Yuki, Interrupted

Crap! I actually just did that!

Before she even turned around Yuki could sense a great bubbling anger within the air. Perhaps she smelled it on some faint level. At this point she couldn’t quite tell, although her ability to sense emotions was, at least, starting to become a thing. Still, she had a long way to go before she actually mastered that.

Slowly the petite Shinigami turned, crimson eye widening somewhat when she spotted the woman. They were very similar in a few ways. Both of them had tails, and ears which did not resemble everyone else’s, and both probably had claws and sharpened teeth. She wouldn’t’ve have been surprised if the woman also had enhanced senses like she did. They were both also really, really short, although Yuki perhaps just a bit shorter. But there were differences too. This person was, dare she say, more animalistic. She had a fine layer of fur covering her entire body. Also this woman had features which were simply more womanly than her own, although that never did come as a surprise for Yuki.

Woah. Humans can also be cursed like this?

The woman spoke aloud, and her hate filled words prompted Yuki’s upper body to immediately lower into a bowed position, face covered in a bright crimson hue. Both her ears and her tail took up a submissive stance, ears flattening back against her head while her obscenely long tail curled slightly between her legs. Her voice emerged, not quite as neutral as it usually was, now tinted with timid nervous feelings, especially given her unfortunate introduction.

“I am Yuki Kameko. I apologize for my actions.”

Wait; was she Mister Kamui’s master? Did she train him? She must be incredibly powerful. Above a captain maybe.

As she was motioned inside Yuki hastily followed behind her, crimson eye wandering all over the place, including occasionally upon the woman who led her. She was quite beautiful. Kamui seemed to enjoy beautiful people, like Miss Sophia. Of course he would have enjoyed spending time with this woman, especially if she was his master. It still didn’t explain why he’d chosen Yuki, but then she had to figure that she just made a good enough impression when they initially met!

Or maybe I was just refreshing given the others who were gathered there. But then Miss Sophia was gathered there too, and she managed to defeat me in our little match. Also she was very, very womanly. And pretty. Err, right, focus.

Her head shook a couple of times to snap herself away from her thoughts, just in case the woman had been speaking. And, indeed, she did begin to speak while they walked! She started to feel a bit guilty considering that she would now be little more than yet another burden upon this woman’s way of life. Of course she couldn’t’ really connect with the woman’s complain about training on a mountain, as all of this was entirely new to her. It was only when they pushed through the final set of doors that Yuki’s guilt melted away, mouth left agape in awe. This place was massive, and the woman seemed to have many, many students! Perhaps there were even more beyond these training grounds.

I think she will do fine with one more. Maybe. Wow. Now this is a training grounds! Not only is it spacious, but it is just beautiful.

Yuki’s gaze had been wandering again. Of course when the students all halted their training at once the petite wolf’s gaze was suddenly snapped towards the woman, who now sat upon what could only be described as a throne. All eyes were upon her now. Anxiety creeped up through her gut. She didn’t like crowds, and she didn’t like attention either, but thankfully for the moment their gazes were directed towards Kamui’s master, and not towards herself.

My bone structure? Lips? Those are weird reasons to keep me around. Everyone has lips. Except fish I suppose. But usually people aren’t fish. Wait, focus Yuki. Focus.

The wolf’s upper body lowered again, bowing respectfully. She would need to pass three trials. This idea excited her, causing her tail to begin gently swaying from one side to the other behind her. It was like a game and training all rolled into one! Except, well, the stakes were higher. If she won, then she got to learn a secret of some sorts! If she lost? She didn’t actually know what would happen then, but she certainly didn’t want to lose, especially if it meant letting Mister Kamui down.

I will pass them all!

Unfortunately those words didn’t seem to stand very well with the other students. They grew upset over the idea that she might learn some secret, perhaps the same one they were trying to learn. A few students stepped forth to challenge their master’s words, and suddenly eyes were now instead focused upon her. Anxiety returned. She really, really did not like to be the center of attention. But then the okay was given for a fight. This would be her first trial, out of four now it seemed. Instantly that anxiety melted away. Fighting she could do. She was good at it. It cleared and focused her mind, and in a fight she didn’t care whose attention was upon her.

No killing. Got it.

One student charged her, and as he approached Yuki stood up straight once more, ears perking up while tail lifted behind her. Her crimson gaze focused completely upon him, as did her senses, and when he grew close enough to swing down in towards her body she decided to strike! Yuki’s counter attack was simple: while the weapon was cleaved downwards she stepped in quickly, body lowering itself much closer to the ground. Passing underneath the strike would allow her to avoid the attack, and to press close to her assailant’s form. One hand lifted overhead, aiming to grasp tightly with tiny claws upon the hands that gripped the sword, while her other hand slammed up towards the boy’s exposed chest. Her intention was to use his momentum against him, to flip and toss him right over her body and away from her position, hopefully landing him upon his back to knock the air from his gut.

Immediately she straightened up, returning her gaze towards the other students. Her voice emerged again, mostly neutral, but this time it was tinged with a growing excitement.

“I am Yuki Kameko. I will fight whoever wishes to approach. Numbers do not matter. Come!”

"Oh...?"

Hei Ness's eyebrow perked up as the first student was cavalierly thrown off to the side by the little girl. She rather artfully used her small body as a pivot, catapulting the larger man over her. It made sense before, for Kamui to send the girl to her. Ignoring the secret that he gave her for safe keeping, the relic that everyone in this room sought after, Kamui knew that one of the girl's greatest weaknesses was that she was too used to having the height "disadvantage" in her altercations. Yuki had only thus once fought against someone who could transition his center of gravity low enough to be any kind of match for her and even then, Kamui was not even close to the girl's height, he'd never really be able to fight evenly against her like that and there was no real way to guarantee, as unlikely as it was, that Yuki would never run in to a lethal opponent who was in fact her height. Kamui had picked an interesting student indeed, even if she was irritatingly cute.

The students around her would come in waves as their predecessor was ungracefully flung off to the side, his whole back seemingly crying out in pain as he landed on the hard floor and did not seem to be in any sort of rush to pick himself up. The next challenger would attempt a similar move, this time learning something from his predecessor's failure, this time attempting to actually use his reach advantage that he held over Yuki, aiming a horizontal slash across her midriff with the end of his blade as one of his compatriots, not more than a couple seconds after him would leap forward with super human strength, launching himself in to the air once more before coming down on top of Yuki's head with his sword, looking to fully cleave through her to the ground below wherever she stood.

Hei Ness maintained her bemused look, barely even watching the altercation happening beneath her throne. A lot of Yuki's conclusions about her situation were misconceptions. Hei Ness and Kamui's relationship was never really one of master and student, it was considerably more intimate than that, or was, before she caught Kamui with a different woman and attempted to drop a house on him for the indiscretion. Of course, by now they completely maintained an honest, wholesome, professional relationship...kind of...a little bit. Well it was professional from Kamui's side, a little. The Tigress reached down to the side of her thrown and slipped her hands in to a pair of metal gauntlets, each gauntlet having three protruding, slightly curved blades shooting out from the knuckles as she grinned wildly, turning her attention back to Yuki's scuffle with her irate students. It frustrated her that this whole operation was, in essence, for Kamui. When the man had broken her heart more times over than she could count and that every student there was, effectively, training to be sent off to whatever little errand Kamui needed them for, but if this one had been sent by Kamui to take what she had spent so much time trying to cultivate an heir for, then she was going to be damn sure that the kid deserved it.

The next attack, the fourth student and seemingly the final one to step forward and take exception to Yuki's transgression, would come from behind her. Starting from his left leg, the man would violently slash his sword upward, cutting through the air with enough force to send a ripple of condensed air pressure at the small girl, hurling the condensed chi and sheer air density straight for Yuki's back, looking to injure or at the very least topple her as the air all around him was sucked in then explosively jettisoned toward her. Yuki had dealt with far worse from Kamui on a daily basis of course, but she would still most definitely feel it if she allowed it to connect. Hei Ness licked her lips as she watched just what Kamui's new little protege/interest/toy was capable of, hopefully she was not going to disappoint her or this adventure would be very short lived for the young wolf.

Good. They are attacking together. I wonder how long I can go without drawing my weapon.

While the three approached Yuki’s little nose wiggled around, the wolf sniffing at the air. She’d been training now every day with Kamui, aiming to hone her senses. Of course she was not yet close to mastering them, but even now they gave her little advantages here and there. For instance she could pick out when an opponent was about to strike just by scent alone, although she’d not yet mastered it to the degree of knowing exactly how that attack might be made. Even that knowledge was enough however. Her first assailant’s weapon was not held high, or low. It stood to reason that he would take the most direct approach possible, and in this case it meant a simple horizontal cleave. She could also detect the anger radiating off of each of them. Their anger would cloud their judgement and focus, drive them to make overtly aggressive movements. Any attacks would be made with enough force to, potentially, overextend their strikes should they miss.

Before the first weapon had started to move Yuki could detect the faint miniscule smells emitted by his muscles, produced at a level which signaled an attack. So, right before his body even started to move the young pup would instead take the initiative, leaping down towards the ground on his left, passing just beneath the horizontal line of attack that his blade would make. When she hit the ground her body was contorted, sending her into a forward roll, however her tail would hook outwards with the aim of slamming into the student’s legs, intending on flipping him right over.

Another explosion of pheromones erupted from nearby, this one greater than the last. There would be no rest for her: another attack was being brought to her. Ears twitched, picking up on the direction. As Yuki finished her roll sitting up on a knee both of her hands lifted upwards. The timing had to be perfect. She focused upon the faint rustling of clothes, the heated heavy breaths of rage, and the faint disturbance of air as a large blade cut through it. Both hands clapped inwards, pressing upon each flat side of the weapon with enough force to halt it centimeters from her head, arms shaking from the impact, although a couple of threads of silken hair were cut into, causing them to drop to the floor as the assailant landed in front of her.

Gotcha!

The petite Shinigami’s feet pushed off with as much force as she could muster, hands lifting upwards to remove the imminent threat of the blade from overhead. With an open gap created Yuki aimed to slam the top of her head right into the man’s crotch as hard as she could. She found that men were quite vulnerable in that region, and even the strongest ones that she’d faced had all grown weak from such a strike! Her hopes were to disarm this man of his weapon with the same sort of attack, especially given how low she already was.

Mine!

With the man potentially releasing his grip and suffering from the sudden and intense paralyzing pain of her attack Yuki planned on taking a step back, before unleashing a snap kick in towards his gut, hoping to send him crashing back along the floor and out of harm’s way. After all, she could detect yet another attack, mostly by the sounds made with the violent cutting of air, but she also felt the suddenly change in air density and pressure against her body before the attack even neared her thanks to her training to hone her senses. Sound would give her direction and speed. It was a more dangerous attack than the others, especially given that it was a ranged strike, but then that was the primary reason for her to learn this stuff.

Actually avoiding the attack would be the tricky part. She still didn’t wish to unleash her weapon, and she was still trying not to use her spiritual energy as much as possible, if only because it would make for great training. So, with great haste she threw her body off to her left, rolling again along the floor to avoid the dangerous air cutting strike, only this time when she returned to her feet she twisted around to face her new opponent, taking off into a sprint towards him. The cleave upwards would hopefully over-extend his attack, especially given the power behind it, for the few brief moments she needed to return to her feet. She could only imagine that such an attack could be unleashed with a downwards cleave, and so to avoid that happening Yuki chucked the captured sword that she had straight in towards his midsection, allowing it to fly forward in a spin! If he was quick enough then perhaps he could instead lower his blade to block the attack, and if that happened she would have her opening.

Provided the thrown weapon was absorbed by the boy’s sword Yuki would, when she closed the distance, slam her right hand forward and up, aiming to clasp it around the hands which gripped the sword’s handle, claws digging in to keep his fingers locked in place. The thrust forward would also be sent at a slightly upwards angle with the hopes of lifting his weapon and, using her momentum, Yuki would push off her left foot, right leg tucked briefly in towards her body before shooting forth, lifting in order to thrust a powerful straight kick right into her opponent’s hopefully now exposed chest!

And that makes four!

If the outcome was as expected Yuki would lower her foot, taking in a single deep breath to catch up on her air intake, before she glanced around, ears twitching as they kept a lookout for more assailants. Of course the first two that she’d dispatched might have decided to continue the fight, but this is exactly why she was keeping her senses open. If another attack came then, hopefully, she would know it before it landed.

“Anyone else?”

Yuki would rather quickly have the answer to her question. He had rather gracefully and, with the exception of the great crotch headbutt debacle of 2416, elegantly dispatched the three opponents who had stepped up against her. Three bodies were catapulted off of the central floor, launched by the wolf-girl's nimble Hakuda. She and her teacher did have quite a bit to be proud of and he was, indeed, doing Kamui something of a service in demonstrating just how proficient she was being in defending herself. However, she was at the same time very quickly getting ahead of herself and that was dangerous, even for one of her ilk. Her successes thus far were impressive, but the nail that sticks out the highest is often the first to be pummeled down and Yuki was absolutely no exception. As she stood up from blowing away the last of the trio, the young man slamming hard and painfully in to the door behind her, her words followed that fateful "oomph" as the man collapsed against the polished wooden frame. And as her words resonated through the room, as the challenge for anyone, everyone, to step up to her, for her to show her dominance further to the crowd, the request for just one more...her prayers would go answered.

It happened in a flash, the glint of steel gleaming from the lights in the hall as the small tigress swept across the room, tearing through the air more akin to a bird than a cat. Yuki had seen faster before in the form of Kamui, but the gap in speed between the teacher and her students was vast. Hei Ness had closed the distance from her throne to Yuki's backside in close to a second as a hushed silence fell across the room. They hadn't seen their master engage another in quite some time and there she was, defending their pride and honor and all that romantic camaraderie. Of course, that wasn't the intention, she just wanted to smack the girl that she was now personally blaming for taking Kamui from her around a bit, but the hushed tones and petrified bodies at the sight would, probably be Yuki's pure saving grace in being able to track her new teacher.

Hei Ness's first strike would rake across her body, horizontally slashing at Yuki's back and intending to leave a superficial but rather painful three cuts across the girl's back. The pain would be impressive, that much could be certain, but not debilitating. However, Hei Ness was not done. As soon as Yuki would attempt to so much as move in retaliation to the strike, Hei Ness's tailed would push off the ground, demonstrating a ridiculous amount of strength in the appendage equivalent to that of a leg as the muscle vaulted her up and over Yuki's small frame, admittedly not the most difficult of tasks given the wolf's height, and moved to launch herself over and past her, toward the door, Hei Ness jutting her foot out to deliver a small snap kick to Yuki's shoulder and pushing her even further through the air. Upon landing, Hei Ness would skid along the ground, bits of wood fraying up in to the air as her claws stopped her momentum enough to come to a stop in addition to pulling up one of the floor boards themselves. Hei Ness would kick it the rest of the way free, popping up the large piece of wood in to her hands as she leveled it at Yuki, hurling the large floor board at her chest as if it were a javelin, aiming to knock the wind out of her entirely.

Kamui's new pet wasn't getting out of her first meeting at Hei Ness's school with so little effort. She wouldn't normally involve herself...but this little bitch stole Kamui, whether she actually did anything of the sort or not. Sufficed to say, it was a very good thing Hei Ness didn't know about Sasha.

Yuki’s perked ears had twitched slightly as the air around her was disturbed, brushed over the fine sensitive furs deeper within each furred appendage. All she’d been able to see was a blur of movement, and even then she hadn’t known where it had ended up, at least not until she noticed the student’s gazes. They weren’t centered on her. They were centered on something behind her. It became quite obvious just what it was and where it was at that moment. In that brief moment she felt fear welling up within her gut.

Fast!

There hadn’t even been enough time for her to move, save for the widening of her crimson orb from surprise. Heat tore a path horizontally across her back, three metal claws dragging a trio of vicious cuts across her flesh, tearing open the back of her Shinigami robes, now soaking quickly with her blood. If the tigress had so desired she could have ended the little wolf in that moment, and this thought did not escape Yuki’s mind. Still, it was not something she could focus too heavily upon at the moment. At least the pain did not bother her too much, for it was something she was quite accustomed to, really only playing the role of telling her exactly where her body was injured.

It is a good thing I brought extras. I should have expected this speed. After all, she did train Mister Kamui!

The petite wolf started to twist around to face her new opponent, but a second strike landed moments later against her shoulder, which was used as a point from which to leap off of. It was a quick snapped kick, and while painful it did help her to gain momentum for twisting around. Wood tore beneath the woman’s feet as she landed, which gave off enough sound for Yuki to pinpoint her location, drawing her gaze towards it. A floor board was torn up from the ground and then hurled right towards her chest, obscuring most of her view of the woman as her focus now shifted towards the incoming attack.

Gritting her sharpened teeth, Yuki drew her weapon upwards in a flash, aiming on cleaving through the makeshift javelin sent her way. While the attack did not directly hit it did only barely miss, the speed of the passing halves of wood having cut open the sleeves of her uniform, leaving faint traces of red across the surface of each arm as she was grazed. She could feel her heart racing, grip tightening against the handle of her Zanpakutō. Surely she could afford to let loose just a little bit, however she still did not wish to risk killing the woman. So, despite the gap in their power, Yuki sheathed her weapon.

I’ll have to match her speed.

Pressure was released into the air which now grew heavier with her energy, Zanpakutō released from the spiritual binds which held its power in check. Energy coursed through her legs and then, in a flash, she was gone, reappearing right in front of the woman, wood creaking and cracking beneath her as she made impact with the ground. Her grip was raised now, holding onto both the weapon and its sheathe, drawing them together from her sash in a diagonal cleave upwards as she attempted to slam it into the right side of her new master’s body.

I want to see how strong she really is!

The look in her eyes was of feral excitement. Well, perhaps not exactly excitement. It was a strange emotion displayed across the face of Hei Ness, a strange mixture of anger, jealousy, rage, bloodlust...and maybe a little arousal it was difficult to be sure. After throwing the board at her, the girl fracturing the board clear in two had only excited Hei Ness more...almost to the point where it was dangerous to let this continue. Hei Ness was not any more likely to keep herself from killing little Yuki than Yuki was able to stay her blade enough to prevent Hei Ness's. This wasn't training, this wasn't an exercise, this was an actual fight and the Tigress was not going to pull any punches when the honor of her school was on the line. An audible growl left her throat as the Tigress stared Yuki down with that same mixture of emotions and adrenaline, the same anger and rage, the same eagerness and excitement. A person's face could tell a lot about how they would move, how they would position, how they would attack...where they would attack. It was not a part of Yuki's training, it wasn't something you could train...it was something gained through experience. It was only fair that she start with a technique that belonged to Yuki's own teacher.

For all intents and purposes, it looked like Yuki's strike had connected. A sickening crunch was heard throughout the room as the little wolf closed the distance with blinding speed and delivered a heavy blow beneath the weight of her Zanpakutō. He weapon struck the rib cage of the Werebeast, as her whole body buckled inward, bending upon itself as she was swept to the side...or so it had seemed. As soon as the sickening crunch of weapon on "bone" filtered through the room, the myth was dispelled. Yuki's attack had hit something that was very much not Hei Ness as the blunt impact had snapped and fractured another piece of floor board, just like the one she had cleaved through previously. Marking the wood before as she moved, Hei Ness had used a technique to switch places with one of the floor boards and just as Yuki would begin to process what had happened, Hei Ness had sprung up from beneath her.

The Tigress pushed herself up in to the air, her foot looking to crash down upon Yuki's sword hand as she ascended, kicking off the girl's sword hand and ascending even further still, looking to completely take Yuki's sword out of the equation for a moment, just the moment the tale of Hei Ness needed. The powerful, spotted muscle shot forward and sought to coil around Yuki's neck. Should it effectively grab it, Hei Ness would twist downward, digging her metal claws once more in to the floor before using her body as a catapult. The muscles in her tial and core would jerk downward for a moment before thrusting upward, looking to throw Yuki straight up and in to the roof, not to mention the fall that would come after that and in to the waiting maw of Hei Ness.

Unfortunately Yuki hadn’t been all that focused upon her opponent’s face. It was, perhaps, something she’d need to work on in the future. If she’d actually learned to focus on such a region then she might have been able to tell that this was no longer just some simple spar, but alas she could not figure out that fact on her own. For now she’d just need to learn the hard way.

Gotc-huh?

All signs had pointed to a successful attack. She felt the impact racing along her right arm, even heard what she originally assumed to be the cracking of bone as her blade smashed into her intended target, but still something was off. She hit something, but as it turns out it wasn’t the tigress. The object she’d slammed her sheathed weapon against was far too light, scattered away right into a wall. Somehow the woman had disappeared and replaced herself with a portion of the floor which was quickly beginning to lose pieces of itself to their little skirmish.

What?

Wood exploded upwards as her opponent emerged from below, one foot smashed into her sheathed sword, which was instantly sent flying from her grip, plunging right into the side of a wall! Suddenly she was disarmed, although she could still fight well without a weapon. Fur grazed across her throat as the woman’s tail slipped around the exposed region, tightening like a noose. Once again she’d forgotten that she was fighting against someone else who had a tail! Of course this time she wasn’t nearly as helpless. Still, things were becoming quite dire. In an instant she felt her airway cut off, everything becoming blurred while her mind struggled for air.

Ack! Focus!

The petite wolf’s crimson gaze nearly closed as she cringed from the appendage which captured her neck, body suddenly lifted off the ground by the grasping muscles. Her body started to launch into the air and towards the ceiling above, but she would attempt to use this to her advantage. In response her tail curled inwards, aiming to wrap itself around her opponent’s neck while she was being tossed right up into the air! Provided everything went according to plan its grip would halt her momentum and put quite a bit of strain upon her opponent’s body, providing her with a brief moment in which to curl her knees closer to her body and then unleash a savage double kick straight down towards the woman’s head!

Two can play at that game!

Now with hands free, Yuki would also attempt to reach up in order to grapple with the tail that was strangling her! If she could keep the woman pinned down in one place then she might even stand a chance for victory!