[Shouki Shizuka]

Shizuka was walking Homare home. They had just finished an early supper, courtesy of Shizuka's mother, Saya. She caught Homare on the streets, and insisted on feeding her daughter's friend and teammate. And the retired Chuunin did not allow rejection as an option. Now, the pair found themselves passing in front of the village academy, where they had spent many years training together. Indulging a sudden nostalgic urge, Shizuka pulled Homare's sleeve and stepped towards the academy's training yard.

"Let's go see the yard, Homare. I bet it hasn't changed at all."

Shizuka happily pulled Homare along behind the school into the yard. It had changed very little from their time as students. There were a dozen wooden dummies and training posts, a shallow pond and a bed of sand. One new addition was an obstacle course for agility training. Shizuka zeroed in on a nondescript shed though, which stored the academy's training weapons. She skipped towards it, and merrily tested the door - which happened to be unlocked. Rummaging through its stores, she produced two wooden shortswords and tossed one to Homare. Secretly, she had also pulled out a rubber ball fixed to a string, and stashed it in her sleeve.

"Care to join me for a dance?"

Shizuka pointed her bokken at Homare, and took the stance for one of the more advanced paired katas Minami-sensei had taught them. Many of the spars at the academy started with just such a paired kata: a series of arranged movements, strikes, parries and dodges performed with a partner. If Homare obliged her invitation, Shizuka would match her pace. She had been hopeless at Bukijutsu during her days at the academy, so Shizuka hoped to show her teammate that she had improved. When the true spar began, she would use her best footwork to put up as much defense as she could, frustrating Homare's advances and searching for an opening to strike with her hidden weapon.

"I'm glad we're on the same team now, Homare. I nearly died on a mission with my last team, you know. I'm helpless without someone like you to protect me."

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare had been somewhat ambushed by her teammate's mother while she'd been on her way to her own home, as she had finished some training earlier in the day and was feeling fairly tired. She'd tried to dissuade the older woman from inviting her to join her for dinner, having become confused by her insistence as the woman was a stranger to her, but once she met the rest of the family and saw her own teammate Shizuka, it certainly clicked that this wasn't some strange woman simply inviting anyone she met to come and eat supper at her own home, but her teammate's mother inviting her over for a meal. Homare was her usual awkwardly formal self during the meal, somewhat quiet and heavily reserved when it comes to conversation, but not rude enough to be asked if everything was okay.

At least Shizuka had suggested walking her home, so she wouldn't have to go alone. Although it was a bit odd for her teammate to pull her into the training yard of the old Academy that they had both trained to become ninja in. It was the classic sand pit that had been around for a long time, surrounded by training dummies and a shallow pond nearby, making it useful for any Academy ninja that wanted to learn some basic understanding of molding chakra into Suiton techniques. Homare is a bit interested in the new obstacle course, although she recognizes that she's too large now to fit through some of the training spaces that were meant for younger girls. She's more than a little surprised that the Academy's armory was open and unlocked, probably forgotten by one of the instructors. Although Homare is initially thinking to herself that they should let one of the Academy teachers know, she still catches the wooden shortsword with her upper right hand, testing its somewhat familiar weight with a couple of practice swings, although she doesn't notice at all that Shizuka has hidden a surprise of her own.

"Very well, Miss Shouki. A dance it is."

Homare takes on a stance that Minami had actually taught her later on, after the Academy, but before she'd met her teammates, a stance that had her holding the wooden blade before her with both upper hands, though the hand lower on the handle could only grab the pommel. Such a grip still allowed her to use the blade effectively. Homare starts with both pairs of her other hands clasped behind her back; what with it being a friendly spar, it seems the Genin is looking to keep their interaction as honorable as she can, despite the fact that she's a ninja. Homare still only holds back a little, letting their wooden blades clash against one another with hard and loud cracks that echo off the stone walls that surround the Academy training grounds while only somewhat paying attention to the conversation with Shizuka.

"Doubtless you don't need me to run protection for you, Miss Shouki. We have another teammate, after all, and you did try to help protect me during our mission as well, remember? We will protect each other, as equals."

It was a rare speech from Homare, but she was still heavily focused on the movements of their shortswords, though her eyes seemed to be the opposite of focus; indeed, her eyes remained on Shizuka's shoulders, watching how she moves through her peripheral vision.

[Shouki Shizuka]

Crack. Crack. Swish. Homare commenced the kata with the speed and sharpness of a skilled practitioner. Shizuka looked uncomfortable from the start, but she kept up, trading blows and parries with a practiced form. When the final stroke of the kata concluded, their spar began in earnest. Homare moved decisively - two strikes - the first deflecting Shizuka's guard, the second slicing just shy of her throat. If Homare had meant to, it would have hit. Their spar didn't end there, of course, and Shizuka presented a better defense for the next few blows. Her transition to offense however, was slow - each of Shizuka's attempts were parried with ease, while Homare's counters led to many close calls. During the fifth exchange of the spar, Homare moved decisively again, slipping past Shizuka's strike and dragging her blade gently across her arm. It was the second fight ending attack of the match, and Homare was still holding back.

Shizuka had expected all of this, and took her losses in stride. Perhaps this was one of the reasons she was always weak in close combat. She lacked the desperation to win that many of her peers possessed in abundance. Still, she had something to prove. She intended to put her full effort into defeating Homari with bukijutsu, even if she could only win one time in a hundred.

"Do you remember when Kuronmeru Shiu broke my arm?" She spoke while the pair were testing the points of their swords against each other, jostling for leverage and better positioning. "I recall you fought quite hard to get back at him. Minami-sensei was quite the lenient teacher, wasn't she?"

Crack - Crack. A short exchange interrupted the conversation for a moment, before Shizuka continued.

"We really should have been put on the same team from the start, though. I was serious when I said I nearly died." Shizuka transferred her sword to her left hand, and gestured toward her right side. "Four crossbow bolts, stuck right here. And the scars still sting." When their swords met again, it was almost natural that Shizuka was now wielding it with her weak hand. Her right arm was folded behind her back, preparing her hidden weapon. "I was hurt when you didn't recognize me, by the way. Even so, I'll take it as a compliment - proof of how much I've changed."

Shizuka's hidden attack unfolded in an instant. Homare would feel it coming first, from Shizuka's killing intent. Unlike the earlier exchanges, Shizuka moved with confidence - if Homare held back, she would lose. The attack Homare saw was a thrust towards the eyes. They were too far apart for the strike to land, but it would still prove distracting. It was a simple technique Homare knew well - the feint towards the eyes concealing the true blow with a second weapon. She would hear that second weapon coming from her left. The snap of a string as Shizuka cast the rubber ball towards Homare's left ankle, aiming to snare her.

If Homare failed to defend herself, Shizuka would pull hard, trying to knock her off-balance and tackle her to the ground. If she dodged, the spar would continue, though now Homare would have to contend with Shizuka's favoured weapon - the kusari fundo. Any halfhearted attacks would be seen through by Shizuka and met with a strike from the rubber ball.

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare is actually a bit surprised that Shizuka is able to hold a conversation during their somewhat rapid sparring, although perhaps it was just as well, since her teammate seems to be taking a trip down memory lane. The Mayonaka isn't too heavily invested in the spar for a while either, as she's pushed into taking a trip down memory lane to a time six years ago, when she'd been an Academy Student and had needed to help defend Shizuka. It was certainly very long ago to Homare, who had been pushed into a greater focus on Ninjutsu when she had gone back to her adoptive parents. Shiu... another name unremembered, but she did remember smashing him quite hard multiple times with various wooden weapons, each time smashing his fingers worse and worse until he'd had to call uncle over the course of several weeks. It didn't help that Homare was a bit older than most of the other Academy Students at the time.

Her eyes flash to Shizuka's side when she points towards it, but they return immediately to focus on the spar once more, using the momentary opening like a feinted failed defense that she then makes good on the second that Shizuka tries to take advantage. She turns the thrust aside and uses it to plap the flat of the wooden shortsword against her inner arm, proving the effectiveness of her move, but she still speaks a bit in response to this conversation that she's only half-heartedly paying attention to.

"It wasn't any fault of mine that Mister Kuronmeru earned multiple severe beatings. He should have known better... As for Minami-sensei, she trained us correctly, and we've proven it with our effectiveness in combat-"

The strike towards her eyes is mostly ignored, with Homare slipping her head aside of the attack, just in time to catch sight of the underhanded attack. Now her teammate's switch from her dominant hand to the weaker hand makes sense, but she's not about to let her ankle be captured so easily; Homare lifts her left leg, moving in a pirouette spin that gets followed up with a thrust of the shortsword aimed at Shizuka's right side, though if the tip reaches her skin, the Mayonaka herself would simply divert the attack to the side, though she finally uses another pair of arms, bringing the middle pair forwards in an attempt to grab hold of her right arm and restrict further movements.

"And Minami-san has taught you well in the use of unfamiliar weaponry, it seems, Miss Shouki. As for forgetting you, I was gone for two years. I am surprised you remembered me at all."

[Shouki Shizuka]

Shizuka truly believed her attack would work against Homare - or at least stall her. But it missed, and without skipping a beat Homare transitioned into another offensive. It nearly struck home, but she was still holding back. The split second delay her hesitation caused let Shizuka slip away. Homare kept moving forward, seizing the advantage before Shizuka could regain control over her chain weapon. Even still, her target remained just barely out of reach. Shizuka's movements were sharper now, faster, and without hesitation. Her desperate concentration showed on her face.

She's still holding back, Shizuka realized.

Gripping her wooden sword in her teeth and wrapping the string of her chain weapon around her wrist, Shizuka managed to weave a pair on handseals. She forced chakra through her legs into her feet, and molded the wind below her heels to hasten her steps. Soon, she had made enough distance between her and Homare that she could draw up her chain weapon and prepare it for another strike. With it's meter long string, Shizuka had a significant reach advantage. She was quicker, too, sliding across the dirt of the yard as if it was ice.

Swish - crack. Swish - crack.

Shizuka attacked without pause or conversation - her expression locked in deep concentration. The rubber ball came flying from every angle. Low then high, rising then falling, vertical, diagonal, horizontal. Each strike was announced with a stiff crack of the string, straining from the velocities of battle. It quickly became clear to Homare that she was now at a serious disadvantage. Shizuka was beginning to read her footwork - each swing of the ball came at a better timing than the last, and was closer to landing a decisive blow. She could block the ball with her sword, but that came with risk - if her weapon was entangled, Shizuka could use her own blade to attack with impunity. Though at least then Shizuka would be within her reach...

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare realizes that Shizuka is actually getting far more serious, especially as she does her best to put as much distance between them as possible before connecting her hands together for handseals, apparently giving up on using any further weaponry that isn't the weighted rubber ball attached by string. After carefully blocking the ball exclusively with the flat of her wooden weapon and keeping the defensive deflections close to her body so as to avoid being caught by the string, she gets a new idea. While she could have thrown the wooden blade and likely caught her own teammate by surprise, she couldn't risk causing harm to the girl so soon after being fed by her mother without the expectation of repayment. Not to mention the other Genin was a member of her own team. She also couldn't simply use Ninjutsu against her, as most of her Ninjutsu would not have been so nice to use, perhaps even unfair if she were to use her attacking techniques while the Ninjutsu Shizuka had used was simply a technique for bolstering her speed.

No, instead of using her Ninjutsu or throwing the wooden shortsword at Shizuka, she feigns a "failed" deflection, wherein the string wraps firmly around the shortsword, thus trapping the rubber ball momentarily. Without skipping a beat, she lets Shizuka feel her tugging on her shortsword, waits for the reflexive pull back to try and disarm the shortsword, and then lets it go at the same moment that she springs forwards towards Shizuka. Instead of drawing her katana from its scabbard, she keeps the scabbard covering the sword's blade as she brings it up, aiming a draw "cut" across Shizuka's torso as a show that she'd won another sparring engagement. Of course, should the swipe miss, she'd be quick to follow up with a thrust aimed in the direction of Shizuka's dodge. Of course, in her excitement, all four of her other arms are suddenly up and ready, apparently no longer holding back now that her teammate is clearly taking the spar very seriously indeed.

Homare carefully pauses and wraps the sheathe of her katana around the handguard, ensuring that the blade stays firmly inside of the scabbard and won't accidentally fall out if Shizuka chooses to continue the spar. The last thing the Mayonaka wants is an accident during a simple friendly spar, or what she assumes is a friendly spar.

[Shouki Shizuka]

Homare was correct not to throw her weapon - Shizuka's concentration had reached its zenith, and she still held a wooden sword in her left hand, ready to deflect any such careless attacks. Unfortunately, while her own defense was secure, she was not skilled enough to break apart Homare's. She had only caught Homare's sword because she was allowed to. Even so, Shizuka thought it was an opening. She pulled Homare's blade from her grip and plunged forward with all her speed - meeting Homare who had stepped forward herself.

If Shizuka hadn't miscalculated, she might have been able to win at least once. She had set in her mind the mistaken notion that Homare had only one weapon, and that disabling it would leave her defenseless. She only realized her error after Homare reached for her katana. Panicking, Shizuka brought her sword down to prevent Homare's draw, but only managed to clash with the sheathed blade. And when she tried to bring her sword up to attack, Homare's free arms grabbed at her and prevented the strike. When Homare tapped her side with the sheathed katana, 'killing' her for the third time, Shizuka fell to the ground with a dramatic flourish.

"No fair~~~!" Shizuka complained, "using your katana is cheating."

Apparently her own hidden weapon wasn't.

"I give up. I'll never touch a sword again for the rest of my life." Shizuka propped herself up on her elbows. "Since you won, I'll do something for you as a reward. Got anything in mind?" 

Her easy attitude had returned quickly, though Shizuka still felt some regret she hadn't scored a point. She couldn't quell her doubts that she had failed to prove herself to her teammate. Was she always going to be so weak? So simple to defeat? She wanted badly to reject her clan's techniques, but was she even a threat without her poison? She sighed, making her worries obvious to see.

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare is a bit surprised that her own counterattack was nearly thwarted, but she feels somewhat proud of herself for being able to do so without causing any harm to her sparring partner, as was sometimes the case when two somewhat inexperienced sparring partners met with one another without a teacher to guide them. Despite her normally very stoic and Spartan face, the Mayonaka actually smiles a bit when Shizuka goes through the dramatic response, a rare sight on the Genin's face ever since her parents had been lost in the Sanbi attack on the village. She does feel a bit of a bite at having the use of her katana (kept in its sheathe though it may be) was cheating in a way, and although she doesn't bring up the fact that Shizuka had hidden away a second weapon of her own while Homare's was visible during the entire spar, she does make an even more obvious point.

"We are ninja, after all, Miss Shouki."

Even after having had dinner with and intensely sparring against her own teammate, she was still the same formal Homare, clearly not all that comfortable with a level of familiarity that involved using her first name instead of her family name. She also feels a bit guilty when Shizuka makes such an intense declaration that she'd never touch a sword again for the rest of her life, although she thinks it might just be a hyperbolic statement made in the heat of her defeat.

"You should be proud. Your toy was a clever trick, and it kept me from going fully on the offensive... for a time. I had to rely on a trick of my own to be able to win."

The suggestion that Shizuka would do something for Homare as a reward was a bit odd, but she doesn't really have anything in mind. But she can't really say something like that, it might ruin the momentary good spirits, and she even hears Shizuka's sigh of disappointment in herself, a sound Homare herself had made multiple times while training her Suiton Ninjutsu with her adopted parents. Then she comes up with an idea, at least, of what Shizuka can do for her.

"My reward will be extra training with you. Perhaps in Ninjutsu next time, and without weapons, perhaps."

Homare could potentially use this training with Shizuka in order to learn how to use her own clan's techniques, preferably sooner rather than later. With nobody from her clan able to train her, she'd have to do a lot of self-training in order to learn, but she felt she could do it with some help from her fellow teammate. At least, she hoped so.

[Shouki Shizuka]

Miss Shouki again. Who's Miss Shouki? I'm not Miss Shouki am I?

At least during their reunion, she had been 'Miss Shizuka.' She could handle that much, for the moment. But Miss Shouki? That was a step too far. Had Homare relapsed to calling her by her family name because of the mission? During the mission, Shizuka had called both of her teammates by last name, trying to maintain discipline any way she could. But the mission was over, they were a team now, and she was supposed to be just 'Shizuka.' But how was she supposed to convince the stoic, serious, and above all stubborn spider to drop the honorifics? Vaguely, Shizuka recalled being unable to do so even during the academy days they shared.

Homare's praise restored Shizuka's smile quickly. She had a strong notion that neither of them had shown their limits yet, and that she would get another chance to prove herself before long. After all, Shizuka trained her kusarijutsu together with her fuinjutsu, using the chain as a mechanism to deliver her more powerful and flexible sealing techniques. If she could use all of her techniques in harmony, Shizuka was confident she would be well matched against Homare.

While she was already smiling, Shizuka lit up even more at the prospect of further ninjutsu training.

"Let's do it now!" The girl shot upward, eyes sparkling. "You're going to shoot out webs, right? Ah! But first you have to call me Haya." Haya, or Minnow, was Shizuka's nickname, and also the first name she had given herself before she had survived the Dokuyoke ritual and was properly 'born.'

"After all, if we're on a mission we can't call each other by our clan names, can we? There's no telling who could be listening." By her own estimation, Shizuka's plan to force Homare to call her by a nickname was nothing less than brilliant. The ever serious Homare would have no choice but to become accustomed with her nickname, lest she risk the failure of a mission.

"You'll need a nickname too, Homare..." Shizuka's eyes burned with a darker fire. A feeling of nostalgia - perhaps dread - as Shizuka offered her own suggestion for her teammate's nickname. One she had offered before, long ago, and was forgotten.

"Tako." Octopus.

[Mayonaka Homare]

While Homare is indeed capable of creating gossamer threads, thanks to her clan's kekkei genkai, she had little chance to learn any of the actual techniques for her clan before she lost her parents. But even more disheartening is that Shizuka wants her to call her by the name "Minnow", a diminutive and somewhat odd nickname for a person. Although her facial expression betrays what she thinks of such a nominal designation - that such a nickname isn't meant to be given to a person - Homare knows she's not going to push back too hard on such a demand, especially when she makes it clear that they can't call each other out by their clan names when they're out on a mission. That, at least, the other Genin can understand as a good idea. However, she's also aware that they're not currently on a mission, and so a nickname under these circumstances isn't really necessary. She's about to tell Shizuka this, too, before the girl gets a dangerous look in her eye at the suggestion that Homare also needs a nickname, and she holds her words until Shizuka seems ready to give it, and as soon as she opens her mouth, Homare instantly shoots it down.

"No."

And then the meaning of the nickname hits her, and she gets a dark look on her face as she slowly unwraps the ribbon from around her katana's handguard, which allows the katana to be drawn now, although she doesn't actually do so. It's one thing to unwrap her katana and another thing entirely to actually draw the blade, which is an actual threat, so she refrains from doing so.

"What about me looks like one of those octopuses, Haya?"

It was a rare show of emotion for Homare, and therefore not something to take lightly. She apparently didn't take kindly to being compared to an octopus, as evidenced by both her facial expression and the fingers of her other four arms twitching and occasionally making fists before they open up again. But the restless reaction fades eventually, with Homare actually considering what she'd rather be called if she couldn't be called Homare. After all, it seems that although Shizuka is perfectly comfortable with calling her by her first name, which means that not calling each other by clan names is a moot point as well, she seems to want an even closer sign of familiarity. Homare's going to have to get used to speaking with people as friends instead of being uncomfortable with them, so she might as well start actually having friends now.

"If I must have a nickname, why not Badoita?"

Birdeater, a type of giant spider that was actually known to move about in the upper branches of trees, no longer content to eat simply insects, and growing large enough that it could consume birds. Truly a terror if it landed on someone or failed to jump from one tree to another, and terrifyingly large. Although Homare wasn't quite so big, it certainly brought to mind something scary.

[Shouki Shizuka]

Homare's rejection of the nickname neither surprised nor upset Shizuka. Her anger was a different story, though.

Odd. She's more angry after I suggested the perfect nickname than when I tried to kill her with a rubber ball.

"Well, you're cute, smart, and great at hiding, just like an octopus! But it's okay if you don't want perfection." Shizuka had on a smug, satisfied expression. She was more pleased Homare had called her by nickname than bothered by her anger. She had expected Homare to put up a bigger fight, and make any number of obvious arguments - though she was prepared for them all. "We're not on a mission at the moment, Miss Shouki," - then call it training. "If clan names are a bad idea, first names will do just fine, Shizuka," - if you insist, Homare, I'll allow it.

Before long, Homare offered her own suggestion for a nickname.

"Badoita. Bado~ita." Shizuka played around with the new name, seemingly unconvinced. "I didn't know you ate birds, Homare."

Before Homare had a chance to react to the jape, Shizuka maneuvered behind her. She pointed over Homare's right shoulder at one of the wooden training dummies.

"Alright Badoita, time to hunt. Pretend that dummy is a bird and catch it with your webs." The sparkle in Shizuka's eyes was just a bit too curious. "I've always wanted to practice combinations - spiders are meant to be poisonous. You put them in a web, and I'll finish them off." At some point, Shizuka's pointing finger was replaced with a fistful of needles.

She was unaware that Homare had next to know experience or knowledge of the Mayonaka jutsus. Her expectations were far beyond what Homare was capable of. With luck though, Homare might trust her new teammate enough to practice together from the start.

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare stares blankly at Shizuka when she suggests that calling her an octopus was perfection, knowing precisely what she had really meant, but not quite willing to call her out on this obvious deflection from the real answer. Then the younger girl suggests that it's somewhat odd to eat birds, and Homare crosses her lowest pair of arms, about to point out that all of them have eaten chicken and duck before, but she's interrupted by Shizuka moving behind her and pointing over her shoulder at one of the training dummies, suggesting that she use her webs to "catch" the dummy as the comparison is made now to a spider after all. Her eyes narrow over her shoulder at Shizuka, but she soon sighs and gives up on making her own teammate calm down on it, particularly because Homare herself doesn't actually know enough of her own clan's techniques to quickly trap the dummy with her gossamer threads.

In any case, Homare is still able to produce the webs, even if she doesn't know enough about them to effectively use them the way they should be used. She lets the silvery lines pour from the skin over her arms as she leaps towards the training dummy, letting them trail behind her as she moves. The newly-spun thread twinkles in the pale moonlight as she moves around the training dummy, smacking across its body and its outstretched wooden arms with her katana, though the blade is still covered in the wooden scabbard and the attacks are not quite as hard as they would be in a real combat scenario. In any case, the wooden dummy is covered in sticky web by the end of it, and although it likely wouldn't have been enough to actually incapacitate a person, Shizuka didn't need to know that. This training was almost definitely going to make Homare more likely to look into how her clan's webs could be used, likely starting with some techniques to make her even faster on the move.

"Hm. Not bad for a Genin, I think. What kind of poisons do you have anyway, Haya?"

Homare herself was barely aware of the Shouki clan's abilities, but it seemed like it had something to do with medicine. It wasn't a type of technical consideration that she'd ever really involved herself in, but it might be helpful if she knows what her teammates are actually capable of.

[Shouki Shizuka]

Shizuka watched eagerly as Homare began her demonstration, keen to see just what the Mayonaka clan was capable of. When Homare produced the first strands of web, she expected her teammate to toss them forward, multiply them, and immobilize the training dummy from a distance. Instead, Homare let the webs trail behind her, spreading them haphazardly as she attacked with her blade. The resulting sloppy technique would likely be defeated by any academy graduate using a simple rope escape jutsu.

It was difficult for Shizuka to hide her disappointment. Her enthusiasm, which had started in the clouds, was firmly dragged down to earth. "Ah, well done. Well done, Badoita. Very pretty." Shizuka might have gotten away with her remarks if she hadn't complimented them with six dry, thoroughly unimpressed claps. If she tries that in a real battle she'll get herself killed. Homare's question about the Shouki clan techniques changed the topic, for a moment.

"What poisons? All of them, of course," Shizuka replied. "My clan trades in every poison known to Mizu no Kuni, amoung others known to noone but ourselves." Though we squander it all on the ritual.

The Dokuyoke ritual was a closely guarded secret of the Shouki clan, and the key to their immunity to poisons. It was a trial of a thousand poisons over three years, and every year a dozen or more children would be initiated. Initiated, or sacrificed. Most of them would die, disposed like trash in the crematorium so that the clan's secrets could not be exposed. All without even being given a name. Shizuka cast a glance towards the sky over her clan's estate - mercifully free of smoke. All of her enthusiasm was drained, as if dragged deep into a pit.

"In battle we use only the poisons in our body. Most will use two forms: a liquid poison applied to weaponry like your katana, and a gaseous poison spread through jutsu." Shizuka's tone was flat. "When I am promoted to Chuunin, I will learn to enhance the poison and make it deadly."

With some effort and another sigh, Shizuka turned her attention away from the sky, back towards Homare.

"But enough about my clan. If you're going to use Mayonaka techniques, you'll need to learn how to make a net."

To prove her point, Shizuka retrieved the toy kusari-fundo. "If a net is too difficult, start by making something like this, and..." with a flourish, Shizuka threw the training weapon at one of the dummies. It collided without much noise, the string hitting first and absorbing the impact, causing the two rubber balls to circle around the dummy's neck and arm, binding them together. If it had been a Mayonaka web, the dummy would find itself in a very difficult situation.

"Like that~ It's easy if you practice. You can do this much, right?"

[Mayonaka Homare]

Homare frowns when Shizuka seems to be quite unimpressed with the use of her spider silk. She thought it was rather impressive for someone who had never done such a thing before. Homare herself hadn't been taught any of her clan's techniques before, and she'd only recently learned to even make the silken strings from her chakra besides. She frowns a bit at Shizuka's response that it was pretty, and she thinks she can detect a bit of sarcasm when she says it's well done. Unfortunately for the Mayonaka, she's not really confident enough in either her social skills or in combat to really say anything about it, so she lets it go, especially as she's not totally sure that Shizuka was being sarcastic in the first place.

Homare listens to Shizuka give a brief explanation of her clan's poison usage, though it's not much she can really make use of, except to keep in mind that she's gonna need to remember to buy up one of Kirigakure's gas masks if Shizuka ever decides to use the gaseous poison in a real combat situation. She's also not sure what good poison would do with a weapon like a ball on a string, either, although she was certain she could make use of it on her own weapons. And it sounds like Shizuka won't be doing much with the poison anyway until she gets a lot more experience and ranks up.

She watches as Shizuka uses the same rubber ball on a string to strike around a limb so that the rubber ball hit its real target, and although she wants to scoff at Shizuka suggesting that a net is too difficult for her and that using the spider silk to make her own version of the ball trick would be something she's simple enough to do. Homare at least isn't so simple that she can't pick up on an insult when she hears one, and she sticks some of her gossamer threads to the handle of her Shinobi axe before she spins herself, tossing out her axe. It spins in the air so that it turns over one of the wooden dummy's arms to slam its heavy blade directly into the head of the training dummy, making a sound like a cleaver slamming into a butcher's cutting board. With a harsh tug, Homare is able to free her axe, and she pulls it back to herself fairly easily before replacing the axe at her waist.

"I'm sure it would be easy to make poison that's actually deadly in battle. I would have thought you could do that much..."

It seems where Shizuka was full of many words, Homare preferred actions.

[Shouki Shizuka]

Homare was a lady of few words, though she always wore an expression which betrayed just how much she wanted to say. Typically it was some measure of annoyance or frustration. Shizuka wanted to praise her friend, and coax out a more joyful, satisfied expression, but she wasn't about to lie. In combat, every movement was critical, and wasted effort would lead to exhaustion and death. Since it seemed as if Homare was interested in applying her clan's silken strands to her bukijutsu, Shizuka felt the need to be strict. While she was no master, she had enough experience with kusarijutsu to teach Homare a little - even if it was only one technique.

Homare's second demonstration was more promising. It was a practical application of fighting with a chain, and while it was not exactly the technique which Shizuka was hoping for, it was very close. She smiled at the sharp crack the axe made when it connected with it's target.

"Oh~ nice!" Her expression soured quickly again when Homare commented on her poison, though. She disliked her clan, and wanted to discuss it as little as possible. Nonetheless, she had a responsibility to ensure her partner understood how her poison worked.

"If a Shouki Genin could simply prick an enemy with a needle to kill them, they would lose the second they faced a challenger who could properly protect themselves. Even if we are the poison clan, the moment we depend on our poison is the moment we die. And besides, poison doesn't have to be deadly to win a fight. If you were afflicted with even the weakest poison in our blood, I would be able to beat you in a duel with swords every time." Shizuka stated her point without a hint of pride. Rather than bragging, it was a matter of facts to her, and she was more disappointed than anything at the advantage her poisons could give her over Homare.

"More importantly..." Shizuka stepped up to the dummy to inspect the gash Homare had left with her axe. She turned back towards her teammate, wearing another impish grin. "Could you remind me what the punishment for cutting a dummy with live steel was?"

Shizuka let Homare stew for a bit while she collected the training weapons and returned them to storage. She folded a bit of money alongside a note of apology, and left it all in the shed. Even though it was Homare's fault, Shizuka felt responsible for antagonizing her. And besides, the least she could do as de facto team leader was cover for her teammate's error.

"Now then, Badoita, are you feeling tired enough to go home now, or will you finally show me your net-crafting skills?" Sparkles of anticipation lit up Shizuka's eyes again. "You can make strands that are tough, but not sticky, right? That would be perfect." Homare might detect hints of the ulterior motive rising in Shizuka's persistent demands to see a net...