Akira Shin leaned against the wall behind him.  He allowed the sterile coldness of the wall to suck the heat from his body.  His heart was trembling with nervousness.  The young boy reflected on the events that got him here.

Orphaned at the age of twelve, he moved in with his uncle on his mother's side.  They took good care of him, and being comfortably wealthy, made sure that he wanted for nothing.  He lived there until he was 18 years old, whence he began his studies at a local university.  There he met a girl.  Not long thereafter, he had developed a tremendous crush on the girl.  He'd always been a charming character and was never short of female friends but this girl had stolen his heart.  Akira soon found out that the girl's boyfriend was a famous martial artist, Aiko Maru, who would be participating in the Tenkaichi Boudokai.

The girl had suggested that it'd be great to see Akira fight in the tournament. 

Boys of any age, whether they be eight, eighteen or eighty, would stop at nothing when it comes to impressing a girl.  It was no different for Akira.  He began taking every possible martial art classes he could.  Over the course of six months, he had gained knowledge in Tae kwon do, Kung Fu, Tai Chi Chuan, and a rare martial art, Capoeira.  After training intensively for six months, Akira grew to love martial arts and the competition and the sense of accomplishment that it provided.

Sitting in the competitor's area, Akira anxiously waited for his fight to begin.  As luck would have it, Akira was matched up with Maru in his first fight.

Akira leaned his head against the cool marblestone.  What exactly were you thinking about, when you decided to enter the tournament?  You should have withdrawn as soon as they asked you to sign the contract about sustaining injuries.

The eighteen-year old glanced nervously at the gate, which lead to the fighting area.  Maru was already waiting at the gate, looking focused and ready.  Not at all how Akira felt.  Here he was, risking his life for a girl he hardly knew.  For the fiftieth time that day, Akira questioned his own sanity.

His train of thought was interrupted by the announcer's voice that rang clearly through the arena. 

"We'll begin our fifth fight in this subdivision, between Akira Shin and Aiko Maru!"

The crowd roared at the mention of Maru's name.  He was well known as a martial artist and his rakish good looks had won him a number of female fans.

As the two fighters faced off at the center of the ring, Akira could not help but feel self-conscious.  Maru stood at an even six foot, 200 pounds of steely muscle.  His sleeveless navy blue tank top outlined the powerful muscles.

Akira himself stood at a stretched 5' 11", and a lean 155 pounds.  He wore a plain white pants and a loose fitting sleeveless shirt.  The smaller boy realized then that he had really no advantages that he could exploit.

The realization came too late, however, as Maru quickly closed the distance between them.  Akira lowered into a fighting stance with both hands up for defense, but before he could react, Maru had already nailed him in the side of the head with a roundhouse kick.  Akira reeled back, dazed from the blow.

            Even before he could regain his balance, Maru dug in like a vicious predator and fired a hard jab into Akira's ribs.  His whole left side burned from the blow, but was quickly replaced by a shooting pain in his neck as Maru followed with the punch with a chop.

            Akira had already begun to fall, but Maru helped the motion by sweeping his left leg up in a wide arc and bring it down with crushing force upon Akira's head.

            Akira lay on the ground, downed in less than a minute.  He tasted his own blood, salty in his mouth.  He spat out the red liquid and pushed himself up, disregarding the pain in his head.

            He shook his head to clear it, but as he did so, he was struck again, this time by a spinning hook kick, to the right side of his head.  As he began to fall again, he felt himself being grabbed by the front of his shirt.

            "I know why you came here to fight," Maru spoke quietly.  His growling voice raked at Akira's ears and rang painfully through his head.  "I know you came here to impress my girlfriend.  By doing that, you've disgraced the world of martial arts, so I think no one will be as embarrassed as you will be today."

            The next 30 seconds were the most painful moments of Akira's life.  He knew no two hits really landed at the same time, but after the first blow, it was difficult to distinguish which blow landed first or where they landed.

            Eventually, Akira was thrown to the ground like a discarded rag doll.  He struggled to get back up, but Maru's cold voice cut him down.  "Don't bother getting up again.  You can't even defend yourself.  You're an embarrassment, and failure as a martial artist."

            The count had started against him.

            "One…"

            He's right, I did start martial arts for all the wrong reasons.

            "Two…"

            But somewhere along the line, it came to mean more to me than just impressing some girl.

            "Three…"

            I didn't enter this tournament to just impress a girl; I needed to find out how far I've come as a martial artist.

            "Four…"

            I can't do that if I let him beat me here and now.

            "Five…"

            I can't do that if I quit.

            "Six…"

            I really will be a failure if I gave up here.

            "Seven…"

            I did start for all the wrong reasons.

            "Eight…"

            I refuse to stop for all the wrong reasons.

            "Nine…"

            "No!" Akira screamed as he pushed himself up.  He glared hard at his opponent.  "I'm going to be a martial artist, and you'll not stop me now."

            For a second, Maru seemed impressed.  That passed quickly however, as he sprinted again at the bruised fighter in front of him.

            This time, Akira found himself more focused than he had before.  He read Maru's intentions and saw the first attack come in.

            Right hook!  Here it is!

            Akira stepped back and down, letting the strike swing harmlessly over his head.  He sprang back up and tagged his opponent in the side with a short right jab.  Maru recovered quickly and stepped back.  He aimed a high left roundhouse at Akira's head, but Akira was able to react.  As the foot threatened to make contact, Akira swung himself down on his left arm and countered with a most unusual maneuver.

            He planted his left arm firmly in the ground, and swung his legs up, balancing himself on one arm.  He crunched his abs and shot his legs up, kicking Maru in the face.  Maru reeled back and Akira pressed his advantage.

            He stepped down and shot forward, this time coming in with a tornado kick aimed at Maru's head.  Maru was able to duck under the kick, but Akira continued with his momentum, finishing a full rotation and throwing himself down into a handstand, then whipping his legs down, driving his heel into the back of Maru's head and dropping him to the ground.

            Maru quickly got up and shot forward, quickly tagging him with a straight jab, then shot a snap kick into Akira's knee.  He grunted in pain and collapsed around that leg.  Maru, seizing the opportunity, whipped a roundhouse at Akira's face, spinning him around.

            Akira dropped lifelessly to the ground and every fiber of his being told him to stay there.  He wiped futilely at his face, trying to clean up the blood, but there was too much.

            Maru turned to walk away as the count reached six.  All common sense and reason told Akira that he should stay down, but he couldn't help feeling desperately worried and anguished at not being able to get up.  Fear seized him completely as Akira fiercely dreaded the count reaching ten.  Driven by irrational fear, he shot up, just as the count hit nine.

            I'll not fail here.

            "You're not done with me yet, Maru," he screamed at the departing figure.

            Maru turned around and stared at Akira with an amused look.  He smiled gently.  "You've proven yourself enough.  I'm impressed with your ability to keep getting up."

            Akira grunted again as pain shot through his injured leg.  "Then do your duty to me, and finish it here."

            Maru's eyes filled with respect and understanding as he nodded.  "As you wish," he whispered as he dropped into a fighting stance.  "Prepare."

            Akira set his jaw grimly and dropped into his fight stance as best he could.

            Akira lay in the out of bounds area, breathing hard with exertion.  Sweat mixed with blooded and pasted disgustingly over his face.  Through a reddish curtain, he saw Maru walk over and offer him his hand.

            "I knew there was no way to beat you other than to kill you or knock you out of the ring.  It would be disrespectful and criminal of me to kill another martial artist.  You've fought admirably and showed tremendous courage.  There is no disgrace in your loss today.  No dishonor was shown."

            Akira nodded as best he could and reached up weakly for the outstretched hand and managed a weak, "Thank you."