Second Chance

The young woman sighed, moving her arm to block out the sun beating down overhead. She groaned and stretched her legs out. As hard as she tried, she couldn't find a comfortable spot on the bus stop bench she'd thrown herself across. She licked her lips and peered up at the bright blue sky overhead. Birds were chirping, kids were running around laughing and playing. Slowly, a half-smile spread across her face. It was calm, peaceful...honestly it was a little irritating. But, he wasn't wrong; she was starting to enjoy it.

Berserk sat up and stretched her legs out, her arms up over her head, yawning. Akio was taking his sweet time finishing up at the post-office. She glanced back over her shoulder toward the building. She was having second thoughts about offering to wait outside.

"Hey! Move it lady!" a little voice cried, followed by a small prick of pain at her ankles and the sound of someone crashing to the ground.

Berserk raised an eyebrow, nonchalantly pulling her legs back and peering down at the skateboarder she'd tripped. She leaned forward, wearing a bemused little grin, and rested her chin on her hands, watching as the kid picked himself up.

"Sick moves, dude. You're a real pro," she teased, perhaps with a bit more venom than she meant. The kid glared at her, angrily grabbing his skateboard.

"If your big fat feet weren't in the way it would have been!" he yelled back. Berserk's eye twitched and her grin quickly faded. She took a deep breath, turning to peek at the post office again. It was just a kid, no reason to get upset.

Still, "Maybe if you pulled your fucking head out of your ass, you wouldn't hit people trying to relax, you little shit-head," Nailed it, she thought with an inner groan. If Akio heard her, she'd never hear the end of it.

"Oh, excuse me Miss Queen of the Sidewalk. Man, I thought queen's were supposed to be pretty, not ugly old hags," he sneered.

Berserk's eye twitched again and her lips began to pull back. She could taste smoke on her breath. This little shit, did he know who she was? Did he have any fucking clue?

"Look here pissface, you're lucky my boyfriend is on his way back, or I'd kick your ass two ways into next week," That wasn't going to win her any points with Akio. Now she was really hoping he'd show up before this kid forced her to put her money where her mouth was. She wasn't a villain anymore, but there was no way she was going to let some shitty little kid diss her and get away with it.

The kid laughed, "You have a boyfriend? Wow, poor guy. What did he do to deserve a hag like you?"

Now, ideally, Berserk realized she could have just rolled her eyes and told him to get lost. In a perfect world, she probably would have even tripped him or sprayed a little fire his way and giggled as he ran screaming.

Of course, things didn't always go as planned, so when she lunged from her seat and grabbed him by his collar, she couldn't say she was surprised. She pulled her fist back and snorted flames from her nose, yanking the kid off the ground and hovering a few feet into the air. Despite the dangerous snarl on her lips, she almost felt like grinning when she saw the look of terror in his eyes; when she heard him scream.

"You wanna fight me, you little shit? You think you're tough? Fucking, let's go. I'll fucking fight you right here, right now you-" Berserk trailed off, swallowing nervously, when she felt a tug on her ankle. She glanced down, spotting Akio.

"Beloved, please, put the child down. I have finished my errands and we are free to depart," he explained.

Berserk snorted and dropped to the ground, giving the kid a shove, "Hey!" she shouted when he started to take off. It took all of her willpower, but she managed to gently kick his skateboard toward him, "Watch your mouth! And watch where you're going!" she called after him. The kid just tore off down the sidewalk, only pausing long enough to flip her off before rounding a corner.

Akio chuckled and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. It helped, but wasn't enough to stop her from seething and growling under her breath.

"I'm proud of you. Just last week you would have actually harmed such an unpleasant child," Akio beamed, planting a kiss on her head.

Berserk sighed and let her fists fall to her sides, "I really wanted to kick his ass…" she whined.

Akio laughed again and gave her another squeeze, "I know, children can be quite troublesome. But, recall how, not long ago, you were quite the handful yourself. Children can change, they grow up,"

Berserk rolled her eyes, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know...so what did you get?" she asked, trying to get a peek at the package beneath his arm as the two melted into the crowd and went on to their next adventure.