Author's Note: Yep... It's DeNice again... Yeah, ya wanna fight about it?
Anyway, here's Kaoru's next step. It's not much... but she's going to
develop something very precious here... Something she never had before...
Anyway, just a mental note to the readers, this IS Kaoru's beginnings.
Soon she'll come across others Street Fighters like Guy, Yun and Yang,
Kairi, Karin, and so on. Just be patient, please. We're not trying to
rush things.
---- ---- Chapter 5: Latenight Exercise
I was pretty full after I was done eating Rose's gourmet of French cuisine. I never tasted anything so good before and Rose kept insisting that I should eat up and get my energy back up. I literally forgot about my insecurity through the 20 minutes at Rose's huge dining room table, surrounded by all sorts of antique art.
"So I sense that you're feeling better, huh?" Rose asked as she walked in her dining room and sat next to me. I swallowed the last of my food and smiled.
"Yeah! That was great!" I chimed happily. Rose giggled.
"I knew that you'd like that. You always wanted to eat some foreign foods after all the other low-level things you used to eat..."
That was true...
"So... now that you've unpacked and got settled... How about we work off some of that food you ate, okay?"
I looked up to her, curious. "Yeah... like what?"
"Follow me..."
It took us about one minute to make our way from Rose's dining room to the back entrance. Mitsumi was already there, giving me a warm smile, making me return the favor. There was also that Korean teen that blushed at me earlier... and as I looked his way, he became shy and looked away again.
{I think he likes me...} I thought, the thought making me feel warm inside.
"Okay... Mitsumi, Kaoru, Yui... Come outside..." Rose instructed and we followed. It was pitch black outside in the huge yard Rose had in the back of her mansion. It was quiet, save for the rushing of water from the waterfront in the distance and shoes and sneakers making their way through the grass. Rose stopped and started to instruct.
"Okay, Kaoru... this little exercise is to improve your senses... All of them..., that is."
"Okay..." I responded.
"Mitsumi, step to the side." Rose then looked at me. "Yui will be your 'target', so to speak."
"Target?" I mimicked, raising my eyebrows. Rose nodded then looked at the Korean.
"Okay, Yui... You know what to do."
"Yes, Rose," he responded then ran in front of me and said, "Kaoru... before we start, I'd just like to say that you seem to be a nice person to be around. Maybe we can do something together later, huh?"
I shrugged. "Sure... Why not?" I was actually flattered. He was the first boy who actually was interested in me... and in a good way. Yui smiled.
"That's perfect! Okay, this is what you... have to do..."
A gray aura surrounded the Korean teen then I grew wide-eyed as another Yui appeared right next to him.
"You'll have to find out which one is the real me," Yui assigned while assuming a defensive stance. "Go on... Attack one of me."
I breathed deeply and walked forward calmly. As I got close to the Yui on the left, I punched him in the face as hard as I could... Too bad I missed. Yui ducked and grabbed my fist, smiling.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I won't make it easy," he informed me. "You'll have to catch me off-guard for get me... and that doesn't guarantee that I'm the real one."
"Fine," I said, while smirking, my Satsu aura surrounding me, then I Ashura Warped behind the other Yui, who wasn't prepared like the other clone. I grabbed him, my left arm locked around his neck and my right hand holding his arm, then I rolled back and used my right leg to take him with me. We made one full roll and I pinned him under me, smiling. He, for one, was rather surprised, yet impressed.
"How did you know that I was the real one... and so quickly?" he asked as his mirror image disappeared.
"My Satsu no Hadou is very sensitive to other energy. I sensed you as soon as you split. The other clone had no chi, so it was easy."
"Not bad," Yui congratulated me. "Maybe tomorrow we can move on to the harder course..."
"That's fine with me, Yui."
"Well done, Kaoru," Rose congratulated me from behind. "Now for the second part. Now it's Mitsumi's turn to try you out."
"As I got off Yui, who smiled as he got up and walked to the side, Mitsumi tapped me on my shoulder as she passed me.
"We're gonna go father up for this, Kaoru..."
I followed the older Chinese girl until she said, "Stop right there."
I did but she kept going until I lost her in the darkness... Then again, I could hardly see the mansion or Rose and Yui behind me. It was REALLY dark, wherever Mitsumi took me...
"Okay... Think of this as your awareness test," Mitsumi's voice called out from the dark. "I'm going to attack you randomly... and you'll have to either dodge them or block them. No teleporting, okay?"
"Okay," I responded, getting into my defensive stance. Automatically, my energy went on the fritz. I gasped, my senses telling me that Mitsumi was EVERYWHERE around me.
{Oh, man... She didn't say that she'd make my aura go all loopy on me... Now I can't use it and I gotta sense her the old fashioned way...)
My ears, the 2nd best of my senses, picked up something to my left. I turned that way and blocked the wave of purple energy that came my way. I then heard shuffling to the right, and ducked another large blast of energy. Now she was BEHIND me! She was really fast, but I rolled to my side and avoided another blast.
Left. Only... She's closer. I had no time to dodge so I put up my defense. Too bad it was a kick to my ankles, making me almost trip... I ate her next move as she grabbed me by me arm, pulled me close, and put a hand on my stomach. I saw that her hand was glowing...
"Shining... Moon!!!"
She blew me away with a big explosion of raw energy, making my stomach ache... especially since I just ate a big dinner. I fell backwards in the grass, holding my hurting belly, trying to recover from almost throwing up...
"Don't get too comfortable, Kaoru!" Mitsumi yelled from my side. I scrambled up to my feel, away from her as she came down with an aerial kick. I then got back up, rushed in... and prepared to counter. Hey, she never said that I couldn't fight back.
"Shoryu Baito!!!"
I nailed the unsuspecting Chinese teen with a rising uppercut with my left fist, then my right, then I knocked her down with an overhead blow to her head. She planted face first into the ground, startled that I actually caught her off guard. She got to her hands and knees in front of me, which I could see clearly despite the darkness, and said, "Whoa... nice one... I... wasn't expecting to get nailed... but if that's how you like it..."
She quickly grabbed my socked ankles and pulled them out from under me, making me fall on my back. I was totally surprised by that and Mitsumi got up quickly, backing away a bit, then raised her left heel up and brought it down as if it was an overhead kick. I barely grabbed her sneaker with my hands in front of my stomach (I was convinced that she was targeting that area the whole time...) and used my right leg to sweep Mitsumi off her feet. She once again met the grass and now I rolled backwards, trying to summon some energy out of my whacked out aura. I finally did and fired at Mitsumi as she tried to get up.
"Hadou... SHOU!"
A sudden wide blast of surge energy escaped my hands. It was the toned down version of the famous Hadouken that was widely used in Shotokan. I could have learned it if I didn't kill my dad... Then again... I wasn't sure if I WANTED that... Mitsumi was forced to block my energy blast, then countered with her own, raising her right arm and a swirl of purple chi entered it...
"Dark... Phoenix... BLAST!"
I let instinct take over and I also blocked Mitsumi's powerful blast, which pushed me back about a few inches. I never realized how strong she was, especially since I just met her... and my energy senses weren't up to par. The dodging exercise turned into a bit of a Street Fight between Mitsumi and I, even though it only lasted about 2 and a half minutes. I'm sorta surprised that Rose didn't stop us, but I wasn't thinking about her at the moment. We moved around in the darkness, nailing some moves, blocking others, and dodging the rest. We really tested ourselves in our short bout and we could have went on if it wasn't for this part...
I backed away from Mitsumi, who I just stunned a bit with a blow to her stomach (ah... revenge...) and I cupped my hands to my side. We were both tired so I tried to end this quick. I was going to go for the most power form of Hadou attacks in the Shotokan library of moves... I focused, a blue ball of chi entering my hands...
"Shinku..."
I remembered how my dad taught me this one about 9 months into my training. I further charged it up, until small blots of electricity came out... and fired.
"HADOUKEN!!!"
I threw my hands forward, releasing the huge ball of energy towards my sparring partner. However, due to the darkness, I couldn't see that she dodged... until she called out from my right.
"You mi-i-ssed!" she said sing-songingly. I spun to face her as I quickly caught the sight of her ducking down. On reaction, I followed suit and tried to knock her out of anything that she tried to throw at me by sweeping her again. Little did I know that Mitsumi was trying the same thing. Our legs met our supporting legs and it caused both of us to fall to the ground on our backs. All I really remember clearly at that moment was white spots in my vision from the force of my fall and the moaning that both of us were letting out. At this time, Rose stepped in.
"Hmm... A bit out of the box..." she started, "but I think that was a great demonstration you two did."
"You... mean that... you saw everything through all this darkness?" I asked, then I remembered. Rose is psychic. "Never... mind..." I corrected myself as I rolled my eyes.
"Nice show, girls," I heard Yui reply. "Need some help?"
"Yeah... That's... nice..." Mitsumi wheezed and the Korean helped us both up at the same time. Mitsumi then rubbed her back and smiled at me. "You know, no one here has given me so much work besides Rose. You're really good at this fighting business!"
"So are you..." I complimented. "I think we should do that more often... after I'm not feeling sore..."
"Yeah... It was fun," the Chinese girl responded. "Now, let's get inside. We need to go to bed... Tomorrow's probably going to be busy."
---- ----
"So, Mitsumi," I asked as I slipped into my bed, already in my nightgown. "What's with you? Why are you here?"
Mitsumi looked at me from her own bed, which was right next to mine, and responded, "Well... About two years ago I let my hometown, Tong-An with my boyfriend to go off training all over the world..."
"What was his name?" I asked. "How was he like?" Mitsumi paused than answered.
"His name... is WangTang. He's older than I am by like 3 years or so, but he's cute. Short, black hair that was done in a small ponytail, always wore the traditional Chinese dragon outfits... He is pretty dedicated to his training and so am I. We trained under the same master, too. Maybe one day, when I go back there to Tong-An, I'll see him again...
"Anyway, we met these two Hong Kong twins in Japan, where we were going to enter the Turn of the Century tournament. Their name was... Yun and Yang Lee..."
I grew wide-eyed. "You KNOW the famous Twin Dragons?!"
"Know them? We teamed up with them in the tournament! It was fun, although Yun did show his immaturity most of the time... Anyway, we almost made it to the final rounds... but..."
She suddenly trailed off and I started to grown concerned, noticing that she turned her back to me.
"...but that's when my dark nature took over... I rather not go into depth about it, and because of my outburst, I decided to go to Rose, who I heard was a great helper of dark entities, for help. I've been here ever since, and I like it. I'm just about over my problem, too, but I'll stay here and help you out, if that's okay with you..."
"Okay with me?? I'd LOVE that!" I responded. Both of us smiled as Mitsumi laid back into her bed and sighed. I did the same.
"Anyway... maybe you can... *yarn* tell me about yourself tomorrow at breakfast..." Mitsumi ended, starting to get really sleepy. I admit, I was feeling the exact same way. It didn't matter. It couldn't make me forget the feeling of being in a place where I felt welcome at... and for the first time, I had friends. I smiled as I laid back into my comfortable bed and pillow, and sighed sleepily.
"Yeah... I *yarn* will," I responded. "G'night, Mitsumi..."
"Night, Kaoru..."
---- ----
That's the end of Chapter 5. Hope you enjoyed it. Now it's my partner, Chan's, turn. Let's see how Kaoru will be in Rose's mansion regarding the other guys and girls living there. Till Chapter 7! Later, readers and don't forget to read my other stories. They'll answer any questions regarding the past events in the New Archives/Chronicles timeline! Remember, this is all one big saga, so make sure you read them all!
---- ---- Chapter 5: Latenight Exercise
I was pretty full after I was done eating Rose's gourmet of French cuisine. I never tasted anything so good before and Rose kept insisting that I should eat up and get my energy back up. I literally forgot about my insecurity through the 20 minutes at Rose's huge dining room table, surrounded by all sorts of antique art.
"So I sense that you're feeling better, huh?" Rose asked as she walked in her dining room and sat next to me. I swallowed the last of my food and smiled.
"Yeah! That was great!" I chimed happily. Rose giggled.
"I knew that you'd like that. You always wanted to eat some foreign foods after all the other low-level things you used to eat..."
That was true...
"So... now that you've unpacked and got settled... How about we work off some of that food you ate, okay?"
I looked up to her, curious. "Yeah... like what?"
"Follow me..."
It took us about one minute to make our way from Rose's dining room to the back entrance. Mitsumi was already there, giving me a warm smile, making me return the favor. There was also that Korean teen that blushed at me earlier... and as I looked his way, he became shy and looked away again.
{I think he likes me...} I thought, the thought making me feel warm inside.
"Okay... Mitsumi, Kaoru, Yui... Come outside..." Rose instructed and we followed. It was pitch black outside in the huge yard Rose had in the back of her mansion. It was quiet, save for the rushing of water from the waterfront in the distance and shoes and sneakers making their way through the grass. Rose stopped and started to instruct.
"Okay, Kaoru... this little exercise is to improve your senses... All of them..., that is."
"Okay..." I responded.
"Mitsumi, step to the side." Rose then looked at me. "Yui will be your 'target', so to speak."
"Target?" I mimicked, raising my eyebrows. Rose nodded then looked at the Korean.
"Okay, Yui... You know what to do."
"Yes, Rose," he responded then ran in front of me and said, "Kaoru... before we start, I'd just like to say that you seem to be a nice person to be around. Maybe we can do something together later, huh?"
I shrugged. "Sure... Why not?" I was actually flattered. He was the first boy who actually was interested in me... and in a good way. Yui smiled.
"That's perfect! Okay, this is what you... have to do..."
A gray aura surrounded the Korean teen then I grew wide-eyed as another Yui appeared right next to him.
"You'll have to find out which one is the real me," Yui assigned while assuming a defensive stance. "Go on... Attack one of me."
I breathed deeply and walked forward calmly. As I got close to the Yui on the left, I punched him in the face as hard as I could... Too bad I missed. Yui ducked and grabbed my fist, smiling.
"Oh, I forgot to mention that I won't make it easy," he informed me. "You'll have to catch me off-guard for get me... and that doesn't guarantee that I'm the real one."
"Fine," I said, while smirking, my Satsu aura surrounding me, then I Ashura Warped behind the other Yui, who wasn't prepared like the other clone. I grabbed him, my left arm locked around his neck and my right hand holding his arm, then I rolled back and used my right leg to take him with me. We made one full roll and I pinned him under me, smiling. He, for one, was rather surprised, yet impressed.
"How did you know that I was the real one... and so quickly?" he asked as his mirror image disappeared.
"My Satsu no Hadou is very sensitive to other energy. I sensed you as soon as you split. The other clone had no chi, so it was easy."
"Not bad," Yui congratulated me. "Maybe tomorrow we can move on to the harder course..."
"That's fine with me, Yui."
"Well done, Kaoru," Rose congratulated me from behind. "Now for the second part. Now it's Mitsumi's turn to try you out."
"As I got off Yui, who smiled as he got up and walked to the side, Mitsumi tapped me on my shoulder as she passed me.
"We're gonna go father up for this, Kaoru..."
I followed the older Chinese girl until she said, "Stop right there."
I did but she kept going until I lost her in the darkness... Then again, I could hardly see the mansion or Rose and Yui behind me. It was REALLY dark, wherever Mitsumi took me...
"Okay... Think of this as your awareness test," Mitsumi's voice called out from the dark. "I'm going to attack you randomly... and you'll have to either dodge them or block them. No teleporting, okay?"
"Okay," I responded, getting into my defensive stance. Automatically, my energy went on the fritz. I gasped, my senses telling me that Mitsumi was EVERYWHERE around me.
{Oh, man... She didn't say that she'd make my aura go all loopy on me... Now I can't use it and I gotta sense her the old fashioned way...)
My ears, the 2nd best of my senses, picked up something to my left. I turned that way and blocked the wave of purple energy that came my way. I then heard shuffling to the right, and ducked another large blast of energy. Now she was BEHIND me! She was really fast, but I rolled to my side and avoided another blast.
Left. Only... She's closer. I had no time to dodge so I put up my defense. Too bad it was a kick to my ankles, making me almost trip... I ate her next move as she grabbed me by me arm, pulled me close, and put a hand on my stomach. I saw that her hand was glowing...
"Shining... Moon!!!"
She blew me away with a big explosion of raw energy, making my stomach ache... especially since I just ate a big dinner. I fell backwards in the grass, holding my hurting belly, trying to recover from almost throwing up...
"Don't get too comfortable, Kaoru!" Mitsumi yelled from my side. I scrambled up to my feel, away from her as she came down with an aerial kick. I then got back up, rushed in... and prepared to counter. Hey, she never said that I couldn't fight back.
"Shoryu Baito!!!"
I nailed the unsuspecting Chinese teen with a rising uppercut with my left fist, then my right, then I knocked her down with an overhead blow to her head. She planted face first into the ground, startled that I actually caught her off guard. She got to her hands and knees in front of me, which I could see clearly despite the darkness, and said, "Whoa... nice one... I... wasn't expecting to get nailed... but if that's how you like it..."
She quickly grabbed my socked ankles and pulled them out from under me, making me fall on my back. I was totally surprised by that and Mitsumi got up quickly, backing away a bit, then raised her left heel up and brought it down as if it was an overhead kick. I barely grabbed her sneaker with my hands in front of my stomach (I was convinced that she was targeting that area the whole time...) and used my right leg to sweep Mitsumi off her feet. She once again met the grass and now I rolled backwards, trying to summon some energy out of my whacked out aura. I finally did and fired at Mitsumi as she tried to get up.
"Hadou... SHOU!"
A sudden wide blast of surge energy escaped my hands. It was the toned down version of the famous Hadouken that was widely used in Shotokan. I could have learned it if I didn't kill my dad... Then again... I wasn't sure if I WANTED that... Mitsumi was forced to block my energy blast, then countered with her own, raising her right arm and a swirl of purple chi entered it...
"Dark... Phoenix... BLAST!"
I let instinct take over and I also blocked Mitsumi's powerful blast, which pushed me back about a few inches. I never realized how strong she was, especially since I just met her... and my energy senses weren't up to par. The dodging exercise turned into a bit of a Street Fight between Mitsumi and I, even though it only lasted about 2 and a half minutes. I'm sorta surprised that Rose didn't stop us, but I wasn't thinking about her at the moment. We moved around in the darkness, nailing some moves, blocking others, and dodging the rest. We really tested ourselves in our short bout and we could have went on if it wasn't for this part...
I backed away from Mitsumi, who I just stunned a bit with a blow to her stomach (ah... revenge...) and I cupped my hands to my side. We were both tired so I tried to end this quick. I was going to go for the most power form of Hadou attacks in the Shotokan library of moves... I focused, a blue ball of chi entering my hands...
"Shinku..."
I remembered how my dad taught me this one about 9 months into my training. I further charged it up, until small blots of electricity came out... and fired.
"HADOUKEN!!!"
I threw my hands forward, releasing the huge ball of energy towards my sparring partner. However, due to the darkness, I couldn't see that she dodged... until she called out from my right.
"You mi-i-ssed!" she said sing-songingly. I spun to face her as I quickly caught the sight of her ducking down. On reaction, I followed suit and tried to knock her out of anything that she tried to throw at me by sweeping her again. Little did I know that Mitsumi was trying the same thing. Our legs met our supporting legs and it caused both of us to fall to the ground on our backs. All I really remember clearly at that moment was white spots in my vision from the force of my fall and the moaning that both of us were letting out. At this time, Rose stepped in.
"Hmm... A bit out of the box..." she started, "but I think that was a great demonstration you two did."
"You... mean that... you saw everything through all this darkness?" I asked, then I remembered. Rose is psychic. "Never... mind..." I corrected myself as I rolled my eyes.
"Nice show, girls," I heard Yui reply. "Need some help?"
"Yeah... That's... nice..." Mitsumi wheezed and the Korean helped us both up at the same time. Mitsumi then rubbed her back and smiled at me. "You know, no one here has given me so much work besides Rose. You're really good at this fighting business!"
"So are you..." I complimented. "I think we should do that more often... after I'm not feeling sore..."
"Yeah... It was fun," the Chinese girl responded. "Now, let's get inside. We need to go to bed... Tomorrow's probably going to be busy."
---- ----
"So, Mitsumi," I asked as I slipped into my bed, already in my nightgown. "What's with you? Why are you here?"
Mitsumi looked at me from her own bed, which was right next to mine, and responded, "Well... About two years ago I let my hometown, Tong-An with my boyfriend to go off training all over the world..."
"What was his name?" I asked. "How was he like?" Mitsumi paused than answered.
"His name... is WangTang. He's older than I am by like 3 years or so, but he's cute. Short, black hair that was done in a small ponytail, always wore the traditional Chinese dragon outfits... He is pretty dedicated to his training and so am I. We trained under the same master, too. Maybe one day, when I go back there to Tong-An, I'll see him again...
"Anyway, we met these two Hong Kong twins in Japan, where we were going to enter the Turn of the Century tournament. Their name was... Yun and Yang Lee..."
I grew wide-eyed. "You KNOW the famous Twin Dragons?!"
"Know them? We teamed up with them in the tournament! It was fun, although Yun did show his immaturity most of the time... Anyway, we almost made it to the final rounds... but..."
She suddenly trailed off and I started to grown concerned, noticing that she turned her back to me.
"...but that's when my dark nature took over... I rather not go into depth about it, and because of my outburst, I decided to go to Rose, who I heard was a great helper of dark entities, for help. I've been here ever since, and I like it. I'm just about over my problem, too, but I'll stay here and help you out, if that's okay with you..."
"Okay with me?? I'd LOVE that!" I responded. Both of us smiled as Mitsumi laid back into her bed and sighed. I did the same.
"Anyway... maybe you can... *yarn* tell me about yourself tomorrow at breakfast..." Mitsumi ended, starting to get really sleepy. I admit, I was feeling the exact same way. It didn't matter. It couldn't make me forget the feeling of being in a place where I felt welcome at... and for the first time, I had friends. I smiled as I laid back into my comfortable bed and pillow, and sighed sleepily.
"Yeah... I *yarn* will," I responded. "G'night, Mitsumi..."
"Night, Kaoru..."
---- ----
That's the end of Chapter 5. Hope you enjoyed it. Now it's my partner, Chan's, turn. Let's see how Kaoru will be in Rose's mansion regarding the other guys and girls living there. Till Chapter 7! Later, readers and don't forget to read my other stories. They'll answer any questions regarding the past events in the New Archives/Chronicles timeline! Remember, this is all one big saga, so make sure you read them all!