AUTHOR'S COMMENTARY
Loyal readers; Chapter 9 Preview is done...kind of. . I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter at
Thanks, Ownerizer
CHAPTER 9
Hitomi carefully poured some hot water into a pot, being careful not to burn herself. The soup would have more flavors if the water were heated first. It had been a few days since they had gotten back to Los Angles. Lee moped aimlessly around the apartment while a strange girl changed his bandages and fixed his meals as if she had known him for years. At first he was estranged by the way she was so familiar with him and the way she promptly followed him home without any hesitation. He really began to question himself. Lee knew he had taken a beating when he fought against the wrestler. It was just his luck that the roughest, toughest opponent, the one that just barely made the limit in his weight class, would be the one he danced with.
It was also a mystery to him why this little girl, who seemed to be unnaturally cheerful and happy, bounced around his kitchen and held sort of a childish crush on him. Lee did not know himself to be a "ladies man" so he decided that it couldn't be anything he had done on purpose that had attracted her. Her name was Hitomi, an obvious foreign name, but where she had come from and show she got here was still a mystery to him. One that he was anxious to solve, but his manners kept him from asking.
"Here you go, Lee-chan," she smiled, placing a bowl of
miscellaneous vegetable soup in his lap. He took the spoon she
handed and quickly shifted position on the couch and moved the
bowl as it warmed and threatened to burn his crotch. Isolating the pieces of chicken in the bowl, Lee devoured them first. Hitomi came over and took a seat next to him.
"You know we got something in the mail today," she said.
"Yeah, we get mail everyday."
"But this one is different."
"Oh?" She handed him a black envelope. The words "DOATek" where embossed with white letters in the top left corner. It was addressed to The Barrens. He raised an eyebrow at the name. Hitomi sensed his confusion.
"Don't worry about that," she quickly blurted, "my last name is
Barrens; they must have us confused."
"Why are you so eager for me to open the letter?"
Hitomi paused.
"DOATek." he mumbled, "You know what this is, don't you?" She didn't respond. The smile on her face impeded any talking. Lee opened the envelope. A letter emerged with his hand. As he unfolded it, two smaller, rectangular, cardstocks, floated to the floor. Hitomi picked them up and read them aloud.
"Donovan Advanced Technologies World Tournament Invitationals.
Lee, is this what I think it is?"
Lee read the letter so they both could hear.
"Dear Mister and Mrs. Barrens, even though Mister Barrens won
his impressive, hard-fought match which ultimately left him
hospitalized and for that reason Mrs. Barrens chose to forfeit
her match; the judging council in power has decided to grant you
both invitations to the DOATek Preliminary Invitational matches
in Dallas, Texas. The council was very impressed with both of
your matches. Mrs. Barrens defeated her opponent in the fastest
time ever, setting a new record in her weight class. The judges
were also very impressed with Mr. Barrens. His fight was
extremely brutal, himself suffering two broken ribs and a
punctured lung. However, he managed to defeat his opponent
before the medic could stop the fight. Therefore, the judges
have awarded the Barrens with two tickets to the DOATek
Invitationals in Dallas, Texas. Good Luck. Signed, James
Tanner, DOATek, California." Hitomi could hardly believe what was in her hand. This was her chance. This was what she had been waiting for. Now she could show the world how strong, how able she was. And now, the ticket was in her hands to fight in the world's most famous martial arts contest.
Donovan Advanced Technologies sponsored a martial arts contest; once every year. It was world-renown for bringing the best, most intensive fighters from all corners of the globe; who all competed for the two million dollar grand prize. DOATek had been sponsoring the competition for ten years, mainly to promote the sprouting, newly founded, technology firm. Originally specializing in high-end computing, DOATek branched out into information interchange via the World Wide Web. After foreseeing the dot com crash of the late ninety's they quickly acquired several major medical research corporations, including two major leaders in the field of genetics, Gencor and Human Blueprint Researchers. To many people it seemed like a strange, but smart move by DOATek's founder and president Armen Donovan, and he insisted he wanted to get a foothold in an always-expanding market. Donovan had developed an immense interest in the fighting tournament he had sponsored for ten years. The fighters started affectionately changing the DOA acronym to Dead Or Alive, and Donovan himself was caught during a press conference call it by the nickname.
In a move that surprised the tournament organizers, but not the public itself, Donovan bought the rights to the tournament in it's entirety, the name, the event, it all became his. He slowly started to eliminate the masses of fighters flocking to the tournament by holding preliminary fights and making the fights worth any money by invitation only. A panel of judges was hand-picked by Donovan to attend each of the preliminary matches and choose one or two individuals to send invitations to.
This was what Hitomi has been waiting for. She had done her research; she knew what it took to get invited to the DOA tournament ladder. It had been nearly six months since she received her father's approval to join the DOA tournament and seek stronger, more honorable opponents. She looked at Lee, the smile on her face unwavering.
"What?" he asked, her delightful expression clashing with his.
"Can we go?"
"Go where?"
"The DOA tourney," she replied, showing the tickets to him.
"Relax, it's just the invitationals. It's not even worth money yet."
"But this is it," Hitomi emphasized, "Shin no DOA.[1]"
"It is, and at the same time, it isn't."
"What do you mean?" she mumbled, her voice trailing off.
"I mean, even thought we make it to the invitationals, doesn't
me we can get any further than that."
Hitomi frowned.
"That's not like you, Lee. You were ready to beat your
opposition into a pulp a few weeks ago. You were so confident
that you were going to win that last tournament. Now you're
unsure of attending this one?"
Lee paused for a thoughtful moment.
"Wait. Why are there two invites? Do you practice anything?"
She frowned a second time.
"You really don't remember?"
"Guess not." Hitomi took the bowl of soup from him and set it in the kitchen.
"You don't remember taking me to see Genjo-san and having him
help you get to San Diego?"
"I remember getting money for a tournament. Damn ninja beat me
down. I might have gone to a second tournament, but I got so
tore up that I can't remember any of it." The girl approached him as he sat on the couch and stood in front of him. He was too concentrated on the letter to pay her any thought and leaned back on the couch. Hitomi leaned forward and placed her hands an either side of the couch. She slowly leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"Still don't remember?" Lee smirked.
"No, but I like where this is going."
"Huh?"
"Oh nothing," he said, pushing Hitomi away.
With her efforts defeated, she looked at him and pouted her lips.
"What?" Lee asked, the look of frustration and sympathy apparent on
her face.
"You're so stubborn you won't even bring you own memories back."
"I'm not doing in on purpose."
"You'd better not be," she warned, "because if you are, I'm
going to be really upset with you."
x x x x
Lee sat on his bed, the bandages around his waist only hinted with small specks of red. The bleeding had stopped for the most part; the bandages were only there to catch the blood that escaped as the wounds opened slightly from movement. The sound of running water came from his bathroom as Hitomi took a shower. Their regular activity patterns had changed ever since his amnesia. The water stopped and a minute later she walked out, a towel around her body. She walked around behind him. Lee kept his back turned as she undressed herself. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, pulling a t-shirt over her head. "No," he replied in monotone. He kept his eyes in front of him. A small, warm, hand took rest on his shoulder. "I won't bother you about it then," she continued while slowly removing one of the bandages from his waist. Lee flinched slightly as the bandages were removed; some of their fibers had dried in with the scab that had formed. Hitomi noticed his momentary discomfort.
"I know it hurts. I'm sorry."
"Pain is for the weak."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, replacing the bandage.
"It's okay, you can't hurt me." The girl smiled at his comment. "There," she announced softly in triumph as the last bandage was removed and a virgin one put in it's place. "Do you need anything else?" Hitomi asked gently. He looked at her with a calm, expressionless face. "I just want to make sure you're okay, Lee- chan," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek.
Lee turned and lay down on his stomach, stretching out a bit, groaning as he did so.
"What's the matter?" Hitomi asked.
"Nothing. My back has been giving me a little bit of trouble."
"Awww, kowaii so[2]," she cooed, placing her hand on his back.
His back muscles twitched at the touch.
"Where does it hurt?"
"My spine." Hitomi slowly moved her hand across his spine, gently applying pressure. She pushed down on his mid-upper spine. Lee moaned softly.
"Does that hurt?"
"No, push down harder." The girl placed the ball of her hand in the same spot and applied more pressure. "Harder," he mumbled. Under her hands she felt the vertebra separate and with a crunch of flesh and cartilage, come back together. The injured on the bed groaned at the rearranging of his spinal cord. Hitomi quickly retracted her hands and stuffed them in her lap.
"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," she blurted.
"No, you didn't. That felt pretty good."
She let out a small sigh of relief.
"Do you like pain?" the girl asked.
An awkward paused followed.
"Not particularly. When it happens, I tend to ignore it."
"I see."
"Sometimes, it the only way to win your fights. You have to
ignore your pain so it does not cloud your mind." Hitomi gently placed her fingertips on Lee's back. His muscles flinched at even the slightest touch. "Have you conditioned yourself to ignore all touch?" she asked softly, slowly running the tips of her fingers up and down the length of his back, dazzled at the muscles twitching; careful to avoid the bandages. Lee lay in silence, trying to figure out what she could possibly want from him. He wasn't rich, of famous, or even had a nice car or house. Hell, he was downright poor. The bed shifted as the girl got up.
"Now lay here for a few minutes," she instructed, "I'm going to
get you something that will make you feel better."
"I hope it's a beer," he replied.
"Alcohol pollutes the body and mind," Hitomi called from the
kitchen over the clanging of some pots, "it's bad for you."
"Well, a lack of it might be bad for me, right now," he mumbled
to himself.
Lee scratched a itch on his head in hopes it would bring back the pieces of his mind he had lost. It was his conclusion that she wasn't with him for material reasons. He must have done something to be in debt to her, but he knew better than to place himself in debt to another person.
His bedroom door opened to the sound of an object being drug across the floor. Turning his head he could see the girl struggling with one of the wooden chairs from his small dining table. She maneuvered it over to his bedside and bounded back into the kitchen. She came back with a pot in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other and set the pot in the chair. A familiar aroma filled the room.
"Oatmeal?" he asked trying to confirm the smell.
She only smiled.
"That's a lot of oatmeal, I'm not going to be able to eat all of
that. Besides, I don't even like oatmeal. Genjo gave me a
bunch of it a long time ago, I haven't even touched it."
"I know. The tin had lots of dust on it. I don't plan of
feeding you this anyway."
"Then what DO you plan on doing with that? That's a lot of
wasted oatmeal."
"You'll see," Hitomi chimed, "just relax, I promise it's not
wasted." Lee felt the wooden spoon press against his back. It turned, and warm, thick, liquid was spooned across his shoulders. The spoon moved across his back leaving the liquid behind. The warmth of the oatmeal seemed to slowly absorb the pain in his back and muscles. A small pair of hands gently gripped his shoulders, but he was too relaxed to care.
"Lee," said the girls voice as the two hands slowly worked in a
circular motion, "If you weren't so uptight and paranoid all the
time, you might actually have some fun."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he mumbled as the oatmeal and
massage made him powerless.
"It means you should quit worrying and have some fun now and
then."
"I'm gonna have some fun," he moaned.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I have some friends in Texas. We leave for Dallas this
weekend."
x x x x
"Hitomi. Hitomi wake up."
A gentle shaking action roused the girl from her slumber on the couch. Lee stood over her, buttoning up a dark red shirt that shown of silk. Hitomi sat up on the couch and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Our plane leaves in four hours, so get packed and ready to go." She stood up from the couch and stumbled into the bathroom.
As the girl showered Lee tripped about his apartment, organizing and cleaning. A knock at the door interrupted his rush.
"Hey Lee, are you alive in there, man?" called a familiar voice from the outside.
The bouncer stumbled over to the door and opened it to see Roger
standing in front of him.
"You still alive, cripple?" the bartender smirked.
"Alive enough to kick your ass," Lee smiled.
The bouncer opened the door and let his friend inside.
"I appreciate you taking us to the airport, Rod, I'm really not
a fan of public transportation."
"Hey, no problem. I want to show you my new ride anyway."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Got a sweet deal on it too. Where's Hitomi? I doubt
she's ever seen anything like it, I want to show her."
"She is in the shower I think, she should be done in a minute."
As if on cue the door to the bathroom opened swung open and steam flowed out, billowing towards the ceiling. She was already dressed, and in the process of drying her hair. Approaching the living room, Hitomi bunched up the towel and dropped it in the laundry basket by the door, pulling out a hairbrush from her back pocket. The damp hair clung to her head, mimicking her black slacks that clung to her thighs and rear; and the shirt that seemed two sizes too small that clung to her chest, revealing part of her slender, slightly muscular midriff. "Are you trying to show off?" Lee joked. Hitomi stopped, trying to process the question. Then it dawned on her while she was brushing her hair. "If you had a body like mine, wouldn't you?" she smiled. Lee thought for a moment. He never really thought himself having an attractive girl's body. But if did have one then; "Yeah, I probably would," he concluded with a grin. Out of the corner of his eye Lee could see Roger's face with a raised eyebrow. "It's probably better not to ask," Lee told him. The bouncer turned to Hitomi, "Get your stuff together. Roger's here so we're leaving." The little girl disappeared into Lee's room and quickly tossed her clean clothes and toiletries into a duffle bag. Throwing it over her shoulder she brought it with her into the living room where Lee and Roger were having a discussion. "You got everything?" Roger asked her. She nodded. "Good let's roll."
Hitomi followed Lee and Roger out the door. She paused for a moment to watch Lee as he locked the door to his apartment. She looked around at all the cars parked in the lot.
"Where's your car Roger?" Hitomi asked.
"I walked," he replied.
"Eh?"
"Just kidding," he chuckled, "It's that black one over there." She followed him to a large black car parked in the last space designated in the lot. The car was two or three spaces away from other vehicles in all directions; it seemed to be lonely, or scaring away the other cars. The car was large and rigid, yet streamline. It's gloss black paint shown brilliantly in the afternoon sun. A horizontal stripe ran the length of the sides and outlined the letters "R/T" near the front. Its hood was kept securely down by two large hood pins, secured to thin cables that ran inside the car. Its wheels glittered blindingly, a compliment to the chrome edging the wheel wells and windshield. Its hood was branded with its genius maker's name. "Dodge," Hitomi whispered to herself. The bartender went over to the trunk and fumbled through his key ring. The trunk was adorned with a sleek black spoiler, meant to give the car better contact with the road at high speeds. Finally finding the winner, he opened the trunk and it seemed to groan a bit as it gave way. Hitomi placed her bag inside.
"This is a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE," he said, "I finally
was able to work up enough money to get it out of the shop. New
paint, interior, electrical, steel braided hoses, gas lines,
everything. I even had the engine rebuilt."
"Very nice," Lee commented, throwing his suitcase inside.
"It's a very pretty car," Hitomi commented, "It seems more like
a race car."
"Heh, you got that right," Roger smirked.
"Huh?"
"This thing has a 440 Magnum with the six-pack."
"Don't you get enough beer at your job?" Lee joked.
"You're a funny man," Roger retaliated sarcastically; opening
the driver side door and tilting the seat forward, "Just get in
the car, Red Skelton[3]." Hitomi climbed in the back seat and Roger pushed it forward and took a seat. It closed with a large metal on metal thunk. There was nothing luxurious about the car. It seemed like a very old, out-of-date style. Everything was operated by levers and the windows had to be rolled down manually.
"Six pack," he explained, "is a six barrel carburetor. This
monster burns more gas in one stroke of the engine than those
little import racers have in their entire tank." He press down the clutch, put the key in the ignition; and with it's turn the car roared to life. Hitomi flinched at the noise engine, not expecting it to be so loud. The car eased into the street and with the lane ahead of him devoid of traffic, Roger floored the accelerator. The Challenger pitched to the left. Hitomi became pinned to the seat as the g-forces took hold. Squealing tires and white smoke filled the air. Suddenly the slowed its hurried pace, settling to a normal cruising speed. ----------------------- [1] Japanese – literally means "The True DOA." [2] Japanese – Kowaii so is the Japanese equivalent of "you poor thing" [3] Red Skelton(1913-1997) was a very popular comedian
Loyal readers; Chapter 9 Preview is done...kind of. . I'd love to hear your thoughts on this chapter at
Thanks, Ownerizer
CHAPTER 9
Hitomi carefully poured some hot water into a pot, being careful not to burn herself. The soup would have more flavors if the water were heated first. It had been a few days since they had gotten back to Los Angles. Lee moped aimlessly around the apartment while a strange girl changed his bandages and fixed his meals as if she had known him for years. At first he was estranged by the way she was so familiar with him and the way she promptly followed him home without any hesitation. He really began to question himself. Lee knew he had taken a beating when he fought against the wrestler. It was just his luck that the roughest, toughest opponent, the one that just barely made the limit in his weight class, would be the one he danced with.
It was also a mystery to him why this little girl, who seemed to be unnaturally cheerful and happy, bounced around his kitchen and held sort of a childish crush on him. Lee did not know himself to be a "ladies man" so he decided that it couldn't be anything he had done on purpose that had attracted her. Her name was Hitomi, an obvious foreign name, but where she had come from and show she got here was still a mystery to him. One that he was anxious to solve, but his manners kept him from asking.
"Here you go, Lee-chan," she smiled, placing a bowl of
miscellaneous vegetable soup in his lap. He took the spoon she
handed and quickly shifted position on the couch and moved the
bowl as it warmed and threatened to burn his crotch. Isolating the pieces of chicken in the bowl, Lee devoured them first. Hitomi came over and took a seat next to him.
"You know we got something in the mail today," she said.
"Yeah, we get mail everyday."
"But this one is different."
"Oh?" She handed him a black envelope. The words "DOATek" where embossed with white letters in the top left corner. It was addressed to The Barrens. He raised an eyebrow at the name. Hitomi sensed his confusion.
"Don't worry about that," she quickly blurted, "my last name is
Barrens; they must have us confused."
"Why are you so eager for me to open the letter?"
Hitomi paused.
"DOATek." he mumbled, "You know what this is, don't you?" She didn't respond. The smile on her face impeded any talking. Lee opened the envelope. A letter emerged with his hand. As he unfolded it, two smaller, rectangular, cardstocks, floated to the floor. Hitomi picked them up and read them aloud.
"Donovan Advanced Technologies World Tournament Invitationals.
Lee, is this what I think it is?"
Lee read the letter so they both could hear.
"Dear Mister and Mrs. Barrens, even though Mister Barrens won
his impressive, hard-fought match which ultimately left him
hospitalized and for that reason Mrs. Barrens chose to forfeit
her match; the judging council in power has decided to grant you
both invitations to the DOATek Preliminary Invitational matches
in Dallas, Texas. The council was very impressed with both of
your matches. Mrs. Barrens defeated her opponent in the fastest
time ever, setting a new record in her weight class. The judges
were also very impressed with Mr. Barrens. His fight was
extremely brutal, himself suffering two broken ribs and a
punctured lung. However, he managed to defeat his opponent
before the medic could stop the fight. Therefore, the judges
have awarded the Barrens with two tickets to the DOATek
Invitationals in Dallas, Texas. Good Luck. Signed, James
Tanner, DOATek, California." Hitomi could hardly believe what was in her hand. This was her chance. This was what she had been waiting for. Now she could show the world how strong, how able she was. And now, the ticket was in her hands to fight in the world's most famous martial arts contest.
Donovan Advanced Technologies sponsored a martial arts contest; once every year. It was world-renown for bringing the best, most intensive fighters from all corners of the globe; who all competed for the two million dollar grand prize. DOATek had been sponsoring the competition for ten years, mainly to promote the sprouting, newly founded, technology firm. Originally specializing in high-end computing, DOATek branched out into information interchange via the World Wide Web. After foreseeing the dot com crash of the late ninety's they quickly acquired several major medical research corporations, including two major leaders in the field of genetics, Gencor and Human Blueprint Researchers. To many people it seemed like a strange, but smart move by DOATek's founder and president Armen Donovan, and he insisted he wanted to get a foothold in an always-expanding market. Donovan had developed an immense interest in the fighting tournament he had sponsored for ten years. The fighters started affectionately changing the DOA acronym to Dead Or Alive, and Donovan himself was caught during a press conference call it by the nickname.
In a move that surprised the tournament organizers, but not the public itself, Donovan bought the rights to the tournament in it's entirety, the name, the event, it all became his. He slowly started to eliminate the masses of fighters flocking to the tournament by holding preliminary fights and making the fights worth any money by invitation only. A panel of judges was hand-picked by Donovan to attend each of the preliminary matches and choose one or two individuals to send invitations to.
This was what Hitomi has been waiting for. She had done her research; she knew what it took to get invited to the DOA tournament ladder. It had been nearly six months since she received her father's approval to join the DOA tournament and seek stronger, more honorable opponents. She looked at Lee, the smile on her face unwavering.
"What?" he asked, her delightful expression clashing with his.
"Can we go?"
"Go where?"
"The DOA tourney," she replied, showing the tickets to him.
"Relax, it's just the invitationals. It's not even worth money yet."
"But this is it," Hitomi emphasized, "Shin no DOA.[1]"
"It is, and at the same time, it isn't."
"What do you mean?" she mumbled, her voice trailing off.
"I mean, even thought we make it to the invitationals, doesn't
me we can get any further than that."
Hitomi frowned.
"That's not like you, Lee. You were ready to beat your
opposition into a pulp a few weeks ago. You were so confident
that you were going to win that last tournament. Now you're
unsure of attending this one?"
Lee paused for a thoughtful moment.
"Wait. Why are there two invites? Do you practice anything?"
She frowned a second time.
"You really don't remember?"
"Guess not." Hitomi took the bowl of soup from him and set it in the kitchen.
"You don't remember taking me to see Genjo-san and having him
help you get to San Diego?"
"I remember getting money for a tournament. Damn ninja beat me
down. I might have gone to a second tournament, but I got so
tore up that I can't remember any of it." The girl approached him as he sat on the couch and stood in front of him. He was too concentrated on the letter to pay her any thought and leaned back on the couch. Hitomi leaned forward and placed her hands an either side of the couch. She slowly leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"Still don't remember?" Lee smirked.
"No, but I like where this is going."
"Huh?"
"Oh nothing," he said, pushing Hitomi away.
With her efforts defeated, she looked at him and pouted her lips.
"What?" Lee asked, the look of frustration and sympathy apparent on
her face.
"You're so stubborn you won't even bring you own memories back."
"I'm not doing in on purpose."
"You'd better not be," she warned, "because if you are, I'm
going to be really upset with you."
x x x x
Lee sat on his bed, the bandages around his waist only hinted with small specks of red. The bleeding had stopped for the most part; the bandages were only there to catch the blood that escaped as the wounds opened slightly from movement. The sound of running water came from his bathroom as Hitomi took a shower. Their regular activity patterns had changed ever since his amnesia. The water stopped and a minute later she walked out, a towel around her body. She walked around behind him. Lee kept his back turned as she undressed herself. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, pulling a t-shirt over her head. "No," he replied in monotone. He kept his eyes in front of him. A small, warm, hand took rest on his shoulder. "I won't bother you about it then," she continued while slowly removing one of the bandages from his waist. Lee flinched slightly as the bandages were removed; some of their fibers had dried in with the scab that had formed. Hitomi noticed his momentary discomfort.
"I know it hurts. I'm sorry."
"Pain is for the weak."
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, replacing the bandage.
"It's okay, you can't hurt me." The girl smiled at his comment. "There," she announced softly in triumph as the last bandage was removed and a virgin one put in it's place. "Do you need anything else?" Hitomi asked gently. He looked at her with a calm, expressionless face. "I just want to make sure you're okay, Lee- chan," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek.
Lee turned and lay down on his stomach, stretching out a bit, groaning as he did so.
"What's the matter?" Hitomi asked.
"Nothing. My back has been giving me a little bit of trouble."
"Awww, kowaii so[2]," she cooed, placing her hand on his back.
His back muscles twitched at the touch.
"Where does it hurt?"
"My spine." Hitomi slowly moved her hand across his spine, gently applying pressure. She pushed down on his mid-upper spine. Lee moaned softly.
"Does that hurt?"
"No, push down harder." The girl placed the ball of her hand in the same spot and applied more pressure. "Harder," he mumbled. Under her hands she felt the vertebra separate and with a crunch of flesh and cartilage, come back together. The injured on the bed groaned at the rearranging of his spinal cord. Hitomi quickly retracted her hands and stuffed them in her lap.
"I...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," she blurted.
"No, you didn't. That felt pretty good."
She let out a small sigh of relief.
"Do you like pain?" the girl asked.
An awkward paused followed.
"Not particularly. When it happens, I tend to ignore it."
"I see."
"Sometimes, it the only way to win your fights. You have to
ignore your pain so it does not cloud your mind." Hitomi gently placed her fingertips on Lee's back. His muscles flinched at even the slightest touch. "Have you conditioned yourself to ignore all touch?" she asked softly, slowly running the tips of her fingers up and down the length of his back, dazzled at the muscles twitching; careful to avoid the bandages. Lee lay in silence, trying to figure out what she could possibly want from him. He wasn't rich, of famous, or even had a nice car or house. Hell, he was downright poor. The bed shifted as the girl got up.
"Now lay here for a few minutes," she instructed, "I'm going to
get you something that will make you feel better."
"I hope it's a beer," he replied.
"Alcohol pollutes the body and mind," Hitomi called from the
kitchen over the clanging of some pots, "it's bad for you."
"Well, a lack of it might be bad for me, right now," he mumbled
to himself.
Lee scratched a itch on his head in hopes it would bring back the pieces of his mind he had lost. It was his conclusion that she wasn't with him for material reasons. He must have done something to be in debt to her, but he knew better than to place himself in debt to another person.
His bedroom door opened to the sound of an object being drug across the floor. Turning his head he could see the girl struggling with one of the wooden chairs from his small dining table. She maneuvered it over to his bedside and bounded back into the kitchen. She came back with a pot in one hand and a wooden spoon in the other and set the pot in the chair. A familiar aroma filled the room.
"Oatmeal?" he asked trying to confirm the smell.
She only smiled.
"That's a lot of oatmeal, I'm not going to be able to eat all of
that. Besides, I don't even like oatmeal. Genjo gave me a
bunch of it a long time ago, I haven't even touched it."
"I know. The tin had lots of dust on it. I don't plan of
feeding you this anyway."
"Then what DO you plan on doing with that? That's a lot of
wasted oatmeal."
"You'll see," Hitomi chimed, "just relax, I promise it's not
wasted." Lee felt the wooden spoon press against his back. It turned, and warm, thick, liquid was spooned across his shoulders. The spoon moved across his back leaving the liquid behind. The warmth of the oatmeal seemed to slowly absorb the pain in his back and muscles. A small pair of hands gently gripped his shoulders, but he was too relaxed to care.
"Lee," said the girls voice as the two hands slowly worked in a
circular motion, "If you weren't so uptight and paranoid all the
time, you might actually have some fun."
"What's that supposed to mean?" he mumbled as the oatmeal and
massage made him powerless.
"It means you should quit worrying and have some fun now and
then."
"I'm gonna have some fun," he moaned.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. I have some friends in Texas. We leave for Dallas this
weekend."
x x x x
"Hitomi. Hitomi wake up."
A gentle shaking action roused the girl from her slumber on the couch. Lee stood over her, buttoning up a dark red shirt that shown of silk. Hitomi sat up on the couch and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Our plane leaves in four hours, so get packed and ready to go." She stood up from the couch and stumbled into the bathroom.
As the girl showered Lee tripped about his apartment, organizing and cleaning. A knock at the door interrupted his rush.
"Hey Lee, are you alive in there, man?" called a familiar voice from the outside.
The bouncer stumbled over to the door and opened it to see Roger
standing in front of him.
"You still alive, cripple?" the bartender smirked.
"Alive enough to kick your ass," Lee smiled.
The bouncer opened the door and let his friend inside.
"I appreciate you taking us to the airport, Rod, I'm really not
a fan of public transportation."
"Hey, no problem. I want to show you my new ride anyway."
"Oh?"
"Yeah. Got a sweet deal on it too. Where's Hitomi? I doubt
she's ever seen anything like it, I want to show her."
"She is in the shower I think, she should be done in a minute."
As if on cue the door to the bathroom opened swung open and steam flowed out, billowing towards the ceiling. She was already dressed, and in the process of drying her hair. Approaching the living room, Hitomi bunched up the towel and dropped it in the laundry basket by the door, pulling out a hairbrush from her back pocket. The damp hair clung to her head, mimicking her black slacks that clung to her thighs and rear; and the shirt that seemed two sizes too small that clung to her chest, revealing part of her slender, slightly muscular midriff. "Are you trying to show off?" Lee joked. Hitomi stopped, trying to process the question. Then it dawned on her while she was brushing her hair. "If you had a body like mine, wouldn't you?" she smiled. Lee thought for a moment. He never really thought himself having an attractive girl's body. But if did have one then; "Yeah, I probably would," he concluded with a grin. Out of the corner of his eye Lee could see Roger's face with a raised eyebrow. "It's probably better not to ask," Lee told him. The bouncer turned to Hitomi, "Get your stuff together. Roger's here so we're leaving." The little girl disappeared into Lee's room and quickly tossed her clean clothes and toiletries into a duffle bag. Throwing it over her shoulder she brought it with her into the living room where Lee and Roger were having a discussion. "You got everything?" Roger asked her. She nodded. "Good let's roll."
Hitomi followed Lee and Roger out the door. She paused for a moment to watch Lee as he locked the door to his apartment. She looked around at all the cars parked in the lot.
"Where's your car Roger?" Hitomi asked.
"I walked," he replied.
"Eh?"
"Just kidding," he chuckled, "It's that black one over there." She followed him to a large black car parked in the last space designated in the lot. The car was two or three spaces away from other vehicles in all directions; it seemed to be lonely, or scaring away the other cars. The car was large and rigid, yet streamline. It's gloss black paint shown brilliantly in the afternoon sun. A horizontal stripe ran the length of the sides and outlined the letters "R/T" near the front. Its hood was kept securely down by two large hood pins, secured to thin cables that ran inside the car. Its wheels glittered blindingly, a compliment to the chrome edging the wheel wells and windshield. Its hood was branded with its genius maker's name. "Dodge," Hitomi whispered to herself. The bartender went over to the trunk and fumbled through his key ring. The trunk was adorned with a sleek black spoiler, meant to give the car better contact with the road at high speeds. Finally finding the winner, he opened the trunk and it seemed to groan a bit as it gave way. Hitomi placed her bag inside.
"This is a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T SE," he said, "I finally
was able to work up enough money to get it out of the shop. New
paint, interior, electrical, steel braided hoses, gas lines,
everything. I even had the engine rebuilt."
"Very nice," Lee commented, throwing his suitcase inside.
"It's a very pretty car," Hitomi commented, "It seems more like
a race car."
"Heh, you got that right," Roger smirked.
"Huh?"
"This thing has a 440 Magnum with the six-pack."
"Don't you get enough beer at your job?" Lee joked.
"You're a funny man," Roger retaliated sarcastically; opening
the driver side door and tilting the seat forward, "Just get in
the car, Red Skelton[3]." Hitomi climbed in the back seat and Roger pushed it forward and took a seat. It closed with a large metal on metal thunk. There was nothing luxurious about the car. It seemed like a very old, out-of-date style. Everything was operated by levers and the windows had to be rolled down manually.
"Six pack," he explained, "is a six barrel carburetor. This
monster burns more gas in one stroke of the engine than those
little import racers have in their entire tank." He press down the clutch, put the key in the ignition; and with it's turn the car roared to life. Hitomi flinched at the noise engine, not expecting it to be so loud. The car eased into the street and with the lane ahead of him devoid of traffic, Roger floored the accelerator. The Challenger pitched to the left. Hitomi became pinned to the seat as the g-forces took hold. Squealing tires and white smoke filled the air. Suddenly the slowed its hurried pace, settling to a normal cruising speed. ----------------------- [1] Japanese – literally means "The True DOA." [2] Japanese – Kowaii so is the Japanese equivalent of "you poor thing" [3] Red Skelton(1913-1997) was a very popular comedian