Familiar Fighters

[Zero]

The boy drew his chain and hook out. The chain was wrapped around his right arm in a spiraling fashion up to the shoulder, the large hook at the end of the chain was clasped tightly in his right hand. On his left hand, the boy tightly gripped the claw he'd already strapped on. The being who stood at least a few yards in front of him, finally lunged. It ran in a large zig zag pattern. Aiming directly at the boy's chest. As soon as the person got close enough, Rengeki raised his hook across his chest and slashed with it's sharp tip. Tadashi bounded away quick enough. But appeared just as quick behind his Master. With a sharp yell, the Familiar threw his fist forward against Ren's back. Yet, the boy had noticed the incoming attack. In an instant he'd spun around with claw raised and countered with a diagonal slash downward. Once more, Tadashi recoiled but was on the boy again from the side. This time Rengeki couldn't do anything but take a kick in his ribs. He couldn't take the force and shock of the kick and staggered back with a dropped guard that the Familiar took easy advantage of, surging forward and throwing an array of punches at the boy. The Cougar Formation. Nearly every punch found a mark. Rengeki was helpless, he was staggering backwards all the more as Tadashi kept up his barrage. It didn't take long though for Rengeki to back right into a large, wide tree. His Familiar stopped the flying fists just long enough to deliver a strong uppercut to the boy's stomach. The air from his lungs, and a bit of saliva fell from his mouth because of the shock. Rengeki was held up against the tree's trunk, Tadashi's fist holding him above the ground where his feet could not touch. "Check!" Yelled the Familiar as he pushed his fist even deeper into his Master's gut, adding a twist in his knuckle's movement just to bring more pain. "Mate!" Once again yelled the Familiar.

Rengeki coughed, what little air he'd held in his lungs came out and he was breathless and bleeding a bit from the mouth. The two had been at it in this forest all morning. The Genin was tired now, but he couldn't rest. Not even with so much pressure against his stomach, leaving him unable to take in air because of the pain. What little he'd regained though, he used to whisper five words as he raised his head a little and met Tadashi eye-to-eye. "You'd think so, wouldn't you?" Rengeki raised his left hand, and in a second he'd plunged the claw right into the wrist of the hand that remained against his belly. Tadashi backed away, releasing the boy from the tree and inadvertently taking the claw out of his wrist, which hurt all the more. Now it was the Familiar's turn to stagger, his blood seeped from the wound over his hand. The pain was terrible. But seeing Rengeki on the ground gripping his stomach and taking deep breaths to save his lungs, Tadashi couldn't help but smile. The boy was getting better. Originally he couldn't even take a punch from the Cougar Formation. Now he was taking the whole thing, and finding ways around this. He'd definitely gotten stronger. No doubt about it. Before any of his thoughts could really process, the pain seemed to get worse. That's right, Rengeki's poison. It had started to act up. As the boy got to his knees and faced Tadashi, you could see a bit of worry cross his eyes and lips. But they were quickly hidden once more. That's good, don't let pain hold you back, kiddo. Thought the Familiar.

For once, the boy was taking the preemptive shot. He ran directly at Tadashi. The hook raise above him, it was clear he was going to ram it straight into Tadashi's shoulder or back. Just before he could make it to the Familiar, he'd backed away. Recoiling over and over and Rengeki continuously swung it at him. Still, the Familiar was not at his best. The poison was working its way quickly up the blood stream. More and more pain began to come into his body. So much of it building up around his legs, Tadashi couldn't keep backing off. His next step was weakly made, as he tumbled backwards. First he his back, then he rolled backwards once more, but he couldn't get back up. Rengeki's swings immediately ceased. His worry easily overcame all other emotions. The boy bent down and administered the antidote to his partner through the wounds that the poison had entered. For a second he'd thought he'd taken too long. But it hadn't been so long as to cause irreversible damage, had it? Tadashi was still in pain, but he could feel the pain stopping. He looked up at his Master and smiled a bit. "Thanks, bro." He whispered.

The two boys calmed down, practically licking their wounds as they both sat against the tree Rengeki was pinned against before. "Sorry." The boy said, breaking the silence between them. "Tch, actually I'm proud." Rengeki gave his buddy a look mixed of happiness, and confusion. "You fought great today, I never expected you to get out of that pin. I actually thought...I thought you'd break down right there. Let me win, ya know?" As though he'd just slapped Rengeki, the boy looked away. But he muttered, just loud of enough for his partner to hear, even if he wasn't facing Tadashi, "How can I...ever give up? Not when I've got you pushing me the whole way, Tadashi." The Familiar broke out in a near riot of laughter. "Well why not? You've done it before!" Rengeki kept a straight face. "I thought that I'd changed. Earlier than this, I mean." A smirk crossed the mirror's lips. You've been changing, all for the better, little bro."

Maybe it was just because he'd addressed him as "little bro", but all of a sudden Tadashi didn't seem like "Tadashi". He was definitely more like...Renji.