"Ughhhhh."
Moriko was irritated at her family. This was only unusual in that it was at the whole thing as opposed to just most of them. While she had mostly to entirely recovered from her ordeal in the underground, they were still being a bit squirrelly, and not really letting her go anywhere unapproved. Yukiko was worse off, but then Yukiko was a toddler and should be watched at all times.
For now, she was flopped back under the tree, playing the conversation she'd had with Tsukiya over a few times in her head. It had gone well. But there was one thing she hadn't mentioned.
Normally, Moriko disliked people she didn't know touching her. Like. A lot. When practicing combat, or presumably fighting for real, it wasn't really an issue. But the first time Tsukiya had grabbed her by the wrist--when they didn't know each other at all--it hadn't felt bad at all. Which meant that maybe...maybe she'd had a crush right away.
Now, she was aware she was around the age people started getting crushes, and that Liking a Boy wasn't unheared of--particularly if one was an early bloomer or whatever adults called it to pretend to not sound creepy when really it very was. But she had never thought of herself as the crush type.
Well. It wasn't just any boys; she wasn't prone to crushes. It was this one specific one, with his one specific attitude. She'd met quite a few other ninja-in-training boys at this point, as well as actual-ninja, and there was nothing happening there. Just, Tsukiya's attitude...
And that he potentially represented a form of freedom. Which...between that and the fact she knew him, might mean more than a crush? But she didn't have anyone to ask on the subject. None of her respected relatives were dating or married, which might or might not have been a relevant detail. It was unliekly Hanae knew anything on the subject; she hadn't even brought anyone home. Which meant it couldn't be serious.
...Maybe the library? That was really reaching, but...
Two hours searching at the library did not yield useful information on how to tell a crush from deeper feeling. The sole thing she'd found of even vague use was a line in a 'romance tips' book that said 'if they get a haircut and they're ugly, it's a crush.' Presumably that applied for any physical change that wasn't just growing up.
She didn't see what looks necessarily had to do with it anyway. Yes, okay, Tsukiya was cute (objectively, in her mind), but if it had been just that she wouldn't have bothered. As someone who spent so much time being judged for superficial reasons, that meant less than nothing to her. No, it was how he acted. And how she seemed to be a single exception to him in the same way he was to her.
That was an answer, wasn't it.
Frustrated, she left the library for once having found no answers, and would have proceeded home in her bad mood unhindered if she hadn't heard a dog growling.
As a general rule, Moriko was not a dog person. They were loud, they were smelly, and they drooled. Plus she just didn't find them particularly cute. The slavish loyalty a lot of them were bred for was just plain weird.
This, however...this did not look like a friendly, drooling, yapping dog. In fact, it almost seemed to be glaring at her. What.
It also potentially weighed more than her, not a terribly impressive feat for a person but an interesting one for a dog. It was snarling now she was looking at it, lips curled back to show off sharp, sharp teeth.
Moriko knew there was a gleam in her eye. She'd heard of these dogs and here, in her bad mood, was something to violence at. Something she didn't have to feel bad if she 'accidentally' killed. It was probably going to be killed if she turned it in anyway, after all. (Or released into the desert, whatever; there didn't need to be more of these things so killing it was a better idea in her mind.)
She stared it down, flexing one hand for seal purposes, prepping something. The dog did not like the movement and barked aggressively at her, then pounced.
It was likely an intimidation tactic, but Moriko was not a type of person to be intimidated easily (or at all). So instead she sliced through the air with an ice-formed Water Whip, scoring a deep cut along the animal's side.
Impressively it was still able to stand after that despite the blood. Moriko was already plotting what she'd say upon turning in a dead dog instead of a living one.
"But I'm such a small thing and it jumped me out of nowhere," she practiced, in a higher voice than usual. "Hmm. Rounded eyes. Look scared, like I might cry? That could work."
The dog pounced again and she lashed out with the whip again, since she'd kept it in her hand. This time it cut off a front paw.
It was lucky they were in an alley and no one was there to see her doing this.
"You want to keep going?" she said, taunting the animal by cracking a whip at her. It had its wounded leg held up a bit, and looked like it was rethinking a plan of attack. "I'm warning you, I'm in a bad mood and I won't go quickly."
It snarled at her again, limping, but didn't seem willing to back off. Nor was it going to jump again, and the alley was too narrow for it to circle her, so it was putting on a tough act, clearly. She feinted forward and it snapped at her, missing by a mile when she turned the feint into a flip to one side and then yelping loudly when her whip went through its back leg, exposing muscle and bone to the stinging hot air.
There was a lot of blood pooled around it now, around both legs. It didn't make the dog less snappy, but it did make it a lot less mobile. Hmmm...
Didn't dogs travel in packs? Why was this one alone? Scouting?
The thick, fluffy fur around the dog's right hip was turning red instead of white even as the pool of blood increased. The dog was lurching, wobbling, still growling. It was trying now desperately to ward her off. If Moriko had been a dog person, it was possible she might have been swayed by this pitiful display and decided to heal it and haul it in.
Fat chance.
The ice whip lash out again and went through the dog's neck, sharp and smooth. The animal's head fell to the ground with a soft thud, sound cushioned by fur, and blood along with a few other fluids immediately spurted out and started to pour onto the cobblestones even as the headless body toppled to the side with a sickening crunching sound, falling partly onto the earlier-shed paw.
There was a minor question of logistics, since up close this thing was definitely larger and heavier than her. Maybe just bring the head and explain that part? Yes, that would make it look more convincing that it was threatening and scary to her. And she could then, if ever questioned about the state of the body after it had been recovered, claim she knew nothing; anything could have made those marks after all, and she was a cute, innocent student.
....Sometimes people being shallow about looks really was very much to her benefit. She hefted the head under her arm, careful to keep any blood from dripping on her clothes, and hummed as she headed off to the drop-off office.
[Word Count: 1368]
Moriko was irritated at her family. This was only unusual in that it was at the whole thing as opposed to just most of them. While she had mostly to entirely recovered from her ordeal in the underground, they were still being a bit squirrelly, and not really letting her go anywhere unapproved. Yukiko was worse off, but then Yukiko was a toddler and should be watched at all times.
For now, she was flopped back under the tree, playing the conversation she'd had with Tsukiya over a few times in her head. It had gone well. But there was one thing she hadn't mentioned.
Normally, Moriko disliked people she didn't know touching her. Like. A lot. When practicing combat, or presumably fighting for real, it wasn't really an issue. But the first time Tsukiya had grabbed her by the wrist--when they didn't know each other at all--it hadn't felt bad at all. Which meant that maybe...maybe she'd had a crush right away.
Now, she was aware she was around the age people started getting crushes, and that Liking a Boy wasn't unheared of--particularly if one was an early bloomer or whatever adults called it to pretend to not sound creepy when really it very was. But she had never thought of herself as the crush type.
Well. It wasn't just any boys; she wasn't prone to crushes. It was this one specific one, with his one specific attitude. She'd met quite a few other ninja-in-training boys at this point, as well as actual-ninja, and there was nothing happening there. Just, Tsukiya's attitude...
And that he potentially represented a form of freedom. Which...between that and the fact she knew him, might mean more than a crush? But she didn't have anyone to ask on the subject. None of her respected relatives were dating or married, which might or might not have been a relevant detail. It was unliekly Hanae knew anything on the subject; she hadn't even brought anyone home. Which meant it couldn't be serious.
...Maybe the library? That was really reaching, but...
Two hours searching at the library did not yield useful information on how to tell a crush from deeper feeling. The sole thing she'd found of even vague use was a line in a 'romance tips' book that said 'if they get a haircut and they're ugly, it's a crush.' Presumably that applied for any physical change that wasn't just growing up.
She didn't see what looks necessarily had to do with it anyway. Yes, okay, Tsukiya was cute (objectively, in her mind), but if it had been just that she wouldn't have bothered. As someone who spent so much time being judged for superficial reasons, that meant less than nothing to her. No, it was how he acted. And how she seemed to be a single exception to him in the same way he was to her.
That was an answer, wasn't it.
Frustrated, she left the library for once having found no answers, and would have proceeded home in her bad mood unhindered if she hadn't heard a dog growling.
As a general rule, Moriko was not a dog person. They were loud, they were smelly, and they drooled. Plus she just didn't find them particularly cute. The slavish loyalty a lot of them were bred for was just plain weird.
This, however...this did not look like a friendly, drooling, yapping dog. In fact, it almost seemed to be glaring at her. What.
It also potentially weighed more than her, not a terribly impressive feat for a person but an interesting one for a dog. It was snarling now she was looking at it, lips curled back to show off sharp, sharp teeth.
Moriko knew there was a gleam in her eye. She'd heard of these dogs and here, in her bad mood, was something to violence at. Something she didn't have to feel bad if she 'accidentally' killed. It was probably going to be killed if she turned it in anyway, after all. (Or released into the desert, whatever; there didn't need to be more of these things so killing it was a better idea in her mind.)
She stared it down, flexing one hand for seal purposes, prepping something. The dog did not like the movement and barked aggressively at her, then pounced.
It was likely an intimidation tactic, but Moriko was not a type of person to be intimidated easily (or at all). So instead she sliced through the air with an ice-formed Water Whip, scoring a deep cut along the animal's side.
Impressively it was still able to stand after that despite the blood. Moriko was already plotting what she'd say upon turning in a dead dog instead of a living one.
"But I'm such a small thing and it jumped me out of nowhere," she practiced, in a higher voice than usual. "Hmm. Rounded eyes. Look scared, like I might cry? That could work."
The dog pounced again and she lashed out with the whip again, since she'd kept it in her hand. This time it cut off a front paw.
It was lucky they were in an alley and no one was there to see her doing this.
"You want to keep going?" she said, taunting the animal by cracking a whip at her. It had its wounded leg held up a bit, and looked like it was rethinking a plan of attack. "I'm warning you, I'm in a bad mood and I won't go quickly."
It snarled at her again, limping, but didn't seem willing to back off. Nor was it going to jump again, and the alley was too narrow for it to circle her, so it was putting on a tough act, clearly. She feinted forward and it snapped at her, missing by a mile when she turned the feint into a flip to one side and then yelping loudly when her whip went through its back leg, exposing muscle and bone to the stinging hot air.
There was a lot of blood pooled around it now, around both legs. It didn't make the dog less snappy, but it did make it a lot less mobile. Hmmm...
Didn't dogs travel in packs? Why was this one alone? Scouting?
The thick, fluffy fur around the dog's right hip was turning red instead of white even as the pool of blood increased. The dog was lurching, wobbling, still growling. It was trying now desperately to ward her off. If Moriko had been a dog person, it was possible she might have been swayed by this pitiful display and decided to heal it and haul it in.
Fat chance.
The ice whip lash out again and went through the dog's neck, sharp and smooth. The animal's head fell to the ground with a soft thud, sound cushioned by fur, and blood along with a few other fluids immediately spurted out and started to pour onto the cobblestones even as the headless body toppled to the side with a sickening crunching sound, falling partly onto the earlier-shed paw.
There was a minor question of logistics, since up close this thing was definitely larger and heavier than her. Maybe just bring the head and explain that part? Yes, that would make it look more convincing that it was threatening and scary to her. And she could then, if ever questioned about the state of the body after it had been recovered, claim she knew nothing; anything could have made those marks after all, and she was a cute, innocent student.
....Sometimes people being shallow about looks really was very much to her benefit. She hefted the head under her arm, careful to keep any blood from dripping on her clothes, and hummed as she headed off to the drop-off office.
[Word Count: 1368]