Into the Fire [Nejiko, Kimimari, open to Orochimayu]
[ooc: continued from By the Prickling of My Thumb]
The walls moving after the Sound kunoichi made the specific handseals, Nejiko could expect. She had Seen the chakra suddenly flare throughout the stone once the Otonin formed the snake seal. The Hyuuga's mistake was in assuming the floor-chakra was to support the wall-chakra. Certainly none of the other floors started moving. Nejiko had enough time to drop to all fours and anchor herself before the floor spun on chakra-axis and was just reaching to help anchor Tatsumi when the wall by her flipped around, placing the medic in an unfamiliar corridor.
Nejiko scowled behind her mask. The map they had had was pretty much useless now, and that wall-moving jutsu had altered the layout of the building significantly. With the exception of her particular piece of floor-turned-ceiling, for the most part only the first floor had been rearranged. The blaring klaxon caused her to wince; if the noise of stone walls suddenly shifting hadn't been racket enough, now the entire place knew they were there. She Saw her teammates looking tense, confused, and wary. She reached for her radio to let them know where the others were in relation, but the squeal of static lanced her eardrum before she could yank the radio out.
Lovely. Now they were all separated, unable to communicate with each other, and in hostile territory where only she stood a good chance of finding a direct way out simply because of her Eyes. Though even Byakugan was affected to a degree as chakra still lined the floors and walls. It didn't block her vision (not by a long shot) but it did make Seeing more difficult.
Not a good thing at all. Orochimayu was on this floor. The target, Haku, was on the floor below, but Nejiko was still some distance from an accessible stairwell. While several connected the ground floor with the second basement, only one stairwell accessed all three floors. And it would be the one farthest from her.
Meaning she had to pass the lab where Orochimayu and the pale, sickly blond girl were. Chances of doing so unnoticed? Zero, she answered herself as the blond girl moved towards the laboratory door.
Kimimari was... excited. The depths of her emotion hadn't been effected by her illness, and she had hoped to prove that nothing else had been as well. This was one of her rare 'good' periods, which only said she could walk a bit father without stopping to cough, but at least lately it hadn't been blood.
There were peaks and valleys to everything in life, and luckily when this a chance to actually fight presented itself, Kimimari was glad she could. She went to stand by the door. She could hear, almost feel, the other girl approaching.
She looked back towards Orochimayu-sama, a pleading look in her eyes. "Orochimayu-sama, please... let me..." Kimimari didn't even wait for a response, she didn't think she could. She instead opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, feeling alive.
Nejiko had just dropped to the ground when the door opened. Smoothly she rose from the crouch, white eyes studying her adversary from behind the mask. She wasn't sure what sort of threat this sickly, pale woman would provide, but someone wearing the unbalanced yinyang of Orochimayu was someone to be wary of. The last people she had seen with that particular sigil were the ones who had tried to get the Uchiha to Orochimayu, years before. They were all dead, she was told. The fat girl, the spider girl, the flute boy, the transgendered...thing, and the bone girl. Some time after everyone had healed, they had all talked about what happened.
Too bad she couldn't know this girl's talents before they fought. The set of the girl's shoulders and the fire in those green eyes (yes, even from a distance, Byakugan allowed Nejiko to see color and emotion therein) wouldn't allow for Nejiko to simply slip by.
The Hyuuga stood calmly as if uncaring of the wail of the alarms. If she could keep the girl before her, and the snake in the lab, distracted and focused on her, it would make the job of the others that much easier. Therefore, for the moment, she would allow the other to make the first move.
Kimimari smiled thinly and made no move to get out of the way of the other girl. Her lungs did burn, but she was motivated by something else. "You don't belong here," she said softly. There was the sound of illness on her voice, but it didn't dominate everything right now.
Determination did that.
"But you won't be leaving."
Nejiko tipped her head in avian curiosity. ANBU didn't speak. Nor did Hyuuga. But if that's what the other girl had decided, well, Nejiko would simply need to prove her wrong. She walked towards the other girl, gathering chakra beneath her skin while sliding her sword from the scabbard on her back. A quick kill would be preferable, given who was not in the hallway. If she had to fight Orochimayu (which she prayed she did not), she would need every single last drop of anything she could wring out of her body to delay the Sannin's approach on her teammates.
She refused to show any overeagerness for the fight, though adrenaline was spiking through her blood and clearing her mind. Let's fight, she thought, remembering the same words Hinaji said to her before.
It had been a long time since Kimimari had even practiced her bloodline, but you didn't forget it. There was no way to erase the memory of what it felt like to grow and pull an extra bone out of your body. Doing so, she drew a makeshift sword from her left arm. The sensation was painful, but at the same time brought release. This would be an interesting fight.
It wouldn't have been a bad death to have died fighting the sand-brat. She noted the stance of the dark haired girl. She didn't move, let this other come into striking range first. Kimimari had all the weapons she needed right under her skin and the ability to use them. Her lips twisted upwards even more.
Come on then.
The other girl's action caused Nejiko to pause her advance. Nevermind the incredibly disturbing scene of seeing someone pull a bone from her arm without any blood whatsoever, without any damage to the flesh, but the action recalled a memory. Naruko, Leigh, and Gaara had all fought a girl who could use the very bones of her body as weapons. But she was dead. Leigh and Gaara said she died.
And yet she stood here now before Nejiko.
Her eyes widened behind the mask. If she was alive, then--- No. No. She had seen the spider-girl's death with her own eyes. Her own Eyes. The chakra faded to nothingness, the heart stopped, the brain stopped; all that Nejiko had Seen before passing out herself. She would not have allowed her body to crumple if the other had still lived. Would have not. Her heart sped up in fear and she forced it to slow. She hadn't Seen the bone-girl die. Leigh and Gaara might have been mistaken. Not wrong, but mistaken.
She tightened her grip on the sword. Jyuuken would work best. The girl's body was frail. Nejiko needed to inhibit chakra and strike primarily the cardiopulmunary system, but the other organs shouldn't be neglected. She also would need to shield; even Gaara had had trouble with the girl's razor-sharp bones. A faint smile pulled at her own lips despite the shock and impossibility. What mattered was that the girl was here. How did not. But Nejiko was far stronger than she had been, and much more experienced. If she died, it wouldn't be alone. A flick of her wrist to give a fast, not exactly mocking salute (she did respect someone who had come back from death's door, having done so herself) before continuing the advance.
Once she was in range, she struck.
Kimimari held up her won sword to block the blow, her ribs growing out to form an automatic shield. Skin contact would not be easy to obtain. Pain, in the name of service, was pleasure to her. Holding out one hand five bone darts shot out towards the other girl. There were no words for the moment. She was fighting with a passion, moving in her own odd way, and finally finally being of some use to Orochimayu-sama.
Fortunately, jyuuken didn't necessitate skin contact. Metal scraped bone, causing internal vibrations that set Nejiko's teeth on edge even as she pulled back and spun to parry the darts aside with the flat of her blade. She didn't dare try to outright block them; her sword was her best weapon and the percussion from even only glancing blows told her the force behind the darts would be enough to puncture through flesh like a wall of water. This girl also had a curse seal. She could See the chakra glowing faintly around an odd three-pronged mark on the girl's chest that in no way physically resembled the three tomoe on Uchiha's shoulder.
Keeping that in mind Nejiko launched a volley of fists and feet and clawed gloves at the girl, trying to figure out her style while remembering everything Leigh had told her about the fight. The other girl, Leigh had said, called Leigh's style of taijutsu blocky and inflexible - so Nejiko used that same style now, using the armored bracers of her arm to help in deflecting the girl she dubbed as Bone's counterattacks. Jyuuken's more fluid kata she would reserve until after the chance to see how Bone responded to Gaia-sensei's taijutsu.
Hard taijutsu again. Did these Leaf people know nothing else? Kimimari dodged easily, there was no dizziness right now. No light headedness. She had the bone sword in her right hand, her left arm suddenly grew spikes with which blocking blows also became offensive. This girl was holding back. She could tell. Kimimari really didn't want to release the seal, it took too much energy, it had been what had almost killed her the last time.
On the other hand, she would not fail.
She would fight to the death, and beyond.
Bone became more offensive with the hard taijutsu. A bit faster, too. Not tapping the seal yet; good.
A cushion of protective chakra under the sole of Nejiko's foot was the only thing that kept her from getting impaled on what probably was once a collar bone. This was an advanced bloodline limit, she was sure, but she had never heard of such a manifestation before. Seeing another strike coming, she immediately switched to the jyuuken taijutsu. Suddenly her movements became more fluid, more circular, more quick, and even if she didn't manage to physically land a blow, her jyuuken pounded the muscle inside the skin and attacked the chakra shaping the bones. She didn't dare try for the precision of Bone's tenketsu; that was a secret and she wanted to only use it to cordon off the chakra that would come from the seal itself. Getting a chest-strike would be difficult, but all she needed to do was find or make the opening; a single hand could do the rest.
Kimimari wasn't quite sure what happened when the styles changed into something she hadn't seen before and only a glancing blow hit muscle and snapped bone. But the bones repaired themselves instantly. Muscles were a different story. She reacted to the blow by extending more of her skeleton. If it came down to it, she had her spine to use as a whip and a weapon.
Right now, she tested the limits of this other form. Curious. She wanted to see what this girl could do.
Seeing how easily the bone reknit, Nejiko made a note to keep aware. It certainly pleased her that the bone could break. But the damaged muscles staying damaged pleased her more. Limbs could still move (albeit painfully) if the bones continued to support them. The muscles contracting and relaxing as directed by the brain were what made movement possible in the first place - and why jyuuken was so effective. Disable the muscles and the flesh was only a meaty sheath for bone.
Not that she expected normal movement from the bones. The way the chakra behaved in Bone's body meant the usual human physiology would have to be ignored. Similar to the spider-girl's, except then the webbing and the extra appendages separated her from being fully human. Bone was simply advanced and specialized, much like Nejiko herself.
The Hyuuga could tell Bone was doing much what Nejiko herself was - testing out the new style of fighting. It helped that in addition to her jyuuken kata, that she could See when Bone would try to skewer her from behind. In this fight Nejiko made sure to keep herself constantly moving to lower the hazard of her blindspot. The close quarters of the corridor helped immensely, and Nejiko used it to her full advantage. She focused her jyuuken on striking muscle over bone, though she didn't hesitate to cut through the calcified weaponry when necessary to reach the soft tissue it protected. Using jyuuken while one hand still held a weapon was unwieldy but not difficult. Tentsuke had made sure of that.
Later, she would wonder why Orochimayu was staying in the lab. Right now she was grateful that she only needed to concentrate on one enemy and not two.
It was interesting, and it was a soft style of taijutsu. It didn't need a hard blow. Therefore, Kimimari wanted this girl out of normal striking range. Bones could be ranged weapons as well as close ranged weapons. With a flick of her wrist the sword was on the ground and she was pulling out her spine, making a barbed whip. She used it to knock the other girl's hands out of striking range and keep her at a distance.
Chakra and watching the other girl's eyes to predict intent were the only things that kept Nejiko's hands from being shredded when the whip lashed out. Still, she found it quite disturbing that not only could Bone rip out her own spine and use it as a whip, but that even as she pulled it out, the ribs of her back rebuilt her spine with incredible speed. And all the while, that so vital spinal cord was never fully uncovered. Nejiko gave a quick shudder of disgust as she jumped back, then hopped back a little farther when the bone whip whistled. Again the corridor's narrowness was a blessing. The whip was a problem, but only so much as Bone had the room to use it. Best to keep that in mind, along with the way she imagined it could shorten and lengthen at will.
At this distance the sword was useless, so she returned it to her scabbard. Gathering the kinetic tension in her legs, she ran at Bone again, but this time barehanded. She held off as long as she could to gather the appropriate chakra before thrusting her left hand first. Hakke Kuushou! she thought as she expelled chakra in a contained, hard-hitting column aimed for Bone's right knee and the muscle and tendons encasing it.
That was something new. Someone like her, in a way, a bloodline. Bred for this, truly. Even the sudden shield of bone that appeared out of nowhere in front of the knee didn't stop the blow completely. But Kimimari was used to pain, it was nothing to her. Reinforcing the bone made it easier to hold up the damaged legs. A flick of her wrist and the whip grew to match the distance this girl was from her. And her ribs also shot from her chest at the same time. If this went on, she'd need more energy, to be able to hit her limits, she would need to unleash the seal.
Nejiko grinned, unseen. The bone javelins would be a problem when they landed, but for the moment--
A twist, a duck, and a rotation to spin out of the way of the whip while letting her get back into the position she needed to unleash the second hakke kuushou she had been saving in her right hand. The invisible hammer was aimed for Bone's unprotected chest - the seal it bore, the organs beneath. And while that traveled she ran through a series of handseals. Chakra rushed to her eyes, which would have visibly glowed white a moment (even through the mask's eyeslits) before she released that wall of chakra she could only call a stationary kaiten. With the seals to direct the chakra, instead of the stationary kaiten covering all three-hundred-sixty degrees, it only covered the area in front of her. That chakra slammed into the javelins and struggled to hold them, fighting against the terminal velocity. For the most part, it worked: only three managed to pierce her flesh. One in the shoulder (fear spiked when the javelin hit the exact spot the spider-girl's arrow had hit years before, but where that arrow had punctured this only stabbed; she still had mobility in that arm, thank Fate), one in her side (passing through the armored vest but thankfully only scraping the outside of her ribcage on the left side; nothing vital hit), the last in her thigh. The rest stopped in the air, and with a silent snarl she snatched them with her hands (coating her hands with chakra beforehand to keep the sharp edges from slicing her palms) before pulling the chakra back into her body. It hurt to do, but it meant she could better conserve her energy.
As soon as she touched the javelins, or the javelins her, her chakra nullified that which of the other girl's still remained in the bones. Now armed with the enemy's weapons and Tentsuke's brutal training, she hurled two back, aiming for critical points.
Blood. Kimimari tasted blood. It felt like the dark-haired girl had hit the lungs. But Kimimari could push herself beyond the taste of blood, the burning of her lungs. It was her weapons returning to her that she had to worry about. The seal was slightly damaged, but it didn't stop her from releasing it. Her bone that had come flying back at her hit a wall of bone. Now she was in her advanced form. She hadn't wanted it to come this far.
But now, she would kill this girl.
Level one, Nejiko realized. Bone was only going level one. The black pattern was different from Uchiha's flames, the fat-girl's triangle-chain, and the spider-girl's curlicues. No, of interesting note was that for someone who Leigh said complained of such an inflexible taijutsu style, Bone's seal-pattern was very geometric and hard-angled. But as long as that pattern remained, Nejiko believed she could perservere. From experience she knew even the first level of the curse seal could make things so very difficult. Even so. She Saw how the chakra had moved from the seal. That second hakke kuushou had damaged it, even from a distance. If she could get in closer (if), then she might be able affect it even more.
Worth the risk.
When she flung the next two bones swiftly followed by a third, all three of them had been filled and charged with her chakra and aimed at Bone's chest. The move wasn't too dissimilar to what she would do with Tentsuke when she would wrap chakra around the senbon to increase the speed and power of the projectile. It was a pity she couldn't make her chakra stab at Bone's when the projectile hit, but every bit of energy used for defense and healing was chakra that couldn't be used for attacking. Curse seal or no, there was a limit to that which the body could withstand, and Bone's body was already weakened. Nejiko still had to move fast - she would be in serious trouble if the girl went level two.
She rushed again, firing off the javelins as she ran. The ones still in her body she ignored until she pulled them out, throwing one while the last two she wielded as bloodied short swords.
"My, my, my..." a cold, cruel voice mused quietly from the shadows of the corridor, "So they're here." The shape watched, crossing its arms, as a wide grin began to form. If they are here, it means they must be...
The rush of power that came with the seal releasing didn't totally get rid of her burning lungs, the taste of blood, but it went long enough towards it that Kimimari was able to push thoughts of her broken body aside. The makeshift weapons of the other girl's hit what was practically a wall of bone. No more touching of skin, Kimimari decided, and would keep it that way. She was too weak to really risk it.
The whip she flung towards the other girl's feet, while she armored herself in bones.
Days come when Nejiko feels exceptionally glad to be a Hyuuga, and blessed with all that it entails. Today happened to be such a day.
Three-hundred-fifty-nine-degree vision meant that very, very little was not Seen. Accompanying that incredible range of Vision was a brain capable of not only processing that much stimuli at once, but reacting appropriate to said stimuli while allowing for several trains of thought to flow all at once. Consequently, Nejiko knew when Orochimayu vacated the lab to show up in the corridor (and behind Nejiko, no less) and could determine just how much less maneuvering room she had while also dealing with the problem of Bone's wall of said and the fact that the girl grew more armor. And then there were the pair of Oto-nin rushing to this place. Their pace didn't indicate they were coming to aid, so she surmised that they were perhaps instead coming to inform the Sannin that there were invaders. Not that the entire complex wouldn't know, what with that damn'ed alarm.
All the while, she was still keeping tabs on her teammates. Mission objective was to find the target and get her out of here. Everything else--everyone else--was secondary. So until she was certain the others had reached the exit, or expired in the attempt, she would remain where she was as long as possible to keep the main enemy busy. But four-on-one odds when one was a Sannin and another with the curse seal were decidedly lousy. If all four of them worked together, she wouldn't last long.
Don't think. Be an instrument.
The bone-swords cracked against the wall of same but thankfully didn't break fully. The minor physical damage inflicted on the wall re-knit easily, and the whip came snapping back before Nejiko had a chance to use jyuuken. She jumped away, but even then she Saw the whip would be moving too fast--Leigh's kind of fast--to fully get away before it hit. A tight, dense sheath of chakra covered her just long enough to keep the bone spurs from flaying her flesh but did little to lessen the force behind the whip. The powerful blow sent her flying--towards Orochimayu. Thinking fast and reacting faster, Nejiko twisted herself midair and stabbed the bone-swords into the wall to slow down, all the while channeling chakra to her feet so she could grip the concrete. She could do nothing for the mask that clattered down the hall to a stop near the Sannin's feet. Face (and seal!) bared, she'd schooled her face into an emotionless facade, a living mask to make up for the lack of the porcelain. She barely felt the harsh air scrape over her lungs; her sensei was Maito Gaia, her sempai was Sarutobi Asuka, and really, she had done much more for much longer without collapsing, and so far her wounds were minor and easily ignored.
She felt extremely annoyed at how close to boxed in she was. Perched on the wall like some gargoyle, she simultaneously Watched the Sannin on her right (behind which the Oto-nin were even now asking Orochimayu what they should do) and the bone-girl on her left. Bone was ranged; Nejiko did much better with close combat but she wasn't without a few tricks of her own to compensate for the distance. Transferring a bone-sword to one hand she pulled out her weapon's scroll. A quick swipe of blood from her shoulder wound and some deft hand movements across her weapons scroll and the bone-swords were replaced by a pair of leather-bound tessen, one for each hand. It would aid in dealing with ranged attacks - including the bone whip.
Orochimayu nodded at the Oto-nin, yawning idly to show her distaste at being interrupted. Thankfully for the Oto-nin, she was not annoyed enough to kill them--at least not yet. "Kill the intruders if you can," she chuckled, "but if you can't, it is of no real importance. What truly matters has never been hidden here to begin with." Haku was no longer of any importance to her; without Zabuya, she had become despondent and listless. Turning her attention back to the battle in an obvious dismissal, the snake-woman smiled. "Oh, dear," she called out, "Hyuuga Nejiko. What a pleasure to see you here, my darling."
After the whip, Kimimari had to take a second to regroup her own strength. Burning lungs, the taste of blood, all of these came in a distant second to the fact she was actually fighting, actually proving herself useful. That meant the world to her, in ways most people wouldn't ever be able to understand. And she was winning, or so it seemed. The other girl was still alive.
Taking care to take deep, even breaths, Kimimari took light steps towards her Mistress. Towards the other girl, she could finish this, she was sure she could. The whip was at the ready.
Nejiko half-closed her eyes, forcing her Byakugan to seek out the others despite the chakra in the walls. Haruhi had managed to find Haku and the two were making their way out. Both Kakami and Yuugao had won their fights (but not without casualties); good for them. The important fact was the mission objective was reached. Time for a strategic retreat, and Nejiko couldn't be happier. The way the snake said her name (nevermind recognized her) had ice wrapping around her spine. Flicking her wrists she snapped the tessen closed and shoved them through her belt. Hands free now, she performed a trio of seals that caused her to vanish in a puff of air.
She reappeared behind Bone; too far to really be useful with jyuuken, but still close enough to shove a right-handed hakke kuushou at the center of the other girl's back. Not waiting there to be certain of the blow landing, she did the same trio of handseals that pushed her back even farther down the hall. She kept that up until she was just outside the stairwell. The door crashed open when she delivered a hard kick to the doorknob, and she dashed inside, racing towards the others.
[ooc: Jo, Astrid, if you guys want to add anything else, you can put it in the writely and I'll add it here, or you can just keep going in comments. Nejiko's part is over.]
The walls moving after the Sound kunoichi made the specific handseals, Nejiko could expect. She had Seen the chakra suddenly flare throughout the stone once the Otonin formed the snake seal. The Hyuuga's mistake was in assuming the floor-chakra was to support the wall-chakra. Certainly none of the other floors started moving. Nejiko had enough time to drop to all fours and anchor herself before the floor spun on chakra-axis and was just reaching to help anchor Tatsumi when the wall by her flipped around, placing the medic in an unfamiliar corridor.
Nejiko scowled behind her mask. The map they had had was pretty much useless now, and that wall-moving jutsu had altered the layout of the building significantly. With the exception of her particular piece of floor-turned-ceiling, for the most part only the first floor had been rearranged. The blaring klaxon caused her to wince; if the noise of stone walls suddenly shifting hadn't been racket enough, now the entire place knew they were there. She Saw her teammates looking tense, confused, and wary. She reached for her radio to let them know where the others were in relation, but the squeal of static lanced her eardrum before she could yank the radio out.
Lovely. Now they were all separated, unable to communicate with each other, and in hostile territory where only she stood a good chance of finding a direct way out simply because of her Eyes. Though even Byakugan was affected to a degree as chakra still lined the floors and walls. It didn't block her vision (not by a long shot) but it did make Seeing more difficult.
Not a good thing at all. Orochimayu was on this floor. The target, Haku, was on the floor below, but Nejiko was still some distance from an accessible stairwell. While several connected the ground floor with the second basement, only one stairwell accessed all three floors. And it would be the one farthest from her.
Meaning she had to pass the lab where Orochimayu and the pale, sickly blond girl were. Chances of doing so unnoticed? Zero, she answered herself as the blond girl moved towards the laboratory door.
Kimimari was... excited. The depths of her emotion hadn't been effected by her illness, and she had hoped to prove that nothing else had been as well. This was one of her rare 'good' periods, which only said she could walk a bit father without stopping to cough, but at least lately it hadn't been blood.
There were peaks and valleys to everything in life, and luckily when this a chance to actually fight presented itself, Kimimari was glad she could. She went to stand by the door. She could hear, almost feel, the other girl approaching.
She looked back towards Orochimayu-sama, a pleading look in her eyes. "Orochimayu-sama, please... let me..." Kimimari didn't even wait for a response, she didn't think she could. She instead opened the door and stepped out into the hallway, feeling alive.
Nejiko had just dropped to the ground when the door opened. Smoothly she rose from the crouch, white eyes studying her adversary from behind the mask. She wasn't sure what sort of threat this sickly, pale woman would provide, but someone wearing the unbalanced yinyang of Orochimayu was someone to be wary of. The last people she had seen with that particular sigil were the ones who had tried to get the Uchiha to Orochimayu, years before. They were all dead, she was told. The fat girl, the spider girl, the flute boy, the transgendered...thing, and the bone girl. Some time after everyone had healed, they had all talked about what happened.
Too bad she couldn't know this girl's talents before they fought. The set of the girl's shoulders and the fire in those green eyes (yes, even from a distance, Byakugan allowed Nejiko to see color and emotion therein) wouldn't allow for Nejiko to simply slip by.
The Hyuuga stood calmly as if uncaring of the wail of the alarms. If she could keep the girl before her, and the snake in the lab, distracted and focused on her, it would make the job of the others that much easier. Therefore, for the moment, she would allow the other to make the first move.
Kimimari smiled thinly and made no move to get out of the way of the other girl. Her lungs did burn, but she was motivated by something else. "You don't belong here," she said softly. There was the sound of illness on her voice, but it didn't dominate everything right now.
Determination did that.
"But you won't be leaving."
Nejiko tipped her head in avian curiosity. ANBU didn't speak. Nor did Hyuuga. But if that's what the other girl had decided, well, Nejiko would simply need to prove her wrong. She walked towards the other girl, gathering chakra beneath her skin while sliding her sword from the scabbard on her back. A quick kill would be preferable, given who was not in the hallway. If she had to fight Orochimayu (which she prayed she did not), she would need every single last drop of anything she could wring out of her body to delay the Sannin's approach on her teammates.
She refused to show any overeagerness for the fight, though adrenaline was spiking through her blood and clearing her mind. Let's fight, she thought, remembering the same words Hinaji said to her before.
It had been a long time since Kimimari had even practiced her bloodline, but you didn't forget it. There was no way to erase the memory of what it felt like to grow and pull an extra bone out of your body. Doing so, she drew a makeshift sword from her left arm. The sensation was painful, but at the same time brought release. This would be an interesting fight.
It wouldn't have been a bad death to have died fighting the sand-brat. She noted the stance of the dark haired girl. She didn't move, let this other come into striking range first. Kimimari had all the weapons she needed right under her skin and the ability to use them. Her lips twisted upwards even more.
Come on then.
The other girl's action caused Nejiko to pause her advance. Nevermind the incredibly disturbing scene of seeing someone pull a bone from her arm without any blood whatsoever, without any damage to the flesh, but the action recalled a memory. Naruko, Leigh, and Gaara had all fought a girl who could use the very bones of her body as weapons. But she was dead. Leigh and Gaara said she died.
And yet she stood here now before Nejiko.
Her eyes widened behind the mask. If she was alive, then--- No. No. She had seen the spider-girl's death with her own eyes. Her own Eyes. The chakra faded to nothingness, the heart stopped, the brain stopped; all that Nejiko had Seen before passing out herself. She would not have allowed her body to crumple if the other had still lived. Would have not. Her heart sped up in fear and she forced it to slow. She hadn't Seen the bone-girl die. Leigh and Gaara might have been mistaken. Not wrong, but mistaken.
She tightened her grip on the sword. Jyuuken would work best. The girl's body was frail. Nejiko needed to inhibit chakra and strike primarily the cardiopulmunary system, but the other organs shouldn't be neglected. She also would need to shield; even Gaara had had trouble with the girl's razor-sharp bones. A faint smile pulled at her own lips despite the shock and impossibility. What mattered was that the girl was here. How did not. But Nejiko was far stronger than she had been, and much more experienced. If she died, it wouldn't be alone. A flick of her wrist to give a fast, not exactly mocking salute (she did respect someone who had come back from death's door, having done so herself) before continuing the advance.
Once she was in range, she struck.
Kimimari held up her won sword to block the blow, her ribs growing out to form an automatic shield. Skin contact would not be easy to obtain. Pain, in the name of service, was pleasure to her. Holding out one hand five bone darts shot out towards the other girl. There were no words for the moment. She was fighting with a passion, moving in her own odd way, and finally finally being of some use to Orochimayu-sama.
Fortunately, jyuuken didn't necessitate skin contact. Metal scraped bone, causing internal vibrations that set Nejiko's teeth on edge even as she pulled back and spun to parry the darts aside with the flat of her blade. She didn't dare try to outright block them; her sword was her best weapon and the percussion from even only glancing blows told her the force behind the darts would be enough to puncture through flesh like a wall of water. This girl also had a curse seal. She could See the chakra glowing faintly around an odd three-pronged mark on the girl's chest that in no way physically resembled the three tomoe on Uchiha's shoulder.
Keeping that in mind Nejiko launched a volley of fists and feet and clawed gloves at the girl, trying to figure out her style while remembering everything Leigh had told her about the fight. The other girl, Leigh had said, called Leigh's style of taijutsu blocky and inflexible - so Nejiko used that same style now, using the armored bracers of her arm to help in deflecting the girl she dubbed as Bone's counterattacks. Jyuuken's more fluid kata she would reserve until after the chance to see how Bone responded to Gaia-sensei's taijutsu.
Hard taijutsu again. Did these Leaf people know nothing else? Kimimari dodged easily, there was no dizziness right now. No light headedness. She had the bone sword in her right hand, her left arm suddenly grew spikes with which blocking blows also became offensive. This girl was holding back. She could tell. Kimimari really didn't want to release the seal, it took too much energy, it had been what had almost killed her the last time.
On the other hand, she would not fail.
She would fight to the death, and beyond.
Bone became more offensive with the hard taijutsu. A bit faster, too. Not tapping the seal yet; good.
A cushion of protective chakra under the sole of Nejiko's foot was the only thing that kept her from getting impaled on what probably was once a collar bone. This was an advanced bloodline limit, she was sure, but she had never heard of such a manifestation before. Seeing another strike coming, she immediately switched to the jyuuken taijutsu. Suddenly her movements became more fluid, more circular, more quick, and even if she didn't manage to physically land a blow, her jyuuken pounded the muscle inside the skin and attacked the chakra shaping the bones. She didn't dare try for the precision of Bone's tenketsu; that was a secret and she wanted to only use it to cordon off the chakra that would come from the seal itself. Getting a chest-strike would be difficult, but all she needed to do was find or make the opening; a single hand could do the rest.
Kimimari wasn't quite sure what happened when the styles changed into something she hadn't seen before and only a glancing blow hit muscle and snapped bone. But the bones repaired themselves instantly. Muscles were a different story. She reacted to the blow by extending more of her skeleton. If it came down to it, she had her spine to use as a whip and a weapon.
Right now, she tested the limits of this other form. Curious. She wanted to see what this girl could do.
Seeing how easily the bone reknit, Nejiko made a note to keep aware. It certainly pleased her that the bone could break. But the damaged muscles staying damaged pleased her more. Limbs could still move (albeit painfully) if the bones continued to support them. The muscles contracting and relaxing as directed by the brain were what made movement possible in the first place - and why jyuuken was so effective. Disable the muscles and the flesh was only a meaty sheath for bone.
Not that she expected normal movement from the bones. The way the chakra behaved in Bone's body meant the usual human physiology would have to be ignored. Similar to the spider-girl's, except then the webbing and the extra appendages separated her from being fully human. Bone was simply advanced and specialized, much like Nejiko herself.
The Hyuuga could tell Bone was doing much what Nejiko herself was - testing out the new style of fighting. It helped that in addition to her jyuuken kata, that she could See when Bone would try to skewer her from behind. In this fight Nejiko made sure to keep herself constantly moving to lower the hazard of her blindspot. The close quarters of the corridor helped immensely, and Nejiko used it to her full advantage. She focused her jyuuken on striking muscle over bone, though she didn't hesitate to cut through the calcified weaponry when necessary to reach the soft tissue it protected. Using jyuuken while one hand still held a weapon was unwieldy but not difficult. Tentsuke had made sure of that.
Later, she would wonder why Orochimayu was staying in the lab. Right now she was grateful that she only needed to concentrate on one enemy and not two.
It was interesting, and it was a soft style of taijutsu. It didn't need a hard blow. Therefore, Kimimari wanted this girl out of normal striking range. Bones could be ranged weapons as well as close ranged weapons. With a flick of her wrist the sword was on the ground and she was pulling out her spine, making a barbed whip. She used it to knock the other girl's hands out of striking range and keep her at a distance.
Chakra and watching the other girl's eyes to predict intent were the only things that kept Nejiko's hands from being shredded when the whip lashed out. Still, she found it quite disturbing that not only could Bone rip out her own spine and use it as a whip, but that even as she pulled it out, the ribs of her back rebuilt her spine with incredible speed. And all the while, that so vital spinal cord was never fully uncovered. Nejiko gave a quick shudder of disgust as she jumped back, then hopped back a little farther when the bone whip whistled. Again the corridor's narrowness was a blessing. The whip was a problem, but only so much as Bone had the room to use it. Best to keep that in mind, along with the way she imagined it could shorten and lengthen at will.
At this distance the sword was useless, so she returned it to her scabbard. Gathering the kinetic tension in her legs, she ran at Bone again, but this time barehanded. She held off as long as she could to gather the appropriate chakra before thrusting her left hand first. Hakke Kuushou! she thought as she expelled chakra in a contained, hard-hitting column aimed for Bone's right knee and the muscle and tendons encasing it.
That was something new. Someone like her, in a way, a bloodline. Bred for this, truly. Even the sudden shield of bone that appeared out of nowhere in front of the knee didn't stop the blow completely. But Kimimari was used to pain, it was nothing to her. Reinforcing the bone made it easier to hold up the damaged legs. A flick of her wrist and the whip grew to match the distance this girl was from her. And her ribs also shot from her chest at the same time. If this went on, she'd need more energy, to be able to hit her limits, she would need to unleash the seal.
Nejiko grinned, unseen. The bone javelins would be a problem when they landed, but for the moment--
A twist, a duck, and a rotation to spin out of the way of the whip while letting her get back into the position she needed to unleash the second hakke kuushou she had been saving in her right hand. The invisible hammer was aimed for Bone's unprotected chest - the seal it bore, the organs beneath. And while that traveled she ran through a series of handseals. Chakra rushed to her eyes, which would have visibly glowed white a moment (even through the mask's eyeslits) before she released that wall of chakra she could only call a stationary kaiten. With the seals to direct the chakra, instead of the stationary kaiten covering all three-hundred-sixty degrees, it only covered the area in front of her. That chakra slammed into the javelins and struggled to hold them, fighting against the terminal velocity. For the most part, it worked: only three managed to pierce her flesh. One in the shoulder (fear spiked when the javelin hit the exact spot the spider-girl's arrow had hit years before, but where that arrow had punctured this only stabbed; she still had mobility in that arm, thank Fate), one in her side (passing through the armored vest but thankfully only scraping the outside of her ribcage on the left side; nothing vital hit), the last in her thigh. The rest stopped in the air, and with a silent snarl she snatched them with her hands (coating her hands with chakra beforehand to keep the sharp edges from slicing her palms) before pulling the chakra back into her body. It hurt to do, but it meant she could better conserve her energy.
As soon as she touched the javelins, or the javelins her, her chakra nullified that which of the other girl's still remained in the bones. Now armed with the enemy's weapons and Tentsuke's brutal training, she hurled two back, aiming for critical points.
Blood. Kimimari tasted blood. It felt like the dark-haired girl had hit the lungs. But Kimimari could push herself beyond the taste of blood, the burning of her lungs. It was her weapons returning to her that she had to worry about. The seal was slightly damaged, but it didn't stop her from releasing it. Her bone that had come flying back at her hit a wall of bone. Now she was in her advanced form. She hadn't wanted it to come this far.
But now, she would kill this girl.
Level one, Nejiko realized. Bone was only going level one. The black pattern was different from Uchiha's flames, the fat-girl's triangle-chain, and the spider-girl's curlicues. No, of interesting note was that for someone who Leigh said complained of such an inflexible taijutsu style, Bone's seal-pattern was very geometric and hard-angled. But as long as that pattern remained, Nejiko believed she could perservere. From experience she knew even the first level of the curse seal could make things so very difficult. Even so. She Saw how the chakra had moved from the seal. That second hakke kuushou had damaged it, even from a distance. If she could get in closer (if), then she might be able affect it even more.
Worth the risk.
When she flung the next two bones swiftly followed by a third, all three of them had been filled and charged with her chakra and aimed at Bone's chest. The move wasn't too dissimilar to what she would do with Tentsuke when she would wrap chakra around the senbon to increase the speed and power of the projectile. It was a pity she couldn't make her chakra stab at Bone's when the projectile hit, but every bit of energy used for defense and healing was chakra that couldn't be used for attacking. Curse seal or no, there was a limit to that which the body could withstand, and Bone's body was already weakened. Nejiko still had to move fast - she would be in serious trouble if the girl went level two.
She rushed again, firing off the javelins as she ran. The ones still in her body she ignored until she pulled them out, throwing one while the last two she wielded as bloodied short swords.
"My, my, my..." a cold, cruel voice mused quietly from the shadows of the corridor, "So they're here." The shape watched, crossing its arms, as a wide grin began to form. If they are here, it means they must be...
The rush of power that came with the seal releasing didn't totally get rid of her burning lungs, the taste of blood, but it went long enough towards it that Kimimari was able to push thoughts of her broken body aside. The makeshift weapons of the other girl's hit what was practically a wall of bone. No more touching of skin, Kimimari decided, and would keep it that way. She was too weak to really risk it.
The whip she flung towards the other girl's feet, while she armored herself in bones.
Days come when Nejiko feels exceptionally glad to be a Hyuuga, and blessed with all that it entails. Today happened to be such a day.
Three-hundred-fifty-nine-degree vision meant that very, very little was not Seen. Accompanying that incredible range of Vision was a brain capable of not only processing that much stimuli at once, but reacting appropriate to said stimuli while allowing for several trains of thought to flow all at once. Consequently, Nejiko knew when Orochimayu vacated the lab to show up in the corridor (and behind Nejiko, no less) and could determine just how much less maneuvering room she had while also dealing with the problem of Bone's wall of said and the fact that the girl grew more armor. And then there were the pair of Oto-nin rushing to this place. Their pace didn't indicate they were coming to aid, so she surmised that they were perhaps instead coming to inform the Sannin that there were invaders. Not that the entire complex wouldn't know, what with that damn'ed alarm.
All the while, she was still keeping tabs on her teammates. Mission objective was to find the target and get her out of here. Everything else--everyone else--was secondary. So until she was certain the others had reached the exit, or expired in the attempt, she would remain where she was as long as possible to keep the main enemy busy. But four-on-one odds when one was a Sannin and another with the curse seal were decidedly lousy. If all four of them worked together, she wouldn't last long.
Don't think. Be an instrument.
The bone-swords cracked against the wall of same but thankfully didn't break fully. The minor physical damage inflicted on the wall re-knit easily, and the whip came snapping back before Nejiko had a chance to use jyuuken. She jumped away, but even then she Saw the whip would be moving too fast--Leigh's kind of fast--to fully get away before it hit. A tight, dense sheath of chakra covered her just long enough to keep the bone spurs from flaying her flesh but did little to lessen the force behind the whip. The powerful blow sent her flying--towards Orochimayu. Thinking fast and reacting faster, Nejiko twisted herself midair and stabbed the bone-swords into the wall to slow down, all the while channeling chakra to her feet so she could grip the concrete. She could do nothing for the mask that clattered down the hall to a stop near the Sannin's feet. Face (and seal!) bared, she'd schooled her face into an emotionless facade, a living mask to make up for the lack of the porcelain. She barely felt the harsh air scrape over her lungs; her sensei was Maito Gaia, her sempai was Sarutobi Asuka, and really, she had done much more for much longer without collapsing, and so far her wounds were minor and easily ignored.
She felt extremely annoyed at how close to boxed in she was. Perched on the wall like some gargoyle, she simultaneously Watched the Sannin on her right (behind which the Oto-nin were even now asking Orochimayu what they should do) and the bone-girl on her left. Bone was ranged; Nejiko did much better with close combat but she wasn't without a few tricks of her own to compensate for the distance. Transferring a bone-sword to one hand she pulled out her weapon's scroll. A quick swipe of blood from her shoulder wound and some deft hand movements across her weapons scroll and the bone-swords were replaced by a pair of leather-bound tessen, one for each hand. It would aid in dealing with ranged attacks - including the bone whip.
Orochimayu nodded at the Oto-nin, yawning idly to show her distaste at being interrupted. Thankfully for the Oto-nin, she was not annoyed enough to kill them--at least not yet. "Kill the intruders if you can," she chuckled, "but if you can't, it is of no real importance. What truly matters has never been hidden here to begin with." Haku was no longer of any importance to her; without Zabuya, she had become despondent and listless. Turning her attention back to the battle in an obvious dismissal, the snake-woman smiled. "Oh, dear," she called out, "Hyuuga Nejiko. What a pleasure to see you here, my darling."
After the whip, Kimimari had to take a second to regroup her own strength. Burning lungs, the taste of blood, all of these came in a distant second to the fact she was actually fighting, actually proving herself useful. That meant the world to her, in ways most people wouldn't ever be able to understand. And she was winning, or so it seemed. The other girl was still alive.
Taking care to take deep, even breaths, Kimimari took light steps towards her Mistress. Towards the other girl, she could finish this, she was sure she could. The whip was at the ready.
Nejiko half-closed her eyes, forcing her Byakugan to seek out the others despite the chakra in the walls. Haruhi had managed to find Haku and the two were making their way out. Both Kakami and Yuugao had won their fights (but not without casualties); good for them. The important fact was the mission objective was reached. Time for a strategic retreat, and Nejiko couldn't be happier. The way the snake said her name (nevermind recognized her) had ice wrapping around her spine. Flicking her wrists she snapped the tessen closed and shoved them through her belt. Hands free now, she performed a trio of seals that caused her to vanish in a puff of air.
She reappeared behind Bone; too far to really be useful with jyuuken, but still close enough to shove a right-handed hakke kuushou at the center of the other girl's back. Not waiting there to be certain of the blow landing, she did the same trio of handseals that pushed her back even farther down the hall. She kept that up until she was just outside the stairwell. The door crashed open when she delivered a hard kick to the doorknob, and she dashed inside, racing towards the others.
[ooc: Jo, Astrid, if you guys want to add anything else, you can put it in the writely and I'll add it here, or you can just keep going in comments. Nejiko's part is over.]