"What we have, it's so much more intimate than your silly relationship." ~Ino
Hinata jumped over the first swing, bent backwards under the second and spun around the third, a downward swing as she went with the momentum, swinging her whip out to catch Nerissa in the back, only for the twin to block with the blade of her scythe, quickly spinning the weapon around to hit Hinata with the pole as Hinata was knocked back, holding her gut where it had hit her.
"I believe that's first blood." Nerissa said evenly. She heard a small, 'ha' from Hinata and was caught off guard when the whip came from behind her, sideswiping her cheek as she winced, a small trickle of blood coming from the hit.
"No, that's first blood, you just hit me with a stick." Hinata taunted, pulling her whip taut as Nerissa swung in from the side, the trained leather holding back the gleaming blade as Hinata wrapped her whip around the hilt, holding her in place as she hit her several times in the chest with her Taijutsu. Nerissa growled, almost stumbling back except her weapon was still had tightly in Hinata's grip.
Using the handle of the scythe as an anchor, Nerissa jumped up, snap kicking Hinata in the chest, releasing the scythe as Hinata rolled back, the blade of the scythe sinking into the dirt next to her head. Rolling to the side, Nerissa came down, grabbing the handle as she rotated in mid-air, nearly carving half of Hinata's arm off had the Hyuuga not rolled out of the way.
Flowing like water, Hinata came to her feet as Nerissa looked at her with apathy. Both girls paused for a few moments, then clashing against each other again.
Hinata swung her whip down, Nerissa blocking by holding her scythe above her head as the barbed tip wrapped around the handle, Hinata grinning slightly as she pulled on the weapon, but rather than Nerissa come towards her, Hinata flew at her, her Jyuuken palm sinking into the twin's soft stomach flesh, knocking her breath out as she felt like her insides were about to burst. As she stumbled back, Hinata struck again, her whip going limp as it released Nerissa's scythe, only for the Hyuuga to whip it around and sending it tip first into Nerissa stomach, the barbs tearing out pieces of flesh as blood began to leak from her wound.
"Mujutsu: Tethered Drill." She said; the twin glaring at her as she swung out her scythe, wincing as the motion irritated her wounds.
Leaping at Hinata, the brunette swung wildly at her, Hinata leaning around the attacks. Admittedly, had it not been for the training of making minor adjustments to dodge Jyuuken strikes, Hinata would've been overwhelmed by the quick, concise slashes.
Leaping back, Hinata tried to put some distance between them in preparation for her next attack. However, the twin wasn't content to let that happen as she swung the scythe into the ground, using it like a pole-vault to launch herself at her opponent, her kick sending Hinata flying back, hitting a crater that had been left by an earlier match.
Wiping her mouth clean of blood, Hinata glared at the twin who was looking smugly at her. Leaping down to her level, Nerissa swung her scythe, Hinata narrowly dodging as it sliced through the air. Back flipping, Hinata struck out with her whip, Nerissa deflecting the attack with the flat of her blade, her free hand grabbing the whip just behind the tip, yanking Hinata back to her as she jabbed her with the end of her scythe, knocking her breath out.
"You fought a good fight, but this is it, Blue." She said, and Hinata growled, pushing herself to her feet as she looked down at the ground.
"I haven't got to test this move yet, so let me know what you think." She said, and before Nerissa could question her, started to spin.
Back in the competitor's box, Sakura was watching the match closely beside Naruto, who was smiling softly at his crush. "That's like Neji's Kaiten. But I thought Hinata couldn't do it." Sakura observed, and Naruto laughed under his breath.
"No, that's Hinata in her element, nothing like Neji." Naruto said, and Sakura looked at him curiously.
"Mujutsu, Eight Trigrams: Tethered Storm Wheel!" Hinata called out, her whip swishing through the air as Nerissa tried to fend off the multiple attacks, only to have her weapon knocking away, clattering to the ground.
Suddenly, she was pulled sharply as the whip gripped her wrist, Hinata flinging her across the arena, her scythe following seconds later as it sunk into the wall beside her, Nerissa's eyes wide as she looked at the damage being wreaked by Hinata's attack. It looked like a tornado had touched down around her, carving chunks of the earth out in a perfect circle around her. Even so, her whip was still cutting the air in a perfect dome as she spun on the balls of her feel. Finally, she slowed down, blinking her eyes several times as she fended off the dizziness.
"Wow, you certainly don't go down easily. I suppose I'll have to actually try now, or I'm going to lose." Nerissa stated, a flick of the wrist later she was wielding a second, identical scythe. Even so, she pressed the blank ends together, twisting them as they joined together, leaving her with a dual ended scythe which she spun between her hands.
Coming at Hinata, she swung at her midsection, Hinata substituting with a log which was cleanly bisected. Nerissa looking at her imperiously, called out, "You wanna dance, because I don't think you can keep up with me!"
"Blade Dance." She shouted, as she leapt at Hinata, her scythe spinning like a silver disc as she used it like a saw blade to carve into Hinata, who was activate trying to avoid her numerous attacks, although several got through, but only leaping small cuts that while not leaking blood, still stung with every movement.
Unbidden, her eyes lit up, the whole world turning into shades of grey, before different colors assaulted her vision, varying shades of red, yellow, and green, as well as the scythe in front of her had turned a sickening shade of green save several small spots that glowed orange.
She was confused by the change to her eyes, but was forced to think about it later as she paid for her momentary distraction with the scythe slicing deeply into her arm, leaving a red gash as she blinked and her vision returned to normal.
Nerissa paused as she gulped down air, the exertion of keeping up her best jutsu taking its toll on her, plus, her arms felt like jelly, but she forced the weakness to the back of her mind. Kami forbid if she lost now, after coming this far.
She and her sister had wanted to be kunoichi because they wanted to honor the memory of their parents who, despite being only civilians, had sacrificed themselves to save people who had been trapped in a burning building during the Kyuubi attack. They had been 5 months old at the time, and couldn't remember it, but they had heard the way other people had spoken about them.
What they hadn't expected was that most of the shinobi were arrogant to the point that it sickened the twins. The Uchihas, the Hyuugas, almost any clan were arrogant towards the civilian born. But now she would show them, show them that a civilian born could be revered just as a clan born.
Looking up to her sister, she could see her smile from here, as if she were standing next to her, cheering her on. Looking back to Hinata, she lifted her scythe, her arms filled with renewed strength as she charged the Hyuuga.
But Hinata was ready this time, her whip snaking out to grab Nerissa's ankle, yanking her off her feet as she was hurled away, however, she let her body go limp, her arm swinging out as she threw her scythe, Hinata caught off guard by the move as it collided with her head, stars dancing across her vision. Meanwhile, Nerissa went limp, her body landed on her feet as she skidded back, before spring forwards at Hinata who was shaking the stars out of her eyes.
The twin reached her dropped scythe at the same as Hinata's vision returned to normal, barely managing to get her whip up to catch the descending blade of the scythe, although Nerissa just used it to anchor herself as she flipped over Hinata, slamming a kick down on her shoulder to send her to one knee.
Taking advantage of her perceived weakness, Nerissa pounced on the bluenette, using the staff part to choke Hinata out as she struggled to breath. "Where's your prestige now, Hyuuga?" The girl spat out, Hinata's eyes darkening slightly as she twisted her body, her foot coming up to hit the brunette in the back of her head, her head whipping forwards.
As her vision swam, Nerissa's grip weakened on the dual-ended scythes, Hinata leveraged herself up, head butting the stunned brunette, who fell backwards, both sides of her head resonating from the hits. Hinata jumped to her feet, her whip at the ready should Nerissa stand, and stand she did as she managed to use the scythe like a prop to hold herself up as her eyes tried to concentrate.
She felt the red hot pain of Hinata's whip striking her arms and legs, welts rising to indicate where she was hit as she almost fell, her pain overpowering her senses. "N-no, I refuse to fall to a clan born." She hissed out, despite how her head hung as she tried to force her body to respond.
Hinata started to hit her again, but hesitated at her pained expression, Nerissa managing to regain control of her body as she growled at the compassionate Hyuuga, slashing at her as she bent backwards, the gleaming blade slicing through nothing as Hinata swung her whip out, the end wrapping around Nerissa's ankle as she pulled, sending the civilian born tumbling to the ground in a heap.
Her scythe fell soundlessly to the ground, and the girl tried to rise once more, visions of her parents disappointed faces empowering her as she spat out, "As if, I would lose to a weak clan born. You don't know true strength like I do, losing not just a parent, but both together before I ever knew them, how can you stand there and act so superior to me?" Nerissa pushed herself up, glaring at Hinata, who looked away as her wrist snapped, the barbed tip of her whip colliding with her ear as she fell to the ground, crying out in pain as she felt the track marks across her cheek where the tip had sliced into her flesh. Even so, she refused to consent to this arrogant kunoichi.
"There is no dishonor in losing, nor in fighting an impossible battle for the right reasons, only in failing to protect that which we call precious." Hinata said, coiling her whip up as she hung it on a clip beside her pouch.
Slowly, Nerissa rose, her body protesting as she almost fell, only to catch herself on her scythe which she'd somehow managed to lift despite her exhaustion. The whole crowd had grown very quiet as they awaited to see what the civilian born would do as she dropped her scythe, the metal hitting the earth soundlessly as she called out just loud enough, "I concede." And started to fall to her knees, silently asking the spirits of her parents for forgiveness. Glancing to the side, she saw Ferissa's teary gaze as she looked away.
However, then something happened that Nerissa didn't expect as Hinata caught the limp girl, holding her hand up high as if she had won, even though Nerissa knew that wasn't true. Looking confusedly at the Hyuuga, she saw her opalescent eyes looking at her softly, caringly.
"Stand tall, the child of a hero does not bow to her enemy, no matter the circumstances." Hinata said confidingly. Supporting the brunette, Hinata helped her to the side door that lead to the infirmaries. Behind her, she could hear the Genma announcing, "That concludes the first round of the Chunin Finals, we will have a ten minutes break to give you time to take care of any business, and so our fighters can recuperate."
"Good, that gives me time to do this and get back to watch Naruto-kun's fight." Hinata thought as she watched as the medic-nin helped Nerissa into a bed, noticing Neji nearby, her father speaking quietly to him as he held a scroll, a line of tears going down his cheek.
Looking back, Ferissa had joined her sister in the infirmary, doting on her wounded sister. Hinata stepped forwards, opening her mouth to say something when Ferissa shouted at her to get out. Her next words, however, were silenced by Nerissa's hand on her arm.
"Wait, let's see what she has come to say, and then you can get back to treating me like a porcelain doll." Nerissa exclaimed, Ferissa blushing faintly as both twins looked at the bluenette expectantly.
"We have something to discuss." Hinata said, pulling the curtains, which had a privacy seal on it closed.
Hiruzen looked down at the arena calculatingly, inwardly proud of the next generation of shinobi and kunoichi if these fights were any kind of indicator. Leaning back, he felt his chakra draining slowly and steadily, but didn't panic; it was to be expected.
The Fourth hadn't only been a genius with seal for battle, he had modified the arena with a massive repair seal that would restore it back to its original condition once activated, which the Third had done at the end of the round. More than that, the perimeter of the arena ground was separated by a version of the summoning seal, so that fighters inside the walls could hurl jutsu and whatever they wished without harming the spectators. Of course, both seal took an enormous amount of chakra to maintain, which was why over 50 Jounin had been linked in as well as the Third, the two seals drawing chakra from all, as well as any jutsu that hit the outer wall.
But the next match was what worried the wizened Hokage, well aware of what Gaara was, and he disapproved of the Kazekage sending his son in fully knowing the chances of the jinchuuriki losing control during the matches. And he was facing Naruto, whose Bijuu would surely react to the Shukaku inside Gaara. It promised to be an earth breaking battle for sure.
A/N: So guys, what do you think so far? I personally like where this story is heading, knowing some of the things I have planned for the future. Next chapter will be Naruto and Gaara's fight, which I will most likely divide into two chapters. Although, I'll be honest, I'm having a hard time envisioning the fight so maybe I'll condense it all into one chapter, I don't know, you'll just wait and find out.