[1v1] Stop Trying to Hit me and Hit me (Xiu/Shun) FIN

[Blade Kuroda]

Catching Xiu's line of sight, Shun chanced a glance behind up, just in time to see the form of his father lifting up Mitsu's bloodied body by the throat. Kaitou grinned wickedly as the wolf girl feebly struggled from his grip. She called out to the Reaper for help, but she was barely audible. All the while, his father gave him a challenging look as if saying 'what can you do about this?'

All in all, it was enough to stop him in his tracks.

HP: 22
Damage: 0
Status:  

[Kaiyumi]

As tempting as it was for Xiu to call Shun back to attention, she reminded herself of the reaper's wishes. If he was fighting a real opponent, they would take this moment of distraction as a perfect chance to attack and so, per his wishes, the baku slipped forward and slammed her elbow into his stomach.

Well. Hopefully that would catch his attention.

HP: 6
Damage: 2
Status: --  

[Blade Kuroda]

Once he felt the elbow, Shun snapped out of it. Right. This was just a dream. Mitsu wasn't in any danger. Narrowing his eyes, he whirled around slashing at Xiu with both of his daggers. He had to stay focused on her.

HP: 22
Damage: 5
Status:  

[Kaiyumi]

Atta boil--oops! Levi was starting to rub off on her! Shaking her head with a small laugh, Xiu grinned up at the reaper. Okay, so the dagger hurt, but she was impressed! He had broken out of that and focused himself!

Xiu tried to simultaneously move out of the way and land a quick hit on Shun at the same time. Needless to say, it didn't really work out as planned.

HP: 1
Damage: 1
Status: --  

[Blade Kuroda]

Moving just out of the way to avoid most of the damage, Shun didn't charge back at Xiu. Instead, he used the realm of the dream. Large rocks began to jut up from the ground to slam into the Baku at a couple different angles.

HP: 21
Damage: 4
Status: Kicking xiu out of his head  

[Kaiyumi]

The attack did as intended--to both Xiu's approval and dismay, she found that her body in the dream was flickering as the rocks suddenly staggered upwards, effectively knocking her around in what was a very painful manner. Despite this, she managed to give Shun a grin and a small thumbs up before she felt herself being thrown out of the dream.

When she woke up in the waking world, the baku was relieved to find that nothing ached as it had in the dream. That was no surprise, but she had always been a little concerned that something would go wrong someday. Fortunately, today was clearly not that day.

"Aniki, next time you see Titus, you might be able to force him out of your dream!"  

[Blade Kuroda]

Shortly after Xiu had been knocked from his dream, Shun slowly stirred awake. He took a moment to reorient himself, then looked over at the Baku.

"That would be ideal. Thank you for working with me on this," he said quietly. He would still need to practice more in general, but every bit counted. He'd be more prepared for the nightmare demon next time he saw him lurking around his dreams, trying to mess things up.

"I hope you were able to find use in that experience as well."  

[Kaiyumi]

"No problem!" Xiu was quick to assure him, grinning brightly, "And I did, thank you! I still need to get a better grasp on controlling things, but..." All she had done was summon Mitsu and Shun's father from the reaper's mind, and she let his mind determine what they did. Perhaps in the future she could be the one to manipulate the side characters.

...It was kind of a scary thought. Xiu was quick to shake her head to dismiss the idea (for now, at least)

"Oh! But that reminds me..." The baku's fingers slipped into her obi, and she pulled something out. It was the last one that she had on her--the other three had already been given away. Reaching out with her free hand, she grabbed Shun's hand, turned it around, and pressed something into his palm.

 

[Blade Kuroda]

Stretching out briefly, Shun soon straightened up as Xiu reached into her obi to grab something. He wasn't really sure what she was getting. As something was left in his palm, he glanced down to see her emblem sitting there. For a moment or so, he sat there quietly, a bit surprised. While he had Mitsu's and Malcoms' pins as well, he didn't expect he'd be receiving any others at any point. Nor did he expect to ever give his out willingly.

After a bit of thought, he closed his other hand to focus his FEAR in one place. The baku really was like family to him, which was much more than what could be said for his father.

Quietly, he reached out and placed the small object into her own hand. A token of sorts, to say he'd be there.

 

[Kaiyumi]

After staring at the object that had been placed into her own head, Xiu whipped her head up to stare at the reaper in surprise. For a moment, she said nothing, and then she simply closed her hand around the pin, smiling up at her big brother.

"Thank you." What else could she say that wouldn't sound corny? Perhaps in this case, less was more, so she left it at that. However, after a moment of pause, the ghoul's lips spread into a slightly wider grin. "Please tell me if you ever want to have more dream practice, okay? Surprise Titus the next time he tries to invade your dream, and show him who's boss!"

Because if it was in Xiu's hands, she would much rather help Shun than Titus, thank you very much.  

[Blade Kuroda]

Expression softening at Xiu, Shun nodded before standing up from the couch.

"Will do. And.. if you ever need anything, let me know. Alright?" he asked while looking her in the eye. It felt like he kept asking her of various favors here and there, but he had yet really done anything to repay her. He didn't know if that was just because she didn't need assistance with anything or what.  

[Kaiyumi]

"Of course!" Sensing that their meeting was about to end, the baku beamed and lifted a hand to wave. "I'm glad that I could help today!" Xiu was always happy to give friends a hand, so it never felt like a burden or a chore to her. Besides, she had picked up on some of her own strengths and weaknesses thanks to this little fight.

Hopefully the battle had been useful for Shun. She supposed that only time (and Titus' next dream invasion attempt) would tell.