Confusing Days (Private, Mission)

She would nibble his fingers after he scratched her ears and eventually stop as he did and relax into the grass for a while. He would sit next to her, making no threatening moves whatsoever and wait for the incoming shitshow. He wondered if she would hate being hit with a water jutsu as he waited. He didin’t know any, but it was curious. Her answer to his question would prompt a silent nod from him. “Good, I didn’t think it would. Let me know when you’re fully coherent alright? I’ll tell you honestly what happened in the apparent gaps in your memory.” He would say simply, as he continued to sit perfectly still otherwise. He would have to trust in his iron skin for what was going to be coming soon. Because when he told her the truth, she’d probably try to wring his fucking neck.

‘Maybe if I survive she’ll want to blow off some steam and come along to kill or maim some bandits. That would be fun, I could even play that game where I tell them to try to hurt me and watch them fail time and time again. That would probably amuse me before I tear those worthless bandits apart.’ He would think to himself as he leaned back on his hands, further putting himself into a bad position to cause his companion harm. If he didn’t look threatening, perhaps she would listen? Yeah right.

“What did I forget?” She would ask, not entirely understanding. Although the fact she was able to react to something that he said in a somewhat coherent matter was perhaps a good sign. She would slowly twist into a sitting position, crossing her legs one over another in a way that wasn’t very flattering with the dress she wore. Her hair was an absolute mess now from rolling around like that, and there would be grass stains all over her, both on her face and down across her dress. Maybe noticing this she would bring her hands up to her face, wiping at her cheeks and nose. It seemed like the catnip made her a bit itchy in addition to the other effects it had. It almost looked like she was about to sneeze for a second, although it would pass.

“Shinsui.” She would call his name out suddenly, all while still wiping at her own face. “Why is it the Leaf Village when there are leaves here too? I don’t understand it.” The question was dumbfounding, but it was something she had been thinking about. None of this human society stuff really made any sense to her, but this was one of the most confusing things.

“A lot of things apparently, I’m not going to hide anything, and I hope that’ll carry some weight with you. But try to remember, what’s the last thing you remember?” He would ask quietly as he let her mind work out what it could on it’s own. This would be important, she needed to remember and it was better if she could do it herself. Her new sitting position left much to be desired in the ways of flattery and he would slowly set a water canteen aside for her to use to clean the grass stain from her cheeks. “That’s just to clean yourself up if you want, and take care of your hair if you’re inclined. I figure you’d rather me tell you honestly when you look like a wreck.” He would say as he sat patiently awaiting the storm of claws and teeth that was soon to come.

Then she would ask her question and he’d begin to laugh before answering. “Because of where it’s located. The Village Hidden in The Leaves is located in a large forest. The Village Hidden in The Mists is on this island and tends to get misty weather quite often. We’ve just been lucky so far I guess.” He would say, answering her question honestly. “I’m going to guess you’re still high as a kite, and keep waiting patiently. Do try to let me know before you try to kill me at least would you?” He would ask politely as he lay back, arms behind his head as he looked up at the skies and watched the clouds.

She didn’t know what a kite was. She would think for a moment to the last thing she could remember though after he said that, which would be her rolling around in the grass just a few moments ago. The memory she had of eating that donut would come back to her too. It was a good time. She thought about that for a few seconds, although she would be brought back to reality as she realized how itchy her nose still was. The water he provided would be regarded curiously, and she would stick her finger down into the drinking spout. She got it as deep down inside it as she could, and once it couldn’t go any further she would pull her wet digit out. The bit of water on her finger would be licked off. The idea of using the water to clean herself off like this wasn’t something she was really all to fond of. She had gotten most of the grass stains off her face just through sheer force of her wiping her hands, but putting any of that stuff on her dress was a completely outrageous idea. At least while she was still wearing it.

She would stare at him suddenly, as if she had just noticed him again. It was a curious repeat of her earlier behavior. Ikomiki would hold that look for a few moments. Wide eyed, as if she were looking at a ghost. It wasn’t exactly the answer she was reacting to, although she had heard and processed what he said about Leaf and Mist. Her mind was bouncing around in her skull though as she looked at him, her expression turning almost somewhat worried over time.

He’d almost facepalm at her reluctance to use the water ‘Of course, cats clean themselves with their tongues, I’m an idiot.’ He would think as he lay there. He’d turn his eyes back upon her as time went on and watch her eyes slowly widen and her expression slowly get more and more worried. “Tell me if you can’t remember, I’ll fill in any gaps you have, and then I can deal with your reaction and then move on to my mission.” He would say simply as he waited. He was tempted to extend a hand out to her to see how she would react at this point, but he’d wait a few more minutes before doing something that might provoke an immediate defensive response. “Don’t worry, I’m patient, I can wait all day really. So take your time.” He would say, letting his voice be neutral. He wasn’t worried about her ability to damage him now. He’d seen her claws earlier when she had gotten defensive and judged them unable to even scratch him.

So he’d let her take her anger out on him before she wound down. Then explain that they didn’t do anything inappropriate in his eyes, although he wasn’t sure if it was in hers. He would apologize if it was, and ask her forgiveness. He doubted he’d get, and she’d probably avoid him. Problem solved, end of story. Simply right? Probably not, things rarely ever were.

Her expression would twist. For a few moments it would just be that, with her facial expression twisting and contorting with a variety of emotions. The neutral face of surprise would turn into worry, and then slowly it would contort into shock. She would open her mouth for a moment, as if she were trying to speak, although no sound would come out. Closing her mouth tightly following that, the expression of disgust would color onto her face, as if her stomach had just turned. It would give way to a very familiar emotion after that. Anger. It would be a very clearly shocked anger though. Her eyes would only be half narrowed, kept nearly open by the revulsion that was clearly written on her face. Ikomiki’s lips would open again, although again she would struggle to make a sound.

“Aaa…” This would be the only thing that came out. The gears in her head were clearly spinning, although it was clear that this hadn’t progressed to her mouth just yet. They would continue spinning in the mud, although that sound would continuee.

“Aaa…! Aaaa!”

“Aaaaa!! AAaaa! AAAAAAAA!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

She screamed. Very loudly. It was a long scream, one of one incoherent mess of emotion that leaked out. She would pull her arm back. The claws would return, growing out to be unnaturally sharp and long, and covered and hardened with chakra. She would swipe at his face, still screaming bloody murder the entire time. Her claws would rake a stripe right across his nose and eyes, down from the lower left to the upper right in a diagonal motion.

The multitude of emotions upon her face was actually fascinating to watch occur before his eyes. Her look of shock, then disgust, then anger. The gears were turning, slowly. The spirit of that squirrel clearly not wanting to start running in its wheel. Eventually though the little fucker would go and she would start to scream. Then claws would come out, and she would rake at his face. Exactly as he thought she would. Luckily, he wouldn’t even notice. The extended claws would hit his skin, and then effectively ‘tink’ off what was effectively iron skin. “Yeah, that’s not going to work hon. Lemme know when you’re ready to talk.” He would say simply as he waited. He would let her wear herself out, or calm down. Or maybe at least scream something other than the same syllable.

It was hard to apologize when she kept screaming though. “You know, in my defense, I DID tell you I didn’t know how you’d react.” He would call out, trying to cry out over her scream. “Look, would you mind explaining to me what the big deal is? I don’t understand the significance of what happened for you since you see things different than I do.” He would say, his tone reasonable as he lay there, not having really moved. She could honestly up and leave if she wanted and he’d simply move along and continue on his mission. Or should could talk, and they could figure out what the fuck happened, if she hated him, or if they might god forbid be friends after this? After all, he hadn’t really been unreasonable at all during this entire time, at least not from his perspective.

She wouldn’t be so easily dissuaded. Just because it hadn’t worked the first time didn’t mean it wouldn’t eventually. Even if that logic wasn’t sound, Ikomiki was consumed by burning rage right about now. She could continue swipe at his face, once slash of her claws after the other. It would continue, with them continuing to bounce off Shinsui’s skin harmlessly. She didn’t even so much as scratch his skin. Somehow, it almost seemed like the action was just wearing down her claws, as if she was scratching at a scratching post. The screaming and flurry of claws would continue for a good several minutes, assuming Shinsui wouldn’t just get up and leave in this time. It was only after she had tired herself that she would begin to slow down, and then finally stop. She had screamed her throat sore at this point, and would softly panting as the exertion got to her. It was like punching a brick wall repeatedly, except with your fingernails. And a little bit less painful then what punching a brick wall would be like. Through her panting she would glare at him, and her eyes would say more than any words could.

“How is your skin so tough? Why don’t you bleed.” She would ask, directly to the point. As always she would ignore the questions that she didn’t care to answer as if they hadn’t been asked at all. Only the most important thing would be focused on, one at a time, until she finished with whatever she was doing.

“I’ll answer, but only if you answer mine after. I can hold you down you know.” He would say annoyed as she completely bowled over his question. He wasn’t about to let her change the damn subject this time, gentleman or no. If she agreed to his condition he would answer her. “My skin is tough because of my training. I have yet to find anything that could actually hurt me. Although, I of course haven’t tested it on the truly powerful stuff yet. I need a way to recover damage before I do just in case.” He would say simply, answering her question in one before raising an eyebrow for her own answer. “Seriously, I didn’t intend for any of that to happen. I didn’t know how you’d react. I wanted you calm down, get to relax. Can you honestly say in hindsight that you didn’t enjoy it? Did I hurt you in some way?” He would ask, the desire to understand clear in his tone as he asked his questions.

He hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone, hadn’t wanted to make anyone mad. The fact that he had bothered him more than he’d usually care to admit. “I’m sorry.” He would say simply, not taking his eyes from hers as he said it. “I’ll never give you that stuff again if you want.” He would finish, idly wondering in his mind if she decline that particular offer.

“I’ll scream. I’ll bite your face off.” She said in response to the ‘holding her down’ part. Although it was pretty clear that she didn’t really believe in her own threat about biting. If her claws didn’t work there was no way her teeth would. If anything that would be seriously painful. Still panting and high on energy, this talking part would at least allow Ikomiki to calm down a little bit. It allowed her to breathe again, even if she was still completely outraged at what happened. It wasn’t so much the cat nip itself, but the way that she had acted under it. The way that he touched her. She really wanted to kill him, although Ikomiki was a realist and quickly realized that this was probably just going to be impossible for her to do. It was incredibly frustrating. It made her think back to that incident in the exams, with Doctor Naji. She could still feel the ache of the bruise it had let against her ribs. She hated situations like this. But there was nothing she could do. It seemed pretty clear that Shinsui was stronger. Just like Doctor Naji had been. It was survival of the fittest. If he was stronger that just meant there was nothing she could do. That’s what it meant to be weak and helpless.

“Don’t… Don’t…” She would sputter for a moment, although it would end up being useless. Realizing again how helpless she was and how weak she was just made her depressed. All the anger that had been welling up in her would just escape out in a deep sigh, and Ikomiki would dejectedly close her eyes.

“Like you could.” He would automatically respond although even he could hear the hollowness of her own threat. She seemed to stop and think for a while at this point, considering what he’d said. “To put the strength of my body into perspective, that attack Dr. Naji launched on you and Zen yesterday wouldn’t have scratched the surface of my skin.” He would say, working to give her a basis of comparison. At his words she would begin to sputter ‘don’t’ although he didn’t know at what part in particular. However he’d just take it as a general request and shut up. She’d close her eyes, her depression slowly becoming evident and he’d wonder what he could do to try to help her. Opening his mouth to speak, he’d shut it again, wondering if he would get attacked for asking. However he’d decide to do so anyway.

“You seem depressed, can I help?” He would ask, curiosity lacing his tone as he asked what he could do to help her with this situation and turn her mood around. “Perhaps beating up or clawing apart some bandits might do you some good?” He’d ask, an inquisitive eyebrow raised at his question. He doubted she would remember the offer from before, however he’d make it again. “You probably don’t remember it clearly, but I offered to buy you lunch in apology for causing you to ruin yours. We can go take care of this mission together if you want and then I can treat you.” He would say, making the offer once more.

“People like you are the worst.” She would spit those words out. Her eyes were still closed. The fact that he had mentioned Doctor Naji just made it worse, like he could read her mind or something. “Strong people who pretend to be nice. Who can afford to be nice. Humans. All your backwards philosophy. Pretending like you aren’t what you are.” The way she said it was like it was a slur or something, as if she hated just saying the word ‘human’. Ikomiki would scoot back after saying this, and then she would stand up, wobbling a bit as she got to her feet. Her tail would swirl behind her for a moment. Reaching down into her tights suddenly, she would pull out the bag of catnip and throw it to the ground. Following she she would reach up, and she would begin to take her dress off. The dress had been the only thing she had been wearing from the waist up, and so when it was thrown to the grass to her side it would leave her completely bare chested, save for the thick leather collar that was around her neck.

A thick, deep blue and purple bruise would be revealed along her ribcage. The wound that Doctor Naji had created yesterday with his wind attack. She hadn’t reacted when it happened, but it had hurt like hell. Touching it now, she would flinch as her fingertips made contact with the darker purple skin.

“If you’re strong, don’t pretend you’re not. Don’t be nice. Just do whatever you want. Kill me if you want to. It doesn’t matter. I can’t stop you, no matter what you want to do. Just don’t play around like there are some rules you have to follow, or like you have to pretend like you’re weak, just to change your mind halfway through. It’s always humans like you that just play these games when they get strong...” She would trail off.

Her initial words would sting and he’d wince internally before a contemplative look would appear on his features. “What am I then? What have I done to you to warrant such words of hate? I did nothing out of malice, was I mistaken in what I did? Yes, but does automatically make me evil? Why are you so hateful toward humans, a trait that you at least seem to half share?” He would ask, his tone reasonable and curious. However he wouldn’t be prepared for her to stand up, remove the bag of catnip, and then her entire dress. She still wore clothes on her lower body but not her upper body and he’s look away in an automatic sign of respect. He’d listen to her words though as she spoke, and his eyebrow would rise in confusion.

“What games? I haven’t pretended to be weak at all. I haven’t gone off and attacked anyone, because I have no desire to. We live in a society Ikomiki, just because one is strong, doesn’t mean you get to break the rules of that society. For many others, weaker individual sure, but stronger together, would rise against the one strong individual and tear them apart. I’m not ‘acting nice’ and ‘weak’ to change my mind about something later. I act that way because I want to be nice. So what in the world are you talking about?” He would ask confusion evident.

“Shut up. Why do you keep talking so much.” She would glare, squinting now. It wasn’t his fault that he was confused. Ikomiki was projecting her entire thoughts about his race onto one individual, and it of course would seem as though the things she was accusing him of weren’t things that he had personally done. It was just unthinking resentment without any logic. No matter how logical he could be about this situation it would all just bounce off her, and just annoy her more as a creature that acted entirely on emotion and instinct. It was like some foreign language to her. Most of the things humans said to her were like that, even if she could understand the words they literally said.

The sneer would still be on her face, although she didn’t really have much more to say than what she already had. “Why are you here? What do you want from me? Just say it. Don’t play any games. Don’t act innocent or dumb.” She wanted to look at him. To stare into his soul, but that wasn’t something she could do just yet. Even if she could, it would result in her eyes turning purple, and judging by his strength he could just easily kill her and rip them out of her skull if he wanted to. So she wouldn’t dare give that away. Still, she had no idea right now whether he was one of her kind or not. It was impossible to tell. That was why she couldn’t trust him, no matter what he said.

He began to understand after she rebuffed his argument again. “Tell me Ikomiki, what happened to make you resent humans so?” He would ask curiously, patiently waiting to try to get her answer. He’d ask again and again if he must. He’d even share his own story to try to convince her to share hers if necessary. It was only fair. However as their conversation continued she would get more irrational it would seem, asking him what he wanted from her, why he was there. That answer was easy to bring to bear. “Why am I here? I was on my way to a mission little miss. You fell out of a tree in front of me. But why am I here specifically? What do I want from you? I want to understand you, to learn about you. We’re both Konoha shinobi Ikomiki, we’re going to have to work together, and if we do, we’ll get stronger together too. I want to understand someone I would call my ally, someone I would call a friend in the future if she would simply let me.” He would say, his tone never changing, he would beat back the emotional tide she was dealing with with patience.

He would watch her carefully for her responses, physical traits that a cat might show, something that might give her true feelings away. What was he supposed to do? Did he need to beat her down to get her to listen? That seemed counter productive, so he’d use that as a last resort. However he wouldn’t leave until she really spoke to him. Told him of what happened to her. He was simple determined, stubborn as hell most would say. “You can deflect the answers Ikomiki, but I’ll keep asking. I’ll hound you until I can understand you. I don’t want to hurt you, I want to help you. As I’d want to help any shinobi from my home.” He would say, ending his latest speech finally.

She was frustrated. This was all just going around in circles. The fact that he was averting his eyes from her throughout all of this was the most annoying though. The fact he was engaging in such a submissive behavior while talking about how he had never pretend to be weak was the exact sort of bullshit that she hated the most. They were all lies. She couldn’t take any of what he said seriously when it was like this, when he was acting so submissive with his body language. It was such a disconnect with what he was saying and what he was doing. Her fists would clench and unclench. There was nothing she could do. This was just going in circles. She would go back to collect her dress, seeing as he hadn’t even dared to look at her bruise like she had intended him to. Frustrating.

“I don’t trust you.” She would just curtly return to what she had been saying earlier. “None of what you do or say makes sense. You can’t prove any of it.” Her dress would be slipped back on over her head, and she would shove her arms back into her sleeves. “Stop talking. Prove that any of what you’re saying is true. I don’t care about words.” It was a reflection back to her actions at the exams, where she physically demonstrated the answers she had to Doctor Naji’s questions.

“Of course you don’t trust me, you haven’t given me a chance to earn it.” He would say reasonably. He would turn back to her as her dress went back over her body. “I’m sorry, but in my society we have a sense of propriety” He would say before her words hit him like a brick. ‘Body language...she’s part animal..She was..’ “You were actually raised by cats weren’t you? Not humans, that’s why you can’t understand…” He would say as he met her eyes with a look of surprise. “I don’t know how you think so you’ve got to give me something to work with Ikomiki, how can I prove it?” He would ask his question again, reasonable, but with the added benefit of him meeting her eyes dead on as he asked it. Her was taller than her, by far, and so he looked down at her features, his suit still immaculate as he hadn’t rolled around in the grass but simply lain upon its surface.

If she could give him something to work with, then he could meet that challenge, but he needed her to meet him halfway. He wanted to learn, was more than willing to, but she needed to be willing to explain. Perhaps he could slowly teach her more about human society as she taught him more about how she was raised. That seemed fair to him, so hopefully they could start.

The fact that he would be standing now, and actually looking her in the eyes was at least a good start. It didn’t cause the same frustrating confusion to her. She had been at least able to understand and work with Doctor Naji’s style of discipline, even if the reasoning behind it was nonsense to her. It would be her turn now, and after only a few moments of that eye contact she would avert her eyes. Rather than trying to stare him down with a fierce glare as she had before in most of their previous actions she would recognize him as the dominant party here. He had proven that with how he completely failed to react in any way to her claws. As sad as it was to admit, Ikomiki wasn’t really capable of much more than that. She was weak.

“Of course I was raised by cats. I am a cat.” She would say while looking down to the grass, as if it was the most obvious thing in the entire world. “Did you not notice that until now? I assumed with how eager you were to touch my ears that it was obvious.” She would shoot him a sideways glare, emphasising her anger as she said that last part.

“You drugged me with that grass after I told you not to touch me, and then you asked again afterwards.” She would point out the obvious, as it was beginning to be clear to her that he was just a complete idiot. “You used your strength to take advantage of me.” The fact that she had to explain this all made her angry. It was obvious to her what had just happened, but it was as if every little detail of how she felt had to be explained and put directly into his face for him to notice at all.

“I understand you had some sort of affinity with cats. Some clans in the world do have affinities with animals, but I didn’t realize you were raised by them.” He would say as he thought of how to continue his answer. “It changes the dynamics of things. I have been working under the assumption that you were an interest woman with an affinity for feline creatures” He would explain, continuing to look at her as he answered. Of course then she’d explain his own faults in the day and he’d wince internally. “That is true from your point of view I suppose. However I didn’t intend to drug you. I specifically got that in an attempt to help you relax. Like I said, yesterday at the exams, you were high strung as hell. I thought maybe you’d appreciate it. I hadn’t intended to be there when you used it. Nor did I anticipate how strong of an effect it would have. I honestly didn’t know what would happen, which I told you prior. I did ask you if I could scratch your ears again yes, but only after you rubbed your cheeks against me and nibbled my hair. I thought maybe that changed something.” He would say, a shrug denoting the last before he continued again.

“It wasn’t really an attempt to assert my strength over yours. Which I suppose you might not like, because it’s what you’d expect of me. However not all people are like. We can be nice, and choose not assert our strength, or dominance.” He would say, ending his speech and letting her respond.

“I don’t care if you assert your strength over me. That’s just how the world works.” She would stare directly at him again. Her frustration had grown to the point where it just broke through the top of the thermometer and reset into a data overflow error. “Just be honest about it. Don’t do it and then pretend you didn’t, or try to philosophize it away. That’s what I hate. Just do whatever you want to do and stop being weird about it.” She would huff a bit, turning off to the side. She was already sick of this all over again. It was like this guy was just going to keep talking at her until she exploded or dropped dead or something. She couldn’t handle it. As much as she tried to explain it to her, even though she hated talking, he would just continue to blah blah blah blah blah. It never ended. At this point it sort of felt like there was nothing she could do but put up with it though, since murder wasn’t an option. Neither was punching him in the face and knocking him out, which she wished she could have done just like she did with Emiki.

“That implies I didn’t try to pretend, but if I don’t know something will happen until after it does, can I be accused of trying to assert my strength over it? Is that what you want? Someone stronger than you to stand over you and tell you what to do, how to act? Is that how it works with you? Is that the only way?” He would ask, his tone curious, but gaining an edge to it as he began reaching the end of his rope on the matter. If that was truly the only way to get through to her, then fine, he would do so. Then he’d damn well tell her to start trying to understand the other side, instead of trying to rationalize it in her viewpoint alone. At least he was making an effort to understand her, but she didn’t seem to be interested in trying to do the same. So if he had to physically take her down to get her to listen, then fine. He’d so it, he wouldn’t like it, but he’d do it.

He waited for her answer as he went through his repertoire of techniques in his mind, there weren’t many, a few taijutsu techniques, but they should be enough to get the job done considering she couldn’t hurt him in the least.

“The strong kill the weak. That’s the natural order of things. Don’t make me repeat myself. You talk too much.” It was another curt answer. Several short sentences strung together in a very matter of fact sort of way, together with a side eyed glade. She still wasn’t looking him in the eyes, except for occasional darts over to glance at him from the side. Bringing ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ into it wasn’t something that made sense to her. It was like asking her if she liked gravity. She didn’t like or dislike gravity. Gravity just was. There was nothing she could say about gravity other that it existed, and it affected everything that everyone did. There was nothing that she could do about gravity, and there was nothing anyone else could do about gravity.

Except birds. But birds had a certain magic about them that she didn’t really understand. The gravity thing had been metaphorical though, and just because birds could float around in the sky, like the assholes they were, didn’t mean her gravity metaphor was wrong. She really hated birds. Much more than she hated humans, but at the same time it wasn’t like there were any birds that were giving her catnip and molesting her, all while lecturing her about nonsense like this. Mostly all birds did that annoyed her was their flying around and how they sometimes would let their poop fall on her, which was terrible when that happened.

“But what if I don’t want to kill you? What I want you to follow me? Listen to me? What if I want you to obey? Is it simply a matter of proving I’m stronger?” He would ask his tone searching. He wouldn’t kill her, he didn’t want that. He wanted her to understand, and if the only way to do that was through physical force, than it was simply the way it had to be. He would make her understand, he would be prepared to move the moment she gave her answer. His body tensed to spring into motion. The tension would be obvious to anyone watching and he would begin taking calm, deep breathes. He wouldn’t enjoy this, but it was necessary. Besides, it was getting late, and he really needed to get on with his mission soon.

He’d calm his mind, letting the adrenaline of potentially incoming combat fill him. He wouldn’t let his wandering thoughts to cloud his decision. Leaf Stance, into whirlwhind, or gale. Depends on how she responds to the stance. That should be more than enough to ‘assert my dominance’ he would think to himself with a mental sneer at the very idea. But if this was what it took to get through to the cat girl, then fine.

She would just roll her eyes at the questions that he asked. There was no point responding anymore. Ikomiki gave up. If he didn’t understand then he never would. This was a waste of time. It was just like with Doctor Naji. A waste of time. It didn’t matter if she was right or wrong, as long as the most powerful person in the room was delusional it would just be like beating your head against a brick wall. She was half convinced to just leave at this point, although with how he had been she was guessing that Shinsui would just follow her.

“You really are stupid, aren’t you?” It was the only thing she would say in response, giving him an unamused sideways glance. Her tail would flicker back and forth behind her, curling as it swayed in a clearly agitated motion. There wasn’t much she could say, but this had been true from the very beginning. Nothing she said mattered. Nothing he said mattered. Talking was a waste of time. That’s how it always was. That’s how it always would be. As much as Shinsui tried, he would never be able to understand her, and the same was true for her understanding him. They way they thought was too fundamentally different for any sort of verbal understanding. The rebounding off each other, both speaking in circles without the words ever reaching each other, was just an inevitable part of this barrier of understanding.

‘That’s it’ He would think as she answered and he fell smoothly into a stance, his body ready to spring. He’d give her a moment to notice it before springing into action. Leaf Great Whirlwind, a series of kicks with brutal damage attached to them. First the low kick, which would hopefully sweep her off the ground to meet the second kick that would slam into her gut. Next the last kick would crack into her head, completing the three set ups assaults before he used the momentum of the last kick to spin into a heel drop that would be aimed directly for the same bruise she’d received yesterday. The blow would be brutal enough on it’s own, but he’d work to make sure the damage was pulled so she wouldn’t get knocked out. He didn’t want to maim, kill, or make her unconscious. He wanted her to listen, he wanted her to not question him, ever again. If he had to redemonstrate the strength necessary to make her listen, then fine.

Once the assault was done, if it landed, he would stand, over her in particular and stare down at her. “Now get the hell up, we’ll going on this mission. We’re going to maim, beat, and kill the bandits down this road before returning, and you’re going to start putting in an effort to understand humans.” He would say “Because I’ll put the same effort into understanding you, and I’ll keep proving that working to do both makes you stronger.” He would say spitting to the side into the grass before stepping back and giving her the chance to get back up.