Night had befallen, finding the Varia situated in a group at the school grounds. My, what a sight; the crumbled remains of a building flooding with water, the tightly sealed windows and doors keeping in the steadily rising 'obstacle'.
Yamamoto gave the place a perplexed look, but that's all it was. He stressed his brows a bit before stepping into the room with a grin on his face. Watching his worried friends depart, he assured them with a light, "See you later." and made it a game of bobbing the wooden stick-turned sword up and down on his shoulder while descending deeper into the 'arena'.
He continued this pace for a little bit more before eyeing Squalo, who was looking at him with an impish grin, standing a few meters ahead of him. The Cervello's voice in its monotonous drone announced that time was not a thing to worry about.
Squalo raised his arm, effectively raising the sword attached to it as well. "Voi!! Looks like you still haven't learned your lesson!" he chided. "I'll make you regret not running away a week ago!" His voice was as sharp and threatening as ever. Yamamoto was glad to see his resolution had not changed, returning Squalo's banter with a few words of his own.
"Haha! You won't know if you don't give it a try." His grin melted into a challenging smile, but it was not at all insulting.
And Squalo, taking a lunge forward, made the first move. And it was the first attack for Yamamoto to dodge, ducking in the nick of time to avoid being sliced in half by the Varia's swordsman.
Surprising moves were pulled, flickering out of sight was common place, and the sound of discouraging comments made by Squalo were what took place in battle. Even Squalo was surprised a few times by the stunts Yamamoto pulled.
But two can play at that game, oh yes, two can play. Yamamoto should have taken the chance to attack when he could, being scolded by his opponent in an almost rival way.
After a few more hopeless looking offensive and defensive tactics Squalo had seen before, Yamamoto finally took it upon himself to go for Squalo. He timed the switch of his blade to the other hand to the exact second, successfully landing a hit and sending the long haired man spiraling backwards to land in the rising waters.
"Voi~!! That didn't do anything at all!" Squalo boomed, causing Yamamoto's eyes to widen. They soon narrowed though after Squalo's obviously sarcastic comment about the style he called 'invincible'. Squalo's tone turned into a fevered one as he questioned, "And then there's something else I'm not getting," he scowled. "Why did you use the back of your sword instead of the blade?"
Yamamoto's eyes warmed up a bit as a smile, sub par to his grin, but still just as kind, began to appear. "That-- I did to win against you. Not to kill you."
Who does he think he is!? Squalo thought. It insulted his skills and honor as a swordsman. "Aren't you underestimating me too much!?" Who cared that Yamamoto was worried about his life when his pride was just insulted? He'd make him understand, he would.
Their fight continued, even mirroring each other at one point before Yamamoto was met with the fate of being on the receiving end of a swing from Squalo's blade. He sat in the water for a few moments, slumped over and awkwardly nursing the wound with his free hand. Listening to Squalo rant and rave about the style he chose and how it 'didn't do anyone any good' and how he had 'sliced them to ribbons!' But he chose to smile at this time, forcing his legs to in lift him.
"I've never heard of such a thing," he looked up with a coy look about his face. "The Shigure Souen style I've heard about is completely flawless and invincible." It was stated so matter-of-factly that even Squalo's face of frustration broke to insult Yamamoto's beliefs. "Voi~!! Are you an idiot!"
And it was that same saying from before the battle that made Squalo see just how strongly Yamamoto believed in this style and how he used it.
"You won't know if you don't give it a try." And it was paired with that same smile, too.
The Varia's rain guardian gave a sly smile. Yamamoto may have or have not known it, but Squalo thought he was impudent and a waste of his time; a few reasons he was holding back his raw power. But now he saw it and Yamamoto coaxed him to with what he just said; the boy was serious about this fight and he wanted Squalo to stop underestimating him. He awarded the boy's subtle invite with his reply. "I'm... done holding back."
"Let's go." Off again at their acute maneuvering of blades, more techniques were revealed, more clashing of blades. Squalo had hit a column within the building, sending a shard of it into Yamamoto's right eye. Said boy was initially shocked at first, falling back, but seemed to ignore it as the battle persisted. How could he be so determined to win without killing his opponent? But Squalo didn't have time to ponder this.
His blade was at the ready, mouth already announcing his next technique, but the crash of Squalo's blade on his intercepted the move and Yamamoto could have sworn that the attack alone sent a paralyzing shudder through his whole body.
And it did just that.
The effect was being utilized in Squalo's favor when a slash was directed for Yamamoto's midsection. Bloody, beaten, and strong willed, Yamamoto dodged the next of Squalo's attacks. For the most part, Yamamoto stayed quiet. He had jumped up into the air to find space away from Squalo, trying to find a way to restore movement back to his hand. It had been rendered useless by Squalo's self-named attack.
Perched on a pile of rubble on the floor above, Yamamoto was an easy target and nothing in the cold heart of Squalo could have changed the fact that he would take advantage of this. Squalo, smug smile and all, ominously drawled out the word, "Disintegrate."
Being stabbed endless, as it seemed, by a katana wielded by none other than Squalo was something Yamamoto Takeshi was not expecting. He fell to the ground in a limp state.
A dark grin already crowned Squalo's face, his stance screaming "victory!" in every way. Yamamoto was still awake though, enough to mutter out a few words and accept Squalo's false challenge.
He rose up, stance painted with numerous lacerations. Squalo's face lost its ferocity to gaze at Yamamoto's form, which he was sure was only being held up by his strong will and determination to win. Slowly his feelings shifted as they turned from nothing but inferior, snide comments to secretly admirable thoughts; this boy would make for a fine student. If he weren't so damn naïve.
But as it would have happened anyway, they continued their fight; Squalo's fighting spirit being renewed with each time the boy surpassed his lowly set standards. And at last, after somehow dodging another onslaught of attacks from Squalo, Yamamoto used a technique that the Varia swordsman thought he knew. Thought.
"Pouring rain." Yamamoto cleanly slashed at his target and hit where he wanted to. How did he do /that/?
"You! Did you use a style other than the Shigure Souen style!?" he barked erratically, feeling the coppery taste of his own blood. Yamamoto merely supplied a lecture about transcending a style to come up with a new technique, his voice unshaken despite his beat-up appearance.
Yet there was something that didn't settle right with Squalo. Yamamoto had used the back of his blade again. To Squalo, he really saw no way of winning unless he killed his opponent. "I don't get that pathetic strike with the back of your blade just now. You're making a mockery of a genuine match." True, Squalo held this match in high regards compared to his 100 other sword matches, but this was just becoming redundant.
If Yamamoto had shocked Squalo with all the other attacks, then this one took the cake, the plates, and the forks apiece. He took up a baseball-like stance and earned a ridiculing remark from Squalo about it.
Exchanging more banter, Squalo took this as his cue to charge forward for another attack. He parted the waters and went for Yamamoto, completely oblivious when a wall of water welled up and concealed the target. Yamamoto's figure appeared behind him, Squalo scoffing a bit at his naivety. "My sword has no blind spots!" and he tried to prove the statement true by stabbing at the boy. His eyes widened when he realized that there was nothing there to stab. His eyes were too focused behind himself that he was at complete mercy of Yamamoto's down slash from the front.
Squalo fell at Yamamoto's feet and the boy merely caught the half ring as it dropped down. He connected it to the half on the chain around his neck and smiled, holding the completed piece to show his friends. "I won."
His joy was short lived when he heard the Cervello announce that the place had now become dangerous. A creature of some sort was released into the water. "Mn? What'll happen to Squalo?" The Cervello answered with blandness that Squalo was not their responsibility. Not shocked in the least, Yamamoto smiled. "I thought it would be something like that."
He bent over to pull Squalo's arm over his shoulder. At the reactions his friends gave, Yamamoto ignored the surging pain through out his body. "It's only normal to rescue someone in this situation, right?"
There were other things to worry about, like the large dorsal fin that had appeared in the gaping hole of water before him. Blood obviously played a part in this. Laughing in his usual way, Yamamoto shrugged it off with a logical response. "It can't reach us yet." Almost as if to get a reaction out of the seemingly fearless boy, the floor beneath crumbled and gave way into the water. He pulled himself and Squalo back in time to avoid falling in.
"Put me down. You're tainting my honor as a swordsman." Squalo drawled.
"But..." How could Yamamoto just leave him here with a danger in the form of a shark and in this wrecked condition?
"Voi~!! You're too noisy!" With all the power he had left, Squalo flung his arm to throw Yamamoto away from him. The boy landed on a solid mass of floor just as Squalo's began to shatter.
There was a smile on Squalo's face, and his eyes told the tale of a fight that was actually worth fighting. "Brat... your sword skills aren't bad. Next, you should get rid of that naiveness of yours."
After all the exchanged clashes of swords, the superficial cuts and the deep ones, meaningless banter and sharp insults, threats to kill and the actions made on it, Yamamoto had still tried to save him.
Squalo lowered his head and laughed inwardly, wondering how someone could possibly want to do such a thing after a battle so intense.
He had lost, what kind of person was he to be saved?
Yamamoto watched with wide eyes as the shark leapt out of the water, its mouth angling open to consume Squalo and the rubble he sat on.
A blinding spray of water flanked the shark and a strong wave took whatever remained.
"SQUALO!!!" Yamamoto cried, not wanting to believe what had just happened.
His eyes were wide. And they stayed wide for a few seconds.
They started to lid and his hand started to grip tightly onto the hilt of his sword. His mouth was uncharacteristically grim, eyes still holding a disbelief in them. Their brown color had faded a little.
"Damn it..."
Damn it, Squalo.
Just... damn it.
He stared morosely at where Squalo had been, eyes glazed over in the wish to have it end differently.
To end where he and Squalo could have worked side by side.
How he wished to see his face again, even it may be in scowling and sour.
"Squalo…"