The First Encounter

It wasn't difficult for anyone who viewed the young girl to surmise that she was quite intense with her training. Of course, training alone wasn't exactly the easiest thing to benefit from, but Nozomi took training more as a way to gauge her level of competence as well as to keep up her physic form. Despite the cold chill from the morning air, Nozomi had worked up quite a sweat running through her drills, and people could tell the girl had been there a while.

Not only was Nozomi's gear stashed near one of the training posts, but so was a small canopy and sleeping bag near a tiny pup tent. She had arrived late into the night and began practicing throughout it. Her shirt was off despite the cold, her small chest hidden by a black sports bra, but it did help with the sweat she was generating. Her physical tone was pretty much as close to perfect as someone could be, with little to no body fat at all.

Taking a small break to start on a breakfast, Nozomi sat down and started chomping away at a small meal she had prepared already, wrapping a blanket around herself now that the physical exertions weren't keeping her warm. The breakfast was rather bland for most, but it would do for now. She had made foods that didn't need heated, as she didn't feel like making a fire to warm them up, and part of her was regretting it.

With her work on her boots going the right way, Yomi decided that perhaps a break might've been a good way to loosen up her muscles and relief some of her stress for now, certainly given the fact that she had to have the boots be cured and primed later on any way, which was basically a task consisting out of nothing but waiting and keeping an eye on eventual deformations in their shape.

She had been to the training areas many times before, having seen one of the jonin fight some poor little genin, she herself had beaten down a genin pretty hard as well, but that was besides the point.

As she came near the fields on which she'd find most people train in pairs or even groups, she was surprised to see that one genin who she'd seen fighting a jonin before: a small, almost tiny girl who actually seemed to look intriguingly well-toned, which obviously betrayed that she was more of a physical fighter and not a bad one apparently either.

"Oy kid, you seem like you burn through those calories quite fast," The chuunin laughed as she walked down from the barricades that made up the boundary of the training fields towards the girl who was seemingly scrounching through her lunch like a hungry bear. "I'm guessing you just did quite some training."

Passing the tiny girl, Yomi dropped her long overcoat to the ground and flexed the muscles in her arms a bit, noticing that though her muscle mass was perhaps slightly larger than that of the girl, the genin wasn't exactly beneath her in terms of physical fitness from the looks of it. "Well, if you don't mind...I'll be taking this field for a while, so if you want to resume your training, I'd be more than happy to be your partner for the day...just don't be boring or go weak on me. If you do that...I'll kill you without a second thought, got it?"

In the middle of her scarfing down her food, Nozomi was slightly caught unawares by a voice calling out from a small distance away. She'd been so intently eating that she had failed to notice someone else approaching the training field she was utilizing. Looking over to the speaker who was commenting on how fast she was consuming food, Nozomi stopped mid bite as she stared at the girl.

She passed by and removed her overcoat, revealing an incredible body beneath, one that made Nozomi drool a little bit, but that looked to be decently strong. The flex she wasn't sure if it was for her or for Yomi, but she appreciated it none the less. Then she said that she would be taking the field with Nozomi if the younger girl didn't mind, but that she wasn't someone to take lightly, and Nozomi's heart soared. This was the perfect person to fight, absolutely. She could appreciate the girl's body a little more too.

Moving to talk, Nozomi struggled for a second before realizing she was still mid bite and then took a moment to swallow her food and clear her throat before trying again. "Absolutely. I can't really properly train by myself anyway." was all she managed to actually get out. After all, she was quite bad at actually talking to anyone, and wasn't particularly expressive outside of fights.

Still, as she stood up, her eyes spoke for her, a fire burning behind them that was her intent to prove herself not just as some sort of pushover. If it was a fight this person wanted, it was a fight she was going to get. Of course, Nozomi had no way of knowing this girl's rank, but judging by her age and body fitness, she was probably not a genin, which was enough for the blonde. "I'm not a kid though. I just turned 17 the other day." she threw in as an aside.

Taking up a stance that wasn't all that energy intensive, Nozomi simply waited for the other girl to start their training session. She usually liked to initiate, but she kind of wanted to feel out the other person first and adjust accordingly. Besides, she had just done a bit of intense training, and wanted to preserve her stamina a little at least for the first few rounds.

"Fine you're seventeen, still a kid to me though," Yomi laughed, still thinking wether or not she could be sure that this girl was going to be one heck of a taijutsu user or just another run of the mill failure. Looking at the girl's physique though, it seemed the first of the two was more likely, certainly if she kept up training like she apparently had done earlier, given her appetite and sweat.

The girl was right earlier though, since training one your own was only good for strengthening your muscles and perfect your techniques, but training with others was better for the sense of and in combat and it was usually more intense as well, something Yomi knew all to well from the bygone days of her early youth where her late father trained her like others would handle a slave: rigorously and cruelly, but luckily those days were long gone as well, Yomi herself took care of that when she decided she was stronger than both her father and her mother. "Well than kid, because you don't want to be called that, I guess introductions might actually be favorable in this case. You can call me Yomi, so what do I call you?"

Yomi watched as Nozomi took a stance and smiled rather viciously, pulling her gloves a bit and making sure her suspenders were snug and tight at her shoulders. "Let's get this started."

Without saying another word, Yomi suddenly pressed her thumbs against her legs and made a slight pumping motion with those fingers three times in a row, regulating the chakra flow within her muscles and letting them engorge themselves on her chakra. "Time for a good, old fashioned beat up."

As swift as she could, Yomi engaged Nozomi, aiming to use the palm of her hand to slam the kid into the air by aiming a thrust towards the girl's chin, followed with another palm thrust aimed at the kid's chest, having the intention to maximize the damage and send the kid hurtling backwards.

Chakra: 62/80

Techs used:
Arhat Fist: active
Pressure strike x3: 1/3 posts
Slamming palm
Shatter palm

Stat Changes:
Strength: D [base] ->C [Arhat Fist] -> B[slamming palm, Shatter palm]
Speed: D [base] -> C [Pressure Strike]

(I'm using my phone, so I'll add in any relevant ua's and technique costs once I get to my computer )

The girl, before she initiated the little sparring session, decided that introductions were in order. It made sense, but it had been something Nozomi hadn't thought aboit, and she felt a little self concious about it. But still, the girl was named Yomi, so now Nozomi had a name to put to her face. "I'm Nozomi, it's nice to meet you." She said softly.

Yomi was already starting to play mind games, calling her kid even though she had said she wasnt. It was moderately effective outside of combat, but once Nozomi’s mind was focused on a fight, she didn't tend to think very much.

Yomi pressed her thumb to her leg, and then too off using a fighting style Nozomi was incredibly used to, being a practitioner of the Arhat Fist style herself. The uppercut came in and Nozomi figured she would fight the stronger style with the body speed of the Spring Chant style.

Twitching backwards, the uppercut grazed past her face, and Nozomi could almost feel the power behind the strike. Getting caught by one of those would be stunning for sure. As Yomi's palm moved towards her chest, Nozomi’s hand moved to intercept the strike by pushing it to the side with her left hand, moving with a small rotation so that her right elbow would be striking towards the left side of Yomi's face.

Most of the key principles of the Spring Chant style revolved around the user staying close and tight to an opponent to stop them from using their own moves effectively. Joint strikes and deflection were key, while using the elbow strikes allowed them to stay in close.

Stamina: 79/80

Tech Used:

Spoiler:

-Stats-
Strength: D
Constitution: D
Stamina: C
Speed: D
Coordination: C -> B [Spring Chant]
Intelligence: D
Perception: D

So, the kid's name was Nozomi, in hindsight, that was actually quite the cute name and it actually seemed to have some sort of meaning, but that escaped Yomi at the time, as she had already started to focus purely on her attack. Though without a doubt more gifted in the Arhat fist than most, Yomi was surprised to be countered by something that was NOT the arhat fist style. That was rather surprising, given the fact that it was the most widely thought style and usually a genin didn't learn much beyond it. This only further proved that Yomi's assesment was spot on, this girl had more spunk than she had initially realized.

Rather than hit the girl, Yomi's hand merely grazed Nozomi's face, resulting in the chuunin's eyes widening quite a bit, before settling in a rather squinted position with a grin on her face, it was all a test after all, this entire first assault was contrived with the single purpose of gauging her opponent's skill and respond against it. "Not bad," Yomi would mutter, as she only raised her free arm to block the incoming strike, which was well executed and actually packed quite a wallop for such a small kid. "You're much better than I thought...neat."

Yet when she felt the strike connect with her arm, she'd twist it as such that she'd be able to clamp onto Nozomi's arm with the inside of her elbow, intending to hold the girl up close and in place, all the while driving her knee upwards with great force and speed, intending to yet again hit nozomi on the chin, which as any serious fighter would know, was funny enough one of a human's most vulnerable places due to the fact that a human's skull simply wasn't made to absorb and redirect strong and straight impacts, especially not those which reverberated through the chin.

However, this time Yomi was prepared to an eventual miss, intending to simply continue the rising knee strike hit or miss, it didn't matter, for as her leg rose upwards, it had to come down with even greater force anyway, in the form of a devastating dropkick from a stand still, a testament to the chuunin's own flexibility and knowledge of taijutsu.

She could've backed off and used her ninjutsu, but in the end, that would've probably been an insult to someone like Nozomi, who seemed to carry herself purely through taijutsu. Besides, if Yomi did use her ninjutsu, the spar might've gone into a direction neither of them would wish for, as Yomi's ninjutsu was mainly for the purpose of complete elimination of an opponent. "Entertain me some more, little Nezumi...heheh."

Stamina: 55/80

Techs used:
Rising Knee
Rising drop kick
Arhat fist 'active'
pressure strike 2/3

stat changes:

Strength: D->C [arhat fist]
Speed: D->C [pressure strike x3]

Yomi was quite a deal more proficient in Taijutsu than most average practitioners she went up against. It was actually fairly interesting, she felt that the girl's knowledge of it was probably on par with her own, although she doubted that she had mastered it to such a degree as Nozomi herself had. Most of her Taijutsu barely even could be considered a drain on her stamina, her body so used to pushing itself to its limits, meaning even if she was evenly skilled with someone, in a straight up Taijutsu match she may outlast the other one.

That wasn't to say that her opponent wasn't going to win if they continued, she could have been holding back. For all Nozomi knew, Yomi was a Jounin or something like that, but she didn't think so particularly. If Makahshi was anything to go by, then Yomi was not a Jounin purely on principle that Makahshi was quite a deal more frustratingly out of reach somehow. Although, she felt the gap between them closing fairly quickly.

No, Yomi was at least Nozomi's equal, if not slightly superior, and that was something that Nozomi relished in. Her own skills were higher than that of most genin, and was considered to be on par with a Chuunin in some regards, so perhaps Yomi was a talented Chuunin. The arm block that moved into a grapple for Nozomi's arm proved that she wasn't any sort of pushover. Still, it was the Himitsu clan tech that would really separate Nozomi's Taijutsu skills with Yomi's.

For all her father's faults, he had taught her to utilize her skills well, and now was really the time to use them. As Yomi's knee rose towards Nozomi's chin, trying for the heavy hit to take her down fast obviously, Nozomi's arm straightened out, and her body shot backwards about a foot as she utilized 3 of the Misty Petal Shifts, two on her feet, and one to help assist her yanking her arm free. The knee strike barely missed, petals now lightly surrounding them, and as Yomi's leg was straightening out for the drop, Nozomi bolted forward, grabbing onto the yet to descend leg with her left hand.

At the same time, her body would dip slightly, and her right hand would reach for the single supporting leg, as well as one foot moving forward behind Yomi's leg. A simple twist of her body should Yomi be successfully grabbed, and her right hand and foot would pull back towards Nozomi while her Left hand would push against the leg she was struggling to fight against.

Additionally, she'd been building up chakra towards her back which was released at that moment to launch her forward, while the left hand formed a half tiger seal to combine the Body Flicker with the Misty Petal Propulsion techniques. While neither of those techniques were meant to be used offensively, Nozomi tended to utilize them when she needed a great amount of force behind otherwise little to no force, which would hopefully throw Yomi backwards and to the ground. Petals would again launch through the air, having been formed through Nozomi's concentrated chakra, although these were as harmless as the previous ones.

In reality, there were other options that were probably better to go for, but there was something about Yomi that made Nozomi want to stay in close for a more intimate fight rather than fighting her from a distance. Taijutsu to Nozomi was like a dance, and there was a certain ebb and flow to it. It was a danger zone where any misstep could end the match, and yet sometimes a risk needed to be taken to shift the dynamic. Sometimes a hit needed to be met rather than avoided. She could have continued to dance away from Yomi's down kick, but then she wouldn't be able to counter, as Yomi's attack would have perfectly reset her stance, successful or not.

Stamina:65/80

Tech Used:

Spoiler:

-Stats-
Strength: D
Constitution: D
Stamina: C
Speed: D -> C [Body Flicker] -> B [Misty Petal Propulsion]
Coordination: C -> B [Spring Chant] -> B++ [Misty Petal Shift]
Intelligence: D
Perception: D

It was quite surprising to realize that someone, especially someone who most likely was around the rank of a genin could pose such a threat to Yomi, even if it was but a spar. Even worse, this kid was actually much more proficient in the use of taijutsu than she herself had imagined, with the possibility that this Nozomi girl could actually be better than her at it, which was quite a shocker and an eye opener to the chuunin.

Her knee didn't connect due to some unknown to her form of taijutsu, a style she didn't know and now was struggling to compete with. Her knee strike missed and as she smiled to drop her foot upon the kid, Yomi's smile instantly turned sour when realizing that she had apparently played right into the young genin's cards. "Well...what?!"

Surprised as she was, Yomi could hardly muster up enough strength to keep herself standing when her upright leg had been grabbed onto and she herself was pushed backwards with the intent of being felled down like a mighty oak tree. It was quite the shock for Yomi to feel herself dropping backwards and smacking against the dirt with a loud smack. Greatly annoyed by the realisation that she was actually losing on the very terrain she thought to have been her strong point, Yomi knew she had to lean on some other of her strong points, her use of Ijutsu as taijutsu replacements.

"You know, you're really good, to push me to this," Yomi grunted, yet grinned at the same time, suddenly stretching her arms greatly and aimed to wrap them around Nozomi, trying to use the fact that the kid seemed to prefer keeping close to her to attempt to squeeze her close enough to herself and to create the handseals tiger, ox, tiger and rat behind the kid's back so she could spout a torrent of water straight at the young prodigy from point blank.

Yomi had been forced to use some less savory methods to win something, it was worth remembering this kid at the very least.

Stamina:47/80

Stat Changes

N/A

Techniques Used:

-Soft Body Manipulation
-Water Release: Water Bullet

A sense of thrilling enjoyment passed through Nozomi as she managed to pull off her counter attack. Yomi's form was sent flying backward, and slammed into the ground. Nozomi reset her stance, taking a deep breath. She moved through a few seals, the Tiger, Bird, and Dog, converting some of her chakra into suiton chakra near her eyes, creating a lense. She needed to be able to see her own movements better in order to fight at higher speeds. She wasn't quite at her peak yet. "I haven't even begun to get serious yet Yomi." she said, a little cockiness leaking into her voice.

Still, she wouldn't particularly get a chance to prove her point, as Yomi's next actions caught her off guard completely. The girl was a little farther back than melee range allowed for, and Nozomi was confident that if it came down to jutsu, she'd have time to react for sure. That wasn't quite the case, as Yomi complimented her for pushing her that hard. A small measure of blush crept onto Nozomi's face, not used to compliments. Immediately following, Nozomi's brain froze a little as Yomi's arms wrapped around her, but Yomi hadn't moved at all.

Even more so, her body reacted in a strange way, as she was slightly turned on by this girl. Perhaps it was by being over powered in a fight by a cute girl she'd been in close proximity to for this entire fight. Still, it took her a moment to register that Yomi had stretched out her arms like that. "Arms aren't supposed to do th-" her voice was cut off as a torrent of water blasted into her.

Struggling against the blast of water and the arms wrapped around her, and her only somewhat newly soaked clothes, Nozomi managed to gather up some chakra while forming a Tiger seal. Blasting out a Water Gunshot to disrupt the flow of of the torrent, she'd follow up with another to try and hit Yomi with it as well. The torrent and the arms around her had taken a lot out of Nozomi, she wasn't particularly more sturdy than most, and she was already tired. Whether it succeeded or not, Nozomi would stop struggling any, finding it impossible to fight against the torrent or break free from Yomi without doing something that might severely damage her.

Stamina: 49/80

Tech used:

Spoiler:

Stats:
Strength: D
Constitution: D
Stamina: C
Speed: D
Coordination: C -> B [Spring Chant]
Intelligence: D
Perception: D -> C [Oculus Enhancement]

It was a pleasure to see the surprised look on the kid's face, making it all the more fun for Yomi to try and intimidate the genin a bit more, yet at the same time she had to acknowledge that the kid was far better than she had anticipated. Her taijutsu was superior to her own and she even had a secret style which she had never seen before. To make matters worse, Yomi could feel her stamina diminish greatly, her movements getting rather sluggish and dull due to her having already used nearly half of her entire chakra reserve and against someone like Nozomi, using the hidden reserves ability wouldn't be a smart move, because the chuunin couldn't risk to lower her physical endurance against someone with such a proficiency in taijutsu.

"Guess we're both in the same boat than, kid," The older chuunin sneered with a smirk towards the young genin's earlier comment, yet when her own water torrent had been countered with one of the genin, Yomi had no other choice but to at least finish this bout with something for the kid to aspire to, as she let go of nozomi and retracted her arms, suddenly raising one arm and holding the other in front of her. "Thanks for the additional water, this might do the trick...for me to show you something really nice."

As she said those words, a mist suddenly enveloped the area, removing the chuunin from sight, she didn't intend to give Nozomi a breather though, as the mist was only supposed to be a distraction, while her own ability to remove her presence would be used to try and surprise the kid and perhaps even scare her a bit.

In a flash, she pressed her thumbs against her legs again, allowing them to engorge themselves on her chakra again, before rushing towards Nozomi's location with a half tiger seal to utilize the body flicker technique's additional speed with the intention of at least landing one shatter palm thrust against the kid's chest. This fight seemed to have reached its end earlier, but this kid was much to amusing and promising to just let it end like that.

Stamina: 26/80

Stat changes:
Strength: D->C (Arhat fist+Shatter palm)
Speed: D->C (pressure strike x3)->B (Body flicker)
Perception: C->D (Silence is golden)

Techs/abilities used:
Silence is golden (UA)
Hiding in mist
Arhat fist
Shatter palm
Body flicker
Pressure strike x3

Nozomi dropped to the ground as Yomi let her go, holding her hands out to catch herself. For a moment, she thought that perhaps the match was over, but it obviously wasn't as Yomi thanked her for the additional water. She looked up to see that Yomi was holding a stance to use the Hidden in Mist jutsu, and she swore. Shakily, as she was cold, wet, and kind of rattled, Nozomi's hands whipped through several different seals.

It wasn't often that she resorted to utilizing this particular jutsu, but she was more interested in saving herself than anything else. Besides, even using the jutsu was impressive enough, it was a high ranked one, and very few people even knew that Nozomi could use it in the first place. Tiger, Dog, Monkey, Snake, Boar, and Tiger, the seals were all made in quick succession. An advantage of Yomi's mist was that she couldn't see Nozomi making any seals, and although Nozomi didn't know where the other girl was, she was also presumably invisible to Yomi.

The water around them and even in the air started to form around Nozomi in a protective wall, just in the knick of time. Yomi's palm slammed into the barrier of water, making quite the audible impact, and Nozomi sent all the water forward to push Yomi back and stop her from hitting her. Nozomi didn't usually resort to using Water-Heaven's Convergence because it was such a drain on her chakra, but she really didn't want to see what it was that Yomi wanted to 'show her'.

"Well, fuck, I didn't really want to use ninjutsu." she said, actually moderately upset that she'd had to do so more than once now.

Stamina: 32/80

Tech Used:

Spoiler:

This wasn't right, how the hell did this girl get to possess such a strong jutsu. Just when Yomi's palm touched the water, she looked at where her hand had hit against and her knowledge on Kirigakure's own jutsu made her eyes widen in both surprise and the obvious hint of fear. This was a technique far above her own skill and paygrade, yet somehow this genin had it and seemed proficiently enough with it to use it in such a manner.

With the water colliding down upon Yomi's position and washing away anything in front of it, the chuunin kunoichi had no other option than to run as fast as she could, knowing that she'd be at least a bit safer if she wasn't so close to the epicenter of the technique and running she did, straight into her own mist, which without a doubt would be washed away as well. This kid was dangerous, way too dangerous for even the likes of Yomi, yet in a sense this sparked something within the woman which she had not felt for a while: the desire to become stronger.

"This is insane,"Yomi shouted, her voice thinged with anger, frustration, but also some sort of selfserving joy. "You had something like this up your sleeve!?"

Feeling sluggish and practically pushed to the brink of her own capacities, Yomi decided that enough was enough. She could drain herself to the last drop or force her opponent to surrender, but the knowledge that Nozomi had a technique like this in her arsenal made her confidence waver and even crumble. Even if she had proven to be the physically stronger one, this kid had one hell of a variety in her arsenal, topping it off with a technique like Water-Heaven's Convergence. "I think I'll do the sensible thing and surrender, heh."

Yomi dispelled all her own active techniques and with the mist already having been pushed aside by Nozomi's technique, removing it wouldn't be much of a problem. "I can't imagine what would happen if you were to fight me seriously."

Stamina: 26/80

Her defense held up, and the area around her cleared up as Nozomi managed to push Yomi away, who was notably shocked by her display of the technique. It was, after all, a technique that was usually reserved for those who had earned it, and it was a high level technique as well. Nozomi smiled sheepishly.

"I watched my dad using it, and figured out how to do it myself after a lot of practice. I mean, I could probably teach it to you if you wanted me to. But I'd have to spend more time with you. I wouldn't mind!" Nozomi said, rushing to try and convince Yomi. She wanted to spend more time with Yomi, for certain. Yomi was a fantastic fighter, and in addition she was incredibly attractive.

The problem was, Nozomi didn't really have a lot of friends, and didn't get a lot of socialization growing up. She was a combat genius of course, but her personal skills weren't all that good as a result. As soon as the fight was over, she started to get a little nervous, not quite sure how to continue on with conversation, so she rushed to say the first thing she could, which was to offer to teach Yomi that technique. It wasn't something she would usually do, but she respected Yomi's fighting skills and looks far too much.

"I don't know, though, I mean, you're totally skilled too, and you probably were holding back a bit, I'm sure, and probably could have pushed me harder. I was fighting seriously, I mean, I don't really like to hold back, and I mean, I only didn't use a ninjutsu or my nintaijutsu cause it was just a spar. I mean, not that you weren't pushing me, you were, I mean, you stretched your arms, like what?" The water around her swirled around for a moment, as she grew more agitated with her anxiety as she spoke, evidenced by how she almost stumbled over her words. It was only then that Nozomi realized she hadn't cancelled it yet, feeling the chakra drain even further from her.

Cancelling the technique and her Oculus Enhancement, the water around her splashed into the ground, and Nozomi fell to her knees, her arms catching her again, like when Yomi had first dropped her. Her body was shaking, her training, jutsu use, and sparring having all taken their toll.

Stamina: 20/80

Tech Used:

Spoiler:

Stats:
Perception, Strength, Constitution, and Speed all suffer a "-" for Stamina Exhaustion

"Ugh, my dad only knew how to use his fists and how to make things to protect himself, not some fancy ninjutsu stuff though," Yomi laughed and just fell down on her back into what had now become wet mud. She seriously needed a breather, depleted as she was from all that damn use of chakra. "Than again, I guess because he was so useless compared to your dad, there's no harm in no longer having him around, such is life after all, the life of a shinobi: the strong live, where the weak wither and die. There's no need to change the truth."

When getting back up, the kunoichi turned her head a bit to look at her shoulders, the back of her arms and legs and laughed out loud. "I guess this is what it feels like to be participating in mudwrestling. Not too good of a feeling, but not entirely as unpleasant...probably because I'd be certain to know a much needed shower will be waiting for me."

Looking at Nozomi, the woman laughed slightly when seeing that she wasn't the only one sweating like a pig and looking like they'd had just run a dozen marathons in a single hour. "I don't think I'd need you to teach me that technique, kid," She stopped as she was standing right next to her, chuckling a bit before wrapping her arm around this extremely contradictionary taijutsu prodigy. "I don't want to be a preacher here, but you stink as bad as I look...I'm guessing we BOTH need a shower."

Stamina: Exhausted Status

Nozomi frowned as Yomi laughed, talking about her dad and his own skill set. From the sounds of it, he had died, and she wasn't sure how to feel about that. Yomi didn't seem upset, but she also seemed to praise Nozomi's dad for having some measure of skill. Nozomi wasn't quite that fast to offer praise, she didn't like her dad at all, and once she learned all she needed to from him, she might actually kill him.

As Yomi stood up, Nozomi looked up at her, and snuck a glance at Yomi's form. She had quite an amazing body, and she couldn't help but blush. That girl was in excellent physical condition. Even covered in mud, or maybe because of it, she was just a sight for the young blonde to behold. Blushing slightly, Nozomi was startled as Yomi came over to her, putting her arm around her.

She'd been so distracted, looking at her, she'd actually slightly tuned Yomi out. "Oh, um.. I mean, we could.... We could find a shower or something?" she suggested, half hopefully, half embarassed to even bring it up. "I mean, I don't mean to like... well, I mean it platonically. If you want I mean, it doesnt have to be.." she trailed off, her face red. Conversation, was not her strong point.

It wasn't even that she knew that she wouldn't mind seeing more of the girl, it was that she was suggesting they shower together. At no point had Yomi even seemed to suggest it, and for Nozomi to bring it up at all just sort of embarassed her quite a bit. There wouldn't have even been any call to attention to it had she not messed up and gotten embarassed, there was nothing wrong with two people showering at the same time. At the spa's and gyms, there were plenty of people with little to no clothing, and it wasn't an issue, people were always separated by gender if they chose to be. But of course, Nozomi's flustered-ness gave away her more open minded tendencies.

Yomi couldn't help herself but laugh loudly when it became apparent that Nozomi, as much as she was a prodigy in taijutsu, ended up being equally lacking in the social department. It always made the chuunin feel rather amused when people seemed to think that there had to be some sort of underlying reason for her to propose in taking a shower. Yomi on the other hand never saw any harm in taking a shower or even a bath with others, be they male or female, it was after all just a social ritual between shinobi to wash away the dirt and fatigue after missions or training and the forging of bonds and creation of social contacts and a level of trust and sincerity could only be found in the nakedness of body and fortitude of mind.

"Don't be so dramatic, I just need someone to wash my back," She hoped this explanation would sort of calm down the obviously nervous genin. The chuunin had already removed the string which held her hair in place and wasn't surprised when her black hair ended up looking like a mop that had been used to scrub a toilet. "Can't argue with the fact that we both need to clean ourselves at the very least, now can you?"

The chuunin pointed at the very obvious signs of sweat and thus also hoped to remind nozomi about the discomfort of having to walk through town all sweaty and stinky like the two of them surely were at that point. "There's a bath house nearby, not rly expensive and only allowed to be used by shinobi...you're not troubled with a mixed bath are you?"

By all accounts, Yomi had no issues with being seen naked or at least not with being seen naked by others, she did however have a certain issue with being stared at with another thought in mind, after all, despite appearances, she hadn't had a relationship with anyone in easily a handful of years and as someone fully focused on their desire for power, strength and knowledge, she tended to forget about the more emotional parts of being human.

Nozomi was rather taken aback by Yomi's laughter at her talking. Of course, she didn't quite know how to take that, considering what she had just asked, but she didn't have to wait too long for an answer. Yomi apparently just needed someone to wash her back, and while Nozomi didn't mind doing so she felt a twinge of disappointment.

"I suppose you're right. I don't really live all that close." She agreed. Walking home while as she was and with her gear to boot wouldn't necessarily be her favorite thing in the world. She had come out to practice, but hadn't expected to exhaust herself quite as much as she did.

Still, when Yomi suggested that there was a place close by that they could use as long as Nozomi didn't mind a mixed bath, she wasn't quite sure how to respond. "I mean, I guess I will be fine with it... but if anyone stares at me too long I'm probably going to kill them." She said bluntly.

It was probably a bit hypocritical, she certainly didn't mind eyeing up Yomi, and no doubt would have plenty of opportunity to, but most of the time, men weirded Nozomi out. She wasn't really opposed to them, but she wasn't seeking any guys for the time being. Women had always been her preference after all, they weren't quite as creepy. Plus there was a level of attraction she just didn't think men could compare to.

"Well, perfect." Yomi laughed when Nozomi seemed to reluctantly agree on the grounds that her home wasn't exactly close. Same went for Yomi herself, if she wanted to go and take a shower or have a bath at home, she'd have to go for a pretty long walk and in her shape and more importantly how she was looking and smelling, that was not an option. "These are baths for shinobi, kid. Most of the people there just wants a relaxing moment while off duty, socializing, talking about missions and cleaning up. It's like how you shower with a bunch of people after breaking a sweat at a dojo or something."

Sure, it being a mixed bath might be rather unorthodox for someone of Nozomi's age, but Yomi had been there a few times before, it would be awkward for the first time, but as she said twice already: most people that came over only come ith the intent to clean up and relax, nothing more, nothing less.

Eventually, Yomi decided to just drag the younger genin along, which meant she had to keep the kid close just to prevent nozomi from hightailing on her for about half a mile. The bath house was actually pretty close to the training area, which explained why it seemed to be doing so well, with plenty of visitors and apparently enough income to pay for a lot of modest luxuries such as free milk and sodas and relatively low prices.

"Two towels, two tubs and two sponges please," The chuunin would make the orders and pay for the both of them, since this was hardly a heavy expense. Buying a pair of cheap boots downtown was easily ten times more expensive than this. "I guess we can just undress in the main cabin, unless if you're really that uncomfortable, there's some private cabins as well. Anyway, just get undressed and go through the other side of the cabins to go to the bath, you'll love it."

Having said that, Yomi ran off towards the main cabin to undress, swiftly taking off her boots, socks, pants, undies and her tube top, only using the towel to cover up her lower half while rushing back towards the counter half naked to order herself another towel, remembering that she had to dry herself off later after all.

returning to the main cabin with a second towel loosely hanging over her shoulders, she placed her clothes in a basket and grabbed her tub and sponge to go and clean herself up before going into the actual baths, revealing her olive skin with the tattoo covering nearly half of her right arm and a few scars on her lower back and near her neck, obviously from battle as the scar on her lower back seemed to be made by a kunai and the one near her neck seemed to be reminiscent of a sword slash. "Yuck, I smell like a drowned pig, time to go rinse off that mud and sweat first,
nozomi get yer butt into gear!!"

Collecting her gear, Nozomi followed along with Yomi, who was practically dragging her along. Nozomi was actually mainly lagging behind because she was so tired, but Yomi didn't seem to care all that much. She muttered under her breath though a small retort. "I'll still kill them." she grumbled, not too keen on people even having the chance to see her bare.

She didn't really do a lot of dojo training, her father preferring to use their clan's private training area when they trained, to maintain a level of secrecy on their skills and abilities when perfecting them. Because of that, she'd never really been in a mixed area at all.

As they approached the bathhouse, Nozomi let Yomi do all the talking, as she was a little out of her element here. She wasn't too upset when Yomi paid for the both of them, although she did have enough money that she could have done it if she needed to. Although Yomi told her she could change in a private cabin if she wanted to, Nozomi didn't really feel like it, and didn't want to appear too nervous about being here, so she followed along with the older girl.

Stripping down herself, although quite a bit slower than the speed at which Yomi had done so, she watched as Yomi ran off, half covered back to the reception area. Already mostly stripped at that point, Nozomi just decided to stay and finish. As she returned, Nozomi had a decent view of the other girl, and spent a moment examining the scars and the tattoos on her. "What do you mean get my butt into gear? I don't even know what you want me to do, I gotta clean myself too you know!" she said, somewhat indignant for the first time out of combat. Her eyebrows furrowed in slight annoyance, before she rolled her eyes and took her sponge, starting to scrub Yomi's back anyway.

There were a lot of authority issues that Nozomi had, and they often slipped out when it didn't matter. She wasn't going to talk back to her father just yet, and she wasn't going to talk back to her sensei Makahshi, as they had direct command over her for the time being, but Yomi didn't. Still, she did like her, and she could get distracted by her back scars and tattoos while scrubbing. After a few moments, she ventured a question. "So, whats the story behind the scars, if you don't mind me asking?"

It wasn't surprising for Yomi to hear Nozomi's rather annoyed reaction to the chuunin motioning her to get a move on, yet the kunoichi didn't react and simply enjoyed the decent scrubbing on her back. One of those advantages of having a taijutsu user scrubbing your back, was that you were damn well certain that it was done thouroughly and with enough force to remove any seen and unsen dirt you had on you. Downside though, was the fact that it felt rather good and lifted a lot of strain from yomi's back muscles...maybe a bit too much, as she could not resist to let out a moan and bite her lips a bit. "Okay, okay that's enough...I'm sure my back's clean now," The woman seemed slightly flustered, noticing that a few other women in the bath and certainly a few men looked at her with a confusing expression before continuing their own business.

Filling her tub with water and rinsing herself off, the chuunin turned at Nozomi and smiled. "I reckon they've got the same reason as any scars anyone around here has: stupidity and ignorance." Soaking her own sponge, she motioned to Nozomi, offering to clean the girl's back while continuing to explain her scars. "The one on my neck's from when my old squad got jumped by a few cutthroat bandits who obviously did NOT know where the throat is located.
Our sensei really saved our butt back then."

Stopping for a moment, Yomi's free hand reached for her lower back, a single finger running over the scar, before nodding her head. "The one on my back is from forgetting that even the weakest of all humans can kill you when given the opportunity and a weapon."

In her mind, Yomi wondered how long it would take for Nozomi to start collecting her own scars, never really pleasant, but each scar gained, would alo represent a lesson learned and a survival to be proud of. "And if you're wondering...the tattoo was a gift from my old sensei, even though it hurt like hell...it's still a reminder of a good time in my life. Now...let's scrub your back asap and rinse you off...I SO want to go have some relaxing time in the bath, don't you agree?"

Luckily Nozomi didn't have to speak, as she found herself blushing slightly by the noises that Yomi was making as she washed her back. It was quite flattering that she seemed to be giving her quite an intense massage as well as cleaning her off, although the massage wasn't exactly something that had been planned. She was just scrubbing away and it happened to be that her amount of pressure was enough for the other girl.

As she had been enraptured by Yomi's noises, she had failed to notice the attention the two of them got until Yomi told her it was enough. Staring around, Nozomi got quite a bit more self conscious until everyone finally looked away. Listening as Yomi explained how she'd got the scars, Nozomi turned her own back to Yomi, as she started cleaning out her sponge so it would be more fresh so she could wash her own legs.

"I do like your snake tattoo. Does it mean anything? I mean, it was a gift like you said, but it seems a little personal to not have meaning." she said, smiling as she stared down at her legs, concentrating on her own scrubbing, but presented her own back to Yomi. It was rare that anyone would actually reciprocate any sort of action to Nozomi, and she wasn't expecting Yomi to offer to clean her back. She'd have managed to do it on her own, but it let her focus a bit on keeping her own hair mostly in front of her and covering up a lot of her exposed body as she bent over to scrub. "Yeah, I can't wait to relax. I don't really let myself do that much, but I do really love hot water. Like... make me look like a lobster sort of hot, you know?"

She was exaggerating a bit, obviously, but her point stood.

Scrubbing the other girl's back as thouroughly as possible without putting on to much pressure as to avoid hurting the still somewhat fragile looking kid, Yomi calmly listened to Nozomi's words and questions, smiling when the tattoo on her arm became a subject of debate. "To be fair,
the tattoo might be special, though I can't really say I'd know the meaning or why it would or should be seen as something special. If I were to give it any reason to be special, I'd say it signifies the moment at which point I was deemed a chuunin and by that no longer in need of oversight or mentoring like a genin is supposed to have."

The girl seemed awfully selfconscious and even though the chuunin couldn't blame the kid, she wondered why. Sure, Nozomi was around the age in which any girl or boy would feel insecure and have a need for attention and encouragement, but in Yomi's own opinion, the kid really didn't need it. Nozomi for starters was way stronger than she was as a genin and even now as a genin she rivaled, if not exceeded her in many aspects. Even if Yomi's base self compared to the kid was superior, Nozomi had shown a serious knack to even out things with her versatility and abundance of techniques, not to mention how well she seemed to be able to control her chakra. "Heh, I reckon if you'd look too much like a lobster, you'd end up on my plate with some herbs and a salad for dinner."

Laughing out loud, Yomi stopped rubbing the girl's back and hoped to surprise her junior with pouring some cold water from her tub over the girl's back to rinse off the foam and remainders of soap still there on her now squeaky clean skin. "I won't accept no for an answer, time for a bath and well...if the water would be too hot, don't you dare turn into a lobster before it's dinnertime,
got it?"

Yomi's scrubbing was just as intense for Nozomi as Nozomi's had been for Yomi, although that might have been because Nozomi was a little more sensitive to touch at the moment than Yomi probably was. Arching her back slightly, Nozomi bit her own lip in order to silence herself so she didn't moan, not really wanting to draw any attention to herself more so than they already had. Of course, it didn't really matter whether or not she had any plans on drawing attention to herself, as Yomi more or less would cause a response soon enough.

As Yomi spoke, explaining the tattoo, Nozomi listened attentively, as Yomi seemed rather fond of her independence as a Chuunin, and Nozomi could relate. Since graduating from the academy, the young kunoichi had had much more free time and freedom to do what she wanted to do, and that mainly included getting out of the house, trying to avoid her father as much as possible. She didn't really like to see him all that much, as he was always so harsh and critical of her, but at the same time, his training methods had amounted to something, as evidenced by Yomi seemingly being impressed by her skills.

As Yomi followed up Nozomi's own statement about hot water, teasing her slightly, Nozomi was completely caught off guard by the splash of cold water on her. The surprising shock of water elicited a slight squeak as Nozomi almost wheeled around to punch Yomi, but she held herself stiff, grip tightening on her sponge. "Don't DO that!" Nozomi said after a moment, her heart rate returning to normal. "That's cold, warn a girl!" Of course, she didn't mention that she got even more uncomfortable at some of the looks the two of them received, drawing the other patrons' attention once again.

Then Yomi continued to tease Nozomi about being a lobster, and Nozomi, having loosened up a bit, finally relenting and ready to relax a bit, spoke up in a different tone than she previously had. Almost in a mixture of complete seriousness as well as joking herself, she giggled. "I suppose I'm ready for bath time, and don't worry. If I turn into a lobster, I don't mind if you eat me. Honestly, I don't really need to be a lobster for you to do that anyways. If we continue on like this much longer, honestly, by dinner I might just want to turn the tables on that and be the one dining on something more... well." At this point, she'd turned to face Yomi, and a quick glance down with her eyes, and a sheen of blush on her face said all that she needed to on that subject.

Almost as if a switch was thrown though, Nozomi's entire mood would shift into full seriousness. "You know, you're a surprisingly good Taijutsu fighter for a Chuunin. My dad had me training almost my entire life, very strictly, for years. I only recently graduated the academy, cause I didn't attend it when I was young, and I was one of the older ones to do so, and already had a huge leg up on the academy students. It was really more of a formality for me to even go, but I had to learn basic ninjutsu and stuff like that."

"No need to warn, this was interestingly amusing," Yomi laughed when Nozomi tried her best to hold back her scream of surprise. It was admittedly a lot different compared to the muffled moans the girl let out when Yomi scrubbed the girl's back as repayment for doing the same to Yomi. With a smile on her face, Yomi listened to Nozomi as she mentioned finally being ready to take a relaxing bath. "Well, aren't you rather enthusiastic?" She was ofcourse talking about Nozomi's red face and the fact that she was trying her best to hide her probably still blossoming interest in more than culldy hugs and snuggles.

"That...eh, you know...saying that I'm a good taijutsu user for a chuunin while you obviously beat me on that subject as a genin actually doesn't sound all that good, heh," It seemed apparent that Yomi's mood got slightly less enthusiastic and energetic when being confronted with the fact that she actually more or less had to acknowledge her equal if not her better in someone younger AND lower ranked than her in the village shinobi system. It was allright though, Yomi knew there were still some old scrolls from her own dad's old style hidden somewhere at the attick of the their place. Even if she had to bow down now, Yomi wasn't the person to 'just' accept defeat, not when her absolute pride had been touched in such a way. "It's strange, I always said my dad was weak and pathetic, especially because he wasn't able to master our family's old school and style. However, now I see that he wasn't just weak and pathetic, he was basically miserable because he was too weak to truly learn the old styles. Trust me, next time we're having a good lil' bout, I'm certain I'll be able to equal that Taijutsu of yours, Nozomi."

With that being said, the young woman calmly stepped into the bath, before realizing she had actually left both her towels at the showers, resulting in probably a rather unexpected reaction when she also realized that a few of the male customers were actually doing their best not to look at her, blushing bright red. Yomi herself blushed as well, using her arms to somewhat cover herself up. "Eh...nozomi, if you could...eh, could you, you know...go and get me my towels,
please?"

Blushing as Yomi asked if she was enthusiastic, Nozomi responded by nodding. "Maybe a little, yes." The conversation took a turn as Yomi seemed a little sour about Nozomi's praise of her abilities, and she frowned slightly. "My taijutsu alone is on par with some Jounin until I burn myself out. Doesn't matter if it sounds good, and you should know rank doesnt really mean much. I'm only a genin cause I only recently went to the academy." Still, she understood where Yomi was coming from. "To be honest, I hope next time we fight you are better than me. I love challenges, win or lose, doesn't really matter much."

Focused on their conversation so much, Nozomi only realized partway through it that Yomi hadn't been wearing a towel, and her eyes kept finding themselves taking glances at the tanned and toned body. A small smile played on her lips, but she didn't say anything about it.

Giggling to herself Nozomi made a joke about Yomi's embarrassment, seeing as the girl didn't seem to like the stares she was getting herself, and was now hiding herself in the water. Gesturing to the towel that she herself was wearing around her, Nozomi spoke, not hiding her enjoyment. "Sure, I'll do it, cause I have a towel covering myself, unlike you. Seems like you care a little more about the attention than you let on. Trying to tell me that I shouldn't worry about that sorta stuff, you hypocrite."

She quickly turned about face and jogged back to the showers to grab Yomi's towels. As she did so, she couldn't help but think about Yomi's body though. She had no problem admitting it was fantastic, but part of her felt bad about ogling her superior. It wasn't like Yomi had made any indication it was okay, and she knew she wouldn't like it if someone stared at her a bunch with that sort of look. Then again, Yomi didn't look like she really cared that Nozomi was hitting on her, and she did seem self conscious about other people averting their gaze, so maybe she didn't mind that Nozomi was making advances?

Returning with the towels, Nozomi placed them near Yomi before unwrapping her own and quickly jumping into the bath herself. She had made it rather clear she cared if people saw her. "So. Your family has a fighting style?
Sounds interesting, I like styles."