A Bad Idea

Sylvan yawns, and rolls out of bed. Her mind is still groggy, but she was up bright and early. Well, bright would be in the immediate future, anyways. The two halves of the coin stir, and check over their knowledge of today's events. Today was a day they had to go to class. This annoyed them both, since it meant they had to be around people. While they could handle short bursts, prolonged contact tended to make them a little bit stir crazy. Both minds groaned internally, and tried to remember what else they were going to do today. "Hmmm... Ah. I was going to ask Iku about sparring in the woods." "You... What?! Why?!" "... Reasons..." "Sister! We barely know her, and I doubt she cares about us in any capacity!" "exactly!" "Why are you so fixated on her?! This will all end in broken bones!"
while the two began arguing, Sylvan trudged into the bathroom and began brushing her teeth. Looking up into the mirror, she regarded her lilac eyes staring back at her. No visible twigs in her hair, but she should still get a shower. Wrenching the knob to the right as she drops she drops the clothes in a basket in the corner, Sylvan steps into the spray of water. Meanwhile, her minds continued arguing.
"This is a bad idea!" "Don't care, I'm doing it anyways." "WHY?! This will serve no purpose except getting us beaten into the dust!" "Oh? She might not notice us, she certainly didn't the first time we met." "That won't happen again and you know it!" "We might be stronger than her." "Her Sharingan will even those odds. And we won't be able to use our Genjutsu against her, which is how we beat Nathan!" "You remember his name?" "Yes! And stop trying to change the subject!" "Look, this is happening alright? Deal with it." "Hmph. I'm guessing this is that pride thing you talked about?" "Shut up." "Yeah, that's what I thought. Here's to hoping she doesn't kill us."
The argument subsides as the school building comes into view.
Sylvan, or more accurately, The Dark Thing, carried in the pocket of her scroll a small note, which she intended to hand to Iku during class. She wanted to spar. The Girl, for her part, was trying to get her to forget the idea and go about the day normally. She was having no success thus far. Why her big sister had such a fixation on the Uchiha girl, she didn't get. Her hope was that Iku would refuse. She didn't think it was very likely, but she hoped.
As usual, Sylvan ran through the halls, smelling less like a forest than she normally did. As usual, she was the second person into the classroom. She sat in her usual seat, near the edge, next to Iku. Both minds were nervous now.
{478 Words}

Iku awoke that day, feeling much better than usual. Though it was common knowledge the Uchiha girl was a morning person. Or it would've been common knowledge, if anyone knew her socially. Iku knew it. That made it common enough. That morning's routine went relatively fine, in comparison to most days. Perhaps, it was due in fact, that she was feeling rather spirited that day. She took a bath. The cleanliest of baths, paying especial attention to hygiene that day. Oft times she didn't even shower. Living out on one's own left some of life's... pleasantries behind. Not today though, she took the time to spruce herself up. A rare occurrence to be sure.

Uncharacteristically, she even looked at herself in the small, cracked mirror she possessed in her home, that hung loosely, on the wall, above her sink. Feeling ever the more self-conscious, staring at her appearance, she lifted up a light brown brush. Wondering if it was even worth it, Iku brushed her usual page-boy style hair. She added a small flourish to it, and pulled the lengthy part of her hair (which normally hung down her back), over her shoulder. She braided it a tiny bit, and clipped a hair-clip to the side of her ear.

Blinking at her reflection, she glanced at some cosmetics. Nah. Not even on this spritely, carefree day. Her hair was definitely tussled, and made-up though, unusually. Probably stupidly, too. What did the Uchiha girl know of fashion?

Feeling slightly soured, by her still drab appearance (which she could potentially do something about, considering her cosmetics, but which she chose instead to be annoyed about), Iku donned her usual clothes. A mesh shirt, that extended beyond her waist, though not by much, in a makeshift skirt, the long, lengthy white cloak she wore about her shoulders, and a few packs around her waist, holding some ninja-tools. She fastened her headband at her waist, and glanced once more in the mirror. She nabbed the braided part of her hair, and tossed it behind her head. Pausing, she again, moved it to her left shoulder, and took one final look at the light blue hair pin in her midnight-blue hair.

Seemed fine.

Ignoring the cosmetics sitting tantalizingly on the rusty, dirty counter, she exited her home, closing the lame door behind her.

Today, she felt like a new-Iku. Though, she was largely the same ole, same ole one. She made her way to the Academy, in high-spirits.

Entering the classroom, early, with many a minute to spare, she passed only a few other early-risers, to her seat. The Uchiha sat beside Sylvan.

Over the course of time, she had managed to learn the other girl's name, indirectly of course. Turning to Sylvan, she spoke, "I notice you don't smell quite so foresty today. Applause. Would you mind training with me later? -Sylvan." She added the girl's name at the end, to indicate respect of course. Something she had tried to express, but failed in their very first encounter.

{496 words}

Sylvan looks utterly stunned by Iku's preemptive offer to spar. She had planned to ask her, but there was no point now. Also surprising was the comment on her scent, and the indication of respect. "Aren't you happy sister, she indicated respect! .... sister!" "ARRRRRRGH! I don't understand this girl!" "Sister..." The Dark Thing 'We really need better names for ourselves..' was horribly confused now. The Uchiha girl cared enough to both remembering her name, which was unexpected based on her seemingly apathetic attitude to Sylvan. But now she was being somewhat respectful, and even asking to spare. The Dark Thing had absolutely no clue what was going on anymore. "Um, thank you? Yes, of course we can spar." She says, her mouth running on automatic. "Idiot, say something! No, not that! Aaaag!" "No worries sister! I shut us up before we could say anything!" "You're the best Sis." "Darn right I am!" "Well, second best. I am the best." "And yet you need your little sister to bail you out when you're talking to your friend..." "Sh-Shut up!" "Hehehe... I'm the best and you know it!" "Hush." "Harumph!"
They were quite proud that Iku considered them less foresty, given that they had actually made an effort to do so. They had also avoided running through every bush on the way here as well, which is probably what actually helped. They bathed before and after going to sleep, it wasn't as if they weren't aware of the concept of hygiene. They just preferred to smell of the forest. "Speaking of which, remind me not to bring that up. It didn't go over very well last time." "Sister. You are asking me to remind you of your previous screw ups." "Oh. Right. You do that anyways." "Yeah I- HEY! I don't always I'm not petty." "Oh really? You didn't intend to get a little revenge for me teasing you about Seresana?" "No, because you were actually helping with Sena. Thank you for thta by the way. Look sister, I can tease you later, but right now I'm going to help you." "Well... Thank you sis!"
In the short time sylvan had spent replying to Iku's offer, the Uchiha girl would be able to see the familiar conflict raging across Sylvan's face. It was much more controlled this time, but still very obvious. A twitch of the eyelid here, a brief tug at the lips that might've been a smile there... thousands of little signs. Perhaps they would help during the sparring, though first one would have to make sense of them. For now all that could be gleaned was of intense conflict. "I was actually going to ask you about sparring, but this way works too. Same result, at any rate." she says. While she is technically speaking to Iku, she didn't really seem like she was engaged in what she was saying, merely keeping up appearances. She would probably hear the girl if she tried to get her attention, but at the moment she considered that everything that needed to be said between them had been said.
{517 Words}

Iku stared on at the girl she had since learned was named Sylvan. It was very obvious some sort of internal conflict raged there. As mentioned before, the Uchiha girl was quite perceptive. Even when not using her Sharingan. The fact remained, however, that this type of thing didn't bother Iku in the slightest. If Sylvan had issues, that was her problem, and no concern of Iku's. In fact, it seemed more of a liability to Sylvan, that would hinder her in their sparring, which could work to Iku's advantage. However, if the internal conflict was enough to hinder Sylvan, then perhaps it would be bad if she got into a real fight. That was something worth mentioning right?

Iku wondered. Ultimately, she decided to stall on mentioning Sylvan's state of mind to her, til after their sparring session -seeing as how she agreed. Iku wanted to see just how badly it affected her before commenting on it. There was no reason to allow Sylvan to be weaker than she needed to be, when she was out on a mission, or fighting an enemy. That would only benefit the enemy. So, while Iku didn't particularly care that Sylvan had her issues, they could prove disastrous. That could not stand. Not if it meant Iku's own safety, and perhaps the other girl's safety as well. Who knew? Sylvan could be useful in the future.

"I had a feeling," Iku responded, "It was why I preemptively asked. I told you I pay attention," she reminded the other girl. Tilting her head, she blinked, "It was obvious you were feuding about something. You looked at me expectantly. I swear I even noticed you eyeing me the entire time, since you've been in the classroom. You obviously had something on your mind. I made the guess, that it had to do something with sparring, or training. Or perhaps it was just you wanting to kill me. Either or, really." She shrugged, and forced a simple smile. Social interactions were not either girl's strong suit it seemed. For Iku they were probably worse, despite Sylvan's unusual self-feuding. Iku just ignored tact, and other's feelings, primarily thinking they were pointless. However, it did not help Iku to be especially mean and aggravating. -Not always anyway. Iku was still stubborn, and would not change herself for social conventions. However, appeasing people at times, could prove useful. So a nice smile here and there, could prove advantageous later on. It was simple logic really.

With that set, Iku turned to the front. She absent messed with the braided hair on her left shoulder. She was still feeling quite elated from this morning, and it showed in the obviously, little mannerisms, that she normally did not do... Such as smiling.

{458 words}

Sylvan's conflicting twitches and fidgets began to die down, as a consensus was reached. while it might appear as the the conflict would interfere with combat, the truth was entirely the opposite. After all, Sylvan wasn't truly separate, but merely strongly believed it. She tried to enforce it upon herself. In a combat situation where instinct had to take partial control, where she did not have to introspect, she was a single, unified entity. However, Iku would not know this as they had never sparred before, and outside of combat the conflict seemed quite real. It was real, to some extent, in the way that a stage show performance is real. The costumes exist, the performers exist, and the audience exists. The words they say vibrate through the air, but rarely hold any ring of truth to them. It was this that was Sylvan, a pretender, even to herself.
In truth, Sylvan was slightly worried. She didn't really know much about Iku's combat ability, other than the fact that she had a Sharingan, and that alone was terrifying. She knew it could mess up genjutsu users some how, but she wasn't sure of the full extent to which it could do so. Regardless, it made sure she would not be using any genjutsu during the fight unless things were going very badly. Which meant she had to make do with her own Taijutsu. This was problematic, as her Taijutsu wasn't the best.
She would have to make do with what she knew. At a casual glance, Iku seemed fast but not particularly strong. Sylvan wasn't incredibly strong, but she had made sure to balancing things equally. So while Ikue might be considerably faster than her, Sylvan could possibly outlast her.
As she came out of the thought, she was treated to the the strange sight of Iku trying to smile. It might've passed for a smile at a distance, but as close as they were, it was strange. "She wasn't quite sure of Iku was happy or not, the girl was still difficult to read. But the smile definitely seemed forced, which would not do at all. Sylvan herself was of the opinion smiles should be reserved for when they were felt. She doubted Iku felt any reason beyond simple pragmatism when smiled, which Sylvan found distasteful. That being said, the Uchiha did seem almost cheerful this morning, something which was quite disconcerting. Sylvan wasn't sure what to make of it. She had never met a cheerful Iku before, and wasn't sure what the protocol was.
{423 Word}

Iku had long since stopped paying much attention to Sylvan. Or rather, much visible attention. Her attention was always broadcast nearly 360 degrees around her. Or however far her peripheral vision plus slight head tweaks would allow. It was a skill she had taught herself quite early. She kept eye on many different things, even when it did not appear she did so. Training herself for subtlety. She knew it would aid her in her eventual upcoming Academy Graduation exam, which even now, she felt was close coming. So even though she had basically 'stopped' paying her bench companion any attention, she actually kept very astute scrutiny on her. However, she only made it obvious that she paid attention to the sensei in class, listening intently to the listen given. She even raised her hand politely, to ask a few questions. Such was how Iku acted in class. Ever the perfect academy student. Often, her questions got annoying. Even to the teacher, probably. She just wanted to make sure the information she was getting was absolutely correct. That was what made a perfect shinobi. One who used information as a weapon, not one who acted like a dog given orders.

When class ended, she perked right up, as her butt left the booth, and her feet fell flat against the floor, as she immediately stood up. She glanced over at Sylvan, and flashed her a smile. Iku was still high from this morning, even when the day began to draw on. Nothing could sour her mood today. The Uchiha quickly snatched up her things -quicker than usual, and with that she leaped. Her jump carried her from wherever she sat all the way to the front of the classroom, where she landed agilely, with students blinking, after staring at the girl soaring over them. Iku waved at the class, even said "goodbye" to the sensei nicely, and fled the room.

She popped back in, and waved to Sylvan. Indicating time to spar!

..

Since they were already at the school, it only made sense to use the Academy's grounds for this sparring match. Iku stood out there on the dust, with the sun blaring down overhead. She slid her right foot, back in a half-circle, and clenched her fists, forming quite the stance. She narrowed her eyes to where Sylvan would be. With a grin, she moved her most-forward hand -her left one-, and waved the 'come on' signal. If other students stopped to watch, then that was their own prerogative. This spar session was between her and that outdoorsy-smelling girl.

{427 words}

Sylvan suppressed a sigh. Iku was doing the thing again. The thing where she tried to focus on everything while pretending to focus on one thing in particular. It was a good thing to have while wandering through hostile territory, but Sylvan felt is was useless in here. Here, in allied territory, any attack would be extremely subtle. It would require the full focus of Iku's observation abilities to spot. After all, she would have to be noticing very minor twitches of the shoulder signaling a wire being pulled that would launch small poison darts in very specific directions.  This was the sort of danger that, in Sylvan's opinion at least, Iku would have to watch out for. She didn't seem to be though, and in order to get the point across, Sylvan would have to be capable of actually beating Iku in a duel. This was worrisome, but sylvan had confidence. The Dark Thing did, at least. The Girl worried. Iku seemed incredibly dangerous, and while she and her sister had practiced, they weren't sure if they had practiced as much as Iku. Besides, she had a Sharingan. That rendered their primary strategy fairly useless, at least in her mind. Whether or not Iku had invested in training her shairngan to overcome genjutsu was unknown to Sylvan. Their current assumption was that it was a basic ability of all Sharingan.

One of the things that threw them off balance was Iku smiling. It seemed highly out of character for her, yet by this point that had discerned it was hardly forced. Also, she leaped about, drawing attention to herself. How odd. 'She's waving. That means it's time.' 'Let's go!'
Sylvan quickly packs up her things and follows Iku outside, running simply because she can.
Iku was leading her to the school's sparring grounds. It made sense, given that they would be perfectly serviceable for what they intended. Someone else might be worried about the embarrassment of the possibility losing in front of their classmates. that someone would have to actually care very much about their classmates' opinions, which Sylvan did not. It wasn't that she hated them, she just didn't care. Iku certainly had combat experience. This was worrisome, as Sylvan was less than experienced than Iku. Her stances, once she formed it, was mediocre. She had trained enough to prevent it from being wobbly, but the gap of experience would be visible.
"Would you like to impose any rules before we begin?" Sylvan asks calmly. If she lost, she lost. If she won, she won. Either way, she would take something from this sparring session. That was the point, after all.
{441 Words}

"Rules?" Iku asked out, blinking in surprise. "What ninja fight has rules?" retorted the Uchiha girl, readying her stance, a gust of wind blowing between them, the dust floating lazily through the air. A snicker crossed her normally blank complexion. "Fine. I suppose a spar of students is not the same as a no-holds barred fight between ninjas fighting for their nations on some secret mission."

Her eyes went up, and she cocked her head in thought. "Yes, one: Win by any means necessary!" She warned her grin still on her face, clenching her fists. She didn't know much about Sylvan. She only knew she had an unusual propensity for the outdoors, and smelled often of the forest. Showed a lack of hygiene. Though, Iku couldn't be certain. She knew Sylvan had some sort of weird internal struggle as well, and was constantly fighting inside her own mind. That was something any Uchiha could exploit. Especially one with Sharingan mastery. However, Iku was still learning like Sylvan. She wasn't an expert like other Uchiha ninja. Sylvan could have some sneaky tricks that she didn't know about.

Still, Iku was ready. "Alright, ready to spar?" Was it a sparring match? Or a fight? Was there a difference? This wasn't playtime.

{207 words}

ooc: I apologize for such a late response, I promise to try to be more diligent in posting, i just had to get through some things irl

Sylvan was surprised. Just when she thought she had a handle on Iku, it slipped away. Smiles, passion, mirth... She had not expected these things so soon. But she was still young, so perhaps it was merely a lack of experience with reading people that age would bring. Or perhaps Iku had been concealing her true personality for some strategic purpose. She seemed rather dismissive of Sylvan's offer of rules. Strange. It wasn't as if Sylvan wanted to start tying up the girl in regulations and rules. She didn't really intend for there to be any, but she hadn't been sure if Iku felt the same way. Thus, she had offered the girl a chance to impose any if she wished.
Still, the girl's answer satisfied her quite nicely. She would do her best to win, using whatever she had at her disposal. "Right."" she says aloud. This would hopefully be fun. As long as Iku understood that this was a spar, and not an actual fight, The point was to learn from this fight, not necessarily to win.

Iku would see quite a strange sight. the internal conflict that had previously been present across Sylvan completely disappears, like a switch begin thrown. It didn't seem like she had intentionally done so, and was still showing signs of emotion. They just seemed like a singular entity, rather than the strange duality she had previously displayed.
{233 Words}