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.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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?

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

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.

(Reply to this)(Parent)