"PH33R 7H3 W3453L 5TUD105" proudly presents:
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"THE SAKURA DIARIES"
A Street Fighter/Rival Schools/Megatokyo.com crossover
"Street Fighter" and "Rival Schools" are trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd., Japan.
"Megatokyo.com" (http://www.megatokyo.com/) is a trademark of Piro (Fred Gallagher) and Largo (Rodney Caston). (Characters used without permission.)
All rights reserved.
This fanfiction owned and authored by PH33R 7H3 W3453L 5TUD105, a.k.a. "Kei and Asuka". Any attempt to steal this fic (i.e. putting your name in the credits) shall be met with the appropriate legal actions. Anyway, enjoy the show. :)
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Chapter 2: My Journey Begins
Man, what a day it's been. First off, there's this lousy fart named Dan Hibiki who tried to convince me to get into his dojo and learn *his* brand of martial arts. First off, from what I've been hearing, this Dan Hibiki has had this really bad reputation of being *the* most pathetic martial arts teacher and practitioner imploring his "ga-dou-ken-ryuu" thingy that I'd rather not go deep into for reason of it's being pathetic itself.
*Anyway*, enough of that, it was getting late already so we all parted ways soon enough and each went to our own homes in the block. Kyosuke-kun told me he was still going to tutor Batsu-kun on their next Algebra exams due this Monday (something which I think that's going to take Batsu a really *big* miracle to score in, tee-hee...) so they separated from Hinata-chan and me.
Hina and I, however, are going to my house tonight to work out some stuff involving her own Math homework and wait for Natsu-chan to come by so I can also show her some of my new manga that we bought while strolling at the mall earlier. Sheesh, I never really did like doing Math anyway, but since Hina-chan's one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, might as well help her 'cuz I *do* know a thing or two about number manipulation and ummm...stuff like that. Heh heh. *grin*
And so, Hina-chan and I finished just in time for Natsu-chan to come by the house and crash in with the both of us. Hmmm, I thought as I eyed my tall friend Natsu Ayuhara from head to foot, looking out from my window, looks like she just came from volleyball practice...look, she looks like she's really flustered or tired or something.
"Kewl, she's here," Hinata told me with a grin on her face, for which I looked back at Hina-chan smugly and asked her, "What's that evil grin for?"
"Nah, I'm just gonna clobber her for being such a spoilsport, she didn't even come and hang out with us and have a good time, you know?" Hinata pouted as she scanned through my old manga collection and found what she was looking for, turning the pout into a slight smirk.
"Konbanwa, Kasugano-san!" I hear Natsu-chan's voice from somewhere downstairs as she greets my mum and asks, "Is Sakura-chan home?"
"Oh, yes, she is," mum told Natsu, "She's right upstairs, want me to go call her and--"
I immediately went out of my room and waved at Natsu from my bedroom door. "It's okay, mum! She can come in here if she wants to. Heya, Natsu-chan! Come on over here and I'll show you something!"
"Hey, thanks, Sakura-chan!" She waved back in the same manner and bowed to mum politely as she rushed for stairs leading up to my big humble abode, a.k.a. my room. As Natsu-chan and I started to sit down on the carpeted floor of my room, I heard mum call out from downstairs, something about bringing snacks up for all of us or something.
"It's okay, mum! Thanks!" I told my mother, sticking out my head and grinning at her in agreement for the offer and slipped back into my room only to find Hinata doing a headlock on Natsu. I laughed at the little antic that they were doing and dove right into the fray.
"Aaaack! Hey, what the heck do you think you're doing, Hina?!"
"Natsu you big meanie!" Hina-chan pouted. "I thought you promised us you'd go with us today! You're just always so busy with that volleyball thing of yours!" Hina-chan then tickled Natsu to almost no end, making my tall friend laugh like she had never laughed before. Natsu-chan's hands fumbled for one of my plush pillows shoved it lightly against Hina-chan's pouting face.
"Well *DUH*, Hina! Did you forget that Justice High has this big volleyball meet with Kirameki High next week? That's why I *have* to practice hard and well since *I'm* the captain ball for Gorin and Justice *and* those guys from Kirameki will be our doom if we ever screw this up!" Natsu grinned widely as she tickled back at Hinata.
In the meantime, I sneaked up behind Hinata-chan and tickled her as well. Giggling uncontrollably, Hina desperately tried to stop us from "terrorizing" her, to no avail. Natsu-chan stopped tickling Hinata-chan as she caught sight of my manga collection, but I didn't...well, at least not until Hina started retaliating and tickled back at my feet, making *me* laugh to no end this time around.
"Hey Sakura-chan," Natsu called out as she waved one of my manga issues and raised an eyebrow at me, "Where's that Kanon thing you told me about? I really REALLY want to know what happens in the next issue, if you know what I mean..."
Hina-chan stopped tickling at my feet a few seconds after Natsu had asked me her question and rolled over quite stupidly, playing around with my plushies and my other trinkets on top of my shirt drawer. I could almost hear her say, "Ooh, this is the chibi mecha keychain that one of your otaku friends gave you for your birthday, right?"
"Well, yeah...unfortunately I don't really like robots that much so I just put it on display right there. And Natsu-chan," I told my tall friend while searching for something under my bed and revealed the shojo, or girls', manga in question to Natsu, "You seem to forget that I always put my newly-bought stuff under my bed instead of there, eh heh heh heh heh!"
"Mmmm, right!" Natsu cheerfully replied as she went over to where I was and snatched the manga away from me. With those beady little eyes that I rarely see in our tough-as-nails v-ball jock of a friend, she flipped through the pages of my manga, skimming through it like a child would to a book of her interest. "Hmmm, hey, can I borrow this for a week or two?"
"Oh no, you don't!" Hinata-chan snapped suddenly then pulled at my shirt sleeve. "Sakura-chan, you won't let her get away with a broken promise, will you?" She pouted at me with "those eyes" again and well, all I could do is simply sigh and chuckle at that little avatar of genkiness of our group.
"Hmm, well, I suppose so..."
"Hey, since you did agree to lend me this for a week or two, I'd gladly do whatever you guys want me to, what do you say?" Natsu then grinned at me while nudging my tummy gently with an elbow.
"Hmmm, *any*thing?" I told Natsu-chan as I rubbed my chin and sported a thoughtful look for a few moments. And no, I was not referring that word "anything" in a perverse kind of way, no, no. I was thinking maybe...
"Yeah, anything...w-well, anything that would suit my budget right now, that is...I could treat you guys tomorrow for that final match that Honda has in the current sumo tournament, which I think is being held in that big convention dome just outside town. I'm guessing it'd be quite fun since I know that the three of us *are* betting for Honda to win since he's going to join the next Street Fighter tournament a few months from now. Like the idea?"
"Heh heh heh, wow okay! I've always wanted to meet Honda since he *is* the yokozuna on the 'east' side and from what I know, he came from our town, too! Well, I think we got ourselves a deal, eh Natsu-chan? Of course..." I then look at Natsu with a peering eye. "If you stand us up again I won't ever let you borrow my manga ever again, are we clear?" I tried not to giggle as I saw Natsu's face go from cheerful to disappointed.
"Awww, you little meanie, you!" She then put her hands on her hips and assumed one of those heroic poses that I've seen some of the boys in my school (and occasionally my gaijin English language teacher who calls himself "Largo") do. "HAH! No way i'm gonna break out on my promise *now*! Kanon is way too important a manga for me to miss!"
And then we all just laughed at each other while we chatted almost the whole night about what we female species of humans like to talk about when we're in a group. Hey, I might be tomboyish at times but I'd love to have a little talk with my fellow girls every now and then, right?
Well, as my dear mother came into my room with some snacks for all of us, I decided that I should look up the website where information about how to enter the next Street Fighter tourney was posted and started up "old faithful", a pet name I've given my internet-ready computer. After eating a few of those uber-delicious rice cakes that mum made for us tonight, Natsu-chan and Hina-chan looked into the computer screen like little kids who have never seen a computer starting up before, and I just snickered at them before I finally got the system going and cranked up the old dial-up thingy...
---
Well, so much for that, I did get some information off the official website for the organizers of the next Street Fighter tournament and so far, the requirements posted there are, for the most part, easy to attain anyway. It doesn't state there that you have to have a sufficient degree of schooling in the martial arts, though, but they do require you to submit stuff that I assume is usually required when applying for a job: resume, ID pictures, the works. Oh, and did i forget to tell that they'll need a copy of the application form which, by the way, can be printed off the website?
...I guess I did. Heh.
Anyway, I would hope that I'll get to be in the adult division since I'm confident enough that by three months' time, I'll be as strong as snyone who's worthy to be in the tourney in the first place.
Well, after everything was settled (and after I each gave Natsu and Hina noogies for belittling my dialup-equipped compy--they claim to possess cable internet-equipped ones, geez...), Hina and Natsu each went home by 6:30 PM with Natsu-chan grinning from ear to ear after I let her borrow MY MANGA for a while while Hinata-chan was flipping through the pages of her notebook quite thoughtfully. Heh heh, Hina never trusts me when it comes to math...
"Hey Natsu!" I yelled from the door to my house as I saw them go home, "Don't forget your promise for tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, sure!" she yelled back as she waved at me, then put an arm around Hina-chan's neck, giving our tiny friend a headlock. Hinata then yelped and struggled like a helpless kid being pummeled by Natsu.
"Hey, lemme go you big bully!"
"Heh heh heh, seeya 'round Hina!"
Ahh well, I sighed to myself as I went back inside and immediately headed for the kitchen to help my mother in preparing our dinner. Ans as I gleefully helped mum out, my thoughts sort of drifted off to one of the reasons I'm joining the Street Fighter tourney in the first place--the man himself, Ryu Hoshi-sama. Not that I had a big crush on him (WELL, actually I *do*, but it's more of a fascination for his overall desire to become a true warrior. Honest. Tee hee. In case you were wondering why I know, he told it in a victory speech after the very first SF tourney. So THERE.) but it's just that...I want to prove something to myself, and what I'm really made of. I want to show *everyone* that I can be and that I *am* the best. Yadda yadda yadda.
And that's why, after seeing the last SF tourney, I just had this motivation that *he* should teach me the way of the warrior, since I know he's...he's just good at it, I guess, and that he can. And, hopefully and eventually, that *I* can. I just...
...gee whiz, I just have to eat dinner NOW. My tummy's killing me. Auggghh.
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Honda, this town's home-grown east-side yokozuna. Someone whom I'm about to meet very soon. While I don't particularly intend for *him* to train me fully, I guess he's just the most suitable person for "my first steps" into kicking ass in the SF tourney and finally, becoming a worthy student for Ryu-sama. Well, I just feel he's kinda wise enough to teach me a thing or two, but then sumo *is* a different martial art (up till now I couldn't believe sumo *was* a martial art at all) from shotokan karata or karate in general itself. Anyway, enough with that, time for beddy-bye...
.....
What the heck?
Huh. I could have sworn my teddy bear was here some place...
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Ahhh, what a beautiful day, I told myself as I stretched out and as soon as the sun's rays were upon my bedroom. After I've prepared myself for the whole world to see me, I quickly made a beeline for the dining room for which i'm very joyous because mum made us some bacon and eggs and rice for breakfast.
"So where are you headed, Sakura-chan?" Mum asked me while she nibbled at the food at the end of her spoon.
"Natsu's gonna treat us out for the final day of the sumo tourney today, and I'm going to have a...uhh...an autograph from Honda-san himself, yeah!" I grinned at my mother while I took a bite out of the food at the end of my own spoon.
"Hmm...I see...well, did you know he was going to join the Street Fighter tournament in a matter of months? He must be quite strong to dare to join there..."
"Yeah, I just know he is. I mean, he's not yokozuna for nothing, right?"
"Yes, I'd guess so, but then this *is* SF and I think it would take more than sumo to get to the top, right?"
Well, that got me off-track for a second. What if he *does* use some other martial art than sumo, or at least, a variation of it, if and when I get to be his temporary student and if he everdoes get to participate in SF?
"Hmmm," I answered as I sipped at some warm milk from my mug. "Well, you'll never know till we get there, right? Oh, by the way...I was just wondering, when's Dad coming home from the Philippines?"
"Oh, he called last night while you were slpping, he told me he was coming home in three months, just in time for the tournament to begin."
"Heh heh, is he going to join?"
Mum just chuckled in reply. "No, silly. He told me it was because his job contract there will end by that time and he wants to teach here, at least either in Justice High or...or in your school, honey...South Tamagawa, is it?"
"Ohh...I see." I just nodded at her, half-pretending that I knew what she was talking about. So Dad's finally going to teach here in Japan, huh...? Heh, hope he doesn't run into Largo-sensei because as far as I know, Dad'll just kick Largo-sensei's butt for his eccentric, but funny, "L33TN3SS"...whatever it was. Eh heh heh.
"What time are you girls going to meet anyway?" Mum asked as she cleaned up after eating and gathered all the dishes together.
"Oh, I'll do that, Mum!" I told my mother as I helped her gather all the dishes we've used and put them into the sink. I looked at my watch which read, "7:49 AM". "Oh, around forty minutes from now, I still have time. I'll just go wash the dishes first then I'll go take a bath later."
And so, I did as I offered to do while Mum told me that she'll be leaving for a while to buy us some groceries. I finished my bath, dressed up in my yellow t-shirt, black knee-length shorts, and my old pair of rubber shoes, and set off to meet Natsu-chan and Hinata-chan in a while. Oh, of course, I didn't forget to lock the door after I left home.
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Well, we didn't really intend to go to the stadium right then and there because it *was* way too early for the top-grade sumo competitors to get eerything done, so I thought we should all just hang out by the river bank or go window-shopping again or something else to pass the time.
"Oh, I know!" Hinata-chan exclaimed as she picked up a pebble and threw it at the river. "Let's go guy-watching at the mall, I think there's a lot of 'em cuties today since it's--"
Natsu-chan rubbed her chin and shook her head in disagreement and sighed quite boredly. "Naah, I don't think that's a good idea, especially with *you*, Hina. I mean, you're too young for guys to like you anyway, am I right?"
"Ooooh, you big meanie!" Sticking out her tongue at Natsu, Hinata cringed in annoyance and made a sour face at her.
"Well, anything's better than *girl*-watching, eh Natsu?" I casually tell her as I also throw a pebble into the river, watching the said pebble bounce about three or four times across it. I soon see a little smirk across Natsu-chan's face as Hinata-chan just laughed.
"That's really smart, Sakura. Really. But then, why would *we* go watching for guys while *they* should go looking for *us*, right?"
We all just giggled as we all decided to just go to the mall and go window-shopping and stuff. Well, for some weird reason I'm not quite a big fan of makeup and lipstick and all that (although I kinda try 'em out sometimes), so I asked the both of them if we could all go to the computer shop first before we all just walk around this big shopping center. (I've been really *really* looking forward to getting one of those sound card upgrades, in case you didn't know.)
Anyway, we all bought and seen what we wanted, and seeing that it was already 3:00, we all voted that we should go to the stadium just next door to the mall since the "professional" division for the sumo tourney comes at around that time (...or was it 3:30? Heh, whatever.)
When we all got to the stadium, though, the lines for the ticket booths were...well, let's say they were THAT long. "Oh, bugger," I mumbled under my breath, "Now what?"
"Hmm, ahh well, looks like we'll have to cancel this trip for another day, eh kiddies?" Shrugging and making what she calls a silly face at us, Natsu just casually said that and tried to sneak out of our sights, to no avail. Heh heh, Hina and I grabbed her volleyball team jacket collar just in time and we both leered at Natsu-chan as she was attempting to escape her "responsibility" of treating us out for today. "Hey, I was just kidding, okay? Come on, what are you girls waiting for? Get in line, now!"
After around twenty to thirty minutes of staying in line for the ticket booth, we finally got inside the stadium and boy, was it packed. Well, if you don't know by now, it's just that we Japanese people really do appreciate our own traditions no matter how untimely these traditions might be. Besides, sumo wrestling *is* the next best thing to baseball, anyway.
Lucky for us, though, there happened to be three empty seats somewhere around ten seats or so away from the front seat area, so we went on and sat there before anyone could complain.
As the three of us sat down on the bleachers and everyone was hustling and bustling for a place to sit down while watching the upcoming ceremony that signified the start of the competition for the professional division of this whole tournament, I told my two best friends that I'd wander around a bit.
"Try not to get lost this time, Sakura-chan..." then I heard little snickers coming out of Hinata after she had just said that. I tried, and failed, not to whack Hina with the pillow underneath my butt, but Hina just blocked it and turned her snicker into a jolly squeaky laugh. "I hear they have a map of this stadium somewhere, right, Natsu?"
"Grrr. Would you just shut up about my lousy sense of direction, Hina?" I complained and flushed lightly. "Okay, I might have gotten lost last time but it was because you two were playing another one of your pranks on me!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just go get us some Chinese dumplings and tea, okay?"
"Bring me some pork buns and tea too," Natsu seemed to be a bit oblivious to our little antics as she looked like she was busy gazing at the dirt surrounding and inside the ring at the center of the stadium. She *always* does that...
"Heh, looking at the dirt in the ring again?"
Raising an eyebrow, Natsu just glared at me with one eye. "Just go get us some food now, okay?! And I am *not* staring at the frigging dirt, all right? I was just wondering what that ring's made of, that's all!"
"Sure, sure...and oh, by the way, it's rope..."
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So there I went in the midst of the crowd in the hallway inside the stadium, looking for anything interesting to pass the time at least before the whole competition begins. I bought a six-pack of Dr. Pepper and a huge bag of chips to go with it: more than enough for the three of us girls, I guess.
Amidst the NHK TV crew, I saw a group of tall fat people in yukata's--I immediately recognized them all as the competitors from the "east" side. Something looked strange, though--shouldn't Honda be with them? It seemed that this group of sumo wrestlers were headed somewhere so I followed them, but I told the security guards surrounding them i didn't want an autograph or anything of the sort.
"No, no, it's okay," one of the sumo told the guards as he turned around to mydirection and told his buddies, "You guys go on right ahead, I'll take care of stuff here." Instatntly, I recognized this guy as "Akebono", someone whom I heard was actually an American from Hawaii and was also actually second-in-rank to Honda, fancy that! Well, at least *this* gaijin speaks better Japanese than Largo-sensei...
"What is it you wanted, little girl?"
"Heeeey, you're Akebono, right? I heard you were one of the few Americans in sumo for the past years, and second-in-rank to the east yokozuna, too! Wow, that is so cool!"
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the compliments. Now ummm...you wanted to say something?"
"Uhm, yeah. Actually, I wanted to meet your champion, Honda, and ask him a few things since I hear he's going to join the next Street Fighter tournament..."
"Yes, actually I think he's planning to make a press statement that he's going to retire from sumo altogether and as his "farewell tribute", he's going to join the SF tourney. I still dunno why, though..."
"Oh..."
"Well, I'll see what I can do about it, okay? He *is* still parking his car somewhere behind the building. If you're real lucky you might run into him, you know? Now ummm...if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way to the dressing room, okay? Competition's gonna start in a few."
"All right! I told him with a gleeful little smile. "Oh, by the way, my name's Sakura. Sakura Kasugano."
"Sakura...Kasugano. I'll remember that just because you have such a nice name. Well, I guess I'll see you later, then."
As i saw this big fat guy leave, I was thinking that one has to wonder how some Americans like Akebono here actually make it to sumo in the first place since sumo *is* a Japanese sport anyway. Oh well, enough about that, i told myself, and I continued on a little more with my sightseeing for five more minutes.
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Well, I didn't really "bump into" Honda during the course of my "trip" inside the stadium save for a few "interesting" sight like lovers making out (for which I'm kinda ticked off because a sports stadium is *not* the place for making out), a few of the lower-grade sumo competitors making their exit, and well, some students from my school who happen to be having their day-off here. Gee whiz, I wonder where that goth girl with the ribbons who gives me the creeps is...what's her name again? Miho Touya?
"...what are you mumbling about, Sakura?"
"Huh? Oh, Natsu-chan..." I reply in surprise as I tried to get my thoughts off that pale-skinned goth chick from my own school and focus my attention to the "west" champion/yokozuna Takanohana doing his part in the opening ceremony for the tourney. "I was just thinking about someone from Tamagawa, some chick with heavy makeup..."
"One of your classmates, Sakura-chan?"
"Nope, Hina. Just someone that I know, that's all." I tell them both in return and sighed as I tried to grab what amount of chips would fit my little palm.
"Hey. Try to leave some chips for us this time!" Hina scolded me squeakily, making me stare at her with one eye and a smirk on my face.
"Yeah, well, you should pay a little more attention to your food this time, Hina, or else I'll *really* run you guys out of chips."
By the time Honda's name was announced after all the "east" sumo have made their part of the opening ceremony, everyone whom I can recognize that was from my town turned around to look at him walking down the "eastern" aisle with three sumo as if they were bodyguards and walked up the ring to begin his part of the opening ceremony. i'm still amazed as to why Honda likes putting greasepaint on his face like that in kabuki, but anyway, he's still cool in my book.
And so, everything's been done with, and now it all came down to the final matches. It was a rule, though, that in the eveny of the last day of the tourney, the "sekiwake" will always have a match with his yokozuna, which means Akebono will have to go against Honda, and as for the "west" side, Wakanohana with Takanohana.
Well, the match between Akebono and Honda kinda lasted for a few minutes as they couldn't budge each other out of the ring and/or pin the other guy to the ground, but in a few minutes Honda *carried* Akebono out of the ring and naturally, he won. One has to wonder that these fat guys really *are* kinda strong since the can carry each other out of the ring and all.
It all came down to one final match, Honda against Takanohana. (Am I starting to sound like a sports newscaster here or what? Argh. Hmm...you'd *have* to ask yourselves where these sumo get their weird nicknames...) Like what happened earlier, it was a match that lasted for a few minutes; "a few minutes" was like forever in sumo, for your information. Honda won by pushing Takanohana out of the circular ring of rope with these big palm-jabs after grappling each other for the span of those "few minutes".
And so, the tourney ends. trophies were awarded, prizes were given, etc., and that gave me the signal to head on over to where Honda was and talk to him, with natsu-chan and Hinata-chan tailing behind me.
"You sure are determined to meet him, eh Sakura?"
"Yeah, Natsu, I really am. Now stop slowing down and let's get to it!"
The three of us got through the crowd finally, and made it to where Honda was, and he looked like he was headed back to his dressing room (or somewhere else, I dunno) and about to be smothered by NHK, TV Tokyo, whatever media reporters. i quickly got to Akebono's place beside Honda and well, he looked as if he was surprised by my sudden appearance.
"Oh, hi there, Sakura Kasugano. Uhmm, listen...Honda's gonna be a bit busy, you can wait for him at his dressing room in a few minutes. Oh, and I see you have some friends with you?"
"Yup, the tall one is Natsu Ayuhara and the short one's Hinata Wakaba."
"Nice to meet you, sir." Natsu bowed politely.
"Grrr, you didn't have to call me "short", Sakura-chan!" Hina then whapped my shoulder quite annoyedly and stuck out a tongue at me. "Oh! Ah, heh heh, nice to meet you too, sir!" She had gleefully exclaimed as she bowed politely just like Natsu-chan did.
Akebono then turned to Honda and chatted with him for a few seconds. I could recognize their speech to be English since that's what Largo-sensei's been teaching us at school (and that's how he talked all the time, too...poor guy, I think he thinks everyone here in Japan understands English...). Honda then looked at me. It seemed as if he was gauging my ability through my appearance; a spunky, cute, high school girl. Heh. But then I could be wrong, you know? honda then walked over to my direction and offered me a handshake.
"Interested in Street Fighter, aren't you? Let's talk in my dressing room later."
Speechless, I shook his hand back and just saw him leave, the media was soon all over him in an instant. I was like, mesmerized for a second back there but I soon got over it in a few seconds when both Natsu and Hinata were shaking me out of it.
"Hey, he said we should wait for him by his dressing room, silly!" Hina said to me sounding like she was more excited than I was. "Don't just stand there, let's go!"
And go there we did.
I never guessed these celebrities could only be so caught up in their work: the three of us waited for Honda for around thirty minutes or so. I looked at my watch and it read, "7:00 pm".
"Geez, I should be home by now...mum's gonna kill me if I'm not home by--oh, he's here!" I stand up along with my friends and we bow to Honda as politely as we can, but he just waved his hands and grinned at us. I also noticed he had changed back to his yukata so maybe he wouldn't look like he was wearing diapers all the time. Heh.
"No need to do that," Honda told us casually and just as politely. ""Which one of you is Sakura Kasugano?" I raise my hand up, then he gave me that same look as he did earlier. "Why don't you three girls come right in and let's have a talk, shall we?"
"Sure thing, sir!" We all replied and stepped inside his dressing room, which was quite cozy considering the lighting and and the way the walls were painted or something like that. He sat down on the floor just like we did and asked, looking towards my direction, "Okay, I'll be frank. You've been fighting for quite a while now, haven't you?"
"Well, yeah...mostly I've just reached up till brown belt in karate and that I've been practicing my own version of shotokan..."
"'Your own version version of shotokan karate'...interesting." He told me as if he really did know what I was talking about...or maybe even more. "You must have undergone training from the SF champion Ryu Hoshi himself if you do say that you've "customized" shotokan to--"
"Uhm, actually, I just copied a lot of his moves and studied how to manipulate one's chi in battle..."
Honda was then silent for a short while, then he poured some tea on four tiny cups usually seen in tea ceremonies. "Well, in that case, what do you need me for? You should go consulting your master than me. I don't do karate, I do sumo."
"But...you *have* to know at least another martial art than sumo if you do intend to compete in SF, Honda-san! And besides, I just feel you're the right person for me to go to if I want to be strong enough just like Ryu-sama in the tournament!"
"If you want to meet Ryu, you'll have to go look for him yourself, and if you want to test your strength and further improve on it, don't get your tips from me. Like what I said, I am not a teacher of karate, much less *shotokan* karate. I only teach sumo and that's that." I feel as if I was going to explode at that very moment. I just *know* he's just testing me out if I'm gonna give up THAT easily. But I won't.
"...oh well..." I sighed at him sadly. "You know, I was really REALLY hopeful that you'd share with me at least a point of wisdom or two or just "show me the way" to be at least able enough to kick ass in SF and all..."
Hina just patted me on the back and frowned on me. "Sakura-chan, I really think we should go home now...if he says he couldn't teach you, then why force yourself?"
"You know, she's right, Sakura-chan..."
"...you really are determined to qualify in the tournament, aren't you, Sakura Kasugano? Hmm...well, as much as I'd like to refuse your offer, I just can't stand the fact that I'm worried that you'll be much unprepared for SF if you go there like you are right now, so..." he briefly paused to get something from his duffel bag and then turned to me, offering me a calling card. "Tell you what, meet me after your class tomorrow and I'll see what I can do. I'm not really sure if I could train you at all but I'll do what I can, okay?"
"Hey, you hear that, Sakura-chan? This is so cool!" Hinata held my hands and jumped up and down with all the genkiness she had left for the day. I grinned happily as well, trying hard not to go and jump up and down in a lively way like Hina was doing right now.
"Uhmm...heh heh, yeah, thank you, Honda-san!"
"I think you girls ought to be going now," he told us as he looked at the big clock on his wall and offered me a handshake, which I so gleefully accept and shook his hand back with a little shy smile across my face. "It *is* getting quite late for the usual time that girls your age are out, ne?"
This is so cool! Now I finally have the chance to test my "l33t shotokan karate sk1llz," to quote Largo-sensei. But then...there's just something wrong here, something like...something like that he was just bluffing that he couldn't teach me a thing or two about fighting. If it *is* true that he's bluffing about his "weakness", then the training really *has* started...as of this day, as of this hour, as of this very minute.
I am not one for mind games, I told myself proudly as I led the way home that night from the arena...into a newer arena that *I* will be getting into in the days ahead.
And so...
...my journey begins.
-----
Kei:
I have had a lot of time poured into this chapter as I did work on it for quite some time. As of this writing it's been EXACTLY one month since I've begun Chapter 2. (I started at around March 14, 2002 and I've ended writing April 12, 2002, so there.) I've also had a lot of headaches in making this fic since I've been spending my time writing, thinking up ideas, working on my daily job training at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, working out some stuff related to my upcoming graduation and playing Street Fighter for research on this fanfiction all at the same time (more or less). Honestly, I am SO exhausted. Anyway, enough whining from me, i hope you enjoy this. Asuka has more or less edited it so it's not too wordy for anyone's own good. C&C's are welcome, NO FLAMES PLEASE. Enjoy!
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PH33R 7H3 W3453L 5TUD105 is Kei (Lloyd Barrieses) and Asuka (Rachel Grey). All rights reserved.
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"THE SAKURA DIARIES"
A Street Fighter/Rival Schools/Megatokyo.com crossover
"Street Fighter" and "Rival Schools" are trademarks of Capcom Co., Ltd., Japan.
"Megatokyo.com" (http://www.megatokyo.com/) is a trademark of Piro (Fred Gallagher) and Largo (Rodney Caston). (Characters used without permission.)
All rights reserved.
This fanfiction owned and authored by PH33R 7H3 W3453L 5TUD105, a.k.a. "Kei and Asuka". Any attempt to steal this fic (i.e. putting your name in the credits) shall be met with the appropriate legal actions. Anyway, enjoy the show. :)
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Chapter 2: My Journey Begins
Man, what a day it's been. First off, there's this lousy fart named Dan Hibiki who tried to convince me to get into his dojo and learn *his* brand of martial arts. First off, from what I've been hearing, this Dan Hibiki has had this really bad reputation of being *the* most pathetic martial arts teacher and practitioner imploring his "ga-dou-ken-ryuu" thingy that I'd rather not go deep into for reason of it's being pathetic itself.
*Anyway*, enough of that, it was getting late already so we all parted ways soon enough and each went to our own homes in the block. Kyosuke-kun told me he was still going to tutor Batsu-kun on their next Algebra exams due this Monday (something which I think that's going to take Batsu a really *big* miracle to score in, tee-hee...) so they separated from Hinata-chan and me.
Hina and I, however, are going to my house tonight to work out some stuff involving her own Math homework and wait for Natsu-chan to come by so I can also show her some of my new manga that we bought while strolling at the mall earlier. Sheesh, I never really did like doing Math anyway, but since Hina-chan's one of my bestest friends in the whole wide world, might as well help her 'cuz I *do* know a thing or two about number manipulation and ummm...stuff like that. Heh heh. *grin*
And so, Hina-chan and I finished just in time for Natsu-chan to come by the house and crash in with the both of us. Hmmm, I thought as I eyed my tall friend Natsu Ayuhara from head to foot, looking out from my window, looks like she just came from volleyball practice...look, she looks like she's really flustered or tired or something.
"Kewl, she's here," Hinata told me with a grin on her face, for which I looked back at Hina-chan smugly and asked her, "What's that evil grin for?"
"Nah, I'm just gonna clobber her for being such a spoilsport, she didn't even come and hang out with us and have a good time, you know?" Hinata pouted as she scanned through my old manga collection and found what she was looking for, turning the pout into a slight smirk.
"Konbanwa, Kasugano-san!" I hear Natsu-chan's voice from somewhere downstairs as she greets my mum and asks, "Is Sakura-chan home?"
"Oh, yes, she is," mum told Natsu, "She's right upstairs, want me to go call her and--"
I immediately went out of my room and waved at Natsu from my bedroom door. "It's okay, mum! She can come in here if she wants to. Heya, Natsu-chan! Come on over here and I'll show you something!"
"Hey, thanks, Sakura-chan!" She waved back in the same manner and bowed to mum politely as she rushed for stairs leading up to my big humble abode, a.k.a. my room. As Natsu-chan and I started to sit down on the carpeted floor of my room, I heard mum call out from downstairs, something about bringing snacks up for all of us or something.
"It's okay, mum! Thanks!" I told my mother, sticking out my head and grinning at her in agreement for the offer and slipped back into my room only to find Hinata doing a headlock on Natsu. I laughed at the little antic that they were doing and dove right into the fray.
"Aaaack! Hey, what the heck do you think you're doing, Hina?!"
"Natsu you big meanie!" Hina-chan pouted. "I thought you promised us you'd go with us today! You're just always so busy with that volleyball thing of yours!" Hina-chan then tickled Natsu to almost no end, making my tall friend laugh like she had never laughed before. Natsu-chan's hands fumbled for one of my plush pillows shoved it lightly against Hina-chan's pouting face.
"Well *DUH*, Hina! Did you forget that Justice High has this big volleyball meet with Kirameki High next week? That's why I *have* to practice hard and well since *I'm* the captain ball for Gorin and Justice *and* those guys from Kirameki will be our doom if we ever screw this up!" Natsu grinned widely as she tickled back at Hinata.
In the meantime, I sneaked up behind Hinata-chan and tickled her as well. Giggling uncontrollably, Hina desperately tried to stop us from "terrorizing" her, to no avail. Natsu-chan stopped tickling Hinata-chan as she caught sight of my manga collection, but I didn't...well, at least not until Hina started retaliating and tickled back at my feet, making *me* laugh to no end this time around.
"Hey Sakura-chan," Natsu called out as she waved one of my manga issues and raised an eyebrow at me, "Where's that Kanon thing you told me about? I really REALLY want to know what happens in the next issue, if you know what I mean..."
Hina-chan stopped tickling at my feet a few seconds after Natsu had asked me her question and rolled over quite stupidly, playing around with my plushies and my other trinkets on top of my shirt drawer. I could almost hear her say, "Ooh, this is the chibi mecha keychain that one of your otaku friends gave you for your birthday, right?"
"Well, yeah...unfortunately I don't really like robots that much so I just put it on display right there. And Natsu-chan," I told my tall friend while searching for something under my bed and revealed the shojo, or girls', manga in question to Natsu, "You seem to forget that I always put my newly-bought stuff under my bed instead of there, eh heh heh heh heh!"
"Mmmm, right!" Natsu cheerfully replied as she went over to where I was and snatched the manga away from me. With those beady little eyes that I rarely see in our tough-as-nails v-ball jock of a friend, she flipped through the pages of my manga, skimming through it like a child would to a book of her interest. "Hmmm, hey, can I borrow this for a week or two?"
"Oh no, you don't!" Hinata-chan snapped suddenly then pulled at my shirt sleeve. "Sakura-chan, you won't let her get away with a broken promise, will you?" She pouted at me with "those eyes" again and well, all I could do is simply sigh and chuckle at that little avatar of genkiness of our group.
"Hmm, well, I suppose so..."
"Hey, since you did agree to lend me this for a week or two, I'd gladly do whatever you guys want me to, what do you say?" Natsu then grinned at me while nudging my tummy gently with an elbow.
"Hmmm, *any*thing?" I told Natsu-chan as I rubbed my chin and sported a thoughtful look for a few moments. And no, I was not referring that word "anything" in a perverse kind of way, no, no. I was thinking maybe...
"Yeah, anything...w-well, anything that would suit my budget right now, that is...I could treat you guys tomorrow for that final match that Honda has in the current sumo tournament, which I think is being held in that big convention dome just outside town. I'm guessing it'd be quite fun since I know that the three of us *are* betting for Honda to win since he's going to join the next Street Fighter tournament a few months from now. Like the idea?"
"Heh heh heh, wow okay! I've always wanted to meet Honda since he *is* the yokozuna on the 'east' side and from what I know, he came from our town, too! Well, I think we got ourselves a deal, eh Natsu-chan? Of course..." I then look at Natsu with a peering eye. "If you stand us up again I won't ever let you borrow my manga ever again, are we clear?" I tried not to giggle as I saw Natsu's face go from cheerful to disappointed.
"Awww, you little meanie, you!" She then put her hands on her hips and assumed one of those heroic poses that I've seen some of the boys in my school (and occasionally my gaijin English language teacher who calls himself "Largo") do. "HAH! No way i'm gonna break out on my promise *now*! Kanon is way too important a manga for me to miss!"
And then we all just laughed at each other while we chatted almost the whole night about what we female species of humans like to talk about when we're in a group. Hey, I might be tomboyish at times but I'd love to have a little talk with my fellow girls every now and then, right?
Well, as my dear mother came into my room with some snacks for all of us, I decided that I should look up the website where information about how to enter the next Street Fighter tourney was posted and started up "old faithful", a pet name I've given my internet-ready computer. After eating a few of those uber-delicious rice cakes that mum made for us tonight, Natsu-chan and Hina-chan looked into the computer screen like little kids who have never seen a computer starting up before, and I just snickered at them before I finally got the system going and cranked up the old dial-up thingy...
---
Well, so much for that, I did get some information off the official website for the organizers of the next Street Fighter tournament and so far, the requirements posted there are, for the most part, easy to attain anyway. It doesn't state there that you have to have a sufficient degree of schooling in the martial arts, though, but they do require you to submit stuff that I assume is usually required when applying for a job: resume, ID pictures, the works. Oh, and did i forget to tell that they'll need a copy of the application form which, by the way, can be printed off the website?
...I guess I did. Heh.
Anyway, I would hope that I'll get to be in the adult division since I'm confident enough that by three months' time, I'll be as strong as snyone who's worthy to be in the tourney in the first place.
Well, after everything was settled (and after I each gave Natsu and Hina noogies for belittling my dialup-equipped compy--they claim to possess cable internet-equipped ones, geez...), Hina and Natsu each went home by 6:30 PM with Natsu-chan grinning from ear to ear after I let her borrow MY MANGA for a while while Hinata-chan was flipping through the pages of her notebook quite thoughtfully. Heh heh, Hina never trusts me when it comes to math...
"Hey Natsu!" I yelled from the door to my house as I saw them go home, "Don't forget your promise for tomorrow, okay?"
"Yeah, sure!" she yelled back as she waved at me, then put an arm around Hina-chan's neck, giving our tiny friend a headlock. Hinata then yelped and struggled like a helpless kid being pummeled by Natsu.
"Hey, lemme go you big bully!"
"Heh heh heh, seeya 'round Hina!"
Ahh well, I sighed to myself as I went back inside and immediately headed for the kitchen to help my mother in preparing our dinner. Ans as I gleefully helped mum out, my thoughts sort of drifted off to one of the reasons I'm joining the Street Fighter tourney in the first place--the man himself, Ryu Hoshi-sama. Not that I had a big crush on him (WELL, actually I *do*, but it's more of a fascination for his overall desire to become a true warrior. Honest. Tee hee. In case you were wondering why I know, he told it in a victory speech after the very first SF tourney. So THERE.) but it's just that...I want to prove something to myself, and what I'm really made of. I want to show *everyone* that I can be and that I *am* the best. Yadda yadda yadda.
And that's why, after seeing the last SF tourney, I just had this motivation that *he* should teach me the way of the warrior, since I know he's...he's just good at it, I guess, and that he can. And, hopefully and eventually, that *I* can. I just...
...gee whiz, I just have to eat dinner NOW. My tummy's killing me. Auggghh.
---
Honda, this town's home-grown east-side yokozuna. Someone whom I'm about to meet very soon. While I don't particularly intend for *him* to train me fully, I guess he's just the most suitable person for "my first steps" into kicking ass in the SF tourney and finally, becoming a worthy student for Ryu-sama. Well, I just feel he's kinda wise enough to teach me a thing or two, but then sumo *is* a different martial art (up till now I couldn't believe sumo *was* a martial art at all) from shotokan karata or karate in general itself. Anyway, enough with that, time for beddy-bye...
.....
What the heck?
Huh. I could have sworn my teddy bear was here some place...
---
Ahhh, what a beautiful day, I told myself as I stretched out and as soon as the sun's rays were upon my bedroom. After I've prepared myself for the whole world to see me, I quickly made a beeline for the dining room for which i'm very joyous because mum made us some bacon and eggs and rice for breakfast.
"So where are you headed, Sakura-chan?" Mum asked me while she nibbled at the food at the end of her spoon.
"Natsu's gonna treat us out for the final day of the sumo tourney today, and I'm going to have a...uhh...an autograph from Honda-san himself, yeah!" I grinned at my mother while I took a bite out of the food at the end of my own spoon.
"Hmm...I see...well, did you know he was going to join the Street Fighter tournament in a matter of months? He must be quite strong to dare to join there..."
"Yeah, I just know he is. I mean, he's not yokozuna for nothing, right?"
"Yes, I'd guess so, but then this *is* SF and I think it would take more than sumo to get to the top, right?"
Well, that got me off-track for a second. What if he *does* use some other martial art than sumo, or at least, a variation of it, if and when I get to be his temporary student and if he everdoes get to participate in SF?
"Hmmm," I answered as I sipped at some warm milk from my mug. "Well, you'll never know till we get there, right? Oh, by the way...I was just wondering, when's Dad coming home from the Philippines?"
"Oh, he called last night while you were slpping, he told me he was coming home in three months, just in time for the tournament to begin."
"Heh heh, is he going to join?"
Mum just chuckled in reply. "No, silly. He told me it was because his job contract there will end by that time and he wants to teach here, at least either in Justice High or...or in your school, honey...South Tamagawa, is it?"
"Ohh...I see." I just nodded at her, half-pretending that I knew what she was talking about. So Dad's finally going to teach here in Japan, huh...? Heh, hope he doesn't run into Largo-sensei because as far as I know, Dad'll just kick Largo-sensei's butt for his eccentric, but funny, "L33TN3SS"...whatever it was. Eh heh heh.
"What time are you girls going to meet anyway?" Mum asked as she cleaned up after eating and gathered all the dishes together.
"Oh, I'll do that, Mum!" I told my mother as I helped her gather all the dishes we've used and put them into the sink. I looked at my watch which read, "7:49 AM". "Oh, around forty minutes from now, I still have time. I'll just go wash the dishes first then I'll go take a bath later."
And so, I did as I offered to do while Mum told me that she'll be leaving for a while to buy us some groceries. I finished my bath, dressed up in my yellow t-shirt, black knee-length shorts, and my old pair of rubber shoes, and set off to meet Natsu-chan and Hinata-chan in a while. Oh, of course, I didn't forget to lock the door after I left home.
---
Well, we didn't really intend to go to the stadium right then and there because it *was* way too early for the top-grade sumo competitors to get eerything done, so I thought we should all just hang out by the river bank or go window-shopping again or something else to pass the time.
"Oh, I know!" Hinata-chan exclaimed as she picked up a pebble and threw it at the river. "Let's go guy-watching at the mall, I think there's a lot of 'em cuties today since it's--"
Natsu-chan rubbed her chin and shook her head in disagreement and sighed quite boredly. "Naah, I don't think that's a good idea, especially with *you*, Hina. I mean, you're too young for guys to like you anyway, am I right?"
"Ooooh, you big meanie!" Sticking out her tongue at Natsu, Hinata cringed in annoyance and made a sour face at her.
"Well, anything's better than *girl*-watching, eh Natsu?" I casually tell her as I also throw a pebble into the river, watching the said pebble bounce about three or four times across it. I soon see a little smirk across Natsu-chan's face as Hinata-chan just laughed.
"That's really smart, Sakura. Really. But then, why would *we* go watching for guys while *they* should go looking for *us*, right?"
We all just giggled as we all decided to just go to the mall and go window-shopping and stuff. Well, for some weird reason I'm not quite a big fan of makeup and lipstick and all that (although I kinda try 'em out sometimes), so I asked the both of them if we could all go to the computer shop first before we all just walk around this big shopping center. (I've been really *really* looking forward to getting one of those sound card upgrades, in case you didn't know.)
Anyway, we all bought and seen what we wanted, and seeing that it was already 3:00, we all voted that we should go to the stadium just next door to the mall since the "professional" division for the sumo tourney comes at around that time (...or was it 3:30? Heh, whatever.)
When we all got to the stadium, though, the lines for the ticket booths were...well, let's say they were THAT long. "Oh, bugger," I mumbled under my breath, "Now what?"
"Hmm, ahh well, looks like we'll have to cancel this trip for another day, eh kiddies?" Shrugging and making what she calls a silly face at us, Natsu just casually said that and tried to sneak out of our sights, to no avail. Heh heh, Hina and I grabbed her volleyball team jacket collar just in time and we both leered at Natsu-chan as she was attempting to escape her "responsibility" of treating us out for today. "Hey, I was just kidding, okay? Come on, what are you girls waiting for? Get in line, now!"
After around twenty to thirty minutes of staying in line for the ticket booth, we finally got inside the stadium and boy, was it packed. Well, if you don't know by now, it's just that we Japanese people really do appreciate our own traditions no matter how untimely these traditions might be. Besides, sumo wrestling *is* the next best thing to baseball, anyway.
Lucky for us, though, there happened to be three empty seats somewhere around ten seats or so away from the front seat area, so we went on and sat there before anyone could complain.
As the three of us sat down on the bleachers and everyone was hustling and bustling for a place to sit down while watching the upcoming ceremony that signified the start of the competition for the professional division of this whole tournament, I told my two best friends that I'd wander around a bit.
"Try not to get lost this time, Sakura-chan..." then I heard little snickers coming out of Hinata after she had just said that. I tried, and failed, not to whack Hina with the pillow underneath my butt, but Hina just blocked it and turned her snicker into a jolly squeaky laugh. "I hear they have a map of this stadium somewhere, right, Natsu?"
"Grrr. Would you just shut up about my lousy sense of direction, Hina?" I complained and flushed lightly. "Okay, I might have gotten lost last time but it was because you two were playing another one of your pranks on me!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just go get us some Chinese dumplings and tea, okay?"
"Bring me some pork buns and tea too," Natsu seemed to be a bit oblivious to our little antics as she looked like she was busy gazing at the dirt surrounding and inside the ring at the center of the stadium. She *always* does that...
"Heh, looking at the dirt in the ring again?"
Raising an eyebrow, Natsu just glared at me with one eye. "Just go get us some food now, okay?! And I am *not* staring at the frigging dirt, all right? I was just wondering what that ring's made of, that's all!"
"Sure, sure...and oh, by the way, it's rope..."
-----
So there I went in the midst of the crowd in the hallway inside the stadium, looking for anything interesting to pass the time at least before the whole competition begins. I bought a six-pack of Dr. Pepper and a huge bag of chips to go with it: more than enough for the three of us girls, I guess.
Amidst the NHK TV crew, I saw a group of tall fat people in yukata's--I immediately recognized them all as the competitors from the "east" side. Something looked strange, though--shouldn't Honda be with them? It seemed that this group of sumo wrestlers were headed somewhere so I followed them, but I told the security guards surrounding them i didn't want an autograph or anything of the sort.
"No, no, it's okay," one of the sumo told the guards as he turned around to mydirection and told his buddies, "You guys go on right ahead, I'll take care of stuff here." Instatntly, I recognized this guy as "Akebono", someone whom I heard was actually an American from Hawaii and was also actually second-in-rank to Honda, fancy that! Well, at least *this* gaijin speaks better Japanese than Largo-sensei...
"What is it you wanted, little girl?"
"Heeeey, you're Akebono, right? I heard you were one of the few Americans in sumo for the past years, and second-in-rank to the east yokozuna, too! Wow, that is so cool!"
"Yeah, yeah, thanks for the compliments. Now ummm...you wanted to say something?"
"Uhm, yeah. Actually, I wanted to meet your champion, Honda, and ask him a few things since I hear he's going to join the next Street Fighter tournament..."
"Yes, actually I think he's planning to make a press statement that he's going to retire from sumo altogether and as his "farewell tribute", he's going to join the SF tourney. I still dunno why, though..."
"Oh..."
"Well, I'll see what I can do about it, okay? He *is* still parking his car somewhere behind the building. If you're real lucky you might run into him, you know? Now ummm...if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way to the dressing room, okay? Competition's gonna start in a few."
"All right! I told him with a gleeful little smile. "Oh, by the way, my name's Sakura. Sakura Kasugano."
"Sakura...Kasugano. I'll remember that just because you have such a nice name. Well, I guess I'll see you later, then."
As i saw this big fat guy leave, I was thinking that one has to wonder how some Americans like Akebono here actually make it to sumo in the first place since sumo *is* a Japanese sport anyway. Oh well, enough about that, i told myself, and I continued on a little more with my sightseeing for five more minutes.
-----
Well, I didn't really "bump into" Honda during the course of my "trip" inside the stadium save for a few "interesting" sight like lovers making out (for which I'm kinda ticked off because a sports stadium is *not* the place for making out), a few of the lower-grade sumo competitors making their exit, and well, some students from my school who happen to be having their day-off here. Gee whiz, I wonder where that goth girl with the ribbons who gives me the creeps is...what's her name again? Miho Touya?
"...what are you mumbling about, Sakura?"
"Huh? Oh, Natsu-chan..." I reply in surprise as I tried to get my thoughts off that pale-skinned goth chick from my own school and focus my attention to the "west" champion/yokozuna Takanohana doing his part in the opening ceremony for the tourney. "I was just thinking about someone from Tamagawa, some chick with heavy makeup..."
"One of your classmates, Sakura-chan?"
"Nope, Hina. Just someone that I know, that's all." I tell them both in return and sighed as I tried to grab what amount of chips would fit my little palm.
"Hey. Try to leave some chips for us this time!" Hina scolded me squeakily, making me stare at her with one eye and a smirk on my face.
"Yeah, well, you should pay a little more attention to your food this time, Hina, or else I'll *really* run you guys out of chips."
By the time Honda's name was announced after all the "east" sumo have made their part of the opening ceremony, everyone whom I can recognize that was from my town turned around to look at him walking down the "eastern" aisle with three sumo as if they were bodyguards and walked up the ring to begin his part of the opening ceremony. i'm still amazed as to why Honda likes putting greasepaint on his face like that in kabuki, but anyway, he's still cool in my book.
And so, everything's been done with, and now it all came down to the final matches. It was a rule, though, that in the eveny of the last day of the tourney, the "sekiwake" will always have a match with his yokozuna, which means Akebono will have to go against Honda, and as for the "west" side, Wakanohana with Takanohana.
Well, the match between Akebono and Honda kinda lasted for a few minutes as they couldn't budge each other out of the ring and/or pin the other guy to the ground, but in a few minutes Honda *carried* Akebono out of the ring and naturally, he won. One has to wonder that these fat guys really *are* kinda strong since the can carry each other out of the ring and all.
It all came down to one final match, Honda against Takanohana. (Am I starting to sound like a sports newscaster here or what? Argh. Hmm...you'd *have* to ask yourselves where these sumo get their weird nicknames...) Like what happened earlier, it was a match that lasted for a few minutes; "a few minutes" was like forever in sumo, for your information. Honda won by pushing Takanohana out of the circular ring of rope with these big palm-jabs after grappling each other for the span of those "few minutes".
And so, the tourney ends. trophies were awarded, prizes were given, etc., and that gave me the signal to head on over to where Honda was and talk to him, with natsu-chan and Hinata-chan tailing behind me.
"You sure are determined to meet him, eh Sakura?"
"Yeah, Natsu, I really am. Now stop slowing down and let's get to it!"
The three of us got through the crowd finally, and made it to where Honda was, and he looked like he was headed back to his dressing room (or somewhere else, I dunno) and about to be smothered by NHK, TV Tokyo, whatever media reporters. i quickly got to Akebono's place beside Honda and well, he looked as if he was surprised by my sudden appearance.
"Oh, hi there, Sakura Kasugano. Uhmm, listen...Honda's gonna be a bit busy, you can wait for him at his dressing room in a few minutes. Oh, and I see you have some friends with you?"
"Yup, the tall one is Natsu Ayuhara and the short one's Hinata Wakaba."
"Nice to meet you, sir." Natsu bowed politely.
"Grrr, you didn't have to call me "short", Sakura-chan!" Hina then whapped my shoulder quite annoyedly and stuck out a tongue at me. "Oh! Ah, heh heh, nice to meet you too, sir!" She had gleefully exclaimed as she bowed politely just like Natsu-chan did.
Akebono then turned to Honda and chatted with him for a few seconds. I could recognize their speech to be English since that's what Largo-sensei's been teaching us at school (and that's how he talked all the time, too...poor guy, I think he thinks everyone here in Japan understands English...). Honda then looked at me. It seemed as if he was gauging my ability through my appearance; a spunky, cute, high school girl. Heh. But then I could be wrong, you know? honda then walked over to my direction and offered me a handshake.
"Interested in Street Fighter, aren't you? Let's talk in my dressing room later."
Speechless, I shook his hand back and just saw him leave, the media was soon all over him in an instant. I was like, mesmerized for a second back there but I soon got over it in a few seconds when both Natsu and Hinata were shaking me out of it.
"Hey, he said we should wait for him by his dressing room, silly!" Hina said to me sounding like she was more excited than I was. "Don't just stand there, let's go!"
And go there we did.
I never guessed these celebrities could only be so caught up in their work: the three of us waited for Honda for around thirty minutes or so. I looked at my watch and it read, "7:00 pm".
"Geez, I should be home by now...mum's gonna kill me if I'm not home by--oh, he's here!" I stand up along with my friends and we bow to Honda as politely as we can, but he just waved his hands and grinned at us. I also noticed he had changed back to his yukata so maybe he wouldn't look like he was wearing diapers all the time. Heh.
"No need to do that," Honda told us casually and just as politely. ""Which one of you is Sakura Kasugano?" I raise my hand up, then he gave me that same look as he did earlier. "Why don't you three girls come right in and let's have a talk, shall we?"
"Sure thing, sir!" We all replied and stepped inside his dressing room, which was quite cozy considering the lighting and and the way the walls were painted or something like that. He sat down on the floor just like we did and asked, looking towards my direction, "Okay, I'll be frank. You've been fighting for quite a while now, haven't you?"
"Well, yeah...mostly I've just reached up till brown belt in karate and that I've been practicing my own version of shotokan..."
"'Your own version version of shotokan karate'...interesting." He told me as if he really did know what I was talking about...or maybe even more. "You must have undergone training from the SF champion Ryu Hoshi himself if you do say that you've "customized" shotokan to--"
"Uhm, actually, I just copied a lot of his moves and studied how to manipulate one's chi in battle..."
Honda was then silent for a short while, then he poured some tea on four tiny cups usually seen in tea ceremonies. "Well, in that case, what do you need me for? You should go consulting your master than me. I don't do karate, I do sumo."
"But...you *have* to know at least another martial art than sumo if you do intend to compete in SF, Honda-san! And besides, I just feel you're the right person for me to go to if I want to be strong enough just like Ryu-sama in the tournament!"
"If you want to meet Ryu, you'll have to go look for him yourself, and if you want to test your strength and further improve on it, don't get your tips from me. Like what I said, I am not a teacher of karate, much less *shotokan* karate. I only teach sumo and that's that." I feel as if I was going to explode at that very moment. I just *know* he's just testing me out if I'm gonna give up THAT easily. But I won't.
"...oh well..." I sighed at him sadly. "You know, I was really REALLY hopeful that you'd share with me at least a point of wisdom or two or just "show me the way" to be at least able enough to kick ass in SF and all..."
Hina just patted me on the back and frowned on me. "Sakura-chan, I really think we should go home now...if he says he couldn't teach you, then why force yourself?"
"You know, she's right, Sakura-chan..."
"...you really are determined to qualify in the tournament, aren't you, Sakura Kasugano? Hmm...well, as much as I'd like to refuse your offer, I just can't stand the fact that I'm worried that you'll be much unprepared for SF if you go there like you are right now, so..." he briefly paused to get something from his duffel bag and then turned to me, offering me a calling card. "Tell you what, meet me after your class tomorrow and I'll see what I can do. I'm not really sure if I could train you at all but I'll do what I can, okay?"
"Hey, you hear that, Sakura-chan? This is so cool!" Hinata held my hands and jumped up and down with all the genkiness she had left for the day. I grinned happily as well, trying hard not to go and jump up and down in a lively way like Hina was doing right now.
"Uhmm...heh heh, yeah, thank you, Honda-san!"
"I think you girls ought to be going now," he told us as he looked at the big clock on his wall and offered me a handshake, which I so gleefully accept and shook his hand back with a little shy smile across my face. "It *is* getting quite late for the usual time that girls your age are out, ne?"
This is so cool! Now I finally have the chance to test my "l33t shotokan karate sk1llz," to quote Largo-sensei. But then...there's just something wrong here, something like...something like that he was just bluffing that he couldn't teach me a thing or two about fighting. If it *is* true that he's bluffing about his "weakness", then the training really *has* started...as of this day, as of this hour, as of this very minute.
I am not one for mind games, I told myself proudly as I led the way home that night from the arena...into a newer arena that *I* will be getting into in the days ahead.
And so...
...my journey begins.
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Kei:
I have had a lot of time poured into this chapter as I did work on it for quite some time. As of this writing it's been EXACTLY one month since I've begun Chapter 2. (I started at around March 14, 2002 and I've ended writing April 12, 2002, so there.) I've also had a lot of headaches in making this fic since I've been spending my time writing, thinking up ideas, working on my daily job training at the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, working out some stuff related to my upcoming graduation and playing Street Fighter for research on this fanfiction all at the same time (more or less). Honestly, I am SO exhausted. Anyway, enough whining from me, i hope you enjoy this. Asuka has more or less edited it so it's not too wordy for anyone's own good. C&C's are welcome, NO FLAMES PLEASE. Enjoy!
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PH33R 7H3 W3453L 5TUD105 is Kei (Lloyd Barrieses) and Asuka (Rachel Grey). All rights reserved.