Dancing Fox, Fluttering Blossom [Kogitsune]

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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The more and more she thought about the fact that the job of taking care of the contract Hoshigakure shinobi was honourable, the more she started to think it was a pain in the ass. It had nothing to do with Kogitsune himself, but every day when she'd report what she could to Tsunade, the woman would come up with some other random objective for her to carry out, and today was no different. Today, however, it was something a little more interesting; Tsunade wanted to know how well he fought, and how far he could be pushed. His limits, generally.

And Sakura knew that she was probably the best to do it, too. She knew what sorts of damage she could do, and she was sure Kogitsune knew what she could possibly do. He'd seen her make enough trees keel over to send him into fear mode, even though - to Sakura's knowledge, anyways - she wouldn't intentionally hurt him to such a degree unless it were instigated. She was usually calm and patient, and the only person she really went overboard with was Naruto, but there were reasons behind that as well.

As a result, here Sakura stood, pulling her gloves onto her hands to prepare herself a little bit. She didn't plan on using any of her enhanced strength against the man - as it wasn't a real battle - but she could probably use a bit of her destructive force. The intention wasn't to kill the man, it was to perhaps educate him a little and see what sorts of things he could do. She'd have to learn whatever she could, but hopefully he wouldn't have some secretly hidden ability that was overtly destructive...

In sudden realization, Sakura slapped a palm to her forehead. Naruto had been to Hoshigakure no Sato before; why didn't she ask him before she agreed to this? Or, rather, before she dared to come out here... Nonetheless, it never hurt to try and learn on the spot. Precursor knowledge to someone's fighting style and ability was one thing, but learning on the spot was real skill. Sakura had been taught how to pick up enemy moves and movements by Tsunade, as well as how to predict them through muscle movement. It was simply part of the training for a med-nin that she'd undergone in rather harsh conditions.

Quietly she waited at the training grounds, awaiting the arrival of the Hoshi-nin.

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[Kogitsune]

I haven't trained in a while, Kogitsune thought to himself as he nipped at his lower lip. His fingers danced through the bowl of sticky rice as he clumped it together, then poked a hole through with his thumb and filled the place with a picked plum before layering the rice back on top to hide the sour treasure. He gently molded the rice into a triangle shape, then took a strip of seaweed paper and patted it onto the bottom of the rice ball before setting it within one of two green bento boxes that he had prepared for Sakura and himself for lunch. He hoped that she would enjoy what he had prepared, and in case she didn't like one item, he had made sure to prepare a small variety of foods which he had skillfully stuffed into the small container.

He checked to make sure everything looked decent before slipping the lid over and stacking the boxes on top of one another, then he centered them on a good-sized handkerchief, placed two pairs of wrapped chopsticks on the top, and tied them together for an easier way to carry the bulky little things.

Kogitsune washed his hands of the mess then gingerly held the lunches to his chest as to make sure that they were safe while he locked the door to his apartment. He carefully meandered through the streets, dodging glances from others and stepping over bits of trash that littered his path until he finally reached the outskirts of the village and entered the training grounds.

When he spotted his guide, Kogitsune gave a soft smile and wished her a good morning. Seeing her gloves already on, he cocked his head slightly to the side. "Ah... I apologize for not mentioning that I was going to cook. Would you prefer to eat lunch before or after training?"

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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At the sound of footsteps and a gentle greeting, Sakura turned around to see none other than Kogitsune. Well, that was good, he seemed rather punctual. He mentioned his lack of... mention that he would cook, then asked if she would rather eat later. Well, for one, Sakura had already eaten, sadly... And even though she'd eaten about three hours ago or so, it wouldn't be very smart to eat right before such physical activity. She knew she'd probably make herself sick if she did that.

"I think it would be smarter if we ate afterwards. I don't think I'd look forward to getting sick in the middle of a spar," she said, chuckling a little. "And I'm sure you don't want to, either. If you'd like to eat, however, I'm fine with waiting; it won't bother me." It seemed rather kind of him to go out of his way to cook something for the both of them, so Sakura wasn't about to turn such a thing down. It would be rather rude, now wouldn't it? Of course, so long as it wasn't anything spicy, Sakura would be happy. She hated spicy food more than anything, and preferred sweets over them.

"So... I hate to sound so professional, but when exactly was the last time you trained? And what sorts of things do you usually lean towards? For example... I mostly specialize in Taijutsu and medical ninjutsu." Getting to know these sorts of things would probably be in Sakura's best interest, to perhaps come up with spar strategies as well as to see how she could possibly help the man in excelling his abilities. Of course, the only reason Sakura excelled so much in Taijutsu was because of the insane strength that Tsunade had passed on to her, and even that itself could be considered a form of ninjutsu.

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[Kogitsune]

Kogitsune's smile widened at the mention of eating afterwords. He himself was satisfied from the smell after cooking the lunches, though he was certain that he wouldn't enjoy them being cold. He was glad that Haruno Sakura was clever... he could imagine Uzumaki Naruto, though he didn't know the other man that well, to possibly take the first option and become sick.

"Oh, n-no, thank you. I'll wait to eat with you. It would be terribly impolite to make you wait for me to..." Kogitsune's voice trailed off. How long had the kunoichi been waiting on him here? He gave a light sigh, defeated and now stressed as his brow slightly furrowed.

Kogitsune perked back up when the question about his training arose. "Ah..." He dropped eye contact with the woman and allowed his gaze to fall to one of the trees beside him while his cheeks flushed a light pink. How long had it been since he trained last? A few days? Weeks? He didn't want to lie, so... "I-I am not quite positive... but it may have been last week... or later..." Thinking that the statement made him sound lazy, he quickly added, "but the reason I do not train much is because of how much internal damage I receive from the stress--" And now he just sounded like he was pleading for her to go easy on him... "b-but please do not hold back on my account! I can take whatever you want to..." It was only then that Kogitsune realized that he had shifted positions two or three times in order to help himself get his point across. He hung his head in shame and gave another light sigh.

"I apologize... and I focus mainly on ninjutsu because of my heritage..."

[Haruno Sakura]

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"This time, everyone, get a good look at my back."
✿❀✿ ♡нαяυησ×ѕαкυяα♡ ✿❀✿
She's Good For One Day Of Comfort, Only Because She Has Suffered

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"I understand if it's been months since your last time you've trained... You've got reason," Sakura said in an understanding tone. She wouldn't think him lazy, just trying to take care of himself, more or less. "If my own spontaneous, er, outbursts are enough, then I'd be scared to find out what a regular training routine would do," Sakura said, chuckling sheepishly and rubbing the back of her neck. Remembering he had mentioned her not holding back, she decided she should probably counter that.

"I don't think you'd want me to throw everything I've got at you," Sakura said as she walked over to a nearby tree. "Otherwise... Your face would become like the tree." To explain her point, Sakura drew back her fist and punched, as hard as she could, using as much chakra as she could muster. The tree split with a loud noise, splinters flying backwards, and keeled over to Sakura's right. "So I'm not going to lie, I'll be holding back on that," she said. "But I'm sure you can understand why... The intention isn't to kill you, after all," she said, turning back. She hoped that other outburst of her strength didn't send him into a fit... But at least that time he was somewhat expecting it, or so she hoped.

"Ninjutsu... Hmm. Well, I'm not very skilled at Ninjutsu myself - only the basics, generally - so perhaps I could help you work on your Taijutsu, as well as perhaps attack prediction. It's kind of my area of expertise. I've been taught to read a shinobi's movements ahead, but perhaps it would be a good idea to see the extent of your Ninjutsu and see how well I could read it without knowing it. Please, don't be afraid to cause me injury... I can deal with it." That in itself was rather true; Sakura could deal with a lot of high-risk injuries. While her skills weren't quite as proficient as Tsunade's were, she still knew quite a bit, enough to get her and a team by in a few sticky situations. Hoping Kogitsune was smart enough to try and catch her off-guard, Sakura began to watch, carefully, to try and read his movements ahead of time. Her guard might have been lowered before, but it wasn't lowered now, but she hoped to project the message that it was still such.

[[lol, Naruto *would* do that, too... I srsly laughed when I read that. >_>;;;]]

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[Kogitsune]

When Sakura said that she would be holding back, Kogtisune's mind flickered to their trip to the onsen. The damage she had done to the harmless tree... and, thankfully, his memory saved him the trouble of falling into another fit, and the man nodded solemnly. It wasn't that she was afraid of her strength; he just didn't want to have to go against it head-on and risk suffering internal damage from Haruno Sakura's obviously powerful chakra control coupled with her taijutsu.

He shook his lead lightly at the taijutsu comment. "Well... because of my condition, it is difficult to fight without remaining calm. If I use taijutsu, my body will more than likely react negatively to the force used to carry out taijutsu, and I will be a liability." He closed his eyes and could already imagine his body rejecting the new practice. His muscles were weak enough as it was, so if he was to overexert himself... It wouldn't end well.

Ready to begin the exercise, Kogitsune formed a simple Tiger seal and closed his eyes to begin quietly building up his chakra.