A/N: Hm, I wonder if I should wait just a lil longer for some reviews..but i'm glad the ones i've gotten so far are positive ones! lol it will be funny for me if for chapter 3 i only have 1 review...i mean, so far 2 chapters with 2 reviews kind of got me laughing, and nervous. haha, well, here's chapter 3! this is where it gets very interesting...(happy reading!)
Chapter 3: Run-in with Cunningham x2
As the two rushed into the conference room, everyone stared at them. They breathed heavily, Takeshi put a hand up in front of him.
"Sorry...we're late...got a little...sidetracked." he managed to say. Liz nodded as she panted.
"Sidetracked, understandable." Miss Satomi said and both Andrei and Mark laughed.
"Gee, do you think maybe they were smoochin?" Andrei teased and both of them grew red and started a fit.
"OH CAN IT!" they shouted, which caused even more of a scene.
"All right, all right. Settle down everyone. The race against Sledge Mamma is coming up, and we need to be prepared. I got some useful information today, and it's not very good for us. As we all know, Yamma might get fired if we win, and that means he's going to do whatever it takes. Just the other day I heard he almost put one of his own teammates in a hospital room, showing no mercy even when the others were trying to settle him down." Miss Satomi explained and everyone nodded with a little bit of awe.
"So, what do we do?" Liz asked.
"Train of course. We can't afford to lose now, especially when we've lost once and tied once as well. We need to win this race and the following right after!" Miss Satomi replied with a cry and everyone nodded.
"Besides, I promise that if we win again this year, at the end of the season I'm taking the whole team out for a nice vacation." she added and the whole team roared with excitement.
"So now are we going to train or do simulations again?" Takeshi asked.
"Well, I guess for today you guys can train. For tommorow, it's back to the simluation. But when you train train hard! Harder then you've ever trained in your lives!" Miss Satomi replied with a shout and everyone agreed with a simple nod. As they went to the training area, Liz decided to have a friendly sparring match with Takeshi. Amy was the referee.
"Ready!...And!-"
"Murroowww!" Luca signaled, in cat tongue meaning, 'GO!' Both Takeshi and Liz read moves, and both jumped back, away from eachother. At the second they landed they charged, one good punch to the face! Both grunting, they fell back, but quickly got up on their feet.
"You guys...are in synch." Amy said in awe.
"Of course. This is a friendly competition isn't it?" Takeshi asked.
"Reading eachother's moves make it much more fun. You'll experience it someday Amy." Liz replied and the two charged again, punching, each fist colliding with the other. The match continued, until finally the two did their own thing.
"Round two, let's call it. The first was a tie, let's have this one over with for the third. When I kick your ass." Liz said playfully.
"I think you need to have it the other way around." Takeshi replied and charged. Liz was prepared with a guard, and Takeshi pulled a punch to the right, then a kick to the left. A charge to the front, and then a upward kick making Liz jump unexpectantly to her surprise. With her guard dropped, Takeshi saw the opening and jumped up in front of her, giving her a punch that sent her on the ground with a thud.
"Winner is..."
"Meowowowww.." Luca meowed saying, 'Takeshi!' The two laughed at the cat's interest in the fight, and round three began. Without letting Takeshi get ahold of his surroundings she charged and gave a double punch to the right, a low kick that knocked him flat, then picking him up and tossing him to the other side. She got into her guard position when he got up painfully and dusted himself.
"Easy Liz, don't send me to the hospital before the race." Takeshi whined painfully with a stiffled laugh.
"Sorry Takeshi, but I'm never easy on others during a match. Even if you may be my-" she started and looked at Amy and Luca. "...very good friend." she covered. Takeshi knew what she meant and smiled, with Luca giving a wheeze of laughter and Amy giggling. She still didn't like it calling Takeshi her boyfriend in front of her friend, or the team for that matter.
"All right. Round three. Liz zero, Takeshi one. The next fight will either go into a tie or Takeshi winning it all. Ready, Set..." Amy started and waited for Luca. There was no meow this time, and the three stared at the tabby. He was cleaning himself now, licking his paw and then washing his face. He looked at them with his big green eyes, and then meowed to signal, 'Go!' The two charged, sending punches, kicks, low kicks, dodges, you name it. Liz decided it was time to do a special move. She did a backflip and then charged at full speed after hitting the wall and pushing foward to give speed. She went quickly to Takeshi who blocked her first punch, but then she kicked down hard on the floor to make it vibrate, making him lose his balance. He grunted but she caught him in the nick of time, but he didn't like it. She grabbed his wrist and picked him up to throw him on the ground in a toss. His back slammed with the floor with a bam(!), and he grunted in pain as Liz dusted her hands on her jeans. She extended a hand to Takeshi, who only looked at it in fear, a funny look on his face.
"Don't worry the match is over. We ended in a tie. You lucked out." she said to him and he smiled as he finally took the offer of being helped up. Amy and Luca ran over to see if Takeshi was okay, and he replied with a hysterical laugh and a nod. When he stood up straighter though, a couple of cracks could be heard coming from his back and his eyes went wide in embarrassment as he quickly went into an 'old man' position.
"Man Takeshi, I'm sorry. I didn't know you were a wimp at this." Liz joked and Takeshi gave her an evil stare.
"I will haunt you forever if I'm going to stay in this position forever. Or, if I need to, if I get a cane whack you with it continuously!" he snapped back with a sniffle of pain and she laughed.
"You'd be walking too slow to actually hit me." she teased and he stood upright, chasing her around the dojo.
"LIZ! I have you now...my back's fi-crack . . . Aaauuggghhh!" he cried in exaughstion and flopped to the ground.
"All you need is for it to be in tip top shape." Liz said and with Amy's help, he was able to be back in shape with his temporary bad back.
As the four walked out after a nice hard work, Takeshi decided to break off from the others to go out for a stroll himself. As Liz, Luca, and Amy bid him farewell the others decided to go get some food. As Takeshi walked silently down the road, he kept thinking about Cunningham, how he would beat the snot out of him if he ever saw him. Takeshi just couldn't bare to hear that name anymore and clenched a fist. But something kept bugging him, even more than Cunningham. 'Why am I jealous? I promised myself that whatever happened after my break up with Fantine that I would always love Liz, and no one else. But questions are beginning to get on me, how in the world could Fantine just go to Cunningham, and in a snap just like that they were a couple?' It dawned on him. 'Maybe...maybe she was seeing him secretly. If that's the case then...I should be jealous. But not for love. For anger, and betrayel...' he continued to think, and then looked up to see him. Cunningham. He shivered at the sight, and casually walked over. Cunningham saw Takeshi, and didn't even move. They stared at eachother, at least a foot apart.
"You. Come with me." Cunningham pointed and walked off. Takeshi gritted his teeth. 'That was MY line you!' Takeshi thought with rage, but followed anyways. The two walked silently, down an alleyway.
"How long?" Takeshi asked.
"What?" Cunningham asked.
"Don't play stupid. How long?" Takeshi repeated.
"Oh. That. Not long really." Cunningham replied.
"Was it behind my back that you did this?" Takeshi asked.
"It could have been. Both of us knew that you were falling in love with Liz, so why bother her telling you she and I were dating?" Cunningham asked. Takeshi clenched a fist and ran foward for a good punch. It was stopped in Cunningham's palm, and he grasped Takeshi's fist tightly.
"I don't even want to know what you've been doing. I can't believe this...It's just...why the hell would you-"
"Hey. You should be glad that we're dating. I mean, psh, we're friends. I was happy that you were with Liz, so you should be happy with my choice of a girlfriend." Cunningham said.
"Correction, we're not friends. We're bitter enemies and nothing more." Takeshi hissed as Cunningham let go of his fist.
"Is that so? Then I'm glad. It's cause of you that Fantine is sad again. Now she's filled with guilt cause she saw you looking all depressed. You should just keep your distance from us and go back to your girlfriend Liz. Besides, you don't want to let her know you're still having doubts, right? Or aren't you having doubts?" Cunningham asked. Almost triggering every anger button Takeshi had, he finally fumed and sent out punches and kicks furiously.
"You..have...no right to be questioning me! I should be the one questioning you! You should be the one getting angered, not me!" Takeshi screamed and took a mean punch to the face. He fell back onto the ground and it stained his jacket brown. Cunningham walked over casually to Takeshi, and Takeshi rubbed off the blood that trickled down the side of his mouth. Cunningham gave a deadly stare at Takeshi, and then kicked him in the stomach and walked off saying, "Next time, pick on someone you can handle." Takeshi coughed out a little saliva, but regained himself quickly. He stood up and brushed himself off. 'Damn him! It wasn't supposed to turn out like this! Someday I'll get my chance. Then all of this...this jealousy...this unending question will go away and I'll finally be able to be with Liz forever, no destractions...nothing. Just, us. Damn you Cunningham, laugh while you can because I'm going to show you what I can do when you've angered me too many times.' he thought and painfully walked back to Satomi HQ.
"Takeshi! What happened to you? You look awful!" Liz cried as she jumped up and rushed over to Takeshi.
"I'm okay. Don't worry I just had a little run-in with Cunningham." Takeshi replied with a grunt as he sat down, making sure not to stain the chair with his jacket he took it off before he sat.
"A little run-in? Did he beat you up?" Liz roared and Amy and Luca walked into the room.
"Takeshi what happened are you all right?" Amy asked and Luca licked Takeshi on the face.
"Thanks Luca. No worries I'm all right." he said to Amy as he pet Luca on the head.
"Tell me, did he beat you up? Be honest." Liz said angrily.
"Well...we sorta got into a little fight and I lost but I'm okay now so don't worry." Takeshi replied. The last thing he wanted was for Liz to find out why they had gotten into that little fight.
"If you say so man..." Liz said with a shrug. "But if I do run into him I'm going to ask why and then beat the crap out of him." she added as she slammed her left fist into her right palm with an angered look on her face.
"Now is that really neccessary?..." Takeshi asked.
"Oh you bet it is. No one hurts you without my approval." Liz replied.
"Why does that make me even more nervous?" Takeshi asked and Liz laughed.
"But really Takeshi, what did you do to make Cunningham do that to you?" Amy asked.
"Well, I made him mad so that's one reason." Takeshi replied.
"And that was?" Liz asked.
"It's a secret. Sorry, can't tell you. It's between me and him." Takeshi replied with a smile.
"Whatever." the two replied and Luca meowed quietly as he rolled up in a ball to go sleep. There was a short period of silence, and Liz stood up with a stretch.
"Well, it's only 3:00. I'm going out for a jog. See you guys later. Takeshi, you might wanna wash up and take care of those bruises." Liz suggested and ran off with a wave.
"I hope she's not going to do what I think she's going to do." Takeshi complained and Amy stood up with a laugh.
"You should be happy. If she's doing what we all think she's doing, then it only means she cares for you." Amy said, picked up Luca, and walked off into the other room. When the door shut, Takeshi looked up at the ceiling.
"I'm glad she cares...but if she's going to find out why I got mad at Cunningham things will get complicated.." Takeshi said to himself with a groan and decided to take a shower as he walked painfully home.
Liz continued at a good pace for a jog, but kept her eyes alert if she were to see Cunningham. Every once in a while, some kids would run up to her for an autograph, but besides that she continued her search. As Liz began to give up on her search, she took a quick rest on a bench and got a small ice cream for herself. As she licked it once in a while, a small little girl walked shyly over to her, a pen and pad in her hands. 'Aw, she sure is cute. I guess I'll need to sign again.' Liz thought and bent down to the girl.
"Ummm...can I have your autoguwaph?" the little girl asked shyly as she held out the pen and paper.
"Of course. Who should I make it out to?" Liz asked as she wrote, " To You're such a cutey! I'm always glad to have cute little fans like you! Your pal, Liz Ricarro."
"Ummm...to Lilly and Becca pwease." the girl squeaked in delight. Replace the empty space with the two names, the girl smiled and bowed in thanks as she ran off, showing another girl her age the pad and they giggled in delight, running off to their mom.
"Cute." Liz said to herself and stood up. As she sighed, she finally gave up her search and decided to go back to Satomi HQ. As she started to walk, she saw Cunningham and rushed up to him. He looked surprised to see her rush up so quickly, but decided to have a nice chat with her.
"Hello Liz. Haven't seen you in a while." he said to her. She only pointed a finger and pressed it against his chest.
"Why'd you beat up Takeshi like that? What gives you the right to do that?" she asked with a frown.
"Why are you so anxious to know?" Cunningham challenged.
"Cause nobody hurts Takeshi unless I say they can!" Liz answered.
"Good enough answer, I guess." Cunningham said quietly.
"So, why'd you beat up Takeshi?" Liz asked again.
"You really wanna know why?" he asked. She shook her head yes. 'Of course! Anyone who beats Takeshi up is a dead man!' Liz thought. Cunningham took a deep breath in, and couldn't help but smile as he explained. 'This will be interesting.' he thought.
"Takeshi came up to me earlier today and asked me how long I was dating Fantine. You see, she and I have been dating for a while now and Takeshi wanted to know since he saw together twice." he started. Liz had a surprised look and gasped.
"So you're saying...he was jealous?" she asked, disbelief written all over her face. Cunningham nodded and decided to continue.
"Well, after that we chatted a little more about the situation and I asked him if he was having any doubts and if he had any doubts. He didn't answer me though so I gave a punch that he deserved." he finished and Liz was stunned. She felt like a dagger had just struck deep into her heart, and she felt a pang of sadness.
"You're lying...you have to be..." she muttered and backed away slowly, away from Cunningham. Cunningham took a step foward and she backed away further.
"It's a lie! It has to be! Get away from me! Stay away!" Liz warned as he pressed further. Soon she was backed into the wall and he bent over to her ear.
"If I'm lying, why you don't ask him himself?" he whispered. It almost sounded like a dare. She pushed him foward to have him have some distance between them and jumped back.
"I will! You'll see and I'll find out that your lying!" she roared.
"And if I'm not? Then what are you going to do?" he asked. It took a while for her to answer.
"Beat the crap outta of you! One way or another!" she finally answered and rushed off back to Satomi HQ, tears running down her face. All the way she was thinking, thinking about what she had just experienced. What she had heard, who it was from. All along the way she kept telling herself that Cunningham was lying. That he was just trying to make her mad, trying to get under her skin until she would shout at Takeshi for no reason. Still...somewhere in the back of her mind she thought about his words, if they were true...
'Jealous? Takeshi, jealous? Doubt? Doubt about our relationship? Takeshi...are you really feeling that? What is wrong for us to be a couple? Could it really be...really be too good to be true-...you and me?..One way or another, I will find out, and I will find the answer if we are meant to be! Because...some relationships, were never meant to exist...'
A/N: Told ya things would get interesting! Next time- Chapter 4: Conflict! Doubts?