It's been a good few days since Nik had met Kasumi and she allowed him to stay at her place. Sure he tied with her brother in a fight that left him injured further and he wasn't trusted but, he at least found ways to make his new roommate happy or laugh. That alone made him happy and he has also let slip a few things about his past which gave the impression that he was remembering a few things. She was someone he felt incredibly comfortable around and he felt he could be open with her somewhat. He had even convinced her to buy a gaming console and they were both currently playing Mortal Kombat.
Correction, he was getting thrashed and Kasumi was laughing to no end as she kept getting combo after combo.
"You are so bad at this!" She yelled in between laughs as her Scorpion immediately starts punching before teleporting behind his Sub Zero and throwing the chain at him.
He managed to block that before sliding over only to get stuck in a hold where Scorpion slashes him twice with his sword before doing an uppercut infused with hellfire. The words 'Finish Him' appear on the screen and Kasumi stares at the screen blankly before pressing pause and looking at Nik with a pouty face.
"Plea-" She started but he immediately replied.
"Nope. You can figure it out." He said and she lets out an incredibly exaggerated sigh and opens the command list to see how fatalities are done.
After a bit of testing out, she resumed the game and gave it a whirl only to accidentally punch him once instead.
"Are you kidding me!? I've done much cooler things in my own fights!" She yelled and tossed the controller next to her.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she clears her throat.
"I mean... not in the... the way that... I'm not... I don't cut off faces or... anything like that." She said, scratching her head a little and he couldn't help but laugh.
"I would hope not. I don't have 'Living With psychopath' on my bucket list." He said and she pushes him, making him grin.
"What should we do now?" she asked as she played with the blue ribbon in her hair, looking over at him.
"Actually... I would like to see your fighting skills." He said which piqued her curiosity.
"Really? I gotta say... this is a little sudden." She said.
"Yea. I know. You're a ninja though. There aren't many of those roaming around from what I remember." He said with a smile and she thought it over.
"I don't know. I usually tend to avoid conflict where possible." She said and he smiled.
"Of course. I just figured I would ask because it would have been interesting. But I respect that view." He said and she nodded gratefully.
"I assume that means you won't be participating in the sixth Dead or Alive tournament?" He asked.
"You would be correct in that assumption." She answered with a smile.
"That's cool. Maybe we can do something else." He said and she props her arm on the couch and faces him.
"Do tell." She answered.
One Hour Later
A bottle shattered into tiny pieces, a kunai lodged into the wall where the bottle was a moment ago, Nik lowering his arm and Kasumi looked at him.
"Well I see you have no shortage of skill." She said, her eyes gazing into his as she picks up the kunai and throws it without looking, shattering the bottle on the other shelf. "But neither do I."
Nik had dragged Kasumi to a festival of sorts to celebrate the announcement of the new tournament and had managed to find a booth he figured she would enjoy... and he wasn't wrong. The girl could definitely get competitive when it involved something she excelled at.
"Fine. Let's see how accurate that is." He said and picked up two kunai, throwing one way off target but then threw another, making them clash together, destroying two bottles as the kunai split apart from each other at the end.
She gave off a gentle clap before grabbing two kunai, repeating the same skill he did but with better accuracy.
"Is that all you got, sir?" she asked in a teasing tone and he chuckled.
He grabbed another kunai before noticing there was only one bottle left and Kasumi had already gotten her Kunai as well, her eyes calculating everything down to the detail. They both threw at the same time but Kasumi's kunai started to spin awkwardly and he thought it was a bad throw but the moment her kunai touched his, his flew out of control into a wall and hers smashed the last bottle effortlessly, her points being updated to beat him eight to five
"You could have let me get one more." he grumbled as she got a stuffed tiger.
"Yea but then you would get closer. And I'm a winner. I win. Not kinda win." She said with a smile as she got her tiger and hugged it gently.
"Well you have more practice with these." He replied.
"Valid excuse from the loser." she said with a smirk.
"Wow. And here I thought you were incredibly shy and modest." He said and Kasumi smiled innocently.
"Of course I am. Whatever do you mean?" She asked and he rolled his eyes and starts to walk again.
"There really is no winning." He said and she simply smiled.
"The sooner that you accept that, the faster that we will get along." She said and wrapped an arm around his shoulder.
"Alright. Okay. I'll give you this one." He said and wrapped his own arm around her.
"Just this one?" She asked and looked up at him and he couldn't help but smile at her despite the conversation they were having.
"We'll see." He replied and she nods and keeps walking with him.
"I'll take that." She said.
They spent the rest of the day at the carnival, winning some prizes and just getting on rides for fun. Before they knew it, the night had arrived and they were ready to head home. Along their way, Kasumi slowed down to a stop, slowly letting go of Nik and walking forward a little, her alarms going off like crazy in her head.
"Kas?" He asked and she lifted a finger, looking around carefully, her eyes quickly moving around.
"You can't sneak up on me!" She called out and waited a little bit.
Eventually she noticed a few people jumping out of the shadows and landing in front of her and Nik. What caught her attention was their uniform. It was the same one that Nik was wearing when he first arrived and she narrowed her eyes.
"You're the ones who are following him." She said and the men took out their swords and she took a few steps back so she was closer to Nik. "If you want to get to him… you'll have to go through me."
She got ready, her Amber eyes sharpened in focus as she counted out the guards in front of her. She was outnumbered and they had weapons where she didn't. But she still had her skills. She noticed Nik getting ready as well and she couldn't help but smirk a little. Ever since she found out that Nik could fight, she always wondered what they would be like when teaming up.
She would finally get her answer.
"You are not the one we are after, girl. Leave now and you'll be fine." One guard said and she raised an eyebrow.
"Does that ever work?" She asked and when she got no reply, she took that as a cue to just shut up and get ready to fight. "I guess we can't avoid this fight."
GET READY… FIGHT
She immediately took off and jammed her elbow into the stomach of one of the guards, twirling around and disappearing in a swirl of cherry blossoms before she suddenly appeared again, jamming her knee into his chin, sending him up and she disappeared again, Nik immediately jumping in and kicking down on the guard, making him slam on the ground and bounce up, getting in two quick kicks which sent the guard flying back where Kasumi appeared on top and slammed her feet down on the guard, backflipping off of him. He immediately went to take out her feet and she caught his foot, doing a standing front flip which made her other leg come slamming down hard on him which made him bounce up and she punched a few times before doing a backflip and disappearing Nik jumping in and doing the usual two kicks which knocked out the first guard. Two more jumped in and were about to hit but he caught both wrists and started kicking between them before doing a side flip and slamming his foot on the side of the guards helmet, sending them crashing into each other.
They climbed to their feet almost immediately and one guard immediately tackled him, knocking him down and started punching at him but Kasumi immediately appeared and tackled the guard off of him, throwing him over her shoulder before kicking him immediately and Nik immediately climbed to his feet and vaulted over Kasumi, slamming his foot into the guards stomach, knocking him out as well. Kasumi dashed forward, starting to punch a bit before slamming her palms into the guard, shocking his body to a halt before she charged up before dashing through the guard with a pink trail behind her, disappearing and reappearing the right way before vaulting over the guard and slamming her fist hard into him which sent him soaring way away from her and Nik.
WINNER
Kasumi spun around for a bit before striking a pose.
"This is Mugen Tenshin."
Nik looked at her confused.
"What? I can enjoy my victories." She said and he shrugged before approaching the knocked out guards with her and she kneels down before pulling off one of the helmets to reveal a beaten guard glaring at her weakly.
He coughed weakly and tried to punch but she just slapped the hand away.
"Why are you following him?" She asked and the guard remained silent. "Not gonna answer me, huh?"
The man coughed and lifted his hand weakly. "For our God, Zah'Har!" He yelled and coughed once more before slowly going limp.
Kasumi frowned and looked up at Nik before worry graced her features. He looked enraged. Like he was about to go on a killing spree or something.
"That name means something to you." She said but he didn't say anything back and she stood up, rubbing his back gently. "Come on. Walk it off."
He looked down at the dead guards until Kasumi gently pushed him to keep him walking. He spent the rest of the walk back in silence and Kasumi frowned a little as she carried the prizes and mostly used them to keep herself occupied. He was quiet and he definitely was in thought the whole way there. Whenever they got home, She closed the door and placed down the prizes before looking at him as he sat down on the couch.
"Nik, they were looking for you. And that name meant something to you or means something to you. I want to help you but you gotta give me something. I can't go in blind." She said as she approaches him.
He sighs and plays with his hands a little.
"He's no God. I remember. I was running from him and his men. Those people we killed, they were guards of some sort and he's the leader. They basically worship the ground he walks on. They must have followed me here." He said and she shakes her head with a sigh.
"Great. So now we have psychopaths to deal with. And this leader…" She started.
"Zah'Har." He said.
"Right. Zah'Har. Is he dangerous? Like how dangerous are we talking about?" She asked and sat down next to him.
That was actually something he couldn't answer and not because he didn't remember but because he just didn't know.
"I don't know. I don't remember ever fighting him."
"Well this is perfect. A completely unknown entity is coming to kill you and since I helped, I'm now a target too. Oh well. I guess we'll be working together a lot more now." She said with an amused expression and he looks at her.
"Well I can't just ask you to do that. This is my fight which apparently started before I even came here. Putting you in danger isn't what I came to do." He said and she smiled.
"I've been in danger before. I'm still here. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Oh, and you're not asking. I'm volunteering." She said and gently pushes him and he smiles and gently nudges her back.
"Alright. Since I didn't ask, I can't exactly decline your help." He said and she nods.
"Exactly. There you go. I guess it's time to break out the old ninja outfit again." She said and he tilts his head.
"You know, you probably could do with an update. Those are old and if we're going on a new adventure, you need something new to wear." He said and she smiled a little.
"What did you have in mind?"
So there we go. Probably not my best chapter I've ever written or the longest but this is my first chapter back. I'm mostly writing this story to appeal to my creative side so if it isn't the most appealing or best story to read, there's your reasoning. We all have things we like or dislike and that's perfectly fine. Although if you do have some advice, I'm open to it. I'm not perfect and would love to improve. Also, with DOA 6 being announced, I decided to give Kasumi an update to her wardrobe to keep up with the new outfit she has in the game. That is all. Till next time and hopefully a longer chapter.