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Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Jan 31, 2018 19:02:37 GMT -5
Kakita Uetani* bang* * bang* * bang* The sounds of wood striking metal echoed through the dojo at an improperly late hour, when most everyone and certainly all honorable samurai would be in bed asleep preparing for the day ahead. Yet the sounds continued to ring out, indicating the building was occupied. * bang* It had been some time since the party at Otomo Katsumi's apartment had ended and Noboru had dropped off his date back at her dorm room. The Dragon student panted hard as he stared at a practice robot, sweat dropping from his brow anda bokken firmly gripped in his left hand. At some point he'd changed into his practice uniform. Oddly enough the robot was draped in a sky blue scrap of cloth and had already sustained a few dents from his strikes. The Dragon charged it again, another bang echoing through the chamber. His face was contorted into a look of pure rage, dark eyes seething with hatred. "Why... won't you... get out of my head?!" he growled out, lifting the weapon for another strike.
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Post by Kakita Uetani on Jan 31, 2018 19:23:08 GMT -5
She steps into the dojo herself. She sees him there, thinks about leaving, instead a breath
"Mirumoto-sama" she says after paying her respects to the dojo. She starts with a bokken, Kenjutsu rather than Iaido
She goes on for a little while on her own, but she is distracted by him. He woke something earlier that she has not yet been able to put away.
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Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Jan 31, 2018 19:40:42 GMT -5
The Dragon turned to Uetani with a dark look, that righteous fury she saw in him before burning hotter than it should. Yet he watched the Kakita as she practiced her kenjutsu, the robot Noboru had been beating on returning to a position along the wall. If it had emotions it would probably be silently thankful for the reprieve from Noboru's beating. He moved over to fetch the scrap of cloth so as to leave little evidence to his presence but then turned to just watch the way the Crane moved and worked her kata.
Only once she finished her first kata did he opt to speak, breathing calmed but his tone still smoldering like a volcano. "Your technique. You're almost.." He paused then bowed as he corrected himself. "You are my equal, Kakita-sama."
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Post by Kakita Uetani on Jan 31, 2018 20:05:20 GMT -5
She places her sword at her side and faces him "Yes" she admits, not with arrogance though "I have never had an equal before. Just those I could beat and those that I could not"
she smiles "It is a... uniquely humbling experience"
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Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 0:37:37 GMT -5
He nodded slowly, moving closer to Uetani but keeping a respectful distance. By this point his breathing had calmed to a more appropriate level and he swung the bokken about to loosen up the muscles he'd fatigued pounding the training robot into submission.
"Neither have I, Kakita-san. Outside of the sensei, in my three years here I'd never met anyone who could consistently beat me in a spar. Not that I won every spar, but when I could get over myself and stop procrastinating I put in the work to get better. To have no doubt that I could beat them. But you..."
He bowed, then moved closer. His tone was a hushed whisper, shame entering his consciousness. It didn't matter that he wasn't doing things the 'proper' way, after all etiquette wasn't his strong suit ever, so that the Dragon didn't hold back probably wasn't as surprising as what he admitted to. "Ever since our duel. Iie, ever since I saw your soul... I've had trouble getting you out of my head."
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Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 4:26:47 GMT -5
"Hmmm well, Mirumoto-san. That would make sense, as I have hardly been able to put you from mine either" she strikes the robot with what would be a killing blow, almost casually, as she turns her attention to the conversation
"I am... intrigued about some of the things I saw inn you today, but more than that, I am stimulated by the idea of what might happen if we pushed each other to be better"
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Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 8:16:09 GMT -5
"As am I," came an honest answer from the Mirumoto as he approached but kept a respectful distance from Uetani. Slowly the Dragon shifted into a more traditional kenjutsu stance, nodding to the Kakita across from him as a bow of respect.
"I think I love Doji Hoshiko, but even she hasn't seen my soul the way you did today." A little remorse filled his voice at what he implied next, "And while I've offered to teach her some basics of kenjutsu, she'll never be able to see my soul the way you did, nor will I ever be able to see her soul the way I saw yours."
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Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 8:22:10 GMT -5
She smiles as her stance shifts, an invitation perhaps?
"It is good that you have found love, and selfishly, better to me that you have found it in the Crane, so that old wounds might be made to heal" She salutes him with her bokken
"What do the two of you share, that would let you look into each other's eyes as you and I did today?"
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Post by Mirumoto Noboru on Feb 1, 2018 8:38:49 GMT -5
"Music."
The Dragon slowly approached Uetani like a predator stalking its prey. "And it isn't that simple," he continued, tone beginning to smolder as he looked for an opening he might be able to exploit. "I hate your Clan for its part in the blood feud, and for what it's done to me and my family." He struck the ground with his bokken trying to see if it would startle the Kakita and make her jump. Against a younger or more inexperienced opponent it would probably distract them long enough to exploit the moment. But Uetaini? He very seriously doubted it would work but still needed to test her.
His tone grew hotter as his rage started to focus itself, dark eyes never leaving his opponent. "If I could, I would see every last one of you pay for what you did."
With that the Mirumoto charged, relying on speed and not strength to try to land his strike.
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Post by Kakita Uetani on Feb 1, 2018 8:42:46 GMT -5
He hits her, and she feels the kiss of the wood and gasps in pleasure, her own blade rising up to meet him
"All of us? For what we have done? Everyone becomes someone else's villain when they draw their sword my love, the only way to be a hero is to not fight at all."
her sword finds his chest, a tap, perhaps not as light as it could have been, but controlled
"I have never killed a Dragon, why would I need to?"
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