The mute stood across the field from his girl. Hiei watched the two young women, each their own swords in hand. The mute had her icy steel sword while his girl had her fire serpent in a short sword down in her right hand only. Normally she fought with both hands, being ambidextrous, but Hiei told her while fighting the mute, she could only use her right hand. That was the only stipulation he put on their spar. Neither young woman moved at first, even after Kurama, who was standing beside Hiei, told them to begin. Her boy and the shinobi stood around them, watching just as curiously for this fight. Hiei was surprised to hear that the mute had challenged his girl to a spar as they continued on their journey North. He was intrigued himself to see what the mute could do and what his girl had learned in the capital.
His girl charged at the mute, closing the distance between them. Hiei watched the mute tense up at first, but bring her own sword up in time to block his girl's first strike. His girl did not slow down though. Hiei had trained her to be quick and fast, using her small size to her advantage. He was intrigued when the mute was able to meet and parry each strike. The way his girl fought was natural, fluid, almost like a dancer. The mute was different. She looked rehearsed, methodical, slightly clumsy, and almost like she refused to give up control in this fight.
His girl was shorter than she was, shorter than any of them were. The mute was getting overwhelmed by how close his girl got to her. She could not manage to swing her longer sword at such a close range. His girl was quick to bring her sword to the mute's neck. "Dead," she declared smugly.
The mute looked down at her, perplexed when his girl pulled her sword off her neck. She shook her head and shoved his girl hard away from her. The mute moved lightning quick, gripping his girl by the back of the neck and pressing the tip of her own sword to his girl's chest, all but shoving it into her skin above her heart. The mute did not stop there. Her eyes glowed turquoise. Hiei could tell, but from the distance, that the area surrounding the two of them had grown suddenly colder. Kurama shivered involuntarily next to him.
Her boy looked antsy, watching the two young women's spar turn more aggressive. His girl loosed a guttural scream, heating up the area between the two of them. Hiei could feel the heat emanating off of her. The mute looked wide eyed, letting his girl go and backing away from her like the heat was too difficult for her to handle. Then she steeled herself, eyes glowing anew. The temperature plunged again. Then burned again. Then plunged once more, constantly alternating between freezing and overheating. Hiei watched, unsure which young woman would give in and set the temperature for herself.
It ended up being his girl, too stubborn to know when to quit. The ground around her had all the snow melted away and the grass burned black around her feet. The mute looked exhausted, sweating as the heat ratcheted up higher and higher around her. She dropped to the ground on her knees, gagging from being unnaturally warm.
"Enough!" her boy called out over the distance. He took two hesitant steps closer to them, but halted.
His girl did not bother to turn around to look over at him. She brought her sword back down to the mute's neck and summoned away the heat. "Dead," she stated again. "But best two out of three," she added with a smirk in her voice. "No temperature changes next time." She summoned her sword away and offered a hand to help the mute up. The mute stared up at her hand as if unsure what to make of it. The mute started to push herself up on her own accord, but then decided to accept his girl's hand. His girl yanked her up, letting go the second the mute was on her feet. His girl turned back to where the others were standing, boldly calling out, "who's next?"
