Don't Trust Your Horoscope [Closed | Incomplete]

[crossedscar]

Characters; Kenshin Himura & Yuffie Kisaragi
Setting/Location; Valora: Training Halls
Date & Time; Day 2, early morning
Warnings; None!
Briefing; Yuffie walks in on Kenshin's morning practice.

Comments

[crossedscar]

Looking for... trees? Confusion briefly filled his expression before he pulled the sword away, stepping back and unlocking their weapons. Enemies did not look familiar, but that did not mean he fully trusted her just yet. Blocking his sword, even when not meant to kill, was not an easy feat; much less with such a weighted weapon. If they were on the same side that skill would be a tremendous benefit, especially on the front lines. He had heard rumors of other people from different worlds being recruited by the other countries. Alienating an ally this early in the war would be foolish.

"If you wish to use the training hall, I have finished." Turning away, Himura sheathed his sword. As a ranking officer he had a duty to his subordinates in making sure they were given the time and training they needed in order to be efficient soldiers on the-

Wait.

Did she just call me 'girly?'

The hair on the back of his neck raised in annoyance. True, his hair was longer than many men he had seen here kept it. Also true, his slight figure - if they managed to ignore the muscles - could, could be considered feminine. But being caught in the middle of his kata, after his non-admittedly favorite move, and then being called girly was too much for Himura to ignore.

The dark blue eyes narrowed once more. He did his best to ignore the fact that he had to look up in order to do so. Calm, Himura. People will not respect childish banter, so stop before it's too- "If you are done searching for vegetables, of course." -late. The tiniest of smirks passed before he was able to quench it.

[fugutaiten]

Yuffie smirked, drawing her own weapon back. She let it drop, resting on the ground by her side; her bare fingers wrapped lightly around the cool, sharp steel of the topmost blade. One of the Four-Point's most interesting features (aside from its size) was that, unlike most swords, it lacked any dull edges. Then again, most of her weapons lacked dull edges; the Razor Ring was an awesome example.

And, well, the Oritsuru was just plain awesome. What could be better than killing stuff with a giant paper crane? And then Pinwheel, and the Superball, and - okay, so she was obsessed with weird weaponry. Pffft. At least she'd never fought with a goddamn mop.

(The homesickness caught her like the sword hadn't; a swift, sharp pang that she couldn't ignore, but could hide. She buried it, pushing it into the shiny little box in the corner of her mind labeled 'save it for later'.)

Her smirk, quick and dark and sly as the rest of her, cracked into a snicker, and then an outright chortle. He looked… He looked so peeved! "No need to rush," she said innocently. "You've got all day to go raid the clothes shop for new dresses." And they had a pretty nifty selection, too! Yuffie abhorred dresses (with the fiery, burning passion of a sun gone nuclear), but she was pretty proud of her latest and greatest clothing ensemble. The sky blue short-shorts were particularly, er, eye-catching. Not that the bright yellow scarf wasn't.

Actually, she had to hand it to herself; the whole outfit practically screamed 'look at me!', with a song and a dance to top it off. "And
y'know, you can't just go slicing at a girl and then leave her high n' dry two seconds later," she added, rocking back on her heels.

[crossedscar]

Actually, Himura had no problem doing just that; not that he thought saying it to the woman's face would be a good idea. His job was killing the opposition, not cleaning up or making nice with survivors. That is how I met Tomoe. She nor I should ever have been there in the first- He shook his head to clear away the memories. Nostalgic sentiments had no place on the battlefield.

"I am not a woman." He said firmly. Insults and comebacks were never his forte. Since he could not say the same for the insubordinate woman, the wisest path would be to ignore her words and walk away as soon as possible. "Your shopping habits are your own business." Maybe he could find a way to cover her weapon in little pink ribbons one night when she was not looking. A little sealant would go a long way.

Pulling rank was always an option, but he refused to abuse his authority for petty matters. He had a responsibility to his brigade as well as this country, and he had seen too many politicians grow fat and bald on power without comprehending the consequences. Himura was determined to be neither, but that did not leave him with very many exit scenarios. Why were tall women always so annoying?

"If you wish to train, train. If you prefer to shop for more gaudy clothes, do so. It is your choice." He hesitated, looking away so she would not see anything that was not there. A blush, for instance. "I'm sorry if I scared you." I was too rash. I need to learn to control my instincts better. "It will not happen again."

[fugutaiten]

"No," Yuffie admitted, thoughtfully. "You're just grouchy." Stiff as a rod with a stick up its butt, too. And, unfortunately, he'd have a hard time getting to her weapon, of all things; it was her most treasured possession out here, along with the few, forlorn pieces of material that glinted, embedded in their slots. They didn't work here, which sucked, but that was no reason to treat the orbs disrespectfully. Not to mention the pink ribbons already on the shuriken, wrapped securely down two out of four crossbars.

Her second tribute to Aerith.

She was saved from an untimely trip down Reminiscence Avenue by Grouchy McGirlface's next words, and by his - odd hesitation? "Now, hang on a second," said Yuffie, jabbing one finger up as if to say 'I'm making a point! Look. Look. See this point I'm making?'. "I wasn’t asking for an apology, so you can save it. Actually, it was kind of… Fun and educational. Also really dumb of you, but, details." Her catlike grin returned, but there was a dash of awkwardness to it. Half-veiled or not, sincerity to strangers was still hard for her. "So maybe you could, like, tell me your name and then stay a while. Unless you want me to start callin' you Grouchy McGirlface to your face."

She didn't really expect him to take her up on the offer, but she figured that it'd be worth a try. How often was it that she found somebody who could even hope to match her speed, who wasn't really some utter psychopath looking to destroy the world? It was no secret that Yuffie thought that she was the best damn thing since sliced bread and gold chocobos, but she needed to push herself. She needed a challenge.

Stepping to the side, the little ninja leaned around, trying to catch a glimpse of his face.

[crossedscar]

Grouchy McGirlface?! The agitation that had just begun to fade flared with a new passion. Who was this girl, and why did she think she could get away with making empty threats? Unless- were they empty? Himura paused, glaring at the woman. And her finger. His hand twitched, and he reminded himself yet again that killing an ally would do no one any good. Even if it might be satisfying in the short run.

Ignoring the finger - she looked terrifyingly like Okami-dono with that expression - Himura considered his options. She looked familiar, but that did not mean that she was not capable of following through. He already had a hard enough time of keeping others in line without an uncute nickname following him around. Or any nickname for that matter. Battousai is just becoming known here, but that name carries a far different weight.

Also, she had a point: it was careless and dumb of him to attack her like that. If enduring the overly-peppy company helped to absolve that, then-

"Himura." His hands slipped into his sleeves, adopting a more relaxed stance. Hopefully this "spending time" would not include a trip to the shopping district. As much as he accepted that he had no taste in clothing, he could tell that the glaring colors the woman wore would not go with bright red hair. Or any color hair but black, he suspected. "And you are?"

[fugutaiten]

Contrary to popular belief, the Great Ninja Yufie was great for a reason. Sure, she was guilty of exaggeration, overestimation, and underestimation, but she was also observant. The little twitches, in his expression, and in his body language (fingers and all!) were all noticed; though some a little more than others. It was just… it was just obvious. Second nature. And if some people were dumb enough not to see these things, it was no skin off her back.

This guy, though. What'd given her away so quickly? Grouchy and girl-faced or not, he was no random schmuck off the streets. Nope. He was worth payin' at least some real attention to. Nyuk nyuk nyuk. Oh, this was gonna be glorious.

"Me?" Yuffie laughed, soft and devilish and girlish all at once, and not entirely unfeigned. She twirled on her feet, halfway between pinpoint precision and clumsily over expressive. "Glad you asked! I am a child of moonless nights and sunless days. The daughter of time's rushing rivers, of hopes and dreams, and of a spark in the ash. I am," wobble, pinwheel, strike a pose, "Yuffie Kisaragi! Wutai's single white rose, and ninja extraordinaire."

And Himura was an officer. Boy, oh boy. Not. Yuffie didn't care about his fancy title or his position; it wasn't going to change the way she thought of him, or how she acted around him. Rocking back, she planted her spare hand on her hip - only to raise it again a second later to gesticulate. "We can expand your closet later. After that little display of yours… How 'bout you stick with me to train a little? It's been a while since anybody could really push me for speed."

Certain people none withstanding, because they didn't count. At all. Ever.

[crossedscar]

To his credit, Himura did his best to pay attention to the full introduction. That beind said, it was no surprise that what he managed to catch equated to: "oh- she's a ninja" and "she's not wearing any white." Frowning, he tried again to remember if her name had been placed somewhere in the midst of the diatribe. It certainly was impressive enough; he could at least do her the curtesy of remembering what he was supposed to call her.

"Kisaragi." God, he hoped he had that right. He did not know if she would require him to watch a full preformance otherwise. He had reports and rounds to attend to and getting stuck on a shopping trip or watching a preformance before breakfast was not high on his list. He knew that he was going to end up the girl's dress-up-doll just to get this all settled anyway-

Wait. Did she just- She could not have really asked him to-

"You want me to... help you train?" Could it really be that easy? Not only would he be absolved of his guilt but he would get the chance to beat her up in the process? Careful. Don't make any sudden moves. Don't scare it off. Very carefully, he turned to face her. The idea grew like a bushfire in his mind, and he liked it more and more with every passing second. Sure, the ninja had blocked his sword, but he had not been intending to kill in the first place. He was certain that he could put up more than a fight in an actual training match.

"I would be happy to help." If his teeth showed briefly behind the (deceptively) kind smile, it was purely an unconscious reaction meant to relieve any remaining worry. Absolutely. Nothing else. Nope. It was most definitely not a smirk. He was just an Officer helping a soldier with her training.

I'm going to enjoy this.

[fugutaiten]

"Yuffie," she corrected, though she didn't really care; it was just the principle of the thing.

Something about Himura's reaction to her proposition set off little warning signals in the back of her head. It was almost like… And that smile. Oh, great. Maybe he really was some kind of vicious psychopath! Not that it was enough to put her off. Nope. Not her. Yuffie'd never pretended that she was sane, and she wasn't about to start now.

Besides. With people like Rosso lurking around on her doorstep, she needed all the training she could get. It wouldn't exactly do her any good to exhaust herself to the point of being totally unable to defend herself, but that wasn't her goal anyway. And if things did go a little too far, well… That's one of the many reasons why her Limits were awesome. She knew that her abilities were dampened, but she still had Gauntlet and Doom of the Living. Both powerful, both badass. Both… Not really to be used in training sessions against people who weren't the Wusheng or AVALANCHE, really. They were killing techniques through and through, meant to take out as many enemies at once as possible, and-slash-or as quickly as possible.

Yuffie flashed a grin, stepping around and walking backwards so that they each had a little more space. "In that case, it's on." Just like she had during the training session with Allen the day before, the ninja inclined her head in a bow.