Chapter 1: A New Challenger!

Author's Note: Some quick notes about my writing style. Italics within the main body of text are thoughts of whoever the current PoV character is, though I also put Author's notes and footnotes in italics. Linebreaks are used between sections to denote a change in scene or a change in PoV within a scene. Should be easy enough to follow, so long as you know what it means. That said, enjoy the first chapter!

Sakura Kasugano stifled a yawn as she made the early morning walk from her modest little house to her dojo down the street. Her dojo. The thought still made her smile even now, a full year after it opened and she accepted her first students. It had taken her several years to save up the money, and construction seemed to be cursed for a bit as nearly anything that could go wrong did, but she didn't give up and eventually it happened. The World Warrior Fighting School opened for business, and Sakura did her damndest to teach her students not only her own fighting style, but tricks and bits of styles picked up from her long career of street fighting all over the world.

Her smile grew wider as she reached the dojo and found the little surprise she had for her advanced students already nervously waiting for her out front.

Approaching the young woman, Sakura cleared her throat as she walked closer so she wouldn't startle her and offered her a smile, "You must be Qiao Ran, yes?"

The girl startled anyway, nearly jumping a bit as Sakura spoke, then spinning to face her and bowing rapidly, "Ah, yes! Um, and you are Kasugano-sensei, yes? I am very pleased to be here!"

It was hard not to break out laughing at the girl's unique combination of enthusiasm and anxiety, but Sakura managed it anyway. Being laughed at would probably crush the poor thing. Holding up a hand to forestall anymore bowing, she nodded, "And I'm very pleased to have you. Any young talent that Chun Li thinks highly enough of to pay their entire tuition out of her own pocket is more then welcome here. I'm very interested to see how you match up against my advanced students," then she quirked a half smile as she added, "and hoping you'll be able to shake them up a touch. They've been patting themselves on the back a great deal lately."

Ran's eyes widened a bit as Sakura spoke, and as soon as her sensei finished, she started nodding repeatedly, "Um, I hope that I will live up to your expectations, Kasugano-sensei."

Sakura shook her head, "You can relax a bit, we're fairly informal here. Simply sensei will do as an address. And no matter what Shiro and Julian might tell you, we don't have rankings among the students. At least none any more strict then beginner and advanced."

Ran continued nodding like a shaken bobblehead, causing Sakura to wonder if this was normal behavior for her or if she had just had too much caffeine and sugar this morning. Well, she thought, Chun Li's letter did say that she was 'somewhat eccentric'. ...though to be fair those words could sum up my entire advanced class, so I'm sure she'll fit in just fine.

"Come on," Sakura gestured for the girl to follow as she walked towards the door, "let's get you settled in first, then I'll want to see what you've got before I throw you in with the others."

Qiao Ran grabbed her one bag that had been sitting next to her and took a deep centering breath before following her new teacher into her new home.

"Alright," Sakura settled down in her little folding chair with a nice cup of green tea that the housekeeper had ready for her and nodded to her newest student, "why don't you go through a set of the normal exercises you use so I can see what you're capable of?"

Having changed into her fighting uniform as soon as she put her things away, Ran nodded once sharply at her teacher's instruction, and began her routine.

As Ran started with the basics, stretching and simple forms, Sakura sized up her newest student. The girl was quite small, not even breaking five feet and being rather slender to match. Though in her skintight combat dress, the fact that she had muscle was quite obvious. Sakura noted in particular the muscles in her legs and the power in her kicks.

"Go through that series of kicks again," Sakura instructed her, guessing quickly that kicks were her specialty and wanting to see them a bit more in depth.

Ran nodded and repeated the form as instructed.

Sakura smirked as she recognized a couple of the moves, Well, well. More then a passing resemblance to her style. I've been hit by a few of those kicks before.

"So," Sakura asked almost conversationally while Ran was doing her kicks, "Just how long did Chun Li train you before sending you to me?"

The sudden question made Ran stumble and blink a bit in surprise, "Ah, um, a-a couple of years..."

Sakura shook her head and tsked, "Bad form. Don't let distractions, even direct questions from me, get in the way of the moves. Lots of street fighters like to banter while fighting, including some of my other students. If you'd been sparring instead of just doing forms there..." she let the implication hang in the air.

Her student blushed and bowed, bobbing her head nervously again, "I apologize!"

"You don't need to apologize for mistakes," Sakura half smiled as she chided, "just don't make them again. Anyway," she changed the subject a bit, "were you her only student? I hadn't heard that she'd opened a school or started taking students again."

Ran hesitated, then nodded shyly.

Sakura hid her interest in that revelation by taking a sip of her tea, Interesting. She must have seen something really special in this one. She may be able to keep up with the three goons I've got now afterall. And, she thought with a carefully concealed twinkle of amusement in her eye, I think I understand why she sent the girl to me in the first place now.

After a moment, she waved Ran to continue her forms, noting with interest just how many of Chun Li's moves that she knew. Once the workout was finished, Sakura let her student cool down a bit before standing up and smiling at her, "Well, that tells me what I need to know. You'll fit in here just fine I think."

Ran, still trying to catch her breath, let a visible sigh of relief escape and a small smile show as she bobbed her head.

"There is, however," Sakura continued, "one very important piece of business we need taken care of before you do any real fighting."

Suddenly worried again, Ran's face clouded up as she hesitated a long moment before cautiously asking, "Ah...what...what is the problem?"

Sakura smiled, "We're going to have to get you some new uniforms. I don't want you wearing blue, and something less blatantly Chinese might be a good idea as well."

This only seemed to confuse the girl further, "What's wrong with my uniform?"

"I'll explain later," Sakura chuckled, then turned to walk out of the room, motioning for Ran to follow, "there's nothing we can do about it today anyway. For now, let's introduce you to your roommate and have her show you around. You won't have any duties today since you just got here, but Paulette can tell you what will be expected of you in the future. There will, however, be a class tonight at seven. Make sure you're ready."

Qiao Ran didn't quite know what to make of this whole situation. Though she'd not even been at Sakura's dojo an entire day, she could already tell that this was going to be very different then the private instruction her mother had given her.

Adopted mother. She chided herself. Even after everything Chun Li had done for her, taking her in, training her and even adopting her as a daughter, it felt wrong to call the woman 'mother'. Not because she had anything but the utmost respect and even affection for Chun Li herself, but because it somehow felt like that would be the first step to forgetting her real mother.

Sighing a bit at herself, Ran put such unworthy thoughts from her head and looked around the room she was waiting in, My room now, she reminded herself, hoping to get some sense of who her roommate might be.

Unfortunately, there's wasn't very much to go by. The other side of the room was barely more decorated then Ran's...and she hadn't even unpacked yet. Aside from the bed(with drawers that pulled out from the bottom), nightstand and small writing desk that were on both sides of the room, her roommate's half also had a pair of dark green boxing gloves hanging from a nail on the wall, a stuffed dinosaur of some kind sitting on the bed, and a pair of books on the desk. That was it. The stuffed animal is cute at least, Ran smiled a bit at the thought as she looked at the toy from her spot on her own bed.

As she was doing so, the door opened, and Ran naturally turned to look at the person who entered...and her eyes widened a bit as she looked up at her roommate.

The young woman in the doorway was easily six feet tall, maybe a bit over, and was no beanpole either as she carried a fair bit of obvious muscle on her frame. She didn't look masculine at all though, despite her size. That may have been due to the somewhat feminine curls her reddish-brown hair was forming into even when wet, but was more likely because she was wearing a fuzzy pink bathrobe.

The woman looked down at Ran and blinked a couple of times. Then looked at Ran's bag sitting on the bed next to her and nodded her head in comprehension, speaking in a fairly pleasant English accent, "Ah well, couldn't keep a room to myself forever I suppose. And to tell the truth I'd rather have another girl around then a room to myself." Then the large woman paused a moment before adding, "Well, besides Miss Kasugano of course. She hardly counts, being the instructor and all."

Ran nodded, and attempted to introduce herself but for some reason the words that came out of her mouth were not at all the ones she intended, "...you're huge..."

The other woman gave Ran a fairly flat look as she responded, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "Actually, I'm Paulette. 'Huge' is quite specifically on that list of things I don't answer to, right up there with giant woman, white girl and Brit."

Of course no sooner had Ran realized she said that, then she turned bright red with embarrassment, which only got worse with Paulette's reply. Managing to open her mouth again, she attempted to stammer out an apology, but was cut off by her roommate.

"Out." Paulette gestured to the door, "I need to change, then you can try that again."

"I..." Ran stuttered, then bobbed her head a couple of times and ducked out of the room past Paulette. As soon as the door closed behind her, she buried her head in her hands and felt like the biggest idiot in the world. I can't believe I SAID that!

Unfortunately things like that had been a problem for her for as long as she could remember. It never really bothered Chun Li at all, which was one of the many reasons Qiao Ran adored her adoptive mother, but no amount of training or focus or anything had ever been able to cure her compulsive foot-in-mouth nature anytime she was the least bit stressed. Or even just not paying full attention when she wasn't stressed. Frankly, she considered herself lucky that she hadn't done it to Kasugano-sensei yet, but offending her roommate at her first meeting really wasn't much better.

After a long moment, with Ran quietly fretting in the hall the entire time, Paulette opened the door back up, now dressed in a simple shirt and sweats combo instead of the bathrobe. Taking one look at the girl in the hallway, Paulette could only chuckle, "God above, you're STILL blushing?"

This, of course, only made Ran turn more red as she quickly bobbed a bow and stammered out her apology, "I...I'm so very very sorry! I didn't...sometimes...my mouth, it just...I..."

At this point, it had gone from amusing Paulette to actually making her a touch uncomfortable. She held up a hand to forestall any more apologizing and insisted, "It's alright. I get worse from the boys all the time, so don't worry about it." Moving out of the doorway, she waved Ran into the room, "Come on in. So let's start over on that, hmm? I'm Paulette, ah Paulette Tamlin, since people seem to care about family names quite a bit around these parts. And I'm from England if you couldn't tell from the accent. You?"

Accepting the invitation, Ran scooted into the room and settled back on her bed. As Paulette introduced herself, she nodded along and then followed suit, "Ah, I am Qiao Ran. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Paulette mused for a moment over that, before asking, "That doesn't sound like a Japanese name. I take it you aren't local either?"

"Chinese," Ran confirmed for her.

"Ah, yeah that sounds about right. Sorry, I still have trouble telling people from this bit of the world apart at a glance. Haven't been here that long yet."

Ran just nodded politely. She really didn't have any idea how to respond to that line.

Fortunately, Paulette didn't seem to be waiting for one, and just moved on to the next topic, "So, now that introductions are out of the way, I guess I'm supposed to show you around? That's what Miss Kasugano had Shiro do for Julian when he first got here anyway."

"Ah, yes." Ran relaxed a bit, getting back into territory she was a bit more comfortable and familiar with: duties and obligations. "Sensei said that you would inform me of what will be expected of me here."

Paulette nodded, then grabbed a hair band off of her nightstand and began pulling her hair back into a short ponytail while she explained, "Right. Well, there's not overly much to be honest. She wants the four of us, the advanced class, to focus on our training more then anything else. We have to keep our rooms clean, as well as the practice room that we use. And if we break anything we have to either help fix it, or do enough chores to make up for it if it just needs to be replaced."

As Paulette trailed off, Ran blinked at her, a bit perplexed, "That's...all?"

"Well, for chores and such, yes." Paulette continued, "We have a housekeeper employed here that handles meals for the five of us that live here, and she does most of the cleaning as well. There is one more thing we do, but," she shrugged, "whether it's a responsibility or simply another aspect of training is up for debate."

"Oh?" Ran prompted, "What?"

"Simple," her roommate grinned, "We're Miss Kasugano's assistants, we help her teach the casuals. Uh," Paulette corrected herself, "the beginner class. We call them the casuals, but she doesn't care for that term, so we don't use it when she's around. Anyway, that's basically it. Julian considers it a chore, I think it's training though. And Shiro..." Paulette shook her head, "well, you'll find out how he is with them eventually I suppose."

Ran thought that sounded rather...ominous. "Um, so are the four of us the only advanced students?"

Paulette nodded, "Yeah. It's you and me, then Shiro and Julian." The large woman paused a moment and appraised her roommate, then added, "Just to give you a heads up, Julian's a horndog and will probably start hitting on you ten seconds after he meets you. Don't let him sweet talk you into thinking you're special though, he comes onto anyone that's female, legal and at least vaguely attractive."

There was a bit of acid in Paulette's voice as she delivered that warning, which didn't go unmissed by Ran. She was getting less and less sure that she wanted to be here by the minute. "The boys...don't sound like very nice people."

Paulette sighed a bit as Ran said that, and softened her expression, "They're not that bad. I've just got a bad habit of only talking about the bad things. Julian's actually a nice guy most of the time, very laid back. Just..."

"Still a horndog?" Ran finished, involuntarily blushing as she said the word.

Fortunately, Paulette didn't comment on the blush and just nodded, "Exactly. And Shiro...well, he's a hardheaded, aggressive little prick. Violence is basically his first resort to any problem. And he's good enough at it that he doesn't need a second one."

Ran tried not to blanche at the idea of working with someone like that, "You make him sound like some kind of common thug..."

"Oh, God no!" Paulette barked out a laugh, which nearly startled poor Ran into jumping, "Thank all the powers that be, there's nothing common about his thuggery. I'm not sure the world could handle two of him. But," she shrugged, "even he's not all bad. I can't really put into words what makes the little arse tolerable, though. You'll just have to meet him for yourself."

...my classmates are a pervert, a thug and a gian...er, Paulette, now Ran did actively turn a bit pale as she thought, what HAVE I gotten myself into?

"Anyway," Paulette stood up and went for the door, "there's not too much to see here, but I may as well show you around, right?"

Getting her expression back under control, Ran stood as well and bobbed her head repeatedly at the invitation, "Um, okay."

The tour hadn't taken very long, and Ran even had time to get a very small bite to eat before the advanced class started for the night. She had to admit, she was anxious. Kasugano-sensei had said that she should fit in, but after hearing about the others from Paulette she wasn't so sure about that. Am I sure I even want to fit in with people like this?

But she kept her doubts to herself. She owed it to her adoptive mother to at least try, since she went to such trouble to send Ran here. So she kept quiet and tried to focus herself as she followed Paulette to the dojo.

When they arrived, the two boys and Kasugano-sensei were already inside. Ran felt a little awkward being the last one to arrive, but set that aside and bowed politely as she entered. She could tell that the two boys were sizing her up already, which was only to be expected. Ran hadn't been part of a class before, especially not one like this, but she at least knew enough to expect rivalry and competition. So she sized them up right back.

The taller one, a dark haired Latino man...and handsome, she had to admit, seemed to be the only one dressed in a proper karate gi, and was also the only one wearing padded knuckle-guards. As she looked him over, he noticed her attention and flashed her a confident smile...and Ran had to stop herself from blushing a bit. That has to be Julian.

Which makes you Shiro. She turned her attention to the smaller man, though smaller was kind of an understatement. He was barely larger then Ran herself, and she was a bit short even for a woman. Even more odd was how normal, even a bit geeky, he looked. The simple loose fitting sweatpants and t-shirt didn't look particularly appropriate for a karate dojo, but they didn't look like something a street tough would wear either. And the thick glasses didn't help at all.

Without thinking, she looked over at Paulette a bit incredulously and asked, "That's the violent thug? He's so tiny!"

Sakura's eyebrows went up into her hairline at what Qiao Ran just said, and then she tried so hard not to start laughing as the girl seemed to realize it a moment later, clapping her hands over her mouth and turning red.

Beside her, Sakura could hear Julian starting to snicker, but she paid him no mind at the moment. Instead, she turned her attention to Paulette(who at least had the good grace to look a touch embarrassed), and stated, "I see you've been filling our new student in about her classmates, Paulette."

"Ah..." Paulette hedged a bit as she avoided meeting Sakura's eyes, "I was just..."

"Just speaking ill of your peers when they weren't there to defend themselves." Sakura finished for her. Sighing a bit, she shook her head and proceeded with a short lecture, keeping her voice calm but firm, "I know we're more informal here then at any school you've been to previously, but there are some things I still expect from you. You won't manage to learn anything here if you can't manage simple respect, not just for me as your teacher but also for each other."

Paulette looked down a bit, and Sakura could see that her words were having the desired effect. The girl wasn't actually mean spirited, she was just overly negative and liked to gossip. Sakura knew that she did respect the other students, but it wasn't always clear with how she acted.

Letting half of a small smile show, she softly continued with the lecture, "I'm not going to ask that the four of you think nothing but good of each other, or even act like you get along all the time. You'll be spending entirely too much time together for things to always be smooth. So while Ran may end up with some negative opinions of the boys, and you as well I'm sure, I do expect you to let them earn it themselves."

"I'm sorry." Paulette's voice was soft, but sincere as she apologized. Though she still hadn't met her teacher's eyes.

Sakura shook her head, "I'm not the one you should apologize to."

Deflating a bit, Paulette hesitated before looking over towards Shiro...but Sakura's oldest student just snorted at the implication, "Save it."

Ignoring Paulette entirely, Shiro just moved on from that entire conversation and addressed his teacher directly, "So what's the deal with the new girl? Not making her test up from casuals?"

Sakura sighed again. She didn't like that term for her beginner class, but getting Shiro not to use it had thus far proven impossible. But this wasn't the time to argue with him about it yet again, so she just shook her head, "Not with her background, no." She quite intentionally didn't elaborate on the background just yet, and though she could see the curious looks Julian and Paulette were giving both her and Ran, she left it at that.

Shiro, however, just nodded and accepted it at face value. "So," he asked, "what are we doing today then?"

"A match," Sakura answered, walking over to her little folding chair and having a seat, "I saw what Qiao Ran can do in practice earlier, but that's not the same thing as a real fight. Especially not a real street fight."

At this point, Ran seemed to have gotten herself back under control, and bobbed her head at Sakura's words like she'd been expecting that. She probably was, she seems to be a smart girl. Then she smiled a bit as she noticed Ran's gaze drifting between the other three students. And now she's serious. Good. This should be interesting.

Ran centered herself as her sensei mentioned a match. It was the obvious thing to do really. Her adoptive mother had mentioned quite often that there was a big difference between being able to do something in practice and being able to do it for real.

But which one? Ran slowly flicked her eyes towards the other students, considering how she might match up against each in turn. Paulette's big. And I thought she was a boxer, but she's not wearing those boxing gloves at all. I wonder what she does, then? Whatever it is, I'll need to be quick to stay out of her reach while still being able to attack. Julian seems the most classically trained, but in what? Shotokan? Saikyo? And Shiro... Ran took a moment to consider her third potential opponent, I have no idea what he does, but Paulette says that he's good. Hmph, I just don't know enough about them.

But even as she thought that, she recognized the same kind of expression on all of their faces. They didn't know enough about her either. It wasn't just her that would be facing something strange and unknown. The thought calmed her down a bit. She wouldn't be going into this with a disadvantage, both her and her opponent, whoever it was, were equally ignorant of the other. That must be what sensei had in mind all along.

Sakura let them all stew for a moment on that, giving them time to mentally prepare themselves. She already knew who she was going to pick, if she wanted to see Ran fight at full power there was only one option, but she wanted the other two to get serious and settled anyway. Even if they weren't fighting, that didn't mean they couldn't learn from the fight afterall.

"Shiro." She finally spoke, breaking the building silence and intensity, "you'll be Ran's first opponent. Julian, Paulette, you two have a seat and pay attention."

Paulette and Julian looked at each other for a moment, then simultaneously nodded and moved to the side of the room to sit against the wall and watch the fight.

Shiro rolled his neck around a bit and cracked his knuckles, "Rules?"

"Official street fight, freestyle tournament rules." Sakura replied, then looked over at her newest student, "Ran, are you familiar with those rules?"

The girl nodded once sharply, then moved to take her place opposite Shiro.

"Alright then." Sakura leaned forward in her chair, resting her elbows on her knees before adding one more bit of instruction before calling a start to the match, "And Ran? Don't hold back. If you don't fight him with everything you have, you will get hurt."

Ran blinked at her a bit, but quickly turned her attention back to Shiro, who's focused expression was making it very clear that Sakura wasn't kidding. He wouldn't underestimate her. He made that mistake once before with Paulette, and Shiro wasn't one to make the same mistake twice.

Satisfied that they were ready, Sakura spoke the words they were waiting for, "Round one. Fight!"

Next time, on School Of Hard Knocks: Shiro Asakura vs Qiao Ran!