Let's get DANGEROUS

[i_love_taiyaki]

Who: Renji i_love_taiyaki and Matsuri matsuri_of_suna
What: Matsuri needs a sparring partner. Renji likes to spar. Hurray for symbiotic friendships!
When: sometime not long after after this entry
Where: somewhere near The Danger Room
Rating: PGish? we'll be sparring, but I doubt it'll get too graphic.

Comments

[matsuri_of_suna]

She had no idea what Renji looked like either, but thankfully, there weren't too many people in the courtyard, so she only felt a little awkward when she had to approach a few strangers and scrutinize them, silently trying to figure out which one was Renji. To avoid embarrassing herself, Matsuri refrained from asking their identity, but she still got several stares of curiosity - they probably thought she was watching them for spying purposes or something similar of the sort. The girl befriended many people since her arrival to the foreign world, and yet she had only met a few of them face-to-face, though not due to lack of effort on her part; still, she didn't want to push the matter on anyone. It was just very exciting to see people from all different realms and universes, despite the fact that she had trouble believing the concepts, even now, after she was beginning to get accustomed to the strange aspects

[i_love_taiyaki]

Renji glanced up when feet meandered slowly into his field of vision where he had been studying a beetle with significant interest. He lifted his head and peered up (though not very up) to see a slender girl with short mouse-brown hair and big dark eyes. He cracked a small grin and got to his feet.

"Yeah, you Matsuri?" he asked, adjusting his sleeves as he rose. He nodded his head in greeting. Though he'd stuck out his hand to shake with Rikku in greeting, he had a feeling the shinobi here didn't do that--you could learn much more about a person from a handshake than a head-bow, and so greeting a fellow combatant with a handshake before really attaining a confidence with them felt...presumptuous and unfair somehow. He didn't want Matsuri to think he was trying to get a one-up on her. "Nice to meetcha in person," he said.

Man all the girls here were small. Er--he wasn't complaining really... Rukia was real tiny, and Orihime was pretty short, too... He had just sort of come to the realization that most of the girls he knew

[matsuri_of_suna]

"It's nice to meet you too, Renji-san," she replied with a shy smile, and then bowed her head in a polite gesture of greeting. Renji appeared to be around her age, but he was taller than her, and had a certain expression of maturity on his face, even with his carefree kind of attitude. Nevertheless she would treat him with respect under the assumption that he was older than her, especially since he had been friendly and warm toward her.

Matsuri was intrigued with his headband because it reminded her of the one that she wore around her own neck, the Sand Village symbol being a clear indication of her origins, as well as the pride she had in her birthplace.

"Oh, it's on the lowest level of the castle," the girl told him, slanting a look of curiosity toward said castle, as if she could see the room from her current position outside, and then she showed Renji the key that the ghost had delivered to her earlier. "We can get in using this..."

[i_love_taiyaki]

"Ooh, a regular dungeon, huh?" he chortled. "Sounds right up my alley." He looked at the key in her hand, then rubbed his chin contemplatively. "Wow, it's so hardcore they keep it locked?" A low whistle. "Well, I'm ready if you are," he said; "I know we just met and all, but don't worry, I'm a pretty good team player." He flashed a thumbs-up. "I'm used to working as part of a squad." He ventured a hopeful smile her way. "I guess you are too, huh, what with your shinobi teams and all."

He folded his hands into the sleeves of his hakama and shrugged noncommittally.

"So," he said, "should we get going? I dunno the lower floors of the castle too well yet, so...I guess you're in charge of blazing the trail." He paused. "Un...less you think we should warm up out here," he added then, looking contemplative. Come to think of it, that might have been the smarter way to do it; he didn't know what they might find in this Danger Room--if it was so dangerous that they kept it locked all the time, going in cold might not be a good

[matsuri_of_suna]

She nodded in affirmation as a serious expression formed over her gentle facial features. "It can be dangerous, Renji-san. Whoever's in charge of the castle... doesn't want just anyone going in there, I guess. Don't forget that if you're not careful fighting the monsters, you could die..."

Despite what she had heard about the castle resident being able to return to the living two weeks after their death, she honestly did not want to personally test that theory out. It was one thing to die honorably in a fight while protecting someone or something important, and another scenario entirely to get killed because of committing foolish acts. If she ever fell victim to the latter situation, then she would bring shame to her village as a shinobi, and also to her former sensei, because even though they no longer trained together so frequently, she still had to maintain his reputation by upholding her own skills

[i_love_taiyaki]

"Hey, no worries, I ain't so keen on dying, personally," he assured her. "I've fought my fair share of monsters in my day, you know?" He ventured a grin. "I ain't too worried, to be honest," he said; "if the castle really wanted folks dead, then it's got the power anyway, right? Or it could just send people away. I would think that the point of the Danger Room ain't to kill folks, it's to let the people who are used to dangerous lifestyles stay sharp. So long as we don't do nothin' stupid, we ought to be fine"

Then he looked thoughtful, easily following her line of thought. Figuring out how to make best of their individual abilities would be paramount.

"Well, I'm mostly offense," he admitted. "But my sword can be used for close-range or long-range combat; it can extend like a whip or be used as a normal sword. I can also use an ability called shunpo, which is...well, for lack of a better word, it's moving faster than the eye can follow." He tapped his chin. "I can also use kidou, which are probably something like your

[matsuri_of_suna]

Renji sounded like a very impressive warrior, and if he were a ninja in her world, she felt certain that he could get to a rather high level with his skills, although she had no idea what kind of strategic capabilities he possessed

[i_love_taiyaki]

Renji's expression lit up. "Ohay, a jouhyou!" he exulted, holding out one hand. "Neat; can I see it? I've never used one personally, but I can use Zabimaru like a whip, so we probably have some similar attack patterns."

He gently slid the little dart out of the bamboo sleeve it rested in and then ran his thumb over the rope. It was a nice jouhyou...very finely crafted--the dart itself was weighty and nicely balanced, decorated with a red slip of fabric like a tassel.

Handing the weapon back to her, he rubbed his chin with one hand, meeting her eye briefly. It wasn't difficult to tell that Matsuri really didn't have the mentality of a warrior. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it seemed pretty clear that she didn't really want to hurt people. She had kind eyes and a somewhat timid spirit. Her spiritual power wasn't weak--he'd discovered that while most of the people here in Paradisa weren't from his world, he could sense the individual reiatsu of many of them, like Ino and Rikku, who were both fighters--but Matsuri's

[matsuri_of_suna]

With all his experience, he probably knew a lot more about weapons than she did. Not that the knowledge wasn't available, but even though Matsuri knew how to use many of them, she only personally learned what was necessary, the most basic weapons that shinobi utilized on a frequent basis. And without question, the one weapon that she would steer clear of was the short sword, or anything longer than it. On occasion, wielding the kunai knife brought just a twinge of unwanted familiarity to prick at her senses, but she tried her best to push that discomfort aside and focus on the objectives of the mission

[i_love_taiyaki]

He laughed brightly. "Well, it ain't like I set out to get my head busted open," he assured her. Jerking his chin, he gestured with one hand. "Shall we, then?" he asked. "We could warm up out here if you really want...but I'd be surprised if whatever we ran into right near the door was real strong. We can prolly work our way up to the harder monsters as we go deeper into the training area

[matsuri_of_suna]

"All right, let's go," she agreed, feeling spirited by his confidence, and allowed a shy smile to grace her lips as the two began to walk back toward the entrance of the castle, intending to head into the Danger Room on one of the lower basement levels. Matsuri had no idea what kind of dangers were present in Renji's world, but surely his confidence was derived from feeling comfortable with the true strength of his own abilities. She felt curious about his skills, and soon, she would get the chance to see them, once they were in the appropriate setting

[i_love_taiyaki]

Renji hesitated in front of the door to the Danger Room, one big hand resting on it, and he cast Matsuri a quick glance before pushing the door open and stepping inside. He made a face.

"Uhm..."

The room was...empty. It was big, spacious, with heavy steel walls and a high ceiling. But there was nothing in it! He didn't see any lifeforms inside--he couldn't sense any spiritual energy anywhere either. Weird--what were they supposed to fight in here

[matsuri_of_suna]

Upon entering the room, she was confused at seeing nothing but empty space as well, and then suddenly the environment changed into an outdoors setting - what looked like to be a forest, no less. Similar to the one outside the castle, except this had a much more exotic appearance, at first glance. Of course, the trees were so tall that they completely loomed over her head, and even when Matsuri lifted herself up on her tiptoes, her view was further obstructed by the numerous branches and leaves. She inhaled slowly, and her lungs filled with what seemed to be cool, fresh air

[i_love_taiyaki]

Renji took a step back, his eyes narrow and his lips drawn in a thin line. Still no reiatsu from...anything around him--as far as he could tell, these monsters in front of him weren't real. He wasn't too worried initially; his reiatsu-sense had been a little off since he'd gotten here, it seemed. He hadn't been able to sense Orihime, and the spiritual power coming off of some of the castle residents was...well, surely it couldn't be accurate.

He made a face when Matsuri called his name sharply, and when his gaze fell on the trio of oddly-shaped creatures shambling out of the brush. Renji made another face. "--The fuck are those?" he asked, his lip curled in something like distaste

[matsuri_of_suna]

“Thank you, Renji-san,” she responded, flashing a quick smile his way as she yanked her rope dart back to be used against another creature that was approaching. This one didn’t go down with just a single strike, so for the second shot, she focused on sending her chakra along the line of her weapon. The head of the rope dart sailed swiftly through the air and pierced the monster with much more force, driving it backwards before the fleshy body sank in defeat.

She watched Renji with awe as he took care of three of the monsters in one fell swoop, making the process look so easy. He was definitely an experienced warrior. Did it bother him that she wasn’t just as strong

sorry for the reposts; i kept spotting something i missed

[i_love_taiyaki]

Renji lifted his arm, covering his nose and mouth with his sleeve and backpedaling as the bulbous creatures expelled a strange greenish gas. "Shit--" he grunted, hopping back and moving up beside Matsuri, frowning behind his sleeve. "You all right?" he asked. He'd had more than enough dealings with poisons and the like after a few run-ins with Mayuri--he really didn't want to end up horking up blood again. That would be really uncool