Because I'm broke, and a dog stole my cloak..

[Decadence]

***ooc: Being written for your entertainment only. Please do not join this thread without permission.



"Dancing all alone, the wind's so cold today~
Frozen to the bone, spare a dime I will repay~!"


It was a windy day in Gyakufuu; mild weather for most of its inhabitants, but one girl was hopping from foot to foot and shivering like it was a winter's morning. With her right arm coiled around her body to try and retain her body heat, the other extended forward with a tall tin can in hand. With the spots of dirt on her pale skin, and in her long pony-tailed white hair, she looked like a singing, dancing panhandler.

"Oi, SukanKUSO! What did I tell you about begging here?"

"Eh?"

The 12 year old froze at the sound of the voice that was like a snarl coming from a giant boar. Blinking her red eyes, she looked at the two men coming out of the meat shop with angry looks deforming their already unpleasant mugs.

"It's not like I want to be here. This just happens to be the most active part of the village this time of day. Cut me some slack, guys. I'm a good ten- ... five feet away from the door!"

"You said I'd be sorry.." the albino said with her Rikuhuu accent, then she dropped the can and placed her hands together in the prayer position while closing her eyes and bowing her head. "...and I'm sorry" she added, but soon felt the sun being blocked by their approaching beefy forms. Or maybe it was night time, because she was soon seeing stars.

---

The sun rose again too quickly. Deu's head was still spinning. She sat up and looked around the alley she'd been tossed into, then surveyed the damage. "Skinned knees, a bloody nose, and... are those the hot dogs I ate half an hour ago? Why did those pigs have to hit me so hard? I just wanted a bit of change so I could buy a sweater. What was I thinking when I sent all the money I made from those D rank missions home without leaving much of anything for myself?"

Feeling, looking, and smelling like a bum, Deu crawled out of the alley and back into the street. She'd managed to find some paper towels in the trash to clean herself up - which was totally gross and unsanitary - but she only barely looked presentable.

*sigh* "It sure would be nice if- ARGH!"

When the world tiled back into place, Deu looked for what had crashed into her. She saw a young girl with short brown hair wearing a yellow dress. It wasn't quite the big break she was looking for, but nevertheless, the Genin decided it would be rude not to help her up.

"There, on your feet. Are you O-K?" she offered a paper towel, but the girl declined the blood-and-whatever-else stained offering. Suddenly, she clasped her hands together and took a step forward that made Deu draw back.

"I need your help!"

[Decadence]

"So, they ripped you off, and when you couldn't pay, they pushed you out and stole your wallet?"

As the two young girls marched back toward the meat shop, Deu tried to sort out all the details of her new companions dilemma in her mind. And detailed it was. Deu felt sorry for her, but wished she'd summed the story up with a quarter of what she said. The situation wasn't as complicated as she made it seem. On the other hand, Deu wondered if she would have been starving for more details had the girl not taken the time to carefully explain everything. "Oh well"

"They stole my wallet and then pushed me out" the girl corrected as though the order mattered. "Those butchers are very mean, and I didn't know who to turn to, other than you, samurai-san".

That was another thing. With the sword strapped to Deu's waist, Dandy - as her new friend was named - mistook the Genin for a samurai, and Deu foolishly went along with it, liking the sound of the title. She barely knew what a samurai was, though, and how they compared to ninja.

"Right! Don't worry, Dandy. I'll help you out."

As they began to arrive a the meat shop entrance, Deu began to sing:

"SA-MU-RAI!
Dancing in the sun
On this dance floor
Excuse me for eliminating the men without rhythm~
Dancing in the night
In this rotten era,
Let's stir up a wave of battles~
Viva Samurai - HA!"

Hearing the familiar voice, shaking their heads as though they couldn't believe it, the two butchers came out of the meat shop. The owner, in his bloody white clothing, stood at the head of the pair.
"Oi! SunkanKUSO! What the hell are you doing back here? I warned you, and now I'm going to cut out your tongue"
And he was probably serious too. After all, he had no trouble hitting a twelve year old girl hard enough to make her lose her lunch and then dump her unconscious body out with the trash in the alley.

"Oi, Kuso-Oyaji!" Deu shot back, basically calling him a dirty old man. She pointed an accusing finger at the shop owner. "You have something that belongs to this girl, right? Give it back, or else.."

"Or else?"

"He just had to ask.."

Deu wanted to do things the easy way, but she was certainly hoping for an excuse to get violent. After all, she owed him a dozen.
After taking a running start, the Genin from Rikuhi jumped up at pork-bellied man and threw both feet into his thick face. As his head bounced back from the hit, Deu could see marks from the grooves in her sandals embedded in his face. She grinned - satisfied - before falling flat on her back and rolling away as the other butcher went to the aid of his mentor.

"You can be very belligerent when you want to be" Dandy whispered. "I got a little carried away" Deu replied, rubbing the back of her head with a soft chuckle. She looked ahead though as Dandy seemed to be doing the same with widening eyes, and just barely evaded a meat cleaver swinging for her arm. In the process, she bumped Dandy aside, then dodged another swing by sucking her tummy in, throwing her arms forward, and sliding back on her heels. Had she been a moment too late, her stomach would have been sliced open from right to left.

"Wait, let's start this over again!" Deu tried as she turned her body to the side to dodge a chop that would have put the cleaver in her skull, and possibly split her body in two. She then ducked an attempt to take her head right off. "Why don't we- Hey, Dandy, what are you doing?"

Dandy ran toward the meat shop owner as he was struggling to get up after being knocked right over by Deu's drop kick. As he made it to his hands and knees, the girl in the yellow dress tackled him, then thrust twice with her right hand before running away. The man started screaming: "My ass!" and pressing a palm to the growing red spot on his behind. "Let's go!" she said to Deu as she ran past her.

"Huh? Wait! What's going on?" Deu protested. "Did you just stab that guy?!" Deu spun around and chased after Dandy with the meat cleaver just barely missing her head, and instead taking off a chunk of her thick hair. Behind her, she could still hear the shop owner screaming.

"MY ASS!"

[Decadence]

The two of them fled as far as Dandy, who didn't have nearly the stamina Deu had, could run. Once she stopped for a breather, Deu grabbed the girl's wrist to get a look at the weapon she was holding. It was a kunai.

"Where did you get this?!" Deu felt bad about shouting, but things had quickly become much more dangerous when an amateur started waving a knife around. "Moreover, what were you thinking stabbing him like that?"

"They would have done the same to you, or didn't you notice?!" Dandy shouted back. Her voice sounded different to Deu, full of anger and hate. "What kind of pathetic samurai won't even draw their sword when surrounded?"

No sooner had she asked that did the meat shop brigade catch up. The two men they had just tangled with now had six friends with them. Two of them were dressed in the same white outfits as the owner and his assistant - clean though, as they hadn't started their shift yet - while the others were in their street clothes. Apparently they were called in just for this fight. Deu had certainly made an impression.

"Cut them down, samurai-san!"

"Oh, you guys move pretty fast for giant pigs on their hind legs" Deu said as she untied her sword from her belt. She couldn't help but snicker to herself as she wasn't doing anything to defuse the situation. Heck, she was provoking it. "There's no talking my way out of this one. I might as well look cool while I can."

"Stop trying to act cool!" one of the butchers yelled.

"Dammit..!" Deu chuckled through her pain as she tossed her steel to the side. Dandy's eyes went wide as what appeared to be their only hope for victory fell to the dirt. "What are you doing? A samurai against eight men without a sword...!"

[Decadence]

"The truth is, I'm no samurai. The sword at my hip? I'm very accomplished in the theory of how to use it, but I consider my skills pretty basic. I do have my own way of fighting, though. I learned it in Rikuhi. It didn't start out as an art for fighting - that part was accidental - but I wanted to move as beautifully as the street performers, so I watched carefully and then mimicked them when no one was looking. As a result, my body became lighter, and I could move more fluently. It became really helpful when I got into fights with the neighborhood kids. Most of them were bigger than me, so I dodged around them with my unintuitive footwork and struck back with unpredictable attacks. It wasn't easy, though, and I tripped up a lot, so in the end my fighting ability was considered a joke. Sometimes I was doing more damage to me than they were! But once I entered the academy, I realized how important being light on your feet was. When it came to sparring, agility was my friend, and even as I began to learn simple, efficient self-defense, my body couldn't forget my street dancing style, and that began to bleed in. It made for some effective combos, though. Heh~.

[Decadence]

So I polished it. I began a routine that started at the crack of dawn. I did it most days, at least... some mornings were just too cold to get out of bed that early. But when I could get to the training ground, I'd do about five hundred squats within fifteen minutes. They'd start from a stationary position with my feet shoulder-width apart, then I'd drop down with my hands in front of me, crossed at the wrist. I'd then stand up again, bringing my arms above my head and reach for the sky to get a feel good stretch of my spine.

Once I finished with my stretch and leg strengthening exercise, it was time to move on to a little foot work drill that was great for my agility, coordination, and balance. Moving right into it after standing from the five hundredth squat, I'd slide one leg back and simultaneously raise my arm of the same side and swing it in front of my chest. My weight rested on the foot of that back leg for but a moment before I'd transfer it to the front foot, simultaneously sliding the back foot to its original position. I'd than switch arms and legs so that my other foot slides back and my other arm swung up in front of my body (Basic capoeira footwork: Ginga). Breathing freely, it was easy to get into a rhythm as I swung from side to side. It was fun, so the amount of time I kept at it varied. Sometimes when my weight was on my back foot, I'd throw in a twist at my waist to the opposite side of the stretched leg while taking my arm out behind me and looking over my shoulder. This was no gentle twist, though. I'd reach as far as I could, imagining I was wringing water from a towel as I did it.

You'd think after all this I'd move onto something even more cardio oriented, but instead I'd just stand there holding my arms straight out in front of me at shoulder height with my wrists bent and fingers pointing upward. I'd then rotate my wrists so my fingers moved inward, then downward, then outward. Why? Well, heck; your body is only as strong as its weakest link. Neglecting to warm up my wrists would make some of the exercises I planned to do afterward difficult, and probably dangerous. Now, since it's better to exert pressure on the wrists in a graded, steady way than to immediately launch into a jarring movement that may cause a glitch in my wrist, I started on them with a boring movement where I'd drop into a squat, tip forward placing my palms on the ground, then walk forward on my hands while keeping the balls of my feet where they were. When my body was fully extended like a plank, I'd walk my hands backward till I was in the squat again. I did say it was boring...

After doing that a few times, I moved on to something much more fun. Finding a sturdy tree, I stood with my back to it and arched back and stretched my arms upward and backward so that the palms of my hand touched its trunk when my arms were straight. Keeping my feet flat, I bridged there for a bit, getting a nice stretch, then leaned forward all the way down until I could touch my toes. Once I stood straight again, I'd turn around to face the tree and lie down flat on my back. Raising my elbows and touching the palms of my hands to the ground by my ears, tips of my fingers directed toward my feet, I'd also bend my knees so that my feet were drawn up to my bum. Exhaling, I'd raise my pelvis and torso while straightening out my arms so that my head also lifted off the ground. This shaped my body like a rainbow, and it was great for strength and flexibility. I'd simply hold the position for ten deep breaths before looking for ways to make it more difficult such as going up on my toes, lifting one leg into the air, or using only one arm to balance while I managed to do - believe it or not - push-ups. I could even walk forward and back from this position.

One of my most favorite warm-up exercises implemented the cartwheel. Almost every ninja can probably do a cartwheel, but I wonder how many of them can do one slowly like I can. It's actually harder than you think, to get down and slowly stretch your hands to the side until they find the floor, then - in a controlled motion - bring your legs up over your head, then down again on the other side. I'd bet most people think the only way a cartwheel can work is if you use momentum, but I can attest to the fact that that isn't true!

[Decadence]

So after all that, I was warmed up and in the mind set to train my fighting style. Almost. The next part I never really spent much time on. Shadow boxing is extremely boring to me, but it's important to review the core basics of the striking in my art. So from an upright position, I'd throws punches, kicks, knees, and elbows at their air, or sometimes against training dummies, or trees. I'm tough, I could take it. I only quit early on this one because it made me yawn. Only a noob gets hit by attacks when you're just standing toe-to-toe with them.

[Decadence]

Now my mind was in the right place. I could move, and I could hit. Recalling the beats of the songs I used to hear in the streets of Rikuhi, I'd start to move around in a freestyled string of steps known best as my calm Toprock. Always on the hunt for words to describe it, I refrain from ever trying, because I'm afraid if I use the word 'funky' like I want to, I'll get hit in the mouth.
It was always easiest to transition into my Downrock when I pictured someone in front of me, or people around me. They didn't have to be attacking me, but it was a fun thought to trip people up who were just generally trying to touch me. There was no need to be too aggressive; the street dancers always looked like they were having fun. This part of my style involved movements on the ground where my hands were supporting me just as much as my feet were. It was mostly just me down on my hands and feet, but sometimes my knees would get a bit scraped from doing complex movements that involved threading limbs through each other.

Just playing around was nice, but I intended to use this style for fighting, so once I had my adrenaline going, it was time to bring out the power moves. This is where my style became very acrobatic, using moves that required momentum, speed, endurance, strength, and control to execute. Generally I supported myself with my upper body while the rest of my body created circular momentum. What this ended up looking like was a lot of spin kicks coming it at various heights from the ground up. Every so often, I'd test the limits of my strength and balance by freezing in a pose that had be suspending my body off the ground using my upperbody strength. I felt so cool when I did these!

Like my basic shadow boxing, I'd unleash a fury of these gravity defying kicks to the training dummies. I'd transition between standing and ground attacks to make it as difficult to follow my movements as possible. The best part was, when I really got into it, I started to channel my chakra into every point I hit with. My Katon chakra left burnings everywhere it touched, and once I even lit a dummy on fire!

I guess it's time to show these goons my incredible dance fighting..."

[Decadence]

Following a beat all in her head, Deu began to glide along the ground, right toward the advancing men. Ham fists and pork paws reached out for her, but she spun out of the way with dazzling footwork, and ducked under the reach of the last man she stood before.
"Thought you could stand at the back and piggy back the win, eh? You're the first to go!"
Immediately Deu's hands joined her feet on the ground to balance herself as she rolled, twisted, and spun around like a breakdancer. Her feet struck the man's legs and stomach area until he started to fall forward. Anticipating this, Deu planted her right forearm and left hand on the ground before shooting her left foot up into his jaw while her right coiled around her left knee. It all happened so fast, none of the others were able to advance on her until their comrade had already been knocked out.

Lowering her leg while simultaneously unwrapping its opposite, Deu transitioned into a roll that brought her at the feet of another of her attackers. Coming out of the roll, she set her left hand on the ground beside her and slipped her legs between his. They then opened like a pair of scissors as she kicked his ankles, knocking the man into a matching split. He didn't fall nearly as gracefully, though, and screamed as he surely tore some muscles in his legs. Without mercy, Deu rolled backward so he wouldn't fall on her, then after springing right up onto her feet, she threw her right knee into the man's chin before he could simply fall flat on his face. Two knockouts within the first thirty seconds of the fight.

Deu instinctively ducked as she heard a sound behind her. Lucky thing, too, for a mean cleaver was swung at her head. The weapon belonged to the head butcher's assistant, but this time the Genin wasn't going to play around. Much. She started to stand up again, but anticipated another swing for her head so - as it came - she made a tiny hop backward while bringing her feet up behind her. Landing on her knees with her back to the man, Deu twisted right, then left, throwing her elbows into the man's gut with each turn. As he hunched over in pain, Deu slapped her hands against the ground to kick start a little frog leap forward before rolling backward and propping herself up on her hands. Before her feet stretched fully to the sky, she threw out a kick to the man's face, then let her knees drop as the backward roll finished. Both knees landed on the back of the man's head, knocking him right out. Deu rolled forward and sat on her bum looking bored.

"Euh~? You're all a heck of a lot slower than I expected.."

In response, one of the men tried to run up behind the young female fighter and put her in a bear hug. Deu responded by scooting forward onto her feet and rolling back, but catching herself on her hands, she stretched her right leg over head and kicked the man in the stomach without completing the backward roll. Pushing herself forward, Deu rolled to her feet, then spun around and slapped her right foot against the side of the man's face. He went down like a ton of bricks.

[Decadence]

Cartwheels! Cartwheels~! Deu used cartwheels to evade another series of attacks. It left the last four men crashing into each other as they tried to get in and get out before the girl's legs that were moving quickly through the air tagged them. They were reluctant to get close though, and each time they moved in, they had to move out quickly or they'd be hit. This was only fun to Deu for awhile before she went on the full offensive again. Landing right in front of one of her hesitant attackers, Deu moved in and thrust her heel into the rotund man's body. He backed off a bit, but retaliated with the same type of kick. Though almost impressed by the big man's ability to lift his foot higher than ankle height like she would have guessed, little Deu bent forward and slid her body under the kicking leg. Spreading her arms, the man's leg couldn't escape even if he had the flexibility, but he was too busy whining about the pain and generally being scared of what would happen to him in that position to try. Showing no remorse, Deu quickly stood upright, making the man fall backward. If he didn't hurt something, he'd certainly think twice about coming after her again. One less threat of the moment.

[Decadence]

As their numbers were dwindling, Deu was able to play around with her attackers a little. She danced from side to side in front of another of the butchers, using her arms to knock away his as he'd try to punch her every couple of seconds. While ducking one swipe, Deu flashed through a quick series of handseals. The street clothed butcher didn't know how it happened, but Deu had suddenly moved in close to him, and before he could properly shield himself, her elbows had slashed along the sides of his face. Rather than hitting him hard, Deu sent a message as Katon: Karui Yakedo was extended to the striking surfaces of her elbows, allowing her to leave burns along the man's cheeks. As he went wide eyed in disbelief and touched his face with a shaking hand, Deu swung her head into the man's chest, and as he stumbled back, she jumped forward before slamming an elbow into his cranium. "Good night, Number Five" Deu said, failing to realizing that had been number 6.

[Decadence]

Deu seemed to lose her rhythm as she turn to find neither of the last two men attacking. While wondering what move to use next, the head butcher's last accomplice took off running. Deu scratched her head while feeling embarrassed for them, but the big boss wasn't giving up until he avenged his speared rump.

As he went toward Deu, Deu went toward him while making faces and taunting him with bad jokes she preferred to keep off the record. Once the man was in reach, Deu simply poked his eyes out, then punched him in the stomach. While he groaned and leaned forward, Deu simply grabbed on to the back of the butcher's neck and pulled him in close. One after another, she buried her knees into his chest. Though he wasn't fighting back, he was still standing, making the little Rikuhuu smile to hide her discomfort. "Give me a break. Most people go down after just a couple of these.."

Using his thick neck as leverage, Deu pulled herself up and rammed her knees into the man's body consecutively until his body simply gave out on him and went limp. His end was silent, and rather anti-climactic. Deu figured it was because of the humiliation. It must be tough to be a grown man beaten up by a twelve year old girl.

[Decadence]

It was darn near noon the next day when Deu suddenly sat up as though startled. Her arms stretched in front of her as though pushing some night terror off of her body, but only one of her hands were open. The other clutched one end of a steel blue colored robe.
Behind her, there was the sound of something gently hitting the garbage bag bed the Rikuhi made for herself in the alley, right where her had had been a moment ago. Still groggy, Deu looked to it with mild curiosity, something balled up and white, then looked toward the sky to see a bird fleeing overhead.

! ! !

Deu was spooked. Could that bird have just-... And nearly on her head?! Looking for a second opinion, the Genin gazed down the length of her cloak to the stray dog hanging on to the far end with his mouth. A fat thing for an animal that lived in the streets like she did.

"Ahh.. You're still here?"

The last thing Deu recalled was beating up a bunch of butchers, then stopping a young girl from killing them by disarming her with a somewhat gentle slap on the wrist. Dandy got her wallet back - if that was even her wallet - and turned sweet again when she thanked Deu. As a favor, she told the so-called samurai where she'd found the kunai, which - to Deu's dismay - turned out to be one of her own. The novice ninja then tracked down the stray bulldog and engaged in a tug-of-war of epic proportions. "Stronger than he looks, that mutt.."

Clearly their fight had been a draw, and eventually the combatants retired to the alley. Now there was Deu, barely avoiding a bird sh- "Hey!" It wasn't what she thought it was. The bird had been a messenger. Deu quickly opened up and read the message, then jumped for joy, waking up the dog.

"I'm going back to Rikuhi!" she yelled excitedly, but the ecstatic Deu soon looked wicked. "Why don't you go ahead and sleep in?" she said to the dog before clobbering him with her fist. Taking her cloak from the poor creatures relaxed mouth, Deu got dressed and prepared to leave the country.

Although breakfast would have been nice..



Exit