[attr="class","goro"]It felt like little more than a flash in Goro’s mind between his advance toward Asuka and the moment he felt her arm smash into his chest followed up with a kick to his gut. The boy was bent forward from the force of the impact and thrown several feet back, tumbling to the gym floor like a ragdoll.
Even if he had been careful, it seemed Asuka’s skill level was just too high above his own. Goro lay on the ground for several staggered breaths as he clutched his chest and stomach, rolling over and dry heaving on the mat. He wiped his mouth and rolled back over onto his back. His eyes were clearly heavy, and he couldn’t even bring himself to his feet or roll back around from back to his side to face Asuka once again.
He would admit to himself it felt like he’d come a long way even to last this long against a Jounin with expertise in Taijutsu such as Asuka. He wouldn’t let that at all get to his head, but perhaps his mastery of the Gate of Opening was becoming more and more apparent by the second.
After several moments, Goro finally mustered the strength to shoot a glance and a cheeky smile over to Asuka, follow up by a weakened thumbs up where the meat of his arm still rested on the cool gym floor.
"Hell’of’a fight!” he said, the excitement clearly coloring his tone.
And that, it was. He could feel the burn all across his body, evidence that he had pushed himself to his limit. Even though he couldn’t feel most of his body, he wanted to still get up and continue fighting, not that it would have been a good option at the time.
Goro left a moment of silence between them,
"Say, Asuka. You coulda definitely been an Okada…in another life.” That was probably the best compliment the boy could ever give, and it was obvious how genuine he meant it, as cheeky as it was. The boy’s family was everything to him, so to spiritually accept another into his own clan–well, it didn’t happen often. Yuki was perhaps the only other person he’d given that right to, at least in his own heart and mind.
-exit-
Hachimon - Gate of Opening [4/4]Asuka Waruichi