Taking the chances

BRIGGS ROOFTOP - 7 am

It was a chilly morning out in Briggs - as it usually was... But today was different. Today, it was colder. Yet... There was a redhead standing on top of that Fort's roof, and he was shirtless... For the sake of getting as much of the cold to wake him up as possible... Because he'd invited someone special out this morning. He'd asked Reila to spar with him. An unusual request, considering they were basically dating, but he wasn't phased by that thought. He needed some hand-to-hand combat training, and if he didn't get Reila's help, he'd have to leave the Fort to find someone. He sighed softly, and stood in the cold winds, getting his mind in a state of calm.

He moved back a few steps, laid the pair of tonfa by his feet, sat down with crossed legs, closed his eyes and steadied his breathing. In... Out... In... Out... His breaths moved at a rhythm that he himself was considering with the wind. As the wind blew over his back, he breathed out. When the wind swept back over his face, his breathing moved back within. He was trying to put his mind into a state of total ease, but it wasn't working!

Erg... Not working... I'm still turmoiled. Oh, well... He stood up, noticing that somebody was coming up the stairs. He grinned, picked up the tonfa that lay by his feet, and hooked them into his hands.

"Heh... So, are we ready or what?" He shouted into the crisp air, in his native language of Aerugese.

"Bring it," Reila growled in a low voice. Her long, strawberry blond hair was pulled back in a high pony tail and it whipped harshly in the wind at her back. She was wearing a navy blue hakama with only a black sports bra on and nothing else. Reila enjoyed the cold despite her nakedness. On her feet were straw sandals that had metal spikes on the bottoms so she could stand on the ice and snow: slipping was not happening. "Remember, no aiming at the ribs, that's all," she said seriously, motioning to the area. For the first time in the few weeks she had been back, Reila had taken the bandages off. The mere lack of tightness jarred them and it was difficult to move regularly and/or breathe. Of course, Reila had no doubts that it would bother her when alighted with a fight; all pain disappeared in her when she held her sword.

Instantly, she drew her Yamashiro Kunikiyo tachi and pointed the blade at Dai, but before it was held even steady enough for a face-off, she vanished completely--seemingly. Within the next moment, Reila was above him, yet...wasn't. Footprints appeared in the snow and then she was behind him, aiming for his back. Right before she connected, however, she dropped to one knee and slashed at the backs of his. Obviously, Reila's blade was ready to stop half an inch before it connected with anything other then air: this was a spar; not a death match.

The moment that Reila drew her blade towards him, the redhead grinned, and flicked the tonfa onto his arms. He wasn't going to attempt to injure the poor girl, and when she mentioned the ribs, he nodded solemnly. He would never touch there... It was a bad idea for him to injure Reila further. He would simply stop if he got too close... He nodded, and flicked a couple of switches on the ends of the tonfa, before swinging them down in an arc, letting the ends fly off and clatter off along the roof, revealing the sharp blades that made up his twin tonfa.

"And don't think because you're half naked, I'm going to be distracted..." He grinned, just as she disappeared. Now... where was she... Heh.. He suddenly ducked, and spun around to face the girl who had just appeared with a slice to his back. He moved his arm quickly, and the tachi glanced off the tonfa blade.

"You're faster than I am... But that injury is just enough for me to keep up with ya." He'd been training for a while now, and his speed had increased a bit... Especially after those long days in the cold mountain ranges (something he hadn't told Reila about, of course). He was, therefore, progressing at a rate like he'd never expected to be. And that would be enough of a surprise to Reila, who would have not seen his battle prowess at this point just yet. He grinned, and suddenly made a push forwards, crossing his arms and spreading them out, knocking the girl back. He stood up straight, and yawned.

"Shall we continue?"

When Reila reappeared again a few feet away, she was laughing. "Damn! I thought going shirtless was going to throw you off and lead me to victory. It seems I must consult with my head of military operations next time, wait a sec..." she giggled, whipping her sword out in preparation for the next attack.

Dai managed came at her and managed to push her back, but she sidestepped halfway and spun around with godlike speed, hitting him over the head with her sheath in which she now held in her other hand. "No yawning on the battle field!" Again, she used her insane speed, and dashed to the other side of him before he could strike back. "It's like asking for death!"

A sudden pain made her freeze where she stood, however. Experiencing shock, she touched her ribs lightly and drew in a sharp breath. Reila had been moving too fast for her injury to keep up. How pathetic... It was an insult to her existence. She looked down, flipping her tachi into a defensive position. "You're right. It seems I will have to go slower, but..." she looked up with a smirk and an odd light glimmering through her cold, golden eyes, "you've gotten faster." She switched to offensive too quickly for words and charged at him.

"I won't hold back."

The words left his mouth as he moved.

"Oh, I love a girl..." His movements were swift and nigh on flawless. Unlike Reila, who was trying to keep her footing on the icy roof, Dai was using a pair of Aerugese flat-soled sandals to use the slipperyness of the ice to his advantage, almost skating around rather than running, using his tonfa when he wanted to turn sharply. He pulled himself towards Reila, and began to whip the tonfa around in a circular motion, as quickly as he could.

As the tonfa span, they seeed to appear as a solid circle, and looked like a pair of shields. He skated towards Reila, and suddenly held them bothup to her attack, allowing the tachi to pass into the circle, and be defleced into a different angle of approach, Dai skating past the girl. He didn't want to injure her any worse than she was, but he wasn't going to hold back.

"... Who stays fiesty, even with the injuries you've got..." He grinned, and stamped the ground with his right foot, pushing off to skate towards her again, before taking the tonfa on his left arm, and stabbing the blade into the ice of the roof, swinging around in a wide arc kick, loose pants flying in the burgeoning sunlight.

Reila was extremely preoccupied with what the tonfas were doing. She flung her sword back around at him as it was pushed back. It grazed his clothing by a hair, possibly cutting a slit in it. By the time Reila eyes were dragged from the tip of her tachi, Dai's foot was flying at her face. Shiiiiiiiiittt!! She ducked, but his foot connected with her forehead with terrible force. The shock of the impact jolted through her entire body and she fell backwards, except right before she hit the ground--er--snow, she did a back flip and landed on her feet rather steadily. Reila had gotten hit a lot throughout her life and had learned to quickly adapt the bewilderment of her body so as to avoid death on the battlefield.

She let out a long breath, her eyes glowering at her redhead. "You actually kicked me in the face! I can't believe you! So cruel," Reila whined. She sheathed her tachi and took her trademark stance. At this point, her enemies would be running away in terror, fearing her battoujutsu. She positioned her right hand right above the flipped hilt, golden eyes trained forward. She stood so still that it seemed as if she were hardly breathing at all.

Dai took back his footing, and blinked. He'd... actually kicked her... He sighed softly, and then laughed.

"I can't believe it! I expected something of a dodge... And Ow..." He knelt down and nursed his sore foot... NOT trying that again. Reila's forhead was harder than it looked... He sighed again, and stood up, staring at the girl with a small smile.

"You alright? I hope I didn't... hurt you~" He knelt down and pushed off again, skating towards Reila. She was pretty still... Something that he'd learned to never trust - she was in her battoujutsu stance... So she wanted a fistfight? He let go of the tonfa, making the clatter along the ground, and suddenly stopped himself, lowering his stance into something that he'd developed...

He brought his hands up by his face, holding them as if he was holding a pair of rattan sticks...

"So, you want to play it like that, huh?" Well, he was game for it. The redhead laughed once more, and Dai pushed off, preparing his left hand for a distraction attack, so he could knck her down with his right.

"Hohohoho!~" It was nice to see that Reila acquired something from her homeland: the fake evil laugh of doom. Her lips were the only thing that moved, curling into a vicious smirk. It was time to show Dai what the head of Briggs was really made of. Before Dai even came close, she unsheathed her tachi. A flash of silver ribbon slid from the sheath she held with her other hand. Her drawing of the sword cast no shadow, for its speed denied the normal construction of the world. A vacuum formed from her force, spinning around her and drawing the redhead into it. Reila took one step, two, and then irimi tenkoned around him, side-stepping him and whatever he had planned for her. With her other hand, which was still being dragged in a complete circle around him, she flipped her sword and whacked him in the abdomen as lightly as she could with the momentum she still had from drawing her sword.

Regardless of the outcome, if he someone managed to dodge her attack with her tachi, her sheath soon followed in the opposite direction as she turned with her back to him. As she finished her one movement (or kata), a strong wind blew out from her long sword and sheath. Quietly, tenderly, Reila smiled in bliss and slid the Yamashiro Kunikiyo back into the darkness whilst it came. Grinning with enjoyment, Reila Tsukino turned to her redhead and beamed. "I think that should be all for today."

Everything happened too quickly for Dai to understand from there on it. Reila moved, moved again, and he suddenly found himself with a hilt in the abdomen, and himself on one knee. Gods... That hurt. The redhead smiled at the girl, and stood up, before skating over to the pair of tonfa that lay on the icy roof, and picked them up, flicking them around his hands, and then slipping them into the covers without even touching them. He breathed out, and slipped them into the back of his pants, not noticing how cold the steel was. He'd left his shirt in his room, no need for him to get it just yet, he wanted to spend some more quality time with Reila, even if it wasn't for long.

"Hahaha... Guess you've won that. Why am I far from surprised?" He smiled brightly at the girl, and made his way over to her, proffering a hug with a grin. His arms went around her, and he realized, she was far warmer than the air around them, and he just held her, head on her shoulder, looking out into the distance.

"You know... After everything... We're still a team. We're two of the original Briggs Brigade members... And after everything, after all the deaths, all the war, all the bloodshed is over, we may not be a team anymore. But one thing will never change. Reila, you know I will always love you." He kissed her softly on the neck, and just held her. Just... held her.

"There is no winning, Dai," Reila said sweetly, her eyes downcast. There was never any winning. It was just who survived... She looked up and by this time Dai had already gathered his weapons and was coming to her. She stared at him, her mind going to other things, never staying in one place or in one time. Her eyes suddenly focused, the imaged of reality transferring to her mind. Dai has his arms open, asking her for a hug. Without further thought, she smiled and let herself fall into his embrace, feeling his bare arms around her back. Her stomach touched his, cold and warmth at the same time. She shivered and laughed slightly, having never touched a man's skin so close before. She closed her eyes and rested her head against his shoulder, her long hair blowing along with his and mixing together.

She heard his voice then, and listened, feeling her eyes fill with tears before he even got to the end. She wondered briefly why he was speaking in Aerugese, but she knew it was his way of reaching her more deeply than anyone else...to her roots. "We may not be a team anymore?" Reila repeated softly, tearing running coldly down her flushed cheeks. She sniffed and held it back, trying to understand...what it was like not to be alone in the world.

"We're at war."

The Aerugese words pierced through the cool morning air, and Dai was trying to hold back tears himself. He didn't want them to be true, but they may be. He couldn't work out how to say the rest, everything he went through in his head was wrong, or somewhat stupid. He really didn't know how to put it into words.

"We're soldiers. Once this war's over, we won't be soldiers anymore, will we? Then what will we be? I mean, what will the meaning of our existence? Will we be normal people, or what? I'm trying to think of the future, and I haven't got anything yet. Really, I'm confused now." He sighed, and kept holding her. His eyes were downcast, and he wasn't sure as to how he was going to end it. He'd backed himself into a corner with his words, and there was little he could do about it. He sighed softly, and was suddenly alerted by a beeping sound.

He looked down, and suddenly saw the pager on his belt beeping away at him. Crap. No, no, he could wait. Whoever it was, they could wait. And then, another beeping sound went off. He looked around for the source, and suddenly noticed that it was Reila's pager... What the hell?! They'd better have a good reason for interrupting this moment... He looked down at the message on his own pager.

Shiiiiiiiiiiit! He was late! He had to get some training in with his squad, AND develop that new weapon... He sighed, and looked at Reila, who'd just finished looking at her pager.

"Looks like that's us." He smiled and laughed, before kissing the girl on the cheek once more.

"I'll see you at that meeting today, whenever it is... I'm sure I'll be there..." He laughed softly, and walked down the stairs, off of the rooftop. He breathed a sigh of relief. Saved by the bell... Any longer and he really would've talked himself into a rut...

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