It's A Revolution, I Suppose [T|I]

[Deleted]

[0 | 10]

"I can help you practice your swordsmanship later, sis."

"Whatever, brother, just hurry up."

Kaede gave a rueful sigh, seeing the way his sister held herself with bunched muscles and a snarl of the teeth; she was not impressed. The male twin knew that his sister thought any sort of fighting that did not involve killing weapons to be unworthy, and it was most definitely only because it was him that she did not show the advantages of bladed weaponry merely at the suggestion that she should help him practice his unarmed combat. But it was Kaede, and so Katsumi stood, merely dissatisfied, twin swords at the ready. She huffed a bit of hair out of her eyes.

"Feel free to dodge, or block. Just don't cut anything off of me." Kaede requested. Katsumi looked confused. "I wouldn't cut anything off you." She retaliated, sounding mildly hurt. Kaede just laughed in his musical way, before he got into his own stance; even though he was preparing to train, he still had his bulky cloak wrapped around him, for the air was chilled. The scuffed dirt of the communal training ground had been abandoned for the evening, but the twins had no curfews, no warm family or bed to return to. It was actually usually around this time that they used public facilities; less chance Katsumi could cause a potentially violent uproar, that way.

With a preparatory nod, Kaede's smile died away; combat always sobered the boy quite well. He began charging forward, his standard-edition ninja sandals scratching up hard dirt as he exerted the powerful forward momentum of a goutetsu practitioner, attempting to glean an even greater amount of speed from his pelting strides than usual, for the maneuver he was testing on the adept target of his sister was based around a raw use of momentum to lend strength to a simple forward slide. It was a basic idea, but the boy thought it would be useful to have such a motion practiced in case he ever needed to duck under an opponent's ward but fluently continue to attack in the same motion.

Which is rather what he did. The boy closed in, his sister watching him with increasingly suspicious eyes, awaiting a leap or jump that was customary in all of Kaede's petty fighting style. When it never came she took a step back, but as the boy charging at her was one of only two individuals in the world she could have said she truly cared for, she did not attempt to shred him to bits with her sword waves once he got within the 'too-close-for-comfort' zone, instead waiting warily on his attack.

When Kaede reached about four meters out his assault began in earnest. He let his weight drop, tilting his chest backwards and compacting himself downward, his arms hovering so as to keep him relatively stable as he fluidly transferred his body down to the ground. In addition with lowering his form, Kaede also tipped it to the left a tad, his coinciding leg contracting in towards his hip a little ways as his right leg was allowed to lead. His left arm dropped behind him also, catching at the dirt around the time his boots began to grate the ground at the heel, causing the boy to trail dust in his wake.

The drop was quite sudden; Kaede made sure not to brake with his extended hand, and simply let the momentum carry him forward with speed. His target was his sister's lower legs, unfortunately bared to the cold. No human being was anywhere near as formidable without their footing. As the male twin zoomed in, his counterpart reacted, seeing the motion but being momentarily unsure how to counter it; a simply forward slide was... odd, to say the least. Still, she managed to dodge rather efficiently.

Kaede was close to his target, now a low spearhead instead of a charging warrior, when Katsumi finally made her move, pivoting expertly off of her left foot, the one that was usually subordinate. She spun backwards and let herself fly sideways off the turn, clear of Kaede's low skid. The boy grated across the ground past his initial target for a good couple of meters before he slowed down enough to easily come to his feet, which he did so by turning into his extended hand and using it as a spring to launch and spiral off of, coming up to face his sister, his brown coat imperceptibly covered in dust.

He grinned at her, hoping to have impressed the girl, but she shook her head dismissively. "You didn't even get close." She stated flatly, to which the brother simply laughed again.[/ul][/size][/justify]

[Umehara]

Phail.

+10

[Deleted]

[0 | 10]

Kaede's peals of laughter rang for some time into the fast-approaching night. Katsumi rolled her eyes at her brother's antics, thinking it foolish that he could celebrate without success; it was utterly pointless, and it almost seemed an insult to her. She was only a few paces away, and when Kaede finally stopped, she met him with an abrasive look. "What are you so happy about, brother?" She half-inquired, half-demanded. The grin did not leave his face. "You're funny, sis." Was the completely unsatisfactory answer to her question, but Katsumi could not help feeling just a little abated, though this hardly showed outwardly.

"Whatever. Is that all you have?"

His amused brown gaze rested on hers. "Hardly." He informed her, before making a show of bracing himself for another attack, dropping into a pre-sprint pose, his eyes sharpening. She took the cue, and mirrored him somewhat, though her stance was far more defensive.

Kaede's next closing of the gap was not nearly as tiresome nor momentum-building, for his next technique did not require nearly as much residual forward force to use effectively. No, the three steps he took inward were swift, indeed, but their placement was careful; in his mind, before it even occurred, he played out the technique, keeping his eyes riveted on her no matter how his body wavered - and waver it did, stepping side to side as he closed, genuinely trying to catch his sister off-guard; he did not wish to hurt her, but he did wish to gain her respect, one thing he did not have.

Odd, that. How he had her love and devotion, but not her respect.

Still, with any luck that would change; the boy had been pushing his body to the limit over the past months, trying to gain on his sister's undeniable superior speed and strength, which came from he knew not where. When the third step hit the floor, at which point he was well within slashing distance of his sister's two vicious, bloodthirsty blades, Kaede made a special effort of actually grounding himself with it, creating a robust foundation upon which his further technique could build off of.

The foot that anchored was the right; Kaede's whole body bunched slightly inward, but only for a fraction of a second; next, his left leg was ducked in under him slightly, brought up towards his hip as he rolled his right side around, twisting it with a balance of celerity and solidarity. It was the kick that was the true beast, however; what Kaede lacked in razor edges and strength, he made up for in lightning quickness and agility, a manipulation and elasticity of the body that the female counterpart, perhaps ironically, could not match.

It lashed upward diagonally across the face of Katsumi's chest, equal parts sailing whip and cutting scythe. The girl's response was, again, not elaborate, but it did have to be quite focused to deal with the brother's growing proficiency; the flat of her outer blade quickly came across to misguide the kick off over her shoulder, which she was quick to move aside also, stepping to the left and away. Still, Kaede's kick cut the air with a power, the rush of wind audible in the girl's ears. The dull clang! of her sword against the surprisingly solid surface of his locked leg muscles was a little alarming to the girl, even if that was only betrayed by her obstinately uncompromising outer shell for only a second.

But the boy caught it. As his whole body came to a stop, counterweight arms finishing their own respective arcs and his leg extending to its maximum - without risk of injury - he grinned at her from past his leg, which he lowered with a reverse twist of the hip. She scowled, but said nothing, merely took a pace backwards, transferring her stance so she faced him side-on, one sword point diagonally outward.

'You'll have to do better than that.'[/color] The hardness of her eyes told him.

'I know.' He replied, warmly, still hinting at a smile.[/ul][/size][/justify]

[Draven]

Learned

[Deleted]

[0 | 20]

Never had Kaede quested for anything but the ability to protect his sister all the more, really. Katsumi had her own reasons; she had wished, since the day she was born impoverished, to prove to the world that she was stronger and more deserving than any of them, and that their comfort made them pathetic. Kaede’s reasons were a little simpler, a little less chaotic. She was all he had, and he wanted to keep her safe. This did not, of course, mean that he minded being playfully aggressive towards her if it meant that… well, that she understood.

So when she turned side on to him, challenging and defiant, it only increased his desire to prove himself. In fact, he thought that perhaps she could do with being just a little embarrassed – shown up, as it were, and there were few better ways to humiliate an opponent than to take them down with a grapple attack. Kaede had briefly studied the art of grappling from the window of a dojo in town, with all the other students being given personal, paid lessons – but Kaede did not need that, for he had his mind. In the seconds that his gentle eyes contemplated his sister, Kaede tried to recall what he had seen.

Contrary to what one might immediately suspect, strength was not the primary requirement for a successful grabbing attack; no indeed, it was perhaps more about the technique than the most artful of kicks; its true spring was the understanding of the human body – that and physics. It was perhaps a little unfair that Katsumi was his opponent, in that case – he spent every moment of his life near her, and so he knew most every tiny little niche of her physique and its subsequent calculations, and his rather mathematical moment worked over these figures for a moment as his gaze flickered from place to place upon her.

She was strong at the arms, he knew; all that sword-swinging had leant a muscular structure to the girl, though she still seemed to remain rather feminine, or at least appeared to be while clothed. Still, her legs were weaker; Kaede knew this was where he trumped his sister; below the torso. Well, and perhaps in the head, but he enjoyed the girl’s thinking; most thought of Katsumi as stupid, but he had seen her improvise master plans on the spur of the moment, or find the perfect escape route from any situation whenever it was needed of her. In any event, Kaede knew one thing was certain; if he could manage to heft the top portion of her over the halfway point of his intended grab, he would utterly have her finished.

This strange and utterly seen display made the girl feel something close to self-conscious, and she shifted uncomfortably in her stance. ”Brother, what are y-“ She had begun to ask, but by this time her counterpart was already moving, stepping in with a motion that was more infiltrating than ever his previous two charges. It was slicker, somehow, better angled; like he was exploiting a blind spot Katsumi never knew she had. He moved to the inside of her stance, dodging the left-hand sword she presented to him. She swatted at him with the flat of her blade, but he easily parried it with his leading forearm.

Which was not entirely fair and just showed how blades would always win in a real fight, but that was a story for another day; or, more precisely, later that day. He had bypassed her block, and she could only dread what would happen next. The girl had a feeling that Kaede had a little more vengeance – even if it was good-humoured vengeance – in him than most people might suspect. In those brief instants that seemed very long, where Katsumi knew she had been caught out, as they often did, the twins found each other’s eyes.

’Gotcha, sis.’

And he reached out and snagged her by the shirt. [/ul][/size][/justify]

[Deleted]

[0 | 20]

The boy was able to grip easily at the collar fabric of his twin's black seifuku. Even though Kaede did not like to live by any sort of violence, and dreaded seeing his sister sincerely hurt or upset, his grasp was firm and well-established; it had intent behind it. His right foot - the inner leg, one closest to his sister - stepped forward and down solidly, the anchor. Because of Katsumi's sideways stance, the male twin's left arm had to extend back further, the grip thus further away from the body and weaker, but it was a problem easily rectified. All in good time.

His second foot came in, scraping across the moon-blessed dirt, almost equalizing with the first. It was as he did this that he performed the first, preparatory step of the full grapple, dragging his left arm in and causing Katsumi to face him full on - quite without volunteering, as well. The female twin could sometimes forget that just because her brother was weak, it did not make him powerless, and he was taking full advantage of this demonstration of such, pulling her with quite the vehemence and authority.

There was a momentary pause, then, as the foundations were laid and momentarily admired by the laws of physics. In other words, Kaede took a moment to drudge up all the power needed for the next part of the technique - the actual part, really. With a grunt, his eyes were lost to the girl behind his tussled dark brown hair as he turned away from her as he pulled away and down - an impersonal gesture, and one that was just a little scary, which, though the throw he then performed was powerful, did not frighten the girl nearly as much.

Kaede heaved his momentum downwards, towards the earth behind him, rolling sideways and never once relaxing the iron grip on his sibling's collar. In fact, in order to perform the technique in full he had to twist right around, a pivot on the ball of his foot that was quite the effort while he was dragging his sword-wielding sister with him - he hoped her two swords would not somehow end up protruding through any of his vital organs, but that was a fear he had to cast aside. The second part of the calculation was, of course, how to actually handle the weight of Katsumi, a difficulty in itself.

In crude description, and one of a metaphor Katsumi was sure to use in an indignant tone in the future, Kaede effectively hauled her over his shoulder like a sack, an utterly unsavory treatment of one such as Katsumi, she would be sure to remind him. But the throw did not end there, not even as she was hefted off her feet and came rolling over the boy's back - no, there was more to it than even that. The technique had to flow, and both parties needed somewhere to move to. The issue was, Kaede was meant to be the benefactor of this situation.

As his sister finally came plummeting over his shoulder, lengthways by now, about to hit the ground, he found the way with which he had flung his momentum required release, else he would come crashing down on top of her in a rather unpleasant and, considering there were still two long and lethal blades in this equation somewhere, potentially fatal manner. As such, at around about the instant the girl's back hit the ground and the breath in her lungs escaped her to the freedom of the cold twilight, Kaede was no longer properly anchored to the floor.

Over her he rolled, managing to glimpse past the outstretched blades that now pointed towards the sky, knocking the one that was still firmly clutched in the girl's left hand - she was a swordsman, and not one to lose her weapon so easily. The end result was that he went rolling past her, springing up after only one revolution in that acrobatic manner that he had, twirling around to face her idle, slightly battered form.

Katsumi was pissed off, and she did not feel like giving him the satisfaction of seeing her move in a way that she knew would betray her momentary ache.

"Ow." Was all she said, her description unusually colourless.

Kaede chuckled and placed a slightly abashed hand behind his head, before coming over to her rescue.[/ul][/size][/justify]

[Holy Grail]

10+ .... well this is embarrassing..

20+

[Deleted]

[0 | 10]

The boy leaned down, extending an arm to his grounded sister. She looked away in anger for a moment, before begrudgingly reaching up to take it, gripping both Kaede's hand and the hilt of her sword as she was righted. With her other hand Katsumi momentarily busied herself with brushing herself off, which was entirely pointless as her outfit was never in the most pristine of conditions anyway. By the time she looked up, he was still holding her hand, and still looking at her. She frowned. "What?" She demanded, but did not retract her arm. "You're upset." He said at last, tilting his head a little in disappointment that only Katsumi could have told was more mockery than anything. She looked away. "Am not." She insisted, though it was only half the truth; her back hurt, and her pride was wounded even more. Katsumi was many things, but humble was not amoung them.

With amusement, Kaede brought up her hand that he still held and kissed it lightly. The disturbance, unseen, caused Katsumi great alarm, and she flicked her hand out of his in a hurry, her face darkening in rosy embarrassment. "What the hell!" She charged, but Kaede just threw back his head and laughed in that carefree manner that he had, right within swatting distance...

She swatted at him.

The instant she moved, his eyes came down, completely alert.

'Oh shit.' Katsumi had the awareness to think, even as her arm swung forward.

For Kaede had been awaiting this move. In his mind, he had been formulating a plan, a simple counter against the behaviours of Katsumi that were predictable to only him. The slash was halfhearted, and hopefully with the blunt side of the sword, though that was not a chance that Kaede would take. He did not need to move far from her, or perform anything elaborate or fantastical as goutetsu often entailed - in fact, in comparison the motion was rather simple, though it was still eloquent and with that same acrobatic celerity that carried power at its tip.

As the blade swung down, catching a beam of dull moonlight, Kaede's feet scooted apart slightly, and in an instant he had lowered his center of gravity, bracing himself for the intensely rapid movement to come. Before the sword could reach him, he drove his muscles to whip the left side of his body backward, the side of his person that the stroke was most aiming toward. It was pulled away, swiveling sharply around in a tight arc and away from his sister's antagonized swipe.

He felt vaguely bad for stinging her slightly, but it had been amusing for him to see her flush at the romantic gesture that was so much less than what she had offered him. In truth, he was fairly sure Katsumi felt far more for the amorous side of things than he did, but his abiding nature had proven before to be infinite. Still, it did not mean he would not occasionally use the circumstance to his advantage, and this was one such chance. Her rebuttal sailed past his torso, an extension the girl did not have enough time to retract - but Kaede was still moving, not nearly done with his sister yet.

The revolution continued, and as it did Kaede brought up his elbow, contracting his forearm against his body and pulling it in close by wrapping his opposite hand over the fist of his attacking arm. His two feet danced a step around to Katsumi's left slightly as he twirled, an extension of the movement that brought him even further out of harm's way and towards his opponent's flank. A craft maneuver, overall, and extremely quick.

For the turn ended with a spear-point of the boy's extended elbow, driven hard at Katsumi's face till it was mere centimeters away, at which point Kaede forced himself to a stop, grounding his feet and standing a little taller, no longer requiring such closeness to the ground for his violent twirl. All in all, a whipping turn that brought his jacket ends swirling around to clack against his sides. He had moved like a tornado condensed into a singular second. Katsumi's eyes moved sideways to view the pointed elbow that was now an iota from her head, looking nervous.

Kaede smiled a gentle smile. "You shouldn't swing at me with the sharp edge, sis." He chided, having seen somewhere along the way that she had not had the awareness to flip her blade around to the dulled, inner edge. He was not the least bit offended. Katsumi's teeth were set, and she was tempted to swing again, but of course she would not. They both relaxed in the same moment, to face one another fully. Katsumi's abated gaze said she was sorry, but Kaede would not let the point drop quite so easily. She sighed huffily. "I'm sorry, brother." Kaede needed little more, and he grinned again, extending a hand and bumping her lightly at the shoulder. She smiled a little bit, too.[/ul][/size][/justify]

[Draven]

Learned

[Deleted]

[0 | 20]

"Sis?" Kaede asked, abruptly. Katsumi's little smile faded quickly. "Yeah, brother?" She replied, a little wary. The boy had a knack for drawing headache-inducing thoughts out of even the most lighthearted occasion. "You don't really mind helping me practice, do you?" Came the sudden question, far too somber for Katsumi's liking, but she sighed, bringing herself down to his level. "No. I like you." She answered sincerely and with the same unadulterated honesty that amused the brother so very much. He gave a small, relieved chuckle, before he spoke again.

"I kinda want to try something cool." He informed her, which earned a cocked eyebrow. "Your cool or my cool?" She posed, and he laughed again. "Probably mine." He admitted, and he took her sigh and the slight clinking of her raising her two blades as permission to begin.

The boy was still very close in front of his sister, and decided he would move back in consistent fashion with his style of fighting, if only to keep the flow of the evening going. In another sense, however, it would be good practice; Kaede had always been an acrobatic character, and found a personal little bit of joy in performing all sorts of tricks - back-flips and cartwheels had been forefront in younger days, though he had not found quite as much use for them in combat application. That is, until now.

It was not quite the actual technique, but it was a close association. With a final, parting grin in the direction of Katsumi, Kaede violently tipped gravity back on his upper half, raising his arms up and opening his palms to the sky as he did so. When his whole body had fluently tipped over, his hands planting firmly upon the dirt, her brought his lower half up, and pulled it up as well; for a moment Kaede was upside-down, before he swung fully over himself.

As he was at about a forty-five degree angle in reverse of his original position he pushed off his hands a little bit, launching himself that rather large bit of extra distance - the male twin had strength in his arms as well as his legs - as his body came swinging back down to earth; Kaede righted himself easily, baggy coat flapping heavily down onto him as he came up, settling about him again. The wind of the occasions stirred through his form in the aftermath of his violently fast and athletic display; the whole thing had been rather professional, and it did minutely impress the girl, even if it was still a wimpy action overall.

Kaede grinned his signature grin. "Impressed?" He inquired, to which Katsumi shook her head most vehemently, as though he was being incredibly stupid. "No." She further added, a little bit of forced stubbornness betrayed in her tone. Kaede's expression softened for a moment with the merriment this drew him, before he attempted to give his sister a cursory explanation of what he intended to do, if only to hear the action described out loud.

"I was actually thinking of performing a sort of mid-air back flip, ending in a punch as I fall. The reverse of the momentum should make the attack rather powerful." He hypothesized, and the girl nodded absently, sort of understanding and sort of caring. When it came, she'd deal with it as she saw fit; she didn't need or want any sort of verbal warning, even if she might have used the lack of such in an excuse if she was shown up. Kaede understood this perfectly, but he felt the need to warn her of the occasional plan every so often, just as a courtesy.

Another divide between them that meant nothing.

Smiling at what was vaguely that thought, Kaede looked up towards the cloud-blotted sky, cold and gleaming with moonlight, a breeze swirling through the higher atmosphere. "The greatest issue," He mused, "will be summoning enough power from my jump. A sort of flip must be underway immediately, would be my guess. Sort of an odd idea, but then again -" "The way you fight is always odd." Katsumi finished for him, looking stern. Kaede chuckled in concession, before his eyes truly saw the sky once again.

"And now," He proclaimed, "I think it is time to take flight."[/ul][/size][/justify]

[Deleted]

[0 | 20]
[Post Two]

Katsumi's features looked averse at her brother's insistent poetry that he so seemed to love placing wherever it was even remotely relevant. She was an individual of action, and loathed the sort of careful planning and consideration her brother held dear. "I wish you'd just shut the fuck up and do it, brother." She complained, the idleness of her sword arms becoming bothersome. Without looking away from the sky, Kaede shut his eyes to the evening; a light breeze whispered across the twilight, pulling at the strands of his hair. The boy took a centering breath, physical energy being concentrated all throughout his body, flooding him with ability and strength. He felt it; a calm, meditative power that preceded drastic movement. It was exhilarating. The crispness of the air only added to the instant.

"Of course, sis." He agreed quietly, and it was then that he finally moved. His whole body dropped, legs bunching down as he tipped his torso over as well, coiling down upon himself. The energies that flowed in his body did not falter; rather, they merely snapped and crackled in bursting sparks that leant strength to Kaede’s every radical movement. Katsumi barely noticed that the boy had even moved before he was already launching himself for the air, not letting any residual momentum go to waste.

As he unleashed himself at the knee, springing away from the earth, he flung his upper body in entirely the opposite direction; as such, the boy rose into the air – high, unusually high, even for him, a clear sign of his dedication and effort – and began to flip over backwards, becoming horizontal almost instantaneously. As he moved upward towards the peak of his jump his right arm extended, out above the shoulder in preparation for the final move. Soon after this Kaede was vertical again, though upside down, almost at the summit of his jump.

By this time Katsumi had realized the boy was gone, and her eyes moved upward to see him going end over end mid-flight. She clutched the handles of her blades even tighter, wondering just what it was that her extravagant brother was planning to do. Quickly he again came into view, the rotation all but complete; the drafts of his jump swirled upward in greater intensity for his twirl, and as he hung in mid-air upon the peak of his launch, the boy felt all the winds of his motion swirling up to his upheld arm, gathering about it; for Katsumi the fist was an ominous silhouette, backed with the moon. Kaede could not resist looking just a little bit pleased with himself at the look he saw on his sister’s face.

But then he was falling; his calculations had been correct, and as he came down, the gusts still rather pulling at his once-again-vertically-stable form, he knew he would reach his sister with pinpoint accuracy, if she was not fast enough to dodge. The additional power provided by the jump was a mighty thing, and all the way down Kaede felt it; perhaps he could have sprung with a little more violence and a bit less height, but considering this was an experiment, he reckoned he had done fairly well for himself. Cool night air rushed past his face as the body of his twin grew closer and closer, and soon it would be time to bring his arm down…

The whole motion had been one big swing, really, but it was in the final moments that Kaede’s hand arced downward to cleave at the place where his sister had been; just fast enough, Katsumi had scooted herself backwards a couple of meters to avoid the blow, grinding across the dirt with her boots. Kaede’s right leg hit the ground first, and it hit it hard; but he was able to avoid doing any damage to himself by applying the rather simple mechanics he had ingrained into his form through long hours of practice, transferring the weight up through his body and through his second leg as it touched down, more or less giving all the force back to the earth as his power dispersed, and he alighted upon the ground truly, a mortal once again.[/ul][/size][/justify]

[Umehara]

Learned.