Chapter 3: Omiai's can be fun.

"Omiai?" questioned Yamaguchi. "There are still men requesting those?"

In fact, the requests had hardly faltered. The family had just wisened up and failed to mention the lesser challenges that had been denied. With the time it took to prepare the pomp and ceremony of an omiai, which really was just a cover for a brawl that never came to fruition in actual prospects of future candidates for the Kuroda head, all the parties involved had decided it would be best to bother their ojou only when the candidate was particularly promising. And as of late, those challengers had been few.

A wicked gleam in her eyes, she cracked her knuckles and chortled ominously to herself while walking out of the room, "A challenger, eh?"

Ooshida grinned and shook his head. There were some things about his ojou that would never change. She still had an overwhelming fondness for track suits, pigtails and glasses that completely skewed any real perception of her age. Yet ojou was a woman, sure as day, and he wanted her to have a woman's happiness. He had high hopes for ojou, and it seeed time was ripe for fruition.

When Ooshida had mentioned it to her in passing several weeks ago, that another challenger had cropped up and was asking for a beating, Yamaguchi had first thought nothing of it. The procedure was fairly standardized by now and after spending a tiresome afternoon in the salon getting her kimono and hair prepped with a bit of makeup artfully applied to her face, she would return home while most of the preparations at the house were in their final stages or complete. The compound would be cleaned, the good mats taken out and everyone would be dressed in their formal attire. Minoru would have spent most of the day in the kitchen slaving away over refreshments to be politely offered to the opposing gang, the preparation and hospitality an outward display of the Kuroda family's station.

While it was completely fine for Yamaguchi to beat up the challenger, it would hardly stand to reason to be rude to the loser's gang.

But when grandfather took interest in the preparations and even Ooshida had dropped by with a new silk kimono, specially made and imported from Kyoto, Yamaguchi's suspicions began to flare. Nothing however, absolutely nothing had prepared her for the man she now faced.

Looking at him with a mixture of disbelief and indignation, she said the first thing that registered in her mind. "Brat, you never wrote."

He looked older, of course. But even when he was a teen, Yamaguchi had always felt that Shin acted like an adult and his appearance, though striking in its maturity, was not in the forefront on her mind.

What did concern her, however, was the fact that this former pupil that had gone errant for five years was now sitting on the mat normally reserved for her many hopeful and failed suitors.

"What the hell is going on here?" she demanded, pointing her fan at Shin's head in accusation. He continued to sit completely still, staring resolutely in front of him. "Where have you been? Why are you sitting there?"

Tetsu stepped up beside his ojou, bending down to whisper in her ear

"What!" she yelled, grabbing Tetsu by the collar and shoving him against the wall. "Say that again, punk! An omiai with him?"

"I didn't know it was him until he walked through the door ten minutes ago, ojou," Tetsu cowered. "I swear."

Yamaguchi let go of the scarred man and turned around to face her opponent. "Oi, Sawada, just what do you think you're doing?" she asked him. "I don't know what's going on but don't think you're going to come out of this without a sound beat down."

Throughout her tirade Shin had remained silent. Hunching his shoulder down and resting his hands on the floor in front of him in a small bow to Kuroda, he spoke as though he didn't notice the invisible daggers being thrown at his head from the other side of the room. "I, the Red Lion of the Tsubatsu Clan have come here to claim a match with the ojou of the Kuroda Clan."

Yamaguchi gaped at the forwardness of her ex-student, torn between extreme anger and a grudging admiration for his audacity. At that exact moment he lifted his head at her and stared straight into her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat at the ferocity in his eyes and from it she realized there would be a fight. Though her face and voice suddenly relaxed the muscles in her back were taut. "Be outside in five minutes." She stepped away to leave the room and stopped. "I won't go easy on you, Sawada."

He gave a slight nod to her back.

"Red Lion, don't you think you're getting a little serious for a match?" asked the shorter brown haired man as he handed Shin a rubber band for his hair.

"No."

"I mean, I heard she's strong and all, but I've seen you fight. It'd be easy enough for you to take her." The man reached out for the suit jacket Shin shrugged out of, handing him a jacket much more suitable for fighting. He paused in reflection. "She's just a chic."

Shin stopped dressing to stare at the man.

The man held out his hands in defense at the look in Shin's face. "Don't take it the wrong way, I'm just saying." He zipped his mouth shut, "But I won't say anymore."

"Let's go."

Pushing the door open for Shin, they followed the Kuroda guards stationed out the room to the courtyard filled with people. Shin knew many of the faces there, yet all he could really see was her standing in the center of a circle inviting his attention.

At the sight of her he felt the adrenaline rushing through his body. His entire body was tense as he walked towards the woman he had lived for, for the past five years, perhaps even longer. With her glasses off and her hair tied in a single ponytail away from her face, he could admire the invincible hardness in her eyes.

Taking his place in front of her, he finally found the voice to speak to her. "Hello Kumiko."

She bristled at the informal use of her name. About to lose her cool she noticed the tiniest smirk on Shin's lips and realized the brat was trying to rile her before their fight. "Sawada," she smiled through clenched teeth, pointedly using his family name. If he thought he'd be able to catch her off guard that easily he had another hundred years to go before he caught up with her.

Yet staring at him she felt a strange sense of déjà vu. This man she was about to fight had once been her star pupil and the last time they had faced each other they had been something close to friends. She felt, more then knew that it was important she crush whatever plans Shin had in his head. The feeling was random, urgent and without reason and that threw her a little off balance.

Why was her mind screaming for her to beat him? She settled herself in her most comfortable and deadly fighting stance. Whatever it was her instinct was trying to tell her, she wasn't going to ignore. Absolutely, she would win today.

Shin grimaced inside his head. If in the darkest corner of his mind he had the tiniest thread of hope that she might be open to him as a suitor, her fighting stance had broken it. If he lost now, there would be no second chance. With his own strength he would have to force her to see him as more than a student or child. She always made things so difficult.

He settled himself in his own fighting stance, completely prepared to show her what he'd learned in the past five years. She was at one slight disadvantage. Shin had been preparing for this day long before she had a hint of an idea of his intentions. And in all those years never once had he considered losing.

They moved in for the kill.