A training spot at the outskirts of Amegakure [Yoshiko and Matsu only..ask if you feel desperate to enter.]

The rain hadn't really ceased at all since the day before, so the two persons that walked through the village side by side were done even trying to evade the many puddles that were in their path. The splatters that echoed from under their feet seemed to echo in their ears, the cold water tracing all over them. Their clothes were already a little muddy, along with being wet and clinging to them. Well..Amegakure was the Rain Village after all, so of course one wouldn't really be expecting sun and clear skies. Yoshiko had kind of missed this feeling of raindrops on her skin.. somehow they seemed different in this area than in other places. Glancing to her side, she just now noticed that Matsu was still not wearing anything to cover his upper body and that made her wonder if he didn't feel cold at all. Meh... I guess he has grown accustomed to this... endless damp cold here. He still hadn't questioned her about where they were going, and she felt quite glad about that. It had been a long while since she had gone to that spot, and so she had to actually try hard in order to remember the right path.

After being done walking past a couple of buildings, she took a turn to the left and went through a rather long alley before taking a turn to the right and keep walking past more buildings. To right here... and then .. straight ahead. Her feet made almost no sound, except from when they stepped into shallow puddles. Everywhere around them were dripping sounds heard as the water from the rain ran lazily down the roofs of the buildings and trickled down onto the ground, those sounds sounding somewhat as a mild symphony in Yoshiko's ears. The urge to stand still and raise her arms to the sky in the manner to embrace this wild power of the nature, before sticking her tongue out and try to catch the fresh rain, caught Yoshiko. She however did not do so, as they were here for a much more serious and important business.

It was troubling her somewhat though to think of how to exactly train with him. She had never done that... she had only been taught by others... surpassed them.. and then moved on. These things called team work... compassion... trust.. they were just somewhat of a foreign language and a foreign feeling to her. To hold back against someone was something she hoped she'd be able to acquire soon enough. As even if she was sure that Matsu was a strong man and a strong ninja, then he was not at her level. She had fought enough through her life, encountered enough of other opponents to just be able to see it. Perhaps I will be able to become somewhat of a ...teacher .. to him. That thought was a little tempting to be frank. It had that sense to it of helping someone out, to not only have to live this brutal life of taking what you can and then killing whomever was holding the secret of what you had taken.

An hour had passed of walking as they finally stood at the place she had had in mind. It was somewhat hidden about 50 meters behind the last houses of the village, a spot that wasn't too big and yet not too small... just the perfect size for anyone that wished to be left alone with his or hers training. Big rocks surrounded them, along with smaller ones. Some of them were broken, others were seemingly slashed in half.. all that was something which had happened in some training Yoshiko had been doing here. I wonder if he will like this place... It held that special touch of being .. isolated from others. It was quiet there, peaceful. Even if the surroundings might seem cold...without any personal feeling to them, then this was still the perfect place to be training in or sparring. There was a big puddle forming almost in the middle of it, and as Yoshiko stepped into it she noted that it barely reached her to her ankles now but would probably be reaching higher as time would pass.

Now turning towards the young man she had lead with her here, Yoshiko lifted the katana which she had been holding the whole way. The black blade almost touched her cheek as she very gently, gracefully, let it slide through the air before with a swift movement she swung it down to her side and let the razor sharp tip kiss the ground. Her light brown hair was smeared down against her face, framing it perfectly. It's heavy locks spilled down her back and over her narrow shoulders, over the wet fabric of her jacket. Her purple eye stared at him, small drops of the rain trailing down her smooth cheeks while even smaller ones were clinging to her thick eyelashes. No word was said, as she slowly put her right foot a little back to get a better grounding. No word was really needed to be said as she twisted her hand slightly, making the razor sharp edge of the katana turn upwards. Now was Matsu ready? She would be waiting to see what he did, if he wanted to attack then she would defend.. if he wouldn't do anything then she would attack and see how his defense was.

Drip. Drip. Drip. That was the only sound that could be heard anywhere near the two people who made their way through the pouring rain. The taller of the two strode gracefully through the puddles, moving with the ease of a practiced swordsman. His loping stride gave off the impression of a wolf walking slowly towards its prey. Normal people would probaly cower away from the man, seeing how his lazy, expressionless face gave away nothing at all about what he was thinking. This was intimidating for most people, but no for the woman who walked a little ahead of him. She was much shorter than the man, barely reaching his chest. Most would see this as odd, a man and woman walking through the streets of the village while rain beat down upon their heads and in the case of the man, his bare chest also. But it seemed as if they didn't mind it much. People looking out of their windows thought the pair were crazy. They wouldn't have been caught out in this weather if they had been forced to. The citizens of Amegakure were content to rest inside until this storm passed. Only a select few of die hards still littered the streets, doing a bit of early morning shopping.

Matsu, the tall man, rested his hand against the sword hilt that rested on his hip and yawned. The thought of asking Yoshiko where they were heading crossed his mind once or twice but he just pushed the idea down. She seemed intent on leading them to a spot she knew about and the man figured it was a good enough spot to train even though he had yet to lay eyes on it. His eyes shifted from side to side, keeping a watchful eye out on both sides of the street. Being trained as a Shinobi had its benefits, although he didn't really view himself as one anymore. From the way he saw things he was a swordsman and that was what he had become since he left his village behind. The title of Shinobi was something that ninja of a village were called and it was the last step in cutting his ties with Kumogakure by dropping that title. Shaking his head quickly, Matsu allowed his mind to return to the present. They were turning down an alley now and he didn't want to drift off again and trip over an unsuspecting trash can.

Cold water from the buildings above rain off the roof and splashed over the top of Matsu's head. The man sputtered and groaned as the water sent a chill through his body. Although he had grown accustomed to the coldness he hadn't been expecting that. Such a huge amount of water crashing down on his head at once had almost caused him to lose his breath but not quite. Shaking his head violently from side to side, the man let the water fly every which way. Grinning to himself, he kept walking and wondered why he always became so happy when in the rain. It probaly had something to do with his home village, Kirigakure, a place he had never visited but wanted to travel to one day. Maybe he could talk Yoshiko into going with him when he finally did. Smiling at that idea, he kept close on the womans heels as they exited the alley.

Matsu had no clue how much time had passed when they finally reached the spot Yoshiko had led them to. It was a good fifty meters from the last house and had enough trees surrounding it so that they wouldn't be seen from the houses. Scattered around the area were boulders, some of them cut clean in half. Matsu walked to the center of the training area and turned around in a full circle. It was a good enough place for them to train. They had all the privacy they needed and there was a small very small chance of anyone interrupting them. Looking over at the woman lazily as she drew her sword, Matsu nooded his head and drew his own blade. Sliding into a stance that would allow him to counter attack easily, he waited for the woman to make the first strike. His style didn't rely on offense. It was more based around using his agility to counter attack his opponent. He wonder if the woman would be able to keep up with him. It was obvious that she was strong, but he wasn't sure how strong. He was pretty excited to find out.

For just a few seconds there was a pause, the only sounds heard were their breathing and the raindrops splattering down on the ground and in the puddles. These few seconds seemed like long minutes though, as the two just stared at each other and let nothing disturb their concentration. He wishes for me to make the first move... alright then. Letting her eye avert his face just slightly, she made a note of the big boulders behind him, the broken branches on the ground next to his left side. If they were in a real fight, she would use a water jutsu right away since they were standing in a puddle. But this was not a fight where one was trying to win immediately, this was a spar that was going to be used to allow them to measure up each other's strength. Get to know each other through the weapons. For now, she wouldn't be using both her eyes. It was only at real life and death situations when Yoshiko had to resort in using the eyesight for both eyes, and it was then usually when she was using her clan's bloodlimit. He's a rather big fellow, but if he has been training with a sword then that might be a hint of him being more agile than one would think at first. She knew not to underestimate her opponents or make any dangerous assumptions about them, it was all about attacking and see how they would respond to it.

Her clothing was completely drenched, sticking to her body, while her hair felt heavy against her shoulders and back. Glancing at his footwork, she saw he was probably ready to counter most things, as he had a good stance and it was not easy to make out an opening. Well here goes.. The grip on the hilt of her black-bladed katana got tighter as with a swift movement Yoshiko had broken out on a run. She still only held her deadly weapon with her right hand, while her other was free. It seemed like she was going to attack him straight on, but at the last second just before her katana got into range with Matsu, Yoshiko had put her left hand into the pouch on her hip and grabbed out 3 shurikens which she threw right at Matsu's chest area before she put more speed in her feet while jumping to the side as she spun on her heel, grabbed the hilt of her katana with both her hands and thrust it out. The stabbing move meant for Matsu's left side.

Her feet dug into the ground as she used her body to support the thrusting of the katana. Her attack was not at her full strength though, as she knew Matsu was probably not in her own rank. The speed and strength would be at a Jounin rank (A rank), as she was trying to figure out how to spar for the first time -without- killing. The ground felt slightly loose under her feet, the water that had gotten splashed into the air as she had been running was settling down now. If he was a earth jutsu user, he could think he would get the upper hand, but Yoshiko was pretty confident as they were both in her dominant element. The water.

Rain splattered down onto the bare chest of Matsu. The man's eyes travelled around him, taking in every thing he could possibly use to his advantage. Boulders were strewn everywhere around the area so he could maybe use those for extra leverage to get higher if he had to dodge an attack. They could also be used to duck behind to use as cover from any jutsu that the girl used. Clearing his mind quickly and allowing his chakra to flow through his body to soothe himself, Matsu focused on a single flame in his mind. He put all his emotions into it, his fear, anger, happiness, even the slight nervousness that always came over him before a fight. The only thing that was left was emptiness. Everything around him was magnified, he could hear every rain drop hitting the puddle that they stood in. There was a rabbit cowering in it's burrow in the forest off to the right and Matsu could hear the small shivers of it. This all happened in a matter of seconds.

His eyes caught the movement of the woman's feet as she moved towards him. Raising a brow as her hand disappeared into her pouch, he readied himself for some type of attack. Three shuriken sped towards him, thrown with excellent accuracy at his chest. Slicing his blade at the shuriken, the three projectiles met his katana in a shower of sparks. His blade carried on after deflecting the weapons towards Yoshiko. He jumped back while swinging, so as to avoid her attack and possibly get a hit in at the same time. Reaching into his puch quickly, the man drew a kunai in his left hand just incase he had to deflect an attack coming at him while his right hand was busy.

Matsu was impressed with her skill with a sword so far but knew that the girl would have to do better to get a hit on him. He hadn't been training with a katana for so long just so he could be defeated by the first person that he fought with it. Keeping a calm face was his trademark in battle and was what usually caused his opponent to become nervous. Most expected him to show some anger or fear but he never showed any. It was what he called the emptiness and was what saved him most times in fights.

Spoiler:

Her body felt completely relaxed, however weird that sounded while in the middle of a spar. It was thanks to those years of training in which Yoshiko had learned to move without making any unnecessary moves or moves that would be stiff. At the corner of her eye, she saw that he deflected the shuriken with ease, just as she would have expected him to. Now the man jumped backwards away from her thrusting move, while he at the same time swung his blade in her direction in a hope to either catch her off guard or possibly get a hit in. Yoshiko admitted to herself that he moved very well and just from this short period that consisted of her first attack, she could already see that he was someone that would strive high in the art of kenjutsu. By watching his body movements, how he carried himself with that sword of his. It seems like I can't very well determine his rank just by this, so how about we speed things up a bit. Her body moved with it's natural agility as she was thinking about this, her upper body bending backwards as she dodged the swinging blade of Matsu before she was up again in a natural stance in just a split of a second.

Now she ducked down, making a sweep at Matsu's legs with her right one as while she was moving, her other hand went to her back and grabbed the sheathe that had been tied there. With a certain movement and a powerful pull, she had it freed from her back, as she was now holding onto it in her left hand while her right hand held the hilt of her katana. This happened as she was still swiping at his feet, her moves flowing along with each other. Yoshiko twisted her body slightly, turning into the sweep as it was about to connect to Matsu's feet, before she made a thrust upwards, with the sheathe in her left hand, that was aimed at his hand which held the kunai. She twisted her right wrist while that other thrust was in the progress, letting her katana move upwards in a slash.

Now she would see if he would rely on trying to counter her with brute strength and speed, or if he would jump out of the way of her attacks and let her yet again make a move towards him. This whole sparring thing was actually... quite fun for Yoshiko, and she was surprised as she admitted that to herself.