once expressed sympathy toward your opponent, and I would advise against doing so in this instance, unless you intend to fail your task. Now… are you ready to sacrifice your freedom, little kitten?"
"No way," Uriko replied with heated determination as she shook her head firmly, her eyes adopting a small fire of passion, and she tensed her body in grim anticipation of the upcoming fight, steeling herself for the effort that she would have to exert. "Just watch; you're gonna lose, Kenji!"
"We will see about that." The cobalt-haired fighter retorted in a low tone while shooting her a cool glare, and he resisted the urge to smirk his disbelief as he wound his shoulder once; his lean muscles were rigid with the expectancy of a battle and his senses almost tingled in eagerness. "If you are ready, then we can begin."
Deciding not to give him a verbal answer, Uriko just submitted to an old gesture of her previous fighting days and she beckoned her foe over with one hand before quickly turning in a full circle, and upon stopping, the young fighter had her lead fist in front of her face, her other arm reared back slightly for support.
He nodded stiffly in response to her wordless action, and with a slightly smug grin teasing the corner of his lips, the ninja started the battle by instantly vanishing into a poof of his ever-deceptive technique, and he reappeared roughly ten feet away. The girl flinched from the familiar antic and she took an uneasy step back as he executed the move once more, closer still, and a moment later, Kenji was right in her face, jutting a fist up towards the underside of her chin in what he hoped to be a devastating uppercut. Although she had initially expected him to strike her from behind, Uriko was keen to her surroundings and well-aware of his intentions to use that deceptive tech in hopes of deterring her, and when he appeared before her all of a suddenly, the auburn-haired youth twisted away hastily. Maintaining her balance, she kept her body tense with an effort of alertness, and ducked down to the ground to smoothly swept one leg around in a full circle toward her opponent, kicking at his ankles as she tried to trip him.
Kenji arched his back as his uppercut continued, slicing through thin air, and he managed to backflip in reaction to her duck, anticipating her attempted attack; he landed steadily and instantly kicked down at her cheek with his shin. Not expecting the elevated evasion, she was struck smartly in the chin and stumbled back, quickly discovering that she had bit her tongue by the coppery taste of blood that suddenly slid down her throat… and so with that, the first hit of their final battle went to Kenji. Uriko shook her head in slight annoyance with herself, but in spite of the small advantage he gained early in their bout, she was determined to be the one that delivered the last blow to attain victory over him, for the sake of her cherished freedom. The avid young fighter rolled forward toward her opponent, but instead of shooting out with her fist stretched, she placed both hands on the ground and hastily launched herself in the air, twin legs poised firmly to deal a double kick to his abdomen.
The keen ninja managed to move his forearms down with a slight noise of effort and he garnered a small means of defense against her attack, but the force of the accelerated blow still toppled his balance, causing him to fall onto his back. He agilely rolled through, stopping the motion once he was in a one-knee kneel, and then he lifted his head to immediately locate his opponent once again, his amber eyes fixating upon her with dangerous concentration. Uriko landed neatly before him, a mere foot separating the two teenagers, and without hesitation, she used the short distance to her advantage, quickly launching herself into a combination attack, as she hoped to throw him off-guard with fast, continuous strikes. Starting from her feet, the Kenpo learner swept her legs up through the air, coming over the top of Kenji's head before shifting into a lower pose and sweeping one foot out after another as she completing a full circle, trying to trip him.
Though he had watched her motions intently, the sudden high kick had the desired effect of diverting his attention and thus he fell victim to the antic, collapsing onto the side; with a muttered curse, he instantly rolled away to try to escape further assault. Once he had secured a comfortable distance, the experienced fighter regarded his captive with a cool, even glare that twisted into a snarl when he spotted the pleased, almost smug smile on her face, and he silently vowed to crush her foolish impudence. Easily satisfied that at least her last hit connected, she submitted to a brief surge of overconfidence, believing that she could stand a chance against him after all, and then she immediately ran over to Kenji, her foot raised to stomp on his downed form. As Uriko neared his location, the waiting ninja swiftly whipped his feet back above his head and allowed all of his weight to shift back onto his neck and shoulders, before he suddenly lashed out forward with his legs to knock her away.
Stunned by the unexpected move, the girl was clipped in the jaw and pushed back a few feet; she fought the urge to whimper while instinctively raising one hand to clutch her injured chin, the area already having suffered from two direct hits. She caught a glimpse of the arrogance that briefly flickered over his expression and realized that he was silently taunting her, the fire and fury of his underlying power flicking out at her from the dark depths of his piercing amber eyes. Growling in irritation both at her foe and with herself, she recklessly rushed forward at the standing ninja and jumped up with her legs outstretched and flying, eager to hit him in a kick with both feet, one immediately following after the other. Kenji faintly smirked at the rash direct attack and in a rather uninspiring but effective counter, the young ninja merely side-stepped her attack, and then thrust out a strong lean leg to strike her spine as she approached the ground.
Unable to dodge that strong blow in midair, Uriko involuntarily succumbed to it, releasing a shrill cry of pain when he struck her and sent the girl reeling through the air, making her land hard on her rear end while one hand immediately shot behind to grip the aching area. "O-oww…"
Realizing the bout was merely in the very early stages, and perhaps even still in the feeling-out process, the calm young man did not capitalize on her frail injury, knowing the pain inflicted had aided him enough, and he remained tense as he allowed her to rise.
"Grrrr…" The low growl emitted was more from frustration at herself rather than directing the anger at Kenji, for she had made yet another mistake due to her careless passion, although admittedly she harbored little contentment toward him at the current moment.
The rattled girl slowly got back on her feet, her stance slightly shaky now from the fresh injury, but nevertheless, she put up a fierce front of strength, her facial features twisting into a scowl as she wordlessly confronted the ninja. Kenji acknowledged the challenge with a partial grin as he started toward her position, and when he was only a few feet away, he reared a fist back, paused, and then thrust it towards the ground, sending his energy into the earth. Although unaware of the attack's paralyzing effects, Uriko was already in motion upon detecting movement and she agilely flipping backwards to gain some distance between her and the adversary, her back still aching a bit from the previous blow. Because his technique had not connected, he straightened up and relentlessly surged into another tactic, leaping into the air and twisting his body into a full circle as he delivered a harsh roundhouse kick in her direction.
Relying on her quick reaction, the learning young fighter immediately shot her arms up, managing to cover her chest and she deflected the forceful blow, although it caused her to stagger backwards a bit awkwardly as consequence. Landing just slightly unsteadily, Kenji launched toward her after just a brief pause and whipped around with a furious backhand strike, his expression devoid of hesitation or mercy as intense concentration furrowed his twin brows. Due to her steadfast defensive pose, his arm struck her fully-exposed cheek and she stumbled back a few steps, visibly wincing from the blow, the sting a harsh reminder to what she would have to endure on a consistent basis should she lose the battle. The young brunette gritted her teeth in determination, unwilling to give into the mild pessimism trying to creep into her mind and she quickly shot forward to seize his arm, pulling him in closely while her fist dealt two rapid blows to both sides of his face.
He stumbled back a couple of steps, an angry grimace betraying his current emotions, but he rapidly charged back in with a trio of forward leaping kicks, first rising up into the air and sending the last one slicing down toward her. Uriko was able to block the initial two blows from her arms alone, but the final strike came unexpectedly over her head, so the girl toppled forward and with a hard slap from both hands, she just barely managed to save herself from landing on her face. Kenji descended to the ground right in front of her and coolly kicked at her head with considerable force, as though it was nothing more than a mere, inanimate object; the unprotected area instantly throbbed in vivid pain and tears sprang to her eyes at the newly-dealt injury. The dazed brunette cried out briefly but managed to cut it off after she weakly recomposed herself and rolled away to the side before unsteadily standing up, reluctantly using one hand to hold her head while the girl stood her ground, fire in her eyes as she snarled quite audibly, her lips peeled back in a feral gesture.
The silent, arrogant ninja eyed her momentarily with cool indifference before moving in once more, but this time, as he neared, he leapt high over her head and landed directly behind her, thrusting an elbow at the center of her back. Her senses on pin-drop alert, she immediately acknowledged his presence behind her with a slight sense of familiarity and jumped backwards several times, using her body to slam into his outstretched elbow to drive him back with each step she took. Kenji growled in aggravation at having the tables turned on him, and he simply swept her feet out from under her, his confidence cemented since she was clearly unable to see him, and he felt eager to gain an advantage on her. Easily falling prey to that attack, Uriko squealed a bit when she found herself abruptly descending to the ground on her back, but just as she landed, she shot both arms up to grab one of his legs and pulled it forward forcefully, trying to make him fall as well.
The domineering assassin crumpled forward as she had hoped, but as he landed, his hands grabbed an iron grip of her foot and wrenched the ankle to the side in a way it simply should not go, making her body twisted involuntarily along with the motion. Pain was very evident on her face as she frantically pranced away on knees and hands, gaining just a few feet of blessed distance; the injured fighter clumsily staggered to her feet, making sure to apply pressure more on her stronger side, and with a fierce cry, she rolled forward once again. This time when she arose, she initiated another combination, and relying on her fists, she quickly punched at Kenji a few times before she jumped up gingerly, trying to hit him over the head in hopes of beginning a powerful series of rapid strikes. Fortunately for Uriko, in addition to his slight disorientation from his brief trip to the ground, the force of her initial blow had stunned him enough to weak his defenses a bit so that left him open to receive her frantic punches, much to his frustrated dismay.
"HAH!" Eliciting a triumphant cry, she bent over quite far and pounded the ninja over the head in a series of furious blows, her body leaning toward him more and more with each hit, and finally, she delivered the final punch and sent Kenji smacking face-first into the ground. When his lean form flopped down to meet the dirt ground, Uriko quickly straightened up her posture and danced back a few feet away, elated to have successfully executed one of her strongest techniques, and touched by just a sliver of pride. After all, her captor had put her down on numerous occasions, and part of her was intent on proving him wrong, even if that meant using her strength and fighting skills to beat the vitality out of him; the Kenpo student only hesitated when wondering how far she would go with the physical, violent form of persuasion. On the other side of the clearing, where she had left him lying upon the earth, the young man groaned a curse under his breath as he slowly rolled to the side, and then weakly ascended into a sitting position while one hand instantly rose in reflex to clutch at his throbbing head.
Concern briefly flickered in her eyes when the younger fighter noticed a rare expression of weakness coming from the usually-arrogant figure, but she quickly killed the compassionate thought, unwilling to allow herself to be fooled into thinking that Kenji would show her the same consideration. As he had firmly informed her at the beginning of their present encounter, this was to be a fight to the end that determined if she would attain her freedom and return to her home, or forever have her life shackled in chains by a sadistic, vicious killer. Uriko shuddered to think of what she might endure under his vindictive control, and she felt fairly certain that when he was finished amusing himself with her existence, he would turn her over to his master, the creepy perverted scientist of the ZLF. That had to be avoided at all costs, and so in contrast to her usually-sympathetic side, she could not spare any mercy to her devious foe; with that in mind, the girl rushed forward at the ninja and stopped just short of his seated location to crouch as she tentatively reached out her fist.
He felt her smacks, but the weak blows had little effect on the already-dazed fighter and with a determined scowl, he managed to muster up enough strength to roll away until he was a comfortable distance to gingerly elevate to his knees, and then he steadily rose to his feet. Once she saw that her opponent was back on his feet, Uriko acted quickly and dashed forward just a little, using the momentum of her short sprint as she leapt up and shot her legs in a consecutive order, delivering multiple kicks with her feet. Because both his balance and concentration were still off, he inwardly focused on regaining his center of gravity, deeming that aspect quite important to secure an edge over the petite girl, and in response to her attack, he merely raised his arms to take the brunt of her strikes. Kenji retracted a few steps from the impact and his back slammed against a nearby tree, causing his lips to twitch in a slight grimace, but he willed himself to endure the brief burst of pain and not retaliate until he was certain he could catch her at a weak point to take advantage of the situation.
Noticing that he seemed to be slow in recovering from his ailment, Uriko quickly glanced at his face and caught the mild discomfort on his expression, which assured her that he was likely still a little dazed, and she thought this was her chance to seize victory. Just the mere possibility of attaining her freedom shot boundless energy rushing through her body and she charged forward without hesitation, making it blatantly obvious to the perceptive ninja that she intended to grab him by the way that her eyes shone so eagerly. As she neared, a smirk briefly curved his lips and then Kenji dropped intentionally, his legs maneuvering to entrap her lower body in a scissor-like vice and trip her, intending to send the girl crashing into the sturdy tree right behind him. Her movement was greatly deterred by his diversion, but she had enough sense to curl her form up into as much of a ball as she could, and so while her upper body went flying into the hard trunk, she carefully protected her head within the grasp of her arms.
Yet, the distracted brunette was unable to prevent falling to the ground, and close by her opponent; after she landed in a light thump, Uriko pushed off the hard ground with both hands as she desperately tried to roll over until she could face up again. Aware of her vulnerability, Kenji swiftly leapt next to her side until he was gazing at her back and he thrust a vicious elbow toward her now-unshielded head with careful precision, and her eyes widened when she spotted the flying elbow heading for her face. Releasing a curt yelp, the younger fighter turned to the side, allowing her cheek to receive the blunt of the blow, to which her opponent shifted up just a tad, opting to change his method of attack as he instead thrust a knee at her lower abdomen. The forceful blow made her lurch forward involuntarily as nausea and discomfort firmly lodged into her stomach, and after a pained moan, she grit her teeth in an effort to stay focused and in an instinctive motion, she weakly turned around to tighten her arm and shot it up, delivering a harsh elbow to his groin area.
"G-gah!!" The dark-haired ninja groaned aloud at the unpleasant sickening sensation that suddenly gripped his nerves, and he crumbled to his knees, rolling to the side as he held the injured area with extreme care, feeling extreme discomfort from the simple, yet devastatingly effective tactic.
A gruff cough scratched her throat on its way out as she was still feeling the effects of being struck in the sensitive area just below her stomach, and the girl took a few minutes to shakily catch her breath, her throat constricted from an inner tightening squeeze. Uriko gradually arose with some effort, all the while keeping one hand clutched at her abdomen as she unfolded her clenched body, but a slight grin of uncharacteristic callousness touched her lips when she noticed Kenji buckled over from the blow she had dealt him. The girl delicately touched her chin, and she was startled by the sting of the aching wound where her foe had struck the area not long ago;scowling at the memory, she dashed at him once again and slipped around behind his back, intending to reach across and grab him. To her advantage, he seemed to still be engrossed in the prominent pain of her previous strike that his attention was distracted from concentrating on other on-goings, and he faintly acknowledged her presence, but he could not find the strength to properly defend himself.
Without warning, Uriko abruptly lashed out one arm toward her opponent and dug it around his neck, and she secured her grasp by bending down a bit to settle into an appropriate level, careless about the position of his arms when she had her free hand pressed tightly against his throat. He made a slight choking noise and briefly thrashed his lean form against her hold, but then a reluctantly-elicited groan revealed that he was still in the midst of recovering, and so having gained the upper edge in that moment, adrenaline pumped through the young brunette's body at the prospect of victory looming ahead. Though she had struggled in the beginning of their match, she now had him tightly in her grip and literally on his knees before her; in spite of all his years of experience and proclaimed skills, Kenji was clearly not infallible, as she just proved by way of their current positions. She felt fairly certain that she would win and was so caught up by her excitement that she did not even realize her body had reacted and turned her nails into feline claws, sharp points that dug into the ninja's skin rather painfully, almost to the point of drawing blood.
"Urgh…!" The searing pain below his abdominal area was downplayed slightly as he felt his air supply being cut off, and mere moments later, his irritation sparked when he found her transformed claws digging into his bare flesh by the sudden sharp and fiery cutting sensation.
Silently crowing inside, she felt surprisingly vibrant with energy, unknowing that the adrenaline had brought about the sensation, and while she was full of spirit, able to stand strong and proud as victory lingered sharply in her mind, the girl asked him in a rather harsh and uncharacteristic bark, "Do you give up, Kenji?!"
He remained silent, trying to ignore the sting of his pride from her taunting tone as his face was contorted in a mixture of pain and stubborn anger; he could not believe that the clumsy amateur had actually been able to get the upper hand on him. Kenji felt bile of disgust rising up his throat at the bitter possibility of losing to such an inexperienced and feeble girl, and he stilled his tongue from eliciting an insult as he hastily thought of a way to accept her hold, when a sudden realization came to his mind. Her claws… Uriko had apparently morphed into her beast counterpart – only partially, judging by her ability to speak and due to the fact that there was no feeling of fur against his skin, but even such a small aspect gave him every right to transform. While it was true that their deal entailed the fights carried out in human forms, she had thrown that rule to the wind of her own accord, effectively voiding that part of their agreement, so now he could transform and finish this battle once and for all on his terms.
That pleasant thought in mind, his lips slowly turned up into an eerie smirk and he inwardly gathered his strength together, concentrating on bringing his power together, and then he retorted a few moments later in a strong, confident tone, "Hah, hardly…! You truly believe that I would submit to you…? My precious little kitten… we have only just begun."
Just then, a brilliant flash of light encased him and a furious outward force abruptly exploded from his body, and the brief burst of energy swiftly sliced through the air in a large, expanding circle, effectively throwing the girl a few feet away.