[Akira]

"Get T-hefucjk-"

Hotarubi was mid chase. Being fast meant little when someone else was faster - and it was too goddamn busy to use techniques on a busy road. He was mid chase on a criminal, during one of life's many missions. He was so close to doing it as well. But, alas, he had accidentally fumbled the bag and caused a huge noise, in fact, he'd managed to push over a dozen or so cases - leading to floor-to-ceiling shelves. Meaning that by the time that Hotarubi had gotten himself clear of the rubble and through the wall (and specifically through the door that had also been available) his orange haired target had hightailed it out of there. With so many moving parts, it was still difficult.

And this had been the second chase of the day: the woman thought she'd gotten away with it but Hotarubi was nearing the end of his tether, having tracked the fuck out of her throughout the day as he tried to keep up with her. Had it not been for his desire to get it done quickly, he would have had her before she could have even stood up from the table in the other room.

But nooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

Ergo, he was running through the streets at full pelt as he ducked and dived through people - making the full use of his hijutsu as he quickly broke into pieces, or dove through people and things, before reforming back into a human shape. It wasn't like he really had much of a choice at this point, much less observe a failed mission (and that was not a stain he wanted on his record at any point, really).

And at any point, given it had been on busy roads and streets, could he have asked someone for help. But - he was too proud, and going on a stretch of road, he outstretched his hand, considering whether it was worth the risk of firing some shots at the woman - but it was not the case.

She was faster - plainly speaking. But he was more tricky, in the sense that he didn't get caught up the way she did through crowds. As a mass of crowd from what appeared to be a public act took place she would start pushing her way through it, and it caused him to come to a stop.

And he faded away into pieces: through the crowd. Past the crowd.

And boy, when he reformed on the other side - his temper was flared, his nostrils wide open as his sneer was high. Waiting for them to come through - or find them in the crowd somewhere. He hadn't seen any smoke that would have made him consider that she was using the henge technique.... and he wouldn't let her away that easy.

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[Souma]

Souma

Of the Tantetsu Clan

Chuunin, Iwagakure Medical Corps

Akira | 382 | notes

The medic had recently been effectively relieved of substitute head medic duty by the appointment of a new head medic back home, and she'd immediately taken the opportunity to do a little travelling and take a vacation to the Waterfall village (or so she thought!). So when someone came sprinting past, panting wildly as she ran for cover, it wasn't really Souma's problem.

But she recognized the boy on her heels. He'd been escorted screaming from the hospital after trying to barge into the room of the Grass-nin, the one whose arms his...chest? Had bitten off? And here he was, hurtling through the crowd as he alternated between a couple different forms, doing his best to catch up with a target that was clearly faster than he was.

She considered briefly, then hopped up, scampering up the walls nearby as all proper shinobi ought be able to do, and sprinted after the pair along the rooftops, watching their movements as they deviated from the flow of the crowd, considering the most productive way to assist. She was faster than both- and would be more so if and when she turned on the gas properly- but her goal wasn't just to catch up, but to ensure that the boy- Yamakira Hotarubi if she remembered the sign-ups properly- caught up with his quarry.

Eventually she thought of a simple way to intervene and moved to act.

Just out of sight of the redhead in the lead, Souma blurred out of sight, dissolving into little more than what looked like a lightning bolt as she hurtled down off the rooftops just past Hotarubi's quarry's position, and executed a quick jutsu to generate a simple steel cable, one she hurled across the street at calf height. Anyone at a walking pace would have no problem stopping and wondering why it'd appeared, but for the sprinting quarry?

She was almost guaranteed to slam into it thigh-first and flip head over heels, giving Hotarubi a chance to catch up!

SPOILER: Click to show

Used Kōton: Kōsaku [Steel Release: Steel Cable] and Raiippo [Thunder Step] to get into position and trip the runner ahead of Hotarubi!

"Don't work smart, or hard. Work smart, then hard."

Template by: Monkey

[Akira]

For all he waited, the crowd was not dispersing and he didn't want to move in ... but there were different roads one could go down. The last thing he wanted was to try and do another tracking session with him being as poor at tracking as he was.

So he began to move into the crowd - he was taller than most, so his eyes could at least capture the heads of hair, a wide array of colors mixed in with the primarily dark of the crowd, so it wasn't exactly easy. His senses were also making it difficult: flow dynamics with the different senses people had made for a difficult comprehension, it wasn't like he could remember the exact feel of her weight - and there were too many different factors. But, as he twisted and turned through the people, he spotted the orange haired woman moving past him some ten feet away, also working through the crowd. Rather than give away his position, he would try his best to start pushing people out of the way to get back out of the crowd.

Unfortunately, she broke free sooner than him as well. Hotarubi was heavy, he was strong and it was a lot more difficult for him to move through a crowd without hurting anybody: but he did eventually.. and he set off at a run again, grumbling, wishing that he had chosen to stay on the other side, wishing that he had learned more trapping style Doton techniques.

It did feel hopeless as he continued running: he didn't have the best reserves and while this was good exercise for it, it was the wrong day to try and help out. But, he didn't recognise that he would have help in the next few seconds - he heard it before his head twisted up to the source of the noise, and it was help. Not yet paying attention to them, his eyes followed the outcome. For all parties it would be the most comical flip as the orange haired woman ended up head over heels - completing a full three-sixty before bouncing their forehead off the underside of the cable and back into the floor, eliciting a groan.

Hotarubi didn't stop running and he quickly caught up. His arm forming into a man-catcher, a simple two pronged hook that made his arm look like a magnet, and he would use his arm to pin down the girl at her neck - but adjusted it a bit so she could breathe. "You're lucky-" she croaked, "Pffff. I would've caught you." He spoke through his own panting. A bold faced lie that they both knew. Standing upright, since there was no getting out of it unless she suddenly presented shinobi-like powers, and knew one handed seals: something he'd anticipated and he put his foot on one of her wrists. One of his hands went to his waist and he would stare at the sky, deeply breathing in and trying to catch his breath.

But then their was the help: his eyes would begin to scan for them. And them they found, following the line of cable: and he briefly scanned the cable as well. Metal - but it was an unfamiliar face to him. Not that he had any reason to believe it was another shinobi from another village (because who would use their own techniques in another village outside a training area? It would cause too much trouble!)

And he nodded at her, it was the closest 'thanks' she would receive from her position unless she grew closer. "Right to jail. Right away." Hotarubi stared down at the woman. "Fuck you." "Don't blame me that you're the one doing counterfeit goods. I fucked up your warehouse real good, too." That was a lie, making it again sound like he had done what he had done intentionally and not a byproduct of an accident.

"I won't be in there for long, we both know that." "Keep lying to yourself. So best of luck to you." "We'll see about that." "How on earth do you have the energy to keep flapping your mouth? Shut the fuck up." Hotarubi grew tired of the back and forth. But it was also because he had no idea how she was sprinting off at the speed she was and not being tired, or sounding tired. The man was catching his breath.

The earth was manipulated further and her mouth was covered. Hotarubi briefly considered doing it that little bit further over her nose as well, but opted to be the bigger man. Plus people were watching, as he also assessed the crowd. "You got any more wire for me, ma'am?" He looked up, finding the woman once again. Hotarubi ... traveled light. He meant so this one could be tied up and taken away.

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[Souma]

Souma

Of the Tantetsu Clan

Chuunin, Iwagakure Medical Corps

Akira | ### | notes

"Luck has nothing to do with it."

Souma spoke as she wound the cable around her hand and elbow like one would a rope made of simple fibers. That in and of itself was striking- she moved and manipulated the steel like it was as pliable as silk- or as if she had the power to bend it without hardly any effort. "I recognized this young man from his time visiting my own country not so long ago. I would be remiss as a guest in his home to allow someone he was in pursuit of to escape when I could prevent it. So I did." Her tonality was very flat. Not... vacant, exactly, but its modulation barely shifted up or down. Extremely steady and nearly monotone.

"And there we have it," she stated, distantly relieved that she'd acted on behalf of the good of the village. "To sell counterfeits is to use demand built on the reputation of another to offload inferior supply at cost to buyer and original producer. Truly a selfish way to make a living."

As Hotarubi addressed her, she startled faintly, realizing she had started to ramble. Light color touched her cheeks and she cleared her throat, nodding. "A-h... yes. Of course. A moment."

She leaned to make an assessment of the woman's wrists and ankles, then folded the cable into lengths suitable for binding each. She checked the lengths a second time, then took her fingers and PINCHED them together at the folded end along her measured segments.

The steel flattened like dough.

A quick twist separated the pinched-off wire segments, and she offered them to Hotarubi to use to secure his captive!

"Don't work smart, or hard. Work smart, then hard."

Template by: Monkey

[Akira]

Hotarubi didn't need to pay too much attention since he was very sure that his weight would keep the woman held down - it was a misguided and arrogant belief but a belief nonetheless. His brown eyes wandered up - and then down - Souma. She recognised him. He did not her. It was an impassive stare - one that became a little more active as his head turned as he watched her mould the metal like putty - at least, he thought it was metal with the glint and style make up - wasn't any rock he'd recognized. Maybe a fibre? Polymer? No... In either sense, she sounded a whole like what Hotarubi did - or how he did in the exams.

When the woman offered her talents - his eyes flicked down at the metal, and then up at her eyes again - and she was in a range for him to take it from her, he would take it with his non terra-formed arm. "Thanks." But rather than immediately use it, he tested his hypothesis, and while it did move under his grip, it was clearly much more difficult for him to - even if it meant he had compromised it a little, as he deduced it was metal. "I'm guessing Iwagakure?" It was the only village he'd - well. Country - he'd been to aside from his own in any time since. The wiring would disappear into his palm, and although his size seemed the same, the earth that formed out of his arm and body was still moving, covering the woman - it was similar to the sound of sand the way that it poured out of what appeared to be an arm that grew wider towards the base akin to a stalagmite.

"Strong village." He mumbled to himself. It had been militaristic there: complete change of culture than he had ever known. Full of rock: just the kind of weather he liked. The man didn't know why the Yamakira hadn't settled IN THE LAND OF STONE. The woman was powered to the nines in her clothing. There were also a few passing shinobi, as were evident by their headbands and chirpy attitude. "Genin! Here!" Hotarubi barked. "Are you on deployment?" Hotarubi asked as they came by. "No but-" Hotarubi lifted the stalagmite that was his arm, and the now bound woman would fly from it as it receded back into him, changing into a fully fledged arm once again. "Take her to processing and file it under 1091E. You can put it on your record, a free D-rank." And the other one raised a hand. "And the spoils. Get a move on." The woman was no longer bound at the mouth and started to try and scream and shout "Goddamnit HotarubiI'mgoing to-" and one of the Genin bound her in another way. A genjutsu, perhaps? By the way they mumbled, and then the woman's eyes went all... dull.

They seemed to recognise his authority as a Chunin though, which was a nice feat. It helped that he spoke the way he did, and acted it as well. Hotarubi watched them leave, hands on his hips - and then drew his attention to the woman - staring down at her. "I owe you my gratitude." It was blunt, direct, a statement: not an 'if' or 'but' "How can I repay you?" Hotarubi hadn't quite yet asked for her help yet - nor had he implied that there was an out for it.

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[Souma]

Souma

Of the Tantetsu Clan

Chuunin, Iwagakure Medical Corps

Akira | 231 | notes

"That is correct," Souma stated simply, that odd near monotone and lack of contractions keeping her voice queerly level as she spoke. "I was one of the lead medics caring for- well. Not you, so much." Yes. A medic. The girl who was snapping steel cable with her bare hands was... a medic. She left it at that in their public setting, not interested in exposing his own peculiarities without invitation or need. "And yes- we do tend to lean towards valuing strength. There are other things, but..." She made a fist unconsciously. But strength was still the fastest way to gain respect.



She stood by and let the new chuunin boss around the lower ranked shinobi, quirking her lips faintly at his flex on the group. She glance back at him as he addressed her again as the others left. "Mm? Ah. I had not intended to register the act as a debt of any sort." She lifted a hand to rub her cheek absently. "Tell me something before I answer. You came out of the exams very strangely unharmed. Am I correct in my conclusion that there is not a level of pure physical force I could exert that would do more than temporarily inconvenience you?"

"Don't work smart, or hard. Work smart, then hard."

Template by: Monkey

[Akira]

But really? A Medic? His eyes flashed with some alertness - she was brutish for a medic. But, if she could use metal like that - who needed scalpels? It was precisely the kind he would have expected to see on the battlefield, a combat medic. The ... thought, though. Yes - he. The anger had faded now, and Hotarubi thoughtfully slowly blinked and nodded at the same time. Hotarubi grunted as he continued to bind the woman as he was showing some level of active listening skills before getting the now-prisoner carted away. Atagi, as he remembered the name. They would likely never be a Shinobi anymore now. Not that Hotarubi felt bad about it - though, perhaps there were... reticent thoughts about his behavior at the exams. The fight was not among them.

He looked down to her lips - her scratched cheek. Her blue eyes: his absent expression with active eyes as he awaited her request.

That was... particular. Hotarubi flashed a grin - but hid it away, nothing that she wouldn't notice. It was the element of smugness as he tried to hide the actual thoughts. It wasn't like he had... hidden his form against his third combatant, and he had also said he was indebted to her: but to what extent was that information to share, even if for an ally... but this wasn't even the request at hand. What if the request was about their hijutsu? "I'm not telling about my clan." he hurriedly caveated with a raised index finger and gave some very sharp jerks of motion. The scar across his face would wrinkle against itself as his expression shared the same.

"But... yes." Hotarubi gave a direct answer, and he wouldn't reveal that he'd been working on the speed of his reformation that it would even less likely 'temporarily' inconvenience him. Hotarubi wasn't wholly stupid though: though he certainly lacked in more intelligence than many of the other Shinobi counterparts. "You need a little... ragdoll? Something to try the wicked things in your mind?" Hotarubi's size began to noticeably shrink until he was the same size, dropping by another foot - as her. He did it with no handseals: and he laughed. "I can be anything you want." The form he inhabited - was seeming to bulge and wince with the noise - it was in flux. Though his mouth opened, the sentence was left unfinished and a silence could enter the air for her to break. It almost seemed to say that he could've finished with 'or anyone' - this was not a strict untruth. Hotarubi could not imitate anybody, but he could certainly copy their likeness in 'earth' form, but there wasn't any technique he knew that could copy their color nor their precise intricacies.

That's it: Hotarubi was showboating. Gloating - he could stare her right in the face and it couldn't be more obvious that he felt himself superior to whoever he had been before.

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