Misery has a name [PLOT]

[Hayate Fuku]

It's the final scene... and it plays on your sympathy

Tap. Tap. Tap. The only thing he tried to focus on was the haggard steps his boots made every time it shifted the earth beneath him. The crunch of stones being pushed into a more comfortable position. Samehada was in a completely unusual place, across the left side of his shoulder. Over the opposite side? He didn't even dare look out of the corner of his eye, eyes glued to the floor, but he did. He looked up, and across his shoulder, was a mass of white bandages, one that would usually be wrapped around Samehada. But no, this was not Samehada. This was Kyoko. Hayate Kyoko.

The lamenting feeling he felt in the bottom of his stomach returned, and with the sickness returning- he had to slowly put her down to the floor. As if a titan trying to pet a butterfly, she lightly patted the floor and Fuku took a couple of steps to the side- dropping down on his right knee and spewing out the contents of his stomach. He couldn't cry... so he was puking. His right hand gripped to the floor ever so tightly- as if the world had been shook... and truth be told? It had. He was anchoring himself to this world, for right now there was nothing on his mind that could ease his pain.

Another figurine... a tragedy, a comedy....

He was there for a couple more minutes, trying to grasp his bearings. Where was he again? Oh, yes. Heading to Kirigakure. Slowly, he stood up. His hair was all parted, from not even sleeping for a couple of days. Today was when he was due back. They were only supposed to be gone for a couple of days. A simple surveillance and destruction mission. Oh so simple. What had went wrong?

Split up. They had been split up. That was a clever move, because as Fuku tried finding his wife... he was much too late. All he could think were the memories between the two of them. Beautiful. Amazing. They had been torn from him, and every memory that his body forcibly sifted through he felt another layer of pain. Why the hell did it hurt so much?

This hurt more than being mutilated by a blade, than the sharp razor of a sword- or the explosion of a bomb. Again, his memory went back to that moment. The glance of terror before a flame of fire engulfed her. There was a only an orange sheen of light. His body had reacted much faster than his mind, and his eyes had closed yet his body moved forward; to try and protect her. Not even a Shunshin would save her.

That fucking look. And then her charred body behind, the ninja had long dissapeared and Fuku knew it wasn't even the time to try look for the ninja. He only rushed straight to her body, and she had clasped something in her hands. Up to her heart. And she couldn't even make a sound. Only a combination of guttural hums, and the sound of singing flesh. She opened up her hand- to reveal her pendant and with what little strength she had, offered it up to Fuku. He caught the gesture, even though her arm hadn't even moved barely an inch.

He snapped himself back into reality. A cold, cold shiver went over him- but he didn't shiver. A steel plating, covered in diamonds and concrete and platinum and chakra reinforced everything. He had to get through this journey. He wasn't far now. Picking up his wife's body, he continued his journey.

Again, tap, tap, tap.

It wasn't long before he came upon the gates of Kirigakure. Oh no... and there, even though the mist had long since settled and her figure had been blurred, Fuku knew who it was. A new layer of sadness would've over encumbered him had he not released Samehada and begun using him like a cane. How shameful. Beginning to walk again into the mist and the obscured view of Fuku that those at the gate and surely- Iku would see. She would see the blurred vision become clearer, as would the object on his hand... but the other object over his shoulder?

Fuku had told the girl to meet both Kyoko and himself at the gate on this precise day, sure- he was a little late and in the back of his mind somewhere he noted that she was being very nice to have waited much longer for his arrival. He could see her now, facial expressions and everything. She was confused.

It eventually became clear, but Fuku's expression only darkened as he saw her face and his own gaze had found it's way to be staring at the floor, he found too much shame in trying to meet the eyes of his student. The other Chūnin on the gate rushed out, Fuku stopped and waited to be greeted. All of this, and even then Iku still did not move. Fuku spoke quietly to the Chūnin whilst his head was firmly fixed to the floor.

You could almost her a penny drop as Fuku began walking forward, speaking to the Chūnin, they removed the bandaged body from his shoulder and using two of them- a respectful thing to do, one holding the feet and the other the head, they would carry her.

"Mission accomplished, Hayate Fuku reporting from A-rank mission. Report coming soon. One casualty, Killed in action."

The next words came out more hushed than he would have liked. But it was still loud enough.

"Hayate Kyoko."

---

note: Didn't like this post. Epic IC development, but didn't like this in the slightest. Welcoming back...

948 words/5000

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 1435 TAGGED fuku NOTES 1435/5000 i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal Today had been a good day, so far. With the excuse that she needed to be in good shape for her training with Fuku later, the young swordsman had talked her way out of having to do, well, anything. Despite having a vastly improved work ethic, Iku could still be incredibly lazy at times. When she had free time, she milked it for all it was worth - mostly because she didn't tend to have all that much free time. If she wasn't training with Fuku, or on missions with Fuku, or on missions with other, less-awesome people, there was usually something else she had to do. Swordsman duties, sometimes. Although, as the youngest of the bunch, she didn't tend to actually do much in the way of Swordsman stuff. But, regardless, free time was a rarity and meant to be thoroughly enjoyed - usually by sleeping until about noon, eating some sort of sweet, fatty pastry that would absolutely destroy her figure if eaten in excess, and lazing about her apartment until someone decided to make her do things. Usually that someone was Fuku. He was an awesome guy and all, but way too stern a taskmaster at times. Not that he took things too seriously - at least, she didn't think he did; being a Swordsman wasn't something you could not take seriously, after all - but sometimes, she just wanted to punch him in his face. At that thought, she grinned. When he had first given her her trusty Kubikiribouchou, and taken her out for that first and (to her) most brutal, trying training session... Man, she must have threatened to punch him out loud at least a dozen times, amid the swearing and the various threats and the tirade against anything and everything he had made her do. Oh, and not to mention the foul and very profane thoughts that had been running through her head that whole time... The only times she had shut up had been when Fuku was talking. He probably would have smacked her with Samehada if she'd interrupted him. Or made her train more. Either one would have just, ehe, made her threaten to punch him for the umpteenth time... Iku was so glad she had matured out of that 'you're making me slightly angry, so I'm going to threaten you and rant until I'm really pissed' stage. Now she could control her anger, use it instead of letting it rule her... Well. Not at all the time - people still managed to get under her skin sometimes - but what could you do? She was only sixteen, she wasn't going to be the master of anything, especially emotional control, for a long, long while. Anyway, she had just fallen out of bed and knocked her head off the floor - which was kind of irritating, but didn't manage to ruin the good mood she had acquired upon waking up and seeing that it was eleven thirty in the morning and she had actually gotten a full ten hours of sleep for once. Iku would never admit it to anyone, but sometimes she had nightmares about her first real kill, that boy from the chunin exams. He had come rushing at her, kunai in hand, and she had swung Kubikiribouchou with the intent to block and then kick him in the nuts 'cause she could, but he had seen the executioner's blade coming at him and faltered, and somehow she had ended up slicing his head right off his body and he started spewing blood everywhere and, at the time, it had really horrified her. She expected to have to kill, but... For her first time to be something like that, in a controlled environment where death wasn't really supposed to occur, against someone that, in that instance, was just like her - just a kid with a big dream... She had freaked out internally - struggled not to show any of it until the whole thing was over and she had her chunin vest and she was alone with Fuku, the only person she would ever share those feelings with. Hell, she had grown closer to the Civil Savage than she was to her own twin sister. They didn't have any sort of intimate relationship or anything - even if he had wanted it, or she, Fuku was married, and that was the kind of thing you just didn't fuck with. Iku had met Kyoko, of course, and was quite fond of the woman and the way she bossed Fuku around and teased him. In fact, she kind of saw the woman as an older, much less annoying sister. An older sister that would have run her through in a second if Iku ever thought about going for her man. "Ehh... don't wanna do anything." she muttered under her breath as she went through the daily routine of untangling herself from the blankets, getting dressed, brushing her hair until it was absolutely perfect, things like that. And then she proceeded to stuff her face - for a pretty slim girl, Iku could put away a ton of food when she was hungry. She studied what was left of the pastry she'd purchased, and sighed. "Well, I guess I can't really share it with Fuku and Kyoko now, ehe..." A single piece remained sitting in the corner of the box, barely big enough for one person, let alone two. Shrugging, Iku decided she might as well eat that piece too - no use in letting it sit there all by itself - then dumped the box in the trash, checked the time, and swore. She was supposed to be meeting the couple at the village gates when they arrived back from their mission, and she was kind of late. Sparing but a second to grab Kubikiribouchou, Iku ran out the door of her apartment and pretty much sprinted for the gates. It was a relief to find that they hadn't arrived before she had, that they were late too. Eh, they had probably just encountered a little delay in their travel, or something. They would be back soon. Meanwhile, she could occupy her time by flirting with the gate guard. Ah, he was a cute little guy, just recently promoted to chunin. And he got so embarrassed whenever she put the moves on him. Really, one would think he would be used to it by now. But she supposed it was a compliment, that her advances still made him blush and stutter and drool a little bit. Eventually, she saw a blurry figure through the mist, and the attention she had been paying the highly embarrassed guard was now entirely fixated on the figure. It had to be Fuku - she thought she could see the outline of Samehada - but... why was he alone? Her confusion was laid clear on her face. Her mind was blank. She wasn't - it couldn't - she wouldn't let herself think the thought that had sprung to mind when the Swordsman came into sight alone. Eventually, the thought could not be denied. The bundle on his shoulder, wrapped in Samehada's bandages - it was every bit as bad as she had thought. Iku didn't know what to say, or think, or do - what was there to say? What could she do to console him, a man who had likely just watched his beloved wife die right in front of him? Death was the reality for shinobi. She knew that, Fuku knew that, and - and Kyoko had known it too. Death could not be denied. But some small part of her, the little bit of the child that remained in her heart, thought that no one she loved would ever die. That she would never have to go to a dear friend's funeral, never have to say goodbye. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she furiously wiped them away. She - she wouldn't, not here, not right now. Iku opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't get any words out. Oh gods. Kyoko-chan. No, no... This can't have happened, it's not... He wouldn't look her in the eye, she noted as they shifted the position of Kyo- of the body. It was no secret that he felt ashamed - probably felt that it was his fault, that if only he had done something, this wouldn't have happened... A clear indication of survivor's guilt, but gods, she couldn't blame him for being upset. Kyoko-chan.

[Hayate Fuku]

And so they took the body. His sight went up to watch the remnants of his wife be took away, into the side of the gates and into darkness. They were instantly replaced with two new Chūnin. Standard protocol, but they knew the reasoning and they kept their heads down.

He stood there for a few seconds, and slowly brought Samehada up- and back over his shoulder and fastening it into place. Going into his pocket, he brought out her pendant, took a look at it and then brought it up and around his neck, and fastening it tightly. The ever prominent necklace that she wore was now bore onto his neck. Such a thing had now become absolutely symbolic to him, and he had thought numerous times of putting it on for the small time he owned it. But now he felt was the time to apply it and wear it.

And there it was. So life would continue. There was one of those questions niggling in the back of Fuku's head and that was- 'If she would say anything, what would she say?' He spent a few moments pondering about that. What exactly would she say? Something true to her character. That's it.

"You'll be alright, Fuku-kun." he would've smiled but couldn't really muster anything. But now? Now was to walk. Fuku began walking forward, relieved at the weight of his shoulders but held back by a weight in his heart.

Stretching out his body, you could hear numerous cracks and pops and he tried to wind out his unease. Walking closer to Fuku his eyesight caught onto hers. He was looking down at the girl- his height the problem of course. "Konnichiwa, Iku-chan." he said, and kept his eyes locked for a few seconds and for those few seconds those steely grey eyes faltered and his insides thoughts could be seen from the panes known as his eyes. Oh so incredibly light, but his face had been marked with dirt- but his eyes? You could never make them look murky.

Fuku had been training Iku for some time now, and she was getting pretty damn good with the grade. Had it been any other bad influence that put him in this kind of state, he would've trained it off with both himself and other people. but this? He didn't feel like training- he didn't feel like washing his problems down a bottle. "I fancy a cigarette," he sait quite bluntly and pointedly. Something out of the back of his mind poked forward the prospect of calming tobacco, and how it eased the grip of things. This couldn't really be so much of a bad thing, right? This wasn't a coping mechanism. Just a cigarette.

Walking past her he made his way through the gates. "I don't need to send a mission report until tomorrow. Did you want to get trained?" he felt it would be much better just to completely ignore the topic. He wasn't really in any mood to make some big decisions right now.

-

note: I felt it would be better to have shorter posts to have more interaction then to just start having purple prose and stuff.

1459 words /5000

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 468 TAGGED fuku NOTES 1921/5000 i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal Iku kept her gaze trained on Fuku, unable to watch the chunin guards bear away the remains of a very good friend. She couldn't even begin to imagine what the swordsman was thinking, what he was feeling; he had always been tough, and seemed largely unflappable, but she knew his heart had to be breaking. She couldn't believe he had kept himself as composed as he had, that he somehow hadn't broken down. And though she tried to tell herself that everything would go back to being normal - or as normal as things could be now, anyway - and that she should treat Fuku just as she always had, the chunin knew she would walk on eggshells around the man until she knew that he was alright. Until she knew he wasn't going to break down and become a mess of a man. As for how long that would be, the girl didn't know. She tried to plaster a weak smile on her face, but the attempt fell flat as she looked up into those sad gray eyes of his, still startlingly bright despite the gloom that surrounded him like a blanket. "Konnichiwa, Fuku." she replied in kind. Without warning, she stepped forward, closing the last bit of distance between them, and pulled the tall man into a hug. Perhaps it wasn't the sort of thing she would usually do - being that Fuku was a friend and a mentor and probably not a person that did much hugging to begin with - but in that moment he had looked almost vulnerable, ready to break, and she had resolved to be the glue that held him together if he needed it. And right now, he looked like he needed a goddamn hug. A moment later she released him and stepped back, still unsure of what to say to him. Iku had never really had to deal with losing someone that was pretty close to her before - odd, in a way, but she supposed that was because she didn't form all that many close bonds with others - and so, for once, she was at a total loss of words. "Yeah, if you're up to it." Maybe training would get his mind off things for a while, lighten his mood a bit, get him away from the cusp of an emotional breakdown - if his feelings were that strong, which she assumed they were because of the way he had acted around her. "If you want to just call it a day, though, that's alright too." she added hurriedly. Iku didn't want him to feel like he was obliged to train with her if he didn't want to right now - she was sure she could find some other way to occupy her time.

[Hayate Fuku]

Fuku still felt the soothing sensation in the hug that Iku had given him. It was a welcome distraction. And he stepped forward to go to a shop- but felt a sudden weight in his breast pocket. Oh, there they were. Fuckin' hell. he pulled them out and turned around, bringing one up to his mouth and quickly lighting it. "Let's take a walk, then." and began walking to their training ground. Looking down Iku's back, he noted the size of Kubikiribocho. Roughly seven inches from the floor. She was five inches higher than the blade, but it's posture gave it an extra two. "Still looks big on you. How are you doing with it?" cooly breathing in the tobacco, and breathing out the smoke on the opposite side keeping in mind of the girl who probably wouldn't want the irritating flavour and scent around her.

Fuku did remember that she had grown exponentially with the sword since she had become a Chunin. Without teammates holding her back and Fuku able to teach her almost every day, she was close to being a fully fledged swordsman. She was a little sloppy with some of the movements. It probably would take another week of intense training and Fuku could say that she would be a fully fledged swordsman. Capable of being solo. And being a swordsman to the full extent that he was himself. There was no doubt in his mind that Iku would undoubtedly beat him one day. These thoughts still, were a welcome distraction.

He didn't know how to feel. But there was one way to ignore it- and that was training. Training and a cigarette. Finally making the way to their training ground in mostly silence, Fuku's thoughts plagued by not his deceased wife- but that he was now a widow. I thought only the term applies to women... but... in truth, Fuku never would've thought that she would pass away before he- a cruel reminder of life. And now it was this moment that Fuku understood her feelings when she said to 'be careful' and worry about him before he went on a mission. These kinds of feelings that Fuku was experiencing now; except with more regret. More regret that Fuku didn't always say the same. But she must've realized that he did care, right?

Seeing the tip of the broken Kubikiribochou- they were here. "You can see the ability of your blade is pretty powerful, it allows you to make senseless power-strikes that would otherwise ruin most blades. In truth I didn't think you'd had made a kill before the end of this year."

Fuku took a couple more steps, gesturing for the woman to stop. Then he drew his own blade. "We're going to find out first hand just how far you've come." Fuku was thinking about his own strategy Right, she's probably a lot better now since I last fought her, so I think I'll start off cautiously, then as we escalate I'lol go from the partial fusion to the full. It depends how welll she can surprise me. This was the way to momentarily forget.

Drawing out Samehada, and waiting for her to draw her own sword. "Good. Show me what you've got, Iku-chan." Fuku spoke calmly, and awaited the eagre battle.

---

2008 words /5000

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 654 TAGGED fuku NOTES 2575/5000 USED Kirigiri: Hokunami i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal "I don't think it's ever going to stop looking big on me. I'm probably not going to get any taller." she commented dryly, sighing inwardly. She, of course, had gotten the short end of the stick when it came to height. At least she had grown a few inches since acquiring Kubikiribouchou - otherwise, she wouldn't have even been able to carry it around the way she did. But still, she would kill to be taller - maybe not quite as tall as Fuku, who was about eight inches taller than she, but like, five foot nine or ten. It would sure make wielding the executioner's blade easier if it wasn't so much bigger than her. "I've improved a lot. I can't say I'm as good as you yet, but I'm not far from it." And Iku wasn't exaggerating her own abilities here. A lot of her movements were kind of sloppy and she wasn't the fastest, since she was still adjusting to having the full length of the blade at her disposal, but she had a feeling that it wouldn't take long for her to reach Fuku's level from where she was currently. That didn't mean she would be able to beat him in a spar - he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, and more experience - but she could give him a run for his money, at least. Iku had loved her genin team dearly - ehe, well, sometimes - but they had just been holding her back. She had never thought that she would be that person that was miles above her teammates, the one that required more than what her sensei could give her - but under Fuku's tutelage and with Kubikiribouchou, that was what she had become. It was due to her constant pleading that her team entered the exams when they did, due to her that they passed the survival test so easily - and that was evident when her teammates were knocked out of the first round in the tournament and she went on to the finals and scored her first kill there. Everything had changed the day that Fuku gave her her sword and started her on the path to becoming a Swordsman of the Mist. She could still clearly remember that day in her mind - and, seeing the piece of the blade that Fuku had broken off of Kubikiribouchou, she smiled. Oh, she had gotten so angry with him, thinking he'd ruined the sword before she even got to have it. At the time she hadn't known about the blade's ability to regenerate - she was ignorant of that for quite a long time, honestly, and had only figured it out pretty recently. And damn, it was awesome. Iku tended to be a pretty reckless person - knowing that she would always be able to fix the blade when it broke gave her greater freedom to make those reckless, risky moves. "Heh, I didn't expect it either. In case you've forgotten, I kind of freaked out." she remarked. Iku drew her own blade moments after Fuku, grinning at him. A good spar was the best way to get your mind off things. There would be time to mourn, to honor the woman's memory later - right now, she was going to throw herself into this training and show Fuku just how much she had improved. She was going to start off simple - with moves he probably wouldn't have any trouble blocking or countering - but it would be kind of dumb to throw out her best moves first, wouldn't it? Iku swung her sword from above and jumped at him. Doubtless he'd be able to block - what kind of shitty swordsman would he be if he couldn't? - but she was hoping to catch him off guard a little.

[Hayate Fuku]

"Yeah." Fuku was just going to nod and agree. He made his way into his informal stance, holding his sword- palms folded over the texture. Right now, Samehada was in it's bandages, but that was fine. He could still pummel someone with it. And that person was Iku. This was a good way to vent out his inner most frustrations. Look to the sky and call upon your angels- because the next events were going to challenge Fuku as a whole. This would be integral to his being, and the foundation of something new.

And so it had begun. and so it seemed for a few moments they were locked with who was going to make the first move? With the swoop of Iku's swords and her jump to Fuku, his own state had kicked into high gear, there would be no fooling Fuku. Though, as long as she didn't start swinging for his head- he would be alright to block, but the moment she started throwing her weight into the sword; something she would learn soon, he wouldn't be able to block with a gargantuan force like that. It was bad enough that Samehada was tolerating it, let alone going home with a few less scales; they would regenerate and heal... but Fuku wouldn't be happy about it. Or so Fuku thought, because it was still a sword...

[music]

Moving his sword further up towards the sky, he sidestepped and brought the sword up in a circular fashion to block the sword, and instead of retreating the sword to take off her head, he instead began moving forward- so that if it came down the strength, she would find Samehada using her own blade as a guide to rush down towards the hilt and of course, leading the sword would be a hard thing to have bashed against your body. Or head, whichever worked. Fuku grinned, a very rare thing to see for a moment like this.

"Work on your footwork, Iku. If you spend time in the air without being able to move, you're terribly vulnerable." Fuku noted, and they seemed to be trading blows fairly well. Her footwork was good, her stance was good, but now Fuku was going to switch it up a bit. Shuddering, he moved back and flicked the sword from his right hand into his left, and pointed Samehada towards the floor- both hands firmly fixed on the blade, but in a completely different stance. He had a lot more range now. If she gave him the chance to perform this, of course. If she kept on him like a rash- Fuku would be forced to pull Samehada into an awkward position- vulnerable.

Like a game of chess, really.

---

2464 words /5000

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 428 TAGGED fuku NOTES 3003/5000 i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal Usually, Fuku didn't actively try to kick her ass - most of the time it just happened that way; she'd get tripped up or do something dumb or leave herself wide open for a counterattack and he would take full advantage of it and the spar would end with her ass on the ground and her mentor smirking at her, knowing it would piss her off. This time, though, she was pretty sure he would put everything he had into his strikes, and try to utterly thrash her. After all, if your entire being was focused on fighting, there was little room left for grief - he was shutting everything else out and taking out his pent up frustrations on the chunin. But she understood why, even if she would surely give him a verbal thrashing the next day if she was all bruised up. Not to mention that with Fuku giving it his all, Iku would have to really work to even keep up with him, and the longer she lasted, the better she was getting. Really, it was good for the both of them. As expected, he easily blocked the first strike - but she didn't retreat, and tried instead to push him back with her sizable strength. Fuku was still stronger, but Kubikiribouchou could do a number on Samehada - she was pretty sure her sword's brute strength was more than a match for Samehada's, even if the latter's wielder was physically stronger than the former's. Eh, at least she'd shred off a few more scales, if nothing else. And - well, hell, he'd managed to turn that against her, of course. "Oh, fuck you." she muttered as the sword bashed into her side, glaring at him. She should have figured that he would pull something like that. Hmmph. They began to trade blows, neither having an advantage over the other. Her side hurt like a bitch - as one would expect after having a giant bloody sword bashed into it - but there was no way in hell she was going to let that hamper her. It wasn't unbearable by any means - it was just another obstacle to surmount. Iku was immediately suspicious when he moved back - whatever he was planning, she certainly wasn't going to just let him do it. She lunged forward and swung at him, using Kubikiribouchou's length to her advantage - aiming to take his head off, which meant he was going to have to give up on whatever new approach he was trying and protect his neck.

[Hayate Fuku]

And so the opportunity wasn't given. That was not much of a big deal, though.

Thankfully she had been practising in her own time; Fuku couldn't always help her out and on the days in which he was busy, she would train herself. This was completely essential to being a Swordsman- Fuku couldn't train her a lot. It was so that every time he did have the extra couple of hours to train her, she would curve significantly.

What would have Fuku done if he hadn't had made Iku his student? Well, it wasn't like he would've kept the sword and it would have been shameful to his own name to keep the sword in his house as a monetary treasure. But then again, Hamada Akido- was not worthy of the blade. He was much too a nuisance to wield it- that, Fuku was not afraid to say. And it was why Fuku sliced him in half. This battle was going fair, Fuku could say- but he was going to try take it up a notch. She wasn't a child anymore, and she would have to realize that being a swordsman was a little less about being political, and more about being a savage.

That was what Fuku learned last. Before he was a swordsman, he was married; and kind of soft. Now she was gone, he would have to toughen up and take on the true temperament of a Swordsman of the mist. It was bad to say, but it was beyond Fuku that he was able to do what he did. He was by far the calmest of the swordsmen. Speaking of which- maybe the Nuibari user was calmer. He shrugged from the depths of his own mind and continued with the fight.

As noted, the opportunity was not given for him to switch his stance, so he had bring to Samehada up around his face so it could block the strike- lest he left without a head. It was semantic- Either guard, or lose your head. You could also perform variant things to stop that, but... it was just the easiest to do. The only thing is? Was that it left the other side of his body open to be attacked. If she was handy with using both her sword and mind, then she would be smart and use her legs and/or a hand to pummel into his body, and Fuku would just have to tolerate it.

Hopefully, she wouldn't.

"Focus, Iku."

Speaking of focusing, Fuku was losing focus himself. The longer the monotonous spar raged on, for once he wished himself to be at home, with the illustrious smell of cooking. Agh. Fuku stepped back, spitting out some blood. "What the fuck was that?" whatever it had been, Fuku didn't see it coming. Oh the fucking irony. If she said anything; Fuku was going to go nuts himself. But at that moment Samehada sunk into his arms, he had entered his half transformation; Samehada began to grow, and out of the bandages it was revealed. Now was the chakra-sucking.

2978 words / 5000

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 573 TAGGED fuku NOTES 3576/5000 i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal She had been successful in stopping him from taking a new approach. Good. It had been a while since they had really sparred, and Iku thought she was showing noticeable improvement. She was actually managing to make a little headway against Fuku, although that wasn't necessarily due to skill alone. Honestly, the chunin didn't think he was throwing himself as fully into this spar as she was; whether he couldn't manage to put Kyoko out of his mind, or he just didn't want to fight... Whatever it was, she was going to have to try to snap him out of it. Part of that she attributed to her desire to face him, to see how much she had improved on her own; a selfish desire, at the moment, considering that the man's wife had just died, but she couldn't help it. It was hitting him hard - of course it was - but Iku thought he would have been able to at least focus a little better. He was the 'civil savage,' but he certainly had to be able to shut off his rationality and embrace his savage side. The other Swordsmen could - well, perhaps she hadn't exactly gotten the grasp of that yet, but her point remained. Then again, as far as she knew, none of the other Swordsmen were married, and something like that did tend to soften people a little. Perhaps Fuku had never gotten to that level, and that was why he was regarded as a civil savage, or maybe he'd lost that side of himself to be with Kyoko. She honestly didn't know whether he had had Samehada longer than he'd been with Kyoko, or whether it was the other way around, but she figured that that didn't matter much in the long run. As expected, he chose to just block her strike with Samehada - the simplest maneuver - and ended up leaving himself open for another attack. So Iku did the first thing that came to mind - she kicked him, pretty damn hard. He wouldn't pull any punches, so she wouldn't either. "I'm not the one that needs to focus, Fuku." He was distracted, and in being so gave her an opportunity that she didn't hesitate to take. Instead of taking another swing at him with Kubikiribouchou, she simply punched him in the face. "Step it up, or you're going to get your ass kicked." she chided. Now, fully engaged in the spar and a little pissy because he wasn't, Iku's mouth began to run. Most of the time, she had a little mental filter that prevented her from saying most things she really shouldn't say. But now? That filter was long gone, and it was just a matter of time before the girl said something she would soon regret to the grieving swordsman. He began to merge with Samehada, and she swung at him, with little finesse or strategy behind the move. She just wanted to get his head in the game and show him that he needed to take her more seriously than this. "Come on, Fuku. You don't want to end up like her, do you?" Iku didn't say a name, but - it would be pretty damn clear as to who she was referring to. And at that moment, caught up in her anger and trying to goad him into some sort of violent reaction, Iku didn't regret saying it.

[Hayate Fuku]

All of which they kept trading blows, Fuku's mind wasn't truly there. Who knows what would've happened if there was a war in Kirigakure. Or some sort of dispute- Fuku wouldn't be in the right mind. Or at least, he thought so. In reality he could probably just shut it out for the good for Kirigakure only for it to return in full force. Not the most helpful of minds. A part of himself he had lost, a hole in the wall. And from that was a gaping hole. "I suppose you're right." He wasn't focusing right, he knew he wasn't and Fuku was still doing it. The weird thing was, was that he could shut it out. He could shut it off, but he didn't. He didn't know why. Maybe was that because if he shut it out, all that remained of Kyoko was gone. At least, until it returned.

To her right now, it was all just a bit of fun. That was good for a swordsman, but it only last for a while. When you started to having to kill people quite regularly both as a Shinobi, but with the added number of carcasses from being a Swordsman of the mist... it quickly became a boring thing. Well, that was what Fuku thought. But then again, there were people in the elemental nations that would quite happily torture without a thought. Now he had gotten into his partial fusion, he had gained more abilities due to his fusion with Samehada. His features became more ashen like- becoming greyer and slightly more sharklike, most noticeably his eyes becoming slitted- oh how fantastic.

When Fuku heard Iku speaking; he was offended. But that wasn't hardly bad enough to make him give up any more hits. His mouth felt hot from being punched there, and so did the side of his ribs from being kicked. But he was still offended; it was a low blow for her. It would take more than that to really make him hurt her. Not that he would hurt her anyway.

"You'll be, if you don't pipe down." Fuku's cool reply came, bringing his spiked arm up- to block, and his opposite leg came up, that would hit in the perfect spot. Just above the kneecap, on the end of the thigh that would lead to her calfs, and if it hit it would show her a minute amount of the pain that Fuku could cause. Little did he know for the consequences that were going to happen shortly. Giving a deep breath during this his heart was racing; he knew what Iku had said had effected him, and she knew that too. But he was also heating up fairly well.

After delivering the quick little kick, if it connected he didn't care- he wasted no time in sending out his opposite hand, to try punch her in the same place that she had punched him. It would be nice to sock her one for the insult she had tried to thrown at him. But he was still unhappy that she had said that.

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+1 Taijutsu stats [Strength & Endurance]
+1 Shunshin [Reflexes]

3497 words/ 5000

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 373 TAGGED fuku NOTES 3949/5000 i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal Iku's expression soured further. "Then do something about it, Fuku! Don't just let me kick your ass." she snapped, exasperated. And if he didn't shape up soon? She was going to kick his ass, thoroughly, and enjoy it, too. Maybe then he would think twice about getting all distracted and wimping out in the middle of a spar. Man, she just wanted to punch him again. Even harder than the first time. Maybe knock out a couple of teeth, too. And the most infuriating thing about all of this was that she still couldn't get all that much of a reaction out of him. Kubikiribouchou slammed into his arm - unfortunately, she did little to no damage at all because he had gone all sharky and begun to fuse with Samehada. And that made him a little more dangerous in her mind - she'd never really fought him when he was fused, and had hardly even seen him fight while fused, except for that nasty little incident in which he'd sliced her predecessor in half - and that was good, because it was about fucking time that he started getting serious. "Yeah, right. Sure. I'm the one that's in trouble here." Her tone dripped with sarcasm. "If you've been acting like this... no wonder you couldn't save her." That was an even lower blow - and she did feel the slightest twinge of regret for saying it. But that was lost in the red haze of the spar - there would be time to feel like a horrible person about the whole thing later. Fuku's well-placed kick hurt like a motherfucker, not that she'd let him know that, refraining from giving a vocal reaction other than a low hiss. He was trying now. She'd kicked his ass into gear with her words. And that had been her aim. In the short moment after the kick, the swordsman delivered a punch that sent her reeling. Fuck, he really was a hell of a lot stronger than she was. Iku spit out a mess of blood and saliva, scowling at Fuku and wildly swinging Kubikiribouchou in his general direction again. "Keep trying. It's going to take a lot more than that to put me down."

[Hayate Fuku]

Still, it wouldn't faze him. That was always good. Fuku thought she was doing well; although always having been a bad mouthed woman. She would be a good swordsman.

But then it was. Those words. He didn't mind the first ones, you would expect someone to be sparring or even fighting against to goad your opponent, But then those... those next words. It was only after his punch had connected with her face that he actually registered what she had said. Things seemed to- slow down. And just slowly... his vision began to bleed red.

"What did you just say?"

And so he fused with Samehada further and to the full transformation, a explosion of chakra emitted from him, expunging the surrounding area with his full bloodlust directed onto the central mass of Iku, and the sheer chakra upon them began cracking the floor beneath the both of them in a large radius. And she began speaking again, but as she spoke and swung her sword- Fuku ducked underneath it, and his arms flailed up as he came to his full height, over her arms and wrapping them together, like a hug locking her off from being able to swing any further.

He then opened his mouth and bit down into the side of her shoulder.

A visceral mouth of teeth completely open- Kunai-like teeth ripping down through her clothes and skin. And there it was. Standing completely still, except only now- Fuku could taste blood. Blood... why can I taste blood? Widened eyes opened up. Realizing that he had been seeing red, on his own student. His grip loosened, and he removed his teeth; such a sudden shock to the girl, and so much so that he kept a hold of her; like a hug this time. More around her neck, and bringing her down to her knees; not from force. but will.

One hand around the back of her shoulders, the other on the top of her head holding her tightly. His body shook slightly, something that someone could even confuse with repressed tears.

"Iku-"

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3844 words/ 5000

- Used CR spec; reducing Iku's shunshin by 1 [Speed, distance capable] large consumption
- Fused with Samehada

89% chakra

[Yasui Iku]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true] WORDS 381 TAGGED fuku NOTES 4330/5000 i've been a bad, bad girl ♥ what i need is a good defense 'cause i'm feeling like a criminal Perhaps continuing to goad him had not been the smartest decision. His tone broke through the haze of her anger and sent a shiver down her spine. But, stubborn as always, Iku refused to show even the tiniest hint of fear towards the fully fused, pissed off Fuku. The huge shockwave of chakra nearly knocked her on her ass - hell, she hadn't even though he was fucking capable of something like that. It was that moment, when the sheer force of his chakra split open the ground between them, that she realized just how much she didn't know of Fuku's strength. He bore down upon her, locking his arms around her; Iku lost her grip on Kubikiribouchou and it fell to the ground, out of her reach. Not that she would have had a chance to retrieve it even if he hadn't been holding her in what she mentally dubbed as the hug of death. Yes, even though she was down her sword and trapped in the arms of an utterly seething Fuku, the chunin was still cracking jokes to herself. Better than showing him that she was scared. Regardless, she doubted that her internalized feelings were any secret to the swordsman. Her inner musings were suddenly and painfully cut off when he sank his teeth deep into her shoulder. And hell, she couldn't bite back the shriek that escaped her - no way, no how. Iku had considered herself lucky because, for the most part, she had managed to avoid getting hurt on missions and whatnot; but that also meant that she was way less prepared for just how much something like this fucking hurt. "Fuck..." If Fuku hadn't been holding her up, the girl would have dropped to her knees. Shit, he'd really gotten her good, hadn't he? Fuku seemed to realize what he had done a few moments later and withdrew his teeth from the wound that Iku didn't even want to look at or think about. But she couldn't exactly help thinking about it; it was practically consuming her thoughts - even the slightest twitch sent jolts of pain through that side. "Fuck." she murmured again in a pained whisper. She sank down to her knees and buried her face in Fuku's chest, shaking. "Fuku, I-I..."

[Hayate Fuku]

The silence was absolutely terrifying. The only sounds were from Fuku unfusing from Samehada and gripping out of his right hand, he threw the sword to one side. Not only had he cut her, but his physical touch had been draining her chakra. They were just stuck in silence. More shaking from Fuku, but then his grip loosened to take a look at the bite; it was too red for him to see. "I gotta take a look."

Fuku laid her down carefully, and without a second thought ripped her shirt over where the bite had been, revealing a bit of lingerie- which he duly ignored, using the ripped part to mop away the excess blood. "Don't say anything. I know." That wasn't really said in any specific way or tone, but right now? There were more important things to attend to. He knew how he felt, and he was pretty sure he knew how she felt-

"Oh shit. Shit shit shit-" Fuku ripped off his own shirt, and compressed it over into her shoulder, before grabbing the two swords and quickly lifting her up onto his own shoulder,began running to the village. "I've nicked one of your major veins, I gotta get you to the hospital. " Fuku didn't have any blood pills, they were wasted. All intentions were focused on getting Iku into Kirigakure. It was going to hurt Iku, but it was going to hurt a lot less than being dead. Besides, Fuku didn't know what he could bring on himself if he killed his own student. They quickly came upon Kirigakure, and nobody stopped him when they went through the gates. Luckily, the hospital wasn't so far.

"Training accident." Fuku spoke, quite bluntly. And even then it wasn't long before they came upon the hospital, rushing through the doors and thankfully- just like always there were Iyro-nin at the door, ready to perform a Shosen no jutsu. It was all civilian stuff, protecting all the lives and stuff like that. Bringing her to the floor of the hospital, Fuku explained, while placing the two swords to one side.

"Bite marks, they nicked a vein and she needs a blood pill. Fix her up, also, give her an anaesthesia." Fuku had been on the receiving end of this many times; so she was safe in the hands of Fuku. His thoughts had been running absolutely wild. Their wild adventure needed to come to a close before anyone got seriously hurt. It was unusual that just less than an hour ago, Fuku had only just returned to Kirigakure and now here he was; sat in a hospital. Whilst she was being performed on and the Iyro-nin spoke to her, Fuku wandered away to the main desk.

"Did you get Hayate Kyoko alright?" he spoke quietly, and almost- darkly. The woman nodded with an affirmation. After sharing a couple of words, Fuku went back to Iku. Looking around, he could see some of the less injured Civilians old and young looking upon the scene. It wasn't often you would see people needing to be performed on like this. He picked up the two swords, Samehada seemed a little less lenient- wriggling around a little in resistance. pipe the fuck down, fucking sword. By Fuku's command, it did. He went over to Iku, who was looking a lot better now- the one Iyro-nin working his thing. Fuku shook his hand, and picked up Iku who was now pretty much what you would call 'Down and out for the count'

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SPOILER: Click to show

Iku when the time came, would wake up in Fuku's apartment. His apartment now. She was still in her clothes, minus the shoes and flak jacket. Her sword was on the other side of the bed; Fuku's side, and a long-sleeved T-shirt that would fit Iku well. Fuku was downstairs, on the couch- his arms spread out along the top of it, and his head back and eyes closed. He wasn't asleep, though. His mind was very much awake even though his bodily reactions were absent. His mind was running through the memory; but his thoughts were still. a relief.

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4534 words/ 5000