FACTS ABOUT NINJA

[amnotaweasel]

WHO: amnotaweasel, knows_science
WHERE: The rooftops and fire escapes, the stairwells and the alleys. Anywhere, really.
WHEN: Today/tonight
WARNINGS: Well, they are ninja, so violence, probably.
SUMMARY: Ninja are mammals. Ninja like to flip out and kill things. Ninja require exercise. Ninja are great at hide and seek. With knives.
FORMAT: Quicklongawesomewhocares~

Comments

[knows_science]

So, Doc's effort to avenge Catwoman had basically degenerated into him throwing ineffective shurikens at Envy while Teddy and Mary did the most damage. And that wasn't acceptable. Ninja were supposed to be near-unstoppable killing machines, homunculi or no homunculi. Which meant it was training time. How fortunate that there was a fellow ninja in the City Doc could pit himself against.

Standing motionless on the rooftop, katana still sheathed, Mcninja cocks his head and listens. He can't hear her, hasn't heard her since their little game started. But he's pretty sure she's down there.

[amnotaweasel]

She maneuvers into position beneath the edge of the roof. It'll be a light hop up, and then she'll be on the roof--

And then what? The voice in her head that cuts into her plan (meager as it is) sounds like Aoshi-sama. She'll be on the roof, in range of shuriken or kunai, and then what will she do? And if he draws the katana, what then? She doesn't own a blade long enough to take one on.

But he has the high ground. It's not like she has any other choice but to get on the roof and take things from there. She'll just have to get up and be ready to dodge. How lucky for her that dodging's what she's good at!

She pulls into an even deeper crouch, then springs up, her fingers catching on the edge of the roof. In a smooth, practiced motion--which, for Misao, means with only a moment of panicked struggling--she manages a chin-up. She plants her foot on the wall and hurries herself upward, scrambling up onto the roof and into a crouch, moving sideways along the rooftop even as she goes for her knives.

[knows_science]

Well, it looks like he was right. Now what? She's moving too fast for him to hit her easily, and besides he wants to practice stealth for a bit longer.

So down goes the smoke bomb and up goes the billowing gray cloud. Traditionally speaking, by the time the smoke clears he should be directly behind her with some sort of one-liner prepared, but Doc's pretty sure she'll be expecting that, so instead he makes for a position behind a chimney to her left.

He's not sure about the one-liner yet.

[amnotaweasel]

The smoke leaves her gasping and coughing. She's careful to move forward, more fully onto the roof, before trying to breathe. It's several long moments before she's even able to concentrate enough to listen for him.

Which is a bad mistake to make, she knows. And she hates that ninja tricks are being effective against her--she's a ninja too! Isn't it kind of stupid to fall for tricks you already know?

When she gets her breathing back under control, she goes into a defensive stance and starts looking around for him.

"Aren't you supposed to be right behind me?"

That's how Shiro and Kuro say it always happens in the bunraku theatre, but she's never been to see it herself. It is how it always happens in those awful ninja "b-movies" she and Ryou-san watch, though.