Viridian Dreams Forum

Tatsumaru quirks an eye brow before sweeping his arms outward deflecting the punches. With Taru wide open Tatsumaru launches a high snap kick aiming to hit Taru in the chest.

Taru takes a quick step backward at the last moment, taking the kick on the chest, but moving with it as best he can. the diminished blow knocks the breath from him and causing his ribs to creak in protest. Having already been drawing his hands back as the kick was launched, he latches onto Tatsumaru's ankle with both hands and twists hard to the right with his considerable upper body strength, attempting to throw Tatsumaru to the ground.

Tatsumaru cursed in his head.

Taru was stronger than he looked. As Taru threw Tatsumaru over his right shoulder. Tatsumaru twisted to use his other leg. Trying to kick Taru in his shoulder.

Tatsumaru grunted as he fell on his side. Quickly Tatsumaru regains his footing and faces Taru.

The kick clips Taru on the left shoulder, knocking him off balance long enough for Tatsumaru to regain his feet. Taru grimaces and feints left before pivoting on his left leg and sending a hard kick toward his opponent's right hip.

Tatsumaru sees the kick coming in.
To strong to block have to dodge. He thinks

Tatsumaru dances back avoiding the kick
Pretty strong. That arm strength of his is easily equal to mine if not greater. Have to get him off balance somehow.

Settling into a low stance Tatsumaru waits.

Taru mentally sighs to himself, and a hand twitches slightly before he begins to move, noting Tatsumaru's lowered stance.

Stupid taijutsu only...

Taru moves forward and attacks across his body with an horizontal hand strike toward Tatsumaru's neck.

There we go.

Tatsumaru use his left arm to block. Tatsumaru immediately afterwards launches a palm strike into Taru's stomach.

"Oooof!"

The wind rushes out of Taru's lungs and he falls backwards, one foot rising toward Tatsumaru's chin as he collapses to the ground. He lays there for a moment before he hastily rolls over and raises himself up on his hands and knees, vomiting a bit of foul smelling water onto the ground underneath him.

Tatsumaru bites back a curse as Taru's foot clips him. He can taste blood.
He looks down at Taru.

"I think we should call that match if that's alright with you Taru-san?"

Taru nods weakly, before rolling to the left and collapsing onto clean ground, coughing.

"Ooh. I'm going to be hurting tomorrow."

Miyu quickly rises and hurries over.
"Are either of you seriously injured?" she asks, reasonably calmly.

Tatsumaru spits out a bit of blood.
"Yeah I'm fine check Taru-san."

Taru lies there on his back for a few moments, catching his breath and trying to settle his stomach. Eventually, he sits up, cradling his chest with one arm, and reaching behind him produces a bottle of water from his quiver. He takes a swig and swishes it around a bit to wash out his mouth before he spits it out on the ground and takes a long drink.

"Ugh. You kick like a mule Tatsumaru-san. I'm going to be feeling that one for a while."

Tatsumaru gives a nervous smile.

"Your punches aren't any slouch either. Good match Taru-san. I'm afraid I got a bit caught up in the fight."

He offers a hand to Taru.

Miyu frowns as she looks over Taru. Judging by the described level of pain...
"This could have been prevented," she mutters, flicking through the seals for a diagnostic technique. Normally she would save her chakra, but she has to make sure his ribs are not fractured.
After a moment, Miyu nods.
"Taru-san, I think your ribs are bruised. Applying ice on the injury should reduce inflammation but don't do so for more than twenty minutes at a stretch. Don't bandage it, that won't help. It would be beneficial to sleep sitting or propped up on pillows rather than lying down for the next few days. And you should exercise less until it stops hurting."
She says the last in the tone of one who knows her instructions are more likely to be ignored than followed but keeps trying anyway in the hope that someday, someone will actually listen.

"With respect Miyu-san. If you don't train your hardest it comes back to bite you on missions. Yeah Taru-san is a bit bruised up. But better here where it can be fixed than out on mission neh?"

Comes back to bite you on missions. Where it cannot be fixed.
A clearing full of tripped traps, dulled red eyes that should be sharp, blonde hair stained red; so far apart, why, when in life they were so close-
A second's hesitation before Miyu shoots a glare at Tatsumaru.
"What is the point of training your hardest on one day if it restricts you from training as well for the next several?" she snaps.

"Easy Miyu-san. I meant no offense. The point is to test your limitations. So you know where to improve."

Miyu takes a deep breath. Calm. Stay calm...
"I apologize for snapping at you," she says politely. "You have a point, but it is still important to remain cautious. Bruised bones can take months to heal. This is probably not that bad, but Taru-san did not take the entire force of the kick - if he had he might have worse bruising or even fractured ribs."

Taru accepts the hand and levers himself off the ground with a wince, and offers the bottle to Tatsumaru.

"Thanks. Don't worry Miyu-san, I won't push it. I'm just a bit bruised up, but I've had worse. Hanasuke used to pummel me much worse than this. It's just been a while since I got nailed in the gut like that."

Tatsumaru nods at Taru
"Thanks" he says taking the bottle and drinking some water

When he's done he turns to Miyu.

"Alright Miyu-san. If you were watching. What did I do wrong in that spar?"

Miyu considers her answer carefully as she stands up herself.
"You underestimated the strength of your opponent," she says at last. "This allowed him to surprise you, which gave him some advantage, albeit only temporarily."

Tatsumaru nods. He agrees with the statement.

"Taru-san care to offer any comments on what I did wrong?"

Taru takes a deep breath and winces slightly, but doesn't otherwise react as he replies to the question.

"That first kick left you open, and you took a bit of a risk blocking that last strike I attempted. A strong enough blow could have broke your arm. Paid off in the end though."

Tatsumaru nods.

"Yeah that could have been messy. I need to work on both my awareness and underestimating people just because they don't look strong. Have to stop relying on kicks so much too. So the next question I have for you is what did you do wrong?"