The Heavens Shall Fall

It wasn't easy to secure a training field, one that was out of sight and earshot of the others. Then came the even harder part: to arrive without anyone noticing. With Neya, Rinmei, the twins providing distractions against the agents of Stone Ward, and, of course, Arya and Marly acting as scouts, it was eventually done, with the latter two still patrolling the paths leading to the small arena.

It was probably the most critical part of Siu's plan because he needed a private sparring session with Kira to ensure everything would go smoothly. That's why he arrived before sunrise, already standing in the center of the field, stretching his arms and legs.

“Damn, you’re early,” Kira’s voice came from behind him, arriving, wearing simple training clothes that stuck to her body tightly. "And here I thought I would be first, tsk!"

“If I could, I would be done with sleeping and replace it with training,” he said with a chuckle, turning to face her, ignoring Arya and Marly's shocked gasps in his mind.

"I knew you were a kindred spirit!" She grinned, quickly beginning to stretch, too, getting ready, "Anyway, we don’t have to waste time, gimme a moment, and I'll be ready to rumble!” She moaned with satisfaction, stretching her arms above her head before rolling them loose. "Ahhh... I have been waiting for this since our first match."

"Arya was right," He muttered, "You can be scary at times."

"Arya?" She asked, showing that her ears worked perfectly, catching his words.

"My fox." He nodded with a half smile, "She said you smell... rabid. You just hide it well."

"Hah!" Kira grinned, not even offended, "I do love a good fight. I come from a household with eleven brothers, you see."

"..." Siu was about to say something, but... it was best not to.

Instead, he simply stepped back, creating ample distance between them, his body settling into the Crane's opening stance, making Kira mirror him and taking up her own starting position.

“Same rules as before?” she asked before beginning.

“No,” Siu said, shaking his head. “This isn’t just a spar,” he continued, his voice becoming surprisingly calm, making Kira's eyes narrow a little, feeling the rising battle spirit and concentration within Siu. It was there... Almost visible, surrounding him with the way he began breathing... “You must fight as if you’re trying to win at all costs. There has to be no holding back... Come at me with the intent to kill."

"..." Kira’s eyes narrowed even further, licking her lips, but she didn't smile, “Are you sure...?”

“I am.”

“Hah... Okay!” She exhaled through her nose, stepping back once again, and now lowering her stance, showing that she was doing as he asked her to, “Alright then, Boss… don’t complain if I actually land a strike then.”

“I’m counting on it.” Siu smiled faintly, "Take this as our rehearsal before the grand display."

Without answering, Kira disappeared on the next inhale of breath, shooting out so fast, it looked like teleporting. Already used to it from before, Siu’s gaze didn’t follow her body. Instead, he picked up on the pressing wind coming towards him, pushed forward by her speed. Then, it brought a barely audible sound of a step from the left, so he quickly twisted his torso and blocked a palm strike aimed at his ribs from the right.

Just as in their first sparring match, he already realized that Kira's technique played on his hearing and that he couldn't trust it. Moving his hands according to the Crane, Kira's strike skimmed past him, grazing his clothes instead of landing cleanly, and before she could adjust, Siu’s hand was already there, reaching out in a counter. Then, just before his two fingers would land, he decreased the speed in a snap, ending in simply pressing them lightly against her forearm.

Kira’s eyes flickered, realizing what he did, that he was holding back, actually getting incensed about it... Before some logic overrode her anger... Of course he was. If he had disarmed her just now, the whole effort for this supposedly day-long training was for nothing.

"Bastard!" She snorted in her mind, grinning as she leaned into her next attack.

As her other hand came up in a sharp arc, it was whipping around, using her body's momentum, aiming for his jaw to claw at it, maybe even tear it down. Yet, not even looking at it, as if acting on instinct, Siu dipped under it, his body flowing smoothly, the Crane’s counter redirecting the motion once again, but just enough to let it pass.

"I can adapt, too!" She yelled in her mind, and she wasn't about to stop.

The moment she was done, her knee came up next, whizzing directly towards the lower part of his chest. Siu stepped back at the perfect moment, letting her knee cut through empty air, and as he was about to snap back with a counter, Kira suddenly vanished one more time, with the noise of rushing wind coming from his back. A deliberate misdirection... That was what Siu thought at first. But... this time around, he let his body move, using the Wild Dog's style to override his conscious thoughts, and turned towards it, which was the right decision.

Kira was well aware that Siu knew her technique was about playing tricks on her opponent's senses, and she hoped he would always think she was tricking him... apparently not. She had already caught how he shifted his stance, lowering his center just as her kick swept in low toward his legs.

"Fuck!" She scowled as he jumped, just enough to miss and her leg to pass beneath him. The moment he landed, his hand shot forward again, aiming towards her shoulders, "...!"

She had ducked and rolled back at the very, very last moment, feeling her skin pulse and burn, as if Siu's finger actually hit her. Still, it was just her mind, anticipating the damage, subconsciously simulating it, not even believing she would be able to dodge it.

"Damn it!" Kira groaned, getting to her feet, seeing that Siu wasn't pursuing her, "How the fuck do you do that?! I can barely read you at all, yet you are countering me like I'm a damn toddler!"

"I don't think about it," Siu answered honestly, holding his stance, knowing that in a battle, a conversation like this could be just another trick.

"What do you mean you don't think?!" She panted, wiping her forehead, retieing her hair that had come loose in the last exchange.

"I don't think." He said again, shrugging a little, "You studied the Wild Cat, yes?"

"Um." She nodded, watching as Siu finally lowered his defenses too, to explain a little.

"Have you looked at the other forms?"

"A bit," Kira answered, while thinking back on it, "But what I was learning only required the Wild Cat's steps and rhythm, so... I didn't bother with too much of the rest."

"They are really good, and... the more I put them together, the more I realize why they were made." He said with a smile and an exhale, because in that moment, he actually felt it. Everything was slowly coming together, with only two of the last forms missing from his repertoire. The ones made for grappling and ambushes: the snake and the spider.

"And why is that?" Kira asked, genuinely curious.

"They can be the foundations to build on, or... They can be an all-encompassing form to later on make your own from their combinations and permutations. The one who made it... was a true master." Siu smiled, flexing his fingers before getting back to his stance, "The more I use them, the more I combine and let them flow, the more I feel like... I get what its creator was thinking of."

"..." Kira just looked at him, slowly taking up her stance again, smiling, shaking her head, "I heard talks about geniuses all my life..." She muttered, inhaling deeply and exhaling her frustrations at once, regaining her good mood, "But this is the first time I think I've seen one in the flesh!"

Then she shot towards him with renewed vigor, which turned out to be a bluff, as she went around him, leaving behind a mirage that was only there for just a blink of an eye... but it could have confused someone who didn't expect it. Knowing that Siu wasn't falling for it, her second exchange came faster than the first. Suddenly, Siu couldn't hear her breathing as she attacked, intentionally interrupting her own technique and almost disrupting Siu's reaction.

Seeing her plan work, she pressed in immediately, her steps as fast and as erratic as she could muster. Her first strike came high, but it was a faint, a second already arriving from below. Without surprising her, Siu ignored the feint and blocked the low strike with a small turn of his knee, redirecting it outward, but before he could counter, she was already gone.

However, this time around, Siu suddenly switched, and it was he who stepped forward, closing the distance and going on the attack, forcing her to respond. Kira’s eyes sharpened when she saw him switch, and recognized the Wild Cat's agility in his legs... but... There was something else. She only noticed it because she also studied them intensively. Siu's steps were wrong... They were...

"Curse it!" She cussed, realizing he was probably masking it with the Fox Form, remembering that it was all about deception and misdirection! And if so... from where would the real strike come?! Her answer came from below. It was a familiar swipe, a sharp upward palm aimed at her ribs, to tear up flesh. "I'm flat enough already, no need to rip away the little that I have!" She groaned in a slight panic.

Maybe that was why she managed to catch it in time; she was amazed by its speed, its accuracy, and how he seemed to catch on to her technique's weakness. The way he attacked... It was aimed between her breaths, at the exact moment of her inhale, making it so that her steps couldn't dodge it. Still, she wasn't going to let him win this easily, so she committed to her own counter the moment she blocked. Her body shifted just enough to send out an elbow, in a way that even if he broke free of her block and connected, she would do so too with his face.

"Heh!" Siu smiled, letting out a sound all of a sudden.

Kira froze for a split second, as both of them stopped, gently touching each other, then she exhaled sharply, looking dejected, because her elbow was caught in Siu's palm, while his fingers on the attacking arm were touching her navel. She fell for the Fox's deception, unaware that Siu had anticipated something like this, and he wouldn't have swiped at her chest, but pierced her abdomen. If he had put actual strength behind it, she would probably be lying on the ground, cramping up like she did once every first week of the month.

“Okay,” she muttered after she let him pull back, starting to rub her tummy, pouting. “That would’ve hurt...”

“Most likely.”

“Again!” she said, hopping back to gain some distance, loosening her muscles, "I will catch you next time!"

"That's the plan." Siu nodded. "Try to get used to my movements as much as possible, so when we fight again, you know when the time comes to put on the finale."

They moved about the same time, just as he finished speaking. Yet, it was a bit different now, because Kira had seemingly slowed down as he stopped chasing openings, expecting them to be faked to lure her in. Instead, she waited, becoming cautious, inviting Siu to try and take over the rhythm. Unafraid of the challenge, Siu stepped in, but she didn't change yet; she waited until he shifted his stance.

There it was... he feinted a step... Nothing... And then! The true attack, a straight, controlled strike. Watching it, without falling for the tricks, it didn't seem as fast as before, giving her enough time for a proper reaction. Finally, she moved, intercepting it, as her hand cut across his arm, redirecting the strike just enough to shift its trajectory and slip within reach in the same motion. Her body was rotating around his center, her palm already coming in... this time, she will land the hit!

Her strike brushed past his side.

"Damn it!" She yelled out, following the momentum, going into a roll, dodging a counter-kick that would have caught her torso. “I count that as a hit!”

"We can do that," Siu exhaled slowly, smiling, looking down at his clothing, which had a tear in it.

"How can you be so fast..." She moaned, swiping the sweat from her forehead.

"Training." He said, honestly, having no answer to her, because this was always how he moved... He couldn't tell if he was fast or not. It was... normal.

"Whatever..." She groaned and attacked, and the following exchange was different from the previous one.

Kira decided to follow Siu's words of 'not thinking' and to have no hesitation. She just went all in, her movements coming from instinct

as she was trying to overwhelm him with the fastest barrage she could muster. Every time he transitioned, she was there. Even if she was not fast enough to hit, yet, she was very close to it. Soon, the field echoed with the soft impact of their steps, the brush of cloth as Kira's attacks passed by Siu's body, and then the faint crack of redirected strikes when they did make contact.

Over... and over... and over again, each exchange being tighter than the last. Then, before Kira could feel her exhaustion kicking in, Siu's stance suddenly changed again. She knew that she was going to lose if she retreated right now, so she committed to her attack as her strike came in fast, feeling that it was perfectly timed, going into the gap between the switching stances... It should have hit! She almost saw it hit, right where his heart was!

But then Siu's hand snapped out, a palm strike, perfectly mimicking and matching hers, the impact sending shivers through her arms, causing her to tumble backwards.

"Wha-?!" She grunted, moaning in pain as Siu stepped in, stopping himself from elbowing into her throat by reflex... Instead, he hurriedly broke off, just at the last moment.

"You good?" He asked, also gasping for air.

"Y-yeah..." She moaned again, flicking her hand, feeling the pain resonate in her bones. It made her realize that Siu's body was more refined than hers, and she finally understood that a direct confrontation would make her fold like wet paper. "Damn, your strikes are hard!"

"Sorry, I forgot to adjust, it... came out by reflex." He said, honestly ashamed of himself, rubbing the back of his head.

"Reflex?" Kira groaned, shaking her head, "And don't act like that! We agreed on a proper fight. Ugh... gimme a minute..." She moaned, checking her wrist, making sure it wasn't broken, but it felt like it.

It was in that moment that it hit her... Siu said he studied all the forms but... The way he moved was identical to hers. He... copied her attack, matching her strike perfectly with his own, mirroring her to block it from connecting.

No, that wasn't the case; it couldn't be. He was just too damn good at reading others!

"I'm fine!" She exhaled, ignoring the pain that was finally starting to recede. "Come on... Let's do it again!"

"If you are ready," he nodded, looking at her, part concerned, part... confused? Kira couldn't tell, but she wasn't about to stop.

This was her best sparring match since she joined the Hollow Song, and she could herself improve... The best thing about it all... it was free. And she wouldn't want to waste a minute of it, not until she was lying on the ground, unconscious!