Enki's Victory
Mira spat.
She had spat her own blood twice now, and the tangy salty-sweet taste of it was not at all to her liking. She had slid all the way to the end of the circular cemented arena and had only managed to stop herself after leaning in and holding onto the floor. She took a good deal of the cement with her.
She was breathing hard, every pant taking in a large amount of oxygen. She glared at her opponent. Behind his cool, composed, and large exterior she knew lived a ruthless creature, who would not think twice to destroy her completely if he ever got angry. A strong, capable warrior, he had trained long and hard for a battle such as this, and knew that he wasn't about to lose in this early round.
She smiled slightly. He was panting, though not as hard as her, but panting all the same. Good, she thought. She didn't plan to make this any easier for Enki.
Mira had been sweating it out with him for the past half an hour and some of the sweat was stinging her eyes. She had tried all the means to stop him: materializing bows and arrows, large swords, and throwing spirit balls at him, but most of the attacks he had managed to dodge.
Most, because she had managed to inflict some damage to the giant. There was a deep gash in his stomach and leg, which was now covered in dry blood. There was also a large deep blue bruise in his right eye, the mark left after the surprisingly powerful punch she managed to inflict on him a minute ago.
Of course, she won't leave this battle unscathed. Already, there were deep cuts on her shoulders and arms, and a large bruise on her stomach, after Enki had thrown her head on to a large, nearby tree. It amazed her that she didn't have any broken bones.
Not yet, anyway.
"That was a serious punch, Lady Mira," said Enki, touching his eye.
Mira winced a little, then smirked. Lady Mira, she hated the title. She wasn't royalty, well technically, she was, but they were counting over 40 generations of ancestors, how can they possibly say that she was freaking royalty! She had insisted that none of them use that title, and Yusuke and the rest of Raizen's friends had agreed, but the monks and Enki just don't get it. Eventually, Mira just gave up and let them continue using the damn title.
Mira, of course, was Yusuke's sister. She wasn't exactly sure who was more shocked at that news: her or Yusuke. After the monks informed them that they were siblings, Yusuke, stared at her, open mouthed, turned to the monks and exclaimed: "You people have got to be kidding."
Mira was so shocked that she didn't say anything. In the human world, she was fifteen, a single child of well to do parents, parents who weren't around anyway so they weren't sure where exactly sure where she was, and it would surprise her if they actually cared, in a school were she was the apple of the boys' eyes. Here, in the demon world, she was fifteen, has a brother, 'daughter' to a King, and was the apple of the demon men's eyes. She wasn't sure what she liked better, but thinking about it makes her head spin.
Finding out that she had demon blood wasn't exactly the trip of a lifetime either. In the course of one week, she was whisked off to God knows where, and told that she was royalty, that her 'father' was dying, and she had to train to battle, gulp, demons.
Of course, this explanation explained all the weird things that seemed to happen to her, and it was proof that she wasn't imagining any demons in the human world. But that didn't make training to control her powers any easier, and then they had to go and shove into her the fact that she had a brother?
She and Yusuke were not exactly siblings. They were relatives, that is, if you count over forty generations of family. Apparently, over the course of those generations, somewhere in the middle, someone bore twins, twins that both possessed Raizen's blood. One branch bore Yusuke, the other Mira.
After the initial shock of learning that they were officially, or should we say technically, siblings, Yusuke had embraced the fact whole heartedly and taught her how to train. He taught her everything he learned from a person named Genkai, and often remarked on how much she, Mira, looked like Raizen. Mira had seen Raizen before he died, and she couldn't help but agree.
Even other demons noticed it. Raizen's friends often remarked that if Raizen ever became a girl, he would look exactly like her. Mukoro had said that she looked just like her 'father', and Yuda, Yomi's former advisor, had described her as the splitting image of Raizen when Yomi asked for her description.
"Thanks," she said, "Yusuke taught me that."
Which was true. It took Kira a little over one hundred days to have full control of her powers and to use it to its full potential. Once she had mastered that, she had also finally manage to beat the monks. After that, Yusuke taught that it was only right to teach her how to throw a good, strong punch.
"Lady Mira," said Enki politely, "do you think it is wise to continue? If you just surrender – "
"Shut up and fight!" she snarled, as she released a spirit ball from her hands.
For a guy so large, he sure can dodge, she thought as he disappeared from sight. Kira herself, jumped up to the tallest tree, and used it as her look out.
The announcer was shouting something about 'poise' and 'royalty' but she wasn't listening. She needed to find where Enki got to…
She materialized a silver bow and arrow, and had it at a ready. Enki would probably move a few trees when he moves, she thought with a laugh.
She saw something move. She fired the arrow. As soon as she did, it became fifteen sharp, silver, pointed arrows. When it hit ground, no sound came. She cursed. She missed.
She materialized another arrow. But before she had it at a ready, the tree shook.
Of all the things that she has ever leaned in the human world, one of them was not how to keep her balance. She tried for a split second to keep balanced, but eventually gave it up and landed gracefully in the middle of the arena. Somehow, her bow and arrow was at the ready and was pointing directly at Enki.
"Give up." It was not a question.
"I do not know the definition of that sentence."
"Too bad," she said, "neither do I."
She shot the arrow.
Enki dodged all fifteen arrows and was suddenly behind her. Without thinking, her bow disappeared to be replaced by a large silver sword. She turned, but before she could act, a large hand was clamped to her waist, so hard that she let go of the sword, and winced in pain. She felt herself being lifted to the ground.
"You give up?" It was a question.
"Never." She gasped.
Enki raised her even higher. Her bruised was causing her a lot of pain and her gashes were suddenly open again and spilling blood, and lots of it.
By now, Mira was exactly on top of Enki. Drops of her blood were falling in his clothes, and she felt she spat more blood from her mouth.
"Give up."
"No."
She felt her ribs breaking.
"Give up."
He was almost begging her.
"Please."
She had never heard a demon say please before, and it amused her and relax her. She managed to open her eyes to look at Enki, and nodded.
He placed her down carefully. She couldn't stand. She knew her face was screwed up in pain, and breathing was very difficult for her, since her ribs were crushed.
"Are you all right, Lady Mira?" leaned Enki.
"What the hell do you think?" she gasped, grasping her stomach.
"Lady Mira has given up!" shouted the announcer. "Enki is the winner!"
"Let me help you," said Enki.
Mira didn't answer, she was too weak and too much in pain to do so anyway. She felt herself being carried out of the arena. She was awake and after swallowing some of the pain, she glared up at Enki, who was looking down at her.
"You better win this, Enki," she muttered. "I didn't lose to a loser."
Enki smiled. "I will try."
"There is no try," she answered, "only do."
"Where did you get that?"
"Yoda."
"Yuda?"
"No, Yoda, from Star – never mind." She answered.
"Um, okay."
She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I'm telling you Enki," she said, you lose this thing, and I will hunt you down and kill you myself."
"Oh? Is that so?"
"Don't think I don't mean it," she snarled. "No matter how injured I am."
"Your ribs are broken, my lady." he informed helpfully.
"Do I look like I care?" she answered, then winced.
Enki laughed, causing her to bounce in his arms, and causing her more pain. She winced. "You sound just like him."
"Like who?"
"Raizen, of course," he informed. "His fighting spirit never dies either."
Mira didn't answer. She never knew him long enough to know anything about it. If she was completely honest with himself, she wanted to know him, her ancestor. Because really, who can say that they can trace back their family forty generations back and find that they have demon blood in them?
"Now you know where you get it from."
"Whatever." She grumbled, secretly happy that shegot more from this demon of a greatgreat great... well you get the idea.Then she looked up at him, her eyes big and watery, a small pout in her face. "You are going to win this aren't you?"
Enki smiled. "With a face like that how can I say anything else?"
Mira looked at the demons around them. The monks were running towards them. So was Yusuke and his friends. She turned back to Enki. "Make sure you win," she said, "I know Raizen would have wanted you win."
"You know?"
She nodded fervently and winced. "Yep," she said, "and I know you'll lead this world well."
"Thank you for the support my lady."
She smiled, and winced again.
"Rest," said Enki, "your ribs are broken. The healers will tend to it soon."
"I don't want to rest," she answered. "I want to watch."
"But you are tired."
"I am," she yawned, "not tired." She yawned again.
"Yes you are."
"I don't," she yawned loudly, "want to sleep."
"I will wake you when the next matches come."
She glared at him. "Just make sure you win yours." She said, "I didn't lose to a big loser, and I don't," she blinked slowly, "want to-"
She rested her head on Enki's chest and fell into a deep slumber.
Enki looked at her, silently pondering her words.
She's right though, there is no try. Only do. Whoever this Yoda creature is, he is truly a wise man.