I own not the characters you recognize, save Rin, who I suppose you might recognize by now if you made it this far.

A short, slim, Asian woman stood head held high and chin tilted up. Her eyes narrowed at the circle of sand before her. A big man in a Stetson stepped up to her right holding a cigar between his teeth. He had one gold one. He murmured without his cigar falling from his mouth, "Want to make a wager 'North-east Pacific Sensei?"

"I do not wager, North American Sensei." Her eyes narrowed further, and voice lowered. She almost spat. "I only win."

The man in the Stenson's voice sounded like he was almost laughing. "As much as you like money 'North-east Pacific' … It's your pride that really keeps ya in the game."

"No one 'leaves' the game alive."

"Keeps ya so invested in it then." He raised his head. His blue eyes studied the figure standing in the ring, black against the pale sand in ninja-like attire. "Your new girl is a bit taller than you …"

"She has some reach, but she does not depend on that."

"Good, because my boy 'is' tall. I want this to be a 'real' fight!"

A man in clothing that looked more suited to their terrain stepped into the circle his clothes were rough, pale cloth and leather. He wore a Stetson too. He grinned at the girl from under it. She stared back at him with a slight glare and greater puzzlement in her eyes.

That is dumb. Why wear a hat?

Then he charged her with a wild cry. It sounded different than the versions she had heard before, not a "Hiyaaa" as much as a "Hiyiyiyiyiyiyiyaaaaa!" This distracted, her, somewhat.

At first, she thought his greater height (and she became more and more aware of it as he got closer) meant he would try to rain blows on her from above. Instead, he fell, sliding forward, one of his legs extended and coming for hers. She jumped out of his path, landing in a crouch to be eye-level with him, but nearly out of his reach.

He unfolded his back leg to rise, keeping his arms close and in like a boxer to protect his head and torso. She grinned. Instead of going for those areas, her fist snapped out and connected with his inner thigh. Instead of pulling back, her body followed her arm slipping entirely through the triangle his legs made.

When she rose, she faced his back, but even as he crumbled from her first blow, he turned and caught her next. Using her arm, he threw her over his shoulder. She landed on her feet on the same side of him she'd started on in another crouch. There she paused and watched him with wide eyes.

"Your student's not bad," commented the fat man in the big, white Stetson to his silent and still companion beside him.

The Asian woman in the bright red dress smirked with her equally bright red lips. The coloring seemed the warmest thing about her then. "She is far superior to your student."

The man, finally, removed his cigar and blew out a puff of smoke before returning it. "We'll see."

. . .

We'll see now …

Sensei had relayed her conversation with the North American Assassin's Sensei to her later that day on their way home, or to the compound known as "Home-base" to her back then. It hadn't really been a home. It was more like a dojo with an oven, sink, and sleeping mat.

Gordy grinned at her. "Good to see ya, Rin. It took some doin. But after I learned from a man whose dojo went out of business, (and trust me, I learned why it went out of business) who he sold his supplies to, and then from the moving company where they moved it to, I figured I could stake this place out to find ya. And here you are."

"Here I am …"

"Is Yoshi dead?"

She frowned at him. "Why do you care?"

"That's a going theory that you couldn't take him alive, and if you did kill him in the midst of your fight, you're now too embarrassed to go to your 'new,' non-Association sensei and tell him since he was so taken with the idea of finishing his false-brother himself."

She paused a moment. "Makes sense …"

"So, it's true?"

"Why do you care? You're here for 'me,' aren't you?"

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Jealous much?" His eyebrows lowered back into a comfortable position. "Loose ends in the contract of course. He was always supposed to die not just suffer. Suffering for a while was what his old man was supposed to do. Things didn't work out that way, and I don't think Oroku Senior, who sent us the contract, would have been 'too' disappointed by what 'did' happen, but please tell me after all you did to embarrass the Association, you at least got that part right ..."

Rin paused in thought before replying "Hamato Yoshi's body is unrecognizable now ..."

"DNA?"

Rin paused again to think. Then she shook her head. "I think that's been far too changed, chemically, as well."

Gordy eyebrows rose again and he whistled. "What did you do to him?"

"It wasn't me. It was finished by others before I ever found him ..."

Gordy's face fell. He shook his head. "That's too bad. No wonder you're hiding. Makes 'my' job clearer though."

He whipped out a bowie knife and began to stride her way. Rin bristled while drawing back from him. Her muscles tightened and fists clenched.

Even while one hand held the knife, the other came out and brushed some loose strands of her hair away. His voice with its drawl sounded low and soft. "Come on, girl … What you got to live for anyway? Come on, I'll make it easy on ya, promise. Lucky you came here and nowhere else like Europe huh? The poisoner would have made ya really suffer …"

Familiar fire spiked through her. She shoved him back before sprinting into the night. She'd never gone down upon request not even for Sensei, and she had the scars to prove it.

What do you think?

God Bless

ScribeofHeroes