[Yuie Junichi]

The aggression that reminder was met with really shocked Junichi, and he looked at her wide-eyed, almost stupefied. What was she saying? What was she saying? He didn't even properly know how to reply over the bile rising in his throat, his anxiety hitting even worse levels as he tried and failed to articulate the exact issue with everything that had just come out of her mouth. He was young, and he didn't have the vocabulary or the experience to rail against this kind of thing even though he knew it was wrong.

He set his jaw, firm, clinging to the door anyways so she couldn't try to wrench it open without him agreeing.

"What are you talking about? We signed up to protect citizens. Why are you even a shinobi if you don't- if you don't care about-"

His incited response was interrupted with a grunt as the door was shoved open from the other direction, right into his ribs. He stumbled back from the door, almost falling over, as a bandit shouldered his way through. Big and mean.

"You kids are loud as hell. Quit playing hero and..." His eyes trailed off as he spotted the bleeding man on the floor, jaw setting as he processed that the little soldiers must've been involved in the untimely and painful death of his ally.

He pulled a chain out and took a swing at the kids. Junichi ducked, holding his staff up to block the chain from Sadako, though the thug was then able to drag him in closer. In a moment of panic, he held up his free hand to splash scalding hot water onto the man. The man swore and cursed at him, using Junichi's own staff to hit him in the sternum. The other bandits from the car were coming down to join now. This was bad!

[takeda sadako]

KILLING YOUR IDOLS IS A CHORE

"We signed up to be shinobi,” Sadako hissed back, her temper flaring hotter. Why was this kid fucking arguing with her? Shit didn’t matter anyway, they had a job to do, they didn’t have time to waste on a philosophical argument over A Shinobi’s Purpose—but she got caught up in it anyway, talking right over Junichi’s faltering words. "You know, assassins, specialty ops, killers—” But she was cut off abruptly as the car door was wrenched open from the other side, and she watched in stunned silence as a big bandit guy pushed his way through, chain in hand—saw what she’d done— That chain was coming right for her, and her mind hadn’t quite caught up with what was happening in time for her to dodge out of the way, she was definitely going to die— But a wooden staff came up to block the blow, saving Sadako from a sudden and brutal death by getting walloped in the face by a heavy chain. The sound of the metal clacking against the wood of Junichi’s staff woke something up in her brain, and her whole body woke up all at once, just in time to see the kid get cracked in the chest with his own staff. ”Hey!” Sadako bellowed, trying to pull the bandit’s attention back to her. "Eyes on me, fuckface!” She wasn’t thinking, really—she was just moving. Shoving her hand into her pocket, she pulled out a fistful of sand and threw it directly into the bandit’s eyeballs, before lifting a leg to kick him as hard as she could squarely in the crotch. She didn’t have time to be satisfied with her handiwork, though, because two more bandits were right on top of her. One had their fingers laced through knuckle knives, and the other had a crowbar in hand. She took up a defensive stance, lifting her hands up in front of her face—but not face enough. Knuckle-knives came at her, yelling incoherently. She tried to parry the attack by striking his wrist, but all she got was a deep gash to her cheek for her trouble.

Yuie Junichi -- 352

LAIKA OF THQ

[Yuie Junichi]

The hit to his ribs was hard, solid, and he felt something crack. It kind of hurt to breathe, but the adrenaline took care of most of that, letting him push through and ignore it for now. He couldn't just curl up in pain now, even if what he wanted most in the world was to run. People were in danger. Sadako was in danger, since she was pulling attention. He had to help.

Sadako threw sand into the bandit's eyes and then kicked him in the crotch, making him double over. Junichi took the opportunity to shove his staff up into the man's jaw. There was a crunch and the man started bleeding from the mouth - probably broke a tooth or bit his tongue. Whatever it was, it gave Junichi an opportunity to pull away.

No room to breathe before continuing the fight, the one with the crowbar took a swing at him. Planting both hands on his staff, he blocked the swing. Then he slid the staff down the length of the man's arm into his elbow joint, twisting painfully. The far end of the staff struck out the bandit's leg, making him topple right into his bleeding friend.

As a follow-up, Junichi quickly swung again, channeling chakra around his staff. It began to glow a faint white, like a barrier technique forming just around the staff's end. He struck the crowbar bandit right in the head, and he was out like a light - if not dead.

Moving around like that made him cough, clutching his chest for a second and leaning against the seats. Hopefully Sadako could handle herself with the other bandit, because her and Junichi still needed to contend with the one with sand in his eyes, who was temporarily pinned on the ground beneath his unconscious/dead ally. He'd be up and back in the fight any second now.

SPOILER: Click to show

Jutsu used:

NAME: Mikadzuki no suīpu [ Crescent Moon Sweep]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: none
TRIGGER: N/A
DESCRIPTION:

When the opponent comes in for a melee attack the user brings both hands in towards the center of the staff, leaving a gap between them. The enemy's attack is blocked by the staff in the center, and the user twists the staff, one end sliding into the joint of the limb,trapping the limb or weapon. The staff is then swung down, the other end sweeping the enemy's leg from behind the knee and knocking them onto their back.

NAME:Tsuki no kagayaki [ Lunar Glow]
RANK: D
CHAKRA USAGE: Very Low (Continuous)
CLASSIFICATION: Bukijutsu
ELEMENT: N/A
HANDSEALS: None
TRIGGER:
DESCRIPTION:

The user channels chakra around their staff, creating a hard shell of energy around it to reenforce their weapon. This jutsu casts a pale white light, turning the staff into a faintly glowing rod. The field covers the staff and protects it from being burned or cut. The field is strong enough to block steel blades and is hard enough that it makes the strikes of the staff harder and able to dent or ding metal. The light produced by this chakra field leaves a faintly glowing behind the staff as it is swung, leaving a small afterimage of the staff that can be disorienting to foes.

[takeda sadako]

KILLING YOUR IDOLS IS A CHORE

While Sadako was dealing with knuckle-knives, Junichi cracked the other bandit in the face—the one she had kicked in the crotch. He was groaning in pain and bleeding from his mouth now, and a second later his friend with the crowbar toppled right into him, knocked completely out cold by something Junichi did with his staff. She couldn’t spare more than a glance to what was happening beside her, though, because knuckle-knives was swinging at her again, taking advantage of her momentary distraction to sling a wild punch towards her kidney. Sadako curled in on herself, bringing her elbows down to try to block the brunt of the blow, but the hard metal of the bandit’s weapon slammed into the bone of her arm, resulting in a loud, sickening crunch. Her vision went white as searing pain tore up her arm. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood as her jaw clenched, and she inhaled deeply through her nose. Focus. Her left arm wasn’t moving properly, so it wasn’t relevant; it hung limply by her side, and the white-hot pain that throbbed with the beat of her racing heart got pushed down and aside. It wouldn’t help her, so it didn’t matter. Barely a second had passed. Knuckle-knives was coming back in for another swing, this time with the bladed part of the weapon to try to stab her. Kill her. Blood pooled in her mouth. She spat it in the bandit’s face and jerked to the side, out of the way of his attack, and slammed her good arm down onto the bandit’s forearm to stop him in his tracks. Her right hand curled into a tight fist and she punched up into the guy’s chest, resulting in yet another crunch as his sternum shattered and the sharp, small points of her jieitai punctured his skin. The bandit pinned beneath his friend was well on his way to being vertical again, but Junichi and the rest of the peanut gallery had long left Sadako’s awareness. He stumbled back, cursing and groaning, and hit the ground. She kicked, the ball of her foot striking his jaw, the force of the blow sending him flat on his back—and then she raised her foot again, and slammed her heel into his already-broken sternum. The bandit coughed, blood splattering from his mouth, and he stopped moving.

Yuie Junichi -- 398

LAIKA OF THQ

SPOILER: Click to show

NAME: Īe [Nope]
RANK: C
CHAKRA USAGE: Low
CLASSIFICATION: Taijutsu
DESCRIPTION:
Incredibly convenient when one attempts to strike the user with a short weapon or punch, the user slams their arm into the forearm of their opponent's attacking limb, thus stopping their attack. This is done in combination with multiple punches {following the block} to the chest, at the very least knocking wind from the opponent, if not shattering the sternum.

[Yuie Junichi]

It was hard not to allow his attention to get split between Sadako and the slowly standing bandit. She was in danger, bleeding, struck. He was in a lot of pain, too, though he was only abstractly aware of that fact. Trying to decide what to do, how to handle it - it all made him dizzy. His eyes slid past the bandit who was struggling to his feet, landing on the terrified citizens behind him, all still huddled in the car. They probably weren't used to seeing shinobi struggling like this, getting hurt like this. They couldn't lose. It wouldn't be very heroic. Kenichi would be upset with him.

Keeping one hand clutched loosely on his staff, Junichi weaved three hand seals, trying to favor his left hand so he didn't have to totally drop his guard. It made the technique take a little longer to prepare, but he pulled forth an illusory clone, sending it to Sadako's aid to pretend at an attack, hoping it would distract the blade-wielding man enough to give her support.

In the meantime, the final bandit had gotten up. Junichi steeled himself, flipping the staff in his hand and swinging it almost like a bat. The man ducked back, forced to give Junichi spacing. Junichi used it to pull out two shuriken, throwing them at the man, before taking another swing. He had him on the defensive - he just needed to find the right in...

The man took a swing at Junichi and Junichi hopped to the side, onto one of the subway seats, pulling the staff up to follow along the man's arm all the way up to collide with his throat. Then Junichi caught the other side with his other hand and landed on the man's back, starting to strangle him.

[takeda sadako]

KILLING YOUR IDOLS IS A CHORE

Sadako stared down at the unmoving man, her eyes glazed over. One breath. Two. Whack. She heard the sound of Junichi’s staff connected with something, and it brought her out of her daze. She backed off the bandit’s corpse and looked to the side, where Junichi was straddling the final bandit’s back, his staff brought up against the man’s throat in a chokehold. Chokeholds were hard. Ten to thirty seconds, depending on how strong Junichi was. But the bandit was a lot bigger than him, and ten seconds didn’t sound like a long time, but in reality took so, so long. Sadako pulled a kunai out of her belt, and approached. Left arm still useless, she had no leverage, but she didn’t need any: she pulled the knife back and thrust it forward, a stab to the heart, or more or less where she thought the heart might be. A second. A third, just for good measure, and the bandit, spluttered blood and struggling to the end, went limp. There were terrified, horrified civilians in the train car with them, but Sadako was hardly aware of their presence; she held her kunai in a white-knuckled grip, her expression eerily vacant and cold, and looked down at Junichi. "You hurt?” she asked, distant and disconnected.

Yuie Junichi -- 214

LAIKA OF THQ

[Yuie Junichi]

The man under him thrashed and it became readily apparent to Junichi that he wouldn't be able to hold, not long enough to knock this guy out (or worse). It didn't matter how much Junichi had trained, he was still practically half this guy's size and even with the staff around his throat he had a lot of fight in him and Junichi knew he'd be bucked off any second and -

Sadako approached with the kunai in her hand, stabbing the bandit repeatedly until he went limp. Junichi stared for a second, wide-eyed. There was so much blood and- and- Junichi didn't know what to do. He looked up at Sadako and swallowed, before slowly shaking his head.

He stood up, and his limbs felt all cold. He definitely was hurt, and Sadako was definitely, definitely hurt, but they could worry about that once they got everyone off the train.

He gripped his staff, squeezing his eyes shut for a second as he tried to keep himself together. There were still civilians. He needed to be calm. Sadako was being calm, even if it was in a kinda scary way. He just needed to do that, too.

He turned back to Sadako and to the crowd of civilians and picked up a stern voice, almost the kind he would use to chastise Kenichi.

"Alright, everyone. We need you to move back a cart and exit the train. One of our allies will be back there to help evacuate you. We need to check the engine cab."

[takeda sadako]

KILLING YOUR IDOLS IS A CHORE

She asked if he was hurt, and he shook his head. He was lying, but that was fine. If he was well enough to lie about being hurt then he was fine. His voice rang out clear and stern, directing the civilians towards the back of the cab. Sadako backed him up, not with words but with a straightened posture and a dead-set glare, turning sideways to block off the path towards the front of the train. Even with her arm broken, she struck an imposing figure, and no one argued with the boy giving them direction. They filed out through the back, murmuring to each other, checking belongings, checking injuries. Once most of them were out, Sadako turned back towards the engine room. Her arm throbbed, a dull ache like a tender bruise. It was a much worse injury than that, she knew, but if she didn’t look at it she could pretend it was fine. "We don’t know if anyone’s in there,” she said. "I’ll bust the door down. Cover me in case there’s more inside. Ready in three.” She waited for Junichi to acknowledge, then lined herself up in front of the door. Held up three fingers of her right hand, and counted down silently. Three, two, one— Her arm was broken, but her legs still worked fine, and all it took was a single powerful front kick just beneath the doorknob to break the thing right off its hinges. Sadako went down with it, following her momentum to duck low, giving Junichi ample space to aim at whatever enemy might wait inside.

Yuie Junichi -- 266

LAIKA OF THQ

[Yuie Junichi]

Sadako instructed him to cover her. He almost wanted to argue, wanted to insist on going first. She was hurt, after all. But the last time he'd argued with her it hadn't ended up very well, even if he was right, so he elected to bite his tongue this time and take her instruction. He pulled out a selection of kunai, clutching them between his fingers so he could throw them if an enemy presented themselves behind the door.

Junichi held his breath, counting the seconds as Sadako prepared, then kicked the door. It cracked under her strength, pushing forward into the cab as it came loose at the hinges. Sadako ducked and Junichi prepared his throwing arm...

But there was no enemy inside. The relief he felt was more than he was prepared for. The weight of it almost crushed him. He was already so covered in blood and aching in every limb, he couldn't believe how lucky he was not to have to fight again. He could almost cry.

Then he realized there was someone inside - the conductor! Tied up and unconscious on the ground. Shoot!

Junichi rushed into the room behind Sadako, kneeling down to begin unbinding the man. Of course the conductor must've been captured if the train stopped.

He pulled one of the man's arms over his shoulder.

"Could you help me carry him out of here? ...Or is your arm too hurt?" Junichi asked, finally allowing himself to express concern, voice soft now that he didn't have to play it up for the crowd of civilians.

[takeda sadako]

KILLING YOUR IDOLS IS A CHORE

The door snapped off its hinges, falling over to the floor of the engine room in a burst of dust and splintering wood; Sadako went down with it, ducking low into a crouch and preparing to spring to follow up Junichi’s attack. But the kunai never came. It took an extra couple of seconds for Sadako to process why there was nothing flying over head, and why instead Junichi was rushing inside past her. She blinked, and then she realized: that was it. Just the conductor, tied up and passed out cold. No more robbers. They were done. Sadako exhaled and lifted a hand to wipe away the sweat and splatters of blood dripping into her eyes. Junichi was trying to lift the conductor, pulling the guy’s arm across his shoulders, but he was so small, and he was hurt, and covered in blood. This is my fault. If she hadn’t argued with him— She pushed the thought away and shook her head. "I’m fine,” she said, ducking under the conductor’s other arm. It was a lie, but she could make it true for a little while, if she needed to. Teeth clenching, she wrenched her broken arm into a better position, a fresh sheen of sweat breaking out across her forehead as she lifted with her legs and bore as much of the unconscious man’s weight as she could. She could make it back to Hoshi if nothing else; progress would be slow, but they would manage. Get the conductor medical attention, treat Junichi’s wounds, set her arm, make their report. She was exhausted, but it would be simple from here. Junichi was concerned about her. Usually people knew better than to bother. She’d die before an apology ever passed her lips, so instead, so quietly that she could deny having said anything at all, she mumbled: "Thank you.” [exit, pursued by bears]

Yuie Junichi -- 312

LAIKA OF THQ