Gimme 'yo address, homie! [Ai]

[Sagiri Demo]

Eyes of liquid, inky black stared over the height of the summit, reddish-brown shaggy hair falling in front of them. A toss of large, horned head cleared the shagginess away, at least for a moment before the wind blowing in from the east would scatter it back. A trembling, braced hand wandered over to rest between the yak's ears, scratching gently as a smaller set of burgundy eyes looked in a similar direction.

They were looking over the tops of the trees: the forests that made up a great portion of Hi no Kuni. Russki could pinpoint precisely where in that forest that Konohagakure lay, having been there so many years ago. Such good times there...she learned so much in that village including her katon jutsu.
"Konohagakure's in der." she said to the yak, running a finger through the crimped white mane running down the back of its head, hand coming to rest on the thick, oversized blue rope tied in an exaggerated bow over the animal's thick neck. She pointed a nimble finger toward a seemingly random area in the foliage, gently wobbling a bit. "Ri' 'bout der, if I recall."

[Zetsu Rin]

Yaks are very large animals. Lots of meat. Precisely what the three tigers roaming the Hi no Kuni wilderness were looking for. They had learned a minor lesson before, frozen by an ANBU's Temporary Paralysis. However, they were hungry, and would chance an encounter with a ninja. In fact, the yak was the target. Russki was only extra meat.

They boldly walked out of the brush, each giving it's own growl, each giving piercing glares at their prey. The three giant meat eaters felt they had the duo trapped, and the lead moved in for a kill.

A flash of skin burst from the bushes, claws digging into the lead tiger's hide, momentum taking it off it's feet into it's side. Shiteru Ai tumbled across the ground, quickly on her feet even as a second tiger came at her. As the lead tiger got back to it's feet, Ai caught the jaws of the beast attacking her as she was slammed harshly to the ground. It was all she could do to just hold the jaws open. If she faltered even the slightest, they would clamp down on her through, and rid it out.

Then she started to feel panicky. Not from her struggle with the second tiger, but looking over and seeing the third approaching Russki and her mount. "Get out of here!" she called out. It wasn't every day she risked her life for a stranger. Though, the only reason for that, was because she hardly ever had contact with other people.

[Sagiri Demo]

The tigers were not missed, emerging from the brush with yellowed eyes narrowed. Russki's own eyes weren't paralyzed with fear, nor were they widened with surprise, and the twitch that jumped and rolled itself across fingers was testimony enough as to why.
Russki was unmedicated.
The adrenaline was beginning to flood her system as slitted pupils began to rotate sideways, squaring off at its tapered ends and finishing off in a perfect rectangle.

"Here kitty, kitty..." she purred, putting left hand on her upper kodachi, right hand resting atop the hilt of the lower weapon. She was poised to draw when Ai exploded from the bushes, wrestling her main target to the ground.
"Teh fux!!!!!!" she cried, watching the woman tackling away HER tiger, eyes never left unaware of the other two. While she was upset that someone had managed to barge in on her little rumble in the jungle, a part of her was impressed that this woman was just bare-handing a big cat.

"Noooo!" Russki hollered with a stamp of her foot. "YOU ged'ouda here!"
Russki drew her blades with a flourish and a grin, rolling the hilt of one weapon in her hand as she brought it in and flared outward and upward with a spin at the stalking tiger, who was now leaping at her and her yak. The crescent of solidified wind hit the beast in the chest with the force of a cement block and blew it backward with a yowling snarl.

Sheathing the kodachi in her right hand, she pulled the entire sheath from her belt and rotated it so that her hand was wrapped round the top and holding tight in the middle, arm curled around it for added stability. Lancing forward, she aimed a careful jab with the hardened edge of the weapon at the ribs of the tiger attacking Ai. The burst of wind that would blast from the end of the sheath would have the strength to crack the ribs and potentially bowl the big cat over.
Crazy woman... Russki thought to herself.

[Zetsu Rin]

The big cat did indeed bowl over, flopping onto it's side and enabling Ai to scramble to her feet. With injured ribs, the giant tiger was not going to stick around, and slinked away. With a roar, the third tiger dove for the yak, pouncing on it. Ai, distracted when taking a few seconds to look the pretty girl up and down, turned toward the lead tiger.

The tiger hit it's mark. Left paw slapped onto her waist, four huge claws digging deep into her flesh. The animal's head was turned sideways, and it's mouth clamped down hard on her throat, shutting off her air supply. For a moment, it simply stood there like that. As if letting it sink in to the ninja cat that she was going to die.

She wasn't.

Ai slowly reached up, wrapping her pawlike hands around the creature's mouth. Picking the best holding spot on the top and bottom jaws, she pried them apart, her strength at least as great as the tiger's. She leaned back and twisted, forcing the tiger to roll over and let go of her side to avoid it's neck breaking.

In truth, without using any of her Taijutsu, just barehanding the tiger like this was suicidal. Well, this specific tiger. He was the boss, the leader of the trio. He only got that way be being the best. As he came up, Ai finally got a chance to do what she had been trying to do since she came on the scene. The animal-like ninja got right up in the tiger's face and growled, confronting him. They had met several times in the past, and the outcome had always been in her favor. This was the first time, however, that she had interrupted a meal.

For a moment, they just stared at each other, exchanging a growl or two here and there. Ai was biding time for Russki. Either she could flee, or save her yak and drive off the third tiger. Once the Suna-nin was gone, Ai could escape. If she drove off the third tiger, Ai would just convince the leader to leave. It wasn't as easy as it sounded. It was all in the eyes and posture. She had to intimidate him to a point that he disregarded her bleeding wounds, her delicious meat, and concentrated instead on the intimidation of her own strength.

[Sagiri Demo]

Russki danced backward again, clipping her sheath back to her belt and placing hand upon the hilt once more and waiting. The third tiger was spotted as it sprang, leaping upon the summon who promptly bellowed his displeasure at this most recent turn of events, bucking forward onto front limbs and kicking out with short, powerful hindquarters.
This shit's too much... it brayed in blantantly-profane yak-speak to which Russki nodded, grunting gently as the great shaggy beast disappeared in a puff of smoke. The tiger, kicked in the jaw by the massive, Stellite-shoed hoof, looked around dazed with blood dripping from its maw before turning and walking away, wobbling a bit.

Attention was now turned to Ai and her staredown with the gigantic leader.
"Aye!" she called out, drawing her blade and holding it at the ready. "Lookin' at'im ain't gonna get the job done. Skewer that motherfucker!"
Russki growled, twirling her blade.
"Before I do..."

[Zetsu Rin]

When Russki shouted to her, Ai's ears twitched at what she thought was her name. She raised her left hand in Russki's direction, five fingers extended on the paw in a general "stop" signal. He right hand slowly made it's way toward the animal's head. As her hand neared, and even as it rest gently atop the tiger's head, he growled.

She pushed down, not hard but soft, adding more strength bit by bit to force his head slowly down and to the left. As she did this, the tiger's growling slowly subsided. Forcing him to break eye contact and turn from her, the tiger moved of it's own accord and turned around, slinking black into the bushes.

Ai stood straight and lowered her arms, then collapsed unconscious on her side from blood loss.

[Sagiri Demo]

Russki was at the ready, weaving to and fro the slightest bit, anticipating swinging her kodachi once more. Its blade was pristine, without blemish or dulling. And there was a good reason for as much.
The blade had never cut a soul. And it didn't need to. The solidified wind initiated by the chakra-thread framework of the sword did all the work, preserving the blade, the flawless weld, the pristine finish.
She wished that tiger WOULD bring his striped hide her way. She might make an exception this time around, bypass the wind and let the metal meet the flesh for a change, see exactly what it felt like, what it was to cut a motherfucker.

But she could see that Ai had a history with this bad fellow, and so she would allow the strange woman to settle the bad blood in her own way. Crimson eyes with their rectangular pupils watched the pair carefully within their silent battle, particularly concentrating on the woman. Nice....nice....getting nicer....paws? The hell?
The woman slowly pushed the big cat's head down and away, and without an ounce of drama, it turned and began to walk away.
And then Ai toppled over.
"Oshit!" Russki cried, sheathing her blade and racing over. She looked the unconscious woman over, stripping off her clan jacket and splitting a sleeve, tearing it away from the main fabric to form a dressing around Ai's bleeding throat.

Once the wound had been packed and the bleeding slowed to an oozing creep, she began to check Ai over for more wounds. Satisfied that the woman seemed to be otherwise unscathed for the most part, she would have much rather have gotten out of there before those tigers got big balls again and decided to come back.
Pricking her finger with the edge of her kodachi, she swiped it across the hoofprint trail going along her wrist.
At once, the shaggy beige and white yak returned, obviously annoyed at having been returned to the place where he had just gotten bitten in the ass.
"Jus' one mo' favor an' ya' kin get goin' again." Russki reassured him, lifting Ai's limp body over his shaggy back. Climbing up ahead of her, she gave the yak's sides a gentle squeeze with the cushioned bottoms of her geta, starting off toward home.

[Zetsu Rin]

Ai remained unconscious, not waking even as Russki dressed her wounds, but she did grimace at the pain. When she was hefted onto the yak's back, the catgirl cringed, and mumbled something about pastries. A few seconds after Russki spoke, the Nukenin's voice was more pronounced as she clearly said "Uhnnn... Pretty voice...".