Description: In a battle whose tone can only be described as some strange mixture of pleasant and cruel, Sakura Kasugano and Kurow Kirishima come to blows, seeing each other face to face with unclouded eyes for the first time in months. (Winner: Kurow)
Taiyo High -- such a normal school, perhaps the most normal of the schools of Southtown... yet, like all of them, it is doomed to suffer through certain hardships. It would be hard to believe that anyone has forgotten the Imawano family's bid for power using the schools of Southtown. Dark ambitions seem to run deep in any sector of Southtown, even the schools, and even with Hyo's plan foiled and the man himself less cruel and calculating... little has changed, overall. It would seem there is always some tyrant who is more than willing to step into the power vacuum.
In these times, that tyrant is Kurow Kirishima, leader of the Darkside Student Congress, and he is here, at Taiyo High. He is not here on his usual fell business, though; in signing up for the fighting competition that in theory should offer him new tactical data on his potential enemies, he has instead found himself pitted against an old acquaintance, one who slipped through his fingers mere weeks ago. The young man is, for one of the first times in his life, not fully sure how he intends to go about the battle -- a fact which may cost him dearly.
He strides up to one side of the auditorium, wordlessly. Some of the Taiyo High crowd, remembering the last time he darkened their proverbial doorstep, begins to boo a little even before the fight begins; such is the price of ambition, however, and Kurow does not seem to let it get too far under his skin. He simply pulls out those vicious clawed gloves, tugs them on, and slips into his usual fighting stance.
There's been a lot of... history between Sakura and Kurow. Especially here, in this auditorium. She could go the rest of her life without setting foot here again, though she had always known that her fame and her destiny have been inextricably linked to Taiyo High. She knew a meeting with Kurow was bound to happen, just as an appearance here in the auditorium.
She just had no idea both would be so *soon*. Sure, it's been three weeks since she was taken from Thailand. It takes a while to recover from having two contrasting personalities living in the same pile of neurons one calls a "brain", though... and Sakura was hoping she could ease into the Saturday Night Fight routine for solace, not more stress.
At the same time, she was sour and bitter the -last- time she was here. Taiyo wants a smile, Southtown needs to see her =smiling= and giving all she's got. ... And not only that, =Kurow= apparently wants her to take control of her emotions, rather than letting them control her. He even said so in a thoughtful letter he'd presented her with... one that gave more questions than answers to the Taiyo graduate.
Gritting her teeth, she nods her head once, twice, thrice. Closing her eyes, she considers her entrance: pacing is everything. Giving Kurow just enough time to get booed to heck and back, she takes one final, deep breath before putting on her cheerful face.
"Hey everybody!" she shouts, holding up her hands and running into the spotlights. "That's right, folks, I'm totally back for some total ownage! I know you all can do more than 'boo', so let's hear it!!" She pumps her fist into the air, her voice loud and clear even =without= the PA system! The audience =roars= their applause in response... at least the =majority= of the cheering audience seems to have forgiven her.
But Sakura's eyes are mostly on Kurow, even still. She's smiling, that much is clear... but she's also =very= anxious about this particular battle...
If she does anything less than find the strength to control her own emotions, Kurow will be sorely disappointed -- after all, wasn't that strength of mind and body what he liked so much about her as an ally? As she comes in, enthusiastic and cheerful, even Kirishima can't help but give a little smile. That's what he wants to see -- after all, as an ally /or/ an enemy, he doesn't want to see her at anything less than her best. After all, it's rare that he finds someone who's so... /challenging/.
But when she looks at him, he finds himself just slightly disappointed -- he can see that anxiety, /feel/ it, even if it isn't at the forefront of Sakura's demeanor. He understands Sakura perhaps a little too well, after their brief association; he knows her mannerisms only slightly less than he knows his own, now. The youth can read her as well as he can read his own subordinates -- perhaps because, in his mind, that's /her/ destiny too.
Looking Sakura in the eyes with those intense, steely greys of his own, he takes a step forward. "Did you get my letter, and the donation?" he inquires, with just the smallest hint of a smile. "I thought you'd appreciate it -- but perhaps we'll talk about that later. If you're done playing to the crowd..." Breaking his fighting stance briefly, Kurow gestures for Sakura to come at him, with the usual quick hand motion. No further words are needed -- such a gesture is almost universally understood. Even if she wasn't quite ready for this so soon... /he/ certainly is. At the very least, he acts the part.
COMBATSYS: Sakura has started a fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|
COMBATSYS: Kurow has joined the fight here.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kurow
( Crying isn't going to undo what you did, you know; even the recovery fund is something of a futile gesture. ) Sakura had read over the words many, many times since receiving the letter. But really... she has issues with a great deal of what he'd written. That's just one of the points that sticks most in her mind.
"I only stopped paying attention to my fans for three and a half weeks, Kurow." She flashes him a tart smile, sarcastic and pointed: "That's pretty much over." And while her response to Kurow was pretty audible anyway, she raises her voice just to make it clear that, no, she's not done showboating yet, "The =fans= are why we're here, after all, so you'd better give them a good show!"
Still. There's a time and a place for actually =speaking= to the crowd. The necessities of battle more or less demand that a 'fourth wall' be erected, a fight requires one's full attention, after all. That's probably what Kurow =meant=, but Sakura's still of the mind that one should always be making 'futile gestures' to the audience ... it's why she's wearing her Taiyo school uniform now. It's what the fans expect, and reportedly -want- to see. But as she steadies herself upon the stage, readying herself in a defensive stance, she shakes her head, confidently declining his beckoning. "Nah. We got all night, I'm in no rush."
Maybe this hesitation comes at odds to Kurow's perception of her rowdy personality.
COMBATSYS: Sakura focuses on her next action.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kurow
There is perhaps one way to bait Kurow into doing something rash and ill-advised, one way to get him to throw his plans and maps out the window and just advance in without thinking -- and that's to defy him. On some distant level, one that he barely even pays attention to, he knows that Sakura's doing just that, trying to trick him into aggressing by telling him, indirectly, to take his orders and -- for lack of a better term -- shove 'em.
Even knowing that that's what she's doing, though, doesn't mean the likely-desired effect isn't achieved. "Then, as before," Kurow spits, "I suppose it's up to me to lead you to the inevitable conclusion." That's all that he says before rushing in on her. He seems a little faster than he used to, his movements a little more purposeful -- and perhaps a little bit removed from his typical body language, too.
In past battles, what this has usually led to is a series of fast, leaping strikes at a variety of angles -- but today, Kirishima has something far different in mind. The youth whips his entire body up, around, and forward, raising one leg and rearing the other back, doing a hard, fierce split-kick. It's clearly recognizable as a favored technique of the Kim family -- but why would Kurow use it?
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Kurow's Strong Kick.
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kurow
Yeah, Sakura did it to mess with him. She may be rash at times... but she's still Ryu's student. She's quite familiar with the methods here, and she found they can be useful... if she knows her opponent. She has reason to believe she understands Kurow, to say the least.
... Not that it really prepares her for a half-moon kick from a non-practitioner of Tae Kwon Do, or a capoeirista or some such. But Kasugano already knows enough of Kurow's style to make one conclusion -- whatever he does will =hurt=. It's a simple step from there to 'I don't want to be hit by it', and from there to 'GET OUT OF THE WAY'. And Sakura does that, hopping sharply to the side. Oohs and ahhs come from the audience, who expected neither Kurow's sudden change of tactics nor an homage to the Kim family! But Sakura has the presence of mind to react as her own norm:
"... are you on drugs or something?" Now beside Kurow, she steps in closer, swinging her foot low to the ground as she advances for a low sweep kick. "That was the worst Hangetsu Zan I've ever seen!" She'll follow that kick with a =second= sweep if that connects, aiming to make this the bestest Spin Scythe ever seen if it hits!
COMBATSYS: Kurow parries Sakura's Strong Kick!
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Sakura 0/-------/-------|-------\-------\0 Kurow
Sweeps have been used against Kurow more times than he can count lately -- the most vicious use was Sagat, one that Kurow barely handled. And now, when Sakura comes in with a low, quick sweep... he does the same thing he did last time, yet again. He takes only the smallest of hops to avoid it, landing his legs on the edge of Sakura's foot, letting her momentum carry him. Kirishima really does seem to know her inside and out now -- her precise range, the force of every attack she might use... and he uses that knowledge against her to brutal effect.
"Perhaps you'd be a little less unimpressed," Kirishima replies, surprisingly calm for the taunts she's dishing out, "with an Ikari technique?" He hops up off of her leg, only having to reach a few short inches now to seize her throat with those cruel claws. Usually, he'd have to waste valuable time both leaping in /and/ kicking off the ground to build momentum, but here he needs neither. He has /her/ angular momentum, after all.
If he gets those claws dug in tightly enough that he has a solid hold, the force of that sweep carries him around Kasugano more than twice over, eventually putting him just behind her, claws still firmly dug in, upon which time he'll pull his entire body toward her back feet-first, and then push off forcefully with both his hands and legs, sending her sprawling if she isn't careful. Even in a match with as many strange circumstances as this, Kurow Kirishima is swift and brutal as he ever is.
COMBATSYS: Sakura blocks Kurow's Circle Slash EX.
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Sakura 0/-------/-----==|=------\-------\0 Kurow
It kinda frustrates Sakura to have her own attacks used as leverage against her, but that's just something she'll have to grin and bear for now.
When claws reach for her throat, Kasugano, sensing impending doom, falters from her sweep, planting her handguard in front of her throat and blocking at the last instant. She's still spinning, though, and it's quite likely that Kurow's got enough momentum to swing around behind her and pull close... but since she was able to give him her hand instead of her throat, she has a bit more flexibility in getting out of the way. To wit, she =runs= away instead of being kicked away -- a marked improvement, if not a painless alternative.
Grimacing, she whips around to face Kurow once more, tightening her fists in anticipation. "Nah, still pretty weak," she responds -- even though she -was- impressed. That hurt more than she wants to let on, after all. But she doesn't seem willing to stand by idly -- she leaps in, falling back onto a technique she knows well, aiming to knock the calm right out of Kurow's teeth with three successive kicks. "SHUNPUU KYAKU!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Kurow with Shunpuu Kyaku.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Kurow
That tried and true technique serves Sakura well yet again, as the older girl's shoes catch Kurow twice in the upper torso and once in the head -- the pair really seem to be going blow for blow here, neither really gaining much ground over the other that isn't stolen back in seconds. Kirishima stumbles back from each successive kick, but does not fall -- that wasn't /too/ painful, after all.
The taunts are starting to get to Kurow, just a little, but at the same time they're encouraging. If she couldn't master herself enough to meet everything he threw at her with confidence, this wouldn't be the fight he was looking for; it'd be something else altogether, and most likely, something terribly disappointing. "You continue to improve," he says, with a little smirk. "That's just what I wanted to see. But..."
Like Sakura, Kurow decides to fall back on tried-and-true techniques rather than experimenting, for now -- she's got a small edge on him, and he can't afford to let that persist. "It's still not enough!" he declares, as he starts his offensive once again. Claws flaring out as he dashes in toward her, Kurow takes a quick series of wide, forceful swipes at Kasugano, each from different angles -- one aimed down from her shoulder to her opposite hip, the next a quicker one perfectly horizontal, and a third up from her navel to her chin.
COMBATSYS: Sakura interrupts Yami Kagura from Kurow with Shou'ou Ken.
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Sakura 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Kurow
Sakura's time with Shadaloo had taught her that sometimes, an analytical approach to fighting can really pay off -- but it's also really =really= boring. She =prefers= dramatic action and stage presence -- which is why she has a much better time fighting in front of an audience than somewhere in isolation. Really... she'd like the best of both worlds -- the comfort of control, interleaved with the dynamics of awesomeness!
If it's "not enough", then logic follows that someone will have to up the ante. She'd much rather it be her, on her own terms. And really... she's hoping Kurow will play into that. It seems he is, in some small way, considering he runs right up into her.
Flashing Kirishima a confident smirk, Kasugano nods in reply: she won't =have= to make a smartass retort... yet. That first swipe is deflected by her handguard, blades poking into vinyl and cotton padding rather than skin. The second horizontal strike is met by a pivot to the side, and the opposite handguard, brought horizontally as well. There is no third strike though -- Kasugano's already maneuvered around for a dashing uppercut to the jaw, revolving with a cry of "SHOOOU'OOOU KEN!"
Skirt fluttering as she falls back to the stage, she chuckles at Kurow. "Yeah, about that..."
Those punishing uppercuts always seem to catch Kurow off guard; even when he's at his best, Sakura always manages to sneak them through his defenses and send him flying. The young would-be tyrant is caught neatly on the jaw and sent straight up into the air, and then comes crashing straight back down, cracking the floorboards and seeming as though, for a second, he's prematurely licked. That /was/ a pretty nasty uppercut, after all.
However, such is not to be, unfortunately -- Kurow's made of stronger stuff than that, and he wastes no time pulling himself back up to his feet, carefully studying Kasugano for a split second, trying to regain his focus. "Good, /good/," he says, seeming almost pleased that Sakura's starting to surpass him -- perhaps, in some twisted way, this is what he wants. "/That/ might be enough." He brings a hand to his jaw, making sure it's firmly in place before starting his offensive again.
Turnabout, in Kurow Kirishima's mind, has always been fair play; after all, his fighting style is likely where it is in large part because of that fact. This is why the youth slips one of his clawed gloves /off/, clenching his fist tightly, and comes at Sakura... ... with exactly the same rushing uppercut that she just came at him with seconds ago. He even calls out its name, though his delivery is perhaps not as enthusiastic -- more of a simple, loud declaration. "Shou'ou Ken!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura dodges Kurow's Fierce Strike.
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Sakura 0/-------/=======|=======\-------\0 Kurow
They just =fixed= those floorboards, too! WAY TO GO, Kurow. Geez!
Sakura's always glad to receive praise, just not as much so for Kurow. See, she =thrived= on his praise about a month ago... which is why she takes such =offense= to it now.
However, it's not just simple flattery Kurow's offering, but imitation as well, reputed to be its sincerest form. Having learned about Kurow first-hand, though, she can't trust =anything= from Kurow to be sincere. She sees what's coming at her, and considers: is that why everyone's able to get out of the way? Calmly, she steps to the side, letting Kurow rocket past her, while she watches with a faintly bemused smirk.
"But yeah... thanks for the donation, Kurow! I'm glad you decided Thailand rebuild, even if... y'know." There's no need to go into more detail than that, she feels.
Especially since she's wanting to charge in at Kurow while he recovers, and plant a solid, direct punch right to Kurow's shoulder. Nothing fancy -- really, if she's taking from anyone's book this time, it's Ryu's!
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Kurow with Medium Punch.
- Power hit! -
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Sakura 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Kurow
Kurow starts to turn toward Sakura as she comes in, which is his biggest mistake -- his own whirling speed meets Sakura's punch, making it all the more painful as that fist digs into his back. She's really got him on the ropes -- it'd be easy to say she was tearing him apart.
He staggers away, /then/ turns to face Sakura yet again -- this time, though, he doesn't advance right away. He just gives her an appraising look, perhaps a little too closely, and a nod. "It wasn't a problem," he says, off-handedly; to him, it really was a small gesture, albeit one that nullified Saturday Night Fight's financial gains briefly.
He continues to hang back this time, walking around Sakura, taking a great deal of care in planning his next assault. It is, after all, important that he make every strike count at this point -- he's fighting at a severe disadvantage, and he needs to make every move precise and punishing.
COMBATSYS: Kurow focuses on his next action.
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Sakura 1/-------/=======|=======\=------\1 Kurow
Sakura may be a bit ahead in one sense, but she's been in enough to know that's far from a final judgment. Sure, she can usually pull ahead if she's the underdog, but it's just as likely that overconfidence can cause her to lose an advantageous lead of her own. So... she remains cautious, keeping her mind on the long-term battle, not the short-term benefit of Kurow giving her a bit of breathing room.
But Geese's organization didn't put Sakura against Kurow to watch them stare at one another, he put them in there to cash in on an internationally-known incident that took place here just about a month ago. Oh yeah, and to give the people a good fight too, maybe. Sakura has a lot of pressure to do something -- so she figures she can do something to unsettle the young man. "Will that be -all- you do to help Thailand, though? I'd hate for it to be a 'futile gesture.'" She hopes that he remembers writing that phrase. Nodding, she curls her hands back, hands crackling with electricity, her face underlit with the sheer intensity of the chi she's gathering there. "Shiiinkuu..."
Normally this would take a few moments. It takes only one moment, because she's being sneaky and substituting a lighter, faster payload of chi to Kurow in exchange for the slower, more punishing Shinkuu Hadouken. "Hadouken!" she shouts, flinging both hands forward for a tight, densely-packed burst of electricity-like chi, as she hopes to shake him up a bit.
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Kurow with Small Hadouken EX.
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Sakura 0/-------/=======|=======\===----\1 Kurow
The change-up catches Kurow off-guard, and when that little quick ball of energy comes, he doesn't have time to react. He tries to leap, but is punished -- perhaps her words are starting to catch him and knock him off his guard, or perhaps he's just spectacularly unlucky. Whatever the case may be, though, Sakura is starting to really punish him -- it'll take a serious, drastic turnaround for him to come out of this ahead.
Fortunately for him, perhaps, he has an ace up his sleeve, one he knows she'll see coming... but which she may be powerless to stop anyway. "We'll see," Kurow says to her; in all honesty, he cares little one way or another about Thailand, and mostly made the donation for two reasons -- one, to force her to match it... and two, to have an excuse to write.
Many men, when staggered by an attack like the Hadouken, use their distance from the enemy to reevaluate their tactics and change things up. Kurow, on the other hand, sees it as a test of his focus -- can he land a blow on her even /with/ the additional time she's got to see him coming? It's risky, but it's a risk Kurow is more than willing to take as he slips into an altogether different stance, running toward Sakura... and slamming his hands, one on top of the other, directly into the ground, using a technique much like the one he'd used on Ryu in that fateful battle weeks ago. A whirlwind of golden-white blades erupts from the point of impact, spinning in all directions, threatening to tear Sakura to shreds.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Sakura with Kirishima Shinkuu Yamiarashi.
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Sakura 0/-------/---====|===----\-------\0 Kurow
So she'd managed to shake him up? Great! ... But Sakura still finds herself at a disadvantage. She may be hitting pretty hard, but Kurow's long claws are enough to more than turn the tide back the other way if she slips up.
And with him rushing out to... attack the =stage=. What? There's got to be more to it than that, Sakura realizes in an instant, and drops low to the ground. She doesn't know what he's got planned, but she intends to brace for impact, curling her arms about her. Sure enough, the blades of chi sprouting from the stage are more than strong enough to punch through what little defense she's able to construct -- she may be able to block the front, but that doesn't stop anything from the other three cardinal directions.
Her arms are eventually knocked aside, as her body is even dragged up into the air from the vicious bladed onslaught. It ceases, shortly thereafter, at which point the young woman presses back to her feet, skirt torn and frayed in places, dark red lines etched into her arms and legs.
But even with her wobbling unsteadily from one side to the other, her expression isn't one of defeat, or despair. She'd let out a brief yelp when those blades sunk in, but otherwise she's been keeping a tight smile. "I wonder what your sister thinks about that..." she asks, hoping to regain =some= of her psychological edge... as she hops forward, lashing out with a high kick to the teeth. "Hyaaaa!"
COMBATSYS: Sakura successfully hits Kurow with Light Kick.
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Sakura 0/-------/--=====|=====--\-------\0 Kurow
Invoking Kurow's sister does little to throw him off his game, but that quick kick to the face does; he doesn't have time to react, and Sakura once again recoups her losses in one quick strike. Kurow doesn't have a lot more in him, he thinks -- but then, he's far more vicious than Kasugano could ever hope to be. If he can land a single solid blow, he can turn everything around... or so he has to hope, at least.
"I don't know if that matters," he replies, a little flatly -- before rearing an arm back and gearing up for the most forceful strike of the battle. He doesn't spend any time on proper positioning, just dropping low and rushing toward Sakura's leg before she has time to regain her balance, trying to bowl her over behind his back. He's banking a lot on one strike, and one that seems to have a rather poor track record... but it's all Kurow's got.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Sakura with Kirishima Kyoujuu Reppa.
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Sakura 1/---====/=======|=------\-------\0 Kurow
Plowing through Sakura's leg /works/, surprisingly -- even Kurow wasn't fully expecting that to work out, but now that he's gotten her unbalanced, the game is afoot once more. He continues to run forward, leaving a small whirling ball of claw-like energy behind him with every step, each one ripping through Sakura and launching her into the next one, as Kurow actually runs all the way /off stage/ for a second, stopping just before the wall and letting the last little ball of energy send her flying /over/ him --
-- only to be grabbed out of the air with those painful claws, slammed forcefully into the wall, and then flung full-force back to center stage with a cry of, "... because you're /finished!/" All the audience senses in that split second the fighters are obscured is something crashing into the wall... but no doubt they know what happened when she's tossed back out, and Kurow immediately starts toward her /again/, walking back onto the stage and in her direction with grim, purposeful steps.
Well, let's review. 'What would your sister think about you helping Thailand?' 'I don't know if that matters, because you're finished.' The moment it takes Sakura to figure out that his reply isn't quite a direct response to her question is the moment she couldn't quite get her leg out of the way fast enough. Caught in Kurow's snare, she's juggled about by the wake of whirling chi-blade thingies, brought all the way over to the side of the stage, and =slammed= into the wall. This is pain that could easily =kill= some people, but Sakura... well, she's too stubborn to die!
In fact... even though she's bleeding from several wounds, and her once-proper Taiyo uniform is all cut up and ragged now... well, she doesn't stay lying down on the auditorium stage for long. Planting her hand on the stage, she leaps to her feet and dashes across the stage to meet Kurow. "I'll send you to her on a stretcher!!" she chirps, still beaming a bright smile despite her countless cuts and scratches. She starts off with a dashing punch -- or so it would seem, as it's all but =necessary= for her to have the proper momentum to whip over suddenly, skirt flaring out of the way for a distracting flash of white before her shoe scythes downward at Kurow -- with any luck cracking against the back of Kurow's head! "Hrii-HAAAA!"
COMBATSYS: Kurow dodges Sakura's Flower Kick.
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Sakura 0/-------/-======|=------\-------\0 Kurow
Kirishima thought she was addressing something else /entirely/ about his sister's opinion of his actions -- his response made more sense from that perspective. (In the heat of battle, /no one/ is a perfect communicator, or a perfect listener... and for that matter, the Darkside Student Congress as a whole seems to have a bad tendency to let words get away from them a little when they dramatically pause.)
"I'm so sorry," Kurow says, as he gets quite the eyeful of Sakura's gym shorts, "but I have no intention of leaving this fight in any way but on my feet!" His body is an inhuman blur, whirling all the way around /behind/ Sakura as she comes down, scything kick catching only empty air. It seems he's regained some of that traditional lightning speed.
While Kurow knows he could just nudge her and have her fall, he doesn't want to end this on such a flat note. The youth's 'free' hand, the one he removed his claws from so long ago for that Shou'ou Ken, strays to his pocket... and as he dashes to meet her once again, that hand comes out, swinging right for Sakura's face with a 'weapon' she no doubt knows is more than merely a weapon.
The holes on the flute whistle, just slightly, as it moves through the air.
COMBATSYS: Kurow successfully hits Sakura with Random Weapon.
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Sakura 1/------=/=======|==-----\-------\0 Kurow
When her kick misses, Sakura throws her arms out for balance, but it seems she's at a bit of a disadvantage from Kurow's sudden reversal. Gritting her teeth, she tries to jump forward and out of the way of whatever he's swinging -- but she doesn't find out the whistling thing is actually a =flute= until it brains her on the side of the head. "Ugh, geez... I hate that song..." she mumbles as her knees give out, and she drops to the stage.
But, like this entire match so far... Sakura still has a flair for the dramatic. Kurow might think her beaten, but if he lets his guard down, he might find she still has a surprise waiting for him, in the form of a cerulean blue blossom of chi that she plunges into his stomach as a parting gift.
COMBATSYS: Sakura can no longer fight.
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Kurow 0/-------/-----==|
COMBATSYS: Kurow blocks Sakura's Small Hadouken EX.
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Kurow 0/-------/----===|
Kirishima sees that bright blue wave of energy coming -- he never takes a chance with a downed opponent, especially not one as tenacious as Sakura; hastily, he drops his stance a little lower so the wave strikes his arms, already in their usual defensive posture, rather than try to get out of the way -- she's too close in for that.
Kurow drops to one knee, conscious and still ready to fight, but only by the smallest of small margins; he wanted Kasugano to show him her full strength, and what he got was something that perfectly matched his own. If he'd been even the slightest bit off near the end at any point, she would've bested him, and he knows it.
Slumping over, Kurow says to his fallen foe, "... well done. That... was exactly what I wanted to see." The young man pushes a hand into the ground, trying to keep himself up -- it's getting difficult to do so now, with all the bone-crushing strikes Kasugano has rained down on him. "I'm pleased to see... that you're my equal."
Sakura grits her teeth when Kurow manages to block it. She had figured that if he tried dodging, he'd probably be a hair too slow -- which is why she threw it in the first place.
Really, though, that may have been the only time Kurow didn't see her with something of a smile. Beaten, she sees no real need to play cool and confident -- she's serious now, and... well, of course she's about to pass out, too.
But she, naturally, won't =let= herself pass out with this guy hovering over her.
"How much of that is just BS, Kurow? Do you actually believe that crap you're saying?" It's barely above a whisper, not really intended for the audience to hear, but her pain ought to be quite evident.
Mildly irritable, she lets her shoulders fall back onto the floor, hands making a pillow for her head. She's just waiting for the medics, really, as the announcers have their way of it. She's... pretty much incapable of standing after that -- her leg injuries were a bit more than they seemed.
Narrowing her eyes for a moment, she remembers: sleep is bad! So she openes them again, keeping watch on Kurow. And admitting: "Pfft, yeah, whatever. It was a pretty even fight." Insert brief smirk here. "Thanks."
Kurow has no intention of staying much longer -- after all, they've already concluded most of their 'business,' such as it is... but he certainly can't leave Kasugano's question unanswered. Looking to his fallen opponent, he allows himself a smile -- a real, genuine smile, something Kasugano may have never seen from Kurow and perhaps may never see again. "Every word of 'that crap,'" he responds, his own voice likewise a whisper that even digital enhancement may not quite pick up.
Forcing himself back to his feet, even though that's a difficult and unsteady endeavor with as many cracked bones as Kirishima's picked up over the course of the battle, he looks down toward Sakura, adding one final response. "The first of many, I'm sure. Excellent work -- don't ever let those honed skills dull. If I find our next battle a disappointment..."
He trails off there and turns to walk away, perhaps wanting Sakura's mind to entertain the numerous possibilities, ranging from the mundane to the horrifying, that could finish that sentence. It's time to milk Howard Enterprises' generous, caring medical staff for all they're worth -- some small, petty jab at Geese's deep pockets.
Log created on 12:27:39 07/28/2007 by Kurow, and last modified on 05:48:46 07/31/2007.