As Kuno was lead on a merry chase, another confrontation was taking place. Yellow chitin shone brightly, reflecting the sunlight as it moved. Each step revealed a power barely contained; the air felt charged as it moved across the asphalt. Akane pumped her legs, moving to keep pace with her prey. The task was proving to be more difficult than she had expected. The boy was fast, of that she had little doubt. Though she had watched him defeat the lesser warriors with his speed she couldn’t appreciate it fully until she herself was matched against it. While she wasn’t struggling to keep up, even in such a short sprint, the difference in their speed was apparent.
He stopped, facing her with a grim expression that made her blood boil in excitement. She came to a stop no more than a meter in front of him. They were surprisingly similar in height, her bulky seeming armor making up for the few inches she lacked. A cool wind blew through the street carrying with it the sounds of her sister’s battle with the other male. Her eyes watched, anticipation building as the man slipped into an offensive stance.
“This is it.” she mentally crowed. “This is what I’ve been waiting for.” She followed suit, disdaining defense for pure offense.
“If you have anything to say, you should say it now. I don’t think you’ll be doing much talking after this is over,” Akane spoke. Their eyes met across the small area and a sense of déjà vu passed through her momentarily, as though she might have known the man in a past life.
“There’s nothing I have to say with my mouth that can’t be said with these fist. Let’s dance.” The two sprung at each other at the moment the words left his mouth, the wind carrying them to the heavens and, perhaps, to the ears of passing kami. Fist met armor chitin as Ranma moved under her guard, tossing the Wasp-girl through a storefront.
He followed her through the hole, kicking out at her rising form. She blocked, surprised once again by her opponent. His strength was amazing. Even through her chitin, which repelled bullets easily, she could feel the blow. He continued to press his attack; his body flowed like water around her counter strikes, always taking advantage of even the smallest opening presented.
Another explosion of brick and mortar, and the two were outside once more. Fragments of pasta, tomato sauce, and several unidentifiable food items came with them, littering the street with the innards of the restaurant. Akane pulled herself up from the latest strike, mind focused solely on her opponent. He came in yet again, poised to deliver another devastating blow. She took a chance, dropping the defensive stance she had once again been forced to take. Throwing herself forward she felt both the surprisingly familiar pain of his fist biting into her chest and the altogether foreign feel of her fist connecting, catching her pony-tailed assailant by surprise.
Her blow caught him cleanly across the jaw, his body spinning twice before hitting the ground. A trench stretched to the other side of the street where he hit, his body carving up the pavement badly. She breathed hard, happy for a moment to regain her wind. She approached slowly, something about the boy cautioning her from an early celebration. Heart racing, her steps echoed hollowly across in the now still air. The world held its breath along with her, seeming to drag the few seconds it took to near him to hours.
“Is he… dead?” Akane thought, both elated and disappointed at once. The air grew still as she stood over his fallen body, not even the beating of her heart sounding in the stillness.
All at once the sound returned; heart, nature, and all, as Ranma’s eyes opened. Their eyes met once more, again that sense of déjà vu intruding upon their own private universes.
It was short lived.
“Kyaa!” Akane’s foot drove a hole through the street, Ranma narrowly rolling away in time. He kept rolling, Akane creating holes half a foot deep in the concrete where his head had been moments previous.
He kicked out, knocking her foot away long enough to jump to his feet once more. Without pause he attacked, hands drawing back. The vacuum blade flew true, only to be obliterated by a glowing orb flying from the Wasp-girl’s hands. Undaunted, Ranma followed the attack quickly, striking consecutive blows on her chest, and finishing it by sending Akane through a car and into another building.
Kicking to her feet she faced the young man as he entered the storefront. The two sprinted at each other, blows raining like water from both parties, drowning the other in pain. Time lost all meaning; seconds, days, millennia passed in between heartbeats. Oceans of pain washed against temporal shores, erasing the ‘I’ and leaving only the ‘we’. Bodies disappeared, leaving only the will, the soul, both striking in harmony.
“I know you,” Akane’s soul whispered, enthralled.
“I know you,” Ranma’s replied.
And then it was over, Ranma’s fist striking a chink in her armor. A hurricane of pain drowned the girl and they both snapped back to reality. Akane staggered, her chest flaring with every breath.
“Broken ribs? Bruised?” She thought. “What is he? I’ve never fought a human this powerful.” She pulled back and dodged two noticeably slower blows. “Looks like he didn’t come out unharmed, either.”
She leapt backward, crashing through yet another wall. Ranma followed quickly but was met with only the fading hum of wings and a whisper in his soul.
“You are mine.”
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(Posted Sun, 26 Oct 2003 20:11)
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