Krafty Quill
Banned
- 609
- Posts
- 19
- Years
- Check your fridge. I'm next to the cheese.
- Seen Sep 10, 2011
Preview
Two rival girl groups of Mishima High School go out of their way to outdo each other every chance they get. But when the stakes cannot get any higher and emotions are carried onto the battlefield, which group will ultimately win the biggest prize of them all? The cutest guys in the whole of Mishima High School…
Author Notes
Okay, just got this crazy idea to do this four part story which is mostly going to contain romance, drama, and hopefully comedy. All the main characters are about 16 or 17 and are still in High School (talk about a major time vortex). I think that's all you need to know about the story for now. Please Review if you like it! And even if you don't! ^^'
Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters or places. This story was written purely for entertainment purposes with no intention to earn any profit. So just read and enjoy people.
Part I
The Game's On!
Warm afternoon winds frolicked in the weighty atmosphere of Mishima High School, whisking past the three girls that stood on the outdoor basket ball grounds. Not even the playful strands of hair slapping their cheeks and brows, owing to the gusts, could break the unmoving concentration plastered on each of their faces. The triangular formation they held in place intended to remain so until the enemy made their arranged appearance.
In the left rear position, stood a confident brunette in the most upright posture known to man, with her white sneakers tucked closely together. Her rather athletic figure hid beneath her black baggy tracksuit, hanging over her legs and covering the entire length of her arms. She wore a pair of spectacles that often invoked the widespread pretense of an overly intellectual soul that only found amusement in the rollercoaster rides of black and white textbook scripts. Nevertheless, there were those few that knew Julia Chan was much more than a bookworm.
To her right, Anna Williams was impatiently tapping her foot, arms crossed and teeth chewing lazily on a flavour drained piece of bubblegum. The sleeveless red skirt hugging her body hung halfway down her thighs, barely concealing her slim, pale figure. If there was one thing she hated doing, it was waiting. Often, her vigorous grey eyes would sneak a peek at her wrist, hoping the digital display on her watch would somehow persuade her to take any sort of action that would end the boredom.
"Xiaoyu, are you sure you heard them right? They said they were going to come?" She finally said to the girl standing at the front, feeling that standing there any longer would be pointless if the 'appointment' had been canceled.
"Of course I'm sure," the Chinese girl replied, slightly offended at the suggestion that her ears had inherited her grand father's partial deafness at such an early age. "I don't know what could be keeping them."
The broad variety of trees sitting outside of the court's ten-foot wire boundary was enough to hold Julia's attention for the moment. Her keen brown eyes had already identified three distinct species. "Perhaps the coordinates you acquired are incorrect." The comment injecting her into the conversion just managed to sidetrack her thoughts from Mother Nature's blissful grip.
"…No…" Xiaoyu decided after much thought. There were at least four courts spread out on the grounds of Mishima High School but she specifically remembered them telling her it would be the outdoor court on west campus. She put her hands into the side pockets of her white slacks and began slowly rocking her shoulders left and right with an artificial smile on her face. Getting stressed out on their account would be exactly what they wanted and she wasn't going to let that happen.
Anna, on the other hand, had had enough. "I say we go now and leave them a letter saying we were here." When neither of her friends responded to her impatience, she threw her arms up in defeat. "Come on guys, it's obvious they've chickened out and plan to make us stand here like a bunch of mindless idiots!"
"Chickened out? That's highly unlikely," Julia said, still keeping her hands in her shirt's pouch. "Such an arrogant and dominant creature like Asuka Kazama could only ever be compared to a charging bull if any animal, viciously stomping over every other life form threatening her importance with the tiniest spec of knowledge that she lacks."
Xiaoyu giggled. "Yeah, I agree with Julia. Plus, I couldn't see Asuka taking defeat lying down … unlike a certain Doctor B." She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, you do have a point there, plant girl." That was Anna's little nickname for Julia. "Asuka has been known for her astounding talent of speaking nothing but bull."
Their laughter was short lived. A red, roof-less Lamborghini had parked on the roadside just a little distance from the court. The driver, a thin girl wearing a blonde ponytail, hopped out of the two-door car, followed by two other girls; one, a pale brunette and the other, a tanned girl with dark-auburn hair. Together, they strolled into the courtyard with not the faintest hint of regret for the belated appearance in their self-satisfied smirks.
The proud look smudged into their content faces disgusted Anna, causing her to spit her gum out at the loss of appetite. She snorted at the identical extremely short blue skirts and matching tiny tank tops that they all wore. It was obvious that they had just arrived from the sidelines of a football game were they had undoubtedly been pouncing about chanting random things in their cheerleading tunes.
"You're late," she hissed at them.
Asuka raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't have to explain herself to anyone and especially not to a prostitute-in-training like Anna. "So? We had more important things to take care of before wasting any of our time on you tramps."
"Like what?" Xiaoyu retorted. "Advertising your goodies for the whole field to see? Is that the only way you can get any guy's attention?"
Asuka and her girls laughed out loud. "This, coming from a girl who only gets action from a Panda bear," Nina said spitefully. "And it's a female Panda at that."
"How shameful of you." Julia wasn't one to trade insults but she wouldn't allow any of her friends to be belittled in that way. "How shameful is it that you take comfort in knowing members of the opposite sex need not dig an inch beneath your skirts to find your most treasured possessions. Your insignificant purpose is for male pleasure alone and you willingly comply with their requests to be pleased. Heh … the smartest thing that has ever left any of your mouths is a man's –"
"Hush!" Christie stepped in. "I'll tell you what's shameful. Shameful is never having kissed a guy your entire teenage life - and no, your father doesn't count. And neither do trees. Don't be jealous because guys never ask stupid losers like you out."
"Just … shut up, everybody!" Xiaoyu screamed before any of the girls could spew a counterattack, silencing all their efforts. "This is not why we're here." She took off her red jacket and tossed it aside, leaving only a small, black, bust hugging vest covering her sheers. "Anna, give them the ball. We'll let them start."
Anna picked up the basket ball that was resting against the back of her foot. She summoned all the willpower running through her infuriated veins not to throw the ball straight into Christie's face, but instead threw it only a tad too hard into her hands. Though she caught it, the force of the ball pushed Christie back a little. Asuka's team took a couple of steps behind the thick yellow line painted horizontally across the centre of the field and Xiaoyu's team did the same on the opposite side.
The game was a variation of Dodge Ball. Players were eliminated if hit by the ball, and then would be sent to the back of the other team's side of the court. If the ball was caught at any time before touching the floor, then regardless of whom it had hit before, only the thrower would be eliminated. Eliminated players could be brought back into the game if they successfully caught the ball thrown by one of their teammates. In that case, they would be sent back to their side and play would resume. The game would be over when all members of a particular team were eliminated simultaneously.
"So Anna's your little carrier is she?" Christie said, bouncing the ball as she recalled Anna's rather unfriendly pass. "Gee, wonder what other balls she's good at handling."
Anna opened her mouth to counter but was quickly silenced by Xiaoyu's risen hand. That only fueled her anger more, making her turn to the Chinese girl that was supposed to back her up like a friend would, instead of shushing her. The brief distraction earned her blind cheek a powerful smack from the orange sphere. She had been eliminated.
A cylindrical wall of blue energy rose from the enchanted courtyard, engulfing her entire body before transporting her to the very back of the enemy's side of the field. She was enclosed by the rectangular markings on the floor that would send a pulse of energy to stop any part of her body that would try to cross the lines.
Xiaoyu shook her head, long pigtails whipping about. A distraction like that was exactly how Asuka and her friends would operate. They never played fair and she was disappointed that Anna fell for it so easily. She picked up the basket ball in her fingerless gloved hands. "That was cheap."
Christie rubbed beneath her eyes and put on an unsympathetic frown to mock the other team. Naturally, that only aggravated Xiaoyu and the Brazilian soon found herself swaying away from the speedy ball. It was a clean dodge, and the ball, which had rolled out of bounds, was brought back to her hands by the courtyard's magic. The thought of retaliation was first to come to Christie's mind but was soon replaced with something more sinister when she caught sight of Julia standing towards the back of the field.
Her hands were still pouched and her glasses still settled on the bridge of her nose; making her an easy target to Christie's eyes. With that rationale, she pitched the ball straight at her, mimicking the moves of a baseball player. Julia let the orange bullet pass the halfway line before pulling her right hand out of her pocket extremely quickly. The ball halted as it collided with her open palm before a set of swift fingers secured it in place, momentous winds from its velocity blowing past her face and fluttering her ponytail.
Everybody on the court's jaw dropped, including Xiaoyu's, not expecting Julia would be capable of catching the ball with such ease - and in a single hand at that. The rules were executed accordingly and Christie, being the thrower, was transported to the back of their side of the field. An unfamiliar smirk took to Julia's lips, intimidating the opponents a little, before she hurled the ball straight at Asuka and Nina.
The two targets performed summersaults in opposite directions from each other, leaving a narrow space between them for the speeding ball to fly right through. Nina landed in a crouched position and gave a half-smile. "Nice try."
"It wasn't just an attempt." Julia grinned as if she knew something that they didn't. "It was successful." She pointed a finger past them.
Nina turned around, following the finger's gaze, to find their prisoner, Anna, with a smile on her face and the ball in her hands. Governed by the game's rules, the court transported the previously eliminated Anna back into play, and back to her team's side of the field. Once the coil of blue energy had disappeared from where the saved had been standing, Nina began turning back to face her opponents, only for the side of her head to be met halfway by a stinging blaze of orange.
The basket ball recoiled off her head, its pushback force throwing her a few feet back before allowing her lips a hard kiss with the concrete floor. Not even the repugnant grains of gravel gathered between her lips tasted worse than the realization of defeat she suffered the moment she found herself transported next to Christie in the other team's 'prison'. Xiaoyu, sticking out her tongue and shaking her rear mockingly, didn't exactly help either.
Anna whisked away the imaginary smoke rising from her finger with a cool blow before joining her friends in a three-way high-five. "And then, there was one," she gloated, casting grey eyes on the lone Asuka across the half-line, representing all that was left of other team.
"Yes," Julia added, her arms crossed as she calmly whipped her brown ponytail onto one of her shoulders. "How appropriate, the leftover turned out to be the trashiest of them all."
Xiaoyu, however, reserved the tension threatening to evaporate from her relieved shoulders. Knowing Asuka, it would have been most wise to store any energy that could readily be converted into adrenaline. She hadn't earned her reputation of being cheap by abiding by the rules and practicing good sportsmanship after all. The giggles disrupting her concentration from behind however, told her that her friends had somehow forgotten that little fact about Asuka.
"You guys," she chirped loudly from the corner of her lips, making sure not to sway her gaze an inch from Asuka's somewhat calm self. Julia and Anna nodded together, setting the celebrations aside for the proper moment.
"Humph." Asuka closed her eyes confidently as she launched the ball into one hand with the toe of a shoe. Her other hand, built into a weak fist, rested casually on her hip. She planned on showing them just how false their joy actually was. "You are forgetting one thing." Silence. Menacing brown eyes darted open at once. "I've still got the ball!"
The calmness in her voice heightened to a more heated calmness. Her linear eyebrows curved at a steeper angle, better outlining the cold fires glowing in her brown eyes as a crease stretched across her pale forehead. The winds began to build, swirling around her as if she was the yolk of an egg with a spinning outer shell. Tendrils of brown hair lifted and whipped about her brow and above her head uncontrollably.
Xiaoyu's eyes took shelter partially behind her forearms, avoiding the stray leaves and light stones that were inadvertently gathered by the small storm. Anna simply squinted at the furious gusts while Julia felt obliged to protect her spectacles from the specks of floating granite with her forearms.
The basket ball, aided only by the winds as it hovered between Asuka's palms, span in increasingly rapid revolutions. The air squealed in complaint at the ferocious gusts that seemed to be swallowing themselves, producing some sort of suction that attracted the three girls' clothing. Anna, in the worse predicament, struggled to keep her skirt from exploring the high winds. Then, suddenly, it all stopped. The wind was gone, taking its cries with it.
Trickles of stones that had abruptly fallen in the absence of the force reached Julia's ears. Risking an eye, she peeked to the outside of her forearm barrier and saw a leaf swinging slowly back down to the earth. She could see the short trail the soles of her shoes carved into the ground from the slight change in position caused by the winds. Finally getting use to her breathing again, she dropped her arms to the sides and caught a glimpse of the sinister smirk on Asuka's face.
"Xiaoyu, look out!"
"Huh?" Xiaoyu whispered to herself in a whimper at the alarming hint of urgency in Julia's voice. Taking heed to the warning, she bent her upper body backwards immediately, causing her head to swoop evasively lower and giving her eyes a link to the skies. The pale blue heavens were promptly interrupted by the orange blur that soared less than a centimetre above her nose, the faint scent of scorched rubber creeping into her nostrils as it wafted passed.
Warm air pushed passed her lips in a long, relaxed breadth. She twisted down into a crouch that left her facing her team mates. Unfortunately, Julia's warning wasn't without punishment. The time she sacrificed to caution Xiaoyu cost her a second too much of evasion time; and the ball made sure to capitalize with a strong blow to her face, dropping her onto her back hard. With a waft of the field's magic, she was sent to the opponent's side of the field.
"No…" The whisper barely left Xiaoyu's panting mouth when she realized that that the assault wasn't over - the ball was not dead. Instead of greatly losing its pace from the backlash of hitting Julia's face, the Ki charged sphere shot straight back to the field after bouncing off the wire fence twenty metres away!
Its second attempt at Xiaoyu was barely avoided by a quick roll. Anna hopped to evade the ball's low swoop but simply lacked Xiaoyu's hasty response and luck. A loud boom echoed across the field as hard rubber met delicate skin, red circular mark being stamped on her shin at the point of contact. She was eliminated.
Now the field was even, in the sense that only one member was left of each team. The droplets of sweat on Xiaoyu's anxious face multiplied as she realised two victims were not enough to satisfy the ball's hunger for destruction. Its demonic form cut through the air once again, taunting her with a harsh breeze as it shot passed her turned cheek. Pants would be her only breaths for several more close encounters.
Xiaoyu felt like the net sitting between two tennis players; only they were aiming to strike her down. She'd dodge the ball coming in from the left only to turn around immediately to dodge it coming off the fence at the far right. This arduous cycle continued for a tiring minute before the loss of speed from the brushes against wire became noticeable. With the ball slowing down, dodging it became increasingly simpler, until it was no longer necessary. It finally lost its momentum and took a rest at the centre of her field.
Her aching muscles almost refused to let her stagger towards the ball and pick it up. Xiaoyu knew that the, now extremely heavy, arms attached to her would allow only one last throw. It would have to be one hell of a throw too if it was to beat Asuka. Or … maybe not? She thought when she saw what had become of her opponent.
The tall, busty brunette had been reduced to a petite crouch, one knee touching the ground while the other supported her wrist. Bouncy shoulders grew and shrunk from the rapid intake of air. Her pompous eyes were resignedly cast to the floor as the strands of brown hair dangled from her hung head. She knew that concentrating such an amount of Ki on the ball would wind her so but she had very good reason to believe she'd be the only one 'standing' after the onslaught.
"Get up." The lack of remorse left Xiaoyu's voice sheer coldness. No remorse was due, and Asuka would have to be a fool if she was expecting any. "I want to look into your eyes."
Asuka struggled against the fatigue petrifying all of her muscles to come to a stand. Hot breaths hardly heated the air between the cold glares once their eyes had met. Even with a body seemingly three times heavier, the corner of her lips managed to lift.
Smug and defeat hung in her features simultaneously. The exhaustion was understandable, but Xiaoyu was about to give her something to really smile at about. She tossed the ball lightly in the air before following through with a bicycle kick that sent the ball speeding on the clear highway to Asuka's brow.
All the target could do was watch as the ball collided right between her eyes, jerking her head backwards before skyrocketing away. Her feet lost balance and promised the ground the length of her back. She grunted as her body took the abrupt horizontal position across the ground. The jab of pain caused her to blink. Looking up, she watched as the orange ball grew larger with its descent from the skies, its landing spot apparently drawn on her tummy. What happened next was simply…
Unbelievable.
Xiaoyu's knees dropped to floor in defeat, long pigtails hanging hopelessly. She couldn't believe that Asuka had actually … caught it. And because it hadn't touched the ground before she clutched it firmly in two hands on her stomach, the thrower would be deemed eliminated. Thus, the game officially went to Asuka and her team.
All the players were brought back to their respect sides by the court's magic. Christie and Nina helped their fellow cheerleader and friend back to her feet and handed her an energy drink.
"That was pure luck and you know it," Anna accused the winners as she fed an arm to help Xiaoyu get to her feet.
"Give it up already." Nina folded her arms. "It's the fifth time in a row already."
"Tch…" Anna turned away from her sister. Loss after loss was really beginning to hurt her morale.
"Every bi - dog has its day," Julia said, settling her glasses back into position.
"And every four-eyed freak has its days too – one too many, may I add," Christie countered.
Asuka wasn't the type to gloat about victory, but let the victory speak for itself, even though the other girls much rather believed that she was too exhausted from the game to make any crude remarks. She took a sip of her drink and shrugged her head toward the exit of the court, a sign that it was time to leave.
Deep down, Anna wanted nothing more than for them to leave, but the hurt of defeat wouldn't let her let go. "Going somewhere!?" She called out to their turned backs. "A rematch, right now!"
"Another day," Asuka said over her shoulder. "We've got more important things to do right now."
"Oh? Like what!?"
Just then, three students came into view as they walked down the street outside the court. Every set of eyes in the courtyard were stolen at once. In the lead, with his plaid uniform jersey neatly tucked into his beige pants, was the strapping Jin Kazama. Closely behind and to either of his sides were close friends of his, Hwoarang and Paul Phoenix. Time seemed to slow down to allow for their prestigious strides down the street.
Asuka tore away from them for a second to answer Anna's question. "Like them."
"Wha…?" Anna opened her mouth, still half-dazed. She shook her head. "I mean, there's no way you are going to 'do' them. They're good guys and they don't mess around with girls like you."
"Wanna bet?" Christie raised an eyebrow. "Come the party at Mishima Fortress this Saturday, they will be ours."
"Party … at Mishima Fortress?" Xiaoyu asked, somewhat disappointed that she always seemed to be the last to know these things.
Asuka wrinkled her nose in astonishment. "You mean you didn't know … not surprising. It's not something you need to know a lot about anyway. Just two things; one, none of you are going to be able to make it, and two, on that night, I will be Jin's first and he will be mine too." Her eyes gleamed in unfamiliar joy. "We'll be so perfect together. I can't wait until we are married! I won't even have to change my last name!"
That couldn't happen, it couldn't. Xiaoyu's mind contested it desperately and her heart would stop beating at the chimes of those wedding bells. "That's disgusting. How can you even be sure that you two aren't related?" She accused, trying her best to sway Asuka's interest.
"I wouldn't care if he's my own brother! I wouldn't hesitate to have his son and a new brother at the same time!" She said, knowing it would be foolish to let a guy like Jin pass her by, which, she seemed to be doing right now - literally. "Like I said, we have to go. Tata!" She grabbed onto Christie and Nina's wrist before dragging them away and towards the boys.
"No…" Xiaoyu's whisper died in the surge of hurried footsteps. Her eager eyes quickly jumped back to her Japanese hero. And that's when it happened…
In an idle turn, russet eyes lingered passed cascades of jet-black hair, building chills of ice atop her tender nerves that raced from her fingertips to her spine. The urge to jolt could not be overcome and her eyes darted away from him with haste, heavy tingles filling her cheeks and flushing them a rosy shade of cowardice. It didn't take long however, for her to realise that the perfect picture she had just stored of him would always be an inadequate account of all she hoped to remember about him.
Bravely, she glanced back, hoping his interest had endured her embarrassing display of emotion. Indeed it had; his russet eyes were still deeply set on her, only this time, with a slight tilt to his lips. She blushed even harder. Was he laughing at how pathetic she was? … Or did he think that it was cute? That she was cute?
These questions could very well never be answered, especially now that Asuka had her distraction of a body in front of him. His attention was easily dragged away from her and replaced with a dagger through her heart. It displeased Xiaoyu, how guys would fall and drown in the shallow pit of Asuka's exterior. A thought came to her. "You know what guys?" She said to her friends. "I think I know why Asuka's so good with basket balls."
"What would be the reason then?" Julia asked, curiously.
"Because she's got two of them planted in her chest." Bitterness was a foreign trait to Xiaoyu's cheerful nature, but every so often, most often when Asuka was involved, did it creep into her. "I wish I had a needle that could pop those balloons for good. Then we'd see how many guys would still like her."
Julia couldn't agree more. "It's unfortunate that many fail to break through that barrier and reach the rotting core of triviality within. How much do you suppose she paid for them?"
"If only," Anna said. "They are real alright. No question about it."
"How can you be so sure?" Xiaoyu asked.
"Well you know Wulong, right?" The two girls nodded together, acknowledging the name of the top school paper writer. "He works closely with a 'junior investigative reporter', gave himself the nickname Raven. Don't be fooled by his kooky name, this is one sly bird. He knows everything there is to know about the high profile students in this place and often is the source of most of Lei's information. If those two 'balloons' were fake then he'd know, which means Lei would know, which means the whole school would know."
"If you say so," Xiaoyu said, still unsure. One thing she was sure about was this party at Mishima Fortress. The look in his eyes earlier… She had to know what it meant to him. The flicker in her heart kept curious hope alive, but was slowly killing her inside out at the same time. The feeling was either mutual or not; she couldn't live with this mystery anymore. Asuka wasn't going to poison this one. No. There would be no bounds to this war.
"Guys, we're going to that party!"
"If only." Anna sighed. "I'm afraid that bimbo was right for once. We wouldn't be able to get in. Mr Mishima is supposedly celebrating some sort of business alliance that will officially take place that night with G-Cooperation. That means only business persons and high-class members would be able to enter. If you are not directly related to either company than you have to pay the hefty entrance fee to join the festivities."
"How hefty are we talking here?" Xiaoyu said, digging into her pockets.
"One thousand Woomba," Anna said bluntly; Xiaoyu gave up her search immediately. "Per person, and that's just for entry. Everything else inside is going to cost extra."
"One thousand Woomba!?" Julia exclaimed. "Unless entry is granted for the entire year that amount is ridiculously outrageous." She sighed. "Hm, perhaps it is a fitting price, considering Mr Mishima expects only his blue-blooded kind to enter. To my knowledge, Asuka is far from wealthy and isn't direct family either."
"Yeah, but don't forget about Nina." After the divorce, Anna was left to stay with her mother while it was decided that their father would take Nina. He was a rich man, and left Anna and her mother with nothing but the house and its possessions. Ten years had passed since then, many things changed, but it was clear that his wealth wasn't one of them. "She just has to ask him and she'll get whatever she wants."
"But he's your father too," Xiaoyu pointed out. "Why can't you ask him for money too?"
"Because…" Anna said, darkness hovering into her eyes. "I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing … I don't want to talk about it…"
"It's alright." Xiaoyu patted her shoulder. "We'll just have to find another way to raise the money. It will be very difficult working alone, so I say we join forces. Three thousand Woomba in four days, that's a lot of work. We better get started right away. I've got about a hundred stashed away at home and probably another two hundred or so in my account. You guys?"
Author's Notes
I should probably mention that Woomba is a fictional currency. Apart from that, I don't think there's anything else that needs explanation from this chapter. Thanks for reading and please review.
Peace.
Two rival girl groups of Mishima High School go out of their way to outdo each other every chance they get. But when the stakes cannot get any higher and emotions are carried onto the battlefield, which group will ultimately win the biggest prize of them all? The cutest guys in the whole of Mishima High School…
Author Notes
Okay, just got this crazy idea to do this four part story which is mostly going to contain romance, drama, and hopefully comedy. All the main characters are about 16 or 17 and are still in High School (talk about a major time vortex). I think that's all you need to know about the story for now. Please Review if you like it! And even if you don't! ^^'
Disclaimer: I don't own Tekken or any of its characters or places. This story was written purely for entertainment purposes with no intention to earn any profit. So just read and enjoy people.
~ No Bounds ~
.: A Tactless Tales Production :.
Part I
The Game's On!
Warm afternoon winds frolicked in the weighty atmosphere of Mishima High School, whisking past the three girls that stood on the outdoor basket ball grounds. Not even the playful strands of hair slapping their cheeks and brows, owing to the gusts, could break the unmoving concentration plastered on each of their faces. The triangular formation they held in place intended to remain so until the enemy made their arranged appearance.
In the left rear position, stood a confident brunette in the most upright posture known to man, with her white sneakers tucked closely together. Her rather athletic figure hid beneath her black baggy tracksuit, hanging over her legs and covering the entire length of her arms. She wore a pair of spectacles that often invoked the widespread pretense of an overly intellectual soul that only found amusement in the rollercoaster rides of black and white textbook scripts. Nevertheless, there were those few that knew Julia Chan was much more than a bookworm.
To her right, Anna Williams was impatiently tapping her foot, arms crossed and teeth chewing lazily on a flavour drained piece of bubblegum. The sleeveless red skirt hugging her body hung halfway down her thighs, barely concealing her slim, pale figure. If there was one thing she hated doing, it was waiting. Often, her vigorous grey eyes would sneak a peek at her wrist, hoping the digital display on her watch would somehow persuade her to take any sort of action that would end the boredom.
"Xiaoyu, are you sure you heard them right? They said they were going to come?" She finally said to the girl standing at the front, feeling that standing there any longer would be pointless if the 'appointment' had been canceled.
"Of course I'm sure," the Chinese girl replied, slightly offended at the suggestion that her ears had inherited her grand father's partial deafness at such an early age. "I don't know what could be keeping them."
The broad variety of trees sitting outside of the court's ten-foot wire boundary was enough to hold Julia's attention for the moment. Her keen brown eyes had already identified three distinct species. "Perhaps the coordinates you acquired are incorrect." The comment injecting her into the conversion just managed to sidetrack her thoughts from Mother Nature's blissful grip.
"…No…" Xiaoyu decided after much thought. There were at least four courts spread out on the grounds of Mishima High School but she specifically remembered them telling her it would be the outdoor court on west campus. She put her hands into the side pockets of her white slacks and began slowly rocking her shoulders left and right with an artificial smile on her face. Getting stressed out on their account would be exactly what they wanted and she wasn't going to let that happen.
Anna, on the other hand, had had enough. "I say we go now and leave them a letter saying we were here." When neither of her friends responded to her impatience, she threw her arms up in defeat. "Come on guys, it's obvious they've chickened out and plan to make us stand here like a bunch of mindless idiots!"
"Chickened out? That's highly unlikely," Julia said, still keeping her hands in her shirt's pouch. "Such an arrogant and dominant creature like Asuka Kazama could only ever be compared to a charging bull if any animal, viciously stomping over every other life form threatening her importance with the tiniest spec of knowledge that she lacks."
Xiaoyu giggled. "Yeah, I agree with Julia. Plus, I couldn't see Asuka taking defeat lying down … unlike a certain Doctor B." She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, you do have a point there, plant girl." That was Anna's little nickname for Julia. "Asuka has been known for her astounding talent of speaking nothing but bull."
Their laughter was short lived. A red, roof-less Lamborghini had parked on the roadside just a little distance from the court. The driver, a thin girl wearing a blonde ponytail, hopped out of the two-door car, followed by two other girls; one, a pale brunette and the other, a tanned girl with dark-auburn hair. Together, they strolled into the courtyard with not the faintest hint of regret for the belated appearance in their self-satisfied smirks.
The proud look smudged into their content faces disgusted Anna, causing her to spit her gum out at the loss of appetite. She snorted at the identical extremely short blue skirts and matching tiny tank tops that they all wore. It was obvious that they had just arrived from the sidelines of a football game were they had undoubtedly been pouncing about chanting random things in their cheerleading tunes.
"You're late," she hissed at them.
Asuka raised an eyebrow at her. She didn't have to explain herself to anyone and especially not to a prostitute-in-training like Anna. "So? We had more important things to take care of before wasting any of our time on you tramps."
"Like what?" Xiaoyu retorted. "Advertising your goodies for the whole field to see? Is that the only way you can get any guy's attention?"
Asuka and her girls laughed out loud. "This, coming from a girl who only gets action from a Panda bear," Nina said spitefully. "And it's a female Panda at that."
"How shameful of you." Julia wasn't one to trade insults but she wouldn't allow any of her friends to be belittled in that way. "How shameful is it that you take comfort in knowing members of the opposite sex need not dig an inch beneath your skirts to find your most treasured possessions. Your insignificant purpose is for male pleasure alone and you willingly comply with their requests to be pleased. Heh … the smartest thing that has ever left any of your mouths is a man's –"
"Hush!" Christie stepped in. "I'll tell you what's shameful. Shameful is never having kissed a guy your entire teenage life - and no, your father doesn't count. And neither do trees. Don't be jealous because guys never ask stupid losers like you out."
"Just … shut up, everybody!" Xiaoyu screamed before any of the girls could spew a counterattack, silencing all their efforts. "This is not why we're here." She took off her red jacket and tossed it aside, leaving only a small, black, bust hugging vest covering her sheers. "Anna, give them the ball. We'll let them start."
Anna picked up the basket ball that was resting against the back of her foot. She summoned all the willpower running through her infuriated veins not to throw the ball straight into Christie's face, but instead threw it only a tad too hard into her hands. Though she caught it, the force of the ball pushed Christie back a little. Asuka's team took a couple of steps behind the thick yellow line painted horizontally across the centre of the field and Xiaoyu's team did the same on the opposite side.
The game was a variation of Dodge Ball. Players were eliminated if hit by the ball, and then would be sent to the back of the other team's side of the court. If the ball was caught at any time before touching the floor, then regardless of whom it had hit before, only the thrower would be eliminated. Eliminated players could be brought back into the game if they successfully caught the ball thrown by one of their teammates. In that case, they would be sent back to their side and play would resume. The game would be over when all members of a particular team were eliminated simultaneously.
"So Anna's your little carrier is she?" Christie said, bouncing the ball as she recalled Anna's rather unfriendly pass. "Gee, wonder what other balls she's good at handling."
Anna opened her mouth to counter but was quickly silenced by Xiaoyu's risen hand. That only fueled her anger more, making her turn to the Chinese girl that was supposed to back her up like a friend would, instead of shushing her. The brief distraction earned her blind cheek a powerful smack from the orange sphere. She had been eliminated.
A cylindrical wall of blue energy rose from the enchanted courtyard, engulfing her entire body before transporting her to the very back of the enemy's side of the field. She was enclosed by the rectangular markings on the floor that would send a pulse of energy to stop any part of her body that would try to cross the lines.
Xiaoyu shook her head, long pigtails whipping about. A distraction like that was exactly how Asuka and her friends would operate. They never played fair and she was disappointed that Anna fell for it so easily. She picked up the basket ball in her fingerless gloved hands. "That was cheap."
Christie rubbed beneath her eyes and put on an unsympathetic frown to mock the other team. Naturally, that only aggravated Xiaoyu and the Brazilian soon found herself swaying away from the speedy ball. It was a clean dodge, and the ball, which had rolled out of bounds, was brought back to her hands by the courtyard's magic. The thought of retaliation was first to come to Christie's mind but was soon replaced with something more sinister when she caught sight of Julia standing towards the back of the field.
Her hands were still pouched and her glasses still settled on the bridge of her nose; making her an easy target to Christie's eyes. With that rationale, she pitched the ball straight at her, mimicking the moves of a baseball player. Julia let the orange bullet pass the halfway line before pulling her right hand out of her pocket extremely quickly. The ball halted as it collided with her open palm before a set of swift fingers secured it in place, momentous winds from its velocity blowing past her face and fluttering her ponytail.
Everybody on the court's jaw dropped, including Xiaoyu's, not expecting Julia would be capable of catching the ball with such ease - and in a single hand at that. The rules were executed accordingly and Christie, being the thrower, was transported to the back of their side of the field. An unfamiliar smirk took to Julia's lips, intimidating the opponents a little, before she hurled the ball straight at Asuka and Nina.
The two targets performed summersaults in opposite directions from each other, leaving a narrow space between them for the speeding ball to fly right through. Nina landed in a crouched position and gave a half-smile. "Nice try."
"It wasn't just an attempt." Julia grinned as if she knew something that they didn't. "It was successful." She pointed a finger past them.
Nina turned around, following the finger's gaze, to find their prisoner, Anna, with a smile on her face and the ball in her hands. Governed by the game's rules, the court transported the previously eliminated Anna back into play, and back to her team's side of the field. Once the coil of blue energy had disappeared from where the saved had been standing, Nina began turning back to face her opponents, only for the side of her head to be met halfway by a stinging blaze of orange.
The basket ball recoiled off her head, its pushback force throwing her a few feet back before allowing her lips a hard kiss with the concrete floor. Not even the repugnant grains of gravel gathered between her lips tasted worse than the realization of defeat she suffered the moment she found herself transported next to Christie in the other team's 'prison'. Xiaoyu, sticking out her tongue and shaking her rear mockingly, didn't exactly help either.
Anna whisked away the imaginary smoke rising from her finger with a cool blow before joining her friends in a three-way high-five. "And then, there was one," she gloated, casting grey eyes on the lone Asuka across the half-line, representing all that was left of other team.
"Yes," Julia added, her arms crossed as she calmly whipped her brown ponytail onto one of her shoulders. "How appropriate, the leftover turned out to be the trashiest of them all."
Xiaoyu, however, reserved the tension threatening to evaporate from her relieved shoulders. Knowing Asuka, it would have been most wise to store any energy that could readily be converted into adrenaline. She hadn't earned her reputation of being cheap by abiding by the rules and practicing good sportsmanship after all. The giggles disrupting her concentration from behind however, told her that her friends had somehow forgotten that little fact about Asuka.
"You guys," she chirped loudly from the corner of her lips, making sure not to sway her gaze an inch from Asuka's somewhat calm self. Julia and Anna nodded together, setting the celebrations aside for the proper moment.
"Humph." Asuka closed her eyes confidently as she launched the ball into one hand with the toe of a shoe. Her other hand, built into a weak fist, rested casually on her hip. She planned on showing them just how false their joy actually was. "You are forgetting one thing." Silence. Menacing brown eyes darted open at once. "I've still got the ball!"
The calmness in her voice heightened to a more heated calmness. Her linear eyebrows curved at a steeper angle, better outlining the cold fires glowing in her brown eyes as a crease stretched across her pale forehead. The winds began to build, swirling around her as if she was the yolk of an egg with a spinning outer shell. Tendrils of brown hair lifted and whipped about her brow and above her head uncontrollably.
Xiaoyu's eyes took shelter partially behind her forearms, avoiding the stray leaves and light stones that were inadvertently gathered by the small storm. Anna simply squinted at the furious gusts while Julia felt obliged to protect her spectacles from the specks of floating granite with her forearms.
The basket ball, aided only by the winds as it hovered between Asuka's palms, span in increasingly rapid revolutions. The air squealed in complaint at the ferocious gusts that seemed to be swallowing themselves, producing some sort of suction that attracted the three girls' clothing. Anna, in the worse predicament, struggled to keep her skirt from exploring the high winds. Then, suddenly, it all stopped. The wind was gone, taking its cries with it.
Trickles of stones that had abruptly fallen in the absence of the force reached Julia's ears. Risking an eye, she peeked to the outside of her forearm barrier and saw a leaf swinging slowly back down to the earth. She could see the short trail the soles of her shoes carved into the ground from the slight change in position caused by the winds. Finally getting use to her breathing again, she dropped her arms to the sides and caught a glimpse of the sinister smirk on Asuka's face.
"Xiaoyu, look out!"
"Huh?" Xiaoyu whispered to herself in a whimper at the alarming hint of urgency in Julia's voice. Taking heed to the warning, she bent her upper body backwards immediately, causing her head to swoop evasively lower and giving her eyes a link to the skies. The pale blue heavens were promptly interrupted by the orange blur that soared less than a centimetre above her nose, the faint scent of scorched rubber creeping into her nostrils as it wafted passed.
Warm air pushed passed her lips in a long, relaxed breadth. She twisted down into a crouch that left her facing her team mates. Unfortunately, Julia's warning wasn't without punishment. The time she sacrificed to caution Xiaoyu cost her a second too much of evasion time; and the ball made sure to capitalize with a strong blow to her face, dropping her onto her back hard. With a waft of the field's magic, she was sent to the opponent's side of the field.
"No…" The whisper barely left Xiaoyu's panting mouth when she realized that that the assault wasn't over - the ball was not dead. Instead of greatly losing its pace from the backlash of hitting Julia's face, the Ki charged sphere shot straight back to the field after bouncing off the wire fence twenty metres away!
Its second attempt at Xiaoyu was barely avoided by a quick roll. Anna hopped to evade the ball's low swoop but simply lacked Xiaoyu's hasty response and luck. A loud boom echoed across the field as hard rubber met delicate skin, red circular mark being stamped on her shin at the point of contact. She was eliminated.
Now the field was even, in the sense that only one member was left of each team. The droplets of sweat on Xiaoyu's anxious face multiplied as she realised two victims were not enough to satisfy the ball's hunger for destruction. Its demonic form cut through the air once again, taunting her with a harsh breeze as it shot passed her turned cheek. Pants would be her only breaths for several more close encounters.
Xiaoyu felt like the net sitting between two tennis players; only they were aiming to strike her down. She'd dodge the ball coming in from the left only to turn around immediately to dodge it coming off the fence at the far right. This arduous cycle continued for a tiring minute before the loss of speed from the brushes against wire became noticeable. With the ball slowing down, dodging it became increasingly simpler, until it was no longer necessary. It finally lost its momentum and took a rest at the centre of her field.
Her aching muscles almost refused to let her stagger towards the ball and pick it up. Xiaoyu knew that the, now extremely heavy, arms attached to her would allow only one last throw. It would have to be one hell of a throw too if it was to beat Asuka. Or … maybe not? She thought when she saw what had become of her opponent.
The tall, busty brunette had been reduced to a petite crouch, one knee touching the ground while the other supported her wrist. Bouncy shoulders grew and shrunk from the rapid intake of air. Her pompous eyes were resignedly cast to the floor as the strands of brown hair dangled from her hung head. She knew that concentrating such an amount of Ki on the ball would wind her so but she had very good reason to believe she'd be the only one 'standing' after the onslaught.
"Get up." The lack of remorse left Xiaoyu's voice sheer coldness. No remorse was due, and Asuka would have to be a fool if she was expecting any. "I want to look into your eyes."
Asuka struggled against the fatigue petrifying all of her muscles to come to a stand. Hot breaths hardly heated the air between the cold glares once their eyes had met. Even with a body seemingly three times heavier, the corner of her lips managed to lift.
Smug and defeat hung in her features simultaneously. The exhaustion was understandable, but Xiaoyu was about to give her something to really smile at about. She tossed the ball lightly in the air before following through with a bicycle kick that sent the ball speeding on the clear highway to Asuka's brow.
All the target could do was watch as the ball collided right between her eyes, jerking her head backwards before skyrocketing away. Her feet lost balance and promised the ground the length of her back. She grunted as her body took the abrupt horizontal position across the ground. The jab of pain caused her to blink. Looking up, she watched as the orange ball grew larger with its descent from the skies, its landing spot apparently drawn on her tummy. What happened next was simply…
Unbelievable.
Xiaoyu's knees dropped to floor in defeat, long pigtails hanging hopelessly. She couldn't believe that Asuka had actually … caught it. And because it hadn't touched the ground before she clutched it firmly in two hands on her stomach, the thrower would be deemed eliminated. Thus, the game officially went to Asuka and her team.
All the players were brought back to their respect sides by the court's magic. Christie and Nina helped their fellow cheerleader and friend back to her feet and handed her an energy drink.
"That was pure luck and you know it," Anna accused the winners as she fed an arm to help Xiaoyu get to her feet.
"Give it up already." Nina folded her arms. "It's the fifth time in a row already."
"Tch…" Anna turned away from her sister. Loss after loss was really beginning to hurt her morale.
"Every bi - dog has its day," Julia said, settling her glasses back into position.
"And every four-eyed freak has its days too – one too many, may I add," Christie countered.
Asuka wasn't the type to gloat about victory, but let the victory speak for itself, even though the other girls much rather believed that she was too exhausted from the game to make any crude remarks. She took a sip of her drink and shrugged her head toward the exit of the court, a sign that it was time to leave.
Deep down, Anna wanted nothing more than for them to leave, but the hurt of defeat wouldn't let her let go. "Going somewhere!?" She called out to their turned backs. "A rematch, right now!"
"Another day," Asuka said over her shoulder. "We've got more important things to do right now."
"Oh? Like what!?"
Just then, three students came into view as they walked down the street outside the court. Every set of eyes in the courtyard were stolen at once. In the lead, with his plaid uniform jersey neatly tucked into his beige pants, was the strapping Jin Kazama. Closely behind and to either of his sides were close friends of his, Hwoarang and Paul Phoenix. Time seemed to slow down to allow for their prestigious strides down the street.
Asuka tore away from them for a second to answer Anna's question. "Like them."
"Wha…?" Anna opened her mouth, still half-dazed. She shook her head. "I mean, there's no way you are going to 'do' them. They're good guys and they don't mess around with girls like you."
"Wanna bet?" Christie raised an eyebrow. "Come the party at Mishima Fortress this Saturday, they will be ours."
"Party … at Mishima Fortress?" Xiaoyu asked, somewhat disappointed that she always seemed to be the last to know these things.
Asuka wrinkled her nose in astonishment. "You mean you didn't know … not surprising. It's not something you need to know a lot about anyway. Just two things; one, none of you are going to be able to make it, and two, on that night, I will be Jin's first and he will be mine too." Her eyes gleamed in unfamiliar joy. "We'll be so perfect together. I can't wait until we are married! I won't even have to change my last name!"
That couldn't happen, it couldn't. Xiaoyu's mind contested it desperately and her heart would stop beating at the chimes of those wedding bells. "That's disgusting. How can you even be sure that you two aren't related?" She accused, trying her best to sway Asuka's interest.
"I wouldn't care if he's my own brother! I wouldn't hesitate to have his son and a new brother at the same time!" She said, knowing it would be foolish to let a guy like Jin pass her by, which, she seemed to be doing right now - literally. "Like I said, we have to go. Tata!" She grabbed onto Christie and Nina's wrist before dragging them away and towards the boys.
"No…" Xiaoyu's whisper died in the surge of hurried footsteps. Her eager eyes quickly jumped back to her Japanese hero. And that's when it happened…
In an idle turn, russet eyes lingered passed cascades of jet-black hair, building chills of ice atop her tender nerves that raced from her fingertips to her spine. The urge to jolt could not be overcome and her eyes darted away from him with haste, heavy tingles filling her cheeks and flushing them a rosy shade of cowardice. It didn't take long however, for her to realise that the perfect picture she had just stored of him would always be an inadequate account of all she hoped to remember about him.
Bravely, she glanced back, hoping his interest had endured her embarrassing display of emotion. Indeed it had; his russet eyes were still deeply set on her, only this time, with a slight tilt to his lips. She blushed even harder. Was he laughing at how pathetic she was? … Or did he think that it was cute? That she was cute?
These questions could very well never be answered, especially now that Asuka had her distraction of a body in front of him. His attention was easily dragged away from her and replaced with a dagger through her heart. It displeased Xiaoyu, how guys would fall and drown in the shallow pit of Asuka's exterior. A thought came to her. "You know what guys?" She said to her friends. "I think I know why Asuka's so good with basket balls."
"What would be the reason then?" Julia asked, curiously.
"Because she's got two of them planted in her chest." Bitterness was a foreign trait to Xiaoyu's cheerful nature, but every so often, most often when Asuka was involved, did it creep into her. "I wish I had a needle that could pop those balloons for good. Then we'd see how many guys would still like her."
Julia couldn't agree more. "It's unfortunate that many fail to break through that barrier and reach the rotting core of triviality within. How much do you suppose she paid for them?"
"If only," Anna said. "They are real alright. No question about it."
"How can you be so sure?" Xiaoyu asked.
"Well you know Wulong, right?" The two girls nodded together, acknowledging the name of the top school paper writer. "He works closely with a 'junior investigative reporter', gave himself the nickname Raven. Don't be fooled by his kooky name, this is one sly bird. He knows everything there is to know about the high profile students in this place and often is the source of most of Lei's information. If those two 'balloons' were fake then he'd know, which means Lei would know, which means the whole school would know."
"If you say so," Xiaoyu said, still unsure. One thing she was sure about was this party at Mishima Fortress. The look in his eyes earlier… She had to know what it meant to him. The flicker in her heart kept curious hope alive, but was slowly killing her inside out at the same time. The feeling was either mutual or not; she couldn't live with this mystery anymore. Asuka wasn't going to poison this one. No. There would be no bounds to this war.
"Guys, we're going to that party!"
"If only." Anna sighed. "I'm afraid that bimbo was right for once. We wouldn't be able to get in. Mr Mishima is supposedly celebrating some sort of business alliance that will officially take place that night with G-Cooperation. That means only business persons and high-class members would be able to enter. If you are not directly related to either company than you have to pay the hefty entrance fee to join the festivities."
"How hefty are we talking here?" Xiaoyu said, digging into her pockets.
"One thousand Woomba," Anna said bluntly; Xiaoyu gave up her search immediately. "Per person, and that's just for entry. Everything else inside is going to cost extra."
"One thousand Woomba!?" Julia exclaimed. "Unless entry is granted for the entire year that amount is ridiculously outrageous." She sighed. "Hm, perhaps it is a fitting price, considering Mr Mishima expects only his blue-blooded kind to enter. To my knowledge, Asuka is far from wealthy and isn't direct family either."
"Yeah, but don't forget about Nina." After the divorce, Anna was left to stay with her mother while it was decided that their father would take Nina. He was a rich man, and left Anna and her mother with nothing but the house and its possessions. Ten years had passed since then, many things changed, but it was clear that his wealth wasn't one of them. "She just has to ask him and she'll get whatever she wants."
"But he's your father too," Xiaoyu pointed out. "Why can't you ask him for money too?"
"Because…" Anna said, darkness hovering into her eyes. "I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of knowing … I don't want to talk about it…"
"It's alright." Xiaoyu patted her shoulder. "We'll just have to find another way to raise the money. It will be very difficult working alone, so I say we join forces. Three thousand Woomba in four days, that's a lot of work. We better get started right away. I've got about a hundred stashed away at home and probably another two hundred or so in my account. You guys?"
~ End Of Part I ~
Author's Notes
I should probably mention that Woomba is a fictional currency. Apart from that, I don't think there's anything else that needs explanation from this chapter. Thanks for reading and please review.
Peace.