Shiori closed the gap neatly, gravel firm beneath her feet where she might have worried about traction earlier. Peripherally she caught the flash of her dark-haired companion, the two girls angling in from the front on their Chuunin target. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting. All of her fights to date had been against Academy Students, or the occasional one-sided beat-down when an instructor felt the need to prove a point. So, while Shiori knew tackling a Chuunin was like floating stone, she nonetheless had no frame of reference for Ie’s sheer speed.
Her body moved quicker than her thoughts, a tight first hitting a wall of steel while the force of the blow reverberated up her arm. Gritting her teeth, Shiori completed her second attack, following through on the smooth motion in spite of the effortless way Ie had blocked her initial strike. Simple math should have given them some type of advantage here. Four blows against two defending arms, but no, the bunshin was blowing their margin of error out of the water and all he had to do was twist and turn to dodge the other kunoichi’s powerful strike. Shiori went wide-eyed, sucking in a lungful of air as she tried to take advantage of being so very close to the target and yet unable to quell the flat amazement at what she’d just seen.
It only got worse. Ie’s hand clamped down tight over her wrist, iron-clad but not crushing, as suddenly the two girl’s momentum diverted and the clone slammed them into one another like he was connecting pipe cleaners rather than moving limbs. The movement caught her off-guard, Shiori flinching back from the hold even as her mind told her to go limp. As the other girl’s fist collided with hers, she felt white-hot pain flame into existence, stumbling into the knee-to-the-stomach blow like a hapless ragdoll.
Gasping for all the air that had just been forced out of her chest, she rolled on impact with the ground, coming up like a shot. Shiori planted her feet, weaving slightly, and wiped a streak of blood off her lips. Copper had an earthy tang and she probed the cut in her cheek where she’d accidentally bitten herself cautiously. Her stomach ached, and she could only guess from experience that it would be a sea of purple on the morrow. “Shit,” she swiped a trickle of blood off her hand, where the gravel had snagged, as the thirteen-year old let out a woozy curse.
Quickly she placed the other girl nearby, and Ie’s clone a fair distance back as if they had never moved. He was watching with those molten eyes, the complete lack of dirt or strain or anything scratching at her nerves. Clenching her fist, tentatively, she figured the pain wasn’t bad enough to be serious. It hurt though, more than Shiori thought it would, and she licked her bottom lip before smiling into the pain.
She had little doubt that Ie’s clone was about to make good on their teacher’s threat, but even so her head was too rattled to come up with a plan. She knew about stratagems from classwork, but there was too much happening at once, the gap was too big. How were two students supposed to show-up a Chuunin? It had all seemed far more straightforward in the texts, an obvious answer to each tactical scenario. But this tableau had been bled dry. Two students. One opponent. Open space. It was like a mental puzzle she couldn’t figure out. For all the clone pointed out her errors she didn’t know what to do about it. How was she to be less predictable when the setting was so barren? When she didn’t even know what the enemy was going to do?
And what had been predictable? Coming from the side? Charging together? Attacking spots of weakness because she didn’t have the capabilities to hit hard enough to matter? Her hand buzzed, lightning strikes radiating up her knuckles as she shook it loose. If he could handle the two of them this easily, when they were playing at their strengths, what exactly could they do? She knew nothing about her sudden teammate except that the girl was wary and had a fist like concrete. So many unanswered questions.
They’d just have to throw themselves against the wall again and hope for more data. Her only advice – don’t be predictable – rang like titanium in her ears. A thought percolated, too hazy to form words, and Shiori grinned. She was going to get hit again no matter what she did, might as well make the whole thing worth it. Flicking her gaze to the other student, Shiori shifted her weight, stepping forward. Talking out loud would only telegraph the whole thing, except… except it didn’t have to, necessarily… If this was all about being predictable, she could work with that. Or try.
“Hey! Do that thing again! Hit him as hard as you can, yeah?” Shiori called out to her teammate, lunging back across the gravel towards Ie as she shouted. She’d seen the dark-haired girl move, even if her focus has been split, and so Shiori knew the girl was good. Hopefully, if Shiori gave her an opening, it would allow her to capitalize and land one of those thudding blows.
Trusting that the other girl would be on her heels for another drive, Shiori hurtled towards her target. She moved at the same break-neck speed as her first attempt, even coming in at the same angle as she got closer. Only this time, instead of pivoting at the last second to strike from a new angle, Shiori barreled forward head-on, fists tight in a classic Academy stance.
If Ie expected finesse from her, she’d give him the most straightforward line she could think of, shoving her bulk into place and spreading out to occupy his front while her fists aimed towards the clone’s nose. Last time around he’d dodged the blows that weren’t to the center mass, but with Shiori crowding up the front if he made any move to the sides she was hoping her companion would have the timing and ability to get something in. Or at least avoid another direct hit from the clone. Shiori could take a few more rounds, but she needed to figure out a way to protect the other girl because she was nearly certain her teammate’s strength was going to be the key to this exercise.
Shiori didn’t think her attacks would land. And if they did, they’d be like the kiss of rain on a tin roof. She was focused more on taking up his attention, moving in fast. Two pops to the face and her left leg snaked out. Shiori doubted she could drop the clone, but she could tangle herself so much into his space that he’d have issues with that easy mobility he’d tricked them with earlier. It didn’t matter so much that it uprooted her own stance, sending her precariously off balance, so long as she made the opening.
______________
OOC: Oh my goodness, I apologize! I didn't realize Ie had already posted! Sorry for the wait!!!