Looking in the mirror.

Adam wasnt too eager to get to the training grounds today. After all he never really was. However wasting his abilites would be a shame too so he did what he could to find a balance between still staying in fighting condition as well as thinking about his life. If his best friend hadnt literally dragged him to the academy after the second time he lost his path, he was sure he would have quit being a shinobi for good. Shaking his head he quickened his steps. If he was to train, there was so reason in lingering around just for the sake of not starting it. Regardless he would have to stay some time in order to train and regardless of his dislike for it, he needed to do it.

Reaching the Academy he took a look around the trainings are. His eyes fell on a pile of clean sand. While the sand itself wasnt anything special, it would do for the moment. going over to it he took a look around. Noone was to be seen in the near vicinity, however shinobis were expected to be sneaky, so there might have been one hiding nearby. Lowering himself to the sand he took up a fist of it, and watched it run through his fingers. He didnt actually feel the sand, with teh metal infused in his hands, but he could hear the slight scratching sound it made when running through his fingers. Deciding that this was enough, he stood up again, Turning around to the trainings area once more, wondering what he would do today.

OOC:
Found sand, magneticed it

[1]

A typical morning for Kaori consisted of crawling out of bed and starting the day odd with a healthy shot of whatever alcohol she had bought the day before. In this case, it was a brand of gin that she preferred over most other alcohol. She ate a big breakfast, she had to stay strong, after all. Then she threw on her clothes and waited for Aji to come back from whatever they started their day with.

Aji’s morning consisted of reading out of a medical book while Kaori got ready. The other day the pair got a chance to look through a microscope at their own DNA, and discovered that they had a unique genetic makeup. Now, Aji spent most of their previous night and the morning looking into it while Koari did her morning routine.

Once the two merged once more Aji would begin to explain their findings. “I am almost certain that I found the cause of our affliction.”

“Oh, so why exactly should I care?

“It is good to know our origin, don’t you think? Besides, it may give us access to some rather unique abilities.” Aji’s face rose from Kaori’s shoulder and curled around unnervingly to look her in the face as they spoke. “It turns out that we are not the only ones of our kind. I read about something called Uirusu cells-”

“Aji, I’m going to have to cut you off there, this is painfully boring.” Kaori considered taking another shot, but it didn’t seem worth having Aji complain. Instead, she decided to actually do something with the day. As they had the day off, and Koari was able to spend the previous night partying with no consequences, today they did what Aji insisted that they do, which was head to the academy for some training.

Once they made their way across town, Kaori started with her warmup exercises, while Aji seemed to notice something and decided that they wanted to move closer. The mask peeled off of Kaori’s muscular body, carrying the dark purple cloak that she wore just for Aji with a hit. Aji slithered their way across the floor as they spied the thing that had caught their interest. Aji watched curiously as the man played in the sand.

[1]

Upon fully turning around he spotted someone. Appearently a slender looking woman watched him as he worked through the sand. Frowning he looked over to her. He really wasnt willing to explain to anybody what he just did to the sand, however he very much was willing to go over and say hi. Taking a last look at the sand he could feel that he magnetised it enough for what he planned, and could get it to him easily. Passing the distance slowly in his long and slender black trenchcoat, and with his characteristic sunglasses on, even if it wasnt partucularely sunny today, he approached the women.

"Hello there... My name is Adam... is there something i can help you with?"

As he approached her he saw another figure that looked oddly similar in her clothes and even if he wasnt able to see both their faces, it was clear that both were women. Appearently they came here to train too, so maybe they wanted to train together with him or challenge him to a sparring, both things he wouldnt like too much but also wouldnt deny to them.

OOC:

[2]

Aji jumped a bit when they noticed the man's eyes rest on them. Slowly they saunter back toward the tall and muscular Kaori, who has moved on to lifting weights. The man seemed to approach them. Kaori instantly looked a bit frustrated with the ordeal and turned toward her masked twin.

Aji froze upon noticing this, too, but then continued their slow approach.

"Aji get over her here, you know people don't like you." Aji placed on shoeless foot out from their robe, and curled around Koari, so that the mask was attached loose from a string and the robe hung, open, around Kaori. Aji had entirely disappeared, leaving only the robe and the mask behind as proof of their existence. Kaori glared at Adam as he told them his name. Kaori could hear Aji whisper and apology through the mask.

She placed one of her dumbbells on the ground. She sighed, and then introduced herself. "I'm Kaori, please ignore Aji, they sometimes forget their place." Kaori walked over to Adam and looked him in the eyes. "You here to train too, then?"

Adam watched interested as the one that was looking at him earlier disappeared after it went around the woman named Kaori, leaving the mask and the robe behind. While his facial expression didnt change he was sure that he must have drink too much last night and hadnt fully recovered yet or simply hadnt drunk enough.

Before answering the other persons question he pulled out a 400ml metal flask and opened it, releasing the strong scent of a medium priced whiskey. Pricey enough that they were tasting good, but still cheap enough to buy a lot of them if wanted. Taking a sip from the flask he let the whiskey slowly run down his throat as he thought about his next step. He didnt even nearly know what the hell this sorcery was, that he just had seen, though he was eager to find out one way or another. Was it a genjutsu? Possibly. Some kind of ninjutsu to disapear from someones sight? Maybe... . However chances of getting attacked here were slim, as guards were close by anyways.

Putting the flask down, while still having it open he answered Kaori:

"Seems like it... Although i dont necessarily like it." Pausing shortly, he added:

"So what was that just now? Did you put me under genjutsu, or is your partner hiding somewhere or...?"

OOC:

[3]

Many people were curious about what exactly they were. Koari often treated Aji as an invader of her body. A parasite. After all, they required her for survival. Years and years of practice resulted in them being able to be independent. Kaori resented Aji for this fact. Aji felt very differently about things but was much too shy to speak up.

“That is Aji. No idea what it is.” Kaori played with the mask that dangled around near her breasts. “For some reason Aji likes to look like a freak.”

She didn’t bother to explain anything else about the situation. Aji existed as a permanent part of her. They had always been this way. They were strange and quiet. They had deadly precision. They could make Koari stronger, more flexible, and faster. As far as Kaori was concerned, he was an alien.

She turned her attention back to Adam. She gestured toward the bottle “You got more of that?”

If he did or if he offered her the bottle, she would drink most of it and then give the bottle back. Once she'd gotten a good look at him, she knew she had to beat him. She just really wanted to punch somebody in the face and his face looked punch-able. But, with the strict laws of Iwagakure, she couldn't go about starting bar fights and whatnot. Instead, she would just find a genin who looked like they could take an ass kicking. She was very direct.

"Want to fight?"

The answer that Adam was given was roughly what he expected it to be. Mysterious and mostly elusive. However he could deal with that. He was able to deal with different stuff so this wouldnt be a problem he thought. Thinking about the womans question for a second he brought up the flask to his lips once more and took another sip, before wiping the bottlemouth off with his hands and handing it to her without a word. Adam could respect people that drunk, even if his respect wasnt based solely on that. He claimed that he wasnt an alocoholic, and even if he actually was one, it didnt bother him too much. He had seen enough shit to make it an acceptable solution to cope with his shortcomings and seeing the strange display the 2 were giving just now added only further to the pile of stuff he either didnt understand or in reality couldnt be bothered to think about.

As he gave his bottle to her their fingers touched for the slightest of moments and he could feel how her flesh touched his cold metal fingers. Looking at her with his sunglasses on he wondered what she was thinking when she asked him if he wanted to fight.

"Is this going to be a one on one or is your friend going to help you?"

The question was valid. He still belived that in reality her friend was hiding somewhere, waiting or he was in an genjutsu he couldnt be bothered to disperse. As he spoke his hands disappeared into the pockets of his trenchcoat, seemingly relaxed. As they were from the same village, Adam shouldnt suffer too much damage if she attacked him and had any control over her actions. Furthermore there was sand literally everywhere. The huge pile behind him was just the highest concentration of it that he had seen so it seemed natural for him to assimilate it right from the beginning.

OOC:

[4]

Kaori didn't need Aji to fight. Technically speaking, she wasn't as strong without them, but Adam looked like somebody she could fight alone. She tapped on Aji's mask. "Right, then, I think this man just wants me. So, get moving."

She took the false that Adam offered her and chugged down a significant portion of the alcohol. She noticed that he was wearing metal gloves of something, so she would want to be avoiding his punches if they fought. At least the fight would be a little entertaining, in that case.

Once again, the facemask shifted and the cloak began to move, twisting around from Kaori and then peeling away. One shoeless foot in front on the other, Aji dipped low, and scurried a small distance, before crouching down to watch the fight. "I must warn you, Kaori, he does something strange with the sand. I'm sure he has some kind of bloodline or something. He is not an ordinary opponent."

Kaori had absolute confidence in herself. It didn't matter what his bloodline was, he would lose either way. She started walking in the direction of the academy training grounds, where they would have a fighting ring that students and sometimes new genin used. It wasn't huge, but the law forbid them from just fighting in the streets. "Come on, I want to get this started." Aji stayed a small distance from Adam the entire time that they moved to the training grounds and then the ring. It took her one big step to stand atop it and she looked down at Adam, who hadn't entered just yet.

"I'll give you the first move. This fight will be no fun without a handicap."

Seeing as the other person "got out" of Kaori, Adam watched her closely as she quickly went into a safe distance, away from him. Raising a single hand at her out of his trenchcoat he simply said:

"Dont worry, i wont hurt you"

He knew how often other people saw him as the big and creepy dude, and often associated that with a gangster or mugger. His little drinking problem and the fact that he liked to smoke from time to time even added to his gangster look, so if he noticed someone getting scared in his presence, he ususally tried to clear things up immediately.

Following the woman into a trainings ring he entered it too and immediately went slowly into the direction of a large pile of sand asking her.

"So how far do you wanna go with this? Bruises? Broken bones? Or even more? Id rather not play too much around... so i suggest we use a safeword... Lets say titan is the safeword."

Standing now on top of the sandpile he looked down on her, being about 2 meters higher then she was. He had allready assimilated the sand here so he would be able to move it at a moments notice. Adding further he added:

"Also ladies first. Come and get me if you dare..."

Hoping that she would attack first adam looked at her. He didnt really want to attack first, as his sand attack could easily overdo it, and hurt her more then he anticipated.

OOC:

[5]

Kaori burst into laughter when Adam told her not to worry. "We are shinobi, right? Do I look like a delicate flower to you?" She flexed as she spoke, just to really drive the point home. Kaori was a large woman, and this was not something she minded at all. She worked hard for this body, after all. She was proud. Besides, this Adam might have been tall, too, but he didn't look all that tough to Kaori.

She laughed again at the concept of a safe word. "Oh, honey, I don't use safe words. But if you insist, titan is as good as any other." Adam gave her a good laugh. The two could be friends if he isn't traumatized forever by the beating, he is about to receive. She squared up as she waited for him to attack, taking on the Arhat fist fighting stance. However, Adam insisted that she go first.

Fine. She would go first. She was not much of one for showing off, but her first attack would be a diversion. She was able to send chakra through her body in such a way that she could extend her arm to an unnatural length, and using this, she threw a quick succession of punches from three meters away, trying to goad him into blocking her attacks.


OOC:

Stats:
Strength: D (boosted to C with arhat fist)
Constitution: D
Stamina: D
Speed: D
Coordination: C
Intelligence: C
Perception: D

46/50

Jutsu:

"Not a delicate flower huh? Fine then." Chuckling adam now engaged in combat. Seeing as she could attack from range surprised him, however her attacks lacked speed. Seeing this he channeled his chakra into the sand, bringing up a wall of sand in front of him. Seeing how she likely would try to attack from an different angle, he made the wall go completely around him and cover him in the end, leaving only slits for the eyes where he stared at her with his black sunglasses. After all he was literally standing on a pile of sand.

At having spent only half a ton of his sand at defense so far, he went into an attack at the same time, raising up 2 larger sand masses that split from his direction to attack her left and right. Hoping that she would look on the larger sand masses and that she wouldnt notice it, he sent some of his sand quickly and barely above the ground in her direction. After all, all he had to do was get her once, and then he would be able to slow her enough for the rest of his sand to arrive and hold her. Given how close Kaori was, it certainly was something he hoped to acomplisch faily easily. And even if he wasnt able to get her. Manipulating the sand wasnt too hard for him.

Warning her he said through the sand, that muffled his voice: "Careful not to get sand in your eyes, and dont hesitate to say the work if i hurt you..." After all it was easy to hurt people with the quantity of sand he was able to control. ANd Judging from looking at her, there was no way she could hold 3 tons of sand.

OOC:
Jutsus used:
Freeform manip (3cp)

STATS:
STR: D
CON: D
STA: C+
SPD: E
CORD: C
INT: D
PERC: D

CP remaining 132/135

By the time that Kaori had finished goading him into blocking, he managed to deliver a counterattack from both sides. He seemed to think that this was going to help him at all. Kaori laughed and didn't even attempt to block the attack, instead she held her stance and continued her own assault. While he was distracted with his attack, she hoped that he did not notice her own as her arms stretched out toward him. As the attacks connected, she noticed a third coming straight toward her, so she turned her body in hopes that it would allow her to keep at least one hand free for her next attack.

They would grab a hold of his wrist and attempt to pull him in with her superior stance. His own attack helped with this, and he seemed to want her in one place and his sand held her in place. If she managed to pull him closer, she would deliver a swift punch to the jaw and try and hold him near her so she would not have to attempt to close the gap again. She also hoped that stunning him would also limit his ability to use his sand.

OOC

Stats:
Strength: D (boosted to C with arhat fist)
Constitution: D
Stamina: D
Speed: D
Coordination: C
Intelligence: C
Perception: D

42/50

Jutsu:

Seeing as the hand still reached towards him, Adam focused his sand defense solely in the direction of the aproaching hand, intendidn to stop it. At the same time he formed a thin platform of sand and began to fly backwards and up until he reached about 13 meters of height, where he observed the situation. THe sand nearly having reaced Kaori form three different directions now would get her very soon. Should he get her he would try to throw her down and then focus enough of his sand onto her that the wheight of the sand alone was enough to trap her undernath it. It was important for adam however that he didnt overdo it with the sand and left her head open under any circumstance. He didnt want to hurt her or kill her by crushing her with the sand or suffocating her. Another added bonus was his abiliy of flight. on top of the sand. Surely she wouldnt be able to get him now, so he could focus all on attack now.

As he controlled his sand, he looked over to Aji, making sure she or her wasnt going to participate and try to turn the battle. He knew that people often liked to play unfair in order to not loose. He couldnt even be mad at them. After all it was likely the same thing that he would do either. Turning his head back now, and leaving Aji without "supervision" he stated and assured Kaori:

"Like i said, just say the safeword if its enough for you."

Adding after a slight pause he said, this time more quietly:

"Not worth getting injured over a trainings fight."

OOC:
Jutsus used:
Freeform manip (3cp)
desert suspension (3cp)

STATS:
STR: D
CON: D
STA: C+
SPD: E
CORD: C
INT: D
PERC: D

CP remaining 126/135

Aji had been barely even observing the fight between the two and was much more focused on reading a book that they kept inside of their cloak. This particular book was one about various medicines and the compounds that made them up, as well as methods to make such compounds. Aji would like to take up the life of a doctor someday, if circumstances ever allowed for such a thing.

Adam seemed to be speaking to them. He told them that they could end the match any time they liked just by give Adam the word. Aji, however, was content letting the fight continue the way that it had already been going. Kaori got into these kinds of situations on a regular basis. If Kaori kept doing it, Aji was not going to help. They simply waved Adam off and continued their reading.

Kaori, who now had one hand captive and was trapped in place, was feeling some combination of thrilled and frustrated. This situation looked pretty bad, and Kaori knew she was likely going to lose. However, she was not going to make it easy for Adam. Her arm was captive, as well as her legs, so her only option for movement was more soft body manipulation. She stretched herself out contorting in a way that mad her legs appear much thinner and twisting one leg free from the grip of the sand, she used the rapid expansion of her limbs as leverage to force herself free, dislocating her shoulder in the process, but sending herself high up into the air, where she attempted to deliver a kick to Adam's face.

OOC:

41/50

Used more soft body manipulation.

"What the.."

Was all that adam was able to say as he saw the once nearly completely buried Kaori got suddenly shot up to adam, their gazes met as adam moved back adn upwards with his sandplatform. However he was too slow, as he wasnt able to avoid the kick fully. Feeling a food nail him in the stomach he sank to his knees momentarily due to the shock. Not only had she managed to actually reach him, but also quite skillfully so. To be fair, he hadnt used too much of his sand on her, but even without that fact, it showed great prowess and that she knew what she was doing. As he got even higher with his platform he extended a hand towards the now falling kaori. Sand, following his hand rushed to kaori and encased her as adam used the sand to set her gently back to the ground. After all, if she fell more then 10 meters and landed with ehr head or back, it would have likely had more serious effects then adam would have liked.

Getting now finally back upand standing on his platform once more he used his sand in order to try to bury Kaori once more halfway, he formed a traingle wiht his fingers that he aimed at her. As only a bit of sand was holding her and kept him afloat, he had more then enough sand for what he was planning to do. Forming 3x3 meter wide pyramid around kaori he planned to capture her and then make the pyramid smaller until she yielded. Seeing as the somehow was able to escape him the last time he tried this he now just stated:

"I advise you to not try that again... i have the high ground."

OOC:
Jutsus used:
Freeform manip (3cp)
desert suspension (3cp)

STATS:
STR: D
CON: D
STA: C+
SPD: E
CORD: C
INT: D
PERC: D

CP remaining 120/135

Now that that had failed Adam, seemed to try and protect her from any damage that the fall might cause. She gently landed on the ground and used this moment to force her shoulder back into place. It was difficult without the assistance of another person, but she use her soft body manipulation to have her other arm aid in the process properly. She held the arm in place and turned the elbow as she pulled down and then forced it back into place. She rolled her shoulders a few times. It hurt, but she was no worse for wear.

"Now that that's taken care of, it's time to properly end this fight."

However, by this time, she had already been captured inside of a pyramid of sad.

"This shit is really getting on my nerves."

Seeing as she still had one hand free though, the once that had been previous dislocated, Kaori really only had one more option. More soft body manipulation. He arms stretched out once more as she attempted to punch Adam, but alas, he had moved outside of her reach.

"Coward, come down here and fight me, damn it."

OOC

40/50

Seeing as Adam was out of her reach in any way now, there was near no chance of her hitting him. Realising that she might end up hurting herself even more in trying to get out of the pyradmid, Adam readied the his remaining sand, gathering it around him and filling the air with hundrets of small sand needled. While they normally wouldnt have been visible too much, the sun shined just the right way on them to give any person looking the right idea about how many needles there were in the air. Releasing his pyramid, making it open around Kaori and crumble, so she could see the projetiles ready for her, Adam said:

"Id like you to yield now. I dont want to hurt an ally, but you cant win this right now. At least not alone."

Loosing was no shame. In any other situation she might have folded Adam in two, however if she continued her fighting, Adam would be forced to do something he didnt plan to do, that being surrendering to her. As long as it insured her not getting hurt even more.

For all that adam cared, he had won the battle. Even if Kaori didnt see it. HAving the archivement of being the victor meant nothing to him, as long as they both were well. Thinking shortly as he helt his stomach he added:

"Please... Or i will have to use something i dont like to do..."

OOC:
Jutsus used:
Freeform manip (3cp)
desert suspension (3cp)

STATS:
STR: D
CON: D
STA: C+
SPD: E
CORD: C
INT: D
PERC: D

CP remaining 114/135

[9]

Kaori hesitated, but she finally had to admit defeat. Aji would surely comment on it later. It was not like her to give up, but she tried to look as dignified as possible. She stood straight up and looked Adam in the eyes.

"Fine, I forfeit, I suppose. That sand power of yours is beyond my capabilities."

Aji closed their book and stood up, preparing to once more merge with Kaori once Adam removed his sand. Kaori simply stood and watched the sand crawl back over to Adam. She placed her hand on her hip.

"Right then, now that that's over, how about we get a drink. Always enjoy a drink after a good fight."

Aji made his way over to her, whispering something so only she could hear as he coiled around her, eventually merging and leaving only the robe draped around Kaori's shoulders. Kaori whispered something back. Something along the lines of, "then just go home."

[exit]