Chapter 4 : Defeat.
Golden rays flooded the small room, illuminating the dark silhouette sitting in the corner. Hazel eyes blinked anxiously as the kunoichi realized that both dawn, as well as the inevitable, had arrived.
***
It still required another day to return to Konoha; the mission the team had been assigned to the previous day had been located at the very border of the Hidden Leaf Village. As a result, Kakashi woke them up exceedingly early, and after a quick breakfast, team seven sluggishly began their journey home.
There wasn't a tremendous amount of talking between the shinobi as they leaped from branch to branch, their arms constantly moving as they brushed stray, deep green leaves out of their eyes; most of their conversations consisted of blinking and stifled yawns, which prevented the others from realizing that the tense silence between Sasuke and Miyako was somewhat suspicious.
By late afternoon, Kakashi decided to call it a day, partly because the summer sun had intensified in heat and the attention span of the Genin were becoming more and more lethargic. The steaming sun was still high in the sky as Kakashi ordered the four Genin to collect firewood as he propped himself against the trunk of a pine tree, reading lazily in the shade.
As they gathered the last of the firewood, Sasuke caught Miyako's eyes and indicated that they leave with a curt nod. She did as he suggested, following him away from the campfire, where Kakashi was chuckling at the fact that Sakura had somehow managed to catch three times as many fish as Naruto.
"Ready?" he smirked, turning his head and meeting her eyes, his dark eyes wide with excitement.
Miyako merely nodded. She blinked apprehension and exhaustion from her chestnut eyes.
"Let's see," he mused aloud, his mocking ebony eyes never once leaving hers. "If I manage to remove that mask of yours, I win, mm? If you completely immobilize me, your win... all right?"
She scoffed as she pulled the stray strands of her dark hair into a higher ponytail, brushing the wispy bangs from her gleaming eyes. "Whatever you want, Uchiha."
Sasuke narrowed his eyes as she tightened the mask's knot behind her head. Her mask covered nearly all of her nose, and the edges slanted downwards against her narrow cheekbones. Perhaps the easiest way was simply to attack from the front and pull the cloth down rather than fumble with the knot behind...
Miyako's lips curved into a smirk as she watched him analyze her. The anxiety she had felt moments before had been replaced with a rush of confidence and adrenaline; she could win. Although the Sharingan would most likely pinpoint and predict a good majority of her taijutsu, the one advantage she had was the fact that Sasuke had only recently activated his kekkei genkai. Bloodline limits tended to mature with each gradual use, and ever since his first use with his Sharingan eyes a month ago in Land of the Waves, Sasuke hadn't needed to use it since.
At the same time, speed was her primary asset. As a Tsubaki, Miyako was extremely familiar with controlling the chakra system, and as a kunoichi, she was lightweight. As a result, the amount of chakra she was able to send to her legs was close to unlimited.
"Ready?" asked Sasuke again, his lips curling into that familiar, confident smirk. "Then... let's begin."
Several shuriken whizzed towards his face the instant he finished speaking. Sasuke dodged them idly, but the smirk on his lips faltered as he realized that she had vanished between the miniscule amount of time it took for the shuriken to plant themselves in the tree trunk behind him.
His head whipped around as he heard the sound of more shuriken. Sasuke leaped out of the way, hurling a handful of kunai towards the direction the shuriken had come from, only to realize that she had been gone from that spot several seconds ago.
Sasuke bit his lower lip, his dark eyes darting back and forth, flashing at even the slightest hints of movement. Surely he had expected her to be relatively fast, simply because she was a female, but he had predicted it to be merely average. In addition, after he had snuck into her apartment, he had assumed that her speed was nothing to worry about. There was no doubt that Miyako had hid the range at which her speed could reach during the time she was in front of him.
As much as he hated to admit it, Sasuke had greatly underestimated her agility. If he truly wanted to win, he couldn't let her off easy.
Coal-black eyes melted into a perfectly patterned crimson set of Sharingan. His vision acuity increased instantly, and he smirked as he immediately noticed her location. Of course, with the Sharingan, his speed was certainly formidable as well.
He raised his hands and performed several jutsus with his hands in rapid succession. Sasuke tilted his head back, inhaled deeply, and exhaled a tremendously long breath of fire, completely cinching the trees in front of him.
"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu," said Miyako coolly, doubling over in mid-air and landing several feet in front of Sasuke, her hair swaying gently in the light breeze, completely unharmed. "I've already seen it several times... but it seems you've decided to take me seriously now that you've started to use your eyes."
He smirked, and within a blink, disappeared. Miyako tensed, and her coffee eyes were wide with attention as she glanced around, attempting to sense his presence.
She felt something brush against the back of her hair and swung around instantly, swinging her right leg upwards. Sasuke ducked and seized her left wrist, gripping it tightly as his free hand reached at her face.
Miyako reached behind her shoulder and swung something at his face so quickly that he had no choice but to let go. He leapt backwards, only to see Miyako twirling a long, black sheath in her hand, a weapon he had often seen carried on her back, but never yet used. Red eyes narrowed.
"A katana?" he inquired quietly, peering at the sheath as she continued to twirl it skillfully among her fingers. What he saw through his Sharingan indicated otherwise. "No... two kodachi, isn't it?"
She answered his question with a mere smirk. Sasuke chuckled.
"You can't win," he said. "Sure, you might be fast, but these eyes follow all your movements... so quit acting so cocky, Tsubaki."
There was a sound of metal scraping against wood, and Miyako lunged at him. Sasuke's eyes widened significantly as he realized her speed had increased several fold from minutes before, making it more difficult for his Sharingan to follow her movements. His hands performed the Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu steps hastily, and she had no choice but to redirect her path as the gargantuan stream of fire dived towards her.
He recognized the outline of her figure behind the tree to the right of him and threw several kunai with explosive notes towards the branch. The explosion was deafening, and he chuckled as he sensed his success.
There was a shuffling of feet behind him, but before he could turn around, a strong hand wrenched his dominant hand backwards. Sasuke blinked, and recognized the glint of a single kodachi in his peripheral vision, pointed centimeters away from his throat.
"It's over," she said lightly. Her voice was almost melodic.
He merely smirked, and the figure she had so tightly gripped in her hand vanished in a pillar of white smoke. She cursed, giving him credit for being able to prepare a double so quickly, her eyes and ears both alert as she listened for irregular sounds.
Crimson eyes flashed before her, and she barely had enough time to dodge. Miyako thrust the hilt of one kodachi backwards, colliding it with the back of Sasuke's neck and causing him to cough in surprise. Tiny, red droplets splattered the murky dirt below, and she panted slightly, beads of sweat dripping past her forehead as she watched Sasuke wipe the blood from his chin, Sharingan eyes flashing dangerously.
Her kodachi whizzed through the air, meeting his kunai with a clang. Both Genin were attacking mercilessly, making the best use of every opportunity possible.
"Not bad," he sneered, leaning closer to her face as he pushed both her kodachi back. There were still hints of red along the edge of his jawline from where he had spat out blood earlier. "Just not good enough."
"Oh?" she jeered in return, replacing the credence in his eyes with incredulity. "Surely you don't believe this is the fastest I can go, Uchiha."
***
The noise had attracted Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi, all of whom were watching from behind a thick bush several feet away. The three of them were far enough so that the duelers in front of them would not realize their presence as long as they remained still, yet close enough to see the innate details of the fierce battle.
"Miyako-chan's fast," Naruto commented blankly, trying to keep his voice low. He had already been told off multiple times by Sakura to keep his mouth shut. "How come she was never this fast when she was with us, Kakashi-sensei?"
"She was most likely saving it for something like this," he replied calmly, his one, good eye flickering between his two students as they fought, watching the relentless battle carefully in case things got out of hand. "Plus, the Tsubaki clan focuses on chakra control, and directing chakra to your legs increases your speed, obviously. The more chakra you send, the faster you are. Though, of course, there is a limit your legs carry."
"She's never used those swords either," Sakura pointed out, wincing as Sasuke managed to catch her off guard by elbowing her chin.
"They're called kodachi," Kakashi explained. "They're shorter than katanas, but longer than daggers."
"Then who's better?" Naruto asked candidly, turning his bright blue eyes to Kakashi.
Kakashi said nothing. He had clearly been wondering the exact same question the entire time, yet he himself had no idea. At first thought, he would've guaranteed that Sasuke would have the upper hand, but the amount of speed Miyako had hidden from her teammates indubitably surprised him. Even during the mission in the Land of the Waves, she hadn't found it necessary to tap into the reserved amount of chakra regarding speed. For this reason alone, she must've regarded Sasuke as a truly formidable opponent.
***
The sun had nearly set, its blood red, tawny orange and golden rays seeping into the azure sky--hoping, watching, waiting.
It had been nearly an hour since the fight commenced. Both had dirt, sweat, and blood smeared across corners of their faces, yet the fierceness in the two sets of eyes, ebony and russet, continued to glisten. There were too many movements, too many evasions.
Miyako twirled her kodachi dexterously in her hands, gripping the handles tightly as she lunged towards Sasuke once again, concentrating her chakra flow solely on her legs.
Focus, focus, focus, he repeated to himself as he gritted his teeth. He didn't understand how she was evading his attacks, how she was still managing to attack him despite the fact that he could see. Could the Sharingan not follow movements of that prodigious speed?
He strained his eyes, forcing them open even though they had begun to water in protest. He couldn't blink; he couldn't afford losing this one, precious moment.
Suddenly, something changed. Her movements were beginning to slow down. Was she running out of chakra? The Sharingan could sense chakra, and the sizable amount of cobalt surrounding her legs indicated otherwise. He grimaced and continued to strain his eyes, hoping, praying for a miraculous opening of some sort.
Miyako vanished from her path, but this time was different. This time, he could follow her. This time, he could see.
Sasuke ducked the second Miyako slashed her twin kodachi at where his head had been moments before. His crimson eyes blazed with attentiveness as he swung his leg upwards and felt it collide against her stomach, sending her flying backwards into a tree so forcefully that the branches shook, and handful of leaves fluttered down where she sat, panting heavily.
Her kodachi. Where was it? Miyako blinked several times, but her vision remained just as blurry and distorted. Her head ached terribly, and she felt a cool, thick liquid ooze down the back of her neck. Her ribs felt broken--cracked, if she was lucky--but her legs were what bothered her the most. Not only was there a gnawing, aching pain within her calves, but they were trembling uncontrollably, which would make further movement exhausting.
Sasuke took a step towards her, causing her to remember her current environment. Miyako lifted her hands from her stomach, eyes darting wildly for her kodachi. Her amber eyes stopped as she located one several feet to her left.
Without another glance at the Uchiha prodigy, she lunged for the handle, gasping in pain as her ribs screamed in protest, praying that her hands would reach her weapon before the Uchiha did.
Her hand stopped mid-air, merely inches away from the hilt. Coffee orbs conveyed the emotions alone; they were wide in incertitude, perplexity, shock.
Miyako flipped her hand over, and something glistened in the dark. She froze.
From a slight distance, they were nothing short of invisible, but the wires were indisputably there. Auburn orbs widened in horror as she turned her head towards her other hand, only to realize it had also been restrained.
"H-how...?" she stammered, her voice faltering as she continued to stare at her hands in disbelief.
Sasuke approached her slowly, his breaths short and ragged. "When I kicked you."
"No," she said, shaking her head in impatience. She winced in pain, and swallowed. "How... how could you read my moves back then?"
She lifted her head, her mind brimming with questions. Hazel met crimson. Her stomach lurched, and she understood.
The Sharingan pattern in his eyes had become much clearer: the dark, curved dots blending perfectly against the pellucid scarlet. The reason was unmissable--his Sharingan had matured yet another level, during only its second use. He had performed the impossible, the unimaginable, an action nothing short of a true Uchiha genius.
A wry smirk appeared, accentuating the thin cut against his bottom lip. Sasuke leaned forwards, squatting down in order to bring his face to level with hers, and the blood-red eyes flickered and faded into black. A hand reached out, and Miyako shivered.
She pulled against the tight strings as his hand came closer to her face, causing the smirk on Sasuke's face to extend.
"A futile attempt," he said softly, watching her struggle uselessly. "It's over, Tsubaki."
The fingers were at the edges of her mask now. An involuntary shudder ran past her spine, and her insides went cold.
"D-don't," she stuttered, leaning back. Her neck throbbed painfully.
He merely scoffed. The ebony eyes flickered wearily; he was clearly drained--there was hardly enough chakra in his system to continue straining his Sharingan.
She felt both his fingers and the cloth trail against her lips. She was scared to think, scared to move, scared to breathe.
Silence. Sasuke pulled the mask away, his jet-black eyes flickering in surprise as he stared at what had been revealed, gripping the black cloth tightly in his left hand.
Her cheeks were flushed from the heat, and tiny streaks of blood littered the corner of her chin. Black hair had come loose from its original ponytail, and the strands tumbled flowingly past her shoulders, blending against her black robes. Miyako sat still, her chest heaving in and out as she breathed painfully. Her brown eyes had dulled significantly--in astonishment, in defeat.
The early hints of moonlight gleamed against her slightly rounded face, accentuating the feminine features Sasuke had never quite noticed before he had removed the mask. Her long, dark eyelashes fluttered as she blinked dazedly, and her crimson lips were slightly open in surprise. Her appearance was more of a mature, young woman rather than a simple teenager, and even Sasuke had to admit that her countenance was exceptionally lovely.
The palm of his hand smoothed against cut cheek, causing yet another shudder to run through her pain-ridden body, despite the warmth of his touch. Sasuke leaned closer, his charcoal eyes glinting with awe.
"Beautiful," he whispered, his fingers continuing to trail along the edges of her soft skin.
And without another moment's hesitation, he leaned in, continuing to glance at her unfamiliar face with half-open eyes, tilted his head slightly, and pressed his lips gently against hers.