Ryuichi managed to bounce up into something that slightly resembled a fighting stance before he heard the distinctive whistle that screamed "kunai coming your way!" before one did, and snap the katana up fast enough to shove it away, and keep the blade from making his face into a far more interesting shape. He really didn't feel much like bleeding at the moment, but from the way the shinobi was glaring at him, and pulling out what had to be the largest kunai he had ever seen, it was probably going to happen. Well, that was life, and though Ryuichi usually loved his, at the moment he was thinking that it could be better.

He pulled the second sword free, and twirled it quickly, settling into a decent stance. Ryuichi, despite himself, wasn't really in the mood to fight, and was hoping this little disagreement (or whatever the hell it was) would resolve itself quickly enough. Fighting would keep him in one place for a period of time that was too long for his liking. The captain would likely track him down. No sense in making the job easier for the man, was there?

Of course, if he had just sucked it up and been smart about it, then this wouldn't be happening. It was, however, and dwelling on the fact would do nothing to change it.

If Ryuichi ended the fight quickly, then he could continue running until he found a really good hiding place (and somewhere to ditch the armor; any shinobi worth their salt in Konoha would identify him as ANBU from a mile off). So he began moving, ready for a (rather vicious, if the other guy's face, which was suggesting that Ryuichi should die in a most painful fashion, was any indication) spar. Or fight. Violent disagreement. Or whatever it was.

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Kotetsu didn't wait for the guy to do anything. The guy had his hair all in his face, making it hard to read his eyes and intent.


Didn't matter. Kotetsu didn't care.


Kotetsu wasn't a normally vicious person, but honestly attacking with a hatchet was just so out of line. He had no intention of killing the guy, but maybe hurting him a little.


He launched himself at the other man, moving much faster than his weapon warranted, letting the weight of his kunai bat the guy's katana aside as he delivered a rather harsh kick to the hip.

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Despite what a great many of his mission commanders over the years (defiantly before ANBU, since he hadn't been in that long) had claimed, Arai Ryuichi wasn't suicidal. That was just stupid. Purposefully killing oneself was entirely pointless. He had a good reason for fighting the way he did. By taking chop-shots, and just about all other blows that wouldn't prove to be fatal in the long run, he put opponents off guard. He confused them, and confused opponents tended to die a hell of a lot easier than the ones who were in complete control of the situation.

So when the guy with spiky hair aimed a kick at his hip, Ryuichi didn't make even the slightest attempt to dodge, and barely grimaced as the blow knocked him to the side. He didn't fall; it wasn't quite that powerful, but he did twist around, and swing the other katana at the guy's head. The blow was strong, and just to make sure, the second blade, the one which had been shoved away, came whizzing by in a follow-up strike. He didn't think his opponent would expect it coming like that.

All the while, Ryuichi smiled. He usually did once the blades started dancing.

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That smile creeped Kotetsu out. Seriously. People did not go smiling at people while their hips nearly got broken.


Honest.

Maybe the guy was a zombie or something.

Then the guy tried to take Kotetsu's head off with two katana, and Kotetsu let the thought of creepy smiling zombie go out of his head.

Block, duck, and way quicker than most people are with the kunai, and he's half way up a tree, leaping off backward to kick the Zombie's head while he was wondering where Kotetsu was.

If at the same time he'd zapped a chakra-wire trap into activation, well.

Unlucky zombie-man, huh?

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The guy (Ryuichi was starting to think maybe jounin, with that speed) was smart enough to avoid getting his head removed. Well, Ryuichi couldn't say he'd been expecting that; he had been ready to shift his grip and slap the flat of the blades down, if it came to that, but it didn't, and as such, his reaction was slower than it needed to be. Sometimes he was considerate to his opponent in a spar; more often not. This was one of those rare times, and it was costing him.

A parry and quick maneuver later, and then Ryuichi's opponent was gone from sight. In a rare moment when his sense of self-preservation was working over-time, he ducked down into a low stance, and felt the kick whiz over his head, missing his ear by a bare inch.

That was close.

Sadly, the chakra-wires, though Ryuichi felt them coming, and probably could have at least TRIED to dodge, caught him straight in the stomach, and sent him flying. He tired to tuck into a roll, but met with a tree before the action could be completed. There was a moment when nothing hurt.

Then he tried to curse as his left wrist (the bad one, damnit), was slammed into the tree, and his ribs gave some very vocal protest. Ryuichi found he couldn't breath. Which was bad. He really hoped nothing was broken. Captain would have his hide.

Since speech required air, he settled for glaring at the spiky-haired guy, ignoring the pain in his wrist. He'd dropped the katana that had been held in it. It hit the ground with a soft thump. No clanging here, on such a soft surface. The snow absorbed whatever dramatic sound it might have made. It was also starting to get cold. Fuck.

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The guy was out for the count. All fight knocked out of him, Kotetsu spun upright, and slammed his kunai into the tree, just by Zombie-man's head, ignoring the light smattering of white falling from the tree-branches.

Okay, showy, stupid thing to do, and Moriki was going to get pissed at him if he'd damaged the metal enough to need repair, but hey, Zombie-face had lost him his trigger! Serve him right.

Maybe he'd even make the guy pay for the damages or something.

"Serve you right, Zombie-head," Kotetsu said, letting a half-evil grin show on his face. "Now you're all dead against the tree, you can pay up what you owe me. You lost me my trigger, and you get to pay repairs to my kunai, if you damaged it."


Up close, Zombie-guy didn't look that old. About Kotetsu's age, really, even though he was wearing ANBU armour and all that. A new rookie too? Or was he a genius like Uchiha Itachi was?

Nah, not likely. He'd beat him hollow. Couldn't be that good. Good, but not that good. Though, he'd taken the hits like it hadn't hurt at all, just grunts. And... blood. Kotetsu thought he smelled blood.

He frowned. Not good.

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Ryuichi coughed in response. Fucking ribs. He tried taking a shaky breath, and coughed again, harder. It hurt, and the cold air wasn't helping much. Hurt his throat. He was pleased to see nothing came up that shouldn't, and though his breaths were slightly wheezy, it didn't feel like anything was broken (or shattered, which would have been fucking bad on a level that took some imagination to fully understand). Good. He'd be able to fight again in a minute.

He finished coughing, glared, and judged the distance. Also not good. Unless he got the guy to back off a few feet, then any offensive attacks would be stopped before they could be initiated. Ryuichi didn't like being backed against anything; it made him nervous to be that aware of the fact that he couldn't run. Still, he was confident that any blow given could be received and rolled with.

Of course, that mentality was the reason Ryuichi had been thrown against the tree in the first place. He didn't think about that. Maybe he should have.

One katana had been dropped. Now the other snapped up and swung in a tight arc. Not meant to cut, just to force some distance on them. Give him a little longer to recover.

"Sorry about that," Ryuichi coughed, sounding horse and not the least bit apologetic. "But you fix your own damn kunai."

If it was really such a big deal, then he'd get the guy a new trigger. Someone in his family would have some. But not a new kunai. He wasn't that nice, and his paycheck wasn't that generous. The family didn't deal much with kunai. Well, sometimes, in bulk. But not single blades. Too much trouble for too little profit.

Then he swore, and hissed as his wrist throbbed. "Fuck!" He'd hit it hard, and just his luck, it decided to start reminding him of the fact. This day really sucked. First he got lectured. Then he got stuck in a trap. Then he lost a fight (in a very humiliating manner), and got hurt on top of it all. And there was snow in his hair. Fuck.

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Kotetsu back-pedaled, didn't quite swear at Zombie-man, but the guy was hurt. His trap shouldn't have hurt him, not that much, it was only a hit-the-guy-till-he's-out-of-breath type of trap, and much lowered in power besides. He didn't fool with lethal traps where anyone could blunder, even if this zombie had decided to walk right into it for all that it was out of the way.


"Like hell you're sorry." Guy sounded half-dead, definitely zombie. Kotetsu took to the trees, in case the guy decided to try something, having to leave his kunai behind. Stupid, stupid stupid showing off, but he's got one left, and he can zip in to get it back?

Kotetsu swung through the branches, coiling and curling, moving fast - not as fast as another ninja might go by leaping normally, but unpredictable, dropping to gain momentum and swinging up to gain height.

His traps were all set around the tiny clearing, and the almost crazy way he was moving around - around and in, slow spiral wise - was him checking on them, and getting them set. Non-lethal, but immobilising. Guy was going nowhere till Kotetsu figured out what the hell he was actually doing.

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Ryuichi considered his options. He could run for it. The spiky-haired guy had shown a liking for traps, and was probably setting more now, where Ryuichi couldn't see him, but if he was careful, he could (probably) avoid most of them. Even if one caught him, Ryuichi was sure he could pull off a faster roll, and bounce out of it. He learned from past mistakes. Connecting with the tree had pointed out the fact that he needed to work on his reaction speed. Avoid bruised ribs.

He could also stay and fight for a while longer. It would prove to be interesting, at the very least, and Ryuichi liked sparring. Besides, spiky-hair had an interesting style. Very different from what he usually fought against. It had been a long time since anyone had sent him flying. Wasn't sensei always saying he needed to broaden his horizons? Try new things more often?

Then his wrist throbbed, and Ryuichi, though he refrained from swearing (didn't help to let the opponent know how bad you were hurting), glanced at it quickly.

Fuck. It was starting to bleed through the bandage. That wasn't good at all. Blood-loss would slow him down, even if he worked to ignore it.

He should probably run for it.

The dropped katana was snatched up, glared at, and then slammed it into the sheath. Damn wrist wasn't going to work well enough to wield the thing, anyways. A quick glance told him that spiky-hair was still in the trees. Ryuichi stood, raising the remaining katana up in a fighting stance, more defensive than offensive. He really didn't want to fight anymore.

Now, would spiky-hair let him bolt? Or would he feel inclined to chase?

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The guy wasn't chasing. Defensive, in the clearing, blade held out as his hand - his other hand - was almost cradled to his body. Was that a feint? Did he want to lure Kotetsu in, and then take him out in a flurry of action?

Zombie seemed like he was a hard hitter - anyone who ran around with a hatchet had to be, if not with thick wrists at least - so maybe he dealt with close-range. Maybe...


Kotetsu whipped down, hanging on a long rope, to swing across the clearing, rolling off onto his feet, spinning his other kunai into his left hand.


"Hey, man," he said, softly, almost. "You go messing with a man's traps, you gotta pay the price. What's with you?" His eyes flicked to the guy's hand, where he thought he could see darkening around the wrist, or something.

Guy looked like it'd be a cool fight, though. Or a spar. If he didn't bleed to death. Or anything. Hopefully.

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Ryuichi tucked into a roll and didn't say anything. Taunts could be exchanged during a spar, yes, but he found them to be a waste of energy, and all and all, rather pointless. If you needed to enrage an opponent (and actually believed it would work) then it was a stupid opponent, and there would be easier ways of accomplishing that.

Still, that didn't mean he didn't listen to the words being spoken. You never knew; it could prove useful at some point in time. What was wrong with him? Nothing. He just wanted to bolt for it, and find a place away from other shinobi for a few hours, let a certain someone blow off some steam. And now he needed to fix his wrist. You didn't do that in a spar. You did that in combat, you died. Simple rule, and one Arai Ryuichi knew very damn well.

The katana slashed out, but Ryuichi stayed low, opting to conserve his advantage for the moment. If he kept moving, then projectiles couldn't hit him that easily. If he stayed low, then no stabbing or slashing weapons. If he was careful, then maybe he could avoid most of the traps. Maybe. Hopefully.

If Ryuichi set off one or two, he was pretty sure he'd live.

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Zombie wanted to fight, then. Well, Kotetsu rolled his shoulder, and parried the strike, leaping backwards in a handless cartwheel, avoiding the back-strike of the katana and slid in, under the man's guard. That took some sliding, it being so low, but he could shove a knee right into Zombie's hip - the exact one he'd kicked earlier. For all its bad points, snow helped tremendously in the slide-department.


Maybe the guy'd go down, maybe he won't. And Kotetsu didn't care, either way. His blood was up, and it was a spar. It was gonna be helluva fun.

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This really wasn't Ryuichi's day.

He took the blow to his hips without comment, though his smile hardened more than slightly at the contact, and dropped down, rolling away. Gaining some distance was a must at the moment. The katana snapped up again, and a heavy boot went in the direction of spiky-hair's nose. It would be nice if the blows connected, but Ryuichi didn't expect them to. He just wasn't moving fast enough; his wrist was bleeding a hell of a lot now, and it was making him slightly dizzy.

Getting rather predictable, aren't we, Arai?

Sensei. She'd say something like that, wouldn't she? And Kaede-sensei would be right, damnit.

Then Ryuichi blinked. Fuck. He was in a really, really bad position right now. Showing the wrong side of his face to the opponent, his blind side. This could end several ways. Most of them were badly.

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Kotetsu slid down, hard, to his knees, skidding and let the boot pass over his head. Wow, was he doing some fancy moves now. His back was getting more exercise than he had for months.


Grabbed the guy's leg. Grabbed and yanked, even as he shoved the kunai up, hilt first, towards the guy's hand holding the katana.

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