Chapter 3: Meeting You…

During nightfall, Nina found an old abandoned dojo, where she decided to sharpen her dulled skills and contemplate on her next move. No weapons were used, just her and a training dummy she found in the back of the building. She made a kick to its face, then whirled around and made another, followed by a fluency of repetitive slaps. Each connection she made with the dummy triggered the return of memories, those that had a constant protagonist- Steve.

It numbed her mind to think about him; never shown such concern for a man…not since her father. She sighed at the thought of him.

"Had he not died things might've been different between Anna and me." She said to herself, continuing with her training.

Overloaded with stress, Nina took a break and closed her eyes to meditate in silence. She hadn't done this very often, and she nipped herself in the heels for not doing so. At a steady pace she began to erase all the distracting thoughts from her head, including the ones about men. She had no time for the butt sniffs and for a moment she almost became sexist. Once everything quieted around her she unintentionally fell asleep…

In the Distance

"She's alone sir," stated a deep, sinister voice, "shall I make my move?"

"Yes but do so with caution, we're dealing with an ex-assassin and I don't want to lose anymore men tonight." Came another voice through a communicator.

From a top the closest roof to the dojo the man leapt right above Nina's head, and she instantly awakened.

"Uh…what was…crap, not again!" she groaned, still half asleep.

Without thought she got back into her old self, retrieving her trusty gun and dagger from the window sill. Someone on the roof meant to kill her this night, but she wasn't going out like that. There were more clamors of footsteps than before, putting her even more so on edge. She hated being a sitting duck, waiting for the hunter to find its prey. She'd make the first move if truly necessary and by the looks of it was, so she treaded outside with the utmost caution and found nothing standing on the roof.

"There's no way…I definitely heard someone up there! Now where is he?"

"I'm right here." Came the voice from behind her.

When she turned around a sucker punch to the jaw was her reward. She stumbled back and rubbed her aching jaw with fury.

"I'm where you least expect me. Wherever you think I am, I'm somewhere else. Now then I've come here for one thing only-your head on a silver platter specially prepared for my boss!"

She scoffed. "The Dark Ninja…Raven. I thought I made it clear at the last tournament which one of us was the better assailant. Why do you want me so badly now?"

"Don't test me, Williams. Only recently did I realize that you are notorious in the assassinations of only the most prestigious of my bosses' benefactors. He doesn't bode well for the future now because of you and he says it's either your head or mine."

"Heh. Well I guess you'd better draw a line on your neck right now because I'm not going anywhere."

She got into her fighting stance and smirked. He did the same, his shades making a shine. It was time for a rematch between the two deadly murderers.

Raven made the first move, but almost forgot that Nina had weapons in her hands. She furiously shot at his head but Raven ducked just in time (and in a matrix kind of way without the slow mo) and sprung back. Nina tried to fire again but she was already out of bullets because she'd used it before.

Damn it how could I forget to reload! She thought.

"Humph, I would think the world's most feared assassin would remember such a trivial matter, but I guess we all have our flaws." The ninja scoffed.

"I don't need a gun to take you down!" declared Nina.

"Then don't use any!"

Tossing the useless weapon aside, Nina charged at Raven assaulting him with the sides of her hands. This caught him off guard a little, but he easily took the hits and then retaliated with a sharp blow to the gut. She tucked herself in to relieve the pain and still continued to show no mercy. While raising her leg swooped up and over his head and as he lowered up the other came back around and knocked him back. He did a forward spring and came flying feet first into her and rolled back on his feet. Nina was growing tired of this back and forth mess; she wanted to end it once and for all. Retreating, she took the time to charge up her ki to max and use her most powerful attack, the Power Charge.

"Die!" she cried out while arching her entire body for one swift slash.

Yet the ninja only smiled arrogantly. She hadn't noticed it and began to strike but at that exact moment it seemed like Raven was-going through her! He'd become transparent and jumped right into her body, coming through the other side! Nina couldn't see it nor feel it in her body, which made her freak out within her own mind. Suddenly he was behind her again, a blade against her back.

"The Phantom Warp, one of my favorite abilities not only allows me to avoid your attack but turn the tables on my opponent. Your rush to finish me off is also very sloppy, Williams. Maybe they overestimated you…"

He initiated the blade by driving it deep in her back, sending a spine chilling echo across the city. It called forth many attentions and this put a severe dent in Raven's task, but he persisted to get it into a vital organ. The assassin reluctantly pulled out.

"Ahhh!"

"Well that was pointless. Now you're too weak to fight."

Shaking, she crooked her neck to see him and said, "I won't lose to a coward who hides in the shadows. I've yet to show you what I can really do."

Once again she prepared herself, this time with more gusto than before. Insulted, Raven swung his blade to and fro trying to land on a spot that would put her down. Nina dodged every attempt at her vitals, and then smacked the blade out of his hand with her trusty dagger. It made a cut in his right hand.

"Shouldn't use a weapon you can't hold on to."

Baring his teeth the ninja disappeared again only this time he wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Agh, another disappearing act…give me a break." Moaned Nina.

Then came the roar of the violent bird right above the blonde's head just inches away from blasting her skull when she made a quick roll out of reach and made him without cause hit the concrete. Once on her feet she gracefully swooshed his body off the ground and made him land on his back. Without mercy she followed up her assault by flinging her dagger into his other hand going through the concrete. Raven hollered like a dying lion as his treasure was repeatedly trampled upon.

"Thought you'd get me eh? I know your fighting style all to well ninja, even if I haven't had the pleasure of battling against your kind."

Casually she stepped on the hand she cut earlier so she had him completely pinned down. Raven stared menacingly at Nina, who was having the time of her life.

"I'll say it again, Raven. No one who ever knows my name ever lives."

He lowered his constricted head and laughed ludicrously. "Even if you do kill me Williams, there'll be others and even more than that afterwards. My organization isn't the only one after your head."

"Thanks for stating the obvious," she said rudely, "now I'm going to save you the torture you'll get at HQ and decapitate you right now, so try not to scream too much ok?"

Raven said nothing. She took this as an approval and grabbed on of his blades easing it towards his neck…but she was brought to a halt as she heard a gun shot extremely close by.

"Dammit! If that's who I think it is then-"she paused at the sight of someone running down the street.

She couldn't make out who it was but for the situation she was in she didn't want to know.

"Looks like you're off the hook, ninja. Do me a favor and DON'T bother to come after me."

In haste she stepped of Raven and ran to save herself from whatever was following her.

"Wait!" cried out a man in a hurry.

She did not try to listen because in truth if you concentrated too much on a chaser's voice you'd lose focus on where you where headed.

"There he is!" more voices in the mist.

There after a man…thought Nina.

This made her slow down bit but only enough to take a breather. Unexpectedly a surge of pain came up through her back and caused Nina to take a dive into the ground, out cold.

The running man kept on doing so, not turning back just like it was with Nina.

"They've slowed down a bit but I still need to lose 'em!" said Steve Fox under exhausted breath.

Another shot rang, this time it was away from him.

"Ah, they've gone crazy now there shootin' innocent people!"

He rushed to where he heard the sound come from and found the woman he'd been trying to follow in the middle of the street, not showing any motion. Worried, he rushed to her side and held her up.

"Ma'am are you okay? Wake up!" he sniveled.

Very faintly, Nina opened her eyes to see who it was talking to her.

"Unn…"

"Oh, good. They must've missed you!" he exclaimed.

"They who, who are you? Your voice…so familiar…" she whispered.

"Don't try to talk. I'm going to take you to the hospital and everything will be okay."

He picked her up and carried her in his arms. For a second time that night, Nina fell asleep.

3 Days Later…

Steve Fox entered the room where Nina was being treated. She was already up and full of activity, not recalling much of the incident or who was involved. He entered the door with a wide smile.

"Hello now lady! Are you feeling better?" he asked.

The woman's mouth hung open enough to where a hoard of flies could enter. She closed her eyes then reopened them again to see if it was true, and it was. Her son, Steve Fox had come to her when she was trying so hard to avoid him.

"No…" she said coyly.

Note: Added my dark hero Raven in because the original chapter wasn't long enough for me. If you're wondering about him, he managed to escape even though it wasn't as alluring as when he got in. And since Tokyo police seem too be slow this time of day…the Mafia is an unknown element now. They could be hiding away in the dark, or could have lost track of the guy, who's to know! R and R!