Through the thin, white curtains, the sun tried to break in with its light as Asuka found herself nose deep in a book about general martial arts. For the past week, she had been spending quite the amount of time in the university's library and a little less time at Feng's dojo, trying to find out how to make up for the weaknesses in her own style as well as to find ones in Feng's. The easiest thing would simply be to ask him but that would require kindness on her part. She was too stubborn for that.
People said that Asuka lacked patience; in a way, they were right; she was well aware of her inability to sit down and read a book for half a day; her body was simply incapable of doing such calm tasks. It was a wonder she even got through four semesters at this point. If there were any positives, it would be getting her used to the workload before stressing out over Feng.
After skimming through a few more pages, Asuka closed the book but not before putting a bookmark between the rather thin pages that had aged over the years into an off-putting yellowish color. She had made sure to rent some of the relevant books for her research, although a quick look at her collection made her doubt her ability to read them all.
Asuka sat back in her seat and sighed before she reached for her water bottle. It was a ruthlessly hot day, shocking even the metrologists. Ever since she arrived, the weather had been insane. It rapidly shifted between rain, sunshine, and dull grey clouds hanging low over the land.
"Oh my, Asuka Kazama. I never believed you to have the patience for books. Guess, I was wrong" A voice so overtly recognizable laughed behind Asuka, making her face frown immediately. The familiar stench of a sweet perfume lingered in the air, infiltrating her nostrils.
"Ugh, what do you want? I'm busy so I've got no time to play with you" she sneered as she packed her things, avoiding all eye contact with Lili who had decided to show her face.
"I came here to study, like you," the blonde said, snatching the last book before Asuka could put it in her full bag. A playful smile appeared on her lips as she stepped away from the table, turning the pages. Judging from the twitching of her eyes, she was only skimming over a few words and pictures.
"Hey!" Asuka called out, her arms stretching out after the book. That wretched Barbie doll somehow managed to keep her distance from Asuka despite having her nose buried in the entire thing.
"Oh dear. How interesting~" Lili purred. Her tone of speaking was so alien, that it was hard to tell if she was being sincere or not. Regardless, it didn't matter because Asuka was losing her patience in record time. She had enough on her hands with Feng and her studies; she didn't need Lili of all people to give her more problems.
"Give that back so I beat you with it!" she sneered, trying hard to restrain herself from jumping her rival right then and there.
"Crude as ever" Lili scoffed before putting the book back on the table. "Though you make me curious. Why are you reading such things?"
"None of your fucking business, princess!" Asuka grabbed the book and her bag before she stormed out of the library.
When Asuka entered the courtyard of the dojo, she saw no immediate signs of Feng. However, she was not surprised; after all, she didn't expect him to spend his every waking moment here or waiting at her beck and call. Heck, she couldn't give a damn about his hobbies as she wasn't here to be his doting girlfriend. No, Asuka was here to kick his ass. But until Feng arrived, she allowed herself to relax and wait.
Asuka sat down on the small stairs leading to the main entrance of the dojo with a view over the courtyard and ate some of her meat buns. She had found them addicting for the last few days and she often bought two trays of the larger variants. There was still a tray left to be chowed through but a sudden idea made her put her lunch on hold.
She stood up and decided to head inside the dojo, surprised to find the door unlocked. That could mean one of two things; either Feng was around but occupied or he was elsewhere and was a total moron who didn't lock the doors. Asuka prayed it was the latter. Exploring a bit while she was waiting for him didn't seem like such a big deal to her. It was his damn fault for not locking the doors, not hers for doing something rather nothing at all.
She had never really seen the dojo from the inside during the week or so that she had been training here. Granted, she always went right home after every training session and the idea had never occurred to her before this very moment when her childlike curiosity had gotten the better of her.
Perhaps it was to stave off boredom since the man wasn't around and she wasn't patient enough to spend her time sitting on her ass doing nothing. Asuka pulled the door aside and found herself in a long hallway, with several doors to the side. She was quite surprised as the interior itself looked nothing like a dojo and more like an ordinary home. Could one even call this a dojo anymore?
Taking a deep breath, Asuka decided to head for the first door, where she was greeted by a modestly sized hall. Apparently, this had to be the training grounds where he trained in the winter months. It reminded her of home honestly, worrisome as that thought was. It made Asuka wonder where his living quarters were and what they were like. But then again she wasn't the type of person to be snooping around someone's bedroom.
Gosh, she couldn't even begin to imagine how Feng lived on a daily basis; she shuddered by the imagination. Still, she found this experience somewhat interesting. She did not expect anything from running about in his abode but that didn't change the fact that she had learned just a little bit about Feng than she imagined, albeit not just from her quick exploration.
Having trained for a week or so, Asuka came to find out that martial arts brought him a lot of joy – at least she assumed it was joy. It was sort of hard to tell with Feng honestly because he suffered from a bad case of emotional constipation. The time when they sparred was the most expressive he was. Contradictory to the man who used it, his fighting style mostly consisted of flashy moves with a lot of palm and fist techniques, that hurt like a devil upon impact.
Yet there was something quite elegant about the way he moved but maybe it was the more methodical procedures he took to heart. They said that you'd never truly know someone until you fought them and to a small extent that was true. However there was only so much, each punch could tell and Feng remained an enigma as a person. It made prying up open and uncovering his weaknesses a difficult task. Oh well, if she couldn't crack him emotionally, she'd be more than willing to crack him literally.
Asuka turned to exit the building but something above the door caught her attention. It was a sign; a dojo sign with a faded name written on it. Shouldn't that be hanging…outside? Odd how he had deiced to hide the sign instead of showing it; after all the sign was a symbol of a dojo's pride and honor, right?
But then again, this probably wasn't a dojo and Feng would make for a shit teacher to anyone who wasn't also plotting to beat his ass black and blue. Asuka went to sit down once more. She hadn't eaten her meat buns yet as her appetite had dwindled completely. Instead, she packed them in her bag for later; it would be a waste to throw them away, especially since they were quite delicious.
Some time passed by and there was still no trace of Feng. The sky had dragged the sun to the west, indicating the day was coming to a close. Asuka had been sparring with herself, perfecting her own style while simultaneously imitating some of Feng's moves. Using all of her techniques with less emphasis on joint manipulation felt weird. The Traditional Kazama style had been so deeply embedded in her subconsciousness, that anything else felt too alienating. After a few tries, she stopped.
Analyzing his style would be enough for now.
As the sun began to set, Asuka decided to explore the village nearby, increasingly frustrated at Feng for making her wait like this. She made a mental note to scold him when they met again and fished the buns out of her bag while she dragged her bike across the road. They were cold and somewhat clammy now but still edible and she had never been a picky eater.
Upon casually strolling down the main street of the tiny village, she noticed how vacant the streets were. Nothing strange for a town consisting of small families, elders, and children but it still felt eerily quiet. She passed by one house and locked eyes with one of the inhabitants inside and they immediately drew the curtains in a panic. This was the latest that she had been walking around in the streets so all of this felt new and wrong.
Something wasn't right.
"Whadaya you doing here, huh? Don't you know, it's past curfew?" someone behind her said, causing Asuka to turn around. She was greeted by a group of men in black, all carrying weapons like bats and crowbars. Her lips curled into a smile, although the sight of the weapons gave her a powerful rush of adrenaline. It had been a while since she had a good and challenging fight. She could pound on Lili for fun but she would rather not deal with her at all.
"Really? Says who?" Asuka stuffed the tray in her bag, dropping it to the ground.
"The silver snakes. Go home before you get hurt or pay up, girlie." Another man sneered at her, pointing at her with his crowbar.
"Too bad, I'm a broke student. Guess we're gonna do this the hard way!"
The men gathered around Asuka, all preparing to attack her all at once. However, she was ready; this was nothing different than the delinquents in Osaka. Without warning, one man swung out after her and she quickly avoided the bat before dealing a blow to his gut, that sent him flying. And soon, all hell broke loose as they all jumped Asuka.
But she managed to thwart them all, dealing blows left and right. However, as smoothly as things were going for her, a sweep kick knocked her off balance and she stumbled on her feet but not before being hit in her back with a blunt blow that brought her to her knees as an excruciating pain erupted from her back. She closed her eyes shut to suppress the tears that were building in her eyes.
Being hit in her back with a bat or whatever it was, was something Asuka never hoped to tell her father once she got back south to Osaka. As otherworldly, as the pain felt, she could not afford to give in, so she quickly stood up, although her back was aching like mad, and she felt unsure on her feet. The group of men had dwindled but there was still a good handful of them present.
"Regretting it now, girlie?" One man said behind Asuka as he came closer. "I'm sure, there are other ways for you to compensate."
There was no mistake in what he wanted based on the tone of his voice and it sent shivers down her spine for all the wrong reasons. Her stomach turned and twisted with disgust as she sucker-punched the man, watching as he fell to the ground, knocked out cold.
"How about no!"
"Grab her! Hold her down!" another man ordered and the remaining men all aimed for each of Asuka's limbs. They struggled to keep her down. She pulled with all of her might, for the sake of her dignity and sanity. There was no way that these pigs would be allowed to have their way with her! It was a match of equal strengths as she was much stronger than her appearance let on but the bruise from earlier had left her drained and she soon felt her energy slipping away as a growing fear took form within her.
The moment, she stopped struggling, they would be upon her like lions. However, as if her pleas had been heard by a higher force, the men were yanked away from her one by one. Asuka looked around and saw each man being thrown all over the place like they were tissue paper by a familiar face.
"Y-You!" was the only word, Asuka could utter in her state of utter astonishment as she fell to her knees from exhaustion. It took her a short while for reality to sink in and make it clear to her that Feng of all people, had swooped in and saved her.
"Shit, it's the God Fist!" the remaining men panicked and hurried their way from the scene, even if it meant abandoning their comrades. In the meantime, Asuka stood up, adjusting her clothes as her shirt exposed more skin than what lay behind her norms of modesty.
"That was…" she began, stopping herself before she could say ''cool'' and remembered she was angry with him.
"That took you long enough!" she sneered instead, avoiding his piercing gaze when he looked at her for a moment. She couldn't believe that she almost used a positive adjective for someone like this guy. Sure, he had just saved her, but it didn't mean that he wasn't a jerk-off still.
"I suppose that is a thank you" He picked up some plastic bags nearby, then walked right past her, in the direction of the dojo. His tone was aloof as always so his attempt at sarcasm fell flat on its butt.
"Don't flatter yourself" Asuka rolled her eyes before she went to pick up her bike and bag, which had been ungraciously kicked to the side. She peeped in her bag and let out a sigh of relief to see that all of her belongings were safe, even the tray of meat buns.
"Hey" she called out to Feng, who halted his pace. He looked generally unimpressed when Asuka walked up next to him with the tray, containing one last bun.
"Take this. You did save me and I'm feeling generous. Don't expect it to be a common thing" For whatever reason, Asuka's heart skipped a beat when he accepted the snack and gave her a quick nod. She did not expect him to take the thing, let alone acknowledge it and indirectly thank her.
She was stunned, to say the least, and she struggled for words as he hurried home, and she was alone on the street once more. More unfamiliar words floated in her mind, but she quickly shook her head to get rid of them before they manifested into actual ideas.
Feng was a problem that needed to be dealt with, once the time was ready. Nothing more nothing less.
Review answering time. Apparently it's considered bad to do it at the start of a chapter so fuck it! Let's do that here. Author notes will naturally be either at the beginning or the end depending on circumstances.
Susiii-chan – Yeh, it's one of my favorite Tekken pairings so shit, I decided to add to it. It's gonna take a bit before Asuka stops hating Feng but how and why, you'll just have to wait and see.
Don't worry about your English, it's pretty good! ^^