[X] Cops and Robbers
That's it. This fight just turned from 'fun' to 'holy shit she legitimately hates me and wanted to get revenge today, what the hell?'
That's the only way to explain why she didn't just take the loss. It can't be that she thinks she's going to make chuunin pulling shit like this. You knew she didn't have much of a sense of humour where you're concerned, but you figured it was just her finding you annoying. You thought maybe you could immunize her by being even
more annoying, but apparently the patient is refusing treatment on that one.
How can she not like you? You're the only one who made Taijutsu any fun for her!
You really don't want to hurt a Konoha shinobi, especially not one you rather like, so the obvious solution is a Double-False Surroundings while you circle behind with your tessen. These fights are supposed to simulate actual combat, after all, and that's probably how you
would nonlethally take someone down.
You leap as Tenten charges, throwing out the genjutsu in mid-air and landing silently behind her. The first wave of nausea hits her so hard she drops to her knees and vomits right then and there; the acrid stench fills the room as she pulls herself back to her feet and manages to kai. Spotting the illusory Ino charging toward her, she brings up a kunai to hastily deflect, and begins dancing with a phantom.
You notice to your dismay that her taijutsu has gotten even better - no surprise there, considering the team she's on - and that those throws she's always favoured have gotten really aggressive. Definitely glad you decided to go for genjutsu, if this is what she can do on a busted ankle.
There's your opening! Tessen drawn, you run over to her and-
-clang!-
The jitte in her other hand meets your fan so quick you almost gasp.
"My lucky kunai," Tenten says, twirling the one she used on the fake Ino. "It cuts through bullshit. Its core is made of mahogany, so it sounds different from normal throwing knives when it strikes. If it hits something and sounds like it's pure metal, I know I'm in a genjutsu."
And she launches into a whirling dervish of dual-wielding death. You're on the defensive, now, ducking and deflecting and by all means switching it up to keep from being herded over to that floor-to-ceiling web of sticky wires she somehow had time to set up
while she was bouncing around.
What the hell is
she?!
An actual opponent, that's what! It's about time.
Got any advice?
Nope. Figure it out your own damn self. It builds character.
If I lack character it's completely your fault!
And now I'm takin' steps to correct it. Enjoy. 8)
"Gotta say, this is much more fun than I thought I was going to have," you admit aloud, smiling. "I'm really starting to like you, Tenten."
"'Fun'?!" You take the opportunity to drop and swing at her legs while she's seemingly off guard, but down comes the jitte to hook your collar and haul you back up. "You're just
playing?!" she spits in your face.
"Well, yeah," you say. "I don't want you to
die."
-kung!-
=
You are
Arsène Lupin III (cue saxophone solo), and you've decided your little protégée needs to go bye-bye for a minute or two to recover from that nasty knockout blow.
You retreat, rubbing your aching skull. Examining your fingers, you determine that, while you're bleeding, there's no lasting damage. Ino should be in a state to wake up in the next two minutes. Which is handy, since you're not sure you can maintain control of her body much longer than that.
Tenten frowns. "How are you still conscious?!"
"That's my line!" you say.
"Those seals back then should have had you out like a light."
She grins fiercely. "I'd never be able to face my mother and grandfather in the afterlife if I fell to such a weaksauce assault. Especially from someone like
you."
You blink. Well, knowledge is power; let's see what she has to say.
"'Like me'?"
"Parasites," Tenten says vehemently, "people who coast through life like nothing can touch them just because they have enough power to push everyone else around. It isn't right!" Her grip on the jitte tightens so much it trembles in her hand. "I'll bet the only reason you're even still on your feet right now is because of some secret Yamanaka technique!"
Wow. She really has your number.
"You really think a room full of assassins is the right place to take a moral stand?" you ask, a bit embarrassed on her behalf.
"I mean, props for being a good guy and everything, but the timing is a little..."
"Funny you should mention timing." She snaps her fingers.
And four sets of honest-to-god Chubb Custom Long-Range Detainer cuffs punch through the floor tiles to clamp around your wrists and ankles.
You're so shocked to see them you don't even try to dodge.
"Did you think you were going to just step over me on the way to the dangerous opponents?" Tenten demands, pulling out two more weapons scrolls from a pouch on her leg. "Well guess what, clan heiress?
You're facing one of them right now."
Laying the scrolls upright, she launches herself into the air. The scrolls follow, twining around her rapidly-spinning form.
"I won't let you look down on me!" she roars. "I'm not Tenten the Orphan! I'm not 'just Tenten' or 'Uzumaki Tenten'; I have a family! I have a name! I am Zenigata Tenten, and clan techniques or no clan techniques,
you are under arrest!"
Soushouryuu - Twin Rising Dragons!
[X] Take the loss. Ino's head needs a bit of deflating and Tenten needs some closure.
[X] Okay, that settles it. No Lupin, not even one that's technically a Yamanaka, is publicly losing to a Zenigata, not even an unprecedentedly pretty one.
-> [X] Slip the cuffs.
--> [X] Write in.
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8)
