Fan Fiction ❯ Fighter's Crusade: Project Epsilon ❯ Chapter 1

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The following work is based on characters from a game by Techmo "Dead or Alive 3". Some of the properties from the characters have been retained, but others have been changed and/or expanded upon. The Author claims no right to the original characters, or the original plot from Team Ninja or Techmo. However, the Author does reserve the right to this original work, and the Author's original characters herein.

Thanks go to:

+ Christopher Isak and Sebastian Huff for helping with the German part of this story

+ shivand1 for correcting my broken and often incorrect Japanese

+ Grandma Maki for inspiring me to study Japanese

+ Ms. Livadas for being awesome and helping troubleshoot this

+ Soil, Fear Factory, Spineshank, System of a Down, Godsmack, Thrice and Chevelle for

rocking out while I typed this

+ Of course Team Ninja for creating THE best character to play with and write about

+ My friends and family for putting up with me making them read it

+ Everyone else for reading it

CHAPTER 1

Hitomi stood up from the wooden chair, and it slid smoothly backwards until it caught on the carpeted floor, and tipped over. The thump as it hit the floor was inaudible as a squeal of joy escaped her lips. "Thank you soooo much!" she said, while clasping the middle-aged man's hand who sat in front of her, girlishly shook it up and down with a sort of bouncing motion. "Anyway, " said that man as she let go of his hand "my name is Kenneth Adams, and I'm the boss, manager-type person here at Club Shakedown. I'm not gonna try and be a corporate A-Hole, since I own the place, just try to get here on time in the evenings `cause we get pretty busy in here especially on the weekends. And we're short-staffed enough as it is."

"Yessir, " she replied, "and thank you again, it's been soooo hard to find a job."

"Yeah, the job market is kinda tight right now."

"Tell me about it," she paused obviously searching for something she forgot to ask.

"Tell me your name again, cute stuff?" Adams asked with a half smile. Hitomi knew he was just teasing her. There was no way this middle-aged man, dressed to conform to the latest trends, was trying to hit on her. She smiled at Adams and told him.

"Hitomi," she replied "Hitomi Barrens."

"Okay Hitomi, I'll need you here at 8:00 p.m. tonight. Be ready to work. You won't have to do anything vulgar, just serve drinks, take food orders, that sorta thing. And uhh….." He trailed off, while looking her up and down. Hitomi, apparently annoyed by this, glared him one of those infamous "woman looks".

"No, no, it isn't like that!" Adams quickly blurted out, trying to defend himself, raising his hands as if he was expecting her to unleash unearthly chaos on him. "We are a night club, erm, well, could you dress a little more revealing?" Hitomi frowned.

"Well, if I can keep the job," she paused "I guess," she said as she let out a sigh.

"Thanks."

"Is there anything else I need to know?" Hitomi asked.

"No, not really. It's a dance club, but sometimes we get the rowdy ones in here, so just behave yourself and if things get out of hand, let one of the big boys know; they'll handle it."

"Sure."

Hitomi turned and left the office. It sat on the top floor of the two-story dance club, with its huge glass windows sloping out at a steep angle. It was three o' clock in the afternoon, so the only activity on the floor was a crew member who mopped the floor clean of anything foreign that had been left there from the previous night. Hitomi proceeded to the metal staircase that faced the dance floor and descended it with Adams behind her. She reached the ground floor, and walked towards the door, dodging tables and chairs.

"Hey, by the way," Adams said from behind her, getting her attention, "How'd a little Asian looking girl like you end up with a name like Barrens? Sounds a lot more barbarous than Hitomi."

This made her smile; it wasn't often that she got asked about her name.

"My father is German," she replied, waving goodbye over her shoulder, not stopping or even turning around to talk.

"Hummm, good kid," Adams thought to himself.

As Hitomi opened the door, she noticed the "Help Wanted" sign that had caught her eye and caused her to inquire inside. On her way out the door, thinking about the sign made her think about Adams. Thinking about Adams made her think about that question.

"How'd you end up with a name like Barrens?"

"Stupid father," she thought to herself, "stupid Germany."

x x x x

Commencing the journey to her apartment, she looked around. She hated the location of her apartment. It stood on the second floor of a rundown building in the back of a commercially zoned area. Maybe that's why the rent was so cheap, that and the fact that when she signed up to rent it, she practically draped herself across the registration desk to get a good rate. A one-bedroom apartment with cable television and a laundry room for two hundred dollars less than what everyone else was paying. At least she wasn't asked to perform any "favors". She also hated walking down these narrow streets to the apartment. They just didn't feel safe. Maybe a car would come screaming around the corner. She wouldn't have enough time to dodge it, and she definitely couldn't jump it.

The apartment building came into view and she felt a little safer. There was a commotion to her right. It sounded like a group of people. The closer she got to the apartment building, the louder the commotion became. Hitomi glanced behind her, seeing a group of four, obviously some sort of gang, and she was pretty sure they weren't up to any good. She increased her pace knowing that the sooner she locked the door, the sooner she'd be safe. Hitomi wanted to avoid conflict at most costs. But she realized they were following her when she began weaving through parked cars. They followed her taking the exact same route.

"Hey baby! Where ya' off to in such a hurry!?" she heard one of them behind her call out.

"Home!" she half-yelled without stopping or turning around.

"Awww, c'mon!" the voice said again, "Don't cha got any time for me?"

"Not today," she replied.

She heard one of them whisper inaudibly, obviously in an attempt to keep it concealed from her. She heard footsteps approaching quickly from behind. Hitomi stopped and turned around to see one guy out in front with three in pursuit behind him. Looking around and positioned herself between the doors of two cars. About this time, their leader figure lunged at her at full speed, trying to grab her shoulders. She balanced herself and lifted her knee. It collided in between the man's legs and sunk inwards towards his organs. This stopped the man in his tracks. His jaw dropped as he tried to gasp for air. Placing both feet back on the ground, Hitomi looked up just in time to see the man grab his crotch with his left hand and reach out to grab her. She grabbed the man's head, placing both hands on the back of his head, braced herself, and threw him towards an adjacent car window.

The sound of the smashing window stopped the rest of them from approaching. They stood dumbfounded as their leader was easily thwarted by a young girl. She looked up and saw that anger was building in one of the other's faces and could tell that he could hardly contain himself. She looked around at the leader's limp body, his head forced through the passenger side window. Low moans of pain emanated from inside the car, Hitomi knew she hadn't killed him. She carefully reached inside, dodging the broken safety glass, and unlocked the door.

It was about this time that her other stalker lost his cool. "BITCH!" he screamed, full of hatred as he charged her. Seeing how he was overcome with anger, she grabbed the door handle but didn't open it. Watching the man with concentration she waited until he was within a few steps. With considerable force she swung the door open. It was slow to open at first because a body was still lodged in the window, but it quickly gained momentum. It was too late for her attacker, blinded by rage, the low car door cut short his barbaric charge, and he flipped head first, over it. He never retaliated however; handing on his head and all his weight easily removed his consciousness. The other two gang members seeing as how this little girl easily defeated the other two, scattered like cockroaches in the light, and Hitomi casually turned around and went up the stairs to her apartment.

x x x x

Locking the door to the apartment, Hitomi looked around. It wasn't the best apartment ever, but at least it was hers. It wasn't in the best of shape either. Actually, it needs some real work. The windows were frosted over from, Lord knows what, several light and electrical outlets didn't work, and no telling how many leaks it had. The apartment had one bedroom, one living area, a full bath, a kitchen, and she got lucky and got a laundry room. It had cable television, but a television was no where to be found in her apartment, no way to carry that, and it would of only weighted her down.

She got lucky when the neighbors downstairs saw her "moving in". In reality the only things she moved in with were two suitcases and two pots. They saw she had almost nothing and gave her an old couch, dresser, clock radio, and some cooking utensils. They were nice guys; they weren't home or else that little scuffle she just had, might have brought them outside, and she didn't want them to get mixed up in this. Hitomi couldn't immediately recall their names, but they both owned a car, if she remembered correctly, they were both friends attending college and splitting the rent. She even convinced them to move the couch into her apartment for her. She just put on a little girlish charm, touched them, and since they were both guys, kissed one, and they were putty in her hands. She could have asked them for their television or their car, and they probably would have given it to her.

Hitomi walked over to the couch, and stood to examine it. It was retro eighties, with its ugly brown and browner color scheme. "Well," she thought to herself, "it may not be pretty, but at least it's something." Plopping down on the couch it was broken in and comfortable, the way things do and feel good. Stretching out, she looked at the ceiling, just in time to see a drop of water accumulate, fall, and disperse itself; square on her forehead. She took a quick glance out the window. It was clear and sunny outside. "Guess I'll have the boys fix that," Hitomi said with a smile. She stretched out once more, lay down, and relaxed on the couch. Sleep was clutching her body; she has been out early looking for a job. Closing her eyes she drifted off.

x x x x

"Hitomi, where are you going to go?"

"Anywhere but here."

"How are you going to get there?"

"Anyway I can."

x x x x

Hitomi groggingly rubbed her eyes, opened them, but quickly shut them again as they adjusted to the light. Apparently she had left the ceiling light on. She glanced at the clock radio. It read seven fifteen. "Crap!" she said aloud, even though no one would hear her, "I've got to be at The Shakedown in forty five minutes!" She quickly sat up from the couch and the blood drained from her head. Disoriented, she collapsed on the floor. "Dammit," Hitomi mumbled, cursing her awkwardness and apparent ability to sleep forever. She didn't want to be late to her first day on the job. Regaining her equilibrium, she righted herself. It would take fifteen minutes to walk to The Shakedown, so that gave her thirty minutes to get ready.

She hurried to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. Her cool blue eyes reflected back. They seemed almost to be mirrors themselves. Her long brownish-blackish hair flowed evenly over her shoulders. It was a little messy since she had been sleeping on the couch. Reaching up, she pulled out the pink headband that kept her hair back from blinding her view. Her mother had given her the headband as sort of a "running away" present, but that was all in the past, she didn't want anything to do with that now. Besides, she had to concentrate on getting ready for work. She reached inside the shower curtain and turned on the hot water. It came out ice cold at first but began to warm up. She pulled out a towel from the cabinet over the toilet, lowered the toilet seat and lid and set the towel on top. The room filled with steam giving the bathroom a sauna effect. As she undressed she watched her reflection fade from view as the steam overtook the mirror. "That's how it should be," she told herself, "faded and gone away."

x x x x

"I am NOT going to be late!" Hitomi said as she raced down the street towards The Shakedown. She walked fast, almost a jog, but she didn't want to run fearing it might disrupt her hair. As The Shakedown came into view, she saw there was already a long line of people already waiting to be permitted inside. She came to the line and fought her way to the front. As she reached for the entrance door hoping it would open since there were still twenty minutes till the club opened, a strong hand caught her wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" A man's voice asked. Hitomi was surprised; she didn't think anyone would try to stop her. She looked up to see a tall Chinese man, with short black hair, still holding her wrist, his hand completely engulfing it.

"To work," she answered.

"Yeah, it's not like I haven't heard that one a million times," he responded sounding annoyed.

Hitomi looked at him angrily.

"Back of the line, shorty," he said, spinning her around one hundred and eighty degrees. He was about to shove her towards the line, which had now become a mini-riot, when the door opened behind Hitomi.

"Lee," said a familiar voice, "let her in. She's our new waitress." Hitomi spun around to see Adams walking back inside The Shakedown. A feeling of relief swept over her.

"Sorry," said the bouncer replied dropping her hand.

"You're just doing your job, right…muscle head," she said with a smile.

Lee opened the door, and Hitomi entered. Not two feet inside, Lee his head through the door. "Don't make any trouble, short stuff," he told her. Hitomi smiled and continued over to the bar, where she sat down on a stool. Adams came out of the back of the bar followed by another man.

"Oh good," Adams said, "at least you're here."

"Yeah, well, couldn't skip out on my first day," she replied.

"Follow me," Adams commanded as he disappeared back behind the bar.

Hitomi followed him. Adams stopped and turned to face her. "Lookin' good," he said, looking her up and down. "Thanks," she said as she spun around in a circle imitating a model.

Hitomi wore dark, low waisted, stone washed jeans, revealing her midriff and belly button. Her top was a tight fitting, golden bronze tank top with spaghetti straps with a black contour emblem of a bird on the front.

She looked around in the little narrow hall behind the bar. A grill, glasses (lots of them), eating utensils and carrying trays were cluttered close together. "Check it out," said Adams as he handed Hitomi a metal tray lined with rubber to keep dishes from sliding around. "Dishes go here," pointing to a sink, "glasses, put them in there," pointing to a dishwasher.

"Yokai!" said Hitomi, playfully saluting Adams.

"Huh?" She could tell he had no clue what she just said.

"Eh heh, it's nothing; just a little of my mom's side of the family," realizing that Adams had no grasp of the Japanese language.

"Here," said Adams handing her a nametag, "write your name on this, and wear it for me."

"Jawohl! " she said as he took the nametag and a pen from Adams, and quickly scribbled her name on it., English on the top and in Japanese Katakana on the bottom. Adams gave up. This girl was too weird for him. Hitomi then sandwiched her left spaghetti strap between the pin and clasp of the nametag, so she didn't have to jab herself with the pin. Once she had it secure, she jiggled it a little to test it, and it stayed firmly positioned halfway between her left breast and collarbone.

"Ok, so now all you have to do," Adams explained, "is take orders from whoever is sitting at the tables."

"Sure thing," she acknowledged.

"Get to it," he said.

As she turned to go back outside the bar, he gave her an inspirational pat on the back.

"You'll be alright kid."

She walked to the front of the bar, and looked around. The lights had been dimmed, and colored spotlights raced across the floor. A techno beat filled her ears. She looked over to the door to see Lee preparing to let a select few inside.

x x x x

Two hours later, the place was pretty busy like Adams said. She was taking her orders over to the bartender who she found out was attending The University of California. His name was Roger Jobes, a tall,

mid-weight Caucasian with frosted brown hair.

"Hey Rod," she called out. There was no reply. Hitomi realized the bartender was nowhere to be found. "Roger?" she repeated, as she curiously poked her head over the bar. She saw him crouched behind the bar, grabbing glasses, and he looked up.

"Wassup vertically challenged?" he said, teasing her. "Uhh, yeah." She was getting teased about her height a lot, and it was still her fist day on the job. Maybe it was the fact that she was half-Japanese. Maybe it was the fact that she was five foot, three inches. "Anyway," she said sounding annoyed, "I need a Bud Light."

"Sure thing," he replied. He proceeded to open a refrigerator and pulled out a beer. "One Bud Light," he said as he slid it down to her.

Placing the drink on her tray, she walked over to the table that placed the order. "Here you are," she said. Two men were having a conversation, which was interrupted due to the arrival of the drink. One wore white clothing that seemed to purple glow under the black lights of The Shakedown. The other wore a black baseball cap pulled down low, concealing his face. The man in white took the drink.

Hitomi turned, tucked the tray under her arm, and started back towards the bar. Stopping in mid-stride as the sound of metal chairs sliding backwards on the tile floor grabbed her attention, she turned to take a quick look. Seven people, all males, stood staring at her; including the one to which she just served a drink. The man in white pointed to her, and the one in the baseball cap nodded.

"C'mere," he addressed her, beckoning with his hand. Hitomi froze when she heard his command. There was no way she could take on seven people, especially not in a crowded place like the club. She glanced at the bar, and Roger knew there was trouble. Quickly shifting her view back to the group, the man in the black cap reached up and adjusted it, enough to reveal his face. Hitomi recognized him almost immediately. His face was covered in bandages. She could tell it was the guy she hurtled through the window earlier that day. "These others must be his friends," she thought.

Hitomi looked over to the front door and saw Lee, standing just inside the door, poised for the first move. She checked her surroundings. A group of people off to her left about fifteen feet, dancing. A support pillar directly behind her, beyond the pillar was the bar, to her right, advancing, was the vengeance bent mob. The man in white was obviously their leader, placed his hand on the bandaged man's shoulder, who flinched slightly from the pain. The white man whispered something into his ear.

With the sync of a flock of birds they all started towards her. Their steps perfectly in rhythm. They approached her. She took a few steps back, until her back collided with a support beam. The man in the white stopped, so did the others. The white man turned to one of his lackeys and gave him a stare, and the lackey dashed towards her. Hitomi tightly clutched the tray in her right hand. As he lunged towards her, she ducked, quickly forcing the metal tray out into the path of her attacker, catching him in the gut.

As she removed the tray, that was now bent upwards where it had been forced into her attacker. He collapsed on his side. The metal tray knocked more than the wind out of him, but also the will to fight. It had apparently bent upwards, catching the bottom of his ribs, either bruising or breaking them.

She looked up at the mob again, but this time two men stepped out from the back, bigger and taller than the last kamikaze fighter. She knew she couldn't handle both of them. Hitomi wanted help. She looked at the door for Lee who had disappeared. Hitomi stood back up and positioned the support beam behind her again. "Here it comes," she thought to herself. Both gorillas charged her. One in front of the other. The first one was clearly faster, as he tried to punch Hitomi's mid-section. She stepped to the left, grabbed his wrist with her left hand, put on leg behind his and with one, fluid, sweeping motion, put the other hand on his shoulder and forced him over. He stumbled backward over her leg and crashed to the ground. Quickly kneeling , she raised her right hand and brought it down on his nose.

Then Hitomi remembered about the other one and looked up, but it was too late. He was already too close for her to do anything. She saw a flash of white behind the monster and all of a sudden his motion changed from a run to a full speed stumble. Seizing this opportunity, she laid on her side on the ground, locked her legs around his shins, and she twisted into the direction of his stride. He fell forward with incredible force. The support beam in front of him, however, required a lot more force to be moved.

A fleshy crunch came from her attacker as his face met the exposed steel column. He fell to the left of the pillar, hit the floor, and covered his face with his hands. Hitomi unclasped his legs and stood on her feet. By this time, the conflicts had drawn a crowd. She quickly shot a look into the direction of her third attacker whose hands still covered his face. He screamed with pain as a red liquid overtook his hands and the spot on the floor where his head rested. She looked over to the man in white who reached behind his back and pulled out a square piece of metal. A line projected from the end of it, and a red dot traced up Hitomi's body and stopped on her forehead. A clicking sound came from the piece of metal as the man moved his finger. Hitomi frozen with fear, had no way to defend against a gun.

"Die," said the man in white, his voice full of anger.

"FREEZE!"

Hitomi looked towards the command had been yelled. Police officers were coming through the front doors with their guns drawn and flashlights on.

"YOU!" a policeman barked as he pointed his flashlight. A flood of light hit the man in white's face. This caused him to raise his free hand to shield the light from his eyes. Hitomi, realizing chance, faded back into the crowd of people as the man in white as approached by a police officer. Hitomi heard the police officer shouting more commands, but as she moved though the crowd they faded, mixing with the music as that overtook her ears.

She snuck her way behind the bar and hid down behind it. Backing herself against the bar, she pulled her legs towards her. Hitomi's mental state collapsed as she folded her hands on her knees and buried her face in them. She could feel tears welling up inside. "God," she cried ,"I'm sorry Anaka." She couldn't stop the tears from flowing. She grit her teeth and tried to take the emotional pain. The warm tears dripped onto her arms, and into her lips where their salty taste did not warrant a reaction. Her vision blurred from the crying while a white fog floated into view and Hitomi's skin started to itch. As she breathed her lungs started to tingle. At first it was an easy, simple, sensation, but it quickly turned into an intense burning pain. Hitomi heard footsteps and looked up to see Lee standing in front of her.

Lee raised an eyebrow. Moments ago she was impressively defending herself against the attackers, but now she's curled up behind the bar crying. He didn't understand this at all. Hitomi looked up at him, her face glistened from the tears. "You alright shorty?" he asked reaching a hand down to her. Hitomi clutched her chest. "I…" a coughing interrupted her sentence. Reaching a hand out to Lee she tried to speak with what little strength she could muster. "I'm having trouble bre -"

Hitomi didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as she quickly developed tunnel vision and was liberated from consciousness.

Yokai - Japanese for "Understood" or "Acknowledged" mostly used in the military

Jawohl - German for "Yes sir!" an out of date acknowledgement used by the military

Kanji - A form of Japanese written language

Available in Word 97+ format at

http://ownerizer.netfirms.com/art.shtml