Book 2: The Three of Us

Chapter 5: Hand-to-Hand

The short winter days were starting to become warmer as we near spring. I could smell the change in the air this morning. Nights were still unbelievably cold but once the sun rose over the horizon, it didn't take long to warm up. Staring up at the sunny sky, the air still held the remnants of the cold night. However, the sun was warm against my skin. 

Closing my eyes, I take a moment to focus on my chakra that naturally reaches out, connecting with the forest. The ever present feeling of the energy around me comes into focus, and I can feel as it travels through me and through the world around me. The trees are buzzing with energy, strong and sturdy. The feeling, the energy traveling through me is a familiar feeling that sooths me and puts a smile on my face. Samihada purrs in appreciation when I give some of my chakra to it. 

Anko appears in the training field and waves at me before speaking, "What's up, Sushi Roll?" Her ability to easily mask her whole presence isn't a new surprise to me but it never the less impresses me. That quickly turns to fond amusement as my eyes open and I roll my eyes at the new nickname.

"I don't know how you can come up with so many different nicknames. One day you're going to run out of new ones," I say from the rock I'm sitting on. Samihada is propped up against the boulder beside me, pouting that I won't be using it during training today. As amazing of a weapon as the sword was, it was not fit for sparing. To make up for it, I was feeding it some of my chakra every few minutes.

Sitting on the other side of Samihda, Anko gives the sword a curious look, "Ya know, I never asked how you and Samihada have the exact same chakra. That's not normal. The sword is sentient and has its own chakra yet it looks and feels exactly like yours."

I give her an impressed look, "Most don't know enough about sentient swords to know that they usually have their own chakra."

Anko shrugs, "It's a hobby. Now explain."

"Samihada was originally made by a Hoshigaki before it was taken by the Hidden Mist. The person who made the sword was actually my great-grandmother," I explain and Anko gives a surprised look, "I was in love with the sword from the moment my mother told me about it. I wanted nothing more then to become a shinobi and reclaim the sword. It belonged to my clan, not some village.

When I finally claimed Samihada as mine, the chakra in the sword was that of my great-grandmother's. Instantly our chakra recognized each other and the more I used the sword, the more our chakras became similar. The sword was made to be wielded by a Hoshigaki and I've had ten years so far with this sword. We have the same chakra now."

"Damn, that's one badass sword. Do you have any idea how the sword was made?" Anko asks.

I shake my head, "No idea. I was never able to find out and no sane person would be writing down how to make one of the most powerful swords in the world."

"Do you wish you knew?" Anko asks, leaning back on her hands.

"Hell yeah, I've spent my whole life wanting to know how Samihada was created," I answer, excitement filling me. I always love talking about Samihada, it was one of the most incredible things ever made.

Anko looks off in the distance, a look of contemplation on her face. She was thinking about something and I could tell she wouldn't be sharing. It wasn't uncommon for her to get like this and there was no way to figure out what she was thinking about.

The moment of silence reminds me of why I invited her here and I let out a slow deep breath, pushing my own annoying ego out of the way, "I'm sorry for how I treated you, it was wrong of me. I shouldn't have been angry at you."

"It's okay, I get it and I forgive you," Anko responds, looking in my direction as she speaks to show she really means it.

"Thank you for saving my life."

She gives one of her wide, slightly unhinged smiles, "Anytime, Sushi Roll."

I shove her lightly in annoyance and she laughs at my reaction, "You are incapable of having a serious conversation."

Anko jumps away, falling into a fighting stance, "That shouldn't surprise you. Now, let's spar!"

I follow after her and get in my own fighting stance, "No use of chakra or jutsus. Hand-to-hand combat and weapons only."

"Sounds like a plan."

"I'll exempt myself from weapons to give you a handy cap," I say.

Anko scoffs, "Asshole. Don't get cocky just because you're a higher ranked shinobi then me."

"Trust me when I say I've never lost in a hand-to-hand battle," my voice turns serious when I say this. Before I even finished my sentence, I'm already charging towards Anko, a smirk on my face when she jumps back to avoid my attack.

With the space between us, Anko takes the moment to pull out a kunai and attack me head on with it. Her slashes of the kunai are quick and precise, trying to find a weakness in my defense. I effortlessly dodge her strikes, only shifting slightly to avoid them. She was trying to use my weight against me, having me dodge infrequently to both sides and waiting for me to make a mistake. It was a perfect plan for a fight against someone physically stronger then you.

Her smaller build let her move much quicker then me but I compensated for that by waiting until the last second before the kunai would hit me before shifting my body slightly to avoid the hit. Slipping behind me, she jumps on my back to get me in a strangle hold. Before she can get a solid grip, I grab her by the arm, throwing her over me and through the air.

Taking control of the fall, she lands on one knee as she makes contact with the ground, sliding across the dirt before coming to a stop. Her quick assault of attacks towards me continue, only able to make small cuts on me here and there. No matter how you looked at it, with our specialties as shinobi being so dramatically different, there was no way she could get the upper hand in our hand-to-hand spar. Despite knowing her defeat was inevitable, we both were enjoying the fast pace spar.

When she comes in for another attack, I whisper to her, "We're being watched."

"I know," she replies before I throw her back once again.

"Do you know who it is?" I ask as we continue to exchange attacks. Her sensory abilities were far superior to mine and I could do very little past sensing near by chakra signatures.

"Unfortunately," she says, dodging my punch towards her.

"Care to tell me who?" I ask, tripping her to catch her off guard which she easily recovers from.

"Kakashi Hatake. I got no problem with him but he's gone all protective dad mode with Sakura. Drunk him is a pain in the ass," she responds. Her response distracts me momentarily and allows her to give me a pretty decent cut on my arm.

It doesn't take much for me to ignore the pain even as blood drips down my arm, "Oh, Great Spirit, this is not going to end well. Please save me."

Anko rolls her eyes at my dramatic response, "Grow up, you're an adult. You can deal with your girlfriends parents. You don't seem to have issues with your boyfriends parents."

"Fugaku is a quiet person but weirdly accepting, and Mikoto is an angle. They wanted us to date long before we did. I've never actually met Kakashi," I say, not faltering in dodging and attacking this time around.