Projection of timeline: Somewhere just prior to KOF 2003 – basically, before Ash started advancing his 'Sacred Treasure' hunt. A little bit of personal head-canon put into this as well, although I wouldn't say it specifically went like this.
2003. An interesting time to be a fighter in a world where the King of Fighters tournament was popularized worldwide – ten years since the tournament started becoming an annual event for the modern generation to enjoy. However, with the span the tournament had managed thus far, the arrival of new blood was especially guaranteed on this year.
Ash Crimson was perhaps the most enigmatic of the hopefuls who wanted to make their debut – there was not much to gather from about the young man besides that he expected all eyes to be on him by tourney's end, whether he would win the tournament or not. However, there was not much he had when it came to setting his goals and accomplishing them – he hadn't yet received any sort of official invitation from the sponsor, nor did he have any partners yet to enlist...
...at least, no one outside of one potential candidate who may be willing to help him out...
"I didn't think you would want my help..."
"This isn't a matter of friendship, Ash – this is strictly business."
The cold, judging stare of Elisabeth Blanctorche against her childhood friend was one to behold. To say that there was a slightly uncomfortable aura whenever Ash and Elisabeth were within feet of each other's presence nowadays was simply an understatement. It had been close to a decade since they were last considered 'best friends' to each other.
For lack of a better statement, things change – for better or for worse. Not necessarily the case of the former here...
In terms of the discussion brought between them on this day, the topic was, as was practically commonplace with the 'King of Fighters' legacy over the past decade, a supernatural conspiracy lying underneath the foundation of the tournament.
"'Those From His Distant Land'," as Elisabeth called them. "Another rising threat in the list of the scum trying to rise to the surface..."
Ash was only partially at attention of what the lady was discussing – his eyes often lingered towards the invitation envelope sitting at the side of the table, the only object of notice on the table aside from the mugs of tea between them.
The middle point of the discussion was heard on Ash's part as practically static, but he managed to zone in a little as Elisabeth continued, "...My father knew he had to push back the devils back then, and now it's up to me to uphold the family name. You understand how much it all lies on me, right?"
"You don't seem the type to be counting on me," Ash replied. "It's almost like you didn't need me for all of this."
"I didn't want to go about this on my own – it's been far too lonely after..." Through Elisabeth's head came the brief tinge of past memories she would rather like to forget. "...and you... you don't know all that much about your family's past, do you?"
Ash scoffed. "I'm my own man, Betty. It's not that I don't know the past – it's that I'd rather make a future for myself."
Elisabeth's glare grew slightly bitter under that little petty nickname. "You're certainly not the kid I remember you as, all those years ago. I don't mean that as a compliment."
Ash sniffed, indifferent to the statement. "Does it matter? We're in this together no matter what."
"Against my better judgment." Elisabeth had a couple fingers pressed lightly upon her envelope as she discussed. "In terms of the mission, it's up to me to lead a team into the upcoming tournament to scope out the threat and, along the way, figure out if the sponsor has a mind to further worsen the situation. I understand how you've been handling your powers, and I count on you to be my backup in case everything takes a turn for the worse."
"Backup? Sooo..."
"If something happens to me – in short, it'd all be up to you
Ash reclined about as much as his seat could allow. "Hmm... just one, really."
"And that is?" Within her line of sight, Elisabeth recognized a hand of his reaching out and resting against the other side of the envelope.
His question: "Do you not trust me enough?"
Elisabeth's eyes fully met the envelope that she was unintentionally sharing her space with. She didn't intend to respond with words about what was going through her head about what her 'friend' asked of her.
The piercing silence he received from her only allowed Ash to explain himself. "...Come on – no need to be afraid of what you want to admit. You say you understand my strengths, but really you think my flames will get in the way, just like they have in the past when I was... less than optimal with what I had."
Elisabeth's fingers started to step away from the envelope, and her mind began to wrap around a cluster of emotions towards her red-clad partner. "Ash, what're you—"
Ash interjected, "Just trying to set things straight between us, cherie – and this whole deal you've been trying to put together. Clearly you're afraid something may happen of me if I go in too deep. Either that, or maybe you're afraid of the possibility that you won't get the job done."
The noblewoman stuttered frustratedly, as if her pride was starting to ache from those words. "Ash, just—tell me... what could you possibly want from me?"
Ash's eyes again lingered on the invitation between him and Betty. "You've got what I need – and that's simply to get into the tournament. As your partner, as part of my own team, however possible. I can guarantee you that what I got in the palm of my hand, you need... and all I need to know is just how much faith you truly have in me." He took a relaxed recline against his seat again. "The floor is yours, Betty. Make of it what you will – I just need you to be honest."
The noblewoman's eyes stared down the drink laid beneath her for a few moments, feeling like an hour's worth of thinking about those words even though it was closer to a single minute. It certainly felt like the type of decision that needed to come from the heart, not the mind, especially towards someone she's known for quite some time. Although... between this mission, the fire from so long ago, and the factor of the two having long been away from the other's lives, the demands Ash put before her really suggested that honesty be the best policy.
She finally glared up at her childhood friend, who eagerly awaited with a grin reeking of just a bit too much self confidence.
"Ash... in the risk of sounding brutal in the honesty you want from me... I'll admit it, I don't trust you enough... but it's not entirely based on bias of our past..."
She stood up. The table was moved aside with a swift push off, the envelope was kept out of harms way within her hand...
...and the tip of her riding crop met the chin of Ash. "...but because I think you wouldn't get the job done," Elisabeth said.
It didn't take long for the feminine Frenchman to realize what exactly was intending from how Betty handled the little whip against him – and from the smile that grew upon his face, he was very interested to see everything heading in this direction. "Well-well – if you wanted to test me personally, why didn't you say so?"
Elisabeth's tone was stern and direct at this point, as she retracted the crop from against Ash's face and handled it back handed in his fighting stance. "You brought it on yourself. Are you truly prepared to defend your words?"
Ash chuckled as he brushed through the eye-hiding sliver of his blonde hair with a smile of anticipation. "Oh please; this is how I prefer to negotiate."
With no warning, this test via combat started with Ash springing forward with a handspring, culminating in an axe kick with intent to swipe it down across the opponent's face. Naturally, with the type of start-up that maneuver carried, Elisabeth telegraphed it with moderate ease, catching Ash's leg atop her shoulder and then batting it away with a swipe of her hand that also managed to graze across his face with the back of that hand.
After the very first move of the bout, Ash was left a little off-guard, and nearly off-balance as well, as he glanced up to Betty; as she provoked him with a beckoning finger, he charged back in with an elbow that she dodged, and for the next couple of moments, Ash couldn't seem to find a way to get in a good strike on the noblewoman, as she blocked away each and every punch he threw her way with a single arm. At the end of the barrage of failed blows, Ash's arm was caught on the final strike, as Elisabeth swung the crop around to smack him across the back, and then brought him straight to the floor with an arm-wringing flip.
This was the very first time that the young Crimson did battle with his elder friend, and it was turning out in the wrong direction of how he expected it.
Putting a heel upon Ash's chest, Elisabeth looked down at him. "You're not a great negotiator."
Ash wasn't too pleased to hear his words put against him like that, but he didn't want it to show on his face. Smiling briefly, he seemed to blow a kiss – a kiss composed of an emerald flame that made Elisabeth reel back to evade, in turn getting her foot off of him.
Seeing the brief spark of panic on Elisabeth's face when she dodged the spurt of fire got a little bit of a chuckle out of him. "Two for flinching," he said, right before striking very low with two jabbing kicks to the leg that managed to humble Elisabeth onto one knee. Knowing the very brief opening for further assault and taking up on it, Ash latched his legs around one of Elisabeth's arms and brought her fully down on her back for a little bit of ground-based action.
It wasn't long, however, before Elisabeth managed to take control again, kipping up and twisting the situation around – although Ash managed to flip around onto his feet to regain his composure rather quickly, he had a failing effort to a jumping kick as Elisabeth ducked it, jabbed the back end of her crop into his side and then brought him further pain with a kick from below, right up his jaw. Another arm-wrangling takedown laid Ash flat on his back again, putting him right at square one again – with the bonus of feeling like he fell jaw-first onto a rail or something.
At this point, it was smart to try and find a big opening in order to get an advantage. Combined with this being his first legitimate battle with Elisabeth, it meant that advantage was probably going to be real difficult to find. Anything to prove himself, really.
He flung himself back to his feet with a nip-up, only to suddenly meet a blinding light in his face, a clear but unexpected presentation of Elisabeth's gift of Ictiokinesis; wasn't quite as apparent back then as it was at this point, and Ash had only gotten word-of-mouth about that power prior to this meeting. Regardless of knowledge, the flash of white across his face left him blind for a few seconds, and as he unthinkingly flung a line of flame around, Elisabeth evaded around the green fire that spun by and clutched onto Ash with her arm wrapping around the back of his neck.
Ash grunted in irritation as his sight managed to sort itself out from the light it received, "Not quite as fun as I thought it was going to be."
Elisabeth said, "You're trying to find fun in this? Like I said, this was all meant to be business between us."
"Let's change that." With that, Ash flipped backwards, and as the green flames trailed his foot, he managed to smack Elisabeth atop the back of her head with a flipping heel. She was left dizzied for a couple seconds, allowing Ash to boot her in the back to bring her down. To him, as he continued to sporadically think about how he could go about in the upcoming tournament, it felt like the right time to start putting some mind-games into play.
Elisabeth didn't realize it until she got away from her groggy state, but she found herself without her crop, and it quickly became clear why.
"Looking for something, Betty?" Ash stood in front with the riding crop in hand, and lightly brushed Elisabeth on the chin with the tip of it.
Naturally, Elisabeth immediately went to grab at it, not quite amused with the toying around at her expense; it only managed to trigger a brief tug-of-war between the two, though, as they struggled against each other for a moment longer.
"Shoot through!" Elisabeth ultimately retaliated with a palm against Ash's chest, charged with holy light that amplified the pushing power and forced him off, leaving her back with her weapon. The blazing Frenchman tumbled across the room, almost sliding on the floor as he finally took a formation on the ground.
Just when Ash thought he was going to get a decent advantage, it was taken away from him immediately. Surely seemed like a problem that someone in this situation would want to work on prior to an upcoming tournament, but he felt too confident to consider that. Just simply fighting through the tournament would probably help out, but it all depended on the minx with the riding crop.
"You're not impressing me." Elisabeth's crop helped in lifting Ash up onto his knees as she looked down on him with a mix of disappointment and an inner feeling of having proven herself right. "Maybe you should reconsider how you carry yourself."
The lone Blanctorche expected a retaliation of some sort from her opponent – although she didn't exactly expect Ash to get a chuckle out of a situation like the disadvantage he found himself in.
Elisabeth came a little closer, meeting her face inches away from his. "And what exactly do you find funny about all this?"
Ash calmed his laughter. "It's nothing – it's just... you should really focus on what matters most."
Suddenly, his hands swung forward towards her chest, and with a motion akin to ripping something in half, Ash managed to suddenly throw Elisabeth off-course with a swiping double-hand strike, fueled by his bright green flames, that sent the noblewoman back a sizable distance. The flames and smoke from the considerably heavy blast separated the two from each other's line of sight, leaving one unable to see the other for a moment.
When everything cleared, Ash saw a somewhat disoriented Elisabeth trying to regain her fighter's composure. That wasn't everything that he noticed, however, and what else that struck as noticeable was on Elisabeth's person.
Mainly, her jacket. Or the significant amount that remained outside of the clear burn/tear that left her ascot mostly vanquished, and a good portion of her chest exposed, outside of the top part of the corset underneath, which itself didn't cover a lot of her sizable breasts.
She didn't even notice at first, but the realization did start once she noticed Ash trying (and failing) to hide his smug expression towards her.
He said, "No need to look at me, Betty – you might want to worry about yourself for now."
It was then that Elisabeth noticed the exposure of her generously-sized bust from the where the flames hit her most, and she attempted to shield her pride.
Ash then commented again after a moment to chuckle at Betty's expense, "Although I must admit, it seems like an improvement to the look. You certainly have the goods to pull it off."
Elisabeth was far from amused with that kind of comment thrown her way – her face was growing red, although it was hard to tell if from embarrassment or fury. "You did this on purpose, didn't you?!"
Ash twirled a finger through his hair nonchalantly, "Maybe, maybe not; I wouldn't say I'd be truly proud of being just a little perverted – if anything, I managed to surprise you, didn't I?"
His eyes closed briefly as he gathered in another laugh for one more moment... only to open them in time to see Elisabeth suddenly up in his face, bringing a hand against his mouth and shoving him against a wall.
Elisabeth kept Ash against the wall with a high-heeled boot pressed against his stomach. "Something changed within you in the time we were separated."
Ash responded, oozing self-confidence. "I grew up, had more time to think about my life, and..." his glare slightly lowered towards Betty's chest. "Well... you should know how boys can be sometimes when they're older."
Elisabeth's boot pressed slightly harder against Ash's gut. "And what exactly do you think you're accomplishing with all this?"
Ash brought his hand atop Elisabeth's pale blue hair. "Mind games, Betty." His other arm, out of either side's sight, latched around the lifted leg of Elisabeth, and then pushed forward.
The momentum of the push caught Elisabeth beneath her expectations, and brought her onto the ground, where Ash kept a position on top of her with a knee brought down and pressing against her crotch – of all places to kneel on...
Ash explained his odd combative theorem, "You and I, we both haven't had our shot at the big time with the King of Fighters tournament, but I've at least figured out that more often than not, it takes more than pure strength and a pretty light-show to get past the first round."
Elisabeth emitted a brief grunt that, while showing clear frustration, had a slight undertone of pained pleasure – unsurprising given the kneecap of the other grinding against her. She afterwards managed to turn over the position, bringing herself on top of him, complete with her knee driving directly into Ash's nethers with enough force to earn gritted teeth through his pained expression.
"You haven't figured out anything until you actually fight in the tournament," she stated what only she considered fact in this matter, "and you sure as hell don't deserve the chance. Not yet, at least."
"I really don't want to have to fight you all day to get what I want," said Ash. "But if I have to, I don't think I'll be complaining all that much."
"You've grown to be a delinquent."
"And you've grown to be a tease."
The positioning of the two shuffled and evolved further, until they were both sitting up – their legs intertwined and their faces wound up even closer than before. Two sets of eyes met, sharing a similar palette of blue between them. It almost felt like time slowed to a turtle's pace as they locked eyes, simultaneously sharing a bit of blush-tone red across both their faces as the tension soured, almost as if it was starting to form into... something else...
Elisabeth chose first to get up first, sighing in frustration while leaving Ash to flop back onto the floor with a slight feeling of annoyance on his own.
"Disgusting," the prideful woman commented, as she brushed off the flakes of burnt clothing on her chest. The exposed flesh revealed from what was destroyed on her person wasn't quite her vision, and Ash's attitude around it certainly felt like insult to injury... but she was thinking of letting that slide for now, as something else was on the side.
"Get up." Her riding crop nudged Ash, a little provocation to make him at least stop retaining the lazy position on the floor. He complied with little hesitation, feeling like he was going to expect a little more lecturing of some sort from his cohort, and there wasn't really any walking away, especially if he wound up empty-handed in the end.
Elisabeth's demands became clear as she met eyes with "I had my time to be honest – I feel now's your turn."
Ash sighed with feigned defeat. "I guess I can admit I'm desperate for a chance in that tournament – it's not like you figured it out already..."
"Not what I meant, Ash," The Frenchwoman replied. "There's something else that started brewing within you as we were fighting, and... I don't want to explicitly say it, but not all of your feelings seem to be locked into your head."
Ash's lingering enthusiasm started to wain, as did a little bit of his patience. "Okay, you're losing me – what are you trying to say?"
"Look down."
A clear choice of two words from the noblewoman towards her potential partner, as Ash seemed half-willing to comply, the other half of his thoughts still a little bit puzzled about in his head about Elisabeth's meaning of 'honesty' towards him. Things started to hit him with a metaphorical hammer of awkwardness once he actually looked down, and he immediately turned away from Betty with his own bit of apparent shame.
Elisabeth simply suggested, "You really should consider some looser clothing."
Certainly a way to pour fuel into the flame of Crimson's predicament – which felt far from his usual green pyrokinetic gift and closer to a reddish-pink that matched the bloom of color across his cheeks as he glanced partway with an expression of irritation. It seemed like a lot was on his mind...
By this point, Elisabeth started to approach closer, slowly and patiently. "Don't make me wait for too long, Ash. If you're not going to admit it yourself..." She turned him around to look him straight in the eyes one more time. "...I might have to force you to face that truth, no matter how... unbecoming it may be between us."
Ash's expression was very much in the valley of 'mixed', especially as he felt the collar of shirt clutched tightly within Elisabeth's grasp. He wasn't going to be in control of where he was going for the time being, and once he began to understand the assertive scowl on Elisabeth's face, he didn't know whether to anticipate or to fear what was coming next.
Frankly, it was easier to feel both ways about it...
This was absolutely going to be a one-shot at first (albeit a fairly long one, around 5K words at least), but with how I've been shifting around ideas for this story, and how dense the word count has gotten for this one alone, I decided to split it a bit, leave you guys wanting a little bit more while allowing me a bit of time to sort out what comes next... although admittedly, given the rating of the story, it's not hard to figure out what could come next.
All else I can say is simply 'stay tuned'.