Alright! Chapter three is here and I finally get the plot moving! Hope you guys enjoy it.
Cock-sure grin, and light-blue colored hair pushed back, Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was the one person Yoshio hoped to never be grouped with. Arrogant to the point of ridiculous, the boy was more animalistic when fighting than any Inuzuri or Inugami. On top of his fighting abilities was the sheer amount of animosity he carried in a fight. "What's with that dumb look on your face, Ishikawa?" Grimmjow noted as he slammed the door shut. His eyes –the same light blue as his hair- scanned the room. Measuring each person respectively; weighing them as threat or nuisance. His hands slid into the pockets of his white hakama. Unlike Kotaro, Grimmjow wore a sort of inverted style to the Inugami. His jacket was open, revealing his bare chest, and the sleeves were rolled up. Finally, as if to accent his rebellious nature, the color of the jacket was turned up. It certainly gave off the 'punk' vibe.
Jing leaned against the desk and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, "Well isn't this interesting," the mischievous look in his eyes shone anew. "So Grimmy was odd man out."
"Shut your trap," Grimmjow snapped, "and remember my name. It's Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez! I despise that stupid nickname someone gave me. If I ever find out who did it, I'll—"
"You shouldn't worry about it, Grimmjow," Sol interrupted. It seemed like the redhead was trying to exercise some authority he had invisibly been giving, "Everyone gets pet names. You don't have to acknowledge it."
Sneering, Grimmjow cocked his head to one side and stalked across the room. He shrugged his shoulders, and leaned against the wall opposite of Sol. "Whatever," Staring off absently, he dropped the argument.
Soon silence once more occupied the room, and the four genin were left alone. Jing's interest away from Grimmjow, he yawned and turned to face Yoshio, "So who do you think will be our team leader?"
"Better be someone who damn well knows how to fight!" Grimmjow butted in as if included. The two friends looked at him curiously and the cocky boy continued, "Look at this group. Only half of us can fight worth a spit, and the other half consist of a petty thief and a pyromaniac." Jing's eyebrow rose slightly but he didn't rise to the insult Grimmjow had tossed at him. Sol, too, seemed to take the higher road and didn't respond.
"About that," Yoshio began, "what was Iruka-sensei going on about? I don't even remember displaying my Taijutsu skills."
The other three member's heads snapped to him with looks of shock and confusion. It was Grimmjow, who suddenly burst into laughter that broke their silence. "What? Are you serious?" he broke off for another fit of laughs. "Oh man this is great. But really, are you serious?" Yoshio only nodded and sent his teammate into another set. He had never realized it before, but Grimmjow's laugh was … menacing. It sent a small shiver down his spine.
Hands still in his pockets, Grimmjow walked slowly over towards Yoshio. His movements were slow, calculated. As if every movement was meant to intimidate. "Damn, that's just sad." he mocked and leaned in so that Yoshio could feel his breath.
"All I remember is going to the academy that day, sitting down and then … and then…" his voice trailed away from the explanation, "nothing." Finished, Grimmjow looked at him disbelieving. Under the weight of those malicious eyes, Yoshio had the urge to defend himself, "It's all black!" he exclaimed, taking a step back.
Scoffing, Grimmjow turned away, "Probably had one of your friends do it for you somehow." Seemingly satisfied, he stalked away back to his place across from Sol. "So I correct myself," he stated, "One-fourth of us are actually valuable in a fight. Wonderful." Leaning against the wall again he shook his head and smirked.
"Sorry to hear that," an elder voice suddenly erupted, "but from my study you're all quiet skilled in your own areas." The door slid open once more, and all four boys watched as a lanky man stepped through the door. Reedy enough to look sick, the man wore a chuunin vest and a bandana with the emblem for Konoha. He had brown hair that was combed to cover half his face, and his serene gold eyes looked from one boy to the next.
Grimmjow let out a light curse as he guessed the identity of the man. The others had most likely come to the same conclusion, but chose to remain silent. Smiling in a friendly fashion to the genin, the man turned to the side and held out a hand, "How about we go for a walk?"
None of them objected, and they filtered out of the door. Grimmjow exited first, and Jing last.
The day was starting to get late, but the general warmth stayed. Dark clouds were beginning to move in and it looked as though it would rain before nightfall. No ominous wind passed with the promising scent of rain, and the small bustle of the streets made a rhythmic sound in the backdrop as the group walked silently. Eventually, Sol was the one to break the silence, asking, "Where are we going?"
"We're heading to my favorite park," the jounin answered over his shoulder. He turned to look at each of them again, and showed that his cheery smile hadn't left his face. Yoshio began to wonder what sort of man he was. Obviously he wasn't a strict fighter, not with that skinny frame. He was probably a Genjutsu or Ninjutsu specialist, but again, not up-close applications. "How about each of you starts by giving me your names."
Already Yoshio could tell that it was more of an order rather than request. Once more Grimmjow scoffed and replied snidely, "Shouldn't you already know?"
"Maybe," he replied cryptically, "but for the sake of argument say I don't."
As though giving his name were now a chore, he said, "Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez."
"Jing."
"Sol, Rictor."
"Ishikawa, Yoshio." he stated when it was his turn.
"See now, that wasn't so hard. My name is Sosuke Cider."
"What the hell should we care? For that matter, why should you?" Grimmjow asked.
"An excellent question," Sosuke turned a corner. The park was in view now and Yoshio sighed. He was tired of running through gloomy atmospheres. Couldn't the sun stay out a bit longer? "Why should any of you care? Well, first let us address what you should care for. Goals in your life, hopes and wishes. Dreams either large or small. Since you seem so talkative, why don't you go first?"
"Tsk, don't turn this around on me. All I want to do is fight!" As if to emphasize this, the blue-haired boy struck out at the air, the malicious grin sliding across his face, "I don't give to spits what happens to all you."
"Hmm, my that's pretty narrow thinking. All right, how about you Sol?" Taking the insult, Grimmjow scowled and tried to glare daggers at the jounin. Sol rolled his eyes and picked up the question.
"I want to become worthy of the Sol name."
"Honorable," Sosuke noted before moving on to Jing. "And what about you Mr. I've-got-a-twinkle-in-my-eye."
Happy that someone had noticed the mischievous look, Jing puffed out his chest and replied happily, "I want to steal anything I can."
"Devious. And you blonde?"
Yoshio's ears perked up and he shot a puzzled look towards the jounin's back. He wasn't sure how to answer. "I…" he began before returning to silence. After a bit more thought he explained, "I want to become stronger than the man I view as my better, so that I can show him that life isn't all what he thinks it is."
"So you've already got yourself a rival, how adorable. My, oh, my. This team sure is going to need a lot of work on your part." Each of the genin looked towards the others and shrugged. Suddenly the jounin stopped short, and the four teammates did likewise. Each peering to either side of Sosuke. They had stopped at the edge of the park. It was practically a plain field with spots of flowers blooming here or there. A couple of oak trees dotted the area as well, providing shade from heat or rain. Turning their attention back to their leader, each waited until Sosuke clapped his hands once and turned about to face them. "Right then, so who wants to start?"
"Start what?" Yoshio asked. A smile, so wicked that Yoshio didn't think it was possible, creped over the scrawny man's face. Giving him a murderous appearance.
"Why I need to gauge all of your strengths first hand. I want to know which one of you is going to be the first to demonstrate Taijutsu."
"Shouldn't our scores have been enough?"
"Sure, but I don't trust a piece of paper too much. They can be quite biased some times. So, then, who wants to go fir—" Cut off short, Sosuke's face was introduced to Grimmjow's fist. An impact so strong it sent the jounin flying a ways back until gravity took hold and bounced him further still. Grimmjow smirked in his usual manner and cracked his knuckles while the other three stared disbelieving for a moment or two.
"What?" he asked once he turned to see their faces. "He asked which one, so I volunteered." Shrugging he walked back to his place. Yoshio could only continue to stare. He had been so fast and fluent that it happened quicker than Yoshio could realize. Now he knew why Grimmjow was so arrogant. It wasn't because he thought he was strong, he knew it. It was enough to make the young blonds' throat go dry. "Would you look at that," Grimmjow stated half disbelievingly, half angry. "The guy doesn't look like he's got a scratch on him. Maybe I should have used chakra in my attack, too. That woulda shown him."
Yoshio turned to watch as the jounin walked back. Albeit it was more like staggered. "Quite the punch you have indeed, Mr. Jaegerjaquez. Now then, Twinkle how about you?" Slowly, Jing stepped forward and waited until Sosuke gave him the okay. Once cleared, Jing drew back his right fist and let it fly into the jounin's face.
It was no different than hitting a wall, only softer.
Jing pulled his hand back in slight amazement and began waving away the pain. With nothing else to do he simple fell back in line, "You're up sun-shine." Sol stepped forward, flexing both fists and waited like Jing did until cleared. With his left hand he punched and got the same results as Jing. The jounin smiled and nodded, "You two have some decent strength. Not like Mr. Jaegerjaquez, but still fairly decent. All right, you're last."
Yoshio hesitated. Watching Jing and Sol hit the man, and come out hurting, left him with their pain as well. He had cringed at each impact (including Grimmjow's first, but that was more for Sosuke then Grimm), and he knew instinctively that he couldn't do it. Not with his low pain tolerance. "I… I can't."
"What do you mean you can't, of course you can. I heard you were one of the top three Taijutsu users at the academy this year."
"I don't even remember taking the test," he stated plainly, "I think it was a mistake."
"Well regardless you still need to do it. I need to know where your weaknesses lie."
Sighing, Yoshio was about to protest more, but the look in Sosuke's eyes said he was going to do it. Or else…
Walking up to the elder man, Yoshio looked down at his fist, then up to Sosuke's face. "Here I go…" he said, drawing back his fist he prepared for the pain. And he was right to. No sooner had his fist and Sosuke's face made contact, then pain did ignite under his skin. Time suddenly halted for him and he watched as the jounin didn't even move. Pain shot up the length of his arm, and he felt as if his bones were breaking slowly. Needles and pin, knives, anything that could be used to inflict pain, it all felt like it was bombarding his one arm.
And like that, his world went black.
Holding his sides, Grimmjow laughed as Yoshio fell to the ground, "Oh man that was good. What a piece of work, I'd feel sorry for him if he weren't so damn weak!"
"That's enough Grimmjow," Sol stated the same cool manner he tried so hard to keep. To most people, they wouldn't have noticed that Sol was struggling to maintain his calm, but to Jing's eyes it was plain as day. He half wondered if he could show these guys what his friends strength was. They hadn't been there when Yoshio was being tested, but Jing had.
"Who the hell put you in charge?"
"I said enough—" before it could go on any further, Jing jumped in.
"Hey Grimmy, go over there and kick him."
"Are you insane?" Sol cried out. Out of the corner of his eye, Jing saw the surprise plastered on his teammates face, and also the sickening pleasure Grimmjow saw in taking up the task. Folding his arms, Jing waited for a response.
"Sure, why the hell not. Anything to get captain headband's-too-tight riled." Walking over, Grimmjow aimed his foot for Yoshio's exposed gut. Cider had stepped away after Yoshio fell and was examining the boy as he slept. He made no move to stop Grimmjow, whose strength he was well aware of by now.
Foot flying it nearly hit the blonds' stomach, but about a foot from striking, Grimmjow's sandal clad foot was stopped by Yoshio. Who was still asleep. "The hell?" Face contorting into rage, Grimmjow pulled back and readied another strike, but it too, was caught. Rage consuming him, the cyan haired genin tried to stomp down on his unconscious teammate, but each stamp of the foot missed as Yoshio rolled out of the way.
On the fifth attempt, the unconscious genin sat straight up, twisted his body onto one arm, and swept Grimmjow's legs out from under him. While it would take more than that to stop the berserk fighter, it acted as fuel and he caught himself. Flipping backwards as Yoshio's body dragged itself to his own feet. Jing wondered for the moment about what would posses his friend's body to learn how to fight while asleep. It even had stances down to a tee.
Grimmjow threw himself at Yoshio. Arms pulled back and open as if he carried claws. His teeth were bared and a fire blazing in his eyes. Grimmjow was about to find out why Yoshio was in the top three.
Once the white clad fighter was within Yoshio's range, the blond konoha-nin thrust his left hand out and encircled one of his opponents'. From there his body carried itself around by the balls of his feet. In one, seemingly fluent, motion Yoshio tossed Grimmjow across the field and into a tree. Only to have the other boy get back up and rush back at him with intense speed.
Sol, Jing, and Sosuke watched silently as they fought. Sol with his mouth agape in amazement, Jing content that his friend was fine for the time being, and Sosuke appeared to be studying the two.
Grimmjow tossed a fist and missed as Yoshio bent his neck. Tossing his other fist, Grimmjow howled in anger and continued to become consumed by it as Yoshio caught the fist with stunning ease. Somehow, Yoshio's body could see that Grimmjow was open for a split second and took hold of that opportunity by landing a solid punch in the other's face. Sending him to the ground.
Getting up again, the three viewers watched as Grimmjow started infusing his fists with chakra. Jing instinctively reacted and took a step forward, but Sosuke was already between the two boys. "All right Grimmjow, that's enough." With forced restraint the cyan haired boy scowled but obeyed. Spitting off to the side he walked over to a tree and sat beneath its shade.
Sosuke on the other hand, placed himself before Yoshio, "Let's not tell him about this," he stated clearly to the rest of them before gently shaking the blond genin awake by the shoulder, "Blondie, hey, blonde. Time to wake up." Yoshio slowly came to, and groggily wiped his eyes.
"What happened? How long have I been asleep?"
"Not much," he lied, "and for now very long. We were just discussing our strengths and weaknesses, something we'll do again. Right now, how about you all go home for the day. I'll see you tomorrow for some training."
"Um.. Okay. Why's Grimmjow off by himself?"
"Oh, he's just being a sour puss."
