Kenji's nerves were all on edge as he entered the simple building where this tournament was supposed to be taking place.
It had taken a lot of effort and work just to hear about the place, much less find it.
He looked at the fighters coming in and noticed that many of them were older than he was, and looked like they'd seen their share of battles.
"Don't worry," a view said coming in behind him.
He turned to look and saw a young woman, about the same age as him. She looked like something of a mix between Hi-nin and Mizu-nin blood, with pure black hair and a tall, slender build. Her movement showed impressive amounts of power under her skin, but she was not overdeveloped, keeping a firm balance between flexibility and power.
"This is a D-rank tournament," she said. "There's no one here but new-comers and people that have never had any real dedication. Rank 1 fighters mostly, a couple of rank 2's but not much more than that."
"What are you?" Kenji asked.
"I'm Rank 2," she said. "I'm hoping to make rank 3 tonight. My name is Tian-Mei Hoshi."
Kenji noticed that she waited for him, maybe to introduce himself, or maybe for him to recognize the name.
"What's your name?" she asked, with a small amount of disappointment.
"H...Kenji," the young samurai said, dropping his family name at the last moment.
"Kenji, such a unique name," she noted with a bit of a laugh. "Anyway, if you have the Will and the love of the Art, you'll do fine here. Just watch yourself and avoid temptation. Some of these men are honorable, some are trash or worse."
As she said that, she eyed a certain group of fighters in the dark corner of the room.
"Really?" Kenji said, turning his look that direction in interest.
That sounded like the people that Saitoh-san wanted him to seek information about.
"You're after them," the girl beside him said, watching his look.
"What?" he asked.
"I know that look," Tian-Mei said whispering now as she brought Kenji toward the wall and looked him over. "My mother gets that look. Samurai, right? Or are you Shinobi?"
"Samurai," Kenji said in a hard voice after several moments.
"Look, kid, whatever they did to you," she said. "It's not worth throwing your life away this early."
"How do I know you're not one of them trying to put me off the scent," Kenji asked.
The girl turned to look away with a chuckle before twisting about swiftly enough that responding would have been difficult. He let the attack follow through, probably better to establish himself as fool at first than to display all his training.
The hit was a grab for his throat and pushed him back against the wall before the girl let him go again.
"Oh, I hope I get you in the first round before somebody else eliminates you," she said as she walked away from him to go sit and wait until she was called to enter the arena.
He looked about and noticed a heavily muscled man sitting mostly in heavy shadow drop a slip of paper into a pot being carried around by a thin, weakly man who was obviously no fighter.
Stepping forward himself, he got himself a slip and dropped his own name into the pot.
The girl had been more or less correct. None of the fighters he saw in the first few fights matched his mother, father or any of the other people he was associated with. It had been a challenge, when his turn came up, to make a good showing without showing off too much.
Then the tournament caller set to call the next fight.
"Tian-Mei Hoshi, Legacy of the Champions!" he called out after reading her name from the slip he had drawn.
There was a small roar of approval from the gathered fighters and the small audience both, and Kenji was surprised at the title. Apparently the girl was related to someone important in the Shura-Shiai.
She entered the ring smiling and waving at the various onlookers as the caller pulled the next name. Kenji watched as he unfolded the slip and the blood drained from the man's face.
Kenji watched as the man struggled to form words to express what he had just read and suddenly, he was fearful for the girl he had just met.
"Tian-Mei Hoshi..." he said with dry throat, "Will fight Shin Gouki...also known...as Akuma."
The crowd, which had been still cheering Tian-Mei, swiftly quieted as the heavily-muscled man that Kenji had seen earlier stood up and walked toward the arena through the deadly silence.
Now Kenji, and indeed all there, could feel the man letting his powerful chi free to leak out and color everything in a shade of bloodthirst.
Kenji wanted to move to protect the girl who watched the demon approach her, frozen in place, but he couldn't. His feet wouldn't obey his wishes.
Everything passed like a nightmare as the referee, trying to stay away from the so-called Akuma, called the fighters together for the beginning of the fight.
The conditions were given and the offer was made for forfeit. Kenji hoped the girl would accept that condition, whatever this...was he a man...person was, no one here could beat them, he'd swear to it.
However, she stepped forward and set into stance about to fight a battle she was clearly not ready for and knew she was not ready for. It wasn't pride, it was stubborness, foolish stubborness.
Kenji started to move forward as the fight was called and the action started.
Tian-Mei started the action, trying to finish the fight quick by appearances. The girl's kick was easily blocked as Kenji's foot first came down on the ground. His other foot came up as Akuma counter attacked almost casually, but still with enough power to push the girl backwards against the wall.
Tian-Mei twisted about, using the wall as a springboard to head back into the fight. Kenji was beginning his fourth step when she slammed her leg into Akuma's face using the force of her ricochet.
The smiling monster barely flinched, almost pleased as he accepted the strike and struck the girl flat down to the ground.
It continued as Kenji ran in mired air across the building toward the arena floor and Tian-Mei continued to be battered with horrendous blows. Her stances looked less sharp with each strike, and it was clear the monster was only just toying with her, seeing how long she could withstand the punishment he was giving her.
Kenji was at the edge of the arena when the last blow was landed and the young samurai knew from the way her body bent that the spine at least was obliterated.
Akuma was already walking off the floor as Tian-Mei's limp form collapsed to the ground, her expression one of shock and pain. Kenji was only quick enough to catch her before her body touched the ground.
She looked up to see who had caught her.
"Rookie..." she said harshly.
"Don't talk," Kenji warned, trying to remember what he'd seen Megumi do for such injuries.
"I'm still stronger than you rookie," she laughed harshly. It sounded more like a cough. "Just take me back home."
"What?" Kenji asked, at first it was quiet. "Where's home? Where's home!?"
But if she intended to answer, he didn't know as the light died from her face and the little bit of movement she still had disappeared, leaving only a limp mannikin of flesh.
"You'll find her home in Mizu no Kuni," Akuma said darkly through a smile as he walked past the fighting floor and headed out the door. "Find the Hoshi Dojo, and speak to Ryu and Chun-Li Hoshi."
The demon turned to face Kenji at the door.
"Be sure to tell them I'll be getting ready," the monster said. "See if they can find me."
Tian-Mei looked down at her body and the scene as a whole in confusion.
So quickly, everything had happened so quickly.
And now she was standing over her body with a chain pulling out of her chest.
"What..." she said, not able to get anything else out.
****
A week passed as Tian-Mei followed the path of the samurai that was carting her body east, fulfilling her last request it seemed.
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry about it.
Another week and they were on a boat traveling to Mizu no Kuni, but something changed at this point.
Onto the boat with them came a man in a black traveling kimono. Strangely enough, no one else seemed to see him except her, and, at times, he seemed to see her.
For some reason, she got the idea that he was waiting for something to happen.
****
"Ryu-sensei, Chun-Li-sama," a voice called out, sounding shaken.
Ryu looked up from classes as Chun-Li stood up from her meditation with her son, sensing that something was wrong.
"There is a...person here," the student said, glancing in the direction of the gate. "They've brought Tian-Mei."
That phrasing was one neither World Warrior had ever wanted to hear. It was one that meant injury or...worse.
Chun-Li moved toward the gate as Ryu stepped forward to block the path of their younger son.
He recognize the sound of the wail as that of his wife's voice and closed his eyes in mourning as he hugged his son close.
****
"It was a beautiful funeral," the man in black robes said.
Those were the first words that Tian-Mei had heard that hadn't been in battle. A battle against a monster of some kind that the boy taking her body had apparently thought was a windstorm.
"Now it is time to move on," the man said, drawing a sword and moving forward.
Despite the weapon Tian-Mei felt no fear of the man's approach, in fact even felt a sense of relief, somehow.
A pair of words followed, and then a flash of light.
And suddenly, she was standing in another village, wearing a kimono like that she used during festival days. People glanced to her as they passed, and the chain out of her chest was gone.
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(Posted Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:11)
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