Linking Bonds : Heroes [Open to Heroes]

Mekura smiled back at her not one of compassion but rather of genuine happiness. He wasn't exactly happy with fighting, but this was just a friendly spar between two people who were all but lovers. He smiled, his white hair flying in front of his eyes as he closed them, thinking. Bringing his hand up to his mouth he coughed, opening his eyes slowly. "Well then," he began, "dare I say we should begin?" As though it were a domino effect rather than a reaction to his own words, he pushed off his right arm and spun his body, landing in a semi-awkward pose and pushing back up to flip his body backwards, drawing his sword from its sheathe while he was airborne, landing in his fighting stance. While they were on the beach and thus each offered the other a chance to fight dirty, they both trusted the other to play it cleanly. Mekura's gaze went from his nonchalant relaxation to a stern, attentive face, paying attention to her movements to see if he could predict her reactions. What he had already done was just within a split second, and as he landed wavering his sword with his left hand, he slid in the sands. Though his feet were clothed, he could all but feel the grits of sand running freely between his toes, his mouth watering not at the thought of food and digestions as a normal person would, but rather at the raw thought of an imminent battle. That peace that Shiri had so longed for, so very much desired...

It was her fault it was being broken. And, if he did anything without being able to hold back... then, that was her fault, too.

As the sun began its final descent upon the world and sank into the abyss shattering the passionate blaze of the sunset, Mekura crouched and dashed, beginning his descent upon Shiri. He would not hurt her, as he wouldn't know what to do with himself if he did, but rather he would do just enough damage to win the spar. Their last battle had been won by him, as had the first, but the one in between had been her victory. Her only victory... Mekura thought to himself. He had blocked out the reason for her victory from his mind to make himself feel somewhat better, as it was a totally fair victory on her part. As he neared her, his left eye twitched and he spun his body, throwing one hand into the sand to stop himself instantly while his body spun around it and thrust out his right leg to kick her from his swinging position; he had put quite a bit of force into the blow, but he was aiming it at a spot that she could both block and dodge, or if she was paying a bit more attention counter with. Then again, Mekura was the more acrobatic of the two, so her not seeing the brilliant opportunity to counter him. His eyes closed and his body swung fluently, lashing out at her with a good amount of force that would hit and damage her, but not hurt her.

To say that he "forgot" she was a ninja would be to fabricate. Rather, he was making sure that her agility and dexterity were still at the top of her game, and as she dodged his blow and countered swiftly and deftly, jumping away to make sure there was a bit of a distance between the two of them. Mekura finished his swing and threw his sword into the air, pushing his other hand into the ground and spinning on both of them, pushing off them and jumping back to his feet, throwing his hand out to catch the blade as its hilt fell into his grasping range. A smile crept up on his face as he knew the both of them were thinking about the same thing; fighting was kind of pointless, but it was always fun with this one. He shook his head to change himself from the thought and, as his eye twitched again, he stood to think. Nodding ever slightly and looking to the side, unconsciously biting his lip, Mekura took the sword and threw it, impaling the ground and sticking out of it. He looked over at Shiri and nodded, getting into a hand-to-hand stance. She was free to use her shuriken, since he could heal instantaneously, but she could not. So, he would not use his weapon. He crouched and pounced upon her, pulling his fist back and pushing it forward towards his stomach with force equal to that of the kick he had just done.

Mekura had figured something of this sort was to be expected, but the specific manner in which she had done what she had done caused Mekura to be able feel the blood rushing to his face as it turned a shade of red not unlike that of the vivid scarlette ribbon in her hair. He felt her legs wrap around his waist and squeeze in pulling him towards her, as he saw her hands recover one of her shuriken. Knowing what she planned and not allowing this spar to be over quite so easily, Mekura threw his fist out towards an empty spot next to her head, landing in the sand and sprinkling a very small amount onto the side of her face, though none went into her eyes. His left arm swung from underneath him to swing his whole body out of her grasp, to no avail. His hand slipped from the sand, both elbows ending up being what he landed on as he felt the shuriken press against his neck. His face became hotter, eyes quivering as he stared at her. They were tied now, but he was still able to feel the few beads of sweat coming off of his forehead, and he was able to see the few coming off of hers. Leaning more on his left arm than his elbow, he used his right hand to gently brush against her face, wiping the sand off. Staring at her, he leaned closer to her and ever so softly pressed his lips together with her own, closing his eyes as he did so and tilting his head a little to the right. Unconsciously, he had just kissed her.

...And he still was.

The snap of an instant in which the thought had crept its way into Mekura's mind was inversely proportional to how long it felt like the two connected with their kiss. Mekura, who's eyes were closed, will unaware of what he was even doing at the moment. Opening his eyes with their lips still touching together softly, he almost fainted at the realization of their kiss. He looked at her, not daring to pull away, and saw her eyes were still closed; thus, he did the same. The right arm which had previously wiped the grains of sand from her face was brought back towards it, lightly brushing her cheek as he began to intertwine his fingers with the strands of hair that fell from her imperfect tie. And yet, even though his eyes were closed, Mekura could still see her soft amethyst eyes staring at him with her soft smile, a tongue wiggling out of her mouth to taunt him. It was a scene back when they first realized what good friends they were, and back when his stomach had first started feeling awkward around her. Though he'd never tell, it was almost as if there were butterflies flapping around trying to get out. Seeing as how he was what he was, he could not define the feeling and give it an emotion, so he did his best to conceal it. Though now, at the moment of their first kiss, the butterfly-feeling increased tenfold. He let his hand drift down her cheek and softly stroking her neck, tracing her shoulder and arm all the way down until he reached her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers.

That soft sound which escaped her lips into his caused his eyes to open once more as he looked at her, just beginning to pull away from her warm body as she shoved him off into the sand. He watched her struggle to get to her feet as she ran to the salty water, falling to her knees and staring at the water. Mekura was the shakiness of her body, the tremble of her shoulders as he rose to his own feet. He slowly began to walk to her as he reached out, his hand curling into itself. His eyes glazed over, his eyelids closing to protect them as he fell into the sand, falling unconscious with his feint. He hadn't even realized what he'd done and yet it could have cost him his entire friendship with the person whom he was in love with without realizing what love actually was. As he hit the ground, his body shook a few short vibrations with the wind, reaching out towards Shiri once more before his face fell in towards the sand, unknowing what to do or how to respond to what he had done.

As the morning light pierced the eyelids of the young boy, he slowly opened them, his pupils dilating as the light became steadily brighter. He relaxed his muscles, unaware of how he was currently positioned as he watched the sun rise into the sky, dawning a new day. He didn't remember falling asleep. He didn't remember last night. In fact, he didn't remember yesterday at all. Shifting his body, it was only now that he felt another's breathing. steady and gentle. Blinking, he shifted his head and looked up to see whom it was when he saw Shiri's soft sleeping face. At this time he was able to realize he was basically cuddling her as his body was half wrapped around hers. What the hell happened last night? He got up, looking at her and saw his sword not that far away, as though he himself had placed it where it was for easy access if anything should happen while they slept together. His just stared, blinking, unaware of what to say or do, debating whether to wake her up or not. He really didn't know what to do.

The boy's face was dumbfounded. The gentle touch of her hand and the warmth just overcame him. His left eye twitched and he closed them, flipping his body and just about to reach for the sword when he realized who it was. Standing up straight, he noticed how the sand had been brushed from his body without his own having even to do anything. He turned, facing the leader of the heroes. Though he was the "leader," leadership status was basically split between the three of them. Mekura was the fighting, Shiri the 'you do this, you do that', and Jinzō just had that raw leadership build. Mekura watched as Shiri walked towards the other man who had approached without his even noticing. He saw her begin to sing and take in the rays of the sun. He felt blood rush to his face and it began to get a little hot, though he couldn't tell why. His eye twitched again and he responded by picking up his sword and spinning, facing the cliff where there was a person coming down. He waited to see if this person would attack them, just because he wasn't sure who it was from this distance.