Chapter ten : The Green Beast
The insides of her boots were still tingling, warm from the high-speed dash down the trunk of the splintered oak. Thankfully the layers of condensed chakra formed a protective layer around her feet; the material of her shoes was only a little worn. Without it, the rubber soles may very well have melted from the blistering friction.
Looking at the damaged base of the tree, Chihiko felt a prick of resentment stroke her nape, rustle through the wispy hairs on the back of her neck. The lone fighter had single-handedly crushed most of the tree's body, its trunk in shambles, sap oozing to the shattered ground like blood from a freshly killed animal. Some of the sticky, viscous discharge covered the hands of the terrifyingly strong shinobi, and Chihiko hoped with a biting scorn that it would harden between his fingers, making it difficult to flex his hands.
He didn't appear to take notice, didn't even seem to care that the tree behind him was still contorted in adamant pain. Now turned to face Chihiko, he stood tall and ready to fight, one hand held behind his back, the other in front of him, palm faced towards the sky, fingers extended. He wore white bandages in exactly the same way Chihiko did, swathing the area from the middle of his forearms to just past his knuckles. With a sharp and trained eye, Chihiko spotted several injuries on the exposed parts of his raised hand, scars and purple bruises. Some of them were probably the result of him using the summoned oak like a wooden training-post, the others had been there for quite some time. Wrapped around his shins were almost humorously colorful leg-warmers, which looked like they were made of some kind of plush orange material.
A vibrant-green leotard covered his entire body, and layered on top of that was a Chuunin vest, evidence that he was at least at Chihiko's rank, if not higher. She was interested to see how she would fare against a Konoha shinobi of equal level to herself, even one so ridiculously dressed.
At once, Chihiko took back her last thought as she remembered what she happened to be wearing. Her skirt was being pulled at the seams by this point, fabric struggling to maintain her modesty. With every step she took or jump she made, the hem of the garment inched up her legs, revealing more and more of her inner thighs. While fighting the four-man battalion, Chihiko had dutifully disregarded this, but now she was at rest and it was becoming rather annoying. She would have given the world to be back in her deeply-concealing hakama pants, especially now that her cover had been blown and her civilian clothes were no longer necessary.
"You're not my enemy!" Chihiko broke the icy silence tentatively. When the young man refused to acknowledge her treaty, she added, "I have not come here to make war with any of Konoha's people!"
It was a lie, and a bad one at that, for Chihiko wasn't the best at fabricating stories. Perhaps it was because she never had to be. She paused, trying to gauge his reaction, but there was nothing on his end, not even a spark of emotion other then those of contempt. His immense eyebrows were pulled together towards the middle of his face, forehead wrinkled as he took a subtle step forward, upper body unflinching. His intent to harm her was crippling.
"Then why use a mock-passport?" he finally spoke, his voice rather formal despite his bestial power. Chihiko muttered an expletive under her breath; the two watchmen at the village's gate must have done a background check on her passport. Bob-length hair sashaying in the September breeze, the green-clad shinobi eyed Chihiko meticulously. "Anyone who invades Konoha is my enemy. You are not here on some messenger-errand from the Waterfall village. If you want peace, then you can resign yourself here and surrender."
It was not exactly what Chihiko had been prepared to hear; she was surprised to find that they doubted her point of origin. With any luck, although hers as of late had been pretty sour, her whereabouts would be kept secret from the village chief for just a little bit longer.
"If that is how you'll have it…" Chihiko replied cynically, wishing that another conflict could have been avoided. If she didn't escape the battlefield soon enough, the entire village would be breathing down her neck. She had to deal with this fighter quickly before more reinforcements arrived.
Arching one of his thick eyebrows, the boy rushed towards her, feet moving so fast that they were barely scraping the ground. Dust and rocks and splintered pieces of wood were kicked up as he began to pick up speed, pulled from their spots as he raced by, drawn by his immense momentum, an insane cloud of debris that trailed behind him as he raced towards Chihiko.
The velocity of the masked shinobi had been notable, but it shriveled in comparison to the boy's. Chihiko could barely track his movements; he began to dart left and right, his body disappearing for an instant only to reappear somewhere else, a blur of green streaking across the gravel. Pupils struggling to track where he might be going, Chihiko braced herself for whatever maneuver the black-haired fighter might make once he was close enough.
"Konoha Senpu (Leaf Hurricane)!"
Just as Chihiko heard the boy's voice, a sandaled foot suddenly whipped up towards her right flank, moving so viciously fast that all she was able to make out was a wild and brief flash of orange. Chihiko could barely react in time, and just when it seemed the kick would connect, she leapt off of the ground, feet just as nimble as her attacker's. Once in the air, she grabbed what she assumed were the young man's shoulders. With his body still moving forwards, Chihiko swung her feet towards the air into a handstand, legs held tightly together like a gymnast performing a deft routine on the parallel bars. Her body was now perpendicular to the ground.
Fingers clenching his shoulders, nails digging into his skin, the kunoichi flung herself up and over his head, and as her legs descended towards his backside, she actually began to lift him off his feet. His mouth barely had time to make an "O" shape, a small gasp escaping his lips.
The instant she was standing again, Chihiko strained the muscles in her back and arms, using the force and drive of her flip to pull the boy over her. He was almost too heavy for the young girl to pull, and so she gnashed her teeth together, mustering every ounce of vigor she had left in her. With one last oomph, the body of the young shinobi sailed right over Chihiko, launched into the air with a mighty heave. Caught completely off guard by the reversal, he flew through the air like a rag-doll, eyes wide with disbelief.
His body smashed onto the fractured pavement like a sack of potatoes, and after that he skid along the ground for several feet before finally slowing to a halt. Instantly he flipped back onto his feet, not in the least bit discouraged. Instead he seemed to be even more eager to fight, now that he had seen the capabilities of his foreign opponent. With a thin smirk plastered on his face, now flushed and sweaty, he prepared to rush again.
I can't let you get in the way! Chihiko's thoughts raced faster then the bushy-browed shinobi as she set her feet firmly on the earth, one in front of the other, her body and mind completely in synch with one another, absolutely alert.
She blinked, but in the second it took her eyelids to close and then part, the young boy had crossed the gap between them. Chihiko felt her heart plummet into her stomach.
The first punch she was able to dodge with a quick sidestep, and the second one just missed her left side before she twisted narrowly out of the way. It was taking all of her resourcefulness to evade his rapid-fire blows, her feet pivoting quickly to either side as his fists cut into the air with super-sonic speed. It was all like some flagrant, vivid tango being shared by two ardently passionate dancers, each body reacting to the other's movements. As the young man continuously lunged himself towards her, Chihiko would counteract with a lissom reversal. They were so close to one another that their arms and legs soon seemed intertwined; it was hard to tell when one fighter ended and the other began.
Chihiko noticed how stiff his attacks were, so text-book perfect, every limb and leg where it should be at any moment. But perfection was readable just as it was predictable, whereas Chihiko's movements were fluid, always in motion, her limbs sinuous and lithe like a bending river conforming to any shape or barrier in its way.
Suddenly, Chihiko spotted an opening as the zealous shinobi prepared to deliver a skull-shattering punch. Dotted along the ground were the circular fissures that the life-saving vines from before had left behind, and his feet were coming treacherously close to one of them. It was small enough to go unnoticed, as the battle had caused bits of grass to partially cover it, but Chihiko knew it to be just large enough to catch his sandal. She stood her ground as the clenched hand closed in on her, fingers mere inches from her nose; she could see the dirt underneath his nails.
Just as his fist was about to connect with her face, Chihiko hopped towards the rear, just enough so that he was able to react and reach forwards a little more. But while she had knowingly stepped over the nearly undetectable hole, the charging shinobi soon found himself tripping forwards, and before he had any hope to catch himself and recover, Chihiko grabbed his outstretched arm with both of her hands. Spinning his body in a swift, circular motion, she pitched him off in some random direction. Once again he hit the gravel and dirt, although this time he was still rotating slightly, and the impact caused a swirl of dust to envelope his entire body.
By this time, the boy was becoming frustrated. He couldn't land a single blow on the girl, no matter how fast or how powerful his punches were. It was like the girl could see seconds into the future, just enough to know what he was going to do, where he was going to move, what he part of her body he planned to punch or kick. What was even more irritating was that she wasn't injuring him, only redirecting his attacks away from herself or avoiding them entirely. Just what would it take to beat this white-haired kunoichi?
"You're a beast."
He looked up from his now familiar spot on the ground, spitting earth out of his mouth, eyes itchy from the specks of dust. Black hair ragged and in disarray, several cuts now on his face, the boy looked at Chihiko, still standing, always standing.
"You're a beast who doesn't think twice before acting, but only about how he will damage those around him," Chihiko spoke in a soft, yet unassailable voice. "It's so easy to tell what an attacking person is going to do…your violent ways make you so decipherable."
The boy's ears were glowing now as Chihiko taunted him gently, and he felt his body quiver with exasperation. But then he realized with a twinge of self-reproach that this was exactly what she was talking about. He quelled his mounting rage, enough to see clearly once more. He was not going to let some cool-headed kunoichi get the best of him.
Carefully, he began to unravel the bandages around his hands, allowing the loose wrappings to pool about him seated body.
He kicked off from the ground hard, the flowing bandages thrashing in the air like the ribbons of a kite. Chihiko had to admit, his was a stubborn and resilient shinobi. Her defensive tactics, while not physically punishing, were tiresome to the attacker. She was surprised that he could still move so quickly.
Chihiko could see the blazing whites of his rounded eyes as advanced towards her, heat and sweat sliding off of his face and into the air. Although he looked battered and worn, his anger had lost none of its potency. It sent a chill down her back to think about just how much one of his punches would hurt if it happened to connect. If he was strong enough to decimate her summoned oak, it would smash her soft flesh into a bloody pulp in mere seconds, tearing her apart like wet tissue paper.
He raised another fist, the entirety of his hand now exposed, but just as Chihiko expected him to lunge straight into her, the boy let himself drop onto the ground, sliding foot first along the earth.
The kick came from beneath her, so swift she barely felt the force of his sandaled foot as it cracked into her chest and then her chin, craning her head backwards. Soon her mind was swimming in pain, just as her body rose into the air, launched by the sheer intensity of the surprise attack.
Higher and higher she went, and Chihiko felt so lifeless that at first she thought she might be dreaming. Leaves of brown, amber and gold swirled around her like pieces of colored confetti, clouds appearing closer then ever before.
Strong arms clasped themselves around Chihiko's prone body and white bandages, moving as if on their own, encircled her as well. Her limbs were bound tightly, and she was unable to move or twist, trapped like an animal bound by a hungry boa constrictor.
The skin of her face became pale with suffocation as he gripped her tighter yet, her chest barely moving as she strained to breath, her chin still throbbing with pain. As their bodies began to fall, gravity embracing them at a last, Chihiko felt the world around her begin to spin, slow at first, and then more rapidly, the wind in her ears howling as the two of them fell at a frightening speed.
She finally found her voice at last, and screamed to the person clutching her.
"You'll be hurt too! Let me go! Let me go!" she tried to say, but the very words were snatched right out of her mouth by the racing airstream as they approached ground zero.
And then suddenly, quite out of the blue, she felt herself being thrown into an entirely different direction. Her body snagged away from that of the boy's, as a green tendril laced itself around her one ankle, three others working to rip through the cocoon of bandages. They had been so absorbed in their hand-to-hand battle that Chihiko had forgotten to release the enormous tree, send it back into the depths from which it had been called up from.
As Chihiko was forcefully peeled out of the shinobi's arms, the stem that had yanked her away held her securely. She watched as the other stalks hurled the young shinobi into the distance, treating him with much less consideration than she had been given. Moving quickly, Chihiko commanded the tree to lower her back onto the ground, already preparing herself to perform Henge no Jutsu; time was ticking, and she desperately needed to find a safer place to rest for the night.
She was just about to transform when a hard thump walloped her in the back of her neck, right near the base of her spine. At first she thought it was nothing, just a gust of wind pushing her from behind.
But then an inky darkness, like the profound obscurity of a cave, started to swallow her up, stars and spots of all colors dancing in front of her eyes as if they were the airborn seeds of a dandelion. An odd fuzziness began to consume her consciousness as Chihiko slumped onto the ground, her face landing right next to a pair of high-heeled sandals.
((A/N: Thankfully this will be the last fight-scene chapter for a while…I've never written so much action before. Please send a review if you can spare a moment and thanks for reading!))