Day One (Open)

The distance between them closed rapidly as Salzem sped towards her, unleashing his own fury of fists at the same time she unleashed her own with the Morning Peacock jutsu. Each punch landed solidly against the other, Salzem’s sturdy body easily taking each hit as if it were nothing- his werewolf body was tougher than anything he had witnessed before, and especially against her own weaker frame. Hikari could feel her body wearing with each punch endured, her bones screaming at her for relief, yet none was given. In addition to her sore and worn out body, she sustained multiple injuries to her cheek, ribs, and the upper portion of her chest, near her clavicle. As the two continued their assaults, deep purple spots began to form underneath her skin where his fists collided with her, the blood vessels breaking upon contact and bruising her fair skin. Similarly, her knuckles were tearing, blood slowly oozing out from the many torn pieces of flesh due to the impact of her fists against his strong body.

Without the use of her left arm to defend herself with, Hikari was a sitting duck for the younger shinobi’s final blow to her cheek (potentially scratching her and drawing blood if his claws extended at the end of the punch). She could feel the stress upon her right cheek as the punch made contact, involuntarily causing her to cough up some blood. Hikari gritted her teeth at the situation, as it seemed all she could do was take his blows, and she wasn’t sure how much more damage her body could withstand.

Realizing close combat dealt no damage the lycan, she retreated about four meters, distancing herself from him. She wiped the blood away from her mouth with the back of her right hand as she mentally ran through her arsenal, which took mere milliseconds to do as her arsenal was not that big to begin with. Her best bet was to use long range attacks, although most taijutsu techniques are close combat. There was, however, one technique she had read about that Hikari thought mind come in handy, yet she was unsure as to if she could perform it well enough on her first try- but it was worth a shot to try, she figured. Hikari got into a low vertical stance with her knees bent a lot her right arm a fist away from her body and in front of her mouth while her left arm, even though moving it was extremely difficult, was also a fist away from her body and right underneath her chin. She anticipated what Salzem would do next, for what he did determined her next course of action.

(WC: 4,100)
(AP: 369 -1 Byakugan & -30 Lightning Javelin = 338)

Salzem let out a snarl as his assault eventually overwhelmed Hikari's, his fist colliding with her cheek and sending her reeling back. In this primal form, the smell of her blood was something holy indeed, a smell that only encouraged his primitive mind to continue the onslaught... It was at this point, the monster noticed he had yet to use his beads, an effort that would easily multiply is output of damage several times with a mere command. The lycan's mouth curled into a gnarled smile as the lycan's chain suddenly shot outward towards Hikari's leg (speed 125, power 100), wrapping around her foot and attempting to drag her along the ground roughly to her right. That wasn't all Salzem sent her way, however, as 5 of his beads swarmed around the hyuuga, each making 4 passes at her with each miss or hit, changing directions to strike her at a different location (speed 215, power 100). Stomach, head, back, chest, arm, leg and back again, a viscious assault that made his last one look easy by comparison (namely because they were just as fast, more powerful and came from all directions).

Meanwhile, the lycan watched as his weapon tore and bit at the girl, 3 more beads hovering ominously around the monster's torso and head. He decided he'd keep those around for his own defense... In case Hikari decided to play devious...

Suddenly, the werewolf withdrew his orbs, pulling them back as his stamina suddenly waned, his body jerking as his fur subsided to it's natural white. Salzem's eyes regained that intelligent glint, his form still possessing much stamina, but preferring to play the long-game instead... It was time for him play defensive... Not because he needed too, but he wanted to get better at defending himself with an actual defense... that is... if Hikari was still up to it after all that.

(Damage rounded down to wound and not kill X3)

AP 729

-10 Pack Leader Form
-50 Shadookami

Her eyes widened in terror as the lycan before her curved his snarled lips upward, smiling as best as he could for a beast. She knew beyond a doubt he had thought of some sinister move to torment her with, for the lycan in such a bloodthirsty form only wanted pain. To shred his victims apart was enjoying to him. Some would call him a monster, a terror to all of humanity, but to Hikari he was still her brother. She knew deep within him laid his heart, which would never willingly betray her nor cause her any harm that would send her to an early death.

That is why, as he shot the cord from his necklace at her, she released chakra from all of her tenketsu points at a speed of 145 as she began spinning clockwise with the same speed of 145. She was able to do this due to already being lower to the ground from her stance, although using this jutsu was not what she anticipated, she was grateful for having known of its existence. This caused the chakra to spin with her, forming a half sphere dome, that had health of 60 and strength of 60, two meters wide in every direction around her to protect her against anything the more experienced shinobi might throw her way. As the dome was in motion, the cord hit the chakra and bounced off, while her dome took some damage from the assault, it was not broken due to the cord not having enough power to break through it. She figured Salzem could have easily made the cord faster, causing the slower Hyuuga to be unable to counter, or he could have aimed it straight for her heart if he so wished it, yet he didn’t- she noticed it was aimed lower, wanting to trip her up by grabbing her ankles instead.

Then, after his cord’s attack, what Hikari could only imagine to be, Salzem’s bead’s began violently hitting her dome roughly twenty times. His onslaught of hits this time was much faster, the intent to do harm evident in the force behind the beads. She was thankful her shield held out until the beads stopped hitting against, even if he was just waiting for her chakra dome to shatter before he continued sending them her way. Hikari’s chakra dome dissolved in a blue sparkly mist as it broke down due to his attacks, thus causing the Hyuuga to suspend her rotations and stand facing him once more. She noted his fur returned to a more relaxed white tint, his blood thirsty aura vanishing for the time being. He had stopped his offensive attacks, deciding to go on the defensive instead it seemed.

Despite this new development, Hikari knew better than to get close to the wolf, his body able to surpass hers in strength and durability meant her own fists would do no harm to him, such was seen earlier during her Morning Peacock attack. He was not susceptible to damage as she was, thus her best bet was to keep a safe distance from him, without using the aid of her long range ninjutsu.

Hikari’s lips broadened as she smiled mischievously with a glint in her eyes, she had found the perfect jutsu in mind to use against her teacher. With the distance between them kept at bay the same four or so meters as before, she reenacted the position she had seen her brother do a couple of times now. She placed her left hand with the palm facing front in front of her and tapped her right fist against the back of her left hand, causing a massive amount of air pressure to build up that she launched his direction with a strength of 65 and speed of 100, then she formed a hand seal that resembled a tiger as the air blast, which also resembled the head of the creature, moved quickly (or slowly in the case of Salzem). She kept the hand seal up as she awaited what the lycan would do, running behind where she once stood, away from the air blast, in case she decided to use the jutsu’s second form of fighting, the explosion. Hikari was not finished with her turn quite yet, but did not want to get caught up in the core of the blast should she feel it necessary to set it off- although she was still within the explosion range, she was at least farther from the center of the blast. At least, that was her logic anyways.

(WC: 4, 864)
(AP: 338 -30 Lightning Javelin & -30 Eight Trigrams: Palms Revolving Heaven & -40 Daytime Tiger & -1 Byakugan = 237)

Salzem's beads and cord slammed visciously against the barrier Hikari had set him, her rotation deflecting them, though it was no small effort. With each blow, the lycan could see the barrier give just a bit but not quite enough to get bast the dome and strike at his student. Unable to hold his Shadow-wolf form anymore, Salzem reverted back to his "base" pack-leader form, sense bleeding back into his eyes, his fur shifting back to it's natural white and his body shrinking down just a bit. Hikari seemed to smirk at his weakened state, a mischievous smile that told him that she was up to something... And up to something she was....

Mimicking his movements from earlier on in the fight, his older sister threw her hands forwards a massive air-blast in the shape of a lion-head barreling towards the lycan. She really HAD been paying attention, hadn't she? With almost no time to react, the lycan hit-the-deck, diving to the right at speeds of 145, barely managing to clear the massive tiger-head before it hit him, noticing Hikari began back-pedaling, desperate to get some distance between herself and her blast. The lycan began fiddling with his fingers as he landed in a roll to his feet, trying to form a hand-sign while avoiding chopping off his own fingers with his claws (speed 72). The pack-leader wasn't so much of an idiot, however, that he didn't know if he didn't start moving, Hikari could detonate the blast and it would be lights out. And so... he began running right after her (speed 145) the moment he rolled to his feet once again.

With the techniques they were playing with, it was clear that Hikari and he could level this entire area and quickly too, already well on their way with a couple of Daytime-Tigers being blasted about. If Hikari were to make her blast explode, it would encompass them both equally, though it would likely leave Hikari in a better shape...

As he closed the distance between him and her, the lycan would send two more orbs Hikari's way, both aimed at her hands, hoping to cripple them so she couldn't make the handsigns necessary to detonate her tiger-head. (Speed 145, power 100)

AP: 719

-10 Packleader form

It intrigued the Hyuuga to see her brother worry as he was at that moment, running at her as fast as he could to dodge the airblast. If he truly knew her, he would know she wouldn’t be so foolish as to detonate the blast, it had a massive radius that could injury shinobi nearby, herself as she was still within its clutches, and Salzem who would sustain severe injuries if the blast were to be set off. Despite all of those reasons, she had never intended on setting it off, just toying with Salzem and letting him think it was an option for her to consider.

As Salzem dashed towards her, Hikari changed her own course of action and ran towards him (speed 205), releasing the hand sign and thus, stopping the connection between her and the air blast. The aforementioned blast would continue leisurely until it came across a few trees, easily knocking them over but slowing down as its momentum transferred due to the collision. A large crater, the size of the air blast, would be created in a hill as the blast came into contact with a sturdy surface quite a few meters away from them so they did not feel the blasts effects nor did any debris crash into them from the technique coming to an end. This was the second phase of her attack- performing a technique she had read about in her book, although she had been unsure about using it against his bloodthirsty form, she thought his regular werewolf form might be easier to use it against.

The distance between the two vanquished in a matter of minutes, the beads the lycan sent her way potentially never being sent as she had released the hand sign before they got close so he wouldn’t feel the need to send the beads in the first place (?), and as they met one another face to face, Hikari would bend her knees, launching herself up into the sky at a speed of 205 and grab a hold of Salzem’s furry shoulder with her right hand, landing behind him afterwards - if she was not interrupted that is. Although, having miscalculated, Hikari realized too late that there was quite a difference in their heights, thus making it difficult for her to reach the ground and still grasp the werewolf by his shoulder. Therefore, as she landed upon the ground she was holding onto his upper back fur or the fur covering his shoulder blades, whatever would be easier for a four foot and nine inches tall person to reach on an over seven foot tall werewolf. She would then attempt to fling her brother over herself and onto the ground at a strength of 60, if it was even possible for her to throw something as big as him over herself while only holding onto his upper back area and not his shoulder. If it was not possible, she would look rather silly struggling to throw him onto the ground.

(WC: 5,364)
(AP: 237 -30 Lightning Javelin & -40 Early Sacrifice & -1 Byakugan = 166)

Salzem kept his beads to himself as Hikari charged towards him, cutting the distance between them down to size in a matter of seconds. She shot her hand toward him at speeds of 205, barely detectable even with his lycan senses but the nature of his weapon itself with it's wild sporadic nature, Hikari's palm would actually strike one of the many balls flying about the lycan at random directions and speeds, striking her hand at 85 power and 145 speed, possibly breaking it. Likely, however, Hikari was standing in the hovering radius of his orbs and, without commands they would begin to wiz at her with their random patterns, striking at her at all directions by merely being in their way (same speed and power). If she insisted on grabbing the lycan's shoulder, she would fore Salzem wasn't fast enough in this form to stop her, but the orbs would continue to smash into her body as she grabbed his shoulder, likely battering her into submission (speed 145, power 100). Due to his superior strength to Hikari's, Salzem was able to resist being thrown despite her superior speed and utterly agonizing pain she caused by grabbing him, possibly breaking his shoulder in the process. With a sneer, the air would suddenly take on a foul smell and the instant it hit hikari's nose, it would be too late, covering an area of 30 meters in his speed-eating pheromones (power 65 (health must exceed to resist) speed 105).

In an instant, Hikari would be infected with the invisible, chakra-less pheromones that would begin to overlay her nerves, blocking her Nuro-electrical impulses from reaching her brain (-75 speed from pheromone-bomb, reducing her maximum speed to 130 due to having 155 speed over the required 50 speed to not be effected by this technique.) Salzem would once again have the speed advantage and Hikari would only get slower so long as she remained within the 30 meters of his technique. Salzem's arm would also begin to heal as well at speeds of 105, his shoulder shifting back into place painfully, but correctly, making short work of the damage Hikari had done to him. His whole strategy was to get Hikari this close so he could crush her speed... leaving her open to attack.

AP: 613

-46 Healing factor
-50 Pheromone Bomb
-10 Packleader Form

What a silly thing the Hyuuga had miscalculated. She had completely forgotten the beads whizzing around Salzem from his necklace ages ago. But she was unable to stop and thus, got caught right in the center of all the beads, the intensity and aggressiveness against her were formidable as one crushed against her palm and broke the skin, causing a familiar red liquid to ooze its way out of her wounded flesh. Hikari could hardly bare being in their presence as they bombarded her constantly with attacks while she placed the same hand upon his shoulder, probably breaking his shoulder in the process due to her power and probably leaving a red stain on his snowy fur from her cut hand. However, since she wasn’t using enough strength to be capable of throwing him, instead she continued to face the back of him and placed both her legs on his back, bending then quickly releasing them along with her hand as she used his back for momentum to get away (kind of jumping so speed of 130). She tucked into herself as she performed a few back flips before landing a couple meters away from Salzem.

Hikari could feel her body groaning as she straightened her position, the beating she took from the beads beginning to take its toll on her. There was no doubt her skin was turning a deep purple hue where the beads slammed into her fair complexion. It was then that Hikari smelt a terrible, foul odor in the air and her body began to tingle, sending a slight shiver down her spine. Many options raced through her mind as to what it could be from- was it just a coincidence that something nearby had created such a horrendous scent, or was it a jutsu her brother had learned? She deduced it had to be the latter, that Salzem had this ability in his lycan form. However, what the odor did was a mystery to her. Was it to block out her sense of smell? No, she didn’t think it could be that obvious. But, what else could it have been? Hikari’s mind whirled with a thousand thoughts as to what he could be planning, yet none would have been right. She would have never guessed he used the anatomy of his werewolf form to create a jutsu that affected his opponent’s nervous system, quickly slowing them down.

Deciding it was best to stay on guard and not approach closer to Salzem, as she was still unaware of the effects his jutsu had on her body, she got into a defensive stance. This time she lowered herself into her traditional Gentle Fist position, preparing herself in case she needed to use her Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms technique, or in case she decided to attempt one of the newer jutsus she had read about.

(WC: 5,841)
(AP: 166 -30 Lightning Javelin & -1 Byakugan = 135)

Hikari's recoil due to his beads only served to damage her speed potential more, the tingling of her nerves being blocked starting to evolve into a rather uncomfortable sensation. (-21 due to having 80 over the required 50 speed to ignore this effect. Current maximum speed being 109). She would feel her fingers and toes begin to twitch, her muscles fighting her with every movement she made, her nerves seeming to burn with the tingling throughout her body. Her eyelids with begin to blink without command or warning, her skin would crawl as if she had just been shocked by rogue static, her mind would begin to cloud, though not severely... yet.

Salzem was content with Hikari's sudden recoil, though she seemed to be unaware she was still easily within range of his pheromones. This was just great because if he could force her to keep pace with him just a little while longer, if he could keep her on her back foot, she would very soon trip as her own feet betray her... He needed to keep her occupied so she didn't figure out what exactly he had done, keep her mind focused on matters at hand rather than analyze what was happening to her. Hikari was smart and she was also a medical ninja... she would need ample distraction to keep her dazed...

With a battle(roar)-cry, Salzem charged forward on all fours (speed 145), his beads shooting ahead of him at the same speeds, closing the distance between him and hikari in a matter of moments. Four beads shot forward, each one aimed at a crucial part of the hyuuga's body: One aimed at the center of her forehead, one right at her chest-plate,  one right at her stomach, and the last right above her crotch, a very painful place to be struck (all speed 145, power 85). Salzem wouldn't have been far behind and, along with his presence, came a swarm of randomly shooting beads just like before, striking at her at all directions and Salzem threw a few punches of his own, an upper-cut to her gut here, (speed 145, strength 75) a round-house kick to her shin there (same speed and strength), all with the swarm bearing down on her as well.

"When you give up, this ends." The lycan growled as he bared down on his sister. "Give up and I'll stop."

Her fingers tingling as if they had fallen asleep transformed into her whole body beginning to feel numb and heavy, as if the weight of the world was crushing her. Her body was fighting an unknown assailant, the latter of which beginning to win while her body began to twitch and sear without her command. Hikari noticed she began blinking more often and her mind felt heavy, less clear as if she had been drugged. Whatever jutsu he had released was deadly, affecting not just her sense of smell but the entirety of herself from her toes to her head.

The Hyuuga began to wonder if his jutsu was similar to poison. He knew medical ninjutsu so it would not be illogical of her to assume he could easily create a jutsu that quickly spread throughout her body like an toxin, affecting her nerves upon impact. Yet how had he been able to release the smell in the first place? This got the girl thinking, because there was no way for him to have released the stench through his mouth and he had made no hand signs as far as she could tell- although since they were using taijutsu there probably wouldn’t have been any hand signs to begin with.

Her eyes widened when she came upon the realization that wolves, and all other animals for that matter, could release pheromones. She only knew about this due to the fact that Kuro was, in fact, a wolf, so she knew quite a bit about the species from doing her research (for how else was she to know how to take care of a wild, predatory beast such as he?). However, despite her knowledge of wolves, she was doubtful as to if werewolves were the same. Her knowledge of them was only what she had seen from Salzem, and one can’t really see pheromones so she couldn't exactly prove her theory. Even if she was somehow right, she had already been affected by the pheromones so it did her no use to continue pondering upon it, she couldn’t just escape the effects of it- could she?

She was drawn out of her daze like state by a ferocious battle cry from the werewolf, her head whipping to attention as he began charging at her immediately afterwards on all fours. His form really was like that of a monster, the creature’s only heard about in storybooks and fairy tales. She wondered, briefly, how he had gotten to be the way he was. She was fairly certain he did not have that form when he left many years ago, so either he hid it  from her all those times when they were together extremely well, or he had gained his powers during his time in Suna. The next of her questions would be as to if he had unlocked his dormant powers, or if someone had bestowed upon him this form- maybe by biting him, as is the common folklore about how people gain such abilities.

In a flurry of wind, his beads raced towards her as he closed the distance between them rapidly. It was now or never for her to defend herself, although the defense she had at that moment wouldn’t last very long against his beads and himself hitting against it. Then a jutsu popped into her mind, one she only thought of due to her hands already being in the position to perform the Eight Trigrams: Sixty- Four Palms technique, otherwise her mind would have been too hazy to recall such a jutsu. This jutsu was remarkably similar to both the aforementioned one and the Palms Revolving Heaven technique, and it had also been on her list of clan jutsu to learn from the book she had borrowed at the library.

With a speed of 109, she stiffened her arms and extended her palms, swinging her arms wildly as she expelled chakra from her fingertips in a thin stream. Hikari was attempting to perform the Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms technique, which she would be able to better defend herself against Salzem with than the jutsu she had continuously used throughout their spar. In a matter of seconds she had created a small dome of thin razor wire chakra around herself, that stretched only a meter in all directions due to her not being able to create a larger dome from inexperience (health 70, power 70. The jutsu looks like this). She could feel her arms and fingers try to fight her for control as she created each layer chakra- they wanted rest and to fidget, but she fought as if her life depended on it- and it sort of did, although instead of her life it was her dignity as a kunoichi from the Hyuuga clan that laid on the line.

She bit her lip, drawing a little blood, to keep herself from clouding out due to both the effects of his jutsu from earlier and the pain she was experiencing in her left arm. Hikari would surely need to get her arm checked out by a real medical nin once they finished their spar, as her own healing abilities would not be able to repair the damage done to it, but at the moment the adrenaline coursing through her body helped keep her mind from rationalizing with her and telling her to stop forcing her arm to do such activities.

By this time the beads had already reached her chakra dome, having bombarded her with a formidable amount of strength that would easily overwhelm her defense with only a few more blows. There was no way she would be able to withstand such a tremendous amount of power for any elongated amount of time, especially not in the condition she was in. The master was not far from his slaves, and before she had time to even catch her breath Salzem was upon her, more of his beads sporadically whirling around, hitting her chakra dome and causing it to shatter after about the eighth bead.

After having been moving so quickly, her body was numb and weakened, hardly able to stand much less lift a finger to dodge as Salzem came in with a fist to her gut. He knocked the wind out of her but did not let up so easily as he came in for a roundhouse kick to her shin, shattering the fragile bone into many tiny fragments. However, he was not the only thing beating down on her as his beads continued to pelt her in all directions, breaking the blood vessels underneath her skin whenever they hit and possibly causing even more severe damage depending on where they hit.

At this point Hikari fell to the ground, her legs having lost all of the strength to stand, with her arms above her head in a rather feeble attempt at protecting herself. Her lightning javelin jutsu dissolved as she released it, trying to save all of the remaining strength in her body. Hikari faintly heard him say that he would end his vicious attacks once she gave up, and her mind was too murky for her to try to clearly think about the meaning behind either option. To give up would not be the ninja way, but to continue getting beat by him would not be wise for her own health. Although at this rate she would easily fall unconscious either due to his jutsu or her own stamina deficiency, she had to quickly make up her mind as to what to do.

“I-I concede.” She weakly stuttered out, her head tilted down as she stared at the ground. She felt rather disgusted with herself for giving in so easily, and for being so weak in the first place. She had wanted to stay strong and defeat him, but she fell for his trap and became ensnared by his wicked plan, which was a splendid, efficient plan. Had he been a real enemy, her life would have been on the line. Yet her life was quite frankly on the line if she continued to fight him, so her options were limited with each path she would have taken. If she were to have fallen unconscious in the midst of battle, her life would still have been on the line. At least this way she was conscious and aware of all that was happening.

(WC: 7,276)
(AP: 135 -1 Byakugan & -30 Lightning Javelin & -45 Protection of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms = 59)

(sorry I didn't do AP in the last post xb I'll count it all now)

Hikari attempted to defend herself against the lycan's ferocious blows, attempting to summon that same trigram shield she used to stop him a little while ago. Due to her slower state and the effects of her pheromones, she was unable to erect a proper defense in time, the beads shattering her barrier quickly, leaving her open to a hands-on assault. His punch and kick struck home perhaps a bit harder than he intended, feeling something break upon his kick. The little hyuuga was thrown to the ground, her eyes fuzzy, unfocused, the effects of his pheromones and the damage inflicted seeming to knock Hikari out of it...

When he offered her a way out in the form of concession, he let out a sigh of relief, glad he had taken him up on his offer. The last thing he wanted was to keep beating her down... especially the way she was now... The lycan suppressed his massive form back within his human form, shrinking back to his human size and, with that his pheromones stopped pumping, allowing his sister's broken and battered body to pump them out of her system naturally. Not wasting a moment, Salzem was by her side, weaving a trio of signs, his hands glowing with a faint green-blue light. He rested his hands upon his sister's belly and broken leg, his chakra already beginning to heal her wounds. Luckily, she didn't sustain anything that couldn't be healed, at least, with his skill. It would take a few moments, but Hikari would feel the pain in her leg and gut begin to recede as those wounds healed, leaving the lycan to clear up a few scratches and brusies the poor girl had sustained during their battle.

"You did great." He complimented, smiling down at her. "I'm proud of you and how you trained."

AP: 563

-30 for previous post -20 Medical ninjutsu