Nobility's Pride

[Kaen Youji]

Participants: Katrina Kawada, Kaen Youji
World: Soul Society
Thread Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: G
Location:

This fight takes place in the Squad 7 training barracks. A large rectangular room, measuring approximately 100x50 meters in diameter, with several supporting pillars.

Special Conditions:

Kaen Youji will start this fight with his physical stats restricted by 90%. If he is forced to fight with greater than 15% of his physical capabilities, or forced to release then it counts as his loss.

Circumstances:

After his fight with Shade (results presently unknown), Kaen invited Katrina to a sparring match to gauge the strength of other Kawadas, as well as possibly scout out new talent for Squad 7.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen sat resting on his knees, at the back of the training barracks. It was a good sized training area, and the floor was mostly cleared now. Kaen was taking deep breaths to relax himself. It was a well known fact that Squad 7 was the most powerful of the Gotei 13, man for man, but it seemed recently, other squads had been clamoring for the title themselves. The 6th Division seemed intent on taking it with quantity over quality, and squads 10 and 13 were gradually building in strength. Besides, Squad 13 was led by Shade Kawada, a man for whom the term "power hungry" was understating the issue. So, Kaen wanted to clear all doubt as to that matter. And scoping out new talent for Squad 7, to maybe nudge them along, would be a major asset to that effect.

And hell. What better way than to maybe get a little jab in at Shade, by having a Kawada in squad 7? Kaen had requested Katrina for a sparring match to gauge her skill. Whether rival or comrade, it was always good to know someone's capabilities. How good was this member of the Kawadas, the noble family Shade often boasted as being a prodigy family? Naturally, however, Kaen acknowledged that the gap between their strength was immense. He had not informed his opponent of this, but he was obviously going to be holding back. And holding back a substantial amount. To restrict himself by 90% was actually going to be an effort in and of itself, but it would be necessary in order to gauge Katrina's approximate skill level.

Kaen breathed in deeply, and closed his eyes as he relaxed, and allowed his mind to drift, listening to the sounds around him, to detect Katrina's arrival. There were only two possible entrances to the training room, on either end of the hallway, and so he listened for the sound of the opening door, that would announce his partner's arrival.

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - 300 Points (600) {60}
Speed - 375 Points (750) {75}
Spiritual Pressure - 200 Points (150)
Reiatsu Strength - 400 Points
Light Aura - 45 Points
Dark Aura - 55 Points
Instinct- 175 Points
Senses- 100 Points
Energy sensory - 50 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points
Total: 1600 SP

SPOILER: Click to show

[Martial Art- Karate] {4}
• [Pain Tolerance] {3}
• [Martial Art-Jiujitsu] {3}
• [Analyzing] {2}
• Hakuda {3}
• Zanjutsu {1}
• Iaido {1}
Total: 18

[Deleted]

*creeeaaaaak* The rusty hinges of the westernmost door opened at a touch; Kaen's opponent was here. As she walked in, all attention would immediately be drawn to the small white mouse sitting on her shoulder as if it was a parrot. It's small pink nose twitched constantly in the direction of Kaen, and - upon smelling him - it ran back and forth across Katrina's shoulder in agitation. Katrina stopped at the door. In a barely audible whisper, she told the mouse: "Go, little guy. This place is not for you." As if listening to a command, the mouse clambered down the golden haori and ran out the door.

The stoic Academy Student, dressed in a customized white academy outfit, making it far tighter and revealing than normal, approached her opponent, with only the slightest amount of trepidation. "Kane Youji ... the Eternal Flame ... his prowess is incredible ... why would he challenge me? I am a mere Academy Student ... I cannot hope to even see him." She shook her head. "... no matter. I will bring pride to the Kawada!"

She approached Kaen, stopping ten feet from him. A curtsey announced her presence. "Fukataichou Youji. Katrina Kawada, my pleasure." Her crystal eyes stared into his eyes; they were full of rage and pride, the eyes of a noble infuriated at her standing. Their was confidence there, and just the slightest amount of self-doubt. Katrina broke the gaze and straightened. A muscle twitch, and a pitch black knife, missing both hilt and guard, appeared in her hand. Her voice, though polite, was flat and emotionless. "Do you wish to begin, sir?"

SPOILER: Click to show

Lazy Genius

Strength: - [50 Points]

Speed: - [100 points]

Spiritual Pressure: - [50 points]

Reiatsu Strength: - [50 points]

Light Aura: - 75 Points

Dark Aura: - 25 Points

Instinct: - [100] /2 = 50points]

Senses: [75 points]

Energy sensory: - [50 points]

Healing Expertise: - [0] Points

Total SP: [475] Points

Skills

• [Mental Skill: Learning]

[/u] Adequate

[/li][li][Battle Skill: Weapon - Throwing Knives][/u] Adequate

[/li][li][Battle Skill: Swords][/u] Adequate

[/li][li][Battle Skill: Boxing][/u] Adequate

[/li][li][Special Skill: Stealth][/u] Adequate

[/li][li][Special Skill: Hoho][/u] Adequate

[/li][li][Special Skill: Kido][/u] Adequate[/li][/ul][/spoiler]

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen heard the door open and slowly opened his eyes. He rose to his feet to greet Katrina. "Nice to see you. You're punctual." Quite unlike himself. Kaen was the guy that either showed up late, or was scrambling in at the last possible moment. Kaen walked towards her and extended a hand in greeting. No malice or anything was present, this was simply a formal greeting. Whether Katrina accepted the handshake or not (if she did not, he would retract his hand after a few seconds).

He turned around and walked back towards the center of the room, gesturing for Katrina to follow him. "Sure, why not?" He said, turning back around to face her, and slipping into a fighting stance. He had adopted a Karate stance, both arms in front, and body angled to limit the amount of surface area Katrina could attack. One arm was up, protecting his face, while his other arm was lower, protecting his torso. A difficult position to attack head on, without creating an opening first.

"If you like, you can take the first attack." Kaen told her. His tone was not even mocking or taunting. It was simply an innocuous offer. If she wanted to take the first attack, she was welcome to try and pierce his defenses. Otherwise he'd take the attack, and test her defense. Either way, he didn't want to throw any cheap moves off the bat. She certainly had no reason to fear a surprise attack from the Vice Captain before her. Those could wait for another time.

[Deleted]

A simple nod, black bangs - curled around sapphire eyes - bounced with the sharp motion. A twirl of her fingers spun the blade around, spinning on the palm of her hand. With another twitch, it was still. Her fingers caressed it, her forefinger pressing on the flat of the blade, her thumb supporting it on the bottom. Ivory skin, nails meticulously taken care of glistening, raised at an angle underneath her eye. The sharp blade reflected the light as the sun hit it. Cold blue eyes watched bright blue ones, a muscle not twitching in the taut body of the Academy Student.

"That stance he's taking ... it's similar to Kenryoku-dono's stance ... yet, there's a difference. Kaen-fukutaicho's stance is more refined. More in control. AS if ... he's playing defense! Kenryoku-dono never played defense ..." Her eyes narrowed, long lashes touching. "... I have no information on him. What is his prowess on Kido? Zanjutsu? Hakuda? Hoho? How does he fight?" Katrina bit back a growl. Even though she was relatively inexperienced, her aunt had beaten into her very core the importance of information.

"... I will be forced to remedy that." Her gaze broke from his as she straightened her arm in a single violent movement, her fingers parting from the knife, sending the blade in a straight line, speeding towards the middle of her opponents rib cage. Her finger was pointed to him, the manicured nail lined up with her flesh. Mentally, she prepared a Byakurai; her skill in Kido made the spell cast almost immediately. She aimed the spell towards his right breast. Because it was a low level Kido, there was almost no gap between her thinking about casting it and then the spell firing. She had fired the Kido from the same action as throwing the knife, there would be no suspicion cast on the act. With his Energy Sensory - though weak - he may be able to sense her Kido.

She made no move to follow up on the initial attack, however, and merely drew the twin Uchigatana at her hip. "Kaen-senpai, why have I been challenged? Surely there are far more worthy opponents in the entirety of the Seiretei. I, who has been destroyed once before by a mere hollow, surely cannot be worth your flame. I have heard of your exploits, and I am deeply honored to have the honor to fight one whose sheer skill is whispered in fear by those in the accursed worlds. But this still begs the question; why I, of all people? Even among the Academy Students, I am nothing exceptional."

However, this last statement wasn't strictly true. A genius in her own right, her skill - or rather, her apparent lack thereof - was due only to the fact that she was adamant in only using skills unique to that class. She was trained to combine all the shinigami arts when she fought; thus, she had a difficult time in staying strictly to one discipline. Her adamant blue eyes, like sharp sapphires, were locked onto the eyes of her superior and opponent. So similar, yet so different.

Remaining Reaitsu: [-25] 475/500

[Kaen Youji]

His opponent was taking stock of his position. After a brief pause, he saw her arm whip up and a glint of silver flash from it, aimed at his ribs. While Kaen was certainly restricting his speed and strength, his instincts were still keen, as were his reactions. Kaen sidestepped the knife, as it flashed past him, but noticed her hand still extended. Kido.[/color] Kaen recognized. A flash of blue lightning blasted from her hand, aimed right at his chest. Kaen grinned. Oh, he was about to do something really reckless.

Just as the Byakurai was about to land, Kaen swept one arm to the side and struck the Byakurai with the back of his hand. Just this simple motion sent the bolt of blue lightning flaring off course, and impacted a wall, well away from Kaen. After a moment a quiet sizzling sound could be heard from the impact, and Kaen regarded his hands, noticing a few burns on it. "Eeeyaaaa! That's hot! That's hot!" He exclaimed, fanning his hand in the air eccentrically. "My hand's gonna burn! Gonna burn!.... or NOT!" Kaen suddenly stated, with a grin, and shot towards Katrina, noting the twin swords she had drawn, and her question.

"How about this? I'll answer a question for every clean hit that you can land~" Kaen suggested. He was trying to bait out a blow from one of Katrina's swords, but if no blow presented itself, Kaen intended to slip off to the left of the sword held in her left hand, to make attacking with her right hand blade more difficult. Compounding the difficulty of a counter, Kaen would then strike with his right hand-- the hand furthest from both sword blades.

Kaen performed two actions simultaneously, moving his left hand out to grab Katrina's wrist, and prevent a defence, while his right snapped in to land a straight punch below Katrina's ribs. A painful blow, but likely not one that would cause worse damage than a bruise. Kaen was now off at an angle to Katrina, making his own attacks easy to land, while Katrina would have to adjust her position to counterattack. As a result, Kaen launched a sudden stomping blow at Katrina's closest foot. This was not a textbook Karate OR Jiujitsu move, this was merely the inner brawler in Kaen coming out. With her left arm locked by Kaen's wrist grab, Katrina would have a more difficult time adjusting her position to adequately counterattack against Kaen, as it would make simply turning to face him awkward (as her left arm would cut across her body). How would Katrina react to this sudden martial onslaught, that combined martial technique and grace with the unrefined, and unorthodox nature of a brawler?

[Deleted]

Anger flared in the tightly coiled temperament of the Academy Student; her opponent's answer caught her off guard. She wasn't expecting such ... such ... attitude, especially not from a Vice Captain of the Gotei 13. "... fair enough, Kaen-senpai." Her eyes followed him; though she had only the eyesight of a normal human, Kaen's current speed was slower than even her own; following and reacting to him would be easy.

Her opponent suddenly darted to the side. An eyebrow raised ever so slightly. As if such tactics would work on a Kawada. Her own training in Boxing meant that she knew basic tactics; including how to get under guards. Dodging to the right made it harder for the victim to attack, as it meant the body had to bend in ways it wasn't meant to bend. Kaen was a very skilled fighter; from the little she could glean of a preliminary analysis of the Kawada Archives, that much was obvious. This was obviously a tactic designed to test her mettle. And test it he would.

Many shinigami would stand still and try to dodge or deflect a blow like this; off the top of her head, she could name several, the majority being in her family. They would fail miserably; the human body simply isn't meant to be bent that way. Not only is there no leverage, but it would take longer to stretch the muscles and tendons. It's far better to avoid being put in that position at all. One of the primary foundations of combat is to use the situation to your advantage. Forcing your body to do something it simply isn't designed to do isn't conducive to a proper warrior.

With this mind, Katrina did something apparently very rare in the Soul Society; she moved to face Kaen. Thanks to their similar speeds, Katrina would be able to turn her body with Kaen. She slid her foot across the cool ground, making a slight squeaking noise as her bare feet slid across the polished floor. Her foot slid in a half arc, moving with Kaen, her upper body turning with her lower. This took away Kaen's advantage, as they were now facing face to face. As Kaen struck, Katrina would use her new position to sweep her blade forward, straight towards Kaen's hand; if it hit, Kaen would receive a nice cut in his hand.

Before Kaen could react to this surprising turn of events, whether or not her attack succeeded, Katrina would jump backwards. Gracefully, she landed; her training with her aunt Suzumi paid off in the regard. A wry smile twisted the pixie-like face of the Kawada. "I believe the water's are sufficiently tested, Kaen-senpai." Though her voice was respectful, her words made it very clear that she was done with the preliminaries.

[Kaen Youji]

Oh? She was quicker than Kaen gave her credit for. That was good! This might be good practice afterall. As she turned to face Kaen, Kaen threw the punch regardless. Why? Because he knew how she would react. While Kaen was not much of a swordsman himself he'd fought enough swordfighters and had the common sense that his experience allowed him to anticipate Katrina's reaction. As her blade darted down, he retracted his extended arm. A feint! Kaen intended to follow up but Katrina darted away just as quickly.

Kaen frowned a little but shrugged it off and advanced in on her. "Testing the waters? You still haven't landed a solid hit yet." Kaen remarked in return. He seemed to be uninterested in drawing his sword yet despite her having drawn her own. Kaen was standing just at the edge of Katrina's range. About one step from her attacking range, and about two steps from his own. He was watching not her eyes or her hands, but was focusing his gaze just below her neck, and using his peripheral vision, as well as tensing of muscles to follow her movements.

[Deleted]

A delicate eyebrow rose condescendingly. "You are quite right, of course." The corner's of her mouth, colored the faintest pink, turned upwards ever so slightly. "Nor have you. But I am not an esteemed Vice Captain. It is almost expected of me to miss." She said it with just the slightest edge of condescension; to the untrained ear, it would sound as if she was simply stating a fact, as if she were merely discussing the weather. But to one attuned to the subtle nuances of tone and inflection, they would recognize the superior tone in her voice, and the way her words were subtly implying her superiority.

And of course, that was to be expected. As a Kawada, she was naturally of a higher station in life than a low-born street runt like Kaen, even if he were adopted into a family. To one such as Katrina, whom has had to fight to live, power over others is the greatest of treasures. "It is, as the peasants say, 'my turn to party'." She slowly approached, a cold, calculated approach, like a tiger stalking it's prey. For that was how Katrina thought; to her, there were those with power, and those who are good only for dying. It was in battle that one found out just what kind of person you were.

Her sword arm swung up from the right, moving at her maximum speed and aimed for the delicate part between the neck and shoulder. If it wasn't blocked, the important tendons and arteries in the neck would be severed; death would be instant. Of course, she fully expected her attack to be blocked; in fact, she was counting. It was for that reason that, with a twitch of her arm, a knife appeared in her left hand. Held in a vertical grip, she made to stab the right arm of the Vice Captain.

However, as she got close, her grip loosened; this would cause any block attempting to swat away the blade useless, as the loose nature of the weapon caused the blade to slip past any block; though any damage caused by it would be far lessened, at least damage would be cause by the sharp edges of the blade. It was at that point, however, that Katrina jumped back once again, separating herself from her opponent to the best of her ability. She was not a stupid or ignorant girl; though her ego was huge, she knew that trying to fight Kaen, even weakened as was, was tantamount to suicide; any scuffle between them had to brief and spontaneous, so as to lessen his chances to defend and counterattack.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen smirked at her. Sharp tongued. That was cute. "Don't tempt me. If I used even a quarter of my full power, this fight would end in less than a second." Kaen responded. "But that'd defeat the purpose of this exercise and be of no use to either of us." He added. "As it stands, I'm using about one tenth of my full strength." He commented, as Katrina suddenly moved to attack!

Although, her tone was misdirected. Kaen was not a mere street-rat, who worked his way into a position of power-- though the mistake was understandable, for that is often how Kaen acted. Kaen was from a noble house, all the same. He just didn't like to let his name speak for him, and preferred to be judged by actions over familial ties. Either way, family aside, she was attacking, and he had to reply.

Katrina was striking with a cut towards Kaen's shoulderblade, with a diagonal cut from below. Kaen retreated for a moment, stepping away from Katrina, and off to her left. He leaned ever so slightly away from the cut so that it would pass through air, and miss him completely. Katrina was slightly quicker, but the gap was not significant enough that Kaen felt pressured. He tracked the movement of her other hand, as she darted to strike. A feint huh?[/color] Katrina seemed to have some skill with a blade, and brought out a concealed blade to stab him with.

Big mistake.

Kaen's jiujitsu training kicked in instantly. He brought both arms down in an X-block on Katrina's wrist, striking a nerve on it, to try and cause her to drop the knife. Even if she did not, this block would still defend her strike without forcing Kaen to come into contact with her knife at all. Her loosening of her grip would not prevent this block, as Kaen was targeting her own wrist, rather than her knife. Eyes tracking Katrina's blade in case she attempted a downward strike, Kaen deflected Katrina's wrist off to her right, and stepped in towards her on her left. A follow-up strike with either sword or dagger would be difficult to employ, now that Kaen was on her left, on the outside of her arm, but stepping in past her elbow.

If Katrina wanted to try and use either sword or knife, she would have to realign herself. She had good footwork. Which, unfortunately, at lower levels of skill would make her predictable. Kaen's deflection of her knife and stepping in had been done quite quickly, in an attempt to pressure her. An untrained opponent would panic, and try to rapidly back away. A trained one, one who had their instincts built into them, would likely try to reposition. Either way, Katrina would not likely try to fight from such an awkward position. She would have to step back from Kaen, either out towards her right, to get the correct angle to attack, or simply a step back away. Either way, the result would be the same.

To move to a proper angle, Katrina would have to step with her left foot. This meant, that for a brief moment, her foot would leave the ground. That very instant, Kaen's Jiujitsu and Karate training would kick in. His own foot shot out to catch hers in a sudden sweep kick, designed to off-balance Katrina and knock her off balance. If she had strong balance and training, she might be able to regain it, but for a brief moment she'd be exposed. Kaen planned to take full advantage of that brief moment.

Kaen immediately followed his sweep with a powerful palm strike, aimed at Katrina's ribs. Although nothing would be broken, a bruise would be likely, and she would also likely be knocked back-- possibly knocked over, in her state of compromised balance. It was a quick and sudden combo, that Katrina's own training would likely see her walk into. Even if she did not try to re-position, it would mean that she would not be in a strong place to defend the palm strike anyways, though she might retain superior balance, and avoid the knock-back/knock-down that would come with it.

[Deleted]

Her arm went numb. There was no avoiding it. Kaens skill and experience outmatched anything Katrina had in her juvenile arsenal. The X block was successful, and the perfect move for the situation. Katrinas ebony knife clattered to the ground from her numb fingers. Sapphire eyes widened in shock as Kaen effortlessly disarmed her and rendered her entire attack useless. Her feint was redirected a simple, almost lazy strike sending it to the side. She was effectively rendered mute. His physical strength outstripped her own by a wide enough margin that attempting to overpower him through sheer strength would be impossible. As far as she knew, she was helpless.

But he was wrong on one account. Katrina -wip

[Deleted]

18 paragraphs for Kaen. 180 TP awarded.

18 for Katrina as well. 180 TP awarded.

No victory bonus since the thread was abandoned.

[Zou ۞]

Note: No WP will be earned for this. Reducing Katrina's TP gain to 90 due to ceding.