Caught

Battle

For several days Kay and Kisame ignored each other as they sorted through what the kiss meant. For Kay, the kiss meant nothing, merely a glimpse into her past; for Kisame, it raised old insecurities and made him doubt himself.

Swinging Samehada, Kisame cleaved the tree in two. The sword grumbled that the tree didn't have any chakra for it to eat but the shark-man ignored it and swung again, this time at a different tree.

"Small wonder the Village is called "Hidden in the Grass"; you've basically levelled the area" Kay said, standing near him with her hands on her hips. Kisame turned away, not wanting to look at her. "Still angry, eh?" Kay asked as she reached out to touch his hand. He jerked his hand away and she narrowed her eyes. "Your clan has a tradition to settle situations such as this, no?" Kisame stiffened and praying to Kami that she wasn't about to say it. "Kisame Hoshigaki! I challenge you to Saishū Kessen!"

"Do you even realize what you're agreeing to?" He snarled at her. She shrugged, saying "if it helps me get through your thick skull then I'll do it". He unwrapped Samehada and the sword snarled and salivated as it sensed her chakra, and dropped into his fighting stance. Kay drew her tantō and channeled chakra to her hands as they gripped the short sword. "Just so you know I don't plan on showing you mercy" he said as he grinned widely and savagely. "I figured as much" she replied.

With a ferocious roar that gave voice to his anger he swung Samehada. Kay had been unprepared for how fast he could move despite his large size. She lengthened her tantō's blade using her chakra to block his sword but she barely dodged the attack. Samehada had a few strands of her red hair in his teeth as he snarled.

Just as she landed on her feet, Kisame was behind her and dealt her a hard blow to her back, sending her flying into the earth and skidding against the ground. She got to her feet and readied her tantō again. He chuckled and threw Samehada at her and wove hand signs, "WATER STYLE: FOUR SHARK SHOWER!" She threw her tantō at Samehada, forcing the sword to divert its attack and quickly wove signs, "FIRE STYLE: FIRE SHIELD!" she said as a dome of fire wrapped around her.

Kisame's sharks faded away as they turned into mist. He scowled as she undid her jutsu, breathing a little heavily. "FIRE STYLE: RAGING INFERNO!" She yelled as she sent a wind whipped frenzy towards him; "WATER STYLE: 1000 FEEDING SHARKS!" he retaliated, sending his sharks to consume her attack. As her attack was being absorbed, she channeled wind chakra to her feet and burst through the fire wall, both hands holding flaming kunai that she intended to stab into him.

He grabbed Samehada who had wrapped himself around his arm and used it to block the kunais and sending her crashing back to the earth. Samehada consumed her chakra and licked his lips. Kay got to her feet a little unsteadily as she spat blood and wiped the blood from her split lip. "Kay...just admit defeat" he said, sounding concerned for the first time. "Never! You're going down fishstick! WIND STYLE: SAVAGE BREEZE!" This time Kisame needed Samehada to block her attack. He saw the toll the jutsu had taken on her; she was struggling to stay standing, her tantō was lost and she was bruised and bleeding. He needed to end this, now.

"WATER STYLE: RAIN WATER SHARK WAVE!" Kay winced as the sharks sliced at her as she tried to dodge as many as she could. In the midst of the falling sharks, Kisame appeared at her side and dealt a crushing kick to her side. She screamed as she felt the pain radiate from her ribs and throughout her right side. She landed hard against the ground, a cloud of dust billowing around her body.

Kisame walked to where she lay and kicked her over so that she was laying on her back, panting hard and gritting her teeth at the pain in her side. He placed Samehada against her neck and she felt the sword's rough skin cutting her neck. "It's over" Kisame said simply, standing over her. She slowly raised herself onto her elbows and pressed her neck against Samehada. "Do it," she taunted, "it's not over until one of us is dead according to your clan's rules" she panted out. "I'm changing the rules; it's over". "Oh thank fuck!" she sighed in relief as she sank back onto the ground.

Kisame knelt next to her, using his sword to steady himself. "As the victor, you will tell me everything" he said. "I already did! Back at the inn" she replied. "You clearly didn't. A lie by omission is still a lie" "now you're just arguing the semantics" she countered. "ENOUGH!" He shouted, cutting off any further argument from Kay. "Fine!" she said, "get comfortable. We might be here a while".

Kisame dug a medical kit from his side pouch and sat in front of Kay, tending to her wounds as she began to talk. "It all started long ago, in the Kasai clan..."