Chapter 23 #2
Without warning, Kiba pushed off the cliff wall with ease, his muscles rippling beneath his dark tunic as he launched into a graceful backflip. His body twisted in the air with precision before he landed lightly on the balls of his feet, barely a sound escaping from the impact.
“What?! How!?” Taiga stammered, wide-eyed, but Kiba raised a hand, signaling for silence.
“If you ask someone from the independent territories, they might tell you that of all the shinobi’s powers, flying is among them.”
“It’s not?” Oba-chan stepped closer.
“No,” Kiba smiled. “Or at least not from any ninja I’ve ever seen. But…using the technique I just demonstrated, the limits of where we can go and how we get there are drastically reduced.”
“How?” Iruka asked.
“How do you think?”
Ah, forcing them to think it through, Aimee mused.
It was a method she’d often used herself, but as she glanced around at the younger Tanshi, she doubted any of them would piece it together.
The confusion on their faces was unmistakable.
Momoka’s lips pursed, Taiga scratched his head, and Iruka’s eyes narrowed.
And to be honest, she wasn’t sure if she could figure it out either.
They hadn’t seen the technique in action, and she wasn’t very familiar with Mana or its more advanced uses yet.
When none of them answered, Kiba’s gaze found her, his one visible eye studying her intently. “Aimee?”
She raised an eyebrow. Making me do the work again, are you?
Kiba's mouth pulled up at the corner, as if reading her thoughts.
“Well, Sensei,” she drawled, taking her time. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was some combination of all three Mana techniques.”
He tilted his head. “Go on.”
Her fingers curled in her hair, wanting to impress him despite her irritation with him.
Kiba in teacher mode is... She cut off the thought before it wandered into dangerous territory and forced herself to focus on the question at hand.
“Well,” she started, “first, you’ve got to convince yourself that hanging off the side of a cliff is perfectly normal.
So, a little bit of mind Mana for that. Second, you’d need to adjust the surface, somehow, maybe convince it to grip onto you, create little spikes, or whatever, so you stick. That’s your elemental Mana. And…”
“And?” Kiba prompted.
“If you wanted to move or do anything other than just hang there, you'd have to adjust your balance and strength significantly. Otherwise, you’d need to train for that movement for hours every day. That’s where body Mana comes in.”
Kiba stared at her, his gaze thoughtful, as if considering her answer more deeply than she expected. There was a flicker of something—appreciation, maybe—in his eyes before Taiga sputtered, breaking the silence.
“That’s impossible, Aimee. It’s got to be easier than that!”
“It’s not,” Kiba said with a small cough, breaking eye contact with Aimee and turning back to the group.
“I’ve never heard it explained quite like that, but Aimee’s right.
It’s a mix of all three types of Mana. You have to convince both the rock, or whatever surface you need to traverse, and yourself that you belong there. ”
“How on earth are we supposed to do that?” Iruka folded his arms.
“Control and repetition,” Kiba replied calmly. “It takes most shinobi at least a year to feel confident using this skill on different surfaces and angles. But it’s a skill you need to master before we can move on to anything more dangerous.” He shot a glance at Taiga. “Like fireball.”
“I don’t know,” Taiga frowned, glancing nervously at the nearby cliff. “Seems pretty dangerous if we try this and fall off the edge.”
Momoka sputtered a laugh as Kiba gestured to a large boulder and the trees around them. “Then don’t practice on a cliff.”
“Idiot.” Iruka stepped toward the boulder and inspected it with a calculating gaze.
“Right…yeah, that makes sense.” Taiga blushed, quickly turning to pick out a tree for himself.
Momoka cast a glance at Taiga, then followed Iruka, taking a spot on the less steep side of the rock.
“And you?” Kiba asked, his eyes turning to Aimee. “Got a good tree in mind?”
“Something like that.” She scanned the area.
I can think of one tree I’d like to climb, the thought slipped into her mind before she could stop it.
The memory of the previous night clung to her like the heat of the afternoon sun, simmering just beneath the surface no matter how hard she tried to focus on the hike or Kiba’s lesson.
The feel of his hands on her skin, the fire in his gaze, the unspoken words that hung between them.
Being this close to him now wasn’t making it any easier.
“Show me,” he said.
“Right here?” She cleared her throat, quickly looking him up and down before turning away.
Color crept above his mask, tinting his cheeks as he blushed. “Not on me, you deviant,” he choked out. “That tree. Over there.”
“Really? I’m the deviant? That’s not what—”
“Aimee,” he cut her off as he ran a hand through his silver hair, clearly flustered. “I know last night…I said…I…look. We need to focus. On the mission. Can we do that?”
She cocked a hip, arms crossed.
“Please. We can talk later,” he added, his voice softer.
She narrowed her eyes, waiting.
“Tonight,” he promised, his tone resigned.
“Fine,” she snapped, turning sharply and heading in the opposite direction of the tree he’d pointed out. “But not that one. Too small.” She clenched her fists at her sides, trying to shake off the frustration. “You coming, Sensei?” she called over her shoulder, daring him to follow.
The tree she chose was massive, its trunk easily ten feet in diameter. She craned her neck to look up, spotting its thick branches high above, though she guessed it stretched well past the canopy of the surrounding forest.
“Seriously?” he asked, tilting his head back to take in its full height. “How far do you think you’re going to get? I know you’re more advanced than you look, but…”
She placed one foot gingerly on the base of the great cedar, testing her connection with the rough bark and adjusting her power to mimic Mana as closely as she could.
There were many ways she could ascend the tree, but she’d do it his way.
If she wanted to keep fitting in, she needed to hone her Mana-esque techniques anyway.
“Aimee?”
She grinned, deliberately letting her eyes roam over him, appreciating how his lean muscles filled out his plain black pants.
“Better make sure I don’t fall,” she teased, then launched herself up the tree.
She sprinted vertically, her feet light and sure against the bark, allowing the Mana-like energy to guide her. Every few moments, she leaped from branch to branch, the rush of power coursing through her, and the world blurred as she soared higher.
Holy fuck, I can see why they love their Mana! It’s so much easier than most forms of power!
She heard a faint rustle of leaves and the soft thud of footsteps on bark below. Kiba was following her.
She grinned and pushed harder, the wind whipping past her as she shot up even faster, leaping to higher branches, determined not to let him catch her.
Just as the light of an early-rising moon began to twinkle through the tops of the trees, signaling she was near the canopy, Aimee miscalculated. Her foot missed a vital connection point with the bark, and before she could react, she was plummeting in the opposite direction.
Branches slapped at her as she tumbled downward, her heart racing. She scrambled to readjust the flow of power, slow her descent, or latch onto anything to stop the fall. But before she could, something solid and warm enveloped her.
Her lungs forgot how to work as strong arms wrapped around her midair, halting her fall.
Oh… Pressed tightly against the solid warmth of him, she caught the steady thrum of his heartbeat beneath his chest—a sharp contrast to the frantic hammering in her own.
Her legs dangled from his arms, and after a moment of stunned silence, a burst of giddy laughter escaped her lips. She kicked her legs playfully, wrapping her arms around his neck for balance.
“Oh my god!” she gushed. “That was so much fun, I—”
But before she could finish her sentence, his lips collided with hers. She hadn’t even noticed him pull down his mask. His hand gripped her thighs, fingers curling into the meat of her muscles as his lips moved hungrily over hers.
Finally, the thought escaped as her hands found his hair, tugging him closer, and the world around them vanished.
She couldn’t have guessed whether the kiss lasted a second or an hour. It felt both fleeting and endless. Only when a sudden confusion stirred within her did she manage to pull herself away.
“Kiba?” Aimee broke the kiss, pressing her palm against his chest, her fingers splayed over his rapid heartbeat. “What...what are we doing?”
He gulped for air, his gaze flickering to the canopy of smaller trees below that hid them from the world.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know.” His hands loosened, gently lowering her feet to the ground. “We should probably get back.”
He turned, his hands reaching for the bark as he prepared to descend the tree.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, you stupid, annoying man. Without thinking, she grabbed his hand, yanking him back around before he could leap.
“For fuck’s sake, Kiba, wait a second!” She forcefully turned him to face her. “You can’t just steal a girl’s breath like that and leave her all hot and bothered up a tree! Enough with the games!”
His head, previously bowed toward the ground, lifted slowly. His lips, slightly swollen from their kiss, curved into something self-satisfied. “Hot and bothered?”
She crossed her arms, trying and failing to stay angry. “Up a goddamn tree, man!”
“I…” He paused, rubbing the back of his neck. “I suppose I can see how that might be…ungentlemanly?”
Her jaw dropped. “Ungentlemanly? That’s the best you’ve got?”