Grasping at the Sky

Chapter 31: Forlorn

They didn't give Korin the chance to react, to speak, to even think. In the span of a moment, the blink of an eye, Kira narrowed her focus blocking out the sounds of the other fights and distant voices, her intent sharpened to that of a blade.

Then they moved.

There were no words, no hand signals, they moved as any ninja unit might after training and working together long enough. True, they hadn't worked as a unit for long; the war had cut into their time working together and then her recovery even more so. Still, it didn't seem to matter. They knew exactly what they needed to do.

Kira bolted forward, the sand under her feet packing tighter in order to let more speed be possible, flipping her weapons to the position she wanted as she quickly closed the gap between Korin and herself. Gaara wouldn't follow her far. In fact, he'd stopped several feet back around the exact moment Korin had stopped reeling from her words and quickly struck out with his blade, whipping it through the air. The blade of wind soared towards her and the sand at her feet bunched and gathered instantly pushing her upwards as she crouched and jumped. The added height from the sand and the momentum it gave her easily saw her dodge the first attacks and she landed again, having to slide across the sand, arching backward to miss the second wind sickle.

As Kira pushed her way back to her feet she spotted sand gathering behind Korin and the rogue must have seen it too as he quickly jumped to the side just as sand spikes reared up, hitting nothing but air where a body had been. Knowing that would be Gaara's first move gave her the advantage and as Korin landed from his jump she swung forward with one tonfa, blade extended to slice through his chest. Her blade cried out as it met the jagged sword that had slipped in for a block and Kira pushed back the wince at the sound before unleashing a flurry of twisting consecutive strikes at her opponent.

Korin blocked them all. Every. Single. One.

He whirled, spinning around and pushing her back with a sudden wind strike, the curling sickle of air blocked by crossed weapons as she skidded backward in the sand. Her arms buzzed with pain, the bones aching from her own weapon's vibrations. As she watched, another torrent of sand shot out from the ground intending on engulfing the man before her.

"Wind Style: Upward Torrent!"

Kira hadn't even seen him make the hand signs, but sure enough, Korin twisted and shot his palm upward, a spiraling blast of air ripping up the sand above him and sending chunks into the sky above as if he'd broken apart a cliff.

It was the perfect opening.

As sand reached out towards the man from the broken wave, he turned his attention to that onslaught and Kira took that moment to step backward into her own shadow. It grabbed her with a gentle pull, dispatching her into the negative world she knew so well, the small portals above shaped to match the sun's casted darkness. She knew what she was looking for, the randomly shaped clumps of sand still falling through the air casting window-sized shadows all around Korin's own. Kira mentally flicked a lock on her prosthetic and leaped upward. She appeared at his five o-clock, the shadowy veil of her power dispelling as Kira jumped forward and swung down at the man's back with her now spike covered leg. She saw him release her attack a moment before it hit, saw him twist to get away, but not fast enough.

It connected, catching him on the left side of his back and sending him crashing down the side of the hill she'd crested at his side under an hour ago. She moved forward a step, stopping her forward momentum and using her chakra threads to click the latch again, the ring of spikes on her leg sinking back into the inner frame. Heart pounding in her ears she let out a breath, glancing at where her former teacher had disappeared down the hill.