markofthebrave | [ Action ] .061

[ Action ] .061

[Days 1-2]
[The experiment catches up with Katara slowly - first through teleportation, then through the advent of (thought bubbles)]

[Day 3]
Meet the bitty:

[She's been in Luceti for two years now, along with her much older brother Sokka. She's totally adapted and probably playing hide-and-seek. Warning: She's also still teleporting.]

[Days 4-6]
[More thought bubbles. More transportation. Katara is starting to get very tired and frustrated at this point due to lack of sleep and various emotional issues. She keeps popping up in the most inconvenient places! Sorry about that...]

[Days 7-8]
[Today, Katara woke up a bit different: she has been AU'd to another world, that of the Konoha ninja (complete with forehead protector!). She chalks waking up in a strange bedroom to the experiment that's been going on the past couple of days and ninja!vanishes into the dawn - she'll apologize later. She'll do her best to move back in to her regular apartment and keep to her regular schedule - a few classes at school (despite having told Raine she would not be in attendance that week - and depending on if school is in session) - practice in the forest, climbing on some trees; and making dinner on Floor 8 of Community Building 1, where she has claimed the sole empty apartment.

The next day, she decides to take a break from her regular training to practice an art more specific to kunoichi: Ikebana. At around six in the evening, Katara heads down to the flower shop. After gathering her materials, and dressing for the occasion, Katara heads out behind her apartment complex to make the best use of the natural light to form her arrangements.]

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[That... is even harder to hear than the fact that she might not be "real," that her teammates, her family, might not be... she lowers her head slightly, the movement on her side ceasing. Aside from the wind blowing her hair, she is, in fact, very very still.]

He was my jounin sensei.

[Said simply.]

[Aoba with a team? Now that would be something. Good something.

And if she's talking about a squad, her teammate's names must be somewhere in there too. He's not sure if he should encourage her to talk about them or not.]

He's a good man. I owe him my life, technically.

[Him and Raidou.]

He is a good man.

[She lifted her head and stared out over the tops of the trees, not seeing them.]

He respected you.

I respect him.

[But that change is more or less insignificant, to her version of things.]

He must've taught you guys well.

[Katara just nodded, her heart too full right now for her to trust her voice.]

[...hmm.

Even a ninja, she's still a girl. He can't handle this the same way he did with Luffy. So Shikamaru sits, balanced on the edge of the building.]

Wanna go for a run?

[She takes a breath.

Two, one two, one.]

Actually, yes.

[Two, one two, one.

She nodded decisively.]

Let's do that.

Edited 2012-06-05 07:37 (UTC)

[He swings his legs once, planning to push off from here- if she can too.]

Can you use chakra?

[...a valid question. She certainly didn't feel any different, but, if she wasn't 'real,' then...

As she stepped up to the roof's edge, she sent a small pulse down her arm to make sure.

Ha.]

Just try and keep up.

[And then flash stepped off the roof.]

Tch.

[Meet you in the trees below, woman.]

[Whatever, she's already there. Waiting. Because she could take advantage of this, but... she chooses not to.]

You're going to have a hard time, running without shoes.

So give me yours.

[As he jumps to another tree. Using chakra to stick is easier this way, at least, not that it's an even trade.]

[Yeah, right.]

Well, I was going to offer to wait for you...

[But screw that.

Oh, and now she's two trees ahead.]

Now she really is like any girl from my world.

[Grumble grumble. But okay, let's pick up the pace. He's never been so grateful for callused feet.]

[Sorry, did you say something? She can't hear you on account of being awesome.

And all the way over there.]

[Only because he doesn't have shoes, gosh!!

But now that he doesn't need to stay out of earshot- the next time he makes a landing, he kicks off the tree and repeats with the next one up to a thick, sturdy branch. He catches it and swings hard, propelling himself ahead of her.]

[Oh, going to play it like that, huh?

She smirks.

He has no idea who he's dealing with. She can use that.

Because at the very least, right now, in this moment, she knows who she is.

She pours on the speed.]

Edited 2012-06-06 03:54 (UTC)

[He did tell her he was the number one at running away, did he not?

...actually this is a good question. Maybe that conversation didn't happen. That makes him sad for an instant, but it's not important in the moment.]

[Katara leaps up, bounces off the side of a tree, angles it just right, and disappears temporarily above the tree covering to land - far to his left and ahead by several paces. She doesn't let up speed, just keeps going.

This feels good.]

[He's right there with her in that sentiment. The forest is one of the few things he likes about Luceti.

And he knows it like the back of his hand, SO. He takes to the right. There's enough trees between them that they'll occasionally lose sight of one another even when they're looking, but he's keeping up the pace well.]

[It's a good race. She's not even close to tired. But she doesn't concentrate on outpacing him just yet, simply on keeping pace.

And, of course, looking ahead. She's spent two years training in these forests. There will be a place and time to speed ahead, but it isn't yet.]

[And here we are - a spot where the branches thicken like a maze on his side. Usually a bother, here it gives him a method to condition himself to running barefoot, and gain speed.]

[Meanwhile, on her side, the gaps between the trees broaden. Katara is required to take longer and longer jumps. But that's okay, because she uses each jump to build momentum until by the last one she's practically flying.

He might hear her laugh.

Because it just feels that good.]

[At least she's feeling better. That was the whole point of this.

So he won't feel bad at all when he reaches the end of the branch maze and takes a flying leap ahead, no longer hampered.]

I can't let a girl beat me, you know.

Who needs you to let me beat you.

[It's not going to be so easy. She didn't take this route just because she liked the scenery. There's a tree just up ahead with an over-arching branch which if she takes - just so - will land her directly in his path.]

That kind of victory is no win at all.

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