Fan Fiction ❯ Just A Practice Round! ❯ Just A Practice Round! ( Chapter 1 )

 

~Just A Practice Round!~

~A One-Shot by Broken Dreams~

 

 

 

Kaori pulled the zipper ends together on her jacket and let out a heavy sigh. She thought that it was supposed to be a little warmer than this.

 

Just yesterday, her sensai had instructed her in the finer points of warming her body in the cold weather. A small smile slipped at the memory.

 

“Come on! You always gotta' be ready for the fight!” He kept pumping his fist in the air in mock triumph.

 

Kaori always thought he was a bit crazy.

 

“Kaori-san! Kaori-san wait!” At the sound of the young boy's voice, Kaori groaned. He was a small timid boy from her jiu-jitsu class that had taken to carrying her kendo sword around school all day for her, just so that she `Would always be ready for the fight!'

 

Despite her hope that she could pretend like she never heard him, she couldn't and he caught up with her. “What is it, twerp?”

 

Kyo's face tinged a bit pink. “Mikato-san heard that you were on the way to the flea market to look for more swords!”

 

She made a quick note to herself to kill Mikato.

 

“Actually,” she countered, “I was… going to get… uhm… Some Coffee!”

 

“Great! There's a great place `round the corner, I'll buy!” Kyo's face was lit up as he walked beside her, at least a whole head shorter. Kaori wanted to cry at her bad luck.

 

“O-Oh… That's great… Real great…” She rounded the corner, careful not to touch the offending boy. She was afraid she may have caught some stupidity…

 

There was something, other than the `stupid' kid next to her, that was very wrong. She felt the boys before she saw them. She recognized them as three boys from the only other martial arts school in Osaka.

 

“Oi!” One of them spotted her as she tried to blend with the people crowded around the shops. Kaori had handed each of their asses to them in one of the school's many tournaments, and the whole of both schools knew it. Out here on the street, though, there would be no rules and she was positive they'd fight dirty.

 

“The wench's outta' school, ne?” They were trying to get her to come over, but she ignored their taunts.

 

Kyo, on the other hand, did not. “Oi! You wanna' come over here and back that up?!” Kaori's hand shot to her forehead, and she turned on the younger boy.

 

“Are you fucking crazy? They probably have guns,” she hissed at him. She didn't want the laughing boys to hear her.

 

Kyo's broad smile made her want to knock some sense into the boy. “No worries, Kaori-san! I brought your sword!” She groaned again.

 

“Having the little boy fighting for you?” The burliest of the men laughed heartily. “I suppose you would!” He hefted his practice kendo sword over his shoulder.

 

The other two boys laughed, and she felt herself stepping toward them, grinding her teeth together. Finally she caved. “It takes all three of you to take me?” She roughly pulled her practice kendo sword off Kyo's back and mocked her opponents stature.

 

Her school skirt was lifted in the faint breeze, and she didn't remove her jacket. `I hate using my boobs as an advantage…'

 

The tallest boy in the group stood forward. She recognized him immediately.

 

“Gimmie' your best shot, girlie!” Kaori was only fifteen. She was stupid, and naïve, but she knew how to fight, and her sensai would have been proud the way she took on the much taller boy.

 

She smiled, a predatory smile made to intimidate. She looked around quickly assuaging her surroundings. There were only a few outdoor shops around; she had to be careful not to break anything. All she had was foreign U.S. money in her jacket pocket that she was going to buy her sword with. The vender happened to be from the states and didn't like accepting yen as payment.

 

Her thoughts immediately returned to the fight. Her hand allowed a slight motion, meant to incite him. It worked, and he rushed her.

 

She dodged and brought her bamboo sword up, to block the second burly man's sword. The third man shot towards her and Kyo made himself useful for once, using his own sword to block his attack.

 

Kaori was fighting two to her one, but she gauged the two men's strengths and weaknesses instantly. The thinner man was faster, but was not used to getting blocked. The heftier man was almost the opposite, he was slow enough for her to counter easily, but he was able to stand his ground.

 

She turned quickly as Kyo lost his foothold. The third man came barreling at her. Kaori threw the kendo sword straight up and jumped, contorting her body into a back flip. She landed behind all three men and caught her sword, racing towards the thinnest man. He would be the easiest, she decided. She was able to reach him, and so she struck him hard.

 

He fell forward, wincing. She caught his face with her shoe, and snapped his neck back. He was out cold.

 

“Damnit, bitch!” The man that Kyo had taken before was charging her. She was able to just dodge his carefully aimed blow, but her bamboo sword wasn't so lucky. It broke clean in half.

 

“Fuck!” She knew she was deep in it now…

 

Somehow, Kyo had managed to pull himself up off the ground, and threw his sword out to her.

 

She saw it coming, but she also saw the burly man coming. Kaori relied on pure instinct as she let one hand trail behind her, the other hand poised to attack. He was coming with too much momentum, even though he saw her hand, the man couldn't stop himself.

 

Kaori let the end of her palm slam into his nose, snapping his head backwards. His nose had to be broken…

 

All she was left with was the last of the trio. The sword Kyo had offered was lying just over a foot away. She caught the strange movement of the man out of her peripheral vision, and managed to roll just enough to reach the sword, turn, and block his. She managed to knock him back.

 

The fight had gathered quite an audience as people on the streets cheered for either the two opponent or their schools. Kaori pinked a bit when she saw the cute boys behind Kyo shouting her name. Another group of girls next to them was calling out her opponent's name. `Sounen, ne?'

 

A painful sensation erupted from her right side, and she was knocked down. Sounen had apparently caught her off guard. She winced, but dragged her body up.

 

“You fight dirty, bastard.” His lecherous smile made her want to gag. He was staring at her upturned skirt, and her slightly unzipped jacket. She cringed again.

 

She stood on her unsteady feet.

 

Kaori looked up just in time to see him cock his gun.

 

His smile widened as her eyes grew. “Dirty, ne?”

 

Kaori was able to use her sword for the first round, but it was quickly decimated, leaving her almost fully open for the second round. “You know what happens to murderers and lechers, don't you?”

 

He let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine then.” He shot the second round straight up into the sky. “Just you and I then?” She smiled and launched herself at him, kicking the gun as far away from him as she could.

 

Kaori let her hands follow behind her feet, and she aimed a hard fist to his face. He couldn't move in time to dodge it, so he took it full on.

 

She smirked. Sounen wasn't moving quickly enough. Kaori landed neatly on her feet, pulling into a defensive position when the man barreled himself at her, another gun drawn.

 

“Just you and I, bastard!” She ducked, caught his wrist and spun him, letting his back slam into the ground.

 

The wind was effectively knocked out of him.

 

She stood silently, looking around. Kyo had caused more damage than she had, she noticed. In his flurry to knock down Sounen, he'd broken two floor lamps and some kind of expensive chair.

 

`He is paying for all of that…'

 

Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms tighten around her stomach. Kaori watched the little boy hug her, her audience breaking out into a small amount of applause. She flushed crimson, and dodged out of the prying eyes to behind one of the stores.

 

Kaori had to literally pry the rambling Kyo off of her. “A-And I was so s-scared! Sounen and his thugs looked fit to kill! Y-You were a-amazing!!”

 

`Oh Christ,' she thought solemnly, `Now he has another reason to follow me around…' She smiled despite herself.

 

For some reason, Kaori found herself almost liking the younger boy's attention…

 

`Never in a million- no a trillion-fucking years'

 

 

 

 

~8~8~8~

 

 

AN- I wrote this for the Autumn Challenge, but never entered it. I didn't think it was to deserving. Lol. Well I hope it brings someone some quality entertainment. I might go and write more chapters for this (like a One-Shot prequel and a One-Shot sequel).

 

EDIT- I'm actually considering entering my Winter Challenge One-Shot. I'll post it soon, but I need at least some positive feedback… I'm not sure if I completely like it yet, but I'm going to rewrite and rewrite until I am. After all, that's what writing is, ne?

 

Claimer- Notice this is not a `Disclaimer'! I do own Kaori, Kyo, Sounen, and all of the thugs, cute boys, and hot girls mentioned in this fiction! This is my own.