Lotus Root Salad [Shishiyuki, Nao]

Between her more focused efforts to teach at the academy, her work with the 7th Division, and her consistent presence at Makoto's home, Shishiyuki had found she was spending notably less of her time around the Koizumi estate than she once had. She didn't necessarily consider that a bad thing, per se, but she'd been told that there was apparently a member of one of the minor noble families who had been caught attempting to break into the estate. The only answer they'd been given had been that she simply wanted to see if she could do it, and while that might not have been believable from anyone else, Shishiyuki was fully willing to accept that as the truth from a woman of the Sawachika household.

Of course, that didn't actually change her opinion on the matter any. She wasn't willing to accept that someone might break into the family home, seeing as the security of the Koizumi was still her utmost aim. Just because she had cast aside the need for her own personal secrets, that didn't mean she demanded that of the rest of them.

So, for now, Shishiyuki simply sat in wait at the edge of the estate, waiting for the arrival of the woman that had apparently become such a nuisance to the rest of her family.

Damn, how many guys were in this household? After she'd heard the head of the family was apparently an unstoppable monster with her display of prowess against the seventh division captain she wanted to meet the woman spoken about in hushed voices. That led to her trying every week or so at different times to get into the place but they kept knocking her back when she said that she had business and then when prompted she just said that she was here to meet her.

Apparently just wanting to meet someone wasn't a good reason. Now Nao could've just gone to the barracks or looked for her elsewhere but she felt a little miffed that they didn't let her in there. If it was a mountain fortress then she'd smash it! Get right in there and meet the head honcho in true boistrous fashion. Damn the amount of different things she'd seen from these guys though, they were really something else of martial artists when she fought them with her Sanzan Koken.

Who would it be this time?

"Alright! Who wants a piece of Sawachika Nao? One of these days I'll best you all with my Sanzan Koken eventually."

Nao saw her first promising opponent. Hey, she looked pretty tough. That'd be the one that she'd try out today, naturally she'd left her naginata at home. Most of these guys seemed to fight unarmed so she'd play fair. No honour in using a weapon she thought.

The faintest of smirks danced across Shishiyuki's lips as she heard those loud words of challenge echo through the air, and she stood to greet the challenger, her steps measured and sure. As she approached, she stretched out, cracking her neck and her knuckles as she went.

"I will gladly face you, Miss Sawachika. Today, you face Koizumi Shishiyuki, Sage Who Knows Ten Thousand Words and head of the Koizumi family."

She took up her stance with a bit more obvious of a grin now, quite amused with the situation. In most cases, she might have held back against an opponent who had so brazenly challenged her, but she was not the Shishiyuki of old. Besides, Miss Sawachika here had proven a little bit of a nuisance, hadn't she? That was justification enough to handle the matter herself.

"No way, you're the Head? Wow ma'am. You're body looks like it's seen a whole lot."

Nao took a moment to appreicate the woman's physique. She had the body of a fighter, that'd seen a lot of trials to it. A martial artist like Nao had to appreciate someone who was covered in mighty experiences on their body that showed how much they endured. Oh, her manners too. The small red head gave a very polite bow to Shishiyuki before she took her stance.

"Thank you very much for allowing me this opportunity, Lady Koizumi."

She might've been brash but Nao would always be polite to someone that accepted a challenge, it's just a bunch of these noble sorts weren't as polite as this woman was and maybe they just looked down on her family being of lesser standing. Then again she was intruding but she always tried to be nice about it.

The pleasant demeanor Nao carried herself with, and the manners she displayed, certainly did a good deal to lessen any annoyance Shishiyuki might have felt toward the situation. Not that it completely negated the problem with the situation, of course.

"That would be because it has. If you wished for the opportunity to face me, you could simply have requested a match."

Shishiyuki appreciated the bow, and even took a brief moment to return it, but just as quickly her expression grew serious. While she found Miss Sawachika almost endearing in a way, that didn't change the reason that she was here, and she moved toward the woman with a single flash step, her foot whipping toward Nao all at once in a sharp kick. She didn't opt to apply any hakuda techniques yet, wanting to properly judge her ability before that. After all, she may have been willing to fight, but Shishiyuki was not a wanton murderer.

Wow. She was fast but Nao was also sizing up the Sage as well, while Shishiyuki made her kick Nao jumped up into the air and briefly floated up in the sky above Shishiyuki. She also wasn't going to immediately dive into using her Sanzan Koken, despite the fact she had all the force of a raging tiger Nao wasn't a big idiot. A tiger had to stalk and know their prey before they struck, wouldn't be any good to jump at her right away.

So blue eyes barely blinked from her spot, her reiatsu aligned inwards and passive where it was like a still lake with no hint of a wave in it. She was definitely going to play defensively for a bit and try to get an idea of her opponent before committing too hard to it, reiatsu all focused inwards to bolster her defence and try to distribute force of any blows that Shishiyuki might land.

She was being cautious. That was good, many who thought to challenge her this brazenly simply proved that they were not confident, but overconfident. Shishiyuki didn't immediately follow up with anything, simply sizing the much smaller woman up as she maintained her form.

If she could respond to that strike, then Shishiyuki already had some measure of respect for Nao, simply on the principle that there weren't many outside her household that she would have expected that of. However, it had hardly been anything spectacular when compared to true masters of the art, and that much was likely clear to Nao just as it was to Shishiyuki. So, with her next step, she threw a much more visceral punch, one that would hardly kill someone of Nao's ability, but also that few would likely be able to see coming.

Damn it, she was fast so she didn't get the edge in that department unfortunately as she learned when the quick snap punch came out and struck against her arms. With her yin-aligned reiatsu though it was doing good to soften and distribute the force of the blow around her body rather than let it all be allowed to a single area but it still ached a bit.

With the force of Shishiyuki's punch she kicked off and bounced back a few metres to take up a stance again, glad to be out of the air but a little wary of the Koizumi Head. If this were a friendly spar then she'd happily have traded blow for blow but this was an duel of honour and pride, she couldn't be all scrappy for one and secondly. When pride and honour were on the line Nao knew that all you needed was a couple good hits sometimes rather than to land one after the other.

She was just being patient, she didn't want to flare her touki until she was really ready to surprise attack Shishiyuki. Nao would be like a river until she saw an opportunity, running water passively moving at its own rate before becoming a mighty torrent! It was really hard though, she was so focused and tense in this match. When was the last time that she felt herself with goosebumps and the trepidation for her opponent's every potential move.

This woman was an amazing martial artist!

Shishiyuki had grown rather used to holding back against her opponents, and in that sense, this duel wasn't anything new. She could entirely easily have simply ripped this woman in two if she wished, and she supposed in a way that she should have. This was not a friendly bout, it was a proper match for the honor of her style and her family.

But, if her family's honor could not stand up to a bit of testing from a single small noblewoman, then it likely needed some tempering in the first place. Tensing for a moment, Shishiyuki stepped forward yet again, this time attacking more in earnest. Her foot had already swung upward, and was now arcing back down toward Nao's shoulder, with force that could likely cut stone as if it were simply paper.

But she was still holding herself back, at least a touch. It was not her strongest blow, and certainly wasn't her fastest. She was simply raising the stakes, seeing if Nao could react to something with such earnest violent intent.

Now! All at once as the kick came down upon her Nao ducked and launched herself. The purpose of her Sanzan Koken flaring her touki to make what had otherwise been a pull turn into a raging river aimed at Shishiyuki's state of mind and her shift of reiatsu alignment from passive defence to offence.

She used shunpo to dash into Shishiyuki's thigh, being short was nice and convenient like this so she'd throw off her balance. Grab it and then use all that momentum to try and throw her back a couple of metres. Nao had to show that she wasn't a pushover to this splendid martial artist.