Yae Mochizuki vs. Kozue Kaburagi - Twin Shadows

It worked?

Of course it worked. Kozue had complete, total, and unwavering faith in her ability to snag someone in the damn-near dark with a chain and catch them in a makeshift sleeperhold, despite never being trained to do anything quite like that. But that was a part of the ninja game, wasn’t it? You improvise and things work out.

And Kozue was definitely pleased with the results. She pulled the chain tight, getting all sorts of nice sounds out of her opponent as her windpipe tightened. She had been in chokeholds before, maybe even had something small and tight wrapped around her neck, but she doubted she’d felt anything like this cold steel.

”Yup.” Kozue brought her head up and mashed their foreheads, making sure they could see the manic looks in both of their eyes. Didn’t want to miss that. ”Look at me.”

Kozue changed up the scissorhold, shifting her ankle down behind her knee and moving into the figure four position to increase the pressure. She doubted she would have enough time to knock her opponent out before she had to let go and get back to the ring, but if she could just leave her winded, sap that strength out of her, the match was hers. Four seconds could be a long time when you could barely breathe.

A solid idea, in her mind, but she didn’t quite factor in that elbow being shot into her thigh. Again. And again. And again.

Yae was precise, hitting the exact worst spot on her leg. Kozue held on tight after the first hit, but the second one left her sapped, and the third strike made her abandon the whole thing. Her leg was numbing, could feel that going to her bones, and it just wasn’t worth the trouble anymore. Besides…

”Eight!”

Yeah, that.

Kozue pushed Yae away and made a mad scramble for the curtain - not the easiest thing to do with a bad leg.  As soon as she was out, she grabbed the curtain and tried to pull her way back into the ring at a mad pace. Not the most dignified moment of this match.

It was getting darker under here. Her eyes weren't able to catch the faint amount of light that seeped into this intimate little space. Her body was too busy focusing on not passing out to worry about things like sight, sense, smell, or thought. Not a good sign. Yae hadn't been in this hold long, but that was kind of the thing about shinobi. A few seconds was all you never needed.

Ninjette worked her over with deathly efficiency. It'd been a while since she'd been choked from her waist and time hadn't made the experience any more pleasing. Yae's fingers could deal with the chain around her neck, but with this kind of hold around her waist, with legs as strong as those, as tight as they were, it was a matter of 'when' and not 'if'.  If Kozue had, say, sixty seconds to herself, the fight would have been decided here and now. But she didn't have sixty. She had two. The Jersey girl must have figured that part out and Yae assumed she would be using that time to make a quick escape. And she did. But only after Kozue pressed their foreheads together, bringing their eyes into perfect alignment and providing Yae with a sight that made her heart skip one beat too many.

Two hundred and seventy-three ninjas she'd trained. This had to have been a first. Yae felt her eyes strain, and it wasn't the asphyxiation that was responsible. Her eyes trained on Kozue's and they didn't leave. Not until the Jersey girl broke first and kicked her away, turning on a dime and disappearing in a mad dash to make the count. Yae was in no such hurry. She was still there in the dark, grinning to herself with the chain falling from her neck. In no particular hurry.

"NINE!"

"First rule of warfare, Princess. A real shinobi's battlefield..." Her hand slipped into her pocket, pulling out a small bead that just about fit between her two fingers. The kunoichi's other hand-whipped at the canvas above with a glint of metal at the end of her fingers, leaving a small incision for the stage lights to peek through. She chomped at an invisible piece of string and wedged the bead through the hole. "...is whatever they want it to be."

BOOM!

A cloud of smoke engulfed the ring an instant, covering every inch of space inside the ropes and cascading slowly upward in a plume. It would engulf Ninjette in an instant. The official's lungs were too filled with smoke to continue the count, alternating between confusing hacks and bewildered double-takes left and right. Confusion fell over the arena giving rise to a rousing frustration. On the inside, however, was a curious stillness as the smoke gently hung on the air. One could barely see their hand in front of their face. Four of five senses were the only things someone could trust. Maybe even a sixth for a special few.

Kozue wouldn't have long to figure that out. Two precise seconds after the smoke cloud took her, a shadow would leap into the air straight ahead of her, curiously gentle in its descent like a crane, but just as fierce. It came closer and closer, and with only a second to react...the trenchcoat could fall in front of her. Where was its owner?

Where was anyone, Ninjette? Where was anything?

Okay, Yae. Balls in your court. What now?

Kozue pondered that thought as she made her way into the ring, narrowly avoiding the final count, right at the edge of nine. Not long for her opponent to do the same, not long at all. Being honest, she didn’t want to win the match this way, and she didn’t even think she could. She had only known this woman for what, less than ten minutes? Already she was starting to get a read on her style. Resourceful, smart, cunning, everything you wanted out of a Grade-A Ninja, the kind of woman Benikage had spent months hammering her into. The kind of woman who would find a way out of any situation, no exceptions. She’d beat this count. She’d make it into the ring.

But how? That was where the suspense came, and it was already driving her nuts. She just had one more second, and-

Nobody in attendance saw what came next, not the crowd, not the announcers, not the referee, and not even Kozue. That wasn’t to say she wasn’t ready for this kind of thing, far from it - but a cloud of engulfing smoke wasn’t something she’d encountered in the ring before, not when she was in this mode.

It took her no time at all to switch, though. Her breathing slowed, taking in as little smoke as she could get away with, keeping her lungs clear. Couldn’t see, couldn’t smell, but she could hear. Filter out everything. The crowd, the referee, the security around the ring pacing about in a confused circle. Make her mind an island.

There.

Kozue tensed up, prepared for action as a figure came through the clouds, came towards her, and innocently flopped at her feet. A trenchcoat. Just the trenchcoat. Mindgames, they were playing.

”Okay, okay…” She muttered under her breath and dropped down, picking up the trenchcoat. She whipped it around in a flourish and slid it over her arms, putting it on - in part to make sure she didn’t trip over the damned things, in part to give her a sliver of added protection, in part because she just thought it would be funny to steal Yae’s stuff.

That done, Kozue dropped to a knee and planted one palm on the canvas as she put her head on a swivel. Left, right, up, down. The ring was only twenty by twenty. Only so many places to hide. ”[i]Yae-chan.” Her voice was sing-song, low, just above a whisper. ”Come over and play…”

That was the question, wasn’t it? Where was Yae?

Where was anyone?

Where was anything? The fog was so dense, the noise so broken and erratic, the senses became dulled in the whirlwind of confusion.

The referee had given up any attempt at delegating in this mess. She couldn’t see All she could do was keep one hand out in front of her, swiping haphazardly at the air as she made her way towards one side of the ring, desperate for a connection with something physical to reorient herself. The ropes that granted haven to so many wrestlers over the breadth of her career finally came into view and returned the favor once more unto her. She reached far out with a desperate grasp for the top rung...before a foot stomped right in front of her hand forcing her to recoil.

The shadow passed so fast, so quickly, she was half-convinced she’d imagined it. But the trembling tension on the rope told a different story. Something was moving along the ropes. Did a cat get loose in here?

If only. Yae loved cats.

This honestly took her back. Old man Gozen would get on her for playing hooky and spend hours looking for her up in the trees while she was busy chasing that stray cat that seemed to like hide-and-seek as much as she did.

Kozue wasn’t as good at it. Yae was moving too fast along the ropes to be seen, focused on keeping her balance as she circled and circled. Each pass sent ripples through the stage, made errant sounds in the fog. Yae wanted to sow as much confusion as possible. Kozue couldn't do anything if she didn't know where she was. Yae's opponent was good. But she was better.

She came to a sudden stop on the corner post to let her eyes do the work. But she could sense her. Her distraction seemed to work, buying her those extra couple of seconds to get in position and observe Kozue. She could hear her breathing, the slight steps just in front. The Jersey Girl was standing right in front of her, in the center of the ring with no idea which way was up.

The perfect target.

Yae slowly stood from her perch on the top rope, arms wide and open to her side in the image of a crane prepared to take flight. The Iga ninja jumped high into the air. Her body tucked close and sailed into a forward roll at the crescent of her ascension. From on high, she became one with the wind, the guiding breeze, and the flow of air as her body fell back towards the Earth. Yae’s eyes shot wide and honed on her target. She dived and kicked her foot out, aiming for the back of Kozue’s head with the precision that only came from a trained assassin.

A knife in the dark. A silent kill.

Kozue Kaburagi stood in the middle of a dank, cold forest, wearing a light, black training robe that sure-as-fuck wasn’t meant to be worn outdoors. She was barefoot, which she didn’t mind most of the time, even preferred - but most of the time she wasn’t in the middle of a dank, cold forest, so that didn’t apply.  It was raining, which made everything danker and colder than it would’ve otherwise been. Not a full blown rain, just a drizzle, but she could smell more coming in on the wind. It would be pouring, soon enough, could see the heavier clouds moving in over the moon, enveloping the area in a thick, black blanket.

What could make this situation worse, make it even less comfortable?

Maybe having her sensei throwing sharp, pointy objects at her from the shadows. That would be a solid start.

”Comeoncomeoncomeon…” Kozue muttered as she scanned the area around her, trying to get some hint of Benikage’s movement, some clue where she should be focusing. Left, right, up, and down...fuck, was that her? No, just a squirrel.

”Remind me why we’re doing this again?” She took a quick step back, moving against a tree to cover her flanks. ”Don’t think they’ll have me doing matches with the lights off, kind of defeats the point of a TV show.”


"Whoever said we were training solely for matches?" A billowed wind carried her Mentor's answer and rustled up the leaves of neighboring trees where a nigh-indeterminable creaking sound could be heard as if weight was being applied to one such tree trunk. Dew drops falling off of blades of grass as the drizzled weather continued onward with owls hooting in the distance and the field mice they hunted raced for refuge. That squirrel doing the same by scurrying into a nearby tree once a human-sized shadow whisked by to briefly blot out the moonlight with a few falling leaves in its wake.


"A keen eye can be the death of you faster than a dulled one, and overconfidence in our senses can be our undoing once in the field. Honed eyesight is pivotal for your survival but if it is ever lost to you then you must learn to accomplish your goals without it. Whether you're surrounded by distractions or have gone completely and utterly blind, you always have the tools for victory if you simply clear your mind and focus. And besides...*giggle*...clearly you have never heard of blindfold matches..." Benikage's quip would come on the heels of a fresh trio of ninja stars being thrown. Not to harm, but keep Kozue on her toes.



”Blindfold matches? That’s really a thing?” Kozue threw a skeptical look at the last place she heard Benikage’s voice, even though she knew her sensei was no longer there, if she ever was in the first place. Somehow, it was like she was coming from every direction, echoing all around her, impossible to pin down. ”Sounds like the dumbest idea since-”

Kozue’s quip was cut in half, and she nearly suffered the same fate as ninja stars came flying out of the forest. She heard them whizzing through the air, cutting through the stale forest wind, and turned to look in their direction - a mistake, she should’ve trusted her ears alone. It nearly got her perforated, but she leaped away before that could happen and planted her back against a nearby tree, going for some small measure of cover.

”Fuck!” She peeked out from behind the tree and tired to get a lock on Benikage, looking for any signs. ”How the hell does this even work? I’m not Daredevil, I can’t see shit, and you keep moving around…”


"Hushhhhh, Kozue...and calm yourself. You've always harbored a tidal-wave of passion and emotion, traits that you know I admire about you. But they can foster panic, frustration, anger. And that rampant chaos in your mind is what's clouding your judgment. Not being able to see a threat causes you to panic, and people panic because of one solitary fear...that they lost control. Of the situation. Of themselves. Your confidence in your abilities wavers, and defeat always follows afterwards. But you must always be the hunter, Kozue. Listen closely...clear your mind...trust in yourself...and you will find your way towards me..."

Benikage's words once again were delivered on the same gusts of wind, although now with the sound of thunder to accompany it as the impending storm begins closing in all around them. Moonlight breaking through the canopy provided by the towering trees as the sounds of wildlife echoed all throughout the forest...but only to the most honed of senses and serene of minds could breaths be overheard being taken. Stopping only to spring about from one tree limb to the next, deftly taking cover and being unseen behind each tree trunk, where the presence would practice breaths…

Kozue’s first reaction was to tell Benikage off, say how crazy that all sounded. It wouldn’t matter how much she focused, she couldn't see in the dark, and this whole thing was a waste of time, anyway. There were better ways they could train, had to be ways of getting this done that didn’t risk her getting pneumonia.

Then again, being too quick to quit things was part of her problem in the first place. She wanted change, she wanted improvement? She had to try something a little different. Shut up, calm, yourself, listen.

Listen to the rain droplets cascading on the leaves, dripping through the forest canopy.

Listen to the distant thunder, rumbling miles away.

Listen to the owl flapping his wings overhead, circling his prey.

The howling breeze, the swaying trees, the trickling stream. Everything was alive and moving, sending stimuli to her brain, and all she had to do was pick it apart and find the one thing that interested her.

”There.”

”There.”

To Yae’s credit, the tells were minor, difficult for Kozue to pick up, and the crowd made it even worse. There was so much gunk to sift through, so many sensations she had no need for, that she could have missed out on what she wanted easy.

But she found them. Could feel the subtle vibrations of traveling through the ring, tingling on her bare feet. The way the air shifted around her, gusts splashing her in the face. She was close. Behind her. On the turnbuckle. Launching off, flying forward, going straight for. The owl descending on her prey, claws spread wide, coming in for the kill.

Nope.

Kozue leaped to the side, letting the kick pass by her head with only a few inches to spare, jumping over and coming down on foot. She stayed on that foot, balanced, and spun around with her leg in a wide arc, so that, when Yae rose back up after her landing, she would have a gift waiting for her: a roundhouse kick to the face, delivered with hurricane force.

[Special thanks to Killcarrion for help with this post.]

“Did you see it?”

Yae did not see it.

She was too annoyed to 'see' much of anything aside from the summer sky drifting past her with every second they wasted sitting here on the high branches. The air was clearer than it had been for months. The spring chill had gone and she could finally wear a t-shirt. It was a perfect day. So naturally, she was going to waste it away with training. She was already over it. She could feel herself dozing off with her body soaked in the warm enveloping sunlight.

“Yae!”

The little kunoichi felt her brows crease together before she slowly opened her eyes, visibly pissed off looking at the clear blue sky. Seriously. Toshi was lucky he was cute. "The bear."

Right. Kuma. He was prowling around this place again. He started getting more active once the spring season started and his cubs finally moved out. This part of the forest was rich with honeycombs. It was a safe bet to run into him or one of his brothers if they ever ran short of furs or rugs.

“Lemme guess. He got stung again, right?” She accompanied that half-hearted tone with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Toshi nodded. “And ran for the hills. He won't be back for days.”

“Pissed himself, I bet.” Toshi wanted to say something, but he'd grown a little too used to her unique dialect after so many months.

“Indeed. Like Nobukatsu when he prowled through these hills with a legion of spears.” Toshi looked over his shoulder back at the girl. They were the same age and they couldn't have acted less like it. She was already shifting into a new position to fall asleep in, putting her back to the tree trunk and her hands folded in her lap. "You have no idea why we're out here, do you?"

"Bear piss?"

"A lesson."

Yae quirked a brow and sat up. "You're teaching me a lesson with a bear piss?"

Toshi didn’t bother looking back at her, watching the Ursa hobble back away into the dense foliage. Crushed rock and broken branches collapsed beneath the massive weight of his paw, and before he disappeared her let out a simple, hollow whine to himself. “A single bee is slow; gentle, frail, and insignificant…”

Yae felt something tickle her nose. She opened her eyes to find a buzzing yellow blur beside her face. Her eyes turned wide and her heart thumped hard against her ribs. “...but give it purpose, and it will strike you as a dragon."

“GAH!"

The smack of Kozue's heel dead center into Yae's cheek easily drowned out the kunoichi's voice as she fittingly tumbled across the canvas, finding herself face down on the other end of the ring behind Kozue.

She wasn't staying there for long. Some of it was just pure adrenaline, most of it - what compelled her entire body to snap awake from the floor in a frantic recovery - was the unmistakable confusion written all across her face. The audience was equally confused, but for entirely different reasons. They’d been out of the loop since the moment her smoke bomb went off. But Yae could see everything clear as day through her mind’s eye, right up until that last moment. That last second where she saw the back of Kozue’s head before it suddenly vanished. Kozue countered her. That was the only explanation, and it wasn’t one that Yae Mochizuki was exactly taking with grace.

"What...what the fu-" Yae spit out a mix of saliva and thin traces of blood from a new cut inside of her cheek. Oh, awesome. She wiped her lips and refocused on Kozue, shaking her head and wagging a finger as she took a few forward steps the Jersey girl’s way. "No way. No way in hell you saw me coming. How the fuck did you do that? You were blind, you were exposed, you were done, you were...you...you…"

The ninja stopped and slowly tilted her head to one side, half-convinced she didn't have her eyes on straight for a second here. "...You wearing my coat?"

Holy fuck that worked.

”Holy fuck that worked!”

Kozue was about as surprised as everyone else - or, okay, as surprised as they would’ve been if they could actually tell what had just happened. She’d done stuff like that before, sure, but that was in training, with a master ninja who she was about 99% sure was holding back on her most of the time and could wreck her shit if she really went all out. Pulling off that little Daredevil trick in a match, when it mattered, when she needed it, felt so damn good, and she had to fight her urge to do a quick dance.

...eh, a few hips shakes wouldn’t hurt. Yae seemed stunned for a moment, she had time.

She raised her hands above her head and bounced a bit, putting on a good sway as Yae got herself together, getting all her feelings out. She wanted answers, she’d get them. Kozue was in a giving mood. ”A little something I got from my Aunt Benny.” She snapped her finger and shrugged. Got a little too caught up in the moment and reverted to the nickname. “Benikage-sensei, the jounin who trained me. Look her up sometime, she’s straight badass.”

In all the excitement, she had forgotten about the coat, and had a quick laugh when Yae pointed it out. ”Yuuuuuup. You left it laying it around, finder’s keepers. What, you want it back?”

Kozue stepped back, stood straight, and shoved her hands into her pockets, doing her best impression of the look Yae’d gone for at the start of this match, right down to the smile. ”Come and take it.”

Come and get it.

The kunoichi watched her better half say those words; the inflection, the emotion, that nonchalant posture. You didn't get to the level Yae was at with sharp knives and quick reflexes alone. Reading people was part of a shinobi's profession, studying their mannerisms like living literature and becoming them if need be. That was how, right away, Yae knew that Kozue was mocking her.

Part of her should have been angry at that, even some tiny bit. As if having her sneak attack swatted away with the flick of a wrist wasn’t humiliating enough...but this unusual beat of a heart overwhelmed those sentiments. The bewildered look on her face lingered for a moment longer. Her thin furrowed brows began to ease. She slowly picked her jaw up from the floor and shut her mouth tight. So, this is how it was going to be.

The kunoichi snickered and gave a half-hearted attempt to bite her lip before she suddenly let out a long, unrestrained laugh. After a few seconds, tears started welling up in the corners of her eyes. It wasn’t as though she was unappreciative. This was refreshing, exactly what she needed. Like a quick splash of water in the morning.

"That's good! Ya know what? I like that! I really fucking like that!" Yae put a hand close to her chest and slowly regained her composure. Her laughter died down into a few chuckles behind an evil leer. Slowly, Yae raised her hands and interlocked her fingers, her indexes pointing upward to formulate the foundation: Rin. Not once did her gaze deviate from Ninjette’s, keeping her centered in her mind. "I will acknowledge your skill, Kaburagi Kozue, and your sensei. From the greatest lineage of assassins and the last of Iga’s clans, you have my sincere respect."

"From now on, we fight like shinobi." POOF! Yae disappeared into another puff of smoke. It faded as quickly as it came, but the rebel of Iga was no longer there when it did. She was in the wind, she was one with the shadows. She was right behind Kozue, crouched low with two fingers pointed skyward in front of her. She honed in on her target - the five lumbar vertebrae, that sweet spot on her lower back - and lunged forward. The kunoichi gripped her wrist like a dagger and thrust it forward with the intent of running the Jersey devil through.

Ikken Hissatsu.

So, how would Kozue react if someone swiped her jacket? They didn’t need to guess at that, she’d been in that exact scenario a couple of times. High school was the one that stuck out in her mind, when Carlie Cooper thought it would be funny to swipe her bra, put it on, and go around the locker room stretching them out with the fake tits she got for her birthday with her rich-bitch money. It was a funny little stunt, until Kozue introduced her forehead to the topside of a bathroom sink.

Yeah. High school sucked. That was a highlight, though.

But would it work on Yae? She could tell the two of them were similar flavors, but how close?

It was a mixed bag. Kozue looked on as Yae ran through the gamut. Confusion, at first, with her slack jaw and wide eyes, as if she couldn’t properly process the stimuli that her eyes were feeding her. Then she recovered, put it all together, accepted it. And then came the laughing - long, crazy, hysterical. It was a whole process, and the New Jersey Ninja stood there to watch it all.

Kozue snickered. The referee and the crowd just looked on like Yae had lost her mind. Maybe she had, too, but it was the right type of crazy, and she was pretty sure what it all meant - that things were about to get damn serious and damn fun in goddamn hurry. How much? Her smile never faded, but it did drop a couple of inches when she saw the formation her foe’s fingers were taking, knowing what it meant for the way things were about to go. To Yae’s word, there was only one thing to say.

”Fucking finally.”

And boom, Yae was gone, disappearing in a raucous burst of smoke and sound. Misdirection, distraction, illusion, a ninja’s greatest tool. Kozue’s eyes shifted around as the referee leaped away with flailing arms, trying to get a lock on her foe once more. She had to be close, had to be setting up something like-

Kozue found out Yae’s position the hard way, as fiery spear shot into her spine and sent her leaping forward. A hoarse cry rang out as she fell and came down on her knees, even skidded with the touch down. ”Okay,” She planted one palm on te mat and rose, trying to turn towards her attacker before the followup came. ”You earned that one. That’s fair.”

Kozue was not the person Yae expected her to be.

Everything she'd read and heard painted the picture of a glorified party girl running around with a headband. No discipline, no preparation, just a lot of natural talent and daredevil tactics. Not exactly a trained killer but someone who knew how to make the most of what they had. Honestly the kind of person Yae wouldn't mind getting down with at one of those Shinjuku joints past a reasonable hour. She was a good time. But a challenge? Her record just didn't fire off any flares for, inside or outside of the ring.

But that opinion was changing minute by minute. Every time Yae thought she had the Jersey Girl, she was there to match her beat for beat. She saw through her deception and acted on it promptly and fiercely. It'd been years since she felt this close to the edge. From those days in Iga with the adrenaline shooting through her veins, the wind in her hair, and sweat soaking her brow.

She needed more than this.

Her strike missed the pressure point on her vertebrae by centimeters. Kozue's body must have reacted on its own. Or perhaps Yae was more shaken than she wanted to admit. Regardless it wouldn't take from the pleasure of the moment. Nothing could take the smile from her face at watching the Ninjette fall. Yae's ebony eyes narrowed on her slouched posture and scanned for openings until she found one that suited her. Something worthy of her adversary.

"Nah, I earned this one." Yae rushed forward and planted a foot on Kozue’s exposed back, using it as a springboard to leap above her into a forward somersault. Her leg extended at the zenith and came down in a cutting scythe, aiming the downward striking kick to the back of Kozue's head.