This kept her close, and eased her mind. Gripping the wooden bokken tightly between her hands, then relaxing back to a more natural grip. Eyes focused forward to this invisible enemy that she placed before her with the face of the only man she'd ever sparred in this dojo. Just like the very first time this was not adversarial, this was competitive. There was an edge of eagerness to the way that inspires her to step around this phantom opponent matching his invisible gaze.

A strike, he parries and she commits for a hit to his side with his blade held just over her head. Draw.

Nearby Yakumo was visiting with Mineichi, and if it wasn't happening right now she'd be terrified of what might happen. However, with the event taking place at this very moment she had no fear. Just an alertness and resting anxiety that kept her at the ready. Communicator resting at her side was the life-link she had to the event that she hoped would only be a nice dinner+ and yet that was all she had, hope. Hope had failed her her too gravely to ever allow herself to rely on it again and yet now she must because there was simply no other option.

This time her strike went in low, their blades clashed and they pressed into one another in a contest of strength. Koyuki slid, and then Mineichi, and finally they were forced to break and part with neither gaining ground.

They were around her, watching her. That presence of those voices resting inside of her head. Was it just the overwhelming stress leaving a permanent mark on her mind? Or perhaps she was really like Yakumo, and the ghosts of her former team yet haunted her to push her toward living a life that made up for their sacrifice in saving her life. Koyuki never could tell. Most of the time? She just thought she was going slowly crazy. Yet, somehow she was here after it all anyway.

Another strike, chest to invisible chest the blades poked at the other while she contends with this made up phantom.

It was late...Reki would normally have gone to the embassy, but her blood was still pumping after the excitement of the festival. So she decided to use the time to practice her marksmanship again and the range was open at this hour. Slipping into the Dojo, she was surprised to see a Kuni practicing with such vigor at this hour.

She didn't wish to intrude, particularly as the Kuni woman was clearly working through more then her kata regimen. Reki had seen that sort of anger before, in herself and others. The kind were something was probably going wrong and the only answer the brain could land on was: beat the ever loving crap out of someone.

Reki didn't relish being that someone.

"Akodo-sama!" she declares, sucking in air with each breath. Heavy rises and falls of her chest from the concentrated exertion. It wasn't anger, but it was ferocity of focus and intent. Something that Reki would surely be forgiven for mistaking considering the appearance of the Kuni face-paint. Bokken held outward toward her invisible opponent he'd struck her last in a vital hit, while she'd only managed to land hers at his invisible shoulder. One would live, and the other would die, and she'd not come away the victor even in her mind. This was rarely not the case.

Bringing the bokken low and to her side, still fighting through the rigor toward etiquette she turns to Reki with an appropriate bow.

Rising, "Would you like to spar, Akodo-sama?"

"Kuni-san," Reki studied the Kuni for a second...then shrugged, "Alright."

Taking up a practice katana, she gave it a few testing swings. Then bowed to Koyuki and took a position opposite.

"Do you wish a moment to catch your breath?" She asks, ready to drop into her stance if the answer was no. "I believe we last spoke at the tournament?" She almost added 'I really should have approached your kin earlier.' but then again she was not a diplomat just a Lion on a vacation.

"No, it will give me a chance to train for conditions best avoided," she says with a steel to her voice. Dropping herself back into a solid and unbending stace Koyuki's mind calms while her eyes focus. Meeting Reki's gaze she nods to begin the bout. Inviting the woman to challenge her with the full of her might.

"First to three, Akodo-sama."

Day 9, EN | [Spar: Akodo Reki] Initiative, Full Defense | 5k3 ⇒ 30 (TN: ?)
Day 9, EN | [Spar: Akodo Reki] Full Defense, Defense/Reflexes | 4k3 ⇒ 23 (TN: ?)

ATN: 20 + 12 = 32

"Very well," Reki nodded and then leapt forward on the attack. The Kuni was faster than her and Crab had retreated into its shell to weather the storm. But Lion fangs were long and sharp.

The Akodo we're experts in the attack, replacing the raw fury of their Matsu cousins with unerring precision.

She slipped in under the Kuni's guard to land a blow on the other woman's side.

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One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Initiative | 5k3 ⇒ 21 (TN: ?)

One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Attack Stance - Hit you Kuni-san! +1k0 from first round, Akodo 1 FR, Akodo 2 Honor. +11 | 5k3+11 ⇒ 34 (TN: 23) TN is 32. 34 still hits though....

Their brief pairing of wooden blade meeting one another as Reki advances, Koyuki keeps up well for a time but ultimately the Lion finds her way past the Crabs shell, diving in to slice at the meat. Exerted as she was, Koyuki offers a breathy huff from her nostril before breaking a step back from the hit. Speaking with the wear of exhertion playing in her voice, "I must work on my defense," there's a dangerous smirk, an excitement to her features. Something that seemed as vibrant as the paint she wore.

Switching up her stance, the Kuni then presses her own attack to try and find her place to put to wooden blade past Reki's defenses but finds no such place. Reki skillfully casting aside strike after strike.

Day 9, EN | [Spar: Akodo Reki] Attack Stance, Attacking Reki, Kenjutsu/Reflexes Crab Hands | 4k3 ⇒ 19 (TN: 20)

ATN: 20

1/0 Reki.

Reki hopped back a step as they broke from the first clash. She smiles pleasantly and fixes a gentle gaze upon the Kuni, a warm pretty smile one might give an old friend. The simulated blade held in front of the Lioness broke the charm of that smile. "A thousand years and still you remain so committed to the defense." Her voice practically purrs as the sword sways. "It's the offense that wins the battle!" With that sudden outburst the Lioness lunges forward and slices down, no care given to protection. Her kind demeanor shifting and the smile turning to a smirk to match the Crab's.

Her blow lands hard on the Kuni's lower leg and continues forward as the Akodo attempts to send Koyuki sprawling.

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One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Full Attack Stance(AKA the Matsu stance) - Trip you Kuni-san! +2k1 from FULL ATTACK, Akodo 1 FR + 1 CR for KNOCKDOWN, Akodo 2 Honor. +6. TN25 after raises | 6k4+6 ⇒ 33 (TN: 25)

One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Full Attack Stance(AKA the Matsu stance) - Trip you Kuni-san! Contested Strength! | 3k3 ⇒ 22 (TN: ?) - TN22 Strength to avoid knockdown

ATN: 10 LIVE LIFE IN THE MATSU LANE

Blow landing hard may have unsteadied another opponent, but Koyuki was firm of footing and though it counted to a strike she stood firm. Matching her gaze down to the other woman in that moment with the knowing shared between them. "Better to know when to strike," she chides, and then with a whip of her bokken bashes Reki's away with a force enough to turn the woman away from her. Giving an opening to bring her blade back down and aim at the unsteadied leg, the footing, bokken connecting with leg and remaining stiff as to let Reki's own momentum send her tumbling forward.

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Day 9, EN | [Spar: Akodo Reki] Avoid Knockdown! Strength Contested | 3k3 ⇒ 24 (TN: ?)
Day 9, EN | [Spar: Akodo Reki] Full Attack Stance, 2 Raises for Knockdown | 6k4 ⇒ 49 (TN: 20)
Day 9, EN | [Spar: Akodo Reki] Contested Strength, Knockdown Reki | 3k3 ⇒ 18 (TN: ?)

[Should Reki fall, she backs away enough not to be struck.]

2/1 Reki.

Reki blinked as she was pushed back, surprisingly nimble...it seems that she almost avoids the fall....but the Crab manages to adjust at the last second. The Akodo falls backward, in the moments as she tumbles...Reki realizes she had lost unless. The Lioness flings her bokken at the Kuni, whose wild attack had left her open. The training weapon flew straight at Koyuki's head, the 'blade' passing a hair's breath from the Crab's head.

The Lioness hit the ground with a thud. And laughed. "Well...claim your victory Kuni-san. But remember that defeat was but the smallest of margins away!"

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One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Full Attack Stance(AKA the Matsu stance) - Trip me Kuni-san! Contested Strength! | 3k3 ⇒ 18 (TN: 18)

One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Full Attack Stance(AKA the Matsu stance) - Trip me Kuni-san! Contested Strength! Tiebreaker! | 3k3 ⇒ 17 (TN: 18)

One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Full Attack Stance(AKA the Matsu stance) - Trip me Kuni-san! Contested Strength! Tiebreaker! Redux | 3k3 ⇒ 28 (TN: ?)

One More Dance [Day 9, EN] - Attack Stance - Throwing the bokken at the Kuni! Unskilled! -2k0 from being prone. +6 from Akodo 2. Rerolling with the +6 in lieu of just adding it | 1k1+6 ⇒ 9 (TN: 10)

ATN: 10 from being prone!

Walking over to Reki, Koyuki stands above the woman with her bokken pointed down toward her chest. Looking over her like she was trying to find something for a moment, eyes that would peer through a person without defenses up, or so it felt akin to such a thing. Ready for the moment should Reki make any sudden movements to place the bokken against her chest and declare victory. However, she did not yet. Even though Reki was without her weapon and utterly defenseless by the rules of the match.

"Do you cede the match, Akodo-sama?" she asks, in a strange and perverse repetition of events but one week ago.

"Expecting an attack from this position?" Reki smirked, "I acknowledge my position as untenable. Your win Kuni-san."

She waited until Koyuki seemed satisfied before sitting up. "You know I don't know if we have properly spoken to each other...beyond my strongarming the nearest person to help me in a beach game."

Her brown eyes studied the Crab from a seated position.

"Don't throw your life away for a victory, and do not let your guard down until you know your enemy is defeated. That is how you survive, Akodo-sama," she says, the last whisper of that dangerous smirk leaving her expression. Falling back to the fog of all that kept her just a touch unreadable underneath all that paint.

Shifting the bokken into her off-hand, she offers her dominant to Reki to help her to her feet, "We have not. Sorry it did not play out the best way I had hoped, that other team was ruthless."

Reki frowned at her comment it was not an expression of anger...a deep sadness lay behind it, then her smile returned though a small amount of mirth had gone from the eyes, "There is a gamble in every battle, though in sparring one is more willing to attempt the ludicrous." She took the hand and stood up.

"An instructor once told me the only truly worthy foe was another Lion, which is why our true enemy would always be the Navy. My apologies for dragging you into the ancient feud." She chuckled, "Akodo Reki, Gunso, Operations Staff."

"Kuni Koyuki, I serve as an attaché to the general staff over at the embassy," she offers. Having taken the moment to read Reki as much as she might, before stepping away and claiming the fallen bokken of the gunso. With a nod toward the rack she notes that she's going to return it for the both of them and does so.

"You should play with some of the Crab I've known. You would find them put to shame," she offers, there's no affect on her tone but it sounds a bit like a tease. Just a bit.

"Another local then?" Reki stretched her arms out and turned her body left and right, loosening up after the fall. "I assume you mean some of your kin take the game very seriously?"

She watches the Kuni place both their weapons on the rack, "I am still new to the planet myself."

"Not a local, no. Not in any real sense of that word. I was assigned here recently," she says. Double checking that the bokken are indeed properly placed as to not fall or become damaged. Assured of this she turns and walks back to Reki stepping down the couple steps onto the tatami. Crossing over toward her, finding her arms crossing over her stomach.

"Though after a few weeks I think I am starting to feel like one. So little time and the planet changes so much," she half-chuckles, but it's more of an exhale than anything that carries a tone.

"I see," Reki crosses her arms behind her back, adopting that officer pose that had been drilled into her until it was second nature. She releases one hand and rubs her chin. "I'm actually on vacation myself. Detached from duty temporarily."

She smiles, "But even having only been here a short time...I can see what you mean. Though I would call it every night a party. But...that's a dream I suppose ever shifting."

"Not a world I would have ever expected a Lion to decide to come to for a.. vacation?" she asks, there's a sort of barely hidden surprise there just beneath her features. More like she was just naturally resistance toward expressions than really not making one. Which, of course, wasn't true at all but ultimately held that effect.

"While it may be the World of Dreams it is only a dream for a very particular kind of person, Akodo-sama," she adds, rather amused. After all, by the suggestion of the comment, Reki was definitely not that kind of person.

Reki's smile waivered, a glimpse of melancholy filtered in behind it, "...it wasn't my choice really. I was sent on leave after some particularly heavy fighting in the Crossroads to rest and recover. I was...distracted on my return home and left the arrangements in the hands of the personnel office."

She sighed, trying to sound exasperated but that same sadness in her smile had slipped in to the sound as well, "I don't know what they were thinking, but by the time I got around to checking the arrangements...well everything was booked and prepared."

"There are a few other tastes catered too...but yes a disconcertingly large amount has been meant for a particular set of tastes."