Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of What Defines Us

Salt and Quince

In a campsite, close to one of the small port towns, selling ship related services and whatever else port towns profited from and did Meiko and Shimo were sword-fighting. The two were seriously going at it even if neither of the two was particularly angry at the other or wanted to kill their partner. The fight had nothing hinging on it, it was a playful spar that happened to grow into something more intense but just as contained and within the bounds of common sense.

Mana was calmly eating by the side and looking at the incomprehensible mess of flashes and blurs she wasn't even able to comprehend. She knew how these sort of fights took place, hundreds of hits and blocks connected before she could even see a single red and green blur from Meiko or a damper green and silver blur that her old-time Yuki teammate left over from his movements. Even those flashes were afterimages, mirages of sorts, reacting to them was to react to the sound of your own cut open flesh. May as well not even react at all...

At this point, the magician had gotten used to not being able to make out much of anything when her teammates really went at it. Before they used to restrain themselves, maybe the wound of Mana's disability was still fresh and they thought that she suffered greatly seeing by just how far she got left behind. It was true, even at the peak of her physical chakra augmentations that would've slowly broken her body even more than it already was when used the magician would only barely be able to keep up to the sloppiest of her friends' attacks.

Here and now the two went balls out, they didn't aim at where the other was not blocking, the two purposefully tried to train each other by giving the other some time to defend themselves and develop their own style. They were training like two comrades in arms should have – beneficially to one another and honoring the sparring opponent. The downside was that with the other blocking each and every blow the sounds were abhorrent. The clangs and thuds conjoined together as another one started before the first sound could properly kick off making a terribly loud cacophony of steel and thuds that sounded like they were splitting the Earth in two.

"They're not really restraining themselves..." Mana noted to Kouta who was just sipping tea and observing the spectacle. Without a doubt the medical ninja could see it all, he wouldn't have been half as entertained by it all if he couldn't.

"Why would they be?" The medical ninja wondered distracting his eyes to look back at the magician who looked at him while she spoke to the young man.

"I don't know... They used to do it..." Mana blushed looking to the side, she didn't want to talk about how uncomfortable this whole difference in strength made her feel still.

"Yeah, because you were really stressed about being a civilian again. Now you're much better at dealing with it, right?" Kouta asked casually walking up to Mana and sitting by her, gently he wrapped one of his hands around her back.

"Sure..." She dismissed the topic without explaining that being better at hiding something was not the same as being better at dealing with it.

With a wild howl of the passing wind currents, the fight stopped with Meiko falling on her butt scratching her forehead. Shimo's arms and exposed thighs were twitching and blood red – he must've been pushing his body to the limit if his muscles were that tense just from the workout and not from being hit. His clothes were torn and cut open in many places – despite his speed Meiko must've had plenty of close marks on him that cut his kimono and trousers open but didn't quite tag the boy's skin.

"Wow, you're really damn fast..." Meiko shrieked out in surprise and followed it with a playful laughter. "You hit me like four times before I even raised my hand to hit you"

Shimo closed his eyes and stroke his twitching and tensed up muscles. "Yeah, well... If you hit me with at least one of your blows I'd have been out for the count. You going for my feet was particularly nasty... Feet heal funny".