An Ax to the Knee

Andikins: {AJ} Ari had been studying up since meeting his team. Figuring he needed to try and get on par with the things that the rest of his team could do, he had been in his clan's archives, researching and practicing what he could and was allowed to access given his rank. Over the past several days he had been reading in to a segment on chakra flow and the Junrei clan's water chakra, being able to apply it externally in the form of a combat style. It was called Water Ax, a technique revolving around the use of water chakra with taijutsu. Easier said than done yo. Because Ari had been trying it on his own time, he had gotten the hang of getting his chakra to work properly for the jutsu, all that came after that was being able to use it frequently and accurately in any given situation. And what better situation to practice under than life and death? Well that's why he had sent a message to Kaiiaki Kurisutaru, his stab-happy bijuu carrying teammate! All dressed and ready first for once, Ari had his tools and his four Benevolent Batons tucked away on his person, with the batons layered in a lattice pattern across his lower back. He wouldn't need them likely today and he was more than ready to get going whenever Kaiiaki showed up. They would be sparring off again, this time with the intent to not kill but merely maim at the most, keep that in mind folks, Ari asked for this. So he sat patiently, waiting for his comrade to show up at the given location: in the vast back yard of the Junrei clan compound, near the Twi and La streams that lead to the fish pond and drinking water pond for the Junrei clansmen. Just sitting there, like a target for some, in the daylight, with the fluffy clouds wafting overhead and the breeze carrying with it a gentle scent of jasmine, and not any of that toxic stuff that the Hoshigakurian valley was known to have from time to time, because that gas was toxic (like worse than dad gas levels of toxic). {AJ}

Kaiiaki: -"Why..." The single word drifted off of Kaiiaki's purple lips. The single silent word bled into the over-crowded street of downtown Hoshigakure. People were around her, pushing up against her and tossing her to the side. Her body was being tossed like it was lost inside the sea. Wave after wave hitting upon her like a small gale. Usually, Kaiiaki would push them back and threaten their life in return. But she was so consumed in her thoughts of Eden's jutsu. She couldn't even think straight. Her mind was completely consumed on that one jutsu, trying to find out how he had done it. She was mystified, yet angry about how he had just so easily taken away her 9 tail's power. "There has to be a weakness to it...there has to be." Words once again lost in the crowds of the streets they were spoken so softly. Kaiiaki had barely noticed how long she had been walking. Had it been minutes? Hours? She had not a clue. And usually Kaiiaki was bright and early for any activity that she was invited to do. Today she had been invited to learn alongside Ari as he learned a jutsu of his clan's. She had grudgingly accepted, just because she wanted to keep an eye on each of her teammates. She also wanted to train in a new jutsu as well. So she could hardly pass up the opportunity. Kaiiaki had almost passed the Junrei's house when she came to it. She had been so lost in her thoughts she hadn't noticed it at first. But it was unmistakeable. The richly encoated spring, the tree that he had been swinging from when she had met him here last time. "Damn. Is everybody in this village a damn monkey?" Kaiiaki cursed to herself. "Hey loser I'm here!" Kaiiaki shouted off in that direction. She wouldn't wait for him like a patient friend would. She began to walk right in the direction of the training grounds without another word. She was ready for a full day of training. She didn't usually carry many weapons in her pouch, other than a few select smoke bombs, paper bombs, and such. But today she was sure she had packed the medical pouch Dahlia had given her as a gift. Dahlia had given Kaiiaki some prior lessons to this Healing Technique jutsu that she would be working on today. Hopefully, Kaiiaki could apply what she knew and practice would make perfect for the rest. The sun was shining brightly through the clouds for a change. Perhaps they were on the winds of Spring soon. -

Andikins:{AJ} Ari was still sitting right where he had been before, but when he heard Kaiiaki arrive, he decided to stand up from where he was, already with the high ground as the streams lead into small waterfalls and into their respective ponds. He put his hands together and focused chakra to all four of his limbs, running head first toward danger and leaping off of te ledge, seeking to land near Kaiiaki with an aerial flip and a downward swing of his left leg, its range and force enhanced by the presence of rushing water which would cause great concussive force or just break up the ground in a small foot sized hole if the jinchuriki didn't react fast enough. Provided the girl was already dodging, he was going to use his overhead kick as a folcrum to lean over and swing his right hand in a downward haymaker with a glob of water encasing his arm from fist to forearm, landing on his right foot and aiming a powerful roundhouse sidekick to her stomach with a rush of water shooting out of it. Even if she dodged all of it, he was still putting on a display to show off what he was testing. "Like it? It's called Water Ax. And I'm going to use it to kick your ass today, 'loser'." Trying to gaude her into getting riled up, Ari was ready for the consequences. Having learned more about the jutsu in his readings, he had found it was best used in close combat and to get off single hit combos and keep an enemy on the defensive rather than land blow after blow. Even the illustrations showed characters performing dance-like movements to fight in a quite unorthodox manner. Just imagine what he could do if he got the hang of this jutsu! You aren't imagining it are you? DO AS THE NARRATOR SAYS! {AJ}

Kaiiaki: -~Oh a sneak attack, the little shit thinks he can get me. How cute.~ Kaiiaki thought as she heard his feet began to scuffle, and then start running towards the ledge she had just begun walking away from. With a single mix of her chakra, Kaiiaki mix her chakra with the molecules of the air above and around her body. She stood still, right where she was, her body unmoving as a crystal thorn tree grew over top of her body. It encased her in what looked to be a short stump, stemming from the ground at her sides. The stump appeared to be about 4 feet in width and 2 feet in height. While the stump itself was short, 5 branches grew off from the stop, growing towards the sky and straight towards Ari. The branches themselves appeared to be about 3 inches in length and 2 inches in width. They spread out in all directions, north, east, west, south, and even straight dead in the center. So if he kept on in the air straight towards Kaiiaki like he was, with his momentum, he would be stabbed through like he was a voodoo doll. So long as she was within this protective tree, she would be safe from any type of aerial attack he could throw at her. He would hurt himself more trying to injure her. Which could be good in the situatuion if she wanted the opportunity to practice her medical ninjutsu. It was better than practicing it on an open and gasping for air fish.-

Andikins:{AJ} Welp, at least he got off his combo. And a few stabs from needle thin crystal thistles that had been grown by Kaiiaki and her giant tree stump looking thing. While Ari was following through with the great sidekick, which could have possible quite maybe damaged the outer layer of the crystalline defense, his focus was thrown off by the tiny stabs he received from the defense of his comrade. "Gahsonofabitch!" Leaping backwards and holding his shoulder with one hand and his thigh with another, he hopped on one foot for a moment to deal with the slight cuts he just got. It was like a series of papercuts make onto the same exact spot, in the same exact place, several times over. Imagine how much that must burn when exposed to the air? Ari was feeling it, so don't even bother trying to compare! Once the pain subsided, he immediately got back to it, running forward toward Kaiiaki and channeling his chakra again, getting into a Dempsey Roll to avoid several stabby branches along the way! Because being stabbed sucks, even if your comrade is a healer, that shit hurts okay? He would throw a couple of punches and elbows to any branches coming his way, using the Water Ax to try and break off a couple of them [to no avail of course because this girl is a literal monster], but getting a cut from the sharpness therein. Which in turn threw his focus off again, and caused him to have to leap back and deal with the issue of more blood and more paper cut pains! It's a vicious cycle with this girl! {AJ}

Kaiiaki:-Kaiiaki watched as Ari took on the relentless attack of her growing crystal thorns. Her grey eyes watched his movements, comparing them to that of a dancing fool. There was a pattern there alright. A few jabs here and there, and then he would retreat back after the pain became to be too much. And he was vulnerable in those moments She stood still within her little crystal cocoon, watching as the thorns grew towards him in any direction he tried to come at her with. It was like the thorns had taken on a life of their own. She was infusing her chakra into the thorns, growing them into any direction she had to. He stopped a few times and danced around a little like he was in pain. He cursed outwardly, not caring at who would hear him. Kaiiaki just responded with her little impish laugh, enjoying the misery he was going through. It was like he had no idea how to counterattack to her. He was just wasting his chakra with how he was coming at her now. Of course, with his water element, there was no way he'd be able to land even a single dent to her precious crystals. "Enough of this failure." Kaiiaki finally said out loud. "You are not the only one who wants to work on a jutsu!" Kaiiaki was attempting to distract him with her voice, aiming to get his attention on her. While she was speaking, she began to mix a small amount of chakra within the molecules of the air. These molecules were directed in the direction of Ari's left leg to the medial side of it. "You have tried and tried time and time again but you are only wasting your chakra you fool! What happens when an enemy is going to come at you like me when you have nothing to use on them hm?!" More talking pursued while she grew the single chakra thorn upwards, out of the ground to the medial side of his left leg. She made sure to grow the crystal thorn upwards until that of it reached 6 inches out of the ground. Kaiiaki made sure to keep her eyes upon Ari's as she spoke, not giving away what she was doing. And since this jutsu required no handsigns, she could easily not give it away if she so wished. The crystal thorn would be grown in a matter of 3 seconds. The width of the crystal thorn would be that of 3 inches, enough to stab straight through the side of his leg cleanly. She aimed for a clean stab to his calf muscle, and if he did nothing by the time she ended her next sentence, he would have a perfect medial cut through the side of his calf muscle. She was only aiming for this clean cut, nothing else. She wanted a clean cut in order to practice her medical jutsu. And besides, this cut would be bigger than the other little pinpricks he had already received in trying to reach Kaiiaki within her crystal cocoon. "Are you just going to stand there and watch your teammates die while you keep trying a useless technique! Or are you going to stand there and think about your opponent more before you DIE YOURSELF!"-

Andikins:{AJ} Well tits, that was the best way to describe how flustered things were getting between Ari and Kaiiaki, with his attempts at damaging her crystal next to nothing. There was one small hope though, which were his reinforced Benevolent Batons. Unholstering Suzaku from its container, Ari drew out the red wood nightstick, twirling it around as he aimed to try and damage her crystal somewhat. The only problem was that Ari's leg was now the target of a sudden attack, which he had next to no time to react to, other than sweep kicking the branch with his other leg and the Water Ax technique, putting all of his force into it and kicking off of it with great force that he could slide backwards, fracturing his bone in the process. But he was able to avoid getting stabbed for just a moment! Only problem now was that he was with a fractured shin bone, and to put it simply, you don't really walk normal with a fractured leg bone. That's like trying to walk with one lp flop and one elevator boot on. At least now he was an open target for stabbing and medical experimentations by his completely unsupervised and unstable comrade! {AJ}

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki watched the attack happen all so fast, it was like he was intending himself to be hurt in order to save himself from the cut. His leg gave out on him, crumpling to a heap at his side. The bone was most definitely fractured now. "Fool...should have taken the stab. Now who knows how long you'll be out." Kaiiaki growled at the boy who was no doubt doubled over in pain right now. "You're no use to me in such a state." Kaiiaki spoke angrily. But the tone wasn't that of extreme anger. She was just irritated with him at the moment for acting in such a manner. With a single wave of her left hand, the crystal cocoon dissipated into millions of pieces. Their amethyst hues turned into glitter, then disappeared into nothingness as the molecules returned back to their respective places. The little branch that had just now injured Ari snapped back into its original molecules as well. Kaiiaki shook her head as she walked over to the boy. "I am going to heal you. But do not think its for your benefit. It is for mine only. It is because I need you to train and be stronger than what you are right now. Now lie down and hold still you little shrimp." Kaiiaki barked the order at him, not caring about what effect they had on him. "Sister..." Kaiiaki mumbled to herself. "Let your lessons shine through on me today.. I need your guidance." Dahlia was the only one that Kaiiaki ever showed respect to. And she was showing it in this one rare moment. Even though Dahlia wasn't there at the moment, Kaiiaki wished she was to lend her guidance. But she had to do this on her own now. She only hoped that she had learned enough from Dahlia's previous lessons that she could pull this jutsu off now. Kaiiaki knelt down upon her knees at Ari's side. She made herself comfortable, because she was going to be here awhile. She first forced the handsigns: Rat → Ram → Dog Kaiiaki then began to focus her chakra within her chakra network, extending it down through to the palm of her right hand. She focused on creating a small ball of chakra within her right hand. She formed it into the size of a small golf ball. Slowly, she pumped the ball bigger with chakra until it had formed into a larger ball. At this size, it was about 4 inches in width and 4 inches in height. It displayed great volumes as well, as the healing medical chakra flowed within from her palm. It was like she was holding a water balloon within her hand. And just as fragile as one. This orb glowed brightly, like the light of the sun. The light it gave off was just as magnificent as the sun's rays. This was only a supplementary healing jutsu, so it wouldn't be able to heal all of his injuries. But hopefully, it would be able to heal at least some of his wounds. Slowly, Kaiiaki brought her left hand over top of her right hand that concealed the orb. With that, she moved the orb downwards towards a wound on his right arm. However, as Kaiiaki moved her hands, the orb dissipated and fell apart within Kaiiaki's palm. "DAMN IT!" Kaiiaki screeched out. She didn't want anyone to know she was having problems with learning medical jutsu. Dahlia had pointed out to her before that it could be because Kaiiaki didn't care about who she was trying to heal. She didn't care if they wanted to be healed either. -

Andikins: {AJ} Ari, just sitting there and holding his busted leg, was not really too keen on his teammate getting close. Because of her normal demeanor when it came to their interactions. But it's not like he was in any position to put up opposition now was he? All he could do was just internally pray that she was not going to take her time taking him out when she mumbled about how he was of no use to her. Wait, huh? A healing jutsu? Well not to look, or is it lick, but why would you lick a gift horse in the mouth? It's gotta be look. Not to look a gift horse in the mouth (man that still sounds weird to do), Ari just kind of stayed there, like a deer frozen in the high beams of a car barreling toward it, just flabbergasted at what was transpiring before his eyes. "Uhhh, thank you?" {AJ}

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki's reaction to her failure was brought away by the words of Ari beside of her. She was confused by his words. He was thanking her? She didn't know what for. She wasn't doing this for him. She was doing it for herself. But he was perhaps desperate to get any help he could at this point. She guessed he was in excruciating pain at the moment. But it wouldn't speed up her process any further. She would actually only be distracted more if he would be screaming in pain. Which his eyes looked like they were frightened than in pain. Nevertheless, she needed the practice in this jutsu. "Ok. Time to concentrate." Kaiiaki was getting down to business now. She wanted to learn how to do this. Even if it was just for her benefit. That was reason enough to want to do it right. Once again, Kaiiaki forced the handsigns: Rat → Ram → Dog. After she had done that, she felt her chakra system activate to the right type of chakra that she wanted to use. After all, it took a different kind of combination to achieve her Kekkei Genkai than it did with healing. Once a small amount of chakra had traveled through to her chakra network, Kaiiaki moved it down to her right palm once again. This chakra moved until a small amount of chakra hovered on the palm of the right hand. She continued to pour more chakra into the palm until the chakra had formed into about the size of a baseball. Once the jutus had been formed, Kai moved her left hand over top of her right hand once again. Slowly, she moved these hands together. She concentrated on keeping the shape of the glowing white orb. With everything she had, she tried to keep this shape together while she moved it down to Ari's left arm. Kaiiaki was gritting her teeth at this point. This was taking a huge amount of chakra control. But Kaiiaki pressed on the wound without fear. The orb stayed put while she concentrated on keeping the form of it intact while it pressed against a minor cut on Ari's left arm. With this orb, she could feel the ripped skin layers beneath the orb. They had been split apart down to the epidermis layer. Just a minor cut, nothing special. Which would be easier for Kaiiaki to heal. Kaiiaki kept the orb still as she focused her chakra into the wound. By doing this, she was using her chakra to replicate the amount of connective tissue within the arm. Kaiiaki pushed her chakra into the wound slowly. She was trying to let her inpatience not get ahold of her. Which she tended to do when actually generating a full Healing Technique in practice before. Kaiiaki concentrated as the connective tissue replicated, replicating all the squamous cells lying beneath. Once enough squamous cells had replicated, they pushed through the hypodermis layer, the dermis layer, then epidermis. Within a time span of 10 minutes, Kaiiaki had successfully mended her first cut upon Ari's right arm. "YES! Suck it losers!! I did it!" Kaiiaki jumped up pumping her fists into the air. She had finally done it correctly! Although, he would have quite a scar still since she wasn't fully inept at using the jutsu perfectly. She was just happy she could mend the wound back together.-

Andikins: {AJ} With his left arm all patched up and mended, Ari moved it outwards, clenched his fingers into a fist and then rested it over his knees, "Thank you, can you maybe take care of the others now?" He politely asked and was ready to wait to get all healed up and be ready to move whenever kaiiaki was done. However long it would take, Ari would thank her after each one, in sincerity and with the intent of getting her to know that he appreciated her help. He got the hang of using his Water Ax reflexively now without the need to focus too much, and could stop using it when he needed to. All thanks to the attempted murder! {AJ}

Kaiiaki: -Kaiiaki's victory over the Healing Technique was short-lived. Ari's words busted through her cries of triumph into the Heavens. She stopped her cheering to glare down at him with her cold grey eyes. "Do not think for a moment that this was for you. This is for me only. I would not care if you suffered and died right here if you were not on my team. But for logistics, I have to keep you alive. Even if I do not like it." He was beginning to get too comfortable with her, and that needed to stop. She wanted him to fear her. The word comrade meant nothing to her other than backup. Kaiiaki made the handsigns once again: Rat → Ram → Dog. This time, she had less of a job forming the jutsu than before. And she was easily able to move from scrape to scrape of Ari's minor skin wounds. She had to stop the bleeding in a few of them, but not much blood was lost. None that he couldn't handle of course. After Kaiiaki had successfully patched him up as best she could, she deactived her jutsu. Her palms rested upon her lap. Due to being a Jinchuriki, she had much higher reserves of chakra than any of her teammates. So she wasn't feeling any chakra fatigue even now. Although, she hadn't even done much fighter before Ari was down and out for the count. "As for that leg, that is beyond my ability to heal. You will have to be taken to some medical core ninja for that to be healed. And even then, I would keep off of it for at least a week. But, do not take my word for it." Kaiiaki then stood up, dusting off her hands. She stood there for a moment, staring down at him with her cold eyes. She wondered for a minute if she should just leave him there. Surely someone else would see him and pick him up. Perhaps a good samaritan. ~Hah. Good luck finding a good samaritan in THIS village.~ She chuckled to herself. ~What to do with this body...what to do...~ This thought repeated throughout her mind. She finally decided to take his left hand in her left hand, grasping it tightly. She began dragging his body by his arm through the village, not caring if she hit any spots along the way. His body was heavier than she anticipated it would be. But, she would just chalk that up to some extra strength training. She hated doing this, because it made her seem like she was caring about him in her own way. But she wasn't. She was dragging him here because she needed him healed. She didn't care about him or his wellbeing. Within 15 minutes, Kaiiaki had reached the hospital entrance. She left his body there at the entrance for somebody to find. And immediately after dropping his arm, she pounced off into the distance, back towards home.-