She had no other choice as far as she knew.
If it was anyone's fault, it was her father's. He was the one with the loose hand with the money, and with all that had happened, it was clear that he'd never be trusted with the purse strings again. But the damage had already been done, and her family was in debt. The sort of debt they had wasn't the one simply struggled to pay, but was the type that one had to take radical action to handle. As it stood, she simply had no choice.
Either she'd win the contest, or she'd wind up on the auction block, which wasn't something that she wanted to risk. Not that she wasn't sure that she'd make a good mamluk, but she wouldn't know who would buy her in that case. There was Kuno, who'd never made any doubts about his wanting her, and had already made an offer for her which had immediately been rejected. Of course, she could always go to those Chardin people who wanted either what they were owed, or one of Soun Tendo's daughters, but they weren't something that she'd wish on anyone. And being auctioned off could result in her being stuck with someone who was even worse.
None of that was for her, even though she knew that there were those groups that helped slaves. If, and that was a really big 'if', she ever chose to let herself be brought as a slave, it'd be her choice on who'd do it. However, she didn't have to go through such drastic measures. Just by winning the prize money, she'd make all the problems go away.
Plus it'd show just how tough and good Akane Tendo and the Tendo School of Anything Goes were.
"Are you sure that you wish to go through with this?" Michiru asked.
Haruka smirked back at her as she brushed off her clothing. "Why not?"
"We don't need the prize money..."
"Of course not. It isn't about that. I just want to be able to show what I can do. And you're dodging the issue."
"I know. It's just so... Brutal. You will take care not to let yourself get too injured, will you?"
"Certainly. I'll fight as... elegantly as I can."
The violinist's mouth quirked up a bit at the subtle tease and relaxed a bit.
In the shadows stood a figure watching over the Arena. There was little movement from the person, but they weren't aiming to draw attention. Rather, the focus was clearly on watching what the normal people were doing. There were many of them, some about to fight, while others were about to watch. All of them would be putting out a lot of energy, and soon they'd be serving a purpose that they never expected to.
For the one hiding in the darkness was:
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(Posted Sun, 29 Aug 2004 21:08)
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