Chapter 4 – It's Unfair!

A month has passed since that "welcoming" treatment Eyie got from Maxima and Diana. But K' and Kula, especially K', haven't forgotten it and had teased her about it ever since, much to her dismay. Now they call her "Eyie-chan", which she grudgingly accepts. But she gets back at them by sometimes calling them "Mom" and "Dad" or even "Ye sweet lovahs". But mostly she just calls them "Kula-san" and "K'-san".

At the apartment

K' and Kula were watching T.V. in the den one sunny autumn day. K' had his arm around Kula's shoulders and she was resting her head on his chest. Despite this sweet position, they looked bored. In fact, they were bored. K' was switching channels without even bothering to stop and look closely. Kula was trying to stay awake.

Finally, K' switched off the T.V. and groaned. "I'm getting tired of this!"

Kula yawned. "This is too boring for words!"

K' glanced down at her, and then had an idea. "You know… It's been a while since we've done it," he mused.

She looked up at him. "Are you telling me that..." Her voice trailed off. "But what if Eyie catches us doing it?"

He grinned slyly at her. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she won't."

She chuckled. "You sneaky man!" She entwined her fingers through his. K' brought his face close to hers.

Their lips were almost touching…

Just then, Eyie stuck her head out from the library. "I'm bored! Let's do something!"

They quickly broke away from each other. Kula sat up, casually straightening her clothes. "Oh! Er.. What do you want to do then?"

"Grr.." K' growled in a low voice. Kula shot him a look which said, "Shut up."

But Eyie saw her. "Oops. I've interrupted something between you two. In that case," she said, starting to draw her head back inside the library, "I'll just go to the park on my own and let you have some time with each other."

"No, wait! Going to the park sounds great. Besides, K' and I were wishing for something else to do… Right?" she asked him, secretly stepping on his foot.

"Yeah… Right." K' tried to turn the grimace on his face into a smile.

Eyie beamed. "Alright! I'll get my coat!" She headed to her room.

"Why'd you have to go and do that for?" K' grumbled to Kula. "You could've just called Maxima and Diana and asked them to take their 'sweet, little Eyie-chan' to the park themselves!"

"Oh, K', we can do it ourselves! We're the ones who were entrusted as her guardians! And besides," she said, looking at him straight in the eye, "we can't take any chances. Eyie has a knack for showing up at just the right time when we're about to do something. Remember the time when she walked into the room just as I was unbuttoning your shirt? We'll have to wait for another opportunity."

K' frowned. "Fine! I guess I can wait."

Later that day

K' and Kula were sitting on a bench in the park, watching Eyie use the swings in the children's playground.

"You know… It was a good idea to come here, K'," Kula said, breathing in the cool autumn air. "It's so nice and peaceful here."

"Yeah, whatever."

Just then, Eyie got off the swing and started walking towards them.

"Now what does she want?" K' muttered.

Eyie stopped in front of them. "Um… K'-san, Kula-san…?"

"What is it, Eyie-chan?"

Eyie sighed crossly when she heard that. "Well, I was wondering if…" she paused for a moment, digging the toe of her shoe into the grass.

"For Pete's sake, go on, Eyie," K' said impatiently.

"Would-you-please-teach-me-your-fighting-techniques?" The words came out in a rush.

"Why would you wanna do that?" K' and Kula exclaimed.

Eyie blushed. "Well… I just wanna try them out, see if I can use them when I'm in danger. You see, I want to go out by myself now, and I can see that I'm beginning to be a burden for you two. You want to have some time for each other, right? So teach me. Please?" She looked meaningfully at them.

K' grinned at her. "Okay." This is good! he thought. Me and Kula can finally have some time together…

Eyie grinned back. "Great!"

Kula said, "You teach her first, K'."

He nodded. He stood up, drawing himself up to his full height of six feet. He sneered down at Eyie.

Eyie had to tilt her head back to see his face. "Oh… You sure are tall, K'-sensei!"

He said nothing. Instead, he executed a sudden Narrow Spike.

He expected to hit her square in the face. But he only kicked the air!

"Here I am, K'-sensei!"

He quickly turned around to find her standing behind him with a smile on her face.

Kula laughed. "She's fast!"

K' chuckled. "I see that your dodging is first-class. Now, don't dodge this one, kid!" And with that, he launched his shades at Eyie.

"K'! Don't - !" Kula yelled.

Too late. Eyie let the shades bounce off her forehead.

K' rushed at her, his hand flaming. "Here I come!"

In that split second, before his fist came into contact with Eyie, he saw her smile, then wink, at him. He aimed a blazing right hook at her. To his surprise, she deflected it with her bare handand every single hit he directed at her!

He finished his Chain Drive with a One Inch. She managed to block it using both of her arms, but she got thrown back just the same.

K' and Kula stared at her. "You – you're good!"

Eyie put down her arms (they weren't even scratched, or bruised, or burned!), and grinned sheepishly at them. "I'm a fighter myself."

"You don't say!" They rushed over to her. "You don't have to take any lessons from us, then!"

"No!" she cried. "I want to learn your techniques! You see, I'm a big fan of yours, and I've always wanted to be like you guys! Oh, please, teach me! PLEASE!"

They glanced at each other, then turned back to her. "Oh, alright!"

A group of male voices spoke at that point. "Hey, you two!"

K' and Kula turned to look at the speakers. They were Kyo Kusanagi, Benimaru Nikaido, and Shingo Yabuki.

"What are you guys doing with that little girl?" Kyo asked when they reached K' and Kula.

Eyie's temper flared up. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING LITTLE?"

"Whoa, there, missy!" Benimaru laughed. "Cool it!"

Shingo knelt down beside Eyie. "You okay?"

She glanced at him. "Well – Yeah."

"Come on, I'll help you up." He took her hand and pulled her up.

"Thanks, Shingo-sama!" she said to him.

Shingo scratched the back of his head self-consciously. "Uh – You're welcome."

"So what are you guys doing here?" Benimaru asked K'.

"Eyie's been asking us to teach her some fighting techniques, so we took her here to train her," K' said, thoughtfully forgetting to say that she was a fighter already.

"Oh, I get it…" Kyo said, grinning at Eyie, "You've gotten a Shingo of your own!"

He and Benimaru got a laugh out of that.

Shingo glared at them. "I resent that!"

"Come on, Eyie, show us what you've learned!" Kyo urged her.

Eyie closed one eye. "Okay. I'll show you my version of their Crow Bite."

And without warning, she rushed at Kyo and made an attack that was a cross between K' and Kula's Crow Bites and Kyo and Iori's Oniyaki. Kyo flew through the air and crashed into a tree.

Everyone except Kyo and Eyie gasped. For Kyo's whole body was engulfed in flames. Pale, bluish-green flames.

Kyo scrambled to his feet and frantically began to put the flames out. When he was done, he exclaimed, "Yowch! Those flames hurt a lot!"

"Are you okay, Kusanagi-san?" Shingo asked, rushing over to him. Kyo nodded. "Those flames felt…weird."

"What do you mean, weird?" Benimaru asked.

"They felt like they were freezing me and burning me…at the same time!" Kyo blurted out.

Everybody looked at Eyie. She shrugged, made a small pale, bluish-green flame come out of her finger, and then blew it out. "Got ya."

"You're a fire-wielder!"

"Fire, ice, and wind wielder, to be exact."

"Unreal!"

"NOOOOO! Even a fifteen-year-old girl can have flames? NOO! It's unfair!" Shingo wailed.

K' laughed and put an arm around Eyie's shoulders. "That should be enough for today. It's about time we got home… Let's go!"

Kula waved to Kyo, Benimaru, and Shingo. "'Bye, you guys!"

"'Bye, Shingo-sama!" Eyie yelled at Shingo.

Kyo and Benimaru waved back, and Shingo managed to smile a weak smile at Eyie. As soon as they were gone, though, he started bawling. "IT'S UNFAIR! WHY CAN'T I HAVE FLAMES, TOO? IT'S TOO DAMN UNFAIR!"

Benimaru and a rather burnt Kyo just roared with laughter.

To be continued…