Description: Shoma and Kurow have a little run-in in the Shadaloo training room, and the youths exchange more than words about the girl they're both surprisingly invested in.
Shoma has, for the time being, secured a small corner of the Training Center for himself. He's not hard to spot: Look for the rhythmic swing of the big red bat.
"499..." *SWOOSH!* "...500..." *SWOOSH!* "...501..." *SWOOSH!*
Seems like Shoma is doing extended versions of his usual training, perhaps following advice from Hayato: "If you have doubts, train! If you are uneasy, train! Eventually, you ignite your BURNING SPIRIT!"
It hasn't worked so far; Shoma's fairly certain he has made a poor batch of decisions, but the only way to go now is forward.
Rhythm is something Kurow can appreciate; after all, it has so many uses. One of which he should be looking into right this second, of course... but then, perhaps the stars aren't right for that just yet. Whatever the case may be, the Kirishima ninja has pulled himself away from his busy schedule to check in on the training room...
... and spots that young man with the big red bat right away. This is a /highly/ surprising twist of fate. "What are you doing here?" he asks of him -- it's not a particularly accusatory tone, just genuine curiosity.
Shoma speaks in a slightly irritated tone as he keeps swinging. "Training....510..." *SWOOSH!* "What's it look like? ...511..." *SWOOSH!* Even the appearance of Kurow's not quite enough to get Shoma to set the bat down. "...512..." *SWOOSH!* "What's your excuse? ...513..." *SWOOSH!*
"I don't have to have an excuse to be here," Kirishima says, /now/ starting to get a little cross. Shoma is, after all, not exactly bringing a friend-winning demeanor to the table. "Tell me why you're here, in a Shadaloo facility, using Shadaloo resources, for swinging a bat. I understand you came in with Sakura, but that's all I know."
Kurow's interrupting his training, that alone usually will net a beating. He /is/, however, a guest here. "...521..." *SWOOSH!* "Because...Five-" Shoma pauses, blinking once or twice before making an angry noise. Looks like he lost count. He sets the business end of the bat in the "Because I came in with Sakura, and I intend to /leave/ with her. That's all. I figured that while I was here, I'd make myself useful. In order to that," Shoma hefts his bat again, "I'm training. 1!" *SWOOSH!*
'Leave with Sakura.' That may not be the smartest thing to admit to, Shoma. Especially not here.
Kurow's expression becomes a little more flat, and his tone becomes a little more deadpan. "I must not have heard you correctly. I thought you said your intent was to leave with Kasugano." He appears to fold his hands behind his back; in reality, he's readying his claws, even now. "But that can't be right."
Shoma's /told/ Vega this. To his face, in those words. After that, it ain't so hard.
"5!" *SWOOSH!* "I meant exactly what I said. 6!" *SWOOSH!* "So yeah. You did hear me correctly. 7!" *SWOOSH!* "I just told you what I told Vega last night. 8!" *SWOOSH!*
"I know it might take some time. 9!" *SWOOSH!* "But I am willing to put that time in. 10!" *SWOOSH!*
Shoma was given a chance to change his story. He didn't take it. This is probably when things are going to become less than fun and training for Shoma Sawamura -- he doesn't know it, but in saying that to Kurow, he has -- in a way -- endangered himself even more than if he'd said that to Vega.
"Sawamura," he says, watching that rhythmically swinging bat. "I want you to stop practicing for a second." That's all he says, at first. It's a completely innocuous request.
Please. When has Kurow EVER known Shoma Sawamura to do anything less take the straight path to anything?
On one hand, Shoma's tempted to keep swinging away. He doesn't like Kurow any more than he likes Vega. He's here on account of one person and one person only. Kurow might pick up on this, he might notice the tells.
However, again, he is a guest, and the request is not unreasonable. There an implication that Shoma might, when this conversation is done, be able to start that fourth set of one thousand swings over again. He turns to look at Kurow.
"Done."
What happens next is something that Shoma most likely did not expect when he stopped swinging that bat. That dislike is easy to pick up on, and beyond that -- while he would deny it if it was ever yelled by anyone -- Kurow is ultimately a teenage boy with normal teenage boy feelings when unexpected things (like having cute girls put under his control as a complete surprise) happen. If called on it, he'd just say he's protecting his investment.
Which is technically true, but then, just what sort of investment is it?
The strike is lightning-fast. Shoma might not even have time to react -- it is quick and forceful, a hard jab at Shoma's chest with all of the claws on Kirishima's right hand. "I don't think you have the strength to make it happen," Kurow says, trying to at least keep his tone on the topic level and even.
COMBATSYS: Kurow has started a fight here.
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Kurow 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Shoma has joined the fight here.
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Kurow 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Shoma
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Shoma with Fierce Strike.
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Kurow 0/-------/------=|=====--\-------\0 Shoma
Shoma /would/ have something to say, some snapper patter that might include a reference to a BURNING SPIRIT or Taiyo GUTS!
Kirishima does not give him this chance. Shoma tries to get his bat between himself and those claws. It works, but only enough to turn would could have been a lethal strike into something painful.
The claws cut into his black track suit, snap the leather bat-strap, and spray flecks of red across the corner Shoma had appropriated. He grunts as he shoulders the bat.
"Perhaps..." He grips the weapon in two hands as he steps in, "I should..." Feet plant, Shoma's body twists like a coil, "Prove OTHERWISE!"
The bat comes around in a blur of red. This is the swing that Shoma was practing when Kurow walked in, the same swing he does three thousand times a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year without fail. Kurow might see it from a mile away, but he wasn't on the business end of it that time.
COMBATSYS: Shoma successfully hits Kurow with Grand Slam Smash.
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Kurow 0/-------/----===|======-\-------\0 Shoma
Needless to say, Kurow wasn't expecting /quite/ that -- not at that speed, nor with that raw force. Shoma has power beyond what his small size and... occasionally somewhat lacking intelligence... might make it seem, and he visits this power directly on Kurow's face.
The bat sends Kurow down hard, no doubt a satisfying feeling for Sawamura; he gets back up in almost no time at all, though. The boy's recovery time has always been excellent.
"You always overcommit like that, don't you?" Kurow asks of him, evidently not deterred by that one strike. He's felt worse, after all. "You need to learn that the best response isn't always 'strike with everything you have.'" This is a lesson Kurow is evidently more than happy to teach, as he reaches out for Shoma with those claws, trying to sink them both into the young man, in order to toss him directly at a piece of weightlifting equipment.
COMBATSYS: Shoma fails to interrupt Strong Throw from Kurow with Fishing Swing EX.
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Kurow 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Shoma
Shoma sees the grab coming. He attempts to stop Kurow's move cold with the simple expedient of jamming the business end of his bat into Kirishima's midsection.
What would follow is moot; the stike sails under Kurow's grab, and /past/ the man's midsection instead on /into/ it. Kurow is able to sling him into a benchpress rack. Shoma yells out in a bit of pain; metal tends to disagree strongly with flesh and bone, as he rolls over the bench. Kurow would notice something: He still has the bat, even through all of that.
"Nothing worth doing..." Shoma breathes heavily, "Is worth doing with less than everything..."
Such conviction.
Kirishima has been unusually competent recently -- he has some definite drive lately, moreso than usual, and it's been propelling him to new heights. On the other hand, his /strategic/ decisions have probably decayed... at least, if his own self-analysis is true.
It's that self-analysis that causes him to hang back for a little while when Shoma gets tossed away and stays down for a little while. He's getting stupid over someone else, he reminds himself. Kurow didn't /need/ to have this fight -- he got into it because he had a lapse in judgment. Over a girl. Brilliant, Kurow -- soon you're going to make all sorts of errors.
That's enough of making errors for now, though. Instead of speeding in another time, Kurow circles around Shoma, studying him, piecing together the youth's style in his mind. Even if he's committed to this now, he can at least try to handle it like a halfways rational man. "Some things are," he replies. "Some things aren't."
COMBATSYS: Kurow focuses on his next action.
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Kurow 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Shoma
The Taiyo Slugger eyes Kurow carefully as Kirishima circles him. He growls slightly; he would have been more comfortable with Kurow pushing the advantage. He grips the weight-bench he just knocked over, watching Kurow as he sets it right.
"And that is what seperates us, Kurow. You've never given your everything to a cause," With no further warning than the handling of the bench, Shoma heaves the bench up and over his head in a display of raw strength, "And that is what makes me stronger!"
Incoming.
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Shoma's Large Thrown Object.
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Kurow 0/-------/---====|=======\==-----\1 Shoma
With a quick whirl, the ninja narrowly pulls himself out of the path of that enormous bench. Shoma's strike is telegraphed, seen from a mile away -- he's /stronger/, but raw strength isn't everything, as Shoma is likely finding out now. What's worse than making the decision to go for something big and slow against the master ninja, though, is saying something disparaging about Kirishima's resolve.
"You say I've never given my all to anything," he says, an edge starting to creep back into his voice -- but he catches it, and down it goes again. His tone is more even as he continues, "Just what makes you so sure?"
Kurow at last lunges for Shoma, taking a low, flat leap toward the Taiyo sportsman's stomach, seeking to sink those claws in and then whirl /around/ Shoma's body, leaving deep gashes along his stomach and back. When he comes around to Shoma's back for a second time, he pushes off as forcefully as he can, likely knocking the youth to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Shoma with Circle Slash.
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Kurow 0/-------/=======|>>>>>>>\>>>>>>>\2 Shoma
Kirishima is fast. He's /too/ fast. Shoma's left with an exposed midsection, revealing a muscled abdomen...right before it is ribboned by Kurow's efforts. He's left on the floor, bleeding out of a great many cuts.
But still, he stands. He is /still/ defiant, even in the face of an obviously stronger opponent. His chin is lowered, and Shoma glares at Kurow with a wide, almost feral grin. "I can tell, because it shows in your attacks."
The Slugger hops the wreckage, charging Kurow full-tilt. As he closes, he reshoulders the bat. The bat takes on a faint glimmer as the Taiyo Ace Batter sets his feet. If he thought that first swing was fast, he had not seen ANYTHING yet.
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Shoma's Homerun Hitter.
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Kurow 0/-------/=======|====---\-------\0 Shoma
The taunting, at this point, is getting to be a fatal mistake for the young homerun hitter. Does it accomplish the intended effect (angering Kurow)? Yes. Oh, yes. But that may not be the best thing if Shoma thinks his advantage is in having more willpower, more commitment than Kurow Kirishima.
Kurow can be baited into trying to prove himself. It's not that hard, really -- all it takes is the right amount of taunting, as Shoma is learning. Not too much, not too little. The first way he proves himself, of course, is simply by leaping /over/ the enormous swing of Shoma's bat, landing just as it's passed the area he once stood in. It's a brutally efficient leap.
The next... is just the slightest bit delayed. "That's what you want, then? You want to see me commit to a strike?" he asks, narrowing his eyes. "Fine, then!" And commit he does. With a burst of momentum that might take Shoma off-guard considering how Kurow's handled himself so far, the youth ducks low and aims his shoulders right for Shoma's legs, potentially knocking him just behind the youth...
and then leaving him to be dragged along by the dozens of afterimages of those cruel claws, left behind as the ninja keeps on running. This takes him to that weight machine again, of course -- and in a surprising twist, he runs /up/ one of the beams, dragging the baseball player /upward/. It's only when he kicks off of the machine that the slugger's body -- if it is indeed dragged along -- is finally allowed to fall to the ground.
COMBATSYS: Shoma stops Kirishima Kyoujuu Reppa from Kurow with Return Swing.
- Power hit! -
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Kurow 0/-------/----===|====---\-------\0 Shoma
Shoma is tired. He's bloody and beaten, and Kurow clearly has the upper hand here. Shoma's words have the intended effect. Kurow charges.
Shoma responds with a fierce cry as he brings the golden bat to bear one time. He strains, trying to bring sheer willpower to bear in stopping Kurow's onslaught. One which could easily hospitalize or kill him. He succeeds, if barely. He clanks the end of the bat on the ground, leaning on the signature weapon as he battles to get air in his lungs. There's nothing he can do about the bleeding, however...
Sakura rubs her face. She woke up from her recovery pod not too long ago -- fighting's been pretty intense these days, she needed it! But ... she'd heard from a passing lab tech that her "guest" was not only unattended... but fighting in the training center. ... Which explains why she's rubbing her face wearily.
Peering inside the training center, she sees her guest... fighting one of her commanders.
This is not optimal.
Walking up towards the two, she states calmly, "... Kurow, I'm requesting an explanation." Glancing over to Shoma... then to Kurow with an inquisitive look, she continues, "Shoma Sawamura is a guest here, by Vega's orders."
The young man is repelled by the bat, in a testament to Shoma's willpower and strength -- and, amazingly, when he's inevitably shoved back and stands up, he can't help but crack a smile. "... Perhaps," he says, starting to breathe a little heavily, "you're just a little more ready to meet this than I thought."
And then Sakura walks in. Oh boy. /This/ is going to be complicated to explain, to put it lightly. Taking a deep breath, he says, with as controlled of a tone as he can manage, "Sawamura claimed that he intended to leave with you. I understood this as a threat to kidnap a ranking Shadaloo officer, and engaged him." As if on reflex, he takes a half-step back from the Doll. Distance is key at the moment.
Request? Did she say request? Shoma blinks once or twice at that, looking back and forth between the Doll and Kurow. He doesn't get a chance to snark back at Kurow, which is probably a good thing. A good thing for Shoma.
He pulls himself upright, and absently on his tattered tracksuit top to try and cover his bloodied midsection. He reckons this might not be the best of times to press an attack, and simply answers Sakura with a chuckle, "We were training. You know how that gets sometimes. I got a bit heated up." He's still leaning on the bat, however.
Kurow says Shoma planned to kidnap her, to take her back to Southtown with her friends. This... meshes with his own words over the past few days. Especially since she'd considered the threat of the boy trying to take her back at any moment.
And Shoma, on the other hand, says the two were training.
'Trust' is not a word bandied about the Shadaloo compound lightly -- but Sakura trusts her own intution more than either of the two. Always has.
"If that attack had landed, Shoma..." she starts, watching Shoma's expression, "... you could have been killed." Taking a breath, she then continues, "If it is truly your intent to take me back to Southtown, I trust you'll do it when I'm good and ready, rather than attacking me when I'm unable to defend against you. ... That's pretty dishonorable, really."
She glances back to Kurow, tilting her head to the side. "Besides... it's not really necessary to defend me, Kurow. Lord Vega's in such a mood that he'd likely kill anyone who tried to abduct me. Without a second thought." Turning back to Shoma, she ... smirks, faintly. "And Shoma knows how close he is to death already, simply by being in the den of those our friends consider 'the enemy.'"
No, there's absolutely no question in her mind that her Lord Vega would =absolutely kill= Shoma for doing what he intends. Shoma may very well know how much power the man possesses.
Kirishima takes a breath. This is the most awkward situation he's been in in a long time -- everything about this situation is something he could never hope to have prepared for. It's so far afield from anything he might've expected that when Sakura talks, he just waits -- though he glares daggers at Shoma, for a few moments.
"I know. I will concede that I might have overreacted, considering the circumstances; Shoma is really no threat." Neither was Gan, yet Kurow did something highly demonstrative with that man barreling toward him, too -- there is definitely a pattern to his behavior, one he wouldn't admit. "... my apologies, Shoma. Please -- avail yourself of the medical facilities here, with my blessing." He sure straightened up quickly!
"Thank you for stepping in before I did something unnecessary, Sakura," he says, simultaneously taking another step back. "After all, Sawamura likely meant nothing too threatening by it."
Oh, he knows, Sakura. He knows first hand the power of the Final Psycho Crusher. All Shoma has DEFINITIVELY said is that he is not leaving without Sakura. Everyone ELSE seems to be reading the kidnapping angle into it. Sakura leaving against her will did not even enter into Shoma's final plans.
He looks at Sakura, looking as hurt in the face as he is in the body, "I know that, Sakura." He says this like the absolute truth that he feels it is. He is simply not leaving untill she has made the decision to leave Shadoloo. "That decision will always be yours," he states with an almost uncharacteristic gravity.
... Is Kurow =afraid= of Sakura? What the heck? The chain of command between the two is still rather murky, as Vega himself hasn't exactly =clarified= it. But... then again, Sakura =is= among the ranks of the elite Dolls now.
So there's =that=, causing Sakura to give Kurow's show of chivalry a rather perplexed look.
And then Shoma is here being... quiet. Reserved. Maybe that's what having claws raked through ya will do to a person. All Sakura knows is that two young men used to acting very impulsive and agressive ... are suddenly neither so impulsive or aggressive.
"You're both acting strangely," states the Doll, folding her hands behind her back.
But she does offer a brief smile after a moment. "But yes. I... don't plan to leave any time soon. We have much work to do."
Kurow is acting strangely because he's feeling awkward, for the first time in years; it doesn't help that he's consciously acutely aware of it, and considers such feelings anathema to anything approaching success as a human being. He thinks he'll start to tolerate weakness, if this continues -- and from there it's only another quick hop to seeing everything come crashing down, and /then/ where will he be?
"My apologies -- things have been hectic lately, and even I am vulnerable to stress," he says, with a nod to Sakura, giving a somewhat tenuous justification for his 'strange behavior.' "You're right -- we do have much work to do. In fact, there is a prisoner that I suspect will be waking up not too long from now, who has a lot of... sensitive information." And not /just/ about troop movements!
Giving Shoma one last pointed look, as if to say, 'I /still/ don't trust you as far as I can throw you,' Kurow starts to head for the exit. "Sakura, I'd like to talk to you privately some time soon," he adds, as he moves away.
Shoma is battered and bloodied, even if it is not worse than anything he's been through before. However, those times did not also include staying in a very bad place where very bad things could happen to him, AND at least two of his hosts have good reason to be very very angry with him.
He nods slowly; Kurow's look is neither unexpected nor unwarranted. He looks at Sakura, "Could you point me to a nurse? I'm starting to get a little dizzy standing here," he asks quietly.
... What is =with= Kurow? Stress? That just doesn't fly to Sakura. She's =never= seen him that out of sorts, really!
But he does let drop a piece of information she wasn't previously aware of: "... Prisoner? ... Do you need assistance?" She certainly seems ready to help. It's better than looking over shoulder at Shoma every moment...
But really, if he's dismissing himself, perhaps it's better left unsaid. "... Sure. Later, then. Please get some rest, Kurow."
Turning back to Shoma, she nods slowly. Maybe that's as good a reason as any to not accompany Kurow. "Sure. There is a medical ward just down the hall I can take you to..."
Kirishima nods his head once to Sakura, saying, "I'll try -- things are tight, though, with the Elites... attending to their own business outside of Shadaloo." That's certainly /one/ way of putting the sheer amount of hemhorraging the organization has had lately.
Leaving her to attend to the young man, he slips the rest of the way out of the room -- after all, he really does have to attend to young Futaba in /some/ form or another soon enough.
COMBATSYS: Kurow has left the fight here.
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Shoma 0/-------/---====|
COMBATSYS: Shoma has ended the fight here.
Log created on 18:06:59 06/29/2007 by Kurow, and last modified on 10:04:16 06/30/2007.