Who Said Girl Can't Kick Ass?

In all honesty, Tai was a mess. For the past month or so he had just felt so utterly stuck in this situation with Kinone. He knew for a fact he had genuine feelings for her; he hadn't felt like this about anybody in three years, at least. Ideally, he would have eventually been able to just work up the courage to actually tell her, but that wasn't really an option for multiple reasons. Firstly, he was her boss, and that would complicate things without a doubt. More importantly, though, he got the distinct feeling that she had been through a hell of a lot in her life, and throwing his confession on top of all that? No...he wanted to spare her the trouble, as much as it ached, as much as it felt like he was passing by something truly special.

The monkey prince smiled a bit at the way she left his cloud, deciding to mimic it as well and flip the opposite way. After doing so, he flicked his tail a bit and took a few paces back, eyeing the clearing they had settled on. It seemed suitable enough for their needs...an open main space, trees to hide and climb in, and soft grass for either of them to land in when they inevitably got knocked down. "Oh, yeah? I feel like I could say the same to you, but...agree to disagree, yeah?" Tai flashed her a smirk before adjusting his stance, prepared to defend against whatever tricks she had up her sleeve. "Come at me then, foxy. We'll see who knows what's what."

"Curious what now!?" Tai only had the briefest second to feign offense at her joke, making a big show of scowling at her, before she abruptly rushed at him, taking him just the slightest bit off guard. He especially wasn't anticipating the sudden shift mid run, and as such didn't quite have time to properly move out of the way. Instead, he braced himself for the impact, grunting quietly but grinning all the same. He reached back to grab at her leg as it made contact with him, pushing back against her to throw her that extra bit off balance and swinging her by the leg in an attempt to toss her to the grass.

"Damn, up to sneaky tricks right off the bat? And here I thought you had some honor under all that talk." He smirked at her coyly before waiting for her to make another move, tail flicking in eager anticipation. He had to admit to himself that she had gotten in a really good kick on him; he was genuinely impressed, but not he was going to be looking out more carefully for sly moves like that. If not for his accelerated healing, that definitely would have left a bruise.