Questionable Recruitment Tactics (Tadatomo Fukushima)

It was getting late in the afternoon, and people were starting to filter out of the gym  in Village. For the young man approaching, this was a welcome sight. The young man strikingly red messy hair, and wore a Tae Kwan-do outfit, opened for comfort and functionality. He carried a large gym bag slung over his shoulder. Also among his possessions was a finely crafted scabbard, containing an elegant-looking bastard sword. The workers in the gym knew the youth well enough to know that he was Tadatomo Fukushima, the renowned protector of Village.

Tadatomo relaxed as he saw the people leaving. He timed his gym sessions so that he could get the most out of the gym with the least amount of people in there. This was the most efficient way, as Tadatomo's social awkwardness meant he often became very self-conscious when lots of people were around, causing him to make mistakes and, more often than not, simply leaving early. He walked in casually and surveyed the area. Seemed quiet enough. He started towards the desk, but stopped dead in his tracks. Oh damn, he thought, Laura is on today.

The pretty blonde-haired girl at the desk looked up from the desk with big blue eyes and, upon recognizing Tadatomo, offered a warm and sincere smile. "Tadatomo! It's good to see you again. How are you?" Laura spoke with that familiar Australian drawl that made her even more endearing to the males of the area. She was 17 and had moved to Village about a year ago from Brisbane. Her father was a chef and her mother a teacher. Laura had decided to start a career in fitness, and unfortunately for Tadatomo's blood pressure that career existed in Village's only gym. But that wasn't the only thing that frightened him. Tadatomo had heard rumors that she had become rather smitten with him after seeing his heroics in protecting Village from the various supernatural calamities that occur there. He had thought about the possibilities before, of course, but they were just childish fantasies. After all, what could anyone see in a guy who is mortally afraid of girls?

Come on, you wuss. The voice in Tadatomo's head berated him. "I was wondering if you wanted to go for a meal some time." That's all you have to say. Tadatomo took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He approached the desk. That's it. Now, ask her. He put together the most awkward smile ever seen on a human face, gathered his courage, and spoke, only making eye contact occasionally. "Um... fine thanks. H-how are you?" Tadatomo was now starting to visibly sweat. He became acutely aware that she had quickly surveyed him from his boots to his... open shirt... Oh God why. He was pretty sure he would turn into a tomato soon at the this rate.

Laura let out one of her cute and disarming giggles. Tadatomo wished the floor would swallow him whole. "Fine thanks," she said, sweeping some blonde locks behind her ear, "better now actually." She giggled again, handing him his locker key. Now. Ask her. Tadatomo again drew on all of his courage and said "Thank you." Seeing a slight frown cross her pretty face, he added "Um...it was nice talking to you." That seemed to do the trick. Laura's eyes lit up and she giggled again. Tadatomo gave a curious little bow and jog-walked to the locker room. Sigh, your hopeless. Laura smiled to herself and ran her hands through her hair. Turning back to her desk, she had no idea what would soon happen.

Tadatomo arrived in the locker room and opened his custom-made locker. He had this locker made so he could store Kurato, his trusty sword, inside to minimize the time it would take to summon it to him in an emergency. He quickly got changed and had a quick pre-workout shower. Finally feeling relaxed and refreshed after his ordeal at the front desk, he made his way into the gym room and approached the climbing frame. He set his water bottle and towel on the ground and jumped up to the top of the frame and, making sure Laura wasn't looking through the window at him, began to do sit-ups off the side of the apparatus.


Laura:

Spoiler:

The wind picked up as the young man vanished into the gym. A man, face hidden by the hood of a tattered cloak walked towards the gym slowly. People shot him wary looks and kept their disdance. Just as well, this was bound to get messy, the less bodies the less trouble he'd have later on. He stopped outside the door and held up a hand where crystal ice started to form, and slowly took the shape of a small ice fairy. "KAIN!" The little fairy shouted. "Is this really a good idea? Wont it annoy your boss.."

Alice flew into the air and hovered around him. "ts fine Alice, now wait here.. If he comes out this door distract him." Kain said, then stepped into the gym as the boy was talking to a girl at the counter. Kain leaned against the wall across the room. The boy seem to flustered to noticed, and as kain watched his behavior it became apparent that the boy liked the girl behind the counter. She seemed return the feelings. Well, getting his attention would be much easier now.

As the boy vanished into the back room, Kain approached the counter and put his hand on the countertop. almost instantly the counter started to ice over, crackling a little as it did. "Are you a freind of the young man who just went into the back room?" Kain asked. If she said yes then she would be perfect for the next part of his plan. If not he'd tell her to get the hell out if she wanted to live.

Tadatomo finished his climbing frame set and moved to the treadmill. He was never much interested in muscle mass, believing it to be restricting on ones ability to maneuver, thereby limiting their potential for response. Normally he would simply do laps of Village to keep fit, but while he was here, and she was here. Without looking, he suddenly felt like he was being surveyed. Shrugging it off as stupidity, he returned to the task at hand, running the crud out of this treadmill. He pulled out his music player and headphones and put on some running music. He put the treadmill up to full speed and jumped on. It wasn't as fast as he would have liked but it was adequate.

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Laura glanced at Tadatomo and sighed. He had just finished his core work on the climbing frame and was now running on the treadmill. He had been running at full-speed for almost ten minutes and didn't even look like he was trying. She looked back at her sign-in notepad, and realized she had been doodling mindlessly. Random love hearts and adorned the page along with stick men with red hair. Damn it, she thought, running her hands through her long blonde hair, I'm losing it... over a guy! Normally, guys that she encountered in the gym were vain pigs. But this guy... he was beautiful on the inside as well. Laura sighed again.

She looked at the clock. Her shift was almost done. "I should just ask him out," she said to herself, "maybe he feels the same way. Maybe." Suddenly, a curiously dressed man appeared at the counter. Laura could've sworn she'd seen him earlier, but she had been talking to Tadatomo, so he could have been stabbing people and she wouldn't have noticed. She was puzzled when he asked about Tadatomo. She was about to answer when something unheard of happened. The counter was turning to ice from the stranger's touch.

Laura did not know what to do. She could see Tadatomo through the glass, but the treadmills were faced away from the window, and he had his headphones in. She thought about bluffing, denying that she knew him. But she doubted it would work, she'd always been a terrible liar. She glanced nervously through the glass. Laura was very afraid now. So she decided to do a very stupid, love-driven thing. She would try and stall him, the dangerous-looking stranger who was turning the counter to ice. Oh why me! she thought. Trembling, she took out a membership form and a pen. "I'm sorry sir but we are forbidden to give out information about members here. Such information is confidential. She pushed the form and the pen towards him. "However, if you would like you can fill out a membership form and you can go in for yourself." Laura hoped he wouldn't detect the sheer fear in her voice. Tadatomo, please help!

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Tadatomo looked down at the numbers on the treadmill display. He was getting bored now. But he didn't want to leave until Laura left, purely so he didn't have to stammer through a goodbye. He chanced a glance at the counter, but what he saw made him stop completely. There was a strange hooded man at the counter and he was staring a hole in Laura, who looked absolutely petrified. Tadatomo stared for a moment surveying the situation. His gaze rested on the counter, which was ice. This wasn't right. Whoever the stranger was, he definitely wasn't friendly. Trying not to attract attention, he slowly stepped off the treadmill, and set his drink down. Reaching behind his back to hide it, he summoned Kurato with a whisper. He readied himself to spring into action.

The whole table was nearly frozen now. The girl evaded his question and answered by telling him he could join the gym. Kain took the pen, and it began to freeze. "I didn't ask to join, and I didn't ask who he was, I asked if you were his freind. " He crushed the pen to ice dust in his hand and let it sprinkle onto the table. Then Kain looked at the note pad she'd been doodling on. She'd drawn stick men with red hair, surrounded by love hearts.

"I think that answers it." Kain raised an arm and shattered the table into ice shards with a single strike, throwing bits of ice everywhere. "I'll have to insist you come along with me now." He said. He grabbed her and slung her over his shoulder, and turned towards the window looking into the gym, where he could see tadatomo starring back at him. Then kain headed for the door, the girl likely screaming and kicking.

Upon existing the build Alice froze the door solid with ice and joined him. "Oh for gods sake Kain did you have to kidnap her? I though we were here for the guy." She said, sounding annoyed. "I'm minimizing casualties by leading him out of the village." Kain replied. "Now stop bugging me!" he started heading for the outskirts at a slow jog, really taking his time. A civilian seen the commotion. "Hay, what do you think-" Kain cut him off mid sentence with a blade of black ice that formed as he swung, slattering blood all over himself and Laura.

If tadatomo appeared and began chasing, kain would break into a run, going slightly faster than tadatomo so the boy could keep up. After a burst of speed that took him well ahead of tadatomo if he was being chased, Kain finally stopped running when they were a good disdance from the village and put the down rather gently. "Stay put, stay out of my way, and you get to live." he said stepping away. If she tried to run he'd shoot a shard of ice very close to her to scare the hell out of her and give her a warning, but otherwise left her alone.

Tadatomo saw what was happening and moved in straight away. But just as soon as the stranger had picked up Laura, he was gone. Tadatomo burst through the glass and landed on the broken remains of the desk. He followed the stranger outside and caught sight of him further up the road. He seemed to be taunting Tadatomo by lingering just ahead of him. Tadatomo took a deep breath and advanced at him at full speed. But even that didn't seem to be enough. The stranger was effortlessly staying ahead of Tadatomo, even travelling faster at points.

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Laura screamed frantically when the stranger grabbed her. She managed to barely get a glance in through the gym window and saw Tadatomo speeding towards them. However her hope faded when she saw how quickly Tadatomo fell behind in the pursuit. Tadatomo was the fastest person the Village had ever seen, and he looked like he was standing still. He'll save you, you'll see. Deep down Laura knew Tadatomo would save her. When they reached a safe distance away from the town, the stranger stopped and dropped her down. She obeyed his order to stay put.

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The frantic chase continued until the stranger drew Tadatomo to a place far outside the town. He saw the stranger set Laura down. Tadatomo stopped a few yards short of the stranger. "Stop!" Tadatomo readied himself for combat. He knew he had to rescue Laura, whatever the cost. "Let her go. My name is Tadatomo. I am the protector of this village. Laura is just a civilian. Fight me instead!"

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The stranger turned to regard the approaching would-be hero. Laura began to move slowly away, but the stranger detected it and shot an ice spike near her, causing her yelp and stop moving. When Tadatomo arrived, she suddenly felt calmer. Surely if anyone could defeat a foe with such frightful powers, it was her love. She just regretted not asking him out earlier. I'll get another chance, won't I?"

Kain warned her, but the girl moved anyway. However the ice spike seemed to have made its point as she stopped trying to escape. The boy caught up with them and ordered him to stop. Kain looked around. "Me? I have stopped." he replied mockingly. The boy seemed to be slow in the head because he seemed to believe Kain was going to fight the girl. Why was he being paid to take this kid alive.

"Your the protector of this village... How quaint. I dont intend on hurting your little girlfriend here. All I want is you. However by the look in your eyes, telling you to throw down your sword and come quietly probably wont work, right? Thats fine by me, I'll just beat it out of your grip." Kain formed a spear of black ice in his free hand and threw the black sword at tadatomo, then used blurr to move around the kid, leaving a trail of ice as he moved.

He appeared behind Tadatomo and aimed a kick for his back to push him towards the ice coating the ground, then moved into a flurry of thrusts. If it worked the way Kain expected, Tadotomo would slip on the ice trying to dodge his thrusts. If all of this failed, Kain would form and fire off 6 long spikes of ice.

Tadatomo ignored the mocking tone in the assailant's voice. Whoever this guy was, he had unfathomable speed, as well as unnatural ice powers. Regardless of the risk though, his main objective was the safety of Laura. He needed to save her, whatever the cost. The complexion of the confrontation changed, however, when the stranger stated that it was Tadatomo that he had come for. What could he possibly want with me? Before he could ponder further, the stranger interrupted his thoughts by hurling a black ice sword at Tadatomo. He side-stepped barely in time, catching a nick on the shoulder as it passed.

Tadatomo recovered just in time to see his opponent blur himself with sheer speed. He tried to track the assailant while also trying to keep an eye out for the icy ground. His footwear was not designed for ice. He lost track of the assailant for a split second and it cost him. Tadatomo suddenly received a straight kick to the back, sending him hurtling forward towards the icy floor in front of him. He recovered just enough to launch himself forward, somersaulting over the ice. He turned to see his foe then fire off six ice spikes at him. He smashed the first two with his sword, before taking the next one straight through his left shoulder. Tadatomo kept his composure long enough to dodge two more, before losing his temper and smashing the last one.

The coldness of the ice shard combined with the puncture of his body combined to inflict almost blinding pain. Tadatomo yelled out in pain as he yanked out the shard and threw it on the ground. Acting instinctively, he charged up Kurato with energy, and commenced his Lightslasher attack. He aimed one slash at head height, one at his foe's midriff and the last straight down the middle. If they hit he would begin to slowly make his way towards Laura, keeping his guard up. If they missed, he would try to avoid a counter attack by speeding from side to side, using Afterimage to make split-second decoys to aid him in his evasive maneuvers.

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Laura was, no pun intended, frozen with fear after narrowly avoiding getting impaled with an ice spike. She saw Tadatomo arrive, and her morale instantly lifted slightly. She was still worried however, because from what she had seen so far, this sinister guy was far faster than Tadatomo. She knew that he was in danger if this guy was looking to kill him. She was perplexed though when the attacker stated that he wanted Tadatomo only.

A fight soon erupted, and it was not a good start for Tadatomo. The attacker moved behind him with lightning speed and kicked him forward. Although he was able to recover, the attacker then fire ice shards at him. She let out an shocked gasp when Tadatomo was struck by one. Although he managed to thwart the others, he was not in a good way. She covered her eyes, and when she heard his anguished cry of pain from removing the spike, she silently began to cry.

Kain watched the boy resist with futility. He must have understood that he was outmatched, but he faught anyway. It should seem brave but to him it was just pathetic. After the ice spike impaled the boy and he screamed in pain, Kain let out a sadistic laugh. Then he attacked with a strange slash. Kain smashed the first one with his spear but the second one slammed into him and sent him flying back. He threw up a wall of ice to block the third as he rolled to the ground in a cloud of dust and ice.

The boy didn't come after him so he stayed down for a few seconds. He let hope build back up, make the boy think he'd won. But as he got within 5 foot of Laura Kain's energy exploded outwards in a wave of purple, throwing up more dust. As it cleared, a human form would become visible, and a bolt of purple energy shot through the dust rippling it and hit the ground between the boy and Laura.

"Look upon the face of death and know true Terror, child!" Kain said as he used bringer light to launch himself into the air from the dust cloud, and smash down in between the boy and girl, revealing his new appearance. He wore black leathery armor and held a long sword in one hand, the other clawed. His face was covered with a skull mask that mirrored his true nature as a bringer of death. Purple energy formed in his clawed hand and Kain launched a cero strenth ball of energy at the boy.

Tadatomo had just started to move towards Laura when a bolt of energy shot out of the smoke and hit the ground between them. Tadatomo reached up and shielded his face, but it was to get worse. He took his arms away from his face and there was a nightmarish sight ahead of him. A black-leather-clad warrior stood between them, skull mask glinting in the sun. Tadatomo was frozen with fear, as he had never encountered such power in a human before. Taking advantage of Tadatomo's hesitation, the stranger charged up a purple energy ball and launched it at Tadatomo. He saw it too late and took the full brunt of the attack in the chest. There was an explosion, sending Tadatomo flying. He landed hard several yards away, on his back.

Tadatomo knew the damage was serious. He was sure he had cracked ribs, and the front of his dobak was burnt away on the chest exposing a large scorch mark on his skin. It hurt to move, but he knew he couldn't give up. He slowly made his way to his feet, noticing that he still had energy in Kurato, the blade glowing brightly. He acquired his target and, moving slightly to the side so as not to hit Laura who was sobbing quietly to herself and covering her eyes, and launched three more slashes at his opponent, one at head height, the next at waist height, and the third at his chest. He then sank to one knee, feeling the pressure greatly now.

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Laura took her hands from her eyes just in time to see Tadatomo advancing towards her slowly, the attacker had been replaced with a cloud of dust. She reached out to him, just as a bolt of energy hit the ground between them. She yelped and jumped back. Then, a figure that could only be described as demonic, landed between them. He charged some kind of energy in his hand. She tried to call out to Tadatomo, but it was too late. The attacker hurled the ball at him. Hitting him squarely in the chest. the explosion sent her tumbling away.

Laura was motionless. Please don't be the dead, she thought, please be alright.
She began to sob again. But then, three blades of pure light came out of the smoke. Then she saw Tadatomo. He was badly damaged, and he sank to one knee after his attack. She felt relieved that he was alive, but she knew he was in major trouble.Stay alive, that's an order. she thought silently.

Before the lightslashes reached Kain he vanished. quite litterally. Blurr had taken him out of the path, and then he was gone as he turned invisible and his Reiatsu vanished. Kain laughed, but the laughter jumped around the battlefield. "This is what i'm here to get?" He said from one angle, then moved. "A pup who can barely fight?" Again the voice came from a different angle and kain moved. "How are you worth the money I'm being paid? Killing you would be a better bargain."

Kain moved and appeared right before the boy. "Boo!" He said as he attacked with a vicious uppercut using his claw. He aimed a kick to knock the boy back then raised his hand and fired 4 bolts of energy aimed at his wrists and elbows to weaken his arms. "Save yourself some pain and give up!"

Tadatomo was really under pressure. He was bleeding profusely from his shoulder, and he had just been blown up. Then the laughter came. It was a sickening laugh, one that chilled you to the bone. Tadatomo glanced quickly around, trying to catch a glance of the laughter source, but he couldn't even detect a glimmer of his target. "Where are you, you monster?" he shouted to the void. The only sound clashing with the insane was the sounds of Laura's despairing sobs.

Then suddenly, the inhuman assailant reappeared right in front of Tadatomo, leading with an uppercut. Tadatomo jumped back to avoid the uppercut, and grabbed the assailant's foot as he attempted a kick. Tadatomo then attempted to spin and sweep his enemy's other leg out from underneath him. If the trip succeeds, Tadatomo follow up with his remaining 3 Lightslashers, all at his enemy's head and face.

The sweep kick worked but kain wouldn't be downed so easily, and he used the momentum to rapidly twist himself in the air, and twist the boy around or force him to let go. Either way he aimed a kick with his free foot for the boy's face as the boy got off one light slasher. His kick hit home hard but so did the light slasher, because a few seconds later both kain and the kid were lying on their backs. Kain jumped to his feet a burn mark across his chest, having cut through his armor, revealing some scorched flesh beneath. The sudden twist had changed the place the light slasher hit. Kain examined the wound for a moment, then growled.

"Enough." He said in a very serious voice. He was pissed, and now he was going to beat this boy to the verge of death and a little farther. He started by building up energy in his sword, and launching it in a wave similar to the boys light slasher, only with a dark purple glow. As that happened, Kain's form seemed to blur and suddenly split as he went two directions. Kain dropped his own speed to match his slower clone, and they circled the boy. Kain attacked from the left and the clone from the right, each doing a horizontal slash aimed for the corisponding leg.

Tadatomo thought he had a glimmer of hope when he managed to grab hold of the opponent's leg as he kicked. He was just commencing his final Lightslasher attacks, when his enemy suddenly spun forcing Tadatomo to let go in order to not be spun with him. He did not see the assailant's other foot following and catching him across the face, just as he got a slash off into the man's chest. The result was both of the combatants landing on the floor hard. Tadatomo had a feeling that he had it worse than his enemy. He groggily got to his feet, his body wracked with pain from head to toe from the pasting he was receiving.

However, when Tadatomo looked up, he saw that his enemy was not only on his feet, but was already charging an attack, channeling purple energy into his weapon. Tadatomo raised Kurato to defend. He saw the enemy blur, then split into two different bodies. The moved slightly slower than the original. The two enemies moved either side of Tadatomo and aimed slashes at his legs. Tadatomo, thinking quickly, launched himself forward into a roll. As completed his roll he launched himself up into the air at high speed. As he blistered away he spun and launched Kurato out of his hand sent the blade hurtling like a missile at the left hand body, hoping that it was the real enemy. Tadatomo then started his hand gestures for his Burning Attack, travelling away from his foe whilst also making sure that Laura was not in the blast radius. She was about two dozen yards away, still but breathing.

The boy dodged his attack well that time, surprisingly, and almost caught kain off guard ass he launched his sword at kain. He parried it with an uppercut that sent it flying into the air, and his clone shot forward to attack the boy as he prepared some kind of attack. It must be stong considering how long it was taking, so kain decided he would make it hard. 

He raised a hand and fired a bolt of energy, then another and another as he started to pepper the area with tiny balls of energy. As he did this his clone circled around and attempted to tackle the boy form the side. If his assault didn't make the attack fail, hopefully he wouldn't fire it at the real Kain at least.

Tadatomo concentrated on his attack, but it was difficult. His enemy was now peppering him with tiny balls of energy which were covering him with wounds and shredding his clothing. He was almost finished, when he noticed that a Kain was advancing quickly at him. He saw it too late to do anything except point his attack at the assailant approaching him. Tadatomo turned as the Kain reached him and he let the attack off in his face. The explosion sent him flying. He landed on the ground hard, completely spent and heavily damaged. With his last action, he uttered the word, "Kurato." His faithful sword appeared in his hand and, with his vision fading, he put it over his chest and fell into unconciousness.

                                                                                                               



Laura woke from her slumber, hoping what had happened thus far was just a nightmare. No such luck. No luck at all. She looked up at what was happening. She was horrified to see a massive explosion, and Tadatomo falling out of the bottom of it. She welled up with tears and, disregarding everything else, she ran towards him.

Kain's clone was oblitherated by the attack, but the boy was sent flying and collapsed in the grass. The girl ran towards him. but Kain appeared between them and gave her a light kick in the gut to knock her down. He turned around, sealing his fullbring, and grabbed the boy by the shirt. Hoisting him up he threw him over one shoulder. Alice materialised. "Take her home. We're done here." he said to the ice fairy who lifted the girl up by the jumper with surprising ease and flew back towards the village.

(Alright. I'm pleased with your preformance. Tadatamo is now 1-4. And this thread is over. Feel free to finish up though.)

Laura fell hard on her back. She swept her hair out of her face to find herself being picked up by a small fairy. She wanted to resist, but she knew that it was pointless. The fairy carried Laura back to Village, dropping her down outside of her gym. Before she could react, the fairy was gone. Laura was left alone in front of her ransacked and wrecked gym. Succumbing to emotion, she sank to her knees... and cried. A sudden rage welled up inside her, and she raised her fists and smashed them into the pavement. The impact caused pain to shoot up her arms, but when she opened her eyes, she had created an impact crater in the ground.

It was in this moment that Laura was hit with sudden realization. For too long now, she had sat meekly by, not acting on her emotions while the man she loved was actually within reach. Now however, that same man had been moved out of reach, and at first she was filled with regret. But the regret was now being replaced with steely resolve, forged in the flames of her rage and anger. Her sudden realization, was that she must now cast off all of her previous worries and insecurities. In order to wipe out all of her regrets, Laura had to fight. She began to head home.

It was the middle of the night, so she was forced to climb in through her open bedroom window. Packing some things in a rucksack, she left a note for her parents, informing them of what had occurred, and what she was going to do about it. Leaving the note on the kitchen table, Laura took one last look around her home. Shedding a single tear, she turned and headed for the home of the Shinigami of Village. Laura's journey had begun.